Flexographic Printing for High-Speed Package Decoration

An arch bridge-shaped flexographic printing press with six printing units arranged in a line along the material path. The unique layout allows shorter material travel distance, preventing left-right movement, and improving registration accuracy compared to traditional flexographic presses. The press has unwinding, printing, drying, and rewinding sections sequentially arranged. The six printing units are sandwiched between two wall panels. The lowest printing unit is positioned near the ground for easy access. This arch shape reduces the material path length and minimizes left-right material movement.

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Flexographic printing system with optimized ink drying and energy efficiency. The system has a collection device that measures coverage of graphic elements on each printing station's plate cylinder. Based on these measurements, it adjusts the air flow rates in the drying units of those stations. This automated optimization of air flow matching coverage prevents over-drying or under-drying of ink, improving ink drying and speed while reducing energy consumption compared to fixed air flows.

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A method for preparing flexographic printing plates that eliminates misalignment issues between colors in flexographic printing. The method involves attaching leading and trailing edge strips to the printing plate before imaging. These strips are then secured to matching structures on the imaging cylinder and the printing cylinder. This ensures consistent positioning and tension when mounted for imaging versus printing. It replicates the mounting method used during printing plate production. This allows for improved registration between colors in flexographic printing with accuracy comparable to digital printing.

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A high-precision flexographic printing device that uses piezoelectric electrostatic adsorption to transfer ink onto the printing cylinder for improved accuracy compared to conventional flexographic printing. The device has an ink cartridge, an ink transfer radiator, an embossing radial, a printing material transport platform, and a heating device. The embossing radial is an electrostatic radiation device with an embossing spoke above the material transport platform. An ink transferring spoke is provided above the ink cartridge. The ink transferring spoke and embossing spoke are close together. A heating device is provided behind the embossing spoke. The piezoelectric electrostatic adsorption process involves using the electrostatic field generated by the embossing radial to attract and adsorb ink onto the transferring spoke. The ink is then transferred to the embossing spoke during printing to provide high-precision ink patterns

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Flexographic printing machine with an adjustable ink transfer pressure that allows independent adjustment of ink transfer pressure between the anilox roll and printing plate without affecting the inking or embossing pressures. The adjustment device uses a box-type transmission part with sliding guides and screw motors in the upper and lower layers. The upper layer slides on a rail and has a connection to the anilox roll. The lower layer slides on a rail and connects to the printing plate. A fixed connection assembly with plates, nuts, and springs connects the upper and lower layers. This allows adjusting the ink transfer pressure by moving the upper layer relative to the lower layer.

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A method for producing printed matter using flexographic printing with improved ink properties and plate stability. The method involves using an active energy ray-curable ink with specific polyfunctional acrylate monomers and ink composition levels. The ink contains at least one polyfunctional acrylate with an SP value of 8.0-9.5 calculated by the Fedors method. The ink also has 40-85% by mass of the polyfunctional acrylate with the SP range. This ink composition prevents ink swelling in the flexographic printing plate and reduces plate entanglement compared to conventional inks.

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Rotary printing press for single-sided printing of packaging materials like film and cardboard, with interchangeable cylinder sleeves to vary repeat length. The printing unit has a plate cylinder with a sleeve to hold the printing plate, a transfer cylinder with a sleeve twice the diameter to hold the transfer plate, and an impression cylinder. This allows swapping the smaller plate cylinder sleeve for the larger transfer cylinder sleeve to change the web length printed per rotation. The cylinders can also be separately driven and axes adjusted to further customize repeat length.

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A method to print tactile inks on packaging boxes using offset flexographic printing to improve efficiency and quality compared to traditional screen or gravure printing. The method involves using offset printing for the base color and then multiple passes of flexographic printing for the tactile ink instead of separate screen/gravure steps. This allows thicker tactile ink layers and better coverage without blocking screens or gravure plates. The offset printing provides the background color and the flexographic passes add the tactile effect. It simplifies the process, reduces ink accumulation, and saves time vs separate steps.

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Distributed flexographic printing machine for flexible materials like packaging film that avoids the problems of satellite-type flexo presses. The machine has multiple linear printing units instead of a central cylinder. The units are spaced apart and each prints a color. This allows flexible materials to be printed without deforming like on a central cylinder. Tension isolation groups prevent material tension variations between units. The central cylinder is replaced with a conveyor belt to maintain consistent speed. This enables distributed printing with accurate color registration and easier maintenance compared to satellite-type presses.

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A printing machine with hybrid flexographic and digital printing capabilities for flexible and cost-effective packaging printing. The machine has two printing units, one for flexographic printing and one for digital printing, that can be selectively activated based on the job requirements. This allows the machine to adapt and optimize printing processes for different jobs without the need for multiple dedicated machines. It provides flexibility for jobs with varying lengths, ink usage, and personalization needs while leveraging the cost advantages of flexographic printing for longer runs and digital printing for shorter runs.

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High-stability flexographic printing machine with improved ink distribution for consistent printing quality. The machine uses a spoke-cylinder design with separate ink and impression cylinders. The ink cylinder has multiple ink channels with conical rams that push ink into the main cylinder. An ink guide tube at the bottom distributes ink evenly. A squeegee on the tube limits ink position. A sponge ring wets the main cylinder. This ensures full ink coverage on the impression cylinder for stable printing.

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A printing press with a unique layout and operation to enable rapid and waste-minimizing task changes in packaging printing. The press has multiple flexographic printing units arranged in a plane accessible to the operator. The units are organized in pairs, with each pair forming a double printing station. Between the stations is a dryer. To change tasks, only one unit in a pair is activated at a time while the other undergoes fitting, maintenance, or color change. This allows simultaneous printing and station preparation without web waste or press downtime.

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A single-layer flexographic printing machine with improved efficiency and versatility compared to traditional models. The machine uses a flexible printing plate instead of fixed engraved anilox rolls for printing. This allows quick pattern changes without roll swapping, as the flexible plate can be easily replaced. The machine also has a drying box to avoid substrate shrinkage and curling. The flexible plate can be cleaned easier and doesn't wear as much as engraved rolls. The plate is clamped to the outer side of the anilox roll to guide ink. This reduces ink buildup in the roll meshes. The machine also has features like web winding, positioning rods, and servo motors to enhance efficiency and automation.

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Flexographic printing device that maximizes ink usage in flexographic printing. The device has an ink transfer mechanism above the anilox transfer spokes, an ink collection box below the spokes, and a print cylinder meshed with the spokes. The ink transfer mechanism has an ink cylinder, feed, baffle plate, telescopic rod, pull rod, and outlet. The telescopic rod limits ink movement between the cylinder and outlet. This allows the ink to fully transfer from the cylinder to the spokes and prevents excessive dipping of the ink box. The spokes then transfer the ink to the substrate.

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Single-blade, multi-format ink supply system for flexographic printing presses that allows ink savings and flexibility compared to traditional full-width ink systems. The system has a modified ink lifting blade with separate ink pickup segments that correspond to ink chambers in the ink fountain. This allows the ink lift blade to pick up ink from the designated chamber for the width of the printing plate, preventing waste of full-width ink. The chambers separate by partitions in the ink fountain. The blade segments have larger diameter than the base blade to accommodate the ink.

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Printing system and method for high resolution flexographic printing with deformable anilox rolls to prevent stamp collapse and enable high resolution printing with rigid printing plates. The system has a printing roll with a rigid engraved pattern and an adjacent inking roll with deformable cells. Contacting the rigid pattern with the deformable roll allows ink transfer without plate distortion. This allows using high stiffness plates to prevent collapse while the deformable roll conforms to variations in roll diameters.

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Flexographic printing process to improve quality, prevent ink transfer issues, and allow higher speeds compared to conventional flexography. The process involves controlling pressures at different stages to optimize ink transfer and prevent issues like ink displacement and overflow. The steps are: 1. Set ink fountain pressure low to prevent ink transfer to the plate. 2. Differentiate ink fountain and anilox spoke pressures to avoid ink displacement. 3. Match impression cylinder and anilox spoke pressures to prevent ink overflow. This allows higher printing speeds without contact time issues. The process works for substrates like paper, cardboard, and film using aqueous or UV curable inks.

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Flexographic printing process for roll-faced paper used in corrugated boxes that enables high-quality, colorful, and consistent printing on roll-faced paper for corrugated boxes. The process involves steps like pre-loading the roll paper, tension control, radial preheating, guide correction, embossing, color printing, drying, cooling, and rewinding with tension control. It uses features like closed-loop tension control, radial preheating, guide correction, embossing, and tension control during winding to prevent wrinkling, deformation, and ink smearing on the roll paper. This allows high-quality, consistent printing on roll-faced paper with fine layouts, avoiding issues like dot gain, deformation, and wrinkling seen in traditional flexo printing on corrugated board.

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Printing metallic inks on substrates using flexography without using plastic films. The process involves applying an energy-curable primer to the substrate before printing, then curing the primer. This provides a surface for the metallic ink to adhere to and avoids the need for a plastic carrier film. The ink is printed using a flexographic process with a specific anilox roller transfer volume to achieve good print quality. The primer prevents ink smearing and improves metallic appearance compared to directly printing on unprimed substrates.

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Environmentally friendly high-gloss printing ink system for carton printing equipment that reduces ink consumption, waste, and pollution compared to conventional offset printing. The ink system uses a flexographic printing process with a unique anilox roller design to achieve high-gloss effects on carton printing. The roller has multiple cylinders with different numbers of ink holes. This allows customization of ink transfer for specific areas requiring high-gloss versus regular printing. The cylinders are locked together with positioning mechanisms to maintain alignment. The roller is sandwiched between the ink fountain roller and plate roller in sequence along the ink flow path.

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A compact and simplified flexible printing assembly that enables compact and low-cost flexographic printing without the complexities and costs of traditional flexographic printing presses. The assembly has a rotating ink delivery mechanism above a fountain, and a rotating printing mechanism with a cylinder and impression cylinder. The ink fountain, anilox roller, and doctor blade deliver ink to the substrate. The printing cylinders have opposite rotation directions to avoid contact issues. The anilox roller has pyramid ink pockets to scrape excess ink. This allows compact, low-cost, and easy-to-maintain flexographic printing without the complexities and costs of conventional flexographic presses.

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Printing process for producing high quality flexographic printed materials with improved reproduction of solids and highlights. The process involves using specific conditions for flexographic printing to suppress mechanical dot gain and produce printed matter with better print quality. The conditions include using a flexographic printing plate with a relief depth of 110-500 µm, ink with a cell volume of 3.0-8.0 mL/m2, printing pressure of 10-50 µm, and minimum dot diameter of 15-30 µm. This allows reproduction of fine details without excessive ink transfer and dot gain.

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A printing unit for printing patterns on the sides of paper-plastic packaging boxes. The unit has a mounting seat, an ink supply mechanism, and a printing assembly. The ink supply mechanism provides ink to the printing component, which is a plate with embossed patterns. The printing component contacts the outside of the box to transfer the embossed patterns with ink. This allows complex patterns to be printed on the sides of paper-plastic packaging boxes using a specialized printing unit instead of just simple text like dates and batch numbers.

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Flexographic printing machine with enclosed ink system to prevent ink splashing during operation and make ink changes easier. The machine has ink tanks, ink-conducting spokes, anilox rollers, embossing plate rollers, printing plate rollers, and a protective cover between parallel frame walls. The ink tank contains ink, the spokes guide ink, the rollers print, and the cover encloses the ink side. This prevents ink splashing during operation. To change ink, detach the cover and hang it, then raise the wall to prevent shaking. The cover can then be removed fully for ink access.

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Flexographic printing plate design and manufacturing method to improve ink transfer in solid areas for better printing quality. The plate has an embossed image area with concave-convex surface features. The average roughness length of the features is 15-120um, with 2-180% oil storage area and 20-90% load ratio at 30% cutting depth. This plate geometry enables higher ink transfer in solid areas versus flat embossing. The manufacturing involves laser engraving the plate from a precursor with similar embossed relief. The precursor is made by crosslinking a composition for laser engraving.

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Flexographic printing plate design to prevent uneven ink transfer when printing at high speeds. The plate has convex portions for holding ink and a base. The convex portions have sloped edges on the front and back to reduce impact with the anilox roller during printing. This reduces vibrations in the plate caused by contact with the roller. By mitigating plate vibrations, it prevents uneven ink transfer when printing at short intervals.

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Fidelity flexographic printing machine that reduces distortion of printed images by preventing excessive deformation of the flexible printing plate. The machine has an embossing roller that contacts the plate and compresses it to prevent excessive plate deformation during printing. The embossing roller can be adjusted to vary the compression force. This reduces plate deformation and prevents distortion of printed graphics and unclear printing outlines. It also reduces the pressure on the plate, further mitigating distortion.

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Flexographic printing plates and method to make them with improved ink transfer in solid areas for better print quality. The flexographic printing plate has a relief layer with a concave-convex structure on the image portion surface. The concave portions form ink flow paths when the plate separates from the printed object. This prevents ink trapping and ensures even ink transfer. The method involves engraving the plate with controlled groove depth and roughness to optimize ink transfer.

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Flexographic printing plate with reduced printing unevenness on corrugated cardboard, improved durability during repeated pasting, and reduced chipping during use. The plate has a photosensitive resin layer with specific components and hardness gradient. The layer contains elastomeric binder, ethylene unsaturated copolymer, hydrocarbon compound, and photopolymerizable initiator. The plate's surface hardness is higher than the internal hardness, with a 6° or more difference. This allows deformation during printing to absorb cardboard pressure and prevent shape distortion. The plate's dot ink transfer area ratio difference is less than 6% to reduce density variation.

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Printing machine design and operation to enable faster color changes and job switches with reduced waste compared to conventional machines. The machine has double printing stations with two flexographic printing units each. During color changes or job switches, instead of stopping the machine, only one printing unit per station is activated while the other undergoes setup or maintenance. This allows simultaneous setup/maintenance on half the stations while the other half prints. For job switches, the activated units are synchronized to prevent waste. This enables faster, continuous printing during setup/maintenance and color changes, reducing downtime and waste compared to stopping the entire machine.

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A process for flexographic printing onto thin polymeric film substrates like packaging materials to provide high opacity printed substrates. The process involves transferring ink from an ink reservoir to an anilox roll, then printing using a central impression cylinder press with a common impression cylinder that supports the substrate as it contacts adjacent plate cylinders. This allows printing multiple colors in sequence from one press pass. The ink formulation includes a high opacity pigment like titanium dioxide, a resin, solvent, and additives. This provides opaque printed films even when the substrate is thin, preventing product visibility through the package.

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A central drum flexographic printing press specifically designed for printing plastic and cellulose films without requiring additional stations like corona treatment or non-stick rollers for adhesive films. The ACB-300 central drum flexo press has three printing stations and one promoter station for adhesive films. This eliminates wasteful processes like corona treatment and non-stick rollers for films with inherent adhesion. The press can handle both adhesive and non-adhesive films without modification or additional equipment.

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Flexographic printing plates with improved ink uniformity, especially in solid areas, across different printing speeds. The plates have an uneven surface structure in the image area formed by grooves and bottomed holes with varying widths and diameters. The depth of the structure is 2-20 microns. This allows consistent ink transfer during printing by preventing air entrapment and ink dislocation. The structure is formed during plate manufacturing using processes like laser engraving or heat treatment and pressing.

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Flexographic printing machine with a unique layout to address issues of traditional satellite flexographic printing machines. The machine has multiple features to enable continuous printing without stopping for plate changes and avoid issues like distortion and waste when printing long patterns. The machine has a conveyor belt covering transmission connecting a pair of carriages. The support carriages are inside the belt, the plate carriages are outside the belt, and the printing material is fixed on the belt. An ink transfer wheel is near the plate wheel, and the plate wheel circumference matches the maximum pattern length. This allows continuous printing without stopping for plate changes, avoids substrate stretching issues, and prevents waste from long pattern gaps.

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Flexographic printing press that can adjust ink density and print quality at different speeds without compromising sharpness. The key is adjusting the roll speeds relative to each other to match ink transfer. When speed increases, ink stays longer on the anilox roll surface, so decreasing its speed matches. This prevents excessive ink transfer at high speed and local ink shortages at low speed. The cell structure of the anilox roll also helps equalize ink transfer. By controlling roll speeds and cell structure, the press can adjust ink density at different speeds without affecting print quality.

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Flexographic printing with improved ink transfer and printing quality by forming crevices in the relief layer based on the halftone dot area. The crevices have varying depths in areas with low dot density to prevent ink buildup and improve ink transfer. This is achieved through laser sculpting and rinsing the relief layer during manufacturing. The crevice depth changes with the dot density to match the ink concentration in those areas.

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A sheet-fed flexographic printer with an asynchronous printing unit that enables printing multiple versions using the same plate by making the printing roll circumference larger than the plate size. The asynchronous printing unit is independent from the feeding and transport mechanisms and can operate at its own speed. It has a servo motor driven by an asynchronous motion controller that can decelerate or accelerate based on sensed print completion. This allows starting the printing roll before the plate enters, synchronizing with the feed speed, and finishing before the plate exits.

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A multifunctional combination packaging printing machine that allows printing multiple processes on the same product without quality degradation. The machine has separate printing units for processes like offset, flexo, gravure, and foil stamping. The substrate unwinds, prints, and rewinds in a continuous loop between the units without intermediate transports. This avoids issues like ghosting, trailing, and mildew that can occur when moving printed material between machines.

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Flexographic printing method to reduce image distortion and improve print uniformity by controlling the shock at the tip of the print image contacting the impression cylinder. The method involves gradually lowering the image height towards the non-print area in the print direction. This reduces shock and bowne synge when the tip contacts the impression cylinder. The low levelized field is generated by sculpting the image data to gradually lower the print height in the transition area.

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A duplex multifunction rotary printing unit for high-speed, high-volume printing on web materials. It allows sequential printing with offset, flexo, and other processes in a single pass. The unit has offset, flexo, and common impression cylinders. The flexible flexo cylinder shares the common impression cylinder with the offset cylinder. This enables offset printing followed by flexo printing on the same web. It resolves issues like thickness variations when offset and flexo cannot both be used. The unit can also recover color, add finishes, and do other effects beyond the capabilities of a single process.

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Batch sheetfed flexographic printing press with improved efficiency and automation. The press has features like a conveyor mechanism with timing belt, rollers, and servo motors for precise synchronization. The printing unit has tangential rollers and cylinders driven by a single asynchronous servo motor for coordinated movement. The plate cylinder circumference exceeds the web size to avoid waste. This enables synchronized web feeding, printing, and drying with consistent quality and reduced waste.

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Flexographic printing system with improved ink recirculation to control line width uniformity for printing narrow lines with tight tolerance. The system has a closed loop ink recirculation between the ink pan and fountain roller. A density sensor measures ink density. A metering pump adds solvent to maintain target viscosity. The system prevents air entrainment in the recirculation line by using a non-return valve and a suction filter. This prevents ink voids and ensures consistent viscosity for tight line widths when printing narrow lines.

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Flexographic printing system with an inking system for printing narrow lines and functional devices using high viscosity inks. The system has a modified flexographic printing head with multiple anilox rolls to apply the high viscosity ink to the printing plate. The anilox rolls have different cell sizes to break down the ink into smaller droplets. This allows the ink to be transferred more precisely to the plate and print narrow lines with high integrity.

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Intermittent flexo printing equipment that allows flexible printing of different sizes and shapes of plates without waste or unnecessary equipment changes. The device has interchangeable print units that can be swapped out for different plate sizes and shapes. It also has features like reversible rollers and clutching to enable non-printing areas without waste. The equipment allows efficient batch printing of custom shapes by quickly changing the print units instead of changing the entire machine.

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Flexographic printing system with an ink replenishment system to improve line width control when printing narrow lines using high viscosity inks. The system has an ink reservoir with recirculation ports, a solvent replenishment chamber, a recirculation pump, and a mixing device. The solvent is pumped into the mixing device to replenish the ink in the reservoir. This ensures consistent ink viscosity and prevents line width variations as solvent evaporates during printing.

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Flexographic printing proofing system that allows accurate prediction of ink performance on a printing press by simulating press conditions. The system uses a proofing tool with an adjustable nip distance between anilox and transfer rolls. This allows matching pitch velocity between the rolls for consistent ink transfer. The tool also has a positive roll drive to prevent slippage. By optimizing ink transfer on the proofing tool, it predicts press performance. The proofing plate can be switched out for the press plate to test compatibility.

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