JP2008055840A - Serial inkjet printer that prints only in a certain direction, or micro droplet placement device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent air turbulence associated with a serial reciprocating motion in an ink jet printer device or a micro droplet placement device.
A serial reciprocating motion of one or a plurality of ink jet heads or micro droplet ejection portions is set as a moving motion in a constant moving direction. Further, the air space existing between the ink jet head or the micro droplet ejection part and the apparatus main body is filled with a dummy cover and deleted.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet printing apparatus used for image data output devices such as copying machines, printers, and fax machines, or an apparatus that precisely arranges electrode film corrosion liquid, pharmaceuticals, genetic information analysis droplets, and the like. . Among them, the present invention relates to an apparatus for precisely arranging droplets of 10 PL or less.

  Ink jet printers, especially on-demand type ink jet printers, have been used rapidly since 1985 as thermal jet printers, commonly known as bubble jet (registered trademark) type printers and piezo type printers, have been on the market at a low price. It is increasing.

  On the other hand, the ink jet printer has come to be able to print more vividly at a higher speed in a format that meets the demand from the market. In particular, Bubble Jet (registered trademark) inkjet printheads have seen rapid expansion of their inkjet printing holes due to the rapid miniaturization of inkjet ejection holes and the increase in the number of inkjet ejection holes. There is something to see. Nowadays, A4 size photo-like speckled images can be printed in just one minute.

  I do not know where this trend will continue in the future, and it is further accelerated.

  The ink jet printer is configured to print as a serial motion while reciprocating on a medium such as paper to be printed by the ink jet head.

  By the way, in the inkjet printer as described above, the smaller the droplet size, the more disturbed the flying direction of the inkjet droplet due to the turbulence of the air inside the printer due to the reciprocal movement of the serial print. A phenomenon of misalignment has occurred. This is also obvious from the fact that if the object is reciprocated in a sealed space, the change in air movement is disturbed inside the sealed space. It has also been observed that the flow of smoke is disturbed when the ink jet printer is actually reciprocated by filling the inside of the ink jet printer with fine particles such as smoke. Of course, since it is a reciprocating motion, an acceleration time and an acceleration distance until the inkjet head is moved at a constant speed are required. Of course, a deceleration distance and a deceleration time are also required.

  By the way, as one of the means for solving such a problem, (1) Japanese Published Patent Publications Heisei 5-200997 and Heisei 8-25619 have the following points from the viewpoint of the problem (turbulence of air in the printer). A technology for rotating a roll-shaped recording medium without moving the ink-jet head from the viewpoint of preventing image quality deterioration due to the thickness of the recording medium, and preventing image loss due to rotational fluctuation of the intermediate transfer body, not the purpose of the solution Introducing. The problem with this technique is that the inkjet head is fixed, so that the width of the inkjet head needs to be the width of the recording medium. That is, an inkjet head that is several times longer than the printable width of a general serial inkjet printer is required. In addition, a mechanism is required to place and fix the recording medium by rounding it into a cylindrical shape. The electrode plate plate or substrate that receives the electrode film corrosive liquid that can only be placed on a flat surface, or glass that receives pharmaceuticals or genetic information analysis droplets. There is also a problem that it cannot be used for a substrate or a probe.

Also, (2) Japanese Published Patent Publication No. Hei 7-246711 schematically introduces a technique in which a plurality of ink jet heads are fixedly arranged and a recording medium is sequentially passed and printed. However, since the problem of this technique is that the ink jet head is fixed, the width of the ink jet head requires the length of the width of the recording medium. That is, an inkjet head that is several times longer than the printable width of a general serial inkjet printer is required. Also, with this configuration, the recording medium can be printed only once, and cannot be printed over and over like a serial printer. In order to do that, it is necessary to return the recording medium to the direction opposite to the printing direction and to print it again, and basically the recording medium is reciprocated, which causes air turbulence. Will be.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-200997 JP-A-8-25619 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-246711

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to realize a configuration that prevents the turbulence of the air due to the reciprocating motion of the ink jet print head by keeping the print moving direction of the ink jet print head constant while the ink jet head is moved while printing. That is. In addition, in inkjet printing, not multiple printing (one-pass printing), but multiple printing to print the same part multiple times (generally, three or four passes are used) It is.

  In the serial ink jet printer, the direction in which the ink droplets are ejected to move the print is a fixed direction.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the flow direction of the air that moves with the movement of the inkjet head is constant, and the flow is not complicated as in a conventional printer, so that stable image printing is possible. Furthermore, in another embodiment of the present invention, the gap between the inkjet head and the inkjet head is suppressed by a dummy cover to prevent the presence of air, so that air turbulence itself does not occur, and Since the dummy cover also moves in the same direction as the inkjet head, it is possible to construct a printing environment in which the air flow is stable. Since it is a rotation type printing method in a certain direction, it is possible to construct a good image printing environment by mounting a plurality of types of inkjet heads and printing various inks.

  When creating a precise electrode circuit pattern with the ink jet method, fine droplets called satellites are generated, but when they adhere to the place that becomes the insulating part between the electrode circuits, it is considered that the withstand voltage is poor due to the occurrence of migration etc. Become. The blocking of the present invention is also used to avoid such concerns.

  In addition, even when chemicals and solutions for gene analysis are attached or placed using the inkjet method, the above satellites are attached to a place away from the planned position, and gene analysis and diagnosis are performed well. It can be solved even if there is no.

  Furthermore, since the air flow in the arrangement device for various substances using ink jet printing or the ink jet method is always constant, even when the above-mentioned minute satellite floats in the air and becomes a mist, Since the position of the mist floating space, the position of adhesion, and the like are almost controlled within the specified range, the above-described mist collection becomes easy.

(Specific explanation example-1)
In order to solve this problem, the present inventors have intensively studied, and as a result, found the configuration of an ink jet print as shown in FIG. Using the example, the gist of the present invention will be specifically described. The inkjet head 1 is configured to always rotate and move in the same direction by moving at a constant speed in the constant printing direction 101 along the conveyance guide rail 5. Further, the recording medium 4 is configured to sequentially print a necessary distance with a conveyance roller (not shown). For this reason, the inkjet head 1 can print the image 102 on the recording medium 4 by continuously changing the color. When recording and printing on the recording medium 4, since it does not move in the horizontal direction, an arbitrary image is obtained by taking a method of printing an image in a rotational coordinate system with the arc center of the conveyance guide rail 5 as the origin. It becomes possible.

  By doing in this way, the inkjet head 1 does not perform reciprocal serial printing unlike conventional general inkjet printers, so that the reciprocating motion prevents large air disturbance and always in a certain direction. This is a mechanism that enables stable image printing in flowing stable air.

  Further, in FIG. 2, in order to realize a more stable air flow, it is possible to arrange the shielding plate 7 in a wide open space at the center to further stabilize the air flow. . In this way, it is possible to construct a printing environment in which the air flow is always stable in a certain direction.

  Further, FIG. 3 shows an inkjet head dummy cover 8 that fits well with the inkjet head 1 and fills a gap in the print space on the inkjet head 1 according to the example of the present invention shown in FIG. It is a schematic perspective perspective view of a thing. Of course, the inkjet dummy cover 8 rotates at the same speed as the inkjet head 1. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view when a part of the inkjet head dummy cover 8 is cut in order to explain FIG. 3 more easily. From these two drawings, the air gap on the path along which the inkjet head 1 rotates is almost completely eliminated by the inkjet head dummy cover 8, and the head 1 and the recording medium from which the ink is ejected and discharged from the inkjet head 1. Only a space with 4 (hereinafter referred to as an inter-sheet space) is left. In this way, the air in the inter-paper space always becomes a stable space that rotates and moves in a fixed direction at the same speed as the head 1. By performing ink-jet printing in such a stable space, with respect to ink-jet printing of extremely small droplets of about 0.5 PL, by disposing an ink-jet head dummy cover 8 as shown in FIGS. Furthermore, by making it possible to construct a stable air flow, good ink jet printing is possible. Further, if it is desired to improve the shielding and sealing degree of the space, the inner surface 84 and the outer surface 85 of the inkjet head dummy cover 8 shown in FIG. By arrange | positioning the shielding board 7 to be arrange | positioned, it can be set as the structure which can arrange | position a space with a further high sealing degree.

  In particular, when creating a precise electrode circuit pattern with the ink jet method, fine droplets called satellites are generated, but when they adhere to the place that becomes the insulating part between the electrode circuits, withstand voltage due to the occurrence of migration etc. It becomes defective. Moreover, in the case of a high-frequency electric circuit, such an abnormal point becomes a cause of abnormal noise transmission or abnormal resonance. Even when such concerns are avoided, the means of the present invention can be used and dealt with. In addition, it is possible to prevent a drop in the withstand voltage of the insulation in the gap of the electrode circuit by causing a slight positional deviation of the main droplet of the ink jet.

  In addition, even when chemicals and solutions for analyzing genes, etc., or various enzymes and proteins are attached or disposed by inkjet method, the above satellites are attached to a place away from the planned position, and gene analysis, It is also possible to eliminate cases where diagnosis is not performed well.

  Furthermore, since the air flow in the printing device is always constant, even if the above-mentioned minute satellites float in the air and become mist, the mist floating space position and adhesion position are almost within the specified range. Therefore, the above mist recovery becomes easy.

(Specific explanation example-2)
FIG. 5 shows an example of another example according to an example of the present invention. In this example, the portion that performs inkjet printing is configured to perform printing when moving at a constant speed in the horizontal direction with respect to the paper surface according to the conveyance guide rails 5 and 6. The head 1 moves along the flexible conveyance guide rails 51 and 61 so that the opposite position can be moved and printed like the ink jet head 1A. In this way, the ink jet head 1 can move in the direction indicated by the arrow 101 at a constant moving speed.

  When the gap between the ink jet print head 1A and the ink jet print head 1 is narrow, the structure is close to the movements facing each other. Therefore, the air dragged by the ink jet head 1 collides with each other to generate air turbulence. It becomes.

  In FIG. 6, in order to solve such a problem, it is possible to arrange the shielding plate 7 as shown in the drawing to avoid the mutual air collision and prevent the air turbulence.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view when a large number of inkjet heads 1 are arranged. As described above, by disposing a plurality of ink jet print heads, it is possible to continuously print a wide variety of images.

  In particular, when creating a precise electrode circuit pattern with the ink jet method, fine droplets called satellites are generated, but when they adhere to the place that becomes the insulating part between the electrode circuits, withstand voltage due to the occurrence of migration etc. It becomes defective. The blocking of the present invention is also used to avoid such concerns.

  In addition, even when chemicals and solutions for gene analysis are attached or placed using the inkjet method, the above satellites are attached to a place away from the planned position, and gene analysis and diagnosis are performed well. It can be solved even if there is no.

  Furthermore, since the air flow in the printing device is always constant, even if the above-mentioned minute satellites float in the air and become mist, the mist floating space position and adhesion position are almost within the specified range. Therefore, the above mist recovery becomes easy.

1 is a schematic perspective configuration diagram illustrating an arrangement of an inkjet head of an inkjet printer according to an example of the present invention in a printer. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective configuration diagram when a shielding plate is arranged in FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective perspective view of an ink jet head dummy cover 8 that fits well with the ink jet head 1 and fills a gap in the print space on the ink jet head 1 according to the example of the present invention shown in FIG. is there. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view when a part of the inkjet head dummy cover 8 is cut in order to explain FIG. 3 more easily. It is a perspective schematic block diagram which shows an example of another example concerning an example of this invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective configuration diagram when a shielding plate is arranged in the explanatory diagram of FIG. 5. It is a schematic perspective view at the time of arranging many inkjet heads.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet head 2 Ink tank 3 Ink tanks with different colors 4 Recording media such as paper
5, 6 Head guide shaft 7 Shield plate 8 Head dummy cover 11 Guide shaft receiving portion 51, 61 Flexible head guide shaft portion 81, 82, 83 Head fitting clearance of head dummy cover 84, 85 Head dummy cover side surface 101 Head movement Direction 102 Example of image printing part 103 Recording medium moving direction

Claims (8)

  In a serial ink jet printer, an ink jet printer in which a direction in which printing is performed by ejecting ink droplets is a fixed direction.   2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein when the ink jet printing is performed while moving in a certain direction, the moving speed or the moving acceleration is constant.   The inkjet printer according to claim 2, wherein the inkjet printer has a plurality of inkjet heads that move in the same direction.   In the inkjet printer, the conveyance guide rail of the inkjet head is configured by a member that is strong and does not deform at a position where inkjet printing is performed, and is configured by a flexible member that can be deformed at a position that changes the direction of the inkjet head. 4. An ink jet printer according to claim 3, wherein In the ink jet printer, data to the ink jet head.
5. The ink jet printer according to claim 4, wherein the transfer is performed by a wired contact or a wireless contact that is temporarily disconnected. The movement of the inkjet head in the inkjet printer is
6. The ink jet printer according to claim 5, wherein each ink jet head has a driving means.   4. The ink jet print head according to claim 3, wherein a dummy gap filling head that is not printed is arranged to make the change in air flow uniform by the movement of the ink jet head in a certain direction. Inkjet printer.   8. The ink jet printer according to claim 7, wherein a gap between the ink jet print head and the shielding plate is as narrow as possible, and it is difficult for air to enter and discharge from the outside.

Images