KR20120135769A - Apparatus and method for compensating alignment error of web layers in roll to roll printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and a method for compensating an inter-web alignment error of a roll-to-roll printer are provided to compensate an inter-web alignment error on a real time basis, thereby improving an inter-web alignment. CONSTITUTION: A device for compensating an inter-web alignment error of a roll-to-roll printer comprises an alignment mark(M1), a first camera(110), a second camera(120), a third camera(130), a trigger sensor(140), and a control unit(150). The alignment mark is formed on a web and a pattern roll. The first camera is positioned in a front side of the pattern roll, thereby photographing a web alignment mark. The second camera is positioned in the front side of the pattern roll, thereby photographing a pattern roll alignment mark while operating with the first camera at the same time. The third camera is positioned in a rear side of the pattern roll, thereby photographing positions of the web alignment mark and pattern alignment mark printed on the web in a test run. The trigger sensor senses the alignment mark formed on the pattern roll, thereby generating operation signals to the first camera, the second camera, and the third camera. The control unit compensates the inter-web alignment error on a real time basis. [Reference numerals] (150) Control unit

Description

Apparatus and method for compensating alignment error of web layers in roll to roll printer}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roll to roll printer, and more particularly, to a web layer alignment error when a circuit product is printed in a multilayer film on a film called a web in a roll to roll printer. The present invention relates to a web interlayer misalignment compensation device and method of a roll-to-roll printing machine that can be minimized.

Printed electronics, which is one of the latest technologies, refers to an electronic device or an electronic product made by a printing process technique, which is a device printed by an automated process on a low-cost substrate.

Unlike the semiconductor method and the PCB manufacturing method, the printed electronics technology directly prints the circuit on the substrate, unlike the semiconductor method or the PCB manufacturing method, which forms a circuit through a complicated process such as exposure, deposition, etching, development, and cleaning in a vacuum environment. Not only can the entire process be drastically shortened, but there is no need to use the chemicals used in each treatment step, it is eco-friendly and prints as much as necessary, so it consumes less material than the conventional method. .

In addition, printed electronics technology is carried out in the air, not vacuum, it can significantly reduce the cost of the production equipment, and can be continuous work by the roll-to-roll method, up to 1/1000 compared to conventional manufacturing methods such as semiconductor or PCB This has the advantage of reducing production costs.

Despite these advantages, however, the roll-to-roll method is characterized by the fact that the web is continuously transported at a speed of up to 60 m / min. The problem arises that the alignment between the web layers is poor.

In order to solve this problem, a certain level of tension must always be applied to the web, the parts feeding the web must be processed and assembled very precisely, and deformation by heat expansion during drying after printing must be completely blocked. .

However, in reality, no matter how precisely the machining is performed, the machining error and the assembly error cannot be completely eliminated. For example, in the case of a pattern cylinder manufactured by plating copper on a machined cylinder and then engraving it into a circuit shape and coating chrome on it for durability, the occurrence of concentricity error of the cylinder during machining cannot be avoided. The concentricity error causes a change in the linear velocity at the instant of ink transfer of the pattern cylinder while changing the radius of rotation during rotation, thereby causing an error in the degree of alignment.

In addition, in the process of drying the printed ink by heat after printing, the web is generally made of a metal or polymer material sensitive to thermal deformation, and each layer of the printed ink is different, and accordingly, the amount of heat energy required for drying is different. Different thermal deformations occur in each layer and the alignment between layers cannot be prevented. In addition, considering the fact that the temperature distribution in the drying unit of the printing machine is not uniform, the temperature between the plurality of drying units installed for the multi-layer printing is also different, and the change in the length of the web for each printing section due to the drying heat is also different. It becomes bad.

As shown in FIG. 1, a web 3 is passed between a pair of pattern rolls 1 and a press-fit roll 2 that rotate relatively as shown in FIG. 1. A roll-to-roll printing machine for printing a circuit product by forming alignment marks M1 and M2 on the web 3 and the pattern roll 1, respectively, and immediately after printing, using an optical device such as a CCD camera 10. Calculate the interlayer alignment error through how misaligned the alignment marks M1 and M2 are superimposed, and feed this back to the rotation drive motor M controller of the pattern roll 1 having the printed pattern. Techniques for compensating for alignment errors by generating relative displacement are known.

However, in the conventional technique as described above, the CCD camera 10 photographs the web 3 in which changes in the length of the web 3 due to changes in tension on the web 3, temperature changes in the drying part, etc. are already reflected in printing. Compensation for alignment errors based on the data is limited, so the compensation effect is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the web interlayer misalignment of a roll-to-roll printing machine, which compensates the interlayer misalignment caused by various components including the web just before printing, greatly improves the interlayer misalignment. The object is to provide a compensation device and method.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a roll-to-roll printing machine for printing a circuit product by passing the web between a pair of relatively rotating pattern roll and the indentation roll, web alignment formed on each of the web and the pattern roll Mark and pattern roll alignment marks; A first camera positioned in front of the pattern roll to photograph a web alignment mark; A second camera positioned in front of the pattern roll to photograph the pattern roll alignment mark while simultaneously operating with the first camera; A third camera positioned at the rear of the pattern roll and photographing positions of a web align mark and a pattern roll align mark printed on the web during a trial run; A trigger sensor installed at the front of the pattern roll to detect an alignment mark of the pattern roll and generate an operation signal to the first to third cameras; And controlling the rotation of the driving motor of the pattern roll so that the pattern roll alignment mark is moved to the setting position of the pattern roll alignment mark which can be accurately overlapped with the web alignment mark upon receiving the shooting information from the third camera. In real driving, the alignment information between the first and second cameras receives alignment marks from the first camera and the second camera to calculate the web layer alignment error through the positional deviation of the alignment marks, thereby rotating the driving motor of the pattern roll. It comprises a control unit 150 for compensating in real time the alignment error between the web layer by controlling.

In this case, an origin mark located on the same circumference as a pattern roll align mark is formed on one side of the pattern roll, and an origin monitoring for transmitting the origin signal to the controller by recognizing the origin mark in front of the pattern roll. The sensor may be further installed.

In addition, the method of compensating the interlayer alignment error of the web of the roll-to-roll printing machine of the present invention includes the first step of forming an alignment mark on the web and the pattern roll, and analyzing the images photographed by the first to third cameras in the test run state. A second step of setting the positions of each alignment mark so that the alignment mark and the pattern roll alignment mark can be accurately overlapped with each other, the positions of the alignment marks obtained from the first camera and the second camera in a running state, And a third step of correcting in real time the inter-layer alignment error calculated from the set position in the second step.

In this case, the second step includes photographing alignment marks formed on the web and the pattern roll immediately before the first camera and the second camera pass the pattern roll, respectively, and the third camera is printed on the printed web and the pattern roll. Photographing the formed alignment marks, and setting the web alignment mark based on the web alignment mark so that the control unit receives the image information from the third camera so that the web alignment mark and the pattern roll alignment mark can be printed in the correct state. Comprising the step of calculating the position, the control unit may be configured to control the rotation of the drive motor of the pattern roll so that the pattern roll alignment mark is located in the setting position.

In addition, in the third step, the alignment marks formed on the web and the pattern roll immediately before the first camera and the second camera pass through the pattern roll, respectively, and the controller controls the image information from the first camera and the second camera. Computing the alignment error between the web layers through the positional deviation of the alignment marks received from the setting position, and the control unit controls the rotation of the driving motor of the pattern roll to move the pattern roll alignment mark by the positional deviation Compensation of the interlayer alignment error in real time.

The present invention configured as described above comprises a first camera and a second camera for photographing alignment marks formed on the web and the pattern roll in front of the pattern roll, and a third camera for photographing the alignment marks printed on the web behind the pattern roll. By setting the position of the pattern roll on which the alignment marks are completely superimposed at the time of commissioning, and setting them in advance. Then, the positions and settings of the alignment marks obtained from the first camera and the second camera at the time of actual operation. Comparing the position between web layers by calculating the position and controlling the operation of the pattern roll to compensate for the web layer alignment errors in real time while reflecting all errors of all parts including the web until printing. Compared with the prior art that the compensation is made after the printing is made, there is an effect that the interlayer alignment is very excellent.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a web interlayer alignment error compensation device of a conventional roll-to-roll printing machine.
2 is a view showing a web interlayer alignment error compensation device of a roll-to-roll printing machine according to the present invention.

The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms and words used in the present specification and claims are to be interpreted in accordance with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that the inventor can properly define the concept of the term in order to explain his invention in the best way. It must be interpreted in terms of meaning and concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Like reference numerals refer to like elements, and only different parts will be mainly described so as not to overlap for clarity.

As shown in FIG. 2, the web interlayer misalignment compensation device of the present invention is a roll-to-roll for printing a circuit product by passing a web 3 between a pair of pattern rolls 1 and a press-in roll 2 that rotate relatively. Applied to the printing press.

The present invention basically includes a web align mark (M1) and a pattern roll align mark (M2) formed on the web (3) and the pattern roll (1), respectively, in front of the pattern roll (1). A first camera 110 positioned at the first position, a second camera 120 positioned at the front of the pattern roll 1, a third camera 130 positioned at the rear of the pattern roll 1, and Trigger sensor 140 for detecting the pattern roll alignment mark (M2) to generate an operation signal to the first camera 110 to the third camera side, and the first camera 110 to the third camera 130. The controller 150 is configured to control the operation of the pattern roll 1 to receive the photographing information from the web layer to calculate the alignment error between the layers in real time.

The alignment mark M1 formed on the web 3 may be formed alone as needed, or may be repeatedly formed at regular intervals along the circumference of the pattern roll 1. The pattern roll align mark M2 is formed at a position exactly overlapping the web align mark M1 at a printing point. Therefore, the pattern roll align mark M2 is printed on the web 3 in a state of overlapping with the web align mark M1 when the pattern roll 1 is rotated.

The first camera 110 is positioned in front of the pattern roll 1 to photograph the web align mark M1. The first camera 110 is a conventional CCD camera is suitable and is programmed to perform a photographing operation by receiving an operation signal from the outside and to send the photographed image data to the controller 150.

The operation signal is generated by the trigger sensor 140 (trigger sensor) installed in front of the pattern roll (1). The trigger signal is installed in front of the pattern roll 1 to detect the pattern roll alignment mark M2. The trigger signal is very suitable as a formal operation signal that outputs a signal at regular intervals since the trigger signal outputs a pulse signal at a predetermined interval when one signal is input and then returns to a standby state.

The second camera 120 is positioned in front of the pattern roll 1 to photograph the pattern roll alignment mark M2. The second camera 120 is installed to operate simultaneously with the first camera 110. The second camera 120 is also suitable as a conventional CCD camera and receives the same trigger signal input to the first camera 110 from the trigger sensor 140 to perform a shooting operation and the captured image data is the controller 150 Is programmed to be sent to.

The third camera 130 is positioned behind the pattern roll 1 and photographs the web align mark M1 and the pattern roll align mark M2 superimposed and printed on the web 3 during the trial run. Similar to the first camera 110 or the second camera 120, the third camera 130 is a normal CCD camera is suitable, and receives a trigger signal from the trigger sensor 140 to perform a photographing operation and captured image The data is programmed to send to the controller 150.

The trigger sensor 140 is programmed such that a trigger signal is input to the first camera 110 and the second camera 120, and a trigger signal is also input to the third camera 130. In this case, the third camera 130 is installed such that the photographing period and the moving period of the alignment marks M1 and M2 coincide with each other. Therefore, the alignment marks M1 and M2 captured by the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 are not photographed in the first image captured by the third camera 130, but after a specific number of times of shooting, The superimposed alignment marks M1 and M2 data are obtained, and the controller 150 recognizes the data obtained from the third camera 130 as the first alignment marks M1 and M2 after a specific number of photographings are taken. do. As described above, when the trigger sensor 140 is programmed to simultaneously generate a trigger signal to the first camera 110 to the third camera 130, the operation control of the first camera 110 to the third camera 130 is greatly controlled. It can be performed easily.

On the other hand, the trigger sensor 140 generates a trigger signal with the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 and generates a new trigger signal to the third camera 130 when a predetermined time elapses during the trial run. It may be programmed to. In this case, the operation control of the first camera 110 to the third camera 130 may be somewhat more difficult than in the former case in which the trigger signal is simultaneously input, but only once without a certain number of unnecessary pre-shooting processes. There is an advantage that the alignment mark (M1, M2) data can be obtained from the third camera 130 through the photographing.

The controller 150 receives the shooting information from the third camera 130 at the time of commissioning, and sets a setting position based on the web alignment mark M1 so as to overlap with the web alignment mark M1 accurately. The rotation of the drive motor M of the pattern roll 1 is controlled to move the pattern roll alignment mark M2 to this setting position.

In addition, the controller 150 receives the photographing information of the alignment marks M1 and M2 from the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 at the time of actual operation, and shows the alignment mark (deviated from the setting position). The misalignment of the M1, M2) calculates the alignment error between the web layers. The web interlayer alignment error is compensated in real time by controlling the rotation of the driving motor M of the pattern roll 1 based on the calculated web layer alignment error.

Meanwhile, an origin mark M3 located on the same circumference as the pattern roll alignment mark M2 is further formed at the printing start point on the pattern roll 1, and the origin mark () is located in front of the pattern roll 1. Home surveillance sensor 160 for recognizing M3) may be further installed. The home monitoring sensor 160 generates a home signal to the controller 150. At this time, the origin monitoring sensor 160 is located in front of the trigger sensor 140 when the direction of the pattern roll (1) as a reference to the origin monitoring sensor 160 recognizes the origin mark (M3) first, and then triggers The sensor 140 recognizes the pattern roll alignment mark M2 located on the same circumference of the origin mark M3 later, so that the controller 150 receives the first signal 110 and the second camera after the origin signal is input. It is possible to recognize that the photographing data transmitted from the camera 120 photographs the first pattern roll align mark M2. Accordingly, the controller 150 can distinguish the first pattern roll align mark M2 through the origin signal. If there is no reference point such as the origin mark M3, it becomes difficult to determine the print start position in the multi-layer printing process, and thus it is difficult to set the position of the first pattern roll alignment mark M2.

Through the web layer alignment error compensation device of the roll-to-roll printing machine of the present invention configured as described above, the printing process reflects not only the change in the length of the web 3 that is changed in each processing step but also the processing, assembly error, and concentricity error of all the components. In the last step, we look at the process of correcting the alignment error between web layers in real time.

The web interlayer misalignment compensation method of the roll-to-roll printing machine according to the present invention comprises the first step of forming the alignment marks (M1, M2) on the web (3) and the pattern roll (1), the first to the first By setting the position of each alignment mark (M1, M2) so that the web alignment mark (M1) and the pattern roll alignment mark (M2) can be accurately overlapped by analyzing the image taken by the camera (110, 120, 130) In the second step, the web interlayer calculated from the positions of the alignment marks M1 and M2 obtained from the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 in the actual driving state and the set position in the second step. The third step is to correct the alignment error in real time.

First, as a first step, the web align mark M1 is repeatedly formed on the web 3 at the circumferential interval of the pattern roll 1, and the pattern roll 1 corresponds to the web align mark M1. The alignment mark M2 is formed.

As a second step, the initial positions of the alignment marks M1 and M2 are set in the trial run state. That is, as the pattern roll 1 rotates, the trigger sensor 140 detects the first pattern roll alignment mark M2. When the trigger signal is generated toward the first camera 110 and the second camera 120, the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 receives the trigger signal and immediately before passing through the pattern roll 1 ( 3) and alignment marks M1 and M2 formed on the pattern roll 1 are photographed.

In addition, a trigger signal is generated in the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 and a trigger signal is also generated in the third camera 130. In this case, due to the difference in the installation position between the first camera 110 and the second camera 120, the third camera 130 takes a certain number of shots and then aligns the superimposed web align mark M1 and the pattern roll. The mark M2 is photographed. The control unit analyzes the image acquired from the third camera 130 and based on the position of the web align mark M1 so that the web align mark M1 and the pattern roll align mark M2 overlap with each other accurately. After setting to the setting position by controlling the rotation of the drive motor (M) of the pattern roll (1) to move the pattern roll alignment mark (M2) to the setting position.

The positional movement of the pattern roll align mark M2 artificially causes slippage between the pattern roll 1 and the web 3 by temporarily slowing or increasing the rotational speed of the pattern roll 1 only for a predetermined time. To make it happen. The controller 150 controls the rotation of the pattern roll 1 by controlling the pulse unit output from the encoder of the driving motor M.

On the other hand, if a predetermined time elapses immediately after printing is performed, the trigger signal may be automatically generated to the third camera 130 side. In this case, the third camera 130 receiving the trigger sensor 140 photographs the alignment marks M1 and M2 formed on the printed web 3 and the pattern roll 1. In this case, an image in which the alignment marks M1 and M2 are superimposed is obtained from the third camera 130. In this case, the controller 150 analyzes the acquired image to align the web alignment mark M1 with the pattern roll. Set the setting position on the basis of the position of the web align mark M1 so that the inmark M2 overlaps in a precisely matched state, and then control the rotation of the driving motor M of the pattern roll 1 to align the pattern roll. Move mark M2 to the setting position. Since the positional movement of the pattern roll alignment mark M2 is the same as described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, when the origin mark M3 is formed on the pattern roll 1, the controller 150 receives the origin signal from the origin monitoring sensor 160 and then inputs it from the first camera 110 and the second camera 120. It is determined that the photographed data to be used is the first pattern roll align mark M2, and the position is set for this pattern roll align mark M2. In this case, precise error management can be made from the printing start point.

As such, when the setting of the alignment marks M1 and M2 is completed, the web-layer alignment error is calculated and corrected in real time according to the following procedure while performing a real operation as a third step.

First, when the trigger sensor 140 recognizes the pattern roll alignment mark M2 in a real driving state, a trigger signal is generated to the first camera 110 and the second camera 120, and the first trigger signal is received. The camera 110 and the second camera 120 simultaneously photograph the web and the pattern roll alignment marks M1 and M2 in a state immediately before printing. Image information captured by the first camera 110 and the second camera 120 is transmitted to the controller 150, which is obtained from the first camera 110 and the second camera 120. By analyzing the image information, the web layer alignment error is calculated as the positional deviation between the setting position set during the trial run and the positions of the alignment marks M1 and M2 photographed during the actual test run. As such, the controller 150 that calculates the web interlayer alignment error controls the rotation of the driving motor M of the pattern roll 1 before printing is performed in the same manner as in the trial run. Is compensated for web layer alignment error in real time by moving the position momentarily by position deviation.

In this way, the present invention is very excellent in accuracy of web interlayer printing since all the web interlayer alignment errors generated from the various parts including the web 3 are compensated in real time immediately before printing is performed.

As described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and those skilled in the art may modify the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Possible, such modifications will fall within the scope of the invention.

1 ... pattern roll 2 ... press roll
3 ... Web 110 ... First Camera
120 ... second camera 130 ... third camera
140 ... trigger sensor 150 ... control unit
160 ... Home monitoring sensor M1 ... Web alignment mark
M2 ... Pattern align mark M3 ... Origin mark

Claims (5)

In a roll-to-roll printing machine for printing a circuit product by passing a web between a pair of relatively rotating pattern rolls and a press-in roll,
An alignment mark formed on each of the web and the pattern roll;
A first camera positioned in front of the pattern roll to photograph a web alignment mark;
A second camera positioned in front of the pattern roll to photograph the pattern roll alignment mark while simultaneously operating with the first camera;
A third camera positioned at the rear of the pattern roll and photographing positions of a web align mark and a pattern roll align mark printed on the web during a trial run;
A trigger sensor which is installed in front of the pattern roll and detects an alignment mark formed on the pattern roll to generate an operation signal on the first to third cameras; And
During the trial operation, the rotation of the driving motor of the pattern roll is controlled so that the pattern roll alignment mark is moved to the setting position of the pattern roll alignment mark which can be accurately overlapped with the web alignment mark by receiving the shooting information from the third camera. In actual operation, the alignment information between the first and second cameras receives alignment marks from the first camera and the second camera to calculate web layer alignment errors through positional deviations of the alignment marks, thereby controlling the rotation of the driving motor of the pattern roll. And a control unit for compensating for the web inter-layer alignment error in real time. The method of claim 1,
One side of the pattern roll is further formed with an origin mark located on the same circumference as the pattern roll alignment mark,
An apparatus for compensating for misalignment between web layers of a roll-to-roll printing machine, characterized in that an origin monitoring sensor is further provided at the front of the pattern roll to recognize the origin mark and transmit an origin signal to the controller. In the web interlayer misalignment compensation method using the web interlayer misalignment compensation device of the roll-to-roll printing machine of claim 1,
Forming an alignment mark on the web and the pattern roll;
A second step of setting the positions of each alignment mark so that the web alignment mark and the pattern roll alignment mark can be accurately overlapped by analyzing the images photographed by the first to third cameras in the test driving state;
And a third step of correcting in real time a positional alignment mark obtained from the first camera and the second camera and an alignment error between web layers calculated from the position set in the second step. Compensation method for web interlayer misalignment of a roll-to-roll printing machine. The method of claim 3,
The second step
Photographing alignment marks formed on the web and the pattern roll immediately before the first camera and the second camera pass the pattern roll, respectively;
Photographing the alignment marks formed on the printed web and the pattern roll by the third camera,
Calculating a setting position based on the web alignment mark such that the control unit receives the image information from the third camera so that the web alignment mark and the pattern roll alignment mark can be printed in a state of being exactly matched;
And a control unit configured to control the rotation of the driving motor of the pattern roll so that the pattern roll alignment mark is located at the setting position. The method of claim 3,
The third step is
Photographing alignment marks formed on the web and the pattern roll immediately before the first camera and the second camera pass the pattern roll, respectively;
Calculating, by the controller, the web layer alignment error through the positional deviation of the alignment marks that are separated from the setting position by receiving the image information from the first camera and the second camera;
Compensating the web interlayer misalignment error of the roll-to-roll printing machine, characterized in that the control unit controls the rotation of the drive motor of the pattern roll to compensate in real time the interlayer misalignment caused by moving the pattern roll alignment mark by the positional deviation. Way.

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