Dispenser for dispensing a two-layer adhesive tape, and method for producing a two-layer adhesive tape

Abstract

Dispensers, systems and methods dispense strips of a first adhesive tape which have adhesive on both sides and on one side is covered with a liner. A first storage unit from which the first adhesive tape is drawn off is provided, and a second storage unit from which a second adhesive tape is drawn off is provided. A connection installation by means of which the first adhesive tape and the second adhesive tape are interconnected so as to form a two-ply adhesive tape is provided, and an application installation by means of which the two-ply adhesive tape as a composite is capable of being applied to a substrate is provided.

Claims

1. A dispenser configured for dispensing a strip of a first adhesive tape that is adhesive on both sides and on one side is covered with a liner, the dispenser comprising: a first storage unit from which the first adhesive tape is drawn off; a second storage unit from which a second adhesive tape is drawn off; a connection installation by means of which the first adhesive tape and the second adhesive tape are interconnected to form a two-ply adhesive tape; an application installation by means of which the two-ply adhesive tape as a composite is capable of being applied to a substrate; and a storage roll that is capable of being driven by a drive installation that is synchronized with the drawing-off movement of the first adhesive tape, of the second adhesive tape, or the two-ply adhesive tape is provided, wherein the liner which has been drawn off from the two-ply adhesive tape is wound onto said storage roll.

2. The dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising: a third storage unit from which a functional layer, which is capable of being incorporated between the first adhesive tape and the second adhesive tape.

3. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the drive installation has a drive wheel with a rotating motion which is driven by a drawing-off movement of the first adhesive tape, the second adhesive tape, or the two-ply adhesive tape, the rotating motion of said drive wheel being transmitted to the storage roll by means of a gear.

4. The dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising: a cutting installation in which the two-ply adhesive tape having the liner disposed thereon, prior to being applied to the substrate, is cut in a dual-stage cutting process wherein, the two-ply adhesive tape including the liner disposed thereon is cut off in a first cutting step, and only the two-ply adhesive tape is cut off in a second cutting step.

5. The dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising: an adhesive tape accumulator by way of which the first adhesive tape and the second adhesive tape are guided after having been connected to form the two-ply adhesive tape and prior to being applied to the substrate.

6. The dispenser according to claim 5, wherein the adhesive tape accumulator is formed by a chicane that intentionally increases a running length between the connection installation and the application installation or by a second storage roll.

7. The dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising: a timer which displays the time span between connecting the two adhesive tapes and applying the two-lay adhesive tape.

Description

(1) The invention will be explained hereunder by means of a preferred embodiment with reference to the appended FIGURE in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a dispenser according to the invention having two storage units, each having one adhesive tape that is adhesive on both sides.

(3) A dispenser 1 according to the invention, having a frame 10, a handle 3, and a hand lever 19, can be seen in FIG. 1. A first storage unit 2 and a second storage 4 of a first adhesive tape 5, adhesive on both sides, and of a second adhesive tape 6, adhesive on both sides, are provided on the frame 10. The storage units 2 and 4 are configured in the form of replaceable wound rolls which by means of a latching connection are fixed to rotatable mountings. The first adhesive tape 5 and the second adhesive tape 6 are in each case configured so as to be adhesive on both sides and are in each case covered on one side with a liner 16 and 17, respectively. The adhesive layers of the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 that are adhesive on both sides are separated from one another on the rolls by the liners 16 and 17, such that said adhesive tapes 5 and 6 cannot establish any connection and that the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 can be readily drawn off from the rolls.

(4) After having been drawn off from the storage units 2 and 4, the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 are guided in a mutual alignment onto a deflection roller 7 in such a manner that the free adhesive sides of the adhesive layers face one another. The adhesive tapes 5 and 6 on the deflection roller 7 are then interconnected to form a two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 which on both sides is covered with in each case one liner 16 and 17, respectively. This connection procedure is also referred to as laminating or covering. The deflection roller 7 and the infeed of the two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 having the free sides facing one another here form a connection installation which enables the two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 to be continuously connected to form a two-ply adhesive tape 15 after being unwound from the storage units 2 and 4 and prior to being applied to the substrate.

(5) The two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 is thus a composite from the first adhesive tape 5 and from the second adhesive tape 6, and has an overall thickness which corresponds to the sum of the thicknesses of the first adhesive tape 5 and of the second adhesive tape 6. In as far as the first adhesive tape 5 and the second adhesive tape 6 have dissimilar thicknesses, the overall thickness of the two-ply adhesive tape 15 of course does not correspond to the double thickness of one of the two adhesive tapes 5 or 6, but only to an enlarged thickness. For the sake of simplicity however, the term double thickness is to be further used hereunder so as to express the thickness of the two-ply adhesive tape 15 that is enlarged in relation to the two individual adhesive tapes 5 and 6.

(6) In order for the two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 to come to lie on top of one another in a flush manner, the deflection roller 7 can have a lateral guide flange which moreover prevents the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 from being able to laterally run off the deflection roller 7. The adhesive tapes 5 and 6 herein can thus be precisely laminated to one another by way of a contact pressure in such a manner that a congruent connection of the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 that is free of air bubbles is created. In the further procedure, the double-thickness adhesive tape 15 is deflected on a second deflection roller 8 which simultaneously is a drive roller of a drive installation 18. The second deflection roller 8 by way of the gear 11, which here is formed by an endless belt drive, is connected to a storage roll 9 and drives the storage roll 9 for a synchronized rotating movement. The liner 16, after the deflection of the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 on the second deflection roller 8, is drawn off from one side of the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 and is wound onto the storage roll 9. Since the storage roll 9 by way of the drive installation 18 is driven by the adhesive tape 15 per se, the storage roll 9 herein carries out a movement that is synchronized with the movement of the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15. An ideally slippage-free but nevertheless low-tension outward transportation of the liner 16 that has been released from the double-thickness adhesive tape 15 can be implemented by way of a corresponding dimensioning of the diameter of the storage roll 9 in the region of the bearing contact of the liner 16 to be wound up, and of the diameter of the second deflection roller 8 in the region of the bearing contact of the endless belt drive and in the region of the bearing contact of the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15. In as far as the liner 16 is not to be wound up but is to be discharged into the environment, the storage roll 9 and the synchronized drive that is required on account of the former can also be dispensed with, on account of which the constructive design of the dispenser 1 can be significantly simplified. The storage roll 9, together with the drive installation 18 and the deflection roller 8, here forms a drawing-off installation by means of which the liner 16 is drawn off and wound up.

(7) The drawing-off installation in the running direction of the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 is disposed so as to be downstream of the connection installation.

(8) After the liner 16 has been released, the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 having the liner 17 that henceforth bears only on one side is guided further through a cutting installation having a blade 12 and a cutting roller 13 by way of a guide roller 14 onto the substrate to which the double-thickness adhesive tape 15 by way of the free adhesive side is adhesively bonded. In as far as the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 that is adhesively bonded to the substrate is to be additionally provided with a gripping tab, a dual-stage cutting installation which is described in DE 10 2012 204 594 A1 can of course also be provided. The dual-stage cutting installation described in DE 10 2012 204 594 A1 is thus to be expressly included in the disclosed content of this application. The cutting installation can be activated by the operator of the dispenser 1 by activating the hand lever 19.

(9) Unwinding and applying the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 is performed in that the operator first sticks the double-thickness adhesive tape 15 by way of the free adhesive side to a substrate such as, for example, to a body part or to an add-on part. The double-thickness adhesive tape 15 herein, in a laterally guided manner, runs from the dispenser 1 by way of the guide roller 14, on account of which a very high application precision can be achieved. The guide roller 14 here forms an application installation which laterally guides the two-ply adhesive tape 15 when being applied and presses said two-ply adhesive tape 15 to the substrate.

(10) The operator, after having stuck on the double-thickness adhesive tape 15, pulls the dispenser 1 in the application direction, wherein the double-thickness adhesive tape 15 is pulled through the cutting installation, over the second deflection roller 8 and the first deflection roller 7, and the two single-thickness adhesive tapes 5 and 6 are drawn off from the storage units 2 and 3. The double-thickness adhesive tape 15 herein is first produced directly on the dispenser 1 by laminating the two single-thickness adhesive tapes 5 and 6, having the liner 16 and 17, respectively, disposed on the one side of said single-thickness adhesive tapes 5 and 6, on the first deflection roller 7. The application procedure of the double-thickness adhesive tape 15 is then only terminated in that the operator activates the cutting installation by activating the hand lever 19, severing the double-thickness adhesive strip 15.

(11) In as far as the two-ply double-thickness adhesive strip 15 is to be further thickened so as to form an even thicker adhesive strip 15, further layers of a single-thickness or double-thickness adhesive strip can of course be applied to the free surface and laminated thereto after the liner 16 has been separated from the one side of the adhesive strip 15.

(12) Furthermore, additional functional layers can be incorporated between the two single-thickness adhesive strips 5 and 6 prior to laminating. Such functional layers can be, for example, conductive layers, information carriers, markings, barrier layers for achieving weak spots, reflective layers, planar light sources (OLEDs, for example), or the like. To this end, both or else only one of the single-thickness adhesive tapes 5 and 6 can be configured so as to be transparent such that the functional layers are subsequently identifiable in the double-thickness adhesive tape 15. The functional layer in this instance would be applied to one of the two adhesive tapes 5 or 6, or directly between the two adhesive tapes 5 and 6, prior to the two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 being laminated. The functional layer herein would expediently be held on the dispenser 1 on a third storage unit (not illustrated) in the form of a roll that is rotatably disposed on the dispenser 1, said functional layer in this instance being drawn off from the dispenser in a self-acting manner during the drawing-off movement of the double-thickness adhesive tape 15. Alternatively, the functional layer can also be applied or sprayed in liquid form from a storage unit that is configured as a liquid reservoir onto one of the adhesive tapes 5 or 6.

(13) The two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 in terms of thickness can be dimensioned such that the overall thickness of the two-ply double-thickness adhesive tape 15 corresponds to a predefined thickness. Two-ply double-thickness adhesive tapes 15 having dissimilar overall thicknesses can thus be implemented and applied using the dispenser 1 by connecting individual adhesive tapes 5 and 6 of dissimilar thicknesses. The two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 herein, besides the dissimilar thicknesses, can alternatively have further dissimilar properties such as, for example, colourings and shapings, markings, or else adhesive properties. It is thus conceivable, for example, for one of the two adhesive tapes 5 or 6 to be embodied as a carrier film having a larger thickness and having a smaller quantity of adhesive substance, and for the other adhesive tape to be embodied having a smaller thickness and a larger quantity of adhesive substance, said adhesive substance then penetrating the carrier film and increasing the overall adhesive force of the two-ply adhesive tape.

(14) Furthermore, one of the adhesive tapes 5 or 6 can also have properties such as, for example, colour changes, which vary in a pressure-sensitive manner such that the adherence to a specific contact pressure can subsequently be checked. To this end, functional layers which correspondingly vary in a pressure-sensitive manner can also be incorporated between the adhesive tapes 5 and 6.

(15) It has been demonstrated that it suffices for an adequate adhesive force for the two-ply adhesive tape to have a width of more than 1 mm and of less than 50 mm. Two-ply adhesive tapes 15 having thicknesses between 0.03 mm and 8.0 mm can be implemented herein. In particular, adhesive bonds having a strength of more than 1 MPa can be produced by way of the adhesive tape according to the invention and the proposed dispenser, this not having been possible with conventional adhesive tapes.

(16) According to the invention, the following installations are provided in the following sequence in the movement direction of the adhesive tapes 5 and 6 on the dispenser: a connection installation in which the two adhesive tapes 5 and 6 are connected, a drawing-off installation in which one of the liners is drawn off from the two-ply adhesive tape 15, a cutting installation in which the two-ply adhesive tape 15 is cut upon activation, and an application installation by means of which the two-ply adhesive tape is applied to the substrate.