Patents by Inventor Yuka YAZAKI

Yuka YAZAKI has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10385227
    Abstract: Purpose is to provide an inkjet recording method for forming high-quality color image on a thick recording medium having low thermal conductance rate. The present invention is a single-pass inkjet recording method using an ink set including at least two active ray-curing color inks, and a recording medium having thermal conductivity of less than 0.10 W/(m·K) and thickness of 0.4 mm or more. The ink set containing two color inks satisfy only condition (a), and the ink set containing three or more color inks satisfy conditions (a) and (b): (a) most downstream color ink has a gelation temperature which is 3.0° C. to 15.0° C. higher than that of most upstream color ink, and (b) second or subsequent color ink from the most upstream position in conveyance direction has a gelation temperature which is the same as or higher than that of an adjacent color ink at the upstream position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yusuke Takaku, Masashi Ikeda, Yuka Yazaki, Hiromichi Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 10167401
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image forming method capable of suppressing glossiness unevenness in one image with curability of an ink droplet having been caused to land on a recording medium increased. The image forming method includes: preparing an actinic radiation-curable inkjet ink containing a radical polymerizable compound, a photopolymerization initiator, a gelling agent, and a nucleating agent; discharging a droplet of the actinic radiation-curable inkjet ink to cause the droplet to land on a surface of a recording medium; and curing the droplet by irradiating the droplet having been caused to land on the recording medium with actinic radiation. The gelling agent contains, in a molecular structure thereof, a polar group, and a C15-26 alkyl group, the nucleating agent is a (poly)glycerin fatty acid ester, and an oxygen concentration in an atmosphere where irradiation with the actinic radiation is conducted is less than 20 vol %.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Hiromichi Nishiyama, Yusuke Takaku, Shogo Watanabe, Yuka Yazaki
  • Publication number: 20180215938
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image forming method capable of suppressing glossiness unevenness in one image with curability of an ink droplet having been caused to land on a recording medium increased. The image forming method includes: preparing an actinic radiation-curable inkjet ink containing a radical polymerizable compound, a photopolymerization initiator, a gelling agent, and a nucleating agent; discharging a droplet of the actinic radiation-curable inkjet ink to cause the droplet to land on a surface of a recording medium; and curing the droplet by irradiating the droplet having been caused to land on the recording medium with actinic radiation. The gelling agent contains, in a molecular structure thereof, a polar group, and a C15-26 alkyl group, the nucleating agent is a (poly)glycerin fatty acid ester, and an oxygen concentration in an atmosphere where irradiation with the actinic radiation is conducted is less than 20 vol %.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Publication date: August 2, 2018
    Inventors: Hiromichi Nishiyama, Yusuke Takaku, Shogo Watanabe, Yuka Yazaki
  • Publication number: 20180208789
    Abstract: Purpose is to provide an inkjet recording method for forming high-quality color image on a thick recording medium having low thermal conductance rate. The present invention is a single-pass inkjet recording method using an ink set including at least two active ray-curing color inks, and a recording medium having thermal conductivity of less than 0.10 W/(m·K) and thickness of 0.4 mm or more. The ink set containing two color inks satisfy only condition (a), and the ink set containing three or more color inks satisfy conditions (a) and (b): (a) most downstream color ink has a gelation temperature which is 3.0° C. to 15.0° C. higher than that of most upstream color ink, and (b) second or subsequent color ink from the most upstream position in conveyance direction has a gelation temperature which is the same as or higher than that of an adjacent color ink at the upstream position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Publication date: July 26, 2018
    Inventors: Yusuke TAKAKU, Masashi IKEDA, Yuka YAZAKI, Hiromichi NISHIYAMA
  • Patent number: 9908340
    Abstract: Provided is a method for inkjet image formation using a line head and an activating light beam-curing type ink, characterized in that the duration from the time, from a first ink lands on a recording medium, to the time that the first ink or a second ink of the same color series as the first color lands on the recording medium, is 25 ms or longer; the ink includes a gelling agent in an amount of 0.5-3.0 mass % to the entire mass of the ink; and the complex viscosity of the ink at the temperature at which the ink lands on the recording medium is 50-300 Pa·s. According to this method, even when an inkjet image is formed at high speed using ink that experiences a sol-gel phase transition, an image free from white spots and gloss differences in the overlap areas can be formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Takabayashi, Ai Kondo, Yuka Yazaki
  • Publication number: 20170145230
    Abstract: Provided is a method for inkjet image formation using a line head and an activating light beam-curing type ink, characterized in that the duration from the time, from a first ink lands on a recording medium, to the time that the first ink or a second ink of the same color series as the first color lands on the recording medium, is 25 ms or longer; the ink includes a gelling agent in an amount of 0.5-3.0 mass % to the entire mass of the ink; and the complex viscosity of the ink at the temperature at which the ink lands on the recording medium is 50-300 Pa·s. According to this method, even when an inkjet image is formed at high speed using ink that experiences a sol-gel phase transition, an image free from white spots and gloss differences in the overlap areas can be formed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Publication date: May 25, 2017
    Inventors: Toshiyuki TAKABAYASHI, Ai KONDO, Yuka YAZAKI
  • Patent number: 9528018
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide: an active ray-curable inkjet ink which has good dispersion stability during storage, good surface smoothness when ejected on a recording medium, and does not undergo the bleeding of a fatty acid onto the surface of the ink; and an image formation method using the active ray-curable inkjet ink. The purpose can be achieved by an active ray-curable inkjet ink which contains: a photopolymerizable compound; at least one wax in the total mass of 1 to 8 mass % relative to the whole mass of the ink; and a fatty acid in the total mass of 0.0001 to 0.10 mass % relative to the whole mass of the wax.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yuka Yazaki, Takashi Iwata, Satoshi Masumi, Akio Maeda
  • Publication number: 20160115331
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide: an active ray-curable inkjet ink which has good dispersion stability during storage, good surface smoothness when ejected on a recording medium, and does not undergo the bleeding of a fatty acid onto the surface of the ink; and an image formation method using the active ray-curable inkjet ink. The purpose can be achieved by an active ray-curable inkjet ink which contains: a photopolymerizable compound; at least one wax in the total mass of 1 to 8 mass % relative to the whole mass of the ink; and a fatty acid in the total mass of 0.0001 to 0.10 mass % relative to the whole mass of the wax.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Publication date: April 28, 2016
    Inventors: Yuka YAZAKI, Takashi IWATA, Satoshi MASUMI, Akio MAEDA