JP6638461B2 - Sealing material curing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sealant curing device for curing a sealant for a liquid crystal dropping method.

  2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal display (hereinafter, also referred to as an LCD) includes two transparent substrates with electrodes and a liquid crystal interposed between the transparent substrates with electrodes. The periphery of these two transparent substrates with electrodes is sealed with a sealing material, and the liquid crystal is held inside the sealing material.

  As a method for manufacturing a plurality of relatively large LCDs, a liquid crystal dropping method (ODF: One drop fill process, hereinafter also referred to as ODF) has been put to practical use (for example, see Patent Document 1). In the ODF, two transparent substrates with electrodes having an area capable of cutting out a plurality of LCDs are prepared. Then, first, a seal pattern bordering the periphery of each LCD to be cut out is formed by a seal material on one of the electrode-attached transparent substrates. In general, a UV curable material is used for the sealing material. Next, in a state where the sealing material is uncured, fine droplets of liquid crystal are applied to the transparent substrate with electrodes. Then, after the other transparent substrate with electrodes is overlaid on the transparent substrate with electrodes, the sealing material is cured by a sealing material ultraviolet curing device that irradiates ultraviolet rays to the sealing material, and the two transparent substrates with electrodes are bonded. Then, the liquid crystal is sealed. Then, an LCD is cut out from the two bonded transparent substrates with electrodes (for example, see Patent Documents 2 and 3).

JP-A-10-333110 JP 2010-20286 A JP 2008-33056 A

An ultraviolet curing device for a sealing material generally includes an irradiator for irradiating ultraviolet rays, and a plurality of long arc lamps are arranged in parallel in this irradiator. The entire surface is uniformly irradiated by the irradiator.
Further, in the sealant ultraviolet curing device, a mask that shields ultraviolet rays illuminating portions other than the seal pattern is provided between the two transparent substrates with electrodes and the irradiator.

However, when the transparent substrate with electrodes is illuminated by ultraviolet rays leaking from the mask, there is a problem that the product quality of the LCD is deteriorated.
Further, in the conventional sealing material ultraviolet curing apparatus, it is necessary to maintain the lamp surface temperature of the long arc lamp at about 900 ° C. and to protect the irradiator from heat. Therefore, in the upper part of the irradiator, many fans and many thick ducts required for cooling and adjusting the lamp surface temperature are arranged, and a very large space for accommodating them is provided in the upper part of the irradiator. I have. For this reason, the conventional sealant ultraviolet curing device was large in size and heavy in weight.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sealing material curing apparatus capable of suppressing quality deterioration in a sealing material curing process and reducing the size and weight.

The present invention provides a sealing material curing device that irradiates a sealing material included in a work for a liquid crystal display device with light and cures the sealing material, a light source unit having a plurality of light emitting elements that emit visible light , and the light source. A plurality of sets each including an irradiator having a cooling unit for cooling the unit, and a work arrangement unit for arranging the work having a visible light-curable sealing material at a position facing the light source unit are provided in a case. It is housed, and each of the cases is arranged in an overlapping manner, and is provided at an upper portion or a lower portion of the overlap of the cases, and includes a cooling mechanism for circulating and cooling a refrigerant in each of the cases, and the light source unit is provided with the light source unit. The method is characterized in that the work is irradiated with the visible light to cure the seal material.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that in the sealing material curing device, an entrance for taking the work in and out of the work placement portion is provided for each of the plurality of sets.

The present invention, in the sealing material curing apparatus, the prior SL case, wherein the shutter mechanism for opening and closing the entrance opening is provided.

  Further, according to the present invention, in the sealing material curing device, the case has a box shape having a top surface and a bottom surface, and the case has an adjustment for adjusting a distance between the irradiator and the work placement portion. A mechanism is provided, the adjusting mechanism includes the irradiator, or a plurality of shafts for guiding the movement of the work placement unit, each shaft extends from the bottom surface of the case to the top surface, and the top surface It is characterized by supporting.

According to the present invention, a light source unit having a plurality of light-emitting elements that emit visible light is provided. The light source unit irradiates visible light to a visible light-curable sealing material of a work to cure the sealing material. In this case, a mask for shielding the ultraviolet rays, which is necessary in the case of (1), is not required, and the apparatus configuration is simplified. In addition, since the sealing material is cured with visible light, even if the visible light is applied to a portion of the work other than the sealing material, quality deterioration due to material deterioration does not occur.
In addition, since the light source of the light source unit is a light emitting element, the mechanism required for cooling the light source can be simplified as compared with the case where a discharge lamp such as a long arc lamp is the light source, and it is easy to reduce the size and weight of the device. Become.

It is a figure showing the sealant hardening system concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the planar structure of a workpiece | work typically. It is a figure which shows the cross-sectional structure of a workpiece | work typically. It is sectional drawing which looked at the sealing material hardening apparatus from the front side. It is sectional drawing which looked at the cross section of the sealing material hardening unit from the side surface side. It is sectional drawing which looked at the cross section of the sealing material hardening unit from the front side. It is a figure showing the composition of an irradiation device. It is a bottom view of an LED light source part.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a sealing material curing system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a planar configuration of the work 2, and FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a cross-sectional configuration of the work 2.
The sealing material hardening system 1 performs a sealing material hardening process on the work 2 in the production of the LCD using the ODF, and in order to prevent dust and the like from adhering to the work 2, the indoor atmosphere is cleaned to a predetermined cleanness. It is installed in a clean room that is maintained every time. As shown in FIG. 1, the sealing material curing system 1 includes a sealing material curing device 4 and a transport robot 6 that transports the work 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the work 2 includes two transparent substrates 8 and 8 for electrodes for a liquid crystal display device, which are superimposed on each other, and a sealing material 10 sandwiched therebetween. As shown in FIG. 2, the size of the transparent substrates with electrodes 8 is such that a plurality of LCDs 11 can be cut out, and various sizes are applicable. (1870 mm × 2200 mm to 1950 mm × 2250 mm). A seal material 10 is applied on at least one surface of the electrode-attached transparent substrate 8 along a seal pattern 12 having a pattern surrounding the entire periphery of the edge of each LCD 11. As the seal material 10, a visible light curable material or an ultraviolet curable dual-purpose material is used.
As the visible light curable sealing material 10, for example, a material having a light absorption band extending to the visible light region is used.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the cross section of the sealing material curing device 4 as viewed from the front side.
The sealing material curing device 4 includes a plurality of sealing material curing units 14, a control unit 15, a cooling mechanism 16, and a base unit 17, as shown in FIGS. Each of the sealing material curing units 14 is for irradiating the sealing material 10 of the work 2 with visible light to cure the sealing material 10, and by arranging them vertically on the base unit 17, a so-called “sealing material curing unit 14” is provided. It is configured as a multi-stage unit.
The control unit 15 controls each part of the sealing material curing device 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the cooling mechanism 16 includes a cooling unit 23 having a built-in fan 21, a blower pipe 18 and a return pipe 20 connected to the respective sealant curing units 14, and a duct 22. . The cooling unit 23 sends cooling air to each of the sealing material curing units 14 through the blower tube 18 and collects heat exhaust air from each of the sealing material curing units 14 through the return pipe 20, so that the sealing material curing units 14 are individually provided. Cool through cooling air. Note that the cooling unit 23 may circulate the liquid such as water or a liquid refrigerant as a refrigerant to each sealant curing unit 14 instead of a gas such as air.
The cooling unit 23 is connected to the duct 22 communicating with the outside of the clean room. Exhausted heat collected by the cooling unit 23 from each sealant curing unit 14 is discharged through the duct 22. This prevents the air circulated through the sealant curing unit 14 from being mixed into the atmosphere of the clean room, thereby suppressing a decrease in cleanliness of the clean room.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer robot 6 includes a support 24 that supports the work 2, and a moving mechanism 26 that moves the support 24 in the vertical direction A and the horizontal direction B.
The support unit 24 is a robot hand that can hold the work 2. The support unit 24 is moved in the horizontal direction B by the moving mechanism 26 while supporting the work 2, and performs input and discharge of the work 2 to and from the sealant curing unit 14. In addition, the moving mechanism 26 moves the support portion 24 in the up-down direction A, so that the sealing material curing unit 14 to be charged and paid out is appropriately selected.

  In the sealing material curing device 4, the work 2 is charged into and discharged from each sealing material curing unit 14, so that the sealing material curing processing is performed independently and in parallel in each sealing material curing unit 14. .

Here, in the conventional sealing material ultraviolet curing device, a very large space for accommodating a large number of fans and a large number of thick ducts is provided above the irradiator. Therefore, it is not realistic to arrange these sealant ultraviolet curing devices one on top of the other, and in the case where the sealant curing treatment is performed in parallel with each of a plurality of sealant ultraviolet curing devices, at present, these Sealant ultraviolet curing devices are arranged side by side. For this reason, conventionally, there is a problem that the installation floor area is largely divided by the sealing material ultraviolet curing device, and the number of the sealing material ultraviolet curing devices to be installed is limited by the installation floor area.
On the other hand, in the sealing material curing device 4, since the respective sealing material curing units 14 are vertically stacked, even if the number of the sealing material curing units 14 increases, the floor area required for installation does not increase. Absent. Then, the sealing material curing processing for the work 2 can be performed in parallel with the number of the sealing material curing units 14.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the cross section of the sealing material curing unit 14 as viewed from the side, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the sealing material curing unit 14 as viewed from the front side.
As described above, the sealant curing unit 14 is a unit that irradiates the sealant 10 of the work 2 with visible light to cure the sealant 10. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the sealing material curing unit 14 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped unit case 30 large enough to accommodate the work 2 therein. The unit case 30 is composed of a plurality of rod-shaped frames 31 that are combined in a rectangular parallelepiped to form a skeleton of the unit case 30, and is attached to the frames 31 to form front, back, left and right side surfaces, a top surface 30A, and a bottom surface 30B. And a constituent panel. 5 and 6, illustration of the panel is omitted to clearly show the internal configuration of the sealing material curing unit 14.

  On the outer peripheral surface of the unit case 30 (one of the side surface, front surface, and rear surface), a duct connection flange 32 of the blower tube 18 of the cooling unit 23, the return tube 20, and a shutter mechanism 33 are provided. Further, in the unit case 30, as shown in FIG. 5, components for enabling the sealing material hardening process to be performed by one sealing material hardening unit 14 are housed. This component is a combination of at least the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42.

  The shutter mechanism 33 is a mechanism that opens and closes an entrance 35 (see FIG. 1) provided in the unit case 30, and includes a shutter plate 36 and a drive mechanism 37 as shown in FIG. The entrance 35 is a slot for charging and paying out the work 2. The entrance / exit 35 is provided for each unit case 30, so that the work 2 can be charged / discharged independently of each sealing material curing unit 14. Further, by closing the entrance 35 with the shutter plate 36 of the shutter mechanism 33 covering the entrance 35, the inside of the unit case 30 is isolated from the atmosphere of the clean room. Thereby, leakage of hot air from the unit case 30 into the clean room and leakage of light from the irradiator 40 are suppressed.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the irradiator 40 provided in the unit case 30, and FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the LED light source unit 50.
As shown in FIG. 7, the irradiator 40 includes an LED light source unit 50 and a cooling unit 51 having a large number of cooling fans 51A. As shown in FIG. 8, the LED light source unit 50 includes a mounting base 80 made of, for example, a high heat conductive material such as aluminum, and an LED mounting board 81 mounted on a bottom surface 80A of the mounting base 80. A large number of visible light LEDs 82 are mounted on the LED mounting board 81. In the LED light source unit 50, a large number of visible light LEDs 82 are arranged in a matrix, and each of the visible light LEDs 82 emits visible light, whereby visible light is emitted from the LED light source unit 50 in a planar shape. .

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, a cooling unit 51 that cools the LED light source unit 50 through the mounting base 80 is provided on the upper surface 80B of the mounting base 80 of the LED light source unit 50. The cooling unit 51 includes a number of cooling fans 51A mounted on the upper surface 80B of the mounting base 80. These cooling fans 51A are fans that are spread all over the upper surface 80B and discharge air to the side (upper side) of the top surface 30A of the unit case 30. Thereby, the heat conducted from the LED light source unit 50 to the mounting base 80 is exhausted to the top surface side of the unit case 30 by the cooling fan 51A, and the LED light source unit 50 is cooled. The number of cooling fans 51A is arbitrary as long as it can cool the LED light source unit 50 as necessary and sufficiently. For example, the cooling unit 51 may include only one large cooling fan that covers most of the upper surface 80B of the mounting base 80.

  As described above, since the irradiator 40 includes the LED light source unit 50 and the cooling unit 51 that cools the LED light source unit 50, it is necessary to provide a mechanism exclusively for cooling the LED light source unit 50 outside the sealing material curing unit 14. There is no. As a result, the configuration of the cooling mechanism 16 for circulating the cooling air through each of the sealing material curing units 14 is simplified and made compact. Can also be significantly reduced.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, an irradiator mounting frame 52 is provided in the unit case 30, and the irradiator 40 is supported by the irradiator mounting frame 52. As shown in FIG. 5, a rectangular base plate 25 connected to the frame 31 is provided on the bottom surface 30B in the unit case 30. The base plate 25 has such rigidity as to prevent bending of the bottom surface, and a plurality of guide shafts 53 extending to the top surface 30A of the unit case 30 are fixed to the base plate 25. On the top surface 30A of the unit case 30, a ceiling plate 27 having high rigidity and coupled to the frame 31 is provided at a position for receiving the tip of the guide shaft 53. A guide shaft 53 is provided at each of the four corners of the unit case 30, and the guide shaft 53, the base plate 25, and the ceiling plate 27 connect the unit case 30 in the vertical direction (connecting the top surface 30A and the bottom surface 30B). Direction) is increased in rigidity. Thereby, the strength of each of the sealing material curing units 14 when the plurality of sealing material curing units 14 are arranged one above the other in the vertical direction is supplemented.

  The irradiator mounting frame 52 is movably connected to the guide shaft 53. More specifically, an irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56 that moves the irradiator mounting frame 52 in the vertical direction is provided on the top surface 30A of the unit case 30. As shown in FIG. 5, the irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56 includes a motor 57, a power drive shaft 58 driven by the motor 57, and a jack 59 coupled to the power drive shaft 58. The jack 59 is fixed to the top surface 30 </ b> A of the unit case 30, and a lower end portion 59 </ b> A is coupled to the top surface of the irradiator mounting frame 52. The vertical length of the jack 59 is changed by the rotation of the power drive shaft 58 by the motor 57, whereby the vertical position of the irradiator mounting frame 52 is changed, and the vertical position of the irradiator 40 is adjusted. . By adjusting the vertical position of the irradiator 40, the irradiator 40 is arranged at a target position where the work 2 can be uniformly irradiated with the visible light at a predetermined illuminance.

  Here, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a gap S is formed between the top surface of the unit case 30 and the irradiator mounting frame 52 due to the interposition of the jack 59 therebetween. The duct connection flange 32 is provided at a position sandwiching the gap S, and the cooling air circulated by the cooling mechanism 16 flows through the gap S. Accordingly, in a state where the irradiator 40 is supported by the irradiator mounting frame 52, the hot air discharged to the top surface side of the unit case 30 by the cooling fan 51 </ b> A of the irradiator 40 is quickly cooled by the cooling air passing through the gap S. Will be collected.

The work arrangement unit 42 arranges the work 2 at a position facing the LED light source unit 50 of the irradiator 40, and includes a pin stage unit 60. The pin stage unit 60 includes a plate-shaped stage 62 on which a number of pins 63 are erected, and the work 2 is mounted on the number of pins 63.
Here, in the sealing material curing unit 14, at the time of loading / unloading the work 2, the space between the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42 is separated by the work space of the transfer robot 6. In general, as the distance between the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42 increases, the irradiation illuminance of the work 2 decreases, so that a higher output visible light LED 82 is required, and heat generation by the visible light LED 82 also increases. On the other hand, in the sealing material curing unit 14, after the work 2 is loaded, the irradiator 40 is moved to the work placement portion 42 by the irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56 to adjust the separation distance, and the predetermined amount is reduced with a smaller amount of light. Irradiation illuminance. Thereby, the heat generation of the visible light LED 82 is suppressed, and the work 2 is efficiently irradiated.

Here, the sealing material ultraviolet curing apparatus using a conventional discharge lamp as an ultraviolet light source generally has a mechanism for moving a stage on which the work 2 is mounted up and down toward the ultraviolet light source.
On the other hand, in the sealing material curing unit 14, the irradiator 40 is moved up and down by the irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56, that is, the distance between the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42 is changed. It is not necessary to separately provide a mechanism for moving the vertical direction. To this extent, the structure of the work placement unit 42 is simpler than in the conventional sealant ultraviolet curing device.

In the sealing material curing device 4, lighting control of the irradiator 40 of each sealing material curing unit 14, drive control of the irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56, and opening and closing control of the shutter mechanism 33 are controlled by the control unit 15 described above. It is done centrally.
That is, the control unit 15 opens and closes the shutter mechanism 33 of the target sealing material curing unit 14 in accordance with the loading / unloading of the work 2 by the transfer robot 6. When the work 2 is loaded, the control unit 15 controls the driving of the irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56 to adjust the irradiator 40 and the work 2 to a position where the entire surface is uniformly irradiated with visible light.

Next, the control unit 15 turns on each visible light LED 82 of the irradiator 40, irradiates the sealing material 10 of the work 2 with visible light at a predetermined illuminance for a predetermined time, cures the sealing material 10, and thereafter, The visible light LED 82 is turned off. The control unit 15 ventilates the inside of the unit case 30 by circulating the cooling air by the cooling mechanism 16 and detects that the internal atmosphere temperature has dropped to a predetermined temperature by a detection signal of a temperature sensor built in the unit case 30. After that, the shutter mechanism 33 is opened to enable the transfer robot 6 to pay out the work 2. Then, the control unit 15 waits for the payout of the work 2 on which the sealing material hardening process has been performed and the input of the next work 2.
The control unit 15 performs such a series of processing in parallel for each of the sealing material curing units 14, whereby the sealing material curing processing for the work 2 is independently performed in parallel in each of the sealing material curing units 14. It is done on a regular basis.

  When turning on each visible light LED 82 of the irradiator 40, the control unit 15 may turn on only the visible light LED 82 at a location corresponding to the seal pattern 12 (so-called selective lighting). Generally, as the size of the work 2 used for the ODF increases, the ratio of the area occupied by the seal pattern 12 in the work 2 decreases. Therefore, by selectively lighting the visible light LED 82, wasteful lighting can be greatly reduced as compared with full lighting of the visible light LED 82, heat generation of the LED light source unit 50 is largely suppressed, and deterioration of the visible light LED 82 due to heat is suppressed. Can be

  According to the embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

The sealing material curing device 4 of the present embodiment includes an LED light source unit 50 having a plurality of visible light LEDs 82 that emit visible light, and this LED light source unit 50 is visible on the visible light curing sealing material 10 of the work 2. Light is irradiated to cure the sealing material 10.
Thus, the sealing material curing device 4 does not require a mask for shielding ultraviolet rays, which is necessary in the case of ultraviolet curing, and the configuration of the device is simplified. In addition, since the sealant curing device 4 cures the sealant 10 with visible light, even if the visible light is applied to a portion other than the sealant 10 of the work 2, quality deterioration due to material deterioration does not occur.
Further, since the light source of the LED light source unit 50 is the visible light LED 82 which is one mode of the light emitting element, a mechanism required for cooling the light source can be simplified as compared with a case where a discharge lamp such as a long arc lamp is the light source. It is easy to reduce the size and weight of the device.

Further, the sealant curing device 4 of the present embodiment includes an irradiator 40 having an LED light source unit 50 and a cooling unit 51, and a work arrangement unit 42, and a plurality of sealant curing units arranged one above the other. A unit 14 is provided.
Thus, the sealing material curing units 14 can perform the sealing material curing processing in parallel, and since the sealing material curing units 14 are arranged one above the other, the floor area required for installation is reduced. The increase is suppressed.
In addition, since the visible light LED 82 is used as the light source instead of a discharge lamp such as a long arc lamp, the power consumption of the light source is significantly reduced as compared with the discharge lamp, and a ballast for the discharge lamp is unnecessary. Further, the amount of air required for air cooling of the light source is greatly reduced. This eliminates the need to provide a large number of thick ducts and a large number of large air cooling fans for cooling the light source, so that the cooling unit 51 of the light source can be made very compact and lightweight, and the duct connection work is reduced. The installation work is also very easy. Further, since the sealing material curing device 4 is reduced in size and weight, the transportation cost is also reduced.

Further, the sealing material curing device 4 of the present embodiment has an entrance for taking the work 2 in and out of the work placement unit 42 for each seal material curing unit 14 (that is, for each set of the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42). 35 are provided.
Thus, the work 2 can be taken in and out of each of the sealing material curing units 14 at individual timings, and the individual sealing material curing units 14 can perform the sealing material curing processing at independent timings. .

In the sealant curing device 4 of the present embodiment, the sealant cure unit 14 includes the unit case 30, and the interior of each sealant cure unit 14 is spatially partitioned by the unit case 30. In addition, each unit case 30 is also provided with a shutter mechanism 33 for opening and closing the entrance 35.
Thereby, the sealing material curing unit 14 can perform the sealing material curing processing without interference between the visible light of the irradiation device 40 and the internal atmosphere between the individual sealing material curing units 14. Further, since the inside of the sealing material curing unit 14 is isolated from the atmosphere of the clean room by the shutter mechanism 33, leakage of hot air from the unit case 30 into the clean room and visible light of the irradiator 40 are suppressed.

Further, in the sealing material curing device 4 of the present embodiment, the unit case 30 of the sealing material curing unit 14 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape having a top surface 30A and a bottom surface 30B. The unit case 30 is provided with an irradiator up / down adjustment mechanism 56 that moves the irradiator 40 up and down to adjust the distance between the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42. A plurality of guide shafts 53 for guiding the movement are provided. Each guide shaft 53 extends from the bottom surface 30B of the unit case 30 to the top surface 30A, and supports the top surface 30A.
Thus, the strength of the unit case 30 in the vertical direction (the direction connecting the bottom surface 30B and the top surface 30A) is supplemented by the guide shaft 53. Therefore, deformation of each sealing material curing unit 14 when a plurality of sealing material curing units 14 are vertically stacked is suppressed.

Further, the sealing material curing device 4 of the present embodiment includes a cooling mechanism 16 that circulates cooling air through each sealing material curing unit 14.
Thereby, the heat of the LED light source unit 50 discharged into the unit case 30 from the cooling unit 51 of each sealing material curing unit 14 is recovered. The cooling of the LED light source unit 50 is exclusively performed by the cooling unit 51, and the cooling mechanism 16 does not need to include a mechanism for actively cooling the LED light source unit 50. Therefore, the configuration of the cooling mechanism 16 is simplified and made compact, and the space occupied by the cooling mechanism 16 in the upper portion of the sealant curing device 4 can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional device. Thereby, more sealing material curing units 14 can be arranged in the vertical direction.

  The above-described embodiment is merely an example of one embodiment of the present invention, and can be arbitrarily modified and applied within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the sealing material curing device 4 described above, each of the sealing material curing units 14 may include the control unit 15. Further, each of the sealing material curing units 14 may include the cooling mechanism 16.
Further, the cooling unit 23 of the cooling mechanism 16 may be arranged on the side of the bottom surface of the sealing material curing device 4 (below the lowermost sealing material curing unit 14).

  The cooling unit 51 of the sealing material curing unit 14 may be configured to water-cool the LED light source unit 50.

  In the sealing material curing device 4 described above, each of the sealing material curing units 14 is arranged so as to be vertically overlapped. The vertical direction is a direction connecting the top surface 30A and the bottom surface 30B of the unit case 30, more precisely, a direction connecting the irradiator 40 and the work placement portion 42 (facing direction), and does not necessarily coincide with the vertical direction. Absent. Further, for example, the sealing material curing units 14 may be arranged obliquely shifted from each other.

  In the above-described sealing material curing device 4, the irradiator vertical adjustment mechanism 56 for vertically moving the irradiator 40 is provided, but the work 2 may be vertically moved along the guide shaft 53. In this case, a mechanism is provided for moving the work placement portion 42 on which the work 2 is placed to the guide shaft 53 and moving the work placement portion 42 up and down.

Further, in the above-described sealing material curing device 4, the LED light source unit 50 may include an optical member such as an optical lens for controlling the light distribution and the focal length of each visible light LED 82. Thereby, the work 2 facing the LED light source unit 50 can be more efficiently irradiated with visible light.
The optical member controls the focal length of each visible light LED 82 so that the work 2 can be cured with the sealing material even when the irradiator 40 and the work placement unit 42 are separated by the work space of the transfer robot 6. In some cases, visible light of the required illuminance can be applied. In this case, the irradiator up / down adjustment mechanism 56 for vertically moving the irradiator 40 may not be provided.

  In the sealing material curing device 4 described above, the light source of the irradiator 40 is not limited to the visible light LED 82, and any light emitting element that emits visible light for curing the sealing material 10 is used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sealing material hardening system 2 Work 4 Sealing material hardening device 6 Transfer robot 10 Sealing material 11 LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
Reference Signs List 12 seal pattern 14 sealant curing unit 15 control unit 16 cooling mechanism 30 unit case (case)
30A Top surface 30B Bottom surface 33 Shutter mechanism 35 Doorway 40 Irradiator 42 Work placement unit 50 LED light source unit 51 Cooling unit 51A Cooling fan 53 Guide shaft 56 Irradiator up / down adjustment mechanism 82 Visible light LED (light emitting element)
A Vertical direction B Horizontal direction S Gap

Claims (4)

In a sealing material curing device that irradiates light to a sealing material of a work for a liquid crystal display device and cures the sealing material,
A light source unit having a plurality of light emitting elements that emit visible light , and an irradiator having a cooling unit that cools the light source unit ,
At a position facing the light source unit, a work arrangement unit for arranging the work having a visible light-curable sealing material , and
Each of the cases is placed one on top of the other,
An upper part of the overlap of the cases, or disposed at a lower part, comprising a cooling mechanism for circulating a coolant in each of the cases to cool the case,
The sealing material curing device, wherein the light source irradiates the work with the visible light to cure the sealing material. For each of a plurality of the sets, the sealing material curing device according to claim 1, characterized in that doorway and out of the workpiece is provided on the work placement part. The front SL case, sealant curing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the shutter mechanism for opening and closing the entrance opening is provided. The case is a box shape having a top surface and a bottom surface,
The case is provided with an adjustment mechanism for adjusting a distance between the irradiator and the work placement unit,
The adjustment mechanism includes a plurality of shafts for guiding the movement of the irradiator or the work placement unit,
The sealing material curing device according to claim 3 , wherein each of the shafts extends from a bottom surface of the case to a top surface and supports the top surface.

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