KR101207153B1 - Apparatus for roll printing - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is a printing roll wound on the surface of the blanket; A coater for applying a coating to the blanket; A drying device for drying the coating applied to the blanket or the blanket; A cliché for patterning the coating applied to the blanket; A blanket thickness sensing device for sensing the thickness of the blanket from which the pattern is removed when the pattern of the blanket formed by the cliché is transferred to the printed object; And a control unit for controlling the blanket drying time by the drying apparatus according to the detection result of the blanket thickness detecting apparatus.

Printing Roll, Blanket, Dry, Thickness Sensing

Description

Roll printing device {APPARATUS FOR ROLL PRINTING}

The present invention relates to a roll printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a roll printing apparatus for detecting a change in the thickness of a blanket wound on a printing roll and adjusting the drying time of the blanket according to a detection result.

In order to overcome the shortcomings of photolithography, which has been used in the formation of semiconductor circuit devices and display devices such as LCDs and PDPs, a technique of obtaining a micropattern by a roll printing method has been proposed and researched and developed. It is becoming.

The roll printing equipment for pattern formation can be applied to various methods such as offset printing, reverse offset printing, roll-to-roll printing, and TFT as well as color and BM patterns of R, G, and B, which are components of color filters. The present invention can be widely applied to PDP electrode formation patterns and barrier material transfer patterns. Roll printing equipment usually consists of coaters, rolls, roll drives, clichés, or drive units for substrate stages and stage alignment, in addition to solvents absorbed by clichés and / or pipe cleaners and blankets. A drying apparatus, various sensor apparatuses, etc. for absorbing and drying a blanket can be further provided.

The accuracy and pattern transfer efficiency of the pattern formed by the roll printing method can be determined by the coating state of the coater to the blanket of the roll, the degree of volatilization and waiting time of the solvent before the transfer to the cliché or substrate after the coating, and the stage during the transfer. And the process conditions such as the pressure formed by the gap between the and blanket.

In particular, after the ink is coated on the blanket of the roll from the coater, some of the solvent contained in the coated ink is absorbed by the blanket and some is volatilized into the atmosphere to dry the coated ink. At this point, the blanket has already swelled by absorbing the solvent during the previous ink coating and pattern transfer stages. The more the blanket absorbs and swells the more solvent, the less the blanket will absorb the solvent from the recoated ink. Therefore, the drying of the coated ink is more affected by the degree of volatilization of the solvent into the atmosphere, and thus the waiting time for drying the coated ink until the pattern transfer after the ink coating becomes longer.

In addition, the blanket swells by absorbing the solvent from the coated ink while the ink is coated, but when all the ink coated on the blanket is pattern-transferd and removed by the cliché and the substrate, the blanket surface is exposed to the atmosphere as it is. The solvent absorbed by the blanket volatilizes back into the atmosphere, causing the blanket surface to dry again.

In other words, the blanket is in a reversible non-equilibrium state where the solvent absorption and volatilization, ie, the swelling and deswelling of the blanket, are continuously repeated during the process of ink coating-ink drying atmosphere-pattern transfer-blanket atmosphere exposure-ink coating. Lies.

If the state of the blanket is constantly changing during the entire process of pattern transfer by roll printing, that is, it cannot accurately maintain the constant absorption and volatilization or the degree of swelling of the blanket, the waiting time before the pattern transfer after ink coating This change makes it difficult to secure stable fairness, and it becomes difficult to obtain a transferred pattern having a constant characteristic and shape at all times.

It is an object of the present invention to dry the coating applied to the blanket and the swelled blanket for drying so that the degree of swelling can be adjusted while keeping the swelling state of the blanket always constant during pattern transfer by the roll printing method. It is to provide a roll printing apparatus that can measure the degree of swelling or drying during drying of the swollen blanket using the apparatus, and can control the drying time of the drying apparatus based on this.

The present invention is a printing roll wound on the surface of the blanket; A coater for applying a coating to the blanket; A drying device for drying the coating applied to the blanket or the blanket; A cliché for patterning the coating applied to the blanket; A blanket thickness sensing device for sensing the thickness of the blanket from which the pattern is removed when the pattern of the blanket formed by the cliché is transferred to the printed object; And a control unit for controlling the blanket drying time by the drying apparatus according to the detection result of the blanket thickness detecting apparatus.

According to the present invention, the degree of swelling or drying during drying of the swollen blanket using a drying apparatus for drying the coated coating and the swollen blanket is measured, and the drying time of the drying apparatus is determined based on this. By controlling, the degree of swelling can be adjusted while keeping the swelling state of the blanket always constant during the pattern transfer by the roll printing method.

Roll printing apparatus according to the present invention, the printing roll wound blanket on the surface; A coater for applying a coating to the blanket; A drying device for drying the coating applied to the blanket or the blanket; A cliché for patterning the coating applied to the blanket; A blanket thickness sensing device for sensing the thickness of the blanket from which the pattern is removed when the pattern of the blanket formed by the cliché is transferred to the printed object; And a controller configured to control the blanket drying time by the drying device according to a detection result of the blanket thickness detecting device.

The drying apparatus may be any one of an air injector, an air inhalation apparatus, a heating apparatus, and a high temperature air injector.

The blanket thickness sensing device may include: a housing forming an appearance and installed adjacent to the printing roll; A base part installed in the housing; A connecting bar rotatably coupled in the housing; First and second electrodes provided at one end of the connection bar and the base unit, respectively; A contact roll coupled to the other end of the connection bar and in contact with the blanket of the printing roll; And a detector connected to the first and second electrodes to detect a trajectory of the contact roll according to a change in thickness of the printing roll.

The contact roll may be formed of Teflon, Rochelle's salt and barium titanate.

Since the contact roll is in direct contact with the surface of the blanket, the contact roll may be formed of the Teflon material, which does not damage the surface of the blanket, and the piezoelectric element materials, such as Rochelle salt and barium titanate, are sensitive to the change of the degree of swelling of the blanket. It can be formed as.

The blanket thickness sensing device may further include a spring member connecting the base part and the connection bar.

The blanket thickness sensing device may further include a hinge member for rotatably coupling the connection bar to the housing.

On the other hand, the blanket thickness detection device, the thickness can be detected by an optical method, in this case, the blanket thickness detection device and a laser gun; It may include a spectrum sensor.

The control unit may dry the blanket by operating the drying apparatus such that an increase in the thickness of the blanket detected by the blanket thickness detecting apparatus is 0 to 10 μm.

When the thickness increase due to swelling due to solvent absorption of the blanket exceeds 10 μm, it takes a long time to dry the ink for pattern transfer after the next ink coating, which is undesirable.

Here, the drying time may be 0 to 1 minutes.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the roll printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing roll 1 on which a blanket 2 is wound; A coater (3) for applying the ink (8) as a coating to the blanket (2) wound on the printing roll (1); A drying apparatus 6 for drying the ink 8 applied to the blanket 2 or the swollen blanket 2; A cliché 4 for patterning the ink 8 of the blanket 2 wound on the printing roll 1; A blanket thickness adjusting device for transferring the ink pattern of the blanket 2 formed by the cliché 4 to the substrate 5 to be printed, and then detecting the thickness of the blanket 2 from which the ink pattern has been removed. 7); And a controller for controlling the blanket drying time by the drying apparatus 6 to adjust the thickness or degree of swelling of the swelled blanket 2 according to the detection result of the blanket thickness adjusting device 7.

As shown in FIG. 2, ink is coated on the blanket 2 from the coater 3. At this time, in order to reduce the waiting time by increasing the drying speed of the ink, the ink may be dried using the drying apparatus 6.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the ink 8 coated on the blanket 2 is transferred using the cliché 4 to transfer the pattern 8-1 of the unwanted ink, and then the printed material 5 Transfer the desired pattern 8-2.

Finally, as shown in Figure 4, the solvent absorbed in the blanket (2) while the ink is coated by using the drying device 6 and the blanket thickness detection device 7 blanket thickness or degree of swelling It can be dried while adjusting, so that the state of the blanket (2) to be kept constant before coating the ink. In other words, it is possible to maintain the preferred swelling state of the blanket (2).

As shown in FIG. 5, the blanket thickness sensing apparatus 7 according to the first embodiment includes a housing 15 which forms an appearance and is installed adjacent to the printing roll 1; A base portion 16 installed in the housing 15; A connecting bar 10 rotatably coupled in the housing 15; A spring member 11 connecting the base portion 16 and the connection bar 10; A hinge member 17 for rotatably coupling the connecting bar 10 to the housing 15; First and second electrodes 12 and 13 provided at one end of the connection bar 10 and the base portion 16, respectively; A contact roll 9 coupled to the other end of the connection bar 10 to be in direct contact with the surface of the blanket 2 of the printing roll 1; A power source or detector 14 connected to the first and second electrodes 12 and 13 to detect the trajectory of the contact roll 9 coupled to the connection bar 10 according to the thickness change of the printing roll 1. It may include.

As can be seen in Figures 5 to 8 showing the detection process of the blanket thickness detecting device 7, the surface state of the blanket (2) can be divided into four largely described.

First of all, the surface of the blanket (2-1) which is completely dried and the surface of the blanket (2-2) which absorbs and swells to some extent but is always kept in a constant state immediately before ink coating, and After the pattern transfer of the ink is completed, it can be divided into the surface (2-3) of the blanket which is swelled to the maximum before the blanket drying by the drying apparatus and the surface of the blanket (2-4) drying by the drying apparatus. Can be.

The surface 2-1 of the blanket in the initial state completely dried out of the four blanket states described above has not only poor surface energy but also poor coating property of the ink, and the absorption of the solvent contained in the ink is too fast. It is difficult to ensure stable processability because the drying speed of ink is too fast, and it is difficult to completely dry the blanket until the ink is transferred to the substrate and immediately before coating the ink again. Is not preferred.

Therefore, in consideration of the coating property of the ink on the blanket and the drying speed of the swelled blanket after the pattern transfer, the surface of the blanket to be kept constant absorbs the solvent to some extent and is swollen (2-2 Is suitable.

As shown in FIG. 5, the surface 2-2 of the blanket and the contact roll 9 of the thickness sensing device of the blanket are in contact with each other in a state to be kept just before coating, wherein the first and the first The two electrodes 12 and 13 are in contact with each other and a current is flowing.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, when the ink is coated on the blanket, the thickness sensing device of the blanket is spaced apart from the blanket at a predetermined distance to coat the ink, and as shown in FIG. 6, by the cliché and the substrate. After transferring the pattern and just before the blanket is dried, the blanket has a surface 2-3 swelled by the solvent of the ink.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 7, the blanket thickness sensing apparatus may move to the position as shown in FIG. 5 to be in contact with the blanket surface 2-3. At this time, as shown in Fig. 6, the blanket has a surface (2-3) in the state of absorbing the solvent of the ink and swelling than the blanket surface (2-2) just before the ink coating, so that the blanket The thickness becomes thicker.

Therefore, the contact roll 9 of the blanket thickness sensing device is positioned below the state of FIG. 5 in consideration of the rotation direction of the printing roll 1, wherein the first and second electrodes 12 and 13 are mutually It is spaced apart so that no current flows.

As shown in FIG. 7, the thickness of the blanket decreases as the blanket swelled by the drying apparatus 6 is dried while the printing roll 1 is rotated to change the surface 2-4 of the blanket. In this case, as the printing roll 1 is rotated by the spring member 11 of the blanket thickness sensing device, the contact roll 9 of the blanket thickness sensing device is rotated in the direction of rotation of the printing roll 1. As a result, it can be prevented from moving.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the blanket is dried by the drying apparatus 6, the first and second electrodes 12 are placed when the surface 2-2 of the blanket immediately before the ink coating to be kept constant. (13) are brought into contact with each other again, so that a current flows. At this time, drying of the blanket by the drying apparatus 6 is stopped and ink is coated on the blanket again.

On the other hand, in the blanket thickness sensing apparatus according to the first embodiment described above, the contact roll 9 touches the surface of the blanket to apply pressure to measure the degree of swelling of the blanket. An example of an optical blanket thickness sensing device may be used to more accurately measure the degree of swelling.

As shown in Figure 9, the laser from the laser gun first hits the blanket surface and continues to hit, causing reflections on the surface and bottom of the opaque blanket. Laser light reflected from the surface and the floor will cause constructive / destructive interference, which is closely related to the light path from the surface to the floor, which depends on the swelling of the blanket. The degree of interference is measured by the spectrum detector, which can be quantified by the degree of blanket swelling.

The optical blanket thickness sensing device more accurately measures the degree of swelling of the blanket than the swelling degree is measured differently according to the geometry of the contact roll 9 in the blanket thickness sensing device according to the first embodiment. It can measure and prevent damage to a blanket surface.

As described above, according to the present invention, the degree of swelling or drying of the blanket is measured while drying the swollen blanket using a drying apparatus for drying the ink applied to the blanket and the swollen blanket, and By controlling the drying time of the drying apparatus on the basis, the swelling state of the blanket can always be kept constant during the pattern transfer by the roll printing method.

1 to 4 is a printing process diagram according to the roll printing apparatus according to the present invention,

5 to 8 is an operation of the blanket thickness sensing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention,

9 is a schematic diagram of a blanket thickness sensing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

1: printing roll

2: blanket

2-1: Surface of blanket completely dried

2-2: Blanket Surface Immediately Before Ink Coating

2-3: Swelled blanket surface after ink pattern transfer and before blanket drying

2-4: Surface of blanket during blanket drying

3: coater

4: cliché

5: substrate

6: drying equipment

7: Blanket thickness sensing device

8: ink

8-1: Cliché Ink Pattern

8-2: Ink Pattern of Substrate

9: contact roll

10: connecting bar

11: spring member

12,13: first and second electrodes

14: power or detector

15: housing

16: base part

17: hinge member

Claims (8)

A printing roll on which a blanket is wound; A coater for applying a coating to the blanket; A drying device for drying the coating applied to the blanket or the blanket; A cliché for patterning the coating applied to the blanket; A blanket thickness sensing device for sensing the thickness of the blanket from which the pattern is removed when the pattern of the blanket formed by the cliché is transferred to the printed object; And And a controller configured to control the blanket drying time by the drying device according to a detection result of the blanket thickness detecting device. The blanket thickness sensing device may include: a housing forming an appearance and installed adjacent to the printing roll; A base part installed in the housing; A connecting bar rotatably coupled in the housing; First and second electrodes provided at one end of the connection bar and the base unit, respectively; A contact roll coupled to the other end of the connection bar and in contact with the blanket of the printing roll; And a detector connected to the first and second electrodes to detect a trace of the contact roll according to a change in thickness of the printing roll. The roll printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying apparatus is any one of an air injector, an air intake apparatus, a heating apparatus, and a high temperature air injector. delete The roll printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the contact roll is formed of Teflon, Rochelle's salt, or barium titanate. The roll printing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the blanket thickness sensing device further comprises a spring member connecting the base part and the connection bar. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the blanket thickness sensing device further comprises a hinge member for rotatably coupling the connecting bar to the housing. delete The roll printing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to operate the drying apparatus such that an increase in the thickness of the blanket detected by the blanket thickness sensing device is 0 to 10 μm, thereby drying the blanket.

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