JP2013215997A - Recorder using photocurable ink, and method of manufacturing recorded material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce unevenness of an irradiation amount of light for curing in recording by passing a recording medium through an ink discharge region of an ink discharge head by a plurality of times of intermittent feeds.SOLUTION: A recorder includes: an ink discharge part which reciprocates in a first direction; a moving mechanism which moves a recording medium and the ink discharge part relatively in a second direction; a first light irradiation part which irradiates photocurable ink discharged on the recording medium with the light for curing; a second light irradiation part positioned on a downstream side in the second direction with respect to the first irradiation part; and a control part for controlling respective operation of the moving mechanism, and the ink discharge part or the like. The control part includes a first control mode, wherein light for semi-curing the photocurable ink is irradiated from the first light irradiation part, light for finish-curing is irradiated from the second light irradiation part, the recording medium is passed through an ink discharge region of a nozzle line by the plural N times of intermittent feeds, and the first light irradiation part is operated by reducing a light amount irradiated on the respective regions from the first time to the N-1th times than a light amount L(N) irradiated on the N-th ink discharge region corresponding to the N-th times.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink ejection unit that ejects photocurable ink from a nozzle row and reciprocates in a first direction, a recording medium, and the ink ejection unit relative to a second direction that intersects the first direction. A moving mechanism for moving the recording medium, a first light irradiating unit that irradiates the light curable ink ejected from the ink ejecting unit with respect to the recording medium, and a second light irradiating unit with respect to the first irradiating unit. A photocurable ink comprising: a second light irradiation unit located on the downstream side of the direction; and a control unit that controls each operation of the moving mechanism, the ink discharge unit, the first light irradiation unit, and the second light irradiation unit. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus used and a method of manufacturing a recorded matter.

As conventional techniques of a recording apparatus using this type of photocurable ink, there are inkjet recording apparatuses described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, for example.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 states that “a UV lamp is provided beside the recording head and the ink immediately after printing is irradiated with ultraviolet rays only once, the ink is reliably cured by one irradiation. There is a case where the recording head has to be moved again in the main scanning direction to irradiate twice, and there is a problem that the printing efficiency is deteriorated.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, “in scanning of an inkjet recording head, ultraviolet rays are irradiated to a printing area immediately after printing with the inkjet recording head by a backward ultraviolet irradiation device, and the print medium is moved in the sub-scanning direction. In the next scan of the ink jet recording head, the UV irradiation device irradiates the printing area immediately after printing with the ink jet recording head by the UV irradiation device behind the scanning direction, and the previous line has been printed by the UV irradiation device. A configuration is described in which the region is irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

  In Patent Document 2, as an object of the invention, “in order to improve the print image quality, multi-pass printing in which the same line is scanned a plurality of times and the UV ink is superimposed has been considered. In the type inkjet printer, since UV ink is fully cured for each scan, there is a problem that the UV ink on the upper layer side (surface side) is easily repelled by the UV ink on the lower layer side (media side). It is described.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in an ultraviolet curable ink jet printer that scans the same line of a recording medium a plurality of times by a head unit that ejects ultraviolet curable ink, One discharge means and a first light quantity of ultraviolet light disposed behind the first discharge means in the first direction which is the scanning direction and semi-curing the ultraviolet curable ink discharged from the first discharge means Are disposed in front of the first ejection unit in a second direction in which the recording medium moves relative to the head unit in a direction orthogonal to the first direction. And a second ultraviolet irradiation means for irradiating the second amount of ultraviolet light for main curing the ultraviolet curable ink semi-cured by the first ultraviolet irradiation means. Configuration is described.

Japanese Patent No. 4142345 JP 2009-208228 A

  However, Patent Document 1 describes only a so-called band printing recording operation in which the printing width of one printing is the same as the length of the nozzle row. There is no description or suggestion of a recording operation that is performed by passing a recording medium through a plurality of N (N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2) intermittent feeding through an ink ejection region by a nozzle row of an ink ejection head. .

In Patent Document 2, printing by a multi-pass method in which the same line is scanned a plurality of times to superimpose UV ink, that is, an ink discharge area by a nozzle array of an ink discharge head is transferred four times intermittently to a recording medium. The recording operation performed by passing is described.
Furthermore, a configuration including a first ultraviolet irradiation means for semi-curing and a second ultraviolet irradiation means for main curing is described.
However, the irradiation amount of the ultraviolet rays by the first ultraviolet irradiation means used at the time of feeding four times is the same every time.

  The following problems occur when performing a recording operation in which the recording medium is passed through a plurality of N intermittent feeds through the ink ejection region by the nozzle row of the ink ejection head.

The first ejected ink is ejected from the first ink ejection portion of the nozzle row corresponding to the first feed to the first ink ejection area on the recording medium. Subsequently, the first ejected ink is semi-cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays.
Subsequently, the second feeding is performed, and the portion on which the first ejection ink (ink ejected at the first feeding position) on the recording medium is ejected is the portion of the nozzle row corresponding to the second feeding. Opposite the second ink ejection part. A portion of the recording medium where ink is not ejected faces the first ink ejection portion of the nozzle array. When the ink discharge operation is performed in this state, the second discharge ink is discharged from the second ink discharge portion to the portion where the first discharge ink is discharged. Further, the first discharge ink is discharged from the first ink discharge portion to the first ink discharge region of the recording medium for the first time. Subsequently, each is irradiated with semi-curing ultraviolet rays. The second ejection ink is the first ultraviolet irradiation, but the first ejection ink (ink ejected at the first feeding position) in the portion where the second ejection ink is ejected receives the second ultraviolet irradiation. It will be. The first ejected ink ejected to the first ink ejecting region receives the first ultraviolet irradiation.
Subsequently, when the third feed is performed, ultraviolet rays are emitted to the third ejected ink first ejected from the third ink ejecting portion of the nozzle row corresponding to the third feed to the recording medium by the same repetition as described above. When irradiated, the third discharge ink is the first ultraviolet irradiation, but the first discharge ink (ink discharged at the first feed position) in the third discharge ink portion is the third time. You will receive UV irradiation.

  As can be seen from the above description, in the portion corresponding to the N-th feeding, the ultraviolet light irradiated to the ink ejected for the first time at the N-th position is once, but the ink ejected at the first feeding position is applied to the ink ejected at the first feeding position. Is repeated N times of UV irradiation. Then, in the semi-cured state by this non-uniform ultraviolet irradiation, the subsequent main curing ultraviolet irradiation is received.

  Therefore, in the recording apparatus of Patent Document 2, the amount of curing light irradiation, which is a problem when performing recording by passing a recording medium with a plurality of N intermittent feeds using photo-curing ink, is known. There is an uneven problem. And this problem is not considered at all.

  The present invention relates to an irradiation amount of curing light in a case where recording is performed by passing a recording medium through a plurality of N intermittent feeds using an ink ejection area formed by a nozzle array of an ink ejection head using photocurable ink. The purpose is to reduce the non-uniformity.

  The recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to the first aspect of the present invention includes an ink discharge unit that discharges photocurable ink from a nozzle row and reciprocates in a first direction, a recording medium, and the ink discharge unit. And a moving mechanism that relatively moves in a second direction that intersects the first direction, and a first light that irradiates the photocurable ink ejected from the ink ejection unit to the recording medium with curing light. A light irradiation unit; a second light irradiation unit located downstream of the first irradiation unit in the second direction; the moving mechanism, the ink ejection unit, the first light irradiation unit, and the second light irradiation unit; A control unit that controls each of the operations, wherein the control unit irradiates the curing light with an amount of light for semi-curing the photo-curing ink from the first light irradiation unit and the second light irradiation unit from the half light. Irradiate the curing light with the amount of light to fully cure the cured photocured ink, The recording medium is caused to pass through the ink discharge region by the nozzle row of the ink discharge head by a plurality of N times of intermittent feeding by the moving mechanism, and the first light irradiation unit is made to pass the Nth ink corresponding to the Nth time. The light amounts L (1), L (2),... L (N-1) irradiated to the respective regions from the first to N-1 times are made smaller than the light amount L (N) irradiated to the discharge region. It is characterized by having a first control mode to be operated.

  Here, “semi-cured” means a state in which the photocured ink has not finished the curing reaction by light irradiation. Further, “main curing” means a state in which the photocurable ink has finished the curing reaction by light irradiation.

According to this aspect, a case will be described below in which a photocurable ink is used and recording is performed by passing a recording medium through a plurality of N intermittent feeds in an ink discharge region by a nozzle array of an ink discharge head. As described above, the unevenness of the irradiation amount of the curing light can be reduced.
That is, the control unit irradiates the first light irradiating unit to the respective regions from the first to N−1 times from the light amount L (N) applied to the Nth ink ejection region corresponding to the Nth time. A first control mode in which the light quantity L (1), L (2),... L (N-1) is reduced.
In the case where the light quantity C is the same for N times, the Nth discharge ink, which is the ink discharged for the first time in the Nth feed, is irradiated once with the light quantity C, but in the same discharge area as the Nth discharge ink. The total amount of light 4C is irradiated to the first ejected ink that has already been ejected at the first feeding position. Therefore, a difference of up to 4 times occurs.

  According to the present invention, the N light is not irradiated with the same light amount, but the light amount of irradiation before the Nth time is set smaller than the Nth light amount. Thereby, the difference between the irradiation light amount for the ink discharged for the first time at the Nth time (Nth discharge ink) and the irradiation light amount for the ink discharged at the first time and repeatedly irradiated with the curing light (first discharge ink) is reduced. can do. For example, the light amount L (N) irradiated to the Nth ink discharge region corresponding to the Nth time is D, and the light amounts L (1) and L (2) irradiated to the respective regions from the first time to the N−1th time. ,..., L (N−1) are all D / 4, the total light quantity for the first time is 1.75 D, which can be suppressed to 1.75 times, which is twice or less at maximum. Thereby, the variation in the quality of the subsequent main curing can be suppressed.

  In the recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the first light irradiation unit is integrated with the front side and the rear side in the moving direction of the ink discharge head. The second irradiating unit is integrally provided on the downstream side in the second direction of the ink discharge head.

According to this aspect, since the first light irradiation unit is integrally provided on the front side and the rear side in the movement direction of the ink discharge head, the curing light is irradiated immediately after the ink is discharged. Can be cured. Thereby, ink bleeding can be suppressed. In addition, ink ejection and light irradiation can be executed both in the reciprocating movement of the ink ejection head, and throughput can be improved.
Further, since the second irradiation unit is integrally provided on the downstream side in the second direction of the ink discharge head, the main curing can be effectively performed with a compact structure.

  In the recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to the third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect or the second aspect, the control unit determines the amount of light irradiated from the second light irradiation unit. It has a second control mode that adjusts according to the amount of light emitted from the first light irradiation unit, and can be executed by switching between the first control mode and the second control mode.

  According to this aspect, since the second control mode for adjusting the amount of light emitted from the second light irradiation unit corresponding to the amount of light emitted from the first light irradiation unit is provided, the second control mode By selecting this, it is possible to reduce the waste of the amount of light emitted from the second irradiating unit and reduce the operation cost.

  In the recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, the control unit may be configured such that the recording medium ejects the ink. A control for switching the second light irradiation unit from an OFF state to an ON state when the leading end of the recording medium reaches the irradiation region of the second light irradiation unit after receiving ink ejection from the head; It is possible to execute at least one of the control of changing the first light irradiation unit from the ON state to the OFF state when the rear end portion reaches a position where the light irradiation of the first light irradiation unit is unnecessary. It is characterized by.

  According to this aspect, it is possible to further reduce the waste of the amount of light emitted from the second irradiating unit and reduce the operation cost.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a recorded matter, wherein recording is performed using a recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to any one of the first to fourth aspects as a recording medium. It is something to execute.

  According to this aspect, since the recorded matter can be manufactured in a state where the unevenness of the irradiation amount of the curing light is reduced, it is possible to suppress variations in the quality of the recorded matter.

1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a main part of a recording apparatus using a photocurable ink according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block block diagram of the recording device using the photocurable ink which concerns on the Example. Process explanatory drawing explaining the effect | action of the Example. The flowchart explaining the control flow of the control part of the Example.

[Example] (FIGS. 1 to 4)
The recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to the first embodiment of the present invention ejects the photocurable ink from the nozzle row 2 and reciprocates in the first direction X as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The moving roller 1 that is a moving mechanism that relatively moves the ink discharge unit 3, the recording medium P, and the ink discharge unit 3 in a second direction Y that intersects the first direction X, and the recording medium First light irradiation units 4 and 5 for irradiating the curing light to the photocurable ink discharged from the ink discharge unit 3 with respect to P, and the second direction Y with respect to the first irradiation units 4 and 5 Operation of the second light irradiating units 6, 7 located on the downstream side of the moving roller 1, and the moving roller 1, the ink discharging unit 3, the first light irradiating units 4, 5 and the second light irradiating units 6, 7 as the moving mechanism. The control part 8 which controls is provided. Here, the first direction X is the width direction of the recording medium P, and the second direction Y is the moving direction of the recording medium P.

In the present embodiment, the first light irradiation units 4 and 5 and the second light irradiation units 6 and 7 use ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UVLEDs) and irradiate ultraviolet rays. The photocurable ink is an ultraviolet curable ink.
In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a support member that supports the recording medium P from below and defines the distance from the ink ejection head 3, and reference numeral 21 denotes an input operation unit for inputting recording data and other commands to the control unit 8. Show.

The ink discharge head 3 discharges four-color photocurable inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). As illustrated, the nozzle row 2 is provided along the second direction Y, which is the moving direction of the recording medium P. The nozzle rows 2 are arranged in the first direction X so as to be separated from each other.
One ink discharge area using all nozzles of the nozzle row 2 is equal to the length of the nozzle row 2. In this embodiment, in order to simplify the description, the length of the nozzle row 2 will be described below assuming that it is the same as the total length of the nozzle 3 shown in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the first light irradiation units 4 and 5 are integrally provided on the front side and the rear side in the first direction X that is the moving direction of the ink discharge head 3. Further, the second irradiation units 6 and 7 are provided integrally with the first light irradiation units 4 and 5 on the downstream side of the ink ejection head 3 in the second direction Y. In the present embodiment, the second light irradiators 6 and 7 and the first light irradiators 4 and 5 are the first light irradiators 4 and 5 on the upstream side of the single irradiator, and the second light irradiators on the downstream side. 6 and 7 are used. Of course, you may comprise the 1st light irradiation parts 4 and 5 and the 2nd light irradiation parts 6 and 7 by a separate thing.

In this embodiment, the control unit 8 has a first control mode 9 and a second control mode 10 which will be described later.
In the first control mode 9, the first light irradiating units 4 and 5 irradiate the light for curing with a light amount for semi-curing the photocurable ink, and the second light irradiating units 6 and 7 emit the semi-cured light. Irradiate the curing light with a light amount for curing the cured ink. Further, in the first control mode 9, the recording medium P is passed by the moving roller 1 through the ink ejection region (second direction Y) by the nozzle row 2 of the ink ejection head 3 by four intermittent feeds. Then, the first light irradiating units 4 and 5 emit light amounts L (1) to the respective regions from the first to the third time, rather than the light amount L (4) irradiated to the fourth ink discharge region corresponding to the fourth time. 1), L (2), and L (3) are configured to operate with a small size.

  As shown in FIG. 3, from the first ink irradiation region to the fourth ink irradiation region, from the first ink discharge portion 31 on the upstream side of the nozzle row 2 to the fourth ink discharge portion 34 on the downstream side. Ink is individually ejected from each of the ink ejection portions 31, 32, 33, and. FIG. 3 shows only one color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) for the ink discharge head 3 in order to avoid complication of the drawing. Description is omitted.

The 1st light irradiation parts 4 and 5 are the 1st corresponding | compatible irradiation part 41, 51, the 2nd corresponding | compatible irradiation parts 42 and 52, and the 3rd corresponding | compatible irradiation parts 43 and 53 corresponding to each sending position with respect to said 4 times of sending. It is configured to be individually controllable by dividing into fourth irradiation units 44 and 54. Light quantity L (1) from first-time corresponding irradiation units 41 and 51, light quantity L (2) from second-time corresponding irradiation parts 42 and 52, light quantity L (3) from third-time corresponding irradiation parts 43 and 53, and fourth-time corresponding irradiation part Curing light is irradiated from 44 and 54 with a light quantity L (4).
The amount of light corresponds to the product of light intensity and irradiation time. In this embodiment, the irradiation time is fixed, and the amount of light is changed by changing the current.

The second control mode 10 adjusts the amount of light emitted from the second light irradiation units 6 and 7 in accordance with the amount of light emitted from the first light irradiation units 4 and 5. The control mode 9 and the second control mode 10 can be switched and executed.
Since the second control mode 10 is provided, by selecting the second control mode 10, waste of the amount of light emitted from the second irradiating units 6 and 7 is reduced, and the operation cost is reduced. be able to.

  After the recording medium P has been ejected by the ink ejection head 3, the control unit 8 is in a stage where the leading end of the recording medium P reaches the irradiation area of the second light irradiation units 6 and 7. Control to change the second light irradiation units 6 and 7 from the OFF state to the ON state can be executed. Further, when the rear end of the recording medium P reaches a position where the light irradiation of the first light irradiators 4 and 5 is unnecessary, the first light irradiators 4 and 5 are switched from the ON state to the OFF state. Control can also be performed. Thereby, the waste of the light quantity irradiated from the 1st light irradiation parts 4 and 5 and the 2nd irradiation parts 6 and 7 can be reduced further, and the cost reduction of an operation can be achieved.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the operations in steps S1 to S4 in FIG. In FIG. 4, the description of step S3 is omitted.
According to the present embodiment, photocurable ink is used, and recording is performed by passing the recording medium through the ink ejection area (the entire length of the nozzle array 2) by the nozzle array 2 of the ink ejection head 3 by four intermittent feeds. When performed, unevenness in the irradiation amount of the curing light can be reduced.
That is, the control unit 8 discharges the first light irradiation units 4 and 5 from the first to third times from the light amount L (4) irradiated to the fourth ink discharge region corresponding to the fourth time. A first control mode in which the light quantity L (1), L (2), and L (3) irradiated from the region to the third ink discharge region is reduced.

  According to the present embodiment, the light is not irradiated with the same light amount four times, but the light amount of irradiation before the fourth time is set smaller than the light amount of the fourth time. That is, the amount of light from the first corresponding irradiation units 41 and 51 corresponding to the first ink discharge portion 31 is set to the first UV, the amount of light from the second corresponding irradiation units 42 and 52, and the amount of light from the second UV and third corresponding irradiation units 43 and 53 to the first. Assuming that the amount of light from the 3UV and fourth-time corresponding irradiation units 44 and 54 is the fourth UV, the amount of light of the fourth UV is set to four times that of other light.

  Thereby, the irradiation light amount (fourth UV) with respect to the ink discharged for the first time (fourth discharge ink) and the irradiation light amount with respect to the ink (first discharge ink) discharged for the first time and repeatedly irradiated with the curing light. Can be reduced. For example, the light quantity L (N) applied to the fourth ink ejection area corresponding to the fourth time is set to 4UV = D, and the first UV light intensity, the second UV light intensity, and the second UV light intensity applied to each area from the first time to the third time. If all 3UV are D / 4, the total amount of light emitted from the first time and repeatedly irradiated with curing light is 1.75D, and the total amount of light corresponding to the second time is 1.5D. The total amount of light corresponding to the third time is 1.25D. Therefore, the difference in light quantity can be suppressed to 1.75 times, which is twice or less at maximum. Thereby, the variation in the quality of the subsequent main curing can be suppressed.

[Other embodiments]
The recording apparatus and the method for producing a recorded matter using the photocurable ink according to the present invention basically have the above-described configuration, but are within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. It is of course possible to change or omit the general configuration.

In each of the embodiments described above, examples in which the background ink white or silver is not used have been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case of using these background inks.
The recording medium can be similarly applied to a structure in which the position is fixed in the second direction Y and the ink ejection head side moves in the second direction Y.

1 moving roller (moving mechanism), 2 nozzle array, 3 ink ejection head,
4 1st light irradiation part (UV light), 5 1st light irradiation part (UV light),
6 second light irradiation unit (UV light), 7 second light irradiation unit (UV light), 8 control unit,
9 First control mode, 10 Second control mode, 20 Support member,
21 input operation unit, 31 first ink ejection part, 32 second ink ejection part,
33 third ink discharge portion, 34 fourth ink discharge portion,
41 First-time irradiation unit, 42 Second-time irradiation unit, 43 Third-time irradiation unit,
44 4th irradiation unit, 51 1st irradiation unit, 52 2nd irradiation unit,
53 Third irradiation unit, 54 Fourth irradiation unit

Claims (5)

An ink ejection unit that ejects photocurable ink from the nozzle row and reciprocates in the first direction;
A moving mechanism that relatively moves the recording medium and the ink discharge portion in a second direction intersecting the first direction;
A first light irradiating unit that irradiates the photocurable ink ejected from the ink ejecting unit to the recording medium with curing light;
A second light irradiation unit located downstream of the first irradiation unit in the second direction;
A control unit that controls each operation of the moving mechanism, the ink discharge unit, the first light irradiation unit, and the second light irradiation unit,
The controller is
Irradiating the light for curing with a light amount for semi-curing the photocurable ink from the first light irradiation unit,
Irradiating the curing light with a light amount for main curing the semi-cured photo-curing ink from the second light irradiation unit,
Passing the recording medium through the ink ejection area by the nozzle row of the ink ejection head by a plurality of N intermittent feeds by the moving mechanism;
The amount of light L (1) irradiated to each of the first to N-1 times than the amount of light L (N) irradiated to the Nth ink ejection region corresponding to the Nth time by the first light irradiation unit. , L (2),... L (N-1) is made to operate and has a first control mode. In the recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to claim 1,
The first light irradiation unit is integrally provided on the front side and the rear side in the moving direction of the ink discharge head, and the second irradiation unit is integrally formed on the downstream side of the ink discharge head in the second direction. A recording apparatus using photocurable ink, which is provided. In the recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to claim 1 or 2,
The control unit has a second control mode for adjusting the amount of light emitted from the second light irradiation unit corresponding to the amount of light emitted from the first light irradiation unit, and the first control mode and the control unit A recording apparatus using photocurable ink, wherein the recording apparatus can be executed by switching the second control mode. In the recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The controller is
After the recording medium receives ink ejection from the ink ejection head, the second light irradiation unit is changed from the OFF state to the ON state when the leading end of the recording medium reaches the irradiation region of the second light irradiation unit. Control to change,
Control for changing the first light irradiation unit from the ON state to the OFF state when the rear end of the recording medium reaches a position where the light irradiation of the first light irradiation unit is not required,
A recording apparatus using a photocurable ink, characterized in that at least one of each control can be executed.   A method for producing a recorded matter, wherein recording is performed using a recording apparatus using the photocurable ink according to any one of claims 1 to 4 on a recording medium.

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