Method for avoiding collisions, for adapting a spacing and for actuator-based lifting movement in an inkjet printing machine

Abstract

A method for avoiding collisions in a digital inkjet printing machine, a method and a device for actuator-based lifting movement of inkjet heads. A sensor/camera monitors the sheets as they travel towards the inkjet heads. In order to avoid collisions, the inkjet heads are raised and lowered again individually and in an oscillation-optimized manner when a defective sheet is detected. The machine does not need to be stopped in the event of defective sheets. Advantageously, rejects can thus be reduced and the performance of the machine can be exploited better.

Claims

1. A method for avoiding collisions of sheets with inkjet heads in a printing machine, the method comprising: providing a transport element being a sheet-carrying cylinder formed with a plurality of sheet support surfaces and channels arranged there between; transporting sheets on the transport element past a plurality of inkjet heads disposed above the transport element for printing the sheets; monitoring the position of a respective sheet upstream of the inkjet heads in a transport direction; evaluating a measured result from the position monitoring for detecting a defective sheet; when a defective sheet is detected, raising a respective inkjet head before the defective sheet reaches the inkjet head; and raising and lowering a respective inkjet head while a channel adjoining a defective sheet is passing the respective inkjet head.

2. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 1, which comprises: selectively raising and lowering each respective inkjet head with at least one actuator; and following the raising step, lowering a respective inkjet head in each case after the defective sheet has passed the inkjet head.

3. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 1, which further comprises, following the raising step: lowering a respective inkjet head while the defective sheet is still passing the inkjet head, wherein the respective inkjet head had been raised in the raising step to such an extent that a collision would also be avoided during the lowering.

4. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 1, wherein the evaluating step comprises determining defect sizes and the raising step comprises defining a travel distance for raising the inkjet head based on the defect sizes.

5. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 4, wherein the determining step comprises classifying the defect sizes.

6. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 4, which comprises lifting and lowering the inkjet head with an actuator being a servomotor driven by a machine control system by way of an oscillation-optimized control profile.

7. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 1, wherein the transport element is a jetting cylinder.

8. A method for avoiding collisions of sheets with inkjet heads in a printing machine, the method comprising: transporting sheets on a transport element past a plurality of inkjet heads disposed above the transport element for printing the sheets; monitoring the position of a respective sheet upstream of the inkjet heads in a transport direction; evaluating a measured result from the position monitoring for detecting a defective sheet and determining defect sizes; when a defective sheet is detected, raising a respective inkjet head before the defective sheet reaches the inkjet head, and defining a travel distance for raising the inkjet head based on the defect sizes.

9. A method for actuator-based lifting movement of an inkjet head, the method comprising: providing an actuator assigned to the inkjet head and a machine control system for activating the actuator; implementing an oscillation-optimized and inkjet-printing-optimized movement profile, in order to limit oscillations of the inkjet head and to limit pressure fluctuations in the ink supply of the inkjet head, wherein a control profile is stored in the machine control system; and selectively lifting the inkjet head by activating the actuator assigned to the inkjet head with the machine control system in accordance with the control profile.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein a plurality of control profiles for a family of movement profiles are stored, and wherein respective movement profile maintains defined maximum acceleration limiting values.

11. A device for actuator-based lifting movement of an inkjet head in order to change the spacing of the inkjet head from a printing material transport path of printing materials, the device comprising: an actuator; a mechanism for converting a rotational drive movement of the actuator into a translational movement of the inkjet head, said mechanism being a coupler mechanism with a coupler, a lever and a drive shaft; and a compensation system for compensating for a weight of the inkjet head and for bracing the inkjet head against a machine frame of the device.

12. The device for actuator-based lifting movement according to claim 11, wherein said compensation system for compensating for the weight of the inkjet head is a spring system having at least one tension spring or at least one compression spring, and/or said spring system has a setting device for adjusting a spring tension.

13. The method for avoiding collisions according to claim 8, wherein the transport element is a sheet-carrying cylinder formed with a plurality of sheet support surfaces and channels arranged there between, and the method further comprises raising and lowering a respective inkjet head while a channel adjoining a defective sheet is passing the respective inkjet head.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a digital printing machine for carrying out the method according to the invention;

(2) FIG. 2 shows a printing station with print heads that can be raised individually;

(3) FIG. 3 illustrates the lifting movement of a print head;

(4) FIGS. 4A-4C show the raising of a print head with a spring system; and

(5) FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of a print head.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a sheet-fed printing machine 100, which is implemented as a digital printing machine. A respective sheet 1000, coming from a feeder 1, is transported in the transport direction T through a printing unit 2 to a delivery or deliverer 3. The transport of the sheet 1000 is primarily carried out by means of cylinders, specifically transfer cylinders 5 and an impression cylinder 10. Arranged above the impression cylinder 10, at a spacing distance a from the impression cylinder 10 are inkjet heads 4. The inkjet heads 4 print a sheet 1000 as it is being moved past at a short distance by the impression cylinder 10. The impression cylinder 10 is therefore also referred to as a jetting cylinder.

(7) In the illustrated embodiment, the impression cylinder 10 has three sheet-holding regions 11, which are each separated from one another by a channel 12. The sheets 1000 are held on the sheet-holding regions 11 by way of grippers 13.

(8) In order to drive the printing machine 100, a machine control system 15 with an operator interface and a memory is provided. Viewed in the transport direction T, upstream of the inkjet heads 4 there is arranged a camera or alternatively a sensor 14, which is used for the permanent monitoring of the sheets 1000. It is possible to monitor the sheet run or the sheet thickness d. The camera or sensor 14 have a data transmission and transfer connection to the machine control system 15. Here, the camera or sensor 14 must be arranged far enough upstream of the inkjet heads 4 in order that, even in the event of a defect 1001 (cf. FIG. 2) at the sheet trailing edge, a collision of the sheet 1000 and the inkjet heads 4 can still be avoided.

(9) FIG. 2 shows a jetting cylinder 10 with inkjet heads 4 in a detailed illustration and an instantaneous recording. Arranged spaced apart radially from the jetting cylinder 10 are four inkjet heads 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4, which are all able to execute a lifting movement h. Viewed in the transport direction T, upstream of the inkjet heads 4 there is arranged a sensor 14 for monitoring the sheet run. The sensor 14 has a data transfer connection to the machine control system 15 (illustrated in FIG. 1). By means of the sensor 14, it is possible to check whether sheets 1000 are defective, for example have dog-ears, edges sticking up or creases, whether the sheets 1000 are resting correctly on the jetting cylinder 10. It is also possible to monitor the thickness d of the sheets 1000. If a defect on the sheet, i.e. a defective sheet, is identified by the sensor 14, then the inkjet heads 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 are raised one after another by actuators (not shown here) driven by the machine control system 15, to be specific immediately before the sheet 1000 having a defect 1001 reaches the respective inkjet head 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4. The raising of the inkjet heads 4 is indicated by the double arrow h. In the instantaneous recording shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet heads 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 have already been raised. The first inkjet head 4.1 has already reached its protective position, the further inkjet heads 4.2 and 4.3 are still being raised further into this position. Underneath the fourth inkjet head 4.4 there is still a preceding sheet 1000 which is still being finally printed by the inkjet head 4.4. Only subsequently, as soon as the channel 12 of the jetting cylinder 10 passes the inkjet head 4.4, is this fourth inkjet head 4.4 also raised. In other words, the raising of the inkjet heads 4 is done separately and sequentially for each individual head 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4. Each head 4 is raised exactly when the channel 12 passes the inkjet head 4 or moves through under the latter. As soon as the defective sheet 1000 with defect 1001 has been moved through under a respective head 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4, which means that when a following channel 12 adjoining the defective sheet 1001 passes the inkjet heads 4, the inkjet heads 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 are lowered again one after another and moved into their printing position. Therefore, a next following sheet 1000 can again be printed normally.

(10) If, for a following sheet 1000, a defect 1001 is likewise detected by the sensor 14, then the inkjet heads 4 remain in their protective position and are only lowered into the printing position again later.

(11) If the result of the evaluation of the measured result from the sensor 14 in the machine control system 15 is that the defect 1001 has a size which is above a predefined limiting value, then immediately after the detection all the inkjet heads can be raised immediately and moved by the greatest possible movement travel. As a result, although the quantity of rejects is increased, since the preceding sheet 1000 can no longer be finally printed and the inkjet heads 4 cannot be lowered into the printing position again quickly enough for a following defect-free sheet 1000, in this way serious damage to the inkjet heads 4 can be avoided. Such raising of the inkjet heads 4 can also be initiated by the machine control system 15 in the case of an emergency stop of the digital printing machine 100.

(12) For the regular sequential raising and lowering of the inkjet head 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 one after another, a lifting movement of 15 mm, for example, can be provided. For the common raising of all the inkjet heads 4 in the event of particularly large defects 1001, a lifting movement h of 50 mm and more, for example, can be provided.

(13) Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated the mounting of an inkjet head 4 in detail. It is possible to see how the lifting movement h of the print head 4 is implemented. A respective inkjet head 4 can be displaced at right angles to the transport direction T in a horizontal linear guide 16, in order to be able to move the inkjet head 4 laterally into a maintenance position. This can be done manually or by means of a (non-illustrated) drive. The inkjet head 4 has an integrated print bar 17 which, in addition to the nozzle bar 24, amongst other things comprises supply modules, such as filters and pressure compensators, not illustrated. The integrated print bar 17 is mounted on a linear guide 18 such that it can be displaced radially with respect to the jetting cylinder 10. The displacement along this linear guide 18, which corresponds to the lifting movement h in order to change the spacing of the inkjet head 4 from the jetting cylinder 10 and from the sheet 1000, is implemented by a drive unit 19, 20, 21, 22. Mounted on the integrated print bar 17 is a drive shaft 21 which is driven by a servomotor 19. At the two ends of the drive shaft 21, that is to say at the drive-side and the operator-side end of the drive shaft 21, cam disks 20 are seated on the drive shaft 21 and can be rotated by the shaft 21 by means of the drive 19. The cam disks 20 are in direct contact with a cam roller 22, which is fitted to the linear guide 18. By means of the rotation of the drive shaft 21 and therefore of the cam disks 20, the integrated print bar 17 can be raised and lowered relative to the linear guide 18 by using its cam rollers 22. For this purpose, the servomotor 19 has a data transfer connection to a machine control system 15, not illustrated here. In the memory of the machine control system 15, it is possible to store control profiles which impress a desired movement profile on the integrated print bar 17 and which are optimized with respect to oscillations of the inkjet head 4 and with respect to pressure fluctuations of the ink supply (not illustrated). The power supply of the servomotor 19 is implemented by a drag chain, not illustrated, which also comprises the activation lines of the nozzle bar 24 and the ink supply.

(14) In order to guide the integrated print bar 17 accurately in its lower region and therefore to make the same independent of the exact angular position of the flexibility of the upper linear guides 16 and 18, supporting rollers 23 are provided, which are firmly connected to the side wall, which means the frame of the sheet-fed printing machine 100. The side surfaces of the integrated print bar 17, which are in contact with the supporting rollers 23, can have appropriately machined contact surfaces. The supporting rollers 23 arranged on one side of the integrated print bar 17 can also be of sprung design. Depending on the arrangement of the supporting rollers 23, it may also be sufficient to arrange the supporting rollers 23 only on one side of the integrated print bar 17. During the sequential raising and lowering of the inkjet head 4 with an only small lifting movement h of, for example, 15 to 20 mm, the supporting rollers 23 remain in permanent contact with the integrated print bar 17 and guide the latter. If the inkjet head 4 is raised a great deal in order to avoid a collision on account of a large defect 1001, which means it executes a large lifting movement h of 50 mm, for example, then the supporting rollers 23 lose contact with the integrated print bar 17 and, during the subsequent lowering and threading of the integrated print bar 17, the lowering speed must if necessary be reduced, so that excessively high excitation of oscillations of the inkjet head 4 does not occur. Such a speed reduction can be depicted by the control profiles stored in the machine control system 15.

(15) If adaptation of the spacing a of the inkjet head 4 from the jetting cylinder 10 is to be performed in order to adapt to a sheet thickness d, this is likewise possible with the embodiment of the inkjet head 4 illustrated in FIG. 3. For this purpose, as a rule a very small rotational movement of the servomotor 19 and therefore of the cam disk 20 is sufficient.

(16) Referring now to FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of the suspension of the inkjet head 4. The nozzle bar 24 of an inkjet head 4 is fitted to an end of an integrated print bar by a print head carrier 17. The print head carrier 17 is connected via a coupler mechanism 28, 29 to a carrier 27; the carrier 27 is in turn mounted by means of a horizontal linear guide 16 on a support beam 26 of the machine frame. In order to set the spacing a of a nozzle plate 24 from a sheet 1000 transported in the transport direction T, a setting movement h is carried out and the print head carrier 17 is moved relative to the carrier 27. For this purpose, a drive (not illustrated) having a drive shaft 21 is provided. The rotational movement of this drive shaft 21 is converted by the coupler mechanism 28, 29 with lever 28 and coupler 29 into a vertical movement h. In the illustration of FIG. 4A, the lever 28 is not deflected, is therefore in its zero degree position (0), and the spacing a between nozzle plate 24 and sheet 1000 is minimal. The coupler mechanism 28, 29 ensures that the print head 4 cannot be lowered deeper. A collision of the nozzle plate 24 with a transport element 10 is thus reliably prevented. By means of appropriate actuation of the drive with its drive shaft 21, the print head carrier 17 with its nozzle plate 24 can be raised in the direction h, as emerges from FIGS. 4B and 4C. In the illustration of FIG. 4B, the lever 28 has been rotated as far as its central 90 position, and the spacing a has thus been enlarged. In the illustration of FIG. 4C, the lever 28 has been rotated as far as its stop position of 180, the maximum spacing a being reached. In order to prevent the print head carrier 17 with its nozzle plate 24 being lowered or raised inadvertently and abruptly, for example, in the case of a fault or a defect of the drive or else in the case of a power failure, a spring system is provided which, in the embodiment according to FIGS. 4A to 4C, has a tension spring 30, which braces the print head carrier 17 with a carrier 27. In order to be able to adjust the action in the tension spring 30, a spring tensioner 32 is provided as setting device. The spring action is set such that the sum of spring force and self-locking of the drive compensates for the weight of the inkjet head and is sufficient to keep the print head carrier 17 in its position.

(17) In the alternative design variant according to FIG. 5, the spring system has a compression spring 31.

(18) The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: 1 Feeder 2 Printing unit 3 Deliverer 4 Inkjet heads 4.1 First inkjet head 4.2 Second inkjet head 4.3 Third inkjet head 4.4 Fourth inkjet head 5 Transfer cylinder 6 Drive 10 Impression cylinder (jetting cylinder) (transport element) 11 Sheet-holding region or sheet support surface 12 Channel 13 Gripper 14 Sensor/camera 15 Machine control system 16 Linear guide 17 Integrated print bar with print head carrier 18 Linear guide 19 Drive (servomotor) 20 Cam 21 Drive shaft 22 Cam roller 23 Support roller 24 Nozzle bar 25 Ejector drum 26 Support beam 27 Carrier 28 Lever 29 Coupler 30 Tension spring 31 Compression spring 32 Spring tensioner as setting device 100 Sheet-fed printing machine 1000 Sheet 1001 Defect/fault a Spacing d Sheet thickness h Lifting movement T Transport direction