JPH068979A - Glass substrate carrying container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a glass substrate carrying container with a single sort of size which is capable of holding glass substrates corresponding to two or more sorts of sizes of the glass substrates. CONSTITUTION:A glass substrate container has an open-top box 1, a lid 2, a pair of glass substrate side holders 3 and 4 which are provided on the inner sides of the opposite side walls of the box 1 and have vertical grooves, a glass substrate lower part holder 6 which is provided on the inner side of the bottom wall of the box 1 and has horizontal grooves, and glass substrate upper part holder 5 which is provided on the inner side of the lid 2 and has horizontal grooves. At least one of the pair of the glass substrate side holders 3 and 4 and at least either the glass substrate upper holder 5 or the glass substrate lower part holder 6 are independent from the walls of the box 1 and the lid 2, and each has a base body which comes in contact with the inner face of the wall of the box 1 and the inner face of the lid 2, a groove member which has grooves and spacers which have a length corresponding to the size of the glass substrates and connect the glass substrates to the groove member.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to easiness of accommodating and transporting a plurality of glass substrates used for LCDs (liquid crystal displays), photomasks, etc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For LCD products, a glass substrate manufacturer manufactures a glass substrate, the glass substrate is transported to an LCD manufacturer, and a liquid crystal is injected into the glass substrate by this manufacturer to manufacture an LCD. Various devices incorporating the LCD are manufactured by transportation.

When the glass substrate is thus transported from the glass substrate manufacturer to the LCD manufacturer, the glass substrate is housed in a transport container and transported. In terms of the nature of transporting the glass substrate, the transport container is required to not damage the glass substrate and to keep the surface clean in order to maintain the characteristics of the glass substrate.

Therefore, conventionally, as a transport container, a box having an open upper part and a lid for closing an open upper surface of the box are provided, and a pair of side wall and lid which face each other among four side wall of the box. A plurality of grooves are formed in parallel on the inner surfaces of the bottom wall and the lid, respectively. This carrier is
Put the glass substrates in the shape of a quadrangle and put them inside the box.
The glass substrate is held by fitting the edge portions on both sides, the lower edge portion, and the upper edge portion of each glass substrate into each groove of each grooved body.

This carrier container is made of synthetic resin,
The whole is formed as an integral body by the injection molding method.

In this container, the distance between the bottom surface of the groove formed in the side wall of the box and the bottom surface of the groove formed in the opposite side wall of the box depends on the size of the glass substrate accommodated and held. The distance between the bottom surface of the groove formed in the bottom wall and the bottom surface of the groove formed in the lid is determined. That is, the container is 1
Only the glass substrate of a size is accommodated and held.

[0007]

At present, an active matrix type such as a TFT type is widely used as an LCD, and the AM type LCD was initially used mainly for a portable television, but recently, it is used for a personal computer. Display is the main application.
With the expansion and diversification of applications of such LCDs, the size of the glass substrate used in the LCD has been expanded from the original 7 inches or less to 10 inches or more, and has been diversified.

However, since the conventional glass substrate transport container is of a type in which only one size of glass substrate is accommodated and held in one container, when glass substrates of various sizes come to be used, It is necessary to arrange transport containers of various sizes according to the size of the substrate.

However, in order to mold each of the various sizes of the transport containers with the synthetic resin by the injection molding method, it is necessary to manufacture a mold for injection molding the transport containers for each size. There is. Therefore, the number of molds to be manufactured is large, and the cost of manufacturing the molds becomes enormous. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the transport container becomes very high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to realize a glass substrate transport container capable of holding a glass substrate corresponding to a plurality of sizes in one size with an economical structure. To do.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the glass substrate carrier of the present invention is erected from a rectangular bottom wall and four edges of the bottom wall.
A box having individual side walls and having an open top surface, a lid for closing the open top surface of the box, and a glass substrate edge provided on the inner surface side of the pair of side walls facing each other in the vertical direction. A pair of side glass substrate holders having a groove for holding a portion, and a lower glass substrate holder having a groove for holding a glass substrate edge portion provided on the inner surface side of the bottom wall of the box along the horizontal direction; The upper glass substrate holder having a groove for holding a glass substrate edge portion which is provided on the inner surface side of the lid and extends in the horizontal direction and faces the groove of the lower glass substrate holder, At least one of the side glass substrate holder, at least one of the upper glass substrate holder and the lower glass substrate holder is independent of the box wall and the lid,
A base body that comes into contact with the inner surface of the wall of the box and the inner surface of the lid so as to be separable, a grooved body having a groove, and a substrate having a length corresponding to the size of the glass substrate to be held and the substrate. It is characterized by having a spacer arranged between the grooved body and connecting the both.

[0012]

[Function] The glass substrate is put in the box, and the side edge portions on both sides of the glass substrate are provided in the box by the grooves of the pair of side glass substrate holders.
The lower edges are respectively held in the grooves of the lower glass substrate holder, and the top open part of the box is closed by the lid, and the upper edge of the glass substrate is held in the groove of the upper glass substrate holder provided in the lid. Hold. As a result, the glass substrate can be housed inside the box and shielded from the outside atmosphere to maintain the characteristics of the substrate surface, and the glass substrate can be securely held in an upright state to prevent damage.

In the glass substrate holder independent of the wall or lid of the box, the length of the spacer is adjusted according to the size of the glass substrate to be held, and the spacer of this length is provided between the substrate and the grooved body. Adjust the distance of. The length of this spacer (distance between the substrate and the grooved body) is such that an independent glass substrate holder can be combined with the opposing glass substrate holder to hold the glass substrate vertically and horizontally so as not to move. Is. As a result, the glass substrate is held by each holder so as not to move vertically and horizontally. By adjusting the length of the spacer (distance between the base body and the grooved body) in this way, the internal structure of the container can be changed to a holding mode corresponding to the size of the glass substrate, and one container can be used for a plurality of cases. It becomes possible to accommodate and hold a glass substrate of various sizes.

Moreover, even if the size of the glass substrate changes, the parts of the glass substrate holder can be used in common, so there is no need to mold other types of molds to suit various sizes of the glass substrate, and the glass before assembly can be used. The parts of the substrate holder can be mass-produced. The structure of the independent glass substrate holder is simple, and the operation of adjusting the distance between the base body and the grooved body by the spacer according to the size of the glass substrate is also simple.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the transport container of the present invention.
It will be described with reference to FIGS.

1 to 3 show the entire transport container.

In the figure, 1 is a box, 2 is a lid, 3 is a glass substrate holder for the left side, 4 is a glass substrate holder for the right side, and 5 is a glass substrate holder for the upper part.

The box 1 is made of synthetic resin and has a square bottom wall 1a, a left side wall 1b, a right side wall 1c, a front side wall 1d, which stand upright from the four side edges of the bottom portion 1a.
The rear side wall 1e is provided and the upper surface portion is open. The area of the open top surface is set to be larger than that of the bottom wall 1a, and the side wall walls 1b to 1e are inclined at a predetermined angle so as to spread outward from the open bottom surface wall 1a. This is box 1
This is so that they can be placed on top of each other.

A glass substrate holding portion 6 is formed on the bottom surface 1a of the box 1 so as to bulge inward (upper) like a pedestal, and as shown in FIG. A plurality of grooves 6a extending in parallel are formed side by side in parallel. These grooves 6a fit and hold the edges of the glass substrate. This structure corresponds to the lower glass substrate holder.

The lid 2 is made of synthetic resin and has a square shape. The lid 2 covers the open portion of the upper surface of the box 1 and closes the open portion.

The left side glass substrate holder 3 is provided inside the box 1 on the inner surface side of the left side wall 1b, and the right side glass substrate holder 4 is provided inside the box 1 on the inner surface side of the right side wall 1c. ing. These glass substrate holders 3 and 4 do not have the same structure, but are used by changing their left and right directions. Therefore, the configuration of the glass substrate holders 3 and 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 by taking the glass substrate holder 3 for the left side surface as an example.

In the figure, 7 is a substrate, 8 is a grooved body, 9 is a plurality of spacers, and these are each made of synthetic resin.

The base 7 has a plate portion 7a, a rectangular frame portion 7b formed on one side surface of the plate portion 7a, and a plurality of spacer receiving recesses 7c formed in the frame portion 7b. 7a is arranged vertically and the left side wall 1
The surface of the frame portion 7b is formed to incline with respect to the surface of the plate portion 7a. This inclination angle is the same as the inclination angle of each side wall 1b to 1e of the box 1. That is, the surface of the frame portion 7b is set to be vertical when the plate portion 7a contacts the left side wall 1b. The recess 7c has a rod-shaped spacer 9 as described later.
It is a hole-shaped member for receiving, and is formed dispersedly in the frame portion 7b.

The grooved body 8 is in the form of a rectangular plate having the same size as the frame portion 7b of the base body 7. A plurality of grooves 8a extending vertically are formed in parallel on one side surface, and the other side surface is formed. A frame portion 8b is formed, and a plurality of spacer receiving concave portions 8c are formed in the frame portion 8b in a distributed manner corresponding to the concave portions 7c of the base 7. The grooved body 8 is vertically arranged such that the frame portion 8b faces the frame portion 7b of the base 7.

The spacer 9 has, for example, a rod shape. The length of the spacer 9 is a size corresponding to the size (side length) of the glass substrate to be held, as will be described later.
Each spacer 9 is arranged between the base body 7 and the grooved body 8 along a direction perpendicular thereto, one end of each spacer 9 is inserted and engaged with each receiving portion 7c of the base body 7, and the other end of each spacer 9 is grooved. The recesses 8c of the attached body 8 are inserted and engaged. As a result, the base body 7 and the grooved body 8 are combined and connected at an interval defined by the length of the spacer 9.

Further, in this embodiment, a band 10 is used as shown in FIG. 7, for example, in order to strengthen the connection between the connected base 7 and the grooved body 8. The band 10 is made of synthetic resin, and has a large number of saw teeth 10a arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction on one surface. A band stopper 11 is integrally formed at one end of the band 10. Band stop 11
A hole through which the band 10 is passed and a sawteeth 11a are formed in the. Band loops 12 are formed on the outer surface of the frame portion 7b of the base body 7 and on the outer surface of the frame portion 8b of the grooved body 8, respectively. Then, the band 10 is passed through the band loop 12 of the base body 7 and then through the band stopper 11, and the saw teeth 10a of the band 10 are band clamped 1 with the band 10 being fully squeezed.
It engages with the saw tooth 11a of No. 1 and stops the band 10 so as not to move in the loosening direction. As a result, the base 7 and the grooved body 8 are further fixed.

The glass substrate holder 3 for the left side thus constructed is disposed inside the box 1, and the plate portion 7a of the base 7 is brought into contact with the inner surface of the left side wall 1b of the box 1.

On the inner surface of the left side wall 1b of the box 1, a structure for detachably holding the plate portion 7a of the base 7 is provided.
Examples of this structure include those shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. That is, a pair of ribs 31 that support both side edges of the glass substrate holder 3, a rib 32 that supports a lower edge, and a snap 33 that supports an upper portion are provided on the inner surface of the left side wall 1b. Then, the snap 33 is lifted to attach the plate portion 7a of the substrate 7 of the glass substrate holder 3 to the ribs 31, 32.
After the insertion, the plate portion 7a can be held on the left side wall 1b by returning the snap 33.

The right side glass substrate holder 4 is also disposed inside the box 1, and the plate portion 7a of the base 7 is brought into contact with the inner surface of the right side wall 1c of the box 1. As in the case of the left-side glass substrate holder 3, a structure that detachably holds the plate portion 7a of the base 7 is provided on the inner surface of the right side wall 1c. As a result, the groove 8a of the grooved body 8 of the left side glass substrate holder 3 and the groove 8a of the grooved body 8 of the right side glass substrate holder 4 face each other.

As shown in FIG. 6, the upper glass substrate holder 5 has the same structure as the left glass substrate holder 3 described above. That is, reference numeral 13 in the drawing denotes a base, on which a plate portion 13a, a frame portion 13b and a spacer receiving recess 13c are formed. Reference numeral 14 is a body with a groove, the groove portion 14a, the frame portion 1
4a and a spacer receiving recess 14c are formed. Reference numeral 15 is a plurality of rod-shaped spacers. These parts are made of synthetic resin.

The upper glass substrate holder 5 is arranged on the inner surface side of the lid 2, and the plate portion 13a of the base 13 is brought into contact with the inner surface of the lid 2. A structure that detachably holds the plate portion 13a of the base body 13 is provided on the inner surface of the lid 2. Examples of this structure include those shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. That is, a pair of ribs 34 for positioning the glass substrate holder 5 and a pair of ribs 35 having holes are provided on the inner surface of the lid 2. Engaging portions 36 and 37 are provided at the edges of the plate portion 13a of the substrate 13 of the glass substrate holder 5. And the plate portion 13a
The engaging portion 36 of the lid 2 is inserted and engaged with the rib 34 of the lid 2, and the engaging portion 3
7 is inserted into and engaged with the hole of the rib 35 to hold the plate portion 13a on the lid 2.

In this case, the glass substrate holder 5 is positioned so that the groove portion 14a of the grooved body 14 faces the groove 6a of the bottom wall 1a of the box 1 in parallel.

A case in which the glass substrate is housed and held in the transport container thus configured will be described.

First, in the side glass substrate holders 3 and 4,
The length of the spacer 9 is adjusted according to the size of the glass substrate to be held, and the distance between the substrate 7 and the grooved body 8 is adjusted by the spacer 9 having this length. The length of this spacer 9 (base 7
And the grooved body 8) have such a size that the groove 8a of the glass substrate holder 3 and the groove 8a of the glass substrate holder 4 can hold the glass substrate so as not to move left and right. In the upper glass substrate holder 5, the length of the spacer 15 is adjusted according to the size of the glass substrate to be held, and the spacer 15 of this length is adjusted.
The distance between the base body 13 and the grooved body 14 is adjusted with. The length of the spacer 15 (distance between the base body 13 and the grooved body 14) is determined by the groove 14a of the glass substrate holder 5 and the groove 6a of the glass substrate holder 6 of the box 1 facing the glass substrate. It is a size that can be held so as not to move.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the glass substrates G1 and G2 are placed in the upright open box 1 of the box 1 in an upright state. Put the side edges of the glass substrates G1 and G2 on both sides of the box 1.
8a, 8 of the pair of side glass substrate holders 3, 4 provided in
The lower edge portions of the glass substrates G1 and G2 are inserted into and engaged with the groove 6a of the lower glass substrate holding portion 6 of the box 1.
Further, the lid 2 is placed on the open upper surface of the box 1, and the glass substrate G1,
The upper edge of G2 is held by the groove 14a of the upper glass substrate holder 5 provided on the lid 2. As a result, the glass substrates G1 and G
2 is accommodated and held inside the box 1. Since each of the glass substrate holders 3, 4, 5 has a plurality of grooves 8a, 8a, 14a and a glass substrate holder 6 has a plurality of grooves 6a, respectively.
A plurality of glass substrates G1 and G2 are arranged and held in parallel.

In this way, the glass substrates G1 and G2 in an upright state can be housed inside the box 1 and securely held to prevent damage, and the glass substrates G1 and G2 can be shielded from the outside atmosphere to prevent the box from being damaged. 1 can be accommodated and held inside, and the characteristics of the substrate surface can be maintained.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the glass substrate G1 having the maximum size is held. In this case, the spacers 9 and 15 of the glass substrate holders 3, 4 and 5 are set to the minimum length. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the glass substrate G2 having the maximum size is held. In this case, the spacers 9 and 15 of the glass substrate holders 3, 4 and 5 are set to the maximum length.

That is, the spacers 9 and 15 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are prepared to have the maximum length in advance, and the spacers are cut so as to obtain the length according to the size of the glass substrate. Figure 2
In addition, in FIG. 3, a broken line portion indicates a cut portion. Then, the box 1, the lid 2, the glass substrate holders 3, 4, 5
Are prepared in combination and the lengths of the spacers 9 and 15 are adjusted according to the size of the glass substrate to be transported to assemble the transportation container.

By adjusting the length of the spacer (distance between the substrate and the grooved body) in this way, the internal structure of the box 1 can be changed to a holding mode corresponding to the size of the glass substrate. It is possible to hold a plurality of types of glass substrates in the transport container. That is, the glass substrate can be held in any size without any step.

Further, the structure of the glass substrate holders 3, 4, 5 is simple, and in the glass substrate holders 3, 4, 5 the distance between the substrate and the grooved body is adjusted by a spacer according to the size of the glass substrate. The operation of adjusting is also simple. Further, even if the size of the glass substrate changes, the parts of the glass substrate holders 3, 4, and 5 can be shared, so that it is not necessary to mold another kind of mold corresponding to various sizes of the glass substrate, and before assembling. The molding of the glass substrate holders 3, 4, and 5 can be mass-produced.

A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, the same parts as those in FIGS. 2 and 3 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the lower surface glass substrate holder is provided on the bottom wall of the box, and the glass substrate holder is provided on the lid.

On the bottom wall 1a of the box 1, a glass substrate holder 16 for the lower surface is provided. The glass substrate holder 16 includes a base 17, a grooved body 18 having a plurality of grooves 18a, and a plurality of spacers 19. Each of these is made of synthetic resin. The glass substrate holder 16 is held on the bottom wall 1a of the box 1 by the structure shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, for example.

An upper surface glass substrate holding portion 20 is formed on the lid 2 so as to bulge inward (downward) like a pedestal. The glass substrate holding portion 6 is provided with a plurality of horizontally extending grooves 20a. Are formed side by side.

FIG. 8 shows a state in which the glass substrate G1 having the maximum size is held. FIG. 9 shows a state in which the glass substrate G1 having the minimum size is held.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified in various ways.

For example, the spacer provided on the glass substrate holder is not limited to the rod-shaped spacer, and may have the structure shown in FIG. This spacer 21 has a plate shape and has saw teeth 2 on both sides.
1a and 21b are formed. Further, for example, the concave portion 7c of the substrate 7 in the glass substrate holders 3 and 4 and the concave portion 8c in the grooved body 8 are square holes into which the spacers 21 can be inserted. Further, inside the recesses 7c, 8c, saw teeth 22a, 22 mesh with the saw teeth 21a, 21b of the spacer 21.
b is formed. Then, the spacer 21 is recessed 7
c, 8c and saw teeth 21a, 21b and saw teeth 22
The spacer 21 is recessed due to the engagement with a and 22b.
You cannot get out of c and 8c. As a result, the base body 7 and the grooved body 8 are connected and fixed, and there is no need to separately fix them by using a separate fixing tool like a band.

The box may be constructed so that it can be disassembled so that it can be folded.

According to the present invention, at least one of the pair of side surface grooved bodies, at least one of the upper glass substrate holder and the lower glass substrate holder is independent of the box wall and the lid. What has an attached body and a spacer may be used.

In the present invention, the synthetic resin forming each part is not limited to polyethylene or polypropylene. Also,
The injection molding method is the main method for molding parts, but a vacuum molding method or the like can also be adopted.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a glass substrate transport container capable of holding a glass substrate corresponding to a plurality of sizes in one size with an economical structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an entire transport container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a transfer container showing a state in which a large-sized glass substrate is held in the example.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the transfer container showing a state where a small-sized glass substrate is held in the example.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a lower glass substrate holding portion.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a side glass substrate holder.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an upper glass substrate holder.

FIG. 7A is a view showing a fixing structure of a grooved body and a base body in a glass substrate holder. (B) is a figure which shows the band used for the same fixed structure.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a transfer container showing a state in which a large-sized glass substrate is held according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the transfer container showing a state where a small-sized glass substrate is held in the example.

FIG. 10A is a diagram showing another example of a fixing structure for a grooved body and a base body in a glass substrate holder. (B) is a figure which shows the spacer used for the same structure.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a structure for holding a side glass substrate holder.

FIG. 12 is a view showing a structure for holding a side glass substrate holder.

FIG. 13 is a view showing a structure for holding an upper glass substrate holder.

FIG. 14 is a view showing a structure for holding an upper glass substrate holder.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Box, 2 ... Lid 3, 4 ... Side glass substrate holder, 5 ...
Upper glass substrate holder, 6 ... Lower glass substrate holder, 7 ...
Substrate, 8 ... Grooved plate, 9 ... Spacer, 13 ... Substrate, 14
... Grooved plate, 15 ... Spacer.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Hideo Sekiguchi 2-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Kenji Aso 2-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transport container for accommodating and holding a glass substrate, which has a quadrangular bottom wall and four side walls standing upright from the four side edges of the bottom wall, the top surface of which is open. Box, a lid that closes the open top of the box, and a pair of side glass having grooves for holding the edges of the glass substrate provided on the inner surfaces of the pair of side walls facing each other in the vertical direction. A substrate holder, a lower glass substrate holder provided on the inner surface side of the bottom wall of the box and having a glass substrate edge holding groove along the horizontal direction, and a horizontal glass provided on the inner surface side of the lid. Along with the upper glass substrate holder having a groove for holding the glass substrate edge portion facing the groove of the lower glass substrate holder, at least one of the pair of side glass substrate holders, the upper part Less glass substrate holder and lower glass substrate holder On the other hand, one is independent of the wall of the box and the lid, and is in contact with the inner surface of the wall of the box and the inner surface of the lid in a detachable manner, a grooved body having a groove, and a holding member. A glass substrate transport container having a length corresponding to the size of the glass substrate and having a spacer arranged between the substrate and the grooved body and connecting the two.