JPH0442210A - Glass material inverter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily invert a glass material without soiling by providing a glass material holding mechanism with a rotary chuck, an up/down mechanism which moves the holding mechanism upward/downward, and an inverter mechanism which turns over the glass material by rotating the chuck by 180 deg.C. CONSTITUTION:The inverter is comprised of a pair of glass holding mechanisms 11 at both sides, the up/down mechanism 12, and the inverter mechanism 13. The glass holding mechanism 11 holds the edge part of the glass material loadably/unloadably freely, and also, it is provided with the rotary chuck 18, and the up/down mechanism 21 moves the holding mechanism 11 upward/ downward, and the inverter mechanism 13 turns over the glass material by rotating the chuck 18 of the holding mechanism 11 by 180 deg.C. Also, the glass material is unchucked by descending the glass holding mechanism 11 with the up/down mechanism 12, and is carried out on a carrier conveyer, etc., and the next inversion operation is awaited. Thereby, it is possible to easily invert the glass material without soiling, and to reduce loss time with a simple device, and to assemble the device in an automation line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a glass material reversing device used in the manufacturing process of liquid crystal display elements.

(Prior Art) In general, a liquid crystal display element used for a liquid crystal television or the like has transparent electrodes 3, 4 and alignment layers 5, 6 on opposing surfaces of two glass substrates 1. At the same time, the space between the two glass substrates 1.2 is maintained at a constant distance using a gap material, the periphery is sealed with a sealant 7, and the liquid crystal 8 is injected and sealed between the two glass substrates 1.2, In addition, polarizing plates 9 and 10 are respectively attached to the outer surfaces of the two glass substrates 1.2.

In the manufacturing process of such liquid crystal display elements, the width is generally 30 mm.
0~400mm, length 200~450mm, thickness 1m
A multi-faceted method is used using a glass substrate of about 1.5 m in diameter.

A liquid crystal display element is generally manufactured through the following steps.

(1) A transparent electrode film is applied to a glass substrate and patterned to form a transparent electrode on the glass substrate.

(2) Apply an alignment film to the transparent electrode and perform alignment treatment.

(3) A sealant is applied around the electrode formation surface of one glass substrate, and a gap material is sprinkled on the electrode formation surface of the other glass substrate.

(4) One glass substrate is turned over, and the other glass substrate and the electrode forming surface are aligned so as to face each other, and then pressed together.

The steps (1) to (3) above need to be performed with the electrode-forming surface of the glass substrate facing upward, and the step (4) requires turning the glass substrate over.

Conventionally, when bonding and assembling glass substrates as described above, the glass substrates are often turned over manually at the glass substrate input section. However, manual methods cannot be automated and linked to previous processes such as applying sealant to glass substrates, and dust generated by workers can adhere to glass substrates, causing defects. .

Furthermore, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-254914, a method of reversing a glass substrate for automation has been proposed. This reversal method involves stocking glass substrates with the other side, which is not the processed side, facing upward, and holding this non-processing side by suction from above with a vacuum pad of a chuck installed on an industrial robot, and then lifting it up with the robot. The entire chuck is reversed by 180 degrees so that the processing surface of the glass substrate faces upward, and the glass substrate is lowered onto the conveyor and removed, whereby the glass substrate is reversely placed on the conveyor, and after this transfer, The vacuum pad is returned to its original state by a robot.

However, in this inversion method, the treated surface of the glass substrate is placed downward and the upper untreated surface is held by suction.
As mentioned above, it cannot be used immediately to invert a glass substrate processed with the electrode forming surface as the top surface, and it also requires an industrial robot, which increases the size of the device and requires a large space. This also increases the cost, and the takt time increases due to lost time due to the vacuum pad being reversed and returned to its original position. Furthermore, adsorption marks may remain on the glass substrate, resulting in defects.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, when reversing the glass substrate of a liquid crystal display element, it is not possible to automate the reversal using manual methods, and the conventional reversing method using suction does not allow the processing surface to be The problem with the above method is that it cannot be used immediately, has a long takt time, requires a large and expensive device, and leaves suction marks.

The present invention aims to solve such problems,
To provide a device that can easily invert glass materials without staining them, is a simple device with little loss time, and can be incorporated into an automated line.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The glass material reversing device of the present invention includes a glass material holding mechanism that removably holds the edge of the glass material and has a rotatable chuck, and a glass material holding mechanism that allows the glass material holding mechanism to be moved up and down. The vertical mechanism for moving and the chuck of the glass material holding mechanism are 180
It is equipped with an inversion mechanism that turns the glass material inside out by rotating it.

(Function) In the present invention, the edge of the glass material sent by a conveyor or the like is held by the chuck of the glass material holding mechanism, raised by the vertical mechanism, and then raised by the reversing mechanism of the glass material holding mechanism. The glass material held in this with the chuck of 180
°Flip and turn inside out. Then, the glass material holding mechanism is lowered by the vertical mechanism to unchuck it, and is sent out by a conveyor or the like in preparation for the next reversing operation.

Further, the chuck of the glass material holding mechanism rotates 180 degrees in one direction for the first glass material, waits in that state, and rotates 180 degrees in the other direction for the second glass material.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the entire device, and FIG. 2 shows a front view of a part of the device. It consists of

In the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11, a rotating shaft 16 is horizontally supported on a base 15 via a ball bearing or the like,
The middle part of a support frame 17 is fixed to the tip of this rotating shaft 16, and air cylinder type chucks 18 are attached to both ends of this support frame 17. It is set up. The pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11 are disposed facing each other such that the tips of the two chucks 18 face each other.

The vertical mechanism 12 has slide housings 22 erected on both sides of the base plate 21, and slide shafts 23 are fitted into the slide housings 22 on both sides to be vertically movable via linear ball bearings. A connecting frame 24 is connected between the lower ends of the slide shaft 23, and the base of an air cylinder 25 is fixed to the intermediate lower part of the base plate 2+.
The tip of the piston rod 26 protruding downward from the piston rod 5 is attached to the intermediate portion of the connecting frame 24. The base bodies 15 of the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11 are fixed to the upper end portions of the slide shafts 23 on both sides.

In the reversing mechanism 13, rotary bearings 28 are provided at the lower portions of both sides of the connecting frame 24, and a shaft 29 is supported by the rotary bearings 28 on both sides via ball bearings or the like. Timing pulleys 30 are fixed, and a timing belt 32 is installed between the timing pulleys 30 on both sides and the timing pulleys 31 fixed to the outer ends of the rotating shafts 16 of the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11.
However, each person has been given a fee. In addition, the shaft 29
A rotary actuator 33 is connected to one end of the rotary actuator 33 .

35 is a flat glass material such as a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display element, for example.

Next, the operation will be explained.

A glass material 35 is fed by a conveyor (not shown) and stopped at a predetermined position by a glass material detection switch and a control device (not shown). In this state, both end edges of the glass material 35 enter between the upper and lower clamping claws 19 of each chuck 18 waiting at a predetermined height position of the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11. When the glass material 35 is stopped, each chuck 18 of the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11 is activated, and the clamping claws 19 thereof are closed to clamp both edges of the glass material 35 and remove the glass material 35 from the conveyor surface. Lift up about i mm and hold.

Next, the air cylinder 25 of the vertical mechanism 12 is activated, and the piston rod 26 is moved back to lift the connecting frame 24, thereby raising the slide shafts 23 on both sides while guiding them through the slide housing 2z, thereby holding the pair of glass materials. The glass material 35 is raised together with the mechanism 11 and stopped at the upper limit of a predetermined height.

Next, the low reactuator 33 of the reversing mechanism 13 operates to rotate the shaft 29 and also to rotate the timing pulley 30, the timing belt 32, and the timing pulley 3.
1, the rotating shafts 16 of the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11 are rotated, and thereby each chuck 18 of the support frame 17 is
At the same time, the glass material 35 held thereon is rotated by 180 degrees, that is, the glass material 35 is turned upside down.

Then, the air cylinder 25 of the vertical mechanism 12 is operated again, and the piston rod 26 is extended to lower the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11 via the connecting frame 24 and the slide shafts 23 on both sides, thereby conveying the glass material 35. Closely located on the conveyor.

Next, each chuck 17 of the pair of glass material holding mechanisms 11 is
is operated to open the clamping claws 18 and release the glass material 35 onto the conveyor. Then, the glass material 35 is sent out to the next process by a conveyor, and is prepared for the next reversal operation of the glass material 35.

At this time, the chuck 17 of the glass material holding mechanism 11 rotates 180 degrees in one direction with the first glass material 35, waits in that state, and rotates 180 degrees in the other direction with the second glass material 35.
Rotate 0°.

In the manner described above, the glass material 35 is held at its edges and inverted, and can be easily reversed without contaminating the glass material 35.

In addition, the glass material 35 can be reversed by vertical movement and rotation at the supplied position, and can be handled in a small space, making it a simple device, and the glass material holding mechanism 1
One chuck 18 can be prepared for reversing the next glass material 35 at the rotating position, reducing loss time and shortening takt time, allowing work to be carried out quickly and in a short time.

Then, it can be incorporated into an automated line to automatically and continuously invert the glass material 35, thereby improving work efficiency and automation.
Productivity can be improved.

Therefore, for example, in the manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display element, when one electrode glass substrate coated with at least a sealing material and the other electrode glass substrate are made to face each other via a gap material or a gap structure and are bonded and assembled, When either one of the glass substrates is turned over, it can be turned over in a short time without contacting the electrode formation portion of the glass substrate and its back surface.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the glass material is held by its edges and is turned over, and can be easily turned over without staining the glass material.

In addition, the glass material can be reversed by vertical movement and rotation at the supplied position, which can be handled in a small space and can be a simple device. It is possible to prepare for reversal, reduce loss time, shorten takt time, and perform work quickly in a short period of time.

Then, it can be incorporated into an automated line to automatically and continuously invert glass materials, enabling automation and improving work efficiency and productivity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the glass material reversing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a part of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a liquid crystal display element. 11. Glass material holding mechanism, 12. Vertical mechanism, 13.
- Reversing mechanism, 18... Chuck, 35... Glass material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A glass material holding mechanism that removably holds the edge of the glass material and has a rotatable chuck; A vertical mechanism that moves this glass material holding mechanism up and down; A glass material reversing device characterized by comprising: a reversing mechanism that turns the glass material inside out by rotating it.