Inkjet Head Nozzle Mapping for Reversed Shift Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet printing apparatuses with reversely-shifted head units suffer from deteriorated image quality due to mismatched nozzle positional relationships, resulting in reversed color tones at the edges of thin lines printed with multiple colors.
Innovation Solution
A controller determines and adjusts the nozzle correspondence relationship among multiple nozzle arrays in each head unit to ensure consistent positional relationships for the same pixel across all units, regardless of the shift direction or amount between head modules, thereby unifying the color tone of thin line edges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If head units with reversed shift direction are arranged in the ink jet head, then the device complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but the printed image quality of thin lines deteriorates due to reversed color tones at edges
Solution Approach 1:
The controller dynamically changes the correspondence relationship parameters between nozzles based on the head unit type. For normal head units, nozzles are corresponded in the original sequence, while for reversely-shifted head units, the correspondence sequence is inverted. This parameter adaptation allows consistent color tone at thin line edges regardless of head unit configuration
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static nozzle correspondence relationship to a dynamic one that adapts based on head unit characteristics. The controller automatically identifies whether a head unit is normally-shifted or reversely-shifted and adjusts the nozzle correspondence accordingly, enabling flexible accommodation of different manufacturing variations
2Measurement precision
If nozzles in two nozzle arrays are shifted by half pitch to form the same pixel, then high resolution printing is achieved, but positional relationship consistency between head units becomes difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different correspondence relationships to different local regions (head units) based on their specific characteristics. Each head unit's nozzles are corresponded according to its individual shift direction and amount, allowing high resolution printing while accommodating local variations in positional relationships
Data Source
AI summary
A controller determines a correspondence relationship among nozzles in a plurality of nozzle arrays in each head unit so that a positional relationship among nozzles corresponding to the same pixel in each nozzle array becomes the same in all of the head units irrespective of a positional relationship between nozzles having the same number in order from one side in a main scanning direction in two nozzle arrays in each head unit.