US 12,145,392 B2
Methods and systems for stencil printing
Ann M. Gilman, Bayport, MN (US); Kevin T. Reddy, Minneapolis, MN (US); Shawn C. Dodds, St. Paul, MN (US); Matthew R. D. Smith, Woodbury, MN (US); Clinton J. Cook, Woodbury, MN (US); Mikhail L. Pekurovsky, Bloomington, MN (US); and Matthew S. Stay, Bloomington, MN (US)
Assigned to 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY, St. Paul, MN (US)
Appl. No. 18/258,700
Filed by 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY, St. Paul, MN (US)
PCT Filed Dec. 21, 2021, PCT No. PCT/IB2021/062111
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 21, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/144694, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 7, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/131,711, filed on Dec. 29, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0034088 A1, Feb. 1, 2024
Int. Cl. B41M 7/00 (2006.01); B41M 1/12 (2006.01)
CPC B41M 7/009 (2013.01) [B41M 1/12 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A stencil printing system comprising:
a stencil comprising a stencil shell having a first major surface and a second major surface opposite the first major surface, the stencil shell comprising one or more apertures extending from the first major surface to the second major surface, the stencil being a rotary stencil or a flatbed stencil;
a substrate including a major surface in contact with the first major surface of the stencil shell; wherein the stencil shell comprises a release material to facilitate the separating of the major surface of the substrate from the first major surface of the stencil shell;
an applicator disposed adjacent to the second major surface of the stencil shell, configured to dispose a coating material onto the second major surface of the stencil shell to allow at least some of the coating material to fill in the one or more apertures and contact the major surface of the substrate;
a curing mechanism configured to at least partially cure the coating material in contact to the major surface of the substrate at a curing zone where the major surface of the substrate is in contact with the first major surface of the stencil shell;
a shield structure adjacent to the second major surface of the stencil shell and facing the curing zone; and
a separation mechanism positioned downstream of the curing mechanism, configured to separate the major surface of the substrate from the first major surface of the stencil shell after the coating material is at least partially cured by the curing mechanism, wherein a pattern of the coating material that is at least partially cured is formed on the major surface of the substrate.