JP2010069651A - Liquid jet head mounting adjusting device and liquid jet head mounting adjusting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid jet head mounting adjusting device and a liquid jet head mounting adjusting method suppressing liquid reaching position deviation with respect to a jet object by reflecting the inclination of a nozzle forming surface in positioning of a liquid jet head. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid jet head mounting adjusting method comprises: a displacement measuring process for detecting the positions of reference marks 28a-28d in the vertical direction of a base plate 24a of a head holder 24 in the state of a unit head 11 being positioned and temporarily attached to a head holder 24; an inclination detecting process for detecting the inclination of a nozzle forming surface 26 of the unit head to the base plate based on the height difference of the respective reference marks; and a mounting adjustment process for adjusting the mounted state of the unit head to the head holder according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected in the inclination detecting process. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to, for example, a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting device such as an ink jet recording head, and a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting method, and in particular, by reflecting the inclination of the nozzle forming surface in the positioning of the liquid ejecting head, The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting device and a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting method capable of suppressing a deviation in the landing position of a liquid with respect to an ejection target.

  For example, a liquid ejecting apparatus is an apparatus that includes a liquid ejecting head capable of ejecting liquid and ejects various liquids from the liquid ejecting head. As a typical example of this liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, an ink jet recording head (hereinafter simply referred to as a recording head) as a liquid ejecting head is provided, and liquid ink is recorded on recording paper or the like from a nozzle opening of the recording head. An image recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer that records an image or the like by ejecting and landing on a medium (a target to be ejected) to form dots can be given. In recent years, liquid ejecting apparatuses have been applied not only to this image recording apparatus but also to various manufacturing apparatuses such as a manufacturing apparatus for color filters such as liquid crystal displays.

  In recent years, in an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a printer) which is a kind of liquid ejecting apparatus, a recording head (unit head) having a nozzle group in which a plurality of nozzle openings are arranged and a recording medium move relatively. A head module having a head group in which a plurality of recording heads are arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the total length of the nozzle group formed by the head group corresponding to the maximum recording width of the recording medium is recorded. A configuration in which ink is ejected without being moved relative to a medium has been proposed. According to this configuration, it is not necessary to move the recording head in the main scanning direction. For example, an image or the like can be recorded only by transporting the recording medium in the sub-scanning direction. Recording time can be shortened.

  As described above, in a configuration in which a plurality of recording heads are arranged on a holding member such as a head holder (a kind of attachment target member) to form a head module, it is important to arrange these recording heads on the holding member in a state of being positioned with high accuracy. It becomes. In particular, it was necessary to mount each recording head in a state where the positions of the nozzle openings of the recording heads on the plane were aligned with high precision, that is, in a state where the nozzle openings were arranged at specified positions (designally desirable positions). . For this reason, conventionally, various alignment methods have been proposed for the holding member (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the alignment method proposed in Patent Document 1, an alignment mark for defining the position of the nozzle opening is formed on a transparent plate material such as glass, and the plate material and the holding member are fixed in position. The recording heads are aligned using the upper alignment mark as a reference.

JP 2004-322606 A

  However, even if the recording head is positioned with respect to the holding member by the alignment, if the recording head, particularly the nozzle forming surface is attached to the attachment surface of the holding member, the nozzle is ejected from the nozzle. There is a possibility that the flying direction of the ink is bent from a desired direction, and the landing position shift occurs in the ejected object.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to suppress a deviation in the landing position of the liquid with respect to the ejection target object by reflecting the inclination of the nozzle formation surface in the positioning of the liquid ejection head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting device and a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting method.

The present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above-described object, and is a liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting device for attaching a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle opening for ejecting liquid in a state where the liquid ejecting head is positioned with respect to a member to be attached. There,
On the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head, a plurality of reference portions are provided at positions deviating from the nozzle opening forming position,
Displacement measuring means for detecting the position of each reference portion in the vertical direction of the mounting surface of the mounting target member in a state where the liquid jet head is temporarily attached to the mounting target member;
An inclination detecting means for detecting an inclination of a nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the attachment surface based on a height difference in a vertical direction of the attachment surface of each reference portion;
Attachment adjusting means for adjusting the attachment state of the liquid jet head with respect to the attachment target member according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected by the inclination detecting means;
It is characterized by providing.
The “reference portion” refers to a reference mark provided only for defining the position of the liquid ejecting head, or a predetermined portion originally present on the liquid ejecting head (for example, a screw for fixing a head component). This includes the structure and shape.
Further, the “temporarily attached state” includes a state in which it is temporarily positioned without being fixed.

  According to this configuration, the position of each reference portion in the vertical direction of the mounting surface of the mounting target member is detected in a state where the liquid jet head is positioned on the mounting target member on the nozzle forming surface of the liquid jet head, and each reference portion is detected. Since the inclination of the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the mounting surface is detected based on the height difference of the nozzle, and the mounting state of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the attachment target member is adjusted according to the detected inclination of the nozzle forming surface. The liquid ejecting head can be attached to the attachment target member with high accuracy while reflecting the inclination of the forming surface. As a result, it is possible to suppress landing position deviation of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening of the attached liquid ejecting head with respect to the ejection target.

  In addition, the accuracy of the shape and dimensions is higher than that of the nozzle openings compared to the configuration that detects the nozzle openings with relatively different shapes and dimensions, and detects the tilt of the nozzle surface. By using the reference portion that can improve the positioning, the positioning of the liquid jet head and the detection of the inclination of the nozzle forming surface can be performed with higher accuracy.

  In the above-described configuration, the attachment adjusting unit is configured to move the attachment target member in the direction opposite to the inclination direction of the nozzle formation surface by an amount corresponding to the inclination amount of the nozzle formation surface detected by the inclination detection unit. It is desirable to adopt a configuration in which the nozzle forming surface is positioned in a planar manner by tilting the liquid ejecting head.

  According to the above configuration, the inclination of the nozzle formation surface is corrected by adjusting the inclination of the liquid ejection head with respect to the attachment target member in accordance with the inclination of the nozzle formation surface, so that the flying direction of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening Thus, it is possible to suppress the deviation of the landing position of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the ejected object.

  Further, in the above configuration, the attachment adjusting unit obtains a landing position deviation amount with respect to a predetermined landing position in the injection target according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected by the inclination detection unit, and sets the landing position deviation amount to the landing position deviation amount. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the arrangement position of the liquid jet head on the mounting surface is moved in a direction opposite to the landing position deviation direction by a corresponding distance.

  According to the above configuration, the landing position deviation amount is obtained according to the inclination of the nozzle formation surface, and the arrangement position of the liquid ejecting head on the mounting surface is opposite to the landing position deviation direction by a distance corresponding to the landing position deviation amount. Therefore, it is possible to bring the landing position on the injection target closer to the specified landing position while maintaining the flight direction of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening.

  Further, in the above-described configuration, the attachment adjusting unit may be configured such that the liquid with respect to the attachment target member in a direction opposite to the direction of inclination of the nozzle forming surface according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected by the inclination detecting unit. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the ejection head is tilted and the arrangement position of the liquid ejection head on the mounting surface is moved in a direction opposite to the landing position deviation direction.

Further, in the above configuration, the storage device stores characteristic information unique to the head including the landing accuracy information of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening,
The attachment adjustment unit adopts a configuration in which characteristic information corresponding to the liquid ejecting head is read from the storage unit, and the attachment state of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the attachment target member is additionally adjusted based on the characteristic information. Is desirable.

  According to the above configuration, the mounting state of the liquid ejecting head is further adjusted (additionally adjusted) according to the characteristic information unique to the liquid ejecting head, and therefore, for example, individual characteristics such as the flying direction of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening Is reflected, and the liquid jet head can be attached to the attachment target member with higher accuracy. As a result, it is possible to more effectively suppress the landing position deviation of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening of the attached liquid ejecting head with respect to the ejected object.

Further, in the above configuration, each reference portion of the nozzle forming surface can be configured by a hole having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the nozzle opening.
Further, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which each reference portion on the nozzle forming surface is formed by forming a mark pattern by photolithography and etching a portion corresponding to the mark pattern.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiments described below, various limitations are made as preferred specific examples of the present invention. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following description unless otherwise specified. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In the present embodiment, an image recording apparatus that is one form of the liquid ejecting apparatus, and more specifically, a length corresponding to the maximum recording width of a recording sheet that becomes an ejection target (or recording medium) at equal intervals between nozzle openings. An ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer) equipped with a long liquid ejecting head (hereinafter simply referred to as a recording head) arranged in FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the printer 1, and FIG. 2 is a plan view around the head module 3 in the printer 1. The printer 1 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of recording papers 4 in the direction (hereinafter referred to as the second direction Y) orthogonal to the direction of conveyance of the recording paper 4 by the conveyance unit 7 (corresponding to the relative feed direction in the present invention; A paper feed tray for storing a head module 3 (liquid jet head module) configured by arranging unit heads 11 (a type of liquid jet head of the present invention) and a recording paper 4 (a type of jetting target) in a stacked state. 5a and a lower sheet feeding cassette 5b provided at the lower part of the apparatus, and a recording sheet 4 fed from these sheet feeding units 5a and 5b is passed under the head module 3 to be ejected from a sheet discharge tray. A transport unit 7 transported to the 10 side, and a paper discharge tray 10 for holding the recording paper 4 on which recording is performed by the head module 3 and discharged from the transport unit 7 side. It is configured to be able to record text or images, etc. to the full width of the recording area of the recording paper 4 without scanning direction Y.

  Although not shown, an ink cartridge (a type of liquid supply source) that stores ink is disposed inside the housing 2. The ink stored in the cartridge is supplied (pressure-fed) to each unit head 11 of the head module 3 through the ink supply tube by pressurization in the ink cartridge by an air pump or the like. It is also possible to employ a configuration in which recording is performed while the head module 3 is scanned in the second direction Y with respect to the recording paper 4.

  The paper feed tray 5a is configured to be movable in the vertical direction. The upper surface of the recording paper bundle (the upper surface of the uppermost recording paper 4) is always in contact with the pickup roller 6 with a constant pressure. The vertical position is controlled. Then, according to the execution timing of the recording operation by the head module 3, the recording paper 4 is pulled out from the uppermost part of the recording paper bundle by the pickup roller 6, separated one by one by the separation roller 12 and the separation pad 13, and downstream. It is to be fed to the side. After passing between paper sensors (not shown), the recording paper 4 abuts against the nip portion of the pair of upper and lower registration rollers 14a and 14b. The recording paper 4 from the lower paper feed cassette 5b reaches the nip portion of the registration rollers 14a and 14b after passing through a plurality of intermediate rollers 15. Thereby, the leading edge posture of the recording paper 4 is aligned, and the skew of the recording paper 4 is corrected. Thereafter, the registration rollers 14a and 14b feed the recording paper 4 one by one to the conveying unit 7 side by side with a predetermined timing, and the recording paper 4 reaches the conveying belt 17 of the conveying unit 7. The nip state is released at a predetermined timing.

  The transport unit 7 is stretched between a driving roller 18 rotated by a driving force of a driving motor (not shown), a driven roller 19 disposed upstream of the driving roller 18, and the driving roller 18 and the driven roller 19. The endless conveyor belt 17, the tension roller 20, and the presser roller 21 are configured. The tension roller 20 is disposed between the driving roller 18 and the driven roller 19, abuts against the conveyor belt 17 from the inside, and applies tension to the conveyor belt 17 by an urging force of an urging member such as a spring. . The pressing roller 21 is disposed directly above the driven roller 19 with the conveyance belt 17 interposed therebetween, and presses the recording paper 4 on the conveyance belt toward the conveyance belt 17 so that the adhesion of the recording paper 4 to the conveyance belt 17 is achieved. Increase.

  The driving roller 18 is configured to rotate the conveying belt 17 by being driven in synchronization with the recording operation of the head module 3 and to convey the recording paper 4 to the downstream side through the lower side of the head module 3. ing. Further, the rotation amount of the conveyor belt 17 is detected by an encoder. The encoder detection signal is output to the printer controller as an encoder pulse.

  When recording is performed on only one side of the recording paper 4, the recording is performed from the transport unit 7 to the paper discharge tray 10 after the recording on one side is completed. On the other hand, when recording is performed on both sides of the recording paper 4, after recording on one side is completed, the recording paper 4 is transported to the paper reversing path R <b> 2 by the flapper 22 disposed downstream of the transport unit 7. After the recording paper 4 reaches the U-turn portion T of the paper reversing path, the conveyance direction is changed, and the recording paper 4 is sequentially sent again to the registration rollers 14a and 14b and the conveyance belt 17 to complete the recording on the other side. After that, the paper is discharged from the transport unit 7 to the paper discharge tray 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the head module 3 is configured by arranging a plurality of unit heads 11 in a second direction Y in a head holder 24 (a kind of attachment target member). The plurality of head modules 3, in the present embodiment, the four head modules 3 a to 3 d are arranged on the module mounting frame 25 at a constant arrangement interval in the first direction X with the head longitudinal direction aligned in the second direction Y. It is attached.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the configuration of the unit head 11. The unit head 11 includes a flow path unit that forms an ink flow path including a pressure chamber that communicates with the nozzle opening 30, and pressure generating means such as a piezoelectric vibrator or a heating element that causes pressure fluctuations in the ink in the pressure chamber (both (Not shown) is provided in the head case 31, and ink is applied from the nozzle opening 30 by applying a drive signal from the printer controller side to the pressure generating means to drive the pressure generating means (a kind of liquid in the present invention). Is ejected to land on the recording paper 4.

  The head case 31 is a hollow box-like member, and a flow path unit is fixed to the tip side of the head case 31 with the nozzle forming surface 26 exposed. Further, pressure generating means and the like are accommodated in an accommodation space formed inside the head case 31, and a drive signal from the printer controller side is sent to the pressure generating means side on the base end surface side opposite to the front end surface. A cover member 33 that houses a part of the wiring member 35a for supplying the ink and the ink supply path 35b for supplying ink to the flow path unit is disposed. Further, a flange portion 32 extending toward the side is formed on the proximal end side of the head case 31.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of nozzle openings 30 for ejecting ink are provided in the second direction Y on the nozzle forming surface 26 of each unit head 11 to form a nozzle row 27 (a kind of nozzle group), A plurality (two in this embodiment) of the nozzle rows 27 are formed in the first direction X. One nozzle row 27 is composed of, for example, 360 nozzle openings opened at a pitch of 360 dpi. Each unit head 11 is formed with a total of two nozzle rows 27 arranged in the first direction X. Further, a plurality of reference marks 28 (a kind of reference portion in the present invention) are formed at positions different from the nozzle opening forming position on the nozzle forming surface 26. More specifically, a total of four reference marks 28a to 28d are formed at the four corners outside the nozzle opening formation position on the nozzle formation surface 28 (periphery side of the nozzle formation surface 26). In the present embodiment, the reference mark 28 is formed in a cross shape formed by forming a mark pattern to be each reference mark 28 on the nozzle forming surface 26 using photolithography and etching a portion corresponding to the mark pattern. It is composed of a hollow. The center position of each reference mark 28 is determined with high accuracy relative to the nozzle opening 30. Then, in the liquid jet head position adjustment process, which will be described later, by detecting the height difference of these reference marks 28, the arrangement position of the unit head 11 relative to the head holder 24 and the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 can be adjusted. . Details of this point will be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the first head module 3a and the second head module 3b form a pair, and the third head module 3c and the fourth head module 3d form a pair. It has become. The two head modules 3 forming a pair have an arrangement layout in which the unit heads 11 are alternately arranged in a two-stage zigzag pattern at an arrangement interval such that the nozzle openings are arranged in 360 dpi as a whole when viewed in the second direction Y. Yes. Note that the number of unit heads 11 in one head module 3 is determined according to the maximum size of the recording paper 4 that the printer 1 can handle. The module mounting frame 25 is a rectangular frame member, and is formed of metal or the like. The inside of the module mounting frame 25 is an empty portion 29, and each unit head 11 of the head module 3 is arranged in the empty portion 29.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the head holder 24 includes a base plate 24a (a kind of mounting surface) that is long in the second direction Y, and side wall portions 24b that are erected upward from both longitudinal edges of the base plate 24a. And a fixing portion 24c extending from the upper end portion of each side wall portion 24b to the side (the side opposite to the base plate 24a side). Each head module 3 is attached to the module attachment frame 25 by fixing portions 24c on both sides of the head holder. Here, the total length W1 in the longitudinal direction of the base plate 24a is designed to be slightly smaller than the inner dimension W2 in the second direction Y of the empty portion 29 of the module mounting frame 25, and the base plate 24a is disposed in the empty portion 29. It has come to be.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of the attachment adjusting device for attaching the unit head 11 to the head holder 24. In the figure, the left-right direction is the second direction Y, the depth direction (the direction perpendicular to the figure) is the first direction X, and the up-down direction is the vertical direction Z with respect to the base plate 24a of the head holder 24. Further, the relative position between the imaging unit 37 such as a camera and the head holder 24 is fixed in advance. As shown in the figure, the attachment adjusting device includes a control unit 40 that performs overall control of the entire device, a head moving mechanism 41 that moves the position of the unit head 11, and a reference mark formed on the nozzle forming surface 26. 28 includes a displacement meter 42 that detects the position 28, an imaging unit 37 such as a camera, and a display device 43 such as a liquid crystal display. This attachment adjusting device positions the unit head 11 at a specified position on the base plate 24a of the head holder 24, detects the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26, and adjusts the position of the unit head 11 according to this inclination. It is configured to do work.

  Positioning guide holes 34 are formed in the arrangement region of the unit heads 11 of the base plate 24 a in the head holder 24. In this embodiment, the positioning guide hole 34 is slightly larger than the planar shape of the unit head 11 on the cover member 33 side (the portion on the base end surface side than the flange portion 32; hereinafter, the head base end portion 11 ') and the flange portion 32. This is a rectangular through-hole smaller than the outer shape. Then, the unit head 11 attached to the head holder 24 is inserted into the positioning guide hole 34 through the head base end portion 11 ′ so that the flange portion 32 is brought into contact with the peripheral edge portion of the positioning guide hole 34 in the base plate 24 a. Is set in a posture facing the imaging unit 37 such as a camera. By inserting the head base end portion 11 ′ through the positioning guide hole 34 in this way, a rough arrangement position of the unit head 11 with respect to the head holder 24 is defined. Since the positioning guide hole 34 is designed to be slightly larger than the planar shape of the head base end portion 11 ′, a gap is formed between the inner peripheral surface of the positioning guide hole 34 and the side surface of the head base end portion 11 ′. Is done. This gap serves as an adjustment margin for the arrangement position of the unit head 11 with respect to the head holder 24.

  Next, the control unit 40 of the attachment adjusting device will be described. The control unit 40 according to the present embodiment stores a CPU 45 that controls each unit according to a control program stored in the ROM 44 and performs various calculations, a ROM 44 that stores a control program for various data processing, and various data. RAM 46, a non-volatile storage unit 47 (for example, a flash memory) as a storage unit that stores characteristic information of the unit head 11, and a display control unit that displays an image captured by the imaging unit 37 on the display device 43. 48, a head position adjusting unit 49 that controls the head moving mechanism 41, and a connected device (including a head moving mechanism 41, a displacement meter 42, and an imaging unit 37, and a head tilt adjusting mechanism (not shown)). An interface (I / F) unit 50 for inputting / outputting data is provided in a mutually connected state.

  The displacement meter 42 is composed of a laser focus type optical displacement meter. The displacement meter 42 scans the nozzle forming surface 26, and each reference mark 28 (or a reference portion other than the reference mark 28) formed on the nozzle forming surface 26. For example, the position (distance from the displacement gauge 42) of the base plate 24a in the vertical direction of a structure or shape such as a screw for fixing the head component is measured. As the displacement meter 42, other non-contact type or contact type displacement meter can be used. Further, as a method not using the displacement meter 24, a method of detecting based on the aberration of each reference mark 28 in the image captured by the imaging unit 37 can be employed.

  The imaging unit 37 is constituted by a CCD camera having an objective lens and a CCD imaging device, and is arranged in a state of facing the specified position of the unit head 11 on the base plate 24 a of the head holder 24. Image data captured by the imaging unit 37 is output to the control unit 40. The head moving mechanism 41 has a plurality of position adjustment pins 39 extending toward the base plate 24 a of the head holder 24. The head moving mechanism 41 inserts each position adjusting pin 39 into a pin insertion hole 32 ′ formed in the flange portion 32 of the unit head 11, and in this state, moves in the X direction or the Y direction by a driving source such as a motor. Alternatively, the arrangement position of the unit head 11 with respect to the base plate 24a of the head holder 24 is adjusted within the range of the positioning guide hole 34 by rotating in the nozzle forming surface direction.

  The head mounting step in the present embodiment is a displacement measuring step of detecting the positions of the reference marks 28a to 28d in the vertical direction of the base plate 24a of the head holder 24 with the unit head 11 positioned and temporarily attached to the head holder 24. And an inclination detecting step for detecting the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 of the unit head 11 with respect to the base plate 24a based on the height difference between the reference marks 28a to 28d, and the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 detected in the inclination detecting step. Accordingly, an attachment adjustment process for adjusting the attachment state of the unit head 11 to the base plate 24a of the head holder 24 is performed. Details of the head mounting process will be described below.

First, the unit head 11 is temporarily attached to the head holder 24. Specifically, the head base end portion 11 ′ is inserted into the positioning guide hole 34, the flange portion 32 is brought into contact with the peripheral edge portion of the positioning guide hole 34 in the base plate 24 a, and the nozzle forming surface 26 is opposed to the imaging unit 37. The unit head 11 is set in the posture. The image captured by the imaging unit 37 is displayed on the display device 43, and the unit head 11 is positioned with respect to the base plate 24a by image recognition. On the display device 43, alignment marks that define the arrangement positions of the reference marks 28a to 28d on the nozzle forming surface 26 are displayed in a state of being superimposed on the captured image. Then, the position of the unit head 11 is adjusted by the head moving mechanism 41 so that the reference marks 28a to 28d on the nozzle forming surface 26 projected as an image on the display device 43 overlap the corresponding alignment marks. The unit head 11 can be disposed at a specified position with respect to the base plate 24 a of the head holder 24. Then, in this positioned state, the unit head 11 is temporarily fixed to the head holder 24 with an adhesive.
The positioning method of the unit head 11 with respect to the base plate 24a of the head holder 24 is not limited to image recognition, and for example, a method of using an alignment substrate such as a glass plate on which alignment marks are formed by photolithography. It can also be adopted.

  If the unit head 11 is temporarily attached to the head holder 24, a displacement measuring step is performed next. In this displacement measuring step, the nozzle forming surface 26 is scanned by a displacement meter 42 as a displacement measuring means, and the position of each reference mark 28 formed on the nozzle forming surface 26 in the vertical direction of the base plate 24a is measured. Information measured by the displacement meter 42 is output to the control unit 40 side. Following this displacement measurement process, an inclination detection process is performed. In this inclination detection step, the CPU 45 of the control unit 40 functions as an inclination detection unit, and calculates the inclination (flatness) of the nozzle forming surface 26 with respect to the base plate 24a based on the measurement information of the reference marks 28a to 28d. That is, based on the height difference between the reference marks 28a to 28d at the four corners of the nozzle forming surface 26, the degree to which the nozzle forming surface 26 is inclined with respect to the base plate 24a (angle θ) is calculated.

  If the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 with respect to the base plate 24a is obtained, an attachment adjustment process is performed. In this attachment adjustment step, the attachment state of the unit head 11 with respect to the base plate 24a of the head holder 24 is adjusted according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 obtained as described above. In the present embodiment, the CPU 45, the head position adjusting unit 49, and the head moving mechanism 41 function as the attachment adjusting means in the present invention, and according to the amount of inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26, the specified landing position (in terms of design) A landing position deviation amount with respect to a desired landing position is obtained, and the arrangement position of the unit head 11 on the base plate 24a is moved in a direction opposite to the landing position deviation direction by a distance corresponding to the landing position deviation amount.

  In the attachment adjustment process, the CPU 45 uses, for example, a trigonometric function to determine the landing position based on the distance PG from the nozzle opening 30 of the nozzle forming surface 26 to the recording surface of the recording paper 4 and the inclination angle θ of the nozzle forming surface 26. The shift amount Δx is obtained. Then, the head position adjusting unit 49 controls the head moving mechanism 41 to insert each position adjusting pin 39 into the pin insertion hole 32 ′ formed in the flange portion 32 of the unit head 11, and in this state, the landing position The arrangement position of the unit head 11 on the base plate 24a is moved in a direction opposite to the landing position deviation direction by a distance corresponding to the deviation amount Δx. That is, the unit head 11 is translated on the base plate 24a so as to cancel the landing position deviation amount Δx while keeping the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 unchanged. As a result, it is possible to bring the landing position on the recording paper 4 closer to the specified landing position without changing the flying direction of the ink ejected from the nozzle opening 30.

Then, the unit head 11 is fixed to the head holder 24 with the position adjusted as described above. As this fixing method, various fixing methods such as adhesion and screwing can be adopted, but it is desirable to adopt a fixing method capable of fixing as firmly as possible.
By performing the head attachment process in such a procedure, the unit head 11 can be attached with high accuracy to the head holder 24 while reflecting the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the landing position deviation of the ink with respect to the ejection target such as the recording paper 4 and to prevent the deterioration of the image quality of the recorded image.

  Compared with the configuration in which the positioning of the unit head 11 and the detection of the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 are detected by detecting the nozzle openings 30 having relatively variations in shape and size accuracy, the shape / By using the fiducial mark 28 that can improve the dimensional accuracy, the unit head 11 can be positioned and the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 can be detected with higher accuracy.

  Here, in the present embodiment, in order to further improve the ink landing accuracy, the characteristic information unique to each unit head 11 is acquired in advance and stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 47 to reflect this characteristic information. Further, an additional position adjustment step is performed. The characteristic information is, for example, data related to the ink landing accuracy of the unit head 11 (including the inclination in the ink flying direction). That is, in the attachment adjustment process, no consideration is given to the flying curve of ink ejected from the nozzle openings 30 of the unit head 11. For this reason, the landing accuracy can be further improved by performing the additional position adjustment process based on the characteristic information. In this additional position adjustment step, the CPU 45 reads out the characteristic information corresponding to the unit head 11 as the adjustment target from the nonvolatile storage unit 47, and determines how much the actual landing position tends to deviate from the specified landing position. Grasping (landing position deviation amount Δx ′). Then, the head position adjusting unit 49 controls the head moving mechanism 41 to move the arrangement position of the unit head 11 on the base plate 24a in the direction opposite to the landing position deviation direction by a distance corresponding to the landing position deviation amount Δx ′. To make additional adjustments. As a result, individual unit head characteristics such as the flying direction of ink ejected from the nozzle openings 30 are reflected in the positioning, and the unit head 11 can be attached to the head holder 24 with higher accuracy. As a result, it is possible to more effectively suppress ink landing position deviation.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to above-described embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible based on description of a claim.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, in the attachment adjustment step and the additional position adjustment step, the unit is configured to cancel the landing position deviation while maintaining the inclination of the nozzle formation surface 26 based on the inclination of the nozzle formation surface 26 and the head characteristic information. Although the configuration in which the head 11 is translated on the base plate 24a is illustrated, the configuration is not limited thereto. For example, the base plate 24a or the flange portion 32 of the unit head 11 (or an adjustment plate provided separately) is provided with attachment adjusting means (head tilt adjustment mechanism, not shown) made of a cam mechanism or the like. In accordance with the inclination of the nozzle formation surface 26 and the head characteristic information, the nozzle formation surface 26 is planarly positioned by inclining the unit head 11 in the direction opposite to the direction of the nozzle formation surface 26 (or the ink flight inclination). It is also possible to adopt a configuration. As a result, the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26 and the flying curve of the ink are corrected, so that it is possible to suppress the landing position deviation of the ink.
While the unit head 11 is temporarily positioned on the base plate 24a and pressed to the base plate 24a side by a pressing member such as a clamp, the unit head 11 is tilted with respect to the base plate 24a according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface 26, and the base plate It is also possible to move the arrangement position of the unit head 11 in 24a in the direction opposite to the landing position deviation direction. That is, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which both the adjustment of the inclination of the nozzle formation surface 26 and the adjustment of the planar position are performed simultaneously, and finally the inclination of the nozzle formation surface 26 and the flying curve of the ink are corrected. .

  In the above-described embodiment, the reference mark is formed by forming a mark pattern to be each reference mark 28 on the nozzle forming surface 26 using photolithography and etching a portion corresponding to the mark pattern. Although an example of a cross-shaped depression is shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and any formation method or shape / dimension may be adopted as long as the relative position with respect to the nozzle opening 30 is defined with high accuracy. can do. For example, the reference mark may be constituted by a hole having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the nozzle opening 30.

  Further, in the present invention, if a configuration in which the liquid jet head is attached to the head holder in a positioning state is adopted, a color material jet head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, Other liquid ejecting heads such as an electrode material ejecting head used for forming electrodes such as an FED (surface emitting display), a bioorganic matter ejecting head used for manufacturing a biochip (biochemical element), and a liquid ejecting apparatus including the same It can also be applied to.

It is sectional drawing explaining the structure of a printer. It is a top view which shows the structure of a head module. It is a perspective view explaining the structure of a unit head. It is sectional drawing explaining the structure of a head holder. It is a top view of a nozzle formation surface. It is a schematic diagram explaining the structure of a mounting adjustment apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 3 ... Head module, 4 ... Recording paper, 11 ... Unit head, 24 ... Head holder, 26 ... Nozzle formation surface, 28 ... Reference mark, 30 ... Nozzle opening, 31 ... Head case, 32 ... Flange part, 34 ... Positioning guide hole, 37 ... Imaging unit, 39 ... Position adjustment pin, 41 ... Head movement mechanism, 42 ... Displacement meter, 43 ... Display device, 47 ... Non-volatile storage unit, 49 ... Head position adjustment unit

Claims (8)

A liquid ejecting head mounting adjusting device for mounting a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle opening for ejecting liquid in a state of being positioned with respect to a mounting target member,
On the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head, a plurality of reference portions are provided at positions deviating from the nozzle opening forming position,
A displacement measuring means for detecting a position of each reference portion in a direction perpendicular to a mounting surface of the mounting target member in a state where the liquid ejecting head is positioned and temporarily attached to the mounting target member;
An inclination detecting means for detecting an inclination of a nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the attachment surface based on a height difference in a vertical direction of the attachment surface of each reference portion;
Attachment adjusting means for adjusting the attachment state of the liquid jet head with respect to the attachment target member according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected by the inclination detecting means;
An apparatus for adjusting the mounting of a liquid jet head, comprising:   The attachment adjusting means moves the liquid ejecting head relative to the attachment target member in an opposite direction to the inclination direction of the nozzle formation surface by an amount corresponding to the inclination amount of the nozzle formation surface detected by the inclination detection means. The liquid jet head mounting adjustment device according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle forming surface is planarly positioned by being inclined.   The attachment adjusting means obtains a landing position deviation amount with respect to a prescribed landing position in the injection target according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected by the inclination detection means, and only the distance corresponding to the landing position deviation amount The liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an arrangement position of the liquid ejecting head on the attachment surface is moved in a direction opposite to a landing position deviation direction.   The attachment adjusting means inclines the liquid ejecting head with respect to the attachment target member in a direction opposite to the inclination direction of the nozzle forming surface according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected by the inclination detecting means, The liquid ejecting head attachment adjusting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an arrangement position of the liquid ejecting head on the attachment surface is moved in a direction opposite to a landing position deviation direction. Storage means for storing characteristic information unique to the head including the landing accuracy information of the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening;
The attachment adjusting unit reads out characteristic information corresponding to the liquid ejecting head from the storage unit, and additionally adjusts an attachment state of the liquid ejecting head with respect to the attachment target member based on the characteristic information. The liquid jet head mounting adjustment device according to claim 2.   The liquid jet head mounting adjustment device according to claim 5, wherein each reference portion of the nozzle forming surface is configured by a hole having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the nozzle opening.   6. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 5, wherein each reference portion of the nozzle forming surface is formed by forming a mark pattern by photolithography and etching a portion corresponding to the mark pattern. Adjustment device. A liquid ejecting head mounting adjustment method for mounting a plurality of liquid ejecting heads having nozzle openings for ejecting liquid in a state of being positioned with respect to a mounting target member,
On the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head, a plurality of reference portions are provided at positions deviating from the nozzle opening forming position,
A displacement measuring step of detecting a position of each reference portion in a direction perpendicular to a mounting surface of the mounting target member in a state where the liquid jet head is temporarily attached to the mounting target member;
An inclination detecting step for detecting an inclination of a nozzle forming surface of the liquid jet head with respect to the mounting surface based on a height difference of each reference portion;
An attachment adjustment step of adjusting the attachment state of the liquid jet head with respect to the attachment target member according to the inclination of the nozzle forming surface detected in the inclination detection step;
Then, the liquid ejecting head is attached to the attachment target member, and the liquid ejecting head is attached and adjusted.

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