JP2005186629A - Tube band and ink-jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent cross talk without enlarging a device in an ink-jet printer that conducts power distribution to a head through a flat cable, shifting the head to the width direction of a medium to be recorded. <P>SOLUTION: FPCs 43 are installed in each tube 31 that sticks out of both sides of the shifting direction of a head 7. As a result, the FPCs 43 are divided into two and the divided FPCs 43 can be separated well. Cross talk can never be generated between the FPCs 43 that are divided like this. Even the generation of the cross talk in the FPCs 43 installed in each tube 31 can be prevented well because the number of pattern is divided into two. Furthermore, because each FPC 43 is installed in each tube 31 through a tube band 41, its movement can be stabilized as well as that of the tube 31. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention is provided in the inkjet printer head for forming an image on a recording medium by ejecting Lee ink tube band bundling tube and the flat cable for supplying or conducting inks, as well as, the tube band Relates to an inkjet printer.

Conventionally, in an ink jet printer, a head for ejecting ink is mounted on a head moving means such as a carriage, and an image is formed while reciprocating in the width direction of a recording medium. In addition, since this type of head generally discharges ink in response to energization of a drive signal, the head is energized via a flat cable such as FFC or FPC (for example, Patent Documents). 1) . FFC and FPC have excellent flexibility and can cope with the movement of the head.
JP 2001-171145 A

  However, in recent years, in order to meet the demand for higher speed in ink jet printers, the discharge frequency has been increased and the number of head pins has been increased. For this reason, the frequency of the drive signal to be energized is increased due to the increase in frequency, and the number of patterns is increased due to the increase in the number of head pins. For this reason, when energization is performed by bundling FFC and FPC into one, so-called crosstalk occurs in which noise due to energization to other patterns is superimposed between patterns. When this crosstalk occurs, the ink ejection timing may be shifted or the waveform may be greatly disturbed and the ink ejection may not be stable even if no malfunction occurs.

  As countermeasures against crosstalk, methods of increasing the distance between patterns and increasing the thickness of patterns have been conventionally used. However, in these methods, the cross-sectional areas of FFC and FPC are increased and flexibility is lowered. . For this reason, today, when the number of head pins has increased, there is a situation in which a method of arranging FFC and FPC in a double manner has to be taken. Thus, when FFC and FPC are arranged in a double manner, crosstalk is more likely to occur. In addition, it may be possible to remove noise by mounting a large-capacity capacitor on the head, but in this case, the apparatus becomes large.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the load of a carriage motor and enable an accurate image to be formed in an inkjet printer that reciprocates a head in the width direction of a recording medium and energizes the head via a flat cable. As made.

The invention of claim 1, wherein has been made in order to achieve the above object, a tube for supplying ink by ejecting ink onto heads for forming an image on a recording medium, and a flat cable for energizing the upper SL head Are bundled with a tube fixing portion for fixing the tube so that the tube cannot move, and a cable holding portion for loosely fitting the flat cable .

The present invention Runode bundling a tube and a flat cable, the behavior of the flat cable is incorporated in a tube, its behavior can be further stabilized. Accordingly, in the present invention, it is possible to improve the durability of the flat cable further and advantage of the ability to form accurate images with even layer reduces the load of the carriage motor occurs.

In the present invention, the cable holding portion so that loosely fit the flat cable, the flat cable is held movably in the longitudinal direction, the binding position according to the invention of the flat cable is displaceable. For this reason, even if the curvature of the tube and the flat cable is different at the curved portion of the tube, no twist or the like occurs. Therefore, it is possible to more effectively suppress the movement resistance from the tube to the head. Accordingly, in the present invention, Ru can form a more accurate image to reduce the load of key Yarijjimota more satisfactorily.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the cable holding portion is configured by a groove having a retaining portion at an opening portion, and a slope is formed at a portion facing the retaining portion. It is characterized by that.
The invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that, in addition to the structure described in claim 2, the inclined surface is connected to a groove forming the cable holding portion .
In addition to the structure in any one of Claims 1-3, invention of Claim 4 WHEREIN : The said cable holding part loosely fits the protective film and the said flat cable which protect the said flat cable, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. Yes.
In the present invention, since the protective film is bundled with the tube and the flat cable, the behavior of bending the tube and the flat cable can be further smoothed. Moreover, since the tube band of this invention hold | maintains them so that it can move to a longitudinal direction by loosely fitting a flat cable and a protective film, the binding position by the tube band of the flat cable and a protective film can be displaced.
For this reason, even if the curvature of the tube, the flat cable, and the protective film differs at the curved portion of the tube, no twist or the like occurs. Therefore, it is possible to more effectively suppress the movement resistance from being applied to the head. Therefore, in the present invention, in addition to the effect of the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 3, the load of the carriage motor can be further reduced and a more accurate image can be formed.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the third aspect, the protective film is formed with a notch that is longer than the width of the cable holding portion in the cable longitudinal direction. It is characterized by loosely fitting a portion of the protective film where the notch is formed.
In this case, since the movement range of the protective film is regulated by the notch, even if the flat cable and the protective film move in the longitudinal direction as described above, they easily return to their original positions.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the fourth or fifth aspect, the cable holding portion is loosely fitted with the width direction of the protective film directed in the vertical direction .

In the present invention, since the width direction of the protective film is loosely fitted to vertically oriented, Ru can be suppressed deflection to the recording medium direction of the tube. For this reason, it is possible to satisfactorily prevent the tube and the flat cable from coming into contact with the recording medium, and to further smooth the behavior of the tube and the flat cable being bent. Therefore, in the present invention, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 4 or 5 , the recording medium is further prevented from being contaminated, and the load of the carriage motor is further reduced to form a more accurate image. The effect that it is possible to occur.

The invention of claim 7, wherein, in addition to the configuration of any one of claims 1 to 6, the tube fixing unit is characterized in that is fixable a plurality of said tubes in the width direction of the flat cable . For this reason, if the tube is fixed straight and parallel with a jig or the like, and the tube band of the present invention is fixed to the fixed tube, the tube is prevented from being twisted, and the head has movement resistance. It is possible to further suppress the addition.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a head for ejecting ink to form an image on a recording medium, a tube for supplying ink to the head from an ink holding portion provided separately from the head, and the head An ink jet printer comprising a flat cable for energizing the battery, wherein the tube and the flat cable are bundled by the tube band according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
The ninth aspect of the invention further includes a head moving means for reciprocating the head in the width direction of the recording medium in addition to the configuration of the eighth aspect, wherein the tube is formed from both end faces in the moving direction of the head. Each of the flat cables protrudes from each side end face and is attached to each tube.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the internal structure of an ink jet printer to which the present invention is applied as viewed from the paper discharge side, that is, the downstream side in the recording paper conveyance direction (hereinafter referred to as the front side), and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view seen from the paper side, that is, the upstream side in the recording paper conveyance direction (hereinafter referred to as the rear side).

  As shown in FIG. 2, a paper feed roller 1 is provided at the rear of the ink jet printer, and the recording paper (corresponding to the recording medium) held in a laminated form on a paper feed tray (not shown) is separated one by one. Transport. The recording paper fed from the paper feed roller 1 is transported onto the platen 5 by the transport roller 3 shown in FIG. 1, and after an image is formed by the head 7, it is discharged onto a paper output tray (not shown) by the paper output roller 9. Paper.

  As shown in FIG. 3 as a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 as a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3, the head 7 is mounted on a carriage 11. The shaft 13 is guided so as to be movable in the width direction (main scanning direction) of the recording paper. The carriage 11 is connected to an endless belt 17 driven by a carriage motor 15 as a head moving means, and moves on the platen 5 in the width direction according to the rotation of the carriage motor 15. Further, an encoder strip 19 is stretched behind the guide shaft 13 in the width direction, and a known linear encoder is configured in cooperation with an optical sensor (not shown) provided on the carriage 11.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a roller 21 that presses and holds the recording paper with the conveyance roller 3 is disposed below the conveyance roller 3, and the roller 21 is pressed by a spring (not shown). And are urged upward. Further, a cover 25 made of a thin metal plate is provided on the outer periphery of the upper portion of the conveying roller 3 to prevent the conveying roller 3 from coming into contact with the tube 31 described below.

  The front end surface of the cover 25 and the front end surface of the guide shaft 13 are disposed on a vertical plane perpendicular to the platen 5 as shown in FIG. In addition, various members such as a paper spring 27 made of a leaf spring for pressing the recording paper against the platen 5 are disposed on the platen 5.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5 as an enlarged view of part C in FIG. 3, from both side end surfaces of the head 7 in the moving direction, the tubes 31 that supply ink to the head 7 are about 30 ° forward from the moving direction. It protrudes in an inclined direction. The tube 31 is provided on one side with two tubes 31 for supplying magenta and yellow ink to the head 7 in combination, and on the other side 2 for supplying cyan and black ink to the head 2. The tube 31 of this book is arrange | positioned combining up and down. These tubes 31 are connected to the head 7 via a manifold 33 as follows.

  FIG. 6 is a plan view, a side view, and a sectional view taken along the line DD, illustrating the configuration of the manifold 33. As shown in FIG. 6, the manifold 33 has a conical shape in which the diameter of the insertion side is small along the protruding direction (attachment direction) of the tube 31, and the diameter of the insertion side is smaller than the rear end of the conical portion. A valve 35 having a reduced diameter is projected, and the ink supplied thereto is supplied from a supply port 37 to a nozzle (not shown) of the head 7 for each color. In addition, an 8-shaped holding member 39 having two hollow portions into which the tube 31 is fitted inside is fitted and fixed to the manifold 33 so that the valve 35 is disposed in the hollow portion. Has been. Since the holding member 39 needs to press the tube 31 against the valve 35, the holding member 39 is made of a material harder than the tube 31 and is assembled so that the holding member 39 is pushed into the state where the tube 31 is inserted into the valve 35. In the manifold 33 configured in this manner, the outer periphery of the tube 31 is pressed from the holding member 39 and the inner periphery is pressed from the valve 35, so that the tube 31 can be fixed securely.

  Each of the two tubes 31 has an FPC 43 (corresponding to a flat cable: may be FFC) and an FPC protective film (hereinafter simply referred to as a protective film) 45 by a tube band 41 as a binding member as shown in FIG. It is bundled at various places.

  The tube band 41 is made of an elastic material such as rubber or elastic synthetic resin, and includes a pair of grooves 47 and one groove 49 as shown in FIG. The groove 47 is formed with a non-slip on the inner surface, and fixes the tube 31 so as not to move. On the other hand, the groove 49 loosely fits the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 and has a retaining portion 60 so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction. The FPC 43 is disposed between the pair of tubes 31 and the protective film 45 and is protected by the protective film 45. Further, the protective film 45 includes rectangular cutouts 45a at both ends of the attachment portion to the tube band 41, and the protective film 45 is held so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction within the range of the cutouts 45a.

  A slope 48 is formed at a portion of the tube band 41 facing the retaining portion 60, and a protrusion 61 is formed at the tip of the retaining portion 60. The length in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) of the groove 49 is longer than the width of the protective film 45 where the FPC 43 or the notch 45a is formed, and shorter than the width of the protective film 45 where the notch 45a is not formed. . The protective film 45 and the FPC 43 are guided to the groove 49 while being bent by being guided by the inclined surface 48 provided on the tube band 41, and the bending is released when the entire width enters the groove 49. (At this time, of course, the retaining portion 60 of the tube band 41 may be temporarily retracted against the elasticity of the tube band 41.) The FPC 43 and the protective film whose bending has been released Since 45 is prevented from moving toward the inclined surface 48 by the retaining portion 60 and the protrusion 61, it does not escape from the groove 49.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 are guided to the rear end surface of the head 7, and the FPC 43 is folded back at the rear end surface and introduced into the head 7 and the above-described optical sensor. It passes along the end face as it is. Note that FIG. 8 schematically shows the FPC 43 folding method described above.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a pair of columnar support portions 51 are provided in front of the center of the platen 5, and a plate-like shape for preventing the tube 31 from protruding forward on the left and right sides thereof. A tube guide 53 is provided continuously. As described above, the tube 31, the FPC 43, and the protective film 45 protruding from both end surfaces in the moving direction of the carriage 11 are guided to the support portion 51 while being bundled at various places by the tube band 41, and are folded back by the support portion 51. It is fixed along the front surface of the tube guide 53 and guided to the left and right. The tube 31 passes through the left and right guide pieces 55 to the ink cartridge (not shown: corresponding to the ink holding portion) provided below the platen 5, and the FPC 43 passes through the guide groove 57 and is provided below the platen 5. To the control circuit (not shown).

  In the ink jet printer of the present embodiment configured as described above, the tube 31 bends as indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 3 when the head 7 moves together with the carriage 11. At this time, the forward deflection of the tube 31 is regulated by the tube guide 53 as described above. Further, the backward bending of the tube 31 is restricted by the protective film 45 or the tube band 41 coming into contact with the guide shaft 13 and the cover 25.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, FPC43 is each attached to each tube 31 which protruded from the moving direction of the head 7 at both ends. For this reason, the FPC 43 can be divided into two, and the divided FPCs 43 can be well isolated from each other. The FPC 43 includes a signal line for transmitting a drive signal to the head 7 and a signal line for transmitting a signal from an optical sensor (not shown). In the present embodiment, these are equally divided into two. There are four tubes 31 in total, and four colors of ink are supplied, but the combination of the distribution of the tubes 31 and the signal lines to the portions corresponding to the respective colors of the head 7 is basically free. However, if the ink colors using the tube 31 and the signal line of the FPC 43 are matched, there is an advantage such as easy identification of the cause when a problem occurs. It sorts out like this. Between the FPCs 43 divided in this way, the FPCs 43 do not overlap each other, so that crosstalk does not occur. In addition, occurrence of crosstalk in the FPC 43 attached to each tube 31 can be well prevented because the number of patterns is divided into two. Furthermore, since each FPC 43 is attached to the tube 31 via the tube band 41, the behavior thereof can be stabilized similarly to the tube 31.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, crosstalk can be prevented without increasing the size of the apparatus. That is, by keeping the cross-sectional area of each FPC 43 small, the flexibility can be ensured, and crosstalk can be prevented without using a large capacitor. Furthermore, as described above, since the behavior of the FPC 43 is stabilized, its durability can be improved well, and the load on the carriage motor 15 can be reduced. Therefore, this ink jet printer can form an extremely accurate image.

  Moreover, in the present embodiment, the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 are held so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the tube band 41. For this reason, even if the curvature of the tube 31, FPC43, and the protective film 45 differs in the curved part of the tube 31, a twist etc. do not arise. Therefore, it is possible to further suppress the movement resistance applied to the head 7. Moreover, since the movement range of the protective film 45 is regulated by the notch 45a, even if the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 move in the longitudinal direction as described above, they easily return to their original positions.

  In addition, since the tube band 41 fixes the pair of tubes 31 to the pair of grooves 47 so as to be immovable, if the fixing is performed as follows, the occurrence of twisting or the like can be prevented more satisfactorily. That is, the pair of tubes 31 may be fixed straight and parallel with a jig or the like, and the tube band 41 may be fixed to the fixed tube 31. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the pair of tubes 31 from being twisted and to further suppress the movement resistance applied to the head 7. Moreover, since FPC43 and the protective film 45 can be inserted into the groove | channel 49 of the tube band 41 from upper direction, you may insert these at the end of an assembly.

  Furthermore, since the protective film 45 is oriented in the direction perpendicular to the platen 5, the tube 31 can be prevented from bending in the recording paper direction. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the tube 31 can be prevented from coming into contact with the recording medium and contaminated, and the bending behavior of the tube 31 can be made smoother, so that the movement resistance from the tube 31 to the head 7 can be reduced. It is possible to further suppress the addition. Therefore, the load on the carriage motor 15 can be reduced extremely well, the ink ejection position can be controlled more accurately, and a more accurate image can be formed.

In the above embodiment, the groove 47 corresponds to the tube fixing portion, and the groove 49 corresponds to the cable holding portion. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the rigidity of the retaining portion 60 can be increased by configuring the tube band 41 with a slightly hard plastic material having a slight elasticity, and the relative position between the protective film 45, the FPC 43 and the tube 31 can be maintained more correctly. can do. Moreover, since it becomes unnecessary to form a slip stopper by making the diameter of the groove 47 of the tube band 41 smaller than the diameter of the tube 31, the productivity of the tube band 41 is improved.

It is the perspective view which looked at the internal structure of the inkjet printer to which this invention was applied from the paper discharge side. It is the perspective view which looked at the internal structure from the paper feed side. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. It is the BB sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the C section enlarged view of FIG. It is the top view showing the structure of the manifold of the said inkjet printer, a side view, and DD sectional view. It is a disassembled perspective view showing the structure of the tube band of the inkjet printer, a tube, FPC, and an FPC protective film. It is a perspective view showing typically how to fold the FPC.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Conveyance roller 5 ... Platen 7 ... Head 11 ... Carriage 13 ... Guide shaft 15 ... Carriage motor 19 ... Encoder strip 25 ... Cover 31 ... Tube 41 ... Tube band 43 ... FPC 45 ... FPC protective film 45a ... Notch 47, 49 ... groove 51 ... support part

Claims (6)

A head for ejecting ink to form an image on a recording medium;
A tube for supplying ink to the head from an ink holding part provided separately from the head;
Head moving means for reciprocating the head in the width direction of the recording medium;
An inkjet printer comprising:
The tube protrudes from both end faces in the moving direction of the head,
An ink jet printer, wherein a flat cable for energizing the head is attached to each tube projecting from both end faces. 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising a bundling member for bundling and holding the tube and the flat cable. The binding member is configured to hold either one of the tube or the flat cable so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction, and the binding position of the tube or the flat cable by the binding member can be displaced. Item 3. An ink jet printer according to Item 2. A protective film that is attached to the tube and formed in a band shape with the width direction facing the recording medium, and suppresses bending of the tube in the recording medium direction,
The inkjet printer according to claim 1, further comprising: The inkjet printer according to claim 4, wherein the protective film covers and protects the flat cable from the side opposite to the tube. A bundling member for bundling and holding the protective film with the tube and the flat cable;
The binding member holds either the flat cable and the protective film or the tube so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction, and the binding position of the flat cable and the protective film or tube by the binding member can be displaced. 6. The ink jet printer according to claim 5, wherein the ink jet printer is configured.

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