Device and method for drying printed containers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9662905-B2
Application number	US-201515125669-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2015
Priority date	Mar 13, 2014
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

A container-handling station includes a drying-and-curing device that dries a printed region on a container. A sensor is configured detects heat energy from this reaction during a sensing interval that is between 50 milliseconds and 1 millisecond per angular degree of the container surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising a drivable transport element, a container-handling station, a container feed, a container discharge, a control-and-evaluation unit, a drying-and-curing device, and a sensor, wherein said transport element moves said container-handling station along a movement path between said container feed and said container discharge, wherein said container-handling station comprises said drying-and-curing device and said sensor, wherein said drying-and-curing device causes an exothermic reaction on said container, wherein said sensor is configured to detect emitted heat energy from said exothermic reaction during a sensing interval that is between 50 milliseconds and 1 millisecond per angular degree of said container surface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said sensor is disposed to detect emitted heat energy from a surface at a module that is configured to at least one of dry ink and cure ink.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said sensor comprises an infrared sensor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said sensor is disposed downstream, along said drying-and-curing device such that a container encounters said drying-and-curing device before encountering said sensor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said sensor comprises an optical system, wherein said optical comprises at least one lens, and wherein said optical system is configured to direct heat emitted from said container to said sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said a container-handling station is one of a plurality of identical container-handling stations, wherein sensors in said container-handling stations operate independently of each other.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said a container-handling station is configured to rotate a container in a first direction, said first direction defining a downstream direction, and wherein said sensor is disposed immediately downstream of said drying-and-curing device along said downstream direction.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said sensor is configured to provide, to said evaluation unit, information leading to a determination of an extent of dryness of a printed container based at least in part on heat energy detected by said sensor.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said evaluation unit is configured to determine said extent of dryness at least in part on the basis of a reference measured value.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a printing device for printing on containers, wherein said container handling device is arranged downstream of said printing device.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said drying-and-curing device comprises a UV lamp.

12. A method comprising determining an extent of dryness of printed containers, wherein determining said extent of dryness includes holding a container having a printed region that has been printed upon, using said transport element, moving said container along a movement path between a container feed and a container discharge, causing an exothermic reaction on said printed region, said reaction being one of a drying reaction and a curing reaction, and during a sensing interval that lasts no more than fifty milliseconds for each angular degree of said printed region, sensing heat energy emitted as a result of said reaction.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising causing said sensing interval to be between one millisecond and ten milliseconds.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein sensing comprises sensing heat energy after said exothermic reaction has been initiated.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining an extent of dryness of said printed region at least in part on detected heat energy.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining an extent of dryness of said printed region comprises determining said extent at least in part based on a measured temperature of said printed region prior to initiation of said exothermic reaction.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining whether said exothermic reaction has been correctly initiated based on heat detected from a surface other than said printed region.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining whether said exothermic reaction has been correctly initiated based at least in part on heat detected from a surface of a print head.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising using information derived from sensing said heat energy as a basis for determining that said printed region is insufficiently dry, and executing a step selected from the group consisting of ejecting said container and subjecting said container to further treatment.

20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising using information derived from sensing said heat energy as a basis for controlling drying.

21. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, prior to drying said printed region, detecting a temperature of a region of a target, wherein said target is selected from the group consisting of a surface of said container and ink on said surface.

Assignees

• Khs Gmbh

Inventors

• Koers Sascha
• Preckel Katrin
• Van De Wynckel Werner

Classifications

• B41J11/002 Primary

  Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating · CPC title

• B41J11/00214

  using UV radiation · CPC title

• B41J3/4073 Primary

  Printing on three-dimensional objects not being in sheet or web form, e.g. spherical or cubic objects (B41J3/283, B41J3/286 take precedence; building up a 3D object using individual droplets from jetting heads B29C64/112) · CPC title

• B41J11/00212

  Controlling the irradiation means, e.g. image-based controlling of the irradiation zone or control of the duration or intensity of the irradiation · CPC title

• B41J3/40733

  Printing on cylindrical or rotationally symmetrical objects, e. g. on bottles · CPC title