Liquid droplet ejecting apparatus, electro-optical device, method of manufacturing the electro-optical device, and electronic apparatus
View Patent ↗A liquid droplet ejecting apparatus of the present invention includes a cleaning unit, a regular flushing unit, capping unit, and an ejection-amount measuring unit as droplet ejecting head maintenance units used for function maintenance, function recovery, adjustment, or inspection of a liquid ejecting head. The droplet ejecting head maintenance units are arranged in a group in a movable platen as a maintenance-unit installing section. The movable platen is supported by an accessory stand physically separated from a main body.
1. A liquid droplet ejecting apparatus comprising:
a main body;
a work piece mounting unit on which a work piece is mounted;
a droplet ejecting head for ejecting liquid droplets of an ejecting liquid to the work piece;
a relative movement mechanism for moving the work piece mounting unit relative to the droplet ejecting head; and
three or more droplet ejecting head maintenance units for function maintenance, function recovery, adjustment, or inspection of the droplet ejecting head,
wherein at least three of the droplet ejecting head maintenance units are arranged in a group in a maintenance-unit installing section.
2. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein four or more the droplet ejecting head maintenance units are provided, and
wherein at least four droplet ejecting head maintenance units are arranged in a group in the maintenance-unit installing section.
3. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the droplet ejecting head maintenance units installed in the maintenance-unit installing section are at least one selected from the group consisting of a cleaning unit for cleaning a nozzle-formed surface of the droplet ejecting head, a a flushing unit having a liquid receiver for receiving a liquid wastefully ejected by the droplet ejecting head during a waiting period, a capping unit having a cap for covering the nozzle-formed surface of the droplet ejecting head in suctioning a fluid from the droplet ejecting head, an ejection-amount measuring unit for measuring the amount of liquid droplets ejected from the droplet ejecting head, and a dot-omission detecting unit for inspecting dot-omission of the droplet ejecting head.
4. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the droplet ejecting head maintenance units installed in the maintenance-unit installing section are arranged in parallel in a line.
5. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a maintenance-unit moving mechanism for horizontally moving the maintenance-unit installing section.
6. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the droplet ejecting head is detachably installed in the main body, and
the maintenance-unit moving mechanism moves the maintenance-unit installing section to a position where the droplet ejecting head maintenance units installed in the maintenance-unit installing section do not interfere with the droplet ejecting head during attachment and detachment of the droplet ejecting head.
7. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the relative movement mechanism comprises a Y-axis movement mechanism for moving the work piece mounting unit in a Y-axis direction relative to the main body, and an X-axis movement mechanism for moving the droplet ejecting head in an X-axis direction perpendicular to the Y-axis direction relative to the main body.
8. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein one of the Y-axis direction and the X-axis direction is a primary scanning direction and the other is a secondary scanning direction; and
the liquid droplets are ejected to the work piece from the droplet ejecting head while moving the work piece mounting unit relative to the droplet ejecting head.
9. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a maintenance-unit moving mechanism for moving the maintenance-unit installing section in the Y-axis direction,
wherein the droplet ejecting head maintenance units installed in the maintenance-unit installing section are arranged in a line in the Y-axis direction.
10. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a height adjusting mechanism for adjusting the height of the maintenance-unit installing section.
11. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the work piece mounting unit, the droplet ejecting head, and the relative movement mechanism are supported by the main body, and the maintenance-unit installing section is supported by an accessory stand physically separated from the main body.
12. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the main body has a surface plate, and the work piece mounting unit, the droplet ejecting head, and the relative movement mechanism are supported by the surface plate.
13. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein a side surface of the accessory stand is provided with piping components for the liquid droplet ejecting apparatus, and the piping components are installed to not protrude outward from a total width of the accessory stand by fixing the piping components to fixed sections provided at positions receding inward from the total width of the accessory stand.
14. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a predetermined pattern is formed on the work piece by ejecting liquid droplets from the droplet ejecting head while moving the work piece mounting unit relative to the droplet ejecting head.