Rotary Printing Surface Alignment for Circuit Board Laminates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional rotary printing methods lack the precision required for manufacturing products like circuit board laminates, where adhesive patterns and alignment marks need to be aligned within ±10 to 20 µm, especially when dealing with transparent or translucent inks, as current register control systems struggle to monitor and align these accurately.
Innovation Solution
The method involves printing all precise inks on the same high-precision rotary printing surface, eliminating the need for register control and enhancing alignment precision by dividing the printing surface into sections for each ink, with separate ink supply systems ensuring precise alignment of adhesive patterns and alignment marks, even for transparent or translucent materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional rotary printing methods with multiple printing units and register control are used, then the printing process can handle multiple colours, but the mutual alignment precision of the inks is limited to ±50 to 100 μm
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple printing units into a single printing unit with multiple printing surfaces. Each printing surface carries a different ink colour, and all surfaces are mounted on the same impression cylinder. This integration eliminates the need for complex register control systems between multiple separate printing units while achieving higher mutual alignment precision of ±10 to 20 μm.
Solution Approach 2:
The single impression cylinder is segmented into multiple printing surfaces, each dedicated to a specific ink colour. This segmentation allows each colour to be printed from a fixed position on the cylinder, ensuring precise relative positioning without requiring active registration control between separate printing units.
2Manufacturing precision
If computer vision-based register control is used to monitor alignment, then alignment can be maintained within acceptable range, but transparent or translucent inks cannot be effectively monitored
Solution Approach 1:
The printing surfaces are pre-positioned and fixed on the impression cylinder during manufacturing or setup. This preliminary positioning ensures that the relative positions of different ink colours are predetermined and maintained, eliminating the need for real-time monitoring and adjustment during the printing process, which is particularly beneficial for transparent or translucent inks that are difficult to detect.
3Manufacturing precision
If separate printing units are used for each colour, then flexibility in printing different colours is maintained, but the mutual alignment precision cannot meet the ±10 to 20 μm requirement for circuit board laminates
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple printing surfaces for different colours are merged onto a single impression cylinder. This integration ensures that all printing surfaces rotate together as one unit, maintaining fixed relative positions and achieving the required ±10 to 20 μm alignment precision for circuit board laminate manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The single impression cylinder serves multiple functions by carrying multiple printing surfaces for different ink colours. This multi-functional design allows the system to print multiple colours in one pass while maintaining high precision, simplifying the manufacturing process compared to using separate printing units for each colour.
Data Source
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AI summary
In a method for precise alignment of impressions made by different inks, a rotary printing surface is used for printing a material (5). The different inks to be aligned with respect to each other are printed on different areas (10, 11) of the material (5) by the same rotary printing surface, such as an impression roller (1).