Inkjet Nozzle Control via Window-Based Segmentation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printing methods struggle to maintain uniform micro-thickness layers due to nozzle performance deviations and interference between adjacent nozzles, making it difficult to achieve desired print uniformity.
Innovation Solution
An inkjet printing method and apparatus that sets control values for nozzles based on measured discharge performance, using a window to determine and adjust ink quantities across the printing area, ensuring uniformity by compensating for nozzle performance differences through sequential control signal adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional inkjet printing is used to form micro-thickness layers, then printing speed and efficiency are maintained, but uniformity of the layer thickness deteriorates due to nozzle performance deviations and interference between adjacent nozzles
Solution Approach 1:
The printing area is divided into multiple windows, and the nozzle group is divided into multiple subsets. Each subset is controlled independently with its own control values, allowing localized adjustment of ink discharge to compensate for nozzle performance variations while maintaining overall printing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
Different control values are assigned to different nozzle subsets based on their specific discharge performance characteristics. This localized control approach allows each nozzle or subset to operate at optimal parameters for its performance level, achieving uniform layer thickness across the entire printing area.
2Manufacturing precision
If control values are adjusted to compensate for nozzle discharge performance variations, then print uniformity is improved, but measurement and control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of measuring and adjusting every single nozzle, the system measures discharge performance at selected positions and uses these measurements to determine control values for entire nozzle subsets. This partial measurement approach achieves acceptable print uniformity while significantly reducing measurement and control complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a model of nozzle discharge performance based on measurements from representative nozzles, then applies this model to determine control values for other nozzles in the same subset. This copying approach extends limited measurements to broader control without requiring individual measurement of every nozzle.
3Manufacturing precision
If a window-based approach is used to determine control values for multiple nozzles, then print uniformity across the whole area is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The window-based control is applied to segmented nozzle subsets rather than the entire nozzle array at once. This segmentation allows parallel processing of different subsets and reduces the computational burden for each window, thereby reducing overall processing time while maintaining uniformity.
Solution Approach 2:
Control values for nozzle subsets are determined in advance based on preliminary measurements and window-based calculations, then stored and applied during actual printing. This preliminary determination reduces real-time processing requirements and speeds up the printing operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An inkjet printing apparatus is provided. The inkjet printing apparatus includes a plurality of nozzles, each of the plurality of nozzles adapted to be controlled to discharge a separated ink quantity mapped to a control value input, a nozzle performance measuring circuit inputting the control value mapped to the separated ink quantity to the each of the plurality of nozzles, and a control circuit calculating a target print ink quantity in case where a reference separated ink quantity is discharged from a plurality of dots on a window and determining the control value of each of the plurality of nozzles. The control circuit may designate one dot in the window as a reference dot and determine the control value of the each of the plurality of nozzles within the window as the reference dot and the window move sequentially within a printing area.