JP2020138176A - Application device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an application device that can apply coating liquid to a lengthy film accurately to dry the liquid while continuously conveying the film by roll-to-roll.SOLUTION: The application device comprises: a feeding roll 2, around which a belt-like base material W is wound, and which feeds out the base material W by rotating; a winding roll 3 that winds up the base material W fed out from the feeding roll 2 by rotating; an applying part 10, positioned between the feeding roll 2 and the winding roll 3 on a conveyance passage of the base material W, which fixes the base material W and applies coating liquid to the base material W; a drying part 20, positioned between the applying part 10 and the winding roll 3 on the conveyance passage of the base material W, which dries the coating liquid on the base material W being conveyed at constant speed; and a first buffer part 30, positioned between the applying part 10 and the drying part 20 on the conveyance passage of the base material W, and which maintains the base material W in a folded-back state.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a coating device that continuously applies a coating liquid to a long film conveyed by roll-to-roll to form a circuit pattern with high accuracy.

Conventionally, technologies such as sputtering, CVD, and photolithography have been known for forming circuit patterns, but in recent years, circuit patterns using various printing technologies have been used to contribute to low cost, energy saving, and resource saving. Forming technology (printed electronics) is attracting attention. Among them, after the metal ink is dropped from the inkjet nozzle to the base material to form a circuit pattern, the insulating layer is dropped from the inkjet nozzle to the base material, and the metal ink is further dropped from the inkjet nozzle to the base material to form a circuit. A technique for forming a multi-layered circuit pattern by forming a pattern has been developed.

Further, in order to apply the coating liquid to the long film, it is often practiced to continuously apply the long film by roll-to-roll transfer from the viewpoint of production efficiency.

Patent Document 1 describes a manufacturing apparatus that continuously performs coating and drying on a film conveyed by roll-to-roll.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-030682

However, the manufacturing apparatus having the configuration of Patent Document 1 has a problem that a circuit pattern cannot be formed on the film with high position accuracy when the film is meandered by roll-to-roll transfer. Here, if the film is stopped and the coating unit is moved to perform the coating, that is, the so-called intermittent transfer, the time spent in the drying unit differs depending on the position of the film. As a result, uneven drying may occur. In addition, the film may be deformed due to thermal elongation at the front and rear boundary portions of the drying unit.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a coating device capable of accurately applying a coating liquid to a long film and drying it while continuously transporting it in a roll-to-roll manner.

In order to solve the above problems, in the coating apparatus of the present invention, a strip-shaped base material is wound around, and a feeding roll that feeds out the base material by rotating and a base material that is fed out from the feeding roll by rotating. The take-up roll that winds up the base material, the coating portion that is located between the delivery roll and the take-up roll in the transport path of the base material, fixes the base material, and applies the coating liquid to the base material, and the base material. A drying portion located between the coating portion and the take-up roll in the transport route to dry the coating liquid on the base material transported at a constant speed, and the coating portion and the drying in the transport route of the base material. It is characterized by including a first buffer portion, which is located between the portions and maintains a state in which the base material is folded back.

According to the coating apparatus of the present invention, the coating portion can apply the coating liquid to the base material with high accuracy by fixing the base material and applying the coating liquid to the base material, and at the same time, it has a first buffer portion. As a result, the coating liquid can be dried in the dried portion without stopping the transportation of the base material, so that uneven drying and deformation of the film due to heat can be prevented.

Further, the first buffer portion may have a bottom surface portion and a side wall portion forming a base material holding space, which is a space for holding the base material, and a decompression means for reducing the pressure in the base material holding space.

By doing so, it is possible to maintain the state in which the base material is folded back without flapping the base material.

Further, the drying portion has a drying furnace for drying the coating liquid on the base material and drive rolls provided on the immediate upstream side and the immediate downstream side of the drying furnace in the transfer path of the base material. May block the tension of the base material on the upstream side and the downstream side of the portion where the drive roll comes into contact with the base material.

By doing so, it is possible to keep the base material in a bent state in the drying furnace and prevent the base material from stretching due to heating.

The drying unit may have a sensor provided between the drying furnace and the driving roll to measure or detect the deflection of the base material.

By doing so, the deflection of the appropriate base material can be maintained.

Further, it is preferable that a second buffer portion for maintaining the folded state of the base material is provided between the delivery roll and the coating portion.

By doing so, the base material can be stably delivered from the unwinding roll even under the condition that the transport speed of the base material is high.

Further, the coating portion has a grip feeder that sandwiches the end portion of the base material in the lateral direction and pulls and moves the base material, and the moving speed of the grip feeder is the feeding speed of the base material by the feeding roll. And it is preferable that the speed is faster than the winding speed of the base material by the winding roll.

By doing so, the base material can be transported quickly and with high accuracy, and the time required for transport in the entire coating process can be relatively shortened.

With the coating apparatus of the present invention, the coating liquid can be accurately applied to a long film and dried while being continuously conveyed by roll-to-roll.

It is a figure explaining the coating apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows the movement during the coating operation of the coating apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows the movement at the time of interruption of the coating operation of the coating apparatus in this invention. It is a figure explaining the coating apparatus of another embodiment in this invention.

The coating apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The coating device 1 transports the strip-shaped base material W in one direction by a roll-to-roll method and prints a TFT circuit pattern or the like on the base material W. The feeding roll 2, the coating unit 10, the drying unit 20, It has a take-up roll 3, and these are arranged side by side in the transport path of the base material W in this order. In this coating device 1, the base material W sent out from the sending roll 2 is taken up by the take-up roll 3 and conveyed. Then, the base material W sent out from the sending roll 2 is coated with the coating liquid in the coating portion 10 and dried by the drying portion 20 before being wound up by the take-up roll 3. As a result, it is possible to obtain a base material W on which a predetermined circuit pattern is printed.

Further, in the present embodiment, a buffer portion 30 is arranged between the coating portion 10 and the drying portion 20 in the transport path of the base material W, and a buffer is provided between the feeding roll 2 and the coating portion 10. The portion 40 is arranged, and the folded back of the base material W is formed and maintained in the buffer portion 30 and the buffer portion 40.

In this description, the vertical direction is called the Z-axis direction, the width direction of the base material W is called the Y-axis direction among the horizontal directions, and the direction orthogonal to the Y-axis direction in the horizontal direction, that is, the transport direction of the base material W is X. Called the axial direction.

The delivery roll 2 is for supplying the base material W to the downstream side. The rotation of the delivery roll 2 is driven and controlled by a control device (not shown), so that the base material W can be delivered at a predetermined speed.

Here, the base material W is a work formed in a band shape, and for example, a transparent PET film or the like is used.

The take-up roll 3 winds up the supplied base material W. Similar to the delivery roll 2, the take-up roll 3 can take up the base material W by driving and controlling the rotation by a control device (not shown).

The coating unit 10 is located on the transport path of the base material W by the feeding roll 2 and the winding roll 3, and coats the base material W with the coating liquid. In the present embodiment, the coating liquid has a predetermined pattern by the inkjet method. A predetermined coating pattern is formed on the upper surface (coating surface) of the base material W by ejecting droplets of the coating liquid according to the shape (for example, the shape of the TFT circuit pattern).

The coating unit 10 includes a suction stage 11, a coating head 12, an imaging unit 13, and a grip feeder 14.

The suction stage 11 sucks and fixes the base material W, and the surface facing the base material W is substantially flat and has openings of a plurality of suction holes. This suction hole is connected to a decompression means (not shown) such as a vacuum pump. By operating this decompression means, gas is sucked from the suction holes, and the base material W is adsorbed and fixed.

Further, rolls (called lift-up rolls) immediately upstream and immediately downstream of the suction stage 11 are attached to moving means in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) (not shown), and the base material W is attached to the coating portion 10. During the transportation, the lift-up roll is raised by this moving means to separate the base material W from the adsorption stage 11, and interference with the base material W to be transported is prevented.

The coating head 12 discharges the coating liquid by an inkjet method, and the surface facing the base material W is substantially flat and has openings of a plurality of discharge holes. The discharge holes are connected to a tank (not shown) in which the coating liquid is stored via a pipe, and each discharge hole is filled with the coating liquid.

Further, each discharge hole is provided with a drive partition wall composed of a piezo actuator, and the drive partition wall is operated by a command from a control unit (not shown) to discharge droplets from the opening of the discharge hole.

Further, the plurality of discharge holes are linearly arranged at equal intervals. Further, the coating head 12 is attached to a rotating means whose rotation axis is in the Z-axis direction, and the coating head 12 is rotated by this rotating means, and a plurality of discharge holes in the width direction (Y-axis direction) of the base material W are formed. By adjusting the inclination of the discharge holes in the arrangement direction, the distance between the discharge holes in the Y-axis direction is adjusted.

Here, the coating head 12 is attached to a scanning direction moving means (not shown) that moves the coating head 12 in the long direction (X-axis direction in the coating portion 10) of the base material W.

In this description, the movement of the coating head 12 in the X-axis direction by the scanning direction moving means during the coating operation is referred to as "scanning".

The coating head 12 scans above the base material W fixed by the suction stage 11 while ejecting droplets, so that the dimension in the X-axis direction is the moving distance (called the scanning distance) of the coating head 12 due to this scanning. A coating pattern is formed on the base material W, which is equivalent to the Y-axis direction and the Y-axis direction dimension of the region where the plurality of discharge holes are arranged.

Further, in the present embodiment, the coating head 12 is attached to a shift direction moving means (not shown) that moves the coating head 12 in the width direction (Y-axis direction) of the base material W. After the coating head 12 performs a series of coating operations while scanning, the coating head 12 moves in the Y-axis direction by the shift direction moving means, and then the coating head 12 performs a series of coating operations while scanning again. In this description, the movement of the coating head 12 in the Y-axis direction after performing a series of coating operations is referred to as "shifting". The coating liquid is not discharged from the coating head 12 during the shift operation.

By repeating scanning and shifting in this way, a coating pattern having a dimension in the Y-axis direction exceeding the dimension in the Y-axis direction of the region where a plurality of discharge holes are arranged is formed on the coating surface of the base material W. ..

The image pickup unit 13 is one or more CCD cameras in the present embodiment, and is attached to a moving means (not shown) that moves the image pickup unit 13 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

The imaging unit 13 images a characteristic mark (alignment mark) formed on the coated surface of the base material W fixed by the adsorption stage 11, and a control unit (not shown) analyzes the coordinates of the alignment mark. For example, the control unit can grasp the position of the base material W by analyzing the coordinates of the four alignment marks on the base material W fixed by the adsorption stage 11.

The base material W transported by roll-to-roll is not always accurately conveyed in a predetermined direction, and is conveyed with not a little meandering. Therefore, when the base material W is fixed by the adsorption stage 11, it may be fixed by shifting from a predetermined position, but the coordinates of the alignment mark are analyzed based on the imaging result by the imaging unit 13. , It is possible to grasp the deviation of the fixed position of the base material W.

Then, before the coating head 12 applies the coating liquid, the deviation of the fixed position of the base material W is grasped and reflected in the coating operation such that the coating coordinates are corrected, so that the base material W meanders. Even if this is done, a coating pattern is formed on the coating surface of the base material W with high positional accuracy.

The grip feeder 14 has an upper member that comes into contact with the coating surface side of the base material W and a lower member that comes into contact with the lower surface side, and both the upper member and the lower member come into contact with the base material W at the same time. It sandwiches the base material W.

The region of the base material W sandwiched by the grip feeder 14 is the end portion of the base material W in the width direction (short direction) and is a range in which the coating pattern does not exist, and the grip feeder 14 destroys the coating pattern. There is nothing to do.

Further, the grip feeder 14 has a moving means (not shown) for moving both members in the X-axis direction, and both members move in the X-axis direction while sandwiching the end portion of the base material W in the lateral direction. By doing so, the base material W can be pulled and moved. By making the moving distance of both members at this time equal to the scanning distance of the coating head 12, the base material W can be advanced by exactly one coating pattern, and the coating pattern formed by the front-back coating operation can be obtained. It can be formed so that there are no gaps or overlaps. Further, by providing such a grip feeder 14, the base material W can be accurately conveyed at once in the coating portion 10.

The drying portion 20 is located downstream of the coating portion 10 in the transport path of the base material W, and heats and dries the coating pattern on the base material W with hot air. The drying furnace 21, the drive roll 22, and the drive roll are used. 23, and a sensor 24.

The drying furnace 21 is a box-shaped device having a space through which the base material W passes and having openings serving as inlets and outlets for the base material W. A coating surface on which a coating pattern of the substrate W is formed is provided with a plurality of ventilation holes for blowing hot air on the surface forming the internal space of the drying furnace 21 and facing the upper surface of the substrate W. On the other hand, hot air is blown as shown by an arrow in FIG. As a result, volatilization of the solvent in the coating pattern is promoted, and the coating pattern dries and hardens.

Here, in order to prevent uneven drying by the drying furnace 21 and deformation of the film due to heat over the long direction of the base material W, the base material W is conveyed in the drying furnace 21 at a constant speed. As a result, the time during which the hot air hits the entire base material W becomes uniform.

In the present embodiment, the drying furnace 21 applies hot air to the base material W, but when the base material W flutters due to the hot air, it is a drying means for irradiating the base material W with infrared rays instead of the hot air. You may.

The drive roll 22 and the drive roll 23 are roll bodies that rotate by a drive source (not shown), and hold the base material W with a free roll that comes into contact with the coated surface of the base material W and supports the base material W from below. As a result, the tension of the base material W can be cut off at the upstream side and the downstream side of the portion where the drive roll 22 comes into contact with the base material W in the transport path of the base material W, and the upstream side and the downstream side of the drive roll 22 can be cut off. The tension of the base material W can be controlled independently with and. Similarly, the tension of the base material W can be cut off at the upstream side and the downstream side of the portion where the drive roll 23 comes into contact with the base material W, and the tension of the base material W can be cut off at the upstream side and the downstream side of the drive roll 23. The tension can be controlled independently.

The drive roll 22 is provided immediately upstream of the drying furnace 21 in the transfer path of the base material W, and the drive roll 23 is provided immediately downstream of the drying furnace 21 in the transfer path of the base material W. The transport speed and tension of the base material W in the drying furnace 21 depend on the rotation speeds of the drive roll 22 and the drive roll 23.

The region where the drive roll 22 comes into contact with the coating surface of the base material W in the Y-axis direction is a portion where the coating pattern is not formed at both ends of the base material W in the Y-axis direction, and the drive roll 22 has a coating pattern. Will not destroy.

Further, when the drive roll 23 comes into contact with the coating surface of the base material W, since the coating pattern has been cured by the drying furnace 21, the drive roll 23 may come into contact with the entire base material W in the Y-axis direction. I do not care. Further, similarly to the drive roll 22, the contact may be made only with the portion of the base material W where the coating pattern is not formed at both ends in the Y-axis direction.

In the present embodiment, the sensor 24 is a so-called reflection sensor that emits light toward the object to be measured and receives the light reflected by the object to be measured, and is a so-called reflection sensor in the vicinity of the inlet and the outlet of the drying furnace 21, that is, the drying furnace 21. The height (position in the Z-axis direction) of the base material W is measured between the drive roll 22 and the drying furnace 21 and the drive roll 23.

When the base material W is heated in a stretched state (excessive tension is applied), the base material W is deformed so as to stretch. Therefore, in the drying furnace 21, the base material W is conveyed in a slightly bent state as shown in FIG. Therefore, by measuring the height of the base material W with the sensor 24, the deflection of the base material W in the drying furnace 21 is estimated, and the result is fed back to the rotational operation of the drive roll 22 and the drive roll 23. .. If the base material W is stretched or excessively bent and the amount of deflection of the base material W deviates from a predetermined range, the rotation speeds of the drive roll 22 and the drive roll 23 are adjusted by a control unit (not shown). It is returned to a moderate amount of deflection.

The buffer portion 30 is a device located between the coating portion 10 and the drying portion 20 in the transport path of the base material W, and causes the base material W to form a fold. In this description, the buffer portion 30 located between the coating portion 10 and the drying portion 20 is referred to as a first buffer portion.

In the present embodiment, the buffer portion 30 is a box body having an opening at the upper side, and has a bottom surface portion 31 and a side wall portion 32. The base material W is housed so as to form a fold in the space formed by the bottom surface portion 31 and the side wall portion 32. The space formed by the bottom surface portion 31 and the side wall portion 32 is referred to as a base material holding space.

The bottom surface portion 31 has a plurality of suction holes and is connected to a decompression means (not shown) such as a vacuum pump. By operating this depressurizing means, gas is sucked from the suction holes as shown by the arrows in FIG. 1, and the base material holding space is depressurized.

By reducing the pressure in the base material holding space while the base material W is accommodated in the base material holding space, folding is formed and maintained while tension is applied to the base material W. That is, by applying an appropriate tension to the base material W, the base material W can be stably run without bending.

The tension applied to the base material W can be adjusted by adjusting the suction force of the decompression means.

Here, among the side wall portions 32, a plurality of air ejection holes and a plurality of air suction holes are formed in the side wall portion 32 facing the surface of the housed base material W, and air is ejected from the air ejection holes. Also, it may be configured so that air is sucked from the air suction hole. By doing so, a predetermined gap can be provided between the base material W and the side wall portion 32 to separate them, and the base material W can be prevented from coming into contact with the buffer portion 30. Further, it is possible to prevent the base material W from fluttering in the buffer portion 30.

The buffer portion 40 is a device located between the delivery roll 2 and the coating portion 10 in the transport path of the base material W, and causes the base material W to form a fold. In this description, the buffer unit 40 located between the feeding roll 2 and the coating unit 10 is referred to as a second buffer unit.

Like the buffer portion 30, the buffer portion 40 is a box body having an opening at the upper side, a base material holding space is formed by the bottom surface portion 41 and the side wall portion 42, and the base material W is folded back in the base material holding space. Is housed to form.

The bottom surface portion 41 has a plurality of suction holes and is connected to a decompression means (not shown) such as a vacuum pump. By operating this depressurizing means, gas is sucked from the suction holes as shown by the arrows in FIG. 1, and the base material holding space is depressurized.

By reducing the pressure in the base material holding space while the base material W is accommodated in the base material holding space, folding is formed and maintained while tension is applied to the base material W. That is, by applying an appropriate tension to the base material W, the base material W can be stably run without bending.

The operation of the coating device 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In particular, paying attention to the movement of the base material W, the portion where the base material W is moving is indicated by a thick line.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the movement of the coating device 1 during the coating operation.

During the coating operation, the lift-up roll of the coating portion 10 is lowered, and the coating head 12 scans while the suction stage 11 sucks and fixes the base material W to discharge the liquid drops 15 according to the shape of a predetermined pattern. A coating pattern is formed on the coating surface of the base material W. At this time, the upper member and the lower member of the grip feeder 14 are separated from the base material W.

By the adsorption stage 11 adsorbing and fixing the base material W in this way and the coating head 12 performing coating while moving, the coating pattern can be formed with high position accuracy as described above, but the coating operation is performed. During this period, the base material W does not move in the coating portion 10. On the other hand, in the drying section 20, the drive roll 22, the drive roll 23, and the take-up roll 3 are rotationally driven to prevent the film from being deformed due to uneven drying and heat, and the base material W continues to be conveyed at a constant speed. ..

Here, in the present invention, in order to simultaneously stop the transfer of the base material W in the coating unit 10 and continuously transfer the base material W in the drying unit 20, a buffer unit 30 is provided between the coating unit 10 and the drying unit 20. It is provided. As a result, while the transfer of the base material W is stopped at the coating unit 10, the base material W is pulled out from the buffer unit 30 while reducing (consuming) the accommodating length of the base material W in the buffer unit 30. , The transport of the base material W in the drying portion 20 can be continued.

Therefore, the length of the base material W forming the folds in the buffer portion 30 at the time when the adsorption stage 11 starts adsorbing the base material W in order to carry out the coating is such that at least the adsorption stage 11 is the base material W. It is necessary to be equivalent to the distance that the base material W travels in the drying portion 20 from the start of adsorption to the release of adsorption. However, preferably, in consideration of the fact that there is some problem in the coating operation and the time for adsorbing and fixing the base material W may be prolonged, the suction stage 11 starts adsorbing the base material W in the buffer unit 30. The length of the base material W forming the folds may be longer than the distance that the base material W advances in the drying portion 20 between the time when the adsorption stage 11 starts adsorbing the base material W and the time when the adsorption is released. preferable.

Further, in the present embodiment, the buffer portion 40 is provided between the feed roll 2 and the coating portion 10, and the feed roll 2 is a take-up roll even while the transfer of the base material W is stopped in the coating portion 10. The base material W is fed out at a delivery speed equivalent to the winding speed of No. 3, and during that time, the accommodation length of the base material W in the buffer portion 40 continues to increase.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the movement of the coating device 1 when the formation of a series of coating patterns is completed and the coating operation is interrupted.

At this time, in the coating portion 10, the adsorption stage 11 releases the adsorption of the base material W and is separated from the base material W. Then, the grip feeder 14 sandwiches the base material W and moves in the X-axis direction so that the region on the base material W that next forms the coating pattern is located directly above the suction stage 11. The base material W in 10 is moved.

Here, the moving speed of the base material W by the grip feeder 14 is faster than the sending speed of the base material W by the feeding roll 2 and the winding speed of the base material by the take-up roll 3, so that the base material is faster and more accurate. It can be conveyed well, the time required for transportation in the entire coating process can be relatively shortened, and at the same time, the base material W can be replenished in the buffer portion 30 to increase the accommodation length.

On the other hand, since the base material W is pulled out from the buffer portion 40, the accommodation length is shortened, but as long as the base material W is folded back in the buffer portion 40, an excessive load is not applied to the delivery roll 2. On the other hand, if there is no buffer portion 40 between the feed roll 2 and the coating portion 10, the feed roll 2 is a free roll having no power, and the base material W is fed by the amount that the grip feeder 14 moves. It is a so-called stop-and-go form in which it is pulled out from the roll 2, but in the case of high-speed transportation such as 30 m / min, inertial force acts when the base material W is pulled out from the feed roll 2 to stop. The accuracy of the & go operation may deteriorate. Therefore, it is preferable that the buffer unit 40 is provided as in the present embodiment.

Next, the coating device 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a liquid receiving portion 16 is provided. For example, in order to prevent clogging of the coating liquid in the discharge hole of the coating head 12, the coating head 12 moves above the liquid receiving portion 16. In order to prevent the coating liquid from drying, solidifying, and clogging at the discharge holes, so-called flushing is performed, in which droplets are continuously discharged.

Here, when flushing is performed during the formation of the coating pattern, it is necessary to restart the formation of the coating pattern from the portion where the formation of the coating pattern is interrupted after the flushing, so that the base material W is used in the coating portion 10. It cannot be transported. On the other hand, since the buffer portion 30 is provided as in the present invention, the transport of the base material W in the coating portion 10 can be stopped and the transport of the base material W in the drying portion 20 can be continued.

With the above coating device, it is possible to accurately apply the coating liquid to the long film and dry it while continuously transporting it in a roll-to-roll manner.

Here, the coating apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the form described above, and may be another form within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above description, gas suction in the adsorption stage 11 is performed as a means for fixing the base material W in the coating portion 10, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other fixing means may be adopted. For example, electrostatic adsorption may be used in which the base material W is adsorbed and fixed by static electricity.

Further, the one-time movement distance of the grip feeder 14 may be shorter than the scanning distance of the coating head 12, and may be 1 / n (n is an integer of 2 or more) of the scanning distance. In this case, the grip feeder 14 continuously moves the base material W n times, so that the base material W can be moved by the scanning distance.

Further, the mechanism for transporting the base material W in the coating portion may be other than the grip feeder 14. For example, a mechanism may be used in which the base material W is gripped by a suction roll that adsorbs the base material W, and the base material W is sent out by rotationally driving the suction roll. Further, the mechanism may be such that the base material W is sandwiched between the drive roll nip roll and the base material W is sent out by rotationally driving the drive roll.

Further, when the coating pattern is composed of, for example, a coating liquid that is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet rays, the drying furnace 21 does not blow out hot air, but is a device that irradiates the coating surface of the base material W with ultraviolet rays.

Further, in the above description, the drive roll 22 and the drive roll 23 are so-called nip rolls in which the base material W is sandwiched between the free rolls that support the base material W from below, but the base material W is not limited to this. The suction roll to be adsorbed may be brought into contact with the lower surface of the base material W. By abutting with the lower surface of the base material W, it is possible to abut with the entire base material W in the Y-axis direction without worrying about destroying the coating pattern. Further, the drive roll 22 may be a nip roll, the drive roll 23 may be a suction roll, and so on, which may be a combination of a nip roll and a suction roll.

Further, in the above description, the buffer unit 30 and the buffer unit 40 are so-called air dancers that maintain the folding back of the base material W by decompression, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the dancer roll is brought into contact with the base material W to form a base. It may form a fold back of the material W. In this case, in particular, the dancer roll used for the buffer portion 30 between the coating portion 10 and the drying portion 20 abuts only on both ends of the base material W in the Y-axis direction so as not to contact the coating pattern. Must be a dancer roll.

Further, the sensor 24 is a set of sensors in which the issuing portion and the light receiving portion are arranged side by side in the Y-axis direction with the base material W interposed therebetween, and can detect that the amount of deflection of the film is within a predetermined range. You may.

1 Coating device 2 Feeding roll 3 Winding roll 10 Coating part 11 Adsorption stage 12 Coating head 13 Imaging part 14 Grip feeder 15 Droplet 16 Liquid receiving part 20 Drying part 21 Drying furnace 22 Drive roll 23 Drive roll 24 Sensor 30 Buffer part 31 Bottom part 32 Side wall part 40 Buffer part 41 Bottom part 42 Side wall part
W base material

Claims (6)

A strip-shaped base material is wound around it, and a delivery roll that sends out the base material by rotating,
A take-up roll that winds up the base material fed from the delivery roll by rotating,
A coating portion located between the delivery roll and the take-up roll in the transfer path of the base material, fixing the base material and applying the coating liquid to the base material.
A drying portion located between the coating portion and the take-up roll in the transport path of the base material and drying the coating liquid on the base material transported at a constant speed.
A first buffer portion located between the coating portion and the drying portion in the transport path of the base material and maintaining a folded state of the base material,
A coating device comprising. The first buffer portion is characterized by having a bottom surface portion and a side wall portion forming a base material holding space, which is a space for holding a base material, and a decompression means for reducing the pressure of the base material holding space. The coating device according to. The drying portion has a drying furnace for drying the coating liquid on the base material, and drive rolls provided immediately upstream and immediately downstream of the drying furnace in the transfer path of the base material. The coating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tension of the base material is cut off at the upstream side and the downstream side of the portion where the drive roll comes into contact with the base material. .. The coating device according to claim 3, wherein the drying unit has a sensor provided between the drying furnace and the driving roll to measure or detect the deflection of the base material. The coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a second buffer portion for maintaining a folded state of the base material is provided between the delivery roll and the coating portion. .. The coating portion has a grip feeder that sandwiches an end portion of the base material in the lateral direction and pulls and moves the base material, and the moving speed of the grip feeder is the feeding speed of the base material by the feeding roll and the said. The coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the speed is faster than the winding speed of the base material by the take-up roll.

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