JP3235804U - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing apparatus capable of accurately registering a web in a transport direction while suppressing a cost.
SOLUTION: The printing device is provided with a plurality of printing units 3 having a plate cylinder 1 and prints a pattern on a web 4 continuously conveyed and prints a register mark, and the printing unit 3 is printed along the web conveying direction. The first motor 5 to be moved, the second motor 6 for adjusting the phase of the plate cylinder 1 of the printing unit 3, the image pickup unit 9 for capturing a plurality of printed register marks, and the first motor. A control unit that controls the 5 and the second motor 6 to control the printing position of the register mark is provided, and the control unit controls the first motor 5 based on the input feed length, and the image pickup unit 9 controls the first motor 5. The deviation amount of the register mark is detected from the captured image, and the second motor 6 is controlled based on the deviation amount.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of performing registration by using a register mark (cross dragonfly) printed on a margin portion of a web in each printing unit in a printing apparatus having a plurality of printing units.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-338422

An object of the present invention is to provide an unprecedented printing apparatus, such as making it possible to perform registration in the transport direction of a web with high accuracy while suppressing costs.

The gist of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A printing device having a plurality of printing units 3 having a plate cylinder 1 and printing a pattern including figures or characters on a web 4 continuously conveyed and printing a register mark.
A first motor 5 that moves the printing unit 3 along the web transport direction, and
A second motor 6 for adjusting the phase of the plate cylinder 1 of the printing unit 3 and
An image pickup unit 9 that captures a plurality of printed registration marks, and
A control unit that controls the first motor 5 and the second motor 6 to control the printing position of the register mark is provided.
The control unit controls the first motor 5 based on the input feed length, detects the deviation amount of the register mark from the image captured by the image pickup unit 9, and the deviation amount is based on the deviation amount. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus characterized in that it is configured to control the second motor 6.

Further, in the printing apparatus according to claim 1, the register mark relates to a printing apparatus including a color ball 7 and a cross register mark 8.

The printing apparatus according to claim 2 is the printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printing apparatus is provided with a display unit for displaying an image captured by the imaging unit 9.

Further, in the printing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 and 3, the control unit detects the deviation amount of each printing unit 3 from the color ball 7 and controls the second motor 6. It relates to a printing apparatus characterized by the above.

Further, in the printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the control unit stores the deviation amount of each printing unit 3 every time the printing of the design is completed. It is related to.

The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is characterized in that a web guide mechanism for suppressing the deviation of the web 4 in the width direction is provided. ..

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is an unprecedented printing device, for example, it is possible to perform registration in the transport direction of the web with high accuracy while suppressing costs.

It is a schematic explanatory drawing of this Example. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of a registering process. It is a figure which shows an example of the misplacement amount which a control part stores.

An embodiment of the present invention which is considered to be suitable will be briefly described by showing the operation of the present invention based on the drawings.

When performing multicolor printing with a plurality of printing units 3, before printing, the first motor 5 is used to move each printing unit 3 so as to have a predetermined positional relationship according to the input of the feed length, and printing is started. If registration is required later, the second motor 6 is controlled to adjust the phase of the plate cylinder 1 of each printing unit 3 so that the registration mark does not shift.

Therefore, for example, when using a web guide mechanism that suppresses the displacement of the web 4 in the width direction and performing only register control in the transport direction of the web 4, the first motor 5 performs rough position adjustment before printing and prints. Since the time can be finely adjusted by the second motor 6, the first motor 5 does not need high rotation accuracy, and a small one can be used as the second motor 6, and the cost is suppressed accordingly. Therefore, good register control can be performed.

Specific examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a so-called four-color intermittent letterpress printing machine.

That is, this embodiment includes four printing units 3 having a plate cylinder 1 and an impression cylinder 2, and a design including figures and characters on the web 4 continuously conveyed by these printing units 3 (note that only the figures). Alternatively, it may be a pattern containing only characters), and is a printing device that prints a register mark.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the first motor 5 for moving the printing unit 3 along the web transport direction, and the second motor 6 for adjusting the phase of the plate cylinder 1 of the printing unit 3 It is provided with an image pickup unit 9 that captures a plurality of printed registration marks, and a control unit that controls the first motor 5 and the second motor 6 to control the printing position of the registration mark. In this embodiment, a brushless motor is adopted as the first motor, and a servomotor is adopted as the second motor 6.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the first printing unit 3 (# 1) prints a C (cyan) pattern and a register mark on the conveyed web 4, and the second printing unit 3 prints. (# 2) prints the M (magenta) pattern and the register mark, the third printing unit 3 (# 3) prints the Y (yellow) pattern and the register mark, and the fourth printing unit 3 (#). 4) is configured to print a K (black) pattern and a register mark.

The number of printing units 3 is not limited to four, and may be two or more. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is a supply-side roller that guides the web 4 supplied from the supply unit (not shown) to the printing unit 3, and reference numeral 11 is a winding that guides the printed web 4 to the winding unit (not shown). It is a side roller.

Each printing unit 3 prints printed patterns (graphics and / or characters) at predetermined intervals in the central portion of the web 4 in the width direction in a predetermined feed length (length in the web transport direction) and a predetermined width, and at the same time, prints the web. A register mark is printed in the margin portion of the widthwise end portion of 4.

In this embodiment, as register marks, a color ball 7 (a circular mark having a predetermined diameter with a color corresponding to each plate cylinder 1) and a cross dragonfly 8 (a color corresponding to each plate cylinder 1) corresponding to each printed pattern are used. A cross-shaped mark consisting of vertical and horizontal bars of a predetermined length) is printed.

That is, when passing through the four printing units 3, four colored balls 7 and four cross-shaped registration marks 8 are printed in different colors in the outer margins of the printed pattern. As the register mark, a shape other than the colored ball 7 and the cross register mark 8 may be adopted.

The image pickup unit 9 is provided on the downstream side of the fourth print unit 3 and captures the printed register mark. That is, every time the printing of the symbol is completed, the register mark corresponding to the symbol is imaged and stored. The captured print mark is enlarged and displayed on the display unit (display) as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

The control unit has functions such as control of the first motor 5 and the second motor 6. In particular, the control unit of this embodiment controls the first motor 5 based on the input feed length, detects the deviation amount of the register mark from the image captured by the image pickup unit 9, and the deviation amount. It is configured to control the second motor 6 based on the above. The control unit can be configured by, for example, a computer having a processor, memory, storage, I / O, and the like.

The control unit controls the first motor 5 that moves each printing unit 3 (# 2 to # 4) in the horizontal direction parallel to the web transport direction. Specifically, when a feed amount is input to the control unit, the other print units 3 (# 2 to # 4) are placed at predetermined positions (for example, of the feed amount) with the print unit 3 (# 1) as a reference according to the feed amount. The first motor 5 is controlled so that the positions are separated by an integral multiple.

For example, when the feed amount is 195 mm, # 2 is separated by 3 times the feed amount and # 3 is separated by 6 times the feed amount in the web transport direction with respect to the reference position (position of # 1). The position # 4 is controlled so as to be separated by 9 times the feed amount.

Therefore, the first motor 5 can start printing with the positions of the printing units 3 aligned to some extent, and the phase control amount of the plate cylinder 1 by the second motor 6 can be reduced as much as possible. ..

Further, the control unit saves the image captured by the image pickup unit 9 and detects a deviation from the preset reference position ((b) in FIG. 2) of each color ball 7 by image processing, and this deviation is detected. The second motor 6 is controlled so that there is no problem. For example, the center of gravity of the colored ball 7 is obtained, and the position of the XY coordinates is determined to detect the deviation. In addition to the above-mentioned reference position, the operator can manually register the position as the reference position.

The register mark may be only the color ball 7, but if the cross register mark 8 is also printed and displayed on the display unit, the operator visually recognizes the presence or absence of deviation from the cross register mark 8 displayed on the display unit. Will be easy.

Further, since the control unit stores the deviation amount of each printing unit 3 for each printed symbol, it is possible to evaluate the measured value of the misregistration by using a statistical method. For example, it is possible to analyze the tendency of change in the printing position.

Further, in this embodiment, a web guide mechanism (not shown) for suppressing the deviation of the web 4 in the width direction (horizontal direction orthogonal to the web transport direction) is provided. As a web guide mechanism, for example, a wall portion that is erected at predetermined intervals in the web transport direction and is in contact with or close to the width direction end portion of the web 4 to be transported, or a sensor detects the width direction end of the web and the web. A steering mechanism or the like that controls the traveling line to be constant can be used.

In this embodiment, the web guide mechanism prevents misregistration in the web width direction. Therefore, good registration can be performed by controlling the misalignment in the web transport direction by controlling the movement of the printing unit 3 by the first motor 5 and adjusting the phase of the plate cylinder 1 by the second motor 6.

The registration control by the control unit at the time of printing according to the present embodiment (intermittent feed and reverse feed of the web 4 are sequentially printed by each printing unit 3 and wound by the winding unit) will be described below.

In the preparatory stage before the start of printing, when a print job is set and the feed length is input to the control unit, the first motor 5 is set so that # 2 to 4 are positions that are integral multiples of the feed length with reference to # 1. Controlled to automatically adjust the print unit 3 position.

Subsequently, when printing is started, a register mark is printed for each printed symbol, and the register mark is imaged by the image pickup unit 9. Normally, there is a slight deviation in the control by the first motor 5, and after the start of printing, the first captured image (FIG. 2A) is used to control the second motor 6 to control the phase of the plate cylinder 1. Is automatically adjusted (FIG. 2 (a) → (b)).

After that, the register mark is monitored for each print symbol until the predetermined print job is completed, and when the deviation occurs (and the deviation exceeds the predetermined threshold value) as shown in FIG. 2 (c), for example, the first The phase of the plate cylinder 1 is automatically adjusted by controlling the second motor 6, and the state of FIG. 2B is maintained.

Further, the misregistration detected from the imaging by the imaging unit 9 is sequentially stored. FIG. 3 shows an example of misplaced output, where P1, P2 ... Show the first print symbol and the second print symbol, and M1-M2, M1-M3, and M1-M4 are the image pickup units 9, respectively. It is the amount of misregistration of # 2 to # 4 in the web transport direction with respect to # 1 detected from the captured image.

Since this embodiment is configured as described above, the first motor 5 can roughly adjust the position before printing, and the second motor 6 can make fine adjustments during printing. High rotation accuracy is not required for 5, and a small motor 6 can be used as the second motor 6, so that cost can be suppressed and good register control can be performed.

Therefore, this embodiment is an unprecedented printing device, for example, it is possible to accurately register the web 4 in the transport direction while suppressing the cost.

1 Plate body 3 Printing unit 4 Web 5 First motor 6 Second motor 7 Color ball 8 Cross dragonfly 9 Imaging unit

Claims (6)

A printing device having a plurality of printing units having a plate cylinder, printing a pattern including figures or characters on a continuously transported web, and printing a register mark.
A first motor that moves the printing unit along the web transport direction,
A second motor for adjusting the phase of the plate cylinder of the printing unit, and
An image pickup unit that captures a plurality of printed registration marks, and an image pickup unit.
A control unit that controls the first motor and the second motor to control the printing position of the register mark is provided.
The control unit controls the first motor based on the input feed length, detects the deviation amount of the register mark from the image captured by the image pickup unit, and detects the deviation amount of the register mark based on the deviation amount. A printing device characterized by being configured to control a motor. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the register mark includes a colored ball and a cross register mark. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printing apparatus includes a display unit for displaying an image captured by the imaging unit. In the printing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 and 3, the control unit detects the amount of deviation of each printing unit from the color balls and controls the second motor. Printing equipment. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit stores the deviation amount of each printing unit each time the printing of the symbol is completed. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a web guide mechanism for suppressing deviation of the web in the width direction is provided.

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