pH detecting device, printing system, and method for manufacturing printed material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9242482-B2
Application number	US-201514642587-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2015
Priority date	Mar 11, 2014
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

A pH detecting device includes a supplying unit to supply a pH indicator, with an inkjet head, to a surface of a material to be processed on which acidification is performed; a color information detector to detect color information of the pH indicator supplied to the surface of the material; and a pH specifying unit to specify a pH value of the surface of the material based on the color information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pH detecting device comprising:
a supplying unit to supply a pH indicator, with an inkjet head, to a surface of a material to be processed on which acidification is performed;
a color information detector to detect color information of the pH indicator supplied to the surface of the material; and
a pH specifying unit to specify a pH value of the surface of the material based on the color information.

2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the supplying unit is a piezoelectric inkjet head.

3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the color information detector is a colorimeter.

4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the color information detector detects a value in a coordinate system of a color space corresponding to a type of the pH indicator.

5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, when the pH indicator is bromocresol purple, the color information detector detects at least a value of a b*-axis in an L*a*b* color space.

6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, when the pH indicator is litmus, the color information detector detects at least a value of an X-axis in an XYZ color space.

7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the acidifying unit is a plasma processing unit that performs plasma processing on at least the surface of the material.

8. The printing apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a control unit to control the plasma processing unit to form a plurality of areas processed with different amounts of plasma energy on the surface of the material,
control the supplying unit to supply the pH indicator to each of the areas,
control the color information detector to detect the color information from the pH indicator supplied to each of the areas,
control the pH specifying unit to specify the pH value of each of the areas resulting from detection, and
set the amount of plasma energy of the plasma processing unit based on the specified pH value of each of the areas.

9. A printing apparatus comprising:
the pH detecting device according to claim 1 ; and
a recording unit to perform inkjet recording on the surface subjected to the acidification.

10. The printing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the supplying unit is a part of an inkjet head included in the recording unit.

11. The printing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the recording unit discharges an ink having negatively charged pigments dispersed in a liquid.

12. The printing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the recording unit discharges an aqueous pigment ink.

13. A printing system comprising:
an acidifying device to perform acidification on a material to be processed;
a supplying device to supply a pH indicator to a surface of the material on which the acidification is performed by the acidifying device;
a recording device to perform inkjet recording on the surface of the material subjected to the acidification;
a color information detector to detect color information of the pH indicator supplied to the surface of the material; and
a pH specifying unit to specify a pH value of the surface of the material based on the color information.

14. A method for manufacturing a printed material by forming, with an inkjet recording system, an image on a material to be processed, the method comprising:
acidifying a surface of the material;
supplying a pH indicator to the acidified surface of the material;
detecting color information of the pH indicator supplied to the surface of the material;
specifying a pH value of the surface of the material based on the detected color information of the pH indicator;
determining energy to be used to acidify the surface of the material based on the specified pH value;
acidifying the surface of the material using the determined energy; and
forming the image with the inkjet recording system on the material acidified using the determined energy.

Assignees

• Saitoh Haruki
• Nagai Koji
• Hiratsuka Hiroyuki
• Katoh Satoshi
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Saitoh Haruki
• Nagai Koji
• Hiratsuka Hiroyuki
• Katoh Satoshi

Classifications

• B41J11/009 Primary

  Detecting type of paper, e.g. by automatic reading of a code that is printed on a paper package or on a paper roll or by sensing the grade of translucency of the paper · CPC title

• B41M5/0011

  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 title

• B41J2/21

  for multi-colour printing · CPC title

• B41J11/0015

  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 title

• G01J3/46

  Measurement of colour; Colour measuring devices, e.g. colorimeters (measuring colour temperature G01J5/60) · CPC title