Film conveyance device, film conveyance method, and film manufacturing device

Abstract

To provide a film conveyance device for automatically feeding a film.SOLUTION: A film conveyance device feeds a film 83 from upstream to downstream. The film conveyance device includes a feeding mechanism 70 which includes a robot arm 715 having a conveyor 711 on the lower side of a tip, and a lower roll table 720 which is provided below the conveyor and has a plurality of rolls. The feeding mechanism 70 is configured to mount the film fed from the upstream by lifting the lower roll tables, grip the film between the conveyor and the lower roll table by allowing the robot arm to lower the tip, and convey the film to the downstream by rotating the conveyor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a film transport machine, a film transport method, and a film manufacturing apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a stretching machine that conveys an extruded film and stretches the film, and a clipping device that holds the film with clips. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-187788 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the past, since it was not possible to feed the film between the longitudinal stretching region and the transverse stretching region, the film had to be fed manually by multiple people, which was tedious and inefficient.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and has an object to provide a film transport device and the like that automatically feeds a film. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In one embodiment of the film conveying machine, A film transport device that transports a film from upstream to downstream, A robot arm having a conveyor on the underside of the tip thereof; A lower roll table provided below the conveyor and having a plurality of rolls; A feed mechanism including Equipped with.

[0007] In one embodiment of the film transport method, A film transport method for transporting a film from upstream to downstream using a film transport machine including a robot arm having a conveyor under a tip portion thereof, and a lower roll table provided under the conveyor, the lower roll table having a plurality of rolls, the method comprising: The lower roll platform rises to carry the film fed from the upstream. As the robot arm descends, the film is gripped between the conveyor and the lower roll table, and the film is transported downstream by the rotation of the conveyor.

[0008] In one embodiment of the film manufacturing apparatus, an extruder that melts and extrudes the input resin raw material; a die connected to the extruder for forming the molten resin into a film; a cooling roll that cools the film-like molten resin extruded from the die and carries out a resin film in which the molten resin has solidified; a longitudinal stretching machine provided downstream of the cooling roll for longitudinally stretching the film and feeding the film downstream; a feed mechanism for feeding the film downstream, the feed mechanism including a robot arm having a conveyor under a tip portion thereof, and a lower roll table provided below the conveyor and having a plurality of rolls; The film feed mechanism further comprises a transverse stretching machine that is disposed downstream of the feed mechanism and that transversely stretches the film and feeds it downstream. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a film transporter that automatically feeds a film can be provided. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an overall configuration of a film transporter and a film production apparatus according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2]FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a film feed mechanism according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the operation of the film feed mechanism according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view showing a film feed mechanism and a clip device according to another embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a top view illustrating the wrinkle-smoothing operation by the belt conveyor. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a top view illustrating the wrinkle-smoothing operation by the belt conveyor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, specific embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. In addition, the following description and drawings are appropriately simplified for clarity of explanation.

[0012] (First embodiment) <Overall configuration of film manufacturing equipment> First, the overall configuration of a film manufacturing apparatus including a resin film conveying machine according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of the film manufacturing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

[0013] The xyz orthogonal coordinates shown in FIG. 1 and other drawings are for the convenience of explaining the positional relationship of the components. Usually, the positive direction of the z axis is vertically upward, and the xy plane is a horizontal plane, which is common to all the drawings. In this specification, the film may be a resin film and may include a resin sheet.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 1, the film production apparatus 1 includes an extruder 10, a T-die 20, a cooler 30, a longitudinal stretching machine 40, a feed mechanism 70, a transverse stretching machine 50, and a winder 60. The film production apparatus according to the first embodiment is an extrusion molding type film production apparatus that extrudes a film-like molten resin 82a from a gap between the lips of the T-die 20 connected to the extruder 10. Note that detailed portions of a robot mechanism 71 and a lower roll mechanism 72 are omitted in Fig. 1.

[0015] The extruder 10 shown in Fig. 1 is a screw-type extruder. In the extruder 10, a screw extending in the x-axis direction is housed inside a cylinder 11 extending in the x-axis direction. A hopper 13 for feeding resin pellets, which are the raw material of the resin film 83, is provided above the end of the cylinder 11 on the negative x-axis direction side.

[0016] The resin pellets supplied from the hopper 13 are transported from the base to the tip of the rotating screw, i.e., in the positive direction of the x-axis. The resin pellets are heated inside the cylinder 11 and are sheared and melted by the rotating screw, changing into molten resin 82.

[0017] Although not shown, for example, a motor is connected to the screw as a drive source via a reducer. A heater for heating the inside of the cylinder 11 is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder 11 over substantially the entire area in the longitudinal direction, and the resin pellets put into the cylinder 11 are heated.

[0018] As shown in Fig. 1, the T-die 20 is connected to the lower side of the tip end (the end on the x-axis positive side) of the extruder 10. A film-like molten resin 82a is extruded downward (z-axis negative direction) from a gap in a lip located at the lower end of the T-die 20. Here, the lip spacing of the T-die 20 can be adjusted. The lip spacing of the T-die 20 can be adjusted at multiple points along the longitudinal direction of the lip (y-axis direction) so that the thickness of the produced resin film 83 in the width direction (y-axis direction) is uniform.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, the cooling machine 30 includes cooling rolls CR1 to CR4. The cooling roll CR1 cools the film-like molten resin 82a extruded from the T-die 20, and delivers the resin film 83 formed by solidifying the film-like molten resin 82a to the cooling roll CR2. The cooling roll CR1 is also called a cast roll.

[0020] 1, the cooling rolls CR2 to CR4 transport the resin film 83 in this order while cooling it. Each of the cooling rolls CR1 to CR4 may be a driving roll driven by a driving source (not shown). The driving source is, for example, a variable speed motor such as a servo motor.

[0021] Each of the cooling rolls CR1 to CR4 may include a cooling mechanism for cooling the resin film 83. Each of the cooling rolls CR1 to CR4 may include a heating mechanism for heating the resin film 83. The cooling device 30 includes a plurality of drive rolls for transporting the resin film 83, and therefore can be one form of the film transport device according to this embodiment.

[0022] As shown in Fig. 1, the longitudinal stretching machine 40 stretches the resin film 83 discharged from the cooling machine 30 in the longitudinal direction while transporting the same. The longitudinal stretching machine 40 shown in Fig. 1 includes eleven rolls R1 to R11. Each of the rolls R1 to R11 is a driving roll driven by a driving source (not shown). The driving source is, for example, a variable speed motor such as a servo motor. The longitudinal stretching machine 40 is one form of a film transporting machine according to this embodiment.

[0023] The longitudinal stretching machine 40 may include a plurality of drive rolls for transporting the resin film 83, and the number and arrangement of the drive rolls included in the longitudinal stretching machine 40 may be appropriately determined. Each of the rolls R1 to R11 may include at least one of a cooling mechanism for cooling the resin film 83 and a heating mechanism for heating the resin film 83. The longitudinal stretching machine 40 may include one or more nip rolls for pressing the resin film 83 against any of the rolls R1 to R11. The nip roll is not a drive roll. In the film transport path, the region where the film is longitudinally stretched by the longitudinal stretching machine 40 is also called a longitudinal stretching region.

[0024] The feeding mechanism 70 automatically feeds the resin film 83 discharged from the longitudinal stretching machine 40 to the subsequent transverse stretching machine 50. Until now, since the longitudinal stretching machine 40 and the transverse stretching machine 50 have different feeding mechanisms, manual work by multiple people was required to feed the resin film 83 discharged from the longitudinal stretching machine 40 to the subsequent transverse stretching machine 50. However, since this work is troublesome and inefficient, in the present disclosure, a film feeding mechanism 70 having a function of gripping and feeding the film is newly provided. Details of this feeding mechanism 70 will be described later. The feeding mechanism 70 can be one form of the film conveying machine according to this embodiment.

[0025] The transverse stretching machine 50 stretches the resin film 83 discharged from the feed mechanism 70 in its width direction (y-axis direction). More specifically, the transverse stretching machine 50 includes a pair of rails RL1 and RL2. A large number of clips (not shown) are slidably arranged in parallel over the entire rails RL1 and RL2.

[0026] In FIG. 1, the arrows on the rails RL1 and RL2 indicate the movement direction of the clips. As shown in FIG. 1, the rails RL1 and RL2 have a loop structure with an outward path in which the clips move in the conveying direction of the resin film 83 (positive direction of the x-axis) and a return path in the opposite direction (negative direction of the x-axis). That is, in the transverse stretching machine 50, the clips go around along the rails RL1 and RL2 having the loop structure. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a clip closer (501 in FIG. 4) closes the tenter clips on the film. As shown in FIG. 1, the rails RL1 and RL2 have a symmetrical configuration with respect to a plane parallel to the xz plane.

[0027] 1, rails RL1 and RL2 are both provided substantially parallel to each other on the outward path proceeding in the conveying direction (positive direction of the x-axis) and the return path proceeding in the opposite direction (negative direction of the x-axis). The return path of rail RL1 is provided on the outer side in the width direction (negative direction of the y-axis) of resin film 83. The return path of rail RL2 is also provided on the outer side in the width direction (positive direction of the y-axis) of resin film 83.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 1, the outward paths of rails RL1 and RL2 have a pair of parallel portions parallel to the x-axis at both ends in the longitudinal direction (x-axis direction), and an inclined portion inclined in the y-axis direction between the parallel portions. The inclined portion of rail RL1 is inclined in the negative direction of the y-axis, and the inclined portion of rail RL2 is inclined in the positive direction of the y-axis. That is, in the inclined portions of the outward paths of rails RL1 and RL2, the distance between rails RL1 and RL2 in the y-axis direction becomes wider as the rails progress in the positive direction of the x-axis.

[0029] Here, in the outward path of rails RL1 and RL2 shown in Fig. 1, in the portion where the clips come into contact with resin film 83, the clips grip both ends of resin film 83 in the width direction (y-axis direction) and move in the positive x-axis direction along rails RL1 and RL2. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1, in the oblique portion of the outward path of rails RL1 and RL2, resin film 83 is stretched in the width direction (y-axis direction) while being transported in the positive x-axis direction. On the other hand, in the parallel portion of the outward path of rails RL1 and RL2, resin film 83 is only transported in the positive x-axis direction and is not stretched in the width direction (y-axis direction).

[0030] The transverse stretching machine 50 shown in Fig. 1 has a drive source that drives clips for transporting the resin film 83. The drive source is, for example, a variable speed motor such as a servo motor. The transverse stretching machine 50 can be one form of the film transport machine according to the present embodiment.

[0031] The resin film 83 discharged from the transverse stretching machine 50 is wound up by the winding machine 60. The winding machine 60 is a driving roll driven by a driving source (not shown). The winding machine 60 may include a plurality of driving rolls driven by a driving source. In that case, the winding machine 60 may be one form of the film transport machine according to the present embodiment. In addition, the region in the film transport path where the film is transversely stretched by the transverse stretching machine 50 is also called a transverse stretching region.

[0032] As described above, in the film transport machine of this embodiment, some or all of the cooling machine 30, the longitudinal stretching machine 40, the feed mechanism 70, the transverse stretching machine 50, and the winding machine 60 may be one aspect of the film transport machine of this embodiment.

[0033] <Overall configuration of the feed mechanism> 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a film feeding mechanism. As an example, the feeding mechanism 70 may be provided downstream of the longitudinal stretching machine 40 and upstream of the transverse stretching machine 50 in the film transport path.

[0034] The feeding mechanism 70 includes a robot arm 715 having a belt conveyor 711 below its tip, and a lower roll stage 720 that is provided below the belt conveyor 711 and has a plurality of rolls and can be raised and lowered. The lower roll stage 720 can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction by a lifting mechanism 725. In Fig. 2, the lifting mechanism 725 includes three lifting units that can be raised and lowered synchronously. The lower roll stage 720 includes a plurality of lower right rolls RUR and lower left rolls LUR arranged in two rows so that a film can be placed on and fed.

[0035] The robot arm 715 may be a six-axis vertical articulated robot arm. The robot arm 715 includes a base 7150 fixed on the floor, a first link 7151 rotatably and tiltably provided on the base 7150, a second link 7152 tiltably and tiltably provided at the tip of the first link 7151, and a wrist 7153 tiltably provided at the tip of the second link 7152. Various known robot arms may be used as the robot arm.

[0036] The belt conveyor 711 is connected to the tip of the robot arm 715 via an attachment part 712. The belt conveyor 711 includes a plurality of rolls 711R, 711R provided at both ends, and a belt 7111 stretched over the plurality of rolls. The roll 711R is a roll with a built-in motor. The belt conveyor may be any of various known belt conveyors.

[0037] Guide rolls 729, 729 are provided to guide the film sent from the longitudinal stretching machine 40. In addition, two meandering detection units 90 are provided after the guide rolls 729, 729. One or more meandering detection units 90 can be disposed immediately after the longitudinal stretching machine 40 or between the longitudinal stretching machine 40 and the transverse stretching machine 50.

[0038] <Feed mechanism operation> FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the operation of the film feeding mechanism. 3, the feed mechanism 70 loads the film 83 fed from upstream as the lower roll table 720 rises. Next, the robot arm 715 lowers its tip, so that the film 83 is held between the belt conveyor 711 and the lower roll table 720, and the film 83 is transported downstream by the rotation of the belt conveyor 711.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 1, the film 83 sent from the longitudinal stretching machine 40 is sent to above the lower roll platform 720 of the lower roller mechanism 72 along guide rolls 729, 729 provided at both ends of the path. The lifting mechanism 725 is driven to raise the lower roll platform 720 to a predetermined position, and the film 83 can be placed on the lower roll platform 720. The film 83 moves downstream on the rolls of the lower roll platform 720 by the longitudinal stretching machine 40. The rolls on the lower roll platform 720 may include a plurality of lower right rolls RUR and a plurality of lower left rolls LUR arranged in two rows. Each roll may be a driving roll driven by a driving source not shown, or may be a free roll without a driving source.

[0040] When the film 83 is sent to a predetermined position on the roll of the lower roll stand 720 by the longitudinal stretching machine 40 (or the driving roll), the robot arm 715 lowers the belt conveyor 711 at its tip. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the belt conveyor 711 descends approximately parallel to the multiple lower right rolls RUR of the lower roll stand 720 and holds the film 83 therebetween. When the belt conveyor 711 drives the multiple rolls 711R, 711R, the film 83 held by the belt 7111 and the multiple lower right rolls RUR is sent downstream. Note that, when the multiple lower right rolls RUR have a driving source, the multiple lower right rolls RUR may rotate in synchronization with the multiple rolls 711R of the belt conveyor 711.

[0041] 2 and 3 show one robot mechanism 71 corresponding to a plurality of lower right rolls RUR, but another robot mechanism corresponding to a plurality of lower left rolls LUR may be provided. Alternatively, the robot mechanism 71 may have two branched second links 7152, 7152 corresponding to the plurality of lower right rolls RUR and the lower left roll LUR, respectively. In some embodiments, the lower side of the robot arm may have a first conveyor corresponding to the plurality of left rolls and a second conveyor corresponding to the plurality of right rolls. In this case, the first conveyor and the second conveyor are each configured to be rotatable about a vertical axis.

[0042] As described above, wrinkles in the film can also be removed by sending the film downstream while being held between the multiple lower right rolls RUR and the belt conveyor 711.

[0043] In some embodiments, a meandering detection unit 90 (for example, various sensors such as a camera, a laser sensor, an edge sensor, etc.) that detects the presence or absence of meandering of the film may be provided above the lower roll base 720. For example, in FIG. 2, the meandering detection unit 90 is an edge sensor that detects both ends of the film after the longitudinal stretching region. When the meandering of the film is detected by the meandering detection unit 90, the robot arm 715 may perform an axial rotation in the vertical direction while pressing the belt conveyor 711 against the film 83 placed on the lower roll base 720 based on the detection result. For example, when the film meanders to the left side with respect to the traveling direction, the robot arm 715 performs an axial rotation in the vertical direction clockwise while pressing the belt conveyor 711 against the film 83 placed on the lower roll base 720. This makes it possible to correct the meandering of the film, and the subsequent clip closer 501 (FIG. 4) can appropriately perform the clip closing operation and the lateral stretching. The operation of the robot arm 715 is controlled by a control unit (not shown). The control unit receives sensor signals from various sensors such as the meandering detection unit 90, and controls various driving units related to the robot arm, etc., to be driven based on the sensor signals. The control unit can execute various controls based on various programs stored in the storage unit, and is realized by a central processing unit (CPU), a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an input / output port (I / O), etc.

[0044] FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a film feeding mechanism and a clip device according to another embodiment. Clip devices 800 are disposed on both ends of the film following the aforementioned feed mechanism 70. Although only the clip device 800 for the left end of the film is shown in Fig. 4, the clip device 800 for the right end of the film may also be disposed approximately symmetrically.

[0045] As described above, the feed mechanism 70 feeds the film to the position of the clip closer 501 while gripping the film by the belt conveyor 711 and the lower roll table 720. One clip closer 501 closes a clip on one end of the gripped film. Then, the other clip closer 501 closes a clip on the other end of the gripped film. After the clip closers 501, 501 arranged on the left and right close the clips on both ends of the film, the feed mechanism 70 can move the film downstream. In this way, the feed mechanism 70 can help the clip closers to fasten the clip for transverse stretching. This eliminates the need for manual work by multiple people and enables smooth transport of the film.

[0046] In some embodiments, a wrinkle detector 7121 (e.g., a camera) that detects wrinkles in the film 83 may be provided above the lower roll platform 720 (e.g., below the mounting portion 712 of the robot arm 715). The wrinkle detector 7121 (e.g., a camera or an edge sensor) may be provided in a location (e.g., a ceiling, etc.) away from the robot arm 715, between the longitudinal stretching machine 40 and the robot arm 715. Based on the captured image of the film, the robot arm 715 can also perform axial rotation in the vertical direction while pressing the belt conveyor 711 against the film 83 placed on the lower roll platform 720, as shown in FIG. 5. This makes it possible to remove localized wrinkles in the film. In other embodiments, the two belt conveyors 711, 711 can remove wrinkles in the film by moving to spread left and right as shown in FIG. 6 while holding down the film. It is also possible to remove wrinkles from the film by keeping one of the two belt conveyers fixed near one edge of the film and moving only the other belt conveyer toward the other edge of the film. The operation of the robot arm 715 is controlled by a control unit (not shown). The control unit can receive sensor signals from various sensors such as the wrinkle detection unit 7121, and control various driving units related to the robot arm, etc., to drive them based on the sensor signals.

[0047] In the above examples, the program includes instructions (or software code) that, when loaded into a computer, cause the computer to perform one or more functions described in the embodiments. The program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium or a tangible storage medium. By way of example and not limitation, the computer-readable medium or tangible storage medium includes random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid-state drive (SSD) or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray® disk or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device. The program may be transmitted on a transitory computer-readable medium or communication medium. By way of example and not limitation, the transitory computer-readable medium or communication medium includes electrical, optical, acoustic, or other forms of propagated signals.

[0048] The invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described above based on the embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment already described, and it goes without saying that various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, a belt conveyor is described, but a roll conveyor may also be used. From the viewpoint of smoothing out wrinkles in the film, it is more preferable to use a belt conveyor.

[0049] In some embodiments, a film transport method for transporting a film from upstream to downstream using a film transport machine including a robot arm having a conveyor under its tip, and a lower roll table that is capable of rising and falling and has multiple rolls and is provided below the film, wherein the lower roll table rises to place the film transported from upstream, and the robot arm descends to grip the film between the conveyor and the lower roll table, while the conveyor rotates to transport the film downstream.

[0050] In some embodiments, the film manufacturing apparatus includes an extruder that melts and extrudes an input resin raw material, a die connected to the extruder that forms the molten resin into a film, a cooling roll that cools the film-like molten resin extruded from the die and conveys a resin film in which the molten resin has solidified, a longitudinal stretching machine located downstream of the cooling roll that longitudinally stretches the film and sends it downstream, a feed mechanism that sends the film downstream and includes a robot arm having a conveyor under its tip and a lower roll table that is movably mounted and has a plurality of rolls and is located below the conveyor, and a transverse stretching machine located downstream of the feed mechanism that transversely stretches the film and sends it downstream. [Explanation of symbols]

[0051] 1. Film manufacturing equipment 10 Extruder 11 Cylinders 13 Hopper 20 T die 30 Cooler 40 Longitudinal stretching machine 50 Lateral stretching machine 60 Winder 70 Feeding mechanism 71 Robot Mechanism 72 Lower roller mechanism 82a Molten Resin 83 Film 90 Meandering detection unit 501 Clip Closer 711 Conveyor Belt 712 Mounting part 715 Robot Arm 720 Lower roll stand 725 Lifting mechanism 729 Guide Roll CR1~CR4 Cooling roll R1~R11 Role RL1, RL2 rails RUR Right Bottom Roll LUR Bottom Left Roll

Claims

1. A film transporter that transports a film from upstream to downstream, a robot arm having a conveyor below its tip; a lower roll table provided below the conveyor and having a plurality of rolls; a feed mechanism including A film transport machine equipped with

2. The feeding mechanism places the film fed from upstream on the lower roll base, The film conveying machine of claim 1, wherein the robot arm is configured to lower the tip thereof to grip the film between the conveyor and the lower roll table, and convey the film downstream by rotating the conveyor.

3. a longitudinal stretching machine provided in a longitudinal stretching region upstream of the feed mechanism, which longitudinally stretches the film and transports it downstream; The film transporter according to claim 1 , further comprising a transverse stretching machine provided in a transverse stretching region downstream of the feed mechanism, which transversely stretches the film and transports it downstream.

4. further comprising a wrinkle detection unit that detects wrinkles in the film; The film transport machine of claim 1, wherein when the wrinkle detection unit detects a wrinkle in the film, the robot arm is configured to rotate about a vertical axis while pressing the conveyor against the film placed on the lower roll table based on an image of the film.

5. further comprising a wrinkle detection unit that detects wrinkles in the film; The film transport machine of claim 1, wherein when the wrinkle detection unit detects a wrinkle in the film, the robot arm is configured to move the conveyor toward the side edge of the film while pressing the conveyor against the film placed on the lower roll table based on an image of the film.

6. The film transport device further includes a meandering detection unit that detects whether the film is meandering or not, 4. The film transport machine of claim 3, wherein when the meandering detection unit detects the meandering of the film, the robot arm is configured to rotate about a vertical axis while pressing the conveyor against the film placed on the lower roll table based on the detection result.

7. The film transporter according to claim 1 , wherein the lower roll table is connected to a drive source and configured so that the plurality of rolls rotate in synchronization with the rotation of the conveyor.

8. The lower roll table includes a plurality of left rolls and a plurality of right rolls arranged laterally, 2. The film transport machine of claim 1, further comprising a first conveyor corresponding to the plurality of left rolls and a second conveyor corresponding to the plurality of right rolls on the underside of the robot arm, the first conveyor and the second conveyor each being configured to be rotatable about a vertical axis.

9. A film transport method for transporting a film from upstream to downstream using a film transport machine including a robot arm having a conveyor below a tip end thereof, and a lower roll stand provided below the conveyor, the lower roll stand having a plurality of rolls, the method comprising: The film sent from upstream is placed on the lower roll table, The film transport method comprises: the robot arm descending to grip the film between the conveyor and the lower roll base; and the conveyor rotating to transport the film downstream.

10. an extruder that melts and extrudes the input resin raw material; a die connected to the extruder for forming the molten resin into a film; a cooling roll that cools the film-like molten resin extruded from the die and carries out a resin film in which the molten resin has solidified; a longitudinal stretching machine provided downstream of the cooling roll for longitudinally stretching the film and feeding the film downstream; a feeding mechanism for feeding the film downstream, the feeding mechanism including a robot arm having a conveyor below a tip end thereof, and a lower roll table provided below the conveyor and having a plurality of rolls; a transverse stretching machine that is provided downstream of the feeding mechanism and that transversely stretches the film and feeds it downstream.

Images