Patent ID: 7957829

Claim:
A method for positioning and guiding a print head, comprising: providing a support for a substrate, said support having a surface; providing said substrate on said support; said substrate having a multi-dimensional arrangement; providing a nozzle on said print head, said nozzle being capable of imprinting thin substrates, said nozzle being provided at a defined distance above said surface of said substrate, said nozzle having an opening, said opening defining a plane, said plane of said opening of said nozzle being adjusted so as to be coplanar to said surface of said substrate, said coplanar adjustment being maintained during the printing processes; positioning at least one upper distance sensor on said print head; calibrating said at least one upper distance sensor on said print head; determining the incline of said surface of said support and a distance between a reference plane predetermined on said print head and said plane of said opening of said nozzle by means of said at least one upper distance sensor, the position of said nozzle to said surface of said support being determined by measuring the distance between the reference plate of said print head and said plane of said opening of said nozzle and measuring the angle of inclination of said surface of said support; capturing said multi-dimensional arrangement of said substrate in an image by means of a camera; determining substrate length, width and angle of rotation of the position of said substrate on said surface of said support to a Z-axis of said print head by means of an image evaluation; rotating said print head according to said determined angle of rotation about said Z-axis; measuring on a repeating basis the distance between said plane of said opening of said nozzle and said surface of said substrate to obtain measurement data, said measuring being achieved by means of said at least one upper distance sensor; inputting said measuring data into a process actuator for starting a forward motion of said print head in a direction of a printing direction; wherein operation of said nozzle is started by means of said process actuator; wherein said print head is moved forward continuously in said direction of said printing direction by means of feedback from an output of said process actuator to an input of said process actuator until said nozzle has reached an initial printing position, said initial printing position being defined by means of a previously determined position of a first flange of said substrate positioned on said support; and wherein said print head is continued in said direction of said printing direction by means of said feedback of said output of said process actuator to said input of the process actuator until a final printing position has been reached, which is defined by a previously determined position of a second flange of said substrate, and wherein said process actuator turns off operation of said nozzle and said process is ended.