WO2010055751A1

WO2010055751A1 - Line head unit and drawing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2010055751A1
Application number: PCT/JP2009/068107
Authority: WO
Inventors: 裕一町田
Original assignee: コニカミノルタホールディングス株式会社
Priority date: 2008-11-11
Filing date: 2009-10-21
Publication date: 2010-05-20
Also published as: JP5445462B2; JPWO2010055751A1

Abstract

Provided is a line head unit wherein a head can be easily attached without requiring assembly of a component for position adjustment at the same time when attaching the head, and the attaching position of each head in the sub-scanning direction can be easily adjusted after the head is attached. A drawing apparatus is also provided. The line head unit has, corresponding to respective heads (H), a plurality of head attaching sections (33) having the heads (H) respectively attached thereto, and holds the head attaching sections (33) to a base member (31) by using a plurality of elastic hinges (34) arranged parallel to each other at intervals in the nozzle row direction of the heads (H). Between the base member (31) and the respective head attaching sections (33), the line head unit is provided with actuators (35), which elastically deform the elastic hinges (34) by having a pressing force operate to the head attaching sections (33), and move the positions of the head attaching sections (33) in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the base member (31), while maintaining an angle formed by the nozzle row direction of the heads (H) with the sub-scanning direction.

Description

Line head unit and drawing apparatus

The present invention relates to a line head unit and a drawing apparatus, and more particularly to a line head unit capable of easily adjusting the position of each head and a drawing apparatus including the line head unit.

A drawing apparatus that performs drawing by landing a droplet on a recording material using a head that ejects the droplet from a nozzle is, for example, a wiring pattern of a semiconductor substrate, a color filter of a liquid crystal display device, an organic EL device, or the like. It is also widely used for industrial applications such as pixel pattern drawing. In such applications, in order to increase productivity, drawing is generally performed using a line head unit configured with a line head having a long nozzle array (recording width) by arranging a large number of heads in a staggered manner. A drawing device is used.

Such a line head unit is assembled by attaching a large number of heads to predetermined positions of the base member. However, there is a problem that positional deviation occurs when each head is attached. If each head is not positioned accurately, the landing position will shift and there will be a problem of degrading the accuracy of the rendered image. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately determine the mounting position of each head, specifically in the sub-scanning direction. It is very important to make the nozzle pitch uniform over the entire line width.

For example, in a line head in which a large number of heads are arranged so that the nozzle row direction coincides with the sub-scanning direction, the landing position deviation in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the nozzle row direction is corrected by adjusting the injection timing. However, the landing position deviation in the sub-scanning direction along the nozzle row direction is determined by the mounting position of each head. Therefore, it is necessary to perform accurate positioning in the nozzle row direction when mounting each head, but the nozzle pitch is extremely fine on the order of μm, and it is realistic to position each head with high accuracy simultaneously with mounting. Is extremely difficult. For this reason, after attaching a head to a predetermined position, the attachment position needs to be adjusted.

Conventionally, as a technique for adjusting the mounting position of the head, positioning in the X / Z-axis direction is performed by sandwiching a spacer between two heads, and positioning in the Y-axis direction is performed by an inclined surface with respect to the spacer. A technique (Patent Document 1) that adjusts the relative position with the other head by pressing one abutting head toward the inclined surface, and a plurality of heads each configured by arranging a plurality of heads. A technique in which a line head is configured by a head group, and each head group is independently movable relative to the θ-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, thereby performing position adjustment in units of head groups (Patent Document 2). ) Has been proposed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-167749 JP 2006-44059 A

In the technique described in Patent Document 1, the number of parts for adjusting the mounting position of the head is large, and it is necessary to assemble these parts at the same time when the head is mounted. Therefore, the assembly process is large and the work is complicated. For this reason, it is not suitable when a long line head unit is configured by arranging a large number of heads. Further, since only the relative position between the two heads can be adjusted, when configuring a line head unit in which a large number of heads are arranged, the mounting position of each head cannot be adjusted, and accurate positioning cannot be performed. In addition, the position adjustment is performed when the head is assembled, and there are a number of problems that each position cannot be finely adjusted after the head is assembled.

Further, in the technique described in Patent Document 2, since the position adjustment is performed in units of head groups in which a plurality of heads are arranged, the mounting position of each head in the head group cannot be adjusted. Therefore, also in this case, it is impossible to accurately adjust the positional deviation of each head in the entire line head unit.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to assemble parts for position adjustment at the same time when the head is attached, the head can be easily attached, and the attachment position of each head in the sub-scanning direction can be easily provided after the head is attached. It is an object to provide an adjustable line head unit.

Further, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to assemble parts for position adjustment at the same time when the head is attached, and the head can be easily attached, and the attachment position of each head in the sub-scanning direction can be easily provided after the head is attached. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drawing apparatus including an adjustable line head unit.

Other problems of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

The above problems are solved by the following inventions.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by arranging a plurality of heads having a nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting droplets are arranged on the base member, a line that is elongated in the sub-scanning direction by the plurality of heads. A line head unit comprising a head,
A plurality of head mounting portions each individually mounting the head corresponding to each of the heads;
Each of the head mounting portions is held on the base member by a plurality of elastic hinges arranged parallel to each other at intervals along the nozzle row direction of the head,
The elastic hinge is elastically deformed by applying a pressing force to the head mounting portion, and the angle of the nozzle row direction of the head with respect to the sub scanning direction is maintained while maintaining the angle of the head mounting portion in the sub scanning direction. The line head unit is characterized in that an actuator for moving the position with respect to the base member is individually provided between the base member and the head mounting portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the head mounting portion is disposed inside an opening frame formed in the base member.
The line head unit according to claim 1, wherein the elastic hinge is integrally formed across the head mounting portion and an inner periphery of the opening frame.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the elastic hinge is narrower than the hinge main body at the connection site with the base member at both ends of the hinge main body and the connection site with the head mounting portion, and the head mounting 3. The line head unit according to claim 1, wherein a constricted portion that is elastically deformed when a pressing force of the actuator acts on the portion is formed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the actuator is disposed so that a pressing force in a direction parallel to the sub-scanning direction is applied to the head mounting portion. The line head unit according to 2 or 3.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the actuator is arranged so that a pressing force in an oblique direction with respect to the sub-scanning direction is applied to the head mounting portion. Or it is a line head unit of 3 description.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the head mounting portion has a protruding portion protruding toward the side intersecting the nozzle row direction, and the actuator applies a pressing force to the protruding portion. The line head unit according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

The invention according to claim 7 is the line head unit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the actuator applies a pressing force to the head mounting portion by a piezo element.

The invention according to claim 8 is the line head unit according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the line head unit is arranged so that the nozzle surface faces downward.
A drawing table that is provided so as to be movable relative to the line head unit and that draws on a recording material supported on the upper surface by droplets ejected from each head of the line head;
Drive control means for controlling the drive of the actuator;
A drawing apparatus characterized by comprising:

The invention according to claim 9 is a print control means for controlling the head so as to print a test pattern for inspecting a positional deviation amount of each head of the line head unit on the recording material;
Image recognition means for recognizing the test pattern printed on the recording material;
Calculating means for calculating the amount of positional deviation in the sub-scanning direction of each head of the line head based on the image of the test pattern recognized by the image recognition means;
The drawing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the drive control unit controls driving of the actuator according to a positional deviation amount of the head in the sub-scanning direction calculated by the calculation unit.

In the invention according to claim 10, the recording material has a reference mark on the surface,
The calculation means calculates the positional deviation amount of each head in the sub-scanning direction from the positional deviation amount of the test pattern with respect to the reference mark, based on the image of the reference mark and the test pattern recognized by the image recognition means. The drawing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the drawing apparatus calculates the drawing apparatus.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the calculation unit has a function of calculating a positional deviation amount in the main scanning direction of each head of the line head based on the image of the test pattern recognized by the image recognition unit. ,
11. The drawing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the print control unit corrects the ejection timing of the head in accordance with the amount of positional deviation in the main scanning direction calculated by the calculation unit.

According to the present invention, it is not necessary to assemble parts for position adjustment at the same time when the head is attached, and the head can be easily attached, and the attachment position of each attached head in the sub-scanning direction can be easily adjusted. A possible line head unit can be provided.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to assemble parts for position adjustment at the time of mounting the head, so that the mounting of the head is easy, and the mounting position of each mounted head in the sub-scanning direction is easy. It is possible to provide a drawing apparatus including a line head unit that can be adjusted.

The perspective view which shows the drawing apparatus which concerns on this invention The bottom view of the line head unit concerning the present invention The perspective view which shows the attachment structure of one head in a line head unit. (A) (b) is a figure which shows the detail of an elastic hinge The figure which shows the state of the fine adjustment of the attachment position of the head The block diagram which shows schematic structure of the principal part of the drawing apparatus which concerns on this invention Flow chart explaining landing position deviation adjustment operation A plan view showing a test pattern indicating the position of a landing dot before adjustment A plan view showing a test pattern indicating the positions of impact dots after adjustment Bottom view showing another embodiment of the line head unit The bottom view which shows other embodiment of a line head unit. FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged view of the head fixing plate.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a drawing apparatus according to the present invention. The drawing apparatus 1 has a line head unit 3 for performing ink-jet drawing on an apparatus base 2 and a work W (recording material) on an upper surface. ), The θ rotation mechanism 5 for rotating the work stage 4 in the θ direction, and the work stage 4 and the θ rotation mechanism 5 are both along the Y direction (main scanning direction). A Y moving mechanism 6 for linearly moving the workpiece stage 4, a X stage moving mechanism 7 for linearly moving the work stage 4 and the θ rotating mechanism 5 along the X direction (sub-scanning direction), a landing shooting camera 8 A that can visually recognize the work stage 4, A head photographing camera 8B that can visually recognize the lower surface of the line head unit 3 is provided.

In this embodiment, the work stage 4 functions as a drawing table of the present invention, and the landing camera 8A functions as an image recognition means of the present invention.

Note that the X direction and the Y direction are directions orthogonal to each other on a horizontal plane.

The line head unit 3 is attached to a gantry 9 laid in parallel along the X direction in the vicinity of the end on the apparatus base 2 via a slider 10 and a θ rotation mechanism 11, and the slider 10 is attached to the gantry 9. And reciprocating along the X direction by sliding along the axis, and rotating by the θ rotation mechanism 11 in the θ direction about the direction along the Z direction, which is a normal direction orthogonal to the X and Y directions. Further, the Z moving mechanism 12 can be moved up and down in the Z direction together with the θ rotating mechanism 11.

The position coordinates of the work stage 4 in the X direction, the Y direction, and the θ direction, and the position coordinates of the line head unit 3 in the X direction, the Z direction, and the θ direction are represented by the X moving mechanism 7, the

Y moving mechanisms

6, 6, An encoder (not shown) which is a position coordinate detection means provided in each of the θ rotation mechanism 5, the slider 10, the θ rotation mechanism 11, and the Z movement mechanism 12 can be detected with high accuracy on the order of nm.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view showing an example of the line head unit 3 according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an attachment structure of one head H in the line head unit 3.

In the line head unit 3, a large number of heads H are individually attached and fixed to the lower surface of a base plate 31 that is a single large base member, and can be opposed to the surface of the work W on the work stage 4 disposed below the head H 3. It is arranged to be.

In this embodiment, twelve heads H are arranged in a staggered manner in two rows so that each nozzle row is aligned in the X direction and each nozzle has a uniform pitch. A line head having a long recording width is formed along the line, but the number and arrangement of the heads H are not particularly limited in the present invention. For example, the nozzle rows may be disposed obliquely with respect to the sub-scanning direction. In FIG. 2, eleven heads H are already attached to the base plate 31 and the remaining one head H is not attached.

金属 Generally, a metal material is used for the base plate 31. Although SUS can be used as the metal material, a low thermal expansion material such as invar material or novinite is preferably used in order to keep the mounting position accuracy of the head H high. The base plate 31 has two rows of opening frames 32 along the arrangement direction of the heads H, and a head fixing plate 33 that is a head mounting portion in the opening frame 32 so that the heads H can be individually attached. The same number as the head H is arranged.

Each head fixing plate 33 has two identical lengths arranged at intervals in the nozzle row direction of the head H at one side of both sides in the nozzle row direction (X direction in the drawing) of the head H. The elastic plate 34 is integrally connected to the base plate 31 and is held by the base plate 31. Each head fixing plate 33 is connected to the base plate 31 only by this elastic hinge 34, and other portions are separated from the base plate 31 in the opening frame 32.

An actuator 35 is disposed between the head plate 31 and the base plate 31 in the opening frame 32 on the other end side of each head fixing plate 33. The actuator 35 moves along the main scanning direction with respect to each head fixing plate 33. It is installed side by side. Here, at one corner on the other end side of each head fixing plate 33, it projects toward the inner periphery of the opening frame 32 that is the side (Y direction in the figure) intersecting the nozzle row direction of the head H. The base plate 31 is formed with a protrusion 311 that protrudes from the inner periphery of the opening frame 32 along the Y direction in the drawing toward the head fixing plate 33. In addition, a pressing force in the horizontal direction parallel to the X direction in the drawing, that is, the nozzle row direction of the head H is applied between the projecting

portions

331 and 311.

The head fixing plate 33, the elastic hinge 34, the

protrusions

311 and 331, and the actuator 35 provided in the opening frame 32 of the base plate 31 constitute a fine adjustment mechanism for finely adjusting the mounting position of the head H. . In the fine adjustment mechanism, when a predetermined pressing force is applied to the protrusion 331 by the operation of the actuator 35, a lateral (horizontal) force along the X direction acts on the head fixing plate 33, and this force As a result, the two elastic hinges 34 are slightly deformed and tilted uniformly, so that the parallelism in the X direction of the head fixing plate 33 is maintained, that is, the nozzle row direction of the head H is in the sub-scanning direction. The position of the head H in the sub-scanning direction is finely adjusted while maintaining the angle formed with respect to the head H.

FIG. 4 shows details of the elastic hinge 34, and FIG. 5 shows a fine adjustment of the mounting position of the head H. FIG. 4A shows a state in which the pressing force of the actuator 35 is not acting on the head fixing plate 33, and FIG. 4B shows a state in which the pressing force of the actuator 35 is acting on the head fixing plate 33 in the arrow direction. Respectively. The actual deformation amount of the elastic hinge 34 is extremely small on the order of μm, but the deformation amount is exaggerated in the drawing.

The elastic hinge 34 is integrally formed over the head fixing plate 33 and the inner periphery of the opening frame 32 of the base plate 31. The number of elastic hinges 34 is sufficient if two heads are provided in parallel at a distance from one head fixing plate 33 at one end of both side edges in the nozzle row direction of the head H. The number of arrangements may be increased as appropriate.

Each elastic hinge 34 is formed with a constricted portion 342 having a narrower width than the hinge main body 341 at a connection portion with the base plate 31 at both ends of the hinge main body 341 and a connection portion with the head fixing plate 33. Each constricted portion 342 is formed by scraping both ends of the hinge main body 341 in an arc shape from both sides.

As a result, when the pressing force of the actuator 35 acts on the head fixing plate 33, the pressing force concentrates stress on the constricted portion 342, and on the connecting portion side with the head fixing plate 33, the acting direction of the pressing force indicated by an arrow. The near side is compressed, the far side is pulled, and on the connection site side with the base plate 31, the near side is pulled with respect to the direction of action of the pressing force indicated by the arrow, and the far side is compressed and elastically deformed. The position of the head fixing plate 33 in the sub scanning direction is moved. At this time, since the head fixing plate 33 is integrally connected to the base plate 31 by the two elastic hinges 34, the angle formed by the nozzle row direction of the head H with respect to the sub-scanning direction does not collapse. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5, the mounting position of the head H in the sub-scanning direction is finely adjusted while maintaining parallelism with respect to the sub-scanning direction.

Each actuator 35 is between each head fixing plate 33 and the inner periphery of the opening frame 32, and is between a protruding portion 311 and a protruding portion 331 that protrude from the base plate 31 and each head fixing plate 33, respectively. They are juxtaposed, and are provided so that the pressing force acts in parallel with the nozzle row direction of each head H. According to this, the distance between the adjacent

head fixing plates

33 and 33 can be made as close as possible, and the line head unit 3 can be miniaturized as much as possible.

As shown in FIG. 5, the actuator 35 has an actuator 352 that can be extended and contracted at one end of the actuator main body 351, and the rear end of the actuator main body 351 is fixed to the protruding portion 311 of the base plate 31. The tip of the actuator 352 is not fixed to the projecting portion 331 of the head fixing plate 33 but is simply in contact with it. As a result, when the operating element 352 extends in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the projecting portion 331 is pushed in the lateral direction while sliding with respect to the projecting portion 331, and the opening frame of the head fixing plate 33 is elastically deformed by the elastic hinge 34. 32, the position in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the base plate 31 is changed. When the actuator 352 is reduced, the head fixing plate 33 returns to the original position by the elastic return of the elastic hinge 34.

For example, a voltage is applied to the actuator 35 so that the actuator 352 can be expanded and contracted, and a piezoelectric element (piezoelectric element) that performs a mechanical expansion and contraction motion according to a voltage value, or is rotated by a motor drive. However, it is preferable to use a piezo element to apply a pressing force to the head fixing plate 33 in that a fine pressing force can be easily controlled. PZT is preferably used for the piezo element.

Each head fixing plate 33 has a screw hole 332 for attaching and fixing the head H detachably. Each head H is arranged with respect to each head fixing plate 33 of the base plate 31 such that the nozzle surface h1 on which a large number of nozzles n are arranged is the lower surface and the nozzle row direction is along the X direction. Each head H has a flange h2 projecting on both sides on the side opposite to the nozzle surface h1, and the screw of the head fixing plate 33 is attached using a mounting screw 36 through a screw hole h3 formed in the flange h2. Screwed into the hole 332.

Reference numerals

37A and 37B in FIG. 2 are position confirmation marks respectively formed in the vicinity of both end portions in the X direction on the lower surface of the base plate 31, and are attached to the work stage 4 in order to detect the position and angle of the base plate 31. The image is recognized by the head photographing camera 8B attached integrally. The position confirmation marks 37A and 37B are positioned so that a straight line connecting them passes through the center line of the base plate 31, and each

position confirmation mark

37A and 37B is processed by performing image processing on an image photographed by the head photographing camera 8B. By driving the θ rotation mechanism 11 so that the Y coordinate positions in the position coordinates become the same, the attachment angle of the line head unit 3 in the θ direction is adjusted to an appropriate angle.

The landing shooting camera 8A is integrally attached to the base plate 31 of the line head unit 3.

The drawing apparatus 1 moves the line head unit 3 and the work stage 4 relative to each other in the Y direction (main scanning direction), and the line head unit based on predetermined ejection pattern data according to each position information at that time. 3 is configured to perform desired drawing by controlling ejection of droplets from each head H and landing on the surface of the workpiece W on the workpiece stage 4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a main part inside the drawing apparatus 1.

100 is an injection signal control unit, 101 is an injection signal generation unit, 102 is a stage encoder, and 103 is an injection start signal generation unit. Each head H is driven by generating a predetermined injection signal by the injection signal generation unit 101 based on the injection control signal sent from the injection signal control unit 100 and applying the injection signal. The position coordinates of the work stage 4 in the X direction and the Y direction are acquired by the stage encoder 102, and the injection start signal generation unit 103 generates an injection start signal at a predetermined timing according to the position of the work stage 4. The injection signal control unit 100 generates an injection control signal based on the injection start signal sent from the injection start signal generation unit 103 at a predetermined timing.

In the present embodiment, the injection signal control unit 100 functions as the print control means of the present invention.

Also, 104 is a positional deviation amount calculation unit, 105 is an image processing unit, 106 is a head position correction amount calculation unit, 107 is an actuator control unit, 108 is an actuator driver, and 109 is an injection timing correction amount calculation unit.

As will be described in detail later, in order to adjust the positional deviation of each head H constituting the line head unit 3, the landing position of the droplet ejected from each head H is the landing position provided integrally with the line head unit 3. The coordinates of the landing position for each head H are detected by photographing with the photographing camera 8A and recognizing the image by the image processing unit 105.

The positional deviation amount calculation unit 104 obtains deviation amounts from appropriate landing positions in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction based on the coordinates of the landing positions. The deviation amount in the main scanning direction is sent to the ejection timing correction amount calculation unit 109, and the deviation amount in the sub scanning direction is sent to the head position correction amount calculation unit 106.

In this embodiment, the positional deviation amount calculation unit 104 functions as a calculation unit of the present invention.

The head position correction amount calculation unit 106 calculates a correction amount for correcting the shift based on the shift amount in the sub-scanning direction and sends the correction amount to the actuator control unit 107. The actuator control unit 107 responds to the correction amount. Then, a control signal for driving the actuator 35 is output to the actuator driver 108 to drive each actuator 35. Thereby, the position of the corresponding head fixing plate 33 is adjusted, and the position of the head H in the sub-scanning direction is finely adjusted.

In this embodiment, the actuator control unit 107 functions as the drive control means of the present invention.

On the other hand, the injection timing correction amount calculation unit 109 calculates a correction amount for correcting the shift based on the shift amount in the main scanning direction, and sends the correction amount to the injection signal control unit 100. This correction amount is a correction amount of the timing of ejecting droplets from each head H, and the landing position of the corresponding head H in the main scanning direction is finely adjusted by adjusting the ejection timing of the droplets.

Next, the landing position deviation adjusting operation of the line head unit 3 in the drawing apparatus 1 will be described based on the flow shown in FIG.

First, the head H is attached to each head fixing plate 33 in advance in the line head unit 3. The mounting position of each head H at this time only needs to be coarsely adjusted so that the nozzle row direction is parallel to the X direction when screwed and fixed to the head fixing plate 33, particularly in the sub-scanning direction. There is no need for fine position adjustment.

Also, at this mounting position, the head H is preferably mounted with the hinge elastically deformed. Thus, at the time of subsequent fine adjustment, not only when the position is changed by the extension of the actuator 352 (in the case of moving in the right direction or the −X direction in FIG. 5), but also the position of the head is contracted by the contraction of the actuator 352. Even in the case of a change (when moving in the left direction and + X direction in FIG. 5), the head position can be finely adjusted using the elastic deformation and elastic return of the hinge.

When all the heads H are arranged on the base plate 31, the line head unit 3 is installed in the drawing apparatus 1, and the position confirmation marks 37A and 37B provided on the base plate 31 are photographed by the head photographing camera 8B. By performing image processing, the θ rotation mechanism 11 is driven so that the Y coordinates of the position confirmation marks 37A and 37B are the same, and the line head unit 3 is set to a predetermined angular position (S1).

Next, a test base material WT (recording material) for confirming the landing position is positioned and placed on the work stage 4, and a predetermined test pattern for confirming the landing position stored in advance is printed on the surface (see FIG. S2).

FIG. 8 shows an example of a test pattern printed on the test substrate WT. The test pattern prints a dot pattern on the test substrate by ejecting droplets from all the nozzles n of all the heads H constituting the line head unit 3. On the test substrate WT, one dot pattern group DP is formed by droplets ejected from each nozzle n of one head H, and this dot pattern group DP corresponds to the number of heads H in the line head unit 3. The heads H are printed so as to be arranged in the same manner as the arrangement manner of the heads H.

As shown in the figure, the attachment position of each head H constituting the line head unit 3 is slightly shifted in the main scanning direction (Y direction) and the sub-scanning direction (X direction). Similarly, a positional deviation occurs in the dot pattern group DP to be printed.

The position of each dot pattern group DP printed on the test substrate WT is photographed by a landing photographing camera 8A integrally attached to the line head unit 3, and the image is processed by the image processing unit 105. Then, the position coordinates of each dot pattern group DP are measured (S3).

For the measurement of the position coordinates, as shown in FIG. 8, a reference mark M is formed in advance at a predetermined location on the surface of the test substrate WT, and the position coordinates can be obtained from the position coordinates with respect to the reference mark M. For this reason, the relative position between the line head unit 3 and the test substrate WT on the work stage 4 is accurately positioned in advance with respect to the reference mark M. In addition, the position serving as a measurement reference for the position coordinates of each dot pattern group DP with respect to the reference mark M can be any one dot position of each dot pattern group DP, for example, one dot located at the same corner.

When the position coordinates of each dot pattern group DP are measured by the image processing unit 105, first, in the positional deviation amount calculation unit 104, the position coordinates and the appropriateness of each dot pattern group DP stored in advance in storage means (not shown). The position coordinates of the position are compared, and the quality of the mounting position of each head H in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction is determined (S4).

Here, if the position coordinate of each dot pattern group DP is an appropriate position, it is determined that each head H of the line head unit 3 is at an appropriate attachment position, and the operation is completed.

On the other hand, if the position coordinates of at least one of the dot pattern groups DP are not in the proper positions, it is determined that there is a shift in at least one of the head H mounting positions, and then the amount of the position shift is calculated ( S5).

The displacement amount calculation is performed by the displacement amount calculation unit 104 based on the position coordinates of each dot pattern group DP recognized by the image processing unit 105 in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction from the appropriate position of each dot pattern group DP. Calculated as the amount of positional deviation in the scanning direction.

Here, the amount of positional deviation in the sub-scanning direction is sent to the head position correction amount calculation unit 106, and the head position correction amount calculation unit 106 drives the actuator 35 of the head H corresponding to the corresponding dot pattern group DP. And the actuator 35 is driven by a predetermined amount by driving the actuator driver 108. As a result, the elastic hinge 34 is elastically deformed, the head fixing plate 33 is moved in the sub-scanning direction, and the attachment position of the head H in the sub-scanning direction is finely adjusted (S6).

Further, the positional deviation amount in the main scanning direction calculated by the positional deviation amount calculation unit 104 is sent to the ejection timing correction amount calculation unit 109, which corresponds to the corresponding dot pattern group DP. By calculating the correction time of the ejection timing of the head H and transmitting it to the ejection signal control unit 100, the ejection timing of the droplet from the head H is adjusted, and the landing position in the main scanning direction is finely adjusted. (S7).

Note that the injection timing correction time calculated by the injection timing correction amount calculation unit 109 may be transmitted to the injection start signal generation unit 103.

After finely adjusting the mounting position of the head H in the sub-scanning direction and the ejection timing in the main scanning direction as described above, the operation from step S2 is repeated, and as shown in FIG. The adjustment operation is repeated until the mounting position in the sub-scanning direction and the ejection timing in the main scanning direction are appropriate, and the landing dots become uniform pitch over the entire recording width of the line head unit 3.

Thus, according to the line head unit 3 and the drawing apparatus 1 according to the present invention, the landing position deviation in the sub-scanning direction corresponds to the mounting position of each head H of the line head unit 3 in the sub-scanning direction. Since it is only necessary to finely adjust the position of the head fixing plate 33 along the sub-scanning direction by driving the line head unit 3, after the line head unit 3 is installed in the drawing apparatus 1, fine adjustment is performed in the state of being installed in the drawing apparatus 1 Thus, the mounting position of each head H in the sub-scanning direction can be easily adjusted. The head fixing plate 33 maintains parallelism with respect to the sub-scanning direction even during movement by the plurality of elastic hinges 34 connected to the base plate 31. Therefore, the angle of each head H with respect to the sub-scanning direction is adjusted. There is no need to redo.

Moreover, the components for adjusting the mounting position of each head H in the sub-scanning direction can be molded or incorporated in advance with the base plate 31 of the line head unit 3, and can be used for position adjustment when the head H is mounted. There is no need to assemble the parts at the same time. Therefore, when configuring the line head, it is only necessary to attach the head H to each head fixing plate 33, and the attaching operation can be performed very easily.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view showing another embodiment of the line head unit. Parts having the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 indicate parts having the same configuration.

The line head unit 3A shown in this embodiment is different from the line head unit 3 shown in FIG. Opening frames 32 corresponding to the respective head fixing plates 33 are individually formed on the base plate 31, and the actuators 35 are arranged between the head fixing plates 33 in the respective opening frames 32. The head fixing plate 33 is provided in series along the main scanning direction, and a pressing force is directly applied to the head fixing plate 33.

According to this embodiment, the distance between the heads H adjacent in the sub-scanning direction is increased due to the arrangement of the actuators 35, so that the nozzle pitch of each head H is made uniform along the sub-scanning direction. In order to configure, it is necessary to increase the number of heads H arranged in the main scanning direction, but the pressing force of the actuator 35 can be reduced without using the protrusion 331 as shown in FIGS. Since it can directly act on the head fixing plate 33, the position of each head H in the sub-scanning direction can be finely adjusted efficiently.

FIG. 11 is a bottom view showing still another embodiment of the line head unit. Parts having the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 indicate parts having the same configuration.

The line head unit 3B shown in this embodiment is also different from the line head unit 3 shown in FIG. The actuator 35 is arranged so as to be inclined in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the arrangement mode shown in FIG. 2 and applies a pressing force to each head fixing plate 33 from the oblique direction. An angle θ formed by the direction in which the pressing force acts and the sub-scanning direction can be, for example, about 45 °.

Each head fixing plate 33 has a protruding portion 331 that is a pressing operation portion for applying a pressing force of the actuator 35. As shown in FIG. 12, an actuator 352 of the actuator 35 in the protruding portion 331 is provided. The abutting side surface 331a is an inclined surface that faces the actuator 352 so as to be orthogonal to the expansion / contraction direction.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, similarly to the arrangement mode shown in FIG. 2, the distance between the adjacent

head fixing plates

33 and 33 can be made as close as possible, and the line head unit 3 can be made as much as possible. In addition to being able to reduce the size of the head H, since the stroke of the actuator 352 of the actuator 35 for moving the head fixing plate 33 in the sub-scanning direction can be made longer, Fine adjustment of the attachment position in the sub-scanning direction can be performed with higher accuracy.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drawing apparatus 2 Apparatus base 3 Line head unit 31 Base plate 311 Protruding part 32 Opening frame 33 Head fixing plate 331 Protruding part 34 Elastic hinge 35 Actuator 36

Mounting screw

37A, 37B Position confirmation mark 4 Work stage 5 θ rotation mechanism 6 Y movement Mechanism 7 X moving mechanism 8A Landing shooting camera 8B Head shooting camera 9 Gantry 10 Slider 11 θ rotating mechanism 12 Z moving mechanism

Claims

A line head unit in which a plurality of heads having a nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting liquid droplets are arranged on a base member constitute a line head that is elongated in the sub-scanning direction by the plurality of heads. There,
A plurality of head mounting portions each individually mounting the head corresponding to each of the heads;
Each of the head mounting portions is held on the base member by a plurality of elastic hinges arranged parallel to each other at intervals along the nozzle row direction of the head,
The elastic hinge is elastically deformed by applying a pressing force to the head mounting portion, and the angle of the nozzle row direction of the head with respect to the sub scanning direction is maintained while maintaining the angle of the head mounting portion in the sub scanning direction. The line head unit, wherein an actuator for moving the position relative to the base member is individually provided between the base member and the head mounting portion.
The head mounting portion is disposed inside an opening frame formed in the base member,
The line head unit according to claim 1, wherein the elastic hinge is integrally formed across the head mounting portion and an inner periphery of the opening frame.
The elastic hinges are narrower than the hinge body at the connection parts with the base member at both ends of the hinge body and the connection parts with the head attachment part, respectively, and the pressing force of the actuator is applied to the head attachment part. 3. The line head unit according to claim 1, wherein a constricted portion that elastically deforms when acted on is formed.
4. The line head unit according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is arranged to apply a pressing force in a direction parallel to a sub-scanning direction to the head mounting portion. .
4. The line head unit according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is arranged so that a pressing force in an oblique direction with respect to a sub-scanning direction is applied to the head mounting portion.
6. The head mounting portion has a protruding portion protruding toward a side intersecting the nozzle row direction, and the actuator applies a pressing force to the protruding portion. The line head unit according to crab.
The line head unit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the actuator applies a pressing force to the head mounting portion by a piezo element.
The line head unit according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the line head unit is disposed so that a nozzle surface faces downward,
A drawing table that is provided so as to be movable relative to the line head unit and that draws on a recording material supported on the upper surface by droplets ejected from each head of the line head;
Drive control means for controlling the drive of the actuator;
A drawing apparatus comprising:
A print control means for controlling the head so as to print a test pattern for inspecting the positional deviation amount of each head of the line head unit on the recording material;
Image recognition means for recognizing the test pattern printed on the recording material;
Calculating means for calculating the amount of positional deviation in the sub-scanning direction of each head of the line head based on the image of the test pattern recognized by the image recognition means;
The drawing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the drive control unit controls the drive of the actuator according to a positional deviation amount of the head in the sub-scanning direction calculated by the calculation unit.
The recording material has a reference mark on the surface,
The calculation means calculates the positional deviation amount of each head in the sub-scanning direction from the positional deviation amount of the test pattern with respect to the reference mark, based on the image of the reference mark and the test pattern recognized by the image recognition means. The drawing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the drawing apparatus calculates the drawing apparatus.
The calculation means has a function of calculating the amount of positional deviation in the main scanning direction of each head of the line head based on the image of the test pattern recognized by the image recognition means,
The drawing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the print control unit corrects the ejection timing of the head according to the amount of positional deviation in the main scanning direction calculated by the calculation unit.