KR100228783B1 - Method of evacuating and sealing of flat panel display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a novel method for evacuating and sealing flat panel display devices such as PDPs.

Conventionally, there is a problem in that handling and assembly are inconvenient due to the funnel remaining after exhausting and encapsulation, and there is a high risk of damage and low space efficiency.

In the present invention, by forming an exhaust port on the side of the panel to extrude and seal the molten glass to the exhaust port in a predetermined vacuum or gas atmosphere, it is possible to implement a device that does not use the exhaust pipe, in particular for simultaneous exhaust and It can be sealed and is suitable for mass production of flat panel display elements.

Description

Exhaust Sealing Method for Flat Panel Display Elements

1 (a) to (c) is a sequential cross-sectional view showing a conventional exhaust structure and the sealing process.

2 (a) and (b) are plan and cross-sectional views illustrating the principles of the present invention.

3 is a system diagram for implementing the method of the present invention.

4 is a system diagram showing the operating state of FIG.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

P: Panel 1: Exhaust vent

2 molten glass 3 protrudding head

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the manufacture of flat panel display devices, and more particularly, to a method of sealing them by exhausting them.

Flat panel display devices, which have a small thickness compared to the screen size, have been developed into various kinds of devices such as LCD, PDP, and FED, and are gradually replacing CRTs.

Such a flat panel display element is generally configured by evacuating a cavity between two substrates on which functional layers such as electrodes and the like are formed, or storing a predetermined functional fluid.

First of all, when looking at the LCD, it uses a liquid crystal material whose optical properties change depending on the electric field. Since liquids such as liquid crystal have a very high surface tension and adhesion, the exhaust of the cavity and the liquid crystal injection can be easily performed without any problems. .

On the contrary, the PDP, which is a gas discharge device, needs to inject discharge gas into the cavity with high purity, and the FED, which is an electroluminescent device, must maintain the cavity at a high vacuum, so its exhaust and sealing are very important.

FIG. 1 shows an exhaust structure used for such a PDP and FED, which can be regarded as substantially the same as the exhaust structure of the CRT.

In FIG. 1 (a), after sealing the two substrates F and R with the sealing material S to form a panel P having a cavity C, the rear substrate R is formed. In the exhaust hole H of the funnel-shaped funnel 11 and the exhaust pipe 10 provided with the long tubule 12 are attached with the suture S 'and the state as shown in FIG. do.

In this state, after exhausting the cavity C through the piping 10 with high vacuum and injecting a functional fluid such as a discharge gas, if necessary, the tubular part 12 of the exhaust pipe 10 is sealed by heating or the like ( Tipping.

The panel is then in the same state as the first (c) in which the tubule 12 is separated and only the funnel 11 'remains.

As such, the remaining funnel 11 'causes various problems in handling and using the panel P. In the case of mass production, the panel P is difficult to be laminated and is easily broken during handling. There is a problem in that a hole must be formed in a substrate or a chassis for accommodating the funnel 11 ′ that is broken and protrudes when assembled to the display device.

As a result, the conventional exhaust structure has prevented the true flattening of the flat panel display element and made its handling and assembly difficult.

In order to solve this problem, the present inventors considered a conventional exhaust structure for implementing an exhaust structure in which the funnel 11 'does not remain.

As a result, it was determined that the funnel 11 in the form of funnel is necessary for two reasons. Firstly, the exhaust pipe 10 extends longitudinally while the cavity C extends laterally in the drawing of the cavity C to be exhausted, so that the extending direction crosses each other, thereby providing continuity to the flow of the functional fluid to be exhausted or injected. Secondly, as the diameters of the exhaust holes H and the tubules 12 are increased, the exhaust efficiency is improved, but the exhaust holes H must be formed on the ineffective surface of the panel P. .

Next, the remaining funnel 11 cannot be pressed against the back substrate R. First, since the funnel 11 has a considerably large three-dimensional size, even if it is thermally softened as a whole, it cracks or cracks under pressure. (crack) is likely to occur. Secondly, especially in the case of PDP, the discharge gas charged in the space inside the remaining funnel 11 'not only plays a role in mitigating contamination of the discharge gas in the cavity C, but if it is compressed, the discharge in the cavity C is discharged. This is because the pressure of the gas changes.

Based on this consideration, the present inventors have devised the following alternatives. In other words, if exhausting in the same direction as the extending direction of the cavity C, not only the continuity of the gas flow can be provided but also a sufficiently large exhaust hole can be formed without reducing the area of the effective surface, so that the funnel 11 does not need to be used. If the funnel 11 is not used, the thermal compression of the remaining portion is facilitated, and the pressure in the cavity C during thermal compression does not change.

Accordingly, the present invention does not use an exhaust pipe and provides an exhaust port on the side of the panel to provide a method of easily exhausting and sealing, exhausting and filling the panel in an atmosphere of vacuum or a predetermined gas, and then It is characterized by extruding and sealing the molten glass.

According to one aspect of the present invention, after the exhaust ports of the plurality of panels are aligned and stacked, the molten glass is compressed and sealed across the exhaust ports.

According to another feature of the present invention, a spacer protruding in the extrusion direction of the molten glass is positioned between the panels.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), the air exhaust port 1 is formed in the panel P toward the side surface. Preferably, the air exhaust port 1 has a sealing material for sealing the front and back substrates F and R ( It is formed by not applying S) partially.

The panel P is evacuated and / or filled by an atmosphere inside a pressure chamber filled with a predetermined vacuum or discharge gas, and when the exhaust and / or filling is completed, the panel P is maintained while maintaining the atmosphere. By extruding and attaching, the exhaust port 1 is sealed.

An extruding head 3 is used for extruding the molten glass 2. The extruding head 3 receives a glass plate 2 ′ having a predetermined thickness and width and heats it to melt it. And extruding means 5 for pushing out the required amount.

As the heating means 4, a heat transfer heater or the like may be generally used. As the extrusion means 5, a mechanical conveying means such as a linear motor or compressed air may be used.

As long as the above-described function is achieved, the specific configuration of the extrusion head 3 is irrelevant to the establishment of the present invention, which will be submitted in a separate application as soon as the specific configuration is completed.

However, since glass is an amorphous fluid in which creep and the like appear large at room temperature, the glass has a very high viscosity even in a molten state. Therefore, appropriate cutting means such as a cutter is required for proper extrusion and sealing of the molten glass 2.

Here, if the large viscosity of the molten glass 2 is used in reverse, the exhaust port 1 of the plurality of panels P can be sealed at the same time.

FIG. 3 shows a system capable of simultaneously evacuating and sealing a plurality of panels P. The system is particularly for manufacturing PDPs, and a plurality of systems are provided in the pressure chamber 6 capable of injecting exhaust and discharge gas. Panels P are laminated with their exhaust ports 1 aligned, and an exhaust port 1 of each panel P is provided by an actuator (not shown) with an extrusion head 3 above the panel P. It is installed to move across.

Preferably, a spacer 7 is inserted between each panel P so as to separate the continuous flow of molten glass 2 with respect to each panel P. An exhaust port 1 side of the spacer 7 is inserted. The end part protrudes a predetermined distance in the extrusion direction of the molten glass 2.

When the installation of the panel P and the spacer 7 is completed in this way, the pressure chamber 6 is sealed and exhausted to a predetermined vacuum, and then a discharge gas is injected to a predetermined pressure.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the extrusion head 3 moves downward by the actuator and extrudes the molten glass 2 to seal the exhaust port 1 of each panel P. As shown in FIG.

At this time, the flow of the molten glass 2 of high viscosity is continuous, but the spacers 7 are positioned between the panels P to protrude, thereby forming a notch in the flow of the molten glass 2, thereby forming a molten glass ( After cooling of 2), each panel P can be cut | disconnected easily only by applying a slight external force.

Here, the viscosity of the molten glass 2 is inversely proportional to its heating temperature, and conversely, the fluidity is proportional to the heating temperature. Thus, in order to save time and power, and to prevent the molten glass 2 from flowing down, the heating temperature is lower than the molten glass ( It is preferable to be close to the minimum temperature at which heat fusion of 2) is possible.

Thus, according to the present invention, since the exhaust pipe is not used, problems due to its attachment and handling and problems of the residual exhaust pipe do not occur.

In addition, the present invention is capable of simultaneous evacuation and sealing of multiple panels, which is suitable for mass production of flat panel display elements.

Accordingly, the present invention has various advantages in that productivity improvement and cost reduction are possible by preventing defects and increasing yield of the flat panel display device, and assembly is easy when the display device is configured, and space efficiency is maximized.

Claims (3)

A method of filling and sealing a required gas by evacuating a cavity of a panel formed by sealing two substrates with a sealing material, wherein an exhaust port is formed on a side surface of the panel, and the panel is evacuated or filled in a vacuum or a predetermined gas atmosphere. And then sealing by extruding and adhering molten glass to the exhaust port in the atmosphere. The exhaust sealing method of a flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein after the plurality of panels are stacked such that the exhaust ports are aligned, the molten glass is extruded across the exhaust ports of the plurality of panels. The exhaust sealing method of a flat panel display device according to claim 2, wherein spacers protruding by a predetermined distance in the extrusion direction of the molten glass are respectively inserted between the plurality of panels.