Patent Grant
10866446
The present invention relates to a method of a producing display panel.
A display device that includes a liquid crystal panel for displaying images has been known. In the display device of this kind, the liquid crystal panel is normally in a rectangular shape. A technology for reducing a non-display area to a significantly narrow area is recently established. As disclosed in Patent Document 1, gate drivers are disposed inside pixels to be decentralized in a display area. According to the technology, flexibility in shape design of liquid crystal panels increases and thus liquid crystal panels having irregular shapes with rounded outlines and polygonal outlines (non-rectangular shapes) are provided. The liquid crystal panels having irregular shapes have irregularity not only in overall outlines but also in outlines of display areas, which may be rounded. Such liquid crystal panels are of current interest.
It is difficult to convert existing production facilities to production facilities for the liquid crystal panels having irregular shapes. Production processes and components need to be prepared exclusively for the liquid crystal panels according to the shapes. For example, a process of producing thin film transistor (TFT) array board, a process of producing a color filter (CF) board, a process of bonding the array board and the CF board together, and components are prepared exclusively for each shape of the liquid crystal panel having the irregular shape.
Patent Document 2 is a technical reference related to the present invention.
Patent Document 1: International Publication No. WO2014/069529
Patent Document 2: Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. JP-T-2013-52304
To produce liquid crystal panels in various irregular shapes, specialized production processes and components are required for different shapes, respectively, resulting in problems including high production costs.
Patent Document 2 suggests a technology for altering a size (or a shape) of a liquid crystal panel by cutting the liquid crystal panel having a quadrilateral shape. According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, the liquid crystal panel having the quadrilateral shape is downsized to a liquid crystal panel having a quadrilateral shape in a smaller size but a liquid crystal panel having an irregular shape with a rounded outline cannot be produced.
An object of the present invention is to provide a technology for efficiently producing liquid crystal panels in various irregular shapes.
A method of producing a liquid crystal panel having a non-rectangular outline according the present invention includes a grinding process and a sealing process. The grinding process includes grinding at least one common liquid crystal panel including a liquid crystal layer, a pair of boards opposed to each other to sandwich the liquid crystal layer, and a frame-shaped sealing member that is sandwiched between the boards to fix the boards and surrounds the liquid crystal layer to seal the liquid crystal layer along a processing line defined along the non-rectangular outline to remove a section of the sealing member and to leave a rest of the sealing member. The grinding process further includes forming a sealing member removed processed edge section of the common liquid crystal panel such that the liquid crystal layer is exposed. The sealing member removed processed edge section includes edges of the boards corresponding to the sections of the sealing member removed from the common liquid crystal panel. The sealing process includes applying a sealing resin to the sealing member removed processed edge section to fill a space between the edges of the boards to seal the liquid crystal layer together with the rest of the sealing member. According to the method of producing a liquid crystal panel including the above processes according to the present invention, various irregular shapes of liquid crystal panels can be efficiently produced.
The grinding process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include grinding the common liquid crystal panel that is sandwiched and held in a thickness direction of the common liquid crystal panel along the processing line. The common liquid crystal panel sandwiched and held in the thickness direction can be easily ground along the processing line.
The grinding process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include holding the common liquid crystal panel by a clamping device that includes a pair of holding portion to be sandwiched between the holding portions in the thickness direction. With the clamping device, the common liquid crystal panel can be properly held.
The grinding process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include sandwiching the common liquid crystal panel between protective boards, holding the common liquid crystal panel and the protective boards together, and grinding the common liquid crystal panel together with the protective board along the processing line. By grinding the common liquid crystal panel sandwiched between the protective boards together with the protective board, plate surfaces of the common liquid crystal panel are less likely to be damaged in the grinding process.
The sealing process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include a curing process that includes applying the sealing resin that may be any one of a thermosetting resin, a photo-curable resin, and a thermosetting and photo-curable resin cured by heat and/or light and in an uncured state to the sealing member removed processed edge section and applying the heat and/or the light to the sealing resin to cure the sealing resin in the uncured state. The sealing resin that may be any one of the thermosetting resin, the photo-curable resin, and the thermosetting and photo-curable resin cured by heat and/or light is not cured unless the heat and/or the light is applied. Therefore, the sealing resin can be easily applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section in the sealing process.
The sealing process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include applying the sealing resin to the sealing member removed processed edge section of the common liquid crystal panel that is sandwiched to be under presser in the thickness direction. The curing process may include applying the heat and/or the light to the sealing resin in the common liquid crystal panel that is released from the pressure in the thickness direction. When the sealing resin is applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section of the common liquid crystal panel under the pressure in the thickness direction and the pressure in the thickness direction is canceled, the uncured sealing resin having flowability and applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section is partially drawn into an internal space of the sealing member removed processed edge section to fill the internal space. When the curing process is performed in such a condition, the sealing resin that fills the internal space of the sealing member removed processed edge section is cured. Therefore, the sealing member removed processed edge section can be properly sealed.
The sealing resin used in the sealing process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include different kinds of sealing resins. The sealing process may include applying the sealing resins to the sealing member removed processed edge section to form multiple layers.
The sealing resins used in the sealing process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include an acrylic-based resin that may be directly applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section and an epoxy-based resin that is applied over the acrylic-based resin. With the sealing resins formed on the sealing member removed processed edge section, the sealing member removed processed edge section can have moisture resistance. Therefore, external moisture is less likely to pass through the sealing resins and reach the liquid crystal layer.
The method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include a moisture barrier attaching process that may include attaching a moisture barrier having an elongated shape to at least the sealing member removed processed edge section. The moisture barrier may include a section to cover at least the sealing member removed processed edge section and have moisture resistance and flexibility. With such a moisture barrier attached to the sealing member removed processed edge section, the liquid crystal panel can obtain moisture resistance. Therefore, external moisture is less likely to pass through the sealing resin and reach the liquid crystal layer.
The moisture barrier used in the moisture barrier attaching process may be a glass ribbon.
The at least one common liquid crystal panel may include common liquid crystal panels. The grinding process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include collectively grinding the common liquid crystal panels that are layered in the thickness direction. By collectively grinding the common liquid crystal panels, productivity of the liquid crystal panels improves.
The grinding process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include fixing the common liquid crystal panel together with adhesives disposed between the common liquid crystal panels not to be displaced from each other. The common liquid crystal panels that are fixed together not to be displace from each other can be collectively ground with ease. If the common liquid crystal panels are held by the clamping device, the common liquid crystal panels can be easily positioned relative to the clamping device.
The grinding process of the method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include applying the adhesives to areas of the common liquid crystal panel outside the processing line. The areas in which the adhesives are disposed are removed from the common liquid crystal panel in the grinding process. Therefore, a step for removing the adhesives is not required. Furthermore, the adhesives are less likely to contaminate front and back surfaces of the common liquid crystal panel.
The method of producing a liquid crystal panel may include a mother common liquid crystal panel producing process and a singulation process. The mother common liquid crystal panel producing process may include producing a mother common liquid crystal panel. The mother common liquid crystal panel may include common liquid crystal panels of the at least one common liquid crystal panel. The common liquid crystal panels may be arranged in a matrix. The singulation process may include cutting the mother common liquid crystal panel into the common liquid crystal panels to obtain the common liquid crystal panels. By collectively producing the common liquid crystal panels from the mother common liquid crystal panel, efficiency in production of the liquid crystal panels further improves.
One of the boards of the at least one common liquid crystal panel may be an array board that may include gate drivers. The gate drivers may be monolithically fabricated and disposed to be decentralized inside the frame-shaped sealing member. If the liquid panel includes such an array board, the liquid crystal panel having the non-rectangular outline can be easily produced.
According to the present invention, a technology for efficiently producing liquid crystal panels having various irregular shapes can be provided.
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
First, a configuration of the liquid crystal panel 10 will be described.
More specifically, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
A section of the non-display area A2 closer to one of ends of the liquid crystal panel 10 with respect to the Y-axis direction (on a rectangular section side on the lower side in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The liquid crystal layer 18 is sandwiched between the boards 20 and 30. The liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 18 are substances having optical characteristics that vary according to a change in orientation when an electric field is applied. Alignment films 10A and 10B are formed on inner surfaces of the boards 20 and 30 to orient the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 18 in a specified direction. Polarizing plates 10C and 10D are attached to outer surfaces of the boards 20 and 30, respectively.
The array board 30 includes a support substrate 30A made of glass, thin film transistors (TFTs) 32, and pixel electrodes 34. The TFTs 32 are switching components. The TFTs 32 and the pixel electrodes 34 that are connected to the TFTs 32 are arranged in a matrix on the inner surface of the support substrate 30A (on a liquid crystal layer 18 side). In the array board 20, traces including source traces, gate traces, and capacitance traces are routed to separate the TFTs 32 from one another. On a support substrate 30A, the gate drivers that are monolithically fabricated are disposed to be decentralized in the display area A1. The pixel electrodes 34 are formed from a transparent electrode film made of indium tin oxide (ITO) or zinc oxide (ZnO). An oxide semiconductor is used for active layers of the TFTs 32. The alignment film 10B is formed on the inner surface of the support substrate 30A to cover the TFTs 32 and the pixel electrodes 34. The terminals continued from the gate traces are disposed on the edge section of the rectangular section of the array board 30.
The CF board 20 include CFs 22 in red (R), green (G), and blue (B) arranged in a matrix on an inner surface side (on the liquid crystal layer 18 side) of the support substrate 20A made of glass. On the support substrate 20A, a light blocking layer 23 (a black matrix) is formed to separate the CFs 22 from one another. A common electrode 24 that is formed from a transparent conductive film is formed on the support substrate 20A to cover the CFs 22 and the light blocking layer 23. The alignment film 10A is formed on the inner surface of the support substrate 20A to cover the common electrode 24.
The CF board 20 and the array board 30 are bonded together via a sealing member 40 with the arc-shaped outlines aligned with each other and the edge section of the rectangular section of the array board 30 projecting from the edge of the rectangular section of the CF board 20. The sealing member 40 is formed to surround the liquid crystal layer 18 in the plan view along the outline of the CF board 20 in a semicircular frame-like shape as a whole. The area inside the sealing member 40 is the display area A1.
The sealing member 40 includes primary sealing members 41 that are used in a quadrilateral liquid crystal panel (a common liquid crystal panel) to produce the liquid crystal panel 10 and a secondary sealing member 42 that is additionally applied to the section from which the primary sealing member 41 is removed in a production process of the liquid crystal panel 10, which will be described later. The primary sealing members are known sealing members that are used in regular quadrilateral liquid crystal panels. The primary sealing members 41 may be known sealing members made of ultraviolet curable resin, thermosetting resin, or ultraviolet curable and thermosetting resin. The secondary sealing member 42 will be described in detail later.
In the liquid crystal panel 10, the a reference voltage is applied to the common electrode 24 on the CF board 20. By controlling a voltage applied to the pixel electrodes 34 is controlled by the TFTs 32, a predefined potential difference is created between the common electrode 24 and the pixel electrodes 34 and the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 18 are oriented in the predefined direction.
The liquid crystal panel 10 having the configuration described above and the non-rectangular shape is produced through grinding of the common liquid crystal panel 50 having the rectangular shape into a predefined shape. The method of producing the liquid crystal panel 10 using the common liquid crystal panel 50 will be described.
First, the common liquid crystal panel 50 will be described. The common liquid crystal panel 50 is a common component (a liquid crystal panel) used for producing liquid crystal panels in various irregular shapes. In this embodiment, the common liquid crystal panel 50 is used for producing the liquid crystal panel 10 in the semicircular shape.
The gate drivers 57 extend in the short direction of the common liquid crystal panel 50. The gate drivers 57 are disposed in band-shaped areas that are arranged at intervals in the long direction of the common liquid crystal panel 50. The gate drivers 57 are disposed to be decentralized in the band-shaped areas. The pixel electrodes are arranged in a matrix to be surrounded by the gate traces 55 and the source traces 56. One of the long edge sections of the support substrate 53A is to be defined as the mounting area A3 of the liquid crystal panel 10. Terminals 58 that continue from the gate traces 55 are provided in the long edge section. The array board 53 is bonded to the CF board 52 via the sealing member 54 such that the edge section in which the terminals 58 are provided projects outward from the CF board 52. Sections of the sealing member 54 are to be defined as the primary sealing members 41 in the liquid crystal panel 10.
Next, processes through which common liquid crystal panels 50 are produced will be described. The common liquid crystal panels 50 are collectively produced in a form of a board (a mother common liquid crystal panel producing process), similarly to the regular quadrilateral liquid crystal panels. The common liquid crystal panels 50 are arranged in a matrix within the board. The board that includes the common liquid crystal panels 50 is cut and individual common liquid crystal panels 50 are obtained (a singulation process). In this description, the board that include the common liquid crystal panels 50 arranged in the matrix is referred to as a mother common liquid crystal panel 60. The processes of producing the common liquid crystal panels 50 will be described with reference to
A mother array board 63 includes the array boards 53 that are collectively produced in a matrix form. In the mother array board 63, array laminates are arranged in a matrix on a mother support substrate that is made of glass. The array laminates are laminates that include support substrates of the array boards 53 (30), TFTs 32 formed on the support substrates, pixel electrodes 34, traces including gate traces, and the gate drivers 57. To form the array laminates, similarly to the color filter laminates 52a, a known technology such as a photolithography technology may be used.
Alignment films that are made of polyimide are formed to cover the color filter laminates 52a of the mother CF board 62 and the array laminates of the mother array board 63. Orientation processing such as application of light is performed on each alignment film. The alignment film formed on the color filter laminates 52a turns out to be the alignment films 10A of the CF boards 20 in the liquid crystal panels 10. The alignment film formed on the array laminates turns out to be the alignment films 10B of the array boards 30 in the liquid crystal panels 10.
Bonding of Mother CF Board and Mother Array Board
As illustrated in
The mother common liquid crystal panel 60 prepared as described above is cut and divided into the common liquid crystal panels 50 (the singulation process). In
Scribe lines L1 are for cutting the mother CF board 62 along the short direction of the common liquid crystal panels 50 (the Y-axis direction). Scribe lines L1 are set along the short direction. Scribe lines L2 are for cutting the mother array board 63 along the short direction of the common liquid crystal panels 50 (the Y-axis direction). Scribe lines L2 are set along the short direction. Scribe lines L3 are for cutting the mother CF board 62 along the long direction of the common liquid crystal panels 50 (the X-axis direction). Scribe lines L3 are set along the long direction. Scribe lines L4 are for cutting the mother array board 63 along the long direction of the common liquid crystal panels 50 (the X-axis direction). Scribe lines L4 are set along the long direction. Scribe lines L1 and scribe lines L3 are perpendicular to each other on the mother CF board 62. Scribe lines L2 and scribe lines L4 are perpendicular to each other on the mother array board 63.
The mother common liquid crystal panel 60 is cut into the common liquid crystal panels 50 along scribe lines L1 to L4, which are set as described above, using a specific scribing device (e.g., a scribing device that includes a wheel shaped rotary blade). Scribe lines L5 are set on the mother CF board 62 of the mother common liquid crystal panel 60 for exposing edge sections of the array boards 53 on which the terminals are provided. When the common liquid crystal panels 50 are separated from one another and the edge sections of the CF boards 52 of the common liquid crystal panels 50 are cut off along the scribe lines L5, the common liquid crystal panels 50 that include the array boards 53 with the exposed edge sections are obtained.
The common liquid crystal panels 50 are produced from the mother common liquid crystal panel 60 as described above. Next, a process of producing the liquid crystal panel 10 having the semicircular shape as described above by grinding the common liquid crystal panels 50 will be described.
The liquid crystal panel 10 having the irregular shape is prepared by removing an unnecessary section (a margin) from the common liquid crystal panel 50 having the quadrilateral shape through grinding.
The common liquid crystal panel 50 is sandwiched between dummy boards 64 made of glass (protective substrates) from the front surface side and the back surface side and held by the clamping Jig 70. The dummy boards 64 are used to protect the front and the back surfaces of the common liquid crystal panel 50 from damages during the processing of the common liquid crystal panel 50. Each dummy board 64 has a horizontally-long quadrilateral shape in a plan view similar to the common liquid crystal panel 50. The dummy board 64 has a plate surface that is slightly larger than the plate surface of the common liquid crystal panel 50 and a thickness (a board thickness) which is larger than the thickness (the board thickness) of the common liquid crystal panel 50.
The common liquid crystal panel 50 that is sandwiched between the dummy boards 64 is disposed such that the edges are located inner than the edges of the dummy boards 64. The dummy boards 64 may be temporary attached to the common liquid crystal panel 50 with an ultraviolet curable adhesive. To temporarily attach the dummy boards 64 to the common liquid crystal panel 50 with the adhesive, the adhesive is disposed in the margin of the of the common liquid crystal panel 50 which is eventually removed. By disposing the adhesive in the margin, the surfaces of the common liquid crystal panel 50 after the grinding (the liquid crystal panel 10) is less likely to be stained.
The common liquid crystal panel 50 is positioned relative to the clamping jig 70 using alignment marks, which are not illustrated, while being sandwiched between the dummy boards 64. Furthermore, the common liquid crystal panel 50 is the portions of the clamping jig 70 in the thickness direction and held by the clamping jig 70 while being sandwiched between the dummy boards 64.
As illustrated in
Each of the upper plate 71 and the lower plate 72 has a semicircular shape in a plan view.
The common liquid crystal panel 50 is ground together with the dummy boards 64 along processing line L10. A grinding device (e.g., a device that includes rotary columnar grindstone for grinding an object) is used for the grinding of the common liquid crystal panel 50.
As illustrated in
During the grinding of the common liquid crystal panel 50 together with the dummy boards 64 along processing line L10, the common liquid crystal panel 50, or the panel laminate P (i.e., the common liquid crystal panel 50 sandwiched between the dummy boards 64), is sandwiched between the upper plate 71 and the lower plate 72 of the clamping jig 70. Namely, the common liquid crystal panel 50 is under pressure in the vertical direction. Therefore, even when the margin M including the section of the sealing member 54 is separated from the liquid crystal panel 10 section, air bubbles or foreign substances such as grinding debris are less likely to enter into the liquid crystal layer 51 of the common liquid crystal panel 50 (the liquid crystal layer 18 of the liquid crystal panel 10) inside the sealing member 54.
When the margin M is removed from the common liquid crystal panel 50 through the grinding process, the common liquid crystal panel 50 having the semicircular outline and being held by the clamping jig 70 is obtained. The dummy boards 64 are also processed into a semicircular shape similar to the common liquid crystal panel 50.
Sealing of Liquid Crystal Layer with Secondary Sealing member
After the margin M is removed from the common liquid crystal panel 50 as described above, the section of the sealing member 54 having the quadrilateral frame shape is removed. Therefore, the section of the liquid crystal layer 51 between the CF board 52 and the array board 53 in the common liquid crystal panel 50 is exposed to the outside. A sealing member removed processed edge section 50A of a processed edge of the common liquid crystal panel 50 is formed through the removal of the section of the sealing member 54. To seal the exposed section of the liquid crystal layer 51 between the edge of the CF board 52 and the edge of the array board 53, a sealing member 42 is additionally applied. The sealing member 42 that is additionally applied is referred to as the secondary sealing member 42 in this description. The sections of the sealing member 54 having the frame shape in the common liquid crystal panel 50 which are not removed through the grinding process are referred to as the primary sealing members 41.
The sealing resin R in an uncured state is applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A to surround the liquid crystal layer (the liquid crystal layer 18) together with the primary sealing members 41 that remain without being removed from the sealing member 54. As illustrated in
After the sealing resin R is applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A, ultraviolet rays are applied to the sealing resin R and the sealing resin R is cured (a curing process). It is preferable that the common liquid crystal panel 50 is removed from the clamping jig 70. When the common liquid crystal panel 50 to which the sealing resin R is applied is removed from the clamping jig 70 before the curing, the common liquid crystal panel 50 is released from the pressure in the thickness direction (the pressure is canceled). The uncured sealing resin R that is applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A has flowability. Therefore, a space between the edge of the CF board 52 (the CF board 20) and the edge of the array board 53 (the array board 30) is filled with a part of the uncured sealing resin R which flows into the space. When the sealing resin R is eventually cured, the cured section, which is the secondary sealing member 42, forms the sealing member 40 having the frame shape along the semicircular outline together with the primary sealing members 41.
The process of applying the sealing resin to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A to fill the space between the edges of the boards (the CF board 52 and the array board 53) to seal the liquid crystal layer 51 (the liquid crystal layer 18) together with the rest of the sections of the sealing member (the primary sealing members 41) is referred to as the sealing process.
As described above, the liquid crystal panel 10 having the semicircular shape is produced from the common liquid crystal panel 50 having the rectangular shape using the clamping jig 70.
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The method of producing the liquid crystal panel 110 in this embodiment includes a moisture barrier attaching process in addition to the processes of the first embodiment (including the grinding process and the sealing process). The moisture barrier attaching process includes attaching the moisture barrier to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A.
The moisture barrier 80 is for blocking moisture or liquid that may enters from the outside into the liquid crystal layer 51 in the common liquid crystal panel 50. The moisture barrier 80 is a band shaped moisture resistant member having flexibility. The moisture barrier 80 can be deformed along the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A that includes a curved surface. The moisture barrier 80 may be a ribbon made of glass (“glass-ribbon” manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd.). In this embodiment, a glass ribbon having a thickness of 50 μm and a width of 1.3 mm is used for the moisture barrier.
The acrylic-based resin used for the sealing resin R generally has high ability to seal the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A. However, the acrylic-based resin tends to absorb moisture or liquid. Therefore, the moisture or the liquid from the outside may pass through the sealing resin R and enter into the liquid crystal layer 51. If the moisture enters into the liquid crystal layer 51 (the liquid crystal layer 18), display failure may occur in the liquid crystal panel 110. To properly block the moisture, the moisture barrier 80 is attached to the outer side of the sealing resin R in this embodiment.
If the sealing resin R is a photo-curable (ultraviolet curable) acrylic-based resin, the moisture barrier 80 is attached to the sealing resin R before the sealing resin R that is applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A is cured. With the moisture barrier 80 attached to the sealing resin R, light (ultraviolet ray) is applied to the sealing resin R through the moisture barrier 80. As a result, the sealing resin is cured and the moisture barrier 80 is fixed to the sealing resin R.
The moisture barrier 80 includes a section that covers at least the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A, which is the section of the processed edge of the common liquid crystal panel 50 formed through the grinding, with the section of the sealing member 54 removed such that the liquid crystal layer 51 is exposed. In this embodiment, the moisture barrier 80 is attached to the processed edge of the common liquid crystal panel 50 to entirely cover the processed edge having the semicircular arc shape of the common liquid crystal panel 50 formed through the grinding.
The sealing resin R is applied to the entire area of the processed edge. The moisture barrier 80 is attached to the processed edge of the common liquid crystal panel 50 with the sealing resin R. In this embodiment, the sealing resin R is applied to sections of the edges of the common liquid crystal panel 50 in which the sealing members 54 remain and the liquid crystal layer 51 is not exposed to fix the moisture barrier 80.
As described above, the moisture barrier 80 can be attached to the processed edge of the liquid crystal panel 110 (including the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A). If the adhesiveness of the sealing resin in other embodiments is low, the adhesive may be applied onto the sealing resin R and the moisture barrier 80 may be attached to the sealing resin R.
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The acrylic-based resin R1 (e.g., a photo-curable acrylic resin) used for the sealing resin R has high ability to seal the processed edge (the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A) of the common liquid crystal panel 50. However, the acrylic-based resin R1 tends to absorb moisture or liquid. Therefore, the sealing resin R includes the acrylic-based resin R1 and the epoxy-based resin R2 having high moisture resistance (e.g., a photo-cationic polymerization epoxy resin). The acrylic-based resin R1 is used to fill the space between the CF board 20 (the CF board 52 of the common liquid crystal panel 50) and the array board 30 (the array board 53 of the common liquid crystal panel 50). The epoxy-based resin R2 is used to block the entrance of the moisture or the liquid from the outside into the liquid crystal layer 51 (18).
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the moisture barrier 80 having high moisture resistance is attached to the sealing resin R having a multilayer structure as described above. The liquid crystal panel 210 having such a configuration has higher moisture resistance in comparison to the liquid crystal panel 10 in the first embodiment and the liquid crystal panel 110 in the second embodiment. The moisture barrier 80 is bonded to the epoxy-based resin R2 of the sealing resin R. The moisture barrier 80 is attached to the sealing resin R before the epoxy-based resin R2 is cured. With the moisture barrier 80 attached to the epoxy-based resin R2, light (ultraviolet ray) is applied to the epoxy-based resin R2 through the moisture barrier 80. As a result, the epoxy-based resin R2 is cured and the moisture barrier 80 is fixed to the sealing resin R (the epoxy-based resin R2).
As described above, the sealing resin R may include different kinds of resins and the resins are applied to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A to form multi layers. Alternatively, a combination of a sealing resin having high adhesiveness (high sealing ability) such as an acrylic-based resin R1 described above and a sealing resin having high moisture resistance (high waterproof ability) such as an epoxy-based resin R2 described above may be used. The moisture barrier 80 may be attached to the sealing resin R.
A fourth embodiment will be described with reference to
In this embodiment, three (multiple) common liquid crystal panels 50 are placed on top of one another to be layered in the thickness direction. The common liquid crystal panels 50 are positioned while orientations of the common liquid crystal panels 50 are aligned. Sheets 90 such as slip sheets, resin sheets, and glass plates may be placed among the common liquid crystal panels 50 to protect front and back surfaces of the common liquid crystal panels 50. The sheets 90 may be placed among the dummy boards 64 and the common liquid crystal panels 50.
Each sheet 90 in this embodiment has a rectangular shape in a size about equal to the plate surface of the common liquid crystal panel 50. Corners of the sheet 90 are rounded. When the sheet 90 is placed on the corresponding common liquid crystal panel 50, corners of the common liquid crystal panel 50 are not covered with the sheet 90 and thus are exposed. Adhesives 91 are applied to the exposed corners of the common liquid crystal panel 50 to temporarily attach the corresponding dummy board 64 to the common liquid crystal panel 50 so that they are not displaced from each other. The adhesives 91 in this embodiment are ultraviolet curable type adhesives.
Areas of the common liquid crystal panel 50 in which the adhesives 91 are disposed are outside processing line L10 (a margin M). The adhesives 91 are removed from the common liquid crystal panel 50 together with the margin M in the grinding process. Therefore, a step for removing the adhesives 91 is not required. Furthermore, the adhesives 91 are less likely to contaminate the front and the back surfaces of the common liquid crystal panel 50.
The panel laminate P1 includes three (multiple) common liquid crystal panels 50 that are layered in the thickness direction and a pair of the dummy boards 64 that sandwich the common liquid crystal boards 50 in the vertical direction. The panel laminate P1 in this embodiment includes the sheets 90 that are placed among the common liquid crystal panels 50 and among the common liquid crystal panels 50 and the dummy boards 64 as described above.
To cure the adhesives 91, as illustrated in
In other embodiments, adhesives that may be cured with other method such as thermosetting adhesives may be used.
As illustrated in
The lower plate 72A of the clamping jig 70A in this embodiment has a rectangular shape in a plan view, which is different from the clamping jig 70 in the first embodiment. The size of the lower plate 72A is about equal to the size of the dummy boards 64 (the protective boards). The lower plate 72A includes a groove 76A that is formed in a semicircular arc shape (a U shape) along processing line L10 in an area of the upper surface of the lower plate 72A corresponding to an area outside processing line L10. The groove 76A is formed in a shape to surround the upper plate 74A and processing line L10 in the plan view. Ends of the groove 76A open on a mounting area A3 side of the common liquid crystal panel 50 (a post 73A side). A width of the groove 76A is larger than an outer diameter of a rotary grindstone 93 of a grinding device 92 so that a lower portion of the rotary grindstone 93 can enter the groove 63A.
In the grinding process, the panel laminate P1 held by the clamping jig 70A is ground with the rotary grindstone 93 of the grinding device 92 which moves along the groove 76A. With the rotary grindstone 93 that moves along the groove 76A, the common liquid crystal panels 50 are collectively ground. The upper plate 71A is formed in a semicircular shape. The shape and the size of the upper plate 71A are defined such that the upper plate 71A does not contact the rotary grindstone 93 that moves along the groove 76A.
By performing the grinding process collectively on the common liquid crystal panels 50 that are placed on top of one another, the liquid crystal panel 10 can be efficiently produced.
Not only the grinding process but also the sealing process may be performed collectively on the common liquid crystal panels 50 that are place on top of one another. In this case, it is preferable to use glass plates with a predefined thickness for sheets that are disposed among the common liquid crystal panels 50. The sheets, that is, the glass plates have an even thickness. Because a thickness of the glass plates is normally larger than thicknesses of slip sheets and resin sheets, the sheets that are the glass plates and disposed among the common liquid crystal panels 50 can maintain proper distances among the common liquid crystal panels 50. Therefore, the sealing resin R for sealing the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A is less likely to flow to the sealing member removed processed edge section 50A of the adjacent liquid crystal panel 10 and thus work efficiency in the sealing process improves.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments described in the above sections and the drawings. For example, the following embodiments may be included in technical scopes of the present invention.
(1) In each of the above embodiment sections, the liquid crystal panel having the irregular shape (the non-rectangular shape) with the outline that is in the semicircular shape in the plan view is described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a liquid crystal panel. For example, a liquid crystal panel 310 in
(2) In the grinding process in the first embodiment, the clamping jig 70A used in the fourth embodiment may be used.
(3) In each of the above embodiment sections, the grinding method that uses the grinding device is described. However, other grinding methods and grinding devices may be in the grinding processes.
(4) In each of the above embodiment sections, the common liquid crystal panels having the rectangular plan view shapes are described. However, the present invention is not limited to such common liquid crystal panels. Liquid crystal panels having non-rectangular shapes and including non-rectangular shaped sealing members may be used for common liquid crystal panels to produce liquid crystal panels having various irregular shapes.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-174616 | Sep 2015 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2016/074920 | 8/26/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/038661 | 3/9/2017 | WO | A |
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