Flexographic printing system providing controlled feature characteristics

摘要

A flexographic printing system uses a flexographic printing plate to produce printed patterns on a substrate. An ink recirculation system is used to reduce variability in system performance resulting from ink viscosity changes. A recirculation pump moves ink through an ink recirculation line connected to an ink reservoir. A metering pump adds a controlled flow rate of solvent from a solvent replenishment chamber into the ink recirculation line, thereby providing replenished ink which is returned to the ink reservoir. A control system is used to control the flow rate of solvent provided by the metering pump responsive to feature characteristics determined by analyzing a captured image of the printed pattern.

主权项

1. A flexographic printing system including a print module comprising:
a plate cylinder on which is mounted a flexographic printing plate having raised features defining a pattern including one or more features to be printed on a substrate; an impression cylinder that is configured to force the substrate into contact with the flexographic printing plate; an ink reservoir containing an ink and including one or more ink recirculation ports; an anilox roller having a patterned surface for transferring a controlled amount of the ink from the ink reservoir to the flexographic printing plate; an imaging system for capturing an image of the pattern printed on the substrate; and an ink recirculation system including:
an ink recirculation line that is connected to the ink recirculation ports of the ink reservoir;a solvent replenishment chamber containing solvent;a metering pump for pumping a controlled flow rate of solvent from the solvent replenishment chamber into the ink recirculation line thereby providing replenished ink;a control system for controlling the flow rate of solvent provided by metering pump; anda recirculation pump for moving ink through the ink recirculation line and returning the replenished ink to the ink reservoir; wherein an image captured by the imaging system is analyzed to determine a feature characteristic of the one or more features of the printed pattern, and wherein the control system controls the flow rate of the solvent provided by the metering pump responsive to the determined feature characteristic, wherein the feature characteristic is a line width.