JP2012179540A - Coating apparatus and coating film formation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating apparatus having a simple structure while clearly separating start and end of discharge of a coating liquid from a nozzle, and a coating film formation system incorporated with the coating apparatus.SOLUTION: An inlet side opening 33 is formed in the channel end face of a cylinder 30 perpendicular to a moving direction of a valve element 40 on a shut-off valve 20 and an outlet side opening 36 is formed in the side of the cylinder 30 parallel to the moving direction. When the shut-off valve 20 is closed, the valve element 40 is in contact with the channel end face in which the outlet side opening 36 is formed and also other than during the closed time, the valve element 40 is not in contact with any of the channel end face and the side of the cylinder 30. When the valve element 40 moves forward in the cylinder 30 in order to stop discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle, while the valve element 40 abuts on the channel end face to block the inlet side opening 33, a negative pressure acts on the outlet side opening 36. Thus, the coating liquid present in the channel from the outlet side opening 36 of the cylinder 30 to the coating nozzle is sucked toward the cylinder 30.

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating apparatus that discharges a coating liquid onto a base material from a nozzle connected to a pipe for supplying a coating liquid such as a chemical battery material, and a coating film forming system incorporating the coating apparatus.

  Conventionally, in the manufacture of a chemical battery such as a lithium ion battery, a coating film of a relatively high viscosity electrode material is discharged from a nozzle onto a metal foil as a base material to form a coating film. When such a high-viscosity coating liquid is discharged from a nozzle, the liquid breakage is generally not good. For this reason, Patent Document 1 discloses that a rod that increases or decreases the internal volume of the pipe is disposed in a part of the supply pipe of the high-viscosity coating liquid that reaches the nozzle (so-called suck back mechanism). It is disclosed. After discharging the coating liquid, the rod is retracted to create a negative pressure in the supply pipe line, thereby preventing the coating liquid from dripping from the nozzle.

  Moreover, when performing intermittent coating which repeats discharge of the coating liquid from a nozzle intermittently, it is necessary to clarify the division | segmentation between a coating area and an uncoated area. For this reason, Patent Document 2 discloses that an extraction device (suck back mechanism) is provided to control the pressure in the pipe to the nozzle.

JP 2000-42466 A JP 2002-219400 A

  However, in the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a branch pipe is provided separately from the supply pipe leading to the nozzle, and a suck back mechanism is provided in the branch pipe. For this reason, the entire supply pipeline leading to the nozzle outlet becomes complicated and the length thereof becomes longer. In particular, when the coating liquid has a high viscosity, if the supply pipe becomes complicated and long, it becomes difficult to clean the nozzle and the pipe. Further, there arises a problem that a large amount of coating liquid is unnecessarily consumed during cleaning.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a coating apparatus having a simple structure and a coating film forming system incorporating the coating apparatus while clearly separating the start and end of discharge of the coating liquid from the nozzle. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 is a coating apparatus for discharging a coating liquid to a substrate from a nozzle connected to a pipe for feeding the coating liquid, and a pump for feeding the coating liquid to the pipe. A closing valve interposed in the pipe, the closing valve having an inlet communicating with the pump and an outlet communicating with the nozzle, and a predetermined movement direction in the cylinder And a drive mechanism for reciprocating the valve body, and when the drive mechanism moves the valve body so that the closing valve is closed, a negative pressure is applied to the outlet. The outlet and the inlet are provided at positions where they are generated.

  The invention of claim 2 is the coating device according to the invention of claim 1, wherein the inlet is formed on an end surface of the cylinder perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve body, and the outlet is the valve body. It is formed in the side surface of the said cylinder parallel to the moving direction of this.

  In a third aspect of the present invention, in the coating apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the drive mechanism is a servo motor capable of controlling a moving speed of the valve body and a position in the cylinder. It is characterized by.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the coating apparatus according to the second or third aspect of the present invention, the valve body contacts the end surface where the inlet is formed when the closing valve is closed, and at the time of closing. Otherwise, it is non-contact with the end face and the side face.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the coating apparatus according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the valve body is always in contact with the side surface.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the coating apparatus according to any of the first to fifth aspects, the viscosity of the coating liquid is 1 Pa · s (Pascal second) or more.

  The invention of claim 7 is a coating film forming system, comprising: a coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6; and a coating liquid applied on a substrate from the coating apparatus. And a drying device that performs a drying process.

  According to the first to seventh aspects of the present invention, the outlet and the inlet are provided at a position where the negative pressure is generated at the outlet of the cylinder when the drive mechanism moves the valve body so that the closing valve is closed. Therefore, the suck back mechanism can be built in the closing valve, and the structure of the coating apparatus can be simplified while clearly separating the start and end of the discharge of the coating liquid from the nozzle.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 3, since the drive mechanism is a servo motor capable of controlling the moving speed of the valve body and the position in the cylinder, it is possible to adjust the strength of the suck back accompanying the movement of the valve body. It becomes possible.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the coating film formation system incorporating the coating device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of a coating process part. It is a perspective view of the principal part of a closing valve. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the principal part of a closing valve. It is a figure which shows the operation state of a closing valve. It is a figure which shows the operation state of a closing valve. It is a figure which shows the operation state of a closing valve. It is a figure which shows the operation state of a closing valve. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the principal part of the closing valve in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the operation state of the closing valve in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the operation state of the closing valve in 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a coating film forming system 1 incorporating a coating apparatus according to the present invention. In order to clarify the directional relationship, FIG. 1 has an XYZ orthogonal coordinate system in which the Z-axis direction is the vertical direction and the XY plane is the horizontal plane. Further, in FIG. 1 and the subsequent drawings, the dimensions and numbers of the respective parts are exaggerated or simplified as necessary for easy understanding.

  The coating film forming system 1 is an apparatus for applying an active material coating liquid, which is an electrode material, onto a metal foil as a base material, and drying the coating liquid to manufacture an electrode of a lithium ion secondary battery. It is. The coating film forming system 1 includes a coating processing unit 10, a preheating unit 60, a drying unit 65, an annealing unit 70, a cooling unit 75, and a transport mechanism 80. Further, the coating film forming system 1 includes an electrical box 9 that stores a power source and the like.

  The base material 5 is a metal foil that functions as a current collector of a lithium ion secondary battery. When manufacturing the positive electrode of a lithium ion secondary battery with the coating film formation system 1, for example, an aluminum foil (Al) can be used as the base material 5. Moreover, when manufacturing a negative electrode with the coating film formation system 1, copper foil (Cu) can be used as the base material 5, for example. The substrate 5 is a long sheet-like metal foil, and the width and thickness thereof are not particularly limited. For example, the width may be 600 mm to 700 mm and the thickness may be 10 μm to 20 μm.

  The long base material 5 is fed from the unwinding roller 81 and wound by the winding roller 82, so that the coating processing unit 10, the preheating unit 60, the drying unit 65, the annealing unit 70, and the cooling unit 75 are conveyed in this order. Is done. The transport mechanism 80 includes the unwinding roller 81, the winding roller 82, and a plurality of auxiliary rollers 83a to 83e. In addition, about the number and arrangement | positioning of auxiliary roller 83a-83e, it is not limited to the example of FIG. 1, It can increase / decrease suitably as needed.

  The preheating unit 60, the drying unit 65, the annealing unit 70, and the cooling unit 75 constitute a drying device that performs a drying process on the coating liquid applied on the substrate 5 in the coating processing unit 10. The preheating unit 60 raises the temperature of the coating film of the electrode material formed on the substrate 5 by the coating process in the coating processing unit 10 and performs preheating for a predetermined time. The drying unit 65 is a processing unit that performs a main drying process, and blows hot air on the coating film preheated by the preheating unit 60 to heat and evaporate the solvent. Further, the annealing unit 70 heats the coating film to a higher temperature, removes the solvent remaining in the coating film, and removes strain and residual stress generated in the coating film by the drying process in the drying unit 65. . The cooling unit 75 cools the coating film by blowing dry air at normal temperature onto the heated coating film. In addition, as a drying apparatus which dries the coating film formed on the base material 5, it is not limited to the structure provided with said four process part, According to the kind of coating liquid, it is appropriate and For example, you may make it comprise only the preheating part 60 and the drying part 65. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the coating processing unit 10 which is a coating apparatus according to the present invention. The coating processing unit 10 includes a coating nozzle 11, a tank 50, a pump 51, a supply pipe 55, and a closing valve 20 as main elements. The tank 50 stores a solution of an active material that is an electrode material of a lithium ion secondary battery as a coating solution. When the positive electrode is manufactured by the coating film forming system 1, for example, lithium cobaltate (LiCoO ₂ ) as a positive electrode active material, carbon (C) as a conductive additive, and a binder are used as a positive electrode material coating liquid. A mixed liquid of a certain polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and a solvent N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is stored. In place of lithium cobaltate, lithium nickelate (LiNiO ₂ ), lithium manganate (LiMn ₂ O ₄ ), lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO ₄ ) or the like can be used as the positive electrode active material, but is not limited thereto. is not.

On the other hand, when a negative electrode is manufactured by the coating film forming system 1, a mixed liquid of, for example, graphite (graphite) as a negative electrode active material, PVDF as a binder, and NMP as a solvent is used as a negative electrode material coating liquid. Store. Instead of graphite, hard carbon, lithium titanate (Li ₄ Ti ₅ O ₁₂ ), silicon alloy, tin alloy, or the like can be used as the negative electrode active material. In both the positive electrode material and the negative electrode material, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) or the like can be used as a binder instead of PVDF, and water (H ₂ O) or the like can be used as a solvent instead of NMP. be able to. Furthermore, when using SBR as a binder and water as a solvent, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) can be used in combination as a thickener. The coating liquid for these positive electrode material and negative electrode material is a slurry in which solids (fine particles) are dispersed, the viscosity of which is 1 Pa · s (pascal second) or more, and generally has thixotropic properties.

  The tank 50 is provided with a stirrer 53 and an air pressurizing unit 54. The stirrer 53 stirs the coating liquid by rotating a screw immersed in the coating liquid stored in the tank 50. The air pressurization unit 54 pressurizes the liquid level of the coating liquid stored by sending high-pressure air into the gas phase portion in the tank 50. Note that the air pressurization unit 54 is not an essential element as long as the liquid can be fed only by the pump 51.

  The tank 50 and the application nozzle 11 are connected in communication by a supply pipe 55. As the supply pipe 55, a stainless pipe or a resin pipe can be used. A pump 51, a closing valve 20, and a flow meter 52 are inserted in the route of the supply pipe 55. Further, a circulation pipe 56 is provided branching from the middle of the supply pipe 55. The proximal end side of the circulation pipe 56 is connected to a position between the closing valve 20 and the pump 51 of the supply pipe 55, and the distal end side is connected to the tank 50. A circulation valve 57 and a flow rate adjustment valve 58 are inserted in the circulation pipe 56.

  The pump 51 sends the electrode material coating liquid stored in the tank 50 toward the coating nozzle 11 to the supply pipe 55. The flow meter 52 measures the flow rate of the coating liquid flowing through the supply pipe 55. The closing valve 20 opens and closes the supply pipe 55 to open and close the supply of the coating liquid to the coating nozzle 11. The closing valve 20 will be further described later.

  A circulation valve 57 provided in the circulation pipe 56 opens and closes the flow path of the circulation pipe 56. When the closing valve 20 closes the supply pipe 55, the circulation valve 57 is opened, so that the coating liquid flowing through the supply pipe 55 flows into the circulation pipe 56 and returns to the tank 50. The flow rate of the coating liquid flowing through the circulation pipe 56 is adjusted by a flow rate adjusting valve 58.

  The application nozzle 11 is a slit nozzle provided with a slit-like discharge port 11 a along the width direction of the substrate 5. The coating nozzle 11 discharges the coating liquid supplied via the supply pipe 55 from the discharge port 11 a to the surface of the base material 5 that is running while being pressed and supported by the backup roller 12. The application nozzle 11 is provided with a pressure gauge 18 and a drive mechanism 15. The pressure gauge 18 measures the pressure of the coating liquid in the coating nozzle 11. The drive mechanism 15 adjusts the position of the backup roller 12 by moving the application nozzle 11 back and forth, right and left, and up and down. In addition, the pressure of the coating liquid in the coating nozzle 11 is measured by the pressure gauge 18, and the flow rate of the coating liquid flowing through the supply pipe 55 is measured by the flow meter 52, thereby grasping the state of the coating liquid flowing through the supply pipe 55. can do.

  In addition, the coating processing unit 10 includes a control unit 90 that controls an operation mechanism such as the closing valve 20 to perform the coating process on the base material 5. The configuration of the control unit 90 as hardware is the same as that of a general computer. That is, the control unit 90 stores a CPU that performs various arithmetic processes, a ROM that is a read-only memory that stores basic programs, a RAM that is a readable and writable memory that stores various information, control software, data, and the like. It is configured with a magnetic disk. The coating process in the coating processing unit 10 proceeds by the CPU of the control unit 90 executing a predetermined processing program. The control unit 90 may be a control unit dedicated to the coating processing unit 10 or may be used as a control unit of the coating film forming system 1.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of the closing valve 20. FIG. 4 is a view showing the internal structure of the main part of the closing valve 20. The main part of the closing valve 20 includes a valve body 40 inside the cylinder 30. The cylinder 30 has a hollow cylindrical shape, and is formed of, for example, stainless steel. Moreover, the valve body 40 has a disk shape, and is formed of, for example, stainless steel. In the first embodiment, the diameter of the valve body 40 is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder 30. That is, a gap is formed between the inner wall of the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40.

  A piston 45 is provided along the central axis of the cylindrical cylinder 30, and a valve body 40 is fixed to the tip of the piston 45. The piston 45 is driven along the central axis of the cylinder 30 by a servo motor 48. By driving the servo motor 48, the valve body 40 reciprocates in the cylinder 30 along a direction parallel to the central axis of the cylinder 30 as indicated by an arrow AR4 in FIG. The servo motor 48 can control the moving speed and position of the valve body 40 in the cylinder 30.

  An entrance opening 33 is formed on the end face of the cylinder 30 perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve body 40 (the direction of the arrow AR4). A through-hole through which the piston 45 passes is formed in the end surface of the cylinder 30 facing the end surface where the entry-side opening 33 is formed. The through hole and the piston 45 are sealed with a seal member. On the other hand, an outlet opening 36 is formed on the side surface of the cylinder 30 parallel to the moving direction of the valve body 40. In the present specification, the movement of the valve body 40 toward the entry side opening 33 is referred to as advance, and the movement away from the entry side opening 33 is referred to as retreat. Moreover, the end surface in which the entrance side opening 33 is formed is called a flow path end surface.

  A supply pipe 55 is connected to the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 of the cylinder 30. The inlet side opening 33 is communicated with the pump 51 via the supply pipe 55, and the outlet side opening 36 is communicated with the coating nozzle 11 via the supply pipe 55. When the valve body 40 moves forward and comes into contact with the flow path end face, the inlet opening 33 is closed, and the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is closed. In this state, the supply of the coating liquid from the pump 51 to the coating nozzle 11 is interrupted. On the other hand, when the valve body 40 moves backward and the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 communicate with each other, the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is opened. In this state, the coating liquid is supplied from the pump 51 to the coating nozzle 11, and the coating liquid is discharged from the discharge port 11a.

  In addition to the above-described configuration, the coating processing unit 10 includes a relief line for releasing a high-pressure coating liquid when the pressure in the supply pipe 55 becomes extremely high, an air venting line for venting air from the coating nozzle 11 at the start of discharge, A film thickness meter (not shown) for measuring the film thickness of the coating solution applied on the substrate 5 is provided.

  Next, the coating liquid coating processing operation in the coating processing unit 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. The coating processing unit 10 intermittently applies the electrode material coating liquid to the long base material 5 transported by the transport mechanism 80. That is, the coating processing unit 10 discharges the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 for a certain period of time on the surface of the substrate 5 that travels at a constant speed while being supported by the backup roller 12, and then stops the ejection for a certain period of time. The intermittent coating is repeated (see FIG. 2).

  Regardless of whether or not the coating liquid is being discharged from the coating nozzle 11, the pump 51 continues to send the coating liquid of the electrode material stored in the tank 50 to the supply pipe 55. The coating liquid stored in the tank 50 is agitated by the agitator 53 so that the composition is uniform. Further, since the electrode material coating solution stored in the tank 50 has a high viscosity of 1 Pa · s or more, the inside of the tank 50 is pressurized by the air pressurizing unit 54 in order to assist the delivery by the pump 51. Yes. While pressurizing the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank 50 and sucking the coating liquid from the tank 50 by the pump 51, the high-viscosity coating liquid is smoothly delivered to the supply pipe 55.

  While the pump 51 continues to send the coating liquid to the supply pipe 55, the flow of the supply pipe 55 is opened and closed by the closing valve 20, thereby intermittently discharging the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11. FIG. 5 shows the closing valve 20 when the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is opened and the coating liquid is being fed from the pump 51 to the coating nozzle 11. When the valve body 40 is retracted by the drive of the servo motor 48, the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 of the cylinder 30 communicate with each other as shown in FIG. At this time, the coating liquid fed through the supply pipe 55 flows into the cylinder 30 from the inlet side opening 33, flows out from the outlet side opening 36 to the supply pipe 55, and reaches the coating nozzle 11. The coating liquid that has reached the coating nozzle 11 is discharged from the discharge port 11a onto the surface of the substrate 5 to be applied.

  When the coating liquid is discharged from the coating nozzle 11 for a certain period of time, the closing valve 20 closes the flow path of the supply pipe 55 in order to stop the discharge. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the servo motor 48 advances the valve body 40 under the control of the control unit 90. In the first embodiment, since there is a gap between the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40, the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 are provided as long as the valve body 40 does not contact the flow path end surface. It cannot be completely blocked. However, in the process in which the valve body 40 moves forward beyond the position where the outlet side opening 36 is formed, a negative pressure acts on the outlet side opening 36 as the valve body 40 moves. As a result, the coating liquid existing in the flow path from the outlet side opening 36 of the cylinder 30 to the discharge port 11a of the coating nozzle 11 is sucked toward the cylinder 30 as indicated by the arrow AR6. The discharge of the high-viscosity coating liquid from 11 is stopped instantaneously. Thereby, the completion | finish of discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be divided clearly. Note that the size of the gap between the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40 may be set to an appropriate value at which a negative pressure acts on the outlet opening 36 as the valve body 40 moves.

  However, in the first embodiment, since there is a gap between the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40, the forward movement of the valve body 40 is stopped halfway (for example, stopped at the position shown in FIG. 6). In this case, the coating liquid fed from the inlet side opening 33 flows out from the gap beyond the valve body 40 and travels from the outlet side opening 36 to the coating nozzle 11. If it does so, after a coating liquid discharge stops momentarily from the coating nozzle 11, a small amount of coating liquid will be discharged again. For this reason, in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the servo motor 48 advances the valve body 40 to a position where the valve body 40 comes into contact with the end surface of the flow path where the entry side opening 33 is formed. When the valve body 40 abuts the end face of the flow path and closes the inlet side opening 33, the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 are completely blocked, the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is closed, and the coating nozzle 11. The discharge of the coating liquid from is constantly stopped. The application liquid sucked from the outlet opening 36 is accumulated in the cylinder 30 as shown in FIG.

  Even when the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is stopped, the feeding of the coating liquid by the pump 51 is continuously performed. For this reason, when the closing valve 20 is closed, the circulation valve 57 of the circulation pipe 56 is opened under the control of the control unit 90. By opening the circulation valve 57, the coating liquid fed from the pump 51 is returned to the tank 50 via the circulation pipe 56.

  After the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is stopped and a predetermined time has elapsed, the closing valve 20 opens the flow path of the supply pipe 55 in order to restart the coating liquid discharge. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, the servo motor 48 retracts the valve body 40 under the control of the control unit 90. In addition, the circulation valve 57 of the circulation pipe 56 is closed. When the valve body 40 moves backward, the coating liquid remaining in the flow path from the cylinder 30 to the coating nozzle 11 when ejection is stopped is pushed out toward the coating nozzle 11 and immediately the high-viscosity coating liquid is discharged from the ejection port 11a. Is discharged. Thereby, the discharge start of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be clearly delimited. Then, when the valve body 40 is retracted into the range where the outlet side opening 36 is formed, the state returns to the state of FIG. 5, and the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 are completely communicated with each other. The path is opened, and the coating liquid fed from the pump 51 passes through the cylinder 30 and is discharged from the coating nozzle 11. Thereafter, the procedure shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 described above is repeated, the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is interrupted, and the intermittent coating of the coating liquid on the substrate 5 proceeds.

  As described above, the coating liquid applied onto the base material 5 by the coating processing unit 10 is transferred to the preheating unit 60, the drying unit 65, the annealing unit 70, and the cooling unit 75 by the transport mechanism 80. A drying process is performed by being conveyed. Then, the substrate 5 on which the dried coating film is formed is taken up by the take-up roller 82.

  In the application processing unit 10 of the first embodiment, the inlet side opening 33 is formed on the flow path end surface of the cylinder 30 perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve body 40 of the closing valve 20, and the cylinder 30 parallel to the moving direction is formed. An exit opening 36 is formed on the side surface. When the closing valve 20 is closed, the valve body 40 comes into contact with the end face of the flow path where the outlet opening 36 is formed, and the valve body 40 is not in contact with both the end face and the side face of the cylinder 30 except when the closing valve 20 is closed. is there. When the valve body 40 moves forward in the cylinder 30 to stop the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 by the closing valve 20 having such a configuration, the valve body 40 comes into contact with the end face of the flow path and opens the inlet side opening 33. A negative pressure acts on the outlet opening 36 in the process of closing. As a result, so-called suckback is performed in which the coating liquid existing in the flow path from the outlet opening 36 of the cylinder 30 to the discharge port 11a of the coating nozzle 11 is sucked toward the cylinder 30. . That is, the suck back mechanism is built in the closing valve 20 that opens and closes the supply pipe 55, and the suck back can be performed simultaneously with closing the flow path of the supply pipe 55. For this reason, it is not necessary to individually control the closing valve 20 and the suck back mechanism, and the control of the control unit 90 can be simplified.

  Since the coating processing unit 10 applies a high-viscosity coating liquid to the base material 5, it is unclear whether the coating liquid 11 is completely discharged from the coating nozzle 11 simply by closing the flow path of the supply pipe 55 when the discharge is stopped. It becomes. For this reason, in the case of applying a high-viscosity coating liquid, suck back is essential when discharging is stopped. In particular, as in the first embodiment, when intermittent application of a high-viscosity coating liquid is performed, if there is no suck back mechanism, both the discharge start and discharge end of the coating liquid are unclear. Since the coating processing unit 10 of the first embodiment has a suck back mechanism in the closing valve 20, even if intermittent coating of a high viscosity coating liquid of 1 Pa · s or more is performed, the coating nozzle 11 The start and end of discharge of the coating liquid can be clearly separated.

  Further, by incorporating the suck back mechanism in the closing valve 20, it is not necessary to provide a branch pipe from the supply pipe 55 and provide a separate suck back mechanism for it. For this reason, the whole structure of the application | coating process part 10 can be made into a simple structure. If the branch pipe dedicated to suck back and the suck back mechanism are not required, the length of the supply pipe 55 can be shortened and the pipe cleaning can be facilitated. Furthermore, it is possible to minimize the consumption of the coating liquid during pipe cleaning.

  In the coating processing unit 10 of the first embodiment, the valve body 40 is reciprocated in the cylinder 30 by the servo motor 48. The servo motor 48 can control the moving speed and position of the valve body 40 in the cylinder 30. For this reason, the magnitude of the negative pressure acting on the outlet side opening 36 can be arbitrarily adjusted by the servo motor 48 controlling the forward movement speed of the valve body 40 when the discharge is stopped. Further, when the discharge is resumed, the servo motor 48 controls the backward movement speed of the valve body 40, whereby the discharge flow rate of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be adjusted.

Second Embodiment
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The overall configuration of the coating film forming system in the second embodiment (FIG. 1) and the configuration of the coating processing unit (FIG. 2) are the same as those in the first embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the internal structure of the closing valve.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an internal structure of a main part of the closing valve 20a in the second embodiment. 9 to 11, the same elements as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the first embodiment, a gap is formed between the inner wall of the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40, but in the second embodiment, the gap is sealed. Also in the second embodiment, the valve body 40 is provided inside the cylinder 30. The cylinder 30 has a hollow cylindrical shape, and the valve body 40 has a disk shape. Also in the second embodiment, the diameter of the valve body 40 is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder 30. However, an annular seal member 41 is provided so as to be sandwiched between the side end face of the disc-shaped valve body 40 and the side wall of the cylindrical cylinder 30. The seal member 41 is fixed to the side end face of the valve body 40.

  A piston 45 is provided along the central axis of the cylindrical cylinder 30, and a valve body 40 is fixed to the tip of the piston 45. The cylinder 30 and the piston 45 are sealed with a seal member. The piston 45 is driven along the central axis of the cylinder 30 by a servo motor 48. By driving the servo motor 48, the valve body 40 reciprocates in the cylinder 30 along a direction parallel to the central axis of the cylinder 30 as indicated by an arrow AR9 in FIG. At this time, the seal member 41 also reciprocates together with the valve body 40 and slides with respect to the inner side wall of the cylinder 30. The servo motor 48 can control the moving speed and position of the valve body 40 in the cylinder 30.

  Similar to the first embodiment, an inlet opening 33 is formed on the flow path end surface of the cylinder 30 perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve body 40 (the direction of the arrow AR9). Further, an outlet opening 36 is formed on the side surface of the cylinder 30 parallel to the moving direction of the valve body 40. A supply pipe 55 is connected to the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 of the cylinder 30. The inlet side opening 33 is communicated with the pump 51 via the supply pipe 55, and the outlet side opening 36 is communicated with the coating nozzle 11 via the supply pipe 55.

  In the closing valve 20a of the second embodiment, since the space between the inner wall of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40 is sealed by the seal member 41, the valve body 40 advances beyond the position where the outlet opening 36 is formed. Only the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 are blocked, and the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is closed. In this state, the supply of the coating liquid from the pump 51 to the coating nozzle 11 is interrupted. On the other hand, when the valve body 40 is retracted to the range where the outlet side opening 36 is formed, the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 communicate with each other, and the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is opened. In this state, the coating liquid is supplied from the pump 51 to the coating nozzle 11, and the coating liquid is discharged from the discharge port 11a.

  Next, a coating liquid coating processing operation in the coating processing unit 10 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. Also in the second embodiment, the coating processing unit 10 intermittently applies the electrode material coating liquid to the long base material 5 transported by the transport mechanism 80. That is, the coating processing unit 10 discharges the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 for a certain period of time on the surface of the substrate 5 that travels at a constant speed while being supported by the backup roller 12, and then stops the ejection for a certain period of time. Repeat intermittent application.

  Regardless of whether or not the coating liquid is being discharged from the coating nozzle 11, the pump 51 continues to send the coating liquid of the electrode material stored in the tank 50 to the supply pipe 55. While the pump 51 continues to send the coating liquid to the supply pipe 55, the flow of the supply pipe 55 is opened and closed by the closing valve 20a, thereby intermittently discharging the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11. FIG. 10 shows the closing valve 20 a when the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is opened and the coating liquid is being fed from the pump 51 to the coating nozzle 11.

  When the valve body 40 is within the range where the outlet opening 36 is formed by driving the servo motor 48, the inlet opening 33 and the outlet opening 36 of the cylinder 30 communicate with each other as shown in FIG. At this time, the coating liquid fed through the supply pipe 55 flows into the cylinder 30 from the inlet side opening 33, flows out from the outlet side opening 36 to the supply pipe 55, and reaches the coating nozzle 11. The coating liquid that has reached the coating nozzle 11 is discharged from the discharge port 11a onto the surface of the substrate 5 to be applied.

  When the coating liquid is discharged from the coating nozzle 11 for a certain time, the closing valve 20a closes the flow path of the supply pipe 55 to stop the discharge. At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, the servo motor 48 advances the valve body 40 under the control of the control unit 90. In the second embodiment, since the space between the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40 is sealed, when the valve body 40 moves forward beyond the formation position of the outlet side opening 36, the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side The opening 36 can be completely blocked.

  Similarly to the first embodiment, in the process in which the valve body 40 moves forward beyond the position where the outlet opening 36 is formed, a negative pressure acts on the outlet opening 36 as the valve body 40 moves. As a result, the coating liquid existing in the flow path from the outlet side opening 36 of the cylinder 30 to the discharge port 11a of the coating nozzle 11 is sucked toward the cylinder 30 as indicated by the arrow AR11. The discharge of the high-viscosity coating liquid from 11 is stopped instantaneously. Thereby, the completion | finish of discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be divided clearly. And in 2nd Embodiment, the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 are completely interrupted | blocked only by the valve body 40 moving forward exceeding the formation position of the outlet side opening 36, and the flow path of the supply piping 55 is made. It is closed and the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is stopped regularly. That is, in the second embodiment, the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be steadily stopped without moving the valve body 40 until it contacts the end surface of the flow path. The coating liquid sucked from the outlet opening 36 is accumulated in the cylinder 30 by the valve body 40 moving forward beyond the position where the outlet opening 36 is formed.

  Even when the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is stopped, the feeding of the coating liquid by the pump 51 is continuously performed. For this reason, when the closing valve 20a is closed, the circulation valve 57 of the circulation pipe 56 is opened under the control of the control unit 90. By opening the circulation valve 57, the coating liquid fed from the pump 51 is returned to the tank 50 via the circulation pipe 56.

  After the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is stopped and a predetermined time has elapsed, the closing valve 20a opens the flow path of the supply pipe 55 to restart the coating liquid discharge. At this time, the servo motor 48 moves the valve body 40 back to the range where the outlet opening 36 is formed under the control of the control unit 90. In addition, the circulation valve 57 of the circulation pipe 56 is closed. When the valve body 40 moves backward, the coating liquid remaining in the flow path from the cylinder 30 to the coating nozzle 11 when ejection is stopped is pushed out toward the coating nozzle 11 and immediately the high-viscosity coating liquid is discharged from the ejection port 11a. Is discharged. Thereby, the discharge start of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be clearly delimited. Then, when the valve body 40 is retracted to the range where the outlet side opening 36 is formed, the state returns to the state of FIG. 10, and the inlet side opening 33 and the outlet side opening 36 are completely communicated with each other. The path is opened, and the coating liquid fed from the pump 51 passes through the cylinder 30 and is discharged from the coating nozzle 11. Thereafter, the procedure of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 described above is repeated, the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 is interrupted, and the intermittent application of the coating liquid to the substrate 5 is advanced.

  As described above, the coating liquid applied onto the base material 5 by the coating processing unit 10 is transferred to the preheating unit 60, the drying unit 65, the annealing unit 70, and the cooling unit 75 by the transport mechanism 80. A drying process is performed by being conveyed. Then, the substrate 5 on which the dried coating film is formed is taken up by the take-up roller 82.

  In the coating processing unit 10 of the second embodiment, the inlet opening 33 is formed on the flow path end surface of the cylinder 30 perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve body 40 of the closing valve 20a, and the cylinder 30 parallel to the moving direction is formed. An exit opening 36 is formed on the side surface. Regardless of whether the closing valve 20 a is opened or closed, the valve body 40 is always in contact with the side surface of the cylinder 30 via the seal member 41. When the valve body 40 moves forward beyond the formation position of the outlet opening 36 in the cylinder 30 so as to stop the discharge of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 by the closing valve 20a having such a configuration, the inlet opening 33 and the outlet opening 33 are discharged. The side opening 36 is completely cut off, the flow path of the supply pipe 55 is closed, and negative pressure acts on the outlet side opening 36. As a result, suck back is performed in which the coating liquid existing in the flow path from the outlet opening 36 of the cylinder 30 to the discharge port 11 a of the coating nozzle 11 is sucked toward the cylinder 30. That is, the suck back mechanism is built in the closing valve 20a that opens and closes the supply pipe 55, and the suck back can be performed simultaneously with closing the flow path of the supply pipe 55. For this reason, it is not necessary to individually control the closing valve 20 and the suck back mechanism, and the control of the control unit 90 can be simplified.

  As a result, since the application processing unit 10 of the second embodiment also has a suck back mechanism in the closing valve 20a, as in the first embodiment, intermittent application of a high-viscosity application liquid of 1 Pa · s or more is possible. Even if it performs, the discharge start and completion | finish of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be divided clearly.

  Further, by incorporating a suck back mechanism in the closing valve 20a, it is not necessary to provide a branch pipe from the supply pipe 55 and provide a separate suck back mechanism for it. For this reason, the whole structure of the application | coating process part 10 can be made into a simple structure. If the branch pipe dedicated to suck back and the suck back mechanism are not required, the length of the supply pipe 55 can be shortened and the pipe cleaning can be facilitated. Furthermore, it is possible to minimize the consumption of the coating liquid during pipe cleaning.

  In the coating processing unit 10 of the second embodiment, the valve body 40 is reciprocated in the cylinder 30 by the servo motor 48. The servo motor 48 can control the moving speed and position of the valve body 40 in the cylinder 30. For this reason, when the servo motor 48 controls the forward stop position of the valve body 40 when the discharge is stopped, the amount of the coating liquid sucked from the outlet opening 36 (suck back amount) can be adjusted. Further, similarly to the first embodiment, when the servo motor 48 controls the forward movement speed of the valve body 40 when the discharge is stopped, the magnitude of the negative pressure acting on the outlet opening 36 can be arbitrarily adjusted. Furthermore, when the discharge is resumed, the servo motor 48 controls the backward movement speed of the valve body 40, whereby the discharge flow rate of the coating liquid from the coating nozzle 11 can be adjusted.

<Modification>
While the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention can be modified in various ways other than those described above without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the first embodiment, the inlet opening 33 is formed on the flow path end surface of the cylinder 30 and the outlet opening 36 is formed on the side surface. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The opening 36 may be formed on the end face of the cylinder 30 facing the end face of the flow path. Even if it does in this way, when the clearance gap is formed between the side surface of the cylinder 30 and the valve body 40 like 1st Embodiment, the operation | movement substantially the same as 1st Embodiment can be performed. . In other words, when the servo motor 48 moves the valve body 40 so that the closing valve 20 is closed, the outlet side opening 36 and the inlet side opening 33 are provided at positions where negative pressure is generated in the outlet side opening 36. It ’s fine.

  In each of the above embodiments, the valve element 40 is driven by the servo motor 48. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the valve element 40 may be driven by an air cylinder or the like. good. However, since the servo motor 48 can control the moving speed and position of the valve body 40 in the cylinder 30, it is suitable for adjusting the strength and amount of suck back.

  Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the valve body 40 was made into the disk shape, the shape of the valve body 40 is good also as an inverted truncated cone shape. The size of the bottom surface of the inverted truncated cone is smaller than that of the entrance opening 33. When the valve body 40 having such an inverted truncated cone shape is used, when the valve body 40 moves forward and closes the entrance-side opening 33, both are in line contact with each other, so that the sealing performance can be improved.

  Further, in each of the above embodiments, intermittent coating of the coating liquid is performed on the base material 5, but instead of this, continuous coating that continuously discharges the coating liquid onto the base material 5 is performed. You may be made to do the work. Even when the coating liquid is continuously applied, the discharge start and end of the coating liquid can be clearly delimited by using the technique according to the present invention.

  Further, the coating nozzle 11 is not limited to a slit nozzle having one slit-like discharge port 11a, and may have a plurality of slits, and the coating liquid may be supplied from a substantially circular discharge port. The nozzle which discharges may be sufficient.

  Moreover, the coating liquid used as the object which performs a coating process using the technique which concerns on this invention is not limited to the electrode material of a lithium ion secondary battery, For example, application | coating of solar cell material (electrode material, sealing material) It may be a coating liquid for an insulating film or a protective film of a liquid or an electronic material. The technique according to the present invention can be suitably applied to apply a coating solution having a relatively high viscosity to a substrate. Therefore, the technique according to the present invention may be used to apply the pigment or adhesive coating solution.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating film formation system 5 Base material 10 Coating processing part 11 Coating nozzle 11a Discharge port 12 Backup roller 20, 20a Closing valve 30 Cylinder 33 Inlet side opening 36 Outlet side opening 40 Valve body 41 Seal member 45 Piston 48 Servo motor 50 Tank 51 Pump 55 Supply pipe 56 Circulation pipe 57 Circulation valve 60 Preheating part 65 Drying part 70 Annealing part 75 Cooling part 80 Conveying mechanism 90 Control part

Claims (7)

A coating apparatus that discharges a coating liquid onto a base material from a nozzle connected to a pipe for feeding the coating liquid,
A pump for feeding the coating liquid to the pipe;
A closing valve interposed in the pipe;
With
The closing valve is
A cylinder having an inlet communicating with the pump and an outlet communicating with the nozzle;
A valve body reciprocating along a predetermined movement direction in the cylinder;
A drive mechanism for reciprocating the valve body;
With
The coating apparatus, wherein the outlet and the inlet are provided at a position where a negative pressure is generated at the outlet when the driving mechanism moves the valve body so that the closing valve is closed. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The inlet is formed on the end face of the cylinder perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve body,
The said exit is formed in the side surface of the said cylinder parallel to the moving direction of the said valve body, The coating device characterized by the above-mentioned. In the coating device according to claim 1 or 2,
The coating device according to claim 1, wherein the driving mechanism is a servo motor capable of controlling a moving speed of the valve body and a position in the cylinder. In the coating device according to claim 2 or 3,
The said valve body contacts the said end surface in which the said inlet was formed when the said closing valve was closed, and is a non-contact with the said end surface and the said side surface except at the time of closing. In the coating device according to claim 2 or 3,
The applicator characterized in that the valve body is always in contact with the side surface. In the coating device in any one of Claims 1-5,
The coating apparatus, wherein the coating solution has a viscosity of 1 Pa · s (Pascal second) or more. A coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A drying device for performing a drying treatment of the coating liquid applied on the substrate from the coating device;
A coating film forming system comprising:

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