WO2018113152A1

WO2018113152A1 - Ink curing device and carriage mechanism of ink jet printer

Info

Publication number: WO2018113152A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/081653
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李星
Original assignee: 李星
Priority date: 2016-12-20
Filing date: 2017-04-24
Publication date: 2018-06-28
Also published as: CN106626809A

Abstract

An ink curing device (200), comprising an ultraviolet laser (210) and an oxygen suppressing device (220). A lower end of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a diverging lens (213) having a specific shape, while the oxygen suppressing device comprises an external nitrogen supplying device and a nitrogen gas diffusion unit (221) which are connected to each other. The ultraviolet laser is used as an ultraviolet radiation source, and matches the diverging lens having a specific shape, while a linear light spot having a controllable shape is obtained on a printing material so as to prevent the problem of ultraviolet diffusion; low-temperature curing prevents special printing materials from deforming such that the printer has a wide range of applications, and matching the oxygen suppressing device reduces power consumption while improving ink curing efficiency. Further provided is a carriage mechanism of an ink jet printer, which comprises a movable carriage bottom plate (100), a spray nozzle and an ink curing device, the spray nozzle and the ink curing device both being fixedly provided on the movable carriage bottom plate, while the ink curing device is provided on a side edge of the printing spray nozzle for use in quickly curing ink ejected from the printing spray nozzle.

Description

Ink curing device and word car mechanism of inkjet printer

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of ink curing, and in particular to an ink curing device and a carriage mechanism for an inkjet printer.

Background technique

Ultraviolet light (UV) curing is the use of photoinitiator (photosensitizer) for photosensitivity, photoinitiation under ultraviolet light to form excited ecological molecules, decomposition into free radicals or ions, so that unsaturated organics can be polymerized, coupled, and delivered. The chemical reaction of the joint achieves the purpose of curing. In printing applications, radiation curable ink is ejected from a showerhead onto a substrate to form a portion of an image. The ink is then cured by infrared radiation from the UV lamp.

The ultraviolet lamps on the existing printing machine mechanism mainly use ultraviolet high pressure mercury lamps or ultraviolet light emitting diodes (LEDs). For example, the invention patent of CN 102729648A discloses a UV inkjet printer LED ultraviolet light source time delay exposure device, which comprises a printing nozzle, an LED ultraviolet light source, a slide rail for supporting the printing nozzle and the LED ultraviolet light source, and the characteristics thereof. Yes: the time delay exposure device further comprises a heater for heating the printing medium, the heater is disposed on the front or the back of the printer loading surface on the printing medium plane between the printing head and the LED ultraviolet light source, and the ink is printed on the printing After the surface of the medium, the solvent is volatilized by heating with a heater and then cured by an LED ultraviolet curing light source. The invention enables a volatile ink to be printed on the surface of the printing medium, and a solvent volatilization process does not immediately Curing, the heater allows the printing medium to be printed on the surface of the printing medium and the UV ink is printed on the surface of the printing medium and a distance thereafter, the printing medium can obtain a certain amount of heat from the stage to maintain a certain temperature, Conducive to the evaporation of solvents, thereby improving print quality.

This method of using LED ultraviolet high-light source or ultraviolet high-pressure mercury lamp has the following disadvantages:

1. The energy consumption of these two lamps is more than 10 times that of the ultraviolet laser.

2. The use of high-gloss ultraviolet high-pressure mercury lamps or ultraviolet light-emitting diodes has the problem that the shape of the spot is uncontrollable and the radiation of ultraviolet radiation is severe. Long-term operators need to wear radiation protection.

3. The spot is uncontrollable, and the diffusion of ultraviolet radiation also easily causes the ink to harden on the print head. The hardened ink then deflects the clogging jet from the printhead and causes the print to be missing. In fact, even a very small deflection of the ink jet can cause destructive results. Even if the shielding is arranged to prevent ambient light, especially ultraviolet radiation, from being irradiated to the nozzle, the effect is not good. To avoid the influence of the above situation, only the distance between the curing lamps and the printing nozzle is increased, but the volume of the entire carriage mechanism is increased.

4. When irradiated with high-gloss ultraviolet high-pressure mercury lamp or ultraviolet light-emitting diode, the temperature of ultraviolet radiation is several hundred degrees Celsius, and it is in a high-temperature working environment for a long time, resulting in short life; for the specific material to be printed (such as plastic film and other materials), It is easy to cause deformation of the material during printing; in addition, thermal curing (high temperature curing) will reduce the life of the pigment paste in the ink and reduce the coloring quality of the printed product.

5, the use of high-gloss UV high-pressure mercury lamps or ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, generally take measures to cool the lamp, reflector lampshade. The current common methods are: wind cooling, this method is The most widely used method today has lower cost, but the heat sink needs to occupy a large space; water cooling, adding a water jacket outside the lamp tube, the method is effective, but because of the high cost of setting an external liquid circulation heat sink, Take up a lot of space. Both of these methods make the printer's car mechanism huge.

Summary of the invention

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink curing device and a carriage mechanism for an inkjet printer to solve the problem of high energy consumption and uncontrollable spot light of a high-light ultraviolet high-pressure mercury lamp or an ultraviolet light-emitting diode used in the prior art. The problem that the ultraviolet radiation is diffused seriously, the curing temperature is high, and the cooling device takes up a large space.

The technical solution of the present invention is as follows: an ink curing device comprising an ultraviolet laser and an oxygen suppression device;

The lower end of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a diverging lens in the direction of the laser beam; the diverging lens comprises at least a plane facing the laser beam and a curved surface facing the printing material for diffusing the laser beam into a linear spot;

The oxygen suppression device includes an external nitrogen supply device and a nitrogen diffusion unit for outwardly diffusing the input nitrogen gas, the nitrogen diffusion unit being disposed under the ultraviolet laser and located at a side of the linear spot, and the external nitrogen supply device It is connected to the nitrogen diffusion unit through a nitrogen line.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the diverging lens is a semi-cylindrical diverging lens. Further, the ultraviolet laser comprises a laser emitter and an optical lens, and the laser emitter, the optical lens, and the semi-cylindrical diverging lens are arranged in sequence.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the housing of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a first heat dissipating portion, and the first heat dissipating portion is provided with an ink pipe connecting hole for heating the ink pipe. Further, the first heat dissipation portion is a heat dissipation plate, and the heat dissipation plate is connected to one side of the housing of the ultraviolet laser by bolts.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the housing of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a second heat dissipating portion, the second heat dissipating portion is provided with a nitrogen inlet and a nitrogen outlet, and the second heat dissipating portion is provided with a capillary for heating nitrogen gas. The pore, nitrogen outlet is connected to the nitrogen diffusion unit through a nitrogen line.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the nitrogen diffusion unit is a high temperature sintered sand block, and one side of the high temperature sintered sand block is provided with a nitrogen gas inlet hole connected to the nitrogen gas line.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the nitrogen diffusion unit housing has a housing lacking a bottom plate, and the upper end surface of the housing is provided with a light entrance corresponding to the ultraviolet laser.

The invention also provides a carriage mechanism for an inkjet printer comprising the above ink curing device, which comprises a movable carriage floor, a print nozzle mounting position and at least one ink curing device, wherein the printing nozzle and the ink curing device are fixed The ink curing device is disposed on the bottom surface of the movable carriage, and the ink curing device is disposed on the side of the nozzle for rapidly curing the ink sprayed by the nozzle.

As a limitation of the present invention, a spacer for preventing diffusion of nitrogen gas is provided outside the lower end of the bottom plate of the movable carriage. Further, the spacer is an isolating brush.

Advantageous effects of the present invention include:

1. Using an ultraviolet laser as the ultraviolet radiation source, and matching a specific shape of the diverging lens, a linear spot with a shape controllable on the printed material is obtained, and the ultraviolet light is concentrated; Reduces power consumption while increasing ink curing efficiency.

2, using ultraviolet laser as the ultraviolet radiation source, and with the specific shape of the diverging lens, the linear shape of the shape can be controlled on the printed material; avoiding the problem of ultraviolet radiation diffusion, and avoiding the nozzle blockage caused by the diffusion of ultraviolet radiation The problem is that the isolation brush at the lower end of the carriage mechanism makes it appear from the outside that no visible light is diffused from the inside under the working condition of the carriage mechanism; and it can also isolate the external oxygen from entering.

3. Using ultraviolet laser as the ultraviolet radiation source, the energy consumption is low, only about one tenth of the original high-light high-heat curing lamp, avoiding the problem of using air cooling or water cooling to reduce the temperature, so that the overall volume is reduced and the space is small. .

4. Compared with the existing ultraviolet radiation source and the ink curing lamp is completed under the light energy condition of several hundred degrees Celsius, the invention adopts the ultraviolet laser as the ultraviolet radiation source, the power consumption is low, and the whole ink curing is completed under the low temperature condition. There is no problem of deformation of the printing material, which makes the printer adapt to a wider range; in addition, the problem of reducing the life of the pigment paste in the ink caused by high-light and high-temperature curing is avoided, and the coloring quality is improved.

5, the use of oxygen suppression equipment, so that the ink is cured in an oxygen-free environment, compared with the ink curing in an aerobic environment, the ink curing efficiency is increased by about 20 times.

6. The heat emitted by the housing of the ultraviolet laser is used to preheat the ink to ensure that the ink is kept at a constant temperature in a low temperature working environment, which not only saves energy but also improves ink printing stability.

7. Part of the heat dissipated through the housing of the UV laser is used to heat the nitrogen to avoid printing at too low a temperature, which alleviates the effect of low temperature nitrogen on the stability of the ink.

The features of the present invention can be clearly understood from the description of the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

DRAWINGS

1 is a top plan view of a carriage mechanism of an inkjet printer.

2 is a perspective view of a carriage mechanism of an inkjet printer.

Figure 3 is a schematic view of the assembly of an ultraviolet laser.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the principle of an ultraviolet laser.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of Figure 4

Figure 6 is a schematic view of a high temperature sintered sand block.

Figure 7 is a schematic view of the nitrogen diffusion unit located inside the housing.

Figure 8 is a schematic view showing the internal structure of a nitrogen thermostatic filter element.

detailed description

In order to make the technical means, creative features, achievement goals and effects achieved by the present invention easy to understand, the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with specific illustrations.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a carriage mechanism for an ink jet printer includes a movable carriage floor 100, a showerhead (not shown) and two ink curing devices 200, the nozzle and the two ink curing devices 200 are fixed. Disposed on the bottom of the movable carriage, two ink curing devices 200 are disposed on the side of the nozzle for rapidly curing the ink ejected by the nozzle. It is also possible to adopt the structure of the one-sided ink curing device.

The ink curing device 200 includes an ultraviolet laser 210 and an oxygen suppression device 220.

Referring to Figures 3, 4 and 5, the ultraviolet laser comprises a laser emitter 211 and an optical lens 212. The lower end of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a diverging lens 213 along the direction of the laser beam; the laser emitter 211, the optical lens 212, and the diverging lens 213 are common through the mounting plate. It is mounted in the housing 214 of the ultraviolet laser. The diverging lens 213 includes at least a plane 2131 facing the laser beam and a curved surface 2132 facing the printing material for diffusing the laser beam into a linear spot; in the present embodiment, the diverging lens 213 is a semi-cylindrical diverging lens. The laser emitter 211, the optical lens 212, and the semi-cylindrical diverging lens are arranged in sequence before and after. The ultraviolet laser is used as the ultraviolet radiation source, and the divergent lens of a specific shape is used to obtain a linear spot with a controllable shape on the printed material, and the ultraviolet ray is concentrated; while reducing the power consumption, the ink curing efficiency is improved. The problem of diffusion of ultraviolet radiation is avoided, and the problem of nozzle clogging caused by ultraviolet light diffusion is avoided; the isolation brush at the lower end of the carriage mechanism is used, so that from the outside, the entire carriage mechanism has no visible light under working conditions. It diffuses from the inside; it also isolates the outside of oxygen. The use of ultraviolet laser as the ultraviolet radiation source has low energy consumption, which is only about one tenth of the original, avoiding the problem of using air cooling or water cooling to reduce the temperature, so that the overall volume is reduced and the occupied space is small. Compared with the use of the existing ultraviolet radiation source and the ink curing under the condition of several hundred degrees Celsius, the invention adopts the ultraviolet laser as the ultraviolet radiation source, the power consumption is low, the whole ink curing is completed under the low temperature condition, and there is no deformation of the printing material. The problem is that the printer adapts to a wider range; in addition, the problem of lowering the life of the pigment paste in the ink caused by high-temperature curing is avoided, and the printing quality is improved.

The oxygen suppression device 220 includes an external nitrogen supply device (not shown) and a nitrogen diffusion unit 221 for outwardly diffusing the input nitrogen, and the nitrogen diffusion unit 221 is disposed in the purple Below the outer laser 210, on the side of the linear spot, the external nitrogen supply unit is connected to the nitrogen diffusion unit through a nitrogen line. Referring to Fig. 6, the nitrogen diffusion unit 221 is a high temperature sintered sand block, and the number of high temperature sintered sand blocks can be selected according to actual conditions. A nitrogen gas inlet port 2211 connected to the nitrogen gas line is disposed on one side of the high temperature sintered sand block. Referring to FIG. 7, there are two nitrogen diffusion units 221, which are respectively located on both sides of the linear spot, and an ultraviolet shielding spacer is disposed between the two nitrogen diffusion units 221 to further prevent ultraviolet light from diffusing. The nitrogen diffusion single 221 outer cover has a housing 222 lacking a bottom plate, and the upper end surface of the housing is provided with a light entrance corresponding to the ultraviolet laser (not shown). The use of an oxygen suppression device allows the ink to cure in an oxygen-free environment, and the ink curing efficiency is increased by about 20 times compared to the ink curing in an aerobic environment.

Referring to Figures 1 and 8, a first heat dissipating portion (heat dissipating plate) 230 is disposed on one side of the housing of the ultraviolet laser, and an ink line connecting hole for heating the ink line is disposed on the first heat dissipating portion. The first heat radiating portion 230 is connected to one side of the housing of the ultraviolet laser by bolts. Part of the heat dissipated through the housing of the UV laser is used to preheat the ink, which saves energy and improves ink printing quality.

The housing of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a second heat dissipating portion (nitrogen thermostat filter element) 240. The second heat dissipating portion 240 is provided with a nitrogen inlet and a nitrogen outlet. As shown in FIG. 8, a capillary hole for heating nitrogen is disposed in the second heat dissipating portion. 241, the nitrogen outlet is connected to the nitrogen diffusion unit through a nitrogen line. Part of the heat dissipated through the housing of the UV laser is used to heat the nitrogen to avoid printing at too low a temperature, which mitigates the effect of low temperature nitrogen on the print quality.

Referring again to Figures 1 and 2, nitrogen is prevented from the outside of the lower end of the movable carriage floor. Gas diffusion barrier. The spacer is an isolating brush 300 that can both isolate nitrogen and isolate visible light. The isolating brush 300 ensures the isolation effect without affecting the movement of the movable floor.

The basic principles, main features, and advantages of the present invention are shown and described above. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by the foregoing embodiments, and that the present invention is described in the foregoing embodiments and the description of the present invention. Variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the invention as claimed. The protection scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

An ink curing device comprising an ultraviolet laser and an oxygen suppression device;

The lower end of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a diverging lens in the direction of the laser beam; the diverging lens comprises at least a plane facing the laser beam and a curved surface facing the printing material for diffusing the laser beam into a linear spot;

The oxygen suppression device includes an external nitrogen supply device and a nitrogen diffusion unit for outwardly diffusing the input nitrogen gas, the nitrogen diffusion unit being disposed under the ultraviolet laser and located at a side of the linear spot, and the external nitrogen supply device It is connected to the nitrogen diffusion unit through a nitrogen line.
The ink curing device according to claim 1, wherein the diverging lens is a semi-cylindrical diverging lens.
The ink curing device according to claim 2, wherein the ultraviolet laser comprises a laser emitter and an optical lens, and the laser emitter, the optical lens, and the semi-cylindrical diverging lens are arranged in sequence.
The ink curing device according to claim 1, wherein the housing of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a first heat dissipating portion, and the first heat dissipating portion is provided with an ink pipe connecting hole for heating the ink pipe.
The ink curing device according to claim 4, wherein the first heat dissipating portion is a heat dissipating plate, and the heat dissipating plate is connected to a side surface of the housing of the ultraviolet laser by bolts.
The ink curing device according to claim 1, wherein the housing of the ultraviolet laser is provided with a second heat dissipating portion, and the second heat dissipating portion is provided with nitrogen gas. The mouth and the nitrogen outlet are provided with capillary pores for heating nitrogen gas in the second heat dissipating portion, and the nitrogen gas outlet is connected to the nitrogen diffusion unit through a nitrogen gas line.
The ink curing device according to claim 1, wherein the nitrogen diffusion unit is a high temperature sintered sand block, and one side of the high temperature sintered sand block is provided with a nitrogen gas inlet hole connected to the nitrogen gas line.
The ink curing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said nitrogen diffusion unit outer cover has a housing lacking a bottom plate, and an upper end surface of said housing is provided with a light entrance corresponding to the ultraviolet laser.
A carriage mechanism for an inkjet printer comprising the ink curing device according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that it comprises a movable carriage floor, a spray head and at least one ink curing device, said nozzle The ink curing device is fixedly disposed on the bottom plate of the movable carriage, and the ink curing device is disposed on the side of the nozzle for rapidly curing the ink sprayed by the nozzle.
The ink curing apparatus according to claim 9 or the carriage mechanism of the ink jet printer, wherein an insulating brush for preventing diffusion of nitrogen gas is provided outside the lower end of the movable carriage floor.