JP4089505B2 - Display panel lighting inspection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lighting inspection apparatus for performing image quality inspection by lighting a display panel before mounting a driving circuit in a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display or a plasma display.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display or a plasma display is commercialized by mounting a driving circuit on the panel. In the manufacturing process, in order to prevent the defective panel from flowing out to the drive circuit mounting process, a lighting signal is input and a lighting test is performed before mounting the drive circuit.
[0003]
As this kind of display panel lighting inspection device, one using an inspection probe pin (see Patent Document 1) is known, but instead of this inspection probe pin, it is formed on a flexible printed circuit board (FPC). It is also considered to use an electrode as a probe for lighting inspection.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent No. 2953039 [0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in an inspection apparatus that uses an electrode formed on an FPC as a probe for lighting inspection, the length of the wiring between the signal supply circuit and the FPC connected to the panel should be as short as possible. The FPC is generally designed, and it is difficult to use the FPC connected to the signal supply circuit as it is as a lighting probe. Also, some FPCs have a driver IC integrated therein, and it is difficult to produce such a configuration as an FPC dedicated to a panel inspection probe in terms of cost and the like. For this reason, in such a case, a method is used in which the FPC for wiring connected to the signal supply circuit and the FPC dedicated to the panel inspection probe are relay-connected.
[0006]
However, in such a structure for relay connection, when exchanging the FPC for the panel inspection probe, it is necessary to securely connect the FPC for wiring at the relay connection portion. Therefore, connection failure is likely to occur.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a lighting inspection apparatus for a display panel, a wiring FPC connected to a signal supply circuit and an FPC dedicated to a panel inspection probe can be easily and reliably relay-connected. The purpose is to do.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a relay connection portion, a clamping pressure contact plate that clamps a flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and a flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe at the position of each electrode terminal exposed portion, A pressure buffer member disposed between the pressure contact plate and at least one electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe, and the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply And the bias applied to the pressure contact portion of the flexible printed circuit board for the panel inspection probe is configured to be biased .
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the signal terminal flexible printed circuit board connected to the signal supply circuit and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe contacting the electrode terminal of the display panel are each exposed to the electrode terminals. The relay connection part is connected by being clamped and pressed at the position of the electrode, and the relay connection part clamps the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe at the position of each electrode terminal exposed part. A clamping pressure contact plate, and a pressure buffering member disposed between the clamping pressure contact plate and at least one electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe, and Flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and panel inspection probe Characterized by being configured so as to have a bias in consuming way of pressure to press-contact portion of the flexible printed circuit board.
[0010]
In the invention according to claim 2, the pressure buffering member is arranged at the position of the electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe. It is characterized by being arranged so as to intersect with the arrangement direction of the electrode terminals of the printed circuit board.
[0011]
Furthermore, the invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that the pressure buffer member has a circular cross-sectional shape and an elongated shape.
[0012]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a pressure buffer member is disposed between one clamping pressure contact plate and the electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply or the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe, and the other An uneven portion is formed at a position corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portion on the FPC clamping pressure contact plate.
[0013]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a pressure buffering member is disposed between one clamping pressure contact plate and the electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply or the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe, and the signal supply An uneven portion is formed in the electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for panel or the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe.
[0014]
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0015]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the entire lighting inspection apparatus, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a lighting signal supply unit of the lighting inspection apparatus of FIG. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an inspection apparatus main body, and a main body base portion 2 is supported and fixed. 3 is a panel holding unit for holding the display panel 4 for inspection, and the display panel 4 held by the panel holding unit 3 is information that has been position-recognized by the alignment recognition camera 5 by the posture control mechanism unit 6 by the panel holding unit 3. Are moved and held so that each electrode terminal position of the display panel 4 matches an appropriate position.
[0016]
A signal is supplied from the signal supply circuit 7 to the display panel 4 that is moved and held through a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) 8 for supplying signals and a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) 9 for panel inspection probes. The panel inspection probe FPC 9 is supported by a probe support member 10, and the tip of the panel inspection probe FPC 9 is displayed by a clamp connection mechanism portion 12 mounted on a slide base portion 11 movable in the arrow direction of FIG. An inspection signal can be supplied to the display panel 4 by pressing and contacting the electrode terminal portion of the panel 4.
[0017]
Reference numeral 13 denotes a relay connection portion for connecting the signal supply FPC 8 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9. FIG. 3 shows the relay connection portion 13 in an enlarged manner. As shown in FIG. 3, the relay connection portion 13 includes FPC clamping pressure contact plates 14 and 15 for clamping the signal supply FPC 8 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 at the positions of the electrode terminal exposed portions 8a and 9a, A flexible pressure buffering member 16 disposed between the panel inspection probe FPC 9 and the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14; and electrode terminal exposed portions 8a and 9a of the signal supply FPC 8 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9; The electrode terminal surfaces face each other so that they face each other, are sandwiched by FPC clamping pressure contact plates 14 and 15, and are connected by pressure contact. Further, in order to generate a pressure between the FPC clamping pressure contact plates 14 and 15, the FPC clamping pressure contact plates 14 and 15 are fixed by a plurality of fixing screws 17.
[0018]
In addition, a plurality of pressure buffering members 16 are arranged side by side at the positions of the electrode terminal exposed portions 8a and 9a so as to intersect the arrangement direction of the electrode terminals of the FPCs 8 and 9. The pressure applied to the pressure contact portion is biased so that a strong pressure is applied to a portion where the thin pressure buffer member 16 is provided. Further, the pressure buffering member 16 is similarly disposed on the side where the FPCs 8 and 9 are not provided at the position on the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the side where the FPCs 8 and 9 are not provided. The configuration is such that the parallelism of the gaps 14 and 15 can be maintained. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the pressure buffering member 16 is arranged between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9, but the pressure buffering member 16 is connected to the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15 and a signal supply. The same effect can be obtained with a configuration provided between the FPC 8 and the FPC 8.
[0019]
4 to 7 show other examples of the relay connection unit, which will be described below.
[0020]
First, in the example shown in FIG. 4, on the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14, the position corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portions 8 a and 9 a of the FPCs 8 and 9 intersects the arrangement direction of the electrode terminals of the FPCs 8 and 9. The pressure buffer member 18 having a circular cross section and an elongated shape is disposed. Reference numeral 19 denotes a groove provided in the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 in order to dispose the pressure buffer member 18. 4 shows an example in which one pressure buffer member 18 is provided, a plurality of pressure buffer members 18 may be provided. The same effect can be obtained by arranging the pressure buffering member 18 between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15 and the signal supplying FPC 8.
[0021]
In the example shown in FIG. 5, a flexible pressure buffer member 20 is disposed between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 at positions corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portions 8 a and 9 a, and A plurality of pressure buffering members 16 are provided between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15 at a position corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portions 8a and 9a and the signal supply FPC 8 so as to intersect the arrangement direction of the electrode terminals of the FPCs 8 and 9. They are arranged side by side. Even if the arrangement of the pressure buffering member 16 and the pressure buffering member 20 is reversed, the same effect can be obtained.
[0022]
In the example shown in FIG. 6, a flexible pressure buffer member 20 is disposed between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 at a position corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portions 8 a and 9 a, and An uneven portion 15a is formed at a position corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portion 8a of the signal supply FPC 8 on the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15 so that the pressure applied to the pressure contacting portions of the FPCs 8 and 9 is biased so that the FPC clamping pressure contact is achieved. A strong pressure is applied to the convex portion of the concave and convex portion 15 a on the plate 15. The shape of the concavo-convex portion 15 a formed on the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15 is a shape that intersects the arrangement direction of the electrode terminals of the FPCs 8 and 9. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the pressure buffer member 20 is disposed between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9, and the uneven portion 15 a is provided on the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15. Even if this is reversed, the same effect can be obtained.
[0023]
Further, in the example shown in FIG. 7, a flexible pressure buffer member 20 is disposed between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 at positions corresponding to the electrode terminal exposed portions 8 a and 9 a, and The panel inspection probe FPC 9 is a panel inspection probe FPC with bumps, and an uneven portion 9b is formed on the electrode terminal exposed portion 9a of the panel inspection probe FPC 9, so that pressure is applied to the pressure contact portions of the FPCs 8 and 9. A bias is applied so that a strong pressure is applied to the electrode terminal exposed portion 9a of the panel inspection probe FPC 9 by the convex portion of the concave and convex portion 9b. In the example shown in FIG. 7 , the pressure buffer member 20 is disposed between the FPC clamping pressure contact plate 14 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9, and the uneven portion 9 b is provided on the electrode terminal exposed portion 9 a of the panel inspection probe FPC 9. Although it is configured, the same effect can be obtained even if this is reversed.
[0024]
As a method for forming the unevenness of the FPC for panel inspection probe with bumps, for example, there is a method of forming protrusions by electroless metal plating or electroless metal plating on the FPC electrode pattern. As the height of the shape of the protrusions, good results were obtained in terms of both the connection improvement effect of the FPCs 8 and 9 and the reliability when the FPCs 8 and 9 were repeatedly used by setting the height to about 10 μm to 50 μm. It is desirable to apply within this range.
[0025]
As described above, the FPC clamping pressure contact plates 14 and 15 for clamping the signal supply FPC 8 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 at the positions of the electrode terminal exposed portions 8a and 9a, the FPC clamping pressure contact plates 14 and 15, and the signal The pressure buffer members 16, 18, and 20 disposed between at least one of the electrode terminal exposed portions 8a and 9a of the supply FPC 8 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 constitute the relay connection portion 13 and the signal The structure is such that the pressure applied to the pressure contact portions of the supply FPC 8 and the panel inspection probe FPC 9 is biased , and an effect that relay connection can be performed easily and reliably is obtained.
[0026]
In order to confirm the effect of the present invention, in the lighting inspection of a 50-inch plasma display panel in which 22 panel inspection probe FPCs 9 are used, the FPC replacement work at the relay connection portion until the panel can be fully lit is performed as described above. The test was repeated five times for the structure of the embodiment. Then, for each time, the "FPC complete connection rate" that calculates the rate of the average number of FPC replacements that resulted in no connection mistakes in the first relay connection exchange work, and the relay connection exchange correction work before the panel is fully lit “FPC complete connection correction count” was checked to see how many times it was needed.
[0027]
Further, when a comparative example in which relay connection is performed without adopting the above configuration was also examined, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the "FPC complete connection rate" was 82 to 92%, and the "FPC complete connection correction count" ”Was 0.8 to 2.8 times, whereas in the relay connection structure of the comparative example,“ FPC complete connection rate ”was 48%, and“ FPC complete connection correction count ”was 4.6 times, According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the FPC replacement work at the relay connection part, and it is possible to easily and reliably perform the FPC replacement work at the relay connection part.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
According to the above invention, in the display panel lighting inspection apparatus, the reliability of the FPC relay connection can be improved with a simple configuration, and thus the replacement time can be greatly shortened.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a display panel lighting inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the main part of the device. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a relay connection portion according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a relay connection portion according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a relay connection according to another embodiment. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a relay connection according to another embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 Display panel 8 Signal supply flexible printed circuit board 8a, 9a Electrode terminal exposure part 9 Panel inspection probe flexible printed circuit board 9b Uneven part 13 Relay connection part 14, 15 FPC clamping pressure contact plate 15a Uneven part 16, 18, 20 Pressure buffer member

Claims (5)

Relay connection part for connecting the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply connected to the signal supply circuit and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe in contact with the electrode terminals of the display panel by sandwiching and pressing at the position of each electrode terminal exposed part And the relay connection portion includes a clamping pressure contact plate that clamps the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe at the position of each electrode terminal exposed portion, and the clamping pressure contact plate and the signal supply A pressure buffer member disposed between at least one electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for panel and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe, and the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible for panel inspection probe pressure to the pressure contact portion of the printed circuit board Barbs lighting test device of the display panel, characterized by being configured so as to have a bias in the way. The pressure buffer member is positioned at the electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe with respect to the arrangement direction of the electrode terminals of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply and the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe. The lighting inspection device for a display panel according to claim 1, wherein the lighting inspection device is arranged so as to cross each other.   The lighting inspection device for a display panel according to claim 2, wherein the pressure buffering member has a circular cross section and an elongated shape.   A pressure buffer member is disposed between one clamping pressure contact plate and the electrode terminal exposure portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply or panel inspection probe, and the electrode terminal exposure portion on the other FPC clamping pressure contact plate The lighting inspection apparatus for a display panel according to claim 1, wherein a concavo-convex portion is formed at a position corresponding to.   A pressure buffer member is disposed between one clamping pressure contact plate and the electrode terminal exposed portion of the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply or the flexible printed circuit board for panel inspection probe, and flexible for the flexible printed circuit board for signal supply or panel inspection probe. 2. The lighting inspection device for a display panel according to claim 1, wherein an uneven portion is formed on the electrode terminal exposed portion of the printed circuit board.

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