JPH04231972A - Film electrode - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a film electrode to have a beautiful external appearance by making a black electrode pattern invisible by using a transparent ink of an indium - tin oxide, etc., for a conductive ink for printing the electrode pattern. CONSTITUTION:On the transparent base material film 1 of polyester, picture pattern printing 2 and a masking layer 3 are provided, and also, an arbitrary electrode pattern is printed by the transparent layer 4 of a conductive material. As for the conductive material, an indium - tin oxide, ink in which conductive plastics of 10<-3>-10<3>OMEGA surface resistance is a vehicle, or ink in which plastics of <=10<12>OMEGA is a vehicle, 5-70 weight part conductive material is dispersed against 30-95 weight part vehicle, and of 10<-3>-10<3>OMEGA surface resistance and <=50% haze value is used.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a film electrode used in an electrocardiogram or a low-frequency treatment device.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, low-frequency treatment devices called "electronic massagers" that apply a weak electric current to muscles have come into use. This electrode uses a flexible film-like electrode that adheres well to the skin.

[0003] Conventional film electrodes are made by applying a conductive ink layer consisting of silver paste and carbon paste covering it according to a circuit pattern on one side of a concealing polyester film. The other side is made by laminating a transparent polyester film with a pattern printed on it.

[0004] A pattern layer and a concealing layer are printed on a transparent polyester base film using a flexible vehicle ink as a film electrode that is highly flexible and adheres well to the skin and does not crack even if it is bent a little. However, the applicant has already proposed a method in which a conductive ink layer consisting of silver paste and carbon paste covering it is provided according to the circuit pattern (Japanese Patent Application No. 1403/1993).

[0005] All of the above film electrodes use carbon paste as the conductive ink. This is because carbon paste is cheaper than other conductive inks and has good conductivity.

[0006] Since carbon paste has an inherent black color, even if a design is applied to the base film side of a film electrode, a black electrode pattern is printed on the electrode surface side, and the design of the film electrode is It definitely looks inferior.

[0007]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide film electrodes for use in electrocardiograms and low-frequency treatment devices.
Our goal is to provide a product with an invisible black electrode pattern and a beautiful appearance.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] As shown in the drawings, the film electrode of the present invention has a transparent polyester base film (1) provided with a pattern printing (2) and a hiding layer (3), and further includes: An arbitrary electrode pattern is printed on a layer (4) of transparent conductive material.

The transparent conductive ink used in the present invention is
For example: a) Indium-tin oxide, b) Conductive plastics with a surface resistance of 10-3 to 103 Ω, such as polyphenylene sulfide,
A colorless and transparent ink containing poly(1,6-heptadiene), polybiphenylene, or polyphenylacetylene as a vehicle; c) A commonly used plastic having a surface resistance of 1012 or less as a vehicle; conductive with respect to 30 to 95 parts by weight of the vehicle. The material is dispersed in 5 to 70 parts by weight, the surface resistance is 10-3 to 103 Ω, and the haze value is 50%.
An ink that is: As conductive materials, substances such as the above-mentioned polyphenylene sulfide and Na
, I2, Br2, AsF6, etc., in the above-mentioned range, the ink maintains its transparency.

The thickness of the conductive ink layer varies depending on the vehicle used and the amount of pigment added, but is generally in the range of 5 to 25 μm.

The base film (1) is a polyester film, typically a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film with a thickness of 50 to 125 μm, which has excellent electrical insulation and dimensional stability among plastic films. use. If the base film is made too thick, the flexibility of the product film electrode will be lost, so the thickness is preferably 100 μm or less.

[0012] The pattern printing (2) is used to display necessary information on the film electrode or to give it a beautiful appearance. The hiding layer (3) is for making the wiring connecting the conductive material layer (4) and the electrode leads invisible.

[0013] Also in the present invention, it is preferable that the pattern printing and the concealing layer be printed with ink of a flexible vehicle so that the film electrode adheres well to the skin.

[0014] Since the resin used for the ink vehicle for printing the pattern and the hiding layer is used in contact with the electrolyte aqueous solution, it is desirable that the resin does not deteriorate or change in quality due to the electrolyte solution. , vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer type resins. Preferred is an interpolymer obtained by copolymerizing vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, and vinyl alcohol or maleic acid so that the degree of polymerization is about 450. In order to further impart flexibility, epoxy soybean oil, DBP, and DI are used as plasticizers.
DP etc. may be added. If the hiding layer is too thin, it will not be able to hide the wiring, and if it is too thick, it will lose flexibility and be uneconomical. The latter problem is also common to pattern printing. The combined thickness of the two layers is preferably in the range of 5 to 20 μm.

[0015] The pattern printing, the hiding layer, and the conductive material layer may all be provided by known printing means such as gravure printing or screen printing.

[0016] In order to improve printability, a base film (
1) Providing a primer layer (11) on top is a recommended embodiment. It is desirable that the primer layer is also flexible; for example, a urethane elastomer-based one is suitable.

[0017]

[Function] The present invention provides a film with a beautiful appearance because the black electrode pattern is not visible because the conductive material layer is not formed using carbon paste but is made of a transparent material. realized the electrode.

[0018]

[Example] Ink was prepared with the following formulation.

Picture Ink and Hiding Ink A mixture of 40 parts by weight of vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer vehicle and 20 parts by weight of pigment (blue pigment used in the picture ink and white pigment used in the hiding ink). The solvent is petroleum-based solvent "Solvesso" (
A mixture of Nippon Oil Co., Ltd.), cyclohexanone "Anon" and butyl cellosolve was used.

Conductive Ink 60 parts by weight of polyphenylene sulfide powder was used as the conductive material and dispersed in 60 parts by weight of a polyester vehicle. The solvent is a mixture of 14 parts by weight of butyl carbinol acetate and 14 parts by weight of butyl cellosolve acetate.

[0021] Annealed PET with a thickness of 100 μm
Urethane elastomer ink "MUR" (manufactured by Moroboshi Ink) was applied as a primer to the film "HSLA" (manufactured by Teijin). On the primer layer, design letters were silk-screen printed using the above-mentioned pattern ink, and on top of that, concealing ink was printed solidly using the same printing method. An interconnected polka dot pattern was then printed on top of the hiding layer with the conductive ink described above.

[0022]

Effects of the Invention The film electrode of the present invention has a beautiful appearance because it is free from the black color inherent to carbon and can be made into any color. Moreover, since the electrode pattern is transparent, a pattern can also be applied to the electrode side of the concealing layer, making it possible to further improve the design.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a film electrode of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Base film 11... Primer layer 2...Picture printing 3...Hidden layer 4...Layer of conductive material

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A film electrode obtained by providing a pattern printing and a hiding layer on a transparent polyester base film, and further printing an arbitrary electrode pattern with a transparent conductive material. [Claim 2] As the conductive material, a) indium-
tin oxide, b) ink using a conductive plastic vehicle with a surface resistance of 10-3 to 103 Ω, or c)
The vehicle is plastic with a surface resistance of 1012 Ω or less, and 5 parts of the conductive material is added to 30 to 95 parts by weight of the vehicle.
~70% by weight dispersed ink with a surface resistance of 10
2. The film electrode according to claim 1, wherein the film electrode is -3 to 103 Ω and has a haze value of 50% or less. [Claim 3] Thickness of base film is 50 to 125 mm.
A polyethylene terephthalate film of μm is used, a urethane elastomer-based primer layer is provided, and the ink of the pattern printing and hiding layer is a vehicle of PVC-PVC copolymer resin. 2. The film electrode according to claim 1, wherein the combined thickness of the conductive ink layer and the hiding layer is 5 to 20 μm, and the conductive ink layer has a thickness of 5 to 25 μm.