JPH0911501A - Recording apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To smoothly recover ink droplets without disturbing the flying route of fine ink droplets. CONSTITUTION: A recording apparatus bonds recording material droplets DI to a recording medium corresponding to recording data and is equipped with a recovery means 6 recovering the recording material droplets not used in recording. The recovery means 6 is equipped with air introducing holes 6a opened outside the flying route of the recording material droplets and recovery holes 6b having an opening area smaller than that of the air introducing holes and catching the recording material droplets to recover them.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device and a recording method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet recording apparatus, a gutter is used as a means for collecting ink droplets not used for recording.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 935, a method is generally used in which a negative pressure is applied to an ink tank and an ink flow is used to collect ink droplets.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-106354 discloses an ink collecting means which is not used for printing.
By making the cross-sectional area of the ink inlet opening smaller than the cross-sectional area of the air flow path to increase the flow velocity, the flow rate of the air used for ink recovery is reduced without reducing the ink recovery performance, and the ink solvent is evaporated. A recovery system that reduces the amount is disclosed.

[0004]

By the way, in the recording apparatus by the ink jet method, the size of the ink droplet is reduced to several tens of μm in diameter as the recording information is miniaturized. Therefore, in the gutter disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 50-103935, there is a problem that the flow of air recovered by the negative pressure in the gutter disturbs the flight path of minute ink droplets. In particular, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-106354
In the ink recovery means disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-242, since the flow velocity of air is increased, the flight path of ink droplets is further disturbed, and the quality of the image to be recorded on the recording medium deteriorates.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a recording apparatus and a recording method capable of smoothly collecting ink droplets without disturbing the flight path of minute ink droplets. An object of the present invention is to provide a color filter having excellent image quality.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording material droplets are attached to the recording medium according to the recording information, and the recording material droplets not used for recording are collected. A recording apparatus having a collecting means for capturing the recording material droplet, wherein the collecting means has an air introduction hole opening outside the flight path of the recording material droplet and an opening area smaller than that of the air introduction hole. And a recovery hole for recovery.

Preferably, the opening area ratio between the air introduction hole and the recovery hole is set to 1-50. Further, in order to achieve the above object, in the recording method of the present invention, recording information is recorded by recording material droplets, and the recording material droplets that have not been used for recording are collected. Air is introduced from outside the flight path to generate a negative pressure, and the negative pressure is used to collect the recording material droplets.

[0008]

The recording apparatus and the recording method of the present invention include an air introduction hole opened outside the flight path of a recording material drop and a collection hole for capturing and collecting the recording material drop having an opening area smaller than that of the air introduction hole. And a recovery means including means for introducing air from an air introduction hole opened outside the flight path of the recording material drop to generate a negative pressure, and utilizing the negative pressure to smoothly collect the recording material drop from the recovery hole. To do.

At this time, if the opening area ratio between the air introduction hole and the recovery hole is set to 1 to 50, the flow of air sucked into the gutter by negative pressure disturbs the flight path of minute ink droplets. Suppress. When the recording method of the present invention is used, the flight path of minute ink droplets is suppressed from being disturbed, and the image quality of the manufactured color filter is improved.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention relating to a recording apparatus and a recording method by the ink jet method will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining the principle of a recording apparatus and a recording method of the present invention using an inkjet method. The piezoelectric element 1 vibrates the ejection nozzle 2 to divide the ink ejected continuously into fine ink droplets DI. The charging electrode 3 imparts a predetermined electric charge to the ink droplets DI that pass by a pulse voltage applied based on the print information signal. On the other hand, the ink droplet DI charged by the charging electrode
Is deflected by a set of deflection electrodes 4 according to the charge level, and adheres to a desired position on the transparent substrate 5. In addition, the ink droplet DI that did not adhere to the transparent substrate 5
Are collected by the gutter 6.

The gutter 6 is a means for collecting the ink droplets DI, which is provided with a suction source such as a pump on the ink recovery tank side at one end. As shown, the gutter 6 is provided with an air introduction hole 6a and an air recovery hole 6b on the other end side. Introduction hole 6a
Are opened outside the flight path of the ink drop DI at the end of the gutter 6. The recovery hole 6b is a hole that opens in the flight path of the ink droplet DI and captures and recovers the ink droplet DI that has not adhered to the transparent substrate 5, and has an opening area smaller than that of the introduction hole 6a.

At this time, the introduction hole 6a and the collection hole 6b have an opening area ratio (S1 / S2) of the opening area (S1) of the introduction hole 6a to the opening area (S2) of the collection hole 6b in the range of 1 to 50. Set. If the area ratio is less than 1, the recovery hole 6b
Is too large, the amount of air sucked together with the ink droplet DI increases, and the flight path of the minute ink droplet DI is disturbed. On the other hand, when the area ratio exceeds 50, the recovery hole 6b
Is too small, and it becomes difficult to capture the ink droplet DI, or the introduction hole 6a is too large, which places a large restriction on the arrangement in terms of the configuration. The area ratio is more preferably set in the range of 1 to 20, most preferably 3 to 7.

In the recording apparatus and the recording method of the present invention, the gutter 6 is used to collect the ink drops DI that have not adhered to the transparent substrate 5. At this time, in the gutter 6,
Air is introduced from the introduction hole 6a opened outside the flight path of the ink drop DI by the suction source at one end to generate a negative pressure corresponding to the opening ratio in the recovery hole 6b, and the negative pressure is used to utilize the ink drop DI. Collect.

Therefore, in the recording apparatus and the recording method of the present invention, the flight path of the ink droplet DI is not disturbed and the quality of the image to be recorded on the transparent substrate is not deteriorated, and the minute ink droplet DI is also smooth. Can be collected. Therefore, by the above recording method using the above recording device,
The red, green, and blue ink droplets DI are ejected from the respective ejection nozzles 2, and the ink droplets DI not adhered to the transparent substrate 5 are collected by the gutter 6, while the transparent substrate 5 is moved in the X direction and the Y direction. Direction is applied in a predetermined arrangement sequence, and after each treatment such as temporary cure and main cure is made into pixels, a protective film, transparent electrodes, etc. are formed to form high-quality pixels with high precision. Color filters could be manufactured.

Since the opening area ratio (S1 / S2) between the introduction hole 6a and the recovery hole 6b determines the distribution of the air flow rate, the same applies to the pressure loss ratio equal to the area ratio. The effect of is obtained.

[0016]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the recording apparatus and the recording method of the present invention, it is possible to smoothly collect ink droplets without disturbing the flight path of minute ink droplets. The quality of the image to be recorded on the recording medium is improved. At this time, the opening area ratio between the air introduction hole and the recovery hole is set to 1 to 50, so that the flow of the air sucked into the gutter by the negative pressure disturbs the flight path of minute ink droplets more effectively. Can be suppressed.

Therefore, in the color filter manufactured by using the recording method of the present invention, the disturbance of the flight path due to minute ink droplets is suppressed during manufacturing, so that fine pixels are accurately formed and the image quality is excellent. ing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a principle of a recording apparatus and a recording method of the present invention by an inkjet method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Piezoelectric Element 2 Ejection Nozzle 3 Charging Electrode 4 Deflection Electrode 5 Transparent Substrate 6 Gutter 6a Introduction Hole 6b Recovery Hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus comprising a collecting means for collecting recording material droplets on a recording medium in accordance with recording information and collecting the recording material droplets not used for recording, wherein the collecting means comprises: A recording apparatus comprising: an air introduction hole opened outside a flight path of a recording material drop; and a recovery hole having an opening area smaller than that of the air introduction hole and capturing and recovering the recording material drop. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an opening area ratio between the air introduction hole and the recovery hole is 1 to 50. 3. A recording method for recording recording information by recording material droplets and recovering the recording material droplets that have not been used for recording, by introducing air from outside the flight path of the recording material droplets to obtain a negative pressure. And a droplet of the recording material is recovered by utilizing the negative pressure.