Substrate support structure, vacuum drying apparatus and method for vacuum drying a substrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9719723-B2
Application number	US-201615088547-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2016
Priority date	Apr 29, 2015
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed is a substrate support structure, a vacuum drying apparatus and a method for vacuum drying a substrate. The substrate support structure comprises: a support pin having a top end for supporting a substrate; and an auxiliary support assembly including: a drive device; a support rod driven by the drive device; and a support disc disposed at a top end of the support rod and made of flexible material adapted to support the substrate, wherein the drive device is configured to drive the support rod to move in a direction parallel to an axial direction of the support pin so as to make the support disc positioned below or above the top end of the support pin as the support rod moves, so that the substrate is selectively supported by the support disc or the support pin. The substrate support structure, the vacuum drying apparatus and the method for vacuum drying a substrate can prevent the substrate from being easily scratched and avoid poor quality and uneven brightness of the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate support structure comprising:
a support pin having a top end for supporting a substrate; and
an auxiliary support assembly including:
a drive device;
a support rod driven by the drive device; and
a support disc disposed at a top end of the support rod and made of flexible material adapted to support the substrate,
wherein the drive device is configured to drive the support rod to move in a direction parallel to an axial direction of the support pin so as to make the support disc positioned below or above the top end of the support pin as the support rod moves, so that the substrate is selectively supported by the support disc or the support pin.

2. The substrate support structure according to claim 1 , wherein
the support pin has a cavity therein, within which the drive device is disposed;
the support pin includes a side wall which is formed with an elongated slot penetrating the side wall radially and extending axially; and
the support rod has a bottom end connected with the drive device, and a top portion of the support rod is extended out of the cavity through the elongated slot.

3. The substrate support structure according to claim 2 , wherein
the support rod includes a main rod and a plurality of branch rods, a bottom end of the main rod being connected with the drive device, and a top end of the main rod being connected with bottom ends of the plurality of branch rods;
the side wall of the support pin is formed with a plurality of the elongated slots corresponding to the plurality of branch rods, so that the plurality of branch rods are extended out of the cavity through the respective elongated slots, with top ends of the plurality of branch rods being located in a same plane; and
the support disc includes a plurality of support discs, the plurality of support discs being disposed on the respective top ends of the plurality of branch rods.

4. The substrate support structure according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of branch rods are uniformly distributed in a circumferential direction of the main rod.

5. The substrate support structure according to claim 1 , wherein
the support disc includes a vacuum chuck connected with a vacuum generator, wherein when an adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck approaches a surface of the substrate, the vacuum generator draws off air between the adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck and the surface of the substrate so that vacuum is generated between the adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck and the surface of the substrate to adsorb the substrate, or the vacuum generator feeds air between the adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck and the surface of the substrate so that the vacuum therebetween is released to remove the substrate.

6. The substrate support structure according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible material includes rubber.

7. The substrate support structure according to claim 1 , wherein the top end of the support spin is formed in a cone shape.

8. The substrate support structure according to claim 1 , further comprising a control system configured to control the drive device so as to drive the support rod to move upward or downward in the direction parallel to the axial direction of the support pin.

9. The substrate support structure according to claim 1 , wherein the support disc is detachably connected to the top end of the support rod.

10. A vacuum drying apparatus comprising a support platform, a surface of which is provided with at least one substrate support structure according to claim 1 .

11. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein
the support pin has a cavity therein, within which the drive device is disposed;
the support pin includes a side wall which is formed with an elongated slot penetrating the side wall radially and extending axially; and
the support rod has a bottom end connected with the drive device, and a top portion of the support rod is extended out of the cavity through the elongated slot.

12. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein
the support rod includes a main rod and a plurality of branch rods, a bottom end of the main rod being connected with the drive device, and a top end of the main rod being connected with bottom ends of the plurality of branch rods;
the side wall of the support pin is formed with a plurality of the elongated slots corresponding to the plurality of branch rods, so that the plurality of branch rods are extended out of the cavity through the respective elongated slots, with top ends of the plurality of branch rods being located in a same plane; and
the support disc includes a plurality of support discs, the plurality of support discs being disposed on the respective top ends of the plurality of branch rods.

13. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of branch rods are uniformly distributed in a circumferential direction of the main rod.

14. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein
the support disc includes a vacuum chuck connected with a vacuum generator, wherein when an adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck approaches a surface of the substrate, the vacuum generator draws off air between the adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck and the surface of the substrate so that vacuum is generated between the adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck and the surface of the substrate to adsorb the substrate, or the vacuum generator feeds air between the adsorption surface of the vacuum chuck and the surface of the substrate so that the vacuum therebetween is released to remove the substrate.

15. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the flexible material includes rubber.

16. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the top end of the support spin is formed in a cone shape.

17. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising a control system constructed to control the drive device to drive the support rod to move upward or downward in the direction parallel to the axial direction of the support pin.

18. The vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the support disc is detachably connected to the top end of the support rod.

19. A method for vacuum drying a substrate by the vacuum drying apparatus according to claim 10 , comprising:
controlling the drive device of each substrate support structure to drive each support rod to move until the respective support discs are located in a same plane, which is above a plane in which the top ends of the respective support pins are located;
placing the substrate to be vacuum dried onto the support discs of each support structure;
controlling the drive device of each substrate support structure to drive each support rod to move downward by a same distance until the plane in which the respective support discs are located is below the plane in which the top ends of the respective support pins are located, such that the substrate to be vacuum dried falls on the top end of each support pin; and
starting the vacuum drying apparatus to vacuum dry the substrate located on the top end of each support pin.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein after starting the vacuum drying apparatus to vacuum dry the substrate located on the top end of each support pin, the method further comprises:
controlling the drive device of each substrate support structure to drive each support rod to move upward by a same distance until the substrate having been vacuum dried

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Hefei Boe Optoelectronics Tech

Inventors

• Xing Hongwei
• Mu Huihui
• Yuan Min
• Zhang Hequn
• Yang Longgen

Classifications

• F26B5/12

  by suction · CPC title

• F26B25/004 Primary

  in the shape of discrete sheets (wicket conveyors F26B15/085) · CPC title

• F26B5/045

  for drying thin, flat articles in a batch operation, e.g. leather, rugs, gels · CPC title