Highly operative printing apparatus

Abstract

This invention discloses a highly operable printing apparatus, comprising: a conveying device and multiple printing devices. The conveying device includes a rotary table and multiple carriers. The rotary table is configured to rotate, including multiple consecutive predetermined rotational strokes corresponding to the conveying path. The carriers are disposed on the rotary table and evenly spaced around its center, carrying multiple spheres. The printing devices are evenly spaced around the rotary table, each configured to print a pattern on the sphere. During the rotational operation, each carrier is configured to sequentially move to multiple printing devices by multiple predetermined rotational strokes, thereby printing multiple patterns onto the sphere. The number of carriers is not less than the number of printing devices, and the number of carriers is inversely proportional to the magnitude of the predetermined rotational stroke.

Claims

1. A printing apparatus, comprising: A conveying device configured to convey a plurality of spheres along a conveying path includes: a turntable configured to perform a rotational operation, comprising a plurality of consecutive predetermined rotational strokes corresponding to the conveying path; a plurality of carriers disposed on the turntable and equally spaced around its center, each carrier carrying a plurality of spheres; and a plurality of printing devices equally spaced around the turntable, each printing device configured to print a pattern on the sphere, each printing device comprising: a sliding mechanism including: a linear guide rail having a front end position and a rear end position, and having a patterned recess at the front end position; a sliding seat configured to move along the linear guide rail to the front end position or the rear end position, and including a sliding base slidingly engaged with the linear guide rail and an actuating part integrally connected to the sliding base, the sliding base having a hollow structure; a guide rail disposed on one side of the linear guide rail and parallel to it; and a first drive source drively connected to the actuating part. An ink supply unit, fixed to the sliding base and configured to supply ink to the patterned recess; the ink supply unit includes an ink cup and an annular doctor blade, the ink cup having an ink-receiving space and a bottom opening communicating with the ink-receiving space, and the bottom opening corresponding to the position of the cutout structure; the annular doctor blade surrounds the bottom opening and conforms to the surface of the linear guide rail through the cutout structure; a lifting mechanism, configured to be operationally linked with the sliding mechanism, and including a lifting component; and at least one print head, disposed on the lifting component and configured to be driven by the lifting component to perform an ink transfer operation on the patterned recess or an ink printing operation on the sphere; wherein, in the rotation operation, each carrier is configured to sequentially move to multiple printing devices by multiple predetermined rotation strokes, so that the sphere is printed with multiple patterns; and wherein the number of carriers is not less than the number of printing devices, and the number of carriers is inversely proportional to the magnitude of the predetermined rotation stroke.

2. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, When the number of vehicles increases to N times, the predetermined rotation stroke is reduced to 1 / N of the original predetermined rotation stroke.

3. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The printing apparatus further includes at least one curing device arranged adjacent to at least one of the printing devices and the rotary table, and configured to cure the pattern printed on the sphere.

4. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein, At least one of the curing devices is an air-drying curing device or a light-curing device.

5. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein, The number of printing devices is the same as the number of curing devices, and the plurality of printing devices and the plurality of curing devices are arranged alternately around the rotary table.

6. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein, The number of carriers is twice that of the printing device, and each carrier has an operating position on the rotary table for performing printing or curing operations; and each operating position of the carrier corresponds to one printing device or one curing device.

7. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein, The printing apparatus further includes at least one flipping component disposed on the turntable corresponding to at least one of the printing devices and configured to flip the printing surface angle of the sphere.

8. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein, The printing equipment further includes a control module operably connected between the conveying device, the plurality of printing devices, and the rotary table, and configured to control the predetermined rotation stroke of the rotary table according to a printing process scheme, wherein the printing process scheme includes printing pattern information for each printing device, the number of at least one carrier, the number of printing devices and their positions relative to the rotary table, and the number of at least one curing device and their positions relative to the rotary table.

9. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein, Based on the printing pattern information of each printing device, the control module is configured to control the rotation operation of the turntable, so that the carrier passes directly through the specific printing device or curing device, or stops in front of the specific printing device or curing device for printing or curing.

10. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein, The control module is further configured to communicate with at least one of the flipping components and to drive at least one of the flipping components according to the printed pattern information to flip the printed surface of the sphere.

11. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein, The printing apparatus further includes: a feeding device adjacent to at least one of the carriers and configured to provide the sphere; and a first transfer device adjacent to the feeding device and at least one of the carriers and configured to transfer the sphere provided by the feeding device onto the carrier.

12. The printing apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein, The printing apparatus further includes: a discharge device adjacent to at least one of the carriers and configured to receive the printed sphere; and a second transfer device adjacent to yet another carrier and the discharge device, configured to transfer the printed and cured sphere located on the carrier to the discharge device.

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