Consumables
eltromat presents new register control system
Tuesday 17. March 2009 - regi_star 20 - productivity at a maximum level
As a manufacturer and worldwide solutions provider, eltromat is a valued partner to both OEMs as well as printers when it comes to optimising printing processes, whether it be for gravure, flexo, offset or screen printing.
Platform concept for future
Flexibility
eltromats product lines stand for high efficiency as well as customer value and are the result of a technically mature product line concept, which relies on high-quality, state of the art technology from one source, comprehensive process knowledge as well as user-specific project planning combined with a global service network. The new eltromat platform concept based on in-depth integration provides innovative, tailor-made system solutions for all current printing machines and – in comparison to competitors systems – maximum flexibility for the future.
eltromat recognises, like no other, the demands of their customers and features attractive solutions for cost savings for both new as well as retrofit projects.
To improve the performance of printing presses so that less operational effort is required, less waste is generated, and set-up times are reduced, eltromat has developed and introduced the new register control system regi_star 20 – the successor to the renowned dgc_650, dgc_655 and dgc_700.
Higher ease of operation
The new real time system with XFC technology (eXtreme Fast Control) offers even higher ease of operation and a maximum of automation. With the regi_star 20, register is achieved quickly which means a considerable reduction in waste and set-up time, at the same time taking the pressure off the operators. This leads to increased productivity and reduced costs per job. This is especially important today when job run lengths continue to be cut and printing plants have to struggle with more and more job changes per day.
The operation is intuitive and carried out via a touch screen monitor with a simply structured Human Machine Interface (HMI) and integrated online support. Operators can view a live image of the register marks on the screen in their actual colour. This unique feature makes life for the operator even easier, saves time and thus reduces waste.
The adaptive RGB register sensor in use even recognises inks with extremely low contrast, metallised inks as well as transparent lacquers. Due to the range of depth of focus of the fibre optics it is not necessary to change the scanning angle or to amplify the signal strength. The patented single head measurement enables the register marks to be measured in any sequence and guarantees that the mode of register control is optimally suited to the printing situation, e.g. during start-up, regi_star 20 operates in sequential mode to bring all the print units into register as quickly as possible,
changing to key colour mode during the print run to achieve highest quality.
An automatic register mark search to set the measuring gates as well as register mark centering are also part of regi_star 20s considerable range of functionalities. In addition, especially developed algorithms such as the patented automatic adaptation to press speed changes and web flutter make for quick compensation of these types of misregister. Repeat jobs can be prepared on regi_star 20 even while the present job is still running which means job changes can be carried out without delay.
The system has several options, e.g. the ability to make overall adjustments from each print unit; a waste protocol module that informs the operator once the set tolerance values have been exceeded and – provided a tagging system is available – marks the defective print; an external protocol module provides a comprehensive report for the complete job.
With Automatic Pilot Control the control parameters and correction speeds are automatically adapted to the different press states. This also leads to a considerable reduction in waste during make-ready, start-up, splice and speed changes. RGB camera systems can be installed instead of the previously mentioned fibre optics. This allows for the use of miniature dot shaped register marks and ensures the highly precise absolute measurement of the register without the previously required zero adjustment – even if the distance between web and camera should vary strongly – and still provide for secure register control and waste reduction. If required, the system can be fitted with various pre-setting modules enabling the register on the press to be set while it is stopped thereby reducing set-up time and waste considerably.
Intelligent linking
By means of intelligent linking of the regi_star 20 together with the new web viewing system webvideo_star 2000, it is possible to achieve completely automatic fine adjustment of the register whether it be for side register variations or skew-sensitive materials. Once the correct measurement time has been determined by regi_star 20, the webvideo_star 2000 measures the exactness of register on both sides of the web, the print width, as well as the amount of skew with a high degree of accuracy. The resulting fine corrections are then taken over by regi_star 20. Automatic fine tuning (_aft) enables a perfect register fit to be achieved automatically and with each job change, saving several hundreds of meters of waste. Another highlight is the automatic skew control (_sc), which is used in combination with motorised skew rollers in gravure printing units. The combination of automatic fine tuning and skew control is the optimal solution for all types of fine adjustments. Also, this is accompanied by a tremendous waste reduction at every press start-up and splice.