EP1923217A1 - Améliorations concernant imprimantes à jet d'encre continu - Google Patents

Améliorations concernant imprimantes à jet d'encre continu Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1923217A1
EP1923217A1 EP06124195A EP06124195A EP1923217A1 EP 1923217 A1 EP1923217 A1 EP 1923217A1 EP 06124195 A EP06124195 A EP 06124195A EP 06124195 A EP06124195 A EP 06124195A EP 1923217 A1 EP1923217 A1 EP 1923217A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
printhead
gutter
deflector plates
droplets
operable
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP06124195A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Steven Philip Cant
Christopher David Clarke
Alexandra Ulrike Clark
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Domino Printing Sciences PLC
Original Assignee
Domino Printing Sciences PLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Domino Printing Sciences PLC filed Critical Domino Printing Sciences PLC
Priority to EP06124195A priority Critical patent/EP1923217A1/fr
Priority to PCT/GB2007/004398 priority patent/WO2008059277A1/fr
Publication of EP1923217A1 publication Critical patent/EP1923217A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/07—Ink jet characterised by jet control
    • B41J2/075—Ink jet characterised by jet control for many-valued deflection
    • B41J2/08—Ink jet characterised by jet control for many-valued deflection charge-control type
    • B41J2/09—Deflection means

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a continuous inkjet (CIJ) print head.
  • CIJ continuous inkjet
  • CIJ printing involves the formation of electrically charged drops from a jet of ink, and the subsequent deflection of the charged drops by an electric field to produce an image on a print medium.
  • ink Electrically conducting ink is forced through a nozzle.
  • the ink jet breaks up into drops.
  • a controlled sequence of drops each with identical drop volume and with constant separation between adjacent drops, can be formed by modulating the jet in a controlled fashion. This can be achieved by modulating the ink pressure, or the ink velocity relative to the nozzle, in a sinusoidal manner at fixed frequency and amplitude.
  • charge is induced on individual ink drops by means of a charge electrode that is located in the vicinity of the position at which the drops separate from their jet.
  • Charge flows onto the conducting jet through capacitive coupling between electrode and jet. Desired levels of charge are induced on drops by applying a voltage to the electrode at the time the drop separates from the jet.
  • a range of charge voltages is used to achieve different degrees of deflection of the individual drops.
  • the charge electrode voltage is updated whenever a drop separates from its jet. Hence electrode and jet are modulated at the same frequency, and great care is taken to ensure that a suitable phase relationship is maintained between the two signals so that the correct charge voltage is present at the time of drop separation.
  • the ink drops travel through a constant electric field whose field lines are substantially perpendicular to the jet.
  • the field is typically produced by applying a high voltage to a parallel-plate capacitor through which the drops travel.
  • Charged drops are deflected by an amount that scales with the charge on the drops.
  • Uncharged drops are not deflected and fall into a vacuum re-flow, often referred to as gutter or catcher, for re-use of un-printed ink.
  • the technique described here enables the printing of an image, consisting of a plurality of drops, on a medium.
  • Figure 1 illustrates a first form of conventional deflector-plate configuration.
  • the stream 5 of ink drops travels through an electric field that is produced by two charged parallel plates 6 & 7 separated by a spacing s of typically 3-5mm.
  • These plates 6 & 7 are often referred to as deflector plates.
  • the drop-producing device (not shown) is typically arranged such that un-deflected drops travel parallel and as close as possible to one of the deflector plates (in this case the lower plate 6).
  • Such a configuration allows deflection in one direction only (positive y direction in Figure 1), with a maximum deflection, measured at the right-hand edges of the deflector plates, that is slightly less than the plate separation d.
  • the upper deflector plate 7 is set to a high positive voltage (typically a few kV) and the lower deflector plate 6 is set to ground. This requires the drops to be charged negatively. Uncharged drops are collected by a gutter 8 that is positioned adjacent to the exit (right-hand) end of the lower deflector plate 6.
  • the gutter is typically formed from stainless steel and may be of a circular or rectangular design.
  • the section of the gutter edge nearest the top deflector plate 7 is normally very narrow (typically 100 ⁇ m). This enables the use of a large deflection range, close to the plate separation d, as un-printed drops and least-deflected drops will follow similar trajectories.
  • the deflector plate configuration depicted uses an angled top deflector plate 10 to take account of the fact that the deflection in the y direction increases with the distance a drop will have travelled in x direction, between the deflector plates.
  • This configuration is attractive as the deflection to which a drop is subjected varies quadratically with the distance travelled, but only varies linearly with the inverse of the plate separation d.
  • the configuration shown in Figure 2 can reduce the overall accuracy with which drops can be positioned on a print medium.
  • the x component of the electric field is non-zero and changes with y position, which means that the x component of the velocity is affected by the electric field. Strongly deflected drops experience a larger deceleration in the x direction than weakly deflected ones. This can result in image artefacts at high print speed.
  • Figure 3 shows yet a further deflector plate configuration in which the drops first travel through a parallel section 12, which provides a homogeneous field, followed by a sloped section 13 to account for the increased deflection after some distance travelled.
  • the gutter it is desirable to place the gutter as close as possible to the deflector plates (the lower deflector plate in Figures 1 to 3). This is because drops slow down due to aerodynamic drag, which degrades print quality in particular if the drops are small. In general it is desirable that drops become available for printing soon after they have travelled through the electric field and are no longer accelerated.
  • a value for the maximum throw distance of a printer is often recommended. It is defined as the maximum allowable separation between the print head and the print medium, above which the print quality degrades. It will be appreciated that relatively large throw distances can be achieved with a print head in which the gutter is small and placed very close to the deflector plates.
  • the gutter 8 Whilst positioning the gutter close to the deflector plates increases the throw distance, a resulting disadvantage is that the presence of the gutter influences the electric field in the vicinity of the edge of the deflector plates (illustrated as region 1 in Figures 1 to 3) in a way that reduces drop placement accuracy and introduces image artefacts.
  • the gutter 8 is conducting and set to ground. Hence, a stray field forms between the edge of the upper deflector plate and the gutter. This can be better understood with reference to the simulation shown in Figure 5.
  • Figure 5 shows a 2-dimensional electrostatic model in which the main components of the deflection area of a printhead are approximated by blocks.
  • the two blocks representing the ground plate and the gutter, are set to ground potential.
  • the deflector plate the slope of which is approximated by a series of stepped blocks, is set to a positive potential. Modelling was carried out using a Java applet obtained from www.falstad.com . Whilst this does not yield absolute values, it does allow the relative strength and direction of the electric field to be visualised.
  • the x component of the electric field in region 1 is comparable to its y component for medium-deflected drops.
  • the x component of the electric field in region 1 exceeds its y component.
  • a field distribution of this kind reduces drop placement accuracy and it introduces image artefacts as the x component of the velocity is affected by the electric field in a manner that depends on drop charge.
  • the invention provides a printhead for a continuous inkjet printer, said printhead including:
  • said gutter is mounted on a substantially common plane with one of said deflector plates.
  • said gutter is separated from said one of said deflector plates by a dielectric.
  • said dielectric has a dielectric constant ( ⁇ ) in the range 2 to 4.
  • both said gutter and said one of said deflector plates are mounted on a common based provided by said dielectric.
  • said gutter and said one of said deflector plates are set to ground potential.
  • the other of said deflector plates is set to a positive potential.
  • the other of said deflector plates is arranged to at least partially overlie said gutter.
  • the invention provides a printhead for a continuous inkjet printer, said printhead including:
  • said gutter is mounted on a common plane with one of said deflector plates but separated there-from by a dielectric.
  • the invention provides a printhead including:
  • the embodiments presented in this invention overcome the issue of reduced print quality due to non-homogeneous fields that form in printhead configurations with sloped deflector plates; and due to stray fields from the gutter.
  • An example of an embodiment according to the invention is shown in Figure 4.
  • a 2-dimensional electrostatic simulation of this embodiment is shown in Figure 6.
  • the upper deflector plate has a parallel section of length I2 and a sloped section of length 13 at an angle ⁇ to the plane of section 12.
  • the lower deflector plate has a length I1 and may extend beyond the left edge of the upper deflector plate.
  • a spacer 14 of width w and depth d Adjacent to the lower deflector plate, there is a spacer 14 of width w and depth d, consisting of a dielectric material with dielectric constant ⁇ , or of a plurality of dielectric materials, each with a separate dielectric constant ⁇ .
  • the optimised values for w, d, and ⁇ may be substantially different from the above for embodiments with different values for I1, I2 and I3 and ⁇ . This is particularly the case for the dielectric constant ⁇ .
  • the left edge of the lower deflector plate in Figure 4 may extend to the left beyond the edge of the upper deflector plate, typically by a few millimetres.
  • the dielectric material(s) may extend partially or substantially completely underneath the lower deflector plate 11 and the gutter 8 to provide a base fixture or mounting for both the lower deflector plate and the gutter.
  • the sloped section 13 of the upper deflector plate partially or fully overlaps the gutter 8.

Landscapes

  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
EP06124195A 2006-11-16 2006-11-16 Améliorations concernant imprimantes à jet d'encre continu Withdrawn EP1923217A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP06124195A EP1923217A1 (fr) 2006-11-16 2006-11-16 Améliorations concernant imprimantes à jet d'encre continu
PCT/GB2007/004398 WO2008059277A1 (fr) 2006-11-16 2007-11-16 Perfectionnements aux ou se rapportant à des imprimantes à jet d'encre continu

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP06124195A EP1923217A1 (fr) 2006-11-16 2006-11-16 Améliorations concernant imprimantes à jet d'encre continu

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1923217A1 true EP1923217A1 (fr) 2008-05-21

Family

ID=37908287

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP06124195A Withdrawn EP1923217A1 (fr) 2006-11-16 2006-11-16 Améliorations concernant imprimantes à jet d'encre continu

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1923217A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2008059277A1 (fr)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4314258A (en) * 1980-02-04 1982-02-02 The Mead Corporation Ink jet printer including external deflection field
US5363124A (en) * 1993-01-26 1994-11-08 Videojet Systems International, Inc. Printhead for ink jet printers
US20020118258A1 (en) * 2001-02-27 2002-08-29 Paul Bajeux Printing head and printer with improved deflection electrodes

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4314258A (en) * 1980-02-04 1982-02-02 The Mead Corporation Ink jet printer including external deflection field
US5363124A (en) * 1993-01-26 1994-11-08 Videojet Systems International, Inc. Printhead for ink jet printers
US20020118258A1 (en) * 2001-02-27 2002-08-29 Paul Bajeux Printing head and printer with improved deflection electrodes

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2008059277A1 (fr) 2008-05-22

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