EP3608122B1 - Production plant for producing data cards for security documents - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a production plant for the production of data cards for security documents, which consist of a laminated composite comprising at least two layers laminated to one another.

In the production of data cards from a laminate composite, the individual layers or plies are provided as an endless strip on a roll and are fed in sequentially in order to then be laminated. After laminating the individual layers to form a laminate composite, the cards are punched to a final format. Such production is also referred to as a roll process, since the individual layers for forming a laminate composite are drawn off a roll as a web-like material. Such a roller process is neither flexible nor compact in its design, since the arrangement of the individual stations for feeding the individual layers and/or printing stations and/or laminating stations are arranged in a row along a straight transport path, resulting in long production lines.

From the EP 3 235 651 A1 a production plant for producing data cards for security documents from a laminate composite is known. This laminate composite comprises at least two layers laminated to one another. This production system includes a transport device and an assembly station, which includes a magazine in which raw cards cut to a final size are stored. Furthermore, the production system includes a handling device that equips the transport device with a raw card from the magazine. A printing station is also provided, as well as a subsequent output station.

From the DE 10 2006 023 917 A2 a method and a device for personalizing a large number of security documents is known. On both sides of processing stations is a right rail system and a left rail system is provided. The individual processing stations are approached sequentially and compulsorily along this rail system.

From the EP 3 290 223 A1 a perfect binder line is known. In this adhesive binder line, means are provided immediately upstream of the first processing station in order to align the edges of the book blocks delivered in a loose or quasi-loose state consistently and perfectly before they are fed to the further processing station.

From the DE 10 2016 217 041 B3 a method is known for producing an individual identification, value or security document, in which the document has a personalized composite body which includes a document-type-specific selection of material sheets in a document-type-specific order. The individual sheets of material are made available by means of a supply station, the individual sheets of material made available being collected and collected in the order specific to the document type for the booklet of material sheets to be created. The composite body specific to the document type is then laminated and cut to size. This is followed by a personalization of the data type-specific composite body.

The invention is based on the object of proposing a production system for a data card which enables a high cycle time and is flexible in design.

This object is achieved by a production plant according to claim 1.

With this production line, the raw card cut to the final size can be fed through all processing stations with a saving in the workpiece carrier. A so-called One Piece Flow is created. This results in short cycle times.

Due to the endless transport route, the last station is arranged adjacent to the first station. As a result, the workpiece carrier can be moved directly from station to station without having to go through a return transport route. Short cycle times are also achieved as a result. A compact production line is also created by the closed transport section, which can be circular or oval in shape, for example. Individual stations of the transport route can also be added, exchanged or removed. This also gives a flexible structure.

Provision is made for the workpiece carrier to receive a raw card cut to the final dimensions, which corresponds to the final dimensions of a finished data card. Feeding in the raw card cut to a final size has the advantage that all processing stations can be run through using a workpiece carrier. In addition, the raw card can remain in the workpiece carrier during printing and/or laminating, which enables high dimensional accuracy during processing within the individual stations of this production system.

The production plant preferably has a heating station between the magazine for issuing raw cards and the printing stations raw card up. This allows this raw card to be prepared for subsequent printing.

In addition, this heating station has the advantage that a printed raw card is then provided with a cover layer, so that in the subsequent heating station the heating of the cover film is sufficient, whereby the subsequent lamination process is accelerated.

Furthermore, a feed station for a further foil or a layer, in particular a hologram layer, is preferably provided before or after the printing station. As a result, a data card to be produced can be built up flexibly using one or more layers based on a raw card.

Furthermore, a buffer section can preferably be provided between the laminating station and the processing station. This makes it possible for the laminated raw card to be temporarily stored and transferred to a subsequent processing line, in particular a personalization line, independently of a clocking of a production cycle in the production line.

The processing station of the production system preferably represents an interface between the production line and the personalization line. This can also result in a decoupling between the two lines. The processing stations are preferably configured redundantly so that downtimes are avoided and the productivity figure can also be kept high. The processing station is preferably matched to the raw card supplied. The raw card, which has already been cut to the final dimensions of the finished data card and onto which at least one layer is laminated, is processed in the processing station by punching or cutting the at least one laminated layer, so that only the laminated layer is cut to the final dimensions of the raw card becomes.

The personalization line comprises at least one personalization station and a subsequent quality inspection station. The personalization station can be designed depending on the requirement for the data card to be produced. For the production of access cards, the Personalizing station can be designed as a labeling and/or engraving station. In the production of driver's licenses, identity cards, passport cards or the like, laser personalization of a layer of the card cut to final size is preferably provided.

Furthermore, the personalization station can include a programming station for a memory or a transponder in the card that has been cut to its final size and laminated.

A removal station is provided after the quality check, which separates the data card, which is checked as a good part, from the rejects. A handling device can preferably be used.

The personalization line preferably also has a transport device with an endless transport route, along which the workpiece carrier is moved through all the stations, which accepts the card to be personalized to its final dimensions.

The at least one workpiece carrier of the transport device is preferably cycled along the transport path. In order to reduce cycle times, it can be provided that a processing step in one station is divided into two individual stations. The cycle and thus the productivity can be increased.

Furthermore, it is preferably provided that at least one heat-conducting element is contained in the receptacle of the workpiece carrier for positioning and for receiving the raw card. This at least one heat conducting element is preferably positioned between the bottom of the receptacle or the workpiece carrier and the raw card inserted therein. As a result, improved heat dissipation from the raw card can take place and waving or bending of the raw card can be reduced or prevented.

The invention and other advantageous embodiments and developments thereof are described and explained in more detail below with reference to the examples shown in the drawings.

• Figur 1 eine perspektivische Ansicht einer Produktionsanlage mit einer Umhausung,
• Figur 2 eine schematische Ansicht der Produktionsanlage mit einer Produktionslinie und einer daran angeschlossenen Personalisierlinie,
• Figur 3 eine schematische Seitenansicht eines Laufwagens mit einem Werkstückträger einer Transportvorrichtung,
• Figur 4 eine perspektivische Ansicht von unten auf den Werkstückträger, und
• Figur 5 eine perspektivische Ansicht von oben auf den Werkstückträger.

Show it:

• figure 1 a perspective view of a production plant with a housing,
• figure 2 a schematic view of the production plant with a production line and a personalization line connected to it,
• figure 3 a schematic side view of a carriage with a workpiece carrier of a transport device,
• figure 4 a perspective view from below of the workpiece carrier, and
• figure 5 a perspective view from above of the workpiece carrier.

In figure 1 a production plant 11 is shown in perspective. This production plant 11 includes an enclosure 12, which in figure 2 shown production line 14 and personalization line 15 completely surrounds. Doors 16 create individual access areas to the production line 14 and/or personalization line 15 . The production of data cards 53 can be controlled and/or monitored by means of a control device 18 which is provided outside the housing 12 .

The housing 12 is preferably closed in order to protect the production of the data card 53 from environmental influences. Doors 16 or the like can also provide access areas for magazines for raw products, finished products, waste and/or rejects.

In figure 2 a schematic view of the production line 14 and the personalization line 15 connected to it via an interface 21 is shown. To connect individual stations, a transport device 23 is provided with a transport path 24 along which one or more workpiece carriers 25 can be moved. The transport section 24 is designed, for example, as an elongated oval. The transport route 24 is endless. The workpiece carriers 25 thus run several times along the transport route 24 through the individual stations.

A loading station 26 is assigned to the transport path 24 and comprises at least one magazine 27 in which raw cards 28 are provided. These raw cards 28 consist of one or more layers. Particularly in the case of a structure made up of several layers, these are designed as a laminate composite or a prelaminate. The raw card 28 is preferably cut to a finished size or final size.

A handling device 29 in the loading station 26 removes a raw card 28 from the magazine 27 and positions it on or in the workpiece carrier 25. This workpiece carrier 25 is moved by means of the transport device 23, in particular indexed. The control of the movement of the workpiece carrier 25 can take place synchronously. The workpiece carriers 25 can also be controlled individually with regard to the dwell time in each station. The loading station 26 is followed, for example, by a heating station 31. In this station, the raw card 28 is preheated. It can be warmed up to around 70 °C. The workpiece carrier 25 with the heated raw card 28 is then fed to a printing station 33 in which information such as the name of the data card owner or other features is printed on. In particular, colored printing can be used for colored personalization. Before features and/or information are printed in the printing station 33, a cleaning process can be carried out in order to prepare the surface of the raw card 28 to be printed for the subsequent printing process.

A cover layer 35 is then fed to the printed raw card 28 in an output station 36 . This cover layer 35 can be pulled off the roll in the output station 36 and cut to the format of the raw card 28 and output. Cover layers 35 that have already been cut and correspond to the format of the raw card 28 can also be supplied. The cover layer 35 can also be larger than the format of the raw card 28 cut to the final dimensions.

The workpiece carrier 25 with the printed raw card 28 and the cover layer 35 lying thereon is then fed to a heating station 38 in which the cover layer 35 is also heated. The warmed up or heated cover layer 35 and the raw card 28 are then transferred to a laminating station 41 by means of the workpiece carrier 25 . The layers are laminated so that a laminate composite of the raw card 28 and at least one cover layer 35 is formed.

The workpiece carrier 25 can then pass through a buffer zone 43 . The workpiece carrier 25 is then fed to a processing station 46 in which the printed and laminated raw card 28 is cut out or punched out to a finished size or final size of the data card 53 . This processing station 46 can carry out a stamping or a cutting process.

The workpiece carrier 25, which has transferred the printed and laminated raw card 28 to the processing station 46, is guided further along the transport route 24 and arrives again at the loading station 26, in order to again receive a raw card 28.

After the laminate composite has been processed into the data card 53 to the final format by the processing station 46, this data card 53, which has been cut to the final size, is in turn transferred to a workpiece carrier 25 of the transport device 23 of the personalization line 15. This workpiece carrier 25 transports the data card 53 completely through the personalization line 15. In a personalization station 49, the data card 53 can be personalized. For example, if the data card 53 has a transponder or IC chip, this can be done by programming a memory chip. Furthermore, the personalization station 49 can include a laser personalization device in order to write data and/or information and/or security elements on the data card 53 . The workpiece carrier 25 is then cycled on to a quality station 52 which checks the data card 53 . In a removal station 54 following the quality stations 52, a handling device 55 removes the finished product Data card 53 and transfers it to a magazine 57 or to another component if the test criteria are met. A reject 58 is sorted out by the handling device 55 and, for example, transferred to a waste container.

The production line 14 and the personalization line 15 each have an endless conveyor belt, so that a one-piece flow is made possible. This gives a compact arrangement. The production line 14 and personalization line 15 are arranged decoupled from one another. This increases the flexibility in production. In addition, cycle times of less than 10 seconds per card can be achieved for their production.

In figure 3 a schematic side view of a carriage 61 of the transport device 23 is shown. This carriage 61 comprises a guide element 62 which at least partially surrounds a rail profile 63 and can be moved along it. This rail profile 63 is only shown in dashed lines and also only schematically. The guide element 62 can have one or more sliding elements, roller elements or the like in order to be able to be moved along the rail profile 63 . A carrier 64 is provided on the guide element 62 . This carrier 64 accommodates the workpiece carrier 25 . The workpiece carrier 25 rests on the carrier 64 . Alignment elements 66 are provided for arranging the workpiece carrier 25 on the carrier 64 in a defined position. These can be pins and associated bores that are provided opposite one another on the workpiece carrier 25 and the carrier 64 . These aligning elements 66 advantageously also allow for simplified placement and alignment, in particular exact positioning of a workpiece carrier 25 with respect to carrier 64 and also in a respective receptacle in the respective processing station. The alignment elements 66, which are designed as pins, for example, are in figure 4 shown in a perspective view of the workpiece carrier 25 from below.

Additionally and/or alternatively, the workpiece carrier 25 can have guide rollers 67 or receiving bushes on two opposite end faces. These are used to accommodate the workpiece carrier 25 in the respective station and/or to align it with respect to the position within the respective processing station.

Due to the alignment elements 66 and/or the guide rollers 67 arranged on the workpiece carrier 25, the workpiece carrier 25 can be positioned and accommodated in a defined alignment after it has been transferred from the carriage 61 into the respective processing station. As a result, an additional detection of the position of the raw card 28, in particular when applying pressure, is no longer necessary. The position of the raw card in the respective processing station is always the same due to the alignment elements 66 and/or guide rollers 67, so that high precision is provided when processing the raw card 28 or when completing the data card 53.

In figure 5 a perspective view from above of the workpiece carrier 25 is shown. The workpiece carrier 25 has a receptacle 68 for the raw card 28 . Positioning elements 69 , in particular positioning strips, are provided in the receptacle 68 , by means of which the raw card 28 is aligned and fixed in relation to the receptacle 68 . The positioning strips 69 each engage on one end face of the raw card 28 .

The receptacle 68 of the workpiece carrier 25 has a depth that is less than the thickness of the raw card 28 . As a result, an upper peripheral edge of the raw card 28 protrudes upwards relative to a plane of the workpiece carrier 25 . This makes it possible for at least one layer to be laminated on and/or printed when the raw card 28 is in the clamped state in the workpiece carrier 25 .

Provision is preferably made for a heat-conducting element 71 to be arranged in the receptacle 68 . This heat-conducting element 71 is preferably designed as a sheet metal, in particular a diffuser sheet metal. This allows one improved temperature dissipation from the raw card 28 in the workpiece carrier 25 take place. As a result, deformation of the raw card 28 due to the effect of heat can be counteracted.

With such a design of the workpiece carrier 25 and the associated production line 14 and/or personalization line 15, the supplied raw card 28 can be processed and finished with high precision. The raw card 28 is preferably cut to a final size which corresponds to the finished card 48 and is fed to the production line 14 in the state already cut to the final size. As a result, this raw card 28 can be picked up by the workpiece carrier 25 in one clamping and passed through the individual processing stations. This is also possible with a two-part production system, which is divided into the production line 14 and the personalization line 15 . In the interface 21 the workpiece carrier 25 can be transferred from the production line 14 to the personalization line 15 without removing the raw card 28 . Reference List 11. production plant 33 printing station 58 committee 12. enclosure 35 top layer 59 14 production line 36 dispensing station 60 15 personalization line 38 heating station 61 trolley 16 door 41 laminating station 62 guide element 18 steering 43 buffer zone 63 rail profile 21 interface 46 processing station 64 carrier 23 transport device 48 24 transport route 49 personalization station 66 alignment element 25 workpiece carrier 52 quality station 67 guide rollers 26 loading station 53 data card 68 Recording 27 magazine 54 extraction station 69 positioning element 28 raw card 55 handling device 29 handling device 56 71 heat conducting element 31 heating station 57 magazine

Claims (15)

1. A production system for fabricating data cards (53) for security documents from a laminated composite consisting of at least two layers laminated together, said production system comprising at least one production line (14), including:

   - a transporting apparatus (23) which comprises a plurality of workpiece supports (25) that may be moved along a transport path (24) of the transporting apparatus (23),

   - a placement station (26) comprising a magazine (27) for storing card blanks (28) that have been cut to a finished size and comprising a handling device (29) for placing a card blank (28) picked from the magazine (27) onto the workpiece support (25),

   - a printing station (33) in which a card blank (28) supplied by the workpiece support (25) may undergo printing,

   - a subsequent output station (36) by which at least one covering layer (35) may be disposed on the printed card blank (28),

   - a lamination station (41) for laminating together the printed card blank (28) and the at least one covering layer (35),

   - a processing station (46) in which the laminated card blank (28) may be punched or cut to a finished size of the data card (53),

   - wherein the workpiece supports (25) are moved along an endless transport path (24) through all stations (26, 28, 33, 36, 41, 46) associated with said transport path (24), with the duration of time spent in each station being individually controlled.
2. The production system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the workpiece support (25) has an accommodation recess (68) for the card blank (28) that has been cut to a finished size which corresponds to a finished size of the completed data card (48).
3. The production system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that a heating station (38) is provided between the output station (36) and the lamination station (41) which heats the at least one covering layer (35) that has been applied onto the printed card blank (28).
4. The production system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a preliminary heating station (31) for the card blank (28) is provided between the magazine (27) and the printing station (33).
5. The production system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a feeding station for a further foil or layer, in particular a hologram foil, is provided upstream or downstream of the printing station (33).
6. The production system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a buffer zone (43) is provided between the lamination station (41) and the processing station (46).
7. The production system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a personalisation line (15) is provided downstream of the production line (14) and in that the processing station (46) preferably forms an interface (21) between the production line (14) and the personalisation line (15).
8. The production system as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that at least two processing stations (46) are provided between the production line (14) and the personalisation line (15), permitting the printed and laminated card blank (28) to be cut to a finished size of the data card (53).
9. The production system as claimed in any one of claims 7 or 8, characterised in that the personalisation line (15) comprises a personalisation station (49) and a quality inspection station (52) and in that preferably the personalisation station (49) provides for laser personalisation and/or has a programming station for a memory device and/or a transponder provided within, or on, the data card (53) cut to its finished size, thus completing the manufacturing of the data card (53), and in that preferably the quality inspection station (52) is followed by a withdrawal station (54) in which the data card (53) is withdrawn from the workpiece support (25), whereupon a sorting process is provided in the course of which the data card (53) is either placed into a magazine (57) for finished data cards (53) or discarded as a reject product (58).
10. The production system as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 9, characterised in that the personalisation line (15) has a transporting apparatus (23) including an endless transport path (24) along which at least one workpiece support (25) may be moved.
11. The production system as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10, characterised in that within the production line (14) and/or the personalisation line (15), the workpiece supports (25) may preferably be moved along the transport path (24) of the transporting apparatus (23) in a cycled manner.
12. The production system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the workpiece support (25) may be moved through the at least one station (26, 33, 36, 41, 46, 49, 52) using a carriage (61) of the transporting apparatus (23) and in that preferably the workpiece support (25), while being in said at least one station (26, 33, 36, 41, 46, 49, 52), may be lifted away from the carriage (61) and transferred to a processing position within said at least one station (26, 33, 36, 41, 46, 49, 52), preferably so by means of guide rollers (67) disposed on the workpiece support (25).
13. The production system as claimed in claim 12, characterised in that the card blank (28) is fixed within the workpiece support (25) by means of positioning elements (69) and an accommodation recess (68) formed in the workpiece support (25) has a depth which is smaller than the thickness of the card blank (28).
14. The production system as claimed in any one of claims 12 or 13, characterised in that the workpiece support (25) has alignment elements by means of which the workpiece support (25) is aligned with respect to the carriage (61) and within the stations (26, 33, 36, 41, 46, 49, 52) .
15. The production system as claimed in claim 13, characterised in that the workpiece support (25) receives at least one heat-conductive element (71) placed within the accommodation recess (68) on which the card blank (28) is supported.

Images