Foreign material removing device, foreign material removing system, and foreign material removing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10935822-B2
Application number	US-201616309086-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2016
Priority date	Jun 17, 2016
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

This foreign material removing device for removing a foreign material adhered to a substrate is provided with: a jetting unit that jets a gas toward a substrate portion having a width smaller than the full width of the substrate; a foreign material suction unit that sucks, with the foreign material, the gas jetted toward the substrate from the jetting unit; and a covering body that covers the portion to which the gas is to be jetted by means of the jetting unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A foreign matter removing system comprising:
a detector configured to detect a position of foreign matter adhering to or embedded in a surface of a substrate;
a foreign matter removing device configured to inject gas toward a region of the substrate and suck the gas to perform removal of the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the substrate, the region having a width shorter than an entire width of the substrate; and
a controller configured to control operation of the foreign matter removing device based on a result of the detection by the detector, wherein
the controller includes:
a position information acquiring section configured to acquire position information indicating the position of the foreign matter from the detector;
a specifying section configured to specify the region of the substrate toward which the gas is to be injected based on the position information acquired by the position information acquiring section; and
an injection control section configured to cause the gas to be injected toward the region specified by the specifying section, wherein the detector re-detects a position of foreign matter adhering to or embedded in the surface of the substrate after the gas has been injected toward the region specified by the specifying section.

2. The foreign matter removing system according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller includes a storage section configured to store therein position information indicating the position of the foreign matter that is acquired in an upstream process preceding the foreign matter removal, and
the specifying section specifies the region of the substrate toward which the gas is to be injected by removing the position information stored in the storage section from the position information acquired by the position information acquiring section.

3. The foreign matter removing system according claim 1 , wherein
upon the specifying section specifying another region toward which the gas is to be injected, the controller causes the gas to be injected toward the other region specified by the specifying section.

4. The foreign matter removing system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a web cleaner configured to perform removal of the foreign matter adhering to the substrate over a larger area of the substrate than the foreign matter removing device does, wherein
the substrate is each of liquid-crystal panel substrates for enclosing a liquid crystal therebetween,
the web cleaner performs the removal of the foreign matter adhering to the substrate before the substrate is bonded to another substrate and after an alignment film has been formed on each of the two substrates, and
the detector detects a position of foreign matter adhering to or embedded in the surface of the substrate after the removal has been performed by the web cleaner.

Assignees

• Sakai Display Products Corp

Inventors

• Yamazaki Ikushi

Classifications

• B08B5/02 Primary

  Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities {(airguns or nozzles per se B05B1/005)} · CPC title

• G02F1/1316

  Methods for cleaning the liquid crystal cells, or components thereof, during manufacture: Materials therefor · CPC title

• G02F1/1303 Primary

  Apparatus specially adapted to the manufacture of LCDs · CPC title

• B08B5/04

  Cleaning by suction, with or without auxiliary action · CPC title

• B08B6/00

  Cleaning by electrostatic means · CPC title