Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US8162470?dq=5,341,457
Timestamp: 2017-05-25 05:52:28
Document Index: 287255755

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 22', 'art 24', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 24', 'art 22']

Patent US8162470 - Inkjet printer - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsAn inkjet printer includes a printing head configured to eject solvent ink from nozzles of the printing head on a medium at a printing position. A medium is made of a polyvinyl chloride film. The solvent ink includes an organic pigment of from 3 to 7 weight %, a resin of 15 weight % or less, and solvents....http://www.google.com/patents/US8162470?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US8162470 - Inkjet printerAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS8162470 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 12/757,042Publication dateApr 24, 2012Filing dateApr 9, 2010Priority dateApr 18, 2003Fee statusPaidAlso published asCA2519790A1, CA2519790C, CN1652939A, EP1557266A1, EP1557266A4, US8444262, US20050151815, US20100194816, US20120176439, WO2004094150A1Publication number12757042, 757042, US 8162470 B2, US 8162470B2, US-B2-8162470, US8162470 B2, US8162470B2InventorsHiroshi Kanai, Masaru Ohnishi, Kenji Hashizume, Shinichi Uehara, Koji Maruyama, Katsuhisa TsuchiyaOriginal AssigneeMimaki Engineering Co., Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (41), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (12), Classifications (17), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetInkjet printer
An inkjet printer includes a printing head configured to eject solvent ink from nozzles of the printing head on a medium at a printing position. A medium is made of a polyvinyl chloride film. The solvent ink includes an organic pigment of from 3 to 7 weight %, a resin of 15 weight % or less, and solvents. A print heater is configured to heat the medium at the printing position. The print heater is arranged separately from a pre-heater. A temperature controller is configured to control a pre-heater heating temperature of the pre-heater and a print heater heating temperature of the print heater such that a surface temperature of the medium at the printing position becomes within a range of from 30° C. to 70° C.
a temperature controller configured to control a pre-heater heating temperature of the pre-heater and a print heater heating temperature of the print heater such that a surface temperature of the medium at the printing position becomes within a range of from 30° C. to 70° C.; and
a temperature controller configured to control a print heater heating temperature of the print heater such that a surface temperature of the medium at the printing position becomes within a range of from 30° C. to 70° C.
A solvent ink is used as ink supplied to the printing head for ejecting the ink droplets. Further, heat control means for controlling heating temperature of the preheater and the print heater for heating the medium so that the surface temperature of the medium to be carried onto the central part of the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles of the printing head are landed, may be 30 to 70° C. is provided.
In the inkjet printer of the invention, by being thus arranged, the medium to be forwardly carried toward below the traveling path of the printing head on the rear part of the platen can be preliminarily heated by the preheater. Further, subsequently, the medium that has been carried onto the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles of the printing head are landed, can be heated by the print heater. Accordingly, by those preheater and print heater, the medium can be heated so that the surface temperature of the medium to be carried onto the central part of the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles of the printing head are landed, may be 30 to 70° C.
At that time, after the medium immediately before carried onto the central part of the platen is heated preliminarily by the preheater, subsequently, in order to further fully heat the medium that has been carried onto the central part of the platen by the print heater, the medium that has been carried onto the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles of the printing head are landed, can be heated constantly and reliably without excess or deficiency so that the surface temperature thereof may be temperature of 30 to 70° C.
On the surface of the medium that has been heated in an appropriate manner so that the surface temperature thereof may be desired temperature of 30 to 70° C., ink droplets of the solvent ink ejected from the nozzles of the printing head to which the solvent ink is supplied can be landed. Furthermore, the ink droplets of the solvent ink landed on the surface of the medium can be dried promptly without permeating the medium broadly in the surrounding parts of the landed points while keeping the state in which they are fixed in dots having small diameters in the landed parts on the surface of the medium that has been heated in an appropriate manner at 30 to 70° C. Thus, pictorial diagrams and characters formed by arrangement of plural solvent ink dots and having water resistance and weather resistance with no smear can be printed on the surface of the medium clearly.
Here, the reason for that the heating temperature of the medium surface is set to 30 to 70° C. is, in the case where the heating temperature of the medium surface is set to less than 30° C., the heating temperature that the ink droplets of the solvent ink landed on the medium surface receives from the medium becomes insufficient. Further, the ink droplets are not promptly dried on the medium surface, but permeate the medium broadly in the surrounding parts of the landed points. Furthermore, smear occurs in the pictorial diagrams and characters printed on the medium surface. Alternatively, in the case where the heating temperature of the medium surface is set to more than 70° C., if the medium is a vinyl chloride film having low heat resistance that is softened at temperature of 45° C. or more or the like, the degree of the softening becomes higher and the medium can not be carried on the platen smoothly. If the medium is a polyester film having high heat resistance or the like, even when the medium is heated so that the surface temperature thereof may become nearly 60° C., the medium is never disturbed to be carried on the platen. In order to enable almost all media from the medium having low heat resistance to the medium having high heat resistance to be carried on the platen without any trouble, those media is desirably heated so that the surface temperature thereof may be 70° C. or less at maximum. Further, the reason for that the medium is thus heated so that the heating temperature of the surface thereof may be 30 to 70° C. is derived from experimental results obtained by practically printing pictorial diagrams and characters on the surfaces of various media using the solvent ink.
In this case, each of the heating temperature of the medium carried on the rear part of the platen and heated by the preheater and the heating temperature of the medium carried onto the central part of the platen and heated by the print heater may be adjusted in an appropriate manner according to the kind and thickness of the medium and the ambient temperature at which the printer is placed. Furthermore, the temperature of the surface part of the medium carried onto the central part of the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles of the printing head are landed, can be heated constantly at desired temperature of 30 to 70° C. in an appropriate manner.
Further, heat control means 80 for controlling heating temperature of the preheater 40 and the print heater 70 for heating the medium 30 so that the surface temperature of the medium 30 to be carried onto the central part 22 of the platen 20, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles 12 of the printing head are landed, may be 30 to 70° C. is provided. The heat control means 80 is constituted by a combination of a sensor for sensing heat generation temperature of the preheater 40 and the print heater 70 and an electronic circuit for controlling the heat generation temperature thereof or the like.
Then, by those preheater 40 and print heater 70, the medium 30 can be heated constantly in an appropriate manner without excess or deficiency so that the surface temperature of the medium 30 carried onto the central portion 22 of the platen, on which the ink droplets ejected from the nozzles 12 of the printing head are landed, may be desired temperature of 30 to 70° C.
Subsequently, on the surface of the medium 30 that has been heated in an appropriate manner so that the surface temperature thereof may be desired temperature of 30 to 70° C., ink droplets of solvent ink ejected from the nozzles 12 of the printing head to which the solvent ink is supplied are landed.
Then, the ink droplets of the solvent ink landed on the surface of the medium 30 can be dried promptly without permeating the medium 30 broadly in the surrounding parts of the landed points while keeping the state in which they are fixed in dots having small diameters in the landed parts on the surface of the medium 30 that has been heated in an appropriate manner at 30 to 70° C. Thus, pictorial diagrams and characters formed by arrangement of plural solvent ink dots and having water resistance and weather resistance with no smear can be printed on the surface of the medium 30 clearly.
In this inkjet printer, the temperature means 80 may have a structure that can independently control the heating temperature of the preheater 40 and the print heater 70, respectively. Further, each of the heating temperature of the medium 30 carried on the rear part 24 of the platen and heated by the preheater 40 and the heating temperature of the medium 30 carried onto the central part 22 of the platen and heated by the print heater 70 may be adjusted in an appropriate manner according to the kind of the medium 30, the thickness thereof, the ambient temperature at which the printer is placed, or the like. Furthermore, the surface part of the medium 30 carried onto the central part 22 of the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the nozzles 12 of the printing head are landed, may be heated constantly at desired temperature of 30 to 70° C. in an appropriate manner.
Next, using the solvent ink having such composition, by the inkjet printer provided with the above described preheater 40 and print heater 70, experimental examples in the case where pictorial diagrams and characters are printed on various kinds of media 30. In any experimental example, the inkjet printer is placed within a room in a normal temperature condition of the room temperature at about 15 to 20° C. In the following tables, the medium heating temperature of the preheater indicates heating temperature on the surface of the medium 30 carried on the rear part 24 of the platen by the preheater 40, the medium heating temperature of the print heater indicates heating temperature on the surface of the medium 30 carried onto the central part 22 of the platen, on which the inkjet droplets ejected from the printing head 14 are landed, by the print heater 70. Image quality (definition, with or without smear, etc.) in each of the following tables is on a zero-to-ten scale, and the highest point is ten. “OFF” in each of the following tables indicates the state in which the preheater 40 and the print heater 70 are not energized and the heating of the medium 30 by the preheater 40 or the print heater 70 is being stopped.
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