Patent Application
20210061606
The present invention relates to a sheet supply method and a sheet supply apparatus.
As disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, there have been conventionally known sheet supply apparatus for sequentially unwinding a sheet from a pair of sheet rolls for sheet supply to a line in a downstream location, the sheet supply apparatus including a joining mechanism which joins the sheet from one roll in supply to the sheet of the other roll in standby. The apparatus can continuously supply the sheet to the line in the downstream location by joining the sheet run from the one roll in supply to the sheet of the other roll in standby at a time when the sheet of the one roll in supply decreases and reaches a specific residual length.
The sheet supply apparatus disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 includes support shafts for respectively supporting a pair of rolls, a joining mechanism having a pressing roll which presses a sheet run from one of the rolls in supply onto an outer peripheral surface of the other roll in standby, and a supply part which supplies the sheet to the line in the downstream location. When the sheet of the one roll in supply decreases and reaches a specific residual length, the apparatus can perform sheet joining by pressing the sheet in supply onto the outer peripheral surface of the other roll in standby to thereby adhere the sheets to each other via an adhesive provided on the outer peripheral surface.
The sheet supply apparatus disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 performs the joining while supplying the sheet to the line in the downstream location by rotating both the support shafts for the rolls in such a manner as to unwind the sheet at the same speed as a supply speed of the sheet to the line in the downstream location. Furthermore, in the joining, a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the standby roll is set at the same value as a running speed of the sheet being supplied.
Normally, a conveyance speed of a sheet is set to be high enough to ensure a line manufacturing efficiency. Therefore, in a joining operation of a conventional sheet supply apparatus, a sheet running at a high speed must be pressed onto an outer peripheral surface of a fast rotating standby roll at a location where an adhesive is provided, which requires a hard timing adjustment and thus an increased accuracy for the joining operation.
Also, there is an occasion that the line in the downstream location is stopped and the sheet supply is suspended for changing to a roll or sheet having a different specification or the like. In the conventional sheet supply apparatus, however, the sheet adhesion using adhesive is established by allowing the adhesive provided on the outer peripheral surface of the standby roll to move to a position where the sheet being supplied is to be pressed. Consequently, in the state where the sheet supply is suspended, the adhesive cannot be moved to the pressing position, which fails to establish the joining. This causes a problem of the burdensome operation that an operator must guide a leading end of the sheet of a new roll or a standby roll set in the sheet supply apparatus to the line in the downstream location through a predetermined pass line.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-118895
Patent Literature 2: International Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017/149610
An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet supply method and a sheet supply apparatus which can establish sheet joining even in a state where a sheet supply to a line in a downstream location is suspended, and can easily perform sheet joining at an accurate timing even at a high speed of the sheet supply to the line.
A sheet supply method according to one aspect of the present invention is a sheet supply method for sequentially unwinding a sheet from a first roll of sheet and a second roll of sheet for sheet supply by using a sheet supply apparatus including: a first support shaft which rotatably supports the first roll of sheet at a center position thereof; a second support shaft which rotatably supports the second roll of sheet at a center position thereof: a joining mechanism which joins the sheet of the second roll and the sheet of the first roll to each other; a supply part which supplies the sheet run from the first roll or the second roll to a downstream location; and an accumulating mechanism which is provided between the first support shaft and the supply part, and accumulates a predetermined length of sheet by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet. The sheet supply method includes: an unwinding step of controlling the first support shaft to supply the sheet from the supply part to the downstream location at a predetermined conveyance speed set for an apparatus in the downstream location; and a joining step of controlling the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism to join the sheet from the first roll to the sheet of the second roll by pressing an intermediate portion of the sheet run from the first roll onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roll in a condition where a running speed of the sheet from the first roll coincides with a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll, and to cut the sheet from the first roll at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheet from the first roll has been joined to the sheet of the second roll. In the joining step, the first support shaft is controlled to make the running speed of the sheet run from the first roll lower than the predetermined conveyance speed in the unwinding step, and different from a supply speed of the sheet from the supply part in the joining step, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism to decelerate or accelerate the sheet running to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part.
A sheet supply apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is a sheet supply apparatus for sequentially unwinding a sheet from a first roll of sheet and a second roll of sheet for sheet supply. The sheet supply apparatus includes: a first support shaft which rotatably supports the first roll at a center position thereof; a second support shaft which rotatably supports the second roll at a center position thereof; a joining mechanism which joins the sheet of the second roll and the sheet of the first roll to each other, and includes a cutter for cutting the sheet run from the first roll at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheets have been joined to each other after the sheet joining; a supply part which supplies the sheet run from the first roll or the second roll to a downstream location of the sheet supply apparatus; a controller which controls the first support shaft to supply the sheet from the supply part to the downstream location at a predetermined conveyance speed set for an apparatus in the downstream location in an ordinary operation where the sheet is supplied from the sheet supply apparatus to the downstream location, and controls the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism to press art intermediate portion of the sheet run from the first roll onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roll in a condition where a running speed of the sheet from the first roll coincides with a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll for the sheet joining; and an accumulating mechanism which is provided between the first support shaft and the supply part, and accumulates a predetermined length of sheet by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet. The controller controls the first support shaft to make the running speed of the sheet from the first roll lower than the predetermined conveyance speed for the sheet joining, and different from a supply speed of the sheet from the supply part for the sheet joining, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism to decelerate or accelerate the sheet running to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part.
The present invention makes it is possible to provide a sheet supply method and a sheet supply apparatus which can easily perform sheet joining at an accurate timing, and perform the sheet joining even in a state where sheet supply from a supply part to a downstream location is suspended.
Hereinafter, a sheet supply apparatus and a sheet supply method according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a configuration of a sheet supply apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The sheet supply apparatus 1 is an apparatus for sequentially unwinding a sheet S from a first roll R1 of sheet S and a second roll R2 of sheet S. As shown in
In
As shown in
The base 50 includes a mount plate 51 placed on a predetermined setting surface, a plurality of pillars 52 extending in the Z direction, and abeam 53 extending in the X direction. As shown in
The support mechanism 10 is attached to the base 50 rotatably about a rotary shaft 13 extending in the Y direction. Specifically, the support mechanism 10 includes the rotary shaft 13, a rotary member 17 which is rotatable about the rotary shaft 13, and a first support shaft 11 and a second support shaft 12 provided to the rotary member 17 for rotatably supporting the first and second rolls R1, R2 at their respective center positions.
The rotary member 17 extends in a direction orthogonal to the rotary shaft 13. The first support shaft 11 is provided at one end portion of the rotary member 17 that is one side with respect to the rotary shaft 13, and the second support shaft 12 is provided at the other end portion of the rotary member 17 that is on the other side with respect to the rotary shaft 13. The first and second support shafts 11, 12 are supported on the rotary member 17 by one end thereof and extend in the Y direction (forward of the paper sheet). In this configuration, the first and second rolls R1, R2 can be mounted onto the support mechanism 10 by inserting the first and second support shafts 11, 12 through the centers of the first and second rolls R1, R2 from their respective free ends.
The support mechanism 10 further includes a rotary member driving source 18 (
Meanwhile, although unillustrated, the rotary member 17 can be held in any posture in an ordinary operation where the sheet S is supplied to the line m the downstream location. For instance, the rotary member 17 may be held in a posture such that the supply roll (the first roll R1) is at a higher position in the Z direction and closer to the joining mechanism 20 than the standby roll (second roll R2). Further, when joining the sheets S of the two rolls to each other, the rotary member 17 is caused to rotate about the rotary shaft 13 to move the second or standby roll R2 closer to the joining mechanism 20 as shown in
The joining mechanism 20 includes a joining unit 23 movable in the X direction along the beam 53, a unit driving source 27 (
The unit driving source 27 includes, for example, a servomotor, and the drive force thereof is transmitted to the joining unit 23 via a power transmission mechanism including a belt and a pulley. Owing to the transmitted drive force, it is possible to move the joining unit 23 forward to be closer to the second roll R2 at the splice position and backward to be away from the second roll R2.
The pressing roller 24 has an axis extending in the Y direction, and is attached to the joining unit 23. Hence, the pressing roller 24 shifts forward and backward together with the joining unit 23 while kept in parallel to the axis of the second roll R2. This configuration achieves a joining operation of joining the sheets S by causing the pressing roller 24 to press the intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 to thereby adhere the sheets S to each other via the adhesive H.
The cutter 25 has a cutter blade 25B rotatable about an axis extending in the Y direction, and a cutter driving source 25A (
The radius detector 21 includes, for example, a laser sensor. As shown in
The adhesive detector 22 includes, for example, a color sensor (a line sensor or an area sensor). The adhesive detector 22 is further attached to the joining unit 23, and thus can shift forward and backward together with the joining unit 23.
The drive part 70 is arranged at a most downstream position in a sheet conveyance direction in the sheet supply apparatus 1. The drive part 70 includes a driving roller 72 having an axis extending in the Y direction so as to support the sheet S, and a roller driving source 71 (
The accumulating mechanism 30 is provided between the first support shaft 11 and the drive part 70 (the driving roller 72), and accumulates a predetermined length of the sheet S by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet S. The accumulating mechanism 30 serves as a control mechanism which executes feedback control via the controller 80 so that the running speed of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 coincides with the predetermined conveyance speed. As shown in
When the tension of the sheet S is lower than a predetermined set value, the movable roller 33 is moved to increase a path length of the sheet S, thereby increasing an accumulated length of the sheet S. Conversely, when the tension of the sheet S is higher than the set value, the movable roller 33 is moved to decrease the path length of the sheet S, thereby decreasing the accumulated length of the sheet S.
The accumulating mechanism 30 further includes a position detection sensor 34 (
The controller 80 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory) and the like in combination. As shown in
The controller 80 executes controls described below in the ordinary operation where the sheet is supplied to the downstream location, and in the sheet joining. First, for the sheet supplying in the ordinary operation, the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B and the roller control section 81E) controls the first support shaft 11 and the drive part 70 to supply the sheet S from the drive part 70 to the downstream location at the predetermined conveyance speed set for the line in the downstream location. At this time, the controller 80 controls the first support shaft 11 by using the feedback from the accumulating mechanism 30 so that the running speed or the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with the supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70.
Further, in the sheet joining, the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B and the unit control section 81C) controls the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 to press the intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in the condition where the running speed of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2.
For example, when changing the type or size of a product to be manufactured in the line in the downstream location, it is necessary to use a roll or sheet having a changed specification as a material. Thus, the second roll R2 is replaced with another second roll R2 as a new material. The joining operation described above is then performed in a condition where the line in the downstream location is stopped and supply of the sheet S to the line is suspended.
Hereinafter, a sheet supply method according to the embodiment will be described in accordance with operations executed by the controller 80. Each of
In the ordinary operation where the sheet S is supplied to the line in the downstream location, first, an unwinding step S10 is executed. In this step, the first support shaft 11 and the drive part 70 are controlled by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B, the roller control section 81E) so that the sheet S run from the first roll R1 is supplied from the drive part 70 to the downstream location at the predetermined conveyance speed set for the line in the downstream location. At this time, the rotational speed of the first support shaft 11 is regulated depending on the position of the movable roller 33 in the accumulating mechanism 30 as described above. The second support shaft 12 is kept from rotating in this step.
Next, the drive of the first support shaft 11 and the drive part 70 is stopped by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B, the roller control section 81E) if the line in the downstream location is stopped and the operation of suspending the supply of the sheet S is performed by the operation part 90 (
Subsequently, a joining preparation step S50 is executed. In this step S50, first, a radius of the second roll R2 in standby is detected by the radius detector 21 (step S51). Information about a result of the detection is transmitted to the controller 80 (the radius determination section 81F). In the ease where the radius of the second roll R2 is known, this step may be omitted.
Thereafter, the unit driving source 27 is controlled by the controller 80 (the unit control section 81C) so that the joining unit 23 is moved closer to the second roll R2 at the splice position (step S52). At this time, the movement of the joining unit 23 is controlled on the basis of the information of the radius of the second roll R2 detected in step S51 to keep the sheet S run from the first roll R1 from coming into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the second roll 1.
Subsequently, the second roll R2 is rotated, during the time where a circumferential position of the adhesive H on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating second roll R2 is detected by the adhesive detector 22 (step S53). Information of a result of the detection is transmitted to the controller 80 (the adhesive position determination section 81G).
Thereafter, the second roll R2 is rotated until the adhesive H arrives at a predetermined position based on the detection result, and the rotation is then stopped (step S54). Specifically, as shown in
After that, a joining step S60 is executed. In this step, the following controls are executed in the sequence described later. Specifically, the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 are controlled so that the sheet S run from the first roll R1 and the sheet S of the second roll R2 are joined to each other by pressing the intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in the condition where the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2. The cutter 25 is controlled to cut the sheet S from the first roll R1 at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheets have been jointed to each other. It should be noted here that the supply of the sheet S from the drive part 70 to the downstream location is suspended in this step.
First, the feedback control to the first support shaft 11 based on the detection result from the position detection sensor 34 in the accumulating mechanism 30 is suspended (step S61). Next, prior to the joining operation, the rotation of the first support shaft 11 is controlled by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B) to wind back the sheet S to the first roll R1 until an accumulated length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30 comes to a minimum in advance (step S62). In other words, the sheet S is wound back to the first roll R1 until the path length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30 comes to a minimum.
Subsequently, the unit driving source 27 is controlled by the controller 80 (the unit control section 81C) so that the joining unit 23 is moved further closer to the second roll R2. Consequently, as shown in
The first support shaft 11 and the second support shaft 12 are then controlled by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B) so that the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 start the rotating while keeping the pressing state (step S64). At this time, the first support shaft 11 and the second support shaft 12 are controlled to rotate the second roll R2 until the adhesive H passes the pressing position P1 in the condition where the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2. In this way, a leading end of the sheet S the second roll R2 is adhered to the intermediate portion of the sheet S of the first roll R1 via the adhesive H. Consequently, the sheet S of the second roll R2 and the sheet S of the first roll R1 are joined to each other.
The first support shaft 11 is controlled by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B) to make the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 in the joining step S60 lower than the predetermined conveyance speed in the unwinding step S10, and different from the supply speed (0 m/min) of the sheet S from the drive part 70 from which the supply of the sheet S to the downstream location is suspended, e.g., 5 m/min.
The sheet S run from the first roll R1 in the joining step S60 is received by and accumulated in the accumulating mechanism 30. The accumulating mechanism 30 operates (moves the movable roller 33) to increase the path length of the sheet S in accordance with a length of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 in the joining step S60. The accumulating mechanism 30 can be made to reliably accumulate the sheet S run from the first roll R1 in the joining step S60 by setting the accumulated length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30 at the minimum in advance in step S62. As a result, the accumulating mechanism 30 can receive and accumulate an excess of the sheet S caused by a speed difference between the running speed (5 m/min) of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and the supply speed (0 m/min) of the sheet S from the drive part 70.
As shown in
Here, the statement “the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2” means that the two speeds coincide with each other at the pressing position P1. Hence, the running speed of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 may be slightly reduced as far as causing no influence on the running speed of the sheet S at the pressing position P1. This makes it possible to increase the tension of the sheet S between the first roll R1 and the pressing position P1, and hence enables the cutter 25 to more easily cut the sheet S comparing to a loosen state.
Next, the accumulated length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30 is adjusted to an appropriate value by performing the feedback control to the second support shaft 12 based on the detection result from the position detection sensor 34 in the accumulating mechanism 30 to rotate the second roll R2 (step S67). After that, the joining unit 23 is moved backward and the rotary member 17 is rotated to move the second roll R2 to a higher position than the first roll R1 in the Z direction (step S68). As shown in
Subsequently, the second support shaft 12 and the drive part 70 are controlled by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 12, the roller control section 81E) to guide the leading end of the fresh sheet run from the second roll R2 to the line in the downstream location through the predetermined route. Thereafter, the supply of the sheet S is restarted at the predetermined conveyance speed upon restarting the operation of the line in the downstream location. The sheet supply method according to the embodiment is conducted in the above-described sequence.
A sheet supply apparatus and a sheet supply method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
First, a configuration of a sheet supply apparatus 1A according to the second embodiment will be described. The sheet supply apparatus 1A includes an accumulating mechanism 30 which is configured to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet S which is caused by a speed difference between a running speed of the sheet S from a first roll R1 and a supply speed of the sheet S from a drive part 70 in the sheet joining. Specifically, as shown in
The gathering mechanism 35 has a plurality of fixed guide rollers 37 and a plurality of movable guide rollers 36. Each of the fixed guide rollers 37 is fixedly held at a specific position. The movable guide rollers 36 are movable closer to or away from the fixed guide rollers 37. Specifically, a movable guide roller(s) 36 is moved away from the fixed guide rollers 37 to increase the path length of the sheet S or closer to the fixed guide rollers 37 to decrease the path length of the sheet S.
Next, a sheet supply method according to the second embodiment conducted by using the sheet supply apparatus 1A will be described. In the sheet supply method, the operation of joining the sheets S is performed concurrently with the ordinary operation where the sheet is supplied to the line in the downstream location. Therefore, step S30 in
Subsequently, a radius of the second roll R2 is measured (step 51), a joining unit 23 is moved closer to the second roll R2 (step S52), and a position of the adhesive H is detected (step S53) and adjusted (step S54) in the joining preparation step S50 while the ordinary operation is maintained.
The step 61 of suspending the control to a first support shaft 11 depending on a sheet tension is omitted from the joining step S60. The feedback control mechanism performs the feedback control to the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and a gathered length of the sheet S in the gathering mechanism 35 via a controller 80 depending on the tension of the sheet S. The controller 80 then controls the gathering mechanism 35 to move a movable guide roller(s) 36, and accumulate the sheet S in the gathering mechanism 35 by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet S.
The first support shaft 11 is controlled with a feedback from the feedback control mechanism to accelerate the sheet S from the first roll R1 so that the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 is higher than a predetermined conveyance speed. An excess of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the accelerated sheet S and the predetermined conveyance speed is gathered in the gathering mechanism 35. The sequence of operations is performed in place of step S62 (i.e., winding-up of the sheet onto the first roll R1) in
Subsequently, the first support shaft 11 is controlled by the controller 80 (a shaft control section 81B) to make the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 lower than the predetermined conveyance speed that is equal to a supply speed of the sheet S from a drive part 70). At the same time, the feedback control mechanism places the gathering mechanism 35 under the feedback control via the controller 80 for supply of the sheet S therefrom to the downstream location at the predetermined conveyance speed. Specifically, a movable guide roller(s) 36 is moved so as to supply the sheet from the gathering mechanism 35 to the downstream location to compensate for a deficiency being caused by a speed difference between the speed of receiving the upper portion of the sheet to the gathering mechanism 35 and a supply speed from the gathering mechanism 35 to the downstream location. The remainder of the joining step 60 is executed while the sheet S is supplied from the gathering mechanism 35 to the downstream location to compensate for the deficiency.
In other words, a second support shaft 12 is controlled by the controller 80 (the shaft control section 81B) so that a moving speed of an outer peripheral surface of a second roll R2 coincides with the running speed of the sheet S run from the first roll R1. That is, step S64 precedes step S63 in
Subsequently, the joining mechanism 20 is controlled by the controller 80 (a unit control section 81C) so that an intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 at a time when the adhesive H the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 passes a pressing position P1. Consequently, the sheet S of the second roll R2 and the sheet S of the first roll R1 are joined to each other while the ordinary operation is maintained (step S63).
In the joining step S60, the sheet S gathered in the gathering mechanism 35 is supplied to the line in the downstream location at the predetermined conveyance speed, and the sheet S run from the first roll R1 is received by the gathering mechanism 35. Here, since the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 is lower than the predetermined conveyance speed, the gathered length of the sheet S in the gathering mechanism 35 gradually decreases in accordance with the difference between the two speeds.
After the joining operation is completed, the sheet S from the first roll R1 is cut by the cutter 25 at an upstream position of a joining section of the sheets while the unwinding of the sheet S from the first roll R1 is continued and the second roll R2 is kept rotating (step S65). The control for each of the rolls is shifted in the same manner as that in the first embodiment (step S66).
Thereafter, positional adjustment of the first and second rolls R1, R2 is performed (step S68). In this case, since the second support shaft 12 and the gathering mechanism 35 are kept under the feedback control depending on the sheet tension, step S67 in
In the second embodiment, the sheet S is supplied from the drive part 70 to the line in the downstream location at a high speed while the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 is kept at such a suitable speed that ensures the easy joining operation, which thus facilitates the timing for the joining operation. Further, the accumulating mechanism 30 is allowed to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet S which is caused by the speed difference between the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and the supply speed of the sheet from the drive part 70.
The features and operational effects of the sheet supply apparatus 1, 1A and the sheet supply method according to the first and second embodiments discussed above will be described below.
A sheet supply method according to the first and second embodiments is a method for sequentially unwinding a sheet S from a first roll R1 of sheet S and a second roll R2 of sheet S for sheet supply by using a sheet supply apparatus 1, 1A including: a first support shaft 11 which rotatably supports the first roll R1 of sheet S at a center position thereof; a second support shaft 12 which rotatably supports the second roll R2 of sheet S at a center position thereof: a joining mechanism 20 which joins the sheet S of the second roll R2 and the sheet S of the first roll R1 to each other; a drive part 70 which supplies the sheet run from the first roll R1 or the second roll R2 to a downstream location; an accumulating mechanism 30 which is provided between the first support shaft 11 and the drive part 70, and accumulates a predetermined length of sheet by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet S. The sheet supply method includes: unwinding step of controlling the first support shaft 11 to supply the sheet S from the drive pan 70 to the downstream location at a predetermined conveyance speed set for an apparatus in the downstream location; and a joining step of controlling the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 to join the sheet S from the first roll R1 to the sheet S of the second roll R2 by pressing an intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in a condition where a running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2, and to cut the sheet S from the first roll R1 at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheet S from the first roll R1 has been joined to the sheet S of the second roll R2. In the joining step, the first support shaft 11 is controlled to make the running speed of the sheet S run from the first roll R lower than the predetermined conveyance speed in the unwinding step, and different from a supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70 in the joining step, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism 30 to decelerate or accelerate the sheet S running to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet S which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and the supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70.
A sheet supply apparatus 1, 1A according to the first and second embodiments is a sheet supply apparatus for sequentially unwinding a sheet S from a first roll R1 of sheet S and a second roll R2 of sheet S for sheet supply The sheet supply apparatus 1, 1A includes: a first support shaft 11 which rotatably supports the first roll R1 at a center position thereof; a second support shaft 12 which rotatably supports the second roll R2 at a center position thereof; a joining mechanism 20 which joins the sheet S of the second roll R2 and the sheet S of the first roll R1 to each other, and includes a cutter 25 for cutting the sheet S run from the first roll R1 at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheets S have been joined to each other after the sheet joining; a drive part 70 which supplies the sheet S run from the first roll R1 or the second roll R2 to a downstream location of the sheet supply apparatus 1, 1A; a controller 80 which controls the first support shaft 11 to supply the sheet S from the drive part 70 to the downstream location at a predetermined conveyance speed set for an apparatus in the downstream location in an ordinary operation where the sheet S is supplied from the sheet supply apparatus 1, 1A to the downstream location, and controls the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 to press an intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in a condition where a running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 for the sheet joining; and an accumulating mechanism 30 which is provided between the first support shaft 11 and the drive part 70, and accumulates a predetermined length of sheet S by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet S. The controller 80 controls the first support shaft 11 to make the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 lower than the predetermined conveyance speed for the sheet joining, and different from a supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70 for the sheet joining, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism 30 to decelerate or accelerate the sheet running to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet S which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and the supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70.
In this way, it is possible to make the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 lower than the predetermined conveyance speed of the sheet S set for the apparatus in the downstream location for the sheet joining, and different from the supply speed of the sheet S supplied from the drive part 70 to the downstream location for the sheet joining. Therefore, the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 in the sheet joining can be decreased to such a speed that ensures the easy joining operation even at a high speed, of supplying the sheet S to the downstream location, which enables the joining operation to be performed more easily at an accurate timing. Moreover, in the joining operation, the accumulating mechanism 30 receives and accumulates an excess of the sheet S which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and the supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70. Owing to the accumulation, the sheet can be unwound from the first roll R1 at a predetermined running speed even in the state where the apparatus in the downstream location is stopped, i.e., even in the state where the conveyance speed of the sheet S to be supplied from the drive part 70 to the downstream location indicates “0”. Consequently, it is possible to join the sheets S to each other in the state where the sheet supply to the downstream location is suspended.
In the sheet supply method according to the first embodiment, in a ease where the supplying of the sheet S from the drive part 70 to the downstream location is suspended in the joining step, the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 are controlled so that the intermediate portion of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in the condition where the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism 30 to receive and accumulate the excess of the sheet which is caused by the speed difference between the running speed of the sheet S run from the first roll R1 and the supply speed of the sheet S from the drive part 70. In the sheet supply apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 are controlled by the controller 80 so that the intermediate portion of the sheet S run front the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in the condition where the running speed of the sheet S from the first roll R1 coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2. This control contributes to the operation of joining the sheets S to each other even when the line is stopped for use of a sheet S having a changed specification or the like.
In the sheet supply method according to the first embodiment, in the joining step, prior to the sheet joining, the first support shaft 11 is controlled to wind up the sheet S onto the first roll R1 until an accumulated length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30 comes to a minimum in advance. In the sheet supply apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, prior to the sheet joining, the controller 80 controls the first support shaft 11 to wind up the sheet S onto the first roll R1 until an accumulated length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30 comes to a minimum in advance.
In this way, the accumulating mechanism 30 can accumulate a sufficiently large length of the sheet S even when the sheet S is unwound from the first roll R1 in the joining operation in the state where the supply of the sheet S from the drive part 70 to the downstream location is suspended.
In the sheet supply method according to the first embodiment, in the joining step, the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 are controlled so that the intermediate portion of the sheet S of the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in a condition where the unwinding of the sheet S from the first roll R1 is suspended and rotation of the second roll R2 is stopped, and the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 rotate thereafter. In the sheet supply apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, in the joining step, the controller 80 controls the first support shaft 11, the second support shaft 12, and the joining mechanism 20 so that the intermediate portion of the sheet S of the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in a condition where the unwinding of the sheet S from the first roll R1 is suspended and rotation of the second roll R2 is stopped, while allowing the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 to rotate thereafter. In this way, the sheets S can be pressed to each other in the state where the running of the sheet S from the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 is suspended. The adhesive H provided on the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 is therefore allowed to move to an appropriate position upstream of the pressing position P1 where the sheet S run from the first roll R1 is pressed in the rotational direction of the second roll R2. In this manner, the sheets S of the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 can be joined to each other via the adhesive H by displacing the rolls relative to each other with a small amount. Consequently, it is possible to reliably join the sheets S to each other without excessively increasing the accumulated length of the sheet S in the accumulating mechanism 30.
The supply method according to the first embodiment includes the joining preparation step of detecting a circumferential position of the adhesive H on the peripheral surface of the second roll R2 where the adhesive H is provided. In the joining step, the second support shaft 12 and the joining mechanism 20 are controlled so that the intermediate portion of the sheet of the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 at a position except the position of the adhesive H based on the detection result, and the second roll R2 rotates thereafter until the adhesive H passes the pressing position. In the sheet supply apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the joining mechanism 20 has the adhesive detector 22 which detects the circumferential position of the adhesive H on the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 where the adhesive H is provided. The controller 80 controls the second support shaft 12 and the joining mechanism 20 by using the detection result from the adhesive detector 22 so that the intermediate portion of the sheet S of the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 at a position except the position of the adhesive H, and the second roll R2 rotates thereafter until the adhesive H passes the pressing position P1. This consequently achieves reliable joining of the sheets S to each other over the entire length of the adhesive H by allowing the adhesive H to surely pass the pressing position between the sheets S.
Finally, other embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
Although described in the first embodiment is the case where the sheet S of the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 in the state where the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 are kept from rotating, the pressing way should not be limited thereto. For example, the pressing operation may be performed while the sheet S is unwound from the first roll R1. Furthermore, the detection of the radius of the second roll R1, and the positional detection and the positional adjustment of the adhesive H also can be executed while the sheet S is unwound from the first roll R1.
Described in the first embodiment is the case where the sheet S of the first roll R1 is cut by the cutter 25 before the rotation of the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 is stopped. However, the sheet S may be cut after the rotation of the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 is stopped.
In the first embodiment, the accumulating mechanism 30 serves as the feedback control mechanism. Alternatively another accumulating mechanism (i.e., the gathering mechanism 35) independent from the control mechanism may be provided as in the second embodiment. The gathering mechanism 35 may be omitted by increasing the accumulated length of the sheet S in the feedback control mechanism in the second embodiment.
Described in the second embodiment is the case where the sheet S from the first roll R1 is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll R2 while the sheet S is unwound from the first roll R1. However, the pressing operation may be performed in a state where the first roll R1 and the second roll R2 are kept from rotating.
Described in each of the first embodiment and the second embodiment is the case where the rotary member 17 includes the first support shaft 11 and the second support shaft 12. However, the rotary member 17 may have three or more support shafts for rotatably supporting the rolls at their respective center positions.
The embodiments will be briefly discussed below.
A sheet supply method according to the embodiment is a sheet supply method for sequentially unwinding a sheet from a first roll of sheet and a second roll of sheet for sheet supply by using a sheet supply apparatus including: a first support shaft which rotatably supports the first roll of sheet at a center position thereof; a second support shah which rotatably supports the second roll of sheet at a center position thereof: a joining mechanism which joins the sheet of the second roll and the sheet of the first roll to each other a supply part which supplies the sheet run from the first roll or the second roll to a downstream location; and an accumulating mechanism which is provided between the first support shaft and the supply part, and accumulates a predetermined length of sheet by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet. The sheet supply method includes: an unwinding step of controlling the first support shaft to supply the sheet from the supply part to the downstream location at a predetermined conveyance speed set for an apparatus in the downstream location; and a joining step of controlling the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism to join the sheet from the first roll to the sheet of the second roll by pressing an intermediate portion of the sheet run from the first roll onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roll in a condition where a running speed of the sheet from the first roll coincides with a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll, and to cut the sheet from the first roll at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheet from the first roll has been joined to the sheet of the second roll. In the joining step, the first support shaft is controlled to make the running speed of the sheet run from the first roll lower than the predetermined conveyance speed in the unwinding step, and different from a supply speed of the sheet from the supply part in the joining step, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism to decelerate or accelerate the sheet running to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part.
With this sheet supply method, it is possible to make the running speed of the sheet from the first roll lower than the predetermined conveyance speed set for the apparatus in the downstream location for the sheet joining, and different from the supply speed of the sheet supplied from the supply part to the downstream location for the joining step. Therefore, the running speed of the sheet from the first roll in the sheet joining can be decreased to such a speed that ensures the easy joining operation even at a high speed of supplying the sheet to the downstream location, which enables the joining operation to be performed more easily at an accurate timing. Moreover, in the joining operation, the accumulating mechanism receives and accumulates an excess of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part. Owing to the accumulation, the sheet can be unwound from the first roll at a predetermined running speed even in the state where the apparatus in the downstream location is stopped, i.e., even in the state where the conveyance speed of the sheet to be supplied from the supply part to the downstream location indicates “0”. Consequently, it is possible to join the sheets to each other in the state where the sheet supply to the downstream location is suspended.
In the sheet supply method, in a case where the sheet supply from the supply part to the downstream location is suspended in the joining step, the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism may be controlled so that the intermediate portion of the sheet run from the first roll is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll in the condition where the running speed of the sheet from the first roll coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism to receive and accumulate the excess of the sheet which is caused by the speed difference between the running speed of the sheet run from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part.
With this method, it is possible to perform the sheet joining operation even when the line is stopped for use of a sheet having a changed specification or the like.
In the sheet supply method, in the joining step, prior to the sheet joining, the first support shaft may be controlled to wind up the sheet onto the first roll until an accumulated length of the sheet in the accumulating mechanism comes to a minimum in advance.
With this method, a sufficiently large length of the sheet can be accumulated in the accumulating mechanism even when the sheet is unwound from the first roll R1 in the joining operation in the state where the sheet supply from the supply part to the downstream location is suspended.
In this sheet supply method, in the joining step, the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism may be controlled so that the intermediate portion of the sheet of the first roll is pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll in a condition where the unwinding of the sheet from the first roll is suspended and the rotation of the second roll is stopped, and the first roll and the second roll rotate thereafter.
With this method, the sheets can be pressed to each other in the state where the running of the sheet from the first roll and the second roll is suspended. The adhesive provided on the outer peripheral surface of the second roll is therefore allowed to move to an appropriate position upstream of the position where the sheet run from the first roll is pressed in the rotational direction of the second roll. In this manner, the sheets of the first roll and the second roll can be joined to each other via the adhesive by displacing the rolls relative to each other with a small amount. Consequently, it is possible to reliably join the sheets to each other without excessively increasing the accumulated length of the sheet in the accumulating mechanism.
A sheet supply apparatus according to the embodiment is a sheet supply apparatus for sequentially unwinding a sheet from a first roll of sheet and a second roll of sheet for sheet supply. The sheet supply apparatus includes: a first support shaft which rotatably supports the first roll at a center position thereof; a second support shaft which rotatably supports the second roll at a center position thereof; a joining mechanism which joins the sheet of the second roll and the sheet of the first roll to each other, and includes a cutter for cutting the sheet run from the first roll at an upstream position of a joining section where the sheets have been joined to each other after the sheet joining; a supply part which supplies the sheet run from the first roll or the second roll to a downstream location of the sheet supply apparatus; a controller which controls the first support shaft to supply the sheet from the supply part to the downstream location at a predetermined conveyance speed set for an apparatus in the downstream location in an ordinary operation where the sheet is supplied from the sheet supply apparatus to the downstream location, and controls the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism to press an intermediate portion of the sheet run from the first roll onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roll in a condition where a running speed of the sheet from the first roll coincides with a moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll for the sheet joining; and an accumulating mechanism which is provided between the first support shaft and the supply part, and accumulates a predetermined length of sheet by receiving an upstream portion of the sheet. The controller controls the first support shaft to make the running speed of the sheet from the first roll lower than the predetermined conveyance speed for the sheet joining, and different from a supply speed of the sheet from the supply part for the sheet joining, thereby causing the accumulating mechanism to decelerate or accelerate the sheet running to counterbalance an excess or a deficiency of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part.
The sheet supply apparatus makes it possible to make the running speed of the sheet from the first roll lower than the predetermined conveyance speed of the sheet set for the apparatus in the downstream location, and different from the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part to the downstream location for the sheet joining. Therefore, unlike conventional sheet supply apparatus, the sheet supply apparatus can decrease the running speed of the sheet from the first roll in the sheet joining step to such a speed that ensures the easy joining operation even at a high speed of supplying the sheet to the downstream location, which enables the joining operation to be performed more easily at an accurate timing. Moreover, in the joining operation, the accumulating mechanism receives and accumulates an excess of the sheet which is caused by a speed difference between the running speed of the sheet from the first roll and the supply speed of the sheet from the supply part. Owing to the accumulation, the sheet can be unwound from the first roll at a predetermined running speed even in the state where the apparatus in the downstream location is stopped, i.e., even in the state where the conveyance speed of the sheet to be supplied from the supply part to the downstream location indicates “0”. Consequently, it is possible to join the sheets to each other in the state where the sheet supply to the downstream location is suspended.
In the sheet supply apparatus, in a case where the sheet supply from the supply part to the downstream location is suspended, the controller may control the first support shaft, the second support shaft, and the joining mechanism to press the intermediate portion of the sheet run from the first roll onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roll in the condition where the running speed of the sheet from the first roll coincides with the moving speed of the outer peripheral surface of the second roll.
With this configuration, it is possible to perform the sheet joining operation even when the line is stopped for use of a sheet having a changed specification or the like.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-015388 | Jan 2018 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2019/001877 | 1/22/2019 | WO | 00 |
