JP2005349751A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inhibit an ink loss by detecting a color shading of cloth due to pretreatment and thereby, changing an ink discharge volume based on the detection results. <P>SOLUTION: This inkjet recording device is equipped with: a recording head which discharges an ink to a pretreated cloth, a conveyance mechanism which conveys the cloth and a photosensor which is arranged upstream in the conveyance direction of the cloth to a recording head and detects the intensity of a reflected light of the cloth. In addition, the device is equipped with a storage part which stores the reference range of the reflected light intensity in order to decide the pretreatment condition of the cloth and a control part which controls the recording head and the conveyance mechanism, based on the detection results of the photosensor and the reference range of the storage part. Further, the minimum value of the reference range is set higher than the minimum value of a reference range for joint in order to decide the joint of the cloth, and the maximum value of the reference range is set lower than the maximum value of the reference range for joint. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus that discharges ink to a pretreated fabric.

In recent years, ink jet recording apparatuses that perform image recording on a fabric are known. In the case of such an ink jet recording apparatus, usually, an image is recorded by ejecting ink onto a long one formed by connecting a plurality of fabrics. By the way, even if an image is recorded in the seam area, it is often not used as a product and discarded, and thus ejecting ink to that area is a cause of increasing wasteful ink consumption.
Therefore, an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with a detection device that detects a seam of the fabric before ink discharge and determines whether or not ink can be discharged in the detection target region based on the detection result of the detection device. Has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-212851

Here, the fabric is pre-processed before image recording to prevent ink bleeding. The pretreatment includes a padding method in which the treatment agent is soaked into the fabric, a coating method for applying the treatment on the fabric surface, a spray method for spraying on the fabric surface, and the like. If this occurs, the amount of dyeing of the ink changes due to the unevenness, and the image is discarded without being of a quality that can be endured as a product, and as a result, the ink is wasted.
The unevenness of the treatment agent appears on the surface of the fabric as a color unevenness. However, in the above-described ink jet recording apparatus, only the seam of the fabric is detected, so that it is not possible to deal with the color unevenness of the fabric. .

  An object of the present invention is to detect ink unevenness due to pretreatment, and to change ink discharge amount based on the detection result, thereby suppressing ink loss.

An ink jet recording apparatus according to the invention of claim 1
A recording head that ejects ink onto a pretreated fabric;
A transport mechanism for transporting the fabric;
An optical sensor disposed upstream of the recording head in the conveyance direction of the fabric and detecting the reflected light intensity of the fabric;
A storage unit for storing a reference range of the reflected light intensity for determining a pretreatment state of the fabric;
A control unit for controlling the recording head and the transport mechanism based on a detection result of the optical sensor and a reference range of the storage unit;
The minimum value of the reference range is set to be larger than the minimum value of the reference range for joints for judging the joint of the fabric, and the maximum value of the reference range is higher than the maximum value of the reference range for seams. Is also set to be small.

When the reflected light intensity of the fabric is detected by the optical sensor, the joint region has a large and small specific detection value with respect to the reference detection value of the region that has been preprocessed normally. For this reason, when detecting the seam region, the seam detection reference range must be set so that the large and small extreme detection values are omitted. On the other hand, a detection value that differs in magnitude from the reference detection value can be obtained also in the color unevenness region, but the difference is slight compared to the case of the joint region. Therefore, as in the first aspect of the invention, the minimum value of the reference range is set to be larger than the minimum value of the reference range for joints, and the maximum value of the reference range is smaller than the maximum value of the reference range for joints. If it is set, the color unevenness of the fabric due to the pretreatment can be detected.
Since the control unit controls the recording head and the transport mechanism based on the detection result of the optical sensor and the reference range, the ink discharge amount is changed based on the detection result of the color unevenness to suppress the ink loss. It becomes possible to make it.

The invention described in claim 2 is the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1,
When the detection result is out of the reference range, the control unit causes the recording head and the transport mechanism to transport the fabric without ejecting ink to a region that is the target of the detection result. It is characterized by controlling.

  In a region where the detection result is out of the reference range, the minimum required image quality is often not obtained even if ink is ejected to the region, and as a result, there is a risk of being discarded. That is, ejecting ink to a region outside the reference range only increases ink loss. However, as in the invention described in claim 2, when the detection result is out of the reference range, the cloth P is transported without ejecting the ink to the target region of the detection result. Ink ejection can be prevented and ink loss can be reliably suppressed.

The invention described in claim 3 is the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2,
An input unit for inputting the reference range and storing the reference range in the storage unit is provided.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the reference range input to the input unit is stored in the storage unit, the user can set an optimal reference range according to the type of fabric and the type of recorded image. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the third aspect,
In the input unit, a mode selection instruction is input as to whether the user determines the operation when the detection result is out of the reference range or the automatic mode in which the operation is automatically performed.
The control unit controls the recording head and the transport mechanism so that ink ejection and transport of the fabric are stopped when the detection result is out of the reference range, and then the input unit The recording head and the transport mechanism are controlled on the basis of the mode selection instruction result input to.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the detection result is out of the reference range, the user mode or the automatic mode is selected in a state where the ink ejection and the fabric conveyance are stopped. Therefore, after the user confirms the state of the fabric, the subsequent operation can be determined.

Invention of Claim 5 is an inkjet recording device as described in any one of Claims 2-4,
A notification unit that notifies the user based on the control of the control unit,
The control unit is characterized in that when the detection result is out of the reference range, the control unit controls the notification unit to perform notification.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the detection result is out of the reference range, the notification unit notifies, so that the user can be informed that the detection result is out of the reference range.

  According to the present invention, the minimum value of the reference range is set larger than the minimum value of the reflected light intensity for determining the joint of the fabric, and the maximum value of the reference range is the reflection for determining the joint of the fabric. Since it is set smaller than the maximum value of the light intensity, it is possible to detect the color unevenness of the fabric due to the pretreatment. Since the control unit controls the recording head and the transport mechanism based on the detection result of the optical sensor and the reference range, the ink discharge amount is changed based on the detection result of the color unevenness to suppress the ink loss. It becomes possible to make it.

  FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view showing the main configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. This ink jet recording apparatus records an image by ejecting ink onto a pretreated fabric. As shown in FIG. 1, in the inkjet recording apparatus 1, a platen 2 that supports the fabric P from below is disposed so as to be horizontal. A pair of transport rollers 3 and 4 for transporting the fabric P along the platen 2 are provided in front of and behind the platen 2. Above the platen 2, a carriage 6 that scans in a scanning direction B orthogonal to the conveyance direction A of the fabric P is provided along a horizontally extending guide rail 5.

  A plurality of recording heads 7 that discharge ink to the fabric P are mounted on the carriage 6. The plurality of recording heads 7 eject ink of each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) used in the inkjet recording apparatus 1 toward the fabric P. A number of nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged on the ejection surface of each recording head 7.

  An optical sensor 8 that detects the reflected light intensity of the fabric P supported by the platen 2 is mounted on the carriage 6 so as to be positioned upstream of the recording head 7 in the transport direction A. The optical sensor 8 includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and reflects the irradiation light from the light emitting element on the fabric P and reads the reflected light on the light receiving element, thereby detecting the reflected light intensity of the fabric P. It is like that. The length of the optical sensor 8 in the transport direction A is set to be equal to the length of the recording head 7 in the transport direction A.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main control configuration of the inkjet recording apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet recording apparatus 1 is provided with a control unit 20 that controls each drive unit. The control unit 20 includes a conveyance roller drive unit 21 that rotates the conveyance rollers 3 and 4, a carriage drive unit 22 that scans the carriage 6, and an input unit 23 that receives various instructions such as an image recording start instruction. And the alerting | reporting part 25 which performs a spike value to a user, the recording head 7, the optical sensor 8, and the memory | storage part 24 are electrically connected. In addition to the above, each drive unit of the inkjet recording apparatus 1 is connected to the control unit 20. The control unit 20 controls various devices according to a control program and control data written in the storage unit 26.

  In addition, the storage unit 26 stores a reference range of reflected light intensity for determining the pretreatment state of the fabric P. Here, when the reflected light intensity of the fabric P is detected by the optical sensor 8, the joint region has a large and small specific detection value with respect to the reference detection value of the region that has been normally preprocessed. For this reason, when detecting the seam region, the seam detection reference range must be set so that the large and small extreme detection values are omitted. On the other hand, a detection value that differs in magnitude from the reference detection value can be obtained also in the color unevenness region, but the difference is slight compared to the case of the joint region. For this reason, the minimum value of the reference range is set larger than the minimum value of the reference range for joints, and the maximum value of the reference range is set smaller than the maximum value of the reference range for joints. For example, if the reference detection value is 100% and the joint reference range is 50% to 150%, the minimum value of the reference range is set to be larger than 50% and the maximum value is set to be smaller than 150%. become. Specifically, the reference range is preferably 90% to 110%.

  The storage unit 26 stores a plurality of ink ejection tables for each type of fabric P for determining the ink ejection amount based on the detection value of the optical sensor 8. The ink discharge table is obtained, for example, from a reflected light intensity-ink discharge amount diagram as shown in FIG. Here, since the intensity of the reflected light is increased in the region where the pretreatment agent of the fabric P is small, it is necessary to increase the ink discharge amount to increase the density. On the other hand, since the reflected light intensity is weak in the region where the pretreatment agent of the fabric P is large, it is necessary to reduce the ink discharge amount and reduce the density. Ink is not ejected when the reflected light intensity falls below or exceeds the reference range.

Next, the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus 1 will be described.
When the image recording starts, the operator inputs an image recording start instruction to the input unit 23. At this time, the user selects an ink ejection table corresponding to the type of the fabric P on which image recording is to be performed, and inputs it to the input unit 23.

  The control unit 20 controls the conveyance roller driving unit 21 in response to the input of the image recording start instruction, rotates the conveyance rollers 3 and 4, and intermittently conveys the fabric P in the conveyance direction A. That is, in the present embodiment, the transport rollers 3 and 4 and the transport roller driving unit 21 are transport mechanisms according to the present invention. When the fabric P stops, the control unit 20 controls the carriage drive unit 22 to scan the carriage 6 in the scanning direction B. Corresponding to this scanning, the control unit 20 controls the recording head 7 based on the image data and ejects ink onto the fabric P to record an image.

  Here, when the carriage 6 is scanned, the optical sensor 8 is also scanned together with the recording head 7. Since the optical sensor 8 is arranged on the upstream side in the transport direction A of the recording head 7, no ink is ejected in the region of the fabric P scanned by the optical sensor 8, and the reflected light intensity is increased by the optical sensor 8. It is to be detected. Further, since the length of the optical sensor 8 with respect to the transport direction A is set to be equal to the length of the recording head 7 with respect to the transport direction A, the reflected light intensity of the region where ink is ejected in one scan is determined as the ink ejection. It can be detected in advance.

When the detection result of the optical sensor 8 is within the reference range, the control unit 20 controls the recording head 7 so that the ink discharge amount is based on the selected ink discharge table.
On the other hand, when the detection result of the optical sensor 8 is out of the reference range, the control unit 20 controls the notification unit 25 to notify the user that the detection result is out of the reference range, and the recording head 7 and the conveyance The roller drive unit 21 is controlled so that the fabric P is conveyed without ejecting ink to the region that is the target of the detection result. As a result, ink is not ejected to a region where color unevenness due to preprocessing is large. Even when the region of the fabric P corresponding to the detection result is transported in a state where the ink ejection is stopped, the carriage 6 is scanned, and the reflection of the region of the fabric P facing the recording head 7 in the next transport is performed. It is necessary to detect the light intensity. As a result, the reflected light intensity in the upstream region with respect to the recording head 7 can always be detected.
Here, in order to transport the fabric P without ejecting ink to the region that is the target of the detection result, for example, the fabric without ejecting ink to the entire width of the fabric including the region outside the reference range. When transporting P, or when transporting the fabric P without ejecting ink only to a region outside the reference range, the fabric without ejecting ink to a predetermined range including a region outside the reference range. The case where P is conveyed is mentioned.

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the control unit 20 controls the recording head 7 and the transport mechanism based on the detection result of the optical sensor 8 and the reference range. It is possible to suppress ink loss by changing the ink discharge amount based on the result.
Here, in a region where the detection result is out of the reference range, the minimum required image quality is often not obtained even if ink is ejected to the region, and as a result, there is a risk of being discarded. That is, ejecting ink to a region outside the reference range only increases ink loss. However, in the present embodiment, when the detection result is out of the reference range, the fabric P is transported without ejecting ink to the region that is the target of the detection result, so that wasteful ink ejection can be prevented. Ink loss can be reliably suppressed.
If the reference range is set as described above, even a seam area, a dirt area, a flaw area, or the like in which the detection value for the reference detection value is more specific than the color unevenness area is out of the reference range. Therefore, it becomes possible to detect seams, dirt, scratches, and the like.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be modified as appropriate.
For example, in the present embodiment, the serial type ink jet recording apparatus in which the recording head 7 scans with the carriage 6 is described as an example, but a line type ink jet recording apparatus may be used. In the case of a line type ink jet recording apparatus, since the optical sensor must detect the reflected light intensity with respect to the entire width of the fabric on the upstream side of the recording head, for example, an optical sensor extending over the entire width of the fabric is installed. Or the optical sensor needs to be scanned across the entire width of the fabric.

  In this embodiment, the case where the user selects an optimal ink discharge table from a plurality of ink discharge tables stored in advance in the storage unit 24 has been described as an example. However, the user creates an ink discharge table. It is also possible. Specifically, the slope of the reflected light intensity-ink discharge amount diagram curve shown in FIG. 3 or the minimum value, maximum value, and ink discharge amount of the reference range is changed, and the user inputs the values into the input unit 23. Can be stored in the storage unit 24, and as a result, a new ink discharge table can be reflected in the subsequent ink discharge control.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the detection result is out of the reference range, the control unit 20 controls the recording head 7 and the conveyance roller drive unit 21 so that ink is applied to the region that is the target of the detection result. Although the case where the fabric P is transported without being ejected is exemplified, not only the ejection of ink but also the transport of the fabric may be stopped. In such a case, a mode selection instruction for setting the user mode in which the operation when the detection result is out of the reference range is determined by the user or the automatic mode in which the operation is automatically performed is input to the input unit when the conveyance is stopped. If the input is enabled, the user can determine the subsequent operation after confirming the state of the fabric. At this time, the control unit controls the recording head and the transport mechanism based on the mode selection instruction result input to the input unit.
In the user mode, a stop operation for stopping ink ejection and fabric conveyance, a resuming operation for resuming ink ejection and fabric conveyance regardless of the detection result, and a fabric without ejecting ink to an area targeted for the detection result. It is possible to select a non-ejection operation or the like for conveying the ink. In addition, when the non-ejection operation is selected, the range in which ink is not ejected is the entire width of the fabric including the region outside the reference range, only the region outside the reference range, and the predetermined range including the region outside the reference range. It can be selected.
In the automatic mode, an operation to be executed among a plurality of operations that can be selected in the user mode is determined in advance.

It is the perspective view from the back which showed schematic structure of the ink jet recording device of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main control configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a reflected light intensity-ink discharge amount diagram showing a relationship between reflected light intensity and ink discharge amount for the fabric of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

1 Inkjet recording device 3,4 Transport roller (transport mechanism)
7 Recording Head 8 Optical Sensor 20 Control Unit 21 Transport Roller Drive Unit (Conveyance Mechanism)
23 Input unit 24 Storage unit 25 Notification unit

Claims (5)

A recording head that ejects ink onto a pretreated fabric;
A transport mechanism for transporting the fabric;
An optical sensor disposed upstream of the recording head in the conveyance direction of the fabric and detecting the reflected light intensity of the fabric;
A storage unit for storing a reference range of the reflected light intensity for determining a pretreatment state of the fabric;
A control unit for controlling the recording head and the transport mechanism based on a detection result of the optical sensor and a reference range of the storage unit;
The minimum value of the reference range is set to be larger than the minimum value of the seam reference range for determining the joint of the fabric, and the maximum value of the reference range is higher than the maximum value of the seam reference range. Is set to be small, an ink jet recording apparatus. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
When the detection result is out of the reference range, the control unit causes the recording head and the transport mechanism to transport the fabric without ejecting ink to a region that is the target of the detection result. An ink jet recording apparatus for controlling the ink jet recording apparatus. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 2.
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an input unit that receives the reference range and stores the reference range in the storage unit. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 3.
In the input unit, a mode selection instruction is input as to whether the user determines the operation when the detection result is out of the reference range or the automatic mode in which the operation is automatically performed.
The control unit controls the recording head and the transport mechanism so that ink ejection and transport of the fabric are stopped when the detection result is out of the reference range, and then the input unit An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the recording head and the transport mechanism are controlled based on a mode selection instruction result input to. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
A notification unit that notifies the user based on the control of the control unit,
The said control part controls the said alerting | reporting part and performs alerting | reporting, when the said detection result is outside the said reference range, The inkjet recording device characterized by the above-mentioned.

Images