Multi-Engine Digital Printing System for Expanded Color Gamut
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional print systems face limitations in expanding their color gamut and achieving high productivity, particularly in printing on flexible packaging and labels, due to the constraints of single print engines and difficulty in imaging through black or white layers using typical laser wavelengths.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating multiple print engines with flexible color ordering and configurations, such as Image-on-Image, Tandem, and cyclic engine configurations, which allow for additional colors like spot colors, white layers, and improved registration, enabling seamless image transfer and enhanced productivity across various print jobs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single print engine is used, then the device complexity is low, but the color gamut is limited and productivity is constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The printing system is divided into multiple independent print engines (first print engine and second print engine), each responsible for printing specific colors or color ranges. This segmentation allows each engine to be optimized for its specific color reproduction task while collectively achieving an expanded color gamut that would be impossible with a single engine.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple print engines are integrated into a single printing system, allowing the system to perform multiple color reproduction functions simultaneously. The system can print process colors (CMYK) using one engine and spot colors or extended gamut colors using another engine, making the system universally capable of handling diverse printing requirements.
2Productivity
If multiple print engines are incorporated, then the color gamut is expanded, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The printing system is divided into multiple independent print engines (first print engine and second print engine), each responsible for printing specific colors or color ranges. This segmentation allows each engine to be optimized for its specific color reproduction task while collectively achieving an expanded color gamut that would be impossible with a single engine.
Solution Approach 2:
The multiple print engines operate in sequence on the same substrate, with the substrate passing through each engine continuously. This continuous processing approach ensures that colors are applied in a coordinated manner without interrupting the printing flow, maintaining high productivity while achieving complex multi-color results.
3Manufacturing precision
If conventional laser wavelengths are used, then the imaging process is simple, but imaging through black or white layers is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs different laser wavelengths for different printing engines - the first print engine uses a first wavelength (e.g., 488nm for cyan, magenta, yellow) while the second print engine uses a second wavelength (e.g., 633nm for black and spot colors). This parameter change allows each wavelength to be optimized for imaging through specific color layers, overcoming the limitation of single-wavelength systems.
4Adaptability or versatility
If spot colors and white layers are added, then the color gamut is expanded, but the difficulty of imaging through layers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The printing system is divided into multiple independent print engines (first print engine and second print engine), each responsible for printing specific colors or color ranges. This segmentation allows each engine to be optimized for its specific color reproduction task while collectively achieving an expanded color gamut that would be impossible with a single engine.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs different laser wavelengths for different printing engines - the first print engine uses a first wavelength (e.g., 488nm for cyan, magenta, yellow) while the second print engine uses a second wavelength (e.g., 633nm for black and spot colors). This parameter change allows each wavelength to be optimized for imaging through specific color layers, overcoming the limitation of single-wavelength systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A printing apparatus or printing system that uses multiple print engines to form an image on a substrate. The printing apparatus or printing system may be a surface printing system or a reverse printing system. Each of the multiple print engines has at least one color station. The color stations are arranged in the print engines and between the multiple print engines based on whether the printing system is a surface printing system or a reverse printing system to control the order in which colorant is formed on a substrate. Multiple print engines allow for, among other things, a greater color gamut and therefore assists in expansion of the standard color gamut.