JP2006195128A - Device for laminating panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device with which light from a light source is made to irradiate a sealing material of a panel without making the light pass through a partition wall of a decompression chamber in the device for laminating the panel put in the decompression chamber with irradiation of spot light. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of light irradiation units, containing LEDs to emit light with a wavelength for hardening the sealing material, are installed in the decompression chamber of the device for laminating the panel, and the light emitted from the LED is made to irradiate the sealing material of the panel. The light irradiation unit is optionally installed so as to be suspended from the upper side of the panel via a light irradiation unit driving mechanism which makes the light irradiation unit approach to or part from the panel, or so as to be buried under a work stage in the decompression chamber, on which the panel is put. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a panel bonding apparatus for bonding two light-transmitting substrates constituting a panel in an assembly process of a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a liquid crystal panel (color liquid crystal panel). 101 is a color filter substrate, 102 is a TFT substrate, 107 is a TFT element (thin film transistor), 104 is a black matrix, 106 is an alignment film, ** is a sealant (adhesive), and 105 is a transparent electrode.
In the figure, the vertical direction is extremely enlarged compared to the horizontal direction for easy understanding. Actually, the distance between the color filter substrate 101 and the TFT substrate 102 is about 5 μm, and the width of the sealant ** is about 1 mm to 1.5 mm.

In general, a liquid crystal panel has two light-transmitting substrates (hereinafter referred to as a glass substrate, which may be a transparent resin substrate) composed of a color filter substrate 101 and a TFT substrate 102, which are bonded together with a sealant S. A region surrounded by the agent S is filled with the liquid crystal LC.
In general, a liquid crystal panel has two light-transmitting substrates (a glass substrate, which will be described below as a glass substrate, but may be a transparent resin substrate). And a color filter 103 and the like are formed.

  On the TFT substrate 102, driving elements for driving the liquid crystal LC, for example, the TFT elements 108, liquid crystal driving electrodes formed of a transparent conductive film, and wirings connecting them are formed. In the liquid crystal panel, the image viewing side (front side) is the color filter substrate 101, and the opposite side (back side) is the TFT substrate 107.

The manufacturing process of the above-described liquid crystal panel (hereinafter referred to as a panel) varies depending on the size and type of the panel, but an example will be briefly described.
(1) Two glass substrates are formed separately. That is, a TFT element and a liquid crystal drive electrode are formed on one substrate, and a black matrix and a color filter are formed on the other substrate.

(2) On one glass substrate, a plurality of enclosures (hereinafter referred to as outlines, which are so-called liquid crystal screens) are formed using a sealant that is an adhesive of a photocurable resin.
(3) Put two glass substrates in a decompression chamber. In a reduced-pressure atmosphere, liquid crystal is dropped into the outline of the substrate coated with the sealant. Liquid crystal accumulates in the image area.

(4) Place the other glass substrate on top of it, align it, and if necessary, apply light in the direction in which both substrates approach each other while applying pressure, etc. Point (several to tens of points) is irradiated through the glass substrate.
Only the portion of the sealant at the spot irradiated with light is cured, and the two upper and lower glass substrates are fixed to such an extent that they do not shift in position. This is called temporary fixing of the panel.
(5) The temporarily fixed panel is taken out from the decompression chamber under atmospheric pressure, and this time, the entire sealant is irradiated with light, and the two substrates are completely bonded (adhered). The sealing agent plays a role of sealing the liquid crystal and adhering the two substrates.

(6) The pasted panel is divided (cut) for each outline and incorporated into a personal computer or television as a display screen.
For temporary fixing of the panel by the irradiation of the spot light described above, a light irradiation apparatus using a light guide fiber as shown in Patent Document 1 is usually used.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional apparatus for irradiating and bonding a spot light to a panel in a decompression chamber atmosphere.
Reference numeral 10 denotes a decompression chamber composed of a partition wall 11 and a work stage 12 on which a panel P on which spot light irradiation is performed is placed. The inside of the decompression chamber 12 is decompressed by a vacuum pump (not shown).

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a light emitting portion of a light irradiation apparatus as shown in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1. The light emitting portion 20 is a light source that emits light including a wavelength (for example, ultraviolet rays) that cures the sealing agent S; A condensing mirror 22 for condensing the light from the lamp 21 and introducing it into the first light guide fiber 23 is incorporated.

The light incident on the first light guide fiber 23 is guided to the vicinity of a portion where the partition wall 11 of the decompression chamber 10 is a quartz window 13 through which light is transmitted. The partition wall 11 may be entirely made of quartz.
The light guide fiber is configured by bundling a large number of optical fibers and can be bent within an allowable angle range, so that light can be guided to a desired position.

The light emitted from the first light guide fiber 23 is collected by the first lens 25 and passes through the quartz window 13. The light transmitted through the quartz window 13 is collected by the second lens 26 and is incident on the second light guide fiber 24.
The light that has entered the second light guide fiber 24 is guided to the vicinity of the sealant S of the panel P, and is collected by the lens unit ** provided on the emission side of the second light guide fiber 24, so that the panel P The sealing agent S is irradiated through the glass substrate.

  In the figure, only one position for irradiating the spot light is shown, but in reality, light irradiation is performed on a plurality of positions on the panel as described above. For this reason, the first light guide or the second light guide is branched according to the number of spot lights, and a plurality of light emitting portions are provided as necessary.

FIG. 7 shows another configuration example of a conventional panel bonding apparatus. Similar to the above example of the conventional apparatus, light from the light emitting portion 20 is guided by the light guide fiber 28. In the case of this conventional example, there is an opening 14 in a part of the partition wall 11 of the decompression chamber 10, and the opening 14 is inserted into the cylinder 15 which protrudes into the decompression chamber 10 and whose bottom part is a window through which light is transmitted.
The cylinder 15 is attached to the partition wall 11 with an O-ring interposed in order to prevent vacuum leakage.

The light guide fiber 28 is inserted into the tube 15, and the light emitting end of the light guide fiber 28 is brought close to the sealing agent S of the panel P.
The light emitted from the light guide fiber 28 passes through the light transmission window 17 at the bottom of the tube 15 and is applied to the sealing agent S through the glass substrate of the panel P.
As in FIG. 6, this figure also shows only one position where the spot light is irradiated, but actually, light irradiation is performed at a plurality of positions.

Regarding the temporary fixing of the above panel, in Patent Document 2, a UV curable adhesive is applied in addition to a thermosetting adhesive that bonds two substrates, and the UV curable adhesive is irradiated with UV light. It is shown that after temporary fixing, the entire substrate is heated and bonded completely.
Patent Document 3 discloses that the panel UV curing agent is irradiated with a plurality of spot UVs while being pressed against the UV curing agent of the panel placed in a reduced-pressure vacuum chamber, and the panel is temporarily fixed.

JP-A-1-250907 JP-A-4-51023 JP 2003-57664 A

In the case of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the light from the light emitting part passes through a quartz window forming a part of the partition wall while being guided by the light guide. In the case of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 7, the light irradiated from the light guide fiber to the sealing agent passes through the bottom of the glass tube.
In any case, in the conventional apparatus, the light from the light emitting part once passes through the partition wall of the decompression chamber or a part corresponding thereto, and the intensity of the light applied to the sealing agent is lowered.

As the above countermeasure, as shown in FIG. 8, it can be considered that the light guide fiber is configured to penetrate the partition wall of the decompression chamber. If it does in this way, the light from a light emission part can be irradiated to the sealing agent of a panel, without letting a partition etc. pass.
However, the light guide fiber is a bundle of a large number of optical fibers as described above, and if the partition wall of the decompression chamber is penetrated, the vacuum leaks through the gap of the fiber bundle, and the decompression chamber is decompressed. It is impossible to do so.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for irradiating a panel placed in a decompression chamber with spot light and bonding the light from a light source to a partition in the decompression chamber. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of irradiating a panel sealant without passing it through.

In the present invention, the above problems are solved as follows.
A plurality of light irradiation units that incorporate LEDs (light emitting diodes) that emit light having a wavelength for curing the sealant are provided in the decompression chamber of the panel bonding apparatus, and the light emitted from the LEDs is applied to the panel sealant. Irradiate.
Unlike a discharge lamp used in a light irradiation device as shown in Patent Document 1, an LED can emit a desired wavelength immediately after lighting, so it is turned off when light irradiation is not performed. I can leave.

In addition, since the heat generation at the time of lighting is less than that of the lamp, the amount of heat generation is reduced as a whole, and air cooling like that performed by the lamp is unnecessary. Therefore, the LED can be placed in a reduced pressure atmosphere.
The light irradiation unit may be provided so as to be suspended from above the panel via a light irradiation unit driving mechanism that moves the light irradiation unit closer to and away from the panel, or on the work stage in the decompression chamber on which the panel is placed. It may be provided so as to be embedded.

  In addition, in order to light LED in a light irradiation unit, the electric wire which supplies electric power etc. from the power supply for LED lighting is required, and this electric wire is relayed by the partition of a decompression chamber. However, an airtight terminal for relaying an electric wire into a decompression vessel without causing a vacuum leak is generally commercially available and can be used.

In the present invention, a light irradiation unit including an LED, which is a light source that emits light having a wavelength for curing the sealant, is provided in the decompression chamber of the bonding apparatus, so that the light emitted from the light irradiation unit is separated from the partition wall of the decompression chamber. The panel sealant can be irradiated without passing through, etc., and without reducing the light intensity.
In addition, it is not necessary to provide a quartz window in a part of the partition wall of the decompression chamber, an optical element such as a lens for relaying light, or a cylindrical member for inserting a light guide fiber. Can be planned.
Furthermore, the light emitted from the LED does not use a light guide fiber as in the prior art, but is directly applied to the sealant of the panel, so that the light is transmitted to the light guide fiber and transmitted through the light guide fiber. Therefore, no loss occurs and light can be used efficiently.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a panel bonding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIGS. 6 and 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
For the panel P to be bonded, only the upper and lower glass substrates and the sealing agent S and the liquid crystal LC sandwiched between them are shown, and other configurations such as black matrix and TFT elements are omitted. Yes.

A light irradiation unit 30 includes an LED (light emitting diode) 31 that emits light having a wavelength that cures the sealant S of the panel P, and a lens 32 that collects light emitted from the LED 31. The LED 31 is a point light source and is condensed by a lens 32 and emits a spot-like light of several mm from the light emission port 33 at the tip of the light irradiation unit.
Currently, a photo-curing sealant for laminating panels is mainly used in a type that is cured by light having a wavelength of 400 nm or less. For example, LEDs that emit light having wavelengths of 405 nm, 380 nm, and 365 nm are commercially available as LEDs that emit light having a wavelength corresponding thereto, and these can be used as LEDs for light sources in this embodiment. it can.

The light irradiation units 30 are supported by the columns 34 and are provided according to the position and number of spots on the panel P where the spot light is irradiated. FIG. 1 shows an example in which three light irradiation units are provided.
The column 34 is connected to a light irradiation unit drive mechanism 35 attached to the partition wall 11, and the light irradiation unit drive mechanism 30 drives the column 34 in the vertical direction of the drawing. Thereby, the light irradiation unit 30 moves closer to and away from the panel P on the work stage 12.

The light irradiation unit drive mechanism 35 is attached to the partition wall 11 with an O-ring sandwiched between them in order to prevent leakage.
The LED lighting device 40 that supplies power to the LED 31 of the light irradiation unit 30 and controls lighting and extinction is provided outside the decompression chamber 10. The LED lighting device 40 is connected to the light irradiation unit 30 by an electric wire (power line, signal line, etc.) 50. In the partition wall 11 of the decompression chamber 10 on the way, it is relayed by a hermetically sealed terminal 51 such as a hermetic seal. Is done.

In addition, the partition wall 11 is provided with a carry-in port 52 for carrying the panel P into the decompression chamber 10 and a carry-out port 53 for carrying it out. The carry-in port and the carry-out port may be only one place for both.
Reference numeral 41 denotes a control unit of the panel bonding apparatus, which controls operations of the LED lighting device 40, the light irradiation unit drive mechanism 35, the shutter 54, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a panel bonding operation in the apparatus shown in the first embodiment.
FIG. 2 (a). The shutter 54 of the carry-in entrance 52 is opened, and the panel P is carried into the decompression chamber 10 of the bonding apparatus from another decompression chamber 60 by a transport mechanism (not shown). At this time, the inside of the decompression chamber 10 is evacuated and decompressed in advance by a vacuum pump (not shown).

At this time, the light irradiation unit 30 is moved away from the work stage 12 by the light irradiation unit driving mechanism 35 so that the column 34 is pulled up so as not to interfere with the loaded panel P. At this time, the LED 31 in the light irradiation unit 30 is turned off.
FIG. 2 (b). The panel P is placed on the work stage 12, and the shutter 54 of the carry-in port 52 is closed.

The support 34 is lowered by the light irradiation unit drive mechanism 35, and the light irradiation unit 30 approaches the panel P. The LED 31 in the light irradiation unit 30 is turned on, and the light condensed in a spot shape is irradiated from the upper side of the panel P to the sealing agent S through the glass substrate. The sealant S in the portion irradiated with the spot light is cured and the panel P is temporarily fixed.
FIG. 2 (c). The LED 31 in the light irradiation unit 30 is turned off. The light irradiation unit drive mechanism 35 pulls up the column 34, and the light irradiation unit 30 moves away from the panel P of the work stage 12.

The decompression chamber 10 of the bonding apparatus is returned to atmospheric pressure, the shutter 54 of the carry-out port 53 is opened, and the temporarily fixed panel P is carried out of the work stage 12 by a transfer mechanism (not shown).
In addition, when it is desired to reduce the number of spot lights irradiated to the panel P, the LED lighting device 40 may light the LEDs only for an arbitrary light irradiation unit.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of a panel bonding apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 3, the light irradiation unit 30 is configured to be fixed in the work stage 12 on which the panel P is placed.
As shown in the figure, the work stage 12 is provided with a plurality of holes 55 into which the light irradiation unit 30 is inserted at the position where the spot light of the panel P placed thereon is irradiated. The unit 30 is held in the hole 55 so that the light emission port 33 does not protrude from the surface of the work stage 12.

The structure of the light irradiation unit 30 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the LED 31 that is a light source that emits a wavelength for curing the sealant and the condensing lens 32 are built in. Emits light.
The light irradiation unit 30 inserted into the work stage 12 does not interfere with the panel carried into and out of the decompression chamber 10. Therefore, in this embodiment, the light irradiation unit driving mechanism as provided in the first embodiment is not necessary.

However, the electric wire 50 which connects the light irradiation unit 30 and the LED lighting device 40 is required, and in the case of the present embodiment, at the lower part of the work stage 12, the airtight landing terminal 51 is used similarly to the first embodiment. It is relayed to the electric wire 50 outside the decompression chamber 10.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the panel bonding operation in the apparatus shown in the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 (a). The shutter 54 of the carry-in entrance 52 is opened, and the panel P is carried into the decompression chamber 10 of the bonding apparatus from another decompression chamber 60 by a transport mechanism (not shown). At this time, the inside of the decompression chamber 10 is evacuated and decompressed in advance by a vacuum pump (not shown). The LED 31 of the light irradiation unit 30 provided in the work stage 12 is turned off.
FIG. 4B. When the panel P is placed on the work stage 12, the shutter 54 of the carry-in entrance 52 is closed.

The LED 31 in the light irradiation unit 30 is turned on, and the light condensed in a spot shape is applied to the sealing agent S from the lower side of the panel P through the glass substrate through the glass substrate. The sealant S in the portion irradiated with light is cured and the panel P is temporarily fixed.
FIG. 4C. The LED 31 in the light irradiation unit 30 is turned off. The decompression chamber 10 of the bonding apparatus is returned to atmospheric pressure, the shutter 54 of the carry-out port 53 is opened, and the temporarily fixed panel P is carried out of the work stage 12 by a transfer mechanism (not shown).

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the bonding apparatus of the panel which is the 1st Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the bonding operation | movement of a panel (1st Example). It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the bonding apparatus of the panel which is the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the bonding operation | movement of a panel (2nd Example). It is sectional drawing which shows an example of a liquid crystal panel (color liquid crystal panel). It is a figure which shows an example of the conventional apparatus which irradiates and bonds a spot light to a panel in a pressure-reduced-chamber atmosphere. It is a figure which shows another example of a conventional apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the bonding apparatus which made the light guide fiber penetrate the partition of a decompression chamber.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Decompression chamber 11 Partition 12 Work stage 13 Quartz window 14 Open 15 Cylinder 17 Light transmission window 20 Light emitting part 21 Lamp 22 Condensing mirror 23 1st light guide fiber 24 2nd light guide fiber 25 1st lens 26 1st lens 26 2 lens 27 lens unit 28 light guide fiber 30 light irradiation unit 31 LED
32 Lens 33 Light exit port 34 Support column 35 Light irradiation unit drive mechanism 40 LED lighting device 41 Bonding device control unit 50 Electric wire 51 Sealed contact terminal 52 Carrying in port 53 Carrying out port 54 Shutter 55 hole 60 Another decompression chamber 101 Color filter substrate 102 TFT substrate 103 Color filter 104 Black matrix 105 Transparent electrode 106 Alignment film 107 TFT element P Panel S Sealant LC Liquid crystal

Claims (2)

A decompression chamber, a work stage on which a panel provided in the decompression chamber and sandwiching a photo-curing sealant is placed, and a light source that emits light having a wavelength at which the sealant is cured, In the panel laminating apparatus that irradiates the panel sealant with light from the light source and bonds it together,
The light source is a plurality of light irradiation units including LEDs that emit light having a wavelength for curing the sealant provided in the decompression chamber, and a direction in which the light irradiation unit approaches or separates from the panel on the work stage. A panel laminating apparatus comprising: a light irradiation unit driving mechanism that moves the light irradiation unit; and a control unit that controls turning on / off of the LED of the light irradiation unit. A decompression chamber, a work stage on which a panel provided in the decompression chamber and sandwiching a photo-curing sealant is placed, and a light source that emits light having a wavelength at which the sealant is cured, In the panel laminating apparatus that irradiates the panel sealant with light from the light source and bonds it together,
The light source is a plurality of light irradiation units including LEDs that are provided in the work stage and emit light having a wavelength for curing the sealant, and includes a control unit that controls turning on / off of the LEDs of the light irradiation unit. A panel bonding apparatus characterized by the above.

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