The application and development of inkless printing technology
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No matter what kind of printing method is inseparable from ink, this has become an inherent concept of people, and inkless printing technology will undoubtedly break this concept. If it can be realized, it will become a new type of printing technology. There has been an introduction to the technology of inkless printing in the industry. Recently, the author discovered the patent on "inkless printing equipment" in the process of consulting patents, so he has a strong interest in it. Through the reading of various materials, the author has a certain understanding of the inkless printing technology, and hereby throws bricks and jade, so that everyone can discuss together.
"No ink printing equipment" patent
On July 27, 2011, the European Patent Office issued the patent "Inkless Printing Equipment" entitled "GB 2477139(A)", invented by WYRES CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY, WALKER MARTIN ROBERT, JARVIS ANTHONY N, CRIDLAND JOHN of Great Britain. In this patent, the inkless printing adopts a dry process, and an image forming material such as toner or ink is not required for printing an image, but a specific printing material, a substrate, which contains a photosensitive coloring material such as diacetylene, is required. When these photosensitive color materials are exposed to a suitable energy source (such as a laser), it is easy to change the color. In order to print the desired image, the laser beam should be selectively directed to different areas of the substrate, thereby causing the substrate to change from colorless to any color.
The core components of an inkless press
The core component of an inkless printer is a substrate marking device that is primarily comprised of a radiation source and a control system that includes three printheads, each of which is a source of radiation for emitting radiation of different wavelengths. The printhead 1 and printhead 3 may be comprised of an array of infrared (IR) radiation/near infrared (NIR) radiation emitters, or may be comprised of a thermal contact printhead that provides radiation at a first wavelength. Thermal radiation can have a broad spectrum or be limited to a specific frequency range. Suitable thermal radiation emitters include, but are not limited to, infrared (IR) / near infrared (NIR) lasers, infrared (IR) / near infrared (NIR) Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), resistive or inductive heating elements. The printhead 2 is comprised of an array of ultraviolet (UV) emitters that provide radiation at a second wavelength, including, but not limited to, UV lasers, UV light emitting diodes (LEDs), UV lamps (eg, mercury lamps). Or xenon lamp). There are separate transmitters in each printhead that can be individually addressed and can be individually controlled by the microprocessor via a driver amplifier.
The control system is the core component of the entire substrate marking device for controlling the radiation mechanism, including the microprocessor and drive amplifier. The radiation source can be controlled directly by the microprocessor or microprocessor controlled via one or more drive amplifiers.
The principle of inkless printing
In inkless printing, the control system collects digital file information, and the microprocessor converts the digital file information into a series of firing instructions for each printhead, and the independent transmitter in each printhead receives the corresponding data command. Mapping a particular pixel in a digital file to a particular point or region of the substrate while determining the duration and/or intensity of illumination required for each emitter of each printhead, thereby changing the color of each point or region on the substrate The color that matches the color of each image.
During the entire movement, the substrate is sequentially illuminated by the radiant light emitted by the emitters in each printhead. First, the infrared (IR)/near-infrared (NIR) light emitted by the printhead 1 is absorbed by the material of the corresponding region of the substrate, and the temperature of the substrate in the region is increased, so that the acetylene material in the region is activated from a low reaction state to a high active state. Subsequently, the substrate is exposed to UV light from the printhead 2, causing initial polymerization and discoloration of the diacetylene material. The color change depends on the exposure of the illuminated area. Finally, infrared (IR)/near-infrared (NIR) light emitted by the printhead 3 is further irradiated to complete the conformational change of the acetylene material. A reasonable sequence of thermal and UV radiation ultimately causes the substrate to change from colorless to any color.
Insights into inkless printing technology
The inkless printing technology uses advanced science and technology to replace traditional inks and papers with lasers and electronics. This is an innovation and development of traditional printing.
From the point of view of the radiation source, the inkless printing can have only one radiation source, emit two different wavelengths of radiation, or two or more radiation sources. In the color forming process, the device uses two kinds of radiation sources, heat radiation and UV radiation, wherein the first heat radiation source is used to activate the area where the substrate is to be marked, and then the UV and heat radiation sources are either or both. Both are used to cause discoloration of these areas, so that the light stability of the unactivated area of the substrate will be significantly improved, that is, the image quality is significantly improved compared to the previous use of only one UV light source. Since the radiation source emits a small amount of illumination, the inkless printing technique can achieve high image resolution. In today's rapid development of science and technology, the use of radiation sources is very easy to achieve.
The difficulty of the inkless printing technique should be the substrate problem. The substrate must be composed of a photosensitive coloring material, or a photosensitive coloring material such as diacetylene may be added to the substrate. Only when such a substrate is exposed to a specific energy source (such as a laser) can the color be easily changed. In order to form the desired image, the microprocessor controls the movement of the substrate relative to each printhead to selectively expose each of the illumination regions of the substrate such that successive color variations of the illumination region form an image. It can be seen that the requirement of the substrate for the inkless printing is high, which will undoubtedly increase the cost of the inkless printing. An imaging camera that did not stand in the market in the past few years was due to the high cost of its photosensitive color-developing materials, which led to its rapid decline. Therefore, whether ink-free printing can be developed depends on the cost of the substrate, which is the key to its market acceptance.