Inca Digital Printers Limited

Sericol Limited

Ocular Sciences, Inc.

Jindrich Vosahlo

Carole Noutary

William Ronald Stuart Baxter

A method of curing radiation-curable fluid is described. In one example, the method includes emitting radiation from an array of light-emitting diodes towards ink to be cured. LEDs are cheap, light weight, highly efficient in their conversion of electrical power, and give effectively instant switching to full power. Another advantage is that the emission spectrum of an LED is sharply peaked around the nominal frequency. Thus LEDs give several advantages over conventional radiation sources such as mercury lamps. A low oxygen environment is preferably provided at the radiation source to accelerate the curing reaction. Also described are inks which are specially formulated to respond to the radiation emission spectrum of an LED.

Curing

A method is disclosed of printing an area of a substrate in a plurality of passes using curable ink, the method comprising depositing a first pass of ink on the area, partially curing ink deposited in the first pass, depositing a second pass of ink on the area, and fully curing the ink on the area. The method finds particular application in the field of inkjet printing, and can afford the advantage of better wetting of ink on the substrate deposited by a previous pass and reducing the problem of ink spreading.

Printing with ink

A pressure regulation system for an inkjet printer includes a chamber for containing ink, a level sensor to measure the level of ink contained in the chamber, a pressure source for providing a fluid at a controlled positive or negative gauge pressure, and a pressure control device to control the pressure source. An ink supply regulating device regulates the flow of ink and an ink flow control device controls the ink supply regulating device based on an output of the level sensor. The pressure regulation system can be mounted close to the printhead.

Fluid-pressure controlled ink pressure regulator

A contact lens is disposed in a well containing hydration fluid, such that a concave surface of the lens faces upwardly and the lens is submerged in the hydration fluid, thereby allowing contaminants to leach out of the lens into the hydration fluid. After hydration, a washing fluid is introduced into the well and contaminated hydration fluid is removed from the well so as to replace at least some of the contaminated hydration fluid in the well with the washing fluid in a predetermined fluid-exchange procedure. The washing fluid is introduced into the well so as to be directed against the concave surface of the lens and the contaminated hydration fluid is removed at a removal location remote from where the washing fluid impinges against the lens, such that the action of the introduced washing fluid serves to oppose The predetermined fluid-exchange procedure is monitored so as to establish whether the predetermined fluid-exchange procedure has been correctly performed.

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Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Jindrich Vosahlo