Printing system assemblies and methods

Abstract

The present teachings disclose various embodiments of a printing system for printing a substrate, in which the printing system can be housed in a gas enclosure, where the environment within the enclosure can be maintained as a controlled printing environment. A controlled environment of the present teachings can include control of the type of gas environment within the gas enclosure, the size and level particulate matter within the enclosure, control of the temperature within the enclosure and control of lighting. Various embodiments of a printing system of the present teachings can include a Y-axis motion system and a Z-axis moving plate that are configured to substantially decrease excess thermal load within the enclosure by, for example, eliminating or substantially minimizing the use of conventional electric motors. Additionally, various embodiments of a Y-axis motion system of the present teachings can include a gripper motion control assembly of a Y-axis motion system configured to provide dynamic orientation of the rotation of a substrate about the theta-Z (θ-Z) axis during Y-axis travel to maintain a high degree of precision for substrate orientation parallel to the axis of travel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.