JP2013222732A - Sheet adhering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely adhere a front window, a touch panel and an adhesive sheet adhering them in a liquid crystal display device to which the front window, the touch panel and the like are adhered.SOLUTION: In a sheet adhering device, one side of a substrate 50 is brought into contact with one side of a sheet 40, and the sheet 40 is adhered to the substrate 50 while pressing roller 300 from one end of the sheet 40. One side of the substrate 50 is positioned by a substrate positioning jig, and one side of the sheet 40 is positioned by a sheet positioning jig 250. The sheet positioning jig 250 exists on the roller 300 side. The positioning jig 250 exists on the roller 300 side, and therefore, a position of a starting point for adhering the substrate 50 and the sheet 40 can be precisely positioned by the jig, so as to precisely adhere even multiple sheets or substrates.

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet attaching apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for attaching a touch panel to a liquid crystal display panel in a liquid crystal display apparatus, attaching a front window, and attaching an adhesive sheet therefor.

  In a liquid crystal display device, there are a TFT substrate in which pixel electrodes and thin film transistors (TFTs) are formed in a matrix, and a counter substrate in which color filters are formed at locations corresponding to the pixel electrodes of the TFT substrate, facing the TFT substrate. The liquid crystal is sandwiched between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate. An image is formed by controlling the light transmittance of the liquid crystal molecules for each pixel.

  In the liquid crystal display device, there is a strong demand for reducing the outer dimensions of the set while keeping the screen constant, and at the same time reducing the thickness of the liquid crystal display panel. In order to make the liquid crystal display panel thin, after manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel, the outside of the liquid crystal display panel is polished and thinned.

  The glass substrate of the TFT substrate on which the pixel electrodes, TFTs, etc., and the color filter substrate on which the color filter is formed constituting the liquid crystal display panel is standardized to, for example, 0.5 mm or 0.7 mm. Yes. It is difficult to obtain a glass other than these standardized glass substrates from the market. In addition, a very thin glass substrate causes problems due to mechanical strength, bending, and the like in the manufacturing process, and decreases the manufacturing yield. Therefore, after forming a liquid crystal display panel using a standardized glass substrate, the outer surface of the liquid crystal display panel is polished and thinned.

  When the liquid crystal display panel is made thin, mechanical strength becomes a problem. If mechanical pressure is applied to the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel, the liquid crystal display panel may be destroyed. In order to prevent this, a front window is attached to the screen side of the liquid crystal display panel when the liquid crystal display panel is incorporated into a set such as a mobile phone.

  On the other hand, in order to make the liquid crystal display device easy to use, a liquid crystal display device in which a touch panel is arranged is often used. The touch panel is disposed between the counter substrate of the liquid crystal display panel and the front window, and is adhered to the counter substrate or front window of the liquid crystal display panel using an adhesive sheet. A liquid crystal display device having a configuration in which a touch panel and a front window are attached to a liquid crystal display panel may be referred to as a hybrid liquid crystal display device.

  An adhesive sheet is often used for bonding the liquid crystal display panel and the touch panel and bonding the touch panel and the front window. In particular, in the case of adhesion between the touch panel and the front window, not only an adhesive sheet but also a PET film or the like is used as a spacer in order to correspond to the thickness of the flexible wiring board attached to the touch panel. As described above, various sheets or substrates are attached to the liquid crystal display panel. Therefore, the accuracy of attaching each sheet or substrate becomes a problem.

  When attaching a sheet to a substrate, a general method is to use a roller from one end of the substrate to the other end of the sheet so that air is not caught between the substrate and the sheet. It is. “Patent Document 1” is given as a description of such a pasting apparatus.

JP 2005-39035 A

  When two substrates or sheets are bonded together using a roller, each substrate or sheet is positioned and bonded from the end using a roller. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a conventional bonding apparatus when a touch panel is bonded to a front window in a liquid crystal display device.

  In FIG. 10, the front window 50 is positioned on the long side and the short side by the substrate positioning jig 100. For convenience, it is called a substrate positioning jig, but not only the substrate but also a sheet may be arranged at the position of the substrate. A black frame print 51 is placed around the front window 50. A substrate side reference point 700 is formed at the lower left of the front window 50. The reference point 700 is formed on the side close to the substrate positioning jig 100. An adhesive sheet 30 is affixed to the front window 50. Note that the method of attaching the adhesive sheet 30 is also applied in the same manner as the method of attaching the touch panel 40 currently described.

  On the other hand, the touch panel 40 is also positioned by the sheet positioning jig 600 on the long side and the short side. For convenience, the sheet positioning jig is called, but not only the sheet but also a substrate may be arranged at the position of the sheet. A sheet-side reference point 600 is formed at the lower left of the touch panel 40. The sheet side reference point 600 is formed on the side close to the sheet side positioning jig 600. A roller 300 for bonding is disposed on the short side opposite to the positioning jig on the short side.

  The front window 50 and the touch panel 40 positioned in this manner are folded back and pasted around a one-dot chain line in FIG. In FIG. 9, the upper part of the touch panel connected by an arrow corresponds to the lower part of the front window. In this case, even if the touch panel 40 and the front window 50 are bonded together, the reference point 600 of the touch panel 40 and the reference point 700 of the front window do not match.

  FIG. 11 shows a state in which the end portion of the adhesive sheet 30 attached to the front window 50 and the end portion of the touch panel 40 are in contact with each other in the state of being folded around the one-dot chain line in FIG. Is pressed. In FIG. 11, the front window 50 is sucked and fixed to the lower suction plate 400, and the touch panel 40 is sucked and fixed to the upper suction plate 500.

  Here, the front window 50 is strongly adsorbed and fixed to the lower adsorption plate 400, but the touch panel 40 is adsorbed to the upper adsorption plate 500 very weakly. The strength of adsorption is schematically represented by the size of the arrow. Since the touch panel 40 is weakly attracted to the upper suction plate 500, when the roller 300 comes into contact with the upper suction plate 500, the upper suction plate 500 is easily displaced from the touch panel 40, and only the touch panel 40 is moved to the front window 50 by the roller 300. Will be pressed against.

  In FIG. 11, when the lower suction plate 400 moves in the direction of the arrow, the roller 300 rotates and the touch panel 40 is pressed from the end against the adhesive sheet 30 formed on the front window 50 and pasted. Since the front window 50 is strongly adsorbed by the lower adsorption plate 400, the front window 50 does not deviate from the lower adsorption plate 400. Moreover, since it sticks, extruding air with the roller 300, a bubble is not caught.

  The problem with the pasting apparatus described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11 is that the starting point of pasting of the touch panel 40 and the front window 50 is not defined by the jig and is not stable. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, since the short side of the touch panel 40 is positioned on the short side opposite to the roller 300, the touch panel 40 shown in FIG. Variation occurs in the starting point of 40 bonding.

  FIG. 12 is a plan view for explaining this state. In FIG. 12, the touch panel 40 is pasted on the front window 50. The lower side of FIG. 12 is a position to be a starting point for attaching the touch panel 40 and the front window 50. The fact that the starting point to be attached varies means that the position p in FIG. 12 varies, and the lengths d3 and d4 in FIG. 12 vary. In the above description, only the dimensional variation of the touch panel is considered as a problem. However, in the methods shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the dimensional variation of the front window 50 is also superimposed and affected.

  On the other hand, since the long sides of the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 are both positioned by the positioning jig, there is no variation in the bonding dimension on the positioning jig side. That is, the variation in the dimensions, d1 and d2 in FIG.

  As described above, conventionally, there has been a problem that the starting point for attaching the front window 50 and the touch panel 40, that is, the roller 300 side has a large variation. In a hybrid liquid crystal display device, a large number of substrates, adhesive sheets, and the like are bonded together. Therefore, if the starting point of the bonding varies, the accuracy of bonding the stacked substrates or sheets becomes a problem.

  The subject of this invention is suppressing the dispersion | variation in the bonding position of a board | substrate and a sheet | seat, and improving the bonding precision between each sheet | seat, between board | substrates, or a board | substrate and a sheet | seat.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and specific means are as follows. That is, a sheet sticking device that contacts one side of a substrate and one side of a sheet and presses a roller from one end of the sheet while pressing the sheet onto the substrate, The side is positioned by a substrate positioning jig, the one side of the sheet is positioned by a sheet positioning jig, and the sheet positioning jig exists on the roller side. It is.

  Such a device is a so-called hybrid liquid crystal display device having a front window, a touch panel, and the like. When the touch panel is bonded to a front window or a liquid crystal display panel via an adhesive sheet, the adhesive sheet is attached to the liquid crystal display panel, the front panel, or the like. This is particularly useful when bonding to windows, touch panels and the like. Moreover, it is useful when bonding a sealing film, a sealing substrate, etc. in an organic EL display device.

  According to the present invention, since the starting point of the bonding between the substrate and the sheet or the substrate and the substrate can be accurately controlled by the jig, the accuracy of the bonding between the substrate and the sheet or between the substrate and the substrate can be improved. In particular, in a hybrid liquid crystal display device in which a large number of sheets or substrates need to be attached, it is possible to prevent defects in positional accuracy between the sheet and the substrate or between the substrate and the substrate.

It is sectional drawing of what is called a hybrid type liquid crystal display device with which this invention is applied. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which the touch panel adhered to the front window through the adhesive material sheet. 1 is a schematic plan view of a substrate or sheet bonding apparatus according to the present invention. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the substrate or sheet bonding apparatus according to the present invention before the roller side sheet positioning jig contacts the sheet end. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram after positioning the roller side sheet positioning jig in contact with the sheet end of the substrate or sheet bonding apparatus according to the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which affixes the adhesive material sheet to a front window of the board | substrate or sheet | seat sticking apparatus by this invention. It is sectional drawing when a some contact bonding layer and a spacer are arrange | positioned between a touchscreen and a front window. It is sectional drawing which shows the state by which the adhesive material sheet was affixed on the upper polarizing plate of the liquid crystal display panel. It is sectional drawing which shows the state by which the touch panel was affixed on the liquid crystal display panel via the adhesive material sheet. It is a schematic plan view of a substrate or sheet pasting apparatus according to a conventional example. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a pasting device for a substrate or a sheet according to a conventional example. It is a top view which shows the state by which the touch panel was affixed on the front window. It is sectional drawing of the organic electroluminescence display using a sealing sheet. It is sectional drawing of the organic electroluminescence display using a sealing substrate.

  The contents of the present invention will be described in detail below using examples.

  FIG. 1 is an example of a liquid crystal display device to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 shows a so-called hybrid liquid crystal display device in which a touch panel 40 and a front window 50 are attached to the front surface of a liquid crystal display panel. In FIG. 1, the TFT substrate 10 and the counter substrate 20 are bonded using a sealing material (not shown). A liquid crystal layer (not shown) is sandwiched between the TFT substrate 10 and the counter substrate 20. A lower polarizing plate 11 is attached to the lower side of the TFT substrate 10, and an upper polarizing plate 21 is attached to the upper side of the counter substrate 20. An assembly of the TFT substrate 10, the counter substrate 20, the lower polarizing plate 11, and the upper polarizing plate 21 is referred to as a liquid crystal display panel 1000. A backlight is disposed under the liquid crystal display panel 1000, but is omitted in FIG.

  An adhesive sheet 30 is attached on the upper polarizing plate 21 of the liquid crystal display panel 1000, and the touch panel 40 is attached via the adhesive sheet 30. An adhesive sheet is attached on the touch panel, and a front window 50 is attached via the adhesive sheet 30. Since the front window 50 has a role of mechanically protecting the entire liquid crystal display device, the front window 50 is formed to be relatively thick and has a thickness of 0.5 to 1.2 mm. On the other hand, the thickness of the touch panel 40 is relatively thin and is about 0.2 to 0.4 mm. Since the touch panel 40 is thinly formed as described above, it can be easily bent at the time of bonding.

  The hybrid liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1 can be manufactured in various orders, but as an example, first, a structure in which the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 are bonded (hereinafter referred to as front window assembly) is manufactured. There is a method of adhering a front window assembly to a separately prepared liquid crystal display panel.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the front window assembly. When the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 are bonded together, the front window 50 is disposed below the touch panel 40 as shown in FIG. Since the front window 50 is larger and thicker than the touch panel 40, the touch panel 40 is bonded to the front window 50. Hereinafter, the bonding apparatus according to the present invention will be described by taking the bonding of the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 as an example.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the apparatus of the present invention for producing a front window assembly as shown in FIG. The positioning of the front window 50 in FIG. 3 is the same as the positioning of the substrate described in FIG. A seat side reference point 600 is formed at the lower left of the front window 50. The reference point is formed on the side close to the positioning jig. An adhesive sheet 30 is affixed to the front window 50.

  The touch panel 40 in FIG. 3 is positioned by the sheet positioning jig 600. The long side of the sheet positioning jig 600 is the same as that in FIG. 9, but the short side is different from that in FIG. 9, and the sheet positioning jig is arranged on the roller 300 side. This is a feature of the present invention. Therefore, in the apparatus of the present invention, unlike the conventional example, the starting point of the attachment of the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 can be accurately controlled by the sheet positioning jig 200.

  If dimensional variations occur in the sheet or the like, the side opposite to the attachment starting point, that is, the point q in FIG. 12 varies. However, in the present invention, since the starting point is accurately controlled, it is possible to reduce the pasting error due to the variation in the setting of the sheet and the like, and the error can be suppressed only to the dimensional variation of the sheet or the like. More accurate pasting is possible. That is, the variation of the q point in the present invention can be made smaller than the variation of the p point in FIG.

  FIG. 3 shows that the sheet positioning jig 200 on the short side moves as shown by a white arrow to determine the position of the short side of the touch panel 40. The reference point 600 of the touch panel 40 is formed closer to the sheet positioning jig 200. In FIG. 3, the roller 300 is disposed on the back side of the short side sheet positioning jig 200.

  After positioning the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 in this manner, the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 are folded and pasted around the one-dot chain line in FIG. As a result of the folding, the upper side of the touch panel 40 and the lower side of the front window 50 shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, a reference point is formed on the side where the positioning jig is provided on both the front window 50 side and the touch panel 40 side. In the present invention, unlike the conventional example, the reference point 700 on the front window 50 side coincides with the reference point 600 on the touch panel 40 side when folded around a one-dot chain line. This state is indicated by an arrow in FIG. Therefore, in the apparatus of the present invention, the reference point can also be used as an alignment mark for the front window 50 and the touch panel 40.

  4 shows a state in which the end portion of the adhesive sheet 30 attached to the front window 50 and the end portion of the touch panel 40 are in contact with each other in the state of being folded around the one-dot chain line in FIG. Is pressed. In FIG. 4, the front window 50 is sucked and fixed to the lower suction plate 400, and the touch panel 400 is sucked and fixed to the upper suction plate 500.

  The front window 50 is strongly adsorbed and fixed to the lower adsorbing plate 400, but the touch panel 40 is adsorbed very weakly to the upper adsorbing plate 500 and the like as described in FIG. 4 that is the present invention is significantly different from FIG. 10 in that the roller 300 side sheet positioning jig 250 exists. In FIG. 4, for example, an L-shaped roller side sheet positioning jig 250 having a cross section moves in the direction of the arrow.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the roller side sheet positioning jig 250 has moved and is in contact with the short side end of the touch panel 40. Thus, the end portion of the touch panel 40 is accurately positioned with the end portion of the front window 50. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the end of the adhesive sheet 30 attached to the front window 50 and the end of the touch panel 40 are matched.

  In FIG. 5, when the lower suction plate 400 moves in the direction of the arrow, the operation of the roller 300 rotating and bonding the touch panel 40 and the front window 50 is the same as described in FIG. 10. The feature of the present invention is that the end portion where the adhesion of the touch panel 40 is started can be accurately positioned by the sheet positioning jig 250 on the roller 300 side, so that the front window 50 and the touch panel 40 can be adhered accurately. It is. As shown in FIG. 1, this is particularly effective when many sheets or substrates are laminated.

  3, 4, and 5, the case where the touch panel 40 is pasted on the front window 50 when the adhesive sheet 30 is already pasted on the front window 50 has been described. Below, the case where the adhesive material sheet 30 is affixed on the front window 50 is demonstrated, for example.

  Also in this case, the schematic plan view of the attaching device is the same as that shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view when the adhesive sheet 30 is attached to the front window 50. The configuration in FIG. 6 is almost the same as that in FIG. 5, but the front window 50 is adsorbed on the lower adsorbing plate 400, and the adhesive sheet 30 with the release paper 31 is adsorbed on the upper adsorbing plate 500. Yes. The release paper 31 sandwiches the adhesive sheet 30 and protects the adhesive sheet 30 until the adhesive sheet 30 is used. In FIG. 6, the release paper 31 on one side of the adhesive sheet 30 is already peeled off.

  In FIG. 6, the release paper 31 with the adhesive sheet 30 is weakly adsorbed to the upper adsorption plate 500. The adhesive sheet 30 is bonded to the front window 50 in the same manner as described with reference to FIG. Since the release paper 31 adsorbed on the upper adsorption plate 500 is weakly adsorbed, when the roller 300 comes into contact, the upper adsorption plate 500 is easily displaced, and the adhesive sheet 31 with the release paper 31 is moved to the front window 50. Are adhered to each other by a roller 300. Thus, after the adhesive sheet 30 adheres to the front window 50, the release paper 31 is peeled off from the adhesive sheet 30. This state is a state where the adhesive sheet 30 is adhered to the front window 50 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the flexible wiring board 45 is connected to the touch panel 40 by an ASC (Anisotropic Conductive Film) 46. In order to secure a connection space for the flexible wiring board 45, three layers of an adhesive sheet 30, a PET film 35 serving as a spacer, and an adhesive sheet 30 are formed between the touch panel 40 and the front window 50. . For example, since the thickness of the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 30 is about 50 to 100 μm and the thickness of the PET film 35 is about 100 μm, the total thickness becomes 200 to 300 μm. Since the combined thickness of the flexible wiring board 45 and the ASC 46 is about 80 μm, it is possible to sufficiently prevent the flexible wiring board 45 from coming into contact with the front window 50 and peeling off the front window 50 or the touch panel 40. I can do it.

  Thus, also when affixing a film over multiple layers, a multilayer film can be accurately affixed by using the affixing apparatus of this invention as shown in FIG.

  The above is the description when the touch panel 40 is pasted on the front window 50. On the other hand, the touch panel 40 may be attached to the liquid crystal display panel 1000. In this case, first, the adhesive sheet 30 is attached to the upper polarizing plate 21 of the liquid crystal display panel 1000 in which the upper polarizing plate 21 is attached to the counter substrate 20 by the method shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the state in which the adhesive sheet 30 is attached to the liquid crystal display panel 1000.

  Thereafter, the touch panel 40 is pasted by the method shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the touch panel 40 is attached to the liquid crystal display panel 1000 via the adhesive sheet 30. As described above, the attaching device according to the present invention can be applied to any case where a substrate or a film is attached in multiple layers in a liquid crystal display device.

  In the sheet pasting apparatus described in the first embodiment, a case where a sheet in a so-called hybrid liquid crystal display device, a touch panel, or the like is pasted on the liquid crystal display panel 1000 or the front window 50 has been described. This pasting apparatus can be applied not only to the liquid crystal display panel 1000 but also to an organic EL display apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a so-called solid-sealed organic EL display device. In FIG. 13, an organic EL layer 61 is formed on an element substrate 60 made of glass. The organic EL layer 61 is covered with an inorganic passivation film 62 such as SiO ₂ or SiN, and is protected from moisture in the outside air. Covering the inorganic passivation film 62, a sealing sheet 70 made of resin or the like for mechanically protecting the organic EL element is adhered. Even when the sealing sheet 70 is attached to the element substrate 60 of the organic EL display device, the sheet attaching device according to the present invention as shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 14 shows a case where a sealing substrate 80 made of glass is further attached to the organic EL display device as shown in FIG. Since the sealing substrate 80 formed of glass is used, the organic EL layer 61 is more effectively shielded from atmospheric moisture. The sealing substrate 80 in FIG. 14 can also be attached to the organic EL display device by a sheet attaching device as shown in FIGS.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... TFT substrate, 11 ... Lower polarizing plate, 20 ... Opposing substrate, 21 ... Upper polarizing plate, 30 ... Adhesive sheet, 31 ... Release paper, 35 ... PET film, 40 ... Touch panel, 45 ... Flexible wiring board, 40 ... ASC 50 ... front window 51 ... black frame printing 60 ... element substrate 61 ... organic EL layer 62 ... inorganic passivation film 70 ... sealing sheet 80 ... sealing substrate 100 ... substrate positioning jig 200 ... Sheet positioning jig, 250 ... Roller side positioning jig, 300 ... Roller, 400 ... Lower suction plate, 500 ... Upper suction plate, 600 ... Sheet side reference point, 700 ... Substrate side reference point, 1000 ... Liquid crystal display panel 200 ... LCD panel, 300 ... Backlight

Claims (5)

A sheet affixing device that abuts one side of the substrate and one side of the sheet, and affixes the sheet to the substrate while pressing a roller from one end of the sheet,
The one side of the substrate is positioned by a substrate positioning jig, the one side of the sheet is positioned by a sheet positioning jig, and the sheet positioning jig exists on the roller side. Sheet sticking device.   The sheet pasting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is a front window in a hybrid liquid crystal display device, and the sheet is a touch panel. The sheet pasting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the substrate is a front window in a hybrid liquid crystal display device, and the sheet is an adhesive sheet with release paper.   The sheet sticking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is a liquid crystal display panel, and the sheet is a touch panel.   The sheet pasting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is an element substrate of an organic EL display device, and the sheet is a sealing sheet of the organic EL display device.

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