JP2005111726A - Drawing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drawing apparatus capable of preventing shift in impact position without requiring a plurality of driving waveform creating means. <P>SOLUTION: Dots 104 are formed sequentially in the main scanning direction of a dot array 103 by moving a matrix head 102 arranged with nozzles 101 ejecting a writing material for forming a dot relatively to an matter to be drawn in the main scanning direction thus writing a plurality of dot arrays 103 composed of the dots 104. When the dots 104 of the dot array 103 are formed, pitch of the dot array 103 is set equal to an integer times of relative movement distance of the matrix head 102, thus performing ejection of writing material from the nozzles 101 simultaneously. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus, and more particularly, to a drawing device that draws a plurality of dot arrays composed of dots formed in a matrix on a drawing object.

  In recent years, analysis of gene information has progressed, and with this, grounds for using gene analysis for pharmaceuticals and medical diagnosis are being prepared. By the way, a gene can be analyzed using a DNA chip. As a method, a DNA chip in which a DNA probe whose function is known in advance is fixed on a glass chip and a sample DNA are hybridized. There is a method in which the presence / absence of expression and the expression level are converted into data by fluorescence measurement and the determination is made.

  Here, this determination is often made based on the relative expression level or combination of a plurality of DNA probes, and a lot of probe information may be required to determine the onset of disease. In view of practical application to the field, a DNA chip on which a larger number of DNA probes are arranged is required. Thus, conventionally, for example, DNA probes are arranged at a high density by using an ink jet drawing apparatus (see Patent Document 1).

  Incidentally, as another example of such an ink jet drawing apparatus, there is an ink jet printer. This inkjet printer can be used for hard copies of color images and documents accompanying the widespread use of personal computers, digital cameras, the Internet, etc., and in the industrial field where special ink is required, it is cheap and easy to output. It is spreading because it can be done.

  Here, for example, a general serial scan type ink jet printer includes a head on which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink droplets and a carriage mounted with an ink tank, and means for scanning the carriage or recording medium in the main scanning direction. And means for scanning in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, and means for controlling them.

  When an image is formed on a recording medium, ink is ejected to a position determined by data while performing serial scanning by the width of the recording medium, and the recording medium is ejected by a distance corresponding to the nozzle interval and the formed image. After transporting in the sub-scanning direction, scanning is performed again, so that ink droplets are spread on the recording medium to form an image.

  As an ink discharge method used in such an ink jet printer, a thermal method in which ink is discharged mainly by applying heat to the nozzle to generate bubbles in the nozzle and a piezoelectric element is used to contract the ink pressure chamber. There is a piezo method in which ink is discharged by causing the ink to discharge.

  Since these methods are non-impact, they have low noise, are inexpensive and advantageous for downsizing, and can easily form a color image by arranging nozzle rows of different colors in the recording scanning direction. Have.

  FIG. 8 is a control block diagram of the ink jet printer having such a configuration, and reference numeral 601 denotes a CPU in the form of a microprocessor. The CPU 601 is connected to a host (computer) 624 via an interface 605, and an interface is provided from an EEPROM 603 storing an updatable control program, a processing program, various constant data, and the like, a ROM 602 storing a control program, and a host 624. A RAM 604 for storing a command signal and recording information received via 605 is accessed, and a recording operation is controlled based on the information stored in these memories.

  Further, the CPU 601 moves the carriage 620 by operating the carriage motor 611 via the output port 608 and the carriage motor control circuit 610, or the paper feed motor 614 via the output port 608 and the paper feed motor control circuit 613. Is operated to operate a paper transport mechanism 612 such as a transport roller.

  Further, the CPU 601 records a desired image on the recording medium by driving the recording head 622 via the recording head control circuit 621 based on the recording information stored in the RAM 604.

  Reference numeral 619 denotes a power supply circuit. From the power supply circuit 619, a logic drive voltage Vcc (for example, 5V) for operating the CPU 601 and the printhead control circuit 621, various motor drive voltages Vm (for example, 24V), and a printhead 622 are provided. A voltage Vh (for example, 30 V) for driving is output.

  Reference numeral 607 denotes an operation key. Instruction information input from the operation key 607 is transmitted to the CPU 601 through the input port 606, and an instruction from the CPU 601 is transmitted to the LED control circuit 615 and the display control circuit through the output port 609. 617, which turns on the LED 616 and displays a message on the LCD 618. Reference numeral 623 denotes a CPU bus for connecting the above-described various components.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-065274

  By the way, in such an ink jet printer, an image is usually formed by spreading ink dots on one side. In the special-purpose drawing apparatus for drawing a DNA probe as described above, not only the dot interval is wide. High landing accuracy is required.

  For example, a recording head (hereinafter referred to as a matrix head) in which nozzles are arranged in an m × n matrix and each nozzle can be filled with different ink (drawing material) and means for individually driving each nozzle. When drawing a dot array composed of dots formed of a plurality of ink types on a small glass substrate such as 1 × 1 inch or 1 × 3 inch in an ink jet drawing apparatus using Depending on the arrangement of the glass substrate and the dot array, ink may not be ejected simultaneously during serial scanning.

  In this case, since ink has to be ejected from a predetermined nozzle at a predetermined timing, the ink discharge timing increases, and as a result, a plurality of drive waveform generation means for discharging ink are provided. The landing position is liable to shift due to the fact that the ink must be discharged or the ink is not ejected at a constant period.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a current situation, and an object thereof is to provide a drawing apparatus that can prevent occurrence of deviation in landing position without providing a plurality of drive waveform generation means. To do.

  The present invention is a drawing apparatus for drawing a plurality of dot arrays composed of dots formed in a matrix on an object to be drawn, wherein nozzles for discharging the drawing material for forming the dots are arranged in a matrix A matrix head that is arranged and moves relative to the object to be drawn in a main scanning direction, and sequentially forms the dots in the main scanning direction of the dot array, and has a pitch in the main scanning direction of the dot array. In forming the dots of the dot array, the matrix head is set to be an integral multiple of the distance of relative movement of the matrix head.

  Further, in the present invention, when a plurality of drawing objects are arranged in a drawing range corresponding to the nozzle arrangement range of the matrix head, one or a plurality of dot arrays are drawn in the same pattern on all drawing objects. The pitch of the drawing object in the main scanning direction is set to an integral multiple of the distance that the matrix head moves relatively when the dots of the dot array are formed.

  According to the present invention, the distance that the matrix head moves relatively is an integral multiple of Lnozzle ± Ldot, where Lnozzle is the pitch in the main scanning direction of the nozzles and Ldot is the pitch in the main scanning direction of the dots of the dot array. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, the matrix head is characterized in that inkjet type nozzles are arranged in a matrix, and different types of drawing materials are ejected from the nozzles.

  According to the present invention, the pitch of the dot array in the main scanning direction is an integral multiple of the moving distance of the matrix head that moves relative to the drawing object in the main scanning direction when drawing a plurality of dot arrays. Thus, the drawing material can be simultaneously discharged from the plurality of nozzles in the main scanning direction, and thus it is possible to prevent occurrence of deviation of the landing position without providing a plurality of drive waveform generating means.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a drawing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 102 denotes a matrix head. The matrix head 102 has m nozzles 101 in the main scanning direction and n nozzles 101 in the sub scanning direction, that is, m × n nozzles 101 at a predetermined nozzle pitch (Lnozzle). Has been placed.

  The matrix head 102 includes a reservoir (not shown) for supplying different inks, which are examples of drawing materials, to the nozzles 101 using an ink supply unit, and an ejection unit (not shown) for ejecting ink from the nozzles 101. And have.

  Reference numeral 103 denotes a dot array drawn by a drawing device (matrix head 102), and this dot array 103 includes m × n dots 104 formed (drawn) using the matrix head 102. In the present embodiment, the following proportional relationship is established between the dot pitch Ldot of the dots 104 constituting the dot array 103 and the nozzle pitch Lnozzle of the nozzle 101.

            Lnozzle = Ldot × k (k: integer proportional coefficient)

  By the way, as a drawing method of a drawing apparatus provided with such a matrix head 102, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a dot arrangement reverse to the arrangement of the nozzles 101 of the matrix head 102 from the front in the main scanning direction is used. The method of drawing the dot array 103 on the drawing object 105 so as to be opposite to this, and the drawing object so that the arrangement of dots in the matrix head 102 is arranged from the back in the main scanning direction as shown in FIG. There is a method of drawing 105.

  Here, in the case of the drawing method shown in FIG. 2, the distance Lh that the matrix head 102 moves (relatively) with respect to the drawing object 105 so as to discharge the ink and form the adjacent dots 104 as shown in FIG. Becomes Lnozzle + Ldot. In the case of the drawing method shown in FIG. 3, the distance Lh that the matrix head 102 moves with respect to the drawing object 105 is Lnozzle-Ldot.

That is, in these two types of drawing methods, when the dots adjacent in the main scanning direction of the one-dot array 103 are sequentially formed, the distance that the matrix head 102 moves is
Lh = Lnozzle ± Ldot
It becomes.

  Here, in order not to eject ink at a plurality of timings when drawing in the main scanning direction, the dot array 103 may be disposed so that each nozzle 101 ejects ink simultaneously.

  For this reason, in the present embodiment, the dot array pitch is set to a distance that is an integral multiple of the matrix head moving distance Lh (= Lnozzle ± Ldot) when forming adjacent dots of the dot array 103. Thus, ink can be ejected at the same timing.

  FIG. 4 shows a drawing operation when the dot array pitch is Lh, that is, when the dot array pitch is the matrix head moving distance Lh. In the figure, for simplicity of explanation, the number of nozzles 101 in the main scanning direction is four, the number of dots 104 in the dot array 103 in the main scanning direction is four, and the dots to be drawn on the drawing object 105. The number of arrays 103 is also four.

  Here, when four dot arrays 103 are drawn on the drawing object 105, first the first dots 104a of the first dot array 103 are formed by the first nozzle 101a as shown in FIG. A second dot 104b that is an adjacent dot of the dot array 103 is formed. At this time, as shown in (b), the matrix head 102 moves by Lh (= Lnozzle + Ldot).

  As a result, the first nozzle 101a that has first drawn the first dot 104a of the first dot array 103 is positioned at the first dot drawing position of the second dot array 103, and the second nozzle 101b is the first dot array. The second dot drawing position 103 is located. As a result, the second dots 104b of the first dot array 103 and the first dots 104a of the second dot array 103 can be formed simultaneously.

  Further, when the matrix head 102 moves by Lh as shown in (c) in order to draw adjacent dots, the first nozzle 101a is at the first dot drawing position of the third dot array 103, and the second nozzle 101b is the second dot. The third nozzle 101 c is positioned at the first dot drawing position of the third dot array 103 at the second dot drawing position of the array 103. As a result, the dots of the three dot arrays 103 can be formed simultaneously.

  Thereafter, in order to sequentially draw adjacent dots, when the matrix head 102 moves by Lh, the dots 104 of the four dot arrays 103 are simultaneously drawn as shown in (d) and (e). In the state (d), all the nozzles 101a to 101d simultaneously eject ink.

  In addition, since all the nozzles 101a to 101d discharge ink at the same time as described above, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of drive waveform generating means, and ink can be discharged at a constant cycle timing, and the landing position It is possible to prevent occurrence of deviation.

  Next, an example of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  In this embodiment, the number of matrix heads, the number of dots in the dot array, the dot pitch Ldot, the nozzle pitch Lnozzle, etc. are as follows.

Number of matrix heads and dot array dots
: 32 × 32
Dot pitch Ldot: 180 μm
Nozzle pitch Lnozzle: 2.88 mm
(= 180 μm × 16, k = 16)
Drawing method: Dots arranged in reverse order to the nozzle array in the main scanning direction
Drawing an array

  The following numerical values are derived from the above conditions.

Head movement amount Lh when forming adjacent dots
: 3.06 mm (= 2.88 + 0.18)
Dot array pitch Larray: 3.06 mm × k1

  Here, since the minimum dot array pitch Laray is at least larger than the size of the dot array 103 (5.58 mm (= 180 μm × 31)) and preferably has a minimum value, it is twice the head movement amount Lh when forming adjacent dots. That is, 6.12 mm (k1 = 2). If the dot array 103 is arranged at this pitch, ink is ejected from all the nozzles 101 at the same timing, and the dots of the dot array 103 are formed at the same timing.

  FIG. 5 shows the drawing operation of the drawing apparatus having such a configuration. When the dot array 103 is drawn on the drawing object 105, the dots 104 of the dot array are formed in FIG. After drawing, the matrix head 102 moves 3.06 mm in the main scanning direction indicated by the arrow, and thereafter, the dots 104 of all the dot arrays 103 are again formed simultaneously as shown in FIG. . Thereafter, the dot formation (drawing) of the dot array 103 can always be performed by simultaneous ink ejection with (c) and (d) of FIG.

  In this way, by arranging the dot array 103 at a pitch that is an integral multiple of the distance Lh that the matrix head 102 moves in order to form adjacent dots at the time of dot array drawing, each dot array 103 is arranged at the same timing. Dots can be formed. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of drive waveform generation means, and ink can be ejected at a fixed cycle timing, thereby preventing occurrence of landing position deviation.

  By the way, when the size of the drawing object is smaller than the drawing range of the matrix head 102, a plurality of drawing objects are arranged in a drawing range corresponding to the nozzle arrangement range of the matrix head 102, and the drawing objects are arranged on the plurality of substrates. A plurality of dot arrays may be formed in succession.

  Next, the arrangement of the dot array and the substrate in the case where a plurality of dot arrays are continuously formed on the plurality of substrates will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an arrangement method of the glass substrates 201 and 202 when the dot array 203 is drawn on a small glass substrate of 1 × 1 inch, for example.

  Here, if the dot array 203 is drawn on one glass substrate 201 at the same dot array pitch as the above condition, the first three glass substrates 201 are drawn up to the third, and two at the same dot array pitch. The glass substrate 202 is arranged so that the sixth dot array 203 is drawn as the first dot array 203 of the second sheet.

  At this time, since the dot array 203 at the same position on the two glass substrates 201 and 202 is the first and sixth dot arrays 203a and 203f, the pitch between the two dot arrays 203a and 203f is 30.6 mm ( = 6.12 mm × 5). Here, the pitch of the glass substrates 201 and 202 is the same as the pitch of the two dot arrays 203a and 203f.

  Further, since the size of the glass substrates 201 and 202 is 25.4 mm (1 inch), the glass substrates 201 and 202 in which dot arrays having the same pattern are arranged in the main scanning direction if the glass substrate interval is set to 5.2 mm. Can be drawn. With such a configuration, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of drive waveform generating means, and ink can be ejected at a fixed cycle timing, thereby preventing occurrence of landing position deviation.

  FIG. 7 shows an arrangement method of the glass substrates 201 and 202 when drawing a plurality (three) of dot arrays 203 on a small glass substrate of 1 × 1 inch, for example, with a dot array pitch that is not an integral multiple of Lh. .

  In this case, as in the case of FIG. 6, using a matrix head in which the number of nozzles in the main scanning direction is m, the number of nozzles in the sub-scanning direction is n, and m × n nozzles are arranged at intervals of Lnozzle. When drawing a dot array composed of dots having an n-interval Ldot, assuming that the print head moving distance Lh (= Lnozzle ± Ldot), the ink ejection timings of the dot arrays 203 in the small glass substrates 201 and 202 are plural. Become.

  However, if the pitch between two adjacent glass substrates 201 and 202 is set to an integral multiple of Lh, the dot array 203 at the same position in the two glass substrates 201 and 202 will be the first and fourth dots. Dot arrays 203a and 203d, the second and fifth dot arrays 203b and 203e, and the third and sixth dot arrays 203c and 203f. Is less likely to occur.

FIG. 6 illustrates a configuration of a drawing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure explaining the drawing method of the said drawing apparatus. The figure explaining the other drawing method of the said drawing apparatus. The figure explaining the simultaneous discharge operation | movement of the said drawing apparatus. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of this embodiment. The figure explaining the small glass substrate arrangement | positioning method in the said Example. The figure explaining the other small glass substrate arrangement | positioning method in the said Example. FIG. 6 is a control block diagram of a conventional inkjet printer.

Explanation of symbols

101 Nozzle 102 Matrix Head 103 Dot Array 104 Dot 105 Drawing Object 201, 202 Glass Substrate

Claims (4)

A drawing device for drawing a plurality of dot arrays composed of dots formed in a matrix on a drawing object,
The nozzles for discharging the drawing material for forming the dots are arranged in a matrix and move relative to the drawing object in the main scanning direction to sequentially form the dots in the main scanning direction of the dot array. With a matrix head
The drawing apparatus, wherein a pitch of the dot array in the main scanning direction is an integral multiple of a distance that the matrix head moves relatively when forming dots of the dot array.   When a plurality of the drawing objects are arranged in a drawing range corresponding to the nozzle arrangement range of the matrix head, the drawing object is drawn so that one or a plurality of dot arrays are drawn in the same pattern on all drawing objects. 2. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pitch in the main scanning direction is an integral multiple of a distance that the matrix head moves relatively when forming dots of the dot array.   The relative movement distance of the matrix head is an integral multiple of Lnozzle ± Ldot, where Lnozzle is the pitch in the main scanning direction of the nozzles and Ldot is the pitch in the main scanning direction of the dots of the dot array. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the matrix head includes inkjet nozzles arranged in a matrix and discharges different types of drawing materials from the nozzles.

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