Roll-to-roll printing apparatus

Abstract

In order to provide, to a roll-to-roll printing apparatus which seamlessly performs printing on a base material using a roll-to-roll method, performance for finely controlling the tension of the base material, the roll-to-roll printing apparatus includes a drive roll () that supplies a base material (B) to a plate cylinder, a drive roll actuator that rotates the drive roll (), a dancer actuator () that changes a path line length of the base material (B) to vary the tension of the base material (B), a tension detection device () that detects the tension of the base material (B), and a tension control device () that controls the drive roll actuator and the dancer actuator () in accordance with a result of the detection by the tension detection device () to compensate for a variation in the tension of the base material (B). When compensating for the variation in the tension of the base material (B), the tension control device () uses the drive roll actuator to perform relatively rough control, while using the dancer actuator () to perform relatively fine control.