JP7545869B2 - Method and device for producing printed edible objects - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing printed edible objects.

Edible objects such as tablets and capsules have been transported by a transport device and a marking pattern formed on the surface of the edible object by an inkjet method (for example, see Patent Document 1). With the inkjet method, the type of ink and the thickness of the printed lines can be set arbitrarily, and printing with good visibility can be achieved. However, if the print head becomes dirty or clogged, the ink may not be ejected, resulting in missing prints.

As a method of printing on edible objects, a laser printing method in which a laser beam is irradiated onto the surface of an edible object has been known for some time (for example, Patent Document 2). The laser printing method has superior printing stability and can achieve a high yield rate compared to the inkjet method, but the visibility of the print is currently inferior to that of the inkjet method.

JP 2015-186783 A JP 2008-126309 A

The present invention aims to provide a method and device for producing printed edible objects that can improve yield while maintaining good visibility of the print.

The object of the present invention is achieved by a method for producing a printed edible body by printing on an edible body, the method comprising a transporting step of transporting the edible body and a marking step of forming a marking pattern on the transported edible body, the marking step comprising an inkjet printing step of forming a first printed pattern by performing inkjet printing on the edible body, and a laser printing step of forming a second printed pattern by performing laser printing on the edible body , the marking pattern being formed by combining the first printed pattern and the second printed pattern, the marking step comprising a laser printing step performed after the inkjet printing step, and the laser printing step forming the second printed pattern so as to complement a defective portion caused by a printing defect occurring in the first printed pattern .

In this method for manufacturing a printed edible body , it is preferable that the marking process further includes a printing defect detection process for detecting defective portions of the first printed pattern before performing the laser printing process, and the laser printing process can form the second printed pattern based on the detection of the defective portions.

The object of the present invention is also achieved by an apparatus for producing printed edible bodies by printing on edible bodies, the apparatus comprising a conveying device for conveying the edible bodies and a marking device for forming a marking pattern on the conveyed edible bodies, the marking device comprising an inkjet printing device for forming a first printed pattern by performing inkjet printing on the edible bodies, and a laser printing device for forming a second printed pattern by performing laser printing on the edible bodies, the marking pattern being formed by combining the first printed pattern and the second printed pattern, the marking device forming the first printed pattern with the inkjet printing device and then forming the second printed pattern with the laser printing device, and the laser printing device forming the second printed pattern so as to complement a defective portion caused by a printing defect occurring in the first printed pattern .

The present invention provides a method and device for producing printed edible objects that can improve yield while maintaining good visibility of the print.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printed edible body manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main portion of the apparatus for producing printed edible bodies shown in FIG. 1. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the main parts of a method for producing a printed edible body using the printed edible body production apparatus shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a marking pattern. FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printed edible body manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing apparatus for printed edible bodies according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the manufacturing apparatus for printed edible bodies 1 includes a supplying device 10 that supplies edible bodies, a conveying device 30 that conveys the edible bodies supplied from the supplying device 10, and a marking device 40 that forms a marking pattern on the edible bodies conveyed by the conveying device 30, and can manufacture printed edible bodies by printing on the edible bodies. Preferred examples of edible bodies include those that have a fixed shape, such as tablets, capsules, empty capsules, and tablet-like foods. In this embodiment, a flat tablet is used as the edible body to be printed on.

As shown in FIG. 2, the supply device 10 includes a hopper 11 for storing edible matter E, a vibration plate 13 that is driven to vibrate by a drive source 12 such as a drive motor or a vibrator, a number of vibration guide members 14 that are fixed to the vibration plate 13 and vibrate integrally with the vibration plate 13, a supply roll 20 that supplies the edible matter E, and a number of guide plates 15 that guide the edible matter E toward the supply roll 20.

The multiple vibration guide members 14 are spaced apart along the axial direction of the supply roll 20, and transport the edible matter E supplied between them toward the multiple guide plates 15 by vibration in the direction of arrow A. The multiple guide plates 15 are interposed between the vibration guide members 14 and the supply roll 20 with a small gap between them, and are fixed in the hopper 11 with a space between them in the axial direction of the supply roll 20.

The supply roll 20 has a plurality of pockets 21 formed in both the axial and circumferential directions, and the edible body E transported from the vibration guide member 14 passes between each guide plate 15 and is contained in the pocket 21. The bottom of each pocket 21 of the supply roll 20 is connected to a suction path 23 extending in the axial direction via a communication path 22 extending radially inward. As each pocket 21 passes through the guide plate 15 due to the rotation of the supply roll 20 in the direction of arrow B, the suction path 23 coincides with the suction shoe 24, and the contained edible body E is sucked and held.

When the edible body E contained in the pocket 21 passes through the guide plate 15 due to the rotation of the supply roll 20, both the suction holding and the holding of the edge by the guide plate 15 are released, and the brush roll 16 prevents the edible body E from jumping out of the pocket 21. The edible body E that has passed through the brush roll 16 is forcibly turned sideways by the regulating guide 26 (see FIG. 1), which is arc-shaped in side view and arranged to partially cover the outer circumferential surface of the supply roll 20. The turning of the edible body E in the pocket 21 can also be performed by the brush roll 16 upstream of the regulating guide 26 in the conveying direction. The turned edible body E is conveyed by the supply roll 20 with one of the front and back sides exposed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the conveying device 30 is composed of a roll that is rotated in the direction of the arrow, and like the supply roll 20, multiple pockets (not shown) are formed along the outer circumferential direction and the axial direction, and each pocket is connected to a suction path (not shown). This suction path is sucked by a suction shoe (not shown) set from the vicinity of the receiving position 31 of the edible body to the vicinity of the delivery position 32, and the edible body stored in the pocket in a horizontal position is adsorbed by negative pressure. The conveying device 30 conveys the edible body with the surface exposed. The conveying device 30 of this embodiment is configured to hold the edible body in multiple rows in the axial direction and print the edible body in each row with the marking device 40, but it may also be configured to hold the edible body in a single row in the axial direction.

The marking device 40 includes an edible object detector 41, an inkjet printer 42, a print defect detector 43, a laser printer 44, and a print inspection device 45, which are arranged in sequence in the conveying direction near the conveying device 30. The operation of these devices is controlled by a control device 46.

The edible body detection device 41 is, for example, a CCD camera, and captures an image of the exposed surface of the edible body transported by the transport device 30 to obtain image data. The control device 46 obtains position information of the edible body from the contours of the edible body based on the acquired image data, and calculates the timing at which the edible body passes through the inkjet printing device 42, the print defect detection device 43, the laser printing device 44, and the print inspection device 45 from the position information of the edible body and the transport speed, and controls the operation of each. If the edible body has a characteristic part such as a score line, the edible body detection device 41 may obtain orientation information of the characteristic part in addition to the position information of the edible body.

The inkjet printing device 42 is of known configuration equipped with a print head having multiple nozzles, and performs printing using an inkjet method on the exposed surface of the edible body transported to a predetermined position to form a first printing pattern. The first printing pattern is formed based on a marking pattern such as letters, figures, symbols, etc. that is preset and stored in the memory unit of the control device 46. If the edible body detection device 41 acquires orientation information of the characteristic part along with the position information, the first printing pattern can be formed along the characteristic part.

The print defect detection device 43 is, for example, a CCD camera, and captures an image of the edible object on which the first print pattern is formed. The control device 46 compares the captured first print pattern with a preset marking pattern, and if the captured first print pattern contains a defect due to a print defect, it identifies the position and size of the defect and stores the area corresponding to the defect in a memory unit.

The laser printing device 44 is a device that scans the laser light emitted from the light source to form a second print pattern on the surface of the edible body. In this embodiment, the surface of the edible body is irradiated with UV laser light to discolor discoloration inducers such as titanium oxide dispersed on the surface of the edible body, forming the second print pattern. The control device 46 extracts a portion of the preset marking pattern that corresponds to the defective portion detected by the print defect detection device 43, and forms a second print pattern to complement this defective portion. The laser printing device 44 is not particularly limited as long as it is a laser printing method that can irradiate the surface of the edible body with laser light to mark it, and may be configured to irradiate CO2 laser light, for example, and modify or peel (etch) the surface of the edible body with thermal energy to form the second print pattern.

The print inspection device 45, which is, for example, a CCD camera, captures an image of the exposed surface of the edible body to obtain image data. Based on the captured image data, the control device 46 compares the marking pattern formed on the edible body with a preset marking pattern to determine whether the marking is good or bad, and extracts only good products for subsequent processing. The edible body that has passed the print inspection device 45 is released from suction by the conveying device 30 at the delivery position 32, and is sent to subsequent processing by suction rollers, chutes, etc. (not shown).

The printed edible body manufacturing apparatus 1 having the above configuration can manufacture printed edible bodies by carrying out a conveying process in which the edible body is conveyed by the conveying device 30, and a marking process in which a marking pattern is formed on the conveyed edible body by the marking device 40.

Figure 3 is a flow chart for explaining the marking process. As shown in Figure 3, the marking process first performs an inkjet printing process in which the inkjet printer 42 performs inkjet printing on the edible object to form a first printed pattern (step S1). For example, the inkjet printer 42 forms the first printed pattern P1 shown in Figure 4(a) based on the marking pattern of "QJP".

The print defect detection device 43 performs a print defect detection process to detect defective portions due to print defects in the first print pattern P1 formed on the edible object (step S2). As shown in FIG. 4(a), if defective portions D1 to D6 occur in the first print pattern P1, the print defect detection device 43 detects these defective portions D1 to D6 (step S3).

Based on the detection of the defects D1 to D6, the laser printing device 44 performs a laser printing process to form a second printing pattern P2 in the areas corresponding to the respective defects D1 to D6, as shown in FIG. 4(b) (step S4). In this way, the marking pattern P is formed by combining the first printing pattern P1 and the second printing pattern P2. The first printing pattern P1 and the second printing pattern P2 can be combined by forming the second printing pattern P2 at least in the defects D1 to D6. That is, the second printing pattern P2 may be formed only in the defects D1 to D6, or may be formed in the defects D1 to D6 and overlap the first printing pattern P1.

On the other hand, if no defects are present in the first printing pattern P1, the marking process is terminated without performing the laser printing process in step S4. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4(c), the marking pattern P is formed only by the first printing pattern P1.

According to the method for producing a printed edible body of this embodiment, when there is no printing defect in the first printing pattern P1, a clear marking pattern P can be formed by inkjet printing, as shown in FIG. 4(c). On the other hand, even if there is a printing defect in the first printing pattern P1, only the part where there is a printing defect is complemented by the second printing pattern P2 by laser printing, as shown in FIG. 4(b). Therefore, while maintaining good visibility of the marking pattern P as a whole, it is possible to prevent printing defects due to printing defects and increase yield.

For comparison with FIG. 4(b), FIG. 4(d) shows a marking pattern P formed only with the second printing pattern P2 printed by laser printing. Compared to the marking pattern P shown in FIG. 4(d), the marking pattern P shown in FIG. 4(b) is formed with thick, dark lines by inkjet printing for the most part, and has excellent print visibility.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the specific aspects of the present invention are not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the printed edible body manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is configured to print on one side of the edible body using the conveying device 30 and the marking device 40, but it is also possible to print on both sides of the edible body by providing another conveying device and marking device having the same configuration as the conveying device 30 and the marking device 40 so that the edible body is received at the delivery position 32 of the conveying device 30 and a marking pattern is formed.

The conveying device 30 is not particularly limited as long as it is configured to hold and convey the edible body so that the printed surface is exposed, but is preferably configured to pass through the inkjet printing device 42 and the laser printing device 44 while maintaining the posture of the edible body so that the first printed pattern P1 and the second printed pattern P2 can be combined with high accuracy. As an example of such a conveying device 30, in addition to the suction roll as in this embodiment, a configuration in which the edible body is sandwiched between a pair of clamping belts and conveyed can be given.

The printed edible body manufacturing device 1 of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is configured to complement the defective parts D1 to D6 caused by the missing print in the first printed pattern P1 by forming the second printed pattern P2 based on the detection of the missing print detection device 43, but the missing print detection device 43 is not essential to the present invention, and the configuration can be made without the missing print detection device 43. Since problems such as dirt and clogging of the print head of the inkjet printing device 42, which are the main cause of missing print, are often not resolved unless cleaning is performed, once a defective part occurs in the first printed pattern P1 of the edible body, a defective part of the same shape and size tends to occur in the same place in the edible body printed thereafter. Therefore, the detection of the defective part of the first printed pattern P1 is performed, for example, by the printing inspection device 45, and the control unit 46 controls the operation of the laser printing device 44 so as to complement the defective part based on the image data of the printing inspection device 45, thereby minimizing the occurrence of defective products while maintaining good visibility of the print. In this case, the detection of the defective parts may be performed by an imaging device or the like provided separately from the print inspection device 45, or the position, shape, etc. of the defective parts identified visually by an operator may be input to the control unit 46.

In the marking device 40 of this embodiment, the inkjet printing device 42 and the laser printing device 44 are arranged so that the laser printing process is performed after the inkjet printing process. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the laser printing device 44 may be arranged upstream of the inkjet printing device 42 in the conveying direction so that the inkjet printing process is performed after the laser printing process. In FIG. 5, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The printed edible body manufacturing apparatus 1' shown in FIG. 5 can form the second printed pattern P2 by the laser printing device 44 and then form the first printed pattern P1 by the inkjet printing device 42, so that, as described above, the second printed pattern P2 can be used to complement areas of the first printed pattern P1 where printing defects may actually occur. In addition, since the first printed pattern P1 can be superimposed on the second printed pattern P2, for example, the second printed pattern P2 can be formed in a wider range than the area where printing defects will occur, or the entire marking pattern P can be formed with the second printed pattern P2 and then the first printed pattern P1 can be superimposed on the second printed pattern P2, so that defective areas can be complemented reliably.

Reference Signs List 1, 1': Apparatus for manufacturing printed edible body 10; Supply device 30; Conveying device 40; Marking device 41; Edible body detection device 42; Inkjet printing device 43; Print chipping detection device 44; Laser printing device 45; Print inspection device E; Edible body P; Marking pattern P1; First printed pattern P2; Second printed patterns D1 to D6; Defective portion

Claims (4)

A method for producing a printed edible body by printing on an edible body, comprising:
A conveying step of conveying edible bodies;
A marking process for forming a marking pattern on the conveyed edible object,
The marking step includes an inkjet printing step of forming a first printing pattern by inkjet printing on the edible body, and a laser printing step of forming a second printing pattern by laser printing on the edible body,
the marking pattern is formed by combining the first print pattern and the second print pattern ;
The marking step includes performing the laser printing step after the inkjet printing step,
A method for manufacturing a printed edible body , in which the laser printing process forms the second printed pattern so as to complement a defective area caused by a printing defect in the first printed pattern . The marking step further includes a printing defect detection step of detecting the defective portion of the first printing pattern before the laser printing step is performed,
The method for producing a printed edible body according to claim 1 , wherein the laser printing step forms the second printed pattern based on detection of the defective portion. An apparatus for producing a printed edible body by printing on an edible body,
A conveying device for conveying edible bodies;
A marking device that forms a marking pattern on the conveyed edible object,
The marking device includes an inkjet printing device that forms a first printing pattern by performing inkjet printing on an edible body, and a laser printing device that forms a second printing pattern by performing laser printing on the edible body,
the marking pattern is formed by combining the first print pattern and the second print pattern ;
the marking device forms the first print pattern by the inkjet printing device, and then forms the second print pattern by the laser printing device;
The laser printing device is an apparatus for manufacturing a printed edible body, which forms the second printed pattern so as to complement a defective portion caused by a printing defect in the first printed pattern . the marking device further includes a print defect detection device that detects the defective portion of the first print pattern before the second print pattern is formed by the laser printing device;
The apparatus for manufacturing a printed edible body according to claim 3 , wherein the laser printing device forms the second printing pattern based on the detection of the defective portion.

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