JP2863641B2 - Hard substrate coating device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hard substrate coating apparatus used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel using a glass substrate and for applying a coating liquid such as a photoresist to a hard substrate in a thin and uniform manner. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal plate, there is a process of applying a coating liquid such as a photoresist to a thin and uniform thickness on a hard substrate such as a glass substrate. For example, in the production of a color liquid crystal plate, a red color mosaic liquid having a photoresist function is uniformly applied to a glass substrate on which a transparent electrode has been formed in advance, and then exposed to a color corresponding to red.
The mosaic is cured and excess liquid is removed to form a red color mosaic. The same processing is repeated for other colors such as green and blue. When applying a coating liquid to be a photoresist in this way,
This liquid needs to be strictly controlled to a uniform thickness (for example, about 2 μ ± 5%) and to be applied thinly. This is because if the thickness of the coating is non-uniform, the light transmittance becomes uneven, which leads to a deterioration in quality.

Conventionally, a spin coater has been used for this coating. In this spin coater, a coating liquid is dropped near a rotation center of a rotated substrate, and the liquid is applied by scattering using a centrifugal force. However, in the method using the spin coater, not only the time and labor efficiency for replacing the substrate are deteriorated, but also the amount of the liquid scattered and discarded increases. For this reason, there was a problem that the cost was increased.

In view of this, it has been considered to use an apparatus (so-called Gieser) for coating a substrate between a pair of upper and lower rollers disposed horizontally. In this device, the lower part of the micro rod bar, which is the lower roller, is immersed in the coating liquid, and the substrate is sandwiched and sent between the micro rod bar and the nip roller located above the micro rod bar. It is to be applied .

[0005] However, in this case, there is a problem that the cleaning operation when changing the color and type of the coating liquid becomes complicated. That is, not only replacement of the supply tank, but also the filters, switching valves, pipes, and greasers of the supply system must be thoroughly washed to completely remove the old coating solution. Because it is difficult. In addition, the coating liquid tank
If you have a circulation system that circulates the liquid,
They must also completely remove the old liquid . For this reason, when replacing the coating liquid, there is a problem that cleaning takes time and labor, the work efficiency is poor, and the operation rate of the apparatus is reduced.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when coating a coating liquid on the lower surface of a substrate while feeding a hard substrate between upper and lower rollers, the replacement of the coating liquid can be shortened. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hard substrate coating apparatus capable of improving the operation rate of the apparatus in a time efficient manner.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a micro rod bar which is horizontally immersed in a coating solution tank while leaving its upper part,
In a hard substrate coating apparatus that applies a coating liquid to the lower surface of the hard substrate by nipping and sending the hard substrate between a nip roller disposed above the micro rod bar,
A liquid supply tank for containing the coating liquid, a liquid supply system for supplying the coating liquid from the liquid supply tank to the coating liquid tank via a filter and a switching valve, and a circulation port for the coating liquid in the coating liquid tank;
A circulation system that circulates through a pump and a filter;
Draining the coating liquid from the coating liquid tank to the drain tank via the switching valve
A single unit is formed by the liquid supply system and the circulation system including the liquid supply system and the circulation system filter , the switching valve, and the circulation pump, and this unit is detachable and replaceable. This is achieved by a hard substrate coating apparatus characterized in that:

[0008] It is desirable to also serve as the liquid supply system of the filter circulation system filters here.

[0009]

The coating liquid is supplied from the liquid supply tank to the Gieser coating liquid tank via a filter, a switching valve and a pipe. This
The liquid in the coating liquid tank is circulated through the circulation system to be kept clean. When the coating liquid is changed, the supply tank is changed to a cleaning liquid tank or a new cleaning liquid supply tank, and the unit is changed to a new coating liquid. The coating solution tank is also cleaned. Then, a cleaning liquid or a new coating liquid is supplied to the coating liquid tank by a liquid supply system. Also activate the circulation pump
And circulate the liquid through the filter. When the cleaning liquid is supplied, the cleaning liquid tank is thereafter changed to a liquid supply tank, and a new coating liquid is similarly supplied and circulated .

[0010]

FIG. 1 is an overall route diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Is a plan view of the gisa, FIG. 3 is a front sectional view thereof, and FIG.
5, FIG. 5 is an end view taken along line IV-IV and VV of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a conceptual view of the entire arrangement, FIG. 7 is a front view of the unit, FIG. 8 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. FIG.

In FIG . 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a glass substrate;
Is a roller conveyor, and the glass substrate 10 is sent from left to right in the figure with the left and right edges of the lower surface thereof placed on rollers of the conveyor 12. Gieser 1 in the middle of the conveyor 12
4 are provided. The gisa 14 includes a microrod bar 16 having a small diameter and a circular cross section, a nip roller 18 having a large diameter facing above the microrod bar 16, and a coating solution tank 20 in which almost the entirety of the microrod bar 16 except the upper portion is contained.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the coating liquid tank 20 has a long and shallow liquid reservoir 22 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the substrate 10 is fed.
4, while the coating liquid is discharged from the liquid discharge port 26. The liquid supply pipe 24 is viewed above a concave portion 28 (FIGS. 2 and 5) provided on the inner wall near one end of the liquid reservoir 22, and the drain port 26 opens at the bottom near the other end. Therefore, the coating liquid is suitable for flowing in the liquid reservoir 22 in the longitudinal direction thereof to homogenize the liquid. The depth of the coating liquid is monitored by a liquid level sensor (not shown), and is constantly maintained at a constant level.

The micro rod bar 16 is held horizontally so that its upper part is exposed from the liquid. That is, bearing portions 30 and 32 having concave portions that open upward in a semicircular arc are provided at both ends of the liquid reservoir portion 22, and the bearing portions 30 and 32 are provided.
The micro rod bar 16 is rotatably held between the cap and the caps 34 and 36 covered from above. The intermediate portion of the micro rod bar 16 is supported from below by a backup member 38. The backup member 38 is made of a hard synthetic resin having excellent slidability. A semicircular groove formed on the upper surface of the backup member 38 along the longitudinal direction comes into contact with the micro rod bar 16 from below, and the micro rod bar 16 To prevent deflection. The height of the backup member 38 can be finely adjusted from the lower surface of the coating liquid tank 20 by a number of adjustment screws 40 arranged below the backup member 38.

One end (the end on the far side in FIG. 6 ) of the micro rod bar 16 projects rearward by the coating solution tank 20, and this projecting end is connected to the electric motor 44 by a detachable joint 42.
It is connected to the. The electric motor 44 is mounted on the glass substrate 1
The rotation is controlled so that the feed speed of 0 is equal to the speed of the conveyor 12. The surface of the nip roller 18 is made of conductive rubber, and is held so as to apply a predetermined clamping force to the glass substrate 10 with the glass substrate 10 sandwiched between the nip roller 18 and the micro rod bar 16.

[0015] Thus the glass substrate 10 fed from the left side in FIG. 6 to the right the roller conveyor 12, enters between the micro rod bar 16 and the nip roller 18. Since the application liquid in the liquid reservoir 22 is attached to the surface of the micro rod bar 16 by the rotation thereof, the application liquid is applied to the lower surface of the glass substrate 10 with the rotation of the micro rod bar 16. The level of the liquid in the liquid reservoir 22;
Since the holding pressure by the nip roller 18 is controlled to be constant, the thickness of the liquid applied to the lower surface of the glass substrate 10 can be controlled to be sufficiently thin and highly accurate.

[0016] Then the liquid supply system of the coating solution tank 20, will be described drainage and circulatory systems. In FIGS. 1 and 6,
Reference numeral 50 denotes a liquid supply tank for storing a new coating liquid, and reference numeral 52 denotes a drainage tank. The liquid levels of these tanks 50, 52 are detected by, for example, capacitance type liquid level sensors 54, 56,
When the liquid level falls below or above a predetermined liquid level, the controller 58 instructs replenishment of the liquid or discard of the discharged liquid, or instructs to stop the entire apparatus.

The liquid supply system of this embodiment feeds the liquid by pressurizing the liquid supply tank 50. That is, the gas pressure supplied from the pressure gas cylinder 60 such as nitrogen gas is regulated by the regulator 62, and is passed through the solenoid valve 64, the check valve 66, the regulator 68 or 70, the electromagnetic three-way switching valve 72, and the air filter 74. To the liquid supply tank 50. The regulators 68 and 70 have different set pressures, and one of the set pressures is selected by the switching valve 72.
The liquid supply tank 50 is made airtight, and pressurizes the inside of the tank 50 to pump the coating liquid therein to the liquid supply pipe A.

The liquid supply pipe A includes a two-port two-position switching valve 76, a liquid supply pipe B, a filter 78, a liquid supply pipe C,
And another switching valve 80 are sequentially connected, and are led by a liquid supply pipe D to a liquid supply pipe 24 provided in the gheeser 14. The downstream side of the filter 78 is connected to the drainage tank 52 by the drainage pipe E via the drainage pipe E and the switching valve 82.

The circulation system includes a circulation pipe G connected to the drain port 26 of the gieser 14, a diaphragm-type circulation pump 84, and a circulation pipe H connecting the pump 84 to the liquid supply pipe B. . The filter 78, the switching valve 80, and the liquid supply pipes C and D also serve as a liquid supply system.
The pump 84 is driven by gas pressure, and the gas pressure is guided from the pump 60 through a regulator 86, a solenoid valve 88, and a manual throttle control valve 90. Therefore, this control valve 9
With 0, the operation speed of the pump 84 is controlled, and the circulation flow rate of the liquid can be controlled. The circulation pipe G branches off, and the drainage tank 52 is switched via the switching valve 92 and the drainage pipe I.
It is connected to the.

[0020] Note that the liquid in the supply tank 50 is adapted to be discharged to the outside by the switching valve 94. The switching valves 76, 80, 82, 92, 94 are driven by the gas pressure of the cylinder 60. That cylinder 60 of the gas pressure regulated by the regulator 96 _V 1 the solenoid valves from ~V ₅
Are distributed to the respective switching valves 76, 80, 82, 92, 94. The solenoid valves V _{1 to} V ₅ , 64 and the switching valve 72 are controlled by the controller 58. Each solenoid valve V _1-
V ₅ , 64, the switching valve 74, the solenoid valve 88, etc. are housed in a housing 98 shown in FIG.

The switching valves 76, 80, 82, the filter 7
8, the pump 84 and the throttle control valve 90 constitute one unit 10
0 (see FIG. 1) and can be attached to and detached from the front of the apparatus.

[0022] The unit 100 is a front panel 102 forming a side L-shape as shown in FIG. 9 and the bottom panel 1
04, the pump 84 is mounted on the bottom panel 104, while the switching valves 76, 80, 82 and the filter 78 are mounted on the front panel 102. The switching valves 76, 80, and 82, connectors 76a, 80a, and 82a for connecting to devices outside the unit 100, and the pump 8
4 and a connector 84a (see FIG. 1) for connecting the pipe G faces the front from a circular window provided on the front panel 102. Similarly, an operation lever 90a of a throttle control valve 90 for controlling the pressure of gas for driving the pump 84 protrudes from the front panel 102 to the front, and can be manually operated (see FIG. 9). Further, a connector 106 for connecting and disconnecting a tube for supplying gas pressure to the switching valves 76, 80, 82 and the pump 84 is provided on the front panel 102.

[0023] grip 10 This unit 100 is the left and right
As shown in FIG. 6, the user grips 8, 108 to mount the device at a predetermined position from the front of the device. By rotating a pair of left and right fixing levers 112 and 112 provided on the frame 110 on the apparatus side, the tips of these levers 112 are engaged with the receivers on the front surface of the front panel 102 and fixed. The connectors 76a, 8a appearing on the front panel 102
0a, 82a, 84a, and 106 are connected to corresponding connectors on the device side, respectively.

Next this liquid supply, the operation of the drainage and circulatory systems. First, when supplying new liquid, the switching valves 82, 92 and 94 of the drainage system are closed, and the electromagnetic valve 88 is closed to stop the circulation pump 84. When the solenoid valve 64 is opened, the regulator 68 determined by the three-way switching valve 72,
A gas having any one of the set pressures 90 is guided to the liquid supply tank 50. Therefore, new liquid is pushed up to the pipe A.
When the switching valves 76 and 80 are opened, the liquid is filtered by the filter 78 and supplied to the coating liquid tank 20 of the gieser 14. Signal indicating the liquid level is input to the controller 58, when a predetermined liquid level, the controller 58 closes the switching valve 76 via the solenoid valve V _1, actuating the circulation system to open the solenoid valve 88. That is, when the solenoid valve 88 is opened, the pump 84
Is started, and the coating liquid in the coating liquid tank 20 is filled with the pipe G and the pump 8.
4, pipes H and B, filter 78, pipe C, switching valve 8
0, circulate through pipe D. Therefore, dust and the like in the liquid are removed by the filter 78.

[0025] When changing the type of the coating solution, first close switch valve 76 and 80, the coating solution tank open switching valve 92 2
The application liquid of No. 0 is discharged to the drainage tank 52. At this time, the coating liquid remaining in the filter 87 and the like may be discharged by opening the switching valve 82 and driving the pump 84. When the discharge of the coating liquid is completed, the liquid supply tank 50 is replaced with a cleaning liquid tank, and each switching valve is opened and closed appropriately to open the filter 78 and the pump 84.
, And then the unit 100 is removed. And
Another cleaning unit 100 is mounted, and the tank for the cleaning liquid is replaced with a liquid supply tank 50 containing a new coating liquid.
Then, the liquid supply system and the circulation system are operated as described above, and a new coating liquid is supplied to the coating liquid tank 20.

In the above description, the filter 78 and the switching valves 76, 80 and 82 are simply washed with the washing liquid when the coating liquid is replaced. However, this washing can be omitted and the unit 100 can be removed before washing. In addition, the downtime of the apparatus is further reduced, and the operation rate is further improved.

In this embodiment, the filter of the circulation system is also used as the filter 78 of the liquid supply system.
However, it is a matter of course that the present invention may separate them. Further application from liquid supply tank 50
The liquid is delivered by increasing the internal pressure of the tank 50.
Thus, the coating liquid is less likely to be contaminated.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a hard substrate is sandwiched between a microrod bar and a nip roller and fed, the coating solution is applied to a coating solution tank in which the microrod bar is horizontally immersed leaving its upper part. Supply system including a supply system filter and a switching valve, and a circulation pump and a filter
Unitized and circulatory system including, from those made detachable from the unit, the liquid supply when replacing the coating solution
Washing it is unnecessary replacement of performing the system filters and switching valves and circulation pumps and filters <br/> become allow better efficiency. For this reason, the operation rate of the device is improved (claim 1).

In this case, the circulating system filter can also be used as a liquid supply system filter.
It is desirable to reduce the number (claim 2).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall route diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of Gieser.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view

FIG. 4 is an end view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end view taken along line VV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of the entire arrangement.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the unit.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the unit.

FIG. 9 is a right side view of the unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Glass substrate 14 Gieser 16 Micro rod bar 18 Nip roller 20 Application liquid tank 50 Liquid supply tank 76, 80, 82 Switching valve 78 Filter 84 Circulation pump 100 Unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masafumi Ozaki 1005 Koizono, Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fuji Mai Chromaix Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Matsuoka 1005 Koizono, Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Mai Chromaix Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-25881 (JP, A) JP-A-60-58279 (JP, U) JP-A-50-142774 (JP, U) JP-A-51-97563 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B05C 1/00-1/16 B05C 11/10 G03F 7/16

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A hard substrate is sandwiched and sent between a micro rod bar immersed horizontally leaving an upper part in a coating liquid tank and a nip roller disposed above the micro rod bar, whereby In a hard substrate coating apparatus for coating a coating liquid on the lower surface of a hard substrate, a liquid supply tank containing the coating liquid, and a supply liquid supplied from the liquid supply tank to the coating liquid tank via a filter and a switching valve. Liquid system and the coating
The application liquid in the cloth tank is circulated through the circulation pump and filter.
A circulating system for circulating and a switching valve for the coating liquid in the coating liquid tank.
And a drainage system that leads to a drainage tank through the drainage system.
Preliminary circulatory system in the liquid supply system and circulation system to form a unit including a filter and a switching valve and the circulation pump, hard substrate coating apparatus, characterized in that the detachable replace this unit. Wherein said liquid supply system of filters of the circulatory system off
2. The hard substrate coating apparatus according to claim 1, which is also used as a filter .