Anisotropic Ink Spreading Compensation for Nozzle Failures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet printing methods suffer from the formation of unwanted stripes due to failed nozzles, which degrade the quality of printed products by allowing the underlying substrate color to become visible as white lines.
Innovation Solution
The method involves pretreating the printing material to influence the spreading behavior of ink print dots through anisotropic applications, such as using a UV varnish, embossment, or treatments with charged particles or radiation, to create anisotropic spreading patterns that compensate for nozzle failures by adjusting the transverse and longitudinal spreading behaviors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a nozzle is continuously actuated, then a visible line is printed onto the printing material, but if the nozzle opening is blocked by solidified ink, a white line becomes visible due to the failed nozzle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a pretreatment liquid selectively to specific regions of the printing material before inkjet printing. This creates local variations in surface properties that influence ink spreading behavior in different areas, allowing compensation for failed nozzles by adjusting spread characteristics in affected regions
Solution Approach 2:
The pretreatment liquid is applied to the printing material before the inkjet printing process. This preliminary action modifies the surface properties in advance, creating controlled spreading patterns that can compensate for potential nozzle failures and prevent visible white lines
2Manufacturing precision
If the spreading behavior of ink print dots is influenced by pretreatment, then the quality of the printed image is improved, but the complexity of the printing process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pretreatment liquid is applied to the printing material before the inkjet printing process. This preliminary action modifies the surface properties in advance, creating controlled spreading patterns that can compensate for potential nozzle failures and prevent visible white lines
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical and chemical parameters of the printing material surface by applying a pretreatment liquid. This modifies surface energy, porosity, or other properties to control ink spreading behavior, enabling compensation for nozzle failures through parameter adjustment rather than complex hardware modifications
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the quality of the printed image by reducing or eliminating the appearance of white lines caused by failed nozzles, thereby improving the overall quality of the printed product.
Implementation Method 1
The varnish may be a UV varnish and may be pinned, in particular if UV-curable inks are used
Implementation Method 2
the spreading behavior is influenced by an anisotropic treatment of the printing material with charged particles, in particular with a plasma or a corona
Implementation Method 3
the spreading behavior is influenced by an anisotropic treatment of the printing material with charged particles, in particular with a plasma or a corona
Implementation Method 4
The anisotropic spreading influenced by the embossment may, for instance, be attained by a capillary effect of the embossment structures on the ink
Data Source
AI summary
A method pretreats a printing material used for ink printing to influence the spreading of ink print dots on the printing material. The spreading behavior is influenced in such a way that the ink print dots spread in an anisotropic way. The anisotropic spreading advantageously allows undesired quality losses in the print that are caused by a failed ink nozzle to be reduced or avoided. The influencing of the spreading behavior may be achieved by an anisotropic application of a liquid, in particular a primer or varnish, to the printing material, or by an anisotropic embossment or print on the printing material or by an anisotropic treatment of the printing material with charged particles, in particular by a plasma or a corona, or with electromagnetic radiation, in particular laser radiation.