JPH06154683A - Discharging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a compact discharging device capable of precisely discharging even a minute amt. of fluid. CONSTITUTION:This discharging device is provided with a sleeve 1, a spindle 2 coaxially housed in the sleeve 1, a spiral groove 7a formed on the periphery of the spindle 2, a passage 8 for sending a fluid under pressure between the spindle 2 and sleeve 1 in the spiral groove forming part, means 9 and 11 for supplying a fluid on the upstream side of the pipe 8, a nozzle 3 provided on the downstream side of the passage 8 and a means 6 for rotating the sleeve 1 and spindle 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a discharge device used for discharging liquid crystal onto a substrate in a liquid crystal display panel assembling process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a process for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, a technique of encapsulating liquid crystal in a gap surface between two substrates to be bonded to each other is one of high quality panel performance such as image quality uniformity. Therefore, it is necessary to uniformly fill the liquid crystal in the substrate.

Therefore, there is a demand for a discharge device for uniformly applying the liquid crystal on the substrate.

FIG. 9 shows a conventional discharge device. Figure 9
In the figure, 31 is a substrate, 32 is a liquid crystal (fluid), 33 is a nozzle, 34 is a cylinder, 35 is a piston, and 36 is a pressurizing mechanism. The pressure mechanism 36 includes a ball screw feeding mechanism,
Rotate the ball screw to lower the piston 35,
The liquid crystal 32 in the cylinder 34 is discharged from the nozzle 33, and the liquid crystal 32 is applied onto the substrate 31. The substrate 31 or the ejection device is configured so that the dropping point is moved by a moving mechanism such as an XY table, and the liquid crystal 32 is evenly dropped on the substrate 31. After the liquid crystal 32 is applied to each of the two substrates 31, they are adhered to each other so that the liquid crystal 32 is uniformly filled in the gap between the substrates 31.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the resolution of the ball screw of the pressing mechanism 36 is limited,
Further, due to the presence of backlash, there is a problem that the discharge amount of the fluid varies, and it is difficult to control the discharge amount accurately. In particular, when the above-mentioned conventional example is used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, there is a problem that the liquid crystal 32 filling the gap between the substrates 31 does not form a uniform layer, resulting in uneven image quality.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a sleeve, a shaft member concentrically housed in the sleeve, and an outer peripheral surface of the shaft member or an inner peripheral surface of the sleeve. A spiral groove, a fluid pressure feed passage formed between the shaft body and the sleeve in the spiral groove forming portion, a fluid supply means for supplying a fluid to an upstream portion of the fluid pressure feed passage, and a fluid pressure feed passage provided at a downstream portion of the fluid pressure feed passage. And a rotation driving means for relatively rotating the sleeve and the shaft body.

[0007]

According to the present invention, due to the relative rotation between the shaft body and the sleeve, the fluid in the fluid pressure feeding path is given a circumferential velocity, and is moved toward the nozzle along the spiral groove while being stirred, It is ejected from the nozzle. The ejection amount at this time can be delicately determined by the rotation speed, and even a minute ejection amount can be set to an accurate ejection amount.

Further, according to the present invention, the discharge rate from the nozzle can be arbitrarily set by changing the rotation speed.

Further, according to the present invention, the discharge device can be made compact.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 relates to an ejection device for ejecting liquid crystal onto a substrate in a process of assembling a liquid crystal panel.

The discharge device shown in FIG. 1 is a cover plate having a cylindrical sleeve 1 having a flanged disc portion 1a at its upper end, a shaft body 2 concentrically accommodated in the sleeve 1, and a nozzle 3. 4, a housing 5 that supports the shaft body 2 and rotatably supports the sleeve 1, and the housing 5 and the sleeve 1
And a motor 6 incorporated between the collar-shaped disc portion 1a of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, on the outer periphery of the lower half of the shaft body 2,
A spiral groove 7a is formed, and a fluid pressure feeding path 8 is formed between the spiral groove 7a and the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve 1. A fluid (liquid crystal) 10 sent from a pipe 9 to the fluid pressure feed passage 8.
Are supplied through the inflow port 11 provided in the shaft body 2. The shaft body 2 rotatably supports the sleeve 1 via a bearing 12 at an upper portion thereof. The cover plate 4 is a packing 13
It is attached to the lower end surface of the sleeve 1 via.

The substrate 14 is placed on the XY table 15, and the fluid 10 discharged from the nozzles 3 can be uniformly applied onto the substrate 14 by the movement of the XY table 15.

Next, the operation of the discharge device having the above structure will be described. In FIG. 1, when the sleeve 1 is not rotated, the fluid 10 is not discharged from the nozzle 3.
Next, when the sleeve 1 is rotated by the motor 6, the fluid 10 is guided by the spiral groove 7a of the shaft body 2 and moves in the fluid pressure feed passage 8 toward the nozzle 3, and is discharged from the nozzle 3 toward the substrate 14. It

As described above, the fluid 10 is discharged while being stirred by the rotation of the sleeve 1. The spiral groove 7a
Depth is set to several microns to several tens of microns. Further, the discharge amount of the fluid 10 can be arbitrarily adjusted by changing the rotation speed of the sleeve 1. Also spiral groove 7
The discharge amount can also be adjusted by changing the groove shape and angle of a.

The second embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is basically similar to the first embodiment except that the spiral groove 7b is formed in the sleeve 1.
It is different from the first embodiment in that it is formed on the inner peripheral surface.

The third embodiment shown in FIG. 4 has a plurality of sets of the discharge devices shown in the first embodiment, and is constructed so that the fluid 10 is distributed and supplied to each discharge device by using a common pipe 9. Is.

The fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is formed basically in the same manner as the first embodiment, but has a temperature sensor 16 for detecting the temperature of the fluid 10, and The difference is that a rotation speed control means 17 for controlling the rotation speed of the motor 6 based on the detected temperature is provided.

The temperature sensor 16 is composed of a thermocouple, is embedded in the lower end of the shaft body 2, and detects the temperature of the fluid 10 near the nozzle 3. The rotation speed control means 17 has a configuration as shown in the control block diagram of FIG. 6, and controls the rotation speed of the motor 6 based on the temperature. Since the viscosity of the fluid 10 changes depending on the temperature and the discharge amount of the fluid 10 changes even if the rotation speed of the sleeve 1 is the same, the rotation speed corresponding to the temperature is commanded to the motor 6 in order to keep the discharge amount constant. There is a need. Therefore, the information on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 16 is used as the rotation speed control means 1
7, the number of revolutions of the motor 6 is controlled by the feedback control as shown in FIG. 6 so that a constant discharge amount can be always obtained regardless of the temperature change.

The fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is basically formed in the same manner as the first embodiment, but is different in that the shaft 2 is provided with a circulation path 18 and an opening / closing valve 19.

When the sleeve 1 is rotated with the on-off valve 19 closed, the fluid 10 causes the fluid 10 to flow through the nozzle 3 as in the first embodiment.
Is discharged from. On the other hand, when the on-off valve 19 is opened, the fluid 10 sent to the vicinity of the nozzle 3 by the fluid pressure feeding path 8 is returned to the upper part through the circulation path 18, so that the fluid 10 from the nozzle 3 is No discharge is done.
Therefore, the discharge amount of the fluid 10 can be controlled by controlling the on-off valve 19 to be turned on and off.

The circulation path 18 and the opening / closing valve 19 may be provided on the sleeve 1 side.

The sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 8 is basically formed in the same way as the first embodiment, but the bearing 12 and the fluid pressure feed passage 8 are formed.
And a sealing means 20 for blocking the invasion of impurities into the fluid 10 is provided.

Specifically, compressed N ₂ gas is provided in the space between the bearing 12 and the fluid pressure feed passage 8 and the gas supply passage 2 is provided in the shaft body 2.
1 to supply the sealing means 20. As a result, the fluid 10 containing no impurities can be discharged from the nozzle 3.

The present invention can be constructed in various modes other than those shown in the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, the shaft 2
Although the sleeve 1 is fixed and the sleeve 1 is rotated, it is also possible to fix the sleeve 1 and rotate the shaft body 2 conversely.

[0025]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a discharge device which can accurately set a small discharge amount and can be constructed compactly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway conceptual view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part thereof.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an essential part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram thereof.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an essential part of a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sleeve 2 Shaft 3 Nozzle 6 Motor (rotational drive means) 7a, 7b Spiral groove 8 Fluid pressure feeding path 9 Pipe (fluid supply means) 11 Inlet (fluid supply means) 16 Temperature sensor 17 Rotation speed control means 18 Circulation path 19 Open / close valve 20 Sealing means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sleeve, a shaft body concentrically housed in the sleeve, a spiral groove provided on an outer peripheral surface of the shaft body or an inner peripheral surface of the sleeve, and the shaft body and the sleeve in the spiral groove forming portion. Between the fluid pressure feed passage, the fluid supply means for supplying fluid to the upstream portion of the fluid pressure feed passage, the nozzle provided at the downstream portion of the fluid pressure feed passage, and the rotation for rotating the sleeve and the shaft body relative to each other. A discharge device comprising: a driving unit. 2. The discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the shaft body is fixed, and the sleeve is rotationally driven by the rotational driving means. 3. The discharge device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of sets of discharge devices are configured so that the fluid is supplied through a common pipe. 4. A temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the fluid in the fluid pressure feed passage, and a rotation speed control means for controlling the rotation speed of the rotation drive means based on the detected temperature of the fluid.
The discharge device according to 2 or 3. 5. The discharge device according to claim 1, further comprising a circulation path for circulating the fluid from a downstream portion to an upstream portion of the fluid pressure feed path, and an opening / closing valve for opening / closing the circulation path. 6. The discharge device according to claim 1, further comprising sealing means for blocking the inflow of impurities into the fluid pressure feeding path. 7. The discharge device according to claim 6, wherein the sealing means is composed of a blocking layer for compressed gas.