JPH07199203A - Apparatus and method for producing liquid crystal display element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method and apparatus for producing a liquid crystal display element capable of easily executing a pressurization treatment of liquid crystal display cells under a uniform pressure. CONSTITUTION:Plural pieces of pressurizing bodies 23 having a hollow structure consisting of an elastic material on a base plate 21 are fixed apart specified intervals. A pressure controller 27 expands or shrinks the pressurizing bodies 23 laterally by admitting liquid into the hollow parts of the pressurizing bodies 23 via pipings 25 or discharging this liquid out of the hollow parts. The liquid crystal display cells 31 injected with liquid crystals are erected and set between the pressurizing bodies 23 and the pressurizing bodies 23 are expanded by starting the pressure controller 27, by which the liquid crystal display cells 31 are pressed from both sides. The pressurizing bodies 23 are shrunk to end the pressurization treatment when the pressing treatment ends. The liquid crystal display cells 31 are thereafter removed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for efficiently manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having a uniform thickness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a liquid crystal display device is formed as follows. First, a sealing material made of a thermosetting or UV (ultraviolet) curing resin or the like is formed on one transparent substrate, and spacers are evenly dispersed on the other substrate. next,
Both substrates are stacked with a sealant and a spacer interposed therebetween, and the sealant is cured and the two substrates are bonded together to form a liquid crystal display cell. After that, liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal display cell through a liquid crystal injection port formed in the sealing material by using a vacuum injection method or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of liquid crystal display cells 11 filled with liquid crystal are stacked on a base 15 with a rubber sheet 12 in between, and a pressure plate 13 is mounted by a cylinder 14. Lower and pressurize. By this pressing force, bubbles and extra liquid crystal are discharged from the liquid crystal injection port, the liquid crystal injection port is sealed with a UV curable resin, and the thickness of the liquid crystal display cell 11 is adjusted to a desired value.

[0004]

In the conventional method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element, when pressure is applied as shown in FIG. 7, a load such as a rubber sheet is applied to the upper liquid crystal display cell and the lower liquid crystal display cell. However, the pressure applied to each liquid crystal display cell is not uniform, which causes a problem that the thickness of each liquid crystal display cell also varies. Further, since the liquid crystal display cell 11 and the rubber sheet 12 are alternately placed, it takes a long time for the pressure treatment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a liquid crystal display element capable of easily manufacturing a liquid crystal display element having a uniform thickness. Another object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a liquid crystal display element capable of performing a pressure treatment of a liquid crystal display cell with a simple and uniform pressure.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, a liquid crystal display device manufacturing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is provided with at least one of a base and a liquid crystal display cell arranged on the base. A plurality of elastic pressure means arranged on the side, and a control means connected to the elastic pressure means and expanding the elastic pressure means to press the liquid crystal display cell arranged on the base. Is characterized by. The elastic pressurizing means is composed of, for example, an elastic body having a hollow structure, and the control means expands the elastic body by injecting a fluid into the hollow portion of the elastic body to apply the liquid crystal display cell. To press.

Further, in the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, the step of forming a liquid crystal display cell, the step of injecting liquid crystal into the liquid crystal display cell, and the expansion member made of an elastic body to expand the liquid crystal display cell And a step of expanding the expansion member to pressurize the liquid crystal display cell.

[0008]

According to the manufacturing apparatus having the above structure, the liquid crystal display cell can be pressurized only by setting the liquid crystal display cell vertically between the elastic pressure applying means and expanding the elastic pressure applying means. Can be applied very easily and uniformly. Further, also in the manufacturing method of the above configuration, since the liquid crystal display cells are arranged in parallel with the expansion member and the liquid crystal display cells are pressed by expanding the expansion member, the liquid crystal display cells are pressed to spread the liquid crystal throughout. Processing can be performed easily.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An apparatus and method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a pressure device for a liquid crystal display cell according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, a plurality of elastic hollow structure pressure members 23 made of flexible rubber or the like are fixed on a base 21 at regular intervals. Pressure controller 27
Means that a fluid consisting of a gas (air, N ₂ gas, etc.) or a liquid flows into the hollow portion of the pressurizing body 23 through the pipe 25 or flows out from the hollow portion, so that the pressurizing body 23 is It expands or contracts laterally as shown in FIG.

The user, as shown in FIG.
A liquid crystal display cell 31 in which liquid crystal is injected is set upright, the pressure controller 27 is activated, a fluid is injected into the hollow portion of each pressurizing body 23, and the pressurizing body 23 is expanded in the lateral direction. The display cell 31 is pressed (pressurized) from both sides. When the pressurizing process is completed, the pressure controller 27 is driven to extract the fluid from the pressurizing body 23 and contract the pressurizing body 23. Then, the liquid crystal display cell 31 is removed.

Next, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display element using the above pressure device will be described. First, FIG. 4 (A),
As shown in (B), a seal material 43 made of a thermosetting or UV (ultraviolet) curing epoxy resin or the like is formed on the liquid crystal side surface of the upper transparent substrate 41 by screen printing or the like. On the other hand, in order to make the thickness of the liquid crystal layer uniform, a particle spacer of silica glass type or resin type having a diameter of about 2 to 11 μm is provided at a position corresponding to a portion surrounded by the sealing material 43 of the lower transparent substrate 45. 47 is evenly dispersed, for example, as shown in FIGS. 5 (A) and 5 (B). The spacer 47 is
It may be on a bar having a diameter of 2 to 12 μm and a length of 20 to 120 μm.

Next, the upper transparent substrate 41 and the lower transparent substrate 4
5 is overlaid with the sealing material 43 and the spacer 47,
The sealing material 43 is cured by heating or UV irradiation,
As shown in FIG. 6, the liquid crystal display cell 3 is prepared by bonding the two substrates together.
1 is formed. After that, liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal display cell 31 from the liquid crystal injection port 43A by using a vacuum injection method or the like. Since the amount of liquid crystal injected at this time is larger than that during driving, the liquid crystal display cell 31 swells in its thickness direction.

After that, as shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal display cells 31 are arranged in parallel with each other between the pressing bodies 23 of the pressing device.
In this state, the space between the pressurizing bodies 23 is sufficiently wider than the thickness of the liquid crystal display cell 31, and the liquid crystal display cell 3 to the pressurizing device is
The set of 1 is relatively simple.

Thereafter, the pressure controller 27 is driven to inject a fluid into the hollow portion of the pressurizing body 23, and the pressurizing body 23 is expanded as shown in FIG. 2 (B). Due to this expansion, both substrate surfaces of the liquid crystal display cell 31 are uniformly pressed by the pressing members 23 on both sides. This pressure is applied to the liquid crystal display cell 31.
Since the liquid crystal layer is evenly applied to the entire surface, the liquid crystal layer spreads evenly over the region surrounded by the sealing material, and bubbles and extra liquid crystal formed during the injection are discharged from the liquid crystal injection port 43A.

Here, after performing processing such as wiping off the overflowed liquid crystal, the liquid crystal injection port 43A is sealed with a photocurable resin or the like, and the thickness of the liquid crystal display cell 31 is adjusted to a desired value. After this, the fluid injected into the pressurizing body 23 is extracted, and the pressurizing body 23 returns to the normal size. In this state, the space between the pressure bodies 23 arranged side by side becomes relatively large, and the liquid crystal display cell 31
Can be taken out easily.

As described above, in the present embodiment, after the liquid crystal display cell 31 is filled with the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal display cell 31 is set upright between the pressure members 23 and set,
Since the liquid crystal is expanded and pressurized, the pressure treatment is very simple, and each liquid crystal display cell 31 can be pressurized with a uniform pressure. In addition, the liquid crystal display cell 3 with the pressurizing body 23 contracted.
Since 1 is set and removed, it is easy to set and remove.

The present invention is not limited to the case of pressurizing the liquid crystal display cell, but can be applied to the case of pressurizing an arbitrary object. Further, the configuration of the pressurizing device, the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display cell, and the like are not limited to those exemplified in the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the pressure treatment of the liquid crystal display cell can be easily performed with a uniform pressure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a pressure device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation of the pressurizing body shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which a liquid crystal display cell is set in a pressure device.

4A and 4B are diagrams showing a state in which a sealing material is arranged on an upper substrate.

5A and 5B are diagrams showing a state in which spacers are scattered on the lower substrate.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a liquid crystal display cell.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a conventional pressurizing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Liquid crystal display cell, 12 ... Rubber sheet, 13 ... Pressure plate, 14 ... Cylinder, 15 ... Base, 21 ...
Base, 23 ... Pressurizing body, 25 ... Piping, 27 ... Pressure controller, 31 ... Liquid crystal display cell, 41 ... Upper transparent substrate, 43 ... Sealing material, 43A ...・ Liquid crystal inlet, 45 ...
Lower transparent substrate, 47 ... Spacer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A base, an elastic pressurizing means disposed on at least one side of a liquid crystal display cell arranged on the base, and an elastic pressurizing means connected to the elastic pressurizing means to expand the elastic pressurizing means. An apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, comprising: a control unit that pressurizes a liquid crystal display cell arranged on the base. 2. The elastic pressurizing means is composed of an elastic body having a hollow structure, and the control means expands the elastic body by injecting a fluid into a hollow portion of the elastic body,
The apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display cell is pressurized. 3. A step of forming a liquid crystal display cell, a step of injecting liquid crystal into the liquid crystal display cell, a step of arranging the liquid crystal display cell in parallel with an expansion member made of an elastic body that expands, and an expansion of the expansion member. And a step of pressing the liquid crystal display cell.