JP2012139682A - Apparatus and method for coating - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and method for coating capable of reliably removing foams generated on a sheet material when coating a liquid agent on the sheet material.SOLUTION: The coating apparatus for coating a liquid agent on a film F during conveyance includes a die head 2 having a discharge port 21 formed along the width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the film F, and an air supplier interposing the die head 2 and arranged in the downstream side of the conveyance direction for blowing the air on the film F.

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating apparatus and a coating method for applying a liquid agent to a sheet material.

  Conventionally, in the production of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, a method of forming a catalyst layer on an electrolyte membrane by printing or the like has been employed. However, this method has a problem that the electrolyte membrane is swollen by ink for forming the catalyst layer, and it is difficult to form a uniform catalyst layer. In order to solve this, the method described in Patent Document 1 proposes a method in which a catalyst layer formed on a film is prepared and transferred onto an electrolyte by hot pressing or the like.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-64574

  By the way, in order to form the catalyst layer on the film as described above, it is general to apply a liquid catalyst layer material on the film and use it as a transfer film after drying. However, when the catalyst layer is applied on the film, bubbles may be generated in the applied catalyst layer material. When such bubbles remain on the film, there are problems that the appearance deteriorates and the performance as the material for the catalyst layer is lowered. On the other hand, it is conceivable to defoam the catalyst layer material before being applied to the film, but bubbles may be formed during ejection from the die head, and the bubbles could not be removed reliably.

  The above-described problems are not problems that can occur only when the catalyst layer material is applied to the film, but are problems that can occur in general methods for applying a liquid agent to a sheet material such as a film.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a coating apparatus capable of reliably removing bubbles generated on a sheet material when a liquid agent is applied to the sheet material, and a coating The purpose is to provide a method of construction.

  The present invention is a coating apparatus for applying a liquid agent to a sheet material, which is made in order to solve the above problems, and is an ejection port formed along a width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the sheet material And an air supply means that is arranged on the downstream side in the transport direction across the die head and blows air onto the applied liquid agent.

  According to this apparatus, the air supply means for blowing air to the downstream side of the die head is provided. Thereby, since air can be sprayed with respect to the foam which generate | occur | produces on a sheet material, the foam on a sheet material can be crushed and it can remove reliably.

  The air supply means can take various configurations. For example, it can be configured such that air is discharged in the width direction in the vicinity of the discharge port of the die head. Usually, since the foam is often formed along the discharge port of the die head, the foam can be surely removed by blowing air in the width direction from the width direction end of the sheet material.

  Alternatively, the air supply means can be configured to discharge air from the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction to the vicinity of the upstream die head discharger. In this case, it is preferable that the air is blown over the entire width direction of the sheet material.

  In the air supply means, it is preferable that the angle formed by the air discharge direction and the sheet material is 60 degrees or less. This is because, when the sheet material conveying direction is taken into consideration, if the air blowing direction is greater than 60 degrees, air may not be efficiently blown against the bubbles. Further, depending on the angle of the tip of the die head, it is possible that air cannot be reliably blown against the sheet material.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the wind speed of the air discharged from an air supply means is 3-110 m / sec. If it is less than 3 m / sec, the bubbles cannot be removed reliably, whereas if it is greater than 110 m / sec, the applied liquid agent or sheet material is disturbed by air, and the quality of the sheet material may be deteriorated. From such a viewpoint, the air speed is more preferably 5 to 20 m / sec.

  The coating method according to the present invention is made to solve the above-described problem, and has a discharge port extending in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction with respect to a sheet material conveyed in a predetermined direction. A step of applying a liquid agent from the die head; and a step of blowing air onto the sheet material to which the liquid agent has been applied. About the blowing method of air, what was mentioned above is applicable.

  According to the present invention, when a liquid agent is applied to a sheet material, bubbles generated on the sheet material can be reliably removed.

It is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of one embodiment of a coating device concerning the present invention. It is a side view of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a side view which shows the other example of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a top view which shows the other example of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a side view which shows the other example of the coating apparatus of FIG.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a coating apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a coating apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. Here, a case where a film in which a catalyst layer used for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell is formed on one surface will be described as an example.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this coating apparatus is an apparatus that applies a liquid catalyst layer material (liquid agent) to a film (sheet material) made of polyethylene terephthalate. As the catalyst material, a material known as a polymer electrolyte fuel cell is used. In these drawings, a part of the coating apparatus is shown, and a transport roller 1 that converts the traveling direction of the film F to 180 ° C. is provided. That is, the film F transported from the left to the right in FIG. 2 is wound from the bottom to the top of the transport roller 1 and then transported from the right to the left. A die head 2 for applying a liquid agent to the film F is provided above the transport roller 1. As shown in FIG. 1, an air supply tool 3 (air supply means) for blowing air onto the film F is provided in the vicinity of the die head 2.

  The die head 2 has a linear discharge port 21 extending in the width direction of the film F. The discharge port 21 is formed at the lower end of the die head 2 and is disposed so as to face the film F. As a result, the catalyst layer material discharged from the discharge port 21 is applied in the width direction of the film F. The air supply tool 3 includes a tubular member 31 that is arranged on the downstream side of the die head 2 and extends in the width direction of the film F. The tubular member 31 has a length substantially the same as the film width. One end is closed and air is injected from the other end by a compressor (not shown). In addition, a plurality of discharge ports facing the film side are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member 31 along the longitudinal direction. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the tubular member 31 is disposed slightly above the film F and is formed so that the discharge port faces the lower end of the die head 2, that is, the position where the catalyst layer material is applied. ing. At this time, the angle α formed by the discharge direction X of the air from the discharge port and the transport direction of the film F is preferably 60 degrees or less, and more preferably 45 degrees or less. In addition, the blown air preferably has a wind speed of 3 to 110 m / sec, and more preferably has a wind speed of 5 to 20 m / sec.

  Next, the operation of the coating apparatus configured as described above will be described. First, while transporting the film F, the catalyst layer material is discharged from the die head 2 to apply the catalyst layer material onto the film F. At this time, bubbles may be generated on the surface of the material for the catalyst layer applied on the film F. Therefore, air is blown toward the film F from the air supply tool 3 arranged on the downstream side of the die head 2. The bubbles are crushed by the air, and the bubbles are removed from the catalyst layer material. Thereafter, the film F is dried while passing through a drying furnace (not shown), and then taken up by a take-up roller (not shown).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the air supply tool 3 that blows air is provided on the downstream side of the die head 2, air can be blown against bubbles generated on the film F. Therefore, bubbles generated in the catalyst layer material can be reliably removed, and a high quality catalyst layer material can be produced.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible unless it deviates from the meaning. For example, regarding the air supply tool, various configurations are possible as long as air can be sprayed onto the catalyst layer material. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the tubular member 31 may be provided with a plurality of branch pipes 32 extending on the opposite side to the film F conveyance direction, and air may be discharged therefrom. Each branch pipe 32 extends toward the lower end of the die head 2, whereby the air blowing direction can be accurately controlled.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, air can also be sprayed from the edge part of the width direction of the film F. As shown in FIG. In this example, a tubular member 31 having both ends opened is used, a compressor (not shown) is attached to one end, and air is blown out from the other end. The tubular member 31 is disposed at substantially the same height as the film F on the downstream side in the transport direction of the die head 2, and the other end faces the width direction. That is, the air discharged from the other end of the tubular member 31 is blown in the width direction of the film F. Even with such an arrangement, air can be blown over the applied catalyst layer material in the width direction.

  The die head and the air supply tool can be arranged at various positions on the coating apparatus. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the die head 2 can be disposed at an intermediate point in the vertical direction on the surface of the transport roller 1 so that the catalyst layer material is discharged in the horizontal direction. Also in this case, the air supply tool 3 is arranged on the upstream side of the die head 2 as described above. Further, the arrangement positions of the die head 2 and the air supply tool 3 are not particularly limited, and the film being conveyed is not limited to the position where the conveyance direction of the film F is changed by the conveyance roller 1 as described above. The die head 2 and the air supply tool 3 can be disposed at any position above.

  Moreover, although the case where the catalyst layer material is applied to the film is described in the above example, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is applicable to all coating apparatuses for applying a liquid agent to a sheet material. can do. The sheet material and the liquid material are not particularly limited.

Examples of the present invention will be described below. However, the present invention is not limited to the following examples.
Example 1
As Example 1, the following coating apparatus, film, and catalyst layer material were used. The conductive material used here simulates the catalyst layer material.
Die head A die head as shown in FIG. 1 was used. The coating width is 120 mm and the discharge port width is 0.2 mm.
Air supply tool As shown in FIG. 1, a tube having an inner diameter of 4 mm was used, and air was blown from the end in the width direction of the film.
A polyethylene terephthalate film (manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) having a film thickness of 38 μm was used.
It was prepared by mixing 1 part by weight of conductive material carbon black (“Ketjen Black” manufactured by Lion), 0.5 part by weight of polyvinylpyrrolidone resin (manufactured by IPS), and 12.5 parts by weight of isopropyl alcohol. The viscosity was 0.1-100 [P] at a shear rate of 10 [1 / s]. Further, this fluid had an infinite viscosity of 0.01 to 0.1, an n value of 0.1 to 0.5, and λ100 to 200 when applied to the Karoo model.

And the conductive material was coated with the die head, conveying the film at 0.5 m / sec. At this time, the conductive material was applied at 20.0 g / m ² when dried. Then, air was discharged from the end of the die head in the width direction at a pressure of about 15 Pa. The wind speed at this time was 7 m / sec. The film after the conductive material was applied was dried in a drying furnace at 100 ° C. for 10 minutes.

(Example 2)
Using the same coating apparatus as in the above example, air was discharged from the end in the width direction of the die head at a wind speed of 22 m / sec. The same film and conductive material were used.

(Comparative Example 1)
The air supply tool was not used, and the other configuration was the same coating apparatus as in the above example. The same film and conductive material were used.

(Comparative Example 2)
The air supply tool was not used, and the other configuration was the same coating apparatus as in the above example. The same film and conductive material were used. However, the conductive material was placed in a desiccator after preparation, and the inside of the desiccator was pulled with a vacuum pump for about 10 minutes to remove bubbles.

  As a result of using the above apparatus, in Example 1, no bubbles remained on the film. In Example 2, although there was a slight trace of the wind on the coated surface, no bubbles remained. However, in Comparative Examples 1 and 2, bubbles remained on the film.

2 Die head 21 Discharge port 3 Air supply tool (air supply means)
F film (sheet material)

The present invention is a coating apparatus for applying a liquid agent to a sheet material, which is made in order to solve the above problems, and is an ejection port formed along a width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the sheet material A die head having an air supply means, and an air supply means disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction across the die head and for blowing air to the applied liquid agent , wherein the air supply means is in the vicinity of the discharge port of the die head Thus, air is discharged in the width direction .

According to this apparatus, the air supply means for blowing air to the downstream side of the die head is provided. Thereby, since air can be sprayed with respect to the foam which generate | occur | produces on a sheet material, the foam on a sheet material can be crushed and it can remove reliably. Usually, since the foam is often formed along the discharge port of the die head, the foam can be surely removed by blowing air in the width direction from the width direction end of the sheet material.

The coating method according to the present invention is made to solve the above-described problem, and has a discharge port extending in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction with respect to a sheet material conveyed in a predetermined direction. A step of applying a liquid agent from the die head; and a step of blowing air to the sheet material coated with the liquid agent by discharging air in the width direction in the vicinity of the discharge port of the die head . About the blowing method of air, what was mentioned above is applicable.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this coating apparatus is an apparatus that applies a liquid catalyst layer material (liquid agent) to a film (sheet material) made of polyethylene terephthalate. As the catalyst material, a material known as a polymer electrolyte fuel cell is used. In these drawings, a part of the coating apparatus is shown, and a transport roller 1 that converts the traveling direction of the film F by 180 degrees is provided. That is, the film F transported from the left to the right in FIG. 2 is wound from the bottom to the top of the transport roller 1 and then transported from the right to the left. A die head 2 for applying a liquid agent to the film F is provided above the transport roller 1. As shown in FIG. 1, an air supply tool 3 (air supply means) for blowing air onto the film F is provided in the vicinity of the die head 2.

The die head and the air supply tool can be arranged at various positions on the coating apparatus. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the die head 2 can be disposed at an intermediate point in the vertical direction on the surface of the transport roller 1 so that the catalyst layer material is discharged in the horizontal direction. Again in the same manner as described above, the air supply device 3 is disposed on the lower stream side of the die head 2. Further, the arrangement positions of the die head 2 and the air supply tool 3 are not particularly limited, and the film being conveyed is not limited to the position where the conveyance direction of the film F is changed by the conveyance roller 1 as described above. The die head 2 and the air supply tool 3 can be disposed at any position above.

Claims (7)

A coating device for applying a liquid agent to a sheet material being conveyed,
A die head having a discharge port formed along a width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the sheet material;
An air supply means disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction across the die head, and for blowing air to the applied liquid agent;
Coating device equipped with.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air supply unit is configured to discharge air in the width direction in the vicinity of the discharge port of the die head.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air supply unit is configured to discharge air from a downstream side in a conveyance direction of the sheet material toward the vicinity of the discharge port of the die head.   The coating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an angle formed by an air discharge direction in the air supply unit and a sheet material is 60 degrees or less.   The coating apparatus of Claim 1 to 4 whose wind speed of the air discharged from the said air supply means is 3-110 m / sec.   The coating apparatus of Claim 5 whose wind speed of the air discharged from the said air supply means is 5-20 m / sec. Applying a liquid agent from a die head having a discharge port extending in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction to a sheet material conveyed in a predetermined direction;
Spraying air on the sheet material coated with the liquid agent;
A coating method comprising:

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