Tooling Aid Alignment for LCD Substrates
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Liquid crystal display (LCD) devices and other displays face challenges in aligning substrates with different materials, shapes, sizes, and thicknesses for proper optical coupling, protection, and thermal management, as these components often lack a common datum or equal edge lengths, leading to misalignment during lamination.
Innovation Solution
An alignment system comprising a datum calculator, a tooling system with a location determiner, and a tooling aid is used to calculate and achieve proper alignment of substrates by determining their unique datum and forming tooling aids that offset size, shape, and thickness differences, allowing for precise positioning within a lamination apparatus.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If substrates with different materials, shapes, sizes, and thicknesses are used for LCD devices, then functional requirements (optical coupling, protection, thermal management) are improved, but alignment precision deteriorates due to lack of common datum or equal edge lengths
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tooling aid as an intermediary component between the lamination apparatus and the substrates. This tooling aid includes positioning features (such as pins, protrusions, or alignment marks) that interface with corresponding features on the substrates, mediating the alignment process. By using this intermediary, the system can accommodate substrates with different dimensions and shapes while maintaining precise alignment through the standardized positioning interface provided by the tooling aid.
2Adaptability or versatility
If tooling aids are designed to accommodate substrates with different dimensions and shapes, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tooling aid into modular positioning features and support structures. Instead of designing a completely custom tooling aid for each substrate type, the system uses standardized segmentation elements (such as arrays of positioning pins, modular clamping units, or segmented alignment marks) that can be combined in different configurations. This segmentation allows the same basic tooling aid design to accommodate various substrate dimensions and shapes while keeping the overall device complexity manageable through reuse of standardized components.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for alignment comprises calculating the proper alignment position for a plurality of planar items based on at least one datum per planar item of the plurality of planar items, instructing a tooling system to form a tooling aid for providing the proper alignment position in a planar substrate lamination apparatus, and inserting the tooling aid into the planar substrate lamination apparatus for the proper alignment of the plurality of planar items in the planar substrate lamination apparatus.