Unbacked fabric transport and condition system
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsMohammad M Samii, Mark A. Van Veen, Jack H Schmidt
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Abstract
An unbacked transport and conditioning printing system for printing a pattern on a fabric is disclosed. The system includes a fabric characterization and tension control subsystem for gathering information on variations in the fabric and an irregularity detection subsystem for detecting irregularities in the fabric, as well as, crease detection and removal. The fabric passes through a fabric drying and conditioning subsystem for characterization of the fabric. The system also includes a fabric control subsystem for advancing the fabric through a print zone, where a pattern is printed on an unbacked fabric. The fabric is transported through a drying and post-processing subsystem and a closed-loop color control subsystem.
Claims24
A method for printing a pattern on a fabric, comprising:
- unwinding a fabric from a fabric roll;
- draping said fabric between said fabric roll and at least one roller, wherein an apex of the draped fabric is sensed by at least one fabric-level sensor;
- controlling a speed of said unwinding of said fabric by sensing said apex of said draped fabric;
- ascertaining characteristics of said fabric by stretching said fabric with a skewed roller, capturing images of said stretched fabric, and evaluating said captured images;
- depositing ink on said fabric;
- and
- rewinding said fabric on a roll.
A method for printing a pattern on a fabric, comprising:
- unwinding a fabric from a fabric roll;
- draping said fabric between said fabric roll and at least one roller, wherein an apex of the draped fabric is sensed by at least one fabric-level sensor;
- controlling a speed of said unwinding of said fabric by sensing said apex of said draped fabric;
- ascertaining characteristics of said fabric by stretching said fabric with a skewed roller, capturing images of said stretched fabric, and evaluating said captured images;
- depositing ink on said fabric;
- rewinding said fabric on a roll;
- illuminating said fabric using low-angle light sources;
- and
- sequentially strobing said light sources.
A method for printing a pattern on a fabric, comprising:
- unwinding a fabric from a fabric roll;
- draping said fabric between said fabric roll and at least one roller, wherein an apex of the draped fabric is sensed by at least one fabric-level sensor;
- controlling a speed of said unwinding of said fabric by sensing said apex of said draped fabric;
- ascertaining characteristics of said fabric by observing a weave pattern in said fabric, wherein ascertaining said characteristics of said fabric comprises:
- stretching said fabric with a skewed roller,
- capturing images of said stretched fabric, and
- ascertaining tension forces of said weave pattern with an algorithm;
- depositing ink on said fabric;
- and
- rewinding said fabric on a roll.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.