JPH0323147A - Device equipped with one or more of supporting or guiding roller and this type of roller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To seal and make to remain specified quantity of gas between a substrate and a roller at the used carrying speed of the substrate and basically as it is by specifying surface structure of the roller to guide and/or to support the web substrate. CONSTITUTION: A surface structure positioned on a surface of a roller or a metal seamless sleeve 1 includes small balls 2 having caps 3, and these small balls 2 are arranged in triangular structure with equal intervals. Specified quantity of gas is sealed between a substrate making contact with this surface structure and the roller or this sleeve 1, and furthermore, it remains at used carrying speed of the substrate and basically as it is.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to rollers used to guide and/or support movable ware-type substrates in apparatus for processing such substrates. The substrate and contacting surface of said roller is provided with a surface structure so that a predetermined amount of gas is enclosed between the substrate and the roller in contact with the surface structure, the structure being such that said volume of gas is used to transport the substrate. It is given such a shape that it remains in approximately the same amount at the same speed.

Rollers of this type are generally used as support or guide rollers in apparatus for processing web-shaped media, where bonding processing is understood to mean a number of operations such as coating, printing, corona discharge treatment, exposure, etc. Good too.

A roller of the above type is covered by British patent GB-A-No. 105.
No. 6,372 discloses a guide roller device for a paper web handling machine.

A limited number of surface structures are introduced, all of which serve to prevent the formation of air cushions between the moving paper web and the guide rollers within the machine.

Said known guide rollers have the disadvantage that a large number of different rollers are required if the handling machine has different purposes and/or is to be applied to different substrates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a roller of a type which does not exhibit the above-mentioned disadvantages and which allows a rapid and easy change of its surface structure.

The roller is characterized in that it includes a metal seamless sleeve on its surface that contacts the substrate, and that the surface of the sleeve is provided with a surface structure.

By providing a roller whose surface is formed by separate seamless metal sleeves, rapid changes in surface structure are possible, as will be explained in more detail below.

For convenience, this kind of seamless metal sleeve is 15G and 5
00 micrometers, in particular a nickel sleeve with a thickness between 15G and 200 micrometers.

Nickel sleeves of this type are manufactured by the applicant and may have any desired circumferential length and axial length.

The surface of such a sleeve may be provided with any surface structure applied in several ways as illustrated in the figures.

With rollers of the above type, rapid wear of the surface structure may be observed, for example when guiding or supporting paper materials with large roughness or high filler proportions.

This problem is solved according to the invention by providing the surface structure with a highly wear-resistant top layer.

In particular, this type of top layer comprises a wear-resistant material selected from:

Nitrides such as titanium or boron nitrides, silicon carbides, such as boron, tungsten and titanium carbides, glasses and quartz.

Of course many other materials may be mentioned in this regard. Titanium nitride is particularly important in the above series.

It is a very hard, wear-resistant material with a very clean light yellow color. This material may be very effectively deposited onto the surface by sputtering techniques such as reactive sputtering of titanium in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere or TiN sputtering.

It is advantageous to round off the part of the surface structure of the roller that comes into contact with the substrate in order to prevent damage to the substrate as much as possible.

With great advantage, the surface structure of the roller according to the invention comprises a top layer with high wear resistance, such as a nickel-phosphorus layer or a chromium layer.

The surface structure may, for example, be provided with a polytetrafluoroethylene coating layer to prevent roller wear and damage to the substrate as far as possible.

In one preferred embodiment, the sleeve contained in the roller is mounted under axial stress between two end rings or flanges mounted on the shaft.

A ring of this kind has the advantage that its weight can be extremely low, so that the roller will easily start rotating along with the substrate to be supported or guided.

In the embodiments described above, the continuous sleeve may be replaced by a sleeve with holes, such as a metal rotating screen print stencil. This type of stencil is made of nickel, for example, and has a fineness of 250 to 500 mesh (one hole per inch).

However, higher or lower fineness is also possible.

The thickness may vary between 100 and 250 micrometers or more. If a perforated sleeve of this kind is used, the surface structure comprises a separately provided structure superimposed on the hole-type structure of the sleeve. In some cases, the hole-type structure itself may be sufficient to ensure that the sheet-shaped substrate always remains in contact with the surface of the sleeve.

In a preferred embodiment, means, such as a labyrinth of a septum, are present on the inside of the sleeve in order to make it possible to articulate a pressure contour extending axially on the inside of the perforated sleeve in a predetermined manner. . Such a lapirin arrangement may optionally be rotated along with the drilling slit M-1. The pressure profile may lie within the overpressure range or (preferably partially) within the underpressure range. The pressure adjustment inside the perforated sleeve can further ensure the contact behavior of the base plate, so that locally occurring imperfections in the base plate contact can also be corrected.

If a seamless metal sleeve is used, measures will be taken to provide sufficient rigidity to the sleeve used.

One common solution is to mount a perforated or unperforated sleeve under axial pressure between two end rings or seven flange. This method provides basic rigidity to this type of sleeve or scone,
This will be sufficient for the low contact pressure of the guide wear. If higher pressures are required in the sleeve, in this case a sleeve without holes can be made stiffer by filling it with a lower density material such as a hardened foamed plastic material or a pressurized gas such as air. Good too.

An example of a suitable foamed plastic is Boss・)7@
- Polyurethanes such as HHR■ polyurethane from Voss Chemie (Voss Chemie) may be mentioned. This material is a semi-rigid foam with a density of approximately 26K9/1.

Also, the company's Mouth 450 foam may be used. This has a high curing pressure (5~6 ren/! overpressure) and a density of 4
It is a SOK9/rd polyurethane foam. When using air to give rigidity to the sleeve, 1.3K9/
Overpressures up to J are used.

In another preferred embodiment, the sleeve may be supported in a clamping manner by a support roller provided with shaft means.
rk Screens) European Patent No. 0. 1
See No. 60,341. The said patent discloses a screen roller manufacturing method in which a wall seamless cylindrical screen is pressed into the outer peripheral surface of a hollow wall or solid roller. To install the screen on the outer periphery of the support cylinder, the holes in the screen are drilled and the diameter of the screen is then temporarily increased, e.g. with the help of air pressure, so that the screen can be pushed onto the 0-ra outer periphery. do.

In order to manufacture the roller according to the invention, the method described in the aforementioned patent may be used, although the roller is formed by a supporting cylinder onto which a seamless metal sleeve is pressed in a clamping manner.

Another type of support roller is a so-called compression stretch roller as described in unpublished German Patent Application No. 88 00 781 of Stoke Screens. ，
In said document, a support roller is disclosed as having a continuous coating on its surface that can be compressed. Push the sleeve a short distance around the coating,
The coating can be compressed by passing a pressurized medium, such as a gas, between the sleeve and the coating, forcing the entire sleeve around the coating. Particularly in the case of sleeves with large wall thicknesses, this compression roller may be sufficient to form the roller of the invention.

The invention also relates to a roller used for guiding and/or supporting a movable web-shaped substrate, in a substrate processing apparatus the surface of said roller in contact with the substrate is provided with a surface a-structure, so that A quantity of gas is enclosed between the substrate and the roller in contact with the surface structure, and the structure is such that said quantity of gas remains virtually the same at the used conveying speed of the substrate and the roller is solid or thick-walled metal. The surface structure is characterized by a highly wear-resistant top layer.

In order to protect the surface structure of the inventive roller against the effects of abrasive materials, it has proven to be extremely advantageous to provide the surface structure of such 0-La with a highly wear-resistant top layer.

This type of top layer can include a variety of materials, such as: Nitrides such as nitrides of silicon, boron, tungsten and titanium, especially titanium nitride, have been found to offer varying properties in terms of hardness, wear resistance and appearance.

The top layer may also include a metal layer such as a nickel-phosphorous or chromium layer.

Polytetrafluoroethylene layers with extremely low coefficients of friction are also preferred. In this respect, the ceramic-boritetrafluoroethylene mixing order may be mentioned. This layer may be suitably applied by plasma spraying.

The invention finally provides one or more substrate processing steps,
The present invention also relates to a movable web-type substrate processing apparatus comprising a substrate moving device and one or more substrate support rollers, an apparatus of this type characterized by a substrate support roller having the shape described above for the roller of the invention.

The movable web-type substrate processing apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus for applying coatings to web-type substrates. One example may be a device for applying an emulsion to a wear-shaped substrate, such as a polyester substrate. The uniformity of this type of coating is of great importance. The construction of the substrate support or guide rollers of the invention in a coating apparatus ensures that no adverse effects on the transport part of the apparatus are exerted on the substrate or on the coating applied to the substrate. Conveniently such equipment is, for example, a rotary screen-printing machine in which a uniform coating is applied to the polyester web with the aid of a seamless nickel screen-printing stencil. Apart from the above-mentioned parts of the device, it may also include, for example, a drying zone for subjecting the layer to a drying process.

Drawing description The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1a, 1 represents a partial cross-section of the body of the roller or metal seamless sleeve, and 2 and 3 represent the surface structures located on the surface of the roller or sleeve. It can be seen from the partial plan view of FIG. 1b that the surface structure comprises spherules 2 with gaps 3, which spherules are arranged in an equidistant triangular structure.

It is pointed out that a regular structure as shown is not a requirement. The surface of the roller or sleeve may be roughened, for example by grinding, sand blasting, bead blasting or shot beaning, in which case the peak-to-valley height is conveniently 12.
It will have Ra inoculations up to 5 micrometers. Metal sleeves obtained by electrodeposition such as nickel sleeves or rollers of normal smoothness have Ra≦
It will have a peak-to-valley height of 0.2 micrometers.

FIG. 2a shows that a cavity I15 has been formed in the O-Lar body or sleeve body 4 by etching. The width, depth and shape of the groove 5 can be selected depending on the application.

FIG. 3 shows that the roller body or sleeve body 7 is provided with an arbitrarily arranged spherule structure 6, such spherules being bonded to the surface of the roller or sleeve by bonding. It should be pointed out that in this type of embodiment a calibration step has to be carried out additionally following the formation of the surface structure layer, so that the roller obtains true performance. The calibration step also serves to ensure that all spherical components have the same single height above the surface of the roller or sleeve.

FIG. 3b represents the situation in FIG. 3a in plan view, and is similar to FIG. 2b in relation to FIG. 2a.

In Figure 4a, 9 represents the grooves in the surface of the roller or sleeve and 8 represents the height between the grooves. From FIG. 4b it is clear that the grooves run helically along the length of the roller. In this case, it is assumed that the axial direction of the roller extends in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4b. Incidentally, in all the above figures it is assumed that the ring direction of the roller or sleeve corresponds to the direction of the arrow in figure 4b. FIG. 4C illustrates that the leading edge of the material 8 is rounded by additional operational steps such as bright pickling, latching, etching, etc.

FIG. 5 shows that the surface structure is obtained by machining the surface of the roller or sleeve by milling, so that the recesses 10 are interconnected by means of channels 10', so that the reciprocal gas movement of the recessed sections is achieved. Indicates that it is guaranteed. Apart from the above-described machining method of the recesses, the formation of the recesses may of course also be carried out using electron beam engraving or laser beam engraving.

Figures 6 and 7 represent highly preferred embodiments of the surface structure of a roller or sleeve in which the structures are mirror images of each other along the center of the roller. In Figure 6,
Groove shape 13 is in the upper right part 11 of the center and is
3 is helically arranged so that when the rollers are rotated in the correct direction, gas transport is to the right in the figure. In the part 12 to the left of the roller center, the groove shapes are oriented in the opposite direction, so that gas transport can occur to the left.

In Figure 7, the same situation can be seen with overlapping counter-threads, so that, for example, the movement resistance in the grooves decreases from left to right for one of the grooves and from right to left for the other grooves. do.

The example of such a mirror arrangement proves to be extremely advantageous if there is a requirement to improve the positioning accuracy of the substrate during its movement starting from a controlled set pressure of the gas. Symmetrical air movement starting from the center of the roller results in improved positioning accuracy of the substrate with respect to the roller. In this case, a lateral effect of smoothing on the substrate sheet is also observed, which is highly desirable for certain materials and thin sheet thicknesses. To produce this type of shape, it is advantageous to use etching techniques using photoresist shapes, and it is also possible to vary the groove depth using special techniques. Of course, in this case, the beam processing technique described above may be replaced by electron or laser light for forming the groove shape.

FIG. 8 shows the surface structure of the roller 19 with the outer circumferential groove 20. In this case no air movement occurs in the direction of the roller ends. However, proper dimensioning of the grooves can ensure continuous contact between the substrate and the material between the grooves 20.

FIG. 9 represents the situation in which the surface 21 is provided with an axial extension 22.

In practice this situation is less than ideal and for some groove sizes vibrations of the substrate sheet occur.

10 and 11 illustrate that the surface structure can be obtained on the roller or sleeve with the help of electroplating techniques. Figure 10 shows the roller body or sleeve body 2.
3, and 25 indicates the electroplated metal deposit grown between the photoresist l-Im areas previously located at the location shown here at 24.

In FIG. 11, an electroplated deposit 27 is formed on the roller body or sleeve chest 26 with an overhang 28 extending over the photoresist area located at 29. In FIG.

Adjustment of the air flow on the surface of the roller or sleeve allows upward growth/
This can be appropriately taken into account by selecting the overhang ratio.

FIG. 12 shows how the sleeve 30 is attached around the surface of the O-La 32 as described in the aforementioned European Patent Application No. 0.160,341. In this case the rollers are thick-walled, hollow-bore disc-shaped members 37 which are clamped into the ends of the cylinder.
Support shafts 35 and 36 are provided. Disc shaped member 3
7 is seated on the collar inside the cylinder. One of the ends of the cylinder 32 is provided with a number of radial openings 38 which open into the outer periphery of the cylinder and which open into the left disc-shaped member 3.
It connects to an axial channel 40 provided within 7. Each channel 40 has a blind end member or sealing plug 3
9, the other end of the channel 40 communicates with the inner space 33 of the support cylinder 32. The right-hand disk-shaped member 37 of the cylinder has at least one axial channel 34, which communicates with the space 33 on the one hand and with a coupling nipple 41 on the other hand. The nipple 41 can be connected via a hose (not shown) to a source of compressed air, which is also not shown.

To mount the sleeve 30 on the roller 32, the outermost section of the cylinder 32 is chamfered so that the sleeve 30 can be pushed over the chamfer to the opening 38. The pressurized medium is thus transferred to the coupling 41 and the channel 34.
into the space 33 , the sleeve 30 is elastically stretched so that it can be pushed further onto the support wrinkle holder 32 . In this connection, the pressurized medium is transferred to the sleeve 30
It has the dual function of expanding the sleeve to some extent and at the same time acting as a lubricant when pushing the sleeve onto the support cylinder.

When the pushing operation is completed, the connection to the source of pressurized medium is broken and this medium leaks out, after which the sleeve 30 is placed in a clamping manner on the support cylinder 32. In FIG. 12, the dashed line on the surface of the support cylinder 32 indicates that the outside of the cylinder is covered with a thin cover of chrome plating to provide ideal wear resistance for the surface of this type of cylinder; As a result, repeated use becomes possible. For the rollers or sleeves of the invention, a high degree of abrasion resistance is generally aimed, and it has been pointed out that this can be achieved on the one hand by using abrasion resistant materials with a low coefficient of friction, such as polytetrafluoroethylene, and on the other hand, Abradable materials can also be used with high hardness.

Ion implantation, CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) and PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) methods may also be used to impart wear resistance to the surface of the roller or sleeve.

The materials affixed using the above techniques can vary. For example; silicon nitrides such as titanium and boron nitrides, carbides such as boron, tungsten and titanium carbides, quartz and glass.

Among the above materials, titanium nitride is particularly effective.

The material may be applied to the surface of the sleeve with surface features by sputtering techniques. Titanium nitride may be sputtered directly from the target or may be formed by reactive sputtering of titanium from a titanium target in a nitrogen gas atmosphere.

Other layers of high hardness may also be deposited by electroless plating or by electrolytic plating, such as chromium layers or nickel-phosphorus layers. As for hardness, a hardness greater than 4 degrees above 500° Vickers will give good results.

FIG. 13 depicts the situation in which the roller of the invention includes a sleeve 52 received between the end rings, which sleeve may be a closure sleeve or a perforated sleeve with additional surface features. The end ring is in this case a stencil end ring 50, such as is used in rotary screen printing machines, for example. Ring end face 53, 5
4 is configured to be received by a stencil head of a device with a bayonet connection, for example. The ring is formed by axially stressing the sleeve 52 in a machine. However, this is not necessarily necessary. End rings 50 and 51 may also be replaced by end rings mounted on a common axis. If necessary, the ring can provide axial compression from a distance from the axis.

As mentioned above, the sleeve 52 may be filled with a low density material, such as a plastic material, particularly a hardened foamed plastic, or a pressurized gas to increase the stiffness of the roller.

FIG. 14 depicts the situation where sleeve 52 is a perforated sleeve such as a rotating screen print stencil. In this case the shaft 56 supports a labyrinth 57 and achieves a predetermined pneumatic contour over the length of the sleeve.

Changing the space of the labyrinth partition wall, gas supply and/or
Alternatively, by suitably arranging the removal openings, a suitable axial profile including overpressure and/or underpressure sections is established.

Lower pressures are preferred at high wear transport speeds and low wear tensions, while some overpressures are useful at low web speeds and high wear tensions.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 4 are schematic partial sectional views and plan views showing many possible forms of the surface structure of the roller, and Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing constituent parts of the special shape of the surface structure of the roller. ,
Figures 6 and 7 are illustrations representing the surface structure obtained by specially formed metal with a surface structure that helps gas removal to the end of the roller, and Figure 12 shows a cylindrical metal seamless pattern around the surface of the support cylinder. Principle diagram for installing the sleeve, No. 13
Figures 1 and 14 are illustrations of an embodiment using an unsupported sleeve. 3, S, 6.9...Surface structure, 3o...
・Sleeve, 32... Support cylinder, 35, 3
6.37...Axle means, 50.51...
・Flange, 52...Metal seamless sleeve. Minimi 7-. j0 Mi=■te・41

Claims (17)

[Claims] (1) In a substrate processing apparatus, a roller used for guiding and/or supporting a movable web-type substrate, the surface of the roller that comes into contact with the substrate is provided with a surface structure, so that a predetermined amount of gas is applied to the surface. enclosed between the substrate and the roller in contact with the structure, the structure being shaped such that said volume of gas remains essentially the same at the used conveying speed of the substrate; A roller characterized in that its contacting surface comprises a seamless sleeve of metal, the surface of the sleeve being provided with a surface structure. (2) The sleeve is 150 to 500 micrometers,
Roller according to claim 1, characterized in that it is a seamless nickel sleeve, in particular with a thickness of 150 to 250 micrometers. (3) The roller according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the surface structure includes a top layer with high wear resistance. (4) The top layer is made of a wear-resistant material selected from: - nitrides such as nitrides of titanium or boron - carbides such as carbides of silicon, boron, tungsten and titanium - glass and quartz. 4. A roller according to claim 3, further comprising a roller. 5. The roller of claim 3, wherein the top layer includes a highly wear-resistant and hard metal layer, such as a nickel-phosphorous layer or a chromium layer. 6. The roller of claim 3, wherein the top layer includes a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene. (7) A roller according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the sleeve is attached between two fixed end rings or flanges. (8) The roller according to claim 7, wherein the sleeve is a sleeve provided with holes. (9) A roller according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that means are provided in the sleeve for axially setting a predetermined pneumatic type. 10. The roller of claim 7, wherein the roller is stiffened by filling the inside of the sleeve with a low density material. 11. The roller of claim 10, wherein the sleeve is filled with a material selected from cured foamed plastic and pressurized gas. (12) A roller according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the sleeve is supported in a clamping manner by a support cylinder provided with shaft means. (13) A roller used for guiding and/or supporting a movable web-shaped substrate in a substrate processing apparatus, wherein the surface of the roller that comes into contact with the substrate is provided with a surface structure, so that a predetermined amount of gas is applied to the surface. enclosed between the substrate and the roller in contact with the structure, the structure being shaped such that said volume of gas remains essentially the same at the used transport speed of the substrate, and the roller being solid or A thick-walled metal roller characterized in that the surface structure further comprises a top layer with high wear resistance. (14) The top layer is made of a wear-resistant material selected from: - nitrides such as titanium or boron nitrides - carbides such as silicon, boron, tungsten and titanium carbides - glass and quartz. 14. A roller according to claim 13, characterized in that it comprises a roller. 15. The roller of claim 13, wherein the top layer includes a layer of a highly wear-resistant and hard metal, such as a nickel-phosphorous layer or a chromium layer. 16. The roller of claim 13, wherein the top layer includes a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene. (17) An apparatus for processing a movable web-shaped substrate, comprising one or more substrate processing devices, a substrate moving means, and one or more substrate support rollers, the substrate support rollers being 17. A device having the shape according to any one of items 1 to 16.