JP2010281857A - Developing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably produce a glass substrate by always stably applying a developer and cleaning water to the glass substrate in a developing device. <P>SOLUTION: The developing device includes a shower pipe unit 38, provided with a plurality of shower pipes 18 arranging a plurality of nozzles 20 in a longitudinal direction; a mechanism for rotating the shower pipe unit so that discharging of the developer from the nozzles is radial in shape; a mechanism for being rotated by result for directly or indirectly observing a pressure or a flow rate of the developer discharged from the nozzles; and a mechanism for controlling a discharge state from the nozzles. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a developing device for a plasma display panel used in a manufacturing process of a plasma display device, for example.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as PDP) used in a thin display device includes a front plate 1 made of a front glass substrate 2 and a back plate 9 made of a back glass substrate 10 and the like. Are arranged so as to face each other, and the outer peripheral portion thereof is hermetically sealed with a sealing material made of glass frit or the like. The discharge space inside the sealed PDP is filled with a discharge gas such as Ne and Xe at a pressure of 53000 Pa to 80000 Pa.

  On the front glass substrate 2 of the front plate 1, a plurality of pairs of display electrodes 5 and light shielding layers 6 each consisting of the scan electrodes 3 and the sustain electrodes 4 are arranged in parallel to each other. A dielectric layer 7 serving as a capacitor is formed on the front glass substrate 2 so as to cover the display electrode 5 and the light shielding layer 6, and a protective layer 8 made of magnesium oxide (MgO) is formed on the surface. Has been.

  On the back glass substrate 10 of the back plate 9, a plurality of strip-like address electrodes 11 are arranged in parallel to each other in a direction orthogonal to the scan electrodes 3 and the sustain electrodes 4 of the front plate 1, and these are arranged as a base dielectric. Layer 12 is covering. Further, a partition wall 13 having a predetermined height is formed on the base dielectric layer 12 between the address electrodes 11 to divide the discharge space. A phosphor layer 14 that emits red, blue, and green light by ultraviolet rays is sequentially applied to the grooves between the barrier ribs 13 for each address electrode 11. A discharge cell is formed at a position where the scan electrode 3, the sustain electrode 4 and the address electrode 11 intersect, and the discharge cell having red, blue and green phosphor layers 14 arranged in the direction of the display electrode 5 is used for color display. Become a pixel.

  By the way, the auxiliary electrode on the front glass substrate, the address electrode on the rear glass substrate, and the method for manufacturing the partition walls are obtained by applying and drying each photosensitive material on the substrate (front glass substrate or rear glass substrate). It is formed by exposing a fine pattern of the address electrode and barrier rib (hereinafter referred to as post-exposure substrate), then removing a portion not exposed to light by a developing device with a developer, forming a predetermined pattern, and further baking. (For example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-157763

  However, in the conventional method of applying the developer and washing water with the developing device, there is a problem that the developed solid matter adheres to the tip of the nozzle, and the flow rate and pressure become unstable over time. . If the development process and the cleaning process are continued in such a state, the pattern shape is destroyed, and the PDP becomes a defective product.

  For this reason, it is necessary to periodically clean or replace the application nozzle. However, in recent PDP manufacturing processes, from the viewpoint of high efficiency and high production, multi-sided processing has progressed, and one large-sized PDP is connected. Use a glass substrate. In order to develop a large glass substrate having a length close to 6 m in the width direction, it is necessary to use a long shower tube as the shower tube of the developing device, and the number of nozzles inevitably increases.

  Conventionally, the state of application of developing solution and application of washing water has been confirmed manually by humans, and if there is an abnormality, it is manually switched to a normal shower tube and nozzle.

  However, as described above, it is extremely difficult to always maintain a long shower tube for a large glass substrate manually.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve such problems, and in a developing device used for manufacturing a PDP, by constantly and stably applying a developer and rinsing water to a glass substrate, high quality is achieved. The purpose is to stably produce the PDP.

  In order to achieve the above object, the developing device of the present invention has a shower tube unit having a plurality of shower tubes each having a plurality of nozzles arranged in the longitudinal direction so that the discharge of the developer from the nozzles is radial. The shower tube unit has a mechanism to rotate, and has a mechanism to rotate and a mechanism to control the discharge state from the nozzle according to the result of directly or indirectly observing the pressure or flow rate of the developer discharged from the nozzle. Features.

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of shower tubes for applying the developer and washing water are arranged, when the pressure gauge and the flow meter attached to the shower tube reach a preset value, By switching to another normal shower tube with an automatic valve, development processing and cleaning processing can always be performed at a stable pressure and flow rate.

1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Side view showing the shower tube of the developing device Sectional drawing which shows the cross section of the shower pipe and nozzle of the developing device A perspective view showing a shower pipe portion of the developing device A perspective view showing a shower pipe portion of the developing device Side view showing a shower tube of a conventional developing device The perspective view which shows the principal part of PDP

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the developing device will be described. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a developing device used for manufacturing a PDP. The glass substrate 17 serving as the front glass substrate or the rear glass substrate described above is conveyed horizontally or obliquely to the conveyance roller conveyor 15. At positions a, b, and c, the shower tube units 38 are arranged in parallel to the glass substrate 17. At position a, the developing solution is applied to the entire surface of the glass substrate 17 from the shower tube unit 38, and the portion not exposed to light by the exposure device is removed by the developing solution.

  Next, the glass substrate 17 is moved to positions b and c by the transport roller conveyor 15. In these positions b and c, washing water is applied from the shower tube unit 38. Here, the portion of the material which is developed with the developer and is not patterned is removed by washing.

  Next, the glass substrate 17 is moved to the position d by the transport roller conveyor 15. At this position d, compressed air is applied from the air knife 19 to remove the cleaning water adhering to the front and back surfaces of the glass substrate 17.

  Up to this point, a series of development processing is completed, and the glass substrate 17 is carried out of the developing device by the transport roller conveyor 15.

  Next, the developer application structure and the washing water application structure will be described. First, a conventional shower tube unit will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional shower tube unit. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal side view of the shower tube unit. As described above, in the prior art, the shower tube unit is generally composed of only a single shower tube 118 and is fixed to the apparatus.

  In contrast, the embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a unit portion of a shower tube of the developing device in the embodiment of the present invention. Thus, it is a side view of the shower pipe 18 which has a plurality of shower pipes 18 provided with a plurality of nozzles and has a mechanism for rotating the shower pipe 18. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of FIG. 2 viewed from above. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an application example when the width direction of the glass substrate becomes wider in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a location where a single nozzle 20 is arranged in the shower tube 18.

  Then, the developer is supplied from the developer receiving tank 21 to the shower tube 18 via the piping by the developing pump 22. A plurality of nozzles 20 are attached to the shower tube 18. A fine hole of 1 mm or less is opened at the tip of the nozzle 20, and the developer is uniformly applied to the surface of the glass substrate 17 from the fine hole, and a portion not exposed to light by the exposure apparatus is removed. The applied developing solution flows into the developing tank 23, from which it is sent to the solid-liquid separator 25 by the post-developing solution feed pump 24, and is divided into material portions that are developed with the developing solution and are not patterned. The developer is stored in the developer receiving tank 21 and repeatedly used as a developer.

  As for flush water, pure water supplied to the flush tank 26 for position c is pumped up by a pump 27 and applied to the glass substrate 17 at position c. The applied water flows into the water tank 28 for position b, is pumped up by the pump 27 here, and is applied at position b. The water applied here flows to the wastewater treatment system. As described above, the washing water is a cascade system in which pure water is introduced from the downstream and sequentially used upstream.

  Next, the operation of the shower tube unit in the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the glass substrate 17 is flowing in the horizontal direction and in front of the paper surface on the conveyor 15. In parallel with the glass substrate 17, a plurality of shower tubes each having a pair of four shower tubes 18 are attached to the upper portion.

  The plurality of shower tubes are arranged so that the nozzles are radially directed around the rotation main shaft 31, and a rotation drive motor 32 is attached to the rotation main shaft 31. The rotation drive motor 32 is interlocked with the pressure gauge 33 and the flow meter 34, and rotates 90 ° when the pressure and flow rate reach preset values.

  The developer and the cleaning water are supplied from the pipe 36 branched from the header pipe 35 to each shower pipe 18. Each of the branched pipes is provided with an automatic valve 37. This automatic valve 37 is interlocked with a rotation drive motor, and only the automatic valve 37 of the shower pipe 18 in which the nozzle 20 of the shower pipe 18 faces downward. It is set to open and the rest to close.

  With such a configuration, for example, when the nozzle 20 is clogged with solids, the flow rate is reduced, and the pressure in the pipe is increased, the shower pipe 18 is rotated and switched to a normal shower pipe 18 so that the nozzle 20 is always stable. Thus, development processing and cleaning processing can be performed at the pressure and flow rate.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of shower tubes 18 described in FIG. 2 are arranged and used in the flow direction of the glass substrate 17. These units perform the switching operation of the shower tube 18 independently in each unit 38.

  FIG. 5 shows an application example when the width direction of the glass substrate 17 is widened in FIG. The shower pipe 18 described with reference to FIG. 4 is arranged on both sides with the header pipe 35 at the center. In this case as well, the above-described shower tube switching operation is performed independently by each unit 38. Furthermore, when the width of the glass substrate becomes wider, it is possible to cope with this by adding units 38 in the width direction of the glass substrate 17 in the lateral direction.

  It should be noted that the specific numerical values used in the embodiments are merely examples, and it is desirable to set them to optimal values as appropriate according to the panel specifications and the like.

  As described above, the developing device of the present invention can always perform development processing and cleaning processing at a stable pressure and flow rate, and is useful for stable production of PDPs.

2 Front glass substrate 10 Rear glass substrate 17 Glass substrate 18 Shower tube 20 Nozzle 32 Rotation drive motor 33 Pressure gauge 34 Flow meter 37 Automatic valve

Claims (1)

A nozzle unit having a plurality of shower tubes each having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a longitudinal direction, and a mechanism for rotating the shower tube unit so that the discharge of the developer from the nozzles is radial. And a mechanism for controlling the state of rotation and the state of discharge from the nozzle according to the result of direct or indirect observation of the pressure or flow rate of the developer discharged from the apparatus.

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