JP6261127B2 - Inlet manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an inlet of a non-contact IC card, a manufacturing method thereof, and a non-contact IC card.

  This type of inlet is composed of an IC chip and an antenna, and a base sheet carrying both of them, and a cover sheet is laminated and fixed on the upper and lower surfaces of the inlet to form an IC card. As the base sheet, paper, non-woven fabric, plastic film, or a laminate thereof is used depending on the purpose of use of the IC card, and the IC chip and the antenna are adhered, welded, embedded, Alternatively, they are integrated by sandwiching and fixing between a plurality of sheets. For example, the present applicant arranges an IC chip and an antenna between two non-woven fabrics (base sheets) having self-compression bonding, and pressurizes these members while heating them with a pair of upper and lower molds to form an IC module (inlet). (Patent Document 1).

  As the inlet antenna, a wire type antenna made of a metal wire having a wire diameter of 20 to 100 μm and an etching type antenna formed by etching a copper sheet are well known. Patent Document 2 relating to the proposal of the present applicant is known regarding the construction of an IC module by fixing an IC chip on a nonwoven fabric. There, a wire is wound around a group of needles arranged at the four corners of the needle holding plate to form a three-dimensional spiral pattern, the needle holding plate and a heater are brought close to each other, and the spiral pattern is planarized. Each of the winding start end and winding end is connected to the IC chip, and at the same time, the nonwoven fabric is heated and pressed against the antenna and the IC chip to integrate these three components. The present applicant is still operating a manufacturing apparatus for performing such a series of operations.

JP 2001-331776 A (paragraph number 0048, FIG. 10) JP 2002-342730 A (paragraph number 0086, FIG. 17)

  Since the inlet of Patent Document 1 uses a nonwoven fabric as a base sheet, it is easy to bend, and of course, it can be used as an inlet for a normal non-contact IC card as well as applied to a curved part or a part that undergoes repeated deformation. Can do. Moreover, by impregnating the non-woven base sheet with the adhesive, the cover sheet can be firmly fixed to the base sheet, and the structural strength of the non-contact IC card can be improved. However, since the IC chip and the antenna are supported by the non-woven base sheet, the base sheet constituent fibers are separated from the surface of the sheet and float, so dust generation tends to be a problem. For example, for precision equipment assembled in a clean room. It cannot be applied. Moreover, since the base sheet which uses a nonwoven fabric as a forming material is thin and weak, handling thereof requires great care, and there are significant restrictions on the processing method and the handling of the inlet when performing secondary processing and tertiary processing. Furthermore, an inlet provided with a non-woven fabric base sheet cannot make an IC card in which the inlet is incorporated transparent.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel inlet and a non-contact IC card that can eliminate dust generation from the base sheet and eliminate restrictions on processing methods and handling restrictions in subsequent processes based on the weakness of the base sheet. Is to provide.
It is an object of the present invention to make an inlet transparent and a contactless IC card transparent. Therefore, an inlet and a contactless IC card that are more interesting and different from conventional contactless IC cards can be provided. It is to provide.
An object of the present invention is to provide an inlet manufacturing method capable of manufacturing the above-described new inlet by using an existing inlet manufacturing equipment as it is, and therefore, without the need to invest in new equipment and reducing the cost required for manufacturing. Is to provide.

  In the method for manufacturing an inlet according to the present invention, a coil forming table 21, a flattening table 22, a coil connecting device 23, a coil forming table 21, and a flattening table each having a group of winding pins 28, 29, and 30 are provided. An inlet is manufactured using a manufacturing facility including a heating source 24 that heats at least one of 22. Specifically, a coil forming step of forming a coil pre-stage body 38 by winding a wire W made of a thin metal wire around the winding pins 28, 29, and 30 of the coil forming table 21 in three dimensions, and the coil forming table 21 and the flattening table 22 is relatively approached to flatten the three-dimensional coil pre-stage body 38 to form the planar antenna coil 7, and the coil connection device 23 forms the start and end of the antenna coil 7. In the state where the base sheet 8 is disposed between the coil forming table 21 and the flattening table 22, the connection process for connecting to the IC chip 6 placed on the chip housing portion 31 of the coil forming table 21, The base sheet 8 in a state where the winding pins 28, 29, and 30 are stuck is brought into close contact with the antenna coil 7 by relatively approaching the flattening table 22, and both of them are connected to the heating source 24. Pressurized with a coiling stand 21 with flattened base 22 while heating via a welding step of heat sealing to produce an inlet with. In the welding step, a base sheet 8 is used in which a thickness is set to 50 to 200 μm and at least a softening layer M having a softening temperature lower than other portions of the base sheet 8 is provided on the surface on which the antenna coil 7 is welded. Then, the antenna coil 7 is thermally welded to the base sheet 8.

  In the inlet manufacturing method according to the present invention, a coil forming process for forming the coil pre-stage body 38, a flattening process for forming the planar antenna coil 7, and a connecting process using existing inlet manufacturing equipment as they are. And a welding process. In the welding step, the base sheet 8 is provided with an easy softening layer M having a thickness of 50 to 200 μm and at least a softening temperature lower than other parts of the base sheet 8 on the surface on which the antenna coil 7 is welded. The antenna coil 7 was thermally welded to the base sheet 8 using As described above, the antenna coil 7 is thermally welded using the base sheet 8 having a thickness of 50 to 200 μm because the thermal welding is performed in the same manner as the conventional non-woven fabric base sheet. is there. In the welding process, the winding pins 28, 29, and 30 are pierced into the base sheet 8. At this time, if the total thickness of the base sheet 8 exceeds 200 μm, the strength of the base sheet 8 becomes larger than necessary. The sheet 8 is torn along the winding pins 28, 29, and 30, or the tear line reaches the periphery of the base sheet 8, resulting in a processing failure such as part of the tearing edge being bent. Further, if the total thickness of the base sheet 8 is less than 50 μm, the strength of the waist of the inlet 2 is insufficient and it is easy to bend, so that the processing method and handling of the inlet 2 in the subsequent stage are likely to be restricted. Further, it is necessary for the welding with the heating source 24 that the antenna coil 7 is thermally welded to the base sheet 8 using the base sheet 8 provided with the softening layer M having a low softening temperature on the surface to which the antenna coil 7 is welded. This is because the heat welding is performed by softening only such a portion, whereby the coupling structure and the coupling strength between the antenna coil 7 and the easy-softening layer M can be made uniform, and the variation in the thickness dimension of the inlet 2 can be reduced. . As described above, in the inlet manufacturing method according to the present invention, since the inlet 2 can be manufactured using the existing inlet manufacturing equipment as it is, it is not necessary to make a new capital investment and the cost required for manufacturing the inlet 2. The cost can be reduced.

It is sectional drawing which shows the laminated structure of the non-contact IC card based on this invention. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a non-contact IC card according to the present invention. It is a top view of the inlet concerning the present invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the front | former stage part of the manufacturing process of the inlet concerning this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the back | latter stage part of the manufacturing process of the inlet concerning this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIGS. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of an inlet and a non-contact IC card according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the non-contact IC card 1 includes an inlet 2 and three cover sheets 3, 4, and 5 that are stacked and fixed on the upper and lower surfaces of the inlet 2. The inlet 2 is composed of an IC chip 6 and an antenna coil 7 and a horizontally long rectangular plastic base sheet 8 that supports both of them. The IC chip 6 has a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of 1 to 5 mm, a thickness dimension of 50 to 150 μm, and a stainless steel reinforcing plate 9 bonded and fixed to one surface thereof. The antenna coil 7 is formed in a quadrangular spiral shape using a copper wire coated with an insulation coating having a wire diameter of 20 to 200 μm as a forming material. Details of the forming method will be described later.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the base sheet 8 is composed of a central layer 11, an upper layer 12 and a lower layer 13 laminated on the upper and lower surfaces of the central layer 11. The softening temperature of the upper layer 12 and the lower layer 13 is set lower than the softening temperature of the central layer 11, and the easy softening layer M is formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the base sheet 8. Specifically, the central layer 11 is formed of a transparent PET-G resin to which polycarbonate is added and its softening temperature is 65 to 75 ° C., whereas the upper layer 12 and the lower layer 13 are transparent PET- It is made of G resin, and its softening temperature is 50 to 60 ° C. A more preferable softening temperature of the central layer 11 is 68 ° C., and a more preferable softening temperature of the upper layer 12 and the lower layer 13 is 57 ° C.

  As described above, the total thickness of the base sheet 8 is selected within the range of 50 to 200 μm. If the total thickness of the base sheet 8 is less than 50 μm, the strength of the waist of the inlet 2 is insufficient and the base sheet 8 is easily bent. Therefore, it is easy to receive restrictions in the processing method and handling of the inlet 2 in a latter process. Further, when the total thickness of the base sheet 8 exceeds 200 μm, the strength of the base sheet 8 becomes unnecessarily large. Therefore, when the inlet 2 is manufactured using the existing manufacturing equipment, the base sheet 8 is wound as described later. There is a risk of tearing along the hanging pins 28, 29, 30. Such a base sheet 8 cannot be used because the sheet strength is lowered and the carrying strength is remarkably lowered.

  The three cover sheets 3, 4, and 5 are each formed of a transparent plastic sheet made of transparent PET-G resin having the same shape and the same size as the base sheet 8. Among these sheets, a window 15 that is slightly larger than the reinforcing plate 9 is formed in the cover sheet 3 laminated on the upper surface of the inlet 2. By stacking the cover sheet 3 on the base sheet 8 in a state where the IC chip 6 and the reinforcing plate 9 are accommodated in the window 15, the cover sheet 3 can be stacked and fixed on the base sheet 8 while being flat. By laminating the three cover sheets 3, 4, 5 on the inlet 2, the non-contact IC card 1 having a thickness dimension of 0.8 mm can be obtained. The thickness dimension of the cover sheet laminated on the upper surface side of the inlet 2 and the thickness dimension of the cover sheet laminated on the lower surface side are preferably set to be approximately the same. This is because, when heat is applied to the non-contact IC card 1 and the cover sheets on the upper surface side and the lower surface side are expanded or contracted, the amount of dimensional change is made the same on the upper surface side and the lower surface side. This is to suppress the occurrence of warpage in 1. In this example, the total thickness dimension of the cover sheets 3 and 5 laminated on the upper surface side of the inlet 2 and the thickness dimension of the cover sheet 4 laminated on the lower surface side were set to be the same.

  The non-contact IC card 1 displays card contents, standard information of the card issuer, unique information of the card user, and the like as necessary. Further, since the entire card is transparent, a decorative pattern, a pattern for preventing the IC chip 6 and the antenna coil 7 from being visually recognized, and the like are displayed. These indications can be formed by the printed layer 16 applied to at least one of the inlet 2 or the cover sheets 3, 4, 5, and if necessary, the inlet 2 and the cover sheets 3, 4, 5. A printing layer 16 may be formed on each of the above. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the printing layer 16 is formed on the uppermost cover sheet 5.

  The inlet 2 is an existing inlet manufacturing facility equipped with a wire nozzle 20, a coil forming table 21, a flattening table 22, a coil connecting device 23, and a sheathed heater (heating source) 24 for heating the coil forming table 21. Manufacture by using as it is. The wire nozzle 20 feeds and supplies the wire W, which is a material for forming the antenna coil 7, with a certain tension applied.

  The coil forming table 21 is made of a metal block having a flat support surface 27, and a sheathed heater 24 is embedded in a spiral shape on the inner surface (see FIG. 6B). Four corner pins (winding pins) 28 are fixed to the four corners of the support surface 27, and three turning pins (winding pins) face one long side of the support surface 27. ) 29 and 30 are fixed. The four corner pins 28 are set so that the projecting dimension gradually increases from the outside toward the inside. Further, of the three turning pins 29 and 30, as shown in FIG. 6A, the two turning pins 29 for turning and guiding the winding start end of the wire W have a small projecting dimension, and the winding of the wire W is small. The projecting dimension of the deflecting pin 30 for deflecting and guiding the end is set large. A chip accommodating portion 31 for accommodating and positioning the IC chip 6 and the reinforcing plate 9 is formed in the vicinity of the center of the support surface 27 in the vicinity of the deflection pins 29 and 30 (see FIG. 5C). As shown in FIG. 5A, the coil forming base 21 is rotated by a driving mechanism (not shown) and can rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow a.

  The flattening table 22 is made of a metal block having a flat clamping surface 33, and five escape holes 34 are formed in the clamping surface 33 facing the corner pin 28 and the deflection pins 29 and 30. The flattening table 22 is moved up and down with respect to the coil forming table 21. The coil connection device 23 applies heat and pressure to the start and end of the antenna coil 7 placed on the bump 6a of the IC chip 6 to electrically connect the start and end of the antenna coil 7 and the bump 6a.

  The inlet 2 is formed by performing a coil formation process, a planarization process, a connection process, and a welding process in the order of description. Below, the detail of each process is demonstrated based on FIG. 5 and FIG.

  In the coil forming step, as shown in FIG. 5C, after the IC chip 6 and the reinforcing plate 9 are mounted on the chip housing portion 31 with the bumps 6a exposed on the upper surface, as shown in FIG. Further, the starting end of the wire W fed out from the wire nozzle 20 is fixed to the wire chuck 35, and the vicinity of the starting end of the wire W is brought into close contact with the bump 6 a. Next, the wire W fed from the wire nozzle 20 is wound around two short diverting pins 29, and the entire coil forming base 21 is rotationally driven in the direction indicated by the arrow a in FIG. The wire W is wound around the corner pin 28 located outside. By winding the wire W around the corner pin 28 while moving the wire nozzle 20 slightly upward every time the coil forming base 21 completes one rotation, a square frustum-shaped coil front body 38 can be formed. (See FIG. 5 (b)). The end side of the wire W is guided to change direction by a long direction changing pin 30, and then fixed by the wire chuck 35, and the end side of the wire W is brought into close contact with the bump 6a. In this state, the wire W is cut with a cutter provided in the wire nozzle 20.

  In the flattening step, as shown in FIG. 5B, the flattening table 22 is lowered toward the support surface 27 of the coil forming table 21, and the front stage of the square frustum-shaped coil wound around the corner pin 28 is used. The body 38 is flattened and brought into close contact with the support surface 27. At this time, the corner pin 28 and the deflecting pins 29 and 30 enter the escape hole 34, and only the wire W forming the coil front body 38 is received by the clamping surface 33. Thus, the shaped and planarized antenna coil 7 can be obtained. The flattening table 22 after the antenna coil 7 is formed is moved upward to the standby position and is separated from the coil forming table 21.

  In the connecting step, as shown in FIG. 5C, a pulse current is supplied to the pair of welding heads 40 of the coil connecting device 23 to cause the high-resistance tape 41 to generate heat, and the heat causes the start end of the antenna coil 7 and the bump 6a. By pressing with the welding head 40 while heating the coil, the starting end of the coil and the bump 6a are electrically connected. Similarly, the end of the coil and the bump 6a are electrically connected. The insulation coating of the wire W is melted and carbonized by welding heat. When the welding is finished, the restriction of the start and end of the antenna coil 7 by the wire chuck 35 is released. Further, the coil connection device 23 is retracted out of the raising / lowering region of the flattening table 22 and is kept waiting until the next welding. Each time the coil and the bump 6a are welded, the high resistance tape 41 is fed by a certain amount in one direction so that a new heating surface is located on the lower surface of the welding head 40.

  In the welding step, as shown in FIG. 6A, the base sheet 8 is disposed on the lower surface side of the flattening table 22 above the coil forming table 21. Moreover, the support surface 27 of the coil formation base 21 is preheated by operating the sheath heater 24. In this state, the flattening table 22 is lowered toward the coil forming table 21, so that the base sheet 8 is received by the clamping surface 33 of the flattening table 22, and moves downward along with the table 22. To do. When the clamping surface 33 of the flattening table 22 descends from the upper end of each corner pin 28, the corner pin 28 enters the escape hole 34 while piercing the base sheet 8. As a result, the base sheet 8 is in close contact with the support surface 27 of the coil forming base 21 and the antenna coil 7 while being stuck to the corner pins 28 and the turning pins 29 and 30.

  In the above state, the base sheet 8 is pressed against the coil forming table 21 by the flattening table 22 and maintained in that state for a certain period of time, thereby softening the soft layer M composed of the lower layer 13 (or the upper layer 12). As shown in FIG. 4, the peripheral surface of the antenna coil 7 can enter the softening layer M. Thereby, the antenna coil 7 and the easy softening layer M are heat-welded, and the IC chip 6 is fixed to the base sheet 8 via the antenna coil 7 of the portion where the bump 6a is welded. At this time, since the center layer 11 has not reached the softening temperature, the antenna coil 7 does not enter the base sheet 8 excessively, and the coupling structure and coupling strength between the antenna coil 7 and the base sheet 8 can be made uniform. . The energization to the sheathed heater 24 is stopped, the easy softening layer M is solidified, and the flattening table 22 is raised and separated from the coil forming table 21, whereby the IC chip 6 and the antenna coil 7 are separated. An inlet blank carried on the base sheet 8 is obtained. When the thickness of the easy softening layer M is set to be the same as the wire diameter of the antenna coil 7, the bump 6 a is welded to the easy softening layer M and the IC chip 6 is fixed to the base sheet 8.

  When the flattening table 22 moves upward, the base sheet 8 is sucked and fixed with the vacuum pressure applied to the clamping surface 33 of the flattening table 22, so that the base sheet 8 is fixed to the corner pins 28 and the turning pins 29. It can be removed from 30 and separated from the coil forming base 21. In the sheet surface of the obtained inlet blank, the trace holes of the corner pins 28 and the turning pins 29 and 30 are formed (see FIG. 2). The base sheet 8 is made of a long rolled sheet, and is fed by a certain amount in the position direction every time the welding process is performed, and the inlet blank that has been welded is wound into a roll. The inlet 2 shown in FIG. 3 can be obtained by punching the obtained inlet blank into a predetermined shape. In addition, the inlet 2 shown in FIG. 3 has shown the state which looked at the inlet 2 from the antenna coil 7 side, and the base sheet 8 is located in the uppermost surface in the inlet 2 obtained in FIG.6 (b). Yes.

  Cover sheets 3, 4, and 5 are placed on the upper and lower surfaces of the inlet 2 or the inlet blank, and the inlet 2 or the inlet blank and the cover sheets 3, 4, and 5 are thermally welded by applying pressure while heating. Can be integrated to form a card blank. In this heat-welding process, since the corner pin 28 and the turning holes of the turning pins 29 and 30 are formed in the base sheet 8, the cover sheets 3 and 4 are compared with the case where the flat sheets are simply heat-welded. Bond strength with the inlet 2 or the inlet blank can be increased. The non-contact IC card 1 can be obtained by punching the obtained card blank into a predetermined shape. In addition, the print layer 16 is formed in the cover sheets 3, 4, and 5 as needed. The cover sheets 3, 4, and 5 do not need to be cut into sheets in advance, and may be thermally welded to the inlet blank while being supplied in a roll state.

  As described above, when the inlet 2 is manufactured using the existing inlet manufacturing equipment, it is assumed that the trace holes of the pins 28, 29, and 30 are formed in the base sheet 8 in the welding process. There is a need to. However, if the forming material and thickness of the base sheet 8 are different, the base sheet 8 is torn along the pins 28 to 30, or the tear line reaches the periphery of the base sheet 8, and a part of the tearing edge is bent. May cause processing defects such as Such a base sheet 8 cannot be used because the sheet strength is lowered and the carrying strength is remarkably lowered.

  Therefore, the present inventors conducted trial and error on the optimal sheet forming material and thickness range of the base sheet 8 that does not cause tearing, like the non-woven base sheet. As a result, as described above, when the base sheet 8 having a three-layer structure using the PET-G resin as a base material is formed and the total thickness of the base sheet 8 is 50 to 200 μm, no sheet tearing occurs. It was confirmed. The reason for limiting the upper limit and the lower limit of the total thickness of the base sheet 8 is as described above.

  The thickness of the upper layer 12 and the lower layer 13 (easy softening layer M) is 1/4 when the wire diameter of the antenna coil 7 is 1, and the thickness of the upper layer 12 on the side where at least the IC chip 6 and the antenna coil 7 are welded is 1/4. It is preferable to select within the range of ˜1. The thickness of the lower layer 13 may be the same as or different from the thickness of the upper layer 12. In addition, although this inventor examined also about sheet forming raw materials other than PET-G resin, the sheet characteristic approximated to the base sheet 8 which uses PET-G resin as a formation base also in PET resin or PVC resin. It was confirmed that it can be demonstrated. As long as that is the case, each of the central layer 11, the upper layer 12, and the lower layer 13 may be formed using a PET resin and a PVC resin as a forming base material.

  In the above embodiment, the base sheet 8 is formed as a laminated sheet having a three-layer structure with the central layer 11, the upper layer 12, and the lower layer 13, but this is not necessary, and at least the central layer on which the antenna coil 7 is thermally welded. It is sufficient if the upper layer 12 is laminated on the upper surface (one surface) of the substrate 11. That is, the easy softening layer M may be provided on one side of the base sheet 8. The antenna coil 7 does not have to be a wire type antenna, but may be an etching type antenna or an antenna formed by electroforming. In that case, the inlet 2 can be manufactured by performing a connection process and a welding process in the order of description in the state which mounted IC chip 6 and the antenna coil 7 in the predetermined position. The IC chip 6 may be disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the antenna coil 7.

  Of the cover sheets 3, 4, 5 of the non-contact IC card 1, the cover sheet 5 positioned on the uppermost surface can be omitted. The card 1 can be configured. The heating source 24 can be provided on at least one or both of the coil forming table 21 and the flattening table 22. In the above embodiment, the cover sheet 3 is thermally welded to the inlet 2 in a state where the IC chip 6 is accommodated in the window 15 formed through the cover sheet 3, but this is not necessary. For example, the cover sheet 3 may be thermally welded to the inlet 2 in a state where the IC chip 6 is accommodated in the recess formed in the cover sheet 3 or the base sheet 8. In that case, the uppermost cover sheet 5 can be omitted.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Non-contact IC card 2 Inlet 3 * 4 * 5 Cover sheet 6 IC chip 7 Antenna coil 8 Base sheet 11 Center layer 12 Upper layer 13 Lower layer

Claims (1)

A coil forming table (21) having a group of winding pins (28, 29, 30), a flattening table (22), a coil connecting device (23), a coil forming table (21) and a flattening table ( 22) A method for producing an inlet using a production facility comprising a heating source (24) for heating at least one of the following:
A coil forming step of forming a coil pre-stage body (38) by winding a wire (W) made of a fine metal wire in a three-dimensional form on a winding pin (28, 29, 30) of a coil forming base (21);
A flattening step of flattening the three-dimensional coil front body (38) to form a planar antenna coil (7) by relatively bringing the coil forming base (21) and the flattening base (22) closer. When,
A connection step of connecting the start and end of the antenna coil (7) to the IC chip (6) placed on the chip housing portion (31) of the coil forming base (21) with the coil connection device (23);
By relatively bringing the coil forming table (21) and the flattening table (22) closer together with the base sheet (8) disposed between the coil forming table (21) and the flattening table (22). The base sheet (8) in a state where the winding pins (28, 29, 30) are pierced is brought into close contact with the antenna coil (7), and both are heated by the heating source (24) while the coil forming base (21) And a flattening table (22), and a welding process in which heat welding is performed by pressure.
In the welding step, an easy softening layer (M) having a softening temperature lower than other portions of the base sheet (8) is provided on the surface where the thickness is set to 50 to 200 μm and at least the antenna coil (7) is welded. The manufacturing method of the inlet which heat-welds an antenna coil (7) to a base sheet (8) using a base sheet (8).

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