Abstract
Flexible printed electronic circuits have recently attracted attention as an alternative promising methodology due to the additive process being more environmentally friendly and using less raw material compared to conventional lithography and chemical vapor deposition. However, printed circuits produced by roll-to-roll (R2R) conveyance are often scratched, which can result in breaks in the conductive tracks, cracks, or pinholes. This study investigated a proposed optimal design for an air bar for use in an R2R printing system. The optimal distance between the roll surface and floating substrate for preventing scratching of the printed circuit was investigated. The optimal design—including the blower frequency, size of air holes, and density of air holes—was investigated using simulations of fluid–structure interactions for estimating substrate behavior during pneumatic flotation. The distribution of air pressure in the space between the substrate and the surface of the air bar was calculated, and the deformation of the substrate by the air pressure was analyzed. The optimal design of the air bar was verified in numerical simulations and experiments using various conditions.
Highlights
Flexible printed electronic circuits have recently attracted attention as an alternative promising methodology due the additive process being more environmentally friendly and using less raw material compared to conventional lithography and chemical vapor deposition [1,2,3,4,5,6]
This study investigated a proposed optimal design for an air bar in an R2R printing system
The optimal design including the blower frequency, size of air holes, and density of air holes was investigated using FSI numerical simulations of the substrate behavior induced by pneumatic flotation
Summary
Flexible printed electronic circuits have recently attracted attention as an alternative promising methodology due the additive process being more environmentally friendly and using less raw material compared to conventional lithography and chemical vapor deposition [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Circuits are often scratched during the roll-to-roll (R2R) conveyance process, which can result in breaks in the conductive tracks, cracks, or pinholes [7,8,9,10,11] This has prompted several suggestions of using flotation of the conveying substrate with a pneumatic cylinder [12,13,14,15,16]. The strain variation according to the aerodynamic lifting force was determined based on the floating height In this approach, the substrate was assumed to be a spring with an empirical coefficient, which varied with the design of the air bar. To prevent scratching the printed circuit due to roll contact, the distance between the roll surface and floating substrate needs to be investigated between the locations where it enters and exits the air bar. The optimal hole density was determined from among several design candidates based on numerical simulations and experiments
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