JPH0469067B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer device for thermally transferring a picture pattern previously printed or vapor-deposited on the surface of a transfer film to an object to be transferred, such as soap. .

[Conventional technology]

Unlike a general flat plate, this type of thermal transfer device prints on the surface of an object to be transferred that has a predetermined shape, so the material of the object to be transferred, the pressing force of the heat roller for thermal transfer, the heating temperature, and Conditions such as time greatly affect the finished product, and an important issue is how to reduce the number of defective products.

A thermal transfer device that uses a heating roller to press the transfer film onto the object has been proposed as a thermal transfer device that efficiently performs thermal transfer, but increasing the transfer speed causes unevenness in the surface temperature of the heating roller, resulting in defective products. do. In other words, when the heating roller loses heat from the transferred object, its surface temperature drops significantly, so if the heating roller is heated with a single heater, the surface temperature will not recover to a predetermined value and thermal transfer will not be possible. If it becomes too high than the predetermined value, the transfer film will fuse to the object to be transferred.

In order to suppress temperature changes in the heating roller, it is best to increase the diameter of the heating roller and increase its heat capacity, but if the thermal transfer device takes a long time to start up and the thermal transfer device is suddenly stopped, the surface temperature of the heating roller may become high. There is a risk of burning out.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer device in which a transfer film can be smoothly peeled off from an object to be transferred after thermal transfer, in order to achieve high-speed thermal transfer.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a structure in which a pattern on a transfer film is superimposed on an object to be transferred and is pressed by a rotating heating roller, between the heating roller and a winder that winds up the transfer film. In addition, a tension roller that applies tension to the transfer film is suspended by a spring, and the tension roller is equipped with an electromagnetic vibrator that applies vibrations to the transfer film in the tension direction.

[Operation] The tension roller that applies tension to the transfer film is vibrated by an electromagnetic vibrator. The transfer film is subjected to vibrations in the tension direction by the tension roller, and as soon as it leaves the heating roller, it is peeled off from the object to be transferred and wound onto a winder.

[Embodiments of the invention]

As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal transfer device according to the present invention feeds the soaps s stacked on a supply device 1 one by one to a conveyor 12, and coats the surfaces of the soaps s with thermoplastic resin using a coating device 2. A coating layer 16 (see FIG. 2) of resin or the like is formed, dried in a dryer 8, and cured by a coating curing device 3 including a heating device 9.
After being cooled by the cooler 10, the transferred material of the transfer film is coated with a coating layer 1 of soap s by the thermal transfer machine 4.
6 is thermally transferred.

The soap s detects the transfer position of the picture pattern with the position detection device 5, feeds back the positional deviation to the control unit of the pressure contact table 11, is packaged with the packaging device 6, is packed in the packaging device 7, and is discharged to the outlet 13. be done. Position detection device 5
The detected pattern is compared with a reference pattern, and the positional deviation of the transferred object is corrected by the pressure contact table 11 of the thermal transfer machine 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, the transfer film 73 is made of vinyl chloride or the like.
A predetermined picture pattern 15 is printed on the paper via a release layer 14, and the surface of the picture pattern 15 is coated with an adhesive 15a. Transfer film 73 has picture pattern 1
Boundary lines 17 are printed at predetermined intervals before and after the picture pattern 15, and are sent intermittently for each frame of the picture pattern 15, as will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, the coating device 2 includes a pair of upper and lower water absorption rollers 29, 30 driven by an electric motor 20 disposed within the moving path of the conveyor 12.
, a plurality of spray guns 27 , a plurality of air blowing nozzles 25 , and a plurality of coating sensors 31 . The water on the surface of the soap s is removed by a water absorbing roller 30.
The water absorbing roller 30 is then dried by air from the air blowing nozzle 28.

The air from the air compressor 37 is passed through the pressure regulating valve 34.
The soap s is adjusted to a predetermined pressure, heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater 26, and sprayed onto the soap s and water absorption rollers 29, 30 through valves 22, 24, 23 and air spray nozzles 25, 28, respectively. Pressurized air from the air compressor 37 is sent to the coating liquid tank 36 (monitored by a pressure gauge 35) via the pressure regulating valve 34a, and the coating agent is delivered to the spray gun 2.
From step 7, spray onto the surface of the soap. Conveyor 12
The coating agent adhering to the conveyor 12 is removed by a belt washer 32 disposed on the return side of the conveyor 12, and dried by a belt dryer 33. spray gun 27
The amount of coating agent sprayed from the controller 21
controlled by In the illustrated embodiment, the soap s is coated in three layers.

As shown in FIG. 4, the coating layer curing device 3 includes a room temperature air outlet 18 from a blower 38, a heating device 9, a room temperature air outlet 42 from the blower 39, and a plurality of cold air outlets 41 along the conveyor 12. are arranged. The amount of air blown from the normal temperature air outlet 42 and the cold air outlet 41 is adjusted by an air volume adjustment valve.

The cold air outlet 41 is connected to a heat exchanger 44 as a cooler via an air volume adjustment valve, a heater 40, and a duct 43. The air sucked into the blower 45 from the air intake port 46 is cooled by the heat exchanger 44,
It passes through a duct 43 and is heated to an appropriate temperature and dehumidified by a heater. Therefore, the refrigerant that cools the air in the heat exchanger 44 is transferred to the refrigerant compressor 48, the condenser 47, and the expansion valve 4.
9, is circulated to the evaporator 50.

As shown in FIG. 5, the air volume adjustment valve 63 disposed at the cold air outlet 41 is driven by an electromagnetic actuator 65 to adjust the passage area of the cold air outlet 41. The stroke of the electromagnetic actuator 65 is controlled by the control device 61.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the heating device 9 is actually constructed by disposing three far-infrared heaters 52 inside a hood 56, and each far-infrared heater 52 is connected to a temperature sensor 53. It is controlled by the output of the control device 51 based on the signal. Evaporated gas generated as the soap s dries is discharged from the hood 56 to the outside via the duct 55 by the exhaust fan 54. The far infrared rays emitted directly from the far infrared heater 52 or reflected by the reflector 57 heat the surface of the soap s,
Coating layer 16 is cured.

As shown in FIG.
A press-contact table 11 and a heating roller 97 facing the press-contact table 11 are disposed in the middle of the press-contact table 11 . Transfer film 7
3 is stretched over a plurality of guide rollers 74, tension rollers 82, and guide rollers 83 arranged along the conveyor 12, and the left end portion of the transfer film 73 is intermittently wound up by a winder (not shown).

The tension roller 82 is supported by an electromagnetic vibrator 86,
The electromagnetic vibrator 86 is suspended and supported by a base frame (not shown) by a spring 87. A position sensor 75 disposed within the path of the transfer film 73 detects the boundary line 17 of the transfer film 73 shown in FIG. 2, and stops feeding the transfer film 73 at a predetermined position. The electromagnetic vibrator 86 controls the current of the electromagnetic actuator 85 to adjust the tension applied to the transfer film 73 by the tension roller 82, and at the same time, the AC vibration coil 84 applies slight vibrations to the transfer film 73.

The pressure welding table 11 has a spring 7 mounted on a base 78 supported by a lifting device 80 such as a fluid pressure actuator.
The support table 81 is supported via the support plate 7, and the support table 81 is vertically vibrated by an electromagnetic vibrator 79.
The amplitudes of the electromagnetic vibrator 79 and the electromagnetic vibrator 86 described above are controlled to about 0.3 mm by a control device 89 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 8, three temperature sensors 93, 9 are used to detect the surface temperature of the heating roller 97.
3a and 93b are disposed close to the heating roller 97 and spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction, and are configured to adjust the heat output of the auxiliary far-infrared heater 92. The auxiliary far-infrared heater 92 is disposed at a portion where the heating roller 97 leaves the soap s, and the far-infrared heater 91 is disposed behind the auxiliary far-infrared heater 92 (downstream of the rotation path of the heating roller 97). Thermal transfer machine 4
In order to preheat the soap s sent to conveyor 1
A far-infrared preheater 71 is disposed upstream of the far-infrared preheater 71 , and the heat output of the far-infrared preheater 71 is controlled based on a signal from a temperature sensor 72 .

As shown in FIG. 10, the heating roller 97 is composed of a main shaft 96 coupled with a soft roller made of rubber or the like.
A cylindrical reflection plate 102 and a heater 98 are embedded inside. Temperature sensor 93 arranged on reflection plate 102
The signal c is sent to the control device 90 via a slip ring 99. The heater 98 is energized by the control device 90 via the spring 95 . The currents of the heater 98 and the far-infrared heater 91 are controlled by the output of the control device 90 based on signals from the temperature sensor 93 that detects the surface temperature of the heating roller 97 and the temperature sensor 93c described above.

The far-infrared heater 91 is divided into three parts at the center and both ends of the heating roller 97, and the current of the far-infrared heater 91 at both ends, which is susceptible to the influence of ambient temperature, is the same as that of the central far-infrared heater 91a. The current is controlled separately.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the positioning device 1
11 is a heating roller 97 that heats the soap s on the support stand 81.
stop at a predetermined position related to That is,
A stop plate 117 that can move up and down in the vertical direction to stop the soap s is placed on the front side of the conveyor 12 in the feeding direction, and a stop plate 117 that can be moved up and down in the feeding direction of the conveyor 12 is attached to the bracket 1.
Supported by 19. The servo motor 118 supported by the bracket 119 has a screw shaft 120 connected to the main shaft and a nut 13 fixed to the stop plate 117.
0, and the longitudinal position of the stop plate 117 is adjusted by forward and reverse rotation of the servo motor 118. A bracket 119 supporting the stop plate 117 and the servo motor 118 is fixed to the column 126.
is capable of protruding above the surface of the support base 81 and retracting below the surface of the support base 81 by a lifting device 127 such as a fluid pressure actuator or an electromagnetic actuator.

A pair of left and right guide plates 115 that adjust the lateral position of the soap s are supported by the support base 81 so as to be movable in the lateral direction. That is, each guide plate 115 has a pin 11
4 connects a pair of front and rear nuts 113, and the screw shaft screwed into the nuts 113 is rotatably supported by the side wall 116 of the support base 81, and is rotated in forward and reverse directions by a servo motor 110 via a reduction gear mechanism 112. Ru. The servo motors 118 and 110 can be adjusted by a setting dial plate 121 with a manual dial, but are automatically adjusted by the output signal of the pattern comparison device 122.

The pattern comparison device 122 is set to store a reference pattern set based on the relationship between the picture pattern on the transfer film 73 and the soap SO. On the other hand, in the position detection device 5 shown in FIG.
Detected by 4. The pattern comparison device 122 controls each servo motor 118, 110 according to the positional deviation between the detected pattern and the reference pattern.

Next, the operation of the invented device will be explained. The coating device 2 removes moisture from the surface of the soap s using a water absorption roller 30, and blows heated air to dry the surface of the soap s. The first coating agent is sprayed by the spray gun 27, and heated air is blown from the spray nozzle 25 to dry it, and at the same time, the bubbles of the solvent accompanying the coating are eliminated. Thereafter, the second and third coating agents are similarly sprayed to form a coating layer 16 of a predetermined thickness.

In the case of soap s, the coating agent has an adhesive layer on the surface of the soap s, and forms a coating film that does not dissolve or peel off with water, and the pattern remains until the end.The coating agent uses far infrared rays. A thermoplastic synthetic resin that dries and hardens in a short time.
For example, acrylic paint is selected. The coating layer 16 is heated and cured by the heating device 9 in the coating layer curing device 3 . When the coating agent is acrylic paint, the wavelength of the far infrared rays from the far infrared heater 52 of the heating device 9 is suitably 50 to 100 μm. Far-infrared rays have different absorption rates depending on the irradiated material, and have the property of heating only the surface and not the inside.

The solvent in the coating layer 16 is evaporated by irradiation with far infrared rays, and the coating layer 16 is gradually hardened to form a coating film. The time for the coating layer 16 to harden is extremely short, and the soap s that is irradiated with far infrared rays for a long time may soften and be deformed during thermal transfer.
The temperature is cooled to room temperature (20 to 25°C) by the air from the cold air outlet 41, and the temperature is approximately 10°C in the primary cooling, approximately 4°C in the secondary cooling, and approximately 0°C in the tertiary cooling by the cold air from the cold air outlet 41. Cool until cool.

Next, the soap s is sent to the heat transfer machine 4. A far infrared preheater 7 is installed to reduce the heat load on the heating roller 97.
1 to heat the coating layer 16. The far-infrared preheater 71 heats only the coating layer 16 of the soap s in a short time and does not soften the soap s. When the soap s is sent to the support stand 81 under the transfer film 73 on which the picture pattern is positioned by the position sensor 75, the soap s hits a stop plate 117 shown in FIG. 11 and stops. The base 78 is pushed up by a lifting device 80 such as a fluid pressure actuator, and the soap s is moved along with the transfer film 73 to the heating roller 97.
being pushed to. At this time, the stop plate 117 is lowered by the lifting device 127.

Therefore, the pattern of the transfer film 73 heated by the far-infrared preheater 76 is pressed onto the coating layer 16 on the soap s, and while the pattern is thermally transferred by the rotating heating roller 97, the soap s on the support base 81 is moved to the left by the conveyor. sent away. The boundary line 17 of the next transfer film 73 is the position sensor 75
When detected, the feeding of the transfer film 73 is stopped.

During thermal transfer, the support base 81 is given vertical vibration (the amplitude is small) by the electromagnetic vibrator 79 to prevent the transfer film 73 and the coating layer 16 from being fused together. A thin soft material such as urethane rubber is interposed between the lower surface of the support base 81 and the electromagnetic vibrator 79.
At the same time, the electromagnetic actuator 8 of the electromagnetic exciter 86
5 adjusts the average tension of the transfer film 73 via the tension roller 82, and the vibration coil 84 of the electromagnetic vibrator 86 applies vibration in the tension direction to the transfer film 73 within a predetermined range, so that the transfer film 73 is heated. As soon as it leaves the roller 97, the transfer film 73 is peeled off from the soap s. The vibrator of electromagnetic vibrator 86 is 30~
200Hz is appropriate.

During thermal transfer, the heating roller 97 transfers the transfer film 73
The surface temperature of the part that comes into contact with the soap s decreases, but when the heating roller 97 leaves the soap s, it is heated by the auxiliary far-infrared heater 92, and the surface temperature reaches a predetermined level before it comes into contact with the soap s again. will be recovered. The heat output of the auxiliary far-infrared heater 92 is precisely controlled to compensate for the heat loss transferred from the heating roller 97 to the soap s.
surface temperature becomes uniform. That is, the temperature of the heating roller 97 before the thermal transfer process is determined by the temperature sensor 93a.
The temperature after the thermal transfer process is detected by the temperature sensor 93b, and each temperature sensor 93a,
The output of the control device 90 based on the signal 93b controls the heat output of the auxiliary far-infrared heater 92, and the heating roller 97 is replenished with the amount of heat taken away during the thermal transfer process. The temperature of the heating roller 97 is set at 150 to 250°C.

Since the heating roller 97 has a heater 98 embedded therein, temperature changes in the heating roller 97 can be suppressed, and the start-up time of the thermal transfer device can be shortened. Since the capacity of the heater 98 may be small, even if the operation of the thermal transfer device is suddenly stopped, there is no risk that the temperature of the heating roller 97 will rise abnormally and the heating roller 97 will be burnt out.

In the embodiments described above, it is preferable to use a ceramic far-infrared heater as the far-infrared heater. Moreover, although the case of soap s was described as the transferred object, it can also be applied to wood, paper, metal, food packaging containers, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention includes an electromagnetic vibrator in the tension roller disposed between the rotating heating roller and the winder that winds up the transfer film, and the electromagnetic vibrator causes the transfer film to vibrate in the tensile direction. Therefore, when the transfer film is sent out from the heating roller, the transfer film is quickly and easily peeled off from the object to be transferred due to the vibration in the tensile direction. Therefore, the transfer film will not be fused to the object to be transferred, and even if the transfer speed is increased, there will be fewer defective products, and efficiency will be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an outline of a thermal transfer device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing the relationship between a transfer film and an object to be transferred, and FIG. 3 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a coating device. 4 is a side view of the coating layer curing device, FIG. 5 is a side view showing an enlarged main part of the device, FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the heating section of the device, and FIG. 7 is a front view of the same. Figure 8 is a side view of the thermal transfer machine, Figure 9 is a side view showing the main parts, Figure 10 is a side view of the thermal transfer machine.
1 is a plan sectional view of the heating roller, FIG. 11 is a front view showing a positioning device for a transferred object provided on a press-contact table, and FIG. 12 is a plan view thereof. 2: Coating device, 3: Coating ink layer curing device, 4: Thermal transfer machine, 5: Position detection device, 8:
Dryer, 9: Heating device, 10: Cooler, 11: Pressing table, 12: Conveyor, 15: Transferred object, 52,
91: Far infrared heater, 78: Base, 79,8
6: Electromagnetic vibrator, 80: Lifting device, 81: Support stand, 82: Tension roller, 83: Guide roller, 9
2: Auxiliary far infrared heater, 93: Temperature sensor, 9
7: heating roller, 115: guide plate, 117: stop plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a thermal transfer device that superimposes a pattern on a transfer film onto an object to be transferred and presses it with a rotating heating roller, a tension roller that applies tension to the transfer film is installed between the heating roller and a winder that winds up the transfer film. A thermal transfer device characterized in that a tension roller is equipped with an electromagnetic vibrator that is suspended by a spring and that applies vibrations in a tensile direction to a transfer film.