Digital Printing Bridge for Glass Sheets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital printing machines for glass, particularly those used for elongated and narrow plates, face limitations in precision and versatility due to multi-pass mechanisms that require multiple passes and large gantries, leading to increased positional errors and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A single-pass digital printing machine with a bridge that moves along the X-axis, controlled by two servo motors with high-precision micrometric encoders, and a central processing unit that determines the longest print dimension for optimized pass directions, allowing for real-time data transmission and precise printing without losing parallelism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multi-pass printing mechanism is used with carriage moving along bridge, then printing can be performed on glass sheets, but printing time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional multi-pass printing approach by making the bridge movable along the X-axis while the print carriage remains stationary or moves minimally along the Y-axis. This inversion allows the bridge to carry the print carriage across the glass sheet in a single pass, dramatically reducing printing time and increasing productivity compared to the conventional multi-pass method where the carriage must repeatedly traverse the entire bridge length.
2Area of stationary object
If large gantry bridge is used to cover full glass width, then printing coverage is improved, but positional precision deteriorates due to increased deformations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the bridge movable along the X-axis rather than stationary. This dynamic capability allows the bridge to cover the full glass width through controlled movement, while the actual printing is performed by the stationary or minimally moving print carriage along the Y-axis. This resolves the contradiction by achieving full coverage through bridge movement while maintaining precision through the stable, short Y-axis carriage travel.
3Length of stationary object
If print carriage moves entire length of bridge for each pass, then full width printing is achieved, but number of passes increases and efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by having the bridge move along the X-axis to cover the glass width, while the print carriage moves only a short distance along the Y-axis. This inversion reduces the number of passes required from multiple traversals of the entire bridge length to just one or few passes, dramatically improving printing efficiency while still achieving full width coverage.
4Ease of operation
If bridge moves in X direction with transverse carriage movement in Y direction, then printing is performed, but machine complexity increases with multiple movement axes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent simplifies the machine structure by inverting the traditional multi-axis movement system. Instead of having the print carriage traverse the entire bridge length along the Y-axis for each pass, the bridge itself moves along the X-axis while the carriage makes minimal or no movement along Y. This inversion reduces the complexity of the movement control system while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3-A~3-B
AI summary
Machine and method for multi-pass digital printing of plate glass with minimization of print travel. The machine is configured to recognize the longest dimension of the motif to be printed in the X and Y directions and to execute the multiple print passes by moving the bridge in the X direction or by moving the carriage along the bridge in the Y direction.