KR20020065089A - LCD panel lighting test system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) panel lighting test system is provided to improve the arrangement and construction of the system for reducing the lighting test time period and reducing the occupying space of the system. CONSTITUTION: An LCD panel light test system includes a main controller(10) for controlling test operation states, a supply unit(30) for supplying LCD panels out of a prior manufacturing procedure under the control of the main controller, a robot(20) for rotating the LCD panels transmitted from the supply unit to convey to a side or the other side, and testing units(100,200) positioned beside the robot for carrying out the test for the LCD panels supplied by the robot, wherein the testing unit carries out the testing of an LCD panel and simultaneously maintaining another LCD panel in a standby state.

Description

LCD panel lighting test system

The present invention relates to an LCD panel lighting test apparatus, and more particularly, to an LCD panel lighting test system and an apparatus for implicitly testing the lighting state of an LCD panel that has undergone a manufacturing process.

In general, LCD panels are manufactured through various manufacturing processes. At this time, the LED panel is turned on when each manufacturing process, for example, an assembly process such as soldering or a repair process of a defective factor, is performed. The LCD panel manufactured by going through a predetermined lighting state test process for testing is always kept at a predetermined level or more to be shipped as a product.

In the LCD panel lighting test, the test unit of the LCD panel test system applies a lighting signal to the entire LCD panel and visually tests the screen state displayed on the LCD panel through visual observation.

In addition, the lighting state of the LCD panel is properly detected, and the LCD panel, which is determined to be defective according to the detection result, is separated and returned, and after proper processing, the function is restored. The LCD panel in the normal state is shipped as a product. Be sure to

The conventional system for testing an LCD panel includes a supply unit for supplying an LCD panel by a conveyor and a robot disposed horizontally with respect to the supply unit, and a plurality of LCD panel test apparatuses positioned horizontally with respect to the robot. It is a structure provided.

When testing the LCD panel in the conventional LCD panel test system, if the robot transfers and transfers one LCD panel, the robot performs the test on the LCD panel test apparatus, and then the robot passes the other LCD panel to the LCD panel test apparatus again. To ensure that the typical LCD panel test is done.

However, in the conventional LCD panel lighting test system, since two LCD panel test apparatuses are positioned horizontally with respect to the robot, the robot delivers one LCD panel to one test apparatus at a time and then moves to the other test apparatus to the other side. Alternately, the panel is supplied with alternating LCD panels.

Therefore, by moving the LCD panel, the robot must perform not only the rotational movement but also the linear movement toward the respective test equipment. Therefore, the movement time is required due to the movement of the robot, and the processing time becomes longer. Since additional equipment is needed, additional equipment cost for implementing the system is required.

Each panel test device receives one LCD panel at a time, tests it, and then returns it. In other words, after receiving one LCD panel from the robot, when the test on the panel is completed, another LCD panel is delivered to the test device to test the LCD panel.

Therefore, in the test apparatus provided in the conventional LCD panel lighting test system, only one LCD panel is received and tested at a time, and then transported, and another LCD panel must be received from the robot, so the test apparatus always moves and tests one LCD panel. Since only the LCD panel test time takes much time in the test apparatus, there is a problem that the operation efficiency of the system is lowered.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to improve the configuration of the LCD panel transfer path and the process system for conveying for the lighting state of the LCD panel to improve the equipment cost of the LCD panel test system The aim is to provide an LCD panel lighting test system that can reduce the number and shorten the test time.

1 is a view showing the configuration of an LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus implemented in one lighting test apparatus implemented in an LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention.

3 is a flow chart showing the operational flow of the LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention.

4 is a side view of a test apparatus provided in an LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention.

Figure 5 is a front view showing the arrangement of the test apparatus provided in the LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention.

** Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings **

10 ... main controller

20 ... robot

100 ... First Test Device

200 ... 2nd test device

LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a main controller for controlling a test operation state; A supply unit for supplying the LCD panel which has undergone a prior manufacturing process under the control of the main controller; A robot that rotates the LCD panel transferred from the supply unit and rotates the LCD panel to one side or the other side; The LCD panel is located on the side of the robot and receives the LCD panel supplied from the robot to perform a test on the LCD panel, and performs a test on one LCD panel while simultaneously placing the other LCD panel on a test standby state. It has a test device that holds it so that the two LCD panels are in a test and test standby state.

And the test apparatus according to the present invention includes a first transfer standby unit for transporting and transporting one of the LCD panel transferred from the robot; A second transfer standby to transfer and wait the LCD panel and the other LCD panel which are being transferred and waiting in the first transfer standby means to operate in the opposite direction to the operation path of the first transfer standby means to transfer and transfer the other LCD panel. A part is provided.

In addition, between the robot and the first and second transfer standby unit according to the present invention is provided with a transfer unit for selectively transferring the LCD panel transmitted from the robot to the first and second transfer standby unit.

And preferably an image pickup unit for picking up an alignment reference position of the LCD panels transferred from the first and second transfer standby units, wherein the image pickup unit is configured according to an image pickup state of an alignment mark of the LCD panel picked up by the image pickup unit. An LCD panel, which is delivered from the first and second transfer standby units, is provided with a position adjusting unit for adjusting the position such that the LCD panel contacts the test unit.

The position adjusting unit may include an X axis adjusting unit for adjusting the lighting position of the LCD panel with respect to the X axis, a Y axis adjusting unit for adjusting the lighting position of the LCD panel with respect to the Y axis, a Y axis and a Z axis, It includes a position adjusting unit for adjusting the rotation position.

And the other side of the robot is characterized in that another test device for receiving the LCD panel received from the robot to perform a test for the LCD panel is installed.

Hereinafter, one preferred embodiment of an LCD panel test system according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings.

The LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention may be installed and operated by one LCD panel test apparatus in a facility, or may be installed and operated by two or more facilities.

However, it is basically operated with one test device and one robot, but the state that exhibits the greatest operational efficiency will be optimally operated with two test devices arranged in one robot.

Therefore, the embodiment described below presents a system configuration and its operating state in a state where two test apparatuses are arranged as a preferred embodiment.

According to the present invention, the LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention includes a main controller connected by communication lines with the entire system configurations so as to overall control the operation and operation of the system and the process progress according to the tested results. 10).

And the LCD panel supply unit 30 made of a conveyor line or the like is provided, the robot 20 for rotating the LCD panel supplied from the supply unit 30 to one side and the other side by the control by the main controller 10 to transfer. Equipped.

The first test apparatus 100 is provided at one side of the robot 20 in the driving direction, and the second test apparatus 200 is provided at the other side of the robot 20 in the driving direction. Outside the 200, the conveying unit 40 for conveying the tested LCD panel is implemented.

Therefore, the LCD panel for the lighting test is selectively supplied to the first test apparatus 100 and the second test apparatus 200 from the supply unit 30 to one side and the other side of the robot 20.

In addition, since the working direction supplied to each of the test apparatuses 100 and 200 by the robot 20 is to supply the LCD panel in a vertical direction with respect to the supply unit 30, the robot 20 is changed to the basic rotation direction of the robot 20. Reference numeral 20 does not perform the positional movement according to the linear motion. In other words, the work position of the robot 20 is to perform only the rotation operation in a fixed state.

Here, each test apparatus 100 and 200 are implemented in the same manner, and its configuration is controlled by the main controller 10 as shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5, and each test apparatus 100 is illustrated in FIG. 2. Test controller 110 for controlling the operating state of the (200).

And a lighting test unit 120 controlled by the test controller 110 to perform a lighting state test on the LCD panel. The lighting test unit 120 is in contact with the X and Y planes of the LCD panel and sucks the LCD panel in a vacuum, and includes a work table in which the electrode terminals of the LCD panel are in contact with a contact needle to which a signal is applied. have.

On the other hand, the transfer of the LCD panel to the lighting test unit 120 is a predetermined distance by the transfer unit 130 to transfer the LCD panel provided from the robot 20 to be inclined upward upward first to be positioned above the lighting test unit 120. Transfer is made.

The transfer unit 130 receives the LCD panel from the robot 20 and transfers the LED panel to be inclined upward, and then rotates the LCD panel at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. This rotation angle is to match the viewing angle of the operator for the visual test according to the state that the LCD panel is lit in the lighting test unit 120.

In addition, a first transfer standby unit 140 and a second transfer standby unit 150 for transferring and waiting for the LCD panel transferred from the transfer unit 130 are provided to transfer the remaining distance toward the lighting test unit 120. .

Each of the transfer standby portions 140 and 150 is in an overlapping state. First, when one LCD panel is transferred to the lighting test unit 120 by the first transfer standby portion 140, the second second portion is transferred. The transfer standby unit 150 allows the other LCD panel to be in a transfer standby state.

When the lighting test of the LCD panel is completed in the first transfer standby unit 140, the second transfer standby unit 150 immediately transfers the LCD panel to the lighting test unit 120 to continuously test the LCD panel. The first tested LCD panel is immediately returned for processing.

The operation of the first transfer standby unit 140 and the second transfer standby unit 150 is to be made at the same time in the opposite direction to each other.

Next, when the LCD panel is transferred to the lighting test unit 120, a position adjusting unit is provided to adjust the position of the LCD panel so that the contact pad of the LCD panel contacts the contact needle of the lighting test unit 120. An imaging unit 160 of one or two CCDs is provided for alignment measurement.

The imaging unit 160 captures an alignment mark having a "+" shape on the edge of the LCD panel to adjust the position thereof. The imaging unit 160 applied to the present invention finely controls the CCD itself. It is provided with a multi-axis adjustment portion to adjust the position, the focal length of the CCD is implemented as about 75mm, the imaging magnification is implemented as about 240 times magnification.

On the other hand, the test device provided in the LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention is operating by installing a separate microscope device 180 for precisely confirming the lighting state as well as the visual test of the lighting state.

At this time, the microscope device 180 is applied to enable the adjustment operation in the X-axis and Y-axis direction for checking the lighting state of the front of the LCD panel.

Subsequently, when the LCD panels transferred from each of the transfer standby units 140 and 150 are transferred to the lighting test unit 120, the contact needles of the transferred lighting test unit 120 and the contact pads of the LCD panel may contact each other. When the position is measured by the imaging unit 160 described above, the contact position of the LCD panel is aligned with the position measured by each position adjusting unit 170, 171, 172, 173.

The alignment operation at this time includes an X-axis position adjusting unit 170 for adjusting the contact position of the LCD panel with respect to the X-axis and a Y-axis position adjusting unit 171 for adjusting the position with respect to the Y-axis, and Z Z-axis position adjusting unit 172 for performing position adjustment with respect to the axis and rotation position adjusting unit 173 for performing position adjustment for the last rotation position.

Here, the operation of each position control unit is made of a ball screw operation configuration with a high precision to enable a fine position adjustment operation. And the width | variety of the alignment displacement at the time of repeated contact with respect to a measured position is set to maintain 0.002 mm, and the back light source 190 of an LCD panel is provided in front.

Hereinafter, an operation state of the LCD panel test system according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

In the LED lighting test system according to the present invention, when the LCD panel manufactured through the preliminary manufacturing process is finally supplied from the supply unit 30, such as a conveyor, to test the lighting state (S10), the robot 20 is supplied with the LCD. The panel is transferred to the test apparatus 100 or 200 provided on the left or right side (S20).

And the LCD panel transferred to the first test device 100 of the one side through the robot 20 is to be transported to the transfer unit 130 of the test device 100 and then the next LCD panel continues to the robot 20 again It is transferred to the second test device 200 through.

As such, the LCD panel transferred to each of the test apparatuses 100 and 200 through the robot 20 is received from the transfer unit 130. The transfer unit 130 rotates forward the LCD panel upward at an angle of approximately 60 degrees (S30).

When the forward rotation of the LCD panel is completed, it is determined whether the LCD panel exists in the first transfer standby unit 140 (S40). If there is no LCD panel in the first transfer standby unit 140, the first transfer standby unit ( 140 is operated to receive the LCD panel from the transmission unit 130 (S42), if there is an LCD panel in the first transfer standby unit 140, the second transfer standby unit 150 receives the LCD panel ( S42).

That is, two LCD panels are in operation in the test device 100 and 200 during the process operation, and the operation is performed after the LCD panel is transferred to the first transfer standby unit 140 to the lighting test unit 120. When the LCD panel is delivered, another LCD panel is continuously transferred to the transfer unit 130 through the robot 20, and the transfer unit 130 transfers another LCD panel to the second transfer standby unit 150. Done.

When the LCD panel is transferred from the first transfer standby unit 140 to the lighting test unit 120 (S60), the imaging unit 160 captures the alignment position of the transferred LCD panel, and tests the image according to the captured position. The X-axis position adjusting unit 170, the Y-axis adjusting unit 171, the Z-axis adjusting unit 172 and the rotating position adjusting unit 173 operate to match the positions, so as to adjust the exact test position of the LCD panel. It becomes (S70).

In addition, when the back light source 190 emits light to illuminate and at the same time the contact needle of the lighting test unit 120 contacts the contact pad of the LCD panel to apply a lighting signal, the entire LED panel is turned on. )

In this lighting state, the operator visually tests the lighting state of the LCD panel and performs a precise test through the microscope 180. If the tested LCD panel is in a normal state, the operator may determine that the controller is in a normal state through the test controller 110.

And the normal and bad determination state of the test controller 110 is immediately transmitted to the main controller 10 through the communication line, the main controller 10 is a system for the next working state of the LCD panel tested afterwards To be recognized and applied.

On the other hand, it is determined whether or not the test of the LCD panel transferred from the first transfer standby unit 140 is terminated (S50), and when the test of the LCD panel in the first transfer standby unit 140 is terminated, the determination is made again. The LCD panel tested from the first transfer standby unit 140 to the transfer unit 130 is transferred, and at the same time, the second transfer standby unit 150 that is waiting to transfer the LCD panel to the lighting test unit 120 is transferred. The other LCD panel is tested in the lighting state of the lighting test unit 120. (S60)

Then, the transmission unit 130 that receives the tested LCD panel from the first transfer standby unit 140 descends to be inclined again and conveys the LCD panel to the conveying unit 140 (S90), and then a new LCD panel from the robot 20. Received, and after rising to be inclined again to transfer a new LCD panel to the first transfer standby unit 140.

As described above, the time required for the transfer of the LCD panel in the transfer standby parts 140 and 150, that is, the process time taken after measuring one LCD panel and then contacting the LCD panel, is determined by the accuracy and operation of the device. It can vary depending on the condition, but can be accomplished in about 9 seconds or less. This process time can be shortened to about half or two thirds of the time used in the conventional test apparatus.

The LCD panel lighting test system and apparatus according to the present invention as described above improved the arrangement and configuration of the equipment for the transfer and transfer of the LCD panel, and the LCD panel with two test devices with only one robot rotating in a stationary state. To allow the transfer of

In addition, each test device can reduce the device operating time before and after the test by vertical movement of the LCD panel and almost simultaneous test operation of the two LCD panels.

Therefore, in addition to the configuration of the present invention may be applied to other embodiments by modifying some of these details, or may be implemented differently the configuration state of the present invention and the operation method of the modified state.

However, if the modified configuration and methods basically include all the components claimed in the present invention, it should be considered that they are included in the technical scope of the present invention.

The LCD panel lighting test system according to the present invention improves the process efficiency by reducing the process time for the lighting test of the LCD panel by improving the arrangement and configuration of the system and improving the configuration of the lighting test apparatus. It is also possible to reduce the occupied space and system implementation costs according to the arrangement of the equipment.

Claims (7)

In the LCD panel lighting test system for testing the lighting state of the LCD panel that has undergone the prior manufacturing process, A main controller for controlling test operation; A supply unit for supplying the LCD panel which has undergone a prior manufacturing process under the control of the main controller; A robot that rotates the LCD panel transferred from the supply unit and rotates the LCD panel to one side or the other side; The LCD panel is located on the side of the robot and receives the LCD panel supplied from the robot to perform a test on the LCD panel, and performs a test on one LCD panel while simultaneously placing the other LCD panel on a test standby state. An LCD panel lighting test system, comprising: a test device for holding and placing two LCD panels in a test and test standby state. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the test apparatus comprises: a first transfer standby unit configured to transfer and wait for one of the LCD panels transferred from the robot; A second transfer standby to transfer and wait the LCD panel and the other LCD panel which are being transferred and waiting in the first transfer standby means to operate in the opposite direction to the operation path of the first transfer standby means to transfer and transfer the other LCD panel. LCD panel lighting test system characterized by having a part. The LCD panel of claim 2, wherein a transfer unit is provided between the robot and the first and second transfer standby units to selectively transfer an LCD panel transferred from the robot to the first and second transfer standby units. Lighting test system. 4. The LCD panel lighting test system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an image capturing unit configured to capture an alignment reference position of the LCD panels transmitted from the first and second transfer standby units. The position according to claim 4, wherein the position of the LCD panel transferred from the first and second transfer standby units is in contact with the test unit according to the imaging state of the alignment mark of the LCD panel picked up by the imaging unit. An LCD panel lighting test system, comprising: an adjustment unit. The Y-axis adjusting unit of claim 5, wherein the position adjusting unit adjusts a lighting position of the LCD panel with respect to the X-axis, a Y-axis adjusting unit for adjusting the lighting position of the LCD panel with respect to the Y-axis, and a Y-axis. And LCD panel lighting test system comprising a position adjusting unit for adjusting the Z-axis and the rotation position. The LCD panel lighting test system according to claim 1, wherein another test device is installed on the other side of the robot to receive the LCD panel from the robot and perform a test on the LCD panel.