JP2001030510A - Ink-jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent spoiling of the beautiful appearance by printing a marking for sensing the ink run-out on a recording paper. SOLUTION: A roll-like sensing recording medium 21 to be impacted by ink droplets of each color, and a mark sensor 25 for individually sensing the ink of each color on the sensing medium 21 are provided on the opposite side with respect to the home position of a carriage 2. Based on the sensing result of the mark sensor 25, the density of an ink exhaustion sensing mark M on the sensing medium 21 is judged. When the density of the ink exhaustion mark is lower than a standard density, it is judged that the ink is run out so that after displaying the ink of the exhausted color, an ink exhaustion treatment is executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an ink jet recording apparatus capable of detecting running out of ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an ink jet recording apparatus used as an image forming apparatus (image recording apparatus) such as a printer, a facsimile, a copying apparatus, and the like, has a plurality of nozzles (ejection ports) for ejecting ink droplets and an ink communicating with each nozzle. An electromechanical conversion element such as a piezoelectric element for generating energy for discharging ink droplets from a nozzle by pressurizing ink in each ink liquid chamber, or an electrothermal conversion such as a heater. A recording head, which is an ink jet head having an energy generating unit (actuator unit) including an electrostatic force generating unit such as an element or an electrode, is mounted on a carriage, the carriage is moved in the main scanning direction, and a recording medium (ink droplet is formed). The recording medium is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction, and ink droplets are ejected from the recording head. A serial type of recording an image are known.

In such a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, ink must be supplied to a recording head mounted on a carriage, and generally, an ink cartridge (or ink tank) for supplying ink together with the recording head to the carriage. ).

In order to solve the problems of the ink cartridge system, such as replacement of a cartridge and an increase in driving load due to a large capacity, an ink cartridge is not mounted on a carriage, and the ink cartridge is mounted on a main body of the recording apparatus. And a tube suction system that supplies ink using a small-capacity sub-tank mounted on the coupling tube and carriage, or a main tank is arranged on the main unit side of the recording device, and a small-capacity sub-tank is mounted on the carriage Then, when the carriage comes to a predetermined position, a stand supply system for replenishing ink from the main tank to the sub-tank (JP-A-5-138899, JP-A-8-2766)
No. 00 publication) has been proposed.

[0005] By the way, regardless of the replenishment method,
In an ink jet recording apparatus, if there is no ink to be supplied to the recording head, the cartridge must be replaced, or if there is no ink in the main tank, the ink must be supplied to the main tank.
It is necessary to detect out of ink.

Conventionally, in an ink-jet recording apparatus of the ink cartridge type, it is common practice to provide a detection electrode on the ink cartridge to detect the remaining amount of ink in the cartridge.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-321065, an ink empty detection sensor for reading a marking formed by spraying ink on a sheet is provided, and the detection result of the ink empty detection sensor is provided. There has also been proposed an ink jet recording apparatus which detects out-of-ink and clogged nozzles.

[0008]

Among the above-mentioned conventional ink jet recording apparatuses, those which detect the ink shortage by using a detection electrode provided in an ink cartridge,
There is a problem that the method cannot be applied to a recording apparatus that does not supply ink to a recording head by an ink cartridge system.

On the other hand, a method of forming a marking by ejecting ink droplets to detect ink shortage and nozzle clogging on a sheet has the advantage that the ink supply method to the recording head is not limited. However, since the marking is printed on the recording medium paper, there is a problem that unnecessary recording is performed on the paper and the appearance is impaired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of detecting ink exhaustion regardless of the ink replenishment method without impairing the appearance of paper. .

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a detecting medium for landing ink droplets of each color and an ink of each color on the detecting medium. And a detecting means for detecting the time.

Here, it is possible to determine whether the ink has run out by detecting the density of the ink based on the detection result of the detection means, or by detecting the presence or absence of the ink based on the detection result of the detection means.

Preferably, a roll-shaped medium is used as the detection medium. Further, the detection medium can be arranged on the standby area side of the recording head, or can be arranged on the side opposite to the home position. Furthermore,
It is preferable that a means for storing the timing of ejecting ink droplets to the detection medium is provided.

Further, it is preferable that the ink-out condition is determined by ejecting ink droplets only for the ink of the color used after the previous ink-out condition was determined.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a mechanism section of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a recording head of the recording apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view of a detection unit of the recording apparatus.

The mechanism of the ink jet recording apparatus is as follows.
A guide rod 1 and a stay or rod (not shown) are suspended between the side plates on both sides (not shown) in a substantially horizontal positional relationship, and the carriage 2 is moved by the guide rod 1 and the stay or rod in the main scanning direction (X direction indicated by an arrow). Slidably supported.

The carriage 2 has a recording head 3 which is an ink jet head capable of ejecting ink droplets of a plurality of colors. Here, as the recording head 3, as shown in FIG. 2, a nozzle group 3y for ejecting ink droplets of Y (yellow) ink, a nozzle group 3m for ejecting ink droplets of M (magenta) ink, and C (cyan) A multi-nozzle inkjet head is used in which a nozzle group 3c for ejecting ink droplets of ink and a nozzle group 3b for ejecting ink droplets of Bk (black) ink are arranged in the main scanning direction.

It is also possible to use a recording head in which a plurality of ink jet heads for ejecting ink droplets of each color are arranged. In addition, an ink cartridge for supplying each color ink to the recording head 3 is replaceably or integrally disposed on the carriage 2.

The carriage 2 is connected to a timing belt 7 stretched between a driving pulley (drive timing pulley) 5 rotated by a main scanning motor (carriage motor) 4 and a driven pulley (idler pulley) 6. The carriage 2, that is, the recording head 3 is moved in the main scanning direction by controlling the driving of the main scanning motor 4.

A transport roller 11 for feeding a sheet (meaning that a recording medium or ink droplets are attached) 10 in a sub-scanning direction (Y direction indicated by an arrow) orthogonal to the main scanning direction, and presses and contacts the transport roller 11. A pressure roller 12 is disposed. The transport roller 11 is rotated by a sub-scanning motor (line feed motor) 13 in a direction in which the sheet 10 is fed.

On the opposite side of the carriage 2 from the home position, a detection medium 21 on which ink droplets ejected by the recording head 3 of the carriage 2 can land is arranged. The detection medium 21 has a roll shape, is wound around a delivery roller 22, and is wound up by a winding roller 23. The take-up roller 23 is driven to rotate by a transport motor 24.

Here, by making the detection medium 21 in the form of a roll, the size of the apparatus can be reduced and the transport mechanism can be simplified. Further, by disposing the detection medium 21 on the home position of the carriage 2, that is, on the side opposite to the side on which the reliability maintenance / recovery mechanism for recovering clogging of the head or the like (standby position side) is disposed,
It is possible to avoid restrictions on the arrangement due to the installation of the reliability maintenance / recovery mechanism. However, the detection medium 21 can be arranged at the standby position side. In this case, the ink out detection determination operation can be performed simultaneously with the operation of returning the carriage 2 to the standby position, and the movement operation of the carriage 2 can be performed. It's easy.

Further, a mark sensor 25 is provided as detecting means for detecting an ink-out detection mark (ink) to be printed on the detection medium 21. As shown in FIG. 3, the mark sensor 25 includes a mark sensor 25y for detecting Y (yellow) ink, a mark sensor 25m for detecting M (magenta) ink, a mark sensor 25c for detecting C (cyan) ink, and Bk. The mark sensor 25b for detecting (black) ink is arranged in the main scanning direction.

Next, an outline of a control section of the ink jet recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The control unit stores a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a “CPU”) 40 that also controls the entire printing apparatus, which also functions as a part of a detection unit that detects ink on the detection medium 21, and stores necessary fixed information. ROM 41 used as a working memory also serving as a means for storing ink-out detection timing, an image memory 43 storing data obtained by processing image information, and a host interface (I
/ F) 44, input buffer 45, parallel input / output (PIO) ports 46 and 47, and gate array (GA)
Alternatively, it has a parallel input / output (PIO) port 48, a head drive circuit 49, drivers 50 and 51, and the like.

Here, the host I / F 45 transmits and receives various data and information such as image information and information for setting the timing for detecting the out-of-ink state to and from the host. PIO
The port 46 inputs setting information from a key input unit 53 provided on the operation panel 52, and sends and receives information to be displayed on the display unit 54. The PIO port 47 receives, from each of the detection signals from the mark sensors 25 (the mark sensors 25y, 25m, 25c, and 25b), data such as paper type data indicating the type of paper, and a paper presence / absence sensor that detects the start and end of the paper. Detection signal, home position of carriage 2 (reference position)
And the like from various sensors, such as a home position sensor, for detecting the position.

The head drive circuit 49 is based on various data and signals provided through the PIO port 48, and generates energy corresponding to each nozzle of the recording head 3 (in this embodiment, a piezoelectric element, a heating resistor, , Electrodes, etc.). The driver 50
The carriage 2 is moved and scanned in the main scanning direction by controlling the driving of the main scanning motor 8 and the sub-scanning motor 13 according to the driving data given via the PIO port 48, respectively.
The transport roller 11 is rotated to transport the sheet 10 by a predetermined amount. The driver 51 controls the drive of the transport motor 24 in accordance with the drive data supplied via the PIO port 48, thereby transporting the detection medium 21 by a predetermined amount.

Next, the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus constructed as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the ink-out detection timing setting process will be described with reference to FIG. 5. When there is an ink-out setting instruction from the operation panel 52, detection timing information input from the key input unit 53 is fetched and stored in the RAM 42.

As the ink-out detection timing, it is possible to set before the start of printing the page, after the printing of the page is finished, at the intermediate position of the printing of the page, at the time of turning on the power, at the time of the printing standby, and the like. For example, when used as a printer, wasteful printing operation can be stopped by detecting out-of-ink before starting page printing. Further, when the present invention is applied to a facsimile machine, printing of each page can be guaranteed by storing received data in a receiving memory and performing out-of-ink detection after printing the received data on a page. In this ink jet recording apparatus, the default value is before starting page printing.

In this case, the ink-out detection timing can be set by the operation panel of the recording apparatus. However, when the printer is used as a printer, the host-side printer driver can set the ink-out detection timing. You can also.

The provision of the means for storing the out-of-ink detection timing as described above enables the out-of-ink detection timing to be set, so that the out-of-ink detection can be performed at an appropriate timing according to the purpose of use. Consumption can be minimized.

Next, an ink-out detection process will be described with reference to FIGS. First, referring to FIG.
The set value of the out-of-ink detection timing stored in the AM 42 is checked to determine whether the detection mode (detection timing) is the detection mode before the page printing / the detection mode after the page printing or the page printing intermediate position detection mode. I do.

At this time, if the detection mode is the pre-page printing detection mode, it is determined whether or not it is time to detect the ink exhaustion, and when the ink exhaustion detection timing is reached, the recording head 3 is moved to a position corresponding to the detection medium 21. Then, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle groups 3 y, 3 m, 3 c, and 3 b of the respective colors of the recording head 3 onto the detection medium 21, so that a predetermined size of each color is Out-of-ink detection marks M (My, Mm, Mc, M
b) is printed.

Then, the transport motor 24 is driven to transport the detection medium 21, and the ink-out detection mark M (My, M
m, Mc, Mb) are marked by the mark sensor 25.
(25y, 25m, 25c, 25b).

Next, the detection signal of each color from the mark sensor 25 is fetched, the density of the out-of-ink detection mark M (My, Mm, Mc, Mb) is determined based on the detection signal of each color. (My, Mm, Mc,
It is determined whether or not the density of Mb) is higher than a predetermined density.

At this time, the out-of-ink detection mark M (M
If the densities of y, Mm, Mc, and Mb) are not higher than the specified density, it is determined that the ink is out of ink, the ink out display is performed, and the ink name (color name) of the out-of-ink color is displayed. The process proceeds to the ink exhaustion process. The display of the ink name of the color that has run out of ink is performed by turning on a display corresponding to each color of the display unit 54 on which the ink name is written on the recording apparatus main body.

The mark sensor 25 (25y, 25y)
m, 25c, and 25b) to determine the presence or absence of an out-of-ink detection mark M (My, Mm, Mc, Mb), and to detect the out-of-ink detection mark M (My, Mm, If there is no Mc, Mb), it is also possible to determine that the ink has run out and shift to the display of the running out of ink and the processing for running out of ink.

On the other hand, when the detection mode (detection timing) is the detection mode after page printing or the page intermediate position detection mode, the processing shifts to the processing of FIG. 7 to monitor the color of ink used for recording and printing. And the color of the used ink is stored in the RAM 42.

Then, it is determined whether or not it is time to detect the ink exhaustion. When the timing to detect the ink exhaustion is reached, the recording head 3 is moved to a position corresponding to the detection medium 21.
Next, the information of the color of the used ink stored in the RAM 42 is checked, and only the ink of the used color is ejected and landed on the detection medium 21 from the recording head 3 for the detection. At a predetermined position of each color on the medium 21, an ink-out detection mark M (M
(a mark corresponding to the used color of y, Mm, Mc, and Mb).

Then, the transport motor 24 is driven to transport the detection medium 21, and the position where the ink-out detection mark M is printed is determined by the mark sensor 25 (25y, 25m, 25c, 2c, 2c).
5b) to move to a detectable position.

Next, a detection signal from the mark sensor corresponding to the used color of the mark sensor 25 is fetched, and the density of the used-out-of-ink detection mark M of the used color is determined based on the detection signal. It is determined whether or not the density of the detection mark M is higher than a predetermined density.

At this time, if the density of the out-of-ink detection mark M is not higher than the specified density, it is determined that the ink is out of ink, the out-of-ink display is performed, and the ink name (color name) of the color is displayed. Move to cutting process.

Also in this case, the detection signal of the mark sensor 25 is fetched to determine the presence or absence of the ink-out detection mark M.
If there is no out-of-ink detection mark M that should have been printed, it can be determined that the ink is out, and the process can proceed to out-of-ink display and out-of-ink processing.

As described above, by holding the color information of the ink used in the printing after the previous detection timing, and detecting and judging the ink exhaustion only for the ink of the used color, wasteful consumption of ink is reduced. Also, the time required for detection can be shortened.

In the above embodiment, the mark sensor 25 is used.
Are provided for the number of colors, but one mark sensor 25 is used to print out the ink-out detection marks at different positions in the transport direction of the detection medium 21, and the marks of each color are sequentially detected by the mark sensor 25. In this way, it is also possible to detect out of ink of each color. Furthermore, the ink-out detection mark is printed on the detection medium,
It is not necessary to print a specially determined mark with ink droplets that land on the detection medium.

[0045]

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, a detection medium for landing ink droplets of each color, and a detection medium for individually detecting each color ink on the detection medium. Means for detecting out-of-ink conditions that does not impair the aesthetics of the paper used for recording in the color ink jet recording apparatus and that can be applied to those using a replenishment supply method other than the ink cartridge replenishment method. It can be performed.

Here, the recording is performed by detecting the ink density based on the detection result of the detecting means, or by detecting the presence or absence of the ink based on the detection result of the detecting means, thereby determining whether the ink has run out. Can be detected without deteriorating the aesthetics of the paper used for printing, and can be detected regardless of the ink supply method.

Further, by using a roll-shaped medium as the detection medium, the size of the apparatus can be reduced, and the transport mechanism can be simplified. Further, by arranging the detection medium on the side opposite to the home position of the recording head, it is possible to avoid competition with the head reliability maintenance / recovery mechanism, reduce design constraints, and reduce costs. Also,
By arranging the detection medium on the standby area side of the recording head, the running distance of the recording head can be reduced even in the middle of the page or after the page printing, so that the ink out detection operation can be easily performed.

Further, by providing a means for storing the timing at which ink droplets are ejected to the detection medium,
Insufficient ink can be detected at an appropriate timing according to the purpose of use, and ink consumption can be reduced.

Further, the ink-out condition is determined by ejecting ink droplets only for the ink of the color used after the previous ink-out condition determination, so that wasteful consumption of ink can be reduced. Can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a recording head of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory perspective view of a detection unit of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a control unit of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an out-of-ink detection timing setting process of the recording apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an out-of-ink detection process of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an out-of-ink detection process of the recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... carriage, 3 ... recording head, 3y, 3m, 3c,
3b: nozzle group, 21: detection medium, 24: transport motor, 25, 25y, 25m, 25c, 25b: mark sensor.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head for discharging ink droplets of a plurality of colors, a detection medium for landing ink droplets of each color and inks of each color on the detection medium are individually detected. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a detection unit. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink density on said detection medium is detected based on a detection result of said detection means to determine whether the ink is out of ink. . 3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the presence or absence of ink on said detection medium is detected based on the detection result of said detection means to determine whether the ink has run out. . 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection medium is a roll medium. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection medium is arranged on a standby area side of the recording head. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection medium is disposed on a side opposite to a home position of the recording head. Said 7. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing a timing at which ink droplets are ejected onto said detection medium. 8. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ink-out determination is performed by ejecting ink droplets only for the ink of the color used after the previous ink-out determination. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.