TW202348534A - Transport device and transport method - Google Patents

Abstract

A conveying device (100) provided with: a plurality of conveying rollers (10) for conveying a sheet (S), and a conveying roller (10) for catching the sheet (S) by contacting the front end of the sheet (S) discharged from the T-shaped die (103). A feed sheet (20), and a guide drive mechanism (30) that moves the feed sheet (20) along a conveyance path of the sheet (S) formed by the conveyance roller (10).

Description

Transporting devices and transporting methods

The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device and a conveying method.

Conventionally, a device that passes a film between a plurality of conveyance rollers (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-1855) has been proposed. The film passing device of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-1855 has a plurality of guide members, each of which is provided in an area away from both end sides of the conveying roller toward the outside of the conveying area of the conveying film, and guides the line. The linear guide members move along the conveyance path of the film; and the fixing parts are respectively provided on the linear guide members and used to connect the threading wires to the linear guide members.

In the film passing device described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-1855, it is necessary to perform an operation of connecting a wire passing between a plurality of conveying rollers to the film to be conveyed. In this film passing device, after the work of connecting the film and the wire is performed, the wire is pulled from the outlet side of the device and the product film is passed between a plurality of rollers. This kind of work is usually done manually.

On the other hand, in the production of films, the resin material melted and kneaded by an extruder is molded into a sheet through a T-die, and the molded sheet is then conveyed and stretched to produce a film. Since the sheet needs to be molded by the T-die at high temperature, there is a need to avoid manual operation of the film passing device described in Patent Document 1 to transport the sheet molded by the T-die.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic conveyor for sheets discharged from a T-die.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is a conveying device that conveys a sheet discharged from a T-shaped die in a longitudinal direction, and is provided with a sheet-shaped guide portion that contacts the front end of the sheet discharged from the T-shaped die. then the sheet; a plurality of conveying rollers for conveying the sheet; and a guide driving mechanism for moving the guide part along the conveying path of the sheet formed by the conveying rollers.

In addition, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is a conveyance method in which a sheet discharged from a T-die is conveyed in a longitudinal direction, and the front end of the sheet discharged from the T-die is contacted by the guide portion; and The guide part moves along the sheet conveyance path formed by the plurality of conveyance rollers, and guides the sheet into the conveyance path.

Hereinafter, the conveyance device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention and the film manufacturing apparatus 1000 including the conveyance device 100 will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each drawing, the scale of each structure has been appropriately changed for convenience of explanation, and the dimensions may not be exactly as shown in the drawings. In addition, for a plurality of identical structures, only some parts are given symbols, and the symbols are omitted for other parts.

The film manufacturing device 1000 is, for example, a device used to manufacture PMMA stretched film products. As shown in FIG. 1 , the film manufacturing apparatus 1000 includes a raw material supply device 101, an extruder 102, a T-die 103, a casting machine 104, and a longitudinal stretching machine 105. Since the raw material supply device 101, the extruder 102, the T-die 103, and the longitudinal stretching machine 105 can respectively adopt known structures, detailed illustrations and descriptions are omitted and are briefly described below.

The raw material supply device 101 supplies raw materials (such as resin and plastic materials) for film products, and supplies the supplied raw materials to the extruder 102 .

The extruder 102 melts and kneads the raw materials supplied from the raw material supply device 101 and supplies them to the T-die 103 . The extruder 102 may be, for example, a single-screw extruder having one screw. In addition, the extruder 102 may also be a twin-shaft kneading extruder.

The T-die 103 discharges the molten material supplied from the extruder 102 from the slot 103a (see FIG. 2), thereby molding the molten material into a sheet shape (belt shape). Hereinafter, the material molded into a sheet shape will be simply referred to as "sheet S". The T-shaped die 103 continuously discharges the sheets S in the longitudinal direction.

The casting machine 104 cools and hardens the sheet S continuously discharged from the T-die 103 . The structure of the casting machine 104 will be described in detail later. The sheet S cooled and solidified by the casting machine 104 is guided to the longitudinal stretching machine 105 .

The longitudinal stretching machine 105 extends the sheet S in the longitudinal direction as the conveyance direction and reduces the thickness of the sheet S to produce a film product.

Although illustration and detailed description are omitted, the film product that has been stretched in the longitudinal direction by the longitudinal stretching machine 105 can be further stretched in the transverse direction by the transverse stretching machine 105, and the liquid plastic immersed in the film product can be extracted by the extraction and drying device. chemical agent. The film product is then stretched in the transverse direction by a transverse stretching machine, and the film product is wound into a roll shape by a winding machine.

The specific structure of the casting machine 104 will be described below. Hereinafter, the direction in which the sheet S is conveyed is also called the "conveyance direction", the direction in which the thickness of the sheet S is defined is called the "thickness direction", and the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction and the thickness direction is called the "left-right direction". The conveyance direction corresponds to the longitudinal direction of the sheet S and corresponds to the above-mentioned longitudinal direction. The left-right direction is a direction that defines the sheet surface of the sheet S together with the conveyance direction, and the width direction of the sheet S corresponds to the transverse direction.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the casting machine 104 includes a cooling roller R that cools the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 , and a conveying device 100 that conveys the sheet S cooled by the cooling roller R.

The cooling roller R is disposed below the T-type die 103 so as to be located approximately directly below the slot 103a of the T-type die 103 . The sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 moves downward in the vertical direction by its own weight, and rides on the outer peripheral surface of the cooling roller R. The cooling roller R is arranged so that its central axis extends in the left-right direction (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2 ), and is driven to rotate around the central axis at a specified speed. The width of the portion of the cooling roller R that contacts the sheet S in the left-right direction is at least larger than the width of the sheet S. Cooling water (liquid) flows inside the cooling roller R. The sheet S is carried on the outer peripheral surface of the cooling roller R and rotates around the cooling roller R to be cooled and solidified. By cooling and solidifying the sheet S, the sheet S can be pulled by the feed piece 20 described below without cutting the sheet S.

In addition, the casting machine 104 may further be provided with a cooling mechanism that blows cooling gas to the sheet S carried on the outer peripheral surface of the cooling roll R. In addition, as a method of cooling and solidifying the sheet S by the casting machine 104, a so-called touch roll method can also be used instead of cooling and solidifying by a single cooling roll R shown in FIG. 2. The aforementioned touch roll method Two cooling rolls R, a forming roll and a contact roll, are provided, and the sheet S is supplied and cooled between the two cooling rolls R.

Generally speaking, since the properties, temperature, pressure, etc. of the molten resin are unstable, the sheet S immediately discharged from the T-die 103 is discarded until the properties become stable. Therefore, a waste port (not shown) for waste sheets S is provided below the cooling roller R. Until the properties of the sheet S coming out of the T-die 103 are stable, the sheet S is not conveyed by the conveying device 100 but moved by the rotation of the cooling roller R, and finally detaches from the cooling roller R by its own weight and goes to the cooling roller R. The discard mouth falls and is discarded.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the conveyance device 100 is provided with: a plurality of conveyance rollers 10 for conveying the sheet S; and a feed sheet 20 serving as a sheet-shaped guide portion that is ejected from the T-shaped die 103 by contact. The front end of the sheet S is connected to the sheet S; the guide drive mechanism 30 moves the feed sheet 20 along the conveyance path of the sheet S formed by the conveyance roller 10; the cutting mechanism 40 cuts the sheet S in the front and rear directions in the longitudinal direction. The sheet S discharged from the T-die 103; and the control device 80 controls the operation of the conveying device 100.

The plurality of conveyance rollers 10 are provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction with respect to the cooling roller R, and convey the sheet S cooled by the cooling roller R. The plurality of conveyance rollers 10 form a conveyance path for conveying the sheet S downstream. The width of the portion where the plurality of conveyance rollers 10 contact the sheet S is at least larger than the width of the sheet S. The plurality of conveying rollers 10 are driven to rotate around a central axis at a designated direction and speed by a driving source (not shown) such as an electric motor. The central axes of the plurality of conveying rollers 10 are respectively set parallel to the central axis of the cooling roller R. In FIG. 2 , the rotation direction of the conveyance roller 10 is indicated by an arrow.

In addition, the conveyance device 100 is further provided with a pressure roller 11 , which clamps the sheet S together with the conveyance roller 10 and presses the sheet S against the conveyance roller 10 . Thereby, the driving force generated by the conveyance roller 10 effectively acts on the sheet S. In addition, in the conveyance device 100 , one or a plurality (a plurality in this embodiment) of free rollers 12 for hanging the conveyed sheet S is provided between the conveyance rollers 10 . The free roller 12 is not rotationally driven by a motor or the like, but is driven to rotate along with the conveyance of the wound sheet S.

The feed sheet 20 is made of a resin material. More specifically, the feed sheet 20 is a sheet-shaped member made of the same material as the sheet S or the film product. By using the same material as the feed sheet 20 and the film product, the feed sheet 20 can be manufactured using waste parts such as film product leftovers generated when forming the product, thereby saving energy and reducing costs.

In addition, the feed sheet 20 is a non-stretched sheet. By forming the feed piece 20 as a non-stretched sheet, it is possible to prevent the feed piece 20 from being deformed (shrunk) due to residual stress due to temperature rise due to contact with the high-temperature sheet S.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 , the guide driving mechanism 30 includes a plurality of clamps 31 that hold the feed piece 20 , a clamp moving mechanism 35 that moves the clamps 31 , and a position sensor that detects the position of the feed piece 20 32.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the clamp moving mechanism 35 includes a pair of endless chains 36 forming a circulation path, a sprocket 37 that engages with the chain 36 and circulates the chain 36 , and an electric motor 38 that drives the sprocket 37 .

As shown in FIG. 4 , a pair of chains 36 are provided at intervals in the left-right direction of the sheet S, and are symmetrically arranged with each other in the left-right direction of the sheet S. Specifically, the left chain 36 is located to the left of the left end of the sheet S being conveyed, and the right chain 36 is located to the right of the right end of the sheet S. In other words, the pair of chains 36 are provided on the outside in the left-right direction of both ends of the sheet S in the left-right direction.

The pair of chains 36 constitute a circulation path, and the circulation path includes a path along the conveyance path of the sheet S. Specifically, it is configured as a circulation path that passes through the outer periphery of the cooling roller R to which the sheet S is supplied, a conveyance path formed by the conveyance roller, and a recovery device 70 to be described later, and is again guided to the outer periphery of the cooling roller R. The pair of chains 36 are respectively engaged with the sprocket 37 , and the sprocket 37 is rotationally driven by the electric motor 38 to exert a driving force for circulating the chain 36 engaged with the sprocket 37 . A plurality of sprockets 37 are provided to allow the chain 36 to move according to a designated circulation path. In other words, the chain 36 is wound around the plurality of sprockets 37 to form a designated circulation path including a path along the conveyance path of the sheet S. Therefore, although illustration is omitted, a sprocket 37 is provided at a position corresponding to the conveyance roller 10 so that a part of the circulation path of the chain 36 follows the conveyance path of the sheet S by the conveyance roller 10 .

In the plurality of sprockets 37 , all the driving force generated can be transmitted by the electric motor 38 , or only a part of the driving force of the electric motor 38 can be used, and the remaining part can be driven to rotate along with the driving of the chain 36 . In addition, in FIG. 2 , for convenience of explanation, only a single sprocket 37 is shown. In addition, in FIG. 2 , the driving direction of the pair of chains 36 is indicated by a dotted arrow.

The plurality of clamps 31 are provided on the chain 36 at predetermined intervals along the circulation path formed by the chain 36 . As shown in FIG. 4 , the left and right clamps 31 are provided symmetrically with each other in the left-right direction. In other words, the left and right clamps 31 are provided on the chain 36 so that their positions in the conveyance direction correspond to each other.

Since the clamp 31 can adopt a known structure as long as it can hold the feed piece 20, a detailed description is omitted. However, for example, it can be configured to have a body portion and a push bolt. The body portion has a recess into which the feed piece 20 is inserted. The aforementioned pushing bolt causes the feed piece 20 inserted into the groove of the main body to push toward the inner peripheral surface of the groove. In addition, the clamp 31 may have a structure in which the sheet S is clamped by a pair of magnets provided in the groove of the main body, for example.

As shown in FIG. 4 , both ends (both end edges) of the feed piece 20 in the left and right directions are held by the left and right clamps 31 . The front end portion of the feed piece 20 is formed in an inclined shape that gradually inclines toward the front in the conveyance direction from one side in the left-right direction (right side in the figure) to the other side (left side). In other words, the front end portion of the feed piece 20 in the conveyance direction is inclined relative to the left-right direction and the conveyance direction. The rear end portion of the feed piece 20 is formed parallel to the left-right direction. As described above, in this embodiment, the feed piece 20 is formed into a right-angled trapezoid (vertical trapezoid) having an angle of less than 90° in the front (front end side) in the conveyance direction.

The inclination of the front end of the feed sheet 20 is based on the discharge rate of the sheet S from the T-die 103 (the conveyance rate of the sheet S), the width of the sheet S, the moving rate of the cutter 41 in the cutting mechanism 40, which will be described later, etc. And setting.

Since the feed piece 20 is formed in a right-angled trapezoid shape, the left end can be held by more clamps 31 than the right end. While the rear of the feed piece 20 is assembled and held equally by a pair of clamps 31 facing each other in the left-right direction, the front of the feed piece 20 is held only by the clamps 31 on the left side in the left-right direction. In other words, the left side of the front end of the feed sheet 20 is held by the clamp 31 , and the clamp 31 on the left side of the front end is not held by the right clamp 31 that is at the same position in the conveyance direction. Feed piece 20.

The clamp 31 moves along the conveyance path of the sheet S on the outside of the sheet S in the left-right direction by the chain 36 that is circulated and driven by the clamp moving mechanism 35 . Therefore, the feed sheet 20 held by the clamp 31 is conveyed along the conveyance path of the sheet S while contacting the cooling roller R and the conveyance roller 10 . In other words, the moving direction of the feed sheet 20 corresponds to the conveying direction of the sheet S.

The position sensor 32 detects the feed piece 20 held by the clamp 31 and transported by the clamp moving mechanism 35 . The position sensor 32 is provided at a plurality of predetermined positions on the circular path formed by the chain 36 .

The position of the feeding piece 20 is detected through the position sensor 32 to grasp the position of the feeding piece 20 . In addition, at least one position sensor 32 is provided at the entrance of the conveyance path of the sheet S. In other words, it is provided at a position that is a predetermined distance farther upstream than the position where the sheet S is discharged from the T-die 103 to the cooling roller R. At least one position sensor 32. Hereinafter, the position sensor 32 provided on the upstream side of the entrance of the sheet S conveyance path will also be referred to as the home position detection sensor 32a.

As long as the position of the position sensor 32 can allow the sheet S to pass, any sensor can be used as the position sensor 32 . For example, the position sensor 32 may use an optical sensor such as a limit switch or an infrared sensor. The detection results of the position sensor 32 are transmitted to the control device 80 . The position sensor 32 can directly detect whether the feed piece 20 passes, or indirectly detect whether the feed piece 20 passes by detecting the passage of the clamp 31 holding the feed piece 20 .

The cutting mechanism 40 includes a cutter 41 for cutting the sheet S, and a cutter driving mechanism 45 for driving the cutter 41 .

The cutter 41 is attached to the base 42 and is a rod-shaped member extending along the conveyance direction of the sheet S and having a circular cross-section. The material of the cutter 41 can be metal, resin, wood, bamboo, etc., and can be any material as long as it can withstand the temperature of the sheet S discharged from the T-shaped die 103 without being damaged.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the cutter driving mechanism 45 is at a first position (solid line in FIG. 5 ) to the right of the right end of the sheet S and a second position (as shown in FIG. 5 ) to the left of the left end of the sheet S. 5), the cutter 41 and the base 42 are moved as shown by the arrows. In other words, the cutter driving mechanism 45 causes the cutter 41 to traverse the sheet S in the left-right direction. Thereby, the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 is cut in the front and rear directions in the longitudinal direction. Since the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 is in a softened state due to high temperature, it can be easily cut by traversing the cutter 41 in the left-right direction. In addition, the arrow in FIG. 5 indicates the rotation direction of the cooling roller R.

Since the cutter driving mechanism 45 can adopt a known structure as long as it can move the cutter 41 across the left and right directions of the sheet S, detailed illustration and description are omitted. For example, a combined electric motor can be used. Linear motion mechanisms such as motors (servo motors) and ball screw mechanisms. In addition, the cutter driving mechanism 45 may have a structure of an electric motor and a belt mechanism, or may have a structure of an air cylinder, for example. In addition, the cutter driving mechanism 45 may be configured to move the cutter 41 in the vertical direction. This allows the cutter 41 to be retracted to a position that does not interfere with the operation when the transport device 100 is not in operation or in preparation. In addition, the position of the cutter 41 can be position controlled or speed controlled by a servo motor, or can be sensed by various sensors.

As shown in FIG. 6 , a separation mechanism 60 that separates the feed sheet 20 from the clamp 31 is provided at the exit of the conveyance path of the sheet S (the end of the conveyance path), and the exit of the conveyance path is provided to collect the sheet S. recovery device 70.

The separation mechanism 60 is provided on the downstream side of the most downstream conveyance roller 10 among the plurality of conveyance rollers 10 and the pressure roller 11 facing the conveyance roller 10 . The separation mechanism 60 is provided one in the left and right directions respectively, and separates the left and right clamps 31 from the feed piece 20 . As shown in Figure 7, the left and right separation mechanisms 60 respectively have: a disc-shaped rotating blade 61; a fixed blade 62 with a U-shaped cross section and a recess 62a for accommodating the rotating blade 61; and an electric motor 63 for rotational driving. Blade 61. In addition, in the separation mechanism 60 , a position sensor 32 (hereinafter also referred to as “separation detection sensor 32 b ”) that detects the passage of the feed piece 20 is provided on the downstream side of the rotating blade 61 and the fixed blade 62 . The separation detection sensor 32b detects the passage of the feed piece 20 through penetration, and thus can detect the separation of the feed piece 20 from the clamp 31.

The rotating blade 61 and the fixed blade 62 are provided further inside the clamp 31 of the guide drive mechanism 30 in the left-right direction. The blade tip (outer peripheral edge portion) of the rotating blade 61 enters the recessed portion 62 a of the fixed blade 62 . The rotating blade 61 is provided with the rotation axis along the left-right direction of the sheet S. In addition, in this embodiment, the rotating blade 61 and the fixed blade 62 are configured not to move in the left and right directions, but they are not limited to this and may be configured to be movable in the left and right directions.

When the feed sheet 20 is conveyed together with the sheets S to the exit of the conveyance path, the left-right inner portion of the portion of the feed sheet 20 held by the clamp 31 is introduced between the rotating blade 61 and the fixed blade 62 . Thereby, the feed sheet 20 is sandwiched between the fixed blade 62 and the rotating rotating blade 61 and cut. Therefore, the feed piece 20 is separated into the left-right outer part held by the clamp 31 and the left-right inner part by the cutting line shown by the two-point chain line in FIG. 6 . The rotation speed (circumferential speed of the outer peripheral edge) of the rotating blade 61 is desirably greater than or equal to the conveyance speed of the feed sheet 20 .

The feed sheet 20 separated from the clamp 31 is recovered together with the sheet S by the recovery device 70 . The recovery device 70 may use, for example, a winder that winds the sheet S onto a bobbin, a crusher that crushes the sheet S, or the like. In this embodiment, a winding machine is used as the recovery device 70 . After the properties of the sheet S transported to the outlet are stabilized, the recovery device 70 transports the sheet S through other transport devices (not shown) and supplies the sheet S to the longitudinal stretching machine 105 (see FIG. 1 ).

The control device 80 is composed of a microcomputer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), and an I/O interface (Input Output Interface). RAM stores data processed by the CPU, ROM stores CPU control programs, etc. in advance, and the I/O interface is used to input or output information from the connected machine. In order to implement at least the control related to this embodiment or modification, the control device 80 is programmed to perform necessary processing. In addition, the control device 80 may be configured as one device, or may be divided into a plurality of devices, and each control may be distributed through the plurality of devices.

The control device 80 controls the operation of each structure of the conveyance device 100 so that the conveyance method of the sheet S described below can be implemented. In addition, the control device 80 is not limited to being provided exclusively for the conveyance device 100 , but may be used in common with other devices in the film manufacturing device 1000 .

Next, a method of conveying the sheet S in the casting machine 104 will be described.

First, the cooling roller R and the conveyance roller 10 are rotated in a specified direction at a specified speed. The cooling roller R and the conveying roller 10 are controlled to synchronize their rotation speeds so that the sheet S is conveyed at a fixed speed. When the sheet S is first discharged from the T-die 103, the conveying device 100 is not driven until the properties of the sheet S are stabilized, and the sheet S is discarded to the discard port by the cooling roller R (see FIG. 2).

In addition, until the properties of the sheet S are stabilized, the feed sheet 20 is held by the clamp 31 of the conveyance device 100 in the stopped state so as not to cause deflection. The feed piece 20 has a width that becomes narrower toward the front in the conveyance direction, and is attached to the jig 31 so as to be evenly inclined from one side to the other side in the left-right direction (see FIG. 4 ). The position (preparatory position) where the feed piece 20 is installed is a position separated by a specified distance from the upstream side of the circulation path from the start position detection sensor 32a.

Next, after the properties of the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 are stabilized, for example, the operator operates a conveyance start button or the like, thereby rotating the chain 36 of the guide drive mechanism 30 and causing the clamp 31 to move forward. The web 20 moves along the circulation path. The moving speed of the feed sheet 20 (the cyclic driving speed of the chain 36) is synchronized with the rotation speed of the cooling roller R. Then, the front end of the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 is connected to the front end of the feed piece 20 .

As the guide driving mechanism 30 starts to operate, the rotating blade 61 of the separation mechanism 60 is also rotated. In addition, the rotating blade 61 of the separation mechanism 60 can also be used when the position sensor 32 senses that the clamp 31 and the feed piece 20 have moved to the vicinity of the separation mechanism 60 after the guide driving mechanism 30 starts to act. Start spinning.

Hereinafter, the process of joining the front end of the sheet S to the front end of the feed sheet 20 will be described.

After the feed sheet 20 moving along the circular path of the chain 36 approaches the T-shaped mold 103, the passage of the feed sheet 20 is detected by the starting position detection sensor 32a. At a designated time point after the feed piece 20 is detected by the home position detection sensor 32a, the cutter driving mechanism 45 moves the cutter 41 in the left and right directions, and moves the cutter 41 forward and backward in the longitudinal direction (conveyance direction). Cut the sheet S (see Fig. 8). Specifically, based on the distance on the conveyance path from the home position detection sensor 32a to the T-shaped mold 103 and the moving speed of the feed sheet 20, the distance from the home position detection sensor of the feed sheet 20 to 32a is the moving time until it moves to the T-type mold 103. After the home position detection sensor 32a detects the passage of the feed sheet 20, the cutter 41 is moved to cut the sheet S when the above-mentioned movement time has elapsed.

A predetermined interval is formed in the longitudinal direction between the front and rear cut sheets S in the longitudinal direction. The cut front sheet S does not contact the feed sheet 20, but is conveyed by the cooling roller R and discarded to the waste port.

The cut sheet S on the rear side passes through the starting position detection sensor 32a and contacts the feed sheet 20 that moves below the T-shaped die 103. Together with the feed sheet 20, it is conveyed by the cooling roller R, and is The cooling and solidification process follows the feeding piece (see Figure 9). Thereby, only the cut sheet S on the rear side is connected to the feed piece 20 and conveyed by the feed piece 20 .

In other words, the cutter 41 is driven to cut the sheet S at an appropriate time corresponding to the movement speed of the feed sheet 20 so that only the front end of the cut rear sheet S contacts the feed sheet 20 . The cutting time point performed by the cutter 41 corresponds to the conveyance speed of the sheet S, the distance between the T-die 103 and the cooling roller R, the moving speed of the cutter 41, etc., so that only the sheet from the rear side S is determined by the way in which S contacts the feed sheet 20.

Describing the attachment of the sheet S to the feed sheet 20 in more detail, the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 contacts the feed sheet 20 at a relatively high temperature above room temperature. A part of the surface of the feed sheet 20 is melted by the heat transmitted through the sheet S, and is conveyed and cooled by the cooling roller R, so that the melted feed sheet 20 is connected to the sheet S. Here, the material of the feed piece 20 is the same as that of the film product. In other words, the material of the feed piece 20 is the same as the sheet S. Thereby, the melted feed sheet 20 can stably adhere to the sheet S of the same material.

The sheet S adhered to the feed sheet 20 is pulled by the feed sheet 20 moved by the guide drive mechanism 30 and introduced into the conveyance path formed by the conveyance roller 10 (see FIG. 10 ). Thereafter, the sheet S is conveyed to the downstream of the conveyance path by being rotationally driven by the conveyance roller 10 . At this time, the pressure roller 11 is away from the conveyance path (in other words, the outer periphery of the conveyance roller 10 ). In addition, since the feed sheet 20 moves in synchronization with the rotation speed of the conveyance roller 10 , the movement of the feed sheet 20 can be prevented from hindering the conveyance of the sheet S by the conveyance roller 10 .

After the front end of the sheet S moves to the exit of the conveyance path, the feed sheet 20 and the clamp 31 are separated by the separation mechanism 60 . The feed sheet 20 and the sheet S separated from the clamp 31 are recovered by the recovery device 70 (see FIG. 11 ).

After the separation detection sensor 32 b detects that the feed sheet 20 is separated from the clamp 31 , the pressure roller 11 moves toward the conveyance roller 10 so that the sheet S is sandwiched between the pressure roller 11 and the conveyance roller 10 . By clamping the sheet S between the conveyance roller 10 and the pressure roller 11, it is possible to prevent the sheet S from being pulled back to the upstream side due to the separation of the feed sheet 20 from the clamp 31. In addition, after the separation detection sensor 32b detects that the feed piece 20 is separated from the clamp 31, the rotation of the rotating blade 61 is stopped. In addition, before the separation detection sensor 32 b detects the feed sheet 20 , the sheet S may also be clamped by the pressure roller 11 and the conveyance roller 10 . In addition, when the transportation distance between the separation mechanism 60 and the recovery device 70 is short, the pressure roller 11 does not need to be provided.

After sensing that the front end of the sheet S connected to the feed sheet 20 is recovered to the recovery device 70 , the driving of the guide driving mechanism 30 is stopped. Thereafter, the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 toward the cooling roller R is conveyed to the recovery device 70 using the driving force given by the conveyance roller 10 .

As described above, the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 and cut by the cutter 41 is introduced into the conveyance path by the feed piece 20 and the guide drive mechanism 30, and is conveyed downstream by the conveyance roller 10. Then, the sheet S is separated from the guide drive mechanism 30 by the separation mechanism 60 and is collected into the recovery device 70 . In this way, in this embodiment, the sheet S can be automatically introduced into the conveyance path and conveyed downstream. In addition, in this embodiment, the conveyance path is a path from the cooling roller R through the conveyance roller to the recovery device 70 when the sheet S is discharged from the T-die 103 .

In addition, the existing technology using a rope requires a rope that spans the entire length of the conveyance path. If a part of the rope is contaminated due to falling or interference with equipment, there is a risk that the conveyor roller or even the sheet will be contaminated. . When the sheet becomes contaminated, the device must be stopped and cleaning operations must be performed, resulting in reduced productivity and work efficiency.

In contrast, in this embodiment, since the sheet S can be introduced into the conveyance path by the feed piece 20 and the guide drive mechanism 30 that moves the feed piece 20, there is no need to span the entire length of the conveyance path. of film. Therefore, according to this embodiment, contamination of the sheet S can be suppressed, and the risk of stopping the device due to contamination can be reduced.

Here, in the cutting mechanism 40 , the cutter 41 is moved only in the left-right direction by the cutter driving mechanism 45 . Since the sheet S falls vertically downward from the T-shaped die 103 in a substantially vertical direction, the cut surface of the sheet S is formed in a linear shape from one side to the other side in the left-right direction in accordance with the moving speed of the cutter 41 (tapered) A sloping shape.

Therefore, in the feed piece 120 of the comparative example shown in FIG. 12 , if the front end of the feed piece 120 is slightly parallel in the left-right direction (perpendicular to either the conveyance direction or the thickness direction of the sheet S), it is cut. Both the front and rear sheets S will contact the feed sheet 120. On the contrary, if the cut sheet S on the front side does not contact the feed piece 120, the front end of the rear sheet S will not be in contact with the feed piece 120, but will come into contact further rearward than the front end in the conveyance direction. Feed piece 120.

If both of the cut front and rear sheets S are brought into contact with the feed piece 120, unnecessary sheets S of the cut front side will also be conveyed, which is not appropriate. In addition, if the front end of the rear sheet S cannot be brought into contact with the feed sheet 120 , the front end is not restrained, so the front end of the sheet S swings, etc., making it impossible to smoothly convey the sheet S from the cooling roller R to the conveyance roller 10 . The danger.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the front end of the feed piece 20 is formed into a tapered shape (taper shape) corresponding to the cut surface of the sheet S. Therefore, if the feed sheet 20 is supplied below the T-die 103 at an appropriate timing, only the front end portion of the cut rear sheet S can be connected to the feed sheet 20 . Thereby, the sheet S can be conveyed appropriately.

In addition, when the front end of the feed sheet is formed perpendicularly to the conveyance direction, the front end of the feed sheet is introduced to the conveyance roller substantially simultaneously in the entire width direction. In this case, when a part of the front end of the feed sheet is slack in the width direction or is lifted from the conveyance roller, the entire feed sheet cannot be smoothly introduced between the conveyance rollers. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the front end of the feed sheet 20 is formed in a tapered shape (taper shape), and the front end with a narrow width in the left and right direction comes first and contacts the conveyance roller 10, so that the front end is moved along the conveyance roller 10. Surface traction of roller 10. Since the width of the front end portion is narrow, it is difficult for the front end portion to become loose or warp. The narrower front end portion comes first and contacts the surface of the conveying roller 10. As the feeding piece 20 moves and contacts the surface of the conveying roller 10, the width of the feeding piece 20 gradually expands, so that the leading feeding piece 20 acts as a guide to move along the conveying roller 10. The function of moving on the surface of the conveying roller 10. Therefore, the entire width of the feed sheet 20 can be smoothly passed along the surface of the conveyance roller 10 .

Hereinafter, the functions and effects of this embodiment will be described.

The conveying device 100 for conveying the sheet S discharged from the T-type die 103 in the longitudinal direction is provided with a plurality of conveying rollers 10 for conveying the sheet S; and a sheet-like feed piece 20 discharged from the T-type die 103 by contact. The front end of the sheet S is connected to the sheet; and the guide drive mechanism 30 moves the feed sheet 20 along the conveyance path of the sheet S formed by the conveyance roller 10 .

In addition, the conveyance method of this embodiment for conveying the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 in the longitudinal direction is to contact the front end of the sheet discharged from the T-die and connect the sheet-like feed piece 20; The feed sheet 20 moves along the sheet conveyance path formed by the plurality of conveyance rollers 10 and introduces the sheet into the conveyance path.

According to these structures, since the feed sheet 20 is adhered to the sheet S by contacting the sheet S, the sheet S is moved from the feed sheet 20 to the sheet S by moving along the conveyance path of the sheet S. The feed sheet 20 is pulled and introduced into the conveyance path. In this way, the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 can be automatically conveyed. Thereby, the sheet discharged from the T-die 103 can be transported safely while saving manpower. In addition, since the sheet S can be automatically conveyed, it is possible to suppress conveyance failure and prevent damage to the conveyance roller 10 and the like.

In addition, the conveying device 100 is further equipped with a cutting mechanism 40 that cuts the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 in the front and rear directions in the longitudinal direction.

In addition, the conveying device 100 further includes a control device 80 that controls the operations of the guide drive mechanism 30 and the cutting mechanism 40. The control device 80 controls the guide drive mechanism 30 and the cutting mechanism 40 to cut the parts that have been cut by the cutting mechanism. The front end portion of the broken rear side sheet S is connected to the guide portion conveyed by the guide drive mechanism 30 .

According to these structures, the sheet S discharged from the T-die 103 can be automatically cut and the cut sheet S can be automatically conveyed.

In addition, in the conveyance device 100, the front end portion of the feed piece 20 is formed to be inclined toward the front in the conveyance direction from one side in the left-right direction to the other side.

According to this structure, only the sheet S can be ejected from the T-die 103 and the cut rear sheet S can be appropriately adhered to the feed sheet 20 .

In addition, in the conveyance device 100, the guide drive mechanism 30 has a clamp 31 that holds the feed sheet 20, and a clamp moving mechanism 35 that moves the clamp 31. A separation mechanism 60 for cutting the feed piece 20 is provided at the exit of the conveyance path so that the feed piece 20 is separated from the clamp 31 .

According to this structure, the feed piece 20 can be separated from the clamp 31 automatically.

In addition, in the conveyance device 100, the feed sheet 20 is made of the same material as the sheet S.

According to this structure, the bonding between the sheet S and the feed sheet 20 can be stabilized, and the discarded sheet S or film products can be reused, so that the cost can be reduced.

In addition, in the conveyance device 100, the feed sheet 20 is a non-stretched sheet.

With this structure, deformation caused by temperature rise due to contact with the sheet S can be suppressed.

Next, modifications of this embodiment will be described.

In the above-described embodiment, the cutting mechanism 40 moves the cutter 41 in the left and right directions to cut the sheet S in the front and rear directions in the longitudinal direction. On the other hand, although the cutting mechanism 40 is capable of cutting the sheet S in the front and rear directions in the longitudinal direction, it is not limited to the structure of the above embodiment.

For example, the cutting mechanism 40 may be a rod-shaped cutter 41 like the above embodiment, with one end side in the longitudinal direction as a fulcrum and the other end side swinging around it in the left and right directions. Cross the sheet S and cut the sheet S. In addition, the cutter 41 is not limited to a rod-shaped member with a circular cross-section as in the above embodiment. For example, it may also have a sharp blade shape, a rod-shaped member or a flat plate-shaped member with a rectangular cross-section, or a rod-shaped member with a cross-section. U-shaped component.

In addition, the cutting mechanism 40 may also have a pair of plate-shaped cutting blades arranged slightly perpendicular to the surface of the sheet S, and the pair of cutting blades clamps and cuts the sheet S in the thickness direction, thereby cutting. Flakes S.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the separation mechanism 60 has the fixed blade 62 and the rotating blade 61 . On the other hand, the separation mechanism 60 is not limited to the structure of the above embodiment as long as it can separate the feed piece 20 from the clamp 31 .

For example, as the cutting blade for cutting the feed piece 20, the separation mechanism 60 may also have a cutting blade with a substantially triangular front end (that is, a so-called laser cutter) instead of a non-circular rotating blade 61. And the feed piece 20 is cut with this cutting edge. When such a cutting blade is used, a pair of cutting blades may constitute a scissor structure to cut the feed sheet 20 . In addition, the separation mechanism 60 may be further provided with another rotating blade 61 instead of the fixed blade 62 having the recess 62a in the above embodiment.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the feed sheet 20 is made of the same material as the sheet S (film product) and is a non-stretched sheet. On the other hand, the material of the feed piece 20 is not limited to the structure of the above embodiment as long as it can adhere the sheet S. For example, the feed sheet 20 may be made of a different resin material than the sheet S.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the feed piece 20 is held by the clamps 31 of the guide drive mechanism 30 on both sides in the left and right directions. On the other hand, the feed piece 20 may be held only by the clamp 31 in either left or right direction. By holding the feed piece 20 on both sides in the left and right directions, the feed piece 20 can be conveyed in a stable manner. On the other hand, by holding the feed piece 20 only on one side in the left-right direction, the chain 36 and the clamp 31 need only be provided on one side in the left-right direction. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the device structure and reduce the cost. cost or space savings.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the feed piece 20 is formed into a right-angled trapezoidal shape in which the front end portion is inclined toward the front of the conveyance direction from one side in the left-right direction to the other side, and the rear end portion is perpendicular to the conveyance direction. . On the other hand, the feed piece 20 may be formed into a parallelogram in which the rear end portion in the conveyance direction is inclined parallel to the inclination of the front end portion in addition to the front end portion.

The above is a description of the embodiments of the present invention. However, the above-mentioned embodiments are only some application examples of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the specific structures of the above-mentioned embodiments.

R: cooling roller S: thin slices 10:Conveying roller 11: Pressure roller 12:Free roller 20: Feed piece (guide part) 30:Guide drive mechanism 31: Fixture 32: Position sensor 32a: Home position detection sensor 32b: Separate detection sensor 35: Clamp moving mechanism 36:Chain 37: sprocket 38: Electric motor 40: Cut off mechanism 41:Cutter 42:Abutment 45:Cutter driving mechanism 60:Separation mechanism 61: Rotating blade 62: Fixed blade 62a: concave part 63: Electric motor 70:Recycling device 80:Control device 100:Handling device 101: Raw material supply device 102:Extruder 103:T-shaped model 103a:Slot 104:Casting machine 105:Longitudinal stretching machine 120: Feed piece 1000:Thin film manufacturing equipment

The block diagram shown in FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of the thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 2 shows a conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The plan view shown in FIG. 4 is parallel to the sheet surface and shows the feed piece of the conveying device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 5 is viewed from the direction of arrow V in FIG. 2 and shows the cutting mechanism of the conveying device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The bottom view shown in FIG. 6 shows the exit portion of the conveyance path of the conveyance device and the feed sheet according to the embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 7 shows the structure of the separation mechanism of the conveyance device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram viewed from the direction indicated by arrow VII in FIG. 6 . The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 8 is for explaining the conveying method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows the state of the sheet before it is connected to the feed sheet. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 9 is for explaining the conveying method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which the sheet is attached to the feed sheet. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 10 is for explaining the conveyance method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which the sheet has been introduced into the conveyance path. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 11 is for explaining the conveyance method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows the state in which the feed sheet and the thin sheet are collected in the recovery device. FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a feed piece of a conveying device according to a comparative example of the embodiment of the present invention.

R: cooling roller

S: thin slices

10:Conveying roller

11: Pressure roller

12:Free roller

20: Feed piece (guide part)

30:Guide drive mechanism

32: Position sensor

32a: Home position detection sensor

32b: Separate detection sensor

35: Clamp moving mechanism

36:Chain

37: sprocket

38: Electric motor

40: Cut off mechanism

41:Cutter

42:Abutment

45:Cutter driving mechanism

60:Separation mechanism

70:Recycling device

100:Handling device

103:T-shaped model

103a:Slot

104:Casting machine

Claims (10)

A conveying device that conveys the sheets discharged from the T-shaped mold in the longitudinal direction and has: A plurality of conveying rollers are used to convey the aforementioned sheets; a sheet-shaped guide portion that connects the sheet by contacting the front end of the sheet ejected from the T-die; and The guide drive mechanism moves the guide portion along the conveyance path of the sheet formed by the conveyance roller. The conveying device as described in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned conveying roller is located below the aforementioned T-shaped mold in the vertical direction; The guide portion is conveyed while contacting the outer periphery of the conveyance roller. The handling device as described in claim 1, further comprising: The cutting mechanism cuts the sheet discharged from the T-die in the front and rear directions in the longitudinal direction. The handling device as described in claim 3, further comprising: A control device to control the actions of the aforementioned guide driving mechanism and the aforementioned cutting mechanism; The control device controls the guide driving mechanism and the cutting mechanism so that the front end of the rear side sheet that has been cut by the cutting mechanism is connected to the guide portion conveyed by the guide driving mechanism. . The transport device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, The front end portion in the moving direction of the guide portion is formed in an inclined shape, and the inclined shape is formed from one side to the other side in the left-right direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the sheet and the thickness direction of the sheet. , gradually tilting toward the front of the aforementioned moving direction. The conveying device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, The aforementioned guide drive mechanism has: Clamp, holding the aforementioned guide part; and The clamp moving mechanism moves the aforementioned clamp; A separation mechanism for cutting the guide portion is provided at the exit of the conveyance path so that the guide portion is separated from the clamp. The conveying device as described in claim 6, wherein, In the guide driving mechanism, the jig holding the guide portion is provided on both sides in a left-right direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the sheet and the thickness direction of the sheet. The conveying device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, The guide part is made of the same material as the sheet. The conveying device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, The aforementioned guide portion is a non-extended sheet. A conveying method in which sheets discharged from a T-die are conveyed in the longitudinal direction. The front end of the sheet ejected from the T-die is contacted and connected to the guide portion; and The guide part is moved along the conveyance path of the sheet formed by the plurality of conveyance rollers, and the sheet is introduced into the conveyance path.