TWI799552B - Turn bar - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a turn bar capable of stably supporting webs while having a low manufacturing cost. According to the present invention, there is provided a turn bar for guiding a web-like workpiece in a non-contacting manner, which includes a cylindrical roller body 2 made of a porous body, and an air discharge mechanism for discharging air from an outer surface of the roller body, wherein the roller body is formed of a plurality of cylindrical porous bodies 12, 12...whose axial end faces are connected to each other.

Description

Steering pole

This invention relates to a steering rod, specifically, to a steering rod that guides a sheet of material such as a strip of thin film in a non-contact manner.

A known processing method involves continuously feeding a sheet of web from an upstream roller along a predetermined path, processing it, and then winding it around a downstream roller. In this processing step, the sheet is fed along a prescribed path by numerous rollers, including feed rollers, guide rollers, and take-up rollers, while undergoing processes such as printing, lamination, drying, and cutting.

These rollers are mostly made of metal or rubber, and the sheet is conveyed while in contact with the surface of these rollers. As a result, the particles that detach from these rollers are transferred to the sheet, which leads to a decrease in the quality of the final product made from the sheet.

Furthermore, due to the speed difference between the sheet and the rollers during transport, the tension acting on the sheet, and the friction between the sheet and the rollers, the sheet may be damaged, wrinkled, or stretched, leading to a decrease in the yield of the final product. This problem is more pronounced at the steering rod section of the transport path that reverses the transport direction of the sheet.

To address this problem, a non-contact guide roller (steering rod) utilizing an air film has been proposed (Patent 1). The guide roller of Patent 1 works by allowing pressurized gas to flow into the interior of a hollow body with multiple gas ejection holes formed on its surface, causing the gas to be ejected from the gas ejection holes on the surface of the hollow body, and supporting the elongated film in a non-contact manner along the outer circumference of the hollow body, thereby reversing the transport path of the elongated film.

[Previous Technical Documents] [Patent Document]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-245028

The aforementioned guide rollers (steering rods) have advantages such as the ability to reverse elongated thin films in a non-contact manner. However, when the nozzles are formed using machining, the diameter of the nozzles increases, resulting in a greater pressure difference between the area directly above and around the nozzles. As a result, the sheet becomes more prone to wobbling, leading to problems such as instability in supporting the sheet. Furthermore, using laser processing to form the nozzles increases manufacturing costs.

This invention was made in view of this problem and aims to provide a steering rod that is low in manufacturing cost and can stably support sheet metal.

According to the present invention, a steering rod is provided for guiding sheet-like workpieces in a non-contact manner. The steering rod has: a cylindrical roller body made of porous material; and an air discharge mechanism for discharging air from the outer surface of the roller body, wherein the roller body is composed of a plurality of cylindrical porous materials whose end faces are connected to each other in the axial direction.

Based on this structure, a porous body with fine pores can be used as the roller body to support the sheet material in a non-contact manner. Therefore, pressurized gas can be ejected from the outer peripheral surface of the roller body in a consistent and uniform manner, without the need for a machining process to form the pores from which the gas is to be ejected.

According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the aforementioned air discharge mechanism has a hollow shaft on which the aforementioned cylindrical roller body is mounted on the outer peripheral surface, the aforementioned cylindrical porous body then engages with an adjacent cylindrical porous body, and has a recess on the inner peripheral surface near the engagement portion with the adjacent aforementioned cylindrical porous body.

When the cylindrical porous materials that make up the roller body are joined together using an adhesive during the manufacturing process, if excess adhesive overflows from the joint and flows to the surface of the cylindrical porous material that becomes the sheet support surface, it will hinder the expulsion of pressurized air from the sheet support surface, thus making it difficult to support the sheet.

However, according to the structure described above, when the cylindrical porous materials are joined together with an adhesive, since the adhesive can be accommodated in the recess provided on the inner circumferential surface near the joint of the adjacent cylindrical porous materials, the cylindrical porous materials are more firmly joined to the roller body by the adhesive in the recess.

According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the aforementioned recess constitutes an annular groove extending in a circumferential direction on the inner circumferential surface of the aforementioned cylindrical porous material.

According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the axial end face of one cylindrical porous body that joins with another cylindrical porous body, and the end face of the other cylindrical porous body that joins with the first cylindrical porous body, are provided with complementary concave and convex shapes.

According to this structure, the radial strength is increased in the joints between the cylindrical porous materials, so that even if the force generated by the pressurized gas from the hollow shaft acts on the roller body composed of the connected cylindrical porous materials, the roller body can be prevented from being damaged at the joint.

According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, at least one annular protrusion is formed on the axial direction end face of one cylindrical porous body that is joined to another cylindrical porous body, and an annular recess complementary to the annular protrusion is formed on the end face of the other cylindrical porous body that is joined to the aforementioned cylindrical porous body.

According to this structure, the radial strength is increased in the connection part between the cylindrical porous materials, so that even if a greater force is applied from the radial inside to the radial outside to the roller body composed of the connected cylindrical porous materials, the roller body can be prevented from being damaged at the connection part.

According to other preferred embodiments of the invention, at least one annular buffer groove is formed on the axial end face of one cylindrical porous body that joins with another cylindrical porous body.

According to this structure, when the cylindrical porous materials are joined together with an adhesive, the excess adhesive can be contained in the annular buffer groove formed by the axial end face of the cylindrical porous material joined with the adjacent cylindrical porous material. Therefore, it is not easy for it to flow out to the surface of the cylindrical porous material that becomes the sheet support surface, thus improving the quality of the steering rod.

According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the aforementioned cylindrical porous body is composed of porous carbon.

According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, each of the aforementioned cylindrical porous materials has a pressurized air flow path extending in the circumferential direction at the central position of its long side, and the aforementioned hollow shaft has a radial flow path that extends radially and connects to the aforementioned pressurized air flow path, and supplies pressurized air to the aforementioned pressurized air flow path.

According to the present invention, a steering column that is low in manufacturing cost and can stably support sheet material can be provided.

1: Steering pole

2: Roller body

4: Hollow Shaft

6: Major Paths

6b: Air supply passage

8, 10: Minor Paths

12: Cylindrical porous body

14: Pressurized airflow path

16: concave part

17: Circular ditch

18: One end face in the axial direction

20: The other end face in the axial direction

22, 220: Convex segment

24, 240: Concave segment

26: Buffer Ditch

320:convex part

340: concave part

D: Arrowhead

W: Sheet material

Figure 1 is a schematic oblique view of a preferred embodiment of the steering column of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II-II of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the area near the cylindrical porous material located at one end.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view along line IV-IV of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view used to illustrate the function of the steering column in Figure 1.

Figure 6 illustrates the manufacturing process of the steering column shown in Figure 1.

Figure 7 illustrates the manufacturing process of the steering column shown in Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the manufacturing process of the steering column shown in Figure 1.

Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of the cylindrical porous material of the modified steering bar in Figure 1.

Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of a cylindrical porous material for another variation of the steering rod in Figure 1.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures. Figure 1 is a schematic oblique view of the steering bar 1 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II-II of Figure 1.

The steering rod 1 of this embodiment is a component used to change the conveying direction of a long sheet such as a long film in a conveying path, in a reversing part or the like, to reverse the conveying direction of the sheet, and to support the sheet in a non-contact manner.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the steering rod 1 has: a generally cylindrical roller body 2 having a generally cylindrical shape and being made of porous carbon; and a generally cylindrical hollow shaft 4 on which the roller body 2 is mounted on its outer peripheral surface.

The hollow shaft 4 has a hollow large-diameter portion 6 at the center in the axial direction; and hollow small-diameter portions 8 and 10 disposed at both ends of the large-diameter portion 6. The large-diameter portion 6 has an outer diameter approximately equal to the inner diameter of the roller body 2, and has flanges 6a and 6a extending radially outward at both ends in the axial direction, with the roller body 2 installed between the two flanges 6a and 6a. Furthermore, the internal space of the large-diameter portion 6 is configured to be in fluid communication with the internal spaces of the small-diameter portions 8 and 10, allowing pressurized gas introduced through the small-diameter portions to flow into the internal space of the large-diameter portion 6.

In this embodiment of the steering rod 1, the roller body 2 is formed of three cylindrical porous bodies 12, 12, 12. Each cylindrical porous body 12, 12, 12 has the same shape, and the axial end faces of adjacent cylindrical porous bodies are joined together by an adhesive, thereby forming the roller body 2. Specifically, the roller body 2 is formed by the cylindrical porous bodies 12, 12, 12 joined to a hollow shaft using an adhesive.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the cylindrical porous mass 12 at one end, and Figure 4 is a radial cross-sectional view of the cylindrical porous mass 12.

As shown in Figures 2 through 4, each cylindrical porous body 12 has an annular pressurized airflow path 14 extending circumferentially at the center of its inner circumferential surface along its long side.

On the other hand, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, an air supply passage 6b is formed in the radially inner portion of the large-diameter section 6 of the hollow shaft 4 within each pressurized air flow path 14 of the cylindrical porous body 12, extending radially through the peripheral wall of the large-diameter section 6. As a result, the internal spaces of the large-diameter section 6 and the small-diameter sections 8 and 10 of the hollow shaft 4 are fluidly connected to each pressurized air flow path 14 of the cylindrical porous body 12 via the air supply passage 6b, forming a radial flow path for supplying pressurized air within the pressurized air flow path. In this disclosure, the hollow shaft 4, the air supply passage 6b, and the pressurized air flow path 14 constitute an air discharge mechanism that discharges air from the outer surface of the roller body 2.

Furthermore, each cylindrical porous body 12 has annular, slit-like recesses 16 at both ends of its inner circumferential surface along the axial direction. In the roller body 2 where adjacent cylindrical porous bodies 12 are joined together in the axial direction, the opposing recesses 16 of adjacent cylindrical porous bodies 12 are connected, and annular grooves 17 extending circumferentially near the joint are formed on the inner circumferential surface of the roller body 2.

Furthermore, the joint ends of adjacent cylindrical porous materials 12, 12 are located in the annular groove 17. The annular groove 17 can accommodate a portion of the adhesive that joins the cylindrical porous materials 12, 12 together. With the adhesive in the annular groove 17, the roller body 2 (specifically, each cylindrical porous material 12, 12, 12) is more securely joined to the hollow shaft 4.

The depth (radial length) of the annular groove 17 is preferably set to 1:60 (2%) to 1:13 (8%) of the length (axial length) of the annular groove 17, and more preferably to 4% to 5%.

In this embodiment of the steering column 1, the axial end face 18 and the other end face 20 of each cylindrical porous body 12 have the same complementary shape. Specifically, as shown in Figure 4, the axial end face 18 of each cylindrical porous body 12 has a stepped annular convex section 22 protruding outward in the axial direction on the inner side of the circumference, while the axial end face 20 has a stepped annular concave section 24 that is recessed inward in the axial direction, complementing the stepped annular convex section 22 protruding outward in the axial direction.

Therefore, as shown in Figure 3, when one cylindrical porous body 12 is connected to another cylindrical porous body 12 in such a way that one end face 18 of one cylindrical porous body 12 is joined to the other end face 20 of another cylindrical porous body 12, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the annular segment 22 of the axial direction end face 18 of one cylindrical porous body 12 will fit into the annular segment 22 of the axial direction end face 20 of another cylindrical porous body 12, thereby obtaining a high mechanical strength against radial force.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the steering rod 1 has an annular buffer groove 26 formed on the radially outward side of the other end face 20 in the axial direction of the cylindrical porous body 12. The annular buffer groove 26 can also accommodate excess portions of the adhesive that joins the cylindrical porous bodies 12 together.

As shown by arrows A and B in Figure 2, once pressurized air is introduced into the inner space of the large diameter section 6 through the small diameter sections 8 and 10 of the hollow shaft 4, the pressurized air will flow into each pressurized air flow path 14 of the cylindrical porous body 12 through the air supply passage 6b, as shown by arrow C in Figure 3. Then, it will pass through the interior of the cylindrical porous body 12 formed of breathable porous carbon, and as shown by arrow D in Figure 3, it will be ejected from the outer surface of the roller body 2 formed by the cylindrical porous body 12.

As a result, as shown in Figure 5, the sheet W can be supported in a non-contact manner on the outer circumferential surface of the roller body 2, and the conveying path can be reversed.

Next, the manufacturing method of the steering column 1 in this embodiment will be explained.

Figures 6 to 8 show the process of installing the cylindrical porous body 12 onto the hollow shaft 4 during the manufacturing of the steering rod 1.

First, as shown in Figure 6, the first cylindrical porous body 12 is installed at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft 4, and an adhesive S is disposed on one end face of the first cylindrical porous body 12 in the axial direction. Next, as shown in Figure 7, the second cylindrical porous body 12' is pressed onto the other end face of the first cylindrical porous body 12 disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft 4, and is simultaneously disposed at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft 4.

Next, as shown in Figure 8, an adhesive S is disposed on one end face of the second cylindrical porous body 12' along its axial direction. Finally, on the outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft 4, a third cylindrical porous body is pressed against the other end face of the second cylindrical porous body 12' with the adhesive S disposed thereon, and simultaneously disposed at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft 4. Furthermore, the adhesive that joins the cylindrical porous bodies together also joins the cylindrical porous bodies to the hollow shaft.

On the outer peripheral surface of the hollow shaft 4, once the second or third cylindrical porous body is pressed against the other end face of the first or second cylindrical porous body on which the adhesive S is disposed, the adhesive S will be pushed away. At this time, excess adhesive S will be contained in the annular recess 16 formed near the joint of the adjacent cylindrical porous bodies and the buffer groove 26 on the other end face 20 of the cylindrical porous body 12, thus preventing it from overflowing to the outer peripheral surface of the roller body 2.

At this time, a portion of the adhesive S is contained in the annular recess 16 formed near the joint of the adjacent cylindrical porous body, connecting the porous body 12 to the hollow shaft 4. Furthermore, excess adhesive S is contained in the buffer groove 26 on the other end face 20 of the cylindrical porous body 12, preventing it from overflowing onto the outer peripheral surface of the roller body 2.

This invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be modified and altered in various ways within the scope of the technical ideas recorded in the patent application.

In the steering rod 1 of the above embodiment, the cylindrical porous body is formed of porous carbon, but it can also be formed of other porous materials such as porous ceramics and porous metals.

Furthermore, the steering rod 1 in the above embodiment has an annular buffer groove formed on the radially outer side of the other end face in the axial direction of the cylindrical porous material. However, it may also be a structure without a buffer groove, or a structure with other types (configurations, quantities) of buffer grooves.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, each cylindrical porous body 12 has an axial end face 18 with a stepped annular convex section 22 protruding outward in the axial direction on the inner side of the circumferential direction, and the other end face 20 in the axial direction has a stepped annular concave section 24 that is recessed inward in the axial direction, complementing the stepped annular convex section 22 protruding outward in the axial direction. However, it is also possible for only the end faces forming the joints between the cylindrical porous bodies to have complementary shapes.

Furthermore, the shape and position of the segment can also be other shapes. For example, as shown in Figure 9, the complementary shape can be achieved by a convex segment 220 composed of inclined surfaces and a concave segment 240 that complements the convex segment 220. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 10, the complementary shape can also be achieved by a convex portion 320 located at the radial center and a complementary concave portion 340.

1: Steering pole

2: Roller body

4: Hollow Shaft

6: Major Circumference

6a: Protrusion

8, 10: Minor Path

12: Cylindrical porous material

Claims (7)

A steering rod for guiding sheet-like workpieces in a non-contact manner, the steering rod comprising: a cylindrical roller body made of a porous material; and an air discharge mechanism for discharging air from the outer surface of the roller body, the roller body being composed of a plurality of cylindrical porous materials whose end faces are connected to each other in the axial direction, and the air discharge mechanism having a hollow shaft on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical roller body. The aforementioned cylindrical porous body is then joined to an adjacent cylindrical porous body, and a recess is provided on the inner circumferential surface near the joint with the adjacent cylindrical porous body. This recess opens radially inward and axially outward towards the cylindrical porous body, and during joining with the adjacent cylindrical porous body, the recess of the adjacent cylindrical porous body is connected to it in a state where it opens radially inward. As described in claim 1, the steering column, wherein the aforementioned recess constitutes an annular groove extending circumferentially from the inner circumferential surface of the aforementioned cylindrical porous body. As described in claim 1 or 2, the steering column comprises an axial end face of one cylindrical porous body that engages with another cylindrical porous body, and an end face of the other cylindrical porous body that engages with the first cylindrical porous body, both having complementary concave and convex shapes. As described in claim 1 or 2, the steering column, wherein: at least one annular protrusion is formed on the axial end face of one cylindrical porous body where it engages with another cylindrical porous body; and an annular recess complementary to the annular protrusion is formed on the end face of the other cylindrical porous body where it engages with the first cylindrical porous body. As described in claim 1 or 2, the steering column has at least one annular cushioning groove formed on the axial end face of one cylindrical porous body where it engages with another cylindrical porous body. As described in claim 1 or 2 of the patent application, the aforementioned cylindrical porous body is composed of porous carbon. As described in claim 1 or 2 of the patent application, in which each of the aforementioned cylindrical porous materials has a pressurized air flow path extending circumferentially at the center of its long side, and the aforementioned hollow shaft has a radial flow path that extends radially and connects to the aforementioned pressurized air flow path and supplies pressurized air to the aforementioned pressurized air flow path.