JP2015011006A - Method and apparatus for measuring gap, and die coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for measuring a gap without installing an instrument on a main body of a die, and to provide a die coating apparatus for automatically adjusting an amount of the gap, in which driving means for adjusting a distance between a lip of the die and a back-up roll is incorporated.SOLUTION: A method and an apparatus for measuring a gap is provided, in which a length measuring machine of a measuring unit 10 and a rotation mechanism are arranged such that an upper or lower reference point of a surface, formed of a lip 3 of a die 2 and a rotation shaft C of a back-up roll 4, coincides with a measuring reference point 11b of the length measuring machine, an amount of a gap is automatically adjusted by: measuring 1) a distance L1 to the lip 3 and a rotation angle θ1 at the time and 2) a shortest distance L2 to the back-up roll 4 and a rotation angle θ2 at the time; and causing a control unit to control the measuring unit 10, to calculate a gap G1 from the distances L1 and L2 and the angles θ1 and θ2 and to control driving means for adjusting a distance between the lip 3 of the die 2 and the back-up roll 4.

Description

  The present invention relates to a die coating apparatus for applying a liquid coating liquid to a belt-like substrate or a plate-like material, and a minimum distance (hereinafter referred to as a distance between a tip end portion (hereinafter referred to as a lip) of a die for discharging the coating liquid and a backup roll. , Gap) measuring method and measuring apparatus, and further relates to a die coating apparatus equipped with the measuring apparatus.

The die coating method is a method of applying a liquid coating solution to the surface of a strip-like base material or plate-like material made of resin or metal,
When the coating liquid is supplied to a structure called a die, it is discharged from a slit-like lip provided corresponding to the width of the material to be applied toward the substrate through a flow path provided inside the die. The coating is done at

  FIG. 1 is a side view showing an outline of a die coating apparatus for applying a coating liquid from a lip of a die onto a belt-like substrate in contact with a backup roll.

  The die coating apparatus 1 discharges a coating material (not shown) to the backup roll 4 from a lip 3 provided in a slit shape on the die 2. And since the strip | belt-shaped base materials 5, such as a resin film and a steel plate, are conveyed so that the backup roll 4 may be contacted, the strip | belt-shaped base material 5 and the lip | rip 3 are conveyed with the same space | interval (gap 6), and are coated. And since the die | dye 2 is installed in the mount frame 7 which can move, the gap 6 can be changed by the movement of a mount frame.

  In the coating using the die coating apparatus, the gap is an important factor for determining the coating thickness and thickness distribution, and the gap amount, which is the shortest distance of the gap 6, is approximately 100 micrometers.

  On the other hand, during maintenance work such as die removal, installation, die angle adjustment, lip cleaning, lip opening dimension adjustment, backup roll surface condition inspection, and backup roll replacement, the die and backup roll The work is carried out with a distance of several tens of centimeters or more so that a work area can be taken in between, and after completion, the die and the backup roll are brought close to each other so that coating can be performed.

  When returning from the maintenance state to the state where coating is possible, it is necessary to check whether the gap is the specified value. Conventionally, the distance between the die and the backup roll during coating was adjusted appropriately. Later, he repeatedly measured the gap using a taper gauge and a thickness gauge.

  However, when measuring with a taper gauge or a thickness gauge, there is a problem that the die head or the backup roll is damaged when it is made of metal, and even if a resin gauge is used, it will be deformed if pinched strongly. there were.

  Therefore, a non-contact type gap measuring method has been proposed (Patent Document 1). That is, a laser displacement meter is installed at the rear of the die, and the distance to the rear end of the die and the distance to the backup roll by moving in the horizontal direction are measured, and the gap is obtained from the difference between the distances. .

JP 2003-300005 A

  However, in the conventional method using a laser displacement meter, it is necessary to attach the equipment directly to the die. Therefore, when using a plurality of die heads, it is necessary to attach a laser displacement meter to each die head.

  When the laser displacement meter is attached to this die head, the laser displacement meter part protrudes when the die head is replaced, so when it is removed, the position of the laser displacement meter changes due to contact of the protrusion with the outside, and the original Adjustment work to return to position was required.

  Also, when the lip discharge direction is upward or downward, the relationship between the gap and the horizontal movement distance of the die is not a linear relationship, so the gap is directly measured and confirmed using the method described above. I was doing.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring a gap without providing equipment on the die body, the measuring apparatus, a die lip, and a backup roll. It is an object of the present invention to provide a die coating apparatus that incorporates a driving means for adjusting the distance of the gap and automatically adjusts the gap amount.

ギャップ長（Ｇ１）を算出することを特徴とするギャップの測定方法である。 In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention of claim 1 is a method for measuring a gap of a die coating apparatus in which a coating liquid is applied from a lip of a die to a belt-like substrate in contact with a backup roll (radius r).
1) Measure the distance (L1) and angle (θ1) from the upper or lower reference point of the surface formed from the lip of the die and the rotation axis of the backup roll to the lip,
2) Measure the shortest distance (L2) and angle (θ2) from the reference point to the backup roll,
Based on Equation 1

A gap measuring method characterized by calculating a gap length (G1).

The invention of claim 2 is a gap measuring device comprising a measuring unit and a control device installed in a die coater, wherein the measuring unit is a surface formed by a die lip and a rotation axis of a backup roll. By the measuring mechanism installed so that the reference point of the upper part or the lower part and the measuring origin coincide, and the rotation mechanism that changes the angle of the measuring instrument in the vertical direction,
1) Measure the distance to the lip (L1) and the rotation angle (θ1) at that time,
2) Measure the shortest distance (L2) to the backup roll and the rotation angle (θ2) at that time,
The control device controls the measurement unit, and from the distances (L1) and (L2) and the angles (θ1) and (θ2) output from the measurement unit, the gap (G1 The gap measuring device includes at least a gap calculating unit that calculates ().

  Further, the invention of claim 3 is provided with the gap length measuring device of claim 2, so that the surface on which the length measuring device rotates is orthogonal to the surface formed from the lip of the die and the rotation axis of the backup roll. This is a die coating apparatus in which a length measuring unit is installed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the die coating apparatus according to the third aspect, further comprising a driving means for adjusting a distance between the die lip and the backup roll.

  According to the gap measuring method of the present invention, by measuring the distance between the conventional die and the backup roll, the gap amount can be obtained without directly measuring using a gauge, and according to the gap measuring device of the present invention. In addition, since the equipment is not directly attached to the die, it is possible to calculate the gap with one measuring unit without removing and attaching to a plurality of dies, and further, according to the die coating apparatus of the present invention, Since the gap amount is automatically adjusted by controlling the driving means for adjusting the distance between the lip of the die and the backup roll from the calculated gap amount, the specified gap amount can be set even during coating.

It is a side view which shows the outline | summary of the conventional die coat apparatus. It is a side view which shows the outline | summary of the die-coating apparatus of this invention. It is a top view which shows the structure of the measurement unit of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the flow of the information between the measuring device of this invention, and a drive mechanism. It is the side view (a) and top view (b) which showed the attachment position of the measurement unit of this invention. It is a side view which shows the measurement location of the measurement unit of this invention, and the gap to calculate. It is the flowchart which showed the procedure of the gap adjustment operation | work of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a die coating apparatus, a gap measuring method, and a measuring apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a side view showing an outline of the die coating apparatus of the present invention.

  The die coating apparatus of the present invention includes a die 2 having a lip 3 for discharging a coating liquid, a backup roll 4 for conveying a belt-like substrate 5, a gantry 7 on which the die 2 is installed, and the gantry 7 is moved in the horizontal direction. And a control unit 20 that controls the measurement unit 10 and the drive means 8.

The die 2 has a slit length of 680 mm and a slit width of 30 μm,
The backup roll 4 is a metal roll having a diameter of 300 mm and is fixed so that the position does not change. As for the backup roll 4, a mechanism that moves in the horizontal direction may be provided.

  Next, the die 2 was placed on the gantry 7 so that the discharge direction was an angle of 20 ° upward from the horizontal. The driving means 8 is composed of a single-axis stage that can be numerically controlled, and drives the gantry 7 horizontally by a control signal from the control device 20.

  Next, the control device 20 is an FA computer having a communication function, and controls the measurement unit 10 and the driving means 8 via a wired transmission path. This transmission path can also use wireless communication means.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of the measurement unit of the present invention.

  The measuring unit 10 includes a length measuring device 11 that is a laser displacement meter and a rotating mechanism 12 that is a sheeter stage that can be numerically controlled, and the rotating table 12a rotates. The length measuring origin 11b of the length measuring device is installed so as to coincide with the rotation center (not shown) of the rotary table 12a of the rotating mechanism 12.

  The laser displacement meter used in this example was of the type that measures the length with the direct reflected light of the laser in order to facilitate the measurement of the shortest distance from the backup roll 4.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the flow of information between the measuring device of the present invention and the drive mechanism.

  The control device 20 includes a measurement control unit 21, a gap calculation unit 22, and a drive control unit 23 as software that can be executed by an FA computer. The measurement control unit 21 controls the length measuring machine 11 and the rotation mechanism 12 of the measurement unit 10. The measurement instruction is transmitted and the measurement value is received. The gap calculation unit 22 calculates the gap G1 from the measurement value obtained by the measurement control unit 21, and the drive control unit 23 transmits the gap G1 calculated above to the drive unit 8. A function of transmitting the movement amount of the gantry 7 and receiving the operation state is provided.

  Further, the control device 20 can store the input numerical values by an input means such as a keyboard (not shown) provided in the FA computer and a storage device.

  FIG. 5 is a side view (a) and a top view (b) showing the mounting position of the measurement unit of the present invention.

  The measuring unit 10 was positioned at a reference point (not shown) below the surface S formed by the lip 3 and the rotation axis C of the backup roll so as to be the length measurement origin 11b of the length measuring device. . If it is this position, it will not interfere with die 2 or backup roll 4 at the time of gap adjustment. Furthermore, the reference point may be an upper portion of a surface S formed from the lip 3 and the rotation axis C of the backup roll.

  And the direction of the measurement unit 10 was adjusted and installed so that the optical axis 11a of the length measuring device was orthogonal to the rotation axis of the backup roll.

  FIG. 6 is a side view showing the measurement location of the measurement unit of the present invention and the gap to be calculated.

  Hereinafter, the measurement part and the measurement method for calculating the gap G1 will be described.

  Of the triangle formed by the three points of the lip 3, the backup roll rotation axis C, and the length measuring origin 11b shown in FIG. 6, the gap G1 to be calculated is the rotation axis of the lip 3 and the backup roll. This line segment is the sum of the gap and the radius r of the backup roll. In order to obtain the length of this line segment, the length of the other two sides and the angle formed by the two sides are required.

  That is, by obtaining L1, L2, θ1, and θ2 in FIG. 6 by measurement, the distance of the line segment including the gap G1 can be obtained, and G1 can be calculated from Equation 1.

  Here, the gap G1 is measured by 1) the distance L1 to the lip and the rotation angle θ2 at that time, 1) the shortest distance L2 to the backup roll, and the rotation angle θ2 at that time. Can be calculated.

  Next, measurement and gap adjustment procedures for gap calculation will be described.

  In the present example, the distance L1 and the rotation angle θ1 were measured only once after the measurement unit 10 was attached. This is because the positional relationship between the measurement unit 10 and the lip 3 does not change even when the gantry 7 is moved.

  The distance L2 and the rotation angle θ2 were repeatedly measured every time the gantry 7 was moved until the gap G1 reached a specified value.

  First, measurement of the distance L1 will be described. A jig (not shown) having a shape capable of returning the laser beam of the length measuring device 11 to the lip 3 is attached to the lip 3, and the laser spot of the length measuring device 11 is changed while continuously changing the rotation angle of the rotary table 12a. It was visually confirmed that it hits the part, and the rotation angle of the rotary table 12a at that time was obtained as θ1.

  In this embodiment, a jig is used for measurement. However, if there is no problem in coating, a method of processing the shape of the lip 3 into a shape that can be measured by the length measuring device 11 may be used.

  Furthermore, since the measurement of L1 can be carried out even when the die 2 and the backup roll 4 are separated after the measurement unit 10 is installed, the distance L1 and the angle θ1 can be measured. It is also possible to measure using a general-purpose scale without using.

  The distances L1 and θ2 thus obtained were stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the control device 20.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a series of procedures for calculating and adjusting the gap length according to the present invention.

Step 1: When a gap measurement start instruction is input to the start control device 20, the process proceeds to the next step.

Step 2: Read the radius r of the backup roll 4, the distance L1 from the length measuring device 11 to the lip 3, and the rotation angle θ1 stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the initial setting control device 20 into the gap calculation unit 22. Further, the initial angle, the step angle, the upper limit angle, and the upper limit number of retries for the rotation mechanism 12 are read into the measurement control unit 21, and the target gap range and the step feed distance with respect to the gantry 7 are read into the drive control unit 23, respectively. After the rotation angle of the turntable 12a is set as the initial angle, the process proceeds to the next step.

Step 3: Rotation operation of the rotation mechanism In order to measure the shortest distance L2 to the backup roll 4, the rotation angle information of the rotation table 12a is transmitted from the measurement control unit 21 to the rotation mechanism 12, and the rotation mechanism 12 completes normally. When the information indicating is received, the process proceeds to the next step.

Step 4: Length measuring operation of L2 The length measuring instruction is sent from the measurement control unit 21 to the length measuring instrument 11 so that the length measuring instrument 11 measures the backup roll 4, and the process proceeds to the next step.

Step 5: Confirmation of the L2 length measurement result When the length measuring instrument 11 measures the length, the numerical value or error information obtained by the measurement is transmitted to the measurement control unit 21, so if the obtained information is a numerical value, the numerical value is As the shortest distance L2 to the surface of the backup roll 4, the rotation angle information of the turntable 12a at that time is set as θ2, and numerical values are stored in a storage unit (not shown) in the control means 20, and the process proceeds to Step 6.

  If the transmission content from the length measuring instrument 11 is error information, the number of retries in step 5 is increased by 1, the step angle is added to the rotation angle information of the rotary table 12a, and the number of repetitions exceeds the maximum number of retries. If the rotation angle information exceeds the upper limit angle, the process proceeds to step 8 (end). And when it does not correspond to these, it progresses to Step 3.

Step 6: Since L2 and θ2 are obtained in the calculation step 5 of the gap G1, the gap G1 is calculated based on Equation 1 using the information stored in the storage unit (not shown) by the gap calculation means 22. If the calculated gap is equal to or smaller than the specified value, the process proceeds to step 8 (end).

Step 7: Output of control signal The gap G1 calculated in step 6 is compared with the target gap range by the drive control unit 230. If the gap is out of the range, the predetermined step feed distance of the gantry 7 is used as the control signal for driving. After transmitting to the means 8 and receiving an operation completion signal from the driving means 8, the process proceeds to Step 3.

Step 8: End measurement work is finished.

  In this way, the gap G1 of the die coater can be set to a specified value by measuring the gap and adjusting the distance between the die and the backup roll by the driving means 8 using the difference from the target value as a control signal. It was. Furthermore, since the gap amount can be calculated by measuring without touching the die 2 or the backup roll 4, the gap amount can be measured and controlled even when the die coating apparatus is coating.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in an industrial field in which a liquid material is applied and processed on a belt-like substrate or a plate-like substrate made of a resin film, a metal foil, and a composite thereof using a die coater.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Die coating apparatus 2 Die 3 Lip 4 Backup roll 5 Band-shaped base material 6 Gap part 7 Base 8 Drive means

10 Measurement unit 11 Length measuring device 11a Optical axis 11b of length measuring device Origin of length measurement of length measuring device

12 Rotating mechanism 12a Rotating table

20 Control Device 21 Measurement Control Unit 22 Gap Calculation Unit 23 Drive Control Unit

L1 Distance from the center of the rotary table to the lip L2 Shortest distance from the center of the rotary table to the surface of the backup roll θ1 Rotation angle of the rotary table when the length measuring device is directed to the lip θ2 Distance from the length measuring device to the backup roll Rotational angle θ of rotary table when measuring length r Difference between backup θ 2 and θ1 Radius C of backup roll Rotary axis G1 of backup roll Gap S Surface formed from lip and rotary axis of backup roll θa Rotary angle of rotary table

Claims (4)

In the method of measuring the gap of the die coater that applies the coating liquid from the lip of the die to the belt-like substrate in contact with the backup roll (radius r)
1) Measure the distance (L1) and angle (θ1) from the upper or lower reference point of the surface formed from the lip of the die and the rotation axis of the backup roll to the lip,
2) Measure the shortest distance (L2) and angle (θ2) from the reference point to the backup roll,
Based on Equation 1

A gap measurement method characterized by calculating a gap length (G1). A gap measuring device composed of a measuring unit and a control device installed in a die coat device,
The measuring unit is installed so that the reference point of the upper part of the surface formed from the lip of the die and the rotation axis of the backup roll or the lower part coincides with the measuring origin, and the direction of the measuring instrument With a rotation mechanism that changes the angle in the vertical direction,
1) Measure the distance to the lip (L1) and the rotation angle (θ1) at that time,
2) Measure the shortest distance (L2) to the backup roll and the rotation angle (θ2) at that time,
The control device controls the measurement unit, and from the distances (L1) and (L2) and the angles (θ1) and (θ2) output from the measurement unit, the gap (G1 The gap measuring device is characterized by comprising at least a gap calculating section for calculating (1).

  The gap measuring device according to claim 2 is provided, and the length measuring unit is installed so that the surface on which the length measuring device is rotated is orthogonal to the surface formed from the lip of the die and the rotation axis of the backup roll. A die coating apparatus characterized by the above.   4. The die coating apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising driving means for adjusting a distance between the die lip and the backup roll.

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