JP2007163769A - Rubbing device and liquid crystal display element manufactured by using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure productivity, reproducibility, and manufacturing precision even of a larger glass substrate by attaining weight reduction, high rigidity, and high plane precision of a rubbing stage on which a glass substrate coated with an alignment layer is mounted and rubbing processing is applied to the glass substrate. <P>SOLUTION: The rubbing stage 5 is structured by arranging a plurality of main stages 4 longitudinally and laterally at specified intervals on a sub-stage 3 sandwitching a flat plate-shaped body 2 between two CFRP plates 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rubbing apparatus used in a rubbing process in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display element and a liquid crystal display element manufactured using the rubbing apparatus, and in particular, a glass substrate coated with an alignment film is placed thereon. The present invention relates to a rubbing apparatus equipped with a rubbing stage that can cope with an increase in the size of a glass substrate by reducing the weight and rigidity of the rubbing stage and improving the accuracy of flatness, and a liquid crystal display element manufactured using the rubbing stage.

  There is a rubbing process in the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal panel. This is a process of rubbing an alignment film formed on the surface of a transparent substrate (for example, a glass substrate) with a cloth (rubbing) to form fine grooves, and uniform distribution of liquid crystal molecules and alignment of liquid crystal molecules. Is arranged in a predetermined direction along the groove to obtain a uniform display over the entire surface of the liquid crystal display element.

  Therefore, in order to manufacture a liquid crystal display element with good display quality, it is important to uniformly form fine grooves over the entire alignment film by rubbing the entire alignment film under uniform conditions.

  A general method for rubbing an alignment film formed on a glass substrate is to form a rubbing roller by winding a cloth (rubbing cloth) in which a pile (hair) is planted on the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical roller. The alignment film formed on the glass substrate is rubbed with a pile of a rotating rubbing roller while the substrate is moved in a predetermined direction at a predetermined speed.

  In this case, in order to rub with good reproducibility under uniform conditions over the entire surface of the alignment film, the distance or pressure of the pile of the rubbing cloth wound around the rubbing roller is uniform with respect to the alignment film formed on the glass substrate. It is necessary to perform rubbing while being held in

  Therefore, a rubbing apparatus has been proposed that can adjust the parallelism between the surface of the rubbing roller and the surface of the rubbing stage on which the glass substrate is placed using a non-contact displacement sensor. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the carriage 100 is mounted on a movable rail 102 extending in the longitudinal direction on the base 101 so as to be movable in the reciprocating direction, and the lifting platform 103 is movable on the upper surface of the carriage 100 in the vertical direction. In addition, a turntable 104 having a surface parallel to the upper surface of the elevator 103 is mounted at the center of the upper surface of the elevator 103.

  Further, a support bracket 107 is rotatably mounted on a swing bearing 106 attached to the ceiling of a gate-type support frame 105 erected on the base 101, and a roller support frame 108 is attached to the support bracket 107 with a pivot pin 109. It is hold | maintained so that tilting is possible. A rubbing roller 110 having a rubbing cloth wound around its outer peripheral surface is rotatably held between shafts at both ends of the rubbing roller 110 by support shafts 111 a and 111 b provided at both ends of the roller support frame 108.

Further, the displacement sensor 112 was mounted at one end of the turning table 104 so as to face the peripheral surface of the end of the rubbing roller 110, and the displacement sensor 112 was obtained by irradiating the rubbing roller 110 with a laser beam. A detection signal of the distance to the rubbing roller 110 is transferred to the control device, and the roller support frame 108 is tilted by feedback from the control device to adjust the parallelism between the turning table 104 and the rubbing roller 110, and then the glass substrate is turned on the turning table. It is arranged on 104 to start the rubbing of the alignment film (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-215596 A

  However, the rubbing apparatus is intended to rub the entire alignment film formed on the glass substrate under uniform conditions by adjusting the parallelism between the surface of the rubbing roller and the surface of the rubbing stage on which the glass substrate is placed. However, it does not improve the accuracy of flatness.

  By the way, in recent years, needs for enlargement of liquid crystal monitors such as televisions, videos, DVDs, computers, etc. are rapidly increasing, and it is predicted that demand for further enlargement will continue in the future. Therefore, in order to realize this, it is indispensable to increase the size of the glass substrate, and it is also indispensable to increase the size of the multi-faced glass substrate in order to improve the production efficiency even in the small and medium size.

  The size of the glass substrate by generation is mainly limited by the processing capacity of the device. If the first generation of liquid crystal panel is the first generation of liquid crystal, the size of the glass substrate is about 300 mm x 300 mm. It is estimated that it will be about 1500 mm × 1800 mm in the 6th generation, and will be up to about 1800 mm × 2000 mm in the future 7th generation.

  Therefore, in the rubbing apparatus, it is necessary to lengthen the rubbing stage on which the glass substrate is placed as the glass substrate becomes larger, but the conventional rubbing stage performs polishing and lapping on an integrated metal material or ceramic. If the glass substrate is 6th generation (approx. 1500mm x 1800mm) or larger, it will be difficult to produce with the conventional method, and plane accuracy will be ensured. Becomes difficult.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4A, a main stage 30 divided into a plurality of pieces and a substage 31 divided into a single piece or a smaller number than the number of divisions of the main stage 30 are produced. As shown in FIG. 2, there is a rubbing stage 32 in which a main stage 30 divided into a plurality of parts on a substage 31 is arranged at predetermined intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions. Further, there is a mechanism in which a parallelism adjusting mechanism is provided below the substage 31.

  The rubbing stage having such a structure has a double structure in which a conventional metal material or ceramic is disposed on a substage made of a metal material such as aluminum, and the weight is increased accordingly. As a result, the moving speed at the time of rubbing and the return speed after rubbing are restricted, and the production efficiency is lowered.

  In addition, a high-torque motor must be used to drive a heavy rubbing stage. Therefore, the rubbing device becomes larger and heavier as the motor becomes larger, and the motor price increases. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the rubbing device also increases.

  The present invention was devised in view of the above problems, and the object thereof is to reduce the weight, increase the rigidity, and provide a flat surface of a rubbing stage on which a glass substrate coated with an alignment film is placed and subjected to a rubbing process. This provides a rubbing apparatus equipped with a rubbing stage that can improve the accuracy of the degree of processing and can ensure productivity, reproducibility and manufacturing accuracy even when the glass substrate is enlarged, and a liquid crystal display element manufactured using the rubbing stage. is there.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention provides an outer periphery of a rotating rubbing roller while moving a rubbing stage on which a glass substrate coated with an alignment film is placed at a predetermined speed. A rubbing apparatus for rubbing the alignment film with a rubbing cloth wound on a surface, wherein the rubbing stage has a plurality of main stages arranged at predetermined intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions on the sub stage, and the sub stage Is a sandwich structure in which a flat plate is sandwiched between two CFRP plates.

  The invention described in claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that, in claim 1, the flat plate-like body is one of a metal plate and a flat plate-shaped angle structure. .

  The invention described in claim 3 of the present invention is characterized in that, in any one of claims 1 and 2, the main stage is one of a metal plate and a ceramic plate. is there.

  Moreover, the invention described in claim 4 of the present invention is characterized by being manufactured using the rubbing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

  The present invention provides a rubbing apparatus for rubbing the alignment film with a rubbing cloth wound around an outer peripheral surface of a rotating rubbing roller while moving a rubbing stage on which a glass substrate coated with the alignment film is mounted at a predetermined speed. The rubbing stage has a structure in which a plurality of main stages are arranged at predetermined intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions on a sandwich stage sub-stage in which a flat plate-like body is sandwiched between two CFRP plates.

  As a result, a rubbing apparatus equipped with a rubbing stage that realizes weight reduction, high rigidity, and improved flatness accuracy of the rubbing stage, and can ensure productivity, reproducibility, and manufacturing accuracy even when the glass substrate is enlarged, and A liquid crystal display device using the same can be manufactured.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 (the same reference numerals are given to the same parts, and the description will be omitted). The embodiments described below are preferable specific examples of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention particularly limits the present invention in the following description. As long as there is no description of the effect, it is not restricted to these aspects.

  FIG. 1 shows an assembling process of the rubbing stage. First, in the step (a), a CFRP plate 1 based on CFRP and a flat plate-like body 2 composed only of an aluminum plate or a frame having an angle structure are prepared.

  CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics) is a plastic reinforced by carbon fibers (carbon fiber reinforced plus chip), and is a composite material of various carbon fibers and various thermosetting resins. And it has the following characteristics.

  First, carbon fiber has the same tensile strength as that of high-strength steel in the fiber direction, and has a higher elastic modulus than titanium. Moreover, since the specific gravity is 60% of aluminum, it is a highly rigid and lightweight material.

  In addition, it exhibits excellent characteristics in fatigue tests. The carbon fiber itself is essentially free of creep (a phenomenon that gradually deforms and breaks over time when a certain stress is applied), and the permanent elongation due to creep is negligible. Material.

  In addition, since the thermal expansion coefficient in the fiber direction is almost equal to 0 and the thermal expansion coefficient can be reduced to 0 by the lamination method, there is almost no thermal expansion / shrinkage, and extremely high dimensional accuracy can be maintained.

  Furthermore, the vibration absorption and the damping factor are large compared to metals due to the interaction between the fiber and the resin. Therefore, the vibration absorption is good and the vibration damping effect is high.

  Next, in the step (b), the sandwich stage sub-stage 3 is configured so that the flat plate-like body 2 is sandwiched and supported by the two CFRP plates 1 having the above characteristics.

  Further, in the step (c), the rubbing stage 5 is configured by arranging a plurality of divided main stages 4 on the one CFRP plate 1 of the substage 3 at predetermined intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions.

  As the individual main stages 4 which are divided and miniaturized, those obtained by polishing and lapping a metal material or ceramic as in the past can be used, and planar accuracy can be ensured.

  Accordingly, the rubbing stage 5 can be formed by disposing the main stage 4 with high planar accuracy on the substage 3 having high rigidity and light weight, maintaining extremely high dimensional accuracy without causing aging, and having a high vibration damping effect. It will be assembled.

  As a result, the rubbing stage 5 can also realize light weight and high planar accuracy. In particular, as described above, when the glass substrate becomes a size after the sixth generation (about 1500 mm × 1800 mm), this effect is effectively exhibited.

  In the present invention, a part of the substage made of a metal material is replaced with a CFRP material having a specific gravity much smaller than that of the metal material. Therefore, the substage can be reduced to about 1/4 to 1/5 in weight ratio with respect to the same area as compared with the conventional substage. Further, the size is not limited due to the degree of freedom of shape of the material.

  FIG. 2 shows that a glass substrate 6 coated with an alignment film is placed on a rubbing stage 5 in which a main stage 4 is arranged on a substage 3 of the present invention, and the alignment film of the glass substrate 6 is rubbed by a rubbing roller 7. It shows how to apply. This rubbing method is the same as the conventional rubbing method except that the substage of the present invention is used instead of the conventional substage.

It is an assembly process figure of embodiment concerning the rubbing stage of the rubbing apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the rubbing operation | movement of the rubbing apparatus of this invention. It is a front view which shows the conventional rubbing apparatus. It is an assembly process figure of the rubbing stage of the conventional rubbing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CFRP board 2 Flat plate body 3 Substage 4 Main stage 5 Rubbing stage 6 Glass substrate 7 Rubbing roller

Claims (4)

  A rubbing apparatus for rubbing the alignment film with a rubbing cloth wound around the outer peripheral surface of a rotating rubbing roller while moving a rubbing stage on which a glass substrate coated with an alignment film is placed at a predetermined speed, The rubbing stage has a plurality of main stages arranged on a substage at predetermined intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the substage has a sandwich structure in which a flat plate is sandwiched between two CFRP plates. Rubbing equipment to do.   The rubbing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flat plate-like body is one of a metal plate and a flat plate-shaped angle structure.   The rubbing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main stage is one of a metal plate and a ceramic plate.   A liquid crystal display element manufactured using the rubbing apparatus according to claim 1.

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