EP1987953B1 - Device for handling printing plates and rotary printing press - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a method for handling printing plates on a web-fed printing machine. Furthermore, the invention relates to a web-fed printing machine.

To perform a printing plate change must be on a web press, such. As a newspaper printing press, printing plates are handled. In the case of web-fed printing presses known from practice, the procedure is such that printing plates exposed and thus produced in the region of an exposure device are manually moved by a printer into the area of the printing unit at which the respective printing plate is used for printing, wherein the printer supplies the corresponding printing plates Manually contacts the plate cylinders of the printing units to which a printing plate change is to be carried out.

Furthermore, from practice, for example from the WO 2005/105444 A2 , already known web-fed printing presses with an automated plate change, printing plates are prepared in an automated printing plate change in the region of an exposure device produced in cartridges to automatically remove the printing plates during printing plate change from the cassette and automatically feed the plate cylinders of the printing units. Each printing unit of a web-fed printing machine is assigned a separate cassette.
Both in the known from practice printing machines with a manual pressure plate change and in the known from practice web presses with an automated printing plate change printing plates can easily be reversed and therefore fed false printing or arranged at a wrong plate cylinder position in the range of a printing unit.
So it is z. B. possible that in the known from practice web presses with an automated printing plate change the printing plates on a be arranged in the wrong position within the cassette. Furthermore, it is possible that cassettes are positioned on wrong printing units. So far, no web presses are known from the prior art, which can be ruled out that printing plates are supplied during printing plate change a wrong printing unit or a wrong plate cylinder position within a printing unit.

DE 10 2004 052 021 A1 a printing form manipulator. With the help of the printing form manipulator exposed printing plates can be removed from a cassette or a magazine and fed to printing units of a printing unit. Each printing unit is assigned a magazine. The printing form manipulator is used to remove the printing plates from the magazine and the feeding of the printing plates in the direction of the printing units of the respective printing unit.

US 5,440,985 A shows a handling system for individual printing plates, which are mounted by a printer manually on a support for the respective printing plate. Via a lift, the individual printing plates can be transported vertically and then horizontally via a conveyor into the area of the individual printing units.

Further prior art is known from EP 1 878 571 A2 known.

On this basis, the present invention seeks to provide a novel method for handling printing plates on a web-fed printing press and a novel web-fed printing press.

This object is achieved by a method for handling printing plates on a web-fed printing press according to claim 1.

With the present invention, a continuous automated handling of printing plates starting from the exposure device to the printing units, where the printing plates are used for printing, is proposed for the first time. As a result, incorrect handling of printing plates, which can be set in particular manually performed steps avoided, so that it can be ensured that printing plates are always fed to the correct printing unit and the correct plate cylinder position within a printing unit. Mis-assignments of printing plates on plate cylinders of a web-fed printing press can thus be virtually ruled out.

Fig. 1:

einen Ausschnitt aus einer erfindungsgemäßen Rollendruckmaschine in Seitenansicht; und

Fig. 2:

einen weiteren Ausschnitt aus einer erfindungsgemäßen Rollendruckmaschine in einer gegenüber Fig. 1 um 90° gedrehten Seitenansicht.

Fig. 1 und 2 zeigen unterschiedliche Ansichten von Ausschnitten aus einer als Zeitungsdruckmaschine ausgebildeten, erfindungsgemäßen Rollendruckmaschine. So sind in Fig. 1 insgesamt vier Drucktürme 10, 11, 12 und 13 aus jeweils zwei vertikal übereinander angeordneten Druckeinheiten 14 gezeigt, wobei jede der in Fig. 1 gezeigten Druckeinheiten 14 jedes Druckturms 10, 11, 12 bzw. 13 insgesamt vier Druckwerke 15 aufweist.The web printing machine according to the invention is defined in claim 7.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and the description below. An embodiment of the invention will be described, without being limited thereto, with reference to the drawing. Showing:

Fig. 1:

a section of a web-fed printing press according to the invention in side view; and

Fig. 2:

a further section of a web printing machine according to the invention in a opposite Fig. 1 90 ° rotated side view.

Fig. 1 and 2 show different views of sections of a trained as a newspaper printing machine, web printing machine according to the invention. So are in Fig. 1 a total of four printing towers 10, 11, 12 and 13 are shown in each case two vertically superposed printing units 14, wherein each of the in Fig. 1 shown printing units 14 of each printing tower 10, 11, 12 and 13 a total of four printing units 15 has.

From each printing unit 15, the plate cylinder 16 and transfer cylinder 17 are schematically shown, wherein in the region of each printing unit 14, the transfer cylinder 17 of all printing units 15 roll on a common satellite cylinder 18. The printing units 14 are therefore so-called 9-cylinder satellite printing units.

The printing units 14 of the printing towers 10 to 13 are used for printing a web-shaped substrate, which is subtracted from a Bedruckstoffrolle in the range of a non-illustrated reel changer of the printing press. The printing material webs printed in the printing units 14 of the printing towers 10 to 13 pass from the printing towers 10 to 13 into the region of a folding apparatus in order to form folds on the web-shaped printing substrate and / or on copies separated from the web-shaped printing material by cross-cutting.

The present invention now relates to such details of a web-fed printing press, which relate to the handling of printing plates required for printing, in particular for the preparation and for the execution of a printing plate change. In a printing plate change on a printing unit 15 of a printing unit 14 old printing plates are removed from the plate cylinder 16 of the respective printing unit 15 and replaced with new printing plates.

To prepare a printing plate change, printing plates are exposed in the region of a non-illustrated exposure device of the web printing press and thus produced. In this case, the procedure is such that each printing plate is assigned a coding on which plate cylinder position which printing unit 15 which printing unit 14 of the web press the respective printing plate is to be used for printing. This coding is preferably an optically readable bar code or text code or an encoding which is stored in a non-contact readable RFID tag.

The printing plates exposed and thus produced in the region of the unrepresented exposure device are preferably introduced into cassettes in the region of the exposure device in such a way that printing plates for a plurality of printing units are positioned in each cassette. In this case, printing plates for two printing units are preferably positioned in each cassette, namely for two printing units 15 of a printing unit 14 positioned vertically one above the other.

The printing plates are automatically positioned unambiguously in the cassettes with the aid of a manipulator arm, preferably in the region of the exposure device, so that it is always known at which position within which cassette which printing plate is arranged. In this unambiguous arrangement of the printing plates in the cassette on the one hand outside of the respective cassette before inserting a printing plate in the cassette, the coding of the respective printing plate is read, so as to check whether the correct printing plate of the correct cassette is supplied. In this case, further geometric parameters of the printing plate can be checked to ensure that a printing plate to be inserted into a cassette is free of errors.

Furthermore, in the one-by-one arrangement of the printing plates in the cassettes within the cassette, it is checked in which recording position of the cassette a printing plate introduced into it passes. In this case, a data record is generated for each cassette and assigned to the cassette, wherein the data record provides information on which position within the respective cassette which printing plate is positioned.

After the above automatic loading of the cassettes with the printing plates exposed in the region of the exposure device, the cassettes equipped with printing plates are conveyed into the area of the printing couples 15 of the printing press, for which they are positioned in the same printing plates.

In this case, not only the cassettes are provided at the corresponding printing units 15 of the printing units 14, but also the records associated with the cartridges, which can be done by either one of the respective cassettes physically associated, readable storage device, preferably formed as an RFID tag is moved together with the cassette in the area of the corresponding printing units, or that the corresponding data records are provided virtually as a data packet to the printing units 15.

The displacement of the cartridges equipped with printing plates in the region of the printing units 15, for which are positioned in the cassettes printing plates, carried out by means of a conveyor. The conveyor comprises a cassette lift 19 with the aid of which cassettes 20 are moved in the vertical direction, namely raised and lowered, so as to automatically shift the cassettes into a horizontally extending conveying plane 21 or 22 of a cassette conveyor 23. After moving cassettes 20 vertically into one of the conveying planes 21, 22, the cassettes are horizontally displaceable within the conveying planes 21, 22 so as to shift the cassettes into the area of the printing couples 15 of the printing unit 14, for which in the respective cassettes 20 printing plates are arranged.

In addition to the cassette lift 19 and the cassette conveyor 23 with the two conveyor planes 21 and 22, the conveyor further manipulator arms 24, to then, when a cassette 20 in the region of the printing unit 14, are arranged for the printing units 15 in the cassette 20 printing plates, been moved is to remove the cassette 20 from the cassette conveyor 23 and laterally next to the printing units 15 of the printing unit 14 to position. The manipulator arms 24, like the cassettes 20, are movable along the conveyor planes 21, 22 in the horizontal direction along the web press, so that a plurality of printing units 14, which are positioned in one plane, can be operated with cassettes 20 with a manipulator arm 24.

After transferring a cassette 20 from a conveying plane 21 or 22 of the cassette conveyor 23 laterally next to the printing units 15 of a printing unit 14, for which 20 printing plates are positioned in the cassette, can with the help of this printing units 15 serving further manipulator arm 25 on the plate cylinders sixteenth These printing units 15 a printing plate change are performed by the manipulator arm 25 first automatically removes old printing plates from the corresponding plate cylinders 16 and then automatically supplied in the cassettes 20 held printing plates the plate cylinders 16. This is done using the data set associated with the respective cartridge 20 via the printing plates held in the cassette 20 so as to ensure that printing plates are always fed to the correct plate cylinder 16 and the correct plate cylinder position within the plate cylinders 16, respectively.

During printing plate change from the plate cylinders 16 using the manipulator arms 25 removed old plates are disposed of either in the field of printing 15 or transferred to the corresponding cassette 20 to automatically feed the old printing plates a disposal station and dispose of centrally in the disposal station.

As already stated, in a cassette 20 printing plates for multiple printing units 15 are kept, namely for two vertically stacked printing units 15 of a printing unit 14. Then, if on each plate cylinder 16 z. B. four printing plates can be stretched, this means that each cartridge 20 holds eight printing plates.

The cassettes 20 are designed in such a way that both single-width individual printing plates and multiple-width, in particular double-width, panorama printing plates can be accommodated therein. Furthermore, the cassettes 20 are designed in such a variable format that can be positioned in the same printing plates of different formats, be it individual printing plates or panoramic printing plates.

With the present invention, an automated or automatic handling of the printing plates is guaranteed, starting from the exposure device to which printing plates are exposed, up to the printing units 15, on which the printing plates are used for printing. It can always be understood where there is which printing plate, so that misplacement of printing plates can be excluded on plate cylinders.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

printing tower

11

printing tower

12

printing tower

13

printing tower

14

printing unit

15

printing unit

16

plate cylinder

17

transfer cylinder

18

satellite cylinder

19

cassette lift

20

cassette

21

conveying plane

22

conveying plane

23

cassette conveyor

24

manipulator

25

manipulator

Claims (10)

1. A method for handling printing plates on a web-fed printing press, in particular on a newspaper printing press, comprising at least the following steps:

   a) printing plates are exposed on an exposure device, wherein each printing plate is assigned a coding relating at on which plate cylinder position of which printing couple (15) of which printing unit (14) of a web-fed printing press the respective printing plate is used;

   b) exposed printing plates are inserted into cassettes (20) in such a way that printing plates for a plurality of printing couples (15) are positioned in each cassette (20), wherein each cassette (15) is assigned a data set relating to at which position within the respective cassette (20) which printing plate is arranged, and wherein the printing plates are hereby positioned automatically and unambiguously in the cassettes (20) with the help of a first manipulator arm, namely in such a way that, on the one hand, the coding assigned to the respective printing plate is read out outside of the respective cassette (20) prior to the insertion of a printing plate into the cassette (20), in order to verify, whether the correct printing plate is supplied to the correct cassette (20), and that, on the other hand, it is verified, into which accommodating position of the cassette (20) a printing plate, which is inserted into said cassette, reaches;

   c) the cassettes (20), which are equipped with printing plates, are conveyed into the region of the printing couples (15), for which printing plates are positioned therein, namely in such a way that the cassettes (20), which are equipped with printing plates, are automatically displaced vertically into a horizontally-running conveyance plane (21, 22) of a cassette conveyor (23) with the help of a cassette pin (19), that, with the help of the cassette conveyor (23), the cassettes (20) are automatically conveyed into the region of the printing unit (14), for which printing plates are arranged in said cassettes, and that, starting at the cassette conveyor (23), the cassettes (20) are removed from the cassette conveyor (23) with the help of a second manipulator arm (24) and are positioned laterally next to the printing couples (15) of the printing unit (14), for which printing plates are arranged in said cassettes, wherein the data set assigned to the cassettes (20), is also provided in the region of the printing couples (15);

   d) the printing plates are automatically removed from the cassettes (20) with the help of a third manipulator arm (25) and are automatically supplied to the respective printing couples (15) in order to execute a printing plate change by adjusting to the data set, which is assigned to the respective cassette (20).
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that in step a) every printing plate is assigned the coding as an optically readable barcode or text code, respectively, or as coding stored in an RFID tag, which can be read out in a contact-free manner.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in step b) all printing plates, which are used on the plate cylinders (16) of two printing couples (15), which are arranged on top of one another, of a printing unit (14), are positioned in each cassette (20).
4. The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that in step b) the insertion of the exposed printing plates into the cassettes (20) is performed automatically with the help of the first manipulator arm.
5. The method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that in step d) old printing plates removed from the plate cylinders (16) during the printing plate change are disposed of in the region of the printing couples (15).
6. The method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in step d) old printing plates removed from the plate cylinders (16) during the printing plate change are automatically inserted into the cassettes (20), are automatically transported via the cassettes (20) into the region of a disposal station, and are automatically removed from the cassettes (20) and are disposed of in the region of the disposal station.
7. A web-fed printing press, in particular newspaper printing press, for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 6, comprising at least:

   a) an exposure device for exposing printing plates, wherein each printing plate can be assigned a coding relating to for which plate cylinder position of which printing couple (15) of which printing unit (14) of a web-fed printing press the respective printing plate is designated;

   b) a plurality of cassettes (20) for accommodating exposed printing plates in such a way that printing plates for a plurality of printing couples (15) can be positioned automatically and unambiguously in each cassette (20) with the help of a first manipulator arm, wherein a data set relating to at which position within the respective cassette (20) which printing plate is arranged, can be assigned to each cassette (20) ;

   c) a conveyor (19, 23, 24), which conveys cassettes (20), which are equipped with printing plates, into that region of the printing couples (15), for which printing plates are positioned in said cassettes, wherein the data set, which is assigned to the cassettes (20), can also be provided in the region of the printing couples (15), wherein the conveyor (19, 23, 24), which conveys the cassettes (20), which are equipped with printing plates, into the region of the printing couples (15), comprises a cassette lift (19), which automatically moves cassettes (20) vertically into a horizontally-running conveyance plane (21, 22) of a cassette conveyor (23), wherein the cassettes (20), for which printing plates are arranged in aid cassettes, can be automatically conveyed into the region of the printing couples (15) of the printing unit (14) with the help of the cassette conveyor (23), and wherein starting at the cassette conveyor (23), the cassettes can be removed from the conveyance plane (21, 22) of the cassette conveyor (23) with the help of a second manipulator arm (24), and can be positioned laterally next to the printing couples (15), for which printing plates are arranged in said cassettes;

   d) a plurality of third manipulator arms (25), which are assigned to the printing couples (15), which automatically remove printing plates from the cassettes (20) and automatically supply them to the respective printing couples (15) in order to execute a printing plate change by adjusting to the data set, which is assigned to the respective cassette (20).
8. The web-fed printing press according to claim 7, characterized in that at least one first manipulator is assigned to the exposure device in order to automatically insert exposed printing plates into the cassettes (20).
9. The web-fed printing press according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the cassettes (20) are embodied in such a way that single-width individual printing plates as well as multiple-width, in particular double-width, panoramic printing plates, can be inserted into said cassettes.
10. The web-fed printing press according to claim 9, characterized in that the cassettes (20) are designed with variable format in such a way that single-width individual printing plates as well as multiple-width, in particular double-width panoramic printing plates of different formats can be inserted into said cassettes.

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