Patent Application
20240165965
The present invention relates to a method of scanning a print head of a printer. The present invention also relates to an output apparatus such as a printing apparatus or a processing apparatus using the scanning method.
To provide a printing device and a coating device for processing a medium (recording paper or a recording material) by discharging ink or a material to a desired position of recording paper, a medium or a recording surface on demand in an output device of a computer.
In an inkjet printer, ink is discharged from a nozzle of an inkjet print head, the ink is attached to a medium to be printed, and the ink is fixed by being dried, reacted, cured, or adhered. An inkjet printer is provided with a nozzle of a print head corresponding to a material and a type of an ink, so that a plurality of types of inks can be discharged and arranged on a recording surface, and is suitable for printing of a color image, and is practically used as a printer for printing of a text or a color image.
In addition, it is also possible to form a three dimensional solid by further printing and depositing an image in a height direction on an ink material of a recording surface which is two dimensionally printed and deposited, and an inkjet type three dimensional printer (3D printer) is put into practical use. To provide a three dimensional printer (2D printer, conventional printer) by applying a two dimensional printer (3D printer, conventional printer).
When printing and laminating ink, the three dimensional printer compresses and accumulates the ink by a roller or the like after fixing the ink, or performs lamination in a height direction through a process of supplying powder or paper instead of recording paper, fixing the ink, and smoothing the ink by a roller or the like, thereby performing modeling.
On the other hand, two dimensional printers are used not only for three dimensional applications but also for recording on special inks or media and for high-speed printing. In addition to the use of printing on paper such as a text book or a poster for on-demand printing, printing is performed on a film made of a fire-resistant material using a dedicated ink to be used for a signboard or an advertisement, and the printing is used for coloring or textile printing of a fiber product, printing or printing on a product, on-demand printing for a prototype of a product, and prototyping. In the field of printed electronics, it is used in the manufacture of electronic components and also in the application of liquid materials to substrates in coating processes. Studies have been made on applications for coating and fixing functional materials such as organic semiconductors, inorganic semiconductors, hybrid materials, synthetic metal materials, conductive polymers, electrode materials, metal particle materials, ink jet printer element electronic component materials, and resists. In each of the above-mentioned fields, a high printing speed is preferable.
One known approach to increasing printing speed in the field of inkjet printers is the development of line printers as opposed to serial printers. Many practical inkjet printers are serial printers (Commentary Example, https://www.jfpi.or.jp/webyogo/index.php?term=1165). To solve the problem of a multi-pass system in which a recording head is repeatedly moved in a direction (lateral direction) perpendicular to a feeding direction (longitudinal direction) of a recording sheet to perform recording, so that it is necessary to repeatedly move the recording head to perform printing, and time is required for printing.
In the serial printer, a method of increasing the processing power of the head and increasing the printing speed by increasing the size of the recording head (increasing the number of nozzles Nz) and increasing the speed of the recording head (increasing the nozzle driving speed f) is employed. For example, the number of nozzles mounted on a recording head may be increased, and in order to increase the number of nozzles There is a known method in which a plurality of recording head elements in which nozzles are formed are connected in a staggered arrangement or the like and mounted on a recording head of a serial printer to increase the size of the recording head and improve the printing speed.
When the recording head is increased in size and mass, a mechanism for supporting and driving the head is also increased in size. There is a limit to the speed at which the enlarged head can be moved.
In addition, as the number of head elements to be mounted on the print head increases, it becomes necessary to adjust the position and level of the elements and adjust ejection. When a large number of elements are assembled in the head, it sometimes takes labor to mount a failed head element and adjust element and adjust ejection. According to the personal opinion of the inventor, the footprint of the cleaning portion (also serving as the capping portion) also becomes very large when the staggered array head which has become large becomes very large.
To manufacture a thermal ink jet type head element of a serial printer which is manufactured by a semiconductor manufacturing technique in many cases or a print head in which the element is formed in an industrial printer using a thermal ink jet among ink jet systems in relation to the attachment of the head. When an unrecoverable nozzle omission occurs, the entire print head may be replaced to reduce maintenance labor, maintenance cost, and downtime for head adjustment.
In order to improve the printing speed of the serial printer, a line head (https://www.epson.jp/osirase/2017/170202_4.htm) of a line printer in which nozzles of a plurality of recording head elements are linearly (one dimensionally) arranged in a direction (lateral direction) perpendicular to a feeding direction (longitudinal direction, sub-scanning direction) of a recording sheet is used as a recording head.
Patent Documents 1 to 4 are examples of previously reported line printers. The line printer is a single-pass type in which a recording head moves only once (the recording head is fixed and the recording surface moves) when the recording surface or recording paper is supplied at the time of printing. In a line printer, a recording sheet is fed, and at the same time, printing is performed by a recording head disposed in a recording width of the recording sheet. Since printing is performed only by passing the recording paper under the recording head, it is possible to feed the medium without stopping and perform printing, as in offset printing.
Here, similarly to the recording head of the serial printer, the line head also needs to have ejection performance by, for example, increasing the number of nozzles to achieve desired processing capability, and it may be necessary to pay attention to the fact that a consumer may use a high-speed serial head rather than a low-speed line head. The line head and the system shown in the present invention may be preferably used in an application in which a printer is always operated for business use rather than for home use in view of problems such as a head cleaning mechanism when printing is not performed, a capping mechanism, and maintenance of a large head.
In a practical line head, there is a problem that a cleaning mechanism for an ink jet head nozzle portion which can be used in a serial printer cannot be used or the use of the cleaning mechanism is limited.
In the line head, it is difficult to clean the recording head which operates at the time of printing. When cleaning is performed, it is necessary to interrupt printing at the time of printing and perform cleaning by, for example, retracting the line head from the recording surface, and the interruption extends the printing time. This increases the maintenance time Tm and the other time X from the viewpoint of the speed factor SF. Therefore, in order not to interrupt printing, there is also a system in which two or more sets of line heads are provided and a head not used for printing is cleaned. As described above, in the line head, a cleaning countermeasure is a known problem.
In addition, in a case where the head elements are connected in a line shape and fixed at a certain position to be used for printing, the position of the nozzle is fixed, and there is a problem in that a nozzle which cannot be recovered by cleaning is generated (nozzle omission occurs). In a serial printer, printing is performed by a multi-pass method, and a defect in ejection of a print head or deviation of each nozzle can be made less noticeable on an image by dividing the printing into a plurality of scans. However, in the single pass method of the line head, nozzle omission or the like is noticeable. This leads to a partial image defect in the case of an image, a forming failure in the case of a 3D printer, and a manufacturing failure in the case of an electronic part, and thus needs to be avoided. When printing a three dimensional object, it takes time to laminate, and if a missing nozzle caused by not being able to clean the nozzle causes the modeling to fail, the material and “time” are wasted. Therefore, the inventor of the present invention has sought a system capable of printing like a line printer while performing cleaning.
To solve the problem that a line head or a recording head corresponding to the line head capable of intermittently cleaning a nozzle for two dimensional and three-dimensional printing cannot be used. In addition, there is no recording head which performs printing in a single pass as in a line printer and is easily cleaned at the time of printing as in a serial printer. In particular, when a line head is used in a printer that operates for a long time such as a three-dimensional printer, there is no mechanism that can perform cleaning during printing. Since the same problem as 3D printer may be produced when working a nozzle also in a two-dimensional printer for a long time at the time of manufacture of an industrial product on demand, it is preferable when the mechanism which can be cleaned during print operation is in the printer which operates like a line printer.
As means for solving the problems, the present invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
It means using for the purpose which makes material deposit using the method and equipment of this application also in manufacturing processes, such as an electronic component, and produces a film. In relation to an electronic component process, it is intended that a nozzle for performing cutting and removal processing such as a laser nozzle is provided instead of a method of using a nozzle in an AM method, and a portion where a film is formed at the time of manufacturing an electronic component is cut and removed by laser processing and used for patterning of an electrode. In particular, the present invention is intended to be applied to a component requiring film formation and patterning over a large area, such as a solar cell manufacturing process.
The trajectories which the nozzle of a recording head draws are a circle, an ellipse, and an ellipse as an example, In particular, in the case of a circle, nozzles are arranged and fixed so as to be arranged in a circle, a print head having the fixed circular nozzle array is rotated by a motor provided outside or in the print head, and ink is discharged from the nozzle array drawing a circular orbit crossing a recording surface to perform printing. In addition to discharging a material such as ink, processing can also be performed by disposing a processing element in place of the nozzle. In the present invention, as shown in
As illustrated in
The system (an addition manufacturing method, a FDM system) which extrudes the material looked at by not only an inkjet system but 3D printer on the head of the present invention, and it discharges from a nozzle, and the laser radiation system provided with the irradiation part (laser nozzle part for an exposure) which processes the material in a laser beam machine may be used.
The recording head may include a plurality of nozzles of an inkjet method or a plurality of nozzles for discharging a material of a Fused Deposition Modeling/fused deposition modeling (FDM) method. Any nozzle may be used as long as it extrudes a material from a nozzle used in a known additive manufacturing method. The material which has not carried out the heat dissolution (material which has mobility in an ordinary temperature region), for example, food paste, (paste state confectionery materials, such as cookie dough and a chocolate paste, --) The scan method of the present invention may be used for the items which can be manufactured with non-element material/organic material pastes, such as earthenware, such as bread-making material and a dough material, earthenware, and building materials. The scanning method of the present invention may be used to eject bio-based material onto a recording surface, for example from a nozzle having a nozzle diameter capable of ejecting seeds in an agricultural machine application. The print head may be provided with an ink jet nozzle and an extrusion nozzle for a food material, the food paste may be laminated by the extrusion nozzle, and the food may be printed with a food coloring agent to output an on-demand food. In the present application, a mechanical component or an electronic component may be output. In the present invention, the operation may be performed not only under atmospheric pressure but also under vacuum.
The material of the electronic component may be deposited on the substrate of the recording surface by scanning the head having the material discharge nozzle by the scanning method of the present invention under vacuum or in a vacuum outer space.
The system of the present invention may be operated not only under atmospheric pressure but also under zero gravity and vacuum in outer space. When it is used in outer space, a mechanism for stopping or canceling the rotation of the head 1 may be provided. There is much movement rotated although there is little movement which shakes mass at right and left like a serial printer in this application.
Solar Cell Manufactured Using Material or Substrate Launched in Outer Space Since the outer space has a higher vacuum than the ground (since the outer space is in a vacuum without using a turbo-molecular pump or the like as on the ground), there may be a merit in the outer space that manufacturing of some solar cells and metal components (output of outer space components and products) involving a vacuum process is performed on the spot of a base such as a space station.
If the case where a solar cell is manufactured on the spot of space using the vacuum with which the universe is provided is compared after launching a film material and raw materials, such as an electrode and a semiconductor, from the ground to the universe in the universe, when manufacturing the solar cell of a film mold on the ground and launching to space as an inventor individual's opinion, There is a possibility that the use of the vacuum pump is less or unnecessary in the latter case where the solar cell is manufactured by using the vacuum of the outer space on the spot in the outer space after launching the raw material. In the case of the latter, the vacuum with which space is provided is used and a solar cell manufacturing installation with the vacuum process which makes a substrate discharge, spout, irradiate with, form and deposit materials, such as vacuum evaporation, is needed.
Production of Solar Cell by Vacuum Process without Vacuum Pump in Outer Space
He would sometimes like for solar cells, such as a space station and an artificial satellite, and the solar cell for space-based solar power to carry out failure etc., and to manufacture and carry out local procurement of the solar cell from raw materials, such as a semiconductor and an electrode material, a substrate, etc. in the space station of space. An atom and a molecule are steam-ized by the principle of an evaporation apparatus and an evaporation apparatus which uses for solar cell manufacture as an example raw materials, parts, and substrate which were launched from the ground in space to manufacture a solar cell to on demand ones using the vacuum environment of space, vacuum evaporation and sublimation are performed, and they are a metal electrode and a transparent electrode, An apparatus (here, an output apparatus for manufacturing) for performing discharge and implantation processing of impurities such as film formation of an inorganic semiconductor/organic semiconductor film and doping to a semiconductor film includes: The solar cell may be manufactured by using a vacuum provided in outer space for manufacturing the solar cell without using a pump (a vacuum pump such as a turbo-molecular pump or an oil diffusion pump) that evacuates a vacuum chamber used for a vacuum process in manufacturing the solar cell on the ground.
Even if the vacuum chamber on the ground and the outer space can have the same degree of vacuum, there is a possibility that particles adversely affecting the production of semiconductor components are present or flying in the outer space. Therefore, a device for blocking the influence of the particles may be provided in the production process. For example, the manufacturing installation using the vacuum of space may be equipped with the mechanism which lowers the influence on the organic semiconductor film by the particles etc. which may arise from the ionization vacuum gauge etc. which measure the degree of vacuum of a vacuum chamber by vacuum evaporation of the electrode of an organic solar cell, etc.
When the particles to be removed in vacuum are charged particles, removal of the particles by an electric field or a magnetic field can be used. When there is minute debris that physically collides with the manufacturing apparatus, a barrier or the like is provided to prevent the debris from colliding with the manufacturing apparatus. In the case of photons, such as a gamma ray and X-rays, it shields with the barrier of high-density metal.
In outer space, the space and mass available for such manufacturing devices may be limited. Therefore, in the present application, a printer 8 having the features claimed in the present application may be used in the manufacturing apparatus. A feature of the present application is to have a characteristic of being able to perform nozzle cleaning even during an ejection operation when ejecting a material onto the recording surface 2, ejecting a material, or ejecting a material fluid or a material gas fluid (particles evaporated in a vapor deposition process or a sublimation process). It can be used to shape electronic components such as solar cells in outer space (film-type solar cells to which vacuum in outer space is applied and which are intended to perform roll-to-roll manufacturing similar to a printing process by the printer 8), structures for outer space, or three dimensional products and components. The film-shaped (film-type) solar cell manufactured by the apparatus and the method may be used for a space structure such as a space station or space photovoltaic power generation.
A capacitor (electrolytic capacitor, roll-to-roll process) having a manufacturing process similar to a printing process (inkjet printing, roll-to-roll process), such as a solar cell for a film, under atmospheric pressure or vacuum is known. The printer 8 of the present application may be used for manufacturing an electronic component in which a substrate such as a film or an electrode foil having a large area is input and processed when an element such as a ceramic capacitor, a piezoelectric actuator, or a secondary battery (electrolytic solution type or solid electrolyte type lithium ion battery) is manufactured.
Since oxygen and nitrogen do not substantially exist under vacuum as compared with under the atmosphere, it can be expected that oxidation or the like does not occur at the time of sintering the metal. In the present application, the head 1 of the printer 8 is provided with a laser nozzle and a discharge nozzle for discharging a fluid containing metal particles (including titanium), and while discharging and depositing metal powder on the recording surface 2, the metal particles are sequentially sintered by the laser nozzle under a vacuum provided in space, so that a metal part or the like can be shaped. Instead of the discharge nozzle, metal powder may be supplied to the recording surface 2, and the metal powder may be leveled by a roller or the like for each lamination thickness, and may be irradiated with a laser by a laser nozzle to be sintered. The same applies to the resin powder regardless of the metal powder.
The present invention is mainly characterized in that a recording surface 2 and a cleaning mechanism 3 are provided on a rotating or looping track (100,100C,100R,4R) drawn by nozzles (a plurality of nozzle arrays 100 and a single nozzle 100NZ) of a recording head 1. A discharge material to be supplied to the head 1 and a material supplying path (the ink sub-tank 11, the ink supplying path 111, the ink supplying path 112, the ink tank 113, the material extruding pump 110PP, and the pump driving circuit 1FDP); It is necessary to provide paths (100NZ and 100VA) for transmitting and receiving signals for controlling the discharge of the material mounted on the head 1 by the nozzles (10 and 6WL), the actuators 1PU of the nozzles, and the nozzle drive circuits, and paths (and) for supplying power and electric power for operating the head 1. 1FDN 1WL 6PAs a simple configuration,
Since the application of the present invention is close to business use, even in the case of power failure, it may be required to operate up to a good break before the printer is temporarily stopped. Therefore, it is strongly desirable to provide the print head 1 with a power storage device 1PUC (secondary battery, capacitor) to provide a means for smoothing the power fluctuation due to a temporary power failure or the like. In addition to the 1PUC of the head 1, the power storage device may be provided in the printer main body 8.
It is highly desirable that the head 1 includes a storage device 1CU0 (memory, for example, a volatile memory such as SRAM or DRAM, or a nonvolatile memory such as flash memory) for recording, storing, and pooling print-data, control-data, and the like sent from the printer main body by communication. As shown in
When a discharge material is supplied to the rotating head 1, the fluid joint 111 (including liquid, gas, and plasma) may be used. When a single material (single color) is supplied, a rotary joint corresponding to a single color is used. In the case of a plurality of materials (multicolor), a corresponding rotary joint 111 is used. To supply a single or a plurality of materials to a head 1 even when a rotary joint 111 is not used. As shown in
The ejection signal may be transmitted to the head 1 by using non-contact wireless communication and contact wired communication. An important feature of the present invention is that a non-contact communication method can be used. When data is transmitted to the rotating head 1 by a contact-type method using a slip ring or the like, it is necessary to consider the operating life and cost of the slip ring and the stability of communication. Therefore, in the present invention, it is preferable to use non-contact communication instead of contact communication as a communication system between the rotating or moving print head 1 and the printer main body. Specific examples of non-contact communication in the present invention are wireless communication and optical communication. In
As described above, in the case where the present invention is applied to a large-area, high-resolution 3D printer using an inkjet method, the number of dots required for modeling increases, and thus the amount of information increases. As a result, it may be necessary to transfer the large amount of information using a slip ring. It is not impossible to make a printer using a slip ring for the scanning method and data communication as claimed in the present invention. However, since the slip ring has a lifetime due to wear (wear of the brush due to contact), it is preferable to use non-contact communication in the present invention. If the life, price, and communication speed and stability of the slip ring are improved, the slip ring can be used in the present invention. The invention does not exclude the use of slip rings for communication and power supply, in particular power supply, between the printer and the head 1. A non-contact system is used for communication between the printer and the head, but a contact system in which a slip ring or a terminal is brought into contact with the head can be used for power supply from the printer to the head. When contact-type communication is used, there are points to be considered. In the present invention, the head is operated by a combination of wireless data transfer and contact-based power supply. When contact-type power supply from a printer body (printer controller 6) to a print head 1 is performed, a power storage device 1PUC for smoothing power is provided.
In the present invention, with respect to the communication system between the print head and the printer main body In order to perform data output of a three dimensional printer or a large-area and high-speed two dimensional image, it is desirable to take a large-capacity data communication form, and the radio includes radio waves in a high-frequency direction having a wavelength smaller than that of an ultra-high frequency or a microwave, and optical communication using infrared to visible light and ultraviolet light. When using an electric wave, the main part of a print head and a printer is equipped with an antenna, respectively. In the case of optical communication, an element for emitting a photon and a detector for receiving a photon and generating a signal are provided in the print head and the main body of the printer, respectively, so that photons can be exchanged. As a specific example, an LED or a laser diode is used to emit light, and a photodiode is used to detect light. (Radio waves in the present invention are in the following bands: ultra-long wave, long wave, medium wave, short wave, ultra-high wave, ultra-high wave, microwave, millimeter wave, and sub-millimeter wave.)
A printer 8 provided with a recording head 1 and a printing system has an advantage of a line printer and has many nozzles. The nozzle (10,100,100A,100B,100NZ) of the recording head 1 can alternately perform printing and cleaning by circulating the recording surface 2 and the cleaning part 3 while scanning and recording the recording surface like a multi-pass by rotating the nozzle so as to cross the recording surface. There is an advantage in that it is possible to achieve both high speed printing and maintenance of the nozzles. In
Since printing is continuously performed when a shaped object is shaped in the three dimensional printer, it is possible to prevent a defect of the shaped object due to a nozzle defect during printing by performing nozzle cleaning according to the method of the present invention. This contributes to suppression of a nozzle failure and a printing failure at the time of manufacturing a product related to a shaped object, on-demand printing, a textile product, an industrial product, and an electronic component product by a three dimensional printer. To simultaneously perform printing and cleaning and to contribute to the reduction of a printing time by stopping printing at the time of executing nozzle cleaning in a three dimensional printer so as not to take time for cleaning.
The present invention is intended to increase the speed of printing by mounting a large number of nozzles as in a line printer, but when nozzle cleaning is performed in association with this, the nozzles are cleaned as needed. To perform cleaning during a printing operation so as to prevent a forming error and a printing error due to a nozzle failure when nozzle cleaning is insufficient.
In order to provide a cleaning mechanism while maintaining the high-speed performance of the line head, the recording head 1 may be provided with a loop track (circular, oval track, elliptical It realized by arranging one or more nozzles (10,100,100NZ,100LD) which can draw elliptic form, rotating or moving the aforementioned nozzle in accordance with a loop, and making the recording surface 2 and the cleaning part 3 scan (scan).
It should be noted that the present invention is applicable to industrial printed electronics and three dimensional printers. The present invention is devised to increase the size and speed of a print head for the purpose of printing newspapers, magazines, books, textile products, and on-demand mass printing, and does not take into consideration the small size and economic efficiency of a serial printer for home use. An application in which the time for stopping and pausing the head and capping is short is assumed.
A motion sensor 1CS may be mounted on the head 1. A motion sensor 1CS may be employed
in the recording head elements incorporated in the head 1 to detect the inclination of the head elements. The measurement information of the motion sensor 1CS incorporated in the head may be used for adjustment when the head 1 or the nozzle is attached. The motion sensor 1CS may have a function of acting as a level gauge that detects the inclination and level of the head 1. In the present invention, a plurality of recording head elements 10 are arranged so as to form a loop across the recording surface. In consideration of replacement and maintenance of the head element 10 assembled in the print head 1 of the printer 8, it is preferable to provide means for supporting element assembly at the time of replacement of the element of the head. Therefore, a motion sensor 1CS is incorporated in the head device 10 or the head 1 to detect the inclination of each device, thereby making it easy to adjust the alignment of the device at the time of replacing the device of the head. In the present invention, it is preferable that the inclination and position information of the nozzle surface of the head 1 or the head element 10 can be detected. The information of the motion sensor 1CS incorporated in the print head 1 may be used when the printer 8 scans the head 1 in the main scanning direction to perform ejection and processing operations. The information of the motion sensor 1CS of the head 1 may be used to ensure the safety of persons involved in the operation and maintenance of the apparatus. The entrepreneur who collected to the print server 8U and the user terminal 8U for a print, and introduced the printer with discharge information, including information, ink, etc. of a printer body, machining information, etc. may share the system operating status of equipment in a place of business via a network, and may utilize the information on motion sensor 1CS of the head 1.
In the case of an inkjet system, the printing method of the element of the head 1 is, Alternatively, a valve opening/closing method (valve jet method) may be used in which ink is pressurized by a pump (for example, the 110PP of 5A in
Atmospheric Pressure in which the Head Operates
The printer of the present invention may be used in the atmosphere or in a vacuum. In the atmosphere, a known ink such as an aqueous ink or a print head system used in an FDM method or an AM method in which a paste-like material is fed from a nozzle to form a film is used. When operating under vacuum, the fluid ejected from the nozzle may be a fluid material in the atmosphere (such as a metal, resin, or ceramic material intended for the construction of space structures), as well as a molten liquid, a gas, or elemental particles including molecules, atoms, charged particles, and photons. Applications including a space field and a manufacturing process under vacuum are assumed as a field in which vacuum is assumed. In space, it is intended to be used for the production of products and parts outside the ship. When manufacturing a solar cell isoelectronic device under a vacuum, the printer of this application containing a head section and a head section is arranged under a vacuum, and they are sublimation, vacuum evaporation, and a collision from a nozzle to a substrate about an organic semiconductor material, an electrode material, and transparent electrode material. It may be deposited and formed into a film. In a known method, an organic semiconductor is heated under vacuum, and the organic semiconductor in the form of a flow of gas or molecules is applied to a substrate (a substrate on which film formation is to be performed, a recording surface) to form a film. In the present invention, a head is provided with a heating part, or a gas obtained by heating a material is stored instead of an ink tank. The vaporized material is sent to a nozzle portion of the print head by applying a pressure with a pump, and the nozzle portion performs a valve jet method (a discharge control method by opening and closing a valve) in which opening and closing are performed with a valve to discharge and eject the material to a desired position on a recording surface. Alternatively, in a film forming method under vacuum or reduced pressure such as a proximity sublimation method used for manufacturing a compound-based solar cell such as a cadmium tellurium solar cell The present invention may be used as means for forming a film at a desired position of a substrate which is a recording surface. Even in a field in which a film of an inorganic semiconductor material is formed in a vacuum, an inorganic material is heated and vaporized (gasified or gasified) in a vacuum, and A semiconductor film may be formed by spraying a material gas discharged or jetted from a nozzle onto a substrate as a recording surface by a method similar to a valve jet method (a discharge control method by opening and closing a valve) in which opening and closing are performed by a valve.
The printing method of the head is, in addition to the inkjet method, a Fused Deposition Modeling printer of FDM (Fused filament fabrication/Fused Deposition Modeling) or FFF (Additive Manufacturing) Additive Manufacturing (3D). A nozzle for ejecting a fluid material, a molten resin, or the like used in the recording head may be used in the portion of the plurality of nozzle arrays 100. The printhead of the present invention may be utilized in additive manufacturing processes. In this case, an extruder for discharging a fluid material from a nozzle may be provided. In the AM method and the FDM method, molten plastic is mainly discharged. In addition, a paste, a slurry, a gel, or a material having fluidity may be used as a material to be discharged by the additive manufacturing method in the present invention. (In the drawing, 110PP in 5B may be an extruder for extruding a fluid material such as a paste.) The paste may contain fibers or particles to such an extent that there is no problem in discharging from the nozzle (to such an extent that the fibers or particles do not pass through the nozzle and are smaller than the nozzle diameter). In the present invention, a nozzle used in an additive manufacturing method is provided, and a paste material having fluidity and containing water or oil, which includes dough such as cookie or chocolate, or a dissolved protein material used for artificial meat or the like can be discharged. When recording is performed by scanning a head device (10,100,100A,100B,100NZ) so as to loop across a recording surface and adding a material to the recording surface 2 A nozzle for injecting a resin or a fluid material in an additive manufacturing method (AM method) is cleaned by a cleaning part 3 to keep the nozzle in a clean state, thereby contributing to stable lamination of the material.
An electrostatic ink jet method may be used as a method of discharging ink. The material may be ejected by electrostatic force.
A method of using a centrifugal force generated by a loop or rotation of the head 1 as a force for discharging a fluid material such as ink may be used.
In the case material is pressurized by the centrifugal force, a valve or a gate actuator for preventing the discharge material from jumping out of the nozzle may be provided. One or more valves or gate actuators may be provided for each nozzle, and may be digitally opened and closed by a circuit.
In the present invention, when the head 1 loops, a centrifugal force can be generated in the nozzle portion of the head 1 or in the ejected ink droplets (fluid material). Therefore, it is necessary to consider the behavior and trajectory of an ink droplet (or additive manufacturing material) before and during ejection and during flight in the nozzle part. In
When the Vomg is close to 0, the present invention approaches a single pass line head system in which the position of the nozzle array is fixed and the nozzles do not move (Vomg=0). When the Vomg becomes large, a large number of nozzles cross over the recording surface in the vicinity of a certain recording surface per unit time, eject ink, receive cleaning in the cleaning unit, and perform a printing operation. Multiple nozzles can pass over the recording surface. However, since the discharged ink moves in the direction in which the centrifugal force is applied, the landing point changes. When the Vomg is too large, ink is ejected from the nozzle when centrifugal forces or centrifugal push forces break the balance of forces that tend to keep the ink near the nozzle menisci. (When the head becomes a centrifugal separator or a centrifugal pump, there is a possibility that the ink is discharged from the head 1.) In the present invention, the Vomg varies depending on the main scanning speed and the sub-scanning speed of the printer, the operating frequencies of the print head, the number of nozzles, the physical properties of the material, environmental conditions, and the like. The Vomg is at least not 0 at the time of printing or processing.
Coordinates when Recording a Dot
In a known printer or laser processing machine that scans the X-axis and the Y-axis, it is easy to two dimensional desired position from the sizes of the X axis and the Y axis. On the other hand, in
In the present invention, the nozzle varies depending on the ejection method. A nozzle used in the additive manufacturing method and a nozzle or a discharge portion used in the ink jet method are different in shape and size. (For example, the diameters of nozzles in a method of extruding and injecting a material in a 3D printer, such as an FDM method, are generally larger than those of nozzles in an inkjet method.) In the present invention, the nozzle array of the recording head 1 (print head 1) includes The nozzle rows may be arranged in a circular shape (annular shape) like the nozzle rows 100 of
Although
The nozzle, the orifice, flow path, IC circuit which the ink jet element containing a nozzle (an orifice, a flow path and a sensor, a heating element, and an actuator) was arranged by the round form at the silicon substrate for semiconductor processes, etc., and were made from MEMS technology, a photolithography, etc., In the present invention, it is preferable that the sensor elements and the like are integrated because the nozzle surface is horizontal at the level of the surface of the silicon substrate. However, in reality, in order to realize the nozzle array 100 of the head 1, a rectangular chip (inkjet chip An inkjet head element, a head element used for forming a staggered arrangement in a large printer, and a rectangular chip in which an inkjet nozzle, a flow path, and an ejection mechanism are formed may be arranged in a circular shape. In order to prevent misunderstanding of the head elements (1011) described here a specific example of a printer head will be described.
In the off-carriage type Epson Corporation (model L1440 etc.) Konica Minolta, Inc. (model KM1024a etc.)
In the on-carriage type Canon (model PF-05, etc.), Hewlett-Packard Company (model C6602A, etc.). A head may be constructed by circularly continuing a staggered arrangement similarly to a staggered arrangement head performed in a known serial printer of an ink jet system. In the case of the example shown in
A valve jet element, an electrostatic inkjet element, a piezo inkjet element, or a thermal ink jet element, each of which has only one nozzle (a single-nozzle head element or a single nozzle), may be arranged in a circle in one row or a plurality of rows at a pitch P. The ink jet chip may be provided with nozzles arranged at a pitch P, and in the present invention, a strip-shaped nozzle array having a plurality of nozzle arrays on the circumference may be arranged. (This is a description intended to form a circular and band-like nozzle array when the above-described rectangular head elements are alternately arranged.)
In the present invention, as shown in
The print head 1 may be provided with a mechanism for curing or fixing the discharged material by a known method corresponding to the material when the material reaches the recording surface. For example, when 3D printing is performed using the print head 1 of the present invention, the UV curable ink may be cured by the UV LEDs, and the print head may be provided with UV LEDs or rollers so that the cured UV curable ink can be leveled and stacked by the rollers. The same applies to a case where a powder for solid freeform fabrication is cured, fixed, and bonded while a water-soluble adhesive is sprayed by a piezoelectric or thermal inkjet method.
In order to enhance the adhesion between the laminated layers in the 3D printer, the print head may be provided with a device for UV ozone treatment or plasma irradiation in addition to the ejection device. In the case of an electronic component material, processing for the next step may be performed by the head. For example, after a semiconductor material or an electrode material that can be applied is formed into a film, UV ozone treatment may be performed to prepare for the next step. When the head 1 is used for manufacturing a printed matter or an element, the head 1 may perform a fixing/curing process or a surface treatment.
In the present invention, the recording head 1 is not limited to a discharge application such as an inkjet, and irradiation nozzles of photons or particles such as LED elements or laser elements may be arranged in a circular shape instead of discharge nozzles, and paper or a powder material supplied to the recording paper 2 or the recording portion 2 may be changed by light and used for printing or modeling.
In the case of supplying metallic powder, resinous powder, or photocurable resins when 3D printing is performed by the head 1, the materials may be irradiated with light emitted from a laser nozzle included in the recording head 1 to be reacted, heated, and changed to be bonded, fused, cured, and sintered. This is similar to a concept (an example in which a material is not directly ejected from a nozzle but is provided on a recording surface) in which printing is performed on a thermal paper by a thermal head in a thermal paper type thermal printer to obtain a printed material. The print head 1 according to the present invention cures and sinters recording paper, such as heat-sensitive paper, photo-curable resins for 3D printing, and material powder, by an optical head in accordance with printing date to form a printed matter or a shaped object.
The invention includes a scanning method. Like an inkjet system or a FDM system (addition manufacturing method), directly from the recording head (print head 1) which scans the recording surface 2 top, material may be discharged and may be fixed, As in a thermal printer system, a recording material may be supplied to a recording portion, the recording head 1 may scan the recording portion, light, electromagnetic waves, plasma, accelerated particles, or the like may be emitted from the head 1, and the recording material may be reacted and fixed. The scanning method of the present invention may be used for manufacturing and processing two dimensional and three dimensional products. Specifically, also in the printer according to the present invention, the thermal paper can be heated and printed by light, and the ultraviolet curable resin can be cured by using an ultraviolet LED or an ultraviolet laser. A chemical reaction (for example, radiation polymerization) may be caused in the material by using radiation such as X-rays from the head 1 in order to cause a reaction that is difficult to be caused by photon energy of infrared rays, visible light, or ultraviolet rays. The charged particles may be accelerated from the head 1, or may be irradiated or accelerated in the atmosphere or in a vacuum to be implanted into the material. Photons may be irradiated from an element provided in the print head in the form of a laser or the like to heat the metal powder. Hot air or flame (flame, burner) may be applied to the discharged material for treatment. Similarly to a dot impact printer, the recording surface 2 may be struck by an embossing device such as a pin provided in the head 1 and used for output, or mechanical cutting may be performed by a pin or the like instead of the laser nozzle. Similarly to a laser printer, the head 1 can be used for a known application in which a photosensitive drum is irradiated with a laser by photons having a photosensitive wavelength from the head 1 to be charged, and toner or the like is attached to the photosensitive drum.
When an ink-jet ejection mechanism is employed in the head 1, both an on-carriage system and an off-carriage system can be used as a system for supplying ink to the head 1. In the on-carriage type, since the ink tank is built in the head 1, it is not necessary to mount a mechanism for supplying the ink fluid to the head 1 which is a rotating body such as the rotary joint 111 as in the off-carriage type. In the off-carriage system, a pump and a flow path for supplying ink from the ink tank to the head may be provided. In the off-carriage system, it is necessary to mount a mechanism (for example, a 111F1,111F2) for supplying the ink fluid to the rotary joint 111 and the rotary body, but the ink can be supplied from the ink tank 113 to the nozzle of the head. When the present invention is used in an off-carriage system, a joint mechanism 111, a 111F, and a pump 110PP for connecting ink from the ink tank 113 to the recording head elements 10 of the carriage are required. The pump may be provided in the ink flow path from the ink tank 113 to the nozzle 10. 110PP is an example. (Note that an on-carriage method and an off-carriage method can be employed not only in the inkjet method but also in an FDM method (additive manufacturing method).))
In the case of the off-carriage system, one type of material or ink may be supplied to the print head 1, or a plurality of types of ink may be supplied.
When printing is performed with one type of ink, in the off-carriage system, when a joint is used, as shown in
By an off-carriage formula, the print head 1 which sent two or more kinds of ink to the head from the ink tank 113F, and distributed ink by the joint part 111F of the head and in which it corresponded to each color ink is supplied, following the matter at the time of monochrome printing, when performing printing in two or more kinds of ink (discharge material). When the joint 111F is not used, as shown in
When the head 1 and the ink tank are connected to each other, a mechanism for forming a negative pressure in the ink may be mounted on the head or the flow path. For example, a negative pressure formation system with a form object and a negative pressure formation system with a balloon and a spring may be used. The negative pressure forming portion may be mounted on the head of the carriage or the sub ink tank. The head 1 may be provided with a filter for removing foreign matters.
When a plurality of recording head elements 10 are arranged in a loop to cross the recording surface 2 of the present invention to form a line head, the head 1 on which the plurality of recording head elements 10 are mounted may be controlled using an encoder. The control of the mechanisms, in particular, the main scanning mechanism and the sub-scanning mechanism such as the driving mechanism 4 and the recording surface conveying mechanism (20 and 5) by using an encoder such as a rotary encoder or a linear encoder is known to a printing machine including an ink jet printer or a laser printer, but will be described here. As a specific example, a recording head element is mounted so as to loop across a recording surface of the present invention, and an encoder control sensor (for example, an optical sensor for an optical encoder and a magnetic sensor for a magnetic encoder) is mounted on a recording head or an on-carriage or off-carriage head on which the recording head is mounted. A linear scale may be attached to a track that loops on the printing machine side (processing machine side), and motion information or position information of the head when the head loops so as to cross the recording surface at the time of printing may be detected and used for control of main scanning or sub-scanning at the time of printing. A rotary scale or a rotary encoder may be attached to the motor 40 of the driving mechanism 4 for performing the main scanning or the conveying mechanism 20 of the recording surface 2 for performing the sub-scanning, and may be used for motor driving control. Also in a case where the present invention is used as a 3D printer, an encoder may be used as a mechanism for performing scanning in the height direction (Z-axis direction), or an encoder may be used as a mechanism for performing main scanning (X direction) and sub-scanning (Y direction).
When a plurality of recording head elements 10 and 100NZ are arranged so as to form a loop across the recording surface, a plurality of on-carriage or off-carriage heads 1 or head type robots 1 may be arranged on the track forming the loop. Like a line trace type robot, the head type robot 1 may detect motion information or position information using an encoder provided on a track. A linear encoder may be used as the encoder. When the head 1 is driven, an encoder (rotary encoder) may be used for the motor.
For example, the recording head element 10 is mounted on the circumferential disk substrate [being circular (round shape)] side so that it may stand in a row in a round form, and a linear scale is stuck on the side surface (for example, 1PU of
In a circular turntable type print head 1 shown in 1A, 1AA and 1AB, recording head elements 10 are mounted on the circumferential side so as to be circularly connected to the circumferential side of the head 1 as shown in 1BD, 1BE or 1CB. The print head 1 may be an on-carriage type print head containing ink or an off-carriage type print head connected to an ink tank by a joint. The turntable type print head 1 may perform printing by rotating the circumferential portion of the turntable by the driving mechanism 4, scanning the nozzle portion 100 so as to cross the recording surface 2, and discharging ink.
The trajectory that loops so as to cross the recording surface 2 may be circular, oval track-shaped, elliptical, oval, or circular (perfect circular). In addition to the circular or elliptical trajectory, it is also conceivable to form a trajectory in which the Arabic numeral “8” is traced with a single stroke while crossing one point, and to arrange a cleaning unit that performs nozzle cleaning while crossing the recording surface as in the oval track type. The loop path of the figure 8 of the Arabic character is an example in which there is one point of intersection at the time of looping, and there may be more than one point of intersection. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, a simple shape such as a circular shape or an oval track shape is shown.
Case where Nozzle is Fixed
When the nozzles are fixed and the head 1 (in this case, the head 1 is a disk or cylindrical turntable type head 1) is moved, the shape of the nozzle array (looping trajectory) is circular. Even if only one nozzle, not a plurality of nozzles, is mounted on the turntable type head 1, since the nozzle can perform discharge printing and processing while drawing a looped circular track crossing the recording surface claimed in the present invention by rotating the head 1, one or more nozzles may be provided on the track of the main scanning.
When the nozzle is moved and the head is fixed, the looping trajectory is preferably in the form of an oval track, an ellipse or an oval. When a car with nozzles is mounted and moved like a train connected to the looping track, the nozzle array also has an oval track shape, an oblong shape, or an elliptical shape. The
When the trajectory of the loop is circular as in
In the present invention, a head having a circular nozzle array is rotated by the driving mechanism 4. Here, in a case where a print head formed by arranging not a circular nozzle array but elliptical or oval nozzles is used for printing by fixing the nozzles and rotating the head For example, in the case shown in
However, even in the case shown in
Trajectory when Nozzle Moves
There may be a case where printing is performed by moving the head 1 or the nozzles supported and mounted on the head driving mechanism 4 along a looped track (like a train) without rotating the head 1 having the nozzle rows arranged in the circular shape. As shown in
In the case of a self-propelled on-carriage head (inkjet robot), the track may have a retraction path for retracting the head from the recording surface. The head stored in the retreat path may be capped.
In the case of an on-carriage head, the nozzles 10 mounted on the head 1 may be provided with a unique material or ink type. Specifically, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink tanks may be mounted on an on-carriage head, and nozzles capable of discharging cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks may be mounted in combination, so that multicolor printing can be performed by one print head 1.
In the case of an off-carriage head, means for supplying a plurality of materials or inks may be provided. Specifically, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks may be mounted on an on-carriage head, and the heads may be arranged in the order of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black so that multicolor printing can be performed by one print head.
The head of the present invention is not necessarily a self-propelled on-carriage head. Either an on-carriage head that does not run by itself or an off-carriage head that does not run by itself may be moved by the motor 40 that drives the head on the printer side. The trajectory which can patrol a head may be sufficient as the trajectory which carries out a loop. In the off-carriage head, the print head 1 including the joint 111 capable of supplying various types of ink when the ink is supplied from the ink tank, the flow path (111F1,111F2) capable of inputting and injecting the ink from the upper portion of the print head, and the like is necessary.
As an example of the track which is looped so as to cross the recording surface of the present invention, there is a circle (perfect circle) shown in the above-mentioned
As a method of cleaning the nozzles of the head 1 and the surface where the head faces the recording surface 2, a known method may be used. Wiping using a rubber blade may be used, or a sponge-like roller may be used for cleaning. As shown in
Two or more cleaning elements 30 may be provided in the cleaning portion 3. As shown in
The cleaning of the nozzles may be constantly performed when the nozzle row (for example, the nozzle row 100) is circularly main-scanned, or may be performed at a certain interval. Although cleaning of nozzles, such as an ink jet element, may also always be satisfactory with the nozzle of the FDM system which was able to be done by brass and copper in which a possibility of becoming a problem also has the durability by wear of a nozzle surface, etc., and it has a big nozzle diameter, or resin ceramics, In the ink jet nozzle, it may be difficult to continuously clean the surface of the ink jet nozzle by the cleaning element at all times. In this case, according to the intention of the present invention, a certain interval at which the nozzle omission does not occur is determined by actual machine development, and It is also possible to adopt a mode in which the nozzle cleaning element 30 is moved up and down at the above-described interval, is pressed against a part of the nozzle rows 100 of the head 1 for a certain interval time, and is subjected to main scanning to clean all of the nozzle rows 100.
Nozzles are provided in the circumferential direction of a circular head 1 and are cleaned by a cleaning part 3, but the central part of the head 1 is not cleaned by the cleaning part 3 because there are no nozzles. However, there is a possibility that a misty ink or the like adheres to the central portion of the head 1 during a long operation. When the ink of mist shape occurs near the center of the head 1, it may have an antistatic mechanism and a trap mechanism recoverable at the time of the scheduled maintenance which absorbs mist and does not have a print job.
In addition to the nozzle cleaning by the cleaning unit 3, the ink may be discharged from the nozzle by the cleaning unit 3 so that the ink in the nozzle can be always kept the same as the ink in the ink tank. For example, since the ink in the nozzle may change due to precipitation or drying of the material during printing, a discharge operation for discarding a small amount of ink may be performed in a preventive manner during the printing operation. Known methods corresponding to material precipitation, drying, etc. of the ink may be used. The state of the discharged ink may be observed by a nozzle observation camera provided in the cleaning unit 3 to observe the state of nozzle missing or ink flying.
When the print head 1 is not used for a long period of time, it is necessary to cap the nozzles of the head. The present invention caps the mounted portion of the head. Preferably, a sealing mechanism is provided in the printer housing including the head or head portion. In a known method, even when printing is not performed and a capped state or a long-term stop is expected, the printer may perform ink ejection or cleaning in an unmanned manner under the control of the controller.
The cleaning part 3 of the head may be provided with a camera for observing the ink discharge state of the head.
In order to check the ink discharge state of the head, an image sensor may be provided in the ink jet head 1 to operate as a camera, and a printing state as a two dimensional printer or a forming state of a three dimensional printer may be photographed. The printed matter fed from the recording surface 2 in the sub-scanning direction after printing and processing may be photographed by a camera. The camera may be used to confirming the completion of the printed matter when replacing the head element of the head.
In a two dimensional printing application, a carriage including the recording head of the present invention always rotates in one direction, and when the rotation direction is set as a main scanning direction, a medium is transported in a sub-scanning direction. For conveyance, a known conveyance method (roller, belt, drum) is used. In an inkjet printer system using a known recording sheet, a recording sheet of A4 size or the like may be conveyed as a medium through a straight path or a U-turn path. Rolled media found in ink jet form printing machines may also be used.
The printer including the head 1 may include a camera in order to check the print content or quality of the print surface when the printed medium is discharged.
The medium may be a weather-resistant film used for a signboard or a fiber such as cloth. Printing may be performed on known materials such as a base material of a semiconductor component, a metal, a silicon substrate, a crystal substrate, a ceramic substrate, a glass substrate, wood, and a surface of a food, and a known transport method and media may be used.
In the 3D printer, when powder of a material is adhered and cured by ink to be three dimensionally laminated, powder serving as a medium may be supplied by a known method and leveled by a roller or the like to be laminated. When an ultraviolet curable ink is used in the 3D printer, the print head 1 may be provided with an ultraviolet source (an ultraviolet LED or an ultraviolet laser is preferably used, but a lamp that emits ultraviolet rays may also be used) for ultraviolet curing (of the output).
The present invention may be used in the manufacture of displays, ink jet devices, electronic components, and semiconductor devices in the field of printed electronics, and may transport substrates such as flat glass or films, electronic circuit boards, and silicon wafers, which are base materials of the electronic products. The ink may contain genetic information substances or biological materials and be used to output three dimensional objects by 3D printing or to produce foods, pharmaceuticals, biological tissues, artificial bones, or artificial teeth. In the printer of
In order to improve the forming speed at the time of forming by the 3D printer, it is necessary to increase the printing speed of the print head and also increase the speed of the conveyance mechanism of the forming stage 2 (forming bed 2). In the 3D printer system, in the FDM system, the laminated film thickness after one scanning is on the order of 100 micrometers. In an inkjet system, one layer is micrometer order more than ten, and although lamination thickness of an inkjet system is more thinly [than a FDM system] highly minute, there are the characteristics to which scanning frequency and the number of times of lamination are needed for making the solid of target height rather than a FDM system. In the present invention, a circular turntable type print head 1 can be used in order to realize that the print head crosses the printing surface, and the turntable type shaping stage 2 can also be used as the recording surface 2 in the shaping stage 2 (see
The turntable-type modeling stage 2 may be provided with a motion sensor such as an acceleration sensor in the circumferential direction of the recording surface 2 in the same manner as the turntable-type print head 1, and the inclination of the recording surface of the modeling stage may be detected and informed to a person. In the FDM method, the inclination of the modeling stage may cause an initial printing error at the time of 3D printing (which may be avoided by modeling a raft for absorbing shrinkage at the beginning of 3D printing, but Since the 3D printer is required on the assumption that the stage is horizontal or the like in the initial state, the printer including the head and the stage of the present invention may also include means for detecting the inclination of the head 1 and the stage 2 and informing the user of whether or not there is a problem in 3D printing.
The printer 8 may have a plurality of controllers. Each of the print head 1 and the printer body may be provided with a controller. The signal of the motion sensor 1CS incorporated in the print head 1 may be processed by a head controller 1CU incorporated in the print head 1 and transmitted to the controller 6 of the printer main body via a communication device. As a five large device of a computer, the controller has calculation, control, storage, and input/output (including a communication device) functions, and includes a power supply and a power storage device.
In the case of transmission from the user terminals 8U (user computers) to the head 1 via the printer controller 6, the print data transmission method from 8U to 6 may be either wired or wireless. An interface 7 provided in 6 may be used. The printer 8 may be provided with a console 6IOC which is manually input by the user, displays the state of the printer, and generates a warning sound at the time of operation. Preferably, the user terminal and the printer terminal may include a non-contact communication unit.
As shown in
The Reason with preferable using radio for the print-data transmission system to the head 1 by the present invention is that it will be necessary to use a signal *** collector ring etc. in a contact process in the case of a cable. On the other hand, in the case of wireless communication, non-contact communication can be performed between the printer and the print head even without a slip ring. (The present invention can be carried out even if it is not a noncontact method, when it is inexpensive and there is a means which transmits a signal to rotating bodies, such as a collector ring with high-reliability and durability.) Communication which used the photon other than radio may be performed, Specifically, it is sufficient that information can be transmitted and received in a non-contact manner between the head and the printer (between the head controller and the printer controller) by using a light-emitting diode or a laser of ultraviolet light, the above-described visible light, or infrared light and a photodetector.
The head 1 may receive power from the printer 8 (printer controller 6). Alternatively, the head 1 may include a power supply and a power storage device 1PUC such as a cell or a capacitor, and may receive power supply from the printer store the power in the cell or the capacitor to consume the power for information process, control, and printing process. It is preferable that the head 1 of the present invention includes a power storage device (1PUC). It is necessary to operate a logical circuit and drive circuits, such as a temperature-control circuit, and a shift register, etc. which move an ink jet element and an element to the head 1, and to perform communication between the print head 1 and a printer (between the printer controllers 6), a data storage, etc. Therefore, in order to stably perform the operation of the head 1 even when the power supply is temporarily stopped, a power storage circuit 1PUC may be provided which is capable of charging and storing power using a secondary battery or storing power in a capacitor. The power storage device 1PUC has a function of smoothing power supply. The head 1 may be provided with a motor 40, and the motor 40 may be driven by the power storage device 1PUC. When power is supplied to the head 1, a power line may be provided in a track that loops across the recording surface 2 and rotates to supply the power. The head 1 may be supplied with power and charged in a contact manner. (For example, in
When the head 1 moves on a track which is looped and rotated across the recording surface 2, a motor 40 for moving on the track may be provided in the head 1. A trajectory or a head housing may be moved with the transmitting power element of gear Bert Chan moved by the motor 40 with which the printer was equipped, or 40, and movement, rotation, and a loop may carry out the head 1 with the driving device 4. The track may be a rail, a pipe, a mechanical element for transmission such as a chain or a belt, or a head drive mechanism (the print head support mechanism and the drive mechanism 4, and the print head rotation mechanism 4). In the present invention, there are a case where the print head 1 is rotated in a circle by using the mechanism 4 (a case where the head supporting the nozzles is moved without moving the nozzles) and a case where the nozzles arranged in an oval or elliptical shape of the print head 1 are moved in an orbit direction by using the mechanism 4 (a case where the head is fixed and the nozzles in the head are circulated and moved). [0099]The looped and rotating track is a ring or annular track in which a certain nozzle of the head 1 passes through the recording surface 2 and the head cleaning unit 3 from a start point and returns to the start point again.
The controller 6 that performs control may have a wired or wireless communication device as a communication device. The controller 6 includes means for communicating with the print head 1 and the user terminals 8U. The print head 1 may receive the print image from the controller 6 by wireless communication. It may be received in a wired manner. The present invention preferably provides contactless communication.
Printing may be performed by arranging a plurality of print heads 1 for discharging a material from a nozzle while drawing a track which loops across a recording surface used in the present invention and rotates. Specifically, when color printing using four color inks is performed, four print heads 1 corresponding to four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black may be arranged in the conveyance direction (sub-scanning direction) of the recording paper 2 and used for printing. As shown in
Since the head used in the present invention can use a high torque motor 40 and move in a rotating orbit that loops across the recording surface, it is particularly desirable to provide a safety device to prevent the user from being caught in the rotating printer. In order to prevent a person from being caught in the print head 1, it is particularly preferable to prevent the person from being caught in the machine by, for example, wrapping the operating print head portion in a housing. The print head unit 1 may be provided with a computer, an accelerometer, and a motion sensor 1CS, and these sensors can be used to measure the horizontal position of the head and to detect an external force when the head comes into contact with an external object such as a medium on a recording surface or a human.
1A to 1E are illustrations of a print head that describes an orbit that loops and rotates across a recording surface.
As shown in
As described in other paragraphs, the cleaning unit 3 may be provided in the vicinity of the 100A1 in addition to the 100A4. Since the 100A4 and the 100A1 are outside the recording surface and on a circular orbit, the cleaning unit 3 can be installed.
Portion where Main Scanning for Printing or Processing is Performed
As shown in
A roller is attached to an on-carriage type head on which a printing head 1 and an ink tank are mounted, and a bar code or an image can be printed by tracing with a human hand, as in a handy ink jet printer, in relation to the explanation of a portal type car washing machine in 3E. The printer of the present invention may be provided with wheels or rollers on the head-holding support in the 3E of the drawing, so that printing can be performed only by passing the printer through the surfaces of outdoor and indoor objects, excluding the base portion. In the printer, a wheel or a roller is provided on a head holding support in the
In
In
Semiconductor manufacturing processes and apparatuses such as vapor deposition on one surface of a substrate using a vacuum provided in outer space, formation of a semiconductor film using a CVD method, a sputtering method, a sublimation method, or a proximity sublimation method, doping by implantation of impurities, formation of a functional film other than a semiconductor, and formation of a transparent electrode/metal electrode pattern may be performed under a vacuum provided in outer space.
An output device 8 (printer 8) is provided in an atmospheric facility (a facility under an atmospheric pressure condition in which there is no human) in a space such as a space station, and after patterning is performed on a substrate by a process such as an inkjet printing method including a component such as water or a solvent which evaporates under vacuum The substrate on which printing such as patterning has been completed may be transported from the space station to the space, and a semiconductor layer or an electrode layer may be formed on the substrate by vapor deposition, sputtering, sublimation, CVD, or the like.
For example, as for the material of the solar cell manufacture from the cost of the mass at the time of a rocket launch, when it is going to carry out manufacturing in space the organic thin film solar cell of all the film types of composition that an inventor knows, it is preferable as a premise that mass can manufacture with saving resources few, The following (1) and (2) are described on the premise of manufacturing a solar cell using a direct transition type compound semiconductor or organic semiconductor (or dye) on the assumption that a film-type substrate is used, the thickness of a semiconductor layer having a high absorption coefficient and absorbing light is reduced, the amount of a semiconductor layer material is reduced, and the launch cost is reduced. Here, an example in which an electronic component is manufactured by manufacturing a solar cell using a vacuum provided in outer space is described. The present invention is also applied to the manufacture of semiconductor devices, processors, memories, and ICs, the manufacture of secondary batteries, the manufacture of capacitors such as film capacitors, multilayer ceramic capacitors, and electrolytic capacitors, the manufacture of resistors, and the manufacture of circuits on electronic substrates, as in the manufacture of solar cells.
(1) In the case of an organic-film solar cell or an organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell
1. Prepare a film substrate. 2A. ITO, which is a material for transparent electrodes, is deposited on a film substrate by vapor deposition, sputtering, or the like under vacuum by evacuating the vacuum tank of the vapor deposition apparatus or the portion 21 of the apparatus of the present invention using the vacuum of the vacuum portion in outer space. 2B. An ink in which a doped conductive polymer is dispersed on a film substrate is applied, dried, and formed into a film without using 2A. For the application, a spin coater, a printing method, or an inkjet method may be used.
3. The formed conductive electrodes of the 2A and the 2B are pre-treated. A conductive polymer such as poly-3-hexylthiophene 4A and a fullerene-based PCBM ([6,6]-Phenyl-P3HT-C61) are mixed with and dissolved in organic solvents such as chlorobenzene at an optimized mass ratio to form conductive electrodes of butyric Acid Methyl Ester. 3. The power generation layer is printed, dried, and formed by a spin coater or a printing method, or by offset printing or an inkjet method using a printing unit or a print head that can withstand an organic solvent. When a printing process is performed using a solvent in the atmosphere in one room of a space structure, it is expected that a process of recovering the solvent evaporated in the atmosphere is required. In a case where the vacuum of the vacuum portion of the outer space is used to evacuate the vapor deposition apparatus or the portion 21 of the apparatus of the present application, a solar cell of a type in which a dry process is frequently used may be suitable for the method. To solve the problem that a solvent used in a printing method cannot be easily supplied and utilized as a solvent for an ink or a paste as on the ground, and when a solvent having a mass is used in the same manner as on the ground The cost which launches a solvent in the universe starts, and if wet process is used abundantly in space, the necessity of adding and launching a solvent in addition to the substrate, the material, and the manufacturing installation (a manufacturing installation is the output unit 8 of this application) of a solar cell will come out. Repeating recovery of solvent use and a solvent and circulation of a solvent by the indoor closed system under the atmospheric pressure of space may be expected, and it may also be necessary to equip one room of the space structure which performs a manufacturing installation and solar cell manufacture with the mechanism in which solvents are collected. As described above, there is a possibility that the wet process such as printing using a solvent is difficult to be used in outer space. In view of the above, in order to produce a solar cell in outer space, it may be necessary to produce a solar cell of a system in which a dry process using a vacuum provided in outer space is frequently used. (As already reported, solar cells (including film-type solar cells) produced on the ground by a printing method are also included.) Since it launches and transports to terrestrial plant and universe and a film is not produced by the way which uses wet process, such as print processes, in including in the spot to generate making a vacuum on the ground, manufacture may be easy. Also in this case, the printer 8 of the present invention is used, and digital control is performed by the controller 6 according to an instruction of the 8U to perform printing and patterning. On the conductive electrodes of 4B. 3, monomolecular organic semiconductors (fullerene C60 semiconductors as known n-type, and zincphthalocyanine ZnPc as an example of p-type) are deposited on the substrate by vapor deposition or sublimation to form a power generation layer. The above compounds are examples, and a material capable of forming an organic semiconductor layer capable of absorbing sunlight, separating charges, and transporting carriers as a power generation layer may be used. (Even in the case of using organic semiconductors or dyes, organic solvents are used in 4A, whereas 4B is a dry process, and thus there is no generation of vapor of solvents in an indoor environment of outer space or a space structure, which may be easy to use.) 4C. 3 conductive electrodes with organic-inorganic hybrid semiconducting films (as a known example: The inorganic perovskite is used for the power generation layer, and Spiro-OMeTAD is used as the hole transport material. The vacuum chamber of the vapor deposition apparatus or the portion 21 of the apparatus of the present application is evacuated by using the vacuum of the vacuum portion of the outer space, and a film is formed by vapor deposition or the like under vacuum. (Like the 4B, the 4C can also be performed by a dry process.)
5. In a case where it is necessary to dry the substrate after the film formation of the power generation layer described in 4A to 4C, the substrate is dried by heating, vacuuming, or the like. After 6.5, the substrate on which the power generation layer is formed is heated and annealed at a predetermined temperature. A metal electrode is formed on a substrate 7.6 by depositing an electrode material in a vacuum environment using a vacuum provided in the universe. In order to re-anneal the substrate 8.7 or test its performance, a power generation
test is performed in the inspection apparatus.
9. The device is completed.
(2) in the case of a CIGS solar cell
The method and the printer 8 of the present invention may be capable of controlling the atmospheric pressure and the environment of the space 21 between the nozzles on the recording surface so as to be under the atmospheric pressure on the ground or under the pressure of the vacuum provided in the vacuum portion of the outer space (including the vacuum drawn by the vacuum pump on the ground) as in (1) and (2) of Embodiment 6. The printer 8 can be used for a dry process and a wet process, creates a patterned recording surface on demand controlled by a computer, and uses a limited material and a limited amount of ink. To provide an output device capable of cleaning a nozzle during operation by cleaning the nozzle in a limited space such as a space structure, and having high speed of a line printer. To provide an output device which operates at a high speed without intermittent nozzle cleaning even in a limited space.
When particles of atoms and molecules generated by heating a material are discharged and released from a nozzle of a head 1 of a printer 8 and a substrate is irradiated with the particles at the time of vapor deposition and sublimation under vacuum. Even in the case of the printer 8 during printing, vapor deposition, sublimation, or laser processing, there is a possibility that a film is deposited or formed by particles due to vapor deposition hitting a nozzle for ejecting a material or an actuator in the nozzle. It may be desirable to clean the film formed on the nozzle by a mechanical device in the cleaning unit 3 so as not to stop the film forming operation for nozzle cleaning. In this case, the cleaning unit 3 may be capable of cleaning the nozzle and an actuator for opening/closing a bubble in the nozzle and performing a nozzle operation. It is also possible to provide a mechanism for consistently cleaning the nozzle, the valve, and the flow path in which the material is easily accumulated, among the flow paths to the nozzle, the valve, and the ink tank. For example, in a printer of an FDM system, when nozzle maintenance is performed by a human hand, a portion between a nozzle and an extruder can be pushed with a thin wire or the like to remove a defective portion or a material accumulated in a flow path between the nozzle and the extruder. When material is accumulated between a nozzle actuator and a flow path from a nozzle also in the nozzle which performs vacuum deposition in a vacuum, a wire type or the shape of a rod, A deposition material is poked, or it writes and may perform nozzle cleaning so that a nozzle figure ball may be eliminated by the thread-like cleaning element used for a broom etc. As the cleaning element 30 for cleaning the nozzle (FDM nozzle, additive manufacturing (AM) nozzle, evaporated particle discharge nozzle for vacuum deposition) of the printer 8 of the present application in the atmosphere and in a vacuum, a thread-like, bar-like, or rod-like element such as a wire may be used to clean the nozzle.
Also in the processing machine 8 for performing laser processing in a vacuum, if a laser nozzle is covered with dust or the like generated when a part of the processing surface 2 is cut off by a laser during processing, a photon as a particle cannot be irradiated from the nozzle by the laser, so that a cleaning mechanism is required.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions.
To contribute to speed-up of a printer for two dimensional image printing and a 3D printer.
The printer of the present invention is intended to perform two dimensional and three dimensional printing or laminating of materials more quickly according to digital data. In the two dimensional field, it contributes to known large-area printing fields such as paper books and newspapers, printing on the surface of products, industrial fields, and electronic component manufacturing, and in the three dimensional field, it contributes to applications to robots, automobiles, prototyping, and medical fields. The present invention may be used for manufacturing electronic components and electronic and semiconductor circuits on the ground and in outer space.
The ink composition can be applied to outdoor signboards and posters using a solvent ink, printing on industrial products using an ultraviolet curable resin ink, applications for textile printing and coloring on textile products, manufacturing processes in electronic components, and known applications for discharging an ink material.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-127019 | Aug 2021 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2022/000462 | Jan 2022 | US |
| Child | 18426345 | US |
