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    • 专利摘要:
    METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING A PATTERN OF A MATERIAL ON A SUBSTRATE A method for forming on a substrate (108; 214) a pattern of a material, the method comprising: providing (S100) a layer of material (104); providing (S104, S106) an adhesive layer (106), wherein at least one of the material layer (104) or the adhesive layer (106) comprises a pattern corresponding to the pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214 ); and transferring (S108) the material to the substrate (108; 214) with the adhesive securing the material to a surface (110; 216) of the substrate (108; 214). This solves the problem of forming a pattern on a substrate of a material that, in general, cannot be applied to the substrate directly due to the fact that the material cannot be printed and / or has no or reduced adhesion properties in relation to the substrate.
    公开号:BR112015009655B1
    申请号:R112015009655-7
    申请日:2012-10-31
    公开日:2020-12-29
    发明作者:Dror Kella；Eyal Negreanu；Gidi Amir；Mark Sandler；Yaron Grinwald
    申请人:Hewlett-Packard Indigo B.V.；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    BOTTOM
    [001] To provide a pattern or image of a material, for example, a conductive material, on a substrate to form, for example, conductive strokes, the material can be treated in such a way that it can be printed directly on the substrate and after printing it shows sufficient adhesion properties in relation to the substrate so that the pattern is fixed to the substrate. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
    [002] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a LEP (Electro Liquid Photography) printing mechanism;
    [003] Figure 2 is a flow chart that describes an example of a method for forming a substrate of a pattern of a material;
    [004] Figure 3 shows several examples for transferring a material with a desired pattern to a substrate when applying a method as described in Figure 2;
    [005] Figure 4 is a schematic representation of an example of an apparatus for forming a desired material pattern on a substrate;
    [006] Figure 5 is a schematic representation of an example of a LEP (Electro-Liquid Photography) device to form a pattern of a specific material on a substrate;
    [007] Figure 6 is another example of an apparatus for forming on a substrate a pattern of a desired material;
    [008] Figure 7 is a schematic representation of an example of an LEP printing mechanism in Figure 1 that has been modified to print any type of material;
    [009] Figure 8 shows an example of a multilayer structure made by the printing mechanism shown in Figure 7;
    [0010] Figure 9 shows an example of a functional multilayer device made by the printing mechanism described with respect to Figure 7; and
    [0011] Figure 10 shows an example of carbon nanotubes printed on paper using the concept of "gluing". DETAILED DESCRIPTION
    [0012] For a variety of substrates it may be desirable to apply a material with a predefined pattern to its surface. For example, in the field of electronics, it may be desirable to provide a conductor pattern for an electrical circuit on a substrate. In the field of printing, for example, brochures, it may be desirable to apply a material to a portion of the brochure or pages thereof to obtain a desired decorative effect. Other products may also be desired to be supplied with a standardized material to obtain a decorative effect, for example, greeting cards or the like may be supplied with metallic materials to provide a glow effect when the light is incident.
    [0013] To provide patterns on an analog and digital substrate approaches can be used, such as inkjet printing, LEP printing (Electro Liquid Photography), and dry EP (Electrophotographic) printing. These techniques make it possible to precisely form the desired pattern on the substrate by "printing" the material. The material needs to be "printed" by the respective technique, and has a sufficient adhesion property in relation to the substrate to which it must be applied so that it remains fixed on the substrate after the printing process.
    [0014] Unfortunately, not all materials that are desired to be supplied in a specific pattern on a substrate show such properties. A material may not be printed and / or may not have sufficient adhesion property in relation to the substrate to which it is to be applied. Thus, even in a case where the material can be printed, it may not be sufficiently adhered to the substrate after it is printed. Some printable materials can be modified, for example, by including a polymer to create an adhesive film during printing, to have sufficient adhesion property, this may not be possible or desirable for all materials such as the material original, on the basis that the pattern must be formed, needs to be modified. This, in addition to the additional work required to modify the material, can also affect the appearance and / or a property of the material after it is applied to the substrate which cannot be identical to the original appearance / property, for example, in terms of conductivity, or in terms of the decorative effect to be achieved.
    [0015] In other words, printing processes are limited by the range of materials that can print. As an example, when inkjet printing materials with large or heavy particles, for example, flakes, these particles tend to sink into the ink. When printing LEP (Electro-Liquid Photography) and DEP (Electro-Dry Photography) on high conductance materials, these conductive particles in the LEP or Seca-PE presses will shorten the gap between the electrodes, and will discharge, thus preventing their ability to transfer material . In addition, printing a new material by a printing process may require a high investment for the development of new ink. In addition, the printed material can typically be mixed with a carrier material, which can affect its functionality or require a post-printing process to remove.
    [0016] In the sequence an approach will be described for forming on a substrate a pattern of a material that, in general, cannot be applied to the substrate directly due to the fact that the material cannot be printed and / or has none or has reduced adhesion properties with respect to the substrate. An example of such a material, based on tests that have been carried out, are carbon nanotubes that, in a LEP process, can be loaded to adhere to the photo imaging plate and for coverage. However, they will not adhere to a substrate, such as paper. For such materials, the approach described subsequently allows for the transfer of a pattern of such a material to the substrate despite the fact that it cannot be printed and / or does not have or has reduced adhesion properties. The material is supplied with an adhesive layer, for example, a transparent LEP ink, and the pattern with adhesive ink applied to it is transferred to the substrate so that the material is fixed to the substrate by means of adhesive material. In addition, materials that are not desired to be conditioned or modified can be applied to the substrate, for example, a material that does not provide the possibility of being combined with polymer materials or other materials to introduce an adhesion property in the material.
    [0017] When considering the LEP printing field, the LEP process allows to reliably transfer a variety of materials to a substrate of good quality. However, there are materials that can create a background image on the respective LEP drums and / or on the printed substrate. Other materials may not be dielectric enough to be transferred electrically through the electric field to the LEP device's photo imaging plate, thus resulting in poor quality of the printed image. Other materials may not be reliably transferred to the substrate due to its low adhesion property to the substrate.
    [0018] The materials mentioned above, using the approach discussed later, can also be applied in a desired pattern on a substrate.
    [0019] In one example, a wide range of materials can be printed by LEP-based presses, using LEP ink, which becomes a sticky polymer layer ("glue") when heated. The material needed in a dispersed form is applied and adheres to the standardized "glue" layer. This capability allows LEP-based presses to print many types of materials, including decoration materials such as decoration flakes, ceramic materials, pharmaceuticals and functional materials such as conductors and semiconductors.
    [0020] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a LEP (Electro Liquid Photography) printing mechanism, for example, an Indigo HP printing mechanism. The LEP process is described in relation to the printing mechanism in Figure 1. A photoconductor 10 (PIP - photo imaging plate) is loaded by a loading roller 12. A laser writing head 14 (WH - writing head) unloads the required image pattern for PIP 10 (latent image formation), followed by an electrical transfer of LEP ink loaded from one of the Binary Ink Development (BID) units 16 to 16g to the unloaded regions of PIP 10 The ink is then transferred to the cover drum (ITM - intermediate) 18 where it undergoes drying and melting softening using both internal and external heaters 20. Dry-molten ink emerges from the ITM drum 18 as a sticky film similar to "hot glue" and finally the ink is pressed onto the media received between the ITM drum and the print drum (IMP) 22 and adheres to it.
    [0021] The resin in the ink allows printing on almost any substrate. This ink property (printable on almost any substrate) allows most materials to adhere to the resin. This characteristic of LEP ink behaving like glue can be exploited for printing "non-printable" materials. The ability to print "non-printable" materials can increase the attractiveness of any printing system, and applications can range from attractive graphic enhancement features (for example, glossy materials) to functional printing (for example, printed electronics). The possibility of low-cost layers of functional materials as variable structures allows the creation of low-cost devices for low-cost applications such as RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification), LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) or solar cells.
    [0022] Figure 2 is a flowchart describing an example of the method for forming an image or pattern of a material on a substrate. In a first step S100 a layer of the desired material is supplied on an intermediate conveyor. It is then determined whether the material layer is provided with a pattern or not, as described in step S102. In the case of the material layer is provided in a pattern corresponding to the pattern to be transferred to the substrate, a layer of adhesive or adhesion material is provided on the patterned material layer in step S104. The layer of adhesive material may not be patterned, that is, it can be applied over substantially the entire surface of the intermediate carrier, or it can be patterned with a pattern substantially corresponding to the pattern of the material layer so that the material to be applied to the substrate with the desired pattern is substantially covered by the layer of adhesive material. In case the material layer is not standardized, in step S106 the adhesive material layer is provided with a pattern on the non-standard material layer, where the pattern of the adhesive material layer matches the pattern of the material to be applied to the substrate . In step S108 the material is transferred to the substrate with the adhesive material fixing or "gluing" the material to a surface of the substrate.
    [0023] In one example, the process may include a digital printing process, such as inkjet printing, LEP printing, or dry EP printing without the requirement to provide sheets or any sheet-to-sheet processing hot to fix the pattern or image between the substrate and the film.
    [0024] In one example, a cover drum and print drums from an LEP device are used interchangeably, and a LEP ink is the adhesive material (glue) that can not only be applied through the imaging plate drum photo, but also by any other digital method (for example, inkjet printing on a cover) or digital printing solution, which is capable of printing variable images.
    [0025] The material can be any material that cannot be reliably printed and / or transferred to the substrate and / or does not reliably adhere to the substrate after it has been applied to it. Examples of such materials are conductive materials, such as carbon nanotubes, metallic materials or, in general, materials difficult to apply to the substrate using one of the techniques described above.
    [0026] The material layer can be supplied on the intermediate conveyor by one of the techniques mentioned above to obtain the desired pattern in case a layer of standardized material is to be provided. Alternatively, for example, when the material cannot be applied or is difficult to apply by one of the techniques mentioned above, a non-standard layer of the material is applied to the intermediate carrier and the desired pattern is generated by applying the adhesive material with the pattern wanted.
    [0027] The approach is advantageous since it allows to apply substantially any material to a substrate in a desired pattern without the need to modify or optimize the material for a specific printing technique. Substantially no limitation with regard to size, conductivity or the like exists, on the contrary, the material can be used as is, thus preventing any change in the specific properties of the material after its application to the substrate due to its conditioning. It is no longer necessary to create a viscous adhesive film including material or payload, for example, by supplying metallic particles with a high pigment load for preparing the printing particles using inkjet technology, instead, the particles Metallic can be used as they are without any need to condition them for printing on the substrate in the desired pattern. When considering LEP technology, for printing via the cover roll on the LEP device, the payload material needs to be transferable to the cover, and then from the cover to the substrate. Not all materials have this property, however, by applying the above approach any material can be printed and as a layer of adhesive material a LEP ink, for example, a transparent ink or pigment ink or ink containing some functional material. The adhesive can be any type of standard or non-standard paint including one created from functional material, which can be used which is very adhesive and will stick material to the substrate.
    [0028] Figure 3 shows several examples for transferring a material with a desired pattern to a substrate when applying a method as described above in relation to Figure 2. Figure 3 (a) shows in an initial position an intermediate conveyor 100 on a surface 102 of which a layer of standardized material 104 has been applied, for example, by means of inkjet printing, PE printing, LEP printing or any other suitable method. The layer of material 104 is patterned, as can be seen from Figure 3 (a), and the pattern corresponds to the final pattern with which the material is to be applied to the substrate. In addition, a layer of adhesive material 106 is applied to layer of material 104. The layer of adhesive material 106 is patterned to substantially the same pattern as the layer of material 104, thus covering substantially material 104. The layer of adhesive material 106 it can be a LEP paint applied by a LEP process to the material layer 104. The intermediate conveyor 100, as shown in the first position in Figure 3 (a) is then processed as shown in the second position in Figure 3 (a). The intermediate carrier 100 having layers 104 and 106 and a substrate 108 applied to it are joined in such a way that the adhesive material layer 106 and a surface 110 of the substrate 108 contact each other. The intermediate carrier 100 and the substrate 108 can be joined in such a way that a specific amount of pressure is applied. Due to the contact between the surface 110 of the substrate 108 and the layer of adhesive material 106, the layer of adhesive material 106 is attached to the surface 110 of the substrate 108, where the bond strength between the surface 100 and the layer of adhesive material 106 is greater than the bond strength through which the layer of material 104 is maintained on the surface 102 of the intermediate conveyor. During the continuation of the transfer process, the intermediate conveyor 100 and the substrate 108 are separated from each other, as shown in the third position in Figure 3 (a) and, due to the lower bond strength between the layer of material 104 and the surface 102 of intermediate carrier 100 when compared to the bond strength between adhesive layer 106 and surface 110 of substrate 108 the layered structure comprising material layer 104 and adhesive layer 106 is removed from intermediate carrier 100 and remains on surface 110 of substrate 108. Substrate 108, now including the desired pattern of material 104, is shown at the bottom of Figure 3 (a). The pattern of material 104 has been transferred to substrate 108 and is fixed or "glued" to surface 110 of substrate 108 by means of adhesive material 106.
    [0029] Figure 3 (b) shows a similar process as in Figure 3 (a) and the same reference signals are used. When compared to Figure 3 (a), in Figure 3 (b), as seen in the first position, the layer of material 104 is not standardized, and can be applied to part or all of the surface of the intermediate conveyor 100 This process can be used when it is difficult to apply material 104 using a printing approach as mentioned above. In this situation, it is easier to simply apply the material 104 on the surface of the conveyor 100 and define the pattern to be transferred by a layer of standardized adhesive material 106 that can be applied by one of the techniques mentioned above. This allows precisely to apply the adhesive material with the desired pattern, for example, applying a LEP paint in accordance with LEP technology. As can be seen in the second and third positions in Figure 3 (b), the transfer process results in a transfer of the standardized adhesive layer to the surface 100 of the substrate 108 in a manner as described above in relation to Figure 3 (a ). Also a part 104a of the material layer covered by the adhesive material 106 is transferred, and part 104b of the material remains on the intermediate conveyor 100 after the transfer. In this way, the material is transferred with the desired pattern to the substrate, resulting, as shown at the bottom of Figure 3 (b), in the same structure as in Figure 3 (a).
    [0030] Figure 3 (c) shows yet another possibility for transferring a material with the desired pattern to a substrate. When compared to figure 3 (a), the difference is that the layer of adhesive material 106 is applied without a pattern to substantially cover the entire surface of the intermediate carrier 100, thus covering carrier 102 and the layer of standardized adhesive material 104. This results in a substrate 100 having the material 104 provided on it in the desired pattern glued to the surface by means of the layer of adhesive material 106 now covering substantially the entire surface of the substrate 100.
    [0031] In Figures 2 (a) to (c), the material layer 104 and the adhesive material layer 106 are provided on the same intermediate conveyor 100. However, according to other examples 2, the material layer 104 can be provided on the intermediate carrier 100, and the layer of adhesive material 106 can be supplied on another intermediate carrier. This is described in Figure 3 (d) on the basis of an example for obtaining a substrate with a pattern defined in a manner as described in relation to Figure 3 (b). It is, however, noted that the approach described in relation to Figure 3 (d) can also be applied to obtain the intermediate carriers shown in the first positions in Figures 2 (a) and (c). The intermediate carrier 100 has applied to its surface 102 the layer of non-standard material 104. Another intermediate carrier 112 is provided having applied to its surface 114 the layer of standard adhesive material 106. The intermediate carrier 100 and the other intermediate carrier 112 are assembled in a manner as shown in the second position in Figure 3 (d), such that the layer of adhesive material 106 contacts the layer of material 104. The intermediate carriers 100, 112 are then separated, as shown in the third position of Figure 3 (d), thus obtaining an intermediate layer 100, like that represented in the first position of Figure 3 (b), which is then further processed in a manner as described in relation to Figure 3 (b) for the obtaining the substrate 108 with the pattern of the desired material glued to its surface by means of adhesive material.
    [0032] Figure 4 shows a schematic representation of an apparatus for forming on a substrate a pattern of a desired material. Apparatus 200 includes a printing station 202 for printing a layer of adhesive material on a layer of material. For example, as described above with reference to Figures 2 (a) and (b), the printing station 202 may be part of a LEP apparatus for applying a transparent LEP ink that fixes or "glues" the material to the substrate. after its transfer so that the printing station 202, as indicated in Fig 3, can be considered to apply a "digital glue image". The intermediate conveyor 204 is provided with the material layer which is schematically represented by block 206 indicating that the non-transferable image material is applied to the intermediate conveyor 204. The intermediate conveyor 204, in one example, can be a cover drum of a LEP apparatus and block 206 may represent a suitable station for applying either a layer of material or a standardized layer of material to the surface of the cover drum 204. In a manner as described above in relation to Figure 3, by means of printing station 202 the adhesive material is applied to the layer of material on the cover drum 204 and the two-layer structure thus generated is sent to the transfer station 208 formed by the cover drum 204 and a pressure drum 210 defining a compression 212 between them to receive the medium or substrate 214, for example, a flexible material such as paper. As the substrate 214 moves through compression 212, the layered structure on the surface of the cover drum 204 is transferred to the surface 216 of the substrate 214 in a manner as described above with respect to Figure 3.
    [0033] The apparatus further comprises a control unit 218 to control the printing station 202 and the operation of the other elements of the apparatus. In the case, block 206 forms another printing station to apply the material image on the cover 204, the control unit 218 is also used to control this other printing station 206, as represented by the dashed line of the arrow in Figure 4 .
    [0034] The control unit 218 can make the print mechanism 206 print the material layer with a pattern according to the pattern to be formed on the substrate 214 in the drum 204, and can make the print mechanism 202 print the layer of adhesive material with no pattern or with a pattern that corresponds to the patterned material layer on the material layer. Alternatively, control 218 can control print mechanism 206 to apply the layer of material without a pattern and can control print mechanism 202 to apply the layer of adhesive material to a material according to the pattern to be formed on the substrate 214.
    [0035] Thus, Figure 4 shows an approach that allows you to deal with materials that are difficult to print, for example, using LEP technology. The material, by means of the printing mechanism 206, is placed on the cover drum 204, for example, by analogue or digital methods, such as inkjet printing, LEP printing, dry or liquid photographic printing or other means appropriate. Through the printing station 202 a digital or selective image is printed on top of this layer of material, for example, using transparent LEP ink, which adheres to the payload layer or material. The complete image is then transferred to substrate 214, and the LEP ink, placed above the filler material, adheres to the media 214 creating an image printed with the payload material on top.
    [0036] In one example, in the hot cover 204 the payload material can be printed either selectively to form the image pattern (see Figure 3 (a)) or as a uniform film (see Figure 3 (b)). This is done without a transfer to substrate 214. A polymer material can be printed on the payload material by the printing station 202. The polymer material becomes a "glue", for example, when heated in the cover drum 204. The polymer material can be applied either with the exact shape or pattern that corresponds to the image to be printed or with a uniform film. The cover is then engaged with means 214 and the polymer film adheres to the substrate or medium 214 and to the payload material creating a glue between them, thereby generating the image on the substrate 214 with the material of load at the top.
    [0037] Figure 5 shows a schematic representation of a LEP apparatus used for forming a pattern of a specific material on a substrate in a manner as described above in relation to Figure 2. In Figure 5, the elements already described in relation to Figure 4 have the same reference number and a repeated description is omitted. In addition to cover drum 204, a PIP 220 photo imaging plate is provided to receive conductive ink at the respective binary ink developers (BMN) 220a, 220b arranged along the periphery of PIP 220. BID 220a is provided for application of a partially conductive paint for PIP 220 that can be handled by the LEP device and can be transferred to the cover 204, however, the paint is formed from a material that has no or reduced adhesion properties on the substrate 214 and therefore, it cannot be applied by simply printing it LEP onto substrate 214. Therefore, the approach described above with respect to Figures 1 and 2 is implemented in the LEP 200 device in Figure 5, in such a way that by means of a second ink 202b transparent ink or pigment ink or ink containing some functional material that forms the layer of adhesive material, is provided. The adhesive can be any type of non-standard or standard ink including one created from functional material.
    [0038] Through the 202/206 writing head, the loaded PIP 220, which can be negatively charged, is discharged when, for example, a laser beam from the writing head reaches the PIP. The ink is also negatively charged, for example, and is therefore attracted to the unloaded portions or zones of the PIP 220. Any image generated by the inks on the PIP 20 is transferred via another transfer station 222 between the PIP 220 and the cover drum 204 for cover drum and thereafter in a manner as described above with respect to Figure 4 for substrate 214. Apparatus 200, shown in Figure 5, is operated under the control of control unit 218. In a first stage, the 202/206 writing head is controlled to apply an image to the PIP 220, in accordance with the desired pattern of the material layer. In this phase, BID 220a is active to apply the partially conductive paint to the areas discharged from PIP 220 and to transfer it to the cover 204 through transfer area 222. No substrate 214 is present at this stage in transfer station 208. During a second phase, the 202/206 writing head generates a discharge pattern on the PIP 220 in accordance with the pattern with which the layer of adhesive material is to be generated. The adhesive material is supplied by transparent ink or pigment ink or ink containing some functional material through BID 220b. In the second stage, the transparent ink is transferred to the material in the cover 204, thus generating an intermediate conveyor in a way as shown in Figure 3 and the layered structure on the cover drum 204 is transferred to the substrate 214 applied in the apparatus , in the second phase, thus generating on the substrate 214 the pattern of the material glued to the surface 216 through the transparent ink or pigmented ink or ink containing some functional material. The adhesive can be any type of standard or non-standard paint including one created from functional material.
    [0039] In the example of Figure 5, the partially conductive ink may include the material to be printed on the substrate 214, and the material may be under a phase in which it does not adhere to the substrate 214, but will adhere to the transparent ink. This can be accomplished by significantly reducing the resin content, for example, the material can have 50% or less of the solids as a resin, and the rest can be the material of interest. This allows the paint to be processed according to the LEP process, however, the amount of resin is low enough to obtain the desired property or maintain the desired property of the material to be applied to the substrate. The modified material is applied to substrate 204 by the approach described above using the melted resin layer formed by the LEP paint and disposed between the material of interest and the substrate.
    [0040] For cleaning purposes an entire page can be printed with transparent ink and transferred to a cheap medium, thus eliminating possible background images of the respective intermediate carriers 204, 220.
    [0041] In the example of Figure 5, the LEP apparatus also includes a heater or dryer 223 to heat the polymers to a temperature at which they become sticky in order to behave like a glue. Alternatively, cover drum 204 can include an internal heater so that cover drum 204 is heated from the inside.
    [0042] Figure 6 shows another example of an apparatus for forming on a substrate a pattern of a desired material. In Figure 6, the apparatus 200 receives the intermediate conveyor 204 having already provided it with the layer of adhesive material 104 being standardized (as shown in Figure 6) or being non-standardized (as described above in relation to Figure 3). In one example, apparatus 200 may include a printing mechanism 206 operating under control of control unit 218 to generate material layer 104 on intermediate carrier 204. Alternatively, intermediate layer 204 having material layer 104 applied thereto may be provided externally and supplied to the apparatus 200. In such an example, no printing mechanism 206 is required. The apparatus 200 comprises another intermediate conveyor 224 where, by means of the printing mechanism 202, the layer of adhesive material (standardized as shown in Figure 6 or non-standard) is applied. The apparatus comprises a transfer station 226 formed between the other intermediate conveyor 224, which can be, for example, a PIP similar to that of Figure 5, and a pressure cylinder 228. A compression 230 is defined between drums 224 and 228 and intermediate conveyor 204 having material layer 104 applied therethrough passes through compression. Upon passing the compression 230, the layer of adhesive material 106 is transferred from the drum 224 to the layer of material 104, thus obtaining the intermediate conveyor 204 shown in the center of Figure 6 having the layered structure, including the layer of material 104 and layer of adhesive material 106. The intermediate conveyor 204 is routed to another transfer station 232 which defines between compression cylinders 234a and 234b a compression 236. The compression receives the intermediate conveyor 204 including the two layers 104 and 106 and the substrate 214, thereby raising the substrate 214 and the intermediate carrier 204 together in such a way that the layer of adhesive material 106 and the surface 216 of the substrate 214 come into contact with each other so that, as described above with respect to Figure 3, the adhesive material layer 106 will be attached to the surface 216 of the substrate 214 together with the material 104 as shown in right part of Figure 6. The intermediate layer 204 can be discarded and can be recycled for future use to generate new patterns to be transferred.
    [0043] Figure 7 is a schematic representation of an example of an LEP printing mechanism in Figure 1 that has been modified to print any type of material. For the sake of clarity, the imaging part (loading, writing and cleaning), as described in figure 1 is not shown in Figure 7. IDB units 16a-16c apply LEP ink 106a-106c which can comprise a color of simple process (CMYK), a transparent ink, a dielectric ink or functional materials such as semiconductors. Inks based on LEP 106a-106c can contain enough resin so that they can serve as glue or adhesive. The LEP material 106a-106c is transferred to the ITM drum 18, where it is heated by an external heater 20 and / or an internal heater 20 'so that it dries and melts. In the ITM Drum 18, there are several applicators 24a, 24b that carry the functional materials 104a, 104b in a dispersed or viscous form on a roll, which is slightly touching the ITM drum 18. The functional material sticks 104a, 104b to the material LEP 106 and not to the ITM drum 18 due to a cover release layer 18a. Alternatively, functional material 104a, 104b can be charged and an electric field can repel it from the uncoated cover drum 18. There are several applicators 24a, 24b of functional materials 104a, 104b, with only one of them being engaged with the ITM 18 at a time. Below the drum of ITM 18 is the drum of IMP 22, which can be dynamically engaged and deactivated with the drum of ITM 18 using a locking mechanism (see arrow 22a).
    [0044] In a first step, the IMP 22 drum is disengaged from the ITM 18 drum, and the ITM 18 drum continues to rotate and pick up additional layers of LEP 106 material. A layered structure 24 is shown as an example which includes a first layer of LEP 1061 material on the ITM drum 18, a second layer of functional material 104a on the first layer, and a third layer of LEP 1062 material on functional material 104. This can be repeated to create several layers of "sandwiched" functional materials between LEP materials (which can also be functional).
    [0045] In the next step, the IMP drum 22 engages the ITM drum 18, and the "sandwich" 24 of a functional material is transferred to the IMP drum. The LEP material layer serves as glue, attaching the "sandwich" 24 to a substrate 26 (for example, paper or plastic). In the IMP drum 22, the ink 106 can be reheated by heaters 28a, 28b, to become sticky and to be able to collect additional functional material 104c at the top. Additional functional material 104c can be provided by an applicator 30 which conveys functional material 104c in a dispersed or viscous form on a roll, which is slightly touching the IMP drum 22.
    [0046] According to another example, a functional material applicator for application of the material, both in BKT drum (cover) 18 and the substrate 26 provided in the IMP drum 22 can be used.
    [0047] Figure 8 shows an example of a multilayer structure 24 ', made by the printing mechanism shown in Figure 7. Functional materials 104a, 104b are "sandwiched" between LEP materials A, B and C. The LEP material A attaches structure 24 'to substrate 26. Functional material 104c was added in the final step on the IMP drum 22 by applicator 30.
    [0048] Figure 9 shows an example of a functional multilayer device made by the printing mechanism described with respect to Figure 7. In this example, the layers of functional material are conductive and a layer of LEP between them can be dielectric, thus forming a capacitor. In general, the semiconductor layer can be LEP or resistive. Figure 9 (a) shows a cross section of the layers, while Figure 9 (b) shows the 3D patterned layers on top of each other.
    [0049] The steps for printing the device shown in Figure 9 are as follows: A first layer 106a of LEP material is printed while the IMP drum 22 is engaged, and transferred to substrate 26. The first layer 106a is heated in the IMP drum 22 and functional material 104c (a conductor in this example) is glued to LEP material 106c. While the IMP drum 22 is still engaged, a layer of LEP 106b dielectric material is transferred from the ITM drum 18 over the previous layers 106a, 104c on substrate 26. The IMP drum 22 is disengaged, and the material from Top LEP 106c is formed in the ITM drum 18, collecting into it the functional material 104b, which is also a conductor according to this example. The IMP drum 22 engages again and both layers 104b, 106c are transferred to substrate 26, terminating the capacitor device. In this example of a device the first and second conductive layers 104b, 104c, on the right side in the Figure, overlap without any material between them so that the material tends to clamp together to make a continuous conductive path.
    [0050] The pattern to be transferred to the substrate can be used in several fields, for example, to generate printed documents such as cards or brochures. The process can also be used to generate electrical structures, for example, by applying carbon nanotubes on a substrate of a desired pattern. Different circuit patterns were obtained using carbon nanotube paint in an apparatus as described above. Circuit patterns include different conductive tracks, for example, conductor lines or spiral conductors that can be used in electrical circuits. The carbon nanotube paint used to generate the patterns has 40% of the solid particles being the resin. This lack of resin results in a missing or reduced adhesion property of the image on the substrate so that the transfer of the image from the coating to the substrate is made possible with the approach described above, which resulted in a bottomless image and a desired resistivity of several kiM∑LA Figure 10 shows an example of carbon nanotubes printed on paper using the concept of "gluing". An ink including a high percentage (40% of total solid materials) of carbon nanotubes (CNT) was printed using the modified printing mechanism in Figure 7. This ink was able to pass from the PIP 10 drum to the drum of BKT 18, creating an image on the drum of BKT 18. A thick layer of CNTs is collected in the BKT 18 drum, by accumulating 16 layers of paint from the PIP 10 drum, with the IMP 22 drum disengaged. Due to the low resin content, the CNT layer does not transfer and adhere to substrate 26. The next step is to print the required image pattern with yellow LEP ink. The IMP drum 22 is trapped and the CNTs are transferred to substrate 26 and adhere to it where the LEP ink is printed. The rest of the image (background) remains on the BKT 18 drum. A cleaner page is finally sent to clean the background image. From Figure 10 it can be seen that the material transfer is very good and without any visible background image.
    [0051] An example of forming on a substrate a pattern of a material provides a patterned adhesive layer on the intermediate carrier and subsequently transfers a material to the adhesive layer, for example, in case the material is not controllable by printing methods , such as a powder or a viscous material, which is not chargeable or blastable, etc.
    [0052] An example can alternately apply the adhesive and the material (for example, a different material and / or a different adhesive during each phase) on an intermediate drum and finally transfer the pile to the substrate. This allows the creation of a device with many layers. Alternatively, the layers of adhesive and material can be applied layer by layer on the substrate. As an additional alternative, a first part of the stack can be created on the intermediate carrier and transferred to the substrate, and then additional layers can be applied to the stack on the substrate.
    [0053] An example can form a structure on the substrate where the adhesive is on top, and then a material can be glued on the exposed adhesive.
    [0054] The adhesive and the material can be applied with varying dimensions and / or positions per element (for example, to form a device with a block in the middle and a strip on the top and bottom).
    [0055] Although some aspects have been described in the context of an apparatus, it is evident that these aspects also represent a description of the corresponding method, where a block or device corresponds to a method step, or a characteristic of a method step. Similarly, aspects described in the context of a method step that also represent a description of a corresponding block or item or characteristic of a corresponding apparatus.
    [0056] The above description is merely illustrative of the principles of the method and apparatus for forming a pattern on a substrate of a material. It is understood that modifications and variations of the arrangements and details described here will be evident to others specialized in the technique. It is therefore intended to be limited by the scope of the following patent claims and not by the specific details presented for the purpose of description and explanation here.
    权利要求:
    Claims (10)
    [0001]
    1. Method for forming a substrate (108; 214) of a pattern of a material, the method characterized by the fact that it comprises: providing (S 100) a layer of material (104) on a surface (102) of a conveyor intermediate (100, 124) by liquid electrophotographic printing; apply a layer of adhesive over the material layer (104) provided on the intermediate conveyor (100; 124) by liquid electrophotographic printing (S104, S106) of a liquid electrophotographic ink (106) on the material layer, at least one the material layer (104) or the liquid electrophotographic ink (106) comprises a pattern corresponding to the pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214); and heating the adhesive layer provided over the material layer (104) so that the adhesive layer acts as a glue; and transferring (S108) the material layer (104) to the substrate (108; 214) with the heated adhesive layer fixing the material layer (104) to a surface (110; 216) of the substrate (108; 214).
    [0002]
    2. Method, according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the material layer (104) is standardized according to the pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214), and in which the liquid electrophotographic ink ( 106) is provided with no pattern or with a pattern that substantially corresponds to the patterned material layer (104).
    [0003]
    3. Method according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the material layer (104) is provided with no pattern, and in which the liquid electrophotographic ink (106) is provided on the non-standard material layer (104 ) with a pattern corresponding to the pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214).
    [0004]
    Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the transfer of the material layer (104) to the substrate (108; 214) comprises bringing together the intermediate conveyor (100; 204) and the substrate (108; 214) such that the liquid electrophotographic ink (106) on the material layer (104) comes into contact with a surface (110; 216) of the substrate (108; 214).
    [0005]
    Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the liquid electrophotographic ink comprises a transparent ink or pigment ink or ink containing a functional material.
    [0006]
    6. Apparatus for forming on a substrate (108; 214) a pattern of a desired material, the apparatus characterized by the fact that it comprises: a printing station (202, 206) configured to print a liquid electrophotographic ink (106) over a layer of material (104) supplied to the printing station on an intermediate conveyor (100; 204; and a transfer station (208, 236) configured to receive the substrate (108; 214) and transfer the layer of material (104 ) for the substrate (108; 214) with the liquid electrophotographic ink fixing the material to a surface (110; 216) of the substrate (108; 214); where the liquid electrophotographic press is configured to: provide a layer of material (104 ) on a surface (102) of the intermediate conveyor (100, 124) by liquid electrophotographic printing; apply a layer of adhesive on the layer of material (104) provided on the intermediate conveyor (100; 124) by liquid electrophotographic printing the liquid electrophotographic ink (106) on the material layer, at least one of the material layer (104) or the liquid electrophotographic ink (106) comprises a pattern corresponding to the pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214); heating the adhesive layer provided over the material layer (104) so that the adhesive layer acts as a glue; and transferring the material layer (104) to the substrate (108; 214) with the heated adhesive layer fixing the material layer (104) to a surface (110; 216) of the substrate (108; 214).
    [0007]
    Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the printing station comprises a first printing mechanism (202) configured to apply the layer of material (104) on the intermediate conveyor (100; 204), and a second printing mechanism (206) configured to apply the adhesive on the material layer (104).
    [0008]
    Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the printing station comprises a first printing mechanism (202) configured to apply the layer of material (104) on the intermediate conveyor (100; 204), and a second printing mechanism (206) configured to apply the adhesive layer (106) to another intermediate carrier (112; 224), and the apparatus further comprising a transfer station (230) configured to transfer the adhesive layer (106) of the other intermediate conveyor (112; 224) on the material layer (104) on the intermediate conveyor (100; 204).
    [0009]
    9. Apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that it comprises a control unit (218), the control unit (218) being configured to make the first printing mechanism (202) print the layer of material (104) with a pattern according to the pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214), and make the second printing mechanism (206) print the liquid electrophotographic ink (106) with no pattern or with a pattern that corresponds substantially to the patterned material layer (104), or to make the first printing mechanism (202) print the material layer (104) with no pattern, and to make the second printing mechanism (206) print the liquid electrophotographic ink (106 ) with a pattern according to a pattern to be formed on the substrate (108; 214).
    [0010]
    Apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the LEP press (200) comprises: the printing station (202, 206); a photo imaging plate (220); a cover (204); and a printing element (210), wherein the printing station comprises a writing head (202, 206) configured to record an image on the photo imaging drum (220), a first configured binary ink developer (220a) to apply an ink including the material layer (104) to the photo imaging drum (220), and a second binary ink developer (220a) configured to apply a transparent ink or pigment ink or ink containing a functional material to the photo imaging drum (220), in which the liquid electrophotographic press is operable to transfer a material image (104) and a transparent ink image (106) from the photo imaging plate (220) to the cover ( 204), and the transfer station comprising the cover (204) and the printing element (210) configured to receive the substrate (108; 214) between them, the liquid electrophotographic press being operated to transfer an image in two layers on the cover (204) for the substrate (108; 214).
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    BR112015009655A2|2017-07-04|
    EP2915414B1|2020-10-07|
    CN104854967A|2015-08-19|
    CN104854967B|2018-05-22|
    WO2014067578A1|2014-05-08|
    US20200163222A1|2020-05-21|
    US20150351250A1|2015-12-03|
    IN2015DN03284A|2015-10-09|
    US11206738B2|2021-12-21|
    US10588221B2|2020-03-10|
    EP2915414A1|2015-09-09|
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    法律状态:
    2018-12-04| B06F| Objections, documents and/or translations needed after an examination request according [chapter 6.6 patent gazette]|
    2019-10-15| B06U| Preliminary requirement: requests with searches performed by other patent offices: procedure suspended [chapter 6.21 patent gazette]|
    2020-11-10| B09A| Decision: intention to grant [chapter 9.1 patent gazette]|
    2020-12-29| B16A| Patent or certificate of addition of invention granted [chapter 16.1 patent gazette]|Free format text: PRAZO DE VALIDADE: 20 (VINTE) ANOS CONTADOS A PARTIR DE 31/10/2012, OBSERVADAS AS CONDICOES LEGAIS. |
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    PCT/EP2012/071638|WO2014067578A1|2012-10-31|2012-10-31|Method and apparatus for forming on a substrate a pattern of a material|
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