JP2008243424A - Stacking device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that, in case a hard sealant is used in a substrate stacking process for a PDP, there is a fear of a substrate being damaged, when a front one is pressed by a rear-face one coated with a sealant. <P>SOLUTION: Out of two sheets of substrates to be superposed on each other, the rear-face substrate has its top face retained by an upper stage 19, and the front substrate has its underside held by a lower stage 13 and a shift-preventing unit 18 provided at the lower stage. The lower stage 13 is elevated to have the two substrates close to each other with a faint gap, and then, is stopped and released from retention. The shift-preventing unit 18 is faintly elevated independently from the lower stage 13 to have the front substrate and the rear-face substrate in contact with each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for overlaying substrates of a display panel.

  A plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as “PDP”) is manufactured by bonding a front substrate and a rear substrate. The front substrate is attached with a matrix that is the three primary colors of light, and a light emitting body is attached to one of the rear substrates, and a sealant for application to the front substrate is applied around the matrix.

  In order to bond the two substrates together, the two substrates are positioned in a predetermined positional relationship, overlapped (superimposing step), temporarily fixed with a clip or the like (temporary fixing step), and then sealed with heat firing or the like. Dissolved and pasted together.

  The superposing apparatus for performing the superposing process includes a lower stage 13 that moves up and down by sucking and holding the front substrate from below, and an upper stage 19 that sucks and holds the rear substrate from above.

  The conveyed front substrate is sucked and held on the lower stage 13, and the rear substrate is sucked and held on the upper stage 19. Then, a position where the front substrate comes into contact with the sealing material applied to the rear substrate is set in advance, and the lower stage 1 is raised to the installation position to overlap the two substrates. After that, the peripheral portions of both the superimposed substrates are temporarily fixed with clips and conveyed to the next process. In general, the lower stage is extremely heavy, so fine torque control cannot be performed, and it is extremely difficult to accurately detect that the front substrate is in contact with the rear substrate. Raised to the close position.

  Note that the front substrate and the back substrate need to be sealed around the back substrate (or the front substrate depending on the specifications) because it is necessary to seal the matrix and the light emitter inside so as to seal the gas. A sealing material is applied, and the front substrate and the back substrate are hermetically bonded to each other with a predetermined interval by performing thermal baking or the like in a subsequent process.

JP 2000-133134 A

  By the way, as described above, a panel such as a PDP is provided with a matrix of colors which are the three primary colors of light on the front substrate, and a light emitter corresponding to the matrix of the front substrate is provided on the rear substrate. Therefore, in order for the PDP to emit light correctly, the front substrate and the rear substrate must be overlapped at an accurate position without deviation and hermetically bonded.

  However, if there is a gap between the front substrate and the rear substrate when the front substrate and the rear substrate are overlapped and the clip is mounted, a shift (clip shift) occurs due to the clip mounting. In particular, the seal material applied to the back substrate varies in thickness due to the characteristics of the seal material and the coating device. Due to the uneven coating thickness, the gap between the front substrate and the back substrate is larger when the clip is mounted. I was supposed to.

  When a soft sealant is applied like a liquid crystal panel, the lower stage presses the front substrate against the back substrate (seal material) and deforms the seal material, increasing the displacement due to uneven thickness of the seal material However, when a hard sealant is applied like PDP, if the front substrate is pressed too much against the back substrate, the substrate will be damaged by excessive stress as shown in FIG. There was a possibility.

  On the other hand, since the height of the thickest part of the applied sealing agent is different for each substrate to be transported and there is a limit to the accuracy of the raised position of the lower stage, the hard sealing material described above was applied. In order to superimpose the substrates, the front substrate must be raised only slightly below the lower end of the rear substrate (sealant) on the lower stage, and a clip must be attached with a gap (gap) open. It was a factor that increased the gap. It is theoretically possible not to set the ascending stop position, but to provide a detecting means such as a reaction force on the lower stage, for example, to detect the contact with the sealing material and stop the ascending of the lower stage 1. However, the reaction force that does not damage the substrate is too small relative to the weight of the lower stage, and therefore cannot be substantially detected.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a panel assembling apparatus in which a substrate is not damaged even when a hard sealing material is used.

In order to achieve the above object, an overlay apparatus according to the present invention includes:
And

  According to the overlay apparatus of the present invention, even when a hard sealing material is used for sealing a substrate such as a PDP, damage to the substrate due to non-uniformity of the sealing material can be prevented or reduced. The misalignment can be reduced.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a specific overall configuration of a PDP panel assembly apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the panel assembly apparatus of FIG. As shown in the figure, a front substrate transport unit 1 that transports a front substrate transported with the overlapping surface facing upward into the panel assembly apparatus, and a front substrate that is provided in parallel with the front substrate transport unit 1. Similarly, it is provided between the back substrate transport unit 2 that transports the back substrate that is transported with the superposed surface facing upward, and between the front substrate transport unit 1 and the back substrate transport unit 2. A superimposing unit 3 that superimposes the front substrate and the rear substrate conveyed from the substrate conveying unit 2 on the top and bottom, and a substrate turning that rotates the rear substrate conveyed by the rear substrate conveying unit 2 by 90 ° in the horizontal direction (θ direction). Part 4, a reverse transfer part 5 that changes the conveyance direction of the rear substrate by 90 ° and reverses the front and back and conveys it to the overlapping part 3, and the long sides of the front substrate and the rear substrate that are overlapped by the overlapping part Attaching clips A side clip mounting unit 6, a long side clip stocker unit 7 for stocking long side clips, and a long side clip transfer unit 8 for transferring clips from the long side clip stocker unit 7 to the long side clip mounting unit 6 A buffer unit 9 for temporarily adjusting the front substrate and the rear substrate clipped by the long side to adjust the time, a short side clip mounting unit 10 for clip mounting the short side of the front substrate and the rear substrate clipped by the long side, A short-side clip stocker unit 11 that stocks short-side clips and a short-side clip transfer unit 12 that transfers clips from the short-side clip stocker unit 11 to the short-side clip mounting unit 10 are provided. The substrate is transported from the front substrate transport unit 1 to the superimposing unit 3, from the superimposing unit 3 to the buffer unit 9, and from the buffer unit 9 to the short-side clip mounting unit 10, for example, by transporting means such as shuttle transport. However, in this embodiment, a moving arm is adopted. In general, a moving arm has a function of transporting a substrate or the like by operating in the order of (1) ascending, (2) moving, and (3) descending.

  The configuration of the superposition unit 3 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 3, a lower stage 13 that holds (sucks) a front substrate conveyed by a moving arm by a holding mechanism (pad in this embodiment), and a lower stage 13 The upper and lower unit 14 that moves the stage 13 up and down, the XYθ stage 15 that is provided on the upper and lower unit 14 and moves the lower stage 13 in the horizontal direction (XYθ direction), and marks attached to the front substrate and the rear substrate are imaged. A camera 16, a camera XY stage 17 provided on the XYθ stage 15 for moving the camera 16 in the horizontal direction (XY direction), and a front substrate holding mechanism (main book) provided on the XYθ stage 15 or the lower stage 13. In the embodiment, it is held (adsorbed) by a pad) and moves up and down independently of the lower stage 13. An upper stage 19 that includes a displacement prevention unit 18 capable of finer torque control, and holds (sucks) the back substrate conveyed by the reversal transfer unit 5 by a holding mechanism (pad in this embodiment). A pad vertical unit 20 that moves the pad provided on the upper stage 19 up and down independently of the upper stage 19; and an illumination unit 21 that is provided on the upper stage 19 and makes the image taken by the camera 16 clear. ing.

  The lower stage 13 and the displacement prevention unit 18 will be described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 65, the lower stage 13 includes a fixed lower stage 13a regardless of the size of the substrate being transferred, A lower stage 13b that moves only in the X-axis direction according to the size, and a lower stage 13c that is provided on the camera XY stage 17 and moves in the XY-axis direction together with the camera 16 according to the size of the substrate, A slip prevention unit 18 is provided between the lower stages 13a and 16b.

  The lower stage 13b includes a lower stage (13b) base 22 provided on the XYθ stage 15, and a lower stage (13b) opening / closing guide 23 on the lower stage (13b) base 22 in which the lower stage 13b moves in the X-axis direction. A lower stage (13b) opening / closing slider 24 provided on the lower stage 13b and sliding on the lower stage (13b) opening / closing guide 23 in the X-axis direction, and a lower stage (13b) opening / closing for sliding the lower stage 13b. The motor 25 and the lower stage (13b) opening / closing belt 26 are provided, and the deviation prevention unit 18 is attached to the suction block 27 for sucking and holding the front substrate, the bracket 28 for supporting the suction block 27, and the lower stage 13b. The anti-slip unit base 29 and the anti-slip unit base 29 And a vertical guide 30 and the vertical drive cylinder 31 moves the door 28 vertically.

  On the other hand, the upper stage 19 is also composed of a fixed portion regardless of the size of the substrate and a portion that moves only in the X-axis direction according to the size of the substrate, similarly to the lower stages 13a and 13b. An illumination unit is attached to this moving part, and although it is not shown, it can move in the Y-axis direction so as to face the camera 16.

  In this embodiment, in order to hold the substrate with the minimum bending, the displacement prevention unit 18 is attached to the lower stage 13b that moves in the X-axis direction. It may be attached.

  The lower stage 13, the upper and lower unit 14, the XYθ stage 15, the camera XY stage 17, the displacement prevention unit 18, the upper stage 19, and the pad vertical unit 20 receive power from a driving source (a motor in the present embodiment) and receive the power. In operation, the displacement prevention unit 18 is provided with detection means for detecting contact with the rear substrate when the front substrate is raised. Further, the front substrate and the rear substrate conveyed by the front substrate conveyance unit 1 and the rear substrate conveyance unit 2 are appropriately positioned by a positioning mechanism (not shown).

  Further, the holding mechanism such as the reversal transfer unit 5, the lower stage 13, the upper stage 19, and the displacement prevention unit 18 is generally constituted by a suction mechanism such as a suction pad. Or a gripping mechanism. The long side and short side clip mounting portions 7 and 12, the long side and short side clip stocker portions 8 and 13, and the long side and short side clip transfer portions 9 and 14 are provided on the upstream side and the downstream side of the substrate, respectively. There are actually two sets of each. In the present embodiment, the moving arm is described as an example of a part of the transport mechanism. However, any transport mechanism may be used as long as it can transport. Other configurations and mechanisms are appropriately changed depending on the specifications, and even if they are changed to those having the same operational effects, they do not depart from the technical idea of the present invention.

  Next, the operation of the panel assembly apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

  The front substrate and the rear substrate are respectively conveyed from the apparatus in the previous process with the overlapping surfaces facing upward. The front substrate is transported to the vicinity of the superposition unit 3 by the front substrate transport unit 1 and is transported to the superposition unit 3 by the moving arm. On the other hand, the rear substrate is transported to the reverse transfer unit 5 by the rear substrate transport unit 2, and is rotated by 90 ° in the horizontal direction (θ direction) by the substrate turning unit 4 on the way. In addition, although the board | substrate turning part 4 is provided in the intermediate part of the back substrate conveyance part 2 in drawing, you may provide in the termination | terminus part of the back substrate conveyance part 2. FIG. Then, the reverse transfer unit 5 sucks and holds the rear substrate rotated 90 ° in the horizontal direction by the substrate turning unit 4 from below, and rotates the front and back or changes the transport direction by 90 ° while rotating the front and back. Transport to part 3. At this time, in the superimposing unit 3, the transported front substrate and rear substrate are in a state where the overlapping surfaces face each other.

  When the rear substrate is conveyed below the upper stage 19 by the reversal transfer unit 5, the pad vertical unit 20 provided on the upper stage 19 is lowered, and the upper surface of the rear substrate is sucked and held by the pad provided at the tip thereof. To do. After that, the reverse transfer unit 5 releases the suction of the rear substrate, moves upwards and backwards, leaves the rear substrate, and returns to the original position. When the reversal transfer unit 5 is raised and retracted, the upper and lower units 23 raise the rear substrate to the upper stage 19, and the pads provided on the upper stage 19 suck and hold the upper surface of the rear substrate like the pads of the upper and lower units 22.

  On the other hand, when the front substrate is conveyed above the lower stage 13 by the moving arm, the lower surface of the front substrate is sucked and held by the pads provided on the upper surfaces of the lower stage 13 and the displacement prevention unit 18.

  In the present embodiment, the lower stages 13b and 13c are moved in the X-axis direction and the XY-axis direction in accordance with the size of the substrate being transferred so as to hold the peripheral portion of the substrate in order to correspond to substrates of different sizes. Each has been moved. Overlaying is possible without moving the lower stages 13b and 13c, but if only the central part is held, the bending of the peripheral part becomes large. Therefore, in this embodiment, the lower stage can be moved to minimize the bending. It is suppressed. As shown in FIG. 5, the lower stage 13b is moved in the X-axis direction by the lower stage (13b) opening / closing motor 25 and the lower stage (13b) opening / closing belt 26, and the prevention unit is also moved accordingly. .

  Thereafter, the lower stage 13 raises the front substrate to a position where a slight gap (gap) is left between the front substrate and the rear substrate (sealing material) (see FIG. 6). This position is calculated by experiments or feedback, and is preferably set in advance so that the vertical unit 14 is automatically raised to the set position. According to the experiments by the present inventors, when the average coating thickness of the sealing material is 0.4 mm, the gap is most preferably 0.1 to 0.2 mm.

  When the front substrate and the rear substrate are overlapped with a gap in this way, overlay misalignment measurement and correction operations are performed. Each of the front substrate and the rear substrate is marked at a predetermined position around the substrate, and the overlapping position is measured based on the mark. Normally, a mark is attached at the same position on both the substrates to be superimposed, but the positional relationship may be slightly shifted due to the bending or contraction of the substrates.

  In the positional deviation measurement and correction operation, first, the camera 16 is set to a low magnification (for example, 1 time), the deviation amount is measured, and the XYθ stage 15 is operated by this deviation amount to perform temporary alignment. Thereafter, the camera magnification is set to a high magnification (for example, 2 times) to measure a minute displacement amount, and the XYθ stage 15 is operated by the minute displacement amount to perform fine alignment. In addition, since clip deviation, conveyance deviation, etc. generate | occur | produce by clip mounting | wearing or conveyance, alignment operation is performed in consideration of these deviations. In other words, clip displacement, transport displacement, etc. vary depending on the device, time, and size of the substrate, so when this alignment is completed, the amount of mark displacement is once measured and temporarily fixed with a clip. It is desirable to measure the amount of mark deviation again after pasting the substrates, calculate clip deviation and conveyance deviation, and perform feedback control to minimize the final position deviation.

  In this embodiment, the camera performs measurement and correction operations with two settings of low magnification and high magnification. However, the camera may be set with one setting or may be reset with a higher magnification. Moreover, although the measurement of the deviation amount and the correction operation have been described as separate operations, they may be performed simultaneously. Various methods are known for measuring the amount of misalignment of the overlapping position, and any of these methods may be adopted.

  Thereafter, the lower stage 13 releases the suction of the front substrate, and only the displacement prevention unit 18 holds the front substrate. The displacement prevention unit 18 that holds the front substrate by suction alone is moved by the lower drive motor 31 until the front substrate is brought into contact with the rear substrate (seal material) by a predetermined distance, for example, the gap set above. It is raised independently from 13 (see FIG. 7). More specifically, the displacement prevention unit 18 is driven by the vertical drive motor 31, and the bracket 28 rises along the vertical guide 30 from the displacement prevention unit base 29 attached to the lower stage 13b. 27 rises independently from the lower stage 13b.

  At this time, when the slip prevention unit 18 detects that the rear substrate is in contact with the front substrate, the shift prevention unit 18 stops rising at that point. Note that even if it is a hard seal material, if the pressure is slight, the substrate will not be damaged even if it is pressed against the seal material. The back substrate may be raised until this pressure is reached (see FIG. 8). Unlike the lower stage 13 of the weight, the displacement prevention unit 18 can move up and down independently and can perform fine torque control, so that it is possible to detect a pressure at which the substrate is not damaged. Detection of contact with the sealing material and pressure detection can be detected by various detection means known to those skilled in the art.

  In this state, the long side clip mounting portion 6 mounts a clip on the long side in order to temporarily fix the overlapped front and back substrates. The substrate temporarily fixed with the clip on the long side is conveyed to the buffer unit 9 by the moving arm 8 and adjusted to the time, and then conveyed to the short side clip mounting unit 11 by the moving arm 10.

  In order to make the temporary fixing of the substrate stronger together with the long side, the short side clip mounting unit 11 mounts the clip on the short side of the temporarily fixed substrate and temporarily fixes the long side and the short side.

  In the present embodiment, the long-side clip mounting unit 6 and the short-side clip mounting unit 11 are separated from each other. However, the same applies to the same or the same place depending on the specifications of the apparatus.

  Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the motor is used as the power source for the lower stage 13, the upper / lower unit 14, the XYθ stage 15, the camera XY stage 17, the displacement prevention unit 18, the upper stage 19, and the pad vertical unit 20. In the second embodiment, an air cylinder is used as a power source of the slip prevention unit 18. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the vertical drive motor 31 of the first embodiment is replaced with the vertical drive cylinder 32, and the detection means for detecting contact with the back substrate is not required. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment and the operation is basically the same, only different portions will be described.

  When the lower stage 13 raises the front substrate to a position where there is a gap between it and the rear substrate, the overlay displacement of both substrates is measured and corrected, and the lower stage 13 cancels the adsorption of the front substrate and shifts. Only the prevention unit 18 holds the front substrate by suction.

  Thereafter, the displacement prevention unit 18 holding the front substrate by suction raises the front substrate with a predetermined air pressure by the vertical drive cylinder 32. The predetermined air pressure is set by selecting a suitable pressure as appropriate within a pressure at which the substrate is not damaged.

  The front substrate is brought into contact with the rear substrate by the vertical drive cylinder 32 and thereafter is pressed with a set pressure. However, since this pressure is set to such an extent that the substrate is not damaged, it is not damaged as in the prior art.

  Thereafter, as in the first embodiment, in this state, the long side is clipped by the long side clip mounting unit 6 and the short side is clipped by the short side clip mounting unit 11, and the front substrate and the back substrate are temporarily fixed. .

  In this embodiment, an air cylinder is used as the vertical drive cylinder 32. However, a hydraulic cylinder may be used, and the cylinder pressure may be obtained by any medium such as air pressure or hydraulic pressure.

It is the image figure which showed the superimposition process of the panel which concerns on this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the superimposition process of the panel which concerns on this invention. It is the figure which showed the superimposition apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is the figure which showed the lower stage 13 and the slip prevention unit. It is the perspective view which showed the lower stage 13b and the slip prevention unit. It is the figure which showed the relationship between a front substrate and a back substrate. It is the figure which showed the relationship between a front substrate and a back substrate. It is the figure which showed the relationship between a front substrate and a back substrate. It is the perspective view which showed the lower stage 13b and shift prevention unit which concern on 2nd Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the relationship between the front substrate and the back substrate in the past.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front substrate conveyance part 2 Back substrate conveyance part 3 Superposition part 4 Substrate rotation part 5 Reverse transfer part 6 Long side clip mounting part 7 Long side clip stocker part 8 Long side clip transfer part 9 Buffer part 10 Short side clip attachment Unit 11 short side clip stocker unit 12 short side clip transfer unit 13 lower stage 14 vertical unit 15 XYθ stage 16 camera 17 camera XY stage 18 displacement prevention unit 19 upper stage 20 pad vertical unit 21 illumination unit 22 lower stage (13b) Base 23 Lower stage (13b) Open / close guide 24 Lower stage (13b) Open / close slider 25 Lower stage (13b) Open / close motor 26 Lower stage (13b) Open / close belt 27 Adsorption block 28 Bracket 29 Misalignment prevention unit base 30 Vertical Guide 31 Vertical drive mode And 32 other up-and-down drive cylinder

Claims (19)

In the panel assembly apparatus in which the first and second substrates coated with the sealant on either one are overlapped and clipped,
An upper stage that holds the upper surface of the first substrate; a lower stage that is positioned below the upper stage and that can move up and down; and that holds the lower surface of the second substrate; and A panel assembly apparatus, comprising: a shift prevention unit that holds a lower surface of the second substrate and can move up and down independently of the lower stage. The overlay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper stage is fixed, and the lower stage is provided to be movable up and down. The overlay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shift prevention unit can move up and down more finely than the lower stage. The superimposing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shift prevention unit is capable of fine torque control. The overlay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shift prevention unit moves up and down by a cylinder. The superposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper stage, the lower stage, and the shift prevention unit have a suction mechanism for holding the first or second substrate. The superposition according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a first table for moving the lower stage in a horizontal direction in order to correct a misalignment of the first and second substrates. Alignment device. The overlay apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the upper stage includes a vertical unit that moves the suction mechanism up and down. 9. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising a camera that images the marks attached to the first and second substrates and measures an amount of misalignment on the lower stage or the upper stage. The overlay apparatus described. The superimposing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a second table that moves the camera in a horizontal direction in order to appropriately capture the mark. Hold the outer surfaces of the two substrates to be overlapped from above and below, bring them close to each other until there is a slight gap, and then contact the two substrates with a finer movement A superposition method characterized by The outer surfaces of the two substrates to be overlapped are held by the upper stage and the lower stage from above and below, respectively, until they are close to each other until there is a slight gap, and then independent of the upper stage and the lower stage A method of superimposing the two substrates in a finer operation by a displacement prevention unit that operates as described above. Of the two substrates stacked one above the other, one upper substrate holds its upper surface with a fixed upper stage, and the other lower substrate is provided on a lower stage and a lower stage that can move up and down. When the lower stage is held by the anti-slip unit and the lower stage is raised and brought close to the gap between the two substrates, the lower stage stops rising and the lower stage is held. A method of superimposing, wherein the substrate is released and the shift prevention unit is lifted minutely independently of the lower stage to bring one substrate into contact with the other substrate. The overlaying method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, before the shift prevention unit is raised, a displacement of the overlay position of the substrates is measured and the alignment is performed. The overlay method according to claim 14, wherein the displacement of the overlay position of the substrates is measured by imaging a mark attached to each substrate with a camera and performing image processing. 16. The superimposing method according to claim 15, wherein when the mark is imaged by the camera, the mark is moved in a horizontal direction so that the mark falls within an imaging range of the camera. The superposition method according to claim 11, wherein the upper stage, the lower stage, and the shift prevention unit suck and hold the substrate by a suction mechanism. The superposition method according to claim 17, wherein the suction mechanism is a suction pad. The overlay method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the upper stage includes a vertical unit that moves the suction mechanism up and down, and holds the other substrate by lowering the vertical unit.

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