JP2016195982A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning device which easily and properly removes dust from a film base material end part in a cleaning process of a film base material.SOLUTION: A cleaning device cleans a film base material 2 and includes: vibration elements 6a, 6b which are located on a front surface and a rear surface of a film base material end part 21 while facing each other and separated from each other; a cleaning fluid supply port 4 which supplies a cleaning fluid to a gap between the vibration elements 6a, 6b and the film base material end part 21; and cleaning fluid recovery ports 5a, 5b for recovering the cleaning fluid from the gap. The vibration elements 6a, 6b apply vibrations to a liquid film 7 formed by the cleaning fluid entering into the gap.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for cleaning an electronic member that dislikes adhesion of dust or the like to a film substrate, particularly a film substrate that can be used for organic electroluminescence (EL) illumination or the like.

  Conventionally, a gas barrier film in which a thin film of a metal oxide such as aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, silicon oxide or the like is formed on the surface of a film substrate such as plastic is used to wrap articles that require blocking of various gases such as water vapor and oxygen, Widely used in packaging applications to prevent the deterioration of food, industrial products and pharmaceuticals. In addition to packaging applications, it is used in liquid crystal display elements, solar cells, organic electroluminescence (EL) substrates, and the like. In particular, transparent substrates, which are being applied to organic EL devices, have recently added high demands such as long-term reliability and flexibility in shape in addition to demands for weight reduction and size increase. Instead of glass substrates that are heavy, fragile and difficult to increase in area, film base materials such as transparent plastics have begun to be used. In addition, the plastic film not only meets the above requirements, but is also expected to be more productive than glass and reduce costs because it can be rolled to roll.

  In addition, organic EL is attracting attention as a next-generation flexible lighting because of its many advantages such as low power consumption, thinness, light weight, and high design flexibility due to its flexibility by using a film substrate such as plastic. . This organic EL device structure is generally formed by laminating an anode layer, an organic light emitting layer and a cathode layer on a transparent substrate, and the organic light emitting layer is excited by applying a voltage between the anode layer and the cathode layer. Lights on.

  However, there is a problem that a plastic film substrate has poor gas barrier properties. If a film base material with insufficient gas barrier properties is used, water vapor and air penetrate into the film base material. When an organic EL element that is known to be vulnerable to oxygen and moisture is left in the air, oxygen and water vapor enter the organic EL element and cause deterioration.

  As described above, the plastic film substrate alone has poor water and oxygen barrier properties, and it is difficult to ensure the water vapor barrier properties necessary for protecting the cathode layer of the organic EL element. For this reason, it has been proposed to form a metal oxide thin film as a barrier layer on a film substrate to provide a film substrate having gas barrier properties. Examples of the barrier layer include oxides and nitrides such as silicon and aluminum, which are highly transparent. This barrier layer is formed by sputtering, vacuum deposition, CVD, or the like.

  As described above, a barrier film made of a metal oxide thin film can ensure desired performance without any problem in gas barrier properties in a state where appropriate film formation is performed without distribution. However, when dust is present on the film substrate, the gas barrier property is significantly lowered due to a film formation failure when forming the thin film or a pinhole due to dust falling off after forming the thin film. Therefore, it is necessary to remove (that is, remove dust) from the film substrate before forming the thin film.

  Several studies have been made as methods for removing dust from a film substrate, and dry cleaning with a relatively simple process has attracted particular attention. Mainly, sticking a rubber roll with adhesive to the surface of the film base to transfer the dust adhering to the surface of the film base to the adhesive rubber, etc., or vibrating the film base with high-pressure air or ultrasonic waves. There is known a non-contact dust removing method in which dust on the surface of the film substrate is peeled off by blowing air and the air containing the peeled dust is removed by suction.

  However, the method of removing dust on the surface of the film substrate with the adhesive rubber roll as described above has a large dust removal capability, but at the same time, a large peeling charge is generated, and the film substrate after dust removal is surrounded by this charge (static electricity). There is a problem that the dust is adsorbed. On the other hand, the dust removal method by non-contact high-pressure air blowing / suction or ultrasonic vibration air blowing / suction is inferior to the adhesive rubber roll contact type dust removing method, and the dust removing performance to ensure sufficient barrier performance. There is a problem that it cannot be obtained. Then, although the drying process of a film base material is needed after washing | cleaning, the wet washing | cleaning which is employ | adopted for dust removal of a glass base material and is excellent in the dust removal capability is examined.

  For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a film cleaning apparatus that removes dust adhering to the surface of a film substrate by a water flow of a cleaning liquid discharged from a cleaning nozzle.

JP 2012-096156 A

  By the way, especially as a point of concern in the formation of a thin film by roll-to-roll, there is a greater distribution of dust to be removed at the end in the width direction of the roll-shaped film base (that is, the end of the film base). I know. This is considered to be due to the fact that dust derived from the film base material generated during the cutting process (slit) of the film base material, dust falling when the film base material is stored in a roll, and the like adhere to the roll end surface.

The dust adhering to the end portion of the film base material is often transferred to the central portion in the width direction of the film base material (that is, the central portion of the film base material) through an apparatus in a roll-to-roll process or the like. Therefore, it can be said that dust removal at the edge of the film base is indispensable for organic EL elements that do not like the adhesion of dust. Cleaning is also important. However, the present condition is that the proposal of the washing | cleaning apparatus which mainly wash | cleaned the film base-material edge part is rare.
Then, this invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, Comprising: In the washing | cleaning process of a film base material, the cleaning apparatus which can remove dust from a film base-material edge part easily and accurately is provided. With the goal.

  A cleaning device according to an aspect of the present invention is a cleaning device for cleaning a film base material, the vibration element facing the at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the end portion of the film base material, and the vibration element And a cleaning liquid supply port for supplying a cleaning liquid to a gap between the end portion and a cleaning liquid recovery port for recovering the cleaning liquid from the gap, and the vibration element is formed by the cleaning liquid entering the gap. It is characterized by applying vibration to the liquid film.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a cleaning device that can easily and accurately remove dust from an end portion of a film substrate in the step of cleaning the film substrate.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the film edge part cleaning apparatus 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which cut | disconnected Fig.1 (a) by the A-A 'line. It is sectional drawing which cut | disconnected FIG.1 (b) by the B-B 'line.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that, in each drawing described below, parts having the same configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated description thereof is omitted.
<Configuration>

  1A and 1B are a plan view showing a configuration example of a film edge cleaning apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention and a front view seen from the film 2 conveying direction. 1 (a) and 1 (b), in the step of transporting the film substrate 2 by roll-to-roll, the width direction end (that is, the film substrate end) 21 of the film substrate 2 is set to the film end. The state which the part washing | cleaning apparatus 1 is wash | cleaning is shown typically.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the film edge cleaning device 1 is an apparatus that effectively removes dust adhering to the film substrate edge 21 by being installed at the film substrate edge 21. As shown in FIG.1 (b), the film edge part washing | cleaning apparatus 1 is installed so that the film base material edge part 21 of the film base material 2 conveyed may be inserted | pinched from the surface and the back side.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A ′ of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the film edge cleaning apparatus 1 includes a film edge cleaning head 3. The film edge cleaning head 3 supplies the cleaning liquid to the vibrating element 6 facing the at least one of the front and back surfaces of the film base end 21 and the gap between the vibrating element 6 and the film base end 21. A cleaning liquid supply port 4 and a cleaning liquid recovery port 5 provided at a position facing the film substrate 2 on the outer periphery of the vibration element 6 and recovering the cleaning liquid from the gap. The vibration element 6 is an element that applies vibration to the liquid film 7 formed when the cleaning liquid enters the gap.

  For example, the film edge cleaning head 3 is arranged so as to face each of the front surface (upper surface in FIG. 2) and the back surface (lower surface in FIG. 2) of the film substrate end 21. A cleaning head 3a and a lower cleaning head 3b are provided. The upper cleaning head 3a is disposed with a gap from the surface of the film substrate 2, and the lower cleaning head 3b is disposed with a gap from the back surface of the film substrate 2. The film edge cleaning head 3 has a cleaning liquid supply port 4 for supplying a cleaning liquid in order to form a liquid film 7 in both the gaps. The cleaning liquid supply port 4 is provided outside the film substrate 2 in a plan view, and is provided, for example, outside the film substrate 2 in the width direction.

The upper cleaning head 3 a has a vibration element 6 a for applying ultrasonic vibration to the liquid film 7.
The vibration element 6 a is provided on the surface of the upper cleaning head 3 a that faces the film base end 21. Further, the upper cleaning head 3a has a cleaning liquid recovery port 5a for recovering the liquid film 7 of the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid recovery port 5a is provided on the center side in the width direction of the film base 2 with respect to the vibration element 6a.

The lower cleaning head 3 b includes a vibration element 6 b for applying ultrasonic vibration to the liquid film 7.
The vibration element 6b is provided on the surface of the lower cleaning head 3b that faces the film base end 21. Further, the lower cleaning head 3b has a cleaning liquid recovery port 5b for recovering the liquid film 7 of the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid recovery port 5b is provided on the center side in the width direction of the film base 2 with respect to the vibration element 6b.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB ′ of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, when the shape of the vibration element 6 a in a plan view is rectangular, the cleaning liquid recovery port 5 a is disposed so as to surround three sides other than the cleaning liquid supply port 4 side among the four outer sides of the vibration element 6 a. The cleaning liquid is prevented from entering the film base 2 side. 3 shows a cross section of the upper cleaning head 3a, the arrangement of the cleaning liquid recovery ports in the lower cleaning head is the same as that in the upper cleaning head 3a.
<Operation>

  The film edge cleaning device 1 continuously supplies the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid supply port 4 toward the film base 2 moving in one direction (the direction indicated by the arrow in FIGS. 1 and 3), By maintaining a state in which a liquid film is formed in the gap 7, the film base end 21 is continuously washed.

For example, the film edge cleaning apparatus 1 continuously supplies a cleaning liquid to the film substrate 2 through a cleaning liquid supply port 4 using a discharge device such as a sanitary pump, and collects the cleaning liquid using a suction device such as an ejector. An appropriate amount is collected through the mouth 5. Thereby, the film edge part washing | cleaning apparatus 1 can always hold | maintain the liquid film 7 formed in the clearance gap between the front and back of the film base material edge part 21, and the washing | cleaning head 3 with a fixed film thickness. Furthermore, by applying ultrasonic vibration by the vibration element 6 to the liquid film 7, dust adhering to the front and back surfaces of the film substrate 2 can be cleaned. In the film substrate cleaning step, the film substrate 2 can be continuously cleaned by transporting the film substrate 2 by roll-to-roll and using the film edge cleaning device 1.
<Correspondence>

In this embodiment, the film base end 21 corresponds to the “end of the film base” of the present invention. The vibration element 6a corresponds to the “first vibration element” of the present invention, and the vibration element 6b corresponds to the “second vibration element” of the present invention. The cleaning head 3 corresponds to the “film edge cleaning head” of the present invention, and the film edge cleaning device 1 corresponds to the “cleaning apparatus” of the present invention.
<Effect of embodiment>

According to the embodiment of the present invention, in the cleaning process of the film base 2 in roll-to-roll, dust on the film base end 21 that could not be sufficiently removed by the prior art can be easily and accurately removed. . For example, the dust adhering to the base material of the barrier film used for the electronic member which dislikes that dust etc. adhere to the film base material 2, especially organic EL illumination etc. can be removed reliably. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the barrier film from causing problems that impair the gas barrier properties, such as film formation problems of the barrier layer and pinholes. Moreover, the organic EL illumination which suppressed element deterioration can be obtained by obtaining the barrier film without such a malfunction.
<Modification>

  In said embodiment, the end part of the width direction of the film base material 2 conveyed by roll-to-roll was shown as the film base end part 21, and the case where this was wash-processed was demonstrated. However, in this invention, you may wash | clean not only the one end part of the width direction of the film base material 2 but the other end part using the film edge part washing | cleaning apparatus 1 similarly to the case of one end part. Thereby, it becomes possible to wash the both ends of the film substrate 2 in the width direction simultaneously or before and after. Further, the entire surface of the film base 2 may be cleaned as a pre- and post-process of this one end cleaning process or both end cleaning process. Thereby, it becomes possible to remove the dust adhering to the whole film base material 2. FIG.

  Moreover, said embodiment demonstrated the case where it was set as the structure which fixed the film edge part washing | cleaning apparatus 1 with respect to the film base material 2 conveyed by roll-to-roll. However, in this invention, the structure which the film edge part washing | cleaning apparatus 1 moves along the film base material edge part 21 with respect to the fixed film base material 2 may be sufficient. That is, the film edge cleaning device 1 may be configured to move relative to the film base 2. Even in such a case, the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

As an embodiment of the present invention, a case where dust adhering to an end portion of a film base material is removed using the film end portion cleaning apparatus shown in FIGS. Pure water was used as a cleaning liquid for removing dust.
PET film 150mm x 150mm x 0.15mm (length x width x thickness) is used as the film base, and 30mm x 30mm (length x width) at the end of the film base is defined as the cleaning range. Only dust removal was attempted. The cleaning head used for cleaning was 30 mm × 30 mm as in the cleaning range, and the clearance between the cleaning head and the film substrate was 1 mm. A syringe pump was used as a cleaning liquid supply method, and an appropriate amount of the cleaning liquid filled in the gap between the cleaning head and the film substrate was discharged to form a liquid film. Thereafter, ultrasonic vibration was applied to the formed liquid film by the vibration element 6 at an output of about 50 to 300 W and a vibration frequency of 30 to 100 kHz, and the cleaning liquid was recovered from the cleaning liquid recovery port 5 using an ejector.

  As a result of observing in detail the presence or absence of dust adhering to the edge of the cleaned PET film using an optical microscope, the number of dust is reduced compared to before cleaning, and it is confirmed that the dust removal is effectively performed. confirmed. The cleaning liquid is not limited to pure water, and depending on the type of dust, an alkaline cleaning liquid, a cleaning liquid containing an alcohol solvent, a cleaning liquid containing a fluorine solvent, or a cleaning liquid containing one or more of these may be used. Is desirable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Film edge cleaning apparatus 2 Film base material 3 Cleaning head 3a Upper cleaning head 3b Lower cleaning head 4, 4a, 4b Cleaning liquid supply port 5, 5a, 5b Cleaning liquid collection port 6, 6a, 6b Vibration element 7 Liquid film 21 Film base Edge of material

Claims (9)

A cleaning device for cleaning a film substrate,
A vibrating element facing in a state of being separated from at least one of a front surface and a back surface of an end portion of the film substrate;
A cleaning liquid supply port for supplying a cleaning liquid to a gap between the vibration element and the end;
A cleaning liquid recovery port for recovering the cleaning liquid from the gap,
The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration element applies vibration to a liquid film formed by the cleaning liquid entering the gap.   The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a film edge cleaning head provided with the vibration element, the cleaning liquid supply port, and the cleaning liquid recovery port.   The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid recovery port is provided at a position facing the film substrate on an outer periphery of the vibration element. The vibrating element is
A first vibration element facing the surface of the end portion in a separated state;
The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second vibration element facing the back surface of the end portion in a state of being separated.   The cleaning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cleaning liquid supply port is provided outside the film base in a plan view.   By continuously supplying the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid supply port toward the film base material relatively moving in one direction, and maintaining the state in which the liquid film is formed in the gap, The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the end portion is continuously cleaned.   The cleaning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the cleaning liquid is an alkaline cleaning liquid.   The cleaning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the cleaning liquid includes an alcohol solvent.   The cleaning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the cleaning liquid contains a fluorine-based solvent.

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