JP2011189594A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

In the case where an ink different from a color ink is used together with a color ink, an ink of an appropriate size is ejected.
A color ink nozzle for ejecting color ink, the color ink nozzle ejecting a small color ink droplet and a large color ink droplet larger than the small color ink droplet;
A transparent ink nozzle having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejecting transparent clear ink, and ejecting a small clear ink droplet and a large clear ink droplet larger than the small clear ink droplet A difference between the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet and the ink weight of the small clear ink droplet is a difference between the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the small color ink droplet. Larger than the printing device.
[Selection] Figure 9

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.

Inkjet printers that form images by ejecting ink onto a medium are used. Some of these printers eject not only color inks but also transparent clear inks and white white inks.

Japanese Patent No. 4321050

When transparent ink is used, an image having a glossy feeling can be obtained by ejecting ink larger than the color ink and covering the color ink on the medium. In addition, when a background is printed with white ink and an image is formed with color ink on the background, it is desirable that the medium is covered with white ink more densely than the color ink. As described above, in the case of using an ink different from the color ink together with the color ink, it is desirable to eject an ink of an appropriate size.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to eject ink of a suitable size in the case where an ink different from the color ink is used together with the color ink.

The main invention for achieving the above object is:
A color ink nozzle for ejecting color ink, the color ink nozzle ejecting a small color ink droplet and a large color ink droplet larger than the small color ink droplet;
A transparent ink nozzle having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejecting transparent clear ink, and ejecting a small clear ink droplet and a large clear ink droplet larger than the small clear ink droplet A clear ink nozzle,
A difference between the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet and the ink weight of the small clear ink droplet is larger than the difference between the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the small color ink droplet. Device.

  Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic side view of a printer 1 in the present embodiment. 1 is a schematic top view of a printer 1 in the present embodiment. 1 is a block diagram of a printer 1 in the present embodiment. 4A is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the first head 41A, and FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the second head 41B. FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating the structure of the head, and FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of the flow path supply port 404 in the head. FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example of the first drive signal COM_1 for color ink, and FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of the second drive signal COM_2 for white ink and clear ink. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an LED substrate in the temporary curing unit 80. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of print processing in the present embodiment. It is a figure when a background is formed with white ink. It is a figure when forming an image with color ink. It is a figure when it coats with clear ink. It is a figure explaining a mode that it prints with white ink.

At least the following matters will become clear from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.
A color ink nozzle for ejecting color ink, the color ink nozzle ejecting a small color ink droplet and a large color ink droplet larger than the small color ink droplet;
A transparent ink nozzle having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejecting transparent clear ink, and ejecting a small clear ink droplet and a large clear ink droplet larger than the small clear ink droplet A clear ink nozzle,
A difference between the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet and the ink weight of the small clear ink droplet is larger than the difference between the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the small color ink droplet. apparatus.
In this way, when an ink different from the color ink is used together with the color ink, it is possible to eject an ink of a suitable size.

In this printing apparatus, the color ink nozzle and the clear ink nozzle eject color inks of a plurality of types of ink weights, and the large color ink droplet is the largest color ink among the color inks of the plurality of types of ink weights. The color ink droplets are heavy, the small color ink droplets are the color ink droplets having the smallest color ink weight among the color inks of the plurality of types of ink weights, and the large clear ink droplets are It is preferable that the clear ink droplet has a maximum clear ink weight among the clear inks, and the small clear ink droplet is a clear ink droplet having the minimum clear ink weight among the plurality of types of ink weights. The ink weight of the small color ink is preferably equal to the ink weight of the small clear ink. The ink weight of the large clear ink is preferably larger than the ink weight of the large color ink. The ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet are different from each other in the size of the ink supply port related to the color ink nozzle and the size of the ink supply port related to the clear ink nozzle. It is desirable to adjust by this.

In addition, the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet are applied to the drive signal applied to the drive element related to the color ink nozzle row and the drive element related to the clear ink nozzle row, respectively. It may be adjusted by making the applied drive signal different. A white ink nozzle having a plurality of color ink nozzle rows having a plurality of color ink nozzles, having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle, and ejecting white ink; The apparatus further comprises a white ink nozzle array including a plurality of white ink nozzles that eject white ink text larger than the small white ink droplets, and a first drive signal is commonly applied to the drive elements related to the plurality of color ink nozzle arrays. Preferably, a second drive signal different from the first drive signal is commonly applied to the drive elements related to the clear ink nozzle row and the white ink nozzle row.
In this way, when an ink different from the color ink is used together with the color ink, it is possible to eject an ink of a suitable size.

A color ink nozzle for ejecting color ink, the color ink nozzle ejecting a small color ink droplet and a large color ink droplet larger than the small color ink droplet;
A white ink nozzle having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejecting white ink, and ejecting a small white ink droplet and a large white ink droplet larger than the small white ink droplet A nozzle,
A difference between the ink weight of the large white ink droplet and the ink weight of the small white ink droplet is larger than the difference between the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the small color ink droplet. apparatus.
In this way, when an ink different from the color ink is used together with the color ink, it is possible to eject an ink of a suitable size.

=== Embodiment ===
FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a printer 1 according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the printer 1 in the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the printer 1 in the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the configuration of the printer 1 will be described with reference to these drawings.

FIG. 3 shows the printer 1 and the computer 110. The printer 1 includes a paper transport unit 10, a head moving unit 20, a head unit 40, a detector group 50, a controller 60, a drive signal generation circuit 70, a temporary curing unit 80, and a main curing unit 90.

The paper transport unit 10 includes a transport roller 11A, a first pressure roller 11B, a paper discharge roller 12A, and a second pressure roller 12B. The transport roller 11A and the paper discharge roller 12A are connected to a motor (not shown), and the rotation of the motor is controlled by the controller 60.
Controlled by. Then, the medium is conveyed in the conveyance direction by being sandwiched between the conveyance roller 11A and the first pressing roller 11B. Further, the medium is transported in the transport direction and discharged by being sandwiched between the paper discharge roller 12A and the second pressing roller 12B. In the present embodiment, the medium S is a transparent film or white paper.

The head moving unit 20 has a function of moving a first head 41A and a second head 41B, which will be described later, in the moving direction of the head. The moving direction of the head is a direction that intersects the transport direction of the medium S. Then, after conveying the medium S by a predetermined amount, the first head 41A and the second head 41
By repeating the operation of ejecting ink while moving B in the moving direction of the head, an image can be formed on the entire surface of the medium S.

The head moving unit 20 includes a moving roller 21, a pulley 22, a belt 23 and a shaft 24. The belt 23 is bridged between the moving roller 21 and the pulley 22. A motor (not shown) is attached to the moving roller 21 and is rotated by the control of the controller 60, whereby the belt 23 moves in the moving direction. The belt 23 is fixed to the first head 41A. The first head 41A is fixed integrally with the second head 41B. Since the shaft 24 is provided so as to penetrate the second head 41 </ b> B, the second head 41 </ b> B is movable so as to slide on the shaft 24. Thus, the first head 41
By moving A in the head moving direction, the second head 41B also moves in the head moving direction.

The head unit 40 includes two heads, a first head 41A and a second head 41B.
Each head includes a nozzle row for ejecting ink and a temporary curing unit for temporarily curing the ejected ink. The configuration of each head will be described later.

The detector group 50 represents various detectors that detect information of each part of the printer 1 and send it to the controller 60.

The controller 60 is a control unit for controlling the printer 1. The controller 60 includes a CPU 61, a memory 62, and an interface unit 63. CPU
Reference numeral 61 denotes an arithmetic processing unit for controlling the entire printer. Memory 62 is CPU 6
This is for securing an area for storing one program, a work area, etc., RAM, EE
It has a storage element such as PROM. The CPU 61 controls each unit according to a program stored in the memory 62. The interface unit 63 transmits and receives data between the computer 110 as an external device and the printer 1.

The drive signal generation circuit 70 generates a drive signal for ejecting ink droplets by applying to a drive element such as a piezo element included in a head described later. The drive signal generation circuit 70 includes a DAC (not shown). Then, an analog voltage signal is generated based on the digital data regarding the waveform of the drive signal sent from the controller 60. The drive signal generation circuit 70 also includes an amplifier circuit (not shown), and performs power amplification on the generated voltage signal to generate a drive signal.

The temporary curing unit 80 temporarily cures the ink that has landed by irradiating the ultraviolet curable ink that has landed on the medium S with ultraviolet rays (hereinafter, “temporary curing” may be referred to as “pinning”). . That is, the viscosity of the ink surface landed on the medium S is increased, and the movement of the ink is suppressed. As described above, by increasing the viscosity of the surface of the landed ink, even when another ink is landed on the ink, it becomes difficult for the inks to move, and bleeding can be suppressed.

The temporary curing unit 80 includes four LED substrates 81A, 81B, 81C, 81D. L
The configuration of the ED substrate 81 will be described later.

The main curing unit 90 is arranged on the most downstream side in the transport direction as shown in FIG.
Then, the medium S is irradiated with light including ultraviolet rays, and each ink landed on the medium S is fully cured.
The main curing unit 90 is configured by assembling a plurality of the aforementioned LED substrates 81.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the first head 41A. This figure is a top view of the first head 41A, but for ease of explanation of the nozzle arrangement and the LED arrangement, the nozzle holes and LEDs that are originally visible only from the bottom are transparently shown. The first head 41A includes a yellow ink nozzle array Y that ejects yellow ink, a magenta ink nozzle array M that ejects magenta ink, a cyan ink nozzle array C that ejects cyan ink, a black ink nozzle array K that ejects black ink, And a white ink nozzle row W for ejecting white ink
including. Each nozzle row has a nozzle pitch P of 360 dpi, and includes 360 nozzles # 1 to # 360.

The first head 41A includes a first LED substrate 81A and a second LED substrate 81B.
Each LED substrate includes a plurality of LEDs. And it is possible to irradiate ultraviolet rays for temporary curing. With such a configuration, the first head 41A ejects the color ink onto the medium while moving in the moving direction of the medium S that is intermittently transported, and temporarily irradiates the landed color ink with ultraviolet rays. Can be made.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the second head 41B. This figure is a top view of the second head 41B, but for ease of explanation of the nozzle arrangement and the LED arrangement, the nozzle holes and LEDs that are originally visible only from the lower part are transparently shown. The second head 41B includes a clear ink nozzle row CL that ejects transparent clear ink. This nozzle row also has a nozzle pitch P of 360 dpi, and includes 360 nozzles # 1 to # 360.

In this embodiment, color ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black)
The nozzle diameter D for ejecting white ink is the same as the nozzle diameter D for ejecting white ink and clear ink.

The second head 41B also includes a third LED substrate 81C and a fourth LED substrate 81D.
Each LED substrate includes a plurality of LEDs and can irradiate ultraviolet rays for temporary curing. With such a configuration, the second head 41B can tentatively cure the landed clear ink by irradiating it with ultraviolet light while ejecting the clear ink onto the medium intermittently conveyed.

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating the structure of the head. The figure shows the nozzle Nz and the piezo element PZT.
, The ink supply path 402, the flow path supply port 404 (corresponding to the ink supply port), and the elastic plate 406.
It is shown.

Ink is supplied to the ink supply path 402 from an ink tank (not shown). These inks and the like are supplied to the flow path supply port 404. A drive pulse of a drive signal described later is applied to the piezo element PZT. When the drive pulse is applied, the piezo element PZT expands and contracts according to the signal of the drive pulse and vibrates the elastic plate 406. An amount of ink droplets corresponding to the amplitude of the drive pulse is ejected from the nozzle Nz.

FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of the flow path supply port 404 in the head. Ink is flow path supply port 40
The ink that has flowed into the nozzle 4 is ejected from the nozzle Nz when the piezo element PZT pushes it out. Therefore, the more ink that is supplied to the flow path supply port 404, the larger the ink that is ejected from the nozzle Nz.

In the present embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the flow path supply port that communicates with the nozzle that ejects the clear ink CL and the cross-sectional area of the flow path supply port that communicates with the nozzle that ejects the white ink W are the color ink (cyan C, magenta M). , Yellow Y, black K) is larger than the cross-sectional area of the flow path supply port communicating with the nozzle. When the ink for forming the small dots is ejected, the influence of the cross-sectional area of these flow path supply ports is small, so the clear ink CL, the white ink W, and the color ink are ejected with substantially the same ink weight. Is done. On the other hand, when the ink weight of the ejected ink is gradually increased, the influence of the cross-sectional area of the flow path supply port is increased. Therefore, when forming medium dots or large dots, the clear ink CL and the white ink W can be ejected with a larger ink weight than the color ink.

Desirably, in color ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), 2 pl of ink is ejected when forming a small dot, and 4 p when forming a medium dot.
l ink is ejected and 8 pl of ink is ejected to form a large dot.

In forming white dots and clear inks, 2p
l ink is ejected, 5 pl of ink is ejected to form a medium dot, and 10 pl of ink is ejected to form a large dot. Thus, the white ink and the clear ink have a larger ink weight difference between the small dots and the medium dots than the color ink. Also, white ink and clear ink have a larger ink weight difference between medium dots and large dots than color inks.

The amount of ink ejected is an example. In order to configure the background, the amount of white ink ejected when large dots are formed may be 16 pl.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the weight of the ejected ink is varied by changing the size of the cross-sectional area of the flow path supply port. Therefore, the piezo element PZT for ejecting color ink and the piezo element for ejecting color ink and clear ink are:
The same drive signal is applied (for example, a first drive signal COM_ in FIG. 6A described later).
1 may be applied to the piezo elements PZT related to all inks).

However, there is a case where the ink weight cannot be adjusted as described above only by the change in the cross-sectional area of the flow path supply port. In such a case, as described below, the ink weight of the ejected ink can also be adjusted by changing the drive signal applied to the piezo element.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example of the first drive signal COM_1 for color ink.
The drive signal is repeatedly generated every repetition period T. A period T which is a repetition period corresponds to a period during which the head moves by one pixel in the movement direction. For example, the print resolution is 36
In the case of 0 dpi, the period T corresponds to a period for the head to move 1/360 inch with respect to the medium. Then, by applying the drive pulses PS11 to PS14 of each section included in the period T to the piezo element PZT based on the pixel data included in the print data, ink droplets having different sizes are ejected into one pixel. It is possible to express multiple gradations.

The first drive signal COM_1 is generated in the drive pulse PS11 generated in the section T1 in the repetition period T, the drive pulse PS12 generated in the section T2, the drive pulse PS13 generated in the section T3, and the section T4. Drive pulse PS14.

The drive pulse PS12 is a drive pulse for finely vibrating the ink surface in the nozzle Nz. Even when the drive pulse PS12 is applied to the piezo element PZT, ink is not ejected from the nozzle Nz.

The drive pulse PS14 is a drive pulse having a voltage width Vhs1. Drive pulse PS1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a drive pulse having a voltage width Vhm1. The drive pulse PS13 has a voltage width Vhl.
1 is a drive pulse having 1. The voltage width has a magnitude relationship of Vhs1 <Vhm1 <Vhl1. The greater the voltage width of the drive pulse, the greater the displacement of the piezo element PZT. Therefore, the larger the voltage width, the larger the ink that is ejected. That is, the drive pulse PS
Reference numeral 14 denotes a drive pulse for ejecting small dots, the drive pulse PS11 is a drive pulse for ejecting medium dots, and the drive pulse PS13 is a drive pulse for ejecting large dots.

FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of the second drive signal COM_2 for white ink and clear ink. In the second drive signal COM_2, the length of each of the sections T1 to T4 is the same as that of the first drive signal COM_1. Further, the drive pulse PS22 and the drive pulse PS24 have the same voltage width as that of the first drive signal COM_1.

The voltage width of the drive pulse PS21 is larger than that of the first drive signal COM_1. The voltage width of the drive pulse PS23 is also larger than that of the first drive signal COM_1. The second drive signal COM_2 is applied to the piezo element PZT for ejecting the white ink and the clear ink, so that the ink droplet for forming the medium dot and the large dot is larger than that of the color ink. Ink droplets can be ejected.

At this time, the first drive signal COM_1 is commonly used for the piezo element PZT for ejecting cyan ink, magenta ink, yellow ink, and black ink, and the second drive signal COM_2 is white ink and clear. Commonly used for the piezo element PZT for ejecting ink.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an LED substrate in the temporary curing unit 80. LED board 81 is
A plurality of LED assemblies 83 are included. In the present embodiment, two LED assemblies 83 are arranged in the width direction of the medium, and eight LED assemblies 83 are arranged in the transport direction (consisting of a total of 16 LED assemblies 83). One LED assembly 83 includes four LEDs 831. The LED 831 in this embodiment has a peak wavelength of 385 to 405 nm.

The amount of current supplied to these LEDs is adjusted, and the irradiation energy can be made variable. In this embodiment, pinning energy (temporary curing energy) is
The current is adjusted to be ² to 20 mJ / cm ² .

The main curing unit 90 is configured such that a plurality of LED substrates 81 are arranged in the head moving direction. The main curing unit 90 is attached to the downstream side of the second head 41B, and moves simultaneously when the second head 41B moves in the moving direction of the head. Since the second head 41B is provided on the downstream side in this way, the color ink ejected and temporarily cured by the first head 41A and the second head 41 are provided.
The clear ink ejected by B and temporarily cured can be fully cured.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the printing process in this embodiment.
When the printing process is started, white ink is first ejected onto the medium to form a white background (S102).

FIG. 9 is a diagram when a background is formed with white ink. The white ink in this embodiment is first ejected on the medium to form a white background. This is to cope with a case where the medium is not white, such as a transparent film. In forming a white background, white ink is ejected from the nozzles of the white ink nozzle row W at an ink weight that forms a large dot. In the figure, a state where the large-dot white ink has landed on the medium S is shown.

When the background is formed on the medium with the white ink in this way, next,
A color image is formed with the color ink (S104).

FIG. 10 is a diagram when an image is formed with color ink. The illustration shows white ink W
Shows a state in which a large dot is formed and a plurality of dots of color ink are formed. In forming large dots, the size of white ink is larger than that of color ink. For example, in the drawing, the large dot of white ink W is larger than the large dot of cyan ink C (denoted as “large C” in the drawing). Although not shown in FIG. 10, white ink is larger in size than color ink when forming medium dots. However, when small dots are formed, the sizes of the color ink and the white ink are almost the same.

In steps S102 and S104, in order to form white ink of large dots and land color ink thereon, for example, white ink is ejected in the first movement (scanning) of the first head 41A, and the medium In the second movement of the first head 41A, the color ink is ejected onto the white ink without transporting the ink. By doing so, it is possible to appropriately form a color image while forming a background with white ink.

After the image is formed in this way, the clear ink is then ejected thereon to coat the image (S106).
FIG. 11 is a diagram when coated with clear ink. The figure shows a state in which dots of various sizes are formed by color ink and a plurality of sizes of clear ink dots are formed. In forming large dots, the size of the clear ink is larger than that of the color ink. For example, in the drawing, the large dots of the clear ink CL are larger than the large dots of the cyan ink C. Also for medium dots, medium dot size clear ink is larger than medium dot size magenta (described as “medium M”) and medium dot size yellow (described as “medium Y”). This is because medium dot size magenta and medium dot size yellow do not overlap each other in the figure, while medium dot size clear ink (described as “medium CL”) also overlaps each other. I can confirm. However, when small dots are formed, the sizes of the color ink and the clear ink are almost the same.

By doing so, the surface of the medium can be densely filled with white ink, and the concealability by white can be enhanced. Moreover, when coating with clear ink, it can coat densely on color ink and can improve the glossiness by clear ink.

In the present embodiment, when the small dots are formed, the ink weights of the color ink, the white ink, and the clear ink are substantially the same, but these ink weights may be different. However, also at this time, the difference between the ink weight for forming the small dots and the ink weight for forming the medium dots is larger for the white ink and the clear ink than for the color ink. Further, the difference between the ink weight for forming the medium dots and the ink weight for forming the large dots is larger for the white ink and the clear ink than for the color ink.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state in which printing is performed with white ink. The reason why medium dots and small dots can be formed with respect to the white ink is because, for example, an image or the like may be formed in white on a medium that is not white as shown in the drawing (for example, black). By doing so, it is possible to perform printing with rich gradation using white dots, small dots, medium dots, and large dots.

=== Other Embodiments ===
In the above-described embodiment, the printer 1 has been described as a printing apparatus. However, the printer 1 is not limited to this, and fluid other than ink (liquid or liquid in which particles of functional material are dispersed,
It can also be embodied in a fluid ejecting apparatus that ejects or ejects a fluid such as a gel. For example, color filter manufacturing apparatus, dyeing apparatus, fine processing apparatus, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, surface processing apparatus, three-dimensional modeling machine, gas vaporizer, organic EL manufacturing apparatus (especially polymer EL manufacturing apparatus), display manufacturing apparatus, film formation You may apply the technique similar to the above-mentioned embodiment to the various apparatuses which applied inkjet technology, such as an apparatus and a DNA chip manufacturing apparatus. These methods and manufacturing methods are also within the scope of application.

The above-described embodiments are for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the gist thereof, and it is needless to say that the present invention includes equivalents thereof.

<About the head>
In the above-described embodiment, ink is ejected using a piezoelectric element. However, the method of ejecting the fluid is not limited to this. For example, other methods such as a method of generating bubbles in the nozzle by heat may be used.

1 printer,
10 Paper transport unit,
20 head moving unit,
40 head unit, 41A first head, 41B second head,
50 detector groups,
60 controller, 61 CPU, 62 memory, 63 interface unit,
70 drive signal generation circuit,
80 temporary curing unit, 81 LED substrate,
83 LED assembly, 831 LED,
90 curing units,
110 computers,
S Medium

Claims (8)

A color ink nozzle for ejecting color ink, the color ink nozzle ejecting a small color ink droplet and a large color ink droplet larger than the small color ink droplet;
A transparent ink nozzle having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejecting transparent clear ink, and ejecting a small clear ink droplet and a large clear ink droplet larger than the small clear ink droplet A clear ink nozzle,
A difference between the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet and the ink weight of the small clear ink droplet is larger than the difference between the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the small color ink droplet. apparatus. The color ink nozzle and the clear ink nozzle eject color inks of a plurality of types of ink weights,
The large color ink drop is a color ink drop having the largest color ink weight among the color inks having the plurality of types of ink weights,
The small color ink droplet is a color ink droplet having a minimum color ink weight among the color inks of the plurality of types of ink weights,
The large clear ink droplet is a clear ink droplet having a maximum clear ink weight among the clear inks of the plurality of types of ink weights,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the small clear ink droplet is a clear ink droplet having a minimum clear ink weight among the clear inks having the plurality of types of ink weights. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an ink weight of the small color ink is equal to an ink weight of the small clear ink. The ink weight of the large clear ink is larger than the ink weight of the large color ink.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1. The ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet are obtained by making the size of the ink supply port related to the color ink nozzle different from the size of the ink supply port related to the clear ink nozzle. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is adjusted. The ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the large clear ink droplet are applied to a drive signal applied to a drive element related to the color ink nozzle row and to a drive element related to the clear ink nozzle row. Adjusted by differentiating the drive signal,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1. A plurality of color ink nozzle rows having a plurality of the color ink nozzles;
A white ink nozzle that has the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejects white ink, and ejects a small white ink droplet and a white ink text larger than the small white ink droplet. A white ink nozzle array further comprising a plurality of
A first drive signal is commonly applied to the drive elements related to the plurality of color ink nozzle rows,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a second drive signal different from the first drive signal is commonly applied to drive elements related to the clear ink nozzle row and the white ink nozzle row. A color ink nozzle for ejecting color ink, the color ink nozzle ejecting a small color ink droplet and a large color ink droplet larger than the small color ink droplet;
A white ink nozzle having the same nozzle diameter as that of the color ink nozzle and ejecting white ink, and ejecting a small white ink droplet and a large white ink droplet larger than the small white ink droplet A nozzle,
A difference between the ink weight of the large white ink droplet and the ink weight of the small white ink droplet is larger than the difference between the ink weight of the large color ink droplet and the ink weight of the small color ink droplet. apparatus.

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