Packaged Foil Balloon for Inkjet Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional balloons are too thin and lack rigidity to pass through ink-jet printers reliably, leading to issues with image application, edge exposure, and potential damage, while folded balloons require additional support that can cause buckling and limit image application to only exposed areas.
Innovation Solution
A packaged balloon design featuring a folded balloon with a planar member attached to cover edges, providing support and preventing exposure, allowing for continuous surface image application and reducing the risk of damage during printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a folded balloon is inserted into a packet with an aperture for printing, then the balloon receives support to pass through the printer, but the image can only be applied to the exposed area and the packet may buckle at the aperture
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the aperture from the packet structure entirely. Instead of having an opening for the balloon to protrude, the packet is sealed and the balloon is printed through the packet material itself, eliminating the buckling problem and enabling full-surface printing.
Solution Approach 2:
The packet is designed with asymmetric thickness distribution - thinner in regions where printing occurs and thicker where structural support is needed - allowing the balloon to be printed through while maintaining packet integrity.
2Length of moving object
If the packet is made thinner to allow balloon passage through the printer, then printing is enabled, but the packet loses structural support and may buckle
Solution Approach 1:
The packet employs asymmetric thickness design, being thinner in the printing region to allow printer passage and thicker in supporting regions to prevent buckling, optimizing both printability and structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The packet structure transitions from a uniformly thin design to a dimensionally varied structure with different thickness zones, adding a thickness dimension to solve the contradiction between printability and structural support.
3Ease of manufacture
If an aperture is provided in the packet for balloon exposure, then printing on exposed areas is possible, but buckling occurs at the aperture region during printer bending
Solution Approach 1:
The aperture is completely removed from the packet design. The balloon is printed through the sealed packet material itself, eliminating the source of buckling while maintaining full printing capability across the balloon surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The packet material itself acts as an intermediary medium that allows printing to occur through it without requiring an aperture, transferring the print image through the packet to the balloon while maintaining packet structural integrity.
Data Source
AI summary
Arrangements are described for enabling a folded foil balloon to be supplied to a printer for enabling an image to be applied to a surface of the balloon. The balloon is first folded around a paper substrate, and a paper cover sheet is attached to the folded-over edge portions and tail portion of the balloon, so as to form a packaged balloon. The packaged balloon is formed with a tapered leading edge to facilitate insertion into a standard ink-jet printer. The packaged balloon may be in the form of a greetings card, with the fold of the card either along the left edge or the top edge of the card. The packaged balloon may be supplied with one or more light sources and/or power sources, either on the inside or outside of the balloon.