EP1579992B1 - Printing press with at least one inking device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a printing press with at least one inking unit according to the preamble of claim 1.

The application consists primarily in the assessment of a quality of a printed matter produced by a printing press, the printing press preferably being in the form of a rotary printing press, in particular as a printing press that prints in an offset printing process, in a steel-stamping process, in a screen-printing process or in a hot stamping process.

By the US Pat. No. 3,835,777 a printing machine with at least one inking unit is known, wherein the inking unit provides printing ink for a job on a surface of a printing material transported in the printing machine, wherein an amount of the ink to be applied in transversely to the transport direction of the printing substrate juxtaposed zones with at least one actuated by a control actuator is adjustable, wherein the amount of the ink to be applied is differently adjustable in mutually different zones, wherein the control means in response to a change in the adjustment of the amount of ink to be applied in a zone, the adjustment of the amount of ink to be applied in at least one further zone.

By the DE 41 02 122 A1 is a suitable method for use in the printing industry for the investigation of sheet-like, translucent material, in particular a paper web, known in the z. B. with light-emitting diodes or laser diodes realized flashlamps radiate through a web, in which by the paper web radiant light for generating a video signal on a CCD matrix a camera falls.

By the DE 43 21 177 A1 a printing machine with an in-line image inspection device for inspecting a printed product created in the printing machine is known, wherein an image data from the printed product to a computing device supplying image capture device is provided, wherein the image capture device from a measurement module or more each a defined image area of the printed product scanning measuring modules and at least an associated, the image data in electrical form providing and preferably spatially separated from the measuring modules receiving device, wherein the measuring modules and the at least one receiving device by means of at least one Image guide are connected to each other, wherein the image detection device is associated with an existing precision halogen lamps lighting device, a blown air pipe with openings in the direction of the printed product in its Blasluftbeaufschlagung the printed product keeps at a defined distance from the illumination device and at the same time cools the illumination device with the blown air.

By the DE 100 61 070 A1 a lighting device for an optical inspection device for the examination of surfaces is known, wherein a plurality of preferably equally long, electrically interconnected carrier boards with a plurality of rows of light-emitting diodes linearly in a common, according to the scanned with a constant light emission object surface elongated, rigid mounting profile are inserted between the carrier boards and the mounting profile via a mechanical connection, a heat coupling for cooling the LEDs and their control electronics takes place. There is no indication of the use of this illumination device in a printing press during an inspection of a printing material transported by the printing press.

By the DE 202 13 431 U1 a device for quality control of printed matter is known, which likewise forms an in-line image inspection system arranged in a printing machine, wherein a lighting device designed as a fluorescent tube and an image pickup device designed as a line camera are used. Measures for a constant light emission are not described.

By the DE 203 03 574 U1 is an in-line image inspection system for a printing press, in particular a sheet-fed offset printing machine, known, wherein formed as a fluorescent lamp lighting below a Fußtrittes close to a printing material leading impression cylinder and as a Line scan camera formed image pickup device is arranged in a comparison with the illumination device further distance from the impression cylinder in an assignment to the last printing unit of the printing press. However, there is no indication of measures for a constant light emission by the lighting device.

By the EP 0 762 174 A2 is a device for linear lighting of sheet material, such. As banknotes or securities known, wherein a cylindrical mirror is provided with two mirror segments, wherein the mirror segments form an elliptical, two focus lines having footprint, wherein the width of the mirror segments is greater than or equal to the width of the sheet material is selected, wherein in the first focus line the transported by a transport device perpendicular to this focus line sheet and in the second focus line a cold light source, for. B. a series of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), is arranged, wherein a detector, for. As a CCD array or individually or in groups arranged photodiodes, which detects light remitted from the sheet material and converted into signals for processing in a processing plant.

By the US 4,972,093 an inspection system is known, wherein a moving DUT is acted upon by a pulsed light emitting diode array with a between 20 ms and 200 ms lasting flash of light and a surface camera captures an image of the entire DUT.

By the US 5,936,353 For example, an optical system for producing an illuminated structure on a surface of a material moving relative to the structure is known, wherein a lighting device with a plurality of light sources emits light for producing the structure, wherein a detection device detects light remitted by at least one detector from the surface of the material the light sources are arranged on a board, wherein the board is arranged on a carrier, wherein the carrier has in its interior at least one channel, wherein a liquid or gaseous cooling medium for cooling the light sources flows through the channel. Measures for achieving a constant light intensity of the light sources arranged on the carrier are not described.

The invention has for its object to provide a printing machine with at least one inking unit, wherein the inking unit in the longitudinal direction of the ink fountain roller has an adjustable in terms of the applied to a substrate ink quantity profile.

The object is achieved by the features of claim 1.

The advantages attainable with the invention are in particular that a control unit controlling the inking unit does not singularly change a quantity profile set in the longitudinal direction of the ink ductor, but at least in a region comprising several zones, whereby an inking, softer transition is adjusted between neighboring zones.

It is also advantageous that the printing press has an inline inspection system with a lighting device, wherein the light source of the lighting device emits its light with high consistency despite self-heating or external heat influences due to cooling of its light source. A constant light emission is required to be able to reliably assess the quality of a printed matter inspected in its printing process, because a change or fluctuation in the light emission can lead to a misinterpretation of the image data taken by the printed matter and thus to an improper intervention in the printing process , The proposed solution has the advantage that the thermal load of the light source is dissipated directly at the point of origin, which can achieve short control times to maintain a constant light emission. Also can be achieved with the proposed measures, a high luminous efficacy.

Moreover, there are advantages in that the material on the surface of which an illuminated structure is to be produced need not be arranged in a focal point of the light emitted by the light sources in the direct or deflected optical path, in order to make the structure appear in sufficient illuminance , An independent of the focus arrangement of the structure relative to its optical system is advantageous because then can be dispensed with an exact dimensional accuracy with respect to the distance between the structure and the lighting device. The described optical system is therefore distance-tolerant to the illuminated material. In addition, between components of the optical system caused by contamination, for. B. by dust and abrasion, may be impaired in their function, and the material, in particular to a material moving transport device, a sufficient distance provided that the optical system and the material under the given operating conditions in a printing machine permanently and reliably outside leaves a touch contact and preferably arranges the optical system out of reach of the fluid material stirred up by the moving material.

An illuminating strip illuminated by the illumination device with a width extending on the surface of the material orthogonal to its length, ie a two-dimensional, planar structure, has the advantage over a light-focused entity focused on a focal point that the illuminated entity has a linear, ie only one-dimensional, illumination for a to the surface of at least partially reflective material arranged at a reflection angle detecting means for detecting the remitted from the surface of the light light reliably even as a relief-like design of the surface of the material appears as a virtual line-shaped illumination device, because it is ensured due to the width of the illumination strip in that a cross-sectional area on the surface of the material of a detection angle of the detection device, in which the Detection device detects detected light, at least a part of a over the width of the illumination strip extending cross-sectional area of the emitted light beam from the illumination device detected. In a device that illuminates material only linearly, there is a risk that the focused beam is reflected by a relief-like surface of the material outside the detection angle of the detection device and therefore can not be detected. In contrast, the described optical system is also well suited for image acquisition of material having a diffusely reflecting surface. Even with a material with a relief-like surface hardly a shadow effect occurs.

The lighting device of the inline inspection system is preferably in modules, i. H. in independent functional units, which has the advantage that a line length of the line-shaped illumination device without expensive customization by simply juxtaposing prefabricated, preferably functionally identical modules in the required number of the width of the material to be illuminated or at least to the length of the illumination strip is adaptable. Likewise, optionally, the light sources can be activated only in those modules that are needed to illuminate the width of the material to be illuminated or at least the length of the illumination strip, which is advantageous for the construction and operation of the optical system for its economy.

The use of multiple light sources per module has the advantage that, in practice, unavoidable differences in the light emitted by the light sources, e.g. B. in its wavelength, homogenize by mixing the beam from adjacent light sources and homogenize the total of the illumination device emitted light in its optical properties. If in each module preferably a plurality of groups of light sources are arranged, wherein the light sources associated with the groups differ in their optical properties, for. In the color of the light emitted by the light sources of each group, can the individual groups of light sources application-dependent, z. B. according to the color of the light, are selected and controlled.

The lighting device of the in-line inspection system has the advantage that it may have a large length of z. B. over a meter having lighting strip by a uniform, needs-based light distribution with a homogeneous, sufficiently large illuminance acted upon and is adaptable by its modular, less prone to failure structure in a simple manner to the respective requirements in a printing press. Since the material to be illuminated is not to be located at a focal point of the illumination device, the need for an exact alignment of the vertical distance of the light sources to the surface of the material as well as monitoring of this distance during the current use of the optical system, which eliminates the handling of the optical system Suburb in an industrial company considerably simplified.

Likewise, it is an advantage that a slowly building-up error can be detected early in a running printing process and its cause can be remedied by the operator through a manually or automated countermeasure before the quality of the printed product assumes a poorly classifiable condition and the printing process becomes production erroneous, non-salable printed matter. The additional decision threshold provided in addition to a decision on a good or bad print quality allows a small, still within the tolerance range deviation of printed images generated in the current production is displayed before this deviation builds up to a critical error. As a result, a suitable countermeasure can be taken early without this deviation leading to a production of printed products with a poor quality. An assessment of the quality of the printed product in defined quality levels requires, in order to avoid misinterpretations, that the recorded image data be reliable and reliable are meaningful, which is given only with a lighting device with a light source with a constant in the printing process light emission.

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and will be described in more detail below.

Show it:

Fig. 1

a schematic of a five-color printing machine with a coating tower and a delivery extension;

Fig. 2

a block diagram of the system structure of a system for assessing a quality of a printed matter produced by the printing press;

Fig. 3

an arrangement of the inline inspection system in the printing press;

Fig. 4

a perspective view of the in-line inspection system in the printing press;

Fig. 5

another perspective view of the in-line inspection system in the printing press;

Fig. 6

a scheme for color density control with a colorimeter;

Fig. 7

a scheme of color determination and color control based on the printed image;

Fig. 8

a diagram for the adjustment of a zone screw with an adjustment of neighboring zones;

Fig. 9

a TCP / IP stream when sending status data from an operating software to a control room software;

Fig. 10

a TCP / IP stream when setting ink fountain keys;

Fig. 11

a TCP / IP stream when sending job data from the control room software to the operating software;

Fig. 12

a surface of a moving material with a lighting strip in a plan view;

Fig. 13

a schematic representation of the inline inspection system;

Fig. 14

a single light source of the illumination device;

Fig. 15

a row-shaped arrangement of light sources on a common board;

Fig. 16

a radiation beam with a first mirror;

Fig. 17

beamforming with a first mirror along the length of the illumination strip;

Fig. 18

a deflection of the radiation beam from a central region of the light source with a second mirror;

Fig. 19

a deflection of the radiation beam from a central region of the light source with a second mirror, wherein the radiation is bundled more along the length of the illumination strip than along its width;

Fig. 20

a bundling of the radiation from a central region of the light source with a convex lens;

Fig. 21

bundling the radiation from a central region of the light source with a convex lens, wherein the radiation is focused more along the length of the illumination strip than along its width;

Fig. 22

an at least partial superposition of the radiation from two adjacent light sources;

Fig. 23

a side view of the inline inspection system;

Fig. 24

a board equipped with light sources on a carrier through which a cooling medium flows;

Fig. 25

a carrier through which a cooling medium flows in two opposite directions;

Fig. 26

a carrier with a cooling with two Peltier elements;

Fig. 27

a representation of the timing of the line scan camera and that of the light sources;

Fig. 28

a further schematic representation of functional units of the inline inspection system;

Fig. 29

a two-dimensional representation of a pixel field;

Fig. 30

a reference image with minimum and maximum values for each pixel;

Fig. 31

a comparison of the currently recorded print image with its reference image;

Fig. 32

a representation of the deviation from the reference image over two decision thresholds.

According to the current state of knowledge, two important aspects of quality assurance are to be considered in offset printing in the area of inline inspection. On the one hand, a color consistency in the sense of a determination of density and color must be guaranteed during production, on the other hand have typical errors, such. B. slugs or clays can be detected.

From the experience gained in practice, "good production" depends on a large number of constraints that can not be determined solely by quality definitions of QA management. Due to the fluctuation ranges occurring in practice, a color determination and inspection is required, which absorbs the typical fluctuations in the quality of the printed matter produced. These include permissible color fluctuations, positional shifts of the motif or shifts of objects within a motif. Furthermore, it has to be considered that i. a. certain areas of the template are inspectable while others are not.

An important step in considering these typical variations in the quality of printed matter produced is the approximate technical implementation of human color and contour perception in a camera-based system. By suitable color space transformations with downstream analyzers for color determination and control, it is possible to inspect and color control on a printing press, for. As a sheetfed offset press, practice-oriented and perceptual perform.

The in-line inspection system described here for assessing a quality of a printed matter produced by a printing press has at least one image recording unit, in particular a camera, preferably a color line camera system. The color line camera system preferably uses a color line camera with up to 2048 pixels per image line. The in-line inspection system for assessing the quality of the printed matter produced by the press is designed for in-line inspection and in-line color control on medium-format presses. In-line inspection means that a substrate is inspected during its transport through the press. The in-line inspection system ensures that operator-defined quality is maintained throughout the production process.

The in-line inspection system for assessing the quality of the printed matter produced by the printing press consists essentially of three components: at least one image acquisition unit, a camera and lighting electronics unit and a control cabinet with an image processing system.

The image pickup unit is installed in the printing machine. It has z. B. a color line camera, a constant light illumination or alternatively a flash lighting, in particular a triggered line lighting, on, wherein both the constant light illumination and the flash lighting each have a plurality of side by side, d. H. have line-shaped, arranged light sources, wherein the illumination device in each case z. B. is cooled with water, and a rotary encoder, wherein the encoder z. B. has a resolution of 10,000 strokes.

If the printing press is designed as an offset printing machine and produces perfecting and perfecting printing, at least two different producing cylinders of this printing machine are each assigned an image recording unit, wherein at least one image recording unit, in particular a camera, in front of a Turning device for a sheet to be printed in the printing press and a further image pickup unit, in particular a further camera, are arranged after this turning device behind the last printing unit of the printing press. The signals of the two image recording units are z. B. further processed and evaluated by the same image processing system in a duplex mode.

The camera and lighting electronics unit includes all necessary functional units for power supply of the lighting unit and the signal processing of the camera. This unit is placed near the imaging unit at a suitable location. It ensures a homogeneous illumination of the sheet transported by the printing press. With the help of a light measuring function z. B. tested cyclically, if the bulbs properly, d. H. work in their designated workspace.

The cabinet with the image processing system includes in particular z. B. a power supply of the image processing system and an image processing computer preferably including an interface for operation to a control center computer (TCP / IP) and the ability to connect a monitor, z. B. a color monitor, to monitor the printed products and error display during operation. In the case of an impression, a monitor switch is also provided.

For an operation of the system for assessing the quality of the printed matter produced by the printing press, a user interface may initially be temporarily implemented on a second PC, before the operating software is integrated in a serial product in a control room assigned to the printing press.

The camera and lighting unit is z. B. in a in the Fig. 1 illustrated sheetfed offset printing press, z. As a five-color printing machine with the printing units downstream paint tower and a delivery extension installed. A existing chain guide in the ascending branch of a chain run stabilizes a sheet transported in the printing press during a learning and inspection process. To simplify the illustration shows the Fig.1 a sheetfed offset press alone for the Perfecting.

The inspection of the printing material, in particular a printed sheet, is carried out by the in-line inspection system for assessing the quality of a printed matter produced by the printing press z. B. on in the course of production last printing unit in the course of production, preferably successively more printing units having printing press or on the printing units downstream paint tower.

According to the in the Fig. 2 illustrated block diagram of the system structure of a system for assessing the quality of a printed matter produced by the printing machine is an image capture z. B. with a 3-chip color CCD line scan camera with z. B. 2048 pixels performed. It is ensured that the entire arc during a maximum machine speed of z. B. 18,000 sheets / h can be inspected. If the printing machine is designed as a web-fed printing press, a material web, for. B. a paper web, even at a maximum machine speed of z. For example, to reliably inspect 15 m / s. The resolution is z. B. about 0.25 mm ² per pixel at a pixel edge length of z. B. about 0.5 mm.

Details of the arrangement of the inline inspection system within an exemplary selected sheetfed press show the Fig. 3 to 5 , A preferably close to a printing cylinder 39, z. B. a counter-pressure cylinder 39, arranged illumination device 06 preferably generates a lighting strip 01 on a transported by the printing cylinder 39 bow. In this case, the illumination device 06 is preferably within a part of the printing unit of the printing press surrounding protection 38, z. B. arranged below a tread 38 in the gallery area of the printing press. Remitted from the lighting strip 01 Light is emitted from a camera 08 arranged at a distance from the printing cylinder 39; 201 detected within a certain detection angle α. The camera 08; 201 detects light remitted by the illumination strip 01, preferably through a preferably narrow gap or slot in the pressure cylinder 38 covering the protection 38 or foot 38, wherein this gap or slot extending transversely to the transport direction of the printing material.

The image processing system consists z. B. from a VMEbus rack with z. B. a total of six plug-in cards. In addition to a CPU (PowerPC, real-time operating system OS9), a frame grabber for image acquisition and image data preprocessing and a graphics card for image display and error display are z. For example, there are three image processing cards for learning and inspection of the print sheets.

The system is z. B. by means of an Ethernet interface with a control computer, the operating PC, d. H. z. B. either an external PC or a console computer, networked. All the settings required for inspection and color control are made via the operating PC. The operating software is preferably executable under all current Microsoft operating systems.

The control computer can be connected to external data networks, so that repeat jobs from a central database and possibly data from the prepress, e.g. from a CIP3 station.

A control of the ink zone adjustment in the inking unit of the respective printing units z. By means of ARCNet. The VMEbus CPU is equipped with an ARCNet card.

The so-called fault monitor is connected to the graphics card of the image processing system. This shows a live picture of the camera. The print error display is displayed in the camera image, so that the operator is immediately able to locate the fault and if necessary, localize the cause of the error. The fault monitor shows both on the substrate short-term printing errors, eg. As color splashes, water marks or paper defects, as well as permanent pressure variations, z. As an over- or under-dyeing of individual printing inks or toning on.

In the in-line inspection system for assessing the quality of a printed matter produced by the printing press, a process learning mode is integrated, which is able to automatically learn the current quality standard during the good production. Programming a model is not necessary. With the aid of the process learning mode, references are generated, in particular for the color model and the intensity model, which are used for comparison for the inspection and color determination. In particular, the learning mode comprises the following functions: learning references, expanding learned or stored references, inputting the number of desired learning sheets, defining the window of the inspection area, displaying the learned or stored reference image, entering the mask for a non-inspected image area, editing the reference image, Editing and copying masks.

Learning sheets transported by the printing press are ejected in order to make it possible to check whether a printing error has been learned, a measurement with a hand-held spectrometer or a visual check. The reference models as well as all other relevant data are stored in a job memory. It is always possible to read the job memory for repeat jobs.

In addition, the in-line inspection system is able to add permissible changes in production, which are rated as errors by the in-line inspection system, during production. The inline inspection system adapts adaptively to the current quality standard and controls or regulates z. B. the inking unit and / or a side and / or circumferential register of the printing press.

The human eye is able to detect relatively small color changes. However, human color perception is designed to detect areas. Small punctiform color changes are not detected. The color analysis model takes into account this physiological effect. The colors red, green and blue spanning the color space of the camera are transformed into a color space called the counter-color model. The counter-color model corresponds to an electronic adjustment of human color perception. There are two reverse color channels that are extremely sensitive to color changes. In particular, tilting of the gray balance is reliably detected by these channels.

The counter-ink model can also be implemented on the basis of the offset printing inks CMYK, this color model being oriented towards a subtractive color mixing (printing method) compared to the color model according to the invention.

Intensity deviations, d. H. Changes in color density are detected by a gray value analysis. This method has particular in areas of uncoloured colors, in an over- and under-coloring and small errors, eg. As small splashes of paint or paper defects, its strengths.

The inking unit for metering the amount of ink to be transferred to the printing substrate can in the axial direction of a forme cylinder of a printing unit of the printing press more, z. B. have at least between 30 and 60 zones, wherein the dosage of the ink to be transferred to the printing ink is differently adjustable in different zones. The metering device of the inking unit can, for. B. controllable zone screws, wherein in a multi-color printing printing machine a total of several hundred each individually controllable zone screws can be provided. The metering device meters a quantity of the printing ink to be transferred to the printing material by adjusting its layer thickness and / or their duration of application. Thus, the metering device can also be used as an ink supply system using at least one paint pump, e.g. Example, as a Pumpfarbwerk be formed, wherein ink is brought to a Farbduktor an inking unit and the Farbduktor preferably zonally by means of individually acting on the different inking areas adjusting agent is metered, wherein the adjusting means z. B. a drivable by at least one electrically actuable actuator color dosing, z. B. at least one color meter or a paint slide, having the actuator z. B. is designed as a controllable by a control unit servomotor. The inking unit can be configured as a roller inking unit consisting of many rollers or as a short inking unit. Alternatively, the inking unit can also be designed as a spray-inking unit which atomises ink, preferably printing ink, on a paint ductor and sprays it on an ink fountain roller.

Color control may be carried out by two different methods, depending on the specific circumstances of the case. If color gauges with sufficiently large color patches are present, then, according to the color density control scheme, with a colorimetric strip in the Fig. 6 First the nominal densities for the individual colors are entered. The position of the measurement control strip is marked by the operator on the monitor. Thereafter, the fields of the strip are automatically analyzed with respect to scale colors and the respective actual density is determined. Special colors are to be marked by the operator in the measuring strip. Based on the deviations from a nominal density and the present actual density, the ink zones are placed on an inking unit of the printing press. The respective deviations are displayed graphically and numerically. The inline inspection system specifies default values for the ink zone position. These can either be taken over manually or used fully automatically in a closed loop. With the aid of the color measuring strips, the tonal value increase can also be determined with the aid of the grids.

The density determination algorithms in colorimeters can be run through for each arc. A sliding averaging of the measured values over any number of sheets is also possible. Measurement inaccuracies caused by the influence of variations in pressure, by a noise of the camera, z. As a photon noise or quantization noise of the AD converter, or caused by an instability of the radiated light from the illumination device are reliably eliminated in this way, or at least minimized in their interference.

A calibration of the density measuring system is carried out with measuring sheets, which are driven through the machine at regular intervals. Calibration automatically adjusts a color balance, contrast and brightness. Furthermore, the standard light can be set for the measurement, z. B. as usual D50 or D65. Re-calibration is usually not needed more often in practice than once a week.

The measuring strip has a field width and a field height in each case z. B. from about 5 mm to 6 mm. The size of the measuring field required by a 2 ° standard observer must be safely accommodated in the measuring field. The measuring strip consists of several equal segments, whereby a regular structure within a segment takes place.

Another method of color control looks like a scheme in the Fig. 7 represents, a color determination and color control based on the printed image before. The prerequisite for this is that the area coverage per printing ink with a resolution of 10 <dpi <40 from a pre-stage, eg. CIP3, and "significant" print areas per color zone or ink zone area are present. Significant are print areas when one of the inks in this area is dominant. The determination of the significant pressure ranges is carried out automatically by evaluation of data from the preliminary stage.

The color determination and the derivation of manipulated variables for the color control takes place on the basis of the printed image itself. To this end, a transformation of the camera image data in the CMYK space is performed.

The analysis of the printed image is based on a color integration of the significant pressure areas within longitudinal strips, which preferably correspond in number to the number of zone screws. These strips are again divided horizontally. Within these surfaces, the corresponding zone is set based on the color changes and the zone density. Appropriate averaging over several sheets compensates for permissible process fluctuations.

A colorimetric error calculated from the measurement is converted for each color zone into a control command for activating the zone screw in question.

A change in the ink supply within the press takes a certain amount of time before it becomes visible in the print image. This behavior is due to the nature of the ink transfer in the printing press. In order to accelerate this process, an integral controller with a proportional component, in short PI controller, is provided as controller. This regulator has the advantage that, in addition to a stationary component (I component), an error-proportional component provides additional / reduced ink supply for a certain time and thus speeds up the control process.

The additional or reduced ink supply caused by the proportional component is simplified for a certain time, ie for a certain number of cylinder revolutions. After this time, all ink zones are moved to the stationary state.

Furthermore, the control loop is simplified in that a cyclic method with the steps of measuring, setting and maintenance is realized. After completion of the waiting period, d. H. after a certain number of cylinder revolutions, a new cycle is started with a new measurement. Thus, in spite of the closed-loop control, it is an open principle of operation, since the relevant time constant is determined by the time between the position of the zones and a reaction on the paper. Since this time z. B. is proportional to several ten arc, an open principle of action is realized here. Furthermore, the control itself is executed as a position control, d. H. the opening of the individual zones is set and kept in this position for a certain time. In order to achieve the desired density as quickly as possible, it is permitted that, in the case of a paint feed, the zones may be over-regulated for a certain time.

During the run, the operator can manually apply correction values, i. H. Setpoints to enter for the zone screws. These changes are treated in the signal flow as a control deviation.

The control algorithm integrates all parameters influencing the color scheme. These include in particular the color behavior, d. H. a coverage of the color, the paper behavior and the ink transfer behavior of the ink fountain. Here the color and the paper are order-dependent parameters.

The change in the ink supply in a color zone also has an effect on its neighboring zones due to the trituration of the color during the ink transfer within the printing unit. In order to take this effect into account, the adjacent ink zones are to a certain extent preferably adjusted proportionally to the adjusted color zone. With correspondingly large adjustments, this adjustment can have an effect on further adjacent zones provided in the longitudinal direction of the ductor. each Adjustment of a color zone, be it automatically or manually, preferably "generates" new target values for the neighboring zones.

The adjustment path of each color zone is limited. If a zone is to be adjusted more than "fully open", additional color can only be achieved by changing the strip length on the inking unit's ductor. Changing the strip length on the ductor increases the ink supply in all ink zones. In this case, the ink supply for the relevant ink zone is either limited or the additional ink supply by changing the strip length must be compensated for at the other ink zones by closing all other ink zones. If the lower limit of zone adjustment is reached, namely when a color zone is closed, no further compensation is possible. If the upper limit is reached for a color zone, or if it has to be exceeded for the stationary state, then the strip length on the ductor must always be changed and all other color zones must be adjusted accordingly Fig. 8 lets recognize. In the Fig. 8 "ZSx" indicates a zone screw in the inking unit at position "x". "ZSx + 1" or "ZSx-1" refers to a zone screw adjacent to the zone screw "ZSx" and "ZSx + 2" or "ZSx-2" to another adjacent zone screw. The diagram of Fig. 8 shows positions of the zone screw "ZSx + 1" or "ZSx-1" and "ZSx + 2" or "ZSx-2" compared to the position of the zone screw "ZSx", whereby adjustments of all these zone screws "ZSx", "ZSx + 1 "or" ZSx-1 "and" ZSx + 2 "or" ZSx-2 "at the same time and / or interdependently in a coordinated relationship according to the time curve plotted on the abscissa of the graph. Thus, in response to a change in the adjustment of the amount of ink to be applied in a particular selected zone, the control means adjusts the amount of ink to be applied in at least one other, in particular in an adjacent zone, thereby increasing the longitudinal direction of the ductor Printing material applied ink set volume profile not singular, but at least in a multi-zone comprehensive Range is changed, which can be adjusted between adjacent zones a printing ink-compensating, soft transition.

The following section continues with the construction of the in-line inspection system. The preferably digitally working image recording unit comprises z. B. a specially developed for sheetfed lighting unit and a color CCD line scan camera. The lens is specially adapted to the high-resolution camera, has a removable filter, z. B. a UV filter as a lens protection and can be adjusted user-friendly. When servicing, the camera and the lens can be easily replaced. The image acquisition unit is protected against mechanical and electromagnetic interference. For lighting z. B. specially developed for this application developed high frequency clocked lighting sources. The arrangement of the lamps within the lighting unit is z. B. specially adapted for application in sheetfed printing. The bulbs can be easily exchanged.

The image capture module (frame grabber) converts the incoming video image into a digital video stream. This video stream undergoes brightness correction (shading correction), perceptual color matching and color space transformation in the frame grabber. This digital video stream is stored in the memory area of the image acquisition module for later processing. The image acquisition and image evaluation is performed in machine real time.

The inline inspection system is z. B. equipped with a positioning unit, which is able to make an image positioning. By blurring the transport movement of the sheet, it may be necessary to position the recorded print image for each shot in the in-line inspection system. During the learning process, a reference position for each arc is automatically determined in the inline inspection system.

In a learning mode, the in-line inspection system records with the CCD camera during production and forms a computer model with all variants of acceptable print quality. Based on a correct color setting, printed sheets or printed copies are recorded, analyzed and evaluated in the learning phase. The learning mode is able to generate references in machine real time. After learning, the in-line inspection system automatically switches to color measurement and inspection mode. With the help of the learned references, the current production is now being tested. However, it is possible at any time to expand a standard within the reference memory by teaching.

Several sheets are recorded and evaluated. The RGB signal of the video camera is converted into the color separations CMYK. Each color separation is divided into strips, corresponding to the color zones. Within each zone, the area fraction of the relevant color separation is determined. This value is averaged over the detected arc. The average value of each area component from the learning phase is taken as the setpoint for the control phase.

In the inspection mode, each image is compared with the analysis models and references. The sensitivity of the in-line inspection system may be reduced by the operator using fewer inspection parameters, such as: As the gray scale and color tolerances and error sizes are adjusted to the individual needs. The inspection mode includes z. For example, the following functions: continuous inspection of the current production order, input of tolerances for the inspection, defining a grid for the horizontal and vertical division of the inspection image. The entry of inspection parameters that influence the in-line inspection system can optionally be secured by a "password". The "Password" can be changed or several user-specific "Passwords" can be assigned. During the inspection can z. For example, separate up to 96 single-use through the inspection system grid be statistically recorded. Error benefits are characterized by a grid frame adapted to the optical conditions.

All stored variable input data is retained when the inline inspection system is switched off and restarted. All input data and production processes are stored in a log file. This logfile provides basic data in the event of a power failure for statistics.

The error analysis processor analyzes the image comparison generated by the image processor. It generates a fault image, which is displayed in the live image of the fault monitor. This allows the operator to intervene in the machine process immediately after analyzing the image.

On a central computer, a human-machine interface is implemented, all of whose connections are preferably via optocouplers. The interface is z. For example, an Ethernet connection using TCP / IP.

The in-line inspection system is preferably equipped with a hard disk storage that has enough capacity to store various jobs including all tolerances and statistics. This order memory is z. B. designed for about 2,000 jobs. With a hard disk extension, the number of jobs can be increased accordingly.

During the learning process, the models are used to determine if a sheet being taught is largely flawed. If this is the case, the sheet is not learned, so not included in the current, a quality standard defining reference image. This adaptive process ensures that no unacceptable sheets are taught into a reference image.

The image comparison is performed in machine real time z. B. up to a speed of 18,000 sheets per hour.

An error in the quality of a printed matter generated by the press, z. B. over- or under-coloring, color deviations and geometric effects, is detected with respect to perception-oriented error magnitudes. The color deviations lead to a deviation measure, which is used for the position of the zone screws. A deviation in the ink coverage of less than 10% is not regulated. The camera guarantees a 100% detection of the entire arc.

• Solldichten
• Position des Messkontrollstreifens
• Druckwerkszuordnung der Farben
• Grauwertempfindlichkeit
• Farbkanalempfindlichkeit
• Fehlergrößen

To operate the inline inspection system, make the following settings:

• target densities
• Position of the measurement control strip
• Print engine assignment of the colors
• Gray scale sensitivity
• Color channel sensitivity
• defect sizes

During the inspection, errors in contrast and size can be defined. The error size can be at least one pixel.

The machine interface sends an alarm when one or more consecutive sheets with printing errors have been identified. A distinction is made as to whether it is a color deviation that leads to a zone screw adjustment, or whether it is a geometric error, ie a short-term error.

Also z. For example, information about whether there is a good or bad bow, the in-line inspection system is active, or is in learning mode is available at PLC outputs.

Two modes are available for detailed analysis of a faulty sheet, with one mode stopping the in-line inspection system after failure and the other mode only temporarily stopping the in-line inspection system. In stop-to-error mode, the image of the sheet including the error display is frozen as soon as the in-line inspection system detects an error on a sheet. The operator can look at the error display at rest and evaluate and possibly verifying with associated sheet. The frozen image must be released again by pressing a button. The inspection continues in the background. In stop-and-continue mode, the image is automatically frozen after an error detection and, after an adjustable duration of, for example, 10 sec. B. about 15 seconds automatically released again. The operator thus has the opportunity to view the image for a certain amount of time without being forced to manually unlock the in-line inspection system.

During production, each sheet is analyzed and a good, warning and bad bow statistics are kept. Furthermore, all relevant parameters of a production are recorded and transferred to the statistics module. Since statistics are kept on a PC, it is possible to process them with commercially available programs

The inline inspection system is preferably multilingual, z. In English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. All languages can be integrated via UNICODE.

The in-line inspection system detects at least printing errors that occur during production, when the printing error is a Farbmessfehler with a Color deviation ΔE> = 3 and has a density error accuracy ΔD> 0.02. Inspection errors are color errors z. B. by over- or under-dyeing, splashes or slugs and register errors with a size of about 0.025 mm ² . Furthermore, paper defects, wrinkles, paper inclusions, contamination or oil can be detected. Since 100% of the arc is controlled, errors that might have occurred in previous processes can also be detected. The inline inspection system can measure any sheet size with an edge length of z. B. up to 740 mm × 1050 mm inspect.

Various types of errors, such as area errors, peak errors, over-coloration, under-coloration or color errors can be displayed on the error monitor by different symbols.

Tolerance values of the individual processing areas of a reference image can be displayed numerically and, if necessary, changed. The minimum number of pixels that will fail as an error for an out of tolerance error area can be entered.

The following section deals with the operating concept of the inline inspection system. The in-line inspection system is designed to allow easy and fast operation, which brings great benefits to the printer with little training required. He must be informed early on an incipient deviation before waste is generated.

The operation exists as a task on the machine control station, which fits into the superordinate operating concept of the machine. For viewing a current defect image, an additional monitor is available. In the case of a double-sided printing press, the image can be switched. The beyond the inspection operation beyond functions such. B. for setting up a job or a creation of masks, z. B. accessible via corresponding entry points in the existing operating software of the machine implemented in the machine control station.

The image is preferably taken while the sheet to be inspected is located on a printing cylinder of the printing press. The image capture is very stable here. Depending on the material, for. B. very thin paper, but it may cause wrinkling or z. B. come in a rigid cardboard to a detachment of the sheet end on the outer surface of the printing cylinder. The image acquisition is mechanically calibrated during installation, so that known mechanical boundary conditions are to be converted directly into the pixel dimension of the image acquisition.

A data flow to or from the machine control center provides that a job name, a load number or the pass are taken directly from the machine control center in order to be used for the job management of the inline inspection system. From the arc dimensions, the higher-level inspection window can be generated. The manually operated good sheet signal on the machine can be used to activate the inspection and also for the statistical evaluation. If necessary, a "good-sheet counter" generated by the in-line inspection system can be supplied to the machine control station statistics.

From a data flow to or from the customer can, for. B. a benefit allocation z. This can be read in via a DDDES, CFF or CF2 file in order to be able to do the input work before the actual start of the machine run and to minimize the workload on the part of the printer.

In a data flow to the printing press signals for the control of a discharge or a sheet marking are to be generated.

The acceptance of the inline inspection system by the operator is promoted by a consistent integration into the overall concept of machine operation and the restriction to a minimum necessary, manageable range of functions. Therefore, the look and feel of the operation is strongly inspired by the appearance and functionality of the machine control software. The operating steps for setting up an order are kept low in scope. When printing, there is direct access to key functionalities via function keys / hardkeys by the control console operating software.

Setting up a new order is kept simple by taking as many relevant data as possible from the control room computer. To be transferred data would be z. A job name, a job number, a load number, an inspection frame derived from the paper format, or a benefit distribution, e.g. from a CF2 file of a punching contour.

Manual entries, which mean an expense for the printer, are limited to the entry of the positioning window. The inspection window can also be set automatically, whereby it is then not necessary to have to start the printing press to set up the job. The learning can then - with active good bow signal - be started automatically.

In continuous printing - when every sheet is inspected - an error display is available through a live monitor. For printing machines with perfecting a switchover of the monitor between the front and back is therefore provided.

Inspection and control room software share a control panel. During production, the control console software is displayed; For a minimum effort when operating the inline inspection system are hardkeys or function keys in the control console software masks available, for. For example, functions for switching front / back, Live / Stop & Go / StopOnError or "Freeze".

A soft key can also be used to activate the look-and-feel of the control console software; This then provides the full operability of the inline inspection system. In this mode, with respect to the operation of the printing press only the status information, the z. B. displayed in an upper status window shown.

Settings that are to be made in the inspection user interface via the function key sequence implemented analogously to the control console software relate, for example, to Tolerances, learning / learning, creating masks, customizing the utility, adjusting the inspection framework, re-defining the positioning window, or loading or viewing images.

The live monitor can display error displays in the color area CMYK or spot colors by corresponding color display.

Additional controls in the control room software may provide for a correction of a net counter by the inspection result, an error signature statistics or a traffic light indication of the inspection in the machine status field.

For operating the inline inspection system, two different configurations can be provided, namely that the operating software QT of the inline inspection system runs on one PC and the control room software LS runs on another PC or that the operating software QT and the control center software LS run on the same PC, wherein in the latter case then run both programs as a task and optionally z. B. by switching over the function key in QT and LS are visible and operable.

In both configurations, there is a need to process data from the control station software LS to the operating software QT, z. As job information, or from the operating software QT to the control center software LS, z. As status information to transfer. The interface between the two systems is a TCP / IP stream; the IP address of the control station software LS is determined by the manufacturer of the press. If the QT operating software and the LS console software are on the same PC, communication takes place via the localhost interface. The data is stored within the TCP / IP stream z. B. transmitted as XML elements. The specification of these XML elements are specified in a DocumentTypeDefinition file <communication_LS_QT_update.dtd>. An example of the TCP / IP stream when sending status data from the QT operating software to the control room software LS is shown in the Fig. 9 , An example of the TCP / IP stream when setting the ink keys is the Fig. 10 , This communication path runs within the press, from the in-line inspection system via the control console software LS, the ARCNet, the PLC to the ink fountain keys. Fig. 11 shows an example of the TCP / IP stream when sending job data from the control room software LS to the operating software QT.

In the printing machine described above, preferably in a rotary printing machine, in particular in a printing press printing in an offset printing method, a in the Fig. 12 shown material 03 moves with a surface 02 in a direction indicated by an arrow movement direction 04. The movement is done by a, z. B. arranged in or on the printing press, not shown here transport device, wherein the movement of the material 03 during operation of the optical inline inspection system described in more detail below preferably takes place in only one direction of movement 04, preferably linear. The material 03 is preferably planar and flat, z. B. as a sheet 03 or as a material web 03, is formed. The material 03 is in particular as a z. B. made of paper existing substrate 03, z. B. as a security 03 or as a banknote 03. The surface 02 of the material 03 may have a relief or other protruding from the surface 02 or in the surface 02 embossed as a depression structure, wherein a height or depth of the relief or the structure compared to a width B03 of the material 03 is very small. At least part of the surface 02 of the material 03 is z. B. by application of a reflective material, for. As a paint, or a film, formed by introducing a window filament or other preferably metallic application in the material 03, reflective.

One in the Fig. 13 Illuminating device 06 shown only symbolically generates on the surface 02 of the material 03 an illuminated structure 01 in the form of a lighting strip 01 with a length L01 and a width B01 (FIG. Fig. 12 ), wherein the width B01 extends on the surface 02 of the material 03 orthogonal to the length L01. The width B01 of the illumination strip 01 is preferably directed along the direction of movement 04 of the material 03, whereas the length L01 of the illumination strip 01 is preferably parallel to the width B03 of the material 03, ie transverse to the direction of movement 04 of the material 03, and over parts of the width B03 of the material 03 or over its entire width B03 can extend. The width B01 of the illumination strip 01 is preferably at least 3 mm, in particular 8 mm. The direction of movement 04 of the material 03 is thus preferably directed at least substantially parallel to the width B01 of the illumination strip 01, the direction of movement 04 of the material 03 being within the plane spanned by the length L01 and the width B01 of the illumination strip 01. The material 03 is preferably not arched at least in the region of the illumination strip 01.

The illumination device 06 has a plurality of light sources 07 arranged next to one another in line form, so that the entire illumination device 06 is formed in a line-shaped manner. The line-shaped light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 are preferably parallel to the length L01 of the Illuminating strip 01 arranged. The light sources 07 each have a distance A07 from the surface 02 of the material 03, the distance A07 preferably being between 30 mm and 200 mm, in particular between 80 mm and 140 mm. The distance A07 of the light sources 07 is preferably perpendicular to the surface 02 of the material 03. All light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 are preferably formed similar, z. A central plane of the light emitted by the juxtaposed light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 and a central plane of the light reflected from the illumination strip 01 to the camera 08 include a preferably acute angle Y with each other, the z. B. in the range between 15 ° and 60 °, in particular between 20 ° and 30 ° ( Figure 3 ).

In the illumination device 06 and groups of a plurality of line-shaped juxtaposed light sources 07 may be provided, with the individual groups of light sources 07 in their optical properties, eg. B. differ in the wavelength of the light emitted by them. So z. For example, one group of light sources 07 emit white light, whereas another group of light sources 07 emit monochromatic light. It can be provided that a controller connected to the illumination device 06 control device 23, the groups of light sources 07 depending on the application, for. B. depending on the nature of the surface 02 of the material 03 for the color of the light, selected and individually controls. Thus, the control device 23 can control a group of light sources 07 independently of at least one other group of light sources 07 in their brightness and / or illumination duration. The illumination strip 01 is arranged outside a focal point of the light emitted by the light sources 07 in the direct or deflected beam path.

The lighting device 06 is z. B. from several rows of modules M61 to M65 ( Fig. 23 ) each preferably with a plurality of line-shaped juxtaposed light sources 07, wherein a parting line 26 between two adjacent modules M61 to M65 is preferably arranged obliquely to the length L01 of the illumination strip 01. The individual modules M61 to M65 of the lighting device 06 may, for. B. be functionally identical. So z. B. one of the width B03 of the material to be illuminated 03 corresponding line length composed of several juxtaposed modules M61 to M65 lighting device 06 can be activated by switching from the line-shaped light sources 07 of the affected modules M61 to M65 or it can be one of the length L01 of Illuminating strip 01 corresponding line length of the composed of several juxtaposed modules M61 to M65 lighting device 06 are activated by switching from the line-shaped light sources 07 of the affected modules M61 to M65.

Fig. 14 shows in a two-dimensional representation of a single light source 07 of the illumination device 06. The light source 07 emits their light in a solid angle ω, the solid angle ω spans a cut out of a sphere surface AK, ie a spherical surface AK, up to the size of a hemisphere.

Fig. 15 shows several, z. B. four in the Fig. 14 shown light sources 07 arranged in rows next to each other on a common board 21. Preferably, the current source 22 belonging to the respective light sources 07 is arranged on the same board 21. The current source 22 is preferably designed as a constant current source 22, in particular as a controllable constant current source 22.

The optical inline inspection system includes - like the Fig. 13 can be removed - also a detection device 08 with at least one arranged at a distance A09 from the surface 02 of the material 03 detector 09, the detector 09 detects the surface 02 of the material 03 remitted light. The distance A09 is in the range between 10 mm and 1,500 mm, preferably between 50 mm and 400 mm.

The detection device 08 is z. B. as a camera 08, preferably a line camera 08, in particular a color line camera 08, is formed. The detection device 08 can also have a plurality of detectors 09 arranged next to one another in a row, the detectors 09 arranged in a row being preferably arranged parallel to the length L01 of the illumination strip 01. The detector 09 of the detection device 08 may, for. B. may be formed as a CCD array 09 or as a group of photodiodes 09. The detector 09 of the detection device 08 converts the detected remitted light into an electrical signal and supplies the electrical signal for its evaluation to an image processing device 24 connected to the detection device 08.

Fig. 16 shows that in the optical inspection system the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 at least one first mirror 11 is associated with at least one longitudinally to the length L01 and / or width B01 of the illumination strip 01 facing effective surface 12, wherein the active surface 12 of the first mirror 11, the in the solid angle ω emitted light from at least one of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 to a smaller first envelope surface AH1 as the belonging to the solid angle ω spherical surface AK limits. The active surface 12 of the first mirror 11 may be flat or concave. In this case, the at least one active surface 12 of the first mirror 11 directed longitudinally to the length L01 of the illumination strip 01 can restrict the light emitted by the solid angle ω from at least one of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 more to a smaller second envelope surface AH2 than the at least one longitudinally to the width B01 of the illumination strip 01 directed active surface 12 of this first mirror 11, as it Fig. 17 in comparison to beamforming according to the Fig. 16 shows. Preferably, at least one light source 07 of the illumination device 06 has a first mirror 11 with at least two effective surfaces 12 symmetrical to a central beam 13 emitted by the light source 07.

For deflecting the radiation emitted by at least one of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 in a central region 14 surrounding the central beam 13, it is possible, as in FIGS FIGS. 18 and 19 represented, z. B. a second mirror 16 may be provided, wherein the at least one active surface 17 in which the beam path of the central beam 13 surrounding the central region 14 is disposed within the solid angle ω of the light emitted from the light source 07, wherein the active surface 17 of the second mirror 16 of At least one of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 emitted light deflects against at least one longitudinally to the length L01 and / or to the width B01 of the illumination strip 01 directed effective surface 12 of the first mirror 11. In this case, the radiation emitted by the light source 07 can preferably be bundled more strongly along the length L01 of the illumination strip 01 than the radiation along its width B01. Also, the active surface 17 of the second mirror 16 may be flat or concave. The radiation to be assigned to the central region 14, emitted by the respective light sources 07 is in the Fig. 18 to 21 each indicated by continuous arrow lines, whereas in the respective spatial angle ω radiation emitted peripherally by the light sources 07 is indicated by dashed arrow lines.

Alternatively, the radiation emitted by at least one of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 in a central area 14 surrounding the central beam 13 may likewise be deflected in accordance with FIGS FIGS. 20 and 21 at least one lens 18, in particular a biconvex lens 18, in which the beam path of the central beam 13 surrounding the central region 14 within the solid angle ω of at least one of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 emitted light be disposed between the light source 07 and a center Z18 the lens 18 is a distance A18, wherein the distance A18 is preferably less than half of the distance A07 between the light source 07 and the surface 02 of the material 03. In this case, the lens 18 may not be rotationally symmetrical to the radiation emitted by the light source 07 preferably along the length L01 of the illumination strip 01st to bundle more strongly than along its width B01.

The Fig. 22 shows that the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 are preferably arranged such that the respective solid angles ω or at least the envelope surfaces AH1; AH2 of the at least two adjacent light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 emitted light at least in a lighting strip 01 illuminating portion 19 overlap. This superimposition is provided in particular even if the participating adjacent light sources 07 are arranged in two adjacent modules M61 to M65. From the Fig. 22 It can also be seen that a respective first mirror 11 with at least one active surface 12, preferably with two mutually symmetrical active surfaces 12, at least along the width B01 of the illumination strip 01 can be provided on each individual light source 07 of the illumination device 06. Furthermore, the surface 02 of the material 03 may comprise a scattering body, ie a light-scattering body, e.g. As a lenticular or prismatic film, wherein the scattering body preferably remits the light irradiated in the illumination strip 01 on the surface 02 of the material 03, only or at least predominantly along the length L01 of the illumination strip 01. Alternatively or additionally, a further scattering body can be arranged for further homogenization of the light emitted by the illumination device 06 on the light exit side of the illumination device 06 and thus be in the light path between the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 and the surface 02 of the material 03 to be illuminated. Such a light body 07 upstream scattered body improves illumination of the surface 02 of the material 03 in the sense of a possible shadow-free illumination when the surface 02 of the material 03 has an at least slight relief.

Fig. 23 shows a view of the optical inspection system in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement 04 of the material 03 level. The illumination device 06 and illuminated on the surface 02 of the material 03 lighting strip 01 are arranged parallel to one another at a distance A07, but an extension of the illumination device 06, ie its length B06, may be greater than the length L01 of the illumination strip 01 or the width B03 of the material 03. The illumination device 06 is preferably a plurality of modules M61 to M65 divided, ie in this example in five line-shaped juxtaposed modules M61 to M65, wherein the arranged in each module M61 to M65 light sources 07 each emit light to the illumination strip 01. The light remitted by the illumination strip 01 is detected by the detector 09 of the detection device 08 arranged at a distance A09 from the surface 02 of the material 03 within a spatial detection angle α which opens longitudinally to the length L01 of the illumination strip 01, the detection angle α in this example being such is dimensioned so that it detects the remitted from the illumination strip 01 light over the entire length L01 of the illumination strip 01. The detection angle α forms a cross-sectional area on the surface 02 of the material 03, so that the detection angle α captures at least part of a cross-sectional area of the light-emitting beam emitted by the illumination device 06 extending across the width B01 of the illumination strip 01. The cross-sectional area detected by the detection angle α is preferably at least as large as the area spanned on the surface 02 of the material 03 by the length L01 and width B01 of the illumination strip 01.

The quality of an image recorded with the detection device 08 by detecting the light reflected from the illumination strip 01 is decisively dependent on the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 emitting light of constant light intensity. Because fluctuations in the light intensity of the light emitted by the light sources 07 result in the detection device 08 with respect to the signal supplied to the image processing device 24 to the same result as changes in the nature of the surface 02 of the illuminated material 03, so in the image processing device 24, the causes of a signal change can be distinguished. Under these circumstances, one can be found in the Image processing device 24 taken image analysis no reliable information about the nature of the surface 02 of the illuminated material 03 win.

Remedy here offer measures that keep the light intensity of the light emitted from the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 constant. The light sources 07 used in the illumination device 06 are preferably designed as high-intensity light-emitting diodes 07 or laser diodes 07 whose light intensity is temperature-dependent. In the following, measures for stabilizing the temperature of the light sources 07 arranged on the carrier 21 are described in order to achieve a constant light intensity. The advantage of this solution is that the thermal load of the light sources 07 is dissipated directly at the point of origin, which can achieve short control times.

The light sources 07 are preferably arranged on a circuit board 21 which can be equipped with further electronic components and provided with conductor tracks. The semiconductor of the light-emitting diodes 07 or laser diodes 07 is preferably in direct physical contact with the circuit board 21, the z. B. as MCPCB (metal core printed circuit board) or as a circuit board 21 is formed with a core of aluminum and on their light emitting diodes 07 or 07 laser diode mounting side 32 for the formation of the lowest possible heat transfer resistance only a very thin support on its heat-conducting surface having.

Fig. 24 shows a board 21 with a plurality of light sources 07 arranged line-shaped, wherein the board 21 is in turn arranged on a carrier 27 made of a thermally conductive material, wherein the carrier 27 preferably preferably in its interior below the row-shaped arrangement of the light sources 07, ie in the best possible heat coupling to the light sources 07, at least one channel 28, wherein a liquid or gaseous cooling medium, for. As water or air, the Channel 28 flows through. Preferably, the front side of the carrier 27 are provided for supplying and discharging the cooling medium connected to a flow opening 29 and an opening connected to a return port 31, wherein the cooling medium, the carrier 27 z. B. flows through in a straight line ( Fig. 4 ). Fig. 25 shows a carrier 27, which flows through the cooling medium in two opposite directions, whereby in the carrier 27 a balanced along the line-shaped arrangement of the light sources 07 temperature profile is achieved. For this purpose, the channel 28 may be deflected at one end of the carrier 27 by 180 °.

A control device, not shown, can keep the temperature of the cooling medium at the flow and the flow rate flowing through the channel 28 constant. Alternatively, the controller may also keep a difference between the temperature of the cooling medium at the flow and the temperature of the cooling medium at the return constant. It is less the absolute temperature of the cooling medium of importance, but rather that a maximum allowable for the light sources 07 temperature resulting from the heat transfer resistances of the materials involved, is not exceeded, which of the control device by monitoring the temperature of the cooling medium and a responsive control intervention is prevented. If an adjustable in its temperature or flow rate cooling medium for cooling the light sources 07 is not sufficient, the cooling of the light sources 07 by an external, not connected to the board 21 cooling device (not shown) can be supported.

It is advantageous to use a cooling medium already present in the printing machine as cooling medium, for. B. the cooling medium which flows through at least one arranged in a cooling roller stand cooling roller and / or at least one arranged in an inking Farbtemperierwalze and / or at least one arranged in a dampening dampening roller. For example, a chill roll stand preferably having a plurality of chill rolls is one in commercial printing working web press in the web running direction behind a printing unit downstream dryer, in particular a hot air or infrared dryer, arranged, wherein the z. B. heated to 130 ° C web is preferably cooled by its contact with the lateral surface of the cooling rollers to room temperature. The material web wraps around each of the cooling rollers each with the largest possible wrap angle. One arranged in an inking Farbtemperierwalze serves, inter alia, the purpose of rheological properties of this inking unit continuous ink to influence their good printability, since rheological properties of the ink are temperature-dependent and thus by a z. B. designed as a color tempering temperature control device are controlled or regulated. Influence on the rheological properties of the ink in turn affects the quality of the printed product to be produced in the printing press. Both for a cooling roller and for a color tempering preferably a liquid cooling medium, for. As water, used. It is advantageous to expand a circuit purchase of the cooling medium used for cooling a cooling roll and / or a color tempering roll and at the same time also to use for cooling the light sources 07 of the lighting device 06. It is also advantageous if the opening 29 formed on the illumination device 06 for supplying the cooling medium and the opening 31 formed on the illumination device 06 for discharging the cooling medium are each provided on the same front side of the illumination device 06, because thereby the time required for the transport of the coolant Cable laying, especially within the printing press, is simplified. The cooling medium flows through the illumination device 06 preferably completely, but at least within the modules M61 to M65 with at least one activated light source 07. With the flow of the illumination device 06 with a liquid cooling medium can be arranged for the arranged in the illumination device 06 light sources 07 a temperature stability of z. B. ± 1 ° C, especially when the cooling medium is monitored by a corresponding control device.

An addition to the cooling with a flowing cooling medium or an alternative to using a flowing cooling medium shows the Fig. 26 , The board 21 equipped with the light sources 07 is arranged on a support 27 made of a thermally conductive material, wherein the support 27 is in turn arranged on at least one Peltier element 33, but preferably a plurality of Peltier elements 33, the Peltier elements 33 preferably each having a support 27 thermally separated heat sink 34 are connected. A necessary temperature measurement for controlling the at least one Peltier element 33 by an electronic control device, not shown, is preferably carried out directly on the carrier 27 by a temperature sensor 36 attached thereto. When the ambient temperature fluctuates, only the temperature of the heat sink 34 fluctuates, but not the temperature of the light sources 07 arranged on the circuit board 21. The electronic control device can be integrated in the control device 23 connected to the lighting device 06.

Since the movement of the moving material 03 takes place in a printing machine or a printing product further processing machine at a speed of several meters per second, z. B. 3 m / s or more, where z. B. printed in a sheet-fed press 18,000 or more sheets 03 per hour and transported through the printing press, the optical inspection system is designed such that of the moving material 03 a useful image recording is possible. It should be noted that in a detection device 08 designed as a line camera 08, the detected amount of light reflected from the surface 02 of the moving material 03 changes depending on the speed of the moving material 03. This also changes the brightness of the image recording. With larger changes in speed, as they usually occur in the mentioned machines, the image acquisition can be unusable.

Instead of synchronizing the image recording of the line scan camera 08 with an encoder at the speed of the moving material 03, it is proposed that a switch-on duration t3 of a single light source 07 or a group of light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 be controlled by a current source 22 controlled by the control device 23. In particular, a constant current source 22, are controlled with a trigger, d. H. an exposure period t1 of the line camera 08 to synchronize, so that the surface 02 of the moving material 03 is always illuminated regardless of the speed of the moving material 03 with the same amount of light. This results in a constant brightness for the image taken by the line scan camera 08 over a wide range of the speed of the moving material 03.

Preferably, as already described, a plurality of groups of light sources 07 is provided in the illumination device 06, to each of which at least one current source 22, in particular a constant current source 22, is assigned. The switch-on times t3 of the light sources 07 are controlled by the control device 23 connected to the illumination device 06. B. groupwise or individually individually controlled by the respective current sources 22, so that can be set over the length of the preferably row-shaped light sources 07 of the illumination device 06, a light quantity profile. The setting of a light quantity profile, preferably along the length L01 of the illumination strip 01, has the advantage that transmission losses can be compensated by an optical system, not shown, of the line scan camera 08.

In addition, it can be provided that a z. B. the control device 23 connected to the light sensor 37, the radiated light quantity of the light sources 07 of the illumination device 06 measures to the basis of the measurement signal of the light sensor 37, the duty cycle t3 of the current sources 22 to the controller 23 controlled light sources 07 z. B. adapt to a Degradationsverhalten the light sources 07 and with the control of the light sources 07 z. B. compensate for their aging decaying radiation in their amount of light. The control device 23 can also automatically adjust the switch-on duration t3 of the light sources 07 to different optical properties of the material 03 to be illuminated.

Fig. 27 shows the timing of the line camera 08 and the light sources 07. The line camera 08 is turned on according to the upper, first time course at a certain time, so at this time, the exposure time t1 of the line camera 08 begins. After expiration of the exposure time t1 immediately follows a dependent on the speed of the moving material 03 timeout t2 between two consecutive adjacent image lines of the line camera 08. At least one triggered in response to the control of the line scan 08 light source 07 is in accordance with the mean, second time course in of the Fig. 27 controlled by the current source 22 controlled by the control device 23 simultaneously with the exposure time t1 of the line scan camera 08, wherein after a delay time t4 for the switching on of the light source 07, ie a physically related time to the beginning of their light emission, this light source 07 then for the duty cycle t3 remains switched on, a sum consisting of the delay time t4 and the duty cycle t3 is preferably dimensioned smaller than the exposure time t1 of the line scan camera 08. The time response for the line scan camera 08 and the light sources 07 repeats periodically in the previously described fixed correlation. Only in comparison to the light source 07 triggered in its on-time t3 is the lower, third time course of the Fig. 27 the time behavior of the duty cycle t5 for a constant light source shown.

In a further embodiment, the inspection system suitable for the print image inspection according to its schematic representation in the Fig. 28 one or more color line cameras 201 coupled to one another or a color area camera 201 which receives a printed image 203 illuminated by a lighting device 202, wherein the print image 203 is printed on a z. B. made of paper existing printing material has been generated. Amplitude values Axy2 of the individual color channels determined by the color line camera 201 or the color area camera 201 from the image of the print image are calculated in an image processing system 204. The output of the result is z. On a monitor 206 connected to the image processing system 204. Inputs, e.g. B. the image processing system 204 for its calculations necessarily notified parameters are entered via a connected to the image processing system 204 keyboard 207.

In a learning phase during a production classified as good, the amplitude values Axy2 of the color line camera 201 or the color area camera 201 are calculated by the image processing system 204 into a reference image. Fig. 29 shows a two-dimensional representation of a resulting from the recording of the print image, for example, square pixel field, the pixel field in its base z. B. consists of 8x8 pixels and the amplitude values Axy2 of the pixel field are plotted on the vertical axis. For the sake of clarity, the following data taken or derived from the pixel array will only be used for a one-dimensional area of a single line with e.g. For example, eight pixels i2 are represented by i2 = 0 to 7. Fig. 30 shows a reference image preferably generated from a plurality of images with the respective maximum values Aimax2 and minimum values Aimin2 for each pixel i2. Subsequently, the amplitude values Aip2 of the currently recorded print image are compared with this reference image consisting of the profile of the respective maximum values Aimax2 and minimum values Aimin2, and the deviations are determined, such as the Fig. 31 shows.

In the comparison of the amplitude values Aip2 of the currently recorded print image with its reference image, the contrast AK2 to the reference image is evaluated for each deviation. The evaluation takes place via two decision thresholds W2 and F2 to be set separately, one decision threshold being a warning threshold W2 and the other decision threshold being an error threshold F2 form ( Fig. 32 ). As soon as the contrast AK2 to the reference image for one or more pixels i2 is above the warning threshold W2 but still below the error threshold F2, a warning is output for this image area. As soon as the contrast AK2 to the reference image is above the error threshold F2 for a pixel i2, this image region is evaluated as an error. The distinction between an error and a warning thus takes place via the contrast AK2 of the deviation in relation to the learned reference.

In addition, a further evaluation can be made about the number of warnings or errors of pixels i2 in a local neighborhood. Dodge z. If, for example, only a single pixel i2 deviates from the learned reference image, this is a warning or a small-size error and may be negligible. For this reason, a consideration of the size of the warning or the error is followed, which is checked in this consideration, whether in a z. B. 8x8 large pixel field in local vicinity several pixels i2 emerge from the reference and give a larger area deviation. Thus, not only the contrast AK2 per se but also the area in which the contrast AK2 is a deviation from the learned reference image can be determined and this area can be adjusted with respect to its decision thresholds W2 and F2. Settable decision thresholds W2 and F2 can be used to specify the number of deviations in the evaluation range from which either a warning or an error is displayed.

In order not to overlook errors with high contrast AK2, but small size, the area above the error threshold F2 is also determined in this analysis. If this is an adjustable value, a so-called error weight FG2, in a local area of z. B. 8x8 pixels exceeded, regardless of the area of the deviation in the contrast AK2 an error is reported.

The display of the deviations takes place on the monitor 206 z. B. separated according to the type of deviation preferably in different colors, the display on the Monitor 206 preferably superimposed exact position on the current print image is blended. The operator is thereby enabled to immediately recognize, in a current production of the printing press, in which printing unit the cause for a deviation in the quality of the printed product occurs. The cause can then be assessed and corrected.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

01

Structures, lighting strips

02

surface

03

Material, sheet, material web, substrate, security, banknote

04

movement direction

05

-

06

lighting device

07

Light source, LED, laser diode

08

Detection device, image acquisition unit, camera, line scan camera, color line camera

09

Detector, CCD array, photodiode

10

-

11

Mirror, first

12

effective area

13

central beam

14

central area

15

-

16

Mirror, second

17

effective area

18

lens

19

subregion

20

-

21

circuit board

22

Power source, constant current source

23

control device

24

Image processing means

25

-

26

parting line

27

carrier

28

channel

29

opening

30

-

31

opening

32

mounting side

33

Peltier element

34

heatsink

35

-

36

temperature sensor

37

light sensor

38

Protection, kick

39

Printing cylinder, impression cylinder

201

Color line camera, color area camera

202

lighting device

203

print image

204

Image processing system

205

-

206

monitor

207

keyboard

A07

distance

A09

distance

A18

distance

B01

width

B03

width

B06

length

L01

length

Z18

center

AH1

Envelope, first

AH2

Envelope, second

AK

Surface, spherical surface

M61

module

M62

module

M63

module

M64

module

M65

module

t1

exposure time

t2

time-out

t3

duty

t4

Delay Time

t5

duty

α

angle of coverage

Y

angle

ω

solid angle

Axy2

amplitude value

Aimax2

maximum value

Aimin2

minimum value

AIP2

amplitude value

AK2

contrast

F2

error threshold

FG2

error weight

i2

pixel

W2

warning level

Claims (11)

1. A printing press with at least one inking device, where the inking device provides printing ink for application to a surface of a printing substrate (03) transported in the printing press, where a quantity of the printing ink to be applied is adjustable in zones arranged side by side transversely to the transport direction of the printing substrate (03) with at least one actuator operated by a control device, where the quantity of the printing ink to be applied is variably adjustable in zones different from one another, where the control device, as a function of a change in the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in one zone, changes the adjustment of the quantity of the printing ink to be applied in at least one further zone, characterised in that an image recording device (8) having a camera (8) directed at the printing substrate records at least one video image (203) of a subarea of the printing substrate correlating with at least one of the zones and routes data correlating with this video image to the control device, where the control device determines an actual value from the data correlating with the video image (203) for the quantity of the printing ink applied to the printing substrate in the zone, and determines a difference between this actual value and a nominal value for the quantity of the printing ink to be applied in the zone, where the control device receives the nominal value for the adjustment of the quantity of the printing ink to be applied in at least one of the zones from a preliminary stage upstream of the printing process.
2. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the control device, depending on the change in the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in the zone exhibiting the difference between the actual value and the nominal value, changes the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in at least one further zone.
3. The printing press according to Claim 2, characterised in that the change in the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in the zone exhibiting the difference between the actual value and the nominal value reduces the difference between the actual value and the nominal value.
4. The printing press according to Claim 2, characterised in that the further zone is arranged adjacent to the zone exhibiting the difference between the actual value and the nominal value.
5. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the control device changes a layer thickness of the application of the printing ink to be applied in one of the zones.
6. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the control device changes a duration of the application of the layer thickness of the printing ink to be applied in one of the zones.
7. The printing press according to Claim 2, characterised in that the control device changes the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in the further zone proportionally to the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in the zone exhibiting the difference between the actual value and the nominal value.
8. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the control device has a PI controller for the adjustment of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in one of the zones.
9. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the printing substrate is designed as a sheet.
10. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the control device takes an adjustment, changed in a further zone, of the quantity of printing ink to be applied in this further zone as a nominal value for this further zone.
11. The printing press according to Claim 1, characterised in that the image recording device is part of an inspection system arranged in the printing press.

Images