JPH06308509A - Liquid crystal injecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When injecting liquid crystal into a liquid crystal cell, the portion of the liquid crystal cell immersed in the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is made as small as possible. [Structure] When a preset amount of liquid crystal 9 is stored in the liquid crystal container 7, a rising portion 9a of the liquid crystal 9 is formed on the upper end of a coil spring 10 provided upright in the liquid crystal container 7 due to surface tension. It is formed. After the inside of the liquid crystal cell 4 is evacuated, the portion of the liquid crystal injection port 5 of the liquid crystal cell 4 is immersed in the rising portion 9a of the liquid crystal 9 and the inside of the vacuum chamber 6 is at atmospheric pressure. It is injected into the liquid crystal cell 4 via 5. In this case, the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7
The liquid level detection sensor 14 detects the liquid level of the liquid crystal, and the control circuit 15 controls the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 12 based on this detection signal so that the liquid level of the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is always a predetermined height. Control to be

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal injection method for injecting liquid crystal into a liquid crystal cell.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a liquid crystal panel, generally, two transparent substrates each having transparent electrodes formed on opposite surfaces thereof are bonded to each other via a sealing material, and liquid crystal is sealed between the transparent substrates inside the sealing material. It has a structure.

By the way, in the case of injecting liquid crystal in manufacturing such a liquid crystal panel, as an example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, first, a liquid crystal cell 4 in which two transparent substrates 1 and 2 are bonded to each other with a sealant 3 in between, that is, a liquid crystal cell 4 in which liquid crystal is not sealed is prepared. In this case, a liquid crystal injection port 5 is formed in the central portion of the sealing material 3 at the lower end of the liquid crystal cell 4. Then, the liquid crystal cell 4 is arranged above the liquid crystal container 7 arranged in the vacuum chamber 6, and then a vacuum pump (not shown) connected to the other end of the pipe 8 whose one end is connected to the vacuum chamber 6 is driven. The inside of the liquid crystal cell 4 is evacuated through the liquid crystal injection port 5 by evacuating the inside of the vacuum chamber 6 by. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the liquid crystal cell 4
The lower end of the liquid crystal 9 is immersed in the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 6 is brought to the atmospheric pressure via the pipe 8. Inject into 4. Next, the liquid crystal cell 4 is taken out from the vacuum chamber 6, and then the liquid crystal injection port 5 is sealed with a sealing material (not shown).

[0004]

However, in such a conventional liquid crystal injection method, the entire lower end portion of the liquid crystal cell 4 in which the liquid crystal injection port 5 is formed is immersed in the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7. Therefore, the portion of the liquid crystal cell 4 immersed in the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 becomes considerably larger than the size of the liquid crystal injection port 5. As a result, for example, compared with the case where only the liquid crystal injection port 5 is immersed, the liquid crystal cell 4
If the dust adhering to the outer surface of the substrate and the transparent substrates 1 and 2 are glass substrates, the amount of impurities such as alkali components in the glass that penetrate into the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is considerably large. The liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is easily contaminated,
When this contaminated liquid crystal 9 is injected into the liquid crystal cell 4,
There is a problem that the display quality is degraded. Further, the liquid crystal 9 unnecessarily adheres to the outer surface of the entire lower end portion of the liquid crystal cell 4, but since this is washed with a solvent in a post process, the expensive liquid crystal is wasted considerably, and that much is consumed. However, there was a problem that the cost would be high. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal injecting method capable of making a portion of a liquid crystal cell immersed in liquid crystal in a liquid crystal container as small as possible.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a part of the liquid surface of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is raised by the upper end of a coil spring provided upright in the liquid crystal container, and the liquid crystal rises in the rising portion. The liquid crystal injection port of the liquid crystal cell is dipped, and in this state, the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is injected into the liquid crystal cell through the liquid crystal injection port.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a part of the liquid level of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is raised by the upper end of the coil spring provided upright in the liquid crystal container, and the liquid crystal pouring of the liquid crystal cell is performed on the raised portion of the liquid crystal. Since the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is injected into the liquid crystal cell through the liquid crystal injection port in this state by dipping the inlet, it is possible to minimize the portion of the liquid crystal cell immersed in the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container. it can.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1A shows a schematic structure of a liquid crystal injection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the same reference numerals are given to the same names as those in FIG. 3A, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. With this liquid crystal injection device,
A coil spring 10 is provided upright at a predetermined position in the liquid crystal container 7. When a predetermined amount of the liquid crystal 9 is stored in the liquid crystal container 7, the rising portion 9 of the liquid crystal 9 due to surface tension on the upper end portion of the coil spring 10.
a is formed so that a part of the liquid surface of the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is raised. In this case, since the diameter of the coil spring 10 is larger than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5, the diameter of the raised portion 9 a of the liquid crystal 9 formed at the upper end of the coil spring 10 is larger than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5. Is also becoming larger.

One end of a liquid crystal supply tube 11 is arranged above the liquid crystal container 7. The other end of the liquid crystal supply pipe 11 projects outside the vacuum chamber 6 and is connected to an external liquid crystal container 13 via a solenoid valve 12. A liquid level detection sensor 14 is arranged above the liquid crystal container 7. The liquid level detection sensor 14 emits a laser beam 14a downward and detects the laser beam 14a reflected by the liquid level of the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7, thereby detecting the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7. It is designed to detect the height of the surface. The detection signal of the liquid level detection sensor 14 is supplied to the control circuit 15, and the control circuit 1
Reference numeral 5 controls the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 12 based on this detection signal. Although not shown in the drawings, a vertical movement means such as a motor for holding and moving the liquid crystal cell 4 up and down is provided at a predetermined position in the vacuum chamber 6 above the coil spring 10.

When injecting the liquid crystal 9 into the liquid crystal cell 4 by this liquid crystal injecting device, first, the liquid crystal cell 4 is placed in the vacuum chamber 6 at a predetermined upper limit position, and then the vacuum chamber 6 is placed.
Keep the inside sealed. Next, by driving the vacuum pump connected to the pipe 8 to create a vacuum in the vacuum chamber 6,
The inside of the liquid crystal cell 4 is evacuated through the liquid crystal inlet 5. Next, the liquid crystal cell 4 is moved down by the driving of the vertical moving means such as a motor to the lower limit position. In this state, the coil spring 10 is slightly compressed by the lower end surface of the liquid crystal cell 4, and the portion of the liquid crystal injection port 5 on the lower end surface of the liquid crystal cell 4 is located at the coil spring 10 as shown in FIG.
The liquid crystal injection port 5 of the liquid crystal cell 4 is pressed against the upper end of the liquid crystal cell 4 with a certain amount of pressure so that the rising portion 9a of the liquid crystal 9 is formed at the upper end of the coil spring 10.
Will be immersed in. Then, when the vacuum chamber 6 is brought to atmospheric pressure through the pipe 8, the liquid crystal 9 in the raised portion 9 a is injected into the liquid crystal cell 4 through the liquid crystal injection port 5.

When the liquid level of the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 drops as the liquid crystal 8 is injected into the liquid crystal cell 4, the liquid level detection sensor 14 detects this and the detection signal is sent to the control circuit 15.
Supply to. Then, the control circuit 15 opens the solenoid valve 12 based on this detection signal, whereby the external liquid crystal container 1 is opened.
The liquid crystal 9 in 3 is supplied into the liquid crystal container 7 via the liquid crystal supply pipe 11. Then, when the liquid level of the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 rises to a predetermined height, this is detected by the liquid level detection sensor 14
Detects and supplies a detection signal to the control circuit 15. Then, the control circuit 15 operates the solenoid valve 12 based on this detection signal.
Is closed, whereby the supply of the liquid crystal 9 from the inside of the external liquid crystal container 13 to the inside of the liquid crystal container 7 through the liquid crystal supply pipe 11 is stopped. By repeating such a process, the liquid crystal container 7
The height of the liquid surface of the liquid crystal 9 therein is controlled to be always a predetermined height. Then, when the injection of the liquid crystal 9 into the liquid crystal cell 4 is completed, the liquid crystal cell 4 is taken out of the vacuum chamber 6, and then the liquid crystal injection port 5 is sealed with a sealing material (not shown). The whole process of injection of is completed.

As described above, in this liquid crystal injecting device, a part of the liquid surface of the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is raised by the upper end portion of the coil spring 10 provided upright in the liquid crystal container 7, and the liquid crystal 9 is raised. Since the liquid crystal injection port 5 of the liquid crystal cell 4 is soaked in the raised portion 9a of the liquid crystal cell 4, the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is injected into the liquid crystal cell 4 through the liquid crystal injection port 5 in this state. The part of the liquid crystal container 7 immersed in the liquid crystal 9 can be made as small as possible.
As a result, the amount of impurities such as dust adhering to the outer surface of the liquid crystal cell 4 entering the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 can be considerably reduced, and the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 is contaminated. Therefore, it is possible to prevent deterioration of display quality due to contamination of the liquid crystal 9 as much as possible. Further, since the liquid crystal 9 is unnecessarily attached to only the outer surface of the liquid crystal injection port 5 of the liquid crystal cell 4, even if the liquid crystal 9 is washed with a solvent in a later step, the expensive liquid crystal can be considerably saved. Therefore, the cost can be reduced accordingly. Furthermore, when a plurality of coil springs 10 are arranged at equal intervals in the liquid crystal container 7, the liquid crystal 9 can be injected into the plurality of liquid crystal cells 4 at one time.

In the above embodiment, the diameter of the coil spring 10 is made larger than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5 so that the diameter of the raised portion 9a of the liquid crystal 9 formed at the upper end of the coil spring 10 is the liquid crystal injection port. The width is larger than the width of No. 5, but is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG.
The diameter of the liquid crystal may be smaller than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5 so that the diameter of the raised portion 9a of the liquid crystal 9 formed at the upper end of the coil spring 10 is smaller than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5. However, in this case, the width of the liquid crystal container 7 is made slightly larger than the width of the liquid crystal inlet 5, and the height of the liquid surface when the liquid crystal 9 is fully filled in the liquid crystal container 7 becomes a predetermined height. To Even in this case, if the length of the liquid crystal container 7 is increased to some extent, for example, as shown in FIG.
Not only the liquid level of the liquid crystal 9 can be detected by the liquid level detection sensor 14 and the liquid crystal 9 can be supplied by the liquid crystal supply pipe 11 shown in FIG. It is also possible to make 9 injections.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the liquid crystal injection port 5 of the liquid crystal cell 4 is pressed against the upper end of the coil spring 10 with a certain pressure, the coil spring 10 contracts. , The gap between the lower end surface of the liquid crystal cell 4 and the upper end surface of the side wall of the liquid crystal container 7 becomes smaller, and as a result, the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 near the liquid crystal inlet 5 is closed.
Is raised to a certain extent by the surface tension, and the width of the raised portion 9a becomes larger than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5. Therefore, even if the diameter of the coil spring 10 is made smaller than the width of the liquid crystal inlet 5, the width of the liquid crystal container 7 is made slightly larger than the width of the liquid crystal inlet 5, so that the liquid crystal 9
By making the width of the raised portion 9a larger than the width of the liquid crystal injection port 5, the liquid crystal 9 in the liquid crystal container 7 can be satisfactorily injected into the liquid crystal cell 4 through the liquid crystal injection port 5.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, a part of the liquid surface of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is raised by the upper end of the coil spring provided upright in the liquid crystal container, The liquid crystal injection port of the liquid crystal cell is immersed in the raised portion, and in this state the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is injected into the liquid crystal cell through the liquid crystal injection port, so it is immersed in the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container of the liquid crystal cell. The portion can be made as small as possible, which can prevent the deterioration of the display quality due to the contamination of the liquid crystal as much as possible, and the expensive liquid crystal can be considerably saved, so that the cost can be reduced accordingly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic configuration diagram of a liquid crystal injecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a state when the liquid crystal is injecting.

FIG. 2A is a schematic configuration diagram of a liquid crystal injection device according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a view showing a state when the liquid crystal is injected.

FIG. 3A is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional liquid crystal injection device,
FIG. 6B is a diagram showing the state when the liquid crystal is injected.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Liquid crystal cell 5 Liquid crystal inlet 6 Vacuum tank 7 Liquid crystal container 9 Liquid crystal 9a Raised part 10 Coil spring 11 Liquid crystal supply pipe 12 Solenoid valve 14 Liquid level detection sensor 15 Control circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A part of the liquid surface of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is raised by the upper end portion of a coil spring provided upright in the liquid crystal container, and the liquid crystal injection port of the liquid crystal cell is immersed in the raised portion of the liquid crystal. In this state, the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal container is injected into the liquid crystal cell through the liquid crystal injection port, the liquid crystal injecting method.