Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the measurement of a liquid droplet, and, more particularly to an apparatus and method for providing quantitative information about liquid droplets ejected by ink jet printer heads.

Background of the Invention In an ink jet printer, ink is supplied to a printer head which has a plurality of nozzles for ejecting droplets of ink onto a sheet of paper or the like to print words, pictures, etc. The characteristics of the ink droplets, such as the size, shape, velocity and frequency and stability of the droplet formation effect the characteristics of the lines, etc. which are printed. Therefore it would be desirable to be able to measure the various characteristics of ink droplets as ejected from a printer head to be able to determine how to control the printer head to achieve a print of desired characteristics.

Summarv of the Invention A liquid droplet measuring apparatus includes means for generating and projecting a beam of illumination, and means for forming a portion of the beam into the shape of a sheet.

Means is provided for forming and projecting a liquid droplet through the sheet portion of the beam of illumination. Means is also provided for detecting the beam after the droplet passes therethrough.

The method of the present invention for measuring a liquid droplet includes forming and projecting a beam of illumination along a path. A portion of the beam is formed into the shape of a sheet. A liquid droplet is projected through the sheet portion of the beam of illumination. The beam after the droplet passes therethrough is measured to determine a characteristic of the droplet.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a top view of the apparatus of the present invention ; Fig. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3 ; and Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing a liquid drop passing through the light beam of the apparatus of the present invention ; Figs. 4a and 4b are diagrams showing the device input signal and variations in the output signal from the apparatus of the present invention resulting from a liquid drop passing through the light beam ; and Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the control system for the apparatus of the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Present Invention Referring initially to Figs. 1 and 2, the liquid drop measuring apparatus of the present invention is generally designated as 10. Measuring apparatus 10 comprises a source 12 of a beam of illumination. Preferably, the source 12 is a laser, particularly a HeNe laser. The laser 12 can generate and emit a beam of light 14 along a relatively straight path. At the exit end of the laser 12 is a beam expander 16 which expands the size of the light beam 14. Next along the path of the light beam 14 is a focusing lens 18 for focusing the light beam 14 at a desired point 19 along the path of the light beam 14. Then there is a cylindrical lens 20 which forms the light beam 14 into the form of a micro sheet 36 at the focal point 19. The micro sheet 36 is preferably approximately 10 microns in thickness and 100 microns in height.

Along the beam path and spaced from the focus point 19 where the beam is in the form of a sheet is a photodetector 22 for receiving and detecting the beam of light 14. The photodetector 22 is preferably a PIN photodiode. In front of the photodetector 22 is a focusing lens 24. In front of the focusing lens 24 is an optical bandpass filter 26. In front of the filter 26 is a slit 28. The slit 28, filter 26 and focusing lens 24 serve respectively to aperture the beam size, discriminate the background lighting and collect the optical signal into the active area of the photodiode photodetector 22.

At the focus point 19 is in ink jet head 30 which has a plurality of nozzles, not shown, for emitting drops of liquid ink. The ink jet head 30 is positioned so that the emitting nozzles face the side of the sheet of the light beam. Thus, emitting drops of the liquid ink will be projected through the sheet of the light beam 14. The ink jet head 30 may be mounted on a translation stage 32 to permit the adjustment of the position of the ink jet head 30 so that the drops of the liquid ink will be properly projected through the sheet of the light beam 14.

In the operation of the measuring apparatus 10, the laser 12 is turned on to generate illumination, such as light, and emit the light as the beam 14 along the path to the photodetector 22. The size of the beam of light is first expanded by the beam expander 16 and then is focused as a micro light sheet at the focal point 19 by the focusing lens 18 and the cylindrical lens 20.

The light beam 14 then passes through the slit 28, filter 26 and focusing lens 24 to the photodiode of the photodetector 22. The PIN photodiode is set to a reversed voltage mode in order for shadows to give positive signals. Referring to Fig. 4a, there is shown the output of the photodiode 22 from the normal input signal of the beam of light 14.

The ink jet head 30 is turned on to form and eject droplets of ink from a nozzle. The ink jet head 30 projects the ink droplet 34 through the micro sheet 36 of the light beam 14 at the focal point 19 as shown in Fig. 3. As the ink droplet 34 passes through the sheet 36 of the light beam 14, it will block out a portion of the light beam and thus create shadows that are detected by the photodiode 22. Variations in the size of the ink droplet 34 will vary the amount of the shadow and thus vary the electrical output of the photodiode 22. Fig. 4b shows the output of the photodiode 22 as a result of an ink droplet of the shape such as shown in Fig. 3 passing through the sheet 36 of the light beam 14. The shape of the signal provides an indication of the shape and size of the ink droplet 34. By moving the ink jet head 30 away from the sheet 36 of the light beam 14 a known distance and measuring the shift in the time delay between the device input signal and the detected signal (dT), the velocity of the ink droplet 34 can be estimated. The droplet velocity V at a location (dS2 + dut)/2, where S 1 and S 1 are the distances of the ink jet head 30 from the sheet 36 of the light beam 14, can be estimated by using V= (dS2 -dSl)/ (dT2- dut,). The apparatus 10 can provide statistical information about the frequency and stability of the droplet formation. Performance characteristics can be calculated using phase averaging techniques and standard deviations of the droplet sizes and ejection rates.

Referring to Fig. 5 there is shown a control system for the apparatus 10 of the present invention. The control system includes a computer 38 having a visual display 40. The output of the photodiode 22 is connected to the computer 38 through an analog-to-digital converter 42.

The computer 38 is connected to the translation stage 32 of the ink jet head 30 so as to permit the computer to control the movement of the ink jet head 30. The computer 38 is also connected to the ink jet head 30 through an waveform generator 44 so as to permit the computer to control the driving signals to the ink jet head 30. Thus, the computer 38 receives the output signals from the photodiode 22 and can display the signals on the display 40. The computer can also be programmed to convert the signals from the photodiode 22 to other information regarding the ink droplet 34 and provide such information on the display 40.

Thus, there is provided by the present invention and apparatus and method for measuring the characteristics of a droplet of ink. Such characteristics include the shape, size, velocity, frequency and stability of the ink droplet. This is all achieved by passing the ink droplet through a sheet form of a light beam and detecting the variation in the shadow provided by the droplet.

Although the present invention has been described with regard to a droplet of ink, it can be used to measuring the characteristics of a droplet of any liquid.