Goehlert, Ralph W. (Erkrath, DE)
Hillert, Harald (Markkleeberg, DE)

Plaque It! Sponsored by: Flash of Genius

11/279328

08/19/2008

04/11/2006

Images are available in PDF form when logged in. To view PDFs, Login  or  Create Account (Free!)

Click for automatic bibliography generation

Nordson Corporation (Westlake, OH, US)

340/572.8

340/572.1, 222/1

G08B13/14

222/504, 340/572.1-572.9, 222/1

1790271	Magnet and relay	January, 1931	Kouyoumjian
2114961	Electromagnetic valve	April, 1938	Gille	137/189
2491905	Refrigerating system	December, 1949	Ray	62/127
2550297	Electromagnetically operated valve	April, 1951	Ray	137/139
2680217	Relay structure	June, 1954	Hussey	317/198
2850685	Electromagnetic operator and mount therefor	September, 1958	Ray	317/165
2873069	Flow control devices	February, 1959	Matthews	236/1
3212715	Solenoid airless spray gun	October, 1965	Cocks	239/125
3243013	Electro-mechanical actuating devices	March, 1966	Molin et al.	184/14
3259811	Electromagnetic safety device having a non-rotatable armature	July, 1966	Dunn	317/191
3329347	Valved liquid ejector capable of emitting intermittent spurts	July, 1967	Montgomery	239/583
3380629	Beverage dispensing apparatus	April, 1968	Kontra et al.	222/26
3422850	ELECTROMAGNETIC FLUID VALVE	January, 1969	Caldwell	137/625.65
3485417	HAND-HELD APPLICATOR FOR HOT-MELT ADHESIVES	December, 1969	Cocks	222/146
3531080	CONTROL VALVE	September, 1970	Dillon	251/129
3704833	SOLENOID VALVE ASSEMBLY	December, 1972	Wheat	239/585
3732893	SOLENOID VALVE	May, 1973	Ziesche et al.	137/625.65
3833015	ELECTROMAGNETIC VALVE	September, 1974	Kneuer	137/334
3912133	Lever-actuated bias for flow responsive injector nozzle	October, 1975	Helh	222/496
3921670	Magnetically operated valve with spider armature	November, 1975	Clippard, Jr. et al.	137/625.65
4007880	Electromagnetic fuel injection valve	February, 1977	Hans et al.	239/585
4218669	Adjustable short stroke solenoid	August, 1980	Hitchcock et al.	335/258
4295631	Solenoid operated valve	October, 1981	Allen	251/30
4437488	Solenoid valve for hot melt material	March, 1984	Taggart et al.	137/334
4453652	Controlled current solenoid driver circuit	June, 1984	Merkel et al.	222/504
4474332	Electromagnetic fuel injector having improved response rate	October, 1984	Kaska	239/585
4531679	Electromagnetically-operable fluid injection	July, 1985	Pagdin	239/585
4962871	Applicator utilizing high speed non-contact extrusion valve	October, 1990	Reeves
4981280	Solenoid actuated fluid valve	January, 1991	Brandenberg	251/26
4981281	Solenoid controlled fluid flow valve	January, 1991	Brundage et al.	251/30.02
5005803	High response, compact solenoid two-way valve	April, 1991	Fritz et al.	251/129.15
5022629	Valve construction	June, 1991	Tibbals, Jr.	251/129.02
5027976	Multi-orifice T-bar nozzle	July, 1991	Scholl et al.	222/1
5054691	Fuel oil injector with a floating ball as its valve unit	October, 1991	Huang et al.	239/585
5178332	Fuel injection valve	January, 1993	Tsukakoshi et al.	239/552
5192936	Solenoid	March, 1993	Neff et al.	335/281
5335825	Method and apparatus for dispensing multiple beads of viscous liquid	August, 1994	Fort
5375738	Apparatus for dispensing heated fluid materials	December, 1994	Walsh et al.	222/1
5535919	Apparatus for dispensing heated fluid materials	July, 1996	Ganzer et al.	222/1
5747102	Method and apparatus for dispensing small amounts of liquid material	May, 1998	Smith et al.
5769328	Fuel interconnect for fuel injector	June, 1998	Zdyb et al.	239/585.4
5772106	Printhead for liquid metals and method of use	June, 1998	Ayers et al.
5794825	Applicator for liquids such as adhesives	August, 1998	Gordon et al.	222/504
5875922	Apparatus for dispensing an adhesive	March, 1999	Chastine et al.	222/1
6253957	Method and apparatus for dispensing small amounts of liquid material	July, 2001	Messerly et al.
6265977	Radio frequency identification tag apparatus and related method	July, 2001	Vega et al.	340/572.7
6305583	Valve for viscous fluid applicator	October, 2001	Ward et al.	222/504
6318599	Electrically operated viscous fluid dispensing apparatus and method	November, 2001	Estelle et al.	222/146.5
6405755	Directly controlled magnetic valve	June, 2002	Doehla et al.	137/613
6460731	Electrically operated viscous fluid dispensing method	October, 2002	Estelle et al.	222/1
6533240	Electromagnetic drive unit for valve slides of solenoid valves	March, 2003	Lotz	251/129.15
7296706	Method and system for supporting and/or aligning components of a liquid dispensing system	November, 2007	Raterman et al.	222/1
7296707	Method and apparatus for dispensing a hot-melt adhesive	November, 2007	Raines et al.	222/54
7296714	Device for dispensing a heated liquid having a flexible hydraulic seal	November, 2007	Byerly	222/504
20010030307	Flat lamination solenoid	October, 2001	Bergstrom et al.	251/129.15
20010052585	Device for applying fluid material on a substrate, and application valve	December, 2001	Righolt et al.	251/129.18
20030008081	Post-cure treatment of silicone coating for liners in pressure-sensitive labels	January, 2003	Haase et al.	427/558
20030047627	Fuel injection valve	March, 2003	Stier et al.	239/585.5
20030071148	Fuel injection valve	April, 2003	Hohl	239/585.1
20030205589	Device for applying fluid material on a substrate, and application valve	November, 2003	Righolt et al.	222/504
20040041707	Document security system	March, 2004	Hull et al.	340/568.1
20040195278	Electrically-operated dispensing module	October, 2004	Leeuw	222/504
20050230438	Electrically-operated dispenser	October, 2005	Saidman	222/504
20050271806	Dispenser and method for non-contact dispensing of adhesive	December, 2005	Ganzer et al.
20050275539	Radio frequency IC tag and method for manufacturing the same	December, 2005	Sakama et al.	340/572.7
20060033624	Tunable antenna	February, 2006	Copeland et al.	340/572.7
20070029036	APPARATUS AND PROCESS TO APPLY ADHESIVE DURING LABELING OPERATIONS	February, 2007	Fort et al.
20080014344	APPARATUS AND RELATED METHODS TO APPLY ADHESIVE DURING LABELING OPERATIONS	January, 2008	Fort et al.

DE3841474	June, 1990
WO/1997/038798	October, 1997			HIGH SPEED FLUID DISPENSER HAVING ELECTROMECHANICAL VALVE

Nordson Corporation, Application Report RFID-Radio Frequency Identification, undated, 1 pg.
Nordson Corporation, Nordson(R) E-700 Electric Gun, Jun. 1990, pp. 7-09 to 7-11 (3pgs.).
Spraymation, Inc., Exclusive Electromatic Head, The dripless adhesive applicator with accuracy and speed unmatched by any other system, undated, 1 pg.
Members of th Staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Principles of Engineering Series, Magnetic Circuits and Transformers, Ch. III, Problems, 1994, 3 pgs.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, International Search Report and Written Opinion in PCT/US06/05585, Jun. 23, 2006.

Nguyen, Phung

Wood, Herron & Evans, L.L.P.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Provisional Ser. No. 60/673,322, filed Apr. 20, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of securing an RFID tag to a substrate with a noncontact adhesive dispenser, the RFID tag having an electronic chip and an antenna coupled with the electronic chip, and the method comprising: spacing an adhesive discharge outlet of the dispenser from the RFID tag, discharging a plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive through the spaced adhesive discharge outlet and onto an area defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip, and securing the RFID tag to the substrate with the adhesive immediately after discharging the discrete amounts of adhesive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein discharging the plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive further comprises applying the discrete amounts of adhesive to an area occupied by the antenna.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive further comprise discrete dots of adhesive jetted onto the area defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the adhesive is a hot melt adhesive.

5. A method of securing an RFID tag to a substrate with a noncontact adhesive dispenser, the RFID tag being supplied in a magazine and having an electronic chip and an antenna coupled with the electronic chip, and the method comprising: moving the RFID tag out of the magazine; spacing an adhesive discharge outlet of the dispenser from the RFID tag, discharging a plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive through the spaced adhesive discharge outlet after the RFID tag is moved out of the magazine, wherein the discrete amounts of adhesive are applied onto an area defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip, and securing the RFID tag to the substrate with the adhesive.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein discharging the plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive further comprises applying the discrete amounts of adhesive to an area occupied by the antenna.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive further comprise discrete dots of adhesive jetted onto the area defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the adhesive is a hot melt adhesive.

9. A method of securing an RFID tag to a substrate with a noncontact adhesive dispenser, the RFID tag having an electronic chip and an antenna coupled with the electronic chip, and the method comprising: spacing an adhesive discharge outlet of the dispenser from the RFID tag, discharging a plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive through the spaced adhesive discharge outlet and onto an area occupied by the antenna and defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip, and securing the RFID tag to the substrate with the adhesive.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to affixing radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to substrates, such as on retail products and packaging, or any other substrate that may advantageously utilize the benefits of an RFID tag.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

RFID technology is attracting considerable attention as a complement to or even replacement for other identification methods, such as the use of barcodes. This is because RFID tags have significant range relative to a reading device and allow increased speed and unattended reading advantages. Various retailers and wholesalers now request that their vendors use RFID technology on the products that they supply in the future to allow fully automated, high speed and unattended reading of packages or products in the supply chain.

A typical RFID system includes a tag or label that is embedded with a single chip processor and an antenna. The tag is similar to barcode labels more commonly in use today, but has more capacity and ability to transmit information. These tags may be “read only” or read/write type tags. Read only tags are more like barcodes as the encoded data cannot be changed and is often only a serial number that is used to retrieve additional descriptive data, such as item type, date of manufacture, etc., from a database. Read/write tags function similar to computer disks because they can be rewritten and updated an unlimited number of times, and may offer “locked” sections that may not be altered. The RFID system further includes a radio enabling device that communicates with or interrogates the tag for purposes of reading and writing information from and/or to the chip.

Various types of tags and labels are currently available for use in different environmental conditions. Suppliers using read/write tags may comply with the new requirements of their customers at minimal cost for disruption by writing the new information to their existing pallets. Suppliers using read only tags would have to purchase new tags for each pallet, apply them and remove the old tags to ensure that the old tags would not be read by the retailer or wholesaler. In such situations, the RFID tags may be supplied on wheels or reels having siliconized carriers for the tags. Exchanging the RFID tags in this manner usually involves downtime due to manufacturing line stoppages. Also, disposal of the carriers creates additional cost due, for example, to environmental laws.

One current method of affixing RFID tags onto substrates is to apply pressure sensitive adhesive onto the RFID tag and temporarily bond these tags onto a carrier material which is stored on a reel as mentioned above. In this instance, however, the RFID tags must be highly flexible such that they may be carried on the reel without damage or debonding. Other RFID tags will lose their function when bent and, therefore, must be stacked in magazines before being affixed to a substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a method of securing an RFID tag to a substrate using a noncontact adhesive dispenser. The method comprises spacing an adhesive discharge outlet of the dispenser from the RFID tag having an electronic chip and an antenna coupled with the electronic chip. A plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive are discharged through the spaced adhesive discharge outlet and onto an area defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip. The plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive may take on various forms, such as dots or discrete beads of adhesive jetted onto the area defined outside of the area occupied by the electronic chip. The area defined outside of the electronic chip is preferably an area occupied by the antenna. It will be understood that in most if not all cases, the chip and the antenna will be encased or covered with a suitable protective material and, therefore, when the adhesive is applied to the area occupied by the antenna, for example, it will typically not be applied directly to the antenna itself but rather on the material covering or otherwise protecting the antenna.

The method of this invention allows the use of high speed automatic adhesive dispensing guns for intermittently dispensing discrete amounts of adhesive, such as small dots of hot melt adhesive. A pattern of small dots of hot melt adhesive may be applied in a noncontact manner onto the RFID tag, as described, immediately prior to placement of the tag on the substrate. As the dots are placed around, but not on the electronic chip, the high temperature of the hot melt adhesive will not adversely affect the electronic chip. The high speed intermittent operation of the adhesive dispensing gun allows for an efficient, low cost manufacturing or packaging method. The method may be used on various types of RFID tags, but is especially advantageous for those tags that must not be bent and are, for example, dispensed from a stacked condition in a magazine. In this situation, the dispensing operation may take place immediately after dispensing the RFID tag from the magazine and immediately prior to application of the tag onto the substrate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The drawing FIGURE is a perspective view of an intermittent, noncontact hot melt adhesive dispenser discharging a plurality of discrete amounts of adhesive onto an antenna area of an RFID tag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The FIGURE illustrates an electrically operated dispensing module 10 that is more specifically disclosed in published U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0195278, published on Oct. 7, 2004, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The disclosure of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0195278 is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference herein. As fully disclosed in the above incorporated patent application, the dispenser 10 is capable of high speed intermittent application of discrete amounts of hot melt adhesive 12. For example, the adhesive may be dispensed in various forms such as dots, as shown, or other forms such as discrete elongated beads of adhesive. The RFID tag 14 shown in the FIGURE will typically include a support member 16 carrying an electronic chip 18 coupled with an antenna 20. The discrete amounts of adhesive 12 are applied at various described locations outside the area occupied by the electronic chip 18. In the preferred embodiment, these discrete amounts of adhesive 12 are applied to the area occupied by the antenna 20. This allows high speed, effective bonding through the use of hot melt materials without damaging the chip 18 or impairing its ability to function. While dots of hot melt adhesive 12 are illustrated as being dispensed essentially onto the four corners of a generally rectangular shaped configuration of antenna 20, it will be appreciated that different discrete amounts of adhesive 12 may be applied depending on the needs of the application and that the adhesive 12 may be dispensed additionally or alternatively to other areas of the RFID tag 14 that are outside the area occupied by the electronic chip 18.

The RFID tag 14 is preferably of the type that should not be bent and which is therefore typically supplied in a magazine (not shown) with an additional supply of similar RFID tags for use during product assembly and/or packaging. Therefore, the method preferably involves moving the RFID tag 14 out of the magazine, applying the discrete amounts of hot melt adhesive 12 from the noncontact dispenser 10, for example, as schematically shown in the FIGURE, and then applying the RFID tag 14 to the substrate, such as a product or product packaging (not shown), using the applied adhesive to securely fasten the RFID tag 14 to the substrate.

While the present invention has been illustrated by a description of a preferred embodiment and while this embodiment has been described in some detail, it is not the intention of the Applicants to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The various features of the invention may be used alone or in numerous combinations depending on the needs and preferences of the user. This has been a description of the present invention, along with the preferred methods of practicing the present invention as currently known. However, the invention itself should only be defined by the appended claims.