JPH0933905A - Heat treatment device for glass substrate for liquid crystal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a device, which thermally treats materials applied to a glass substrate for liquid crystal display for various purposes, compact and make the temperature distribution uniform by improving temperature raising and cooling characteristics. SOLUTION: A cavity part 4 is provided with an entrance part 2 and an exit part 3 for the glass substrate 16, and a single or a plurality of hot plates 5 for a temperature raising part 7, a plurality of hot plates 5 for a soaking part 8, and a plurality of hot plates 5 for a cooling part 9, and a cold plate 21 are provided in this order on the internal bottom surface of the cavity part 4 from the entrance part 2 to the exit part 3; and each hot plate 5 has a pin 13 stood on its top surface and a plurality of reflecting plates 6 are installed on the internal top surface of the opposite cavity part 4. Then the heat treatment device has the single wafer type conveying mechanism which support one glass substrate 16 with plural metal supporters 14 that can move vertically and horizontally and to the right and left and remounts and convey the respective hot plates 5 and cold plate 21 in order.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for a glass substrate for liquid crystal after applying a polyimide film, a top coat film, a sealant and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a heat treatment apparatus for a glass substrate for liquid crystal after applying a polyimide film, a top coat film, a sealing agent, etc., there is a difference in setting temperature and processing time. It is as described below.

That is, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, an inlet portion 2 is provided on one side of the heat treatment apparatus main body 1 and an outlet portion 3 is provided on the other side facing the inlet portion 2, and a tunnel-shaped cavity portion 4 is provided. Has been formed. A plurality of hot plates 5 for the temperature raising part 7, a plurality of hot plates 5 for the soaking part 8, and a plurality of hot parts for the cooling part 9 are provided on the lower surface inside the cavity 4 from the inlet part 2 toward the outlet part 3. The plate 5 and the cold plate 21 are sequentially arranged in a line, and a plurality of reflecting plates 6 are installed on the upper surface facing each hot plate 5.
The distance between the hot plate 5 and the reflection plate 6 is often set to 15 to 30 mm in consideration of moving the glass substrate 16.

The transport mechanism drives the transport drive unit 11 in the vertical and horizontal directions by the drive motor 10, and the transport drive unit 11 is driven.
The carrier beam 1 by means of a beam support 15 connected to
2, the glass substrates 16 are transported one by one while being supported by the four support fittings 14 installed on the transport beam 12, and placed on the pins 13 provided on the upper part of the hot plate 5 for a certain period of time. A single-wafer type is provided that can be sequentially transferred and transferred after a lapse of a certain time.

Further, a temperature sensor (not shown) and a heater (not shown) are incorporated in the hot plate 5 for the temperature raising section 7 and the hot plate 5 for the soaking section 8, respectively, to reach the set temperature. The heater is ON-OFF controlled as described above. The hot plate 5 for the cooling unit 9 includes a temperature sensor (not shown), a heater (not shown), and a cooling pipe (not shown).
Is installed and the heater is turned on so that the set temperature is reached.
In addition to N-OFF control, a control valve (not shown) of a cooling pipe (not shown) is opened and closed. Room temperature water is always passed through the cold plate 18 for the cooling unit 9.

[0006]

In recent years, liquid crystal displays have been applied to various fields such as information, OA, home appliances, AV, and measuring devices, and accordingly, low cost and large screen liquid crystal displays are required. It has become to. Furthermore, as a heat treatment apparatus for glass substrates for liquid crystals, there is a demand for uniform temperature distribution and compactness.

However, in the conventional heat treatment apparatus for a glass substrate for liquid crystal as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, since a large number of hot plates 5 and cold plates 21 are sequentially arranged in one row, the heat treatment apparatus main body is formed. There is a problem that the total length of 1 becomes long and the installation area becomes large. Although it is possible to reduce the total length by reducing the number of hot plates 5, the time for stopping each hot plate 5 becomes long and the productivity deteriorates.

Further, the height of the pin 13 provided on the upper surface of each hot plate 5 is usually as low as 1 mm, and the distance between the hot plate 5 and the reflection plate 6 (25 mm).
It is as small as 1/25. Therefore, in the temperature raising unit 7, the amount of natural convection heat transfer from the hot plate 5 to the glass substrate 16 is much larger than the amount of natural convection heat transfer from the reflection plate 6 to the glass substrate 16. In the cooling unit 9, the amount of natural convection heat transfer from the glass substrate 16 to the hot plate 5 is much larger than the amount of natural convection heat transfer from the glass substrate 16 to the reflector plate 6. As a result, the temperature difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate 16 in the temperature raising section 7 and the cooling section 9 becomes large and distortion occurs. The reflection plate 6 of the cooling unit 9 adjacent to the soaking unit 8 is heated by natural convection heat transfer from the soaking unit 8,
Since the temperature becomes higher than the temperature of the upper surface of the hot plate 5 which faces, the temperature difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate 16 becomes large and distortion occurs.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heat treatment device for a glass substrate for liquid crystal, which is excellent in temperature rising and cooling characteristics, is compact, and has a uniform temperature distribution.

[0010]

The present invention provides a glass substrate 1
6, a cavity portion 4 having an inlet portion 2 and an outlet portion 3 is provided, and one or a plurality of hot plates 5 for the temperature raising portion 7 facing the inlet portion 2 to the outlet portion 3 are provided on the inner lower surface of the cavity portion 4. A plurality of hot plates 5 for the soaking section 8, a plurality of hot plates 5 for the cooling section 9, and a cold plate 21 are provided in this order,
A pin 13 is provided upright on the upper surface of each hot plate 5, a plurality of reflecting plates 6 are installed on the inner upper surfaces of the facing cavity portions 4, respectively, and a plurality of supporting metal fittings 14 that can move vertically, horizontally and horizontally. A heat treatment apparatus having a single-wafer-type transfer mechanism for supporting one glass substrate 16 by means of and transferring it to each of the hot plate 5 and cold plate 21 one by one and transporting the hollow part 4 in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction. Stacking,
The drive motor 10 provided in the lower part of the heat treatment apparatus drives the transport drive unit 11 vertically and horizontally and horizontally, and the beam support 15 connected to the transport drive unit 11 moves the transport beams 12 provided in the respective hollow portions 4. Tell, each carrier beam 1
It is characterized in that each of the hollow portions 4 is simultaneously conveyed while the glass substrates 16 are supported one by one by each of the plurality of support fittings 14 installed in 2.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The structure of the present invention will be described with reference to the corresponding FIGS. 1 to 4. The glass substrate 16 has a tunnel-shaped cavity 4 provided with an inlet 2 and an outlet 3, A plurality of hot plates 5 for the temperature raising part 7, a plurality of hot plates 5 for the soaking part 8, and a plurality of hot plates 5 for the cooling part 9 are provided on the lower surface inside the cavity 4 from the part 2 toward the outlet part 3.
Are sequentially provided, and a plurality of reflectors 6 are installed on the upper surface of the cavity 4 facing the hot plate 5, respectively. The tunnel-shaped cavities 4 are stacked in a plurality of stages (three stages in the figure), and the drive motor 10 provided at the lower portion of the heat treatment apparatus main body 1 drives the transport drive unit 11 vertically and horizontally and horizontally to connect the transport drive unit 11. The movement of the beam support 15 is transmitted to the carrier beam 12 provided in each cavity 4,
A plurality of support fittings 14 installed on each carrier beam 12
Each of the cavities 4 is simultaneously conveyed while supporting the glass substrate 16 one by one, and is placed on the pin 13 provided on the upper surface of the hot plate 5 for a certain period of time, and after a certain period of time, the sheets are sequentially remounted and conveyed. A transport device was provided. The height of the pin 13 provided on the upper surface of each hot plate 5 is set to ⅕ to ½ of the distance between the hot plate 5 and the reflection plate 6, and the reflection plate 6 and the cooling unit 9 for the adjacent heat equalizing unit 8 and A partition plate 17 is provided between the reflection plates 6.

Further, as described in the prior art, the hot plate 5 for the temperature raising section 7 and the hot plate 5 for the soaking section 8 each have a temperature sensor and a heater incorporated therein, and are controlled so as to maintain the set temperature. Has been done. Further, a temperature sensor and a heater are also incorporated in the hot plate 5 for the cooling unit 9, and a cooling pipe is also incorporated for temperature control. Basically, it is possible to control the temperature if the hot plate 5 for the cooling unit 9 also has a heater, but there is a possibility that the temperature will be higher than the set temperature due to the heat from the adjacent higher temperature plate. A cooling pipe is provided to prevent this.

[0013]

According to the present invention, since a plurality of tunnel-shaped cavities 4 are stacked in a plurality of stages, it is possible to prolong the time for mounting on the pins 13 provided on the upper surface of the hot plate 5 without lowering the productivity.

The drive motor 10 provided at the bottom of the heat treatment apparatus main body 1 drives the transport drive unit 11 vertically and horizontally and horizontally, and the beam support 15 connected to the transport drive unit 11 is provided in each cavity 4. The plurality of support fittings 14 installed on each of the carrier beams 12 simultaneously convey the movements to the respective carrier beams 12, and simultaneously convey the respective cavity portions 4 while supporting the glass substrates 16 one by one. Since a single-wafer-type transfer mechanism is provided that can be placed on the pin 13 provided on the upper surface, and after a certain period of time, re-placed and transferred, all the drive parts that may generate dust are stored under the heat treatment apparatus main body 1. No dust is generated in each cavity 4.

The height of the pin 13 provided on the upper surface of each hot plate 5 is set to be 1 of the distance between the hot plate 5 and the reflection plate 6.
By changing the ratio from / 5 to 1/2, it is possible to suppress the difference in heat transfer amount between the natural convection from the hot plate 5 and the natural convection from the reflection plate 6, and suppress the distortion of the glass substrate 16 to a small level. Is possible. Therefore, the temperature raising unit 7
Even if the number of hot plates 5 in the cooling unit 9 is reduced, the glass substrate 16 is not damaged.

Further, since the partition plate 17 is provided between the reflecting plate 6 for the uniform heating section 8 and the reflecting plate 6 for the cooling section 9 which are adjacent to each other, the reflecting plate 6 of the cooling section 9 adjacent to the uniform heating section 8 is Since it is possible to prevent heating from the heat equalizing section 8 by natural convection heat transfer, it is possible to suppress distortion of the glass substrate 16.

[0017]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described. 1 of the present invention
An embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. As described above, the heat treatment apparatus main body 1 is provided with the inlet portion 2 and the outlet portion 3 of the glass substrate 16, the tunnel-shaped cavity portion 4 is formed, and the cavity portion 4 is formed. Were stacked in three layers. From the inlet 2 to the outlet 3 of each cavity 4, a single temperature raising portion 7 is provided on the lower surface inside the cavity 4.
Hot plate 5, two hot plates 5 for soaking part 8, two hot plates 5 for cooling part 9, and one cold plate 21 were sequentially provided.

Hot plate 5 for temperature raising section 7 and soaking section 8
Each hot plate 5 has a temperature sensor (not shown) and a heater (not shown) incorporated therein to control the temperature to a preset temperature. In addition to the temperature sensor and the heater, a cooling pipe (not shown) is incorporated in the hot plate 5 for the cooling unit 9, and control is performed by opening and closing the control valve of the cooling pipe. Room temperature water is always passed through the cold plate 18.

The set temperature of each hot plate 5 is set to be higher than normal temperature and lower than the soaking section in the temperature raising section 7, and the same temperature is set in both soaking sections in the soaking section 8. Cooling unit 9
Then, the temperature is set to decrease in order from the inlet 2.

The transport mechanism is the above-mentioned single-wafer type, and the drive motor 10 drives the transport drive section 11 vertically and horizontally and
A beam support 15 connected to the transport driving unit 11 conveys a movement to the transport beams 12 provided in the respective hollow portions 4, and one glass substrate is attached to each of the four support fittings 14 installed in each transport beam 12. The respective hollow portions 4 are simultaneously conveyed while supporting 16, and are placed on the pins 13 provided on the upper surface of the hot plate 5 for a certain period of time, and after a certain period of time, they are sequentially reloaded.

Further, six reflection plates 6 were installed on the upper surface of each cavity 4 facing the hot plates 5 so that the distance from the hot plates 5 was 25 mm. Furthermore, the upper surface of each hot plate 5 has a diameter of 2 mm and a height of 5 mm.
Five 5 mm pins 13 are provided respectively. A partition plate 17 is provided between the reflection plate 6 for the soaking section 8 and the reflection plate 6 for the cooling section 9 which are adjacent to each other.

As a result of heat-treating the liquid crystal glass substrate with a takt time of 60 seconds, no dust is generated and the temperature distribution can be made uniform, and the polyimide film, the top coat film and the sealant applied on the surface of the glass substrate 16 are obtained. Burnt spots did not occur. Further, the installation area of the heat treatment apparatus main body 1 can be suppressed to 60% of that of the conventional heat treatment apparatus, and the size can be reduced. In this embodiment, the tact time is 60 seconds and the number of hot plates 5 is 6 in each stage.
The present patent is not limited to this.

[0023]

According to the present invention, since a plurality of tunnel-shaped hollow portions are stacked, it is possible to reduce the number of hot plates for the soaking section per one hollow portion. In addition, since all the drive parts that may generate dust are stored in the lower part of the heat treatment apparatus main body and each cavity is conveyed simultaneously while supporting the glass substrate, there is no dust in each cavity. .

Further, the height of the pin provided on the upper surface of each hot plate is ⅕ of the distance between the hot plate and the reflector.
Since the partition plate is provided between the reflection plate for the soaking section and the reflection plate for the cooling section, the temperature difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate becomes large in the temperature raising section and the cooling section, which causes distortion. Never. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the dust generation and the size of the heat treatment apparatus for the glass substrate for liquid crystal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts of a heat treatment apparatus for a glass substrate for liquid crystal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts of a heat treatment apparatus for a glass substrate for liquid crystal according to a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Heat treatment equipment body 2. Entrance 3. Exit
4. Cavity 5. Hot plate 6. reflector
7. Temperature raising unit 8. Soaking part 9. Cooling unit 10. Drive motor 11. Transport drive unit 12. Carrier beam
13. Pin 14. Support bracket 15. Beam support 16. Glass substrate 17. Partition plate 18. Carry-in robot
19. Carry-in robot 20 Roller conveyor 21. Cold plate

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Makoto Saito 3-1-1 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 2 Inside Hitachi Chemical Techno Plant Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masao Fukudome 3-1-2 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Chemical Inside Techno Plant Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A glass substrate is provided with a cavity portion having an inlet portion and an outlet portion, and one or a plurality of hot plates for temperature raising portions facing the inlet portion to the outlet portion are provided on the inner lower surface of the cavity portion, and a plurality of hot plates are provided. A hot plate for soaking section, a plurality of hot plates for cooling section, and a cold plate are provided in this order, and pins are provided upright on the upper surface of each hot plate, and a plurality of sheets are provided on the inner upper surface of the facing cavity. Along with the installation of each reflector, it is possible to use multiple support brackets that can move up, down, front, back, left and right.
What is claimed is: 1. A heat treatment apparatus having a single-wafer-type conveyance mechanism for supporting and transporting a plurality of glass substrates to the hot plates and cold plates one by one, and stacking the cavities in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction, The drive motor installed in the drive section drives the transport drive section up, down, front, back, left, and right, and the beam support connected to the transport drive section conveys the movement to the transport beam provided in each cavity, and An apparatus for heat treating a glass substrate for liquid crystal, wherein each cavity is simultaneously conveyed while supporting a glass substrate one by one with a plurality of support fittings. 2. The glass substrate for liquid crystal according to claim 1, wherein the height of the pin provided on the upper surface of each hot plate is 1/5 to 1/2 of the distance between the hot plate and the reflector. Heat treatment equipment. 3. The partition plate is provided between the reflector plate facing the hot plate for the uniform heating portion and the reflector plate facing the hot plate for the cooling portion, which are adjacent to each other. Heat treatment equipment for glass substrates for liquid crystals.