KR20070001802A - Heat treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A heat treatment apparatus is provided to perform heat treatment equal to a case of using an infrared ray heater and restrain an increase in concentration of generated gas, thereby improving the yield of heat-treated products. A hot wind supply element supplies hot wind. A heating room(12) receives the hot wind generated by the hot wind supply element for heating an object to be heated. Radiant heat generating members(100) emit radiant heat by heating. The radiant heat generating members are installed in the heating room. The radiant heat generating members are heated by the hot wind introduced into the heating room for emitting radiant heat.

Description

Heat treatment apparatus

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The front view which shows the heat processing apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a broken perspective view showing a part of the internal structure of the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a plan view showing an outline of an internal structure of the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a perspective view of a loading shelf employed in the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

5 is a perspective view of the shelf member and the infrared radiation plate and the glass substrate of the loading shelf of FIG.

6 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an internal structure of a heating chamber of the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

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

1: heat treatment apparatus 12: heat treatment chamber (heating chamber)

14: hot air supply means 100: far infrared plate

W: Substrate

The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for heat-treating a heated object such as a substrate.

Conventionally, a heat treatment apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 below is a flat panel display (FPD) such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display (PDP), an organic EL display, or the like. It is used for the production of.

Patent Document 1 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-9749

The heat processing apparatus disclosed in patent document 1 is an apparatus which accommodates what apply | coated the specific solution to the board | substrate (heated material), such as a glass plate, in a heating chamber, and heat-processes (fires). In the heat treatment apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, an infrared heater is utilized as a heat source for heating.

By the way, when a substrate, such as a glass plate, is heated, the specific solution etc. which were apply | coated on the board | substrate will vaporize and gas will generate | occur | produce (henceforth a "production gas"). And there existed a problem that when the temperature in a heating chamber fell, the vaporization | condensation condensed and adhered to each part of an apparatus etc. in the site | part where the temperature of a heating chamber is low. Therefore, in the conventional heat treatment apparatus, the operation | work which removes the condensate which adhered by cleaning the inside and the outside of a heating chamber must be frequent.

In addition, there is a problem that the condensate falls on the glass substrate to lower the yield of the product.

In order to solve this problem, the heating chamber may be ventilated to reduce the concentration of the generated gas. However, in the heat treatment apparatus of the prior art, there is a situation in which the ventilation amount of the heating chamber cannot be increased.

In other words, in the conventional heat treatment apparatus, the substrate is heated using an infrared heater, but the infrared heater is susceptible to wind, and if the ventilation amount of the heating chamber is increased, temperature nonuniformity occurs in the substrate. That is, in the heat treatment apparatus of the prior art, the temperature distribution of the board | substrate was adjusted and the board | substrate was heated uniformly by division-controlling the heat generating surface of an infrared heater, or making coarseness and denseness to an infrared heater arrangement | positioning. Therefore, according to the structure of the prior art, there is a normal nonuniformity (uniformly generated nonuniformity) in the temperature distribution due to the non-uniformity of the heat generation amount and the arrangement of the infrared heater, and this normal nonuniformity is caused by the ventilation of the large air volume. As a result, the temperature distribution of the substrate is not the same.

Therefore, when the ventilation amount is increased for ventilation, there is a problem that nonuniformity occurs in the heat treatment, and the yield is lowered. Therefore, in the heat treatment apparatus of the prior art, the ventilation amount of the heating chamber should be a small amount of about 20 liters per minute, and it was difficult to avoid the high concentration of the generated gas.

Thus, the heat treatment apparatus of the prior art is difficult to fully ventilate the heating chamber, the concentration of the generated gas tends to be high, and there is a fear that the adverse effect of the generated gas is caused.

Therefore, the present invention focuses on the problems of the prior art, and aims to develop a heat treatment apparatus capable of heat treatment equivalent to the case where an infrared heater is used and suppressing an increase in the concentration of generated gas.

The present invention provides a hot air supply means for supplying hot air, a hot air generated by the hot air supply means, and a heating chamber for heating a heated object therein, and radiant heat by heating. And a radiant heat generating member to radiate, wherein the radiant heat generating member is installed in a heating chamber, and the radiant heat generating member is heated by hot air introduced into the heating chamber to radiate radiant heat.

The heat treatment apparatus of the present invention includes a radiant heat generating member that radiates radiant heat by heating, and heats the heated object by heat and hot air radiated from the radiant heat generating member. For this reason, heat processing equivalent to the case where an infrared heater is used is possible. In addition, in the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, since the radiant heat generating member is heated by the hot wind passing through the inside of the heating chamber, the generated gas can be discharged from the heating chamber by the flow of the hot wind, and the heating chamber can be substantially ventilated. . For this reason, in the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, the concentration rise of the generated gas is suppressed.

In addition, since the radiant heat generating member is hardly affected by the wind caused by the ventilation, the ventilation amount can be increased.

The invention that has developed the above-described invention, the radiant heat generating member is a plate-shaped, the shelf member for mounting the heated object in the heating chamber is installed, the shelf member can be loaded plate-shaped heated object, the radiant heat generating member is plate-shaped A heat treatment apparatus characterized by being disposed to be substantially parallel to the object to be heated in the phase.

In the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, the radiant heat generating member is arranged in a plate shape, and the radiant heat generating member is arranged to be substantially parallel to the heated object. Therefore, the heat radiated from the radiant heat generating member is directly irradiated to the heated object, and the thermal efficiency is high.

The invention which further developed the above invention is a heat treatment apparatus characterized in that there are a plurality of radiant heat generating members in a plate shape, and the radiant heat generating members are arranged at the positions where the shelf members are fitted.

In the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, since the radiant heat generating member is disposed at the position at which the shelf member is fitted, the heated object can be heated from both sides or one side.

The invention further developed the above invention is a heat treatment apparatus characterized in that the radiant heat generating member is mounted to the shelf member.

In the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, since the radiant heat generating member is attached to the shelf member, it does not occupy a place and does not reduce the accommodation space of the object to be heated.

The radiant heat generating member radiates infrared rays.

Since the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention heats the heated object by infrared rays and hot air radiated from the radiant heat generating member, the heated object can be efficiently heated.

The radiation heat generating member preferably does not have a heat source of its own.

In the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, since the radiant heat generating member does not have its own heat source, heater wiring or the like for the radiant heat generating member is unnecessary. Therefore, the space of a heating chamber can be used effectively, and the quantity which can process at once is large. In addition, the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention having the same processing capacity as the conventional one has a lower overall height than the conventional one. That is, the heat treatment apparatus of the prior art is provided with an infrared heater, but in the present invention, a radiant heat generating member having no heat source is used instead. When comparing the infrared heater and the radiant heat generating member, the radiant heat generating member has a lower overall height. For this reason, the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention has a lower overall height than the conventional one.

In the conventional heat treatment apparatus, both the temperature of the air circulating through the heating chamber and the heat generation amount of the infrared heater have to be controlled. However, in the present invention, only the temperature of the hot air is controlled, and the control is easy.

The radiant heat generating member preferably has a ceramic layer.

The radiant heat generating member employed in the present invention can withstand high temperatures since it has a ceramic layer. It can also give off strong radiant heat.

The radiation heat generating member has a base material, and a ceramic layer is preferably laminated on the surface of the base material.

The ceramic layer is generally weak in impact, but the radiant heat generating member employed in the present invention has a base material, and because the ceramic layer is laminated on the surface of the base material, it can withstand considerable impact.

Next, the heat processing apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated in detail, referring drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a front view which shows the heat processing apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a broken perspective view showing a part of the internal structure of the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing the internal structure of the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1. 4 is a perspective view of a loading shelf employed in the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1. 5 is a perspective view of a shelf member, an infrared radiation plate, and a glass substrate of the loading shelf of FIG. 4. FIG. 6: is explanatory drawing which shows typically the internal structure of the heating chamber of the heat processing apparatus shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, the code | symbol 1 is the heat processing apparatus of this embodiment. In the heat treatment apparatus 1, the apparatus accommodating part 3 is provided below the box-shaped main body case 2, and the board | substrate processing part 5 is provided above. The device accommodating part 3 has a built-in power supply device (not shown) which supplies electric power to the board | substrate processing part 5, the control device (not shown) which controls the operation | movement of the board | substrate processing part 5, etc.

1 and 2, the substrate processing unit 5 has a replacement mounting hole 6 for dispensing the substrate W by a loading device such as a robot arm not shown on the front side. The door 7 used at the time of maintenance is provided in the side. The replacement mounting opening 6 is equipped with a shutter 10 that opens and closes in conjunction with the operation of the air cylinder 8.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the substrate processing unit 5 has a heat treatment chamber 12 (heating chamber) at its center, and has a configuration surrounded by the air conditioner 11. The air conditioner 11 is surrounded on all sides by the circumferential walls 13a-13d comprised by the heat insulating material. The air conditioner 11 is for heating air to a predetermined temperature and sending it into the heat treatment chamber 12, while circulating the air discharged from the heat treatment chamber 12 to the upstream side.

More specifically, the air conditioner 11 is roughly divided into a hot air supply means 14, a duct 17, and an equipment chamber 18, as shown in Figs. The hot wind supply means 14 has a heating function for heating air and the like and a blowing function for sending the heated air and the like into the heat treatment chamber 12. In addition, a filter 21 for purifying air or the like is provided at the boundary between the hot air supply means 14 and the heat treatment chamber 12.

In the vicinity of the hot air supply means 14, air and product gas returned from the heat treatment chamber 12 through the duct 17 and the outside air received from the outside join to the front side and the back side of the heat treatment chamber 12. It has air confluence part 16,16. The air confluence portions 16 and 16 are connected to the duct 17 and communicate with each other. The air confluence unit 16 has a function as a premixing space for joining air introduced from an outside air inlet (not shown) and gas introduced from the duct 17 and mixing them.

The duct 17 is an air flow path arranged to surround the heat treatment chamber 12 and forms an air flow path for returning the air discharged from the heat treatment chamber 12 to the air confluence unit 16.

The heat treatment chamber (heating chamber) 12 is a space surrounded by the upstream wall 20a and the boundary walls 41 and 43. The upstream wall 20a and the boundary walls 41 and 43 both have a height reaching the bottom surface 46 from the ceiling surface 45 of the substrate processing section 5. The heat treatment chamber 12 is connected to and communicated with the hot air supply means 14 and the opening of the filter 21 constituting the upstream wall 20a. The downstream side of the heat treatment chamber 12 communicates with the duct 17 directly.

The boundary wall 41 has an opening 50 at a position corresponding to the replacement mounting opening 6 provided in the substrate processing unit 5. The opening 50 is of the minimum size and shape necessary for the substrate W and the robot hand to enter and exit. The opening 50 is disconnected from the duct 17 by a barrier wall 51 provided to surround the opening 50, and is connected to the replacement fitting 6. Therefore, the gas flowing in the duct 17 does not enter the heat treatment chamber 12 through the opening 50 or leak out to the outside through the replacement fitting opening 6. On the other hand, the boundary wall 43 is fixed to the position corresponded to the door 7, and it is set as the structure which can be detached as needed when performing maintenance.

In the heat treatment chamber 12, a mounting shelf 55 for mounting the substrate W is disposed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the stacking shelf 55 has a structure in which a plurality of shelf members 56 are mounted at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction with respect to the shelf frame 70.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the shelf member 56 is configured to integrate a plurality of bar bars 58 (four in the present embodiment) with respect to the metal frame member 57. The frame member 57 has four corners fixed to the support 69 of the shelf frame 70.

The shelf member 56 is provided with the support body 52 which contacts the board | substrate W mounted in this shelf member 56 from the back surface side, and supports the board | substrate W. As shown in FIG.

Here, as the structure peculiar to this embodiment, the far-infrared plate 100 is attached to the back surface (lower surface) of each shelf member 56. Far infrared ray plate 100 is a thin plate having a thickness of about 0.5 to 2 mm, and emits infrared rays when heated. The far-infrared plate 100 is formed by forming a thin film such as glass or ceramic on a base material made of metal such as stainless steel. Zirconia type, silicic acid type, titania type thing can be employ | adopted as the ceramic which comprises a thin film, for example.

The ceramic is laminated on the surface of the far-infrared plate 100 and is exposed on the surface of the far-infrared plate 100.

The far-infrared plate 100 employ | adopted by this embodiment radiates an infrared ray from one side (thin film side lower surface side). Of course, you may radiate infrared rays from both sides by laminating ceramic on both front and back sides of the far infrared ray plate 100.

No heat source such as a heater is connected to the far-infrared plate 100. Therefore, the far-infrared plate 100 does not have a function of generating heat alone, and heats up only by heating from the outside to emit infrared rays.

In this embodiment, since the far-infrared plate 100 is attached to the lower surface of each shelf member 56, and in the heat processing chamber 12, the shelf member 56 is provided in the form of which the plurality of shelf members 56 were piled up, and each shelf member 56 is in the state fitted with the far-infrared plate 100. 6, only the far-infrared plate 100 provided in the uppermost part of the heat processing chamber 12 is attached to the upper part of the upper shelf member 56 by the attachment metal member which is not shown in figure.

As described above, since the far-infrared plate 100 is a thin plate and does not contain a heater or the like, wiring and piping for supplying energy are unnecessary. Therefore, the far-infrared plate 100 does not become cumbersome, and does not excessively narrow the accommodation space.

Since the substrate W is stacked on the support 52, the substrate W is stacked in parallel to the shelf member 56. In addition, since the far-infrared plate 100 is provided in the lower surface of the shelf member 56, and is parallel with the shelf member 56, the far-infrared plate 100 is parallel with respect to the board | substrate W. As shown in FIG. That is, the far-infrared plate 100 is provided in the position toward the board | substrate W. As shown in FIG. In other words, the far infrared ray plate 100 faces the substrate W. As shown in FIG.

The frame member 57 is fixed with respect to the shelf frame 70 arrange | positioned inside the heat processing chamber 12, as shown to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. The shelf frame 70 has four struts 69 which are installed in a vertical direction with respect to the ceiling surface 45 and the bottom surface 46 of the heat treatment chamber 12, and the upper side between the adjacent struts 69 and 69. It connects with the beam members 72 and 73 and the lower beam members 75 and 76, and forms skeletal structure. The shelf frame 70 is fixed vertically with respect to the base plate 78 in which the lower end of the support | pillar 69 is horizontally arrange | positioned with respect to the bottom surface 46 of the heat processing chamber 12. That is, the shelf frame 70 is configured by the base plate 78 on the bottom surface. The shelf frame 70 has a plurality of reinforcement plates (not shown) fixed in an X shape between adjacent struts 69 and 69 on the side (surfaces upstream and downstream of the air flow flowing in the heat treatment chamber 12). Is prevented from bending).

The heat treatment chamber 12 is provided with a temperature sensor for measuring the ambient temperature. The heat treatment apparatus 1 is input to a control device (not shown) according to the detection temperature of the temperature sensor, and fed back to the temperature of the hot air so that the temperature in the heat treatment chamber 12 is a predetermined temperature (230 to 250 ° C. in this embodiment). Is adjusted. In this embodiment, since the temperature in the heat processing chamber 12 can be controlled only by controlling the temperature of a hot air, control is easy.

Next, the function of the heat treatment apparatus 1 of this embodiment is demonstrated.

Prior to the start of the heat treatment, a control device (not shown) of the heat treatment apparatus 1 starts a blower, a heater, and the like, which constitute the hot air supply means 14, and heats the heated air into the heat treatment chamber 12. Introduce. Thereby, in the heat processing apparatus 1, air flows through the heat processing chamber 12 and the duct 17, and the circulation flow which returns to the hot air supply means 14 arises. Hot air flowing in and out of the heat treatment chamber 12 is 200 liters or more per minute.

The far infrared ray plate 100 is heated by the hot air supplied from the hot wind supply means 14, and the far infrared ray plate 100 gradually emits infrared rays.

In addition, the air is gradually heated in the hot air supply means 14 while the air is circulated in the heat treatment apparatus 1, and the ambient temperature in the heat treatment chamber 12 is a predetermined heat treatment temperature (230 ° C to 250 in this embodiment). ℃).

When the ambient temperature of the heat treatment chamber 12 reaches the heat treatment temperature, the substrate W to be subjected to the heat treatment is mounted on a loading device such as a robot arm arranged outside the heat treatment apparatus 1. On the other hand, the heat treatment apparatus 1 opens the shutter 10 which closes the replacement fitting opening 6 by operating the air cylinder 8. When the shutter 10 is opened, the substrate W is inserted horizontally from the replacement mounting opening 6 by the robot arm and loaded on each shelf member 56. When the substrate W is stacked on the shelf member 56 of the loading shelf 55, the shutter 10 is closed. As described above, since the far infrared ray plate 100 has no wiring or the like for supplying energy, the wiring does not become cumbersome when the substrate W is inserted.

As described above, the substrate W mounted on the shelf member 56 of the loading shelf 55 is exposed to hot air flowing into the heat treatment chamber 12 and heated. In addition, in this embodiment, the board | substrate W is heated also by the infrared ray radiated | emitted from the far infrared ray plate 100. FIG.

That is, in this embodiment, many far-infrared plates 100 are provided in the heat processing chamber 12, and the far-infrared plate 100 is exposed to hot air, and heats up. As a result, the far infrared plate 100 radiates infrared rays. Here, in this embodiment, the far infrared ray plate 100 is arrange | positioned in parallel with the board | substrate W, and the radiation surface of the far infrared ray plate 100 opposes the board | substrate W. As shown in FIG. Therefore, the infrared rays radiated from the surface of the far infrared ray plate 100 are directly irradiated to the substrate W, and the substrate W is heated.

In addition, in this embodiment, since the far-infrared plate 100 is arrange | positioned so that the shelf member 56 may be fitted, and the far-infrared plate 100 radiates infrared rays from the lower surface side, the far-infrared plate 100 will be attached to the upper surface of the board | substrate W. As shown in FIG. Infrared radiation emitted from the Therefore, the substrate W is heated without any nonuniformity.

When the board | substrate W is heated and the board | substrate W is heat-processed, organic product gas generate | occur | produces at high temperature by the vaporization of the solution apply | coated previously to the surface. In this embodiment, the mixed gas containing product gas and air flows downstream of the heat treatment chamber 12. In this embodiment, since 200 liters or more of hot air passes through the heat processing chamber 12 every minute, the generated gas is conveyed by a large amount of hot air and discharged out of the heat processing chamber 12.

Therefore, the heat treatment chamber 12 is ventilated with the passage of hot air, and the generated gas does not stay in the heat treatment chamber 12.

In the heat treatment apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the heat treatment chamber 12 is ventilated by a large amount of hot air as described above, and the generated gas does not stay in the heat treatment chamber 12, so that the heat treatment chamber 12 The concentration of the generated gas in the chamber is kept low. Therefore, there is little condensation of the component of product gas. Therefore, the frequency of cleaning the condensate is at least sufficient. In addition, the glass substrate is less likely to be contaminated by condensate, and the yield of products is high.

In the embodiment described above, the far-infrared plate uses infrared radiation only from one side, but may radiate infrared radiation from both front and back sides.

According to the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, heat treatment equivalent to the case where an infrared heater is used can be suppressed, and the concentration rise of the generated gas can be suppressed. Therefore, the yield of the heat-processed product is high.

Claims (8)

And a hot air supply means for supplying hot air, a heating chamber in which hot air generated by the hot air supply means is introduced to heat the object to be heated therein, and a radiant heat generating member for radiating radiant heat by heating. Installed in a heating chamber, the radiant heat generating member is heated by hot air introduced into the heating chamber to radiate radiant heat. The radiant heat generating member according to claim 1, wherein the radiant heat generating member has a plate shape, and a shelf member for loading a heated object is installed in a heating chamber, the shelf member can load a plate-shaped heated object, and the radiant heat generating member has a plate-shaped heated object. A heat treatment apparatus, wherein the heat treatment apparatus is disposed to be substantially parallel to water. 3. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of radiant heat generating members are formed in a plate shape, and the radiant heat generating members are disposed at a position at which the shelf member is fitted. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the radiant heat generating member is mounted to the shelf member. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the radiant heat generating member radiates infrared rays. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the radiant heat generating member does not have a heat source of magnetism. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the radiant heat generating member has a ceramic layer. 8. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the radiant heat generating member has a base material, and a ceramic layer is laminated on the surface of the base material.

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