Development of Doctor Blade Assembly for Rotogravure Printing Line

Abstract

In Flexible manufacturing industry Rotogravure Printing is not only popular but also very beneficial for printing huge quantity jobs. Now-a-days flexible packaging is a need in each and every segment as the demand is increasing on a fast pace and the market is being customer driven. To full this need rotogravure printing machine is taken into consideration. Rotogravure printing machine has many variables for its optimum printing capability and superior quality. There are many sub systems/assemblies incorporated in the machine like Film tension control system, Auto registration control, Drying system, Solvent recovery system, Doctor Blade assembly, Gear drives. Out of all the systems and assemblies used Doctor blade assembly is one of the most crucial part that helps in improving the printing quality of Rotogravure printing machine. At present doctor blade is adjusted manually over the printing cylinder. The main objective of the project is to modify existing doctor blade assembly using different methodologies and automate the machine to get an optimum printing quality without human intervention also saving cost for the company by reducing labour. The main advantage is reduction of labour and time of production also improving quality thereby increasing productivity of the machine. For the practicality of the project NFlex Systems, Rakanpur, Ahmedabad known for Flexible Laminated Material, Rolls, and Pouches, is taken into consideration which will also help to implement the experimental and developmental work on rotogravure printing machine. The company is having rotogravure printing machine with manual doctor blade assembly which creates problem in terms of assembly design errors, human dependency and human errors. Thus with the help of some modification and automation of this assembly the above errors can be eliminated.