Printing Apparatus Cooling Drive Roller Tension Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing printing apparatus faces issues with temperature-induced imaging defects, reduced light quantity affecting inspection quality, and unstable base material tension due to cooling rollers, leading to inaccurate inspections.
Innovation Solution
A printing apparatus configuration with a first drive roller for cooling and applying transportation force upstream of the imaging unit, and a second drive roller for tension control downstream of the imaging unit, along with cleaners to remove dust, ensuring stable and accurate inspection under controlled tension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If multiple cooling driven rollers are provided between the drying unit and the imaging unit, then the imaging unit and base material temperature can be maintained at constant levels, but the rollers become heavy with increased inertia and rotational resistance, making tension control difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling function is divided into two separate components: a cooling unit that provides refrigeration without transportation force, and a drive roller that provides transportation force without cooling. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, reducing the weight and complexity of individual rollers while maintaining effective base material cooling and tension control.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling unit and drive roller are positioned in close proximity and work together as a coordinated system. The cooling unit is arranged to cool the base material at the same location where the drive roller applies transportation force, combining the thermal management and mechanical drive functions in space without merging them into a single heavy component.
2Manufacturing precision
If cooling driven rollers are used to cool the base material, then temperature-induced imaging defects are reduced, but the rollers' heavy weight and rotational resistance cause unstable base material expansion and contraction, leading to inspection inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the cooling function from the drive function, the system achieves precise temperature control for imaging quality while the dedicated drive roller provides stable mechanical control for accurate inspection. The cooling unit handles thermal management without interfering with the mechanical tension control needed for precise measurement.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling unit acts as an intermediary that removes heat from the base material without directly applying mechanical force, allowing temperature control to be achieved independently from tension control. This mediator approach enables separate optimization of thermal and mechanical parameters for their respective quality and measurement goals.
3Temperature
If a refrigerant like water is supplied to each cooling driven roller individually, then effective cooling is achieved, but the device complexity and weight increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into a centralized refrigerant supply and a distributed cooling unit that contacts the base material. This allows effective cooling at the point of need while consolidating the complex refrigerant distribution infrastructure into a single location, reducing overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex refrigerant distribution system is extracted from individual roller locations and consolidated into a centralized cooling unit. This extraction removes the complexity of individual roller cooling mechanisms while maintaining effective cooling where it is most needed at the base material surface.
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 configuration maintains stable inspection quality by preventing temperature increases and ensuring accurate tension control, reducing errors from base material expansion and contraction, and suppressing the impact of dust on imaging.
Implementation Method 1
The first drive roller of the printing apparatus described above cools the base material by supplying a refrigerant thereinto
Implementation Method 2
a drying unit located downstream of the printing unit in a transportation direction of the base material and configured to dry the inks adhering to the base material with use of heat
Implementation Method 3
The degree of expansion and contraction of the base material due to the temperature is varied depending on types and patterns of the base material
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
Disclosed is a printing apparatus including a cooling drive roller located upstream of an imaging unit. The cooling drive roller can cool a transparent base material. This prevents increase in temperature of the base material to a given value or more, which increase may cause poor imaging by the imaging unit. As a result, stable inspection can be maintained. Moreover, a cooling driven roller has a cooling function and is configured to apply no transportation force to the transparent base material. Such a cooling driven roller makes it difficult to control tension on the transparent base material, leading to possibility that a degree of expansion and contraction of the transparent base material is unstable and inspection is performed inaccurately. The cooling drive roller itself has the cooling function, and a transportation force is applicable to the base material while a rotation speed of the roller is controlled. This enables stable and accurate inspection of the base material under appropriate tension control of the base material.