Three-dimensional object printing apparatus and three-dimensional object printing method

A three-dimensional object printing apparatus comprising:

• a liquid discharge head having a nozzle surface provided with a nozzle array including a plurality of nozzles for discharging a liquid;
• a moving mechanism that changes a position of the liquid discharge head with respect to a three-dimensional workpiece;
• and
• a sensor that detects a positional relationship of the liquid discharge head with respect to the workpiece, wherein
• when an axis parallel to a liquid discharge direction from the liquid discharge head is set as a first axis, an axis parallel to a scanning direction of the liquid discharge head with respect to the workpiece by the moving mechanism is set as a second axis, and an axis that intersects both the first axis and the second axis is set as a third axis, the sensor detects a relative positional relationship of the liquid discharge head with respect to the workpiece in a direction along the third axis,
• the sensor is a distance sensor,
• a position of the distance sensor relative to the liquid discharge head is fixed, and
• the distance sensor measures a distance to a reference plane of which a position relative to the workpiece is fixed.

A three-dimensional object printing apparatus comprising:

• a liquid discharge head having a nozzle surface provided with a nozzle array including a plurality of nozzles for discharging a liquid;
• a moving mechanism that changes a position of the liquid discharge head with respect to a three-dimensional workpiece;
• and
• a sensor that detects a positional relationship of the liquid discharge head with respect to the workpiece, wherein
• when an axis parallel to a normal line of the nozzle surface is set as a first axis, an axis parallel to the nozzle surface and intersecting an extending direction of the nozzle array is set as a second axis, and an axis that intersects both the first axis and the second axis is set as a third axis, the sensor detects a relative positional relationship of the liquid discharge head with respect to the workpiece in a direction along the third axis,
• the apparatus executes a first printing operation in which the liquid discharge head discharges the liquid, while the moving mechanism moves the liquid discharge head relative to a first region of the workpiece, and
• a movement amount of the liquid discharge head in a direction along each of the first axis and the second axis in the first printing operation is larger than a movement amount of the liquid discharge head in the direction along the third axis in the first printing operation.