Alternating Ink Dot Interposition for White Ink Discharge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ink-jet printing technologies face challenges in discharging a large quantity of ink of a specific color, such as white, without leaving gaps, which is necessary to improve contrast between color images and background images, but this requires high-performance discharge units.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves a printing apparatus with multiple discharge units, including a first, second, and third discharge unit, each with nozzles arrayed at a predetermined pitch. The control unit coordinates the timing of ink discharge from these units so that ink dots from one unit are interposed between those from another, allowing for efficient discharge of a large quantity of specific color ink without the need for high-performance units.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a high-performance discharge unit is used to discharge a large quantity of ink of a specific color, then the quantity of ink discharged per unit time is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The discharge unit is divided into multiple independent discharge units (first discharge unit with first nozzles, second discharge unit with second nozzles, third discharge unit with third nozzles). Each discharge unit operates independently to discharge ink of the same or different colors, collectively achieving the required ink discharge quantity without requiring any single unit to have high performance
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple discharge units discharging ink of the same specific color are combined to work together. The first discharge unit discharges ink of a first color, while the second and third discharge units both discharge ink of a second color (specific color), and their combined output achieves the required large quantity of specific color ink discharge
2Quantity of substance
If multiple discharge units are used to discharge large quantity of specific color ink, then the ink discharge quantity is improved, but the control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit controls the timing of ink discharge from the second and third discharge units in a periodic alternating manner. By controlling the discharge timing such that ink dots from the second discharge unit and ink dots from the third discharge unit are interposed alternately in the conveying direction, the system achieves coordinated operation without requiring complex real-time synchronization
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit pre-establishes the discharge timing pattern for multiple discharge units based on the conveyor speed and nozzle array pitch. By determining the discharge timing in advance according to the relationship between conveying speed and nozzle spacing, the system simplifies real-time control while ensuring proper ink dot spacing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enables a large quantity of specific color ink to be discharged onto the printing medium, enhancing image contrast without requiring high-performance discharge units, thus reducing the complexity and cost of the printing apparatus.
Implementation Method 1
a color image can be printed on a printing medium by discharging an ink of a color such as cyan, magenta, yellow or black to the printing medium from nozzles by an ink-jet method
Data Source
AI summary
Each of the discharge head 3wu, 3wd discharges the ink dots of white to the web 10. The discharge heads 3wu, 3wd are controlled to share the discharge of the white ink for the web 10. As a result of such a control, the ink dot discharged to the web 10 from the discharge head 3wd is interposed between two ink dots successively discharged to the web 10 from the nozzle 31 of the discharge head 3wu in the X direction. The ink dot discharged to the web 10 from the discharge head 3wu is interposed between two ink dots successively discharged to the web 10 from the nozzle 31 of the discharge head 3wd in the X direction. That is, each of the discharge head 3wu and the head 3wd only has to be able to continuously discharge the ink in the cycle, which is twice the cycle Tcy, and should not necessarily be able to continuously discharge the ink in a short time.