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EP-4466143-B1 - LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS AND LIQUID DISCHARGE METHOD

EP4466143B1EP 4466143 B1EP4466143 B1EP 4466143B1EP-4466143-B1

Inventors

  • SAKAI, KEITAROH

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20221111

Claims (9)

  1. A liquid discharge apparatus (100) comprising: discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) configured to discharge liquid; a carriage (120) that holds the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3); a conveyor (130) configured to convey the carriage (120); and a controller (140) configured to control drawing of an object (400) to be drawn, using the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3), the controller (140) being configured to: draw an outer edge portion (402) of the object (400) using one discharge nozzle of the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) in an outer-edge-portion drawing process; characterized in that the controller (140) is further configured to: draw a portion (403) inside the outer edge portion (402) of the object (400) along the outer edge portion (402) using another discharge nozzle of the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) in an internal drawing process, the one discharge nozzle and said another discharge nozzle being different in characteristic.
  2. The liquid discharge apparatus (100) according to claim 1, wherein the controller (140) is configured to perform the outer-edge-portion drawing process and the internal drawing process using the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) having different nozzle diameters.
  3. The liquid discharge apparatus (100) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the controller (140) is configured to change drive amounts of movable components of the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) between the outer-edge-portion drawing process and the internal drawing process.
  4. The liquid discharge apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the controller (140) is configured to change voltage waveforms applied to the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) between the outer-edge-portion drawing process and the internal drawing process.
  5. The liquid discharge apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the controller (140) is configured to change pressures applied to the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) or storage containers that store the liquid between the outer-edge-portion drawing process and the internal drawing process.
  6. The liquid discharge apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the controller (140) is configured to use a spray gun nozzle of the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) in the internal drawing process.
  7. The liquid discharge apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, in the internal drawing process, the controller (140) is configured to change a number of discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) used for drawing the object (400), according to a feature of a drawing region in which the object (400) is to be drawn.
  8. The liquid discharge apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the controller (140) is configured to draw the object (400) in a manner such that a drawing region drawn in a subsequent process overlaps with a drawing region drawn in a preceding process to the subsequent process.
  9. A liquid discharge method to be performed with a liquid discharge apparatus (100) that includes discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3) to discharge liquid, a carriage (120) that holds the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3), and a conveyor (130) to convey the carriage (120), the method comprising: drawing an outer edge portion (402) of an object (400) to be drawn, using one discharge nozzle of the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3); characterized by drawing a portion (403) inside the outer edge portion (402) of the object (400) along the outer edge portion (402), using another discharge nozzle of the discharge nozzles (111, 111-1, 111-2, 111-3), the one discharge nozzle and said another discharge nozzle being different in characteristic.

Description

[Technical Field] The present disclosure relates to a liquid discharge apparatus and a liquid discharge method. [Background Art] PTL 1 below discloses a technique for drawing a contour line along an outer edge of a design surface and then drawing a surface portion to be painted that is an inside portion excluding the outer edge, for the purpose of improving painting quality. [Citation List] [Patent Literature] [PTL 1] Japanese Patent No. 6775101EP 2 468 509 A1 discloses a printing method whereby a glossy image free of running can be printed by an inkjet printer. An inkjet head is caused to scan in the Y direction to print outline portions on a medium.CN 107 570 663 A discloses a double-spray-head different-diameter nozzle sand mold printing device and method. The double-spray-head different-diameter nozzle sand mold printing device comprises two spray heads provided with nozzles with two different diameters and arranged on the same bottom plate. The two spray heads move synchronously. [Summary of Invention] [Technical Problem] However, since in the technique of PTL 1, a common nozzle is used in the process of drawing the contour line and the process of drawing a surface portion to be painted, optimum ink discharge is not performed in each process, and thus a high-quality object to be drawn is not drawn in a short time. In order to solve the above-described problem of the related art, an object of the present disclosure is to draw a high-quality object to be drawn in a short time. [Solution to Problem] The invention is set out in the appended independent claims. The dependent claims describe advantageous embodiments. [Advantageous Effects of Invention] According to an embodiment, the liquid discharge apparatus can draw a high-quality object in a short time. [Brief Description of Drawings] A more complete appreciation of embodiments of the present disclosure and many of the attendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. [FIG. 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a painting apparatus according to an embodiment.[FIG. 2] FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A of the painting apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.[FIG. 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for processing by a controller included in the painting apparatus, according to an embodiment.[FIGS. 4A to 4C] FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating an example of a procedure for forming an object to be drawn by the painting apparatus, according to an embodiment.[FIG. 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example (first example) of drawing by the painting apparatus, according to an embodiment.[FIG.6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example (second example) of drawing by the painting apparatus, according to an embodiment.[FIG. 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example (third example) of drawing by the painting apparatus, according to an embodiment. The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted. Also, identical or similar reference numerals designate identical or similar components throughout the several views. [Description of Embodiments] Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Configuration of Painting Apparatus FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a painting apparatus 100 according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A of the painting apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. The painting apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is an example of a "liquid discharge apparatus". The painting apparatus 100 discharges paint (an example of "liquid") toward an object for which drawing is to be performed and that is disposed in front (a Z-axis positive direction and an arrow direction D in the drawing) from a paint discharge device 110 while moving the paint discharge device 110, to draw an object to be drawn on the object for which drawing is to be performed. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the painting apparatus 100 includes the paint discharge device 110, a carriage 120, a conveyor 130, and a controller 140. The paint discharge device 110 includes a plurality of discharge nozzles 111. The plurality of discharge nozzles 111 has different specifications (for example, nozzle diameters). As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the paint discharge device 110 includes three discharge nozzles 111-1, 111-2, and 111-3 aligned in an up-down direction (Y-axis direction). All of the three discharge nozzles 111-1, 111-2, and 111-3 discharge paint with