Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Identifying – composing – or selecting
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-31
2004-06-01
Fuller, Rodney (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Identifying, composing, or selecting
C355S041000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744490
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for processing of a strip-shaped workpiece, which device transports and processes a strip-shaped workpiece. The invention relates especially to a device for processing of a strip-shaped workpiece in which the operation of a delivery reel and/or a take-up reel can be carried out without problems even in the case in which the strip-shaped workpiece has through openings when a mask pattern is exposed onto the strip-shaped workpiece.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a device which transports and processes a strip-shaped workpiece (hereinafter also called a “workpiece”) generally a method is used in which a strip-shaped workpiece is pulled off a delivery reel which supplies it, positioned in a processing part of the device at the desired position, and is wound onto a take-up reel. Hereinafter, a continuous workpiece with a great length, such as a rolled film of organic compound, foil metal or the like, is called a “strip-shaped workpiece”.
In one such processing device, there are cases in which, between the delivery reel and the processing part, and between the processing part and the take-up reel, there is a dip of the workpiece in which part of the strip-shaped workpiece sags, i.e., the length of the workpiece between the delivery reel and first guide roller is longer than the distance between them so that the workpiece sags between them. The reason for producing this sag is to keep the tension which is exerted on the strip-shaped workpiece constant, and to adjust for the changes in diameter of the workpiece being unwound off of the delivery reel and wound onto the take-up reel, and to transport the workpiece in the processing part with high stop positioning accuracy. In this way, the transport of the strip-shaped workpiece and operation of the delivery reel and the take-up reel can be carried out independently of one another.
The strip-shaped workpiece is transported by a transport roller located downstream of the processing part in terms of transport together with a pressure roller clamping and turning the workpiece. The delivery reel and the take-up reel are operated such that the length of the strip-shaped workpiece is determined in the dips by sensors and based on these determination signals the rotation and stopping of the reels are controlled. Japanese patent disclosure document HEI 2-100036 describes a device for exposing a strip-shaped workpiece which is provided with the above described dips.
FIG. 6
shows the arrangement of a transport system for a strip-shaped workpiece which is provided with the above described dips. In the figure, a delivery reel
1
is wound with a strip-shaped workpiece W. The strip-shaped workpiece W is delivered by the delivery reel
1
which is driven by a drive device
25
, sent via a first dip A and the guide roller
3
to a processing part
10
and subjected to processing.
Transporting of the strip-shaped workpiece W is carried out by a pressure roller
5
and a transport roller
6
which are each located upstream and downstream of the transport direction of a carrier
15
of the processing part
10
. The strip-shaped workpiece W is sent by a drive control of the transport roller
6
onto the carrier
15
of the exposure part
10
which is downstream in the transport direction at a set position.
In the processing part
10
, there are, for example, a lamp
11
which emits light which contains UV light, a reflector
12
, a condenser lens
13
, a mask M with a mask pattern, a projection lens
14
and the like. The light which contains UV light and which is emitted by the lamp
11
is reflected by the reflector
12
and is emitted via the condenser lens
13
, the mask M and the projection lens
14
onto the strip-shaped workpiece on the carrier
15
. Thus the mask pattern of the mask M is exposed on the strip-shaped workpiece W. The above described processing part is hereinafter also called the “exposure part”. After completion of exposure, the strip-shaped workpiece W is wound via a guide roller
4
and a second dip B onto a take-up reel
2
which is driven by a drive device
26
.
Determination of the strip-shaped workpiece Win dips A and B and operation on the delivery side and the take-up side as shown in
FIG. 6
are shown and is described briefly below.
The strip-shaped workpiece W is determined using pairs of sensors of the transmission type
21
,
22
;
23
,
24
which are located one above the other, i.e. at two vertically spaced points of each of the dips A and B.
In the above described sensors of the transmission type
21
,
22
;
23
,
24
, the emission elements
21
a
,
22
a
,
23
a
,
24
a
belong to one group and the light receiving elements
21
b
,
22
b
,
23
b
, and
24
b
belong to one group. When the sensor light emitted by the emission elements
21
a
,
22
a
,
23
a
,
24
a
is shielded by the strip-shaped workpiece Wand is not received by the light receiving elements
21
b
,
22
b
,
23
b
,
24
b
, it is determined that the strip-shaped workpiece W is located between the two elements. Hereinafter, the sensors
21
,
23
are called the “upper sensors” and the sensors
22
,
24
are called the “lower” sensors. Furthermore, the state in which the light receiving elements
21
b
,
22
b
,
23
b
,
24
b
of sensors
21
,
22
,
23
and
24
are not shielded by the strip-shaped workpiece W is called “transmission” and the state in which they are shielded by the strip-shaped workpiece W is called “shielding”.
(1) Control of the delivery reel
Using FIGS.
7
(
a
) to
7
(
f
), control of a conventional delivery reel is described. FIGS.
7
(
a
) to
7
(
f
) show part on the delivery or takeoff side shown in FIG.
6
. The strip-shaped workpiece W is transported by the transport roller
6
shown in
FIG. 6
in the direction toward the exposure part
10
which is located on the right side in the figure.
(a) As is shown in FIG.
7
(
a
), the delivery reel
1
turns and begins to deliver the strip-shaped workpiece W and the amount of sagging of the strip-shaped workpiece W is small so that both the upper sensor
21
and also the lower sensor
22
of the dip A are in the transmission state. In this state, the strip-shaped workpiece W is allowed to sag in the dip A.
(b) The delivery reel
1
turns and the strip-shaped workpiece W shields the upper sensor
21
, as shown in FIG.
7
(
b
), the delivery reel
1
continues to turn.
(c) As is shown in FIG.
7
(
c
), the strip-shaped workpiece W shields the upper sensor
21
and the lower sensor
22
. When this state occurs, the delivery reel
1
stops rotation and delivery of the strip-shaped workpiece W.
(d) As is shown in FIG.
7
(
d
), the strip-shaped workpiece W continues to be transported so that the lower sensor
22
is shifted into the transmission state, while the upper sensor
21
is still located in the shielding state. The delivery reel
1
continues the state in which its rotation is stopped.
(e) As is shown in FIG.
7
(
e
), as the strip-shaped workpiece W continues to be transported, both the upper sensor
21
and also the lower sensor
22
are shifted into the transmission state (in the same state as the state described above in
7
(
a
)), the delivery reel
1
again turns and delivery of the strip-shaped workpiece W begins again.
(f) The state which is shown in FIG.
7
(
f
), in which transmission takes place to the upper sensor
21
but the lower sensor
22
is shielded is one that cannot properly occur when the strip-shaped workpiece W is being transported normally. Occurrence of this state is presumably produced because the lower sensor
22
is shielded by scrap and foreign bodies (hereinafter called “barrier”). The rotation of the delivery reel
1
and the transport and processing of the strip-shaped workpiece W are therefore stopped and a fault indication is output.
The above described control is summarized below using Table 1.
TABLE 1
Upper
Transmission
Shielding
Shielding
Transmission
Sensor 21
Lower
Transmission
Transmission
Shielding
Shielding
Sensor 22
Delivery
Rotation
Continuati
Mitsumoto Yoshihiko
Takamatsu Hirosuke
Fuller Rodney
Nixon & Peabody LLP
Safran David S.
Ushiodenki Kabushiki Kaisha
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