JP2007090793A - Recorder and liquid injection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent degradation of recording quality due to scattering of ink mist after flushing, at low cost without incurring complexity and upsizing of an apparatus, while avoiding a decrease of throughput as much as possible. <P>SOLUTION: A carriage 2 having a recording head to discharge ink includes a reciprocating area A<SB>1</SB>when making recording operation, and a flushing section 6, in a reciprocatable area A<SB>0</SB>in its main scanning direction. Based on a moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 when the carriage 2 moves for the recording area A<SB>1</SB>from the flushing section 6 after the flushing is completed, a controller for controlling a drive of the carriage 2 shortens a waiting time W<SB>t</SB>to keep the carriage 2 waiting at the flushing section 6 after flushing as the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 is reduced. Fouling of a recording paper surface due to ink mist is thereby prevented, while a decrease in the throughput is avoided as much as possible. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus including a recording head that ejects ink. The present invention also relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus.
Here, the liquid ejecting apparatus uses an ink jet recording head, and is not limited to a recording apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine that discharges ink from the recording head to perform recording on a recording medium. And a device that ejects a liquid corresponding to the application from a liquid ejecting head corresponding to the ink jet recording head to an ejected medium corresponding to a recording medium, and adheres the liquid to the ejected medium. .
In addition to the recording head, as a liquid ejecting head, a color material ejecting head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, and an electrode material (conductive paste) used for forming an electrode such as an organic EL display or a surface emitting display (FED) Examples thereof include an ejection head, a bioorganic matter ejection head used for biochip production, and a sample ejection head as a precision pipette.

  An example of the recording apparatus or the liquid ejecting apparatus is an ink jet printer. A recording head that ejects ink in an ink jet printer has a large number of ink ejection nozzles, but the ink ejected from the recording head contains a solvent, and therefore the ink viscosity caused by evaporation of the ink solvent, etc. If the ink rises or the ink is solidified in the ink discharge nozzle, clogging occurs and the recording quality is lowered. Also, the recording quality may be deteriorated due to air bubbles mixed in the ink discharge nozzles or dust or the like adhering to the nozzle openings. Therefore, in an ink jet printer, a so-called flushing operation is performed in which ink is intentionally discharged (discharged) at a certain timing (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The flushing operation is performed in the flushing portion located in the reciprocating region of the carriage including the recording head. For example, when performing the flushing operation during the recording operation, the carriage is temporarily moved from the recording region to the flushing portion, and the flushing operation is performed. After performing the above, the carriage is returned to the recording area again.

  In recent years, ink jet printers that can perform high-quality printing equivalent to photographs have become common, and ink droplets have been further miniaturized. However, as ink droplets are miniaturized in this way, a phenomenon that ink ejected from the recording head floats as a mist has become noticeable. When the ink mist is generated in this way, the inside of the apparatus is soiled, and the ink mist may directly adhere to the recording paper during the recording operation and the recording surface may be soiled.

  The flushing operation is performed toward the flushing portion (ink discharge hole) in which the ink landing position is located below the recording paper, so that ink mist is particularly likely to occur as compared with the execution of recording on the recording paper. Then, the movement of the carriage after the flushing causes the turbulence of the air current, which causes the ink mist to scatter more widely. In order to solve such a problem, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which a fan is provided in a flushing box for performing flushing, and ink mist is collected by the fan.

JP-A-2005-104162 JP 2001-191557 A

However, the configuration in which the ink mist is collected by the fan as shown in the above-mentioned Patent Document 2 causes the apparatus to be complicated and large, and the cost is unavoidable.
On the other hand, it is possible to move the carriage after a sufficient amount of time after flushing in order to prevent the airflow from being disturbed by the movement of the carriage after flushing and the ink mist from spreading over a wide range. In this case, the throughput at the time of recording execution is uniformly reduced.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and the object of the present invention is to reduce the cost and avoid a decrease in throughput as much as possible without incurring complexity and size of the apparatus. The object is to prevent a decrease in recording quality due to scattering of ink mist.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a first aspect of the present invention includes a carriage provided with a recording head for ejecting ink and reciprocally movable in the main scanning direction, and control for driving and controlling the carriage in the main scanning direction. And a flushing portion that is located outside the recording area in which recording is performed on the recording medium by the recording head within the reciprocating area of the carriage, and the recording head discharges ink for flushing. In the recording apparatus, the controller slows down the movement speed of the carriage based on the movement speed of the carriage when the carriage moves from the flushing portion toward the recording area after the flushing is completed. The waiting time for waiting the carriage in the flushing portion after the flushing is completed is shortened according to .

  The slower the carriage movement speed, the smaller the turbulence of the airflow accompanying the carriage movement, that is, the degree of ink mist scattering accompanying the carriage movement can be reduced. Therefore, using this property, the control means for driving and controlling the carriage shortens the waiting time of the carriage after flushing as the carriage moving speed becomes slow. It is possible to prevent the recording surface of the recording medium from being soiled by the ink mist, or to greatly reduce the degree of the soiling. In addition, since it is sufficient to use existing components, it is possible to prevent the apparatus from becoming complicated, large, and costly.

The second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the control means sets the waiting time to zero when the carriage moving speed is equal to or lower than a predetermined speed.
According to this aspect, when the moving speed of the carriage is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, the control unit sets the waiting time to zero, thereby preventing the recording surface of the recording medium from being soiled by ink mist. However, a decrease in throughput can be reliably prevented, and an efficient recording operation can be performed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carriage provided with a liquid ejecting head for ejecting liquid and reciprocally movable in the main scanning direction, control means for driving and controlling the carriage in the main scanning direction, and reciprocation of the carriage. A liquid ejecting unit including a flushing unit that is located outside the liquid ejecting region in the moving region and ejects liquid onto the ejection target medium by the liquid ejecting head, and the liquid ejecting head ejects liquid for flushing. In the apparatus, the control unit may be configured to reduce the carriage moving speed based on the moving speed of the carriage when the carriage moves from the flushing portion toward the liquid ejecting area after the flushing is completed. The waiting time for the carriage to wait in the flushing section after completion of flushing is shortened.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. Here, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main body of an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) 1 as a “recording apparatus” or “liquid ejecting apparatus” according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a platen 5 and a waste liquid collection tray 7. 3 is a block diagram of the control means 9 for driving and controlling the carriage 2, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship between the flushing section 6 and the recording area, and FIG. 5 shows the control contents before and after the flushing operation. FIG. 6 is a table showing the relationship between carriage movement speed and standby time.

1 and 2, the printer 1 includes a carriage guide shaft 4 extending in the main scanning direction (x direction) on the frame 16, and the carriage 2 guides the carriage 2 in the main scanning direction by the carriage guide shaft 4. The carriage 2 has a recording head 3 and an ink cartridge (not shown), and is reciprocated in the main scanning direction by the power of a carriage motor 10 (FIG. 3: described later).
Below the main scanning area of the carriage 2 is provided a platen 5 that supports recording paper (mainly cut sheet paper: hereinafter referred to as “paper P”) as “recording medium” or “jetting medium”. The distance (gap) between the recording surface of the paper P and the recording head 3 is regulated by the platen 5.

A flushing portion 6 is disposed at an end of the platen 5 that is long in the main scanning direction. The flushing section 6 is formed by disposing an ink absorbing material 17 in a recess formed in the platen 5, and ejecting ink from the recording head 3 toward the flushing section 6, thereby restoring ejection characteristics, that is, flushing operation. Execute.
Below the platen 5 is disposed a waste liquid collection tray 7 having a waste liquid absorber 8 inside, and the ink discharged toward the flushing portion 6 is collected from the hole 5a formed in the platen 5 below. It is discharged to the tray 7 and stored.

In FIG. 2, symbol A ₀ indicates a reciprocating region (entire area) of the carriage 2, and symbol A ₁ indicates a recording region (reciprocating region of the carriage 2 when recording is performed). As shown in the drawing, the flushing section 6 is located inside the reciprocating movement area A ₀ of the carriage 2 and outside the recording area A ₁ , and when performing a flushing operation during execution of recording on the paper P, the recording operation is temporarily interrupted, the recording from the region a ₁ to the flushing unit 6 to move the carriage 2 (shown in phantom and reference numeral 2 '), after the flushing operation is completed, again to the recording region a ₁ returns the carriage.

Next, the control means 9 for controlling the drive of the carriage 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The control unit 9 includes a control unit 20, a CR (carriage) motor driver 11, a CR (carriage) motor 10, and a linear encoder 15.
The control unit 20 is configured to be able to transmit and receive data to and from a computer device that transmits recording data to the printer 1, and the control unit 20 receives recording data, paper type information, and recording mode information as shown in the figure. First, various other information necessary for execution of recording is input.

  The CR motor driver 11 drives and controls the CR motor 10 under the control of the control unit 20. An endless belt 12 is wound around a driving pulley 18 and a driven pulley (not shown) provided on the rotating shaft of the CR motor 10, and the carriage 2 is fixed to a part of the endless belt 12. It moves in the main scanning direction with the rotation.

  The linear encoder 15 includes a linear scale 14 that is long in the main scanning direction, and a sensor 13 that includes a light emitting unit that emits light to the linear scale 14 and a light receiving unit that receives the transmitted light. As the sensor 13 moves in the main scanning direction, the sensor 13 alternately transmits a rising signal and a falling signal to the control unit 20, so that the control unit 20 grasps the position and speed of the carriage 2 in the main scanning direction. It is possible.

Next, the flushing operation will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
The arrows in FIG. 4 indicate the conveyance direction of the paper P, the position indicated by the symbol b indicates the reference position on the one digit side, and the symbol L indicates the distance between the flushing unit 6 and the paper P side edge. Note that the side edge on one side of all types of paper P passes through the reference position b regardless of the paper width size, so the distance L varies depending on the paper type (paper width size).

Here, it performs a flushing operation at flushing portion 6 carriage 2, as the slower moving speed of the carriage 2 when returning to the side of the recording area A ₁ is, turbulence is reduced due to the movement of the carriage 2, i.e., the carriage The degree of ink mist scattering accompanying the movement of 2 can be reduced. Thereby, there is no possibility that the recording surface of the paper P is soiled, or the degree of the soiling can be extremely reduced.

  More specifically, in FIG. 5, when the flushing operation is performed during execution of the recording operation, the recording operation is temporarily interrupted (step S101), the recording mode information is acquired (step S102), and the carriage is determined from the recording mode information. (CR) The moving speed Vcr is acquired (step S103). Here, the carriage movement speed for the recording mode information is associated with the movement speed Vcr of the carriage 2 for each recording mode as shown in FIG. 6, for example. it can.

Next, it is determined whether the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 is less than or equal to the threshold VL predetermined (step S104), and when Vcr is less than VL (Yes branch), the waiting time _{W t t 1} set (step S105), when Vcr is greater than VL (negative branch), and sets the waiting time _{W t} to _{t 2} (step S107). Note that the recording mode (A through C), the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2, and the threshold value VL, a waiting time _{W t,} these relationships are shown in Figure 6 as an example.

Then it moved to the flushing unit 6 the carriage 2 from the side of the recording area _{A 1} (step S107), and executes a flushing operation (step S108). After flushing operation is completed, the carriage 2 waiting time _{W t} stand from (step S109), and resumes the recording operation by moving back to the recording region _{A 1} (step S110). The control means 9 (FIG. 3) drives and controls the carriage 2 in this way during the flushing operation.

That is, the control unit 9, the waiting time W _t to wait a flushing operation after completion of the carriage 2 in the flushing portion 6, based on the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2, is shorter as the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 is delayed. In the present embodiment, when the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 is small in the boundary threshold VL, although the waiting time W _t to zero, depending on the degree of generation of the ink mist in the flushing portion 6, the carriage As the moving speed Vcr of 2 becomes slower, it can be shortened while having a waiting time of a certain degree.

Thus, if the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 becomes slow, even if the carriage 2 moves immediately after the flushing and the turbulence of the air current occurs, the degree of the turbulence becomes small. Therefore, the moving speed Vcr of the carriage 2 is reduced. by shortening the waiting time W _t according slower, while avoiding as much as possible a reduction in the throughput of the recording operation, it is possible to prevent soiling the recording surface of the paper P by the ink mist, or of its fouling The degree can be greatly reduced. Further, since it is sufficient to use existing components to prevent the recording surface from being damaged by ink mist, it is possible to prevent the apparatus from becoming complicated, large, and costly.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a printer main body of the present invention. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of a platen and a waste-liquid collection | recovery tray. The block diagram of the control means of a carriage. Explanatory drawing which shows the positional relationship of a flushing part and a recording area. The flowchart which shows the control content before and behind flushing operation | movement. The table | surface which shows the relationship between a carriage moving speed and standby time.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer, 2 Carriage, 3 Recording head, 4 Carriage guide shaft, 5 Platen, 6 Flushing part, 7 Waste liquid collection tray, 8 Waste liquid absorber, 9 Control part, 10 Carriage motor, 11 CR (carriage) motor driver, 12 Endless belt, 13 Sensor, 14 Linear scale, 15 Linear encoder, 16 Frame, 17 Ink absorber, 18 Drive pulley, 20 Control unit, P Recording paper

Claims (3)

A carriage provided with a recording head for ejecting ink and provided so as to be capable of reciprocating in the main scanning direction;
Control means for driving and controlling the carriage in the main scanning direction;
A recording apparatus comprising: a flushing portion that is located within a reciprocating region of the carriage and outside a recording region where recording is performed on a recording medium by the recording head, and the recording head discharges ink for flushing. Because
The control means is configured to move the carriage after completion of flushing as the carriage movement speed decreases based on the movement speed of the carriage when the carriage moves from the flushing portion toward the recording area after completion of flushing. Shorten the waiting time for the flushing unit to wait,
A recording apparatus. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the waiting time is set to zero when the moving speed of the carriage is equal to or lower than a predetermined speed.
A recording apparatus. A carriage provided with a liquid ejecting head for ejecting liquid and provided so as to be capable of reciprocating in the main scanning direction;
Control means for driving and controlling the carriage in the main scanning direction;
A flushing portion that is located in a reciprocating region of the carriage and outside a liquid ejecting region that ejects liquid onto a medium to be ejected by the liquid ejecting head, and the liquid ejecting head ejects liquid for flushing. A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:
The control means, after the completion of flushing, based on the movement speed of the carriage when the carriage moves from the flushing portion toward the liquid ejecting area, after the completion of flushing, after the completion of flushing, the carriage Reduce the waiting time for the flushing unit to wait,
A liquid ejecting apparatus.

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