Digital Direct Printing Profile Strips with Haptic Ink
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for printing patterns on profile strips, such as skirting boards, face challenges in achieving high reproduction accuracy and a realistic appearance due to spatially differently aligned sub-areas with sharp edges or curved surfaces, which are difficult to address with traditional indirect printing methods.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing digital direct printing to create a three-dimensionally structured surface with haptic ink and then applying a colored pattern in precise alignment, ensuring no empty spaces by overlapping print areas along the longitudinal edge or transition zones, using pivotable print heads for accurate and continuous printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If indirect printing methods are used on profile strips with spatially differently oriented sections, then the printing process can be simplified, but the reproduction accuracy and alignment precision deteriorate due to sharp edges and curved surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The profile strip surface is divided into multiple spatially differently oriented sections (front surface, top surface, curved areas), each printed by dedicated printheads with appropriate orientations. This segmentation allows each printhead to focus on a specific section, maintaining high precision while managing the complexity through modular printhead arrangements.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution transitions from 2D printing to 3D printing by adding depth dimension through haptic ink application that creates three-dimensionally structured surfaces. Multiple printheads are positioned at different spatial orientations to print on surfaces that extend in three dimensions, including curved areas, thereby achieving accurate reproduction on complex geometries.
2Manufacturing precision
If separate printheads are used for different sections of the profile strip, then each section can be printed with optimal orientation, but gaps may remain at the boundaries between printed areas
Solution Approach 1:
Adjacent print areas from different printheads are merged through controlled overlapping. The patent specifies that print areas from differently oriented printheads overlap in transition zones, ensuring continuous coverage. This merging approach maintains the benefits of section-specific printing while eliminating gaps through coordinated ink application in overlapping regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The printing process is carefully planned and coordinated in advance, with predetermined overlap zones between adjacent printhead coverage areas. The electronic control device coordinates the printheads to ensure that their print areas overlap in a controlled manner, preventing gaps before they can occur during the printing operation.
3Manufacturing precision
If digital direct printing is used to create three-dimensionally structured surfaces with haptic ink and colored pattern, then realistic appearance and high reproduction accuracy are achieved, but the device complexity and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The printing system is designed with multi-functional printheads that can apply different types of ink (haptic ink, colored pattern ink, clear coat) and the same printhead arrangement serves multiple printing sections of the profile strip. This universality reduces overall system complexity by using standardized components for multiple purposes while maintaining the capability for precise three-dimensional printing.
Solution Approach 2:
An electronic control device serves as an intermediary that coordinates multiple printheads, managing their positioning, timing, and ink application. This centralized control simplifies the complexity by providing a single point of coordination rather than requiring complex mechanical synchronization mechanisms between independent printheads.
4Ease of manufacture
If haptic ink and colored pattern are applied in separate printing processes, then each printing step can be optimized independently, but production speed decreases and alignment precision may suffer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple printing operations (haptic ink application, colored pattern printing, and clear coat application) into a single integrated printing process. Multiple printheads operate simultaneously in one pass, applying different ink types to their respective sections of the profile strip. This merging of processes maintains the ability to optimize each printing function while dramatically increasing production speed through parallel operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The printing process is designed to be continuous, with multiple printheads operating simultaneously without interruption. The profile strip moves continuously through the printing zone while all printheads apply their respective inks in one coordinated pass, eliminating the start-stop nature of sequential printing processes and maintaining continuous productive action throughout.
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 1c
AI summary
Method for printing elongated profile strips (100), in particular baseboards, with a pattern (4), in particular a wood grain decor, wherein, to form a three-dimensionally structured surface, a haptic ink (3) is first printed by means of digital direct printing by a printhead arrangement (10) onto at least a partial area of a base profile (1) of the profile strip (100) which is moved relative to the printhead arrangement (10), and that subsequently, by means of a further printhead arrangement (12), a colored pattern (4) is also printed in the correct position onto the previously three-dimensionally structured printed surface by means of digital direct printing.