Nozzle adjustment method and nozzle adjustment system

Abstract

The present invention provides a nozzle adjustment method and nozzle adjustment system. The nozzle adjustment method includes: obtaining volume information of multiple print patterns; wherein the multiple nozzles of an inkjet printing device are configured to print ink into multiple print openings of a print substrate to obtain the multiple print patterns, each print opening corresponding to a nozzle; and determining whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device based on the difference in the multiple volume information. In the nozzle adjustment method and nozzle adjustment system of the present invention, the difference in volume information of the multiple print patterns obtained by the multiple nozzles of the inkjet printing device printing ink into the multiple print openings of the print substrate is used to determine whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device. This ensures that the multiple nozzles of the inkjet printing device are properly adjusted, thereby improving the uniformity of the volume of ink discharged by the nozzles.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of display technology, and in particular to a nozzle adjustment method and a nozzle adjustment system. Background Art

[0002] In related technologies, inkjet printing equipment is generally used to prepare the light-emitting layer of a display panel. The inventors have discovered that uneven volumes of ink ejected from the nozzles of inkjet printing equipment can cause display mura on the display panel. The worse the volume uniformity of the printed ink, the more pronounced the mura. Therefore, reasonable adjustment of the nozzles to ensure uniform volume of ink ejected by the nozzles is very important for the application of inkjet printing technology. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Embodiments of the present invention provide a nozzle adjustment method and a nozzle adjustment system, which can improve the technical problem of poor uniformity of the volume of ink ejected by the nozzle.

[0004] An embodiment of the present invention provides a nozzle adjustment method, comprising: obtaining volume information of multiple printing patterns; wherein the multiple nozzles of an inkjet printing device are configured to print ink into multiple printing openings of a printing substrate to obtain multiple printing patterns, each of the printing openings corresponding to one of the nozzles; and determining whether to adjust at least one of the nozzles of the inkjet printing device based on differences in the multiple volume information.

[0005] In some embodiments, the printing substrate includes multiple groups of printing openings, each group of printing openings includes multiple printing openings; each nozzle of the inkjet printing device is configured to print ink in sequence into the multiple printing openings of the corresponding group of printing openings of the printing substrate to obtain multiple printing patterns.

[0006] In some embodiments, two adjacent nozzles of the inkjet printing device are configured to print ink in sequence into multiple printing openings of two groups of printing openings adjacent in a first direction of the printing substrate; the two groups of printing openings adjacent in the first direction are separated by a first distance in the second direction, the first distance is the nozzle spacing of the inkjet printing device, and the second direction intersects with the first direction.

[0007] In some embodiments, each nozzle of the inkjet printing device is configured to sequentially print the same volume of ink into a plurality of the printing openings of the corresponding group of the printing openings of the printing substrate to obtain a plurality of the printing patterns; the step of determining whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device based on the difference between the plurality of the volume information includes: adjusting at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device when the difference between the plurality of the volume information is greater than a difference threshold.

[0008] In some embodiments, the multiple nozzles of the inkjet printing device include a first nozzle and a second nozzle, the multiple groups of printing openings of the printing substrate include a first group of printing openings and a second group of printing openings, the first group of printing openings and the second group of printing openings both include a first printing opening and a second printing opening with different volumes, wherein the first nozzle and the second nozzle are respectively configured to print the same volume of ink into the first printing opening and the second printing opening of the same group in sequence to obtain two first printing patterns and two second printing patterns among the multiple printing patterns; the step of judging whether to adjust at least one of the nozzles of the inkjet printing device based on the difference in the multiple volume information includes: judging whether to adjust at least one of the first nozzle and the second nozzle based on the difference in the volume information of the two first printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two second printing patterns.

[0009] In some embodiments, the step of determining whether to adjust at least one of the first nozzle and the second nozzle based on the difference in the volume information of the two first printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two second printing patterns includes: when the difference in the volume information of the two first printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two second printing patterns is greater than a difference threshold, adjusting at least one of the first nozzle and the second nozzle.

[0010] In some embodiments, the two nozzles of the inkjet printing device are configured to print N drops and M drops of ink in sequence into the two rows of printing openings of the two groups of printing openings of the printing substrate to obtain two third printing patterns and two fourth printing patterns among the multiple printing patterns, where N is not equal to M; the step of judging whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device based on the difference in the multiple volume information includes: judging whether to adjust at least one of the two nozzles based on the difference in the volume information of the two third printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two fourth printing patterns.

[0011] In some embodiments, the step of determining whether to adjust at least one of the two nozzles based on the difference in the volume information of the two third printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two fourth printing patterns includes: adjusting at least one of the two nozzles when the difference in the volume information of the two third printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two fourth printing patterns is greater than a difference threshold.

[0012] In some embodiments, the step of obtaining volume information of the plurality of printed patterns includes: obtaining grayscale values ​​of the plurality of printed patterns through an optical detection module, wherein the volume information includes the grayscale values.

[0013] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a nozzle adjustment system, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store program instructions, and the processor is used to execute the program instructions to implement the above-mentioned nozzle adjustment method.

[0014] In the nozzle adjustment method and nozzle adjustment system provided by embodiments of the present invention, whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device is determined based on differences in volume information of multiple printed patterns obtained by the multiple nozzles of the inkjet printing device printing ink into multiple print openings of a printing substrate. This ensures that the multiple nozzles of the inkjet printing device are properly adjusted, improving the uniformity of the volume of ink discharged by the nozzles. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0016] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a nozzle of an inkjet printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention performing inkjet printing on a printing substrate;

[0017] Figure 2 1 is a flow chart of a nozzle adjustment method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an optical detection module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a printing substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of a nozzle of an inkjet printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention performing inkjet printing on a printing substrate;

[0021] Figure 6A-6B Schematic diagram of a nozzle of an inkjet printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention performing inkjet printing on a printing substrate;

[0022] Figure 6C 1 is a flow chart of step S2 of the nozzle adjustment method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 7A-7B Schematic diagram of a nozzle of an inkjet printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention performing inkjet printing on a printing substrate;

[0024] Figure 7C 1 is a flow chart of step S2 of the nozzle adjustment method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 8A 1 is a flow chart of step S2 of the nozzle adjustment method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 8B Schematic diagram of the structure of the nozzle of the inkjet printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention. In addition, it should be understood that the specific implementation methods described herein are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not used to limit the present invention. In the present invention, unless otherwise specified, the directional words used, such as "upper" and "lower", generally refer to the upper and lower parts of the device in actual use or working state, specifically the drawing direction in the accompanying drawings; while "inside" and "outside" refer to the outline of the device.

[0028] like Figure 1-2 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a nozzle adjustment method for adjusting multiple nozzles 2011 of an inkjet printing device. The inkjet printing device can be used for inkjet printing in the display field. For example, the inkjet printing device can be used for inkjet printing of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices. Specifically, the inkjet printing device can be used for inkjet printing of the hole injection layer, hole transport layer, organic light-emitting layer, electron injection layer, and electron transport layer of the OLED device.

[0029] The nozzle adjustment method comprises:

[0030] S1, obtaining volume information of multiple printing patterns 301; wherein, the multiple nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device are configured to print ink into the multiple printing openings 101 of the printing substrate 100 to obtain the multiple printing patterns 301, and each printing opening 101 corresponds to one nozzle 2011.

[0031] The printing substrate 100 includes a substrate 103 and a bank layer 104 located on the substrate 103. The bank layer 104 is provided with a plurality of printing openings 101. The printing substrate 100 is a 1-cell-1-nozzle substrate, such that each printing opening 101 corresponds to a nozzle 2011. In other words, each nozzle 2011 prints ink into one printing opening 101 at a time. Exemplarily, the multiple nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device are configured to print the same volume of ink into the multiple printing openings 101 of the printing substrate 100, thereby producing a plurality of printed patterns 301.

[0032] The volume information includes grayscale values, which can be detected by an optical detection module (see Figure 3 ) is generated. The optical detection module may include a camera 2022, a fill light 2021, and a detection feedback unit. The fill light 2021 can provide fill light for the multiple printed patterns 301 on the printing substrate 100, the camera 2022 can capture image information of the multiple printed patterns 301, and the detection feedback system unit can process the image information to obtain grayscale values ​​of the multiple printed patterns 301.

[0033] S2, judging whether to adjust at least one nozzle 2011 of the inkjet printing device according to the difference of the plurality of volume information.

[0034] For example, whether to adjust at least one nozzle 2011 of the inkjet printing device can be determined based on whether the difference between the multiple volume information is less than a difference threshold, such as 2%, to adjust the volume of ink ejected by the multiple nozzles 2011 in a single ejection. Furthermore, when the difference between the multiple volume information is greater than the difference threshold, the at least one nozzle 2011 of the inkjet printing device is adjusted.

[0035] In the nozzle adjustment method provided in this embodiment, whether to adjust at least one nozzle 2011 of the inkjet printing device is determined based on differences in volume information of the multiple print patterns 301 obtained when the multiple nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device print ink into the multiple print openings 101 of the print substrate 100. This ensures the rationality of adjusting the multiple nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device and improves the uniformity of the volume of ink ejected by the nozzles 2011.

[0036] In some embodiments, see Figure 4-5 The printing substrate 100 has multiple printing areas 102. The printing substrate 100 includes multiple groups of printing openings located within the multiple printing areas 102, each group of printing openings including multiple printing openings 101. Each nozzle 2011 of the inkjet printing device is configured to sequentially print ink into the multiple printing openings 101 of the corresponding group of printing openings on the printing substrate 100 to obtain multiple printed patterns 301. The multiple nozzles 2011 can print the same volume of ink during a single printing operation to form multiple printed patterns 301. The multiple nozzles 2011 can also print different volumes of ink during a single printing operation to form multiple printed patterns 301. In this way, each nozzle 2011 can perform multiple printing operations by continuously moving, ensuring the reliability of the volume information of the printed pattern 301 formed by the nozzle 2011.

[0037] In some embodiments, please refer to Figure 4 Two adjacent nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device are configured to sequentially print ink into the plurality of print openings 101 of two adjacent groups of print openings on the printing substrate 100 in a first direction x. The two adjacent groups of print openings in the first direction x are separated by a first distance d in a second direction y, where the first distance d represents the nozzle pitch of the inkjet printing device. The second direction y intersects the first direction x. For example, the first direction x is the row direction, and the second direction y is the column direction. This facilitates multiple printing operations by allowing each nozzle 2011 to continuously move.

[0038] In some embodiments, see Figure 6A-6B The plurality of nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device include a first nozzle 2013 and a second nozzle 2014. The plurality of groups of printing openings of the printing substrate 100 include a first group of printing openings and a second group of printing openings, and the first group of printing openings and the second group of printing openings each include a first printing opening 107 and a second printing opening 108 of different volumes. Exemplarily, the volume of the first printing opening 107 is greater than the volume of the second printing opening 108. Figure 6A-6B It is shown together that the first nozzle 2013 and the second nozzle 2014 are respectively configured to print the same volume of ink sequentially into the first printing opening 107 and the second printing opening 108 of the same group, so as to obtain two first printing patterns 303 and two second printing patterns 304 in the multiple printing patterns 301.

[0039] Further, see Figure 6C , the step S2 comprises:

[0040] S20 , judging whether to adjust at least one of the first nozzle 2013 and the second nozzle 2014 according to the difference in the volume information of the two first printing patterns 303 and the difference in the volume information of the two second printing patterns 304 .

[0041] For example, when the difference in volume information between the two first printed patterns 303 and the difference in volume information between the two second printed patterns 304 is greater than a difference threshold, such as 2%, at least one of the first nozzle 2013 and the second nozzle 2014 is adjusted. In this way, the difference in volume information under openings of different sizes can be obtained, which facilitates accurate determination of the difference in volume information.

[0042] In some embodiments, see Figure 7A-7B The two nozzles 2011 of the inkjet printing device are configured to sequentially print N and M drops of ink into the two rows of printing openings 101 of the two groups of printing openings of the printing substrate 100 to obtain two third printing patterns 305 and two fourth printing patterns 306 in the plurality of printing patterns 301, where N is not equal to M. For example, N=1 and M=2.

[0043] Further, see Figure 7C , the step S2 comprises:

[0044] S21 , judging whether to adjust at least one of the two nozzles 2011 according to the difference in volume information between the two third printing patterns 305 and the difference in volume information between the two fourth printing patterns 306 .

[0045] For example, when the difference in volume information between the two third printed patterns 305 and the difference in volume information between the two fourth printed patterns 306 is greater than a difference threshold, at least one of the two nozzles 2011 is adjusted. In this way, the difference in volume information under different amounts of ink can be determined, facilitating accurate determination of the volume information difference.

[0046] In some embodiments, see Figures 8A-8B , the step S2 comprises:

[0047] S22 , judging whether to adjust the voltage waveform of at least one nozzle 2011 of the inkjet printing device according to the difference between the plurality of volume information, so as to control the volume of ink ejected by the nozzle 2011 .

[0048] The volume of ink ejected from the nozzle 2011 can be fine-tuned by adjusting the applied voltage waveform. As the voltage waveform changes, the piezoelectric ceramic material 2012 of the nozzle 2011 deforms, causing the pressure in the microcavity of the nozzle 2011 to change, resulting in a corresponding change in the volume of ink ejected from the nozzle 2011.

[0049] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a nozzle adjustment system, comprising the printing substrate 100 as described above, an optical detection module, a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store program instructions, and the processor is used to execute the program instructions to implement the nozzle adjustment method as described above.

[0050] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above. Specific examples are used herein to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present invention and its core ideas. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the ideas of the present invention, there may be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scopes. In summary, the contents of this specification should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

Claims

1. A nozzle adjustment method, characterized in that: include: Acquiring volume information of a plurality of printed patterns; wherein the plurality of nozzles of the inkjet printing device are configured to print ink into a plurality of printing openings of a printing substrate to obtain the plurality of printed patterns, each of the printing openings corresponding to one of the nozzles; Based on the differences in the plurality of volume information, it is determined whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device, and the volume of ink ejected by the nozzle is fine-tuned by adjusting the applied voltage waveform. The plurality of nozzles of the inkjet printing device include a first nozzle and a second nozzle. The plurality of groups of printing openings on the printing substrate include a first group of printing openings and a second group of printing openings. The first group of printing openings and the second group of printing openings each include a first printing opening and a second printing opening of different volumes. The volume of the first printing opening is larger than the volume of the second printing opening. The first nozzle and the second nozzle are respectively configured to sequentially print ink of the same volume into the first printing opening and the second printing opening of the same group, so as to obtain two first printing patterns and two second printing patterns from the plurality of printing patterns. When the difference in the volume information of the two first printing patterns and the difference in the volume information of the two second printing patterns is greater than a difference threshold, the threshold being 2%, at least one of the first nozzle and the second nozzle is adjusted.

2. The nozzle adjustment method according to claim 1, wherein: The printing substrate includes a plurality of groups of printing openings, and each group of printing openings includes a plurality of printing openings; Each nozzle of the inkjet printing device is configured to sequentially print ink into a plurality of the printing openings of the corresponding group of the printing openings of the printing substrate to obtain a plurality of the printing patterns.

3. The nozzle adjustment method according to claim 2, characterized in that: Two adjacent nozzles of the inkjet printing device are configured to sequentially print ink into the plurality of printing openings of two adjacent groups of printing openings on the printing substrate in a first direction; Two groups of printing openings adjacent to each other in the first direction are spaced apart by a first distance in the second direction, where the first distance is the nozzle spacing of the inkjet printing device. The second direction intersects the first direction.

4. The nozzle adjustment method according to claim 2, wherein: The two nozzles of the inkjet printing device are configured to sequentially print N drops and M drops of ink into the two rows of the printing openings of the two groups of printing openings on the printing substrate to obtain two third printing patterns and two fourth printing patterns from the plurality of printing patterns, where N is not equal to M; The step of determining whether to adjust at least one nozzle of the inkjet printing device based on the difference in the plurality of volume information includes: Whether to adjust at least one of the two nozzles is determined according to a difference in the volume information of the two third printing patterns and a difference in the volume information of the two fourth printing patterns.

5. The nozzle adjustment method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The step of determining whether to adjust at least one of the two nozzles based on the difference in volume information between the two third printing patterns and the difference in volume information between the two fourth printing patterns includes: When a difference between the volume information of the two third printing patterns and a difference between the volume information of the two fourth printing patterns are greater than a difference threshold, at least one of the two nozzles is adjusted.

6. The nozzle adjustment method according to claim 1, wherein: The step of obtaining volume information of a plurality of printed patterns includes: Grayscale values ​​of a plurality of printed patterns are acquired through an optical detection module, wherein the volume information includes the grayscale values.

7. A nozzle adjustment system, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store program instructions, and the processor is used to execute the program instructions to implement the nozzle adjustment method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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