JP2010145612A - Droplet jetting head, droplet jetting coating device and method of manufacturing display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a droplet jetting head for surely preventing abnormal jetting caused by impurities. <P>SOLUTION: The droplet jetting head 7 jets a liquid from a nozzle N as the droplets and includes a container 7a having a flow path 7b communicating with the nozzle N to pass the liquid, a plurality of electrodes 7f provided to be arranged in the flow direction of the liquid in the flow path 7b and an insulation body 7g covering the plurality of electrodes 7f. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a droplet ejection head, a droplet ejection coating apparatus, and a display device manufacturing method, and more particularly, to a droplet ejection head that ejects droplets, a droplet ejection coating apparatus including the droplet ejection head, and droplets thereof. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a display device using a spray coating apparatus.

  Droplet spray coating apparatuses are usually used to manufacture various display devices such as liquid crystal display devices, organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display devices, electron emission display devices, plasma display devices, and electrophoretic display devices. .

  This liquid droplet spray coating apparatus includes a liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid droplets from a plurality of nozzles toward a coating target, and the liquid droplet ejecting head causes a plurality of liquid droplets to land on the coating target. First, dot rows having a predetermined pattern are formed, and various coated bodies (for example, color filters) are manufactured.

In such a droplet ejection coating apparatus, when an ejection abnormality occurs due to the presence of impurities such as bubbles or dust in the flow path of the droplet ejection head, a pressure purge is performed to apply pressure to the liquid inside the head. As a result, the impurities are discharged together with the liquid from the nozzle to the outside of the head (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 10-151761 A

  However, simply performing pressure purge as described above, for example, when the impurity is located far from the nozzle, it is difficult to reliably discharge the impurity, and thus an injection abnormality caused by the impurity occurs.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a droplet ejection head, a droplet ejection coating apparatus, and a display device manufacturing method that can reliably prevent ejection abnormality caused by impurities. That is.

  A first feature according to an embodiment of the present invention is a liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid from a nozzle as liquid droplets, the housing having a flow path that communicates with the nozzle and through which the liquid flows, and the liquid flows It is provided with the some electrode provided in the flow path along with the direction, and the insulator which coat | covers a some electrode.

  A second feature according to the embodiment of the present invention is a droplet ejection head that ejects liquid as droplets from a nozzle in the droplet ejection coating apparatus, and has a flow path through which the liquid flows in communication with the nozzle. A liquid droplet ejecting head including a housing, a plurality of electrodes provided in the flow path side by side in a direction in which the liquid flows, and an insulator that coats the plurality of electrodes, and impurities in the flow path are moved to the nozzle In this way, a switching device that switches the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes and a pressurizing mechanism that discharges impurities that have moved to the nozzle from the nozzle by pressurization are provided.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle in a liquid droplet ejecting coating apparatus, the housing having a flow path that communicates with the nozzle and through which the liquid flows. A liquid droplet ejecting head comprising a body, a plurality of electrodes provided in the flow path side by side in a liquid flow direction, and an insulator covering the plurality of electrodes; And a switching device that switches the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes so as to move to a position that does not cause a droplet ejection abnormality.

  A fourth feature according to an embodiment of the present invention is a liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle in a method for manufacturing a display device, and has a flow path through which the liquid flows. Impurities in the flow path are moved to the nozzle with respect to a liquid droplet ejecting head comprising a housing, a plurality of electrodes arranged in the flow path side by side in the liquid flow direction, and an insulator that coats the plurality of electrodes A step of performing control to switch the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes so that the impurities move to the nozzle, a step of discharging the impurities moved to the nozzle by pressure, and a droplet jetting head from which the impurities have been discharged to the application target And a step of applying the coating.

  A fifth feature according to the embodiment of the present invention is a liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle in a method for manufacturing a display device, and has a flow path through which the liquid flows. Impurities in the flow channel are introduced into the flow channel with respect to a liquid droplet ejecting head including a housing, a plurality of electrodes provided in the flow channel in a direction in which the liquid flows, and an insulator that coats the plurality of electrodes. A step of controlling the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes so as to move to a position that does not cause a droplet ejection abnormality in the liquid crystal, and a droplet in which the impurity has moved to a position that does not cause a droplet ejection abnormality in the flow path And a step of applying droplets to the object to be applied by the ejection head.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent injection abnormality caused by impurities.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a droplet spray coating apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an ink application box 3 for applying liquid ink as droplets onto a substrate 2 to be applied, and ink application. An ink supply box 4 for supplying ink to the box 3 is provided. The ink application box 3 and the ink supply box 4 are provided on the upper surface of the gantry 5 so as to be adjacent to each other.

  Inside the ink application box 3, a substrate moving mechanism 6 that moves the substrate 2 while moving the substrate 2 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and an inkjet head unit 8 that includes a droplet ejection head 7 that ejects droplets. A unit moving mechanism 9 that moves the inkjet head unit 8 in the X-axis direction, a head maintenance unit 10 that maintains the droplet ejecting head 7, and an ink buffer tank 11 that stores ink are provided.

  The substrate moving mechanism 6 includes a Y-axis direction guide plate 12, a Y-axis direction moving table 13, an X-axis direction moving table 14 and a substrate holding table 15. The Y-axis direction guide plate 12, the Y-axis direction moving table 13, the X-axis direction moving table 14, and the substrate holding table 15 are formed in a flat plate shape and are stacked on the upper surface of the gantry 5.

  The Y-axis direction guide plate 12 is fixed to the upper surface of the gantry 5. On the upper surface of the Y-axis direction guide plate 12, a plurality of guide grooves 12a are provided along the Y-axis direction. These guide grooves 12a guide the Y-axis direction moving table 13 in the Y-axis direction.

  The Y-axis direction moving table 13 has a plurality of protrusions (not shown) that engage with the respective guide grooves 12a on the lower surface, and is movable on the upper surface of the Y-axis direction guide plate 12 in the Y-axis direction. Is provided. On the upper surface of the Y-axis direction moving table 13, a plurality of guide grooves 13a are provided along the X-axis direction. These guide grooves 13a guide the X-axis direction moving table 14 in the X-axis direction. Such a Y-axis direction moving table 13 is moved in the Y-axis direction along each guide groove 12a by a moving mechanism (not shown) using a feed screw, a drive motor, or the like.

  The X-axis direction moving table 14 has a plurality of protrusions (not shown) that engage with the respective guide grooves 13a on the lower surface, and is movable on the upper surface of the Y-axis direction moving table 13 in the X-axis direction. Is provided. The X-axis direction moving table 14 moves in the X-axis direction along each guide groove 13a by a moving mechanism (not shown) using a feed screw, a drive motor, or the like.

  The substrate holding table 15 is fixedly provided on the upper surface of the X-axis direction moving table 14. The substrate holding table 15 includes an adsorption mechanism (not shown) that adsorbs the substrate 2, and the substrate 2 is fixed and held on the upper surface by the adsorption mechanism. For example, an air suction mechanism is used as the suction mechanism.

  The unit moving mechanism 9 includes a pair of support columns 16 erected on the upper surface of the gantry 5, an X-axis direction guide plate 17 connected between the upper ends of the support columns 16 and extending in the X-axis direction, and the X A base plate 18 is provided on the axial guide plate 17 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction and supports the inkjet head unit 8.

  The pair of support columns 16 are provided so as to sandwich the Y-axis direction guide plate 12 in the X-axis direction. A guide groove 17a is provided on the front surface of the X-axis direction guide plate 17 along the X-axis direction. The guide groove 17a guides the base plate 18 in the X-axis direction. The base plate 18 has a protrusion (not shown) that engages with the guide groove 17a on the back surface, and is provided on the X-axis direction guide plate 17 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction. The base plate 18 moves in the X-axis direction along the guide groove 17a by a moving mechanism (not shown) using a feed screw, a drive motor, or the like. The ink jet head unit 8 is attached to the front surface of the base plate 18.

  The inkjet head unit 8 includes a droplet ejection head 7 that ejects a plurality of droplets, and a support mechanism 19 that is provided on the base plate 18 and supports the droplet ejection head 7 so as to be movable.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the droplet ejecting head 7 includes a rectangular parallelepiped casing 7a (see FIG. 1), an ink chamber 7b as a flow path formed in the casing 7a, and a wall of the ink chamber 7b. A diaphragm 7c that forms a part of the ink chamber 7b (in FIG. 2), a piezoelectric element 7d provided on the diaphragm 7c corresponding to the ink chamber 7b, and a nozzle (penetrating) that communicates with the ink chamber 7b. A nozzle plate 7e having a hole (N), a plurality of electrodes 7f provided in the ink chamber 7b arranged in the direction in which the liquid flows, and an insulator 7g for coating these electrodes 7f.

  A plurality of ink chambers 7b are arranged in the casing 7a in the longitudinal direction of the casing 7a, and a plurality of piezoelectric elements 7d are arranged on the diaphragm 7c so as to correspond to the ink chambers 7b. The diaphragm 7c is formed in a plate shape, and the piezoelectric element 7d functions as an actuator. The nozzles N are formed on the plurality of nozzle plates 7e at a constant pitch interval. In addition, each electrode 7f is provided at a predetermined pitch P on the wall surface of the ink chamber 7b for each ink chamber 7b. This pitch P is set to a pitch capable of moving the impurity K based on the average size of the impurity K and the like.

  Note that a part of the portion of the housing 7a that faces the ink chamber 7b is formed of a light-transmitting material such as glass. Each electrode 7f and insulator 7g are also formed of a light-transmitting material. As a result, the inside of the ink chamber 7b can be imaged from the outside of the head. Therefore, when impurities K such as bubbles and dust are present in the ink chamber 7b, the light is transmitted from the outside of the head through the part having translucency. The impurity K can be observed. In addition, the insulator 7g is made of a material resistant to ink, and protects the electrode 7f from the ink. Air bubbles are gas bubbles such as air in the ink.

  Here, since the diaphragm 7c is deformed by driving each piezoelectric element 7d, the volume of the ink chamber 7b is increased or decreased according to the deformation of the diaphragm 7c. In response to this, ink in the ink chamber 7b is ejected from the nozzle N as droplets. Specifically, each piezoelectric element 7d contracts when a voltage is applied, moves the diaphragm 7c upward, and changes the shape of the diaphragm 7c. At this time, the pressure in the ink chamber 7b becomes negative, and ink is replenished from the ink buffer tank 11 into the ink chamber 7b. Thereafter, when the applied voltage to the piezoelectric element 7d becomes zero, the diaphragm 7c returns to the original state. At this time, the inside of the ink chamber 7b is compressed and ink is ejected from the nozzle N as droplets.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the support mechanism 19 is fixed to the base plate 18. The support mechanism 19 includes a Z-axis direction moving mechanism that moves the droplet ejecting head 7 in the Z-axis direction, a Y-axis direction moving mechanism that moves the droplet ejecting head 7 in the Y-axis direction, and the droplet ejecting head 7. and a θ-direction rotating mechanism that rotates in the θ direction. Thereby, the droplet ejecting head 7 can move in the Z-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and can rotate in the θ-axis direction.

  The head maintenance unit 10 is provided on the upper surface of the gantry 5 on an extension line in the moving direction of the inkjet head unit 8 and spaced from the Y-axis direction guide plate 12. The head maintenance unit 10 includes a cleaning unit 10 a that cleans the droplet ejecting head 7 and a detection unit 10 b that detects impurities K such as bubbles and dust existing in the droplet ejecting head 7.

  The cleaning unit 10a automatically cleans the droplet ejecting head 7 in a state where the droplet ejecting head 7 is stopped at the standby position facing the cleaning unit 10a. When a pressure purge is performed in which pressure is applied to the ink inside the head and the impurities K are discharged from the nozzle N together with the ink, the ink discharged by the pressure purge is received by the cleaning unit 10a.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the detection unit 10b includes an imaging unit 31 that captures an image of the inside of the ink chamber 7b from a translucent portion of the housing 7a, and a Z-axis movement mechanism that moves the imaging unit 31 in the Z-axis direction. 32. The detection unit 10b moves the imaging unit 31 in the Z-axis direction by the Z-axis moving mechanism 32 to sequentially capture the inside of the ink chamber 7b, and transmits each captured image to the control unit 24a.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the ink buffer tank 11 is provided on the upper surface of the gantry 5, and utilizes a water head difference (water head pressure) between the ink liquid level stored in the ink buffer tank 11 and the nozzle surface of the droplet ejection head 7. Then, the ink level (meniscus) of the nozzle tip is adjusted. This prevents ink leakage and ejection failure.

  Inside the ink supply box 4, an ink tank 20 for containing ink is detachably provided. The ink tank 20 is connected to the droplet ejection head 7 via the ink buffer tank 11 by a supply pipe 21 such as a tube or a pipe. That is, the droplet ejection head 7 receives ink supply from the ink tank 20 via the ink buffer tank 11.

  A pressure mechanism 22 that applies pressure to the ink inside the ink tank 20 is connected via a pressure tube 23 such as a tube or a pipe. When the pressure purge is performed by the pressurizing mechanism 22, the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b is discharged from the nozzle N by pressurization. Note that a pressurizing pump or the like is used as the pressurizing mechanism 22.

  A control unit 24 is provided inside the gantry 5. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 24 is provided with a control unit 24 a that controls each part of the liquid droplet ejection coating apparatus 1 and an electrode controller 24 b that controls the polarity of each electrode 7 f of the liquid droplet ejection head 7. Yes. This control unit 24 functions as a switching device.

  The control unit 24a includes a CPU that centrally controls each unit, a memory that stores application information and various programs for ejecting droplets, a head controller that controls the droplet ejection head 7, and the like. The control unit 24a performs the movement of the Y-axis direction movement table 13, the movement of the X-axis direction movement table 14, the movement of the base plate 18, the droplet ejection of the droplet ejection head 7, and the like based on the application information and various programs. In addition, an instruction for switching the polarity of each electrode 7f is given to the electrode controller 24b.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the electrode controller 24b is a controller that controls the polarity of each electrode 7f. The electrode controller 24b manages, for example, six electrodes 7f as one group, and sequentially switches the polarity of each of the six electrodes 7f for each group. Accordingly, the electrode lines A to F of the electrode controller 24b are connected to the six electrodes 7f for each group. Such an electrode controller 24b uses a plurality of polarity switching patterns when performing polarity switching.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, there are six polarity switching patterns indicating combinations of polarities to be given to the electrode lines A to F, and they are switched at every STEP (step). In FIG. 4, the polarity switching pattern is shown for each STEP, + is a positive electrode,-is a negative electrode, and 0 is GND.

  In STEP 1, a polarity switching pattern in which the polarity is “+, +, 0, −, −, 0” in order from the electrode line A to the electrode line F is selected, and each electrode 7 f is connected to each electrode 7 through the electrode lines A to F. In STEP 2, a polarity switching pattern having a polarity of “0, +, +, 0, −, −” in order from the electrode line A to the electrode line F is selected, and each electrode line A to F is It is applied to the electrode 7f. Similarly, in STEP3, the polarity switching pattern "-, 0, +, +, 0,-" is selected, and in STEP4, the polarity switching pattern "-,-, 0, +, +, 0" is selected. In STEP5, the polarity switching pattern of "0,-,-, 0, +, +" is selected, and in STEP6, the polarity switching pattern of "+, 0,-,-, 0, +" is selected. In STEP 7, the polarity switching pattern of “+, +, 0, −, −, 0” selected in STEP 1 is selected again, and thereafter the selection is repeated in the same manner as described above.

  Here, the principle of movement of the impurity K such as bubbles will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, when a positive (+) voltage is first applied to the electrode 7f in the vicinity of the impurity K, the impurity K or the ink around it is negative. Polarize to. Thereafter, the electrodes are sequentially switched for each STEP as described above, and the position of the electrode 7f having a positive polarity is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Along with this, the negatively (-) polarized impurity K moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Based on this principle, the impurity K moves to the vicinity of the nozzle N, and the impurity K is discharged from the nozzle N to the outside of the head by the pressure purge by the pressurizing mechanism 22. The impurities K to be discharged are dielectrics such as bubbles and dust (foreign matter).

  As described above, the electrode controller 24b moves the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b to the nozzle N, that is, the vicinity of the nozzle N (a position that can be reliably discharged by pressure purge) according to the selected polarity switching pattern. The polarity of each electrode 7f is sequentially switched. Here, the polarity of each electrode 7f is sequentially switched so that the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b is moved to the vicinity of the nozzle N. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b is changed. The polarity of each electrode 7f is sequentially switched so as to move to a position in the ink chamber 7b where the droplet ejection abnormality does not occur (for example, a position on the opposite side of the nozzle N that hardly affects the ejection of the droplet). May be.

  The polarity switching of each electrode 7f may be performed so that the impurity K is moved to the nozzle N regardless of the position of the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b, or the position of the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b is grasped. The impurity K may be moved to the nozzle N according to the position. When switching the polarity according to the position of the impurity K, the control unit 24a specifies the position of the impurity K from the image in the ink chamber 7b imaged by the imaging unit 31, and starts from the specified position of the impurity K. A polarity switching pattern for moving the impurity K is selected, and an instruction is given to the electrode controller 24b. In this case, the impurity K can be moved to the nozzle N more quickly than in the case where the polarity is switched regardless of the position of the impurity K.

  Next, a droplet application operation (droplet application process) performed by the above-described droplet spray coating apparatus 1 will be described. The control unit 24a of the droplet spray coating apparatus 1 executes a droplet coating process based on various programs. This droplet coating process includes an impurity K discharging process.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the inside of the ink chamber 7b of the droplet ejecting head 7 is imaged by the imaging unit 31 of the detection unit 10b (step S1), and impurities K such as bubbles are present in the ink chamber 7b from the captured image. Is determined (step S2). At this time, the impurity K is observed, and the position and size of the impurity K are confirmed. The droplet ejecting head 7 is in the standby position, and the imaging unit 31 is moved by the Z-axis moving mechanism 32 to change the relative position with respect to the droplet ejecting head 7 and capture an image of the entire ink chamber 7b.

  If it is determined that there is an impurity K in the ink chamber 7b (YES in step S2), the impurity K is moved (step S3). At this time, the electrode controller 24b sequentially switches the polarity of each electrode 7f so as to move the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b to the vicinity of the nozzle N. Thereby, the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b moves to the vicinity of the nozzle N.

  Thereafter, a pressure purge is performed by the pressurizing mechanism 22 (step S4), and the process returns to step S1. Due to this pressure purge, the impurity K that has moved to the vicinity of the nozzle N is discharged from the nozzle N to the outside of the head. If the impurity K cannot be discharged even after repeating steps S1 to S4 a predetermined number of times, the apparatus is stopped, an error is notified, and necessary measures such as head replacement and ink refilling are taken. Is made possible.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no impurity K in the ink chamber 7b (NO in step S2), application by the droplet ejecting head 7 is performed (step S5). The droplet ejection head 7 is controlled based on the application information by the control unit 24a, and ejects droplets onto the substrate 2 on the substrate holding table 15 for application.

  More specifically, the control unit 24a controls each moving mechanism based on application information (e.g., a setting value of the injection position), moves the Y-axis direction moving table 13, the X-axis direction moving table 14, and the base plate 18, The droplet ejecting head 7 is moved from the standby position to a position facing the substrate 2, and the support mechanism 19 is controlled based on the application information to stop the droplet ejecting head 7 at a predetermined position. Thereafter, the control unit 24a controls the movement mechanism based on the application information (application pattern data, drive waveform data, etc.), moves the Y-axis direction movement table 13, and controls the liquid droplet ejection head 7 in addition to the liquid ejection head 7. An ejection operation for ejecting droplets toward the substrate 2 by the droplet ejection head 7 is performed. The droplet ejecting head 7 ejects ink from each nozzle N as droplets, causes the droplets to land on the moving substrate 2, sequentially forms dot rows, and applies a predetermined coating pattern.

  As described above, before the above-described droplet application, the impurities K in the ink chamber 7b are moved to the vicinity of the nozzle N, and the impurity K is discharged from the nozzle N by pressure purge. Since K is discharged from the inside of the head, it is possible to eliminate jetting abnormalities such as deterioration in landing accuracy and non-jetting due to impurities K in the head. As a result, quality improvement and yield improvement can be realized. Also, if the presence / absence of the impurity K is confirmed and the discharge process is performed before coating, it is possible to prevent an abnormal injection, thereby improving the process reliability.

  Further, by providing the imaging unit 31 that can image the inside of the ink chamber 7b, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of the impurity K from the captured image, so that the discharge process is not performed when the impurity K does not exist. Therefore, useless processing can be omitted, and as a result, manufacturing time can be shortened. In addition, since the position of the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b can be grasped from the captured image, the polarity can be switched according to the position of the impurity K. For example, it is determined whether or not the impurity K has moved to the nozzle N from the position of the impurity K, and when the impurity K has not moved to the nozzle N, the polarity switching is repeated before the pressure purge, thereby ensuring more certainty. The impurity K can be moved to the vicinity of the nozzle N.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of electrodes 7f are provided in the ink chamber 7b as a flow path through which the ink flows and arranged in the direction in which the liquid flows, and further, the insulation covering the electrodes 7f is provided. By providing the body 7g, it is possible to move the impurities K such as bubbles existing in the ink chamber 7b. For example, the impurity K can be moved to the vicinity of the nozzle N, or can be moved to a position in the ink chamber 7b where a droplet ejection abnormality does not occur. Thereby, when the impurity K is moved to the vicinity of the nozzle N, the impurity K can be easily discharged from the nozzle N by pressure purge, and as a result, the injection abnormality caused by the impurity K can be reliably prevented. Can do. Furthermore, even when the ink chamber 7b is moved to a position where no abnormal ejection of droplets occurs, the abnormal ejection caused by the impurities K can be reliably prevented.

  That is, by moving the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b to the nozzle N and discharging the impurity K from the nozzle N by pressurization, the impurity K can be reliably discharged from the nozzle N. The ejection abnormality caused by the impurity K can be reliably prevented, and the impurity K in the ink chamber 7b is moved to a position in the ink chamber 7b where the ejection abnormality of the droplet does not occur. Abnormalities can be reliably prevented.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the above-described embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine the component covering different embodiment suitably. Moreover, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although various numerical values are mentioned, those numerical values are illustrations and are not limited.

  In the above-described embodiment, the portion of the housing 7a on which the electrodes 7f are provided is formed of a light-transmitting material. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the opposite side of the portion is It may be made of a light-transmitting material, and the portion where the imaging unit 31 can image the inside of the ink chamber 7b only needs to be formed of a light-transmitting material. Note that when the portion of the housing 7a on which the electrodes 7f are not provided is formed of a light-transmitting material, the imaging unit 31 is connected to the ink chamber 7b via the electrodes 7f and the insulator 7g. Since the inside is not imaged, it is not necessary to form each electrode 7f and the insulator 7g using a light-transmitting material, and the degree of freedom of the material to be used can be improved.

1 is an external perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a droplet spray coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a droplet ejection head, a detection unit, and a control unit included in the droplet ejection coating apparatus illustrated in FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the movement of impurities in the liquid droplet ejecting head shown in FIG. 2. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the polarity switching of the electrode in the movement of the impurity in the droplet ejecting head shown in FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of a droplet application process performed by the droplet spray coating apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Droplet spray application apparatus, 7 ... Droplet jet head, 7a ... Housing | casing, 7b ... Ink chamber (flow path), 7f ... Electrode, 7g ... Insulator, 22 ... Pressurization mechanism, 24 ... Control unit (switching) Device), 24a ... control unit, 24b ... electrode controller, 31 ... imaging unit, N ... nozzle

Claims (9)

A droplet ejection head that ejects liquid as droplets from a nozzle,
A housing having a flow path through which the liquid flows in communication with the nozzle;
A plurality of electrodes arranged in the flow path side by side in the direction in which the liquid flows;
An insulator covering the plurality of electrodes;
A liquid droplet ejecting head comprising:   The liquid droplet ejecting head according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the casing that faces the flow path is formed of a light-transmitting material. A liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle, the housing having a flow path that communicates with the nozzle and through which the liquid flows, and the liquid flow head that is arranged in the flow path along the direction in which the liquid flows A liquid droplet ejecting head comprising a plurality of electrodes and an insulator that coats the plurality of electrodes;
A switching device that switches the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes so as to move impurities in the flow path to the nozzle;
A pressurizing mechanism for discharging the impurities moved to the nozzle by pressurization from the nozzle;
A droplet spray coating apparatus comprising: A liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle, the housing having a flow path that communicates with the nozzle and through which the liquid flows, and the liquid flow head that is arranged in the flow path along the direction in which the liquid flows A liquid droplet ejecting head comprising a plurality of electrodes and an insulator that coats the plurality of electrodes;
A switching device that switches the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes so as to move impurities in the flow path to a position in the flow path that does not cause abnormal ejection of the droplets;
A droplet spray coating apparatus comprising: The portion of the housing that faces the flow path is formed of a material having translucency,
5. The droplet spray coating apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an imaging unit configured to capture an image of the inside of the flow path from the portion of the housing that faces the flow path. The switching device is
A controller that identifies the position of the impurity from the image in the flow path captured by the imaging unit, and that selects a polarity switching pattern for moving the impurity in the flow path from the identified position of the impurity;
An electrode controller that switches the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes according to the polarity switching pattern selected by the control unit;
The droplet spray coating apparatus according to claim 5, comprising: A liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle, the housing having a flow path that communicates with the nozzle and through which the liquid flows, and is arranged in the flow path side by side in the direction in which the liquid flows Control for switching the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes so as to move the impurities in the flow path to the nozzle with respect to a liquid droplet ejecting head including a plurality of electrodes and an insulator covering the plurality of electrodes. A process of performing
Discharging the impurities moved to the nozzle from the nozzle by pressurization;
Applying droplets to an application object by the droplet ejecting head from which the impurities are discharged;
A method for manufacturing a display device, comprising: A liquid droplet ejecting head that ejects liquid as liquid droplets from a nozzle, the housing having a flow path that communicates with the nozzle and through which the liquid flows, and the liquid flow head that is arranged in the flow path along the direction in which the liquid flows With respect to a liquid droplet ejecting head including a plurality of electrodes and an insulator that coats the plurality of electrodes, the impurities in the flow path are moved to a position in the flow path where the liquid droplet ejection abnormality does not occur. A step of performing control to switch the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes,
Applying the droplets to the application object by the droplet ejecting head moved to the position where the impurities do not cause abnormal ejection of the droplets in the flow path;
A method for manufacturing a display device, comprising: The portion of the housing that faces the flow path is formed of a material having translucency,
In the step of performing the control, the inside of the flow path is imaged from the portion facing the flow path in the housing, the position of the impurity is identified from the imaged image in the flow path, and the identified impurity is 9. The polarity switching pattern for moving impurities in the flow path from a position is selected, and the polarity of each of the plurality of electrodes is switched according to the selected polarity switching pattern. Method of manufacturing the display device.

Images