JP2013104805A - Film conveyance device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film conveyance device enabling an appearance inspection on an entire surface of a sheet film without generating a wrinkle or sagging in the film, and also enabling the inspection at a low cost.SOLUTION: A film conveyance device is employed in inspection equipment for inspecting a film. The film conveyance device includes: a first roller and a second roller fixing both sides opposite of the film and configured to wind-off and take-up the film, respectively; first roller interval change means and second roller interval change means arranged at both ends in a width direction of the two rollers, and configured to change an interval between the two rollers; first tensile force homogenization means and second tensile force homogenization means arranged at both ends in the width direction of the two rollers, and configured to homogenize a tensile force in the width direction of the film that is wound-off and taken-up between the two rollers.

Description

  The present invention relates to a film transport apparatus used in an inspection apparatus for inspecting the appearance of a flexible film such as an optical functional film.

  Conventionally, various types of printing, coating, photolithographic processes, etc. are performed during winding after unwinding from a roll of a long flexible substrate such as plastic film, paper, metal foil, etc. Techniques for surface treatment have been widely used in general. Therefore, a flexible and long medium to be handled is referred to as a web, and a technique for unwinding and transporting the web and finally winding it through the processing steps is known as a web handling technique.

  In recent years, particularly in the production of optical films such as optical functional films, the web handling technology has been utilized to enable mass and inexpensive production. Further, in mass production, there are foreign matter defects attached to the optical film raw material itself, and defects such as scratches and foreign matter attached during the manufacturing process, and various inspection methods for detecting these defects have been proposed. .

  FIG. 1 is a view showing a cross section of an antireflection film that is applied to the outermost surface of a display screen of a display device such as a liquid crystal display as an example of an optical functional film. The antireflection film is manufactured by coating a transparent film with an antireflection material in order to protect the display screen from scratches, and to prevent antifouling, antistatic, and reflection.

  In the production process of the antireflection film, a surface treatment such as coating and drying is performed one or more times on the roll-like long belt-like light-transmitting film to form an optical film. The antireflection film shown in FIG. 1 includes a film substrate 1, a hard coat layer 2, and an antireflection layer 3.

  Conventionally, before applying the hard coat layer 2 to the film substrate 1, after applying the hard coat layer 2, after further applying the antireflection layer 3, or at any stage of manufacturing the film substrate and surface treatment Various appearance inspection techniques have been proposed for judging appearance defects such as scratches, bubbles, foreign matter, and wrinkles that occur during the process.

  Inspection for detecting defects is in-line in the middle of the web process. FIG. 2 shows a web inspection apparatus for in-line inspection in the middle of the web process. In the web inspection apparatus, the film 15 is transported by a transport unit (transport by rotation of a roller) composed of a plurality of rollers 11 to 14, and an illumination light source 16 using an LED, a fluorescent lamp, a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, a UV lamp, or the like. 17 and 17 illuminate the entire width of the film, and images the film with a plurality of line CCD cameras 19 (or two-dimensional cameras) so that the film 15 can be fully scanned while being conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow 18. Both or one of the illumination light sources 16 and 17 is appropriately employed.

  On the other hand, a signal corresponding to the transport distance of the film 15 is acquired from the rotary encoder 21, and the film surface is imaged by the line CCD camera 19 at regular transport distances using the signal as an imaging timing signal. The processing device 20 performs image processing, extracts defective portions, and files defect data (coordinates indicating the position of the defect, the number of pixels of the line CCD camera, density values) to the control device 22 including the storage mechanism. And a defect inspection apparatus having a mechanism for storing the data as data in a database (hereinafter referred to as DB).

  In the web inspection apparatus that inspects inline, since the inspection is performed at high speed during surface treatment, a minute defective portion may be overlooked. In particular, the oversight of the so-called common defect that occurs in common from the beginning to the end of the roll is not sufficient by in-line inspection alone because all the rolls become defective.

  Therefore, as an alternative to the in-line inspection, there is a case where a sheet is cut from a web and inspected. In that case, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the film sheet 4 is fixed by a frame body 5, and visual inspection from various directions is carried out by various light sources of transmitted light and reflected light, and the film is carried around. However, there is an inspection apparatus for performing the inspection at a fixed position (FIG. 3A). Even for the web base material, performing a visual inspection by such visual inspection after cutting into a single sheet as the final usage form has a certain meaning that the same defect can be detected. The size in the longitudinal direction of the sheet 4 here is appropriately determined depending on the purpose of the appearance inspection.

  However, when a single sheet of film is fixed with a frame and inspected, wrinkles and sagging due to film fixation may occur as shown in FIG. In addition to the method of inspecting using the frame, there is a case where a sheet-fed film cut out to several meters from the end of an antireflection film of several thousand meters is subjected to automatic appearance inspection offline. In this case, two opposite sides of the film are wound around a roller and the inspection is performed using one or a plurality of cameras.

  In the inspection method using a plurality of cameras, the inspection cost is expensive. Therefore, in order to reduce the inspection cost, only one camera is arranged, the camera is moved several times in the film width direction, the film is unwound at the same time, and the entire surface is automatically inspected by repeating the rewinding operation. Has been done. In addition, when using two rollers as unwinding and winding rollers as a surface to be inspected, the surface to be inspected is enlarged by widening the interval between the two rollers, and the visual appearance by human hands Some devices have been devised to allow inspection.

  However, when a film with a length of several meters in the feed direction is inspected on the entire surface, the area around the fixed parts on the two opposite sides of the film is also inspected. Must-have.

  Regarding the occurrence of wrinkles and sagging, the degree of film tightening on the unwinding shaft is not only due to the fixing of the film end, but also when the appearance is automatically inspected by repeatedly unwinding and unwinding the film. This occurs even when changing in the axial direction. As a result, when the film is stretched between the unwinding and winding shafts of the film, the tension becomes uneven between the two shafts, and wrinkles and sagging occur.

  In addition, as a transport method when inspecting a sheet-fed film, there is a method in which the film is fixed to a frame matched to the film size and transported together with the frame, but since the film length is not constant, multiple frames are prepared. There is a problem in terms of equipment cost and operation to carry the entire frame for inspection.

JP 2005-233892 A

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a film transport apparatus that can perform inspection at a low cost without causing wrinkles or sagging in the entire film appearance inspection.

Therefore, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a film transport device used in an inspection device for inspecting a film,
A first roller and a second roller for unwinding and winding the film while fixing two opposite sides of the film;
A first roller interval changing means and a second roller interval changing means which are provided at both ends in the width direction of the two rollers and change the interval between the two rollers;
The first tension uniforming means and the second uniform tension which are provided at both ends in the width direction of the two rollers and uniform the tension in the width direction of the film which is unwound and wound between the two rollers. And a film transport apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is the film transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first roller interval changing means and the second roller interval changing means are air cylinders.

  The invention according to claim 3 of the present invention is characterized in that the first tension uniforming means and the second tension uniforming means are wound springs inserted into rods of the air cylinder. This is a film transport apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 4 of the present invention is used for a case where inspection is performed by an automatic inspection device and a case where inspection is performed visually, and the film transport device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 It is.

  According to the film transport apparatus of the present invention, the entire appearance of the single-wafer film can be inspected with high accuracy at low cost without causing wrinkles or sagging on the film.

The figure which shows the cross section of the antireflection film which is an example of an optical functional film. The figure which shows the web test | inspection apparatus test | inspected in-line in the middle of a web process. The figure which shows that a wrinkle will generate | occur | produce, when fixing a sheet | seat sheet | seat with a frame. (A) is a figure showing the case where a sheet is fixed with a frame. (B) is a figure which shows the case where wrinkles generate | occur | produce in a sheet | seat sheet. The figure which shows an example of the film conveying apparatus by this invention. It is a figure which shows the 1st roller space | interval change mechanism, 2nd roller space | interval change mechanism, 1st tension | tensile_strength uniform mechanism, and 2nd tension | tensile_strength uniform mechanism which concern on this invention. (A) is the figure seen from the upper surface. (B) is the figure seen from the side. The figure which shows the relationship of the 1st roller space | interval change mechanism and 2nd roller space | interval change mechanism which concern on this invention, and the 1st tension | tensile_strength uniform mechanism and the 2nd tension | tensile_strength uniform mechanism. (A) is a figure which shows the state in which the A chamber is air supply and the B chamber is exhausted. (B) is a diagram showing a state in which the A chamber is exhausted and the B chamber is supplied with air. (C) is a figure which shows the state of exhaust_gas | exhaustion in both A room and B room. The figure which shows the method of fixing two opposing sides of the film which concerns on this invention. (A) is a figure which shows the case where it fixes to a 1st roller. (B) is a figure which shows the case where it fixes to a 2nd roller. The figure which shows the inspection position which performs the attachment position and inspection which concern on this invention. The figure which shows the case where the film test | inspection which concerns on this invention is performed. (A) is a figure which shows the case where the visual inspection by a hand is performed. (B) is a figure which shows the case where a test | inspection is not performed. (C) is a figure which shows the case where the test | inspection by an automatic inspection machine is performed. The figure (a) explaining the case where a film test | inspection is performed using the film conveying apparatus by this invention is the figure seen from the side. (B) is the figure seen from the front. (C) is a figure for demonstrating that the whole film is test | inspected.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out a film conveying device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a film transport apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4A shows a schematic configuration viewed from the side, and FIG. 4B shows a top viewed view. As shown in FIG. 4A, the film transport device 40 illuminates the film 41 with the illumination device 31, images the film illuminated with the imaging camera 32, and processes the captured image with the image processing device 33. Used for inspection equipment for inspection.

  As shown in FIG.4 (b), the film conveying apparatus 40 fixes the 2 sides which the film 41 opposes, winds out a film, the 1st roller 42 which wound up, the 2nd roller 43, and the 1st roller The first roller interval changing mechanism 44a and the second roller interval changing, which are provided at both ends in the width direction of the 42 and the second roller 43 and are first roller interval changing means for changing the interval between the two rollers. A first tension uniform mechanism 45a and a second tension uniform mechanism 45b, which are first tension uniform means for uniformizing the tension in the width direction of the film 44b and the film wound and wound between the two rollers. And.

  FIG. 5 shows a first roller interval changing mechanism 44a, a second roller interval changing mechanism 44b, and a first tension uniforming mechanism 45a provided at both ends of the first roller 42 and the second roller 43 in the width direction. It is a figure which shows the 2nd tension | tensile_strength uniform mechanism 45b. FIG. 5A is a view from the top, and FIG. 5B is a view from the side. The first roller interval changing mechanism 44a and the second roller interval changing mechanism 44b, and the first tension uniform mechanism 45a and the second tension uniform mechanism 45b are the rotations of the first roller 42 and the second roller 43. And the attachment jigs 42a and 43a.

  The first roller interval changing mechanism 44a and the second roller interval changing mechanism 44b are air cylinders that can change the stroke length L of the rod 48 depending on the supply and exhaust states of the A chamber and the B chamber. I can do it. The first tension uniform mechanism 45a and the second tension uniform mechanism 45b are winding springs (springs). Reference numerals 46 and 47 are film support rollers provided in the conveyance path of the film 41.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the first roller interval changing mechanism and the second roller interval changing mechanism, and the first tension uniform mechanism and the second tension uniform mechanism. A uniform tension mechanism is illustrated. The air cylinder used here may be, for example, a double-acting single rod cylinder having two supply / exhaust chambers and a rod strokes in one direction.

FIG. 6A shows a state in which the A chamber is in the supply air and the B chamber is in the exhaust state. In this case, the so-called stroke is “out”, and the stroke length of the rod 48 is longer than the length of the winding spring. The winding spring is fully extended. FIG. 6B shows a state in which the A chamber is exhausted and the B chamber is supplied with air. In this case, the stroke spring is contracted because the stroke length is shorter than the length of the winding spring in a so-called stroke “return” state. It becomes a state. FIG. 6C shows an exhaust state in both the A chamber and the B chamber. In this state, the winding spring is released from the contracted state shown in FIG. 6B. As a result, the winding spring 45 shown in FIG. 6C slightly expands and contracts to balance the tension difference in the width direction of the film conveyed between the roller 42 and the roller 43 shown in FIG. That is, the tension difference in the width direction of the film can be relaxed by acting in the direction in which the winding spring 45 on the side with weak tension is extended. As a result, the generation of wrinkles and sagging caused by the tension difference can be suppressed.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method of fixing two opposite sides of the film. The first roller 42 shown in FIG. 7 (a) has a groove 42-1 for sandwiching one side 41-1 of the sheet film 41 wound around the roller 50, and a silicon tube 51- provided in the groove. 1, compressed air is supplied from a compressed air supply device (not shown), and one side 41-1 of the sheet film 41 is fixed. Thereafter, the sheet film 41 is wound around the first roller 42.

  The sheet film 41 wound up by the first roller 42 is opposed to the one side 41-1 of the sheet film 41 in a groove 43-1 provided in the second roller 43 while being gradually unwound thereafter. The side 41-2 is sandwiched (FIG. 8B). Further, compressed air is supplied from a compressed air supply device (not shown) to the silicon tube 51-2 provided in the groove 43-1, and one side 41-2 of the sheet film 41 is fixed. In this case, the sheet film 11 is passed over the film support rollers 46 and 47.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an attachment position where two opposite sides of the film 41 are sandwiched and fixed by two rollers and an inspection position for inspection. The position indicated by reference numeral 53 is an attachment position where two opposing sides of the film 41 are sandwiched and fixed by two rollers, and the position indicated by reference numeral 54 is an inspection position. In the drawing, the first roller interval changing mechanism and the second roller interval changing mechanism, the first tension uniform mechanism and the second tension uniform mechanism are not shown.

  The film conveying apparatus is attached to a gantry 56 placed on a conveying frame 55, and the gantry 56 moves between the attachment position 53 and the inspection position 54 by moving on the conveying frame 55 in the direction of arrow 57. I can do it.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a case where a film inspection is performed. FIG. 9A shows a case where the A chamber of the cylinder, which is the roller interval changing mechanism and the second roller interval changing mechanism, is supplying air and the B chamber is exhausting (state of FIG. 6A), The axis between the roller 42 and the second roller 43 is long. In this case, a visual inspection is performed manually.

  FIG. 9 (c) shows that both the chamber A and the chamber B of the cylinder, which are the roller interval changing mechanism and the second roller interval changing mechanism, are in an exhausted state (the state of FIG. 6 (c)), and an inspection by an automatic inspection machine is performed. Is called. When the inspection by the automatic inspection of FIG. 9C is performed, the winding springs 45a and 45b act by the tension of the second roller 43, and the second roller moves in the direction indicated by the arrows 61 and 62. Further, the tension in the width direction of the film 41 becomes uniform. As a result, wrinkles and sagging are suppressed in the film 41, and high-precision inspection is possible.

  FIG. 9B shows the roller interval changing mechanism and the second roller interval changing mechanism. The cylinder A chamber is in the exhaust state, the chamber B is in the air supply state (the state in FIG. 6B), and the cylinder rod is In the returning state, the winding springs 45a and 45b are contracted, and the second roller 43 is fixed. In this case, the inspection is not performed, and the work of sandwiching and fixing the film 41 between the two rollers is performed at the attachment position.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a case where a film inspection is performed using a film transport apparatus. FIG. 10A is a diagram seen from the side, FIG. 10B is a diagram seen from the front, and FIG. 10C is a diagram for explaining that the entire film is inspected. The film 41 to be inspected is sandwiched and fixed between the first roller 42 and the second roller 43 in advance at the mounting position, and then moved in the direction of the arrow 57a and inspected at the inspection position. At the inspection position, an illumination light source 31 that illuminates the film 41 and an imaging camera 32 that images the illuminated film are provided. The film 41 is repeatedly conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow 58 by the first roller 42 and the second roller 43 (FIG. 10A). At that time, as shown in FIG. 10B, the illumination light source 31 and the imaging camera 32 move in synchronization with directions indicated by arrows 59a and 59b, respectively. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10C, the entire surface of the film 41 is imaged and inspected by the film transport 58, the illumination light source 31, and the movements 59a and 59b of the imaging camera 32.

  As described above, according to the film conveying apparatus of the present invention, the film cost does not occur and the apparatus cost can be suppressed because the structure is relatively simple. It is possible to perform a full appearance inspection.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Film base material 2 ... Hard-coat layer 3 ... Antireflection layer 4 ... Sheet-fed sheet 5 ... Frame body 6 ... Wrinkles 11-14 on a film ... Roller 15 ... Films 16, 17 ... Illumination light source 18 ... Arrow 19 indicating the film transport direction ... CCD camera (or two-dimensional camera)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Image processing device 21 ... Rotary encoder 22 ... Control device 31 ... Illumination device 32 ... Imaging camera 33 ... Image processing device 40 ... Film conveyance device 41 ... Film 41-1, 41-2 ... opposite sides 42 of the sheet film 41 ... first rollers 42-1, 42-2 ... grooves 43 for sandwiching the film ... second rollers 44 ..Air cylinder 44a ... first roller interval changing mechanism 44b ... second roller interval changing mechanism 45 ... winding spring (spring)
45a ... first tension uniform mechanism 45b ... second tension uniform mechanism 46, 47 ... film support roller 48 ... air cylinder rod 50 ... rollers 51-1, 51-2 ..Silicon tube 53... Mounting position 54. Inspection position 55. Arrow 58 indicating the direction of movement to the position. Arrows 59a, 59b indicating the direction of transport of the film. Arrows 61, 62 indicating the direction of movement of the illumination light source and the imaging camera. Second roller Arrow indicating the direction of movement

Claims (4)

A film transport apparatus used in an inspection apparatus for inspecting a film,
A first roller and a second roller for unwinding and winding the film while fixing two opposite sides of the film;
A first roller interval changing means and a second roller interval changing means which are provided at both ends in the width direction of the two rollers and change the interval between the two rollers;
A first tension uniforming means and a second tension uniforming means which are provided at both ends in the width direction of the two rollers and uniform the tension in the width direction of the film which is unwound and wound between the two rollers; A film transport apparatus comprising:   The film transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first roller interval changing unit and the second roller interval changing unit are air cylinders.   The film conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first tension uniforming unit and the second tension uniforming unit are winding springs inserted into rods of the air cylinder.   The film conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the film conveying apparatus is used when inspecting by an automatic inspection apparatus and when inspecting by visual inspection.