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US 10,589,515 B2Granted
Cleaning system architecture with recirculating bath for variable data lithographic printing
AssigneePalo Alto Research Center Incorporated
InventorsTimothy D. Stowe, Gregory B. Anderson, Martin J. Sheridan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A variable lithographic cleaning apparatus, system and method works on the principle that dust and ink residue may be transferred from a lower surface energy reimageable conformable blanket surface to a higher surface energy surface low durometer cleaning member, such as the tacky roller, and then to an even higher surface energy cleaning member, such as the hard roller, which is hard and robust to scratching. The hard roller can then been scrubbed clean by an ink flushing device having a third cleaning member, such as a melamine sponge, wetted with a cleaning solution with the hard roller dried upon each rotation.
Claims19
A variable data lithographic printing system cleaning apparatus, comprising:
- a first cleaning member having a surface layer with a durometer at most 45 shore A, a surface roughness Ra less than 20 micro inches and a medium surface energy higher than a low surface energy of an imaging member, the first cleaning member configured to rotate against a conformable surface of the imaging member to transfer residual ink from the imaging member to the surface layer of the first cleaning member upon rotation of the imaging member;
- a second cleaning member having a hard surface with a surface roughness less than the surface roughness of the first cleaning member and a high surface energy higher than the surface energy of the first cleaning member, the second cleaning member configured to rotate against the first cleaning member surface layer to transfer the residual ink from the first cleaning member to the second cleaning member upon rotation of the first cleaning member;
- and
- an ink flushing device including a melamine sponge disposed in a liquid bath of cleaning solution against the hard surface of the second cleaning member to remove the residual ink from the second cleaning member to the cleaning solution, the melamine sponge configured to scrub the residual ink from the rotating second cleaning member against the sponge while lubricating the surface of the second cleaning member with the cleaning solution,
- wherein the melamine sponge is stationarily fixed in the liquid bath of cleaning solution against the hard surface of the second cleaning member to remove the residual ink from the second cleaning member.
2 more elements
A variable data lithographic printing system cleaning system, comprising:
- a first cleaning member having a surface layer with a durometer at most 45 shore A, a surface roughness Ra less than 20 micro inches and a surface energy of 29-35 dynes/cm, the first cleaning member configured to rotate against a conformable surface of a rotating imaging member to transfer residual ink from the imaging member to the surface layer of the first cleaning member upon rotation of the imaging member, the first cleaning member having a temperature controlled to a temperature less than the temperature of the imaging member;
- a second cleaning member having a hard surface with a surface roughness Ra less than 10 micro inches and a surface energy at least 8 dyne/cm higher than the surface energy of the first cleaning member, the second cleaning member configured to rotate against the first cleaning member surface layer to transfer the residual ink from the first cleaning member to the second cleaning member upon rotation of the first cleaning member, the second cleaning member having a temperature controlled to a temperature less than the temperature of the imaging member, the first cleaning member having a temperature controlled to a temperature at least 5 degrees C. less than the temperature of the imaging member, the second cleaning member having a temperature controlled to a temperature at least 5 degrees C. less than the temperature of the imaging member;
- an ink flushing device including a melamine sponge disposed in a liquid bath of cleaning solution against the hard surface of the second cleaning member to remove the residual ink from the second cleaning member to the cleaning solution, the melamine sponge configured to scrub the residual ink from the rotating second cleaning member against the sponge while lubricating the surface of the second cleaning member with the cleaning solution, the melamine sponge being stationarily fixed in the liquid bath of cleaning solution against the hard surface of the second cleaning member to remove the residual ink from the second cleaning member;
- and
- a fluid removal unit proximate the second cleaning member rotationally downstream the melamine sponge to remove the cleaning solution remaining on the second cleaning member surface after the second cleaning member is scrubbed by the melamine sponge,
- wherein the first cleaning member includes a first tacky roller and a second tacky roller, the first tacky roller being in rolling contact with both the imaging member and the second cleaning member, the second tacky roller being in rolling contact with both the imaging member and the second cleaning member adjacent the first tacky roller and configured to transfer ink residue from the surface of the imaging member to the second cleaning member that may still remain on the surface of the imaging member after the first tacky roller.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.