Patent ID: 7591905
Filing Date: 2009-09-22
Classification: B01D,B05D,G11B

Abstract:
1. A device for producing a thin film from particles, comprising a ramp having an upper end portion and a lower end portion, said ramp having a width and defining a slope, a fluid supply system for delivering an adjustable flow of carrier fluid to said upper end portion of the ramp, the carrier fluid delivered to said upper end portion of the ramp flowing by gravity along the ramp to said lower end portion of the ramp, a particle supply system delivering particles at an adjustable rate to said upper end portion of the ramp at a location downstream of a source of the flow of carrier fluid on the ramp, the carrier fluid transporting the particles towards the lower end portion of the ramp, a horizontal transferring zone adjacent to the lower end portion of the ramp to cause incoming particles to gradually pile up one against the other in a film configuration at the lower end portion of the ramp, said horizontal transferring zone having a width which is substantially equal to the width of the ramp, a transferring device for withdrawing, at a controlled rate, the film from the horizontal transferring zone while the film is being grown on the ramp, the film being transferred on a substrate carried by the transferring device, the substrate being located on one side of the film and moving in the downstream with respect to the carrier fluid flow, a control system monitoring a position of a crest at the surface of the carrier fluid just upstream of a trailing edge of the film being grown up on the ramp, the control system adjusting the rate at which the carrier fluid and the particles are dispensed and the rate at which the film is withdrawn by the transferring device as a function of the position of the crest on the ramp.