JP2002248791A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a footprint of a whole recorder and to prevent ink leaking from an ink tank from flowing into a power supply section. SOLUTION: The power supply section 19 and the ink tank 2 are separately provided at right and left portions with a conveyance path for a recording medium 6 therebetween. As a result, while a width for scanning operation of a carriage 4 becomes greater than a width of a recording medium 6 so that protruding sections are made at both sides with the conveyance path therebetween, the power supply 19 and the ink tank 2 can be separately provided to the protruding sections, respectively. As the conveyance path separates the power supply 19 with the ink tank 2, it is possible to prevent the leaking ink from readily flowing into the power supply section 19 even when the ink leaks from the ink tank 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveying means for conveying a recording medium, a recording material storage container for supplying the recording material to a recording means for performing recording on the surface of the recording medium by discharging the recording material. A power supply unit for supplying power to an electric drive unit of the recording apparatus,
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus that performs recording using ink as a recording agent. More specifically, the present invention relates to an arrangement of a power supply unit and a recording material storage container in a recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an ink jet recording apparatus of this type, a recording head is mounted on a carriage, and the carriage is scanned in a recording medium conveying width direction (a direction intersecting with the recording medium conveying direction). There is a type which performs recording on the surface of a recording medium, that is, a so-called serial type inkjet recording apparatus.

In many of the serial type ink jet recording apparatuses, an ink tank for supplying ink to a recording head is mounted on a carriage together with the recording head.

However, in a recent serial type ink jet recording apparatus, in order to increase the amount of ink to be supplied to the recording head, the ink tank is not mounted on the carriage but is fixedly mounted on the apparatus main body, and the ink tank is connected to a tube or the like. There has been proposed an ink jet recording apparatus of a type that supplies ink to a recording head via a so-called tube supply system. In addition, a so-called pit-in supply type ink jet recording apparatus which supplies ink to a recording head on a carriage at a predetermined location at regular intervals without a tube or the like has been proposed. As an apparatus, there is a so-called line type ink jet recording apparatus in which a recording head is installed over the entire width of a recording medium and recording is performed on the surface of the recording medium without a scanning operation of a carriage.

In many of the line type ink jet recording apparatuses, an ink tank is fixedly mounted on the apparatus main body, and ink is supplied from the ink tank to a recording head via a tube or the like.

[0006] On the other hand, conventionally, the power supply unit is usually installed behind the recording device for reasons such as drawing a power cord from behind.

[0007]

However, the conventional recording apparatus has the following problems.

For example, in a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, the width at which the carriage performs a scanning operation is usually set to be much larger than the entire width of the recording medium. On the other hand, the area for the recording medium is required for the paper feeding stack, the conveyance, and the paper ejection stack of the recording medium.

As a result, in the recording medium transport direction of the entire apparatus, the length of the recording medium in the transport direction is required, and in the recording medium transport width direction of the entire apparatus, the width of the scanning operation of the carriage is larger than the entire width of the recording medium. As a result, the projecting portion was present in part.

Also, in the line type ink jet recording apparatus, when the width of the entire apparatus in the recording medium conveying width direction is larger than the width of the recording medium, a projecting portion exists in a part of the entire apparatus in the recording medium conveying width direction. There was something to do.

In such a situation, the location of the ink tank, which accounts for a large proportion of the installation area of the entire apparatus because a large amount of ink is stored, reduces the protrusions of the entire apparatus and reduces the installation area. Is an important issue in order to:

On the other hand, ink leakage and the like from the ink tanks have been meticulously taken to prevent leakage. However, if the leaked ink leaks to the power supply unit, it will cause a serious trouble. It is also an important issue to configure the printing apparatus with extra care so that the leaked ink does not leak to the power supply unit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides a recording apparatus capable of reducing the protrusion and reducing the installation area as a whole apparatus. The purpose is to:

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of preventing leaked ink from around an ink tank from flowing out to a power supply unit by any chance.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording medium that conveys a recording medium and a recording medium that performs recording on the surface of the recording medium by discharging the recording medium. A recording agent storage container for supplying the recording medium, and a power supply unit for supplying electric power to an electric driving unit of the recording device, wherein the power supply unit and the power supply unit The recording agent storage container and the recording agent storage container are separately arranged.

Further, a panel operation section for displaying the state of the recording apparatus and for operating the recording apparatus is arranged on the power supply means side with the recording medium conveyance path interposed therebetween.

Further, a recovery device for performing a recovery operation of the recording means is arranged on the recording material storage container side with respect to the recording medium conveying path, in order to maintain a discharge state of the recording material in the recording means. Features.

Further, on the bottom surface of the recording apparatus, a recording material absorber is disposed below any one of the recording material storage container, the power supply means, and the conveyance path of the recording medium.

Further, a recording agent absorber is arranged over the entire bottom surface of the recording apparatus.

Further, a main board for controlling the printing apparatus is disposed over the recording medium transport path along a direction intersecting with the recording medium transport path.

(Operation) In the present invention configured as described above, the power supply means and the recording material storage container are separately disposed on the left and right sides of the recording medium conveyance path.
Even if a protrusion is present on both sides of the recording medium conveyance path inside the recording device due to the overall width of the recording device being larger than the width of the recording medium, power supply means and It is possible to arrange the recording material storage containers, respectively, and thereby, it is possible to reduce the protruding portion as a whole of the apparatus and reduce the installation area.

In addition, since the recording medium transport path blocks the power supply means and the recording material storage container from each other, even if the recording material around the recording material storage container leaks, the leaked recording material is removed. It is possible to easily prevent the power from flowing out to the power supply means.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention, and shows an ink jet recording apparatus using ink as a recording agent and using an ink tank as a recording agent storage container.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the recording head 1 is mounted on a carriage 4 and the carriage 4 is moved in the conveying width direction of the recording medium 6 such as recording paper (intersecting with the conveying direction of the recording medium 6). 1 is a serial type ink jet recording apparatus that scans (scans) in the direction (i.e., direction) to record on the surface of the recording medium 6. Further, in this embodiment, a recording head 1 that performs recording by an ink jet method and an ink tank 2 are connected by an ink tube 3, and ink is supplied from the ink tank 2 to the recording head 1 via the ink tube 3. This is an ink jet recording apparatus of the system.

The recording head 1 is provided with a means for generating thermal energy for discharging ink, and causes the state of the ink to be changed by the thermal energy to discharge the ink. By using such a recording head 1,
This embodiment is particularly applicable to an inkjet recording apparatus.
Higher recording density and higher definition can be achieved.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the lateral direction.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention will be sequentially described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, the recording head 1 is mounted on a carriage 4 in a posture for ejecting ink toward a recording medium 6 positioned below, and the ink is moved while moving the carriage 4 along a guide shaft 5. The recording is performed on the recording medium 6 by discharging droplets. The carriage 4 is moved left and right (reciprocated) by rotation of a carriage motor (not shown) via a timing belt (not shown) or the like.

The recording head 1 and the ink tank 2 are connected by the ink tube 3 as described above.
The ink stored in the ink tank 2 is the ink tube 3
, Is always supplied to the recording head 1. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink tank 2 has four ink tanks 2-1 to 2-2 which can be replaced independently.
4 and is disposed on the right side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6. The recording head 1 is also composed of recording heads of four colors. Ink tube 3 is 4
It is composed of a series of tubes, and is configured to supply the inks of four colors in the ink tanks 2-1 to 2-4 to the respective print head units.

On the other hand, in FIG. 2, the recording head 1 is mounted on the carriage 4 in a posture for discharging ink downward in the drawing. When recording for one scan of the recording head 1 is completed, the recording operation is interrupted, and the recording medium 6 positioned on the platen 7 is transported by a predetermined amount by the transport roller 8 in the transport direction by driving a feed motor (not shown). Then, while moving the carriage 4 along the guide shaft 5 again, the next 1
The recording for the scan is performed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the recording medium 6 is composed of a cassette 9 installed below the apparatus and an automatic sheet feeding apparatus installed rearward above the apparatus (in the direction upstream of the conveying direction of the recording medium 6). Stacked with a certain ASF12. The recording media 6 stacked in the cassette 9 are fed and separated one by one by a cassette feed roller 10, and the cassette paper path 11
Is supplied to the transport roller 8 via the Also, ASF
The recording medium 6 stacked on the sheet 12 is fed and separated one by one by an ASF sheet feed roller 13 and supplied to a transport roller 8.

On the right side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6,
As shown in FIG. 1, a recovery device 14 for performing a recovery operation for maintaining a good ink discharge state of the recording head 1 is provided. The recovery device 14 is provided with a cap 15 for capping the recording head 1, a wiper 16 for wiping the ink ejection surface of the recording head 1, and a suction pump (not shown) for sucking ink from the ink ejection nozzles of the recording head 1. ing.

A guide shaft 5, a platen 7, and a conveying roller 8 are mounted on the chassis 17, and a conveying path of the recording medium 6 is provided on the rear side of the chassis 17 along the conveying width direction of the recording medium 6. A control board 18 for controlling the recording apparatus is provided. Control board 1
8 is an interface for inputting a recording signal, MP
U, RO for storing control program to be executed by MPU
M and a DRAM for storing various data are mounted.

On the right side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6,
As shown in FIG. 1, a power supply unit 19 for supplying power to an electric drive unit such as the control board 18 and the recording head 1 is disposed. The power supply unit 19 is connected to the control board 18 via a power supply cable 20. Is supplied with power. Further, from the control board 18, a recording head flexible cable 21 for supplying a signal and power for driving the recording head 1, and a recovery device driving cable 22 for supplying a signal and power for driving the recovery device 14. Etc. are out. The printhead flexible cable 21 is mounted on the carriage 4 from the control board 18 via the chassis 17 and is electrically connected to the printhead 1. As shown in FIG.
An ink tube 3 is connected in front of the recording head 1 (direction downstream of the recording medium 6 in the transport direction), and a recording head flexible cable 21 is connected rearward (direction upstream of the recording medium 6 in the transport direction). Thus, the recording head 1 separates the supply path of the electric system from the supply path of the ink system before and after.

A panel operation unit 24 is disposed above the power supply unit 19 on the left side of the transport path of the recording medium 6, and the panel operation unit 24 displays the operation of the apparatus user and the state of the apparatus. Part.

As shown in FIG. 2, a waste ink absorber 23 is disposed on the entire bottom of the apparatus. Thus, even if ink around the ink tank 2 leaks, the leaked ink is absorbed by the waste ink absorber 23, so that the leaked ink does not easily flow out to the power supply unit 19. ing. The waste ink absorber 23 also has a function as a normal waste ink absorber.

Here, the consideration of the installation area of the entire apparatus except for the ink tank 2 and the power supply section 19 is as follows.

In a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, the length of the entire apparatus in the recording medium conveying direction is usually:
The length of the recording medium 6 in the conveyance direction is determined, and the length of the entire apparatus in the recording medium conveyance width direction (direction intersecting the conveyance direction of the recording medium 6) is determined by the entire width of the recording medium 6 as a whole. You. However, in the recording medium transporting width direction of the entire apparatus, a protrusion is present in part because the width at which the carriage 4 performs the scanning operation is larger than the entire width of the recording medium 6.

On the other hand, in the present invention, the power supply unit 19 is arranged on the left side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6 and the ink tank 2 is arranged on the right side.
The power supply unit 19 and the ink tank 2 can be arranged at the protrusions on both sides of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6.

Thus, the length of the entire apparatus in the transport direction of the recording medium determined by the length of the recording medium 6 in the transport direction,
Since the power supply unit 19 and the ink tank 2 can be substantially accommodated within the dimension of the length of the entire apparatus in the direction of the recording medium conveyance width determined by the width of the scanning operation of the carriage 4, the projecting part of the entire apparatus is provided. And the installation area can be reduced.

Further, the power supply unit 19 is disposed on the left side of the transport path of the recording medium 6 and the ink tank 2 is disposed on the right side, so that the transport path of the recording medium 6 is an electric system (power supply unit 19) and ink. The system (ink tank 2) is shut off from each other. Therefore, even if ink around the ink tank 2 leaks, the leaked ink can be easily removed from the power supply unit 1.
9 can be prevented from flowing out.

Further, by disposing the panel operation section 24 on the left side of the power supply section 19 across the transport path of the recording medium 6, the ink system on the right side of the transport path of the recording medium 6 is cut off by the transport path. Therefore, even if the ink around the ink tank 2 leaks, it is possible to prevent the leaked ink from easily flowing out to the panel operation unit 24.

Further, by disposing the recovery device 14 on the right side of the ink tank 2 across the conveyance path of the recording medium 6, the ink system (ink tank 2, recovery device 14) and the electric system (power supply unit 19, panel Separation from the operation unit 24)
It becomes possible to clarify more.

With the above arrangement, the center of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6 is an operation section for setting and taking out the recording medium 6, and the left side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6 is the user of the apparatus. The right side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6 is an operation unit for replacing the ink tank 2. This makes it possible for the user of the device to easily understand the operation of the device. In addition, the front surface and the upper portion of the apparatus as a whole are effective operation units, so that the installation area can be effectively utilized.

Further, by arranging the control board 18 along the conveyance path of the recording medium 6 along the conveyance width direction of the recording medium 6, the power supply from the power supply unit 19 to the recovery device 14 via the control board 18 is controlled. It is possible to realize the flow while trying to cut off the electric and ink paths as much as possible.

In the present embodiment, an ink jet recording apparatus using ink as a recording agent has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a recording apparatus using something other than ink as a recording agent is used. Also applicable to

In this embodiment, an ink jet recording apparatus which supplies ink to the recording head 1 by a tube supply method and performs recording by a serial method has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to an ink jet recording apparatus that supplies ink to the recording head 1 by a pit-in supply method and an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by a line method. In particular, the present invention is applicable to a recording apparatus in which a protrusion is present on both sides of a conveyance path inside the apparatus due to the width of the entire apparatus in the conveyance direction of the recording medium being larger than the width of the recording medium. Especially effective.

In the present embodiment, the recording medium 6
The ink tank 2 and the recovery device 14 are disposed on the right side of the transport path of the printer, and the power supply unit 19 and the panel operation unit 24 are disposed on the left side.
Has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The ink tank 2 and the recovery device 14 are disposed on the left side of the conveyance path of the recording medium 6, and the power supply unit 1 is disposed on the right side.
9 and the panel operation unit 24 may be arranged.

In the present embodiment, the leaked ink from the ink tank 2 is absorbed by the waste ink absorber 23 disposed over the entire bottom surface of the apparatus, thereby preventing the leaked ink from flowing out to the power supply unit 19. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the waste ink absorber is disposed below the ink tank 2, the power supply unit 19, or the transport path of the recording medium on the bottom of the apparatus. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the leaked ink from flowing out to the power supply unit 19.

[0051]

As described above, in the present invention,
Since the power supply means and the recording material storage container are separately arranged on the left and right sides of the recording medium transport path, for example, the entire recording apparatus is disposed on both sides of the recording medium transport path inside the recording apparatus. Even if there is a protrusion due to the width of the recording medium being larger than the width of the recording medium, it is possible to arrange the power supply means and the recording agent storage container in the protrusion, respectively. Protrusions can be reduced, and the installation area can be reduced.

Further, since the recording medium transport path blocks the power supply means and the recording material container from each other, even if the recording material around the recording material container leaks, the leaked recording material can be easily removed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the recording agent from flowing out to the power supply means, thereby preventing various troubles caused by the recording material flowing out to the power supply means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from a lateral direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording head 2 Ink tank 3 Ink tube 4 Carriage 5 Guide shaft 6 Recording medium 7 Platen 8 Conveyance roller 9 Cassette 10 Cassette feeding roller 11 Cassette paper path 12 ASF 13 ASF feeding roller 14 Recovery device 15 Cap 16 Wiper 17 Chassis 18 Control board 19 Power supply 20 Power supply cable 21 Recording head flexi cable 22 Recovery device drive cable 23 Waste ink absorber 24 Panel operation unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transporting unit for transporting a recording medium, a recording agent storage container for supplying the recording agent to a recording unit for performing recording on the surface of the recording medium by discharging the recording agent, and an electric device for the recording apparatus. In a recording apparatus including a power supply unit for supplying electric power to a driving unit, the power supply unit and the recording material storage container are separately arranged on the left and right sides of a recording medium conveyance path. Recording device. 2. A printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a panel operating section for displaying a state of the printing apparatus and for operating the printing apparatus, on a side of the power supply means, with the conveyance path of the printing medium therebetween. The recording device according to any one of the preceding claims. 3. A recovery device for performing a recovery operation of the recording means in order to maintain a discharge state of the recording material in the recording means is disposed on the recording material storage container side with a recording medium conveyance path interposed therebetween. The recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. A recording material absorber is disposed below the recording material storage container, the power supply unit, or the transport path of the recording medium on the bottom surface of the recording apparatus. The recording device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording material absorber is disposed over the entire bottom surface of the recording apparatus. 6. A main board for controlling a printing apparatus is arranged along a direction intersecting a transport path of a recording medium and a transport path of the recording medium. Item 2. The recording device according to item 1.