JP2011206961A - Inkjet printing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inkjet printing method capable of easily performing uniform color production by an inkjet system.SOLUTION: Ink is dropped to a material P to be printed from a printing head 4 by an inkjet method and an ultrasonic vibration is applied to the material P by an ultrasonic vibrator 6, to stir the dropped ink, in the vicinity of a position where the ink is dropped.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet printing method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for coloring an object to be printed by performing printing by an ink jet method.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for dyeing cloth, leather, and the like by printing using an inkjet method is known. Ink-jet dyeing has the advantages of excellent productivity and quick response to design changes.
On the other hand, in the ink jet system, the printing object is configured to perform dyeing by penetrating ink suitable for hitting the surface of the printing object along the thickness direction of the printing object or along the surface of the printing object. There was a possibility that the ink permeation was hindered due to the fiber spacing, shape, adhesion of the liquid repellent substance, and the like, resulting in uneven dyeing.

  Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a natural or synthetic leather that reduces the occurrence of unevenness when printing is performed by an ink jet method. This leather is dyed by forming a penetration adjusting layer containing a water repellent and a binder resin and a coloring adjusting layer containing a cationic substance and a binder resin on the leather surface in advance by a spray drying method, a coating method, or the like. Trying to suppress the occurrence of unevenness.

JP 2000-45188 A

  However, it takes a lot of labor and time to form the penetration adjusting layer and the color adjusting layer on the surface of the leather, which is the chromosome, prior to printing.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object thereof is to provide an ink jet printing method and apparatus capable of easily performing uniform color development by an ink jet method.

  In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet printing method according to the present invention is a method in which ink droplets are ejected onto a printed material having penetrability with respect to an ink containing a coloring material in a penetrating liquid. Ink-jet printing method for developing a color, wherein ink is deposited on the substrate by ink-jet method, and droplets are ejected by applying ultrasonic vibration to the substrate in the vicinity of the ink deposition position. The ink is agitated.

Here, the application of the ultrasonic vibration can be performed simultaneously with or immediately after the ink droplet ejection. An ultrasonic vibration element can be disposed in the vicinity of the ink droplet ejection head for printing immediately after. It is desirable for this purpose that the printed ink is subjected to ultrasonic waves by the time the movement due to the penetration effect is completed. It is possible to arrange them close to receiving ultrasonic waves within 0.5 seconds after ink ejection. In addition, ultrasonic vibration can be applied to the substrate to be printed through a thin film of penetrating liquid.
Further, the permeated liquid that does not contain a color material or a light ink having a lower color material concentration than the ink is ejected onto the surface portion of the printed material corresponding to the ink ejection position by the inkjet method. You may control distribution of the said color material supplied in printed matter.

Further, a target color development is calculated on the basis of the information on the printing object and the information on the print image to be printed on the printing object, and the ink droplets that satisfy the calculated target coloring are satisfied. The amount and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration are calculated, respectively, the ink is ejected with the calculated droplet ejection amount, and the ultrasonic vibration is applied with the calculated application condition.
Further, the color of the object to be printed that is colored by the ink droplet ejection is measured, and the ink droplet ejection amount calculated based on the result of color measurement of the object to be printed and the information of the print image, and the It is also possible to correct the application conditions of the ultrasonic vibration, apply the ink with the corrected droplet ejection amount, and apply the ultrasonic vibration under the corrected application condition.

  The ink jet printing apparatus according to the present invention is an ink jet printing apparatus that causes ink to be ejected onto a printed material having penetrability with respect to an ink containing a coloring material in a penetrating liquid to develop the color of the printed material. An ink head unit for ejecting the ink and agitation of the ejected ink by applying ultrasonic vibration in contact with the printing object in the vicinity of the ink ejection position And an ultrasonic transducer.

Here, the ultrasonic transducer can be disposed at a position facing the ink head portion with the printing material interposed therebetween.
In addition, a tension roller that applies a predetermined tension to the printed material may be further provided in order to stabilize the contact pressure between the printed material and the ultrasonic transducer. Further, a penetrating liquid supply means for supplying a penetrating liquid onto a contact surface of the ultrasonic vibrator with the substrate to be printed may be further provided. The ultrasonic transducer may have a water-repellent thin film formed on a contact surface with the substrate.

  Further, the ink jet head further comprises a penetrating head portion for ejecting a penetrating liquid not containing a color material or a light ink having a lower color material concentration than the ink, and corresponds to the ink droplet ejection position by the ink head portion. The penetrating liquid containing no coloring material or the light ink having a lower coloring material concentration than the ink is ejected from the penetrating head portion to the surface portion of the printing material, and supplied to the printing material. The distribution of the color material can be controlled.

A data input unit for inputting information on the substrate and information on a print image to be printed on the substrate; information on the substrate input from the data input unit and the print image; A calculation unit for calculating a target color development based on the information of the ink and calculating a droplet ejection amount of the ink and an application condition of the ultrasonic vibration so as to satisfy the calculated target color generation; and the ink head A print head drive unit that drives the printing unit, a vibrator drive unit that drives the ultrasonic transducer, and an ink ejection amount calculated by the calculation unit and an application condition of the ultrasonic vibration, You may further provide the control part which controls a print head drive part and the said vibrator drive part, respectively.
The apparatus further includes a measuring device that measures the color of the printed material that is colored by the ink droplets, and a measurement value input unit that inputs a result of measuring the color of the printed material by the measuring device to the calculation unit. The calculation unit corrects the calculated droplet ejection amount of the ink and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration based on the result of measuring the color of the object to be printed and the information of the print image, and the control The unit controls the print head drive unit so that the ink is ejected with the droplet ejection amount corrected by the calculation unit, and the ultrasonic vibration is applied under the application condition corrected by the calculation unit. As described above, the vibrator driving unit can be controlled.

  According to the present invention, uniform color development can be easily performed by an inkjet method.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the inkjet printing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the ink jet printing apparatus according to the first embodiment. (A) is a perspective view showing the state of ink between fibers when no ultrasonic vibration is applied, and (B) is a perspective view showing the state of ink between fibers when ultrasonic vibration is applied. (A) is a perspective view showing the state of ink on the fiber surface when no ultrasonic vibration is applied, and (B) is a perspective view showing the state of ink on the fiber surface when ultrasonic vibration is applied. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printing apparatus according to a second embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the ink jet printing apparatus according to the second embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the inkjet printing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a partial configuration of an ink jet printing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a partial configuration of an inkjet printing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment. It is a figure which shows the partial structure of the inkjet printing apparatus which concerns on the modification of Embodiment 5.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an inkjet printing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The ink jet printing apparatus includes a data input unit 1, and a calculation unit 2 is connected to the data input unit 1. A control unit 7 is connected to the calculation unit 2. A print head 4 disposed on the front side of the permeable printed material P is connected to the control unit 7 via the print head driving unit 3, and the printed material is connected via the vibrator driving unit 5. An ultrasonic transducer 6 arranged on the back side of P is connected.

  The data input unit 1 is for inputting information on the printing material P designated by the operator and information on the print image printed on the printing material P, and is constituted by, for example, a keyboard and a mouse.

The calculation unit 2 determines the amount of ink to be ejected in succession on each pixel position of the printing material P and the ultrasonic vibration based on the information on the printing material P and the information on the printed image input from the data input unit 1. The application conditions of the ultrasonic vibration by the child 6 are respectively calculated.
The information on the printing material P includes information on color development characteristics when the unit color material amount is printed uniformly on the printing material P, color material distribution when ink is ejected onto the printing material P, and the like. The information on the print image includes information on the target color development chromaticity at each position of the substrate P. Also, these pieces of information may be input as color development chromaticities such as CIE L ^* a ^* b ^* and XYZ (tristimulus values) for each position of the printing material P, or spectral reflection. It may be entered as a rate.

  The control unit 7 inputs the electric signal indicating the ink amount calculated by the calculation unit 2 and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration to the print head driving unit 3 and the vibrator driving unit 5, respectively, so that Controls printing and application of ultrasonic vibration.

The print head drive unit 3 applies a voltage corresponding to the electrical signal input from the control unit 7 to the print head 4.
The print head 4 has an ink head portion for ejecting ink, and is, for example, a so-called ink jet type print head that ejects ink using an expansion and contraction operation of a piezoelectric element. The voltage from the print head drive unit 3 is applied to the ink head unit, and the amount of ink calculated by the calculation unit 2 is ejected onto the printing material P.

Further, the vibrator driving unit 5 drives the ultrasonic vibrator 6 according to the electric signal input from the control unit 7.
The ultrasonic transducer 6 is disposed at a position facing the print head 4 with the print medium P interposed therebetween, abuts against the back surface of the print medium P, and applies ultrasonic vibration to the print medium P to thereby apply the print head. 4 is used to stir the ink ejected from 4, and a piezoelectric ceramic and a metal vibration plate bolted, a magnetostrictive vibrator, or the like can be used.

  Next, the operation of the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S <b> 1, the information on the printing material P specified by the operator and the information on the print image printed on the printing material P are input by the data input unit 1 and transmitted to the calculation unit 2.

The calculation unit 2 calculates a color development target for each pixel in step S2 based on the information on the printing material P and the information on the print image input in step S1, and brings such color development target in subsequent step S3. The ink droplet ejection amount and the application condition of ultrasonic vibration are calculated. The calculated ink droplet ejection amount and ultrasonic vibration application conditions are input to the control unit 7.
In step S4, the control unit 7 drives the ultrasonic transducer 6 by the transducer driving unit 5 based on the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration calculated in step S3. In addition, the control unit 7 calculates in step S3 in step S3. The print head 4 is driven by the print head drive unit 3 based on the ink droplet ejection amount.

Ink thus ejected from the print head 4 onto the surface of the printing material P permeates in the thickness direction of the printing material P and along the surface of the printing material P. Since ultrasonic vibration is applied to the printing material P from the back surface by the ultrasonic vibrator 6, the ink is agitated. For this reason, the penetration of the ink is promoted, and uniform color development is made in the thickness direction and the surface direction of the substrate P to be printed.
The fibers F constituting the printing material P are bundled so as to be in contact with each other at intervals of several μm to several tens of μm to form a thread and a woven fabric. Moreover, the fiber F comprises the surface and the back surface with a period of several hundred μm to 1000 μm in length on the cloth. When the ink hitting the surface of the printing material P is trapped between the fibers F by the surface tension, the surface tension makes it difficult for the ink to move from the spot, but ultrasonic vibration is applied to the printing material P. By applying this, the capture by the surface tension is overcome, and the color material uniformly penetrates into the printing material P.
As shown in FIG. 3A, even when a plurality of inks G1 to G3 having different colors are sequentially ejected according to the color development target, the inks G1 to G3 are not mixed with each other and the fibers F are not mixed. However, as shown in FIG. 3B, the inks G1 to G3 are agitated and mixed with each other as a result of the application of ultrasonic vibration, thereby realizing the target color development.
Further, when a liquid repellent material such as oil or bubbles is present on the surface of each fiber F constituting the printing material P, the ink G that has been ejected is formed on the surface of the fiber F as shown in FIG. Although it adheres non-uniformly, the surface of the fiber F is washed by applying ultrasonic vibration to the substrate P, so that it is uniform along the surface of the fiber F as shown in FIG. Ink N adheres to the surface. Therefore, the efficiency of incorporating the color material into the fiber F by heat treatment or the like is improved, and the color development efficiency can be improved.

  In conjunction with the movement of the printing material P by the printing material moving means (not shown), the ink amount calculated for each pixel is repeatedly applied to other pixel positions in the same manner, and the printing input by the data input unit 1 is performed. The process ends when the image is printed on the printing material P.

  In the first embodiment described above, the calculation unit 2 calculates the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration together with the ink droplet ejection amount necessary for providing the coloring target and the color material distribution target, and the control unit based on the calculated application condition. 7 drives the ultrasonic transducer 6 via the transducer driving unit 5, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the control unit 7 uses the transducer driving unit 5 based on a preset ultrasonic vibration application condition. The ultrasonic transducer 6 can also be driven. The ultrasonic vibration application conditions set in advance are preferably in accordance with the material, thickness, and the like of the printing material P. For example, the conditions may be a vibration frequency of 100 KHz and an amplitude of 2 μm.

Embodiment 2
FIG. 5 shows the configuration of an inkjet printing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. This ink jet printing apparatus is the same as the ink jet printing apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 except that the arithmetic unit 12, the print head driving unit 3 and the print head 4 are replaced with the arithmetic unit 12, the print head driving unit 13 and the print head 14. Each one was used.

The calculation unit 12 determines the amounts of ink and penetrating liquid that should be ejected continuously at each pixel position of the printed material P based on the information on the printed material P and the information on the printed image input from the data input unit 1. While calculating each, the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration by the ultrasonic transducer | vibrator 6 is calculated.
Here, “penetration liquid” indicates a solvent or dispersion medium for dissolving or dispersing the color material, and “ink” is defined as a color material dissolved or dispersed in the permeation liquid at a predetermined concentration.

The print head drive unit 13 connected to the control unit 7 applies respective voltages to the print head 14 in accordance with the electrical signals from the control unit 7 indicating the ink amount and penetrating liquid amount calculated by the calculation unit 12.
The print head 14 has an ink head part for ejecting ink and an osmotic liquid head part for ejecting penetrating liquid. For example, the ink and penetrating liquid are ejected using the expansion and contraction of a piezoelectric element. This is a so-called inkjet print head that drops. Each voltage from the driving unit 13 is applied to the ink head unit and the penetrating liquid head unit, respectively, and the amount of ink and penetrating liquid calculated by the calculating unit 12 is sequentially ejected onto the printing material P.

  The calculation unit 12 calculates a color development target (light reflection characteristic of the print image) based on the information on the printing material P and the information on the print image input from the data input unit 1, and realizes the calculated color development target. Is calculated based on the Kubelka-Munk principle expressed by the following formula (1). Here, K is the absorption intensity by the color material, S is the light scattering intensity from the printed material, and Rc is the reflectance. In addition, the calculation unit 12 calculates a penetration target (a penetration coefficient based on the thickness of the printing object) based on the information about the printing material P input from the data input unit 1, and calculates the following equation ( Based on 2), the distribution of the coloring material according to the amount of penetrant is calculated. Here, D is the distribution index of the color material, L is the amount of penetrating liquid ejected onto the printed material (including the amount of penetrating liquid in the ejected ink), and F is the color material penetrating characteristic.

K / S = (1-Rc) ² / 2Rc (1)
dD / dL = F (D, L) (2)

  In the equations (1) and (2), the calculation unit 12 makes the color material amount uniform in the thickness direction of the printing material P, and the spectral reflectance by the uniform color material corresponds to the color development target. Ink droplet ejection amount and penetrating liquid droplet ejection amount are calculated.

  Next, the operation of the ink jet printing apparatus shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S <b> 1, the information on the printing material P designated by the operator and the information on the print image printed on the printing material P are input by the data input unit 1 and transmitted to the calculation unit 12.

The calculation unit 12 calculates a color development target for each pixel in step S2 based on the information on the printed material P and the information on the printed image input in step S1, and from the information on the printed material P in step S6, A permeation target such as a permeation coefficient based on the thickness of the substrate P is calculated for each pixel. Subsequently, in step S7, the calculation unit 12 calculates a color material amount for realizing the coloring target calculated in step S2 based on the above formula (1), and further in step S8, the above formula (2). Based on the above, the amount of change in the color material distribution for realizing the penetration target calculated in step S6 is calculated, and the amount of the penetrant for causing such a change in the color material distribution is calculated. The amount of penetrating liquid calculated here indicates the amount of the entire penetrating liquid with respect to the coloring material, and includes the amount of penetrating liquid contained in the ink in advance. In particular, in a color development region where ink of a low color material density is printed, the amount of color material ink printed becomes small, and the color material may not sufficiently penetrate. Even in such a case, in order to promote the penetration of the coloring material by ultrasonic agitation, the total amount of the penetrating liquid is the maximum soaking amount (soaked when the printing material is immersed in the penetrating liquid and left to stand until the dripping disappears by gravity 30% by weight or more of the amount).
In the subsequent step S9, the calculation unit 12 determines the ink amount to be ejected from the ink head portion of the print head 14 and the penetrating liquid head portion based on the color material amount and the penetrating liquid amount calculated in the above steps S7 and S8. The amount of penetrating liquid to be ejected is calculated for each pixel and the application condition of ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic vibrator 6 is calculated. The calculated ink amount, penetrant amount, and application condition of ultrasonic vibration are output from the calculation unit 2 to the control unit 7.

The control unit 7 drives the ultrasonic transducer 6 by the transducer driving unit 5 based on the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration input from the calculation unit 2 in step S4, and from the calculation unit 2 in step S5. The print head drive unit 13 drives the print head 14 based on the input ink amount and penetrating liquid amount.
When ink is ejected onto the surface of the printing material P, the amount of color material on the front side of the printing material P is large and the amount of color material on the back side is extremely small. When the penetrating liquid is deposited on the surface of the substrate P corresponding to the pixel position), the color material also penetrates along with the penetration of the penetrating liquid in the thickness direction of the substrate P. The color material on the front side of the object P moves to the back side. At this time, since the ultrasonic vibration is applied to the printed material P from the back surface by the ultrasonic vibrator 6, the ink and the penetrating liquid are stirred, and the amount of the color material is uniform in the thickness direction of the printed material P. Become.

  In conjunction with the movement of the printing material P by a printing material moving means (not shown), ink droplets and penetrating liquid droplets calculated for each pixel are repeatedly applied to other pixel positions in the same manner. The process ends when the input print image is printed on the printing material P.

Embodiment 3
FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the ink jet printing apparatus according to the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, after printing on the printing material P, the color material amount and the color material distribution on the printing material P are measured, and the measurement result is corrected so as to realize the target color material amount and the color material distribution. Printing and application of ultrasonic vibration. The inkjet printing apparatus according to the present embodiment uses the calculation unit 22 instead of the calculation unit 12 in the inkjet printing apparatus of the second embodiment shown in FIG. A heating device 31, a reduction cleaning device 32, a drying device 33, and measuring devices 34 and 35 are sequentially arranged on the downstream side of the ultrasonic transducer 6, and a print result measurement value input unit 36 is connected to the measuring devices 34 and 35. The print result measurement value input unit 36 is connected to the calculation unit 22.
FIG. 7 shows a case where the polyester fiber is dyed with a disperse dye. The heating device 31 is for performing a heat treatment of the printing object P that has been printed. The reduction cleaning device 32 is for performing reduction cleaning of the printing material P. For example, a reduction cleaning aid such as hydrosulfite is used. The drying device 33 is for drying the printing material P. The measuring devices 34 and 35 are for measuring the optical characteristics from the front side and the back side of the substrate P, respectively, and measuring the color development amount, and calibrated with a diffusion colorimeter or a diffusion colorimeter having an integrating sphere. It consists of an optical sensor. The printing result measurement value input unit 36 feeds back the printing result of the substrate P by inputting the measurement values obtained in the measuring devices 34 and 35 to the calculation unit 22. The calculation unit 22 performs droplet ejection so that the measurement value input from the print result measurement value input unit 36 becomes a target value (target color chromaticity) regarding the color material amount and color material distribution obtained from the data input unit 1. This is obtained by correcting the amount of ink to be ejected, the amount of penetrating liquid to be ejected, and the application conditions of ultrasonic vibration.

First, in order to realize the color development target and the penetration target, the calculation unit 22 calculates the color development target and the penetration target from the information on the printing material P and the information on the print image input in the same manner as in the second embodiment. The amount of ink to be ejected and the amount of penetrating liquid are determined from the head portion of the print head 14 and the application conditions of ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic transducer 6 are determined. The calculation unit 22 outputs the determined ink amount, penetrant amount, and ultrasonic vibration application conditions to the control unit 7. Subsequently, the control unit 7 drives the ultrasonic transducer 6 by the transducer driving unit 5 based on the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration obtained by the computing unit 22 and the ink amount obtained by the computing unit 22. The print head 14 is driven by the print head driving unit 13 based on the amount of penetrating liquid. In this way, application of ultrasonic vibration to the printing material P and printing are performed. The printed material P that has been printed is heated by the heating device 31, then reduced and cleaned by the reduction cleaning device 32, and dried by the drying device 33. The dried printing material P is measured by the measuring devices 34 and 35 from the front side and the back side of the printing material P, and the measured value is input to the calculation unit 22 via the printing result measurement value input unit 36.
When the input measurement value is outside the allowable range of the target value (target color development chromaticity) for the color material amount and the front / back printing balance, the calculation unit 22 uses the measurement value input from the print result measurement value input unit 36 as the target. The amount of ink to be ejected from the head portion of the print head 14 and the amount of penetrating liquid are corrected so as to match the color chromaticity, and the application condition of ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic vibrator 6 is corrected. The calculating unit 22 outputs the corrected ink amount, penetrating liquid amount, and ultrasonic vibration application conditions to the control unit 7. Subsequently, the control unit 7 drives the ultrasonic transducer 6 by the transducer driving unit 5 based on the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration corrected by the calculation unit 22 and the ink amount corrected by the calculation unit 22. The print head 14 is driven by the print head driving unit 13 based on the amount of penetrating liquid. When the correction does not fall within the allowable range of the target values for the color material amount and the front / back printing balance, it is preferable to repeat the above correction until it falls within the allowable range.
For example, if printing unevenness occurs on the front and back of the substrate P, it is determined that the stirring effect of the ultrasonic vibrator is insufficient, the tension is increased, and the contact between the vibrator and the substrate P is increased. Printing unevenness can be improved.

  According to the third embodiment, since printing is performed again on the printing material based on the correction amount obtained by feeding back the result printed on the printing material, the initial calculation accuracy is poor, or ink, printing material, etc. Even when the physical properties of the color change over time or in the environment, it is possible to effectively suppress the deviation or fluctuation of the color development amount.

Embodiment 4
In the ink jet printing apparatus according to the first embodiment, it is preferable to make the transmission of ultrasonic vibration to the printing material P constant by stabilizing the contact area and the contact pressure between the printing material P and the ultrasonic transducer 6. . For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a tension roller 41 is disposed on the downstream side of the print head 4 and the ultrasonic transducer 6 with respect to the traveling direction of the printing material P, and the supporting roller is disposed along the traveling direction of the printing material P. 42 to 44 are arranged to give a predetermined tension to the printing material P. As a result, the contact area and the contact pressure between the printing object P and the ultrasonic transducer 6 are stabilized, and the ultrasonic vibration is stably transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer 6 to the printing material P. A uniform color can be developed depending on the thickness direction and surface direction of P.
The tension roller 41 may have a damper for suppressing vibration. Thereby, the vibration applied to the tension roller 41 due to the movement of the printing material P or the friction characteristics of the printing material P can be suppressed, and the tension of the printing material P can be adjusted with high accuracy.
In the second or third embodiment as well, it is preferable to stabilize the contact area and the contact pressure between the substrate P and the ultrasonic vibrator 6 in the same manner.

Embodiment 5
In the inkjet printing apparatus according to the first to fourth embodiments, the ultrasonic vibrator 6 can improve the transmission efficiency of ultrasonic vibration by supplying a liquid such as a penetrating liquid onto the contact surface with the substrate P. . For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a supply pump 52 that supplies penetrating liquid is disposed, and penetrating liquid that does not interfere with coloring of the printing material P by ink passes from the supply pump 52 to the inside of the ultrasonic vibrator 51. Then, it is supplied onto the contact surface between the ultrasonic vibrator 51 and the printing material P. If the color material dissolved in the penetrating liquid supplied on the contact surface of the ultrasonic vibrator 51 does not adhere to the printing material P, the penetrating liquid supplied once is circulated to circulate the contact surface of the ultrasonic vibrator 51. May be supplied.
Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the transmission efficiency of ultrasonic vibration is formed by forming a water-repellent thin film 53 such as a fluororesin having a high water-repellent ability on the contact surface of the ultrasonic vibrator 51 with the printing material P. It is also possible to prevent the coloring material from adhering to the ultrasonic transducer 51 without lowering the frequency.

In the first to fourth embodiments, the ultrasonic transducer 6 is disposed at a position facing the print head 4 or 14 with the substrate P interposed therebetween, so that the ultrasonic transducer is almost simultaneously with ink droplet ejection. Although ultrasonic vibration was applied from 6, the present invention is not limited to this. If the ultrasonic vibration can be applied to stir the ink in the printing medium P, the ultrasonic vibrator 6 is arranged so as to be shifted with respect to the print head 4 in the traveling direction of the printing medium P, and ink droplets are ejected. Immediately after that, that is, before the ejected ink dries, ultrasonic vibration may be applied.
In the second or third embodiment, both the coloring target and the permeation target are simultaneously realized by ejecting ink containing a color material and a penetrating liquid not containing the color material from the print head 14. In addition, even when a light ink having a lower color material density than the above-described ink is used, the coloring target and the penetration target can be realized in the same manner. As the light ink, for example, a low-concentration ink containing an amount of penetrating liquid that is 10% or more of the maximum immersion amount and a coloring material that is equal to or less than the target color chromaticity can be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Data input part, 2,12 Calculation part, 3,13 Print head drive part, 5 Vibrator drive part, 4,14 Print head, 6,51 Ultrasonic vibrator, 7 Control part, 41 Tension roller, 42-44 Support roller, 52 supply pump, 53 water-repellent thin film, P substrate, G, G1 to G3, N ink, F fiber.

Claims (14)

An ink jet printing method for forming a color on the printed material by performing droplet ejection with the ink on a printed material having permeability to an ink containing a coloring material in a penetrating liquid,
Injecting ink onto the substrate by ink jet method,
An ink jet printing method, comprising: stirring ink that has been ejected by applying ultrasonic vibration to the printing object in the vicinity of the ink ejection position.   The inkjet printing method according to claim 1, wherein the application of the ultrasonic vibration is performed simultaneously with or immediately after the ink droplet ejection.   The ink jet printing method according to claim 1, wherein ultrasonic vibration is applied to the printing material through a thin film of penetrating liquid.   The printing object is formed by ejecting a penetrating liquid that does not contain a coloring material or a light ink having a lower coloring material concentration than the ink onto the surface portion of the printing object corresponding to the ink ejection position by the ink jet method. The inkjet printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the distribution of the color material supplied therein is controlled. Calculate the target color development based on the information on the substrate and the information on the print image to be printed on the substrate,
Calculate the ink droplet ejection amount and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration so as to satisfy the calculated target color development,
The inkjet printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the ink is ejected with a computed droplet ejection amount and the ultrasonic vibration is applied under a computed application condition. Measure the color of the object to be printed that is colored by the ink droplets,
Based on the result of colorimetry of the printing object and the information of the printed image, the calculated droplet ejection amount of the ink and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration are respectively corrected.
The inkjet printing method according to claim 5, wherein the ink is ejected with a corrected droplet ejection amount, and the ultrasonic vibration is applied under a corrected application condition. An ink jet printing apparatus that causes ink to be ejected onto a printed material having permeability to an ink containing a coloring material in a penetrating liquid and causes the printed material to develop color,
An ink head for ejecting the ink;
An inkjet comprising: an ultrasonic vibrator for agitating the ink that has been ejected by contact with the substrate and applying ultrasonic vibrations in the vicinity of the ink ejection position. Printing device.   The ink jet printing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is disposed at a position facing the ink head portion with the print object interposed therebetween.   The inkjet printing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising a tension roller that applies a predetermined tension to the printed material in order to stabilize a contact pressure between the printed material and the ultrasonic transducer.   The inkjet printing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9, further comprising a penetrating liquid supply unit that supplies a penetrating liquid onto a contact surface of the ultrasonic vibrator with the object to be printed.   The inkjet printing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the ultrasonic vibrator has a water-repellent thin film formed on a contact surface with the substrate. Further comprising a penetrating head for ejecting a penetrating liquid not containing a colorant or a light ink having a lower colorant concentration than the ink,
A penetrating liquid containing no coloring material or a light ink having a lower coloring material concentration than the ink is applied from the penetrating head portion to the surface portion of the printed material corresponding to the ink droplet ejection position by the ink head portion. The inkjet printing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein a distribution of the color material supplied into the printing material is controlled by dropping. A data input unit for inputting information on the substrate and information on a print image to be printed on the substrate;
Calculating the target color development based on the information on the substrate to be printed and the information on the print image input from the data input unit, and the ink ejection amount so as to satisfy the calculated target color development; A calculation unit for calculating the application conditions of the ultrasonic vibration,
A print head drive unit for driving the ink head unit;
A vibrator driving unit for driving the ultrasonic vibrator;
8. A control unit for controlling the print head driving unit and the vibrator driving unit, respectively, based on the ink droplet ejection amount calculated by the calculation unit and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration. The inkjet printing apparatus as described in any one of -12. A measuring device for measuring the color of the object to be printed that is colored by the ink droplets;
A measurement value input unit that inputs a result of measuring the color of the printing object with the measurement device to the calculation unit;
The calculation unit corrects the calculated ink droplet ejection amount and the application condition of the ultrasonic vibration based on the colorimetric result of the printing object and the information of the print image,
The control unit controls the print head driving unit so that the ink is ejected with the droplet ejection amount corrected by the calculation unit, and the ultrasonic vibration is applied under the application condition corrected by the calculation unit. The inkjet printing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the vibrator driving unit is controlled as described above.

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