阅读说明：本技术 液滴沉积方法和装置 (Droplet deposition method and apparatus ) 是由 尼古拉斯·马克·杰克逊 安格斯·康蒂 于 2018-06-06 设计创作，主要内容包括：提供了一种利用液滴沉积头将液滴沉积到介质上的方法。方法中使用的头包括：由穿插壁分隔的流体腔的阵列,每个流体腔与用于释放流体液滴的孔连通,并且每个壁隔开两个相邻腔。每个壁是可致动的,使得响应于第一电压,其将变形以减小一个腔的体积并增大另一个腔的体积,并且响应于第二电压,其将变形以对其相邻腔的体积产生相反的影响。方法包括以下步骤：接收输入数据；基于该输入数据,将阵列内的所有腔指定为发射腔或非发射腔,以产生由一个或更多个连续非发射腔的带隔开的一个或更多个连续发射腔的带；致动腔中某些腔的壁,使得：对于每个非发射腔,一个壁静止而另一个壁移动,或者壁以相同的方向移动,或者它们保持静止；并且对于每个发射腔,壁以相反的方向移动；这种致动导致每个发射腔释放至少一个液滴,所产生的液滴形成布置在介质上的线上的流体主体,这些流体主体在线上被非发射腔带中每个带的相应间隙分开,每个该间隙的尺寸通常对应于相应的非发射腔带的尺寸。在致动步骤中致动所述发射腔的壁使得如果以这种方式仅致动每个发射腔的两个壁中的一个壁,则不会从该发射腔喷射液滴。还提供了液滴沉积装置、液滴沉积头和计算机程序产品。(A method of depositing droplets onto a medium using a droplet deposition head is provided. The head used in the method comprises: an array of fluid chambers separated by intervening walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for releasing a droplet of fluid, and each wall separating two adjacent chambers. Each wall is actuatable such that in response to a first voltage it will deform to decrease the volume of one cavity and increase the volume of the other cavity, and in response to a second voltage it will deform to have an opposite effect on the volume of its adjacent cavity. The method comprises the following steps: receiving input data; designating all of the cavities within the array as firing cavities or non-firing cavities based on the input data to produce one or more bands of consecutive firing cavities separated by one or more bands of consecutive non-firing cavities; actuating the walls of some of the cavities such that: for each non-firing chamber, one wall is stationary while the other wall moves, or the walls move in the same direction, or they remain stationary; and for each emission chamber, the walls move in opposite directions; this actuation causes each firing chamber to release at least one droplet, the droplets produced forming bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, the bodies of fluid being separated on the line by a respective gap for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, the size of each such gap generally corresponding to the size of the respective band of non-firing chambers. The walls of the firing chambers are actuated in the actuation step so that if only one of the two walls of each firing chamber is actuated in this manner, no droplet is ejected from that firing chamber. Droplet deposition apparatus, droplet deposition heads and computer program products are also provided.)

1. A method of depositing droplets onto a medium using a droplet deposition head comprising:

an array of fluid chambers separated by intervening walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for releasing a droplet of fluid, and each of the walls separating two adjacent chambers; wherein each of the walls is actuatable such that, in response to a first voltage, it will deform to decrease the volume of one cavity and increase the volume of the other cavity, and in response to a second voltage, it will deform to have an opposite effect on the volume of the adjacent cavity;

the method comprises the following steps:

receiving input data;

designating all cavities within the array as firing or non-firing cavities based on the input data to produce one or more bands of consecutive firing cavities separated by one or more bands of consecutive non-firing cavities;

actuating walls of some of the cavities such that:

for each non-firing chamber, one wall is stationary while the other wall moves, or the walls move in the same direction, or they remain stationary; and is

For each emission chamber, the walls move in opposite directions;

said actuation causing each said firing chamber to release at least one droplet, the resulting droplets forming a body of fluid disposed on a line on said medium, said body of fluid being separated on said line by a respective gap of each of the bands of non-firing chambers, the size of each such gap generally corresponding to the size of the band of the respective non-firing chamber;

wherein the walls of the firing chambers are actuated in the actuating step such that if only one of the two walls of each firing chamber is actuated in this manner, no droplet is ejected from that firing chamber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the actuation comprises two stages, half of all firing chambers being designated for a first stage and the other half of all firing chambers being designated for a second stage, wherein the firing chambers release droplets substantially simultaneously in each stage.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said actuating causes a string of n droplets to be released from each firing chamber in said first phase (where n is an integer greater than 1), and further causes a string of m droplets to be released from each firing chamber in said second phase, wherein m differs from n by at most 1, and wherein each such string of droplets forms a corresponding one of said bodies of fluid on said medium.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a string of the same number of droplets is released from all firing chambers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein n is an integer between 4 and 10.

6. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein actuation of the actuation steps generally begins and/or ends simultaneously.

7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the walls move in the same direction for any non-emissive cavity band consisting of a single non-emissive cavity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein for all non-emissive cavity bands consisting of two or more non-emissive cavities:

for each cavity within the band and not adjacent to the firing cavity, the wall remains stationary; and

for each cavity within the band and adjacent to the firing cavity, one wall is stationary while the other wall is moving.

9. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the step of designating all cavities within the array is such that each non-emissive cavity band consists of at least two non-emissive cavities; and

wherein the actuation causes:

for each cavity within the non-firing cavity band and not adjacent to the firing cavity, the wall remains stationary; and

for each cavity within the non-firing cavity and adjacent to the firing cavity, one wall is stationary and the other wall is moving.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the two actuatable walls of each cavity share a respective electrode for applying a drive signal to the two walls.

11. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the actuation causes the walls of each of the firing chambers to oscillate at or near the resonant frequency of that chamber.

12. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising a plurality of designation steps and a corresponding plurality of actuation steps, the plurality of designation steps being based on the input data;

wherein droplets produced by the plurality of actuation steps form a body of fluid arranged on respective, spaced-apart lines on the medium; and

wherein for each such line, the corresponding fluid body is separated by a respective gap for each of the bands of non-firing chambers designated in the corresponding designating step, the size of each such gap generally corresponding to the size of the respective non-firing chamber band.

13. Droplet deposition apparatus comprising one or more droplet deposition heads, each head comprising:

an array of fluid chambers separated by intervening walls, each fluid chamber being provided with an aperture and each of the walls separating two adjacent chambers; each of the walls is actuatable such that in response to a first voltage it will deform to reduce the volume of that cavity and increase the volume of the other cavity, in response to a second voltage it will deform to have an opposite effect on the volume of the adjacent cavity;

wherein the droplet deposition apparatus is configured to perform a method according to any preceding claim.

14. The droplet deposition apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a computer in data communication with the one or more droplet deposition heads, wherein the computer is programmed to perform the designating step based on the input data.

15. Droplet deposition apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said computer is further programmed to send instructions to said one or more droplet deposition heads to cause said one or more droplet deposition heads to perform said actuating step.

16. A droplet deposition head, comprising:

an array of fluid chambers separated by intervening walls, each fluid chamber being provided with an aperture and each of the walls separating two adjacent chambers; each of the walls is actuatable such that in response to a first voltage it will deform to reduce the volume of that cavity and increase the volume of the other cavity, in response to a second voltage it will deform to have an opposite effect on the volume of the adjacent cavity;

wherein the droplet deposition head is configured to perform a method according to any preceding claim.

17. Droplet deposition head according to claim 16, wherein the apertures of substantially all fluid chambers are arranged in a straight line.

18. Droplet deposition head according to claim 16 or claim 17, wherein the two actuatable walls of each chamber share respective electrodes for applying drive signals to the two walls.

19. A computer program product for configuring a droplet deposition head or a droplet deposition apparatus comprising one or more droplet deposition heads to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.