JP7621722B2 - Heat Treatment Equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a web heat treatment device.

After a coating liquid is applied to a long web such as a film, metal foil, fabric, or paper, it is transported into a heat treatment chamber and heated.

JP 2011-106772 A

In the heat treatment device described above, it is necessary to heat the web uniformly across the width of the web to prevent unevenness across the width.

However, there was a problem in that there was no way to adjust the heating unevenness when there was heating unevenness across the width of the web.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a heat treatment device that can eliminate uneven heating in the width direction of the web.

The present invention is a heat treatment apparatus comprising a heat treatment chamber and a plurality of heater groups arranged at predetermined intervals along a transport path for a web running in a forward and backward direction within the heat treatment chamber and for heating the web, each of the heater groups comprising a pair of left and right side heaters arranged in a straight line in a direction perpendicular to the transport path, a length shorter than the width of the web, and a central heater arranged parallel to the pair of left and right side heaters, a length shorter than the width of the web, and arranged in a portion corresponding to the center of the web, wherein the amount of heat generated by the central heater is different from the amount of heat generated by the pair of left and right side heaters.

According to the present invention, the left and right side heaters and the central heater heat the web in the left and right directions (width direction), eliminating uneven heating in the width direction.

1 is a side view of a heat treatment apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the heat treatment apparatus, showing the state in which the heat treatment apparatus is viewed from above. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a heat treatment apparatus. FIG. 11 is a side view of a heat treatment apparatus according to a second embodiment.

A heat treatment device 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

EMBODIMENT 1

The heat treatment device 10 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3. The heat treatment device 10 of the embodiment heats and dries the coating liquid applied to the web W while the web W is traveling in the forward and backward directions. The web W may be a metal foil, a film, a fabric, a paper, or the like. The upper surface of the web W is also assumed to be coated with the coating liquid.

(1) Configuration of heat treatment device 10 The configuration of the heat treatment device 10 will be described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. A rectangular heat treatment chamber 12 has a heat-insulating structure, with an inlet 14 for the web W opening in the left-right direction at the front, and an outlet 16 for the web W opening in the left-right direction at the rear.

As shown in FIG. 1, inside the heat treatment chamber 12, an upper duct 18 is suspended above the transport path of the web W, i.e., in the front-to-rear direction. Upper nozzles 20 are attached in parallel at predetermined intervals to the underside of the upper duct 18. The upper nozzles 20 are rectangular parallelepipeds that extend along the width direction (left-to-right direction) of the web W, and a pair of slit-shaped upper blowing ports 22 are provided on the underside of the upper nozzle 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, an upper fan 24 and an upper heater 26 are provided at the rear of the ceiling surface of the heat treatment chamber 12, and the upper heater 26 is connected to the rear upper surface of the upper duct 18 by an upper connecting duct 27. The air taken in by the upper fan 24 is heated by the upper heater 26, passes through the upper connecting duct 27 and the upper duct 18, and the hot air is blown downward from the upper outlet 22 of each upper nozzle 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, inside the heat treatment chamber 12, a lower duct 28 is provided along the lower transport path of the web W, i.e., in the front-to-rear direction. Lower nozzles 30 are attached to the upper surface of the lower duct 28 at predetermined intervals. The lower nozzles 30 are rectangular parallelepipeds that extend along the width direction (left-to-right direction) of the web W, and a pair of slit-shaped lower outlets 32 are provided on the upper surface of the lower nozzle 30. The lower nozzles 30 are provided between the adjacent upper nozzles 20, 20, and are arranged in a staggered pattern when viewed from the side shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a lower fan 34 and a lower heater 36 are provided at the rear of the bottom surface of the heat treatment chamber 12, and the lower heater 36 is connected to the rear underside of the lower duct 28 via a lower connecting duct 37. Air taken in by the lower fan 34 is heated by the lower heater 36, passes through the lower connecting duct 37 and the lower duct 28, and the hot air is blown upward from the lower outlets 32 of each lower nozzle 30.

Below the conveying path, between each of the lower nozzles 30, a roll 38 is provided so as to be freely rotatable. This roll 38 rotates while supporting the web W being conveyed.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a heater group 40 is provided between each of the adjacent upper nozzles 20. These heater groups 40 will be described in detail later.

As shown in FIG. 1, a hot air exhaust port 39 is provided at the upper side of the heat treatment chamber 12.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, temperature sensor (right) 48L, temperature sensor (center) 48C, and temperature sensor (right) 48R are provided along the left-right direction (width direction) near the discharge port 16 of the heat treatment chamber 12 to detect the left-right temperature distribution of the upper surface of the web W. Temperature sensor (right) 48L, temperature sensor (center) 48C, and temperature sensor (right) 48R are sometimes collectively referred to as temperature sensors 48.

(2) Heater group 40
Next, the heater group 40 will be described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The heater group 40 is composed of a left heater 42 arranged on the left portion of the web W in the left-right direction of the web W, a right heater 44 arranged on the right portion of the web W, and a central heater 46 arranged in the central portion of the web W. The left heater 42, right heater 44, and central heater 46 are electric heaters, each of which can adjust its heat generation amount, and all three are cylindrical and have the same length.

As shown in FIG. 2, the left heater 42, right heater 44, and central heater 46 are arranged in parallel along the left-right direction, which is a direction perpendicular to the transport path. Furthermore, the left heater 42 and the right heater 44 are arranged in a straight line at the same position in the front-to-rear direction, and only the central heater 46 is arranged in parallel with a small gap in a position shifted forward. In addition, both left and right ends of the central heater 46 are arranged in a state where they overlap with the right end of the left heater 42 and the left end of the right heater 44.

(3) Electrical Configuration of Heat Treatment Device 10 The electrical configuration of the heat treatment device 10 will be described with reference to the block diagram of Fig. 3. The heat treatment device 10 has a control unit 50 consisting of a computer. The upper fan 24, the upper heater 26, the lower fan 34, and the lower heater 36 are connected to the control unit 50. In addition, all of the left heaters 42 and all of the right heaters 44 of the heater group 40 are connected, as well as all of the center heaters 46, and a temperature sensor 48 is also connected.

(4) Method for Controlling the Heat Treatment Apparatus 10 A method for controlling the heat treatment apparatus 10 will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the web W coated with the coating liquid is brought into the heat treatment chamber 12, transported over multiple rolls 38, and heated. Then, hot air is blown from the upper nozzle 20 and the lower nozzle 30, and the left heater 42, right heater 44, and center heater 46 of all heater groups 40 are heated. Initially, the control unit 50 causes the left heater 42, right heater 44, and center heater 46 to all generate the same amount of heat. Normally, the inside of the heat treatment chamber 12 is 100°C to 150°C with hot air alone, but when all heater groups 40 are activated, the temperature rises to 300°C to 400°C, allowing for higher temperature heating.

Next, the control unit 50 performs feedback control by increasing or decreasing the heat output of the left heater 42, right heater 44, and center heater 46, respectively, based on the left-right temperature distribution of the web W detected by the temperature sensor (right) 48L, the temperature sensor (center) 48C, and the temperature sensor (right) 48R, so that the temperature distribution becomes uniform in the left-right direction. For example, if the temperature of the center portion of the web W is low, the heat output of the center heater 46 is increased above the heat output of the left heater 42 and the right heater 44. This increases the temperature of the center portion of the web W, making it uniform in the left-right direction.

In addition, when the temperature of the left portion of the web W is low, the heat output of the left heater 42 is increased above the heat output of the right heater 44 and the center heater 46.

(5) Effect According to the present embodiment, when the temperature distribution in the left-right direction of the web W is not uniform, the temperature of the left heater 42, the right heater 44, or the center heater 46 in the low-temperature portion can be increased to achieve a uniform temperature distribution in the left-right direction, thereby preventing uneven heating.

In addition, the left and right ends of the central heater 46 overlap with the right end of the left heater 42 and the left end of the right heater 44, so there are no interruptions in the heating by the heaters, resulting in a uniform temperature distribution.

In addition, the central heater 46 is offset from the left heater 42 and the right heater 44, allowing the three heaters to be arranged independently and in parallel.

EMBODIMENT 2

Next, the heat treatment device 10 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4. In the first embodiment, the heat generation amount of the left heater 42, the right heater 44, and the center heater 46 is increased.

However, if it is known in advance that the heating temperature of the central portion of the web W will be lower than the heating temperature of the left and right portions, then as shown in FIG. 4, only the height h2 of the central heater 46 is made lower than the height h1 of the left heater 42 and the right heater 44, and brought closer to the web W, thereby increasing the amount of heat reaching the central portion of the web W.

Example of changes

Next, we will explain a modified example of the heat treatment device 10.

(1) Modification Example 1
In the above embodiment, the heaters are divided into three in the width direction (left-right direction) of the web W: the left heater 42, the right heater 44, and the central heater 46. Alternatively, five heaters may be arranged symmetrically shifted in the front-rear direction with some overlapping between them. For example, the heaters may be configured with two left heaters 42, two right heaters 44, and one central heater 46.

(2) Modification Example 2
In the above embodiment, a plurality of rolls 38 for supporting the web W are provided, but the rolls 38 may be omitted.

(3) Modification Example 3
In the above embodiment, an upper nozzle 20 and a lower nozzle 30 are provided, but a structure without a lower nozzle 30 may also be used, and heating may be performed simply by using a group of multiple heaters 40 without providing both an upper nozzle 20 and a lower nozzle 30.

(4) Modification Example 4
In the above embodiment, the left heater 42, the right heater 44, and the center heater 46 are electric heaters, but instead of these, they may be steam heaters or heat medium heaters that flow a heat medium such as oil. When adjusting the temperature, the amount of steam is adjusted in the case of a steam heater, and the amount of heat medium is adjusted in the case of a heat medium heater.

(5) Others Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims.

10: Heat treatment device, 12: Heat treatment chamber, 20: Upper nozzle, 30: Lower nozzle, 40: Heater group, 42: Left heater, 44: Right heater, 46: Center heater, 48: Temperature sensor, 50: Control unit

Claims (2)

A heat treatment chamber;
a plurality of heater groups arranged at predetermined intervals along a transport path of the web traveling in a front-rear direction within the heat treatment chamber, for heating the web;
having
Each of the heater groups includes:
a pair of left and right side heaters, each having a length shorter than the width of the web in a direction perpendicular to the transport path, and disposed in a straight line in portions corresponding to both left and right side portions of the web;
a central heater disposed in parallel with the pair of left and right side heaters, the central heater having a length shorter than the width of the web and disposed in a portion corresponding to the central portion of the web;
having
The heat generation amount of the central heater is different from the heat generation amount of the pair of left and right side heaters.
Heat treatment equipment. a temperature sensor disposed in the heat treatment chamber for detecting a temperature of the web in a left-right direction;
a control unit that controls the amount of heat generated by the central heater and the amount of heat generated by the pair of left and right side heaters in response to the temperature in the left and right direction of the web detected by the temperature sensor;
The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1 ,