CN110270470B

CN110270470B - Coating device and coating method

Info

Publication number: CN110270470B
Application number: CN201910193372.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 相良秀一
Original assignee: Screen Holdings Co Ltd
Current assignee: Screen Holdings Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-03-15
Filing date: 2019-03-14
Publication date: 2021-10-26
Anticipated expiration: 2039-03-14
Also published as: CN110270470A; KR102184054B1; KR20190109217A; JP6974223B2; JP2019155305A

Abstract

The invention provides a coating film device which conveys a continuous body formed by connecting the rear end part of a long-strip-shaped first base material and the front end part of a long-strip-shaped second base material along a conveying path and supplies coating liquid from a nozzle to form a coating film on the continuous body, and can detect wrinkles formed on the continuous body when the base materials are connected with high precision. The coating device comprises: a support roller that engages and supports the continuous body conveyed along the conveying path at an intermediate position between the coating liquid supply position and the connection position in the conveying path; an irradiation unit that irradiates a light beam along a surface of the continuous body supported by the support roller; a light receiving unit which is disposed opposite to the irradiation unit with the continuum therebetween and receives the light beam; and a wrinkle detection unit that detects the occurrence of wrinkles on the continuum, based on a change in the amount of light received by the light receiving unit.

Description

Coating device and coating method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a coating apparatus and a coating method for forming a coating film on a continuous body formed by connecting a rear end portion of a long first base material and a front end portion of a long second base material along a conveyance path and supplying a coating liquid from a nozzle.

Background

As a coating apparatus, there is known an apparatus for forming a coating film on a substrate by conveying a long strip-shaped substrate such as a conductive sheet of metal or the like functioning as a current collector or a resin sheet having a metal thin film formed on a surface thereof along a predetermined conveyance path by a roll-to-roll method. In this coating apparatus, in order to continuously form a coating film, for example, as described in japanese patent application laid-open No. 2014-46303, two raw materials in which a base material is wound in a roll shape are prepared, and when the remaining amount of the base material in one raw material becomes small, the supply source of the base material is switched to the other raw material. In order to perform this switching operation, a base material supply section having a function of switching the base material is provided. The base material supply unit is provided with a stock material for winding the base material. When the remaining amount of the base material decreases as the base material wound around one raw material is fed out from the one raw material, the base material fed out from the one raw material and the base material wound around the spare raw material are connected by a double-sided tape or the like to form a continuous body of base materials in which the base materials are joined to each other, and the continuous body is conveyed. Thus, the base material supplied from the base material supply unit can be switched from the base material wound around one raw material to the base material wound around the standby raw material, thereby continuously supplying the base material.

Disclosure of Invention

As described above, in the case of connecting two base materials, as shown in fig. 4C described later in detail, the rear end portion of the base material fed out from one raw material is overlapped with the front end portion of the base material fed out from the spare raw material, and the base materials are connected by a double-sided tape or the like in the overlapped area. At this time, wrinkles may be generated in the continuum connecting the two substrates. In particular, in recent years, the substrate tends to be thinner. For example, in the case of producing an electrode for a battery such as a lithium ion secondary battery using a copper foil as a base material, the thickness of the base material is about several micrometers, and wrinkles are easily formed at the joint (overlapping region) of the two base materials.

Here, when the continuous body formed with the wrinkles is conveyed to the coating liquid supply position where the coating liquid is supplied from the nozzle, the wrinkles may interfere with the nozzle, and the continuous body (base material) may be caught in the nozzle and broken. In addition, damage may also be caused to the front end portion of the nozzle. Therefore, in order to prevent such a problem, it is preferable to detect a wrinkle formed at a joint (overlapping region) between two base materials when the two base materials are joined to form a continuous body, and to retract the nozzle from the coating liquid supply position based on the detection information.

However, in the prior art, no specific technique for detecting wrinkles with high accuracy is provided, and it is necessary to rely on visual observation by an operator. In other words, the operator checks the joint (overlap region) with his eyes to manually retract the nozzle from the application liquid supply position, and after checking that the joint has passed the application liquid supply position, the operator brings the nozzle close again to restart the application. As a result, the above coating apparatus cannot be used in a plant for 24-hour continuous automatic production. Further, since continuous conveyance of the base material is continuously performed, the manual operation of the operator causes a corresponding coating loss, which is one of factors that cause a reduction in production efficiency

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of accurately detecting wrinkles formed in a continuous body formed by connecting a rear end portion of a long first base material and a front end portion of a long second base material while the base materials are connected, in a coating apparatus that conveys the continuous body along a conveyance path and supplies a coating liquid from a nozzle to form a coating film on the continuous body.

One embodiment of the present invention is a coating apparatus for forming a coating film on a continuous body in which a rear end portion of a long first base material and a front end portion of a long second base material are connected at a connection position, by conveying the continuous body along a conveyance path and supplying a coating liquid from a nozzle at a coating liquid supply position, the coating apparatus including: a support roller that is engaged with and supports the continuous body conveyed along the conveying path at an intermediate position between the coating liquid supply position and the connection position in the conveying path; an irradiation unit that irradiates a light beam along a surface of the continuous body supported by the support roller; a light receiving unit which is disposed opposite to the irradiation unit with the continuum therebetween and receives the light beam; and a wrinkle detection unit for detecting the occurrence of wrinkles on the continuum, based on a change in the amount of light received by the light receiving unit.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a coating method for forming a coating film on a continuous body in which a rear end portion of a long first base material and a front end portion of a long second base material are connected at a connection position, by conveying the continuous body along a conveying path and supplying a coating liquid from a nozzle at a coating liquid supply position, the coating method including: a step of joining and supporting the continuous body conveyed along the conveying path to a supporting roller arranged between a coating liquid supply position and a connection position in the conveying path; a step of irradiating a light beam from one end side of the support roller to the other end side along the surface of the continuous body supported by the support roller, receiving the light beam at the other end side of the support roller, and obtaining a light receiving amount of the light beam; and detecting the occurrence of wrinkles on the continuum on the basis of a change in the amount of light received by the light beam.

In the invention thus constituted, the front end portion of the second base material is connected to the rear end portion of the first base material at the connection position to form a continuous body, and the continuous body is conveyed along the conveying path. Thus, when the first substrate is connected to the second substrate, wrinkles may be generated on the continuous body. Therefore, the continuous body conveyed along the conveying path is supported by the support roller, and the light beam is irradiated from one end side of the support roller to the other end side along the surface of the continuous body. Here, when the continuous member has the wrinkle, a part or all of the light beam is blocked by the wrinkle, and the amount of light received by the light receiving unit decreases, thereby changing the amount of light received. Therefore, in the present invention, wrinkles are detected based on a change in the amount of received light.

As described above, a light beam is irradiated along the surface of the continuum supported by the support roller, and the occurrence of wrinkles in the continuum is detected based on a change in the amount of light received by the light beam caused by the shielding of a part or all of the light beam by the wrinkles. Therefore, the wrinkles formed in the continuous body can be detected with high accuracy.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a view showing a first embodiment of a coating apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the coating apparatus shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of the coating apparatus shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 4A is a diagram schematically showing a first step of the continuous body forming operation in the unwinding portion.

Fig. 4B is a diagram schematically showing a second step of the continuous body forming operation in the unwinding portion.

Fig. 4C is a diagram schematically showing a third step of the continuous body forming operation in the unwinding portion.

Fig. 4D is a diagram schematically showing a fourth step of the continuous body forming operation in the unwinding unit.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view showing the structure of an irradiation part employed in the second embodiment of the coating apparatus of the present invention.

Wherein the reference numerals are as follows:

5 irradiating part

6 light receiving part

12 nozzle

14 nozzle moving mechanism

21 arithmetic processing unit (wrinkle detection unit, supply control unit, nozzle position control unit)

32a conveying roller (supporting roller)

32a1 (one end of conveying roller)

32a2 (of the conveying roller) at the other end

51 light emitting element

52 light-emitting holding mechanism

61 light receiving element

100 coating device

311a, 311b raw Material

521 (light-emitting side) rotating roller

522 (light emitting side) holding member

LB light Beam

P1 connection position

P2 coating liquid supply position

P3 middle position

PT conveying path

S substrate (continuum)

Sa (first) base material

Rear end portion of Sar (of the first substrate)

Sb (second) base material

Sbf front end portion (of second substrate)

W fold

Z vertical direction (orthogonal direction)

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a view showing a first embodiment of a coating apparatus of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the coating apparatus shown in fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the coating apparatus shown in fig. 1. The coating apparatus 100 is an apparatus for applying a paste coating liquid to a sheet-like substrate S conveyed by a roll-to-roll method, and can be used for manufacturing a battery electrode such as a lithium ion secondary battery, for example. In order to collectively indicate the directions in the following figures, an XYZ rectangular coordinate system is set as shown in fig. 1. Here, the XY plane is a horizontal plane, the X axis is an axis extending in the width direction of the substrate S, and the Y axis is an axis orthogonal to the X axis and extending in the conveyance direction of the substrate S. The Z axis represents the vertical axis, and the (-Z) direction represents the vertically downward direction.

The coating apparatus 100 includes a coating section 1 for supplying a coating liquid to a substrate S and applying the coating liquid. The coating section 1 includes: a tank 11 for storing a coating liquid to be applied therein; and a nozzle 12 for ejecting the coating liquid supplied from the tank 11. The nozzle 12 extends in the X direction and is capable of discharging the coating liquid from a discharge port (not shown) extending in the X direction. The nozzle 12 is connected to the tank 11 via a liquid feeding system 13. As shown in fig. 1, the liquid feeding system 13 includes: a pipe 131 for connecting the groove 11 and the nozzle 12; and a pump 132 attached to the middle of the pipe 131 to flow the coating liquid through the pipe 131. It is desirable that the pump 132 can deliver a high-viscosity coating liquid at a stable flow rate. As such a pump, for example, a screw pump can be used, and for example, a moineau pump, which is a kind of uniaxial screw pump, can be suitably used. The operation of the pump 132 is controlled by the control unit 2, and can be switched between the discharge from the nozzle 12 and the stop of the discharge of the coating liquid.

The substrate S is carried along a predetermined carrying path PT by the carrying unit 3 to a position facing the discharge port of the nozzle 12. The conveyance unit 3 has an unwinding section 31 for unwinding the substrate S. The unwinding section 31 is provided with two materials, namely, a material 311a in which a long sheet-like base material Sa is wound in a roll shape and a material 311b in which a long sheet-like base material Sb is wound in a roll shape. When the remaining amount of the base material Sa in one raw material 311a is sufficient, the unwinding section 31 releases the base material Sa from the raw material 311a as the base material S. When the remaining amount of the base material Sa in the raw material 311a is small, the base material Sb is discharged from the other raw material 311b, and the front end portion of the base material Sb is connected to the rear end portion of the base material Sa from the raw material 311a to form a continuous body, and the continuous body can be continuously unwound as the base material S to the coating section 1. In addition, the structure and action of the unwinding part 31 will be described in detail later.

The conveying unit 3 includes a plurality of conveying

rollers

32a and 32b, a backup roller 33, and a take-up roller 34, and winds up the substrate S fed from the feeding unit 31 and conveyed through the coating unit 1. That is, the substrate S from the unwinding section 31 is conveyed to the backup roller 33 via the conveying

rollers

32a and 32b, and is wound around the surface of the backup roller 33. The substrate S having passed through the surface of the backup roll 33 is conveyed to the take-up roll 34 and taken up by the take-up roll 34. In the present embodiment, the substrate S is conveyed between the backup roll 33 and the wind-up roll 34 while maintaining a substantially flat posture, and the conveyance direction Ds of the substrate S is the (+ Y) direction.

In other words, the conveying unit 3 has a function as a unit for supporting and holding the base material S as the coating object and a function as a unit for conveying the base material S. The conveying unit 3 further includes an unwinding drive mechanism 35 that drives each part of the unwinding section 31 and a winding drive mechanism 36 (fig. 3) that rotationally drives the winding roller 34 in accordance with a control command from the control unit 2.

In this way, the nozzle 12 is disposed so as to face one of the main surfaces of the base material S supported and conveyed by the conveying unit 3, and the other surface of the portion abutting against the support roller 33. In other words, the base material S is wound around the surface of the backup roller 33 disposed to face the nozzle 12, and thereby the base material S is caused to face the nozzle 12. The coating liquid discharged from the nozzle 12 is applied onto the surface of the substrate S. By conveying the substrate S in the direction of the arrow Ds, the coating liquid can be applied to the substrate S while the nozzle 12 is moved in a scanning manner with respect to the substrate S. By applying the coating liquid in a state where the nozzle 12 is opposed to the region where the back surface side of the front surface of the substrate S is in contact with the backup roll 33, the coating can be performed while stably maintaining the gap between the nozzle 12 positioned at the predetermined coating liquid supply position P2 and the front surface of the substrate. In the present embodiment, the nozzle 12 is configured to be movable between the coating liquid supply position P2 and a spaced position spaced apart from the coating liquid supply position P2 on the opposite side of the backup roller, and is connected to the nozzle moving mechanism 14 (fig. 3). The nozzle moving mechanism 14 operates in accordance with a movement command from the control unit 2, and selectively positions the nozzle 12 between the coating liquid supply position P2 and the separated position.

When the coating liquid is continuously discharged by a certain amount from the discharge port of the nozzle 12 positioned at the coating liquid supply position P2, a wet film (not shown) composed of the coating liquid is formed extending in the Y direction on the surface of the substrate S. The current collector is used, for example, as a current collectorA functional conductive sheet of metal or the like is used as the substrate S and a paste containing an active material is used as a coating liquid, whereby a battery electrode in which active material layers are laminated on the surface of the collector layer can be produced. Such coating liquids generally have a relatively high viscosity and can be used, for example, at a shear rate of 10s^-1A coating liquid having a lower viscosity of about 50 to 300 pas. The substrate S may be, for example, a substrate in which a metal thin film is formed on the surface of a resin sheet.

Further, the curing unit 4 is provided downstream of the backup roller 33 and upstream of the take-up roller 34 in the conveyance direction Ds in which the substrate S is conveyed by the conveyance unit 3. The curing unit 4 supplies, for example, dry air, hot air, infrared rays, or the like to the wet film formed on the substrate S conveyed through the inside thereof, thereby promoting volatilization of the solvent component of the coating liquid, and drying and curing the wet film to form a coating film. When the coating liquid contains a material that is cured by induction with a specific electromagnetic wave, the coating liquid may be irradiated with the electromagnetic wave. The length of the curing unit 4 along the conveyance path of the substrate S corresponds to the curing time of the coating liquid.

In this way, in the coating apparatus 100, the coating film is continuously formed while the substrate S is conveyed in the conveyance direction Ds along the conveyance path PT, and when the remaining amount of the substrate Sa in one raw material 311a becomes small, a continuous body in which the substrate Sb from the other raw material 311b and the rear end portion of the substrate Sa are connected by the unwinding part 31 is continuously supplied as the substrate S.

As shown in fig. 1, in the unwinding section 31, the unwinding roller 312a, the auxiliary roller 313a, the unwinding roller 312b, and the auxiliary roller 313b are radially arranged at equal angular intervals (90 °) around a rotating shaft 314a extending in the width direction X, and are configured to be rotatable around the rotating shaft 314a, thereby configuring the turntable mechanism 314. The rotary shaft 314A of the turntable mechanism 314 is connected to the unwinding drive mechanism 35, and the turntable mechanism 314 is rotated counterclockwise in the drawing sheet of fig. 1 by the unwinding drive mechanism 35, whereby the switching of the base material is performed as described later in detail with reference to fig. 4A to 4D.

When switching the substrate, a cutting operation of cutting the substrate Sa from the raw material 311a with a decreased margin and a connecting operation of connecting the rear end portion of the substrate Sa cut from the raw material 311a and the front end portion of the substrate Sb discharged from the raw material 311b are performed. For this reason, the present embodiment is provided with a cutting mechanism 315 and a pressing mechanism 316.

The cutting mechanism 315 includes an arm member 315b that is rotatable about a rotation shaft 315a extending in the width direction X, and a cutting member 315c attached to a distal end portion of the arm member 315 b. The rotation shaft 315a of the cutting mechanism 315 is connected to the unwinding drive mechanism 35, and the arm member 315B is rotated clockwise in the sheet of fig. 1 by the unwinding drive mechanism 35, whereby the cutting member 315c is moved from the standby position (solid line position in fig. 1) to the cutting position (solid line position in fig. 4B) to cut the base material Sa.

The pressing mechanism 316 includes an arm member 316b that is rotatable about a rotation shaft 316a extending in the width direction X, and a pressing roller 316c attached to a distal end portion of the arm member 316 b. The rotation shaft 316a of the pressing mechanism 316 is connected to the unwinding drive mechanism 35, and the arm member 316b is rotated counterclockwise in the drawing sheet of fig. 1 by the unwinding drive mechanism 35, so that the pressing roller 316c presses the rear end portion of the base Sa against the raw material 311b at the connection position P1. At this pressing timing, the double-sided tape TP previously stuck to the surface of the front end portion of the base material Sb by the operator moves to the pressing position. Therefore, in the overlapping region where the rear end portion of the base material Sa and the front end portion of the base material Sb overlap, the rear end portion of the base material Sa and the front end portion of the base material Sb are connected by the double-sided tape TP (see fig. 4C).

The unwinding unit 31 is provided with a fixed roller 318a, a tension roller 318b, and a fixed roller 318c, and carries the substrate S fed from the turntable mechanism 314 out to the coating unit 1.

In the unwinding section 31 configured as described above, as the remaining amount of the base material Sa in the raw material 311a decreases, the base materials Sa and Sb are joined to form a continuous body, and the continuous body is discharged as the base material S. When the base materials are joined, wrinkles may be formed at the seams (overlapping regions) of the base materials Sa and Sb. This reason will be explained by describing the operation of the unwinding section 31 with reference to fig. 4A to 4D.

Fig. 4A to 4D are diagrams schematically illustrating the operation of forming the continuous body in the unwinding portion. As shown in fig. 1, in the coating apparatus 100, a coating film is formed on a substrate S by discharging the substrate Sa as the substrate S from a supply unit 31 from a raw material 311a positioned at a predetermined substrate discharge position where the substrate S is discharged to a coating unit 1, conveying the substrate S in a conveying direction Ds, supplying a coating liquid from the coating unit 1, and drying and curing the coating liquid by a curing unit 4. The coating process is continued on the base material Sa so that the base material remaining amount in the raw material 311a is reduced. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the remaining amount of the base material reaches a constant value, the control means 2 continues the coating process of the base material S for a certain period of time only and performs the switching operation of the raw materials to form a continuous body, and discharges the continuous body as the base material S.

As shown in fig. 4A, in this raw material switching operation, the feed drive mechanism 35 rotates the turntable mechanism 314 by about 160 ° in the counterclockwise direction so that the raw material 311a is separated from the base material unwinding position and the raw material 311b is brought close to the base material unwinding position. The unwinding

rollers

312a and 312b are rotated clockwise in conjunction with the rotation of the

materials

311a and 311b about the rotation shaft 314 a. Thereby, the raw material 311b rotates clockwise on the unwinding roll 312b side, and the leading end Sbf (see fig. 4C) thereof is released to the base Sa. On the other hand, on the unwinding roller 312a side, the auxiliary roller 313a is wound around the base material Sa discharged from the raw material 311 a. Further, the pressing roller 316C moves toward the raw material 311b positioned near the base material unwinding position in conjunction with the discharge of the base material Sa, presses the base material Sa against the leading end portion Sbf of the raw material 311b, and overlaps the base materials Sa and Sb to form an overlap region Rs (see fig. 4C). A double-sided tape TP is previously attached to the surface of the leading end portion Sbf of the raw material 311 b. Therefore, when the

raw materials

311a and 311b are discharged from the state shown in fig. 4A, the double-sided tape TP is fed to a position directly below the pressing roller 316c, and the base materials Sa and Sb are joined in the overlap region Rs. Thus, the position at which the two substrates Sa, Sb are connected is the connection position P1.

When the connection of the base materials Sa, Sb at the connection position P1 is completed in this manner, the cutting member 315c moves from the standby position (broken line position) to the cutting position (solid line position) to cut the base material Sa, as shown in fig. 4B. Thus, the base material Sa is cut from the raw material 311a, and the range of the overlap region Rs (see fig. 4C) which is the region where the rear end portion Sar of the base material Sa overlaps the front end portion Sbf of the base material Sb is determined. On the other hand, the cutting is performed so that the supply of the base material from the raw material 311a to the coating section 1 is stopped thereafter. Instead of stopping the supply of the base material, the base material Sb and the base material Sa may be connected after the overlap region Rs to form a long continuous body and discharged as the base material S to the coating section 1.

As described above, when the cutting of the base material Sa is completed, the cutter member 315C returns to the standby position (solid line position) as shown in fig. 4C. Further, when the overlap region Rs passes through the pressing position, the pressing roller 316c also returns to the original standby position (solid line position). Further, the feed roll driving mechanism 35 rotates the turntable mechanism 314 by about 20 ° in the counterclockwise direction, and the raw material 311b is moved to the substrate unwinding position and positioned.

In this way, while the turntable mechanism 314 is rotated by 180 °, the partial overlapping operation between the rear end portion Sar of the base material Sa and the front end portion Sbf of the base material Sb, the pressing operation of the pressing roller 316c against the overlapping region Rs, and the cutting operation of the base material Sa are performed. Since these operations are performed on the substrates Sa and Sb, particularly when the substrates Sa and Sb are made of a thin film material such as a metal sheet, wrinkles W may occur in the overlap region Rs as shown in a partially enlarged view in fig. 4C. Then, in a state where the wrinkles W are generated, the substrate S is carried out of the unwinding section 31 via the fixed roller 318a, the tension roller 318b, and the fixed roller 318c, and is then carried to the backup roller 33 via the carrying

rollers

32a and 32b (see fig. 4D). Therefore, when the fold W is conveyed to the backup roll 33 in a state where the nozzle 12 is located at the coating liquid supply position P2, the fold W may interfere with the nozzle 12, and the substrate S may be caught by the nozzle 12 and be broken. In addition, damage to the front end portion of the nozzle 12 may also occur.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the wrinkles W are optically detected at the intermediate position P3 between the connecting position P1 and the coating liquid supply position P2 in the conveyance path PT of the base material S. More specifically, the position at which the substrate (continuous body) S is wound around and supported by the transport roller 32a is set as an intermediate position P3, and the irradiation unit 5 and the light receiving unit 6 are disposed opposite to each other in the width direction X with the substrate S interposed therebetween at the intermediate position P3. The irradiation unit 5 includes a light emitting element 51 disposed directly above one end portion 32a1 of the conveying roller 32 a. The light emitting element 51 is fixed by a support member (not shown) so as to be irradiated with the light beam LB in the width direction X at a height position vertically upward (+ Z) from the roller surface of the conveying roller 32a by a predetermined fold detection height H (see fig. 4C). The wrinkle detection height H is set to:

h > (thickness of substrate Sa) + (thickness of double-sided tape TP) + (thickness of substrate Sb), light beam LB is irradiated along the surface of substrate (continuum) S.

The light receiving unit 6 includes a light receiving element 61 disposed directly above the other end portion 32a2 of the conveying roller 32 a. The light receiving element 61 is disposed to face the light emitting element 51 and receives the light beam LB. In other words, the light receiving element 61 is fixed by a support member (not shown) so as to receive the light beam LB at a height position vertically upward (+ Z) from the roller surface of the conveying roller 32a by a predetermined fold detection height H. Therefore, as shown by the chain line in fig. 2, the light emitting element 51 and the light receiving element 61 of the light receiving unit 6 are fixedly arranged so that the light beam LB passes from the light emitting element 51 of the irradiation unit 5 to the surface of the base material S wound around the backup roller 33 and is incident on the light receiving element 61.

Then, according to an instruction from control unit 2, irradiation unit 5 irradiates light beam LB to light receiving unit 6. On the other hand, the light receiving unit 6 receives the light beam LB irradiated from the irradiation unit 5, and outputs a signal corresponding to the amount of received light to the control unit 2. Then, the control unit 2 performs wrinkle detection based on the change in the amount of received light.

As shown in fig. 3, the control unit 2 includes an arithmetic processing unit 21 configured by a CPU or the like and a storage unit 22 storing a program or the like. The arithmetic processing unit 21 controls each unit of the apparatus according to a program stored in advance in the storage unit 22, and performs a coating process on the substrate S. In particular, when the amount of the base material remaining in the raw material 311a is reduced, and the base material Sb and the base material Sa are connected to form a long continuous body and the continuous body is subjected to the coating process as the base material S, the occurrence of the wrinkle W on the base material (continuous body) S is detected based on the change in the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 6 of the light beam LB, the operation of the pump 132 is controlled based on the detection result to control the supply or stop of the coating liquid, and the nozzle moving mechanism 14 is controlled to move and retract the nozzle 12 from the coating liquid supply position P2 to the separation position while the wrinkle W passes through the coating liquid supply position P2. In this way, the arithmetic processing unit 21 functions as the "wrinkle detection unit", the "supply control unit", and the "nozzle position control unit" of the present invention.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the wrinkles W formed in the substrate (continuum) S in which the rear end portion Sar of the substrate Sa and the front end portion Sbf of the material Sb are connected can be detected with high accuracy at the intermediate position P3 in an optically non-contact state by the combination of the irradiation unit 5 and the light receiving unit 6.

Further, based on the detection of the wrinkles W, the nozzle 12 is retracted to the spaced position while the wrinkles W pass through the coating liquid supply position P2 on the backup roller 33 facing the discharge port of the nozzle 12. Therefore, interference between the nozzle 12 and the wrinkles W can be reliably prevented. Further, in this case, the supply of the coating liquid to the region on the substrate surface where the wrinkles W are formed is stopped, so that the waste of the coating liquid can be prevented.

Thus, in the first embodiment, the substrates Sa and Sb correspond to examples of the "first substrate" and the "second substrate" in the present invention, respectively. The conveying roller 32a corresponds to an example of the "support roller" of the present invention. The Z direction corresponds to "a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the backup roller" in the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the detection of the wrinkles W is performed by joining the substrate S to the conveying roller (backup roller) 32a, but in the wrinkle detection, it is a prerequisite that the substrate S and the surface of the conveying roller 32a are in close contact. This is because when the substrate S floats from the roller surface of the conveying roller 32a, the light beam LB is blocked by the floating portion. Therefore, in order to prevent the substrate S from floating from the roller surface of the conveying roller 32a, it is preferable to use a grooved roller (grooved roller) having a plurality of grooves in a roller surface region to be joined to the substrate S, an adsorption roller having a plurality of adsorption holes in the roller surface region, or a rubber roller having a rubber member covering the roller surface region as the conveying roller 32 a.

In the above embodiment, the light emitting element 51 and the light receiving element 61 are fixed by the support member. Therefore, if the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32a increases, the surface height of the substrate S in the vertical direction Z at the intermediate position P3 also changes periodically and largely, and this influence may cause erroneous detection. Therefore, in order to suppress the influence of the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32a, the irradiation unit 5 and the light receiving unit 6 may be arranged as follows. Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view showing the structure of an irradiation part employed in the second embodiment of the coating apparatus of the present invention. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment only in the configuration of the irradiation unit 5 and the light receiving unit 6, and the other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, the following description mainly explains the differences, and the same components are given the same reference numerals and are not described below.

The light emitting element 51 is fixedly disposed at a predetermined height position by a support member (not shown) in the irradiation portion 5 employed in the first embodiment, whereas the light emitting element 51 is held while the height position of the light emitting element 51 is displaced in the vertical direction Z in accordance with the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32a by a light emitting holding mechanism 52 provided in the irradiation portion 5 employed in the second embodiment. As shown in fig. 5, the light-emitting holding mechanism 52 includes two

rotating rollers

521 and 521 that are engaged with the roller surface of the one end portion 32a1 of the conveying roller 32a and driven to rotate relative to the conveying roller 32 a. The

rotary rollers

521 and 521 are rotatably supported by the light-emitting-side holding member 522 while being spaced apart from each other in the Y direction, and are rotated in response to the rotation of the conveying roller 32 a.

As shown in fig. 5, the light-emitting-side holding member 522 holds the light-emitting element 51 so as to sandwich the light-emitting element 51 between the

rotating rollers

521 and 521. The light-emitting-side holding member 522 is supported movably in the vertical direction Z with respect to the apparatus frame FL in a state biased in the direction toward the conveying roller 32a, i.e., in the (-Z) direction, by the two

spring members

523, 523. Therefore, the

rotary rollers

521 and 521 pivotally supported by the light-emitting-side holding member 522 stably abut against the roller surface of the conveying roller 32a by being pressed by the biasing force of the

spring members

523 and 523.

Here, when the eccentric state shown in the column (a) of fig. 5 is changed to the eccentric state shown in the column (b) of fig. 5, that is, when the conveying roller 32a is displaced in the vertical upper direction, that is, the (+ Z) direction due to the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32a, the rotating

rollers

521 and 521, the light-emitting-side holding member 522, and the light-emitting element 51 are integrally moved upward against the spring force of the

spring members

523 and 523 without changing the relative positional relationship with the conveying roller 32 a. In contrast, when the eccentric state shown in the column (b) of fig. 5 is changed to the eccentric state shown in the column (a) of fig. 5, that is, when the conveying roller 32a is displaced in the vertical direction, that is, in the (-Z) direction due to the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32a, the rotating

rollers

521 and 521, the light-emitting-side holding member 522, and the light-emitting element 51 are integrally moved downward by the spring force of the

spring members

523 and 523 without changing the relative positional relationship with the conveying roller 32 a. Therefore, the light emitting element 51 can irradiate the light beam LB in the width direction X at a height position vertically above (+ Z) the conveyance roller 32a from the roller surface without being affected by the eccentricity of the conveyance roller 32 a.

Although not shown, the light receiving unit 6 is also provided with a light receiving holding mechanism having the same configuration as the light emitting holding mechanism 52, and the light receiving element 61 is held by a light receiving side holding member of the light receiving holding mechanism. Therefore, the light receiving element 61 can receive the light beam LB at a height position vertically above (+ Z) the roller surface of the conveying roller 32a and apart from the predetermined wrinkle detection height H, without being affected by the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32 a. Therefore, when the eccentricity of the conveying roller 32a is small or large, the light beam LB can be always irradiated along the surface of the base material (continuous body) S, and the wrinkle W can be stably and accurately detected based on the change in the amount of received light.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the rotating

rollers

521 and 521 of the light-emitting holding mechanism 52 correspond to an example of the "light-emitting-side rotating roller" of the present invention, and the rotating roller of the light-receiving holding mechanism corresponds to an example of the "light-receiving-side rotating roller" of the present invention. The vertical direction Z corresponds to the "orthogonal direction" of the present invention.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications other than those described above may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the irradiation unit 5 and the light receiving unit 6 are provided corresponding to the conveying roller 32a disposed outside the unwinding unit 31 to perform the wrinkle detection, but the irradiation unit 5 and the light receiving unit 6 may be provided corresponding to

other rollers

318a, 318c, 32b, and the like to perform the wrinkle detection.

In the above-described embodiment, the battery electrode is produced using the metal film of the current collector as the substrate S and the active material as the coating film, but the materials of the substrate and the coating film (coating liquid) to which the present invention is applied are not limited thereto and may be any.

The present invention is applicable to all coating techniques in which a continuous body formed by connecting the front end portion of a long second base material and the rear end portion of a long first base material is conveyed along a conveyance path, and a coating liquid is supplied from a nozzle to form a coating film on the continuous body.

Claims

1. A coating apparatus that forms a coating film on a continuous body by conveying the continuous body along a conveying path and supplying a coating liquid from a nozzle at a coating liquid supply position, the continuous body being formed by connecting a rear end portion of a first long base material and a front end portion of a second long base material at a connection position, the coating apparatus comprising:

a support roller that is engaged with and supports the continuous body conveyed along the conveyance path at an intermediate position between the coating liquid supply position and the connection position in the conveyance path;

an irradiation unit configured to irradiate a light beam along a surface of the continuous body supported by the support roller;

a light receiving unit that is disposed opposite to the irradiation unit with the continuum therebetween and receives the light beam; and

a wrinkle detection unit that detects occurrence of wrinkles on the continuum based on a change in the amount of light received by the light receiving unit,

the irradiation unit includes: a light emitting element that irradiates the light beam from one end side of the support roller to the other end side; and a light-emitting holding mechanism which holds the light-emitting element, is joined to a roller surface at one end of the support roller, and maintains a distance from the roller surface to the light-emitting element at a wrinkle detection height in a direction orthogonal to a rotation axis of the support roller,

the light receiving unit includes: a light receiving element that receives the light beam; and a light receiving holding mechanism that, while holding the light receiving element, is joined to the roller surface at the other end portion of the support roller, and that maintains the distance from the roller surface to the light receiving element in the orthogonal direction at the wrinkle detection height.

2. Coating device according to claim 1,

the light emission holding mechanism includes: a light-emitting-side rotating roller that is engaged with the roller surface of the one end portion of the support roller and rotates following the support roller; and a light-emitting-side holding member that holds the light-emitting element and supports the light-emitting-side rotating roller so as to be rotatable and movable in the orthogonal direction,

the light receiving and holding mechanism includes: a light receiving side rotating roller that is engaged with the roller surface of the other end portion of the support roller and rotates following the support roller; and a light receiving side holding member that holds the light receiving element, supports the light receiving side rotating roller to be rotatable, and is movable in the orthogonal direction.

3. Coating device according to claim 1 or 2,

the backup roller is a grooved roller having a plurality of grooves in a roller surface region to be joined to the continuous body, an adsorption roller having a plurality of adsorption holes in the roller surface region, or a rubber roller having the roller surface region covered with a rubber member.

4. Coating device according to claim 1 or 2,

the coating device comprises: and a nozzle position control unit configured to retract the nozzle from the coating liquid supply position while the wrinkle passes through the coating liquid supply position when the wrinkle detection unit detects the occurrence of the wrinkle.

5. Coating device according to claim 4,

the coating device comprises: and a supply control unit that stops the supply of the coating liquid from the nozzle while the nozzle is retracted from the coating liquid supply position.

6. A coating method of forming a coating film on a continuous body formed by connecting a rear end portion of a first long base material and a front end portion of a second long base material at a connecting position, by conveying the continuous body along a conveying path and supplying a coating liquid from a nozzle at a coating liquid supply position, the coating method comprising:

a step of engaging and supporting the continuous body conveyed along the conveyance path with a supporting roller disposed between the coating liquid supply position and the connection position in the conveyance path, and supporting the continuous body on the supporting roller;

a step of irradiating a light beam from one end side of the support roller to the other end side along the surface of the continuous body supported by the support roller by a light emitting element which is held by a light emitting holding mechanism and irradiates the light beam from the one end side to the other end side of the support roller and a light receiving element which is held by a light receiving holding mechanism and receives the light beam, receiving the light beam at the other end side of the support roller, and obtaining a light receiving amount of the light beam; and

a step of detecting the occurrence of wrinkles on the continuum on the basis of a change in the amount of light received by the light beam,

the light-emitting holding mechanism is joined to a roller surface at one end portion of the support roller and maintains a distance from the roller surface to the light-emitting element at a wrinkle detection height in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to a rotation axis of the support roller,

the light receiving and holding mechanism is engaged with the roller surface at the other end portion of the support roller, and maintains a distance from the roller surface to the light receiving element at the wrinkle detection height in the orthogonal direction.