Abstract:
Device and method for the automatic register setting of printings printed by plate cylinders in a rotary machine using inks of a plurality of colors. The printing machine particularly comprises a succession of printing units, at least one pulse generator, two pull rollers located downstream of the printing units, a combination of plate cylinders and compensating rollers to correct some register errors, scanning heads each located near and downstream to the respective printing units. Each printing unit particularly includes one of the plate cylinders as well as one of the pressing cylinders. Each pressing cylinder is controlled by a control unit.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is related to a method of automatic register setting of printings in a rotary machine and to a device for working the method. 
     1. Background of the Invention 
     The method refers in particular to the automatic register setting of printings printed by plate cylinders in a rotary machine such as a heliographic, flexographic or other printing machine, printing a web such as paper, cardboard or a flexible material like, for example, polyethylene. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     This kind of machine usually comprises several printing units placed one after another and each printing a different color. A printing unit includes a plate cylinder and a pressing cylinder between which travels the material to be printed. The plate cylinder is either and engraved cylinder or a cylinder equipped with a printing plate reproducing the printing pattern. To obtain a perfect result, it is necessary that the various printings performed by the printing units are accurately superimposed. Each printing unit prints a register mark on the material web and the register setting of the various colors is achieved by superimposing the various register marks by acting, for example, on the lengthening or on the tension of this web by means of one or more compensating rollers arranged between the printing units. Such a method of register setting is described in patent CH 539 509. This method determines the register error at a printing station, then, from the result of this determination is calculated, according to the travelling of the web, a reference tension or lengthening of this web between the printing station concerned and the preceding one, this tension or this lengthening allowing an optimal correction of the register error. The following operation consists in comparing the reference tension or lengthening with the real tension or lengthening of the web between the printing station in question and the preceding one, in order to act on the web according to the result of this comparison in order to bring the tension or lengthening of the web to the value of the reference tension or lengthening. 
     This method requires of course a register mark scanning which requires the creation of a scanning gate in order to be absolutely sure to scan only the marks previously printed on the web, excluding any other printing part. Usually, the register marks are printed on a space free of any other printing, for example between two printed patterns or images, or in one of the edges of the web called “bank edge”. Patent CH 548 933 describes in detail a method of obtaining a scanning gate. 
     It is quite clear that this method of register setting will function accurately only at constant operating speed of the printing machine, i.e. in the production phase, but when starting the machine, it will first be necessary to adjust the various plate cylinders with one another. This operation is carried out manually by the machine operator or by means of a system of prepositioning. To do so, the operator will carry out a manual presetting of the plate cylinders and/or the compensating rollers in order to bring all the register marks printed by each plate cylinder in the space defined by the scanning gate. Then he will enter into the memory of the calculator of the register setting device various parameters such as the data related to the angular position of the plate cylinders, the data related to the position of the compensating rollers, as well as other information so that, when repeating the same job, it will not be necessary to start again this operation. 
     This presetting can also be realized by calculating the angular position of the plate cylinders according to the web length between two printing units and to the circumference of the plate cylinders which corresponds to the printing size. In this calculation, the ratio must necessarily be an integral number. 
     After this presetting, it may occur that the position of the register marks is somewhat out of the limits of the scanning gate. If required, a repositioning should be carried out, to bring these register marks back in this gate by an additional operation called “phasing”. It may even occur that, the presetting having been badly done, the marks are within the printing and that the phasing is not possible to be carried out, in this case a new setting will be necessary. 
     Generally in the prior art, the various stages for adjusting the cylinders and/or compensating rollers require at least the following operations: the operator will first arrange the plate cylinders in their respective position according to their point of reference. Then he will preposition the cylinders and/or compensating rollers by modifying, in that case, the web length between the printing units. He will then carry out a rough manual setting at slow run before proceeding with the phasing operation by means of an oscilloscope or automatically by means of a code. Resulting from this last stage, necessary corrections will be made in a new manual register which will imply by recurrence effect a new phasing operation followed by precise adjustments before being able to undertake the production phase. 
     The application of the operations just described hereinbefore involves, in most cases, a high consumption of web for bringing the machine, from the start-up phase, to a constant operating speed in the production phase. 
     This high consumption of web comes from several factors but principally from the fact that the presetting of the plate cylinders and/or compensating rollers is carried out visually by the machine operator and that he may make important appreciation errors in setting at once all the plate cylinders. Indeed, a bad setting may involve that the register mark is not printed in the scanning gate, in which case there is no possible phasing. Moreover, at the time of the start-up, the possibility of setting errors can be to the maximum of more or less a half printing size if the presetting is not correct, with the risk that the register mark is printed in the area corresponding to the printed image so that any detection of the register mark and hence any phasing is impossible. Numerous other problems affect the setting operation of the plate cylinders which depends in particular on the precision in inserting the cylinders, on the variety of the substrates used, on the different tension levels of the web between the printing units or the sometimes variable webs. These parameters, to quote only those, are often difficult to control. They cause inaccuracies which have repercussions in series and intensify downstream between the various printing units in order to finally exceed the tolerable values specified for the automatic register setting. 
     To face competition and to increase the flexibility of the services offered in the field of industrial graphic arts, the production series became increasingly smaller thus causing frequent job changes. These changes cause much waste paper and lost time in the preparation phase, which will finally reflect on the cost prices of the finished products. 
     The aim of the present invention is to overcome the aforecited disadvantages and particularly to reduce on a large scale the time and the consumption of web when setting a rotary printing machine. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention, such as described hereafter, allows a simple and automatic register setting which authorizes a maximal initial register error. The method is the same for the preparation of a new job or about an old job. The data relating to the web and to the length between the units are not necessary any more. The phasing and the register setting are done with only one color which avoids any misunderstanding or overlapping of the marks resulting from several overprintings. The corrections of the register errors can be settled very quickly by moving the compensating rollers at high speed, typically about 15 mm/s, without causing any change in the web tension. A possible error of the web path in its travelling around the numerous idling rollers used between the printing units, for example for the web drying, modifies without consequence the length of the web path. According to the invention, the register setting method is not affected by an operation which requires the change of a plate cylinder or a pressing cylinder. Finally, owing to the method of this invention, the printing units must not necessarily be adjacent to one another. It may occur that, for example for maintenance, any printing unit is set out of function in the middle of the rotary printing machine. This setting out of function would not disturb in any way the automatic register setting method. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be more readily understood from one embodiment taken purely by way of example without limiting force and illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein, 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine equipped with compensating rollers, 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine without compensating rollers, 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine at the beginning of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the first phase of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 5 is a diagram of the phasing operation, 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the second phase of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the third phase of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the fourth phase of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 9 is a diagram of the calculation of the register error in a “mark-to-cylinder” mode, 
     FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the fifth phase of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 11 is a diagram of the calculation of the register error in a “mark-to-mark” mode, 
     FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the sixth phase of the automatic register setting operation, 
     FIG. 13 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the last phase of the automatic register setting operation. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine equipped with compensating rollers. The web to be printed  1  travels in the direction shown by arrow  2 . This web to be printed  1  successively travels through the printing units  3 ,  4 ,  5  and n. The reference n is used here because of the fact that the rotary printing machine may include a plurality of consecutive printing units. Each printing unit  3  to n comprises a plate cylinder  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1  as well as a pressing cylinder  9 ,  10 ,  11  and n 2 . In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, compensating rollers  12 ,  13  and n 3  are positioned between the printing units  3  and  4 ,  4  and  5 ,  5  and n. The last printing unit n is followed by a control device  17  of the web tension controlling two pull rollers  14  and  15  and receiving information from a tension sensor  16  constituted by a dancer roller, a tension detector or another equivalent device. Each compensating roller  12 ,  13  and n 3  is controlled by its respective motor  18 ,  19  and n 4 . The pressing cylinders  9 ,  10 ,  11  and n 2  are vertically moved by a control device  20 ,  21 ,  22  and n 5 . The plate cylinders  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1  are coupled with a single pulse generator  23 . The outputs of the printing units  4 ,  5  and n are equipped with scanning heads  24 ,  25  and n 6  for scanning the position of the register marks printed on the web  1  by each plate cylinder  6  to n 1 . The control devices  20 ,  21 ,  22  and n 5  of the pressing cylinders  9 ,  10 ,  11  and n 2  are controlled by a control circuit  26  which is connected on the one hand with a calculating circuit of the register error  27  and on the other hand with a calculating circuit of angular position  28  of the plate cylinders  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1 . The calculating circuit of angular position  28  further receives an information coming from the pulse generator  23  connected to each plate cylinder  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1 . The calculating circuit of angular position  28  is connected to the calculating circuit of register error  27  which receives information from the scanning heads  24 ,  25  and n 6 . The calculating circuit of register error  27  generates an information to be sent to a register regulator  31  which generates an information for the control circuit  32  of the motors  18 ,  19  and n 4  causing the moving of the compensating rollers  12 ,  13  and n 3 . 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine without compensating rollers, this to illustrate an application of the automatic phasing method to another kind of rotary printing machine. The various components shown in this figure are defined with the same reference numerals as those used in relation with FIG. 1, excluding the component related to the rotation control of the plate cylinders  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1  since in this case, the register setting operations will not be carried out by moving compensating rollers but by acting directly on the rotation of the plate cylinders  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1  by the means of a control circuit  33  of the rotation of the plate cylinders  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1 . To this end, it is also suitable to associate a pulse generator  23  with each plate cylinder  6 ,  7 ,  8  and n 1 . In order to unnecessarily load the figure, only one pulse generator  23  is shown here, but it is quite clear that there should be as many pulse generators as there are plate cylinders. These pulse generators are usually arranged at one end of the drive shaft of the plate cylinders. 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine at the beginning of the automatic register setting operation. In this initial configuration, all the pressing cylinders  9  to n 2  are in a raised position, which allows to place the web to be printed  1  pinched downstream by the pair of pull rollers  14 ,  15 . The plate cylinders  6  to n 1  have been inserted in their position without any register of their angular position. Since the pressing cylinders are raised, the web to be printed is still blank and does not include any printing even when travelling above the plate cylinders. No information about the length of the web path between the units is necessary. The compensating rollers  12  to n 3  can thus occupy any position but it is advisable to center them beforehand. For economy reasons of the substrate to be printed, the web preferably travels at reduced speed during all the phases necessary for the register setting of printings. It is not necessary to position the scanning heads, which can be moved transversely with respect to the web travelling direction of the web on the running line of the register marks. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the first phase of automatic register setting. In this first phase, where the web to be printed  1  preferably travels at low speed, the last pressing cylinder n 2  is lowered until pressing the web to be printed  1  against the corresponding plate cylinder n 1 . The scanning head n 6  is then able to scan the printing on the web to be printed  1 , and to detect the register mark of the corresponding unit n which is printed at the same time as the image of the printing plate or the engraved cylinder. Once detected, the localization of this register mark can be easily stored by recording the increment of the pulse generator corresponding to the time of the detection. If the register mark would not have been detected by the scanning head, a signal will be emitted in order to move it transversely until to be in line with the running line of the register marks. A second signal will be received when the scanning head will be in an accurate position. Among the whole printing extent, only the register mark must be detected by the scanning head. Since the position of this register mark is immovable with respect to the image of the printing plate or the engraved cylinder and since said mark cyclically appears, a scanning gate can be created around this register mark in order to avoid all the “background noise” issued from the scanning of the remaining printing. This operation of placing a scanning gate around the register mark is called phasing operation. 
     FIG. 5 shows a diagram of this phasing operation usually performed successively in the upsteam direction all the printing units in a separate manner. Concretely, the phasing of the printing unit n is carried out in the following way: the number of pulses, generated by the pulse generator  23  is, first counted from a relative origin belonging to the corresponding plate cylinder, until said register mark  36  is detected by the scanning head n 6 . The pulse number corresponds to the necessary rotation of the plate cylinder n 1  until said register mark  36  appears in front of the scanning head n 6 . The detection of this register mark will immediately involve the storing of the increment of the pulse generator at this moment, e.g. the increment number two hundred if the pulse generator comprises, for example, 3600 for a cylinder revolution. By means of an electronic circuit, a scanning gate  35  will be created around the register mark  36  of unit n and the position of this scanning gate  35  will be stored by recording the increment numbers, for example, the increment number one hundred and fifty and the increment two hundred and fifty of the pulse generator, corresponding to the beginning  37  and to the end  38  of the scanning gate  35 . The automatic phasing will thus be achieved while securing that the register mark will always be inside the corresponding scanning gate. 
     FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic views of the components of a rotary printing machine, respectively in the second and in the third phase of the automatic register setting operation. These two phases are proceeding in a perfectly identical way with the method described for the first phase of the automatic register setting. Thus, the pressing cylinders  11  and  10  are successively lowered once that, for each of them, the previous phase is entirely achieved. Thereby, for each following printing unit  4  and  5  equipped with scanning heads  24 ,  25 , the phasing operation is carried out with a web to be printed  1  including only one printing, that of the printing unit of the phase in question. This advantage results from the opposite direction according to which the pressing cylinders are successively lowered with respect to the travelling direction of the web to be printed. The scanning heads can easily detect the register mark  36  of the unit in question, and the phasing operation and the storing of the position of the scanning gate  35  open around the register marks  36  can be successively carried out for each of these printing units with no risk for such a register mark to be lost in an unfortunate superimposition of printings. 
     If all the scanning heads were already accurately positioned from the very start of the first automatic register setting operation, it should be noted that the phasing operation can be performed in only one and unique phase by simultaneously lowering the pressing cylinders  10  to n 2  of all the concerned printing units. Effectively, if the scanning heads are already correctly positioned, they will not fail in detecting the register mark of the associated printing unit. 
     If one or more printing units deposit films without pigment, such as varnishes, on the web to be printed consequently, the register marks will be invisible and nondetectable by the said scanning heads. To obviate such a problem which obviously affects the phasing operation as described, a simple solution consists in phasing in any case the plate cylinders of these varnisher units by initially placing them in a located angular position; for example at twelve o&#39;clock. The phasing operation of such a printing unit being thus achieved by default, the lowering of the pressing cylinder of this printing unit can then be performed at the same time as the lowering of the pressing cylinder of the following adjacent printing unit, located upstream. 
     FIG. 8 schematically shows the components of a rotary printing machine during the fourth start-up phase. The phasing having been achieved, the pressing cylinders  10  to n 2  are raised, which will remove the printings of the printing units  4  to n, which will no more be able to print the pattern of their printing plate or of their engraved cylinder on the web to be printed  1 . Only the first pressing cylinder  9 , located upstream, is lowered preferentially at the same time but not before the other pressing cylinders are raised. Consequently, only the register mark of the printing unit  3  will be printed on the web  1 . In the scanning gate, previously defined for each printing unit  4  to n, a virtual register mark  39  will be electronically created and located in the middle of the scanning gate  35 . 
     FIG. 9 shows the utility of such a virtual register mark  39  in a diagram of the calculation of the register error  41  in a mode called “mark-to-cylinder”. The position of the virtual register mark  39  is stored during the phasing operation or is calculated with the known increments  37 ,  38  corresponding to the beginning and the end of the scanning gate  35 . Then, by means of the scanning head  24  of the printing unit  4 , the register mark  40  printed by the first printing unit  3  located most upstream will be detected. The register error  41  between the virtual mark  39  and the register mark  40  of the first printing unit  3  can thus be easily determined by substraction of the stored increments. The aim of this correction is to equate the register mark  40  of the first printing unit  3  with the virtual register mark  39 . Physically, the correction of the register error  41  is effected, for the printing unit  4 , by moving the compensating roller  12  located just upstream of this printing unit  4  (FIG.  10 ). This correction involves a moving in the opposite direction of the dancer roller or another compensatory effect on another control unit attached to the tension unit  16 . Since the web to be printed  1  is pinched upstream only by the printing unit  3  and downstream only by the pair of pull rollers  14 ,  15 , the correction of the register error  41  effects with a constant tension without causing an increase or a reduction of the tension of the web to be printed  1 . This operation is possible due to the fact that the web is not moved by pinching along the path between the compensating roller  12  in question and the pull rollers  14 ,  15 . For the printing unit  4 , the so called “mark-to-cylinder” register is thus realized. 
     FIG. 10 schematically shows the components of a rotary printing machine in the fifth phase of the automatic register setting operation. At this stage, the first register mark  40  printed by the first printing unit  3  reaches now the second compensating roller  13 , located between the printing units  4  and  5 . The pressing cylinder  10  of the second printing unit  4  is lowered, and the image of the plate cylinder  7  is printed on the web to be printed  1  with the corresponding register mark  36  printed by the printing unit  4 . 
     FIG. 11 shows a diagram of the calculation of the residual register error  42  in a precise mode called “mark-to-mark”. The phasing and calculation operations of the register error  41  in the “mark-to-cylinder” mode having been achieved for all the printing units, the register marks  40  and  36  of the respective units  3  and  4  thus appear in the same scanning gate  35  detected by the scanning head  24 . However, due to various variable causes substantially affecting the printed substrate (degree of humidity, web homogeneity and other ambient working conditions), this web can be liable to small lengthenings which consequently cause a slight shift of the register mark  36  with respect to the register mark  40  of the first printing unit  3  used as reference. The conventional system of register control, such as, for example, the one described in patent CH 539 509, will allow to correct this residual register error  42  by acting, for example, on the control circuit  32  of the motors controlling the movings of the compensating rollers, or by acting on the control circuit  33  controlling the rotation of the plate cylinders. 
     FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the sixth phase of the automatic register setting operation. This sixth phase effects in the same way as previously described in connection with FIGS. 10 and 11. The first register mark  40 , printed by the first printing unit  3 , reaches now the next printing unit  5 . The calculation and correction of the “marks-to-cylinder” error can be performed by the printing unit  5  in the same way as for the preceding printing unit. At this stage, the preceding printing issued from the printing unit  4  is located itself only on the level of the second compensating roller  13 . Thus, in a same succession of operations, when the pressing cylinder  11  is lowered, the printing printed by the preceding plate cylinder  7  has not yet reached the level of the printing unit  5  in question. Thereby the image of the corresponding plate cylinder  8  is printed with its register mark  36  on the web to be printed  1  which, at this place, is only printed with the first printing including the register mark  40  printed by the first plate cylinder  6 . The calculation and correction of the residual register error  42  in the mode “mark-to-mark” can be undertaken after detection by the scanning head  25  of the reference register mark  40  and of the register mark  36  of unit  5  in question. 
     FIG. 13 is a schematic view of the components of a rotary printing machine in the last phase of the automatic register setting. In a similar way, it will be proceded to the “mark-to-cylinder” calculation between the register mark  40  of the first plate cylinder  6  and the virtual register mark  39  determined and stored after the phasing. Then, after having applied the correction values to the compensating roller n 3 , it will be proceeded to the calculations and corrections of the residual register error  42  in the mode “mark-to-mark” between the register mark  40  of the first plate cylinder  6  and the register mark  36  of the printing unit n in question. Once these corrections having been performed, all the colors are in register with one another and the method of automatic register setting is achieved. The rotary printing machine can thus, if necessary, operate at constant speed where the web to be printed  1  can then travel at high speed. 
     Obviously, the number of phases or stages given in this description depends on the number of printing units used to perform the desired printing jobs. However, the method remains in any case unchanged. If there are a plurality of printings of the same color, the use of a code or a pattern detection of the mark could be proposed to ensure the reliable detection of the register marks in the course of this method. 
     Numerous improvements can be brought to the subject matter of this invention within the scope of the claims.