JP7566440B2 - Fluid ejection method, ejection device, and output device using centrifugal force - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for scanning a print head of a printer. It also relates to an output device, such as a printing device or processing device, that uses the scanning method.

Computer output devices include printers, coaters, ejectors, and laser processing devices that eject ink or materials on demand onto desired positions on recording paper, media, or the recording surface of the media (recording paper or recording material).
The device is controlled by a computer terminal and processes or manipulates a two-dimensional or three-dimensional location using ink materials, lasers, etc., to form two-dimensional images or text as images and create three-dimensional objects.
An output machine, such as a printer, plotter, or machining center, is a machine that places or processes material at a desired location in two or three dimensions.

In an inkjet printer, ink is ejected from the nozzles of an inkjet print head, and the ink is deposited on the media to be printed, where it is dried or reacted, hardened, bonded, and fixed.
Inkjet printers are equipped with print head nozzles that correspond to the material and type of ink, allowing them to eject and deposit multiple types of ink onto a recording surface. This makes them suitable for printing color images, and they are used in printing text and color images.

It is also possible to create three-dimensional objects by printing and depositing additional images in the vertical direction on top of the ink material printed and deposited on the recording surface in two dimensions, and inkjet-type three-dimensional printers (3D printers) are now in practical use.
Two-dimensional printers (2D printers, conventional printers) are being adapted for use as three-dimensional printers (3D printers).

When printing and layering ink, 3D printers either compress and pile up the ink with rollers after it has set, or supply powder or paper instead of recording paper, allow the ink to set, and then smooth it out with rollers before layering it in the height direction to create the shape.

On the other hand, in addition to being used for three-dimensional applications, two-dimensional printers are also used for recording on special inks and media, and for high-speed printing.
In addition to being used for printing on paper such as text books and posters for on-demand printing, it is also used for printing on film made of fire-resistant material using special ink for signs and advertisements, coloring and printing on textile products, printing on products, on-demand printing for product trials, and prototyping.
In the field of printed electronics, it is used in the manufacture of electronic components and in the application process of liquid materials onto substrates. It is being considered for use in applying and fixing functional materials such as organic semiconductors, inorganic semiconductors, hybrid materials, synthetic metal materials, conductive polymers, electrode materials, metal particle materials, inkjet printer element electronic component materials, and resists.
In each of the aforementioned fields, high printing speed is desirable.

One known approach to increasing printing speed in the inkjet printer field is the development of line printers as opposed to serial printers.
Most practical inkjet printers are serial printers (see example explanation, https://www.jfpi.or.jp/webyogo/index.php?term=1165), and use a multi-pass method in which the recording head repeatedly moves in a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction (vertical direction) to record. This requires the recording head to be moved repeatedly to print, which can take a long time to print.

In serial printers, the method of increasing the print speed is to increase the head's processing power by making the print head larger (increasing the number of nozzles Nz) and faster (increasing the nozzle drive speed f). (This is well known, and for example, the speed factor SF of serial printers is described on page 222 of Non-Patent Document 1.)
For example, the number of nozzles mounted on a recording head may be increased. To do this, a known method is to link multiple recording head elements, each having a nozzle built in, in a staggered arrangement or the like and mount them on the recording head of a serial printer, thereby making the recording head larger and improving printing speed.

When making the recording head larger and increasing its mass, the mechanism that supports and drives the head also becomes larger. There is a limit to the speed at which a larger head can be moved.

Furthermore, as the number of head elements mounted on the print head increases, it becomes necessary to adjust the position and level of the elements and adjust the ejection, etc. When many elements are mounted on the head, it can sometimes be laborious to install a broken head element and adjust the ejection.
In the inventor's personal opinion, as the staggered head becomes larger, the footprint of the cleaning section (which also serves as the capping section) also becomes larger.

Regarding head installation, among the inkjet methods, industrial printers that use thermal inkjet can manufacture thermal inkjet head elements for serial printers, which are often manufactured using semiconductor manufacturing technology, or printheads with these elements built in. In the event of irreparable nozzle leakage, the entire printhead can be replaced, reducing maintenance labor and costs, and downtime for head adjustment.

Now, in order to improve the printing speed problem of serial printers, a line printer line head (https://www.epson.jp/osirase/2017/170202_4.htm) is used as the recording head, in which the nozzles of multiple recording head elements are arranged in a straight line (one-dimensionally) perpendicular (horizontal) to the feed direction of the recording paper (vertical direction, sub-scanning direction).
Patent documents 1 to 4 are examples of previously reported line printers. The line printers use a single-pass system in which the recording head moves only once when the recording surface or recording paper is supplied during printing (the recording head is fixed and the recording surface moves).
In a line printer, printing is performed by a recording head arranged across the recording width of the recording paper as soon as the recording paper is fed out. Since printing is performed simply by the recording paper passing under the recording head, it is possible to feed the media and print without stopping, just like offset printing.

Here, like the recording heads of serial printers, line heads also need to have the ejection performance required to achieve the desired processing power, for example by increasing the number of nozzles, and it may be important for consumers to keep in mind that a faster serial head is a better option than a slower line head.
Due to issues such as the head cleaning mechanism when not printing, the capping mechanism, and maintenance of large heads, the line head and the method shown in this invention may be preferable for business use rather than home use, where the printer is operated constantly.

However, there is an issue with practical line heads in that the cleaning mechanisms for the inkjet head nozzles that can be used in serial printers cannot be used or are limited in their use.

It is difficult to clean the line head, which is in operation during printing. When cleaning, printing must be interrupted and the line head must be moved away from the recording surface to be cleaned, which extends the printing time.
From the viewpoint of the speed factor SF, this increases the maintenance time Tm and other time X.
In order to avoid interrupting printing, a method is also proposed in which two or more sets of line heads are provided and the heads not used for printing are cleaned.
Thus, cleaning measures are a known issue with line heads.

Furthermore, when the head elements are connected in a line and fixed in a certain position for printing, the nozzle positions become fixed, resulting in the issue of nozzles that cannot be restored by cleaning (missing nozzles).
Serial printers perform multi-pass printing, which makes it possible to make print head ejection defects and biases in each nozzle less noticeable on the image by dividing the print head into multiple scans, but with the single-pass method of the line head, nozzle dropouts and the like are noticeable.
This must be avoided, as it can lead to partial image defects in images, modeling failures in 3D printers, and manufacturing failures in electronic components.
When printing three-dimensional objects, it takes time to layer the layers, and if nozzle clogging caused by an inability to clean the nozzle results in a failed model, it will waste material and time.
The inventor therefore sought to find a method that would allow printing like a line printer while cleaning.

JP 2002-273878 A JP 2011-016316 A Patent No. 5857205 International Publication No. 2017/013847

Edited by the Japanese Society of Imaging Science, supervised by Masahiko Fujii, series "Digital Printer Technology" Inkjet, 2008, ISBN 978-4-501-62340-1

The problem to be solved is the lack of availability of line heads or line head equivalent recording heads with continuous nozzle cleaning for two and three dimensional printing.
And there is no print head that can print in a single pass like a line printer, but can be easily cleaned during printing like a serial printer. This problem is that there is no mechanism to perform cleaning during printing when using a line head in a printer that operates for a long time, such as a 3D printer. In 2D printers, the same problems as 3D printers can occur when operating the nozzle for a long time during on-demand production of industrial products.
It would be desirable for a printer that operates like a line printer to have a mechanism for cleaning during the printing operation.

As a means for solving the problem, the present invention will be explained using schematic diagrams of printer scanning methods such as Figures 1, 1AA, 1AB, 1AC, and 2C, an explanatory diagram of a printer equipped with an inkjet or additive manufacturing nozzle as in Figure 5A and Figure 5A, and an explanatory diagram of a laser processing machine as in Figure 5E.
In response to the problem, the present invention provides a nozzle array 100 (nozzles 10, 100NZ) or nozzles that are provided in a recording head 1, and that draw a rotating or looping orbit (100 or 100A in the case of a circular orbit, and 100R or 4R in the case of an oval track orbit) that crosses the recording paper 2 or the recording surface 2, passes through a cleaning unit 3, and crosses the recording surface 2 again, as shown in the explanatory diagrams of FIG. 1AA and FIG. 2C,
A recording surface 2 and a cleaning mechanism 3 are arranged on a track (100, 100A, 100R, 4R) along which the nozzles of the recording head 1 rotate or loop,
A material discharge nozzle (inkjet nozzle, dispenser nozzle, deposition gas irradiation nozzle, nozzle using additive manufacturing method) or a laser nozzle (laser processing nozzle that heats and removes wood, resin, and electrode film by laser processing, nozzle using removal processing method) is used as the nozzle,
The main feature of this system is that it has a nozzle scanning path that allows printing/processing and cleaning to be performed alternately, as shown in Figures 5A and 5D, in which the nozzle crosses the recording surface 2, passes through the cleaning unit 3, and then crosses the recording surface 2 again and passes through the cleaning unit 3, repeating this process.
As shown in Figures 2AA and 2A, the trajectory drawn by the nozzles of the recording head crosses and passes across the recording surface, and one or more nozzles may be provided on both sides of the recording surface through which the trajectory of the recording head passes or in the vicinity of the recording surface, and the printer is characterized in that the trajectory passes through a cleaning section provided with one or more cleaning sections 3.
1, 1A, 2A, 2AA, 2C, 3B, 5A, 5B, and 5D are representative explanatory views of the present invention.
The invention is used in an apparatus with inkjet nozzles, FDM or additive manufacturing (AM) nozzles, the apparatus comprising one or more nozzles in a print head, said nozzles being used for 3D printing with AM methods similar to FDM, or for inkjet printing in 2D and 3D.
<Electronic parts manufacturing>
The method and apparatus of the present invention are also intended to be used in the manufacturing process of electronic components and the like, for depositing materials and forming films.
In relation to electronic component processing, the nozzle is not the type used in the AM method, but rather a laser nozzle or other nozzle that performs cutting and removal processing, and the intended use is to cut and remove the film formed during electronic component manufacturing using laser processing, and use this for electrode patterning.
It is intended to be particularly applicable to components that require film formation and patterning over large areas, such as in solar cell manufacturing processes.

Specific examples of the trajectory described by the nozzles of the recording head are a circle, an oval, or an ellipse, and when it is a circle in particular, the nozzles are arranged and fixed in a circular shape, and the print head with this fixed circular nozzle row is rotated by a motor either external or attached to the print head, and ink is ejected from the nozzle row that describes a circular trajectory across the recording surface to print.
In addition to ejecting materials such as ink, processing can also be performed by placing a processing element in place of the nozzle.
1AC and 5A, in the present invention, if there is one nozzle, the nozzle is provided alone on the circumferential side of a circular head 1, the head 1 is rotated (or moved), and ink 12 is ejected from a nozzle 100NZ that describes a circular orbit 100C that crosses the recording surface, onto the recording surface 2 to perform printing. After the ejection operation, the nozzle passes through a cleaning unit 3 and is cleaned, and then it moves again above the recording surface and ejects, repeating the ejection and cleaning operations.
In the present invention, as shown in Figures 1A, 1AA and 1AB, when a head 1 is provided with not one nozzle (at 100 NZ) but more than two or three nozzles as in a nozzle row 100, the print head 1 is rotated by an external motor or a motor provided in the print head, and ink 12 is ejected onto the recording surface 2 from the multiple nozzles (nozzle row 100) that draw a circular orbit across the recording surface to perform printing, and even during printing the nozzles pass through a cleaning unit 3 for cleaning, and the ejection and cleaning operations are repeated.

As shown in Figures 2C and 5D, the track of the storage head can be circular or elliptical (elliptical, oval track), and one or more nozzles are arranged on a track (4R, 100R) and made movable, and the nozzles 100NZ are arranged on a track such as a rail so that they are lined up in an ellipse like a train (car, carrier, carriage), and the car equipped with the nozzles is moved from a certain origin position across the recording surface, through a cleaning section, and then across the origin and the recording surface again so that it can print continuously, and the nozzles print or process as they cross the recording surface. In this case, the nozzles alternate between ejection and cleaning operations by continuing the main scan.

The head of the present invention may use not only the inkjet method, but also a method of pushing out material and ejecting it from a nozzle as seen in 3D printers (additive manufacturing method, FDM method), or a laser irradiation method equipped with an irradiation section (irradiation laser nozzle section) that processes materials in a laser processing machine.

The recording head may include a plurality of inkjet nozzles, or may include a plurality of FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) material ejection nozzles.
Any type of nozzle that extrudes material from a nozzle used in known additive manufacturing methods may be used.
The scanning method of the present invention may be used for items that can be manufactured from materials that are not thermally melted (materials that are fluid at room temperature), such as food pastes (paste-like confectionery materials such as cookie dough and chocolate paste, bread ingredients, and dough ingredients), or inorganic/organic material pastes such as pottery, earthenware, and building materials.
The scanning method of the present invention may also be used to eject biological material onto a recording surface, for example from a nozzle having a nozzle diameter capable of ejecting seeds for agricultural machinery applications.
The print head may be equipped with an inkjet nozzle and an extrusion nozzle for food materials, food paste may be layered with the extrusion nozzle, and food may be printed with food coloring to output on-demand food.
In the present application, mechanical parts and electronic parts may be output. In the present invention, operation may be performed not only under atmospheric pressure but also under vacuum. Materials for electronic parts may be deposited on a substrate on a recording surface by scanning a head having a material discharge nozzle under vacuum or in vacuum space using the scanning method of the present invention.

<Use in space and output of electronic components and building structures in space>
The method of the present invention may be operated not only under atmospheric pressure, but also under the weightless vacuum of outer space.
When used in outer space, it may be equipped with a mechanism for stopping or canceling the rotation of the head 1. The present application has few movements that swing the mass from side to side like a serial printer, but has many rotational movements.

<● Solar cells manufactured using materials and substrates launched in space>
Since outer space has a higher vacuum than Earth (a vacuum in outer space without the need for turbomolecular pumps, etc., as on Earth), it may be advantageous to carry out the manufacturing of some solar cells and metal parts, which involve vacuum processes (output of space parts and products), on-site at a base such as the space station.

In the inventor's personal opinion, when comparing the case of manufacturing film-type solar cells on the ground and launching them into space, and the case of launching film materials and raw materials such as electrodes and semiconductors from the ground into space and then manufacturing solar cells on site in space using the vacuum provided by space,
If the latter raw materials are launched and then solar cells are manufactured in situ in space using the vacuum of space, it may be possible to use vacuum pumps less frequently or even unnecessary.
In the latter case, solar cell manufacturing equipment is required that has a vacuum process that uses the vacuum provided by outer space to eject, spray, irradiate, form a film, and deposit materials onto a substrate, such as by vapor deposition.

<Manufacturing solar cells in space using a vacuum process without a vacuum pump>
If solar cells on space stations or artificial satellites, or solar cells for space solar power generation, break down, it may be necessary to manufacture solar cells locally from raw materials and substrates such as semiconductors and electrode materials on a space station in space.
For example, if you want to manufacture solar cells on demand using raw materials, parts, and substrates launched from the ground in the vacuum environment of space,
A deposition device used for manufacturing solar cells in space, or a device (here, an output device for manufacturing) that vaporizes atoms and molecules using the principles of a deposition device and performs deposition or sublimation to form metal electrodes, transparent electrodes, inorganic semiconductor and organic semiconductor films, and performs impurity injection processing such as doping into semiconductor films, may be used to manufacture solar cells by utilizing the vacuum provided in space, without using a pump (vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump or oil diffusion pump) that evacuates a vacuum chamber used in the vacuum process during solar cell manufacturing on Earth.

Even if the degree of vacuum can be made the same in a vacuum chamber on Earth and in outer space, there is a risk that particles exist or fly in outer space that can have an adverse effect on the manufacturing of semiconductor components, so the manufacturing process may be equipped with a device to block the effects of such particles.
For example, a manufacturing device that uses the vacuum of outer space may be equipped with a mechanism for reducing the effect on the organic semiconductor film of particles that may be generated from an ionization vacuum gauge that measures the vacuum level of a vacuum chamber during deposition of electrodes for organic solar cells.

If the particles to be removed into the vacuum are electrically charged particles, electric or magnetic fields can be used to remove the particles. If there is microscopic debris that may physically collide with the manufacturing equipment, barriers or other structures are installed to prevent the debris from colliding with the manufacturing equipment. In the case of photons such as gamma rays or X-rays, they are blocked by a dense metal barrier.

<On-demand output device in space>
In outer space, the space and mass available for the manufacturing device may be limited, so the present application may use a printer 8 having the features claimed in the present application as the manufacturing device.
The feature of the present application is that it has the characteristic of being able to perform nozzle cleaning even during the ejection operation when ejecting or spraying material onto the recording surface 2, or ejecting material fluid or material gas fluid (evaporated particles in the deposition process or sublimation process), and this application can be used to create electronic components such as solar cells in outer space (film-type solar cells that apply the vacuum in outer space, intended for roll-to-roll manufacturing using a printer 8 similar to a printing process), space structures, or three-dimensional products and parts.
The film-like (film-type) solar cell manufactured by the above-mentioned device and method may be used in space structures such as space stations and for space solar power generation.

The printer 8 of the present application may be used in the manufacture of electronic components in which large-area substrates such as films or electrode foils are inserted and processed when manufacturing elements such as capacitors (electrolytic capacitors, ceramic capacitors), piezoelectric actuators, and secondary batteries (liquid electrolyte or solid electrolyte lithium ion batteries), which have manufacturing processes similar to printing processes (inkjet printing, roll-to-roll processes) such as film solar cells under atmospheric pressure or vacuum.

In a vacuum, oxygen and nitrogen are virtually nonexistent compared to the atmosphere, so it is expected that oxidation will not occur during sintering of metals.
In this application, the head 1 of the printer 8 is equipped with a laser nozzle and an ejection nozzle that ejects a fluid containing metal particles (including titanium), and metal powder is ejected and deposited on the recording surface 2 while the metal particles are sequentially sintered from the laser nozzle under the vacuum of space, thereby forming metal parts, etc.
Instead of using a discharge nozzle, metal powder may be supplied to the recording surface 2, and the metal powder may be leveled by a roller or the like for each lamination thickness, followed by irradiating the laser with a laser nozzle for sintering. The same applies to resin powder, regardless of whether metal powder is used.

<Connection example of the printer of the present invention>
The main feature of the present invention is that a recording surface 2 and a cleaning mechanism 3 are provided on a rotating or looping track (100, 100C, 100R, 4R) drawn by nozzles (multiple nozzle rows 100, single nozzles 100NZ) of a recording head 1.
The ejection material and the material supply path (ink sub-tank 11, ink supply path 111, ink supply path 112, ink tank 113, material extrusion pump 110PP, pump drive circuit 1FDP) that are supplied to the head 1;
A path (1WL, 6WL) for transmitting and receiving signals to control the ejection of the material mounted on the head 1 by the nozzle (10, 100NZ), the nozzle actuator 100VA, and the nozzle drive circuit 1FDN;
A path (1PU, 6P) for supplying power and electricity to operate the head 1 is required.
As a simple configuration, an explanatory diagram of a case in which one nozzle is provided is shown in Figs. 5A to 5F.

<Power and data storage unit>
Since the application of the present invention is close to business use, even in the event of a power outage, it may be required for the printer to continue operating up to a convenient stopping point before pausing.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide the print head 1 with a power storage device 1PUC (secondary battery, capacitor) to provide means for smoothing out fluctuations in power due to temporary power outages and the like.
In addition to the one PUC of the head 1, the printer body 8 may be provided with a power storage device.

It is also highly desirable to have a storage device 1CU0 (memory, for example volatile memory such as SRAM or DRAM, or non-volatile memory such as flash memory) in the head 1 to record, store, and pool print data and control data sent by communication from the printer body. As shown in Figure 5C, communication is performed between controllers and data is stored.
In the case of non-volatile memory, after the print data is stored in head 1, the data can be recorded even without power; for example, when the print data is data for a prototype and on-demand manufacturing, the data recorded in the non-volatile memory of head 1 can be output by the printer as a prototype, and if there are no problems, the data can be used for on-demand product manufacturing without reloading it (reducing the time required for communication, movement, and duplication of print data between controllers).
Non-volatile memory is required to be fast, have a large capacity, and not have a low rewrite count. Flash memory is a non-volatile memory that is generally in circulation as of 2021. (There are also other memory elements such as ferroelectric memory that have better read/write speeds and read/write counts than flash memory.)
Considering the balance between cost, operating speed and storage capacity, it is also possible to mount a DRAM used as the main memory of a computer or a high-speed SRAM built into the central processing unit (CPU) as a cache memory in the head 1 .

<Transport of ejection material to head>
A fluid joint 111 (including liquid, gas, and plasma) may be used to supply ejection material to the rotating head 1. In the case of a single material (monochrome), a rotary joint corresponding to the single color is used. In the case of multiple materials (multichrome), corresponding rotary joints 111 are used.
Even when the rotary joint 111 is not used, it is possible to supply a single material or a plurality of materials to the head 1. As shown in FIG. 1BE, opposing ink supply mechanisms are provided.
The ink supply method can be either under atmospheric pressure or under vacuum. In a vacuum, a rotary joint with piping can be used. To operate in the zero gravity and vacuum of outer space, the pump and joints that transport the fluid must also be changed.

<Ejection signal communication to head>
The ejection signal may be transmitted to the head 1 using a non-contact wireless method and a contact wired method. An important feature of the present invention is that a non-contact communication method can be used.
When transmitting data to the rotating head 1 using a contact method such as a slip ring, it becomes necessary to take into consideration the operating life, cost, and communication stability of the slip ring.
Therefore, in the present invention, it is preferable to use non-contact communication rather than contact communication as the communication method between the rotating or moving print head 1 and the printer body. Specific examples of non-contact communication in the present invention are wireless communication and optical communication. In Figures 5A and 5D, 1WL and 6WL correspond to the non-contact communication unit.
Wireless communication can be by radio waves or by sound waves. In the present invention, it is sufficient that the communication capacity is sufficient for the amount of print data. In the existing technology, radio waves can be used for wireless communication.
<Additional Information>
As mentioned above, when the present invention is used in a large-area, high-resolution 3D printer using the inkjet method, the number of dots required for modeling increases, resulting in an increase in the amount of data, and it may become necessary to use a slip ring to transfer the large amounts of data.
It is not impossible to create a printer that uses a slip ring for the scanning method and data communication that is the first claim of this invention. However, since slip rings have a lifespan due to wear (brush wear due to contact), it is preferable to use non-contact communication in this invention. If the issues of slip ring lifespan, cost, and high speed and stability of communication can be resolved, the slip ring can be used in this invention.
This invention does not exclude the use of slip rings for communication and power supply between the printer and the head 1, especially for power supply. A non-contact method is used for communication between the printer and the head, but a contact method in which slip rings or terminals are in contact can be used to supply power from the printer to the head. There are some points to consider when using contact communication.
In the present invention, the head is operated by combining wireless data transfer and power supply using contacts. When contact-type power supply is performed from the printer main body (printer controller 6) to the print head 1, a power storage device 1PUC that smoothes the power is provided.

Now, in the present invention, with regard to the communication method between the print head and the printer body, it is desirable to have a large capacity data communication format in order to output data for 3D printers or large-area, high-speed 2D images. In terms of wireless, this includes radio waves with shorter wavelengths than ultra-high frequency waves or microwaves, and optical communications using infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet light.
When using radio waves, the print head and the printer body are each equipped with an antenna. When using optical communication, the print head and the printer body are each equipped with an element that emits photons and a detector that receives the photons and generates a signal so that photons can be exchanged. For example, an LED or laser diode is used to emit light, and a photodiode is used to detect light.
(The radio waves in this invention are in the following bands: very long wave, long wave, medium wave, short wave, ultra-short wave, ultra-short wave, microwave, millimeter wave, and sub-millimeter wave.)

A printer 8 equipped with the recording head 1 and printing method of the present invention has the advantages of a line printer in that it has many nozzles, and by rotating the nozzles across the recording surface, the recording surface is scanned and recorded in a multi-pass manner, while the nozzles (10, 100, 100A, 100B, 100NZ) of the recording head 1 circulate between the recording surface 2 and the cleaning unit 3, allowing alternating printing and cleaning, thereby offering the advantage of achieving both high speed printing and ease of nozzle maintenance.
In FIG. 1A, printing is performed using nozzle array 100 in the lower half of the arc of the circular print head 1, but as shown in FIG. 2AA, nozzle arrays in both the upper and lower half of the arc of the nozzle array 100 may be used, and cleaning units 3 may also be provided on both the left and right sides of the recording surface 2 (cleaning units may be provided on the left and right as in the lower diagram of FIG. 2A or FIG. 2AA).
In the inventor's personal opinion, by using two nozzle rows, one above the other (as in the right side view of FIG. 2AA), the number of carriage operations Cr of the speed factor SF can be reduced from 2 in one direction to 1 in both directions, thereby doubling the speed.

Since three-dimensional printers perform continuous printing when creating objects, nozzle cleaning according to the method of the present invention can be used to prevent defects in the created object due to nozzle malfunctions during printing.
This will also help reduce nozzle defects and printing defects when manufacturing objects created with 3D printers, on-demand printing, textile products, industrial products, and electronic component products.
To prevent the time required for nozzle cleaning in a three-dimensional printer from being wasted by stopping printing when performing nozzle cleaning, it becomes possible to perform printing and cleaning simultaneously, thereby contributing to a reduction in printing time.
<Notes>
The present invention was intended to increase printing speed by equipping a large number of nozzles like a line printer, but
In addition, when performing nozzle cleaning, the nozzle is cleaned as needed.
The intention is to enable cleaning to be performed during printing operations in order to prevent modeling and printing errors caused by nozzle failure due to insufficient nozzle cleaning.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a printer having a recording head that rotates or loops across a recording surface. (Embodiment 1) A diagram showing the relationship between the scanning direction of the head equipped with nozzles, the cleaning part, Lm, and DDh. A diagram showing the relationship between the scanning direction and cleaning unit with an inkjet nozzle, Lm, and Dh. A diagram showing the relationship between the scanning direction and cleaning unit with an inkjet nozzle, Lm, and Dh. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a case where the number of nozzles Nz operated by a single additive manufacturing method or inkjet method is one. Off-carriage ink supply system diagram Illustration of the off-carriage ink supply system (plan view) Ink supply system using off-carriage joint Off-carriage multiple ink supply system Off-carriage two-color ink supply system Off-carriage type, opposing multi-color ink supply system On-carriage method diagram On-carriage ink supply system diagram Ink supply system using on-carriage multi-color cartridges and nozzles An explanatory diagram of ink landing and a schematic diagram of cleaning when a cleaning unit is provided on one or both sides of the recording surface. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a case in which two nozzles that eject ink in an arc shape are provided on the recording surface and cleaning units are provided on both sides of the recording surface. An explanatory diagram of a case where a recording surface that rotates around the center of a turntable-type recording surface 2 is used in a three-dimensional printer. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a case where a nozzle train is arranged on an elliptical looping track to form a nozzle row, and the nozzle row is moved along the elliptical track across the recording paper and nozzle cleaning is performed by a cleaning unit. A diagram illustrating the case where a printing is attempted under the condition that a circular head equipped with an elliptical nozzle row is rotated and cleaning is performed only in the vicinity of the major axis of the ellipse. FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a case where a turntable-type recording surface 2 is used in a three-dimensional printer. An explanatory diagram of an inkjet type 3D printer (front view of the printer) An explanatory diagram of how multiple parts are printed on a turntable using a 3D printer Explanation of FDM 3D printer (front view of printer) Diagram of how to use it as a 2D printer (front view of the printer) An explanatory diagram of 3D printing using two monochrome print heads of different materials (an explanatory diagram of 3D printing using multiple monochrome heads on the recording surface) Printer configuration diagram Illustration of a printer and a printer user terminal An explanatory diagram of a printer with one nozzle using the on-carriage method. An explanatory diagram of the area around the head when using the on-carriage method and there is one nozzle Printer controller and head controller diagram An explanatory diagram of one nozzle that runs on an oval track rail using the on-carriage method. Diagram of a single nozzle laser processing machine Diagram of the head of a single-nozzle laser processing machine

The objective of providing a high speed line head and a cleaning mechanism is to
One or more nozzles (10, 100, 100NZ, 100LD) capable of drawing a looped track (circular, oval track, elliptical, elliptical) are arranged on the recording head 1,
This is achieved by rotating or moving the nozzle along a loop to scan the recording surface 2 and the cleaning unit 3.

It is important to note that this invention was conceived to increase the size and speed of print heads for industrial printed electronics applications, 3D printer applications, newspaper, magazine and book printing, textile product applications, and on-demand, high-volume printing applications, and does not take into consideration the compactness and economy seen in home serial printers. It is intended for applications where the head is stopped, paused and capped for short periods of time.

<Print head>
The head 1 may be equipped with a motion sensor 1CS. The motion sensor 1CS may be used in the recording head element built into the head 1 to detect the inclination of the head element. Measurement information from the motion sensor 1CS built into the head may be used to adjust the head 1 and nozzles when they are attached. The motion sensor 1CS may have a function of acting as a level to detect the inclination and horizontality of the head 1.
In the present invention, a plurality of recording head elements 10 are arranged in a loop so as to cross the recording surface. Considering replacement and maintenance of the head elements 10 assembled in the print head 1 of the printer 8, it is preferable to have a means for assisting in the assembly of the elements when replacing them. Therefore, by incorporating a motion sensor 1CS in the head element 10 or head 1, the inclination of each element can be detected, making it easier to adjust the alignment of the elements when replacing the head elements.
In the present invention, it is preferable to be able to detect the inclination and position information of the nozzle surface of the head 1 and the head element 10.
Information from the motion sensor 1CS built into the print head 1 may be used when the printer 8 scans the head 1 in the main scanning direction to perform ejection and processing operations.
Information from the motion sensor 1CS of the head 1 may be used to ensure the safety of personnel involved in the operation and maintenance of the apparatus.
Information from the motion sensor 1CS of the head 1, along with information about the printer body, ink ejection information, processing information, etc., is collected in the print server 8U and the printing user terminal 8U, and the business that has introduced the printer can share and utilize the operating status of the device within the business premises via a network.

If the printing method of the elements of head 1 is an inkjet method, a piezoelectric inkjet method or a thermal inkjet method equipped with one or more nozzles may be used, or a valve opening and closing method (valve jet method) in which pressure is applied to the ink by a pump (e.g., 110 PP in FIG. 5A) to open and close a valve (100 VA in FIG. 5A) may be used.
The 100VA is a valve in the valve jet system, a piezoelectric actuator element in the piezoelectric ink jet system, and a heating element in the thermal ink jet system; the 100VA is an actuator element for ejecting ink or fluid material.
When the valve is opened and closed, the ink may be ejected from the nozzle in the case of an inkjet system, or may be extruded, ejected, or applied from the nozzle like a dispenser, or may be ejected, squirted, sprayed, or atomized from the nozzle like a spray.
The head may be provided with a temperature adjusting mechanism to change the temperature and viscosity of the fluid to be discharged or ejected. A solid material may be caused to undergo a phase transition to a fluid such as a liquid or gas by heating.
According to previous reports, there is a method in which a solid wax material is heated and melted, and printed using an inkjet method. In the present invention, a liquid melted from a solid may also be used as the ink.
Similar to known vacuum deposition methods, a solid organic material (such as a color material) may be sublimated using a filament or the like, or a solid metal material or solid semiconductor material may be melted and evaporated, and the vapor ejected from a nozzle may be controlled by opening and closing a valve and operating an actuator.

<Air pressure at which the head operates>
The printer of the present invention may be used under atmospheric conditions or under vacuum conditions.
In atmospheric conditions, known inks such as water-based inks, or print head methods used in the FDM method or AM method, in which a film is created by ejecting a paste-like material from a nozzle, are used.
When operating under vacuum, the fluid ejected from the nozzle may be atmospheric fluid materials (such as metals, resins, and ceramic materials intended for the construction of space structures), as well as molten liquids, gases, molecules, atoms, charged particles, and elementary particles including photons.
The fields in which vacuum is expected to be used include the space industry and manufacturing processes under vacuum, and in space, it is intended to be used for manufacturing products and parts outside of vehicles.
When manufacturing electronic devices such as solar cells under vacuum, the head portion or the printer of the present application including the head portion may be placed under vacuum, and organic semiconductor materials, electrode materials, and transparent electrode materials may be sublimated, evaporated, or impinged from the nozzle onto a substrate, and deposited or formed into a film.
In known methods, an organic semiconductor is heated under vacuum, and the organic semiconductor becomes a gas or molecular flow, which is then applied to a substrate (a substrate on which a film is to be formed, a recording surface) to form a film.
In the present invention, the head is equipped with a heating section, or a gas made by heating the material is stored instead of an ink tank, and the vaporized material is sent under pressure with a pump to the nozzle part of the print head, where a valve is opened and closed using a valve jet method (a method of controlling ejection by opening and closing a valve) to eject and spray the material at the desired position on the recording surface.
Alternatively, the present invention may be used as a means for forming a film at a desired position on a substrate, which is a recording surface, in a vacuum or reduced pressure film formation method such as the close-proximity sublimation method used in the manufacture of compound solar cells such as cadmium telluride solar cells, and in the field of forming films from inorganic semiconductor materials under vacuum, the inorganic material may be heated and vaporized (gasified or vaporized) under vacuum, and the material gas discharged or jetted from a nozzle in a manner similar to a valve jet method (a method of controlling discharge by opening and closing a valve) in which a valve is opened and closed, may be sprayed onto a substrate, which is a recording surface, to form a semiconductor film.

In addition to the inkjet printing method, the head may use multiple nozzles in the nozzle row 100 that eject fluid materials or molten resins used in the recording head of a 3D printer using additive manufacturing such as FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) or FFF (Fused Filament fabrication).
The print head of the present invention can be used in additive manufacturing. In this case, it may have an extruder, injector, or extruder for ejecting a fluid material from a nozzle. (The 110PP in FIG. 5B can also be an extruder or extruder that extrudes a fluid material such as paste in the AM method.)
In the AM and FDM methods, molten plastic is mainly discharged, but in addition to this, the material discharged in the additive manufacturing method of the present invention may be a paste, slurry, gel, or material with fluidity. The paste may contain fibers or particles to the extent that it does not matter if it is discharged from the nozzle (it does not fall out of the nozzle, and is smaller than the nozzle diameter).
The present invention is equipped with a nozzle for use in additive manufacturing, and can eject fluid paste materials containing water and oil, including dough for cookies and chocolate, as well as dissolved protein materials used in artificial meat.
When the head elements (10, 100, 100A, 100B, 100NZ) are scanned in a loop across the recording surface to add material to the recording surface 2 for recording, the nozzle that ejects the resin or fluid material in the additive manufacturing method (AM method) is cleaned by the cleaning unit 3 to keep the nozzle in a clean state, which contributes to the stable layering of the material.

The ink may be ejected using an electrostatic inkjet method. The material may be ejected using electrostatic force.

A method may be used in which centrifugal force generated by the looping or rotating head 1 is used to eject fluid materials such as ink.

When the material to be discharged is pressurized by centrifugal force, a valve or gate actuator may be provided to prevent the material from flying out of the nozzle.
There may be one or more valves or gate actuators for each nozzle, and the valves or gate actuators may be digitally opened and closed by a circuit.

In the present invention, when the head 1 loops, centrifugal force may occur in the nozzle of the head 1 or in the ejected ink droplets (fluid material). Therefore, it is necessary to consider the behavior and trajectory of the ink droplets (and additive manufacturing material) before and during ejection in the nozzle and during flight.
When the head 1 rotates in a circular shape across the recording paper, i.e., in the case of FIG. 1A, the mass m [kg] of the ink droplet, the rotational angular velocity Vomg [rad/sec] of the head, and the rotational radius r (r=Dh/2) [m] of the head 1 are expressed as follows:
Centrifugal force F = mr(Vomg) ²
It is clear that Vomg must be determined so that the ink droplets land at the desired position on the recording surface and so that cleaning of the nozzles of the head 1 can be continued. The present invention is characterized in that Vomg is not zero.

When Vomg is close to zero, the present invention approaches a single-pass line head method in which the positions of the nozzle rows are fixed and the nozzles do not move (Vomg=0).
When Vomg becomes large, many nozzles pass over a certain recording surface in a unit time, eject ink, and then are cleaned by a cleaning unit before printing. Multiple nozzles can pass the recording surface. However, the ejected ink moves in the direction of centrifugal force, so the landing point changes.
When Vomg is too large, the ink is released from the nozzle when the centrifugal force or the extrusion pressure caused by the centrifugal force destroys the balance of the force that keeps the ink stationary near the meniscus of the nozzle. (If the head becomes a centrifuge or centrifugal pump, there is a risk that the ink will come out of the head 1. In the case of FDM type paste-like fluid material, if the centrifugal force of the head 1 is too large and there is no gate to control the opening and closing of the nozzle, there is also a risk that the ink will come out of the nozzle.)
In the present invention, Vomg varies depending on the printer's main scanning speed, sub-scanning speed, print head operating frequency, number of nozzles, material properties, environmental conditions, etc. During printing or processing, Vomg is characterized by being at least not zero.

<Coordinates for recording dots>
In known printers and laser processing machines that scan the X and Y axes, it is an easy method to express a desired two-dimensional position from the magnitude of the X and Y axes.
On the other hand, in FIG. 1A which uses a circular head and nozzle array of the present invention, taking into consideration the centrifugal force that is applied to the material after ejection, such as ink, a nozzle irradiates ink or a laser on an arc, as in 120 and 120B, to record dots.

<Nozzles, nozzle rows, and nozzle arrangement>
In the present invention, the nozzle changes depending on the ejection method. The nozzles used in additive manufacturing methods and the nozzles and ejection parts used in inkjet methods have different shapes and sizes. (For example, the diameter of the nozzle for the method of extruding and ejecting material in a 3D printer, such as the FDM method, is generally larger than that of the inkjet method.)
In addition, in the present invention, the nozzle row of the recording head 1 (print head 1) may be arranged in a circular (annular) shape like the nozzle rows 100, 100A, and 100B in Figures 1A, 1A, 1AA, and 1B, and the nozzle row 100A, 100B, and 100 is not limited to a single circular row, but may be multiple nozzle rows arranged in a circle at a certain pitch P.
The number of nozzles Nz may be at least 1. It is a significant feature of the present invention that the number of nozzles Nz is 1 or more.
Even if there is only one nozzle (100 NZ), when a single nozzle loops across the recording surface 2 while printing by ejecting ink, is cleaned in cleaning 3, and the same process is repeated, if the recording head is rotated quickly in the main scanning direction and the nozzle has a high drive frequency f that can keep up with the rotational speed in the main scanning direction, high speed printing can be performed and the present invention can be implemented.
However, when attempting to achieve the high speed of an inkjet printer intended by the present invention, one nozzle is not enough, so the number of nozzles must be more than one, and in reality the number of nozzles will exceed several hundred.
In the present invention, the number of nozzles is preferably 2 or 3 or more for either the inkjet method, FDM method, or additive manufacturing method, and exceeds the fourth power of 2 for the inkjet method. (However, the scanning method of the present invention can be implemented even with only one nozzle.)
According to Non-Patent Document 1, the number of nozzles in inkjet systems has exceeded 2 to the power of 10 since the 2000s, and the present invention can also be provided with a number of nozzles exceeding that scale.
On the other hand, when the present invention is used for applications using a single piezoelectric or valve jet nozzle and special ink, or for 3D printing applications using FDM or AM methods, it may be possible to have one or more nozzles within 2 to 3 or the fourth power of 2, so in the present invention, the number of nozzles Nz may be one or more.

FIG. 1A shows the case of a nozzle that ejects material, but the same applies to the case where a laser diode is placed as an element instead of an ejection nozzle, and a recording surface 2 filled with ultraviolet curing resin or metal powder is scanned and printed, sintered, fixed, and processed by the element such as a laser diode.
That is, it may be a circular element array arranged at a pitch P. The element array may be a laser diode, or a laser nozzle 100LD or nozzle array connected to a laser diode or laser oscillation element.
The laser element may be pulse-driven at a certain driving frequency f to utilize the peak power. A laser irradiation nozzle 100LD for laser processing may be disposed in the print head 1 in place of the material discharge nozzle.

Inkjet elements including nozzles (orifices, flow paths, sensors, heating elements, and actuators) are arranged in a circle on a silicon substrate for semiconductor processing, and nozzles, orifices, flow paths, IC circuits, sensor elements, etc. made by MEMS technology, photolithography, etc. are integrated. In this invention, the nozzle surface is preferably horizontal at the same level as the surface of the silicon substrate.
In reality, to realize the nozzle row 100 of head 1, rectangular chips incorporating piezoelectric or thermal inkjet elements (inkjet chips, inkjet head elements, head elements used to create a staggered arrangement in large printers, rectangular chips incorporating inkjet nozzles, flow paths and ejection mechanisms) may be arranged in a circle.
To avoid any misunderstanding regarding the head elements (10, 11) described here, a specific example of a printer head will be given as follows:
・For off-carriage type,
Epson (model number L1440, etc.), Konica Minolta (model number KM1024a, etc.)
・For on-carriage type,
Canon (model number PF-05, etc.), Hewlett-Packard (model number C6602A, etc.).
*Similar to the staggered arrangement heads used in known inkjet serial printers, a head may be constructed by continuing the staggered arrangement in a circular fashion, and in the example shown in Figure 1A, head elements (rectangular chips incorporating inkjet nozzles, flow paths, and ejection mechanisms) may be arranged in a zigzag or staggered arrangement along the circular trajectory of inkjet nozzles 100A or 100. Even in this case, the head 1 may be provided with an acceleration sensor to detect the inclination of the elements or head.

Valve jet elements having only one nozzle (single-nozzle head element, single nozzle), electrostatic ink jet, piezoelectric ink jet, or thermal ink jet elements may be arranged in a circle at a pitch P in one or more rows.
The inkjet chip may have nozzles arranged at pitch P, and in the present invention, a belt-shaped nozzle array may be arranged with multiple nozzle arrays on the circumference. (This is a description intended to indicate that a circular and belt-shaped nozzle array can be formed when rectangular head elements are arranged in a staggered manner as described above.)

In the present invention, as shown in Figures 2C, 1CB, 1BE, and 1A, an element that ejects, such as a single nozzle or a single inkjet chip, may be arranged on a circular, oval, or elliptical looping track, and the element that ejects along the track may be moved like a train (car, carrier, carriage).
2C denotes a rail or track used to move the nozzle row 100. 100 supplies power to the head element, and 4 or 4 denotes a drive part that moves the head element along a looped track, and includes a rail or belt.
The 4R is equipped with rails and belts that move the head equipped with the nozzle 100NZ like a car.

<Hardening, Fixation, Surface Treatment>
The print head 1 may be provided with a mechanism for hardening or fixing the ejected material when it reaches the recording surface by a known method corresponding to the material.
As an example, when performing 3D printing using the print head 1 method of the present invention, the UV-curable ink can be cured with an UV LED, and the print head can be equipped with an UV LED and a roller so that the cured ink can be smoothed and laminated with a roller.
The same is true when a water-soluble adhesive is sprayed using a piezoelectric or thermal inkjet method while hardening, fixing, and adhering powder for three-dimensional modeling.

In order to increase adhesion between stacked layers in a 3D printer, the print head may be equipped with a device for UV ozone treatment or plasma irradiation in addition to the ejection device.
For electronic component materials, the head may be used to perform processing for the next process. For example, after forming a film of a semiconductor material or electrode material that can be applied, UV ozone processing may be performed in preparation for the next process.
When used in the manufacture of printed matter or elements, the head 1 may be capable of carrying out fixing, hardening and surface treatment.

In the present invention, the recording head 1 is not limited to ejection applications such as inkjet, and photon or particle irradiation nozzles such as LED elements or laser elements may be arranged in a circle instead of ejection nozzles, and the paper or powder material supplied to the recording paper 2 or the recording portion 2 may be changed by light and used for printing or modeling.
When performing 3D printing with head 1, when supplying metal powder, resin powder, or photocurable resin, light can be emitted from a laser nozzle provided on recording head 1 to irradiate the material, causing it to react, heat, change, and bond, fuse, harden, or sinter.
This is similar to the concept of a thermal printer that uses a thermal head to print on thermal paper to produce a printed product (an example of providing material on the recording surface rather than directly ejecting the material from a nozzle).
The print head 1 of the present invention uses an optical head to harden and sinter recording paper such as thermal paper, photocurable resin for 3D printing, or material powder according to print data to produce a printed item or model.

The present invention includes a scanning method. The material may be directly ejected from a recording head (print head 1) that scans over a recording surface 2 and fixed, as in the inkjet method or FDM method (additive manufacturing method), or the recording material may be supplied to a recording section, and the recording head 1 may be scanned there, emitting light, electromagnetic waves, plasma, accelerated particles, etc. from the head 1 to cause a reaction and fix the recording material, as in the thermal printer method. The scanning method of the present invention may be used for manufacturing and processing two-dimensional and three-dimensional products.
Specifically, in the printer according to the present invention, thermal paper can be printed by heating it with light, and ultraviolet curing resin can be cured by using an ultraviolet LED or ultraviolet laser.
In order to induce reactions that are difficult to induce using the photon energy of infrared rays, visible light, or ultraviolet light, radiation such as X-rays may be used from the head 1 to induce chemical reactions in the material (for example, radiation polymerization).
Charged particles may be accelerated from the head 1, and the charged particles may be irradiated or accelerated in the atmosphere or in a vacuum and then implanted into a material.
The metal powder may be heated by irradiating photons from an element provided on the print head in the form of a laser, etc. The material may be treated by applying hot air or a flame (flame, burner) to the material after ejection.
Similar to a dot impact printer, a pin or other stamping device attached to the head 1 may strike the recording surface 2 and be used for output, or mechanical cutting may be performed using pins or the like instead of a laser nozzle.
Similar to a laser printer, a photosensitive drum can be irradiated with a laser beam of photons of a wavelength that the drum can be sensitive to, thereby charging the drum and allowing toner or the like to adhere thereto, for use in known applications.

<Ink cartridges and ink supply>
When an ink jet ejection mechanism is employed for the head 1, the ink supply system to the head 1 can be either an on-carriage system or an off-carriage system.
In the on-carriage type, since the ink tank is built into the head 1, there is no need to mount a mechanism for supplying ink fluid to the head 1, which is a rotating body such as the rotary joint 111, as in the off-carriage type.
In the off-carriage system, a pump and a flow path for supplying ink from an ink tank to the head may be provided. In the off-carriage system, it is necessary to mount a mechanism for supplying ink fluid to the rotary joint 111 and the rotating body (for example, 111F1 and 111F2), but ink can be supplied from the ink tank 113 to the nozzles of the head.
When the present invention is used in an off-carriage system, a joint mechanism 111 or 111F that connects the ink from the ink tank 113 to the print head element 10 of the carriage, and a pump 110PP are required. The pump may be provided in the ink flow path from the ink tank 113 to the nozzle 10. 110PP is one example.
(Note that the on-carriage and off-carriage methods can be used not only with the inkjet method but also with the FDM method (additive manufacturing method).)

In the case of the off-carriage system, the print head 1 may be supplied with one type of material or ink, or may be supplied with a plurality of types of ink.
<Monochrome printing>
When printing with one type of ink,
In the off-carriage type, when a joint is used, ink is supplied from an ink tank 113 to a subtank 11 and nozzles 10 via ink tanks 112 and 111 in a rotating head 1 as shown in FIG.
In other cases where the joint 111 is not used, the nozzle is separated into an ink supply side 111F1 and an ink receiving side 111F2 as shown in Figure 1BE, and the ink supply side of 111F1 drops, drips, ejects, or pours ink or materials into the ink receiving flow path of 111F2 to replenish and supply the ink or materials to the rotating head 1.
Regarding the supply of ink, the printer controller 6 and the head controller 1CU communicate with each other, and the refill and supply amounts may be determined from the tank capacity of the ink flow path by an ink tank sensor 1LVM connected to the 1CU.
There may be a controller (1CU, 6, etc.) for controlling the ink flow path, and actuators such as valves and pumps. A known method can be used to move ink in the ink flow path.
* For example, it is a known method to circulate the ink by providing a pump, valve, and flow path in the ink flow path to prevent pigments dispersed in the ink or functional particles with large particle sizes that are prone to settling from settling naturally, and to prevent all particles in the tank or flow path from settling completely.
<Multi-color printing>
When printing with multiple types of ink (ejection materials), follow the same procedure as for single-color printing.
In the off-carriage type, a plurality of types of ink are sent from an ink tank 113F to the head, and the ink is distributed at a joint portion 111F of the head and supplied to the print head 1 corresponding to each color ink.
When the joint 111F is not used, it is separated into an ink supply side 111F1 and an ink receiving side 111F2 as shown in FIG. 1BE, and the ink supply side of 111F1 drops, drips, ejects, or pours ink or materials into the ink receiving flow path of 111F2 to supply multiple types of ink or materials to the rotating head.
(In the on-carriage type, ink, whether single color or multicolor, is mounted on the head 1 in the form of a sub-ink tank 11.)

<Negative pressure formation>
When connecting the head 1 to the ink tank, a mechanism for creating negative pressure in the ink may be installed in the head or the flow path. For example, a negative pressure creating method using a foam body or a balloon and spring may be used. The part that creates negative pressure may be installed in the head of the carriage or in the sub-ink tank. The head 1 may be equipped with a filter to remove foreign matter.

<Carriage movement control method>
When a plurality of recording head elements 10 are arranged in a loop across the recording surface 2 of the present invention to form a line head, the head 1 on which the plurality of recording head elements 10 are mounted may be controlled using an encoder.
The use of encoders such as rotary encoders and linear encoders to control mechanisms, particularly main scanning mechanisms and sub-scanning mechanisms such as the drive mechanism 4 and the recording surface transport mechanism (20 and 5), is well known for printing machines including inkjet printers and laser printers, but will be described here.
As a specific example, a recording head element is mounted so as to loop across the recording surface of the present invention, and an encoder control sensor (for example, an optical sensor for an optical encoder, or a magnetic sensor for a magnetic encoder) is mounted on the recording head or on-carriage or off-carriage head carrying the recording head, and a linear scale is attached to the looping track on the printing machine side (processing machine side), and motion information and position information of the head as it loops across the recording surface during printing can be detected and used to control the main scan and sub-scan during printing.
A rotary scale and a rotary encoder may be attached to the motor 40 of the drive mechanism 4 for main scanning and to the transport mechanism 20 for the recording surface 2 for sub-scanning, and used for motor drive control.
When the present invention is used as a 3D printer, an encoder may be used in the mechanism that performs scanning in the height direction (Z-axis direction), or an encoder may be used in the mechanism that performs main scanning (X direction) and sub-scanning (Y direction).

<Carriage system>
When a plurality of recording head elements 10, 100NZ are arranged in a loop so as to cross the recording surface, a plurality of on-carriage or off-carriage heads 1 or head-type robots 1 may be arranged on a looping track.
The head type robot 1 may detect motion information and position information using an encoder installed on a track, like a line tracing type robot. A linear encoder may be used as the encoder. An encoder (rotary encoder) may be used for a motor when driving the head 1.

For example, the recording head elements 10 are mounted in a circular line on the circumferential side of a circular (perfectly circular) disk substrate so as to loop across the recording surface 2, and a linear scale is wound around and attached to the side of the disk substrate (for example, the side of 1PU or 1 in FIG. 5B) so as to go around the circle.
Printing may be performed by rotating the head 1 by moving the side of the head 1 using a drive mechanism 4 and a motor 40, while a linear encoder attached to the drive mechanism 4 reads the linear scale of the head 1 to detect the position.

Regarding the circular turntable type print head 1 shown in FIGS. 1A, 1AA, and 1AB,
The recording head elements 10 are mounted on the circumferential side of the head 1 in a circular fashion as shown in FIG. 1BD, FIG. 1BE, or FIG. 1CB.
The print head 1 may be an on-carriage turntable type having ink built-in, or an off-carriage turntable type connected to an ink tank by a joint.
The turntable type print head 1 may perform printing by rotating the circumferential portion of the turntable by the drive mechanism 4 and causing the nozzle portion 100 to scan across the recording surface 2 and eject ink.

<Main scanning trajectory>
The track that loops across the recording surface 2 may be circular, oval track-shaped, elliptical, oval, or circular (perfect circle).
*In addition to circles and ellipses, the looped trajectory could also be a trajectory that traces the Arabic numeral 8 in one stroke, crossing one point, and a cleaning section could be placed that performs nozzle cleaning while crossing the recording surface, just like the oval track type.
The loop route of the Arabic figure of eight is an example of one intersection point during the loop, but there are also cases where there are more than one intersection points.
However, in the embodiments of the present invention, simple shapes such as a circular shape and an oval track shape are shown.
<When the nozzle is fixed>
When the nozzles are fixed and the head 1 (in this case, the head 1 is a disk- or cylindrical turntable-type head 1) is moved, the shape of the nozzle row (looping orbit) is made circular.
Furthermore, even if the turntable-type head 1 is equipped with only one nozzle rather than multiple nozzles, as the head 1 rotates the nozzle can describe a looped circular trajectory that crosses the recording surface as claimed in this invention, thereby ejecting printing and processing, so it is sufficient for there to be one or more nozzles on the main scanning trajectory.
<When moving the nozzle>
When the nozzle is moved and the head is fixed, the looping trajectory is preferably an oval track, ellipse or ellipse.
When the cars carrying the nozzles are mounted and moved like a train connected to the looping track, the nozzle row also has an oval track shape, an elliptical shape, or an oval shape.
Figure 1A shows a circular track, while Figure 2C shows an oval track. Figure 1 shows an ellipse as a looping track.
*As described in the previous paragraph, it is possible that there is a looping trajectory that draws the Arabic letter "8",
If we imagine the track as a train that runs on it, with operation controlled by non-contact communication and powered by overhead lines,
The figure-of-eight trajectory can also be used when there are only a few nozzles, such as one nozzle, as long as the car (carrier) carrying the nozzle does not collide at the intersection of the figure-of-eight. In addition, a trajectory that includes an intersection point on a looped route can be used, not limited to the figure-of-eight.
However, in the present application, non-intersecting elliptical, oval track types and circles may be used rather than looping tracks that include intersecting points, for simplicity of manufacture and control.

<Head formation>
When the looping trajectory is circular as in Figures 1A and 1AA, in manufacturing the head 1, inkjet chips, inkjet element plates, and inkjet head elements (which are inkjet head elements 10 equipped with a plurality of nozzles, for example, head elements 10 equipped with nozzles and sub-ink tanks shown in 10FM-11FM and 10FC-11FC in Figure 1BE) are arranged in a circular pattern in the circumferential direction to form nozzle rows 100, 100A.
A substrate in the shape of a disk, such as a compact disc, is used, and IC components such as inkjet chips and sensors (ink temperature sensor, motion sensor) used for printing, a drive circuit for the ejection mechanism, non-contact communication components, ink flow paths, etc. are mounted on the disk-shaped substrate to form a print head 1 as shown in Figure 1BE.
When printing, the print head 1 on the disk-shaped substrate is rotated from the outside using a drive mechanism 4, ink (ejected material) and power are supplied, and print data is sent from the printer body to the print head via contactless communication, and printing is performed on the recording surface 2.
(Note that the print head 1 may be provided with a motor 40 and move and rotate along the mechanism 4. The print head 1 may be provided with a secondary battery and a motor 40, and may rotate using the rails, belts, guides, and linear scale of the drive mechanism 4 with the power stored in the head and motor.)

<Points to note regarding the head and nozzle scanning trajectory>
In the present invention, it is mentioned that a head having a circular nozzle row is rotated by a driving mechanism 4 .
Here, if you want to use a print head with elliptical or oval nozzles instead of a circular nozzle row, and you want to fix the nozzles and rotate the head for printing,
For example, in the case shown in FIG. 2D, when the elliptical nozzle row 100 is rotated, it is not possible to clean any nozzles other than those near the apex on the major axis of the ellipse that reaches the cleaning unit 3 (all nozzles other than the apex of the elliptical nozzle row cannot be cleaned), which deviates from the objective of the present invention.
Therefore, in the present invention, in a design in which the head is rotated, it is preferable to rotate a head having nozzles arranged in a circle as shown in FIG. 1A, rather than the elliptical nozzle array as shown in FIG. 2D.

2D, the two vertices of the elliptical nozzle array can be used for printing according to the present invention because they pass along a looping track that cuts across the width 2 of the recording surface. In the above situation, the two vertices of the elliptical nozzle array are in the same state as a head with nozzles on two circumferential sides of a disk-shaped head, facing each other across the center of the circle (a head with only two nozzles).
In the present invention, when the nozzles are arranged in a circle, even if there are only one or two nozzles, if the main scanning speed is faster than the sub-scanning speed (when the head 1 can rotate at high speed many times per unit time and main scan the recording surface 2), one nozzle is main-scanned at high speed on a looping trajectory that crosses the recording surface 2, and if that one nozzle has a high-speed drive frequency f, printing and cleaning operations can be performed even if all of the nozzles except for the two vertices of the elliptical nozzle row are not in operation.
For these reasons, the present invention advocates that the number of nozzles is one or more (recording on the recording surface is possible with a nozzle number of at least one, and to achieve the high printing speed intended by the present invention, it is more than one, 2 to 8 or more, or several tens of nozzles or more), and that the nozzles pass through a cleaning section in addition to crossing a looping trajectory.

<Trajectory when nozzle moves>
It is also possible to print by not rotating the head 1 having the nozzle row arranged in a circle as described above, but by moving the head 1 and the nozzles supported and mounted on the head drive mechanism 4 along a looping track (like a train).
As shown in Figures 2C and 5D, when the looping trajectory is an oval track, multiple self-propelled on-carriage heads 1 (line tracing type robots with inkjet function or robot cars with inkjet function) with built-in recording heads and ink tanks are connected like a train on a rail-type loop and attached to a drive belt and encoder to create a loop body 100 of on-carriage heads 1, and the loop body is moved and scanned across the recording surface to print on the recording surface 2 by the inkjet method.
FIG. 2C is an explanatory diagram using an oval track, but when the nozzle is moved along a looped track, it is possible to move the nozzle and print in the same manner even if the looped track is circular or elliptical.
When the nozzle is on a trajectory and can move, it is sufficient to loop, so the trajectory is not limited to a circle or ellipse, and the present invention can be implemented on any trajectory that has a loop (a closed circular path) such as a triangle, square, hexagon, or polygon. There are also trajectories that loop and have intersecting points, such as a figure eight.

In the case of a self-propelled on-carriage head (inkjet robot), the track may have an escape route for retracting the head from the recording surface. The head stored in the escape route may be capped.

In the case of an on-carriage head, the nozzles 10 mounted on the head 1 may be provided with a specific material or type of ink. Specifically, the on-carriage head may be equipped with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink tanks, respectively, and may also be equipped with nozzles capable of ejecting cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks, allowing multi-color printing to be performed with a single print head 1.
FIG. 1CB is an explanatory diagram when four color inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow blocks are used in the on-carriage method.

In the off-carriage head case, there may be a means for supplying multiple materials or inks.
Specifically, cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks may be mounted on the on-carriage heads, and the heads may be arranged in the order of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, so that multi-color printing can be performed with a single print head.
1BD and 1BE are explanatory diagrams of an off-carriage type printer equipped with two colors of ink.

The head of the present invention does not necessarily have to be a self-propelled on-carriage head.
The head may be an on-carriage head that does not move by itself, or an off-carriage head that does not move by itself, and may be moved by the motor 40 that drives the head on the printer side. The looping track may be any track that allows the head to circulate.
The off-carriage head requires a print head 1 equipped with a joint 111 capable of supplying a variety of inks from an ink tank, and flow paths (111F1, 111F2) through which ink can be introduced and injected from the top of the print head.

<Conditions for a circular looping orbit>
An example of a trajectory that loops across the recording surface in the present invention is the circle (perfect circle) shown in Fig. 1A. When a nozzle row 100 is provided in a circular shape on the outer periphery of the head 1 in a perfect circular head, the nozzle row 100 is considered to be a circle, and when the nozzle row 100 has a diameter Dh and a width Lm in the main scanning direction of the recording paper, the length relationship in the present invention is Dh>Lm.
The nozzles of the nozzle row 100 are scanned along a looped path along the circular shape of the nozzle row 100, and ejection/processing operations and nozzle cleaning are alternately performed as the head 1 continues to rotate in the main scanning direction.

<Print head maintenance mechanism>
The nozzles of the head 1 and the surface of the head facing the recording surface 2 may be cleaned by a known method.
The cleaning unit 3 includes a cleaning element 30. The cleaning element 30 is a rubber blade that is used for wiping, or a sponge roller that is used for cleaning. As shown in FIG.
The cleaning element 30 is a part that is consumed by the nozzle cleaning operation, such as a rubber blade, a sponge roller, etc. The cleaning method and cleaning element are in accordance with known methods.
For inkjet printers, nozzle cleaning is done by wiping with a rubber blade, for example.
In a nozzle having a larger diameter for the nozzle discharge portion than an inkjet nozzle used in FDM or the like, in addition to wiping the nozzle discharge portion, the material may change and remain in the flow path inside the nozzle, resulting in nozzle leakage.
In an FDM nozzle, a thin wire can be passed through the nozzle discharge part to poke the flow path with the wire, and in the present invention, a cleaning mechanism using a wire or the like may be used in case the discharge part of the cleaning part 3 is large and material accumulates or deposits in the flow path. (When converted deposits of molten resin, gaseous material, or deposition vapor are discharged from the flow path through the nozzle, material that has accumulated in the flow path, inside the nozzle, or near the nozzle may be removed by a cleaning element such as a wire.)
The cleaning unit 3 may include a mechanism for collecting materials and the like discharged as a result of cleaning.
<Number of cleaning parts and cleaning elements and replacement>
Two or more cleaning elements 30 may be provided in the cleaning unit 3. Two or more cleaning units 3 may be provided in the printer as shown in Figures 2A and 2AA. The cleaning elements 30 may be provided with a mechanism for replacing them while the print head 1 is in operation (a replacement mechanism that retracts the element from under or near the head 1 so that it can be replaced by a human or machine).
Such a replacement mechanism may be desirable in commercial or 3D printing applications where the cleaning element 30 may need to be replaced periodically during extended operation.
<Cleaning operation time>
Cleaning of the nozzles may be performed constantly when the nozzle row (for example, the nozzle row 100) is subjected to a circular main scan, or may be performed at certain intervals.
The nozzles of inkjet elements, etc. may have durability issues due to wear on the nozzle surface,
Regular cleaning may not be an issue for FDM nozzles made of brass, copper, or resin ceramics with large nozzle diameters, but
It may be difficult to constantly clean the surface of the inkjet nozzle with a cleaning element.
In this case, in line with the intent of the present invention, a certain interval at which nozzles do not drop out can be determined through actual machine development, and the nozzle cleaning element 30 can be raised and lowered at that interval, pressed against a part of the nozzle row 100 of the head 1 for a certain interval of time, and performed a main scan to clean all of the nozzle row 100.
<Notes>
The circular head 1 has nozzles in the circumferential direction and is cleaned by the cleaning unit 3 , but the central portion of the head 1 has no nozzles and is not cleaned by the cleaning unit 3 .
However, there is a risk that mist-like ink or the like may adhere to the center portion of the head 1 during long-term operation.
In the case where mist-like ink is generated near the center of the head 1, an anti-static mechanism or a trap mechanism that can absorb the mist and collect it during regular maintenance when there are no print jobs may be provided.

<Material discharge and observation in the cleaning section>
In addition to performing nozzle cleaning in the cleaning unit 3, the cleaning unit 3 may also be configured to eject ink from the nozzles to keep the ink in the nozzles the same as the ink in the ink tank at all times.
For example, since the ink in the nozzles may change due to precipitation or drying of the material during printing, a discharge operation may be performed to preventively discard a small amount of ink during the printing operation. A known method for dealing with precipitation and drying of the ink material may also be used.
The state of the ejected ink may be observed by a nozzle observation camera provided in the cleaning unit 3 to check for nozzle clogging and the state of ink droplets flying.
<Cap>
If the print head 1 is not used for a long period of time, it becomes necessary to cap the nozzles of the head. In the present invention, the part where the head is installed is capped.
It is preferable that the head or the printer housing including the head portion is provided with a sealing mechanism. (The present invention has a problem with the cap mechanism.)
In a known manner, ink ejection and cleaning may be performed unattended by the printer under the control of a controller even when not printing and in a capped state or when a long stop is expected.

The head cleaning section 3 may be equipped with a camera to observe the ink ejection status of the head.

In order to check the state of ink ejection from the head, the inkjet head 1 may be equipped with an image sensor and operated as a camera to photograph the printing state of a two-dimensional printer or the modeling state of a three-dimensional printer.
The printed matter sent out in the sub-scanning direction from the recording surface 2 after printing and processing may be photographed by a camera.
The camera may be used to check the finished print when replacing the head element of the head.

<Media supply/transport/ejection mechanism>
For two-dimensional printing applications, the carriage with the recording head of the present invention always rotates in one direction, which is the main scanning direction, and the media is transported in the sub-scanning direction using known transport methods (rollers, belts, drums).
In the inkjet printer method using known recording paper, the media may be A4 size recording paper or the like, which may be conveyed in a straight path or a U-turn path. Roll-shaped media as seen in inkjet form printers may also be used.

Printers equipped with head 1 may also be equipped with a camera to check the printing content and quality of the printed surface when the printed media is removed.

The media may be weather-resistant films used for signs, or fabrics or other fibers. Printing may be performed on known substrates such as semiconductor component substrates, metals, silicon substrates, crystal substrates, ceramic substrates, glass substrates, wood, and food surfaces, and known transport methods and media may be used.

In a 3D printer, when material powder is laminated in three dimensions by bonding and hardening it with ink, the powder that will become the media may be supplied in a known manner and layered by smoothing it with a roller or the like.
When using ultraviolet curable ink in a 3D printer, the print head 1 may be provided with an ultraviolet light source (preferably an ultraviolet LED or ultraviolet laser, but also a lamp that emits ultraviolet light) for ultraviolet curing (of the output).

The present invention may be used in the field of printed electronics for the manufacture of displays, inkjet devices, electronic components, and semiconductor devices, and may transport substrates such as flat glass or film, electronic circuit boards, and silicon wafers, which are the base materials for the electronic products.
The ink may be impregnated with genetic information material or biological materials and used for 3D printing to output three-dimensional objects, or for the manufacture of food, pharmaceuticals, biological tissues, artificial bones, and artificial teeth.
3B, the turntable-type recording surface 2 may be rotated at high speed like a spin coater to form a film using the liquid material applied to the recording surface 2 by the print head 1. This method may be used to form resists, inorganic thin films, and organic thin films in semiconductor manufacturing.

<Method of transporting modeling stage 2 in 3D printer and modeling method>
In order to improve the modeling speed during modeling with a 3D printer, it is necessary to increase the printing speed of the print head and also to speed up the transport mechanism of the modeling stage 2 (modeling bed 2).
With the 3D printer method, the layer thickness after one scan with the FDM method is on the order of 100 micrometers, while with the inkjet method, each layer is on the order of a few tens of micrometers.The inkjet method has a thinner layer thickness and higher resolution than the FDM method, but has the characteristic that more scans and layers are required to create a three-dimensional object of the desired height than the FDM method.
In the present invention, a circular turntable-type print head 1 can be used to enable the print head to cross the printing surface, but the turntable-type modeling stage 2 can also be used as the recording surface 2 on the modeling stage 2 (see Figures 2B, 3B, 3C, and 3D).
The purpose of using a turntable type recording surface is to rotate the recording surface in one sub-scanning rotation direction to perform intermittent (uninterrupted) ink deposition and modeling. Figure 3B shows the arrangement of a circular turntable type print head 1 and a turntable type modeling stage 2.
The turntable type modeling stage 2 may also be positioned and controlled by an encoder, similar to the turntable type print head 1 .
When modeling a life-size model, an automobile and its parts, or housing-related components, an automobile turntable can be used as the modeling stage 2 and media transport mechanism in a printer 8 (FIG. 3B) together with the print head 1 of the present invention.
(In the case of UV-curing or adhesive 3D printing, the modeling of the present invention is performed within the range of the ink fixing speed.)

The turntable-type modeling stage 2 may be provided with a motion sensor such as an acceleration sensor in the circumferential direction of the recording surface 2, just like the turntable-type print head 1, so that the inclination of the recording surface of the modeling stage can be detected and notified to a human.
In the FDM method, tilt of the modeling stage can cause initial printing errors during 3D printing (although this can sometimes be avoided by forming a raft that absorbs shrinkage at the beginning of the 3D printing, this is necessary as a prerequisite for a 3D printer to have the stage level in its initial state), so a printer equipped with the head and stage of the present invention may also be equipped with a means for detecting the tilt of head 1 and stage 2, and notifying the user if there are any problems with the 3D printing.

<Controller>
Figure 4A shows the printer configuration. Depending on the amount of image data to be processed, a high-speed control and calculation device, large-capacity, high-speed memory, and high-speed communication paths may be required. A wireless communication method or a non-contact communication method may be used to transmit printing signals from the printer to the print head. (See also Figures 5A, 5B, and 5C.)
As described above, the inkjet method has a thinner layer thickness and higher resolution than the FDM method, so the amount of image data increases. The number of ink droplets/dots to be ejected by the inkjet method also increases according to the amount of image data.
The printer prints according to instructions from a user terminal 8U inside or outside the printer via a communication device 82U, a network 8N, or an output device 84U. (The user terminal 8U may be a computer terminal, a smartphone, or a server for a print service.)

The printer 8 may have multiple controllers. The print head 1 and the printer body may each have a controller. The signal from the motion sensor 1CS built into the print head 1 may be processed by the head controller 1CU built into the print head 1 and transmitted to the controller 6 of the printer body via a communication device.
The controller has the five major functions of a computer: calculation, control, memory, and input/output (including communication devices), as well as a power source and a storage device.

<Interfaces and communication paths>
When printing data is sent from a user terminal 8U (user's computer) to the head 1 via the printer controller 6, the method of transmission from 8U to 6 may be either wired or wireless. An interface 7 provided in 6 may be used.
The printer 8 may be provided with a console 6IOC which allows manual input by the user, displays the printer's status and sounds warnings during operation.
Preferably, the user terminal and the printer terminal are provided with non-contact communication means.
<Communication between head and printer>
As shown in FIG. 5C, wireless data transmission is preferably used between a printer controller 6 built into the printer body and a head controller 1CU of the head 1 which rotates in a loop across the recording surface 2.
The radio wave band to be used can be any known radio technology, specifically, the 2.4 GHz band, the 5 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band.
Although there is a risk of radio interference when using high frequencies, the available band increases and the amount of data that can be transmitted increases, making it useful for printing objects with high resolution or large volumes. (As the frequency of electromagnetic waves increases, they gradually approach radio waves, infrared rays, and visible light. In this invention, non-contact communication may include radio communication using radio waves, and optical communication using non-contact light transmission and reception using infrared or visible light.)

The reason why it is preferable to use wireless communication for the method of transmitting print data to the head 1 in the present invention is that a wired system requires the use of a slip ring or the like to transmit signals in a contact manner, whereas a wireless system allows non-contact communication between the printer and the print head without the need for a slip ring.
(If there is a means for transmitting signals to a rotating body, such as an inexpensive, highly reliable and durable slip ring, the present invention can be implemented without using a non-contact method.)
In addition to wireless communication, photon-based communication may also be used; specifically, information can be sent and received contactlessly between the head and printer (between the head controller and the printer controller) using ultraviolet, the aforementioned visible light, or infrared light-emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors.

The head 1 may be powered by the printer 8 (printer controller 6), or the head 1 may be equipped with a power supply and a power storage device 1PUC such as a battery or capacitor, and may receive power from the printer, store it in a battery or capacitor, and consume power for information processing, control, and printing processing.
It is preferable that the head 1 of the present invention is provided with a power storage device (1PUC). The head 1 needs to operate the inkjet elements, the temperature adjustment circuit that drives the elements, the logic circuit such as a shift register, and the drive circuit, and it is necessary to perform communication between the print head 1 and the printer (between the printer controller 6) and store data.
Therefore, in order to ensure stable operation of the head 1 even if the power supply is temporarily stopped, a secondary battery may be used to charge and store electricity, or a power storage circuit 1PUC may be provided that can store electricity in a capacitor. The power storage device 1PUC has a function of smoothing the power supply.
The head 1 is provided with a motor 40, and the motor 40 may be driven by the power storage device 1PUC.
When supplying power to the head 1, power may be supplied by a power line on a track that loops and rotates across the recording surface 2. Power may also be supplied and charged to the head 1 by a contact method. (For example, FIG. 5D illustrates how the head is likened to a train, 100R to the overhead wires and track, and 4R to the belt-type drive mechanism that pulls the train, receiving power from the overhead wires to drive it.)
A device for non-contact power supply (non-contact charging) may be provided between the head 1 and the printer controller to supply power.
While the head 1 is provided with a power storage device 1PUC such as a secondary battery or capacitor, it may also be provided with a print head support and drive mechanism 4 that drives the head 1.

The head 1 is equipped with the five major devices of a computer: arithmetic, control, memory, and input/output devices, and may store print image data in memory devices such as RAM and ROM via non-contact communication, read the data during printing, and eject ink according to the data.
Since the head 1 performs non-contact communication, it is preferable that printing can be performed according to the data stored in the storage device even if communication is not possible due to a communication failure or a momentary malfunction of the device. It is also preferable that the head 1 is provided with a power storage device from the viewpoint of data processing and recording.
In addition to the power storage device 1PUC, print data to be printed may be received in advance by communication and stored in the memory device 1CU0 of the print head 1.

<Head and Carriage Transport Mechanism>
When the head 1 moves along a track that loops and rotates across the recording surface 2, the head 1 may be provided with a motor 40 for moving the track, or the track or head housing may be moved by a power transmission element such as a motor 40 mounted on the printer or a gear, belt or chain moved by 40, causing the head 1 to move, rotate and loop by a drive unit 4.
Here, the track may use a mechanical element such as a rail, a pipe, a chain, or a belt for transmission, or a head drive mechanism (print head support mechanism and drive mechanism 4, print head rotation mechanism 4).
In the present invention, there are two cases: when the print head 1 is rotated in a circular shape using mechanism 4 (when the nozzles are not moved, but the head supporting the nozzles is moved), and when the nozzles arranged in an oval or elliptical shape in the print head 1 are moved in an orbital direction using mechanism 4 (when the head is fixed, and the nozzles inside the head are moved in a circulating manner).

A looped, rotating orbit is a circular orbit in which a nozzle in the head 1 moves from a starting point, passes through the recording surface 2 and head cleaning section 3, and then returns to the starting point again.

<Control circuit>
The controller 6 that performs control may have a wired or wireless communication device as a communication device. The controller 6 has a means for communicating with the print head 1 and the user terminal 8U.
The print head 1 may receive the print image from the controller 6 by wireless communication, or by wired communication, although the present invention preferably uses non-contact communication.

<Printing with multiple heads>
Printing may be performed using a plurality of print heads 1 arranged to eject material from nozzles in a looping, rotating trajectory across the recording surface used in the present invention.
Specifically, when performing color printing using four color inks, four print heads 1 corresponding to the four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black may be arranged in the transport direction (sub-scanning direction) of the recording paper 2 and used for printing.
As shown in FIG. 1BE, the print head 1 may be loaded with inks of multiple colors and color printing may be performed with a single print head, or color printing may be performed using four colors in the single-color print head 1 shown in FIG. 1BB or FIG. 1CA.
The head of the present invention may also be used in combination with other manufacturing processes to produce printed and finished products.
In 2D printing as well as in 3D printers, when the recording surface 2 is a turntable type, for example, as shown in FIG. 3F, one head 1 may be used to 3D print a resin material (main material) and the other head 1 may be used to 3D print an easily removable support material (secondary material).

<Safety devices>
Since the head used in the present invention can utilize a high torque motor 40 and moves in a looping, rotating orbit across the recording surface, it is particularly desirable to provide a safety device to prevent a user from becoming caught in the rotating printer.
To prevent a person from becoming entangled in the print head 1, it is particularly preferable to enclose the operating print head in a housing or the like to prevent a person from becoming entangled in the machine.
The print head unit 1 may be equipped with a computer, an acceleration sensor, and a motion sensor 1CS, and these sensors can be used to measure the level of the head, as well as to detect external forces when the head comes into contact with an external object such as the media on the recording surface or a person.

Figures 1A to 1E are explanatory diagrams of a print head that loops and rotates across a recording surface. Figures 2A to 2B are diagrams of the head rotation direction and ink landing when the print head is driven. (The figures are described under the assumption that the centrifugal force is small and negligible.)
3A to 3D are explanatory diagrams of a 3D printer using a circular turntable-type print head and a turntable-type modeling stage.

As shown in FIG. 1AA, the nozzle row 100 (nozzle row 100A) of the print head 1 is specifically arranged in a circle.
The printer moves from the origin 100A1 across the recording surface 2 and prints at a position between 100A2 and 100A3.
After crossing the recording surface 2, the nozzles of the print head are cleaned by the cleaning unit 3 at 4 points of 100A.
It has a looping orbit that passes through points 100A5 and 100A6 and returns to the origin 100A1.
The print head moves again from the origin 100A1 across between 100A2 and 100A3 on the recording surface 2 to perform printing, and when it passes through point 100A4 after crossing the recording surface 2, the nozzle of the print head is cleaned by the cleaning unit 3, and the print head passes through 100A5 and 100A6 and returns to the origin 100A1, repeating this process to perform printing.
<Installation location of cleaning unit 3>
As described in other paragraphs, the cleaning unit 3 may be provided near the area 100A1 in addition to the area 100A4. The cleaning unit 3 can be provided for the areas 100A4 and 100A1 because they are outside the recording surface and on a circular track.
<Location where main scanning for printing and processing is performed>
As shown in FIG. 1AA, the nozzles of the head 1 move across the area 100A2-100A3 on the recording surface 2, perform printing and processing, and when they pass the cleaning unit 3, nozzle cleaning is performed.
In addition, it can be moved across the area 100A5-100A6 on the recording surface 2 to perform printing and processing.
Furthermore, after printing/processing is performed between 100A5-100A6, the recording surface can be sent in the sub-scanning direction and moved across 100A2-100A3 to perform printing/processing. By using two nozzle rows (across two arcs) between 100A2-100A3 and 100A5-100A6 for output operations such as printing or processing, the number of carriage scans Cr can be reduced and the printing speed can be doubled.
Although the explanation has been given using Figure 1AA with a circular print head 1, even if the trajectory along which the nozzles move is circular, elliptical, oval or oval track-shaped, by using two nozzle rows in a manner such that as the nozzles move over the recording surface 2, printing is performed when the outward portion moving in the positive direction of the main scanning direction and the return portion moving in the opposite direction pass over the recording surface, it is possible to reduce the number of carriage scans Cr and double the printing speed.
In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1AA, or the nozzle arrays described above can be used in two rows, one above the other (at least two or more nozzle arrays can be used across two arcs).

Figures 3B and 3E are illustrative examples of printers for three-dimensional and two-dimensional printing applications, respectively, with Figure 3B being an example of a 3D printer application and Figure 3E being an example of a two-dimensional printing application.
The printer shown in FIG. 3E has a structure similar to that of a gantry machining center, and a Z-axis scanning mechanism may be added to the printer shown in FIG. 3E to convert it into a 3D printer.
In the printer shown in FIG. 3E, a printing target such as paper, film, a substrate, or an object is placed on the recording surface, and the printing target is sent in the sub-scanning direction, and printing is performed on the surface of the printing target as the recording surface 2.
The above explanation is an example, and there is no problem if the printer itself moves on wheels in the sub-scanning direction along two or more rails like a portal-type car wash or a train, and prints on the area corresponding to the recording surface 2 sandwiched between the rails (mechanism for sub-scanning).

In relation to the explanation of the gate-type car wash in Figure 3E, like a handy inkjet printer that can print barcodes or images by tracing them with a human hand by attaching rollers to an on-carriage type head equipped with a print head 1 and an ink tank, the head holding support column of the printer of the present invention in Figure 3E may be equipped with wheels or rollers, and printing may be performed simply by passing the printer over the surface of an object indoors or outdoors, excluding the base part.
The printer of the present invention may be a two-dimensional printer in which the head holding support column of FIG. 3E is equipped with wheels or rollers, the base part is eliminated, and printing can be performed simply by passing the head over the surface on which printing or material is to be discharged.
The printer may be a device in which wheels like a line car are attached to a housing that contains an ink cartridge, the print head of the present invention, a drive mechanism for main scanning of the head, a cleaning unit, a motion sensor unit, and a sensor for photographing the recording surface before and after printing, like a line car equipped with line powder used in sports fields and the like, and in which a person can simply draw a line and print while cleaning the inkjet head.

3B and 3E, the head 1 is horizontal to the recording surface 2 and the ground. However, for space saving or other reasons, the head 1 and recording surface 2 (recording location 2) may be perpendicular to the ground.
It is assumed that there is no gravity in space, but on Earth, gravity acts on any object with mass toward the center of the Earth. Gravity affects ink and materials, printer mechanisms, structural materials, and drive mechanisms.
3E, the nozzle surface of the head 1 may not be horizontal to the ground. In a two-dimensional printer in which the nozzle surface of the head 1 is perpendicular to the ground, space saving can be expected.
In the case of the three-dimensional printer of Figures 3B and 3C, when using a turntable-type recording surface 2 (recording bed) on which a heavy object such as an automobile part or an automobile body can be placed and rotated, it is preferable that the nozzle surface of the head 1 is horizontal to the recording surface and the ground.
For the shaping, known three-dimensional printer methods, the use of support materials and holding structures, rolling rollers for lamination, etc. may be used.
(For three-dimensional printer applications, if the recording surface 2 is vertical, a chuck device or a support structure using a support material or raft may be required on the recording surface 2 to hold the heavy object being modeled vertically on the recording surface 2 while being subjected to the gravity of the ground.)

1A, 1B, 5C and 5D show an example of a printer or output device implementing and using the method of the present invention, which is one of the simplest configurations:
The print head 1 is equipped with only one nozzle, which scans along a circular or other looped trajectory across the recording surface and passes through the cleaning unit 3, and a solenoid valve is used as the actuator to eject ink pressurized by a pump.
Note that FIG. 5A is an example. If a solenoid valve is not used in FIG. 5A, the ink tank is kept at negative pressure and an actuator element 100VA such as a piezoelectric actuator or a heating element is used, and ink is transported from the ink tank to the sub-ink tank by a pump, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles by a known inkjet method.
If the nozzle 100NZ is of an inkjet type, it is used for printing purposes, and if the nozzle 100NZ ejects a paste-like material extruded by an extrusion pump 110PP, it becomes an AM or FDM type 3D printer or application device.
(Note) The solenoid valve is used as an example of the 100VA actuator because the inkjet head element 10, which has multiple nozzles when used in prototyping, is expensive and difficult to purchase for personal use. On the other hand, a solenoid valve pressurized by a pump or a diaphragm-type piezoelectric actuator plate is used to eject ink at low cost and the inventor can prototype with an understanding of 100NZ and 100VA, so they were used in the present invention.
For prototyping, a diaphragm type piezoelectric actuator used in electronic buzzers can also be used experimentally to create single nozzles of 100VA and 100NZ.
Essentially, it is preferable to use a head element 10 (print head element) with a large drive frequency f and a large number of nozzles Nz.
As described in other paragraphs, since the present invention requires only one or more nozzles to be realized, the method and apparatus can be implemented even with a single nozzle head using a solenoid valve or the like.

Figure 5F is an explanatory diagram of a case where there is one head equipped with a nozzle that moves on an oval track-shaped rail using the on-carriage method. It is the same as Example 3, except that a car equipped with a nozzle moves on the rail.

Figures 5E and 5F are explanatory diagrams of a processing device or output device that irradiates a laser onto the part of the recording surface to be processed rather than ejecting material from a nozzle. Figure 5E is an explanatory diagram of a laser processing machine equipped with one nozzle in the head, and Figure 5F is an explanatory diagram of head 1 in Figure 5E.
When the present invention is applied to a laser processing machine, processing is performed by irradiating a laser from the nozzle of the head 1 onto the recording surface 2 based on a raster image.
The present invention does not contemplate laser plotters that have a stage that scans in the X and Y axes based on a vector image.

In Figures 5A and 5D, which are examples of output devices using additive manufacturing methods, or Figure 5E, which is an example of an output device that can be used for subtractive processing, there is a space 21 between the recording surface and the head, and this space 21 may be under atmospheric pressure or under vacuum, or the vacuum provided by outer space may be used for space 21.
When a vacuum process is required to manufacture electronic components such as solar cells in the vacuum of space, they may be manufactured by ejection printing, in which a semiconductor material, a transparent electrode material, a metal electrode material, a resist, or other patterning material is ejected from an on-demand printing device (output device) for manufacturing solar cells onto a film substrate, glass, or a semiconductor substrate such as silicon.
As an existing method and apparatus used in the manufacture of solar cells, a resist material may be applied to a substrate by a spin coater, exposed to light, and patterned.
Laser processing may be performed using the scanning method of the present invention for patterning and partial removal of the formed functional film or electrode film.

Semiconductor manufacturing processes and equipment such as deposition onto the entire surface of a substrate using the vacuum of outer space, deposition of semiconductor films using CVD, sputtering, sublimation, and proximity sublimation, doping by implanting impurities, deposition of functional films other than semiconductors, and patterning of transparent electrodes and metal electrodes may be performed in the vacuum of outer space.

An output device 8 (printer 8) is provided in an atmospheric facility (a facility under atmospheric conditions with no humans present) in outer space such as a space station,
The substrate is then patterned using a process such as inkjet printing that contains components that evaporate under vacuum, such as water or solvents.
A substrate on which printing such as patterning has been completed may be transported from the space station to outer space, and a semiconductor layer or an electrode layer may be deposited on the substrate by deposition, sputtering, sublimation, CVD, or the like.

For example, when manufacturing a film-type organic thin-film solar cell of the configuration known to the inventor in space,
As a premise, it is preferable that the materials for manufacturing solar cells are light in mass and can be manufactured with minimal resources, due to the mass cost of launching a rocket.
The following (1) and (2) are based on the assumption that a film-type substrate is used, the absorption coefficient is high, and the thickness of the light-absorbing semiconductor layer is reduced, which will lead to a reduction in the semiconductor layer material and a reduction in launch costs. The solar cells will be manufactured using direct transition compound semiconductors or organic semiconductors (or dyes).
*Note that, although solar cell manufacturing is used here as an example of using the vacuum provided by space to manufacture electronic components, the present invention can also be used, just as with solar cell manufacturing, when using the vacuum provided by space to manufacture display products using the organic electroluminescence method, semiconductor elements, processors, memory, and ICs, secondary batteries, capacitors such as film capacitors, multilayer ceramic capacitors, and electrolytic capacitors, resistors, and circuits for electronic boards.

(1) In the case of organic thin-film solar cells and organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells,
1. Prepare a film substrate.
2A. The transparent electrode material ITO is applied to the film substrate by evaporating and sputtering under vacuum conditions using the vacuum in the vacuum chamber of the deposition device and the part 21 of the device of this application, utilizing the vacuum of outer space. (ITO is indium tin oxide.)
2B. Without using 2A, apply ink in which doped conductive polymer is dispersed to a film substrate, dry it, and form a film. Spin coater, printing method, or inkjet method can be used for application.
3. The conductive electrodes 2A and 2B thus formed are pretreated.
4A. Conductive polymers such as poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and fullerene-based PCBM ([6,6]-Phenyl-C61-butyric Acid Methyl Ester) are mixed and dissolved in an organic solvent such as chlorobenzene at an optimized weight ratio on the conductive electrodes of 3, and the power generation layer is printed, dried, and formed into a film by using a spin coater, printing method, offset printing with a printing part or print head that can withstand organic solvents, or inkjet printing.
●If the printing process is carried out using solvents in the atmosphere in a room of a space structure, it is expected that a process will be required to recover the solvent that evaporates into the atmosphere.
When the deposition device or the portion 21 of the device of the present invention is evacuated by utilizing the vacuum of the vacuum in outer space, solar cells that make extensive use of dry processes may be suitable for the above method.
The solvents used in printing methods cannot be easily supplied and used as solvents for inks or pastes as on Earth, and if one were to use a solvent with mass in the same way as on Earth, it would be costly to launch the solvent into space, and if wet processes were used extensively in space, it would be necessary to launch additional solvent in addition to the solar cell substrates, materials, and manufacturing equipment (the manufacturing equipment is, for example, the output device 8 of this application).
It is also expected that the solvent will be used, recovered, and circulated repeatedly in a closed system inside a room under the atmospheric pressure of space, and it may be necessary to install a solvent recovery mechanism in one of the rooms in the space structure where manufacturing equipment or solar cell manufacturing is carried out.
As such, wet processes such as printing that use solvents may be difficult to use in outer space. Taking this into account, in order to produce solar cells in space, it may be necessary to manufacture solar cells using a method that makes extensive use of dry processes that take advantage of the vacuum present in outer space.
(As previously reported, when solar cells (including film-type) manufactured by printing on the ground are to be launched into space, transported to a power plant on the ground, or installed at the site where power generation is desired, it may be easier to manufacture using a wet process such as printing, since a vacuum is not created on the ground and film formation is not required. In the above case, the printer 8 of the present application is also used, and digital control is performed by the controller 6 according to instructions from the printer 8U, printing and patterning are performed, and the material is discharged onto the desired portion of the substrate to form a film, which is then used to manufacture solar cells.)
4B. A single molecule organic semiconductor (fullerene C60 semiconductor as a known n-type, zinc phthalocyanine ZnPc as an example of a p-type) is deposited on the conductive electrode of 3 by deposition or sublimation on the substrate to form a power generation layer. The above compounds are examples, and any material that can form an organic semiconductor layer capable of absorbing sunlight, separating charges, and transporting carriers as a power generation layer may be used.
(Even when organic semiconductors or dyes are used, 4A uses organic solvents, whereas 4B is a dry process, so it may be easier to use in the indoor environment of space or space structures, as no solvent vapor is generated.)
4C. An organic-inorganic hybrid semiconductor film (a known example is an inorganic perovskite used for the power generation layer and Spiro-OMeTAD used as the hole transport material) is applied to the conductive electrode of 3.
The vacuum of the vacuum chamber of the deposition device and the part 21 of the device of this application are evacuated by utilizing the vacuum of the space, and a film is formed by deposition under vacuum. (Like 4B, 4C can also be performed by a dry process.)
5. If the substrate after the formation of the power generation layer described in 4A to 4C needs to be dried, it is dried by heating, vacuum drawing, etc.
6. After step 5, the substrate on which the power generation layer is formed is heated at a predetermined temperature for annealing.
7.6 Metal electrodes are attached to the substrate by vapor deposition of electrode material in a vacuum environment using the vacuum provided by space.
8.7 The substrate is annealed again and power generation is tested in an inspection apparatus to test its performance.
9. The element is completed.
(2) In the case of CIGS solar cells, the steps are: 1. Preparation of substrate; 2. Deposition and patterning of metal electrodes under vacuum; 3. Deposition of CuGa layer under vacuum; 4. Deposition of indium layer under vacuum; 5. Selenization under vacuum; 6. Deposition of CdS buffer layer by wet process; 7. Deposition and patterning of ZnO window layer and formation of transparent electrode under vacuum; 8. After inspection, the device is completed.
It becomes.
The manufacture of the CIGS solar cells described here as an example involves many vacuum processes, but also includes some wet processes. When using the vacuum provided by space in the present invention, it is necessary to transport the substrate from outer space to an indoor space under atmospheric pressure in a space structure or the like and carry out the wet processes.
In the present invention, it is preferable to manufacture solar cells only under vacuum using the vacuum provided in the vacuum part of outer space, but depending on the type of solar cell, solar cells may be manufactured using both pressure environments of the vacuum of space and atmospheric pressure inside a space structure. The solar cells may then be used for space solar power generation.

The method and printer 8 of the present invention may be capable of controlling the atmospheric pressure and environment of the recording surface nozzle gap 21 so that it is under atmospheric pressure on Earth or under the vacuum of the vacuum portion of outer space (including the vacuum created by a vacuum pump on Earth), as in (1) and (2) of Example 6.
Printer 8 is an output device that can be used for both dry and wet processes, can produce patterned recording surfaces on demand under computer control, can perform nozzle cleaning during operation using limited materials and in limited spaces such as space structures, and is intended to have the high speed capabilities of a line printer.
The intention is for the output device to be able to operate in a limited space at high speed with continuous nozzle cleaning.

<Cleaning of nozzles that eject particles evaporated by deposition in vacuum>
When vapor deposition and sublimation are performed under vacuum, if atomic and molecular particles generated by heating the material are ejected from the nozzle of the head 1 of the printer 8 and irradiated onto the substrate, there is a risk that the particles caused by vapor deposition may hit the nozzle that ejects the material or the actuator inside the nozzle, causing a film to be deposited and formed.
Even if the printer 8 is in the middle of printing, deposition, sublimation, or laser processing, it may be desirable to clean the film formed on the nozzle with a mechanical device in the cleaning unit 3 so that the film formation operation is not stopped to clean the nozzle.
In this case, the nozzle and the actuator that opens and closes the bubble inside the nozzle and operates the nozzle may be cleaned by the cleaning unit 3 .
A mechanism for consistently cleaning the nozzles, valves, and flow paths leading to the ink tank, which are prone to material accumulation, may be provided.
For example, when nozzle maintenance is performed manually on FDM printers, a thin wire can be used to push the area between the nozzle and the extruder to remove any defective areas or materials that have accumulated in the flow path between the nozzle and the extruder.
Even in nozzles that perform vacuum deposition in a vacuum, if material accumulates between the nozzle and the nozzle actuator and flow path, the nozzle may be cleaned by poking or scraping off the accumulated material using a needle-shaped or rod-shaped or thread-shaped cleaning element used for a broom or the like to eliminate nozzle clogging.
The nozzle may be cleaned by using a thread-like, rod-like, or rod-shaped element such as a wire as the cleaning element 30 for cleaning the nozzle (FDM nozzle, additive manufacturing (AM) nozzle, or vapor particle ejection nozzle for vacuum deposition) of the printer 8 of the present application under atmospheric and vacuum conditions.

Even in the case of a processing machine 8 that performs laser processing in a vacuum, if the laser nozzle becomes covered with dust produced when part of the processing surface 2 is cut away by the laser during processing, the laser cannot irradiate photons as particles from the nozzle, so a cleaning mechanism is necessary.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Contributes to faster printers for printing 2D images and 3D printers.

The printer of the present invention is intended to perform two-dimensional and three-dimensional printing or material deposition faster according to digital data, and will contribute to applications in the two-dimensional field such as known large-area printing fields such as paper books and newspapers, printing on the surface of products, industrial fields, and electronic component manufacturing, and in the three-dimensional field such as robots, automobiles, prototyping, and the medical field.
The present invention may be used in the manufacture of electronic components, electronic circuits, and semiconductor circuits on Earth or in space.

It can be used for outdoor signs and posters using solvent inks, printing on industrial products using UV-curable resin inks, printing and coloring textile products, manufacturing processes for electronic components, and other known applications for ejecting ink materials.

1 Print head 10 Recording head nozzle 100 Nozzle row 100A Inkjet nozzles arranged in a circle 100B FDM nozzles arranged in a circle, nozzles made by the AM method 100NZ Only one nozzle 100C Circular trajectory when only one fixed nozzle rotates 100R Loop trajectory along which the movable nozzle moves (may include overhead power lines)
11 Ink sub-tank 111 Joint (rotary joint)
112 Ink supply path in off-carriage type 113 Ink tank 12 Ejected ink 120 Recording surface after ink landing 2 Recording paper, recording surface 20 Conveying mechanism for recording surface (including sub-scanning motor, like 5)
3 Cleaning section (maintenance section)
30 Cleaning element 4 Drive mechanism (print head drive and support)
40 Drive mechanism motor (print head drive motor, for main scanning)
5 Media supply/transport/ejection section 6 Controller 7 Interface 8 Printer body 8U User terminal 8N Network 9 Printed material, output image or solid 90B Layer ejected from nozzle 100B when stacking by FDM <Reference symbols in Figs. 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, etc.>
1 Print head 100VA Nozzle driving or opening/closing actuator 100NZ Nozzle, only one nozzle per head 1 100NZP Nozzle flow path 110 Sub-ink tank 110PP Material extrusion pump (may have an ink supply port)
113 Material tank 100LD Laser nozzle, laser irradiation element 1PU Power receiving part of the head and power supply unit, power storage unit, wiring 1PUC Power storage device 100C provided in the head Circular track 100R when only one fixed nozzle rotates Loop track along which the movable nozzle moves (may include overhead lines for power supply)
1CU Head controller 1CU0 1CU memory device (RAM, ROM)
1CU1 1CU control processing unit (CPU, MPU, microcomputer)
1CU2 Communication device of 1CU 1TR Non-contact communication unit of head, wireless communication unit (included in 1CU2)
1WL Head wireless communication element (included in 1CU2)
1CU3 1CU input device 1CS Head tilt detection sensor, acceleration sensor, motion sensor (included in 1CU3)
1LVM Ink tank level gauge, material tank level gauge (optional)
1CU4 1CU output device 1FD Head flow path drive circuit (nozzle drive, pump drive)
1FDN nozzle drive circuit 1FDP pump drive circuit, material extrusion drive circuit (extruder drive circuit)
12: Material after ejection, ink droplets, particles that evaporate, eject, or fly during deposition 120: Recording surface after ink landing (recording surface after material ejection)
120B Recording surface after laser irradiation 2 Recording surface, recording paper 20 or 5 Recording surface transport mechanism/supply mechanism, sub-scanning mechanism 21 Atmospheric or vacuum environment between the recording head and the recording surface 4 Drive mechanism, main scanning mechanism 40 Motor 4R among the drive mechanisms Mechanism for moving the nozzle-equipped car by rail system 6 among the drive mechanisms Printer controller 60 6's memory device (RAM, ROM)
61 6 control processing units (CPU, MPU, microcomputer)
62 Communication device 6WL Non-contact communication element of printer controller (included in 62)
63 Input device 64 Output device 6IOC Printer control panel, console 6P Power supply part to head, power supply part 7 Printer interface 8 Printer (printer terminal)
8U user terminal

Claims (3)

One or more of the recording heads 1 of the output device are provided
A nozzle capable of ejecting a fluid or a laser;
a recording surface 2 to be scanned or fed by sub-scanning;
a surface 3 from which the nozzle can eject a fluid or a laser;
Regarding a scanning method including a path for main scanning the nozzle,
The main scanning path is:
After the nozzle is scanned across the recording surface 2,
Scanning through said surface 3 and then scanning through said recording surface 2 again;
The method has a feature of including the above-mentioned path in a loop,
When the nozzle passes over the recording surface 2,
The nozzle ejects the fluid or laser onto the recording surface 2,
When the nozzle passes the surface 3,
The nozzle has a feature that passes through the surface 3 in a state where the fluid or laser can be ejected,
A method for scanning an output device;
When using
As the nozzle moves along the looped, circulated path,
The centrifugal force generated in the nozzle and the recording head portion including the nozzle is
a force for discharging the fluid,
for ejecting a fluid from the nozzle;
A discharge control means including a valve or an actuator,
A method for discharging a fluid provided in a print head including a nozzle and a flow path for supplying ink to the nozzle. the path is circular;
The nozzles are fixedly arranged in a circle on the recording head 1,
The recording head 1 is circular in shape and has the nozzles arranged in a circle.
Rotate the circular circle around the center of the circle as a rotation axis;
scanning the nozzle along the path;
The method of claim 1 . Performing two-dimensional or three-dimensional printing or additive manufacturing or fabrication;
A discharge device using the discharge method according to claim 2.

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