Apparatus for detecting distance between carrier and plate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10408596-B2
Application number	US-201715580213-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2017
Priority date	Jun 6, 2016
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for detecting a distance between a carrier and a plate, the apparatus comprising: a base provided on the carrier; a rotation mechanism rotatably provided on the base and configured to rotate when the carrier is in contact with the plate during movement of the carrier relative to the plate; a rotation angle measuring mechanism configured to measure a rotation angle of the rotation mechanism so as to obtain the distance according to the rotation angle. The distance between the carrier and the plate can be calculated based on the rotation angle of the rotation mechanism, so that accurate measurement of the distance between the carrier and the plate can be realized. Further, the operation performance of the gap detection apparatus would not be affected or damaged by the vacuum environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for detecting a distance between a carrier and a plate, comprising:
a base provided on the carrier;
a rotation mechanism rotatably provided on the base and configured to rotate when the carrier is in contact with the plate during movement of the carrier relative to the plate; and
a rotation angle measuring mechanism configured to measure a rotation angle of the rotation mechanism, so as to obtain the distance according to the rotation angle.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the rotation mechanism comprises a rotation shaft rotatably provided on the base, and a rotation arm for coming into contact with the plate and driving the rotation shaft to rotate, one end of the rotation arm is connected to the rotation shaft, and another end of the rotation arm points to a direction away from the base.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the rotation angle measuring mechanism comprises a rotation ring disposed around the rotation shaft and capable of rotating in a single direction when driven by rotation of the rotation shaft, and wherein a third scale mark is provided on the base at a position corresponding to a circumference of the rotation ring.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein a notch groove is provided along a circumferential direction of the rotation ring, and wherein the rotation shaft is provided with a toggle pin which is slidably inserted into the notch groove.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a reset spring, wherein one end of the reset spring is connected to the base and another end of the reset spring is connected to the rotation shaft, and wherein the reset spring is configured to put the rotation arm to its initial position when the rotation arm is not in contact with the plate.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein a stopper is provided on the base, and a limiter is provided on the rotation shaft, wherein the limiter abuts against the stopper when the rotation arm is at the initial position.

7. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the rotation mechanism further comprises a first turntable for coming into contact with the plate and producing rotation, and a second turntable for measuring a number of rotations of the first turntable, wherein the first turntable is provided at one end of the rotation arm away from the base, and is provided with a first scale mark along its circumference, and a protrusion at a zero position of the first scale mark; gear teeth and a second scale mark corresponding to the gear teeth are provided on the circumference of the second turntable; wherein the protrusion is mate-able with the gear teeth.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the rotation arm is provided with a fixed shaft at an end of the rotation arm away from the base, the fixed shaft is perpendicular to the rotation arm, and wherein the first turntable is rotatably disposed around the fixed shaft.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the rotation arm is provided with a post perpendicular to the rotation arm, and a support shaft parallel to the rotation arm is provided on one side of the post opposite to the base, the second turntable being rotatably disposed around the support shaft and positioned above a side edge of the first turntable.

10. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the third scale mark has a series of values of distance between the carrier and the plate that correspond to the rotation angle of the rotation mechanism.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is in a chamber for vacuum vapor deposition, and the plate is a shielding plate.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Bu Bin
• Hu Changqi
• Guo Shupeng

Classifications

• G01B21/16

  for measuring distance of clearance between spaced objects · CPC title

• G01B5/14 Primary

  for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures (G01B5/24 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C14/24

  Vacuum evaporation · CPC title