JP7510751B2 - Dispenser device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a dispenser device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a dispenser device that ejects and supplies various types of viscous fluids, such as adhesives and materials for three-dimensional modeling, from a nozzle.

A dispenser device is generally known that includes a syringe equipped with a nozzle at the tip and containing various types of viscous fluids such as adhesives and materials for three-dimensional modeling (hereinafter, in this specification and claims, collectively referred to as "viscous fluids"), and a movement mechanism that moves the syringe in three dimensions relative to an object, and that ejects a preset amount of the viscous fluid contained in the syringe from the nozzle toward the object.

Since such dispenser devices eject viscous fluid from a nozzle, a phenomenon occurs in which the viscous fluid forms strings after a preset amount is ejected from the nozzle.

When stringiness of the viscous fluid occurs, the viscous fluid spills out in whisker-like shapes around the position where it should be supplied, which causes the problem that the viscous fluid cannot be supplied accurately to the position where it should be supplied.

In light of these problems, various methods have been proposed to reduce the stringiness of viscous fluids.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-220433, presented as Patent Document 1, discloses a method for reducing stringiness by using ultrasonic vibrations.

In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-126228, presented as Patent Document 2, discloses a method for reducing stringiness by heating using discharge or a laser light source.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7-273437, presented as Patent Document 3, discloses a method for reducing stringiness using a suction nozzle.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-330075, presented as Patent Document 4, discloses a method in which a rotating member is provided to physically cut the threads generated by the stringing phenomenon.

However, all of the methods disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 to 4 require complex and expensive auxiliary equipment such as an ultrasonic vibration generator, discharge equipment, a laser light source, a suction nozzle, or a rotating member, and the device configuration is large.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-220433 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-126228 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-273437 JP 2004-330075 A

The present invention was made in consideration of the various problems with the conventional technology as described above, and its purpose is to provide a dispenser device that can reduce stringiness of viscous fluids without using complex and costly auxiliary equipment and without increasing the size of the device configuration.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a dispenser device that includes a syringe equipped with a nozzle at the tip and containing a viscous fluid, and a movement mechanism that moves the syringe in three dimensions relative to an object, and that ejects a preset amount of the viscous fluid contained in the syringe from the nozzle in a vertical direction, and that includes a tilting mechanism that tilts the syringe at a preset angle from the vertical direction, and when ejection of the preset amount of viscous fluid from the nozzle is completed, the tilting mechanism tilts the syringe at a preset angle from the vertical direction, and in that state the syringe is raised by the movement mechanism.

As a result, the principle of the present invention, which will be described with reference to Figures 1(a) and (b), makes it possible to reduce stringiness of the viscous fluid discharged from the nozzle.

In other words, when the viscosity of the viscous fluid is the main cause of stringiness, according to "Hirai (Japanese Chemical Journal, Vol. 75, No. 10, p. 1019), Goto et al. (Materials Test, Vol. 6, No. 43, p. 245) (Appendix 1)," the string length is as follows:

L~R x V x η/Y
L: yarn length [m] R: yarn radius [m] V: yarn speed [m/s]
η: Viscosity [Pa·s] Y: Surface tension [N/m]
The following relation can be derived.

Therefore, when using the same material as the viscous fluid (in this case, the values of viscosity η and surface tension Y are constant), to change the thread length L, it is sufficient to change the thread radius R while keeping the thread drawing speed V constant.

The inventors of the present application then discovered that it is possible to artificially reduce the radius R of the thread by tilting the syringe from the vertical direction, which led to the creation of the present invention.

More specifically, in a dispenser device that ejects a viscous fluid contained in a syringe from a nozzle in a vertical direction with a radius R1, if the syringe is moved upward in this state after ejection is completed, a thread with a radius R1 will be pulled, as shown in Figure 1(a).

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 1(b), if the syringe is tilted from the vertical direction and rises after the discharge is completed, the radius R2 of the thread becomes

R2 = R1 × cos θ1
It is calculated as follows:
R1>R2
Therefore, the radius R of the thread can be made small.

As a result, the thread length is shortened, making it possible to reduce the threading of the viscous fluid.

That is, the present invention relates to a dispenser device that includes a syringe that includes a nozzle at its tip and that contains a viscous fluid, and a movement mechanism that moves the syringe in three dimensions relative to an object, and that ejects a preset amount of the viscous fluid contained in the syringe from the tip of the nozzle. The dispenser device also includes a tilt mechanism that tilts the syringe at an arbitrary tilt angle with respect to the vertical direction, centered on the tip of the nozzle, and when the syringe is moved upward after ejection of the preset amount of the viscous fluid from the tip of the nozzle is completed, the syringe is tilted by the tilt mechanism to an angle that is greater than the tilt angle at which ejection of the viscous fluid began.

In addition, in the present invention, the tilting mechanism is configured to include a guide member having an arc-shaped groove formed therein, and an arm member having one end slidably supported within the groove and the other end fixed to the syringe.

In addition, in the present invention, the inclination angle is within 90° with respect to the vertical direction.

In addition, in the present invention described above, the inclination angle is 30° to 70° with respect to the vertical direction.

In the present invention described above, when the tilting mechanism has finished ejecting a preset amount of the viscous fluid from the tip of the nozzle, the syringe is tilted to an angle of inclination that is greater than the angle of inclination at the start of ejection of the viscous fluid.

The present invention is configured as described above, and thus has the excellent effect of reducing stringiness of viscous fluids without the need for complex and costly auxiliary equipment and without increasing the size of the device configuration.

1(a) and (b) are explanatory diagrams showing the principle of the present invention. 2(a) and (b) are schematic diagrams illustrating a dispenser device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a front view, and (b) is a view illustrating a main part of the dispenser device as viewed in the direction of arrow A in (a). 3(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) are explanatory diagrams that diagrammatically show transitions of the operation of a dispenser device according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a table showing the results of an experiment conducted by the inventors of the present application.

Below, we will explain in detail an example of an embodiment of a dispenser device according to the present invention, with reference to the attached drawings.

2(a) and (b) are schematic diagrams illustrating a dispenser device according to an embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 2(a) being a front view and FIG. 2(b) being an explanatory view of the main parts as viewed from the arrow A in FIG. 2(a).

The dispenser device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in Figures 2(a) and (b) includes a syringe 12 having a nozzle 12a at its tip. The syringe 12 is filled with a viscous fluid.

One end 14a of a tube 14 is connected to the rear end 12b of the syringe 12, and the other end 14b of the tube 14 is connected to a compressor 16.

By sending air from the compressor 16 through the tube 14 to the syringe 12, the viscous fluid contained in the syringe 12 is ejected from the nozzle 12a.

The syringe 12 is supported by a support device 18. The support device 18 is equipped with a three-dimensional movement mechanism that can move the syringe 12 relative to the workpiece 100 in three-dimensional directions in an XYZ Cartesian coordinate system.

The three-dimensional movement mechanism provided in the support device 18 described above can be implemented using conventionally known technology as appropriate, so a detailed description of it will be omitted.

The support device 18 is provided with a tilting mechanism 20 that can tilt the syringe 12 by an arbitrary tilt angle θ2 from an initial position (tilt angle θ0 = 0°) along the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) around the tip 12aa of the nozzle 12a.

The tilting mechanism 20 in this embodiment includes a guide member 22 having an arc-shaped groove 22a formed with the tip 12aa at its center, and an arm member 24 having one end 24a slidably supported within the arc-shaped groove 22a and the other end 24b fixed to the syringe 12.

One end 24a of the arm member 24 is connected to a drive source (not shown). By using this drive source to move the end 24a to any position within the groove 22a, the syringe 12 can be tilted by any tilt angle θ2 from its initial position along the vertical direction (tilt angle θ0 = 0°).

In the above configuration, the operation of dispensing a viscous fluid by the dispenser device 10 will be described with reference to Figures 3(a), (b), (c), (d), and (e).

Figures 3(a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) are explanatory diagrams that show the transition of operation of a dispenser device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

To dispense a viscous fluid onto a workpiece 100 using the dispenser device 10, the syringe 12 is first lowered vertically (Z-axis direction) to a predetermined dispense height position by the three-dimensional movement mechanism (Figure 3(a)).

Next, the syringe 12 is moved on the XY plane by the three-dimensional movement mechanism, while a preset amount of viscous fluid is ejected from the nozzle 12a to a preset location on the workpiece 100 (Figure 3(b)).

When the ejection of the viscous fluid is completed, the tilting mechanism 20 tilts the syringe 12 from the initial position (tilt angle θ0 = 0°) by a preset tilt angle θ2 (Figure 3(c)), and while keeping the syringe 12 tilted by the tilt angle θ2, the three-dimensional movement mechanism raises the syringe 12 (Figure 3(d)).

Then, the tilt mechanism 20 returns the syringe 12 to its initial position along the vertical direction (tilt angle θ0 = 0°).

Next, we will explain the results of experiments conducted by the inventors using the above-mentioned dispenser device 10.

The experimental environment for this experiment is as follows.
Viscous fluid: commercially available UV-curable adhesive (ThreeBond 3030, manufactured by ThreeBond)
Syringe: PP syringe (PSY-30FU-OR, manufactured by Muto Engineering)
Nozzle: φ0.4 mm Teflon (registered trademark) needle (TN-UV-0.4-25, manufactured by Iwashita Engineering)
・Compressor air pressure: 0.1MPa
Discharge time: 1 second

In this experiment, the length of the thread was measured when the syringe was raised at an upward speed (50 mm/s) after the viscous fluid was discharged.

The measurements were taken using a home video camera (HC-V750M, Panasonic), and the thread length was measured based on the captured images.

Figure 4 shows a chart illustrating the results of an experiment conducted by the inventors of the present application. According to the results of this experiment, when the syringe 12 was raised from an initial position along the vertical direction (tilt angle θ0 = 0°) and when the tilt angle θ2 was 20°, the thread length was 23 mm, but as the tilt angle θ2 was gradually increased beyond 20°, the thread length gradually became shorter.

Specifically, when the tilt angle θ2 is 30°, the thread length is 20 mm, when the tilt angle θ2 is 40°, the thread length is 19 mm, when the tilt angle θ2 is 50°, the thread length is 17 mm, when the tilt angle θ2 is 60°, the thread length is 16 mm, and when the tilt angle θ2 is 70°, the thread length is 15 mm.

As is clear from the experimental results above, when the inclination angle θ2 is in the range of 30° to 70°, the thread length is reduced, and as the inclination angle θ2 increases, the thread length becomes shorter.

As described above, the dispenser device 10 of the present invention requires only a tilting mechanism 20 with a simple configuration, making it possible to reduce stringiness of the viscous fluid without using complex and costly auxiliary equipment and without increasing the size of the device configuration.

The above-described embodiment is merely an example, and the present invention can be implemented in various other forms. In other words, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, the above-described embodiment may be modified as shown in (1) to (4) below.

(1) In the above embodiment, the tilt mechanism 20 is configured by the guide member 22 and the arm member 24, but of course this is not limited to this. In other words, any structure of tilt mechanism may be used as long as it can tilt the syringe 12 from the initial position (tilt angle θ0 = 0°) along the vertical direction by an arbitrary tilt angle θ2 around the tip 12aa of the nozzle 12a.

(2) In the above embodiment, experimental examples have been shown in which the tilt angle θ2 is up to 70°, but it goes without saying that the tilt angle θ2 is not limited to this. In other words, the tilt angle θ2 can be set to an appropriate angle within the range of "0°<θ2≦90°" depending on various conditions such as the type of viscous fluid, the dimensions of the syringe 12 and the nozzle 12a, etc.

(3) In the above embodiment, the support device 18 is provided with a three-dimensional movement mechanism that moves the syringe 12 in three dimensions, but of course this is not limited to this. In other words, the syringe 12 only needs to be able to move in three dimensions relative to the workpiece 100, so for example, the syringe 12 may be configured to be able to move in the Z-axis direction and the workpiece 100 to be able to move in the XY directions.

(4) Of course, the above-described embodiment and the various other embodiments and modifications shown in (1) to (3) above may be combined as appropriate.

The present invention can be used to supply various viscous materials, such as adhesives and materials for three-dimensional modeling, to an object.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Dispenser device 12 Syringe 12a Nozzle 12aa Tip portion 12b Rear end portion 14 Tube 14a End portion 14b End portion 16 Compressor 18 Support device 20 Tilting mechanism 22 Guide member 22a Groove 24 Arm member 24a End portion 24b End portion 100 Workpiece

Claims (4)

A dispenser device comprising: a syringe having a nozzle at a tip portion and containing a viscous fluid; and a movement mechanism for moving the syringe in a three-dimensional direction relative to a target object, the dispenser device discharging a preset amount of the viscous fluid contained in the syringe from the tip portion of the nozzle onto the target object ,
a guide member having an arc-shaped groove formed with the tip of the nozzle as a center, and an arm member having one end slidably supported within the groove and the other end fixed to the syringe, the tilting mechanism being configured to tilt the syringe by an arbitrary tilt angle with respect to a vertical direction with the tip of the nozzle as a center,
A dispenser device characterized in that when the syringe is moved upward after finishing ejecting a predetermined amount of the viscous fluid from the tip of the nozzle onto the target object , the syringe is tilted by the tilting mechanism to a tilt angle greater than the tilt angle at which the ejection of the viscous fluid began, and the orientation of the target object is the same as the orientation at which the ejection of the viscous fluid began . 2. The dispenser device according to claim 1,
The dispenser device according to claim 1, wherein the inclination angle is within 90° with respect to a vertical direction. 3. The dispenser device according to claim 2,
The dispenser device is characterized in that the inclination angle is 30° to 70° with respect to the vertical direction. 4. The dispenser device according to claim 1, 2 or 3,
The dispenser device is characterized in that, when the tilting mechanism finishes ejecting a predetermined amount of the viscous fluid from the tip of the nozzle onto the target object , it tilts the syringe to a tilt angle that is larger than the tilt angle at the start of ejection of the viscous fluid.

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