JP2006044149A - Ink-jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper transfer device capable of positioning the width direction of paper at a recording position without damaging paper transfer performance. <P>SOLUTION: The ink-jet recording device is provided with a transfer means for transferring continuous paper, a recording means (1) for printing required information on the paper by using ink at a prescribed position, a drying means (5), which is located on the downstream side of the recording means (1) and dries the printed pater by heating, and a paper position adjusting means (50) independent from the transfer means in the vicinity of the upstream side of the recording means (1). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to a paper transport apparatus for an ink jet recording apparatus in which a paper position adjusting unit is provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of a recording unit, and the paper position adjusting unit positions the paper in the width direction at the recording position.

  A conventional inkjet recording apparatus is mainly a relatively low-speed recording apparatus that handles cut sheets, and mainly employs a system that conveys a sheet along a positioning guide in order to regulate the position in the width direction of the sheet.

  In the field of electrophotographic apparatuses, there are many high-speed apparatuses that handle continuous paper, and various methods have been proposed for positioning in the paper width direction with respect to the conveying apparatus. As one of these methods, there are known examples shown below. In this system, the position detection outputs of the two sheet width direction position detecting means provided at the upstream and downstream end of the sheet conveyance with the image recording unit in between are calculated, and the position is calculated based on the obtained position correction value. The correction unit is configured to be driven. The position correction means comprises a pair of correction rollers consisting of a driving side and a driven side that cover the entire width of the paper, and a pressing force that acts on both ends of the correction roller by a control amount corresponding to the amount of paper misalignment detected by the line sensor. Thus, the sheet misalignment is corrected by causing a difference in the conveying force acting in the width direction of the sheet (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 7-291497 A

  The position correction means comprises a pair of correction rollers consisting of a driving side and a driven side that cover the entire width of the paper, and a pressing force that acts on both ends of the correction roller by a control amount corresponding to the amount of paper misalignment detected by the line sensor. In order to correct the positional deviation of the paper by creating a difference in the conveying force acting in the width direction of the paper, the position correcting means is a pressure roller composed of a driving side and a driven side. If a difference is applied to the pressing force acting on both ends of the roller, wrinkles are likely to occur on the paper, and even when the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum is transferred onto the paper, the unevenness of the transfer may occur. Problems such as poor recording quality occur. In addition, since the driving roller for conveying the paper is provided not only in the position correction unit but also on the downstream side of the recording portion for forming the toner image, the recording portion can also be affected by a slight difference in the amount of paper conveyance between the two driving rollers. As a result, there is a possibility that uneven transfer occurs.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a paper transport device capable of positioning the paper in the width direction at the recording position without impairing the paper transport performance, thereby improving the print quality of the ink jet recording device. It is to plan.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a conveying unit that conveys a continuous sheet of paper, a recording unit that prints information necessary for the sheet using ink at a predetermined position, and a downstream side of the recording unit An ink jet recording apparatus having a drying means for heating and drying the paper after printing is provided with a paper position adjusting means independent of the transport means in the vicinity of the upstream side of the recording means.

  In addition, a conveying unit that conveys continuous sheets of paper, a recording unit that prints necessary information on the sheet using ink at a predetermined position, and a heating unit that is located downstream of the recording unit and that heats the printed sheet In the ink jet recording apparatus having the drying means for drying, adjusting the position in the width direction of the paper in the recording means by the paper position adjusting means independent of the conveying means provided near the upstream side of the recording means. Features.

  Further, the sheet position adjusting means is brought into contact with the sheet only when the width direction position of the sheet is adjusted.

  Further, the sheet position adjusting means is constituted by a driven roller longer than the width of the sheet.

  According to the present invention, the paper position adjusting means can adjust the positional deviation in the width direction of the paper due to various factors including the positional deviation in the width direction of the paper due to the mounting accuracy of each driven shaft and the platen at the recording position. Since the apparatus can be provided, an inkjet recording apparatus that performs high-speed conveyance and high-speed printing with excellent print quality including print positioning accuracy can be provided.

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

  With reference to FIG. 1, the whole structure of the inkjet recording apparatus of this invention is demonstrated.

  Reference numeral 100 denotes an ink jet recording apparatus main body. The recording means 1 is a line head having printing nozzles in the entire printing width, and color printing is constituted by black, cyan, magenta, and yellow line heads, and the nozzle surface of each line head has a predetermined surface on the platen 2. It is supported with a gap.

  The drying unit 5 dries and fixes the ink in order to prevent the ink printed by the recording unit 1 from being transferred to other parts. In FIG. 1, the drying means 5 shows a non-contact drying apparatus, but the same applies to a contact-type drying apparatus.

  A paper transport device of an ink jet recording apparatus that transports continuous paper 3 supplied from a paper supply unit (not shown) detects the position of the dancer roller 35 and controls the rotation of the infeed roller 43 by the transport control means 70 to carry it. This is a tension control type conveying device that keeps the tension of the paper 3 constant.

  In addition, the paper transport device of the ink jet recording apparatus includes a regulation guide 6 for positioning the paper 3 supplied in the direction of the arrow from the paper supply unit, auxiliary rollers 11, 12 and 13 which are driven rollers, and a driven rubber roller 41. And an infeed roller 43 composed of a driving metal roller 42, an auxiliary roller 14 that is a driven roller, a dancer roller 35 that moves up and down in response to the tension of the paper, an auxiliary roller 15 that is a driven roller, and a paper 3 An EPC (Edge Position Control) 31 for controlling the meandering, a detector 32 used for feedback of the meandering amount, auxiliary rollers 16, 17, 18 as driven rollers, a paper position adjusting means 50 for adjusting the position in the paper width direction, and a paper Line sensor 51 for detecting and feeding back the position in the width direction, downstream of the recording means 1 , Auxiliary rollers 19 and 20 that are driven rollers, and auxiliary rollers 21, 22, and 23 that are driven rollers downstream of the drying means 5, and the paper 3 is rotated at a constant speed so as to be conveyed at a set speed. There are provided an outfeed roller 46 constituted by a driven rubber roller 44 and a driving metal roller 45, a puller constituted by a driving roller 48 and a driven roller 47 for discharging the paper 3 to the outside of the apparatus.

  Next, details of the sheet position adjustment unit will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When loading paper, the paper position adjusting means 50 is retracted to a position where it does not contact the paper 3. The end of the loaded paper 3 is detected by the line sensor 51, and the paper position adjusting means 50 is operated by the transport control means 70.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic operation of the sheet position adjusting means 50 when adjusting the position in the width direction of the sheet 3.

  The amount of deviation from the paper reference position is minimized by the signal of the line sensor 51 on the light projecting side and the light receiving side located downstream of the main shaft 501 of the paper position adjusting means 50 with respect to the transport direction X of the paper 3. Then, both ends of the main shaft 501 are moved in the directions A and B to press the paper 3. By this operation, a difference occurs in the pressing force of the main shaft 501 acting in the width direction of the paper 3, and the paper 3 moves in the Y direction.

  FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a mechanism for moving the main shaft 501 of the paper position adjusting means 50 in the A and B directions.

  The moving mechanism of the paper position adjusting means 50 is provided at both ends of the main shaft 501, but since it is the same mechanism, only one side is shown. A main shaft 501 of the paper position adjusting means 50 is rotatably connected to a support shaft 502 via a bearing 503. The motor 505 is fixed to the housing 101 of the paper transport unit via the mounting bracket 504, and the linear movement shaft 506 of the motor 505 is fixed to the support shaft 502. Further, in order to avoid a failure in which a bending moment is generated in the linear motion shaft 506 due to the axial movement of the main shaft 501 and the linear motion shaft 506 cannot function normally, the support shaft 502 is placed in the opening hole 102 of the housing 101. It is fixed to the linear movement shaft 506 at a position rotated by 90 degrees after insertion, and the movement in the axial direction is suppressed.

  The motor 505 is a motor having a function of converting rotational motion into linear motion, such as a rack and pinion mechanism, and the linear motion shaft 506 is moved up and down in accordance with a predetermined rotational direction and rotational amount to support shaft 502, The main shaft 501 is controlled up and down.

  Next, the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described.

  When the paper 3 is loaded, the main shaft 501 of the paper position adjusting means 50 is set to the initial position separated from the paper passing position. The sheet 3 supplied from a sheet supply unit (not shown) is positioned in the width direction of the sheet 3 by the restriction guide 6 and is sandwiched between the infeed rollers 43 via the auxiliary rollers 11, 12, and 13. The sheet 3 sent out from the infeed roller 43 is sent to the dancer roller 35, the auxiliary roller 15, the EPC 31, and the auxiliary rollers 16, 17, 18 via the auxiliary roller 14 and reaches the paper position adjusting means 50. Since the main shaft 501 of the paper position adjusting means 50 is in a state of being separated from the paper passage position, the paper 3 passes between the recording means 1 and the platen 2 without contacting the main shaft 501, and passes through the auxiliary rollers 19 and 20. It reaches the drying means 5 via. Thereafter, the sheet 3 passes through the auxiliary rollers 21, 22 and 23 and is nipped by the outfeed roller 46. The sheet 3 sent out by the infeed roller 43 and the outfeed roller 46 is discharged out of the apparatus by a puller and conveyed to a post-processing apparatus (not shown).

  After the loading of the sheet 3, the outfeed roller 46 is rotated at a low speed with the infeed roller 43 stopped based on the control signal of the conveyance control means 70, and the tension of the sheet 3 is set to a predetermined value. The tension of the sheet 3 is controlled by monitoring an encoder signal (not shown) generated corresponding to the position of the dancer roller 35.

  After the tension of the paper 3 is set, the outfeed roller 46 is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed corresponding to the paper transport speed so that the tension of the paper 3 is constant, that is, the position of the dancer roller 35 is constant. The sheet 3 is conveyed while controlling the rotation speed of the feed roller 43. The drying means 5 is also operated.

  Simultaneously with the start of conveyance of the sheet 3, the width direction position of the sheet 3 is monitored by the detector 32, and the meandering of the sheet 3 is controlled by feeding back to the EPC 31. After the meandering of the paper 3 is controlled by the EPC 31 and the position of the paper 3 on each roller is settled, the paper width direction from the paper reference position of the line sensor 51 installed downstream in the transport direction of the paper position adjusting means 50 Based on the signal corresponding to the amount of deviation, it is determined whether the recording position in the width direction on the paper 3 by the recording means 1 is appropriate.

  If the position in the width direction of the sheet 3 is appropriate, the sheet position adjusting unit 50 is not operated, and printing by the recording unit 1 is started in a state where the main shaft 501 is not in contact with the sheet 3. When the position in the width direction of the sheet 3 is deviated from the sheet reference position, the sheet position adjusting unit 50 is operated to adjust the position in the width direction of the sheet 3. The position of the sheet 3 in the width direction is determined by rotating motors 505 installed at both ends of the casing 101 and lowering the main shaft 501 through the linear motion shaft 506 and the support shaft 502 to contact the sheet 3. Adjustment is performed by further lowering the main shaft 501 on the side to be moved in the width direction in accordance with the amount of deviation in the paper width direction, thereby causing a difference in the pressing force of the main shaft 501 acting in the width direction of the paper 3. Printing by the recording unit 1 is started in a state where the deviation amount between the width direction position of the sheet 3 and the sheet reference position is within an appropriate value by the sheet position adjusting unit 50. The position in the width direction of the sheet 3 on the platen 2 and each roller is almost constant depending on the assembly state of each member if the conveyance condition is constant with the sheet 3, and the amount of deviation from the sheet reference position is once adjusted. For example, after that, the paper position adjustment means 50 should be allowed to function while the paper is being transported in consideration of the deviation of the paper width direction position due to disturbances such as fluctuations in paper tension due to printing. Is preferred. Thereby, even when printing is performed in a state where the main shaft 501 is not in contact with the paper 3 at the beginning, it is possible to cope with a shift in the position in the width direction of the paper 3.

  Another embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

  4, parts that are the same as those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. 4 is a tension control type that detects the position of the dancer roller 35 and controls the rotation of the infeed roller 43 by the conveyance control means 70 to keep the tension of the sheet 3 being conveyed constant. The basic part is the same as that of the sheet conveying apparatus shown in FIG.

  The difference from the paper conveying apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is the presence or absence of meandering control of the paper 3 composed of the EPC 31 and the detector 32. Accordingly, after the tension of the sheet 3 is set to a predetermined value, the sheet 3 from the sheet reference position of the sheet 3 detected directly by the line sensor 51 is not performed simultaneously with the start of conveyance without performing the meandering control of the sheet 3 performed in the configuration of FIG. The amount of deviation in the width direction is adjusted by the paper position adjusting means 50, and printing by the recording means 1 is started. In general, the amount of meandering of the paper 3 that occurs during conveyance increases as the eccentricity of each roller increases and the parallelism between the rollers decreases.

  The paper conveyance device of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which the amount of meandering of the paper 3 is reduced by improving the eccentricity accuracy of each roller and the assembly accuracy including the housing 101. In the configuration in which the amount of meandering of the paper 3 is reduced, the paper position adjusting means 50 adjusts the amount of deviation in the width direction with respect to the paper reference position of the paper 3 passing through the recording means 1 to finely adjust the recording position.

  As described above, although the position in the width direction of the paper at each transport position varies depending on the attachment state of the roller and the platen 2, the position including fine adjustment in the paper width direction is required for the recording position. A paper position adjusting means 50 is provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the means 1.

  Although there is an influence due to the position of the detector 32, even if the meandering of the paper 3 is controlled by the EPC 31, the paper width direction position at the recording position cannot be adjusted to the paper reference position.

  The present invention can be applied to positioning in the width direction of a sheet at a specific position of a sheet conveying apparatus that uses continuous sheets such as roll-shaped sheets and folding sheets that are perforated.

1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention. It is a perspective view showing a schematic operation of the paper position adjusting means of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view and a side view of the main part showing an embodiment of the paper position adjusting means of the present invention. It is a schematic side view which shows the other Example of an inkjet recording device.

Explanation of symbols

1 is recording means, 2 is a platen, 3 is paper, 5 is drying means, 6 is a regulation guide, 31 is EPC, 32 is a detector, 35 is a dancer roller, 43 is an infeed roller, 46 is an outfeed roller, and 50 is Paper position adjusting means, 51 is a line sensor, 70 is a conveyance control means, 100 is an ink jet recording apparatus, 101 is a housing, 102 is an opening hole, 501 is a main shaft, 502 is a support shaft, 503 is a bearing, 504 is a mounting bracket, Reference numeral 505 denotes a motor, and 506 denotes a linear motion shaft.

Claims (4)

  Conveying means for conveying continuous paper, recording means for printing necessary information on the paper using ink at a predetermined position, and positioned downstream of the recording means for heating and drying the paper after printing An ink jet recording apparatus having a drying means, comprising: a paper position adjusting means independent of the conveying means in the vicinity of the upstream side of the recording means.   Conveying means for conveying continuous paper, recording means for printing necessary information on the paper using ink at a predetermined position, and positioned downstream of the recording means for heating and drying the paper after printing In the ink jet recording apparatus having a drying unit, the width direction position of the sheet in the recording unit is adjusted by a sheet position adjusting unit independent of the transport unit provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the recording unit. Inkjet recording apparatus.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sheet position adjusting unit is brought into contact with the sheet only when the position in the width direction of the sheet is adjusted. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet position adjusting unit is configured by a driven roller that is longer than a width of the sheet.

Images