JP2007112499A - Glass substrate transporting box - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transporting box which does not require an excessively wide interval between glass substrates when they are arranged therein side by side, and has a structure that can ensure sufficient strength even if the box is formed of a lightweight member. <P>SOLUTION: The glass substrate transporting box stores therein the plurality of glass substrates for flat panel display, in a manner being almost erectly arranged in parallel with each other. The transporting box has: a base body forming a bottom surface; external wall plates forming side surfaces; a cover body forming a top face portion; and a plurality of holding pads each having formed therein grooves for holding the glass substrates. The holding pads are arranged on the bottom surface and the side surfaces which glass end faces face. Further a holding pad connectable to both the external wall plates opposed to each other is arranged on the top face portion at a location facing the center of each glass substrate end face. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport box for storing and transporting a plurality of glass substrates arranged in parallel in an upright posture.

  Due to the demands of the times such as an increase in the size and weight of image display devices, production and sales of flat panel displays (FPD) such as plasma display panels (PDP) and liquid crystal displays (LCD) have been activated. Glass substrates used for FPD production are stored in a transport box in a state in which a plurality of glass substrates are arranged in parallel. Then, the glass substrate is transported from a glass substrate manufacturing factory or the like to a display panel production factory or the like, and the glass substrates are taken out one by one from the box and transferred to a panel production line or the like.

  Many panel production lines are designed on the premise that a glass substrate is taken out from a plurality of glass substrates arranged substantially in parallel, and as a result, the transport box corresponds to the line design. Things are standard. The glass substrate must be maintained at a high level of cleanliness so that it can be used for FPD production, and it must be stored and held so that it does not break during transportation. A box having a special structure has been proposed.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a bottomed box made of a foamed resin molded body is fixedly installed on the upper surface of a base that forms the bottom surface, and a holding for holding a plurality of glass plates inside the box. An L-shaped pad consisting of a side plate portion and a bottom plate portion in which grooves are formed is incorporated, and the upper opening of the box is covered with a lid, and the pad is placed between the lid and the lid side of the glass substrate end face. A transport box in which is arranged is disclosed. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a transport box having a structure that enables the pad positioning to be accurately and easily performed and the pad position change to be easily changed.

In order to perform mass production of FPD, a multi-chamfer production method in which two or more panels are manufactured on a large-area glass substrate has become the mainstream. And now is the time to shift from 4-chamfering to 6-chamfering. The multi-chamfer production method requires a glass substrate having an area corresponding to the glass substrate. For example, if a 42-inch panel shifts from four chamfers to six chamfers, a glass substrate having a larger area of about 1 m ² is required. This creates a need for a new transport box that accommodates large area glass substrates.
JP 2001-31165 A JP 2003-63582 A

  When the glass substrate has a large area, the deflection is likely to occur, and the glass substrate is easily shaken during conveyance. In order to prevent the glass from contacting each other, if the interval between the glass substrates arranged in parallel is increased, the conveyance efficiency is lowered. And since the increase in the area of the glass substrate brings about further weight increase, it is necessary to reduce the weight of the member used for the transport box in order to improve the transport efficiency. Bring about a decline.

  In the present invention, the above-mentioned two problems have been encountered in examining a transport box for a large area glass substrate. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to solve these problems, and it is not necessary to increase the interval when arranging the glass substrates in parallel more than necessary, and even if a lightweight box is selected to form a transport box, the strength is increased. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transport box having a structure in which is maintained.

  The glass substrate transport box of the present invention is a glass substrate transport box for storing a plurality of flat panel display glass substrates arranged in parallel in a substantially upright manner, the transport box comprising a base body forming a bottom surface, and a side surface. A plurality of holding pads formed with grooves for holding the glass substrate, and the holding pad is a side surface facing the bottom surface and the glass end surface portion. Further, a holding pad that can be coupled to opposite sides of the outer wall plate is disposed at the center portion of the end surface of the glass substrate.

  Since the holding pad is disposed on the bottom surface and the side surface facing the end surface of the glass substrate, the holding pad forms a substantially L shape. This is a basic part for housing the glass substrate. With this basic portion, an end surface portion facing the bottom surface of the glass substrate and an end surface portion facing the side surface are held.

  Further, on the top surface side, a holding pad that can be coupled with both outer wall plates facing the surface of the glass substrate is disposed at the center of the glass end surface on the top surface side. After this arrangement, the holding pad is combined with the two outer wall plates, so that the holding pad plays the role of a beam, and the strength of the transport box can be improved. As a result, it succeeds in widening the range of material selection, such as allowing the weight reduction of the member used for a conveyance box. And since the glass end surface by the side of a top | upper surface part is hold | maintained by the holding pad which played the role of the beam, generation | occurrence | production of glass shake can be suppressed and it becomes unnecessary to widen the parallel space | interval of a glass substrate.

  The holding pad has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is perpendicular to the end surface of the glass substrate facing the top surface, and is disposed in the center portion when viewed from the top surface. The number to be arranged may be arbitrarily set according to the size of the glass substrate. For example, in the case of a glass substrate for chamfering 6 panels of a 42-inch size, a structure in which one is arranged at the center can be used.

  And it is preferable that the holding pad arrange | positioned at the said top surface part side is made into the structure which contacts a cover body directly or through a spacer. With this structure, in addition to the connection with the side wall, the top surface portion also comes into contact, so the strength of the transport box can be made stronger.

  Furthermore, the transport box of the present invention preferably has a structure in which an L-shaped holding pad is arranged at the top surface side corner of the end surface of the glass substrate and is in contact with the lid directly or via a spacer. By adopting such a structure, the glass substrate can be firmly held in the transport box even if the holding pad arranged on the side wall side does not have the same height as the glass substrate arranged in series. it can.

  In addition, the glass substrate for FPD is preferably clean. For this cleaning, it is preferable to reduce the contact area between the glass substrate and the member holding the glass substrate during transportation. For example, when the L-shaped holding pad is arranged at the top side corner of the glass end face, an effect of reducing the contact area of the pad that comes into contact with the glass substrate is produced.

  Since the transport box of the present invention has a holding pad that plays the role of a beam on the top surface side, the strength of the box can be increased, and the weight of the member to be used is reduced. In addition, since the holding pad is coupled to the outer wall surface, the glass substrate is less likely to be shaken even if vibration occurs during the transport of the transport box. As a result, it is possible to prevent the glass substrates from contacting each other without unnecessarily widening the interval between the glass substrates arranged substantially vertically. Therefore, even if the area of the glass substrate to be transferred increases, it is possible to reduce the increase in the weight of the box without reducing the transfer efficiency.

  The conveyance box for glass substrates of this invention is demonstrated with drawing. FIG. 1 is a view showing a main part of a cross section with respect to the vertical direction of the surface of the glass substrate 2 at a portion where the top surface side holding pad 3a is arranged in the glass substrate transport box 1 of the present invention. A glass substrate 2 in FIG. 1 represents an end surface portion of the glass substrate. FIG. 2 is a partially broken perspective view showing the entire structure excluding the lid 7 that forms the top surface portion. The glass substrate 2 in FIG. 2 represents the surface part of the glass substrate. And FIG. 3 is a figure which shows the cross section of the glass surface direction about the structure in case the L-shaped holding pad 3d is arrange | positioned at the top | upper surface part side corner | angular part of the glass substrate 2. FIG. The glass substrate 2 in FIG. 3 represents the surface part of the glass substrate.

  The pad 3 a that holds the top surface side of the end surface of the glass substrate 2 is connected to the outer wall surface 5 by the coupling portion 4. The coupling | bond part 4 is couple | bonded by hooking the bowl-shaped body connected with the pad 3a, and the bowl-shaped body connected with the outer wall surface 5, for example. The members 4a and 4b may be further fixed with bolts, screws, or the like when the coupling portion 4 is formed. Alternatively, one of the members 4a and 4b may be formed in a ring shape, the other in the shape of a bowl-shaped body, and this may be hooked on the ring-shaped body. Furthermore, it is good also as a structure which joins the outer wall surface 5 and the pad 3a with this joint part 4 only by the member which has a bolt, a screw, etc., a corresponding nut, and a screw hole.

  It is preferable to use a member formed of stainless steel, steel, aluminum, an aluminum alloy or the like as a member that forms the coupling portion. The pads 3a, b, c, and d are molded bodies made of a low-rigidity cushioning material or the like. Further, the pads may have the above-described metal or the like in its structure as necessary. . The buffer material is preferably formed of foamable polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, or the like.

  A groove 33 for holding the glass substrate 2 is formed in the holding pads 3a, b, c, and d, and the glass substrate 2 is held in the groove 33. A spacer 8 is preferably disposed between the holding pad 3a and the lid 6 that forms the top surface portion. The spacer 8 is preferably a molded body made of foamed polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride or the like and made of a low-rigidity buffer material or the like.

  The lid body 6 and the outer wall surface 5 are made of plastic cardboard, for example. The outer wall surface 5 is preferably made of a frame material 9 made of stainless steel, steel, aluminum, aluminum alloy, or the like, so that it can be inserted and removed.

  The base 7 that forms the bottom surface is formed of a member having high rigidity such as a metal such as stainless steel, steel, aluminum, and an aluminum alloy, and a resin such as hard vinyl chloride, ABS resin, and high-density polyethylene. The holding pads 3 b and c are arranged on the base body 7 and the outer wall surface 5.

  For example, the holding pads 3b and c are provided by providing a guide rail (not shown) on the base body 7 and the outer wall surface 5 and providing a guide rail groove on the opposite side of the groove 33 of the corresponding holding pad, or a bolt Further, a structure that can be attached and detached using a screw or the like, a corresponding nut, a member having a screw hole, or the like may be used. In addition, the holding pad 3 can be adapted to the size change of the glass substrate 2 by changing the thickness or providing a spacer (not shown) between the outer wall 5 and the holding pad 3c.

  The glass substrate 2 is carried into the transport box 1 in the following steps, for example. A holding pad 3 b is installed on the base 7. Next, the frame member 9 is attached to the base body 7, and the outer wall surface 5 in which the holding pad 3 c is installed between the frame members 9 and the outer wall surface 5 having a portion where the holding pad 3 a can be coupled are arranged. Then, the glass substrate 2 is inserted into the grooves 33 of the holding pads 3b and c, and a plurality of glass substrates 2 are arranged substantially in parallel in series.

  After arranging the glass substrate 2, the holding pad 3 a is arranged at the top surface side end of the glass substrate 2, and the holding pad 3 a and the outer wall surface 5 are combined. Preferably, an L-shaped holding pad 3d is arranged at the corner on the top side of the glass substrate 2, a spacer 8 is arranged on the holding pads 3a, d, and the lid 6 is arranged thereon.

  More preferably, the periphery of the transport box 1 is covered or surrounded by a frame formed of stainless steel, steel, aluminum, an aluminum alloy or the like, a band made of a resin such as rubber, rope, polypropylene, or a stretch film made of polyethylene or the like. Etc. to improve the strength of the transport box.

It is a figure which shows the principal part of the cross section with respect to the vertical direction of the glass substrate surface of the site | part by which the top | upper surface part side holding pad is arrange | positioned regarding the conveyance box for glass substrates of this invention. A glass substrate 2 in FIG. 1 represents an end surface portion of the glass substrate. It is a figure which shows the partially broken perspective view which shows the whole structure except the cover body 7 which forms the top | upper surface part regarding the conveyance box for glass substrates of this invention. The glass substrate 2 in FIG. 2 represents the surface part of the glass substrate. It is a figure which shows the cross section of the glass surface direction about the structure in case the L-shaped holding pad is arrange | positioned in the top | upper surface part side corner | angular part of a glass substrate regarding the conveyance box for glass substrates of this invention. The glass substrate 2 in FIG. 3 represents the surface part of the glass substrate.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate transport box 2 Glass substrate 3a Glass substrate holding pad 3b arranged on the top surface side Holding pad 3c arranged on the bottom surface 7c Holding pad 3d arranged on the outer wall plate 5 Top surface side corner of the glass substrate The holding pad 33 arranged in the groove 4 for holding the glass substrate 4 The connecting portion 4a between the holding pad 3 and the glass wall surface The holding pad 3 portion side connecting member 4b The outer wall plate 5 side connecting member 5 forming the side surface The side surface is formed. Outer wall plate 6 Lid for forming the top surface 7 Base body for forming the bottom 8 Spacer 9 through the holding pads 3a and d and the lid 6 Frame material

Claims (3)

A glass substrate transport box for storing a plurality of flat panel display glass substrates arranged substantially in parallel in an upright manner. The transport box includes a base that forms a bottom surface, an outer wall plate that forms a side surface, and a top surface portion. A plurality of holding pads formed with grooves for holding the glass substrate and the lid to be formed; the holding pads are arranged on the side surface facing the bottom surface and the glass end surface portion; and further on the top surface side. Is a transport box for glass substrates, characterized in that a holding pad that can be coupled to opposite sides of the outer wall plate is disposed at the center of the end surface of the glass substrate. The transport box for a glass substrate according to claim 1, wherein the holding pad arranged on the top surface side is in contact with the lid directly or via a spacer. The glass substrate according to claim 1, wherein an L-shaped holding pad is disposed at a corner on the top surface side of the end surface of the glass substrate, and is in contact with the lid directly or via a spacer. Transport box.

Images