A stencil for use in stenciling complex symbols incorporates a stencil substrate employing a flexible material, having a plurality of symbols arranged thereon. A plurality of folding stiffeners are incorporated in the substrate, each stiffener being positioned to split symbols having stencil cutouts forming isolated elements within an interior of the symbol. The stiffeners are foldable about a vertex, to collapse into a raised position and bring together the split symbol, with the stiffeners supporting the isolated elements created by the cutouts and portions of the stencil cutouts forming the symbols that extend into coincident channels in the folding stiffeners, to bridge adjoining portions of said split characters.

A tensioning frame (22) for tensioning a printing screen (3) comprises a plurality of elongate beams (30A-30D) which extend around the periphery of the printing screen (3) and define the tensioning frame (22), wherein at least one of the beams (30A-30D) comprises an opening (32) which is dimensioned to permit a printing screen (3) to be received therethrough, in a lateral direction (A). Mechanisms are described for engagement of the tensioning screen (22) and printing screen (3), as well as an apparatus and a method permitting the lateral loading of the printing screen (3).

A printing screen unit comprising a mesh printing screen and a supporting frame which is attached to the printing screen, wherein the printing screen comprises a first, outer mesh which is attached to sides of the supporting frame and includes an aperture therein, and a second, inner mesh which is attached to the outer mesh, wherein threads, providing warp and weft, of the outer mesh are aligned so as to be substantially orthogonal to the sides of the supporting frame, wherein threads, providing warp and weft, of the inner mesh being aligned so as to have acute angles of between 0 degrees and 45 degrees to the respective sides of the supporting frame, wherein the printing screen is tensioned by an external tensioning assembly to a first tension when the printing screen is attached to the supporting frame, and the sides of the supporting frame are displaceable such that the sides of the supporting frame are displaced on release of the first tension by the external tensioning assembly, and the printing screen has a second, residual tension lower than the first tension.

A printing screen for printing deposits of a print medium onto workpieces, the printing screen comprising a sheet in which a pattern of printing apertures are formed to allow for printing of a pattern of deposits onto a workpiece, and a waveguide which can be driven to induce an ultrasonic vibration in the sheet, wherein the waveguide comprises an elongate body at a surface of the sheet which at least partially surrounds the pattern of printing apertures.

A stencil for applying a viscous material to a substrate includes a substantially planar plate affixed to the substrate, the plate having at least one aperture of a first dimension and at least one relief hole of a second dimension, the at least one aperture configured to align with a printing surface of the substrate and the at least one relief hole configured to align with a feature having a height greater than the printing surface; and a mask attached to a top surface of the plate and positioned over the at least one relief hole to protect the feature having the height greater than the printing surface from

A printing stencil (1) for forming conductor tracks on a substrate. The printing stencil (1) has a plurality of cutouts in the form of printing gaps (4) for forming the conductor tracks. Each printing gap (4) of the plurality of printing gaps (4) has at least one print definition region (3) adjacent to the printing side and at least one printing medium supply region (2) adjacent to the squeegee side, the volume of the print definition region (3) being smaller than the volume of the printing medium supply region. Moreover, a printing device for forming conductor tracks on a substrate and a method for producing a metallic contact structure of a photovoltaic solar cell are also provided.

A screen assembly is provided for screen printing and includes a screen with a perimeter frame and a tray covering the frame. The tray includes a central opening with an inner peripheral lip or edge which press fits against the screen to keep ink from contacting the frame during the screen printing process. After printing, the tray is removed from the frame so that the assembly can be cleaned and reused. The assembly and its method of use eliminates the need for conventional taping of the screen and frame.

A screen printing device includes a substrate support unit, a squeegee member above the substrate support unit, a screen mask unit disposed between the substrate support unit and the squeegee member, the screen mask unit defining a printing opening for forming a printed pattern, and at least one tension adjusting member disposed on a first surface of the screen mask unit facing the substrate support unit and adjacent to the printing opening.

The present invention discloses a four-position full-cell solar silicon wafer printer, including a base, an infeed guide rail, a detection camera assembly, a turntable assembly, a lifting module, a UVW correction alignment mechanism, and an outfeed guide rail. The UVW mechanism comprises two Y-axis modules, one X-axis module, a printing platform, a steel mesh frame, and a printing squeegee kit. The Y/X-axis modules are under the platform, their drive ends connected to the steel mesh frame. The squeegee kit moves left-right on the platform. It uses the Y/X-axis modules and detection camera to realize X, Y, three-axis motion, ensuring steel mesh-silicon wafer alignment and optimizing printing directions.

The present invention discloses a silicon wafer printer for double half-cell printing, comprising a work platform, a turntable assembly, a front-end conveyor, a left calibration module, and a right calibration module. A calibration vision camera is mounted above the front-end conveyor's end. The left linear module connects to a left motor module and then a left suction module. The right linear module connects to a right motor module, two calibration cylinders, calibration bearings, and a right suction module. It uses visual positioning to determine double half-cells' position/angle, adjusts the right half-cell with the left as reference, shortens alignment time, adopts single-head front-to-back printing and a smaller indexing disc, boosting turntable printing efficiency.