JPH046273A - Continuous surface treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a continuous surface treatment apparatus that performs surface f-adhesion treatment on a material to be treated, such as cloth, while passing it through a treatment chamber filled with an inert gas.

[Conventional technology]

A container (processing chamber) housing a pair of processing electrodes is filled with inert gas, glow discharge is generated between the processing electrodes, and vapor deposition is performed on the surface of the material to be processed, such as cloth, that passes between both processing electrodes. In an apparatus that performs this, the atmosphere in the processing chamber is evacuated by a vacuum exhaust device, and then the above-mentioned inert gas is supplied for gas replacement.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

For this reason, conventionally, as shown in FIG.
, 41B, but it is necessary to evacuate the entire processing chamber until it reaches a predetermined pressure, and there is also a vacuum leakage from the processing material inlet 1) and the processing material outlet 12. Since the vacuum must be evacuated, there was a problem that 1. a fairly large vacuum evacuation device was required, making it expensive.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can perform evacuation in a completely vacuum-sealed state during evacuation, does not require evacuation of the entire processing chamber, and is a smaller vacuum evacuation device than conventional ones. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a continuous surface treatment device that can use the following methods.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention evacuates the inside of the processing chamber and replaces it with a processing gas, and the material to be processed is passed through the processing chamber filled with the processing gas at atmospheric pressure or higher. In a surface treatment apparatus that performs surface treatment, a pair of cylindrical movable bodies whose end faces face each other and can partition a sub-chamber within the processing chamber, and a support device that supports both movable bodies coaxially are provided, one of the movable bodies is The other movable body extends outward by slidingly penetrating the processing material inlet of the processing chamber while ensuring vacuum sealability, and the other movable body extends to the outside through the processing material inlet of the processing chamber while ensuring vacuum sealability. The movable body has a structure that extends through the movable body slidably to the outside, and during normal operation, the two movable bodies are positioned at a first position where the end faces are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and during evacuation,
The end faces are configured to be driven to a second position where they face each other while ensuring vacuum sealing properties.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the case of having a pair of discharge processing electrodes facing each other with a gap through which the material to be processed passes during normal operation,
The picture electrodes were supported so that they could be raised and lowered individually by a lifting device provided outside the processing chamber.

In claim 3, the support device is constituted by a row of rollers, and in claim 4, the support device is comprised of a row of rollers and a rail body, and one end of the movable body is provided with a wheel that rolls on the rail body. The configuration is as follows.

[Effect]

In the present invention, when the pair of movable bodies are positioned so that their end faces face each other, a sub-chamber is defined within the processing chamber, so that the space excluding the sub-chamber bones from the entire space of the processing chamber is the target of vacuum evacuation. Therefore, the amount of air to be evacuated is reduced accordingly, and the outside of the processing chamber is completely vacuum sealed, so there is no need to evacuate the vacuum leakage mentioned above.
This can be done with a small vacuum evacuation device.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, A is a material to be processed, 10 is a processing chamber, 1) is an inlet for the material to be processed in the processing chamber 10, and 12 is an outlet for the material to be processed in the processing chamber 10. Reference numeral 13 denotes a cylindrical movable body having a predetermined length, which is connected to a roller row 14A provided outside the processing chamber IO on the side of the material inlet 1) and the processing chamber 1.
It is supported on a support device 14 consisting of a roller row 14B provided inside the processing material inlet 1), and is slidably fitted tightly around the entire circumference to the processing material inlet 1). penetrates through. The material to be treated inlet 1) is connected to the inlet 1) and the movable body 13.
A sufficient width W should be provided to provide good vacuum sealing properties between the two. Reference numeral 15 denotes a cylindrical movable body having a predetermined length, which is composed of a roller row 16A provided outside the 12 processing material outlet ports of the processing chamber 10 and a roller row 16B provided inside the processing chamber IO. It is supported on the support device 16 and is slidably fitted tightly around the entire circumference of the cough treatment material outlet 12 to pass through the cough treatment material outlet 12 . The material introduction port 12 has a sufficient width W to provide good vacuum sealing between the introduction port 12 and the movable body 15.

21P and 21N are plate-shaped processing electrodes facing each other, and the processing electrode 21P is supported by a support rod 22.
This support rod 22 tightly and slidably penetrates the inside of an insulating block 23 provided on the ceiling of the processing chamber 10 and extends to the outside of the processing chamber 10, and connects an engaging portion 22A formed at the upper end with an insulator 24 interposed therebetween. and is connected to a lifting mechanism 29. This engaging portion 22
A also serves as a power receiving section, and is connected to high frequency power #31 via a power supply line 25. The processing electrode 21N is also supported by a support rod 26, which extends downward through a guide tube 27 provided on the floor of the processing chamber 10 in a tight and slidable manner. The joint part 26A is moved up and down by the lifting mechanism 30.
is connected to. This engaging portion 26A is grounded by a grounding wire 28.

In this configuration, during normal progress in which a glow discharge is generated between the processing electrodes 21P and 21N and a vapor deposition process is performed on the front and back surfaces of the material to be processed passing between the two electrodes, the movable bodies 13 and 15 are moved as shown in FIG. It is positioned at the first position shown and held at this position by a locking mechanism (not shown). That is, the movable bodies 13 and 15 each have one end 13B, 15B as the material inlet port 1),
It has been evacuated to a position facing the vicinity of the processing material outlet 12,
The processing chambers i21P and 21N are separated by a required discharge gap G, which is driven downward and upward, respectively. In this embodiment, this discharge gap G has a value that is not larger than the outer diameter of the movable body 13.15.

In the work process of replacing the inside of the processing chamber 10 with an inert gas, as shown in FIG.
After making the outer diameter sufficiently larger than the outer diameter of the movable body 13, I5, the movable body 13, I5 is pushed into the processing chamber 10 to the second position where one end surface 13B, 15B of both is pressed against each other to ensure vacuum sealing property. It is held in this position by the locking mechanism described above. The wall thickness of the movable bodies 13 and 15 is set to be sufficient to ensure vacuum sealing performance by the above-mentioned pressure contact. As a result, the inside of the processing chamber IO is surrounded by the inner surface of the processing chamber and the outer circumferential surface of the movable body 13.15, and a cylinder formed by the chamber X and the movable body 13.15 is substantially completely vacuum-sealed from the outside. It is divided into Y-shaped chambers (hereinafter referred to as sub-chambers). These movable bodies 13 and 15
When the positioning to the second position is completed, a vacuum evacuation device (not shown) is driven to exhaust the atmosphere in the chamber X, and when the pressure in the chamber Feed within X. When the gas pressure of the inert gas in the chamber and the processing electrode 21P,
21N is also moved to a position that separates the discharge gap G. In this way, the inside of the processing chamber 10 is replaced with inert gas.

In this way, in this embodiment, the movable bodies 13 and 15 move the subchamber Y.
Since chamber X is completely vacuum-sealed from the outside and evacuated, the evacuation equipment does not need to cover the conventional vacuum leakage mentioned above, and only chamber X is evacuated. It becomes.

3 and 4 show another embodiment of the present invention, in which the cola row 14. Instead of A, a rail body 14C is used, a flange 13A is formed at the outer end of the movable body I3, and a transportation mechanism is provided below the flange 13A with wheels 32 that engage with the rail body 14C, and , roller row 1
5A, a rail body 16C is used, a flange 15A is formed at the outer end of the movable body 15, and a vehicle transport mechanism is provided below the flange 15A, which has wheels 33 that engage with the rail body 16C. At the point, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2
The configuration is different from the one shown in the figure.

In this configuration, the flange 13A of the movable body 13 and the material introduction port are in pressure contact with each other, and the flange 15A of the movable body 15
A configuration in which one end surfaces 13B and 15B of the movable bodies 13 and 15 are brought into pressure contact with each other at a position where the introduction port 12 and the introduction port 12 are brought into pressure contact with each other,
Vacuum sealability is ensured.

In addition, each of the above embodiments uses glow discharge to treat the material A.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to an apparatus that performs continuous surface treatment, the present invention is also applicable to other apparatuses that perform continuous surface treatment, for example chemically, by replacing gas in a processing chamber having an inlet and an outlet for the material to be treated. A similar effect can be obtained.

4. Effects of the Invention As explained above, the present invention is provided with a pair of movable bodies that extend through the inlet and outlet of the material to be treated and whose end faces can be brought into contact with and separated from each other within the processing chamber. , this pair of movable bodies divides the inside of the processing chamber, creating virtually a complete vacuum seam.
It is possible to perform vacuum evacuation in the same state, and the space that needs to be evacuated is much smaller than in the conventional case.
This has the advantage of not requiring the use of a large-sized vacuum evacuation device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the state of the embodiment of the present invention during normal operation, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the state of the above embodiment during evacuation, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the state of the above embodiment during evacuation. FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the state of the example in normal operation, FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the state of the embodiment in FIG. 3 during evacuation, and FIG. 5 explains the seal structure of the conventional surface treatment apparatus. FIG. 10-Processing chamber, 1)--Processed material inlet, 12 Processed material outlet, 13.15-Movable body, 14A, 14B, 16A
, 16B-Roller row, 14C216C-Rail body, 21
P, 21N treated electrode, 29.30-lifting mechanism. 32.3
3.-wheels,

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A surface treatment device that evacuates the inside of the processing chamber and replaces it with processing gas, and performs surface treatment on the processing material while passing the processing material through the processing chamber filled with processing gas at atmospheric pressure or higher. A pair of cylindrical movable bodies whose end faces face each other and are capable of dividing a sub-chamber within the processing chamber, and a support device that supports both movable bodies coaxially, one of the movable bodies is configured to support the processing target in the processing chamber. The material inlet is slidably penetrated to ensure a vacuum seal and extends to the outside.
The other movable body extends outward by slidingly passing through the processing material outlet of the processing chamber while ensuring a vacuum seal, and during normal operation, the end faces of the two movable bodies are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. A continuous surface treatment apparatus characterized in that the continuous surface treatment apparatus is positioned at a first position separated from each other, and during the evacuation is driven to a second position where the end faces face each other while ensuring vacuum sealing properties. (2) During normal operation, when a pair of discharge processing electrodes is provided facing each other with a gap through which the material to be processed passes, both processing electrodes are supported so that they can be raised and lowered individually by a lifting mechanism provided outside the processing chamber. The continuous surface treatment apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: (3) The support device comprises a roller row provided outside the processing material inlet/output port of the processing chamber and a roller row provided inside the processing material inlet/output port. 2. The continuous surface treatment device according to 2. (4) The support device consists of a roller array provided inside the processing chamber's material inlet and outlet, and a rail body provided outside the processing chamber's material inlet and outlet. 3. The continuous surface treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transport mechanism having wheels that can roll on the rail body at an end thereof.