JP2000094512A - Apparatus for producing embossed decorative sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for producing an embossed decorative sheet efficiently and continuously at a high speed which makes it possible to take long heating intervals and can convey the sheet to an embossing part without applying unnecessary tension to the sheet. SOLUTION: An endless belt conveyer 20 which is inclined at 0-60 degree from a horizontal plane is used as the sheet conveying means of a sheet heating part to an embossing part comprising an embossing roll 22 and a press roll 23, an ignition heater 21 for heating a sheet S on the conveyer 20 is arranged, and compressed air from a slit nozzle 29 is used to peel off the molten sheet S from the conveyer 20. The softened sheet can be peeled off from the conveyer 20 immediately before the embossing part while the adhesion of the sheet which is heated and softened gradually to the surface of the conveyer 20 being prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a decorative sheet to be attached to various kinds of furniture and building interior materials for the purpose of decoration or surface protection, and more particularly to an apparatus for producing an embossed decorative sheet having an uneven pattern on the surface. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The prior art will be described with reference to FIG. A base sheet 1 made of a thermoplastic resin and decorated with a pattern or the like and a transparent top sheet 2 made of a thermoplastic resin are sent to a heat drum 3 and laminated by heating. The embossing sheet 4 laminated by the heat drum 3 is wound around a plurality of guide rolls 5, 6, 7, and then heated by the high-temperature heater 8, softened so as to be embossed, and then formed into an uneven pattern. It is sent between the embossing roll 9 and the pressing roll 10 to be subjected to embossing. Embossed sheet 4
If heating is not performed so as to soften immediately before embossing, delamination failure occurs. Therefore, the high-heat heater 8 is disposed in front of the embossed portion including the embossing roll 9 and the pressure roll 10. The backup roll 11 is arranged to cool the surface of the pressure roll 10,
Is arranged to peel off the sheet from the embossing roll 9. The embossed thermoplastic resin sheet is cooled by a cooling roll or the like (not shown) to produce an embossed decorative sheet having an uneven pattern formed on the surface.

[0003]

In the above-described conventional embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus, in order to heat the thermoplastic resin sheet to a softening temperature immediately before embossing, an intense heater is provided before the embossed portion. Have been placed. However, since it is difficult to control the tension of the thermoplastic resin sheet heated to the softening temperature, wrinkles are generated, and the sheet is cut off by its own weight in the vertical transport unit. In order to avoid such a problem, the distance between the guide rolls for arranging the high-temperature heater or the distance between the guide rolls and the embossed portion cannot be made large. For this reason, measures have been taken, such as increasing the intensity of the arranged high-temperature heater, increasing the heating time by reducing the sheet conveyance speed, or heating the sheet directly with a heat drum to soften it. When heated to a softening temperature in a short time at short intervals, the softening of the thermoplastic resin sheet becomes non-uniform, which affects the quality of the embossed decorative sheet. In addition, when the sheet is directly heated by the heat drum, the sheet is taken into the heat drum and wrinkles are generated when the sheet is stretched.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. It is an object of the present invention to make a heating interval longer and to make unnecessary a thermoplastic resin sheet to be conveyed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing apparatus which can be conveyed to an embossed portion without giving a great tension, and can continuously manufacture a high-speed and efficient embossed decorative sheet.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a method of forming a concavo-convex pattern by heating and softening a sheet and then pressing the embossing roll having the concavo-convex pattern with a pressure roll. In an embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus, an endless belt conveyor inclined from 0 to 60 degrees from a horizontal plane is used as a sheet conveying means of a sheet heating section to an embossing section including an embossing roll and a pressure roll, and an endless belt. An intense heater for heating the sheet on the conveyor was arranged, and a configuration was used in which compressed air was used to peel off the heated and melted sheet from the endless belt. Alternatively, a floater is used instead of using compressed air to separate the heated and melted sheet from the endless belt.

Since the embossing sheet to be heated is conveyed while being supported by the endless belt conveyor, the interval between the sheet heating sections can be freely set without giving unnecessary tension to the sheet. Further, since the interval between the sheet heating units can be lengthened, a plurality of high-temperature heaters for softening the sheet can be arranged, and the sheet can be heated stepwise to be softened, so that the temperature control for heating is easy. And the sheet can be softened uniformly. Also, by using a compressed air or a floater to peel off the heated and melted sheet from the endless belt conveyor, the softened sheet does not adhere to the surface of the endless belt conveyor, and the sheet is removed from the endless belt conveyor immediately before the embossed portion. Is easy to peel off.

[0007]

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, S is an embossing sheet, 20 is an endless belt conveyor, 21 is a high temperature heater, 22 is an embossing roll, 23 is a pressure roll, 24 is a peeling roll, 25,
26 represents a cooling roll, and 27 represents a drying zone. Reference numeral 28 denotes a pan containing cooling water circulating inside the pressure roll 23. 29 is a slit nozzle for blowing hot pressurized air.
The embossing sheet S is released from the discharge end of the zero.

The embossing sheet S is formed by laminating a base sheet made of a thermoplastic resin and decorated with a pattern or the like, and a transparent top sheet also made of a thermoplastic resin. As the resin forming the thermoplastic resin sheet, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, nylon,
Thermoplastic resins such as polystyrene, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer and ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer are exemplified.

The endless belt conveyor 20 preferably uses a stainless steel or ceramic belt in consideration of heat resistance and releasability from the softened processing sheet S. The endless belt conveyor 20 may be horizontal, but if inclined, the range is from 0 to 60 degrees from the horizontal plane. The reason is to prevent the sheet from being stretched or cut due to its own weight. In this example, it is inclined so as to slightly rise from the upstream side to the downstream side.

As the high-temperature heater 21 disposed opposite to the upper surface of the endless belt conveyor 20, a heater having a high heating efficiency such as a far-red heater, a near-red heater, and a ceramic heater is used. The number of igniter heaters arranged may be increased in order to gradually heat the sheet S, or the amount of heat of the igniter heater 21 may be gradually increased from upstream to downstream.

The embossing roll 22 constituting the embossed portion has an uneven pattern formed on the surface thereof, is usually made of metal and has a double structure, and cooling water for cooling the surface is circulated inside. I have. The embossing roll 22
The pressure roll 23, which constitutes an embossed portion, has its surface covered with an elastic member such as silicon rubber,
The cooling water of the pan 28 is circulated inside the roll to cool the surface, but since the surface is coated with a material having poor thermal conductivity such as silicon rubber, a backup roll or the like whose surface is cooled to lower the surface temperature is used. (Not shown) may be placed in contact with the surface of the pressure roll and cooled.

The cooling rolls 25 and 26 for cooling and hardening the embossed sheet have a structure in which cooling water is circulated, and the number of the cooling rolls may be determined as needed. The drying zone 27 may be a known one.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In this figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. In the apparatus shown in this example, the inclination of the endless belt conveyor 20 is opposite to that of the apparatus shown in FIG. That is, it is inclined so as to descend from the upstream side to the downstream side. The pressure roll 23 is a floater for separating the discharge end of the endless belt conveyor 20 from the sheet S, and pushes up the sheet S for separating the softened sheet S and the surface of the conveyor.

[0014]

EXAMPLES A substrate sheet made of 0.1 mm thick colored vinyl chloride ("R type colored PVC" manufactured by Riken Vinyl) is gravure-printed with a pattern, and a 0.8 mm thick transparent vinyl chloride ( "R type transparent PVC" manufactured by Riken Vinyl
A top sheet made of the above was heated and laminated to form an embossing sheet, and embossing was performed by an apparatus as shown in FIG.

A 0.5 mm thick stainless steel belt was used as the belt of the endless belt conveyor. In addition, a near-infrared short-wavelength heater was used as the ignition heater, and the lengths of the upstream and downstream heater portions were each set to 1 m. The sheet temperature immediately before embossing was set to 150 ° C., and embossing was performed at a sheet conveyance speed of 50 m / min. At this time, the pressure roll was cooled while circulating the water put in the pan. The embossed decorative sheet was manufactured as described above, and good results were obtained.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the heated embossing sheet is conveyed while being supported by the endless belt conveyor, the interval between the sheet heating sections can be freely set without giving unnecessary tension to the sheet, so that the heat for directly heating the sheet is used. The need for the drum is eliminated, and the problem of the sheet being taken into the heat drum does not occur. Further, since the sheet heating section can be lengthened, a plurality of high-temperature heaters for softening the sheet can be arranged, and the sheet can be heated stepwise to be softened, so that the temperature control for heating becomes easy, The sheet can be softened uniformly. In addition, by using a compressed air or a floater to peel off the heated and melted sheet from the endless belt conveyor, the softened sheet does not adhere to the surface of the endless belt conveyor, and the sheet from the endless belt conveyor immediately before the embossed portion is not used. Is easy to peel off. Since the sheet is supported on the endless belt conveyor, it is possible to prevent the sheet from wrinkling due to the flow of air or the like generated when the sheet is supported between the rolls.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a conventional example of an embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing one example of an apparatus for producing an embossed decorative sheet according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing another example of the embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base sheet 2 Top sheet 3 Heat drum 4 Embossing sheet 5, 6, 7 Guide roll 8 Ignition heater 9 Emboss roll 10 Pressure roll 11 Backup roll 12 Release roll S Embossing sheet 20 Endless belt conveyor 21 Strong Heat heater 22 Emboss roll 23 Pressure roll 24 Peeling roll 25, 26 Cooling roll 27 Drying zone 28 Pan 29 Slit nozzle

Claims (2)

[Claims] An embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus for shaping a concavo-convex pattern by press-bonding an embossing roll having a concavo-convex pattern and a pressure roll after heating and softening the sheet. An endless belt conveyor inclined from 0 to 60 degrees from a horizontal plane is used as a sheet conveying means of a sheet heating section leading to an embossed section, and an intense heater for heating a sheet on the endless belt conveyor is arranged. An embossed decorative sheet manufacturing apparatus, wherein compressed air is used to separate a heated and melted sheet from an endless belt. 2. An apparatus for producing an embossed decorative sheet according to claim 1, wherein a floater is used instead of using compressed air to separate the heated and melted sheet from the endless belt.