JP6765639B2 - Manufacturing method of glass plate - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a glass plate.

In recent years, in the glass plate manufacturing process, a method of cutting out one or a plurality of glass plates to be a product from a large-area glass original plate may be adopted from the viewpoint of manufacturing efficiency. Such a method is often used in the manufacturing process of a glass substrate for a flat panel display (FPD) such as a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, and an organic EL display.

Specifically, for example, there are cases where the mother glass is cut out from a molded original plate manufactured by cutting a glass ribbon to a predetermined length by a float method or a down draw method, or a glass substrate for FPD is cut out from the mother glass. is there. In the former case, the molded original plate becomes the glass original plate, and in the latter case, the mother glass becomes the glass original plate.

When a glass plate is cut out from a glass original plate, a defect inspection is performed in the state of the glass original plate. As a result of this defect inspection, if there is any defect in the original glass plate that does not meet the quality standard, it is customary to discard the entire original glass plate as a defective product. However, with such handling, the probability of occurrence of defects inevitably increases as the size of the original glass plate increases, and the amount of glass lost by disposal also increases significantly. As a result, it causes a rise in manufacturing cost.

Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1, defect information of a plurality of mother glasses, a plurality of different cutout arrangement information, and evaluation standard information thereof are accumulated, and the combination of the information is sequentially changed and the simulation is repeated. It is disclosed that a process of finding a combination capable of cutting out the most glass substrates for a liquid crystal display device is performed. As a result, even if the mother glass contains defects, the mother glass can be effectively utilized to prevent an increase in manufacturing cost.

WO2003 / 087923

By the way, in the configuration in which various information of the original glass plate is measured or calculated as described above and the optimum cutting classification of the original glass plate is determined based on the information, the measured or calculated information is stored in the database of the server. , Is generally managed. In this case, for example, in the process of cutting out a glass plate from a glass original plate (hereinafter, also referred to as a processing process), information is acquired from a server via a predetermined network or the like, and the glass original plate is cut based on the acquired information. become.

However, the server database stores a lot of detailed information about the glass plate, such as defect information including the location, size, and type of defects. Therefore, when trying to acquire detailed information including defect information from the server in the processing process, the amount of data becomes very large and the server load becomes large. In particular, when the processing process is performed at a plurality of locations at the same time, the server load becomes remarkable. As a result, system failures such as deterioration of server function and temporary server down are likely to occur. Therefore, it may not be possible to smoothly acquire the necessary information from the server, and it may not be possible to efficiently manufacture the glass plate from the original glass plate.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the load on the server in which information about the original glass plate is stored and to efficiently manufacture the glass plate from the original glass plate.

The present invention, which was devised to solve the above problems, is a process of inspecting a defect of a glass original plate and generating defect information, cutting out classification information of the glass original plate based on the defect information, and pass / fail of quality for each division. The process of obtaining quality information indicating the above by calculation, the process of storing defect information, cutout classification information and quality information in the first database of the first server, and the process of storing cutout classification information and quality information excluding defect information from the first server. The process of sending to the second server and storing it in the second database of the second server, the process of acquiring the cutout classification information and quality information corresponding to the identification information of the glass original plate from the second server, and the cutout obtained from the second server. It is characterized by including a process of cutting out one or a plurality of glass plates from a glass original plate based on classification information, and a process of selecting non-defective products from the glass plates based on quality information acquired from a second server. ..

According to such a configuration, the server that manages various information is divided into a first server and a second server. Detailed information including defect information, cutout classification information, and quality information is stored in the first database of the first server, and cutout classification information and quality information excluding defect information are stored in the second database of the second server. Simple information including is stored. Then, in the processing process including the step of cutting out the original glass plate and the step of selecting the cut out glass plate, the simple information acquired from the second server is used without directly acquiring various information from the first server. Therefore, in the processing process, the first server is not overloaded, and the information acquired from the second server is limited to simple information, so that the second server is not overloaded. Therefore, since it is possible to stably maintain a state in which information necessary for processing can be smoothly obtained from the second server, it is possible to efficiently manufacture a glass plate from a glass original plate.

In the above configuration, a step of packing and transporting the original glass plate may be provided after the step of generating defect information and before the step of cutting out the glass plate.

In this way, the place where the defect inspection of the original glass plate is performed in order to generate the defect information and the place where the glass plate is cut out from the original glass plate can be set at different places apart from each other. For example, the former can be performed at a domestic factory and the latter can be performed at an overseas factory. In this case, the communication speed between the first server and the second server tends to be slow, but the communication speed of the network line is slow because the cutout classification information and quality information are transmitted from the first server to the second server except for the defect information. However, the transmission from the first server to the second server can be performed stably.

In the process of obtaining the quality information of the above configuration by calculation, the quality information may be obtained by calculation on the first server.

If the quality information is calculated on the first server in this way, the equipment cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the quality information is calculated on the other server. Further, as compared with the case where the calculation is performed by each computer used for defect inspection and marking of identification information, the application for calculating the quality information can be updated at once, and the maintainability can be improved.

In the process of cutting out the glass plate having the above configuration, when it is required to cut out the glass plate based on the second cutout classification information different from the cutout classification information acquired from the second server, the second server uses the identification information. At the same time, the second cutout classification information is transmitted to the first server, and the first server recalculates the second quality information indicating the pass / fail of the quality of each classification of the second cutout classification information based on the defect information corresponding to the identification information. It may be requested and sent to the second server.

In this way, in the process of cutting out the glass plate, even if it is required to cut out the glass plate based on the second cutout classification information different from the cutout classification information acquired from the second server, the defect information Can be handled by exchanging a small amount of information between the first server and the second server without moving the information to the second server.

According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to reduce the load on the server that stores information about the original glass plate and efficiently manufacture the glass plate from the original glass plate.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the manufacturing method of a glass plate. It is a schematic plan view which shows the molding process. (A) to (c) are diagrams for explaining the cutout classification information. It is a schematic plan view which shows the processing process. It is a figure which shows an example of the quality information displayed on a display device.

An embodiment of a method for manufacturing a glass plate according to the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the method for manufacturing a glass plate according to the present embodiment includes a glass original plate forming step S1, a glass original plate transporting step S2, and a glass original plate processing step S3. In the molding step S1, the first server 1 communicates with the network 2 (for example, an intranet), and in the processing step S3, the second server 3 communicates with the network 4 (for example, an intranet). The first server 1 and the second server 3 communicate with each other via the network 5. The network 5 for the first server 1 and the second server 3 to communicate with each other may be a dedicated line (including both wireless and wired), but is preferably an Internet (particularly VPN). For example, the first server 1 is placed in the factory where the molding process S1 is performed, and the second server 3 is placed in the factory where the processing step S3 is performed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the molding step S1 is a cutting step S11 for manufacturing a glass original plate G, which is a molding original plate, by cutting a glass ribbon continuously formed by an overflow down draw method into a predetermined length in a vertical posture. To be equipped. In the cutting step S11, the glass ribbon is roughly cut by cutting due to bending stress. The molding step S1 is not limited to the one using the overflow down draw method. For example, other down draw methods such as the slot down draw method and the redraw method, or the float method may be used.

Further, the molding step S1 includes, after the cutting step S11, a defect inspection step S12 for inspecting defects in the glass original plate G, a marking step S13 for attaching identification information to the glass original plate G, and a packing step S14 for packing the glass original plate G. To be equipped. In the present embodiment, in the molding step S1, the glass original plate G is conveyed in a vertical posture (preferably a vertical posture) from the left to the right in FIG. During this transfer, for example, the glass original plate G is suspended and supported by a chuck mechanism or the like. The glass original plate G may be conveyed in a horizontal posture (preferably a horizontal posture) by a conveyor or the like.

The defect inspection step S12 includes a step S12a of measuring the type (for example, bubbles, foreign matter, etc.), position (coordinates), and size of defects contained in the glass original plate G with the sensor 6. In the present embodiment, the defect inspection step S12 includes a step S12b for measuring the uneven thickness of the glass plate G with the sensor 7 and a step S12c for measuring the streaks (pulses) of the glass plate G with the sensor 8 before the step S12a. And further prepare. The order of steps S12a to S12c is not particularly limited. In the defect inspection step S12, defect information including the inspection results of these steps S12a to S12c is generated and transmitted to the first server 1. The steps S12b and S12c may be omitted.

On the other hand, in the first server 1, as shown in FIG. 1, the defect information is associated with the identification information of the glass original plate G and stored in the first database 1a, and the cutout classification information of the glass original plate G is obtained based on the defect information. And quality information is automatically obtained by calculation (simulation). Here, the cutout classification information is layout information indicating how to cut out one or a plurality of glass plates Ga from one glass original plate G. Further, the quality information is determination result information (consisting of information indicating pass and information indicating failure) indicating pass / fail of the quality for each cutout category included in the cutout category information. One division corresponds to a portion that becomes one glass plate Ga.

As shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, the first server 1 has a plurality of different patterns in advance as candidates for cutout classification information. For example, there are three patterns: single chamfering in the figure (a), trimming in the figure (b), and multi-chamfering in the figure (c) (six chamfering in the example). From these patterns, the optimum cutout classification information is automatically selected in consideration of the position and size of the defect included in the defect information. As the cutout classification information, it is preferable to select the pattern that minimizes the amount of glass discarded. In the present embodiment, the glass original plate G without defects is taken as a single plate, and the glass original plate G with defects is trimmed or multi-chamfered in consideration of the position and size of the defects. Candidate patterns for cutout classification information can be added, edited, and deleted.

As shown in FIG. 3A, in the case of single-sheet picking, the rectangular division C1 excluding the peripheral edge of the glass original plate G is selected as the cutout division information. The size of the division C1 is set in advance, but can be changed.

As shown in FIG. 3B, in the case of trimming, any one of the starting points P1 to P4 formed in the vicinity of the four corners of the glass original plate G except for the peripheral portion of the glass original plate G. A rectangular section having a square shape at the corner is selected as the cutout section information. Therefore, the information on the selected starting points P1 to P4 is also included in the cutout classification information. For example, when the glass original plate G has defects d1 and d2, the rectangular division C2 including the starting point P1 is selected as the cutout division information so as not to include the defects d1 and the defect d2. The size of the division C2 is set in advance, but can be changed.

As shown in FIG. 3C, in the case of multi-chamfering, a plurality of rectangular sections of the same size arranged adjacent to each other in the region excluding the peripheral portion of the glass original plate G are selected as the cutout classification information. For example, in the case of six chamfers, categories C3 to C8 are selected as cutout category information. In this case, the quality information includes information that rejects the quality of categories C3, C5, and C7 in which defects d3 to d5 exist, and information that passes the quality of categories C4, C6, and C8 that do not have defects. included. The number of categories C3 to C8 (multi-chamfered number) is set in advance, but can be changed.

The first server 1 associates the cutout classification information and the quality information obtained by calculation with the identification information of the glass original plate G and stores them in the first database 1a. At the same time, the first server 1 transmits the cutout classification information and the quality information to the second server 3 together with the identification information. The second server 3 associates this information with the identification information and stores it in the second database 3a. As a result, the cutout classification information and quality information stored in the second database 3a are in a state of being synchronized with the cutout classification information and quality information stored in the first database 1a. At this time, the defect information is not transmitted from the first server 1 to the second server 3, and is excluded from the synchronization information. Therefore, the first server 1 stores detailed information including defect information, cutout classification information, and quality information, and the second server 3 stores simple information including cutout classification information and quality information excluding defect information. Will be done. The cutout classification information and quality information transmitted from the first server 1 to the second server 3 may be only the difference information from the cutout classification information and the quality information stored in the second server 3.

Returning to FIG. 2 again, in the marking step S13, the marking device 9 attaches identification information to an ineffective portion (for example, a portion cut and removed at the time of cutting) such as a peripheral portion of the glass original plate G. The identification information is the ID information of the glass original plate G, and is attached to the glass original plate G in the form of, for example, a two-dimensional code (preferably a data matrix code). As a method of attaching identification information by the marking device 9, for example, label sticking, laser processing, inkjet printing and the like are used. When using inkjet printing, it is preferable to use an ink that does not contain a metal component.

In the packing step S14, a plurality of original glass plates G are laminated on the pallet 10 and packed. At this time, if necessary, the glass original plate G may be appropriately classified based on the cutout classification information. The laminating work is performed by a human or a robot. In the present embodiment, the pallet 10 in which the glass original plates G are laminated in the vertical posture is used, but a pallet in which the glass original plates G are laminated in the horizontal posture may be used. In the case of the vertical posture, the posture of the glass original plate G preferably has an angle formed by the horizontal plane of 45 ° to 80 °, and more preferably 60 ° to 75 °. In the case of the horizontal posture, the posture of the glass original plate G preferably has an angle formed with the horizontal plane of 0 ° (horizontal posture) to 30 °, and more preferably 0 ° to 15 °. In these cases, it is preferable to interpose a protective sheet (not shown) such as paper (interlaced paper) or foamed resin sheet between the glass original plates G.

When the packing step S14 is completed, the glass original plate G packed in the pallet is transported to the processing step S3 (transportation step S2). Transportation includes at least one of land transportation, air transportation and shipping.

As shown in FIG. 4, the processing step S3 includes a reading step S31 for scanning the identification information X attached to the glass original plate G, a cutting step S32 for cutting out the glass plate Ga which is the mother glass from the glass original plate G, and a glass plate. A sorting step S33 for sorting Ga is provided. In the present embodiment, in the processing step S3, the glass original plate G is transported from the left to the right in FIG. 4 in a horizontal posture (preferably a horizontal posture), but may be transported in a vertical posture. In the present embodiment, the case where the processing step S3 is performed on the glass original plate G taken out from the pallet 10 will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The work of removing the glass original plate G from the pallet 10 is performed by a human or a robot.

In the reading step S31, the scanned identification information is transmitted to the second server 3, and the cutout classification information and the quality information corresponding to the identification information are acquired from the second server 3.

The cutting step S32 includes a step S32a of forming a scribe line L on the glass original plate G based on the cutout classification information acquired from the second server 3, and a step S32b of folding the glass original plate G along the scribe line L. In step S32a, the scribe line L is formed by pressing with a wheel cutter, irradiating a laser, or the like. Step S32b includes a step of folding the glass original plate G along the scrib line L extending in the first direction parallel to the conveying direction of the glass original plate G, and the glass along the scribing line L extending in the second direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. A step of folding the original plate G is provided separately. Note that FIG. 4 illustrates a case where the acquired cutout classification information is information instructing to cut out four glass plates Ga from one glass original plate G.

Here, in the scribe mechanism and the folding mechanism used in the cutting step S32, candidate patterns of cutting classification information are registered in advance. When a person presses the pattern selection switch corresponding to the cutout classification information acquired from the second server 3, the processing corresponding to the cutout classification information acquired from the second server 3 is automatically performed. The scribing mechanism or the folding mechanism may directly acquire the cutting-out classification information from the second server 3 and automatically select the processing corresponding to the cutting-out classification information from the registration patterns.

In the cutting step S32, the glass original plate G may be cut by laser cutting or laser cutting.

In the sorting step S33, good products are sorted from the cut out glass plates Ga based on the quality information acquired from the second server 3. When the sorting step S33 is performed by a person, it is preferable to arrange the display device 11 and display the quality information. As shown in FIG. 5, on the display device 11, for example, "◯" is displayed in the category where the quality is acceptable, and "x" is displayed in the category where the quality is unacceptable. The sorting step S33 may be automatically performed by the robot. In this case, the display device 11 may be omitted. Defect-free glass plate (mother glass) Ga, which is regarded as a good product, is sold to customers who manufacture liquid crystal display devices and the like.

According to the above configuration, the server that manages various information is divided into the first server 1 and the second server 3. The first server 1 stores detailed information including defect information, cutout classification information, and quality information, and the second server 3 stores only simple information including cutout classification information and quality information excluding defect information. Will be done. In the processing step S3, various information is not directly acquired from the first server 1, but only the simple information acquired from the second server 3 is used. Therefore, in the processing step S3, the first server 1 is not overloaded, and the information acquired from the second server is also limited to simple information, so that the second server 3 is not overloaded. .. Therefore, since the state in which the information necessary for processing can be smoothly obtained from the second server 3 can be stably maintained, it is possible to efficiently manufacture the glass plate Ga from the glass original plate G. Further, if the worker in the machining process S3 is restricted (prohibited) from accessing the first server 1, the worker in the machining step S3 cannot access the defect information stored only in the first server 1. In such an aspect, the risk of leaking highly confidential defect information can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and is not limited to the above-mentioned action and effect. The present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the case where the identification information is attached to the glass original plate G has been described, but the identification information may be attached to an accessory (for example, a pallet or the like) of the glass original plate G. In this case, the glass original plate G can be identified by the identification information of the accessory (pallet) and the loading position. Further, the cutout classification information and the quality information obtained by calculation may be directly attached to the glass original plate G. Since the amount of information is much smaller than that of defect information, this information can be embedded in, for example, a two-dimensional code. In this case, in the processing step S3, since the cutout classification status and the quality information can be read directly from the identification information attached to the glass original plate G, the communication with the second server 3 can be reduced or omitted.

In the above embodiment, the first server 1 calculates and obtains the cutout classification information and the quality information of the glass original plate G based on the defect information, but it may be calculated by another server, and the defect inspection step S12 and the marking step The calculation may be performed by the computer used in S13.

In the above embodiment, the case where the glass original plate G is cut according to the cutout classification information acquired from the second server 3 in the processing step S3 has been described, but the cutout classification obtained from the second server 3 in the processing step S3 has been described. The glass original plate G may be cut based on the cutout classification information (second cutout classification information) different from the information. In this case, the following configuration is preferable. That is, the second server 3 transmits the second cutout classification information to the first server 1 together with the identification information of the glass original plate G that is required to be cut according to the second cutout classification information. Next, the first server 1 recalculates and obtains the second quality information indicating the pass / fail of the quality of each category of the second cutout category information based on the defect information corresponding to the identification information. After that, the first server 1 transmits the second quality information to the second server 3. In this way, it is possible to respond to the request for changing the cutout information in the processing step S3 by exchanging a small amount of information between the first server 1 and the second server 3 without transferring the defect information to the second server 3. it can.

In the above embodiment, the case where the mother glass is cut out from the molded original plate has been described, but the present manufacturing method can be similarly applied to the case where the glass substrate for the final product such as for a liquid crystal display device is cut out from the mother glass.

1 1st server 1a 1st database 3 2nd server 3a 2nd database G Glass original plate (molded original plate)
Ga glass plate (mother glass)
S1 Molding process S11 Cutting process (rough cutting)
S12 Defect inspection process S13 Marking process S14 Packing process S2 Transportation process S3 Processing process S31 Reading process S32 Cutting process (fine cutting)
S33 Sorting process

Claims (4)

The process of inspecting defects on the original glass plate and generating defect information,
A process of calculating the cutout classification information of the glass original plate based on the defect information and the quality information indicating the pass / fail of the quality for each classification, and
A step of associating the defect information, the cutout classification information, and the quality information with the identification information of the glass original plate and storing them in the first database of the first server.
A step of transmitting the cutout classification information and the quality information excluding the defect information from the first server to the second server and storing them in the second database of the second server.
A step of acquiring the cutout sorting information and the quality information corresponding from the second server to the identification information of the glass original plate,
A process of cutting out one or a plurality of glass plates from the original glass plate based on the cutout classification information acquired from the second server.
A method for manufacturing a glass plate, which comprises a step of selecting a non-defective product from the glass plates based on the quality information acquired from the second server. The production of the glass plate according to claim 1, further comprising a step of packing and transporting the original glass plate after the step of generating the defect information and before the step of cutting out the glass plate. Method. The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the step of obtaining the quality information by calculation, the quality information is calculated by the first server. In the step of cutting out the glass plate, when it is required to cut out the glass plate based on the second cutout classification information different from the cutout classification information acquired from the second server, the second server performs the said The second cutout classification information is transmitted to the first server together with the identification information, and the first server determines whether the quality of the second cutout classification information is acceptable or rejected for each classification based on the defect information corresponding to the identification information. The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second quality information shown is recalculated and obtained and transmitted to the second server.

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