JP3217385B2 - How to cut glass panels - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The method of cutting a glass panel according to the present invention is used when a large glass panel is divided to produce a liquid crystal panel or a slide glass for a specimen of a predetermined size.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional techniques for dividing glass panels include:
There are two types of cutting: dividing the glass panel by moving the cutter, and forming a groove in the panel surface by the cutter, and then dividing the glass panel by hand or machine.

For example, when manufacturing a liquid crystal plate used for a display unit of various electronic devices or a slide glass used for preparing a microscope specimen, a large panel is cut or cut and divided to have a predetermined size. Liquid crystal plate or slide glass.

The operation of dividing a large panel into a small plate having a predetermined size is performed by a cutter such as a diamond grindstone which moves along the upper surface of a panel placed on a flat table. The cutting method or the method of pressing a diamond single crystal or a carbide tip to form a groove, and then cutting manually or by a machine is used.

An example of the cleaving method will be described. As shown in FIG. 12, a head 4 having a cutter 3 supported on a lower surface is provided above a table 2 on which a panel 1 is mounted on the upper surface. The head 4 is moved in the left-right direction in FIG. 12 while the cutter 3 is pressed against the upper surface of the panel 1 by using a device which is capable of freely performing an arbitrary movement and an intermittent movement by a fixed length in the front and back directions in FIG. This panel 1 is shown in FIG.
3 is formed with a groove as indicated by a chain line a.

If one horizontal groove indicated by a chain line a in FIG. 13 is formed, the head 4 is slightly moved in the front and back directions in FIG. 12 by a certain length, and then the head 4 is again moved in the horizontal direction in FIG. By repeating the operation of moving, the dashed line a in FIG.
As shown by a, a number of grooves parallel to each other are formed at equal intervals.

After the horizontal grooves indicated by chain lines a and a in FIG. 13 have been formed, the table 2 is then rotated by 90 degrees about the vertical axis, and the head 4 is moved again in the left-right direction in FIG. Then, vertical grooves shown by broken lines b and b in FIG.

By this operation, the large panel 1 is divided into small rectangular plates surrounded by chain lines a, a and broken lines b, b.

However, in the panel dividing apparatus constructed and operated as described above, the cutter 3 for cutting the panel 1 while reciprocating on the upper surface of the panel 1 needs to be cooled with cooling water during operation. In addition, the surface of the panel 1 is easily contaminated by the cooling water, and the surface of the panel 1 is easily damaged due to the generated chips, and the productivity is poor.

In order to solve such a problem, there is a case where a groove is formed on the surface of the panel, and then the panel is bent and cut at the groove forming portion after forming the groove on the panel surface. However, not only is the preparation of the cutting work troublesome,
As shown in FIG. 13, if the cutting lines cross each other, the cutting cannot be performed.

As a glass panel cleaving device for solving such a problem, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. Sho 62-175042 discloses a cleaving device as shown in FIGS.

In the glass panel cleaving apparatus described in this publication, a table 7 is provided on the upper surface of a body 5 so as to be rotatable by 90 degrees about a vertical axis 6. The upper surface of the table 7 on which the glass panel 8 is placed is formed flat, and a large number of small holes leading to a vacuum source are provided for holding the glass panel.
The main moving table 9 provided at the upper surface corner of the table 7 is movable above the table 7. That is, a screw rod 11 rotationally driven by a motor 10 is screwed into a nut piece 12 fixed to the lower surface of the main moving table 9, and by rotating the motor 10 forward or reverse, the main moving table is rotated. 9 is freely movable in the horizontal direction in FIG.

A horizontal guide rail 13 is disposed on the upper surface of the main moving table 9 in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the main moving table 9.
A movable pulley 16 fixed to an output shaft of a motor 15 provided at one end of the main movable table 9
The intermediate part of the belt 18 is connected to a driven pulley 17 provided at the other end of the main moving table 9 and the sub-moving table 14 is moved as shown in FIG. 15 can be moved in parallel in the left-right direction (the front-back direction in FIG. 15).
A cutter 19 for forming a groove on the upper surface of the glass panel 8 is mounted on the sub-moving table 14 so as to be able to move up and down with respect to the sub-moving table 14.

At the upper end of the main carriage 9,
A laser head 20 for irradiating a laser beam toward the glass panel 8 on the upper surface of the table 7 is fixed to a portion passing through the lower side. The irradiation port of the laser head 20 is located immediately above the straight line on which the cutter 19 moves, so that the laser light emitted from the irradiation port is irradiated on the groove formed by the cutter 19.

When the glass panel 8 is to be cut by the panel cutting apparatus constructed as described above, the glass panel 8 is first placed on the upper surface of the table 7.

Next, by energizing the motor 10, the main carriage 9 is moved to the left above in FIG. When the main moving table 9 is moved to a predetermined position, the cutter 19 which has been raised up to that point is lowered, the cutter 19 is pressed against the upper surface of the glass panel 8, and the motor 15 is energized in this state. The sub-movement table 14 is moved linearly along the guide rail 13.

When the linear groove is formed on the upper surface of the glass panel 8 by moving the sub movable table 14 in this manner, the cutter 19 is separated from the upper surface of the glass panel 8 and the sub movable table 14 is further moved. As shown in FIG. 14, the laser head 20 is moved to the end of the guide rail 13, and the laser head 20 is energized while the irradiation port of the laser head 20 faces the groove formed on the upper surface of the glass panel 8. Irradiate the laser light toward.

By irradiating a laser beam to the entire length or a part of the groove, the groove forming portion of the glass panel 8 thermally expands,
The strain generated by this thermal expansion is transmitted along the groove,
The glass panel 8 is cut at the groove forming portion.

[0019]

However, when the glass panel 8 is cut as described above, it is difficult to irradiate the laser beam with the groove formed on the upper surface of the glass panel 8 by the cutter 19, so that the above-mentioned groove is difficult. The laser beam is easy to hit the part that deviates from the area.

When the laser beam is also applied to a portion deviating from the groove, a strain accompanying the thermal expansion is also generated at the portion where the laser beam is applied, so that a fine crack is formed inward from the cut edge. As a result, the breaking lines of the glass panel 8 cannot be finished clearly.

The method of cutting a glass panel according to the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned inconvenience by making a laser beam irradiate only a groove formed by a cutter.

[0022]

According to the method for cutting a glass panel of the present invention, first, as shown in FIG. 1, a laser light blocking agent 21 covers a portion of a glass panel 8 to be cut and both sides thereof.
Coating. As the laser light blocking agent 21, in addition to those that absorb and do not transmit laser light, those that do not transmit by reflecting laser light can be used.

As described above, after a predetermined portion of the surface of the glass panel 8 is coated with the laser light blocking agent 21,
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, at the same time as the laser light blocking agent 21 is peeled along the portion to be cut, a groove 22 is formed in the portion of the glass panel 8 to be cut.
This operation is performed using the same device as the conventional device shown in FIGS. In other words, by moving the sub-moving table 14 while pressing the cutter 19 against the portion coated with the laser light blocking agent 21, the surface of the glass panel 8 should be cut at the same time as the laser light blocking agent 21 is peeled off. A groove 22 is formed in the portion.

As described above, if the groove 22 is formed in the portion of the surface of the glass panel 8 to be cut at the same time when the laser light blocking agent 21 is peeled off,
The glass panel 8 is cut at the groove 22 as shown in FIG.

[0025]

As described above, according to the glass panel cleaving method of the present invention, the laser beam is applied to the groove 22 in a state where both sides of the groove 22 are covered with the laser light blocking agent 21. The laser light does not hit the broken portion, and no distortion due to thermal expansion occurs in portions other than the groove 22, so that no fine cracks are generated inward from the cut edge, The breaking lines of the glass panel 8 are beautifully finished.

[0026]

5 and 6 show a first example of a cleaving apparatus used for carrying out the glass panel cleaving method of the present invention. The cutter 19 is provided with a cutter 19 (FIGS. 14 and 15) for forming a groove on the upper surface of the glass panel 8, similarly to the conventional apparatus shown in FIGS.
It is omitted in FIGS.

In the case of the cutting apparatus shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a mask plate 23 is provided below the laser head 20 and a small-diameter mask hole 24 is formed in the center of the mask plate 23.
Is formed. The laser beam emitted from the laser head 20 passes through the mask hole 24 and reaches the upper surface of the glass panel 8 placed on the upper surface of the table 7, and the groove portion previously formed on the upper surface of the glass panel 8 Heat.

The mask plate 23 is provided with the laser head 20.
The laser head 2 is fixed to the same support portion 25 as
It is movable in the horizontal direction together with 0. Other configurations are
Since it is the same as the conventional device shown in FIGS.
The same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description will be omitted.

As described above, even if the laser light emitted from the laser head 20 is diffused due to the provision of the mask plate 23 between the laser head 20 and the glass panel 8, the laser light Hits an unnecessary portion on the upper surface of the glass panel 8 and does not cause undesired thermal strain on the glass panel 8.

As shown in FIG. 7, the mask plate 26 can be formed to be long in the moving direction of the laser head 20, and a slit-like mask hole 27 can be provided in the mask plate 26. In this case, even when the laser head 20 moves while irradiating the laser beam, the mask plate 26 does not move.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a long laser head is used.
By irradiating the laser light in a band form at a time over the entire length of the groove 22 (FIGS. 2 and 3) formed on the upper surface of the glass panel 8, the glass panel 8 can be cut efficiently.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 10 to 11, two laser heads 20, 20 are provided, and the two laser heads 20, 20 simultaneously irradiate two grooves 22 with laser light. The glass panel 8 can be cut efficiently.

The glass panel cutting method of the present invention is constructed and operated as described above, so that the glass panel cutting operation can be performed efficiently without soiling or damaging the glass panel. Thus, it becomes possible to provide high quality cut glass at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a glass panel, showing a first step of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the glass panel, also showing a second step.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a glass panel, showing a third step of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top side view showing a first example of a cleaving device for performing the method of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 5, showing a first example of a mask plate.

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to a section taken along line BB of FIG. 5, showing a second example.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing another example of the laser head.

FIG. 9 is a view as viewed from below in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an upper side view showing a second example of the cleaving device for performing the method of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow C in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a schematic front view showing a first example of a conventional cleaving device.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a glass panel showing a cutting line.

FIG. 14 is a front view showing a second example of a conventional cleaving device.

FIG. 15 is a side view as viewed from the right side of FIG. 14;

[Description of sign]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Panel 2 Table 3 Cutter 4 Head 5 Body 6 Vertical axis 7 Table 8 Glass panel 9 Main slide 10 Motor 11 Screw rod 12 Nut piece 13 Guide rail 14 Secondary slide 15 Motor 16 Drive pulley 17 Follower pulley 18 Belt 19 Cutter 20 Laser head 21 Laser light blocking agent 22 Groove 23 Mask plate 24 Mask hole 25 Support 26 Mask plate 27 Mask hole

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-54-106524 (JP, A) JP-A-49-10917 (JP, A) JP-A-62-46930 (JP, A) JP-A-58-108 90390 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 62-175042 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C03B 33/00-33/14

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] After coating a portion to be cut of a glass panel and both sides thereof with a laser light blocking agent,
At the same time as the laser light blocking agent is peeled off along the part to be cut, a groove is formed in the part to be cut on the surface of the glass panel, and then a laser beam is irradiated along the groove, thereby A method for cleaving a glass panel, wherein the glass panel is cleaved at a groove portion.