Patent Grant
9962957
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-231895, filed Nov. 27, 2015 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-226568, filed Nov. 22, 2016 are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a technique for ejecting liquid such as ink onto a medium.
In ink jet-type liquid ejecting apparatuses, in order to improve the fixation of the ink to a medium, techniques for ejecting a pre-treatment liquid which includes reactive components such as an aggregating agent and an ink using a liquid ejecting head and landing the ink on the medium after landing the pre-treatment liquid so as to react the pre-treatment liquid and the ink on the surface of the medium have been developed. For example, since the ink jet head in PTL 1 is provided with nozzle rows which eject the pre-treatment liquid (reaction liquid) on the upstream side of the nozzle rows which eject ink in the transport direction of the medium, it is possible to land ink on the medium after first landing the pre-treatment liquid.
[PTL 1] JP-A-2013-256136
However, in a case where ink is landed after first landing a pre-treatment liquid as in PTL 1, depending on the type of the medium, the printing quality may be decreased as the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink increases. For example, since the pre-treatment liquid easily permeates into a medium with high liquid absorbency or the like, as the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink is increased, the residual amount of the reaction component on the medium surface decreases due to the pre-treatment liquid landed first permeating into the medium, thus there is a problem in that the reaction amount with the ink landed subsequently decreases, which decreases the printing quality. In particular, as in the ink jet head of PTL 1, in a configuration in which pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows are only provided on the upstream side of the ink nozzle rows in the transport direction of the medium, the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink is easily increased, and the reaction amount with the ink landed subsequently is easily decreased. An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink and improving the printing quality regardless of the type of medium through a configuration which is able to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink.
In order to solve the problem, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus including a transport mechanism which transports a medium in a first direction, a pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism which coats a pre-treatment liquid on the medium, a liquid ejecting unit which includes a plurality of ink nozzles which eject ink, and a control unit which controls the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism and the liquid ejecting unit, in which the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism includes a first mechanism which is disposed in a first region and a second mechanism which is disposed in a second region positioned on an upstream side of the first region in the first direction, and the plurality of ink nozzles is formed to have a portion which overlaps with respect to the first mechanism in a second direction which intersects with a first direction and a portion which does not overlap with respect to the second mechanism in the second direction. Since the arrangement of the first mechanism and the plurality of ink nozzles in the above configuration makes it possible to eject inks from a plurality of ink nozzles after coating the pre-treatment liquid on the medium using the first mechanism without transporting the medium in the transport direction, and it is possible to reduce the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink. On the other hand, the arrangement of the second mechanism and the plurality of ink nozzles of the present aspect makes it possible to increase the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink by ejecting inks from the plurality of ink nozzles and by transporting the medium in the transport direction after coating the pre-treatment liquid on the medium using the first mechanism. In this manner, configuring the liquid ejecting apparatus so as to be able to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink also makes it possible to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the type of medium. Accordingly, regardless of the type of medium, it is possible to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink and improve the printing quality.
A preferable aspect of the invention further includes a determination unit for determining a type of medium, in which the control unit selects either the first mechanism or the second mechanism according to the type of medium determined by the determination unit, and the selected mechanism coats the pre-treatment liquid on the medium. According to the above aspect, since the control unit selects either the first mechanism or the second mechanism according to the type of medium determined by the determination unit and ejects the ink after coating the pre-treatment liquid on the medium from the selected mechanism, it is possible to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the determined medium type. Accordingly, regardless of the type of medium, it is possible to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink and improve the printing quality.
In a preferable aspect of the invention, the first region is further divided into an upstream side region and a downstream side region in the first direction, the plurality of ink nozzles are respectively disposed in the upstream side region and the downstream side region in the first region, the first mechanism is respectively disposed in the upstream side region and the downstream side region in the first region, and the control unit selects either the ink nozzles in the upstream side region in the first region or the ink nozzles in the downstream side region in the first region according to the type of medium determined by the determination unit, and ejects the ink from the selected nozzles. According to the above aspect, not only is it possible to select either of the first mechanism and the second mechanism, but, with regard to the ink nozzles, it is possible to select the nozzles of the upstream side region or the nozzles of the downstream side region in the second region. Accordingly, since the selection combinations of the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanisms and the ink nozzles are increased, the selection options for the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink are also increased, thus it is possible to finely adjust the landing time difference.
In a preferable aspect of the invention, the second region is further divided into an upstream side region and a downstream side region in the first direction, the second mechanism is respectively disposed in the upstream side region and the downstream side region in the second region, and in a case of selecting the second mechanism, the control unit further selects either one or both of the second mechanism in the upstream side region and the second mechanism in the downstream side region in the second region, and ejects the pre-treatment liquid from the selected mechanism. According to the above aspect, for the first mechanism, it is possible to select the mechanism of the upstream side region or the mechanism of the downstream side region in the first region, and, for the second mechanism, it is also possible to select the mechanism of the upstream side region or the mechanism of the downstream side region in the second region. Accordingly, since the selection combinations of the pre-treatment liquid mechanisms and the ink nozzles are increased, the selection options for the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink are also increased, thus it is possible to more finely adjust the landing time difference.
In a preferable aspect of the invention, the pre-treatment liquid is a first pre-treatment liquid and a second pre-treatment liquid which is a different type from the first pre-treatment liquid, the first mechanism includes a nozzle which ejects the first pre-treatment liquid, and the second mechanism includes a nozzle which ejects the second pre-treatment liquid. According to the above aspect, using the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid, it is possible to change not only the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the type of medium, but also the type of the pre-treatment liquid to either of the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid according to the type of medium.
A preferable aspect of the invention further includes a liquid ejecting head which is provided with a pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism and a liquid ejecting unit, and a movement mechanism which reciprocates the liquid ejecting head in the second direction, in which the liquid ejecting head is provided with plurality of nozzle rows which are arrayed at intervals to each other in the second direction, each of the plurality of the nozzle rows has a plurality of nozzles which are arranged from the first region to the second region, the plurality of the nozzles which are arranged in the first region in one nozzle row out of the plurality of the nozzle rows are used as the first mechanism and the plurality of the nozzles which are arranged in the second region are used as the second mechanism, and the plurality of the nozzles which are arranged in the first region in other nozzle rows out of the plurality of the nozzle rows are used as the plurality of the ink nozzles. According to the above configuration, since some of the nozzles in the plurality of nozzle rows arrayed in the second direction at intervals to each other in the liquid ejecting head are used as the first mechanism, the second mechanism, and the ink nozzles, it is possible to change the arrangement of the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the position of the nozzles to be used.
A preferable aspect of the invention further includes a liquid ejecting head which is provided with a pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism and a liquid ejecting unit, and a movement mechanism which reciprocates the liquid ejecting head in the second direction, in which the pre-treatment liquid is a first pre-treatment liquid and a second pre-treatment liquid with higher permeability than the first pre-treatment liquid, the first mechanism includes two nozzle rows which are arrayed at intervals to each other in the second direction, and one of the nozzle rows is formed of nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid and the other nozzle row is formed of nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid, the nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid and the nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid are overlapped with each other in plan view in the second direction, the second mechanism includes two nozzle rows which are arrayed at intervals to each other in the second direction, and one of the nozzle rows is formed of nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid and the other nozzle row is formed of nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid, and the nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid and the nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid are overlapped with each other in plan view in the second direction. According to the above configuration makes it possible to change not only the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the type of medium, but also the order in which the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid overlap according to the type of medium, and to stabilize the permeability and wet-spreading property of the pre-treatment liquids regardless of the characteristics of the medium. Due to this, since it is possible to further increase the wet-spreading property of the pre-treatment liquid while increasing the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink regardless of the type of medium, it is possible to provide a higher printing quality in comparison with a case of changing only the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink.
In a preferable aspect of the invention, the two nozzle rows in the first mechanism are arranged in order of the nozzle row of nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid and the nozzle row of nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid in the moving direction of the liquid ejecting head, and the two nozzle rows in the second mechanism are arranged in the order of the nozzle row of nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid and the nozzle row of nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid in the moving direction of the liquid ejecting head. According to the above configuration, while moving the liquid ejecting heads in the same direction, it is possible to land the second pre-treatment liquid and the first pre-treatment liquid on the medium in this order when the first mechanism is selected, and it is possible to land first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid on the medium in this order when the second mechanism is selected. Due to this, when the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid are overlapped, it is possible to change the overlapping order of the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid even without returning the liquid ejecting head. Accordingly, even when the overlapping order of the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid is changed, it is possible to not generate a landing time difference between the first pre-treatment liquid and the second pre-treatment liquid.
A preferable aspect of the invention further includes a transport mechanism which transports the medium in a first direction and a liquid ejecting head which is provided with the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism and the liquid ejecting unit, in which the liquid ejecting head is a long line head in the second direction intersecting with the first direction. According to the above aspect, even when the liquid ejecting head is a line head, it is possible to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the type of medium. Accordingly, regardless of the type of medium, it is possible to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink and improve the printing quality.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting method for a liquid ejecting apparatus, which coats a pre-treatment liquid on a medium and then lands ink on the medium, the liquid ejecting apparatus including a transport mechanism which transports a medium in a first direction, a pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism which coats a pre-treatment liquid on the medium, and a liquid ejecting unit which includes a plurality of ink nozzles which eject ink, in which the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism includes a first mechanism which is disposed in a first region and a second mechanism which is disposed in a second region positioned on an upstream side of the first region in the first direction, and the plurality of ink nozzles are formed to have a portion which overlaps with respect to the first mechanism in a second direction which intersects with a first direction and a portion which does not overlap with respect to the second mechanism in the second direction, the liquid ejecting method including determining the type of the medium, selecting either the first mechanism or the second mechanism according to the determined type of the medium, and coating the pre-treatment liquid on the medium using the selected mechanism. According to the above configuration makes it possible to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink according to the type of medium. Accordingly, regardless of the type of medium, it is possible to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid and the ink and improve the printing quality.
A liquid container 24 which stores liquid is mounted on the liquid ejecting apparatus 10 and the liquid container 24 stores a pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41. The ink 41 is a liquid (a color ink) which contains coloring materials such as pigments or dyes. A total of four colors of the ink 41, for example, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are stored in the liquid container 24. It is also possible for the ink 41 to contain a resin material.
The pre-treatment liquid 40 is a liquid (an optimizer ink) for improving the fixation of the ink 41 which lands on the surface of the medium 22 and contains, for example, a reaction component such as aggregating agents which react with the ink 41 and a solution component such as water or solvents. The pre-treatment liquid 40 does not contain the coloring material or resin material included in the ink 41. The pre-treatment liquid 40 may contain a surfactant.
The liquid ejecting apparatus 10 is provided with a control unit 30, a transport mechanism 32, a movement mechanism 34, and a liquid ejecting head 36. The control unit 30 is provided with, for example, a control circuit such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a read only memory (ROM) 301, a random access memory (RAM) 302, and a determination unit 303 which determines the type of the medium 22. The ROM 301 is, for example, a rewritable flash ROM. Programs executed by the control unit 30 and various items of data (medium data tables and the like which will be described below) required for execution of the programs are stored in the ROM 301. Data or the like which is temporarily used when the control unit 30 executes the programs is stored in the RAM 302. A management apparatus (not shown) such as a personal computer is connected to the control unit 30. The control unit 30 integrally controls each element of the liquid ejecting apparatus 10 according to instructions from the management apparatus. The determination unit 303 determines the type of the medium 22 based on the medium data tables described above. Detailed description will be given below regarding the determination of the type of the medium 22.
The transport mechanism 32 transports the medium 22 in the Y direction (illustrated as the first direction) under the control of the control unit 30. The transport mechanism 32 of the first embodiment includes a supply roller 322 and a discharge roller 324. The supply roller 322 is disposed on the upstream side (the negative side in the Y direction) of the discharge roller 324 and transports the medium 22 to the discharge roller 324 side, and the discharge roller 324 transports the medium 22 supplied from the supply roller 322 to the downstream side (the positive side in the Y direction). It should be noted that the configuration of the transport mechanism 32 is not limited to the above example.
The movement mechanism 34 is a mechanism which reciprocates the liquid ejecting head 36 in the X direction under the control of the control unit 30. The X direction in which the liquid ejecting head 36 reciprocates is the direction which intersects (typically, which is orthogonal thereto) the Y direction in which the medium 22 is transported. The movement mechanism 34 is provided with a carriage 342 and a conveyor belt 344. The carriage 342 has a substantially box-shaped structure which supports the liquid ejecting head 36, and is fixed to the conveyor belt 344. The conveyor belt 344 is an endless belt installed in the X direction. The liquid ejecting head 36 reciprocates in the X direction together with the carriage 342 due to the conveyor belt 344 being rotated under the control of the control unit 30. It should be noted that the configuration of the movement mechanism 34 is not limited to the above example. It is also possible, for example, to mount the liquid container 24 on the carriage 342 with the liquid ejecting head 36.
The liquid ejecting head 36 ejects the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 supplied from the liquid container 24 onto the medium 22 under the control of the control unit 30. In parallel with the transport of the medium 22 by the transport mechanism 32 and the reciprocating motion by the movement mechanism 34, a desired image is formed on the surface of the medium 22 by the liquid ejecting head 36 ejecting the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 onto the medium 22.
(Configuration Example of Liquid Ejecting Head)
The liquid ejecting head 36 of the first embodiment is formed to be able to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 with respect to the medium 22.
For example, when a straight line G parallel to the X direction is assumed to be the ejection surface 360, the liquid ejecting head 36 shown in
The pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP include a plurality of first region nozzles N[A] arranged in the first region A and a plurality of second region nozzles N[B] arranged in the second region B. The first region nozzles N[A] and the second region nozzles N[B] are able to eject the pre-treatment liquid 40 supplied separately from the liquid container 24. On the other hand, each of the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 ejects the inks 41 of different colors, that is, the inks 41 of four colors of cyan(C), magenta(M), yellow(Y), and black(K). Each of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 is arrayed at intervals to each other in the X direction.
In the liquid ejecting head 36 in
With the liquid ejecting head 36 with such a configuration, ejecting the pre-treatment liquid 40 by selecting either the first region nozzles N[A] or the second region nozzles N[B] makes it possible to subsequently change the landing time difference with the ink 41 to be landed on the medium 22 by being ejected from the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4.
An opening 712, a branch flow path (a diaphragm flow path) 714, and a communication flow path 716 are formed on the flow path substrate 71. The branch flow path 714 and the communication flow path 716 are through holes formed for every nozzle N and the opening 712 is an opening which is continuous over a plurality of the nozzles N. A space in which a housing portion (a recess portion) 752 formed in the support 75 and the opening 712 of the flow path substrate 71 communicate with each other functions as a common liquid chamber (a reservoir) SR which stores the pre-treatment liquid 40 or the ink 41 supplied from the liquid container 24 via an introduction flow path 754 of the support 75.
Openings 722 are formed in every nozzle N in the pressure chamber substrate 72. The vibration plate 73 is an elastically deformable flat plate disposed on a surface of a side opposing the flow path substrate 71 on the pressure chamber substrate 72. A space between the vibration plate 73 and the flow path substrate 71 inside each of the openings 722 in the pressure chamber substrate 72 functions as a pressure chamber (a cavity) SC filled with the pre-treatment liquid 40 or the ink 41 supplied via the branch flow path 714 from the common liquid chamber SR. Each of the pressure chambers SC communicates with the nozzles N via the communication flow path 716 of the flow path substrate 71.
The piezoelectric elements 74 are formed for each of the nozzles N on the surface of the side opposing the pressure chamber substrate 72 in the vibration plate 73. Each of the piezoelectric elements 74 is a driving element which interposes a piezoelectric body between electrodes which oppose each other. When the vibration plate 73 vibrates due to the piezoelectric element 74 being deformed due to the supply of a driving signal, the pressure in the pressure chamber SC changes and the ink 41 in the pressure chamber SC is ejected from the nozzles N.
Each of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 in
(Determination of Type of Medium)
The determination unit 303 of the control unit 30 of the first embodiment determines the type of the medium 22. Specifically, the determination unit 303 determines a medium 22a with high liquid absorbency or a medium 22b with low liquid absorbency. Examples of the medium 22a with high liquid absorbency include plain paper and ink jet paper, as well as coated media and the like. Examples of the medium 22b with low liquid absorbency include plastic films such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polycarbonate (PC), films in which plastic or a receptive layer is coated on a substrate, metal, printed wiring substrates, fabrics, and the like. Here, the absorbency of the fabric may vary depending on the fibers which form the fabric. The fabric here is included as the medium 22b with low liquid absorbency assuming a case of being formed of fibers with low absorbency; however, the fabric is not limited thereto and fabrics formed of fibers with high absorbency may be included as the medium 22a with high liquid absorbency.
For example, a medium data table formed of a group the listing the media 22a with high liquid absorbency and a group listing the media 22b with low liquid absorbency is stored in the ROM 301 in advance. The type of the medium 22 is able to be selected by a user from an operation unit (not shown) connected to the control unit 30. The determination unit 303 determines the medium 22a with high liquid absorbency or the medium 22b with low liquid absorbency according to whichever group in the medium data table includes the medium 22 selected by the user.
The method for determining the type of the medium 22 is not limited to the case described above. The determination unit 303, for example, may determine the type of the medium 22 based on a detection signal from a medium sensor 37 shown in
For example, since the reflection intensity of light varies depending on the type of the medium 22, it is possible to set the predetermined threshold as the threshold of the reflection intensity of light for the medium 22 for which it is possible to determine whether the liquid absorbency is high or low according to the reflection intensity of light. In particular, with the plurality of the media 22 where the liquid absorbency is lower as the reflection intensity of light is higher, the medium is determined as the medium 22a with high liquid absorbency in a case where the detection signal from the medium sensor 37 does not exceed the predetermined threshold, and the medium is determined as the medium 22b with low liquid absorbency in a case where the detection signal exceeds the threshold. It should be noted that the medium sensor 37 need not be provided in a case where the type of the medium 22 is determined according to the selection of the medium 22 by the user as described above.
In the first embodiment, the determination of the type of the medium 22 is carried out as described above, either the plurality of the first region nozzles N[A] or the plurality of the second region nozzles N[B] is selected according to the type of the determined medium, the pre-treatment liquid 40 is ejected and landed on the medium 22, and the landing time difference with the ink 41 to be landed subsequently is changed. According to the above, regardless of the type of medium, it is possible to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 and improve the printing quality.
(Relationship Between Type of Medium and Landing Time Difference Between Pre-Treatment Liquid and Ink)
Here, description will be given of the relationship between the type of medium and the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41.
In
The surface residual amount in
First, description will be given of the medium 22a with high absorbency in case 1 and case 2 in
That is, since the pre-treatment liquid 40 easily permeates the medium 22a with high absorbency, when the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 is large, the pre-treatment liquid 40 permeates excessively up to immediately before the ink 41 lands as shown in case 1 in
On the other hand, when the landing time difference is small as shown in case 2 in
Next, description will be given of the medium 22b with low absorbency in case 3 and case 4 in
That is, since the pre-treatment liquid 40 does not easily permeate the medium 22b with low absorbency, when the landing time difference is small as shown in case 4 in
On the other hand, when the landing time difference is large as shown in case 3 in
In this manner, to improve the printing quality, it is understood that it is preferable to reduce the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 on the medium 22a with high absorbency, while it is preferable to increase the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 on the medium 22b with low absorbency.
(Liquid Ejecting Method of First Embodiment)
Based on the above, description will be given of a liquid ejecting method according to the first embodiment by exemplifying control of the liquid ejecting head 36 according to the first embodiment.
First, in step S101, the determination unit 303 determines the type of the medium 22 to be printed upon. The determination unit 303 determines the type of the medium 22, for example, based on the medium data table described above. Specifically, the determination unit 303 checks the medium 22 selected by the user against the media 22 in the medium data table, and determines whether the medium 22 is the medium 22a with high absorbency or the medium 22b with low absorbency. In step S101, the medium 22 may be determined based on the detection signal from the medium sensor 37 as described above.
In step S101, in a case where the determination unit 303 determines the medium 22a with high absorbency, in step S102, the control unit 30 ejects the pre-treatment liquid 40 by selecting the first region nozzles N[A] in the pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP, while moving the carriage 342 forward. In step S104, the control unit 30 ejects the ink 41 of the required colors from the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] in the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 in the portion where the pre-treatment liquid 40 landed while moving the carriage 342 backward without transporting the medium 22a in the Y direction, and lands the ink 41 on the medium 22a.
In contrast, in a case where the determination unit 303 determines the medium 22b with low absorbency in step S101, in step S103, the control unit 30 ejects the pre-treatment liquid 40 by selecting the second region nozzles N[B] in the pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP, while moving the carriage 342 forward. In step S104, the control unit 30 ejects the ink 41 of the required colors from the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] in the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 on the portion where the pre-treatment liquid 40 landed after transporting the medium 22b in the Y direction and lands the ink 41 on the medium 22b.
According to the printing control of the first embodiment, in a case where the pre-treatment liquid 40 was ejected by selecting the first region nozzles N[A], since it is not necessary to transport the medium 22 in the Y direction to land the ink 41 on the portion of the medium 22 where the pre-treatment liquid 40 landed, it is possible to reduce the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 compared to a case where the second region nozzles N[B] are selected in which it is necessary to transport the medium 22 in the Y direction.
Accordingly, with respect to the medium 22a with high absorbency, since it is possible to reduce the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 as shown in case 2 in
Above, description was given in which, in a case of the medium 22a with high absorbency, the pre-treatment liquid 40 is ejected from the first region nozzles N[A] when the carriage 342 is moving forward (step S102), and the ink 41 is ejected from the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 when the carriage 342 is moving backward (step S104); however, the invention is not limited thereto. For example, in a case of the medium 22a with high absorbency, both the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 may be ejected when the carriage 342 is moving forward. That is, in the liquid ejecting head 36 in
Description will be given of the liquid ejecting head 36 according to a first modification example of the first embodiment.
In the configuration in
In the configuration in
In the printing control of the liquid ejecting head 36 in
In this manner, according to the configuration in
Description will be given of the liquid ejecting head 36 according to a second modification example of the first embodiment.
The configuration in
According to the configuration in
Description will be given of the liquid ejecting head 36 according to a third modification example of the first embodiment.
According to the configuration in
In addition, according to the configuration in
Description will be given of the liquid ejecting head 36 according to a fourth modification example of the first embodiment.
In the nozzle row L0 which is used as the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP, predetermined number of nozzles N positioned in the first region A are used as the first region nozzles N[A] and predetermined nozzles N positioned in the second region B are used as the second region nozzles N[B]. From among the four nozzle rows L0 used as the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4, predetermined number of nozzles N positioned in the first region A are used as the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K]. That is, the positional relationship between each of the nozzles is the same as in
Description will be given of the second embodiment of the invention. In the first embodiment, description was given of a case where one type of the pre-treatment liquid 40 is used and the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 is changed according to the type of the medium 22; however, in the second embodiment, description will be given of a case where a plurality of pre-treatment liquids 40 are used and the type of the pre-treatment liquid 40 is changed according to the type of the medium 22 in addition to the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 being changed according to the type of the medium 22. It should be noted that, in each of the aspects exemplified below, for elements where the effects and function are the same as the first embodiment, the reference numerals used in the description of the first embodiment are re-used and description of the various details thereof will be omitted as appropriate.
In the first embodiment, description was given of a point where, as the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 is larger, the permeation of the pre-treatment liquid 40 up to immediately before the landing of the ink 41 is more excessive such that the reaction component amount of the pre-treatment liquid 40 remaining on the surface of the medium 22 is changed and the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 may be decreased. This phenomenon may be more remarkably apparent depending on the combination of the type of the medium and the pre-treatment liquids 40 with different permeability in addition to the landing time difference of the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41. For example, since a pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability permeates the medium 22 more easily than a pre-treatment liquid 40a′ with low permeability, even if the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquids 40 and the ink 41 is the same, with the pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability, the pre-treatment liquid 40 permeates excessively and the reaction component amount of the pre-treatment liquid 40 remaining on the surface of the medium 22 is reduced.
(Relationship Between Type of Medium and Permeability of Pre-Treatment Liquid)
More detailed description will be given below of the relationship between the type of medium and the permeability of the pre-treatment liquid 40.
Here, one type of the pre-treatment liquids 40 with different permeability is either of the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ with low permeability and the pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability. Using a slow permeation pre-treatment liquid as the pre-treatment liquid (first pre-treatment liquid) 40a′ with low permeability and using a fast permeation pre-treatment liquid as the pre-treatment liquid (second pre-treatment liquid) 40b′ with high permeability, the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ or 40b′ and the ink 41 is set to be the same. In addition, the different types of the media 22 are either the medium 22a with high liquid absorbency (for example, coated paper having an ink absorbing layer) or the medium 22b with low liquid absorbency (for example, plastic films such as vinyl chloride).
In
In the same manner as
In addition, with a super slow permeation liquid as the pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability, the penetration into the interior of the medium 22a or 22b is fast and the wet-spreading on the surface of the medium 22a or 22b is easy. On the other hand, with a slow permeation liquid as the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ with low permeability, the permeation into the interior of the medium 22a or 22b is slow and the wet-spreading on the surface of the medium 22a or 22b is difficult in comparison with the super slow permeation liquid which is the pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability. For this reason, the surface residual amounts and coating areas of the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ or 40b′ are different according to the combination of the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ or 40b′ and the medium 22a or the 22b as in cases 1 to 4 in
First, description will be given of the medium 22a with high absorbency in case 5 and case 6 in
On the other hand, as shown in case 6 in
In this manner, although the state of the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ in case 6 in
Next, description will be given of the medium 22b with low absorbency in case 7 and case 8 in
In this manner, although the state of the pre-treatment liquid 40b′ in case 7 in
On the other hand, as shown in case 8 in
According to the above, to improve the print image quality, from the point of view of the surface residual amount (the permeability) of the pre-treatment liquid, it is understood that the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ with low permeability is more favorable for the medium 22a with high absorbency such as in case 6 in
In the second embodiment, the pre-treatment liquid 40a′ with low permeability is used on the medium 22a with high absorbency and the pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability is used on the medium 22b with low absorbency. Due to this, regardless of the type of the medium 22, it is possible to increase the reactivity between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41. Furthermore, since it is possible to adjust the permeability and the drying property by changing the landing time difference between each of the pre-treatment liquids 40 and the ink 41 as in the first embodiment, it is also possible to adjust the wet-spreading of the pre-treatment liquid 40.
(Liquid Ejecting Head of Second Embodiment)
Next, description will be given of a configuration example of the liquid ejecting head 36 of the second embodiment in which it is possible to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 according to the medium 22 and to change the type of the pre-treatment liquid 40.
The first pre-treatment liquid 40a′ and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b′ are reactive components in the same manner as the pre-treatment liquid 40 of the first embodiment and differ in the permeability with respect to the medium 22. Specific examples of the first pre-treatment liquid 40a′ include a slow permeation pre-treatment liquid with low permeability which permeates the medium 22 slowly. Specific examples of the second pre-treatment liquid 40b′ include a fast permeation pre-treatment liquid with high permeability which permeates the medium 22 more quickly than the slow permeation pre-treatment liquid. The terms “fast permeation” and “slow permeation” have the meaning of relative characteristics.
In
According to the liquid ejecting head 36 in
(Liquid Ejecting Method of Second Embodiment)
Based on the above, description will be given of the liquid ejecting method of the second embodiment with control of the liquid ejecting head 36 in
First, in step S201, the determination unit 303 determines the type of the medium 22 to be printed. Specifically, the same process as in step S101 in
In contrast, in a case where the determination unit 303 determines that the medium is the medium 22b with low absorbency in step S201, in step S203, the control unit 30 ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b′ with high permeability by selecting the second region nozzles N[B] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP while moving the carriage 342 forward. In step S204, the control unit 30 ejects the ink 41 of the required colors from the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] in the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 on the portion where the second pre-treatment liquid 40b′ landed after transporting the medium 22b in the Y direction and lands the ink 41 on the medium 22b.
According to the printing control of the second embodiment, with respect to the medium 22a with high absorbency, it is possible to eject the first pre-treatment liquid 40a′ with low permeability as in case 6 in
In the control shown in
Description will be given of a third embodiment of the invention. In the second embodiment, description was given of the liquid ejecting head 36 which is able to land any one of two types of the pre-treatment liquids 40 with different permeability according to the type of the medium 22 using two types of the pre-treatment liquids 40 with a different permeability; however, in the third embodiment, description will be given of the liquid ejecting head 36 which is able to change the overlapping order of the plurality of the pre-treatment liquids 40 according to the type of the medium 22 using the plurality of pre-treatment liquids 40 with different permeability. Due to this, in comparison with a case of using one type of the pre-treatment liquid 40, it is possible to further improve the permeability and the wet-spreading.
(Medium Type and Plurality of Pre-Treatment Liquids)
Here, description will be given of the state of the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the state of the ink 41 in a case where a plurality of the pre-treatment liquids 40 with different permeability are overlapped.
Case 9 in
As shown in case 9 in
On the other hand, as shown in case 10 in
Furthermore, in the third embodiment, it is possible to provide a higher printing quality by not only changing the overlapping order of the two types of the pre-treatment liquid 40 according to the medium 22, but also the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40a or 40b and the ink 41.
(Liquid Ejecting Head of Third Embodiment)
Next, description will be given of a configuration example of the liquid ejecting head 36 of the third embodiment in which it is possible to change not only the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 according to the medium 22, but also the overlapping order of the two types of the pre-treatment liquid 40.
The pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP1 and LP2 are both a set of the plurality of first region nozzles N[A] arrayed in a linear form in the Y direction and the pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP1′ and LP2′ are both a set of the plurality of second region nozzles N[B] arrayed in a linear form in the Y direction. In the configuration shown in
According to this configuration, in the first region nozzles N[A] of each of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP1 and LP2, it is possible to set one as a nozzle which ejects the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the other as a nozzle which ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b. In addition, in the second region nozzles N[B] of each of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle rows LP1′ and LP2′, it is possible to set one as a nozzle which ejects the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the other as a nozzle which ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b.
Here, the first region nozzles N[A] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP1 are set as nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the first region nozzles N[A] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP2 are set as nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid 40b. In addition, the second region nozzles N[B] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP1′ are set as nozzles which eject the second pre-treatment liquid 40b and the second region nozzles N[B] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP2′ are set as nozzles which eject the first pre-treatment liquid 40a. That is, in the first region A and the first region B, the nozzle row which ejects the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the nozzle row which ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b are arranged to be lined up in a staggered order to each other as seen from the Y direction.
In the liquid ejecting head 36 in
Furthermore, in a case of selecting the first region nozzles N[A] and a case of selecting the second region nozzles N[B], it is possible to change the order of landing the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b. In such a case, by arranging the nozzle row which ejects the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the nozzle row which ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b in the first region A and the first region B so as to line up in a staggered order to each other as seen from the Y direction, it is possible to change the landing order of the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b when moving the carriage 342 in the same direction, thus, in comparison with a case where the nozzle row which ejects the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the nozzle row which ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b are lined up in the same order as seen from the Y direction, when the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b are overlapped, it is possible to change the overlapping order of the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b even when the carriage 342 does not return. Accordingly, even when the overlapping order of the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b is changed, it is possible to avoid generating a landing time difference between the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b. In this manner, according to the configuration in
(Liquid Ejecting Method of Third Embodiment)
Based on the above, description will be given of a liquid ejecting method of the third embodiment by using control of the liquid ejecting head 36 in
First, in step S301, the determination unit 303 determines the type of the medium 22 to be printed. Specifically, the same process as in step S101 in
In step S306, the control unit 30 ejects the ink 41 of the required color from the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 to land on the medium 22a on the portion where the second pre-treatment liquid 40b and the first pre-treatment liquid 40a are overlapped while moving the carriage 342 backward without transporting the medium 22a in the Y direction.
In contrast, in a case where the determination unit 303 determines that the medium is the medium 22b with low absorbency in step S301, in step S304, the control unit 30 ejects the first pre-treatment liquid 40a with low permeability by selecting the second region nozzles N[B] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP2′ while moving the carriage 342 forward to land on the medium 22b, then, in step S305, selects the second region nozzles N[B] of the pre-treatment liquid nozzle row LP1′, ejects the second pre-treatment liquid 40b with high permeability to land on the medium 22b, and overlaps the second pre-treatment liquid 40b on the first pre-treatment liquid 40a.
In step S306, the control unit 30 ejects the ink 41 of the required color from the nozzles N[C], N[M], N[Y], and N[K] of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4 to land on the medium 22b on the portion where the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b are overlapped while moving the carriage 342 backward with transporting the medium 22b in the Y direction.
According to the printing control of the third embodiment, when the determination unit 303 determines that the medium is the medium 22a with high absorbency, the control unit 30 overlaps and lands the first pre-treatment liquid 40a with high permeability on the second pre-treatment liquid 40b with low permeability on the medium 22, and then lands the ink 41. In contrast, when the determination unit 303 determines that the medium is the medium 22b with low absorbency, the control unit 30 overlaps and lands the second pre-treatment liquid 40b with high permeability on the first pre-treatment liquid 40a with low permeability on the medium 22, and then lands the ink 41. Due to this, with either of the medium 22a with high absorbency or the medium 22b with low absorbency, it is possible to increase the wet-spreading while increasing the reactivity with the pre-treatment liquid 40, thus it is possible to improve the printing quality regardless of the type of the medium 22.
Moreover, in the same manner as the first embodiment, since it is also possible to change the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 according to the medium 22, it is possible to further increase the reaction component amount of the pre-treatment liquid 40 remaining on the surface of the medium 22 with the medium 22a with high absorbency and it is possible to secure the drying time for the solution component such as water or solvents of each of the pre-treatment liquids 40 with the medium 22b with low absorbency.
According to the third embodiment described above, it is possible to provide printing quality with higher image quality regardless of the type of the medium 22, compared to the first embodiment in which changes only the landing time difference between the pre-treatment liquid 40 and the ink 41 according to the type of the medium 22. Also in
In addition, the liquid ejecting head according to the third embodiment is not limited to the configuration described above. For example, in the configuration in
Description will be given of a fourth embodiment of the invention. In the first embodiment to the third embodiment, the liquid ejecting apparatus 10 which is provided with a serial head in which the carriage 342 mounted with the liquid ejecting head 36 moves in the X direction was exemplified, in the fourth embodiment, the liquid ejecting apparatus 10 which is provided with the liquid ejecting head 36 formed as a long line head in a direction (here, the X direction) intersecting the transport direction of the medium 22 is exemplified.
As shown in the enlarged view of the upper side in
According to the configuration in
Accordingly, even when the liquid ejecting head 36 is the line head as shown in
The liquid ejecting head 36 of each embodiment described above functions as a liquid ejecting unit which ejects the ink 41 and also functions as a pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism which coats the pre-treatment liquid 40 on the medium 22. Specifically, in the liquid ejecting head 36, the constituent element which ejects the ink 41 (including the nozzles of the ink nozzle rows LI1 to LI4) functions as a liquid ejecting unit, the constituent element which ejects the pre-treatment liquid 40 arranged in the first region A (including the first region nozzles N[A]) functions as a first mechanism, and the constituent element which ejects the pre-treatment liquid 40 arranged in the second region B (including the second region nozzles N[B]) functions as a second mechanism.
Each of the embodiments illustrated above may be variously modified, for example, may be combined appropriately in a range not inconsistent with each other. In addition, the following examples may be combined with each of the embodiments.
(1) The structure of the liquid ejecting head 36 is appropriately changed. For example, in each of the embodiments described above, the piezoelectric liquid ejecting head 36 using a piezoelectric element which applies mechanical vibration to a pressure chamber was exemplified; however, it is also possible to adopt a thermal liquid ejecting head using a heat generating element which generates bubbles in the interior of the pressure chamber by heating. In addition, the configuration of the plurality of nozzles N in the liquid ejecting head 36 is not limited to the examples of each of the embodiments described above. For example, the pre-treatment liquid 40 nozzle rows and the ink nozzle rows may be formed separately. In addition, in each of the embodiments described above, a case where two of the pre-treatment liquids 40 are landed and overlapped on a medium was described; however, without being limited thereto, three or more of the pre-treatment liquids 40 may be landed and overlapped.
(2) In each of the embodiments described above, a case where the liquid ejecting head 36 functions as a pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism which coats the pre-treatment liquid 40 on the medium 22 was described; however, without being limited thereto, the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism may be provided separately to the liquid ejecting head 36. In such a case, the pre-treatment liquid coating mechanism may be formed by a spray mechanism which coats the pre-treatment liquid 40 on the medium 22 by spraying. For example, in the liquid ejecting head 36 in
(3) In each of the embodiments described above, further it is possible to adjust the ejecting amount of the first pre-treatment liquid 40a and 40a′ and the second pre-treatment liquid 40b and 40b′. For example, in the case of the medium 22 where liquid is almost not absorbed, it is possible to land the small dots of the pre-treatment with high permeability on the medium 22 to overlap small dots of the second pre-treatment liquid with low permeability or to land the large dots of the pre-treatment liquid with high permeability on the medium 22. In addition, for example, in the case of the medium 22 where liquid is hardly absorbed, it is possible to land the large dots of the pre-treatment liquid with high permeability on the medium 22 to overlap the small dots of the pre-treatment liquid with low permeability. In addition, for example, in the case of the medium 22 where liquid is absorbed a little, it is possible to land the large dots of the pre-treatment liquid with low permeability on the medium 22 to overlap small dots of the pre-treatment liquid with high permeability. In addition, for example, in the case of the medium 22 where liquid is sufficiently absorbed, it is possible to land the large dots of the pre-treatment with low permeability on the medium 22 to overlap large dots of the pre-treatment with high permeability.
That is, as the medium has high permeability, the time difference between the pre-treatment landing and the ink landing become short, and it is possible to further improve the printing quality by increasing the ejecting amount of the pre-treatment liquid and selecting the order of the ejecting pre-treatment liquid. In addition, as the medium has low permeability, the time difference between the pre-treatment landing and the ink landing become longer, and it is possible to further improve the printing quality by decreasing the ejecting amount of the pre-treatment liquid and selecting the order of ejecting the pre-treatment liquid.
(4) The liquid ejecting apparatus exemplified in each of the embodiments described above may be employed in various devices such as a facsimile apparatus or copier in addition to devices that are dedicated to printing. However, the application of the liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention is not limited to printing. For example, liquid ejecting apparatuses which eject a solution of a coloring agent are used as manufacturing apparatuses which form color filters for liquid crystal display apparatuses. In addition, liquid ejecting apparatuses which eject a solution of a conductive material are used as manufacturing apparatuses which form the wiring or an electrode of a wiring substrate.
10 liquid ejecting apparatus, 22 medium, 22a medium with high liquid absorbency, 22b medium with low liquid absorbency, 24 liquid container, 30 control unit, 301 ROM, 302 RAM, 303 determination unit, 32 transport mechanism, 322 supply roller, 324 discharge roller, 34 movement mechanism, 342 carriage, 344 conveyor belt, 36 liquid ejecting head, 360 ejection surface, 37 medium sensor, 40 pre-treatment liquid, 40a first pre-treatment liquid, 40a′ pre-treatment liquid with low permeability, 40b second pre-treatment liquid, 40b′ pre-treatment liquid with high permeability, 41 ink, 71 flow path substrate, 712 opening, 714 branch flow path, 716 communication flow path, 72 pressure chamber substrate, 722 opening, 722 each opening, vibration plate, 74 piezoelectric element, 75 support, 754 introduction flow path, 76 nozzle plate, A first region, A1 region on the upstream side in the first region, A2 region on the downstream side in the first region, B second region, B1 region on the upstream side in the second region, B2 region on the downstream side in the second region, L0 nozzle row, LP LP1, LP2, LP3, LP4, LP1′, LP2′ pre-treatment liquid nozzle row, LI1, LI2, LI3, LI4 ink nozzle row, N[A] first region nozzle, N[B] second region nozzle, SC pressure chamber, SR common liquid chamber
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-231895 | Nov 2015 | JP | national |
| 2016-226568 | Nov 2016 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7048356 | Ishikawa et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
| 20140210887 | Fernandez del Rio | Jul 2014 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2005-11915 | May 2005 | JP |
| 2012-254647 | Dec 2012 | JP |
| 2013-256136 | Dec 2013 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170151810 A1 | Jun 2017 | US |
