JPH1021832A - Gas evacuating and sealing method for plasma display panel and facility therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas evacuating and sealing facility of plasma display panel by which heat efficiency and productivity are improved. SOLUTION: This facility comprises a gas discharging furnace T having an aperture part 7 formed along the longitudinal direction of the furnace in the bed of the furnace and a plurality of running gas evacuating carts; and each of the carts is provided with a plurality of installation members 11 projected toward the inside of the furnace from the aperture part 7 to hold the chip tube-attached panel P, heat insulating members 12 installed in the installation members 11 to close the aperture part 7, and at the same time connection tube metal tools 18 which are installed in the lower part of the heat insulating members, are so connected with a vacuum gas evacuating system 14 and a discharged gas supply system 15 as to be switched, and are to be connected with respective chip tubes, and a sealing heater 19 to fuse the respective chip tubes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for evacuating and enclosing a plasma display panel and its equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a process of manufacturing a plasma display panel, a front glass substrate and a rear glass substrate with a chip tube are integrated by sealing, and the inside of the panel with a chip tube is evacuated through a chip tube. After the evacuation, a step of sealing the discharge gas to a predetermined pressure (400 to 600 Torr) inside the panel after the evacuation and a step of sealing off the chip tube are provided. The evacuation / sealing process is performed by charging a plurality of panels with chip tubes into a batch-type evacuation furnace, heating the panels to a predetermined temperature, and driving a vacuum exhaust device connected to the chip tubes. Evacuate the inside,
Thereafter, the evacuation device is stopped, and a predetermined amount of discharge gas is supplied into the panel via the tip tube.

[0003]

Since the evacuation / sealing process is a batch process, the temperature in the furnace is repeatedly raised and lowered for each process, resulting in poor thermal efficiency and extremely low productivity. There is a problem. The present inventors have conducted various studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result, in manufacturing a cathode ray tube, in order to make the inside of the cathode ray tube a predetermined degree of vacuum in the final processing step, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-45728 discloses it. As described above, attention was paid to the existence of a continuous exhaust treatment method in which a cathode ray tube was mounted on an exhaust cart equipped with an exhaust unit, the exhaust cart was sequentially run, and the cathode ray tube located in the furnace was exhausted while being heated. Since this processing method is intended only for the exhaust processing in the cathode ray tube, following the exhaust processing like a plasma display panel,
The discharge gas cannot be sealed. However, by replacing the cathode ray tube with a plasma display panel and mounting a discharge gas supply means in addition to the exhaust means on the exhaust cart, the discharge gas can be sealed after exhausting the inside of the plasma display panel in a series of continuous processing steps. To complete the present invention.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is directed to a first aspect of the present invention, in which a panel with a tip tube integrated with a seal is placed on an exhaust cart so that the panel is located in a furnace. And a switchable connection between a vacuum exhaust system and a discharge gas supply system is connected to the tip tube, and an exhaust process is performed while heating the panel to a predetermined temperature in a furnace while running the exhaust cart. After the process is completed, a predetermined amount of discharge gas is supplied into the panel, and thereafter, the chip tube is sealed. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the panel with the tip tube integrated and sealed is in a substantially vertical state, and
It is designed to be held in the furnace width direction. Claim 3
The invention is directed to an exhaust furnace having an opening provided on a hearth along a furnace length direction, a plurality of mounting members projecting into the furnace from the opening and holding a panel with a chip tube integrated and integrated. A heat-insulating member for closing the opening attached to the mounting member, and below the heat-insulating member, a connection fitting which is switchably connected to a vacuum exhaust system and a discharge gas supply system and is connected to each of the tip tubes; A plurality of traveling exhaust carts equipped with a sealing heater for fusing each of the chip tubes;
It is a sealing facility. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the panel with the tip tube integrated and sealed is held substantially vertically and in the furnace width direction.

[0005]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the exhaust / enclosement facility for a plasma display panel according to the present invention generally includes an exhaust furnace T and a plurality of exhaust carts 10.

The exhaust furnace T has an opening 7 in the hearth over its entire length, and includes a pre-tropical zone A, a heating zone B, and a slow cooling zone C each including a plurality of chambers. As shown in FIG. 2, a circulation baffle 1 is provided in the furnace, and a heat source 3 such as a radiant tube burner or an electric heater is disposed in the circulation passage 2 for the pre-tropical zone A and the heating zone B. Is circulated through a furnace by being sucked from a suction port 5 by a circulation fan 4 and heated by the heat source 3 and discharged from a discharge port 6 to heat a plasma display panel P described below.

The slow cooling zone C includes the pre-tropical zone A and the heating zone B.
In this embodiment, a cooling source such as a cooling tube is provided in addition to the heat source 3 in the above.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the exhaust cart 10 moves on a rail R laid under the hearth of the exhaust furnace T by a pusher (not shown).
A support member 1 for holding a column 11a positioned in the furnace through the opening 7 of the exhaust furnace T and a plasma display panel P described below in a substantially vertical state in the furnace width direction on the upper surface of the furnace 0.
A plurality of mounting members 11 composed of the first and second mounting members 1b are provided. Also,
The support 11a of the mounting member 11 is provided with a heat insulating member 12 for shielding the opening 11 from the opening 7 with a slight gap over the entire length of the exhaust cart 10.

Further, the exhaust cart 10 is equipped with a vacuum exhaust system having a vacuum exhaust pump 14 and a discharge gas supply system having a discharge gas cylinder 15, both of which are electromagnetic on-off valves 16a and 16b and electromagnetic on-off valves. 17 is connected to a pipe fitting 18. Furthermore, exhaust cart 10
Is provided with a sealing heater 19 for fusing the chip tube Pa of the plasma display panel P described below.

[0010] In the embodiment, the rail R
As shown in FIG. 1, is provided below the exhaust furnace T and also on the side of the furnace, and both ends are charged and extracted transferers T _f1 , T _f
Connected at _f2 , the exhaust cart 10 can be used cyclically.

Next, a method of exhausting and enclosing the plasma display panel will be described. First, a panel P with a chip tube in which a front glass substrate and a rear glass substrate are bonded and integrated in advance is loaded into the exhaust cart 10 in the loading / unloading zone Z. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the panel P is inserted into the through-hole 13 provided in the heat insulating member 12 and fixed to the mounting member 11 by an appropriate means such as a clip (not shown) to exhaust air. The tip tube Pa is connected to the contact fitting 18 while being placed and fixed on the cart 10 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cart width. Further, a sealing heater 19 is attached to the tip tube Pa.

As described above, the exhaust cart 10 on which the plurality of panels P are loaded can be loaded by the transfer cart T _{f1 by} appropriate means.
At this point, it moves to the charging side of the exhaust furnace T, and is sequentially charged into the exhaust furnace T in a connected state by a pusher or the like as shown in FIG. Therefore, the opening 7 is almost closed by the heat insulating member 12 of each exhaust cart 10 to prevent outside air from entering the furnace. When the exhaust cart 10 is loaded into the furnace, the open / close valve 16a is opened and the open / close valve 17 is opened to communicate the inside of each panel P with the vacuum exhaust pump 14. Each panel P is preheated, heated and gradually cooled based on the heat curve shown in FIG. 4 while passing through the exhaust furnace T, and the air in the panel P together with the gas generated from both glass substrates is 10 ^−4.
It is carried out of the furnace while being evacuated to 10 ^-7 Torr,
When the gas filling zone Zg is reached, the evacuation pump 14 is stopped, and the on-off valve 16a is closed and 16b is opened, so that, for example, neon (Ne), algol (Ar), or xenon (Xe) is discharged from the discharge gas cylinder 15.
And the like, and discharge gas such as
Torr).

When the filling of the discharge gas is completed, the sealing heater 19 is energized to seal off the chip tube Pa to obtain a predetermined plasma display panel P.

Thereafter, the exhaust cart 10 moves to the loading / unloading zone Z through the extraction transferer T _f2 ,
Here, the processed panels P are unloaded and new panels P are loaded, and the above-described steps are repeated.

[0015]

As is apparent from the above description, claim 1
According to the invention, the panel with a chip tube is loaded on an exhaust cart equipped with a vacuum exhaust system and a discharge gas supply system, and the inside thereof is evacuated in the process of passing through an exhaust furnace,
After the evacuation process, a discharge gas sealing process and a tip tube sealing process are performed. That is, the operation of the exhaust furnace is performed continuously, and the steps of exhausting / sealing the panel with the chip tube and sealing the chip tube are continuously performed based on the movement of the exhaust cart. As described above, according to the present invention, since exhaust and sealing are not performed in the panel by batch processing as in the related art, it is possible to improve thermal efficiency and improve productivity. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the entire panel comes into uniform contact with the circulating atmosphere, and uniform processing can be performed. According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, in addition to the above effects, the opening provided in the hearth of the exhaust furnace is closed by the heat insulating member of the exhaust cart, so that the thermal efficiency can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an exhaust / sealing facility for a plasma display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an exhaust cart with a panel attached.

FIG. 4 is a heat curve of an exhaust furnace.

[Explanation of symbols]

T: Exhaust furnace, A: Pre-tropical, B: Heating zone, C: Cooling zone, P
... Panel, 7 ... Opening, 10 ... Exhaust cart, 11 ... Mounting member, 12 ... Heat insulation member, 14 ... Vacuum pump, 15 ...
Discharge gas cylinders, 16a, 16b: open / close valve, 17: open / close valve, 18: pipe fitting, 19: sealed heater.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A chip-integrated panel with a tip tube is held on an exhaust cart so that the panel is located in a furnace, and the tip tube can be switched between a vacuum exhaust system and a discharge gas supply system. The exhaust gas is exhausted while the panel is heated to a predetermined temperature in a furnace while the exhaust cart is running.After the exhaust process is completed, a predetermined amount of discharge gas is supplied into the panel, and then the chip tube is sealed. A method for evacuating and enclosing a plasma display panel, characterized by shutting down. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the integrated panel with chip tube is held substantially vertically and in the width direction of the furnace. 3. An exhaust furnace having an opening provided in the hearth along the furnace length direction, a plurality of mounting members projecting from the opening into the furnace and holding a sealed and integrated chip tube panel. A pipe fitting having a heat insulating member for closing the opening attached to the mounting member, and being connected below the heat insulating member so as to be switchably connected to a vacuum exhaust system and a discharge gas supply system and to be connected to each of the chip tubes; And a plurality of traveling exhaust carts provided with a sealing heater for fusing each of the chip tubes. 4. The exhaust / sealing facility for a plasma display panel according to claim 3, wherein the panel with the integrated chip tube is held substantially vertically and in the furnace width direction.