This application is the U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/JP2016/088280, filed on Dec. 22, 2016, which claims the benefit of Japanese Application No. 2016-000678, filed on Jan. 5, 2016, the entire contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus and a drawing method.
A typically known drawing apparatus is configured to hold and draw a part of a grown form, which is produced by growing carbon nanotubes, using a tool (holding member) such as tweezers and tape to form carbon nanotube film (extended form) (see, for instance, Patent Literature 1).
Patent Literature 1: JP 2009-184908 A
However, since the grown form is occasionally approximately several hundreds of micrometers thick, the typical drawing apparatus as disclosed in Patent Literature 1 cannot hold an end of the grown form with the holding member, thus failing to produce the extended form.
An object of the invention is to provide a drawing apparatus and a drawing method capable of reliably holding a part of a grown form to produce an extended form.
A drawing apparatus according to an aspect of the invention is for drawing an extended form from a grown form produced by growing carbon nanotubes, the drawing apparatus including: a holder configured to hold a part of the grown form with a holding member; and a drive unit configured to cause a relative movement of the grown form and the holding member, where the holder comprises a winding unit configured to wind a part of the grown form around the holding member.
In the drawing apparatus according to the above aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the holder is configured to wind the part of the grown form around the holding member by rotating the holding member around an axis in a direction orthogonal to a drawing direction of the extended form.
A method according to another aspect of the invention is for drawing an extended form from a grown form produced by growing carbon nanotubes, the method including: holding a part of the grown form with a holding member; and causing a relative movement of the grown form and the holding member, where the holding of the grown form includes winding the part of the grown form around the holding member.
According to the above aspects of the invention, since a part of the grown form is wound on the holding member to be held, the part of the grown form can be reliably held in forming the extended form.
Further, when the holding member is rotated around an axis orthogonal to the drawing direction of the extended form, the extended form can be reliably held in drawing the extended form from the grown form.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to attached drawings.
It should be noted that X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis in the exemplary embodiment are orthogonal to each other, where the X-axis and Y-axis are within a predetermined plane while the Z-axis is orthogonal to the predetermined plane. Further, in the exemplary embodiment, when a direction is indicated with reference to
A drawing apparatus 10 shown in
The holder 20 includes: a linear motor 21 (a tension-applying unit; drive device) including a pair of sliders 21A; rotary motors 22 (each being a winding unit configured to wind a part of the grown form CB on the wire rod 25; drive device) each supported by corresponding one of the pair of sliders 21A; linear motors 23 (drive device) each including a slider 23A and supported by an output shaft 22A of corresponding one of the rotary motors 22, the linear motors 23 each being configured to support corresponding one of chuck members 24 with the slider 23A; and the wire rod 25 supported by the chuck members 24. The holder 20 is configured to wind a part of the grown form CB on the wire rod 25 by rotating the wire rod 25 around an axis in a direction (front-rear direction) orthogonal to the drawing direction (right direction) of the sheet CS.
The drive unit 30 includes a linear motor 31 (drive device) having a slider 31A for supporting a linear motor 21.
The grown-form support 40 includes a table 41 having a holding surface 41A for sucking and holding the integrated workpiece WK from a second side of the substrate SB using a decompressor (not shown) such as a decompression pump and vacuum ejector.
A process for drawing the sheet CS from the grown form CB using the above drawing apparatus 10 will be described below.
Initially, a signal for starting an automatic operation is inputted to the drawing apparatus 10 shown in
Then, the drive unit 30 drives the linear motor 31 to move the wire rod 25 leftward, thereby bringing the wire rod 25 into contact with a distal end of the grown form CB in the drawing direction as shown in chain double-dashed lines in
Next, the holder 20 and the drive unit 30 drive the rotary motors 22 and the linear motor 31, respectively, to move the wire rod 25 leftward as shown in
When the distal end of the sheet CS in the drawing direction reaches a non-illustrated pickup unit such as a winding unit for winding the sheet CS and a cutter for cutting the sheet CS, the holder 20 drives the linear motor 23 to transfer the sheet CS to the pickup unit using the wire rod 25. After the drive unit 30 drives the linear motor 31 to move the wire rod 25 above a non-illustrated collecting unit (e.g. box and bag), the holder 20 drives the linear motors 23, 21 to release the wire rod 25, thereby dropping the wire rod 25 into the non-illustrated collecting unit. Subsequently, when all or a predetermined amount of the grown form CB on the substrate SB is drawn into the sheet(s) CS, the grown-form support 40 stops the non-illustrated decompressor to stop sucking and holding of the integrated workpiece WK (substrate SB). Then, the non-illustrated transfer device supports and collects the integrated workpiece WK (substrate SB). When another wire rod 25 is placed between the pair of chuck members 24 by the operator or a non-illustrated transfer unit (e.g. multi-joint robot), the holder 20 drives the linear motors 23, 21 to support the wire rod 25 with the chuck members 24. Then, after the drive device of each of the units is driven to return the corresponding component to the initial position, the same operations as described above are repeated.
According to the above exemplary embodiment, since a part of the grown form CB is wound on the wire rod 25 to be held, the part of the grown form CB can be reliably held in forming the sheet CS.
Though the best arrangement, process and the like for implementing the invention are disclosed as described above, the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. In other words, while the invention has been specifically explained and illustrated mainly in relation to a particular embodiment, a person skilled in the art could make various modifications in terms of shape, material, quantity or other particulars to the above described embodiment without deviating from the technical idea or any object of the invention. The description limiting the shapes and the materials disclosed above is intended to be illustrative for easier understanding and not to limit the invention. Hence, the invention includes the description using a name of component without a part of or all of the limitation on the shape and the material etc.
For instance, in some exemplary embodiments, the holding member is a string, round bar, square bar, wire, blade material or the like and is made of metal, wood, glass, porcelain, rubber, resin, sponge or the like.
In some exemplary embodiments, the holding member is configured to helically wind a part of the grown form CB.
In some exemplary embodiments, the holder 20 directly supports the wire rod 25 with the pair of sliders 23A or, alternatively, support the wire rod 25 using a chuck unit such as a mechanical chuck and chuck cylinder, a mechanism using Coulomb's force, adhesive, pressure-sensitive adhesive, adhesive sheet, magnetic force or Bernoulli adsorption, a drive device or the like.
In some exemplary embodiments, the wire rod 25 is cantilevered by a single linear motor 23.
In some exemplary embodiments, the linear motors 23 are not necessarily provided. In this case, the wire rod 25 is, for instance, directly supported by the output shaft 22A of each of the rotary motors 22.
In some exemplary embodiments, the holder 20 is configured to rotate the wire rod 25 to wind a part of the grown form CB around the wire rod 25 in the state shown by the chain double-dashed line in
In some exemplary embodiments, the holder 20 is configured to insert a wire rod 26 (holding member) into the grown form CB in right-left direction or up-down direction as shown in
In some exemplary embodiments, the holder is configured to move the wire rod 25 or 26 along the surface of the grown form CB while the wire rod 25 or 26 is in contact with the surface of the grown form CB at an outer circumferential surface thereof and is rotated around the axis thereof, thereby winding a part of the grown form CB around the wire rod 25 or 26.
The linear motor 21 is not necessarily provided.
To wind the sheet CS around the wire rod 25 or 26, the drive unit 30 moves the wire rod 25 or 26 in any of the right-left, up-down and front-rear directions and/or directions intersecting the right-left, up-down and front-rear directions in some exemplary embodiments, or is configured not to move the wire rod 25 or 26 in any of these directions.
In some exemplary embodiments, the drive unit 30 is configured to move the table 41 with the wire rod 25 being fixed, or alternatively move both of the wire rod 25 and the table 41.
In some exemplary embodiments, the drive unit 30 moves the wire rod 25 or 26 in any of the right-left, up-down and front-rear directions and/or directions intersecting the right-left, up-down and/or front-rear directions.
In some exemplary embodiments, the grown-form support 40 directly holds the grown form CB on the holding surface 41A.
In some exemplary embodiments, the grown-form support 40 supports the integrated workpiece WK and the grown form CB using a chuck unit such as a mechanical chuck and chuck cylinder, a mechanism using Coulomb's force, adhesive, pressure-sensitive adhesive, adhesive sheet, magnetic force or Bernoulli adsorption, and a drive device.
In some exemplary embodiments, the drawing apparatus 10 is configured to clean the used wire rod 25 with a cleaning device such as a brush, blade and spray nozzle so that the wire rod 25 is reusable after the sheet CS is transferred to the non-illustrated pickup unit, or uses the used wire rod 25 again without transferring the wire rod to the collecting unit or the cleaning device.
In some exemplary embodiments, the extended form is thread bundles of carbon nanotubes.
The invention is by no means limited to the above units and processes as long as the above operations, functions or processes of the units and processes are achievable, still less to the above merely exemplary arrangements and processes described in the exemplary embodiment. For instance, any drive unit within the technical scope at the time of filing the application is usable as long as the drive unit is capable of relatively moving the grown form and the holder (explanation for other units and processes will be omitted).
In some exemplary embodiments, the drive device in the above exemplary embodiment is provided by: motorized equipment such as a rotary motor, linear movement motor, linear motor, single-spindle robot and multi-joint robot; an actuator such as an air cylinder, hydraulic cylinder, rodless cylinder and rotary cylinder; or a direct or indirect combination thereof (some of the drive devices overlap with the exemplified drive devices in the exemplary embodiment).
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-000678 | Jan 2016 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2016/088280 | 12/22/2016 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2017/119308 | 7/13/2017 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20070036709 | Lashmore | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20090087543 | Nicholas | Apr 2009 | A1 |
20090196981 | Liu et al. | Aug 2009 | A1 |
20090208742 | Zhu | Aug 2009 | A1 |
20110020210 | Liu | Jan 2011 | A1 |
20110117316 | Lemaire | May 2011 | A1 |
20130146215 | Liu | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20140217643 | Nikawa | Aug 2014 | A1 |
20160229113 | Ovalle | Aug 2016 | A1 |
20170335492 | Wang | Nov 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2009-184908 | Aug 2009 | JP |
2013021797 | Feb 2013 | WO |
Entry |
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Miao, M., “Yarn spun from carbon nanotube forests: Production, structure, properties and applications,” Particuology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, NL, vol. 11, Issue No. 4, Feb. 28, 2013, pp. 378-393, XP028568663. |
Extended European Search Report issued in European Application No. 16883807.6, dated Aug. 1, 2019. |
Office Action issued in corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-000678, dated Sep. 3, 2019, with English translation. |
Office Action issued in corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-000679, dated Sep. 3, 2019, with English translation. |
International Search Report issued in corresponding International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2016/088280, dated Mar. 21, 2017. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20190002287 A1 | Jan 2019 | US |