JP2007008021A - Laminator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laminator capable of smoothly peeling only a base material from the laminate material closely bonded to a medium to be recorded. <P>SOLUTION: The laminator is constituted so as to form a laminate layer on the recording surface of the medium to be recorded and equipped with a contact bonding means for superposing the laminate material, wherein the base material is laminated on the laminate layer in a peelable manner, on the medium to be recorded so as to cover the medium to be recorded to bond the same to the medium to be recorded under heating and pressure, a peel means for peeling the base material from the laminate material with respect to the fed laminate material after bonded under heating and pressure and the medium to be recorded and a bending means for bending the laminate material after bonded under heating and pressure and the medium to be recorded toward the base material with respect to the feed direction on the upstream side in the feed direction from the peel point of the peel means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a laminating apparatus for forming a laminating layer on a recording surface of a recording medium on which an image is recorded.

  As a result of various improvements made to the recording apparatus (printer) and the recording medium, the recording system such as the ink jet recording system and the thermal transfer recording system can obtain an image quality comparable to a silver salt color photograph. In recent years, image information captured by a digital camera, digital video, scanner, or the like or electronic image information in a computer has been widely used as a technique for hard copying.

  In addition, in these recording methods, the recording surface of the recording medium is protected to give permanent durability, and the glossiness and smoothness of the recording surface are increased to further improve the image quality. For this purpose, a technique of laminating a laminate layer on a recording surface of a recording medium after image recording is also widely known.

  As an apparatus used for laminating on a recording surface, a recording medium and a laminating material which are laminated by supplying a laminating material comprising a base material and a laminating layer formed so as to be peelable on the base material onto the recording surface. There is a laminating apparatus that transfers the laminate layer onto the recording surface of the recording medium by thermocompression bonding, and then peels the substrate from the laminate layer (Patent Document 1).

  However, in the laminating apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, every time the recording medium is replaced with one having a different width size, the laminating material must be replaced with one having a suitable width size. However, in this case, an extra portion of the laminate layer (after the lamination process ( It is necessary to cut off a portion that is not laminated on the recording surface (non-laminated portion) along the edge of the recording medium, and in any case, it is complicated.

  For this reason, there is a laminating apparatus that can save the labor of cutting a non-laminate portion (Patent Document 2). In the laminating apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, a piece-like recording medium cut to a predetermined feeding length and a laminating material supplied as a continuous sheet from a roll are laminated via a film guide roll, and a platen Laminate disclosed in Patent Document 1 in that it is heat-pressed when passing between the roll and the heated intermediate roll, and thereafter the substrate is peeled from the laminate layer by the peeling roll disposed on the downstream side. Although generally the same as the apparatus, in the laminating apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, when the base material is peeled off, the non-laminate part is separated from the laminated part and is carried away together with the base material.

JP-A-58-224779 JP 10-211161 A

  The laminating apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 lifts the non-laminate portion together with the base material by separating the base material from the recording surface of the recording medium, and near the boundary between the non-laminate portion and the laminate portion generated at that time The portion is forcibly broken (forcibly torn off) by the pulling force.

  However, since no special measures are taken against the phenomenon of the recording medium being lifted at the time of peeling, the laminate portion and the non-laminate portion are separated when the peeling angle of the substrate with respect to the recording medium is not appropriate. Without being pulled by the non-laminate portion, the entire laminate portion is peeled off from the recording medium, or the surface layer including the recording surface is pulled off from the recording medium by being pulled by the non-laminate portion. is there.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a laminating apparatus capable of smoothly peeling a base material from a laminating material that is in close contact with a recording medium after thermocompression bonding.

  A laminating apparatus according to the present invention is a laminating apparatus for forming a laminating layer on a recording surface of a recording medium, and stacks a laminating material on which the base material is peeled from the laminating layer so as to cover the recording medium. A pressure bonding means for thermocompression bonding, a peeling means for peeling the base material from the laminate material to the laminated material and the recording medium after the heat pressure bonding to be conveyed, and a conveying direction from a peeling point of the peeling means And a bending means for bending the laminated material after the thermocompression bonding and the recording medium toward the base material side with respect to the transport direction on the upstream side.

  According to the above configuration, since the laminate material and the recording medium after thermocompression bonding are bent toward the base material side with respect to the transport direction before the base material is peeled off by the peeling means, In the case where the laminate material is in close contact with the recording medium, a repulsive force (stress) against the bending is generated, and a force for pressing the laminated body on the side opposite to the peeling direction acts. Therefore, the laminate can be reliably prevented from being lifted at the time of peeling, so that the substrate can be peeled off from the laminate material, and the finish is improved.

  This lifting prevention effect is particularly exerted on the leading end side of the recording medium. In other words, at the leading end side of the recording medium, the laminate tends to be prominently lifted, and the laminate layer is turned from the edge of the recording medium or peeled off due to the impact force when it is restored by the elastic restoring force. In other words, the edge of the recording medium may end up with an unpleasant finish. However, in the present invention, the substrate peelability is improved particularly on the leading end side of the recording medium, and such a problem does not occur. .

  In addition, when adopting a configuration in which the bending means is provided so as to be movable so that the amount of bending can be adjusted, for example, when the width of the recording medium is different, the processing status changes. Thus, it is possible to adjust appropriately so that the film can be peeled more smoothly.

  As described above, according to the laminating apparatus of the present invention, since the base material can be smoothly peeled off from the laminating material that is in close contact with the recording medium, a clean finished surface can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, as an embodiment of a laminating apparatus according to the present invention, an apparatus that is integrated with a printer apparatus and that can continuously perform image recording (printing) on a recording medium that is a premise of a laminating process will be described. .

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the entire apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a specific sectional side view thereof. The printer device 1 is on the right side from the boundary line L, and the laminating device 2 is on the left side.

  Since the printer apparatus 1 is not directly related to the present invention, the printer apparatus 1 includes a printing table 4 and a print head 5 that employs an ink jet recording system, and the recording medium A drawn out from the roll 3 Along the longitudinal direction, the sheet is intermittently conveyed on the printing table 4, during which printing is performed by the print head 5, and an image is recorded (formed) on the recording surface.

  A cutter device 7 is disposed downstream of the print head 5, and the recording medium A after recording is cut in units of formed images. Each recording medium A that has become cut paper is transported on the transport path by a plurality of pairs of rollers, and then is ejected from the ejection port 10 and sequentially fed into the laminating apparatus 2.

  The configuration indicated by reference numeral 6 is a cleaner unit for cleaning the print head 5, the configuration indicated by reference numeral 8 is a dot impact printer unit capable of printing various information on the back surface of the recording medium A, and a configuration indicated by reference numeral 9. When the recording medium A is long so as to straddle both the apparatuses 1 and 2, the recording medium A is temporarily bent in a loop shape in order to absorb each processing speed difference between the printer apparatus 1 and the laminating apparatus 2. Although a buffer may be formed, a relay tank for accommodating the loop, the configuration indicated by reference numeral 11 is an electrical component such as a control board and a power supply board, and the configuration indicated by reference numeral 12 is not used for printing. This is a waste ink tank for collecting collected ink.

  The laminating apparatus 2 receives the recording medium A sent from the printer apparatus 1 from the receiving port 15. The laminating apparatus 2 is configured to be selectable between a case where the laminating process is performed and a case where the laminating process is not performed. When the laminating process is performed, the sorting unit 16 is in the first posture, and the recording medium A is the laminating unit. 17, and finally discharged onto the first tray 18 in a state of being subjected to a laminating process. On the other hand, when the laminating process is not performed, the sorting unit 16 is in the second posture, and the recording medium A is discharged onto the second tray 19 as it is.

  FIG. 3 shows an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the laminating apparatus 2. Since the laminating apparatus 2 is directly related to the present invention, it will be described in detail below.

  The functional unit of the laminating apparatus 2 includes a laminating material supply unit 20 that supplies the laminating material B from the recording surface side (left side in the drawing) of the recording medium A that is conveyed on the conveying path after the distributing unit 16, and a recording target. Recording is performed between the under film supply unit 30 that supplies the under film E from the surface (base surface) side (the right side in the drawing) opposite to the recording surface of the medium A, and the supplied laminate material B and the under film E. A pressure bonding part 40 for heating and pressure-bonding the laminated body supplied with the medium A, a peeling part 50 for peeling the base material C from the laminated material B after the thermocompression bonding, and a base material for collecting the peeled base material C It is divided into a collecting unit 60, a separating unit 70 that separates the underfilm E after thermocompression bonding from the recording medium A, and an underfilm collecting unit 80 that collects the separated underfilm E.

  The laminate material supply unit 20 supplies the laminate material B from the roll as a continuous sheet, and includes a holder (laminate material roll holder) 21 that holds the roll of the laminate material B. On the other hand, the under film supply unit 30 supplies the under film E from the roll as a continuous sheet, and includes a holder (under film roll holder) 31 that holds the roll of the under film E.

  The pressure bonding unit 40 includes a drive roller 41 and a pressure roller 43. The driving roller 41 is disposed on the base surface side of the recording medium A, and the pressure roller 43 is disposed on the recording surface side of the recording medium A. Between the rollers 41 and 43, the laminate material B and the under film E and the recording medium A supplied therebetween are laminated (hereinafter, at least two of the recording medium A, the laminate material B, and the under film E are included). The laminated material is generically called “laminated body”).

  Both rollers 41 and 43 have a heater at their shaft cores and are heating rollers. The heating temperature on the surfaces of the rollers 41 and 43 is set in the range of 60 to 120 ° C. for the driving roller 41, and is set in the range of 80 to 120 ° C. for the pressure roller 43. In addition, the roller (driving roller) 41 on the under film E side in the pressure bonding part 40 is also a heating roller, and the lower film is set below the heating temperature on the roller surface of the roller (pressure bonding roller) 43 on the laminate B side. It is for activating the heat-welding property between the laminate layer and the under film E while suppressing the thermal effect on E.

  The peeling unit 50 includes a peeling roller (peeling guide body) 51 disposed to face the conveyance path, and a step roller 52 disposed in the vicinity of the upstream side of the peeling roller 51. The peeling roller 51 is disposed at a position sufficiently separated from the pressure-bonding portion 40 on the downstream side. This is because the laminate layer activated by the pressure-bonding portion 40 is activated (exhibits viscosity or the like). This is because an external force is applied to the laminate material B (laminate layer) after a normal equilibrium state (a state in which the adhesive force is increased). That is, when a predetermined time elapses from the heating in the crimping portion 40, the adhesive force of the laminate layer to the recording medium A is more reliably increased than the adhesive force between the base material C and the laminate layer. If the peeling process of C is performed, only the base material C is cleanly peeled without the laminate layer being carelessly peeled off from the recording medium A, so that the gap between the peeling part 50 and the pressure-bonding part 40 is provided. In addition, the mechanical characteristics of the peeling part 50 mentioned later have contributed greatly to the peelability improvement of the base material C.

  The base material collection unit 60 collects a continuous sheet-like base material peeled from the laminate layer in a roll shape, and includes a holder (recovered base material roll holder) 61 that holds the base material roll. . The holder 61 is disposed so that its winding surface is on the upstream side of the conveyance path with respect to the separation roller 51, so that the base material peeled from the conveyance path is wound around the separation roller 51, and the conveyance path is also combined. Determine the peel angle of the substrate relative to.

  The separation unit 70 includes a separation roller (separation guide body) 71 disposed to face the conveyance path. Similar to the peeling roller 51, the separation roller 71 is disposed at a position sufficiently separated from the pressure-bonding portion 40 on the downstream side, but this is activated (viscosity, etc.) by being heat-pressed by the pressure-bonding portion 40. This is because an external force is applied to the laminate material B (laminate layer) after the laminated layer that has been exhibited) is in a normal equilibrium state (a state in which the adhesive strength is increased). That is, when a predetermined time elapses after heating in the crimping portion 40, the adhesive force of the laminate layer to the recording medium A is surely increased. If the under film E separation step is performed in this state, the laminate layer is covered. Since the recording medium A is not inadvertently peeled off, a gap between the separation unit 80 and the crimping unit 40 is provided.

  The under film collection unit 80 collects a continuous sheet of the under film E onto which the excess laminate layer has been transferred by winding it into a roll, and holds a roll of the under film E (collected under film roll holder). 81. The holder 81 is arranged so that its winding surface is on the upstream side of the transport path from the separation roller 71, so that the under film E separated from the transport path is wound around the separation roller 71 and transported together. Determine the separation angle of the underfilm E relative to the path.

  The schematic configuration of each functional unit is as described above. The laminating material B is drawn out from the laminating material supply unit 20 in advance, inserted into the pressure bonding unit 40 (between the driving roller 41 and the pressure roller 43), and the leading end is wound around the holder 61 of the base material collecting unit 60. . The under film E is also drawn out from the under film supply unit 30 and inserted into the pressure bonding unit 40 (between the driving roller 41 and the pressure roller 43), and the leading end is wound around the holder 81 of the under film collection unit 80. Yes. In this state, the laminate material B and the under film E are overlapped on the conveyance path between the crimping portion 40 and the peeling portion 60.

  Then, not only the driving roller 41 of the crimping unit 40 but also all of the holders 61 and 81 of the base material collecting unit 60 and the under film collecting unit 80 are driven by known driving force transmission means such as sprockets, chains, and gear trains. A driving force (not shown) is transmitted at the same time. By these synchronous drives, the laminate material B is pulled and fed out from the laminate material supply unit 20, the underfilm E is pulled and fed out from the under film supply unit 30, and the laminate is downstream along the transport path. It is designed to be transported.

  In this state, when the recording medium A is sequentially supplied from the receiving port 15, each recording medium A is interposed between the laminate material B and the under film E with the recording surface and the laminate layer facing each other. The laminate material B, the recording medium A, and the under film E are heated and pressure-bonded at the pressure-bonding portion 40.

  And the laminated body obtained by the crimping | compression-bonding part 40 is conveyed by the peeling part 50, and after a base material peels, it is further conveyed by the isolation | separation part 70 and the underfilm E is isolate | separated. At this time, the recording medium A and the under film E move relative to each other so that the base surface of the recording medium A and the under film E are separated from each other. That is, the recording medium A attempts to move further down the transport path, whereas the under film E moves in a direction different from the moving direction of the recording medium A (from the base surface of the recording medium A). Will be pulled in the direction of separation). Therefore, since the laminate layer of the non-laminate portion from which the substrate has been peeled also moves in the same direction as the under film E, the boundary between the portion with the recording medium A and the portion without the recording medium A (that is, the non-laminate portion and the laminate portion) The tensile force acts intensively at the boundary). As a result, only the non-laminate portion is surely cut off, and the edge of the laminate portion is clean along the edge of the recording medium A. As a matter of course, the laminate layer of the non-laminate portion separated from the laminate portion is recovered by the under film recovery unit 80 together with the under film E.

  As a result, the first tray 18 has a clean edge along the edge of the recording medium A, and a laminate layer that is in close contact with the recording surface without any air or the like between the recording medium A. Thus, the recording medium A laminated in the above is discharged.

  As described above, a series of laminating processes and its effects by the laminating apparatus according to the present embodiment have been described. However, the laminating apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized by the mechanism surface of the peeling unit 50. Hereinafter, this feature will be described.

  The laminate (A + B + E) generated by the pressure bonding unit 40 is conveyed in a substantially vertical direction to the step roller 52 of the peeling unit 50 (or slightly inclined toward the recording surface side of the recording medium A (left side in FIG. 3)). May be transported in the same manner.) Then, the base material C is peeled off while being slightly pressed to the base surface side (the right side in FIG. 3) of the recording medium A by the peeling roller 51 disposed in the vicinity of the downstream side of the step roller 52.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the laminate is partially bent toward the base material C (that is, the recording surface side of the recording medium A) on the upstream side of the peeling point 51p of the peeling roller 51 (FIG. 4). 4 broken line part). As described above, when bending (deformation) occurs immediately upstream of the peeling point 51p, a force (stress) is generated that resists the bending (deformation). Then, due to the action of such stress, the laminate is pressed down to the side opposite to the peeling direction of the substrate C, that is, the base surface side of the recording medium A.

  This prevents the laminate from being lifted along with the peeling of the base material C and stabilizes the peeling angle of the base material C, so that only the base material C can be peeled cleanly. In particular, the peelability of the substrate on the leading end side of the recording medium A is extremely good.

  In order to be able to adjust the amount of bending (in other words, the magnitude of stress) appropriately when the width size of the recording medium A is changed, for example, the step roller 52 is provided by a mechanism such as a screw jack type. It is good also as a structure which can adjust displacement (bending means) suitably. In this case, for example, when the step roller 52 is displaced to the recording surface side (left side in FIG. 3) of the recording medium A, the amount of bending increases (that is, the stress increases), and the base surface side of the recording medium A increases. When displaced to the right (right side of FIG. 3), the bending amount decreases (that is, the stress decreases).

  As described above, according to the laminating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the releasability of the base material C can be improved, so that only the base material C can be smoothly peeled, and as a result, a clean finished surface can be obtained. it can.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the substrate C is peeled off by the peeling roller 51, but a blade (knife edge) may be adopted instead of the peeling roller.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the bending means is composed of two rollers 52a and 52b, and after bending the laminated body by the two rollers (the broken line portion in FIG. 5), the downstream side of the roller 52a is brought close to the downstream side. You may make it the structure which peels the base material C with the arrange | positioned braid | blade 53. FIG.

  The present invention is naturally applicable to a laminating apparatus that does not use an under film.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an overall apparatus in which a laminating apparatus and a printer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention are integrated. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional side view of the overall device of FIG. The expanded sectional side view of the lamination apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment is shown. The principal part enlarged side view in the peeling part of the lamination apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment is shown. The principal part enlarged side view in the peeling part of the lamination apparatus which concerns on other embodiment is shown.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Reception port, 16 ... Sorting part, 20 ... Laminate supply part, 21 ... Holder (laminate material roll holder), 30 ... Under film supply part, 31 ... Holder (under film roll holder), 40 ... Crimp part , 41 ... driving roller, 43 ... pressure roller, 50 ... peeling part, 51 ... peeling roller (peeling guide body), 51p ... peeling point, 52 ... step roller, 52a, 52b ... roller, 53 ... blade, 60 ... substrate Collection unit 61 ... Holder (collection substrate roll holder), 70 ... Separation unit, 71 ... Separation roller (separation guide body), 80 ... Under film collection unit, 81 ... Holder (collection under film roll holder), A ... recording medium, B ... laminate, E ... under film

Claims (2)

In a laminating apparatus for forming a laminating layer on the recording surface of a recording medium,
A pressure-bonding means for laminating the laminate material so that the substrate can be peeled from the laminate layer so as to cover the recording medium, and thermocompression bonding;
A peeling means for peeling the substrate from the laminate material to the laminate material and the recording medium after the thermocompression bonding to be conveyed;
Bending means for bending the laminate material and the recording medium after thermocompression bonding to the substrate side with respect to the conveying direction on the upstream side in the conveying direction from the peeling point of the peeling means;
A laminating apparatus comprising:   The laminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bending means is provided so as to be movable so that the amount of bending can be adjusted.

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