JPH0781709A - Glass substrate alignment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically carry out the alignment of a glass substrate by, in a device for carrying out the alignment of a glass substrate such as a liquid crystal display plate, drivably providing a pushing member to push the end face of the glass substrate exposed to a gap between side plates. CONSTITUTION:When a cylinder moves to contract after the lowering of an elevating base where a cassette having a received glass substrate 7 is positioned, levers 15, 22 are rotated through connecting bars 18, 25 and shafts 14, 21, and the end face of the glass substrate 7 exposed to a gap between side plates 3 is pushed by guide shafts 16, 23. The glass substrate 7 is thereby laterally aligned. When the cylinder 13 moves further to contract, a connecting bar 35 rotates a lever 29 through gears 34, 32 and a shaft 28, and a guide shaft 30 pushes the end face on the side of a cassette inlet of the glass substrate 7. Thus the end face opposite to the end face on the side of the cassette inlet of the glass substrate 7 is pressed against a substrate stopper 5 for longitudinally aligning the glass substrate 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a glass substrate alignment device for aligning a glass substrate housed in a cassette having a gap between side plates, for example, a rectangular glass substrate for a liquid crystal display plate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a cassette of a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a part of the cassette shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a cassette shown in FIG. It is a schematic side view which shows. As shown in the figure, a side plate 3 is provided between the lower plate 1 and the upper plate 2, and a gap is provided between the side plates 3. A holding portion 4 having a circular cross section is provided on the side plate 3, a columnar substrate stopper 5 is provided between the lower plate 1 and the upper plate 2, and a handle 6 of the upper plate 2 is provided.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a state where the cassette shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 is set in the loading section. As shown in the figure, a rectangular glass substrate 7 for a liquid crystal display plate is held by a holding unit 4 and housed in a cassette.
The cassette is a positioning member 9 provided on the upper surface of the lifting table 8.
Is positioned by.

When manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, a lifting table 8 is used.
While raising or lowering, the glass substrates 7 housed in the cassette are taken out one by one by a robot arm (not shown) and conveyed to a substrate processing apparatus (not shown).

In this case, if the position of the glass substrate 7 stored in the cassette varies, the glass substrate 7 cannot be transported to a predetermined position of the stage of the substrate processing apparatus, and therefore the cassette positioned on the elevating table 8 is positioned. It is necessary to align the glass substrate 7 inside.

Conventionally, a glass substrate 7 stored in a cassette
In order to perform the alignment, the worker is performing the alignment work.

[0007]

However, when the worker performs the alignment work, the alignment work of the glass substrates housed in the cassette cannot be performed efficiently.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a glass substrate alignment apparatus capable of efficiently performing the alignment work of the glass substrates housed in the cassette.

[0009]

To achieve this object, in the present invention, in a glass substrate alignment apparatus for aligning glass substrates housed in a cassette having a gap between side plates, the above-mentioned exposed portion of the gap is provided. A pressing member that presses the end surface of the glass substrate and a drive device that drives the pressing member are provided.

[0010]

In this glass substrate alignment device,
Since the glass substrate is aligned by driving the pushing member by the driving device, the glass substrate can be automatically aligned.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway schematic bottom view showing a glass substrate alignment apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is AA of FIG.
FIG. As shown in the figure, a pillar member 12 is provided between the lower plate 10 and the upper plate 11, and the lower plate 10, the upper plate 11 and the pillar member 12 form a frame. An air cylinder 13 is rotatably attached to the lower plate 10, a shaft 14 is rotatably supported by the lower plate 10 and an upper plate 11 via a bearing (not shown), and a lever 15 is fixed to the shaft 14. A rotatable guide shaft 16 covered with a tube 17 is fixed to the lever 15, and the lever 15, the guide shaft 16, and the tube 17 constitute a first pressing member in the lateral direction, that is, the vertical direction of the paper surface of FIG. The connecting bar 18 is fixed to the shaft 14, and the shaft 19 is connected to the connecting bar 18.
Is rotatably attached, the tip of the piston rod of the air cylinder 13 is rotatably attached to the shaft 19, the connecting bar 20 is rotatably attached to the shaft 19, and the shaft 21 is attached via a bearing (not shown). The lower plate 10 and the upper plate 11 are rotatably supported by the shaft 2
The lever 22 is fixed to 1, and the tube 24 is attached to the lever 22.
The rotatable guide shaft 23 covered with is fixed, and the lever 22, the guide shaft 23, and the tube 24 constitute a second lateral pressing member. The connecting bar 25 is fixed to the shaft 21, the shaft 26 is rotatably attached to the connecting bar 25, the connecting bar 20 is rotatably attached to the shaft 26, and the connecting bar 27 is attached to the shaft 26.
Is rotatably attached, a shaft 28 is rotatably supported by a lower plate 10 and an upper plate 11 via bearings (not shown), a lever 29 is fixed to the shaft 28, and a tube 31 is covered on the lever 29. The rotatable guide shaft 30 is fixed, and the lever 29, the guide shaft 30,
The tube 31 constitutes a pushing member in the vertical direction, that is, in the lateral direction of the paper surface of FIG. A gear 32 is fixed to the shaft 28, a shaft 33 is rotatably attached to the lower plate 10, a gear 34 is fixed to the shaft 33, and the gear 34 meshes with the gear 32. Connecting bar 35 on shaft 33
Is fixed, and is rotatably attached to the shaft 36 on the connecting bar 35, and the connecting bar 27 is rotatably attached to the shaft 36.
0, 25, 27, 35, gears 32, 34, etc. constitute a driving device for the first and second horizontal pressing members and the vertical pressing member.

In this glass substrate alignment apparatus, the elevating table 8 on which the cassette containing the glass substrate 7 is positioned is lowered to bring the cassette to the position shown in FIG. 4, and then, as shown in FIG. When the cylinder 13 is contracted, the connecting bars 18 and 25 are rotated, and the shafts 14 and 2 are rotated.
5, the levers 15 and 22 rotate as shown in FIG. 5, and the guide shafts 16 and 23 push the end surface of the glass substrate 7 exposed in the gap of the side plate 3.
Are laterally aligned. Also, the air cylinder 1
When 3 is contracted, the connecting bar 35 rotates, and the gears 34, 3
2 rotates, the shaft 28 rotates, the lever 29 rotates, and the guide shaft 30 pushes the end face of the glass substrate 7 on the cassette inlet side as shown in FIGS. Since the end surface on the side opposite to the entrance side end surface is pressed against the substrate stopper 5, the glass substrate 7 is vertically aligned. After that, the glass substrates 7 housed in the cassette are taken out one by one by the robot arm while the elevator table 8 is being raised, and are conveyed to the substrate processing apparatus.

In such a glass substrate alignment apparatus, the driving device drives the first and second horizontal pressing members and the vertical pressing member to perform the horizontal and vertical alignment of the glass substrate 7. Therefore, since the alignment work of the glass substrate 7 can be automatically performed, the alignment work of the glass substrate 7 can be efficiently performed.

[0014]

As described above, in the glass substrate alignment apparatus according to the present invention, the lateral glass substrate alignment work can be automatically performed, so that the glass substrate alignment work can be performed efficiently. You can As described above, the effect of the present invention is remarkable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway schematic bottom view showing a glass substrate alignment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of the glass substrate alignment apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a glass substrate cassette for a liquid crystal display panel.

7 is a partially cutaway schematic plan view showing the cassette shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing the cassette shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a state where the cassette shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 is set in a loading section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 ... Side plate 7 ... Glass substrate 13 ... Air cylinder 15 ... Lever 16 ... Guide shaft 17 ... Tube 18 ... Connection bar 20 ... Connection bar 22 ... Lever 23 ... Guide shaft 24 ... Tube 25 ... Connection bar

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A glass substrate alignment apparatus for aligning a glass substrate housed in a cassette having a gap between side plates, the pushing member pushing an end face of the glass substrate exposed in the gap, and the pushing member. A glass substrate alignment apparatus comprising a driving device.