Contact Printing Roll for Wide Color Gamut Web Substrates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gravure printing systems require multiple stations and significant floor space to produce high-quality, multi-color images on web substrates, leading to increased costs and space requirements due to the need for numerous gravure rolls and ancillary equipment.
Innovation Solution
A contact printing system with a central roll featuring a plurality of discrete cells on its surface, where each cell contains a fluid that can be dispensed to a web substrate, allowing for the application of multiple colors using a single roll, reducing the need for multiple stations and space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual gravure stations are used to provide multi-color printing, then color gamut and print quality are improved, but device complexity and floor space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple gravure stations into a single integrated station where multiple gravure cylinders are mounted on one shared impression cylinder. This allows multiple colors to be applied in a single pass through the printing station, eliminating the need for sequential processing through multiple separate stations while maintaining full color gamut capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a sequential arrangement of gravure stations (one after another along the substrate path) to a parallel arrangement where multiple gravure cylinders operate simultaneously on a single station. This dimensional reorganization allows all colors to be applied at once rather than in sequence, reducing the overall footprint and device complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual gravure stations are used to provide multi-color printing, then color gamut is improved, but floor space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple gravure stations into one compact unit by mounting multiple gravure cylinders on a single shared impression cylinder. This consolidation eliminates the need for multiple separate printing zones along the substrate path, significantly reducing the floor space required while maintaining the ability to print multiple colors with full gamut.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple gravure rolls and ancillary equipment are used, then print quality is improved, but costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The shared impression cylinder serves multiple functions simultaneously: it receives ink transfers from multiple gravure cylinders, maintains precise registration for all colors, and transfers the composite multi-color image to the substrate in a single operation. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for multiple separate impression cylinders and associated ancillary equipment, reducing costs while maintaining print quality.
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
Enables the production of a wide color gamut on a web substrate with reduced equipment and space requirements, achieving high-quality, multi-color printing with improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
The capillary action of the substrate and the pressure from the impression rollers draw and/or force the ink out of the cell cavity of the gravure roll and transfer it to the substrate
Implementation Method 2
The capillary action of the substrate and the pressure from the impression rollers draw and/or force the ink out of the cell cavity of the gravure roll and transfer it to the substrate
Implementation Method 3
This is necessary because wet inks cannot be overprinted without smearing and smudging. This emphasizes the need for high volume drying equipment such as dryers to be placed after each gravure printing station
Data Source
AI summary
A contact printing system is disclosed. The contact printing system has a central roll having a plurality of discrete cells disposed upon an outer surface thereof. Adjacent cells of the plurality of discrete cells each have a fluid disposed therein from a respective location internal to the central roll. Each fluid is disposable from each of the cells to a web substrate and provides a resultant color upon the web substrate having a 2-D gamut boundary represented by a defined system of CIELab equations.