WO2009095723A1

WO2009095723A1 - Novel use os self adhesive films

Info

Publication number: WO2009095723A1
Application number: PCT/HU2008/000010
Authority: WO
Inventors: László ÁRPÁD
Original assignee: Arpad Laszlo
Priority date: 2008-01-30
Filing date: 2008-01-30
Publication date: 2009-08-06

Abstract

The subject of the invention is a new utilization method for self-adhesive foils on conveyor belts, wherein the used foil is maximum 0,090 mm thick, their crosswise and lengthwise shrinkage is maximum 0,4 mm in accordance with the FINAT-TM 14 standard, considering their heat-resistance they don't show any changes between - 30 and +60 0C, they withstand oils, grease, aliphatic detergents, mild acids, salts and alkalis at room temperature after maximum 72 hours, their gripping force after maximum 24 hours is at least 15 N/25 mm in accordance with the FINAT TM-1 standard, their ultimate tensile strength both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 19 MPa in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard, their ultimate crosswise elongation is at least 130% in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard, and their ultimate lengthwise elongation is at least 150% in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard. Advertisements or other information can be printed on the foils with already known procedures. The advertisement or information printed foils can be equipped with a protective layer.

Description

Novel use os self adhesive films

The invention provides a new application for self-adhesive foils. More precisely, the invention provides a new application for self-adhesive foils in the advertisement industry. Even more precisely, the invention provides a new application for self-adhesive foils on conveyor belt advertisement surfaces. In the past decades, advertisements have become organic parts of our lives. They can be found on almost every area of life, we can see them on public squares, in any stands, in shops, on vehicles and - naturally due to the media - in our homes too. There are many types of advertisements, which are interconnected by one common goal, namely to be accessible to the majority of the people, to reach everybody. Thence, advertisements are usually placed to such locations, where a lot of people walk by. Such important places in our everyday lives can be the self-service markets and supermarkets. Nowadays these places are becoming bigger and bigger, and concurrently their supplies became so huge that as a costumer we only see small segments of it occasionally, moreover the advertisements - which flood the costumers even as products - lose a great part of their significance due to the vast number and manifold products and services, and due to the ,,supersaturation" of the target population. As it was mentioned above, a costumer uses only a small part of these supermarkets during shopping; however there is one place they all visit: the cash- desk.

Today, the cash-desks are equipped with conveyor belts due to the big turnover of commodities and to ensure faster and higher-standard services; thanks to this, the serving became much more efficient. Naturally, be it is efficient as it may, the paying procedure at the end of the service takes up some time, which can be considered as an advertisement free" period from the costumer's point of view, since on the one hand he won't see any kind of new products of services there, and on the other hand by paying - that is finishing the shopping procedure - the costumers become temporarily ,,useless" from the supermarkets' point of view. At the same time, the paying procedure, the final checking of the articles to be paid for and paying itself induces an escalated concentration in the costumers, due to which they get into a state in which they are probably the most receptive throughout all the shopping, and this state can be used for further advertisements - either in connection with the supermarket itself, or with anything else. For this purpose, the conveyor belt of the cash- desks seems to be a perfect instrument.

As of today, many other people have come to this very same conclusion, for there are well-known attempts, when they tried to put information or advertisements on the surface of the - mostly rubber - conveyor belts. Most of the time, this goal was achieved by vulcanization of the rubber surfaces, which did not bring the desired effect, mostly because after the vulcanization process the rubber band's surface became bulgy, due to which the conveyor belt could fulfil its original duty only to a limited extent. Another disadvantage of this method was that in order to change the information on the conveyor belt was only possible by replacing the rubber band, which significantly increased the advertisement related expenses, and it was also very time-consuming.

Self-adhesive foils, which have an advertising copy or picture on one side and self-adhesive coating on the other side in order to mount the foil on flat surfaces are wide-spread in commerce and advertisement areas. However, mounting these foils on conveyor belts carrying products, luggages or people hasn't been resolved up until now, since despite the separate applying of even the best adhesives, the aforementioned foils detached from the surfaces after a short time.

DE 4128664 discloses an advertisement surface, which is comprised of a piece of rubber band with an advertising copy or picture on its surface, which is then impacted into a hole cut into the conveyor belt. This advertisement surface causes permanent damage in the conveyor belt, it is difficult to implement and it does not allow the easy replacement of the advertising copy or picture. From US 4979591 , a mobile conveyor belt printing method is known, with the help of which advertising copies and pictures can be printed on the conveyor belt's surface. Although this method is simple, it still causes permanent damage, its harmlessness to health is dubious, it is exposed to uncontrollable wearing processes, and it cannot simply be removed in case the advertising copy or picture needs to be replaced.

International Publication No. WO 00/43297 describes a rubber conveyor belt, which can be equipped with an advertisement on its outer surface. This advertisement surface can be printed foil/self-adhesive foil too. Although this method has several advantages, its disadvantage is that due to the surface deformations of the conveyor belt, the applied foil has to be equipped with gaps and openings which compensate the changes when it bends around the delivery rolls. This greatly limits the amount and size of advertisements; moreover it is difficult and also causes significant additional expenses. Another disadvantage of this method is that it can only be applied on rubber conveyor belts.

Thus there is still need for advertisement related solutions. The demand is especially high for such solutions, in which foils are applied, for these are cheap, eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages, and their mounting and removal is very easy. There is a particularly high demand in relation with the aforementioned to such foils, which are wear-proof and which can be applied reliably and permanently on conveyor belts.

Thence, the task of this invention is to provide and apply on these areas such self-adhesive foils, which can be used as advertisement surfaces; moreover, these foils have to meet the requirements of the above set criteria.

In accordance with this, the subjects of the invention are self-adhesive foils applied on conveyor belts. More precisely, this invention relates to such a new method, during which we use foils on the surface of conveyor belts, which can eliminate the so-far known disadvantageous features of similar advertisement surfaces.

Surprisingly we have found that the goal of this invention can be achieved to the full, in case we use such foils on the surface of the conveyor belts which are maximum 0,090 mm thick, their crosswise and lengthwise shrinkage is maximum 0,4 mm in accordance with the FINAT-TM 14 standard, considering their heat-resistance they don't show any changes between -30 and +60 ⁰C, they withstand oils, grease, aliphatic detergents, mild acids, salts and alkalis at room temperature after maximum 72 hours, their gripping force after maximum 24 hours is at least 15 N/25 mm in accordance with the FINAT TM-1 standard, their ultimate tensile strength both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 19 MPa in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard, their ultimate crosswise elongation is at least 130% in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard, and their ultimate lengthwise elongation is at least 150% in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard.

Such foils were used in the everyday life in road-building, on light-reflecting clothes, on road-signs and for coating the vehicles' body-work, but their utilization in the present invention's way wasn't known hitherto. According to one of the preferred embodiments of this invention, we use Orajet (manufacturer: Orafol Europe Gmbh, DE) foils for this purpose. According to another preferred embodiment of this invention, we use Oracal (manufacturer: Orafol Europe Gmbh, DE) foils for this purpose. By using foils with the above mentioned mechanical parameters, the goal of the invention can be fully realized. Their utilization is cheap, applying and removal is easy, and they don't have to be equipped with gaps and openings - due to the surface deformations of the conveyor belt - which compensate the changes when they bend around the delivery rolls. The advantage of this method is that it can be applied on conveyor belts made of any kind of material. The absolute advantage of the method of the invention is that the applied foils are especially suitable for carrying even photo-quality advertisements and information.

The advertisements and information are applied to the foil used with traditional techniques, which are well-known for the persons skilled in the art. In a further preferred embodiment of the invention the abiding of the information and advertisement on the foil is ensured by a protective layer. This protective layer is preferably a protective foil. The applying of the protective layer is also a simple and well-known method.

It is especially advantageous if we apply such a foil as a protective foil, which is maximum 0,195 mm thick, its crosswise and lengthwise shrinkage is maximum 0,5% mm in accordance with the FINAT-TM 14 standard, considering its heat- resistance it does not show any changes between -30 and +50 ⁰C, it withstands oils, grease, aliphatic detergents, mild acids, salts and alkalis at room temperature after maximum 72 hours, its gripping force is at least 7.5 N/25mm after maximum 10 minutes, and at least 13.8 N/25mm after 24 hours in accordance with the AFERA 4001 standard, its ultimate tensile strength both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 50 N/15mm in accordance with the DIN 53112 standard, and its ultimate elongation both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 160% in accordance with the DIN 53112 standard. In an even more preferable embodiment of the invention, we apply filmolux® foil (manufacturer: Neschen) as a protective foil.

By applying the invention's method, the printing of advertisements on self-adhesive foils and their installing on any surface of any kind of material can be achieved. The biggest advantage of the invention is that the applied foils have excellent mechanical characteristics, and thus they don't have to be equipped with gaps and openings - due to the surface deformations of the conveyor belt - which compensate the changes when they bend around the delivery rolls. This way the amount of the advertisement is increased and a significant reduction can also be achieved in the expenses. By applying the method of the invention, we can create an arbitrary information- , or advertising surface, which can be applied and removed with a method that does not require any maintenance, without interfering with the mechanics of the conveyor belt. Regardless the size of the area and of the type of the conveyor belt, with the invention's method, we establish a flexible and easily cleanable information-, and advertising surface, without changing or influencing the original functions of the conveyor belts. The present method leaves the horizontal surface of the conveyor belts in their original state, there won't be any bumps, bulges or crankles, and after the removal of the foil, the original state will be fully restored.

It is obvious for the professionals that the present method can be used not just at the conveyor belts of cash-desks, but also on any conveyor belts, which are suitable for advertisements, regardless the size and material of the conveyor belt. All the aforementioned, and here not mentioned methods, which are consistent with the invention, belong to the scope protection of the present application. The invention is described in more details through the following, not restricting examples.

Example 1.

Applying the Orajet foil on a rubber conveyor belt The surface of the conveyor belt has to be thoroughly cleaned and wiped dry. Remove partly or fully the self-adhesive side's protective foil of the prepared Orajet foil, which was pinted by an advertisement or by the appropriate information with traditional printing techniques, and mount the foil on the rubber surface carefully not to leave air-bubbles. After the mounting a homogeneous, smooth advertising surface is obtained, which does not protrude from the rubber band, and does not influence the conveyor belt's original function. In certain cases, we apply a well-known protective foil, preferably filmolux® foil on the advertisement surface.

Example 2.

Applying the Oraiet foil on a plastic conveyor belt

The surface of the conveyor belt has to be thoroughly cleaned and wiped dry. Remove partly or fully the self-adhesive side's protective foil of the prepared Orajet foil, which was printed by an advertisement or by the appropriate information with traditional printing techniques, and mount the foil on the rubber surface carefully not to leave air-bubbles. After the mounting a homogeneous, smooth advertising surface is obtained, which does not protrude from the plastic surface, and does not influence the conveyor belt's original function. In certain cases, we apply a well-known protective foil, preferably filmolux® foil on the advertisement surface.

Although the aforementioned examples apply the method of the invention method only to rubber-, and plastic surfaces, it is obvious for the professionals that the same result can be achieved on any kind of surface, or advertisement area, which ensures the proper adhesion of the foils. It follows from this that the scope of protection of the present invention comprises all of these solutions. Simultaneously with the submittal of the patent, Applicants gave the name ,,Rolling Visual System" to their invention, and they did the necessary steps on the industrial property authorities to put the name under trademark protection.

Claims

1. Use of self-adhesive foils on the surface of conveyor belts, wherein the said foil is maximum 0,090 mm thick, their crosswise and lengthwise shrinkage is maximum 0,4 mm in accordance with the FINAT-TM 14 standard, considering their heat-resistance they don't show any changes between -30 and +60 ⁰C, they withstand oils, grease, aliphatic detergents, mild acids, salts and alkalis at room temperature after maximum 72 hours, their gripping force after maximum 24 hours is at least 15 N/25 mm in accordance with the FINAT TM-1 standard, their ultimate tensile strength both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 19 MPa in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard, their ultimate crosswise elongation is at least 130% in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard, and their ultimate lengthwise elongation is at least 150% in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 527 standard.

2. The use according to claim 1 , characterised that on the surface of the used foil, advertisements or other information is printed.

3. The use according to claims 1 and 2, characterised that the used foil is Oracal foil (manufacturer: Orafol Europe Gmbh, DE) 4. The use according to claims 1 and 2, characterised that the used foil is

Orajet foil (manufacturer: Orafol Europe Gmbh, DE)

5. Uses according to any of claims 2-4, characterised that a protective layer is applied on the advertisement or information printed foil.

6. Use according to any of claims 2-5, characterised that the protective layer is a protective foil.

7. Use according to claim 6, characterised that the protective foil is maximum 0,195 mm thick, its crosswise and lengthwise shrinkage is maximum 0,5% mm in accordance with the FINAT-TM 14 standard, considering its heat-resistance it does not show any changes between - 30 and +50 ⁰C, it withstands oils, grease, aliphatic detergents, mild acids, salts and alkalis at room temperature after maximum 72 hours, its gripping force is at least 7,5 N/25mm after maximum 10 minutes, and at least 13,8 N/25mm after 24 hours in accordance with the AFERA 4001 standard, its ultimate tensile strength both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 50 N/15mm in accordance with the DIN 53112 standard, and its ultimate elongation in both crosswise and lengthwise is at least 160% in accordance with the DIN 53112 standard.

8. Use according to claims 6 and 7, characterised that filmolux® foil (manufacturer: Neschen) is used as a protective foil.