JP2005244210A - Transport box for glass substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transport box to ensure the quality of a glass substrate. <P>SOLUTION: The transport box is structured to have: a box body 10 provided with four sidewalls 12, an opening 11 and a bottom face 13; a dust-free bag 30; and first and second supporting boards 40 each of which has a plurality of parallel slots 41 for supporting the edge of the substrate; the dust-free bag 30 placed in the box body 10, an opening 31 facing the opening 11 of the box body 10, and an edge 32 of the opening 31 disposed above upper edges of the four upright sidewalls 12. The supporting boards 40 are arranged in the dust-free bag 30 in parallel with their respective slots 41 facing each other and secured to the box body 10 together with the box body 10, supporting boards 40 and the dust-free bag 30. The slots 41 of the supporting boards 40 form a pair of slots each keeping the two edges of the substrate parallel and the edge 32 of the opening 31 of the dust-free bag 30 can be folded to seal the glass substrate in the dust-free bag 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport box for a very clean glass substrate, and more particularly to a transport box for a glass substrate having a disposable support board and a dust-free bag.

  Glass substrates are very important materials for manufacturing LCDs, color filters and similar products. When manufacturing an LCD, the quality of the glass substrate has a significant impact on yield. Therefore, manufacturers of glass substrates are required not only to manufacture high-quality glass substrates but also to protect the glass substrates during transport and prevent contamination of the glass substrates. Therefore, the transport box needs impact resistance, dust resistance and waterproofness, and has low thermal conductivity, low compressive deformation, good impact strength, good dimensional stability, low hygroscopicity, etc. Yes.

A conventional transport box for a glass substrate has a main body portion and a cover portion formed from a polyolefin foam, and the polyolefin foam has a foaming ratio of 3 to 30 times, and its thickness is 15 to 100 mm. The pair of opposed upstanding side walls of the main body has a plurality of grooves for holding the glass substrate (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
US Pat. No. 5,588,531 JP 7-132986 A

  However, the transport box for glass substrates is expensive to manufacture, and reuse requires high-cost cleaning. The cleaning process includes water cleaning in a clean room and manual organic solvent cleaning (degreasing). Due to the reuse cleaning process, glass substrate manufacturers need to keep a large number of transport boxes in stock, which increases transport costs. Furthermore, with the increase in reuse of the transport box, the surface of the transport box generates dust and may contaminate the glass substrate, so that the useful life of the transport box is reduced. It is therefore desirable to provide a transport box in which the above problems are mitigated and / or eliminated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the problems associated with the above-described prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a transport box that can ensure the integrity of the quality of a very clean glass substrate during transport. And

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
A glass substrate transport box having a rectangular interior space, an upright box body with a top opening defined by four upstanding side walls and a bottom surface,
A dust-free bag; and first and second support boards;
Each of the first and second support boards has a plurality of parallel grooves for supporting the end of the glass substrate,
The dust-free bag is disposed inside the box body.
The opening of the dust-free bag is relative to the upper opening of the box body,
The end of the opening of the dust-free bag is disposed above the upper end of the four upstanding side walls,
The first and second support boards are disposed in the dust-free bag in parallel so that the groove portions face each other, and the first and second support boards are disposed between the box body portion and the first and second support boards. Along with the dust bag, it is fixed to the box body,
The plurality of groove portions of the first and second support boards form a plurality of groove portion pairs to hold the two end portions of the plurality of glass substrates in parallel,
An end of the opening of the dust-free bag is folded and sealed to seal a plurality of glass substrates arranged inside the dust-free bag.

  Preferably, the two opposing upstanding side walls of the box body have two pairs of connecting groove portions, and the first and second support boards include the box body and the first and second support boards. Along with the dust-free bag positioned between them, it is inserted into the connecting groove and contacts the remaining two upstanding side walls.

  Preferably, the transport box according to the present invention further includes a third support board identical to the first and second support boards. The third support board is positioned in the bottom surface of the box main body together with the dust free bag disposed inside the dust free bag and positioned between the bottom surface of the box main body and the third support board. The The plurality of parallel grooves of the third support board are opposed to the openings of the dust-free bag and are used to hold the parallel bottom end portions of the plurality of glass substrates.

  Preferably, the first and second support boards are rectangular or chamfered rectangles.

  Preferably, the third support board is rectangular or chamfered.

  According to this invention comprised as mentioned above, it is possible to provide the conveyance box which can ensure the integrity of the quality of a very clean glass substrate in the case of conveyance.

  Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The conveyance box for glass substrates which concerns on this invention is applicable as a conveyance box of the glass substrate for LCD. The transport box includes a box main body, a dust-free bag disposed inside the box main body, and first and second for fixing the dust-free bag inserted into the groove of the box main body. A support board (two support boards). When the glass substrate is placed in the dust-free bag of the transport box, the dust-free bag is sealed, and the cover part is placed on the upper part of the box body part, thereby completing the packing process.

  The box body, the first and second support boards and the cover are formed from a polyolefin foam. Polyolefin foam is made of polypropylene or the like having a low dust amount, and a suitable production method is disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,588,531.

  The dust-free bag according to the present invention is a packing bag used to carry an optical device, is formed from a dust-free plastic material (mainly polyethylene resin), and is commercially available in the market. Has been.

  After removing the glass substrate at the transport destination, the box body can be returned to the glass substrate manufacturer for cleaning, and a new dust-free bag and a new support board can be installed. Can be placed again in the section. Replacement of the dust-free bag and support board only requires about 10-15 seconds. Since the dust-free bag and the support board can be changed each time, dust problems due to repeated cleaning of the transport box are not caused.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining a glass substrate transport box according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the transport box has a rectangular box body 10 and a cover 20. The cover part 20 is used to cover the upper opening part 11 of the upright box body part 10, and forms a rectangular sealed internal space for holding a plurality of parallel glass substrates.

  The transport box further includes a dust-free bag 30 and three support boards (first, second, and third support boards) 40. Each support board 40 has a plurality of groove portions 41 for supporting end portions of parallel glass substrates. The dust-free bag 30 is disposed in the box body 10. The opening 31 of the dust-free bag 30 and the box body 10 upper opening 11 are directed upward. The end 32 of the opening 31 of the dust-free bag 30 is disposed above the upper ends of the four upstanding side walls 12 of the box body 10.

  The first and second support boards (two support boards) 40 are arranged in parallel inside the dust-free bag 30 and have a groove 41 (a groove in one of the first and second support boards 40 located on the right side in the drawing). 41 are not shown) are opposed to each other. In addition, the first and second support boards 40 are connected to the two ends of the box body 10 together with the dust-free bag 30 located between the box body 10 and the first and second support boards 40. Fastened (fixed) to the groove 15. Accordingly, the plurality of groove portions 41 on the first and second support boards 40 form a plurality of groove portion pairs for holding two end portions of a plurality of glass substrates (not shown) in parallel.

  The third support board (remaining support board) 40 is horizontally positioned inside the dust-free bag 30, and the groove 41 faces upward, and the inner bottom surface 13 of the box body 10 and the third support board 40. Along with the dust-free bag 30 positioned between and the box body portion 10, the box body portion 10 is disposed on the inner bottom surface 13.

  Further, the two long sides of the third support board 40 that are horizontally arranged have two upstanding side walls of the box body 10 together with the dust-free bag 30 positioned between the box body 10 and the third support board 40. It contacts 12 bottom surface parts. The two short sides of the dust-free bag 30 and the third support board 40 arranged horizontally are limited by two pairs of upright strips 14 arranged in the box body 10.

  The first, second, and third support boards 40 have the same size and shape, and the groove 41 is symmetrical with respect to a virtual vertical plane that uniformly divides the box body 10. Therefore, the left end, the right end, and the bottom end of the glass substrate can be inserted into the groove 41 of the first, second, and third support boards 40 on the same plane. In other words, a large number of glass substrates can be accommodated vertically and separated (at regular intervals) inside the box body 10. Even when the third support board 40 arranged horizontally is omitted, the same purpose can obviously be achieved, but the glass substrate may not be stabilized.

  After a large number of glass substrates are held in the grooves 41 of the first, second and third support boards 40, the end portions 32 of the openings 31 of the dust-free bag 30 can be folded and sealed with tape. Is possible. Accordingly, a large number of glass substrates are sealed inside the dust-free bag. When the cover part 20 is placed on the box body part 10, the packing process is completed. Therefore, the glass substrate is kept in a clean state during transportation.

  As described above, the transport box for a glass substrate according to the present invention not only ensures the integrity of the glass substrate during transport, but also provides a simple structure for the box body portion of the transport box and is molded. The cost of the mold is reduced and the production of the support board is relatively easy. The support board and the dust-free bag can be recycled as a disposable material because the manufacturing cost is relatively low and the manufacturing is easy. Therefore, the need for an expensive and complicated organic solvent cleaning process in the clean room can be avoided.

  Thus, the present invention can avoid the operating and capital costs for the cleaning process required in conventional glass substrate transport boxes. Furthermore, this invention can improve the utilization preparation (arrangement) of the conveyance box for glass substrates resulting from omission of the said washing | cleaning process in a clean room.

  While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

It is a perspective view for demonstrating the conveyance box for glass substrates which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10. Box body,
11 .. Upper opening,
12 .. Upright side wall,
13. Inside bottom,
15. .. connecting groove,
20 .. cover part,
30 ... Dust-free bag,
31 .. opening,
32 ... the end,
40..First to third support boards,
41 .. Groove part.

Claims (5)

A glass substrate transport box having a rectangular interior space, an upright box body with a top opening defined by four upstanding side walls and a bottom surface,
A dust-free bag; and first and second support boards;
Each of the first and second support boards has a plurality of parallel grooves for supporting the ends of the glass substrate,
The dust-free bag is disposed inside the box body.
The opening of the dust-free bag is relative to the upper opening of the box body,
The end of the opening of the dust-free bag is disposed above the upper end of the four upstanding side walls,
The first and second support boards are disposed in the dust-free bag in parallel so that the groove portions face each other, and the first and second support boards are disposed between the box body portion and the first and second support boards. Along with the dust bag, it is fixed to the box body,
The plurality of groove portions of the first and second support boards form a plurality of groove portion pairs to hold the two end portions of the plurality of glass substrates in parallel,
An end portion of the opening of the dust-free bag is folded and sealed to seal a plurality of glass substrates arranged inside the dust-free bag. Two opposing upstanding side walls of the box body have two pairs of connecting grooves, and the first and second support boards are located between the box body and the first and second support boards. The glass substrate transport box according to claim 1, wherein the glass substrate transport box is inserted into the connecting groove portion together with the dust-free bag to contact the remaining two upstanding side walls. A third support board identical to the first and second support boards;
The third support board is positioned in the bottom surface of the box main body together with the dust free bag disposed inside the dust free bag and positioned between the bottom surface of the box main body and the third support board. ,
The plurality of parallel grooves of the third support board are opposed to the openings of the dust-free bag, and are used to hold the parallel bottom end portions of the plurality of glass substrates. The conveyance box for glass substrates of Claim 1 or Claim 2.   The said 1st and 2nd support board is a rectangular or the chamfered rectangle, The conveyance box for glass substrates of Claim 1 or Claim 2 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said 3rd support board is a rectangle or the chamfered rectangle, The conveyance box for glass substrates of Claim 3 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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