Charge control-type inkjet printer and printing method using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10308019-B2
Application number	US-201615766354-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2016
Priority date	Oct 8, 2015
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

The present invention addresses the problem of enabling a charge control-type inkjet printer to enable real-time control during an operation and to maintain optimal printing conditions while operating. This charge control-type inkjet printer is provided with: a printing head including a nozzle unit for discharging ink; a pressure reduction valve for adjusting the pressure of the ink to be supplied to the nozzle unit of the printing head; and an ink container for accommodating the ink to be supplied to the nozzle unit of the printing head, wherein an imaging unit is further provided which images an image of ink that is discharged from the nozzle unit and is in a particulate state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A charge control-type inkjet printer, comprising:
a printing head including a nozzle unit for discharging ink;
a pressure reduction valve that adjusts a pressure of ink to be supplied to a nozzle unit of the printing head;
an ink container for containing ink to be supplied to the nozzle unit of the printing head;
an imaging unit that images the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state; and
an image processing unit that processes an image of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state, the image of the ink being obtained by the imaging unit;
wherein said imaging processing unit compares image data of ink being in a particulate state processed by said image processing unit with reference image data of the ink being in a particulate state to extract a difference between them.

2. The charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the imaging unit includes a stroboscopic light emitting unit that issues a stroboscopic light, and
wherein the imaging unit images an enlarged image of the ink being in a particulate state by irradiating the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state with a stroboscopic light issued from the stroboscopic light emitting unit.

3. The charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit that controls a viscosity, an excitation frequency, an excitation voltage, and a discharge pressure of the ink in the nozzle unit, the pressure reduction valve, and the ink container based on a result of processing by the image processing unit.

4. A charge control-type inkjet printer, comprising:
a printing head including a nozzle unit for discharging ink;
a pressure reduction valve that adjusts a pressure of ink to be supplied to a nozzle unit of the printing head;
an ink container for containing ink to be supplied to the nozzle unit of the printing head;
an image processing unit that processes an image of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state, the image of the ink being obtained by imaging;
wherein the charge control-type inkjet printer further comprises an imaging unit that images the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state; and
wherein the image processing unit compares the image of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state, the image of the ink being obtained by imaging by the imaging unit, and an image stored in advance and outputs abnormality information when detecting an abnormality in the particulate state.

5. A printing method using a charge control-type inkjet printer where an ink accommodated in an ink container is spouted from a nozzle unit of a printing head via a pressure reduction valve to be printed on a printing target and is in a particulate state, wherein printing is performed while acquiring an image of the ink spouted from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state by imaging the ink spouted from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state with a camera,
wherein an image processing unit processes an image of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state, the image of the ink being obtained by the camera, and
wherein said imaging processing unit compares image data of ink being in a particulate state processed by said image processing unit with reference image data of the ink being in a particulate state to extract a difference between them.

6. The printing method using the charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 5 ,
wherein an image including the image of the ink before being discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state and an image after being discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state is obtained as an image of the ink.

7. The printing method using the charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 5 ,
wherein an enlarged image of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state is obtained by irradiating the ink being in a particulate state with a stroboscopic light.

8. The printing method using the charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 5 ,
wherein shape information of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state is obtained by processing the image of the ink discharged from the nozzle unit and being in a particulate state, the image of the ink being obtained by the imaging.

9. The printing method using the charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 8 ,
wherein, based on a result of processing the image, printing is performed on a printing target while any one of the nozzle unit, the pressure reduction valve, and a concentration of the ink in the ink container is controlled.

10. The charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 1 ,
wherein said imaging processing unit processes the image of the ink to examine a chargeability of the ink in a particulate state.

11. The charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 10 ,
wherein said imaging processing unit processes the image of the ink when a tip portion of the ink column changes to the ink in a particulate state.

12. The charge control-type inkjet printer according to claim 3 ,
wherein said control unit controls a viscosity, an excitation frequency, an excitation voltage, and a discharge pressure of the ink in the nozzle unit based on a result of processing by the image processing unit so that the difference extracted by the image processing unit becomes small.

Assignees

• Hitachi Industry Equipment Systems Co Ltd

Inventors

• TAKEYAMA Hiromichi
• Ogino Masahiko
• Nagai Keisuke
• Sato Takashi

Classifications

• B41J2/025

  by vibration · CPC title

• B41J2/03

  by pressure · CPC title

• B41J2/09

  Deflection means · CPC title

• B41J2/01

  Ink jet · CPC title

• B41J2/08 Primary

  charge-control type · CPC title