JP2010119989A - Method of measuring discharge weight of droplet discharge head, method of deciding driving voltage of droplet discharge head, droplet discharge apparatus, and apparatus of measuring discharge weight of droplet discharge head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of measuring the discharge weight of droplet discharge head for measuring the discharge weight of droplet discharge head with high accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: The method comprises the preliminary discharge process of practicing a preliminary discharge of a functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 to a sample receiving part 71 of an electronic scales, the measurement discharge process of practicing the measurement discharge of the functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 to the sample receiving part 71 after the preliminary discharge process, and the weight measuring process of measuring the weight of the functional liquid in which the sample receiving part 71 receives by the measurement discharge after the measurement discharge process. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for measuring a discharge weight of a droplet discharge head that uses an electronic balance to measure the discharge weight of an inkjet droplet discharge head that discharges a functional liquid containing a highly volatile solvent. The present invention relates to a driving voltage determination method, a droplet discharge device, and a discharge weight measuring device for a droplet discharge head.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a discharge inspection apparatus, an apparatus that measures a functional liquid discharge weight of a droplet discharge head in units of nozzle rows is known (see Patent Document 1). This discharge inspection apparatus has a sample receiving portion for receiving a functional liquid from a droplet discharge head, and receives an electronic balance for measuring the weight of the received droplet and preliminary discharge (disposal discharge) of the droplet discharge head. And a flushing box.
JP 2008-233833 A

By the way, the flushing box is used for receiving preliminary discharge for stabilizing the discharge state of the functional liquid prior to the weight measurement. That is, it has a configuration in which the weight is measured with an electronic balance after being discharged into the flushing box and discharged.
However, with such a weight measurement method, stable measurement discharge can be performed, but when measurement discharge is performed on the sample receiving portion, vaporization (volatilization) of the droplet received from the sample receiving portion from that moment. Therefore, there is a problem that the discharge weight of the droplet discharge head cannot be measured with high accuracy. In particular, in a droplet discharge head having a plurality of nozzle arrays, variation in measurement results due to changes in the ambient atmosphere between the nozzle array where the weight measurement was first performed and the nozzle array where the weight measurement was performed thereafter. Occurs.

  The present invention relates to a droplet discharge head discharge weight measurement method, a droplet discharge head drive voltage determination method, a droplet discharge device, and a droplet discharge head discharge capable of accurately measuring the discharge weight of the droplet discharge head. It is an object to provide a weight measuring device.

  The method for measuring the discharge weight of a droplet discharge head according to the present invention is a method for measuring the discharge weight of an inkjet droplet discharge head that discharges a functional liquid containing a highly volatile solvent using an electronic balance. A discharge weight measuring method, a preliminary discharge step of performing preliminary discharge of a droplet discharge head to a sample receiving portion of an electronic balance, and measurement of the droplet discharge head to a sample receiving portion after the preliminary discharge step It is characterized by comprising: a measurement discharge step for performing discharge; and a weight measurement step for measuring the weight of the functional liquid received by the sample receiving part by measurement discharge after the measurement discharge step.

  In this case, in the preliminary discharge step, it is preferable that the preliminary discharge is performed so that the atmosphere immediately above the sample receiving portion becomes a saturated atmosphere due to the volatilized solvent.

  The discharge weight measuring apparatus for a droplet discharge head according to the present invention is a discharge weight measuring apparatus for measuring a discharge weight in an ink jet type droplet discharge head, and is a droplet discharge for discharging a functional liquid containing a highly volatile solvent. A head, a sample receiving unit that receives the functional liquid discharged from the droplet discharge head, an electronic balance that measures the weight of the received droplet, and a control unit that controls the droplet discharge head and the electronic balance; And the control means performs preliminary discharge operation for performing preliminary discharge of the droplet discharge head to the sample receiving portion, and performs measurement discharge of the droplet discharge head to the sample receiving portion after the preliminary discharge operation. After the measurement discharge operation and the measurement discharge operation, an electronic balance is used to execute a weight measurement operation for measuring the weight of the functional liquid received by the sample receiving unit by the measurement discharge.

  According to these configurations, when the preliminary discharge is performed on the sample receiving unit prior to the measurement discharge, the solvent of the discharged functional liquid is vaporized (volatilized), and the atmosphere above the sample receiving unit becomes a humidified atmosphere ( Saturated atmosphere). As a result, when the measurement discharge is performed, the humidified atmosphere makes it difficult for the solvent of the functional liquid on the sample receiving portion to vaporize, so that variations in measurement results depending on vaporization can be suppressed. In particular, vaporization of the measured and discharged solvent can be further suppressed by performing preliminary discharge so that the atmosphere above the sample receiving portion becomes a saturated atmosphere.

  In the above-described method for measuring the discharge weight of the droplet discharge head, the sample receiving unit has a receiving container for storing the received functional liquid, and an absorbent material provided so as to close the receiving container at the upper part of the receiving container. In the preliminary ejection step and the measurement ejection step, it is preferable to perform preliminary ejection and measurement ejection on the absorbent material, respectively.

  According to this configuration, since the absorbent material is moistened by the preliminary ejection, it is possible to suppress the functional liquid in the receiving container from being vaporized by the wet absorbent material when the measurement ejection is performed. In particular, since the absorbent material is provided in the upper part of the receiving container, the liquid droplet ejection head can be measured and ejected close to the absorbent material, and the evaporation of the solvent from the functional liquid during flight can be suppressed. In addition, when the absorbing material receives the functional liquid from the droplet discharge head, the functional liquid drops from the absorbing material and accumulates in the receiving container, so that the absorbing material is not saturated and the absorbing material cannot be absorbed. Can be suppressed.

  In this case, it is preferable that the droplet discharge head has a plurality of nozzle rows in which a plurality of discharge nozzles are arranged, and the measurement discharge step and the weight measurement step are repeated for each nozzle row after the preliminary discharge step. .

Simply repeating measurement discharge and weight measurement for each nozzle row, only when measuring the first nozzle row, the upper part of the sample receiving part is not in a humidified atmosphere. There is a problem that cannot be done.
According to the above configuration, after the preliminary discharge is performed, the measurement discharge and the weight measurement are repeated for each nozzle row, so that the upper portion of the receiving container becomes a humidified atmosphere even when the first nozzle row is measured. Thereby, it can measure on the same conditions in a some nozzle row.

  The droplet discharge head drive voltage determination method of the present invention includes a drive voltage determination step for determining an appropriate drive voltage for the droplet discharge head based on the measurement result of the droplet discharge head discharge weight measurement method. It is characterized by that.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to appropriately determine the appropriate drive voltage by determining the appropriate drive voltage using the measurement result obtained by the discharge weight measurement method capable of accurately measuring the discharge weight.

  A liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to the present invention is a liquid droplet ejection apparatus that performs drawing on a work by ejecting a functional liquid from the liquid droplet ejection head while moving the work relative to the liquid droplet ejection head. Drive voltage setting means for setting the appropriate drive voltage for the droplet discharge head based on the appropriate drive voltage determined by the head drive voltage determination method, and the droplet discharge head for discharging drive based on the set appropriate drive voltage And a drive control means.

  According to this configuration, the drawing process can be performed with high accuracy by using the determined appropriate driving voltage by the driving voltage determining method capable of appropriately determining the appropriate driving voltage.

  Hereinafter, a discharge inspection apparatus (discharge weight measuring apparatus) for a functional liquid droplet discharge head to which a discharge weight measuring method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This discharge inspection apparatus performs a single inspection of a functional liquid droplet discharge head (droplet discharge head) before being mounted on a carriage, and discharge inspection for determining whether or not a single functional liquid droplet discharge head is discharged. , Flight inspection, flight speed, discharge amount measurement, etc. First, prior to the description of the discharge inspection apparatus, a functional liquid droplet discharge head to be inspected will be described. Note that a functional liquid containing a highly volatile solvent is used as the functional liquid used for inspection ejection and drawing ejection.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is a so-called double ink jet head (an ink jet liquid droplet ejection head) employing a so-called piezo method, and has two connection needles 5. A functional liquid introduction unit 2, two head substrates 3 connected to the functional liquid introduction unit 2, and a head body 4 that discharges the functional liquid below the head substrate 3 are provided (see FIG. 1A). ).

  The functional liquid introduction unit 2 has a pair of connecting needles 5 and is supplied with a functional liquid from a functional liquid supply unit 53 (see FIG. 4) via a piping adapter (not shown). The head substrate 3 is provided with two series of connectors 6 and 6, and each connector 6 is connected to a control device 7 (see FIG. 6) of the discharge inspection device 31 via a flexible flat cable (not shown). Yes. The drive waveform output from the control device 7 is applied to each piezoelectric element (piezo element) 17 via each connector 6, so that the functional liquid is discharged from each discharge nozzle 21.

  As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the head body 4 includes a double pump unit 11 constituted by the piezoelectric elements 17 and the like, a nozzle plate 12 having a nozzle surface 25 on which a plurality of discharge nozzles 21 are formed, have. Each pump part 11 is comprised from the mechanism part 13 which accommodated the piezoelectric element 17 corresponding to the number of the discharge nozzles 21, and the storage part 14 which stores a functional liquid. The storage unit 14 corresponds to the number of piezoelectric elements 17, and cavities 15 that temporarily store functional liquids, and a common chamber 16 that stores functional liquids supplied to the cavities 15 and communicates with the functional liquid introduction unit 2. , Is composed of. The functional liquid supplied from the functional liquid supply unit 53 flows into the common chamber 16 via the functional liquid introduction unit 2. Then, by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element 17 to cause deformation, the functional liquid is introduced into the cavity 15 from the common chamber 16 using the volume change of the cavity 15 and the functional liquid is discharged from the discharge nozzle 21.

  The nozzle plate 12 is formed with a number of discharge nozzles 21 for discharging the functional liquid stored in the cavity 15. The multiple discharge nozzles 21 constitute two nozzle rows 22 (hereinafter, referred to as a first nozzle row 22a and a second nozzle row 22b) arranged in parallel with each other and at half-pitch positions. Each nozzle row 22 is composed of 180 discharge nozzles 21 arranged at an equal pitch (see FIG. 1B). In this case, of the 180 discharge nozzles 21, ten discharge nozzles 21 positioned at both outer ends are invalid discharge nozzles 23 and are not used for actual drawing. Therefore, in the discharge inspection, the discharge inspection is performed on the effective discharge nozzles 24 (total 160) excluding the invalid discharge nozzles 23 (total 20).

  Next, a discharge inspection apparatus 31 that inspects the discharge performance of the functional droplet discharge head 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The ejection inspection device 31 is mounted on the machine base 32 and the head inspection device 33 that is placed on the machine base 32 and inspects the ejection performance of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1. And a maintenance device 34 for maintaining and recovering the function of the droplet discharge head 1 and accommodated in a chamber 35. In addition, a control device (control means) 7 (see FIG. 6) is provided outside the chamber 35, and controls the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1, the head inspection device 33, and the maintenance device 34 in an integrated manner. In order to inspect the functional liquid droplet ejection heads 1 one by one, the ejection inspection device 31 ejects the functional liquid from the head inspection device 33 while maintaining and recovering the function of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 by the maintenance device 34. The ejection performance of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is inspected.

  The maintenance device 34 is arranged so as to be aligned with the suction device 36 and the suction device 36 for eliminating the ejection failure due to thickening or clogging of the functional liquid in the ejection nozzle 21, and the nozzle surface 25 of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is arranged. And a wiping device 37 for wiping.

  The suction device 36 is in close contact with the nozzle surface 25 of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 and is connected to the three caps 41 corresponding to the R, G, and B colors and the three caps 41 via a suction tube (not shown). And an ejector (not shown). The suction device 36 closes each cap 41 to the nozzle surface 25 of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 and performs suction with an ejector, thereby eliminating ejection failure due to clogging of the ejection nozzle 21 or the like.

  The wiping device 37 includes a wiping sheet 42 that contacts the nozzle surface 25, and a sheet feeding mechanism 43 (see FIG. 6) that feeds and winds the wiping sheet 42. The wiping device 37 presses the wiping sheet 42 against the nozzle surface 25 of the discharge nozzle 21, and moves the discharge nozzle 21 back and forth in the X-axis direction by the XY table 52, whereby the nozzle surface of the functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 after the suction processing. Wipe 25.

  The head inspection apparatus 33 includes a head holder 51 on which one functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is set without a tool, and moves the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. A functional liquid supply unit 53 that supplies a functional liquid to the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 via a supply tube (not shown), a flight inspection unit 54 that inspects the flight bend and flight speed of the discharged functional liquid, A weight measuring unit 55 for measuring the discharged weight of the discharged functional liquid and a target stage 56 on which the glass substrate 64 is placed are provided. The functional liquid supply unit 53 is attached to the XY table 52, and the flight inspection unit 54, the weight measurement unit 55, and the target stage 56 are below the movement locus of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 that moves in the X-axis direction by the XY table 52. Are arranged side by side on the machine base 32.

  When the ejection performance of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is inspected by the head inspection device 33, the functional liquid ejection head 1 is fed by the XY table 52 while the functional liquid is supplied from the functional liquid supply unit 53 to the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1. Are moved in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction so as to face the flight inspection unit 54, the weight measurement unit 55, and the target stage 56, respectively.

  The functional liquid supply unit 53 has three functional liquid tanks 61 for storing R, G, and B color functional liquids, respectively, and each functional liquid tank 61 is disposed above the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1. Then, it is selectively used according to the set functional liquid droplet ejection head 1. For this reason, the functional liquid is supplied from the functional liquid tank 61 to the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 via the supply tubes by the natural water head.

  The flight inspection unit 54 is ejected from the illumination unit 65 having a pulse laser that is a pulse light source, a microscope camera 66 that is disposed opposite to the illumination unit 65 and receives pulsed light from the pulse laser, and the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1. A functional liquid receiving portion 67 for receiving the functional liquid. When measuring the flight speed or inspecting the flight curve, the functional liquid is discharged while the illumination unit 65 and the microscope camera 66 are driven. The discharged functional liquid is blocked by the pulse laser between the illumination unit 65 and the microscope camera 66 and landed on the functional liquid receiver 67. Then, the flight speed is measured based on the result of the high-speed shooting by the flight inspection unit 54, and it is checked whether there is a flight bend and whether there is a discharge omission.

  The target stage 56 is for mounting a glass substrate 64 for volume measurement. Inspection discharge is performed on the glass substrate 64 placed here by the functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 to form a plurality of landing dots on the glass substrate 64. The glass substrate 64 is naturally dried after the landing droplets are transferred to a separate volume measuring device (not shown), and measures the individual discharge amount (volume) of the landing dots.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the weight measurement unit 55 is configured by an electronic balance, and a sample receiving portion 71 that receives the functional liquid discharged from the functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 and the functional liquid in the sample receiving portion 71. And a balance main body 72 for measuring the weight. When the discharge weight of the functional liquid is measured by the weight measuring unit 55, tens of thousands of functional liquids are discharged to the sample receiving unit 71 in units of the nozzle array 22, and the discharge weight of the functional liquid is measured by the balance body 72. An appropriate driving voltage is determined based on the discharge weight measured here. This appropriate drive voltage is a voltage that serves as a reference for inspection discharge and drawing discharge after weight measurement.

  The sample receiving part 71 has a receiving container 73 for storing the received functional liquid, and an absorbent material 74 provided on the upper part of the receiving container 73 so as to close (close) the receiving container 73. Is detachably provided. The absorbing material 74 receives measurement and discharge from the functional liquid droplet discharging head 1, and the functional liquid received by the absorbing material 74 is dropped into a receiving container 73 disposed below the absorbing liquid 74 to be received in the receiving container 73. It has come to accumulate.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the control device 7 includes a drive unit 81 having various drivers, and a control unit 82 that is connected to each unit and controls the entire discharge inspection apparatus 31. The drive unit 81 includes a head driver 83 that controls the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1, a head movement driver 84 that drives the XY table 52, a sheet feed driver 85 that feeds the wiping sheet 42 of the wiping device 37, and a suction unit. And a cap driver 86 for moving the cap 41 of the apparatus 36 up and down with respect to the nozzle surface 25.

  The control unit 82 has an interface 91 for connecting each means, a storage area that can be temporarily stored, a RAM 92 that is used as a work area for control processing, and various storage areas. A ROM 93 for storing control programs and control data, various data from each means, a hard disk 94 for storing programs for processing various data, and the programs stored in the ROM 93 and the hard disk 94 A CPU 95 that performs arithmetic processing on various data and a bus 96 that connects them to each other are provided.

  The control unit 82 inputs various data from each unit via the interface 91 and causes the CPU 95 to perform arithmetic processing according to a program stored in the hard disk 94 (or sequentially read by a CD-ROM drive or the like) The processing result is output to each unit via the drive unit 81 (various drivers). Thereby, the whole discharge inspection apparatus 31 is controlled, and various processes are performed.

  Here, the discharge inspection of the functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 in the discharge inspection apparatus 31 will be described with reference to FIG. This ejection inspection is performed in a state where the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is set in the head holder 51 in advance.

  As shown in FIG. 7, first, the control unit 82 performs an initial filling step of filling the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 and the functional liquid into the supply tube connected to the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 (S1). That is, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is made to face the suction device 36 by the XY table 52, and the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is sucked by the suction device 36 and filled with the functional liquid. Thereafter, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is driven to perform warm-up (temperature rise of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1), and the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is made to face the wiping device 37, The nozzle surface 25 is wiped off to complete the initial filling.

  When the initial filling is completed, a treatment flushing step is performed (S2). That is, the preliminary ejection is performed with the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 facing the weight measurement unit 55. Thereby, after cleaning, a certain amount of functional liquid is discarded and discharged, so that inspection can be performed from a state where a certain amount is discharged. For example, in the initial stage after cleaning, abnormal discharge does not occur, and abnormal discharge may occur when a certain amount of ink is discharged. By performing the treatment flushing, such an inspection defect can be prevented.

  Next, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is caused to face the flight inspection unit 54, and the step of measuring the flight speed of each effective ejection nozzle 24 is performed (S3). The ejected functional droplet is photographed at high speed by the flight inspection unit 54, and the flight speed is measured based on the photographing result. At this time, the flight bending, ejection omission, and abnormal ejection are also inspected at the same time, and when the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is determined to be defective by these inspections, this operation is terminated.

  Thereafter, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is made to face the weight measurement unit 55, and the weight measurement step of the ejection weight is performed (S4). In the weight measurement step, ejection driving is performed in units of nozzle rows 22 and the weight of ejection in units of nozzle rows 22 is measured. Based on the measurement result, an appropriate drive voltage used for inspection ejection is determined for each nozzle array 22 (drive voltage determination step). Specifically, there is an approximate voltage value for discharging the target discharge weight, and the weight measurement is performed at each nozzle row 22 with two voltage values around the voltage value. Thereafter, based on the measurement result (each discharge weight at two voltage values), a linear function of the voltage value and the discharge weight is obtained, and the target discharge weight is substituted into the linear function, whereby the voltage with respect to the target discharge amount is obtained. Calculate the value. The voltage value obtained here is determined as an appropriate drive voltage.

  Next, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 faces the target stage 56, and an inspection and ejection process is performed on the glass substrate 64 on the target stage 56 (S5). Thereby, a plurality of landing dots are formed on the glass substrate 64.

  Finally, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 faces the suction device 36, and the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is capped with the cap 41 (S6). Thereby, the moisture retention state of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is maintained, and this operation is finished.

  Next, the details of the weight measurement step (S4) will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 8, first, the control unit 82 moves the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 in the Y-axis direction by using the XY table 52, so that the first nozzle row 22 a of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is received by the sample. It is made to face on the absorber 74 (center position of the absorber 74) of the part 71 (S11) (refer Fig.9 (a)). When the first nozzle row 22a is made to face the absorbent material 74, a preliminary discharge step (preliminary discharge step and preliminary discharge operation) is performed (S12) (see FIG. 9B). In the preliminary discharge step, the effective discharge nozzles 24 of all the nozzle rows 22 are driven to discharge, and preliminary discharge is performed on the absorbent material 74 (sample receiving portion 71). In the preliminary discharge, the effective discharge nozzles 24 of all the nozzle rows 22 are continuously driven to discharge so that the atmosphere immediately above the absorbent 74 (the central position of the absorbent 74) becomes a saturated atmosphere due to the volatilized solvent. In such a case, only the effective discharge nozzles 24 in the first nozzle row 22a may be driven to discharge. Further, in order to efficiently form a saturated atmosphere, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 is placed at a position where the position for performing measurement ejection (the center position of the absorbent 74) is sandwiched between the first nozzle array 22a and the second nozzle array 22b. It is also possible to move and drive the effective discharge nozzles 24 of both nozzle rows 22a and 22b.

  When the preliminary ejection process is completed, the first measurement ejection process (measurement ejection process and measurement ejection operation), which is the measurement ejection of the first nozzle row 22a, is performed (S13) (see FIG. 9C). In the first measurement discharge step, the effective discharge nozzles 24 in the first nozzle row 22a are driven to discharge (tens of thousands of discharges of functional liquid), and measurement discharge is performed on the absorbent material 74. As a result, the functional liquid discharged in the first measurement discharge process is accumulated in the receiving container 73. Thereafter, a first discharge weight measurement step (discharge weight measurement step and discharge weight measurement operation) for measuring the weight of the functional liquid discharged in the first measurement discharge step is performed by the balance body 72 (S14). In the first discharge weight measurement process, the difference in weight of the sample receiving portion 71 (receiving container 73) before and after the first measurement discharge process is measured, and this is used to discharge the functional liquid droplets discharged in the first measurement discharge process. Get as weight.

  When the measurement of the discharge weight of the first nozzle row 22a is completed, the functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 is moved in the Y-axis direction by the XY table 52 to measure the discharge weight of the second nozzle row 22b. The nozzle row 22b is made to face the absorbent material 74 (the center position of the absorbent material 74) (S15) (see FIG. 9D). When the second nozzle row 22b faces the absorbent material 74, the second measurement discharge step (measurement discharge step and measurement discharge operation), which is the measurement discharge of the second nozzle row 22b, is performed (S16) (FIG. 9 (e)). )reference). In the second measurement discharge step, the effective discharge nozzles 24 in the second nozzle row 22b are driven to discharge (tens of thousands of discharges of functional liquid), and measurement discharge is performed on the absorbent material 74. As a result, the functional liquid discharged in the second measurement discharge process is accumulated in the receiving container 73. Thereafter, the balance main body 72 performs a second discharge weight measurement process (weight measurement process and weight measurement operation) for measuring the discharge weight of the functional liquid droplets discharged in the second measurement discharge process (S17). In the second discharge weight measurement step, the difference in weight of the sample receiving portion 71 (receiving container 73) before and after the second measurement discharge step is measured, and this is used to discharge the functional liquid droplets discharged in the second measurement discharge step. Get as weight.

  According to the above configuration, when the preliminary discharge is performed on the sample receiving unit 71 prior to the measurement discharge, the solvent of the discharged functional liquid is vaporized (volatilized), and the atmosphere above the sample receiving unit 71 Becomes a humidified atmosphere (saturated atmosphere). Thereby, when the measurement discharge is performed, the humidified atmosphere makes it difficult for the solvent of the functional liquid on the sample receiving portion 71 to be vaporized, so that variation in measurement results depending on vaporization can be suppressed. In particular, vaporization of the solvent can be further suppressed by performing preliminary discharge so that the atmosphere above the sample receiving portion 71 becomes a saturated atmosphere.

  Further, since the weight measuring unit 55 has a receiving container 73 and an absorbent material 74 provided on the upper part of the receiving container 73 so as to close the receiving container 73, the absorbent material 74 is provided by preliminary discharge. Since the wet state is obtained, it is possible to prevent the functional liquid in the receiving container 73 from being vaporized by the wet absorbent material 74 when the measurement discharge is performed. In particular, since the absorbent 74 is provided above the receiving container 73, the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 can be measured and ejected close to the absorbent 74, and the vaporization of the solvent from the functional liquid during flight can be suppressed. can do. Further, when the absorbent 74 receives the functional liquid from the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1, the functional liquid drops from the absorbent 74 and accumulates in the receiving container 73, so that the absorbent 74 is not saturated. It is possible to prevent the absorbent 74 from becoming unabsorbable.

  Further, in the configuration in which the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 has a plurality of nozzle rows 22, after performing preliminary ejection, by repeating measurement ejection and weight measurement for each nozzle row 22, the same is achieved in the plurality of nozzle rows 22. Measurement can be performed under conditions (humidified atmosphere).

  Furthermore, the appropriate drive voltage can be appropriately determined by determining the appropriate drive voltage using the measurement result obtained by the discharge weight measurement method capable of accurately measuring the discharge weight.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 10, the droplet discharge apparatus 201 using the functional droplet discharge head 1 after the inspection will be described. The droplet discharge device 201 is incorporated in a flat panel display production line. For example, a liquid droplet display device using a functional droplet discharge head 1 into which a special ink or a functional liquid that is a light-emitting resin liquid is introduced. The light emitting element to be each pixel of the color filter and the organic EL device is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the droplet discharge device 201 is disposed on an X-axis support base 202 supported by a stone surface plate, and extends in the X-axis direction that is the main scanning direction so that the workpiece W is transferred to the X-axis. And a pair of Y-axis support bases 205 spanning the X-axis table 203 via a plurality of columns 204 and moving in the main direction (X-axis) Y-axis table 206 extending in the Y-axis direction, which is a sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the direction), and a plurality of (12) functional liquid droplet ejection heads 1 are individually suspended from the Y-axis table 206. 10 carriage units 207 mounted on the carriage, and a maintenance mechanism 208 that performs function maintenance / function recovery processing of the plurality of functional liquid droplet ejection heads 1. Further, the droplet discharge device 201 supplies these functional devices to the functional droplet discharge head 1 through the chamber mechanism 209 that houses these devices in an atmosphere in which temperature and humidity are controlled, and the chamber mechanism 209. And a control computer (not shown) that controls each component of the droplet discharge device 201. The droplet discharge device 201 discharges and drives the functional droplet discharge head 1 in synchronization with the driving of the X-axis table 203 and the Y-axis table 206, whereby the three-color functional droplets supplied from the functional liquid supply mechanism 210 are driven. And a predetermined drawing pattern is drawn on the workpiece W.

  The control computer sets an appropriate drive voltage of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 for each functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 based on the appropriate drive voltage determined by the ejection inspection device 31 (appropriate drive voltage setting means). When drawing the workpiece W, the control computer performs discharge control of each functional liquid droplet discharge head 1 with the set appropriate drive voltage (drive control means).

  As described above, the drawing process can be performed with high accuracy by using the determined appropriate driving voltage by the driving voltage determining method capable of appropriately determining the appropriate driving voltage.

  In the present embodiment, the ejection weight measuring method for the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 of the present invention is applied to the ejection inspection apparatus 31 for inspecting the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 before mounting. The method for measuring the discharge weight of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 of the present invention may be applied to the discharge weight measurement mechanism that is provided in the apparatus and measures the discharge weight of the functional liquid droplet ejection head 1 mounted on the liquid droplet ejection device 201. .

It is a front and back external perspective view of a functional liquid droplet ejection head. It is sectional drawing of a functional droplet discharge head. It is a partial exploded perspective view of a pump part. It is the top view which showed typically the discharge inspection apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which showed the weight measurement unit periphery typically. It is a block diagram of the main control system of a discharge inspection apparatus. It is the flowchart which showed the discharge test | inspection of the discharge test | inspection apparatus. It is the flowchart shown about the weight measurement process. It is explanatory drawing shown about the weight measurement process. It is the perspective view which showed the droplet discharge apparatus typically.

Explanation of symbols

  1: functional droplet discharge head, 7: control device, 31: discharge inspection device, 55: weight measurement unit, 71: sample receiving unit, 73: receiving container, 74: absorbent material, 201: droplet discharge device, W: work

Claims (7)

A discharge weight measurement method for a droplet discharge head that measures the discharge weight in an inkjet droplet discharge head that discharges a functional liquid containing a highly volatile solvent using an electronic balance,
A preliminary ejection step of performing preliminary ejection of the droplet ejection head on a sample receiving portion of the electronic balance;
After the preliminary ejection step, a measurement ejection step for performing measurement ejection of the droplet ejection head on the sample receiving portion;
A method for measuring a discharge weight of a droplet discharge head, comprising: a weight measurement step of measuring the weight of the functional liquid received by the sample receiving unit by the measurement discharge after the measurement discharge step.   2. The droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein in the preliminary discharge step, the preliminary discharge is performed so that an atmosphere immediately above the sample receiving portion is saturated with the volatilized solvent. Discharge weight measurement method. The sample receiving part has a receiving container for storing the received functional liquid, and an absorbent material provided so as to close the receiving container at the upper part of the receiving container,
3. The method for measuring a discharge weight of a droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein in the preliminary discharge step and the measurement discharge step, the preliminary discharge and the measurement discharge are respectively performed on the absorbent material. The droplet discharge head has a plurality of nozzle rows formed by arranging a plurality of discharge nozzles,
4. The method for measuring a discharge weight of a droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein after the preliminary discharge step, the measurement discharge step and the weight measurement step are repeated for each nozzle row.   5. A drive voltage determining step for determining an appropriate drive voltage for the droplet discharge head based on a measurement result obtained by the discharge weight measurement method for a droplet discharge head according to claim 1. A method for determining the driving voltage of the droplet discharge head. A liquid droplet ejection apparatus that performs drawing on the work by ejecting a functional liquid from the liquid droplet ejection head while moving the work relative to the liquid droplet ejection head,
Drive voltage setting means for setting an appropriate drive voltage for the droplet discharge head based on the appropriate drive voltage determined by the method for determining the drive voltage for the droplet discharge head according to claim 5;
A droplet discharge apparatus comprising: drive control means for discharging and driving the droplet discharge head based on the set appropriate drive voltage. A discharge weight measuring apparatus for measuring a discharge weight in an ink jet type droplet discharge head,
The liquid droplet ejection head for ejecting a functional liquid containing a highly volatile solvent;
An electronic balance that has a sample receiving portion that receives the functional liquid discharged from the droplet discharge head, and measures the weight of the received droplet;
Control means for controlling the droplet discharge head and the electronic balance,
The control means includes
A preliminary ejection operation for performing preliminary ejection of the droplet ejection head to the sample receiving unit;
After the preliminary discharge operation, a measurement discharge operation for performing measurement discharge of the droplet discharge head to the sample receiving unit,
A weight measuring operation for measuring the weight of the functional liquid received by the sample receiving unit by the measurement discharge by the electronic balance after the measurement discharge operation; measuring device.

Images