Printing machine and printing process
AssigneeHeidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
InventorsWalter D'Heureuse, Helmut Kipphan, Martin Schmitt-Lewen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A printing machine includes a printing form, an optical imaging unit for directly imaging the printing form, and an inking unit for inking the printing form, the printing form having a surface formed of a material with wetting properties reversibly changeable between a state with a very small contact angle and a state with a relatively large contact angle, the state with a small contact angle being achievable by action of light having a wavelength shorter than a material-specific wavelength, and a cleaning device for cleaning the surface of the printing form; and a printing process performed with the printing machine.
Claims10
A printing machine comprising a printing form, an optical imaging unit for directly imaging the printing form, an inking unit for inking the printing form, said printing form having a surface formed of a material containing TiO2, the TiO2 having wetting properties reversibly changeable between a state with a very small contact angle with water and a state with a relatively large contact angle with water, said state with a small contact angle with water being achievable by action of light having a wavelength shorter than a material-specific wavelength, and a cleaning device for cleaning said surface of said printing form.
A printing process having the following process steps:
- a) exposing a printing form having a surface formed of a material containing TiO2, the TiO2 having wetting properties reversibly changeable between a state having a very small contact angle with water and a state having a relatively large contact angle with water, over at least a select area of the surface, to light having a wavelength shorter than a material-specific wavelength, so as to bring at least the select area of the surface into the state with the very small contact angle with water, the areas of the surface not exposed by light having a wavelength shorter than a material-specific wavelength forming image regions;
- b) inking the printing form so that printing ink is accepted in said image regions of the printing form;
- c) transferring the printing ink from the printing form to printing material;
- d) repeating processing steps b) and c) as required;
- and
- e) cleaning the printing form.
A printing process having the following successive process steps:
- a) exposing a printing form having a surface formed of a material containing TiO2, the TiO2 having wetting properties reversibly changeable between a state having a very small contact angle with water and a state having a relatively large contact angle with water, in non-image regions of the surface, to light having a wavelength shorter than a material-specific wavelength, so as to bring the non-image regions into the state with the very small contact angle with water;
- b) allowing a molecular water layer to form on the printing form;
- c) inking the printing form so that printing ink is accepted in the image regions of the printing form;
- d) transferring the printing ink from the printing form to printing material;
- e) repeating process steps c) and d) as required;
- and
- f) cleaning the printing form.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.