KR100914195B1 - Tft-lcd loading device and liquid crystal injection device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display panel accommodating device and a liquid crystal injection device using the same, and particularly, to prevent bubbles from flowing into the liquid crystal display panel by preventing overlapping of the liquid crystal display panel occurring during liquid crystal injection of the liquid crystal display panel. A cassette for accommodating a plurality of liquid crystal display panels to achieve the above object; A liquid crystal tray installed under the cassette and containing liquid crystal for injecting into the liquid crystal display panel; A plurality of jigs provided opposite the liquid crystal injection direction of the cassette to maintain gaps between the plurality of liquid crystal display panels; And a vacuum chamber having the cassette and the liquid crystal tray installed therein.

Description

Liquid crystal display panel storage device and liquid crystal injection device using the same {TFT-LCD LOADING DEVICE AND LIQUID CRYSTAL INJECTION DEVICE USING THE SAME}

1A and 1B are schematic diagrams illustrating a step of injecting liquid crystal into a conventional liquid crystal display panel.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a liquid crystal display panel storage device of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a front view showing a jig installed in the cassette of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the jig and the liquid crystal display panel of the present invention.

5 is a perspective view showing the operation of the liquid crystal injection apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel.

*** Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing ***

100,110,400,530: LCD panel 120,510: LCD tray

130: contact portion 140, 520: liquid crystal

150: bubble 200,540: cassette

210: jig 320: cassette fixing

330: rod 340: gap holding portion

500: vacuum chamber 550: vacuum pump

560: valve

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display panel accommodating device and a liquid crystal injection device using the same, and particularly, to prevent bubbles from flowing into the liquid crystal display panel by preventing overlapping of the liquid crystal display panel occurring during liquid crystal injection of the liquid crystal display panel.

Currently, the Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD), the flagship product of the flat panel display, has rapidly progressed in size and high resolution due to mass production technology and R & D. It is being developed as a large-scale monitor application and gradually replaces the existing Cathode Ray Tube product, and its portion in the display device industry is gradually increasing. In recent information society, the importance of display is more important as a visual information transmission medium. In particular, with the trend of light, thin, short, and small in all electronic products, the importance of low power consumption, thinness, light weight, high definition, and portability is increasing. Liquid crystal displays are not only capable of satisfying these conditions of flat panel displays but also mass-produced display devices, which are rapidly creating various new products using them, and have a ripple effect over semiconductors in the electronics industry.

The manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device as described above consists of a series of processes for injecting liquid crystal between a TFT array substrate and a color filter substrate completed through different manufacturing processes.                         

The flow of the entire process starts with an alignment film coating and rubbing process for arranging liquid crystal molecules in a predetermined direction, respectively, for the TFT array substrate and the color filter substrate. In the TFT array substrate, a seal pattern printing for injecting liquid crystal and a short for connecting the common electrode terminal of the color filter substrate to the bonding pad of the TFT array substrate are made. Is sprayed with spacers to maintain a constant cell gap.

The two substrates are then aligned and bonded to each other and then cut and separated into their respective panels. Each panel shuts down the injection hole after liquid crystal injection, and the manufacturing process is completed by attaching a polarizing plate by selecting only good products by the liquid crystal injection state and simple on-off test of the liquid crystal cell.

Since the liquid crystal display panel has a cell gap structure of about 5 μm in an area of several hundred cm 2, the method of effectively injecting liquid crystal into such a space is to make the inside of the cell formed into a real pattern into a vacuum, and then the pressure difference from the outside of the cell. The vacuum injection method for accelerating the liquid crystal injection using the most widely used.

In the vacuum injection method, liquid crystal injection is performed simultaneously on a plurality of liquid crystal display panels in order to increase productivity.

1A and 1B are schematic diagrams illustrating a process of injecting liquid crystal into a liquid crystal display panel.

The liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110 are injected with a liquid crystal 140 in a state of being stored in a cassette (not shown). Only two liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110 are shown for convenience of description.

As shown in FIG. 1A, in order to inject the liquid crystal 140 into the liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110, one side of the cassette (not shown) is positioned to face the liquid crystal tray 120 containing the liquid crystal 140. The liquid crystal display panel 100 accommodated in the display panel 110 is in contact with the liquid crystal display panel 110 and the end 130 due to static electricity.

This phenomenon often occurs when a liquid crystal is injected into a large liquid crystal display panel of 18.1 inches or more, and appears when a cassette is moved by a lifting means or a pumping operation for vacuuming the liquid crystal injection device.

FIG. 1B illustrates a state in which the liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110 are immersed in the liquid crystal tray 120 to inject liquid crystal.

As shown in the drawing, when the liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110 are put in contact with the liquid crystal tray 120, the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal tray 120 may be formed by the pressure difference and the capillary phenomenon. Move to contact 130.

At this time, the flow of the liquid crystal 140 of the contact portion 130 is active, the phenomenon that the liquid crystal 140 flows out of the liquid crystal tray 120 occurred. As a result, the liquid crystal 140 is insufficient in the liquid crystal tray 120 so that the bubble 150 flows into the liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110.

The bubble 150 acts as an impurity that interferes with the alignment of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal display panels 100 and 110, thereby inhibiting the screen display characteristics of the liquid crystal display panel.

 As described above, the liquid crystal injection apparatus of the conventional liquid crystal display panel has a problem in that the liquid crystal injection is not properly performed because the liquid crystal display panels contact each other when the liquid crystal is injected.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to minimize the inflow of bubbles into the liquid crystal display panel by maintaining the gap of the liquid crystal display panel during the liquid crystal injection.

The present invention has been made in view of solving the above problems, the cassette which can accommodate a plurality of liquid crystal display panel; A liquid crystal tray installed under the cassette and containing liquid crystal for injecting into the liquid crystal display panel; And a plurality of jigs disposed opposite to the liquid crystal injection direction of the cassette to maintain gaps between the plurality of liquid crystal display panels. A liquid crystal injection apparatus of a liquid crystal display panel including a cassette and a vacuum chamber having the liquid crystal tray installed therein is provided.

In addition, the present invention is a liquid crystal display panel support portion attached to the side of the cassette to support the plurality of liquid crystal display panel to solve the above problems; A liquid crystal display panel accommodating device including a plurality of jigs disposed on opposite sides of a liquid crystal injection direction of a cassette to maintain a gap between the plurality of liquid crystal display panels is provided.

The jig is fixed to the cassette fixed cassette; A plurality of rods attached to the cassette fixing part; And a plurality of gap holding parts attached to the ends of the rods.

The jig is characterized in that it is installed to be detachable to the cassette.

The gap holding portion is characterized in that consisting of Teflon or acetal.                     

The vacuum chamber, the vacuum pump for maintaining the inside of the vacuum chamber in a vacuum state; And a nitrogen tank supplying nitrogen into the vacuum chamber to release the vacuum state.

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

2 is a perspective view illustrating a liquid crystal display panel accommodating device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The liquid crystal display panel accommodating device includes a cassette 200 and a jig 210.

The liquid crystal display panel housed in the cassette 200 is not shown.

Hereinafter, the liquid crystal injection direction of the cassette 200 will be referred to as the cassette lower end, and the opposite side of the liquid crystal injection direction will be referred to as the cassette upper end. The top of the cassette is open so that the robot receives the liquid crystal display panel into the cassette. The bottom of the cassette is also open, and two stoppers (not shown) having a rod shape are attached to support the liquid crystal display panel.

A plurality of jigs 210 are installed on the cassette 200.

3 is a front view showing a jigman.

The jig 210 is composed of a cassette fixing part 320, a rod 330 and a gap holding part 340.

The cassette fixing part 320 serves to fix the jig 210 on the top of the cassette 200 as shown in FIG. At least two cassette fixing parts 320 are required to maintain the gap between the liquid crystal display panels.

The rod 330 is installed on the cassette fixing part 320 so as to be positioned between each liquid crystal display panel.

The gap holding part 340 is installed at the end of the rod 330 so as to be positioned at the lower end of the accommodated liquid crystal display panel. The rod 330 is installed on the cassette fixing part 320 so that the gap holding part 340 is located inside the edge of the liquid crystal display panel so that the edge of the liquid crystal display panel is in contact with the gap holding part 340. prevent (scratch) When the edge of the liquid crystal display panel is sharp, the edge of the liquid crystal display panel may come into contact with the gap holding part 340, causing scratches, which may cause static electricity. Since the TFT elements used in the TFT array are very vulnerable to static electricity and the gate insulating film can be easily destroyed by induced static electricity, the generation of static electricity is fatal in the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display panel.

4 is a perspective view illustrating a plurality of liquid crystal display panels housed in a cassette and a jig disposed therebetween.

As shown in the drawing, the gap holding part 340 of the jig 210 is positioned at both ends of both sides of the liquid crystal display panel 400, thereby preventing the ends of the liquid crystal display panel 400 from overlapping each other when the liquid crystal is injected.

The jig 210 is installed on the cassette 200 so as to be detachable. Therefore, when the liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal display panel, the jig 210 is installed in the cassette 200, and after the liquid crystal injection is completed, the jig 210 is separated from the cassette 200 to perform the following process.

Since the jig 210 is detached from the top of the cassette 200 and is installed at a portion spaced apart from the edge of the liquid crystal display panel 400, the above process can be easily performed without scratching.

Since the jig 210 can be easily separated from the cassette 200 after the liquid crystal injection and the cleaning process is performed, the jig 210 is contaminated by the detergent of the cleaning process and thus the liquid crystal display panel 400 is contaminated. Will be prevented.

5 is a perspective view showing the overall operation of the liquid crystal injection apparatus according to the present invention.

The liquid crystal tray 520 containing the liquid crystal 510 is installed at the bottom of the vacuum chamber 500, and the cassette 540 for accommodating the plurality of liquid crystal display panels 530 is disposed on the liquid crystal tray 520. Is installed. The cassette 540 is installed to elevate the liquid crystal panel in the arrow direction by elevating means (not shown). In addition, the cassette 540 is provided with a plurality of jig 210 to maintain the gap between the accommodated liquid crystal display panel 530. The vacuum chamber 500 is provided such that a vacuum pump 550 for vacuuming the inside of the vacuum chamber 500 and a nitrogen tank (not shown) for supplying nitrogen into the chamber are connected. The vacuum pump 550 and the nitrogen tank are controlled by the valve 560.

In the liquid crystal injection method of the conventional liquid crystal display device configured as described above, the liquid crystal tray 520 containing the liquid crystal 510 and the cassette 540 containing the liquid crystal display panel 530 are mounted in the sealed vacuum chamber 500. The vacuum pump 550 is used to lower the pressure to a few millitorr (mTorr) and maintain it for a sufficiently long time.

In this state, the cassette 540 is lowered by elevating means (not shown) so that the liquid crystal inlet of the liquid crystal display panel 530 is immersed in the liquid crystal 510 contained in the liquid crystal tray 520. Then, when nitrogen gas is supplied from the nitrogen tank into the vacuum chamber 500 to release the vacuum of the vacuum chamber 500, the liquid crystal 510 is injected into the liquid crystal display panel 530 by a pressure difference and a capillary phenomenon. . In this case, since a predetermined interval is maintained between the liquid crystal display panels 530, the liquid crystal is normally injected between the liquid crystal display panels so that the liquid crystal does not flow out of the liquid crystal tray.

Many details are set forth in the foregoing description, but they should be construed as preferred embodiments rather than limiting the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims and the equivalents of the claims.

According to the present invention has the following effects.

First, since the jig is provided between the liquid crystal display panels stored in the cassette, it is possible to prevent the liquid crystal display panel from overlapping when the liquid crystal is injected. Therefore, since the liquid crystal does not overflow outside the liquid crystal tray, it is possible to prevent bubbles from being injected into the liquid crystal display panel.

Second, since the jig is installed on the top of the cassette, it is easy to perform the following process by separating the jig from the cassette after the liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal display panel.

Third, since the jig is installed inside the edge of the liquid crystal display panel, scratches of the liquid crystal display panel due to the gap holding part installed in the jig can be minimized. Therefore, the said gap holding part can be manufactured from low cost materials, such as Teflon and acetal, and manufacturing cost does not increase significantly.

Claims (11)

A cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of liquid crystal display panels; A liquid crystal tray installed under the cassette and containing liquid crystal for injecting into the liquid crystal display panel; A plurality of rods fixed to the cassette, a plurality of rods attached to the cassette fixing unit, and a plurality of rods attached to the end of the rod, which are disposed opposite to the liquid crystal injection direction of the cassette to maintain a gap between the plurality of liquid crystal display panels. A plurality of jigs including two gap holding portions; And And a vacuum chamber in which the cassette and the liquid crystal tray are disposed therein. delete 2. The liquid crystal injection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gap retaining portion is made of Teflon. 2. The liquid crystal injection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gap retaining portion is made of acetal. The method of claim 1, wherein the vacuum chamber, A vacuum pump which maintains the inside of the vacuum chamber in a vacuum state; And And a nitrogen tank for supplying nitrogen into the vacuum chamber to release the vacuum state. The liquid crystal injection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the jig is installed to be detachable from the cassette. A cassette accommodating a plurality of liquid crystal display panels; And A cassette fixed to the cassette, a plurality of rods attached to the cassette fixing unit, and a plurality of rods attached to the end of the rod to maintain a gap between the plurality of liquid crystal display panels and to be disposed opposite the liquid crystal injection direction of the cassette; And a plurality of jigs including two gap holding portions. The liquid crystal display panel storage device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the jig is installed to be detachable from the cassette. delete 8. The liquid crystal display panel storage device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the gap holding unit is made of Teflon. The liquid crystal display panel storage device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the gap holding part is made of acetal.

Images