Described is a process and system for direct printing of a decorative pattern onto an extruded PVC slat. The process includes providing a hot extruded PVC slat; directly contacting a surface of the hot extruded PVC slat with a direct printing cylinder as the slat is moved in a downstream direction, where the cylinder has a pattern with a cell structure that receives ink and rotates to directly apply the ink in the form of the pattern onto the surface of the hot extruded PVC slat. The process also includes controlling a temperature of the direct printing cylinder to inhibit drying of the ink while present on the direct printing cylinder.

An intermediate roller positioned between a fountain solution vapor supply and an imaging member decouples fountain solution vapor deposition from the surface of the imaging member. The intermediate roller may be temperature controlled. A uniform layer of fountain solution condenses onto the surface of the temperature controlled intermediate roller regardless of the imaging blanket temperature. The fountain solution condensate layer deposited onto the intermediate roller splits and deposits a thin uniform layer of fountain solution liquid onto the imaging member surface. This liquid layer split may be independent of the temperature of the imaging member surface, resulting in a uniform layer of fountain solution on the imaging blanket for better imaging quality. Remotely locating the vaporizing chamber away from the imaging member prevents undesired heat transfer from a hot vaporizing chamber/baffle to the imaging member surface.

A thermal roller (1) includes: a cylindrical body (2) extending along a longitudinal direction (X-X), the cylindrical body (2) including at least one inner tubular element (3) and at least one outer tubular element (4) that is concentrically arranged around the inner tubular element (3), the inner tubular element (3) includes an outer diameter d and the outer tubular element 4 includes an inner diameter D, being D>d; two hubs (6), each arranged at one end of the cylindrical body (2); at least one heat-exchange chamber (10) realized between the inner tubular element (3) and the outer tubular element (4). The roller includes: a coating layer (11) for the inner tubular element (3) made of plastics, and at least one helical channel (13) between the coating layer (11) and the outer tubular element (4). The helical channel (13) is realized at least partially in the coating layer (11).

A thermal roller (1) includes: a cylindrical body (2) extending along a longitudinal direction (X-X), the cylindrical body (2) including at least one inner tubular element (3) and at least one outer tubular element (4) that is concentrically arranged around the inner tubular element (3), the inner tubular element (3) includes an outer diameter d and the outer tubular element 4 includes an inner diameter D, being D>d; two hubs (6), each arranged at one end of the cylindrical body (2); at least one heat-exchange chamber (10) realized between the inner tubular element (3) and the outer tubular element (4). The roller includes: a coating layer (11) for the inner tubular element (3) made of plastics, and at least one helical channel (13) between the coating layer (11) and the outer tubular element (4). The helical channel (13) is realized at least partially in the coating layer (11).

An intermediate roller positioned between a fountain solution vapor supply and an imaging member decouples fountain solution vapor deposition from the surface of the imaging member. The intermediate roller may be temperature controlled. A uniform layer of fountain solution condenses onto the surface of the temperature controlled intermediate roller regardless of the imaging blanket temperature. The fountain solution condensate layer deposited onto the intermediate roller splits and deposits a thin uniform layer of fountain solution liquid onto the imaging member surface. This liquid layer split may be independent of the temperature of the imaging member surface, resulting in a uniform layer of fountain solution on the imaging blanket for better imaging quality. Remotely locating the vaporizing chamber away from the imaging member prevents undesired heat transfer from a hot vaporizing chamber/baffle to the imaging member surface.

The present invention relates to a device or method for detecting and adjusting the printing parameters in flexographic printing machines.

The present invention relates to a device or method for detecting and adjusting the printing parameters in flexographic printing machines.

An intermediate roller positioned between a fountain solution vapor supply and an imaging member decouples fountain solution vapor deposition from the surface of the imaging member. The intermediate roller may be temperature controlled. A uniform layer of fountain solution condenses onto the surface of the temperature controlled intermediate roller regardless of the imaging blanket temperature. The fountain solution condensate layer deposited onto the intermediate roller splits and deposits a thin uniform layer of fountain solution liquid onto the imaging member surface. This liquid layer split may be independent of the temperature of the imaging member surface, resulting in a uniform layer of fountain solution on the imaging blanket for better imaging quality. Remotely locating the vaporizing chamber away from the imaging member prevents undesired heat transfer from a hot vaporizing chamber/baffle to the imaging member surface.

A roller device includes a cylindrical body, a thermoelectric converter, a first heatsink and a second heatsink that are disposed adjacent to each other, and a press-fitting member. The thermoelectric converter is disposed on an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical body. The first heatsink and the second heatsink each dissipate heat of the thermoelectric converter. The press-fitting member is disposed between the first heatsink and the second heatsink. The press-fitting member makes the thermoelectric converter be held between the cylindrical body and at least one of the first heatsink and the second heatsink.

An image based correction system compensates for the image quality artifacts induced by thermal ghosting on evolving imaging member surfaces. With thermal ghosting directly tied to previous image content, a feed forward system determines thermal ghosting artifacts based on images previously rendered and generates an open loop gray-level correction to a current image that mitigates undesirable ghosting. For example, the correction system compensates for the thermal ghosting by making the current image lighter in areas that will be imaged onto warmer blanket regions, thereby cancelling out TRC differences between different temperature regions. A temperature sensor is used to measure the temperature of the imaging blanket due to the stresses induced by the image. This data is used to learn the parameters of the temperature model periodically during operation, and used in subsequent corrections to mitigate thermal ghosting in spite of changes in blanket properties over use and time.