JP6134942B2 - Coating material coating apparatus, coating method of coating material on long member - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating material coating apparatus for coating a coating material on the surface of a long member and a coating method of a coating material on a long member using the coating material coating apparatus.

  For example, a power generation device such as a solar cell panel is used in which a functional thin film is formed on a base material. Such a functional thin film is formed by, for example, a roll-to-roll process using a small process area or a non-vacuum system, in addition to various large-sized and vacuum processes such as vacuum deposition and CVD.

  On the other hand, as a method for forming such a functional thin film at a particularly high speed, there is a coating method using a die. The coating method using a die can form a coating film at several hundred m / min or more.

  As a coating method for precisely controlling the coating thickness by a die, for example, a coating die having a cavity disposed oppositely with a predetermined interval on one surface thereof while continuously transferring a long substrate. Is used to control the load on the coating die so that the repulsive force to the coating die generated by the material solution is maintained at a predetermined value while supplying the material solution into the cavity of the coating die at a predetermined pressure. There is a forming method (Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-274241 A

  In the method described in Patent Document 1, the base material is passed through a die filled with a material solution, and at this time, the solvent is taken out together with the base material according to the internal shape of the die. A film is formed.

In recent years, it has been desired to form a thin film with higher film thickness accuracy on a long base material.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thin film forming apparatus and the like that can obtain a film thickness with high accuracy and excellent reproducibility.

An apparatus for applying a coating material to a long member, a guide portion that holds the long member, a die portion that is disposed facing the guide portion, and that applies the coating material to the long member, a coating material supply unit for supplying a coating material to the die unit through the connected pipes in the die part, and the guide portion adjustable pressure regulator pressing force with respect to the direction of the die portions, wherein A pressure detection unit that detects a load of the guide unit and detects a pressure of the coating material inside the die unit, and the pressure adjustment unit is configured to respond to a pressure detected by the pressure detection unit. By adjusting the position of the guide part with respect to the die part, it is possible to suppress the pressure fluctuation of the coating material inside the die part, and the guide part faces the die part. The pressure detector is provided with the gas detector. A load detection unit formed on the guide unit, wherein the direction of the load detected by the load detection unit and the direction of the weight of the guide unit itself are the same, and the load is detected from the load detected by the load detection unit. It is a coating material coating apparatus that detects the pressure of the coating material in the die part by subtracting the weight of the part itself and the load received by the guide part from the long member.

The guide unit is constantly receiving force by the pressure adjusting unit in a direction opposite to the direction of the load detected by the load detecting unit, and adjusts the force in the direction opposite to the direction of the load detected by the load detecting unit. Thus, the position of the guide portion relative to the die portion may be adjusted.

  The drive part which adjusts the position of the guide part may be provided, and the drive part may be installed eccentrically on the outlet side of the die part with respect to the center of the guide part with respect to the moving direction of the long member.

  According to 1st invention, in order to adjust the pressure inside a die part, in order to control the position of the guide part side instead of the die part side, it is connected to the die part, and piping for pumping the coating material There is no influence. Therefore, the accuracy of the film thickness is high, and it is not affected by the removal or connection work of the pipe. For this reason, it is excellent also in reproducibility.

  Moreover, if the guide part is pressed against the die part with a constant force, the pressure in the die part can be kept substantially constant. For this reason, the configuration is simple and control is easy.

  Moreover, the pressure of the coating material in the die part can be more accurately controlled by providing the pressure detection part for detecting the load of the guide part.

  In addition, the guide part is provided below the die part, and the load of the guide part itself and the load received by the guide part from the long member are subtracted from the load detected by the load detection part, so that the coating material in the die part is obtained. By detecting the pressure, an accurate pressure can be detected.

  At this time, since the guide portion exerts a pressing force upward, when the pressure in the die portion increases, the pressure of the coating material received by the guide portion from above, the weight of the guide portion, and the long member Each of the loads is a downward force. Therefore, when the pressure in the die portion increases, the position of the guide portion can be instantaneously moved downward.

  On the other hand, when the pressure in the die portion decreases, the pressure may be pressed with a load obtained by subtracting the weight of the guide portion having a smaller load than the die portion and the load from the long member. Accordingly, since it is sufficient to always apply a force upward to the guide portion with a pressing force within a set range, precise control is possible as compared with the case where the die portion is suspended from above.

  2nd invention is the coating method of the coating material to the elongate member using the coating-material application | coating apparatus concerning 1st invention, Comprising: While supplying a coating-film material to the said die part, the said guide part The long member is moved between the die part and the pressure adjusting part controls the pressure of the coating material in the die part to be substantially constant, while the long member is on the die part side. The coating material is applied to a long member by continuously coating the coating material on the surface.

  According to the second invention, the coating film thickness can be precisely controlled, and the reproducibility of the coating film is excellent.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the thin film formation apparatus etc. which can obtain the film thickness excellent in the reproducibility with high precision can be provided.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the coating apparatus 1. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the coating device 1, and is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the structure of the coating device 20. FIG. The figure which shows the dispersion | variation in a film thickness.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a coating apparatus 1, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. The coating apparatus 1 mainly includes a guide unit 3, a die unit 5, a load detection unit 7, a drive unit 9, a pipe 11, and the like. In addition, in the following description, the method to apply | coat the coating material 15 with respect to the upper surface of the elongate member 13 which is a base material is demonstrated.

The guide part 3 is a member that holds the long member 13 from below. That is, the long member 13 contacts the guide part 3. The die part 5 is disposed above the guide part 3. The die part 5 has a cavity inside. For example, a pipe 11 is connected to the rear of the die portion 5. Therefore, the coating material 15 can be continuously fed into the cavity inside the die portion 5 through the pipe 11 from a coating material supply unit such as a pressurized container or a dispenser (not shown) outside (illustration). Middle arrow A direction). At this time, the pressure or flow rate of the coating material 15 is controlled.
The material of the coating material is, for example, PVDF (Polyvinylidene DiFluoride), PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate), P3HT (Poly (3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl)), PCBM ([6,6] -Phenyl-C). _61- Butyl Acid Methyl Ester), PEDOT: PSS (poly (3,4-ethylenedithiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate)) and the like dissolved in a solvent such as water, toluene, chloroform, dichlorobenzene and acetone. However, it is not necessarily limited to these.

  The inlet shape of the die part 5 is substantially the same as the cross-sectional shape of the long member 13, and the outlet shape is substantially the same as the cross-sectional shape of the long member 13 after application. The inlet shape of the die portion 5 is preferably uniform in the width direction of the long member 13, but may be circular. Moreover, the cross-sectional shape of the cavity inside the die portion 5 may be increased in diameter toward the outlet side (right side in the drawing) or may be unchanged, but the pressure in the die portion is increased and controllability is increased. From the viewpoint of improvement, as shown in FIG. 1, it is desirable to decrease continuously or stepwise toward the outlet side.

  Here, the long member 13 is a member that is continuous in the longitudinal direction. For example, even if the cross section having a diameter of several μm to several mm is a circular base material, a fibrous base material (a linear body) such as a rectangle. It may be a flat substrate having a width of several mm or more and a thickness of several μm to several mm. Moreover, although the material of the elongate member 13 is glass, resin, and a metal, for example, it is not necessarily limited to these. In the following description, an example of the long plate member 13 having a substantially rectangular cross section is shown.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the long member 13 passes between the guide portion 3 and the die portion 5. At this time, the upper surface side of the long member 13 is exposed to the cavity filled with the coating material 15 of the die portion 5. That is, a gap is formed between the long member 13 and the inner surface of the die portion 5. Therefore, the upper surface side of the long member 13 is in contact with the coating material 15 in the cavity.

  Similarly, a gap is also formed between both side surfaces of the long member 13 and the inner surfaces of the die portion 5 and the guide portion 3. Although it may not always be necessary to apply the coating material 15 to the side surface of the long member 13, a gap is formed between the long member 13 and the inner surface of the die portion 5 and the guide portion 3. Otherwise, the long member 13 cannot pass through the coating apparatus 1 smoothly. Therefore, it is preferable to form a gap to such an extent that the long member 13 can pass through the coating apparatus 1 at high speed.

  In addition, the clearance between the die part 5 and the guide part 3 and the side surface of the long member 13 is several tens of μm or more, and is set to a level that allows traveling without contact. Further, if the clearance is too large, it will cause dripping, so it is desirable that the upper limit is about 100 μm.

  At least a part of the lower surface of the long member 13 is in contact with the guide portion 3. Here, the pressure of the coating material 15 in the cavity is applied to the long member 13 traveling on the guide portion 3 and a predetermined tension is applied by the supply and winding device of the long member 13. Further, the long member 13 is held in a state where it is lifted slightly upward by the guide portion 3 with respect to a state in which tension is applied (straight). That is, the guide portion 3 is pressed downward by the long member 13. By doing in this way, the guide part 3 and the elongate member 13 can be stuck.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a load detection unit 7 and a drive unit 9 are provided below the guide unit 3. The load detection unit 7 is, for example, a load cell or the like, and can detect a load received from the guide unit 3. As described above, the coating material 15 is continuously filled in the cavity inside the die portion 5 at a predetermined pressure.

  On the other hand, the thickness of the long member 13 passing through the die portion 5 is not necessarily constant. For this reason, according to the thickness fluctuation | variation of the elongate member 13, the pressure (especially the pressure in the exit side of the elongate member 13) of the coating film material 15 in a cavity fluctuates. For example, if there is a slightly thick portion in a part of the long member 13, the clearance between the long member 13 and the die portion 5 becomes small. For this reason, the pressure in the said part increases. On the contrary, if there is a slightly thin portion in a part of the long member 13, the clearance between the long member 13 and the die portion 5 is increased. For this reason, the pressure in the said site | part falls.

  Note that such pressure fluctuation becomes prominent in the vicinity of the outlet of the die portion 5 having the smallest clearance with the long member 13. Therefore, by monitoring the pressure of the coating material 15, it is possible to detect a variation in the clearance between the long member 13 and the die portion 5 (particularly in the vicinity of the outlet). That is, the load detection unit 7 is a pressure detection unit capable of detecting the pressure of the coating material 15 inside the die unit 5.

  When the pressure of the coating material 15 in the cavity of the die part 5 fluctuates, the load on the guide part 3 fluctuates. Therefore, by detecting the load received from the guide unit 3 by the load detection unit 7, it is possible to detect the pressure fluctuation inside the cavity. That is, the thickness variation of the long member 13 can be detected.

  The drive unit 9 includes a load applying device such as a moving stage and a fixed stage as a guide means, and is connected to the load detection unit 7. When the pressure variation is detected by the load detection unit 7, the drive unit 9 is moved up and down according to the pressure variation (in the direction of arrow B in the figure).

  The drive unit 9 presses the guide unit 3 against the die unit 5 side with a constant force. When the pressure fluctuation in the die part 5 occurs, the drive part 9 adjusts the pressing force of the guide part 3 with respect to the direction of the die part 5 (upward in the drawing). That is, the drive unit 9 functions as a pressure adjustment unit inside the die unit 5. Thus, by operating the drive unit 9, it is possible to adjust so that the inside of the die unit 5 is held at a constant pressure.

  The drive unit 9 is installed eccentrically on the outlet side (right side in the drawing) of the die unit 5 with respect to the center of the guide unit 3 with respect to the moving direction of the long member 13. By doing in this way, the pressure in the exit of the dice part 5 can be grasped more correctly, and the position of the guide part 3 in the exit side of the dice part 5 can be adjusted precisely.

  In addition, the guide part 3 receives force with respect to the advancing direction by contact with the elongate member 13. Further, since the drive unit 9 is disposed at a position shifted from the center of the guide unit 3, the guide unit 3 may move obliquely. For this reason, in order to move the guide part 3 up and down while maintaining it parallel to the die part 5, the guide part 3 is provided with a guide mechanism (not shown). The guide mechanism is provided in the guide unit 3 or a member connected to the guide unit 3, and does not mechanically regulate the driving direction by the driving unit 9 when the guide unit 3 is driven by the driving unit 9. The direction perpendicular to the drive direction by the drive unit 9 is mechanically restricted. This guide mechanism is an air bearing, for example, and realizes a linear motion with low sliding while suppressing the guide portion 3 from being displaced in an undesired direction.

  By doing in this way, it adjusts so that the clearance gap (especially exit part) between the elongate member 13 and the die part 5 may become predetermined | prescribed clearance. Therefore, a thin film having a desired film thickness can be formed by controlling the pressure of the coating material 15 supplied into the die portion 5.

  When the pressing force of the guide unit 3 by the drive unit 9 is controlled, for example, the following may be performed. The load detected by the load detection unit 7 is the sum of the loads received from the long member 13 according to the pressure of the coating material 15 in the guide unit 3, the weight of the guide unit 3, and the tension of the long member 13. It is. Here, the weight of the guide portion 3 and the tension of the long member 13 are constant. Therefore, it can be said that the load fluctuation detected by the load detection unit 7 is substantially a pressure fluctuation of the coating material 15 in the die part 5.

  Here, if it is determined that the load detected by the load detection unit 7 has increased, the drive unit 9 must instantaneously move the guide unit 3 downward. At this time, the drive unit 9 may be moved only to cancel the load accompanying the increase in pressure. In this case, since the weight of the guide portion 3 and the load from the long member 13 are both applied downward, the guide portion 3 is instantaneously moved downward against pressure fluctuations by using this force. Can be moved to.

Conversely, if it is determined that the load detected by the load detection unit 7 has decreased, the guide unit 3 must be instantaneously moved upward by the drive unit 9. In this case, since the weight of the guide part 3 and the load from the long member 13 are both applied downward, it is necessary to move the guide part 3 against this. However, since the drive unit 9 always exerts a force upward, there is no need to change the direction of the force when the guide unit 3 is moved upward. Therefore, the guide part 3 can be moved upward instantaneously with respect to pressure fluctuation.

  In this way, by disposing the drive unit 9 on the lower guide unit 3 side, more precise position control is possible. The die portion 5 is larger than the guide portion 3 because a cavity for holding the coating material is formed inside. For this reason, when the load detection unit 7 and the drive unit 9 are arranged on the die unit 5 side, the position control is performed on the die unit 5 having a large weight as compared with the case where the position control of the light guide unit 3 is performed. In such a case, quick and fine position control is difficult. Furthermore, since the pipe 11 is connected to the die part 5, it is necessary to move the die part 5 together with the pipe 11. For this reason, it is difficult to precisely control the die portion 5. Furthermore, every time the pipe 11 is connected or removed, the movement behavior of the guide part 3 may change. Thus, the film thickness can be more precisely controlled by performing the position control on the guide part 3 side as in the present invention.

  When the variation in the thickness of the long member 13 is small or the allowable width of the change in the thickness of the coating material 15 is large, the guide unit 3 is always moved upward with a constant force without using the load detection unit 7. You may arrange | position only the drive part 9 which can be pressed.

  Next, a method for forming a coating film on the coating material 15 on the surface of the long member 13 will be described. The long member 13 is sent from a hobbin or the like to a long member 13 pretreatment device (not shown) by a supply device (not shown). The long member 13 continuously unwound from the supply device is subjected to surface cleaning and surface modification by the pretreatment device. For example, the surface of the long member 13 is cleaned or surface-modified by irradiating or immersing a gas (preferably plasma) or liquid having a predetermined component on the traveling long member 13.

  A coating apparatus 1 is disposed in a post process of the pretreatment apparatus. In addition, it is desirable that the long member 13 is not exposed to the outside air by filling the inert gas or the like from the pretreatment device to the coating device 1. The long member 13 introduced into the coating apparatus 1 is in contact with the coating material 15 inside the die portion 5 as described above. When the long member 13 passes through the inside of the die portion 5, the coating material 15 adheres to the surface of the long member 13. When the long member 13 is led out from the die portion 5, the coating material 15 having a thickness corresponding to the clearance between the upper surface of the long member 13 and the inner surface of the die portion 5 is taken out.

  In this way, after the coating material 15 is applied to the long member 13, the coating material 15 is dried by a drying / heat treatment apparatus (not shown) to form a thin film having a desired thickness. Further, the long member 13 on which the thin film is formed is wound up by a winding device (not shown). Thus, the long member 13 to which the coating material 15 is applied can be formed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the guide unit 3 side is controlled by the drive unit 9, the position can be controlled more accurately than in the case of controlling the guide unit 3 side. . Moreover, since it does not receive the influence of the piping 11, reproducibility is also high. Therefore, the film thickness of the surface of the long member 13 can be formed with high accuracy.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing the coating apparatus 20. In the following description, the same components as those of the coating apparatus 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 and 2, and redundant descriptions are omitted. The coating apparatus 20 has the same configuration as that of the coating apparatus 1, but is different in that a dice portion 23 is used.

  The pipe 11 is connected to the die part 23. The die part 23 is provided with a variable taper part 21. The variable taper portion 21 is movable so that the taper angle changes with the vicinity of the portion corresponding to the outlet of the die portion 23 as an axis (in the direction of arrow D in the figure). The main body of the die part 23 is configured with a curved surface in a circular arc shape so that the tip of the variable taper part 21 comes into contact with the rotation of the variable taper part 21. Therefore, a space surrounded by the main body portion of the die portion 23 and the variable taper portion 21 becomes a cavity.

  The position of the variable taper portion 21 is set in advance. In this state, the coating material 15 can be applied to the long member 13 in the same manner as the coating apparatus 1 described above.

  Thus, by providing the variable taper portion 21 and adjusting the angle of the variable taper portion 21, the pressure on the outlet side of the die portion 23 can be changed. Therefore, after setting to a desired pressure, the set pressure is kept constant by controlling the pressure inside the dice unit 23 using the drive unit 9 or the like, and the coating material 15 is applied to the long member 13. be able to.

An embodiment of the present invention will be shown below. The coating material was apply | coated to the elongate member using the coating device 1 shown in FIG.
As the long member 13, a material obtained by forming a film of indium tin oxide (ITO) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) having a thickness of 100 μm and slitting it to a width of 5 mm was used. As the coating material, poly (3,4-ethylenedithiothiophene): poly (styrene sulfate) (PEDOT: PSS) aqueous dispersion (made by Heraeus: CLEVIOS P AI 4083 (trade name)), which is a conductive polymer material, is used. It was.

  The traveling speed of the long member was set to 5 m / min, and a coating film having a thickness of about 150 nm was formed on the surface of the long member 13. At this time, the driving unit 9 was operated to adjust the pressure inside the dice unit 5 to 1.2 kPa. After the coating material 15 was applied to the long member 13, the coating material 15 was dried with a nitrogen flow heated to a temperature not exceeding 150 ° C. by a drying / heat treatment apparatus to form a coating film. Moreover, the long member 13 on which the coating film was formed was wound up by a winding device. As described above, a coating film was formed on the surface of the long member.

  About 100 mm of the long member 13 on which the thin film was formed was sampled, and the thickness of the coating film was measured at five points from different points in the width direction at points where the length direction was 20 mm, 40 mm, and 64 mm. The results are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, according to the present embodiment, the coating film was formed with a thickness within ± 5% of the target value of 150 nm at all measurement positions.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, the technical scope of this invention is not influenced by embodiment mentioned above. It is obvious for those skilled in the art that various modifications or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood that it belongs.

  For example, when the die portion 5 and the like are disposed below and the guide portion 3 is disposed above, the drive portion 9 and the like may be disposed above the guide portion 3. Even in this case, since the pipe 11 is not connected to the guide portion 3, pressure control can be performed with higher accuracy than in the case of controlling the position of the guide portion 3.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,20 ......... Applicator 3 ......... Guide part 5, 23 ......... Die part 7 ......... Load detection part 9 ......... Drive part 11 ......... Piping 13 ......... Long member 15 ... ... Coating material 21 ..... Variable taper part

Claims (4)

An apparatus for applying a coating material to a long member,
A guide portion for holding a long member;
A die part that is arranged opposite to the guide part and applies a coating material to the long member;
A coating material supply unit for supplying a coating material to the die part via a pipe connected to the die part;
A pressure adjusting unit capable of adjusting a pressing force of the guide unit with respect to the direction of the die unit, and a pressure detecting unit for detecting a load of the guide unit and detecting a pressure of the coating material inside the die unit; ,
Comprising
The pressure adjusting unit suppresses the pressure fluctuation of the coating material inside the die part by adjusting the position of the guide part with respect to the die part according to the pressure detected by the pressure detecting part. Is possible and
The guide part is provided to face the die part , and the pressure detection part is a load detection part formed in the guide part,
The direction of the load detected by the load detector and the direction of the weight of the guide itself are the same ,
The pressure of the coating material in the die part is detected by subtracting the weight of the guide part itself and the load received by the guide part from the long member from the load detected by the load detection part. A coating material coating apparatus. The guide unit is constantly receiving force by the pressure adjusting unit in a direction opposite to the direction of the load detected by the load detecting unit, and adjusts the force in the direction opposite to the direction of the load detected by the load detecting unit. Thus, the position of the guide part with respect to the die part is adjusted.   A drive unit for adjusting the position of the guide unit is provided, and the drive unit is installed eccentrically on the outlet side of the die unit with respect to the center of the guide unit with respect to the moving direction of the long member. The coating material coating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. It is the coating method of the coating material to the elongate member using the coating material application device in any one of claims 1 to 3,
While supplying the coating material to the die part, move the long member between the guide part and the die part,
The coating material is continuously applied to the surface of the long member on the die portion side in a state where the pressure of the coating material in the die portion is controlled to be substantially constant by the pressure adjusting unit. The coating method of the coating material to the elongate member.

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