JP2004306372A - Ink jet printing method and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an ink jet printing method in which an print object can be printed accurately even if a flaw is present on the print surface or an oil film is stretching thereon. <P>SOLUTION: When desired printing is performed on the side face of a component 3 to become a print object, by ink jet printing, side face of the component 3 is preheated by a hot air blowing unit 6 to become a heating means and then ink jet printing is performed. Since the side face of the component 3 is heated before being printed by ink jet system, diluent in the ink is dried before the ink spreads. Consequently, the print object can be printed accurately by ink jet system even if a flaw is present on the print surface or an oil film is stretching thereon. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing apparatus for performing desired printing on an object to be printed using an inkjet printer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a product number and a barcode indicating the number are printed on a metal surface of the product for the purpose of managing the product number. In this printing, laser marking is generally used because ink is not blurred by printing.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When the laser marking method is used, the use of a laser causes the equipment to be complicated. In order to prevent this, a printing method using an inkjet printer can be considered.
[0004]
However, when an ink jet printer is used, if the metal surface, that is, the print surface is damaged or an oil film is formed, the diluent in the ink dropped from the ink jet printer is damaged by the scratch or the oil film before drying. This causes ink bleeding. For this reason, for example, there is a problem that the product number in characters becomes blurred and cannot be visually read, or the bar code is printed thicker than a desired width, so that the automatic reading device cannot read the product number in a later process. In such a case, it is not preferable from the viewpoint of effective use of the product, for example, it is determined that the product is defective although it is not defective.
[0005]
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to enable accurate printing on a printing target even when a printing surface is damaged or an oil film is formed in printing by an ink jet method.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claims 1 to 4, in a printing method for performing a desired printing on an object to be printed (3, 8) by an ink jet method, printing is performed by a heating means (6) before printing. After the object is heated, printing is performed by an ink jet method.
[0007]
As described above, in the printing method according to the present invention, the printing target is heated before printing by the inkjet method, and then printing is performed. For this reason, in printing by the ink jet method, it is possible to print accurately even if the printing surface of the printing target is damaged or an oil film is formed.
[0008]
The printing method according to the present invention is applied, for example, when a case (8) accommodating a circuit board (9) is to be printed, as described in claim 2. In this case, it is preferable that the case is heated by the heating means while avoiding the circuit board. For example, as described in claim 3, the tip of the hot air heating means is tapered, and the hot air from the hot air heating means is locally applied to the printing target, thereby avoiding the circuit board. The case can be heated.
[0009]
The invention according to claim 5 relates to a printing apparatus that embodies the printing method according to claim 1. With this printing device, the effects described in claim 1 can be obtained.
[0010]
In addition, the code | symbol in the parenthesis of each said means shows the correspondence with the concrete means described in embodiment mentioned later.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
(1st Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an inkjet printing apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a state before the product 2 to be printed is assembled. Hereinafter, the configuration of the printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to these drawings.
[0012]
The printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 prints a product number and a barcode indicating the product number on a part 3 which is a part of a product 2 to be printed as shown in FIG. The printing apparatus 1 performs printing while transporting a part 3 that is a part of the product 2 by gripper transport, and connects the transport claw 4, the rail 5, the hot air blowing unit 6, and the inkjet printer head 7 with each other. It is provided with.
[0013]
The transport claw 4 sandwiches the component 3 which is a part of the product 2, and a part of the product 2 is transferred by moving the transport claw 4. The product 2 is, for example, a circuit unit having a built-in write drive circuit mounted on a discharge headlight, and is composed of four parts as shown in FIG. Specifically, the product 2 includes a base assembly 10 in which a circuit board 9 is mounted on a base 8 made of aluminum, a case assembly 12 in which electronic components 11 mounted on the base assembly 10 are integrated, and a case assembly 12. The case 13 includes a wire 13 for electrically connecting to the electronic component 11 therein, and a cover 14 for fastening the lid after the case assembly 12 and the wire 13 are assembled to the base assembly 10. Of these, the base assembly 10 is carried into the printing apparatus 1 and is transported while being sandwiched by the transport claws 4.
[0014]
The rail 5 extends along the moving direction of the transport claw 4 and mounts the component 3 carried by the transport claw 4. After the component 3 is mounted on the rail 5, the component 3 sandwiched between the transport claw 4 is transferred on the rail 5 by sliding the transport claw 4 along the rail 5.
[0015]
The hot air blowing unit 6 is a cylindrical blowing unit, and is configured such that warm air (hot air) is generated by disposing a heating wire inside the cylinder. The hot-air blowing unit 6 corresponds to a heating unit, and the hot-air blowing unit 6 blows the hot air to a side surface of the component 3 (the base assembly 10) to be a printing surface. . The tip of the cylindrical shape, that is, the outlet of the warm air, is made smaller in diameter than other parts so as to be tapered, so that the blowing range of the warm air does not expand, and only the side surface of the part 3 is heated in a pinpoint manner. The wind is blown.
[0016]
The transfer speed of the transport claw 4 and the temperature of the hot air are determined so that the temperature of the side surface of the component 3 serving as the printing surface is heated to, for example, about 60 ° C. by the hot air from the hot air blowing unit 6. The temperature of the hot air is changed according to the type of the product 2. However, when the hot air is used for heating the base assembly 10 that becomes the component 3 into which the circuit board 9 is incorporated as in the present embodiment, It is preferable that the temperature is set so that the solder in the circuit board 9 does not melt. In this way, it is possible to prevent the solder from being melted when hot air is blown and impairing the function of the product, and the quality of the product 2 can be ensured.
[0017]
The ink jet printer head 7 is used for a general ink jet printer. The inkjet printer head 7 is fixed above the rear end of the rail 5, and the side surface of the component 3 passes in front of the tip of the inkjet printer head 7 while the component 3 is being transported by the transport claws 4. It has become.
[0018]
Next, a printing method using the printing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a state in which printing is performed on the component 3 using the printing apparatus 1 illustrated in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 illustrates schematic diagrams during printing by an inkjet printer. It will be described using FIG.
[0019]
First, as shown in FIG. 3, since a plurality of base assemblies 10 (parts 3) are carried to the printing apparatus 1 in a state of being housed in the same storage case 15, any one of them is removed. The sheet is sandwiched between the transport claws 4, loaded into the printing apparatus 1, and placed on the rail 5.
[0020]
Subsequently, hot air is blown from the side of the component 3 mounted on the rail 5 using the hot air blowing unit 6. For example, hot air is blown for about 15 seconds. As a result, the side surface of the component 3 is locally heated to about 60 ° C.
[0021]
Thereafter, the component 3 is transferred on the rail 5 by the transport claw 4, and the side surface of the component 3 passes in front of the front end of the inkjet printer head 7. During this passage, ink is ejected from the ink jet printer head 7, and a desired product 2 number is indicated as shown in FIG. 4, followed by printing a bar code corresponding to the product 2 number.
[0022]
At this time, since the side surface of the component 3 is preliminarily heated to about 60 ° C., even if the side surface of the component 3 is scratched or an oil film is formed, the ink bleeds due to the scratch or the oil film. Before the diluent in the ink dries. For this reason, desired printing can be performed without ink bleeding. Therefore, after the printing, it is possible to reliably read the print content in the automatic reading device 16 in a later step.
[0023]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the component 3 to be printed is heated before printing by the ink jet printer, and thereafter printing is performed. For this reason, the diluent in the ink can be dried before the ink bleeds, and in the printing by the ink jet method, even if the printing surface is damaged or the oil film is formed, the printing can be accurately performed on the printing target. Is possible.
[0024]
In addition, since the printing is performed by the inkjet method, the above-described effect can be obtained with a compact configuration without causing the printing apparatus 1 to be complicated, and can be easily incorporated into the equipment currently in operation. .
[0025]
(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, the case where desired printing is performed on the component 3 of the product 2 has been described, but printing may be performed on the product 2 itself. In addition, as for the product 2, the present invention can be applied to any product that causes scratches on the printing surface or an oil film.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state before assembling a product 2 to be printed;
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a state of printing using the printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a state of printing by an inkjet method.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing device, 2 ... Product, 3 ... Parts, 4 ... Transport claw, 6 ... Hot air blowing unit,
7 ... inkjet printer, 8 ... base, 9 ... circuit board,
10 ... Base assembly.

Claims (5)

In a printing method for performing desired printing on an object to be printed (3, 8) by an ink-jet method, the heating means (6) heats the object to be printed before the printing, and then performs printing by the ink-jet method. A printing method characterized by performing. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the printing target is a case (8) for housing a circuit board (9), and the heating means heats the case avoiding the circuit board. . Using a warm air heating means for heating the printing target with warm air as the heating means,
The printing method according to claim 1, wherein a tip portion of the hot air heating unit is tapered so that the hot air from the hot air heating unit is locally applied to the printing target. . The printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the printing target is transported after being heated, and printing is performed by the inkjet method during the transport. Conveying means (4, 5) for conveying the print object (3, 8);
Heating means (6) for blowing hot air onto the printing object;
An inkjet printer head (7) for performing printing on the print target by an inkjet method when the print target is transported by the transport unit;
A printing apparatus, wherein after the printing target is heated by the heating unit, the printing target is transported by the transport unit, and the printing is performed by the inkjet printer head.

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