Screen printing apparatus and screen printing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9352549-B2
Application number	US-201414786860-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2014
Priority date	Apr 26, 2013
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

[Object] To provide a screen printing apparatus and a screen printing method with which it is possible to promote reuse of ink and thereby reduce the printing cost.
[Solution] A screen printing apparatus 101 includes an ink recovery mechanism 110 that recovers excess ink 81 discharged to a region in which a scraper 60 does not slide over a screen plate 50 . By sliding a squeegee 70 , the ink recovery mechanism guides the excess ink from a front side 71 of the squeegee to a region that is on a back side 72 of the squeegee 70 and in which the scraper slides over the screen plate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A screen printing apparatus comprising:
a scraper that spreads ink on a screen plate, in which an opening is formed, and fills the opening with the ink by sliding over the screen plate;
a squeegee that transfers the ink, with which the opening is filled, to a surface of a workpiece by sliding over the screen plate while pressing the screen plate against the workpiece; and
an ink recovery mechanism that recovers excess ink that is discharged to a region in which the scraper does not slide over the screen plate,
wherein, by sliding the squeegee, the ink recovery mechanism guides the excess ink from a front side of the squeegee to a region that is on a back side of the squeegee and in which the scraper slides over the screen plate, the front side facing the excess ink and the back side facing in a direction opposite to a direction in which the squeegee slides.

2. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ink recovery mechanism includes
an ink path that connects an ink inlet having an opening in the front side of the squeegee to an ink outlet having an opening at a position closer to the back side than the ink inlet, and
a drive unit that slides the squeegee over the screen plate while pressing the screen plate against the workpiece, and

wherein the ink recovery mechanism guides the excess ink from the ink inlet, into the ink path, and out from the ink outlet.

3. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein an opening area of the ink inlet of the ink path is greater than an opening area of the ink outlet.

4. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the ink path includes an ink reservoir for storing the ink, the ink reservoir being continuous with the ink inlet.

5. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ink recovery mechanism further includes a guide plate that is disposed on the back side of the squeegee and that guides the excess ink to the region in which the scraper slides over the screen plate.

6. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the screen plate includes a masking portion that does not allow the ink to pass therethrough, and the ink recovery mechanism guides the excess ink to a region of the screen plate in which the masking portion is formed.

7. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ink recovery mechanism recovers the excess ink at a position outward in a width direction from a position of the excess ink when viewed in the width direction, which is a direction crossing the direction in which the squeegee slides.

8. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the scraper has a contact surface between both end portions thereof in a width direction crossing a direction in which the scraper slides, the contact surface contacting the screen plate continuously and without a gap.

9. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the scraper includes an escape portion that is formed by cutting out a part of a contact surface along which the scraper contacts the screen plate, the escape portion having a discharge opening that faces in a direction opposite to a direction in which the scraper slides.

10. The screen printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the workpiece is an electrolyte membrane on which an electrode catalyst layer is to be formed, or a transfer decal substrate, and
wherein the ink is catalytic ink for the electrode catalyst layer.

11. A screen printing method comprising:
spreading ink on a screen plate, in which an opening is formed, and filling the opening with the ink by sliding a scraper over the screen plate; and
transferring the ink, with which the opening is filled, to a surface of a workpiece by sliding a squeegee over the screen plate while pressing the screen plate against the workpiece, wherein, in the transfer operation, excess ink that is discharged to a region in which the scraper does not slide over the screen plate is recovered,
wherein, in the operation of recovering the excess ink, by sliding the squeegee, the excess ink is guided from a front side of the squeegee to a region that is on a back side of the squeegee and in which the scraper slides over the screen plate, the front side facing the excess ink and the back side facing in a direction opposite to a direction in which the squeegee slides, and the excess ink, which has been guided to the region on the back side, is spread again over the screen plate by next sliding of the scraper.

Assignees

• Nissan Motor

Inventors

• Yoshida Masao
• Ono Kei
• Yamamoto Masaya

Classifications

• B41F15/44 Primary

  Squeegees or doctors · CPC title

• B41F15/40

  Inking units · CPC title

• H01M4/8835

  Screen printing · CPC title

• B41F15/42

  comprising squeegees or doctors · CPC title

• H01M4/881

  Electrolytic membranes · CPC title