JP2010125744A - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the occurrence of sudden speed change of an inkjet head and a medium holding part when printing on a surface of a polyhedral medium whose adjacent plane parts are connected at a predetermined angle. <P>SOLUTION: When printing on the medium M having four plane parts α, a relative moving locus T of the inkjet head to the medium M is formed of: four linear locus parts T1 extending linearly along the plane parts α; and four separate locus parts T2 connected between the linear locus part T1 located astern in a scanning direction S and the liner locus part T1 located ahead in the scanning direction S, extending along the line of the linear locus part T1 located astern in the scanning direction S by predetermined length, and then creeping on an extension of the linear locus part T1 located ahead in the scanning direction S curvedly from the outside of the medium M, and extending linearly by predetermined length toward the linear locus part T1 located ahead in the scanning direction S. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet printer that performs printing on the surface of a polyhedral medium in which adjacent plane portions are connected at a predetermined angle.

  In recent years, an inkjet printer described in Patent Document 1 has been considered because of a demand for printing even on a three-dimensional medium (for example, see Patent Document 1).

This conventional inkjet printer includes an X-axis drive unit that moves the inkjet head in the horizontal direction, a Z-axis drive unit that moves the media holding unit in the vertical direction, a B-axis drive unit that rotates the media, and an inclination angle of the media And an A-axis drive unit that adjusts the movement of the inkjet head and the media holding unit relative to each other in the three-dimensional space by controlling the drive of each drive unit. Then, printing is performed on the surface of the medium by ejecting ink from the inkjet head while driving and controlling each of these driving units.
JP 2008-108971 A

  However, since conventional ink jet printers consider only spherical media, there is a problem as described below when printing on polyhedral media in which adjacent planar portions are connected at a predetermined angle. In other words, when printing on the flat portion of the media, the X-axis drive unit may be driven to move the inkjet head horizontally, but at the corners connecting the flat portions, the inkjet head and the media holding unit may be moved all at once. It is necessary to rotate relative to a predetermined angle. For this reason, since driving of the Z-axis drive unit and the B-axis drive unit starts or stops at the corners between the adjacent flat portions, the inkjet head and the media holding unit are held by an abrupt speed change. There was a problem that relative movement with the part was delayed.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an ink jet printer capable of suppressing the occurrence of a rapid change in the speed of the ink jet head and the media holding portion when printing on the surface of a polyhedral medium in which adjacent flat portions are connected at a predetermined angle. The purpose is to provide.

  An ink jet printer according to the present invention ejects ink from an ink jet head while relatively moving in a three-dimensional space a medium holding portion that holds a polyhedral medium in which adjacent plane portions are connected at a predetermined angle and the ink jet head. An ink jet printer that performs printing on the surface of the medium, and has a drive control unit that relatively moves the media holding unit and the ink jet head in a three-dimensional space based on a relative movement trajectory of the ink jet head with respect to the medium. The relative movement trajectory has a trajectory that is separated from the medium between the trajectories corresponding to the plane portions of the adjacent media.

  According to the ink jet printer of the present invention, as a relative movement trajectory between the ink jet head and the media holding unit, a trajectory that once separates from the medium is formed between trajectories corresponding to adjacent flat portions. The trajectory corresponding to the plane part can be completely separated. That is, it is not necessary to rotate the inkjet head and the media holding portion relative to each other at a predetermined angle after printing the flat portion behind the scanning direction. For this reason, it is possible to secure a section in which the inkjet head and the media holding unit are relatively moved between printing on the flat portion behind the scanning direction and printing on the flat portion behind the scanning direction. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a rapid change in the speed of the media holding unit and the inkjet head during printing, resulting in a decrease in printing speed and occurrence of printing errors due to a delay in relative movement between the inkjet head and the media holding unit. Can be prevented.

  In the printing method according to the present invention, ink is ejected from an inkjet head while relatively moving in a three-dimensional space a media holding unit that holds a polyhedral medium in which adjacent planar portions are connected at a predetermined angle and the inkjet head. Ink jet printer printing method for printing on the surface of the media, and based on the relative movement trajectory of the ink jet head with respect to the media, the media holding unit and the ink jet head are relatively moved in a three-dimensional space, and the relative movement trajectory Has a trajectory that is separated from the media between the trajectories corresponding to the plane portions of the adjacent media.

  According to the printing method of the present invention, as a relative movement locus between the ink jet head and the media holding portion, a locus that is once separated from the medium is formed between the locus corresponding to the adjacent flat portion, and therefore adjacent to each other. The trajectory corresponding to the plane part can be completely separated. That is, it is not necessary to rotate the inkjet head and the media holding portion relative to each other at a predetermined angle after printing the flat portion behind the scanning direction. For this reason, it is possible to secure a section in which the inkjet head and the media holding unit are relatively moved between printing on the flat portion behind the scanning direction and printing on the flat portion behind the scanning direction. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a rapid change in the speed of the media holding unit and the inkjet head during printing, resulting in a decrease in printing speed and occurrence of printing errors due to a delay in relative movement between the inkjet head and the media holding unit. Can be prevented.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, generation | occurrence | production of the rapid speed change of an inkjet head and a media holding | maintenance part can be suppressed when printing on the surface of the polyhedral media to which the adjacent plane part was connected by the predetermined angle.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an inkjet printer according to the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  1 is a front view of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the ink jet printer shown in FIG. is there. In this embodiment, the left-right direction in FIG. 1 (front-rear direction in FIG. 2) is the Y-axis direction, the front-rear direction in FIG. 1 (left-right direction in FIG. 2) is the X-axis direction, and the up-down direction in FIG. (Vertical direction of 2) is defined as the Z-axis direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inkjet printer 1 according to the present embodiment prints on the surface of a quadrangular prism medium M in which adjacent plane portions are connected at 90 °, and ejects ink. An image or the like is printed on the surface of the medium M by relatively moving the head 20 and the medium holding unit 40 that holds the medium M and ejecting ink from the inkjet head 20.

  In the ink jet printer 1, a pair of left and right support legs 11 and 12 are provided upright on a base 10 serving as a base along the Y-axis direction. A first control device 14 equipped with an operation panel 13 for receiving an instruction operation by an operator is fixed to the support leg 11 arranged on the right side in the Y-axis direction, and the support leg arranged on the left side in the Y-axis direction. A second control device 16 on which a maintenance station 15 for cleaning the inkjet head 20 is mounted is fixed to the leg 12.

  The first control device 14 and the second control device 16 are control devices that perform relative movement control between the ink jet head 20 and the medium holding unit 40 described later, ink ejection control of the ink jet head 20, and the like. For this reason, the 1st control apparatus 14 and the 2nd control apparatus 16 function as a drive control means. The first control device 14 and the second control device 16 are mainly configured by a computer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, for example. Each of the above functions is realized by reading predetermined computer software on the CPU or RAM and operating it under the control of the CPU. In the present embodiment, the first control device 14 and the second control device 16 are described as separate units, but may be physically and functionally divided into a plurality of units. Also good.

  A support girder 17 extending along the Y-axis direction is spanned between the pair of left and right support legs 11 and 12. A pair of Y-axis guide rails 18 a and 18 b extending in the extending direction of the support beam 17 are arranged on the upper surface of the support beam 17 in parallel in the X-axis direction. A head carriage 21 on which the inkjet head 20 is mounted is attached to the pair of Y-axis guide rails 18a and 18b so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction.

  The inkjet head 20 prints a color image on the medium M held by the media holding unit 40 by discharging a plurality of colors of ink. For this reason, the inkjet head 20 is provided corresponding to ink colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. The ink jet head 20 is disposed at the lower end of the head carriage 21 so that the nozzle surface 20 a from which ink is ejected faces the medium M held by the medium holding unit 40.

  The head carriage 21 is connected to a Y-axis transport mechanism (not shown) attached to the support beam 17. The Y-axis transport mechanism is realized by a known mechanism including, for example, a ball screw connected to a drive motor and a ball bearing serving as a bearing for the ball screw. The head carriage 21 is guided by the pair of Y-axis guide rails 18a and 18b and moved in the Y-axis direction by the drive control of the Y-axis transport mechanism by the first control device 14 or the second control device 16. When the inkjet head 20 is positioned above the maintenance station 15 due to the movement of the head carriage 21, the maintenance station 15 moves up and down to clean the inkjet head 20.

  Further, on the upper surface of the base 10, a pair of X-axis guide rails 19 a and 19 b extending in the X-axis direction are arranged in parallel in the Y-axis direction between the pair of support legs 11 and 12. An X table 31 for mounting the media holding unit 40 is attached to the pair of X axis guide rails 19a and 19b so as to be movable in the X axis direction.

  The X table 31 is a table for moving the media holding unit 40 relative to the inkjet head 20 in the X-axis direction, and is connected to an X-axis transport mechanism (not shown) attached to the base 10. The X-axis transport mechanism is realized by, for example, a well-known mechanism including a ball screw connected to a drive motor and a ball bearing serving as a bearing for the ball screw. The X table 31 is provided with a Z-axis support portion 32 extending in the Z-axis direction.

  The Z-axis support part 32 is a support member that supports the media holding part 40 so as to be movable up and down in the Z-axis direction. For this reason, a pair of side wall portions 33a and 33b erected in the Z-axis direction and a top plate portion 34 that connects the upper surfaces of the pair of side wall portions 33a and 33b are attached to the Z-axis support portion 32. And between the pair of side wall portions 33a, 33b, an elevating mechanism 35 for lifting the media holding portion 40 in the Z-axis direction is attached along the side wall portions 33a, 33b.

  The elevating mechanism 35 is disposed between the pair of side wall portions 33a and 33b and is fixed to the X table 31, and is connected to the output shaft of the Z axis drive motor 37 so as to extend in the Z axis direction. The ball screw 38 is erected, and the ball bearing 39 is a bearing of the ball screw 38 and is connected to the media holding unit 40. The ball screw 38 is rotated by the drive control of the Z-axis drive motor 37 by the first control device 14 or the second control device 16, and the ball bearing 39 is moved up and down in the Z-axis direction by the rotation of the ball screw 38. The media holding unit 40 moves up and down in the Z-axis direction.

  The media holding unit 40 holds the medium M in a rotatable manner. Therefore, the media holding unit 40 includes a Z table 41 attached to the ball bearing 39 of the lifting mechanism 35, a pair of arms 42a and 42b protruding from the Z table 41 in the X-axis direction, and a pair of arms 42a and 42b. An A-axis rotating part 43 that is rotatably attached and a chuck 44 that is rotatably attached to the A-axis rotating part 43 and holds the medium M are configured.

  The pair of arms 42a and 42b are opposed to each other in the Y-axis direction and hold the A-axis rotating portion 43 in a rotatable manner. That is, a rotating shaft extending in the Y-axis direction is attached to the tip of a pair of opposed arms 42a and 42b, and an A-axis rotating portion 43 is attached to this rotating shaft. The rotary shaft is connected to the output shaft of the A-axis drive motor 45 fixed to one arm 42a. The A-axis drive motor 45 is rotationally driven in the rotation direction A around the rotation axis attached to the pair of arms 42a and 42b. For this reason, when the A-axis drive motor 45 is driven to rotate, the A-axis rotating unit 43 can rotate in the rotation direction A (A-axis direction).

  The A-axis rotating unit 43 holds the chuck 44 rotatably. That is, the A-axis rotating unit 43 includes a B-axis drive motor 46 that rotates in the rotation direction B around the rotation axis, with the axis in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the A-axis rotating unit 43 serving as the rotation axis. It is attached. A chuck 44 is attached to the output shaft of the B-axis drive motor 46. For this reason, when the B-axis drive motor 46 is driven to rotate, the chuck 44 can be rotated in the rotation direction B (B-axis direction).

  As described above, the rotation of the Z-axis drive motor 37, the A-axis drive motor 45, and the B-axis drive motor 46 causes the media M held by the chuck 44 of the media holding unit 40 to move up and down in the Z-axis direction. At the same time, it rotates in the rotation direction A and the rotation direction B.

  Next, relative movement control between the inkjet head 20 and the media holding unit 40 in the inkjet printer 1 will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the medium, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relative movement locus of the ink jet head with respect to the medium. In FIG. 4, a cross section cut by a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the medium is shown, and O indicates the rotation center of the medium M. 5 shows a relative movement locus of the inkjet head 20 with respect to the medium M shown in FIG. 4, and a direction in which the inkjet head 20 moves relative to the medium M is a scanning direction S.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the surface of the medium M is formed in a quadrangular prism shape in which four plane portions α are connected with an inclination of 90 degrees. For this reason, the four connection points p to which the plane portions α are connected are points where the adjacent plane portions α are bent as corner portions.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the relative movement trajectory T is a trajectory divided corresponding to the four connection points p shown in FIG. 4, and includes four linear trajectory portions T1 corresponding to the plane portion α, It is formed by four separation locus portions T2 connected between the linear locus portion T1 behind the scanning direction S and the straight locus portion T1 ahead of the scanning direction S.

  The straight locus portion T1 is a locus for printing the flat portion α, and is a line that is spaced apart from the flat portion α by a predetermined distance and extends linearly along the flat portion α. That is, the straight locus part T1 is a line that connects points corresponding to the two connection points p of the plane part α with straight lines. Note that the distance between the linear locus T1 and the surface of the medium M is 0 (zero), that is, the linear locus T1 may be on the surface of the medium M. In the linear trajectory portion T1, ink is ejected from the inkjet head 20 while being moved in the Y-axis direction with respect to the inkjet head 20 by drive control and ink ejection control by the first control device 14 and the second control device 16. Let At this time, the medium M does not need to move in the Z-axis direction and does not need to rotate in the B-axis direction. Stops rotating in the B-axis direction.

  The separation trajectory portion T2 is a trajectory for interrupting printing on the medium M. The separation trajectory portion T2 extends by a predetermined length along the straight line of the linear trajectory portion T1 behind the scanning direction S, and then the scanning direction S in a curved shape from the outside of the medium M This is a line that extends around the extension line of the straight line locus T1 in the front and extends linearly by a predetermined length toward the straight line locus T1 in front of the scanning direction S. In this way, the separation trajectory portion T2 extends forward in the scanning direction S by a predetermined length along the straight line of the linear trajectory portion T1 behind the scanning direction S, thereby the inkjet head 20 based on the linear trajectory portion T1 behind the scanning direction S. The relative movement of the media holding unit 40 can be performed at a constant speed until the end. In addition, the relative movement of the inkjet head 20 and the media holding unit 40 based on the linear locus T1 can be smoothly started by causing the separation locus T2 to wrap around the curve. Further, by extending the separation locus T2 linearly by a predetermined length toward the straight locus T1, the inkjet head 20 is sufficiently accelerated, and the inkjet head based on the straight locus T1 from the starting point of the straight locus T1. 20 and the media holding unit 40 can start relative movement.

  Next, the print schedule will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the medium and the inkjet head in time series, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the media and the inkjet head after FIG. 6 in time series. .

  First, the inkjet printer 1 moves the inkjet head 20 in the X-axis direction from the initial state shown in FIG. 6A until the start position of the linear locus T1. At this time, the inkjet head 20 is accelerated until a predetermined speed necessary for printing is reached.

  Then, when entering the straight locus T1, ink is ejected from the ink jet head 20 by ink ejection control, and the ink jet head 20 is moved at a constant speed in the X-axis direction by drive control to print on the flat portion α of the medium M. (See FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C).

  When entering the separation locus T2 from the straight locus T1, the ink ejection control is stopped, and the inkjet head 20 is separated from the medium M by the drive control (see FIG. 6D). In the separation trajectory portion T2, the inkjet head 20 and the medium M are relatively moved so as to wrap around the outside of the medium M from the straight trajectory portion T1 behind the scanning direction S toward the straight trajectory portion T1 ahead of the scanning direction S. (Refer to FIGS. 7A to 7C). Then, in the vicinity of the end position of the separation locus T2, the inkjet head 20 is moved in the Y-axis direction so that the inkjet head 20 linearly enters the plane portion α of the medium M (see FIG. 7D). At this time, the inkjet head 20 is accelerated until reaching a predetermined speed necessary for printing.

  As described above, according to the ink jet printer 1 according to the present embodiment, the relative movement trajectory T between the ink jet head 20 and the medium holding unit 40 is temporarily set between the linear trajectory portion T1 corresponding to the adjacent plane portion α. Since the separation locus portion T2 that is separated from M is formed, the locus corresponding to the adjacent plane portion α can be completely separated. That is, after printing the plane portion α behind the scanning direction S, it is not necessary to rotate the inkjet head 20 and the media holding unit 40 relative to each other at a predetermined angle. For this reason, it is possible to secure a section in which the inkjet head 20 and the media holding unit 40 are relatively moved between printing on the flat portion α behind the scanning direction S and printing on the flat portion α behind the scanning direction S. Thereby, since it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a rapid change in speed of the media holding unit 40 and the inkjet head 20 during printing, a decrease in printing speed due to a delay in relative movement between the inkjet head 20 and the media holding unit 40 or Occurrence of printing mistakes can be prevented.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the separation locus portion T2 is described as a locus where the inkjet head 20 is separated from the medium M. However, the inkjet head 20 is not necessarily separated from the medium M in the entire locus, and at least In addition, it suffices that only a part necessary for connecting the linear locus T1 behind the scanning direction S and the linear locus T1 ahead of the scanning direction S is separated from the medium M.

  In the above-described embodiment, the separation trajectory portion T2 has been described as extending around a straight line along the straight line of the straight trajectory portion T1, and then wraps around in a curved shape. It may be. That is, the locus of the separation locus T2 is set so that the driving of each axis in the inkjet printer 1 changes gradually. For this reason, for example, the locus near the boundary with the straight locus portion T1 may be a gentle curve.

  In the embodiment described above, a quadrangular prism is used as the medium M. However, any medium may be adopted as long as it is a polyhedral medium such as a triangular prism or a hexagonal prism.

  In the above-described embodiment, the first control device 14 and the second control device 16 have been described as realizing the function of the drive control unit. However, the function of the drive control unit may be an ASIC or FPGA mounted on the inkjet printer 1. You may implement | achieve by. The drive control means may be configured by a CPU that controls the entire inkjet printer 1 and an ASIC, FPGA, or the like. With this configuration, it is possible to perform drive control of the inkjet head 20 and the media holding unit 40 appropriately and at high speed.

It is a front view of the inkjet printer which concerns on this embodiment. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of FIG. FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the ink jet printer shown in FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing of a medium. It is the figure which showed the relative movement locus | trajectory of the inkjet head with respect to a medium. It is the figure which showed the positional relationship of a medium and an inkjet head in time series. It is the figure which showed the positional relationship of the medium and inkjet head after FIG. 6 in time series.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Three-dimensional inkjet printer, 10 ... Base, 11 ... Support leg, 12 ... Support leg, 13 ... Operation panel, 14 ... 1st control apparatus (drive means), 15 ... Maintenance station, 16 ... 2nd control apparatus (drive) Means), 17 ... support girder, 18a and 18b ... Y-axis guide rail, 19a and 19b ... X-axis guide rail, 20 ... inkjet head, 21 ... head carriage, 31 ... X table, 32 ... Z-axis support part, 33a, 33b ... Side wall part, 34 ... Top plate part, 35 ... Elevating mechanism, 36a, 36b ... Z-axis guide rail, 37 ... Z-axis drive motor, 38 ... Ball screw, 39 ... Ball bearing, 40 ... Media holding part, 41 ... Z table, 42 ... arm, 43 ... A-axis rotating part, 44 ... chuck, 45 ... A-axis drive motor, 46 ... B-axis drive motor, 100 ... ink jet Printer, 101 ... UV lamp, M ... medium, p ... connection point, S ... scanning direction, T ... relative movement trajectory, T1 ... line trajectory portion, T2 ... spaced track section, alpha ... flat portion.

Claims (2)

Printing is performed on the surface of the media by ejecting ink from the inkjet head while relatively moving the inkjet holding head and the media holding portion that holds the polyhedral media in which the adjacent plane portions are connected at a predetermined angle. An inkjet printer that performs
Based on a relative movement trajectory of the inkjet head with respect to the medium, drive control means for moving the media holding unit and the inkjet head relatively in a three-dimensional space;
The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the relative movement locus has a locus away from the medium between the locus corresponding to the planar portion of the adjacent media. Printing is performed on the surface of the media by ejecting ink from the inkjet head while relatively moving the inkjet holding head and the media holding portion that holds the polyhedral media in which the adjacent plane portions are connected at a predetermined angle. An ink jet printer printing method
Based on the relative movement trajectory of the inkjet head with respect to the medium, the media holding unit and the inkjet head are moved relatively in a three-dimensional space,
The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the relative movement trajectory has a trajectory that is separated from the medium between trajectories corresponding to the planar portions of the adjacent media.

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