Ink Jet Printer Bidirectional Web Conveyance White Ink Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ink jet printing systems face challenges with ink flow and color blurring due to insufficient drying of aqueous ink, particularly at high speeds, and require separate printers for back-surface and front-surface printing on web-shaped materials, leading to increased facility and installation costs.
Innovation Solution
An ink jet printer configured for both back-surface and front-surface printing using a single-pass system with a conveyance mechanism and white ink drying device that allows continuous conveyance in both directions, ensuring efficient drying of white ink before discharging non-white ink, thereby reducing ink flow and color blurring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If printing speed is increased to about 15 m/min, then productivity is improved, but ink flow and color blurring occur due to insufficient drying of ink
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by providing a drying unit that dries the white ink before subsequent non-white ink is printed. The drying unit includes a drying roller or hot air blowing mechanism that removes moisture from the white ink layer in advance, preventing ink flow and color blurring when printing speed increases to 15 m/min or higher.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate ink jet printers are prepared for back-surface printing and front-surface printing, then printing versatility is improved, but facility cost and installation area increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements universality by designing a single ink jet printer that can perform both back-surface printing and front-surface printing on web-shaped printing base materials. The printer includes a conveyance mechanism capable of bidirectional conveyance and printing units configured to print on both surfaces, eliminating the need for separate dedicated printers and reducing facility costs.
3Quantity of substance
If white ink is printed in larger amounts, then white color coverage is improved, but ink drying becomes more difficult and printing speed cannot be increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent addresses this contradiction by implementing a drying unit that operates before the non-white ink printing stage. This preliminary drying action removes excess moisture from the white ink layer, enabling the use of larger amounts of white ink for complete coverage while maintaining high printing speeds of 15 m/min or higher without ink flow problems.
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
The solution enables high-speed, efficient image formation with aqueous ink on web-shaped printing materials by effectively drying white ink, preventing ink flow and color blurring, and consolidating printing capabilities into a single printer, reducing facility costs.
Implementation Method 1
a white ink drying device, which has a carry-in port for conveying the web-shaped printing base material having the white aqueous ink adhering thereto to the white ink drying device and a carry-out port for conveying the web-shaped printing base material having the white aqueous ink adhering thereto out from the white ink drying device, and has a drying zone for drying the surface of the web-shaped printing base material having the white aqueous ink adhering thereto
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is an ink jet printer for both back-surface printing and front-surface printing, which is capable of forming an image with aqueous ink on a web-shaped printing base material by any of the back-surface printing and the front-surface printing, and an ink jet printing method using the ink jet printer. The ink jet printer for both front-surface printing and back-surface printing includes: a conveyance mechanism configured to continuously convey the web-shaped printing base material in forward and reverse directions; a single-pass system ink jet head configured to discharge white aqueous ink to a surface of the web-shaped printing base material conveyed by the conveyance mechanism; a single-pass system ink jet head configured to discharge non-white aqueous ink to the surface of the web-shaped printing base material conveyed by the conveyance mechanism; and a white ink drying device which has a drying zone for drying the surface of the web-shaped printing base material having the white aqueous ink adhering thereto.