Patent ID: 9701060
Date: 2017-07-11
CPC Classifications: B29C,B29D

Claim:
1. An extrusion-to-sheet production line, comprising: a first roll and a second roll assembly, the second roll assembly comprising a first sub-roll and a second sub-roll, the first roll and the first sub-roll of the second roll assembly set to a gap through which an extruded sheet of molten plastic material passes to calender the sheet to a thickness; a heated third roll and a fourth roll spaced apart from one another; a belt looped around the third roll and the fourth roll, the belt comprising an embossing pattern of optical element shapes that is an inverse pattern of a pattern of optical element shapes to be embossed at a first major surface of the sheet; wherein the second sub-roll of the second roll assembly and the belt at a closest point between the second sub-roll of the second roll assembly and the third roll form a nip that transfers the pattern of optical element shapes on the belt to the first major surface of the sheet; a cooling area downstream of the third roll and upstream of the fourth roll through which the belt passes while the first major surface of the sheet is still in contact with the embossing pattern on the belt for cooling the sheet and setting the pattern of optical element shapes into the sheet while the sheet is in a flat configuration, the cooling area comprising a cooling element configured to cool the sheet; and a separation area downstream of the cooling area where the belt separates from the sheet after setting the pattern of optical element shapes into the sheet.