Light-absorbing material flying apparatus, method for flying light-absorbing material, and applications using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10427322-B2
Application number	US-201715682725-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2017
Priority date	Feb 25, 2015
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a light-absorbing material flying apparatus including: a light-absorbing material that absorbs light; and a light-absorbing material flying section configured to irradiate the light-absorbing material with an optical vortex laser beam corresponding to a light absorption wavelength of the light-absorbing material to fly the light-absorbing material by an energy of the optical vortex laser beam in a direction in which the optical vortex laser beam is emitted to attach the light-absorbing material on an attachment target.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light-absorbing material flying apparatus comprising:
a light-absorbing material that absorbs light; and
a light-absorbing material flying section configured to irradiate the light-absorbing material with an optical vortex laser beam corresponding to a light absorption wavelength of the light-absorbing material to fly the light-absorbing material by an energy of the optical vortex laser beam in a direction in which the optical vortex laser beam is emitted to attach the light-absorbing material on an attachment target.

2. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material flying section is configured to irradiate the light-absorbing material borne on a surface of a light-absorbing material bearer transparent to the light with the optical vortex laser beam from a back of the light-absorbing material bearer.

3. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein transmittance of the light through the light-absorbing material bearer is 75% or higher.

4. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material bearer has a tubular shape, and
wherein the light-absorbing material flying apparatus further comprises
a light-absorbing material supplying section configured to supply the light-absorbing material onto the surface of the light-absorbing material bearer that is rotating in a circumferential direction.

5. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material has a viscosity of 1 Pa·s or greater.

6. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material comprises a light-absorbing substance, and
wherein transmittance of the light through the light-absorbing substance is 70% or lower.

7. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material flying section comprises:
a laser light source configured to generate a laser beam; and
an optical vortex converting section configured to convert the laser beam to the optical vortex laser beam.

8. The light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 7 ,
wherein the optical vortex converting section comprises a spiral phase plate.

9. An image forming apparatus comprising
the light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material comprises a colorant.

10. A three-dimensional object producing apparatus comprising
the light-absorbing material flying apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material comprises a three-dimensional object forming agent, and
wherein the light-absorbing material flying section is configured to three-dimensionally attach the three-dimensional object forming agent on the attachment target.

11. A method for flying a light-absorbing material with the light-absorbing material flying apparatus of claim 1 , the method comprising
irradiating the light-absorbing material that absorbs light with the optical vortex laser beam corresponding to a light absorption wavelength of the light-absorbing material to fly the light-absorbing material by an energy of the optical vortex laser beam in a direction in which the optical vortex laser beam is emitted to attach the light-absorbing material on an attachment target.

12. A method for forming an image, the method comprising
the method for flying a light-absorbing material according to claim 11 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material comprises a colorant.

13. A method for producing a three-dimensional object, the method comprising
the method for flying a light-absorbing material according to claim 11 ,
wherein the light-absorbing material comprises a three-dimensional object forming agent, and
wherein the irradiating the light-absorbing material to fly the light-absorbing material to attach the light-absorbing material on the attachment target comprises three-dimensionally attaching the three-dimensional object forming agent on the attachment target.

Assignees

• Suzuki Kazumi
• Yoshino Masaki
• Omatsu Takashige
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Suzuki Kazumi
• Yoshino Masaki
• Omatsu Takashige

Classifications

• B41M5/382

  Contact thermal transfer or sublimation processes (sublistatic printing using a pre-formed image B41M5/035; ink-, dye- or pigment-receptive coatings B41M5/52) · CPC title

• B41M2205/08

  Ablative thermal transfer, i.e. the exposed transfer medium is propelled from the donor to a receptor by generation of a gas · CPC title

• B41J2/14

  Structure thereof {only for on-demand ink jet heads} · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B29C67/00

  Shaping techniques not covered by groups B29C39/00 - B29C65/00, B29C70/00 or B29C73/00 · CPC title