Patent ID: 12208639

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made to the illustrative embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used here to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the claims or this disclosure is thereby intended. Alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and additional applications of the principles of the subject matter illustrated herein, which would occur to one ordinarily skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The present disclosure is here described in detail with reference to embodiments illustrated in the drawings, which form a part herein. Other embodiments may be used and/or other changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description are not meant to be limiting of the subject matter presented here.

Embodiments disclosed herein describe an improved dye sublimation machine with a more accurate, flexible, and more robust temperature measurement. More specifically, the dye sublimation machine may utilize a plurality of pyrometers to remotely measure temperature of corresponding plurality of locations. As the plurality of pyrometers may not have mechanical interaction with moving parts of the dye sublimation machine, the pyrometers may be more robust and may last longer than the conventional thermocouples. Furthermore, the plurality of pyrometers may measure the temperature at plurality of locations on a membrane covering a printed sheet. Such measurement of temperature directly on the membrane may generate more accurate results than a conventional thermocouple measuring temperature on a bed edge. In addition, each of the plurality of pyrometers may have configurable angular orientation and therefore provide flexibility of changing the spots of which the temperature measurements are being taken.

FIG.2shows an illustrative dye sublimation machine (also referred to as dye sublimation apparatus)200, according to an embodiment. It should be understood that the dye sublimation machine200shown inFIG.2and described herein is merely for illustration and explanation and machines with other form factors and components should also be considered within the scope of this disclosure. For example, dye sublimation machines having additional, alternative, or a fewer number of components than the illustrative dye sublimation machine200should be included within the scope of this disclosure.

The dye sublimation machine200may comprise a sublimation table202, which may provide structural support for the components of the dye sublimation machine200. The dye sublimation machine200in general and the sublimation table202in particular may be divided into three zones: a loading zone (also referred to as a loading section)204, a heating zone (also referred to as heating section)206, and a cooling zone (also referred to as a cooling section)208. The loading zone204may allow a worker (or a user) to load a printed sheet218and a substrate224. The printed sheet218may have an image thereon printed using sublimation inks containing sublimation dyes. The substrate224may be of any type of material such as thermoplastic where the image may be infused through the dye sublimation process. The combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224may be loaded onto a bed214at the loading zone204. In some embodiments, the bed214may be formed by a graphite honeycomb structure. The bed214may be configured as a conveyer belt that moves through the loading zone204, the heating zone206, and the cooling zone208.

The heating zone206may include heating elements210. The heating elements210may be of any kind such as heating coils in any type configuration. The heating elements210may be electrically heated providing a radiative type heating to the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224. For example, the heating elements210may be included in multiple electrical heaters, each heating a section of the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate. The heating zone206and the cooling zone208may also include a plurality of pyrometers220a,220b,220c,220d,220e,220f(collectively or commonly referred to as220) to measure the temperature of the heat generated by the heating elements210. The heating elements210may be within individual heaters that may be individually controlled by one or more controllers. For example, a controller associated with a heater may receive a temperature measurements from the pyrometers220and determine the amount of heat to be radiated by the heater. The heating elements210may also be divided into a plurality of zones, each zone containing one or more heaters. Therefore, a corresponding controller may individually control the heat output of each zone to maintain a consistent temperature at the bed214within the heating zone206. Within the heating zone206, a membrane216may cover the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224. The membrane216may be formed by any kind of material that may withstand the heat for repeated heating cycles in the heating zone206. A vacuum pump222may pull down the membrane216such that the membrane216may cover the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224snugly without air bubbles.

The cooling zone208may cool down the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224after the dye sublimation process in the heating zone206. The cooling zone208may include cooling elements212such as cold air blowers to expedite the cooling down process. However, it should be understood that the cooling zone208may not necessarily include the cooling elements212and the substrate224may cool down to ambient temperature without the aid of the cooling elements212. The cooling zone208may also include a plurality of pyrometers220e,220f(also referred to as220commonly or collectively). A processor/controller attached to the cooling elements212may control the cooling elements based upon the temperature measurement of the plurality of pyrometers220in the cooling zone208. It should also be understood that the loading zone204and the cooling zone208may be combined in some embodiments. In these embodiments, the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224may be placed on the combined zone providing both loading cooling functionality, be moved to the heating zone206, and moved back to the combined zone for cooling. Therefore, it should generally be understood that the configuration ofFIG.2is merely illustrative and alternative configurations should also be considered within the scope of this disclosure.

In an illustrative operation, a worker may place the substrate224on the loading zone204and place the printed sheet218directly on the substrate224. The bed214may be configured as a conveyer belt, which may move the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224to the heating zone206. The heating zone206may be a covered area within the dye sublimation machine200. Within the heating zone206, the vacuum pump222may pull a vacuum between the membrane216and the bed214such that the membrane216presses down on the printed sheet218. The heating elements210may generate a requisite amount heat to sublimate the ink on the printed sheet218. The sublimated ink may then be deposited into the substrate224. The pyrometers220may measure the temperature at different spots within the enclosure created by the membrane216and the bed214and the temperature measurements may be used by the heating elements to regulate the generated heat. After the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224are left in the heating zone206for a requisite amount of time (e.g., based upon the properties of the substrate224), the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224is moved to the cooling zone. As described above, the loading zone204may also function as the cooling zone208. The cooling process in the cooling zone208may be expedited by the cooling elements212, which may provide an active source of cooling such as a flow of cold air. After the combination of the printed sheet218and the substrate224is sufficiently cooled, the combination is removed from the dye sublimation machine200. After this process, the image in the printed sheet218may be infused (or deposited) into the substrate224.

The pyrometers220at each of the heating zone206and the cooling zone208may have configurable angular orientation. A processor (used broadly to include any type of microprocessors and controllers) may configure the angular orientations of the pyrometers220to measure temperature at different spots throughout the dye sublimation process. For example, the processor may dynamically adjust the angular orientation (also referred to as orientation) of the pyrometers220as the printed sheet218moves through the heating zone206and the cooling zone208.

FIG.3shows an illustrative system300for dye sublimation, according to an embodiment. As shown, the system300may comprise a dye sublimation apparatus (also referred to as a dye sublimation machine)302, a network304, computing devices306a,306b,306c,306d,306e(collectively or commonly referred to as306), and a controller308. It should be understood that the system300and the aforementioned components are merely for illustration and systems with additional, alternative, and a fewer number of components should be considered within the scope of this disclosure.

The dye sublimation apparatus302may be a combination of components that may infuse (or dye sublimate) an image from a printed sheet to a substrate. The image may be printed using sublimation inks containing sublimation dyes that may transform from solid state to gaseous state when heated to a predetermined temperature. The sublimation dyes may travel into the substrate and deposit thereon thereby creating an infused image into the substrate. For the heating part of the dye sublimation process, the dye sublimation apparatus302may include a heating section (also referred to as heating zone)310. The heating section may generally be enclosed for temperature control and to preempt the heat escaping the dye sublimation apparatus302. The heating section310may include a bank of heaters312, which may be organized into different zones with each zone containing one or more heaters.

The bank of heaters312may be controlled by a controller308. The single controller308is shown merely for illustration and there may be a plurality of controllers308controlling the bank of heaters (also referred to as heater banks)312. More particularly, the controller308may regulate the heat generated by each zone (containing one or more heaters) individually. For example, the controller308may increase the heat, decrease the heat, turn ON, or turn OFF the heat generated by a zone by controlling the corresponding heater. The controller308may be any kind of hardware and/or software controller, including, but not limited to PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controller and/or any other type of controller. The controller308may continuously receive a feedback from the items being heated (e.g., printed sheet, substrate) through a connection314. The connection314may be wired, e.g., a wired connection from a plurality of pyrometers providing the feedback to the controller308, or wireless, e.g., a plurality of pyrometers wirelessly providing the feedback to the controller308.

In addition to the controller308, the bank of heaters312may be controlled based upon instructions provided by a computing device306. For example, the computing device306may include an interface for a user to enter a desired amount of bed temperature in the heating zone310for a particular image and the computing device306may provide instructions to the bank of heaters312through the network304to maintain the temperature. Alternatively or additionally, the computing device306may provide the instruction to maintain the temperature to the controller308. In some embodiments, the computing device306may provide instructions to the bank of heaters312to maintain a first temperature at a first stage of the dye sublimation process and to maintain a second temperature at a second stage of the dye sublimation process. It should be understood that the instructions to maintain the temperature and the process of maintaining the temperature may be maintained either in hardware, e.g., through the controller308, or as a combination of hardware and software, e.g., through one or more applications in the computing device306, the controller308, and/or other hardware components in the dye sublimation apparatus. In some embodiments, the controller308may sequentially activate the heaters in the bank of heaters312. For example, the dye sublimation process may require a gradual ramping up of the heat and therefore the sequential activation may allow heat to build up to a desired temperature. As another example, activating the heaters at the periphery of the heating section310first may allow a controller to determine an amount of heat (generally lesser than the heaters at the periphery) to be generated by heaters at the center of the heating section310to maintain a desired temperature within the heating section310.

As described above, the temperature sensors in the heating section310may be a plurality of pyrometers. The plurality of pyrometers may be oriented towards various spots within the heating section310to measure the corresponding temperature. In some embodiments, the controller308and/or the computing devices306may configure (e.g., adjust) the angular orientation of the pyrometers to dynamically measure temperature of different spots. In addition to the heating section310, the dye sublimation apparatus may also include one or more pyrometers to measure temperature in the cooling section as well.

The computing devices306may include any type processor based device that may execute one or instructions (e.g., instructions to cause a uniform temperature distribution in the heating section310) to the dye sublimation apparatus302through the network304. Non-limiting examples of the computing devices306include a server306a, a desktop computer306b, a laptop computer306c, a tablet computer306d, and a smartphone306e. However, it should be understood that the aforementioned devices are merely illustrative and other computing devices should also be considered within the scope of this disclosure. At minimum, each computing device306may include a processor and non-transitory storage medium that is electrically connected to the processor. The non-transitory storage medium may store a plurality of computer program instructions (e.g., operating system, applications) and the processor may execute the plurality of computer program instructions to implement the functionality of the computing device306.

The network304may be any kind of local or remote network that may provide a communication medium between the computing devices306and the dye sublimation apparatus302. For example, the network304may be a local area network (LAN), a desk area network (DAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or a wide area network (WAN). However, it should be understood that aforementioned types of networks are merely illustrative and any type of component providing the communication medium between the computing devices306and the dye sublimation apparatus302should be considered within the scope this disclosure. For example, the network304may be a single wired connection between a computing device306and the dye sublimation apparatus302.

FIG.4shows an illustrative heating section400of a dye sublimation apparatus, according to an embodiment. It should be understood that the components of the heating section400shown inFIG.4and described herein are merely illustrative and additional, alternative, and fewer number of components should also be considered within the scope of this disclosure. The heating section400may comprise a bank of a plurality of heaters402a, through402n(collectively referred to as heater banks402) that may generate radiating heat (also referred to as radiative heat)406. The radiative heat406may cause dyes in a printed sheet414to sublimate and get deposited to a substrate416thereby infusing an image in the printed sheet414into the substrate416. As shown, the substrate416may be on a bed410, which may be a conveyer belt and the combination of the printed sheet414and the substrate416may be under a membrane412may be snugly hold the printed sheet414and the substrate416.

The heater banks402may include any type of heating element that may generate the radiating heat406. For example, the heater banks402may include an electric heating element such as a heating coil that can be controlled by a controller. As another example, the heater banks402may include a chemical heating element that may chemically generate the radiating heat406. It should be understood that these forms of heating are merely illustrative and any type of mechanism that generates the radiating heat406should be considered within the scope of this disclosure.

The heating section400may include a plurality of pyrometers420a,420b,420c,420d(collectively or commonly referred to as420) that may remotely (e.g., without being mechanically/electrically connected to) measure temperature from the corresponding spots within the heating section400. The pyrometers420may include any type of sensor that may measure the temperature of a spot based upon the radiation generated by the spot. The pyrometers420may be arranged within the assembly of the heater banks402. For example, the pyrometers420may be at the gaps between the individual heaters of the heater banks402.

The pyrometers420may have adjustable angular orientation. More particularly, a processor (to be broadly understood to include controllers)418may transmit adjustment instructions (or signals) to the pyrometers420. Each of the pyrometers420may have an actuation mechanism (e.g., an electric motor) that may change the angular orientation of the corresponding pyrometer420. In some embodiments, the processor418may arrange the pyrometers420in a configuration at the beginning of a sublimation cycle and maintain the configuration throughout the sublimation cycle. For example, the processor418may determine one or more critical spots within the printed sheet414for a particular image pattern or heater banks402configuration and orient the pyrometers420to point to the critical spots. The processor418may maintain such configuration throughout the sublimation cycle because the position of the critical spots may not change. In other embodiments, the processor418may dynamically configure the angular orientation of the pyrometers420during the sublimation cycle. For example, as the printed sheet414moves through the heating section400, the locations of the critical spots may move also move. The processor418may also cause the pyrometers420to track the movement of the printed sheet414. As another example, the processor418may first orient a majority of the pyrometers420towards the center of the heating section400at the beginning of a sublimation cycle when the heating section400gradually heats up. Once the center reaches a threshold temperature, the processor418may reorient a subset of the pyrometers420from the center to the periphery of the heating section400to have more measurement spots in the periphery. It should be understood that these are just illustrations of the processor418dynamically configuring the angular orientation of the pyrometers420and should not be considered limiting. It should further be understood that the aforementioned description of configuring the angular orientation of the pyrometers420is merely for illustration and the processor418may cause other configuration movements of the pyrometers420. For example, the processor418may cause the one or more of the pyrometers420to move linearly, e.g., within a groove.

The processor418may utilize the temperature measurements provided by the pyrometers420to regulate the heater banks402. For example, if the corresponding pyrometers420measure a lower temperature at the spots towards the periphery of the heating section400, the processor418may cause the heaters towards the periphery to increase the radiating heat406. Generally, there may be a continuous feedback-control loop between the pyrometers420, the processor418, and the heater banks402.

It should be understood that the above description of the pyrometers420within the heating section400is merely for illustration and should not be considered limiting. The dye sublimation apparatus may have pyrometers420in the cooling section as well. The pyrometers420in the cooling section may measure the temperature of the printed sheet414or the membrane412in the cooling section as the combination of the printed sheet414and the substrate416cools down. These measurements may be provided to the processor418(or any other processor) that may control the cooling elements (if any) in the cooling zone. For example, the cooling zone may have air blowers (as cooling elements) and the processor418may use the temperature measurements from the pyrometers420in the cooling section to control the air blowers.

FIG.5Ashows an illustrative heating section500of a dye sublimation apparatus, according to an embodiment. As shown, the heating section may include pyrometers502a,502bto measure the temperature of the corresponding printed sheets504a,504b. A processor (broadly defined to include both microprocessors and controllers) may configure the angular orientation of each of the pyrometers502a,502bto measure the temperature at the corresponding spots on the printed sheets504a,504b. In some embodiments, the processor may maintain a static configuration of the angular orientations of the pyrometers502a,502bthroughout a sublimation cycle. In other embodiments, the processor may dynamically configure the angular orientations of the pyrometers502a,502bduring the sublimation cycle.

FIG.5Bshows an illustrative cooling section506of a dye sublimation machine, according to an embodiment. As shown, the cooling section may include a pyrometer502cthat may measure the temperature of a plurality of spots of the printed sheets504c,504d. A processor may control the angular orientation of the pyrometer502csuch that the pyrometer502cmeasures the temperature of multiple spots within the printed sheet504d. Furthermore, the processor may control the angular orientation of the pyrometer502csuch that the pyrometer502cmeasures the temperature of multiple spots within the printed sheet504c. It should be understood that in some embodiments, the processor may maintain a static configuration of the pyrometer502cthroughout the cooling process and in other embodiments, the processor may dynamically change the configuration of the pyrometer502cduring the cooling process.

FIG.6shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method600for dye sublimation, according to an embodiment. The steps of the method600described herein are merely illustrative and methods with alternative, additional, and fewer number of steps should also be considered within the scope of this disclosure.

The method may begin at step602where a plurality of heating elements may generate radiative heat (also referred to as radiating heat) to heat a printed sheet to sublimate dyes from the printed sheet to a substrate. The heating elements may be within a heating section of a dye sublimation apparatus (also referred to as a dye sublimation machine) configured as bank of heaters. Generally, the heating elements may radiate the heat downward towards the printed sheet that may be pressed onto a substrate using a vacuum pulled membrane.

At step604, one or more pyrometers may remotely measure temperature caused by the radiative heat. More specifically, the one or more pyrometers may be oriented towards one or more locations (e.g., pointing at the one or more locations) to measure the temperature of the one or more locations. The one or more pyrometers may measure the temperature remotely, e.g., without having a mechanical and/or electrical contact with the one or more locations.

At step606, a processor may configure an angular orientation of each of the one or more pyrometers. It should be understood that the term “processor” as used herein may include microprocessors that generate control instructions and controllers that generate control signals. In some embodiments, the processor may maintain a static configuration of the angular orientation of the one or more pyrometers during a sublimation cycle. In other embodiments, the processor may dynamically configure the angular orientation of each of the one or more pyrometers during the sublimation cycle.

The foregoing method descriptions and the process flow diagrams are provided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed in the order presented. The steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in any order. Words such as “then,” “next,” etc. are not intended to limit the order of the steps; these words are simply used to guide the reader through the description of the methods. Although process flow diagrams may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and the like. When a process corresponds to a function, the process termination may correspond to a return of the function to a calling function or a main function.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of this disclosure or the claims.

Embodiments implemented in computer software may be implemented in software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. A code segment or machine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement these systems and methods is not limiting of the claimed features or this disclosure. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and methods were described without reference to the specific software code being understood that software and control hardware can be designed to implement the systems and methods based on the description herein.

When implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable storage medium. The steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable software module, which may reside on a computer-readable or processor-readable storage medium. A non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable media includes both computer storage media and tangible storage media that facilitate transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A non-transitory processor-readable storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such non-transitory processor-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other tangible storage medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer or processor. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a non-transitory processor-readable medium and/or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

The preceding description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the embodiments described herein and variations thereof. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed, other aspects and embodiments are contemplated. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.