ES2547473A1 - Introducer device for the supply of laminar bodies in a graphic printing station (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Introducer device for the supply of laminar bodies in a graphic printing station, to simultaneously introduce laminar bodies at the same level and in parallel to each other and in continuous, comprising storage areas for laminar bodies where the laminar bodies are arranged in a vertical stack, the storage area being provided with independent moving means for extracting the laminar bodies from the storage area to an external conveyor means connected with the graphic printing station. The displacement means are located in a movable bedplate with respect to a fixed bench arranged previously to the graphic printing station, said displacement means comprising rotating drive belts driven by motor means, being linked to a vacuum aspiration device; the movable bedplate having front stop means which are in contact with the front part of the laminar bodies. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

Introducing device for the supply of laminar bodies in a graphic printing station

DESCRIPTION

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OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention patent application is to register an introducer device for the supply of laminar bodies in a graphic printing station that incorporates notable innovations and advantages. 10

More specifically, the invention proposes the development of an introducing device intended for the manipulation, for example, of cardboard plates of different sizes to be subsequently treated in a digital printing station in a continuous manner and with the minimum separation between the plates of cardboard, so productivity increases. fifteen

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the printing of cardboard sheets or sheet material, the application of the technique by flexographic printing is now well known. This technique consists essentially in passing the cardboard plate between two rollers, one of which we will call a cliché holder where the cliché with the desired printing pattern adheres. The operation of this technique is that each round of the cliché roller prints a cardboard plate.

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In flexographic printing, the perimeter of the cliché roller determines the development of the machine, that is, the distance between the beginning of one plate and the beginning of the next plate. This distance must remain constant regardless of the length of the plates. For this, in an installation for the manufacture of cardboard plates provided with a flexographic printing station there is an introducing device that coordinates with the speed of rotation of the cliché roller, allowing only one plate to be introduced for each turn of the roller cliché holder. For this reason, when printing plates of small dimensions, the distance between them is greater than when printing plates of larger dimensions.

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Although flexographic printing obtains acceptable printing results, it is increasingly being extended in the use of digital printing also for the printing of cardboard plates. Digital printing has a series of advantages over flexographic printing, such as the fact that it allows printing plates without limit of their length, a printing group can have the four basic colors unlike 5 flexographic printing where It is necessary to use four printing bodies, each with one of the colors. Another advantage also of digital printing is that there is no need for clichés since the change of pattern in the printing is done digitally and therefore instantaneously with the consequent saving of time, manufacturing, storage and maintenance as well as the fact of presenting a superior print quality 10. However, the speed of digital printing is still much lower than the flexographic one, therefore, and taking into account the differences between both technologies, a plate introducer adapted to the requirements of digital printing is necessary and at the same time increase Your productivity

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DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been developed in order to provide an introducing device that is configured as a novelty within the field of application and resolves the aforementioned drawbacks, also providing additional advantages 20 that will be apparent from the description that is accompanies next.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an introducer device for the supply of laminar bodies in a graphic printing station, in particular intended to simultaneously introduce laminar bodies of the same or different size at the same level and parallel to each other. and with the ability to deposit such laminar bodies one after the other in a continuous manner, with the minimum possible separation, so that the leading edge of a laminar body is in contact or practically in contact with the final edge of the anterior laminar body . Such an introducer is of the type that comprises at least one storage area for laminar bodies where laminar bodies 30 are arranged in a vertical stack, the storage area provided with displacement means for extracting a laminar body from the storage area to a medium External conveyor linked to the graphic printing station. More particularly, the invention is characterized by the fact that the displacement means are located on a movable bed with respect to a fixed bed 35

previously arranged to the graphic printing station, said displacement means comprising rotating drive belts provided with a plurality of through holes therein and driven by motor means, being linked to a vacuum aspiration device; and in which the fixed bed has trailing rollers or suction belts through which the laminar bodies pass. In addition, the movable bed has a stop means which are in contact with the front of the laminar bodies.

Thanks to these characteristics, an introducing device is obtained that allows the laminar bodies, regardless of their size (in particular, width and length) to enter the digital printing station continuously, having the minimum distance between them so that reduces the time in which the heads of the digital printer are inactive, so that the productivity ratio of the digital printing station is increased. The arrangement of the drive belts with a vacuum aspiration device prevents the plates or sheet bodies from slipping unlike the use of a conventional belt 15, ensuring the necessary grip of the plate during the acceleration action of the plate itself until it is achieved that the beginning or leading edge of the sheet body (for example, a cardboard sheet) is in contact or very close to the end end or rear edge of the sheet body adjacent thereto before reaching the drive rollers that rotate at the same speed as a conveyor belt associated with the printing station 20.

Another advantage is that the distance (or length value) between the stop means and the drive rollers can be varied by having a movable bed that can move away or approach with respect to the fixed bed provided with the 25 rollers of drag, being suitable for laminar bodies of great length since an increase of the aforementioned distance allows to increase the available time for the front part of a laminar body to reach the back of the anterior laminar body thus decreasing the acceleration and the derived forces this.

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It will be understood in this specification that the front part of the laminar body refers to the edge or edge located in front taking as reference the direction of advance of the laminar bodies from the introducer device towards the printing station.

Preferably, the movable bed is movable by means of a rack system linked to a base surface or floor.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, said rack system is based on the use of a motorized cogwheel coupled to the movable bed, said cogwheel gearing 5 on a rack fixed on the base surface or floor, thus being a simple system Construction and low maintenance.

In a preferred embodiment, the introducer device has two storage areas arranged parallel to each other, each of the storage areas 10 being provided with independent travel means. In this way, it is possible to increase the loading or working capacity of the introducer device since two rows of laminar bodies of the same or different dimensions can be printed simultaneously.

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Advantageously, each of the displacement means is driven by independent motor means.

Advantageously, the storage area is laterally delimited by axially movable positioners in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of travel of the laminar bodies, which allow the cardboard plates to be positioned correctly on the storage areas.

According to another aspect of the invention, the rotating drive belts are mounted in tanker assemblies that can move in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of travel of the laminar bodies so that they can be placed in the most suitable position depending on the Measures of the laminar bodies to manipulate. Each of said tanker assemblies comprises at least three pulleys arranged in a triangular arrangement, seen laterally, one of them being a driving pulley that transmits the movement to the rotating drive belt. 30

In a particular embodiment, the drive means consist of a servomotor coupled to a drive shaft that transmits the movement to the rotating drive pulley on which the rotating drive belt is coupled.

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Advantageously, the introducer device may include a detector sensor for detecting a sliding situation of a laminar body with respect to a rotating drive belt, said detector sensor being located between the stop means which are in contact with the front part of the laminar bodies and the drag rollers, so that said sliding can be corrected by modifying the operating parameters of the motor means. In this way, the distance between laminar bodies can be maintained in a constant and determined way.

Other features and advantages of the introducer device object of the present invention will be apparent from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment, which is illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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Figure 1.- It is a schematic side elevation view of an introducer device according to the present invention;

Figure 2.- It is a schematic top plan view of the introducer device shown in Figure 1; Y

Figure 3.- It is an enlarged schematic view of the area of the movable bed 20 that is part of the introducer device.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In view of the aforementioned figures and, according to the numbering adopted, an example of a preferred embodiment of the invention can be observed therein, which comprises the parts and elements indicated and described in detail below.

Thus, as shown in the figures, the introducer device is provided for the supply of cardboard sheets to a digital graphic printing station to be printed, for example, with advertising information, indications on the products to be transported in the boxes, etc.

This introducing device comprises a pair of adjacent storage areas (1) located on a movable bed (2) and intended to be placed in each of them in a

stacked a plurality of cardboard sheets (3). Each of the storage areas (1) is provided with means of movement, which will be detailed below, which allow the removal of the cardboard sheets (3) from each of the storage areas (1) towards a Conveyor belt (4) linked to the digital graphic printing station, indicated in general with reference (5). In the present specification, the description of the digital graphic printing station (5) is not going to go into greater detail since it can be any of those currently available in the market and is not part of the invention itself.

Each of the storage areas (1) is laterally bounded by about 10 positioners (6) that can be moved axially with the aid of guiding means in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of movement of the cardboard plates (3) indicated by arrows (f) in figure 2, allowing its adjustment to the dimensions of the cardboard plates.

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With particular reference now to the displacement means, these comprise for each of the storage areas (1) of two tanker assemblies, generally indicated by reference (7), which are provided with rotating drive belts (8 ) which include a plurality of through holes (9) therein. Such rotating drive belts (8) are driven by three pulleys (10) that are part 20 of the tanker assembly (7), one of the pulleys being a driving pulley that transmits the movement to the rotating drive belt (8) by the action of a servomotor (11). It will be quite evident by one skilled in the art that the number of pulleys (10) can be variable.

Each of the rotating drive belts (8) is linked to a vacuum aspiration device 25 that has a vacuum chamber (12) which aims to prevent the sliding of the cardboard plates (3) with respect to the rotating drive belts. (8) when they are ejected out of the movable bed (2) when the cardboard plate (3) is sucked through the through holes (9) of the rotating drive belts (8).

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In addition, the movable bed (2) has front stop means defined by plates that are in contact with the front part of the laminar bodies while a fixed bed (13) arranged after the movable bed (in the operating direction ) has a pair of drive rollers (14) facing each other in a plane

vertical leaving a space through which the cardboard sheets (3) from the storage areas (1) pass.

Additionally, the movable bed (2) also has rear stop means which are in contact with the back of the cardboard sheets (3), which 5 include a roller (15) supported on a support structure (16) which comprises a substantially "L" shaped arm. Advantageously, the support structure (16) is coupled to a rack system that has a rack plate (17) fixed to the support structure (16) that engages with a cogwheel (20) coupled to the movable bed (2). The rack system arrangement allows regulating the distance between the aforementioned front stop means and the rear stop means. Mention that the rollers (15) can be adjusted in height thanks to the provision of a secondary rack system (18) arranged in the support structure (16).

As can be seen more clearly in Figure 3, the movable bed (2) can move longitudinally in the direction of advance of the cardboard sheets (3) through a rack system that has a rack (18), coupled in the ground, which meshes with a motorized cogwheel (19) coupled to the movable bed. To ensure the positioning of the movable bed (2) on the rack (18), a vertical drive interlocking system is included, generally indicated by reference 20 (21), such that in a locked position prevents involuntary movement of the movable bed (2) on said rack (18).

In addition, a sensor (22) is mounted on the movable bed (2) of the introducing device of the present description for the detection of a sliding situation of the cardboard plates (3) with respect to the rotating drive belts ( 8).

To prevent a pre-contact plate with the rotating drive belts (8) from coming into contact with such rotating drive belts (8) while a cardboard plate (3) is still sliding in the direction of the drive rollers (14 ), with the consequent friction between the underside of the cardboard plate (3) to be introduced and the rotating drive belts (8), advantageously in the storage area (1) there are lifting plates (23) on which rest the cardboard plates (3) in a condition prior to contacting the displacement means, such lifting plates (23) being actuated by actuation means that are detailed more 35

ahead. Just at the moment when the back of the plate comes into contact with the drive rollers (14) the lifting plates (23) go to an elevated position with respect to the position of the rotating drive belt (8) with that the rotating drive belt (8) can reduce its speed until it stops completely. At this time, the lifting plate (23) descends, leaving the cardboard stack again on the rotating 5 drag belts (8) without friction between the cardboard plates to be introduced and the belt.

More particularly, such drive means that allow the lifting and / or lowering of the lifting plate (23) to be carried out comprise a pair of rotary actuator assemblies 10, each of which has a rotation axis (24) attached to a cam mechanism (25) which is linked by the top of the lifting plate (23), as can be seen more clearly in Figure 3.

The details, shapes, dimensions and other accessory elements used in the manufacture of the introducing device of the invention may be conveniently replaced by others that do not depart from the scope defined by the claims set forth below.

Claims (15)

1. Introducing device for the supply of laminar bodies in a graphic printing station, in particular intended to simultaneously introduce laminar bodies of the same or different size at the same level and in parallel with each other and continuously, 5 comprising at least a storage area (1) for laminar bodies where the laminar bodies are arranged in a vertical stack, the storage area being provided with independent displacement means for extracting one or more laminar bodies from the storage area (1) to a medium external conveyor linked to the graphic printing station (5), characterized by the fact that the displacement means are located in a movable bed (2) with respect to a fixed bed (13) previously arranged to the graphic printing station (5), such displacement means comprising rotating drive belts provided with a plurality of o through holes therein and driven by motor means, being linked to a vacuum aspiration device; the movable bed (2) presenting front stop means which are in contact with the front part of the laminar bodies; and in which the fixed bed (13) has drag rollers or suction straps through which the laminar bodies pass. 2. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that the movable bed (2) is movable by means of a rack system linked to a base surface or floor. 3. An introducer device according to claim 2, characterized in that the rack system has a motorized cogwheel coupled to the movable bed 25 (2), said cogwheel gearing on a rack fixed on the base surface or floor. 4. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that it has two storage areas (1) arranged in a parallel manner with each other, each of the storage areas (1) being provided with independent travel means . 5. An introducer device according to claim 4, characterized in that each of the displacement means is driven by motor means independent of each other. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage area (1) is laterally delimited by axially movable positioners (6) in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of travel of the laminar bodies. 7. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that each one of the rotating drive belts (8) is mounted on a tanker assembly (7) movable in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of travel of the laminar bodies, said tanker assembly (7) having at least three pulleys (10) arranged in a triangular arrangement, seen laterally, one of them being a driving pulley that transmits the movement to the rotating drive belt (8). fifteen 8. An introducer device according to claims 1 and 7, characterized in that the driving means consist of a servo motor coupled to a drive shaft that transmits the movement to the rotating drive pulley on which the rotating drive belt is coupled. twenty 9. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a sensor for detecting a sliding situation of a laminar body with respect to a rotating drive belt, said sensor being disposed between the front stop means and the drag rollers. 25 10. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that the movable bed has rear stop means which are in contact with the back of the sheet bodies.  30 11. An introducer device according to claim 10, characterized in that the rear stop means includes adjustment means for regulating the distance between the front stop means and the rear stop means. 12. An introducer device according to claim 11, characterized in that the regulating means consist of a secondary rack system. 13. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sheet bodies consist of cardboard sheets (3). 5 14. An introducer device according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage area (1) includes at least one lifting plate (23) on which the laminar bodies rest in a condition prior to contacting the displacement means, such lifting plate (23) being driven by drive means. 10 15. An introducer device according to claim 14, characterized in that the driving means for raising / lowering the lifting plate (23) comprise at least one rotary actuator assembly having a rotation axis (24) connected to a mechanism cam (25) linked with said lifting plate (23). fifteen