Miracle Plates

ajr

ajr

Well-known member
JP Imaging creates 'miracle' coating-free plate

printweek.com, 20 July 2009

A company set up by two former Agfa and Kodak R&D directors has applied for patent protection for what it is calling "the most important technology breakthrough since the introduction of thermal CTP".

The company, JP Imaging (JPI), claims to have developed a method of laser exposure on uncoated standard grained and anodised aluminium that will switch it from its normal (oxidised) hydrophobic state to a hydrophilic state.

JPI founders Dr Rod Potts and Dr Peter Bennett, former R&D directors for lithographic printing plates at Agfa and Kodak respectively, have developed the technology in collaboration with Liverpool University with partial funding from the UK government.

The breakthrough centres around the use of an ultra-fast laser, which pulses once every 10-14 seconds, (100 trillion times a second) to switch the ink receptivity of uncoated grained and anodised aluminium.

The laser causes the aluminium surface to temporarily hydrophilise, meaning the plate will perform in the same manner on press as any other digitally exposed plate, with the imaged areas taking fount and the non-imaged areas taking ink.

Former DuPont plate manufacturing manager John Adamson, who co-founded JPI with Potts and Bennett, claimed that the new technology had "massive environmental implications" for the printing industry.

JPI's so called "miracle plate" could offer massive environmental savings on coating chemicals, coating solvents and energy consumption during plate manufacture and subsequent use.

Adamson said: "This is the biggest breakthrough in CTP since thermal. JPI has the former R&D directors of both Kodak and Agfa. They have combined their formidable technical expertise to create the Holy Grail - CTP plates that don't need coatings. Who needs switchable coating polymers when you can have switchable Aluminium? The implications for the industry are phenomenal."

In addition, the elimination of plate coating means that the plate can be re-imaged using the same process once the ink has been removed and the plate returned to its normal hydrophobic state by allowing to stand for several days or by heating for a few minutes in an oven.

According to JPI, the technology will allow blank aluminium plates to be re-imaged multiple times. The company has demonstrated re-imaging and re-printing a plate up to five times in a lab.

Adamson added: "The unique feature of this technology is the use of ultra-fast pulsed lasers. This opens up a whole new field of science to us and is so novel that we have patented the technology. Normal CTP technology uses totally different lasers and needs chemical coatings on the digital plates. We don't. We think this technology will revolutionise CTP and reduce the environmental demands of the printing industry."

JPI said that it hoped to bring the technology to market "within two years".
 
I can hardly wait for the arguments as to whether these plates are truly processless since exposing them constitutes a process. :)

best, gordon p
My print blog here: Quality In Print
Current topic: Print in the internet age – a customer's perspective raises some questions
 
Andy Tribute will have an article on this tomorrow about this announcement. I will be sure to post it up here as well.
 
Now, how much longer before we just get rid of changeable plates completely? I argued just the other day that once CtP was so optimized it needed nothing but exposure the next logical step is to take the plates out of the equation completely. R&D guys get out your thinking caps!
 
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Ritter -

WRT erasable plates on press -

CreoScitex at GraphExpo 2000 showed the SP press technology - a spray-on emulsion.
This emulsion was the core Agfa thermofuse technology found in Azura - we called
the emulsion in the bottle LiteSpeed.

Also - check-out ManRoland - and their DicoWeb.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had an interesting re-usable plate technology demo'd at Drupa 2004.

R&D indeed has had their thinking caps on for your quest for quite a while.

Regards,
 
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SteveAgfa said:
Ritter - WRT erasable plates on press -

CreoScitex at GraphExpo 2000 showed the SP press technology - a spray-on emulsion.
This emulsion was the core Agfa thermofuse technology found in Azura - we called the emulsion in the bottle LiteSpeed.

Also - check-out ManRoland - and their DicoWeb.
Click to expand...

The SP press technology was a terrific idea, where a plate was mounted on the press, then the Agfa LiteSpeed coating was sprayed on after which it was exposed and run. After the run the coating was washed off and recoated and exposed again. I think it was an eight minute changeover from one job to the next (two-up press). Unfortunately, if memory serves, the technology was hampered by press spray powder getting into the coating and causing spots.

The DicoWeb used a ribbon of coating media that was thermally transfered onto a blank plate on the press using a Creo laser mounted on press. After the run the coating is removed and the plate reimaged. Not sure how many DicoWebs were installed though.

best, gordon p

My print blog here: Quality In Print
Current topic: Print in the internet age – a customer's perspective raises some questions
 
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Gordo and Steve,
Your responses kind of have me hot and bothered. I formerly worked with a Heidelberg SM74DI (another technology I'm aware, but similar idea) that the DI function was unused because of it's ease of breaking expensive imagesetter parts and having to stop the press for too long to image the plates. The company purchased a Prosetter but the DI units on the press units remained as a backup in the extremely rare occasion of the platesetter being inoperable. It was a simple time and money decision as to why the DI was dumped (although DI doesn't have reusable plates). I do understand how immature technology in the real-world can fail catastrophically and I don't think I am being naive or idealistic about this but what you are telling me is that these vendors dropped this technology before going through to full maturity with it based on a lack of short-term sales or (less sincerely) to rather increase profits through consumable sales? I surely hope that this technology is still being researched in the lab rather than only the straight and narrow tradtional CtP. Whatever happened to the greater good of less=more and long term profit?
This is just beginning to sound like classic example of Gillette or Bic having the technology and knowhow to produce a razor that will basically last a lifetime but keeping it out of the market place to prevent a collapse in repeat sales.
 
I can't speak for Agfa however, I'll try and answer your comments.

Ritter said:
Gordo and Steve,
Your responses kind of have me hot and bothered. I formerly worked with a Heidelberg SM74DI (another technology I'm aware, but similar idea) that the DI function was unused because of it's ease of breaking expensive imagesetter parts and having to stop the press for too long to image the plates.
Click to expand...

DI presses (from HD, Presstek etc.) have been in successful use since at least the late 80s. The imaging heads on the larger size Komori, MAN, HD, etc. presses were the Creo Squarespot heads which are inherently more reliable than the imaging heads on the smaller DIs. I doubt that the reason for not using the on-press plate imaging that you've experienced had anything to do with any ease of breaking imagesetter parts.

I do understand how immature technology in the real-world can fail catastrophically and I don't think I am being naive or idealistic about this but what you are telling me is that these vendors dropped this technology before going through to full maturity with it based on a lack of short-term sales or (less sincerely) to rather increase profits through consumable sales?
Click to expand...

The technology did not, as you put it, fail catastrophically. It worked (on an old, purchased used, Shinohara press in the uncontrolled environment of a trade show no less). To become a viable product, it likely would have had to have a press manufacturer to step in to do some press development. Companies like Creo, do have limited financial resources available to develop technologies. It always comes down to a question of spending priorities vs market opportunity.

Whatever happened to the greater good of less=more and long term profit?
Click to expand...

It's been my experience that a technology company's focus is on developing products that have a projected volume of sales sufficient to cover the costs of development, manufacturing, and going to market with the goal of returning a specified margin of profit. It has nothing to do with whether the product under consideration for development is the right product, or the best product to address the issue, or one that is best for the industry. Very few companies have the luxury of developing products for future potential profits since shareholders are usually looking for short-term return on investment.
Also, the market for truly innovative products in an industry as conservative as printing, is typically very small and may not be sufficient to allow a new product sufficient time to build a big enough customer base to survive the next round of product development priority setting. And it's not just the product that has to be developed, but the entire product marketing, training, service, and support systems have to also be in place. That's a big investment.

Just look at the reception that Erik's ink transfer blade has had over the years.

best, gordon p
My print blog here: Quality In Print
Current topic: Print in the internet age – a customer's perspective raises some questions
 
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Having read the white paper from JPI it can be concluded that this plate is far from being "the most important technology breakthrough since the introduction of thermal CTP". The biggest breakthrough since inkjet CTP maybe.

A blank plate with a blank image that reverts to being a blank plate within hours and has a limited run length? The technology has some way to go but I wish them well.
 
Here is Andy's Article on it

The Next Industry Changing Technology?


July 21st, 2009 -- Occasionally there are developments within this industry, often referred to as disruptive technology, that have the potential for fundamentally changing the market. The arrival of thermally imaged non-ablative CtP plates that came to market in 1995 is an example of such a disruptive technology. I have just come across another such disruptive technology that could have a similar impact to that of thermal CtP in changing the industry.


A new company, J P Imaging (JPI), formed by three highly experienced and respected graphic arts executives who have announced their Miracle Plate technology. The first thing I must say is that this is a technology and at this time is not a product. JPI has spent several years of research and collaboration with leading universities and with partial funding from the UK Government. It has just sought patent applications protection for a method of laser exposure on uncoated standard grained aluminum that allows uncoated aluminum to switch from its normal hydrophobic state into a hydrophilic state. The technology is described in complete detail in patents GB 0816697.7 and GB 0910791.3.


What potentially does this mean? The Miracle Plate technology has demonstrated a unique concept – that of switching an uncoated litho ‘blank’ plate from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. No coating is necessary, likewise no processor nor processing chemicals are required, therefore meaning potentially huge financial and environmental savings to the printing industry. The technology could potentially be used in one of three ways:

  • Use once. The uncoated blank is imaged and printed and the plate can be re-cycled in the normal way.
  • Use several times. If the ink is removed after printing and the plate allowed to revert to its hydrophobic state (either naturally or by heating) it could be re-imaged and then the whole process repeated. The technical challenge would be re-imaging a plate that has been bent for press mounting. Another option is a re-usable printing cylinder or sleeve that would slide on and off the press and could be conveniently incorporated into a platesetter system.
  • The above approach could also be considered for a future generation of DI press where the cylinder would be imaged on the press for printing, cleaned of ink and ‘reversed’ before being imaged again.
This technology is in early state of development at present. The team at JPI is Dr Rod Potts, former R&D Director for lithographic printing plates at DuPont and Agfa; Dr Peter Bennett, former R&D Director for lithographic plates at Kodak; and John Adamson, former plate manufacturing manager at DuPont. They are working with UK universities, in particular with the Lairdside Laser Engineering Centre of Liverpool University (LLEC) who are their partner on the project, and where most of the laser experimental work has taken place.



LLEC is under the direction of Professor Ken Watkins and was managed at the start of the project by Martin Sharp who has since moved to John Moores University in Liverpool, but has remained a part of the project. A further development partner is the UK laser manufacturer Fianium, one of the world leaders in the development of pulsed fibre lasers.


This development has come about following observation of how uncoated grained and anodised aluminum will quickly and permanently switch from hydrophilic (at the point of manufacture) to hydrophobic after a few days exposure to the atmosphere unless it is gummed. JPI have been able to switch the hydrophobic uncoated alumina surface back to a hydrophilic state using ultra fast laser pulsing to temporarily hydrophilise the aluminum surface. The imaged areas take fount and the non-image areas take ink. At present the plate will print for several thousand copies. Following printing the plate can be cleaned of ink and reversed back into the normal hydrophobic state. This can be done by allowing it to stand under normal atmospheric conditions, or by heating the plate in an oven.


The benefits of this technology, if it becomes a product, is the potential elimination of all chemicals in plate coating, organic solvents from the coating process, as well as all requirements for processing equipment and associated processing chemistry. It would also have major environmental benefits by drastically reducing the demand for aluminum within the printing industry as aluminum could re re-used multiple times.


The technological approach is to change the characteristics of the aluminum, or possibly other metal oxide substrates by using the very short pico/femto-second length laser pulses to change the metal’s characteristics by a process referred to as electro magnetic coupling. This changes the normal contact angle between the aluminum surface and the water. The normal contact angle is 70° and this is changed to 20°. It remains in this state for around 12 hours before gradually reverting to normal around 12 – 24 hours after exposure. There are various parameters that affect this reversion time and these can be changed to adjust the technology. JPI are confident that the plate can be made to last for 24 hours after exposure, and also that the reversion time after printing can be reduced to minutes.


There are all sorts of questions that come up from looking at this new technological approach, many of which I discussed with the JPI team and their associates. One problem is that of plate bending and mounting for the press and then putting this plate back into a CtP engine for a further exposure. A second is what type of CtP engine could be used for imaging the plate. A third is how many times can a plate to be used and reversed before the plate is no longer usable. The type of laser used, a lower power pulsed fibre laser, is currently not used in any printing application. These lasers are in continuous development and one expects that their price will reduce substantially before any CtP product for Miracle Plate technology comes to market. Currently these low power fibre lasers output a single beam, and this would make them more suited for either internal drum or flatbed CtP imaging rather than the external drum used in thermal CtP imaging. There is the potential of splitting the beam into multiple beams in future.


JPI plan to bring their unique CtP technology to commercialisation before 2012 and are considering any offers that will add value to the miracle-plate technology, or accelerate its introduction. Their plans are very fluid on how they envisage bring the technology to market. Specifically JPI are looking for potential partners that share the vision of making a significant environmental contribution to the printing industry. Potentially such partners would have access to substrate production, laser expertise, and printing presses available for plate testing. Of course money would also be a big help.
For further information on this technology please go to:
http://miracle-plate.com
Click to expand...
http://members.whattheythink.com/home/tribute090721.cfm
 
gordo said:
I can't speak for Agfa however, I'll try and answer your comments.


Just look at the reception that Erik's ink transfer blade has had over the years.

best, gordon p
Click to expand...

I think the problem is the term "blade" blades don't last for much more than cleaning the ink off the press. Now if it can be done with a roller at a varied speed that scrapes along like a blade Erik might have something but then he might be wise to call it a timed-ink-transfer-roller - unless it then falls in the Kompac patent category.

Ken Graham
CommunityPrinters.com
250-782-7108
 
k_graham said:
I think the problem is the term "blade" blades don't last for much more than cleaning the ink off the press. Now if it can be done with a roller at a varied speed that scrapes along like a blade Erik might have something but then he might be wise to call it a timed-ink-transfer-roller - unless it then falls in the Kompac patent category.

Ken Graham
CommunityPrinters.com
250-782-7108
Click to expand...

Ken,

It has to be a blade. A roller would not work well. There are continuous ductors that are rollers that shear ink from the ink fountain roller and they probably have less consistency than the traditional ductor.

A roller that scrapes ink off the ink fountain roller will also deposit ink onto the ink fountain roller and the net transfer of ink is not predictable.

So far, the blade is the easiest and most predictable method. Think of the ITB as a second ink fountain blade or key. The ITB meters a constant ink film back to the ink reservoir. This ink film can be a constant value from 0.000" to say 0.006" thick.

The difference between the ink metered by the ink fountain key and the ITB is the amount of ink that collects on the tip of the ITB and is dragged into a gap between the ink fountain roller and the pickup roller and then gets transferred into the roller train.

One can not get the kind of precision in ink pickup from a roller than one can from the ITB configuration.
 
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Really good technical discussion of the latest processless plate technology still in the lab. But I would be way more excited if they guys had backers with deep pockets a commitment to take this to market.

WAAAAY too many promising technologies have been strangled in the crib over the last decade by the inkjetheads who want to milk the consumables stream.

Sorry to be negative about this...
Prepress | Prinergy | Workflow | Inkjet | Printing
 
Gordo:

Great videos from nine years ago!

As a point of clarification, that Agfa LiteSpeed emulsion
shares the same core Agfa ThermoFuse technology that
is found in our DI plate - ThermoLite - which was released
that year for those same presses outfitted with that Creo
head (ie, Komori Project D, etc). Note how the un-fused
emulsion was pulled-off onto the first few sheets of paper.

At Drupa a few months earlier, we used the same ThermoLite
plates and performed a technology demonstration, where
we imaged the plate in a Creo Trendsetter, then mounted
it on a conventional press (Shinohara), and demonstrated
our first technology iteration for ThermoFuse processless plates.

Four years later Agfa launched the sister plate Azura as
a ThermoFuse system, where instead of pulling the un-
fused emulsion off the plate on press, and onto a press sheet,
we moved the clean-out off line to a simple gumming unit.

Today, we have over 2,500 installations of Azura and Azura TS.

The versatility of the core ThermoFuse technology is clearly
seen in these two videos Gordon has shared with us.

Thanks for the memories!
 
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