Rotary Bottle Printer Sleeve Enclosure for Ink Aerosol Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Printing devices using inkjet or Tonejet printheads face issues with ink spray into the air, leading to aerosol formation and device soiling, as well as air turbulence causing smearing and quality loss during high-speed container printing.
Innovation Solution
A printing device with a rotating pressure gyroscope and protective sleeves that enclose bottles during printing, featuring suction tubes for ink capture and an electrode for electrostatic charge management, ensuring ink deposition on the bottle surface and minimizing air turbulence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If inkjet or Tonejet printheads are used for printing on containers, then printing quality and multicolor capability are improved, but ink spray into the air occurs causing aerosol formation and device soiling
Solution Approach 1:
A protective sleeve is introduced as an intermediary component between the printhead and the surrounding environment. The sleeve contains the ink spray within its interior space, preventing ink particles from reaching and soiling external device elements. The suction device works within this enclosed space to remove sprayed ink before it can escape.
Solution Approach 2:
The suction device converts the harmful ink spray into a removable contaminant by actively sucking off the sprayed printing ink within the protective sleeve. This transforms the harmful aerosol formation into a controlled cleaning process, preventing soiling while maintaining the benefits of inkjet printing.
2Productivity
If containers are moved at high transport speeds during printing to increase productivity, then output is improved, but air turbulence causes smearing of printing ink and quality loss
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sleeve creates a localized inert environment around the container during printing. By enclosing the printing area, the sleeve minimizes air turbulence and external air flows that would otherwise cause ink smearing. This allows high-speed printing to proceed without compromising print quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is positioned and held in a fixed, center position on the container plate before printing begins. The protective sleeve is already in place to enclose the printing area. These preliminary actions ensure that the container is properly positioned and the printing environment is stabilized before the actual printing process starts, preventing smearing even at high speeds.
3Productivity
If containers are moved at high transport speeds during printing, then productivity is improved, but air turbulence leads to smearing of printing ink
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sleeve creates a localized inert environment around the container during printing. By enclosing the printing area, the sleeve minimizes air turbulence and external air flows that would otherwise cause ink smearing. This allows high-speed printing to proceed without compromising print quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is positioned and held in a fixed, center position on the container plate before printing begins. The protective sleeve is already in place to enclose the printing area. These preliminary actions ensure that the container is properly positioned and the printing environment is stabilized before the actual printing process starts, preventing smearing even at high speeds.
4Productivity
If the rotor rotates at high speed to increase printing output, then productivity is improved, but air flow and turbulence increase causing printing errors
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sleeve creates a localized inert environment that shields the printing process from the effects of high rotor speed. By enclosing the printing area, the sleeve prevents external air flows generated by high-speed rotation from causing printing errors or quality issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is positioned and held in a fixed, center position on the container plate before printing begins. The protective sleeve is already in place to enclose the printing area. These preliminary actions ensure that the container is properly positioned and the printing environment is stabilized before the actual printing process starts, preventing smearing even at high speeds.
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
Prevents device soiling and maintains high-quality prints by containing ink aerosols and stabilizing ink droplet placement, even at high production speeds, enhancing image quality and reducing cleaning efforts.
Implementation Method 1
a suction device is provided for sucking off sprayed printing ink
Implementation Method 2
Electrostatic print heads are often used here, such as inkjet printheads or printheads known under the name 'Tonejet'
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing bottles or similar containers, having several printing positions on a transport element, which can be driven in rotation, by which the printing positions and/or the containers are moved on a closed path of movement between at least one container take-up and at least one container drop, having rotating print heads for applying at least one print image, preferably multi-color, onto a region to be printed on the external container surface of the containers, in the event of relative movement of the external container surface and at least one print head, wherein at least one enclosure is present, into which each of the containers, which are provided at a print position, is housed during the printing process with at least the region to be printed thereof.