JP2007160571A - Conveyance device, liquid jet device, and recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveyance device having a conveyance roller on which a water-repellent film with improved durability is formed, and a liquid jet device having the conveyance device, and a recorder. <P>SOLUTION: Each of the conveyance rollers 58a, 58b which is adapted to convey a jetting medium for receiving a liquid jetted thereto by contacting the jetting face thereof, includes at least silicon dioxide or is applied with a coherent film 3 including at least silicon dioxide, and a water-repellent film 2 is formed on the circumference face of each of the rollers. As silicon dioxide has many hydroxyl groups (-OH) and the hydroxyl group (-OH) tends to be coupled with a silane coupling agent normally included in the water-repellent film, it is possible to provide the water-repellent film having a high degree of adhesion with respect to the conveyance roller. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport apparatus having a transport roller that transports an ejected medium in contact with an ejection surface of the ejected medium onto which liquid is ejected, and a liquid ejecting apparatus and a recording apparatus that include the transport apparatus.

  For example, a textile printing apparatus equipped with an inkjet head as a liquid ejecting apparatus performs printing by ejecting ink from a head onto a cloth while sandwiching and transporting the cloth with a conveyance roller and its driven roller, and using a discharge roller and its driven roller. The cloth is sandwiched and discharged. In such an ink jet printing apparatus, it may take time to dry the ink discharged onto the cloth, and there is a possibility that the undried ink is transferred to the surface of the driven roller of the discharge roller and the ink is peeled off. In view of this, an ink jet printing apparatus has been proposed in which the surface of the driven roller of the discharge roller is subjected to a water-repellent treatment to prevent transfer of undried ink (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-89966 A

The driven roller of the discharge roller described above is made of, for example, alumite (AlO ₂ ), and the material of the water repellent film includes, for example, a bond (—Si—OH) of silicon (—Si—) and hydroxyl group (—OH). For this reason, there are only (-O-Al-O-) bonds on the surface of the driven roller of the discharge roller. When a water repellent film is formed, (-O-Al-O-Si-) bonds are formed. Will make. In general, it is difficult to form a bond of (—O—Al—O—Si—), and even when alumite (AlO ₂ ) is plasma-excited, the appearance of hydroxyl groups (—OH) is small. Therefore, the water-repellent film formed on the surface of the driven roller of the discharge roller is inferior in durability, and there is a problem that the water-repellent film is dropped or worn from the surface of the driven roller of the discharge roller in a relatively short period of time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the various problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport device having a transport roller on which a water-repellent film with improved durability is formed, and a liquid including the transport device. An object is to provide an ejection device and a recording device.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the transport apparatus according to the present invention, in the transport apparatus having a transport roller that contacts the ejection surface of the ejected medium on which the liquid is ejected and transports the ejected medium, the transport roller includes at least the dioxide dioxide. It is characterized in that it contains silicon and a water repellent film is formed on the peripheral surface of the roller. As a result, silicon dioxide has many hydroxyl groups (—OH), and these hydroxyl groups (—OH) are easily bonded to the silane coupling agent usually contained in the water-repellent film, and thus have high adhesion to the transport roller. A water repellent film can be obtained.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the transport device of the present invention, in the transport device having a transport roller that contacts the ejection surface of the ejected medium on which the liquid is ejected and transports the ejected medium, on the peripheral surface of the transport roller. The water repellent film is formed through an adhesion film. Thereby, since the adhesion film can function as a so-called primer, it is possible to obtain a water-repellent film having a high degree of adhesion to the transport roller.

  The adhesive film contains at least silicon dioxide. As a result, silicon dioxide has many hydroxyl groups (—OH), and these hydroxyl groups (—OH) are easily bonded to the silane coupling agent usually contained in the water-repellent film, and thus have high adhesion to the transport roller. A water repellent film can be obtained. Further, the transport roller is a discharge roller that discharges the ejection target medium. Thus, for example, even after a liquid such as ink is ejected onto the ejection medium, the ejection medium can be discharged to the outside without disturbing the ejection state of the liquid such as ink on the ejection medium. it can.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a medium to be ejected, and is characterized by including each of the above-described transport devices. A recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium is provided with the above-described transport devices. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus or a recording apparatus that exhibits the above-described effects.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all the combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention. Absent.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire external configuration of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing its internal structure, and FIG. It is a schematic side view which shows an internal structure. The ink jet printer 100 includes, for example, business cards, cards, L / 2L size, postcards, six-cut sheets, and JIS standard A6 size to A4 size cut paper (conveyed medium), for example, CD-R ( It has a function capable of recording on the label surface of an optical disc such as Compact Disc-Recordable (DVD) and DVD-R (Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable).

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet printer 100 is entirely covered with a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 101. An operation unit 110 is disposed on the front side of the upper surface of the housing 101, a memory card slot 120 is disposed on the right side of the front surface of the housing 101, and a paper feeding unit 130 is disposed on the rear side of the upper surface. A paper discharge unit 140 is disposed on the front side. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a housing 101 includes a sheet conveying unit (conveying device) 150 including a characteristic portion of the present invention, a recording unit (liquid ejecting apparatus) 160, and a disk conveying unit 200. Is arranged.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the operation unit 110 includes a substantially rectangular operation panel 111, and a liquid crystal panel 112 that displays an operation state or the like is disposed at a substantially central portion of the operation panel 111. Buttons 113 such as a power system for turning on / off the power, an operation system for operating the cueing of paper or operating ink flushing, a processing system for performing image processing, and the like are disposed on both sides. Since the user can operate the button 113 while checking the liquid crystal panel 112 for confirmation, an erroneous operation can be prevented.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the memory card slot 120 is covered with a cover 121 that can be opened and closed in the direction of the arrow a. The memory card slot section 120 includes a slot section (not shown) in which, for example, three slots are formed, and is configured to be compatible with 13 types of memory cards. Even if the user does not connect the ink jet printer 100 to a personal computer, the user can record an image or the like stored in the memory card only by inserting the memory card into the slot of the slot portion with the ink jet printer 100 alone. Can do.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper supply unit 130 has a function of opening and closing a paper supply port 131 that opens upward in a rectangular shape and a function of supporting one or a plurality of papers to be supplied. 132 is provided. The paper support 132 is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow b shown in the figure around the rotation axis at the rear end. When the user uses or does not use the inkjet printer 100, the user inserts a finger into the hole 133 provided in the housing 101 on the left side of the paper support 132 and opens and closes the paper support 132 with the left side of the paper support 132 shown. Therefore, it is possible to easily insert a sheet, and to prevent dust from entering the sheet feeding port 131.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the paper support 132 includes a first support 31 and a second support 32 that support the back surface of the paper, a fixed edge guide 33 that guides both side edges of the paper, a movable edge guide 34, and the like. ing. The first support 31 is formed in a flat plate shape and is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow b shown in the drawing with the rotation axis at the rear end as a center. The second support 32 is formed in a flat plate shape and is disposed in the first support 31 so as to be retractable and retractable. As a result, various sizes of paper can be reliably supported during use, and when not in use, the second support 32 is stored in the first support 31, and the first support 31 is placed over the paper feed slot 131. It can be stored compactly.

  The fixed edge guide 33 is formed integrally with the hopper 51 in a shape along the right side wall in the figure, and the movable edge guide 34 is formed in a shape along the left side wall in the figure, and the rear wall is substantially between the left side wall and the right side wall. It is attached so that it can move in parallel. Since the fixed edge guide 33 and the movable edge guide 34 can reliably guide both side edges of the paper even if the paper sizes are different, the feeding can be performed with high accuracy.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper discharge unit 140 is a stacker that has a function of opening and closing a paper discharge port 141 that opens in a rectangular shape toward the front, and a function of stacking one or a plurality of paper to be discharged. 142. The stacker 142 is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow c in the figure around the rotation axis at the lower end. When the user uses or does not use the ink jet printer 100, the user can open and close the stacker 142 by placing a finger on the handle 143 provided on the top of the stacker 142, so that the setting can be easily performed. In addition, dust can be prevented from entering the paper discharge outlet 141. Further, since the recorded paper is always discharged from the front side, the user can easily take out the paper.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the stacker 142 includes a first stacker 41 and a second stacker 42. The first stacker 41 is formed in a flat plate shape, and is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow c in the figure around the rotation shaft at the rear end. The second stacker 42 is formed in a flat plate shape and is disposed in the first stacker 41 so as to be retractable and retractable. As a result, sheets of paper of various sizes can be stacked and placed reliably when in use, and the second stacker 42 is stored in the first stacker 41 and the first stacker 41 is discharged when not in use. Since it covers the paper mouth 141, it can be stored compactly.

  The paper transport unit 150 is disposed from the paper feed unit 130 to the paper discharge unit 140, and includes an automatic paper feed mechanism 151, a transport mechanism 152, and a paper discharge mechanism 153 including the characteristic portions of the present invention. Yes. The automatic paper feed mechanism 151 is a hopper 51 that lifts up the paper supported by the paper support 132, a paper feed roller 52 that picks up the paper lifted by the hopper 51, and multi-feed by the paper feed roller 52. A retard roller 53 that separates the separated paper into only one sheet, a paper return lever 54 that returns the remaining paper separated by the retard roller 53 to the hopper 51, and the like.

  The hopper 51 is formed in a flat plate shape on which paper can be placed, and is disposed substantially parallel to the rear wall. The lower end is located near the paper feed roller 52 and the upper end is located near the top of the rear wall. It is arranged to do. The hopper 51 is attached such that the other end of a compression spring (not shown) having one end attached to the rear wall is attached to the back surface on the lower end side, and the lower end side turns around the upper end side by expansion and contraction of the compression spring. It is installed.

  The paper feed roller 52 is formed in a D shape with a part of the cross-section cut away, and is disposed in the vicinity of the lower end of the hopper 51. The paper feed roller 52 rotates intermittently and frictionally feeds the paper lifted by the hopper 51. It is supposed to send. The retard roller 53 is disposed so as to come into contact with the paper feed roller 52, and when the paper is fed by the paper feed roller 52, only the uppermost paper is frictionally separated from the lower paper. Yes. The paper return lever 54 is formed in a claw shape and is disposed in the vicinity of the paper feed roller 52, and the lower layer paper separated by the retard roller 53 is placed on the claw and returned to the hopper 51.

  The transport mechanism 152 is provided with a paper feed roller 55 that feeds paper in the sub-scanning direction in synchronization with the recording operation, a driven roller 56, and the like. The paper feed roller 55 is arranged on the upstream side of the transport of the platen 163, and sandwiches the paper fed by the paper feed roller 52 together with the driven roller 56 and feeds it to the platen 163.

  The paper discharge mechanism 153 includes a paper discharge roller 57, a first driven roller (conveying roller (discharge roller)) 58a and a second driven roller (conveying roller (discharge roller)) 58b, which are characteristic features of the present invention. I have. The first driven roller 58a is disposed on the downstream side of the transport of the platen 163, and the second driven roller 58b and the paper discharge roller 57 are disposed on the downstream side of the transport of the first driven roller 58a. The passing paper is first discharged by the first driven roller 58a, and then sandwiched by the second driven roller 58b and the paper discharge roller 57 and discharged onto the stacker 142.

  As described in the background art, the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b are formed with a water-repellent film to prevent undried ink from being transferred to the surface and causing ink peeling. As a further characteristic part, an adhesion film is formed between the water repellent film and the surfaces of the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b. That is, an adhesion film is first formed on the surfaces of the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b, and then a water repellent film is formed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the film formation state of this embodiment and a conventional water repellent film. As shown in FIG. 4B, the driven roller 1 is made of, for example, cylindrical alumite (AlO ₂ ), and the material of the water repellent film 2 is, for example, silicon (Si) that is a water repellent functional site and a hydroxyl group that is a reactive site. (OH) bond (—Si—OH) is included. For this reason, the surface of the driven roller 1 has only (—O—Al—O—) bonds that are reactive sites, and when a water repellent film is formed thereon (—O—Al—O—). Si-) bonds are formed. In general, it is difficult to form a bond of (—O—Al—O—Si—), and even when alumite (AlO ₂ ) is plasma-excited, the appearance of hydroxyl groups (—OH) is small. Therefore, the water repellent film 2 formed on the surface of the driven roller 1 is inferior in durability.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4A, the material of the adhesion film 3 is a sol containing at least silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ), that is, a reactive site (-Si-O-Si-). It contains a large amount of silane coupling agent. For this reason, when the water repellent film 2 is formed on the adhesion film 3, a bond of (—O—Si—O—Si—) is formed. In general, a bond of (—O—Si—O—Si—) is easier to form than a bond of (—O—Al—O—Si—), and when silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ) is plasma-excited, a hydroxyl group (—OH ) Appears more frequently than alumite (AlO ₂ ). This is presumably because silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ) itself exhibits hydrophilicity.

Therefore, the first and second driven rollers 58a made of a cylindrical anodized aluminum (AlO _2), the adhesion layer 3 was deposited on the surface of 58b (-Si-O-Si-) on the a (-Si-OH) The formation of the water repellent film 2 including the overwhelming reaction rate is greater than the formation of the water repellent film 2 including (-Si-OH) directly on the driven roller 1 made of alumite (AlO ₂ ). Difference will occur. Accordingly, the water-repellent film 2 is firmly adhered to the adhesion film 3, and the adhesion film 3 is originally firmly adhered to the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b, and therefore the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b. It is possible to prevent the water repellent film 2 from falling off or being worn out for a relatively long time. As described above, the water-repellent film 2 dropped off when 5000 sheets were discharged from the conventional driven roller 1, but the water-repellent film was discharged even when 15000 sheets were discharged from the first and second driven rollers 58 a and 58 b of this embodiment. It was possible to prevent the membrane 2 from falling off.

Here, the surface strength of the water-repellent film 2 formed on the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b exceeds Ry0.4, and the surface pressure with respect to the recording surface of the paper is 0.6 gf / mm ² . When it exceeded, it became clear that a roller trace was attached to the recording surface of the paper. However, since the film thickness of the water repellent film 2 is 0.05 μm at the maximum, the plane ancestry cannot be made Ry 0.4 or less. Therefore, the roller against the recording surface of the sheet is obtained by setting the surface roughness of the peripheral surfaces of the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b themselves to Ry 0.4 or less and the surface pressure to 0.6 gf / mm ² or less. The scar can be eliminated.

  The recording unit 160 includes a carriage 161 that moves in the main scanning direction in synchronization with the recording operation, a recording head 162 that ejects ink in synchronization with the recording operation, and a platen 163 that holds the recording paper flat. Has been. The carriage 161 is inserted into the carriage guide shaft 164 above the platen 163 and connected to the carriage belt 165. When the carriage belt 165 is actuated by a carriage motor (not shown), the carriage 161 is entrained in the movement of the carriage belt 165, and the carriage guide. It is guided by the shaft 164 so as to reciprocate. The carriage 161 is formed with a cartridge housing portion 61 into which a plurality of ink cartridges can be inserted and removed.

  The recording head 162 is mounted on the carriage 161 at a predetermined distance from the platen 163. For example, the recording head for black ink that discharges black ink, and five colors of yellow, cyan, light cyan, magenta, and light magenta. And a plurality of color ink recording heads for ejecting the respective inks. The recording head 162 is provided with a pressure generating chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generating chamber. The size of the recording head 162 is controlled from the nozzle opening toward the sheet by storing ink in the pressure generating chamber and pressurizing the ink with a predetermined pressure. Ink droplets are discharged.

  An operation when recording on a sheet in such a configuration will be described. The user stores a plurality of sheets before recording in the paper support 132 and activates the ink jet printer 100. The lower end of the paper stacked and stored in the paper support 132 is lifted by the hopper 51 and brought into contact with the paper feed roller 52. At the same time, the paper is fed by the paper feed roller 52 and, at the same time, only the uppermost paper is frictionally separated and fed by the separation pad 53.

  The uppermost sheet is skewed and cueed, and is nipped by the sheet feed roller 55 and its driven roller 56 and fed to the platen 163. The sheet is recorded by a recording head 162 mounted on a carriage 161 scanned by a carriage motor and a carriage belt 165. At this time, the control unit of the ink jet printer 100 supplies each color ink from a total of six color ink cartridges, for example, yellow, magenta, light magenta, cyan, light cyan, and black, to the recording head 162, and discharge timing of each color ink and carriage 161 and the paper feed roller 55 are controlled to execute highly accurate ink dot control, halftone processing, and the like.

Then, the recording-completed sheet is sandwiched between the first driven roller 58a and the paper discharge roller 57 and the second driven roller 58b and stacked on the stacker 142. At this time, the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b are formed with the water-repellent film 2 having a surface ridge of Ry 0.4 or less, and the surface pressure against the recording surface of the paper is 0.6 gf / mm. Since it is set to ² or less, transfer of undried ink can be prevented, and a roller mark is not formed, and a highly accurate recording state can be maintained.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the adhesion film 3 and the water repellent film 2 are formed on the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a paper feed roller, a paper discharge roller, or the like of a model that performs double-side printing can achieve the same effect. Further, the case where the adhesion film 3 and the water repellent film 2 are formed on the first and second driven rollers 58a and 58b made of alumite (AlO ₂ ) has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The same effect can be obtained by applying even a roller made of metal, plastic, or the like.

  For example, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, a scanner, and the like can be applied as long as the recording apparatus includes a conveyance device. In addition to a recording apparatus, the meaning of a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid corresponding to its use from a liquid ejecting head onto an ejected medium instead of ink and attaches the liquid to the ejected medium is, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like Color material jet head used for manufacturing color filters, electrode material (conductive paste) jet head used for electrode formation for organic EL display and surface emitting display (FED), bio-organic jet head used for biochip manufacturing, precision pipette The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus equipped with a sample ejection head or the like.

1 is a perspective view showing an overall appearance configuration of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the printer of FIG. 1. It is a schematic side view which shows the internal structure of the printer of FIG. It is a figure which shows the film-forming state of this embodiment and the conventional water-repellent film.

Explanation of symbols

2 Water repellent film, 3 adhesion film, 58a first driven roller, 58b second driven roller, 100 ink jet printer, 110 operation unit, 120 memory card slot unit, 130 paper feed unit, 140 paper discharge unit, 150 paper transport unit , 160 Recording unit, 200 Disc transport unit

Claims (6)

In a transport apparatus having a transport roller that contacts the ejection surface of the ejected medium from which liquid is ejected and conveys the ejected medium,
The conveying apparatus, wherein the conveying roller includes at least silicon dioxide, and a water-repellent film is formed on the peripheral surface of the roller. In a transport apparatus having a transport roller that contacts the ejection surface of the ejected medium from which liquid is ejected and conveys the ejected medium,
A transport apparatus, wherein a water repellent film is formed on the peripheral surface of the transport roller through an adhesive film. The transport apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the adhesion film includes at least silicon dioxide. The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport roller is a discharge roller that discharges the ejection target medium. A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a medium to be ejected,
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising the transport device according to claim 1. A recording device for recording on a recording medium,
A recording apparatus comprising the transport device according to claim 1.

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