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US 9,849,663 B2Granted
Exposing printing plates using light emitting diodes
AssigneeEsko-Graphics Imaging GmbH
InventorWolfgang Sievers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus comprises: (a) a rotatable drum configured to have a UV-curable printing plate with an ablatable layer thereon, placed thereon; (b) at least one laser beam to image the plate on the drum by ablating some of the ablatable layer according to image data to form an imaged plate; (c) an unloading area onto which a plate is movable when unloaded; and (d) a plurality of UV LEDs configured to apply UV radiation to the back of the UV-curable plate or to both the front and back of the UV-curable plate during or after the unloading of the imaged plate.
Claims11
An apparatus comprising:
- a rotatable imaging drum configured to have a UV-curable printing plate placed thereon, the drum operative to rotate during an imaging process, the plate having an ablatable layer thereon, the plate being a UV-curable flexographic plate, a UV-curable letterpress plate, or a UV-curable sleeve;
- a source of one or more laser beams coupled to a source of image data and operable during the imaging process to image the UV-curable plate that has been placed on the drum, the imaging using the source of one or more laser beams causing ablating of some of the ablatable layer according to imaging data to form an imaged plate;
- an unloading area onto which the imaged plate is movable as part of an unloading process that unloads the imaged plate from the drum;
- and
- a plurality of UV emitting LEDs configured to apply UV radiation to the back of the plate during or after the unloading of the imaged plate.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a rotatable imaging drum configured to have a UV-curable printing plate placed thereon, the drum operative to rotate during an imaging process, the plate having an ablatable layer thereon, the plate being a UV-curable flexographic plate, a UV-curable letterpress plate, or a UV-curable sleeve;
- a source of one or more laser beams coupled to a source of image data and operable to image a UV-curable plate that has an ablatable layer thereon on the drum by ablating some of the ablatable layer according to imaging data to form an imaged plate;
- an unloading area onto which a plate is movable when unloaded from the drum;
- and
- a plurality of UV emitting LEDs configured to apply UV radiation to the back of the UV-curable plate or to both the front and back of the UV-curable plate during or after the removing of the imaged plate.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.