KR100873215B1 - Apparatus for sealing substrate assembly and method for sealing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a light collecting head and a method of sealing a substrate assembly using the same, comprising: a body supporting a substrate assembly having a plurality of substrates and seal lines disposed between the substrates; A light collecting head disposed to direct the substrate assembly to heat the seal line; And a moving connection unit connecting the condensing head to the body to move along the seal line, wherein the condensing head has an inner space, and a housing having a transmissive portion through which light can be transmitted is formed at one side of the inner space. ; A lamp disposed in an inner space of the housing and configured to receive light to generate light; And a focusing unit disposed between the transmission part and the lamp to focus the light generated by the lamp toward the transmission part so that the light generated by the lamp faces the seal line. To improve economics.

Description

Substrate assembly sealing apparatus and method {APPARATUS FOR SEALING SUBSTRATE ASSEMBLY AND METHOD FOR SEALING THE SAME}

1 is a longitudinal section of a light collecting head according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main portion showing the transmissive portion side of the light collecting head of FIG. 1;

3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a light collecting head according to another embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a sealing method of a substrate assembly using the light collecting head of FIG. 1.

5 is a perspective view illustrating a substrate assembly sealing apparatus including a light collecting head according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a perspective view illustrating a multiple sealing method using the sealing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 5.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10 housing 20 light source

21: focused light 30: focused unit

31 to 37: convex or concave lens 40: cooling unit

41: cooling cover 45: exhaust gas

50: reflector 60: substrate assembly

71: reflector 81-83: seal line

100,100 ', 200: condensing head 200: body

210: base frame 220: mounting frame

230: mobile connection unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate assembly sealing apparatus having a condensing head for condensing light and providing heat necessary for curing the seal lines disposed in the substrate assembly, and a method of sealing a substrate assembly using the same.

A flat panel display is an apparatus for displaying information, and includes two opposing glass substrates, a cathode ray (electron), a plasma, a liquid crystal, an organic light emitting diode (OLED), and the like disposed between the substrates. In addition to the cathode ray, a seal line is further disposed between the substrates. The seal line is cured by heat to firmly bond with the substrates. Sealing or sealing made by such a combination prevents the cathode ray, etc. from escaping to the outside or being influenced from the outside.

The sealing operation has typically been performed by placing the substrates on which the seal lines are placed in an oven or the like and applying heat. However, according to the above method, not only the seal line but also the organic light emitting device and the like disposed between the substrates are also affected by heat. As the entire substrate is heated as well as the seal line, there is a problem that energy for heating is required more than necessary.

According to another sealing scheme, only the seal line can be locally heated using a laser. This approach solves the above problems, but introduces a new problem that the device for generating a laser is expensive and its maintenance cost is also required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate assembly sealing apparatus which is capable of locally heating only a seal line and has low manufacturing and maintenance costs.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a sealing method of a substrate assembly capable of sealing the substrates more firmly.

In order to achieve the above object, a substrate assembly sealing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a body for supporting a substrate assembly having a plurality of substrates and a seal line disposed between the substrate; A light collecting head disposed to direct the substrate assembly to heat the seal line; And a moving connection unit connecting the condensing head to the body to move along the seal line, wherein the condensing head has an inner space, and a housing having a transmissive portion through which light can be transmitted is formed at one side of the inner space. ; A lamp disposed in an inner space of the housing and configured to receive light to generate light; And a focusing unit disposed between the transmission part and the lamp to focus the light generated by the lamp toward the transmission part so as to face the seal line.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of sealing a substrate assembly includes: applying a plurality of seal lines between an upper substrate and a lower substrate; And curing the plurality of seal lines by heating the plurality of seal lines with light irradiated through the transmission part of the substrate assembly sealing apparatus.

Hereinafter, a substrate assembly sealing apparatus having a light collecting head according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and a sealing method of the substrate assembly using the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 illustrates a longitudinal section of a light collecting head 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the light collecting head 100 includes a housing 10, a light source 20, and a focusing unit 30.

The housing 10 includes a light source fixing part 11 on which the light source 20 is mounted. The light guide part 12 is connected to the light source fixing part 11. The light guide part 12 is a hollow body and may have a shape in which a plurality of pieces are combined as shown in FIG. 1 or may be formed as one single piece. The light guide portion 12 may be formed in a shape that can narrow the cross-sectional area as the light is focused. In FIG. 1, a light guide portion 12 in which a hollow body piece having a reduced cross-sectional area and a hollow body piece having a constant cross-sectional area are alternately coupled is disclosed. The light guide part 12 forms an inner space 13 together with the light source fixing part 11. The light source fixing portion 11 and the light guide portion 12 may be formed of a mirror-coated heat insulating material or a mirror-coated metal material so as to smoothly reflect light on their inner surface (the surface defining the inner space 13).

On one end side of the light guide portion 12 is formed a transmissive portion 15 through which light can be transmitted so that the focused light 21 focused in the internal space 13 can travel to the outside. 1 illustrates an opening formed by opening one side of the light guide part 12 as the transmission part 15. Even if the opening is not formed in the light guide part 12, if at least a part of the light guide part 12 is formed of a light-transmitting material, the light transmitting part may be the transmission part 15.

The light source 20 mounted on the light source fixing part 11 may be a lamp that receives power from a power supply device (not shown) and emits light. As the lamp, lamps that emit light of various wavelengths, such as ultraviolet rays, infrared rays, visible light, and far infrared rays, may be used. In order to replace the lamps, the light source fixing part 11 may be provided with a mounting table, for example, a socket, etc. for detachably mounting the lamp 20. Furthermore, not only one lamp may be disposed as the lamp 20, but a plurality of selected lamps among the above lamps may be disposed.

A focusing unit 30 is arranged between the light source 20 and the transmission part 15 to focus the light generated by the light source 20 toward the transmission part 15. As an example of the focusing unit 30, a plurality of lenses 31 to 37 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The lenses 31 to 37 include convex lenses 31, 33, 35, and 37 and concave lenses 32, 34, and 36. However, the lenses 31 to 37 are merely examples, and the number of the lenses may vary depending on the degree of concentration of light. Furthermore, aspherical lenses such as convex and concave lenses as well as aspherical lenses may be used. When using an aspherical lens, the focusing of the light becomes smoother, which has the advantage of reducing the number of lenses required than using only the spherical lens.

It is preferable that the focusing unit 30 is arranged in such a manner that proper focusing is possible as the wavelength of the light generated by the lamp 20 is changed. This adjustment is because the best focusing efficiency can be obtained according to the change of the light source 20. In addition, when the focusing unit 30, that is, the lenses 31 to 37, is disposed at the portion where the hollow pieces forming the light guide part 12 are coupled, the installation work of the lenses 31 to 37 is performed. This has the advantage of being simplified.

The light collecting head 100 may further include a cooling unit 40 for cooling heat transferred to the housing 10 while the light generated by the light source 20 is collected by the focusing unit 30. This is because the housing 10 may be cooled by natural convection if the light collecting head 100 operates in the air, but its efficiency is limited.

In order to further increase the cooling efficiency of the housing 10, the housing 10 may be equipped with a cooling cover 41. The cooling cover 41 is a hollow body spaced apart from the outer surface of the housing 10 by a predetermined distance, and the space defined by the space may be referred to as a cooling space 42. By using a blower (not shown) or the like, convection for cooling the housing 10 may occur in the cooling space 42 to increase the cooling efficiency of the housing 10. In addition, the cooling fins 43 protruding from the outer surface of the housing 10 allow the heat of the housing 10 to be more effectively discharged into the cooling space 42. The exhaust gas 45 which has exited the cooling space 42 according to the cooling is in a state of being heated up than when it is introduced into the cooling space 42.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the cooling space 42 may be guided to flow the refrigerant in the liquid state. For the flow of the liquid refrigerant, the cooling space 42 will have to be sealed in such a way that the end of the cooling space 42 from which the exhaust gas 45 emerges in FIG. 2 is sealed. This cooling method is effective when the light collecting head 100 operates in a vacuum state.

In the above description, a form in which the cooling space 42 is formed by providing a separate cooling cover 41 on the outer side of the housing 10 has been described. However, a separate space (inside of the inner space 13) is formed inside the housing 10. } May be formed. In this case, the space will be the cooling space 42 to receive the refrigerant.

FIG. 2 illustrates the transmission part 15 side of the light collecting head 100 of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the reflection plate 50 may be mounted adjacent to the convex lens 37 mounted on the transmission part 15 side.

The reflecting plate 50 is a plate formed of a material capable of reflecting light. The reflecting plate 50 returns the reflected light 51 when the focused light 21 transmitted through the convex lens 37 is reflected by the object or the like and becomes the reflected light 51 and returns to the transmission part 15 side. It serves to reflect to the object side. This reflector 50 provides the advantage of maximizing the amount of light irradiated onto the object.

3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a light collecting head 100 ′ according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as the light collecting head 100 of the previous embodiment, and the description thereof is replaced with the description in the previous embodiment.

In the condensing head 100 ′ according to the present embodiment, unlike the condensing head 100 described above, the condensing head 100 ′ is not arranged in line with the light source 20 and the converging unit 30. 3 illustrates a case where the direction in which the light generated from the light source 20 travels and the direction formed by the lenses 31 to 37 of the focusing unit 30 intersect each other, specifically, are perpendicular to each other.

For the arrangement as described above, the light source fixing portion 11 is provided with a switching unit 14 for switching the traveling direction of the light generated from the light source 20 to the focusing unit 30 side. The switching unit 14 has a form of an inclined surface having a predetermined inclination with respect to the traveling direction of the light. The switching unit 14 may be formed of a material capable of reflecting light, or a material capable of reflecting light may be coated on the switching unit 14.

According to this structure, utilization of the upper end side of the condensing head 100 'becomes easier. For example, the light collecting head 100 'may be mounted in a transfer stage, specifically, an X-Y-Z stage, to convey the light collecting head 100' in three axial directions. In this case, the upper end side of the housing 10 of the light collecting head 100 'is suitable to be used as a connection site for the transfer stage.

1 and 4 and 5, a sealing method of the substrate assembly 60 using the light collecting head 100 will be described.

4 is a perspective view illustrating the operation of the light collecting head 100 for sealing the substrate assembly 60. Referring to FIG. 4, the substrate assembly 60 includes an upper substrate 61 that is glass, a lower substrate 62, and actuators 63 disposed between the substrates 61 and 62. Here, the actuators 63 are materials that operate to display information through the upper substrate 61, and may be an organic light emitting device, a liquid crystal, or a plasma according to the shape of the substrate assembly 60.

The reflector plate 71 for sealing is disposed under the substrate assembly 60. Seal lines 81 are applied between the upper substrate 61 and the lower substrate 62 of the substrate assembly 60 to seal them 61 and 62. The seal line 81 is disposed to form a continuous line, and is heated by the condensing head 100 and then cured to more firmly seal the upper substrate 61 and the lower substrate 62. The seal line 81 may include an inorganic type frit glass or an organic type epoxy line seal line. These seal lines may optionally be used based on the sealing properties required for the substrate assembly 60.

The condensing head 100 mounted on the conveying stage or the like moves along the traveling direction P while irradiating the condensing light 21 toward the seal line 81 through the transmission part 15. The advancing direction P follows the direction in which the seal line 81 is disposed.

The seal line 81 absorbing the focused light 21 is hardened after being heated and softened by instantaneous heating. Since the upper substrate 61 and the lower substrate 62 do not absorb the focused light 21, the upper substrate 61 and the lower substrate 62 are not heated up by instantaneous heating, but only minute heat is transmitted by the heated seal line 81. As a result, the actuators 63 are hardly thermally affected when the seal line 81 is heated.

Some of the focused light 21 irradiated toward the seal line 81 becomes the reflected light 51 reflected by the reflecting plate 71 and traveling toward the reflecting plate 50 (see FIG. 2). The reflected light 51 travels toward the seal line 81 again by the reflecting plate 50.

While the housing 10 is thermally stabilized by the operation of the cooling unit 40, the exhaust gas 45 passing through the cooling unit 40 preheats the substrate assembly 60, thereby adhering the adhesiveness of the seal line 81. It also offers the advantage of increasing

5 is a perspective view illustrating a substrate assembly sealing apparatus having a light collecting head according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for the same configuration as in the previous embodiment. However, the light collecting heads 100 and 100 ′ described above are referred to by different numbers, that is, 110 to 180.

Referring to FIG. 5, the sealing apparatus includes a body 200 in which the substrate assembly 60 is disposed. The light collecting heads 110 to 180 are slidably connected to the body 200 by the mobile connection unit 230 to heat the seal lines 82 and 83 of the substrate assembly 60 (see FIG. 6).

The body 200 includes a base frame 210 supporting the substrate assembly 60 and a mounting frame 220 on which the light collecting heads 110 to 180 are mounted. Opening parts 221 and 222, through which the substrate assembly 60 is accessible, are formed on at least one surface of the mounting frame 220. One opening 221 places the substrate assembly 60 on the base frame 210, and the other opening 222 opens the substrate assembly 60 disposed on the base frame 210. Can be used to withdraw.

In the mounting frame 220, one guide rail 231, which is one component of the mobile connection unit 230, may be disposed at each of four sides. The slider 232, which is another configuration of the mobile connection unit 230, is slidably arranged along the guide rail 231. At least two or more of the light collecting heads 110 to 180 are disposed on the sliders 232, respectively. For example, condensing heads 110 and 120 are disposed on the slider 232, condensing heads 130 and 140 on another slider, condensing heads 150 and 160 on another slider, and a fourth slider. Condensing heads 170 and 180 may be disposed in the. The set of condensing heads (eg, 110 and 120) may be arranged to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval along the traveling direction P of the slider 232. In addition, the light collecting heads 110 and 120 may be disposed to be spaced apart from each other even in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction P. FIG.

As a driving source (not shown) for driving the slider 232 to move along the guide rail 231, for example, a motor or the like may be used. Four sliders each installed along one side of the body 200 may reciprocate along each side. Accordingly, the light collecting heads 110 to 180 form four groups to heat portions corresponding to each side of the two seal lines 82 and 83, respectively.

6 is a perspective view illustrating a multiple sealing method using the sealing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 6 (and FIG. 5), a plurality of seal lines are disposed in the substrate assembly 60, and two seal lines 82 and 83 are disposed in FIG. 6. Seal lines 82 and 83 may be applied separately to form a separate sealing line.

The first condensing head 110 irradiates the focused light with respect to the first seal line 82 disposed inside of the two seal lines 82 and 83. The second condensing head 120 irradiates the focused light to the second seal line 83 disposed outside the first seal line 83. As the first and second seal lines 82 and 83 are hardened, a plurality of sealing lines are formed to enable sealing with better durability.

The first and second light collecting heads 110 and 120 respectively provide lamps for obtaining the focused light 21 at a temperature corresponding to the softening point of the first and second seal lines 82 and 83, respectively. (20, above, see FIG. 1). For example, if the first and second seal lines 82 and 83 are organic UV-based seal lines (hardeners) and inorganic-based frit glass, respectively, the first and second condensing heads 110 and 120 may be used. ), An ultraviolet lamp and an infrared lamp may be used as the light source 20, respectively.

Furthermore, the organic sealant-based first seal line 82 does not generate gas upon curing, but the moisture blocking power is weak, and the inorganic sealant-based second seal line 83 generates gas upon curing, but the moisture blocking force is strong. It is preferable to cure the first seal line 82 first, and then to cure the second seal line 83. This allows more complete moisture blocking by the second seal line 83, while the gas generated by the second seal line 83 affects the actuators 63. This is because it is blocked by.

As described above, the condensing head according to the present invention can obtain condensed light suitable for softening the quenching material by concentrating light generated in the lamp through the condensing unit. By using the focused light, the focusing head makes it possible to locally heat only the portion of the substrate assembly in which the seal line is arranged. This makes it possible to prevent other devices from being thermally affected in the sealing process.

In addition, since the lamp and the like can be manufactured at low cost and have a simple configuration as a whole, the manufacturing and maintenance cost of the light collecting head becomes low. This provides an economic effect that allows lower overall manufacturing costs of the substrate assembly.

In addition, only the replacement of the lamp and the focusing adjustment of the focusing unit accordingly, the focusing head can generate a focused light having a variety of temperatures. This means that one condensing head can be used for curing the seal line having various softening points.

Furthermore, the sealing method of the substrate assembly according to the present invention allows only the seal line to be heated by the condensing head while performing multiple sealing, thereby improving the integrity of the sealing without thermal influence on the elements other than the seal line. do.

In addition, when a plurality of seal lines having different properties from each other are arranged and cured, defects of the seal lines may be compensated for each other. This results in the substrate assembly having improved sealing properties.

In the above description, the light collecting head and the sealing method using the same according to the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited by the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein, but is within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art.

Claims (16)

A body supporting a substrate assembly having a plurality of substrates and a seal line disposed between the substrates; A light collecting head disposed to direct the substrate assembly to heat the seal line; And a moving connection unit connecting the condensing head to the body to be movable along the seal line. The light collecting head is A housing having an inner space and having a transmissive portion through which light can be transmitted; A lamp disposed in an inner space of the housing and configured to receive light to generate light; And And a focusing unit disposed between the transmissive part and the lamp to focus the light generated by the lamp toward the transmissive part to face the seal line. The method of claim 1, And the transmissive part is an opening formed at one side of the housing to communicate with the internal space. The method of claim 1, And the inner space of the housing is mirror-processed. The method of claim 1, And the lamp is at least one of an infrared lamp, an ultraviolet lamp, a visible light lamp, and a far infrared lamp. The method of claim 1, And the lamp is detachably mounted to the housing. The method of claim 1, And said focusing unit comprises at least one pair of convex and concave lenses. The method of claim 6, And said focusing unit further comprises an aspherical lens. The method of claim 1, And a cooling unit for cooling the housing heated by the lamp. The method of claim 8, And the cooling unit includes a cooling cover surrounding the housing spaced apart from the housing so as to form a cooling space through which the refrigerant can flow. The method of claim 1, And a reflecting plate mounted to the housing adjacent to the transmitting part and reflecting light traveling from the outside of the housing toward the transmitting part side. The method of claim 1, The body, A base frame supporting the substrate assembly; And At least one opening through which the substrate assembly is accessible, and includes a mounting frame to which the light collecting head is mounted, The mobile connection unit, A guide rail formed on the mounting frame; A slider slidably mounted to the guide rail and having the light collecting head disposed thereon; And And a drive source for driving the slider to move along the guide rail. The method of claim 11, And a plurality of light collecting heads are disposed on the slider to apply heat to each of the plurality of seal lines arranged in plurality. Applying a plurality of seal lines between the upper substrate and the lower substrate; And The sealing method of the substrate assembly comprising heating and curing the plurality of seal lines, respectively, with light irradiated through the transmission portion of the substrate assembly sealing apparatus according to claim 12. The method of claim 13, And the plurality of seal lines have different materials. The method of claim 14, Any one of the seal lines disposed inside the plurality of seal lines is an organic seal line, and any one seal line disposed outside the organic seal line is an inorganic seal line. . The method of claim 15, And in the curing step, the organic seal line is heated before the inorganic seal line with respect to adjacent portions of the seal lines.

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