Liquid discharge apparatus and liquid discharge method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10780718-B2
Application number	US-201916358165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2019
Priority date	Mar 30, 2018
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge device, circuitry, and a curing device. The liquid discharge device is configured to discharge a liquid having a curing degree variable by a stimulation amount while relatively moving to a recording medium. The circuitry is configured to acquire surface roughness information indicating glossiness of a formed object formed on the recording medium and set a stimulation amount for the liquid based on the surface roughness information. The curing device is configured to stimulate the liquid discharged by the liquid discharge device based on the stimulation amount set by the circuitry to cure the liquid. The circuitry is configured to set, based on the surface roughness information, the stimulation amount for each region stimulated by the curing device in a same plane of the formed object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid discharge apparatus, comprising:
a liquid discharge device configured to discharge a liquid onto a first layer of a formed object on a recording medium, the liquid having a curing degree variable by an amount of stimulation;
an irradiation device configured to cure the liquid discharged onto the recording media by the stimulation, so as to form a second layer of the formed object; and
control circuitry configured to
acquire surface roughness information indicating glossiness of the first layer of the formed object;
set a stimulation amount for the liquid based on the acquired surface roughness information; and
cause the irradiation device to cure the liquid discharged by the liquid discharge device based on the set stimulation amount.

2. The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the curing degree of the liquid is variable by an irradiation light amount of an ultraviolet ray, and
wherein the irradiation device is further configured to irradiate the liquid discharged by the liquid discharge device with an ultraviolet ray to cure the liquid.

3. The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the liquid discharged by the liquid discharge device has a hardness that increases as the irradiation light amount of the ultraviolet ray increases.

4. The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control circuitry is further configured to generate the surface roughness information from image data.

5. A liquid discharge method, comprising:
discharging a liquid onto a first layer of a formed object on a recording medium, the liquid having a curing degree variable by an amount of stimulation, to form a second layer of the formed object;
acquiring surface roughness information indicating glossiness of the first layer of the formed object formed on the recording medium;
setting a stimulation amount for the liquid based on the acquired surface roughness information; and
curing the discharged liquid based on the set stimulation amount.

6. The liquid discharge method according to claim 5 ,
wherein the curing degree of the liquid is variable by an irradiation light amount of an ultraviolet ray, and
wherein the curing step is performed with the ultraviolet ray.

7. The liquid discharge method according to claim 6 , wherein the discharged liquid has a hardness that increases as the irradiation light amount of the ultraviolet ray increases.

8. The liquid discharge method according to claim 5 , wherein the acquiring step further comprises generating the surface roughness information from image data.

9. The liquid discharge method of claim 5 , wherein the setting step further comprises setting the stimulation amount for the liquid, the stimulation amount being an irradiation light amount.

Assignees

• Yamasawa Aya
• Arita Manabu
• Kamei Toshihito
• Hatanaka Shinichi
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamasawa Aya
• Arita Manabu
• Kamei Toshihito
• Hatanaka Shinichi

Classifications

• B41J2/01 Primary

  Ink jet · CPC title

• B33Y10/00 Primary

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B41J11/002 Primary

  Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating · CPC title

• B41J11/00212

  Controlling the irradiation means, e.g. image-based controlling of the irradiation zone or control of the duration or intensity of the irradiation · CPC title

• B41J11/00214

  using UV radiation · CPC title