JP2944245B2 - Registration device in printing - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a registration mark printed with a transparent ink to which a fluorescent whitening agent or an ultraviolet absorber is added, controlling the distance between the registration marks, and registering the registration. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of registering in printing, a register mark for each plate is printed and the mutual positional relationship is visually identified, or detected by an optical sensor and compared with each other. A method for compensating for print misalignment has been adopted.

However, in the case of printing using a transparent ink, since the light is not reflected on the surface of the register mark and cannot be detected by the photoelectric element, the register mark printed using the transparent ink to which a trace amount of a fluorescent whitening agent is added is used. Is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 27857/1990.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-283147 discloses a method of irradiating a registration mark printed by adding an ultraviolet absorbing substance to a transparent ink with ultraviolet light, and detecting the registration mark from a change in the amount of reflection or transmission due to absorption of the ultraviolet light. Has been proposed.

[0005]

The fluorescent whitening agent may not be mixed depending on the material of the ink to be used, and if the mixing amount is increased, the color of the printed matter may change due to the emission of luminescence. It will be limited. Further, when the printing material has irregularities on the surface, such as paper, the light to be received is irregularly reflected, so that the S / N ratio is reduced, and it is difficult to detect light with weak light. Further, when the printing speed is increased, the same problem as described above occurs because the printing material flaps. On the other hand, the amount of luminescence and the amount of ultraviolet absorption are proportional to the intensity of the irradiated ultraviolet light, so that the intensity of the irradiated ultraviolet light must be increased to obtain the amount of light required for detection. However,
When a high-intensity ultraviolet light source such as a xenon lamp or a mercury-xenon lamp is used as a light source, problems such as firing of the ink due to heat generation occur.

Further, when registering a register mark (transparent register mark) printed with transparent ink and a register mark (visible register mark) printed with visible ink, an ultraviolet light source and a light source may be used depending on the type of each ink. A visible light source must be provided. When irradiating the examination mark with these lights, it is necessary to incorporate these light sources into the detection unit,
The detector must be enlarged.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the firing of ink caused by the use of a high-intensity ultraviolet light source, and to use one of the light sources as an ultraviolet light source and a visible light source. It is another object of the present invention to provide a registration device in which a detection unit is separated from a light source to reduce the size.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a register mark detecting means including a transparent register mark to which a fluorescent whitening agent or an ultraviolet absorber is added in registering at least one printing plate using a transparent ink. The object of the present invention is to filter out the light emitted from a high-intensity ultraviolet light source placed at a place distant from the detection position to obtain ultraviolet light and visible light, transmit each to the detection position using an optical fiber, and This is achieved by transmitting the received optical information to the control unit.

That is, a filtering means for separating and extracting ultraviolet light and visible light from one high-intensity ultraviolet light source, transmitting the ultraviolet light and visible light to a detection unit, and transmitting light received by the detection unit to a control unit. A fiber unit composed of optical fibers to be connected, and a fastener for detachably connecting each fiber terminal of the fiber unit to a predetermined position, and projecting ultraviolet light or visible light input from the fiber terminal to a detection position. The control unit includes a built-in optical unit for guiding light received from the detection position to the fiber terminal, and a light-shielding box configured to block external visible turbulent light. Based on the transmitted optical information, the control unit converts the electrical information,
The registration of printing is performed by detecting a shift between two printings.

[0010]

The light source is separated from the detection position by using an optical fiber as a medium, and one light source is used as an ultraviolet light source and a visible light source. By changing the connection of the fiber terminals, the type of ink used for printing can be changed. Make it correspond.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below by way of specific examples. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a general configuration of the present invention. The two registration marks 16 and 16 ′ printed on the printing material 15 are irradiated with ultraviolet light or visible light from the detection head 12 having built-in optical means, and the reflected light or light emission is received again by the light receiving portion of the detection head 12. The obtained optical information is stored in the fiber unit 6.
Control unit 22 having a photoelectric conversion unit, a power supply and a light source
The signal is converted to an electric signal and sent to the control unit 23 by the shield wire 24. The control unit 23 controls a compensator roller (not shown) of the printing press on the basis of the input electric signal to register printing. The control unit 22
And the control unit 23 may be stored in the same box. The method of mounting the detection head 12 can be changed as appropriate. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of means for separating visible light and ultraviolet light from one light source. The light emitted from a high-intensity ultraviolet light source 1 such as a xenon lamp or a mercury xenon lamp is condensed by lenses 4 and 4 ' The direction is changed by the mirror 5 as necessary, and the light is passed through the UV reject filter 2 and the band-pass filter 3 to obtain visible light and ultraviolet light, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the outer shape of a fiber unit composed of optical fibers. The control unit side terminal of the fiber unit 6 comprises a visible light input terminal 8, an ultraviolet light input terminal 9 of the optical fiber 7, and signal output terminals 10 and 11 from the first and second detecting means.
Are the output terminals 8 ', 8 "and 9', 9" obtained by dividing the fiber into which visible light and ultraviolet light are input, respectively, and the signal input terminal 10 'from the first and second detection means. , 11 ". Here, the material of the optical fiber 7 may be a normal glass fiber for visible light.
A single-component quartz fiber is used for ultraviolet rays. A single-component quartz fiber is also used as the light receiving fiber.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the detection head, FIG. 5 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 6 is a side view thereof. Detection head 12
The main body is a light-shielding box 13 for preventing the detecting means from the influence of visible disturbance light, and a quartz glass window 14 is opened on the lower surface facing a printing material 15 such as paper or film. On its upper surface, fasteners 18, 1 for detachably connecting the detection head side terminal of the fiber unit 6 are provided.
8 ', 19, 19' and 20, 20 'are provided at different positions and angles. However, the fasteners 19 and 19 'are reserved, and unused fiber terminals are retained. The light-shielding box 13 has built-in optical means 21 for assisting light emission or light reception of each connected fiber terminal. Further, a reflection plate 17 necessary for a transparent printing material is placed at a position facing the quartz glass window 14 with respect to the printing material 15. The distance between the two detection means formed in the detection head is 20 mm
And

When comparing the register between the plate printed with the transparent ink to which the ultraviolet absorber is added and the plate printed with the visible ink, the ultraviolet output terminal 9 'or 9 "of the fiber unit 6 is fastened. 18, and the register mark signal input terminal 10 ′ is inserted into the fastener 20 to serve as first detecting means. Similarly, the visible light output terminal output terminal 8 ′ or 8 ″ and the register mark signal input terminal 11 ′ are connected. , Each fastener 1
The second detection means is inserted into 8 'and 20'. At this time, the light travels in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4A, is reflected and absorbed by the register mark, and is input to the signal input terminal.

Now, assuming that the printing material 15 on which the visible registration marks 16 and the transparent registration marks 16 'are printed at an interval of 20 mm is conveyed in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 6, the first detection means and the second detection means Register mark signal input terminal 10 'by means
The optical signals shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B are input to the optical signals 11 and 11 ', respectively. The vertical axis in the figure represents the light amount, and the horizontal axis represents the elapsed time. Here, a and a 'represent a decrease in light amount due to light absorption of visible register marks, and b represents a decrease in light amount due to light absorption of transparent register marks. Since the distance between the first and second detection means is set to 20 mm, if the distance between the visible register mark 16 and the transparent register mark 16 'is exactly 20 mm, b and a' appear at the same time (on the broken line C). . If b deviates from the C line, a shift between the two prints is detected as a time difference,
The value of the displacement can be obtained from the transport speed.
These signal processings are performed by converting the optical signal transmitted to the control unit 22 by the fiber unit 6 into an electric signal by the photoelectric element, and performing the control unit 2 on the basis of the obtained position shift value.
By controlling the compensator roller at 3, it is possible to register the symbols printed with the two inks.

Next, in the case of a transparent ink plate, the ultraviolet output terminals 9 'and 9 "may be inserted into the fasteners 18 and 18' to serve as first and second detecting means. In the case of comrades, the visible light output terminals 8 'and 8 "
May be inserted and used in the fasteners 18 and 18 '. In the case of a transparent ink containing a fluorescent whitening agent, since the register mark itself becomes a luminescence light source, it is possible to register the printed pattern by capturing the luminescence emitted.

[0017]

As described above, according to the apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to use a high-intensity ultraviolet light source without firing ink, and one light source can be used as a visible light source and an ultraviolet light source. In addition, if each fiber terminal and the fastener are selected, it is possible to cope with registration of printing using various inks. In addition, the detection head only needs to form a light path, so that the detection head is small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a unit that separates visible light and ultraviolet light from one light source.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outer shape of a fiber unit.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a detection head.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a detection head.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the detection head.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an optical signal output from a detection head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Luminance ultraviolet light source 2 UV reject filter 3 Band pass filter 4 Lens 5 Mirror 6 Fiber unit 7 Optical fiber 8 Visible light input terminal 8 'Visible light output terminal 8 "Visible light output terminal 9 Ultraviolet input terminal 9' Ultraviolet output terminal 9 "UV output terminal 10 Register mark signal output terminal 10 'Register mark signal input terminal 11 Register mark signal output terminal 11' Register mark signal input terminal 12 Detecting head 13 Light shielding box 14 Quartz glass window 15 Printing material 16 Register mark 16 'Register mark 17 Reflector 18 Fastener 18 'Fastener 19 Fastener 19' Fastener 20 Fastener 20 'Fastener 21 Optical means 22 Control unit 23 Control unit 24 Shield wire

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] At least one plate transmits a high-intensity ultraviolet light source and light emission of the high-intensity ultraviolet light source to a detection unit in registration of printing using a transparent ink, and receives light from the detection unit to a control unit. A fiber unit composed of an optical fiber for transmission and a fastener for detachably connecting each fiber terminal of the fiber unit to a predetermined position,
An optical unit for projecting ultraviolet light or visible light input from the fiber terminal to a detection position and an optical unit for guiding light received from the detection position to the fiber terminal are built in, and a light shielding box for blocking external visible turbulent light is provided. By arranging a configured detection head and sending optical information to the control unit,
A register apparatus for printing, wherein a positional relationship between register marks is detected. 2. A registration apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one high-intensity ultraviolet light source is used as a light source, and a filtering means is provided for separating and extracting light emitted from said high-intensity ultraviolet light source into ultraviolet light and visible light. .