Screen Printing Squeegee Device with Dynamic Angle Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printing units face challenges in achieving high variability and quality in screen printing processes without compromising productivity, particularly in handling different printing materials and formats, and in maintaining optimal squeegee performance across various conditions.
Innovation Solution
The printing unit incorporates a squeegee device with adjustable squeegee angle and position control, allowing for continuous adjustment within a wide range, enabling optimal contact with the screen printing forme and impression cylinder, and a drive system that allows remote operation and synchronization with the printing material phase, ensuring consistent print quality across varying conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the squeegee is fixed in position and angle, then the device complexity is reduced, but the adaptability to different printing materials and formats deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The squeegee is designed with dynamic adjustment capabilities, allowing its position and angle to be varied during the printing process. The squeegee holder can be moved radially inward and outward, and the squeegee angle can be adjusted, transforming a static component into a dynamic one that adapts to different printing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the parameters of the squeegee system by allowing variation in squeegee position (radial distance from screen center) and squeegee angle (orientation relative to screen surface). These parameter changes enable the same device to handle different printing materials and formats without requiring multiple fixed configurations.
2Manufacturing precision
If the squeegee is continuously adjusted during printing, then the print quality is improved, but the productivity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The squeegee device is designed to be activated and deactivated in periodic cycles during the printing process. The squeegee engages with the screen during specific phases to apply ink and disengages during other phases to allow screen rotation and repositioning. This periodic action maintains print quality while preserving overall printing productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The printing process maintains continuous operation by coordinating the squeegee activation with the screen rotation. While the squeegee is active, it deposits ink continuously; when deactivated, the screen continues to rotate to the next position, ensuring no interruption in the overall printing workflow and maintaining productivity.
3Reliability
If the squeegee pressure is increased to maintain contact, then the contact reliability is improved, but the screen deformation increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying constant high pressure, the squeegee system uses dynamic pressure adjustment. The squeegee engages with the screen at controlled moments, applying pressure only when needed for ink transfer, then releases pressure to allow the screen to return to its original shape. This dynamic approach maintains contact reliability while minimizing cumulative deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The squeegee applies pressure in periodic pulses rather than continuous force. Each engagement cycle involves brief high-pressure contact followed by pressure release, allowing the screen to elastically recover between applications. This periodic pressure application maintains reliable ink transfer while preventing excessive or permanent screen deformation.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3
AI summary
A printing unit (02) according to the invention of a printing press which prints a printing material at at least one printing point in accordance with a screen printing method comprises a screen-printing screen (43), a squeegee (44) which, in a thrown-on position, is set with a squeegee edge against the screen-printing screen and/or can be set against the screen-printing screen, and a bearing device (53) which makes throwing on and off possible between the thrown-on position of the squeegee (44) and a thrown-off position, which bearing device (53) is arranged, for example, indirectly or directly on a frame which supports the screen-printing screen (43) indirectly or directly. Furthermore, it comprises a drive device (74), by way of which the squeegee (44) can be thrown onto the screen-printing screen (43) and can be thrown off the latter, and a drive means (56) which is included in the drive device (74) and by way of which the throwing-on and throwing-off movement of the squeegee (44) can be brought about mechanically independently of a rotational drive of the screen-printing screen (43) and of a conveying means which conveys the printing material. Here, the drive means (56) which brings about the throwing-on and throwing-off movement can be moved reproducibly via a control device (64) which controls the drive means into at least one operating state which brings about a thrown-off position and at least two further operating states which are defined differently from one another and the taking up of which results in each case in a thrown-on position with radial relative positions and/or throwing-on forces which are different from one another between the squeegee (44) and the screen-printing screen (43). In order to throw on the squeegee (44), it is moved from a thrown-off position ("AB") into a thrown-on position ("AN"), which can be varied with regard to the intensity of the throwing-on action, by way of the drive means (56) which brings about the throwing-on and throwing-off movement of the squeegee via a control device (64) which controls the drive means.