Rotary table digital printing machine and printing unit

• US 10,696,068 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2018
• Issued: 06/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hinterkopf GmbH
• Original Assignee: Hinterkopf GmbH
• Inventors: Weber, Joachim, Schulz, Joachim, Sonntag, Michael, Goller, Florian
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmermann, John
• Application Number:
  US16/149,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20190111709A1
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/165 Prevention or detection of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 25/304 Bodily-movable mechanisms for print heads or carriages movable towards or from paper surface
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/4073 Printing on three-dimensional objects not being in sheet or web form, e.g. spherical or cubic objects B41J3/283, B41J3/286 take precedence; building up a 3D object using individual droplets from jetting heads B29C64/112
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/543 with multiple inkjet print heads B41J2/17503, B41J2/2103 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 5/0088 by ink-jet printing

Abstract

Rotary table digital printing machine for printing on work pieces, including at least one workstation attached to a holding frame, which is designed as a printing unit for printing on work pieces and includes a support frame for receiving an inking unit and a print head module, the support frame including a printing unit interface for coupling with a printing unit receptacle associated with the holding frame and further including a print head interface designed for coupling with a print head module, with a print head module and with an inking unit adapted to provide a printing ink to the print head module, a print head carrier having a carrier interface adapted to be coupled to the print head interface, wherein the printing unit receptacle, the printing unit interface, the inking unit, the print head interface, the carrier interface and the print head module form a row arrangement arranged along the printing direction.

Claims

1. A rotary table digital printing machine for printing on work pieces in an inkjet digital printing method, comprising a machine frame on which a work piece rotary table is rotatably mounted about a rotation axis, the work piece rotary table is provided with a plurality of work piece carriers, which are all arranged with the same angular pitch and the same distance from the rotation axis, wherein a drive unit is assigned to the work piece rotary table for providing a rotary step movement, wherein said machine frame comprises at least one holding frame designed for receiving workstations, which workstations are adapted for processing of work pieces, wherein at least one workstation is attached to the holding frame and is designed as a printing unit for printing on work pieces, wherein the printing unit comprises the following components arranged in series along an extension axis parallel to the rotation axis of the work piece rotary table:

a support frame supporting an inking unit;

a printing unit interface attached to the support frame;

a printing unit receptacle coupled to the printing unit interface;

a print head interface attached to the support frame opposite the printing unit interface; and

a print head module attached to the print head interface for receiving ink from the ink unit of the support frame, the print head module being adapted for dispensing ink droplets in a printing direction onto a work piece and comprising;

a print head carrier;

at least one print head fixed to the print head carrier; and

a carrier interface coupled to the print head interface,

wherein the printing unit receptacle, the printing unit interface, the inking unit, the print head interface, the carrier interface and the print head module arranged along the extension axis are also arranged in a row arrangement extending along the printing direction.

2. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the carrier interface of the print head module and the print head interface each comprise a pair of centering elements, the pair of centering element of the carrier interface engaging with the pair of centering elements of the print head interface to facilitate reproducible positioning of the print head carrier relative to the support frame.

3. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 2, wherein the at least one print head is arranged in a predeterminable arrangement with respect to the at least two centering elements formed on the carrier interface.

4. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 2, wherein the carrier interface and/or the print head interface comprise a planar surface oriented normal to the printing direction, wherein at least two centering elements are arranged on the planar surface.

5. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the print head interface is movably mounted on the support frame with at least one degree of freedom of movement and in that an adjusting component for a provision of an adjusting movement between the support frame and print head interface is provided.

6. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the inking unit comprises a control unit, a color pipe for an ink supply and a discharge pipe for an ink discharge to the print head module, wherein the color pipe and the discharge pipe are connected to a valve unit, which is designed to influence an ink volume flow in the discharge pipe, and wherein the control unit is designed to control the valve unit and/or the at least one print head.

7. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 6, wherein the print head module at least two print heads, each print head having a plurality of printing nozzles which are arranged along a radial direction with constant pitch and forming a row of nozzles, the nozzle rows of the respective print heads are arranged parallel to each other and wherein at least one of the print heads comprises a positioning component which is designed for a linear displacement of the respective print head in the radial direction relative to the print head carrier, wherein the control unit is designed for a control of the print heads and the positioning component.

8. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein at least one positioning unit for influencing a spatial orientation of the printing unit interface with respect to the holding frame is arranged between a printing unit receptacle attached on the holding frame and the holding frame.

9. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein a color processing module arranged adjacent to the printing unit interface is arranged on an end region of the row arrangement which end region is opposite the print head module and that the color processing module is connected to a color pipe, which is designed for supplying ink to the inking unit.

10. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 9, wherein the color processing module comprises a pump unit for conveying printing ink and/or comprises an ink reservoir for temporary storage of printing ink and/or comprises a temperature control unit for a temperature control of the printing ink and/or comprises a degassing unit for degassing the printing ink and/or comprising a filter unit for filtering the printing ink.

11. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein opposite to the print head module a drying module is arranged in the row arrangement and is arranged on the machine frame, which delimits a work piece gap with the print head module in the printing direction and which is designed for providing drying energy to a work piece arranged in the work piece gap.

12. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the work piece carriers determine a work piece plane oriented normal to the rotation axis of the work piece rotary table and that the printing unit interface, the inking unit, the print head interface, the carrier interface and the print head module are arranged in the vertical direction above the work piece plane.

14. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the printing direction is aligned parallel to the rotation axis.

15. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 5, wherein the print head interface is movably mounted on the support frame with at least one, in particular with exactly one, degree of freedom of movement and in that an adjusting component for a provision of a, in particular linear, adjusting movement between the support frame and print head interface is provided.

17. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 14, wherein the rotation axis is vertically oriented.

13. A rotary table digital printing machine for printing on work pieces in an inkjet digital printing method, comprising a machine frame on which a work piece rotary table is rotatably mounted about a rotation axis, the work piece rotary table is provided with a plurality of work piece carriers, which are all arranged with the same angular pitch and the same distance from the rotation axis, wherein a drive unit is assigned to the work piece rotary table for providing a rotary step movement, wherein said machine frame comprises at least one holding frame designed for receiving workstations, which workstations are adapted for processing of work pieces, wherein at least one workstation is attached to the holding frame and is designed as a printing unit for printing on work pieces, wherein the printing unit comprises a support frame which is designed to receive an inking unit and a print head module and which has a printing unit interface which is designed for coupling with a printing unit receptacle associated with the holding frame, wherein the support frame comprises a print head interface which is adapted for coupling to a print head module, further comprising a print head module which is adapted for dispensing ink droplets in a printing direction onto a work piece and comprising a print head carrier and at least one print head fixed to the print head carrier, and further comprising an inking unit which is configured to provide ink to the print head module, the print head carrier comprising a carrier interface adapted for coupling to the print head interface, wherein the printing unit receptacle, the printing unit interface, the inking unit, the print head interface, the carrier interface and the print head module are arranged in a row arrangement extending along the printing direction, and

wherein the work piece carriers determine a work piece plane oriented normal to the rotation axis of the work piece rotary table and that the printing unit interface, the inking unit, the print head interface, the carrier interface and the print head module are arranged in the vertical direction above the work piece plane, and

wherein at least one color reservoir and a cleaning module are arranged in an area arranged in the vertical direction below the work piece plane.

16. The rotary table digital printing machine according to claim 13, wherein the least one color reservoir and the cleaning module are combined with a drying module.

18. A printing unit for use in a rotary table digital printing machine, comprising;

a support frame supporting an inking unit, the inking unit comprising a color pipe for an ink supply, a discharge pipe for an ink discharge, and a valve unit connected to the color pipe and the discharge pipe for influencing an ink volume flow in the discharge pipe;

a printing unit interface attached to the support frame;

a printing unit receptacle coupled to the printing unit interface;

a print head interface attached to the support frame opposite the printing unit interface;

a print head module attached to the print head interface, the print head module being adapted for dispensing ink droplets in a printing direction onto a printing object and comprising a print head carrier, at least one print head fixed to the print head carrier, and a carrier interface coupled to the print head interface,

wherein the printing unit interface, the inking unit, the print head interface, the carrier interface and the print head module are arranged in series along an extension axis extending parallel with the printing direction.