The present invention relates to a cleaning device and a cleaning method for cleaning the edge portion of a board in which terminals are formed, such as a flat display panel, and mounting equipment of electronic parts in which the mounting equipment mounts the electronic parts after cleaning the edge portion of the board in which terminals are formed, and a mounting method for the electronic parts thereof.
In recent years for example, a board such as a liquid crystal cell has been developed. The liquid crystal cell ordinarily has a rectangular shaped planar surface, and one or more sides of the board's edge portions are formed with a plurality of terminals located at relatively narrow pitches, for example, at intervals on the order of μm units. This edge portion, in which the terminals of the liquid cell are formed, is mounted with a TCP (Tape Carrier Package), which is an electronic component, through a tape-shaped anisotropic conductive material used as a bonding material.
The liquid crystal cell is configured such that two sheets of glass plate are fastened together through a seal member at a predetermined interval. A liquid crystal is sealed between these glass plates. At the same time, the external surface of each glass plate is attached to a deflecting plate. The liquid crystal cell thus constituted is pressure-contacted with anisotropic conductive material on the upper surface of the edge portion, in which terminals are formed. The TCP is initially temporarily pressure-contacted on this anisotropic conductive material, a more permanent pressure-contacting method is then performed.
However, in a case where the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell is pressure-contacted with the TCP, the edge portion, in which the terminals of the liquid crystal cell are formed and the terminal portion of the TCP are attached, maybe contaminated with dust. Because of the dust, a situation may arise where an insulation failure is brought about between adjacent terminals and between the terminals and the TCP.
Hence, when the TCP is mounted on the liquid crystal cell, as shown by Patent Document 1, cleaning is performed in order to eliminate the dust from the edge portion, in which the terminals of the board are formed, and from the terminal portion of the TCP.
In the case of the liquid crystal cell, a liquid crystal cell dust inspection device having a CCD camera inspects whether or not an excessive amount of dust is attached to the cell. When excessive dust is found, high-pressure air blowing is performed in order to remove the dust.
Excessive dust, located on the terminals of a TCP in an intermittent rotation type conveying device having four arms, is cleaned off in the following way. The TCP is initially delivered to an arm at a first stopping position. The TCP held by the arm is rotated by 90 degrees through a second stopping position. The TCP is further rotated by 90 degrees to a third position in which the terminals of the TCP are cleaned by a rolling brush.
Subsequently, the TCP moves to a fourth stopping position by rotating another 90 degrees from the third position. A CCD camera inspects whether or not excessive dust is still attached to the terminal portion of the TCP. When an excessive amount of dust is no longer attached, the TCP is temporarily pressure-contacted with the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell at the fourth position. If, by any chance, an inappropriate amount of dust is still attached to the terminals of the TCP, the operation is repeated such that the arm holding the TCP is returned to the third stopping position and is cleaned again by the rolling brush. After which, the TCP is conveyed again to the fourth position to repeat the inspection and then potentially be temporary pressure-contacted with the edge portion of liquid crystal cell.
According to the method disclosed in the Patent Document 1, in the case of cleaning the liquid crystal cell, the portion where the dust is attached is cleaned by only performing high-pressure air blowing. Hence, the dust can be removed in a situation where the adhering force of the dust attached to the terminal portion of the liquid crystal cell is weak. However, when the adhering force between the dust and the terminal portion of the liquid crystal cell is relatively strong, the dust cannot be removed by simply using the air blowing method. Therefore, the situation may arise where an insulation failure is brought about due to the remaining dust not removed by the air blowing method.
In addition, according to the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, a CCD camera conducts an inspection as to whether or not an excessive amount of dust is attached to the terminal portion of the TCP. The inspection occurs while the TCP further rotates 90 degrees from the third stopping position and moves to the fourth position.
Since the CCD camera conducts imaging while the TCP is moving, a CCD camera is required having advanced and sophisticated features in order to reliably image the TCP during its movement. The situation may arise where not only the cost becomes excessive, but an increased occurrence of imaging-failure is also brought about due to the complexity of the inspection system.
A rolling brush conventionally performs the cleaning of the TCP. However, in order to remove contaminating dust from the terminal portion of the TCP, simply brushing that portion of the TCP by the rolling brush cannot reliably remove the dust due at least in part to the static electricity generated by the friction resulting from the brushing action. More specifically, even if the brush can temporarily remove the dust, the removed dust is reattached to the terminal or to the brush due to the static electricity. After which, the dust may end up being spread back to the terminal.
Moreover, when the TCP, cleaned by the rolling brush, moves from the third stopping position to the fourth stopping position, if a sufficient amount of dust is detected as not being reliably removed, the brushing operation is repeated. The conveying device is reversed and the arm holding the TCP is returned to the third stopping position. At the third stopping position, the rolling brush performs the cleaning again. Then, the TCP is reconveyed to the fourth stopping position.
Hence, in a case where the dust attached to the terminal portion of the TCP is difficult to remove, the conveying device is reversed so as to repeatedly perform the cleaning by a rolling brush until the TCP is sufficiently clear. Therefore, the cycle time required for mounting the TCP becomes longer. In addition, not only is a deterioration of productivity brought about, but also there is the possibility of damaging the TCP due to repeated brushing by the rolling brush.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a cleaning device of a board and a cleaning method that can rapidly and reliably remove the excessive contaminating dust from the terminal portion of the board in which electronic parts are to be mounted.
Further, based on the problems illustrated above, there is a need in the art for mounting equipment of electronic parts capable of reliably and rapidly mounting electronic parts in which excessive dust is not attached to the board.
In addition, there is a need in the art for a method of mounting electronic parts that reliably removes the contaminating dust from a portion in which terminals of the board are formed when the electronic parts are mounted on the board.
Further, there is a need in the art for mounting equipment of electronic parts in which the dust can be rapidly and reliably removed from the electronic parts mounted on a board.
The cleaning device of the present invention comprises a static brush that brushes the edge portion of the board and removes dust that attaches to and contaminates the edge portion. According to the invention, since the brush for brushing the edge portion (i.e., the portion in which terminals are formed) of the board is a stationary brush, dust attached to the board can be removed without damaging the terminals of the board side. Moreover, the removed dust can be prevented from flying around and adhering to the board again. The present invention may include a brush that brushes the edge portion of the board and removes excessive dust attached to this edge portion, an ion injection device for injecting ionized gas towards a portion to at least contact the edge portion of the board and the brush, and a discharge device capable of absorbing and removing the gas injected toward the brush from the ion injection device. By not only brushing the edge portion (i.e., the portion in which terminals are formed) of the board with a brush, but also by injecting an ionized gas towards that portion, potential build up of static electricity, generated through the brushing by the brush, is removed or diminished. Therefore, contaminating dust attached or solidly fixed to the edge portion of the board can be reliably removed. Further, by removing or reducing the static electricity, even when there would have been a possibility that a static electric discharge could have occured on the board, such a static electric breakdown can be prevented.
Further, part mounting equipment, according to the present invention mounts, electronic parts on an edge portion of the board in which terminals are formed, a part conveying device in which a plurality of part holding portions are integrally provided along a peripheral direction at a predetermined interval and these part holding portions are intermittently driven in a peripheral direction, a part supplying portion for supplying electronic parts successively to each part holding portion of the part conveying device intermittently driven, and an inspection device for inspecting whether or not an excessive amount of contaminating dust is attached to the electronic parts supplied and held by the part holding portion. The inspection occurs at a position where said part holding portion stops due to the intermittent driving of the part conveying device. Since the inspection as to whether or not an excessive amount of dust is attached to the electronic parts is performed at a position in which the conveyance of the electronic parts has stopped, the inspection can be reliably performed with a relatively low cost device.
The liquid crystal cell 1, in which the dust is removed from the edge upper surfaces of the two adjacent sides by the cell cleaning portion 12, is supplied to an adhering portion 13 of the anisotropic conductive material 4. Here, the tape-shaped anisotropic conductive material 4 is respectively attached to the edge upper surfaces of the two sides of the liquid crystal cell 1 along a longitudinal direction. The two sides attached with the anisotropic conductive material 4 of the liquid crystal cell 1 are pressure-contacted with the TCP 5's by a temporary pressure-contacting portion 14, also to be described later. Then, in a formal pressure-contacting portion 15, a formal or more permanent pressure-contacting is conducted in which the heating and hardening of the anisotropic conductive material 4 is performed.
As shown in
The cleaning brush 19 is fixed to a mounting member 20. The mounting member 20 is provided across the width direction at one end (in regards to a longitudinal direction) inside of a box type cleaning case 21, the undersurface of which is opened. The lower end portion of the brush protrudes downward from the undersurface opening of the cleaning case 21. More specifically, the brush 19 is a stationary brush (i.e., fixed brush), which in this configuration is neither rotated nor driven. The width size of the brush 19, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In a state in which an edge portion of the liquid crystal cell 1 is protruding from the side edge of the conveying table 18, and the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell 1 is inserted into the gap 26 at the undersurface of the cleaning case 21 formed by the receiving member 25, the cleaning case 21 is driven by the ball screw shaft 24 along that edge portion. In this way, the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell 1 is brushed and cleaned by the brush 19 provided in the interior of the cleaning case 21. Since the brush 19 is a stationary brush and not a rolling brush, the potential damage to the liquid crystal cell 1 from being brushed by the brush 19, particularly the potential damage to the terminals provided in the liquid crystal cell 1, can be reduced. Moreover, because the brush 19 is a stationary brush, dust removed by brush 19 can be more controlled so as to not fly around the brush 19 in all directions.
The upper external surface of the cleaning case 21 is provided with an ionizer 28 for use as an ion injection device. The ionizer 28 is inclined at a predetermined angle by a holding member 29. The top end portion of this ionizer 28 (located near the cleaning case 21 in
The ionizer 28 is supplied with compressed air by a supply tube (not shown). The ionizer 28 ionizes the compressed air supplied to the ionizer 28. The ionized air is then injected from the injection orifice 28a at the top end of the ionizer 28 towards the top end portion of the brush 19. In this way, even when the brush 19 brushes the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell 1, the ionized compressed air helps to prevent the generation of a static electric charge.
The other end portion (i.e., in regards to a longitudinal direction) of the interior of the cleaning case 21 is provided with a nozzle member 30 that injects compressed air towards the direction of the brush 19. Further, one end portion of the cleaning case 21 is connected to a discharge duct 31, which constitutes a discharge device together with the cleaning case 21. This discharge duct 31 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown), by which the atmosphere in the interior of the cleaning case 21 is drawn through the discharge duct 31. Further, the injecting direction of the air from the nozzle member 30, as shown in
In a state in which the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell 1 ingresses (i.e., enters) into the gap 26 of the undersurface of the cleaning case 21, the cleaning case 21 is driven in a direction shown by an arrow X in
In this way, the nozzle member 30, injecting still further high pressure gas, is provided separately from the ionizer 28. This allows the dust removed from the glass board 2 to be reliably discharged without requiring an increase in the injection pressure of the air supplied by the ionizer 28. Therefore, the generating capacity of the ionized air from the ionizer 28 can be prevented from being reduced. Further, since the injecting direction of the gas from the nozzle member 30 and the ionizer 28 are both set in a direction reverse or opposite to the ingress direction of the glass board 2, a situation in which the dust is blown away and yet adheres again to the glass board 2 can be prevented from occurring.
To clean the adjacent two sides of the liquid crystal cell 1 by the brush 19, the liquid crystal cell 1 is initially positioned by the conveying table 18 so that one side, the side 1a in a longitudinal direction of the liquid crystal cell 1, slots into the gap 26 of the undersurface side of the cleaning case 21. Then, as shown in
When the cleaning of the one side 1a is completed, as shown in
Subsequently, as shown in
When the cleaning of two sides of the liquid crystal cell 1, i.e., the long side 1a and the short side 1b which are both to be temporarily pressure-contacted with the TCP 5's, is completed by the terminal cleaning portion 12, the liquid crystal cell 1 has the anisotropic conductive member 4 attached to the two sides by the adhering portion 13.
Subsequently, the two sides of the liquid crystal cell 1, temporarily attached with the anisotropic conductive member 4, are temporarily pressure-contacted with the TCP 5's by the temporary pressure contacting portion 14. The temporary pressure contacting portion 14, as shown in
Respective holding portions 36 are provided on the top ends of the four arms 35 (shown as just below the arm portion in
At position B, as shown in
The determination result from the image processing portion 41 is outputted to a controller 42. In the case where the TCP 5 is not attached with contaminating dust of more than a predetermined size, the controller 42, according to the determination result, outputs an instruction to have the TCP 5 temporarily pressure-contacted with the edge portion of the liquid crystal cell 1, cleaned by the terminal cleaning portion 12 and attached with the anisotropic conductive member 4, at position C. As a result, at position C the holding portion 36 that retains and holds the inspected TCP 5 descends and releases the TCP 5. The TCP 5 is then temporarily pressure-contacted to the anisotropic conductive member 4 attached to the edge portion upper surface of the liquid crystal cell 1.
In a situation where contaminating dust of more than a predetermined size is attached to the terminal portion of the TCP 5, the controller 42 does not allow the holding portion 36 to descend at position C based upon the determination result from the image processing portion 41. Instead, the holding portion 36 waits at a location above the position C and remains attached to the inspected TPC 5. Subsequently, when the inspected TCP 5 with the contaminated terminal portion reaches position D, through the further 90-degree rotation of the body of rotation 34, the controller 42 releases the retrieval and holding state of the inspected TCP 5 by the holding portion 36, which is positioned at the position D. In this way, the contaminated TCP 5 attached with dust is discarded at position D.
Since whether or not the dust is attached to the TCP 5 is detected at position B, the discarding of a contaminated TCP 5 may be performed at any time while the holding portion 36 moves from position B to position D, with the possible exception of directly above position C.
In this way, the temporary pressure contacting portion 14 discards the contaminated TCP 5 attached with dust of more than a predetermined size at the position D, and temporarily pressure contacts the next TCP 5, which in this example is not attached with dust, with the liquid crystal cell 1 at position C. Hence, when compared to the conventional case where the removal and inspection of the dust attached to the TCP 5 is repeatedly performed, a cycle time required for the temporary pressure contacting may be shortened, so that an improvement of productivity may be realized.
An imaging inspection as to whether or not contaminating dust is attached to the TCP 5 is performed at position B. That is, in the process of temporarily pressure contacting the TCP 5 with the liquid crystal cell 1 by intermittently driving the four holding portions 36, the CCD camera 39 images the TCP 5 when a holding portion 36 stops. Hence, since the TCP 5 can be imaged during a stopped state and the imaging can be performed without causing defocusing or experiencing other problems associated with trying to image a moving target. Moreover, since the TCP 5 is imaged at a position where it would otherwise stop (i.e., while one of the other arms is temporarily pressure contacting a TCP 5 at position C) there is no need to stop the rotation of the body of rotation 34 purposely for imaging. As a result, no exclusive time for imaging is required, and because of this point also, the cycle time can be a shortened.
A TCP 5 is temporarily pressure contacted at a place, which is attached with the anisotropic conductive member 4, on the liquid crystal cell 1 by the temporary pressure contacting portion 14. The TCP 5 is then formally pressure contacted at the formal pressure contacting portion 15 at a temperature in which the anisotropic conductive member 4 is hardened. In this way, the mounting of the TCP 5 onto the liquid crystal cell 1 is completed.
Another aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to
The top board of the cleaning case 21A in the terminal cleaning portion 12A, as shown in
The brush main body 19a, as shown in
A mounting structure of the brush bracket 42 and the brush holding member 41 will be described next. The brush bracket 42 and the brush holding member 41, as shown in
Whereas the insertion hole 44 of the brush bracket 42 is circular and has approximately the same diameter as the outer diameter of a bolt 43, the insertion hole 45 of the brush holding member 41 has a slender and long hole (i.e., slot or oval) shape oriented along a vertical direction. Consequently, when the bolts 43 are loosened, the bolts 43 (and corresponding brush bracket 42) can be moved up and down along a longitudinal hole edge of the insertion holes 45 of the brush holding member 41. In this way, the mounting position of the brush 19A can be adjusted up and down (i.e., a direction orthogonal to the board surface of the glass board 2, and a direction that places the brush 19A in and out of contact with the glass board 2). Therefore, the brush bracket 42, brush holding member 41, bolts 43, and the like, constitute the positioning device of the brush 19A.
The nozzle 30A will now be described. The nozzle 30A, as shown in
Next, an operation to clean an edge portion will be described, in a longitudinal or traverse direction of the glass board 2, by the terminal cleaning portion 12A constituted as detailed above. When the cleaning case 21A is driven along a direction indicated by the arrow X, shown in
At this time, since friction is caused between the brush 19A and the edge portion of the glass board 2, there is a possibility of generating static electricity. However, as described above, since the brush hair 19b includes conductive fiber, the generation of static electricity can be controlled. In addition, since the frictional portion between the brush 19A and the edge portion of the glass board 2 is injected with ionized compressed air by the ionizer 28A, the generation of static electricity due to the friction is controlled or reduced even further. By controlling the generation of static electricity in this way, once the dust is brushed away from the glass board 2, it is difficult for the dust to adhere again to the glass board 2 and the brush 19A. Therefore, a reliable removal of the dust can be performed. Further, as a static electric charge is not readily generated, a static electric breakdown of the liquid crystal cell 1 can be prevented.
During the cleaning, since compressed air, more highly compressed than the ionized gas of the ionizer 28, is injected from the injection orifice 30c of the nozzle body 30A towards the brush 19A and the discharge pipe 31A, dust removed from the glass board 2 is blown away and reliably discharged. Moreover, the injection orifice 30c, as shown in
Even after the terminal cleaning portion 12A passes along the edge portion of the glass board 2 and completes the cleaning of the edge portion of the glass board 2, the injection of the compressed air by the nozzle body 30A continues to be performed for a predetermined period of time. As a result, even if by chance some dust is attached to the brush 19A, that attached dust can still be blown away. Therefore, when the other edge portion of the glass board 2 is cleaned or the edge portion of the next (i.e., separate) glass board 2 is cleaned, the cleaning ability of the terminal cleaning portion 12A is prevented from being lowered by contaminating dust attached to the brush 19A.
As the cleaning operation is repeatedly performed as described above, wear and abrasion are inevitably generated in the brush hair 19b. If, due to wear and abrasion, the top end location of the brush hair 19b reaches a location higher than the lower edge of the gap 26A, which is the ingress space of the glass board 2, the cleaning of the glass board 2 by the brush hair 19b becomes impossible. To cope with this situation, in the present embodiment the height position of the brush 19A may be adjusted. A jig 47, used for adjustment of the brush 19A, and an adjusting method will be described below.
This jig 47, as shown in
If the top end of the brush hair 19b is located at a position higher than the upper surface of the index portion 47c (i.e., a gap exists between the brush 19A and the index portion 47c), the bolts 43 fixing the brush 19A are loosened and the brush 19A is moved downward (i.e., a direction approaching the glass board 2). The bolts 43 move longitudinally along the hole edges of the insertion holes 45 of the brush holding member 41. When the top end of the brush hair 19b visibly reaches a position abutting against the upper surface of the index portion 47c, the bolts 43 are fastened and the brush 19A is fixed in position. The cleaning of the edge portions of the glass board 2 can now be reliably performed. As compared to the case where there is no height adjusting device for the brush 19A nor any alternative but to replace a worn out brush 19A, a relatively longer term usage of a single brush 19A becomes possible, thereby making it possible to realize a lower operating cost.
Another aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to
The temporary pressure contacting portion 14A, as shown in
The rolling brush 53, as shown in
The cleaning case 54 is formed approximately in the shape of a box, opened upward, so as to enclose the lower portion of the rolling brush 53. The lower side of the cleaning case 54 is provided with a discharge pipe 55a for discharging contaminating dust removed from the TCP 5. The end portion of this discharge pipe 55a is connected to a discharge pump 55b. The discharge pipe 55a and discharge pump 55b constitute a discharge device 55.
The support member 56, as shown in
The ionizer 51, as shown in
The elevating device 52 will be described next. The top end portion of the arm 35A, as shown in
A cylinder 64, disposed above, vertically moves the part holding portion 36A when the part holding portion 36A is in position B, as shown in
Next, an operation for temporarily pressure contacting a TCP 5 with the glass board 2 by the temporary pressure contacting portion 14A, constituted as described above, will be described. First, in the position A shown in
Since friction is occurring between the rolling brush 53 and the TCP 5, there is a possibility of generating static electricity. However, as described above, since the brush hair 53b includes conductive fiber, the generation of static electricity can be controlled. In addition, since the area of the friction between the rolling brush 53 and the TCP 5 is injected with ionized compressed air by the ionizer 51, the generation of static electricity resulting from the friction is controlled even further. By controlling the generation of static electricity in this way, contaminating dust, once brushed away from the TCP 5, does not readily adhere again to the TCP 5 or to the rolling brush 53. Therefore, a reliable removal of dust can be performed. Further, as static electricity is not readily generated, a static electric breakdown of the TCP 5 can be prevented.
When the cleaning is completed, the piston 64a of the cylinder 64 is elevated. The elastic restoring force of the spring members 63 then elevate the part holding portion 36A to the retreat position, separating the rolling brush 53 from the TCP 5. When the part holding portion 36A reaches position C, temporary pressure contacting of the TCP 5 with the liquid crystal cell 1 is performed. At position C, although not illustrated, the upper part of the part holding portion 36A is provided with a cylinder similar to cylinder 64 used at position B. Via this cylinder, the part holding portion 36A is pressed downward from the retreat position. At the same time, by releasing the retrieved and held state of the TCP 5, the TCP 5 is temporarily pressure contacted with the anisotropic conductive member 4 attached to the liquid crystal cell 1. After which, the part holding portion 36A is supplied with another TCP 5 at position A in order to repeat the process through position D.
In this way, TCP 5's can be temporarily pressure contacted with the liquid crystal cell 1 in a condition in which contaminating dust is reliably removed by cleaning. Therefore, compared to the configuration that includes an inspection device that inspects the TCP 5 and a contaminated TCP 5 with dust attached is discarded, a shortening of the cycle time may be achieved. In addition, since the TCP 5 is not discarded, a lower cost may also be achieved.
Accompanying a repeated cleaning operation of TCP 5's performed in this way, there may develop a situation in which wear and abrasion are inevitably generated in the brush hair 53b of the rolling brush 53. To cope with the occurrence of this situation, in the present embodiment the height position of the rolling brush 53 is adjustable. A jig 65, used for adjustment, and an adjusting method will be described below.
This jig 65, as shown in
The positioning method of the rolling brush 53 will be described next. Initially, the position of the rotational shaft 53a is measured by the rotational shaft index portion 65c in the jig 65. In addition, the position of the hair top of the brush hair 53b is measured by the hair top index portion 65d. In this way, the amount of wearing evident for the brush hair 53b can be determined by comparing the results to the case where the brush hair 53b is unused. During measurement, since the position of the hair top of the brush hair 53b can be accurately measured via the pressure sensor 65e, the positioning of the rolling brush 53, described next, can be performed with a high degree of accuracy.
When the measurement by the jig 65 is completed, the positioning of the rolling brush 53 is then performed. By advancing a positioning bolt 60, as shown in
As another positioning method, for example, the hair top index portion 65d in the jig 65 is disposed at a position in which the hair top of the brush hair 53b would reliably contact the TCP 5 in the cleaning position. The positioning bolt 60 elevates the rolling brush 53 until the brush is detected by the pressure sensor 65e. At this point, the elevation of the brush may be considered completed.
The present invention is not to be limited to the above described configurations with reference to the drawings. For example, the following configurations are also included within the scope of the present invention. Moreover, other than the configurations described below, various modifications can be implemented without departing from the technical teachings and subject matter of the invention.
The invention can be applied not only to a situation where a TCP is temporarily pressure contacted with a liquid crystal cell, but also to the case where electronic parts other than a TCP, for example, a semiconductor device and the like, are mounted on a circuit board instead of a liquid crystal cell. To specifically enumerate some of the electronic parts other than the TCP that are available, there are an SOF (System On Film), which mounts the parts such as an IC, and LSI and is much more enhanced in wiring density than the TCP, and COF (Chip On Film). Also available are an FPC (flexible Printed Circuit) which mounts a condenser, a resistor and the like on the film in which a conductive path is printed, and an FPC, which does not mount a condenser, a resistor and the like on the film, but only has an electrical connecting function. The case where these electronic parts are mounted on the liquid crystal cell is also included in the present invention. Further, the case where the above described various electronic parts are mounted on systems other than a liquid crystal cell is also included in the present invention.
Above, the cleaning device is described in relation to the liquid crystal display device, but the cleaning device is not limited to liquid crystal display devices. The cleaning device may also be applicable to the display device of other flat displays such as a plasma display and the like, wherein the same effect can be obtained.
While a CCD camera can be used as an inspection device, a laser beam transmitter/receiver may be used in place of the CCD camera. That is, the laser beam is irradiated at the terminal forming portion of a TCP 5, while the TCP 5 is stopped at a position such as position B. The laser beam transmitter/receiver for receiving the reflected light is disposed, and this laser beam transmitter/receiver may be relatively moved for the TCP, so that the laser beam scans the terminal portion of the TCP. Based upon a change in the amount of light reflecting from the terminal portion by this scan, the system can determine whether or not contaminating dust of more than a predetermined size is attached to the terminal portion of the TCP.
Even though conductive fibers are used for the brush hair material of the brush or the rolling brush in addition to the charge elimination performed by the ionizer as described, the case where, for example, either one or both of the ionizer being omitted or the brush hair comprising non conductive fiber is included within the scope of the invention.
While it is disclosed that the injection direction of the gas by both the ionizer and the nozzle member is in a direction opposing the ingress direction of the board, with regard to either one or both of the ionizer and the nozzle member, the injection direction of the gas may be the same direction as the ingress direction of the board. Further, the shape of the injection orifice of the nozzle member may be changed arbitrarily to suit specific needs. In addition, the case where the nozzle member is omitted is also included within the teachings of the present invention.
While it is described that the part holding portion is moved up and down between the waiting position and the cleaning position, a configuration where the rolling brush side is moved up and down is also included in the subject matter of the invention.
While it is described that the rolling brush is used as the cleaning device of the TCP, a stationary brush, i.e., not rotating, may be used. Further, a brush linearly moving along the surface of the TCP may be used. Similarly, with regard to the brush used in the terminal cleaning portion, a brush linearly moving along the board surface of the glass board and/or a rolling brush may be used.
While it is described that the insertion hole of the brush holding member is in the shape of an elongated hole or slot, conversely the insertion holes on the bracket side may be in the shape of an elongated hole or slot.
While it is described that the positioning of the brush is performed by moving the bolt along the elongated insertion hole, a positioning bolt threadably engaged with the brush holding member can be advanced and retreated so that the brush bracket may be moved up and down. Similarly, this configuration may be the same as the structure shown in the
The present invention is suitable for manufacturing a flat display panel of a liquid crystal display device and the like.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-033613 | Feb 2004 | JP | national |
2004-033614 | Feb 2004 | JP | national |
This application is a Divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 10/588,753 filed on Dec. 20, 2006, and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120. The co-pending application Ser. No. 10/588,753 is a national stage application of PCT/JP2005/002189, filed Feb. 8, 2005. This application also claims priority of Application No. 2004-033613 filed in Japan on Feb. 10, 2004, and Application No. 2004-033614 filed in Japan on Feb. 10, 2004 under 35 U.S.C. §119. The entire contents of all of the above applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10588753 | Dec 2006 | US |
Child | 13015620 | US |