JP2008287997A - Manufacturing method of glass spacer, the glass spacer, and manufacturing device of the glass spacer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of a glass spacer for manufacturing a glass spacer having a surface coating of high film-thickness precision, in a simple and highly efficient method. <P>SOLUTION: In the manufacturing method of the glass spacer for heating and wire-drawing a glass base material s0 that makes up a glass spacer base body s1 of a cross-sectional rectangular shape, and then, guiding the glass spacer base body s1 into a die coating device 14 to form a film by coating coating liquid on the surface of the glass spacer base body s1; and a wire-drawing position of the glass spacer base body s1 is adjusted, based on the displacement of the glass spacer base body s1 detected at an upstream side of the die coating device 14, before it is guided into the die coating device 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass spacer manufacturing method, a glass spacer, and a glass spacer manufacturing apparatus for coating a glass spacer substrate surface with low cost and high film thickness accuracy.

  An alternative to a large and heavy cathode ray tube is a thin and light self-luminous flat electron beam excitation display. This flat electron beam excitation display includes a front plate made of a glass substrate having an image forming member formed on the inner surface and a back plate made of a glass substrate on which an electron-emitting device group is mounted. The image forming member includes a phosphor that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam from an electron-emitting device. The front plate and the back plate are hermetically joined to each other via a support frame to form a vacuum vessel that forms an airtight and atmospheric pressure resistant structure together with the support frame.

In such a flat electron beam excitation display, an electron beam source, a phosphor, and other components are formed in order to form an image by irradiating the phosphor with an electron beam to generate fluorescence. The inside of the vacuum vessel is maintained in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1.33 × 10 ⁻³ Pa (about 10 ⁻⁵ torr) or less. For this reason, as the display image on the display becomes larger, the front plate and the rear plate may be deformed or brought into contact with each other due to a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the vacuum vessel. In order to prevent this deformation or contact and keep the distance between the front plate and the back plate constant, a plurality of glass spacers are inserted as an atmospheric pressure support member between the front plate and the back plate (see FIG. 6).

  Accordingly, the glass spacer needs to have sufficient mechanical strength to withstand atmospheric pressure, but this mechanical strength characteristic can be improved by optimizing the glass material component, glass spacer shape, and spacer manufacturing method. As one of the glass spacer manufacturing methods, a drawing method has been proposed in which a base glass is stretched while being heated (see Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, a material rod (base material) having a polygonal cross section whose side has been polished in advance is coupled to mechanical equipment that can be vertically lowered, and inserted and melted sequentially from the lower end into a ring-shaped heating device. The heating device can be adjusted to ± 0.1 ° C. using a low-voltage hot wire as a heat source. And the method of extending | stretching with a pair of drive belt installed below the heating apparatus is proposed.

  Further, the glass spacer is required to have a semiconductive property. The electrons emitted in the vicinity of the spacer are deviated in the trajectory due to attraction or repulsion due to the charged state of the spacer, causing deterioration of display display characteristics. In order to prevent charging, it is effective to form an antistatic film on the spacer surface. Adjustment of the spacer resistance value and reduction of secondary electron emission, specifically, conductive oxidation with adjusted resistance value on the spacer surface. It is conceivable to form a physical film or to form an uneven film on the spacer surface.

  Examples of a general method for forming an antistatic layer include CVD, sputtering (vapor phase film formation method), dipping method, spray pyrolysis method, and die coating method (liquid phase film formation method). Since the liquid phase film formation method does not require large equipment and the film formation speed is high, film formation can be performed more efficiently than the gas phase method. Patent Document 2 proposes a method using a roll or spray.

  In particular, the die coating method is commonly used in optical fiber production. A coating solution filled with a die filled with a coating solution and a coating solution curing device are installed on the drawing line, and the coating solution is applied by the optical fiber passing through it continuously. At the same time, a film is formed. Thereby, optical fiber drawing and surface film formation can be performed simultaneously. By applying this technique and using a die that has been processed into a rectangular shape with the inner dimensions matched to the glass spacer shape, a highly efficient coating can be formed on the surface of the glass spacer in the same manner as an optical fiber.

  The prior art document information related to the invention of this application includes the following.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-144939 JP 2001-143620 A

  The die coating method is common in optical fiber manufacturing. However, when this technique is applied to glass spacer manufacturing, the accuracy of the surface coating becomes a problem.

  Since the optical fiber is a thin circular glass wire with an outer diameter of about 100 μm and has low rigidity, even if the die axis and the drawing line center axis are slightly misaligned, the inside of the die has a concentric taper shape that can be adjusted by the viscosity of the coating liquid. A uniform film can be formed by the core action.

  On the other hand, the glass spacer is a rectangle having a large cross-sectional area with a cross-sectional shape of several mm in width and a thickness of 100 to 200 μm. When coating is performed using a rectangular die with the same apparatus configuration as that of the optical fiber, the difference in film thickness particularly on the front and back surfaces of the glass spacer is increased.

  Further, the film thickness of the optical fiber is obtained by comparing the outer diameter dimensions before and after the die coating on the drawing online. On the other hand, since the glass spacer has a rectangular shape, if the glass spacer is twisted or vibrated, it is difficult to compare the outer diameter before and after the die coating. Furthermore, since the situation inside the coating cannot be detected, the film thickness on the front and back surfaces of the glass spacer is unknown. A method of cutting a glass spacer and observing its cross-sectional shape is realistic, but is not possible with drawing online.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art and to produce a glass spacer having a surface coating with high film thickness accuracy by a simple and highly efficient method, a glass spacer, and a glass spacer. It is to provide a manufacturing apparatus.

  The present invention was devised in order to achieve the above object, and the invention of claim 1 is to form a glass spacer substrate having a rectangular cross section by heating and drawing a glass base material, and then the glass spacer substrate. In a glass spacer manufacturing method in which a coating liquid is applied to the surface of the glass spacer substrate to form a film, based on the displacement of the glass spacer substrate detected on the upstream side of the die coating device. And a glass spacer manufacturing method in which the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate is adjusted and introduced into the die coater.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the drawing position is adjusted by adjusting the position and rotation angle of the glass spacer substrate in the horizontal plane by an alignment mechanism installed within 1 m upstream of the die coater. 1. A method for producing a glass spacer according to 1.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, a positional change amount of the glass spacer substrate is measured by a displacement sensor installed between the alignment mechanism and the die coater, and data of the positional change amount is fed back to the alignment mechanism. And it is a manufacturing method of the glass spacer of Claim 1 or 2 which correct | amends the said drawing position automatically.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the glass spacer manufacturing method according to the third aspect, wherein the displacement sensor measures the position change amount by obtaining three or more cross-sectional center coordinates of the glass spacer substrate.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the manufacturing of the glass spacer according to claim 4, wherein the drawing position is adjusted so that a cross-sectional center coordinate of the glass spacer substrate matches an optimum cross-sectional center coordinate set in the alignment mechanism. Is the method.

  The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that a film thickness measuring instrument for measuring the film thickness of the coating film is installed on the downstream side of a heating furnace for heating and curing the coating liquid applied to the surface of the glass spacer substrate, and the measured film. 6. The glass spacer manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein thickness data is fed back to the alignment mechanism to automatically correct the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate.

  The invention of claim 7 is the method for producing a glass spacer according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the viscosity of the coating liquid is in the range of 0.1 Pa · s to 10 Pa · s.

  The invention of claim 8 is the method for producing a glass spacer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the die coater is installed in a plurality of stages.

  Invention of Claim 9 removes the coating liquid adhering to the thickness surface of the said glass spacer base | substrate with the coating liquid removal apparatus installed in the downstream of the said die-coat apparatus, The glass in any one of Claims 1-8 It is a manufacturing method of a spacer.

  A tenth aspect of the present invention is a glass spacer formed by using the manufacturing method according to any one of the first to ninth aspects.

  According to the invention of claim 11, after a glass base material is heated and drawn to form a glass spacer base having a rectangular cross section, the glass spacer base is introduced into a die coater, and the surface of the glass spacer base is coated with a coating liquid. In the glass spacer manufacturing apparatus that forms a film by applying a coating, a displacement sensor for detecting the displacement of the glass spacer substrate is provided on the upstream side of the die coating apparatus, and the displacement sensor is detected on the upstream side of the displacement sensor. It is a glass spacer manufacturing apparatus provided with an alignment mechanism that adjusts the drawing position of the glass spacer base based on the value and introduces it into the die coating apparatus.

  According to the present invention, a glass spacer having a surface film with high film thickness accuracy can be manufactured at low cost by drawing a dimensionally controlled glass spacer and simultaneously performing die coating.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a glass spacer manufacturing apparatus showing a preferred first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the glass spacer manufacturing apparatus 1 heats the glass base material s0 and applies the coating solution to the surface of the glass spacer base s1 formed by drawing vertically downward using the die coater 14. The glass spacer s2 is manufactured by forming a film. The glass spacer manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a displacement sensor 13 that detects the displacement of the glass spacer substrate s1, and an alignment mechanism 12 that adjusts the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate s1 based on the detection value of the displacement sensor.

  A laser-type outer diameter measuring instrument 11 is installed immediately below the drawing furnace 10 at the top of the drawing line, an alignment mechanism 12 is installed downstream thereof, and a displacement sensor 13 and a coating solution are filled further downstream. A die coating device 14 is installed. The outer diameter measuring device 11 is installed so that the laser irradiation direction is orthogonal to the width surface of the glass spacer substrate s1.

  The alignment mechanism 12 includes a fine movement stage 12c having a rotation function in the horizontal plane and an XY axis movement function. The microstage 12c includes a roller 12a that contacts the width surface of the glass spacer substrate s1, and a roller 12b that contacts the thickness surface of the glass spacer substrate s1. The roller 12a and the roller 12b are rotatably provided in the microstage 12c and fixed. When the microstage 12c rotates in the horizontal plane, the roller 12a and the roller 12b rotate with this, and the glass spacer base s1 rotates by the contact, thereby adjusting the rotation angle in the horizontal plane. Similarly, when the microstage 12c moves along the XY axes, the rollers 12a and 12b also move along with it, and the glass spacer base moves along the XY axes due to the contact, thereby adjusting the position in the horizontal plane.

  The die coating device 14 includes a die 14a and a coating liquid supply tank (not shown) for supplying a coating liquid. The upper part of the die 14a is a mortar shape, and the cross section of the outlet part is similar to the glass spacer base s1.

  A heating furnace 15 that heats and cures the coating liquid applied to the surface of the glass spacer base s1 is installed on the downstream side of the die coater 14, and a take-up roller 16 disposed opposite to the lowermost drawing line is installed.

  The glass spacer manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a control panel (not shown). The control panel includes a position control unit (position control system) 17a and a speed control unit (speed control system) 17b. The position control unit 17a receives the position change amount signal 20 measured by the displacement sensor 13, and outputs a position feedback signal 18 to the alignment mechanism 12 to control the drawing position. The speed controller 17b receives the dimension data of the glass spacer base s1 measured by the outer diameter measuring instrument 11, particularly the deviation signal 21 from the reference value, and outputs the speed feedback signal 19 to the take-up roller 16 to control the rotational speed. .

  Next, the manufacturing method of a glass spacer is demonstrated with operation | movement of the manufacturing apparatus 1 of a glass spacer.

  In the method for producing a glass spacer according to the present invention, a glass base material s0 is first heated and melted in a drawing furnace 10 and drawn in a vertically downward direction using a take-up roller 16 to form a glass spacer base s1. The dimension data of the glass spacer base s1 is always measured by the outer diameter measuring instrument 11. The outer diameter measuring instrument 11 outputs a deviation signal 21 from the reference value of the dimension data to the speed control unit 17b. Upon receiving the deviation signal 21, the speed controller 17b outputs a speed feedback signal 19 to the take-up roller 16, and controls the rotation speed of the take-up roller 16 so that the outer diameter of the glass spacer base s1 is constant.

  When coating the glass spacer substrate s1, in order to eliminate variations in film thickness, the central axis of the glass spacer substrate s1 and the central axis of the die coater 14 are always aligned, and the rotation angle of the glass spacer substrate s1 in the horizontal plane It is necessary to always match the angle in the horizontal plane of the outlet section of the die 14a.

  Therefore, the displacement change of the glass spacer base s1 introduced into the die 14a of the die coater 14 is measured by the displacement sensor 13, and the position change amount signal 20 is output to the position controller 17a. Upon receiving the position change amount signal 20, the position controller 17a outputs a position feedback signal 18 to the alignment mechanism 12, and controls the alignment mechanism 12 to adjust the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate s1.

  Here, the alignment mechanism 12 may be installed within 1 m on the upstream side of the die coater 14, more preferably within 30 cm with a greater vibration suppressing effect.

  The displacement sensor 13 may measure the position change amount of the surface of the glass spacer base s1 and obtain the cross-sectional center coordinates of the glass spacer base s1 at three or more points. In this embodiment, the glass spacer base s1 width surface shown in FIG. 2 (a) is measured with four displacement sensors, and the glass spacer base s1 thickness surface shown in FIG. 2 (b) is measured with two displacement sensors. That is, a total of six position change amounts are measured, and the cross-sectional center coordinates (center point coordinates) A, B, and C of the three glass spacer base bodies s1 are obtained.

  More specifically, the two opposed displacement sensors 40a, 40b and 41a, 41b shown in FIG. 2 (a) are set as a set, and the positions of the two points a1, a2, b1, b2 of the width surface of the glass spacer base s1. Measure coordinates. Assuming that the distances between the two opposed displacement sensors are La and Lb, respectively, the intermediate point, that is, the cross-sectional center coordinates at the width surface of the glass spacer substrate s1, are A = (La + a1-a2) / 2 and B = (Lb + b1), respectively. -B2) / 2. Thus, by obtaining the cross-sectional center coordinates A and B at two points on the width surface, the rotation angle information of the glass spacer base s1 can be obtained.

  Similarly, the position coordinates of the two points c1 and c2 on the thickness surface of the glass spacer base s1 are measured with the two opposing displacement sensors 42a and 42b shown in FIG. When the distance between the two displacement sensors facing each other is Lc, the cross-sectional center coordinate on the thickness surface of the glass spacer base s1 is obtained as C = (Lc + c1-c2) / 2.

  The position controller 17a adjusts the drawing position by controlling the alignment mechanism 12 so that the three cross-sectional center coordinates A, B, and C of the glass spacer base s1 coincide with preset optimum center coordinates. . Thereby, the central axis and angle of the glass spacer base s1 and the outlet section of the die 14a coincide.

  The amount of the coating liquid stored in the dice 14a of the dice coater 14 is adjusted so as to be always constant. As a result, a certain amount of coating liquid is applied to the surface of the glass spacer substrate s1 that has passed through the die 14a. Thereafter, when the coating liquid applied to the surface of the glass spacer substrate s1 is heated and cured in the heating furnace 16, a glass spacer s2 is obtained.

  In the glass spacer manufacturing method according to the first embodiment, the displacement of the glass spacer substrate s1 introduced into the die 14a of the die coater 14 is detected by the displacement sensor 13, and the die coater 14 is adjusted to adjust the displacement. The drawing position of the upstream glass spacer base s 1 is adjusted by the alignment mechanism 12. At that time, the central axis of the glass spacer base s1 and the central axis of the die coater 14 are matched, and further, the rotation angle in the horizontal plane of the glass spacer base s1 is matched with the angle in the horizontal plane of the outlet section of the die 14a. A glass spacer having a surface coating with high film thickness accuracy can be manufactured at low cost.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described. The glass spacer manufacturing apparatus 31 shown in FIG. 3 has basically the same configuration as the glass spacer manufacturing apparatus 1 of FIG. 1, and a glass spacer film thickness measuring device 32 is provided downstream of the heating furnace 15 without using a displacement sensor. Is installed. The signal input unit of the position control unit 17 a is connected to the signal output unit of the film thickness measuring device 32.

  The film thickness measuring device 32 measures the film thickness variation of the glass spacer s2 and outputs a film thickness data signal 33 to the position controller 17a. Receiving the film thickness data signal 33, the position controller 17a outputs a position feedback signal 34, controls the alignment mechanism 12 so that the film thickness is constant, and adjusts the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate s1.

  An example of the film thickness measuring device 32 is an X-ray CT scanner. The glass spacer base s1 is irradiated with X-rays from a plurality of directions, and the cross-sectional shape is imaged based on the detected transmission dose data from each direction. The substrate and the film are distinguished by the difference in display color of the imaged glass spacer substrate s1, and the variation in film thickness is measured by an image analysis program.

  In the glass spacer manufacturing method according to the second embodiment, the film thickness data signal 33 measured by the film thickness measuring device 32 is fed back to adjust the drawing position so that the surface coating of the glass spacer s2 is uniform. At this time, the cross-sectional center coordinates of the glass spacer base s1 are adjusted so as to coincide with the optimum center coordinates in the same manner as in FIG. 2 described above, so that the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. Furthermore, in the second embodiment, since the film thickness is automatically adjusted to the drawing position where the film thickness is the most uniform, the optimum center coordinates need not be set in advance.

  As a first modification of the above embodiment, a fixing jig for fixing the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate s1 is installed within 1 m upstream of the die coating apparatus 14, more preferably within 30 cm, and the die coating apparatus 14 is further installed. The position and angle in the horizontal plane may be changed. The position / angle of the die coater 14 is controlled by the position feedback signal 18 output from the position controller 17a to improve the film thickness accuracy. Thereby, the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained.

  As a second modification of the above-described embodiment, a plurality of stages of die coating apparatuses 14 may be installed on the drawing line. In this second modification, the film thickness variation in a certain layer causes a larger film thickness variation in the multiple-layer coat on the downstream side. Therefore, it is desirable to install the displacement sensor 13 and the alignment mechanism 12 upstream of each die coater 15 and adjust the drawing position.

  As a third modification of the above embodiment, the coating liquid removal such as a removing roller or a removing jig for removing the coating liquid adhered to the thickness surface of the glass spacer substrate s1 between the die coating apparatus 15 and the heating furnace 16 is performed. A device may be installed. By removing the coating on the thickness surface of the glass spacer s2, which is an adhesion surface with the display panel, by this removal roller or the removal jig, an effect of stabilizing the verticality when the panel is assembled can be obtained.

  A glass base material s0 having a substantially rectangular cross section is connected to a base material gripping portion capable of precisely descending vertically, and the core is inserted into a drawing furnace 10 whose temperature has been raised to about 800 ° C. in advance.

The drawing furnace 10 is a high-purity carbon muffle furnace, and an inert gas such as He, Ar, N ₂ or the like is introduced into the core through a mass flow controller to prevent oxidative degradation. The base material gripping portion is driven by a servo motor, and the base material s0 is fed into the drawing core at a constant speed. The base material s0 melted in the drawing furnace 10 is taken out from the furnace lower opening while maintaining its cross-sectional shape, and the speed is about 30 m / min so that the shape becomes 2.0 mm wide and 0.12 mm thick. Then, it is held and taken up by the take-up roller 16.

  The dimensional data of the glass spacer substrate s1 measured by the outer diameter measuring device 11, especially the deviation signal 21 from the reference value (2.0 mm in this case), outputs the speed feedback signal 19 to the take-up roller 16 through the speed controller 17b, and the glass. The rotational speed of the take-up roller 16 is controlled so that the outer diameter of the spacer base s1 is constant. As a result, the width dimension of the glass spacer substrate s1 before the surface coating can be converged within a deviation of ± 5 μm from the standard value of 2.0 mm over the entire length.

  The alignment mechanism 12 rotates and moves the fine movement stage 12c in accordance with the position feedback signal 18 output by passing the position change amount signal 20 measured by the displacement sensor 13 through the position controller 17a, so that the position in the horizontal plane of the glass spacer base s1 is increased. Align position and rotation angle.

  The displacement sensor 13 used the laser system, and the measurement position was set to the surface of the glass spacer base | substrate s1 5 cm upstream from the dice coater 14. FIG.

  The die 14a of the die coater 14 has an exit portion with a land length of 5.0 mm. In this example, a coating solution having a viscosity of 1 Pa · s in which glass particles having an average particle diameter of 1 μm were dispersed was used.

  In order to obtain the optimum center coordinates serving as a reference for the drawing position, first, arbitrary test coordinates were set, and die coating was performed using the test coordinates as temporary center coordinates. Then, the cross section of the glass spacer s2 formed with the film was observed with an optical microscope, and the film thickness distribution at the test coordinates was obtained. The same experiment was repeated for several test coordinates, and the optimum center coordinates that resulted in the most uniform film thickness were derived.

  The alignment mechanism 12 automatically corrects the angle and XY position of the glass spacer substrate s1 while feeding back the derived optimum center coordinates and deviation signals of the cross-sectional center coordinates A, B, and C of the glass spacer substrate s1 measured by the displacement sensor 13. went. Here, the center coordinates A, B, and C of the cross section of the glass spacer base s1 are average values of data measured by the displacement sensor 13 for 1 second, and accordingly, feedback to the alignment mechanism 12 is also made every second.

  When the glass spacer s2 was cut and acquired to an arbitrary length downstream of the take-up roller 16 and the state of the film was measured, the film thickness variation was 0.2 μm or less with respect to the average film thickness of 3 μm. It was.

  Initially, when the die coating was performed with the same configuration as the optical fiber (that is, the configuration in which the alignment mechanism 12, the displacement sensor 13, and the position control unit 17a are not installed), the film thickness variation on the surface of the glass spacer s2 was large.

  The present inventors consider that this is due to a slight shift between the rotation angle and the central axis of the glass spacer base s1 and the die 14a of the die coater 14, and only the alignment mechanism 12 is first installed on the upstream side of the die. The angle and position of the spacer base body s1 in the horizontal plane were corrected.

Dice coating was performed by changing the distance between the alignment mechanism 12 and the die coating device 14, and the average film thickness difference per 400 μm ² between the thickest part and the thinnest part of the glass spacer s2 was measured with an optical microscope. The experimental result shown in 4 was obtained. In this experiment, measurement was performed for a total length of 30 m at intervals of 3 m. As shown in FIG. 4, when the alignment mechanism 12 is not installed, the angle and the positional deviation are large, and the maximum value of the film thickness difference at the average film thickness of 3 μm (the total thickness of the front and back surfaces of the glass spacer s2 is 6 μm) is 2 μm. It was over. On the other hand, by installing the alignment mechanism 12, the film thickness difference was greatly improved to 0.6 μm or less when the distance from the die coater 14 was 1 m, and 0.2 μm or less when the distance was 30 cm.

  However, for example, as can be seen from the fact that the average value of the film thickness difference is about 0.2 μm at the interval of 30 cm between the die coater 14 and the alignment mechanism 12, the alignment setting is not the optimum condition. Furthermore, long-period fluctuations occurred in the glass spacer longitudinal direction, and this was estimated to be due to slight warpage and vibration in the longitudinal direction occurring in the glass spacer substrate s1.

  Therefore, in order to obtain a more uniform film thickness, the present inventors can easily derive and set the optimum alignment condition, and further reduce the influence of warpage and vibration, and feedback control of the angle and position of the glass spacer base s1. Was considered effective. Therefore, the displacement sensor 13 and the position control unit 17a are installed, the position change amount of the glass spacer base s1 is fed back, and the drawing position is adjusted by the alignment mechanism 12.

  Here, as a first caution, there is a dimensional variation of the glass spacer base s1. For example, in this embodiment, the width dimension is within a deviation of ± 5 μm with respect to the reference value of 2.0 mm, and simply feeding back the displacement amount of the surface of the glass spacer substrate s1 will increase the alignment accuracy to 5 μm. Therefore, the position coordinates of two points on the surface of the glass spacer base s1 are measured with a pair of two laser-type displacement sensors installed opposite to each other, and the intermediate point, that is, the cross-sectional center coordinates of the glass spacer base s1 is output for feedback. By reducing the influence of dimensional fluctuation. Further, since the glass spacer s2 handled in the present invention has a rectangular cross-sectional shape, information on the rotation angle is required in addition to the XY coordinates.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2A, with respect to the width surface of the glass spacer substrate s1, two sets of displacement sensors are used to measure the cross-sectional center coordinates A and B of the two points of the glass spacer substrate s1, thereby rotating the rotation angle. I got information.

  As a second caution, there is a measurement error of the displacement sensor 13. In the measurement of the surface position of the glass spacer substrate s1 on the drawing line, there are various error factors such as minute vibrations in addition to the above-described dimensional variation. Therefore, it was considered that the measurement error problem can be reduced by averaging the data measured by the displacement sensor 13 and using this as the output value of the cross-sectional center coordinates of the glass spacer substrate s1. In particular, since the purpose of the feedback control is to reduce the long period fluctuation of the film thickness difference, a sufficient effect can be expected even if the feedback period is relatively long as 1 second.

  FIG. 5 shows the experimental results of the film thickness difference between the front and back surfaces of the glass spacer s2 when feedback control is performed. Here, the relative position with respect to the dice 14a is fixed by integrating the displacement sensor 13 with the dice coater 14. The measurement position was 5 cm upstream of the die coater 14. The measured deviation information of the center coordinates A, B and C of the cross section of the glass spacer base s1 and the optimum center coordinates derived separately was fed back every second to control the alignment mechanism 12. As a result, it was possible to improve the film thickness difference and the long-period fluctuation thereof. In particular, when the distance between the die coater 14 and the alignment mechanism 12 was 30 cm, a film having no film thickness difference could be formed over 30 m.

  From the above experimental results, it is possible to reduce the film thickness difference of the coating by installing the alignment mechanism 12, and in order to obtain a greater effect, the alignment mechanism 12 is preferably within 1 m in the vicinity of the die coater 14, more preferably. It is desirable to install within 30 cm. Furthermore, it has been found that the film thickness can be controlled with higher accuracy by adding an automatic correction function of the position and rotation angle of the glass spacer substrate s1 by feedback. It has been found that by using this method, it is not necessary to measure the film thickness of the glass spacer s2 after drawing online die coating, and a uniform coating can be formed on the surface of the glass spacer substrate s1 by a very simple method.

  Subsequently, the viscosity of the coating solution was examined. The results are shown in Table 1. When the viscosity is as small as 0.01 Pa · s, the coating liquid flows down on the surface of the glass spacer substrate s 1. Conversely, when the viscosity is as large as 100 Pa · s, the amount of the coating liquid applied to the surface of the glass spacer s 1 is stable. Neither did it well. On the other hand, when the viscosity was 0.1, 1.0, 10 Pa · s, the film thickness variation was small. Therefore, in order to perform the die coating on the glass spacer substrate s1, it is necessary to set the coating solution viscosity within the range of 0.1 Pa · s to 10 Pa · s.

It is the schematic of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2A is a schematic view of cross-sectional center coordinate measurement with respect to the glass spacer substrate width surface by the displacement sensor, and FIG. 2B is a schematic view of cross-sectional center coordinate measurement with respect to the glass spacer substrate thickness surface by the displacement sensor. It is the schematic of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is an experimental result regarding the alignment mechanism / die interval and film thickness difference. It is an experimental result regarding the alignment mechanism / die interval and film thickness difference when feedback control is performed. FIG. 6A is a schematic view of a glass spacer mounted on a panel, and FIG. 6B is a schematic view of the glass spacer.

Explanation of symbols

s0 Glass matrix s1 Glass spacer substrate s2 Glass spacer 1 Glass spacer manufacturing apparatus 12 Alignment mechanism 13 Displacement sensor 14 Dice coating apparatus 14a Dice

Claims (11)

  After the glass base material is heated and drawn to form a glass spacer base having a rectangular cross section, the glass spacer base is introduced into a die coater and a coating solution is applied to the surface of the glass spacer base to form a film. In the manufacturing method of the glass spacer, the drawing position of the glass spacer substrate is adjusted based on the displacement of the glass spacer substrate detected on the upstream side of the die coating device, and is introduced into the die coating device. A method for manufacturing a glass spacer.   2. The glass spacer according to claim 1, wherein the drawing position is adjusted by adjusting a position in a horizontal plane and a rotation angle of the glass spacer base by an alignment mechanism installed within 1 m upstream of the die coater. Production method.   A displacement sensor installed between the alignment mechanism and the die coater measures the positional change amount of the glass spacer substrate, and feeds back the positional change amount data to the alignment mechanism, so that the drawing position The manufacturing method of the glass spacer of Claim 1 or 2 which correct | amends automatically.   The said displacement sensor is a manufacturing method of the glass spacer of Claim 3 which calculates | requires the said positional change amount by calculating | requiring three or more cross-sectional center coordinates of the said glass spacer base | substrate.   The manufacturing method of the glass spacer of Claim 4 which adjusts the said drawing position so that the cross-sectional center coordinate of the said glass spacer base | substrate may correspond with the optimal cross-sectional center coordinate set to the said alignment mechanism.   A film thickness measuring device for measuring the film thickness of the coating film is installed on the downstream side of the heating furnace for heating and curing the coating liquid applied to the surface of the glass spacer substrate, and the measured film thickness data is stored in the alignment mechanism. The method for producing a glass spacer according to claim 1, wherein the drawing position of the glass spacer base is automatically corrected by feeding back to the above.   The method for producing a glass spacer according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the viscosity of the coating liquid is in the range of 0.1 Pa · s to 10 Pa · s.   The manufacturing method of the glass spacer in any one of Claims 1-7 which installs the said die-coat apparatus in multiple steps.   The manufacturing method of the glass spacer in any one of Claims 1-8 which removes the coating liquid adhering to the thickness surface of the said glass spacer base | substrate with the coating liquid removal apparatus installed in the downstream of the said dice coating apparatus.   A glass spacer formed using the manufacturing method according to claim 1.   After the glass base material is heated and drawn to form a glass spacer base having a rectangular cross section, the glass spacer base is introduced into a die coater and a coating solution is applied to the surface of the glass spacer base to form a film. In the glass spacer manufacturing apparatus, a displacement sensor for detecting the displacement of the glass spacer substrate is provided on the upstream side of the die coater, and the glass spacer is provided on the upstream side of the displacement sensor based on the detection value of the displacement sensor. An apparatus for manufacturing a glass spacer, comprising an alignment mechanism for adjusting a drawing position of a substrate and introducing the substrate into the die coating apparatus.

Images