JP2001180009A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect the residual quantity of ink in an ink container accurately. SOLUTION: An ink container 107 for containing ink being supplied to a recording head 10 having a plurality of nozzle openings 23 comprises ink containing sections corresponding to respective groups of a plurality of classified nozzle openings 23. An individual characteristics data storage device 400 stores each individual characteristics data concerning to the individual ink ejection characteristics for each group of nozzle openings 23. A residual quantity of ink monitor 401 corrects the quantity of ink being ejected from the nozzle opening 23 belonging to each group, calculated from reference ink ejection characteristics defined generally for the plurality of classified nozzle openings 23, based on the each individual characteristics data and monitors the residual quantity of ink in each ink containing section 107 based on the corrected quantity of ink being ejected.

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 having a function of monitoring the remaining amount of ink in an ink container for storing ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink-jet recording apparatus used as an ink-jet printer or an ink-jet plotter, a recording head presses ink in a pressure generating chamber communicating with a nozzle opening to discharge ink droplets from the nozzle opening. That is, while moving the recording head in the main scanning direction (the width direction of the recording medium), ink droplets are ejected at the timing specified by the dot pattern. When the recording head reaches the end in the width direction, the recording medium such as paper is moved in the sub-scanning direction (paper feeding direction), and ink droplets are ejected while moving the recording head again in the main scanning direction.

[0003] As an example of a conventional ink jet recording head, there is one constructed by laminating an actuator unit and a channel unit. The actuator unit has a plurality of pressure generating chambers arranged in the same row, and a plurality of pressure generating means for pressurizing ink inside the plurality of pressure generating chambers. The flow path unit is a plurality of nozzle openings communicating with the plurality of pressure generating chambers, and a plurality of nozzle openings from which ink droplets are ejected when ink inside the pressure generating chamber is pressurized by the pressure generating means, It has a common ink chamber that communicates with the plurality of pressure generating chambers and stores ink to be supplied to the plurality of pressure generating chambers, and an ink supply path for supplying ink from the common ink chamber to the pressure generating chamber.

As described above, the ink jet recording apparatus is
The recording head ejects ink droplets to record on a recording medium, and includes an ink container that stores ink to be supplied to the recording head. Therefore, if the ink in the ink container is used up, an image cannot be printed.

Therefore, techniques for monitoring the remaining amount of ink in the ink container have been developed. As one of such techniques, a method of detecting a hardware level by attaching a liquid level detector such as an electrode to a cartridge constituting an ink container has been put to practical use.
There is a problem in that the structure of the cartridge is complicated and the cost is increased.

For this reason, the product of the number of dots during printing and the amount of ink per droplet, and the product of the amount of one suction and the number of times of suction during forced suction to prevent nozzle opening clogging are calculated. Then, based on the sum of these products, the amount of ink consumption is integrated by a counter, and this is stored in a storage means to display the remaining amount of ink, or to be reset by an external operation. A technique for monitoring the remaining amount of ink by software using a computer has also been proposed.

In monitoring the remaining amount of ink by using such software, it is necessary to measure in advance the amount of ink (unit ink amount) per drop of ink ejected from the nozzle opening. Therefore, conventionally, ink is simultaneously ejected from all of the plurality of nozzle openings of the recording head, and for example, the average amount of ink per ejection from all nozzle openings is determined based on the amount of ink in the cartridge when ejected 10,000 times. The ejection amount is calculated, and an average ejection amount (unit ink amount) per nozzle opening is calculated from the average ejection amount per ejection.

[0008]

However, since a manufacturing error occurs when manufacturing the actuator unit and the flow path unit, the amount of ink per droplet (unit ink amount)
Is not necessarily the same at all nozzle openings.

In particular, when a plurality of actuators are mounted on one recording head, even if the variation in the unit ink amount for each nozzle opening is small within the same actuator, the variation in the unit ink amount for each nozzle opening between the actuators is small. May be large. For this reason, for example, different types (for example, types of colors) for each actuator
In a print head configured to eject the above ink, an error in the remaining amount of ink may occur depending on the type of ink.

As a technique for monitoring the remaining amount of ink, there has been proposed a technique for correcting the ink ejection amount in consideration of the temperature of the ink and the like. Since the ink ejection amount is uniformly corrected, the ink ejection amount cannot be corrected in consideration of, for example, the ejection characteristics of each actuator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of accurately detecting the remaining amount of ink in an ink container. Is to provide.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of pressure generating chambers and a plurality of pressure generating means for pressurizing ink inside the plurality of pressure generating chambers. And a plurality of nozzle openings communicating with the plurality of pressure generating chambers, wherein ink droplets are ejected when the pressure generating means pressurizes ink inside the pressure generating chambers. An ink jet type recording head comprising a flow path unit having a plurality of nozzle openings, and an ink container for storing ink to be supplied to the recording head, wherein the plurality of nozzles are classified into several groups An ink container having each ink container corresponding to each group of openings, and individual characteristics relating to individual ink ejection characteristics for each group; Individual characteristic data storage means for storing data, and the nozzle openings belonging to each group calculated based on reference ink ejection characteristics uniformly defined for the plurality of nozzle openings as a whole. An ink remaining amount monitoring unit that corrects the ejection amount of the ink ejected from the ink based on the individual characteristic data, and monitors the remaining amount of the ink in each of the ink storage units based on the corrected ink ejection amount. , Is provided.

[0013] Also, preferably, there are a plurality of the actuator units, and each group corresponds to each of the actuator units.

Preferably, the plurality of ink storage units store different types of ink.

Preferably, the individual characteristic data is data determined based on an ink ejection amount measured by actually ejecting ink droplets from the recording head.

Preferably, the plurality of pressure generating means include a plurality of piezoelectric vibrators, and the individual characteristic data includes data relating to capacitance of the plurality of piezoelectric vibrators.

[0017] Preferably, the plurality of pressure generating means include a plurality of piezoelectric vibrators, and the individual characteristic data includes data relating to a displacement amount of the plurality of piezoelectric vibrators.

Preferably, the plurality of pressure generating means include a plurality of resistors for heating and vaporizing the ink in the plurality of pressure generating chambers, and the individual characteristic data includes a resistance value of the plurality of resistors. Includes data on

[0019] Preferably, the individual characteristic data storage means includes a memory for storing the individual characteristic data.

Preferably, the individual characteristic data storage means includes a bar code for displaying the individual characteristic data.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus (ink jet printer) according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, in this ink jet recording apparatus, a computer (not shown) is connected to a color ink jet printer main body 100,
When a predetermined program is loaded and executed on the computer, color printing is performed in the printer main body 100.

In the printer body 100, the carriage 10
1 is a carriage mechanism 1 via a timing belt 102
2 is connected to the carriage motor 103 and the guide member 1
The recording paper 105 is reciprocated in the paper width direction while being guided by the recording paper 105. A paper feed mechanism 11 using a paper feed roller 106 is formed in the printer main body 100. An ink jet type recording head 10 is attached to a surface of the carriage 101 facing the recording paper 105, in the example shown in FIG. The recording head 10
An ink container 107 mounted on an upper portion of the carriage 101, that is, two ink cartridges 107K;
Receiving ink supply from 107F, ink droplets are ejected onto the recording paper 105 in accordance with the movement of the carriage 101 to form dots, and images and characters are printed on the recording paper 105. Here, an ink container 107K ′ that stores black ink is formed in the ink cartridge 107K, and supplies black ink to the recording head 10.

On the other hand, the ink cartridge 107F is for color ink, and has a plurality of ink storage sections 107C, 107M and 107Y for storing respective color inks. These ink storage units 107C, 10C
7M and 107Y respectively contain cyan, magenta and yellow inks independently, and supply the respective color inks to the recording head 10 independently.

A capping device 108 is provided in a non-printing area (non-printing area) of the printer main body 100, and seals a nozzle opening of the recording head 10 during a pause of printing. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the ink from thickening or forming an ink film due to the solvent being scattered from the ink during the suspension of printing. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the nozzle from being clogged while the printing is stopped. Also,
The capping device 108 receives ink droplets from the recording head 10 due to a flushing operation performed during a printing operation. A wiping device 109 is disposed near the capping device 108. The wiping device 109 is configured to wipe off the ink residue and paper dust attached thereto by wiping the surface of the recording head 10 with a blade or the like. I have.

FIG. 2 shows a printer main body 100 according to this embodiment.
3 is a functional block diagram of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the printer main body 100 includes a print controller 40 and a print engine 5. The print controller 40 includes an interface 43 for receiving print data including multi-level hierarchical information from a computer (not shown), and a RAM for storing various data such as print data including multi-level hierarchical information.
44, a ROM 45 storing routines for performing various data processing, and a control unit 46 including a CPU and the like.
, An oscillation circuit 47, and a drive signal CO to the recording head 10.
A drive signal generating circuit 8 for generating M, an interface 49 for transmitting print data and drive signals developed into dot pattern data to the print engine 5 are provided.

Print data including multi-level hierarchical information sent from a computer or the like is held in a reception buffer 44A inside the printing apparatus via the interface 43. The recording data held in the reception buffer 44A is sent to the intermediate buffer 44B after the command analysis. In the intermediate buffer 44B, the recording data in the intermediate format converted into the intermediate code by the control unit 46 is held, and the process of adding the print position, the type of modification, the size, the font address, etc. of each character is controlled. This is performed by the unit 46. Next, the control unit 46 analyzes the recording data in the intermediate buffer 44B, and
Outputs the valued dot pattern data to the output buffer 44C.
And store it.

When dot pattern data corresponding to one scan of the recording head 10 is obtained, the dot pattern data is serially transferred to the recording head 10 via the interface 49. 1 from output buffer 44C
When the dot pattern data corresponding to the scan is output, the contents of the intermediate buffer 44B are deleted, and the next intermediate code conversion is performed.

The print engine 5 includes a recording head 10
And the paper feed mechanism 11 and the carriage mechanism 1
2 is provided. The paper feed mechanism 11 sequentially feeds a recording medium such as recording paper to perform sub-scanning, and the carriage mechanism 12 causes the recording head 10 to perform main scanning.

The recording head 10 discharges ink droplets from each nozzle opening at a predetermined timing. The driving signal COM generated by the driving signal generating circuit 8 drives the recording head 10 via the interface 49 to drive the elements of the recording head 10. Output to the circuit 50.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, a description will be given of a drive pulse constituting the drive signal COM. In FIG.
During the recording operation, the drive signal COM for operating the piezoelectric vibrator 17 (see FIGS. 2 and 4) as the pressure generating means is:
After maintaining the intermediate potential Vm for a predetermined time (hold pulse 113), the voltage drops to a minimum potential VLS with a constant gradient (first signal / discharge pulse 114), and the minimum potential VL
After maintaining S for a predetermined period of time (second signal / hold pulse 115), it rises to a maximum potential VP at a constant gradient,
It is held for a predetermined time (third signal / charging pulse 1
16) After that, the voltage drops again to the intermediate potential Vm (fourth signal / discharge pulse 117).

When the driving pulse shown in FIG. 3 is applied to the piezoelectric vibrator 17, the vibration plate 3 maintained in a state of being bent for a predetermined time by the hold pulse 113.
6 (see FIG. 4) is extended by the discharge pulse 114, whereby the pressure generating chamber 310 is filled with ink. Next, after the extended state of the diaphragm 36 is maintained for a predetermined time by the hold pulse 115, the diaphragm 36 is largely bent inside the pressure generating chamber 310 by the charging pulse 116, whereby the nozzle opening 23 (see FIG. 4) ) Ejects ink droplets.

Next, the configuration of the recording head 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an actuator and the like formed on the recording head.

As shown in FIG. 4, the recording head 10 has a pressure generating chamber forming hole 310 ′ for forming the pressure generating chamber 310.
And a pair of two communication holes 321, 3 communicating with both ends of the pressure generating chamber 310 respectively.
And a common ink chamber forming reservoir (reservoir) 330 which communicates with one of the two communication holes 321 and 322 forming the pair. Hole 330 'and the other communication hole 32
A third substrate (reservoir plate) 33 having an ink supply hole 331 communicating with the first substrate 1 and a fourth substrate (nozzle plate) 34 having a nozzle opening 23 communicating with the ink supply hole 331 are laminated. It has a structure.

Here, the first and second substrates 31, 32
The actuator unit 50 includes a diaphragm 36 and a piezoelectric vibrator 17, which will be described later, mounted on the surface of the first substrate 31.
1. In addition, a third substrate (reservoir plate) 33 having the common ink chamber 330 and the ink supply hole 331 formed therein, a fourth substrate (nozzle plate) 34 including the nozzle openings 23, and a fifth substrate (supply The plate 35 constitutes the channel unit 502.

A fifth substrate 35 (supply plate) is sandwiched between the second substrate 32 and the third substrate 33. In the fifth substrate 35, a common ink chamber of the third substrate 33 is provided. In a region overlapping with the hole 330, a hole 352 is formed to make the wall surface of the common ink chamber 330 thin and to provide a compliance portion for absorbing pressure fluctuation of ink in the common ink chamber 330. In the fifth substrate 35, the portion where the common ink chamber 330 of the third substrate 33 overlaps the communication hole 322 of the second substrate 32, and the ink supply hole 331 of the third substrate 33 and the second substrate Through holes 351 and 353 are formed in portions where the 32 communication holes 321 overlap.

On the outer surface of the first substrate 31, a piezoelectric vibrator 17 is provided as pressure generating means.
The piezoelectric vibrator 17 constitutes a flexural vibration type actuator together with the vibration plate 36, and vibrates the vibration plate 36. Therefore, when the pressure in the pressure generation chamber 310 is contracted and the ink in the pressure generation chamber 310 is pressurized, the pressure generation chamber 310 is compressed.
The ink inside is formed in a communication hole 321 formed in the second substrate 32 and a through hole 35 formed in the fifth substrate 35.
3. Ink supply holes 33 formed in the third substrate 33
The liquid is discharged from the nozzle openings 23 formed in the first and fourth substrates 34. When the pressure generating chamber 310 expands, the ink in the common ink chamber 330 is transferred to the fifth substrate 3.
5 flows into the pressure generating chamber 310 through the through hole 351 formed in the second substrate 32 and the communication hole 322 formed in the second substrate 32.

Then, the recording head 10 according to the present embodiment
Has three actuator units 501A, 501B, and 501C as shown in FIG. 5, and the actuator unit 501A is provided with the nozzle opening rows 23a and 23b.
, The actuator unit 501B corresponds to the nozzle opening rows 23c and 23d, and the actuator unit 501C corresponds to the nozzle opening rows 23e and 23f.

As described above, the recording head 10 has a total of six nozzle opening rows, and the types of ink ejected from each row can be variously combined. For example, black ink is ejected from the nozzle opening row 23a,
Similarly, the nozzle opening row 23b receives cyan ink, the nozzle opening row 23c receives light cyan ink, the nozzle opening row 23d receives magenta ink, and the nozzle opening row 23e receives light magenta ink. Yellow ink can be ejected from each of the opening rows 23f.

As shown in FIG. 6, the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an individual characteristic data storage device 400 as individual characteristic data storage means. The memory stores individual characteristic data relating to individual ink ejection characteristics of each of the plurality of nozzle openings 23 classified into groups.

The individual characteristic data from the individual characteristic data storage device 400 is sent to an ink remaining amount monitoring device 401 which is a remaining ink amount monitoring means. Also, a printhead control device 402 which is a printhead control unit for controlling the printhead 10
Is sent to an ink ejection result monitoring device 403 which is an ink ejection result monitoring means, and data relating to the ink ejection result is sent from the ink ejection result monitoring device 403 to an ink remaining amount monitoring device 401. Here, the data on the ink ejection results includes the number of times of ink ejection (the number of dots) and the number of times recovery measures such as flushing and cleaning have been performed.

The ink remaining amount monitoring device 401 is based on a standard ink ejection characteristic defined uniformly for the entire plurality of nozzle openings 23, and the ink ejection result monitoring device 40 is used.
3 is stored in the individual characteristic data storage device 400.
Is corrected based on the individual characteristic data sent from the printer, and based on the corrected ink ejection amount, each of the ink storage units 107C, 107K ', 107M, and 107 of the ink storage unit 107 is
The remaining amount of ink in Y is monitored.

The data from the ink remaining amount monitoring device 401 is sent to the display device 404, and the display device 404 displays the remaining amount of ink calculated by the ink remaining amount monitoring device 401 in each of the ink storage units 107C and 107K. ', 1
It is displayed for each of 07M and 107Y.

Here, as a method of classifying the plurality of nozzle openings 23 when acquiring the individual characteristic data, for example, each of the actuator units 501A, 501B,
It can be divided into groups for each 501C. Further, each nozzle opening row 23a, 23b... 23f shown in FIG.
Each group can also be divided, and the classification in this case corresponds to the classification based on the color of the ink. Further, classification into so-called dye-based ink and pigment-based ink is also possible.

When determining the individual characteristic data, after the assembly of the recording head 10 is completed, each of the groups classified as described above (for example, for each actuator unit or for each type of ink color) is used. Ink droplets are simultaneously ejected from all the nozzle openings 23 belonging to the group to measure the ink ejection amount, and individual characteristic data for each group is determined based on the measured value.

When the individual characteristic data is grasped as a variation in the discharge amount for each of the actuator units 501A, 501B, 501C, the individual characteristic data is determined as a deviation from a reference discharge amount set in advance as a design specification, for example. Or, or by calculating the average value of the measured discharge amounts from the three actuator units,
The individual characteristic data can be determined as a deviation from the average ejection amount.

FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of individual characteristic data. In FIG. 7, individual characteristic data for each actuator unit is displayed as a correction ID. In this example,
The correction ID of the actuator unit 501A is 100, and the ink ejection amount calculated based on the reference ink ejection characteristics can be used as it is. On the other hand, the correction ID of the actuator unit 501B is 96, it is necessary to make a correction of minus 4% with respect to the ink ejection amount calculated based on the reference ink ejection characteristics, and the correction ID of the actuator unit 501C is 10
4, which also requires a plus 4% correction.

Before assembling the recording head 10,
In the state of the actuator unit 501 alone, data relating to the capacitance and displacement of the piezoelectric vibrator 17 can be measured, and these data can be included in the individual characteristic data.

Further, the individual characteristic data storage device 400
It can be constituted by a memory for storing individual characteristic data, and this memory can be incorporated in the recording head 10. Further, the individual characteristic data storage device 400 can be constituted by a barcode and displayed on the recording head 10.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the plurality of nozzle openings 23 are classified into several groups, and the ink ejection from the recording head 10 is performed using the individual characteristic data on the ink ejection characteristics of each group. Since the ejection amount is corrected, the remaining amount of ink in each of the ink storage units 107C, 107K ', 107M, and 107Y of the ink cartridge 107 can be accurately detected.

In the above embodiment, an ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head using a piezoelectric vibrator as a pressure generating means has been described as an example. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to an ink jet recording apparatus having a so-called bubble jet recording head including a plurality of resistors for heating and vaporizing ink in a plurality of pressure generating chambers. In this case, the individual characteristic data can include data on the resistance values of the plurality of resistors of the recording head.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of nozzle openings are classified into several groups, and ink ejection from a recording head is performed using individual characteristic data on ink ejection characteristics of each group. Since the amount is corrected, it is possible to accurately detect the remaining amount of ink in each ink storage unit of the ink container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the ink jet recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram of a driving signal used in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an ink jet recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an arrangement configuration of actuators and nozzle rows in an ink jet recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of individual characteristic data stored in the individual characteristic data storage device of the ink jet recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 recording head 17 piezoelectric vibrator (pressure generating means) 23 nozzle opening 107 ink container 107C, 107K ', 107M, 107Y ink storing section 310 pressure generating chamber 400 individual characteristic data storage device (individual characteristic data storage unit) 401 ink residual Amount monitoring device (ink remaining amount monitoring unit) 402 print head control device (print head control unit) 403 ink ejection result monitoring device (ink ejection result monitoring unit) 404 display device 501, 501A, 501B, 501C actuator unit 502 flow path unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] An actuator unit having a plurality of pressure generating chambers and a plurality of pressure generating means for pressurizing ink inside the plurality of pressure generating chambers; and a plurality of nozzles communicating with the plurality of pressure generating chambers. An ink jet recording head comprising: an opening, a flow path unit having a plurality of nozzle openings from which ink droplets are ejected when ink inside the pressure generating chamber is pressurized by the pressure generating means. An ink container that stores ink to be supplied to the recording head, the ink container having an ink container corresponding to each group of the plurality of nozzle openings classified into several groups; Individual characteristic data storage means for storing individual characteristic data relating to individual ink ejection characteristics for each group; The ejection amount of the ink ejected from the nozzle openings belonging to each group, which is calculated based on the standard ink ejection characteristics defined uniformly, is corrected based on the individual characteristic data. An ink remaining amount monitoring means for monitoring the remaining amount of ink in each of the ink storage units based on the ink ejection amount of the ink. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of said actuator units, wherein each said group corresponds to each of said actuator units. 3. The ink container according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of ink storage units store different types of ink.
Or the inkjet recording apparatus according to 2. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the individual characteristic data is data determined based on an ink ejection amount measured by actually ejecting ink droplets from the recording head. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of pressure generating means include a plurality of piezoelectric vibrators, and said individual characteristic data includes data relating to capacitance of said plurality of piezoelectric vibrators. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of pressure generating means include a plurality of piezoelectric vibrators, and said individual characteristic data includes data relating to a displacement amount of said plurality of piezoelectric vibrators. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1. 7. The plurality of pressure generating means includes a plurality of resistors for heating and vaporizing ink in the plurality of pressure generating chambers, and the individual characteristic data includes data relating to resistance values of the plurality of resistors. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording apparatus includes: 8. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said individual characteristic data storage means includes a memory for storing said individual characteristic data. 9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said individual characteristic data storage means includes a bar code for displaying said individual characteristic data.