Molding device

Abstract

To shorten the cycle time required for implementing the mold construction method. [Solution] The molding apparatus 1 includes an application unit 11 for applying resin R to a workpiece W, a transport unit 12 for transporting the workpiece W to which the resin R has been applied by the application unit 11, a scraping roller 13 that rotates in the opposite direction to the transport direction in which the transport unit 12 transports the workpiece W at the point where it is in contact with the resin R, scraping off the resin R to recover a portion of the resin R and performing surface molding of the resin R applied to the workpiece W, and a cleaning roller 14 for recovering the resin R that has adhered to the scraping roller 13 when it has scraped off.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a molding apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a method of molding an article to obtain a molded product by curing an infrared-curable resin discharged onto a mold has been used.

[0003] Here, FIGS. 3(a) to 3(c) are diagrams showing an example of the operation of a related molding apparatus. FIGS. 3(a) to 3(c) are cross-sectional views of the related molding apparatus as viewed from the side direction (Y direction).

[0004] As shown in FIG. 3(a), in the molding apparatus, the mold is arranged so as to cover the electrode. Here, the dispenser is provided such that the main body portion is disposed above the mold and a part protruding from the main body is connected to an injection port penetrating the mold vertically. The dispenser is assumed to be arranged near the central portion in a predetermined direction with respect to the electrode and the mold. Here, the predetermined direction is described as the X direction.

[0005] In this arrangement, resin is injected from the dispenser between the electrode and the mold. That is, the resin is injected between the electrode and the mold in the vertical direction and near the central portion of the electrode and the mold in the X direction.

[0006] Next, as shown in FIG. 3(b), the space between the electrode and the mold is filled with resin. That is, in the molding apparatus, the resin injected into the central portion in the X direction by the dispenser fills the entire space between the electrode and the mold. Here, the molding apparatus can perform the filling of the resin by evacuation using a vacuum pump.

[0007] Specifically, the mold has a hole that penetrates vertically, slightly inward from the end of the mold in a predetermined direction (X direction) and above the electrode. The vacuum pump is connected through this hole in a way that allows for vacuum removal between the electrode and the mold. Therefore, in the molding apparatus, resin can be filled between the electrode and the mold by vacuum removal using this vacuum pump. In addition, in this molding apparatus, multiple holes can be provided in the mold, and a vacuum pump can be connected to each hole to allow for vacuum removal from multiple locations.

[0008] Next, as shown in Figure 3(c), the molding device cures the resin by exposing it to UV light. This allows the molding device to perform the molding process. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-194956 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0010] However, the relevant molding equipment requires numerous steps to execute the molding process, such as setting the workpiece in the mold, injecting resin, curing the resin, and removing the cured resin from the mold. Therefore, this molding equipment has the problem of a long cycle time per workpiece for batch production.

[0011] This disclosure provides a molding apparatus that shortens the cycle time required for implementing a molding process. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] The molding apparatus according to this disclosure comprises: an application unit for applying resin to a workpiece; a transport unit for transporting the workpiece to which the resin has been applied by the application unit; a scraping roller that rotates in a direction opposite to the transport direction in which the workpiece is transported by the transport unit at a point in contact with the resin, scrapes off the resin and recovers a portion of the resin, and performs surface molding of the resin applied to the workpiece; and a cleaning roller that recovers the resin that has adhered to the scraping roller when it has scraped off the resin. This allows the processing of the resin applied to the workpiece to be performed without removing or reattaching the mold. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] This disclosure makes it possible to provide a molding device that shortens the cycle time required for implementing the molding process. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0014] [Figure 1] This is a top view showing the configuration of the molding device. [Figure 2] This diagram schematically shows the various parts of a molding device. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of the operation of the related molding device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0015] Embodiment 1 The molding apparatus according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a top view showing an example of the configuration of the molding apparatus.

[0016] The mold device 1 includes an application unit 11 for applying a resin R to a workpiece W, a conveyance unit 12 for conveying the workpiece W, a scraping roller 13 for scraping off a part of the resin R from the conveyed workpiece W, a cleaning roller 14 for recovering the resin R adhering to the scraping roller 13, a paper supply and recovery unit 15, and a UV irradiation unit 16. The resin R is a UV curable resin that is cured by UV (ultraviolet) light irradiated by the UV irradiation unit 16.

[0017] Here, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the mold device 1 in a top view and a side view. In the top views of FIGS. 1 and 2, the left - right direction is defined as the X - direction, the up - down direction is defined as the Y - direction, and the up - down direction in the real space is defined as the Z - direction for explanation. That is, the X, Y, and Z directions are mutually orthogonal directions, and the X - direction and the Y - direction are assumed to be horizontal directions for explanation.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1, the application unit 11 includes a dispenser 21 for quantitatively supplying the resin R to the workpiece W and a nozzle 22 for discharging the workpiece W with the resin R applied thereto toward the conveyance unit 12.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2 here, in the application unit 11, with the workpiece W clamped by a pair of clamp mechanisms 31, the resin R is applied to the side surface of the workpiece W from the dispenser 21.

[0020] Typically, the workpiece W is in a state of being clamped by the clamp mechanism 31 from the up - down direction, and the side surface of the workpiece W provided in the XY - direction is exposed. Therefore, in the application unit 11, the resin R can be applied to the side surface of the workpiece W by discharging the resin R from the dispenser 21 in a substantially horizontal direction.

[0021] The conveyance unit 12 conveys the workpiece W discharged from the nozzle 22 of the application unit 11 in the X - direction. Here, the conveyance unit 12 conveys the workpiece W in the left direction in the top view of FIG. 2, and this conveyance direction is defined as the first direction. In the X - direction, the direction opposite to the first direction is defined as the second direction.

[0022] For example, the conveying unit 12 is in a state where a large number of electrodes are provided, and electrode conveyance is performed to adsorb and convey the workpiece W using electromagnetism. Note that the conveyance method by the conveying unit 12 can be arbitrarily changed.

[0023] The scraping roller 13 is a roller arranged to contact a part on the surface side of the resin R applied to the workpiece W conveyed by the conveying unit 12. Typically, the scraping roller 13 is a rubber roller.

[0024] Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the scraping roller 13 rotates counterclockwise in a top view with the Z direction as the axis. In other words, at the location where the scraping roller 13 contacts the resin R applied to the workpiece W, the scraping roller 13 performs a rotational operation so that a force in the second direction is applied to the resin R.

[0025] As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the scraping roller 13 can scrape a part on the surface side of the resin R so that the resin R applied to the workpiece W remains with a predetermined thickness.

[0026] Also at this time, in a top view, since the outer diameter of the roller part provided around the axis of the scraping roller 13 is circular, the position where the resin R is scraped becomes a fixed position. Therefore, by scraping the resin R applied to the workpiece W with the scraping roller 13, surface shaping can be performed so that no protrusions such as burrs remain on the surface of the resin R.

[0027] The cleaning roller 14 is a roller that is scraped from the workpiece W by the scraping roller 13 and cleans the resin R adhering to the scraping roller 13.

[0028] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cleaning roller 14 is arranged close to the scraping roller 13. More specifically, the cleaning roller 14 is close such that the paper P supplied from the supply part 15a of the paper supply and recovery part 15 described later is sandwiched between the scraping roller 13 and the cleaning roller 14.

[0029] Here, as shown in Figure 2, the cleaning roller 14 rotates counterclockwise when viewed from above, with the Z-axis as its axis. In other words, the cleaning roller 14 rotates in the opposite direction to the direction in which force is applied by the rotational movement of the scraping roller 13, when it is in close proximity to and facing the scraping roller 13.

[0030] Here, the cleaning roller 14 is supplied with paper P from the supply section 15a of the paper supply and recovery section 15, and the paper P is sandwiched between the cleaning roller 14 and the scraping roller 13. After the paper P recovers the resin R that was attached to the scraping roller 13, the cleaning roller 14 operates in a direction that allows the paper P to flow towards the recovery section 15b.

[0031] As a result, at the point where the cleaning roller 14 and the scraping roller 13 are almost in contact, the resin R adhering to the scraping roller 13 can be transferred to the paper P supplied to the cleaning roller 14. Therefore, the resin R is removed from the scraping roller 13, resulting in a cleaned state.

[0032] Here, as shown in Figure 1, the molding device 1 may be equipped with multiple rollers other than the cleaning roller 14 in order to appropriately supply paper P from the supply unit 15a to the cleaning roller 14 and then collect the paper P in the collection unit 15b.

[0033] The paper supply and collection unit 15 supplies and collects the paper P used for cleaning the cleaning roller 14. The paper supply and collection unit 15 comprises a supply unit 15a for supplying the paper P and a collection unit 15b for collecting the paper P after it has passed through the cleaning roller 14.

[0034] For example, paper P is a thin paper with a predetermined width, formed to be very long in one direction. Typically, it is in the form of a roll in the supply unit 15a and is wound up in the form of a roll in the recovery unit 15b.

[0035] As an example, the width of the paper P is a length corresponding to the axial length of the cleaning roller 14 or the axial length of the scraping roller 13, and is sufficient to adequately transfer the resin R adhering to the scraping roller 13.

[0036] As an example, the collection unit 15b is equipped with a power source (not shown), and the paper P can be moved by pulling it with the force from this power source. As a result, the paper P moves smoothly from the supply unit 15a upstream, through the cleaning roller 14, to the collection unit 15b downstream.

[0037] The UV irradiation unit 16 has a UV-LED, which is a light source that emits UV light. The UV irradiation unit 16 is located to the left of the scraping roller 13 in Figures 1 and 2, that is, on the first direction side relative to the scraping roller 13. In other words, in the X direction, the UV irradiation unit 16 is positioned with the scraping roller 13 sandwiched between it and the coating unit 11, and the workpiece W to which the resin R is attached is transported from the coating unit 11 upstream, via the scraping roller 13, to the UV irradiation unit 16 downstream.

[0038] The UV irradiation unit 16 irradiates UV light onto the resin R adhering to the workpiece W after it has been conveyed by the transport unit 12 and scraped by the scraping roller 13. Here, the resin R is a UV-curable resin, and the UV irradiation unit 16 can cure the resin R.

[0039] Typically, the UV irradiation unit 16 is positioned in close proximity to the scraping roller 13. As a result, the resin R remaining on the workpiece W after being scraped by the scraping roller 13 is immediately irradiated with UV light by the UV irradiation unit 16 and hardened.

[0040] Therefore, in the molding apparatus 1, resin R is applied to the workpiece W in the coating section 11, and while the workpiece W is being transported in the transport section 12, a portion of the resin R is scraped off from the transported workpiece W by the scraping roller 13, and the remaining resin R on the workpiece W is cured by UV irradiation from the UV irradiation section 16, thereby enabling molding.

[0041] Furthermore, at points where the cleaning roller 14 and the scraping roller 15 are in close proximity, the paper P supplied from the paper supply and recovery unit 15 can move through the space between the cleaning roller 14 and the scraping roller 15, thereby recovering the resin R adhering to the scraping roller 13.

[0042] As a result, the molding device 1 does not need to attach or detach molds, and the cycle time per workpiece can be shortened, thereby improving production efficiency.

[0043] In the related molding apparatus shown in Figures 3(a) to 3(c), since there are injection ports for injecting resin R into the mold and multiple holes for vacuum release, it is conceivable that burrs may form on the molded product.

[0044] On the other hand, in the molding apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, since the scraping roller 13 scrapes and surface forms the resin R before it hardens, there is no need to provide an injection port for injecting the resin R or a hole for vacuum release in the mold. Therefore, the molding apparatus 1 makes it possible to form a smooth surface for the resin R.

[0045] Furthermore, there is always variation in the thickness of the workpiece W used in the molding device 1, and the shape of the resin R when transferring the shape depends on the roller.

[0046] On the other hand, in the molding apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, the resin R is applied broadly to the side surface of the workpiece W, with a predetermined thickness at all positions, so as to be greater than or equal to the maximum side dimension of the workpiece W held by the clamping mechanism 31. Furthermore, since the molding apparatus 1 performs surface molding while scraping off the resin R on the side surface of the workpiece W with the scraping roller 13, it is possible to accommodate variations in the thickness of the workpiece W.

[0047] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention. In other words, the above description has been omitted and simplified as appropriate for the sake of clarity, and those skilled in the art can easily change, add, and modify each element of the embodiments within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0048] 1. Molding device 11. Coating area 12 Conveying section 13. Friction roller 14 Cleaning rollers 15 Paper supply and collection unit 15a Supply section 15b Recovery section 16 UV irradiation section 21 Dispensers 22 nozzles 31 Clamping mechanism R resin Double job

Claims

[Claim 1] A coating section for applying resin to the workpiece, A conveying unit that conveys the workpiece to which the resin has been applied in the coating unit, A scraping roller, which rotates in the opposite direction to the transport direction in which the workpiece is transported by the transport unit at the point of contact with the resin, scrapes the resin to recover a portion of the resin and performs surface shaping of the resin applied to the workpiece, The system includes a cleaning roller for collecting the resin that adheres to the scraping roller when it is scraped. Molding device.

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