JPH08262429A - Sticking device for optical film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a sticking device for optical films capable of efficiently and simultaneously sticking the optical films, such as polarizing films and phase difference films, to both surfaces of liquid crystal display panels without inverting these panels. CONSTITUTION: A sticking section 15 is constituted by providing this section with a transporting path 2 for continuously transporting the liquid crystal display panels (a) in one direction and arranging a pair of sticking rollers 16 facing each other apart this transporting path 2 in mid-way of the transporting path 2. While the polarizing films (b) sticking to a carrier tape 21 are peeled by rotating the respective sticking rollers 16, these films are successively attracted on the peripheral surfaces of the sticking rollers 16. The attracted polarizing films (b) are pressed and stuck to both surfaces of the liquid crystal display panels (a) successively transported to the sticking section 15 via the transporting path 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical film laminating apparatus for laminating optical films such as polarizing films and retardation films on both sides of a liquid crystal display panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a liquid crystal display panel, a pair of transparent substrates (glass plates) on which electrodes for display are formed are polymer-bonded through a frame-shaped sealing material and surrounded by both the substrates and the sealing material. Liquid crystal is sealed in the area. Then, a polarizing film or a retardation film as an optical film is attached to both surfaces of this liquid crystal display panel.

Conventionally, when the optical film is attached, the liquid crystal display panel is placed horizontally on a conveyor belt and conveyed in one direction while the optical film is attached to one surface on the upper surface side of the liquid crystal display panel. Then, the liquid crystal display panel is turned over and the optical film is attached to the other side.

[0004]

However, when the liquid crystal display panel is turned over one by one and the optical films are separately attached to one side and the other side in this way, the work efficiency is poor and the manufacturing efficiency is lowered. To do.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide an optical film laminating apparatus capable of efficiently laminating optical films on both surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel without inverting the liquid crystal display panel.

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a transportation path for continuously transporting a liquid crystal display panel in one direction, and the transportation path is provided in the middle of this transportation path. A pair of pasting rollers that are spaced apart from each other are arranged to form a pasting section, and while each of the pasting rollers is rotated, the pair of pasting rollers are removed from the carrier tape while peeling off the optical film pasted on the carrier tape. Means for sequentially adhering to each peripheral surface, and means for adhering the optical film adsorbed by the pair of sticking rollers to both surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel conveyed to the pasting section through the conveying path. It was prepared.

[0007]

The liquid crystal display panel supplied to the conveying path passes between the peripheral surfaces of the pair of sticking rollers, and the optical film adsorbed on the peripheral surface of each sticking roller is covered on both sides of the liquid crystal display panel during this passage. It is pressed and attached at the same time. Therefore, the optical film can be efficiently attached to the liquid crystal display panel without reversing the liquid crystal display panel.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the sticking device. Reference numeral 1 is a base 1, and a transport path 2 for transporting the liquid crystal panel a in one direction is provided on the upper surface of the base 1.
The transport path 2 has a slit-shaped opening 3 formed in the middle of the upper surface of the base 1, a pair of guide plates 4 facing each other on both side edges of the opening 3, and a lower conveyor 5 along the opening 3. And an upper conveyor 6 are provided.

The lower conveyor 5 is provided over the substantially entire length of the opening 3, and the upper conveyor 6 is provided at a certain area in the middle of the opening 3. The lower conveyor 5 includes a pair of pulleys 7, 8 and the pulleys 7, 8
An endless conveyor belt 9 is provided between the pulleys 7, 8 of the conveyor belt 9 so that the upper section of the conveyor belt 9 is substantially flush with the opening surface of the opening 3.

The upper conveyor 6 comprises a pair of pulleys 10, 1.
1 and an endless conveyor belt 12 hung between these pulleys 10 and 11,
The lower section between the pulleys 10 and 11 in 2 corresponds to the upper section of the conveyor belt 9 in the lower conveyor 5,
The liquid crystal panel a is opposed to the liquid crystal panel a with a space corresponding to the width dimension. The middle portion of the guide plate 4 is cut off, and both sides of the upper space in the middle portion of the opening 3 are opened by this cutting.

One end of the transport path 2 is a panel supply unit 13, and the liquid crystal display panel a is sequentially supplied from the panel supply unit 13 onto the transport belt 9 of the lower conveyor 5. At this time, the liquid crystal display panel a is placed on the conveyor belt 9 in a vertical posture in which one side edge of the liquid crystal display panel a stands vertically, and is conveyed to the other end side of the conveyor path 2 by the conveyor belt 9. It has become so.

An intermediate portion of the conveying path 2 is a sticking portion 15,
In this sticking section 15, a pair of sticking rollers 16 are provided so as to face each other with the transport path 2 interposed therebetween. These pasting rollers 16 are rotatably provided on the base 1, and the circumferential surface of one pasting roller 16 and the circumferential surface of the other pasting roller 16 are spaced apart from each other at a distance corresponding to the thickness of the liquid crystal display panel a. They are arranged so as to face each other. As shown in FIG. 2, a large number of fine suction holes 17 for vacuum suction are uniformly formed on the peripheral surface of the sticking roller 16.

Further, a film supply unit 20 is provided on the base 1 corresponding to each attaching roller 16, and a carrier tape 21 wound in a roll shape is arranged on the supply unit 20. Polarizing film b as an optical film continuously on one surface of the same along its longitudinal direction
Is attached so that it can be peeled off.

The roll 21a of the carrier tape 21 is rotatably mounted on a support shaft 22 provided on the base 1, and the carrier tape 21 pulled out from the roll 21a has a plurality of guide rollers 23, 24, 25 ,. It is introduced into the tape ejector 27 through 26. The carrier tape 21 is sequentially picked up by the tape ejector 26 and runs at a predetermined speed.

The guide rollers 23, 24, 25, 26
As shown in FIG. 3, the guide roller 25 in the middle portion of the above is arranged adjacent to the peripheral surface of the sticking roller 16, and when the carrier tape 21 passes through this guide roller 25, the carrier tape 21 is held at this portion. Is bent in a sharp shape, the polarizing film b attached to the carrier tape 21 is peeled off from one end edge by this bending, and the peeled polarizing film b comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the attaching roller 16 to suck air. The vacuum suction force acting through the hole 16a sucks and holds the peripheral surface of the sticking roller 16.

Further, a timing pusher 28 is provided in the conveying path 2 between the panel supply section 13 and the sticking section 15. The timing pusher 28 vacuumizes the liquid crystal display panel a sent from the panel supply section 13. The liquid crystal display panel a is temporarily held by means such as suction, and the timing of sending the liquid crystal display panel a to the attaching portion 15 is adjusted.

Next, the operation of attaching the polarizing film b will be described. Each sticking roller 16 rotates at a predetermined constant speed, and the carrier tape 21 is picked up and runs at a constant speed synchronized with the rotation speed of the sticking roller 16, and the polarized light stuck to the carrier tape 21 during this running. The films b are sequentially peeled off, and the polarizing films b are adsorbed on the peripheral surface of the sticking roller 16 at a predetermined interval.

On the other hand, the liquid crystal display panel a supplied from the panel supply unit 13 is sent out to the pasting unit 15 via the timing pusher 28 at a predetermined timing synchronized with the rotation speed of the pasting roller 16. The liquid crystal display panel a sent from the timing pusher 28 has its upper and lower edges sandwiched by the conveyor belt 9 of the lower conveyor 5 and the conveyor belt 12 of the upper conveyor 6, and has a stable vertical posture while being regulated at a predetermined position. While being kept, it is fed between the peripheral surface of one pasting roller 16 and the peripheral surface of the other pasting roller 16.

The liquid crystal display panel a is attached to the sticking roller 1.
While passing between the peripheral surfaces of 6, the polarizing film b adsorbed on the peripheral surface of each bonding roller 16 is simultaneously pressed and adhered to a predetermined area on both surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel a.
An adhesive is applied in advance on one surface of the polarizing film b, and the polarizing film b is attached to the liquid crystal display panel a via the adhesive. The liquid crystal display panel a to which the polarizing film b is attached is transported to the other end side of the transport path 2 via the transport belt 9 of the lower conveyor 5 and discharged.

As described above, while the liquid crystal display panel a is continuously transported through the transport path 2, the liquid crystal display panel a is being transported.
The polarizing film b is efficiently adhered to both surfaces of the sheet simultaneously. For example, each liquid crystal display panel a can be efficiently attached with a tact of 1 sec or less.

Further, since the liquid crystal display panel a is conveyed in a vertical posture in which one side edge of the liquid crystal display panel a stands upright, the both sides of the liquid crystal display panel a are open without the conveying belts 9 and 12 contacting both sides thereof. The liquid crystal display panel a is kept in this state, and therefore, foreign matter such as dust does not adhere to both surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel a, and the polarizing film b can be attached to both clean surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel a.

In the above embodiment, the polarizing films are attached to both sides of the liquid crystal display panel, but the present invention is not limited to the polarizing film, and the same applies to the case of attaching a retardation film, for example. it can.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, a liquid crystal display panel is continuously conveyed in one direction, and a pair of sticking rollers are used at the same time on both sides of the liquid crystal display panel during the conveyance. Since the optical film is attached, it is possible to efficiently attach the optical film to the liquid crystal display panel without inverting the liquid crystal display panel as in the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a sticking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sticking roller of the sticking device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the polarizing film is peeled off from the carrier tape in the attaching device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Conveyance path 15 ... Sticking part 16 ... Sticking roller 21 ... Carrier tape a ... Liquid crystal display panel b ... Polarizing film (optical film)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sticking portion is formed by providing a carrying path for continuously carrying a liquid crystal display panel in one direction, and disposing a pair of sticking rollers facing each other across the carrying path in the middle of the carrying path. Then, while rotating each of the sticking rollers, while peeling off the optical film stuck to the carrier tape, means for sequentially adsorbing from the carrier tape to each peripheral surface of the pair of sticking rollers, and the pair of sticking rollers. An optical film sticking device, comprising means for pressing and sticking the sucked optical film to both surfaces of a liquid crystal display panel conveyed to the pasting section via the conveying path.