JP2017024875A - Manufacturing method and apparatus for thin film - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that both end parts in the width direction of a slitted laminate are curled in the middle of transportation so as to cause a transportation failure.SOLUTION: A manufacturing method for a thin film includes: a transportation step of transporting a belt-like laminate sheet having at least a thin film, a first back sheet arranged on one surface side of the thin film, and a second back sheet arranged on the other surface side of the thin film; a cutting step of performing cutting so as to cut and open from the first back sheet side as a step of cutting the end parts in the width direction vertical to the transportation direction of the laminate, in the middle of transportation in the transportation step; and a peeling step of peeling the first back sheet at first in the first and second back sheets from the laminate after performing cutting, in the middle of transportation in the transportation step.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a thin film manufacturing method and a thin film manufacturing apparatus.

  As an electrolyte membrane used in a fuel cell, a reinforced electrolyte membrane reinforced with a porous membrane is known. Since the reinforced electrolyte membrane is a thin film, the reinforced electrolyte membrane is bonded to the back sheet and manufactured or stored.

  In Patent Document 1, as a method for producing a reinforced electrolyte membrane, a band-shaped laminate in which a back sheet is bonded to both surfaces of a membrane body in which a porous membrane is impregnated with an electrolyte resin is produced, and the width of the produced laminate body One that manufactures a reinforced electrolyte membrane by slitting both sides in the direction with a slitter blade, and then peeling off the back sheet on the side opposite to the side where the slitter blade is inserted from the slit laminate. (See FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1). By slitting, the side surface of the produced laminate is arranged to be flush with each other, and then the one-side backsheet that is no longer needed is peeled off.

JP 2013-114887 A JP 2011-093642 A

  In the prior art manufacturing method, when slitted, burrs protrude from the surface of the back sheet opposite to the side where the slitter blade is inserted. Thereafter, when the back sheet on the opposite side is peeled off, the burr is pulled to the protruding side, and the burr becomes larger. For this reason, in the manufacturing method of a prior art, the both ends of the width direction of the laminated body slit were curled in the middle of conveyance after peeling, and there existed a problem which caused conveyance defect. Such a problem is not limited to the reinforced electrolyte membrane, but is a problem common to a laminate in which a back sheet is bonded to both sides of a thin film.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to solve at least a part of the problems described above, and the invention can be implemented as the following forms.

(1) One embodiment of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a thin film. The thin film manufacturing method includes at least a thin film, a first back sheet disposed on one surface side of the thin film, and a second back sheet disposed on the other surface side of the thin film. A step of cutting the width direction end perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the laminate during conveyance by the conveyance step and the conveyance step of conveying the laminate sheet from the first back sheet side The first back of the first and second backsheets from the laminated body after the cutting is performed in the middle of the transporting by the transporting process and the cutting process of performing the cutting to be cut open And a peeling step for peeling the sheet first. According to the thin film manufacturing method of this embodiment, burrs are formed on the surface of the laminated body on the second back sheet side when cut by the cutting process. By peeling, the burr is pulled in the direction opposite to the protruding direction, and the burr becomes smaller. For this reason, it is suppressed that the edge part of the width direction of the laminated body slit was curled, As a result, conveyance failure can be suppressed.

(2) In the manufacturing method of the thin film of the said form, you may make it provide the winding-up process which winds up the said laminated body after the said peeling was performed to a roll. According to this method for producing a thin film, since the burrs are small, it is possible to suppress the ears caused by the burrs when wound on a roll.

(3) In the method for manufacturing a thin film of the above aspect, the thin film may be a composite electrolyte membrane in which an electrolyte resin is impregnated in a reinforcing membrane. According to this thin film manufacturing method, it is possible to suppress a conveyance failure when manufacturing a reinforced electrolyte membrane.

(4) Another embodiment of the present invention is a thin film manufacturing apparatus. The thin film manufacturing apparatus includes a thin film, a first back sheet disposed on one surface side of the thin film, and a second back sheet disposed on the other surface side of the thin film. A conveying section that conveys the laminate sheet, and an end portion in the width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the laminated body in the middle of conveyance by the conveying section, from the first backsheet side A cutting unit that performs the cutting so as to be cut open, and the first back of the first and second back sheets from the laminated body after the cutting is performed in the middle of conveyance by the conveyance unit And a peeling portion for peeling the sheet first. The thin film manufacturing apparatus of this aspect can suppress the conveyance failure since the end of the slit laminated body in the width direction is curled, similarly to the thin film manufacturing apparatus of the above aspect.

  The present invention can be realized in various forms other than a thin film manufacturing method and a thin film manufacturing apparatus. For example, it can be realized in the form of a fuel cell manufacturing method including a thin film manufacturing method, a fuel cell manufacturing device including a thin film manufacturing apparatus, and the like.

It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the electrolyte membrane for fuel cells as one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the laminated body produced by the process 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the slit part which performs the process 2. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the peeling part which performs the process 3. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the mode of winding up to the winding roll of a workpiece | work. It is a table | surface which compares and shows the manufacturing method of this embodiment, and the manufacturing method of a comparative example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the ear standing which generate | occur | produces in the manufacturing method of a comparative example. It is a graph which shows the height of the ear stand with respect to the winding number of a workpiece | work.

A. Configuration of the embodiment:
FIG. 1 is a process diagram showing a method for producing an electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell as one embodiment of the present invention. The electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell produced by this production method is a polymer electrolyte membrane used in a solid polymer fuel cell, particularly a reinforced electrolyte membrane. This manufacturing method includes four steps from step 1 to step 4. Each process 1-4 is performed in this order. Processes from step 1 to step 4 are based on batch processing, and delivery between steps is performed with the help of an operator. The process in each process 1-4 is performed in the middle of conveyance by a roll-to-roll system. In addition, the conveyance part by a roll-to-roll system is set as the structure which performs the process 1 to the process 4 continuously, and you may make it manufacture it without an operator's hand.

<Step 1>
Step 1 is a step of creating a laminate having a composite electrolyte membrane.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the laminate produced in step 1. 2A is a plan view, and FIG. 2B is a longitudinal sectional view. As shown in FIG. 2A, the laminate (hereinafter referred to as “work”) 10 has a strip shape (long shape). The X direction in the figure is the longitudinal direction of the workpiece and is also the direction of conveyance by the roll-to-roll method. The Y direction in the figure is the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. In the present embodiment, the size of the workpiece 10 is, for example, a width (length in the Y direction) of 200 to 400 mm and a length (length in the X direction) of 40 m.

  As shown in FIG.2 (b), the workpiece | work 10 is a laminated body which consists of three layers. The workpiece 10 includes a composite electrolyte membrane 11, a first backsheet 12 bonded to one surface side of the composite electrolyte membrane 11, a second backsheet 13 bonded to the other surface side of the composite electrolyte membrane 11, Is provided.

  The composite electrolyte membrane 11 is the basis of a fuel cell electrolyte membrane to be manufactured, and an electrolyte precursor resin (hereinafter also referred to as “F-type electrolyte resin”) whose side chain terminal group is F-type (in the form of a thin plate) A sheet-like reinforcing membrane is impregnated. The electrolyte precursor resin is, for example, Nafion (trade name) manufactured by DuPont. The reinforcing membrane is obtained by stretching polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) into a multi-material. In the present embodiment, the composite electrolyte membrane 11 has a reinforcing membrane layer in the center of the membrane. The thickness of the composite electrolyte membrane 11 was 5-30 micrometers, for example.

  The first back sheet 12 and the second back sheet 13 are made of the same material, and for example, a fluorine-based film is used. Each of the back sheets 12 and 13 has both adhesiveness that can be adhered to the composite electrolyte membrane 11 and releasability that can be peeled off from the composite electrolyte membrane 11. In the present embodiment, the thickness of each of the back sheets 12 and 13 is, for example, 50 μm.

  The thickness of the composite electrolyte membrane 11 is extremely thin as described above. Therefore, in order to manufacture the composite electrolyte membrane 11 under the roll-to-roll method, it is necessary to attach the back sheets 12 and 13 to the electrolyte precursor resin and the reinforcing membrane, which are the materials of the composite electrolyte membrane 11, respectively. is there. In step 1, an electrolyte precursor resin to which one backsheet 12 is bonded and a reinforcing film to which the other backsheet 13 is bonded are prepared, and the workpiece 10 is created by hot pressing both. The composite electrolyte membrane 11 is a subordinate concept of “thin film” in one embodiment of the present invention described in the “Summary of Invention” section. The first backsheet 12 is a subordinate concept of the “first backsheet” in one embodiment of the present invention. The second backsheet 13 is a subordinate concept of the “second backsheet” in one embodiment of the present invention. The workpiece 10 is a subordinate concept of the “laminate” in one embodiment of the present invention.

<Step 2>
Returning to FIG. 1, step 2 is a step of slitting both end portions in the width direction Y (see FIG. 2A) of the workpiece 10 created in step 1. “Slit” means to cut a long and narrow shape.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the slit portion 30 for performing the step 2. The slit unit 30 includes a transport unit 32, a pair of slitter blades 34 and 35, and a pair of winding rolls 36 and 37.

  The conveyance part 32 is provided with the 1st drive roll 32a and the 2nd drive roll 32b, and conveys the workpiece | work 10 created by the process 1 by a roll-to-roll system. In the figure, X is the transport direction. The first drive roll 32a is disposed on the upstream side of the second drive roll 32b. As shown in FIG. 3A, the workpiece 10 when it reaches the first drive roll 32a is arranged so that the second backsheet 13 side faces downward in the drawing.

  The slitter blades 34 and 35 are disposed so as to face the first drive roll 32 a, and slit both ends in the width direction Y of the workpiece 10 as the workpiece 10 is conveyed. The edge part to slit is an area | region from 1-5 mm inside from an end. Each slitter blade 34 is a flat blade (razor blade). In this embodiment, the slitter blades 34 and 35 are, for example, razor blades of 0.13 to 0.5 mm thickness × 18.5 mm width × 40 mm width. The slitter blades 34 and 35 need not be limited to this size, and can be replaced with other types than the flat blade.

  As shown in FIG. 3 (b), the cutting edges 34a, 35a of the slitter blades 34, 35 are directed from the first back sheet 12 side to the second back sheet 13 side in the work 10, and from the first back sheet 12 side. It is slit to be cut open. As a result, the workpiece 10 is slit in the thickness direction. In addition, since a force is applied to the slit portions in the direction of the blade edges 34a and 35a, the second back sheet 13 side has a convex portion (hereinafter also referred to as “burr portion”) as shown in FIG. Sa is in a state in which the first back sheet 12 side is deformed into the recess Sb.

  Both ends cut off by the slitter blades 34 and 35 are wound up by a pair of winding rolls 36 and 37, respectively. The workpiece 10 (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece 10S) after both ends are removed is conveyed by the second drive roll 32b. The workpiece 10S has both side surfaces arranged to be flush with each other by removing both end portions in the width direction.

<Step 3>
Returning to FIG. 1, Step 3 is a step in which the first backsheet 12 of the first and second backsheets 12, 13 is first peeled from the workpiece 10 </ b> S whose side surface is adjusted in Step 2. Here, the first back sheet 12 on the side opposite to the second back sheet 13 on which the burr part Sa is formed is peeled off. In this step, the second back sheet 13 is not peeled off.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the peeling unit 40 that performs the step 3. The peeling part 40 may be configured to be continuous with the slit part 30 of FIG. 3 or may be a separate structure. As shown in FIG. 4, the peeling unit 40 includes a feeding roll 42, a peeling bar 44, and winding rolls 46 and 48. The feeding roll 42 is obtained by winding the work 10 </ b> S discharged from the slit portion 30 in step 2 around a winding roll. For this reason, the workpiece 10 </ b> S is fed out from the feeding roll 42.

  The peeling bar 44 is provided in the middle of the conveyance path of the workpiece 10S and on the second back sheet 13 side of the workpiece 10S, and has a tapered shape that gradually tapers as it advances in the conveyance direction. The workpiece 10S fed out from the feeding roll 42 advances along the bottom surface of the peeling bar 44, and the second back sheet 13 and the composite electrolyte membrane 11 located on the peeling bar 44 side of the workpiece 10S are folded back from the traveling direction. Winding is performed by one winding roll 46 along the slope of the peeling bar 44. As a result, the first back sheet 12 on the side opposite to the peeling bar 44 is peeled from the workpiece 10S. The leading portion of the workpiece 10S (hereinafter referred to as the workpiece 10P) after the first back sheet 12 is peeled off is stuck by being gripped by the winding roll 46, and is wound by the rotation of the winding roll 46. Taken. The first back sheet 12 is taken up by the other take-up roll 48.

  The workpiece 10 </ b> P after the first back sheet 12 is peeled is wound around the winding roll 46 as described above in a state where the second back sheet 13 is bonded to the composite electrolyte membrane 11. At this time, the workpiece 10P is wound so that the composite electrolyte membrane 11 side is on the inside.

  In the present embodiment, the peeling condition by the peeling unit 40 is such that the conveyance tension is 5 to 30 N, and the peeling strength between the composite electrolyte membrane 11 and the first backsheet 12 is 10 N / m or more, for example, 30 N / m.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a state of winding the workpiece 10P around the winding roll 46. FIG. As shown in FIG. 5A, the workpiece 10 </ b> P is wound so that the composite electrolyte membrane 11 side faces the core tube 46 a of the winding roll 46. When the workpiece 10 is slit, the concave portion Sb is formed on the composite electrolyte membrane 11 side and the burr portion Sa is formed on the second back sheet 13 side as described above with reference to FIG. However, as shown in FIG. 5B, when wound a plurality of times, the burr portion Sa of the lower winding portion overlaps the concave portion Sb of the upper winding portion in the drawing. For this reason, even if the ticket is turned many times, as shown in FIG.

<Step 4>
Returning to FIG. 1, in step 4, a conventionally known hydrolysis process is performed on the workpiece 10 </ b> P wound up on the winding roll 46 in step 3. By this hydrolysis treatment, the F-type electrolyte resin contained in the workpiece 10P has proton conductivity. As a result of the processing up to step 4, a reinforced electrolyte membrane to which the second back sheet 13 is attached is obtained. The second back sheet 13 is peeled off in a later process when manufacturing the fuel cell.

B. Effects of the embodiment:
As described above in detail, according to the method for manufacturing an electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell of the present embodiment, in step 2, a work that is a joined body of the composite electrolyte membrane 11 and the first and second backsheets 12 and 13. When slitting the end portion in the width direction 10, the slit is performed so as to be cut open from the first backsheet 12 side. In the subsequent step 3, the first back sheet 12 is peeled from the work 10S after being slit. According to this method for manufacturing an electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell, as described above with reference to FIG. 3B, when slitted, the surface of the workpiece 10S on the second back sheet 13 side protrudes and the burr part Sa is formed. It is formed. However, since the burr part Sa is pulled in the direction opposite to the projecting direction by the subsequent peeling of the first back sheet 12, the height of the burr part Sa becomes low. Therefore, curling of the end portion in the width direction of the workpiece 10P is suppressed, and as a result, conveyance failure can be suppressed.

  Further, according to the method for manufacturing the electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell of the present embodiment, when the workpiece 10P after being peeled is wound around the winding roll 46 many times, the burr part Sa overlaps the concave part Sb, Occurrence of the ear standing at the end of the roll can be suppressed.

C. Comparison with comparative examples:
In order to show how superior the manufacturing method of the electrolyte membrane for fuel cells of this embodiment is, the difference between the manufacturing method of this embodiment and the manufacturing method of the comparative example, and the manufacturing method of this embodiment will be described below. The difference between the reinforced electrolyte membrane and the reinforced electrolyte membrane manufactured by the manufacturing method of the comparative example will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a table showing a comparison between the manufacturing method of the present embodiment and the manufacturing method of the comparative example. The manufacturing method of the comparative example is different from the manufacturing method of the present embodiment only in the content of peeling in step 3, and the content of steps 1, 2, and 4 is the same. In step 3 of the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, as described above, in step 2 (slit step), the first back sheet 12 that is the side opposite to the side of the slitter blades 34 and 35 facing the cutting edges 34a and 35a is peeled off. It was configured as follows. On the other hand, in the comparative example, the second back sheet 13 which is the side of the slitter blades 34 and 35 facing the blade edges 34a and 35a in the step 2 (slit step) is configured to be peeled off. The peel strength between the composite electrolyte membrane 11 and the back sheet 12 (or 13) was set to 30 N / m in both the present embodiment and the comparative example.

  As described above, the height of the burr portion Sa in the slit portion after peeling was as low as 5 μm in the present embodiment. On the other hand, in the comparative example, it was 10 μm. In the comparative example, after the slit, the second back sheet 13 which is the side where the burr part Sa is formed when the slit is formed is peeled off, so that the burr part Sa is pulled to the protruding direction side by peeling, and the burr part Sa. This is because it stands out.

  In the case of this embodiment, there is no ear standing generated at the end when the core tube is a 3-inch tube and a 40 m workpiece 10 is wound around the core tube as described above with reference to FIG. = 0 mm). On the other hand, in the comparative example, the height of the ear stand was 1.1 mm. This is because, in the comparative example, the height of the burr part Sa is high as described above.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of an earing generated in the manufacturing method of the comparative example. As shown in FIG. 7 (a), immediately after being slit, a burr portion Sa is formed as shown by a broken line in the figure. By peeling off the second back sheet 13, this burr portion Sa growing. As shown in FIG. 7B, the workpiece 10Q of this comparative example is wound so that the composite electrolyte membrane 11 side faces the core tube 46a. In the workpiece 10Q, the depth of the concave portion Sd formed on the second back sheet 13 side is, for example, 5 μm, whereas the height of the burr portion (convex portion) Sc formed on the composite electrolyte membrane 11 side is For example, it is 10 μm, which is longer than the depth of the recess Sd. For this reason, as shown in FIG.7 (c), when it winds in multiple times, the burr | flash part Sa cannot fully overlap with the recessed part Sd. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7 (d), a phenomenon called “earing” occurs at the roll end when the ticket is turned many times. That is, “ear standing” is a phenomenon in which the burr portion Sa is pulled in the protruding direction side by peeling, the end portion becomes thicker, and jumps in the radial direction of the roll when the bill is wound, which occurs in the comparative example.

  FIG. 8 is a graph showing the height of the ear stand with respect to the number of turns of the workpiece 10Q. In the case of the comparative example, when the number of turns exceeds 200, the height of the ear stand becomes 1.0 mm or more, and the workpiece 10Q becomes NG. The difference between the burr part Sc and the concave part Sd is 10 μm−5 μm and becomes 5 μm, but when 5 μm is multiplied by 200 which is the number of windings, it becomes 1 mm. From this, it can be seen that the reason for the occurrence of the earing described in FIG. 7 is correct. When the core tube is a 3-inch tube, the number of turns of 200 corresponds to the case of 40 m.

  In the manufacturing method of the fuel cell electrolyte membrane of the present embodiment, the difference between the burr part Sc and the concave part Sd is smaller than that in the comparative example, and as described above, the occurrence of the ear standing at the roll end part can be suppressed. .

D. Variations:
・ Modification 1:
In the above-described embodiment, the porous reinforcing membrane is PTFE. However, instead of this, other porous polymer resins such as polymer PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), and polyimide may be used.
Modification 2
In the above embodiment, an electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell, particularly a reinforced electrolyte membrane, is manufactured. Alternatively, a single membrane of an electrolyte without a reinforcing membrane may be used. Moreover, it is not necessary to limit to an electrolyte membrane, and any structure may be used as long as it is a thin film.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and can be realized with various configurations without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, the technical features in the embodiments and the modifications corresponding to the technical features in each embodiment described in the summary section of the invention are to solve some or all of the above-described problems, or In order to achieve part or all of the effects, replacement or combination can be performed as appropriate. Moreover, elements other than the elements described in the independent claims among the constituent elements in the above-described embodiments and modifications are additional elements and can be omitted as appropriate.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 10S, 10P ... Work 11 ... Composite electrolyte membrane 12 ... 1st back sheet 13 ... 2nd back sheet 30 ... Slit part 32 ... Conveyance part 32a ... 1st drive roll 32b ... 2nd drive roll 34, 35 ... Slitter blade 34a, 35a ... Cutting edge 36, 37 ... Roll 40 ... Peeling part 42 ... Feeding roll 44 ... Peeling bar 46 ... Winding roll 46a ... Core tube 48 ... Winding roll Sa ... Burr part (convex part)
Sb ... recess

Claims (4)

A method of manufacturing a thin film,
A belt-shaped laminate sheet having at least a thin film, a first back sheet disposed on one surface side of the thin film, and a second back sheet disposed on the other surface side of the thin film is conveyed. Conveying process;
A step of cutting an end portion in the width direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the laminate during the transport by the transport step, the cutting step performing the cutting so as to be cut open from the first backsheet side; ,
In the course of conveyance by the conveyance step, a peeling step of first peeling the first backsheet of the first and second backsheets from the laminate after the cutting is performed,
A method for producing a thin film comprising: It is a manufacturing method of the thin film according to claim 1,
The manufacturing method of a thin film provided with the winding-up process of winding up the said laminated body after the said peeling was performed to a roll. It is a manufacturing method of the thin film of Claim 1 or Claim 2, Comprising:
The thin film is a composite electrolyte membrane obtained by impregnating a reinforcing membrane with an electrolyte resin.
Thin film manufacturing method. An apparatus for manufacturing a thin film,
A belt-shaped laminate sheet having at least a thin film, a first back sheet disposed on one surface side of the thin film, and a second back sheet disposed on the other surface side of the thin film is conveyed. A transport section;
A structure that cuts an end portion in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the laminate in the middle of conveyance by the conveyance unit, the cutting unit performing the cutting so as to be cut open from the first back sheet side; ,
In the middle of conveyance by the conveyance unit, a peeling unit that first peels the first backsheet of the first and second backsheets from the laminate after the cutting is performed,
A thin film manufacturing apparatus comprising:

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