JP3471574B2 - How to install the inkjet head - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for mounting an ink jet head, and more specifically, it is used in a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer machine, etc., and forms an image by ejecting ink from a discharge hole onto a recording paper. The present invention relates to a method for attaching an inkjet head, which can be applied to an inkjet head printer or the like, and which attaches at least one or more inkjet heads to a head holding member via an intermediate holding member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ink jet printers, which eject ink droplets from ejection holes to output an image, have been widely used in recent years because of their excellent low-tone performance and their easy miniaturization. There are four types of printer devices: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
There is one that forms a full-color image with four inkjet heads filled with color inks (hereinafter, simply referred to as a four-head unit).

When forming a color image with this printer, ink jet heads for ejecting ink droplets are arranged in a row on the printer, and ink droplets of different colors are ejected from each head. Since the relative landing position accuracy of each color ink ejected from each head greatly affects the image quality, the relative landing position deviation of each color is prevented from causing a color misregistration. There is a need.

By the way, such an ink jet head is usually fixed to the head holding member with an ultraviolet curing adhesive or the like, but recently, the head is fixed to the head holding member via an intermediate holding member. A fixed type is proposed by the present applicant (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-55645). Explaining the reason why this intermediate holding member is used, since the relative position of the nozzles of each head must be in the four-head unit, adjustment work must be performed for each head, and the adjustment must be performed in all XYZ directions. .

Therefore, a clearance is basically required between the head holding member and the head, and direct surface contact cannot be made. Therefore, an intermediate holding member is prepared as an auxiliary mechanism for fixing, and the intermediate holding member is mediated. Then, the head and the head holding member are bonded and fixed. At this time, the head is attached to the head holding member via the intermediate holding member by applying the adhesive to the adhesive surface of the intermediate holding member and then attaching the intermediate holding member to the bonding surfaces of the head and the head holding member, respectively. Therefore, the head can be attached to the head holding member with desired fixing accuracy, and the relative landing position accuracy of the ink of each color ejected from each head can be increased.

[0006]

However, in such a conventional mounting method, it is necessary to cure the adhesive while controlling the film thickness of the applied adhesive. However, there is a problem in that even if the adhesive is applied, the film thickness of the adhesive cannot be made constant due to variations in the shape of the actual parts and changes in the viscosity of the adhesive itself due to temperature changes and the like.

If the film thickness of the adhesive varies as described above, for example, when the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet rays and the film thickness of the adhesive is large, the adhesive does not completely solidify.
The problem that the head is not fixed enough occurs. Further, if the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet rays while the film thickness of the adhesive is small, the adhesive is completely solidified but the amount of the adhesive itself is small, so that the fixing force of the head becomes insufficient. .

On the other hand, if the film thickness of the adhesive varies as described above, the curing of the adhesive becomes insufficient even if the adhesive is irradiated with a certain amount of ultraviolet rays for a certain period of time. . Therefore, even if the film thickness of the adhesive varies, the adhesive may be completely cured, for example, by increasing the actual amount of ultraviolet light and increasing the irradiation time. To avoid this, a method of installing a device (clean room or the like) for keeping the temperature of the adhesive constant to suppress variations in parts can be considered.

However, if the method shown in (1) is adopted, extra energy is applied to the head, the head holding member, the intermediate holding member and the adhesive, so that these respective parts are discolored and deteriorated, or the adhesive cures and shrinks. If this is done too much, the positional displacement of the head becomes large, and since the irradiation time becomes long, there arises a problem that it takes a long time to fix the head.

Further, if the method shown in (1) is adopted, the cost for installing a clean room and the like must be changed to an apparatus with high precision of each component, which causes a problem that the manufacturing cost increases. As described above, it is very important and indispensable to control the film thickness of the adhesive when mounting the inkjet head.

Therefore, the invention according to claim 1 provides a method of attaching an ink jet head, which can easily make the film thickness of the adhesive constant and attach the ink jet head to the head holding member with desired accuracy. Is intended. According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent unnecessary irradiation energy from being applied to the head, the intermediate holding member and the head holding member so that these respective parts are discolored and deteriorated, or the adhesive is hardened and shrunk too much to cause head deterioration. It is possible to prevent the displacement from becoming large, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of attaching an inkjet head, which enables the inkjet head to be attached to a head holding member at a desired accuracy in a short time and at low cost.

[0012]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In order to solve the above problems, a method of attaching an inkjet head, wherein at least one or more inkjet heads are attached to a head holding member via an intermediate holding member, wherein an ultraviolet curable adhesive is applied to an adhesive surface in advance. After the holding member is installed between the inkjet head and the head holding member, the inkjet head is adjusted to be positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the head holding member, and then the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, The inkjet head is fixed to the head holding member via an intermediate holding member.

In this case, since the intermediate holding member coated with the adhesive is set to the ink jet head and the head holding member before the ink jet head is positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the head holding member, the intermediate holding member. And the surface tension of the adhesive, the surface tension of the inkjet head and the adhesive, the surface tension of the head holding member and the adhesive, the gravity of the adhesive itself, the weight of the intermediate holding member and the wettability of the adhesive, and the like. The adhesive can be uniformly permeated to the entire bonding surface of the head and the bonding surface of the intermediate holding member and the head holding member.

Therefore, the film thickness of the adhesive can be easily made constant, and by curing the adhesive in this state, the ink jet head can be attached to the head holding member with desired accuracy. The invention according to claim 2 is
In order to solve the above problems, in the invention according to claim 1, the amount of ultraviolet light and the irradiation time corresponding to the temperature and the film thickness of the adhesive are stored in a memory in advance, and the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet light. When curing the adhesive, the temperature and the film thickness of the adhesive are measured, and the ultraviolet light amount and the irradiation time corresponding to the temperature and the film thickness are read from the memory, and the adhesive is converted into ultraviolet light based on the read result. The feature is that it is irradiated.

In that case, the ultraviolet rays can be irradiated under the optimum conditions according to the film thickness of the adhesive. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary irradiation energy from being applied to the inkjet head, the intermediate holding member, the head holding member, and the adhesive, and these parts are discolored and deteriorated, or the adhesive hardens and shrinks too much. It is possible to prevent the positional deviation of (1) from becoming large.

Further, since it is possible to prevent the irradiation time from becoming longer than necessary, it is possible to prevent the head mounting time from becoming longer. Further, since it is not necessary to install a clean room or the like and change to a highly accurate device for each component, it is possible to prevent an increase in manufacturing cost.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 8 are views showing a first embodiment of a method of attaching an inkjet head according to the present invention, and correspond to the invention of claim 1. First, the configuration will be described. In addition, FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a structure of an inkjet head manufactured by a mounting device according to the present embodiment,
2 is a front view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a top view thereof.

1 to 4, 1 is a head holding member as a frame to be mounted on an ink jet printer, 2 is an ink jet head, 3 is an intermediate holding member, and a bonding surface between the intermediate holding member 3 and the head holding member 1 and An ultraviolet curable adhesive 4 is applied to the bonding surfaces of the intermediate holding member 3 and the head 2, and the intermediate holding member 3 is installed between the head 2 and the head holding member 1 by this adhesive 4.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are views showing a mounting device for mounting the head 2 on the head holding member 1. In FIGS. 5 and 6, reference numeral 5 denotes a pedestal, on which the position adjusting mechanism 6 is mounted.
Is provided. The position adjusting mechanism 6 is composed of a robot arm driven by a motor, a combination of a motor and a ball screw, etc., and has a motor as a drive source.

A chuck 7 for gripping the head 2 is provided at the tip of the position adjusting mechanism 6, and the position adjusting mechanism 6 grips the head 2 with the chuck 7 so as to move in the X, Y and Z directions. It is movable in the α direction around the X axis, the β direction around the Y axis, and the γ direction around the Z axis. The chuck 7 is driven by an electromagnetic valve 8, and the head 2 can be gripped and released by turning on / off the electromagnetic valve 8.

A chuck 9 is provided on the gantry 5, and the chuck 9 is driven by an electromagnetic valve 10. When the electromagnetic valve 10 is turned on and off, the head holding member 1 is grasped and held. It can be opened. Further, each solenoid valve 8 and 10 has a CPU (Central Processing Uni
t) ON / OFF drive is performed by a command signal from 11. Further, the CPU 11 outputs a motor command signal to the motor control unit 12 so that the motor control unit 12 controls the position adjusting mechanism 6 to move to a predetermined target position. Is output to the position adjusting mechanism 6 via the motor driver 13.

A pair of light guides 14 are arranged near the chuck 9, and the light guides 14 are CPs.
The adhesive 4 is irradiated with the ultraviolet rays generated from the ultraviolet ray irradiation unit 15 which is ON / OFF driven by a signal from U11. Although not shown, the intermediate holding member 3 has a position adjusting mechanism and a chuck that have the same structure as the position adjusting mechanism 6 having the chuck 7, and the intermediate holding member 3 is gripped by the chuck and the X direction, the Y direction, the Z direction, and the X direction. It is movable in the α direction around the axis, the β direction around the Y axis, and the γ direction around the Z axis.

Next, a method for attaching the head 2 to the head holding member 1 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 7 and the operation explanatory view shown in FIG. First, turn on the solenoid valve 10.
Then, the head holding member 1 is set on the chuck 9 (step S1), and the adhesive 4 is applied to the intermediate holding member 3 (step S8). Then, the solenoid valve 8 is turned on and the chuck 9 holds the head 2 (step S
2).

Next, after moving the chuck 7 by the position adjusting mechanism 6 to move the head 2 to the bonding position on the head holding member 1 (step S3), the intermediate holding member 3 to which the adhesive 4 is applied. Is installed between the intermediate holding member 1 and the head 2 (step S4), and then the head 2 is adjusted so as to be positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the head holding member 1 (step S5).
Is permeated into the adhesive surface between the head holding member 1 and the intermediate holding member 3 and the adhesive surface between the head 2 and the intermediate holding member 3 (step S9).

At this time, as shown in FIG.
Is an arrow depending on the surface tension with the intermediate holding member 3, the surface tension with the head 2, the surface tension with the head holding member 1, the gravity of the adhesive 4 itself, the weight of the intermediate holding member 3 and the wettability of the adhesive 4. Spreads in the radial direction as shown by. Then, it is determined whether or not the adjustment of the head 2 is completed (step S
6) If the head 2 can be adjusted to the desired position,
It is determined whether 10 seconds have passed since the adjustment of the head 2 was completed (step S7). Next, when 10 seconds have passed, it is determined that the adhesive 4 has spread evenly on the bonding surfaces of the head holding member 1 and the intermediate holding member 3 and the bonding surface of the head 2 and the intermediate holding member 3, and the light guide Ultraviolet rays are emitted from 14 to cure the adhesive (step S10). As a result, the head 2 is attached to the head holding member 1 via the intermediate holding member 3.

As described above, in this embodiment, after the intermediate holding member 3 having the adhesive surface coated with the adhesive 4 in advance is installed between the head 2 and the head holding member 1, the head 2 is attached to the head holding member 1. And adjust it so that it is positioned at a predetermined position, and then irradiate the adhesive 4 with ultraviolet rays,
Since the head 2 is fixed to the head holding member 1 via the intermediate holding member 3, the surface tension of the intermediate holding member 3 and the adhesive 4, the surface tension of the head 2 and the adhesive 4, the head holding member 1 and the adhesive. 4 by the surface tension, the gravity of the adhesive 4 itself, the weight of the intermediate holding member 3, the wettability of the adhesive 4, and the like, the bonding surface between the intermediate holding member 3 and the head 2, and the intermediate holding member 3 and the head holding member 1. The adhesive 4 can be made to uniformly penetrate the entire adhesive surface.

Therefore, the film thickness of the adhesive 4 can be easily made constant, and by curing the adhesive 4 in this state, the head 2 can be attached to the head holding member 1 with desired accuracy. 9 to 14 are views showing a second embodiment of an ink jet head mounting method according to the present invention, and correspond to the invention of claim 2.

First, the structure will be described. 9 is a front view of the structure of the inkjet head manufactured by the mounting device according to the present embodiment, FIG. 10 is a top view thereof, and FIG. 11 is a side view thereof. In FIGS. 9 to 11, 21 is a head holding member (which may be an inkjet head) as a frame mounted on an inkjet printer, 22 is an intermediate holding member, and the intermediate holding member 22 and the head holding member 21 have adhesive surfaces. An ultraviolet curing adhesive 23 is applied, and the intermediate holding member 22 is attached to the head holding member 21 by this adhesive 23. In the present embodiment, the intermediate holding member 22
The present invention is applied to a structure of an ink jet head in which the head holding member 21 and the ink jet head are interposed. Since the basic structure of this structure is the same as that of the first embodiment, the structure is not the same as the holding member 21. Holding member 22 with adhesive 23
Only the method of fixing with will be explained.

12 and 13 are views showing an attaching device for attaching the intermediate holding member 22 to the head holding member 21. As shown in FIG. In FIGS. 12 and 13, the head holding member 21 is held by a chuck having the same structure as that of the first embodiment, and the intermediate holding member 22 also has the same structure as that of the first embodiment. The positioning is adjusted on the intermediate holding member 22 by.

A pair of light guides 24 are arranged near the chuck for holding the head holding member 21, and the light guides 24 are turned on by a signal from the controller 25.
The adhesive 23 is irradiated with the ultraviolet light generated from the ultraviolet light irradiation unit 26 that is turned on / off. Also,
CCD near the chuck that holds the head holding member 21
A camera 27 is provided, and this CCD camera 17 is driven by a camera power supply unit 28 driven by an output signal from the controller 25, so that the film thickness of the adhesive 23 is photographed and the image is outputted to the controller 25. It has become.

A halogen lamp 29 is provided near the CCD camera 27, and the halogen lamp 29 is C
The halogen irradiation unit 30 driven by the output signal from the controller 25 emits light when the CD camera 27 takes an image, thereby fulfilling the function of illumination. Further, a thermometer 31 is provided in the vicinity of the chuck that holds the head holding member 21, and the thermometer 31 measures the temperature of the adhesive 23 without contacting the adhesive 23, and the measurement result is sent to the controller 25. It is designed to output.

The controller 25 has a CPU 32 and a memory 33. In the memory 33, the amount of ultraviolet light and the irradiation time according to the temperature and the film thickness of the adhesive are stored as a table map, and the CPU 32 takes the temperature information of the adhesive 23 measured by the thermometer 31 and the CCD camera 27. The light amount data and the irradiation time data are read from the map of the memory 33 based on the thickness information of the adhesive 23 thus obtained, and the ultraviolet light irradiation unit 26 is driven based on the read result, and the ultraviolet light amount irradiated from the light guide 24 and The irradiation time is controlled.

Next, the intermediate holding member 22 is attached to the head holding member 21.
A method of attaching the same to the above will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the basic operation is the first
Since it is the same as the embodiment, only the characteristic part will be described.
If it is possible to adjust the intermediate holding member 22 to a desired position by determining whether or not the adjustment of the intermediate holding member 22 is completed, 10 seconds after the adjustment of the intermediate holding member 22 is completed, The film thickness of the adhesive 23 is photographed by the CCD camera 27, the temperature of the adhesive 23 is measured by the thermometer 31 (steps S21, 22), and the measurement result is output to the controller 25.

The CPU 32 of the controller 25 reads the light quantity data and the irradiation time data corresponding to the temperature information and the film thickness information from the memory 33 based on the both measurement results (step S).
23, S24), and transmits the light amount data and the irradiation time data to the ultraviolet irradiation unit 26 (step S25). Then
The ultraviolet irradiation unit 26 irradiates the adhesive 23 with ultraviolet light having a light amount based on the light amount data from the light guide 24 for a time based on the irradiation time data (step S26).

Next, when the irradiation time of the ultraviolet rays is only the time based on the irradiation time data (step S
27), an ultraviolet irradiation completion signal is transmitted to the ultraviolet irradiation unit 26, and when the ultraviolet irradiation unit 26 receives this signal,
The irradiation of ultraviolet rays is finished (step S28). As described above, in this embodiment, the amount of ultraviolet light and the irradiation time according to the temperature and the film thickness of the adhesive 23 are stored in the memory 33 in advance, and the adhesive 23 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to cure the adhesive 23. At this time, the temperature and the film thickness of the adhesive 23 are measured, and the amount of ultraviolet light and the irradiation time corresponding to the temperature and the film thickness are stored in the memory 33.
Since the adhesive 23 is read based on the read result, the ultraviolet can be irradiated under the optimum condition according to the film thickness of the adhesive 23. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary irradiation energy from being applied to the intermediate holding member 22, the head holding member 21, and the adhesive 23, and these parts are discolored and deteriorated, or the adhesive 23 excessively cures and shrinks. It is possible to prevent the displacement of the intermediate holding member 22 from becoming large. As a result, it is possible to prevent the displacement of the head from becoming large.

Further, since it is possible to prevent the irradiation time from becoming longer than necessary, it is possible to prevent the mounting time of the intermediate holding member 22 from increasing. Further, since it is not necessary to install a clean room or the like and change to a highly accurate device for each component, it is possible to prevent an increase in manufacturing cost.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the intermediate holding member to which the adhesive is applied is positioned with respect to the inkjet head and the head holding member before the inkjet head is positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the head holding member. Since it is installed, the surface tension of the intermediate holding member and the adhesive, the surface tension of the inkjet head and the adhesive, the surface tension of the head holding member and the adhesive, the gravity of the adhesive itself, the weight of the intermediate holding member and the adhesive Due to the wettability and the like, the adhesive can be uniformly permeated to the entire bonding surface between the intermediate holding member and the inkjet head and the entire bonding surface between the intermediate holding member and the head holding member.

Therefore, the film thickness of the adhesive can be easily made constant, and by curing the adhesive in this state, the ink jet head can be attached to the head holding member with desired accuracy. According to the second aspect of the invention, since the ultraviolet rays can be irradiated under the optimum condition according to the film thickness of the adhesive, extra irradiation energy is applied to the inkjet head, the intermediate holding member, the head holding member and the adhesive. It is possible to prevent the components from being discolored and to prevent the components from discoloring and deteriorating, or the adhesive from being excessively hardened and shrunk to cause a large displacement of the head.

Further, since it is possible to prevent the irradiation time from becoming longer than necessary, it is possible to prevent the head mounting time from becoming longer. Further, since it is not necessary to install a clean room or the like and change to a highly accurate device for each component, it is possible to prevent an increase in manufacturing cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a structure of an inkjet head showing a first embodiment of a method for mounting an inkjet head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the structure of the inkjet head of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the structure of the inkjet head of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the structure of the inkjet head of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an attachment device that achieves the attachment method of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the attachment device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a method of attaching the head of the first embodiment to a head holding member.

8A and 8B are operation explanatory views when the head of the first embodiment is attached to the head holding member via the intermediate holding member.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the structure of the inkjet head, showing the second embodiment of the method for mounting the inkjet head according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a top view of the structure of the inkjet head of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the structure of the inkjet head of the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of an attachment device that achieves the attachment method of the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a mounting device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a method of attaching the intermediate holding member to the head holding member according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,21 Head holding member 2 heads 3,22 Intermediate holding member 4,23 adhesive 33 memory

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for attaching an inkjet head, wherein at least one or more inkjet heads are attached to the head holding member via an intermediate holding member, the intermediate holding member having a UV-curable adhesive applied in advance to an adhesive surface thereof. After being installed between the inkjet head and the head holding member, the inkjet head is adjusted to be positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the head holding member,
Then, the inkjet head is fixed to the head holding member via an intermediate holding member by irradiating the adhesive with ultraviolet rays. 2. The amount of ultraviolet light and the irradiation time according to the temperature and film thickness of the adhesive are stored in advance in a memory, and when the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to cure the adhesive,
The temperature and film thickness of the adhesive are measured, the amount of ultraviolet light and the irradiation time corresponding to the temperature and film thickness are read from the memory, and the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet light based on the read result. The method for mounting the inkjet head according to claim 1.