Roller Dryer Heating and Cooling Continuous Base Material
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional printers using roll-to-roll mechanisms for inkjet printing on continuous base materials face inefficiencies in heat control, leading to suboptimal drying of pre-processing liquids and potential printing accuracy issues due to temperature-related distortions.
Innovation Solution
The printer design includes a dryer with a heating roller and a cooling roller, where the continuous base material is wound around the heating roller for efficient heating and then around the cooling roller for efficient cooling, maintaining a temperature difference with a heat insulating member and using a common rotating shaft for the rollers to reduce device size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If heating guide rollers are used to heat the continuous base material by contact, then the base material can be dried, but the heat control efficiency is low and drying is inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from point contact heating to surface contact heating by wrapping the continuous base material around the heating roller. This dimensional change from point to surface contact dramatically increases the heating area and improves both drying efficiency and heat control efficiency simultaneously
Solution Approach 2:
The heating roller uses a cylindrical curved surface instead of flat or point contact. The continuous base material is wrapped around the curved heating roller surface, maximizing the contact area between the material and heating surface, thereby improving heat transfer efficiency and drying performance
2Temperature
If cooling guide rollers are used to cool the continuous base material by contact, then cooling can be achieved, but the heat control efficiency is low and printing accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from point contact cooling to surface contact cooling by wrapping the continuous base material around the cooling roller. This dimensional change from point to surface contact dramatically increases the cooling area and improves cooling effectiveness, thereby maintaining printing accuracy by preventing heat-induced distortions
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling roller uses a cylindrical curved surface instead of flat or point contact. The continuous base material is wrapped around the curved cooling roller surface, maximizing the contact area between the material and cooling surface, thereby improving heat dissipation efficiency and maintaining printing accuracy
3Ease of operation
If the continuous base material is transported with the first surface contacting rollers, then transport is simple, but image distortion occurs due to contact with semi-dried pre-processing liquid
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the transport approach by wrapping the continuous base material around the rollers instead of having rollers contact the surface. The material is fed from behind and wrapped around the heating and cooling rollers, ensuring the printed first surface never contacts any roller surfaces, thereby preventing image distortion while maintaining transport functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the first surface of the continuous base material from contact with transport components. By wrapping the material around rollers and transporting from behind, the printed surface is isolated from any potential contact sources, eliminating the risk of image distortion caused by semi-dried pre-processing liquid
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
This configuration enhances the efficiency of drying pre-processing liquids and cooling the continuous base material, thereby improving printing accuracy by preventing heat-induced distortions and reducing the risk of nozzle drying in the inkjet printer.
Implementation Method 1
a heating roller (41) having a first outer peripheral surface (411) around which the continuous base material (9) is wound, the heating roller heating the continuous base material (9) with the first outer peripheral surface (411) being in contact with a second surface (92) of the continuous base material (9) on a side opposite to the first surface (91)
Implementation Method 2
a cooling roller (43) located downstream of the heating roller (41) and having a second outer peripheral surface (431) around which the continuous base material (9) is wound, the second outer peripheral surface (431) having a temperature lower than a temperature of the first outer peripheral surface (411)
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for adequately cooling a continuous base material while efficiently drying a pre-processing liquid on the continuous base material before printing using second ink. The printer includes first and second printing units and a dryer located downstream of the first printing unit and including a heating roller. The second printing unit is located downstream of the dryer. The heating roller has a first outer peripheral surface around which the continuous base material is wound, and heats the continuous base material with the first outer peripheral surface being in contact with a second surface of the continuous base material on the side opposite to the first surface. The dryer includes a cooling roller located downstream of the heating roller and having a second outer peripheral surface around which the continuous base material is wound. The second outer peripheral surface has a lower temperature than the first outer peripheral surface.