JP2007223048A - Fixing structure for liquid jet head, liquid injection device, and recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress vibration of a liquid jet head generated while a carriage is reciprocally moved. <P>SOLUTION: When the liquid jetting head 121 is fixed to the carriage 122 which is supported by a guide means to be reciprocally moved, a shock absorbing member 10 is provided to a portion between the carriage on the side of the guide means and the liquid jetting head. Consequently, the vibration generated on the carriage can be absorbed or blocked by the shock absorbing member before the vibration is transmitted to the liquid jet head. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure for fixing a liquid ejecting head to a carriage that is supported by guide means and reciprocates, a liquid ejecting apparatus, and a recording apparatus.

  A serial type ink jet printer, which is one of the recording devices, is mounted on a carriage by reciprocating a carriage of a recording unit in the main scanning direction while conveying the paper in a sub-scanning direction by a paper feed roller of a conveying unit. Ink is ejected from a nozzle opening of a recording head. In such an ink jet printer, since the nozzle opening position of the recording head greatly affects the recording accuracy, an ink jet printer having a mechanism for adjusting the nozzle forming surface of the recording head has been proposed (Patent Document 1). reference). The carriage is composed of two bodies, a main carriage supported by a guide rail and a sub-carriage on which the recording head is mounted, and the nozzle formation surface of the recording head is positioned by adjusting the position of the sub-carriage with respect to the main carriage. An ink jet printer provided with an adjusting mechanism has been proposed (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2001-158148 A JP 2005-193458 A

  Since the above-described ink jet printer has a mechanism for adjusting the position of the nozzle forming surface of the recording head, a large vibration may occur in the recording head when the carriage reciprocates, and recording that runs in the sub-scanning direction called banding is performed. There may be unevenness.

  The present invention has been made in view of the various problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to fix a liquid ejecting head to a carriage that can reduce vibration of the liquid ejecting head that occurs when the carriage reciprocates. And a liquid ejecting apparatus and a recording apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the liquid ejecting head fixing structure of the present invention, in the structure of fixing the liquid ejecting head to the carriage supported by the guide means and reciprocating, the carriage on the guide means side, the liquid ejecting head, The liquid jet head is fixed by providing a buffer member therebetween. Thereby, the vibration generated in the carriage can be buffered or cut off before being transmitted to the liquid ejecting head by the buffer member. The buffer member is in surface contact. As a result, the liquid ejecting head can be pressed and integrated with the carriage on the guide means side with less vibration via the buffer member, so that vibration generated with increased rigidity can be reduced.

  Specifically, a main carriage that is supported by guide means and reciprocates, a sub-carriage that is attached to the main carriage so that the position of the main carriage can be adjusted, a liquid-jet head mounted on the sub-carriage, and the liquid-jet A liquid ejecting apparatus including a head valve unit attached to an upper portion of a head, the back plate constituting the sub-carriage on the guide means side, and the back surface of at least the head valve unit on the guide means side A buffer member that is in surface contact is provided between the liquid ejecting head and the liquid ejecting head is fixed to the carriage. As a result, the liquid ejecting head can be pressed and integrated with the back plate constituting the sub-carriage on the guide means side with less vibration via the buffer member, so that the vibration generated with increased rigidity can be reduced. Furthermore, it is possible to absorb and reduce the vibration generated by using the damper effect of the buffer member itself.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium of the present invention is characterized by including the liquid ejecting apparatus. Thereby, a recording apparatus that exhibits the above-described action can be provided.

  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 a configuration example of a printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration example of a main part of the printer, and FIG. It is a schematic sectional side view of the printer. A printer 100 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a large-sized ink jet printer capable of recording even relatively large size paper such as JIS standard A0 size or JIS standard B0 size. 210, the paper discharge section 130, and the leg section 140 are arranged in this order from the top. A recording unit (liquid ejecting apparatus) 120 including a characteristic part of the present invention is disposed obliquely above the transport unit 210.

  The recording unit 120, the transport unit 210, and the paper discharge unit 130 integrated as a printer main body are configured to be separable from the paper feed unit 110 and the leg unit 140, and control the recording unit 120 and the transport unit 210. A control unit 200 is incorporated. An upper lid 125 and a front lid 126 are attached to the upper surface and the front surface of the printer body so as to cover the recording unit 120 and the transport unit 210. The upper lid 125 is rotatably supported at the rear portion, and is opened and closed by pushing up or down with the front portion. The lower part of the front lid 126 is rotatably supported, and is opened and closed by pushing down or pushing up the upper part. By opening the upper lid 125 and the front lid 126, the user can perform maintenance work of the internal mechanism through the opening.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feeding unit 110 is provided so as to protrude to the upper rear side of the recording unit 120. As shown in FIG. 2, a roll paper holder 111 on which two roll papers (paper sheets) can be set is provided obliquely up and down inside the paper feed unit 110. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a flip-up roll paper cover 112 that can be opened and closed is attached so as to cover the roll paper holder 111. The roll paper cover 112 can prevent the roll paper held in the roll paper holder 111 from being contaminated, and can ensure the safety of the user.

  The roll paper holder 111 includes a spindle 113 that holds the roll paper, and a pair of spindle receivers 114 and 115 that are attached to the inner surfaces of both side walls of the paper feeding unit 110 so that the spindle 113 can be attached and detached. Then, after the roll paper is mounted at the center, both ends of the spindle 113 are mounted on the spindle receivers 114 and 115 so that the spindle 113 is rotatably supported. The upper part of the roll paper cover 112 is rotatably supported. The roll paper cover 112 is opened and closed by lifting or pushing down the lower part. The user can easily open and close the roll paper cover 112 and can shorten the roll paper replacement operation time and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the transport unit 210 includes a flat sheet feed guide 211 disposed from the sheet feed unit 110 to the recording unit 120, a paper feed roller 212 and a driven roller 213 that are disposed opposite to each other and can be contacted / separated. A flat platen 214 disposed opposite to the recording head 121 mounted on the carriage 122, a flat paper suction unit 215 disposed from the recording unit 120 to the paper discharge unit 130, and a paper discharge disposed on the paper discharge unit 130. A guide 131 is provided. Each surface of the paper feed guide 211 and the paper discharge guide 131 functions as a paper transport surface. The surface of the paper suction unit 215 acts as a paper transport surface and a paper suction surface. That is, the paper suction unit 215 includes a plurality of suction ports 215a, 215b, and 215c arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction and arranged in three rows in the sub-scanning direction, and a fan disposed inside the recording unit 120. The outside air is sucked from the suction ports 215a, 215b, and 215c by 217, so that the roll paper conveyed on the paper suction unit 215 is sucked.

  The surface of the platen 214 functions as a sheet conveyance guide surface and also as a sheet suction surface. That is, the platen 214 is provided with a plurality of suction ports 214a arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction, and the outside air is sucked from the suction ports 214a by the fans 217 disposed inside the recording unit 120. The roll paper conveyed on 214 is adsorbed. Accordingly, even when the width of the roll paper is particularly wide at the time of recording, the roll paper is surely sucked and flattened over the entire width on the platen 214, so that the recording accuracy can be maintained with high accuracy. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the paper discharge unit 130 includes a paper discharge guide 131 that forms part of a path for transporting roll paper in the sub-scanning direction, and paper discharge (not shown) that transports roll paper in the sub-scanning direction. It has a roller. A cartridge holder 150 for storing and holding the ink cartridge is disposed on the right side when viewed from the front side of the paper discharge unit 130.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the leg portion 140 includes two support columns 142 having movement bearings 141, and a reinforcing bar 143 spanned between the support columns 142. . The printer main bodies 110, 120, and 130 are placed on the support pillar 142 and fixed with screws. The user can easily move the printer 100 by the bearing 141 when he wants to look at the back side for maintenance of the printer 100 or when he wants to change the installation location of the printer 100. The control unit 200 includes a main board (not shown) that constitutes a printer controller. The main board is mounted with control elements and storage elements such as CPU, ROM, RAM, and ASIC (not shown) and other various circuit elements. Then, the paper feed unit 110, the recording unit 120, the transport unit 210, and the like constituting the print engine are controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the recording unit 120 includes a recording head (liquid ejecting head) 121 and a carriage 122 mounted with the head valve unit 129 shown in FIG. 4 connected to the recording head 121, the recording head 121, and the control shown in FIG. Flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as FFC) 123 for connecting the unit 200, an ink supply tube 124 for connecting the head valve unit 129 and an ink cartridge (not shown) containing ink, and a paper suction (not shown) for preventing the roll paper from being lifted. Means etc. are provided. 5 is provided between the carriage 122, the recording head 121, and the head valve unit 129, which is a characteristic part of the present invention. The details of the buffer member 10 will be described later.

  The recording head 121 includes a black ink recording head that discharges black ink and a plurality of color ink recording heads that discharge ink of each color such as yellow, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, and magenta. The recording head 121 is provided with a pressure generation chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generation chamber. The size of the recording head 121 is controlled from the nozzle opening toward the roll paper by storing ink in the pressure generation chamber and pressurizing it with a predetermined pressure. Ink droplets are discharged. The carriage 122 is suspended from a guide rail 127 provided in the main scanning direction via a bearing 23 shown in FIG. 6 and connected to a carriage belt 128. When the carriage belt 128 is actuated by a carriage driving device (not shown), the carriage 122 is entrained by the movement of the carriage belt 128 and is guided by the guide rail 127 to reciprocate.

  The FFC 123 has one end connected to the connector of the control unit 200 and the other end connected to the connector of the recording head 121, and sends a recording signal from the control unit 200 to the recording head 121. The ink supply tube 124 is provided for ink of each color, and one end of each ink is connected to the corresponding ink cartridge via an ink pressure supply means (not shown), and the other end is for the corresponding color head. It is connected to the valve unit 129. The ink supply tube 124 sends ink of each color pressurized by the ink pressure supply means from the ink cartridge to the recording head 121 via the head valve unit 129. The head valve unit 129 filters impurities and the like mixed in the ink supplied from the ink cartridge via the ink supply tube 124 and then opens the valve at a predetermined timing to supply a predetermined amount of ink to the recording head 121. To supply.

  4 is a perspective view showing the recording head 121 and the head valve unit 129 mounted on the carriage 122, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the head valve unit 129 is removed in FIG. 4, and FIG. 4 is a sectional side view and a plan view of FIG. The carriage 122 has a two-body structure including a main carriage 21 and a sub-carriage 22. The main carriage 21 is formed in a plate shape, and is suspended on a guide rail 127 shown in FIG. 3 via a bearing 23 attached to the back side. The sub-carriage 22 is formed in a box shape, and the sub-carriage back plate 22 a is attached to the front side of the main carriage 21 so as to be movable in the direction perpendicular to the nozzle formation surface of the recording head 121. As a result, the gap between the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 121 and the sheet conveying surface of the platen 214 can be easily and accurately adjusted.

  On the sub-carriage bottom plate 22b of the sub-carriage 22, a recording head 121 having a head valve unit 129 attached thereon is mounted. The recording head 121 provided with the head valve unit 129 has a sub-carriage bottom plate in a state where the head valve unit 129 and the back surfaces 129a and 121a of the recording head 121 are pressed against the sub-carriage back plate 22a via the buffer member 10. It is fixed by a head fixing plate 24 and a head fixing spring 25 attached to the front part of 22b. The head fixing plate 24 regulates the displacement in the vertical direction (Z direction) with respect to the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 121 including the head valve unit 129, and the head fixing spring 25 includes the head valve unit 129. The positional deviation of the recording head 121 in the sub-scanning direction (Y direction) is restricted.

  The buffer member 10 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with, for example, sponge, rubber, nonwoven fabric or the like. The two buffer members 10 are simultaneously brought into contact with the sub-carriage back plate 22a in the main scanning direction (X direction) so as to be able to contact each other simultaneously across the back surface 129a of the head valve unit 129 and the back surface 121a of the recording head 121. Are attached at predetermined intervals. By disposing the buffer member 10 in this manner, the buffer member 10 is crushed by the back surface 129a of the head valve unit 129, the back surface 121a of the recording head 121, and the sub-carriage back plate 22a. Therefore, the head valve unit 129 and the recording head 121 are strongly restrained on the sub-carriage back plate 22a side.

  Here, since the sub carriage 22 is suspended by being attached to the main carriage 21 with the sub carriage back plate 22a suspended from the guide rail 127, vibration on the sub carriage back plate 22a side is small. The vibration on the tip side of the sub-carriage bottom plate 22b is increased. Therefore, in this state, the head valve unit 129 and the recording head 121 are subjected to a large vibration on the front end side of the sub-carriage bottom plate 22b. However, in the present embodiment, as described above, the head valve unit 129 and the recording head 121 are strongly restrained on the sub-carriage back plate 22a side. The influence on the plate 22a side becomes stronger, and the vibration component in the Z direction that coincides with the direction of twisting of the sub-carriage bottom plate 22b is reduced.

  That is, the head valve unit 129 and the recording head 121 are fixed to the sub-carriage back plate 22a with a large area by the buffer member 10, so that the rigidity is improved by integrating with the sub-carriage 22. Therefore, the vibration component in the Z direction is suppressed, and further, the vibration component in the X direction is reduced. Furthermore, the vibration component in the Y direction is absorbed and reduced by the damper effect of the buffer member 10 itself. As a result, the placement accuracy of the ink dots can be improved and the occurrence of banding can be suppressed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the buffer member 10 is disposed so as to be able to contact the back surface 129 a of the head valve unit 129 and the back surface 121 a of the recording head 121 at the same time, but at least a head closer to the guide rail 127. The same effect can be obtained even if the rear surface 129a of the valve unit 129 is disposed so as to be in surface contact. Moreover, although sponge, rubber | gum, a nonwoven fabric, etc. were used as the buffer member 10, it is not limited to this, For example, you may use a spring (a leaf | plate spring, a compression coil spring, etc.). Further, although an example in which the carriage 122 is applied to a two-body structure of the main carriage 21 and the sub-carriage 22 has been described, a carriage having a one-body structure can be similarly applied, and similar effects can be obtained.

  The meaning of the liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects the liquid corresponding to the application from the liquid ejecting head onto the ejected medium and attaches the liquid to the ejected medium is, for example, a color material ejecting head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, organic EL Also applicable to devices equipped with electrode material (conductive paste) jet heads used for electrode formation such as displays and surface-emitting displays (FEDs), bio-organic matter jet heads used in biochip manufacturing, sample jet heads as precision pipettes, etc. Is possible. In addition, any recording apparatus provided with a carriage can be applied to, for example, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and the like.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example 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 illustrating an internal configuration example of a main part of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional side view of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a recording head and a head valve unit mounted on a carriage of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the head valve unit is removed in FIG. 4. It is the cross-sectional side view and top view of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Buffer member, 21 Main carriage, 22 Subcarriage, 22a Subcarriage back plate, 22b Subcarriage bottom plate, 23 Bearing, 100 Inkjet printer, 110 Paper feed unit, 120 Recording unit, 121 Recording head, 122 Carriage, 127 Guide rail 129, valve unit for head, 130 paper discharge unit, 140 leg, 150 ink cartridge holder, 200 control unit, 210 transport unit

Claims (4)

In the structure for fixing the liquid jet head to the carriage that is reciprocated by the guide means,
A liquid ejecting head fixing structure, wherein a buffer member is provided between the carriage on the guide means side and the liquid ejecting head to fix the liquid ejecting head. The liquid ejecting head fixing structure according to claim 1, wherein the buffer member is in surface contact. A main carriage that is supported by guide means and reciprocates;
A sub-carriage attached to the main carriage so that the position thereof can be adjusted;
A liquid jet head mounted on the sub-carriage;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a head valve unit attached to an upper portion of the liquid ejecting head;
A buffer member is provided between the back plate constituting the sub-carriage on the guide means side and at least the back surface of the valve unit for the head on the guide means side, and the liquid ejecting head is attached to the carriage. A liquid ejecting apparatus that is fixed. A recording device for recording on a recording medium,
A recording apparatus comprising the liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 3.

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