JPH078879A - Fluid-coating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a fluid-coating device enabling to continuously form a coating film varying in the film thickness. CONSTITUTION:A coating head 1 is formed by holding one sheet of thin plate- like shim 4 between split heads 2, 3 and a slot is formed with the shim 4 between both split heads 2, 3. The shim 4 is thinner at one side edge part and is thicker at the other side edge part, thus the slot has also a narrower space at the one side edge part and has a wider space at the other side edge part. Since the space of the slot varies, thickness of a coating film formed with the slot varies along the width direction too.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fluid application device.
Specifically, the present invention relates to a slot type fluid application device for applying a fluid to the surface of an application target.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, some windshields of houses and windshields of automobiles are provided with a light-shielding filter only on the upper part of a glass plate in order to block strong sunlight without obstructing the line of sight. Moreover, the light-shielding filter does not have a uniform color density, but is darker at the top and thinner at the bottom.

On the other hand, typical coating devices include, for example, a spin coater and a roll coater. In this spin coater, the coating liquid is dropped on the base layer while rotating the object to be coated at a constant rotation speed, and the coating liquid is spread thinly by centrifugal force. This is an apparatus for forming a coating film on the surface of an object to be coated. Also,
The roll coater is a method in which a doctor blade or the like forms a coating solution having a constant film thickness on the roller surface and then transfers the coating solution onto the surface of an object to be coated.

[0004]

However, in such a spin coater or roll coater, a coating film having a uniform thickness can be formed accurately, but conversely,
It was not possible to form a coating film having an uneven thickness, and in particular, it was not possible to form a coating film that was thick on one side and thin on the other side.

For this reason, it has been impossible to form a coating film whose color density (that is, film thickness) gradually changes like the above-mentioned light-shielding filter.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional examples, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fluid coating device capable of continuously forming a coating film having a variable film thickness. To provide.

[0007]

A fluid application device of the present invention is provided with a fluid injection port for injecting a fluid into an application head, and a fluid injection port formed in the application head along the width direction. In a fluid application device including a cavity for diffusing the fluid formed in the width direction of the application head and a slot for allowing the fluid in the cavity to have a predetermined thickness and flowing out, the gap between the slots is It is characterized by not being constant across the width.

In the above-mentioned fluid coating device, a plate-shaped body having a non-uniform thickness is sandwiched between a pair of divided heads to form a coating head, and the slot is formed by a gap created between the divided heads by the plate-shaped body. can do.

[0009]

In the fluid coating device of the present invention, the thickness of the fluid coating film is determined by the gap in the fluid thickness direction of the slot,
Moreover, since the gap in the fluid thickness direction of the slot is not constant over the width direction of the slot, the film thickness of the fluid flowing out from the slot can be varied over the width direction. That is, by appropriately designing the gap in the thickness direction of the slot over the width direction, a fluid coating film having a desired film thickness change can be obtained. Moreover, the film thickness can be controlled accurately.

Further, in the fluid application device in which the slot is formed by sandwiching the plate-shaped body between the divided heads, the opening shape of the slot can be easily changed by exchanging the plate-shaped body, and the fluid coating film The change in thickness can be changed freely.

[0011]

1 is a sectional view showing a coating head 1 used in a fluid coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This coating head 1 includes two divided heads 2 and 3 and one shim 4.
2 is shown in FIG. 2 and an exploded perspective view is shown in FIG. On the inner wall surface of one of the divided heads 2, as shown in FIG. 2, a fluid reservoir 5 having a hollow shape is provided over the left and right. The fluid reservoir 5 is horizontally recessed inward from the inner wall surface of the split head 2, and the coating liquid injection port 6 is bored from the upper surface of the split head 2 toward the center of the fluid reservoir 5. There is. The other divided head 3 is provided with a protrusion 7 for positioning from the upper edge of the inner wall surface. By associating this protrusion 7 with the upper surface of the opposed divided head 2, the assembly of the coating head 1 is completed. Sometimes, both heads 2 and 3 can be aligned. The inner wall surface of the divided head 3 is formed flat except for the through holes 8. Further, a tapered portion 9 having a triangular cross-section is projected over the entire width on the left and right sides at the inner wall side edges of the lower surfaces of the two divided heads 2, 3.
A fluororesin 10 such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is coated on the entire lower surface. Sim 4 is
It is a thin metal plate having leg pieces 11 at both ends and notched recesses 12 formed between the leg pieces 11. The plate thickness gradually changes as shown in FIG. The thickness is thin at the side end and thick at the other side end.

As shown in FIG. 3, the divided heads 2 and 3 are combined so that the shim 4 is sandwiched between the inner wall surfaces, and the bolt 14 inserted into the through holes 8 and 13 of the divided head 3 and the shim 4 is divided. The application head 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is configured by screwing the head 2 into the screw hole 15 and tightly tightening the bolt 14. In the coating head 1 thus assembled, the notch-shaped recess 12 of the shim 4 forms the slot 16 for shaping the coating liquid between the inner wall surfaces of the divided heads 2 and 3, and the lower end of the slot 16 is the lower surface of the coating head 1 and the nozzle. The opening of the fluid reservoir 5 faces the upper end of the slot 16 and communicates with the inside of the slot 16. Since the shim 4 is thick at one end and thin at the other end, the slot 16 formed between the divided heads 2 and 3 has a large gap at one end like the shim 4, and the other side has a large gap. The gap becomes smaller at the edges.

When the coating liquid is supplied from the coating liquid injection port 6 into the fluid reservoir 5, the coating liquid is supplied to the fluid reservoir 5.
Fills the inside and spreads over the entire width within the fluid reservoir 5. Further, the coating liquid flows out from the fluid reservoir 5 into the slot 16 by the supply pressure, is adjusted to have the same film thickness as the slot 16, flows out from the nozzle opening 17 at the lower end, and is formed on the surface of the coating object 18. It And at this time, slot 1
Since the gap 6 changes in the width direction, the film thickness of the coating film 19 shaped by the slot 16 also changes in the width direction in the same manner as the slot 16, and the coating object 1
On the surface of No. 8, a coating film 19 having a film thickness varied in the width direction
Is formed. Here, the flow rate of the coating liquid and the coating object 18
There is a certain relationship with the feeding speed of
The feeding speed of No. 8 is higher than the flow rate (ejection speed) of the coating liquid. For this reason, the coating liquid having a uniform film thickness discharged from the nozzle port 17 is thinly spread when being applied to the surface of the object to be coated 18, and is even thinner than the film thickness given by the slot 16. The coating film 19 is formed on the surface of the coating object 18.

Therefore, the planar shape of the shim 4 is now shown in FIG.
If it has a wedge shape as shown in (a), the opening shape of the slot 16 also becomes substantially wedge-shaped as shown in FIG. 4 (b), and the coating liquid flowing out from the slot 16 also has a substantially wedge-shaped cross section. It is discharged as a strip-shaped coating film 19 and is applied to the surface of the application object 18 such as glass in a thinly stretched state. Thus, the surface of the coating object 18 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), a coating film 19 that is thicker on one side and gradually thinner toward the other side is formed. Now, assuming that this coating liquid is paint for a light-shielding filter, the coating object 18
A glass plate having a gradually changing color density is formed on the surface of the glass plate, which is a glass plate having a light-shielding function that can be used, for example, for windshields and windshields of automobiles. can do.

In such an application head 1, by exchanging shims 4 having different thicknesses or shims 4 having different thickness gradients, the opening shape of the slot 16 can be easily changed without exchanging the division heads 2 and 3. Thus, the film thickness of the coating film 19 and the degree of change in the thickness can be changed.
Further, the inner surfaces of the divided heads 2 and 3 are processed to form the slots 16
If the opening shape is formed in an arbitrary shape (for example, a corrugated shape), the film thickness of the coating film 19 can be arbitrarily changed. For example, thick and thin portions are alternately arranged in stripes. It is also possible to form the coating film 19.

The coating head 1 is used as a part of a fluid coating device A as shown in FIG. 5, for example. The fluid applying apparatus A includes a cabinet section 20 and an apparatus main body 21, and a tank and a controller that store the application liquid are stored in the cabinet section 20. The apparatus main body 21 is installed on the cabinet section 20. ing. Device body 21
Is mainly a feeding mechanism section 22 for horizontally feeding the coating object 18 and the coating object 1 fed by the feeding mechanism section 22.
Coating mechanism 24 for coating the coating liquid on the surface of 8
And a measuring head 23 for measuring the plate thickness of the coating object 18 immediately before coating.

The feed mechanism section 22 is for adsorbing the object to be coated 18 such as a glass substrate on the upper surface of the table 25 and horizontally transporting it at a constant speed. The table 2 is provided with the guide rail 27.
Four sliders 28 provided on the lower surface of the rail 5 are slidably supported by guide rails 27. When a ball screw mechanism (not shown) is driven by a drive source 29 such as a servomotor attached to the base 26, the table 25 runs smoothly along the guide rail 27 at a constant speed. Further, this table 25 is an air table, and the lower surface of the coating object 18 is adsorbed and fixed from the vacuum suction hole 31 on the surface, and the coating object 18 is fed at a constant speed together with the table 25.

As shown in FIG. 5, the coating mechanism section 24 is arranged so as to straddle the conveyance path of the object to be coated 18, and the feeding mechanism section 22.
Is provided above. FIG. 6 is a view showing the coating mechanism section 24 in detail from the side. In the coating mechanism section 24, a coating arm 34 is laterally provided between the upper ends of a pair of lifting rods 33 that are held by a lifting holder 32 so as to be slidable up and down. Is attached. The elevating holder 32 is fixed to a shelf portion 35 that projects laterally from the base 26, an air cylinder 36 is installed directly below the elevating rod 33, and the upper end surface of the output shaft 37 of the air cylinder 36 is the elevating rod 33. It faces the lower end surface. Therefore,
When the output shaft 37 of the air cylinder 36 is projected upward and the lower end surface of the elevating rod 33 is pushed up, the coating head 34 is raised together with the coating arm 34. In addition, the air cylinder 36
When the output shaft 37 of 1 is retracted downward, the coating head 1 descends together with the output shaft 37 by its own weight.

Below both ends of the coating head 1,
Numerically controlled linear actuators 38 are installed respectively. The linear actuator 38 is connected to a motor 40 such as a servo motor or a pulse motor via a joint 39. When the input shaft 41 on the bottom surface is rotated by the motor 40, the stopper rod 42 on the top surface is connected.
Project upwards. Moreover, this linear actuator 38 has a screw mechanism inside, and the stopper rod 42 projects by a distance proportional to the rotation speed of the input shaft 41. Then, when the stopper rod 42 of the linear actuator 38 projects, the output shaft 3 of the air cylinder 36
When the coating head 1 is lowered by retracting 7 and the coating head 1 is lowered, the lower end surface of the elevating rod 33 is lifted by the air cylinder 3 at the moment when the lower surfaces of both sides of the coating head 1 contact the upper ends of the stopper rods 42.
6 is separated from the output shaft 37, and the coating head 1 is supported and positioned by the linear actuator 38 at that position. The measuring head 23 for detecting the plate thickness of the coating object 18 is provided on a measuring arm 43 arranged in parallel with the coating arm 34.

The protrusion distance of the stopper rod 42 of the linear actuator 38 is controlled by the output of the measuring head 23. That is, when the measurement head 23 measures the plate thickness of the coating object 18, the coating head 1 is placed at a position where the gap between the coating head 1 and the coating object 18 is the optimum distance (for example, several tens of microns to several hundreds of microns). The protruding length of the stopper rod 42 of the linear actuator 38 is determined so as to support and position it.

When the object 18 to be coated adsorbed on the upper surface of the table 25 is fed below the measuring head 23 by the feed mechanism 22, the measuring head 23 measures the plate thickness of the object 18 to be coated. To be done. When the plate thickness is measured, the lowered position of the coating head 1 is determined, the protruding length of each stopper rod 42 for stopping the coating head 1 at that position is calculated, and the stopper rod 42 projects by the calculated amount. Then, when the output shaft 37 of the air cylinder 36 is retracted and the coating head 1 is lowered, the lower surface of the lowered coating head 1 contacts the stopper rod 42. At this time, the output shaft 37 of the air cylinder 36 is separated from the lifting rod 33. When the coating start point of the coating object 18 reaches the nozzle opening 17, the coating liquid is supplied from the coating head 1 to coat the surface of the coating object 18. In this way, when the coating is completed, the coating head 1 rises again and the stopper rod 42 retracts, and the table 25
The upper object 18 to be coated is peeled from the table 25 by the attachment / detachment pin.

In the above embodiment, the coating liquid is applied to the upper surface of the coating object that is being conveyed horizontally. However, the coating head is disposed on the lower surface side or the side surface side of the coating object to be coated. The coating liquid may be applied to the lower surface or the side surface of the object. It is also possible to dispose the coating heads on both sides of the object to be coated and simultaneously apply the coating liquid to, for example, the upper surface and the lower surface of the object to be coated. Further, the type of the coating object is not particularly limited, and the surface is not particularly limited to the one having a smooth surface, and the fluid coating device of the present invention may be a coating object such as a printed wiring board having a copper pattern wiring formed thereon. Can be used. The type of fluid to be applied is not limited to a liquid, and any fluid having a fluidity such as slurry, powder, liquid emulsion may be used.

[0023]

According to the present invention, since the film thickness of the fluid flowing out from the slot can be changed in the width direction, the desired film thickness can be obtained by appropriately designing the gap in the thickness direction of the slot in the width direction. A fluid coating with changes can be obtained. Moreover, the film thickness of the fluid coating film can be controlled accurately.

Therefore, for example, even in the step of manufacturing a light-shielding filter in which a coating material for a filter is applied to a windshield or a windshield of an automobile and the film thickness becomes thicker on one side and gradually becomes thinner. The light-shielding filter can be formed continuously and accurately.

Further, in the fluid coating device in which the slot is formed by sandwiching the plate-shaped body between the divided heads, the shape of the slot can be easily changed by exchanging the plate-shaped body, and the thickness of the fluid coating film can be changed. And the degree of change can be freely adjusted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a coating head used in a fluid coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing each component of the above coating head.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the coating head of the above.

4A is a view showing a planar shape of a shim, FIG. 4B is a view showing an opening shape of a slot, and FIG. 4C is a view showing a coating film applied on a surface of an application target.

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view showing a fluid coating device including the coating head of the above.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a coating mechanism section and a measuring head in the above fluid coating apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Coating Head 2 Split Head 3 Split Head 4 Shim 5 Fluid Reservoir (Cavity) 6 Coating Liquid Injection Port (Fluid Injection Port) 16 Slot

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A fluid injection port for injecting a fluid into an application head, and a width direction formed in the application head,
A fluid application device comprising a cavity for diffusing a fluid injected from the fluid injection port in the width direction of the application head, and a slot for allowing the fluid in the cavity to have a predetermined thickness and flowing out. A fluid application device characterized in that the gap between the slots is not constant across the width of the slots. 2. A plate-shaped body having a non-uniform thickness is sandwiched between a pair of divided heads to form an application head, and the slot is formed by a gap generated between the divided heads by the plate-shaped body. The fluid application device according to claim 1.