PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING SYSTEM, AND PRINTING METHOD FOR PRINTING APPARATUS

Abstract

To provide a printing apparatus, a printing system, and a printing method for a printing apparatus, capable of performing high-quality printing with banding suppressed.SOLUTION: A printing apparatus 11 includes: a glue belt 17 as an example of a transportation belt which includes a support part 17a for supporting a medium M, and which transports the medium M by the movement of the support part 17a; a liquid ejection part 20 for ejecting a liquid onto the medium M supported by the support part 17a; and a dyeing part 50 for performing dyeing by immersing the medium M in a dyeing liquid DL. Printing is performed on the medium M by the combination of the dyeing in the dyeing part 50 and the ejection in the liquid ejection part 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing device that includes a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid to print on a medium, a printing system, and a printing method for the printing device. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an inkjet recording device that records on a medium such as a fabric as an example of this type of printing device. This inkjet recording device includes a conveying means for conveying the fabric, a recording means for ejecting ink onto the fabric by an inkjet method to perform recording, and a cleaning means for cleaning the fabric. The inkjet recording device described in Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration for printing a background image on a medium by ejecting liquid from a scanning head. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-218419 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, when printing background images on media by ejecting liquid from a scanning head in an inkjet recording device, there is a problem that banding can occur depending on the transport accuracy of the printer. Banding refers to lines (streaks) that appear in the image in the form of stripes along the head scanning direction. Banding can be white stripes that extend along the head scanning direction, where tiny gaps where ink is not applied occur between scan lines, or dark stripes that extend along the head scanning direction, where ink is applied overlappingly between adjacent scan lines. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A printing device that solves the above problem includes a support unit that supports a medium and a conveyor belt that conveys the medium as the support unit moves, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit, and a dyeing unit that dyes the medium by immersing it in a dyeing liquid, and prints on the medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and ejection in the liquid ejection unit.

[0006] The printing system for solving the above problem includes the above printing device, and a drying mechanism that dries both the medium printed by the liquid ejecting unit and the medium dyed by the dyeing unit. A printing system that solves the above problem is a printing system having the above printing device, wherein the cleaning liquid storage section is capable of storing the cleaning liquid or the dyeing liquid, and is provided with a holding tank connected to the cleaning liquid storage section and capable of holding the cleaning liquid or the dyeing liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage section.

[0007] A printing device that solves the above problem includes a support unit that supports a medium and a conveyor belt that conveys the medium as the support unit moves, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit, and a dyeing unit that dyes the medium by dripping dyeing liquid, and prints on the medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and ejection in the liquid ejection unit.

[0008] A printing system that solves the above problem is a printing system that includes the above printing device, and further includes a drying mechanism that dries both the medium printed by the liquid ejecting unit and the medium dyed by the dyeing unit.

[0009] A printing system that solves the above problem is a printing system having the above printing device, and is equipped with a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveying belt using cleaning liquid, and a cleaning liquid storage unit that stores the cleaning liquid, and when ink is sprayed from the liquid spray unit, a pretreatment agent is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit, and pretreatment is performed by immersing a medium in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit.

[0010] A printing method of a printing device that solves the above-mentioned problems is a printing method of a printing device that includes a conveyor belt having a support section that supports a medium and conveys the medium as the support section moves, a liquid ejection section that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support section, a cleaning section that performs a cleaning operation on the conveyor belt using cleaning liquid, a cleaning liquid storage section that stores the cleaning liquid, and a dyeing section that dyes the medium by immersing it in dyeing liquid, and includes a step of ejecting liquid from the liquid ejection section, a step of storing the dyeing liquid in the cleaning liquid storage section, and a step of dyeing the medium with the dyeing liquid. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a front view showing a printing system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the printing system. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a printing system including a dyeing unit. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the cleaning unit. [Diagram 5] FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a liquid supply system for a liquid ejection unit and a dyeing unit in the printing apparatus. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing device for explaining transport paths during printing and dyeing. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing device during a printing process. [Figure 11] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing device in a dyeing process. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a process of dyeing a medium before discharge printing. [Figure 13] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing device in a discharge printing process. [Figure 14] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing device in a printing process after discharge printing. [Figure 15] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a step of printing a resist. [Figure 16] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a process of dyeing a medium after a resist dyeing process. [Figure 17] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a printing process after resist dyeing. [Figure 18] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing apparatus in a pre-processing step. [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing device in a process of printing on a medium after pretreatment. [Figure 20] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of a printing apparatus in the process of printing on a medium before post-processing. [Figure 21] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing apparatus in a process of performing post-processing after printing. [Figure 22] 13 is a flowchart showing a first printing method in which the treatment in the liquid ejecting unit is performed before the treatment in the dyeing unit. [Figure 23] 13 is a flowchart showing a second printing method in which the process in the liquid ejecting unit is performed after the process in the dyeing unit. [Figure 24] FIG. 11 is a side cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a printing system according to a second embodiment. [Diagram 25] FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing device including a liquid ejecting portion and a dropping unit. [Figure 26] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a printing device equipped with a dropping unit. [Figure 27] FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a liquid supply system for a liquid ejection unit and a dyeing unit in the printing apparatus. [Figure 28] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a process of dyeing a medium before discharge printing. [Figure 29] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing device in a discharge printing process. [Diagram 30] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing device in a printing process after discharge printing. [Diagram 31] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a step of printing a resist. [Diagram 32] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a process of dyeing a medium after a resist dyeing process. [Diagram 33] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a printing apparatus in a printing process after resist dyeing. [Diagram 34] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing apparatus in a pre-processing step. [Diagram 35] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing device in a process of printing on a medium after pretreatment. [Diagram 36] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of a printing apparatus in the process of printing on a medium before post-processing. [Figure 37] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the printing apparatus in a process of performing post-processing after printing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] (First embodiment) Hereinafter, a printing device including a liquid ejection unit and a dyeing unit, a printing system including the printing device, and a printing method according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The printing system includes, for example, an inkjet printer that supports a medium such as fabric or paper with a transport belt and ejects ink, which is an example of a liquid, onto the medium to print.

[0013] In the drawings, the printing device 11 is placed on a horizontal plane, and the direction of gravity is indicated by the Z axis, and the directions along the horizontal plane are indicated by the X axis and the Y axis. The X axis, Y axis, and Z axis are mutually perpendicular. In the following description, the direction along the X axis is also referred to as the width direction X, the direction along the Y axis is also referred to as the depth direction Y, and the direction along the Z axis is also referred to as the gravity direction Z. In this case, when distinguishing between left and right in the device width direction, the left is referred to as the +X direction, and the right is referred to as the -X direction. When distinguishing between front and back in the device depth direction, the front is referred to as the +Y direction, and the back is referred to as the -Y direction. When distinguishing between top and bottom in the device height direction, the top is referred to as the +Z direction, and the bottom is referred to as the -Z direction.

[0014] <Printing system configuration> As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the printing system 10 includes a printing device 11 that prints on a medium M, and a drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 2) that dries the medium M printed by the printing device 11. The printing device 11 includes a support unit 17a that supports the medium M, and a transport unit 16 that includes a glue belt 17, which is an example of a transport belt that transports the medium M by moving the support unit 17a. The printing device 11 includes a liquid ejection unit 20 that performs a printing operation by ejecting liquid onto the medium M supported by the glue belt 17, a cleaning unit 30 that cleans the glue belt 17 with a cleaning liquid, a liquid storage unit 40 that can supply liquid to the liquid ejection unit 20, and a dyeing unit 50 that dyes the medium M by immersing it in a dyeing liquid. The printing device 11 prints on the medium M by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit 50 and ejection of liquid in the liquid ejection unit 20. Here, printing may refer to either the operation of spraying liquid from the liquid spray unit 20 or the operation of dyeing the medium M by immersing it in the dye liquid, or it may refer to the operation of both spraying and dyeing.

[0015] The liquid storage section 40 is, for example, a cartridge or a liquid tank that stores a liquid. The liquid storage section 40 stores the same liquid as the liquid ejected by the liquid ejection section 20. The liquid is, for example, ink, but may be a liquid other than ink. Examples of liquids other than ink include a pre-treatment agent and a post-treatment agent. As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid storage section 40 may include an ink storage section 40A that stores ink as an example of a liquid, a pre-treatment agent storage section 40B that stores a pre-treatment agent as an example of a liquid, and a post-treatment agent storage section 40C that stores a post-treatment agent. The ink storage section 40A may include a plurality of ink storage sections 40A that each store a plurality of color inks. When the liquid ejection section 20 is configured to eject a plurality of color inks to perform color printing, the plurality of ink storage sections 40A each store an ink of a color used by the liquid ejection section 20 for color printing. For example, when the liquid ejecting unit 20 is configured to perform color printing using N colors of ink, the liquid storage unit 40 is provided with N ink storage units 40A each storing the N colors of ink. The N colors may be, for example, four or eight colors. For example, when printing in four colors, four ink storage units 40A each storing four colors of ink, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, are provided. When printing in eight colors, eight ink storage units 40A are provided for storing a total of eight colors of ink, including the above four colors plus the four colors of red, blue, gray, and orange.

[0016] As shown in Fig. 1, the printing device 11 includes a housing 12 having a pillar-beam structure, and a cover 14. The pillar-beam structure supports a transport unit 16, a liquid ejecting unit 20, a cleaning unit 30, and a dyeing unit 50. The cover 14 covers a scanning area where the liquid ejecting unit 20 moves in a scanning direction X during printing. The printing device 11 also includes an operation unit 45 that is operated by a user. The operation unit 45 includes, for example, a display unit 46 with a touch panel screen, operation buttons, and the like.

[0017] The cleaning unit 30 and the dyeing section 50 are provided inside the pillar-beam structure of the housing 12 and in an area below the glue belt 17. The cleaning unit 30 cleans the lower surface of the glue belt 17. The dyeing section 50 is disposed at a position below the conveying section 16 and dyes the medium M.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1, the printing device 11 also includes a liquid storage unit 40 capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejecting unit 20. Furthermore, the liquid spray unit 20 is capable of spraying at least one of a discharge agent that discharges the color of the medium M and a resist agent that prevents coloring due to dyeing. Therefore, a resist agent is stored in the pretreatment agent storage unit 40B as an example of a pretreatment agent. Furthermore, a discharge agent is stored in the posttreatment agent storage unit 40C as an example of a posttreatment agent. The pretreatment agent storage unit 40B and the posttreatment agent storage unit 40C are configured as cartridges or tanks, similar to the ink storage unit 40A.

[0019] The apparatus includes a cleaning unit 30 that uses cleaning liquid to clean the glue belt 17, which is an example of a conveyor belt, and a cleaning liquid storage section 32 that stores the cleaning liquid. When dyeing is performed in the dyeing section 50, the dye liquid is stored in a storage tank 34.

[0020] FIG. 2 shows the printing device 11 when the liquid ejection unit 20 prints on the medium M. As shown in FIG. 2, the printing device 11 includes the transport unit 16 that transports the medium M by the glue belt 17, the liquid ejection unit 20 that ejects ink onto the medium M to print, the cleaning unit 30 that cleans the glue belt 17, and the drying unit 65 that dries the cleaning liquid remaining on the glue belt 17 after cleaning. The printing device 11 also includes a control unit 26 that controls the transport unit 16, the liquid ejection unit 20, and the cleaning unit 30. The transport unit 16, the liquid ejection unit 20, and the cleaning unit 30 are supported by a housing 12 with a column-beam structure, and are arranged at predetermined height positions. The housing 12 has a column-beam structure including a bottom frame 12a, a column frame 12b, and an upper frame 12c. The printing device also includes a cover 14 that is an exterior member that covers each part of the printing device 11.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 2, the transport unit 16 is provided on the upper part of the housing 12, and includes a drive roller 16a, a driven roller 16b, a glue belt 17, and a supply roller (not shown). The transport unit 16 can transport the medium M in the +Y direction with the movement of the glue belt 17 caused by the rotation of the drive roller 16a. In the +Y direction, the drive roller 16a is disposed downstream, and the driven roller 16b is disposed upstream. In addition, both the drive roller 16a and the driven roller 16b have rotation axes aligned along the X direction. The transport unit 16 is controlled by a control unit 26, which will be described later.

[0022] The glue belt 17 is configured as an endless belt in which both ends of an elastic flat plate are joined. The glue belt 17 is wound around the outer circumferential surface of the driving roller 16a and the outer circumferential surface of the driven roller 16b. In other words, the glue belt 17 is provided in the housing 12 and can transport the medium M by moving in a circular motion.

[0023] The surface 18 of the glue belt 17 has, for example, adhesiveness and is capable of supporting and adsorbing the medium M. Adhesiveness refers to a property that allows a material to be temporarily attached to another material and to be peeled off from the attached state.

[0024] In the surface 18, the direction intersecting with the +Y direction, which is the moving direction of the glue belt 17, is the X direction. In the surface 18, a portion located in the +Z direction from the center of the driving roller 16a and along the XY plane is defined as the upper surface portion 18a. The upper surface portion 18a supports the medium M. That is, the upper surface portion 18a constitutes an example of a support portion that supports the medium M. In addition, in the surface 18, a portion wound around the driving roller 16a is defined as the curved surface portion 18b. Furthermore, in the surface 18, a portion located in the -Z direction from the center of the driving roller 16a and along the XY plane is defined as the lower surface portion 18c. In addition, a portion wound around the driven roller 16b is defined as the curved surface portion 18d. In addition, a pressure roller 16c that applies pressure to adhere the medium M to the upper surface portion 18a is provided at a position upstream of the position where the liquid ejection unit 20 faces the upper surface portion 18a in the transport direction Y.

[0025] The transport unit 16 can change the transport speed of the medium M by adjusting the number of rotations per unit time of the drive roller 16a. A winding roller (not shown) winds up the medium M, peeling the medium M from the curved surface portion 18b. The medium M peeled off from the curved surface portion 18b is dried by the drying mechanism 100 on the way to the winding roller. The medium M dried by the drying mechanism 100 is wound onto the winding roller (not shown). The drying mechanism 100 may be provided as part of a winding device equipped with a winding roller.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid ejection unit 20 is provided above the transport unit 16. The liquid ejection unit 20 is configured to be capable of recording on the medium M transported in the +Y direction. The liquid ejection unit 20 includes a liquid ejection head 21 and a carriage 22 that supports the liquid ejection head 21 so as to be able to move back and forth along the X direction. The liquid ejection head 21 is disposed in the +Z direction relative to the medium M, and performs recording on the medium M by ejecting ink, as an example of a liquid, onto a recording surface of the medium M. The liquid ejection unit 20 is controlled by a control unit 26.

[0027] 2, the cleaning unit 30 includes a cleaning liquid storage section 32 that stores a cleaning liquid, a cleaning brush 37 as an example of a cleaning section that cleans the glue belt 17 using the cleaning liquid, and a squeegee 38. The cleaning unit 30 of this example includes a plurality of (e.g., three) cleaning brushes 37 and a plurality of (e.g., four) squeegees 38. The squeegee 38 is a rubber blade that scrapes off the cleaning liquid from the surface of the glue belt 17.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning unit 30 cleans the glue belt 17 during printing in which the liquid ejecting section 20 ejects liquid to print on the medium M. The cleaning unit 30 includes a cleaning liquid storage section 32 that stores a cleaning liquid (cleaning liquid). The cleaning liquid storage section 32 includes a storage tank 34 consisting of a tank that is open upward. When the liquid ejecting section 20 is not performing printing in which the liquid is ejected, the storage tank 34 is not used. In this embodiment, the cleaning unit 30 and the dyeing section 50 share the storage tank 34, which is one of their components.

[0029] When the liquid ejection unit 20 records on the medium M, liquid may adhere to the surface 18 of the glue belt 17. For example, if the medium M is cloth, liquid such as ink that has bled through may adhere to the surface 18. Furthermore, when the medium M is peeled off from the surface 18, cloth debris may remain on the surface 18. The liquid such as ink that has adhered to the surface 18 may cause the medium M to become dirty, and the debris that remains on the surface 18 may cause the adhesive force of the medium M to decrease to the surface 18. In the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, the surface 18 of the glue belt 17 is cleaned by the cleaning brush 37 to remove the liquid that has adhered to the surface 18 and debris caused by the medium substrate.

[0030] Fig. 3 shows the printing device 11 when the dyeing section 50 dyes the medium M. As shown in Fig. 3, when the liquid ejecting section 20 is not printing and the cleaning unit 30 is not using the cleaning liquid storage section 32, the dyeing section 50 stores dyeing liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage section 32 and performs dyeing. The dyeing section 50 then dyes the medium M by immersing the medium M in the dyeing liquid DL that has been stored in the storage tank 34 in place of the cleaning liquid CL.

[0031] For this reason, as shown in Fig. 2, the cleaning brush 37 and the squeegee 38 are detachably attached to the storage tank 34. When the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 is used as the dyeing unit 50, the cleaning brush 37 and the squeegee 38 are removed as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, a brush support unit 34a that rotatably supports the cleaning brush 37 is provided on the inner surface of the storage tank 34. The dyeing unit 50 uses the cleaning brush 37 to agitate the dyeing liquid DL in the process of preparing the dyeing liquid DL in the storage tank 34.

[0032] The dyeing unit 50 uses the liquid stored in the liquid storage unit 40 as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL. The liquid (waste liquid) discharged from the liquid ejection unit 20 by the maintenance operation by the maintenance unit 60 is temporarily stored by liquid type (for example, by color), and the dyeing liquid DL of the color required for dyeing is stored in the storage tank 34. When the waste liquid to be used as the dyeing liquid DL is insufficient in the storage tank 34, the ink stored in the ink storage unit 40A is supplied to the storage tank 34 as the dyeing liquid DL. For example, at the beginning of use of the printing device 11, there is still no waste liquid due to the maintenance operation, so only the ink supplied from the ink storage unit 40A is used as the dyeing liquid DL. In other words, all of the dyeing liquid DL is supplied from the ink storage unit 40A. When a predetermined time has passed since the start of use of the printing device 11 and the waste liquid of each color is stored in the dyeing liquid storage unit 71 of each color by flushing and cleaning, the waste liquid is supplied to the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL.

[0033] 2, during printing by the liquid ejecting unit 20, the drying mechanism 100 is disposed at a position between the transport unit 16 and the winding device (not shown), and dries the medium M after printing. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, during dyeing of the medium M by the dyeing unit 50, the drying mechanism 100 is disposed at a position downstream of the dyeing unit 50 in the transport direction Y, and dries the medium M after dyeing. In this embodiment, the drying mechanism 100 dries both the medium M printed by the liquid ejecting unit 20 and the medium M dyed by the dyeing unit 50.

[0034] <Cleaning Department Composition> Next, the configuration of the cleaning unit 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the cleaning unit 30 includes a plurality of (for example, three) cleaning brushes 37 and a plurality of (for example, four) squeegees 38. The cleaning unit 30 also includes a lifting mechanism 31 that supports the storage tank 34 of the cleaning liquid storage section 32 so that it can be raised and lowered. The storage tank 34 can be raised and lowered in the Z direction relative to the glue belt 17 as shown by the outlined arrow in FIG. 4. The height position of the storage tank 34 in the Z direction is adjusted so that the cleaning brush 37, which is rotatably supported by the brush support part 34a (see FIG. 3) provided on the inner surface of the storage tank 34, is positioned at a height that allows it to contact the surface 18 of the glue belt 17. The lifting mechanism 31 includes one or more lifting actuators 31A whose movable parts are fixed to the bottom wall 35 of the storage tank 34. The lifting actuator 31A is, for example, an air cylinder, a linear motor, a hydraulic cylinder, or a ball screw mechanism.

[0035] 4, when the liquid ejecting unit 20 performs printing, the cleaning liquid CL is stored in the storage tank 34. The cleaning liquid CL is stored in the storage tank 34 up to a liquid level at which the lower part of the cleaning brush 37 is immersed. The amount of cleaning liquid CL stored in the storage tank 34 can be set arbitrarily as long as part of the cleaning brush 37 is immersed.

[0036] The storage tank 34 is disposed below the drive roller 16a and the glue belt 17. The storage tank 34 also includes a bottom wall 35, a front wall 36a, a rear wall 36b, and a pair of side walls 36c. The bottom wall 35 is formed in a rectangular plate shape having a predetermined thickness in the Z direction, and is disposed along the XY plane. The front wall 36a stands upright in the +Z direction at the end of the bottom wall 35 in the +Y direction. The rear wall 36b stands upright in the +Z direction at the end of the bottom wall 35 in the -Y direction. The pair of side walls 36c are disposed at the end of the bottom wall 35 in the +X direction and the end of the bottom wall 35 in the -X direction, respectively, and stand upright in the +Z direction from the bottom wall 35. That is, the storage tank 34 has a box shape with an open top. The cleaning liquid CL for cleaning the surface 18 is stored in the space inside the box shape, surrounded by the bottom wall 35, the front wall 36a, the rear wall 36b, and the pair of side walls. That is, the storage tank 34 is shaped like a box and has an open top, and stores therein the cleaning liquid CL to be supplied to the cleaning brush 37 during the cleaning operation.

[0037] The cleaning brush 37 has a cylindrical shaft portion 37a and brush portions 37b extending radially from the outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion 37a. The shaft portion 37a extends along the X direction and is rotatably supported by a brush support portion 34a provided on the inner surface of the pair of side walls 36c. The cleaning brush 37 is detachably attached to the brush support portion 34a.

[0038] The brush portion 37b is configured to be able to come into contact with the lower surface portion 18c when the cleaning liquid storage portion 32 is raised in the +Z direction. The cleaning brush 37 is rotated by the motor 30M (see FIGS. 6 and 7) to remove the liquid adhering to the lower surface portion 18c and debris caused by the medium substrate using the cleaning liquid CL stored in the storage tank 34. That is, the cleaning brush 37 performs a cleaning operation of the glue belt 17 using the cleaning liquid CL stored in the storage tank 34. The liquid and debris caused by the medium substrate removed from the glue belt 17 by the cleaning brush 37 are mixed into the cleaning liquid CL in the storage tank 34 and collected.

[0039] The squeegee 38 is attached to a plate-shaped portion extending from near the rear wall 36b of the storage tank 34 in a position inclined obliquely with respect to the lower surface portion 18c. The squeegee 38 scrapes off the cleaning liquid CL remaining on the lower surface portion 18c after cleaning by the cleaning brush 37 from the lower surface portion 18c. An inner frame 19 is provided on the inside of a portion of the glue belt 17 where the tip of the squeegee 38 comes into contact. The inner frame 19 is installed in the X direction in the housing 12 and supports the glue belt 17 from the inside. This allows the glue belt 17 to resist the pressure force from the squeegee 38. The cleaning unit 30 also includes a liquid amount sensor 39 that detects the amount of liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage portion 32. When the liquid amount sensor 39 detects that the amount of the cleaning liquid CL is less than the lower limit amount, the control unit 26 either refills the cleaning liquid CL or notifies the user of information that the cleaning liquid is insufficient.

[0040] <Dyeing department configuration> Next, the staining unit 50 will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 5, the staining unit 50 includes a cleaning liquid storage unit 32 that stores staining liquid DL in place of the cleaning liquid CL, the above-mentioned lifting mechanism 31 that lifts and lowers the storage tank 34 of the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, and a transport mechanism 51 that transports the medium M along a path that allows the medium M to be immersed in the staining liquid DL stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32.

[0041] The height of the cleaning liquid storage section 32 is adjusted by the lifting mechanism 31 to a first position, which is a height position where the cleaning brush 37 is attached and the cleaning section 32 is positioned during cleaning, and a second position, which is lower than the first height position and is a height position where the transport mechanism 51 is attached and the cleaning liquid storage section 32 is positioned during dyeing. When the lifting actuator 31A of the lifting mechanism 31 is driven to contract, the cleaning liquid storage section 32 is positioned at the second position shown in FIG. 5. By positioning the cleaning liquid storage section 32 at the second position, a transport path for transporting the medium M along the lower surface portion 18c below the glue belt 17 is secured, and a path for immersing the medium M in the dyeing liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage section 32 can be taken.

[0042] The transport mechanism 51 includes a pair of transport roller pairs 52, 53 arranged on both sides of a portion of the medium M immersed in the staining liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage section 32 in the transport direction Y. That is, the transport mechanism 51 includes a first transport roller pair 52 arranged at a position upstream of the cleaning liquid storage section 32 in the transport direction Y, and a second transport roller pair 53 arranged at a position downstream of the transport direction Y. The first transport roller pair 52 transports the medium M by sandwiching a portion of the medium M upstream of the portion of the medium M immersed in the staining liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage section 32 in the transport direction Y. The second transport roller pair 53 transports the medium M by sandwiching a portion of the medium M downstream of the portion of the medium M immersed in the staining liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage section 32 in the transport direction Y.

[0043] The transport mechanism 51 also includes a squeeze roller 54 located slightly upstream of the second transport roller pair 53. The squeeze roller 54 pinches the portion of the medium M that has come out of the dye liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage section 32, and removes excess dye liquid DL from the medium M. The dye liquid DL removed from the medium M by the squeeze roller 54 is returned to the storage tank 34 and reused.

[0044] The control unit 26 drives the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 constituting the transport mechanism 51 at the same speed while keeping the portion of the medium M, which is sandwiched between the pair of transport rollers 52, 53, immersed in the staining liquid DL. The control unit 26 also drives the squeeze roller 54 constituting the transport mechanism 51 at the same transport speed as the pair of transport rollers 52, 53. When the liquid level sensor 39 detects that the amount of staining liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 has fallen below the lower limit liquid level, the control unit 26 replenishes the staining liquid DL or notifies the user of information that there is a shortage of staining liquid.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 6, the cleaning unit 30 is supported on a cart 30A having a plurality of wheels 30B via the above-mentioned lifting mechanism 31 so as to be able to move up and down. The cleaning brushes 37 arranged in the conveying direction Y have a width dimension close to the width dimension between the inner walls of the storage tank 34 facing each other in the width direction X. The cleaning brushes 37 can clean the entire width of the lower surface portion 18c of the glue belt 17 (see FIGS. 2 and 4). A motor 30M that serves as a driving source for the cleaning brush 37 is disposed on the side of the storage tank 34. The squeegees 38 arranged in the conveying direction Y have a width dimension close to the width dimension between the inner walls of the storage tank 34 facing each other in the width direction X. The squeegees 38 can press the entire width of the surface 18 of the glue belt 17 (see FIGS. 2 and 4) with the blades 38a at the tips to scrape off the cleaning liquid CL remaining on the surface 18 of the glue belt 17. Furthermore, one pipe 82 (supply flow path) and the multiple pipes 74 (supply flow paths) are connected to the vicinity of the center of the width of the front wall 36a of the storage tank 34. The one pipe 82 is a cleaning liquid supply pipe for supplying the cleaning liquid CL to the storage tank 34.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 7, the dyeing section 50 is supported on the upper side of the carriage 30A via the lifting mechanism 31 so as to be able to rise and fall. A pair of conveying roller pairs 52, 53, each disposed on the upstream side and downstream side of the conveying direction Y with respect to the storage tank 34, have a width dimension close to the width dimension of the width direction X of the storage tank 34, and can convey the medium M of the assumed maximum width by pinching it over the entire width. In addition, the squeeze roller 54 has a width dimension almost equal to each of the conveying roller pairs 52, 53, and can pinch the medium M of the assumed maximum width over the entire width to remove excess dyeing liquid. In addition, the dyeing liquid DL of each color can be supplied to the storage tank 34 from a plurality of pipes 74 connected near the center of the width of the front wall 36a of the storage tank 34. In detail, the plurality of pipes 74 include a dyeing liquid supply pipe for supplying the dyeing liquid DL to the storage tank 34. The multiple pipes 74 include N pipes 74, the same number as the number of ink colors, which is the number of the multiple ink storage sections 40A, the same number of pipes 74 as the number of pre-treatment agent storage sections 40B, and the same number of pipes 74 as the number of post-treatment agent storage sections 40C. Not only the dye solution DL, but also the pre-treatment agent and the post-treatment agent can be supplied to the cleaning liquid storage section 32 through the multiple pipes 74.

[0047] Next, a liquid supply system of the liquid ejecting unit 20 and a dyeing liquid supply system of the dyeing unit 50 will be described with reference to Fig. 8. Note that Fig. 8 shows a liquid supply system and a dyeing liquid supply system for only one type of liquid among multiple types of liquid including N colors of ink, a pre-treatment agent, and a post-treatment agent.

[0048] As shown in Fig. 8, the printing device 11 includes a pressurizing mechanism 42 that pressurizes and sends out the liquid stored in the liquid storage unit 40. The pressurizing mechanism 42 includes a pressurizing pump 43 that pressurizes the liquid in the liquid storage unit 40. The pressurizing pump 43 is driven to pressurize the inside of the liquid storage unit 40, thereby supplying the liquid to the liquid ejection unit 20. The liquid ejection head 21 has a plurality of nozzles 21N that open to a nozzle surface 21a that is a surface facing the transport path of the medium M. The liquid ejection unit 20 prints on the medium M by ejecting liquid from the nozzles 21N of the liquid ejection head 21.

[0049] 8, the printing apparatus 11 has the aforementioned maintenance unit 60 that performs maintenance of the liquid jet head 21. The maintenance unit 60 performs maintenance operations such as capping, flushing, and cleaning to prevent or resolve jetting failures caused by clogging of the nozzles 21N of the liquid jet head 21 or adhesion of foreign matter. The maintenance unit 60 is controlled by the control unit 26.

[0050] The maintenance unit 60 includes a cap 61 as an example of a liquid receiving unit that receives liquid discharged as waste liquid from the liquid ejection head 21 by a maintenance operation. During flushing, liquid is ejected as waste liquid from the nozzle 21N of the liquid ejection unit 20 toward the cap 61. During cleaning, liquid is ejected as waste liquid from the nozzle 21N of the liquid ejection unit 20 toward the cap 61. Note that a flushing box dedicated to flushing that receives liquid ejected by the liquid ejection unit 20 during flushing may be included. In this way, the liquid receiving unit may be composed of only the cap 61, or may be composed of the cap 61 and the flushing box.

[0051] The maintenance unit 60 performs maintenance on the nozzle 21N of the liquid ejection unit 20. As one type of maintenance, the liquid ejection unit 20 performs flushing, which ejects liquid from the nozzle 21N as waste liquid. Also, as one type of maintenance, cleaning is performed, which discharges the liquid in the liquid ejection head 21 through the nozzle 21N as waste liquid.

[0052] Here, capping refers to an operation in which the cap 61 comes into contact with the liquid jet head 21 so as to surround the opening of the nozzle 21N when the liquid jet head 21 is not jetting liquid. This surrounds and forms a substantially closed space between the nozzle opening surface where the nozzle 21N of the liquid jet head 21 is open and the cap. Capping suppresses thickening of the liquid in the nozzle 21N, thereby preventing the occurrence of jetting defects.

[0053] Flushing refers to an ejection operation in which droplets unrelated to recording are discharged from the nozzle 21N as waste liquid. Flushing prevents clogging of the nozzle 21N by discharging thickened liquid, air bubbles, or foreign matter that may cause ejection defects from the nozzle 21N. Flushing is performed by the liquid ejection head 21 ejecting droplets from the nozzle 21N as waste liquid, for example, toward the inside of the cap 61.

[0054] The maintenance unit 60 has a waste liquid output flow path 62, which is a flow path connecting the cap 61 to the staining liquid supply flow path 70A, and a waste liquid output pump 63 provided in the middle of the waste liquid output flow path 62. The waste liquid output pump 63 outputs waste liquid from the cap 61 toward the staining liquid storage unit 71 through the waste liquid output flow path 62. In addition, in a configuration including a flushing box, the waste liquid is transferred from the flushing box toward the staining liquid storage unit 71 by the waste liquid output pump 63. Note that the waste liquid output pump 63 connected to the cap 61 and the waste liquid output pump 63 connected to the flushing box may be a supply pump or may be separate pumps.

[0055] Cleaning refers to an operation in which liquid is forcibly discharged as waste liquid from the nozzles 21N of the liquid jet head 21. The cap 61 moves up and down between a capping position where the cap 61 abuts against the nozzle surface 21a where the nozzles 21N are open, and a retracted position where the cap 61 is separated from the nozzle surface 21a. During cleaning, the cap 61 is in a capping state where the cap 61 abuts against the nozzle surface 21a, and in this state, the waste liquid delivery pump 63 is driven to generate negative pressure in the closed space, and suction cleaning is performed in which the liquid in the liquid jet head 21 is discharged as waste liquid through the nozzles 21N. Note that the cleaning may be pressure cleaning instead of suction cleaning. In pressure cleaning, a pressure force is applied from the upstream of the nozzles 21N of the liquid jet head 21, and the liquid is forcibly discharged as waste liquid from the nozzles 21N. In this pressure cleaning, the liquid may be forcibly discharged from the nozzles 21N of the liquid jet unit 20 by pressurizing the liquid storage unit 40 with the pressure pump 43 using the pressure mechanism 42.

[0056] 8, the printing device 11 includes a dyeing liquid supplying unit 70 that supplies the dyeing liquid used by the dyeing unit 50. The printing device 11 includes a dyeing liquid storage unit 71 in which the dyeing liquid DL is temporarily stored before being supplied to the storage tank 34. In the dyeing liquid supplying unit 70, the cap 61 receives waste liquid (ink) ejected or discharged from the nozzle 21N of the liquid ejecting head 21 when the maintenance unit 60 performs a maintenance operation, and collects the received waste liquid (ink) by color. Then, the dyeing liquid supplying unit 70 stores the ink collected by color in a plurality (N) of dyeing liquid storage units 71 as dyeing liquid.

[0057] The liquids of the multiple colors are mixed together and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid. A plurality (N) of dyeing liquid storage sections 71, the number of which is the same as the number of colors, are connected to the storage tank 34 through a plurality (N) of pipes 74. An opening / closing valve 75 capable of opening and closing the pipes 74 individually is provided in the middle of the plurality (N) of pipes 74. The dyeing liquids stored by color in the dyeing liquid storage sections 71 are supplied to the storage tank 34 by opening the opening / closing valves 75. When the dyeing liquid DL of the multiple colors is supplied to the storage tank 34, the dyeing liquid DL of the multiple colors is mixed in the storage tank 34. In this example, the maintenance unit 60 performs a maintenance operation to combine the liquids of the multiple colors sprayed or discharged as waste liquid from the liquid ejection head 21 in the storage tank 34, and the combined liquid is used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL. When the dye liquid is insufficient with only the multiple color liquids jetted or discharged from the liquid jet head 21 during the maintenance operation, the liquid from the liquid reservoir 40 is replenished.

[0058] The supply flow path 41 extending from the liquid storage section 40 branches into a supply flow path 41A connected to the liquid ejection section 20 and a staining liquid supply flow path 70A connected to the staining liquid storage section 71. The staining liquid storage section 71 stores the staining liquid to be supplied to the storage tank 34 when staining is performed.

[0059] The waste liquid discharge flow path 62 extending from the maintenance unit 60 merges with the dye liquid supply flow path 70A. The ink received as waste liquid by the cap 61 of the maintenance unit 60 is supplied to the dye liquid storage unit 71 through the waste liquid discharge flow path 62 and the dye liquid supply flow path 70A.

[0060] The liquid discharged by the liquid ejection unit 20 during a maintenance operation is used as at least a part of the staining liquid. When the staining liquid storage unit 71 is short of staining liquid, liquid from the liquid storage unit 40 may be used to replenish the staining liquid. An opening / closing valve 72 and a check valve 73 are provided midway along a staining liquid supply flow path 70A branching off from the supply flow path 41 between the liquid storage unit 40 and the staining liquid storage unit 71. The check valve 73 allows the flow of liquid from the liquid storage unit 40 to the staining liquid storage unit 71 and prevents the flow of liquid in the opposite direction.

[0061] The dyeing section 50 includes a liquid amount sensor 76 that detects the amount of the dyeing liquid DL stored in the dyeing liquid storage section 71. The liquid amount sensor 76 detects a shortage of the dyeing liquid. The on-off valve 72 opens when the amount of liquid detected by the liquid amount sensor 76 falls below a predetermined lower limit value of the liquid amount, and closes when the amount of liquid detected by the liquid amount sensor 76 reaches a predetermined upper limit value of the liquid amount. In this way, the dyeing liquid storage section 71 stores a required amount of the dyeing liquid DL by color. The printing device 11 may include a dyeing liquid supply source (dyeing liquid supply tank) dedicated to the dyeing liquid, in addition to the liquid storage section that stores the liquid to be supplied to the liquid ejecting section 20. In other words, a color-matching storage section may be provided that stores at least some of the dyeing liquid DL of a color selected from the multiple colors of the dyeing liquid DL stored in the multiple dyeing liquid storage sections 71 and performs color matching. In addition, when the amount of liquid in the dyeing liquid storage section 71 is insufficient even when waste liquid is used, the dyeing liquid may be supplied from the dyeing liquid supply source. Furthermore, if the dye liquid supply source is also insufficient, ink may be supplied from the ink reservoir 40A.

[0062] <Dyeing department configuration> 8, the dyeing section 50 includes a storage tank 34 shared with the cleaning unit 30, a dyeing solution supply section 70 that supplies dyeing solution DL to the storage tank 34, and a transport mechanism 51 that transports the medium M for dyeing. The transport mechanism 51 includes the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 and the squeeze roller 54 described above.

[0063] A first holding tank 55 that discharges and holds the stored cleaning liquid CL is connected to the storage tank 34. The first holding tank 55 is a tank for holding the cleaning liquid CL temporarily discharged from the storage tank 34 when the liquid stored in the storage tank 34 is switched from the cleaning liquid CL to the staining liquid DL.

[0064] When the staining unit 50 performs staining, staining liquid DL is stored in the storage tank 34 instead of the cleaning liquid CL. A drainage flow path 55A for discharging the cleaning liquid CL is connected to the storage tank 34. A drainage valve 55B is provided in the middle of the drainage flow path 55A, and the cleaning liquid CL in the storage tank 34 is discharged into the first holding tank 55 through the drainage flow path 55A by opening the drainage valve 55B. In the example of FIG. 8, the discharge port of the drainage flow path 55A is connected to the first holding tank 55. Note that the first holding tank 55 may be omitted, and the cleaning liquid CL may be discharged into a tank prepared by the operator.

[0065] A second holding tank 56 that discharges and holds the stored staining liquid DL is connected to the storage tank 34. The second holding tank 56 is a tank for holding the staining liquid DL temporarily discharged from the storage tank 34 when the liquid stored in the storage tank 34 is switched from the staining liquid DL to another liquid such as a cleaning liquid CL. A drainage flow path 56A for discharging the staining liquid DL is connected to the storage tank 34. A drainage valve 56B is provided in the middle of the drainage flow path 56A, and the staining liquid DL in the storage tank 34 is discharged to the second holding tank 56 through the drainage flow path 56A by opening the drainage valve 56B. In the example of FIG. 8, the discharge port of the drainage flow path 56A is connected to the second holding tank 56.

[0066] The dyeing unit 50 performs a process of immersing the medium M in the liquid stored in the storage tank 34, thereby causing the components of the liquid to adhere to the medium M. The dyeing unit 50 performs a dyeing process of immersing the medium M in the dye liquid DL stored in the storage tank 34, thereby causing the dye, which is a component of the dye liquid, to adhere to the medium M.

[0067] Furthermore, the dyeing unit 50 may use a pretreatment agent L1 and a posttreatment agent L2 as the liquid in which the medium M is immersed, instead of the dyeing liquid DL. The pretreatment agent L1 is a treatment liquid in which the medium M is immersed in advance before the liquid ejection unit 20 performs printing, to perform pretreatment on the medium M. The pretreatment agent L1 may be, for example, a bleeding prevention agent. In this case, in order to prevent bleeding of the ink ejected onto the medium M by the liquid ejection unit 20 during printing, the pretreatment agent L1 is applied to the surface of the medium M before printing on the medium M. When performing pretreatment, the dyeing unit 50 immerses the medium M in the pretreatment agent L1 stored in the storage tank 34. The pretreatment agent L1 is applied to the surface of the medium M before printing, thereby performing a bleeding prevention treatment on the surface of the medium M. Note that the pretreatment agent L1 is not limited to a bleeding prevention agent, and may be any treatment liquid that is applied to the medium M before printing.

[0068] Furthermore, the post-treatment agent L2 is applied to the surface of the printed medium M to prevent the layer of ink (hereinafter also referred to as the "ink layer") printed on the medium M by the liquid ejection unit 20 from peeling off due to external forces such as friction after drying. When performing post-treatment, the dyeing unit 50 immerses the medium M in the post-treatment agent L2 stored in the storage tank 34. The post-treatment agent L2 may be, for example, a coating agent. By immersing the medium M in the coating agent, the ink layer of the printed medium M is protected by the coating layer. Note that the post-treatment agent L2 is not limited to a coating agent, and may be any treatment liquid that is applied to the medium M after printing.

[0069] 8, the dyeing section 50 may include a third holding tank 57 that discharges the pretreatment agent L1 stored in the storage tank 34 from the storage tank 34 and temporarily holds it. By discharging the pretreatment agent L1 stored in the storage tank 34 and temporarily storing it in the third holding tank 57, it is possible to avoid discarding the pretreatment agent L1 when storing the next liquid to be stored, such as the cleaning liquid CL, in the storage tank 34. A drainage flow path 57A for discharging the pretreatment agent L1 is connected to the storage tank 34. A drainage valve 57B is provided in the middle of the drainage flow path 57A, and by opening the drainage valve 57B, the pretreatment agent L1 in the storage tank 34 is discharged through the drainage flow path 57A into the third holding tank 57.

[0070] 8, the dyeing section 50 may further include a fourth holding tank 58 for temporarily holding the post-treatment agent L2 discharged from the storage tank 34. By discharging the post-treatment agent L2 stored in the storage tank 34 and temporarily storing it in the fourth holding tank 58, it is not necessary to discard the post-treatment agent L2 when storing the next liquid to be stored, such as the cleaning liquid CL, in the storage tank 34. A drainage flow path 58A for discharging the post-treatment agent L2 is connected to the storage tank 34. A drainage valve 58B is provided in the middle of the drainage flow path 58A, and by opening the drainage valve 58B, the post-treatment agent L2 in the storage tank 34 is discharged through the drainage flow path 58A into the fourth holding tank 58.

[0071] The printing device 11 may have a liquid level sensor 39 for detecting the level of the liquid, such as the cleaning liquid CL or the staining liquid DL, in the storage tank 34. For example, when the liquid level sensor 39 detects that the height of the liquid level in the storage tank 34 has dropped to a predetermined level due to evaporation of water contained in the cleaning liquid CL, a message encouraging the refilling of the cleaning liquid CL into the storage tank 34 may be displayed on the display unit 46 shown in FIG.

[0072] As shown in Fig. 8, the cleaning unit 30 includes a cleaning liquid storage section 80 that stores cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid storage section 80 includes a cleaning liquid tank 81. The cleaning liquid tank 81 and the cleaning liquid storage section 32 are connected via a pipeline 82 for supplying the cleaning liquid CL. An opening / closing valve 83 is provided midway along the pipeline 82, and by opening the opening / closing valve 83, the cleaning liquid CL in the cleaning liquid tank 81 is supplied to the cleaning liquid storage section 32 through the pipeline 82. Note that a pump that supplies the cleaning liquid CL in the cleaning liquid tank 81 to the storage tank 34 may be provided.

[0073] The control unit 26 includes a CPU and a memory, not shown. The CPU is an arithmetic processing device. The memory is a storage device that secures an area for storing programs for the CPU or a working area, and includes memory elements such as RAM and EEPROM, and storage. The CPU controls the operation of each part of the printing device 11 in accordance with the program stored in the memory. The control unit 26 communicates with a control unit (not shown) of the drying mechanism 100 via wired or wireless communication, and shares information with each other.

[0074] The control unit 26 controls the transport unit 16, the liquid ejection unit 20, the cleaning unit 30, and the dyeing unit 50 based on the print data. The print data includes commands and print image data. The commands include a scanning command for driving and controlling the carriage 22, a transport command for controlling the glue belt 17, and the like. The control unit 26 drives and controls the carriage 22 based on the scanning command, and controls the transport of the glue belt 17, etc., based on the transport command.

[0075] The print image data is dot data of a predetermined gradation. In this example, it is dot data of, for example, four gradations. The print image data is composed of a plurality of plate data represented by dot data for each ink color. The liquid ejection head 21 can eject liquid droplets in three gradations of dot sizes, for example, large dots, medium dots, and small dots, as the presence or absence of ejection of droplets and the size of the droplets when ejected. The gradation of the print image data may be two gradations of only the presence or absence of ejection, or three gradations of large dots and small dots. The control unit 26 controls a duty value that determines the magnitude of power supplied to the ejection drive element built into each nozzle of the liquid ejection head 21. That is, the control unit 26 performs liquid ejection control to eject droplets from the nozzles by duty controlling the ejection drive element for each nozzle of the liquid ejection head 21 based on the pixel value of the print image data.

[0076] The control unit 26 also receives color information of the dyeing liquid from the operation unit 45 operated by the user. A non-volatile memory (not shown) included in the control unit 26 stores color-matching table data. The control unit 26 refers to the blending table data (not shown) based on the color information of the dyeing liquid received from the operation unit 45, and calculates the ink supply amount to be supplied from the multiple dyeing liquid storage units 71 to the storage tank 34 for each color. The control unit 26 then controls the opening and closing of the opening and closing valves 75 for each color, thereby supplying the ink of the calculated ink supply amount for each color to the storage tank 34. Thus, the dyeing liquid DL of the required color is supplied from each dyeing liquid storage unit 71 to the storage tank 34 at the required ratio. As a result, the dyeing liquid DL in the storage tank 34 is matched to the color specified by the user by operating the operation unit 45. This allows the user to avoid the task of manually matching the colors.

[0077] The N pipes 74, which respectively supply the N colors of dye liquid DL, are connected to the front wall 36a of the storage tank 34 and communicate with the storage tank 34 (see FIG. 7). The N on-off valves 75 are controlled to open and close, so that the dye liquid DL of the required colors is supplied to the storage tank 34 from the N dye liquid storage sections 71, the number of which is the same as the number N of ink colors. In addition, one pipe 82 is connected to the front wall 36a of the storage tank 34 and communicates with the storage tank 34 (see FIG. 6). The one pipe 82 and the N pipes 74 may be connected to any surface of the storage tank 34, may be connected to the rear wall 36b, or may be divided and connected to multiple surfaces.

[0078] Next, digital textile printing and analog textile printing in the printing device 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in Figure 9, the printing device 11 has, as transport paths for transporting the medium M, a first transport path T1 that transports the medium M by the glue belt 17 when the liquid ejecting section 20 ejects the liquid L, and a second transport path T2 that transports the medium M through the cleaning liquid storage section 32 and below the glue belt 17.

[0079] 10, when digital printing is performed by the liquid ejecting unit 20 ejecting the liquid L, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. At this time, the cleaning liquid CL stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 is used by the cleaning brush 37 to clean the glue belt 17.

[0080] 11, when the dyeing unit 50 performs analog printing in which the medium M is dyed by immersing it in the dye liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, the medium M is transported by the transport mechanism 51 along a path that passes under the glue belt 17. At this time, the dyeing unit 50 dyes the medium M by continuously immersing the medium M being transported in the dye liquid DL stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32.

[0081] Therefore, the printing device 11 can perform both digital printing and analog printing on the medium M in one device. In addition, it is possible to appropriately select which of digital printing and analog printing is to be performed on the medium M first.

[0082] Next, the operation of the printing device 11 will be described. The printing system 10 and printing device 11 of this embodiment perform printing (digital printing) using an inkjet liquid ejecting unit 20 and dyeing (analog printing) of a medium M using a dyeing unit 50. Here, digital printing is a digital process for printing at least a part of the medium M by digital processing that controls at least the dot position, out of the position where a liquid such as ink lands (dot position) and the dot size, based on print image data (digital data). On the other hand, analog printing is an analog process in which the medium M is immersed in a dye solution to dye it.

[0083] This printing device 11 is capable of ejecting liquid and printing a variety of types of textile (four types in this example). (1) This is a printing method that includes a discharging step in which a discharging agent is sprayed as a post-treatment agent L2. (2) This is a printing method that includes a resist step in which a resist is sprayed as a pretreatment agent L1. (3) This is a printing method that includes a pretreatment step of immersion in a bleeding prevention agent as the pretreatment agent L3. (4) This is a printing method that includes a post-treatment step of immersion in a coating agent as a post-treatment agent L4. It is also possible to carry out printing that combines the above (1) or (2) with the above (3) or (4).

[0084] The above-mentioned printing methods (1) to (4) will be described in order below. The textile printing method in this embodiment mainly includes a first textile printing method shown in the flow chart of Fig. 22 and a second textile printing method shown in the flow chart of Fig. 23. These two methods differ in the order in which analog textile printing and digital textile printing are performed on a medium M. That is, the first textile printing method shown in Fig. 22 is a processing method in which digital textile printing is performed before analog textile printing. Also, the second textile printing method shown in Fig. 23 is a processing method in which analog textile printing is performed before digital textile printing. The above textile printing processes (1) to (4) will be described below.

[0085] <Textile printing with discharge printing process> First, a textile printing process involving discharge printing will be described with reference to Fig. 12 to Fig. 14. Note that in the following figures, the cleaning liquid storage section 32 that cleans the glue belt 17 when the liquid ejecting section 20 prints is omitted.

[0086] As shown in FIG. 12, first, the medium M is immersed in the dyeing liquid DL to dye it. At this time, the user inputs the color to be dyed by operating the operation unit 45. The control unit 26 refers to the color-matching table data based on the input color information, and determines the dyeing liquid of the required color and its mixing ratio. The control unit 26 opens the opening / closing valve 75 corresponding to the determined color among the multiple opening / closing valves 75 (FIG. 8), and supplies an amount of dyeing liquid according to the determined mixing ratio from the corresponding dyeing liquid storage unit 71 to the storage tank 34. In this way, the dyeing liquid DL of the color according to the color information input by the user via the operation unit 45 is mixed. The supply of the dyeing liquid to the storage tank 34 is performed with the cleaning brush 37 attached.

[0087] After the dye liquid is supplied to the storage tank 34, the control unit 26 drives the motor 30M to rotate the cleaning brush 37. The dye liquid stored in the storage tank 34 is supplied to a liquid level where a part of the cleaning brush 37, including the lower part, is immersed. Therefore, the rotation of the cleaning brush 37 for a certain period of time stirs the dye liquid DL stored in the storage tank 34. As a result, the dye liquid DL in the storage tank 34 is toned to a uniform color. After this toning is completed, the user sets the medium M, which has been pulled out from a supply roll (not shown) arranged upstream in the transport direction Y, to a state in which the medium M is sandwiched between a pair of transport rollers 52, 53 constituting the transport mechanism 51 and the portion hanging down between the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 is immersed in the dye liquid DL.

[0088] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 12, a pair of conveying rollers 52, 53 are driven, and the medium M is continuously immersed in the dyeing liquid DL, and is dyed in a predetermined color designated by the user. In other words, analog printing is performed on the medium M. In this manner, in analog printing, the background is dyed, for example. For example, if this background is printed by digital printing using an inkjet recording method, banding is likely to occur. In contrast, in analog printing, banding does not occur. The dyed medium M discharged from the storage tank 34 is dried by the drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 3). The dyed medium M is wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown). Next, the roll wound after dyeing is set as a supply roll.

[0089] Then, as shown in FIG. 13, the medium M is transported by a glue belt 17. A liquid spraying unit 20 sprays a discharge agent as a post-treatment agent L2 onto the medium M. This spraying of the post-treatment agent L2 is performed by digital textile printing. The dyeing liquid is removed from the portion where the discharge agent has landed. As a result, for example, delicate lines or patterns are discharged on the dyed medium M. Furthermore, the user sets the roll after discharge printing as a supply roll. At this time, a separate transport mechanism for transporting the roll after discharge printing may be provided.

[0090] As shown in Fig. 14, the medium M is transported by a glue belt 17. A liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M. This ink IL is printed on the discharged portion of the medium M. As a result, for example, the pattern of the discharged portion is colored, and for example, a colored pattern is printed. Since the background portion of this printed matter is dyed, streaks due to banding are suppressed.

[0091] <Textile printing with resist printing process> Next, a textile printing process involving resist dyeing will be described with reference to Figs. As shown in FIG. 15, first, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid spraying unit 20 sprays a pretreatment agent L1 onto the medium M. The pretreatment agent L1 is, for example, a dye-resistant agent. The dye-resistant agent is sprayed in advance onto parts of the medium M that do not want to be dyed. For example, a pattern is applied to the medium M using the dye-resistant agent. The dye-resistant medium M is dried by a drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 2). The dye-resistant medium M is wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown). Next, the roll wound after dyeing is set as a supply roll.

[0092] Next, as shown in FIG. 16, a pair of conveying rollers 52, 53 are driven, so that the medium M is continuously immersed in the dyeing liquid DL. The medium M is dyed in a predetermined color designated by the user. In other words, analog printing is performed on the medium M. This dyeing does not dye the pattern or the like in the portion where the resist has been applied beforehand. If the background other than the pattern is printed, for example, by digital printing using an inkjet recording method, banding is likely to occur. In contrast, since the background other than the pattern is printed by analog printing, banding does not occur. The medium M that has been dyed and taken out of the storage tank 34 is dried by the drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 3) while being wound into a roll by the winding device. Thereafter, the resist is removed from the medium M, and the roll that has been wound after dyeing is set as a supply roll.

[0093] As shown in Fig. 17, the dyed medium M is transported by a glue belt 17. The liquid ejection unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M. The ink IL is ejected onto the parts that have not been dyed by the dye-resistant agent, and a colored pattern, for example, is printed. The medium M on which a pattern or the like has been printed by digital textile printing is dried by a drying mechanism 100 (see Fig. 24), and then wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown).

[0094] <Textile printing with pre-treatment process> Next, the textile printing process involving pretreatment will be described with reference to Figs. When printing is performed by ejecting ink IL from the liquid ejecting unit 20, a pretreatment agent L3 is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 before printing. Pretreatment is performed by immersing the medium M in the pretreatment agent L3 stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. In other words, before printing is performed by ejecting ink IL from the liquid ejecting unit 20 onto the medium M, the medium M is immersed in the pretreatment agent L3 stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 to perform pretreatment.

[0095] First, as shown in FIG. 18, the pretreatment agent L3 is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. The medium M is set in the transport mechanism 51 so as to be immersed in the pretreatment agent L3. The pair of transport rollers 52, 53 are driven, so that the medium M is continuously immersed in the pretreatment agent L3. The pretreatment agent L3 is, for example, a bleeding prevention agent. If the ink IL is sprayed onto the medium M without pretreatment, the ink IL may bleed. Therefore, before printing, the medium M is immersed in the pretreatment agent L3 (bleed prevention agent) to perform a bleeding prevention treatment on the medium M. The roll on which the pretreatment agent L3 is wound while drying is set on the supply side.

[0096] 19, the medium M that has been treated to prevent bleeding is transported by a glue belt 17. The liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M that has been treated to prevent bleeding. The ink IL is printed on the medium M without bleeding. After printing, the medium M is wound up into a roll while being dried.

[0097] <Textile printing with post-treatment process> Next, the textile printing process including post-treatment will be described with reference to Figs. When printing is performed by ejecting ink IL from the liquid ejecting unit 20, the medium M is immersed in a post-treatment agent L4 stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 after printing to perform post-treatment.

[0098] 20, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M to perform printing. The ink IL is dried and wound into a roll, which is then set on the supply side.

[0099] Next, as shown in FIG. 21, post-treatment agent L4 is stored in cleaning liquid storage section 32 in place of cleaning liquid CL. Transport mechanism 51 is set to a state in which medium M is immersed in post-treatment agent L4. A pair of transport rollers 52, 53 is driven, so that medium M is continuously immersed in post-treatment agent L4. The post-treatment agent L4 stored in storage tank 34 is, for example, a coating agent. Medium M is wound up while the coating agent is drying. The ink layer of medium M after drying is protected by the coating layer. For this reason, the ink layer is unlikely to peel off even if medium M is subjected to an external force such as friction.

[0100] <Printing method> Next, a printing method in the printing device will be described with reference to Fig. 22 and Fig. 23. Fig. 22 shows a first printing method in which the liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects liquid, and then dyes the medium M with dyeing liquid. Fig. 23 shows a second printing method in which the liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects liquid, and then dyes the medium M with dyeing liquid. First, the first printing method will be described.

[0101] The control unit 26 executes the process of the first printing method shown in the flowchart of FIG. In step S11, the control unit 26 ejects liquid from the liquid ejection unit onto the medium. In detail, the control unit 26 drives a motor (not shown) to rotate the roller 16a, and causes the medium M to be transported by the glue belt 17 at a predetermined transport speed. The liquid ejection unit 20 prints on the medium M by ejecting liquid onto the medium M transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid is, for example, a pretreatment agent L1. This pretreatment agent L1 is, for example, a dye-resistant agent. In this case, the medium M is subjected to a dye-resistant treatment by inkjet recording.

[0102] In step S12, the control unit 26 stores the staining liquid in the cleaning liquid storage unit. After discharging the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, the user operates the operation unit 45 to input color information of the staining liquid. Based on the color information received from the operation unit 45, the control unit 26 refers to the color matching table data and calculates the ink supply amount to be supplied from the multiple staining liquid storage units 71 to the storage tank 34 for each color. Then, the control unit 26 controls the opening and closing of the opening and closing valves 75 for each color to supply the ink of the calculated ink supply amount for each color to the storage tank 34. Then, the staining liquid DL is stored in the storage tank 34 at a required ratio in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. The control unit 26 rotates the cleaning brush 37 for a predetermined time required for color matching to stir the multiple staining liquids DL supplied to the storage tank 34. As a result of this stirring, the staining liquid DL toned to the specified color is stored in the storage tank 34.

[0103] In step S13, the control unit 26 dyes the medium M with the dye liquid DL. After the dye liquid DL is stored, the user sets the medium M, which is pulled out from a roll (not shown) set in a supply device arranged upstream in the transport direction Y, to be sandwiched between a pair of transport rollers 52, 53 constituting the transport mechanism 51, with the portion of the medium M hanging down between the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 immersed in the dye liquid DL. The user operates the operation unit 45 to start driving the dyeing unit 50. The control unit 26 drives the motor 30M to drive the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 at a predetermined drive speed, and the medium M is continuously immersed in the dye liquid DL. As a result, the medium M is dyed in a predetermined color designated by the user.

[0104] The process of step S11 may be a process in which the liquid ejection unit 20 ejects ink IL as an example of the liquid. That is, the liquid ejection unit 20 ejects the ink IL to print on the medium M. In this case, the processes of steps S12 and S13 may be performed using a post-treatment agent L4 instead of the dye liquid. The post-treatment agent L4 may be, for example, a coating agent.

[0105] Next, the second printing method will be described. The control unit 26 executes the processing of the second printing method shown in the flowchart of Fig. 23. This second printing method includes a printing method in which the medium M is immersed in a staining liquid DL (Figs. 12 to 14), and a printing method in which the medium M is immersed in a pretreatment agent L3 (e.g., a bleeding prevention agent) (Figs. 18 and 19).

[0106] In step S21, the control unit 26 stores the staining liquid in the cleaning liquid storage unit. In detail, after the user discharges the cleaning liquid CL from the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, the user operates the operation unit 45 to input color information of the staining liquid DL. Based on the color information received from the operation unit 45, the control unit 26 refers to the color matching table data and calculates the ink supply amount to be supplied from the multiple staining liquid storage units 71 to the storage tank 34 for each color. Then, the control unit 26 controls the opening and closing of the opening and closing valves 75 for each color to supply the ink of the calculated ink supply amount for each color to the storage tank 34. Then, the staining liquid DL is stored in the storage tank 34 at a required ratio in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. The control unit 26 rotates the cleaning brush 37 for a predetermined time required for color matching to stir the multiple staining liquid DL supplied to the storage tank 34. As a result of this stirring, the staining liquid DL toned to the specified color is stored in the storage tank 34.

[0107] In step S22, the control unit 26 dyes the medium with the dye liquid. After the dye liquid DL is stored, the user sets the medium M, which is pulled out from a roll (not shown) set in a supply device arranged upstream in the transport direction Y, to be sandwiched between a pair of transport rollers 52, 53 constituting the transport mechanism 51, with the portion of the medium M hanging down between the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 immersed in the dye liquid DL. The user operates the operation unit 45 to start driving the dyeing unit 50. The control unit 26 drives the motor 30M to drive the pair of transport rollers 52, 53 at a predetermined drive speed, and the medium M is continuously immersed in the dye liquid DL. As a result, the medium M is dyed in a predetermined color designated by the user.

[0108] In step S23, the control unit 26 ejects liquid from the liquid ejection unit 20 onto the medium M. In detail, the control unit 26 drives a motor (not shown) to rotate the roller 16a, and causes the medium M to be transported by the glue belt 17 at a predetermined transport speed. The liquid ejection unit 20 applies a treatment to the medium M by ejecting liquid onto the medium M transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid ejection unit 20 ejects a post-treatment agent L2, which is an example of a liquid, onto the medium M. Note that in steps S21 and S22, a bleeding prevention agent, which is an example of a pre-treatment agent L3, may be used instead of the dye liquid. In this case, the liquid ejection unit 20 may eject ink IL in step S23.

[0109] According to the printing device 11 of this embodiment, dyeing of the medium M by immersing it in the dyeing liquid DL and spraying of liquid by the liquid spraying unit 20 are combined, thereby making it possible to suppress banding that can occur when printing background images, etc., using an inkjet type liquid spraying unit 20.

[0110] According to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. (1-1) The printing device 11 includes a support unit 17a that supports the medium M, a glue belt 17 as an example of a transport belt that transports the medium M by moving the support unit 17a, a liquid ejection unit 20 that ejects liquid onto the medium M supported by the support unit 17a, and a dyeing unit 50 that dyes the medium M by immersing it in a dye liquid DL. Printing is performed on the medium M by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit 50 and ejection in the liquid ejection unit 20. With this configuration, no banding occurs in the dyed portions of the medium M (e.g., the background, etc.). Therefore, high-quality printing with suppressed banding can be achieved.

[0111] (1-2) The liquid ejection unit 20 can eject at least one of a discharge agent that discharges the color of the medium M or a resist agent that prevents coloring due to dyeing. According to this configuration, since the discharge agent or resist agent can be ejected from the liquid ejection unit 20, fine images and gradations can be created on the medium M.

[0112] (1-3) The printing device 11 includes a cleaning brush 37 as an example of a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the glue belt 17 using cleaning liquid CL, and a cleaning liquid storage unit 32 that stores the cleaning liquid CL. When dyeing is performed by the dyeing unit 50, the dye liquid DL is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. According to this configuration, normally, when printing is performed by the liquid ejecting unit 20, the glue belt 17 is cleaned using the cleaning liquid CL stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 while printing is being performed. When dyeing is performed by the dyeing unit 50, the cleaning liquid CL is extracted from the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, and the dye liquid DL is stored instead. This eliminates the need to provide a dyeing storage tank for storing the dye liquid DL.

[0113] (1-4) The printing device 11 includes a liquid storage unit 40 (ink storage unit 40A) capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejection unit 20. The liquid stored in the liquid storage unit 40 is used as at least a part of the staining liquid DL. According to this configuration, the liquid (ink) obtained from the liquid storage unit 40 is used as part of the staining liquid DL. This makes it possible to perform printing without preparing new staining liquid DL. It also saves the trouble of having to prepare new staining liquid DL when the staining liquid DL runs out during printing.

[0114] (1-5) The liquid storage unit 40 stores liquids of multiple colors. The liquids of multiple colors are mixed together and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL. With this configuration, by mixing the inks of multiple colors stored in the liquid storage unit 40, a dyeing liquid DL of a specific color can be produced.

[0115] (1-6) At least a part of the staining liquid DL is used as the liquid discharged by the liquid ejection unit 20 during the maintenance operation. With this configuration, the liquid discharged during the maintenance operation, which would have been discarded in the conventional configuration, is used as the staining liquid DL, thereby reducing the environmental impact.

[0116] (1-7) The printing system 10 includes a printing device 11 and a drying mechanism 100 that dries both the medium M printed by the liquid ejecting unit 20 and the medium M dyed by the dyeing unit 50. With this configuration, a single mechanism can handle both drying after ejection by the liquid ejecting unit 20 and drying after dyeing by the dyeing unit 50, so drying can be performed without increasing the size of the device.

[0117] (1-8) The printing device 11 includes a cleaning brush 37 that uses cleaning liquid CL to perform a cleaning operation on the glue belt 17, and a cleaning liquid storage unit 32 that stores the cleaning liquid CL. When ink is ejected from the liquid ejection unit 20, a pretreatment agent is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 before the ejection. Pretreatment is performed by immersing the medium M in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. According to this configuration, by storing the pretreatment agent in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, it is not necessary to provide an additional space for storing the pretreatment agent, and the device can be made smaller.

[0118] (1-9) In the printing system 10 having the printing device 11, the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 is capable of storing the cleaning liquid CL or the staining liquid DL, and is provided with a holding tank connected to the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 and capable of holding the cleaning liquid CL or the staining liquid DL stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. According to this configuration, since a holding tank is provided that temporarily holds the liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, the liquid previously stored is not wasted when replacing the liquid.

[0119] (1-10) A printing system 10 having a printing device 11 includes a cleaning brush 37 that cleans the glue belt 17 using cleaning liquid CL, and a cleaning liquid storage unit 32 that stores the cleaning liquid CL. When printing is performed by ejecting ink from the liquid ejection unit 20, a pretreatment agent is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, and pretreatment is performed by immersing the medium M in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. According to this configuration, by putting the pretreatment agent in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, it is not necessary to provide a new space to store the pretreatment agent, and the printing system can be made smaller.

[0120] (1-11) The cleaning liquid storage unit 32 is capable of storing the cleaning liquid CL or the pre-treatment agent, and the printing system 10 includes the printing device 11, a holding tank 55 connected to the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 and capable of holding the cleaning liquid CL discharged from the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, and a third holding tank 57 capable of holding the pre-treatment agent L1 discharged from the cleaning liquid storage unit 32. According to this configuration, the cleaning liquid CL or pre-treatment agent L1 stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 can be temporarily held in the holding tanks 55, 57, so that when the liquid is replaced, the previously stored liquid is not wasted.

[0121] (1-12) The printing device 11 includes a glue belt 17 having a support portion 17a that supports the medium M and transports the medium M by moving the support portion 17a, a liquid ejection unit 20 that ejects liquid onto the medium M supported by the support portion 17a, a cleaning brush 37 that performs a cleaning operation on the glue belt 17 using a cleaning liquid CL, a cleaning liquid storage unit 32 that stores the cleaning liquid CL, and a dyeing unit 50 that dyes the medium M by immersing it in the dyeing liquid DL. The printing method of this printing device 11 includes the following steps. That is, the printing method of the printing device 11 includes a step of ejecting liquid from the liquid ejection unit 20, a step of storing the dyeing liquid DL in the cleaning liquid storage unit 32, and a step of dyeing the medium M with the dyeing liquid DL. Note that the steps of this printing method are in no particular order. According to this method, dyeing and other printing can be performed by a single printing device 11, so that banding does not occur in the dyed portion of the medium M (for example, the background, etc.). Therefore, high quality printing with suppressed banding can be achieved. In addition, since dyeing and other printing can be performed by a single printing device 11, printing can be performed in a small space.

[0122] Second embodiment Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the dyeing unit is different from that of the first embodiment. That is, in the first embodiment, the medium M is dyed by immersing the medium M in the dyeing liquid DL stored in the storage tank 34 of the cleaning unit 30, but the printing device 11 of the second embodiment includes a dripping unit 90 as an example of a dyeing unit that drips the dyeing liquid DL onto the medium M supported by the support portion 17a to dye the medium M. Note that, other than the difference in the configuration of the dyeing unit, the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment, so only the configuration that is particularly different will be described.

[0123] <Printing system configuration> As shown in FIG. 24, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, in the present embodiment, the printing system 10 includes a printing device 11 and a drying mechanism 100. The printing device 11 includes a glue belt 17, which is an example of a conveying belt that supports and conveys the medium M as a support unit 17a, a liquid ejection unit 20 that performs a printing operation by ejecting liquid onto the medium M supported by the glue belt 17, and a dripping unit 90, which is an example of a dyeing unit that drips dye liquid DL onto the medium M. The printing device 11 prints on the medium M by combining dyeing in the dripping unit 90 and ejection in the liquid ejection unit 20. Dripping here refers to discharging ink droplets toward the medium that are larger in diameter than the ink droplets ejected by the liquid ejection unit 20. The drying mechanism 100 dries both the medium M printed by the liquid ejection unit 20 and the medium M dyed by the dripping unit 90.

[0124] 24, the dripping unit 90 is disposed at a position upstream or downstream of the liquid ejecting unit 20 in the transport direction Y. In the example shown in Fig. 24, the dripping unit 90 is disposed at a position upstream of the liquid ejecting unit 20 in the transport direction Y. The attachment position of the dripping unit 90 can be switched between a position upstream and a position downstream of the liquid ejecting unit 20 in the transport direction Y.

[0125] When dyeing by the dripping unit 90 needs to be performed prior to jetting by the liquid jetting unit 20, the user places the dripping unit 90 at a position upstream of the liquid jetting unit 20. On the other hand, when dyeing by the dripping unit 90 needs to be performed after jetting by the liquid jetting unit 20, the user places the dripping unit 90 at a position downstream of the liquid jetting unit 20 in the transport direction Y. Note that the dripping unit 90 may be provided both upstream and downstream of the liquid jetting unit 20 in the transport direction Y.

[0126] 25, the liquid ejecting unit 20 is capable of ejecting liquid L supplied from a liquid storage unit 40 (see FIGS. 1 and 27) onto a medium M. For example, the liquid ejecting unit 20 is capable of ejecting ink, which is an example of liquid L, supplied from an ink storage unit 40A onto the medium M. Furthermore, the liquid ejecting unit 20 is capable of ejecting at least one of a discharging agent that discharges the color of the medium M or a dye-resistant agent that prevents coloring due to dyeing.

[0127] The dripping unit 90 can drip the dyeing liquid DL onto the medium M. The dripping unit 90 drips the dyeing liquid DL onto the medium M to dye the medium M. The dripping unit 90 can dye the medium M according to print data and drip the dyeing liquid DL according to the location where the liquid is jetted by the liquid jetting unit 20. In detail, the control unit 26 (see FIG. 24) controls the jetting of the liquid jetting unit 20 based on the print data and executes the dripping control of the dripping unit 90. As shown in FIG. 25, the dripping unit 90 drips the dyeing liquid DL onto the medium M transported by the glue belt 17 and the liquid jetting unit 20 jets the liquid L may be performed at different positions in the transport direction Y. In addition, if drying of the medium M is required between the steps of the dripping unit 90 dripping the dyeing liquid DL onto the medium M and the liquid jetting unit 20 jetting the liquid L, the medium M may be transported separately for each step. The dripping unit 90 is also capable of dripping liquid such as a pre-treatment agent or a post-treatment agent.

[0128] <Configuration of the drip unit> As shown in FIG. 26, the dripping unit 90 has nozzles 90a for dripping the dyeing liquid DL, and the nozzles 90a are arranged in a line in the width direction of the medium M. The dripping unit 90 has a plurality of nozzles 90a in the width direction X so as to be able to dye the entire width of the medium M having the maximum assumed width. The dripping unit 90 has a plurality of nozzles 90a arranged at regular intervals in the width direction X. The width of the dripping unit 90 does not need to be the same as the maximum assumed width of the medium, and may be shorter than the maximum assumed width of the medium M. The interval between a pair of nozzles 90a located at both ends in the width direction X among the plurality of nozzles 90a may be shorter than the width of the medium M having the maximum assumed width. The nozzles 90a at both ends are set at positions where the medium M can be dyed up to its side ends even if the position of the medium M in the width direction X is shifted within an allowable range. Since the dye liquid DL dropped from the nozzle 90a penetrates the fibers of the medium M and spreads after landing, the nozzles 90a at both ends are required to be positioned so that the dropped dye liquid DL can spread to the side ends of the medium M in the width direction X.

[0129] The dripping unit 90 may include an electromagnetic valve (not shown) common to all the nozzles 90a, or may include a valve for each group of the nozzles 90a, or may further include a valve corresponding to each nozzle 90a. The control unit 26 adjusts the amount of liquid dripped from the nozzles 90a by controlling the opening and closing of the valves of the dripping unit 90 and the opening degree of the valves when opened. In addition, in the case of a configuration including multiple valves, the control unit 26 may adjust the amount of liquid dripped from the nozzles 90a for each nozzle group or each nozzle 90a by selecting the valves to be opened and the opening degree of the opened valves.

[0130] In this embodiment, the dripping unit 90 is an example of a dyeing section, and the medium M is dyed with the dye solution DL dripped from the dripping unit 90. The configuration of the dye solution supply section 70 that supplies the dye solution DL to the dripping unit 90 is basically the same as in the first embodiment.

[0131] 27, the printing device 11 includes a dye liquid supplying section 70 that supplies the dye liquid DL used by the dripping unit 90. The printing device 11 includes a dye liquid storage section 71 in which the dye liquid is temporarily stored before being supplied to the storage tank 34. The dye liquid supplying section 70 collects waste liquid (ink) that is liquid that is sprayed or discharged from the nozzles 21N of the liquid ejecting head 21 when the maintenance section 60 performs a maintenance operation and that is received by the cap 61, for each color, and stores the ink collected for each color as dye liquid in the dye liquid storage section 71 for each color. The liquid discharged by the liquid ejecting section 20 as part of the maintenance operation is used as at least a part of the dye liquid DL.

[0132] A plurality of color liquids are mixed together and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid. A plurality (N) of dyeing liquid storage sections 71, the same number as the number of colors, are connected to the storage tank 34 through a plurality (N) of pipes 74. An opening / closing valve 75 capable of opening and closing the pipes 74 individually is provided in the middle of the plurality (N) of pipes 74. The dyeing liquids stored in the dyeing liquid storage sections 71 for each color are supplied to the storage tank 34 by opening the opening / closing valve 75. When the dyeing liquid DL of a plurality of colors is supplied to the storage tank 34, the dyeing liquid DL of a plurality of colors is mixed in the storage tank 34. Note that a color-matching storage section may be provided that stores and matches at least a portion of the dyeing liquid DL of a plurality of colors selected from the dyeing liquid DL of a plurality of colors stored in the plurality of dyeing liquid storage sections 71, and the dyeing liquid DL that has been mixed in the color-matching storage section may be supplied to the storage tank 34.

[0133] The printing device 11 includes a liquid storage section 40 capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejection section 20. The liquid stored in the liquid storage section 40 is used as at least a part of the dye liquid. The liquid storage section 40 stores liquid of multiple colors. That is, the liquid storage section 40 includes multiple ink storage sections 40A (see FIG. 1) that respectively store ink of multiple colors. A supply flow path 41 extending from the liquid storage section 40 branches midway, and the branched dye liquid supply flow path 70A is connected to a dye liquid storage section 71. The dye liquid storage section 71 stores dye liquid before it is supplied to the storage tank 34.

[0134] In addition, the waste liquid discharge flow path 62 extending from the maintenance unit 60 merges with the dye liquid supply flow path 70A. The ink received as waste liquid by the cap 61 of the maintenance unit 60 is supplied to the dye liquid storage unit 71 through the waste liquid discharge flow path 62 and the dye liquid supply flow path 70A.

[0135] The liquid discharged by the liquid ejection unit 20 as a maintenance operation is used as at least a part of the staining liquid. When the staining liquid storage unit 71 is short of staining liquid, liquid from the liquid storage unit 40 may be used to replenish the staining liquid. An opening / closing valve 72 and a check valve 73 are provided midway along a staining liquid supply flow path 70A branching off from the supply flow path 41 between the liquid storage unit 40 and the staining liquid storage unit 71. The check valve 73 allows the flow of liquid from the liquid storage unit 40 toward the staining liquid storage unit 71 and prevents the flow of liquid in the opposite direction.

[0136] The staining liquid supply section 70 includes a liquid amount sensor 76 that detects the amount of staining liquid stored in the staining liquid storage section 71. The liquid amount sensor 76 detects a shortage of staining liquid. The on-off valve 72 opens when the amount of liquid detected by the liquid amount sensor 76 falls below a predetermined lower limit value, and closes when the amount of liquid detected by the liquid amount sensor 76 reaches a predetermined upper limit value. This allows a necessary amount of staining liquid to be stored in the staining liquid storage section 71. The printing device 11 may include a staining liquid supply source (staining liquid supply tank) dedicated to staining liquid, separate from the liquid storage section that stores the liquid to be supplied to the liquid ejection section 20. Then, when the amount of liquid in the staining liquid storage section 71 is insufficient, the staining liquid may be supplied from the staining liquid supply source, not from the liquid storage section 40.

[0137] The dripping unit 90, which is an example of a dyeing section in this embodiment, is located above and facing the support section 17a, and is located above the dyeing liquid storage section 71. Therefore, the dyeing liquid DL is supplied from the dyeing liquid storage section 71 to the dripping unit 90 by a pump 79 against gravity. The dyeing liquid storage section 71 and the storage tank 34 are connected through a dyeing liquid supply flow path. The toning storage section 77 and the dripping unit 90 are connected through a supply flow path 78, and the pump 79 is provided in the middle of the supply flow path 78. The dyeing liquid DL is supplied from the toning storage section 77 to the dripping unit 90 by driving the pump 79.

[0138] 27, similarly to the first embodiment, the printing device 11 includes a pressurizing mechanism 42 having a pressurizing pump 43. The pressurizing mechanism 42 pressurizes the liquid storage unit 40, thereby supplying liquid to the liquid ejecting unit 20.

[0139] The printing device 11 includes a liquid storage unit 40 shown in FIG. 1 that can supply liquid to the liquid ejecting unit 20. The printing device 11 includes an ink storage unit 40A shown in FIG. 1 that can supply ink, as an example of a liquid, to the liquid ejecting unit 20. The printing device 11 uses the ink stored in the ink storage unit 40A as at least a part of the dyeing liquid. In this embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, the liquid (waste liquid) discharged from the liquid ejecting unit 20 during a maintenance operation is used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL. If the dyeing liquid DL is insufficient when the liquid discharged during the maintenance operation is used as the dyeing liquid, ink is replenished from the ink storage unit 40A as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL.

[0140] Next, the operation of the printing device 11 will be described. The printing system 10 and the printing device 11 of this embodiment can perform printing (digital printing) on ​​the medium M by the inkjet type liquid ejecting unit 20 and dyeing by the dyeing unit 50.

[0141] The printing device 11 is capable of performing multiple types of printing (four types in this example) on the medium M. (1) This is a printing method that includes a discharging step in which a discharging agent is sprayed as a post-treatment agent L2. (2) This is a printing method that includes a resist step in which a resist is sprayed as a pretreatment agent L1. (3) This is a printing method that includes a pretreatment step of immersion in a bleeding prevention agent as the pretreatment agent L3. (4) This is a printing method that includes a post-treatment step of immersion in a coating agent as a post-treatment agent L4. It is also possible to carry out printing that combines the above (1) or (2) with the above (3) or (4).

[0142] The above-mentioned printing methods (1) to (4) will be described in order below. <Textile printing with discharge printing process> First, a textile printing process involving discharge printing will be described with reference to Figures 28 to 30. Note that in Figures 28 to 37, the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 for cleaning the glue belt 17 during printing by the liquid ejecting unit 20 is omitted.

[0143] As shown in FIG. 28, first, the medium M is dyed by dripping the dyeing liquid DL from the dripping unit 90 onto the medium M conveyed by the glue belt 17. At this time, the user inputs color information to be dyed by operating the operation unit 45. The control unit 26 refers to the color-matching table data based on the color information input from the operation unit 45, and obtains the dyeing liquid of the required color and its mixing ratio. The control unit 26 opens the opening / closing valve 75 corresponding to the obtained color among the multiple opening / closing valves 75 (FIG. 27), and supplies an amount of dyeing liquid according to the obtained mixing ratio from the corresponding dyeing liquid storage unit 71 to the toned storage unit 77. The toned storage unit 77 is connected to the multiple dyeing liquid storage units 71 through multiple pipes 74. Multiple opening / closing valves 75 are provided in the multiple pipes 74. One or more opening / closing valves 75 selected according to the color information from the multiple opening / closing valves 75 are opened. In this way, the dyeing liquid DL of the color according to the color information input by the user at the operation unit 45 is toned in the toned storage unit 77. During this toning, the dye liquid DL in the toning storage section 77 is stirred by an agitator (not shown). As a result, the dye liquid DL in the toning storage section 77 is toned to a uniform color. After this toning is completed, the user sets the medium M, which has been pulled out from a supply roll (not shown) arranged upstream in the transport direction Y, on the glue belt 17.

[0144] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 28, the glue belt 17 is driven to transport the medium M. The dripping unit 90 drips onto the medium M the dye liquid DL that has been adjusted to a predetermined color specified by the user. That is, the medium M is dyed with the dye liquid DL dripped from the dripping unit 90. For example, when printing by digital textile printing using an inkjet recording method, banding is likely to occur. In contrast, since the dyeing is performed by analog textile printing, banding does not occur. The dyed medium M is dried by the drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 24). The dyed medium M is wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown). Next, the roll wound after dyeing is set as a supply roll.

[0145] Then, as shown in FIG. 29, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid spraying unit 20 sprays a discharge agent as a post-treatment agent L2 onto the medium M. This spraying of the post-treatment agent L2 is performed by digital textile printing. The dye is removed from the portion where the discharge agent has landed. As a result, for example, delicate lines or patterns are discharged on the dyed medium M. Furthermore, the user sets the roll after discharge as a supply roll.

[0146] As shown in Fig. 30, the medium M is transported by a glue belt 17. The liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M. This ink IL is printed on the discharged portion of the medium M. As a result, for example, color is applied to the pattern of the discharged portion. In other words, a colored pattern is printed on the medium M. Since the background portion of this printed matter is dyed, streaks due to banding are suppressed.

[0147] <Textile printing with resist printing process> Next, a textile printing process involving resist printing will be described with reference to Figs. As shown in FIG. 31, first, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid spraying unit 20 sprays a pretreatment agent L1 onto the medium M. The pretreatment agent L1 is, for example, a dye-resistant agent. The dye-resistant agent is sprayed in advance onto parts of the medium M that do not want to be dyed. For example, a pattern is applied to the medium M using the dye-resistant agent. The dye-resistant medium M is dried by a drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 24). The dye-resistant medium M is wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown). Next, the roll wound after dyeing is set as a supply roll.

[0148] Next, as shown in FIG. 32, the glue belt 17 is driven to transport the medium M. The dripping unit 90 drips the dyeing liquid DL, which has been adjusted to a predetermined color specified by the user, onto the medium M. That is, the medium M is dyed by the dyeing liquid DL dripped from the dripping unit 90. For example, when printing by digital textile printing using an inkjet recording method, banding is likely to occur. In contrast, since the dyeing is performed by analog textile printing, banding does not occur. The dyed medium M is dried by a drying mechanism 100 (see FIG. 24). The dyed medium M is wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown). Next, the roll wound after dyeing is set as a supply roll. Note that this dyeing may be performed together with resist dyeing when the pretreatment agent L1, such as a resist dyeing agent, can be sufficiently dried or when sufficient drying of the pretreatment agent L1 is not required. That is, as shown by the dotted line in Figure 31, the drip unit 90 may be disposed downstream of the liquid spraying section 20 in the transport direction Y (on the left side in Figure 31), and the spraying of the pre-treatment agent L1 and the dripping of the dyeing liquid DL may be performed on the medium M that is in the same transport process.

[0149] As shown in Fig. 33, the dyed medium M is transported by a glue belt 17. The liquid spraying unit 20 sprays ink IL onto the medium M. The ink IL is sprayed onto the parts that have not been dyed by the dye-resistant agent, and a colored pattern, for example, is printed. The medium M on which a pattern or the like has been printed by digital textile printing is dried by a drying mechanism 100 (see Fig. 24), and then wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown).

[0150] <Textile printing with pre-treatment process> Next, the printing process including post-treatment will be described with reference to Figs. 34, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. When the liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects the ink IL to perform printing, the dripping unit 90 drips a pretreatment agent L3 made of, for example, a bleeding prevention agent before the printing to perform a pretreatment (bleed prevention treatment) on the medium M. The pretreatment agent L3 is dried and wound up into a roll, which is then set on the supply side.

[0151] Next, as shown in Fig. 35, the medium M that has been treated to prevent bleeding is transported by a glue belt 17. The liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M that has been treated to prevent bleeding. The ink IL is printed on the medium M without bleeding. After printing, the medium M is dried by a drying mechanism 100 (see Fig. 24), and then wound into a roll by a winding device (not shown).

[0152] <Textile printing with post-treatment process> Next, the printing process including post-treatment will be described with reference to Figs. When printing is performed by ejecting ink IL from the liquid ejecting unit 20, after printing, the dripping unit 90 ejects post-treatment agent L4 onto the medium M to perform post-treatment. First, as shown in Fig. 36, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. The liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects ink IL onto the medium M to perform printing. The roll on which the ink IL is wound while drying is set on the supply side.

[0153] Next, as shown in FIG. 37, the medium M is transported by the glue belt 17. A dripping unit 90 drips post-treatment agent L4 onto the medium M. The post-treatment agent L4 is, for example, a coating agent. The printed surface of the medium M is covered with the coating agent. The medium M is wound into a roll while the post-treatment agent L4 is dried. After the coating agent of the medium M has dried, the ink layer is protected by the coating layer. For this reason, the ink layer is less likely to peel off even if the medium M is subjected to an external force such as friction.

[0154] Furthermore, when the dripping unit 90 drips dyeing liquid to dye the medium M after the liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects liquid, printing is performed using a first printing method shown in Fig. 22. When the dripping unit 90 drips dyeing liquid to dye the medium M after the liquid ejecting unit 20 ejects liquid, printing is performed using a second printing method shown in Fig. 23.

[0155] According to the second embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. (2-1) The printing device 11 includes a glue belt 17 having a support portion 17a that supports the medium M and transports the medium M by moving the support portion 17a, a liquid ejection portion 20 that ejects liquid onto the medium M supported by the support portion 17a, and a dripping unit 90 as an example of a dyeing portion that dyes the medium M by dripping dye liquid DL. Printing is performed on the medium M by combining dyeing by the dripping unit 90 and ejection by the liquid ejection portion 20. With this configuration, no banding occurs in the dyed portions of the medium M (e.g., the background, etc.). Therefore, high-quality printing with suppressed banding can be achieved.

[0156] (2-2) The drip unit 90 has nozzles 90a that drip the dye liquid DL, and the nozzles 90a are arranged in a row in the width direction of the medium M. With this configuration, the dye liquid is dripped from the multiple nozzles arranged in a row in the width direction of the medium, thereby dyeing the medium. Since the entire width direction of the medium can be dyed, banding that is likely to occur in scan-type liquid ejection units can be suppressed.

[0157] (2-3) The dripping unit 90 can dye according to the print data, and drip the dyeing liquid DL according to the location where the liquid has been sprayed by the liquid spraying unit 20. With this configuration, the dripping unit 90 drips the dyeing liquid DL according to the print data, and therefore a high-quality print can be provided. The dripping unit 90 can dye while avoiding the pattern printed by the liquid spraying unit 20 or the pattern to be printed in the future. In addition, when a discharge agent or a resist agent is sprayed from the liquid spraying unit 20, the dyeing liquid can be sprayed so as to overlap the location where the discharge agent or resist agent is applied.

[0158] (2-4) The liquid ejection unit 20 can eject at least one of a discharge agent that discharges the color of the medium M or a resist agent that prevents coloring due to dyeing. According to this configuration, since the discharge agent or resist agent can be ejected from the liquid ejection unit 20, fine images and gradations can be created on the medium M.

[0159] (2-5) The printing device 11 includes a liquid storage unit 40 capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejection unit 20. The liquid stored in the liquid storage unit 40 is used as at least a part of the dye liquid DL. According to this configuration, ink obtained from the liquid storage unit 40 (ink storage unit 40A) is used as part of the dye liquid DL. This makes it possible to perform printing without preparing new dye liquid DL. It also saves the trouble of having to prepare new dye liquid DL when the dye liquid DL runs out during printing.

[0160] (2-6) The liquid storage unit 40 stores liquids of multiple colors. The liquids of multiple colors are mixed together and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid DL. With this configuration, by mixing the inks of multiple colors stored in the liquid storage unit 40, a dyeing liquid DL of a specific color can be produced.

[0161] (2-7) The liquid discharged by the liquid ejection unit 20 during the maintenance operation is used as at least a part of the staining liquid DL. With this configuration, the liquid discharged during the maintenance operation, which would have been discarded in the conventional configuration, is used as the staining liquid DL, thereby reducing the environmental impact.

[0162] (2-8) The printing system 10 having the printing device 11 is provided with a drying mechanism 100 that dries both the medium M onto which ink has been ejected from the liquid ejecting section 20 and the medium M dyed by the dripping unit 90. According to this configuration, a single mechanism can be used to dry the medium M after ejection by the liquid ejecting section 20 and the medium M after dyeing by the dripping unit 90, so drying can be performed without increasing the size of the device.

[0163] The above embodiment can be modified to the following modified examples. Further modified examples can be appropriately combined with the above embodiment and the following modified examples, or further modified examples can be appropriately combined with each other.

[0164] Dyeing by the dyeing unit may be performed first, and then the liquid ejecting unit 20 may eject liquid to print on the medium M. For example, the dyeing unit may dye the medium M with a white dye solution, and then the liquid ejecting unit 20 may eject liquid (ink) to print on the medium M. Here, the dyeing unit may be the dyeing unit 50 of the first embodiment, or the dripping unit 90 of the second embodiment.

[0165] In each of the above-described embodiments, only the discharge agent may be sprayed, or only the resist agent may be sprayed. Also, the discharge agent and the resist agent may be interchanged so that both can be sprayed. The liquid ejecting unit 20 may include at least one of a nozzle 21N that ejects a discharge agent and a nozzle 21N that ejects a resist agent, in addition to the nozzle 21N that ejects the N color ink. Also, by switching the supply source of the liquid to be supplied to the nozzle 21N among the ink storage unit 40A, the pre-treatment agent storage unit 40B, and the post-treatment agent storage unit 40C, it may be possible to switch so that at least one of the discharge agent and the resist agent can be ejected from the nozzle 21N.

[0166] In the second embodiment, the dripping unit 90 may be replaced by roller printing or screen printing. A liquid jet head 21 capable of jetting a discharge agent and a liquid jet head 21 capable of jetting a resist agent may be provided separately.

[0167] In each of the above embodiments, a portion of the dye liquid DL is supplied by the ink from the ink reservoir 40A, but the entire dye liquid DL may be supplied by the ink from the ink reservoir 40A. In each of the above-described embodiments, the drying mechanism 100 may be configured to dry only the medium M printed by the liquid ejection unit 20, or may be configured to dry only the medium M printed by the dyeing unit 50 or the dripping unit 90 as an example of a dyeing unit.

[0168] When the printing device 11 is in operation, the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 may store either the cleaning liquid CL or the staining liquid DL. Also, when the printing device 11 is in operation, the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 may store either the cleaning liquid CL, the staining liquid DL, or the pre-treatment liquid. Furthermore, when the printing device 11 is in operation, the cleaning liquid storage unit 32 may store either the cleaning liquid CL, the staining liquid DL, the pre-treatment liquid, or the post-treatment liquid.

[0169] The holding tanks may be comprised of only holding tank 55 for holding cleaning liquid CL, holding tank 56 for holding staining liquid DL, and holding tank 57 for holding pre-treatment agent L1, or may be comprised of four or more tanks including at least these three. Also, the holding tanks may be comprised of only holding tanks 55 and 56.

[0170] A pump may be provided to move liquid to the holding tank. The liquid (waste liquid) sprayed or discharged from the liquid spraying unit 20 during the maintenance operation by the maintenance unit 60 is used as the staining liquid DL. However, all of the staining liquid DL may be supplied from the liquid storage unit 40 .

[0171] The color may be adjusted by manually opening the on-off valve 75. A toning liquid tank for toning may be provided, and the dye liquid from the dye liquid storage section 71 may be sent to the toning liquid tank, and the dye liquid may be stirred in the toning liquid tank to tone the dye liquid. After that, the toned dye liquid DL may be supplied from the toning liquid tank to the storage tank 34 of the cleaning liquid storage section 32.

[0172] The conveying unit 16 may be of a roller conveying type instead of a belt conveying type. The printing device 11 is not limited to a textile printing device that prints on fabric, but may be a printing device that prints on a medium such as paper.

[0173] The printing device 11 is not limited to a serial printer in which the liquid ejecting unit 20 moves back and forth in the scanning direction X, but may be a lateral printer in which the liquid ejecting unit 20 can move in two directions, the scanning direction (main scanning direction) and the transport direction Y (sub-scanning direction).

[0174] The medium M is not limited to cloth, and may be paper, a flexible plastic film, a nonwoven fabric, or a laminate sheet. In addition, dyeing includes the formation of a surface layer such as an ink layer by immersing the medium M in a liquid such as ink that adheres to the surface of a plastic film or laminate sheet that does not have fibers. This type of surface layer includes a coating layer or a surface treatment layer depending on the type of liquid. The surface treatment layer includes a bleeding prevention treatment layer.

[0175] The technical concepts understood from the above-described embodiment and modified examples will be described below together with their effects. The printing device includes a conveyor belt having a support unit that supports a medium and conveys the medium by the movement of the support unit, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit, and a dyeing unit that dyes the medium by immersing it in a dye liquid, and performs printing on the medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and ejection in the liquid ejection unit. Note that "immersing" refers to dyeing the medium by dipping it in liquid, which is different from a configuration in which liquid is ejected for printing.

[0176] According to this configuration, dyeing and other printing can be performed by one device, so banding does not occur in dyed portions of the medium (such as the background), and high-quality printing with suppressed banding can be achieved.

[0177] In the printing device, the liquid ejecting unit may be capable of ejecting at least one of a discharging agent for discharging the color of the medium and a dye-resistant agent for preventing coloring due to dyeing. According to this configuration, the discharge agent or the resist agent can be sprayed from the head, so that fine images and gradations can be created on the medium.

[0178] The printing device may further include a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveying belt using a cleaning liquid, and a cleaning liquid storage unit that stores the cleaning liquid, and when dyeing is performed in the dyeing unit, the dyeing liquid may be stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit.

[0179] According to this configuration, when the liquid ejection unit is ejecting liquid, the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit is used to clean the conveyor belt. When dyeing is performed in the dyeing unit, dyeing liquid is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit and dyeing is performed. At this time, the cleaning liquid is removed from the cleaning liquid storage unit and replaced with dyeing liquid. Therefore, there is no need to provide a tank for dyeing.

[0180] The printing device may further include a liquid storage section capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejecting section, and the liquid stored in the liquid storage section may be used as at least a part of the dye liquid. According to this configuration, the liquid obtained from the liquid storage section is used as part of the dye liquid. This allows printing to be performed without preparing new dye liquid. It also saves the trouble of having to prepare new dye liquid if the dye liquid runs out during printing.

[0181] In the printing device, the liquid storage section may store liquids of a plurality of colors, and the liquids of the plurality of colors may be mixed together to be used as at least a part of the dye liquid. According to this configuration, by mixing inks of multiple colors stored in the liquid storage section, a dye liquid of a specific color can be produced.

[0182] In the printing device, the liquid discharged by the liquid ejecting unit as a maintenance operation may be used as at least a part of the dye liquid. According to this configuration, the liquid discharged during the maintenance operation, which would have been discarded in the conventional configuration, is used as the staining liquid, thereby reducing the environmental load.

[0183] The printing system includes the above-mentioned printing device, and a drying mechanism that dries both the medium printed by the liquid ejecting unit and the medium dyed by the dyeing unit. According to this configuration, drying after spraying in the liquid spraying section and drying after dyeing in the dyeing section can be performed by a single mechanism, so drying can be performed without increasing the size of the device.

[0184] The printing device may include a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveying belt using a cleaning liquid, and a cleaning liquid storage unit that stores the cleaning liquid. When ink is sprayed from the liquid spray unit, a pretreatment agent may be stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit prior to the spraying, and a medium may be pretreated by immersing it in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit.

[0185] According to this configuration, by storing the pre-treatment agent in the cleaning liquid storage section, there is no need to provide a separate space for storing the pre-treatment agent, and the device can be made smaller. The printing system is a printing system having a printing device, wherein the cleaning liquid storage section is capable of storing the cleaning liquid or the dyeing liquid, and is provided with a holding tank connected to the cleaning liquid storage section and capable of holding the cleaning liquid or the dyeing liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage section.

[0186] According to this configuration, since the tank is provided for temporarily holding the liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage section, the liquid previously stored is not wasted when replacing the liquid. The printing device is equipped with a support unit that supports the medium and a conveyor belt that conveys the medium as the support unit moves, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit, and a dyeing unit that dyes the medium by dripping dyeing liquid, and prints on the medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and ejection in the liquid ejection unit.

[0187] According to this configuration, dyeing and other printing can be performed by one device, so banding does not occur in dyed portions of the medium (such as the background), and high-quality printing with suppressed banding can be achieved.

[0188] In the printing device, the dyeing unit may have a nozzle that drips the dye liquid, and a plurality of the nozzles may be arranged side by side in the width direction of the medium. According to this configuration, the medium is dyed by dropping dye liquid from multiple nozzles arranged in a row in the width direction of the medium. Since the medium can be dyed in the entire width direction, banding that tends to occur with scanning type liquid ejection units can be suppressed.

[0189] In the printing device, the dyeing unit may be capable of dyeing in accordance with print data, and may be capable of dripping the dye liquid in accordance with the location where the liquid has been sprayed by the liquid spraying unit. According to this configuration, the dyeing unit dispenses dye liquid in accordance with the print data, making it possible to provide high-quality printed matter.

[0190] In the printing device, the liquid ejecting unit may be capable of ejecting at least one of a discharging agent for discharging the color of the medium and a dye-resistant agent for preventing coloring due to dyeing. According to this configuration, the discharge agent or the resist agent can be sprayed from the head, so that fine images and gradations can be created on the medium.

[0191] The printing device may further include a liquid storage section capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejecting section, and the liquid stored in the liquid storage section may be used as at least a part of the dye liquid. According to this configuration, the liquid (e.g., ink) obtained from the liquid storage unit is used as part of the dye liquid. This makes it possible to print without preparing new dye liquid. It also saves the trouble of having to prepare new dye liquid if the dye liquid runs out during printing.

[0192] In the printing device, the liquid storage section may store liquids of a plurality of colors, and the liquids of the plurality of colors may be mixed together to be used as at least a part of the dye liquid. According to this configuration, by mixing inks of multiple colors stored in the liquid storage section, a dye liquid of a specific color can be produced.

[0193] In the printing device, the liquid discharged by the liquid ejecting unit as a maintenance operation may be used as at least a part of the dye liquid. According to this configuration, the liquid discharged during the maintenance operation, which would have been discarded in the conventional configuration, is used as the staining liquid, thereby reducing the environmental load.

[0194] A printing system having the above printing device further includes a drying mechanism that dries both the medium onto which ink has been ejected from the liquid ejecting unit and the medium dyed by the dyeing unit. According to this configuration, drying after spraying in the liquid spraying section and drying after dyeing in the dyeing section can be performed by a single mechanism, so drying can be performed without increasing the size of the device.

[0195] A printing system having the above-mentioned printing device includes a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveying belt using a cleaning liquid, and a cleaning liquid storage unit that stores the cleaning liquid, and when ink is sprayed from the liquid spray unit, a pretreatment agent may be stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit, and pretreatment may be performed by immersing a medium in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit.

[0196] According to this configuration, by storing the pretreatment agent in the cleaning liquid storage section, there is no need to provide additional space to store the pretreatment agent, and the printing system can be made more compact. In the above printing system, the cleaning liquid storage section is capable of storing the cleaning liquid or the pre-treatment agent, and is provided with a holding tank connected to the cleaning liquid storage section and capable of holding the cleaning liquid or the pre-treatment agent discharged from the cleaning liquid storage section.

[0197] According to this configuration, the cleaning liquid or pre-treatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage section can be temporarily held in the tank, so that when the liquid is replaced, the previously stored liquid is not wasted.

[0198] The printing method of a printing device includes a conveyor belt having a support section that supports a medium and conveys the medium as the support section moves, a liquid ejection section that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support section, a cleaning section that performs a cleaning operation on the conveyor belt using cleaning liquid, a cleaning liquid storage section that stores the cleaning liquid, and a dyeing section that dyes the medium by immersing it in dyeing liquid, and includes the steps of ejecting liquid from the liquid ejection section, storing the dyeing liquid in the cleaning liquid storage section, and dyeing the medium with the dyeing liquid.

[0199] According to this method, dyeing and other printing can be performed by a single printing device, so banding does not occur in the dyed portions of the medium (such as the background), and high-quality printing with suppressed banding can be achieved. [Explanation of symbols]

[0200] 10...printing system, 11...printing device, 12...housing, 12a...bottom frame, 12b...pillar frame, 12c...upper frame, 14...cover, 16...transport section, 16a...driving roller, 16b...follower roller, 17...glue belt as an example of a transport belt, 17a...support section, 18...surface, 18a...upper surface portion as an example of a support section, 18b...curved surface portion, 18c...lower surface portion, 18d...curved surface portion, 19...inner frame, 20...liquid ejection section, 21...liquid ejection head , 21a... nozzle surface, 21N... nozzle, 22... carriage, 26... control unit, 30... cleaning unit, 32... cleaning liquid storage unit, 34... storage tank, 35... bottom wall, 36a... front wall, 36b... rear wall, 36c... side wall, 37... cleaning brush which is an example of a cleaning unit, 37a... shaft portion, 37b... brush portion, 38... squeegee, 40... liquid storage unit, 40A... ink storage unit, 40B... pre-treatment agent storage unit, 40C... post-treatment agent storage unit, 45... operation unit, 46... display unit, 41... supply Supply flow path, 50... dyeing section, 51... transport mechanism, 52... first transport roller pair, 53... second transport roller pair, 54... squeeze roller, 55... first holding tank as an example of a holding tank, 56... second holding tank, 57... third holding tank as an example of a holding tank, 58... fourth holding tank, 60... maintenance section, 61... cap, 62... waste liquid discharge flow path, 63... waste liquid discharge pump, 65... drying section, 70... dyeing liquid supply section, 70A... dyeing liquid supply flow path, 72 ...opening / closing valve, 74...pipe line, 75...opening / closing valve, 76...liquid volume sensor, 77...toning storage section, 78...supply flow path, 79...pump, 80...cleaning liquid storage section, 90...dripping unit as an example of a dyeing section, 90a...nozzle, 100...drying mechanism, M...medium, CL...cleaning liquid, DL...dyeing liquid, L1...pre-treatment agent, L2...post-treatment agent, L3...pre-treatment agent, L4...post-treatment agent, L...liquid, IL...ink, X...scanning direction (width direction), Y...transport direction, Z...vertical direction (gravity direction).

Claims

1. A conveyor belt that has a support portion that supports a medium, and conveys the medium by moving the support portion. and, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit; A dyeing section that dyes the medium by immersing it in a dye solution; a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveyor belt using a cleaning liquid; a cleaning liquid storage section for storing the cleaning liquid; Equipped with Printing is performed on a medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and jetting in the liquid jetting unit; When dyeing is performed in the dyeing unit, the dyeing liquid is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit. A printing device comprising:

2. 2. The printing device according to claim 1, The liquid jetting unit is a discharge agent for discharging the color of the medium or a dye-resistant agent for preventing coloring due to dyeing. At least one of them can be ejected. A printing device comprising:

3. 3. The printing device according to claim 1, a liquid storage section capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejection section, The liquid stored in the liquid storage section is used as at least a part of the staining liquid. A printing device comprising:

4. 4. The printing device according to claim 3, The liquid storage section stores liquids of multiple colors, The liquids of the plurality of colors are mixed together and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid. A printing device that is characteristic of this device.

5. In the printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The liquid ejected by the liquid ejection unit as a maintenance operation is at least a part of the dye liquid. A printing device characterized in that it is used as a printer.

6. A printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, Both the medium printed by the liquid ejection unit and the medium dyed by the dyeing unit are dried. A drying mechanism that dries A printing system comprising:

7. 2. The printing device according to claim 1, When ink is to be ejected from the liquid ejection unit, the cleaning liquid is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit before the ejection. The pretreatment agent is stored, A pretreatment is performed by immersing a medium in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage section. A printing device comprising:

8. A printing system including the printing device according to claim 1 or 7, The cleaning liquid storage section is capable of storing the cleaning liquid or the staining liquid, A cleaning liquid storage unit is connected to the cleaning liquid storage unit, and the cleaning liquid or the dye stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit is A printing system comprising a holding tank capable of holding color liquid.

9. A conveyor belt that has a support portion that supports a medium, and conveys the medium by moving the support portion. and, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit; A dyeing section that dyes the medium by dripping a dye solution; Equipped with The ink droplets ejected by the dyeing unit are larger in diameter than the ink droplets ejected by the liquid ejection unit. broth, Printing on a medium is performed by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and jetting in the liquid jetting unit. A printing device comprising:

10. 10. The printing device according to claim 9, The dyeing unit has a nozzle for dropping the dye liquid, and the nozzle is provided in a width direction of the medium. A printing device characterized in that the printing devices are arranged side by side.

11. 11. The printing device according to claim 9, The dyeing unit is capable of dyeing in accordance with print data, and liquid is sprayed by the liquid ejection unit. A printing device capable of dropping the dye liquid in accordance with the location where the dye is irradiated.

12. 10. The printing device according to claim 9, The liquid jetting unit is a discharge agent for discharging the color of the medium or a dye-resistant agent for preventing coloring due to dyeing. A printing device capable of ejecting at least one of the above.

13. In the printing device according to any one of claims 9 to 12, a liquid storage section capable of supplying liquid to the liquid ejection section, The liquid stored in the liquid storage section is used as at least a part of the staining liquid. A printing device that is characteristic of this device.

14. 14. The printing device according to claim 13, The liquid storage section stores liquids of multiple colors, The liquids of the plurality of colors are mixed together and used as at least a part of the dyeing liquid. A printing device that is characteristic of this device.

15. In the printing device according to any one of claims 9 to 14, The liquid ejected by the liquid ejection unit as a maintenance operation is at least a part of the dye liquid. A printing device characterized in that it is used as a printer.

16. A printing system including the printing device according to any one of claims 9 to 15. hand, The medium onto which ink has been ejected from the liquid ejecting unit and the medium dyed by the dyeing unit are A printing system characterized by comprising a drying mechanism for drying both.

17. A conveyor belt having a support portion for supporting a medium, the support portion moving to convey the medium. and, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit; A dyeing section that dyes the medium by immersing it in a dye solution; a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveyor belt using a cleaning liquid; a cleaning liquid storage section for storing the cleaning liquid; Equipped with Printing is performed on a medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and jetting in the liquid jetting unit; When ink is ejected from the liquid ejection unit, the pretreatment agent is stored in the cleaning liquid storage unit. And, A pretreatment is performed by immersing a medium in the pretreatment agent stored in the cleaning liquid storage section. A printing system comprising:

18. 18. The printing system according to claim 17, the cleaning liquid storage section is capable of storing the cleaning liquid or the pre-treatment agent, a cleaning liquid storage unit connected to the cleaning liquid storage unit, A printing system comprising a holding tank capable of holding a pretreatment agent.

19. A conveyor belt that has a support portion that supports a medium, and conveys the medium by moving the support portion. a liquid ejection unit that ejects a liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit; a cleaning unit that performs a cleaning operation on the conveyor belt; and a cleaning liquid storage unit that stores the cleaning liquid. A printing method for a printing device including a dyeing unit that dyes a medium by immersing the medium in a dyeing solution. 、 ejecting liquid from the liquid ejection unit; storing the staining liquid in the cleaning liquid storage section; staining a medium with the staining solution; performing a cleaning operation on the conveyor belt using the cleaning liquid; In the staining step, the staining liquid is stored in the cleaning liquid storage section.

23. A printing method for a printing device comprising the steps of:

20. A conveyor belt having a support portion for supporting a medium, the support portion moving to convey the medium. and, a liquid ejection unit that ejects liquid onto the medium supported by the support unit; A dyeing section that dyes the medium by immersing it in a dye solution; Equipped with Printing is performed on a medium by combining dyeing in the dyeing unit and jetting in the liquid jetting unit; The liquid ejected by the liquid ejection unit as a maintenance operation is at least a part of the dye liquid. A printing device characterized in that it is used as a printer.

Images