KR100530984B1 - Seal Drawer for Manufacturing LCD - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sealing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, and in the present invention, a plurality of glass substrates are loaded inside a cassette without unloading the glass substrates carried in the cassette individually and proceeding with the sealing process. Directly proceed with the thread draw process. As a result, the overall seal drawing process time is significantly reduced.

In addition, the present invention partitions the inner space of the cassette body into a plurality of areas through the support plates, and supports the glass substrates loaded into the body in a one-to-one correspondence through these support plates. Accordingly, the glass substrates are stably supported in the internal space of the main body through the support plates, thereby stably performing the above-described thread drawing process.

Description

Seal Drawer for Manufacturing LCD

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a seal drawing facility for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a seal drawing facility for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, which can significantly reduce the overall seal drawing process time.

Recently, as the modern society becomes information socialized, the importance of the liquid crystal display device, which is one of the information display devices, is gradually increasing. In particular, the liquid crystal display device due to its advantages such as small size, light weight, low power consumption, etc. As an alternative means to overcome the shortcomings of the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), the use area is gradually expanding.

In general, such a liquid crystal display device has a structure in which a TFT substrate and an LCD panel in which a color filter substrate is combined into one are inserted into a mold frame, and a liquid crystal having an intermediate property of liquid and solid is formed between both substrates of the LCD panel. It is common to inject these liquid crystals to cause dynamic scattering by the voltage applied from the outside, and to promote the modulation of light transmitted from the inside of the LCD panel to the outside, thereby improving the image information display function given to the LCD panel. To make it work.

In this case, in order to inject the above-mentioned liquid crystal between the TFT substrate and the color filter substrate, a seal line defining a position at which the liquid crystal is to be injected is formed in one of both substrates, for example, the color filter substrate. The line forming operation is commonly referred to as a "thread drawing process".

In the conventional case, as a method for forming such a seal line, by loading a single glass substrate on the upper portion of the table provided in the facility, by injecting a certain amount of the sealant liquid into the glass substrate through a seal mask, A technique for printing a certain line of seal lines has been proposed above.

In addition, as another method for forming such a seal line, by loading a single glass substrate on the upper portion of the table provided in the facility, by driving an injector filled with the sealant liquid to allow a small amount of sealant liquid to be injected into the glass substrate Another technique is proposed to print a pattern of seal lines on a glass substrate.

When all of the seal lines are printed on the glass substrate, for example, the color filter substrate through these methods, the color filter substrate and the TFT substrate are transported to a hot press facility and then thermocompressed. When all of these thermocompression bonding processes are completed, the seal line printed on the color filter substrate is cured to a certain hardness, and eventually a seal line region defining the injection position of the liquid crystal is formed between the color filter substrate and the TFT substrate.

When the formation of the seal line region is completed, the color filter substrate and the TFT substrate are cut to an appropriate size, and then the liquid crystal is injected through the liquid crystal injection hole. At this time, the injected liquid crystal fills the seal line region defined by the curing of the seal line, thereby being located in the designated region between the color filter substrate and the TFT substrate.

As such, a method of injecting liquid crystal through the liquid crystal injection hole is described in more detail, for example, in US Patent No. 4691995 "Liquid Crystal Filling Device".

Thereafter, the liquid crystal inlet is tightly sealed through, for example, an ultraviolet curing agent, so that external leakage of the liquid crystal filling the seal line region is well blocked.

However, there are some serious problems with this conventional seal drawing process.

First, in the process using the seal mask described above, in order to accurately pattern the seal line, a seal mask in which the pattern of the seal line is predefined must be used. In this case, the seal mask maintains a relatively large surface area. A large amount of foreign matter will always remain on the surface.

In this state, when the seal drawing process is performed, foreign substances such as particles remaining on the surface of the seal mask drop toward the glass substrate together with the injected sealant liquid, thereby causing a problem of adsorption on the alignment layer of the glass substrate.

In this way, when foreign matter remaining on the surface of the seal mask is adsorbed on the alignment film of the glass substrate and acts as a defective factor, the image information display function of the finally completed LCD panel is significantly reduced.

In addition, in the process using the injector described above, since the injector can form a seal line without using a seal mask, the injector has the advantage of not causing problems such as the above-mentioned foreign matter adsorption, whereas the glass substrate is individually By loading, for example, proceeding the seal line forming process of, for example, a "line printing method", another problem arises in that the overall processing time of seal line formation is increased.

Even in the case of using the seal mask described above, the glass substrate is individually loaded and the process proceeds. However, since the seal mask is a "face printing method", the overall process time is relatively longer than that of the "line printing method" of the injector. short. Of course, in the case of the seal mask, although the overall process time is relatively short compared to the injector method, as described above, since it has a disadvantage of being very vulnerable to contamination of foreign matter, this method is not directly employed in the actual process. Very difficult.

As described above, the use of the injector has an advantage of preventing contamination of foreign matters in advance, but as described above, a problem of increasing the process time of forming the seal line is caused, and in this case, a smooth flow of the product. This disturbance also affects other processes that proceed, resulting in another problem that increases the processing time of the final finished product.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to adopt an injector method that can flexibly cope with the generation of foreign matter in the seal line forming process, and to seal the formation of the seal line by collectively performing the seal line forming process by the injector to a plurality of glass substrates. It is to reduce the overall process time of the process.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the overall process time of the seal line forming process, thereby reducing the process time of the final finished product.

Another object of the present invention is to prevent the generation of foreign matter adsorbed on the glass substrate by blocking the use of the seal mask in advance.

It is another object of the present invention to improve the image information display function of the LCD panel by preventing the generation of foreign matter in advance.

Still other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a single glass drawing process is carried out in a state in which a plurality of glass substrates are loaded into a cassette without unloading the glass substrates carried in the cassette individually. Proceed.

In this case, the drawing arms extending to one side of the housing protrude and are inserted directly into the cassette, and the injectors disposed at the ends of the drawing arms correspond one-to-one with the glass substrate by driving the drawing arms. By injecting the sealant liquid directly to the surface of the film, a good seal drawing process is advanced.

On the other hand, in order for the object of the present invention to be satisfactorily achieved, as described above, not only the seal drawing method should be changed, but also the cassette for transporting the glass substrate must also have some degree of shape change. This is because, in the conventional case, the cassette merely plays a role of transporting the glass substrate. However, in the case where the present invention is applied, the cassette has to play a role of supporting the glass substrate when the sealing process is performed. .

To this end, in another aspect of the present invention, the inner space of the cassette main body is partitioned into a plurality of areas through the support bases, and the glass substrates loaded into the main body are supported one by one through the support bases in order. In this case, the glass substrates are stably supported in the internal space of the main body through the support plates, thereby stably inducing the seal drawing process by the injector described above.

At this time, a plurality of unloading auxiliary protrusions are formed on the surface of the support plates, and these unloading auxiliary protrusions raise the glass substrate to a certain height above the support plates, thereby forming a gap between the surface of the support plates and the glass substrate. . In this case, the transfer robot arm can secure a smooth access passage through the gap when the glass substrates of which the thread drawing process is completed are transferred to another process, thereby quickly unloading the glass substrate to another process.

As a result of each of these configurations, in the present invention, it is possible to achieve a rapid seal drawing process while suppressing adsorption of glass substrates of foreign substances.

Hereinafter, a sealing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the seal drawing facility 10 for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, one side of the housing 11 extends from the inside of the housing 11 and protrudes to the outside. 13) is arranged. These drawing arms 13 are arranged continuously from the top of the housing 11 to the bottom. At this time, a plurality of injectors 14 filling the sealant liquid are disposed at the ends of the drawing arms 13.

On the other hand, in order for the draw apparatus 10 of the above-described configuration to perform an appropriate function, a glass substrate carrying cassette 20 according to another aspect of the present invention should be provided.

At this time, as shown in Figure 2, in the glass substrate transport cassette 20 according to another aspect of the present invention, the body 21 is formed in a horizontal direction with the inside of the main body 21 in the front body 21 while forming a cylindrical shape In addition, a plurality of support plates 22 arranged in parallel at regular intervals are disposed continuously from the top of the main body 21 to the bottom. By the arrangement of the support plates 22, the internal space of the main body is partitioned into a plurality of regions.

At this time, the support plates 22 serve to sequentially support the glass substrates 1 loaded into the body 21 in a one-to-one correspondence.

In the present invention implemented by such a seal drawing facility 10 and a glass substrate carrying cassette 20, as shown in FIG. 1, the above-described drawing arms 13 protrude out of the housing 11. It is inserted into the main body 21 of the glass substrate transport cassette 20. At this time, each of the drawing arms 13 correspond one-to-one with the support plates 22 that define the main body 21. Accordingly, the glass substrates 1 supported on the support plates 22 also correspond to the drawing arms 13 one-to-one, and are disposed at ends of the glass substrates 1 of the drawing arms 13. The injectors 14 also correspond one-to-one with the respective glass substrates 1.

In the present invention having such a configuration, when the glass substrate carrying cassette 20 on which the plurality of glass substrates 1 are mounted reaches the adjacent portion of the seal drawing facility 10, the drawing controller 12 draws. The arms 13 are moved out of the housing 11 to form the structure of FIG. 1 described above.

The draw controller 12 then controls the arm drive, for example a cylinder (not shown), to drive the draw arms 13 in accordance with a preset draw program.

At this time, the injectors 14 disposed at the ends of the glass substrates 1 of the drawing arms 13 move in contact with the glass substrates 1 while being driven by the drawing arms 13. By injecting the sealant liquid filled in the inside thereof in a closed state, the seal line 2 is drawn onto the surfaces of the glass substrates 1.

As a result, the plurality of glass substrates 1 that have been transported in the glass substrate transport cassette 20 are not unloaded individually and subjected to a thread drawing process, but are initially mounted inside the glass substrate transport cassette 20. The seal draw process is performed directly in the state. In this case, since the glass substrates 1 are subjected to the thread drawing process at the same time in cassette units, the overall thread drawing process time is significantly reduced as compared with the related art.

In addition, the present invention is made by applying a conventional "injector process" which advances the seal drawing process without using a seal mask, thereby preventing the problem that foreign matter such as particles are adsorbed onto the glass substrate in advance.

As such, when the rapid progress of the seal drawing process is enabled, the smooth flow of the product may be promoted, so that other processes that proceed later may also perform a fast process. It is significantly reduced compared to.

At this time, preferably, the ends of the above-described drawing arms 13 branch into a plurality of branches, more preferably two branches.

In the case of the present invention, when the seal drawing process by the injector is made, the distance between the cylinder driving the drawing arms 13 and the injector 14 in which the substantial drawing operation takes place is the housing 11 and the body 21. Since they are spaced apart by a distance of, the draw arms 13 may be driven quickly, causing an imbalance of force, and as a result, a problem that the tip portion of the injector 14 vibrates in a certain direction may be caused.

At this time, in the case of the present invention, as described above, by injecting the end of the drawing arms 13 into a plurality of forks, and through this, by splitting and absorbing the generated vibration into each branched surface, the injector The problem that the tip part of (14) vibrates in a predetermined direction can be prevented in advance. Of course, all the injectors 14 for injecting the sealant liquid are mounted at the ends of each of the branched drawing arms 13.

Here, preferably, when the ends of the drawing arms 13 diverge into two branches, the planar shape of the ends of the drawing arms 13 is in the "M" shape.

On the other hand, as described above, the glass substrate carrying cassette 20 of the present invention, unlike the prior art that only supports the side of the glass substrate through a slot protruding a certain length from its side wall, long support plates 22 And it supports the bottom front of the glass substrates (1) through this.

The reason why the support plate of the present invention has such a structure is that the conventional glass substrate transport cassette only plays a role of transporting the glass substrates, but the glass substrate transport cassette 20 of the present invention is formed by the injector 14. This is because when the draw process is performed, the glass substrates 1 must be firmly supported to perform a stable process.

On the other hand, since the support plates 22 of the present invention support the bottom front surfaces of the glass substrates 1 by maintaining a long length, they are widely attached to the bottoms of the glass substrates 1, where the draw draw When the ing process is completed and the glass substrates 1 are to be transferred to another process, the support plates 22 may prevent the transfer arm of the transfer robot from smoothly entering and exiting the bottom of the glass substrates 1. Can act as an element

In this case, rapid further processing may not be possible, which may result in a significant increase in overall process time.

As another example, the support plates 22 of the present invention are widely attached to the bottoms of the glass substrates 1, and thus, various processes generated inside the main body 21 while the seal drawing process is in progress. By-products, such as process gases, do not secure passages to the outside.

In this case, the above-described process by-products gradually accumulate inside the main body 21, and the accumulated process by-products adversely affect the glass substrates 1 which are in the process, and thus, the quality of the glass substrates 1 is remarkably increased. May result in deterioration.

However, according to another embodiment of the present invention, in order to solve this, the support bases 22 are provided with some auxiliary components in advance.

As shown in FIG. 2, first, a plurality of unloading auxiliary protrusions 23 are formed on the surfaces of the support plates 22 to smoothly unload the glass substrates 1.

The unloading auxiliary protrusions 23 lift the glass substrates 1 to the upper portions of the support plates 22 when the glass substrates 1 are placed on the support plates 22. A gap is formed between the surface of the support plates 22 and the glass substrates 1. In this case, the transfer arm 31 of the transfer robot 30 may secure a smooth entry and exit passage through the gap formed by the unloading auxiliary protrusions 23, thereby completing the glass substrates 1 in which the thread drawing process is completed. ) Can be quickly unloaded into another process.

In addition, a plurality of process by-product discharge openings 24 are further formed on the surface of the support plates 22. The process by-product discharge openings 24 serve as a passage for smoothly discharging various process by-products, for example, process gases, generated inside the cassette during the sealing process. In this case, process by-products such as process gas do not accumulate inside the main body 21, and as a result, the glass substrates 1 that are finally finished may maintain excellent quality continuously.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, according to the seal drawing facility 40 according to another embodiment of the present invention, the draw arms 43 extending to the side of the housing 41 may be formed of the cassette 50. A plurality of glass substrates 1 mounted on the main body 51 may be installed in correspondence at one time. FIG. 3 illustrates a case in which two draw arms 43 correspond to each glass substrate 1, for example. Of course, in this case, the draw controller 42 may drive each of the draw arms 43 separately by the control of the different arm drives, or may drive the draw arms 43 in the same operation by the control of one arm drive. have.

According to the present invention, the draw arms 43 may divide the entire area of one glass substrate 1 into a predetermined size to perform a seal drawing process. The overall seal line formation time of 40 is significantly reduced than when the draw arms 43 correspond to one per glass substrate.

At this time, preferably, the distance detecting sensor 45 for sensing the distance between the glass substrate 1 and the injector 44 is further formed at the end of the drawing arms 43, for example, the side of the injector 44. In the predetermined region of the glass substrate 1, a position input pattern 2a for inputting the position of the glass substrate 1 to the distance detection sensor 45 is further formed.

According to the present invention, when the sealing process is performed, the drawing arms 43 can maintain a constant distance from the glass substrate 1, and as a result, the support base as in the above-described embodiment Stable process progress can be achieved without having the field 22.

At this time, as shown in Figure 4, when the glass substrate 1 is to be transferred to another process in a state where another embodiment of the present invention is implemented, the transfer arm 31 of the transfer robot 30 is a support table. Since it is not disturbed by the field 22, it is possible to smoothly enter and exit the bottom of each glass substrate 1, and, as a result, the rapid progress of the subsequent process is possible, thereby reducing the overall process time significantly. .

Of course, in this case, since the support plates 22 are not disposed at the bottom of each glass substrate 1, the cassette 50 has separate discharge openings for discharging process by-products inside the main body 51. Naturally, there is no need to install (24) separately.

As described above, in the present invention, the entire thread drawing process time can be significantly reduced by carrying out a plurality of glass substrates in a cassette at a time without performing the thread drawing process for each glass substrate.

The present invention is not only limited to the above-described seal drawing equipment, but also has an overall useful effect in various kinds of equipment for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having a similar structure.

And while certain embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, it will be apparent that the invention may be embodied in various modifications by those skilled in the art.

Such modified embodiments should not be understood individually from the technical spirit or point of view of the present invention and such modified embodiments should fall within the scope of the appended claims of the present invention.

As described in detail above, in the liquid drawing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention and the glass substrate transport cassette applied thereto, the glass substrates carried in the cassette are unloaded individually without proceeding the seal drawing process. In the state where a plurality of glass substrates are loaded in the cassette, a direct thread drawing process is performed. As a result, the overall seal drawing process time is significantly reduced.

In addition, the present invention partitions the inner space of the cassette body into a plurality of areas through the support plates, and supports the glass substrates loaded into the body in a one-to-one correspondence through these support plates. Accordingly, the glass substrates are stably supported in the internal space of the main body through the support plates, thereby stably performing the above-described thread drawing process.

1 is a perspective view showing a sealing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention and a glass substrate carrying cassette applied thereto.

2 is an exemplary view showing an embodiment of a glass substrate transport cassette according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a sealing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device and a glass substrate transport cassette applied thereto according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

4 is an exemplary view showing another embodiment of a glass substrate transport cassette according to the present invention.

Claims (10)

A transport cassette having a plurality of glass substrates loaded therein; housing; A plurality of draw arms extending to one side of the housing and protruding outwardly, respectively corresponding to the upper portions of the glass substrates; The surface of the glass substrate is disposed at an end portion adjacent to the glass substrates of the drawing arms, and injected with a sealant liquid for forming the seal line in contact with the glass substrates by driving the draw arms. And a plurality of injectors for drawing the seal lines in the chamber. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ends of the drawing arms are divided into a plurality of branches. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the ends of the drawing arms are divided into two branches. 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the planar shape of the ends of the drawing arms is "M" shaped. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the drawing arms correspond to each of the glass substrates. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a distance detecting sensor for sensing a distance between the glass substrate and the injector is further formed at an end of the drawing arms. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a position input pattern for inputting a position of the glass substrate to the distance sensor is further formed in a predetermined region of the glass substrate. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrying cassette is A main body having a cylindrical shape and having an open front surface; Sealing for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of support plates installed in parallel to the predetermined intervals in a horizontal direction in the interior of the main body, one to one corresponding to the glass substrates loaded therein equipment. The seal drawing facility of claim 8, wherein a plurality of unloading auxiliary protrusions are further formed on surfaces of the support plates to assist the unloading of the glass substrates. 9. The liquid drawing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the support plates are formed with a plurality of process byproduct discharge openings for discharging process byproducts accumulated in the internal space of the main body.