AU769733B2 - Operation of droplet deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Description

S&F Ref: 482543D1

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: XAAR Technology Limited Science Park Cambridge CB4 OXR United Kingdom Laura Anne Webb Spruson Ferguson St Martins Tower,Level 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 (CCN 3710000177) Operation of Droplet Deposition Apparatus The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5845c ~P I~r u~ru uu. u~rl* Ooeration of Droolet Deposition Apparatus The present invention relates to methods of operating droplet deposition apparatus, in particular an inkjet printhead, comprising a chamber communicating with a nozzie for ejection of ink droplets and with a supply of ink, the printhead further comprising electrically actuable means associated with the chamber and actuable a plurality of times to eject a corresponding number of droplets. In particular, it relates to a printhead in which the chamber is a channel having associated with it means for varying the volume of the channel in response to an electrical signal.

Such apparatus is known, for example, from W095/25011, US-A-5 227 813 and EP-A-0 422 870 (all incorporated herein by reference) and in which the channels are separated one from the next by side walls which extend in the lengthwise direction of the channels. In response to electrical signals, the channel walls are displaceable transverse to the channel axis. This in turn generates acoustic waves that travel along the channel axis, causing droplet ejection as is wellknown in the art.

The last of the aforementioned documents discloses the concept of "multipulse greyscale printing": firing a variable number of ink droplets from a single channel within a short period of time, the resulting "packet" of droplets merging in flight and/or on the paper to form a correspondingly variable-size printed dot on the paper. Figure 1 is taken from the aforementioned EP-A-0 422 870 and illustrates diagrammatically droplet ejection from ten neighbouring printhead channels ejecting varying numbers (64,60,55,40,etc.) of droplets. The regular spacing of successive droplets ejected from any one channel indicates that the ejection velocity of successive droplets is constant. It will also be noted that this spacing is the same for channels ejecting a high number of droplets as for channels ejecting a low number of droplets.

In the course of experiment, two deviations from the behaviour described in EP-A-0 422 870 have been discovered.

The first finding is that the first droplet to be ejected from a given channel is slowed by air resistance and may find itself hit from behind by subsequent droplets in the packet travelling in its slipstream and therefore subject to less air drag. First and subsequent droplets of the packet may then merge to form a single, large drop.

The second finding is that the velocity of such a single, large drop will vary depending on the total number of droplets in the packet that are ejected in one go from a given channel.

A third finding relates to three-cycle operation of the printhead described, for example in EP-A-O 376 532 in which successive channels in a printhead are alternately assigned to one of three groups. Each group is enabled in turn, with enabled channels ejecting a packet of one or more droplets in accordance with incoming print data as described above. It has been discovered that the velocity of the single, large drop formed by the merging of such droplets will vary depending on whether the adjacent channel in the same group is also being operated I in 3 channels) or whether only the next-butone channel in the same group is being operated 1 in 6 channels).

The variations in velocity outlined above can give rise to significant dot placement errors which, although a known problem per se, can be particularly critical in printheads operating in the multipulse greyscale mode explained above. Here the present inventors have established that a placement error between two or-more printed dots that is above one quarter of a pixel pitch can lead to print defects that are detectable by the naked eye. Since multipulse greyscale printheads typically operate at a printing pitch of 360 dots per inch and minimum substrate speeds, packet firing frequencies and printheadssubstrate separations of 5 Im/s, 5kHz and 1 mm respectively, this places an upper limit of 1.25 m/s on the acceptable variation in speed between the droplets that go to form any two adjacent printed dots.

Object of the Invention It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome or at least ameliorate one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art, or at least to provide a useful alternative.

Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a method of operating a droplet deposition apparatus, the apparatus comprising a channel communicating with a nozzle for droplet ejection and with a supply of droplet fluid; the being associated with the channel means for varying the volume of the channel in response to an electrical signal; the method comprising the steps of: 2 (R.A1U41J29.dccn applying a signal having a first part to hold the volume of said channel in an increased state for a first time period and a second part to hold the volume of said channel in a decreased state for a second time period substantially immediately following said first time period, and repeatedly applying said signal with a time delay between successive signals equal to substantially half of said first time period.

Brief Description of Drawings Figure 2 illustrates variation in droplet velocity with total waveform duration; Figure 3a illustrates the waveform used in obtaining the results of figure 2; 1o Figure 3b illustrates the application of a number of the waveforms of figure 3 in succession; Figure 4 illustrates variation in droplet velocity with the duration of waveform expansion period; Figure 5 illustrates an actuating waveform according to the present invention; Figure 6 illustrates variation in droplet velocity with duration of waveform dwell period; *go .:oO° .oooo ooooo 2a [R:\LIBLL] 12989.doc:caa KEH Figure 2 illustrates the variation in drop velocity with total duration T of a draw-reinforce-release (DRR) waveform applied repeatedly to the channel of a printhead of the kind mentioned above to generate a packet of droplets. Such a waveform well known in the art is illustrated in figure 3a and places a printh.ead channel initially in an expanded condition (a "draw" as at subsequently-switches to a contracted condition (a "reinforce" as at RF) and then "releases" (as at RL) the channel back to its original, non-actuated, rest condition. As shown in figure 3a, the draw and reinforce periods of the waveform used to obtain figure 2 are equal and repetition of the waveform results in the ejection of one droplet.

Figure 3b depicts the application of the waveform several times in immediate succession so as to eject several droplets ("droplets per dot" or "dpd") from a channel so as to form a correspondingly sized dot on the paper. It will be appreciated that this step is repeated for each channel every time the group to which it belongs is enabled and the incoming print data is such that it is required to print a dot. In the experiment used to obtain the data shown in figure 2, channels were repeatedly enabled and dots were printed at a frequency of As explained above, the droplets in a packet ejected from a channel may all merge in flight to form a single, large drop that hits the substrate to be printed.

Alternatively, all droplet merging may take place at the substrate. In a third regime, all the droplets in a packet merge in flight with the exception of the first droplet of the packet which travels ahead of the large, merged drop.

Figure 2 does not distinguish between these various modes, instead indicating the velocity of the first drop(let) to hit the substrate as measured at the substrate. It will be seen that the application of a single DRR waveform (1 dpd) of around 4.5 ps duration (to eject a single droplet) will result in a velocity of approximately 12m/s per second if only alternate channels in a group are fired in 6 operation) whereas a velocity of around 14 m/s results if every channel in a group is fired (1 in 3 operation). However, applying the same waveform seven times in immediate succession (7 dpd) so as to eject seven droplets results in a veloci.' of around 37 m/s when operated "1 in 3" and a velocity of around 25 m/s v.h-en cperated "1 in 6".

It has been discovered that there are certain advantageous values of total waveform duration T at which the aforementioned variation in velocity is mr'ch reduced. In the case of Fig. 2, it will be seen that by operating a printhead wi:h a waveform of approximately 3.8 ps duration, the velocity remains fairly constar: at around 12 m/s regardless of the number of droplets ejected in one go or the firing/non-firing status of adjacent channels in the same group. Similarly, operation with a waveform of around 7.5ps or greater will result in a fairly constant veloci:y although, at only 4 m/s, this is less desirable since a droplet ejection velocity of at least 5 m/s, and preferably at least 7 m/s, has been found necessary for acceptable print quality. Furthermore, greater values of T also result in a greater waveform duration overall and a correspondingly lower dot printing rate.

Figure 2 was obtained using a printhead of the kind disclosed in the aforementioned W095/25011 and having a resonant frequency of approximately 250kHz, equivalent to a period of resonance of approximately 4pls. This is reflected in the "1 in 3 1 dpd" trace of figure 2 which shows a resonant peak in the velocity, U, of droplets ejected from the printhead when the period of the actuating waveform is equal to 4Ets, corresponding in turn to compression and expansion elements of the actuating waveform each being equal to 2p.s. As explained in W095/25011, such a resonant period has in the past been considered as being equal to twice the ratio of closed channel length to the velocity of pressure waves in the ink Consequently, the notation L/c is used hereinafter to denote half the resonant period and, so expressed, the advantageous values referred to above are 1.9Uc and 3.75Uc respectively.

It should be noted that at 2ps, this half resonant period is significantly shorter than in similar printheads designed to eject a single ink droplet in any one droplet ejection period so-called "binary" printing in which require a greater channel length L to achieve the necessary greater droplet volume. The corresponding reduction in maximum droplet ejection frequency is offset by the fact that only one rather than a plurality of drops need be ejected to form the printed dot on the substrate. In contrast, "multipulse greyscale" operation in which a plurality of droplets form the printed dot typically requires a printhead in which the half resonant period has a value not exceeding 5 ps, preferably not exceeding 2.5 ps, in order that sufficiently high repetition frequencies and, secondarily, sufficiently low droplet volumes can be achieved.

Whilst the aforementioned advantageous values of wavefo:m duration will vary with printhead design, actuation waveform and dot printing frequency, the manner in which they are determined namely from a graph of the kind shown in figure 2 will remain the same. The same holds for the value of resonant period for a printhead. For various values of actuation waveform duration T, velocity data U is obtained either from analysis of the landing positions of ejected droplets on a substrate moving at a known speed or preferably by observation of droplet ejection stroboscopically under a microscope. It will be appreciated that both methods give an indication of the average velocity of the droplet in the course of its journey between nozzle and substrate.

As mentioned above, the "DRR" waveform shown in figure 3a need not necessarily have channel contraction and expansion elements that are equal in duraiion and/or amplitude. Indeed, it is believed that the. duration of the expansion element of the waveform may have more influence on the behaviour discussed above than the duration of the actuation waveform as a whole.

.Figure 4 illustrates the variation with increasing expansion period duration (DR) of the peak-to-peak waveform amplitude necessary to achieve a droplet ejection velocity of 5 rn/s. As with figure 2, the printhead was of the kind disclosed in W095/25011 and having a resonant period, 2L/c, of approximately 4.41s.

It will be seen that at values of expansion period duration (DR) of around and 4.5ps, different values of waveform amplitude V are necessary depending on the droplet firing regime. In the case of DR=2.5ps, a peak-to-peak waveform amplitude of only 27 volts is requi'red when applying the waveform seven times in immediate succession so as to eject seven droplets (7 drops per dot (dpd)) from one in every three channels in 3" operation) in multipulse greyscale printing mode. In contrast, a value of V=32 volts is necessary to achieve the same droplet ejection velocity when applying the waveform only once so as to eject a single droplet (1 drop per dot (dpd)) from one in every six channels in 6" operation).

In practice, variation of waveform amplitude with droplet firing regime would require complex and thus expensive control electronics. The alternative solution of a constant waveform amplitude, whilst simpler and cheaper to implement, would give rise to variations in droplet ejection velocity and consequential droplet placement errors as discussed above.

The present inventors have discovered, however, that there are values of expansion period duration (DR) at which the droplet ejection velocity remains substantially constant regardless of the droplet firing regime. Operation in such ranges allows waveforms of constant amplitude to be used regardless of operating regime and therefore without the risk of droplet placement errors.

In the case of figure 4, for example, such constant behaviour occurs with values of DR in the approximate ranges 1.8ps 2.2ps, with particularly close agreement betweer. velocities being achieved a: around 2.2ps, and in the range 3.6ps, particularly 3.4ps. Expressed in terms of half resonant period, L/c, these ranges are approximately 0.8L/c 1.0L/c, particularly 1 L/c, and 1.4/c 1.6Lc, particularly 1.5Uc. Operation in the lo,.'er rather than the higher range gives a lower overall waveform duration which in turn allovws a higher waveform repetition frequency. The lower operating voltage for a giver droplet speed in the 1.8us 2.2ps range also gives rise to correspondingly lower heat generation in the piezoelectric material of the printhead actuator walls. For these reasons, operation in the lower range is to be preferred.

It should be appreciated that printhead characteristics obtained for a constant droplet ejection velocity as shown in figure 4, will include consistent fluid dynamic effects such as nozzle and ink inlet impedance which are themselves known, for example, from W092/12014 incorporated herein by reference. The characteristics will incorporate viscosity variations, however, brought about by a variation in heating of the ink by the piezoelectric material of the printhead with variation in waveform amplitude Piezoelectric heating of ink in a printhead is explained in W097/35167, incorporated herein by reference, and consequently will not be discussed in further detail here.

Conversely, printhead characteristics of the kind shown in figure 2 and obtained for a constant waveform amplitude will include consistent heating effects at the expense of varying fluid dynamic effects. It will be appreciated, however, that at those operating conditions according to the present invention whereby waveform amplitude and droplet ejection velocity remain constant regardless of operating regime, fluid dynamic and piezoelectric heating effects will also remain constant. Consequently either type of characteristic is suitable in determining operating conditions according to the present invention.

Figure 5 illustrates the actuating waveform used in obtaining the characteristics of figure 4, with actuating voltage magnitude being indicated on the ordinate and normaiised time on the abscissa. At is indicated the channel expansion period, the duration (DR) of which is varied to obtain the characteristics of figure 6. There follc.ws substantially immediately thereafter a channel contraction period of duration of 2DR, followed by a period of duration 0.5DR in which the channel dwells in a condition in which it is neither contracted nor expanded.

Following the dwell period, the waveform can be repeated as appropriate to eject further droplets. Such a waveform has been found to be particularly effective in ejecting multiple droplets to form a single, variable-size dot on a substrate without simultaneously causing the ejection of unwanted droplets (so-called "accidentals") from neighbouring channels.

Accordingly, a first aspect of the present invention consists in a method of operating droplet deposition apparatus, the apparatus comprising a channel communicating with a nozzle for droplet ejection and with a supply of droplet fluid; there being associated with the channel means for varying the volume of the channel in response to an electrical signal; the method comprising the steps of: applying a signal having a first part to hold the volume of said channel in an increased state for a first time period and a second part to hold the volume of said channel in a decreased state for a second time period substantially immediately following said first time period, and repeatedly applying said signal with a time delay between successive signals equal to substantially half of said first time period.

Furthermore, waveforms of this kind having a particular value of dwell time have been found to be effective in reducing the difference in velocity between single droplet (1 dpd) and multiple droplet 7 dpd) operation to below the level necessary for acceptable image quality.

Thus a second aspect of the present invention consists in a method of operating an inkjet printhead for printing on a substrate; the printhead having a chamber communicating with a nozzle for ejection of ink droplets and with a supply of ink; the printhead further comprising electrically actuable means associated with the chamber and actuable a plurality of times in accordance with print tone data, thereby to eject a corresponding number of droplets to form a printed dot of appropriate tone on the substrate; the method comprising the steps of: applying a plurality of electrical signals to the electrically actuable means in accordance with the print tone data, the time delay between application of successive signals being such that any variation in the average velocity at which corresponding drople's travel to the substrate to form said printed dot remains below that which would lead to defects in the printed image detectable by the naked eye, regardless of the number of said droplets ejected to form said printed dot.

The present inventors have found that with the aid of suitable experiments covering a range of dwell times, a dwell time value can be found a: which the average velocity of the droplets in a packet remains within a narrow band, regardless of the number of droplets in that packet. As a result, any variation in the average velocity that does take place between droplet packets of varying size will be less than that which would otherwise give rise tc defects in the printed image detectable by the naked eye as explained earlier.

Preferred embodiments of both aspects of i.e invention are set out in the description and dependent claims. The invention also comprises droplet deposition -apparatus and drive circjit means adapted to operate according to these claims.

Figure 6 illustrates the results of an experiment of the kind referred to above, the variation in average droplet velocity, U, being plotted against variation in the length of the dwell period D of a waveform of the kind shown in figure 5. The length of D is expressed as a fraction of the length DR of the expansion period C which, in the present example, has a length of 2.2ps and is equal to half the resonant period.

Compression period X is twice the length of C, as shown in figure It will be seen that the waveform of the kind described above in which the dwell time is equal to 0.5DR results in a separation of only 0.7m/s between a maximum velocity of approximately 6.7 m/s, corresponding to a packet of 7 droplets, and a minimum velocity of 6 m/s corresponding to a packet of two droplets. This is little over half of the allowable difference of 1.25 rms mentioned above. It is also evident from figure 8 that it wculd be possible to reduce the dwell time to 0.45DR before exceeding the 1.25 rrms limit on velocity difference mentioned earlier, resulting in a shorter and therefore faster overall waveform. It is also possible to increase the dwell time a similar amount above 0.5 DR to a dwell time of 0.55 without any significant deleterious effects. Indeed, the slower rate of increase in velocity difference with dw.ell time at values of dwell above 0.5DR means that the 1.25 m/s limit is reached at values of DR around 0.85. A waveform incorporating such a dwell period would only have approximately 90% of the speed of a waveform incorporating a 0.45 DR dwell period, however, and is consequently less desirable.

The results of figures 4 and 6 were obtained using a waveform of the kind shown in figure 5 having an arplitude in the region of 40V. It will be appreciated, however, that constraints else.where in the system may result in a somewhat altered waveform being applied in prac:ice. In particular, rise times in the drive circuitry may result in waveform edges havirg a greater slope than illustrated in figure 5 or in a slight dwell time between app!:ation of expansion and contraction signals. In the latter case, any dwell time wi' be significantly less than the dwell time between signals.

In addition to having a half resonant period of approximately 4.4,us, the printhead used to obtain the results of figures 4 and 6 also had a nozzle outlet diameter of 25.m and employed a hydrocarbon ink of the kind disclosed in W096/24642. Other parameters were typical, for example as disclosed in the EP 0 609 080, EP 0 611 154, EP 0 611 655 and EP 0 612 623. It will be appreciated, however, that experiments of the kind mentioned in regard to figure 6 can be performed with any printhead and suitable values of dwell period thereby established.

Whilst specific reference has been made to the apparatus described in W095/25011 and other documents referred to above, the present invention is considered to be applicable to any printhead employing channels having displaceable side walls. Moreover, some of the advantages set forth above can be enjoyed by applying the present invention to drop-on-demand ink jet apparatus employing other electrically actuable means to eject droplets.

M1. k W

Claims (18)

1. A method of operating a droplet deposition apparatus, the apparatus comprising a channel communicating with a nozzle for droplet ejection and with a supply of droplet fluid; there being associated with the channel means for varying the volume of the channel in response to an electrical signal; the method comprising the steps of: applying a signal having a first part to hold the volume of said channel in an increased state for a first time period and a second part to hold the volume of said channel io in a decreased state for a second time period substantially immediately following said first time period, and repeatedly applying said signal with a time delay between successive signals equal to substantially half of said first time period.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of said time delay to Is said first period is greater than or equal to 0.45.

3. Method according to either of claims 1 or 2, wherein the ratio of said time delay to said first period is less than 0.85.

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein the ratio of said time delay to said first period is equal to or less than 0.55. 20

5. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said first time period is equal to the half resonant period of said channel.

6. Method according to claim 5, wherein the half resonant period is less than or equal to

7. Method according to claim 6, wherein the half resonant period is S 25 substantially equal to 2.2pis. oooo ooooo1 [R:\LIBLL] 12989.doc:caa KEH

8. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said second time period is substantially equal to twice said first time period.

9. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 and wherein the printhead s has an array of said chambers; the method further comprising the steps of: applying said signal a plurality of times in accordance with print tone data, thereby to eject a corresponding number of droplets from a selected chamber to form a printed dot of appropriate tone on the substrate; said signal being repeated at such a frequency that the velocity of each ejected droplet remain both substantially independent of whether or not chambers in the vicinity of said selected chamber are similarly actuated to effect drop ejection simultaneously with drop ejection from said selected chamber and substantially independent of the number of droplets to be ejected in accordance with the print tone data.

10. Method according to claim 9, wherein successive chambers in the array are regularly assigned to groups such that the chamber belonging to any one group is bounded on either side by chambers belonging to at least one other group, the groups of chambers being sequentially enabled for actuation in successive periods; wherein signals are applied to said selected chamber at a frequency such that the velocity of the corresponding ejected droplet is both substantially independent of whether or not those chambers belonging to the same group as the selected chamber and which are located nearest in the array to said selected chamber are similarly actuated to effect droplet ejection simultaneously with drop ejection from the selected channel, and substantially independent of the number of droplets to be, ejected in accordance with the print tone data.

11. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the printhead has an array of said chambers; the method further comprising the steps of: applying said first part of said signal to the means of a selected chamber for such a time period that the velocity of the corresponding ejected droplet is both substantially independent of whether or not channels in the vicinity of said selected channel are similarly actuated to effect drop ejection simultaneously with drop ejection from said selected channel, and substantially independent of the number of droplets to be ejected in accordance with the print tone data. 11 [R:\LIBLL] 12989.doc:caa

12. Method according to claim 11, wherein successive chambers in the array are regularly assigned to groups such that a chamber belonging to any one group is bounded on either side by chambers belonging to at least one other group; the groups of chambers being sequentially enabled for actuation in successive periods; s the method comprising the steps of applying said first part of said signal to the means of a selected chamber for such a time period that the velocity of the corresponding ejected droplet is both substantially independent of whether or not those channels belonging to the same group as the selected channel and which are located nearest in the array to said selected channel are similarly actuated to effect droplet ejection simultaneously with drop ejection from the selected channel, and substantially independent of the number of droplets to be ejected in accordance with the print tone data.

13. Method according to any previous claim, wherein the means for varying the volume of the channel acts to displace a wall of said channel.

14. Method according to claim 13, wherein said wall of said channel is displaceable transversely to said channel axis.

15. Method according to claim 14, wherein said displaceable channel wall separates two adjacent channels.

16. Method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein said means for varying the volume of the effects droplet ejection by means of acoustic waves in the droplet fluid.

17. Method according to claim 16, wherein said acoustic waves travel along the axis of the channel.

18. A method of operating a droplet deposition apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described in Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings. Dated 3 May, 2002 XAAR Technology Limited Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON FERGUSON 12 IR:\LIBLL] 12989.doc:ca ;1 I i, (IlI i ,IlLZ1 11I till.i~i5;l~l.~~.si-Yliil Lii.lll-.i l liillLi~ji~