Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05D—PROCESSES FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05D3/00—Pretreatment of surfaces to which liquids or other fluent materials are to be applied; After-treatment of applied coatings, e.g. intermediate treating of an applied coating preparatory to subsequent applications of liquids or other fluent materials
  • B05D3/12—Pretreatment of surfaces to which liquids or other fluent materials are to be applied; After-treatment of applied coatings, e.g. intermediate treating of an applied coating preparatory to subsequent applications of liquids or other fluent materials by mechanical means
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05D—PROCESSES FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05D2401/00—Form of the coating product, e.g. solution, water dispersion, powders or the like
  • B05D2401/30—Form of the coating product, e.g. solution, water dispersion, powders or the like the coating being applied in other forms than involving eliminable solvent, diluent or dispersant
  • B05D2401/32—Form of the coating product, e.g. solution, water dispersion, powders or the like the coating being applied in other forms than involving eliminable solvent, diluent or dispersant applied as powders

Definitions

• the present invention relates to both a method and a device which make it possible to smooth, that is to say to level, products made from divided solid materials such as pulverulent products, powders or granules, and in the form of regular or irregular "heaps" deposited on a mobile support.
• an important category is represented by coverings formed in the form of a relatively thick sheet made of a material 2
• New techniques have also been proposed which aim to dispense with the use of a rolling mill. For this purpose, it has been proposed to use chips or particles embedded in a binder which is coated on a support. According to another method, a bed of chips is deposited and the binder is then deposited on the decoration consisting of the chips. 3
• the Applicant has in particular developed a process for producing a decoration using localized deposits of solid particles or powders carried out using rotary frames. This process is particularly well described in patent applications FR-A-2542260 and FR-A-2548093. Within the framework of the process described above, it was possible to develop different ranges of products by varying the quantities of powder deposited by gravity by acting on the following parameters:
• the present invention aims to avoid the drawbacks of conventional smoothing techniques when depositing products in the form of a divided solid. More particularly, the present invention aims to propose a process for smoothing the materials listed above deposited in the form of small regular or irregular heaps on a support moving in principle at constant speed in order to obtain a more uniform, smoother and upgraded.
• the main aim sought is to obtain a layer on the support which can be both thin and thick but which must necessarily be regular, uniform and free of relief, starting from a homogeneous or heterogeneous mixture of products deposited in the form of regular or irregular heaps, these products being in a solid and divided state. These products may be of the same or different nature, texture and particle size. 5
• An additional aim of the present invention is to propose a method and a device which make it possible to avoid excessive deformation of the final decoration obtained by depositing the materials in the form of a heap.
• a first object of the present invention is to propose a process for smoothing divided solid materials such as pulverulent products, powders or granules, deposited in the form of small regular or irregular heaps on an essentially horizontal support movable in the direction of the 'advance (and which corresponds to the direction of scrolling).
• This horizontal support can be a film or directly the conveyor belt on which the deposition of the divided solid materials is carried out.
• a first essential characteristic of this process lies in the fact that said essentially horizontal support on which the materials are deposited in the form of small heaps is driven by an alternating oscillatory movement, said movement being applied uniformly over the entire width of said support.
• the direction of the alternating oscillatory movement is transverse with respect to the direction of advance, 6
• this direction is parallel to the direction of advance, the reciprocating oscillatory movement taking place longitudinally with respect to the movement of the support and this also in the essentially horizontal plane of the support.
• the direction is perpendicular to the plane of the support. This means that the movement will take place vertically with respect to the support, which is itself essentially horizontal.
• the support that is to say the film or the conveyor belt, is tensioned or is prestressed in its zone of elasticity. This tensioning or prestressing must above all be carried out in the direction of advance. This means that it is envisaged to carry out the tensioning or prestressing of the support longitudinally.
• a second object of the present invention is to provide a device for smoothing divided solid materials such as pulverulent products, powders or granules, deposited in the form of regular or irregular heaps on an essentially horizontal support and moving in the direction of 'advanced.
• This device comprises a conveyor belt which can be directly the above-mentioned horizontal support or which can serve as a means of transport to said horizontal support constituted by a film on which the deposition is carried out.
• the device is provided with means making it possible to perform an alternating oscillatory movement of the support.
• These means can for example comprise a table on which the conveyor belt or even the film moves and which performs the required oscillatory reciprocating movement controlled for example by a connecting rod - crank system.
• the means must be provided so that the movement is applied uniformly over the entire width of the support.
• the device comprises the necessary means for tensioning or prestressing the horizontal support in its zone of elasticity preferably 8
• the device also includes means which make it possible to avoid any flapping of the support outside the implementation zone in order to prevent the transmission of the alternating oscillatory movement upstream and downstream.
• Reciprocating oscillatory movement means a movement which takes place by returning to the starting point. It is not a vibratory movement which is a movement generated by a succession of shocks.
• a final object of the present invention relates to the product obtained by the process or the device according to the invention, having a design, possibly geometric, almost identical to the initial design and obtained from divided solid materials, and having little or no relief.
• FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a device intended for the implementation of a process for smoothing pulverulent products according to the present invention in the case of deposition on a film.
• FIG. 2 represents a side section view of the device represented in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 3 represents a sectional view from above of the device represented in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 4 represents a view in longitudinal section along the axis III-III of the device represented in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 5 represents a perspective view of the device intended for the implementation of a process for smoothing pulverulent products in the case of deposition directly on the conveyor belt.
• FIG. 6 represents a side sectional view of the device represented in FIG. 5.
• Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 relate to a device for smoothing divided solid materials deposited on a film
• Figures 5 and 6 relate to a device for smoothing powdery materials directly deposited on the conveyor belt.
• film is used as opposed to the term “strip” to indicate that the support is a self-supporting film (10) on which the pulverulent materials are deposited while the strip (100) is directly the conveyor belt on which the powdery materials are deposited.
• the film or the tape constitutes an essentially horizontal support integrated into the production line which circulates in the direction of advance necessarily at a speed in principle constant defined by the production speed of the line.
• the divided solid materials are deposited using one or more distributor (s) (1, 2, 3 and 4) on a film (10) or on a strip (100 ) which are driven at a constant speed by a conveyor (5) in the running direction represented by the unidirectional arrow.
• the device is equipped with several vacuum tables, and more precisely three vacuum tables (20, 21 and 22).
• a single vacuum table (22) is proposed.
• This table or the central table (22) is provided with a device (6) which makes it possible to carry out an alternating oscillatory movement, preferably of small amplitude.
• the frequency of the oscillatory movement is preferably adjustable and can be between 5 and 500 Hz depending on the nature of the deposit, but also according to the direction in which this alternating oscillatory movement will take place.
• This oscillatory movement is carried out in a conventional manner using a connecting rod-crank system shown in more detail in FIG. 4.
• An eccentric (60) transmits the movement to a connecting rod (61), itself 11
• the horizontal support consisting either of the film (10) as shown in FIG. 1, or of the strip (100) as shown in FIG. 5, is kept under tension.
• Several possibilities for carrying out this tensioning of the support can be envisaged.
• the support which must be an elastic support, will be tensioned in its elasticity zone.
• the various heaps of powder collapse and level without significant modification of the decor.
• the support then has a regular, uniform and uneven layer of powder. This layer is then agglomerated and fixed to the support by means known per se such as ovens or IR tunnels (70).
• the product obtained is cooled, signed and wound up according to the embodiment shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 while it can optionally be transmitted on another support according to the embodiment shown in Figures 5 and 6.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Application Of Or Painting With Fluid Materials (AREA)
• Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrochemical Machining, And Combined Machining (AREA)
• Physical Or Chemical Processes And Apparatus (AREA)
• Physical Vapour Deposition (AREA)
• Coating Apparatus (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=26150206

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

• 1998
  • 1998-07-31 EP EP98202597A patent/EP0949012A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
• 1999
  • 1999-03-17 HU HU0101038A patent/HU224285B1/hu not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-03-17 CA CA002312800A patent/CA2312800A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-03-17 EP EP99917823A patent/EP1071521B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-03-17 AU AU35970/99A patent/AU3597099A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-03-17 ES ES99917823T patent/ES2188158T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-03-17 DE DE69905148T patent/DE69905148T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-03-17 PL PL99343445A patent/PL343445A1/xx unknown
  • 1999-03-17 WO PCT/EP1999/001799 patent/WO1999052652A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1999-03-17 AT AT99917823T patent/ATE231748T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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