WO2017086583A1 - Light sintering apparatus having inclined conveyor unit for removing smoke - Google Patents

Abstract

A light sintering apparatus having an inclined conveyor unit for removing smoke, according to the present invention, comprises: a light output unit for irradiating light on a substrate, on which electrically conductive ink is printed, and sintering the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate; and a substrate conveyor unit provided below the light output unit, so as to convey the substrate to a location corresponding to the light output unit, and inclined at a predetermined angle such that the smoke generated during the sintering of the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate does not block or inhibit the irradiation path of the light irradiated from the light output unit.

Description

Optical sintering device with inclined feeder for smoke removal

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined transfer unit for removing smoke, and more particularly, combustion or chemical reaction of ink during printing of an electrically conductive ink printed on a substrate using light emitted from an optical output unit. To prevent the smoke from blocking or suppressing the irradiation of light emitted from the light output unit by inclining the substrate transfer unit for transporting the substrate using a principle of rising the high temperature smoke without using a separate removal device. The present invention relates to an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined conveying portion for preventing smoke.

Printing technology is a technology that uses ink to embed text or drawings drawn on a plate onto paper or cloth. Recently, various technologies such as inkjet printing, flexo printing, gravure printing, and screen printing have been used. . Since these technologies are applied to high value-added products such as RFID systems, large display devices, thin-film solar cells, thin-film batteries, and the like, the demand for the technology is gradually increasing.

In particular, the direct patterning technology through inkjet is a technique of forming a wiring by directly discharging a predetermined amount of ink to an accurate position through an inkjet head. This technology has the advantage of shortening the manufacturing process and time as well as material costs. At present, conductive metal inks for direct patterning use nano inks using at least one of gold, silver or copper. A key technology in inkjet printing is the method of sintering conductive inks. Until now, high temperature heat sintering processes have been mainly used to sinter various particles. Heat sintering is a method of heating to a temperature of about 200 to 350 in an inert gas state in order to sinter the metal nanoparticles, in addition to the laser sintering method that can be sintered at room temperature and atmospheric pressure is widely used.

However, as recent attempts have been made to fabricate electronic patterns on flexible low temperature polymers or paper, high temperature sintering methods have difficulty in application in the printed electronics industry and technology. In addition, copper is known to have an oxide layer formed on its surface due to thermochemical equilibrium, which is very difficult to sinter and decreases conductivity after sintering.

In addition, the laser sintering method has only a sintering ability to a very small area, which causes a problem of poor practicality.

In order to solve these problems, the use of the sintering method using the optical sintering method is increasing. The light sintering method is a method of sintering an electrically conductive ink printed on a substrate by irradiating light of a short pulse using a light output unit for irradiating light such as white light.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a general light sintered state. However, the above-mentioned sintering methods including the light sintering method are mostly methods of sintering the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate by applying high temperature heat or light to the substrate, as shown in FIG. 1, the light output unit 100. In the sintering of the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate 300 using the smoke, smoke is generated by the combustion or chemical reaction of the ink.

When the smoke is generated, the smoke rises to the top to block the path of light irradiated from the light output unit 100 to block the light, or the light is irradiated from the light output unit 100 by the diffuse reflection of the substrate 300 ) Is not smoothly irradiated, there is a problem that the light efficiency is lowered.

Disclosure of Invention The present invention is to solve the conventional problem, and separates the smoke generated by the combustion or chemical reaction of the ink during printing the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate using the light irradiated from the light output unit Without using, the inclined transfer portion for removing smoke that can prevent the smoke from blocking or suppressing the irradiation of light irradiated from the light output by inclining the substrate transfer portion for transporting the substrate using the principle that the hot smoke rises It is an object to provide an optical sintering apparatus provided.

The object of the present invention is not limited thereto, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

The optical sintering apparatus having an inclined transfer unit for removing smoke for achieving the object of the present invention as described above is a light output for sintering the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate by irradiating light onto the substrate printed with the electrically conductive ink. And a lower portion of the light output unit to transfer the substrate to a position corresponding to the light output unit, and smoke generated when sintering the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate is irradiated from the light output unit. It includes a substrate transfer unit provided to be inclined at a predetermined angle so as not to block or suppress the irradiation path of light.

In this case, the substrate transfer unit may be provided to adjust the inclination angle.

The light output unit may be rotatable or repositioned to adjust an irradiation angle of light that is changed according to an inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit.

In addition, the substrate transfer part may be further provided with a substrate fixing member on one surface facing the substrate in order to stably fix the substrate, and to prevent wrinkles of the substrate generated during sintering through the light output unit.

In addition, the substrate fixing member may be an adhesive pad having one surface facing the substrate.

In addition, the substrate fixing member may be partially provided on one side of the substrate transfer part.

In addition, the substrate fixing member may be an adsorption device having an adsorption hole formed on one surface facing the substrate.

The optical sintering apparatus having an inclined conveying unit for removing smoke of the present invention has the following effects.

First, the smoke generated during the sintering of the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate is irradiated from the rising path of the smoke and the light output part by forming the substrate conveying part at an inclined angle without using a separate device by using the principle that the high temperature smoke rises. There is an effect that the irradiation path of the light is not matched.

Second, as the smoke deviates from the path of the light irradiated from the light output part through the inclined substrate transfer part, the effect of lowering the light efficiency such as the conversion of the irradiation path of light due to the smoke and the decrease of the light transmittance is reduced, thereby enabling smooth sintering of the substrate There is.

Third, there is an effect that can be stably transferred to the substrate seated on the inclined substrate transfer unit through the substrate fixing member.

Fourth, the substrate fixing member fixes the substrate by a method such as adhesion or adsorption, thereby preventing and preventing occurrence of damage such as wrinkles of the substrate due to heat generated by light or light irradiated to the substrate during optical sintering. There is.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

The following drawings, which are attached in this specification, illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the detailed description thereof, serve to further understand the technical spirit of the present invention, and therefore, the present invention is limited only to the matters described in the drawings. It should not be interpreted.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a general light sintered state;

2 is a cross-sectional view of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined feeder for removing smoke according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a use mode of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined conveying unit for removing smoke according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a cross-sectional view of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined feeder for removing smoke according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a cross-sectional view of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined feeder for removing smoke according to a modification of the second embodiment of the present invention; And

6 is a perspective view of the substrate transfer part and the substrate fixing member according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

First embodiment

2 is a cross-sectional view of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined feeder for removing smoke according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The optical sintering apparatus 10 including the inclined conveying unit for removing smoke according to the first embodiment of the present invention is largely composed of the light output unit 100 and the substrate conveying unit 200.

As shown in FIG. 2, the light output unit 100 is configured to irradiate light for sintering electrically conductive ink such as micrometal particles or precursors patterned on a substrate 300 such as a PI film (Polyimide Film). Device. The light output unit 100 includes a lamp unit 110, and may further include a reflecting plate 120 and an optical wavelength filter 130, depending on the usage.

The lamp unit 110 is a device for irradiating light for sintering the patterned electrically conductive ink on the substrate 300. The lamp unit 110 may be any device as long as it is a device for irradiating light capable of sintering an electrically conductive ink. However, it is preferable to use a Xenon flash lamp. Irradiation in the form is preferable. The xenon flash lamp consists of a configuration comprising xenon gas injected into a cylindrical sealed quartz quartz tube. Xenon gas outputs light energy from input electric energy, and has an energy conversion rate of more than 50%. In addition, xenon flash lamps are formed with metal electrodes such as tungsten to form anodes and cathodes on both sides thereof. When the high power and current described later are applied to the lamp unit 110 having the above-described configuration, the xenon gas injected therein is ionized, and sparks are generated between the anode and the cathode. At this time, when the electric charge integrated in the power storage unit is applied, the current flows for about 1000 Adml current for 1 ms to 10 ms through the spark generated in the lamp unit 110, and an arc plasma shape is generated in the lamp unit 110. Light is generated. The generated light appears to be white light because it contains a broad spectrum of wavelengths from 160 nm to 2.5 mm from ultraviolet to infrared. Although the xenon flash lamp has been described as an embodiment in the present invention, any kind of lamp unit 110 may be used as long as the lamp unit 110 can achieve this object.

As shown in FIG. 2, the reflector 120 is provided on the upper portion of the lamp unit 110 to reflect the light radiated upward from the lamp unit 110 and output the light toward the lower side.

As shown in FIG. 2, the optical wavelength filter 130 is disposed below the lamp unit 110 to filter only the microwave white light having the predetermined wavelength band. In particular, since ultraviolet light emitted from the lamp unit 110 using the xenon flash lamp may damage the substrate 300 made of a polymer material, light of the ultraviolet band should be blocked, and according to the type of the substrate 300. It selectively blocks the wavelength band of the irradiated light.

The substrate transfer unit 200 is an apparatus for transferring at least one substrate 300 in one or both directions. The substrate transfer unit 200 is disposed to pass through the lower portion of the light output unit 100, the width of the substrate transfer unit 200 is provided to correspond to the width of the substrate 300 and the light output unit 100, the length is The substrate 300 may be selectively determined in consideration of the number of the substrate 300 to be seated and the transport distance of the substrate 300. As such, the substrate transfer unit 200 may be any device that transfers the substrate 300 through the light output unit 100 so as to sinter the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate 300. Preferably, it is preferable to use a conveyor belt, a roller conveying portion composed of a plurality of rollers, or a conveying portion provided to surround rollers spaced apart from each other with a belt or the like.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a use mode of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined feeder for removing smoke according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, in the substrate transfer part 200 having the above-described configuration, smoke F generated due to the combustion or chemical reaction of the electrically conductive ink during light sintering remains on the irradiation path of the light, thereby improving the irradiation efficiency of the light. In order to prevent the decrease as shown in Figures 2 and 3, it is provided with a predetermined angle compared to the horizontal plane. Here, the inclination angle of the substrate transfer part 200 is the smoke (F) generated during the sintering of the substrate 300 in consideration of the amount of smoke (F) generated when the substrate 300 is sintered, the size of the substrate 300 and the working environment. ) Can optionally determine the angle at which the residence time in the irradiation path of light can be minimized.

At this time, the substrate transfer unit 200 may be provided to adjust the inclination angle according to the use mode. For example, a linear actuator such as a hydraulic cylinder may be connected to one side of the substrate transfer unit 200, and the inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit 200 may be adjusted by driving the linear actuator. In an embodiment, a linear actuator is used to adjust the inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit 200. However, any device and method may be used as long as the device or method can adjust the inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit 200. FIG. .

As such, when the angle of the substrate transfer unit 200 is changed, since the irradiation angle of light irradiated from the light output unit 100 to the substrate transfer unit 200 may be changed, the efficiency of light may be lowered. It is preferred that the rotation or the position can be changed. When the substrate transfer unit 200 and the light output unit 100 are integrally formed, irradiated angles of the light output unit 100 do not change regardless of the change of the inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit 200, but are configured separately. In accordance with the inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit 200, it is preferable that the light output unit 100 rotates or changes its position as the irradiation angle of light irradiated from the light output unit 100 is changed. At this time, the configuration for rotating or changing the position of the light output unit 100 is not limited, the light output unit 100 to an angle and position that can maximize the light irradiation efficiency according to the inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit 200. Any device and method may be used as long as the device and method can change the angle and position of the device.

As shown in FIG. 3, the smoke F generated during sintering by the light output unit 100 rises to the upper portion because it is hotter than air in the atmosphere. At this time, since the light output unit 100 is provided at a position inclined by a predetermined angle relative to the gravity direction at the position where the substrate 300 is cured, the smoke F remaining and flowing on the light irradiation path is minimized. Light irradiated from the output unit 100 is hardly affected by the smoke (F). Therefore, even if a separate device for removing the smoke (F) or the operator does not blow the wind at regular intervals to maximize the light efficiency irradiated from the light output unit 100 to maximize the sintering efficiency of the substrate 300 can do.

Second embodiment

4 is a cross-sectional view of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined feeder for removing smoke according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the optical sintering apparatus 10 including the inclined conveying unit for removing smoke according to the second embodiment of the present invention has a configuration similar to that of the first embodiment described above. However, a substrate fixing member 210 is further provided on one side of the substrate transfer part 200 to stably fix the substrate 300 and suppress damage such as deformation of the substrate 300. In the present embodiment will be described based on the substrate holding member 210 which is different from the first embodiment described above.

The substrate fixing member 210 is provided so as to surround at least a portion of the substrate transfer part 200, and may be arbitrarily positioned such as slipping of the substrate 300 transferred to the inclined substrate transfer part 200 by sticking or adsorbing the substrate 300. It is a device which can prevent a change and can suppress deformation, such as wrinkles or curvature of the board | substrate 300. FIG. As such, the substrate fixing member 210 may be any device as long as it can suppress and prevent damage such as any position change or deformation of the substrate 300, but preferably faces the substrate 300. It is good to use an adhesive pad having one side to be adhesive.

As such, the substrate fixing member 210 formed of the adhesive pad may be provided to surround the entire surface of the substrate transfer part 200 such as a conveyor belt, or may include a belt constituting the substrate transfer part 200. It may alternatively be provided.

The substrate fixing member 210 having the above-described configuration transfers the substrate 300 according to the driving direction of the substrate transfer unit 200 while the substrate 300 is adhered and fixed by driving the substrate transfer unit 200. As described above, even when the substrate 300 is transported along the inclined substrate transfer unit 200 in the adhered state, the substrate 300 may be stably transported without positional changes such as slippage and positional deformation. .

In addition, the substrate 300 may be damaged or deformed due to heat generated during sintering through the light output unit 100, or may be bent or wrinkled. Since the entire surface of the 300 is adhered and fixed, it is possible to suppress or prevent occurrence of damage or deformation of the substrate 300.

( Variant )

5 is a cross-sectional view of an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined conveying unit for removing smoke according to a modification of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the optical sintering apparatus 10 having the inclined conveying unit for removing smoke according to the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the substrate fixing member 210 does not completely surround the substrate conveying unit 200, and thus the substrate 300. A plurality of sizes may be provided to correspond to the size of).

In this case, the area of the substrate fixing member 210 may be the same as or larger than the area of the substrate 300. In addition, the separation distance from the adjacent substrate holding member 210 may be adjusted to correspond to it in consideration of the supply speed of the substrate 300 continuously supplied.

Third embodiment

6 is a perspective view of the substrate transfer part and the substrate fixing member according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The optical sintering apparatus 10 having the inclined conveying unit for removing smoke according to the third embodiment of the present invention has a configuration similar to the above-described embodiments. However, as shown in FIG. 6, as the configuration of the substrate transfer part 200 and the substrate fixing member 210 is modified, this will be described with reference to the center.

The substrate fixing member 210 may be configured as an adsorption device in which a plurality of adsorption holes are formed on one surface facing the substrate 300 so as to adsorb and fix the substrate 300 using vacuum adsorption unlike the above-described embodiments. Can be. Such an adsorption device may be any device as long as it can adsorb the substrate 300 by using vacuum adsorption to fix the substrate 300 and to suppress and prevent deformation of the substrate 300. In this case, the substrate fixing member 210 may correspond to the area of the substrate 300 or may be formed relatively large so that at least one substrate 300 may be seated thereon.

The substrate transfer part 200 may be made of any configuration as long as it can transfer the substrate fixing member 210 made of an adsorption device to one or both sides so that the substrate 300 can move through the light output part 100. Do. Preferably, as shown in Figure 6, it is preferable to use a substrate transfer unit 200 that can drive the substrate holding member 210 by sliding movement using a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder or the like.

As described above, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be understood in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown by the following claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and equivalent concepts should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A light output unit to sinter the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate by irradiating light onto a substrate on which the electrically conductive ink is printed; And

   Irradiation of light irradiated from the light output unit with smoke generated when sintering the electrically conductive ink printed on the substrate is provided to transfer the substrate to a position corresponding to the light output unit under the light output unit. A substrate transfer part provided to be inclined at a predetermined angle so as not to block or suppress a path;

   Optical sintering apparatus provided with an inclined transfer for removing smoke comprising a.
2. The method of claim 1,

   The substrate transfer unit is an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined transfer unit for removing smoke that the inclination angle is adjustable.
3. The method of claim 2,

   And the light output unit includes an inclined transfer unit for removing smoke that is rotatable or changed in position to adjust an irradiation angle of light that is changed according to an inclination angle of the substrate transfer unit.
4. The method of claim 1,

   The inclined transfer unit for stably fixing the substrate to the substrate transfer unit, and the substrate fixing member is further provided on one surface facing the substrate in order to prevent wrinkles of the substrate generated during sintering through the light output unit. Optical sintering apparatus provided.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein

   The substrate holding member is an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined transfer portion for removing smoke which is one side facing the substrate is a pressure-sensitive adhesive pad.
6. The method of claim 5,

   The substrate holding member is an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined transfer unit for removing smoke partially provided on one side of the substrate transfer unit.
7. The method of claim 4, wherein

   The substrate holding member is an optical sintering apparatus having an inclined transfer unit for removing smoke which is an adsorption device formed with an adsorption hole on one surface facing the substrate.

Images