Card de-bowing mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9381695-B2
Application number	US-201313900840-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2013
Priority date	May 23, 2013
Publication date	Jul 5, 2016
Grant date	Jul 5, 2016

Abstract

A substrate de-bowing mechanism, system and method are described. The mechanism can include a substrate support, one or more stationary contact members, and one or more dynamic or movable contact members that are adapted to contact the substrate and bend the substrate in a desired direction to reduce or eliminate bowing of the substrate. The mechanism is controlled by a CPU or other controller that can adjust the de-bow parameters of the de-bowing mechanism based on input settings that can be dynamic and/or static settings. The mechanism can be used to de-bow a variety of substrates including plastic cards, passports, and passport pages.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A substrate de-bowing mechanism, comprising:
a substrate support having a substrate travel path;
a first, stationary substrate contact member mounted on the substrate support and positioned to engage a surface of a substrate during de-bowing;
a first, movable substrate contact member rotatably mounted on the substrate support for rotation about a rotation axis, and the first, movable substrate contact member is rotatable between a first home position that is on one side of the substrate travel path to permit engagement of the first, movable substrate contact member with a first surface of the substrate and a second home position that is on a second, opposite side of the substrate travel path to permit engagement of the first, movable substrate contact member with a second surface of the substrates;
a second, movable substrate contact member rotatably mounted on the substrate support for rotation about a rotation axis, and the second, movable substrate contact member is rotatable between a first home position that is on the one side of the substrate travel path to permit engagement of the second, movable substrate contact member with the first surface of the substrate and a second home position that is on the second, opposite side of the substrate travel path to permit engagement of the second, movable substrate contact member with the second surface of the substrate;
the first, movable substrate contact member is disposed on a first axial side of the first, stationary substrate contact member and the second, movable substrate contact member is disposed on a second axial side of the first, stationary substrate contact member, and the first, stationary substrate contact member is located between the first and second movable substrate contact members; and
the rotation axes of the first and second movable substrate contact members are located axially between the first and second movable substrate contact members, and the rotation axes are perpendicular to a substrate transport direction.

2. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second, stationary substrate contact member mounted on the substrate support, the second, stationary substrate contact member is positioned relative to the first, stationary substrate contact member to engage a surface of a substrate during de-bowing that is opposite the surface engaged by the first, stationary substrate contact member.

3. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the first, stationary substrate contact member is disposed opposite of and faces the second, stationary substrate contact member and define a nip therebetween.

4. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the first, stationary substrate contact member comprises an idler roller, the second, stationary substrate contact member comprises a driven roller, and the first, stationary substrate contact member and the second, stationary substrate contact member are not movable toward each other.

5. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the first, movable substrate contact member and the second, movable substrate contact member each comprises a single contact member having a first end, a second end, and a length between the first end and the second end; the first end of each single contact member has a frustoconical shape that extends toward the second end; the second end of each single contact member has a frustoconical shape that extends toward the first end; and the length is equal to or greater than a height of the substrate to be de-bowed.

6. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the first, movable substrate contact member and the second, movable substrate contact member each comprises first and second contact portions that are not directly connected to one another, each contact portion having a first end fixed to a support structure that is rotatable about the respective rotation axis, a second free end, the first and second contact portions extend toward one another, and each of the first and second contact portions has a frustoconical shape; and a distance from the first end of the first contact portion to the first end of the second contact portion is equal to or greater than a height of the substrate to be de-bowed.

7. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , further comprising a drive mechanism for rotating the first and second movable substrate contact members about the respective rotation axes.

8. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 7 , wherein the drive mechanism comprises one of the following:
a single drive mechanism mechanically connected to each of the first and second movable substrate contact members that rotates each of the first and second movable substrate contact members about the respective rotation axes; or
a first drive mechanism mechanically connected to the first, movable substrate contact member that rotates the first, movable substrate contact member about its rotation axes, and a second drive mechanism mechanically connected to the second, movable substrate contact member that rotates the second, movable substrate contact member about its rotation axes.

9. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second movable substrate contact members has a longitudinal axis, and each of the first and second movable substrate contact members is rotatable about its respective longitudinal axis.

10. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein an axial distance between the first and second movable card contact members when the first and second movable card contact members are at their first home position is equal to or less than the length of the substrate to be de-bowed.

11. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a plastic card, a passport or a page of a passport.

12. A substrate processing system that includes the substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 1 .

13. A substrate de-bowing mechanism, comprising:
a substrate support having a substrate travel path;
a first, stationary substrate contact member mounted on the substrate support and positioned to engage a surface of a substrate during de-bowing;
a first, movable substrate contact member rotatably mounted on the substrate support for rotation about a rotation axis, and the first, movable substrate contact member is rotatable between a first home position that is on one side of the substrate travel path to permit engagement of the first, movable substrate contact member with a first surface of the substrate and a second home position that is on a second, opposite side of the substrate travel path to permit engagement of the first, movable substrate contact member with a second surface of the substrate; and
means for heating the substrate.

14. The substrate de-bowing mechanism of claim 13 , wherein the means for heating the substrate is positioned to heat the substrate prior to the substrate reaching the substrate support, or the means for heating the substrate is positioned to heat the substrate while the substrate is supported on the substrate support.

15. A substrate de-bowing mechanism, comprising:
a substrate support having a substrate travel path;
a first, stationary substrate contact member mounted on the substrate support and positioned to engage a surface of a substrate during de-bowing;
a first, movable substrate contact member rotatably mounted on the substrate support for rotation about a rotation axis, and the first, movable substrate contact member is rotatable between a first home position that is on one side of the substrate trave

Assignees

• Datacard Corp
• Entrust Datacard Corp

Inventors

• Zaborowski Alexander Kelly
• Wickstrom David E
• Juriasingani Rajesh Kalachand

Classifications

• B65H29/70

  Article bending or stiffening arrangements · CPC title

• B29L2017/006

  Memory cards, chip cards · CPC title

• B29C53/18 Primary

  of plates or sheets · CPC title

• B65H2301/512565

  involving tri-roller arrangement · CPC title

• B65H2701/1914

  Cards, e.g. telephone, credit and identity cards · CPC title