US 12,064,982 B2
Coating module for coating a thin layer of ink on a ribbon
Klaus Peter Crone, Hennef (DE); Alain Saurer, Bôle (CH); Niklaus Schneeberger, Köniz (CH); Manuel Thomet, Liebefeld (CH); Marc Meienberger, Bern (CH); and Ferchaud Benjamin, Nantes (FR)
Assigned to ARMOR, Nantes (FR)
Appl. No. 18/257,256
Filed by ARMOR, Nantes (FR)
PCT Filed Dec. 13, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/085518
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 13, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/128929, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 23, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 20213814 (EP), filed on Dec. 14, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0398800 A1, Dec. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. B41J 31/16 (2006.01); B05C 1/08 (2006.01); B41J 31/00 (2006.01); B41J 2/325 (2006.01); B41J 31/05 (2006.01); B41J 33/26 (2006.01); B41J 33/36 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 31/16 (2013.01) [B05C 1/083 (2013.01); B41J 31/00 (2013.01); B41J 2/325 (2013.01); B41J 31/05 (2013.01); B41J 33/26 (2013.01); B41J 33/36 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A coating module for variable speed ribbon coating, said coating module comprising:
a ribbon comprising an inner face and an outer face, said outer face being designed to retain ink on its surface;
a conveyor system comprising a support element holding and transporting the ribbon on its inner face;
a squeeze ink roller arranged in contact with the outer face of the ribbon, said squeeze ink roller comprising an outer layer made of elastic material;
a reservoir assembly designed to hold ink thereon and to feed the squeeze ink roller with said ink, and
a pressure controller comprising an active element for pressing the ribbon between the squeeze ink roller and the support element along a coating zone,
wherein an elasticity of the outer layer of a surface of squeeze ink roller and a surface of the support element are designed in such a way that stress applied to the ink along the coating zone in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the squeeze ink roller is monotonic on both sides of a global maximum.