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US 12,011,915 B2Granted
Rotary screen printing apparatus and process
AssigneeTemptime Corporation
InventorsBrian S. Huffman, Mohannad Abdo, Robert Reilly
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to a rotary screen printing apparatus, comprising: a rotary cylindrical screen; a conduit which provides fluid communication to an internal volume of the rotary cylindrical screen; and, a heater whose output is directed towards the conduit.
Claims17
A rotary screen printing process, comprising:
- introducing a coating material into a reservoir;
- determining a temperature of the coating material in the reservoir using a first heat sensor coupled to the reservoir;
- using a first heater, heating the coating material held in the reservoir to a first predetermined temperature above a liquefication point of the coating material so that the coating material is liquefied;
- releasing the liquefied coating material at the first pre-determined temperature into a conduit which provides fluid communication to an internal volume of a rotating cylindrical screen, wherein
- the released liquefied coating material passes along the conduit and is introduced into the internal volume of the rotating cylindrical screen;
- and,
- the introduced liquefied coating material first contacts an internal surface of the rotating cylindrical screen and is then brought into contact with a squeegee which acts to impel the liquefied coating material through an array of apertures provided in the rotating cylindrical screen, the squeegee being fixedly disposed in the internal volume of the cylindrical screen so that the squeegee does not rotate within the cylindrical screen as the cylindrical screen is rotating;
- determining one of a temperature of the conduit, the temperature of the liquefied coating material passing through the conduit, or the temperature of the liquefied coating material discharged from the conduit to the internal volume of the rotary cylindrical screen using a second heat sensor;
- using a second heater, heating the conduit so that the coating material maintains a second predetermined temperature above a solidification point of the liquefied coating material as the liquefied coating material passes through the conduit;
- contacting a printable substrate with an external surface of the rotating cylindrical screen so that the liquefied coating material impelled through the apertures is transferred to the printable substrate;
- and,
- solidifying the transferred coating material on the printable substrate.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.