JP2013088854A - Article with non-contact ic label - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article with a thin and small non-contact IC label which can communicate even when it is directly attached to the outside surface of a metallic member of the article.SOLUTION: An article 1 with a non-contact IC label comprises: an article 10 having a metallic member; and a non-contact IC label 20 attached to a long and narrow outside surface 11 provided on the metallic member. The non-contact IC label 20 comprises: a magnetic sheet; a dipole antenna which is provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet and has an IC chip; and an adhesive layer which is provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet and is attached to the outside surface. The magnetic sheet has a thickness equal to or more than 100 μm, and the outside surface 11 has a width equal to or less than 10 mm.

Description

  The present invention relates to an article with a non-contact IC label having a non-contact IC label used in the UHF band and the SHF band.

Conventionally, wireless communication is performed between an RFID tag (non-contact IC label) and a reader. However, when this RFID tag is attached to the outer surface of a metal member in an article, the communication performance deteriorates. In order to solve this problem, various configurations of the RFID tag as described below have been studied. Yes.
For example, in an electromagnetic induction type RFID tag using radio waves in the 13.56 MHz band, a magnetic material (magnetic sheet) having a high permeability is provided between the antenna and the metal member, and there is little loss between the antenna and the metal member. By securing the route of magnetic flux, an RFID tag that can be used even when attached to a metal member is realized. Although the communication performance is reduced, the thickness of the magnetic material can be reduced to, for example, 100 μm or 100 μm or less, so that a thin metal-compatible RFID tag corresponding to the metal member can be produced.

On the other hand, in a radio frequency RFID tag used in the UHF band and the SHF band, a dielectric or air layer is provided between the antenna and the metal member to secure a gap between the antenna and the metal member. A method for suppressing the influence of members is generally used.
However, in this method, when a dielectric having a thickness of 100 μm is used between the antenna and the metal member or an air layer having a thickness of 100 μm is provided, the communication is strongly influenced by the metal member. It becomes impossible. Therefore, at present, it is considered difficult to produce a thin RFID tag (thickness of several hundred μm or less) used in the 13.56 MHz band.

  As another RFID tag of the radio wave type used in the UHF band and the SHF band, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a configuration in which a magnetic body is provided between an antenna and a metal member has been proposed. In this RFID tag, a soft magnetic material is disposed between the antenna and the metal member. In Patent Document 1, there is a clear description of the soft magnetic material. On the other hand, the antenna used is only described to the extent of a dipole antenna and its modified antenna, and there is no detailed description of the antenna shape in actual verification, and the thickness of the magnetic material is also 1 mm (communication distance is 15 mm). Only examples are described. Furthermore, there is no description regarding a specific general example, shape, size, etc. of the metal member to which the RFID tag is attached.

  Examples of the article having a metal member include small articles such as a spanner, a screwdriver, a file such as a machine tool, a medical instrument, and a cooking utensil used by a person.

JP 2005-309811 A

  However, in the RFID tag described in Patent Document 1, for example, it is too thick to be used as a label. When pasted and used, there is a problem that it is very difficult to use. In order to be used as an RFID tag label, it is desired to be thin and small for easy handling.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thin and small non-contact IC label-attached article that can communicate even when directly attached to the outer surface of a metal member of the article. To do.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes the following means.
An article with a non-contact IC label according to the present invention is an article with a non-contact IC label having an article having a metal member and a non-contact IC label attached to an elongated outer surface provided on the metal member. The non-contact IC label is provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet, a magnetic sheet, a dipole antenna having an IC chip, and an adhesive provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet and attached to the outer surface. A thickness of the magnetic sheet is 100 μm or more, and a width of the outer surface is 10 mm or less.

  Further, another article with a non-contact IC label of the present invention is a non-contact IC label having an article having a metal member and a non-contact IC label attached to an elongated outer surface provided on the metal member. The non-contact IC label is provided with a magnetic sheet, a dipole antenna having an IC chip provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet, and provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet and attached to the outer surface. And a thickness of the magnetic sheet is 200 μm or more, and a width of the outer surface is 25 mm or less.

  Further, another article with a non-contact IC label of the present invention includes a non-contact IC label having an article having a metal member and a non-contact IC label attached to an elongated outer surface provided on the metal member. An IC label-attached article, wherein the non-contact IC label is provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet, a dipole antenna having an IC chip, and the outer surface provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet. A magnetic layer having a thickness of 300 μm or more and a width of the outer surface of 50 mm or less.

Moreover, in the above-mentioned article with a non-contact IC label, the length of the outer surface is more preferably 300 mm or less.
In the above-mentioned article with a non-contact IC label, it is more preferable to use a radio wave system as a communication system with the data reader.

  According to the article with a non-contact IC label of the present invention, communication is possible even if it is directly attached to the outer surface of the metal member of the article, and the thickness and size can be reduced.

It is a top view of the article with a non-contact IC label of one embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the non-contact IC label in the article with the non-contact IC label. It is a side view of the non-contact IC label. It is a side view explaining the content of the experiment using the article with the non-contact IC label. It is a figure of the experimental result in case the thickness of a magnetic sheet is 100 micrometers. It is a figure of an experimental result in case the thickness of a magnetic sheet is 200 micrometers. It is a figure of the experimental result in case the thickness of a magnetic sheet is 300 micrometers.

Hereinafter, an article with a non-contact IC label according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the non-contact IC-labeled article 1 performs non-contact communication with a data reader (not shown), and is provided in a spanner (article) 10 and a spanner 10. And a non-contact IC label 20 attached to the elongated outer surface 11.
In all the drawings below, the thicknesses and dimensional ratios of the constituent elements are appropriately changed in order to make the drawings easy to see.

In this example, the entire spanner 10 as an article is a metal member. The spanner 10 is entirely made of a metal such as chrome molybdenum steel.
The metal member as used herein means that a portion of the member exceeding 50% by weight is formed of a solid metal. However, the parts other than the metal member in the article may be formed of any material such as resin, ceramics, and metal.

2 and 3 are a plan view and a side view of the non-contact IC label 20, respectively.
The non-contact IC label 20 includes a magnetic sheet 21, a communication unit 22 provided on one surface 21 a of the magnetic sheet 21, and an adhesive layer 23 provided on the other surface 21 b of the magnetic sheet 21. .
As the magnetic sheet 21, a known material rich in flexibility can be used as a label, which is made of a composite material of magnetic particles or magnetic flakes and plastic or rubber. As shown in FIG. 2, the magnetic sheet 21 is formed in a rectangular shape in a plan view as viewed in the thickness direction of the magnetic sheet 21.

The communication unit 22 is disposed at the center of the magnetic sheet 21 in plan view.
The communication unit 22 includes an IC chip 24, an impedance matching circuit unit 25 connected to the IC chip 24, and a first antenna that is connected to the impedance matching circuit unit 25 and arranged to sandwich the impedance matching circuit unit 25. Element 26 and second antenna element 27.
The IC chip 24 has a known configuration, and predetermined information is stored in the IC chip 24. Then, by supplying radio wave energy from an electrical contact (not shown) provided on the IC chip 24 by a radio wave system, stored information can be transmitted from the electrical contact to the outside as a radio wave.

In this embodiment, the impedance matching circuit unit 25 and the antenna elements 26 and 27 are integrally formed by printing silver paste ink on a film (not shown) formed of PET or the like.
The impedance matching circuit unit 25 is formed by wiring meandering into a predetermined shape. The impedance matching circuit unit 25 is electrically connected to an electrical contact (not shown) of the IC chip 24. The impedance matching circuit unit 25 is configured such that predetermined equal impedance and resistance values are generated between the IC chip 24 and the first antenna element 26 and between the IC chip 24 and the second antenna element 27. Has been.

The antenna elements 26 and 27 are formed in a rectangular shape having a long sandwiching direction D in which the antenna elements 26 and 27 sandwich the impedance matching circuit unit 25 in plan view.
The antenna elements 26 and 27 are arranged so that the sandwiching direction D is parallel to the long side 21 c of the magnetic sheet 21.
The communication unit 22 configured as described above is a so-called dipole antenna having two antenna elements 26 and 27 on one surface 21 a of the magnetic sheet 21.
As the adhesive layer 23, a known adhesive such as a synthetic rubber type or an acrylic type can be appropriately selected and used. The thickness of the adhesive layer 23 is preferably set to 10 to 30 μm.
The non-contact IC label 20 is affixed to the outer surface 11 by the adhesive layer 23 so that the length direction of the elongated outer surface 11 (the direction in which the dimension increases in plan view of the outer surface 11) is parallel to the sandwiching direction D. It is attached.

In the article 1 with a non-contact IC label configured as described above, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 and the width of the outer surface 11 (dimensions in a direction in which the dimension is reduced in a plan view of the outer surface 11) are set within a predetermined range. Thus, communication with the data reading apparatus can be suitably performed, and the apparatus can be formed thin and small. When the width of the outer surface 11 is not constant in the length direction, the average value of the widths in the length direction may be set as the width of the outer surface 11. The same applies to the length of the outer surface 11.
In order to study the range of the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 and the range of the width of the outer surface 11 that achieve this purpose, experiments described below were conducted.

(Experiment)
In the experiment, the equipment and materials shown below were used, and the construction was as shown in FIG.
Magnetic sheet 21: NRC010 (100 μm thickness) manufactured by Daido Steel Co., Ltd.
IC chip 24: NCODE UCODE G2iL
Impedance matching circuit unit 25 and antenna elements 26 and 27
: Dimensions of antenna elements 26 and 27 23 mm × 5 mm
Pattern printing with silver paste ink on PET film (thickness 50μm) (thickness 8μm), except for IC chip 24, in-house manufactured reader / writer R1: 950MHz band RFID reader / writer Mitsubishi Electric Corporation RF-RW002 (maximum output 1W) 30 dBm)
Read antenna R2: 950 MHz band RFID antenna RF-ATCP001 (left-handed circularly polarized wave maximum gain 6 dBi) manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Fixed attenuator R3: Hirose Electric AT-107 (attenuation 7 dB)
The reader / writer R1, the reading antenna R2, and the fixed attenuator R3 constitute a data reading device R10.
-Metal plate 30a: made of stainless steel 250mm (length) x 250mm (width) x 0.5mm (thickness)
-Metal plate (metal member) 30b: made of aluminum 100mm (length) x 5mm (width) x 3mm (thickness)
100mm x 10mm x 3mm
100mm x 25mm x 3mm
100mm x 50mm x 3mm
200mm x 5mm x 3mm
200mm x 10mm x 3mm
200mm x 25mm x 3mm
200mm x 50mm x 3mm

(experimental method)
As shown in FIG. 4, an article 2 with a non-contact IC label is configured by attaching a non-contact IC label 20 to the center of the outer surface 31 of a metal plate (article) 30. The communication distance of the article 2 with the non-contact IC label (the maximum distance at which the data reader R10 can read information from the communication unit 22 without contact) was measured by the reading antenna R2 of the data reader R10. The non-contact IC label 20 used in this experiment does not have the adhesive layer 23. A communication method between the communication unit 22 and the data reading device R10 is a radio wave method.
Since the object to which the non-contact IC label 20 is attached is a small article, the case where the width of the outer surface 31 exceeds 50 mm and the case where the length of the outer surface 31 exceeds 300 mm were excluded from the experiment. In order to make the non-contact IC label 20 thin, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is preferably 500 μm or less.
As a matter of course, the width of the outer surface 31 and the length of the outer surface 31 are larger than 0 mm.

  In this experiment, in order to bring the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30 and the magnetic sheet 21 of the non-contact IC label 20 into close contact with each other, a foamed polystyrene (not shown) is placed on the non-contact IC label 20 and the metal plate 30 to the foamed polystyrene are placed. Collectively, fixed with a band. In addition, it has been found that the presence or absence of the adhesive layer 23 and the expanded polystyrene hardly affects the measurement result of the communication distance.

The reader / writer R1 and the reading antenna R2 used in the experiment are UHF band high-power reader / writers and antennas that can read the non-contact IC label 20 at a certain communication distance.
The maximum output of the reader / writer R1 is 1 W (30 dBm). For the convenience of the experimental environment, a −7 dB fixed attenuator R3 is connected to the coaxial cable connecting the reader / writer R1 and the reading antenna R2, and the output of the reader / writer R1 is output. The experiment was conducted by attenuating to 0.2 W (23 dBm).

The reading antenna R2 was rotated toward the non-contact IC label 20, reading was performed at two angles of 0 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the non-contact IC label 20, and the value with the longer communication distance was used as the experimental result.
The magnetic sheet 21 used in the experiment was formed by superimposing 100 μm thick magnetic sheets to 200 μm and 300 μm thick magnetic sheets.

(1-1 Experiment)
As a first experiment, an experiment as a comparative example was performed.
A non-contact IC label 20 was placed at the center of the above-described 250 mm × 250 mm metal plate 30a, and a reading experiment was performed by changing the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21. The experimental results are shown below.

(1-2 results)
When the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 100 μm, the communication distance is 120 mm.
-When the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 200 μm, the communication distance is 150 mm.
When the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 300 μm, the communication distance is 150 mm.
This experiment is an experiment that is a comparative example in the case where the size of the metal plate 30a is sufficiently large with respect to the external dimensions of the non-contact IC label 20 and the non-contact IC label 20 is arranged at the center of the metal plate 30a. The comparison was made with a second experiment described later. Note that the above experimental result (communication distance) is an insufficient communication distance as a thin and small non-contact IC label that can communicate even when directly attached to a metal member.

(2-1 experiment)
As a second experiment, an experiment for confirming the communication distance of the non-contact IC-labeled article 2 of the present invention was performed.
Combining a plurality of the above-described metal plates 30b, four types of widths of 5 mm, 10 mm, 25 mm, and 50 mm, and four types of lengths of 100 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, and 400 mm, for a total of 16 types of sizes are made. Then, a non-contact IC label 20 was placed at the center of the metal plate 30, and a reading experiment was performed by changing the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21.

(2-2 Results)
Experimental results (graphs) when the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 100 μm, 200 μm, and 300 μm are shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, respectively.
When the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 shown in FIG. 5 was 100 μm, the following results were obtained. That is, when the length of the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30 is 300 mm or less and the width of the outer surface 31 is 5 mm or 10 mm, the communication distance is 250 mm or more, twice the 120 mm of the first experimental result. The above communication distance is obtained. On the other hand, when the width of the outer surface 31 was 25 mm and 50 mm, the result was not different from the first experimental result.

In the case where the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 shown in FIG. 6 is 200 μm, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is doubled compared to the case where the thickness is 100 μm, so that the overall communication distance is increased. ing.
When the length of the outer surface 31 is 300 mm or less and the width of the outer surface 31 is 5 mm, 10 mm, or 25 mm, which is 25 mm or less, the communication distance is 250 mm or more, and the communication distance is longer by 100 mm or more than the first experimental result of 150 mm. It has become. On the other hand, when the width of the outer surface 31 is 50 mm, the communication distance is longer than the first experimental result only when the length of the outer surface 31 is 200 mm or less.
When the width of the outer surface 31 is 5 mm, the communication distance reaches nearly 800 mm when the length of the outer surface 31 is 100 mm, and the communication distance tends to increase when the width is 10 mm.

In the case where the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 shown in FIG. 7 is 300 μm, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 1.5 times that in the case where the thickness is 200 μm. There is an increase.
When the length of the outer surface 31 is 300 mm or less and the width of the outer surface 31 is 5 mm, 10 mm, 25 mm, and 50 mm with a width of 50 mm or less, the communication distance is 200 mm or more, and the communication distance is longer than 150 mm of the first experimental result. It has become.
When the outer surface 31 has a width of 5 mm and 10 mm, the communication distance reaches nearly 800 mm when the length of the outer surface 31 is 100 mm.

When the article 2 with a non-contact IC label is actually used for communication with the data reading device R10, the output of the reader / writer R1 is eliminated by not using the fixed attenuator R3 in the data reading device R10. It is needless to say that the communication distance is further increased since the maximum value of 1W (30 dBm) is increased.
Further, the electrical property values (magnetic permeability, magnetic loss, dielectric constant, dielectric loss, etc.) of the magnetic sheet 21 are made suitable, the impedance matching of the impedance matching circuit unit 25, and the shapes of the antenna elements 26, 27 It is considered that the communication distance can be further improved, or the magnetic sheet 21 can be made thinner by optimizing the value.

  Note that the width and length of the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30 facing the reading antenna R <b> 2 are more dominant with respect to the communication distance than the thickness of the metal plate 30. It has been found that there is almost no fluctuation in the communication distance due to the difference in thickness of the metal plate 30.

As described above, according to the article 2 with the non-contact IC label of the present embodiment, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 100 μm or more and the width of the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30 is 10 mm or less. Even if the non-contact IC label 20 is thin and small, good communication can be performed between the article 2 with the non-contact IC label and the data reading device R10.
The effect is that when the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 200 μm or more and the width of the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30 is 25 mm or less, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 is 300 μm or more, and the metal The same effect can be obtained when the width of the outer surface 31 of the plate 30 is 50 mm or less.

Moreover, since the length of the outer surface 31 is 300 mm or less, the communication distance between the non-contact IC-labeled article 2 and the data reader R10 can be further increased.
By defining the width and length of the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30, the thickness of the magnetic sheet 21 that is generally the thickest in the layer configuration of the non-contact IC label 20 is about 200 mm or more. It became clear that the communication distance was obtained. As a result, the article 2 with a non-contact IC label can be obtained with a good communication distance even if it is thin and small.

As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail with reference to drawings, the concrete structure is not restricted to this Embodiment, The change of the structure of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention is included. .
For example, in the above-described experiment, the non-contact IC label 20 is disposed at the center of the outer surface 31 of the metal plate 30, but the position where the non-contact IC label 20 is disposed is not limited to this and may be any position. However, an additional experiment conducted by the inventor has shown that the center of the outer surface 31 is the best position to attach the non-contact IC label 20.

In the above experiment, the metal plate 30 is a flat plate, but the shape of the metal plate is not limited to this. For example, in a metal plate, a portion to which a non-contact IC label is attached has a flat or curved shape in order to securely adhere and fix the label and the metal article. In addition, any shape may be used as long as it does not protrude excessively.
When the outer surface of the metal plate is engraved in the shape of a non-contact IC label and the non-contact IC label is affixed to the outer surface, the non-contact IC label may be prevented from protruding outward from the outer surface.

In the present embodiment, the example in which the entire article is a metal member has been described. However, a part of the article may be a metal member. For example, in a driver that is an article in which a shaft (metal member) to be engaged with a screw is formed of a metal and a grip that a user grips is formed of a resin, a non-contact IC label is attached to the shaft and the non-contact IC label is attached. It can be used as an attached article.
In addition, the articles having metal members are not limited to small articles such as mechanical tools, medical instruments, and cooking utensils that are used by the above-mentioned persons by hand, but are mechanical parts, automobile parts, electrical parts, building parts, piping parts. Various articles are also included.

  When a non-contact IC label is actually used, although not shown in the figure, a film or paper on which information such as characters and figures for visual or machine reading is written is used to protect the IC chip 24. It may also be provided on the upper surface of the communication unit 22. This information may be written on a film or paper by a printer or the like after a film or the like is provided on the non-contact IC label.

1, 2, Non-contact IC label article 10 Spanner (article)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Outer surface 20 Non-contact IC label 21 Magnetic sheet 21a One side 21b The other side 23 Adhesive layer 24 IC chip 30, 30b Metal plate (article)
R10 data reader

Claims (5)

An article with a non-contact IC label, comprising: an article having a metal member; and a non-contact IC label attached to an elongated outer surface provided on the metal member,
The non-contact IC label is:
A magnetic sheet;
A dipole antenna provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet and having an IC chip;
An adhesive layer provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet and attached to the outer surface;
With
The magnetic sheet has a thickness of 100 μm or more,
An article with a non-contact IC label, wherein the outer surface has a width of 10 mm or less. An article with a non-contact IC label, comprising: an article having a metal member; and a non-contact IC label attached to an elongated outer surface provided on the metal member,
The non-contact IC label is:
A magnetic sheet;
A dipole antenna provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet and having an IC chip;
An adhesive layer provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet and attached to the outer surface;
With
The magnetic sheet has a thickness of 200 μm or more,
An article with a non-contact IC label, wherein the outer surface has a width of 25 mm or less. An article with a non-contact IC label, comprising: an article having a metal member; and a non-contact IC label attached to an elongated outer surface provided on the metal member,
The non-contact IC label is:
A magnetic sheet;
A dipole antenna provided on one surface of the magnetic sheet and having an IC chip;
An adhesive layer provided on the other surface of the magnetic sheet and attached to the outer surface;
With
The magnetic sheet has a thickness of 300 μm or more;
An article with a non-contact IC label, wherein the outer surface has a width of 50 mm or less.   The article with a non-contact IC label according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the outer surface has a length of 300 mm or less.   The article with a non-contact IC label according to claim 4, wherein a radio wave system is used as a communication system with the data reading device.

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