JP2008033056A - Sealing agent hardening device and substrate manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sealing agent hardening device capable of power saving and efficient irradiation of an ultraviolet irradiation type LED which irradiates a sealing agent between attached substrates. <P>SOLUTION: LEDs 12a of a light source 12 constituted by arranging the LEDs 12a in a matrix shape are selectively lighted and emit an ultraviolet ray by a selection circuit 17a corresponding to the photocurable sealing agent 2a coated so as to draw a line and surround a display surface. As the ultraviolet ray is emitted from only the LEDs 12a along the applied sealing agent 2a by the selective lighting, power consumption can be drastically saved with a simple configuration. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of a sealant curing device suitable for use in manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel and the like, and a substrate manufacturing apparatus including the same.

  A substrate such as a liquid crystal display panel is such that a liquid crystal is dropped on a display area of a glass substrate, and an adhesive sealant is enclosed in a closed loop shape (for example, a rectangular frame shape) so as to surround the dropped liquid crystal. And is manufactured by bonding the substrates through the applied sealing agent.

  There are a photo-curing type and a thermo-curing type as the sealing agent, but in the manufacture of a liquid crystal display panel, a photo-curing type sealing agent using ultraviolet rays using a mercury lamp or the like as a light source is used relatively frequently.

In the case of manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, ultraviolet rays emitted from a light source such as a mercury lamp are radiated toward the sealing agent applied to the glass substrate, but the emitted light leaks into the liquid crystal surrounded by the sealing agent. When irradiated, since the liquid crystal deteriorates due to the irradiation heat and a good display function cannot be obtained, ultraviolet rays are irradiated toward the substrate surface through the mask so that the irradiation light does not leak to the liquid crystal side as much as possible (for example, , See Patent Document 1).
JP-A-8-101395

  A mercury lamp is often used as an ultraviolet light source, and the existence of an ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV-LED) that emits light in the ultraviolet region is known.

  When a mercury lamp is used as an ultraviolet light source, the mercury lamp emits light at a wide angle. Therefore, in order to avoid the light emitted from the mercury lamp from leaking into the liquid crystal dropped on the display surface, Thus, it was necessary to use a mask that shields the display surface.

  In this regard, when UV-LED is used as the ultraviolet radiation source, UV-LED has a smaller light emission area and a narrower illumination angle range than mercury lamp, so UV-LED is placed close to the substrate surface. By doing so, it is possible to irradiate the sealant with ultraviolet rays while preventing a leakage of irradiation to the liquid crystal side without requiring a mask.

  However, each UV-LED has a small light emitting area and a narrow irradiation angle range. Therefore, in order to uniformly irradiate the applied sealing agent and to achieve uniform curing, the UV-LED is applied to the sealing agent. It is necessary to arrange a large number along the line.

  On the other hand, in a manufactured liquid crystal display panel, a single display screen may be formed on a single glass substrate. In some cases, a screen is formed, and the shape and size of the sealant applied in a closed loop shape on the substrate surface are various. Accordingly, if the UV-LEDs are to be opposed so as to be compatible with sealants having various application shapes and sizes, a surface light source is formed in advance by arranging a large number of UV-LEDs in a matrix, and then turned on. It is necessary to irradiate the substrate surface through a mask corresponding to the application shape of each sealant.

  In addition, due to the recent trend toward larger display panels, the number of LEDs forming the surface light source becomes enormous, and an increase in power consumption during lighting is inevitable.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sealing agent curing device and a substrate manufacturing apparatus that can suppress an increase in power consumption when the sealing agent is irradiated with ultraviolet rays and can also omit a mask.

  The sealing agent curing device according to the present invention is a sealing agent curing device comprising a light source that irradiates ultraviolet rays onto a sealing agent sandwiched between two substrates, and a controller that controls ultraviolet irradiation by the light source. The controller includes a plurality of ultraviolet light emitting diodes arranged in a matrix, and the controller includes selection means for selectively lighting the plurality of ultraviolet light emitting diodes arranged in a matrix.

  In addition, it is preferable to arrange an optical member capable of diffusing ultraviolet rays between the substrate and the light source.

  At this time, the optical member is preferably configured by arranging a plurality of concave lenses in a matrix, and each concave lens is preferably arranged to correspond to each ultraviolet light emitting diode of the light source.

  In addition, the substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, after bonding two substrates, each having a sealing agent applied to at least one of them in a closed loop shape, through the sealing agent, is cured by irradiating the sealing agent with ultraviolet rays. A substrate manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a bonded substrate board includes the above-described sealant curing device.

  According to the present invention having the above configuration, a plurality of ultraviolet light emitting diodes are arranged in a matrix, and the ultraviolet light emitting diodes that are operated by the selection means can be selected. Therefore, the sealing agent according to the size and shape of the substrate can be selected. Since selective lighting of the arranged ultraviolet light emitting diodes along the coating area is possible, ultraviolet irradiation to the sealing agent is possible without employing a mask as in the past, and power saving and simple configuration are possible. Can be realized.

  In a substrate manufacturing apparatus for a liquid crystal display panel, a sealing agent (reference numeral 2a in FIG. 2) is applied in a closed loop shape (for example, a rectangular frame shape) to at least one substrate (reference numeral 22 in FIG. 2) by a sealing agent application apparatus. The Next, in the liquid crystal dropping device, a necessary amount of liquid crystal is dropped onto a portion corresponding to the inside of the frame of the sealing agent on the substrate coated with the sealing agent or the other substrate. In the substrate bonding apparatus, one substrate is held by the upper holding table, and the other substrate is held by the lower holding table, and the positions of these two substrates are faced up and down at a predetermined interval. After the matching is performed, they are bonded through a sealant. The two substrates (reference numeral 2 in FIG. 2) bonded together with the sealing agent are supplied to the sealing agent curing device, where the sealing agent is cured by irradiating the sealing agent with ultraviolet rays, and a bonded substrate is manufactured. Is done. In addition, since the sealing agent application | coating apparatus, liquid crystal dropping apparatus, or board | substrate bonding apparatus used here is well-known, further description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a sealing agent curing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a sealing agent curing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a concave lens constituting the optical member shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 in particular.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the sealing agent curing device 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 includes a lower stage 11 on which a substrate 2 on which upper and lower glass substrates 21 and 22 are bonded via a sealing agent 2a is placed. The light source 12 is arranged facing the lower stage 11 and a plurality of ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) 12a are arranged in a matrix, the upper stage 13 supporting the light source 12, and the upper stage. 13 is provided between the lower stage 11 and the light source 12, and diffuses the light emitted from the light source 12 and irradiates it toward the substrate 2 on the lower stage 11. The plate-like optical member 15, the XY-θ moving mechanism 16 that can move the lower stage 11 in the XY-θ direction, and a plurality of UV-LEDs 12 a in the light source 12, as shown in FIG. Select lighting A selectable circuit (selection means) 17a is built in, and the controller 17 controls the vertical movement mechanism 14 and the XY-θ movement mechanism 16 to control the hardening of the sealant 2a. Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the light source 12 has an integrated module configuration in which a number of UV-LEDs 12a are arranged in a matrix in the XY direction.

  Further, the optical member 15 has a similar shape to the substrate 2 and the light source 12, and individually shown at the positions of the arranged UV-LEDs 12a as shown in the enlarged front view of the main part of FIG. 2 and the enlarged perspective view of FIG. Correspondingly, a large number of concave lenses 15a are arranged in a matrix. Each concave lens 15a has a function of diffusing the ultraviolet rays irradiated from the UV-LED 12a in the surface direction (horizontal direction) of the substrate 2, and the diffused ultraviolet rays are irradiated toward the sealing agent 2a of the substrate 2. Become.

  FIG. 5 shows an enlarged perspective view of one concave lens 15a taken out. The concave lens 15a is made of glass or synthetic resin, has a three-dimensional shape as a whole, and has a bay-shaped dent on the surface on the substrate 2 side. And ultraviolet rays irradiated in a relatively narrow angle range irradiated from above are diffused to irradiate the surface of the substrate 2.

  In FIGS. 1 and 3, reference numeral 13 a indicates a support for the upper stage 13 to support the optical member 15.

  In the sealing agent curing device 1 having the above configuration, the controller 17 uses the selection circuit 17a to apply the sealing agent 2a applied to the bonded substrate 2 to the light source 12 in which a plurality of UV-LEDs 12a are arranged in a matrix. Control is performed so that only the UV-LEDs 12a arranged along the application region (position) are selectively lit.

  Several methods are conceivable for performing this control.

  First, regarding the bonded substrate 2 that performs the curing operation of the sealing agent, the operator sets the UV-LED facing the application area of the applied sealing agent 2a in the controller 17 using an input device such as a keyboard (not shown). To do. Therefore, at the time of the sealant curing operation, the controller 17 turns on only the UV-LED that has been previously input and set via the selection circuit 17a.

  Second, the controller 17 preliminarily applies the type of the bonded substrate 2 on which the sealant curing operation is performed and the UV-LED that is turned on during the sealant curing operation (that is, the sealant application region set for each type of substrate). Are stored in association with each other. When the operator inputs the type of the bonded substrate 2 to be cured this time into the controller 17, the controller 17 calls the data corresponding to the input type of the bonded substrate 2 and cures the sealing agent. At the time of work, the UV-LED is turned on based on the data. In this case, instead of an operator input, for example, a type identification mark is attached to the bonded substrate 2 and the mark of the substrate 2 placed on the lower stage 11 is read by a sensor. It is also possible to automatically determine the type of the substrate 2 based on the read signal, and to call up the corresponding data from the determination result, and to turn on the UV-LED based on the data at the time of curing the sealant It is.

  In this way, under the control of the controller 17, the optical member 15 turns on each UV-LED 12 a so as to be irradiated with ultraviolet rays along the application area of the sealing agent 2 a applied to the substrate 2. The ultraviolet rays are diffused and irradiated onto the sealing agent 2a of the substrate 2 as indicated by an arrow Z in FIG. Therefore, even if the distance h between the light source 12 and the substrate 2 is narrow, the ultraviolet rays from the UV-LEDs are diffused and averaged in the surface direction (horizontal direction) of the substrate 2, and a uniform amount of light is applied to the sealing agent 2a. Can be irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

  By this averaged ultraviolet irradiation, the sealing agent 2a is uniformly and efficiently cured, and a good bonded substrate can be manufactured.

  Further, by selectively lighting the LED 12a along the application area of the sealant 2a, leakage of ultraviolet rays to the dropped liquid crystal can be avoided without adopting a special mask, so that the deterioration of the liquid crystal due to ultraviolet irradiation heat is avoided. Can be avoided.

  As described above, according to the sealant curing device according to the present embodiment, the selection unit is mounted, and the UV-LED to be lit can be lit along the application region of the sealant. In addition, it is possible to irradiate the sealing agent 2 a with ultraviolet rays from a lower height position above the substrate 2 by irradiating ultraviolet rays through the optical member 15.

It is the front view which showed one Example of the sealing agent hardening apparatus by this invention. It is a principal part enlarged front view of the sealing agent hardening apparatus shown in FIG. It is AA arrow sectional drawing of FIG. It is BB arrow sectional drawing of FIG. It is an expansion perspective view of the concave lens shown in FIG.2 and FIG.4.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sealant hardening apparatus 11 Lower stage 12 Light source 12a Ultraviolet light emitting diode (LED)
13 Upper stage 14 Vertical movement mechanism 15 Optical member 15a Concave lens 16 XY-θ movement mechanism 17 Controller 17a Selection circuit (selection means)
2 Bonded substrate (substrate)
2a Sealant

Claims (4)

In a sealing agent curing device comprising a light source that irradiates ultraviolet rays onto a sealing agent obtained by bonding two substrates together, and a controller that controls ultraviolet irradiation by the light source,
The light source is composed of a plurality of ultraviolet light emitting diodes arranged in a matrix,
The controller comprises a selection means for selectively lighting a plurality of the ultraviolet light emitting diodes arranged in a matrix.   The sealing agent curing device according to claim 1, wherein an optical member capable of diffusing ultraviolet rays is disposed between the substrate and the light source.   3. The optical member according to claim 2, wherein the optical member is configured by arranging a plurality of concave lenses in a matrix, and each concave lens is disposed so as to correspond to each ultraviolet light emitting diode of the light source. Sealant curing device. A substrate manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a bonded substrate by bonding two substrates, each having a sealing agent applied to at least one of them in a closed loop shape, through the sealing agent, and then curing the sealing agent by irradiating with ultraviolet rays. In
A substrate manufacturing apparatus comprising the sealant curing device according to claim 1.

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