Patent Description:
Generally, a printer may be a device for printing an image such as letters or figures on a material including a paper or textiles.

Various types of printer, such as a plate-making type, a dot type, an inkjet type, or the like, may be applied to a printer depending on a method of printing an image. For example, as for an inkjet printer using an inkjet type printhead, various designs and forms of printing may be available through digital processing of an image and data, such that an inkjet printer has been widely used in diverse fields due to the high degree of usability thereof.

Recently, as digital printing technology has been developed on a daily basis, such a printer has been increasingly used in the textile dyeing industry requiring speed and durability in printers, as well as with paper.

Representative textile dyeing methods include immersion dyeing in which a textile is dyed by immersing the textile in water, printing dyeing by printing an image on the textile, and transfer dyeing in which a design is printed on a specific medium and the design is transferred to the textile.

As for the printing dyeing, which has been the most widely used, a complex dyeing method in which the textile is pretreated, a design is printed on the pretreated textile, the textile goes through a heat treatment at high temperature and humidity and is washed has been used. In the case of sublimation transfer dyeing, one of the transfer dyeing methods deemed a part of the printing dyeing, a design is printed on the paper by various methods using a sublimation transfer dye, and the design printed on the paper is transferred to polyester textile using a high-temperature press to dye the textile.

Recently, as the performance and speed of an inkjet printer have been greatly improved, as one of printing methods in printing dyeing and transfer dyeing, an inkjet printer has been increasingly used as a printer for printing dyeing and transfer dyeing.

Since a design or a printing method are processed digitally in the inkjet printing method, a design or colors may be changed freely, such that small-type mass production or multi-type small-scale production may be processed at high speed, which may be an advantage to increase productivity and added value. Thus, such a method has greatly contributed to the development of the textile dyeing and design industry.

Various types of textiles are present, and since dyeing properties are different depending on textile materials, an ink suitable for the properties of a textile has to be selectively used to obtain good dyeing quality.

For example, generally, a reactive ink may be used for dyeing a vegetable material such as cotton, an acid ink may be used for dyeing an animal material such as silk, and a sublimation transfer ink may be used for synthetic textiles such as polyester.

However, as for a mixed textile in which several materials are mixed, it may be difficult to obtain a good dyeing effect using a certain ink. For example, a reactive ink or a transfer ink may be used for a mixed textile in which a cotton textile is mixed with a synthetic textile, and both inks may not be able to satisfy both textiles at the same time, such that a good dyeing effect may not be obtained.

In particular, in the case of a textile having a high mixing ratio, it may be difficult to obtain a vivid color expression, and the adhesion thereof may also be weak, such that durability may be deteriorated, which may be problematic.

As an alternative to the issues in dyeing such mixed textiles or as a method to obtain a special dyeing effect, a dyeing method in which, after printing a design on a film medium such as an PET, an adhesive may be only applied to the portion on which the design is printed and the design may be attached to the textile using a press such that a dyeing effect may be obtained, has been used.

In this method, the desired pattern may be dyed while maintaining the texture of the textile by only applying the adhesive to the design part, and thus, the dyeing may be performed by applying the adhesive to the design by various methods. As representative methods, two methods have been used, as below.

One of the methods is such, that, while a design is printed on the film using a liquid or gel ink, a powdered adhesive may be applied to the entire film on which the design is printed, the adhesive may be shaken off or blown such that the adhesive may only remain on the wet ink may be used. The other method is that a liquid adhesive may only be applied to a design using a screen-printing method such as a method of printing a design using an ink.

However, since the two methods are not digital methods, there is a limitation in that the advantages of the aforementioned digital method may not be obtained.

<CIT> discloses an apparatus and a method for pretreating and printing textile surfaces. For this purpose, at least one pallet for accommodating and retaining a textile article to be printed on a printing face, a pretreatment device which allows the textile article to be pretreated, prior to it being printed, by applying a pretreatment fluid to the textile article in a pretreatment area, a printing device comprising at least one printhead that allows a printed image to be printed onto the textile article in the pretreatment area, a moving device which allows the at least one pallet to he displaced relative to the pretreatment device and the printing device, and a programmable control device which allows the printing device, the pretreatment device and/or the moving device to be controlled, are provided. An identification device which can identify the textile article and is connected to the programmable control device is provided in front of the pretreatment device, and depending on the identified textile article, the pretreatment area can be applied individually to a subarea of the printing dace of the textile article.

<CIT> discloses compositions for and methods of digitally printing an ink image onto a woven textile material. A base application is applied to the surface of a woven textile material, especially one comprising synthetic resin fibers prior to application of an ink image layer. The base application comprises an acrylic latex material that is formulated to be printed on with a digital ink while still wet, thereby eliminating the need for an intermediate drying cycle in between base application deposit and printing of the ink image.

The present invention has been devised to address the issues described above, and the purpose thereof is to provide a printer which may digitally print on textiles including a mixed textile and may also maintain excellent printing quality.

The invention is as defined in the claims hereof.

The printer according to the present invention includes an adhesive head unit configured to spray a plurality of adhesive materials to each of a plurality of heads through a head, such that a design may be formed on textile, a paper, or a transfer film using an inkjet type printhead. Accordingly, the effect that various designs and printings may be printed and applied on textiles including a mixed textile, a paper, or a transfer film through digitally processing an image and data, excellent printing quality may be guaranteed, printing may be conveniently and easily performed, and a printing speed may increase may be obtained.

Also, the printer according to the present invention includes a head cleaning unit having a plurality of capping members to be fastened to heads, respectively, when an operation is paused, such that there may be the advantage in which the head provided in each of the ink head unit and the adhesive head unit may be protected and the surface of the spraying portion of the head may be maintained to be clean.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to example drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the components in each drawing, the same components are provided with the same reference numerals even though the components are indicated on different drawings.

<FIG> are diagrams illustrating an example of printing on a transfer film and textile using a printer according to an example embodiment.

Referring to the drawings, the printer according to the present invention includes an ink head unit <NUM> and an adhesive head unit <NUM>.

Here, the ink head unit <NUM> is configured to spray ink through a head.

Specifically, the ink head unit <NUM> may include a four primary color head <NUM> and a white head <NUM>.

In this case, the four primary color head <NUM> may spray cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, which are the four primary colors (CMYK) in printing, and accordingly, a design I may be printed on textile T, which is a printing object, in various colors, or the design I may be formed on a transfer film F, which is an intermediate medium.

Also, the white head <NUM> illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG> may spray white (W), and may be configured to print white on the textile T, which is a printing object, as a background color.

Further, a plurality of the ink head units <NUM> may be provided, as disposed on the front and rear sides of the adhesive head unit in <FIG>.

Although not illustrated in the drawings, the ink head unit <NUM> may further include a spot color head (not illustrated) for spraying a spot color other than the four primary colors and white.

In this case, the spot color may be one of colors such as orange, blue, green, gray (Lk, LLk, etc.), red, a fluorescent color, and the like, and a plurality of the spot color heads may be provided in the ink head unit <NUM>.

The adhesive head unit <NUM> is configured to spray the adhesive material through a head.

Specifically, the adhesive head <NUM> sprays different adhesive materials through the plurality of heads, and the sprayed different adhesive materials are mixed to form a multicomponent adhesive.

Generally, it may be difficult to spray an adhesive for attaching textiles by an inkjet printhead, or even when it is possible to spray the adhesive, the adhesive may be easily cured (solidified) such that a nozzle of an expensive printhead may easily be clogged, which may cause breakage of the expensive printhead.

Accordingly, a one-component adhesive is used as an adhesive sprayed through the printhead. In other words, the one-component adhesive may be hardened in the nozzle of the printhead when being cured, such that the nozzle may be easily clogged.

The address the issue above, according to the invention a multicomponent adhesive is used as an adhesive sprayed through the printhead. In other words, the multicomponent adhesive is obtained by mixing two or more types of raw materials.

As a specific example, the adhesive head unit <NUM> may include a first adhesive material head <NUM> and a second adhesive material head <NUM> to obtain a two-component adhesive.

Here, the first adhesive material head <NUM> may spray the first adhesive material, and for example, the first adhesive material may be resin.

Also, the second adhesive material head <NUM> may spray the second adhesive material, and for example, the second adhesive material may be a curing agent, and the curing agent sprayed as above may be mixed with the resin sprayed before the curing agent, thereby finally obtaining an adhesive.

The adhesive head unit <NUM> may further include a plurality of heads to obtain a multicomponent adhesive, such as a three-component adhesive or a four-component adhesive.

As described above, the printer according to the present invention includes the ink head unit <NUM> and also the adhesive head unit <NUM> configured to spray an adhesive material through the head, such that the design I may be formed on textile, a paper, or a transfer film using an inkjet type printhead, and accordingly, the effect that various designs and printings may be printed and applied on the textile T or the transfer film F, which is an intermediate medium, using the printhead by an inkjet method, various designs and printings may be printed and applied on the textile T including a mixed textile through digitally processing an image and data, excellent printing quality may be guaranteed, printing may be conveniently and easily performed, and a printing speed may increase.

Furthermore, the printer according to the present invention may be used for various printing objects such as paper in addition to textile and a transfer film.

Meanwhile, the process of printing the textile T using the printer according to the present invention will be described with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example of printing a design and spraying an adhesive material using a printer according to an example embodiment. <FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example in which an adhesive layer is formed as a plurality of adhesive material are mixed. <FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example of transferring a design of a transfer film to textile. <FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example in which a transfer film is removed from the textile to which a design is transferred.

In printing the textile T using the printer according to the present invention, as an example, the printing may be performed using the transfer film F, which is an intermediate medium in the printing, rather than directly printing the textile T, as below.

First, as illustrated in <FIG>, the ink head unit <NUM> sprays ink through the head to form a design I on the transfer film F, and the adhesive head unit <NUM> sprays the first adhesive material B1 and the second adhesive material B2, such that, as illustrated in <FIG>, the sprayed first adhesive material B1 and the second adhesive material B2 are mixed and an adhesive layer B, an adhesive, is formed.

Thereafter, as illustrated in <FIG>, by turning the transfer film F over and allowing the film to be in contact with the textile T, which is a printing object, and the transfer film F may be pressed using a press device, such that the design I formed on the transfer film F may be adhered to the textile T by the adhesive layer B, and the design I may be finally transferred to the textile T as illustrated in <FIG>.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example in which a capping member, a head cleaning unit, is installed each of a head of an ink head unit and a head of an adhesive head unit in the printer illustrated in <FIG>. <FIG> is an enlarged diagram illustrating an interior of the capping member illustrated in <FIG>.

Referring to the drawings, the printer according to the present invention further may include a head cleaning unit <NUM>.

The head cleaning unit <NUM> may be provided to protect the head provided in each of the ink head unit <NUM> and the adhesive head unit <NUM> and to maintain the surface of a spraying portion of the head to be clean.

Specifically, the head cleaning unit <NUM> may include a capping member <NUM> and a suction line <NUM>.

According to the invention, a plurality of the capping member <NUM> is provided to be fastened to each of the head of the ink head unit <NUM> and the head of the adhesive head unit <NUM> when the printing operation is paused, and may clean each of the plurality of heads.

Here, as for the capping member <NUM>, according to the invention, the capping member <NUM> has a structure as illustrated in <FIG>.

In this case, preferably, the capping member <NUM> may be formed of a rubber material to reduce impacts when connected to the head.

According to the invention, the capping member <NUM> includes a capping groove 310a formed on an upper portion in contact with the head, and the suction line <NUM> is connected to be connected to the capping groove 310a.

Also, the capping groove 310a of the capping member <NUM> is filled with a buffer member <NUM> which, according to the invention, is as a sponge, and a support mesh <NUM> is installed on an upper surface of the buffer member <NUM>.

The suction line <NUM> may clean the head by suctioning the residual ink or the residual adhesive material remaining on a lower end of the head.

A plurality of the suction line <NUM> are provided such that the materials to be suctioned are not multicomponent, and different suction lines are connected to different capping members.

Specifically, an ink suction line is connected to the capping member <NUM> fastened to the head of the ink head unit <NUM> (in <FIG>), and the residual ink in the head of the ink head unit <NUM> may be suctioned and removed, such that the head of the ink head unit <NUM> may be cleaned.

Also, the adhesive material suction line connected to the capping member <NUM> fastened to each of the plurality of heads of the adhesive head unit <NUM> (in <FIG>), and may suction and remove the residual adhesive material in the head of the adhesive head unit <NUM>, such that the head of the adhesive head unit <NUM> may be cleaned.

A plurality of the adhesive material suction lines are provided to correspond to the plurality of heads of the adhesive head unit, and to prevent the suctioned adhesive materials from being mixed, different adhesive material suction lines are connected to different capping members <NUM> fastened to the plurality of heads of the adhesive head unit <NUM>.

Further, to prevent the suctioned materials from being mixed, the ink suction line include an ink suction pump (not illustrated), and the plurality of adhesive material suction lines include different adhesive material suction pumps (not illustrated).

In the case in which the plurality of adhesive material suction lines would not be provided independently to correspond to the capping members <NUM>, or would not have separate suction pumps, the adhesive materials would be mixed and an adhesive would be formed such that the suction line may be clogged and the suction pump may be broken.

An air supply line <NUM> may be connected to be connected to the capping groove 310a of the capping member <NUM>.

The air supply line <NUM> may supply air to allow the interior space of the capping groove 310a in which pressure has become negative due to air suction by the suction line <NUM>, to be equalized to atmospheric pressure, such that, when the capping member <NUM> is separated from the head, negative pressure shock may not be applied to the head.

excellent printing quality may be guaranteed, printing may be conveniently and easily performed, and a printing speed may increase.

the head provided in each of the ink head unit <NUM> and the adhesive head unit <NUM> may be protected and the surface of the spraying portion of the head may be maintained clean.

Claim 1:
A printer, comprising:
an ink head unit (<NUM>) configured to spray ink on a textile (T) or a paper or a transfer film (F) through a head;
an adhesive head unit (<NUM>) configured to spray an adhesive material on the textile (T) , the paper, or the transfer film (F) through a head so that a design is printed by adhering the ink to the textile (T) or the paper or the transfer film (T);
a plurality of capping members (<NUM>) fastened to each of the head of the ink head unit (<NUM>) and the head of the adhesive head unit (<NUM>) when a printing operation is paused;
an ink suction line connected to the capping member (<NUM>) coupled to the head of the ink head unit (<NUM>); and
an adhesive material suction line connected to the capping member (<NUM>) fastened to each of the plurality of heads of the adhesive head unit (<NUM>),
wherein
the adhesive head unit (<NUM>) sprays different adhesive materials through a plurality of heads, and a multicomponent adhesive is formed as the sprayed different adhesive materials are mixed,
the ink suction line includes an ink suction pump, and
a plurality of the adhesive material suction lines are provided to correspond to the plurality of heads of the adhesive head unit (<NUM>), the plurality of adhesive material suction lines including different adhesive material suction pumps,
wherein each capping member (<NUM>) has a capping groove (310a) filled with a sponge therein, the sponge having a support mesh (<NUM>) installed on an upper surface thereof.