JP2001063020A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an ink jet recorder in which a head can be separated easily from the carriage body and the carriage can be reused by a structure wherein a frame member fixed with the head for ejecting ink drop is secured to a carriage body member being moved in the main scanning direction for recording. SOLUTION: A print mechanism section holds a carriage unit 13 slidably in the main scanning direction by means of a main guide rod 11 and a sub-guide rod 12 stretched between left and right side plates. The unit 13 is fixed with heads 14y, 14m, 14c and 14k for ejecting ink drops of yellow, cyan, magenta and black while directing downward and ink tanks for supplying ink of respective colors to the heads 14y-14k are fixed replaceadly to the upper side of the unit 13. A frame member 42 for securing head is secured on the carriage main body 41 which constitutes the unit 13 by means of screws 43 of a head securing member and the heads 14y-14k are bonded by means of adhesive to a head securing part formed on the securing member 42 through bonding members 44.

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 a carriage structure on which a head is mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet recording apparatus used as an image recording apparatus (image forming apparatus) such as a printer, a facsimile, and a copying apparatus, an ink jet head for discharging ink droplets and an ink cartridge (ink) for supplying ink to the head are provided. (It is also called a tank.)
Is mounted on a carriage, and a serial scan type in which recording is performed while moving a head in a main scanning direction is known.

[0003] As an ink jet recording apparatus, there are three colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C), or four colors obtained by adding black (Bk) thereto.
Furthermore, six colors of ink including two colors of light magenta (M) and light cyan (C), or seven colors of three colors including three colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B). A color image is recorded using ink.

In such a serial type color ink jet recording apparatus, dots of a desired color are formed by landing ink droplets of each color at substantially the same position.
The displacement of the ink droplet landing position directly leads to a decrease in image quality. In particular, when a plurality of heads that eject ink droplets for each color are used, the mounting accuracy of each head on the carriage directly appears as image quality.

Therefore, conventionally, in a serial type ink jet recording apparatus using a plurality of heads, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 9185, the relative position between a plurality of heads (head chips) is determined so as to correct the positional deviation of the ink landing position, and the carriage and the head are maintained while maintaining this relative position. It is known that a head and a carriage are directly joined by an adhesive by filling an adhesive as a filler and curing the adhesive.

[0006]

However, when the head is adhered and fixed to the carriage body as in the above-mentioned conventional ink jet recording apparatus, for example, Y, M, C,
After the four color Bk heads are fixed to the carriage main body and assembled, if the print heads are out of specifications due to characteristics in the final inspection process, there is a problem that the entirety including the carriage must be replaced. In addition, it is difficult to reuse the carriage body after collecting the head due to adhesion of adhesive or scratches when removing the head, and eventually the entire carriage is discarded.
There is a problem of lack of recyclability due to resource saving.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to provide an ink jet recording apparatus that facilitates recycling of a carriage.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention has a structure in which a fixed frame member to which a head is fixed is fixed to a carriage body member.

Here, it is preferable that the fixing frame member is detachably fixed to the carriage body. In this case, the fixing frame member can be fixed to the carriage body by the fastening member. Further, it is preferable that the head is bonded and fixed to the fixed frame member.

It is preferable that the fixed frame member and the carriage body are formed of the same material. For example, it is preferable that the fixed frame member and the carriage body are formed of a polycarbonate resin containing glass fibers.

Further, it is preferable that a plurality of heads can be fixed to the fixed frame member in the main scanning direction.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a mechanism of the inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the mechanism, FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the mechanism, and FIG. Schematic bottom view of the part,
FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of FIG.

This ink jet recording apparatus comprises a carriage movable in the main scanning direction inside the recording apparatus main body 1, a recording head composed of an ink jet head mounted on the carriage, an ink cartridge for supplying ink to the recording head, and the like. A paper feed cassette (or a paper feed tray) 4 capable of loading a large number of sheets 3 from the front side is detachably attached to a lower portion of the apparatus main body 1. In addition, the manual tray 5 for manually feeding the paper 3 can be opened, and the paper 3 fed from the paper feed cassette 4 or the manual tray 5 is taken in. After recording the image, the sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 6 mounted on the rear side.

The apparatus has a cover for covering the front, rear, left and right sides of the apparatus main body 1 and an openable and closable upper cover 8 for opening the upper side of the apparatus main body 1. And a display for displaying information such as ink end from the control unit.

The printing mechanism 2 slides the carriage unit 13 in a main scanning direction (a direction perpendicular to the sheet of FIG. 2) by a main guide rod 11 and a sub guide rod 12 which are guide members which are laterally mounted on left and right side plates (not shown). The carriage unit 13 is movably held, and yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (B) as shown in FIG.
The head 14 for ejecting ink droplets of each color (k) (heads of each color are denoted by reference numerals 14y, 14m, 14c, and 14k) is mounted with the ink droplet ejection direction facing downward. Each ink tank (ink cartridge) 15 for supplying each color ink to the head 14 is exchangeably mounted.

The carriage unit 13 has a rear side (downstream side in the paper transport direction) mounted on the main guide rod 11 with the bearing 1.
6, and is slidably mounted via the guide guide rod 12 on the front side (downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction). In order to move and scan the carriage 13 in the main scanning direction, the timing belt 2 is moved between a driving pulley 18 and a driven pulley 19 which are driven to rotate by a main scanning motor 17.
And the timing belt 20 is attached to the carriage 1
It is fixed to 3.

The ink-jet head used as the head 14 includes an actuator using an electromechanical transducer such as a piezoelectric element, a heater using a heating resistor,
Alternatively, a device using electrostatic force between the diaphragm and the electrode can be used.

On the other hand, the paper 3 set in the paper feed cassette 4
A paper feed roller 21 and a friction pad 22 for separating and feeding the paper 3 from the paper feed cassette 4, a guide member 23 for guiding the paper 3, A transport roller 24 that reverses and transports the sheet 3, a transport roller 25 pressed against the peripheral surface of the transport roller 24, and a transport roller 26 that regulates the angle at which the sheet 3 is sent out from the transport roller 15 are provided. The transport roller 24 is driven to rotate by a sub-scanning motor 27 via a gear train.

An image receiving member 29 is provided as a paper guide member for guiding the paper 3 fed from the transport roller 24 below the recording head 14 in accordance with the moving range of the carriage unit 13 in the main scanning direction. ing.

On the downstream side of the printing receiving member 29 in the paper transport direction, there are provided a transport roller 31 and a spur 32 that are driven to rotate in order to send out the paper 3 in the paper discharge direction. A delivery roller 33 and a spur 34 for sending out,
Guide members 35 and 36 that form a paper discharge path are provided.

A subsystem 37 for maintaining and restoring the reliability of the head 14 is disposed at the right end of the carriage unit 13 in the moving direction. During standby, the carriage unit 13 is moved toward the subsystem 37 to cap the head 14 such as capping means.

Therefore, the carriage unit 13 in this ink jet recording apparatus is mainly described in FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. This carriage unit 13
It comprises a carriage body 41 and a head fixing frame member 42. The carriage main body 41 and the head fixing frame member 42 are both formed of the same material. As a result, dimensional stability in an operating environment during long-term use is improved.

The carriage main body 41 and the head fixing frame member 42 are formed by, for example, injection molding of a polycarbonate resin containing 30% of glass fiber, so that mechanical strength,
Long-term stability can be obtained even in dimensional stability.

Then, the head fixing frame member 42 is fastened and fixed to the carriage main body 41 with a screw 43 as a fastening member, and a joining member 44 is attached to a head fixing portion 42a which is a concave portion or a through portion formed in the head fixing frame member 42. , The heads 14y, 14m, 14c, and 14k are joined and fixed with an adhesive.

The joining member 44 serves as an intermediary between the head 14 and the head fixing frame member 42, enables the head 14 to be adhered and fixed in a state where the head 14 is finely adjusted in the automatic assembling machine, and By enabling the partial bonding of the head 14, the bonding stress is dispersed and the deformation of the head 14 is prevented.

In order to assemble the carriage unit 13, the head fixing frame member 42 is fastened and fixed to the carriage main body 41 with screws 43, which are fastening members, and then the carriage unit 13 is set in an automatic assembling machine.
After positioning each of 4m, 14c, and 14k, they are bonded via the joining member 44.

In this case, the automatic assembling machine can automatically position each head 14 in three directions of X, Y and Z. In this case, positioning is automatically performed using a predetermined nozzle of each head 14 as a reference nozzle. Thereby, the four color heads 14y,
14m, 14c and 14k are aligned and fixed in the main scanning direction within a certain nozzle position accuracy.

Here, since the carriage body 41 and the head fixing frame member 42 can be easily separated, when the carriage unit 41 to which the four color heads 14 are adhered and fixed is mounted on a printing test machine or a recording apparatus body, When the carriage unit 13 cannot be used because at least one of the heads 14 is out of the characteristic standard or the like, the head 14 can be removed together with the head fixing frame member 42 from the carriage main body 41, so that the carriage main body 41 can be reused. become.

Further, when the carriage unit 13 used in the test or the like is discarded, the carriage body 41 is also used.
Since the head 14 can be removed together with the head fixing frame member 42 from the, the carriage main body 41 and the head 14 can be separated and discarded.

[0030]

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, the fixed frame member to which the head is fixed is fixed to the carriage body member.
The head can be easily separated from the carriage body so that the carriage can be reused.

Here, since the fixed frame member is detachably fixed to the carriage main body, the carriage main body and the fixed frame member can be easily separated. In this case, by fixing the fixing frame member to the carriage main body with the fastening member, the disassembly and assembly is facilitated, and the carriage main body can be separated without remaining or damaging the adhesive on the carriage main body. Further, by fixing the head to the fixed frame member by adhesive bonding, the positional accuracy of the head can be ensured.

Further, the carriage having excellent dimensional stability can be obtained by forming the fixed frame member and the carriage body with the same material. In this case, by forming the fixed frame member and the carriage body with a polycarbonate resin containing glass fibers, mechanical strength and long-term dimensional stability can be obtained, and printing quality can be maintained.

Further, by fixing a plurality of heads to the fixed frame member side by side in the main scanning direction, a color ink jet recording apparatus in which the carriage body can be reused can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective explanatory view of a mechanism section of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view of the mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a schematic bottom view of a carriage unit of the mechanism unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

13: carriage unit, 14: head, 41: carriage body, 42: head fixing frame member, 44: joining member.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus for recording by transporting a recording medium in a sub-scanning direction while moving a carriage on which a head for discharging ink droplets is mounted in a main scanning direction. An ink jet recording apparatus fixed to a carriage body member. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said fixed frame member is detachably fixed to said carriage body. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the fixed frame member is fixed to the carriage body with a fastening member. 4. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said head is fixed to said fixed frame member by adhesive bonding. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fixed frame member and the carriage body are formed of the same material. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the fixed frame member and the carriage body are formed of a polycarbonate resin containing glass fibers. 7. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said heads are fixed to said fixed frame member in a main scanning direction.