JP2010159133A - Method of manufacturing conveying belt, and conveying belt - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing conveying belt that provides a highly reliable belt in which troubles arising from the welded portion is prevented, and the conveying belt. <P>SOLUTION: This method is the method of manufacturing a conveying belt that conveys an object to be conveyed. A base 50, which is the body of the conveying belt, is joined by use of a weld member 54. After the joining step, a coating film for processing is applied over at least the weld member 54 on a surface 50a on one side of the base 50. The coating film for processing is dried while a tensile load is applied to the base 50 which has been applied with the coating film for processing. After the coating film for processing is dried, the weld portion of the base joined by the weld member 54 is heated and pressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a conveyor belt, and a conveyor belt.

  In an ink jet printer, recording is performed on a medium by ejecting ink from the ink jet head onto the medium while conveying a medium such as paper. As a means for transporting the medium, a transport belt stretched around a roller is used (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  By the way, the conveyance belt is formed by welding a belt member (base material) composed of a film or the like. In addition, a magnetic encoder formed by applying a magnetic material and drying is provided at the end of the conveyor belt.

JP 2006-347039 A

  However, when the magnetic encoder is formed as described above, the welding member is deformed by heat at the time of drying the magnetic material, so that the flatness of the transport belt is reduced, and the recording paper placed on the transport belt There is a possibility that the print quality may be deteriorated due to variations in the distance from the inkjet head. In addition, the deformation of the welding member changes the distance between the magnetic encoder and the sensor that reads the magnetic encoder, which decreases the reading accuracy of the encoder or makes contact between the magnetic encoder and the sensor. May also be reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a method for manufacturing a conveyor belt and a conveyor belt that can provide a highly reliable belt in which defects caused by welding members are prevented. It is aimed.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method for manufacturing a conveyor belt according to the present invention is a method for manufacturing a conveyor belt that conveys an object to be conveyed, and joins a base material that is a main body of the conveyor belt using a welding member. After the joining step, after the joining step, an application step of applying a processing coating film on at least the welding member on one side of the base material, and applying a tensile load to the base material coated with the processing coating film A drying step of drying the processing coating film in an added state, and a pressing step of heating and pressurizing the joining portion of the base material joined by the welding member after the processing coating film is dried. It is characterized by providing.

According to the manufacturing method of the conveyor belt of the present invention, the processing coating film is dried in a state where a tensile load is applied to the base material, so that the welding member is deformed by the heat during drying while being pulled, It is suppressed that the flatness of a junction part falls. Moreover, since a joining part is heated and pressurized after drying of the coating film for a process, a joining part and a base material can be made into a flush state. Therefore, when a magnetic encoder, for example, is formed on the joint as a processing coating film, the distance between the magnetic encoder and the reading sensor does not change, so that the magnetic encoder can be read satisfactorily. Further, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that the magnetic encoder and the sensor come into contact with each other due to the deformation of the joint portion and the durability of the magnetic encoder is lowered. Further, since the flatness of the joint portion is improved, the transported body can be transported satisfactorily.
Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a highly reliable belt in which problems due to the joint portion are prevented.

Moreover, in the said manufacturing method of a conveyance belt, it is preferable to use the said welding member containing a metal microparticle in the said joining process in the said joining process.
According to this structure, since the welding member contains metal fine particles, the thermal conductivity of the welding member can be improved. Therefore, it is possible to satisfactorily deform the joint without reducing the flatness.
At this time, in the drying step, it is more preferable to selectively irradiate the welding member with infrared rays.
If it does in this way, a welding member can be selectively heated because metal particulates absorb infrared rays.
Further, in the drying step, it is more preferable that the infrared ray is irradiated from the side of the welding member that contains a relatively large amount of the metal fine particles.
According to this configuration, since infrared rays are irradiated on the side containing a large amount of metal fine particles, the joint can be heated more favorably.

  The conveyance belt of the present invention includes a base material having a joint portion joined by a welding member containing metal fine particles, and a coating film formed on one surface side of the base material so as to straddle the welding member. It is characterized by that.

According to the transport belt of the present invention, since the thermal conductivity of the welding member is increased by including the metal fine particles, for example, when the belt is manufactured, the processing coating film is dried while a tensile load is applied to the base material. It becomes a joining part with high flatness by being pulled in the state which deformed with the heat at the time of drying. Therefore, for example, when a magnetic encoder is formed as a processing coating film on the joint, the distance between the magnetic encoder and the reading sensor does not change, so that the magnetic encoder can be read satisfactorily. In addition, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that the magnetic encoder and the sensor come into contact with each other due to the deformation of the joint portion and the durability of the magnetic encoder is lowered.
Therefore, a belt with high reliability in which defects due to the joint portion are prevented is obtained.

In the conveyor belt, the welding member includes a first welding member provided on the one surface side of the base material, and a second welding member provided on the other surface side of the base material, The first welding member preferably contains more metal fine particles than the second welding member.
According to this configuration, since the first welding member containing a large amount of metal fine particles has a relatively high thermal conductivity, the flatness of the first welding member is higher than that of the second welding member. Therefore, since the first welding member having high flatness is provided on the transport surface side, the transport target can be transported satisfactorily.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the first welding member and the second welding member are bonded to each other so that their end portions do not overlap each other in a plan view.
If it does in this way, since it arrange | positions in the position which does not overlap in the state which planarly viewed the edge parts of the welding member with weak intensity | strength, the strength fall in the conveyance belt which has a junction part can be suppressed to the minimum.

  In the transport belt, it is preferable that the first welding member has a larger width in the circumferential direction of the base material than the second welding member.

  According to this structure, since the width | variety of the 1st welding part arrange | positioned at the conveyance surface side is comprised large, the flatness in the conveyance belt surface side can be improved.

It is a figure which shows typically the structure of an inkjet printer. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transport unit of a recording unit. It is a figure which shows the cross-sectional structure of a conveyance belt. It is a figure for demonstrating the manufacturing process of a conveyance belt. FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a manufacturing process of the conveyor belt subsequent to FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a manufacturing process of the conveyor belt subsequent to FIG. 5. It is a figure for demonstrating the modification concerning the manufacturing method of a conveyance belt. It is a figure which shows the structure which concerns on the modification of a belt member.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a case where the transport device is mounted on an ink jet printer will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of the ink jet printer 1.
FIG. 1A is a side view of the ink jet printer 1, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of the ink jet printer 1.

  As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the ink jet printer 1 includes a recording unit 2, a paper feeding unit 3, and a paper discharging unit 4, and recording paper (conveyed body). A fluid ejecting apparatus that records on a medium such as P. The ink jet printer 1 is arranged so that the recording unit 2 is sandwiched between the paper feed unit 3 and the paper discharge unit 4.

  The recording unit 2 is a unit that performs recording on the recording paper P. The recording unit 2 is provided with a transport unit 20 and a recording head 21. The transport unit 20 transports the recording paper P while supporting it. In order to transport the recording paper P, a transport roller 22 (see FIG. 2), which is a characteristic component in the present embodiment, is mounted. The recording head 21 is provided so that ink can be ejected onto the recording paper P, and is connected to an ink supply source (not shown).

  The paper feed unit 3 includes a support member 30 that supports the recording paper P and a paper feed roller 31 that feeds the recording paper P to the recording unit 2. The support member 30 can support a plurality of recording sheets P. The paper feed roller 31 has a main driving roller 31a and a driven roller 31b, and feeds the recording paper P between the main driving roller 31a and the driven roller 31b. The main driving roller 31a is connected to a driving mechanism (not shown).

  The paper discharge unit 4 includes a support member 40 that supports the recording paper P and a paper discharge roller 41 that discharges the recording paper P from the recording unit 2. The support member 40 can support a plurality of recording sheets P, and is formed in a tray shape, for example. The paper discharge roller 41, like the paper supply roller 31, has a main driving roller 41a and a driven roller 41b, and discharges the recording paper P between two rollers. The main driving roller 41a is connected to a driving mechanism (not shown).

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the transport unit 20 of the recording unit 2. FIG. 2A is a side view of the transport unit 20, and FIG. 2B is a plan view of the transport unit 20.
2A and 2B, the transport unit 20 includes a transport roller (first drive mechanism) 22, a transport belt 23, a platen 24, a side plate 25, and a drive mechanism 26. Have.

  The conveyance roller 22 has three types of rollers: a main driving roller 22a, a driven roller 22b, and a tension roller 22c. The main driving roller 22 a is disposed on the leading end side in the conveyance direction of the recording paper P, and is rotated by drive control of the drive mechanism 26. The driven roller 22b is provided on the rear end side in the conveyance direction of the recording paper P, and is disposed at the same height as the main driving roller 22a as shown in FIG. The tension roller 22c is disposed at a lower position than the main driving roller 22a and the driven roller 22b as shown in FIG. 2A, and the main driving roller 22a in a plan view as shown in FIG. 2B. And the driven roller 22b.

  The conveyance belt 23 is provided in an annular shape, and the recording paper P can be placed on the outer surface. The conveyor belt 23 has, for example, a total circumference of 2 m and a width of 700 mm to 800 mm. Moreover, the thickness is 0.07 mm, for example.

  The inner surface of the conveyor belt 23 is in contact with the main driving roller 22a, the driven roller 22b, and the tension roller 22c, and is stretched while being tensioned by the tension roller 22c. The rotation of the main driving roller 22a is transmitted to the conveyor belt 23 to rotate the conveyor belt 23, and the rotation of the conveyor belt 23 rotates the driven roller 22b and the tension roller 22c.

  A high μ layer 23a having a high friction coefficient is formed on the surface of the transport belt 23, and the recording paper P is transported by a frictional force. Further, the conveying belt 23 is provided with a suction hole 23b for sucking the surface side, and the suction hole 23b is connected to a suction mechanism (not shown). The recording paper P can be sucked and conveyed by the suction holes 23b. A magnetic encoder pattern 23c is also formed on the conveyor belt 23.

  The platen 24 is provided on the inner surface side of the conveyor belt 23, and is disposed between the main driving roller 22a and the driven roller 22b in a plan view as shown in FIG. The platen 24 supports the position where the recording paper P is transported in the transport belt 23, so that the distance between the recording head 21 and the recording paper P is kept constant.

  The side plate 25 is a plate-like member that supports the three conveyance rollers 22 as shown in FIG. 2A, and is provided so as to protrude from the conveyance surface of the conveyance belt 23 in a side view. As shown in FIG. 2B, the side plate 25 is provided along the side of the platen 24 in the transport direction in plan view. For this reason, the recording paper P is conveyed between the side plates 25 by the rotation of the conveying belt 23 with the protruding portion of the side plate 25 as a guide and passes therethrough.

  Here, the structure of the conveyance belt 23 will be described in detail. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a cross-sectional configuration of the conveyance belt 23. As shown in FIG. 3, the transport belt 23 has a joining portion 60 a in which a belt member (base material) 50 serving as a main body of the transport belt 23 is joined by a welding member 60. The belt member 50 is a sheet-like member and is made of, for example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

  The welding member 60 includes a first welding member 54 disposed on the outer surface (one surface) 50a side of the belt member 50 and a second welding member 56 disposed on the inner surface (other surface) 50b side. . Here, the outer surface 50a of the belt member 50 forms a conveying surface on which the recording layer P is conveyed while the high μ layer 23a and the magnetic encoder pattern 23c are formed.

  Since the conveyor belt 23 is manufactured by a manufacturing method described later, deformation of the welding member 60 is prevented. Therefore, the magnetic encoder pattern 23 c formed on the welding member 60 is flat. Thereby, the pattern 23c of the magnetic encoder can be read satisfactorily.

  The first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56 are both composed mainly of polyethylene terephthalate. The first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56 are in an integrated state as shown in FIG. 3 when the transport belt 23 is formed. Further, the welding member 60 contains metal fine particles 61. Specifically, the first welding member 54 contains more metal fine particles 61 than the second welding member 56. Various metal fine particles 61 may be used as long as they improve the thermal conductivity of the welded part during the manufacturing process described later.

  The first welding member 54 has a larger width in the circumferential direction of the belt member 50 than the second welding member 56. The first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56 have higher flatness as the width in the circumferential direction is larger. Therefore, since the first welding member 54 is disposed on the conveyance surface side that conveys the recording paper P, the conveyance belt 23 according to the present embodiment has high flatness on the belt surface.

  Further, since the first welding member 54 containing a large amount of the metal fine particles 61 has a relatively high thermal conductivity, the flatness of the first welding member 54 is higher than that of the second welding member 54 at the time of manufacturing, which will be described later. Become.

  By the way, the strength of the belt member 50 is reduced at the ends of the first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56 do not overlap each other when viewed from above (when viewed from the outer surface 50a side of the belt member 50). The belt member 50 is joined to the belt. In this way, since the ends of the weakly welded members 56 and 54 are arranged at positions where they do not overlap in a plan view, the strength reduction in the transport belt 23 having the joint 60a is minimized. Can do.

Next, a method for manufacturing the transport belt 23 will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown to Fig.4 (a), the both ends of the PET film which comprises the belt member 50 are made to oppose. A first notch 51 and a second notch 52 are formed at both ends of the belt member 50. Specifically, the first cutout portion 51 is formed on the outer surface 50 a side of both end portions of the belt member 50. Further, the second notch portion 52 is formed on the inner surface 50 b side of both end portions of the belt member 50.

  And the belt member 50 is arrange | positioned in the state which provided the clearance gap 53 in the front-end | tip of both ends. The first welding member 54 is arranged in the first cutout portion 51 by a process described later. Further, the second welding member 54 is arranged in the second cutout portion 52 by a process described later.

  The first notch 51 is longer in the circumferential direction of the belt member 50 than the second notch 52. Thereby, the width in the circumferential direction of the belt member 50 in the first welding member 54 is larger than that in the second welding member 56.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4B, the outer surface 50 a side of the belt member 50 is welded using a first welding member 54. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the first welding member 54 is disposed in the first cutout portion 51 so as to straddle both end portions of the belt member 50. Then, an ultrasonic horn 55 connected to an ultrasonic vibration device (not shown) is pressed from above the first welding member 54 against the belt member 50 with an appropriate pressure, and the belt member 50 and the first welding member 54 are brought together. Friction heat is generated by vibration. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4C, the first welding member 54 and the end portion of the belt member 50 are melted and fused, so that both end portions of the belt member 50 are connected via the first welding member 54. Connected. That is, the boundary portion between the first welding member 54 and the belt member 50 is in an integrated state. Further, the first welding member 54 enters the gap 53 generated at the tip of both end portions of the belt member 50.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4D, the first welding member 54 and the belt member 50 are flush with each other by polishing the upper surface of the first welding member 54. Thereby, the welding process on the outer surface 50a side of the belt member 50 is completed.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5A, the inner surface 50b of the belt member 50 is disposed so as to face upward. Then, the second welding member 56 is disposed in the second cutout portion 52 so as to straddle both end portions of the belt member 50. Then, an ultrasonic horn 55 connected to an ultrasonic vibration device (not shown) is pressed from above the second welding member 56 against the belt member 50 with an appropriate pressure, and the belt member 50 and the second welding member 56 are brought together. Friction heat is generated by vibration. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5B, the second welding member 54 and the end portion of the belt member 50 are melted and fused, so that both end portions of the belt member 50 are connected via the second welding member 54. Connected. That is, the boundary portion between the second welding member 54 and the belt member 50 is in an integrated state. Further, the second welding member 56 enters the gap 53 formed at the tip of both end portions of the belt member 50 and is integrated with the first welding member 54.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5C, the upper surface of the second welding member 54 is polished so that the second welding member 54 and the belt member 50 are flush with each other. Thereby, the joining process of the belt member 50 is completed.

  Subsequently, a predetermined process for forming the transport belt 23 is performed on the belt member 50. In the present embodiment, a plurality of processing processes, for example, three processing processes are performed as the predetermined processing. The first processing process is a process for applying a frictional force to the outer surface 50 a of the belt member 50. The second processing process is a drilling process for forming the suction holes 23b in the belt member 50. The third processing process is a process of forming the magnetic encoder pattern 23 c on the side portion of the belt member 50. When performing such processing, the belt member 50 is stretched between a pair of rollers.

  In the first processing, the belt member 50 is rotated by rotating a roller pair by a driving mechanism (not shown), and a liquid material containing a material having a high coefficient of friction is applied to the belt member 50 by an application device such as an inkjet head. Is sprayed onto the surface (outer surface 50a). As a result, the high μ layer 23 a having a high friction coefficient is formed on the belt member 50.

  In the second processing, the suction hole 23b is formed in the belt member 50 by irradiating the laser beam from the laser irradiation apparatus with the belt member 50 being rotated. The suction hole 23b is for sucking the outer surface 50a side of the belt member 50, for example.

  In the third processing process, the magnetic material (processing coating film) is applied to the belt member 50 by a coating device such as an ink jet head while the belt member 50 is rotated (coating step).

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6A, the weight 72 is suspended from one roller 71 of the pair of rollers 70, 71 and a tensile load is applied to the belt member 50. The material is dried (drying process). In the present embodiment, infrared rays are selectively irradiated from the infrared irradiation device 76 to the joint 60a (welding member 60) during the drying process.

  In this embodiment, infrared rays are irradiated from the side of the welding member 60 that contains a large amount of the metal fine particles 61, that is, the first welding member 54 side. At this time, the metal fine particles 61 contained in the first welding member 54 absorb infrared rays. As a result, the welding member 56 is heated by the metal fine particles 61 that have absorbed infrared rays. In this embodiment, since the tensile load is applied to the belt member 50 as described above, the welding member 60 is deformed by being heated while being pulled, and the flatness of the joint portion 60a is reduced. It is prevented.

  In the drying process of the magnetic encoder pattern 23c described above, the welding member 56 may be slightly deformed (swelled). Therefore, in the present embodiment, after the pattern 23c is dried, the bonding portion 60a is heated and pressurized (pressurizing step).

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6B, the heated heater portion 75 a is pressed against the joint portion 60 a of the belt member 50 provided on the support base 75. Thereby, the joining portion 60a is flattened by being crushed, and the joining portion 60a and the belt member 50 can be brought into a flush state. Through such a process, the conveyor belt 23 can be manufactured.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the conveyance belt 23 having high flatness at the joint portion 60a can be manufactured, so that the recording paper P can be conveyed satisfactorily. Therefore, since the clearance between the recording paper P and the recording head 21 does not vary due to the joining portion 60a, the inkjet printer 1 provided with the transport belt 23 can obtain highly reliable print quality.

Furthermore, since the pattern 23c of the magnetic encoder is formed on the flat surface (the belt member 50 and the joint 60a), the clearance between the pattern 23c and the sensor that reads the pattern 23c is kept constant. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the problem that the pattern 23c is worn and the durability is lowered due to the contact between the pattern 23c and the sensor.
Therefore, it is possible to provide a highly reliable inkjet printer 1 that can read the magnetic encoder pattern 23c with high accuracy.

It should be noted that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications can be made as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the case where a tensile load is applied to the belt member 50 by suspending the weight 72 on one of the rollers 71 in the drying process has been described. However, as shown in FIG. A tension load may be applied to the belt member 50 by disposing a coil spring 77 in a compressed state between 70 and 71.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, a tensile load is applied to the belt member 50 by disposing the belt member 50 on the outer surface of a pair of cylindrical members 78 and 79 connected via a coil spring 77 in a compressed state. You may do it.

Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the width in the circumferential direction of the belt member 50 in the 1st welding member 54 was enlarged compared with the 2nd welding member 56 (refer Fig.4 (a)), a belt member is demonstrated. The width in the circumferential direction of 50 may be the same between the first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, the first notch 51 and the second notch 52 are different in size at both ends of the belt member 50, and the first notch 51 is viewed in a plan view. The belt member 50 is formed so that the end of the second notch 52 does not overlap the end of the second notch 52. In this way, since the first welding member 54 and the second welding member 56 do not overlap each other in a plan view, the strength reduction of the conveyance belt 23 at the joint 60a is minimized. Can be suppressed.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the pattern 23c of the magnetic encoder is formed on the conveyor belt 23 in the process of manufacturing the conveyor belt 23 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to the case of forming a pattern of a mold encoder. Even in such a case, since the encoder pattern can be satisfactorily formed on the belt member 50, a highly reliable ink jet printer capable of reading the pattern with high accuracy can be provided.

P: Recording paper (conveyed body), 23: Conveying belt, 23c: Pattern (coating film for processing), 50 ... Belt member (base material), 50a ... Outer surface (one surface), 54 ... First welding member, 56 ... second welding member, 60 ... welding member, 60a ... welding portion, 61 ... metal fine particles

Claims (8)

A method for manufacturing a conveyor belt that conveys a conveyed object,
A joining step of joining a base material that is a main body of the conveyor belt using a welding member;
After the joining step, an application step of applying a processing coating film on at least the welding member on one surface side of the base material;
A drying step of drying the processing coating film in a state where a tensile load is applied to the base material to which the processing coating film has been applied;
After drying the coating film for processing, a pressurizing step of heating and pressurizing the joining portion of the base material joined by the welding member;
A method for manufacturing a conveyor belt, comprising:   The method for manufacturing a conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein the welding member containing metal fine particles is used in the joining step.   The method for manufacturing a conveyor belt according to claim 2, wherein in the drying step, the welding member is selectively irradiated with infrared rays.   4. The method of manufacturing a conveyor belt according to claim 3, wherein, in the drying step, the infrared rays are irradiated from a side of the welding member that contains a relatively large amount of the metal fine particles. A base material having a joint portion joined by a welding member containing metal fine particles;
And a coating film formed on at least the welding member on the one surface side of the base material.   The welding member includes a first welding member provided on the one surface side of the base material and a second welding member provided on the other surface side of the base material, and the first welding member includes: The conveyor belt according to claim 5, wherein the conveyor belt contains more metal fine particles than the second welding member.   The said 1st welding member and said 2nd welding member have joined the said base material so that each edge part may not overlap in the state seen planarly, The conveyance of Claim 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. belt.   The conveyor belt according to any one of claims 6 to 7, wherein the first welding member has a larger width in the circumferential direction of the base material than the second welding member.

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