Back to articles
Articles
Volume: 28 | Article ID: art00065_1
Image
Improved Ink Registration through Advanced Steel Belt Steering
  DOI :  10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2012.28.1.art00065_1  Published OnlineJanuary 2012
Abstract

Manufacturing equipment for single-pass digital printing faces an interesting challenge to deal with the growing productivity demand in combination with rising droplet registration accuracy. Although the administration speed of printheads is still rising, high throughput speeds and/or increased print resolution can only be achieved by using multiple heads in series. Given at least 4 different inks, the distance between the first and last print-head can become more that a meter. When the relative registration accuracy over such a distance must be less than 10 micrometer, an intense fusion of multiple engineering disciplines becomes essential. In order to eliminate the mechanical (e.g. elasticity) properties of the substrate, a steel belt conveyer using vacuum technology for substrate clamping is introduced. Many conventional steel belt conveyors and their steering systems can't meet the previously mentioned accuracy target. By introducing actuated Axially Movable Segments Rolls (AMSR), the 2 surface orientations (X, Rz) of the belt (and therefore the substrate) can be continuously controlled, without deformation of the belt. On both sides of the rolls there are reluctance force actuators for segment manipulation. During rotation, the belt (always) will translate axially with respect to the segments that are in contact due to given limitations in belt and/or roll manufacturing (e.g. accuracy of the weld perpendicularity). The actuated AMSRs compensate this translation, based on the measured belt position. Once per revolution, when the segment is not in contact with the steel-belt, it will be actively positioned back to its ‘center’ position to minimize disturbances in the system. A demonstrator has been build to validate the actuated AMSR technology.

Subject Areas :
Views 16
Downloads 3
 articleview.views 16
 articleview.downloads 3
  Cite this article 

Arend-Jan Beltman, Ronald Plak, John Hazenberg, Rob Pulles, Bert Brals, Gert van Ooik, "Improved Ink Registration through Advanced Steel Belt Steeringin Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies and Digital Fabrication (NIP28),  2012,  pp 222 - 225,  https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2012.28.1.art00065_1

 Copy citation
  Copyright statement 
Copyright © Society for Imaging Science and Technology 2012
72010410
NIP & Digital Fabrication Conference
nip digi fabric conf
2169-4451
Society of Imaging Science and Technology
7003 Kilworth Lane, Springfield, VA 22151, USA