KR102290672B1 - Apparatus and method for checking printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a printing equipment inspection apparatus and method for inspecting printing equipment by determining whether a position of a discharged droplet matches a position of a nozzle. The printing equipment inspection apparatus may include: a position measuring unit installed under the inkjet head unit and the substrate to measure position information of a nozzle provided in the inkjet head unit and position information of a droplet discharged onto a substrate through the nozzle; a control unit for focusing the position measuring unit on the nozzle when measuring the position information of the nozzle, and focusing the position measuring unit on the droplets when measuring the position information of the droplet; and after acquiring the position information of the nozzle and the position information of the droplet, determining whether the nozzle and the droplet are located on the same line based on the information measured by the position measuring unit in a state where the focus of the position measuring unit is adjusted to the nozzle includes wealth.

Description

{Apparatus and method for checking printing device}

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for inspecting printing equipment. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus and method for inspecting printing equipment having an inkjet head.

When a printing process is performed on a transparent substrate to manufacture a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), printing equipment including an inkjet head may be used.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Patent No. 10-2016-0115836 (published date: 2016.10.06.)

Measuring the coordinates of a droplet of ink discharged from an inkjet head is a very important technique in pixel printing. At this time, the path of ink dripping is different for each nozzle of the inkjet head, and tracking and managing it is the core technology of pixel printing.

However, in the related art, although the coordinates of the ejected droplets can be obtained, it is not known whether the coordinates exactly match the position of the nozzle. That is, since it is not known whether the position of the nozzle and the position of the ejected droplet are exactly the same, it is impossible to check the X and Y directionality for each nozzle. This makes it difficult to track accurate ejection properties for each nozzle, and acts as a disadvantage of precise pixel printing. For this reason, erroneous landing occurs and acts as a cause of product failure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printing equipment inspection apparatus for inspecting printing equipment by determining whether a position of a discharged droplet coincides with a position of a nozzle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing equipment inspection method for inspecting printing equipment by determining whether a position of a discharged droplet matches a position of a nozzle.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the problems mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

One aspect of the printing equipment inspection apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object measures position information of a nozzle provided in an inkjet head unit and position information of a droplet discharged on a substrate through the nozzle, a position measuring unit installed under the inkjet head unit and the substrate; a control unit for focusing the position measuring unit on the nozzle when measuring the position information of the nozzle, and focusing the position measuring unit on the droplet when measuring the position information of the droplet; and after acquiring the position information of the nozzle and the position information of the droplet, the nozzle and the droplet are on the same line based on the information measured by the position measuring unit in a state in which the position measuring unit is focused on the nozzle It includes a determination unit for determining whether the location is located.

The determination unit may determine whether the nozzle and the droplet are located on the same line based on whether the information measured by the position measurement unit is related to the droplet in a state in which the position measurement unit focuses on the nozzle. there is. In this case, the determination unit may use a three-dimensional coordinate value as the position information of the nozzle, the position information of the droplet, and the information measured by the position measuring unit.

The apparatus for inspecting printing equipment may further include a time measuring unit measuring time information taken to measure the position information of the nozzle and time information taken to measure the position information of the droplet.

The determination unit is the nozzle and the droplet on the basis of whether the information measured by the measurement unit and the information measured by the time measurement unit are related to the droplet in a state where the focus of the position measurement unit is set to the nozzle It can be determined whether or not it is located on the In this case, the determination unit may use the two-dimensional coordinate value as the position information of the nozzle, the position information of the droplet, and the information measured by the position measuring unit.

The printing equipment inspection apparatus determines whether the nozzle and the droplet are positioned on the same line based on a result obtained by correcting the position of the nozzle, correcting the position of the substrate supporting unit on which the substrate is seated, and adjusting the position of the substrate supporting unit to the substrate supporting unit. At least one of misalignment correction of the seated substrate may be guided.

The position measuring unit may measure the position information of the nozzle before the position information of the droplet.

One aspect of the printing equipment inspection method of the present invention for achieving the above object is to adjust the focusing of the position measuring unit installed under the inkjet head unit and the substrate to the nozzles provided in the inkjet head unit, and to collect the position information of the nozzles. measuring; focusing the position measuring unit on a droplet discharged onto the substrate through the nozzle, and measuring position information of the droplet; focusing the position measuring unit on the nozzle and acquiring a position value using the position measuring unit; and determining whether the nozzle and the droplet are located on the same line based on whether the position value is related to the droplet.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of a printing equipment.
2 is a plan view showing a schematic structure of a printing equipment.
3 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is an exemplary view showing an installation form of a measuring unit constituting a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an operation method of a measurement unit constituting a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a first exemplary view for explaining the function of a determination unit constituting a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a second exemplary view for explaining the function of the determination unit constituting the printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Advantages and features of the present invention, and a method for achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments published below, but may be implemented in various different forms, only these embodiments make the publication of the present invention complete, and common knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains It is provided to fully inform the possessor of the scope of the invention, and the present invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Reference to an element or layer “on” or “on” another element or layer includes not only directly on the other element or layer, but also with intervening other layers or elements. include all On the other hand, reference to an element "directly on" or "immediately on" indicates that no intervening element or layer is interposed.

Spatially relative terms "below", "beneath", "lower", "above", "upper", etc. It can be used to easily describe a correlation between an element or components and other elements or components. Spatially relative terms should be understood as terms including different orientations of the device during use or operation in addition to the orientation shown in the drawings. For example, if an element shown in the figures is turned over, an element described as "beneath" or "beneath" another element may be placed "above" the other element. Accordingly, the exemplary term “below” may include both directions below and above. The device may also be oriented in other orientations, and thus spatially relative terms may be interpreted according to orientation.

It should be understood that although first, second, etc. are used to describe various elements, components, and/or sections, these elements, components, and/or sections are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, or sections from another. Accordingly, it goes without saying that the first element, the first element, or the first section mentioned below may be the second element, the second element, or the second section within the spirit of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing the embodiments and is not intended to limit the present invention. As used herein, the singular also includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise in the phrase. As used herein, "comprises" and/or "comprising" refers to the presence of one or more other components, steps, operations and/or elements mentioned. or addition is not excluded.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used with the meaning commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. In addition, terms defined in a commonly used dictionary are not to be interpreted ideally or excessively unless clearly defined in particular.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. A description will be omitted.

The present invention relates to a printing equipment inspection apparatus and method for inspecting printing equipment. In the present invention, the position of a droplet discharged by an inkjet head and a position of a nozzle installed in the inkjet head for discharging the droplet are measured, and whether the position of the droplet and the position of the nozzle match , and through this, the printing equipment can be inspected. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to drawings and the like.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of a printing equipment. And Figure 2 is a plan view showing the schematic structure of the printing equipment.

1 and 2, the printing equipment 100 includes a base 110, a substrate support unit 120, a gantry unit 130, a gantry movement unit 140, an inkjet head unit 150, a head movement unit ( 160 ), a liquid crystal discharge amount measuring unit 170 , a nozzle inspection unit 180 , and a head cleaning unit 190 .

The base 110 may be provided in a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a constant thickness. A substrate support unit 120 is disposed on the upper surface of the base 110 .

The substrate support unit 120 has a support plate 121 on which the substrate S is placed. The support plate 121 may be a plate having a rectangular shape. A rotation driving member 122 is connected to the lower surface of the support plate 121 . The rotation driving member 122 may be a rotation motor. The rotation driving member 122 rotates the support plate 121 about a central axis of rotation perpendicular to the support plate 121 .

When the support plate 121 is rotated by the rotation driving member 122 , the substrate S may be rotated by the rotation of the support plate 121 . When the long side direction of the cell formed on the substrate S to which the liquid crystal is to be applied faces the second direction 20 , the rotation driving member 122 rotates the substrate so that the long side direction of the cell faces the first direction 10 . can

The support plate 121 and the rotation driving member 122 may be linearly moved in the first direction 10 by the linear driving member 123 . The linear driving member 123 includes a slider 124 and a guide member 125 . The rotation driving member 122 is installed on the upper surface of the slider 124 .

The guide member 125 extends long in the first direction 10 in the center of the upper surface of the base 110 . A linear motor (not shown) may be built in the slider 124 , and the slider 124 is linearly moved in the first direction 10 along the guide member 125 by the linear motor (not shown).

The gantry unit 130 is provided on the path along which the support plate 121 moves. The gantry unit 130 is disposed to be spaced apart from the upper surface of the base 110 in the upper direction, and the gantry unit 130 is disposed such that the longitudinal direction faces the second direction 20 .

The gantry moving unit 140 linearly moves the gantry unit 130 in the first direction 10 . The gantry moving unit 140 includes a first moving unit 141 and a second moving unit 142 .

The first moving unit 141 is provided at one end of the gantry unit 130 , and the second moving unit 142 is provided at the other end of the gantry unit 130 . The first moving unit 141 slides along the guide rail 221 provided on one side of the base 110 , and the second moving unit 142 moves along the guide rail 222 provided on the other side of the base 110 . The sliding movement moves the gantry unit 130 in a straight line in the first direction 10 .

The inkjet head unit 150 is coupled to the gantry unit 130 by the head moving unit 160 . The inkjet head unit 150 may move linearly in the longitudinal direction of the gantry unit 130 , that is, in the second direction 20 , or in the third direction 30 by the head moving unit 160 . Also, the inkjet head unit 150 may rotate about an axis parallel to the third direction 30 with respect to the head moving unit 160 .

The inkjet head unit 150 discharges liquid crystal droplets to the substrate S. A plurality of inkjet head units 150 may be provided. For example, three inkjet head units 150 such as a first head unit 151 , a second head unit 152 , and a third head unit 153 may be provided. The plurality of inkjet head units 150 are coupled to the gantry unit 130 in parallel in a line in the second direction 20 .

The inkjet head unit 150 may include a plurality of nozzles (not shown) for discharging liquid crystal droplets and a nozzle plate (not shown) on which the plurality of nozzles are formed. The inkjet head unit 150 may be provided with, for example, 128 nozzles or 256 nozzles.

The number of piezoelectric elements corresponding to the plurality of nozzles may be provided in the inkjet head unit 150 . A droplet discharge amount of the plurality of nozzles may be independently adjusted by controlling a voltage applied to the piezoelectric element.

The head moving unit 160 may be provided in each of the inkjet head units 150 . In the present embodiment, since three inkjet head units 151, 152, and 153 are provided as an example, three head moving units 160 may also be provided to correspond to the number of heads. Alternatively, a single head moving unit 160 may be provided, and in this case, the inkjet head unit 150 may be moved integrally rather than individually.

The liquid crystal discharge amount measuring unit 170 measures the liquid crystal discharge amount of the inkjet head unit 150 . The liquid crystal discharge amount measuring unit 170 may be disposed on one side of the substrate support unit 120 on the base 110 .

The liquid crystal discharge amount measurement unit 170 measures the liquid crystal amount discharged from all nozzles for each inkjet head unit 150 . By measuring the liquid crystal discharge amount of the inkjet head unit 150 , it is possible to macroscopically check whether all nozzles of the inkjet head unit 150 are abnormal. That is, when the liquid crystal discharge amount of the inkjet head unit 150 deviates from the reference value, it can be seen that at least one of the inkjet head units 150 is abnormal.

The inkjet head unit 150 is moved in the first direction 10 and the second direction 20 by the gantry moving unit 140 and the head moving unit 160 to be positioned above the liquid crystal discharge amount measuring unit 170 . can The head moving unit 160 may move the inkjet head unit 150 in the third direction 30 to adjust the vertical distance between the inkjet head unit 150 and the liquid crystal discharge amount measuring unit 170 .

The nozzle inspection unit 180 checks whether individual nozzles provided in the inkjet head unit 150 are abnormal through an optical inspection. As a result of checking the presence or absence of macroscopic nozzle abnormalities in the liquid crystal discharge amount measurement unit 170 , when it is determined that there is an abnormality in the unspecified nozzle, the nozzle inspection unit 180 performs a complete inspection of the nozzles while checking the presence or absence of individual nozzle abnormalities. can proceed.

The nozzle inspection unit 180 may be disposed on one side of the substrate support unit 120 on the base 110 . The inkjet head unit 150 may be moved in the first direction 10 and the second direction 20 by the gantry moving unit 140 and the head moving unit 160 to be positioned above the nozzle inspection unit 180 . there is. The head moving unit 160 may move the inkjet head unit 150 in the third direction 30 to adjust a vertical distance between the inkjet head unit 150 and the nozzle inspection unit 180 .

The head cleaning unit 190 performs a purging process and a suction process. The purging process is a process of injecting a portion of the liquid crystal accommodated in the inkjet head unit 150 at a high pressure. The suction process is a process of sucking and removing the liquid crystal remaining on the nozzle surface of the inkjet head unit 150 after the purging process.

Meanwhile, the printing equipment 100 may further include a liquid crystal supply device 210 .

The liquid crystal supply device 210 may be installed on the upper portion and the side of the gantry unit 130 . The liquid crystal supply device 210 includes a liquid crystal supply module 211 and a pressure control module 212 .

The liquid crystal supply module 211 and the pressure control module 212 may be coupled to the gantry unit 130 . The liquid crystal supply module 211 receives liquid crystal from the liquid crystal supply device 210 and supplies the liquid crystal to the inkjet head unit 150 . The pressure control module 212 adjusts the pressure of the liquid crystal supply module 211 by providing positive or negative pressure to the liquid crystal supply module 211 .

Next, a printing equipment inspection apparatus for inspecting printing equipment will be described.

3 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 may include a position measurement unit 310 , a control unit 320 , and a determination unit 330 .

The position measuring unit 310 measures position information of each droplet with respect to a plurality of droplets discharged on a substrate (eg, glass substrate) by the inkjet head unit 150 . The position measuring unit 310 may also measure position information of each nozzle with respect to a plurality of nozzles installed on the inkjet head unit 150 .

A single position measuring unit 310 may be provided in the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 . In this case, the single position measuring unit 310 may measure both the position information on the plurality of nozzles and the position information on the plurality of droplets. However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto. A plurality of position measuring units 310 may be provided in the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 . Two position measuring units 310 may be provided in, for example, the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 . In this case, one position measuring unit 310 may measure position information on a plurality of nozzles, and the other position measuring unit 310 may measure position information on a plurality of droplets.

When a single position measuring unit 310 is provided in the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 , as shown in FIG. 4 , the position measuring unit 310 may be installed under the inkjet head 150 and the substrate 410 . When the position measuring unit 310 is installed in this way, the position information and the plurality of droplets (430a, 430b, ..., 430n) for the plurality of nozzles 420a, 420b, ..., 420n as a single position measuring unit 310 It may become possible to measure all the location information for . 4 is an exemplary view showing an installation form of a measuring unit constituting a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When a single position measuring unit 310 is provided in the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300, as shown in FIG. 5, after measuring position information for a plurality of nozzles 420a, 420b, ..., 420n, a plurality Position information may be measured for the droplets 430a, 430b, ..., 430n. That is, the position measuring unit 310 measures position information for the plurality of nozzles 420a, 420b, ..., 420n in a state where the substrate is not disposed under the inkjet head unit 150, and then the inkjet head unit ( When a substrate is disposed under 150 and a plurality of droplets 430a, 430b, ..., 430n are discharged on the substrate by a plurality of nozzles 420a, 420b, ..., 420n, a plurality of droplets 430a, 430b, ... , 430n) can measure location information.

However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto. The position measuring unit 310 measures the position information with respect to the plurality of droplets 430a, 430b, ..., 430n, and then it is also possible to measure the position information with respect to the plurality of nozzles 420a, 420b, ..., 420n. . 5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an operation method of a measurement unit constituting a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

It will be described again with reference to FIG. 3 .

When a plurality of position measuring units 310 are provided in the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 (eg, when two are provided), any one position measuring unit 310 is located on the side of the inkjet head 150 . installed, and the other position measuring unit 310 may be installed under the substrate 410 . In this case, one position measuring unit 310 may measure position information on a plurality of nozzles, and the other position measuring unit 310 may measure position information on a plurality of droplets.

When a plurality of position measurement units 310 are provided in the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 , the position measurement unit 310 may simultaneously measure position information on a plurality of nozzles and position information on a plurality of droplets. However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto. The position measuring unit 310 may measure the position information on the plurality of nozzles and the position information on the plurality of droplets at different times.

The position measuring unit 310 may be implemented as a camera sensor to measure position information on a plurality of nozzles and position information on a plurality of droplets. The position measuring unit 310 may be implemented as, for example, an optical system. However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto. The position measuring unit 310 may be implemented as a laser sensor.

The position measuring unit 310 may measure two-dimensional coordinates (x, y) with position information on a plurality of nozzles and position information on a plurality of droplets. However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto. The position measuring unit 310 may measure three-dimensional coordinates (x, y, z) with position information on a plurality of nozzles and position information on a plurality of droplets.

The control unit 320 controls the position measuring unit 310 . The control unit 320 adjusts the focusing of the position measurement unit 310 to the nozzle when measuring position information about the nozzle using the position measurement unit 310 and uses the position measurement unit 310 to measure the liquid. When measuring the position information on the enemy, the position measuring unit 310 may perform a function of focusing on the droplet.

The determination unit 330 determines whether the position of the nozzle matches the position of the droplet. The determination unit 330 determines the position of the nozzle and the position of the droplet based on the information measured by the position measuring unit 310 in a state where the focusing of the position measuring unit 310 is aligned with the nozzle by the control unit 320 . It can be determined whether they match.

The determination unit 330 may serve to inspect the printing equipment 100 by determining whether the position of the nozzle matches the position of the droplet. If it is determined that the position of the nozzle and the position of the droplet do not match, for example, the determination unit 330 determines that the nozzle of the inkjet head unit 150 is out of a designated position, and sets the nozzle of the inkjet head unit 150 . You can guide them to rearrange. Alternatively, the determination unit 330 considers that the substrate support unit 120 on which the substrate S is seated is out of a designated position or that the substrate S is not properly seated on the substrate support unit 120, and corrects this may guide you.

The determination unit 330 determines the position of the nozzle and the position of the droplet based on the information measured by the position measuring unit 310 in a state where the position information on the nozzle and the position information on the droplet ejected by the nozzle are known. It can be determined whether they match.

When the position measuring unit 310 focuses on the nozzle, the position measuring unit 310 may measure position information about the nozzle. Similarly, when the position measuring unit 310 focuses on a droplet, the position measuring unit 310 may measure position information on the droplet. As described above, when the position information on the nozzle and the position information on the droplet are measured by the position measurement unit 310 , the controller 320 focuses the position measurement unit 310 on the nozzle.

When the focus of the position measuring unit 310 is adjusted to the nozzle by the controller 320 , the position measuring unit 310 may measure position information about the nozzle. However, as shown in FIG. 6 , when the nozzle 420k and the droplet 430k are positioned on the same line, the position measurement unit 310 does not measure the position information about the nozzle 420k, but rather the droplet 430k. location information is measured. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7 , when the nozzle 420k and the droplet 430k are not positioned on the same line, the position measuring unit 310 measures information about the nozzle 420k.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 330 determines whether the information measured by the position measurement unit 310 is position information on the nozzle 420k or the position information on the droplet 430k, based on whether the nozzle 420k It may be determined whether the position and the position of the droplet 430k match. 6 is a first exemplary view for explaining the function of the determination unit constituting the printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 7 is a judgment constituting the printing equipment inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention It is a second exemplary diagram for explaining the function of the sub.

Meanwhile, the determination unit 330 determines whether the information measured by the position measurement unit 310 is position information on the nozzle 420k or the position information on the droplet 430k, the position of the nozzle 420k. The three-dimensional coordinates (x, y, z) may be used as information and location information for the droplet 430k.

For example, in a state in which the positioning unit 310 is focused on the nozzle 420k, the position information (5, 5, 7) of the nozzle 420k is acquired, and the focusing of the position measurement unit 310 is obtained. Position information (5, 5, 3) of the droplet 430k is acquired in a state aligned with the droplet 430k. Then, the determination unit 330 can determine whether the position of the nozzle 420k and the position of the droplet 430k coincide with the position of the nozzle 420k while knowing the position information of the nozzle 420k and the position information of the droplet 430k. becomes

Thereafter, the focus of the position measuring unit 310 is adjusted to the nozzle 420k, and position information of the nozzle 420k is measured using the position measuring unit 310 . At this time, when the position measuring unit 310 obtains (5, 5, 3) as the position information, the determining unit 330 determines that the nozzle 420k and the droplet 430k are located on the same line. That is, the determination unit 330 may determine that the position of the nozzle 420k matches the position of the droplet 430k.

On the other hand, when the position measurement unit 310 obtains a value other than (5, 5, 3) as the position information, for example (5, 5, 7), the determination unit 330 determines the nozzle 420k and the droplet ( 430k) is not located on the same line. That is, the determination unit 330 may determine that the position of the nozzle 420k and the position of the droplet 430k do not match.

It will be described again with reference to FIG. 3 .

On the other hand, the determination unit 330 is two-dimensional with the position information on the nozzle and the position information on the droplet in order to determine whether the information measured by the position measurement unit 310 is the position information about the nozzle or the position information about the droplet. It is also possible to use coordinates (x, y). In this case, the printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 may further include a time measuring unit 340 .

8 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of a printing equipment inspection apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, this will be described.

The time measuring unit 340 measures time information required to measure the position information on the nozzle and the time information required to measure the position information on the droplet. The time measuring unit 340 measures the time information for measuring the position information on the nozzle and the position information on the droplet when the position measuring unit 310 measures the position information on the nozzle and the position information on the droplet. It is possible to measure information about the time it takes to measure. The time measuring unit 340 obtains, for example, distance information to a nozzle and distance information to a droplet using a laser sensor, information about the time taken to measure the location information about the nozzle and location information about the droplet It is possible to measure information about the time it takes to measure .

When the position measuring unit 310 focuses on the nozzle, the position measuring unit 310 may measure position information about the nozzle. In this case, the time measuring unit 340 may measure the time information t1 required to measure the position information about the nozzle. Similarly, when the focusing of the position measuring unit 310 is focused on the droplet, the position measuring unit 310 may measure position information about the droplet, and in this case, the time measuring unit 340 is used to measure the position information about the droplet. It is possible to measure the time information (t2) taken for .

Thereafter, in a state where the focusing of the position measuring unit 310 by the control unit 320 is aligned with the nozzle, based on the information measured by the position measuring unit 310, it is determined whether the position of the nozzle matches the position of the droplet. judge

However, it is not possible to distinguish whether the information measured by the position measuring unit 310 is position information about a nozzle or position information about a droplet. If the information measured by the position measuring unit 310 is three-dimensional coordinates (x, y, z), it is possible to determine which of the position information about the nozzle and the position information about the droplet corresponds.

However, if the information measured by the position measuring unit 310 is two-dimensional coordinates (x, y), the position information about the nozzle and the position information about the droplet will have the same value, so the position measured by the position measuring unit 310 is It is not possible to determine which of the information corresponds to the position information about the nozzle and the position information about the droplet.

In this embodiment, in this case, information measured by the time measuring unit 340 is additionally used to determine the position information about the nozzle and the liquid even if the information measured by the position measuring unit 310 is two-dimensional coordinates (x, y). It is possible to determine which of the location information about the enemy corresponds to.

For example, in a state in which the positioning unit 310 is focused on the nozzle 420k, the time taken to acquire the position information (5, 5) of the nozzle 420k and the position information of the nozzle 420k Time taken to acquire the information t1 and to acquire the position information (5, 5) of the droplet 430k and the position information of the droplet 430k with the position measuring unit 310 focused on the droplet 430k Acquire information t2.

Thereafter, the focus of the position measuring unit 310 is adjusted to the nozzle 420k, the position information of the nozzle 420k is measured using the position measuring unit 310 , and the nozzle 420k is measured using the time measuring unit 340 . ) to measure the time it takes to obtain the location information.

At this time, when the position measuring unit 310 obtains (5, 5) as the position information and t2 as the time information, the determining unit 330 determines that the nozzle 420k and the droplet 430k are located on the same line. do. That is, the determination unit 330 may determine that the position of the nozzle 420k matches the position of the droplet 430k.

On the other hand, the position measuring unit 310 obtains a value other than (5, 5) as the position information, or obtains (5, 5) as the position information, and obtains a value other than t1 (eg, t2) as the time information If obtained, the determination unit 330 determines that the nozzle 420k and the droplet 430k are not located on the same line. That is, the determination unit 330 may determine that the position of the nozzle 420k and the position of the droplet 430k do not match.

Meanwhile, when determining whether the position of the nozzle 420k matches the position of the droplet 430k, the determination unit 330 includes time information for measuring the position information on the nozzle 420k and the droplet 430k. ), it is also possible to use distance information to the nozzle 420k and distance information to the droplet 430k instead of the time information taken to measure the location information for

The printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment has been described above with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8 . The printing equipment inspection device 300 is a dual coordinate acquisition device for pixel printing, and a camera is installed under the inkjet head unit 150 and the substrate to simultaneously acquire nozzle coordinates and coordinates of droplets ejected from the nozzle. The exact droplet path can be traced. This is a device that acquires coordinates by focusing differently with one camera.

The printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 acquires nozzle coordinates by installing a camera under a substrate (eg, a glass substrate) located below the inkjet head unit 150 . At this time, if the camera focuses on the nozzle, the coordinates of the nozzle may be obtained, and if the focus is on the glass substrate, the coordinates of the ejected droplets may be obtained. If the coordinates of the nozzle cannot be obtained by the droplet, it means that the ejection is correct. Such an algorithm can track the ejection path of droplets for each nozzle, which can be provided as information for precise pixel printing.

The printing equipment inspection apparatus 300 may be implemented as a GVC system. The characteristics of the GVC system are summarized as follows.

First, the GVC system is located at the lower end of the inkjet head unit 150 and the substrate.

Second, the GVC system simultaneously acquires coordinates of the nozzles of the inkjet head unit 150 and the droplets ejected onto the substrate.

Third, the GVC system can be composed of a laser-based system and an optical system.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the above and the accompanying drawings, those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can practice the present invention in other specific forms without changing its technical spirit or essential features. You will understand that there is Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive.

100: printing equipment 110: base
120: substrate support unit 130: gantry unit
140: gantry moving unit 150: inkjet head unit
160: head moving unit 170: liquid crystal discharge amount measurement unit
180: nozzle inspection unit 190: head cleaning unit
210: liquid crystal supply device 300: printing equipment inspection device
310: position measurement unit 320: control unit
330: determination unit 340: time measurement unit
410: substrates 420a, 420b, ..., 420k, ..., 420n: nozzles
430a, 430b, ..., 430k, ..., 430n: droplet

Claims (9)

a position measuring unit configured to measure position information of a nozzle provided in the inkjet head unit and position information of a droplet discharged onto a substrate through the nozzle, and installed under the inkjet head unit and the substrate;
a control unit for focusing the position measuring unit on the nozzle when measuring the position information of the nozzle, and focusing the position measuring unit on the droplet when measuring the position information of the droplet; and
After obtaining the position information of the nozzle and the position information of the droplet, the nozzle and the droplet are positioned on the same line based on the information measured by the position measuring unit in a state in which the position measuring unit focuses on the nozzle Includes a judgment unit to determine whether or not,
The determination unit determines whether the nozzle and the droplet are located on the same line based on whether the information measured by the position measurement unit is related to the droplet in a state in which the position measurement unit focuses on the nozzle, A printing equipment inspection apparatus using a three-dimensional coordinate value as the position information of the nozzle, the position information of the droplet, and the information measured by the position measuring unit. delete delete a position measuring unit configured to measure position information of a nozzle provided in the inkjet head unit and position information of a droplet discharged onto a substrate through the nozzle, and installed under the inkjet head unit and the substrate;
a control unit for focusing the position measuring unit on the nozzle when measuring the position information of the nozzle, and focusing the position measuring unit on the droplet when measuring the position information of the droplet;
After obtaining the position information of the nozzle and the position information of the droplet, the nozzle and the droplet are positioned on the same line based on the information measured by the position measuring unit in a state in which the position measuring unit focuses on the nozzle a judging unit that determines whether or not; and
and a time measuring unit for measuring time information taken to measure the position information of the nozzle and time information taken to measure the position information of the droplet. 5. The method of claim 4,
The determination unit is the nozzle and the droplet on the basis of whether the information measured by the measurement unit and the information measured by the time measurement unit are related to the droplet in a state where the focus of the position measurement unit is focused on the nozzle Printing equipment inspection device to determine whether it is located on the 6. The method of claim 5,
The determination unit is a printing equipment inspection apparatus using a two-dimensional coordinate value as the position information of the nozzle, the position information of the droplet, and the information measured by the position measuring unit. The method of claim 1,
The printing equipment inspection apparatus determines whether the nozzle and the droplet are positioned on the same line based on a result obtained by correcting the position of the nozzle, correcting the position of the substrate supporting unit on which the substrate is seated, and adjusting the position of the substrate supporting unit to the substrate supporting unit. A printing equipment inspection apparatus for guiding at least one of the misalignment correction of the seated substrate. The method of claim 1,
The position measuring unit is a printing equipment inspection apparatus for measuring the position information of the nozzle before the position information of the droplet. adjusting the focus of the inkjet head unit and the position measuring unit installed under the substrate to the nozzles provided in the inkjet head unit, and measuring position information of the nozzles;
focusing the position measuring unit on a droplet discharged onto the substrate through the nozzle, and measuring position information of the droplet;
focusing the position measuring unit on the nozzle and acquiring a position value using the position measuring unit; and
determining whether the nozzle and the droplet are located on the same line based on whether the position value is related to the droplet;
The determining includes determining whether the nozzle and the droplet are located on the same line based on whether the information measured by the position measuring unit is related to the droplet in a state in which the position measuring unit focuses on the nozzle And, a printing equipment inspection method using a three-dimensional coordinate value as the position information of the nozzle, the position information of the droplet, and the information measured by the position measuring unit.

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