In a laser-assisted deposition system, a uniform layer of material is coated onto a donor substrate at a coating system, and portions of the material are jetted from the donor substrate to a receiving substrate at a printing unit, leaving residual portions of the material on the donor substrate. In order to not waste the residual portions of the material, the donor substrate with the residual portions of the material is returned to the coating system where the residual portions of the material are aggregated into a blob and subsequently recoated onto the donor substrate. The blob may be formed by translating the residual portions of the material towards an interface formed by two coating rollers, a squeegee and the donor substrate, or a film and the donor substrate.

According to one embodiment, a system for manufacturing a fully impregnated thermoplastic prepreg includes a mechanism for moving a fabric or mat and a drying mechanism that removes residual moisture from at least one surface of the fabric or mat. The system also includes a resin application mechanism that applies a reactive resin to the fabric or mat and a press mechanism that presses the coated fabric or mat to ensure that the resin fully saturates the fabric or mat. The system further includes a curing oven through which the coated fabric or mat is moved to polymerize the resin and thereby form a thermoplastic polymer so that upon exiting the oven, the fabric or mat is fully impregnated with the thermoplastic polymer. During at least a portion of the process, humidity in the vicinity of the coated fabric or mat is maintained at substantially zero.

Provided is a coating device including a coating portion where coating treatment is performed, a partition portion covering the coating portion, and a humidity controller adjusting an amount of moisture in a work space partitioned by the partition portion.

Method of designing and manufacturing a distributor bar for use in a production line comprising a mixing head for providing a viscous foamable liquid mixture, a laminator with a predefined speed of at least 20 m/min, the distributor bar having a central inlet fluidly connected to a number of outlets via a main channel. The method comprises: choosing (3001) a geometry for the distributor bar and defining a set of geometrical parameters; assigning (3002) values to said parameters; creating (3003) a virtual model; simulating (3005) flow in said model by performing a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation (CFD), taking into account (3004) a non-Newtonian shear thinning model; e) evaluating the simulated flow; building (2007) a physical distributor bar. A distributor bar, a production line, and a computer program product.

Systems and methods in which dot-like portions of a material (e.g., a viscous material such as a solder paste) are printed or otherwise transferred onto an intermediate substrate at a first printing unit, the intermediate substrate having the dot-like portions of material printed thereon is transferred to a second printing unit, and the dot-like portions of material are transferred from the intermediate substrate to a final substrate at the second printing unit. Optionally, the first printing unit includes a coating system that creates a uniform layer of the material on a donor substrate, and the material is transferred in the individual dot-like portions from the donor substrate onto the intermediate substrate at the first printing unit. Each of the first and second printing units may employ a variety of printing or other transfer technologies. The system may also include material curing and imaging units to aid in the overall process.

According to one embodiment, a system for manufacturing a fully impregnated thermoplastic prepreg includes a mechanism for moving a fabric or mat and a drying mechanism that removes residual moisture from at least one surface of the fabric or mat. The system also includes a resin application mechanism that applies a reactive resin to the fabric or mat and a press mechanism that presses the coated fabric or mat to ensure that the resin fully saturates the fabric or mat. The system further includes a curing oven through which the coated fabric or mat is moved to polymerize the resin and thereby form a thermoplastic polymer so that upon exiting the oven, the fabric or mat is fully impregnated with the thermoplastic polymer. During at least a portion of the process, humidity in the vicinity of the coated fabric or mat is maintained at substantially zero.

A device and method for preparing an aerogel blanket, are described. The device for preparing an aerogel blanket includes: a first transport means configured to transport a blanket substrate; a first spray means configured to spray a sol to the blanket substrate on the first transport means; a second transport means arranged downstream of the first transport means and configured to transport the blanket substrate sprayed with the sol; and a second spray means configured to spray a gel catalyst to the blanket substrate on the second transport means. The device and the method for preparing a aerogel blanket can improve the preparation efficiency of the aerogel blanket.

A coating system (1) is provided which includes an ultrasonic sprayer (3) capable of spraying a coating fluid onto a target surface (5). A convective or infrared heater (21) is associated with the sprayer and is operable to heat the spray (23) produced by the sprayer (3).

Provided herein is a device for forming a conductive film. The device includes a deposition device and an air supply. The deposition device is configured to form a wet film having conductive nanostructures and a fluid carrier on a web. The web is moved in a first direction while forming the wet film. The air supply is disposed at a side of the web and configured to apply an air flow onto the wet film. The air flow is directed onto the wet film in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction to reorient a direction of some conductive nanostructures in the wet film to define reoriented conductive nanostructures.

A sealant system for operation with a metal workpiece comprises a frame, a cam assembly mounted to said frame, a sealant reservoir, a sealant application unit connected to said sealant reservoir, and a control module for coordinating operation of said cam assembly and said sealant reservoir, wherein said control module comprises a temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature of said sealant, an integrated heating system for heating said sealant and a controller in communication with said temperature sensor and said integrated heating system.