Liquid Droplet Ejection Timing to Reduce Periodic Unevenness
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Solution Overview
Problem
As printing speed increases, the driving cycle of actuators shortens, limiting the settable delay times, complicating driving control, and causing uniform crosstalk influence leading to periodic unevenness in printing results.
Innovation Solution
A liquid droplet ejecting apparatus with a channel member and driving elements, where nozzles are arranged in staggered patterns and driven at specific timings to minimize crosstalk effects, ensuring uniform delay times across adjacent nozzles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple kinds of delay times are set within the same driving cycle to reduce crosstalk, then print quality improves, but driving control becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the delay time configuration nozzle-specific rather than uniform. Each nozzle group (first, second, third, fourth nozzles) has its own delay time relative to the reference nozzle, allowing tailored compensation for crosstalk effects at different positions in the channel member.
2Device complexity
If delay time is uniformized to simplify driving control, then device complexity reduces, but periodic unevenness occurs in printing results
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces asymmetry in the delay time configuration. Instead of uniform delay times, different delay times are assigned to different nozzle groups based on their positions relative to the reference nozzle. This asymmetric configuration breaks the periodicity that causes unevenness while maintaining manageable control complexity.
3Productivity
If printing speed increases to improve productivity, then output increases, but available delay time options decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic delay time selection where the controller adjusts delay times based on the selected printing speed. At higher printing speeds, appropriately smaller delay times are chosen from available options, while at lower speeds, larger delay times can be used. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain effective crosstalk compensation across varying productivity requirements.
Data Source
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AI summary
A liquid droplet ejecting apparatus includes: a channel member; piezoelectric elements; and a controller. The channel member has a common channel, individual channels each communicating with one of nozzles. The individual channels include first to fourth individual channels, the common channel has first to fourth connection ports to which the first to fourth individual channels are connected, respectively. A distance between the first and second connection ports is different from a distance between the third and fourth connection ports. The controller drives first and third piezoelectric elements included in the piezoelectric elements and corresponding, respectively, to first and third nozzles included in the nozzles at a first timing, and drives second and fourth piezoelectric elements included in the piezoelectric elements and corresponding, respectively, to second and fourth nozzles included in the nozzles at a second timing delayed from the first timing by a predetermined amount of time.