Unwinding portion and ink-jet printer with offset adjacent winding portions

Abstract

Provided is an ink-jet printer in which an unwinding unit and an adjacent winding unit are offset, whereby, when printing a strip-shaped printing base material with water-based ink, the strip-shaped printing base material at the unwinding unit and the winding unit of the strip-shaped printing base material can be easily replaced, small-batch and multi-class printing can be handled, and space can be saved compared to the prior art. An inkjet printer includes: an unwinding unit for a belt-shaped printing base material; a one-way ink jet head that discharges water-based ink in a one-way manner onto the surface of the unwound ribbon-shaped printing base material; and an adjacent winding unit that is provided adjacent to the unwinding unit and that winds the belt-shaped printing base material, the unwinding unit and the adjacent winding unit being provided side by side so as to be offset toward either the upstream side or the downstream side of the one-way inkjet head.

Description

[0001] The present application is a divisional application of the patent application No. 201880080952.5, the parent application of which was filed on December 6, 2018, and the title of which is “Unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type inkjet printer”. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to an inkjet printer for printing a band-shaped printing material in a single-pass manner with an aqueous ink. BACKGROUND

[0003] In the past, as an inkjet printer for printing a band-shaped printing material in a single-pass manner with an aqueous ink, for example, there has been an inkjet printer described in Patent Literature 1.

[0004] In addition, the present applicant has also proposed an inkjet printer described in Patent Literature 2, which has received favorable reviews.

[0005] In the past inkjet printer, when the band-shaped printing material is carried, the unwinding section of the band-shaped printing material and the winding section are disposed in opposition with the inkjet head section interposed therebetween. That is, the unwinding section of the band-shaped printing material is disposed on the upstream side of the inkjet head section, and the winding section of the band-shaped printing material is disposed on the downstream side of the inkjet head section.

[0006] In the single-pass inkjet printer, since the band-shaped printing material is continuously carried and printed, it is possible to print on a long plastic film or paper, compared to a single sheet type inkjet printer. In addition, it is possible to perform high-speed printing compared to a scanning type inkjet printer, and thus it is suitable for mass production printing.

[0007] However, on the other hand, in recent years, so-called small-lot multi-item orders, such as orders for slightly changed types of printing, have also gradually increased. In order to cope with such small-lot multi-item orders, it is necessary to frequently change the band-shaped printing material between the unwinding section of the band-shaped printing material and the winding section of the band-shaped printing material, and thus there is a problem that the work is cumbersome.

[0008] In addition, the installation space of the inkjet printer is often limited, and there is also a demand to make the installation space as small as possible.

[0009] PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS

[0010] PATENT LITERATURE

[0011] Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-142966

[0012] Patent Literature 2: WO2017 / 110441 SUMMARY

[0013] PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

[0014] The object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet printer with an offset unwinding section and an adjacent winding section, which can easily replace the strip printing substrate at the unwinding section and the winding section when printing on the strip printing substrate with water-based ink, and can also cope with small-batch multi-category printing and achieve space saving compared to the past.

[0015] Solutions to Problems

[0016] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type inkjet printer of the present invention is the following unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type inkjet printer, including: an unwinding section for a strip-shaped printing substrate; a one-way inkjet head, which sprays aqueous ink on the surface of the unwound strip-shaped printing substrate in a one-way manner; and an adjacent winding section, which is arranged adjacent to the unwinding section and winds up the strip-shaped printing substrate, and the unwinding section and the adjacent winding section are offset to either the upstream side or the downstream side of the one-way inkjet head and are arranged in parallel.

[0017] Preferably, a drying region is formed to dry the surface of the strip-shaped printing substrate on which the aqueous ink has been ejected.

[0018] Preferably, the unwinding section and the adjacent winding section are offset toward the upstream side of the single-pass inkjet head and are arranged in parallel.

[0019] Note that printing by an inkjet printer generates a digital image using a group of dots of ejected ink droplets, and therefore is sometimes referred to as image formation.

[0020] Effects of the Invention

[0021] According to the present invention, there is a significant effect of being able to provide an inkjet printer with an offset unwinding section and an adjacent winding section: when printing a strip printing substrate with aqueous ink, the strip printing substrate at the unwinding section and the winding section of the strip printing substrate can be easily replaced, and it can also cope with small-batch multi-category printing, and achieve space saving compared to the past. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 This is a cross-sectional structural explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of an inkjet printer of the present invention in which an unwinding section and adjacent winding sections are offset.

[0023] Description of Reference Numerals

[0024] 10: Inkjet printer of unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type, 12: Tape printing medium, 14: Unwinding section, 16: Surface of tape printing medium, 18: Single pass type inkjet head section, 18a-18e: Each inkjet head, 20: Adjacent winding section, 22: Drying area, 24: Heating box, 26: Heat insulation wall, 28: Inlet, 30: Outlet, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58: Roll, 60a-60e: Surface heating section, D: Downstream side of inkjet head section, O: Operator, U: Upstream side of inkjet head section. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Embodiments of the present application are described below, but these embodiments are illustrative, and various modifications can be made as long as they do not depart from the technical idea of the present application. Note that the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0026] Figure 1 is a cross-sectional structure explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the inkjet printer of unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type of the present application. In Figure 1 , reference numeral 10 denotes the inkjet printer of unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type of the present application.

[0027] The inkjet printer 10 of unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type is configured to include: an unwinding section 14 of a tape printing medium 12; a single pass type inkjet head section 18 that ejects water-based ink in a single pass manner to a surface 16 of the unwound tape printing medium 12; and an adjacent winding section 20 that is provided adjacent to the unwinding section and winds the tape printing medium, the unwinding section 14 and the adjacent winding section 20 being provided side by side with being offset to either an upstream side U or a downstream side D of the single pass type inkjet head section 18.

[0028] In the illustrated example, an example in which the unwinding section 14 and the adjacent winding section 20 are provided side by side with being offset to the upstream side U of the single pass type inkjet head section 18 is shown. In this way, since the unwinding section 14 and the adjacent winding section 20 are offset, it is possible to rotate the unwinding roller of the unwinding section 14 and the winding roller of the adjacent winding section 20 in synchronization using a single motor.

[0029] As a structure of the unwinding section 14 itself, a known structure in which an unwinding roller is rotated by a drive belt as described in Patent Literature 2 is used. In addition, as a structure of the adjacent winding section 20 itself, a known structure in which a winding roller is rotated by a drive belt as described in Patent Literature 2 is used.

[0030] The belt-shaped printing substrate 12 is a belt-shaped printing substrate, but is preferably, for example, a transparent, opaque, colored film. In addition, the material of the film is not particularly limited, but as the belt-shaped printing substrate of the film, for example, a film using a synthetic resin such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), PP (polypropylene), PE (polyethylene), PS (polystyrene), NY (nylon), or the like can be appropriately used. Alternatively, a metal film in which a metal such as aluminum is made into a film shape can also be appropriately used.

[0031] As the inkjet heads 18, inkjet heads each having an ink storage tank (not shown) of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), B (black), and W (white) are shown, and are configured to eject aqueous inks of each color from each of the inkjet heads 18a to 18e. As the inkjet heads 18a to 18e, various known single-pass type inkjet ejection devices can be applied. For example, the inkjet heads described in Patent Literature 2 can be used as each of the inkjet heads.

[0032] In addition, surface heating portions 60a to 60e that heat at least the surface of the belt-shaped printing substrate 12 from which the aqueous ink is ejected are provided in the vicinity of each of the inkjet heads 18a to 18e. As the surface heating portions 60a to 60e, for example, the surface heating portions described in Patent Literature 2 can be applied, and the hot air blowing mechanism or the like described in Patent Literature 2 can be applied as the surface heating portions 60a to 60e. In the case where the hot air blowing mechanism is used as the surface heating portion, hot air at around 40°C to 80°C, for example, 70°C is blown to the surface of the belt-shaped printing substrate 12. The time for which the hot air is blown is around 2 seconds to 3 seconds in the case where the printing speed is 15 m / minute, but is appropriately changed depending on the temperature of the hot air.

[0033] Further, the belt-shaped printing substrate 12 from which the aqueous ink is ejected is transported through a drying area 22. As the drying area 22, a drying machine can be used, and in the illustrated example, an example of a heating box 24 is shown. The heating box 24 is covered with a heat-insulating wall 26 of a heat-insulating structure, and has an inlet 28 for the belt-shaped printing substrate 12 and an outlet 30 for the belt-shaped printing substrate 12.

[0034] The heating box 24 is preheated to 60°C to 70°C (preheating). As a method of heating in the heating box 24, heating with hot air or various known heaters can be used. In the illustrated example, a structure in which the inside of the heating box 24 is heated with hot air is shown.

[0035] Further, various rollers 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 for carrying the tape-like printing medium 12 are provided, and the tape-like printing medium 12 is carried via these rollers and sent to the adjacent winding section 20. Note that the reference sign O is an operator of the inkjet printer.

[0036] In this way, the unwinding section 14 and the adjacent winding section 20 are arranged side by side with either of the upstream side U or the downstream side D of the single-pass type inkjet head section 18 being offset, and thus the operator O can easily perform the replacement of the tape-like printing medium 12 at the unwinding section 14 and the adjacent winding section 20. Therefore, the usability of the unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type inkjet printer 10 is extremely good.

[0037] Therefore, the unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type inkjet printer 10 can also cope with small-lot multi-item printing. Furthermore, the unwinding section and adjacent winding section offset type inkjet printer 10 can be implemented with a space saving of about 1 / 2 of the conventional space, and space saving can also be achieved.

Claims

1. An inkjet printer having an offset unwinding section and an adjacent winding section, wherein: The unwinding portion and the adjacent winding portion offset type inkjet printer include: An unwinding section for a strip-shaped printing substrate; a single-pass inkjet head for ejecting aqueous ink onto the surface of the unwound strip-shaped printing substrate in a single-pass manner; and an adjacent winding section, which is provided adjacent to the unwinding section and winds up the strip-shaped printing substrate, The unwinding portion and the adjacent winding portion are arranged in parallel with each other with an offset to either the upstream side or the downstream side of the single-pass inkjet head.

2. The inkjet printer of claim 1, wherein the unwinding portion and the adjacent winding portion are offset. A drying region is formed to dry the surface of the strip-shaped printing substrate on which the aqueous ink has been ejected.

3. The inkjet printer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the unwinding portion and the adjacent winding portion are offset. The unwinding portion and the adjacent winding portion are offset toward the upstream side of the single-pass inkjet head and are arranged in parallel.

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