Ultraviolet curing device, sealant curing system and sealant curing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017191754-A1
Application number	US-201615291361-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 4, 2016
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a UV curing device, a sealant curing system and a sealant curing method. The UV curing device includes: a light-emitting mechanism configured to emit and guide UV rays in an output direction; and a first adjustment mechanism connected to the light-emitting mechanism and configured to adjust the output direction of the UV rays from the light-emitting mechanism so that the UV rays enter a to-be-cured display panel at an incident angle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An ultraviolet (UV) curing device, comprising:
a light-emitting mechanism configured to emit and guide UV rays in an output direction; and a first adjustment mechanism connected to the light-emitting mechanism and configured to adjust the output direction of the UV rays from the light-emitting mechanism so that the UV rays enter a to-be-cured display panel at an incident angle.

2 . The UV curing device according to claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting mechanism comprises:
a UV source; and an optical assembly configured to treat UV rays from the UV source and guide the treated UV rays in the output direction; wherein the first adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust at least one of an emission angle of the UV rays from the UV source and positions of optical elements in the optical assembly, so as to adjust the output direction of the UV rays from the optical assembly.

3 . The UV curing device according to claim 2 , wherein the UV source is a UV laser;
the optical assembly comprises a scattering sub-assembly and a guiding sub-assembly; and the scattering sub-assembly is configured to scatter the UV rays from the UV laser, and the scattered UV rays are guided by the guiding sub-assembly.

4 . The UV curing device according to claim 3 , wherein the scattering sub-assembly comprises a plano-convex collimating lens, and the guiding sub-assembly comprises a plane mirror and a plano-convex focusing lens;
the plano-convex collimating lens is configured to receive the UV rays from the UV laser and output collimated parallel UV rays; the collimated parallel UV rays are reflected by the plane mirror and enter the plano-convex focusing lens; and the plano-convex focusing lens is configured to focus the UV rays reflected by the plane mirror and output the focused UV rays.

5 . The UV curing device according to claim 4 , wherein the UV laser is located at a focus of the plano-convex collimating lens, the plano-convex collimating lens is located between the UV laser and the plane mirror, an optical axis of the plano-convex collimating lens has an angle of 45° relative to a surface of the plane mirror, an optical axis of the plano-convex focusing lens has an angle of 45° relative to the surface of the plane mirror, and the optical axis of the plano-convex collimating lens is perpendicular to the optical axis of the plano-convex focusing lens.

6 . The UV curing device according to claim 2 , wherein the UV source is an extra-high-pressure mercury vapor lamp;
the optical assembly comprises a collecting lens, a first plane mirror, a condensing and reflecting mirror, a second plane mirror, and a UV-diffusion combination transparent plate; UV rays from the extra-high-pressure mercury vapor lamp are collected by the collecting lens toward the first plane mirror, then reflected by the first plane mirror toward the condenser mirror, then reflected by the condenser mirror toward the second plane mirror, and then reflected by the second plane mirror toward the UV-diffusion combination transparent plate; and the UV-diffusion combination transparent plate is configured to diffuse the UV rays reflected by the second plane mirror, and output the diffused UV rays in the output direction.

7 . The UV curing device according to claim 6 , wherein the collecting lens is sleeved onto the extra-high-pressure mercury vapor lamp so as to collect the UV rays from the extra-high-pressure mercury vapor lamp toward the first plane mirror, the first plane mirror is arranged opposite to the condenser mirror, and the second plane mirror is arranged parallel to a surface of the first plane mirror.

8 . The UV curing device according to claim 7 , wherein the optical assembly further comprises a shutter between the first plane mirror and the condenser mirror.

9 . The UV curing device according to claim 8 , wherein the optical assembly further comprises a filter between the shutter and the condenser mirror, and configured to filter out rays other than the UV rays.

10 . The UV curing device according to claim 6 , wherein the UV-diffusion combination transparent plate comprises a diffusion plate, a first prism set and a second prism set arranged sequentially, the first prism set comprises a plurality of prisms arranged parallel to each other and extending in a first direction, and the second prism set comprises a plurality of prisms arranged parallel to each other and extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

11 . The UV curing device according to claim 10 , wherein a light-exiting surface of the second prism set is provided with a vacuum slot, which is connected to a vacuum pipe and a vacuumizing unit and which is configured to adsorb a UV mask plate when the vacuum slot is vacuumized.

12 . The UV curing device according to claim 6 , further comprising an illuminometer on the second plane mirror and configured to measure an intensity of the UV rays from the optical assembly.

13 . A sealant curing system, comprising:
a support table configured to support and fix thereon a to-be-cured display panel; and a curing module arranged above the support table and configured to cure a sealant on the to-be-cured display panel; wherein the curing module comprises the UV curing device according to claim 1 as a first UV curing device.

14 . The sealant curing system according to claim 13 , wherein the curing module further comprises:
a second UV curing device configured to cure the sealant on the to-be-cured display panel, a light spot formed by UV rays from the second UV curing device on the to-be-cured display panel having an area larger than a light spot formed by the UV rays from the first UV curing device; and a control device connected to the first UV curing device and the second UV curing device, and configured to control the second UV curing device to initially irradiate the sealant on the to-be-cured display panel, and after completion of initially irradiating, control the first UV curing device to additionally irradiate the sealant at a position where the sealant is not completely cured on the to-be-cured display panel.

15 . The sealant curing system according to claim 14 , wherein the second UV curing device comprises:
a UV source; an optical assembly configured to treat UV rays from the UV source and guide the treated UV rays in an output direction; and a second adjustment mechanism configured to adjust at least one of an emission angle of the UV rays from the UV source of the second UV curing device and positions of optical elements in the optical assembly, so as to adjust the output direction of the UV rays from the optical assembly.

16 . The sealant curing system according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a first reflection plate on the support table, with a reflection surface facing the UV curing device.

17 . The sealant curing system according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a second reflection plate arranged above the curing module, with a reflection surface facing the curing module.

18 . A sealant curing method for curing a sealant on a to-be-cured display panel using the sealant curing system according to claim 14 , comprising:
an adjustment step of, in the case that the to-be-cured display panel is irradiated by the first UV curing device, adjusting at least one of an emission angle of UV rays from the UV source of the first UV curing device and a position of the optical assembly, so as to enable the optical assembly to output the UV rays at an incident angle toward the to-be-cured di

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Hefei Boe Optoelectronics Tech

Inventors

• Jing Yangkun
• Che Xiaopan
• Xu Zhiwei
• Liu Qin
• Zuo Aicui

Classifications

• B29L2031/3475

  Displays, monitors, TV-sets, computer screens · CPC title

• G02F1/1339 Primary

  Gaskets; Spacers; Sealing of cells · CPC title

• B29C2035/0827

  using UV radiation · CPC title

• F26B3/28 Primary

  by radiation, e.g. from the sun · CPC title

• G02F1/1303

  Apparatus specially adapted to the manufacture of LCDs · CPC title