WO2015078046A1

WO2015078046A1 - Substrate cassette

Info

Publication number: WO2015078046A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/088957
Authority: WO
Inventors: 杜庆凯
Original assignee: 深圳市华星光电技术有限公司
Priority date: 2013-11-27
Filing date: 2013-12-10
Publication date: 2015-06-04
Also published as: CN103662454B; CN103662454A

Abstract

A substrate cassette comprising a top plate (100) and a bottom plate (200). A plurality of side plates (300) are arranged between the top plate and the bottom plate. A plurality of support rods (400) are installed on the side plates. A guide assembly is also installed on the side plates. The guide assembly comprises fixing mechanisms (700) fixed on the side plates and arranged at an interval. A roller assembly (800) rotatably connected to the fixing mechanisms is also arranged between the two fixing mechanisms. When a substrate is moved into or out of the substrate cassette, the substrate is guided by the guide assembly, thereby avoiding collisions between the substrate and the side plates, and enabling the substrate to be moved in or out more safely. The roller assembly reduces friction on the side edges of a substrate when the substrate is moved into the substrate cassette, thereby avoiding damage to the substrate.

Description

Substrate box

Technical field

The present invention relates to a substrate storage device, and more particularly to a substrate cassette.

Background technique

In the field of display production, a substrate of a display, such as a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display, is usually transported using a substrate cassette during transportation. 1 to 3 show a substrate case in the prior art. A plurality of sets of side plates 300 are disposed between the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200. On the two opposite side plates 300, struts 400 are mounted, the struts 400 are parallel to the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200, and the substrate 600 is inserted into the two branches. The rods 114 are stored between. In order to prevent the substrate from colliding with the substrate cassette and causing fragmentation, the baffle 500 is attached to the side plate 300, and moving or removing the substrate case from the substrate 600 prevents the substrate from shifting and corrects the flow direction of the substrate.

However, the baffle 500 has a number of disadvantages: since the anti-offset baffle is a flat material of plastic, the contact surface with the substrate is wide, the friction between the substrate and the baffle is large, and the substrate and the baffle are The wear will be more serious; in addition, when the offset substrate is moved into the substrate box, the substrate will hit the baffle, and the flow direction of the substrate cannot be corrected, and a hard bump is generated.

Summary of the invention

The present invention is directed to a conventional substrate cassette in which a hard baffle generates a large friction with the substrate, damages the substrate and the baffle, and is prone to a defect that the baffle collides with the substrate to cause fragmentation, and provides a substrate cassette. To overcome the above problems.

The solution to the above problem is to construct a substrate cassette for placing a substrate of a liquid crystal display, comprising a top plate and a bottom plate which are arranged in parallel and spaced apart from each other; and a plurality of side plates disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate, The opposite sides of each of the side plates are vertically connected to the top plate and the bottom plate respectively; each side plate is mounted with a plurality of struts spaced apart from each other and parallel with the top plate and the bottom plate for carrying the substrate; The substrate cassette further includes a plurality of guide assemblies respectively mounted on each of the side plates, each of the guide assemblies including two fixing mechanisms fixed to the side plates and spaced apart, and disposed between the two fixing mechanisms and rotatable A roller assembly mounted on two fixed mechanisms.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, a plurality of struts are arranged in a struts, two fixing mechanisms are mounted on the same side of the struts, and two fixing mechanisms are respectively disposed at the same level of two adjacent struts on. .

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the roller assembly includes a main shaft body and a connecting pin shaft at both ends of the main shaft body, and the connecting pin shaft is connected to the main shaft body through an elastic mechanism, and the main shaft body has blind holes at both ends thereof, and the connecting pin shaft The elastic mechanism is respectively disposed on the bottom of the blind hole and the connecting pin shaft; the two fixing mechanisms are provided with bearings, and the bearing sleeves the two connecting pins respectively.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the elastic mechanism is a spring, an elastic rubber or an air bag.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the main shaft body is made of an elastic soft rubber material.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the main shaft body has a cylindrical shape, and the axis of the main shaft body is perpendicular to the plane of the top plate.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the main shaft body has a cylindrical shape, and the axis of the main shaft body is inclined to the plane of the top plate, and the distance from one end of the main shaft body to the side plate is not equal to the distance from the other end of the main shaft body to the side plate.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the main shaft body has a truncated cone shape, and the axis of the main shaft body is perpendicular to the plane of the top plate.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, the fixing mechanism includes a twisting connecting member and a fixing connecting member, wherein the fixing connecting member is detachably mounted on the side plate, the twisting connecting member is provided with a bearing, and the roller assembly is rotatably mounted on the twisting The bearing of the connecting piece; the fixed connecting piece and the twisting connecting piece are connected by a torsion spring.

In the substrate cassette of the present invention, each of the fixing mechanisms is detachably fixed to the corresponding side plate by screws.

The substrate cassette of the present invention is implemented. When the substrate is moved in or out, the substrate is guided by the guiding assembly, which avoids scraping and collision between the substrate and the side plate, so that the moving in or out of the substrate is safer; and the guiding mechanism can also correct The position and direction when the substrate is moved in or out, so that the position where the substrate is placed is more accurate and convenient for pick-and-place or use; the effect of the rotation of the roller assembly is such that the friction of the side of the substrate when entering and leaving the substrate cassette is reduced, and the substrate is avoided. Scratch.

DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

1 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional substrate cassette;

Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a region A in the perspective view of Figure 1;

3 is a partial front view of a conventional substrate cassette;

4 is a perspective view of a guide assembly in a substrate cassette according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a partially enlarged schematic view showing the substrate case on which the guide assembly of Figure 4 is mounted;

Figure 6 is a front elevational view of the guide assembly of the embodiment of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the roller assembly of the guide assembly of Figure 6 taken along line A-A;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a guiding assembly in a substrate cassette according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

9 is a schematic diagram of a guiding assembly in a substrate cassette according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a guiding assembly in a substrate cassette according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.

The invention is improved on the existing substrate box, the hard baffle originally mounted on the substrate case is removed, and the guiding assembly as shown in FIG. 4 is installed; and the substrate case and the existing substrate case shown in FIG. The other configurations are the same or similar: the substrate cassette includes parallel and spaced top plates 100 and a bottom plate 200 between the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200, and two sets of opposite sides are disposed with a plurality of sets perpendicular to the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200. The flat side plate 300 and the two ends of the side plate 300 are fixedly connected to the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200, respectively. Thus, an accommodating space for accommodating the substrate 600 is formed by the top plate 100, the bottom plate 200, and the side plate 300; on the side plates 300 of the same group, a plurality of branches spaced apart from each other and parallel to the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200 are mounted The rods 400 divide the inside of the substrate cassette into a plurality of small communicating spaces. When the substrate 600 is placed in the substrate cassette, the two substrates 600 can be prevented from colliding and scraping. The present invention does not limit the specific number of the side plates 300 and the strut 400. Those skilled in the art can adjust according to the actual storage requirements: the side plates 300 are disposed to be detachably connected to the box plate 100 and the bottom plate 200 by screws. Together, each of the struts 400 is mounted on the side panel 300 by a rotary joint; by flexibly arranging the side panels 300 and the number of the struts 400, a substrate adapted to different sizes or storage requirements can be formulated.

After the main frame of the above substrate cassette is installed, a guide assembly as shown in FIG. 4 is further mounted on the side plate 300, and the guide assembly is mounted on the side plate 300 for guiding the substrate 600 to move in or out in the correct direction. And preventing the substrate 600 and the side plate 300 from being scratched. The guiding assembly comprises two fixing mechanisms 700 fixed on the side plate 300. Preferably, the fixing mechanism 700 comprises two parallel symmetrical plates and a vertical plate vertically connecting the two symmetrical plates on the vertical plate. The mounting plate extends out for connection to the roller assembly 800. Two parallel symmetrical plates, a vertical plate connecting the two symmetrical plates, and a mounting plate are integrally formed, and screw holes are formed in the two parallel symmetrical plates, and the fixing mechanism 300 is matched by the screw 701 and the screw holes. Removably fixed to the side panel 300, a distance between the two fixing mechanisms 700 is provided, and a cylindrical roller assembly 800 is further disposed between the two spaced apart fixing mechanisms 700. On the mounting plate of the fixing mechanism 700, a bearing is provided at a connection position with the roller assembly 800 such that the roller assembly 800 is free to rotate axially about the roller assembly 800 with respect to the fixing mechanism 700.

After the guide assembly is installed, the effect is as shown in FIG. 5. The two fixing mechanisms 700 are fixedly disposed on the side plate 300, and are located on the same side of the strut column composed of the struts 400, preferably The two fixing mechanisms 700 are respectively disposed at the same level as the two adjacent struts 400, and the axial length of the roller assembly 800 is matched with the spacing of the two struts 400. Thus, when the substrate 600 is moved from the outside between the two struts 400, the sides of the substrate 600 can always be in contact with the roller assembly 800, avoiding direct collision with the edge of the side plate 300; and when the substrate 600 is rolled When the shaft assembly 800 is in contact, the contact between the two is a point contact. When the substrate 600 moves into or out of the substrate cassette, the roller assembly 800 rolls, so that the friction between the substrate 600 and the roller assembly 800 becomes rolling friction. The friction between the two is further reduced to prevent the substrate 600 from being damaged by friction.

In Fig. 5, only a schematic view of the mounting of the guide assembly on the side panel 300 on one side is given, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that another identical structure is mounted at the same level on the side panel 300 facing the guide assembly. The guiding assembly, the two guiding components cooperate to guide the substrate 600 to smoothly move into or out of the substrate cassette. The distance between the two guide members is equal to or greater than the width of the substrate 600 to be placed.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the replacement of the roller assembly 800, the roller assembly 800 and the fixing mechanism 700 are connected by elastic disassembly. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the roller assembly 800 includes a spindle body 802 and At the coupling pin shaft 801 at both ends of the spindle body, the coupling pin shaft 801 is coupled to the spindle body 802 by a spring 803. The connecting pin shafts 801 at both ends are correspondingly sleeved in the bearings on the fixing mechanism 700. In normal use, the resilient restoring force of the spring 803 pushes the coupling pin 801 into the bearing such that the bearing sleeves the coupling pin 801 so that the spindle body 802 can be removed from the fixed structure 700, requiring removal of the roller assembly 800. At this time, the spring 803 is slightly compressed, so that the coupling pin 801 is withdrawn from the bearing of the fixing mechanism 700, thereby realizing a quick replacement of the roller assembly 800. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that as long as the distance between the main shaft body 802 and the connecting pin shafts 801 at both ends can be elastically changed, the spring 803 can alternatively use other elastic mechanisms such as elastic rubber, airbags, and disc springs. Wait.

A person skilled in the art can also perform an approximate transformation of the mounting position of the component according to the above structure. The connecting pin 801 can be mounted on the fixing mechanism 700 by a spring. At this time, the roller assembly 800 includes only one main shaft body, and two of the main shaft body. The end is a blind hole, and the inner wall of the blind hole is mounted with a ball, which functions as a bearing. When the connecting pin 801 is sleeved to the blind hole at both ends of the main shaft body, the main shaft body can freely rotate along the central axis.

In the above-described embodiment, in order to avoid the fragmentation caused by the collision occurring during the contact of the substrate 600 with the roller assembly 800, the spindle body 802 of the roller assembly 800 is made of a soft rubber material having elasticity, for example, having elasticity. The PVC plastic, the cushion sponge, etc., when the substrate 600 collides with the roller assembly 800, the cushion deformation of the spindle body 802 can reduce the possibility of fragmentation. It is also possible to bond the cushioning material to the outer surface of the rigid main shaft body 802 to reduce the fragmentation.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the fixing mechanism 700 is a unitary structure. Once the roller assembly 800 is mounted to the fixing mechanism 700, the relative position between the roller assembly 800 and the fixing mechanism 700 is no longer changed, if it is moved in. The offset position of the substrate 600 is too large and the fixed roller assembly 800 will block the normal entry of the substrate 600. That is, the roller assembly 800 is fault-tolerant, and the position of the substrate 600 with a large degree of offset cannot be corrected. The invention is improved on the basis of the first embodiment, and the improved structure is as shown in FIG. Show.

In the second embodiment shown in Figure 8, the securing mechanism 700 comprises two components: a twisted connector 703 and a fixed connector 702, wherein the fixed connector 702 comprises two parallel symmetrical plates and connects the two symmetrical plates The vertical plate is detachably mounted on the side plate 300 by screws, and one end of the twisting connecting member 703 is provided with a bearing, and the roller assembly 800 is rotatably mounted on the bearing of the twisting connecting member 703, and the other end is fixed The connector 702 is movably connected. Between the fixed connection 702 and the twisted connection 703, a torsion spring is provided, and the above two components are connected together by a torsion spring, so that the twisted connection 703 can be in a horizontal direction with respect to the fixed connection 702. Swing (as indicated by the arrow in Figure 8). When the substrate 600 is placed from the outside into the substrate cassette, if a large positional deviation occurs, the buffering effect can be further generated by the relative swing between the fixed connection 702 and the twisted connection 703, avoiding the substrate 600 and A rigid collision of the roller assembly 800. Since the moving dimension of one roller assembly 800 is increased, the fixing mechanism 700 employing such a structure can be adapted to a wider variety of widths of the substrate 600. Taking the case where the substrate 600 is moved into the substrate cassette as an example, when the substrate 600 is biased to one side of the two opposite side plates 300, the torsion spring between the fixed connection member 702 and the twisted connection member 703 is deformed, so that two The spacing between the opposing guide members is slightly increased to accommodate the position of the substrate 600 at this time, and then under the action of the restoring force of the torsion spring, the twisting link 703 is gradually restored to the initial position, in the process, twisting The movable connecting member 703 drives the roller assembly 800 to push the substrate 600, thereby realizing correcting work in the case where the offset position of the substrate 600 is large.

In the above embodiment, the main shaft body 802 of the roller assembly 800 is a uniform cylindrical material and maintains the direction of the cylindrical axis perpendicular to the plane of the top plate, at which time the distance between the two opposing main shaft bodies 802 on the same horizontal plane. When the sides of the substrate 600 are in contact with the spindle body 802, the sides of the substrate 600 can be uniformly stressed. Such an arrangement is suitable for the storage of the substrate 600 without special storage requirements. When the two sides of the substrate 600 are specially treated, it is considered that the surface of the substrate 600 needs to avoid physical contact as much as possible, for example, the contact of the strut 400 with the surface of the substrate 600 can be adjusted in the above two embodiments: a cylindrical main shaft The axis of the body 802 is disposed to be inclined relative to the side panel 300, as shown in FIG. 9, and the upper end of the spindle body 802 is closer to the side panel 300 than the lower end, such that the two opposing roller assemblies 800 form an upper width and a lower width. The substrate storage space allows the substrate 600 to be separated from the struts 400 after being placed in the substrate cassette. The embodiment shown in FIG. 9 can be realized by adjusting the fixing mechanism 700 in the first embodiment or the second embodiment: after the screw 701 is loosened, the position of the upper and lower fixing mechanisms 700 on the side plate 300 is adjusted, so that the main shaft body The 802 is inclined with respect to the side panel 300, and then the screw 701 is tightened.

The fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 10 employs a method of replacing the spindle body 802 to achieve surface contact of the substrate 600 to avoid physical contact as much as possible. The original cylindrical main body is replaced with a truncated main shaft body 802. The axis of the truncated main shaft body 802 is parallel to the side plate 300 and perpendicular to the top plate 100 and the bottom plate 200, and the top cross section of the main shaft body 802 is smaller than The bottom cross section, when the substrate 600 is placed in the substrate cassette, can also achieve the same substrate placement effect as in FIG. 9 to avoid physical contact of the surface of the substrate 600 with the struts 400.

With the embodiment of FIGS. 9 and 10, there is a gap between the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 600 and the strut 400, which also facilitates the pick-and-place of the substrate 600.

The above is only the specific embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the average variation made by those skilled in the art according to the present creation, as well as the changes well known to those skilled in the art, should still be The scope covered by the invention.

Claims

A substrate cassette for placing a substrate of a liquid crystal display, the substrate case comprising a top plate and a bottom plate arranged parallel to each other and spaced apart, and a plurality of side plates disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate, each of the side plates The opposite sides are respectively vertically connected to the top plate and the bottom plate; each of the side plates is mounted with a plurality of struts which are spaced apart from each other and are parallel with the top plate and the bottom plate for carrying the substrate; The substrate cassette further includes a plurality of guide assemblies respectively mounted on each of the side plates, each of the guide assemblies including two fixing mechanisms fixed to the corresponding side plates and spaced apart, and A roller assembly rotatably mounted between the two fixing mechanisms on the two fixing mechanisms.
The substrate cassette according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of struts are arranged in a struts, said two fixing mechanisms being mounted on the same side of said struts, said two The fixing mechanisms are respectively disposed at the same level of two adjacent struts.
The substrate cassette according to claim 1, wherein the roller assembly comprises a spindle body and a coupling pin disposed at both ends of the spindle body, the coupling pin being coupled to the spindle body by an elastic mechanism; a blind hole is defined in both ends of the main shaft body, the connecting pin shaft is disposed in the blind hole, and the elastic mechanism is respectively connected to the bottom of the blind hole and the connecting pin shaft; the two fixing mechanisms are provided with bearings, The bearings respectively sleeve the two connecting pins.
The substrate cartridge according to claim 3, wherein the elastic mechanism is a spring, an elastic rubber or an airbag.
The substrate cassette according to claim 3, wherein the spindle body is made of an elastic soft material.
The substrate cassette according to claim 3, wherein said main shaft body is cylindrical, and an axis of said main shaft body is perpendicular to a plane in which said top plate is located.
The substrate cassette according to claim 3, wherein said main shaft body is cylindrical, an axis of said main shaft body is inclined to a plane in which said top plate is located, and a distance from one end of said main shaft body to said side plate is opposite to said main axis The distance from the other end of the body to the side plates is not equal.
The substrate cassette according to claim 3, wherein said main shaft body is in the shape of a truncated cone, and an axis of said main shaft body is perpendicular to a plane in which said top plate is located.
The substrate cassette according to claim 1, wherein the fixing mechanism comprises a twisting connector and a fixing connector, the fixing connector is detachably mounted on the side plate, and the twisting connector is provided There is a bearing, the roller assembly is rotatably mounted on a bearing of the twisting connector; the fixed connector and the twisting connector are connected by a torsion spring.
The substrate cassette according to claim 1, wherein each of the fixing mechanisms is detachably fixed to the corresponding side plate by a screw.