Vacuum metallizers and methods of operating vacuum metallizers

摘要

A vacuum metallizer for coating a substrate comprises a winding zone 5 and an evaporation zone 4, with a seal 1 being provided between the winding zone and the evaporation zone. The seal 1 is configured to seal the evaporation zone 4 from the winding zone 5 sufficiently to prevent, in use, gas moving between the two zones when the seal is inflated. The metallizer further comprises at least one valve (15; figure 5) which is specifically controllable to deflate and/or inflate said seal. Preferably, two valves (16, 17; figure 5) are provided, one to inflate the seal 1 and one to deflate the seal. Preferably, the seal 1 comprises a flexible inner portion 2 and a more rigid outer portion 3, the inner portion 2 being inflated and deflated to displace the outer portion 3 between open and closed positions. A method of operating the vacuum metallizer is also disclosed.