KR20090068123A - Coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A coating apparatus is provided to improve accuracy of a thickness of a coated layer by adjusting properly the transferring amount of paints. A coating apparatus includes a tube(2), a housing, a paint injection unit, a paint discharge unit, and a pump(7). A fluid is supplied to the tube. The tube is expanded or contracted by the fluid. A manifold(3) for receiving the tube is formed in the housing. The paint injection unit is formed by connecting the manifold with the housing. The paint discharge unit is formed by connecting the manifold with the housing. The pump is connected to the tube. The pump is used for contracting the tube in order to fill the manifold with the paints or for expanding the tube in order to discharge the paints from the manifold.

Description

Coating device {COATING APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a coating apparatus capable of appropriately adjusting the feed amount of a coating material, improving the accuracy of the coating film thickness, and at the same time making the apparatus structure compact.

Background Art Conventionally, Patent Documents 1 and 2 are known as coating apparatuses used in manufacturing fields such as plasma display panels, liquid crystal panels, and semiconductor manufacturing fields, which require film thickness precision. In these patent documents, what is called a tube-diaphragm pump is employ | adopted for supply of the paint to a coating device. As a tube diaphragm pump, patent document 3 is known, for example. In Patent Literature 3, a tube is disposed coaxially in a cylinder, a working fluid space is formed outside the tube, and a resist resist serving as a transfer fluid is allowed to flow inside the tube. Then, the tube is deformed in the radial direction by the acceleration and deceleration by the working fluid, thereby obtaining a pumping action and transferring the resist liquid.

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-50026

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-54698

[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-234589

In the form of pressurizing the tube from the outside as in the background art, for example, the cross-sectional circular tube is deformed radially in an elliptical shape or the like, and the pump action is performed by the deformation of the tube rather than the change in the inner volume of the tube. For this reason, it is difficult to adjust the conveyance amount of a fluid, and especially when it is applied to the coating apparatus which requires uniformity of a film thickness, film thickness adjustment was extremely difficult. In addition, the pressurization from the outside of the tube secures a working fluid space around the outside of the tube. Therefore, a working fluid space having a larger capacity than that of the fluid is required. Therefore, the size of the coating device is increased due to a large size that is not suitable for the amount of fluid being transported. There was also a problem that would make it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and provides a coating apparatus capable of appropriately adjusting the conveying amount of paint, improving the accuracy of the coating film thickness, and at the same time making the apparatus structure compact. It aims to do it.

The coating apparatus according to the present invention includes a tube in which fluid is supplied to or discharged from the inside, and is expanded and contracted, a housing in which a manifold for accommodating the tube is formed, and a paint introduction portion formed in communication with the manifold in the housing; A paint discharge portion formed in the housing in communication with the manifold, and connected to the tube to shrink the tube to fill the paint in the manifold from the paint introduction portion, or to expand the tube and fill the paint in the manifold. It is characterized in that it is provided with a pump for supplying a non-compressible and non-volatile fluid to the inside of the tube or to suck it out of the inside of the tube in order to discharge it from the paint discharge portion.

The pump is a syringe pump, which is configured by connecting a cylinder of the syringe pump to the housing, and forms a through hole communicating the manifold and the inside of the cylinder in the housing. The connecting structure between the housing and the cylinder of the syringe pump may be directly connected to each other or may be connected through a connecting member such as a pipe. In addition, the through hole may be either direct communication between the manifold and the cylinder, or both communication through a connecting member such as a pipe.

The paint introduction portion is characterized in that a non-return valve for preventing the back flow of the paint filled in the manifold.

The housing is configured as a die body, the tube is embedded in the manifold of the die body, and the paint discharge portion is configured as a slit-shaped nozzle.

In the coating device according to the present invention, the feed amount of the coating material can be appropriately adjusted, the accuracy of the coating film thickness can be improved, and the device configuration can be made compact.

Preferred Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, one preferred embodiment of the coating device which concerns on this invention is described in detail with reference to an accompanying drawing. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the coating device 1 according to the present embodiment basically includes a tube 2 in which the fluid F is supplied to or discharged from the inside and expanded and contracted, and a tube ( The die body 4 as a housing in which the manifold 3 containing 2) is formed, the paint introduction portion 5 formed in communication with the manifold 3 in the die body 4, and the die body 4 A slit-shaped nozzle 6 serving as a paint discharging portion formed in communication with the fold 3 and connected to the tube 2, and the tube 2 is shrunk so that the paint P is introduced into the manifold 3 from the paint introduction portion 5. ), Or to expand the tube (2) to discharge the paint (P) filled in the manifold (3) from the slit-shaped nozzle (6), incompressible or nonvolatile fluid (F) inside the tube (2) And a pump (7) for supplying to or suctioning out from the inside of the tube (2).

The pump 7 is a syringe pump, in which the cylinder 12 of the syringe pump 7 is directly connected to the die body 4, and at the same time, the manifold 3 and the cylinder 12 inside the die body 4. The through hole 4a which communicates with is formed. On the paint introduction part 5 side, the backflow prevention valve 8 which prevents the backflow of the paint P filled in the manifold 3 is provided.

Figure 1 (a) is an overall configuration diagram including the side cross-section of the die body at the time of paint suction, Figure 1 (b) is a cross-sectional view seen from the arrow along the line AA of Figure 1 (a), Figure 2 ) Is a cross-sectional side view of a die body and the like during the discharging of the paint, and FIG. The coating apparatus 1 which concerns on this embodiment mainly uses the die-body 4 which forms the coating film in the coating object X, such as a glass panel, and performs coating, and the die-body 4 has a coating material ( It consists of a supply system 9 for supplying P), a tube 2 built in the die body 4, and a pump 7 for supplying or discharging the fluid F to the tube 2.

The die body 4 is formed of a metal material such as stainless steel with high rigidity. The die body 4 is formed long in the width direction of the painting object X, and travels in the longitudinal direction of the painting object X by a driving mechanism (not shown). Inside the die body 4, a hollow cylinder cylindrical manifold 3 is formed along the longitudinal direction. The slit nozzle 6 is formed in the lower part of the manifold 3 by communicating with it. The slit-shaped nozzle 6 is formed to penetrate the die body 4 downwardly from the manifold 3 over substantially the entire length of the manifold 3 in the longitudinal direction. In addition, the die main body 4 communicates with the manifold 3 to form a paint introduction portion 5 such as a distribution hole.

The supply system 9 is connected to the paint introduction portion 5. The supply system 9 is a paint tank 10 in which the paint P is stored, and a tube pipe 11 having one end inserted into the paint tank 10 and the other end connected to the paint introduction portion 5. It is installed in the middle of the tube pipe 11 which is the paint introduction part 5 side with respect to the die main body 4, and allows the distribution of the paint P from the paint tank 10 to the manifold 3. And a non-return valve 8 for preventing the reverse flow of the paint P from the manifold 3 to the paint tank 10. The check valve 8 is preferably installed as close as possible to the paint introduction portion 5.

In the manifold 3 of the die main body 4, the elongate tube 2 which is free to expand and contract along a longitudinal direction is accommodated. The tube 2 is formed of a synthetic resin material which is flexible and flexible. The tube 2 is formed in the sealing form which has the opening part 2a in one place. In the example of illustration, the opening part 2a is formed in the longitudinal end side of the tube 2. One end side of the tube 2 is fixed to the longitudinal one end of the manifold 3. One end of the manifold 3 passes through the die body 4 to form a through hole 4a, and the opening 2a of the tube 2 is inserted through the through hole 4a. The other end side of the tube 2 is fixed to the other end in the longitudinal direction of the manifold 3. The tube 2 expands and its internal volume increases, narrowing the space in the manifold 3. On the other hand, the tube 2 is contracted so that its internal volume is reduced, causing the space in the manifold 3 to expand.

The die body 4 is provided with a pump 7 in communication with the through hole 4a on the other end side of the manifold 3. In this embodiment, the syringe pump is illustrated. The pump 7 includes a cylinder 12 connected to the opening 2a of the tube 2 through the through hole 4a, a piston 13 slidably reciprocated in the cylinder 12, and a piston 13 It consists of a drive unit 14 for driving (). The cylinder 12 of the pump 7 is attached by direct connection to the die body 4. The inside of the cylinder 12 is in direct communication with the inside of the tube 2 through the opening 2a. An incompressible or nonvolatile fluid F is enclosed in the cylinder 12 in which the internal volume is expanded and contracted by the reciprocating movement of the piston 13.

The pump 7 supplies the fluid F to the inside of the tube 2 by suction or discharge from the inside of the tube 2 by the reciprocating movement of the piston 13, and the tube 2 expands and contracts by this. . In the position where the piston 13 is most retracted, the tube 2 is set to the initial contraction state, and in the position where the piston 13 is the most advanced, the tube 2 is set to the maximum expansion state. When the tube 2 is contracted, the inside of the manifold 3 is in a negative pressure state, whereby the paint P flows from the supply system 9 through the paint introduction section 5, thereby manifolding. (3) is filled in. In addition, when the tube 2 expands, the internal pressure of the manifold 3 is increased, and the non-return valve 8 also acts together so that the paint P filled in the manifold 3 is slit-shaped nozzle 6. Is discharged from

The initial contraction state of the tube 2 is set to a state in which the fluid F remains in the tube 2 to some extent even though it is set to a natural state in which no fluid pressure is applied to the tube 2, but is slightly preloaded. Alternatively, the fluid F may be almost drawn out from the tube 2 to be retracted or contracted. In the present embodiment, the syringe pump is exemplified as the pump 7, but a diaphragm pump or the like may be used.

Next, the effect | action of the coating device 1 which concerns on this embodiment is demonstrated. First, the standby state will be described. The paint P is filled in the manifold 3 by the pump 7. As shown in FIG. 1, the piston 13 of the pump 7 is moved backward, and the non-compressible and nonvolatile fluid F is sucked out from the inside of the tube 2. As shown in FIG. When the fluid F is aspirated, the tube 2 inflated by the fluid F filled therein contracts while its internal volume decreases. When it contracts, the manifold 3 will be in a negative pressure state. Thereby, the paint P flows into the manifold 3 from the supply system 9 through the paint introduction part 5, and is filled. In the position where the piston 13 is most retracted, the tube 2 is in an initial contraction state, and at that time, the amount of paint filled in the manifold 3 is used for one painting operation.

Next, a description will be given of the painting state. The driving mechanism (not shown) starts the moving movement of the die body 4, and when the painting start position is reached, the paint P is discharged from the slit nozzle 6 A coating film is formed in the coating object X. During the painting period, the piston 13 of the pump 7 is gradually advanced little by little. When the piston 13 is advanced in this manner, the fluid F in the cylinder 12 is gradually supplied into the tube 2 little by little, thereby increasing the internal volume of the tube 2 little by little, and thus the tube 2. Keeps inflating little by little. As the tube 2 expands, the space in the manifold 3 is narrowed, and the paint P filled in the manifold 3 is slit due to the increase in the pressure in the manifold 3 due to the narrowing. It discharges from the nozzle 6 toward the coating object X, and a coating film is formed by this. At this time, the paint P is prevented from flowing back into the paint tank 10 through the supply system 9 by the action of the check valve 8.

In the stage where the die main body 4 reaches the coating end position of the coating object X, the fluid 2 supplied from the pump 7 brings the tube 2 into the maximum expansion state, whereby the manifold 3 ) The increase in the internal pressure is stopped, and the discharging of the paint P from the slit nozzle 6 is finished. As described above, one painting work is completed. After completion of the painting work, the fluid F in the tube 2 is quickly sucked out by the pump 7 to be in an initial shrinkage state in order to shift to the standby state for the next painting. Thereby, the coating material P is filled in the manifold 3 as mentioned above.

In the coating device 1 according to the present embodiment described above, unlike the background art, the tube 2 is pressurized from the inside and the tube 2 is expanded and contracted in a form in which the internal volume is changed. As a result, the amount of change in the inner volume of the tube 2 remains as it is, the amount of filling of the paint P or the amount of discharge from the slit nozzle 6 can be adjusted very easily. In addition, since the tube 2 expands uniformly in the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped nozzle 6, the discharge amount in the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped nozzle 6 becomes uniform, and the die body 4 Coating with a uniform film thickness in the longitudinal direction of () is attained. Therefore, in the coating apparatus required to apply | coat with a uniform film thickness, the discharge amount of the coating material P, etc. can be adjusted and managed suitably and reliably. Therefore, the precision of coating film thickness can also be improved. In addition, since the tube 2 is pressurized from the inside, the amount of fluid supplied from the pump 7 to the tube 2 or discharged from the tube 2 can be suppressed to be less than or equal to the maximum discharge amount of the paint P. The device 1 can be made compact. In particular, even when the tube 2 is accommodated in the die main body 4, the compact coating apparatus 1 can be comprised.

In the present embodiment, the tube 2 is incorporated in the manifold 3 of the die body 4, so that the die body 4 is compared with the case where various devices are mounted on the upper portion of the die body 4 or the like. The vibration generated during the traveling movement of the c) and the longitudinal shaking of the die body 4 can be reduced. The cylinder 12 of the pump 7 is directly connected to the die body 4, and the pump 7 is allowed to communicate directly with the tube 2 in the die body 4 via the through hole 4a so that therebetween Since the piping is omitted, the adverse effect caused by the piping such as changing the internal volume of the pipe and fluctuating the amount of paint when the fluid is pumped from the pump 7 to the tube 2 can be eliminated. By installing the non-return valve 8 directly or as close as possible to the paint introduction portion 5, the amount of paint P returned to the supply system 9 at the time of expansion of the tube 2 can be reduced. This also can suppress variations in the amount of paint discharged from the nozzle 6.

In addition, the tube 2 expands immediately due to the occurrence of the piston stroke of the pump 7, and the coating material P can be discharged from the nozzle 6 instantly, thereby improving the starting characteristic of the discharging operation. have. Therefore, coating control can also be performed smoothly.

In the said embodiment, although the structure which accommodates the tube 2 in the die main body 4 was illustrated and demonstrated, as shown in FIG. 3, the housing 15 is provided separately from the die main body 4, and the housing ( At the same time as the pump 7 is installed, the tube 2 is embedded in the manifold 3 formed in the housing 15, and the paint introduction portion 5 and the paint discharge portion formed in the housing 15 are installed. It goes without saying that a single pumping pump device may be configured to allow the coating material P to be introduced and discharged from (16). Then, by supplying the coating material P to the die body 4 from the pump apparatus, the coating material P can be discharged from the slit-shaped nozzle 6 of the die body 4 and coated. In the figure, 17 is an open / close valve with a valve controller, 18 is a connection pipe connecting the housing 15 and the die main body 4 to each other. It goes without saying that even the coating apparatus 1 having such a configuration exhibits the same effects as those of the above embodiment.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the connection structure of the housing 15 and the cylinder 12 of the syringe pump 7 was made into the direct connection type, you may connect via the connection member, such as piping. In addition, although the through hole 4a makes direct communication between the manifold 3 and the inside of the cylinder 12, you may make it communicate with each other through connection members, such as piping.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is explanatory drawing at the time of suction which shows one preferable embodiment of the coating device which concerns on this invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view at the time of discharge of the coating device shown in FIG.

3 is a system diagram showing another embodiment of the coating device according to the present invention.

<Description of the code>

1 coating device

2 tubes

3 manifold

4 die body

4a through

5 Paint introduction part

6 slit nozzle

7 pump

8 non-return valve

12 cylinder

15 housing

16 Paint Dispensing Department

P paint

F Incompressible and nonvolatile fluid

Claims (4)

A tube in which fluid is supplied to or discharged from the inside and expanded and contracted, a housing having a manifold for accommodating the tube, a paint introduction portion formed in communication with the manifold, and the housing A paint discharge portion formed in communication with the manifold, and connected to the tube, and the tube is contracted to fill the paint in the manifold from the paint introduction portion, or to expand the tube to fill the paint filled in the manifold with the paint. And a pump for supplying an incompressible and nonvolatile fluid to the inside of the tube or suctioning it out of the inside of the tube for discharging from the discharge portion. The method according to claim 1, The pump is a syringe pump, which is configured by connecting a cylinder of the syringe pump to the housing, and forms a through hole communicating the manifold and the inside of the cylinder in the housing. Painting equipment. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Painting apparatus, characterized in that the non-return valve is installed on the paint introduction side to prevent the back flow of the paint filled in the manifold. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And the housing is configured as a die main body, the tube is embedded in the manifold of the die main body, and the paint discharge portion is configured as a slit-shaped nozzle.

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