JP2007050581A - Liquid jet recording head and recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid jet recording head in which a suction/recovery operation of an inkjet head having both of a branch fluid channel and a branch-less fluid channel in an ink channel from an ink tank to a nozzle can be surely carried out, and to provide a recorder. <P>SOLUTION: This liquid jet recording head is adapted to eject a recording liquid to a recording medium to perform the recording. The liquid jet recording head comprises a fluid channel 14 coupling a storage tank for storing the recording liquid to a recording liquid ejection section 1, suction mechanisms 22, 23 for filling the ejection section and the fluid channel with the recording liquid, and a suction cap 21. The fluid channel from the tank is branched to the plurality of ejection sections. The different suction caps are provided respectively corresponding to the ejection sections which are branching destinations of the fluid channel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head and a recording apparatus that perform recording by discharging a liquid onto a recording medium.

  Such a liquid jet recording head and a liquid jet recording apparatus are so-called non-impact recording systems, which can record on high-speed recording and various recording media, such as printers, word processors, facsimiles, copying machines, It is widely adopted as a device that bears a recording mechanism such as a mailing machine.

  As a typical method of the liquid jet recording head and the recording apparatus, there is a method using an energy generating element, and droplets are ejected from minute ejection ports to perform recording on a recording medium. The energy generating element used for ejecting ink from the ink ejection port of the recording head uses an electromechanical transducer such as a piezo element, and generates heat by irradiating an electromagnetic wave such as a laser. There are those that discharge ink droplets, and those that heat a liquid by an electrothermal transducer element having a heating resistor.

  In general, this type of ink jet recording apparatus includes a means for driving a carrier on which a recording head is mounted, a transport means for transporting recording paper, and a control means for controlling them.

  In addition, in a recording head that discharges ink droplets by heat generation, that is, a recording head that employs an ink jet recording method in which film boiling occurs in ink using thermal energy and ink is discharged as droplets by bubbles generated in the ink. Since the discharge ports can be arranged at high density, high resolution recording can be performed. In addition, such a recording head is easy to simplify the mechanical structure, is available in small size, and fully utilizes the advantages of IC technology and micro-machining technology that have made remarkable progress in technology and reliability in recent semiconductor fields. Thus, since the recording head can be manufactured, there is an advantage that high-density mounting is easy and the manufacturing cost is low.

In such a recording head, for high-speed printing and high-definition recording, there may be separate ejection nozzle arrays used for forward printing and ejection nozzle arrays used for backward printing, and there may be multiple ejection nozzle arrays of the same color. . These nozzle rows are often arranged in parallel, so that the flow path connecting the storage tank and the nozzle row is branched.
JP 2003-300325 A

  When air enters the discharge nozzle section and desired printing cannot be performed or the ink tank is replaced, ink is sucked from the ink tank to the discharge nozzle section, and the flow path, liquid chamber, and nozzle are filled with ink. It is necessary to satisfy. Therefore, the recording apparatus caps the periphery of the nozzle portion and performs suction with a suction pump.

  However, if the flow path is branched, for example, if suction is performed only from one nozzle due to pressure conditions in the flow path, and the other nozzle is underfilled, or if suction is performed at a high pressure for simultaneous suction. However, there are problems such as modulation of the storage tank, generation of bubbles, insufficient supply of ink, and an increase in the amount of suction, resulting in occurrence of an cloth that is not used for printing.

  In addition, when there is a mixture of nozzle rows that do not branch the flow path and nozzle rows that branch the flow path, there is no optimal suction condition that satisfies both, or there is little margin even if it exists. The problem also occurs.

  From the above situation, there is a need for a head, a printing apparatus, and a control method that reliably suck ink and minimize in-cross.

  In view of such a situation, the present invention provides a liquid jet recording head and a recording apparatus capable of reliably sucking ink from an ink tank in a head having a branch flow path and filling the flow path, liquid chamber, and nozzle portion with ink. The purpose is to provide.

  A recording head and a recording apparatus according to the present invention include a liquid jet recording head that discharges a recording liquid onto a recording medium and performs recording, and a recording apparatus, and a flow path that connects a storage tank that stores the recording liquid and a recording liquid discharge unit. A suction mechanism and a suction cap for filling the discharge portion and the flow path with a recording liquid, and a plurality of flow paths branch from the tank to a plurality of discharge sections. Different suction caps correspond to the discharge units.

  Further, there may be a plurality of storage tanks, and in the flow path connecting the storage tank and the recording liquid discharge section, the tank and the discharge section are uniquely connected by the flow path, and a plurality of discharge sections from a certain tank. A flow channel having a plurality of branches may be mixed.

  Further, when the recording liquid is sucked by the suction cap and the suction mechanism corresponding to one of the branch channels, the other suction cap and the suction mechanism perform the same operation as the suction stop or the suction stop.

  According to the present invention, in a head having a branch flow path, only the suction cap corresponding to one of the branch flow paths can be sucked, and the other is stopped for suction. Shows behavior. Therefore, suction and filling can be performed reliably. Subsequently, suction and filling can be similarly performed by sucking the other suction cap and stopping the suction of the previous cap. Therefore, it is possible to suck ink with certainty and minimize in-cross.

  That is, the technical contents of the present invention can solve the above-described problems by including the following configuration.

  (1) In a liquid jet recording head that discharges a recording liquid onto a recording medium and performs recording, a flow path connecting a storage tank that stores the recording liquid and a recording liquid discharge section, and recording in the discharge section and the flow path It has a suction mechanism and a suction cap for filling the liquid, and the flow path is branched into a plurality of discharge parts from the tank, and different suction caps correspond to each discharge part at the branch destination of the flow path. A liquid jet recording head.

  (2) having a flow path connecting the storage tank for storing the recording liquid and the recording liquid discharge section, a suction mechanism and a suction cap for filling the discharge section and the flow path with the recording liquid, In the recording apparatus in which the flow path to the discharge section of the flow path is branched and a different suction cap corresponds to each discharge section at the branch destination of the flow path, a suction cap and a suction mechanism corresponding to one of the branch flow paths When the recording liquid is sucked by the above, the other suction cap and the suction mechanism perform the same operation as the suction stop or the suction stop.

  According to the present invention, the recovery of suction is insufficient due to, for example, branching of the flow path, and printing is not performed satisfactorily, or ink that is not used for printing is generated due to excessive suction or In the case where there are a mixture of nozzle rows that are not branched and nozzle rows that are branched, the present invention can be used in situations where there is no optimal suction condition for both or there is little margin. By applying, suction and filling can be reliably performed without adding a complicated mechanism, and suction with minimum in-cross can be performed.

  Now, specific examples according to the present invention will be described.

  1 is a schematic configuration of a printer using an ink jet recording system, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a recording head, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a suction cap.

  A chassis 101 housed in an exterior member (not shown) is composed of a plurality of plate-like metal members having a predetermined rigidity, forms a skeleton of the recording apparatus, and holds each recording operation mechanism described later. . The lower case 101a forms a substantially lower half of the recording main body, and the upper case 101b forms a substantially upper half of the apparatus main body. The combination of both cases has a hollow space having a storage space for storing each mechanism described later. A body structure is formed, and an opening is formed in each of the upper surface portion and the front surface portion.

  As a recording operation mechanism in the present embodiment, an automatic feeding unit 102 that automatically feeds a recording sheet into the apparatus main body, and a recording sheet that is sent out one by one are guided to a desired recording position, and then discharged. A conveyance unit 103 that leads to the recording unit, a recording unit 104 that performs desired recording on the conveyed recording sheet, and a recovery unit 105 that performs a recovery process on the recording unit and the like.

  Among these, the recording unit includes a carriage 112 that is movably supported by a carriage shaft 111, and a recording head 113 that is detachably mounted on the carriage 112 and an ink tank that stores ink 114.

  The recording head 113 in the present embodiment adopts a so-called cartridge system that is detachably mounted on the carriage 112. In addition to the present embodiment, the ink tank and the recording head are integrated and mounted in a detachable manner with respect to the carriage. The head tank integrated cartridge system is used, or the recording head and the carriage are integrated. Some have a removable method.

  The ink tank 114 is provided with independent ink tanks for each color of black, light cyan, light magenta, cyan, magenta, and yellow, for example, in order to enable high-quality color recording, each of which is detachable from the recording head. It has become. In addition, there is an ink tank that has a plurality of ink storage chambers and integrates a plurality of colors of ink.

  The recording head 113 includes a recording element substrate 1, a support substrate 2, a flow path forming member 3, a filter (not shown), a chip tank 4, and the like.

  The recording element substrate 1 is formed with a plurality of recording elements for discharging ink to the silicon substrate and electric wiring for supplying electric power to each recording element by a film forming technique, and a plurality of ink flows corresponding to the recording elements are formed. The passages and the plurality of discharge ports are formed by a photolithography technique to form a discharge nozzle row, and the ink supply ports for supplying ink to the plurality of discharge nozzle rows are formed to open in a plurality of rows on the back surface.

  The recording element substrate 1 is bonded and fixed to a support substrate 2, and a liquid chamber 11 for holding ink is constituted by the ink supply port and a space disposed in the support substrate 2. Further, a plurality of recording element substrates 1 having a plurality of ejection nozzle arrays 12 are arranged, and a configuration is adopted that can eject a plurality of types of ink.

  Further, the support substrate 2 holds the sheet electrical wiring substrate 1 so that the sheet electrical wiring substrate 5 and the recording element substrate 1 are electrically connected. The sheet electrical wiring board 5 is connected to the contact wiring board 6 and constitutes an electrical wiring part 13. The contact wiring board 6 has an external signal input terminal 6 a for receiving an electrical signal from the main body, and the contact wiring board 6 is positioned and fixed on the back side of the chip tank 4. An electrical signal for ejecting ink is input from the recording apparatus main body to the recording element substrate 1 through the electrical wiring unit 13.

  A flow path forming member 3 is welded to the chip tank 4 to form an ink flow path 14 (see FIG. 4) from the ink tank 114 to the support substrate 2. The ink flow path 14 is divided into a flow path in which the liquid chamber 11 and the nozzle row 12 are uniquely connected from the ink tank 114, and a flow path is branched because the ink tank is connected to a plurality of liquid chambers and ejection openings. There is a flow path. Further, a filter is provided at the end of the ink flow path 14 that engages with the ink tank on the ink tank side so as to prevent entry of dust from the outside.

  Further, the chip tank portion 15 constituted by the chip tank 4, the flow path forming member 3, the filter, etc. and the recording element 16 portion constituted by the recording element substrate, the support substrate, and the electric wiring portion are coupled by screws 7, The recording head 113 is configured.

  The carriage 112 engages with the recording head 113 and engages with a carriage cover 112a for guiding the recording head to the carriage mounting position, and a chip tank of the recording head, and presses the recording head to set it at a predetermined mounting position. A set lever 112b is provided. That is, the head set lever 112b is provided so as to be rotatable with respect to the upper shaft of the carriage, and a head set plate (not shown) is provided via a spring at the engaging portion with the recording head 113, and this recording force is applied to the recording head. It is configured to be mounted on the carriage 112 while pressing 113.

  The recovery unit 105 includes cleaning means for removing foreign matter attached to the recording element substrate 1 of the recording head 113, recovery means for normalizing the ink flow path 14 leading to the recording element substrate 1 of the recording head 113, and the like. I have it.

  The recovery unit 105 mainly includes a PG motor (not shown), a cap 21, a pump (not shown), a wiper blade (not shown), and the like. By appropriately switching the output of this PG motor, the cap 21, the wiper blade, and the pump are driven to perform a desired operation. The cap 21 is made of a rubber member and is configured to move in the direction of the arrow so as to contact and be separated from each other so as to cover the plurality of recording element substrates 1 of the recording head 113 and the ejection nozzle row 12. Further, a cap absorber 22 is provided, and is disposed so as to face the recording element substrate 1 with a predetermined interval during capping.

  At the time of ink suction, the negative pressure in the cap 21 is increased by rotating the pump, and ink is drawn out from the ejection port of the recording head 113. The ink is received by the cap absorber 22, and the ink is sucked and discharged by a cap tube (not shown) connected to the cap and a pump connected to the cap tube.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram regarding the ink flow path configuration, and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram regarding the ink flow during suction.

  When the ink flow path 14A and the liquid chamber on the recording element substrate 1A side are recovered by suction with the cap 21A, the valve on the cap 21B side is closed and the cap 21A side is opened, and the pump 23 is operated. At this time, since the nozzle array on the branch flow path 14X side is not sucked from the nozzle array connected to the recording element substrate 1B, the ink tank 114, the ink flow path 14, the liquid chamber 11, and the discharge nozzle array connected to the recording element substrate 1A side. 12, all of the branch channel 14X and the non-branch channel 14Y are substantially uniquely connected. For this reason, the ink tank 114, the flow path 14, the liquid chamber 11, and the discharge nozzle row 12 connected to the recording element substrate 1A all have substantially the same conditions, and the suction conditions such as the suction pressure and the amount can be made substantially the same. .

  Next, when the ink flow path 14B and the liquid chamber 11 on the recording element substrate 1B side are sucked and recovered by the cap 21B, the cap 21B side valve 22B is opened and the cap 21A side valve 22A is closed, which is the same as described above. The ink tank 114, the flow path 14, the liquid chamber 11, and the discharge nozzle row 12 are all substantially the same on the recording element substrate 1B side, and the suction conditions such as the suction pressure and the amount are almost the same. Can be the same.

  Therefore, the branching of the flow path prevents problems such as suction from only one nozzle due to pressure conditions in the flow path and insufficient filling of the other nozzle, and suction at high pressure. Therefore, it is possible to set suction conditions that can reliably perform suction recovery without causing modulation in the ink tank, and it is possible to prevent in-clothes that are not used for printing due to ambient fluctuations or excessive suction.

  The suction method according to the present invention is not always performed. For example, when there is a bubble only in the recording element substrate 1A side liquid chamber, the same effect can be obtained by suctioning only the 1A side. By selecting an optimal suction method according to the situation, suction can be performed more reliably and in-cross can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, a configuration in which a plurality of recording element substrates are arranged and the same number of suction caps is arranged correspondingly has been described. However, the number of recording element substrates and the number of suction caps are limited. Not a thing. In the case where the flow path connecting the ink tank and the discharge nozzle row is branched into a plurality of branches, it is effective for the configuration in which different suction caps correspond to the discharge nozzle rows at the branch destination and the control method thereof.

Schematic configuration diagram of the printer Exploded perspective view of recording head Perspective view of suction cap Schematic diagram of ink flow path configuration Schematic diagram of ink flow during suction

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording element board | substrate 2 Support substrate 3 Flow path formation member 4 Chip tank 11 Liquid chamber 12 Discharge nozzle row 14 Ink flow path 21 Suction cap 104 Recording part 105 Recovery part 112 Carriage 113 Recording head 114 Ink tank

Claims (4)

In a liquid jet recording head that discharges a recording liquid to a recording medium and performs recording,
A flow path connecting the storage tank for storing the recording liquid and the recording liquid discharge section, a suction mechanism and a suction cap for filling the discharge section and the flow path with the recording liquid,
A liquid jet recording head, wherein a plurality of flow paths are branched from the tank to a plurality of discharge sections, and different suction caps correspond to the discharge sections at the branch destinations of the flow paths.   The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of storage tanks. In the flow path connecting the storage tank and the recording liquid discharge part,
The tank and the discharge part are uniquely connected by a flow path, and the tank and the discharge part are divided into a plurality of flow paths branched from the tank to the plurality of discharge parts. 2. A liquid jet recording head according to 1. A flow path connecting a storage tank for storing recording liquid and a recording liquid discharge section; a discharge mechanism; a suction mechanism for filling the flow path with recording liquid; and a suction cap; and a plurality of discharge sections from the tank In the recording apparatus in which the flow path to is branched, and different suction caps correspond to each discharge portion at the branch destination of the flow path,
A recording apparatus, wherein when the recording liquid is sucked by a suction cap and a suction mechanism corresponding to one of the branch flow paths, the other suction cap and suction mechanism perform the same operation as the suction stop or suction stop.

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