JP2005161664A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording device which maintains a relative positional relationship between a take-up means and a drying means with high precision and dries a medium image uniformly by arranging the take-up means and the drying means in one unit. <P>SOLUTION: In the image recording device which discharges a medium supplied/conveyed by a supply/conveyance means to the outside of the device while forming an image on the surface of the medium, using a liquid ink, the take-up means for taking up the discharged medium in the form of a roll and the drying means for drying the ink image on the medium, are installed inside one unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus using roll paper, roll film, or the like, for example, an image recording apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, or a copying machine.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus that performs inkjet image recording while conveying a roll-shaped recording medium such as a recording paper or a recording film is generally known as described below.

  An example is shown in FIG. The figure is a sectional view (paper path) of the apparatus. The apparatus is roughly classified into a roll holder 100 for feeding the roll-shaped recording paper Pr while being rotatably held, a roll paper transporting unit 110 for transporting the roll paper to the image forming unit, and a recording fed therefrom. An image forming unit 130 that forms an image with liquid ink while holding the paper, a paper discharge unit 140 for discharging the recording paper after the image formation to the outside of the apparatus, and a cut sheet-like recording medium to the image forming unit It comprises a manual feed unit 120 for feeding and carrying.

  The roll paper Pr is rotatably supported in the holder 100 via the spool 101, and is set in a state where the front end portion is sandwiched between the paper feed rollers 103 (the front end is A).

  The recording operation starts with a roll paper feeding operation. The paper feed roller 103 rotates to roll out the roll paper from the holder. Thereafter, when the roll paper transport unit 110 is reached, the transport roller 111 guides the transport guide pairs 113 and 114 to the image forming unit 130 and further transports while being wound around the surface of the transport roller 131. The paper stops after a certain time after the leading edge of the paper passes the paper discharge roller 141.

  Next, an image forming operation is started, and an image is formed by the image recording head 135 on the recording paper held on the platen 134. When the image forming operation ends, one of the following processes is performed. After the recording unit on the recording paper is conveyed until it reaches a position downstream of the cutter 140, the roll paper is cut by the cutter 142, and the image-formed portion of the recording paper is discharged out of the apparatus by its own weight (cut) Mode) or, when the recording operation is completed, the blank space is conveyed and stopped as it is (cut pear mode).

  Now, in the case of the above-described no-cut mode, or when recording a very long image even in the cut mode, the roll paper is discharged out of the machine as a continuous paper, but a winding mechanism is required to perform the paper discharge process. become. A general winding mechanism is as follows (FIG. 9 is a top view of the winding device).

  The winding device 200 has left and right flanges 201 and 202 for holding a winding core 205 such as a roll paper tube. One of them 201 is a left-right slide type, and has a function of holding and fixing the winding core between both flanges. Reference numeral 204 denotes a slide rail, which makes it possible to mount a roll core having an arbitrary width. The other motor 202 is connected to the other 202. The winding core sandwiched between the flanges is freely rotated by these mechanisms. On the other hand, an optical sensor 210 is provided at a position below the apparatus where the roll paper to be printed and discharged hangs down. The light emitting unit 211 and the light receiving unit 212 are fixed in the main body stand, and both face each other on the same optical axis 213. Normally, the light receiving unit detects the light flux from the light emitting unit. However, when the paper is discharged from the printer with the leading end of the roll paper adhered to the winding core mounted between the flanges, the roll paper gradually loosens (Pt). The light beam is blocked.

  Next, the operation will be described.

  First, after setting the winding core in the winding device, the tip of the roll paper that is ejected from the printer (may be in the middle of printing or the roll paper may be fed in advance) may be adhered to the winding core with tape or manually. Rotate once. When the paper hangs down to a predetermined position by the subsequent print / discharge operation, the optical sensor 210 detects the paper. Then, the motor 203 is driven to rotate the winding core for a certain time. As a result, a certain amount of discharged paper is taken up, and the optical sensor detects light emission (paper pear). Then, when the sensor detects slack again by the subsequent discharging operation, a certain amount is wound. By repeating these operations, the roll paper can be automatically wound during printing.

  On the other hand, as the amount of ink used increases due to the recent increase in the speed of image recording and the use of multi-color ink to output images with good color reproducibility, the image on the discharged media tends not to be sufficiently dried. There are the following problems when winding by the winding mechanism in such an undried state. Even if there is a slight difference in the overlap of media, it greatly affects the degree of moisture evaporation, resulting in drying unevenness and image density unevenness. These problems become a fatal defect in recent apparatuses aiming at higher image quality.

Therefore, a configuration in which a drying device 300 is provided in the vicinity of the recording unit and the paper discharge unit of the printer to forcibly dry is considered. Specifically, a plurality of fans 301 are juxtaposed in front of the printer in order to apply wind to the image surface of the media coming out of the discharge port, and the platen 134 and the discharge guide 143 are heated by a heater (hatched portion). There is a method of conducting heat to the media and drying. In Patent Document 1, the printed medium is dried with a heater.
JP2003-025557

  In the case of the above apparatus, the following problems occur.

  The method of placing a drying fan on the front of the printer and applying wind to the ejected media surface differs in the ejected trajectory depending on the type of media and the recorded image. <Pa1> swells easily because paper with high rigidity is difficult to bend <Pa2>. Also, even if the same media increases the recorded image density, that is, the amount of ink used increases, the stiffness becomes weaker. When used, the media extends and begins to wave in a tin shape, which causes the effect of the ribs and reversely difficult to bend. If it is attempted to satisfy the drying performance under all the conditions, the strict condition is met. However, in this case, wasteful energy is consumed under other conditions, which is contrary to labor saving. In addition, if the drying mechanism is arranged in front of the apparatus, it becomes an obstacle at the time of user work such as setting of a roll and maintenance of the image forming unit, and the usability is deteriorated, or the apparatus is complicated and the cost is increased.

  In addition, the method of transferring heat from the platen or the paper discharge guide is not efficient because the effect varies greatly depending on the contact state of the medium, and the medium is dried from the non-recording surface. In addition, there is a limit to the set temperature due to the problem of temperature rise in the apparatus and the place where the user touches.

  Furthermore, in the cut mode, the sheets are discharged one by one to the sheet receiving portion. For example, if the previous medium is removed before the next medium is discharged, drying unevenness due to the overlap of the media may occur. Absent. If it cannot be removed, it is easy to perform control such that the image is dried after a certain interval from the end of image recording to the time of paper discharge cut. However, in the case of the cut-push mode (winding mode) described above, it is unavoidable that the media overlap in an undried state. Therefore, since the drying mechanism has an important function particularly in the winding mode, it is a big problem to optimize the drying performance in that mode.

  In view of the above points, the present invention is to provide a device having a media drying mechanism with good performance and efficiency while preventing the complexity of the device and the resulting cost increase and deterioration of user operability.

The configuration of the present invention for solving the above object is as follows.
In an image recording apparatus for discharging to the outside while forming an image using liquid ink on the surface of a medium fed by a feeding means,
An image recording apparatus comprising: a winding unit that winds the discharged medium in a roll shape; and a drying unit that dries an ink image on the medium in the same unit.

  According to the present invention, by arranging the winding means and the drying means in the same unit, the relative positional relationship between them can be maintained with high accuracy, and the media image can be dried uniformly. .

  The recording method according to the present invention can be used even when the recording head scans (recording paper is repeated intermittently) and the head is fixed (by continuous conveyance of paper). Applicable to the invention.

  Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the recording method is applied to the ink jet method in which the recording head is reciprocated and the recording paper is intermittently fed by a specified amount in synchronization therewith. Hereinafter, it demonstrates concretely based on FIGS.

  1 is an external view of the apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view (paper path) of the apparatus. The apparatus is roughly divided into a printer main body 1 and a stand 2. The printer 1 is a roll holder 10 for feeding a roll-shaped recording paper Pr while being rotatably held, and for conveying the roll paper to an image forming unit. Roll paper transport unit 30, image forming unit 40 that forms an image while holding the recording paper fed out from it, paper discharge unit 50 for discharging the recording paper after image formation to the outside of the apparatus, cut the discharged roll paper And a take-up holder 5 for continuous take-up, and a manual feed unit 20 for feeding and carrying cut sheet-like recording paper to the image forming unit.

  The roll holder 10 includes a spool 60 for supporting the core tube S of the rolled recording paper Pr from the inside, a frame 11 for rotatably supporting both ends of the spool, and a roll paper for feeding and conveying the roll paper from the holder. It consists of a paper feed roller 12 and a driven roller 13. The holder is supported by the slide rails 15R and 15L so that it can be pulled out from the main body 1. This is for facilitating the roll exchanging work (the lower part of FIG. 1 shows a state in which the roll holder is pulled out). Reference numeral 16 denotes a pull-out handle, and the position of the holder is locked by a hook 16a and a main body side pin 16b interlocked with the pull-out handle. A spool brake mechanism 70 is disposed in the holder. Details of the spool 60 and the spool brake 70 will be described later.

  The roll paper transport unit 30 includes a transport roller 31, a paper sensor 32, and transport guides 33 and 34, while the manual transport unit 20 includes a manual port 21, a paper sensor 22, a manual paper feed roller 23, and transport guides 24 and 25. . As a result, in this apparatus, it is possible to use two types of recording media, roll paper and cut sheet.

  The image forming unit 40 includes a sub-scanning roller 41 for conveying a predetermined amount of recording paper during image formation (recording paper conveyance during recording in this apparatus is called sub-scanning), driven rollers 42 and 43, a conveyance guide 44, paper Is constituted by a platen 45 and an image recording head 46 for holding the flat plate. The recording head 46 performs a reciprocating scan in a direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction by a well-known ink jet method (this is referred to as main scanning), and an ink droplet is generated by a head drive signal based on image data generated in synchronization with the operation. Are ejected toward the recording paper to form an image. The sub-scanning roller 41 conveys a predetermined amount of recording paper between each scan of the recording head. However, since the conveyance accuracy greatly affects the image quality, the roller outer diameter and the shake amount are finished with high accuracy and the friction coefficient of the roller surface Is improved by sandblasting to prevent slipping of recording paper as much as possible. The roller 41 is driven by a sub-scanning drive motor (not shown). The motor also drives the transport roller 31, the manual paper feed roller 23, and a paper discharge roller 51 described later. However, the conveyance roller 31 and the manual feed roller 23 are selectively driven and transmitted by control of a clutch (not shown) depending on whether the recording paper to be used is a cut sheet or a roll.

  The paper discharge unit 50 includes a paper discharge roller 51, paper discharge guides 52 and 53, a cutter 54 and a paper discharge port 55. The recording paper conveyance speed by the paper discharge roller 51 is set to be several percent faster than the conveyance speed by the sub-scanning roller 41, so that the recording paper does not sag on the platen 45. Further, the conveying force of the paper discharge roller is made smaller than that of the sub-scanning roller, and the paper is always slipped on the paper discharge roller side.

  Details of the spool 60 will be described with reference to FIG. The plate members 62a, 62b, and 62c are fixed around the core rod 61, and the roll core tube S is supported by the tips extending in three directions. Link mechanisms 63a, 63b, and 63c are disposed in the gaps between 62a and 62b. When the lever 63a is pushed toward the center of the spool shaft against the force of the compression spring 63d, the claw 63c is retracted from the plate materials 62a and 62b. It is configured. Accordingly, the spool 60 is inserted into the roll (from the right in the figure) while the lever 63a is pushed in with a finger, and when the finger is released, the claw 63c pierces the inner surface of the core tube S, whereby the spool 60 and the roll-shaped recording paper Pr Are integrated.

  The outer periphery of the spool is fitted into the groove 11a of the holder frame 11, the bearing 64 is fitted to the spool core rod 61a, and the spool is contacted with the driven ring 75 of the spool brake 70 at one end. A spool ring 65 is arranged, and a spool gear 66 is fixed to the other end. The spool is supported by the bearing 64 so as to be smoothly rotatable. The spool ring 65 has a cylindrical outer peripheral surface wound with a material 65a having a high friction coefficient such as rubber. The spool gear 66 meshes with a drive gear 81 of a spool drive unit 80a described later when the spool 60 is mounted in the holder 10.

  The spool brake mechanism 70 will be described with reference to FIG. A swing plate 71 that can swing about a swing center shaft 73 is provided on the side surface of the roll holder frame 11 and is biased by a biasing spring 72. A brake limiter 74 is mounted on the swing center axis, and the input ring 74a is rotated by a constant torque by a frictional force generating mechanism inside the limiter. A driven ring 75 pressed against the input ring 74a is rotatably held on the swing plate 71. A material (rubber or the like) having a high friction coefficient is attached to the outer peripheral surface 75a of the input ring 74a and the driven ring 75. When the spool 60 is set in the holder 10, the spool ring 65 comes into contact with the driven ring 75, and the driven ring is pushed down against the biasing spring 72. Therefore, when the spool rotates, the respective rings 65, 75, 74a are frictionally driven, so that a rotational load is applied to the spool from the brake limiter 74 with a specified torque.

  FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the spool drive unit 80a. This unit is for driving the spool 60 mounted on the roll holder 10.

  A spool drive motor 83 is provided in the drive unit 80a. As the type, a DC servo motor or a stepping motor is preferable because it is necessary to always maintain a constant driving speed. Drive transmission is transmitted from the motor gear 83 a to the spool drive gear 81 via the limiter gear 86 a and the idler gear 84 of the torque limiter 86. That is, the spool mounted on the roll holder can be rotated with a constant torque in an arbitrary direction by the action of the spool drive motor 83 and the torque limiter 86.

  Next, a winding mechanism as winding means will be described. A winding holder 5 is disposed below the roll holder 10 so that it can be pulled out from the printer body 1 like the roll holder. The difference from the roll holder is that the roll paper feed roller 12, the driven roller 13 and the spool brake mechanism 70 are omitted, but a plurality of guide rollers 7 are arranged on the front surface of the holder. The spool drive unit 80b has the same mechanism as the spool drive unit 80a of the roll holder. In addition, a large opening 6a is provided at the lower part of the frame 6, and winding is performed through the discharged roll paper. On the other hand, the stand 2 is provided with an optical sensor 8 similar to that described in the conventional winding device.

  The state where the winding holder is pulled out (FIG. 1 and FIG. 2) is the position for the winding operation.

  The drying mechanism will be described. A drying mechanism 90 as a drying means or a fixing means is provided inside the winding holder 5, and the configuration thereof is as follows (the details are shown in FIG. 6).

  In the space covered with the heat insulating cover 91, four blower fans 92 are juxtaposed in the holder width direction via mounting plates 93. The blowing direction is an arrow F. An opening 6b is provided in the frame surface of the holder corresponding to the suction side, and air is taken in through the opening 6b. On the other hand, a heater 94 (consisting of a resistance heating element 94a and a heater holder 94b that holds the heater 94) is disposed on the blow-out side, and warmed air is blown out from the hole 91a of the heat insulating cover. This air flow is directed to the center of the take-up spool, and directly hits the image surface at the winding start position T of the discharge roll during the take-up operation.

  Next, the operation of the apparatus using roll paper will be described in order.

(Roll paper feeding operation)
When an operation start signal is issued, a roll paper feed sequence is first executed. The roll paper feed roller 12 is rotated by driving a drive motor (not shown). Then, the roll paper Pr set in the holder 10 is fed toward the image forming unit 40. On the other hand, the paper is transported through the roll paper transport unit 30 and the image forming unit 40 by the rotational drive of the sub-scanning roller 41 and the transport roller 31, and the leading end reaches the paper discharge unit 50. Then, the conveyance is stopped when the paper is sandwiched between the pair of paper discharge rollers 51, and the paper feeding operation is completed.

(Image forming operation)
Next, scanning of the recording head 46 and conveyance of the recording paper by the sub-scanning roller 41 are alternately repeated, and images are sequentially formed on the recording paper by a known ink jet method. At this time, only the sub-scanning roller is driven by the sub-scanning motor, and the transport roller 31 does not connect the clutch. The reason is that if the transport roller 31 is driven, the recording paper is excessively pulled or pulled when there is even a slight transport speed difference between the two rollers. This is because the paper quality is deteriorated and the accuracy of the sub-scan transport amount is lowered, and the image quality is deteriorated.

(Roll paper discharge operation)
When the above operation ends, a paper discharge operation is performed. The recording paper is fed out by rotating the sub-scanning roller and the paper discharge roller, and then stopped after the image area is fed to the downstream side of the cutter 54. Then, the cutter 54 is driven to cut the roll paper (in the cut mode).

  Through the above roll paper feeding operation, image forming operation, and roll paper discharging operation, a brake force by the brake limiter 74 is applied to the spool, thereby suppressing the skew of the roll paper.

(Roll paper rewinding operation)
Thereafter, the sub-scanning drive motor and the drive motor (not shown) of the roll drive unit are reversed to pull back the remaining roll paper. At that time, the transport roller 31 is also rotationally driven. Further, the spool driving unit 80a also operates in synchronization with them (the drive motor 83 rotates in the direction E in FIG. 5). As a result, the spool 60 is driven in the direction of winding the returned paper (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2). The torque limiter 86 slips in the speed difference. As a result, the roll is wound around the roll while the specified tension force is applied, so that winding is performed without loosening. As a result, the paper loop D during rewinding as shown in FIG. 8 does not occur, so there is no problem even if the winding holder 5 is directly under the roll holder.

  When the leading edge of the roll paper passes the sensor lever 32, the displacement is detected by the paper sensor 30, and the operation continues for a certain period of time until the leading edge is returned to the inside of the roll holder 10 (position A), and then stops.

(Rewind roll paper winding operation)
Next, an operation of winding the roll paper recorded / discharged in the cut-pear mode on the winding holder 5 will be described.

  The user first pulls out the take-up holder 5 toward the front of the apparatus, and mounts, for example, a spool 60 with a used paper tube S set on the holder. The holder pulled out here is held by a mechanism (not shown) so that the position does not shift with respect to some external force. Next, the roll paper is once fed to the paper discharge roller by the roll paper feeding operation, and then the feed is continuously fed and the discharged roll is turned from the front part of the drawn holder and set on the spool through the lower opening 6a. Bring it to the position of the paper tube S. Then, the tip is bonded to the paper tube with tape or the like, and further rotated once.

  Thereafter, when the recording operation is started, the paper gradually becomes slack. When the optical sensor 8 of the stand is lowered to a position where the optical axis of the stand is closed, it is detected, thereby driving the drive motor of the spool drive unit 80b in the winding holder for a predetermined time (in the H direction in FIG. 5). Then, the spool and the paper tube are rotated, and the roll bonded thereto is wound up on the paper tube. The sensor then detects the light again. By repeating the above, the recording / discharge roll is automatically wound up.

  On the other hand, while the image recording operation is being performed, the drying mechanism 90 is activated, and hot air is blown onto the portion of the roll paper that is being wound around the spool 60 (the portion that overlaps with the wound roll). So that it is controlled. Therefore, the image is forcibly dried at the roll winding start position T in the winding holder and overlaps in a dry state.

  The blower fan 92 is controlled as follows. When the winding operation is started, the apparatus always measures how much roll length is discharged from the rotation amount of the sub-scanning roller. Therefore, it can be estimated how much the winding diameter is at that time. Then, the number of rotations of the three-stage fan is changed according to the value (the present invention is not limited to this). More specifically, the drive voltage of the fan can be switched between three types. When the operation starts, the fan is driven at the highest rotational speed (high voltage), and then about 1/3 of the entire roll is discharged. It is driven at the highest number of revolutions, and at the time when 1/3 is discharged and the remainder becomes 1/3, it is driven at the lowest number of revolutions (low voltage). This control is for the following reason.

  The change in the winding diameter when winding one roll is increased by several tens of percent of the change in the roll diameter on the paper feeding side (φ55 to 110 mm) (because it is loosely wound). In this embodiment, the change is φ60 to 150 mm. It changes in the range (the trajectory of the discharge roll is drawn in the range of Pt1 to Pt2 in FIG. 2). This is G = 45 to 90 mm when the distance between the drying mechanism and the roll surface is set, and there is a difference of about twice, so that a difference in the dry state clearly occurs within that range. It is sufficient to improve the drying performance so as to sufficiently dry at the farthest position, but in that case, in the closest state, extra energy is consumed. Accordingly, the rotation speed of the fan is changed in three stages of G = 45 to 60 mm, 60 to 75 mm, and 75 to 90 mm, and the operation under optimum drying conditions is realized.

  In the above embodiment, the spool 60 and the drying mechanism 90 are accommodated in the winding holder 5 constituted by a box-shaped housing or frame. By arranging the take-up roll winding means and the drying means in the same unit in this way, the relative positional relationship between the two can be maintained with high accuracy, and the media image can be uniformly dried. Can do.

  Further, since the dry area is in the vicinity of the start of winding of the roll, the position of the medium there is hardly influenced by the type of the medium or the difference in the image density.

  However, although the distance to the drying mechanism changes relatively as the winding diameter changes depending on the winding amount, this amount of change can be automatically calculated and estimated, and the number of fan rotations based on that amount It is possible to maintain a uniform dry state by changing stepwise. As described above, by changing the drying conditions according to the winding diameter, a more uniform dry state can be realized, and a higher quality image without density unevenness can be provided. Therefore, it is possible to save labor without consuming excess energy.

  In addition, regarding the take-up mechanism and the drying mechanism, it is necessary to consider a configuration in which they are evacuated so as not to obstruct the user operation when not in use. Therefore, the user's operation procedure is simplified, and the usability is excellent. In addition, the unitization does not complicate the apparatus and is advantageous in terms of cost.

  Up to now, the configuration of the winding mechanism has been described with the same spool and drive system in order to make the parts as common as possible with the roll paper feeding unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this, for example, a conventional example will be described. The flange-type take-up mechanism as described above may be used, and the effect is not changed even if the sensor for detecting the slack of the paper is not an optical type but any other type such as a displacement detection method by lever contact. .

  Furthermore, although the heater has been described with respect to the resistance heating element, the heater is not limited to this, and there is no problem even if it is of another type such as a halogen heater.

(Other examples)
In the previous embodiment, the method of changing the rotation speed of the fan according to the change in the winding diameter to make the drying state constant is taken, but in this embodiment, the distance G between the drying mechanism and the roll surface is kept as constant as possible. I devised a method to keep it. This will be described below (see FIG. 7).

  Protrusions 95 are provided on the left and right wall surfaces of the winding holder frame 6, and the drying mechanism 90 is configured to be swingable around this. Further, a motor (not shown) is provided outside the right wall surface of the frame 6, and the drive shaft projects into the frame to fix the cam 97 at the shaft tip (the cam is outside the media winding area). The end portion of the heat insulating cover 91 is in contact with the cam surface, and the entire drying mechanism 90 is swung around the protrusion 95 by the rotating operation of the cam. Pt1 represents the position of the medium immediately after the start of the winding operation, and Pt2 (two-dot chain line) represents a state that is almost close to the end of the winding operation for one roll.

  The operation will be described. At the start of the winding operation, the cam 97 is at the position indicated by the solid line in the figure, and the drying mechanism 90 is at the most inclined position close to the spool 60. As the winding operation proceeds and the winding diameter increases, the drive motor (not shown) is rotated accordingly to rotate the cam, and the drying mechanism is gradually released. The drying mechanism is located farthest from the spool near the end of the winding operation. When one job is finished and the next new winding operation is started, the cam is returned again to bring the drying mechanism closer.

  In other words, this embodiment is a system in which the relative positions of the roll surface and the drying mechanism are kept as constant as possible, and the fans and heaters are always operated under constant conditions, so that the drying state is almost the same.

  Thereby, a more stable dry state can be realized.

  Up to now, the drying condition has been made uniform by changing the rotational speed and position of the fan as the drying condition. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the fan drive time (ON / OFF time ratio) is set. The method of changing may be used, and the heater temperature may be adjusted. That is, the temperature of the heater may be lowered as the diameter of the paper wound on the spool 60 increases.

  Further, although the method of calculating the winding diameter from the length of the discharged medium has been described, other methods of detecting the actual diameter (contact / non-contact) are also conceivable.

It is a perspective view showing the whole apparatus of the present invention. It is an apparatus section (paper path) figure showing a paper path inside an apparatus of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the mechanism of a roll spool. It is a block diagram which shows a spool brake mechanism. It is a block diagram which shows the mechanism of a spool drive unit. It is a block diagram which shows a drying mechanism. It is a block diagram showing the other Example of this invention. It is an apparatus cross section (paper path) figure which shows an example of the conventional image recording apparatus. It is an apparatus top view which shows an example of the conventional winding apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer main body Pr Roll-shaped recording paper 30 Roll paper conveyance part 40 Image formation part 50 Paper discharge part 5 Winding holder 60 Spool 90 Drying mechanism 92 Blower fan 94 Heater

Claims (7)

In an image recording apparatus for discharging to the outside of the apparatus while forming an image using liquid ink on the surface of the medium fed by the feeding means,
An image recording apparatus comprising: a winding unit for winding a discharged medium in a roll shape; and a drying unit for drying an ink image on the medium in the same unit.   2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying area by the drying means is in the vicinity of a winding start position where the medium is wound by the winding means.   3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying condition of the drying unit is changed according to information about a winding diameter of the roll medium wound by the winding unit.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying unit includes a blower fan, and the drying condition is a rotational speed of the blower fan.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying condition of the drying unit is a position of a fan.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unit is a box-shaped housing and is supported so as to be retractable and housed with respect to the image recording apparatus main body.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the medium is wound by the winding unit in a state where the unit is pulled out from the image recording apparatus main body.

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