JP2007062230A - Liquid jet device and recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid jet device capable of suppressing contamination of a detection scale forming a detection means enabling high resolution detection, and a recorder having the liquid jet device. <P>SOLUTION: The detection scale 161 forming the detection means 160 is disposed such that the scale face is perpendicular to the horizontal surface, and an umbrella-shaped member 127 covering at least a part of the detection scale is disposed to be in intimate contact with the upper end of the detection scale. The detection scale forming the detection means is covered with the umbrella-shaped member and is held in a condition that it is suspended from the umbrella-shaped member 127 so that foreign matter is hardly adhered thereto, and then contamination can be suppressed. As there is not a gap between the upper end of the detection scale and the umbrella-shaped member, an air flow having flying foreign matter is hardly generated in the vicinity of the detection scale so that the contamination can be suppressed. As it is possible to carry out the high resolution detection by using a transmission type sensor as the detection sensor forming the detection means, it is possible to raise the ejection accuracy of a liquid jet head. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus including an ejecting head that ejects liquid while reciprocating, and a detection unit that detects a moving position of the ejecting head, and a recording apparatus including the liquid ejecting apparatus.

  A serial type ink jet printer, which is one of the recording devices, is mounted on a carriage by reciprocating a carriage of a recording unit in the main scanning direction while conveying the paper in a sub-scanning direction by a paper feed roller of a conveying unit. Ink is ejected from a recording head that is present and recording is performed. In such an ink jet printer, a guide shaft that guides reciprocation of the carriage and a linear scale of a linear encoder that detects the movement position of the carriage are arranged in the main scanning direction, and the sensor of the linear encoder is mounted on the carriage. ing.

  During conveyance / recording of paper, foreign matters such as paper dust and ink mist are likely to float, and if these foreign matters adhere to the linear scale or sensor, the conveyance accuracy and recording accuracy may be reduced. In view of this, an ink jet printer has been proposed in which the linear scale is horizontally arranged and the upper surface thereof is covered to reduce contamination of the linear scale and the sensor (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-11866 A

  In the above-described conventional ink jet printer, the linear scale is disposed horizontally and the upper surface thereof is covered, so the sensor needs to detect from the lower surface side of the linear scale. For this reason, there is a problem that only a reflective sensor can be used, and a relatively high resolution transmissive sensor cannot be used.

  The present invention has been made in view of the various problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of reducing contamination of a detection scale constituting detection means capable of detecting with high resolution and the liquid thereof. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus provided with an ejection device.

  In order to achieve the above object, the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention is a liquid ejecting apparatus that includes an ejecting head that ejects liquid while reciprocating, and a detection unit that detects a moving position of the ejecting head. The detection scale constituting the means is disposed so that the scale surface is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and an umbrella-like member covering at least a part of the detection scale is disposed so as to be in close contact with the upper end portion of the detection scale. It is characterized by that. As a result, the detection scale constituting the detection means is covered with the umbrella-like member and is held in a state of hanging from the umbrella-like member, so that foreign matter is less likely to adhere and contamination is further reduced. Since there is no gap between the upper end of the scale and the umbrella-like member, it is difficult to generate an air flow in which foreign matter is floating in the vicinity of the scale, and contamination is reduced. Furthermore, since a high-resolution detection can be performed using a transmission type sensor as a detection sensor constituting the detection means, the ejection accuracy of the ejection head can be increased.

  Further, the umbrella-shaped member is a guide rail that guides the reciprocating movement of the ejection head. Thereby, it is not necessary to arrange a new member as an umbrella-like member, and space efficiency can be improved and cost can be suppressed. The detection scale is fixed to the umbrella-like member through a fixing hook. Thereby, the upper end part of a detection scale and an umbrella-shaped member can be simply stuck.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium according to the present invention includes the above-described liquid ejecting apparatuses. Thereby, a recording apparatus that exhibits the above-described actions can be provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all the combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention. Absent.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration example of a main part of the printer, and FIG. It is a schematic sectional side view of the printer. A printer 100 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is a large-sized ink jet printer capable of recording even on a relatively large size recording paper such as JIS standard A0 size or JIS standard B0 size. The recording unit 120 including the characteristic part of the present invention, the transport unit 210, the paper discharge unit 130, and the leg unit 140 are arranged in this order from the top. And the control part 200 which controls the recording part 120 and the conveyance part 210 is incorporated. The paper feed unit 110 is configured to be separable from the integrated recording unit 120, transport unit 210, and paper discharge unit 130, and these are configured as a printer main body. The printer main body is configured to be separable from the leg 140.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feeding unit 110 is provided so as to protrude to the upper rear side of the recording unit 120. As shown in FIG. 2, a roll paper holder 111 on which two roll papers (paper sheets) can be set is provided obliquely up and down inside the paper feed unit 110. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a flip-up roll paper cover 112 that can be opened and closed is attached so as to cover the roll paper holder 111. The roll paper cover 112 can prevent the roll paper from being contaminated and can ensure the safety of the user.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the roll paper holder 111 includes a spindle 113 that holds the roll paper, and a pair of spindle receivers 114 that are attached to the inner surfaces of both side walls of the paper feeding unit 110 so that the spindle 113 can be attached and detached. 115. Then, after the roll paper is mounted at the center, both ends of the spindle 113 are mounted on the spindle receivers 114 and 115 so that the spindle 113 is rotatably supported. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the roll paper cover 112 is rotatably supported at the upper part, and is opened and closed by lifting or pushing down the lower part. The user can easily open and close the roll paper cover 112 and can shorten the roll paper replacement operation time and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the recording unit 120 includes a carriage 122 on which a recording head (ejection head) 121 is mounted, and a flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as FFC) that connects the recording head 121 and a control unit (not shown) for performing recording. 123, an ink tube 124 for connecting the recording head 121 and an ink cartridge (not shown) containing ink, a paper suction means (not shown) for preventing the roll paper from being lifted, and the like. As a characteristic part of the present invention, a linear encoder (detecting means) 160 (see FIG. 4 and the like) for detecting the movement position of the carriage 122 in the main scanning direction is provided. Details of the linear encoder 160 will be described later.

  The recording head 121 includes a black ink recording head that discharges black ink and a plurality of color ink recording heads that discharge ink of each color such as yellow, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, and magenta. The recording head 121 is provided with a pressure generation chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generation chamber. The size of the recording head 121 is controlled from the nozzle opening toward the roll paper by storing ink in the pressure generation chamber and pressurizing it with a predetermined pressure. Ink droplets are discharged.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the carriage 122 is suspended from a guide rail (umbrella-shaped member) 127 provided in the main scanning direction via a roller and is connected to a carriage belt 128. When the carriage belt 128 is actuated by this, the carriage belt 128 is entrained by the movement of the carriage belt 128 and is guided by the guide rail 127 to reciprocate.

  One end of the FFC 123 is connected to the connector of the control unit and the other end is connected to the connector of the recording head 121, and a recording signal is sent from the control unit to the recording head 121. The ink tube 124 is provided for ink of each color, and one end of each ink tube is connected to the corresponding ink cartridge via an ink pressure supply unit (not shown), and the other end is connected to the corresponding recording head 121 of each color. It is connected. The ink tube 124 sends ink of each color pressurized by the ink pressure supply means from the ink cartridge to the recording head 121.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an upper lid 125 and a front lid 126 are attached to the upper surface and the front surface of the recording unit 120 so as to cover the recording head 121, the carriage 122, and the like. The upper lid 125 is rotatably supported at the rear portion, and is opened and closed by pushing up or down with the front portion. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the front lid 126 is rotatably supported at the lower part, and is opened and closed by pushing down or pushing up the upper part. By opening the upper lid 125 and the front lid 126, the user can perform maintenance work of the internal mechanism through the opening.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the transport unit 210 includes a flat sheet feed guide 211 disposed from the sheet feed unit 110 to the recording unit 120, a paper feed roller 212 and a driven roller 213 that are disposed opposite to each other and can be contacted / separated. A flat platen 214 disposed opposite to the recording head 121 mounted on the carriage 122, a flat paper suction unit 215 disposed from the recording unit 120 to the paper discharge unit 130, and a paper discharge disposed on the paper discharge unit 130. A guide 131 is provided.

  Each surface of the paper feed guide 211 and the paper discharge guide 131 functions as a paper transport surface. The surface of the paper suction unit 215 acts as a paper transport surface and a paper suction surface. That is, the paper suction unit 215 includes a plurality of suction ports 215a, 215b, and 215c arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction and arranged in three rows in the sub-scanning direction, and a fan disposed inside the recording unit 120. The outside air is sucked from the suction ports 215a, 215b, and 215c by 217, so that the roll paper conveyed on the paper suction unit 215 is sucked.

  The surface of the platen 214 functions as a sheet conveyance guide surface and also as a sheet suction surface. That is, the platen 214 is provided with a plurality of suction ports 214a arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction, and the outside air is sucked from the suction ports 214a by the fans 217 disposed inside the recording unit 120. The roll paper conveyed on 214 is adsorbed. Accordingly, even when the width of the roll paper is particularly wide at the time of recording, the roll paper is surely sucked and flattened over the entire width on the platen 214, so that the recording accuracy can be maintained with high accuracy.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the paper discharge unit 130 includes a paper discharge guide 131 that forms part of a path for transporting roll paper in the sub-scanning direction, and paper discharge (not shown) that transports roll paper in the sub-scanning direction. It has a roller. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cartridge holder 150 for storing and holding the ink cartridge is disposed on the right side when viewed from the front side of the paper discharge unit 130.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the leg portion 140 includes two support columns 142 each having a moving roller 141, and a reinforcing bar 143 spanned between the support columns 142. . The printer main bodies 110, 120, and 130 are placed on the support pillar 142 and fixed with screws. The user can easily move the printer 100 with the roller 141 when he wants to look at the back side for maintenance of the printer 100 or when he wants to change the installation location of the printer 100.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 200 includes a main board (not shown) that constitutes a printer controller. The main board is mounted with control elements and storage elements such as CPU, ROM, RAM, and ASIC (not shown) and other various circuit elements. Then, the paper feed unit 110, the recording unit 120, the transport unit 210, and the like constituting the print engine are controlled.

  4 is a perspective view of the peripheral portion of the linear encoder 160 as viewed from the front side, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the peripheral portion as viewed from the back side, and FIG. 6 is a side view thereof. The linear encoder 160 includes a linear scale (detection scale) 161 and a sensor unit 162. The linear scale 161 is formed of a transparent or semi-transparent plastic in a strip shape, and the scale surface is perpendicular (vertical) to the horizontal plane, that is, in the direction of gravity, and both ends are provided at both ends of the guide rail 161. The upper end of the guide rail 127 is fixed to the lower surface 127 a of the guide rail 127 via the fixed hook 163. The fixing hook 163 is made of a metal or the like and is formed in a rectangular plate shape having a substantially L-shaped cross section. It is fixed by etc. Since the linear scale 161 is long, it is fixed by a plurality of fixing hooks 163 at a predetermined interval.

  According to the linear scale 161 having such a configuration, the guide rail 127 is covered and covered like an umbrella over the entire length of the linear scale 161. For this reason, foreign matters such as paper dust and ink mist floating during paper conveyance / recording are blocked by the guide rail 127, and do not directly fall on the linear scale 161. Furthermore, since the linear scale 161 is suspended from the lower surface 127a of the guide rail 127 and the scale surface is perpendicular (vertical) to the horizontal plane, that is, in the direction of gravity, the foreign matter easily falls on the scale surface. Accordingly, foreign matters are less likely to adhere to the linear scale 161 and contamination of the linear scale 161 is reduced. Therefore, the position detection accuracy of the linear scale 161 can be maintained with high accuracy, and the recording accuracy can be maintained with high accuracy.

  Further, since the upper end portion of the linear scale 161 is in close contact with the lower surface 127 a of the guide rail 127 and there is no gap, the airflow generated by the fan 217 is difficult to flow in the vicinity of the linear scale 161. Accordingly, the foreign matter floating in the airflow hardly adheres to the linear scale 161, and contamination of the linear scale 161 is reduced. Therefore, the position detection accuracy of the linear scale 161 is maintained with high accuracy and the recording accuracy is also high. Can be maintained. The guide rail 127 is not particularly limited as long as it can be covered and covered like an umbrella over the entire length of the linear scale 161, and a new umbrella-shaped member may be provided.

  The sensor unit 162 includes a sensor 21, a sensor holder 22, a cover 23, and a fixing screw 24. As described above, the linear scale 161 hangs down from the lower surface 127 a of the guide rail 127, so that a transmissive sensor can be used as the sensor 21. That is, the sensor 21 includes a light receiving element 21b, a light emitting element 21c, and other circuit elements 21d mounted on the substrate 21a so as to face each other with a gap. The sensor holder 22 is formed in a substantially box shape so as to cover the sensor 21 from below. The cover 23 includes a sensor cover 23 a that covers the sensor 21 and a scale cover 23 b that covers the linear scale 161 closest to the carriage 122.

  According to the sensor unit 162 having such a configuration, a transmissive type with a higher resolution than the reflective type can be used as the sensor 21. Therefore, the position detection accuracy of the linear scale 161 can be increased and the recording accuracy can be increased. Further, the sensor 21 is substantially covered with the sensor holder 22 and the cover 23. For this reason, foreign matters such as paper dust and ink mist floating during paper conveyance / recording are blocked by the sensor holder 22 and the cover 23, and are difficult to adhere to the sensor 21. Thus, the position detection accuracy can be maintained with high accuracy, and the recording accuracy can also be maintained with high accuracy.

  FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the sensor unit 162. A method for assembling and mounting the sensor unit 162 will be described with reference to this drawing. First, the sensor 21 is inserted into the sensor holder 22 and fixed with the screw 25, and the cover 23 is put on the sensor holder 22 to form the sensor unit 162. Next, the fixing screw 24 is threaded into the carriage 122 through the fixing hole 22 a of the sensor holder 22. At this time, since the sensor holder 22 has two pins 22b that can be inserted into the two long holes 122a formed in the carriage 122, these pins 22b are inserted into the long holes 122a. Then, the sensor unit 162 (pin 22b) is moved along the elongated hole 122a, the position of the sensor 21 with respect to the linear scale 161 is adjusted, and the fixing screw 24 is tightened. As a result, the assembly and attachment of the sensor unit 162 is completed.

  As described above, according to the printer 100 of this embodiment, the linear scale 161 is disposed so that the scale surface is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and the guide rail 127 is in close contact with the upper end portion of the linear scale 161. Since the linear scale 161 is disposed, the linear scale 161 is covered with the guide rail 127 and is held in a state of being suspended from the guide rail 127, so that foreign matter hardly adheres and contamination is reduced. Further, since there is no gap between the upper end portion of the linear scale 161 and the guide rail 127, it is difficult to generate an air current in which foreign matter is floating in the vicinity thereof, and contamination is reduced. Furthermore, since a high-resolution detection can be performed using a transmissive sensor as the sensor 21, the recording accuracy of the recording head 121 can be increased.

  Further, since the guide rail 127 is also used as an umbrella-shaped member, it is not necessary to provide a new member, so that space efficiency can be improved and cost can be reduced. Moreover, since the linear scale 161 is being fixed to the guide rail 127 via the fixing hook 163, the upper end part of the linear scale 161 and the guide rail 127 can be contact | adhered easily.

  The meaning of the liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects the liquid corresponding to the application from the liquid ejecting head to the ejected medium and attaches the liquid to the ejected medium is, for example, a color material ejecting head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, and an organic EL Also applicable to devices equipped with electrode material (conductive paste) jet heads used for electrode formation such as displays and surface-emitting displays (FEDs), bio-organic matter jet heads used in biochip manufacturing, sample jet heads as precision pipettes, etc. Is possible. Further, any recording apparatus provided with detection means for detecting the moving position of the recording head can be applied to, for example, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and the like.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an internal configuration example of a main part of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional side view of the printer of FIG. 1. It is the perspective view which looked at the peripheral part of the linear encoder of the printer of FIG. 1 from the front side. It is the perspective view which looked at FIG. 4 from the back side. FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4. It is a disassembled perspective view of the sensor unit of the linear encoder of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Inkjet printer, 110 Paper feed part, 120 Recording part, 121 Recording head, 122 Carriage, 127 Guide rail, 130 Paper discharge part, 140 Leg part, 150 Ink cartridge holder, 160 Linear encoder, 161 Linear scale, 162 Sensor unit 163 Fixed hook, 200 control unit, 210 transport unit

Claims (4)

An ejection head that ejects liquid while reciprocating; and
A liquid ejecting apparatus including detection means for detecting a moving position of the ejecting head,
A detection scale constituting the detection means is arranged so that a scale surface is perpendicular to a horizontal plane, and an umbrella-like member covering at least a part of the detection scale is arranged in close contact with the upper end of the detection scale. A liquid ejecting apparatus characterized by being provided. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the umbrella-shaped member is a guide rail that guides the reciprocating movement of the ejecting head. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection scale is fixed to the umbrella-like member via a fixing hook. A recording device for recording on a recording medium,
A recording apparatus comprising the liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1.

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