KR-20260063172-A - CLEANING APPARATUS

KR20260063172AKR 20260063172 AKR20260063172 AKR 20260063172AKR-20260063172-A

Abstract

The cleaning device is for cleaning a nozzle surface on which nozzles of an inkjet head are arranged, and may include an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image of said nozzle surface, and a control unit configured to control said image acquisition unit so that an image of said nozzle surface can be acquired using said image acquisition unit only when maintenance is performed on said inkjet head.

Inventors

최호철

Assignees

세메스 주식회사

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241030

Claims (10)

In a cleaning device for cleaning a nozzle surface on which nozzles of an inkjet head are arranged, An image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image of the nozzle surface; and A cleaning device characterized by including a control unit configured to control the image acquisition unit so that an image of the nozzle surface can be acquired using the image acquisition unit only when performing maintenance on the inkjet head.
In Article 1, A cleaning device characterized in that the entire nozzle surface area can be divided into at least two divided regions, and the control unit is configured to control the image acquisition unit so as to acquire images for each of the divided regions.
In Article 2, A cleaning device characterized in that each of the above-mentioned divided regions is of a size such that the image acquisition unit can acquire an image at once.
In Article 2, A cleaning device characterized by further including an image analysis unit configured to analyze each of the images for each of the segmented regions acquired from the image acquisition unit, and the control unit configured to control the image analysis unit so that each of the images can be analyzed only when performing maintenance on the inkjet head.
In Paragraph 4, A cleaning device characterized by further including a cleaning processing unit configured to clean each of the nozzle surfaces for each of the above-mentioned divided regions, and the control unit configured to control the cleaning processing unit so as to clean a divided region in which an abnormality is confirmed among the above-mentioned divided regions based on the analysis result from the image analysis unit.
In Article 5, A cleaning device characterized in that the cleaning process by the cleaning process unit may be maintenance for the inkjet head, and the control unit is configured to control the image acquisition unit so that an image of the nozzle surface can be acquired using the image acquisition unit during the cleaning process by the cleaning process unit, and is also configured to control the image analysis unit so that each of the images can be analyzed.
In Article 6, A cleaning device characterized by the fact that, when an abnormality is identified among the divided regions based on the analysis result from the image analysis unit, the control unit is configured to control the cleaning processing unit so that cleaning processing for the divided region where the abnormality is identified can be performed during the next maintenance.
In a cleaning device for cleaning a nozzle surface on which nozzles of an inkjet head are arranged, An image acquisition unit configured to acquire images for each of the divided regions that divide the entire nozzle surface area into at least two places; An image analysis unit configured to analyze each of the images for each of the segmented regions acquired from the image acquisition unit; A cleaning treatment unit configured to clean each of the above-mentioned divided regions; and A cleaning device characterized by including a control unit configured to control the image acquisition unit and the image analysis unit so as to acquire an image of each of the divided regions and analyze each of the images using the image acquisition unit only when performing maintenance on the inkjet head, and configured to control the cleaning processing unit so as to clean a divided region in which an abnormality is confirmed among the divided regions based on the analysis result from the image analysis unit.
In Article 8, A cleaning device characterized in that each of the above-mentioned divided regions is of a size such that the image acquisition unit can acquire an image at once.
In Article 8, A cleaning device characterized in that the cleaning process by the cleaning process unit may be maintenance for the inkjet head, and the control unit is configured to control the image acquisition unit so that an image of the nozzle surface can be acquired using the image acquisition unit during the cleaning process by the cleaning process unit, and is also configured to control the image analysis unit so that each of the images can be analyzed.

Description

Cleaning apparatus The present invention relates to a cleaning device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a nozzle surface on which nozzles of an inkjet head are arranged. In the manufacturing of display devices such as OLEDs and QLEDs, a chemical dispensing process is performed to dispense chemical solutions onto a substrate. This process is typically accomplished by using a chemical dispensing device that includes an inkjet head having a nozzle surface where nozzles are arranged. Since the presence of substances such as chemicals or contaminants on the nozzle surface of the inkjet head can cause dispensing failures, thorough maintenance is performed to clean any remaining substances from the nozzle surface. Maintenance for cleaning the nozzle surface of the inkjet head is performed primarily by acquiring and analyzing images of the nozzle surface, and if an abnormality is found based on the analysis results. Here, the maintenance is performed periodically. For example, the maintenance is performed sequentially by acquiring images, analyzing, and cleaning after the dispensing process for 10 substrates. However, since the maintenance performed to sequentially acquire, analyze, and clean the aforementioned images is carried out separately after the discharge process, it may act as a cause of extending the overall process time of the discharge process. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cleaning apparatus according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a drawing for explaining the divided regions that divide the entire nozzle surface area of the inkjet head in FIG. 1 into at least two places. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cleaning method performed using the cleaning device of Figure 1. The present invention is susceptible to various modifications and may take various forms, and embodiments are to be described in detail in the text. However, this is not intended to limit the invention to the specific disclosed forms, and it should be understood that the invention includes all modifications, equivalents, and substitutions that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. Similar reference numerals have been used for similar components in the description of each figure. Terms such as "first," "second," etc., may be used to describe various components, but said components should not be limited by said terms. Such terms are used solely for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. The terms used in this application are used only to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention. A singular expression includes a plural expression unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, terms such as "comprising" or "consisting of" are intended to specify the existence of the features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and should be understood as not precluding the existence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof. Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as generally understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant technology, and should not be interpreted in an ideal or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined in this application. Furthermore, exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings. Identical components in the drawings are given the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions of identical components are omitted. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cleaning apparatus according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a cleaning device (200) according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be configured to be applied to maintenance targeting a chemical dispensing device (100). Here, the chemical dispensing device (100) is configured to dispense a chemical onto a substrate for manufacturing a display element such as an OLED or QLED, and may have a structure mainly comprising an inkjet head (11). Accordingly, the cleaning device (200) may be configured to be applied to maintenance for cleaning a nozzle surface (13) where the nozzles of the inkjet head (11) are arranged. The above cleaning device (200) may be configured to have a structure including an image acquisition unit (21), an image analysis unit (23), a cleaning processing unit (25), a control unit (27), etc. The image acquisition unit (21) may be configured to acquire an image of the nozzle surface (13) of the inkjet head (11), for example, it may be a vision camera. Since the image acquisi