Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-17
2004-03-16
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S285000, C156S345420, C156S381000, C156S576000, C156S574000, C156S583200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06706131
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention concerns systems and methods for laminating and removing films. More particularly, the present invention provides an integrated film lamination and removal system and methods of using the same.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Adhesive coated films are often used or applied to a variety of surfaces for reasons such as advertisement, decoration, protection, etc. In some instances these films may be used in place of painting to protect surfaces or to provide a uniform appearance, such as to a fleet of trucks. Regardless of their specific use, these films, which are often exposed to environmental conditions, have a finite life and must be removed prior to replacement.
The lamination of films often requires that pressure be supplied to force the film against a substrate to which it is to laminated. The substrate to which the film is to be laminated may be another film, a fabric, a structure (e.g., the side of vehicle, a wall, etc.) or any other object. The films are often coated with an adhesive to adhere the film to the substrate, but lamination of the adhesive-coated film under pressure often assists in providing a more secure bond between the film and the substrate. The use of pressure may also provide other advantages, e.g., reducing bubble formation, improving conformity, etc.
Although it is desirable to use pressure when laminating a film to a substrate, it can be difficult to provide enough pressure to effectively influence the lamination process. For example, when laminating two films to each other over, e.g. a roll structure, allowances must be made for deflection of the rolls because the lamination force can typically be applied only at the ends of the rolls. The result is that the size and weight of the rolls and supporting structure may be massive to compensate for roll deflection while generating sufficient and uniform pressure at the lamination point.
Another example can be found in the application of adhesive-coated plastic films, especially vinyl films, to a variety of surfaces for a variety of reasons such as advertisement, decoration, protection and the like. These surfaces can be very large in area, typically as much as 3 m×16 m. These films are adhered to very large horizontal or vertical surfaces such as walls, truck trailer sides, billboards, and the like. The films are seldom large enough to cover the entire surface with a single, integral film, so multiple films are typically used. In addition, attempts to make larger films result in films that are more difficult to handle and to register to other films. These surfaces have vast even and uneven portions, such as a truck trailer side that has flat surfaces interrupted by either corrugations or rivets, or both. These surfaces with some combination of flat portions, protrusions, and indentations require very skilled persons to adhere the film to the surfaces and then assure that such film adheres also to the protrusions or indentations, or both.
In the most common methods of applying these films to, e.g., truck trailers, a small plastic squeegee approximately 10 cm long is typically used to manually force the film against the substrate. This is a very labor intensive process. Furthermore, this application requires skill and patience to get an application that is well adhered, free of wrinkles, and in which all films are in register.
Removal of these adhesive coated films also presents difficulties due to the size of the films. The adhesives used to apply the films to the substrates also typically have a relatively high adhesion, making their removal somewhat difficult. Removal is currently accomplished by hand with an individual attempting to pull the film off of the substrate. It is difficult, if not impossible, for an individual to exert sufficient force to remove the entire sheet of film across its width at the same time.
As a result, the individual may be forced to remove small sections of the film, with the film often breaking during removal because of the forces concentrated at the removal location. To assist with removal, many individuals often cut the film into strips while on the substrate and remove the strips individually. Drawbacks to this approach however include the potential for damage to the underlying substrate as well as the additional labor required to cut the film prior to removal.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides a vacuum-assisted film laminating and removal systems and methods of using the same. The systems include a vacuum-assisted laminator for applying large format films to substrates where lamination pressure is generated at least partially by a vacuum drawn in a vacuum cavity. The removal apparatus applies tension over the width of the adhesive film, thereby removing the film from the substrate along the release line that extends over the width of the film. The methods and apparatus are particularly useful in removing large-scale films from substrates such as truck trailers, vans, walls, signs and other large surfaces.
The systems and methods may be particularly useful to assist in the application and/or removal of adhesive-coated plastic films, particularly vinyl films, to large area surfaces to provide improved appearance, durability, etc. Some of the most common surfaces include truck sides, walls, signs, portions of a building, vehicles, etc. These large surfaces require extensive time and labor for application of films. This often adds more cost to the project that does the film itself. Furthermore, many of these applications are on surfaces that contain compound-curved protrusions or indentations such as channels or rivets or other irregularities that increase application time and often produce wrinkles.
The present invention uses the force generated by a partial vacuum at the interface of application, to adhere adhesive-coated films to large area surfaces. The technique is also especially effective on smaller, irregular surfaces.
Even when applied with a vacuum-assisted laminator, accurate alignment of the laminator relative to the substrate to which a film is to be applied may be important. The present invention also can provide steering systems that can be used to control the vertical position the laminator, distance between the laminator and the substrate, and can also move the laminator along the substrate in a desired direction.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a film lamination and removal system that includes a laminator having spaced-apart first and second laminating rolls mounted parallel to each other, a seal mechanism extending between the first and second rolls, wherein the seal mechanism forms a seal with each of the first and second rolls, a vacuum cavity formed between the seal mechanism and the first and second rolls, and a vacuum port in fluid communication with the vacuum cavity. The system further includes a removal apparatus operatively coupled to the laminator, the removal apparatus including a winding roll attached to a frame, and a motor operably connected to the winding roll for rotating the winding roll about its longitudinal axis.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of using a system such as that described in the preceding paragraph to laminate an adhesive film to a substrate. The method includes locating the system proximate a substrate, wherein the substrate further defines the vacuum cavity; locating an adhesive film between the substrate and at least one of the first and second laminating rolls; drawing a vacuum through the vacuum port, wherein a negative pressure is provided in the vacuum cavity and wherein the first and second laminating rolls are drawn towards the substrate; and moving the system along the substrate in a lamination direction, whereby the adhesive film is laminated to the substrate.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of laminating and removing adhesive films from a substrate. The method includes providing a film lamination and removal system that includes a laminator having spaced-apart first and second laminating rolls
David John R.
Steelman Ronald S.
3M Innovative Properties Company
Crispino Richard
Edman Sean J.
Koch, III George R.
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