PROCESSING OBJECT MODIFYING APPARATUS, PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING PRINTOUT

• US 20150258814A1
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Hiroyoshi, Nakai, Junji
• Granted Patent: US 9,227,430 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/0015 for treating before, during or after printing or for uniform coating or laminating the copy material before or after printing selective coating B41J2/2114
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/42 Controlling printing material conveyance for accurate alignment of the printing material with the printhead; Print registering
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 5/0011 Pre-treatment or treatment during printing of the recording material, e.g. heating, irradiating after-treatment of prints B41M7/00; printers for treating or overcoating copy materials before, during or after printing B41J11/0015
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/0006 Investigating plasma, e.g. measuring the degree of ionisation or the electron temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/2406 using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/2418 the electrodes being embedded in the dielectric

Abstract

A processing object modifying apparatus includes a conveying unit that conveys a processing object; a plasma processing unit that performs plasma processing onto a surface of the processing object while the processing object is being conveyed by the conveying unit; a measuring unit that measures a pH value of the processing object to which the plasma processing has been applied; and a controlling unit that controls the conveying unit to change a conveying speed of the processing object on the basis of a measurement result of the measuring unit, the processing object to which the plasma processing is being applied.

Claims

1. A processing object modifying apparatus comprising:

a conveying unit that conveys a processing object;

a plasma processing unit that performs plasma processing onto a surface of the processing object while the processing object is being conveyed by the conveying unit;

a measuring unit that measures a pH value of the processing object to which the plasma processing has been applied; and

a controlling unit that controls the conveying unit to change a conveying speed of the processing object on the basis of a measurement result of the measuring unit, the processing object to which the plasma processing is being applied.

2. The processing object modifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the controlling unit controls the conveying unit so that the conveying speed becomes comparatively slow when the measurement result indicates the pH value higher than a predetermined value, or higher than an upper limit of a predetermined range.

3. The processing object modifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the controlling unit controls the conveying unit so that the conveying speed becomes comparatively fast when the measurement result indicates the pH value lower than a predetermined value, or lower than a lower limit of a predetermined range.

4. The processing object modifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the controlling unit changes a plasma energy amount in the plasma processing unit when the measurement result indicates that a number of times that the pH value has come off from a predetermined value or a predetermined range reaches a predetermined number of times.

5. A printing apparatus comprising:

the processing object modifying apparatus according to claim 1; and

an inkjet recording unit that forms an image by ejecting ink to the processing object, wherein

the inkjet recording unit forms the image by ejecting the ink to the processing object to which the plasma processing has been applied.

6. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the inkjet recording unit controls an ejection amount of the ink according to the conveying speed.

7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the inkjet recording unit controls the ejection amount by ejecting a plurality of small droplets each of which has a size smaller than a large droplet of the ink, instead of ejecting the large droplet.

8. A printing system comprising:

the processing object modifying apparatus according to claim 1; and

an inkjet recording apparatus that forms an image by ejecting ink to the processing object, wherein

the inkjet recording apparatus forms the image by ejecting the ink to the processing object to which the plasma processing has been applied.

9. The printing system according to claim 8, wherein

the inkjet recording apparatus controls an ejection amount of the ink according to the conveying speed.

10. The printing system according to claim 9, wherein

the inkjet recording apparatus controls the ejection amount by ejecting a plurality of small droplets each of which has a size smaller than a large droplet of the ink, instead of ejecting the large droplet.

11. A method for manufacturing a printout that is a processing object printed with an image using inkjet recording, the method comprising:

conveying the processing object;

performing plasma processing onto a surface of the processing object while the processing object is being conveyed;

measuring a pH value of the processing object to which the plasma processing has been applied;

changing a conveying speed of the processing object on the basis of the pH value measured at the measuring;

performing the plasma processing onto the surface of the processing object while the processing object is being conveyed at the conveying speed changed at the changing; and

forming the image on the processing object to which the plasma processing at the conveying speed changed at the changing has been applied, using the inkjet recording.

12. The method for manufacturing a printout according to claim 11, further comprising

controlling an ejection amount of ink in the inkjet recording according to the conveying speed.

13. The method for manufacturing a printout according to claim 12, wherein

the ejection amount is controlled by ejecting a plurality of small droplets each of which has a size smaller than a large droplet of the ink, instead of ejecting the large droplet.