KR100841621B1 - Liquid crystal dropping device which can confirm liquid crystal residual quantity - Google Patents

Abstract

The liquid crystal dropping apparatus of the present invention is for checking the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container at the time of dropping. The liquid crystal dropping means for dropping the liquid crystal directly on the substrate by filling the liquid crystal and the liquid crystal dropping on the substrate And a control means for calculating the total loading amount dropped on the substrate by the dropping amount and the dropping frequency, and checking the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal dropping means by subtracting the calculated total loading amount from the amount of the filled liquid crystal.

Liquid crystal dropping, liquid crystal container, liquid crystal remaining amount, control unit, dropping quantity, dropping frequency

Description

Liquid crystal dropping device which can confirm liquid crystal residual quantity {A LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPENSING APPARATUS HAVING CONFIRMING FUNCTION OF REMAINDER OF LIQUID CRYSTAL}

1 is a cross-sectional view of a general liquid crystal display device.

2 is a flowchart showing a conventional method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.

3 is a view showing liquid crystal injection of a conventional liquid crystal display device.

4 is a view showing a liquid crystal display device manufactured by the liquid crystal dropping method according to the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device by the liquid crystal dropping method.

6 is a view showing a basic concept of the liquid crystal dropping method.

Figure 7 is a view showing the structure of the liquid crystal dropping apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 7 (a) is a view of the liquid crystal dropping and Figure 7 (b) is a view of the liquid crystal dropping.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the structure of the main controller of FIG.

9 is a flow chart showing a method for measuring the liquid crystal residual amount of the liquid crystal container according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

101: liquid crystal panel 103, 105: substrate                 

107: liquid crystal 120: liquid crystal dropping device

122: case 124: liquid crystal container

128: spring 130: solenoid coil

132: magnetic rod 134: gap adjustment unit

136: needle 141,142: coupling portion

143: needle seat 144: discharge hole

146: outlet 150: power supply

152: gas supply unit 154: flow control valve

160: main control unit 162: once loading amount setting unit

163: dropping count detection unit 166: liquid crystal remaining amount calculating unit

168: output unit 169: alarm unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal dropping device, and in particular, a liquid crystal dropping method capable of improving the dropping efficiency of expensive liquid crystals by calculating a dropping amount of a liquid crystal dropped on a substrate and grasping the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container when the liquid crystal is dropped. Relates to a device.

Recently, with the development of various portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, and notebook computers, there is a growing demand for flat panel display devices for light and thin applications. Such flat panel displays are being actively researched, such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), FED (Field Emission Display), VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display), but mass production technology, ease of driving means, Liquid crystal display devices (LCDs) are in the spotlight for reasons of implementation.

LCD is a device for displaying information on the screen using the refractive anisotropy of the liquid crystal. As shown in FIG. 1, the LCD 1 is composed of a lower substrate 5 and an upper substrate 3 and a liquid crystal layer 7 formed between the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3. The lower substrate 5 is a drive element array substrate. Although not shown in the figure, a plurality of pixels are formed on the lower substrate 5, and a driving element such as a thin film transistor (hereinafter referred to as TFT) is formed in each pixel. The upper substrate 3 is a color filter substrate, and a color filter layer for real color is formed. In addition, a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed on the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3, respectively, and an alignment film for aligning liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 7 is coated.

The lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 are bonded by a sealing material 9, and a liquid crystal layer 7 is formed therebetween by a driving element formed on the lower substrate 5. Information is displayed by controlling the amount of light passing through the liquid crystal layer by driving the liquid crystal molecules.

The manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device can be largely divided into a driving element array substrate process of forming a driving element on the lower substrate 5, a color filter substrate process of forming a color filter on the upper substrate 3, and a cell process. However, the manufacturing process of such a liquid crystal panel will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

First, a plurality of gate lines and data lines arranged on the lower substrate 5 to define a pixel region are formed by a driving element array process, and the gate line and the data are formed in each of the pixel regions. A thin film transistor which is a driving element connected to the line is formed (S101). In addition, the pixel electrode is connected to the thin film transistor through the driving element array process to drive the liquid crystal layer as a signal is applied through the thin film transistor.

In addition, the upper substrate 3 is formed with a color filter layer and a common electrode of R, G, B to implement the color by the color filter process (S104).

Subsequently, an alignment film is applied to the upper substrate 3 and the lower substrate 5, respectively, and then the alignment control force or surface fixing force (ie, the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer formed between the upper substrate 3 and the lower substrate 5). In order to provide a pretilt angle and an orientation direction, the alignment layer is rubbed (S102 and S105). Subsequently, a spacer is disposed on the lower substrate 5 to maintain a constant cell gap, and a sealing material 9 is applied to an outer portion of the upper substrate 3, and then the lower substrate 5 is disposed. And the upper substrate 3 by applying pressure (S103, S106, S107).

On the other hand, the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 is made of a large area glass substrate. In other words, a plurality of panel regions are formed on a large area glass substrate, and a TFT and a color filter layer, which are driving elements, are formed in each of the panel regions. Must be processed (S108). Thereafter, the liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal panel processed as described above through the liquid crystal inlet, and the liquid crystal inlet is encapsulated to form a liquid crystal layer. Then, the liquid crystal display is manufactured by inspecting each liquid crystal panel (S109 and S110). .

The liquid crystal is injected through the liquid crystal inlet formed in the panel. At this time, the injection of the liquid crystal is made by the pressure difference. 3 shows an apparatus for injecting liquid crystal into the liquid crystal panel. As shown in FIG. 3, a container 12 filled with liquid crystal is provided in a vacuum chamber 10, and a liquid crystal panel 1 is positioned on an upper portion thereof. The vacuum chamber 10 is connected to a vacuum pump to maintain a set vacuum state. In addition, although not shown in the drawing, an apparatus for moving the liquid crystal panel is installed in the vacuum chamber 10 to move the liquid crystal panel 1 from the upper part of the container 12 to the container, thereby forming an injection hole formed in the liquid crystal panel 1. 16) is brought into contact with the liquid crystal 14 (this method is referred to as a liquid crystal dipping injection method).

As described above, when nitrogen (N ₂ ) gas is supplied into the vacuum chamber 10 while the injection port 16 of the liquid crystal panel 1 is in contact with the liquid crystal 14, the vacuum degree of the chamber 10 is reduced. The liquid crystal 14 is injected into the panel 1 through the injection hole 16 by the pressure difference between the pressure inside the liquid crystal panel 1 and the vacuum chamber 10 and the liquid crystal is completely filled in the panel 1. The liquid crystal layer is formed by sealing the injection hole 16 with a sealing material (this method is called vacuum injection of liquid crystal).

However, the method of forming the liquid crystal layer by injecting liquid crystal through the injection hole 16 of the liquid crystal panel 1 in the vacuum chamber 10 as described above has the following problems.

First, the liquid crystal injection time to the panel 1 is long. In general, the distance between the driving element array substrate and the color filter substrate of the liquid crystal panel is very narrow, such as several μm, so that only a very small amount of liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal panel per unit time. For example, when manufacturing a liquid crystal panel of about 15 inches takes about 8 hours to completely inject the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal panel manufacturing process is lengthened by the long-term liquid crystal injection, the manufacturing efficiency is lowered.

Second, the liquid crystal consumption rate is high in the liquid crystal injection method as described above. Of the liquid crystals 14 filled in the container 12, the amount injected into the liquid crystal panel 1 is a very small amount. On the other hand, the liquid crystal reacts with the gas when exposed to the atmosphere or a specific gas, and is degraded by impurities introduced upon contact with the liquid crystal panel 1. Therefore, even when the liquid crystal 14 filled in the container 12 is injected into the plurality of liquid crystal panels 1, the liquid crystal 14 remaining after the injection must be discarded. This leads to an increase in manufacturing cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing, and an object thereof is to provide a liquid crystal dropping apparatus for directly dropping liquid crystal onto a large-area glass substrate including at least one liquid crystal panel.

Still another object of the present invention is to calculate the total loading amount based on one dropping amount and the dropping frequency dropping on the substrate and subtract this calculated dropping amount from the total amount of the liquid crystal filled in the liquid crystal dropping device to It is to provide a liquid crystal dropping device capable of measuring the residual amount of liquid crystal remaining in the device.

In order to achieve the above object, the liquid crystal dropping device according to the present invention is a liquid crystal container filled with a liquid crystal and gas is supplied to the upper portion to apply pressure to the liquid crystal, a case accommodating the liquid crystal container, and a lower portion of the liquid crystal container. And a needle seat having a discharge hole for discharging the liquid crystal of the liquid crystal container and inserted into the liquid crystal container so that the liquid crystal container can be vertically moved. A spring is installed at one end and the other end contacts the discharge hole of the needle sheet. A needle that opens and closes a discharge hole of a needle sheet, a solenoid coil and a magnetic rod that are mounted on the needle and generate magnetic force as the power is applied, and move the needle to the upper portion, and installed on the magnetic rod, A gap adjusting unit for adjusting a gap between the needles and a lower portion of the liquid crystal container, At least one panel comprising a nozzle dropping on a substrate, a first coupling portion coupled to the liquid crystal container and a second coupling portion coupled to the nozzle to combine the liquid crystal container and the nozzle, the first coupling The second and second coupling parts are detachably formed, and a coupling part in which a needle sheet is positioned between the first coupling part and the second coupling part, a power supply part for supplying power to the solenoid coil, and gas to the liquid crystal dropping means. The drop amount calculated by the amount of the liquid crystal filled in the liquid crystal dropping means by calculating the dropping amount of the liquid crystal set on the substrate by controlling the gas supply unit and the power supply and gas supply unit to supply It is composed of a main control unit for measuring the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal dropping means by subtracting.

The main controller includes a one time drop amount setting unit for setting a single drop amount of liquid crystal dropped on a substrate, and a drop count calculation unit for calculating the number of drop times of the liquid crystal by measuring the number of times of power applied to the solenoid coil from the power supply unit. And a total loading amount calculating unit for calculating a total loading amount of the liquid crystal based on the set dropping amount and the calculated drop number, and subtracting the calculated total loading amount from the total amount of the liquid crystal filled in the liquid crystal dropping means. It consists of a liquid crystal residual amount calculation unit for calculating the residual amount.

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In order to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional liquid crystal injection method such as the liquid crystal dipping method or the liquid crystal vacuum injection method, a method proposed in recent years is a liquid crystal layer forming method by the liquid crystal dropping method. The liquid crystal dropping method does not inject the liquid crystal by the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the panel, but directly drops and dispenses the liquid crystal onto the substrate, and uniformly spreads the liquid crystal dropped by the bonding pressure of the panel. The liquid crystal layer is formed by distribution. Since the liquid crystal dropping method directly drops the liquid crystal onto the substrate for a short time, the liquid crystal layer formation of the large area liquid crystal display device can be performed very quickly, and only the required amount of liquid crystal is directly dropped onto the substrate. Since it is possible to minimize the consumption of the liquid crystal display device has the advantage that can significantly reduce the manufacturing cost.

4 is a view showing a basic concept of the liquid crystal dropping method. As shown in the figure, in the liquid crystal dropping method, before the lower substrate 105 and the upper substrate 103 on which the driving element and the color filter are formed, respectively, the liquid crystal 107 is droplet-shaped on the lower substrate 105. Dropping The liquid crystal 107 may be dropped on the substrate 103 on which the color filter is formed. In other words, the substrate to be the liquid crystal dropping method in the liquid crystal dropping method can be either a TFT substrate or a CF substrate. However, when the substrates are bonded, the substrate on which the liquid crystal is dropped must be placed at the bottom.

In this case, a sealing material 109 is applied to the outer region of the upper substrate 103 to apply pressure to the upper substrate 103 and the lower substrate 105 so that the upper substrate 103 and the lower substrate 105 are bonded together. At the same time, droplets of the liquid crystal 107 are spread out by the pressure to form a liquid crystal layer having a uniform thickness between the upper substrate 103 and the lower substrate 105. In other words, the biggest feature of the liquid crystal dropping method is that the liquid crystal 107 is previously dropped on the lower substrate before the panel 101 is bonded, and then the panel is bonded by the sealing material 109.

The liquid crystal display device manufacturing method to which the above liquid crystal dropping method is applied is shown in FIG. 5. As shown in the figure, TFT and color filter layers, which are driving elements, are formed on the lower substrate 105 and the upper substrate 103 through the TFT array process and the color filter process (S201 and S202). The TFT array process and the color filter process are the same as those of the conventional manufacturing method shown in FIG. In particular, since the liquid crystal dropping method is applied in the manufacturing method, it can be usefully used in a larger glass substrate, for example, a large area glass substrate having an area of 1000 × 1200 mm ² or more compared with the conventional manufacturing method.

Subsequently, after the alignment film is applied to the lower substrate 105 on which the TFT is formed and the upper substrate 103 on which the color filter layer is formed, rubbing is performed (S202 and S205), the liquid crystal panel region of the lower substrate 105 is formed. 107 is dropped and a sealing material 109 is applied to the liquid crystal panel outer region of the upper substrate (S203, S206).

Thereafter, pressure is applied while the upper substrate 103 and the lower substrate 105 are aligned, and the upper substrate 105 and the lower substrate 103 are bonded together by a sealing material 109 and at the same time the application of pressure is applied. The liquid crystal 107 dropped by this is spread evenly over the whole panel (S207). Through this process, a plurality of liquid crystal panels having a liquid crystal layer are formed on glass substrates (lower substrates and upper substrates) having a large area. The glass substrates are processed and cut and separated into a plurality of liquid crystal panels. By inspecting, a liquid crystal display device is produced (S208, S209).

Comparing the difference between the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device to which the liquid crystal drop method shown in FIG. 5 is applied and the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device to which the conventional liquid crystal injection method shown in FIG. 2 is applied, the difference between the vacuum injection and the liquid crystal drop of the liquid crystal and In addition to the difference in the processing time of the large-area glass substrate it can be seen that there are other differences. That is, in the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device to which the liquid crystal injection method shown in FIG. 2 is applied, the injection hole must be sealed with an encapsulant after the liquid crystal is injected through the injection hole, but in the manufacturing method to which the liquid crystal drop method is applied, the liquid crystal is directly dropped on the substrate. This eliminates the need for sealing of these inlets. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 2, in the manufacturing method to which the liquid crystal injection method is applied, since the substrate contacts the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal is injected, the outer surface of the panel is contaminated by the liquid crystal, thus requiring a process for cleaning the contaminated substrate. In the manufacturing method in which the liquid crystal dropping method is applied, since the liquid crystal is directly dropped on the substrate, the panel is not contaminated by the liquid crystal, and as a result, the cleaning process is unnecessary. As described above, the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device by the liquid crystal dropping method is made of a simple process by the manufacturing method by the liquid crystal injection method, so that not only the manufacturing efficiency can be improved but also the yield can be improved.

In the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device in which the liquid crystal dropping method is introduced as described above, the most important factors for accurately forming the liquid crystal layer to a desired thickness are the position of the liquid crystal to be dropped and the amount of liquid crystal dropping. In particular, since the thickness of the liquid crystal layer has a close relationship with the cell gap of the liquid crystal panel, the accurate dropping position and the dropping amount of the liquid crystal are very important factors for preventing defects of the liquid crystal panel. Therefore, there is a need for a device for dropping the correct amount of liquid crystal at the correct position, the present invention provides such a liquid crystal dropping device.

6 is a view showing the basic concept of dropping the liquid crystal 107 on the substrate (large area glass substrate) 105 using the liquid crystal dropping apparatus 120 according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the liquid crystal dropping device 120 is installed on the upper portion of the substrate 105. Although not shown in the drawing, the liquid crystal is filled in the liquid crystal dropping device 120 to fill a predetermined amount on the substrate.

Typically, the liquid crystal is dropped onto the substrate in the form of droplets. Since the substrate 105 moves at a set speed in the x and y directions, and the liquid crystal dropping device discharges the liquid crystal at a set time interval, the liquid crystal 107 dropped on the substrate 105 at regular intervals in the x and y directions. Is placed. Of course, the liquid crystal dropping substrate 105 may be fixed and the liquid crystal dropping apparatus 120 may move in the x and y directions to drop the liquid crystal at a predetermined interval. However, in this case, since the droplet-shaped liquid crystals are shaken by the movement of the liquid crystal dropping device 120, an error may occur in the dropping position and the dropping amount of the liquid crystal. Therefore, the liquid crystal dropping device 120 is fixed and the substrate 105 is moved. It is desirable to.

7 is a view showing a liquid crystal dropping apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 7 (a) is a cross-sectional view of the liquid crystal dropping and Figure 7 (b) is a cross-sectional view of the liquid crystal dropping.

As shown in the figure, in the liquid crystal dropping device 120, a cylindrical liquid crystal container 124 is accommodated in the case 122. The liquid crystal container 124 is made of polyethylene and the liquid crystal 107 is filled therein, and the case 122 is made of stainless steel so that the liquid crystal container 124 is formed therein. It is stored. In general, polyethylene is mainly used as the liquid crystal container 124 because it is easy to form a container having a desired shape because of its excellent moldability and does not react with the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal 107 is filled. However, since the polyethylene is weak in strength, it is easy to be deformed by a weak external shock. In particular, when polyethylene is used as the liquid crystal container 124, the container 124 may be deformed to drop the liquid crystal 107 in the correct position. Since it is not present, the case 122 is made of stainless steel having high strength. The gas supply pipe 153 connected to the external gas supply unit 152 is formed on the upper portion of the liquid crystal container 124. Gas such as nitrogen is supplied from the external gas supply unit 152 through the gas supply pipe 153 to apply pressure to the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal is dropped by filling the gas into a region where the liquid crystal is not filled in the liquid crystal container 124. .

The liquid crystal container 124 may be formed of a metal such as stainless steel. In this case, since the liquid crystal container 124 is not deformed by an external impact, the outer case 122 is not necessary. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal dropping device 120 can be reduced. As such, when the liquid crystal container 124 is formed of metal, it is preferable to apply a fluorine resin film therein to prevent the filled liquid crystal 107 from causing a chemical reaction with the metal.

An opening (not shown) is formed at the lower end of the case 122. When the liquid crystal container 124 is accommodated in the case 122, a protrusion (not shown) formed at a lower end of the liquid crystal container 124 is inserted into the opening to couple the liquid crystal container 124 to the case 122. Be sure to In addition, the protrusion is coupled to the first coupling portion 141. Although not shown in the drawings, a nut is formed on the protrusion and a bolt is formed on one side of the first coupling part 141, so that the protrusion and the first coupling part 141 are fastened by the nut and the bolt.

A nut is formed at the other end of the first coupling part 141, and a bolt is formed at one end of the second coupling part 142 to fasten the first coupling part 141 and the second coupling part 142. . In this case, a needle sheet 143 is positioned between the first coupling part 141 and the second coupling part 142. The needle seat 143 is inserted into the nut of the first coupling part 141 and the first coupling part 141 and the second coupling part 142 when the bolt of the second coupling part 142 is inserted and fastened. Are coupled between. A discharge hole (not shown) is formed in the needle sheet 143 so that the liquid crystal 107 filled in the liquid crystal container 124 is discharged through the discharge hole through the second coupling part 142.

In addition, a nozzle is coupled to the second coupling part 142. The nozzle is for dropping a small amount of the liquid crystal 107 filled in the liquid crystal container 124, the bolt is coupled to the nut of one end of the second coupling portion 142 to couple the nozzle to the second coupling portion 142. It comprises a support portion 147 and a discharge port 146 protruding from the support portion 147 to drop a small amount of liquid crystal on the substrate in a drop shape.

A discharge pipe extending from the discharge hole of the needle sheet 143 is formed in the support part 147, and the discharge pipe is connected to the discharge hole 146. Typically, the outlet 146 of the nozzle has a very small diameter (to adjust the fine liquid crystal dropping amount) and protrudes from the support 147.

The needle 136 is inserted into the liquid crystal container 124 so that one end thereof contacts the needle sheet 143. In particular, since the end portion of the needle 136 in contact with the needle sheet 143 has a conical shape, the end portion is inserted into the discharge hole of the needle sheet 143 to block the discharge hole.

In addition, a spring 128 is mounted at the other end of the needle 136 positioned in the upper case 126 of the liquid crystal dropping device 120, and a magnetic rod 132 having a gap adjusting unit 134 attached thereon. ) Is installed. The magnetic rod 132 is made of a ferromagnetic material or a soft magnetic material, the outside of the cylindrical solenoid coil 130 is installed. The solenoid coil 130 is connected to the power supply unit 150 and is supplied with power. As the power is applied, magnetic force is generated in the magnetic rod 132.

The needle 136 and the magnetic rod 132 are provided at regular intervals (x). When power is supplied from the power supply unit 150 to the solenoid coil 130 to generate a magnetic force on the magnetic rod 132, the needle 136 contacts the magnetic rod 132 by the magnetic force. When the supply is stopped, it is restored to its original position by the elasticity of the spring 128 installed at the end of the needle 136. The discharge hole formed in the needle sheet 143 is opened or closed by the vertical movement of the needle 136. The end of the needle 136 and the needle seat 143 is repeatedly contacted as power is supplied to the solenoid coil 130 and stopped. Due to such repeated contact, the end of the needle 136 and the needle seat 143 are exposed to a constant impact, so there is a possibility of breakage. Therefore, it is preferable that the end of the needle 136 and the needle sheet 143 is formed of a material resistant to impact, for example, cemented carbide, to prevent breakage due to impact.

As shown in FIG. 7 (b), as the discharge hole of the needle sheet 143 is opened, the gas (ie, nitrogen gas) supplied to the liquid crystal container 124 pressurizes the liquid crystal to form a liquid crystal 107 from the nozzle. This begins to drop. At this time, the amount of the liquid crystal 107 is dropped depends on the time that the discharge hole is opened and the pressure applied to the liquid crystal, the open time is the interval (x) of the needle 136 and the magnetic rod 132, the solenoid coil It is determined by the magnetic force of the magnetic rod 132 generated by the 130 and the tension of the spring 128 provided on the needle 136. The magnetic force of the magnetic rod 132 may be adjusted according to the number of windings of the solenoid coil 130 installed around the magnetic rod 132 or the size of the power applied to the solenoid coil 130, and the needle 136 and the magnetic rod ( The interval x of the 132 can be adjusted by the gap adjusting unit 134 provided at the end of the magnetic rod 132.

The flow rate control valve 154 is provided in the gas supply pipe 153 for supplying gas from the gas supply unit 152 to the liquid crystal container 124. The flow control valve 154 supplies gas into the liquid crystal container 124 according to a control signal applied from the main controller 160 to apply a pressure set to the liquid crystal 107 of the liquid crystal container 124.

In addition, the power supply unit 150 is connected to the solenoid coil 130, and the power set to the solenoid coil 130 is supplied according to the control signal of the main controller 150.

The main control unit 160 outputs a control signal to the power supply unit 150 to supply the set power to the solenoid coil 130, and the flow rate so that the pressure set to the liquid crystal 107 of the liquid crystal container 124 is applied. The control valve 154 is controlled to supply gas into the liquid crystal container 124. In addition, the main controller 160 calculates the remaining amount of the liquid crystal 107 remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 on the basis of one dropping amount and the number of dropping progresses up to now.

The remaining amount of the liquid crystal 107 remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 is a very element for preventing the failure of the liquid crystal display device and the efficient use of the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal display device is manufactured.

In general, the liquid crystal container 124 of the liquid crystal dropping device 120 is filled with a limited liquid crystal 107. Therefore, when dropping liquid crystal onto the substrate, after dropping the liquid crystal onto the set number of substrates, the liquid crystal container 124 must be filled with a new liquid crystal 107 again. However, the liquid crystal of the set dripping amount does not always drop on the board | substrate when dripping liquid crystal. A small change may occur in the amount of liquid crystal dropped by factors such as an external environment, and a large difference may occur in the total drop amount and the total drop amount set on the actual substrate by the change of the minute drop amount. For example, when the actual amount of liquid crystal dropping is larger than the set dropping amount, the amount of liquid crystal smaller than the set amount is dropped on the last dropping substrate among the plurality of substrates on which the liquid crystal is dropped by one liquid crystal container 124. As such, when a liquid crystal of less than the set amount is dropped on a specific substrate, when the liquid crystal display device is manufactured, a problem occurs in the black luminance of the liquid crystal display device of the normally black mode and normally In the case of a white mode liquid crystal display, a problem occurs in white luminance.

On the contrary, when the actual liquid crystal drop amount is less than the set liquid crystal drop amount, all liquid crystals filled in one liquid crystal container 124 are dropped and an excessive amount of liquid crystal remains in the liquid crystal container 124. The remaining liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 is exposed to the air when the new liquid crystal is filled, and reacts with the components (especially moisture) in the air to be contaminated. In particular, when the amount of the remaining liquid crystal is larger than the dropping amount dropping on one substrate, the remaining liquid crystal can be dropped on the substrate. Thus, the disposal of the liquid crystal as described above is an obstacle to reducing the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display device. do.

Therefore, even when the drop amount of the liquid crystal is set, the operator should always check the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 to prevent the expensive liquid crystal from being disposed of unnecessarily.

On the other hand, since the liquid crystal container 124 of the liquid crystal dropping device 120 is made of opaque stainless steel or polyethylene, it is impossible for an operator to check the remaining amount of liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container 124 during the dropping process.

However, in the present invention, the main controller 160 automatically checks the remaining amount of the liquid crystal and informs the operator of the remaining amount of the liquid crystal, thereby preventing defects of the liquid crystal display and enabling efficient use of the liquid crystal.

As shown in FIG. 8, the main control unit 160 is based on the one-time drop amount setting unit 162 in which the one-time drop amount of the liquid crystal dropped on the substrate is set, and the number of times the power is applied to the power supply unit 150. The drop count calculation unit 163 calculates the number of drop of the liquid crystal onto the substrate by calculating the vertical movement of the furnace needle 136, and the single drop amount and drop count calculated by the single drop amount calculation unit 162. The total loading amount calculation unit 164 calculates the total loading amount based on the current drop count calculated by the calculation unit 163, and the total loading amount calculation unit 164 in the liquid crystal amount filled in the liquid crystal container 124. The liquid crystal remaining amount calculator 166 calculates the remaining amount of liquid crystal by subtracting the calculated total drop amount, the output unit 168 for outputting various information such as the total amount of loaded liquid and the remaining amount of liquid crystal, and the liquid crystal container 124 remaining in the liquid crystal container 124. The amount of liquid crystal is less than the amount of liquid crystal to be deposited on the remaining number of substrates. When R and the remaining amount of the liquid crystal and then the liquid crystal is dropped on the substrate of the set number of sheets is greater than the amount of liquid crystal is dropped on the substrate of hanmae emitted an alarm consists of alarm unit 169 notifies this to the operator.

The single drop amount of the liquid crystal is set by the operator, and according to the set single drop amount, the main controller 160 controls the flow control valve 154 to adjust the amount of gas supplied to the liquid crystal container 124 and simultaneously supply power. The supply unit 150 is controlled to adjust the amount of power supplied to the solenoid coil 130. At this time, the gap between the needle 136 and the magnetic rod 132 is adjusted and fixed in advance by the operator.

In the drop count detection unit 163, the power supply unit 150 measures the number of times of applying power to the solenoid coil 130, and in the total load calculation unit 164, the liquid crystal container is based on the measured drop count and the single drop amount. At 124, the total loaded amount is calculated. The calculated total drop is subtracted from the amount filled in the liquid crystal container 124 to calculate the remaining liquid crystal amount.

The output unit 168 is for informing the operator of various kinds of information including the liquid crystal remaining amount, and includes various output devices such as a display and a printer such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or an LCD.

As described above, a method of measuring the remaining amount of liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 in the configured liquid crystal dropping apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

First, as shown in the figure, when the one-time loading amount and the dropping position of the liquid crystal through the main control unit 160, the liquid crystal dropping device 120 starts to drop the liquid crystal 107 according to the input information (S301). As the dropping of the liquid crystal 107 proceeds, the main control unit 160 calculates the number of times the power is applied to the solenoid coil 130 through the power supply unit 150 to calculate the number of dropping the liquid crystals up to now (S302). On the basis of the dropping amount and the number of droppings performed, the total dropping amount of the liquid crystals dropped to the present time is calculated (S303).

Subsequently, the remaining amount of the liquid crystal 107 remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 is calculated by subtracting the total loading from the total amount of liquid crystal filled in the liquid crystal container 124 (S304). When the liquid crystal residual amount of the liquid crystal container 124 calculated as described above is smaller than the set liquid crystal residual amount, an alarm is issued to notify an operator to notify the liquid crystal container 124 to fill a new liquid crystal 107 (S305, S306). When the remaining amount of liquid crystal is larger than the set remaining amount, when the dropping of the set number of substrates (all of the liquid crystals filled in the liquid crystal container are dropped) is not completed, the dropping is continued, and when the dropping is completed on the set number of substrates In this case, the operator is alerted to drop the liquid crystal onto the additional substrate (S307).

As described above, the present invention provides a liquid crystal dropping device. In particular, in the present invention, the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container 124 at the time of dropping of the liquid crystal is calculated by calculating the total drop amount of the liquid crystal dropped on the substrate so that the current remaining amount of the liquid crystal can be confirmed. The present invention is not limited to the liquid crystal dropping device having a specific structure. In the above detailed description, although the liquid crystal dropping device having a specific structure is disclosed, the liquid crystal dropping device is merely an example of the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. The liquid crystal dropping device having any structure having the function of checking the remaining amount of liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container, which is the biggest feature of the present invention, can be easily applied by anyone who is engaged in the technical field to which the present invention belongs.

As described above, in the present invention, the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container can be confirmed based on the total amount of liquid crystal dropped on the substrate. Therefore, the remaining amount of the liquid crystal remaining in the liquid crystal container during the loading of the liquid crystal can always be grasped, and as a result, it is possible to prevent expensive liquid crystals from being wasted.

Claims (9)

A liquid crystal container in which a liquid crystal is filled and a gas is supplied to the upper part to apply pressure to the liquid crystal; A case accommodating the liquid crystal container; A needle sheet mounted below the liquid crystal container and having a discharge hole through which liquid crystal of the liquid crystal container is discharged; A needle inserted into the liquid crystal container so as to be movable up and down, and having a spring installed at one end and an up and down movement in contact with the discharge hole of the needle sheet, the discharge hole of the needle sheet being opened and closed; A solenoid coil and a magnetic rod mounted on an upper portion of the needle to generate a magnetic force to move the needle to an upper portion when power is applied; A gap adjusting unit installed at the magnetic bar to adjust a gap between the magnetic bar and the needle; A nozzle mounted below the liquid crystal container to drop the liquid crystal of the liquid crystal container onto a substrate including at least one panel; And A first coupling part coupled to the liquid crystal container and a second coupling part coupled to the nozzle to couple the liquid crystal container and the nozzle, wherein the first coupling part and the second coupling part are detachably formed, and the first coupling part A coupling part between the needle coupling part and the second coupling part; A power supply unit supplying power to the solenoid coil; A gas supply unit supplying gas to the liquid crystal container; And The liquid crystal set on the substrate is dropped by controlling the power supply unit and the gas supply unit, and the liquid crystal dropping amount calculated on the substrate is calculated to subtract the calculated drop amount from the amount of liquid crystal filled in the liquid crystal container to remain in the liquid crystal container. Liquid crystal dropping device consisting of a main control unit for measuring the remaining amount of liquid crystal. The method of claim 1, wherein the main control unit, A single loading amount setting unit for setting a single loading amount of the liquid crystal dropped on the substrate; A drop count calculation unit for calculating a drop count of the liquid crystal by measuring the number of times the power is applied to the solenoid coil by the power supply unit; A total loading amount calculating unit configured to calculate a total loading amount of the liquid crystal based on the set dropping amount and the calculated drop number; And And a liquid crystal residual amount calculating section for calculating the remaining amount of liquid crystal by subtracting the calculated total loading amount from the total amount of liquid crystal filled in the liquid crystal dropping means. The method of claim 2, wherein the main control unit, An output unit for outputting information about the dropping state of the liquid crystal and the remaining amount of the liquid crystal; And And a warning unit for notifying an operator when the remaining amount of liquid crystal is less than the set remaining amount. delete delete delete delete delete delete

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