Patent Application
20160211159
The present invention belongs to the technical field of manufacturing of display devices, in particular to a stopper for a substrate cassette and a substrate cassette assembly.
In the manufacturing process of liquid crystal display devices, organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices and the like, substrates are often transferred among different processing equipments. As the substrates are very thin and thus may be damaged easily, they can not be carried directly. Instead, the substrates are placed into a special “substrate cassette” for transportation.
As shown in
The present invention provides, in view of a problem that an existing substrate cassette damages the substrate easily, a stopper for a substrate cassette and a substrate cassette assembly, which may avoid damaging the substrate.
The present invention employs the following technical solution to solve the technical problem: a stopper for a substrate cassette is provided, wherein
the stopper is strip-shaped, and is arranged on an inner side of a mullion of the substrate cassette in a length direction; and
the stopper has a contact surface configured to contact the mullion of the substrate cassette and an exposed surface opposite to the contact surface, and the exposed surface, at least on a side facing the outside of the substrate cassette, is a convex cambered surface.
Both sides of the exposed surface are convex cambered surfaces.
The stopper may further include: a connecting structure configured to connect with the mullion of the substrate cassette.
The connecting structure may include a plurality of through holes configured to provide bolts therein.
The connecting structure may include a clamping structure configured to buckle with the mullion of the substrate cassette.
The stopper may be made of plastic.
The plastic may include polypropylene.
The present invention employs the following technical solution to solve the technical problem: a substrate cassette assembly is provided, and includes:
a substrate cassette, including a multi-layered framework for carrying a substrate, the framework includes a mullion; and
the stopper arranged on an inner side of the mullion of the substrate cassette.
The stopper of the present invention is arranged on the inner side of the mullion of the substrate cassette, so if the position of the substrate is not appropriate, the substrate will collide with the stopper rather than the mullion made of metal, thus avoiding damaging the substrate; meanwhile, the exposed surface, at least on a side facing the outside of the substrate cassette, of the substrate is a convex cambered surface, so if the substrate, when it is placed into the substrate cassette, is not aligned in position, the substrate will collide with the convex cambered surface and slip into the substrate cassette along the convex cambered surface without being damaged.
To make those skilled in the art understand the technical solutions of the present invention better, the present invention will be further described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings by specific implementations.
As shown in
The stopper 2 of this embodiment may be arranged on the inner side (a side facing a space for housing a substrate 9) of the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1, that is, the stopper 2 may be attached onto the inner side of the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1. The stopper 2 may be formed of flexible and elastic material, so the substrate 9, when its position is not appropriate, will collide with the stopper 2 rather than directly colliding with the mullion 11, thus avoiding damaging the substrate 9.
The stopper 2 has a contact surface 21 configured to contact the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1 and an exposed surface 22 opposite to the contact surface 21, and the exposed surface 22, at least on a side facing the outside of the substrate cassette 1, is a convex cambered surface.
In other words, as shown in
Preferably, both sides of the exposed surface 22 are convex cambered surfaces.
In other words, the side of the exposed surface 22, preferably facing the outside of the substrate cassette 1, is also a convex cambered surface, or in other words, the exposed surface 22 is preferably an overall convex cambered surface with a protruded middle part. In this way, it is not necessary to distinguish both sides of the exposed surface 22 from each other when the stopper 2 is mounted, this is very convenient; meanwhile, if the substrate 9, when it is taken out, collides with one side of the stopper 2 for some reasons, the substrate 9 may slide out smoothly as this side of the stopper 2 is also a convex cambered surface.
Preferably, the stopper 2 further includes a connecting structure configured to connect with the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1 and to connect the stopper 2 with the substrate cassette 1. Of course, it is also feasible that the stopper 2 is connected onto the mullion 11 by bonding, soldering and other ways.
Preferably, as one example of the embodiment, the connecting structure may include a plurality of through holes 29 configured to provide bolts therein.
In other words, a plurality of through holes 29 may be formed in the stopper 2, and a plurality of through holes are also provided at corresponding positions on the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1. In this way, the stopper 2 may be fixed onto the mullion 11 just by passing the bolts through the through holes 29 on the stopper 2 and the corresponding through holes on the mullion 11 and fixing the bolts by nuts. Such a connecting structure is convenient for mounting and dismounting, firm in connection and simple in structure. As shown in
Preferably, as an example of the embodiment, the connecting structure may include a clamping structure configured to buckle with the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1.
In other words, the connecting structure may be of a clamping form. For example, the stopper 2 may have a protruded clamp; and a bayonet, fitted with the clamp, is arranged on the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1. The connection of the stopper 2 with the mullion 11 may be realized by inserting the clamp into the bayonet.
Preferably, the stopper 2 is made of plastic, more preferably, polypropylene (PP).
Manufacturing the stopper 2 by plastic can better avoid damaging the substrate 9 as the hardness of plastic is significantly lower than that of metal. In addition to low hardness, the polypropylene materials have a significant self-lubricating effect. Therefore, the substrate 9, when collides with the stopper 2, may slide away more easily, thus avoiding being damaged.
As shown in
a substrate cassette 1, including a multi-layered framework for carrying a substrate 9, the framework includes a mullion 11; and
the stopper 2 arranged on an inner side of the mullion 11 of the substrate cassette 1.
In the substrate cassette assembly of this embodiment, the substrate cassette 1 includes a multi-layered framework, each layer of which is configured to carry one substrate 9, and the framework includes the mullion 11 longitudinally arranged thereon. The stopper 2 is arranged on the inner side (i.e., a side facing a space for housing the substrate 9) of the mullion 11.
Obviously, in the substrate cassette assembly, the stoppers 2 are preferably arranged in mullions 11 on the left and right sides of the substrate cassette 1. Moreover, if the length of a single stopper 2 is less than that of the mullion 11, a plurality of stoppers 2 are preferably arranged on the mullion 11 on each side, so that parts, with which the substrate 9 may collide, on the mullion 11 are covered by the plurality of the stoppers 2.
It may be understood that, the implementations are exemplary implementations merely for describing the principle of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For a person of ordinary skill in the art, various variations and improvements may be made without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, and those variations and improvements should also be regarded as falling into the protection scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201510028661.X | Jan 2015 | CN | national |
