Coating method and coating device

Abstract

To provide a coating method and a coating device that can suppress a cobwebbing phenomenon of a chemical during bead coating.SOLUTION: Provided is a coating method, including: positioning a nozzle 1 having an outlet 2 for ejecting a chemical 5 in a way that the nozzle faces a surface 4 of an object 3 at a certain distance from the surface 4, and moving the surface 4 relative to the nozzle 1 in a direction parallel to the surface 4 while the nozzle 1 is ejecting the chemical 5; stopping the discharge of the chemical 5 from the nozzle 1 after the move in the preceding step; contacting the outlet 2 with a first member after the discharge is stopped in the preceding step; and separating the outlet 2 from the first member after the contact in the preceding step. The first member may be the object 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a coating method and a coating apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] Bead coating is known as one of the common methods for applying chemicals such as adhesives. For example, when applying adhesive as a bead, adhesive in a state called "hot melt" is discharged from a nozzle and applied to an object. The nozzle is equipped with a valve that switches between discharging and not discharging adhesive. The height of the nozzle relative to the object is kept constant, and the object is moved relative to the nozzle while switching the valve on and off to apply the adhesive to a desired area of ​​the surface of the object.

[0003] A technique for stable coating is described in JP 2012-71244 A (Patent Document 1). A technique for improving the coating condition at the coating start and end positions is described in JP 2002-113411 A (Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-71244 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2002-113411 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When applying a bead of adhesive, even if the nozzle valve is closed to stop the adhesive from being discharged, viscous adhesive usually remains at the tip of the nozzle. This residual adhesive may become stringy. When the adhesive becomes stringy, it adheres to undesirable places, which deteriorates the appearance, so it is desirable to suppress the stringing phenomenon as much as possible.

[0006] This problem is not limited to adhesives, but also occurs when other agents having a certain degree of viscosity are applied in a bead form.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coating method and coating device that can suppress the stringing phenomenon of the chemical agent during bead coating. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an application method according to the present invention includes a step of positioning a nozzle having an outlet for ejecting a drug so as to face the surface of an object at a certain distance from the surface, and moving the surface relative to the nozzle in a direction parallel to the surface while the nozzle continues to eject the drug, a step of stopping the ejection of the drug from the nozzle after the moving step, a step of abutting the outlet against a first member after the step of stopping the ejection, and a step of moving the outlet away from the first member after the abutting step. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, the outlet of the nozzle comes into contact with the first member after ejection of the medicine is stopped, so that it is possible to prevent the medicine from becoming stringy during bead application. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 3 is a flowchart of a coating method in the first embodiment according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a first explanatory diagram of the coating method in the first embodiment according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a first explanatory diagram of the coating method in the first embodiment according to the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a trajectory of an outlet of a nozzle of a coating device used in a coating method in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] The term "medicine" used in the specification and claims is a generic concept of adhesives. The term "medicine" includes "adhesives" and also includes types of drugs other than adhesives.

[0012] (Embodiment 1) (Application method) The coating method according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. A flow chart of this coating method is shown in Figure 1.

[0013] The application method in this embodiment includes a step S1 in which a nozzle having an outlet for ejecting a drug is positioned facing the surface of a target object at a certain distance from the surface, and while the nozzle continues to eject the drug, the surface is moved relative to the nozzle in a direction parallel to the surface, a step S2 in which the ejection of the drug from the nozzle is stopped after the moving step S1, a step S3 in which the outlet is brought into contact with a first member after the step S2 in which the ejection is stopped, and a step S4 in which the outlet is moved away from the first member after the abutting step S3.

[0014] FIG. 2 shows how step S1 is performed. FIG. 2 shows how this coating method is performed using a coating device 101. The coating device 101 includes a nozzle 1. The nozzle 1 has an outlet 2 for discharging a chemical. In FIG. 2, coating is performed on a surface 4 of an object 3. A chemical 5 is discharged from the outlet 2. The chemical 5 may be, for example, an adhesive. In step S1, the surface 4 is moved relatively to the nozzle 1 in a direction parallel to the surface 4 while the nozzle 1 continues to discharge the chemical 5. Here, "relative movement" may mean that the nozzle 1 is moved while the surface 4 is stationary, or the surface 4 is moved while the nozzle 1 is stationary. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle 1 is stationary, and the surface 4 is moved in the direction of the arrow 91. Details of the coating device 101 will be described later.

[0015] In step S2, ejection of the drug 5 from the nozzle 1 is stopped in response to an instruction from the control unit 33. An opening / closing mechanism may be provided inside the nozzle 1, and the state of this opening / closing mechanism may be determined by the control unit 33. That is, ejection of the drug 5 may be stopped by switching the opening / closing mechanism that was in an open state in step S1 to a closed state.

[0016] In step S3, as shown in Fig. 3, the outlet 2 of the nozzle 1 is brought into contact with a first member. In the example shown here, the "first member" is an object 3 to which the drug 5 is to be applied. The first member may be any member prepared separately from the object 3, or, as shown in this embodiment, the object 3 itself may be used as the first member.

[0017] In step S 4 , the outlet 2 of the nozzle 1 is moved away from the surface 4 of the object 3 .

[0018] (Nozzle exit trajectory) FIG. 4 shows the operation up to this point, focusing on the trajectory of the outlet 2. In this figure, the upper part shows the trajectory of the outlet 2, and the lower part shows the beads of drug 5 formed on the surface 4. The surface 4 moves at a constant speed in the direction of arrow 91. In the upper part of FIG. 4, the trajectory of the outlet 2 when viewed relatively with the surface 4 as the reference is shown by a broken solid line. The number written with the left-facing arrow in FIG. 4 indicates the horizontal distance from the reference position 11 on the surface 4 in mm.

[0019] In the example shown in Figure 4, the agent 5 is applied in a bead shape in two places. After the operation, the agents 5a and 5b are arranged on the surface 4. The agents 5a and 5b are formed in desired positions and to desired lengths. Here, as an example, the agent 5b is formed to be longer than the agent 5a.

[0020] Nozzle 1 has a valve that can be opened and closed. When this valve is open, the medicine continues to be ejected from outlet 2 at a constant pace. Point P1 is located at a height of, for example, 2.5 mm from surface 4. Surface 4 is moving in the direction of arrow 91. When outlet 2 reaches point P1, the valve of nozzle 1 is opened. Thus, step S1 begins. When point P2 is reached, the valve of nozzle 1 is switched to a closed state. Thus, ejection of medicine 5 stops. This is step S2.

[0021] After ejecting the medicine by a desired distance, the nozzle 1 descends. With this descent, the outlet 2 moves from point P2 to point P3. At point P3, the height of the outlet 2 is 0. That is, the outlet 2 abuts against the surface 4 of the object 3. This movement of the outlet 2 abutting against the object 3 is step S3. Thereafter, the nozzle 1 rises. As a result, the outlet 2 moves away from the surface 4 of the object 3. That is, the outlet 2 moves from point P3 to point P4. The height of point P4 from the surface 4 is, for example, 2.5 mm. The movement of the outlet 2 from point P3 to point P4 is step S4. Point P4 corresponds to the retraction mode of the nozzle 1. In this way, the application of the medicine 5a is completed.

[0022] Furthermore, in order to apply the medicine 5b, steps S1 to S4 are repeated again. First, the outlet 2 of the nozzle 1 moves from point P4 to point P5. In the example shown here, the nozzle 1 moves horizontally while maintaining the same height from point P4 to point P5, but if the height of point P4 is different from the height of point P5, the nozzle 1 also moves in the height direction as necessary before reaching point P5. At point P5, the valve of the nozzle 1 switches to an open state. This starts the ejection of the medicine. In this state, the surface 4 continues to move relatively until it reaches point P6. This is step S1. When the outlet 2 reaches point P6, the valve switches to a closed state as step S2. The outlet 2 moves to point P7. The height of the outlet 2 is 0 at point P7. That is, the outlet 2 abuts against the surface 4 of the object 3. The movement of the outlet 2 to abut against the object 3 in this way is step S3. Thereafter, the outlet 2 moves away from the surface 4 as step S4. Thus, application of the agent 5b is completed.

[0023] (Action and effect) In this embodiment, since step S3 is included after step S2, the outlet 2 of the nozzle 1 comes into contact with the first member, thereby making it possible to suppress the stringing phenomenon of the medicine.

[0024] As shown in this embodiment, the first member is preferably the target object 3. This is preferable because it eliminates the need to prepare other members and makes it possible to keep the moving distance of the outlet 2 short.

[0025] In addition, from the step S3 of contacting to the step S4 of separating, it is preferable to make the nozzle 1 follow the relative movement of the surface 4 in a direction parallel to the surface 4. That is, when the outlet 2 of the nozzle 1 reaches the point P3, the nozzle 1 also moves in the direction of the arrow 91 so as to be synchronized with the translational movement of the surface 4 along the arrow 91. 91 The result is that the exit 2 There is a short time during which the relative positional relationship between the nozzle 1 and the surface 4 remains unchanged. This makes it possible to more effectively suppress the stringing phenomenon of the drug. The upper part of FIG. 4 represents the relative movement, and while the nozzle 1 and the surface 4 are moving synchronously, the relative positional relationship does not change, so the movement between them does not appear as a line with length. In the upper part of FIG. 4, while the nozzle 1 and the surface 4 are moving synchronously, they correspond to one point. Such a synchronous movement is performed while the outlet 2 is at point P3.

[0026] (Coating Equipment) With reference to FIG. 2, the coating apparatus 101 used in the first embodiment will be described.

[0027] The application device 101 includes a nozzle 1 having an outlet 2 for discharging the chemical 5 and capable of switching on and off the discharge of the chemical 5, a positioning mechanism 31 for determining the relative position of the nozzle 1 with respect to the surface 4 of the object 3, a moving mechanism 32 for moving the surface 4 relative to the nozzle 1 in a direction parallel to the surface 4, and a control unit 33 for controlling the discharge of the chemical 5 from the nozzle 1 and the positioning mechanism 31. The control unit 33 controls the nozzle 1 to discharge the chemical 5 in a state where the nozzle 1 is arranged to face the surface 4 at a certain distance from the surface 4, the nozzle 1 to move the surface 4 relative to the nozzle 1 by the action of the moving mechanism 32 while the nozzle 1 continues to discharge the chemical 5, and then stops the discharge of the chemical 5 from the nozzle 1, and controls the outlet 2 to come into contact with the first member and then to move the outlet 2 away from the first member while the discharge of the chemical 5 has stopped. The positioning mechanism 31 includes a mechanism for adjusting the height of the nozzle 1. The moving mechanism 32 may include a structure such as a conveyor or a table that moves the object 3 in a horizontal direction while holding the object 3. The control unit 33 can be realized by a computer.

[0028] In such an applicator 101, the outlet 2 of the nozzle 1 is controlled to come into contact with the first member after the ejection of the medicine 5 is stopped, so that the stringing phenomenon of the medicine can be suppressed.

[0029] If the drug 5 placed on the surface 4 of the object 3 is, for example, an adhesive, then when some other object is pressed against the surface 4 via the drug 5, the object can be bonded to the object 3.

[0030] The present invention is particularly suitable for handling viscous drugs, such as adhesives.

[0031] In addition, two or more of the above-described embodiments may be appropriately combined and adopted.

[0032] The above-described embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, and includes all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 1 nozzle, 2 outlet, 3 object, 4 surface, 5, 5a, 5b agent, 11 reference position, 31 positioning mechanism, 32 moving mechanism, 33 control section, 91, 92 arrows, 101 adhesive application device.

Claims

1. a step of positioning a nozzle having an outlet for ejecting a medicine so as to face the surface of a target object at a certain distance from the surface, and moving the surface relative to the nozzle in a direction parallel to the surface while the nozzle continues to eject the medicine; stopping ejection of the drug from the nozzle after the moving step; abutting the outlet against a first member after the step of stopping the discharge; and separating the outlet from the first member after the abutting step; A coating method, comprising the steps of: causing the nozzle to follow relative movement of the surface in a direction parallel to the surface, from the contacting step to the separating step.

2. The coating method according to claim 1 , wherein the first member is the object.

3. A nozzle having an outlet for ejecting a medicine and capable of switching between ejection and non-ejection of the medicine; a positioning mechanism for defining a position of the nozzle relative to a surface of a target; a moving mechanism for moving the surface relative to the nozzle in a direction parallel to the surface; a control unit for controlling whether or not the medicine is ejected from the nozzle and for controlling the positioning mechanism, The control unit is The nozzle is disposed so as to face the surface at a certain distance from the surface, and the nozzle is placed in a state where the medicine is ejected from the nozzle; While the nozzle continues to eject the medicine, the surface is moved relative to the nozzle by the action of the moving mechanism, Stopping the ejection of the drug from the nozzle; a control device for controlling the outlet so as to abut the outlet against a first member and then to separate the outlet from the first member in a state in which the ejection of the medicine is stopped; The control unit causes the nozzle to follow relative movement of the surface in a direction parallel to the surface from the time the outlet is brought into contact with a first member to the time the outlet is moved away from the first member.

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