JP2006231719A - Recording device and recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording device and a recording system of high speed and high image quality which is hard to cause image deviation even when a recording head once retreats to a cleaning position and returns to the recording operation position again for cleaning the recording head during the recording operation. <P>SOLUTION: The recording device is provided with a positioning guide pin to every recording head module, allowing the recording head modules to be guided within a specified region in both the X, Y directions all the time immediate before arriving at a recording position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, a transport apparatus, and a recording system that perform recording operations in a shared manner by a plurality of recording units.

Conventionally, in a recording apparatus that forms images on a relatively wide sheet at a high speed using a plurality of recording heads or a plurality of recording head modules, the carriage on which each recording head module is mounted corresponds to the corresponding recording position by an independent guide shaft. There are some which are moved and positioned.
(For example, Patent Document 1)
In recent years, there is also a recording apparatus that supports a wide sheet by arranging a plurality of recording apparatuses in a zigzag pattern in the sheet width direction and sharing each recording area.
(For example, Patent Document 2)

JP 2003-127352 A Application number: PCT / JP2004 / 007912

  However, according to the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, since an independent carriage and carriage sliding portion are required for each recording module, the entire apparatus increases the space in the sheet conveyance direction almost in proportion to the recording width. If the recording operation is to be continued when the cleaning operation of the head is started, it is necessary to have at least two sets of recording modules, and the space in the paper conveyance direction is further doubled.

  Further, the method according to Patent Document 2 also causes interruption time during cleaning. In addition, since the recording apparatuses that share the recording area operate independently, the recording position shifts every time the recording head unit operates in the vertical direction. Accordingly, the continuity of the image is slightly impaired at the boundary between the recording apparatuses. To avoid this, it is necessary to create an image to be recorded with certain restrictions.

  The present invention has been devised for the purpose of solving the above-described problems.

That is, the recording apparatus and the recording system of the present invention have a plurality of positioning pins on the movable portion side on which the recording module including the recording head is mounted, while the guides guide the positioning pins on the fixed portion side of the paper transport portion. Have a department.

  When the movable portion moves downward and approaches the vicinity of the recording operation position, it operates so as to always converge to the same position with respect to the recording medium.

  According to the present invention, because of the cleaning operation of the recording head during the recording operation, even when the recording head is once retracted to the cleaning position and returned to the recording operation position again, it is difficult for image displacement to occur. Can provide a system.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a recording system embodying the present invention as viewed from above.

  The recording system is composed of two recording units 111 and 121 and a common transport device for transporting a recording medium (paper), and each recording unit has, for example, four 2560 nozzle line heads with a resolution of 600 [dot / inch]. The recording modules 105 to 110 and 115 to 120 are provided. The maximum recording width per line is therefore about 4.3 [inch]. However, as shown in the figure, adjacent recording modules require overlap areas to ensure continuity in the image width direction. Taking these overlap areas into account, the recording modules are arranged in a zigzag pattern for six sets in the recording medium width direction, so that the maximum recording width is a nominal value of 24 [inch]. When the recording medium is conveyed downward from the upper part of the drawing through the drive gear 102 coupled to the rotation shaft using the sheet conveying motor 101 as a driving source and passes below the recording units 111 and 121. At the same time, images are recorded at high speed. In order to facilitate understanding, the support plates of the recording units 111 and 121 are shown as translucent members.

  The four recording heads in each recording module are composed of K (black), C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow), but all of them may have the same color. Although details will be described later, FIG. 1 shows a standby state in which all the recording heads are capped by the cap mechanism.

  131 and 132 included in the recording unit 111 and 141 and 142 of the recording unit 121 are positioning pins, respectively, and will be described in detail later.

  FIG. 2 is a top view of the recording unit 112 (FIG. 2a) and a side view (FIG. 2b) viewed from the downstream side of the conveyance, showing a state during the recording operation.

  The recording heads 215K, C, M, and 215Y mounted on the recording module 115 arranged on the leftmost side are displaced in a comb shape when viewed from above the cleaning mechanisms 225K, C, M, and 225Y including the respective caps. Yes. The recording heads 215K, C, M, and 215Y can move in the direction perpendicular to the recording surface of the paper 204, and the cleaning mechanisms 225K, C, M, and 225Y can move forward and backward in the conveyance direction of the paper 204. The moving range is slightly larger than the thickness of one recording head.

  K, C, M, and Y correspond to the ink colors black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, respectively.

  Next, the recording head and the cleaning mechanism included in each recording module are as follows, and the configuration is the same for each recording module.

Recording module 115:
Recording heads 215K to 215Y, cleaning mechanisms 225K to 225Y
Recording module 116:
Recording heads 216K to 216Y, cleaning mechanisms 226K to 226Y
Recording module 117:
Recording heads 217K to 217Y, cleaning mechanisms 227K to 227Y
Recording module 118:
Recording heads 218K to 218Y, cleaning mechanisms 228K to 228Y
Recording module 119:
Recording heads 219K to 219Y, cleaning mechanisms 229K to 229Y
Recording module 120:
Recording heads 220K to 220Y, cleaning mechanisms 230K to 230Y
The aforementioned positioning pins 141 and 142 are provided in the diagonal direction of the recording unit 121, and on the assumed platen 203 located below the sheet 204 conveyed on the conveying belt 103 in the recording operation state as shown in FIG. 2b. Positioning is performed while being guided by the provided guides (through holes) 201 and 202.

  Next, FIG. 3 shows a standby state. When viewed from above, all the cleaning mechanisms 225K, C, M, 225Y to 230K, C, M, 230Y and the recording heads 215K, C, M, All recording heads are hermetically sealed as shown in FIG. 3B when the positions in the transport direction coincide with 215Y to 220K, C, M, and 220Y and viewed from the downstream side in the transport direction.

  At this time, the positioning pins 141 and 142 are separated from the guide portions 201 and 202 of the platen 203, but may be maintained in a guided state.

  The shapes of the positioning pins 141 and 142 and the guide portions 201 and 202 will be described with reference to FIG. The tips of the positioning pins 141 and 142 are slightly narrowed as indicated by 401 in FIG. The guide part 201 of the platen 203 is designed to have an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the positioning pin 141 as shown in FIG. If the recording resolution of the recording head is 600 [dpi] (dot / inch), the difference between the inner diameter of the guide portion 201 and the outer diameter of the positioning pin is, for example, about 20 [μm] (about half a dot) or less.

  The guide portion 202 of the other positioning pin 142 is designed to have an elliptical shape that is long in the diagonal direction, as shown in FIG. 4C. The difference between the inner diameters of the guide portion 202 relative to the outer diameter of the positioning pin 142 is slightly different depending on the material of the platen 203 and the use environment conditions of the recording apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the recording units 111 and 121 can move all the recording heads of the recording units 111 and 121 in the vertical direction with respect to the platen 203 located at the bottom of the sheet. Only the recording unit 121 can be shifted to the cleaning operation while continuing the recording operation. When the recording operation is resumed, the displacement amount of the image recording position between the positioning pins 141 and 142 and the guide portions 201 and 202 is resumed. Can be suppressed within about half a dot.

  FIG. 6 shows the connection between the host PC 600 for creating, transferring, issuing a recording operation start command, the recording unit 1 (111), the recording unit 2 (121), and the transport device 601. For example, USB is used as the interface.

  FIG. 7 is an electrical block diagram of the transport device 601 that handles the recording medium 204.

  A command for starting and stopping the conveyance of the recording medium 204 is received from the host PC 600 via the USB interface controller, and the CPU 702 analyzes the command.

  When a transfer start command is received, a transfer speed instruction value or the like is written in the servo logic 708 and an operation start is instructed. Subsequently, the conveyance motor 101 is started through the servo amplifier 709 to start a constant speed conveyance of an instruction speed value, for example, 400 [mm / sec].

  The speed control is performed by the servo logic 708 itself by feeding back the output of the rotary encoder 710 coupled to the rotation shaft of the transport motor 101 to the servo logic 708.

  Thereafter, when the recording medium 204 arrives at the transport unit from a roll paper supply unit (not shown) and the front end of the recording medium is detected by the paper front end detection sensor 706, transmission of a count Up signal and a position pulse is started from the servo logic. The count Up / Down signal and the position pulse are obtained by synchronizing and converting the output of the encoder 710. The position pulse is output, for example, 600 [Pulse] when the recording medium 204 advances by 1 [inch] like the resolution of the recording head. . The count Up / Down signal is maintained at “High” level while the recording medium 204 is conveyed in the forward direction, and at “Low” level in the reverse direction (back feed). The count Up signal and the position pulse signal are also used as real time cutout signals for the rasters of the recording units 1 and 2.

The operation panel 705 has a display unit such as an LCD and operation keys, and is operated manually.
N, OFF, operation start / stop, and operating status of the device can be monitored.

  Interfaces 711 and 712 are communication interfaces with the respective recording units, transmit / receive mutual statuses, and automatically switch the recording speed (conveyance speed).

  Since the recording medium 204 is large, it may be possible to use a sheet suction unit (not shown).

  FIG. 8 is an electrical block diagram of the recording units 111 and 121. Since both the recording units can be basically realized with the same hardware configuration, the recording unit 1 (111) will be described as a representative block diagram here.

  Image recording data, a recording start / stop command, and the like are received from the host PC 600 via, for example, the USB interface controller 801, and the CPU 802 analyzes the command. In principle, the recording data received is the same full image data in both recording units 1 and 2.

  When a recording operation start command is received, recording data is stored in the VRAM 807 at high speed via the interface controller 801 and the memory controller 806 according to an instruction from the CPU 802. In the recording system of the present invention, the amount of recording data transferred from the host PC 600 always exceeds the amount of recording data recorded per unit time by the recording unit.

  The execution program of the CPU 802 and various conversion tables are stored in the ROM 803. A RAM 804 is used as a working memory. Information unique to the recording unit, such as information on all the recording heads of each of the recording modules 105 to 110 and adjustment data (registration) data of minute recording positions in the vertical and horizontal directions, is written in a nonvolatile EEPROM 805.

  Further, the relative recording position adjustment value of the recording units 1 and 2 which is a characteristic part of the present invention is also written in the EEPROM 805.

  When a predetermined amount of recording data can be received, the head U / D motor 811 and the cap motor 812 are driven to each other via the drive unit 810, and the recording head is moved from the standby position to the recording position as described above to prepare for recording. To do. The pump motor 813 supplies ink to the recording head from an ink tank (not shown), and pressurizes the ink inside the recording head to forcibly eject the ink from each nozzle when it has not been used for a certain period of time. It is also used as a drive source for a pressure pump (not shown) that restores the recording performance.

  When reception of the count up signal and position pulse from the transport device starts, the latest current position of the recording medium is indicated by the UP / Down counter included in the recording module control circuit 808. When the recording medium reaches the recording start position of each recording module, the recording data is transferred to each of the recording modules 105 to 110 via the VRAM 807 to the memory controller 806 to the recording module control circuit 808 at high speed. The VRAM 807 is configured in a FIFO (First In First Out) format, and is refreshed to new received data in order from the recorded area.

  When both the recording units 111 and 121 perform the recording operation, the main recording unit 111 takes charge of, for example, odd rasters (transfers Null to even rasters), and makes the other recording units 121 complement the even rasters. During the recording operation, the recording speed (conveyance speed) can be doubled as compared with the time when only one operation is performed, that is, when one is performing the cleaning operation.

  The operation panel 820 includes operation keys such as power ON / OFF and forced stop. Reference numeral 821 denotes a temperature sensor in the recording unit, and other sensors (not shown) are also present in the recording module. An input / output port 809 is used for input identification of sensors, operation keys, and the like.

  Interfaces 825 and 826 are communication interfaces with the other recording units 121 and the conveyance device 601, and check the mutual status so that the recovery operation (cleaning operation) does not overlap with the other recording units 121 particularly during the recording operation.

Note that each of the recording modules 105 to 110 may have a sub CPU.



According to the present invention, even if a recording head cleaning operation is required during a recording operation, once one of the recording units enters the cleaning operation and returns to the recording operation again, the image recording position is kept consistent. It is.

  An operation flow between the transport device and the recording unit when the cleaning operation of the recording unit 1 is performed during the recording operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the recording unit 1 (111) records an odd-numbered raster (921), the recording unit 2 (121) records an even-numbered raster (941), and the recording speed is 400 [mm / sec], for example. Operated (901). The raster here is a height of one dot and corresponds to one line of paper width.

  When the recording operation proceeds and enters a predetermined condition for cleaning (e.g., one minute has elapsed in time) (922), the recording unit 1 (111) is notified of an interruption raster point (raster Number) is transmitted to the recording unit 2 (121) and the transport device 601 (623).

  Then, the conveyance device starts decelerating the conveyance speed to a low speed (for example, 200 [mm / sec]) (902).

  When the position corresponding to the interrupted raster of the recording medium 204 passes under the lowermost recording head of the recording unit 1 (924), the recording unit 1 interrupts recording and immediately proceeds to a cleaning operation (925).

  When the position corresponding to the interrupted raster on the recording medium 204 reaches the lowermost recording head of the recording unit 2 (121) (942-Yes), the recording unit 2 subsequently enters the all-raster recording operation mode (943).

  Eventually, when the cleaning operation of the recording unit 1 is completed (926-Yes), the recording unit 1 is notified to 2, and the recording unit 2 to 1 is instructed to restart the raster to resume recording (944).

  When the recording unit 1 reaches the position corresponding to the restart raster on the recording medium 204 below the uppermost head of the recording unit 1 (927-Yes), the recording unit 1 restarts the odd raster recording operation mode thereafter (928).

  Further, when the position corresponding to the restart raster on the recording medium 204 reaches the lower part of the head on the most downstream side of the recording unit 2 (945-Yes), the recording unit 2 thereafter returns from the all raster mode to the even raster recording operation mode (946). The recording unit 2 notifies the conveyance device that the normal recording mode of both the recording units 1 and 2 has been returned, and the conveyance device starts accelerating the conveyance speed from 200 [mm / sec] to 400 [mm / sec]. (903) Return to the original recording mode.

The above operation is similarly performed when the recording unit 2 enters the cleaning operation.
<Second embodiment>
In the above embodiment, a recording apparatus that performs continuous recording using two sets of recording units 111 and 121 has been described. However, in this embodiment, there are three recording units 1001, 1002, and 1003 as shown in FIG. Compared to the above-described embodiments, the recording system as a whole has a wider space in the paper conveyance direction and becomes more strict from the viewpoint of recording accuracy. Guide parts 1007, 1008, 1009 are provided on the side platen.

  The shape of the pin and the guide portion can be realized in the same manner as in the embodiment described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows an image in which the recording unit 1002 is in the recording operation position, while the recording units 1001 and 1003 are raised due to the cleaning state, but more efficiently, at least two recording units always perform the recording operation. It is self-evident to select a method in which the cleaning operation is performed in a time-sharing manner. In this embodiment, a recording system with higher image quality and higher productivity can be realized by the positioning means of the present invention.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in a recording system that can record a relatively large-sized printed matter such as cardboard or poster at high speed and can record extremely high-quality images with high reliability.

1 is a top view of a recording apparatus embodying the present invention. FIG. 3 is a top view of a recording apparatus embodying the present invention and a side view during recording operation. 1 is a top view of a recording apparatus embodying the present invention and a side view of an atmospheric state. It is a figure of the positioning pin and guide part which implemented this invention. It is a conceptual diagram in which the recording unit moves up and down. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating connections between a host PC, a recording apparatus, and a transport apparatus. It is a block diagram of a conveying apparatus. 1 is a block diagram of a recording apparatus embodying the present invention. It is an operation flow of the recording device CPU. It is a conceptual diagram of 2nd Example which made three sets of recording units.

Explanation of symbols

101 Conveying motor 102 Drive gear 103 Conveying belt 111 Recording unit 1
121 Recording unit 2
131 Locating pin 132 〃 〃
141 〃 〃
142 Positioning pin

201 Guide Unit 202 Guide Unit 203 Platen 204 Recording Medium (Paper)

401 Tip of positioning pin

600 host PC

701 Interface controller (conveying device)
702 CPU (conveying device)

801 Interface controller (recording device)
802 CPU (recording device)

Claims (6)

A first recording unit having a plurality of recording modules including a recording head and a recording head cleaning mechanism in the width direction of the recording medium;
Conveying means for conveying the recording medium;
Comprising at least one set of second recording units on the downstream side in the transport direction of the recording medium,
Each of the first recording unit and the second recording unit is guided to a predetermined position by guide means during a recording operation.   2. A recording system including a recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide means comprises a guide pin provided in a movable part which is a recording head mounting part and a guide part provided in a fixed part of the conveying apparatus.   The recording system according to claim 2, wherein the guide pins are held independently for each recording unit, and the guide portions correspond to the guide pins, but are provided on a common member.   The recording apparatus or recording system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second recording units are stationary at a recording position during a recording operation.   5. A recording apparatus or a recording system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second recording units are movable in the vertical direction and are guided by the guide means when heading toward a lowermost region. 6. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of guide pins are provided for each recording unit.

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