Liquid nitrogen jet stream processing of substrates
AssigneeHP Scitex Ltd.
InventorAlex Veis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to processing a substrate including at least one sheet of paper, cardboard or carton by directing a jet stream of liquid nitrogen to a surface of the substrate via a jet nozzle; and by moving the jet nozzle at a distance from the surface. The jet stream can be unmodulated or modulated. For example, the jet stream can be modulated by a modulation unit such as to reduce the impact of the jet stream on the surface. In this way, the jet stream can be applied to score folding lines into the substrate. An unmodulated or on/off modulated jet stream can be applied to cut lines into the substrate. Thus, by applying an appropriate modulation to the jet stream, the processing can switch between cutting the substrate and scoring folding lines into the substrate.
Claims20
A method of processing a fluid sensitive substrate, comprising:
- providing a fluid container for receiving liquid nitrogen;
- arranging the fluid sensitive substrate on a processing surface;
- directing a jet stream of said liquid nitrogen to the fluid sensitive substrate via at least one jet nozzle connected to the fluid container;
- and
- moving a holding unit, wherein the holding unit holds the jet nozzle at a distance from a surface of the fluid sensitive substrate to score the fluid sensitive substrate to form fold lines.
A method of processing a fluid sensitive substrate, comprising:
- with a jet nozzle connected to a fluid container, directing a jet stream of liquid nitrogen to the fluid sensitive substrate supported by a processing surface;
- and
- with an actuator, moving a moveable member to modulate the jet stream directed by the jet nozzle, the actuator moving the moveable member to a first position relative to the jet nozzle to cut the fluid sensitive substrate, and the actuator moving the moveable member to a second position relative to the jet nozzle to partially distort the jet stream directed by the jet nozzle to score fold lines in the fluid sensitive substrate as the jet nozzle is moved relative to the fluid sensitive substrate while the moveable member is set to the second position, the second position different from the first position.
A method of processing a fluid sensitive substrate, comprising:
- a jet nozzle connected to a fluid container, directing a jet stream of liquid nitrogen to the fluid sensitive substrate supported by a processing surface;
- and
- with an actuator, moving a moveable member to modulate the jet stream directed by the jet nozzle, the actuator moving the moveable member to an on position relative to the jet nozzle to allow a first impact of the jet stream on the fluid sensitive substrate when cutting the fluid sensitive substrate, and the actuator moving the moveable member to a partially on position relative to the jet nozzle to partially distort the jet stream directed by the jet nozzle to allow a second impact of the jet stream on the fluid sensitive substrate when scoring the fluid sensitive substrate to form fold lines in the fluid sensitive substrate as the jet nozzle is moved relative to the fluid sensitive substrate while the moveable member is set to the partially on position, the second impact being less than the first impact.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.