Continuous feed coater
First Claim
1. A deposition plenum comprising interior walls of said deposition plenum, at least two of said walls comprising a substrate of continuously or intermittently moving material, and coating means associated with said plenum for directing coating material at said moving material.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A continuous feed coater for coating a length of substrate with vaporized or sprayed material, is disclosed. A specific example is a roll-to-roll coater which includes two lower supply rollers for supporting two webs of uncoated material, and two upper take-up rollers for supporting the webs after they are coated. A central web-support forms a plenum that acts as a deposition chimney or chamber by bringing the two webs into close proximity to each other to form two large walls of the plenum. The ends of the webs are sealed using side dams to form the chimney with a rectangular cross section such that the vapor cannot exit from the edges of the material. The vaporized coating constituents to be deposited on the rolled material are directed into the deposition plenum from a coating material supply source located at the bottom of the plenum, and are exhausted through the top of the plenum. By providing a plenum having two large surface area walls formed of the material to be coated, an extremely efficient coating system is provided. The top of the plenum includes an exhaust system with an orifice plate with a plurality of orifices spaced across the width of the deposition plenum. These orifices restrict gas exhaust to provide the gas and vapor residence time for the materials being used. By further controlling the orifices relative to each other, the differential pressure across the width of the chamber can be controlled to further provide an even coating across the width of the two webs of substrate material. Two different web-handling embodiments are disclosed as is a solid substrate system.
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Citations
77 Claims
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1. A deposition plenum comprising
interior walls of said deposition plenum, at least two of said walls comprising a substrate of continuously or intermittently moving material, and coating means associated with said plenum for directing coating material at said moving material.
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25. An apparatus for coating two substrates in the form of two rolled webs of material, said apparatus comprising:
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two supply means for supplying and supporting respective uncoated portions of the web substrates;
two web-handling portions for guiding the respective web substrates through a coating area, the web substrates being proximal to one another in said coating area to form a deposition plenum;
two take-up means for supporting respective coated portions of the web substrates and for driving the respective web substrates from the supply rollers through the coating area and onto their respective take-up means; and
a coating material source for providing coating material to the deposition plenum.
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67. A fluid flow control exhaust system, said exhaust system having a width and including a plurality of runners spaced across said, each said runner comprising:
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a venturi; and
a slide valve within said venturi, said slide valve being adjustable to vary the amount of fluid that flows through said venturi, such that a differential pressure across the width of said exhaust system can be controlled to provide a specific differential flow pattern across the width of the exhaust system.
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72. An apparatus for coating a substrate in the form of a rolled web of material, said apparatus comprising:
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a supply means for supplying and supporting uncoated portions of the web substrate;
a web-handling portion for guiding the web substrate through a coating area, the web substrate being adjacent a surface in said coating area to form a deposition plenum;
a take-up means for supporting coated portions of the web substrate and for driving the web substrate from the supply roller through the coating area and onto said driven take-up roller; and
a coating material source for providing coating material to the deposition plenum. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74)
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75. An apparatus for coating wire or tape, said apparatus comprising:
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a vertical tube;
at least one deposition vapor source;
at least one supply means for supporting and supplying uncoated portions of the wire or tape through the funnel and vertical tube; and
at least one take-up means for supporting and taking up coated portions of the wire or tape after the wire or tape has exited the vertical tube. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77)
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Specification