Printing apparatus, thin-film printed body, and method of manufacturing thin-film printed body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016288153-A1
Application number	US-201615063697-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 8, 2016
Priority date	Mar 30, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Printing apparatus includes: a printer (thin-film carrier, conveyer, and droplet discharger) printing on a thin film by discharging, while shifting thin film in first direction, droplets containing a functional component from a plurality of positions differing from each other in second direction; and a print uniformity controller (print controller and position switcher) performing the printing for a plurality of times, by using the printer and changing position and/or orientation of thin film relative to the plurality of positions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A printing apparatus comprising:
a printer printing on a thin film by discharging, while shifting the thin film in a first direction, droplets containing a functional component from a plurality of positions differing from each other in a second direction; and a print uniformity controller that controls the printer to print such that position and/or orientation of the thin film is changed relative to the plurality of positions at each time of the printing.

2 . The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the printer comprises: a thin-film carrier carrying the thin film; a conveyer shifting the thin-film carrier in the first direction; and a plurality of nozzles disposed at the plurality of positions and discharging the droplets, and wherein the print uniformity controller comprises: a position switcher switching position and/or orientation of the thin-film carrier relative to the conveyer; and a print controller performing the printing by using the printer before and after the switching.

3 . The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the print controller performs the printing on an identical range of the thin film before and after the switching.

4 . The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the print uniformity controller has a heater heating the thin film.

5 . The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the position switcher switches the position and/or orientation of the thin-film carrier in synchronization with an operation of the printer.

6 . The printing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the position switcher switches the orientation of the thin-film carrier by rotating the thin-film carrier by an angle other than a multiple of 90 degrees.

7 . The printing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the position switcher switches the orientation of the thin-film carrier in three or more orientations by rotating the thin-film carrier.

8 . The printing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the position switcher switches the position of the thin-film carrier by shifting the thin-film carrier relative to the conveyer.

9 . The printing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the print uniformity controller has a print measurer measuring a print state of the thin film, and the print controller determines whether or not to continue the printing based on the measured print state.

10 . The printing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein
the droplets are a colored makeup material.

11 . The printing apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein
the print measurer measures color of the thin film having undergone the printing, and the print controller acquires color of a target to which the thin film is affixed, and determines whether or not to continue the printing based on a comparison between the acquired color of the target and the measured color of the thin film.

12 . A thin-film printed body comprising:
a thin film having biocompatibility; a first makeup material layer made of a first-color makeup material formed on a surface of the thin film; and a second makeup material layer made of a second-color makeup material formed on a surface of the first makeup material layer.

13 . The thin-film printed body according to claim 12 , wherein the second makeup material layer is made up of a first plurality of droplets of the second-color makeup material arranged in a first direction, and a second plurality of droplets of the second-color makeup material arranged in a second direction.

14 . The thin-film printed body according to claim 12 , wherein
the first makeup material layer is made of a plurality of droplets of the first-color makeup material arranged in a first direction, and the second makeup material layer is made of a plurality of droplets of the second-color makeup material arranged in a second direction.

15 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film printed body comprising:
printing on a thin film by discharging, while shifting the thin film in a first direction, droplets containing a functional component from a plurality of positions differing from each other in a second direction; and changing position and/or orientation of the thin film relative to the plurality of positions at each time of the printing.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shinoda Masayo
• Nakatani Shuhei
• Tsujita Kazuma

Classifications

• A45D44/005

  for selecting or displaying personal cosmetic colours or hairstyle · CPC title

• B41J3/407

  for marking on special material · CPC title

• B41J2/2146

  for line print heads · CPC title

• B41J2/01

  Ink jet · CPC title

• B05C5/0291 Primary

  the material being discharged on the work through discrete orifices as discrete droplets, beads or strips that coalesce on the work or are spread on the work so as to form a continuous coating · CPC title