JP3565671B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To retain a writing device on a given position by increasing or reducing the pressure of an air flow jetted from the periphery of an ink outlet of a pen point toward a recording medium in compliance with the distance between the recording medium and the pen point. SOLUTION: An outer case 136 is so formed on the periphery of an ink outlet of a pen body as to encircle the outer peripheral wall of the pen main body so that a space is formed between the pen body and the outer peripheral wall, and the space forms an air flow passage 137. A structure of introducing an air flow generated by an air pressure source through an orifice is formed on the air flow path 137. The air flow, therefore, is jetted from a pen point toward a glass base 21. When the distance between the pen point and the glass base 21, namely the height of a writing instrument 15, is varied, the pressure in the air flow path 137 is fluctuated. The pressure is sensed by a pressure sensor provided on the air flow path 137 and transmitted as the pressure information to a control circuit and utilized for making the height of the writing device 15 constant.

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording ultra-fine lines using a liquid or liquid recording material (ink).
[0002]
[Prior art]
In order to draw a very fine line of about several tens of μm on a recording medium, the distance between the ink outlet at the tip of the writing instrument and the recording medium, that is, the height of the writing instrument must be kept constant during recording. In general, a recording medium has slight unevenness, and a line having a certain thickness cannot be drawn due to the unevenness in some cases.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
For this reason, in the conventional apparatus, in order to keep the height of the writing implement constant during recording, a recording medium having as little unevenness as possible is used, and the writing implement is moved in the XY directions with respect to the recording medium. The moving mechanism for moving is configured robustly and with high precision.
For this reason, such a conventional apparatus has a disadvantage that the selectivity of a recording medium for drawing an extra fine line is narrowed and the cost of the recording apparatus itself is significantly increased.
The present invention has been made to improve these points.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Therefore, in the present invention,
In a recording apparatus that draws a desired image on a recording medium while the writing implement block holding the writing implement moves relatively in the XY directions on the recording medium,
A writing instrument having a tip portion having an ink outlet, and an air flow path forming member formed with a predetermined gap around the tip portion and forming an air outlet around the tip portion,
A writing implement block having a writing implement vertical means for holding the writing implement and changing the height position of the writing implement relative to the recording medium,
Control means for controlling the movement of the recording medium and the writing implement block relatively in the XY directions and controlling the writing implement vertical means of the writing implement block to control the height position of the writing implement relative to the recording medium;
A pressure sensor for measuring the pressure of the airflow blown around the tip of the writing implement,
Height holding means for varying the control amount of the control means with respect to the writing instrument vertical means based on the output of the pressure sensor to stabilize the height position of the writing instrument with respect to the recording medium;
Was provided.
[0005]
[Action]
An air flow is blown toward the recording medium from around the ink outlet of the pen tip. The pressure of the air flow increases and decreases according to the distance between the recording medium and the pen tip. Therefore, by using the pressure of this air flow as a parameter for controlling the height position of the writing implement, the writing implement can be maintained at a fixed position.
[0006]
【Example】
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the embodiment of the drawings. In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing a tip structure of a writing implement according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a graph showing a relationship between a height of the writing implement and a pressure of an air flow, and FIG. It is.
[0007]
Please refer to FIG. This device can be used as a device for drawing a wiring pattern on a glass substrate 21 as a recording medium using, for example, a conductive paste as ink. The glass substrate 21 is horizontally supported by a support of a device (not shown). The writing implement block 13 is supported on the glass substrate 21 and is configured to be movable in the X and Y directions based on a command from control means (not shown).
[0008]
The writing instrument block 13 has a slide shaft 132 on the opening side of the rectangular support portion 131, that is, on the right side in the drawing. Further, an actuator 133 is provided on the back side. The pen holder 14 for holding the writing implement 15 is held on the slide shaft 132 so as to be vertically slidable. The actuator 133 and the pen holder 14 are connected via a first member 134 and a second member 141. A lifting spring 135 is attached to the first member 134, so that the first member 134 is always in the upper position.
[0009]
Now, when the actuator 133 is operated by the control circuit 33, the first member 134 is lowered, and therefore, the pen holder 14 is also lowered. Thus, the writing implement 15 is in a drawable state. The pen holder 14 is provided with a height sensor 142 for detecting the height of the pen holder 14, that is, the height of the writing implement 15, and is fed back to the control circuit 33 (not shown).
[0010]
The writing implement 15 has an ink reservoir therein, and has a structure in which a pressure for pushing out the ink is applied from an air inlet 151 above the writing implement based on a command from a control unit (not shown). Therefore, the ink in the ink flow path 152 formed at the center of the pen shaft is pushed out from the lowermost ink outlet by the pressure from the air inlet 151 described above. The diameter of the ink outlet is set to a size substantially matching the thickness of the drawing line 159 to be drawn.
[0011]
An outer housing 136 is formed around the ink outlet of the pen body so as to form a predetermined space with the outer peripheral wall of the pen body. This space becomes the air flow path 137. As shown in FIG. 3, the air flow path 137 has a structure in which an air flow generated by the pneumatic source 35 is introduced through an orifice 351.
[0012]
Therefore, this air flow is jetted from the tip of the pen toward the glass substrate 21. When the distance between the tip of the pen and the glass substrate 21, that is, the height of the writing implement 15 changes, the pressure in the air flow path 137 changes. This pressure is detected by the pressure sensor 34 provided in the air flow path 137 and transmitted to the control circuit 33 as pressure information. This pressure information is used for actuator control for stabilizing the height of the writing implement 15.
[0013]
Next, the drawing operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.
At the start of drawing, first, the control circuit 33 shown in FIG. 3 issues a command to the actuator 133 of the writing instrument block 13 to position the pen holding unit 14 holding the writing instrument 15 at a predetermined position. This can be roughly called position control by controlling the writing implement 15 to be at the initial height position, and is monitored by a height sensor 142 provided in the pen holding unit 14.
[0014]
Next, the air pressure source 35 is operated by control means (not shown), and an air flow is jetted from the tip of the pen as shown in FIG. Assuming that the distance between the tip of the pen and the glass substrate 21 at this time, that is, the height of the writing implement 15 is h and the pressure of the air flow path 137 at that time is P, the relationship between h and P is as shown in FIG. When h is on the order of several tens to 100 μm, there is a substantially proportional relationship. Therefore, by monitoring this pressure by the pressure sensor 34 of FIG. 3 and feeding it back to the control circuit 33, even when slight irregularities exist on the glass substrate 21, a command to the actuator 133 can be It can be varied according to the height h, and the writing implement 15 can be maintained at a constant height.
[0015]
In this state, pressure is applied to the ink reservoir of the writing implement 15 via control means (not shown) and the writing implement block 13 is moved in the X or (and) Y direction. Thereby, a desired wiring pattern can be drawn. When the drawing is interrupted, the application of pressure to the ink reservoir of the writing implement 15 may be stopped.
[0016]
Further, in this embodiment, a solid electrode 153 is provided at the tip of the pen body of the writing implement 15. The solid electrode 153 is formed upward from the ink outlet at the tip of the pen body, and is configured to apply an AC voltage or a DC voltage based on a command from a control circuit (not shown).
[0017]
Then, during drawing by the apparatus, a predetermined voltage is applied to the solid electrode 153 formed around the main body of the pen tip. This is to prevent the formation of an ink mass near the ink outlet due to surface tension or the like that may occur when ink having a high viscosity is used. When such an ink mass occurs, it is difficult to make the thickness of the drawing line by the ink having a high viscosity extremely small and constant. The glass substrate 21 also functions as a counter electrode, and an electric field perpendicular to the glass substrate 21 is formed. As a result, a phenomenon occurs in which the ink is drawn to the glass substrate 21. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the generation of the ink mass near the ink outlet.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the distance between the tip of the writing instrument and the drawing medium, which is indispensable for drawing an extra fine line with a constant thickness, is kept constant even when there are fine irregularities on the drawing medium. It is possible to do.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing a structure of a tip of a writing instrument according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing a relationship between a writing implement height h and an air pressure P in an air passage.
FIG. 3 is a configuration explanatory view showing the overall configuration of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
13: Writing implement block 133: Actuator 137: Air flow path 14: Pen holding part 15: Writing implement 21: Glass substrate 33: Control circuit 34: Pressure sensor 35: Pneumatic source

Claims (1)

In a recording apparatus that draws a desired image on a recording medium while the writing implement block holding the writing implement moves relatively in the XY directions on the recording medium,
A writing instrument having a tip portion provided with an ink outlet, and an air flow path forming member formed so as to provide a predetermined space around the tip portion and to form an air outlet around the tip portion; ,
A writing implement block having a writing implement vertical means for holding the writing implement and changing the height position of the writing implement relative to the recording medium,
Control means for controlling the movement of the recording medium and the writing implement block relatively in the XY directions and controlling the writing implement vertical means of the writing implement block to control the height position of the writing implement relative to the recording medium;
A pressure sensor for measuring the pressure of the airflow blown around the tip of the writing implement,
Height holding means for varying the control amount of the control means with respect to the writing instrument vertical means based on the output of the pressure sensor to stabilize the height position of the writing instrument with respect to the recording medium;
A recording device comprising:

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