Surfactant-Free Cleaning Solution for Printing Ink Residue
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cleaning solutions for removing ink residues from printing equipment, such as anilox rollers, often contain surfactants that compromise their effectiveness due to reduced solvent content and inability to dissolve certain materials, leading to impaired print quality and contamination issues.
Innovation Solution
A surfactant-free cleaning solution comprising a blend of solvents like acetoacetates, alcohols, glycol ethers, glycol esters, and water, with a relative evaporation time (RET) of less than or equal to 60 seconds and a specific solubility ratio, effectively removing residual inks and coatings without surfactants, allowing for efficient cleaning of various ink systems, including water-based, solvent-based, and energy-curable inks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surfactants are added to cleaning solutions to promote wetting and detergency, then cleaning ability is improved, but the amount of solvent available for dissolving ink residue is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes surfactants from the cleaning solution formulation, creating a surfactant-free composition that relies entirely on solvent power for cleaning effectiveness. This eliminates the trade-off between surfactant-based wetting and solvent-based dissolving capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the chemical composition parameters by selecting specific solvents with optimized evaporation rates and solubility characteristics. The solvent blend is formulated to provide both rapid evaporation (RET ≤ 60 seconds) and effective ink residue dissolution without requiring surfactant additives.
2Ease of operation
If surfactants are used to reduce surface tension and promote wetting, then cleaning coverage is improved, but effectiveness against certain materials is reduced due to inability to dissolve them
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses a composite solvent system combining multiple solvents with different chemical properties (acetoacetates, alcohols, glycol ethers, glycol esters, terpenes, and water). This composite formulation provides broad-spectrum dissolving capability for various ink types while maintaining adequate wetting coverage through the synergistic effects of the solvent blend.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cleaning solutions contain high amounts of surfactants, then emulsification and solubilizing properties are improved, but the overall cleaning performance is compromised due to reduced solvent content
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes surfactants entirely from the formulation, eliminating the need for emulsification and solubilizing mechanisms. Instead, the cleaning solution relies on the inherent dissolving power of the solvent blend to directly dissolve and remove ink residues, achieving superior overall cleaning performance.
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
The surfactant-free cleaning solution demonstrates superior cleaning power, quickly removing deeply embedded ink residues and maintaining consistent color reproduction, reducing the need for time-consuming roller changes and off-line cleaning processes, while ensuring a clean and dry surface for subsequent printing jobs.
Implementation Method 1
The cleaning solutions of the present invention are a blend of solvents... provides superior cleaning performance... removes residual inks and coatings from a surface
Implementation Method 2
the relative evaporation time (RET) of the solvents is less than or equal to 60 seconds
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides cleaning solutions for removing ink, coating, varnish, adhesive, etc. residue from printing equipment. The cleaning solutions of the present invention comprise one or more solvents, preferably selected from acetoacetates, alcohols, glycol ethers, glycol esters, terpenes, and water, and are preferably free of surfactants. The cleaning solutions of the invention have a relative evaporation time (RET) of less than 60 seconds, and a ratio of the RET to the radius of the sphere of solubility of the resin in the ink to be removed of less than 6.