EP1393903A2 - Rotary press for applying a pattern on a web like substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

The press has a driver to propel a strip material (4) through transfer rollers with a defined speed of a support strip (1). Reorientation units modify direction of the material from transverse to same direction of the support strip so as to deliver the material and the strip to the rollers. A storage disposal joins successive reels of the material without interruption of the delivery of the material to the rollers.

Description

The present invention relates to a rotary press for reporting patterns on a strip substrate, comprising means for driving longitudinally this band substrate at a predetermined speed, means supplying at least one support strip of the material of said patterns, means for transferring said patterns from said support strip into determined locations of said strip substrate, means for driving said carrier strip through said transfer means so intermittently at said determined speed of the web substrate.

It has already been proposed in patent EP 441 596 a device for transferring, from a support strip of a deposition material, images reported from this material at specific locations of a substrate in band, driven at constant speed. In such a device, it is obvious that the the length of deposited material consumed is only a fraction of that of the web substrate. However, the support strip of the material to be deposited is formed a laminate whose price is high. That's why we proposed in the aforementioned document, means of means for reversing the longitudinal displacement of the support strip of the material to be deposited, these means of displacement in the opposite direction being respectively arranged upstream and downstream of the means for the transfer from the image of the carrier tape to the web substrate, so as to reduce on the tape supports the space separating two successive images, so to save the consumption of this support band as much as possible.

In such a device, the support strip of the material to be transferred and the strip substrate have two parallel longitudinal paths for allow the transfer means to press them against each other with a pressure, temperature and time appropriate for the transfer of the image can be realized. As a result, the feeding means of the band support are necessarily superimposed on the strip substrate which is called to pass through several successive workstations located along a installation that can reach more than ten meters long, so that the power supply of the support band must be above the workstations, this that makes the job of loading tape replacement reels relatively difficult and painful support.

The object of the present invention is to remedy, at least in part, the aforementioned drawbacks.

For this purpose, the present invention relates to a rotary press to report patterns on a strip substrate of the aforementioned type, such as as defined in claim 1.

Access to the feeding station in strips material support to to deposit on the substrate in strip is easy. Given the lateral position of this feed station relative to the web substrate, the station may have more than one unit that can be stacked while remaining accessible from the ground for easy recharging. Such a provision saves the occupied area while multiplying the number of patterns reported.

This arrangement also favors the possibility of a connection automatic without stopping production, allowing for this purpose the incorporation a backup tape accumulator that can fill up as the media feed reel is empty. This band reserve support can thus be used during the joining operation between the end of a support tape and the beginning of the next tape.

Other peculiarities will appear during the description which will follow, made with the aid of the attached drawings which illustrate, schematically and For example, an embodiment of the rotary press to report patterns on a strip substrate, object of the present invention.

la figure 2 est une vue en élévation latérale de la figure 1;

la figure 3 est une vue de dessus de la figure 2;

la figure 4 est une vue partielle agrandie et simplifiée de la figure 2;

les figures 5 à 8 sont des vues partielles simplifiées de la figure 1, montrant les différentes phases d'une opération de raccord de deux bandes support du matériau des motifs à rapporter sur le substrat en bande et la figure 9 représente une variante d'exécution d'un organe de modulation de la vitesse de bande.

Figure 1 is an elevational view of this embodiment, transverse to the direction of advance of the strip substrate on which the reported patterns are deposited;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top view of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged and simplified partial view of Figure 2;

FIGS. 5 to 8 are simplified partial views of FIG. 1, showing the different phases of a connection operation of two support strips of the material of the patterns to be reported on the strip substrate, and FIG. 9 represents a variant embodiment. a modulator of the band speed.

The rotary press illustrated by FIGS. 1 to 3 is a press which is more particularly, although not exclusively intended for to be inserted into a print line on a strip substrate. This line In particular, printing may be a line for printing, cutting and the ribbing of cardboard articles, in particular a production line of blanks of cardboard boxes intended subsequently to form the boxes by folding along the ribs formed at the places of folding.

This rotary press is therefore arranged in the direction of scrolling longitudinal direction of a strip substrate 1 which moves in the direction indicated by the arrow F (FIG. 3) and which is driven and guided according to a determined trajectory by a series of cylinders C drive and guide (Figure 2), no only through the rotary press, but all along the line printing. This strip substrate 1 is fed between two rolls 2, 3 (Figure 2) a transfer mechanism, arranged transversely to the direction longitudinal of the substrate in band 1 and whose role will be explained later.

The subject matter of the reasons to be deposited at specific places in the substrate in strip 1, which may be in particular a metal film, is integral of a support strip 4. There may be several support strips 4 carrying similar films or of different materials and / or colors, depending on the color of the patterns to be deposited on the substrate in strip 1. These support strips 4 consist of laminates generally comprising a web polyester, a wax separating layer, a color varnish formed by a resin, an aluminum layer and finally an adhesive layer.

These support strips 4 are stored in the form of coils 5, respectively and alternatively reserve, disposed in one or more superimposed feed units 6, 6a, 6b (FIG. 1) which, in this example, can go up to three. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the support strips 4 emerging from the supply coils 5 arrive laterally to the strip substrate 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, three support strips 4, 4a, 4b therefore direct perpendicular to the substrate in strip 1. Three guides 7, 7a, 7b, constituted by bars arranged on the bisector of the formed angle between the 45 ° strands support strips 4, 4a, 4b located upstream of the guides 7, 7a, 7b and the strands disposed downstream of these guides. The direction of these last strands is parallel to the direction of the substrate in band 1. By doing turn each of these support strips 4, 4a, 4b around its respective guide 7, 7a, 7b of 180 °, the positions of the lower and upper faces of the each support strip and the directions of these support strips 4, 4a, 4b change 90 ° to align with the direction of the band 1 substrate.

In the illustrated example, these support strips 4, 4a, 4b are pointing from the guides 7, 7a, 7b in the opposite direction to that of the strip substrate 1. A or several transverse drive rollers 8 serve to rotate at again these support strips 4, 4a, 4b of 180 ° to bring them back in the direction F of displacement of the substrate in strip 1. These rollers 8, associated with pressure rollers 8a, constitute devices for training bands support 4, 4a, 4b at a constant speed. Each transverse roll 8 may have a different speed from that of the other transverse roll, following the consumption of material to be deposited from each support strip 4, 4a, 4b, which may vary depending on the size and spacing of the respective patterns.

A series of intermittent training devices 9 (FIGS. 4) is disposed downstream of the transverse drive rollers 8. Each intermittent drive device 9 comprises as illustrated by FIG. 4 a drive roller 10 rotating at a modulated speed, around which the support band 4, 4a, 4b rotates 180 °, and a counter roll 11 integral with a flip-flop 12 engaged with a cross member 13 actuated by two cylinders 14. Next the position of the rocker 12, the support band 4, 4a, 4b is pressed between the 10 drive roller and the counter roller 11, so that it is driven at the speed of the training roller 10. During the operation of transfer of the pattern of the support strip 4 to the substrate 1, when this band support 4 and this band substrate pass between the transfer rollers 2, 3, as soon as the strips 4, 4a, 4b passing on the same roll 10 are no longer between the shots of Tool 2 and Counter Roller 3, their speed can be modulated. The drive speed of the rollers 10 is chosen to be equal to that of the strip substrate 1 so that the speed of this strip substrate 1 and the or support strips 4, 4a, 4b are the same. Since each support band 4, 4a, 4b is intended for the transfer of a specific pattern whose size and position on the substrate in strip 1 differs from those of another pattern, each support band 4, 4a, 4b must be driven at times different from another support band. This is the reason why many intermittent training devices are provided, these being example to the number of six in the illustrated embodiment, but this number may vary more or less depending on the particular applications.

An accumulation device 15 is disposed between the rollers transverse drive 8, driving the support strips 4, 4a, 4b in continuous and intermittent training devices 9, to enable absorbing the lengths of support strips 4, 4a, 4b coming out of the transverse rollers 8 of continuous training of these support strips, while these are not driven by the training devices intermittent 9.

This accumulation device comprises an accumulation chamber 16 presenting at the front an inlet 17 for receiving the support strips 4 4a, 4b downstream of the drive rollers 8 and an exit 18 to bring these support strips around the respective drive rollers. The back of this accumulation chamber 16 is connected to a suction source 19 intended to create a depression to form with the support strips 4, 4a, 4b more or less long loops inside the accumulation chamber 16 during the stopping of the drive of the intermittent drive devices. By loop, two detectors 20, 20a serve to detect respectively the maximum loop and the minimum loop formed by the support band. These detectors 20, 20a make it possible, when starting a new series of impressions to be made on the rotary press, to adjust the constant speed transverse feed rollers 8, so that the buckle formed by each support band 4, 4a, 4b does not exceed the two limits. Once the theoretical constant speed of the roller 8 has been set using the detectors 20, 20a, it is slightly increased by a programmed setpoint. The intermittent loops formed by the bands 4, 4a, 4b will thus have tendency to grow. When the detectors 20 receive a signal, they control a brief uplift of the corresponding press 8a, which has for effect of slightly reducing the flow and thus shorten the incriminated loop. To improve the effect of the system, all upstream return rollers are subdivided into several adjacent portions, so as not to bind the bands 4, 4a, 4b between them.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1, 5 to 8, each unit 6, 6a, 6b comprises a rectangular support of coils 21, pivotally mounted about a central axis 22. Each coil carrier 21 has two pivoting seats 23, 23a for receiving shafts pivoting (30, 30a) supply coils 5, alternatively reserve 5a, support strips 4, 4a, 4b. These seats 23, 23a open respectively on two opposite sides of the rectangular support of coils 21, as it is see Figure 1. Each pivoting seat 23, 23a is associated with a lever 24, 24a for retaining the pivot axes of the coils 5 and 5a when the pivoting seat 23, 23a opens downwards.

Preferably and when it is desired that the junction between support strips 4, 4a, 4b is fully automated, the central axis 22 of each coil support 21 is associated with a motor 25 (FIG. rotate in 180 ° steps to replace an empty 5 supply reel by a spare coil 5a. Each pivoting seat 23, 23a is still associated with a support 26, 26a for the joining of the support strips 4, 4a, 4b. of the guides 27, constituted by rollers at the four corners of the support rectangular coil 21, are used to engage with the support strip 4, 4a, 4b during feeding, to pass it to the periphery of the support of coils 21, during the rotation of this coil support 21, at the moment when a supply coil 5 must be replaced by a spare coil 5a.

As can be seen, each half of the reel stand 21 in the longitudinal direction of the rectangle formed by this support 21 has a symmetry with respect to the central pivot axis 22 of this support 21, so that turning it 180 °, each half of the support 21 replaces the other half of this support 21. A connecting member 29 is still provided for make the connection between the end of one coil 5 and the beginning of the next.

Before describing the operation of the joining system, it is necessary to to mention the presence in each feeding unit of a backup device 28 of support strips 4, 4a, 4b disposed between the support of rectangular coils 21 and the transverse drive rollers 8, to allow to continue feeding these support strips 4 during the joining of the strips, during which the feeding of the support strip 4, 4a, 4b is interrupted to allow it to be connected to the carrier strip of the 5 reel of replacement.

Figures 5 to 8 illustrate the different phases of the process of joining the support strips 4, 4a, 4b using simplified diagrams. The figure 5 shows the end of a spool 5. FIG. 6 shows the spool support 21 following its rotation of 180 ° in the opposite direction to the needles of a shows. We see that, during this rotation, the support strip 4 is guided by two of the return rollers 27. The front end of the new roll of reserve 5a is ready for the join operation. In Figure 7, the organ of junction 29 came to press the two support strips 4, 4a, 4b to be joined against the support 26a to glue them to each other. During this paste operation, the support strips 4, 4a, 4b are momentarily immobilized. It is then that the strip material accumulated in the reserve device 28 becomes empty to allow the transverse feed rollers 8 to feed without interrupting the rotary press in support strips 4, 4a, 4b of the material to be report on the substrate in strip 1.

Cutting means (not shown), which can be associated at the junction member 29 then cut the rest of the carrier tape of the reel 5 empty and the connecting member 29 returns to its inactive position as illustrated in Figure 8, so that the new feed reel that was until then the reserve coil 5a begins to feed the rotary press. As a first step, the reserve device 28 fills up again for the next reel change. In the meantime, there will be a need to replace the coil 5 empty by a new reserve coil 5a full. This operation manually is made easy because of the lateral arrangement of the rotary press feeding device which facilitates access to the support of coils 21 and in particular to the pivoting seats 23, 23a of the coils supply 5 and reserve 5a on the coil support 21, especially that the pivoting seat 23, 23a, on which is the reel Vacuum supply 5 to be changed, protrudes outside the power supply unit 6, 6a, 6b, as shown in FIG.

Downstream of the workstation 2, 3 is another device 15a, which is associated with an output traction group 50, equipped with pressers 50a, which are adjusted laterally to be positioned on bands 4, 4a, 4b, etc .... Now, these bands can come from several stages (6, 6a, 6b of Figure 1) and therefore have average speeds different. Note that the group 50, 50a rotates at a constant speed, more precisely at the speed of the fastest group of traction groups 8. To obtain a lower average speed, corresponding to a group 8 at reduced flow, the associated pressers 50a are lifted periodically. By doing so, they block the associated band 4. The bands 4 which we want to reduce the flow therefore make a movement of the stop / walk type. Activation / 50a pressers can be deactivated directly by the control of loops in the accumulation device 15a, or else by calculating a cycle regular basis and by superimposing any corrections from the monitoring individual loops in the accumulation device 15a. Another planned solution is to install an additional group 50, 50a, which would then adopt a specific average speed.

FIG. 9 represents an alternative embodiment of an organ of modulation of the tape speed by replacing elements 8, 15, and 10, 11 of Figure 4. Indeed, it may be desirable to have a second run, for example to create a compact stamping unit in the form of an insert. The goal is to create a speed modulation for at less a metallized strip 44. This passes a first roll 40, linked to a suitable motor with a vacuum power supply 41 and unmounted means but known to bring the vacuum to the periphery of the cylinder, selectively between the generators A and E while passing through B. The band 44 is driven to continuous speed vc by the roller 40, whose speed of rotation wc is constant and chosen according to the average consumption required. Band 44 passes through the generators A, a point between B and B ', a point between C and C', D, and leave the device with a speed vi. The roll 43 is constructed as the roll 40, the only difference being that for wi the rotational speed is modulated to obtain a strip economy as described in the text Referring to Figures 2, 4. The average flow rate induced by the intermittent rotation wi of the roll 42 is identical to the flow rate given by the roll 40. It is understood easily that the BC trajectory is true only at one point in the cycle. The separation points B and C junction walk on surfaces based Profile of wi. We take advantage of the extremely low mass of band 44 for create a trajectory and a modulation vel vel vi perfectly controlled through the cycles. There is no slip between 44 and 40, nor between 44 and 42; vacuums 41 and / or 44 could therefore be replaced by a pressure or external pressure. The speed wc can be influenced by a control of trajectory between the rollers 40, 42. If the points B and C have tendency to descend, this can be intercepted by a means of photocell (not shown) which will slightly increase the speed wc. And the opposite can be obtained by analogous means placed above B, C. this way, the software is free to overlay position corrections to roller 42 for the installation of holograms for example. A special modulation can also be supported, this can be very useful for joining the band 44 out of the meshing of a snapshot 16, for example.

Claims (18)

Rotary press for reporting patterns on a web substrate (1), comprising means (C) for longitudinally driving said web substrate (1) at a predetermined speed, feed means (6, 6a, 6b) of at least one support band (4, 4a, 4b) of the material of said patterns, transfer means (2, 3) of said patterns, of said support band (4, 4a, 4b) at predetermined locations of said strip substrate (1) means (9) for driving said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) through said transfer means (2, 3) intermittently at said determined speed of the strip substrate (1), characterized in that said means of feeding (6, 6a, 6b) are arranged laterally to the direction of longitudinal drive of said strip substrate (1), means (7, 7a, 7b) being arranged along the path of said support strip (4 , 4a, 4b) to change its direction, from a feed direction transverse to the direction of drive longitudinally t of said strip substrate (1), a direction of transfer of said patterns, parallel to the direction of longitudinal drive of the strip substrate (1). A press according to claim 1, wherein said means (6, 6a, 6b) are associated with means (8) for driving said support band (4, 4a, 4b) at constant speed, an accumulation device (15) said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) being disposed between said means (8) for driving said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) at a constant speed and said means (9) to drive this support strip (4, 4a, 4b) intermittently. A press according to claim 1, wherein said means power supply units (6, 6a, 6b) comprise a plurality of power supply units independent superimposed. Press according to claim 2, wherein said means (9) for driving said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) intermittently comprise a drive roll (10) with which said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) is brought into contact at the outlet of said accumulation means (15), a free rotation roller (11) parallel to said drive roller (10) and means (12-14) for selectively applying this freely rotating roller (11) against the drive roller (10), so that said belt support (4, 4a, 4b) is clamped between said rollers (10, 11) and thus driven by friction. Press according to one of claims 1 and 3, wherein said supply means (6, 6a, 6b) comprise a mechanism determined speed drive (8), a junction device (21, 26, 26a, 29) to join the end of a support strip (4, 4a, 4b) and the beginning of another support tape and a reserve (28) of a certain length of said tape support (4, 4a, 4b) between said connecting device (29) and said mechanism drive at a fixed speed (8) to allow continuous feeding of said carrier web (4, 4a, 4b) during said joining operation. A press according to claim 5, wherein the mechanism drive (8) comprises a series of pressure rollers (8a) associated with a strips (4, 4a), where said presser can be lifted intermittently, thus allowing a slight variation of the band rate (4) on the roll (8), allowing to control the average position of a band loop (4, 4a) in the accumulation chamber (16), the whole being managed in loopback automatic by the machine software. A press according to claim 6, wherein the rolls of upstream of the drive mechanism (8) are subdivided into several adjacent parts, so as to disconnect the advance of the strips (4, 4a, 4b) between them. A press according to claim 5, wherein said device junction (21, 26, 26a, 29) comprises a support (21) for at least one spool (5) and a spare coil (5a) for each coil supplying (5) said support strips (4, 4a, 4b) connected to a frame (6, 6a, 6b) by a central pivoting axis (22) and comprising means for pivoting (23, 23a) to receive said coils (5) in positions parallel and symmetrical to said central pivot axis (22), guides (27) and supports (29) for said support strips (4, 4a, 4b) associated with each of said supply coils (5) on the one hand and said coils of reserve (5a) on the other hand, these guides (27) and these supports (26, 26a) being arranged symmetrically with respect to said central axis (22), means (25) for driving said coil carrier (21) in 180 ° steps and means (29) to apply a final portion of the support strip (4, 4a, 4b) of said spare spool (5a) against an initial portion of the carrier web (4, 4a, 4b) of said supply coil (5) against one of said supports (29) for join the adjacent portions. The press of claim 2, wherein said device of accumulation (15) of said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) comprises a chamber accumulation device (16) for reserve portions of said carrier strip, having an inlet (17) for said carrier strip from said means a power supply (6, 6a, 6b) and an output (18) for said carrier band to said means (9) for driving said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) so as to intermittent, means (19) for creating a depression being connected to said accumulation chamber (16) which comprises detectors (20, 20a) for detecting two accumulation limit positions of said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) inside said accumulation chamber. A press according to claim 2, wherein said means (8) for driving said associated support band (4, 4a, 4b) at constant speed said supply means (6, 6a, 6b) are arranged downstream of said means (7, 7a, 7b) for changing the direction of said carrier strip (4, 4a, 4b) so that the portion of this carrier strip passing through said means (7, 7a, 7b) to change their direction are kept constantly under voltage. Press according to one of the preceding claims, in which means for changing direction (7, 7a, 7b) comprise a rectilinear guide member disposed on a bisector of the angle formed between the feeding direction of said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) and the direction longitudinal drive of said substrate strip (1), so that after having rotates said support strip (4, 4a, 4b) by 180 ° around it, the direction longitudinal axis of this support strip forms an angle of 90 ° between its strand upstream and that located downstream of said rectilinear guide member (7, 7a, 7b). A press according to claim 1, wherein the strips (4, 4a, 4b) are driven through another accumulation device (15a) by a traction device (50, 50a), where the speed of the latter is adjusted according to the average position of the loops in the device (15a). A press according to claim 12, wherein the group of traction (50, 50a) is split and each group (8, 8a) is associated with a group (50, 50a) having substantially the same basic speed. A press according to claim 12, wherein the software of control for the pressers (8a) and (50a) is the same, and where the devices of accumulation (15) and (15a) are identical. Press according to claim 12, wherein the pressers (50a) are raised and the associated bands blocked in a clocked manner and where this rate is dictated by a loop monitoring system in the storage device (15a) as described for the storage device (15). A press according to claim 4, wherein a profile of intermittent speed is obtained by the combination of 2 rollers (40, 42), where (40) rotates with a constant speed wc and (42) with a speed wi intermittent. Press according to claim 16, wherein the strips (44) are held without friction on the surfaces of the rollers (40, 42) by vacuum (41, 43). The press of claim 16 wherein the speed wc is adjusted by means of control placed above and below the zone (BC) between the rollers (40, 42).

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