a) and 4(b) are diagrams for explaining a lighting test apparatus according to the present invention.
A display panel lighting test apparatus of the present invention includes: a panel holder which holds the display panel in a removable manner; and a holder base on which the panel holder is removably mounted for supplying electric power and an image signal to the panel holder, wherein the panel holder comprises: a mount base on which the display panel is removably mounted; a drive circuit which receives the electric power and the image signal from the holder base and outputs a display panel lighting signal; and a press-fit connection member which is removably attached to the display panel to establish press-fit connection between an electrode terminal of the display panel and a signal terminal of the drive circuit by a resilient force of a resilient member thereof.
The press-fit connection member may include a contact member which brings the electrode terminal of the display panel and the signal terminal of the drive circuit into contact with each other, and the resilient member is a biasing member which applies a pressure to the contact member.
The panel holder may include plural types of panel holders for different types of display panels, and one of the plural types of panel holders which conforms to the display panel to be tested is mounted on the holder base.
The panel holder may have a handle for transportation.
The resilient member may be a compression spring.
A test line of the present invention includes: a panel stocker which stocks a plurality of display panels to be tested; a holder stocker which stocks a plurality of panel holders; a panel mounting section which receives one of the display panels, selects one of the panel holders conforming to the received display panel, and mounts the received display panel on the selected panel holder; a holder base on which the display panel mounted on the panel holder is tested for lighting; a detaching section which detaches the tested display panel from the panel holder; and a recovering section which recovers the panel holder from the detaching section to the holder stocker.
The panel holders may be each adapted to hold the display panel to be tested in a removable manner, the holder base being adapted to hold the selected panel holder in a removable manner, and supply electric power and an image signal to the selected panel holder, the panel holder including: a mount base on which the display panel to be tested is removably mounted; a drive circuit which receives the electric power and the image signal from the holder base and outputs a display panel lighting signal; and a press-fit connection member which is removably attached to the mounted display panel to establish press-fit connection between an electrode terminal of the mounted display panel and a signal terminal of the drive circuit by a resilient force of a resilient member thereof.
The press-fit connection member of the test line may include a contact member which brings the electrode terminal of the mounted display panel and the signal terminal of the drive circuit into contact with each other, and the resilient member is a biasing member which applies a pressure to the contact member.
The plurality of panel holders of the test line may include plural types of panel holders for different types of display panels, and one of the plural types of panel holders which conforms to the display panel to be tested is mounted on the holder base.
The panel holders of the test line may each have a handle for transportation.
The resilient member of the test line may be a compression spring.
With reference to the attached drawings, the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail by way of embodiments thereof. However, it should be understood that the invention be not limited to the embodiments.
A plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as “PDP”) to be produced by a production line according to the present invention includes a plurality of discharge cells disposed in a matrix between two opposed substrates. More specifically, a PDP100 includes a rear substrate assembly 50 and a front substrate assembly 50a in pair as shown
The front substrate assembly 50a includes electrodes X, Y disposed on an inner surface of a glass substrate 11 as extending laterally for causing surface discharge along the substrate surface. These electrodes X, Y are paired to serve as display electrode pairs S for defining display lines. The electrodes X, Y each include an elongated transparent electrode 41 of an ITO thin film having a greater width, and an elongated bus electrode 42 of a metal thin film having a smaller width.
The bus electrode 42 is an auxiliary electrode for ensuring proper electrical conductivity. The electrodes X, Y are covered with a dielectric layer 17, which is in turn covered with a protection film 18. The dielectric layer 17 and the protection film 18 are pervious to light.
The rear substrate assembly 50 includes address electrodes 43 disposed on an inner surface of a glass substrate 21 as extending perpendicularly to the display electrode pairs S, a dielectric layer 25 covering the address electrodes 43, and linear ribs (partition walls) 29 respectively provided between adjacent pairs of address electrodes 43 on the dielectric layer 25. The ribs 29 may be arranged in a grid pattern.
In the rear substrate assembly 50, the ribs 29 partition a discharge space 30 into discharge cells to define sub-pixels (unit light emitting areas) EU, and define the height of the discharge space 30 (or a gap dimension).
Fluorescent layers 28 of three colors R, G, B for full color display respectively cover wall surfaces of the rear substrate assembly 50 each including an upper surface portion of the dielectric layer 25 and side surfaces of the rib 29.
The ribs 29 are each formed of a rib material consisting essentially of a lower melting point glass material, and may be transparent or opaque depending on the type of an additive added to the rib material. The formation of the ribs 29 is achieved by forming a flat lower-melting-point glass layer, forming a cutting mask on the flat glass layer, and patterning the glass layer by a sand blast method.
In matrix display, each line corresponds to a single display electrode pair S, and each row corresponds to a single address electrode 43. Each pixel (picture element) EG is defined by three rows. That is, the pixel EG includes three sub-pixels EU of R, G, B arranged in a line direction.
Wall charges are generated on the dielectric layer 17 for selecting a cell for display by causing opposed discharge (address discharge) between the corresponding address electrode 43 and the corresponding electrode Y. When pulses are alternately applied to the corresponding electrodes X, Y, surface discharge (main discharge) for display occurs in a sub-pixel EU in which the wall charges are generated by the address discharge.
The fluorescent layers 28 are each locally excited by ultraviolet radiation generated by the surface discharge to emit visible light of a predetermined color. The visible light thus emitted passes through the glass substrate 11 to be outputted as display light. Since the ribs 29 are arranged in a so-called stripe pattern, cells in each row in the discharge space 30 are continuous across all the lines in a row direction. Sub-pixels EU in each row emit the same color light.
Next, a production line for the PDP will be described with reference to
First, a glass substrate 11 is transported into a front substrate loading section 101, and elongated transparent electrodes 41 of ITO are formed on a surface of the substrate 11 in a transparent electrode forming section 102 by forming and patterning an ITO film by employing an evaporation method or a sputtering method and an etching method in combination.
Then, bus electrodes 42 of a metal are respectively formed on one-side edges of the transparent electrodes 41 in a bus electrode forming section 103 by employing a printing method or the like.
Subsequently, a dielectric layer 17 and a protection film 18 are formed over the resulting substrate 11 in a dielectric layer forming section 104 and a protection film forming section 105, respectively, whereby a front substrate assembly 50a is provided.
On the other hand, a glass substrate 21 is transported into a rear substrate loading section 106, and address electrodes 43 of a metal are formed on the substrate 21 in an address electrode forming section 107 by employing a printing method or the like. Then, a dielectric layer 25 is formed over the address electrodes 43 in a dielectric layer forming section 108. Further, partition walls 29 are formed on the resulting substrate 21 in a partition wall forming section 109, and fluorescent layers 28 are formed on the resulting substrate 21 in a fluorescent layer forming section 110.
Subsequently, a seal frit material is applied onto a peripheral edge portion of a surface of the substrate 21 in a seal frit forming section 111 by a printing method or the like. Thus, a seal frit is formed on the peripheral edge portion of the substrate 21, whereby a rear substrate assembly 50 is provided.
In turn, the front substrate assembly 50a and the rear substrate assembly 50 are combined together as shown in
Then, a discharge gas is filled in the inside space (cells) in a gas filling section 114, whereby a PDP 100 is provided.
Subsequently, a lighting test is performed on the PDP 100 in a test line of a lighting test section 115 by employing a lighting test apparatus to be described later. If the tested PDP 100 is acceptable, a drive circuit is mounted on the PDP 100 in a circuit incorporating section 116. Thus, a PDP module is provided.
As shown in
The signal terminal portion 15 is a flexible printed circuit (FPC) which includes upper and lower insulation films 55 and an electrically conductive pattern 56 of a copper foil provided between the two insulation films 55. More specifically, the signal terminal portion 15 includes signal terminals 57 formed by exposing distal end portions of the electrically conductive pattern 56 from one of the insulation films 55 for electrical connection to the electrode terminals 53 of the PDP 100.
a) and 4(b) are schematic diagrams for explaining a panel holder 58 of the lighting test apparatus. Particularly,
The panel holder 58 includes a panel mount base 13 for holding the PDP 100 to be tested. A drive circuit 14 is attached to a rear side of the panel mount base 13 for generating signals to turn on the PDP 100 for lighting in the lighting test. The signals generated by the drive circuit 14 are supplied to the PDP 100 via an FPC 91 and the signal terminal portions 15.
The drive circuit 14 may be a drive circuit to be actually used for display or a circuit dedicated for the test.
The signal terminal portions 15 are connected to the PDP 100 by press-fit connection members 19 which press the electrode terminals 53 of the PDP 100 and the signal terminals 57 of the signal terminal portions 15 into contact with each other.
The press-fit connection members 19 are located in positions associated with the electrode terminal blocks 54 (
The panel holder 58 is removably mounted on the holder base 63, and fixed to the holder base 63 by holder fixing portions 61, 62. More specifically, after the panel holder 58 is mounted on the holder base 63, the holder fixing portion 62 is moved in an arrow direction 64 to fix the panel holder 58.
The panel holder 58 further includes a handle for transportation, so that a test operator can transport the panel holder 58.
In
The press-fit connection members 19 each include an upper arm 92 and a lower arm 93, which are supported pivotally about a pivot shaft 94.
The upper arm 92 and the lower arm 93 respectively have an upper jaw 95 and a lower jaw 96 at one-side ends thereof, and a compression spring 97 is attached to the other-side ends thereof. The upper jaw 95 and the lower jaw 96 are biased toward each other by the compression spring 97 for pressing the signal terminals 57 (
A lighting test area 741 is provided in the test line 74. The lighting test area 741 may be located outside the line as shown in
The PDP lighting test to be performed in the line will hereinafter be described.
First, one of PDPs 100 contained in the panel stocker 201 is transported in an arrow direction 75 on the panel feed conveyor 72.
A panel holder 58 conforming to the type (specifications) of the transported PDP 100 is selected from a plurality of panel holders 58 contained in a holder stocker 202, and transported in an arrow direction 205 on a holder feed conveyor 204. The PDP 100 is mounted on the panel holder 58 in a panel mounting position 76a. That is, the PDP 100 is fixed to the panel mount base 13 of the panel holder 58 as shown in
In the test line shown in
It is noted that the panel holder 58 may be mechanically mounted and fixed onto the holder base 63.
In this state, the lighting test is performed on the PDP 100. The electric power and the image signals are supplied to the connector 69 of the panel holder 58 from the holder base 63 via the connector 68. The electric power and the image signals received by the connector 69 are further supplied to the lighting test drive circuit 14, which generates signals (lighting signals) to turn on the PDP 100 for lighting. The lighting signals are supplied to the PDP 100 via the signal terminal portions 15, whereby the PDP 100 is lit. The lighting state of the PDP 100 is visually inspected, or inspected through automatic recognition.
In the test line shown in
In the test line shown in
Where the lot of PDPs 100 to be tested is changed, the pitch and number of the signal terminals 57 of the signal terminal portions 15, of the lighting test apparatus should be changed according to the pitch and number of the electrode terminals 53 of the electrode terminal blocks 54 (
In the display panel lighting test apparatus according to this embodiment, plural types of panel holders 58 are prepared for different types of PDPs 100 which are different in the pitch and number of the terminals of the electrode terminal blocks 54 thereof and the size thereof.
Therefore, the lighting test can be properly performed simply by selecting a panel holder 58 suitable for the PDPs 100 in response to the changeover of the lot of PDPs. In the case of small lot production of various types of PDPs, which requires frequent lot changeover, time required for the lot changeover is significantly reduced, thereby improving the capacity utilization of the lighting test apparatus. Thus, the operating efficiency of the PDP lighting test is improved.
In the embodiment described above, the signal terminals 57 formed by exposing the distal portions of the electrically conductive pattern 56 of the FPC as shown in
(3) Connector pins each having no spring property are provided on the distal end of the FPC 91, and brought into press-fit connection to the electrode terminals 53 by a press-fit connection member 19 having a rubber member capable of evenly pressing the connector pins.
The press-fit connection member 19 is not limited to the aforementioned one, but may be arranged to have a spring property in itself.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-180009 | Jun 2006 | JP | national |