Apparatus for reducing wrinkles in moving web

摘要

A print media moving apparatus includes a vacuum assembly positioned immediately upstream relative to a roller. The vacuum assembly has a multiple vacuum manifolds forming an arcuate surface including three sections with the second section located between the first and third sections. The arcuate surface includes an extremum in the second section. The roller, having a diameter and rotational axis, includes three sections with the second section located between the first and third section as viewed along the rotational axis. The diameter of the roller in the first and third sections is greater than in the second section. The three sections of the vacuum assembly correspond to the three sections of the roller such that the contour of the arcuate surface causes the print media, after leaving the vacuum assembly, to contact the first and third sections of the roller prior to contacting the second section of the roller.

主权项

1. An apparatus for moving a continuous web of print media comprising:
a roller having an axis of rotation and a diameter, the roller including a first section, a second section, and a third section, the second section being located between the first section and the third section as viewed along the axis of rotation, the roller including a profile as viewed along the axis of rotation in which the diameter of the roller in the first section and the diameter of the roller in the third section are each greater than the diameter of the roller in the second section; a vacuum assembly having a plurality of vacuum manifolds arranged in an arcuate configuration to provide a first section, a second section, and a third section, the second section being located between the first section and the third section, the arcuate configuration of the vacuum assembly including an extremum point located in the second section, the plurality of vacuum manifolds providing a vacuum force proximate to the first side of the movable print medium; and the vacuum assembly being positioned along a media travel path immediately upstream relative to the roller, the first section, the second section, and the third section of the configuration of the plurality of vacuum manifolds corresponding to the first section, the second section, and the third section of the roller such that the contour of the arcuate surface causes the web of print media, after leaving the vacuum assembly, to have a non-linear profile in a direction perpendicular to the media travel path so that the web of print media contacts the first section and the third section of the roller prior to contacting the second section of the roller.