JP2013028022A - Drying device and inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying device that has constitution quickly performing drying control of a web and eliminating a wrinkle generated in the web due to printing and which is a portion of a conveying mechanism.SOLUTION: Liquid adhesion to a contact drying means performing secondary drying processing is prevented by performing primary drying processing by a noncontact drying means for a liquid attachment surface of a base material, and the contact drying means performing further drying processing for the liquid attachment surface comprises a wrinkle removing means. Accordingly, the wrinkle generated in the base material can be eliminated while enhancing drying of the base material, and the quality of the base material is not deteriorated.

Description

The present invention relates to a drying apparatus that performs a drying process on a substrate having a liquid attached to the surface.
The present invention also relates to an ink jet printer that performs printing on a recording medium to be transported, and that includes a drying unit that performs a drying process on the recording medium on which printing has been performed.

  A technique for forming a liquid adhesion film by adhering various liquids to a web, which is a long support, and drying it is used in various industries. Commercial printing inkjet printers that print on continuous long recording media also form a printed image by adhering liquid ink to the recording medium, so in a broad sense a liquid adhesion film is formed on the web. It corresponds to the technology to do.

  In an inkjet printer, printing is performed by ejecting ink from inkjet nozzles on a recording medium that is supported and conveyed by a plurality of rollers. In a printing apparatus provided with a plurality of rollers in the conveyance path of the recording medium, when the recording medium after printing is conveyed, the undried ink is transferred to the roller that comes into contact with the printing surface, and contamination of the printed matter is generated. Is a problem. In order to solve such a problem, an ink jet printer generally includes a drying device that performs a drying process on a printed web.

  As described above, the drying device for forming the liquid adhesion film on the web dries the liquid adhering to the liquid adhesion surface, so that the surface opposite to the liquid adhesion surface is heated by winding the web. Means for performing heating or means for performing heating without contacting the liquid adhering surface is employed, and further, a drying apparatus having such a drying function in combination is proposed.

JP2005-13968

  The invention described in Patent Document 1 is characterized in that the drying of the web can be quickly controlled even if the width and thickness are changed by blowing hot air to improve the contact pressure to the heating roller. .

However, when a drying process is performed on a web that has been printed by an inkjet printer, the web surface may be wrinkled when there is a bias in the ink adhesion to the web or when a large amount of ink is adhered. The invention described in Patent Document 1 does not disclose a configuration for solving this problem.
In addition, there is a demand for a compact housing in the ink jet printer, and therefore, it is necessary to simplify the transport mechanism even if a drying device is provided.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a drying apparatus having a configuration for quickly controlling web drying and eliminating wrinkles generated on the web as a result of printing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a drying device that is also a part of a transport mechanism in order to make the housing of an inkjet printer compact.

  In order to solve this problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a drying apparatus that performs a drying process on a substrate having a liquid attached to the surface thereof, and performs primary drying on the liquid adhesion surface of the substrate. Non-contact drying means for performing treatment, and contact drying means for performing secondary drying treatment on the liquid adhesion surface of the substrate on which the primary drying treatment has been performed, wherein the contact drying means is the substrate. It is characterized by having a wrinkle removing means for removing wrinkles generated in

  The invention described in claim 2 is the drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wrinkle removing means provided in the contact drying means is a pressure roller.

  Furthermore, the invention described in claim 3 is the drying apparatus described in claim 1, characterized in that the wrinkle removing means provided in the contact drying means is a pressure-bonding belt.

  In addition, the invention described in claim 4 is the drying apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact drying means is a heat roller.

  The invention described in claim 5 is the drying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the heat roller imparts a conveying force when the substrate is conveyed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printer that performs printing by ejecting ink onto a recording medium, comprising: a conveying unit that conveys the recording medium; and a recording medium that is conveyed by the conveying unit. A printing unit that performs printing on the surface; and a drying unit that performs a drying process on the recording medium printed by the printing unit. The drying unit applies to the printing surface of the recording medium. A non-contact drying means for performing a primary drying process and a contact means for performing a secondary drying process on the printing surface of the recording medium on which the primary drying process has been performed, and for removing wrinkles generated on the recording medium. And a drying means.

  The drying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 prevents liquid adhesion to the contact drying means for performing the secondary drying process by performing the primary drying process on the liquid adhesion surface of the base material by the non-contact drying means, Since the contact drying means for further drying the liquid adhering surface includes the wrinkle removing means, it becomes possible to eliminate the wrinkles generated in the base material while promoting the drying of the base material. Does not degrade the quality.

  The drying device according to claim 4 enables the drying device to constitute a part of the transport mechanism by realizing the contact drying means for performing the secondary drying process with a heat roller.

  The drying apparatus according to claim 5 can have a role as a driving roller in the transport mechanism by applying a transport force when the heat roller transports the base material, and can simplify the transport mechanism. .

  In the ink jet printer according to claim 6, the drying unit that performs the drying process on the recording medium printed by the printing unit performs the primary drying process on the printing surface of the recording medium by the non-contact drying unit. Prevents the ink from adhering to the contact drying means for performing the secondary drying process, and the contact drying means for further drying the printing surface has a wrinkle removing means, thereby promoting the drying of the recording medium. It is possible to eliminate wrinkles generated on the recording medium, and the quality of printed matter is not deteriorated.

1 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of an inkjet printer 100. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the drying part 5 in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the drying part 5 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the drying part 5 in a modification. It is a figure for demonstrating the drying part 5 in another modification.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an ink jet printing apparatus 100 according to the present invention. The ink jet printing apparatus 100 is a printing apparatus that performs printing by ejecting ink onto a conveyed roll paper. The ink jet printing apparatus 100 includes a control unit 1, a transport unit 2, a discharge unit 3, an inspection unit 4, and a drying unit 5.

  The control unit 1 is for controlling the entire inkjet printing apparatus 100. The control unit 1 transports the paper 9 by the transport unit 2, ejects ink onto the paper 9 by the ejection unit 3, takes a printed image of the paper 9 by the inspection unit 4, and dries the paper 9 on which ink is ejected by the drying unit 5 By controlling each of these, printing of the ink jet printing apparatus 100 on the paper 9 is realized.

The transport unit 2 is configured to transport the paper 9 in the inkjet printing apparatus 100, and includes a paper storage unit 20, a driving roller 21, and a support roller 22.
The paper storage unit 20 is for storing the paper 9 that is roll paper for printing. The paper storage unit 20a stores the paper 9 before printing, and the paper storage unit 20b stores the paper 9 after printing. Storing.
The paper 9 pulled out from the paper storage unit 20a is conveyed by the drive roller 21a through the discharge unit 3, the inspection unit 4, and the drying unit 5 while being supported by the support roller 22, and is wound around the paper storage unit 20b.

The ejection unit 3 receives ink supplied from an ink tank (not shown), ejects ink according to an ink ejection signal generated by the control unit 1 based on image information, and performs printing on the paper 9.
The discharge unit 3 includes inkjet nozzle groups 30k, 30c, 30m, and 30y as a plurality of inkjet nozzle groups 30. The inkjet nozzle groups 30k, 30c, 30m, and 30y are orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper 9, and a discharge width that is greater than the conveyance width of the paper 9 is realized by arranging a large number of nozzles. Since the discharge unit 3 has such a configuration, the discharge unit 3 performs printing by one discharge without performing reciprocal scanning in the conveyance width direction of the paper 9.
Note that the number of inkjet nozzle groups in the ejection unit 3 is not limited to four, and the number of inkjet nozzle groups may be one for monochromatic ejection, or 5 to perform ejection with a special color added. Two or more inkjet nozzle groups may be provided.

  The inspection unit 4 captures a print image in order for the control unit 1 to determine whether or not the printing performed on the paper 9 is good. The inspection unit 5 captures a printed image printed on the conveyed paper 9 by a CCD line sensor or a CCD camera, and transmits imaging information to the control unit 1. The control unit 1 determines whether or not the printing is good by comparing the image information used for performing the ink discharge and the photographing information to determine whether or not there is a discharge failure in the discharge unit 3. be able to.

  The drying unit 5 fixes the ink by evaporating the solvent (mainly water) of the ink by applying heat to the paper 9 printed by the discharge unit 3. The drying unit 5 also plays a role of conveying the paper 9 (details will be described later).

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the drying unit 5. The drying unit 5 includes a non-contact dryer 51, a contact dryer 52, and a pressure roller 53.

  The non-contact dryer 51 performs a non-contact drying process on the paper 9 on which ink has been ejected in the ejection unit 3. The non-contact dryer 51 can be composed of an infrared (IR) radiator or the like, and contacts the paper 9 by emitting infrared rays of about 40 to 80 degrees Celsius with respect to the ink ejection surface of the paper 9. Evaporate the ink solvent without.

  The non-contact dryer 51 is not limited to an infrared radiator. For example, a microwave oscillator may be employed as the non-contact dryer 51 to realize non-contact drying. Alternatively, a warm air heater may be used as the non-contact dryer 51.

  The contact dryer 52 performs a further drying process on the paper 9 on which the ink discharge surface has been dried by the non-contact dryer 51, and also operates as a driving roller for transporting the paper 9.

As a configuration for making the drying process and the conveyance of the paper 9 compatible, the contact dryer 52 is realized by a heat roller. The contact dryer 52 conveys the sheet 9 by being rotated by a motor 52 a controlled by the control unit 1 so as to apply a pressing force of up to 30 kg to the sheet 9.
At the same time, the contact dryer 52 comes into contact with the ink ejection surface of the paper 9 and further evaporates the ink solvent. The contact dryer 52 is provided with a halogen lamp serving as a heat source inside, so that the temperature of the contact surface is set to 40 degrees Celsius to 80 degrees Celsius, and further contacts the ink discharge surface of the paper 9 to further evaporate the ink solvent. . At this time, since the ink discharge surface of the paper 9 is dried to some extent by the drying process by the non-contact dryer 51, the ink discharged onto the paper 9 is transferred to the contact dryer 52 even if the contact dryer 52 comes into contact. Therefore, sufficient drying on the paper 9 by the contact dryer 52 can be realized.

  The heat source used for the contact dryer 52 is not limited to a halogen lamp, and may be a contact dryer 52 that uses a heater film, a heating wire, an electromagnetic inductor, or the like as a heat source.

The pressure roller 53 brings the paper 9 into contact with the contact dryer 52 and removes wrinkles generated on the paper 9.
When ink is ejected onto the paper 9 by the ejection unit 3, the solvent of the ink permeates into the paper 9, so that the fibrous material is stretched. Alternatively, when the non-contact dryer 51 performs the drying process on the paper 9, the ink 9 evaporates from the paper 9 and the fiber shrinks, so that the paper 9 is wrinkled.
The wrinkles thus generated usually have an adverse effect on the quality of the printed matter. Therefore, the pressure roller 53 supported by a support unit (not shown) presses the paper 9 against the contact dryer 52 so that the paper 9 Remove wrinkles. The paper 9 pressure-bonded to the contact dryer 52 is flattened by pressing force and heating, so that wrinkles are eliminated.

Here, as for the pressure roller 53, the pressure roller 53a is formed at the first portion where the paper 9 is wound around the contact dryer 52, and the pressure roller 53b is disposed at a portion where the paper 9 wound around the contact dryer 52 is separated. It has. The press rollers 53a and 53b press the paper 9 to the contact dryer 52 with a pressing force of up to 25 kg each. The pressure-bonding of the paper 9 to the contact dryer 52 by the pressure-bonding rollers 53a and 53b is performed by the roller surfaces of the contact dryer 52 and the pressure-bonding rollers 53a and 53b. . As a result, paper slippage in the press-bonded paper 9 is prevented, and the conveying force of the paper 9 by the contact dryer 52 is transmitted with high efficiency.
Note that the number of the pressure rollers 53 is not limited to two.

As described above, in the inkjet printer 100 having the drying unit 5 shown in FIG. 2, the ink is adhered to the contact dryer 52 by performing the drying process on the ink discharge surface of the paper 9 by the non-contact dryer 51. Since the contact dryer 52 includes the pressure roller 53, it is possible to eliminate the wrinkles generated in the paper 9 while promoting the drying of the paper 9, and the quality of the printed matter is not deteriorated.
In addition, since the contact dryer 52 is a heat roller and includes a motor 52a that drives the contact dryer 52, the contact dryer 52 can have a role as a driving roller in the transport mechanism. Can be simplified.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the drying unit 5. The drying unit 5 shown in FIG. 3 has a configuration different from that of the drying unit 5 shown in FIG. 2. Specifically, as a configuration for pressing the paper 9 to the contact dryer 520, the pressing belt 530 is used. It has.
Here, the non-contact dryer 510 and the contact dryer 520 are the same as the non-contact dryer 51 and the contact dryer 52 shown in FIG.

  The crimping belt 530 is for crimping the paper 9 to the contact dryer 520 and is configured to cover the contact dryer 520 as shown. The pressure belt 530 includes a belt 530a and a plurality of belt rollers 530b.

The belt 530a is made of a flexible elastomer having a predetermined width in order to press the paper 9 to the contact dryer 520. The belt 530a is supported by a plurality of rotatable belt rollers 530b, and slides in accordance with the conveyance of the paper 9 by the contact dryer 520.
The plurality of belt rollers 530b supported so as to be rotatable by a support unit (not shown) are arranged in the circumferential direction of the contact dryer 520 as illustrated. By arranging the belt roller 530b in this way, the belt 530a supported by the belt roller 530b slides in the circumferential direction of the contact dryer 520.

  Since wrinkles caused by ink ejection and drying on the paper 9 usually have an adverse effect on the quality of the printed matter, the pressure-bonding belt 530 presses the paper 9 against the contact dryer 52 so that the paper 9 is wrinkled. The paper 9 pressure-bonded to the contact dryer 52 is flattened by pressing force and heating, so that wrinkles are eliminated.

The pressure-bonding belt 530 presses the paper 9 to the contact dryer 52 with a pressing force of up to 25 kg. Since the pressure of the paper 9 to the contact dryer 52 by the pressure belt 530 is performed by the surface of the contact dryer 52 and the belt 530a, the surface 9 is surface contact and the pressing force is relatively low. Effective in preventing paper scratches. Further, since the belt 530a slides along with the conveyance of the sheet 9, the conveyance force of the sheet 9 by the contact dryer 52 is also transmitted with high efficiency.
The number of belt rollers 530b is not limited to the illustration.

As described above, in the inkjet printer 100 having the drying unit 5 shown in FIG. 3, the ink is adhered to the contact dryer 520 by performing the drying process on the ink ejection surface of the paper 9 by the non-contact dryer 510. Since the contact dryer 520 includes the pressure-bonding belt 530, it is possible to eliminate the wrinkles generated in the paper 9 while promoting the drying of the paper 9, and the quality of the printed matter is not deteriorated.
In addition, since the contact dryer 520 is a heat roller and includes a motor 520a that drives the contact dryer 520, the contact dryer 520 can have a role as a driving roller in the transport mechanism. Can be simplified.

<Modification>
In the description so far, the description has been made assuming that the contact dryers 52 and 520 are heat rollers that also operate as drive rollers. However, the present invention can be realized in another aspect.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the drying unit 5, and has a configuration different from that of FIGS. 2 and 3. Specifically, the non-contact drying unit 5100a and the contact drying unit 5100b are realized by one infrared dryer 5100.

  As shown in the figure, the infrared dryer 5100 is provided so as to have a predetermined angle with respect to the sheet 9 to be conveyed. The transported paper 9 is dried by the radiant heat from the non-contact drying unit 5100a by approaching the infrared dryer 5100. Further, the conveyed paper 9 is pressure-bonded to the infrared dryer 5100 by the pressure roller 5200 so that wrinkles are eliminated and drying by heat conduction is performed by the contact drying unit 5100b.

In such a configuration, since the contact drying unit 5100b does not have a role of a driving roller in the paper 9 transport mechanism, the drying unit 5 cannot realize a part of the paper 9 transport mechanism. Since the drying unit 5100a and the contact drying unit 5100b can be realized by one infrared dryer 5100, the configuration of the drying unit 5 is simplified to promote the drying of the paper 9 and to eliminate wrinkles generated on the paper 9. And the quality of the printed matter is not deteriorated.
Although the description has been made so that the wrinkles of the paper 9 are eliminated by pressing the pressure roller 5200, the wrinkles of the paper 9 may be eliminated by a pressure belt.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the drying unit 5, and has a configuration substantially similar to that of FIG. 2, but includes a plurality of support rollers 54 and a second non-contact dryer 55. It is different.

  As shown in the drawing, the sheet 9 that has been subjected to non-contact drying by the non-contact dryer 51, contact drying by the contact dryer 52, and wrinkle removal by the pressure roller 53, is transported by support rollers 54 a, 54 b, 54 c. The change is made, and the second non-contact dryer 55 dries the surface opposite to the ink ejection surface.

In such a configuration, the paper 9 is further dried by the second non-contact dryer 55, thereby preventing the paper of the undried ink discharged on the paper 9 from turning over and the support roller from being damaged. it can.
The plurality of support rollers 54 and the second non-contact dryer 55 can be added to the drying unit 5 shown in FIG. 3 or the drying unit 5 shown in FIG.

  In the above description, the drying unit 5 has been described as being provided in the ink jet printer 100. However, the present invention can be applied to various other fields as a drying technique for a web subjected to a liquid coating process. It is.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Conveyance part 3 Ejection part 4 Inspection part 5 Drying part 9 Paper 51,510 Non-contact dryer 52,520 Contact dryer 52a, 520a Motor 53,5200 Pressure roller 54 Support roller 55 2nd non-contact dryer 530 Pressure bonding belt 530a Belt 530b Belt roller 5100 Infrared dryer

Claims (6)

A drying apparatus that performs a drying process on a substrate having a liquid attached to the surface,
Non-contact drying means for performing a primary drying process on the liquid adhesion surface of the substrate;
Contact drying means for performing a secondary drying process on the liquid adhering surface of the substrate that has been subjected to the primary drying process;
Have
The contact drying means comprises wrinkle removing means for removing wrinkles generated on the substrate;
A drying device characterized by. The drying apparatus according to claim 1,
The wrinkle removing means provided in the contact drying means is a pressure roller;
A drying device characterized by. The drying apparatus according to claim 1,
The wrinkle removing means provided in the contact drying means is a pressure-bonding belt;
A drying device characterized by. The drying apparatus according to claim 1,
The contact drying means is a heat roller;
A drying device characterized by. The drying device according to claim 4,
The heat roller gives a conveying force when conveying the substrate;
A drying device characterized by. An inkjet printer that performs printing by ejecting ink onto a recording medium,
Conveying means for conveying the recording medium;
Printing means for printing on the surface of the recording medium conveyed by the conveying means;
Drying means for performing a drying process on the recording medium printed by the printing means;
Have
The drying means
Non-contact drying means for performing a primary drying process on the printing surface of the recording medium;
Contact drying means comprising a wrinkle removing means for performing a secondary drying process on the printing surface of the recording medium on which the primary drying process has been performed, and for removing wrinkles generated on the recording medium;
An ink jet printer comprising:

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