JP2006056061A - Inkjet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently catch ink mist and to reduce an outflow of the ink mist and ink droplets from a louvre to the outside of an apparatus while a loss of an air current generated by a fan is suppressed without causing enlargement of the apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The fan 21 is set which forcibly generates the air current inside the apparatus. An ink mist catching member 22 for catching the ink mist is arranged at an air intake 25 side of the fan. The louvre 3 is set at a position opposed in an exhaust direction to an exhaust port 5 of the fan of a casing which surrounds an apparatus body. An ink droplet catching member 4 which has a projection plane in the exhaust direction overlapping with the exhaust port is disposed at a position isolated from the exhaust port and the louvre between the two. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from a recording head to a recording material.

  Recording devices having functions such as printers, copiers, and facsimiles, or recording devices used as output devices such as composite electronic devices and workstations including computers and word processors, are based on image information, such as paper and plastic sheets. An image is recorded on a recording material, and various recording methods are used. Among them, an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from a recording head to a recording material can easily make the recording head compact, can record high-definition images at high speed, and is special on plain paper. Recording can be performed without processing, and since it is a non-impact method, there are advantages such as low noise and easy formation of a color image using various types of ink.

In an ink jet recording apparatus, recording is performed by ejecting ink. Therefore, when ink is ejected, minute ink particles called ink mist are generated, and the ink particles are scattered in the recording material and the recording apparatus. May cause contamination. Further, if ink mist that is scattered and floats in the recording apparatus accumulates on a mechanism unit or control means for recording operation, it may cause a malfunction. In order to prevent these problems, a configuration is adopted in which a fan is provided in the recording apparatus and the air mist generated by the fan floats to collect ink mist. In this case, in order to process the ink mist floating inside the apparatus, a configuration is generally adopted in which a fan that generates an air current and an ink mist capturing member (such as a filter) that captures the ink mist riding on the air current are disposed. .
JP 11-138777 A

  However, even in the configuration using the above-described fan and ink mist capturing member, it is difficult to sufficiently treat the ink mist floating inside the apparatus, and it is possible to sufficiently prevent the occurrence of problems due to scattering and adhesion of ink mist and ink droplets. The current situation is not. Increasing the thickness of the ink mist capture filter or increasing the thickness of the ink mist capture filter in an attempt to sufficiently capture the ink mist increases the resistance loss of the airflow and causes clogging at an early stage. The ability to collect will be reduced. Increasing the number of revolutions of the fan can increase the airflow, but ink droplets adhering and accumulating on the blades of the fan will scatter, resulting in uncontrollable ink scattering.

  In view of this, a configuration in which a large fan is installed to enhance the air flow generation capability and the filters for capturing ink mist are arranged in multiple stages is conceivable. However, such a configuration increases inconveniences such as increased power consumption, higher cost, and increased apparatus size. Particularly in portable recording devices, it is unlikely to be a practical solution. As described above, in the ink jet recording apparatus, it is a problem to efficiently collect ink mist and sufficiently reduce scattering of ink droplets.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a technical problem, and an object of the present invention is to capture ink mist efficiently while suppressing loss of airflow generated by a fan without increasing the size of the apparatus. It is possible to provide an ink jet recording apparatus that can reduce the outflow of ink mist and ink droplets to the outside of the apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink from a recording head to a recording material, and a fan that forcibly generates an airflow is provided inside the apparatus. An ink mist capturing member for capturing ink mist is disposed on the side, and a louver is provided in a portion of the housing surrounding the apparatus main body facing the exhaust port of the fan in the exhaust direction, and between the exhaust port and the louver. An ink droplet capturing member having a projection surface in the exhaust direction overlapping the exhaust port is disposed at a position separated from both.

  According to the present invention, ink mist can be efficiently captured while suppressing loss of airflow generated by a fan without increasing the size of the apparatus, and the outflow of ink mist and ink droplets to the outside of the apparatus is also reduced. An inkjet recording apparatus capable of performing the above is provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the same reference numerals denote the same or corresponding parts throughout the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a housing constituting the upper case, and reference numeral 2 denotes a housing constituting the lower case. The upper case 1 is provided with a louver 3 composed of a plurality of slit holes. The louver 3 constitutes a housing exhaust port for discharging an airflow discharged from a fan, which will be described later, to the outside of the apparatus. Inside the louver 3 (inside the recording apparatus), as will be described later, an exhaust port 5 of the fan unit 16 is located with an ink blocker 4 as an ink droplet capturing member interposed therebetween.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the internal configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG. In FIG. 2, a recording unit (printer unit) 6 is configured by incorporating various components based on a main chassis 7 of the apparatus main body. A recording head 9 that performs recording by discharging ink is guided and supported so as to be reciprocally movable in the left-right direction (main scanning direction) along a guide shaft 8 supported by the main chassis 7 and a lead screw (not shown). It is driven by rotation. A capping mechanism (not shown) for covering the ejection port of the recording head is disposed below the moving path of the recording head 9. This capping mechanism is intended to protect the recording head 9 and suppress ink evaporation, and to perform suction recovery by sucking ink from the ejection port in cooperation with a suction pump (not shown). The recording material such as paper is separated one by one by a paper feed roller 18 from a paper feed cassette (not shown) mounted in the paper feed port 17 and fed into the recording apparatus.

  A first transport roller pair 10 is disposed on the upstream side in the transport direction of the recording unit inside the recording apparatus, and a second transport roller pair 12 is disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction. A platen 11 for guiding and supporting the recording material is disposed below the recording unit. A recording material such as a recording sheet fed by the sheet feeding roller 18 is conveyed on the platen 11 by the first conveying roller pair 10, and further, the first conveying roller pair 10, the second conveying roller pair 12, and the like. Is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction. The platen 11 is composed of a frame member, and an ink tank 13 containing ink to be supplied to the recording head 9 is held therein. Reference numeral 14 denotes a power circuit board, and 15 denotes a control circuit board. A fan unit 16 for generating an airflow is provided in a state surrounded by the recording unit 6, the power circuit board 14, the control circuit board 15, and the lower case 2. In the present embodiment, from the viewpoint of preventing an increase in the size of the recording apparatus, a thin mixed flow fan is used as the fan 21 in the fan unit 16.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the fan unit 16 in FIG. 4 is a schematic exploded perspective view of the fan unit 16 of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a part of the fan unit 16 of FIG. 3 viewed from the exhaust port side. 3 to 5, the fan unit 16 has a configuration in which a fan 21 is fixed to one end of a fan duct 19 and a duct cover 20 is attached to the fan duct 19. The fan duct 19 forms a flow path for forced airflow generated by the fan 21 and constitutes a frame member to which various functional parts are attached. The fan 21 is a so-called mixed flow fan, and sucks air from the direction of arrow A, which is the direction of the rotational axis of the fan blade 24, and exhausts it in the direction of arrow B, which is the rotational radius direction of the fan blade 24. The fan 21 is fixed to the fan duct 19 with screws 41.

  The fan duct 19 forms a flow path of the air flow together with the duct cover 20, and a suction port 26 for introducing air containing ink mist into the flow path is formed at the tip (opposite side of the fan 21). On the opposite side to which the fan 21 is fixed, an air inlet 25 for introducing an airflow into the fan 21 is provided. A mist filter 22 as an ink mist capturing member is disposed on the upstream side of the airflow of the air intake 25 so as to close the air intake. The mist filter 22 uses a duct cover 20 fixed to the fan duct 19, and the duct cover 20 presses the filter holder 23 against the peripheral portion of the mist filter 22 so as to close the intake port 25, so that the air inlet 25 is closed. ing. The mist filter 22 is made of a sponge-like or cotton-like air-permeable material, and is arranged so as to shield the flow path upstream of the air flow of the intake port 25, and filters the ink mist.

  Here, the behavior of the ink mist will be described. That is, when the ink mist continuously flows into the fan 21, the following ink mist behavior needs to be considered. First, if the ink mist enters the inside of the fan 21 without being sufficiently filtered and the ink mist is accumulated inside the fan 21, the fan function may be deteriorated. In addition, when ink mist is accumulated on the fan blade 24, the ink droplets aggregated on the surface of the fan blade 24 are released (separated) from the fan blade 24 by wind pressure or centrifugal force, and the ink droplets are carried on the exhaust flow. There is a possibility of scattering from the exhaust port 5 to the inside and outside of the recording apparatus.

  In order to eliminate such inconveniences, in the present embodiment, first, a mist filter 22 for capturing the ink mist is disposed on the upstream side (the intake port 25 side) of the fan 21. However, in the present embodiment, the downstream side (exhaust port 5 side) of the fan 21 is not configured to block the exhaust port 5 with a mist filter. The reason is to increase exhaust efficiency by preventing the momentum of the airflow from being lost as much as possible. Therefore, in the present embodiment, ink droplets discharged from the fan 21 can be captured while reducing airflow loss from the exhaust port 5 of the fan 21 to the louver (housing exhaust port) 3 provided in the housing as much as possible. The structure is taken.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the louver 3, the ink droplet capturing member 4, and the exhaust port 5 of one embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. 7 is a schematic partial front view of the louver 3, the ink droplet capturing member 4, and the exhaust port 5 viewed from the downstream side of the exhaust flow through the louver in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 6 in the embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of this embodiment will be described in detail. In FIG. 3, the filter holder 23 is used for fixing the mist filter 22 as an ink mist capturing member to the fan duct 19 with a cover. That is, when the filter holder 23 is fixed to the fan duct 19 by the duct cover 20, the peripheral portion of the mist filter 22 is pressed against the fan duct 19.

  2 to 7, the duct cover 20 forms a flow path of airflow together with the fan duct 19, and suction ports 26 and exhaust ducts 27 are provided at both ends thereof. An ink blocker 4 as a droplet capturing member is fixed. That is, in the present embodiment, the louver 3 is provided at a portion facing the exhaust port 5 of the fan 21 of the housing (upper case) 1 surrounding the apparatus main body in the exhaust direction, and between the exhaust port 5 and the louver 3 from both sides. The ink droplet capturing member 4 whose projection surface in the exhaust direction overlaps the exhaust port 5 is arranged at a spaced position.

  The ink blocker 4 reduces the loss of airflow as much as possible, and the ink mist (even a little) entering the fan 21 aggregates to form ink droplets and scatter from the louver 3 to the outside of the machine. It serves to prevent. That is, it has a function of capturing ink droplets discharged from the exhaust port 5 while reducing the resistance of the exhaust flow. When the fan 21 is driven in the state of the fan unit 16, the air sucked from the suction port 26 is sucked into the fan 21 from the suction port 25 through the mist filter 22. The air sucked by the fan 21 is discharged from the exhaust port 5, passes through the periphery of the ink blocker (ink droplet capturing member) 4 from the exhaust duct 27, and is discharged out of the machine from the louver 3.

  6 and 7, the louver 3 is located in front of the exhaust port 5 of the fan 21 and the exhaust duct 27 in the exhaust direction. The ink blocker 4 is disposed between the exhaust port 5 and the louver 3 and at a position away from both the exhaust port 5 and the louver 3. In addition, the ink blocker 4 is arranged such that its projection surface overlaps with the projection surface of the exhaust port 5 (for example, substantially entirely overlaps) in the exhaust direction. Furthermore, the ink blocker 4 has a shape and an area substantially overlapping with the opening range of the exhaust port 5 as shown in FIG. 7 when seen in the reverse exhaust direction (the direction of arrow C in FIG. 6) from the louver 3 side. ing. Accordingly, ink droplets that are released from the fan blade 24 and scatter in the exhaust direction through the exhaust port 5 are almost captured by the ink blocker 4. Further, a sufficient flow path space is secured around the ink blocker 4, and an increase in exhaust resistance is suppressed as much as possible. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce ink scattering from the exhaust portion of the fan 21 while minimizing the loss of forced airflow.

  According to the embodiment described above, the ink mist capturing member 22 for capturing ink mist is disposed on the side of the air inlet 25 of the fan 21, and faces the exhaust port 25 of the fan surrounding the apparatus main body in the exhaust direction. In addition, the louver 3 is provided at a portion to be operated, and the ink droplet capturing member 4 whose projection surface in the exhaust direction overlaps the exhaust port is disposed at a position separated from both between the exhaust port and the louver. Accordingly, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus capable of efficiently capturing ink mist and reducing outflow of ink mist and ink droplets to the outside of the apparatus while suppressing loss of airflow generated by the fan.

  In the above embodiment, the case of the serial recording apparatus that records by the main scanning of the recording head and the sub-scanning of the recording material is exemplified, but the present invention is applied to the line recording apparatus that records only by the sub-scanning. Can be applied in the same manner, and have the same effect. Further, the present invention is an ink jet recording apparatus that uses a single recording head for recording in a single color or a plurality of colors, a color recording apparatus that uses a plurality of recording heads for recording with different color inks, or the same color. In the case of a gradation recording apparatus that uses a plurality of recording heads that record at different densities, and also a recording apparatus that combines these recording heads, the present invention can be applied in the same manner, and the same effect can be achieved. The present invention relates to a recording head and an ink tank, such as a configuration using a replaceable ink cartridge in which the recording head and the ink tank are integrated, a configuration in which the recording head and the ink tank are separated and connected between them by an ink supply tube or the like. The present invention can be similarly applied to any arrangement configuration, and the same effect can be obtained.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an appearance of an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an internal configuration of an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the fan unit in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a schematic exploded perspective view of the fan unit of FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a part of the fan unit of FIG. 3 as viewed from the exhaust port side. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a louver, an ink droplet capturing member, and an exhaust port of an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic partial front view of the louver, the ink droplet capturing member, and the exhaust port in the embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention as viewed through the louver in the direction of arrow C in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Case (upper case)
2 Case (lower case)
3 louvers (housing exhaust port)
4 Ink droplet catching member 5 Exhaust port (fan)
6 Recording unit (printer unit)
7 Main chassis 8 Guide shaft 9 Recording head (recording means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 1st conveyance roller pair 11 Platen 12 2nd conveyance roller pair 13 Ink tank 14 Power supply circuit board 15 Control circuit board 16 Fan unit 17 Paper feed port 18 Paper feed roller 19 Fan duct 20 Duct cover 21 Fan 22 Capture of ink mist Member (mist filter)
23 Filter holder 24 Fan blade 25 Air inlet (fan)
26 Suction port 27 Exhaust duct

Claims (2)

In an inkjet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from a recording head to a recording material,
A fan for forcibly generating an air flow is provided inside the apparatus, an ink mist capturing member for capturing ink mist is disposed on the intake port side of the fan, and the exhaust port and exhaust of the fan in a casing surrounding the apparatus body A louver is provided in a portion facing the direction, and an ink droplet capturing member having a projection surface in the exhaust direction overlapping the exhaust port is disposed at a position spaced apart from both between the exhaust port and the louver. Inkjet recording device.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the airflow exhausted from the exhaust port passes through the periphery of the ink droplet capturing member and is discharged from the louver to the outside of the casing.

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