Reel-to-reel manufacturing plant for interlinked continuous and discontinuous processing steps

Abstract

A continuous manufacturing plant (100) for processing a strip-like substrate (101). A first drive moves the substrate in a direction of transport (x) and passes through process zones (110, 120, 130), so that different regions of the substrate are processed simultaneously. The process zones comprise a first process zone (110, 120) for a discontinuous process and a second process zone (130) for a continuous process. The continuous process is a reflow soldering process. The reflow soldering process (130) comprises a source of heat (W) and a second drive for moving the source of heat relative to the first process zone along the substrate. The second drive moves the source of heat (W) relative to the first process zone (110, 120) along the substrate (101) opposed to the direction of transport (X) of the substrate (101), even if the first drive is standing still.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.