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Print Controller and Method of Printing: 10,766,250

Abstract: 

The invention relates to a printing device for printing large countoured three-dimensional objects. The printing device comprises a movable robot arm mounted on a movable support, a printhead supported at a printing end of the robot arm, the print head comprising a plurality of nozzles, an ink reservoir connected to the nozzles of the print head and to a pump device for supplying ink from the reservoir to the nozzles, and a controller for moving the print head along a printing trajectory while changing the orientation of the printhead. The controller is arranged for: in a calibrating step moving the print head along a calibration trajectory and measuring ink pressures in the printing head and generating and storing ink pressure control data for the nozzles for different orientations of the print head, and in a printing step generating for varying orientations of the printhead along the printing trajectory a pressure control signal on the basis of the stored ink pressure control data, which pressure control signal is supplied to the pump device such that a pressure of the ink in the nozzles is set at a predetermined pressure value. 

Patent Number: 
10,766,250
Date Of Issue: 
09/08/2020
Inventors: 

Christopher L. Lewis; Matthew M. Robinson; Paul T. Evans; Peter Boeijink; Branson P. Brockschmidt