JP2007098746A - Printer and print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer and a print system in which special ink used rarely can be used economically. <P>SOLUTION: The printer comprises a special ink piping joint 18 connected with an external ink tank 15 containing special ink, a special ink tank 25 receiving the special ink supplied through that joint, and a cleaning unit 45 for removing ink existing between the ink outlet 19 of the special ink tank 25 and a nozzle 31 for ejecting that ink 29 forcibly before printing is performed using the special ink according to a print instruction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to printers and printing systems that allow the economical use of rarely used special inks.

The performance of an ink jet printer has improved, and it has become possible not only to print a document but also to print on various media. Therefore, its application has been expanded and the demand for ink has become high. For this reason, a printer capable of printing using a special ink such as a fluorescent paint has been developed (Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-082346 A

Here, the conventional technique has the following problems to be solved.
For example, special inks such as fluorescent ink and gold-silver ink are often used for printing greeting cards. The need for printing using these special inks is increasing for shops and photo printing services that offer photo print services. However, since the special ink is rarely used, if it is always mounted on the print head, it is extremely wasteful due to deterioration. The present invention has been made paying attention to the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a printer and a printing system that enable economical use of special ink that is rarely used.

In each embodiment of the present invention, the above-described problems are solved by the following configurations.
<Configuration 1> A special ink pipe connecting part connected to an external ink tank containing special ink, a special ink tank for receiving special ink supplied through the special ink pipe connecting part, and a printing command using the special ink And a cleaning device for forcibly removing ink existing between the ink outlet of the special ink tank and the nozzle for discharging the ink before printing is performed.

  Special ink tanks usually do not contain ink. Supply special ink from an external ink tank only when necessary. Therefore, it is not necessary to store special ink with poor storage stability. Since the nozzle for discharging the special ink has not been used for a long time, the vicinity of the nozzle is forcibly executed immediately before use. Thereby, special ink can be introduced and printed at any timing.

  <Configuration 2> Special ink pipe connection connected to an external ink tank containing special ink, special ink supplied through the special ink pipe connection, and supply from any ink tank mounted on the print head An ink switching device that selects one of the inks to be guided and leads to a common nozzle of the print head and the ink from the ink outlet of the ink tank before performing printing in accordance with a print command using the special ink. A printer comprising: a cleaning device that forcibly removes ink existing between the nozzles for discharging the ink.

  It is uneconomical to provide special ink tanks and printing nozzles for special inks that are rarely used. Therefore, when printing special ink, the nozzle for printing of any color already in the printer can be shared. It is possible to prevent ink from being mixed by forcibly removing ink near the nozzles before printing.

  <Configuration 3> In the printer according to Configuration 2, for any of the ink tanks mounted on the print head, one of the ink supplied from the ink tank and the special ink is selected, and the print head A printer comprising an ink switching device that leads to a common nozzle.

  A plurality of ink tanks are mounted on the print head. Any one of them can be used by switching between the special ink and the ink that is not used when the special ink is printed.

  <Configuration 4> Through an external ink tank containing special ink, a special ink pipe for sending the special ink from the external ink tank, a special ink pipe connection for receiving the special ink, and the special ink pipe connection Before executing printing according to the special ink tank that receives the special ink supplied and the print command using the special ink, the ink existing between the ink outlet of the special ink tank and the nozzle that discharges the ink is removed. A printing system having a plurality of printers with a cleaning device forcibly removed.

  The system was configured to supply special ink from a single external ink tank to multiple printers.

  <Configuration 5> An external ink tank containing special ink, a special ink pipe for sending the special ink from the external ink tank, a special ink pipe connection for receiving the special ink, and the special ink pipe connection Select either one of the special ink to be supplied or the ink supplied from one of the ink tanks mounted on the print head, and use the special ink and the ink switching device that leads to the common nozzle of the print head And a cleaning device that forcibly removes ink existing between the ink outlet of the ink tank and the nozzle that ejects the ink before printing is performed in accordance with the print command. .

  A special ink is supplied from a single external ink tank to a plurality of printers, and is a system including the printer of Configuration 2.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail for each example.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the printer according to the first embodiment.
The printer 10 shown in the upper part of the drawing operates to print on the paper received from the paper feed tray 12 using the print head 11 and discharge it to the paper discharge tray 13. An enlarged view of the print head 11 is shown in the middle of the figure. A black ink tank 21, a yellow ink tank 22, a magenta ink tank 23, a cyan ink tank 24, and a special ink tank 25 are mounted on the print head 11. The special ink tank 25 is normally empty. The other four color ink tanks contain predetermined ink, and normal printing is executed as needed.

  In order to store the special ink in the special ink tank 25, an external ink tank 15 is prepared. The external ink tank 15 is for supplying special ink to a plurality of printers as required, for example. A special ink pipe 16 is connected to the external ink tank 15, and a connector 17 is attached to the tip thereof. The printer 10 is provided with a special ink pipe connection 18. When the connector 18 is attached to the special ink pipe connection 18, the tip of the connector 18 reaches the special ink tank 25 of the print head 11 at the home position. An inlet 27 is provided on the side surface of the special ink tank 25, and the tip of the connector is fitted into the inlet 27.

  The special ink supplied from the inlet 27 is accommodated in the accommodating portion 28 of the special ink tank 25. On the other hand, as shown in the enlarged view of the print head 11, the ink tanks 21 to 25 are attached to the head unit 30. The head unit 30 is provided with a nozzle 31 for printing. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of the main part of the special ink tank 25 and a side view of the head part 30. The special ink 29 supplied from the inlet 27 is stored in the storage unit 28. Since it is not normally used and the amount used is very small, in this embodiment, as shown in the figure, the accommodating portion 28 is arranged in a part of the special ink 29 to reduce the size. Of course, this portion may be made sufficiently large to accommodate a large amount of special ink.

  When printing is started, the special ink 29 is fed from the ink outlet 19 at the lower end of the containing portion 28 to the head portion 30 side and is discharged from the nozzle 31. If this nozzle 31 is rarely used, there is a possibility that the pipe from the ink outlet 19 to the nozzle 31 is clogged. Therefore, after supplying the special ink 29 to the special ink tank 25, this portion is cleaned before printing is executed in accordance with the print command. The cleaning device for this purpose includes a cleaning control unit 41 and a driver 42, and operates to drive the head unit 30 and discharge the special ink 29 from the nozzles 31 for a certain period of time. This cleaning process is the same as that often performed when the printing state is not good in a general printer.

  The cleaning can be forcibly started, or the cleaning can be automatically started at a predetermined timing. When the special ink 29 is supplied to the special ink tank 25, the switch 40 may be operated automatically or manually. When the switch 40 is operated, the cleaning control unit 41 drives the driver 42 to forcibly remove the ink existing between the ink outlet 19 and the nozzle 31. In this way, it is possible to prepare an environment in which the special ink is printed favorably.

  The special ink may be, for example, gold, silver, or any other ink. It is an ink of a color different from the color normally used. This includes ink that is expensive or has very poor storage stability. Since the external ink tank is installed separately from the printer, a special ink pipe connection for receiving special ink in the printer is provided.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a main part of the printer according to the second embodiment.
In the above example, the special ink tank is always mounted on the print head, and the special ink is supplied to the special ink tank when necessary. However, it may be useless to drive the print head with an empty special ink tank. Therefore, in this embodiment, special ink is supplied directly to the print head through a pipe only when necessary. The nozzles are not dedicated to special inks but are also used for other inks. For this purpose, as shown in the drawing, a pipe 62 for supplying special ink is provided on the side surface of the head unit 30. A switching valve 63 is provided inside the head unit 30.

  In this embodiment, the nozzle 35 for discharging cyan ink from the cyan ink tank 24 is used for special ink. A pipe 61 is provided above the switching valve 63 in the figure. This pipe 61 is connected to the ink outlet of the cyan ink tank 24. On the other hand, a pipe 62 is provided on the side surface of the switching valve 63. This pipe 62 is connected to a special ink pipe 66 through a plug 65. During a printing operation that does not use special ink, the switching valve 63 sends cyan ink supplied from the pipe 61 to the nozzle 35. On the other hand, when printing using the special ink is started, the switching valve 63 sends the special ink supplied from the pipe 62 to the nozzle 35. The special ink pipe 66 is, for example, a flexible tube connected to the special ink pipe connecting portion 18 shown in FIG. When the special ink is supplied from the special ink pipe connection unit 18, the special ink is sent to the nozzle 35 of the head unit 30 through the special ink pipe 66 and the pipe 62.

  The following cleaning process is executed before printing using special ink is started. First, the switch 40 is operated. In response to this, the ink switching unit 51 of the ink switching device 55 operates the driver 52 to drive the switching valve 63 to switch the ink flow path. The switching valve 63 releases the connection between the pipe 61 and the pipe 64 and connects the pipe 62 and the pipe 64. Next, the cleaning device 45 is activated. Then, the ink existing between the ink outlet of the ink tank 24 and the nozzle 35 that ejects the ink is forcibly removed. The inside of the pipe 61 and the pipe 64 is also cleaned. As a result, the cyan ink is expelled and the special ink can be printed satisfactorily. After the printing of the special ink is finished, the switching device 55 operates, and the switching valve 63 releases the connection between the pipe 62 and the pipe 64 and connects the pipe 61 to the pipe 64. Subsequently, the cleaning device 45 operates to forcibly remove ink existing between the ink outlet of the ink tank 24 and the nozzle 35 that ejects the ink. This switching device may be provided not only in the cyan ink tank but also in all other tanks. As a result, it is possible to selectively supply the special ink to the nozzles of the unnecessary ink tank while leaving the ink tank that needs to be printed. Through the control as described above, special ink can be temporarily supplied to the printer and printing can be performed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the printing system according to the third embodiment.
As shown in the figure, for example, a service company that performs a print service has a large number of printers 10 installed therein. When there is a special ink supply request to any of these printers, the special ink is supplied from the external ink tank 15 to the corresponding printer through the special ink pipe 16 as shown in the figure. Each printer receives the supply of special ink to the special ink tank, and then disconnects the special ink pipe 16. Alternatively, printing is performed while continuously receiving special ink. The printer may have the configuration of the first embodiment or the configuration of the second embodiment. At this time, the cleaning process described in the first and second embodiments is executed.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the print head of the printer according to the fourth embodiment.
A black ink tank 21, a yellow ink tank 22, a magenta ink tank 23, and a cyan ink tank 24 are mounted on the print head 70. A special ink tank 71 is fixed to the side surface of the black ink tank 21. The special ink tank 71 is fixed to the side surface of the black ink tank 21 only when it is used by a fixing means having an arbitrary configuration. The special ink tank 71 is connected to the pipe 73 of the head unit 30 through the special ink pipe 72. The pipe 73 corresponds to the pipe 62 shown in FIG. In this printer, special ink is supplied from the special ink tank 71 through the special ink pipe 72 to the pipe 7 of the head unit 30 and discharged using any one of the ink discharge valves. Therefore, the head portion 30 is provided with the switching valve 63 as described in FIG. Such a configuration also enables economical printing of special ink.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the printer according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of main parts of a printer according to a second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a system according to a third embodiment. FIG. 9 is a side view illustrating a print head of a printer according to a fourth embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printer, 11 Print head, 12 Paper feed tray, 13 Paper discharge tray, 15 External ink tank, 16 Special ink piping, 17 Connector, 18 Special ink piping connection part, 19 Ink outlet, 21 Black ink tank, 22 Yellow ink tank , 23 Magenta ink tank, 24 Cyan ink tank, 25 Special ink tank, 27 Inlet, 28 Storage section, 29 Special ink, 30 Head section, 31 Nozzle, 40 Switch, 41 Cleaning control section, 42 Driver, 45 Cleaning device.

Claims (5)

A special ink pipe connection connected to an external ink tank containing special ink;
A special ink tank for receiving special ink supplied through the special ink pipe connection;
A cleaning device that forcibly removes ink existing between an ink outlet of the special ink tank and a nozzle that discharges the ink before printing is performed according to a print command using the special ink. A printer characterized by that. A special ink pipe connection connected to an external ink tank containing special ink;
An ink switching device that selects either one of the special ink supplied through the special ink pipe connecting portion and the ink supplied from one of the ink tanks mounted on the print head and guides it to a common nozzle of the print head When,
A cleaning device that forcibly removes ink existing between the ink outlet of the ink tank and the nozzle that ejects the ink before printing is performed in accordance with a print command using the special ink. Printer characterized by. The printer according to claim 2.
For all the ink tanks mounted on the print head, there is provided an ink switching device that selects either the ink supplied from the ink tank or the special ink and guides it to a common nozzle of the print head. A printer characterized by that. An external ink tank containing special ink;
A special ink pipe for sending the special ink from the external ink tank;
A special ink pipe connection for receiving the special ink;
A special ink tank for receiving special ink supplied through the special ink pipe connection;
A cleaning device that forcibly removes ink existing between an ink outlet of the special ink tank and a nozzle that discharges the ink before printing is performed according to a print command using the special ink. A printing system having a plurality of printers. An external ink tank containing special ink;
A special ink pipe for sending the special ink from the external ink tank;
A special ink pipe connection for receiving the special ink;
An ink switching device that selects either one of the special ink supplied through the special ink pipe connecting portion and the ink supplied from one of the ink tanks mounted on the print head and guides it to a common nozzle of the print head When,
A cleaning device that forcibly removes ink existing between the ink outlet of the ink tank and the nozzle that ejects the ink before printing is performed in accordance with a print command using the special ink. Printer characterized by.

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