JP2006055856A - Paste coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently applying and plotting paste of an adhesive in the manufacture of a liquid crystal substrate. <P>SOLUTION: When a plurality of coating patterns are plotted on the surface of the substrate 2 by the relative movement of a nozzle 3 and the substrate 2, data of the height of a nozzle position in the preceding coating are once stored in a memory and are read in the start of the next coating patterning to set the initial height of of the nozzle position with the control of a servo motor. Because the unevenness or the waving of the surface of the substrate 2 between the adjacent patterns is relatively small, the set of the initial height position is rapidly carried out without striking a discharge port of the nozzle against the substrate and as a result, the operation is efficiently carried out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in a paste application apparatus that applies a paste discharged from a discharge port to a substrate surface disposed opposite to a discharge port of a nozzle and draws a pattern having a desired shape on the substrate surface.

  In the manufacture of a liquid crystal display panel or the like, two glass substrates sandwiching a liquid crystal are bonded together, and a paste as an adhesive is applied to the opposite surface of one glass substrate for the bonding.

  FIG. 5 is a side view of an essential part of a paste application apparatus for applying and drawing a paste on a substrate surface. The nozzle 3 is provided at the lower end portion on the substrate 2 sucked and placed on the substrate table 1, and the paste is put inside. Is disposed, and the discharge port of the nozzle 3 is disposed so as to face the surface of the substrate 2.

  The syringe 4 is attached to a ball screw 5a, and the ball screw 5a is driven by the servo motor 5 to perform forward / reverse rotation. Therefore, the nozzle 3 is moved in the vertical (Z-axis) direction indicated by the arrow Z by the rotation control of the servo motor 5. The distance A between the discharge port of the nozzle 3 and the surface of the substrate 2 can be adjusted.

  6 (a) and 6 (b) are front views of the main part shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 6, a distance meter 6 is integrally attached and fixed to the syringe 4, and the substrate 2 The distance A between the discharge port of the nozzle 3 and the surface of the substrate 2 can be calculated based on the distance measurement data.

  As shown in the figure, the distance meter 6 has a triangular notch at the lower end, and a light emitting element and a plurality of light receiving elements are provided on the slope of the notch, as shown in FIG. As shown, the laser beam L emitted from the light emitting element provided on the slope on one side is reflected by the upper surface of the substrate 2 and received by any one of the plurality of light receiving elements provided on the other slope, 2. Measure the distance to the surface without contact.

  In order to cause the paste to be ejected from the nozzle 3 located on the substrate 2 and to draw a desired paste pattern on the substrate 2 from the pattern application start position L0 as shown in FIG. 6A, the servo motor 5 is rotated from the position of the height of the distance A shown in FIG. 6A, and the nozzle 3 is gradually lowered. As shown in FIG. Adjustment control is performed so that a gap (gap value) B necessary for applying and drawing a paste pattern having a uniform width and thickness is obtained between the discharge port and the discharge port.

  Recent liquid crystal display panels are manufactured in various shapes and sizes in accordance with the expansion of applications. A liquid crystal display panel with a small screen is formed and arranged on a large substrate with a large number of small liquid crystal panels. In the paste application process, each nozzle 3 is moved relative to the substrate 2 and each pattern is sequentially applied and drawn. By doing so, the manufacturing efficiency is improved.

  The surface of the substrate 2 itself has small irregularities when viewed finely, and since it is made of thin glass, it is avoided that the surface of the substrate 2 undulates as the shape of the adsorbed and held substrate 2 increases. However, while the display panel is being further refined, it is particularly required to apply and draw a paste pattern with high accuracy.

  Therefore, as described above, when the surface of the substrate 2 has undulations or irregularities, when the paste is sequentially applied and drawn in a plurality of patterns on one substrate 2, the nozzle 3 is applied to each application. Each time the coating is switched to the pattern, it is once raised and then moved laterally to be positioned on the application start position of the next application pattern, and then the nozzle 3 is lowered as described above to start the application. The position B is operated so as to obtain the interval B with high accuracy.

  In order to obtain the interval B with high accuracy, a so-called search operation of the surface of the substrate 2 is performed in which the nozzle 3 is repeatedly lowered by a small amount while obtaining distance measurement data by the distance meter 6 as described above. It is desirable to set the starting position of the search operation as close to the surface of the substrate as possible in order to shorten the process time and increase the efficiency of the paste application work.

  However, since the surface of the substrate 2 has undulations and irregularities as described above, and the surface height of the substrate 2 is not uniform, even if the search operation start position height is determined, when the nozzle 3 is lowered, There is a possibility that the discharge port of the nozzle 3 may collide with the surface of the substrate 2.

  Therefore, in the conventional paste coating apparatus, the maximum height H of the surface of the substrate 2 placed on the substrate table 1 is measured in advance, and the maximum height H is set at a height position in consideration of the thickness of the paste coating. It has been proposed to set a search operation start position.

  FIG. 7 illustrates a method for setting the search operation start position, that is, the initial height position D of the nozzle 3 discharge port in the conventional paste coating apparatus.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the discharge port of the nozzle 3 is positioned at the height position having the interval B on the surface of the substrate 2 at the coating start position L0, as shown in FIG. In addition, the maximum height H of the surface of the substrate 2 placed on the substrate table 1 is obtained by measuring with a distance meter 6 in advance, and the maximum height H is determined based on the distance B corresponding to the thickness of the coating paste, The height position D to which the margin distance ε is added is calculated as the initial height position D (= H + B + ε), and this initial height position D is set as the search operation start position.

  Therefore, in the conventional paste coating apparatus, the discharge port of the nozzle 3 is lowered by the distance C from the height position of the distance A in the standby state by the drive control of the servo motor 5 by the control means, and the discharge port of the nozzle 3 is moved to the initial height. After being positioned at the position D, a search operation that repeats a slight amount lowering while obtaining the measurement data of the distance meter 6 is started, and the discharge port of the nozzle 3 is positioned at the coating height N and a predetermined interval (gap value). ) B is obtained.

  Therefore, in the conventional paste coating apparatus, when the nozzle 3 performs the paste coating operation on the substrate 2 sequentially several times due to the relative movement between the nozzle 3 and the substrate 2, it is obtained in advance by measurement. The data of the maximum height H of the substrate 2 is stored in the memory, the data of the maximum height H is read each time application of each pattern is started, and the nozzle 3 is lowered to the calculated initial height position D. Thereafter, control was performed so as to obtain the interval B with high accuracy between the nozzle 3 outlet and the surface of the substrate 2 while repeating a small distance drop by the search operation on the surface of the substrate 2.

  As described above, in the conventional paste coating apparatus, the nozzle discharge port does not collide at the start of coating drawing with high accuracy on the substrate surface having waviness or unevenness and the surface height is not constant. In order to position the nozzle, the nozzle discharge port is positioned at a nozzle initial height position D obtained by measuring the maximum height H of the substrate in advance and adding the interval B and the margin distance ε to the maximum height H. An operation was performed.

  Therefore, as described above, in the conventional paste application apparatus, even when the paste application operation is sequentially performed a plurality of times on one substrate, the control means stores the maximum value stored in the memory each time application drawing on the pattern is started. Control is performed so that data of height H is read and initially set to the initial height position D.

  As described above, when the nozzle is initially set, the maximum height H data of the substrate is conventionally required. Therefore, the maximum height of the substrate 2 on the substrate table 1 is required each time before the paste is applied to the substrate 2. The complicated work of measuring and detecting H has been required, and since this has reduced the efficiency of the coating work, an improvement has been demanded.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the initial height of the nozzle is increased without requiring any complicated measurement and detection work of the maximum height position H of the substrate not only in the first paste application operation but also in the second and subsequent paste application operations. An object of the present invention is to provide a paste coating apparatus that can be positioned easily and in a short time and can improve the efficiency of paste coating work.

  The present invention provides a paste coating apparatus in which a nozzle and a substrate surface are relatively moved, and a paste discharged from the nozzle sequentially coats and draws a plurality of patterns on the substrate surface. The control means for controlling to set the initial height position of the nozzle at the application start position of the second and subsequent patterns to a position corresponding to the height position of the nozzle in the previously applied and drawn pattern is provided. And

  In the paste coating apparatus of the present invention, attention is paid to the fact that each of the second and subsequent coating patterns is close to the position of the previous coating pattern on the same substrate, and there is no significant change in the height of the substrate surface. Thus, the control unit controls the initial position of the nozzle to be set at a height position corresponding to the nozzle position drawn and drawn last time for each second and subsequent paste pattern application start position.

  As described above, according to the paste application device of the present invention, the nozzle outlet can be quickly positioned and set on the substrate surface without colliding with the substrate surface. Can be made more efficient.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a paste coating apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same structure as the conventional paste coating device shown in FIG. 5 thru | or FIG. 7, and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a paste coating apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of a main part shown corresponding to FIG.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1, an XY-θ movement table 11 is mounted on the gantry 10, and the Y-axis movement mechanism 11 a of the XY-θ movement table 11 is provided with a suction plate. A substrate table 1 is incorporated. The transported substrate 2 is sucked and held on the substrate table 1 and positioned.

  Further, a support frame 12 is erected on the gantry 10 in parallel with the X-axis movement mechanism 11b of the XY-θ movement table 11, and the support frame 12 is Z-axis by a ball screw mechanism (not shown). The moving mechanism 13 is configured to be movable along the X-axis direction.

  A servo motor 5 is attached and fixed to the Z-axis moving mechanism 13, and as shown in FIG. 2, a syringe 4 is incorporated in a ball screw 5a connected to the servo motor 5, and the syringe 4 is adjusted to move in the Z-axis direction. Is done.

  A distance meter 6 is integrally attached and fixed to the syringe 4 to measure the distance to the surface of the substrate 2, and the measurement data is supplied to a controller 14 as control means as will be described below. Therefore, since the controller 14 controls the servo motor 5 based on the data, paste application is performed while the interval B between the nozzle 3 and the substrate 2 is maintained, and a paste pattern having a uniform width and thickness is drawn. Is done.

  That is, the servo motor 5, the syringe 4, and the distance meter 6 are all connected to the controller 14, and the controller 14 can send and receive data to and from the servo motor 5, the syringe 4, and the distance meter 6. Although not shown, the ball screw mechanism of the support frame 12 is controlled so that the Z-axis moving mechanism 13 on the X-axis can be positioned.

  The controller 14 has a built-in microcomputer and controls the XY-θ movement table 11 while introducing a captured image of the substrate 2 from an image recognition camera (not shown). The controller 14 that has received the distance measurement data from the distance meter 6 controls the position of the nozzle 3 in the Z-axis direction and the pressure in the syringe 4 while controlling the pressure in the syringe 4 with a uniform width and thickness. Feedback control is performed so that the paste pattern is drawn.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a monitor display 15 and a keyboard 16 are connected to the controller 14, and an operator operates the keyboard 16 to set a coating pattern formed on the substrate 2. It is configured to be able to.

  The nozzle 3 and the syringe 4 can be moved in the Z-axis direction by the rotation of the ball screw 5a, but mechanical backlash in the ball screw 5a and the like is unavoidable. The height of the nozzle 3 can be positioned and controlled with high accuracy only by a minute movement operation in the Z-axis direction based on the distance measurement data up to, that is, a so-called search operation. Further, the servo motor 5 itself can be repeatedly set to a specific rotation angle with high accuracy under the control of the controller 14.

  Also in the paste coating apparatus according to this embodiment described above, when the coating operation is sequentially performed over a plurality of times by program control while the nozzle 3 is relatively moved on the same substrate 2, the substrate 2 is at the start position of each coating operation. The positioning setting to the initial height position D of the nozzle in consideration of the undulation and unevenness on the surface is required.

  FIG. 2A shows a state in which, in the first or previous paste pattern, the nozzle 3 applied the paste P onto the substrate 2 and reached the paste application end position L1. In this embodiment, rotation angle data of the servo motor 5 when the nozzle 3 is positioned at the application end position L1 in FIG. 2A is transmitted to the controller 14 and stored in a memory such as a RAM.

  Next, the controller 14 drives the servo motor 5 and once raises the syringe 4 in the Z-axis direction so as to align with the application start position L2 of the next paste pattern, as shown in FIG. Then, it is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow X, and alignment is performed on the application start position L2 of the next pattern.

  In the state shown in FIG. 2B, the controller 14 controls the servo motor 5 to lower the nozzle 3 in the Z direction so that a gap B is obtained between the discharge port of the nozzle 3 and the surface of the substrate 2. However, the controller 14 reads the rotational position data of the servomotor 5 stored in the memory at the previous application end position L1 from the memory and based on the rotational position data of the servomotor 5. Control is performed and the nozzle 3 is lowered.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 3 in an enlarged manner, rotation angle data of the servo motor 5 corresponding to the height position N1 of the discharge port of the nozzle 3 at the previous application end position L1 is supplied to the controller 14, and the RAM etc. Stored in the memory.

  At the coating end position L1, the controller 14 drives the servo motor 5 to raise the discharge port of the nozzle 3 to the standby position A having the height H, and at the position of the standby position A, the controller 14 is XY. The -θ movement table 11 is controlled, and the position of the nozzle 3 is moved to the application start position L2 of the next pattern for positioning.

  Next, the controller 14 reads the rotation angle data of the servo motor 14 corresponding to the height N1 stored in the memory and controls the servo motor 14 so that the discharge port of the nozzle 3 has the following pattern. At the application start position L2, the search operation start position corresponding to the height position N1, that is, the initial height position D is quickly set.

  At this time, the initial height position D differs from the gap B by Δd due to the undulation of the surface of the substrate 2, etc., but the search is performed while the distance measurement operation is subsequently performed by the distance meter 6 to the surface of the substrate 2. By the operation, the distance of Δd is corrected and adjusted to the nozzle position of the interval B formed by the predetermined nozzle height position N2.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the maximum height position data on the surface of the substrate 2 is not used when the initial height position D is set at the start of the search operation of the nozzle 3 at the start of the second and subsequent coatings. Therefore, the coating operation can be performed quickly.

  In the above description, at the application start position L2 of the next pattern, the initial height position D is described so as to coincide with the height N1 stored in the memory. However, the initial height position D is stored in the memory. Since a value corresponding to the height N1 may be used, a value of a distance obtained by adding a specific margin value to the height N1 may be used as the initial height position D.

  In this way, at the application start position L2 of the next pattern, the nozzle 3 is positioned at the nozzle position of the interval B, and thereafter feedback control based on the distance measurement data to the surface of the substrate 2 by the distance meter 6 (usually “gap control” Therefore, the paste is applied while always maintaining a substantially constant distance B between the nozzle 3 outlet and the surface of the substrate 2 in response to the change in the height of the surface of the substrate 2.

  In the above description, the state in which the nozzle 3 moves from the first or previous paste pattern toward the next paste pattern has been described. However, the nozzle 3 controlled by the controller 14 from the first application on the substrate 2. The procedure of the position operation will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  That is, first, the nozzle 3 is positioned on the application start position of the application pattern on the substrate 2 under the control of the controller 14, for example, positioned at the standby position A higher than the search operation start position at which the distance meter 6 can operate. (Step 401).

  After step 401, the controller 14 controls the servo motor 5 to lower the nozzle 3 toward the search operation start position where the distance meter 6 can operate (step 402).

  After step 402, in step 403, the nozzle 3 is lowered until it reaches the search operation start position. When it is detected that the nozzle 3 has reached the search operation start position (YES), it is temporarily stopped (step 404), and then the distance is reached. The total 6 is operated to start a search operation toward the surface of the substrate 2 based on the distance measurement data to the surface of the substrate 2 (step 405).

  After the descent movement after the descent start by the search operation (step 406), the controller 14 determines that the distance from the discharge port of the nozzle 3 to the surface of the substrate 2 based on the distance measurement data from the distance meter 6 is a predetermined coating predetermined height. Whether or not the gap value (interval) B has been reached is successively monitored (step 407). When the gap value has been reached (YES), the controller 14 controls the syringe 4 and the XY-θ movement table 11 to program Control is performed so that a paste pattern with a constant paste width and thickness is drawn according to a predetermined application pattern, and application is started (step 408).

  The controller 14 continues the application operation until the nozzle 3 reaches the application end position L1 (step 409). When the application end position L1 is detected (YES), the controller 14 determines whether or not a subsequent application pattern exists. (Step 410) When the next application pattern exists (YES), the position (Zc) data on the Z axis of the servo motor 5 at the application end position L1 is fetched and stored in a memory such as a RAM (Step 411).

  In step 410, when the next application pattern does not exist, the controller 14 controls the servo motor 5 in a state where the discharge of the paste is stopped, and the nozzle 3 is raised to the standby state to perform the paste application operation. finish.

  In step 411, after storing the Z-axis position Zc of the servo motor 5 at the application end position L1 in the memory, the distance search by the distance meter 6 is stopped, and the nozzle 3 is moved up to the standby position A (step 412). The XY-θ movement table 11 is controlled and positioned so that the nozzle 3 position is positioned on the application start position L2 of the next application pattern (step 413).

  After step 413, the controller 14 reads the nozzle 3 height position (Zc) at the application end position L1 of the previous application pattern stored in the memory, and servos so that the nozzle 3 reaches the height position (Zc). The motor 5 is controlled (step 414).

  When the nozzle 4 reaches the height position Zc, the controller 14 controls the servo motor 5, and based on the distance measurement data from the distance meter 6, the height of the discharge port of the nozzle 3 is a predetermined height gap value ( The minute distance descent is repeatedly adjusted so that (interval) B is obtained (step 415).

  Thus, in order to obtain the gap value (interval) B between the nozzle 3 at the application start position L2 of the second and subsequent new pastes and the substrate 2, the controller 14 applies the nozzle of the application pattern previously applied and drawn. Since the height position D corresponding to the three positions (Zc) is set, the surface of the substrate 2 is quickly searched with almost no collision with the surface of the substrate 2 at a predetermined coating start position, and the substrate 2 surface. Positioning can be performed smoothly without fear of causing it.

  As described above, the controller 14 hardly requires a search operation for the surface of the substrate 2 as in the prior art when positioning the height position D at the application start position, and the maximum height H of the surface of the substrate 2. Thus, the paste application work can be made more efficient.

  In the first embodiment, in the second and subsequent nozzle 3 height settings, the servo motor 5 rotation position data at the previous paste application end position is stored in the memory and read and adopted. However, depending on the arrangement of the formed paste application pattern, the rotational position data of the servo motor 5 at the application start position of the previous application pattern, for example, may be stored in a memory and used.

  In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the controller 14 controls the servo motor 5 to raise the nozzle 3 to the standby position A to position the next coating pattern at the start position. However, the position does not necessarily have to be raised to the standby position A, and may be a position lower than the standby position A. For example, the ascending position of the nozzle 3 may be a position that is elevated by a distance set in advance to the height position of the nozzle at the end of application in the current application pattern. By doing so, compared with the case where the nozzle 3 is raised to the standby position A, the time required for raising and lowering the nozzle 3 can be shortened, so that the coating work efficiency can be further improved. In addition, since the nozzle 3 outlet at the end of coating is already separated from the surface of the substrate 2 by a predetermined coating height (interval B), if the vertical movement during movement is small, its height position is maintained. It may be moved horizontally to the next application start position.

  In any case, according to the paste application apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the setting operation for positioning the nozzle 3 discharge port at the start of the second and subsequent application, and to improve the efficiency of the paste application work. it can.

It is a perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the paste coating device by this invention. It is an enlarged front view of the principal part of the apparatus in FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining the state which positions the nozzle position with respect to the board | substrate surface of the apparatus shown in FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the movement operation procedure of the nozzle of the apparatus in FIG. It is a principal part side view of the conventional paste coating device. It is a principal part front view of the apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining the state which positions the nozzle position with respect to the board | substrate surface of the apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Board | substrate table 2 Board | substrate 3 Nozzle 4 Syringe 5 Servo motor 6 Distance meter 11 XY-theta movement table 13 Z-axis movement mechanism 14 Controller (control means)

Claims (3)

In a paste coating apparatus configured to relatively move the nozzle and the substrate surface, and the paste discharged from the nozzle sequentially coats and draws a plurality of patterns on the substrate surface.
Control means for controlling to set the initial height position of the nozzle at the application start position of the second and subsequent patterns applied and drawn by the nozzle to a position corresponding to the height position of the nozzle in the previously applied and drawn pattern. A paste coating apparatus characterized by comprising.   The control means sets the initial height position of the nozzle at the application start position of the second and subsequent patterns to be the nozzle height position at the application start position or the application end position of the previously applied pattern. The paste coating apparatus according to claim 1. The rising position of the nozzle when moving from the application end position at the time of application drawing to the next application start position is the predetermined height of application of the nozzle at the application start position of the pattern drawn and applied to the substrate surface. 3. The paste applying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paste applying apparatus is set at a position lower than a search operation start position for positioning to the gap value.

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