JP2601663Y2 - Brush cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a brush cleaning apparatus for cleaning, for example, a glass substrate used for a liquid crystal display panel, and more particularly to discharging dust generated from a bearing supporting a brush to the outside of a cleaning system. The present invention relates to a brush cleaning device capable of preventing foreign matter from adhering to a glass substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a glass substrate is used for a liquid crystal display panel. If a foreign substance such as dust adheres to the glass substrate, alignment unevenness of liquid crystal molecules, defective sealing, segmentation, etc. will occur in all the manufacturing processes. Unexpected troubles such as a short circuit between the electrode and the common electrode may occur. Therefore, conventionally, the glass substrate is cleaned as needed before and after each manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display panel.

As shown in FIG. 4, a glass substrate carried into a cleaning line from a direction of an arrow a is first carried into a shower room c by a loader b, as shown in FIG. Is sprayed and then wiped and cleaned with a brush in a brush cleaning chamber d, and then a processing liquid adhering to the glass substrate is drained in a liquid draining chamber e. Thereafter, the glass substrate is carried into the jet cleaning chamber f, where the glass substrate is washed by a jet stream, and further passed through the shower chamber g, the ultrasonic cleaning chamber h, and then dried in the drying chamber i.
Finally, it is carried out of the cleaning line by the unloader j. Note that a roller transfer device is used to transfer the glass substrate to each chamber in the cleaning line. The combination of the washing of the glass substrate can be appropriately changed as needed.

[0004]

The brush driving unit (motor, coupling, etc.) in the above-described brush cleaning device is disposed outside the cleaning tank, and dust and the like from the driving unit enter the cleaning tank. Although it is prevented from entering, at least both ends of the brush need to be supported by bearings or the like in order to rotatably install the long brush in the cleaning tank. However, since such bearings are always provided in a washing tank that is humid, glass balls and ceramic bearings are adopted as rust prevention measures to prevent rust powder generated from the bearings from scattering into the washing tank. Was.

However, bearings made of special materials such as glass balls and ceramics are not only expensive, but also have poor durability, and rusting from parts made of materials other than glass and ceramics cannot be suppressed. There is a problem that rust powder is scattered in the cleaning tank and adheres to the glass substrate.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and has a brush cleaning apparatus capable of improving the durability of a brush bearing and suppressing the adhesion of dust and the like to a glass substrate. The purpose is to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a brush cleaning apparatus according to the present invention rotatably supports a rotating shaft of a brush by a bearing mechanism in a processing tank for cleaning an object to be cleaned. A brush formed so as to surround the bearing mechanism ;
To surround the bearing mechanism
A bush formed so as to be in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft;
Space and the space surrounded by the casing and the bush.
Formed on the upper side of the casing so as to communicate within
A suction port and a discharge port formed on the lower side;
Bearing in a space surrounded by a bush and a bush
Closer to the exposed side of the rotating shaft than the
Provided with an internal draining plate, and a gas
To the outside of the treatment tank from the discharge port.
Is discharged. In addition, the washing
In the cleaning device, outside the casing and the bush
In addition, it is characterized in that an external drain plate is provided on the rotating shaft.
It is a sign.

[0008]

When a cleaning object such as a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display panel is wiped and cleaned by a brush, a rotating shaft of the brush is rotatably supported using a bearing mechanism in a processing tank. In this case, the bearing mechanism is surrounded by a casing so that water droplets and the like from the washing tank are not scattered directly into the bearing mechanism or enter the bearing mechanism via the rotating shaft of the brush. Even if the bearing mechanism rusts, clean gas is introduced into the casing from the suction port provided in the casing, and dust and the like generated from the bearing mechanism are discharged out of the processing tank system through the discharge port. Therefore, the bearing can be made of steel or stainless steel without using any special material such as glass or ceramics, and the durability of the bearing mechanism can be improved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a brush cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing a bearing mechanism according to the embodiment.

Reference numeral 1 shown in FIG. 1 denotes a processing tank for cleaning (hereinafter, also referred to as a cleaning tank), and a roller transport device (transport level L) for transporting a glass substrate to be cleaned therein. Only shown). As shown in FIG. 2, the roller conveying device has a stepped roller 3 attached to a rotating shaft 2 rotatably supported with respect to a washing tank 1. When a driving shaft 4 is rotated, a driving gear 5 is moved. The respective rotation shafts 2 rotate in the same direction, whereby the glass substrates placed on the stepped rollers 3 are sequentially fed in the transport direction. The transport device used in the brush cleaning device of the present invention is not limited to the above-described roller transport device, and may be another transport device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a frame 6 for supporting a rotary shaft 2 of a roller conveying device is provided in the cleaning tank 1, and a rotary shaft 8 of a brush 7 is rotatable on the frame 6. It is supported by. Bearing mechanism 9 for this rotating shaft 8
As shown in FIG. 3, a brush 10 is rotatably supported on a casing 10 via a bearing 11, and a brush 11 is
An oil seal 12 is provided to prevent the lubricating oil supplied to the tank from leaking to the cleaning tank side. Also, a bush 13 is inserted into the rotation shaft 8 of the brush,
As a result, the bearing mechanism 9 including the bearing 11 and the oil seal 12
3 will be surrounded. Although only one of the brush rotating shafts 8 is shown in FIG. 3, in the brush cleaning device of the present invention, both ends of the brush rotating shaft are supported by bearing mechanisms having a structure as shown in FIG. 1).

In order to improve the durability of the bearing 11, it is preferable to use a bearing made of an iron material such as steel or stainless steel as compared with glass balls or ceramics. Is disadvantageous. In particular, in a brush cleaning device for cleaning a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display panel, the rust environment is severe, and when rust powder adheres to the glass substrate, the alignment unevenness of liquid crystal molecules, poor sealing, or the segment electrode and common electrode. May cause various troubles such as short-circuiting.

For this reason, the brush cleaning device of the present embodiment employs the iron bearing 11 for the purpose of increasing the durability of the bearing mechanism 9, while discharging the rust powder generated from the bearing 11 out of the cleaning tank 1. In order to achieve this, a suction port 14 and a discharge port 1 are provided in a casing 10 surrounding the bearing mechanism 9.
5 has been established. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a suction port 14 is opened in the upper part of the casing 10, a pipe 14a is connected to the suction port 14, and the end of the pipe is opened to a clean air atmosphere. Here, simply opening only the suction port 14 is not preferable because the moist air in the cleaning tank is introduced into the casing 10 and promotes rusting of the bearing 11 and the like.

A discharge port 1 communicating with the inside of the casing 10 is provided at a lower portion of the casing 10 and an upper end of the frame 6.
5, and a pipe 15a is connected between the outlet 15 and a gas-liquid separator 16 provided outside the washing tank. Since an exhaust vacuum or an exhaust fan is connected to the gas-liquid separator, the clean air introduced from the inlet 14 circulates through the casing 10 and then reaches the gas-liquid separator 16 via the outlet 15. Here, after the water is removed, only the gas is discharged out of the system of the cleaning tank 1.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, measures are taken to protect the bearing mechanism 9 from a rust environment. That is, between the brush 7 of the rotating shaft 8 and the bearing mechanism 9, the external drainer 1
9 and an internal draining plate 20 are provided. The external draining plate 19 is provided outside the casing 10 and has a function of dropping water that cannot be removed by the cover 21 along the rotating shaft 8 from the brush 7, whereas the internal draining plate 20 has And the function of dropping water that could not be removed by the external draining plate 19 to the discharge port 15 side.

The rotating shaft 8 of the brush is connected to a motor 17 provided outside the washing tank 1 as shown in FIG.
In order to wipe and clean the front and back of the glass substrate, a plurality of brushes 7 are arranged above and below the glass substrate transport level (pass line) L as shown in FIGS. I have.

Next, the operation will be described. When wiping and cleaning the glass substrate of the liquid crystal display panel with a brush, the glass substrate is placed on a roller transport device provided in the cleaning tank 1. As a result, the glass substrate is sequentially transported in the transport direction along the stepped roller 3, and the brush 7 is rotatably supported in the cleaning tank 1 via a bearing mechanism 9 at an appropriate position. Then, the front and back surfaces of the glass substrate fed by the roller transport device are wiped by the respective brushes 7 rotating via the coupling 18, and the brushes are cleaned.

In the brush cleaning apparatus of the present embodiment, the bearing mechanism 9 including the bearing 11 and the oil seal 12 is surrounded by the cover 21, the casing 10, the bush 13, and the like, so that water droplets and the like from the cleaning tank 1 are removed. It does not fly directly to the bearing 11. In addition, water that cannot be removed by the cover 21 is removed by the two drainers 19 and 20 provided on the rotating shaft 8, thereby preventing water entering along the rotating shaft.
Further, the oil seal 12 prevents the lubricating oil supplied to the bearing 11 from leaking to the cleaning tank side.

In the brush cleaning apparatus of the present embodiment, in order to increase the durability of the bearing mechanism 9, the bearing 11 is made of steel or stainless steel without using any special material such as glass or ceramics. Although the capacity is relatively poor, even if the bearing 11 rusts, clean air is introduced into the casing 10 through the suction port 14 provided in the casing 10 and dust and the like generated from the bearing 11 are discharged through the discharge port 15. It is discharged out of the cleaning tank 1 through the system. Therefore, the dust does not adhere to the glass substrate. Since the moisture in the exhaust air is removed by the gas-liquid separator 16, water droplets do not enter the exhaust vacuum or the exhaust fan.

The embodiments described above are described to facilitate understanding of the present invention, but not to limit the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the brush cleaning device of the present invention has been described by taking the glass substrate of the liquid crystal display panel as a specific example of the brush cleaning object, but the work that can be cleaned by the brush cleaning device of the present invention is only the glass substrate. It is not limited.

[0021]

As described above, in the brush cleaning device of the present invention, the bearing mechanism is surrounded by the casing and the bush , and the internal draining plate is arranged in the enclosed space.
Also, communicating with the space surrounding the shaft receiving mechanism to the casing
As described above, the suction port is formed on the upper side and the discharge port is formed on the lower side, and the gas is introduced from the suction port and the gas is discharged from the discharge port to the outside of the processing tank. Does not scatter directly on the bearing mechanism.

Even if the bearing mechanism rusts due to moisture, clean gas is introduced into the casing from the suction port provided in the casing, and dust and the like generated from the bearing mechanism are passed through the discharge port to the system of the treatment tank. Since they are discharged outside, no foreign matter adheres to the object to be cleaned. Moreover, since the bearing can be made of steel or stainless steel without using any special material such as glass or ceramics, the durability of the bearing mechanism can be enhanced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a brush cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing the bearing mechanism according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a process diagram showing a conventional cleaning line.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cleaning tank (processing tank) 7 ... Brush 8 ... Brush rotation shaft 9 ... Bearing mechanism 10 ... Casing 11 ... Bearing 12 ... Oil seal 13 ... Bush 14 ... Suction port 15 ... Discharge port

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A brush cleaning apparatus in which a rotating shaft of a brush is rotatably supported by a bearing mechanism in a treatment tank for cleaning an object to be cleaned, wherein a casing formed to surround the bearing mechanism.
And surrounds the bearing mechanism by being coupled to the casing.
And formed so as to be in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft.
And the casing and bush
The upper side of the casing so as to communicate with the enclosed space
The inlet formed at the bottom and the outlet formed at the lower side
In the space surrounded by the casing and bush
At a position closer to the exposed side of the rotating shaft than the bearing mechanism.
An inner drainer provided on the rotating shaft, wherein a gas is introduced from the inlet and the gas is discharged from the outlet to the outside of the processing tank. (2) Outside the casing and bush
An external draining plate was provided on the rotating shaft, The brush cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein