U.S. patent application number 15/260276 was filed with the patent office on 2017-09-28 for roll-to-roll apparatus.
This patent application is currently assigned to Industrial Technology Research Institute. The applicant listed for this patent is Industrial Technology Research Institute. Invention is credited to Yi-Shu Chen, Hsin-Yun Hsu, Kuo-Hsin Huang, Chao-Feng Sung.
Application Number | 20170275120 15/260276 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 57851409 |
Filed Date | 2017-09-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170275120 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Sung; Chao-Feng ; et
al. |
September 28, 2017 |
ROLL-TO-ROLL APPARATUS
Abstract
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a
roll-to-roll apparatus may include an unwinding unit, a winding
unit, at least one supporting unit, at least one breakage sensor,
and at least one holding unit. The at least one supporting unit is
disposed between the unwinding unit and the winding unit, and
supports the flexible substrate to move from the unwinding unit to
the winding unit. The at least one breakage sensor may sense
whether the flexible substrate is broken or not. The at least one
holding unit may grip the flexible substrate while a breakage of
the flexible substrate is sensed by the at least one breakage
sensor.
Inventors: |
Sung; Chao-Feng; (Hsinchu
City, TW) ; Chen; Yi-Shu; (Taichung City, TW)
; Huang; Kuo-Hsin; (Hsinchu County, TW) ; Hsu;
Hsin-Yun; (Hsinchu County, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Industrial Technology Research Institute |
Hsinchu |
|
TW |
|
|
Assignee: |
Industrial Technology Research
Institute
Hsinchu
TW
|
Family ID: |
57851409 |
Appl. No.: |
15/260276 |
Filed: |
September 8, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H 26/025 20130101;
B65H 2701/173 20130101; B65H 2701/175 20130101; B65H 2553/40
20130101; B65H 2801/61 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65H 26/02 20060101
B65H026/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 28, 2016 |
TW |
105109606 |
Claims
1. A roll-to-roll apparatus, comprising: an unwinding unit; a
winding unit; at least one supporting unit, disposed between the
unwinding unit and the winding unit, and supporting a flexible
substrate to move from the unwinding unit to the winding unit; at
least one breakage sensor, sensing whether the flexible substrate
is broken or not; and at least one holding unit, gripping the
flexible substrate while a breakage of the flexible substrate is
sensed by the at least one breakage sensor.
2. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at
least one holding unit is arc-shaped and presses onto the flexible
substrate on the at least one supporting unit while a breakage of
the flexible substrate is sensed by the at least one breakage
sensor.
3. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when
the at least one holding unit does not press onto the flexible
substrate, a distance between the at least one holding unit and the
flexible substrate is less than 100 .mu.m.
4. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein two
sides of the at least one supporting unit are higher than a middle
portion of the at least one supporting unit, and a boundary of the
flexible substrate is in contact with the at least one supporting
unit.
5. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at
least one holding unit grips a boundary of the flexible
substrate.
6. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at
least one holding unit is a roller and is in contact with the
flexible substrate on the at least one supporting unit, and stops
the flexible substrate in time while a breakage occurring in the
flexible substrate is sensed by the at least one breakage
sensor.
7. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at
least one holding unit further comprises a first holding portion
and a second holding portion, and grips the flexible substrate
between the first holding portion and the second holding portion
while a breakage occurring in the flexible substrate is sensed by
the at least one breakage sensor.
8. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the
roll-to-roll apparatus comprises a plurality of holding units and a
plurality of supporting units, and the plurality of holding units
correspond to the plurality of supporting units, respectively, and
the flexible substrate is held by both the plurality of holding
units and the plurality of supporting units.
9. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at
least one breakage sensor is a tension sensor, an image sensor, or
an optical sensor.
10. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a
material of the flexible substrate is glass, metal, plastic, or
paper like.
11. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the
roll-to-roll apparatus comprises a plurality of supporting units,
and a frictional force between the at least one holding unit and
the flexible substrate to grip the flexible substrate is greater
than a gravity of the flexible substrate between two adjacent
supporting units of the plurality of supporting units.
12. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at
least one supporting unit is a roller, a circumferential angle of a
portion of the at least one supporting unit in contact with the
flexible substrate is in a range of 45.degree. to 135.degree..
13. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a
width of the flexible substrate is L, the at least one supporting
unit is a roller having a diameter is D, an area of the at least
one holding unit in contact with the flexible substrate is A, and
A.ltoreq.L.times..pi..times.D.times.3/8.
14. The roll-to-roll apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a
material of the at least one holding unit is plastic, rubber, or
silicone.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the priority benefits of a Taiwan
application serial no. 105109606, filed on Mar. 28, 2016. The
entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby
incorporated by reference herein.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to a roll-to-roll
apparatus.
BACKGROUND
[0003] When a glass is thinner, it is bendy to foil ii a flexible
glass. The flexible glass has characteristics of being bent and
high hardness. It is applicable to a plane substrate of an
electronic paper (e-paper), a protective cover of a photovoltaic
module, a substrate of a touch sensor, a solid-state light-emitting
element, an electronic device and so on.
[0004] Currently, transferring the flexible glass is in a
roll-to-roll manner. Although the flexible glass with thin
thickness has a considerable degree of flexibility, it retains the
brittle property. Stress concentration of the strength may occur in
the flexible glass due to surface defects or scratches. Therefore,
any unstable delivery, drag, and/or torsion of the flexible glass
may cause a breakage of the flexible glass. The current
roll-to-roll equipment can transfers the flexible glass via a
roll-to-roll process. When the breakage of the flexible glass
occurred, even the drive roller stops rotating, the flexible glass
continues to produce more unpredictable damages because of its
flexibility and inertia effect. Therefore, it is hard to identify
the initial broken position and the broken causes, and fail to
prevent breakages recurring in the future.
SUMMARY
[0005] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a roll-to-roll
apparatus may comprise an unwinding unit, a winding unit, at least
one supporting unit, at least one breakage sensor, and at least one
holding unit. The at least one supporting unit is disposed between
the unwinding unit and the winding unit, and supports a flexible
substrate to move from the unwinding unit to the winding unit. The
at least one breakage sensor senses whether the flexible substrate
is broken or not. The at least one holding unit grips the flexible
substrate while a breakage of the flexible substrate is sensed by
the at least one breakage sensor.
[0006] The foregoing will become better understood from a careful
reading of a detailed description provided herein below with
appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a roll-to-roll apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 2A is a schematic view illustrating that the
roll-to-roll apparatus of FIG. 1 has a breakage occurring in a
flexible substrate.
[0009] FIG. 2B is an enlarged schematic view of a holding unit of
FIG. 2A.
[0010] FIG. 3A is a schematic view illustrating that a holding unit
of FIG. 1 grips the flexible substrate after the flexible substrate
is broken.
[0011] FIG. 3B is an enlarged schematic view of the holding unit of
FIG. 3A.
[0012] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a holding unit
of FIG. 1.
[0013] FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a holding unit
of a roll-to-roll apparatus according to another embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a holding unit
of a roll-to-roll apparatus according to yet another embodiment of
the present disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 7 is a partial schematic view of a roll-to-roll
apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] Below, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail
with reference to accompanying drawings to be easily realized by a
person having ordinary knowledge in the art. The inventive concept
may be embodied in various forms without being limited to the
exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Descriptions of well-known
parts are omitted for clarity, and like reference numerals refer to
like elements throughout.
[0017] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a roll-to-roll apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to
the embodiment of FIG. 1, a roll-to-roll apparatus 100 may comprise
an unwinding unit 110, a winding unit 120, at least one supporting
unit 130, at least one breakage sensor 140, and at least one
holding unit 150. The supporting unit 130 is disposed between the
unwinding unit 110 and the winding unit 120. A flexible substrate
50 is supported by the at least one supporting unit 130 to move
from the unwinding unit 110 to the winding unit 120. The at least
one breakage sensor 140 may sense whether the flexible substrate 50
is broken or not. The at least one holding unit 150 may grip the
flexible substrate 50 while a breakage of the flexible substrate 50
is sensed by the at least one breakage sensor 140.
[0018] In the embodiment, the roll-to-roll apparatus 100 has the at
least one a holding unit 150. Once a breakage of the flexible
substrate 50 is sensed by the at least one breakage sensor 140, not
only the unwinding unit 110 and the winding unit 120 stop unwinding
and winding, but also the flexible substrate 50 may be stopped and
gripped by the at least one holding unit 150. That may prevent the
flexible substrate 50 from falling, swinging, and/or expansion of
damages, so that related manufacturing processes resume easily.
Original breaking states of the flexible substrate 50 can be held
as much as possible, to find out the broken causes, and to prevent
breakages occurring in the flexible substrate 50 again in the
future.
[0019] Other technical features described below embodies
selectively in the present disclosure, but the present disclosure
is not limited thereto. The technical features of various
embodiments described under the situation without conflict are
applicable to other embodiments.
[0020] In the present embodiment, there are a plurality of
supporting units 130, a plurality of breakage sensors 140 and a
plurality of holding units 150. In other embodiments. one or more
of the numbers of these elements in the foregoing may be one. The
unwinding unit 110 and the winding unit 120 are rollers. For
example, the rolled flexible substrate 50 is free from the
unwinding unit 110 and received by the winding unit 120. The at
least one supporting unit 130 is a roller, for example, the at
least one supporting unit 130 may rotate synchronously with the
movement of the flexible substrate 50 to avoid generating a
relative displacement between the surface of the supporting unit
130 and the flexible substrate 50. Thereby, the supporting unit 130
may scratch the flexible substrate 50 as less as possible. In an
embodiment, the at least one holding units 150 may correspond to
the at least one supporting units 130, respectively, and the
flexible substrate 50 is held by both the at least one holding unit
150 and the at least one supporting unit 130, but the present
disclosure is not limited thereto.
[0021] In addition, the roll-to-roll apparatus 100 of this
embodiment may further include a processing unit 160 to perform
various processes on the flexible substrate 50. For instance, the
processing unit160 may perform sputtering, evaporation, or other
suitable processes on the flexible substrate 50. In the embodiment,
an exemplary material of the flexible substrate 50 includes glass,
but the material of the flexible substrate 50 may include other
flexible continuous sheet materials, such as metal, plastic, paper
like, and so on. The thickness of the flexible glass substrate may
be less than 150 .mu.m, such as 100 .mu.m or less. The width of the
flexible glass substrate 50 may be greater than or equal to 100 mm,
such as more than 200 mm. The length of the flexible glass
substrate 50 may be greater than or equal to 1 m, such as more than
10 m. However, the dimensions of the flexible glass substrate 50
are not limited thereto.
[0022] In the embodiment, each breakage sensor 140 may be a tension
sensor. The at least one breakage sensor 140 may be disposed on the
at least one supporting unit 130. A portion of the tension of the
flexible substrate 50 may be applied on the at least one supporting
unit 130, and the at least one breakage sensor 140 may calculate a
tension of the flexible substrate 50 according to sensed components
of the tension. During a normal operation, the tension of the
flexible substrate 50 should be within a non ial range. Once the at
least one breakage sensor 140 senses the tension is beyond the
normal range, it may be determined that a breakage occurs in the
flexible substrate 50.
[0023] After the at least one breakage sensor 140 determines that
the breakage occurs in the flexible substrate 50, the at least one
holding unit 150 starts to grip the flexible substrate 50. The time
that the roll-to-roll apparatus 100 activates the at least one
holding unit 150 to grip the flexible substrate 50 may be less than
the time that the flexible substrate 50 falls, so as to facilitate
the gripping efficiency achieving. The way to activate the holding
unit 150 may include, for example, solenoid valves with air
pressure driven, magnetism driven, or motor driven. In the
high-speed solenoid valve case, the response time of activation may
be less than 15 ms. The supporting unit 130 of the roll-to-roll
apparatus 100 may be a roller, for example, a roller-type
supporting unit having a diameter of six inches is used to convey
the flexible substrate 50 (for example, an ultra-thin glass
substrate). A circumferential angle 0 (labeled in FIG. 3B, also
known as wrap angle) of a portion of the supporting unit 130 in
contact with the flexible substrate 50 is generally in the range of
45.degree. to 135.degree.. The wrap angle of the supporting unit
130 in contact with the flexible substrate 50 is 45.degree. is
taken as an example. The length of the supporting unit 130 in
contact with the flexible substrate 50 is 5.98 cm by calculation.
The maximum possible conveying speed for the flexible substrate 50
is 5cm/sec, for example, it takes 1.197 seconds to make a move of
5.98 cm on the flexible substrate 50. While it takes 0.1055 seconds
to make the move of 5.98 cm on the flexible substrate 50 with
considering the gravity factor (with gravitational acceleration g
of the movement). The response time of the solenoid valve is less
than 15 ms, and it should be able to meet the requirement.
Moreover, in order to prevent the flexible substrate 50 from
suffering the damage caused by the holding unit 150, the range of
the holding unit 150 in contact with the flexible substrate 50 may
be in the range of the wrap angle of the supporting unit 130 with
respect to the flexible substrate 50, that is, in the range of the
supporting unit 130 in contact with the flexible substrate 50.
Assume that a width of the flexible substrate 50 is L, the
supporting unit 130 is a roller having a diameter is D, an area of
the holding unit 150 in contact with the flexible substrate 50 is
A, and the wrap angle is 45.degree., then
A.ltoreq.L.times..pi..times.D/8. When the wrap angle is
135.degree., then A.ltoreq.L.times..pi..times.D.times.3/8.
[0024] FIG. 2A is a schematic view illustrating that the
roll-to-roll apparatus of FIG. 1 has a breakage occurring in the
flexible substrate. FIG. 2B is an enlarged schematic view of a
holding unit of FIG. 2A. Referring to FIG. 2A, when the breakage
just occurs in the flexible substrate 50, the state of each element
of the roll-to-roll apparatus is substantially the same as the
state under a normal operation. Referring to the embodiment of FIG.
2B, the holding unit 150 is arc-shaped. Under the normal operation,
the holding unit 150 may not press onto the flexible substrate 50
and keep an appropriate distance D10 between the holding unit 150
and the flexible substrate 50. For example, the distance D10 is
less than 100 .mu.m. The less the distance D10 between the holding
unit 150 and the flexible substrate 50 is, the much the shorten
time required for gripping the breakage of the flexible substrate
50 is. If the distance D10 is too less, there may be possible risks
that the flexible substrate 50 is scratched by the holding unit 150
under the normal operation. When a breakage occurs in the flexible
substrate 50, the flexible substrate 50 closer to the winding unit
120 may tend to continue moving forward due to inertia, as shown by
an arrow in FIG. 2A. Continued forward movement of the flexible
substrate 50 may cause another breakage again because the flexible
substrate 50 and the winding unit 120 may press each other. On the
other hand, the flexible substrate 50 closer to the unwinding unit
110 may tend to spring-back due to counteraction or gravity, as
shown by another arrow in FIG. 2A. Spring-back of the flexible
substrate 50 may cause another breakage again because the flexible
substrate 50 and the unwinding unit 110 press each other or the
flexible substrate 50 loses the supporting of the tension, thereby
swinging.
[0025] FIG. 3A is a schematic view illustrating that a holding unit
of FIG. 1 grips the flexible substrate after the flexible substrate
is broken. FIG. 3B is an enlarged schematic view of the holding
unit of FIG. 3A. Referring to FIG.3A and FIG. 3B, when the breakage
sensor 140 senses a breakage of the flexible substrate 50, it may
drive the unwinding unit 110 and the winding unit 120 to stop
unwinding and winding, respectively, and may drive the holding unit
150 to press onto the flexible substrate 50 on the supporting unit
130. Therefore, it may control the damage to occur in the initial
region, to avoid the damage to spread through other regions of
flexible substrate 50. It may keep the original state of the
breakage, and help the cause analysis and resolve the issue of the
breakage to avoid that the breakage occurs in the flexible
substrate 50 again. In the embodiment, there may be a plurality of
supporting units 150, and the breakage sensor140 may drive all of
the plurality of supporting units 150 simultaneously for pressing
onto the flexible substrate 50.
[0026] In calculating the force for stopping the flexible substrate
50 in time, there are some forces to be calculated when a breakage
occurs in the flexible substrate 50. For example, a gravity and a
mobile inertia force of the flexible substrate 50 between two
adjacent supporting units 130 generated by the weight of the
flexible substrate are considered. For instance, assume that a
distance between two adjacent supporting units 130 is 1 m, a width
and a thickness of the flexible substrate 50 made of glass are 350
mm and 100 .mu.m, respectively. Unser this scenario, the weight of
the flexible substrate 50 between two adjacent the supporting unit
130 is about 86.1 g. The holding unit 150 may provide a frictional
force about 0.84378 Newton to stop the flexible substrate 50. In
above embodiment, the motion force after the breakage occurs in the
flexible substrate 50 is not take into consideration yet. A
material of the holding unit 150 may be such as plastic, rubber,
silicone, or other materials having a hardness less than the
hardness of the flexible substrate 50. It may avoid the flexible
substrate 50 is scratched during the holding process.
Alternatively, the coefficient of sliding friction between the
holding unit 150 and the flexible substrate 50 may further be
considered.
[0027] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a holding unit
of FIG. 1. Referring to the embodiment of FIG. 4, the holding unit
150 may grip the boundary of the flexible substrate 50. The
boundary of the flexible substrate 50 will not be used in the final
product, and the holding unit 150 grips the boundary of the
flexible substrate 50 may reduce the probability of damages for the
quality of the final product.
[0028] FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a holding unit
of a roll-to-roll apparatus according to another embodiment of the
present disclosure. Referring to the embodiment of FIG. 5, two
sides 132A of a supporting unit 132 may be higher than a middle
portion 132B of the supporting unit 132. The boundary of the
flexible substrate 50 may be in contact with the two sides 132A of
the supporting unit 132. As described previously, the supporting
unit 132 keeps in contact with the boundary of the flexible
substrate 50 may reduce the probability of damages for the quality
of the final product.
[0029] FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a holding unit
of a roll-to-roll apparatus according to yet another embodiment of
the present disclosure. Referring to the embodiment of FIG. 6, the
holding unit 152 may be a roller, which may keep in contact with
the flexible substrate 50 on the supporting unit 132. For instance,
under the noiiiial operation, the supporting unit 132 in rotating
may drive the flexible substrate 50 to move forward, and the
frictional force between the flexible substrate 50 and the holding
unit 152 may drive the holding unit 152 to rotate. Alternatively,
the holding unit 152 may rotate independently to avoid generating
the relative displacement between the surface of the holding unit
152 and the flexible substrate 50, thereby reducing the opportunity
that the holding unit 152 scratches the flexible substrate 50. Once
a breakage of the flexible substrate 50 is sensed by the breakage
sensor 140, the at least one holding unit 152 is forced to stop
rotating to apply a frictional force, thereby applying the brakes
to stop the flexible substrate 50 in time. The holding unit 152 is
in contact with the flexible substrate 50 on the supporting unit
132, which may shorten the time from the breakage occurs in the
flexible substrate 50 to the flexible substrate 50 is stopped.
[0030] In addition, although the supporting unit 132 shown in FIG.
6 has a level difference, the supporting unit 130 without the level
difference is applicable in the architecture of FIG. 6. In other
words, the supporting unit 130 without the level difference may
cooperate with the roller-type supporting unit 152 and keep in
contact with the flexible substrate 50. This may shorten the time
from the breakage occurs in the flexible substrate 50 to the
flexible substrate 50 is stopped.
[0031] FIG. 7 is a partial schematic view of a roll-to-roll
apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present
disclosure. In the embodiment, the at least one holding unit 154
may include a first holding portion 154A and a second holding
portion 154B. While a breakage sensor 142 senses a breakage
occurring in the flexible substrate 50, the at least one holding
unit 154 grips the flexible substrate 50 and the flexible substrate
50 is kept between the first holding portion 154A and the second
holding portion 154B. Moreover, the breakage sensor 142 may be such
as an image sensor, and may determine whether the flexible
substrate 50 is broken or not by capturing and automatically
analyzing the images. In other embodiments, the breakage sensor 142
may be such as an optical sensor, and may detect the changes in the
amount of light passing through the flexible substrate 50 or in the
amount of the light reflected by the flexible substrate 50 to
determine whether the flexible substrate 50 is broken or not.
[0032] While the breakage sensor senses a breakage occurring in the
flexible substrate, the roll-to-roll apparatus according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure may drive the holding unit to
grip the flexible substrate to prevent the flexible substrate from
continuously moving forward or shaking. Original breaking states of
the flexible substrate can be held as much as possible and expanded
damages can be prevented, which facilitates the cause analysis for
improvement and reduces the difficulty of cleaning breakages.
[0033] It will be clear that various modifications and variations
may be made to the disclosed methods and materials. It is intended
that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary
only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the
following claims and their equivalents.
* * * * *