Apparatus for applying a coating to a surface of a substrate

Abstract

 An apparatus for applying a coating to a surface of a substrate (2) comprises a feeder (4) for feeding the coating to a predetermined position, a roller (3) for applying the coating onto the surface of the substrate (2) and a doctor (10) for regulating the thickness of the coating, the doctor (10) having a rake surface (10d), a facing surface (10c) and a flank surface (10b), forming an escape angle (ϑ₂). The escape angle (ϑ₂), defined between a tangential plane (13) with which the roller (3) is contacted and an extension plane (11) of the flank surface (10b) at an intersection (12) defined between the extension plane (11) and the roller (3), is an obtuse angle.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to an apparatus for applying a coating to a surface of a substrate at a constant coating thickness.

[0002] A conventional roll coater is shown in Fig. 3. The conventional apparatus includes a lower roller 1, and an associated upper roller 3 which are rotated while clamping therebetween a substrate 2 to be coated. A coating 5 is supplied to a surface of the upper roller 3 from a feeder 4 for applying the coating 5 to the upper roller 3, and the coating 5 applied by the feeder 4 is coated on the surface of the upper roller 3 at a uniform thickness to form a coating layer 7 by using a doctor 6. The upper roller 3 rotates on the substrate 2 with the coating layer 7 being applied onto the surface of the substrate 2.

[0003] In the conventional apparatus, the coating 5 applied on the surface of the upper roller 3 by the feeder 4 is likely to be piled, because the coating 5 applied by the feeder 4 spreads onto a flank or escape surface, i.e., the surface opposite to a rake surface 6a of a doctor 6. Therefore, the coating accumulated on the flank surface of the doctor 6 will drop onto the surface of the substrate 2 so that the coating dropped onto the substrate is adhered thereto in the form of an undesired protrusion.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to solve the foregoing problems and to provide an apparatus for applying a coating such as a roll coater which is prevented from dropping the coating onto the surface of the substrate. An apparatus for applying a coating to a surface of a substrate comprises means for feeding the coating to a predetermined position, a roller means for applying the coating onto the surface of the substrate to be coated from the feeding means and a doctor means for regulating a thickness of the coating applied to the roller means, the doctor means having a rake surface, a facing surface and a flank surface forming an escape angle with the facing surface confronted with the surface of the roller, wherein the escape angle defined between a tangential plane with which the roller means is contacted and an extension plane of the flank surface at an intersection defined between the extension plane and roller means is an obtuse angle.

[0005] In the structure of the roller coater of the present invention, the coating scraped by the rake surface of the doctor could not move along an over the flank surface of the doctor, and is all formed on the surface of the upper roller as the constant thickness coating.

[0006] In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a partially fragmentary sectional view showing a roll coater according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing a portion A shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a partially fragmentary sectional view showing a conventional roll coater.

[0007] One example of a roller coater according to this invention will now be described with reference to Figs 1 and 2. The roller coater according to the present invention is composed of substantially the same components as those shown in Fig. 3 except for the parts described hereinbelow. Accordingly the duplicated description therefore will be omitted. In the apparatus of the present invention, the like members and components are designated by the same reference characters.

[0008] In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, a doctor 10 for regulating a coating 5 continuously applied to a surface of an upper roller 3 by a feeder 4 for applying the coating 5 to the surface of the upper roller 4 as a coating layer 7 at a constant thickness has a sharp knife edge portion 10a with a flank or escape surface 10b and a facing surface 10c. The facing surface 10c of the edge portion 10a is confronted with the surface of upper roller 3, and is extended toward the upper roller 3 along the circumference of the upper roller 3. The flank surface 10b is placed in the opposite side to the facing surface 10c.

[0009] As shown in Fig. 2, the facing surface 10c confronted with the surface of the upper roller 3 forms an angle ϑ₁ of approximately 60 degree with the flank surface 10b. In other words, an "escape angle" of ϑ₂ formed by the flank surface 10b with the surface of the upper roller 3, i.e., an angle defined between a tangential plane 13 with which the upper roller 3 is contacted and an extension plane 11 of the flank surface 10b at an intersection 12 defined between the extension plane 11 and the upper roller surface is an obtuse angle at about 120 degrees. As described above, since the escape angle ϑ₂ formed by the contact portion of doctor 10 relative to the upper roller 3 is obtuse angle, the coating 5 scraped by the rake surface 10d of doctor 10 could not move along and over the flank surface 10b side of the doctor 10, and is all formed on the surface of upper roller 3 as the constant thickness coating layer 7.

[0010] In this embodiment of the present invention, the coating 5 may include a hot melt adhesive or the like. The substrate 2 may include a disc-like member made of transparent resinous material. The hot melt adhesive is applied to one surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the substrate having the adhesive is bonded with one having the same shape (not shown). These steps are suitable for producing an optical video disc. The roll coater according to the present invention is suitable for applying onto disc substrates a hot melt adhesive as a protective layer or a bonding adhesive for the optical disc as shown in, for example, the Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 58-6536.

[0011] As described above, in the roll coater of the present invention, the coating supplied from the feeder is formed into a coating layer at a uniform thickness, because the escape angle formed by the contact portion of the doctor 10 relative to the upper roller 3 is an obtuse angle, so that the coating supplied from the feeder will not escape to the flank surface side of the doctor. As a result, all the coating is coated on the surface of the roller. Therefore, the coating is prevented from dropping onto the surface of the substrate.

Claims

1. Apparatus for applying a coating to a surface of a substrate (2) comprising:
means (4) for feeding the coating to a predetermined position;
a roller means (1,3) for applying the coating onto the surface of the substrate (2); and,
a doctor means (10) for regulating the thickness of the coating applied to the roller means (3), the doctor means (10) having a rake surface (10d), a facing surface (10c) and a flank surface (10b) forming an escape angle (ϑ₂) defined between a tangential plane (13) with which the roller means (3) is contacted and an extension plane (11) of the flank surface at an intersection (2) defined between the extension plane (11) and the roller means (3), the escape angle (ϑ₂) being an obtuse angle.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the roller means (1,3) comprises a lower roller (1) and an associated upper roller (3) which are rotated while clamping therebetween the substrate (2) to be coated.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the escape angle (ϑ₂) is substantially 120°.

Drawing