JP2001088278A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder for printing on a recording medium by ejecting ink from a recording head toward the recording medium in which print drying deals with high speed recording and a high quality blur-free full-color print is realized even for a plain paper or a recycled paper. SOLUTION: The recorder comprises means for heating a recording medium disposed on the upstream side of a recording head in the carrying direction of the recording medium, and at least one of an exhaust means disposed between the heating means and the recording head or an exhaust means disposed on the downstream side of the recording head.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus of the type in which ink droplets fly toward a recording medium using thermal energy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording apparatus of a type in which a part of ink is rapidly vaporized by pulse heating and ink droplets are ejected from an orifice by its expanding force is disclosed in JP-A-48-9622 and JP-A-54-962. No. 51837 discloses this.

The simplest method of this pulse heating is to apply a pulse current to the heating resistor, and a specific method is described in Nikkei Mechanical, December 28, 1992, p.
And Hewlett-Packard-Journal, Aug. 1988. The common basic configuration of these conventional heating resistors is:
The thin film resistor and the thin film conductor are coated with an antioxidant layer, and one or two anti-cavitation layers are coated thereon for the purpose of preventing cavitation damage of the antioxidant layer.

As a method for drastically simplifying this complicated multilayer structure, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-71888 discloses a method of printing using a heating resistor which does not require the antioxidant layer and the anti-cavitation layer. Have been. In this disclosure, since the thin film resistor is in direct contact with the ink, the rapid vaporization of the ink by pulse heating and the resulting ink ejection characteristics are greatly improved, and the thermal efficiency is greatly improved, that is, with a small input energy. It is described that the ink ejection of the above and the ejection frequency can be improved. The biggest reason why such an epoch-making performance has been realized is that Cr—Si—O or T which is excellent in pulse resistance, oxidation resistance and electric corrosion resistance is used.
The reason is that a heating resistor composed of an a-Si-O ternary alloy thin film resistor and a Ni thin film conductor is used, and no protective layer is required.

[0005] As described above, since ink can be ejected with a considerably smaller input energy than the conventional technology, even if this heating resistor is formed close to the device area on the driving LSI chip, It is possible to realize a monolithic LSI head having a very simple configuration without heating the LSI device to cause a temperature rise. With this new technology, an on-demand type ink jet print head having many ink jet nozzles can be integrated and manufactured at high density and two-dimensionally.
In addition, since the number of wirings for controlling the driving can be greatly reduced, it is expected that the mounting method can be greatly simplified.

Further, by using a thin-film heating resistor which does not require a protective layer, a thermal ink jet print head of a type in which ink droplets are ejected in a direction perpendicular to or substantially perpendicular to the surface of the heating resistor greatly increases the printing speed. It is expected that this will be achieved.

[0007]

As described above, the use of a thin-film heating resistor that does not require a protective layer can greatly improve the printing speed. There is a problem that printing and drying cannot cope with high-speed printing because a large amount of ink adheres to plain paper and recycled paper.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a recording apparatus for performing high-speed printing, wherein printing and drying correspond to high-speed printing, and high-quality printing is performed on plain paper and recycled paper. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that realizes full-color printing.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus for printing on a recording medium by discharging ink from the recording head toward the recording medium, wherein the recording head is moved in a direction in which the recording medium is conveyed. This is achieved by a recording apparatus, comprising: a heating unit that is disposed upstream of the recording medium and heats the recording medium; and an exhaust unit that is disposed between the heating unit and the recording head.

[0010] Further, the above object is to provide a printing apparatus for performing printing on the recording medium by discharging ink from the recording head toward the recording medium, wherein the printing apparatus is arranged upstream of the recording head in a conveying direction of the recording medium. The present invention is achieved by a recording apparatus, comprising: a heating unit disposed to heat the recording medium; and an exhaust unit disposed downstream of the recording head in a conveying direction of the recording medium.

Further, the above object is to provide a printing apparatus which performs printing on a recording medium by discharging ink from the recording head toward the recording medium, the apparatus being arranged upstream of the recording head in the direction of transport of the recording medium. Heating means for heating the recording medium; first exhaust means disposed between the heating means and the recording head; and second exhaust means disposed downstream of the recording head. This is achieved by a recording apparatus characterized in that:

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a printer 10 which is a preferred embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention. The printer 10 has A
A recording apparatus capable of performing full-color printing on four sheets of paper, a line head 12 for performing A4 full-color printing, a pre-heater 14 for performing pre-heating before recording paper 18 is conveyed to the line head 12 and recorded, and a pre-heated A vacuum suction conveyance device 16 for conveying the recording paper 18, and first exhaust slits 20 and 20 ′ disposed on both sides of the recording surface and the back surface of the recording paper 18 in a conveyance path between the line head 12 and the preheater 14. And a second exhaust slit 22 arranged on the recording surface side of the recording paper 18 immediately downstream of the line head 12 in the transport direction.
In addition, it has a head cleaner 24 disposed between the first exhaust slits 20 and 20 ′ and the line head 12, and a head cap 26 disposed downstream of the second exhaust slit 22 in the transport direction.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the line head 12. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD ′ shown in FIG. 3, and the head chip for monochrome uses four colors (yellow,
A head chip 28 is formed together with an integrated head chip (magenta, cyan, and black) and is die-bonded on a frame 35.

The width of the head chip 28 in FIG. 3 is about 6.8 mm, and the four color ink ejection nozzle arrays 13 (see FIG. 3) are arranged at intervals of about 1.6 mm. The ink of each color is supplied to an ink supply passage 34 of the frame 35 on the head chip 28 side through an ink supply hole 36 of an ink supply pipe 38 provided in the frame 35, and is formed in parallel with the ink supply passage 34. The ink is supplied to the ink grooves 30 in the Si substrate through the connection holes 32 in the Si substrate which are intermittently formed in parallel with these. The connection holes 32 are formed at a ratio of one to 100 to 300 ink ejection nozzles.

In this embodiment, an example of a line head for four colors and full colors of 400 dpi is shown. However, a scanning head having a small number of nozzles or a single color or a multi-color of two or three colors may be used.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the line head 12 shown in FIG. 2 as viewed from the orifice plate side, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a section taken along line EE ′ of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, four rows of ink ejection nozzle rows 13 of the line head 12 are arranged at a density of 400 dpi and a length of about 210 mm. The line head 12 forms a half-size line head chip from a 5-inch or 6-inch Si substrate currently used in the field of semiconductors, and abuts two symmetrically formed chips at the center to form one line. It is configured to be assembled by die bonding on the frame 35. The power supply and signal line for driving the right head are S
The right end of the i-board 1 is connected by a tape carrier 40 to a connector 42 fixed to the back side of the frame 35. The holding member 44 is used for fixing the tape carrier 40. Wiring and tape carrier 40 at right end of Si substrate
Are collectively bonded are protected by a resin mold. The detailed structure is omitted. The internal structure of the connector 42 is also omitted. The same connection and mounting as described above is performed at the left end of the left head.

The right half and left half heads can easily process and assemble two head chips without disturbing the arrangement of the print dot positions at the abutting position at the center. Since the number of power supply and signal lines to be connected by the tape carrier 40 is 5 to 6 / color, the terminal density to be gang-bonded on the end face of the head chip is about 4 / mm. Such a low terminal density facilitates connection mounting. The right half and left half heads may be configured to cooperate in supplying and driving ink, or may be configured to perform ink supply and driving completely independently of each other. The line head 12 forms a driving LSI on a Si substrate, forms a thin-film heating resistor, further forms a thin-film conductor, forms a partition layer that partitions ink passages, and then attaches an orifice plate. The orifice plate is formed by forming a discharge port.
A heating resistor is provided corresponding to each of the two, and the heating resistor has no protective layer. The line head 12 is configured as described above.

The preheater 14 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 06-1371.
As described in No. 98, the recording paper 18 is heated to 100 ° C. or more by a belt type preheater (heating means) which is arranged on the upstream side of the line head 12 and heats the recording paper 18 from the recording surface side. This is a part to be sent to the vacuum suction transfer device 16.
The vacuum suction conveyance device 16 is a portion that conveys the recording paper 18, and conveys the preheated recording paper 18 to the position of the line head 12 and further conveys the recording paper 18 downstream.

As described in Japanese Patent Application No. 06-137198, the first exhaust slits 20 and 20 'are provided with moisture absorbed by the recording paper 18 heated by the preheater 14 to 100 ° C. or higher. Is a part that sucks and exhausts air together with air. The first exhaust slits 20 and 20 ′ have a length equal to the width of the recording paper 18. Recording paper 1
8 is smoothly sent to the vacuum suction carrier 16.

The second exhaust slit 22 is provided in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 06-1.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 37198, this portion sucks and exhausts air containing water vapor of ink recorded by the line head 12. The second exhaust slit 22 is also the first exhaust slit 2
Like 0 and 20 ', it has a length equal to the paper width. The printer 10 is configured as described above.

In such a printer 10, first, it is heated to 100 ° C. or higher by the preheater 14 and sent to the vacuum suction transfer device 16. The recording paper 18 that has been heated to a temperature of 100 ° C. or higher and is almost completely dried is suction-fixed on the conveyance belt of the vacuum suction conveyance device 16 and is conveyed to the position of the line head 12. At this time, when the recording paper 18 is a recording paper having a hygroscopic property, the recording paper 18 is heated to 100 ° C. or more and immediately releases the moisture absorbed immediately after leaving the preheater 14. Recording paper 18
The first exhaust slits 20 and 20 'suction and exhaust air from the front surface and the rear surface.

The line head 12 sequentially discharges and prints the water-based ink on the recording paper 18 which is in a high-temperature and dry state after the water is released. The water-based ink in which 90 to 95% is water evaporates rapidly. A large amount of water vapor floats in the narrow space between the line head 12 and the recording paper 18,
The air containing a large amount of water vapor is sucked and exhausted by the second exhaust slit 22.

As described above, immediately after preheating, a large amount of water vapor is exhausted from the recording paper 18 immediately before recording by the first exhaust slits 20 and 20 ', while immediately after recording, water vapor in which ink dries and evaporates is removed. Since the air is exhausted by the second exhaust slit, high-quality full-color printing without bleeding even on plain paper and recycled paper can be printed and dried at an ultra-high speed of, for example, 20 to 30 ppm (about 100 times the conventional technology). It becomes possible.

[0025]

According to the present invention, as described above, 20
Since it can be dried corresponding to an ultra-high-speed printing of about 30 ppm (about 100 times that of the prior art), for example, A
In combination with a four-line head, the speed of full-color printing is greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of a recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of one embodiment of a line head used in the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the line head shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a section taken along line EE ′ of the line head shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view of a section taken along line EE ′ of the line head shown in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printer 12 Line head 14 Preheater 16 Vacuum suction conveyance machine 18 Recording paper 20, 20 '1st exhaust slit 22 2nd exhaust slit 24 Head cleaner 26 Head cap 28 Head chip 30 Ink groove 32 Connection hole 34 Ink supply passage 35 Frame 36 Ink supply hole 38 Ink supply pipe 40 Tape carrier 42 Connector 44 Holder

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuo Shimizu 1060 Takeda, Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium by discharging ink from a recording head toward a recording medium, the recording apparatus being disposed upstream of the recording head in a transport direction of the recording medium, A recording apparatus comprising: a heating unit for heating a recording medium; and an exhaust unit disposed between the heating unit and the recording head. 2. A recording apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium by discharging ink from a recording head toward a recording medium, the recording apparatus being disposed upstream of the recording head in a transport direction of the recording medium, A recording apparatus comprising: a heating unit that heats a recording medium; and an exhaust unit that is disposed downstream of the recording head in a direction in which the recording medium is transported. 3. A recording apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium by discharging ink from the recording head toward the recording medium, wherein the recording apparatus is disposed upstream of the recording head in a conveying direction of the recording medium. Heating means for heating the recording head; and a first means disposed between the heating means and the recording head.
And a second exhaust unit disposed downstream of the recording head.