Digital Binder Printing Dry Pigments Building Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital printing technologies for building panels, such as floors, are hindered by high ink costs due to the need for pigment dispersion and handling, limiting their use in large-scale, cost-efficient production, especially when creating high-quality multi-color images with UV-resistant pigments integrated into wear-resistant surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A method involving scattering dry color pigments on a surface, bonding them with a digital binder, and removing non-bonded pigments using a digital coating head or laser, allowing for cost-effective digital image creation without expensive pigment-based inks, and incorporating pigments into a cured wear-resistant surface layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional digital printing with pigment dispersion is used, then high-quality multi-color images can be produced, but ink costs become excessively high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the pigment dispersion component from the digital printing process. Instead of using conventional pigment-based inks that require expensive dispersion media and handling, the invention uses dry color pigments that are scattered and bonded separately, eliminating the need for expensive pigment dispersion inks while maintaining image quality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces expensive, complex pigment-based ink systems with simpler, cheaper dry pigment particles. These dry pigments can be easily scattered and bonded without requiring expensive ink formulations, making the printing process more cost-effective while achieving comparable or superior image quality
2Loss of substance
If dry color pigments are scattered and bonded digitally, then ink costs are reduced, but the process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the printing process into distinct functional steps: scattering dry pigments, applying binder, bonding pigments to surface, and removing non-bonded pigments. This segmentation allows each step to be optimized independently and simplifies the overall system by separating the pigment application from the bonding function
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a binder as an intermediary substance that mediates between the dry color pigments and the substrate. The binder is applied digitally and bonds the dry pigments to the surface, simplifying the process by providing a clear functional separation between pigment deposition and adhesion
3Strength
If pigments are integrated into cured surface layer, then wear resistance is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes parameter changes during the curing process. The binder is applied in a liquid or soft state, allowing easy integration of dry pigments, and then undergoes curing (through heat, UV, or other methods) to transform into a hard, wear-resistant state that locks the pigments in place. This parameter change enables both high wear resistance and acceptable manufacturing precision
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 enables the production of high-quality, cost-efficient digital images with advanced decorative patterns on building panels, achieving comparable resolution to conventional digital printing while reducing ink costs and ensuring wear resistance.
Implementation Method 1
bonding a part of the dry colour pigments to the surface
Implementation Method 2
a binder pattern or image is thereafter formed digitally by a laser beam that bonds some pigments to the surface by melting or curing a binder
Implementation Method 3
The liquid substance may be exposed to UV light
Data Source
Figure 1a~1d
Figure 2a~2d
Figure 3a~3d
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a method of forming a digitally printed image with colour pigments (12) on a surface (2) of a building panel (1). The method comprises forming two layers of digital prints, wherein each layer is formed by scattering dry colour pigments on the surface, bonding a part of the dry colour pigments to the surface, and removing the non-bonded dry colour pigments from the surface such that a digitally created image is formed by the bonded colour pigments.