JP5377899B2 - Paste applicator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paste applicator, wherein, on the occurrence of earthquake, the damage of an apparatus and a substrate is prevented by taking earthquake occurrence information into a control part in the apparatus and by cutting power source after setting the apparatus in a prescribed state when the intensity of earthquake is equal to or above a prescribed degree, and the readjustment time is shortened by recording the state immediately before the stoppage. <P>SOLUTION: In the paste applicator for applying a prescribed paste pattern on the substrate by relatively moving the substrate 9 and a nozzle while discharging a prescribed quantity of paste from the nozzle, the control part 18 includes a determination part which fetches the earthquake information from the outside to determine the magnitude. When the control part 18 receives the information of the occurrence of the earthquake while the paste is applied, it determines the magnitude of the earthquake. In the case that the magnitude of the earthquake is determined higher than the prescribed level, the applicator stops coating, records the coating state immediately before the stoppage, separates a coating head from the substrate surface with a prescribed distance to wait, and then shut the power off. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a paste applicator for applying an adhesive (sealant) to one substrate for bonding two substrates when manufacturing a thin display such as a liquid crystal panel. The present invention relates to a paste applicator considering the prevention of breakage.

  For the production of a liquid crystal display panel, an adhesive (hereinafter also referred to as a sealing agent) in which two glass substrates provided with a transparent electrode and a thin film transistor array are provided at the peripheral edge of the substrate with a very close distance of about several μm is used. There is a step of bonding (hereinafter, the substrate after bonding is referred to as a cell) and sealing a liquid crystal in a space formed thereby.

  To seal the liquid crystal, liquid crystal is dropped on one substrate drawn in a pattern in which a sealing agent is closed so as not to provide an injection port, and the other substrate is placed on one substrate in a vacuum chamber. There is a method of arranging and bonding the upper and lower substrates close to each other.

  By the way, as an apparatus for drawing this sealant in a closed pattern, there is an apparatus as shown in Patent Document 1. In this patent document 1, it has a structure which suppresses the vibration which generate | occur | produces when each moving member operate | moves when apply | coating a paste.

  In addition, many devices for controlling the operation of elevators have been proposed as devices for controlling the operation of devices based on earthquake information. As what controls based on earthquake information other than an elevator apparatus, patent document 2 is disclosing what performs the combustion stop of a boiler or a continuation of operation based on earthquake information.

JP 2004-008871 A JP 2007-0117149 A

  In the prior art of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the response to external vibrations, particularly when an earthquake occurs, has been dealt with by stopping the apparatus according to an operator stop instruction. For this reason, there is a problem that it becomes a countermeasure after the occurrence of the earthquake and damages the apparatus and the substrate being worked on. In addition, when the device is restarted, it is necessary to readjust the device, and there is a problem that it takes time for readjustment. Further, when the coating operation was being performed, the coating state at the time of the interruption was not accurately grasped, and the substrate being worked on had to be discarded.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, it is determined whether the operation is continued or stopped according to the magnitude of the earthquake, and when the operation is stopped, the combustion of the boiler is stopped. However, like this apparatus, in production facilities, it is necessary to prevent damage to articles being produced and to prevent damage to the manufacturing apparatus itself.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to capture the earthquake occurrence information into the control unit in the apparatus when an earthquake occurs, and in the case of an earthquake having a seismic intensity of a predetermined level or higher , interrupt the operation after setting the apparatus to a predetermined state. Another object of the present invention is to provide a paste applicator that prevents the breakage of the substrate and records the state immediately before the stop, thereby shortening the readjustment time.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, in a paste applicator for applying a predetermined paste pattern on a substrate by moving the substrate and the nozzle relative to each other while discharging a predetermined amount of paste from the nozzle, the controller is externally connected. When a control unit receives information on the occurrence of an earthquake while applying paste and applying a paste, it will determine the size of the earthquake and capture the earthquake information. If it is determined that the earthquake, if the coating operation, the interrupting application records the coating state before the suspension in the storage unit, the predetermined distance of the nozzle of the coating head from the substrate surface, are retracted apart interrupting the operation after the, if not in the coating operation, it is determined whether the in board mounted in or out, until the interference between the device robot hand if the substrate mounting or substrate unloading operation is eliminated By removing, in which to avoid contact of the substrate and the nozzle.

  In addition, after the earthquake ends, based on the previously recorded information, the work recovery time can be greatly shortened by continuing the application work from the state of interruption.

  Even if a large earthquake occurs, damage to the apparatus and the substrate can be prevented, and the state at the time of application interruption can be recorded, so that the recovery time after the earthquake can be greatly shortened.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a dispenser device according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an X-axis movement table 3 having a movement guide in the X-axis direction is provided on the surface of the gantry 1. A Y-axis movement table 5 having a movement guide in the Y-axis direction is provided so as to be orthogonal to the X-axis movement table 3. Further, an X-axis servo motor 4 and a ball screw for moving the Y-axis movement table 5 in the X-axis direction are provided on the X-axis movement table 3. Further, a θ-axis moving table 8 is provided on the Y-axis moving table 5, and a Y-axis servo motor 6 and a ball screw for moving the θ-axis moving table 8 in the Y-axis direction are provided on the Y-axis moving table. . A substrate holding table 7 having a substrate holding mechanism is provided on the θ-axis moving table 8. The θ-axis moving table 8 is provided with a θ-axis servo motor (not shown) for rotating the substrate holding table 7 in the θ-axis direction. Hereinafter, the entire X-axis movement table, Y-axis movement table, and θ-axis movement table are referred to as an XYθ table. Here, as the substrate holding mechanism, a suction adsorption mechanism that sucks and adsorbs the glass substrate 9 with a negative pressure is used.

  A Z-axis table support frame 2 is provided on the frame 1. A Z-axis movement table support bracket 10 is provided on the Z-axis table support frame 2, and a Z-axis movement table 11 having a Z-axis direction movement guide is fixed to the Z-axis movement table support bracket 10. A support base (movable part) 22 to which a distance meter 16, a paste storage cylinder (syringe) 13 and the like are attached is provided on the Z-axis movement table 11, and the support base 22 is attached to the Z-axis movement table 11 in the Z-axis direction. A Z-axis servomotor 12 and a ball screw are provided for movement. The paste storage cylinder 13 is detachably attached to the support base 22. A nozzle support 14 for supporting the discharge nozzle extended from the paste storage tube 13 is provided on the distal end side of the paste storage tube 13.

  Further, an image recognition camera 15 including a lens barrel having a light source capable of illumination for performing substrate alignment, paste pattern shape recognition, and the like is provided on the support base 22 so as to face the substrate.

  Furthermore, a main controller 17 for controlling the servo motors 4, 6, 8, 12 and the like is provided inside the gantry 1. The main control unit 17 is connected to the sub control unit 18 via the cable 21. Connected to the sub-control unit 18 are a monitor 19, a keyboard 20, and an external storage device including a hard disk 18a and a floppy disk 18b. From the keyboard 20, data for various processes in the main control unit 17 is input. Further, the image captured by the image recognition camera 15 and the processing status in the main control unit 17 are displayed on the monitor 19. Further, data input from the keyboard 20 is stored and stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk 18a or a floppy disk 18b which is an external storage device.

  Further, the sub-control unit 18 is provided with an interface for exchanging information with an external information device so that earthquake information can be taken in. In this embodiment, the control unit is divided into the main control unit and the sub control unit. However, the control unit may be combined into one control unit.

  Next, typical operations of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. First, the substrate 9 to be coated is mounted on the substrate holding table 7 and sucked and held by the substrate holding mechanism. Next, the XYθ table is driven, and the alignment mark provided on the substrate 9 is moved to a position where the image recognition camera 15 can image, and the mark is imaged. Normal alignment marks are provided at four locations on the substrate, and images are taken by sequentially moving the XYθ table. At this time, the movement amount of the XYθ table is stored, the reference position is obtained from the imaging result and the movement amount of the XYθ table, and the position coordinates at the time of actual application are determined. The substrate is moved to the initial position at the start of coating, and the height of the nozzle of the coating head is determined there. The interval between the nozzle and the substrate is set at a sufficiently high position where the nozzle does not contact the substrate in the standby state. The distance between the nozzle and the substrate at the time of application is measured using a distance meter 16.

  When applying the paste, the distance between the nozzle and the substrate is generally set to be approximately equal to or slightly higher than the paste height. Depending on the height of the sealant, for example, it is set to about 40 μm to 80 μm. When the setting of the distance between the nozzle and the substrate is completed, the discharge pressure of the nozzle is adjusted to a preset pressure. The discharge pressure of the nozzle and the relative speed between the nozzle and the substrate are set in advance in consideration of the viscosity of the paste to be used. The pattern to be applied is also preset and stored in the storage device. When a predetermined pressure is reached according to a set value such as a coating pressure, coating is started. When the application of the determined pattern is completed, the nozzle moves to the initial height position in the standby state, and the substrate is unloaded from the table to the next process. The above is the operation when the application is performed normally. In the present invention, when an external vibration (especially an earthquake) is applied during application, the apparatus and the substrate are prevented from being damaged. For this reason, the control unit receives earthquake information from the outside of the apparatus, and issues a command to stop the apparatus when the seismic intensity is greater than a predetermined seismic intensity.

  FIG. 2 shows an information transmission system of the paste applicator.

  The main control unit 17 includes a drive control unit for each axis. That is, it includes an X-axis movement table drive control unit 1a, a Y-axis movement table drive control unit 1b, a θ-axis movement table drive control unit 1c, a Z-axis movement table drive unit 1d, and the like. Further, although not shown in the drawing, the control of the discharge pressure supplied to the paste storage cylinder 13, the position control for determining the position of the application nozzle by processing the image captured by the image recognition camera 15, and the measurement result of the distance meter 16, Z Execute table height control. The control status of the main control unit 17 is displayed on the monitor 19 of the sub control unit 18. The sub-control unit 18 can take in earthquake information and the like from the external information processing device 25. The information processing apparatus 25 is connected to the Japan Meteorological Agency or the like via the Internet, and can always take in earthquake information.

  The operation of the paste applicator will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the information processing device 25 receives information on the occurrence of an earthquake at a remote location, the earthquake information is input to the sub-control unit 18 (step 110). The sub-control unit 18 is provided with a determination unit that determines the magnitude of the earthquake. If the discriminating unit determines that the earthquake is large enough to interrupt the application, the state of the apparatus is examined. That is, the sub-control unit 18 determines whether or not the apparatus is on standby (step 120). If it is on standby, the application head is in the retracted state, and the state is maintained until the end of the earthquake (step 180). If not waiting, it is determined whether or not the coating operation is in progress (step 130). If the application operation is being performed, application information such as position information is collected, and the collected application information is saved (temporarily stored) in the storage means (step 140). When the application information evacuation is completed, the application head is retracted (step 170). If the coating operation is not being performed in step 130, it is determined whether the substrate is being loaded / unloaded (step 150). If the substrate is being loaded or unloaded, the robot hand or the like is retracted until there is no interference with the apparatus. During the substrate mounting or substrate unloading process, the coating head and the like are retracted to a position away from the table surface, and the state is maintained. When the substrate mounting or unloading operation is not in progress, the process proceeds to the retracting operation (step 170) of the coating head or the like. After the earthquake is over (step 180), it is determined whether or not to continue the operation (step 190). When continuing, the state from the operation interruption part is confirmed in the recovery operation (step 200), and the operation is continued from the interruption state. If not continued, the operation is stopped (step 210).

  As described above, when the earthquake is larger than a certain level, even if vibration is transmitted from the table surface to the coating head, etc., the nozzle or substrate is damaged by retracting it to a position where it does not contact the table or substrate surface. This can be prevented. Moreover, since the state at the time of application interruption is recorded in the storage device, application can be resumed from the state at the time of interruption after the end of the earthquake.

  In this embodiment, the application head is fixed in the horizontal direction while moving the table as a paste application machine, but the table is fixed and the application head is moved and controlled in the horizontal direction. The present invention can also be applied to.

  In this embodiment, the earthquake information is controlled by receiving it from the outside, but it goes without saying that a seismometer or a vibration meter may be installed in the vicinity of the apparatus and the information may be taken in and controlled.

It is a perspective view of the paste coating machine which becomes one Example of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline of the information system of this invention paste coating device. It is an operation | movement flowchart of the coating device at the time of the earthquake occurrence in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Base, 2 ... Z-axis table support base, 3 ... X-axis movement table, 4 ... X-axis servo motor, 5 ... Y-axis movement table, 10 ... Z-axis movement table support bracket, 11 ... Z-axis movement table, 12 ... Z-axis servo motor, 13 ... paste container, 14 ... nozzle support, 15 ... image recognition camera, 16 ... distance meter.

Claims (2)

In a paste applicator that applies a predetermined paste pattern on the substrate by moving the substrate and the nozzle relative to each other while discharging a predetermined amount of paste from the nozzle, the seismic information is taken into the control unit from the outside, and its size is determined. When the control section receives information about the occurrence of an earthquake while providing a discriminating section and applying paste, it determines the magnitude of the earthquake, and if it is determined that the earthquake is greater than or equal to a predetermined magnitude, the application operation if during, the interrupting application records the coating state before the suspension in the storage unit, the predetermined distance of the nozzle of the coating head from the substrate surface, to interrupt the operation after backing spaced, in the coating operation without words, it is determined whether the in board mounted in or out, if the substrate mounting or substrate unloading operation, pastes, characterized in that retracted until interference between the robot hand device is eliminated Cloth machine.   The paste application machine according to claim 1, wherein after the earthquake ends, the previously recorded information at the time of interruption is read, and the nozzle of the application head is set to the state before the interruption according to the information at the time of interruption, and the operation is resumed. A paste applicator characterized by that.

Images