Patent Application
20090284575
The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing media transport in a printer.
More specifically the invention is related to step and repeat media transport system for an inkjet printer.
Printing is one of the most popular ways of conveying information to members of the general public. Digital printing using dot matrix printers allows rapid printing of text and graphics stored on computing devices such as personal computers. These printing methods allow rapid conversion of ideas and concepts to printed product at an economic price without time consuming and specialised production of intermediate printing plates such as lithographic plates. The development of digital printing methods has made printing an economic reality for the average person even in the home environment.
Conventional methods of dot matrix printing often involve the use of a printing head, e.g. an ink jet printing head, with a plurality of marking elements, e.g. ink jet nozzles. The marking elements transfer a marking material, e.g. ink or resin, from the printing head to a printing medium, e.g. paper or plastic. The printing may be monochrome, e.g. black, or multi-coloured, e.g. full colour printing using a CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow, black=a process black made up of a combination of C, M, Y), a CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), or a specialised colour scheme, (e.g. CMYK plus one or more additional spot or specialised colours). To print a printing medium such as paper or plastic, the marking elements are used or “fired” in a specific order while the printing medium is moved relative to the printing head. Each time a marking element is fired, marking material, e.g. ink, is transferred to the printing medium by a method depending on the printing technology used. Typically, in one form of printer, the head will be moved relative to the printing medium to produce a so-called raster line which extends in a first direction, e.g. across a page. The first direction is sometimes called the “fast scan” direction. A raster line comprises a series of dots delivered onto the printing medium by the marking elements of the printing head. The printing medium is moved, usually intermittently, in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The second direction is often called the slow scan direction.
The combination of printing raster lines and moving the printing medium relative to the printing head results in a series of parallel raster lines which are usually closely spaced. Seen from a distance, the human eye perceives a complete image and does not resolve the image into individual dots provided these dots are close enough together. Closely spaced dots of different colours are not distinguishable individually but give the impression of colours determined by the amount or intensity of the three colours cyan, magenta and yellow which have been applied.
In order to improve the veracity of printing, e.g. of a straight line, it is preferred if the distance between dots of the dot matrix is small, that is the printing has a high resolution. Although it cannot be said that high resolution always means good printing, it is true that a minimum resolution is necessary for high quality printing. A small dot spacing in the slow scan direction means a small distance between marker elements on the head, whereas regularly spaced dots at a small distance in the fast scan direction places constraints on the quality of the drives used to move the printing head relative to the printing medium in the fast scan direction.
Generally, there is a mechanism for positioning a marker element in a proper location over the printing medium before it is fired. Usually, such a drive mechanism is controlled by a microprocessor, a programmable digital device such as a PAL, a PLA, a FPGA or similar although the skilled person will appreciate that anything controlled by software can also be controlled by dedicated hardware and that software is only one implementation strategy.
One general problem of dot matrix printing is the formation of artefacts caused by the digital nature of the image representation and the use of equally spaced dots. Certain artefacts such as Moiré patterns may be generated due to the fact that the printing attempts to portray a continuous image by a matrix or pattern of (almost) equally spaced dots. One source of artefacts can be errors in the placing of dots caused by a variety of manufacturing defects such as the location of the marker elements in the head or systematic errors in the movement of the printing head relative to the printing medium. In particular, if one marking element is misplaced or its firing direction deviates from the intended direction, the resulting printing will show a defect which can run throughout the print. A variation in drop velocity will also cause artefacts when the printing head is moving, as time of flight of the drop will vary with variation in the velocity. Similarly, a systematic error in the drive system for moving the printing medium may result in defects that may be visible. For example, slip between the drive for the printing medium and the printing medium itself will introduce errors.
Especially in large size inkjet printers and industrial inkjet printing machines, the receiving medium transport system has to be very accurate and reliable in transport distance to avoid banding problems.
These systems usually must be capable to handle different sizes and thickness of receiving media.
Another problem is that the printing speed and transport speed is much higher than those of office or home inkjet printers.
These industrial printers often use a web-based material as printing stock. The web based material has to be fed very correctly as small deviations would lead to skew feeding of the web which could lead. to malfunctioning of the printer. Small feeding deviations in sheet-fed material do not pose such a problem as each sheet is independently taken from the paper bin, unless sheet-fed material is pre-printed and is to be accurately aligned in the printer to register the image to be printed to the already pre-printed image.
A problem also encountered is that printing on large size rigid media poses specific problems in respect to positioning and transporting of the media.
Rigid media normally have a greater weight than paper and have greater inertia than light materials which poses greater needs on the media transport system.
Due to the rigidity it is also possible that the material can not be straightened out easily and due to unevenness of the material surface the throw distance may vary and certain printing defects can occur.
Certain rigid materials exhibit a certain porosity so that they can not be easily transported by a transport system using vacuum forces to hold a medium. This problem is very apparent when one wants to print on mesh material, rigid or flexible.
Another aspect in industrial printers is that the shuttle containing the printheads is usually relatively heavy in comparison to home or office printers. Due to the higher shuttle speed, the drops follow a sloping path from the printhead to the receiver. Even the slightest deviation in throw distance between the head and the receiver will result in deviations in positioning the ink drops. The throw distance has to be kept constant over the full width of the shuttle and over the full length of the shuttle movement.
It has been shown that transport rollers do not provide a solution to the problems described. Another drawback is that when using large size receiving media rollers are needed in the middle of the receiving medium and that these rollers come into contact with the fresh printed surface.
In WO 01/56 804 a conveyance apparatus is provided for stepwise conveying of materials which can be used in an inkjet printer. The apparatus uses fixed and moving elements for holding the working portion of the material, being the portion of the conveyed material on which the tool, in this case the inkjet printhead, is working on. The apparatus of WO 01/56 804 has however certain drawbacks.
Support of the working portion of the receiving medium is always divided over several elements of which some completely static and some are movable for transporting the receiving medium. The support structure is formed by the movable and fixed elements Therefor it can not be assured that the material is supported over the whole width at the same height and with the same force. Especially when printing thin, flexible media this would lead to problems.
As the moving elements are in contact with the receiving medium at the printing location no movement of these elements is tolerated during printing as longitudinal forces would be exerted upon the receiving medium at the printing location. This inevitably leads to a slower feeding speed.
The apparatus is riot able to transport materials having high porosity and mesh-like materials which are not laminated to a liner fabric.
the vacuum transport elements support only about 50% of the width of the material which gives possibly not enough force to move the heavier or porous materials.
It is clear that there is still a need for improvement of these transport systems.
It is the aim of the invention to provide a receiving media transport system that can handle all types and sizes of receiving media having a very exact positioning capability.
The above-mentioned advantageous effects are realised by a media transport system having the specific features set out in claim 1. Specific features for preferred embodiments of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.
An inkjet printing system having such a media transport system is claimed in claim 11.
Further advantages and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings.
The solution to the problem is provided by a media transport system as schematically shown in
While the present invention will hereinafter be described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to those embodiments.
Media transport systems as depicted in
The printing unit with the step-wise media transport system.
A feeding roll to deliver non-printed receiving medium to the printing unit.
A take-up roll for storing the printed medium. Alternatively it is possible to deliver the material to a finishing unit to cut the material at appropriate length eventually followed by further finishing such as folding, stapling, etc . . .
Other embodiments of the printing apparatus may comprise a sheet feeder and alignment unit in front of the printing. unit having the step-wise media transport system, and a sheet lay off and stacker unit to receive the printed sheets. This embodiment may be used for flexible sheets as well as rigid materials. These elements are however not show for clarity.
The media transport system.
According to the invention there is provided a static table 1 that holds the media during a printing action when the inkjet-printing head 2 performs a fast scan along a guidance 3 over the receiving media as a swath is printed. During the printing action the whole working part 4 of the receiving medium is substantially supported by the static table 1. This means that the static table 1 has at least the width and the length to support the area of the receiving material on which the recording tool will operate, in this case an inkjet printhead 2 will record a swath of the image.
As shown in the embodiment of
The forces for holding the receiving medium can be any sort of force but is preferable capable of being switched. The forces could be electrostatic, magnetic (certain media) or preferably vacuum.
Static Vacuum Table
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention central to the system is a static vacuum table 1 that holds the receiving medium static during the printing action.
The top surface is formed by a rigidly fixed plate having small perforations 7 of about 0.5 to 2 mm wide to enable the vacuum to attract the receiving medium lying above it during the printing action. Also small grooves (about 0.5 mm)are provided to distribute the vacuum over a larger area.
The perforations can also be replaced by small slits in the top plate.
Preferable the plate is page-wide provided at the working area 4 which is the actual area printed by the inkjet printhead 2 during a fast scan print action. The aim is to thoroughly support the receiving material over the total width of the working area 4. Especially when using thin media this is important. No moving parts of the medium transport system are located under the working area 4. Only fixed parts are present under the working area 4. Under the perforated plate there is provided a vacuum chamber 8 in connection with the perforations 7. Table 1 and vacuum chamber 8 form a closed box in which a vacuum can be created. Vacuum is applied and maintained by an air evacuation system, e.g. a ventilator system, drawing air out of the vacuum chamber 8 to obtain a vacuum in the chamber.
The air evacuation system has enough capacity to generate sufficient vacuum in a short time to that the receiving medium can be immobilised on the vacuum table 1 quickly.
Plural Vacuum Chambers
If the width of the receiving medium is less than the with of the plate, the problem rises that, through the perforations 7 which are not covered by the receiving sheet, air will flow into the chamber 8 and the vacuum cannot be maintained easily or is partially lost. A solution to this problem, of which a possible solution is illustrated in
Vacuum Release Valve
When the receiving sheet should be released, vacuum should be discontinued in the chamber(s). This can be done by stopping the air evacuation means, but preferably a valve 9 is provided in one of the walls 10 of the vacuum chamber. The valve 9 is opened and air is let into the chamber 8 or between chambers 8. The cross-section of the valve 9 is preferably large and especially a blind 11 valve can be employed as they tend to have a large opening and they can be switched very quickly between open and closed state. Vacuum can be switched without even turning the air evacuation means off.
Dynamic Vacuum Tables
Dynamic vacuum tables 5 and 6 provide the moving part of the media transport system. These are designed to hold the receiving layer during incremental transport steps of the receiving medium and may release the receiving layer once held by the vacuum of the static table 1.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention a dynamic vacuum table 5,6 is provided at each side of the static vacuum table 1. The top surface is formed by a plate having small perforations 7 to enable the vacuum to attract the receiving medium lying above it during the transport action. Also here slits can be provided Over at least a certain length of the receiving medium the plate is provided page-wide to keep the transport forces constant over the width of the receiving medium.
Under the perforated plate there is also a vacuum chamber 8 in connection with the perforations. Vacuum is created and maintained by an air evacuation system.
The air evacuation system has enough capacity to generate sufficient vacuum in a short time to that the receiving medium can be drawn to the dynamic vacuum table quickly.
Plural Vacuum Chambers
Likewise as in the static vacuum table 1, if the width of the receiving medium is less than the width of the plate, the problem rises that through the perforations 7 which are not covered by the receiving sheet air will flow into the chamber 8 and the vacuum cannot be maintained easily or is partially lost.
A solution to this problem given in the present invention is that instead of a single vacuum chamber 8, the plate surface is divided into several fields each having their own vacuum chamber 8.
Especially when the dimensions of these fields are chosen and designed in relation to common paper widths it is always possible to obtain a good vacuum to rigidly hold the receiving sheet in place. Vacuum chambers 8 outside the width of the receiving sheet lose vacuum or are switched of from the vacuum source, but have no influence on the holding power of the other chambers 8 underneath the receiving sheet.
As also in the static vacuum table 1, blind valves 9 form an excellent method of switching the state of the vacuum table between holding and releasing state.
As the dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 move, they preferably are of a lightweight construction that gives less inertia problems at the start and end of the transport step.
As it is the intention of the invention that both dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 move synchronously during transport of the receiving medium they are preferably relatively mounted fixed to each other. In
At both edges of the dynamic vacuum tables a guide rail (not shown) is provided for guiding the moving tables along a correct path. Preferably the two dynamic tables have common guide rails to provide synchronous and parallel movement.
Both spindles 12 may be driven by high resolution step motors 13 to have accurate control over the length of the transport step and speed.
This can eliminate the need for encoders to determine exact position and speed of the dynamic tables 5,6.
Temperature Considerations
Due to the large width of the vacuum tables in certain industrial printing machines the thermal expansion of the tables 5,6 can not be discarded.
In an embodiment according to the invention at one side the guide rail and spindle system 12 over which the dynamic tables 5,6 move is rigidly fixed while the opposite rail can be mounted in a floating way to allow for the expansion of the tables 5,6. Using fixed rails at both sides would result in stress causing deformation of the dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 and less accurate transport of the receiving medium. A possible embodiment is given in
Also for the static vacuum table 1 it has to be avoided that stress will occur due to thermal expansion and possibly lead to deformation of the table 1.
Method of Operation
The operation of the media transport system is a step-wise incremental transport.
During the printing action of the apparatus a web or sheet material is provided.
1. As the swath of the image is printed, the medium can be fe forward.
First, if not already done, the vacuum in the dynamic tables 5,6 is build-up by closing the blind valves 9 in the vacuum chambers 8 of the dynamic tables 5, 6. As the vacuum is generated the receiving medium 15 is drawn into contact by the force of the vacuum acting upon the receiving medium 15.
As the receiving medium 15 is fixed unto the dynamic tables 5,6 the blind valves 9 of the static vacuum table 1 are opened to release the grip of the static vacuum table on the receiving medium 15. As the vacuum is lost the receiving medium 15 is only attached to the dynamic vacuum tables 5,5.
2. During the transport step
As both dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 are closely coupled by a rigid coupling or by the spindles 12 at both sides, they automatically have the same speed. In an alternative embodiment both vacuum tables 5,6 could have different driving mechanisms but this poses even more problems in speed control of the motors.
In an alternative embodiment the step motors 13 and spindles 12 for driving the dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 can be replaced by linear motors. Since the medium 15 transport is an incremental stepping transport with a short stroke travel distance, linear motors may be very well suited for this job.
During movement the dynamic vacuum table unit is moved in a downstream direction, i.e. dynamic table 6 is moved closer to or into contact with static vacuum table 1 while table 5 is pulled away from static vacuum table 1.
During movement the receiving medium 15 is translated together with the dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 unit to which it is adhered. The distance over which the step-wise translation is done can be controlled by the step motors 13 or by using a separate detection means such as an appropriate encoder.
It has been shown that an accuracy of 3 μm could be obtained using step motors, which is quite sufficient for inkjet recording systems.
3. After translation the dynamic vacuum table unit is in its downstream position (
Vacuum of the dynamic vacuum tables 5,6 is removed by opening the blind valves 9 in the dynamic vacuum chambers 8 (
The transport module is put back into starting position (upstream position) by reverse rotation of the step motors 13. The dynamic vacuum table unit may be brought to the starting position (
4. Before printing a swath of the image, the working area of the receiving media 15 is adhered to the static vacuum table 1. This is done by closing the blind valves 9 of the vacuum table 1, i.e. of the different vacuum chambers 8 that are covered by the receiving medium 15, so that vacuum can be build up inside these vacuum chambers 8.
As the vacuum builds up inside the vacuum chambers B the medium 15 is drawn into contact with the perforated base plate and is held in place by the force of the vacuum.
In
The printhead 4 performs a fast scan over the receiving medium 15 along a guidance 3 and prints a swath of the image to be recorded. This can be done in a single pass over the working area 4 (unidirectional printing) or by a dual pass as the printhead 2 shuttles over the working area 4 and is returned to the start position and a partial image is printed each time (bidirectional printing).
The interface between the static table 1 and the dynamic tables 5,6 can be a straight boundary, but in an alternative embodiment of the invention the tables 1,5,6 can fit to each other using a toothed pattern as shown in
The invention can be used for the step-wise transport of a web material to be printed on, but likewise is would be possible to transport sheet material using the system. An improvement shown in
During printing of an image on the receiving medium each time a step having a certain step distance is made. However the step distance can be variable as this can be necessary in certain recording methods.
When the printing medium 15 can not be adhered properly to the dynamic tables 5,6 by the vacuum, possibly due to porosity in the case of mesh-media, a combination of unevenness or rigidity in the case of rigid media, or any other reason, it is possible to provide the vacuum tables 5,6 with a additional clamps or force system to assist the holding of the media 15 during printing and transport. This media holding assistance system may contain rollers (either full width rollers extending across the full width of the media or a number of smaller rollers spread along the full width of the media), fingers or styli, clamps, suction cups, etc. The assistance system may be mounted upstream or downstream of the working area where the printing occurs, or at both sides of the working area. In a preferred embodiment, as shown in
When a media holding assistance system is provided at the downstream side of the working area of printing, care must be taken the assistance means do not damage the image that was just previously printed. This may be the case in printing systems using inks that take time to dry. Sometimes it may be sufficient to have active drying means in or near the working area 4, e.g. on the shuttle together with the printhead 2, so that the printed pixels or swaths are at least “touch dry” when leaving the working area 4 and entering the area of the downstream dynamic table and/or media holding assistance system.
The static/dynamic table assembly and vacuum support may also be assisted by roller pairs known from web transport and web tensioning systems. The roller pairs can hold the receiving medium in a fixed and tensioned state during printing wherein the vacuum of the static/dynamic table assembly is for holding the receiving medium flat, and forward the receiving medium in the transport direction in between the fast scans for printing a swath of the image. The roller pairs are preferably tension controlled and limited with a maximum torque to avoid slip of the receiving medium over the vacuum tables, i.e. to avoid that the tension of the roller pairs onto the receiving medium exceeds the holding force of the vacuum tables. Roller pair embodiments may include two independent rollers, one upstream and another downstream the working area of the receiving medium, operation against a sliding or rolling contact area on the printer frame or dynamic tables. The receiving medium moves between a roller and a part of the printer frame or dynamic table.
Alternatively the embodiment may include two roller pairs, one upstream and another downstream the working area of the receiving medium. The receiving medium then passes in the nip of the rollers of each of the roller pairs.
When mesh-media or rigid media are used, onto which the holding force of the vacuum tables is low, the roller pairs may be the major means for forwarding and tensioning (if applicable) the receiving medium. In other words, the static/dynamic vacuum tables functionality in the media transport is mainly to support the mesh and rigid media during transport.
It has to be noted that it is not necessary that the dynamic vacuum tables need to be lowered when moving upstream underneath the web.
The stepping motors 13 can be directly coupled to the spindle drives 12 or they can be coupled using a gearing system. All depends upon the type of step-motor 13, spindle 12 and desired accuracy and speed of the movement. The two spindles need to operate exactly at the same speed, so preferably high quality motors are used which are coupled to each other by electronic gearing.
Another important aspect is that the inkjet printhead needs to be at a constant distance from the receiving medium. As the printhead shuttles, it can be understood that an ink drop also follows a sloped path in its way to the receiving layer. Any distance variation will therefor result in a dislocation of the ink dot in the fast-scan direction. Distance variation can be caused by a variation in height of the printhead.
The present transport system is capable to transport a web as shown directly from the feeding roll, although, dependent upon the type of medium to be fed, it may be advantageous to avoid tension on the receiving medium at the print location by providing a separate web feed module unrolling the feeding roll and buffering a lot of the feeding roll tension. This can provide even more accurate feeding. It has been found a significant advantage that the operation of the static/dynamic table media transport generates no shear forces in the receiving medium and that the receiving medium is in a “tensionless state” during printing.
When printing onto mesh-media 18 that is not supported on a liner material, it is inevitable that printing ink or other marking material that is used for printing, is deposited through the mesh of the media, straight onto the static table 1. During the subsequent sliding transport of the media over the static table, the ink or marking material deposited on the static table is smudged on the back the mesh-media. A similar problem occurs when border-less printing onto receiving media 15 is targeted, e.g. poster or photo printing. Printing up to the border without going over the border is a feature of a printing apparatus that is very hard to realise.
A solution to the problems of smudging ink or marking material on the static table 1 is provided by a static table 1 that is segmented along the length of the table, i.e. the dimension along the fast scan direction, in a number of removable sections 19. As illustrated in
Before border-less printing on an ink or marking material impermeable receiving medium 15, the table sections 19 that are not fully supporting the receiving medium are removed and depending on the embodiment replaced with bucket sections 20. This results in a static table 1 that is, in operation, fully covered by the receiving media 15. The ink or marking material that is possibly printed outside of the receiving medium 15 area is collected in the inserted bucket sections 20 or the standard full-width bucket 21.
When mesh-media 18 is used, all sections 19 of the static table 1 are removed and replaced by bucket sections 20 if applicable. During printing the mesh-media 19 will be still supported and maintained in a fixed position by the application of the vacuum of the dynamic tables 5,6 possibly assisted by the media holding assistance means described above.
An even more preferred embodiment of the removable static table sections 19 allows maximum support of the receiving medium 15 by not removing the whole of the static vacuum table section 19 but limiting the area that is removable from the static vacuum table section to the working area 4 of the printhead 2 or the shuttle, i.e. the area where ink or other marking material may be deposited. If the static table 1 is wider, along the direction perpendicular to the fast scan direction, than the width of a print swath, then only the area of the static table sections 19 corresponding with the area 4 of a print swath are removed or replaced with buckets 20. The remaining part of the static table sections 19 that are not corresponding with a print swath remain in place and may keep on supporting the receiving media 15 during printing of a print swath.
In this preferred embodiment the static vacuum table 1 is divided into sections along the length of the table and each section is again divided into the width direction into a working area part and a support part.
It may be advantageous if the vacuum table sections 19, working area parts and bucket sections 20 are individually mountable as inserts onto the vacuum chambers 8 underneath the static vacuum table 1. In this case, replacing table sections etc. does not involve changing the vacuum chamber configuration underneath the table.
It has been said before that the distance between the marking tool, e.g. the ink jet printhead 2, and the receiving medium 15 must be very well controlled to have an optimal functioning digital printing process. When rigid media 15 are used, the flatness of the media 15 itself will be of major importance. When flexible media 15 are used, the flatness of the static table 1 on which the flexible media is pulled via the vacuum will be of major importance. The static vacuum table 1 is therefore adjustable in height at multiple locations so that it can conform to the height profile of the shuttle or printhead along the fast scan direction. In a preferred embodiment, the static table 1 may be divided into multiple sections 19 along the fast scan direction. These sections may individually be controlled at different heights. This provided optimum calibration of the distance between the marking tool 2 and the receiving medium 15, along successive sections of the fast scan movement. Height adjustment of the static table sections 19 may be realised by one or more height adjustment screws per section, or any other means known in the art for adjusting the height of the table sections 19. If multiple adjustment screws per table section 19 are used, not only the average height of the table section 19 but also the inclination of that table section 19 may be adjusted. In a preferred embodiment the static table sections 19 may have a dimension, along the fast scan direction, in a range of a couple of cm up to tens of cm, depending on the targeted or required accuracy of the distance marking tool 2 to receiving medium 15.
Having described in detail preferred embodiments of the current invention, it will now be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appending claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05103836.2 | May 2005 | EP | regional |
| 05104410.5 | May 2005 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2006/062078 | 5/5/2006 | WO | 00 | 10/22/2007 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60701377 | Jul 2005 | US |
