JP2000153603A - Delivery ink measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To measure fluctuation in the volume of ink drop being ejected from an ink jet recording head in order to further enhance the quality of the recording head. SOLUTION: An ink drop 3 ejected from an ink jet recording head is received by a recording medium in the form of a laboratory dish having specified depth and width and then the recording medium is covered with a top plate 2. Consequently, the ink drop 3 is deformed tubularly and diameter at the upper or lower bottom of the deformed ink drop is measured and then the volume of the ink drop 3 is calculated based on the measured size.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a discharge ink measuring apparatus, for example, paper, fiber, leather, metal, plastic, etc. in printers, copiers, facsimile machines having a communication system, word processors having a printer section, and the like.
The present invention relates to a discharge ink measuring device that measures ink droplets discharged from an ink jet recording head used for recording on a recording medium such as glass, wood, ceramics, and the like.

In the present invention, "recording" includes not only recording an image having a meaning such as a character or a figure on a recording medium but also recording an image having no meaning such as a pattern. It is a thing.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording unit, or a printer unit provided in a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like, operates based on image information.
It is configured to record an image composed of a dot pattern on a recording medium such as paper, a plastic thin plate, or cloth.

[0004] Among such printing apparatuses, a printing apparatus equipped with a recording head of an ink jet system, a thermal system, an LED system, or the like, in which a plurality of recording elements corresponding to recording dots are arranged on a substrate, is low cost. It is drawing attention as a device.

A print head in which these print elements are arranged corresponding to the print width can manufacture print elements by using a process similar to a semiconductor manufacturing process. In recent years, there has been a change to a form in which a driving circuit is structurally formed inside the same substrate on which printing elements are arranged. As a result, it is possible to prevent the circuit configuration related to the driving of the recording head from becoming complicated, and to achieve the miniaturization and low cost of the recording apparatus.

Above all, in the ink jet recording method, for example, the ink is heated by heat energy to cause film boiling, and the ink can be ejected by utilizing the pressure caused by bubbles generated at that time. It has many advantages compared to other printing methods, such as good responsiveness to printing, and the advantage of easy density increase of ink ejection ports. It can be said that

Further, in a recording apparatus using such an ink jet recording head, recording is performed at a high resolution of an image, and in order to add various functions, the size of ink droplets to be ejected has been controlled. A technique for reducing the size has been proposed. For example, by arranging two types of printing elements in a nozzle that ejects ink and by driving these elements in combination, it is possible to control the ejection of ink droplets having different sizes or to control the deformation of a nozzle actuator. It has become possible to control the amount of ink drops.

Therefore, by using such a technique, a high-quality color image can be output at low cost.

[0009]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, variations in the ink droplets to be ejected affect the image quality itself due to the increase in the density of the recording elements of the recording head mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus. Is coming. For example, in an ink jet recording head in which a plurality of recording elements are arranged at high density, not only the amount of ink droplets ejected from all ink ejection nozzles is uniform, but also the size of ink droplets ejected from the same nozzle is stable. What they do is required.

That is, variations and fluctuations of the ejected ink droplets have effects such as density unevenness and color tone deviation in a color image, which hinders the provision of an ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing high quality image recording at low cost. ing.

In order to solve such a problem, it is first necessary to analyze the ink ejection characteristics of the ink jet recording head. Of the recording dot 1 formed on the recording medium by ink droplets ejected from the recording head.
At present, it was difficult to confirm the variation itself.

This is because the ink ejection cycle of the ink jet recording head is as fast as several hundreds μS or less, and it is difficult to individually sample events of continuous ink ejection from the same ink ejection nozzle of the recording head. . Furthermore, regarding the measurement of the ink discharge amount of each ink discharge nozzle, the mass of the ink tank is measured in advance,
At present, there is no alternative but to perform a specified amount recording operation and then measure the mass of the ink tank to calculate the average ink ejection amount from the difference in ink mass before and after the recording operation.

That is, in the conventional technique, it is not possible to directly measure each of the ejected ink droplets individually.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example. In order to achieve higher image quality of an ink jet recording head, the present invention measures the variation in the ejection amount of each ink droplet ejected from the recording head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a discharge ink measuring device capable of performing the above-mentioned operations.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, a discharge ink measuring apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.

In other words, there is provided an ejection ink measuring apparatus for measuring an amount of ink ejected from an ink jet recording head having a plurality of recording elements, wherein the shape of an ink droplet ejected from the ink jet recording head is changed and held. A recording medium to be recorded, recording means for driving the ink jet recording head to eject ink onto the recording medium in a test manner to perform recording, and measuring a size of an ink droplet having a changed shape held on the recording medium. An ejection ink measurement device is provided, comprising: a measurement unit; and a calculation unit that calculates a volume of the ink droplet based on the size measured by the measurement unit.

The measuring means includes a microscope for inspecting the size of the ink droplet having changed shape, an image processing means for image-processing information obtained by the inspection by the microscope, and a three-dimensional microscope. It is desirable to have moving means for moving.

The recording medium may further include a receiving portion for receiving the ink droplets, and the receiving portion receiving the ink droplets.
It is desirable to have a top plate that covers the receiving portion.

The following embodiment is conceivable for such a recording medium.

(1) The receiving portion is in the form of a petri dish in which a portion for receiving one ink droplet has a predetermined depth and a predetermined width, and the volume of the petri dish is made larger than the volume of the ink droplet. . In this case, the ink droplet discharged to the receiving portion in the form of a petri dish is deformed into a cylindrical shape by covering the receiving portion with the top plate. In this case, the measuring unit may measure the diameter of the upper or lower bottom of the ink droplet deformed into a cylindrical shape.

(2) The receiving portion has a rectangular parallelepiped shape in which a portion for receiving one ink droplet has a predetermined depth and a predetermined width. In this case, the ink droplets ejected to the rectangular parallelepiped receiving portion spread and deform along the side wall constituting the rectangular parallelepiped. In this case, it is preferable that the measuring unit measures the width of the spread of the ink droplet that has spread and deformed along the side wall constituting the rectangular parallelepiped.

(3) The receiving portion is in the form of a petri dish as described above, and the receiving portion in the form of the petri dish is filled with a liquid that does not mix with the composition of the ink droplets. In this case, the ink droplets discharged to the receiving portion in the form of a petri dish filled with the liquid are deformed into a spherical shape in the liquid. In this case, the measuring means may measure the diameter of the spherically deformed ink droplet.

Regardless of the above-mentioned recording medium, it is desirable that either the receptor or the top plate is made of a light-transmitting substance.

It is desirable that a plurality of receiving portions of the recording medium be formed on the recording medium by patterning the substrate.

The ink jet recording head is
In order to eject ink using thermal energy, it is preferable to provide an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink.

Further, the apparatus having the above structure is provided with storage means for storing data on the volume of the ink droplet calculated by the calculation means, and further, communication means for transferring the information stored in the storage means to the outside. It is preferable to provide the correction information because it affects the generation of correction data for correcting the ejection characteristics of the recording head based on the obtained information and the manufacture of a recording head that can correct the obtained information using the correction data.

Further, the size of the recording medium is set to be equal to the size of the recording medium used for recording by the recording apparatus equipped with the ink jet recording head, or the recording apparatus transports the recording medium in a normal recording operation. Transport means for transporting the recording medium by performing the same operation as the scanning means, and scanning means for moving the inkjet recording head by performing a similar operation to move the inkjet recording head in the recording apparatus in a normal recording operation; It is desirable to further provide

With the above arrangement, the present invention measures the size of ink droplets ejected on a recording medium,
It operates to calculate the volume of the ink droplet.

[0029]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. <Schematic Description of Head Inspection Apparatus Main Body> FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a main part of a head inspection apparatus for inspecting ink ejection characteristics of an ink jet recording head according to a typical embodiment of the present invention.

A printer adopting an ink jet recording head (hereinafter, referred to as a recording head) inspected by this apparatus reciprocally scans a carriage on which the recording head is mounted in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of a recording medium such as recording paper. While discharging the ink onto a recording medium held at a predetermined distance from the ink discharge surface of the recording head, an image is formed on the recording medium. Therefore, in the head inspection apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an inspection apparatus) of this embodiment, the recording head is used to measure the amount of ink droplets ejected from the recording head in a form as close as possible to a normal recording operation state in a printer. It is important to maintain a predetermined distance from the position of the ink discharge nozzle (hereinafter, referred to as a nozzle) and arrange the recording medium for measuring the discharged ink droplets.

For this reason, the inspection apparatus of this embodiment has a configuration in which the distance between the recording head and the recording medium for measuring the ink droplets is kept constant as described above, and is capable of three-dimensionally moving an arbitrary measurement point. A high-precision image processing unit and a recording medium for measuring ink droplets on a recording medium having a special configuration.

As shown in FIG. 1, a recording head 11 to be inspected is a carriage 10 similar to an ordinary printer.
After being mounted on the recording medium 1, a pattern in which variations in ink droplets ejected from the recording head can be easily checked.
Record above. The inspection apparatus includes a CPU (described later) that controls the operation of the entire apparatus and each component.

The image processing section 14 is provided on three stages 15, 16 and 17 so as to be movable three-dimensionally. These stages are driven by a driving force of a pulse motor (not shown) as shown in FIG.
5 in the x direction, stage 16 in the y direction, stage 17
Are movable in the z direction. These stages have a configuration in which pitching and yawing are suppressed as much as possible to improve measurement accuracy. Therefore, the image processing unit 14 above these stages can be three-dimensionally moved by combining the movements of these stages. The image processing unit 14 has a microscope 13 with a revolver mounted thereon. The microscope 13 can be used by selecting one from a plurality of objective lenses with different magnifications loaded in the revolver.

As described above, the recording medium 1 is disposed at a distance from the recording head 11 in the same manner as the recording paper in the ordinary recording apparatus. Then, by the transport mechanism 12 for controlling the movement of the recording medium 1 in the direction (arrow P) perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage 10 (arrow CR), the measuring apparatus of this embodiment performs the same recording as that of performing ordinary recording. Achieved. The physical shape of the ink droplets constituting the pattern recorded on the recording medium 1 in this way is closely inspected by the microscope 13 with a revolver, and the image data obtained as a result is processed by the image processing unit 14 and the inspection result is obtained. Is obtained.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, this measuring device has a surface immediately after the completion of recording in order to prevent ink from evaporating from the surface of the recording medium 1 on which recording has been performed by the recording head 11. A recording medium sealing mechanism for covering with a glass or the like is provided.

<Control Configuration of Measurement Apparatus> FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the measurement apparatus.

As shown in FIG.
1, the output from the image processing unit 14 is also transferred to the CPU 101, and the CPU 101 calculates the final measurement result of the recording head 11.
The measurement result is stored in a memory (MEM) 102 such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, and a magneto-optical disk. The measurement result stored in the memory may be output to an output device such as the display (DPY) 103 or the printer (PRT) 104, or may be output to another device such as the head ejection characteristic correction device 1000. May be transferred and used to correct the ink ejection characteristics of the recording head.

The CPU 101 has a head drive controller 1
Via the driver 11 and the driver 112, the printhead 11 outputs a drive signal and a control signal necessary for printing a predetermined pattern, and controls the print operation of the printhead. further,
The movement of the three stages 15 to 17 described above is controlled by the stage control unit 121 controlled by the CPU 101 during image processing by the image processing unit 14.

Further, the reciprocating movement of the carriage 10 is controlled by the carriage control unit 131, and the control of the transport mechanism 12 is controlled by the transport control unit 141. Furthermore, the recording head 1
The distance between the first ink ejection surface and the recording medium 1 is kept constant by the recording medium holding mechanism 151.

Further, the surface of the recording medium 1 on which the predetermined pattern is recorded is sealed by glass or the like by the recording medium sealing mechanism 161 to prevent the evaporation of the ink.

<Structure of Recording Medium> Next, features of the recording medium 1 used in this measuring apparatus will be described.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing the structure of the recording medium 1.

The recording medium for holding the ink droplets ejected from the recording head 11 is microscopically shaped like a petri dish as shown in FIG. This recording medium is made of a glass substrate or a silicon wafer substrate having high flatness, and a separator having a height c (about several to several tens of μm) is provided around an area for receiving one ink droplet. ing. Such a separator is formed by patterning a DF (dry film) or the like on the substrate. At present, DF is sold by its manufacturer in a prescribed size of about several tens of μm, and the thickness control accuracy is about ± 0.5 μm.

Now, the ink droplets 3 are formed on such a recording medium.
Is discharged, the measuring apparatus seals the surface of the recording medium with the top plate 2 made of glass, a silicon wafer, or the like using the recording medium sealing mechanism 161 as described above. By such sealing, the ink droplets 3 are sandwiched between the recording medium 1 and the top plate 2 and deformed, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. After the ink droplets 3 are crushed in this manner, the ink droplets 3 are optically inspected by the microscope 13, so that either the recording medium 1 or the top plate 2 is preferably made of transparent glass. In order to prevent the ink droplets 3 from penetrating into the recording medium 1 and the top plate 2 by such deformation, the surfaces of the recording medium 1 and the top plate 2 are given a certain degree of water repellency. , A water-repellent film is applied. This coating is performed accurately so as not to exceed ± 3% of the center value of the water-repellent film thickness over the surface thereof so as not to impair the measurement reliability of the apparatus.

Therefore, the shape of the crushed ink droplet can be approximated to a cylinder, and thereby the microscope 1
When the diameter (2r) of the ink droplet 3 is obtained by the detailed inspection by 3, the volume of the ink droplet can be obtained.

The area for receiving the ink droplets is not limited to one on the recording medium 1, and as shown in FIG.
By forming a plurality of separators 4 and 5 on the surface of the recording medium in advance by patterning DF or the like, a plurality of ink droplet receiving areas are provided. FIG.
In the configuration shown in (b), the interval (w) between the adjacent separators 4 and 5 of the petri dish-shaped recording medium 1 is the ink droplet 3
Is larger than the diameter of the cylinder in which is crushed (w> 2r).

From the diameter (2r) of the cylinder obtained by the inspection with the microscope 13, the area (s) of the upper or lower base of the cylinder is obtained by image processing. Here, since the height c of the separator is accurately formed, the volume of the ink droplet, that is, the ink ejection amount (v) is calculated as follows.

V = s × c Here, in order to make the recording medium 1 correspond to small-sized ink droplets, the height (c) of the separators 4 and 5 may be further reduced. At this time, the separator can be formed by sputtering metal.

Further, such a petri dish-shaped recording medium is made of large-sized glass, and can be made to have the same size as that used for ordinary recording by a printer. If a recording medium made of such a large-sized glass is used, it is possible to measure the ink ejection amount based on the ink ejected in all events of the same recording operation as that on the recording paper. This makes it possible to monitor the change in the ink ejection amount during the printing operation of one page of the printing medium, which has been impossible so far.

The recording medium 1 does not have to be a petri dish as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of another embodiment of the recording medium 1.

In FIG. 4, (a) is a side sectional view showing the structure of the recording medium 1, and (b) and (c) show the recording medium 1.
3 is a top view showing the structure of FIG.

Such a structure uses a glass or silicon wafer having high flatness as a substrate as in the case of the petri dish shown in FIG.
It is formed by patterning with F or the like.

As can be seen from FIG. 4A, the height of the separator is "c", but as can be seen from FIG. 4B, the shape of the area for receiving the ink is rectangular. The ratio of the long side to the short side of this rectangle is at least twice or more, and the length of the short side is “a”, which is a sufficiently large storage volume with respect to the ejection amount of the ink droplet ejected from the recording head. . When the ink droplets are ejected into this rectangular area, FIG. 4B or FIG.
As shown in (c), the droplet spreads and deforms using the separator as a frame. Then, the deformation converges in the middle of the long side. In this rectangular area, it is possible to have a certain degree of hydrophilic effect in order to smoothly spread the droplets, or to provide a receiving layer in some cases.

Then, by measuring the length of the long side by the microscope 13, the ink ejection amount is calculated.

Here, when the ratio of the short side to the long side is large, the formula for calculating the ejection amount (v) is “a” for the short side, “b” for the long side, and “c” for the height of the separator. Then, v = a × b × c. According to this equation, as shown in FIG. 1B, when ink droplets of different sizes are ejected to a rectangular area,
Since the length of the short side is common to "a", a difference such as b1 and b2 occurs in the length (b) of the long side. Therefore, if these two ink droplets are from two adjacent nozzles, it is possible to accurately measure the difference in the ink ejection amount from the adjacent nozzles.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4C, when the ratio of the short side to the long side is small, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), let s1 be the portion that is surely in contact with the separator and s2 be the area of the other portion, and v = ( The ejection amount (v) may be calculated according to a calculation formula of (s1 + s2) × c.

Of course, the area may be collectively measured according to another calculation formula different from this. If the recording medium of such a form is formed as a recording medium made of large-format glass as described with reference to FIG. 3, it is possible to monitor the change in the ink ejection amount during the recording period for one page of the recording medium. it can.

In order to use such a recording medium, it is necessary to eject ink droplets from the recording head to the rectangular area with a certain degree of accuracy. In addition, the size of the rectangular area for receiving ink is required. It is required that there is a certain relationship between the recording head and the recording resolution of the recording head. Therefore, this recording medium has a relatively low nozzle density (nozzle pitch) (a recording resolution of several tens to 300 dpi). Suitable for measuring.

As a modification of the petri dish-shaped recording medium 1 described with reference to FIG. 3, a recording medium as shown in FIG. 5 may be used.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a substance (separated liquid) 6 which is not mixed in advance with the composition of the ink droplets in the Petri dish
The recording medium 1 is held at a fixed distance from the ink ejection surface of the recording head 11. Here, if the ink used for recording is a water-soluble dye ink, if the separation liquid 6 is, for example, an octane-based organic solvent, the separation liquid 6 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, the ink droplets 3 are substantially spherical in the separation liquid 6.

In the case of a sphere, the diameter of a circle, which is an image of the sphere, is measured by the microscope 13 and the measured value is subjected to image processing, whereby the ink discharge amount (v) can be obtained.
Assuming that the radius of the mapping circle at the time of the image processing is r, the ejection amount (v) is v = 4/3 · πr ³ . In the case of n-octane, the specific gravity is 0.7025, which is lighter than that of the ink, so that the ink droplet 3 comes into substantially spherical contact with the bottom surface of the petri dish-shaped recording medium 1.

In this modification, since the ink droplets 3 are dropped on the separation liquid 6, the drop point may be shifted while the ink droplets settle in the separation liquid. In order to reduce this effect, it is desirable that the depth of the separation liquid is small from the viewpoint of measurement stability.

As described above, the characteristics of the recording medium are various, but the condition of the shape change of the ink droplet that converges until the image processing is finally performed by the image processing unit 14 is as follows. At least one of the measurement parameters or shapes required when measuring the volume is fixed,
And it is necessary to ensure that the fixing element is known.

Next, with respect to the ink discharge amount measuring process executed using the measuring apparatus and the recording medium having the above-described configurations,
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that recording is performed in substantially the same manner as the normal recording operation, using a recording medium having the same size as, for example, A4 size recording paper used in the normal recording operation.

First, in step S10, the transport mechanism 12
Thus, the recording medium 1 is conveyed below the moving path of the carriage on which the recording head 11 is mounted, and a predetermined pattern is recorded on the recording medium 1 in step S15 in the same manner as a normal recording operation. Further, immediately after this recording, step S2
At 0, the top plate 2 covers the surface of the recording medium 1.

When ink is ejected to the above-described petri dish or rectangular area of the recording medium 1 by this recording operation, each area of the recording medium 1 has a characteristic structure of ink droplets due to its characteristic structure. The shape changes. This change varies depending on the configuration of the recording medium 1, and is controlled by the structure of the recording medium at the same time as the ejection of ink droplets. Each has its own shape, for example, by changing to a specific shape such as a sphere. In this way, even if the ink droplet is a minute droplet, its shape changes on the recording medium 1 so that it can be identified to a level that does not cause a measurement value error at the minimum resolution in the image processing unit 14. The shape can be enlarged.

Next, when these changes have converged, the process proceeds to step S25, in which the stage control unit 121 moves the stages 15 to 17 three-dimensionally to move the image processing unit 14 to a specific measurement point. Position. Further, in step S30, the recording medium 1 is closely inspected by the microscope 13, and in subsequent step S35, data indicating a change state of the ink droplet obtained by the inspecting is image-processed.

As a result, in step S40, the volume of each ink droplet is calculated, and the ink ejection amount of each droplet is obtained.
The ejection amount data is stored in the memory 102.

The ejection amount data obtained in this manner can be output from the display 103 or the printer 104, as well as the event change (fluctuation etc.) of the same nozzle of the recording head 11, the adjacent nozzle and the nozzle row block. This can be used to generate correction data for correcting the ejection characteristics of the print head in accordance with the event change (density unevenness or the like).

The measurement data is subjected to arithmetic processing in accordance with various characteristics of the recording head, and is displayed on a monitor 103 or printed out on a printer 104 as a comprehensive measurement result or judgment result. Can be output as

Further, the obtained measurement data may be transferred to the printing head manufacturing process using a communication means such as a LAN, so that the final inspection information in the manufacturing process can be promptly reflected in the manufacturing process.

For example, when correction data for correcting the discharge characteristics of a print head is generated by the head discharge characteristic correction apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 2 based on the ink discharge amount data measured in this embodiment, the print head Is a configuration having a memory such as an EEPROM,
By writing the correction data in the EEPROM, it is possible to manufacture a recording head capable of correcting the ejection characteristics and performing higher-quality recording.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, ink is ejected from a recording head to a recording medium having a special structure, and data obtained by closely inspecting the recorded recording medium with a microscope is used as an image. By performing the processing, the volume of each ink droplet can be obtained.

Further, by using the data obtained in this manner, an event change (fluctuation, etc.) of the same nozzle of the recording head and an event change (density unevenness, etc.) of the adjacent nozzles and the nozzle row block can be suppressed to achieve a higher level. It is possible to generate correction data for performing high-quality printing and to manufacture a recording head incorporating the correction data.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the variation of each ink droplet can be measured accurately, so that effective analysis for achieving higher image quality of the ink jet recording head can be performed in the future. Become like Therefore, an inspection apparatus for inspecting the quality of the ink jet recording head for further improving the image quality can be realized by developing such a measuring apparatus.

Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a simple inspection apparatus but also to a correction data generation apparatus for reflecting the obtained analysis result in the correction of the ejection amount of the recording head. Further, by feeding back such an analysis result to the analysis of a manufacturing problem, it is possible to provide a low-cost, high-quality inkjet recording head capable of providing a recording head manufacturing apparatus or an improvement in the manufacturing process thereof. Also contribute.

Further, the recording medium described above has an effect that by slightly displacing the shape of the ink droplet itself, the shape of the ink droplet can be optimized so that the resolution of image processing can be effectively utilized. The present invention is not limited to the configuration in the embodiment described above.

Further, it goes without saying that the advantages of the recording medium described above do not depend on the type and resolution of the ink jet recording head.

The recording head used in the above embodiment is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for discharging ink, particularly in the ink jet recording method. And the like, and using a method of causing a change in the state of the ink by the thermal energy is preferable from the viewpoint of achieving higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type.
By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding the film boiling to the electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or the liquid path holding the Since thermal energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer and film boiling occurs on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis can be formed. It is valid. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

The configuration of the recording head is not limited to the combination of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angle liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. A configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting surface is arranged in a bent region, is also included in the present invention. In addition, for multiple electrothermal transducers,
JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which a common slot is used as a discharge part of an electrothermal transducer, and JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy corresponds to a discharge part. A configuration based on 138461 may be adopted.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length is determined by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above specification. This may be either a configuration satisfying the above requirements or a configuration as a single recording head formed integrally.

In addition to the cartridge type recording head in which the ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself described in the above embodiment, the recording head can be connected to the recording apparatus main body by being mounted on the recording apparatus main body. A replaceable chip-type recording head that enables electrical connection and supply of ink from the apparatus main body may be configured.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like to the configuration of the recording apparatus which carries out recording by mounting the recording head described above, since the recording operation can be further stabilized. Specific examples of these means include a capping means for the recording head, a cleaning means, a pressurizing or suctioning means, a preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof. is there. It is also effective to provide a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection that is different from printing, in order to perform stable printing.

Further, such a printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode in which black ink is ejected to perform printing, and a printing head may be integrally formed or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. A recording mode for performing full-color recording using color or mixed colors may be provided.

In the embodiments described above, the description is made on the assumption that the ink is a liquid. However, even if the ink solidifies at room temperature or lower, it is possible to use an ink that softens or liquefies at room temperature. Or, in the ink jet method, generally, the temperature of the ink itself is controlled within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range.
It is sufficient that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, the temperature is positively prevented.
Alternatively, in order to prevent evaporation of the ink, an ink which solidifies in a standing state and liquefies by heating may be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start to solidify when reaching the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable to a case where an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is used. In such a case, as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, the ink is held in a liquid state or a solid state in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. It is good also as a form which opposes an electrothermal transducer. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of a recording apparatus which carries out recording by mounting a recording head, a recording apparatus which is integrally or separately provided as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, or a copying apparatus which is combined with a reader or the like may be used. It may take the form of an apparatus, or a facsimile apparatus having a transmission / reception function.

[0091]

As described above, according to the present invention, the size of an ink droplet ejected to a recording medium is measured to calculate the volume of the ink droplet. There is an effect that the amount of each drop can be accurately measured and inspected.

By using the data obtained by this measurement, it becomes possible to generate correction data for correcting the ejection characteristics of the print head and to manufacture a print head corrected by the correction data. It is possible to provide a higher quality ink jet recording head.

[0093]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view illustrating a main configuration of a head inspection apparatus that inspects ink ejection characteristics of an ink jet recording head according to a representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the measuring device.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing the structure of the recording medium 1.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a structure of a recording medium 1 according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a structure of a modification of the recording medium 1 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an ink ejection amount measurement process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Petri dish 2 Top plate 3 Ink droplet 4, 5 Separator 6 Separation liquid 10 Carriage 11 Recording head 12 Transport mechanism 13 Microscope 14 Image processing part 15-17 Stage 101 CPU 102 Memory 103 Display 104 Printer 111 Head drive control part 112 Driver 121 Stage control unit 131 Carriage control unit 151 Recording medium holding mechanism 161 Recording medium sealing mechanism 1000 Head ejection characteristic correction device

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. An ejection ink measuring device for measuring an amount of ink ejected from an ink jet recording head having a plurality of recording elements, wherein the shape of an ink droplet ejected from the ink jet recording head is changed and held. A recording medium to be driven; a recording unit for driving the ink jet recording head to eject ink onto the recording medium for recording; and measuring a size of an ink droplet having a changed shape held on the recording medium. An ejection ink measuring apparatus, comprising: a measuring unit; and a calculating unit that calculates a volume of the ink droplet based on the size measured by the measuring unit. 2. A measuring device, comprising: a microscope for inspecting the size of the ink droplet having the changed shape; an image processing unit for image-processing information obtained by the inspection by the microscope; and a three-dimensional microscope. 2. A discharge ink measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a moving means for moving the ink. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium has a receiving portion that receives the ink droplet. 4. The ejection ink measuring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recording medium further includes a top plate that covers the receiving portion after receiving the ink droplets in the receiving portion. 5. The receiving portion has a form of a petri dish in which a portion for receiving the ink droplet has a predetermined depth and a predetermined width, and the volume of the petri dish is the ink droplet. The ejected ink measuring device according to claim 4, wherein the volume is larger than the volume of the ejected ink. 6. The ejection according to claim 5, wherein the ink droplets ejected to the receiving portion in the form of a petri dish are deformed into a cylindrical shape by covering the receiving portion with the top plate. Ink measuring device. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the measuring unit measures a diameter of an upper bottom or a lower bottom of the ink droplet deformed into a cylindrical shape. 8. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the receiving portion has a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a predetermined depth and a predetermined width at a portion for receiving the ink droplet. Ejection ink measuring device. 9. The ejected ink measuring apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the ink droplet ejected to the rectangular parallelepiped receiving portion spreads and deforms along a side wall constituting the rectangular parallelepiped. 10. The ejection ink measuring apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the measuring unit measures the width of the spread of the ink droplet that has spread and deformed along the side wall constituting the rectangular parallelepiped. 11. The ink receiving device according to claim 1, wherein the ink receiving section comprises:
The ejection according to claim 3, wherein a portion for receiving the droplet has a form of a petri dish having a predetermined depth and a predetermined width, and a volume of the petri dish is larger than a volume of the ink droplet. Ink measuring device. 12. The petri dish-shaped receiving portion is filled with a liquid that is not mixed with the composition of the ink droplet, and the ink droplet discharged to the petri dish-shaped receiving portion filled with the liquid is the liquid. The ejected ink measuring device according to claim 11, wherein the device is deformed into a sphere inside. 13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said measuring means measures the diameter of said spherically deformed ink droplet.
3. The ejection ink measurement device according to 2. 14. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein either the receptor or the top plate is made of a light transmissive substance.
3. An ejection ink measuring device according to claim 1. 15. The ink-jet recording head according to claim 1, further comprising an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink for discharging the ink using thermal energy. The ejected ink measuring device according to the above. 16. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing data relating to the volume of the ink droplet calculated by the calculation means. 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising a communication unit that transfers information stored in the storage unit to the outside. 18. The ejection ink according to claim 1, wherein the size of the recording medium is the same as the size of a recording medium used for recording by a recording apparatus equipped with the inkjet recording head. measuring device. 19. A transport unit for transporting a recording medium by performing the same operation as the recording apparatus transporting a recording medium in a normal recording operation, and moving the inkjet recording head in the normal recording operation. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a scanning unit that moves the inkjet recording head by performing a similar operation. 20. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of receiving portions of the recording medium are formed on the recording medium by patterning the substrate.