Coating apparatus – Interfacing control of plural operations
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-29
2001-01-16
Lamb, Brenda A. (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Interfacing control of plural operations
C118S681000, C118S674000, C118S684000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06174372
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a duplex type coating apparatus capable of simultaneously coating both faces of a web of cloth, plastic film, metal sheet, or glass plate, which are in an elongated shape, or a metal sheet in a net-like shape, a porous metal sheet or the like with a coating solution.
Recently, with the increased use of portable telephones and portable information terminals, mass production of lithium cells of a spiral electrode type has been actively carried out. Further, it is necessary in mass production of the lithium cells to carry out so-called intermittent coating in which coated portions and uncoated portions are alternately formed on strip-like hoop material (that is, a web) of a copper foil or an aluminum foil in a length direction of the web by a slurry clad material (that is, a coating solution) composed mainly of an electrode activating substance and further, it is necessary to coat the coating solution at the same position on both faces of the web.
Hence, the applicant has previously proposed a coating apparatus capable of coating a coating solution on both faces of a web (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-8-206567). The coating apparatus is installed with a pair of dies on both sides of a transfer path of a web. A solution reservoir for the coating solution and an ejection port for the coating solution are provided in the die and the coating solution is coated on both faces of the web from the ejection ports by supplying the coating solution to the reservoirs. In this case, the ejection port is formed by a fixed lip portion and a movable lip portion and the movable lip portion is arranged to be movable in the up and down direction by an air cylinder by which the ejection port can be opened or closed.
When the intermittent coating is carried out by the coating apparatus, the web is moved along the transfer path and the coating solution is ejected from the pair of dies. Further, when a coated portion is to be formed, the ejection port is brought into a state of being opened by moving the movable lip portion to thereby eject the coating solution. When an uncoated portion is to be formed, the ejection port is brought into a state of being closed by moving the movable lip portion using the air cylinder. Thereby, the coating solution does not come out from the ejection port and therefore, the uncoated portions can be formed on the both faces of the web.
The above-described coating apparatus is provided with a structure in which the movable lip portion is operated by the air cylinder and therefore, there is a problem in that the response time of the operation of the movable lip portion is limited and an interval between the uncoated portions or the coated portions cannot be reduced to less than a certain amount.
Further, as shown by
FIG. 17
, when coated portions
7
a
, and uncoated portions
7
b
are alternately formed on a web
7
, there causes a phenomenon in which an amount of a coating solution that is larger than that of other portion is coated and the coated portion is swollen at a position
7
d
of the coated portion
7
a
where the coating is started and a position
7
e
thereof where the coating is finished.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, in view of the above-described problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a duplex type coating apparatus for forming coated portions and uncoated portions successively whereby an intermittent coating can be carried out by swiftly forming the uncoated portions and the coated portions flat throughout.
According to the present invention, there is provided a coating apparatus of a duplex type comprising a pair of dies installed on both sides of a transfer path of a web, reservoirs for a coating solution in the respective dies, ejection ports installed at front end portions of the respective dies along a width direction of the web for ejecting the coating solution, ejection paths for the coating solution reaching the ejection ports from the reservoirs, coating solution supplying means for supplying the coating solution to the respective reservoirs whereby the coating solution is coated on both faces of the web by ejecting same amounts of the coating solution respectively from the pair of ejection ports to the running web, rotary valves, in each of which a valve element has a substantially cylindrical shape and is in parallel to a width direction of the dies and arranged at midways of the ejection paths, and driving means for pivoting the rotary valves.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus described above, wherein the driving means open and close the ejection paths by repeatedly rotating clockwise and counterclockwise the valve elements.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus described above, wherein each of the valve elements has a substantially cylindrical shape and is formed with a flow path portion by notching a portion of a circumferential portion of the valve element along an axial direction.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus as described above, wherein an interval between the pair of dies is made variable by installing die moving means for moving at least one of the pair of dies in a direction orthogonal to the transfer path.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus as described above, wherein the driving means for pivoting the rotary valves installed to the pair of dies are installed to the pair of rotary valves respectively individually, and wherein different intermittent coatings are carried out respectively on the faces of the web by individually varying timings for opening and closing the ejection paths at the pair of rotary valves by individually operating the pair of driving means.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus as described above, wherein ejection spaces capable of ejecting the coating solution and block members for blocking ejection of the coating solution are formed alternately along the width direction of the web.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus as described above, further comprising transfer speed detecting means for detecting a transfer speed V of the web, constant amount pumps for supplying same amounts of the coating solution at a constant ejection amount per rotation respectively to the reservoirs of the pair of dies, and control means for controlling a rotational number N of the constant amount pumps in accordance with the transfer speed V from the transfer speed detecting means to satisfy the equation
N
=(
D×W×V
)/(
K
1×
Q
),
wherein notation D designates a set coated thickness in a wet state, notation W designates a set coated width of the web, notation Q designates the ejection amount per rotation of the constant amount pump and notation K1 designates a constant.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provided the coating apparatus as described above, further comprising transfer speed detecting means for detecting a transfer speed V of the web, constant amount pumps for supplying same amounts of the coating solution at a constant ejection amount per rotation respectively to the reservoirs of the pair of dies, coated thickness detecting means for detecting an averaged coated thickness Dp with respect to the width direction of the web, and control means for controlling a rotational number N of the constant amount pumps in accordance with, the transfer speed V from the transfer speed detecting means and the averaged coated thickness Dp from the coated thickness detecting means to satisfy the equation
N
=(
Ds×V×K
0)/
Dp,
wherein Ds designates the set coated thickness in a wet state and notation K0 designates a constant.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is provide
Hashimoto Akiyoshi
Irie Nobuaki
Ueda Kazuto
Yoshinaga Hidetoshi
Hirano Tecseed Co., Ltd.
Jordan and Hamburg LLP
Lamb Brenda A.
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