EP1676711B1 - Druckkopfwagen - Google Patents

Druckkopfwagen Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1676711B1
EP1676711B1 EP05112665A EP05112665A EP1676711B1 EP 1676711 B1 EP1676711 B1 EP 1676711B1 EP 05112665 A EP05112665 A EP 05112665A EP 05112665 A EP05112665 A EP 05112665A EP 1676711 B1 EP1676711 B1 EP 1676711B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
mounting plate
hinge
plate
hinge plates
support point
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
EP05112665A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1676711A1 (de
Inventor
Wilhelmus H.J. Nellen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Canon Production Printing Netherlands BV
Original Assignee
Oce Technologies BV
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Oce Technologies BV filed Critical Oce Technologies BV
Priority to EP05112665A priority Critical patent/EP1676711B1/de
Publication of EP1676711A1 publication Critical patent/EP1676711A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1676711B1 publication Critical patent/EP1676711B1/de
Ceased legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J25/00—Actions or mechanisms not otherwise provided for
    • B41J25/304—Bodily-movable mechanisms for print heads or carriages movable towards or from paper surface
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B41J2/1752—Mounting within the printer
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2202/00—Embodiments of or processes related to ink-jet or thermal heads
    • B41J2202/01—Embodiments of or processes related to ink-jet heads
    • B41J2202/14—Mounting head into the printer

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a printhead carriage comprising a body that is guided and driven for reciprocating movement in a printer, a mounting plate for a printhead assembly, and a suspension structure adjustably connecting the mounting plate to the body, the suspension structure comprising a framework of hinge plates having elastic hinges that are formed by portions of the hinge plates where the width thereof is reduced, and at least one adjusting mechanism adapted to adjust the position of the mounting plate by elastically deflecting at least one of the hinges.
  • a printhead carriage of this type is known from EP-A-0 693 382 .
  • a printhead carriage is moved back and forth in a main scanning direction Y, so as to scan a recording medium that is advanced step-wise in a sub-scanning direction X over a print surface.
  • the mounting plate which carries the printheads is exactly adjusted relative to the print surface.
  • the printheads comprise one or more arrays of nozzles from which ink droplets are ejected onto the recording medium at appropriate timings during the scan movement of the carriage, so that an image is formed on the recording medium, and the mounting plate must be so adjusted that the flight distance of the ink droplets is identical for all nozzles.
  • the mounting plate should stably be held in a position in which it is exactly parallel to the print surface.
  • the angle of the nozzle array or arrays relative to the main scanning direction must be adjusted with high accuracy, e. g. to 90°.
  • the carriage carries a plurality of printheads, as is the case for example in a multi-color printer, another problem may arise from the fact that the operation of the printheads is frequently accompanied by the generation of a considerable amount of heat, so that the mounting plate is subject to thermal expansion which may change the positions of the printheads relative to one another.
  • thermal expansion may be compensated for by appropriately controlling the timings at which the individual nozzles are energized.
  • the temperature distribution of the mounting plate is non-uniform, it becomes difficult to compensate the thermal expansion.
  • the carriage In order achieve an high productivity of the printer, the carriage must be accelerated and decelerated at the beginning and at the end of each scan pass with a considerably high rate. As a result, considerable forces of the inertia are generated which may cause the mounting plate to shift or to vibrate. It is therefore required that the suspension structure has a sufficient stiffness for stably holding the mounting plate in the desired position.
  • an adjusting unit for at least one degree of freedom of the mounting plate comprises two hinge plates that are connected to a common support point of the mounting plate and are oriented at right angles relative to one another, and an adjusting mechanism adapted to push and/or pull one hinge plate in longitudinal direction thereof, with elastic deflection of at least one hinge of the other hinge plate.
  • hinge plates are rigid in one direction, i.e. their longitudinal direction, but behave like leaf springs with a relatively high spring constant in a direction normal to that longitudinal direction and in the plane of the hinge plate.
  • a portion of the mounting plate that is connected to a hinge plate may rigidly be supported in the one direction and may be adjusted in the direction orthogonal to that one direction.
  • the relatively high spring constant of the elastic hinges has the effect that the resonance frequency of the mounting plate will be high and will thus be sufficiently offset from the spectrum of exciting frequencies that are to be expected when the printer is operating. Thus, vibrations of the mounting plate can successfully be suppressed.
  • the elasticity of the hinges permits also to absorb thermal expansions and contractions of the mounting plate.
  • Another remarkable advantage results from the fact that the narrow hinge portions have a very low heat conductivity, even when the hinge plates are made of spring steel, for example, so that a good thermal insulation of the mounting plate is achieved and dissipation of heat through the suspension structure is largely suppressed.
  • a uniform temperature profile of the mounting plate can be achieved, so that the compensation of thermal expansions is facilitated, and, in case of a hot melt ink jet printer, losses of heat energy are reduced to minimum.
  • An adjusting unit for two degrees of freedom may comprise two hinge plates connected to a common support point on the mounting plate and oriented at right angles relative to one another, and two independent adjusting mechanisms respectively associated with one of the two hinge plates and adapted to push and/or pull the same in its longitudinal direction.
  • the adjusting mechanism preferably comprises a lever which is rigidly connected to end of the hinge plate and is connected to a fixed point of the carriage body through an elastic hinge in the vicinity of said end of the hinge plate.
  • each hinge plate has two hinges located near opposite ends thereof.
  • the link forming the third side of the triangular frame may also have two hinges in the vicinity of its opposite ends.
  • the mounting plate is a rectangular plate having two support points projecting from the shorter sides of the rectangle, and a third support point projecting from one of the longer sides of the rectangle.
  • An adjusting unit may be associated with each of the three support points.
  • the adjustable degrees of freedom of the mounting plate may comprise the positions of the three support points in a direction Z normal to the plane of the mounting plate. These degrees of freedom permit to control the distance between the mounting plate and the print surface of the printer as well as the parallelism between the mounting plate and the print surface.
  • One of the three adjusting units may be one with two degrees of freedom, so that it is additionally possible to adjust the position of the associated support point in a direction X that is parallel to the side of the mounting plate from which this support point projects. An adjustment in this X-direction will cause the mounting plate to rotate about an axis normal to the plane of the mounting plate and thus permits to control the skew angle of the mounting plate relative to the main scanning direction Y.
  • the carriage body may preferably have two cantilever arms which embrace the mounting plate and each of which carries one adjusting unit.
  • the third adjusting unit may be attached to a side surface of the carriage body. Since the mounting plate and the printheads should be arranged in a short distance above the print surface of the printer, it is preferable that the two cantilever arms project downwardly from the body and hold the mounting plate at a level below the carriage body.
  • the adjusting unit which is directly attached to a side face of the body may then the arranged such that one of its hinge plates projects downwardly from the body, whereas the second hinge plate extends along a side of the mounting plate.
  • This second hinge plate may rigidly be supported at the body by connecting the free end thereof to the Vertex of a V-shaped configuration of two hinge plates the upper ends of which are fixed at the body.
  • the printhead carriage shown in Fig. 1 comprises a body 10, a printhead mounting plate 12 made of metal, and a suspension structure 14 which adjustably connects the mounting plate 12 to the body 10.
  • the body 10 is guided on a guide rail (not shown) which extends in Y-direction of a Cartesian coordinate system X, Y, Z shown in Fig. 1.
  • the mounting plate 12 has eight sockets 16 adapted to accommodate a corresponding number of ink jet printheads (not shown).
  • the printheads e.g. hot-melt ink jet printheads, will thus be held in a position in which downwardly directed nozzles of the printheads, which lie all in a common plane, will face a print surface (not shown) of the printer, with only a small gap being formed between the plane of the nozzles and the surface of a recording medium that is supported on the print surface.
  • the suspension structure 14 is formed by two cantilever arms 18 of the body 10 and three adjusting units 20, 22, 24 which connect the body 10 and the cantilever arms 18, respectively, to three support points 26, 28, 30 which project laterally from the mounting plate 12.
  • the adjusting unit 20 serves to finely adjust the Z-position of the support point 26 but holds this support point rigidly in Y-direction.
  • the adjusting unit 22 serves to adjust the Z-position of the support point 28 but holds this support point rigidly in X-direction.
  • the adjusting unit 24 is adapted for independent adjustment of the support point 30 in both, X- and Z-direction. Since the support point 28 is essentially fixed in X-direction, adjustment of the support point 30 in X-direction will cause the mounting plate 12 to rotate in the X-Y-plane.
  • the adjusting units 20 and 22 each comprise a vertically oriented hinge plate 32 and a horizontally oriented hinge plate 34 that are connected to the common support point 26 and 28, respectively. Further, each of these two adjusting units comprises a lever 36 and 38, respectively, that is connected to the top end of the vertical hinge plate 32 and the free end of which is adjustable relative to the body 10 by means of a set-screw assembly 40, 42.
  • the third adjusting unit 24 has the two hinge plates 32, 34 but comprises two set-screw assemblies 44, 46.
  • the mounting plate 12 has the shape of an elongated rectangle that is embraced by the two cantilever arms 18 to which the adjusting units 22 and 24 are attached.
  • the corresponding support points 28 and 30 are arranged exactly opposite to one another.
  • the third support point 26 projects from the center of one of the longer sides of the mounting plate 12, and the associated adjusting unit 20 is attached to a side face 48 of the body 10.
  • the hinge plate 32 is an elongated plate of spring steel the width of which is locally reduced by a pair of opposed semi-circular cutouts, so that the portion of the plate remaining between the cutouts may serve as an elastic hinge 50.
  • the plate 32 has two such hinges, one near the bottom end which is fixed at the support point 27 and another one near the top end which is connected to the lever 36.
  • This lever 36 is itself configured as a hinge plate and has a hinge 52 in an end portion which slightly projects beyond the hinge plate 32.
  • the hinge 52 connects the lever 36 to a base plate 54 that is rigidly attached to the front face 48 of the body 10 at two fixation points 56.
  • the horizontal hinge plate 34 has a configuration which corresponds to that of the vertical hinge plate 32.
  • the end of the hinge plate 34 remote from the support point 26 is connected through one of its hinges to the vertex of a V-shaped structure formed by two hinge plates 58 and 60.
  • the hinge plate 58 is connected to the base plate 54, and the hinge plate 60 is fixedly attached to the front face of the body 10.
  • the hinge plates 32, 34, 58 and 60 and the base plate 54 together with the end portion of the lever 36 form a relatively rigid framework made up of two triangles.
  • the triangle formed by the front face of the body 10 and the two hinge plates 58 and 60 stably supports the hinge plate 34 in Y-direction.
  • the whole framework of the hinge plates and the lever may be manufactured in one piece and may be cut out of a sheet of spring steel.
  • the lever 36 and the set-screw assembly 40 form an adjusting mechanism for adjusting the Z-position of the vertical hinge plate 32 and hence of the support point 26 of the mounting plate.
  • the lever 36 When, for example, the left end of the lever 36 is moved downward by means of the set-screw assembly 40 (double arrow Z1), the lever will pivot about a fulcrum that is formed by the hinge 52, and the hinge plate 32 will be pushed downward.
  • the downward movement of the support point 26 is permitted by a slight elastic flexing of the hinges of the horizontal hinge plate 34. In this way, the Z-position, and only the Z-position, of the support point 26 can be adjusted with very high accuracy.
  • the hinge portions of the various hinge plates 32, 34, 58 and 60 have also the function to limit the heat flow from the mounting plate 12 to the body 10 and thereby to thermally insulate the mounting plate 12.
  • the adjusting unit 22, shown in Fig. 4, for the support point 28 of the mounting plate is based on the same function principle.
  • the top of the hinge plate 32 is connected, through a laterally offset hinge 62, to a fixation point 64 on the cantilever arm 18.
  • one end of the horizontal hinge plate 34 is connected to a fixation point 66 through another hinge.
  • the fixation points 64 and 66 are rigidly connected by a metal link 68, so that a stable triangular frame is formed together with the hinge plates 32 and 34, even when the body 10 and its cantilever arms 18 are made of plastic and have a relatively low rigidity.
  • the lever 38 is connected to the top end of the vertical hinge plate 32.
  • the lever When the set-screw assembly 42 is used to move the top end of the lever 38 in the direction indicated by a double-arrow Z2, the lever will pivot about a fulcrum formed by the hinge 62, and the hinge plate 32 will be pushed up and down, so that the Z-position, and only the Z-position, of the support point 28 can be adjusted with high accuracy.
  • Fig. 5 shows the adjusting unit 24 for the support point 30 of the mounting plate.
  • This adjusting unit has basically the same construction as the adjusting unit 22, and those components which have been described already are designated by like reference numerals and will not be described again. Adjustment in Z-direction is here achieved by means of the set-screw assembly 44 and the lever 38.
  • the set-screw assembly 46 serves to pivot a lever 70 about a fulcrum that is formed by a hinge 72, so that the horizontal hinge plate 34, that is connected to one end of the lever 70, will be pushed in X-direction. It should be noted that, since the hinge plates 32 and 34 are oriented at right angles relative to one another, an adjustment of the support point 30 in X-direction has no influence on the Z-position and vice versa.

Landscapes

  • Ink Jet (AREA)

Claims (10)

  1. Druckkopfwagen mit einem Körper (10), der so geführt und angetrieben ist, daß er sich hin- und hergehend in einem Drucker bewegt, einer Montageplatte (12) für eine Druckkopfanordnung, und einer Aufhängungsstruktur (14), die die Montageplatte (12) einstellbar mit dem Körper (10) verbindet und ein Rahmenwerk aus Scharnierplatten (32, 43) aufweist, die elastische Scharniere (50; 72) haben, die durch in ihrer Breite reduzierte Teile der Scharnierplatten gebildet werden, und mit wenigstens einem Einstellmechanismus (36, 40; 38, 42; 44; 70, 46), der dazu eingerichtet ist, durch elastische Auslenkung wenigstens eines der Scharniere die Position der Montageplatte (12) einzustellen, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß eine Einstelleinheit (20; 24) für wenigstens einen Freiheitsgrad der Montageplatte (12) zwei Scharnierplatten (32, 34), die mit einem gemeinsamen Unterstützungspunkt (26; 28; 30) der Montageplatte (12) verbunden und rechtwinklig zueinander orientiert sind, und einen Einstellmechanismus (36, 40; 38, 42; 44) aufweist, der dazu eingerichtet ist, die eine Scharnierplatte (32) unter elastischer Auslenkung wenigstens eines Scharniers der anderen Scharnierplatte (34) in ihrer Längsrichtung zu schieben und/oder zu ziehen.
  2. Wagen nach Anspruch 1, bei dem die Scharnierplatten (32, 34) aus Metall, vorzugsweise aus Federstahl hergestellt sind.
  3. Druckkopf nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, bei dem die Aufhängungsstruktur (14) dazu ausgebildet ist, die Montageplatte (12) in wenigstens zwei Freiheitsgraden einzustellen.
  4. Wagen nach einem der vorstehenden Ansprüche, bei dem eine Einstelleinheit (24) für zwei Freiheitsgrade der Montageplatte (12) zwei Scharnierplatten (32, 34), die mit einem gemeinsamen Unterstützungspunkt (30) der Montageplatte verbunden und rechtwinklig zueinander orientiert sind, und zwei Einstellmechanismen (38, 44; 70, 46) aufweist, die jeweils dazu eingerichtet sind, eine der beiden Scharnierplatten unter elastischer Auslenkung wenigstens eines Scharniers der jeweiligen anderen Scharnierplatte in ihrer Längsrichtung zu schieben und/oder zu ziehen.
  5. Wagen nach einem der vorstehenden Ansprüche, bei dem der Einstellmechanismus einen Hebel (36; 38; 70), der mit einem Ende der Scharnierplatte (32; 34) verbunden ist und mit dem Körper (10) über ein Scharnier (52; 62; 72) verbunden ist, das sich in der Nähe dieser Scharnierplatte befindet, jedoch seitlich gegenüber dieser versetzt ist, und einen Mechanismus (40; 42; 44, 46) zum Schwenken des Hebels um das mit dem Körper (10) verbundene Scharnier (52; 62; 72) aufweist.
  6. Wagen nach einem der vorstehenden Ansprüche, bei dem die Enden der beiden Scharnierplatten (32, 34), die von dem gemeinsamen Unterstützungspunkt (26, 28, 30) abgelegen sind, durch eine Strebe (58; 68) verbunden sind, die zusammen mit diesen Scharnierplatten ein dreieckiges Rahmenwerk bildet.
  7. Wagen nach einem der vorstehenden Ansprüche, bei dem jede Scharnierplatte (32, 34) zwei Scharniere (50) in der Nähe ihrer entgegengesetzten Enden aufweist.
  8. Wagen nach den Ansprüchen 6 und 7, bei dem die Strebe (58; 64) zwei elastische Scharniere aufweist, die die beiden Enden der Strebe mit den Scharnierplatten (32, 34) verbinden.
  9. Wagen nach einem der vorstehenden Ansprüchen, bei dem die Montageplatte (12) eine rechteckige Platte ist, die zwei von ihren entgegengesetzten Enden vorspringende Unterstützungspunkte (28, 30) und einen dritten Unterstützungspunkt (26) aufweist, der seitlich von der Montageplatte vorspringt, und bei dem jedem dieser Unterstützungspunkte eine Einstelleinheit (20; 22; 24) zugeordnet ist.
  10. Wagen nach Anspruch 9, bei dem die Aufhängungsstruktur (14) dazu eingerichtet ist, die Montageplatte (12) in einer Position zu halten, die gegenüber dem Körper (10) in einer zu der Ebene der Montageplatte senkrechten Richtung versetzt ist, und die Aufhängungsstruktur zwei Ausleger (18) aufweist, die von dem Körper (10) vorspringen und die Montageplatte (12) umgreifen, je eine Einstelleinheit (22, 24) an jedem der Ausleger (18) angebracht ist, und eine dritte Einstelleinheit (20) an einer Frontseite (48) des Körpers (10) angebracht ist und eine V-förmige Anordnung aus Scharnierplatten (58, 60) aufweist, die an dem Körper (10) angebracht sind und deren Scheitel mit der Montageplatte (12) in einer Höhe liegt und eine der Scharnierplatten (34) abstützt, die mit dem Unterstützungspunkt (26) der Montageplatte verbunden ist.
EP05112665A 2004-12-29 2005-12-21 Druckkopfwagen Ceased EP1676711B1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP05112665A EP1676711B1 (de) 2004-12-29 2005-12-21 Druckkopfwagen

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP04107044 2004-12-29
EP05112665A EP1676711B1 (de) 2004-12-29 2005-12-21 Druckkopfwagen

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1676711A1 EP1676711A1 (de) 2006-07-05
EP1676711B1 true EP1676711B1 (de) 2007-10-24

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Family Applications (1)

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EP05112665A Ceased EP1676711B1 (de) 2004-12-29 2005-12-21 Druckkopfwagen

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EP (1) EP1676711B1 (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10046580B2 (en) 2014-03-26 2018-08-14 Oce-Technologies B.V. Mounting structure for a plurality of print head units

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10016993B2 (en) * 2016-05-24 2018-07-10 Electronics For Imaging, Inc. Elastic bending mechanism for bi-directional adjustment of print head position
CN116348304A (zh) * 2020-07-31 2023-06-27 株式会社理光 液体喷射装置、液体喷射器和用于驱动液体喷射头的方法

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE69412805T2 (de) 1994-07-18 1999-03-11 Oce-Nederland B.V., Venlo Drucker mit einem beweglichen Druckkopf

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
None *

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10046580B2 (en) 2014-03-26 2018-08-14 Oce-Technologies B.V. Mounting structure for a plurality of print head units

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