JP2007230171A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording apparatus which can considerably reduce the time from recording completion until color measurement initiation. <P>SOLUTION: A recording unit 150 which performs recording on a supplied recording medium is disposed. A color measurement unit 230 which measures the color of a recorded part recorded on the recording medium is disposed in the downstream side of the recording unit in the medium conveying direction. A drying unit 220 which dries the recorded recording medium is disposed between the recording unit and the color measurement unit. As a result, the recording medium can be forcibly dried by the drying unit. Therefore, the time from recording completion until color measurement initiation can be considerably reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording while transporting a recording medium, and more particularly, to a recording apparatus that also has a function of measuring the color by drying the recording medium.

  A print head of an ink jet printer, which is one of recording apparatuses, records an image by ejecting ink toward a paper wound around the recording drum while reciprocating in the drum axial direction along the recording drum. This print head is provided with a measurement head for color measurement. This measuring head reads the density and chromaticity of a test chart such as a gradation patch or a color patch recorded on a paper wound around a recording drum. Then, the host computer creates tone correction table data and color correction table data from the density and chromaticity data from the measurement head, and stores them in the tone correction table and color correction table in the control device (Patent Document 1). reference).

JP 11-326056 A

  In order to perform highly accurate color measurement, it is necessary to dry the ink of the recorded test chart to stabilize the color. The above-described conventional ink jet printer has a measurement head attached to the print head. Therefore, after the test chart is recorded, the operation of the print head is temporarily stopped and the ink of the test chart is naturally dried and then measured together with the print head. It is necessary to operate the head. For this reason, since the ink drying of the test chart takes a long time, there is a problem that the time from the completion of recording the test chart to the start of color measurement increases.

  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 recording apparatus capable of significantly reducing the time from the completion of recording to the start of color measurement.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, a recording unit that records on a supplied recording medium, and a recording portion that is disposed on the downstream side of the recording unit in the medium conveyance direction and is recorded on the recording medium A colorimetric unit for measuring the color of the recording medium, wherein a drying unit for drying the recorded medium to be recorded is disposed between the recording unit and the colorimetric unit. Yes. As a result, the recording medium can be forcibly dried by the drying unit, so that the time from the completion of recording to the start of color measurement can be greatly shortened.

  Further, the drying unit is provided with a heat blocking means for blocking transmission of drying heat to at least the colorimetric unit. As a result, colorimetric variation due to temperature rise can be prevented. The heat shut-off means is a cover that covers the heat source means provided in the drying section. Thereby, radiation and diffusion of drying heat to the outside of the drying unit can be prevented. Further, at least the cover is provided with elevating means for switching between a lowered state in which the cover is in close contact with the recording medium during drying and an elevated state in which the cover is separated from the recording medium after drying. Accordingly, the cover can be lowered to cover the recording medium and the heat source means can be brought close to the recording medium, so that heat can be concentrated on the recording medium to promote drying.

  In addition, the medium transport unit corresponding to the drying unit may respectively transmit to the recording unit and the colorimetric unit in order to block transmission of drying heat to the medium transport unit corresponding to the recording unit and the colorimetric unit, respectively. It is characterized by being divided with the corresponding medium transport unit. Thereby, the transmission of the drying heat to the outside of the drying unit via the medium conveying unit can be prevented. In addition, the colorimetric unit includes a ventilation means. Thereby, the temperature rise in a colorimetry part can be suppressed. In addition, the drying unit includes a ventilation means. Thereby, the inside of the drying part which temperature rose can be cooled quickly. In addition, the color measurement unit performs color measurement when the drying unit is in an off state. Thereby, the adverse effect of color measurement due to temperature can be eliminated. Further, the colorimetric unit calibrates for each colorimetry. Thereby, the accuracy of colorimetry can be improved.

  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 of an example of an external configuration of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the appearance viewed from the back side. 3 and 4 are perspective views showing the internal structure thereof. The ink jet printer 100 can record up to a relatively large size cut paper (recording medium) such as JIS standard A0 size or JIS standard B0 size or roll paper (recording medium) R having such width. It is a large printer. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ink jet printer 100 includes a rectangular parallelepiped printer body 110 and printer legs 120 that support the printer body 110.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printer main body 110 is divided into two upper and lower layers. As shown in FIG. 2, a roll paper storage unit 130 is disposed at the boundary between the upper and lower layers on the back side. ing. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a paper supply / discharge unit 140 is provided in the upper layer, and a recording unit 150, a drying unit 220, and a color measurement unit 230, which are characteristic parts of the present invention, are arranged in this order. Are arranged in parallel from the upstream side in the paper conveyance direction. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a sheet suction unit 160 is disposed in the lower layer, an ink supply unit 170 is disposed on the left side of the lower layer when viewed from the front side, and the lower layer is viewed from the front side. On the right side, a head characteristic recovery unit 180 and a drive control unit 190 are arranged up and down. A waste ink collection unit 200 is disposed below the drive control unit 190 and beside the printer leg unit 120.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printer main body 110 includes an upper housing 111 made of plastic or sheet metal that covers the supply / discharge unit 140, the recording unit 210, the drying unit 220, and the colorimetric unit 230, and a paper suction unit 160. And a lower housing 112 made of plastic or sheet metal that covers the ink supply unit 170, the head characteristic recovery unit 180, and the drive control unit 190. The upper housing 111 is provided with a body cover 113 made of plastic or sheet metal so as to be openable from the center front surface to the center upper surface. The lower housing 112 is provided with an ink cover 114 made of plastic or sheet metal so that the front surface of the ink supply unit 170 can be opened.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body cover 113 is supported so that the rear portion is rotatable with respect to the upper housing 111, and the user puts his / her finger into a depressed finger-hanging portion 113 a formed on the front surface. It opens and closes by being pushed up or pushed down. By opening the main body cover 113, the user can largely open the upper part of the feeding / discharging unit 140, the recording unit 210, the drying unit 220, and the colorimetric unit 230, so that the maintenance work of the recording head 152, the carriage 153, etc. It is possible to easily perform a work of canceling a paper transport error such as a paper jam during recording or transport. Further, the main body cover 113 is provided with a window 113b made of transparent or translucent plastic on a part of its upper surface. The user can visually recognize the recording state and the conveyance state by looking inside the window 113b without opening the main body cover 113.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ink cover 114 is supported so that both sides thereof are slidable with respect to the lower housing 112, and the user pushes a finger up into a depressed finger-hanging portion 114 a formed on the front surface, or It opens and closes when pushed down. Since the user can open the front surface of the ink supply unit 170 by opening the ink cover 114, the user can easily replace the ink cartridge 10 or the like. Further, the ink cover 114 is provided with a window 114b made of transparent or translucent plastic at a part of the front surface. The user can view the state of the ink cartridge 10 by looking through the window 114b without opening the ink cover 114.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printer main body 110 is provided with an operation panel 115 for the user to operate recording control and the like on the upper surface of the upper right layer as viewed from the front side. . The operation panel 115 is provided with a liquid crystal screen and various buttons so that the user can operate the buttons while checking the liquid crystal screen. Since the user can perform a reliable operation by visual recognition, an operation error, an operation error, and the like can be eliminated.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the printer leg portion 120 includes two inverted T-shaped support columns 121 and a reinforcing column 122 spanned between the support columns 121. The printer main body 110 is placed on the support column 121 and fixed with screws. Since the printer main body 110 is lifted by the printer legs 120, the user can easily perform the feeding / discharging process, various maintenance processes, and the like. Furthermore, it is possible to install a paper discharge receiving portion in the space of the printer leg 120, so that the recorded paper can be efficiently collected and contamination of the recorded paper can be prevented.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the roll paper storage unit 130 is inserted in the inner peripheral portion of the roll paper R to support the roll paper R, and the both ends of the spindle 131 are rotatably supported. Has no bearing. The back surface of the paper suction unit 160 is formed to be recessed from the back surface of the ink supply unit 170 on both sides of the paper suction unit 160 and the back surface of the head characteristic recovery unit 180 and the drive control unit 190. 130 is disposed. That is, bearings (not shown) are provided on opposite sides of the ink supply unit 170, the head characteristic recovery unit 180, and the drive control unit 190 so as to pivotally support both ends of the spindle 131 in the main scanning direction. . Then, the roll paper R can be set without protruding from the back side of the printer main body 110 by bridging the spindle 131 penetrating the inner periphery of the roll paper R between these bearings.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the feed / discharge unit 140 includes a paper feed roller 141 and a paper feed driven roller 142. The paper feed roller 141 and its paper feed driven roller 142 are arranged on the downstream side of the paper feed from the roll paper storage unit 130, that is, on the rear side of the printer main body 110, with the axis facing the main scanning direction and the circumferential surface up and down. It arrange | positions so that it may oppose. The paper feed roller 141 is formed as a single long roller, and the peripheral surface portion slightly larger than the maximum recordable paper width is coated with ceramic powder or the like. As a result, slippage during paper feeding can be prevented, and the paper can be fed out with high accuracy. Both ends of the paper feed roller 141 are axially supported by side frames 116 via bearings (not shown), and are driven to rotate forward and backward by a driving force transmitted from the paper feed motor 143 through the pulley 144 and the belt 145. It has become.

  The paper feed driven roller 142 is formed as a plurality of short rollers, and is pivotally supported by a plurality of driven roller support members 146 arranged in parallel in the axial direction above the paper feed roller 141. The paper feed driven roller 142 is pressed against the paper feed roller 141 by a biasing member such as a spring (not shown) attached to the driven roller support member 146, and follows the forward / reverse rotation drive of the paper feed roller 141. It is designed to rotate forward and reverse. Thus, the sheet can be firmly pressed from both sides and sent out, so that highly accurate recording can be performed. The paper feed roller 141 and the paper feed driven roller 142 sandwich the roll paper R and the cut paper fed from the paper feed port 147 formed between the upper and lower layers of the printer main body 110 shown in FIG. 4 is sent out onto the platen 151 of the recording unit 150 shown in FIG. 4 and discharged from a paper discharge port 148 formed between the upper and lower layers of the printer main body 110 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the sheet suction unit 160 includes a pressure chamber 161 disposed in the lower part of the platen 151 and a fan (not shown) disposed in the lower part of the pressure chamber 161. The pressure chamber 161 is formed in a box shape in which a part of the upper surface and the bottom surface is opened, a platen 151 is attached to the open portion of the upper surface, and a fan is attached to the open portion of the bottom surface. By rotating the fan, the air is sucked into the pressure chamber 161 from the hole formed in the platen 151 and exhausted to the outside through the fan. Accordingly, when cut paper or roll paper R is supplied to the upper surface of the platen 151, negative pressure is generated on the lower surface side of the cut paper or roll paper R, so that the cut paper or roll paper R is attracted to the upper surface of the platen 151. As a result, the cut paper or the roll paper R can be prevented from being lifted, and the recording accuracy can be maintained with high accuracy.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the ink supply unit 170 includes a box-shaped cartridge storage unit 171 and a cartridge pressing unit 172 attached to the front side of the cartridge storage unit 171. The cartridge storage portion 171 includes a total of four ink cartridges 10 such as black, cyan, magenta, yellow, red, light black, light magenta, light cyan, and blue, or a total of four ink cartridges of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow in order from the left side in the figure. A total of eight ink cartridges 10 in two sets of ink cartridges 10 are individually pulled out from the front side and partitioned so as to be pushed in. The cartridge pressing portion 172 is attached to each partition portion of the cartridge storage portion 171 so as to be freely opened and closed, presses the ink cartridge 10 in the partition portion in conjunction with the closing operation, and presses the ink cartridge 10 in the partition portion in conjunction with the opening operation. To come out.

  Here, the ink cartridge 10 is hermetically sealed, for example, in an outer case formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a hard plastic material, for example, in a bag shape made of a flexible material and filled with ink inside. . An ink supply port connected to the ink tank and a positioning hole in the cartridge storage portion 171 are formed on the surface on the insertion side to the cartridge storage portion 171. On the other hand, an ink supply needle inserted into the ink supply port of the ink cartridge 10 and a positioning needle inserted into the positioning hole of the ink cartridge 10 are pulled out and pushed in the ink cartridge 10 on the inner rear surface of the cartridge housing portion 171. It is arrange | positioned so that it may protrude. Therefore, the ink cartridge 10 accommodated in the cartridge accommodating portion 171 is automatically positioned when the positioning needle is inserted into the positioning hole when the cartridge pressing portion 172 is closed, and at the same time, the ink supplying needle is automatically The ink can be supplied to the recording head 152 by entering the ink supply port. When the cartridge pressing portion 172 is opened, the positioning needle is automatically extracted from the positioning hole, and at the same time, the ink supply needle is automatically extracted from the ink supply port.

  The head characteristic recovery unit 180 is disposed below the carriage 153 located at the home position shown in FIG. 4, and includes wiping means, capping means, suction means, and drive means for these. The wiping means includes a wiper formed in a substantially rectangular flat plate shape using rubber, felt, plastic, or the like, and rubs against the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 152 so as to wipe off ink adhering to the nozzle forming surface. It has become. The capping means is provided with a cap formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape by rubber, and a recess provided in the upper part is pressed against the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 152 to seal the nozzle opening. The suction means forcibly sucks and discharges the ink in order to remove clogged nozzle openings and mixed bubbles. Accordingly, it is possible to perform processing for maintaining the ink ejection characteristics of the recording head 152 in a constant state when the carriage 153 is in the home position.

  The waste ink collection unit 200 includes a detachable waste liquid cartridge 201. The waste liquid cartridge 201 stores waste liquid such as ink used when initially filling the ink supply system reaching the recording head 152 or cleaning liquid used when cleaning the ink supply system reaching the recording head 152. It has become. Thus, since the waste liquid processing can be completed only by replacing the waste liquid cartridge 201, the number of work steps can be reduced, and contamination of the peripheral portion of the printer can be prevented. Next, the recording unit 150, the drying unit 220, and the color measurement unit 230, which are characteristic parts of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing the recording unit 150, the drying unit 220, and the color measurement unit 230. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the recording unit 150, the drying unit 220, and the color measurement unit 230 are arranged in parallel from the upstream side in the sheet conveyance direction in the above order. By adopting such an arrangement, the recording process of the colorimetric pattern on the paper, the drying process of the recorded colorimetric pattern, and the measurement process of the recorded and dried colorimetric pattern can be performed automatically and continuously. As a result, the time from the completion of recording to the start of color measurement can be greatly reduced.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the recording unit 150 includes a recording unit cover 210 formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape that can be covered and covered from above. Thereby, since the internal transmission of the drying heat generated in the drying unit 220 can be cut off, the recording fluctuation due to the temperature rise in the recording unit 150 can be prevented. As shown in FIG. 4, the recording unit 150 is mounted on the platen 151 disposed on the downstream side in the paper conveyance direction directly from the paper feed roller 141, the carriage 153 on which the recording head 152 is mounted, and the carriage 153. A cutter 154 is provided. Further, the recording unit 150 includes a flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as FFC) 158 that electrically connects the recording head 152 and a drive control unit 190 for executing recording, an ink cartridge 10 containing the recording head 151 and ink. And an ink tube 159 and the like.

  The platen 151 is formed in a rectangular flat plate shape having a length slightly larger than the maximum recordable paper width, and is disposed along the paper feed roller 141. The platen 151 has a plurality of holes (not shown) connected to the paper suction unit 160 from the front surface to the back surface, and a plurality of uneven portions (not shown) that absorb a cockling of the paper caused by moisture absorption is formed on the surface. Yes. As a result, the sheet being recorded can be held substantially flat and the distance between the recording head 152 and the sheet can be kept constant, so that highly accurate recording can be performed.

  Further, a cutter groove 151 a extending in the main scanning direction is formed on the surface of the platen 151. The cutter groove 151a is sized so that the cutting edge of the cutter 154 protruding from the lower surface of the roll paper R can enter so that the cutter 154 does not damage the surface of the platen 151 when the roll paper R is cut in the width direction. Is formed. Thereby, the recording part and unrecorded part of the roll paper R can be reliably separated.

  The recording head 152 is disposed at a lower portion of the carriage 153 so as to face the cut paper or the roll paper R supplied to the upper surface of the platen 151 with a predetermined interval, and black, cyan, magenta, yellow, red, Eight nozzle rows that eject eight colors of light black, light magenta, light cyan, and blue, respectively, or eight nozzle rows that eject four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow in two rows each are formed. Has been. The recording head 152 is provided with a pressure generation chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generation chamber. The ink is stored in the pressure generation chamber and pressurized at a predetermined pressure, so that the nozzle opening of each nozzle row is placed on the upper surface of the platen 151. Controlled ink droplets are ejected toward the supplied cut paper or roll paper R.

  The carriage 153 is placed on a carriage guide shaft 155 provided in the main scanning direction via a bearing (not shown), and is coupled to the belt 156. When the pulley 157 is rotated by a carriage motor (not shown) and the belt 156 is rotated, the carriage 153 is entrained by the movement of the belt 156 and guided by the carriage guide shaft 155 to reciprocate in the main scanning direction. ing. As a result, the carriage 153 can be moved with high accuracy, so that highly accurate recording can be performed.

  The cutter 154 is disposed so as to be movable up and down in the vertical direction and movable in the main scanning direction so that the blade edge faces downward. The cutter 154 is moved up and down by, for example, a solenoid and moved in the main scanning direction together with the carriage 153. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a separate means for moving the cutter 154, so that space can be saved and costs can be reduced. The cutter 154 may be separated from the carriage 153 and moved in the main scanning direction by a unique belt mechanism, a motor, or the like.

  The FFC 158 has one end connected to the connector of the drive control unit 190 and the other end connected to the connector of the recording head 152, and sends a recording signal from the drive control unit 190 to the recording head 152. The ink tubes 159 are provided for the inks of the respective colors, and one end of each ink tube is connected to the corresponding ink cartridge 10 via an ink pressurizing supply unit (not shown), and the other end of each color is recorded. It is connected to the head 152. The ink tube 159 is configured to send ink of each color pressurized by the ink pressure supply means from the ink cartridge 10 to the recording head 152. The FFC 158 and the ink tube 159 are arranged so as to overlap and extend in the main scanning direction so as to follow the scanning of the carriage 153 without interfering with the scanning.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the drying unit 220 includes a drying unit cover (heat blocking means) 221 formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape that can be covered and covered from above. The outer surface of the drying unit cover 221 is covered with a heat insulating material 221a such as a foaming ceramic material, a polymer material, or glass wool, and the inner surface functions as a reflection plate. The drying unit cover 221 is provided with a near-infrared lamp (heat source means) 222 such as a bar-shaped halogen lamp provided in the main scanning direction, and a ventilation fan (ventilation means) 223 provided at the top. . Then, the drying unit cover 221 is provided with a dry paper transport unit (not shown) that guides the paper to be transported by being disposed flush with the platen 151 by an elevating device 224 having motors, gear mechanisms, and the like disposed on both sides. The medium transport unit) 225 moves up and down to contact and separate. The dry paper transport unit 225 is divided and arranged separately from the platen 151 and the colorimetric paper transport unit 235, respectively. A near infrared lamp 222 having a semi-cylindrical reflector extending in the main scanning direction may be used.

  According to the drying unit 220 having such a configuration, the periphery of the paper to be dried is covered with the drying unit cover 221 having the heat insulating material 221a and the isolated dry paper transport unit 225. Accordingly, external transmission due to radiation and diffusion of drying heat generated by the near-infrared lamp 222 can be blocked, and recording fluctuation due to temperature rise in the recording section 150 and color measurement fluctuation due to temperature rise in the color measurement section 230 can be prevented. be able to. Further, by rotating the ventilation fan 223 after drying, the drying heat generated by the near-infrared lamp 222 can be quickly released to the outside, so that the inside of the drying unit 220 can be quickly cooled. It should be noted that the external transfer of the drying heat can be more effectively blocked by filling the dry paper transport unit 225 with a heat insulating material.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the color measuring unit 230 includes a color measuring unit cover 231 formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape that can be covered and covered from above. As for this color measurement part cover 231, the drying part cover 231, the colorimeter 232 is arrange | positioned inside, and the ventilation fan (ventilation means) 233 is arrange | positioned by the upper part. The drying unit cover 231 guides the paper to be transported by being disposed flush with the platen 151 and the dry paper transport unit 225 by the lifting device 234 having motors, gear mechanisms, and the like disposed on both sides. The colorimetric paper transport unit (medium transport unit) 235 to be moved is moved up and down to contact and separate. The colorimetric paper transport unit 235 is separated from the dry paper transport unit 225 and is spaced apart.

  According to the color measurement unit 230 having such a configuration, the color measurement sheet is surrounded by the color measurement unit cover 231 and the isolated color measurement sheet transport unit 235. Therefore, the internal transfer of the drying heat generated in the drying unit 220 can be blocked, and the color measurement variation due to the temperature rise in the color measuring unit 230 can be prevented. Further, by rotating the ventilation fan 233, it is possible to perform high-precision color measurement while suppressing a temperature rise in the color measurement unit cover 231. It should be noted that the internal transfer of the drying heat is more effectively blocked by filling the colorimetric unit cover 231 and the colorimetric sheet transport unit 235, and further the recording unit cover 210 and the platen 151 with a heat insulating material. be able to.

  Operations of the recording unit 150, the drying unit 220, and the color measurement unit 230 having the above-described configuration will be described. The paper feed roller 141 and the paper feed driven roller 142 sandwich the paper and convey it toward the platen 151. When the sheet is conveyed onto the platen 151, the recording head 152 records a colorimetric pattern on the sheet. Subsequently, the paper feed roller 141 and the paper feed driven roller 142 stop transport after transporting the paper on which the colorimetric pattern is recorded on the dry paper transport unit 225. Then, the drying unit cover 221 is lowered by the lifting device 224 and comes into close contact with the paper on the dry paper transport unit 225, and the near infrared lamp 222 is turned on to dry the paper on which the colorimetric pattern is recorded by radiant heat. As described above, the near-infrared lamp 222 can be brought close to the paper while the paper is covered by the drying unit cover 221 and the dry paper transport unit 225, so that heat is concentrated on the paper to promote drying. be able to.

  Thereafter, the near-infrared lamp 222 is turned off and the ventilation fan 223 is turned on to cool the inside surrounded by the drying unit cover 221 and the dry paper transport unit 225. Then, the drying unit cover 221 is raised by the elevating device 224, the paper feed roller 141 and the paper feed driven roller 142 resume paper conveyance, and the paper on which the color measurement pattern is recorded and dried on the color measurement paper conveyance unit 235 is loaded. Stops transport after transport. Then, the color measurement unit cover 231 is lowered by the lifting device 234 and comes into close contact with the paper on the color measurement paper transport unit 235. After the color measurement device 232 is turned on and calibrated, the color measurement pattern is measured. To do. Thus, since the color measurement is performed when the near-infrared lamp 222 is in the off state, the adverse effect of the color measurement due to the temperature can be eliminated. At this time, if necessary, the ventilation fan 233 is turned on to adjust the temperature inside the color measurement unit cover 231 and the color measurement paper transport unit 235 to an appropriate temperature. Since calibration is performed for each color measurement, the accuracy of color measurement can be improved.

  Thereafter, the colorimeter 232 is turned off, the colorimeter section cover 231 is raised by the elevating device 234, and the paper feed roller 141 and the paper feed driven roller 142 resume paper conveyance. As described above, the paper on which the color measurement pattern is recorded can be forcibly dried by the drying unit 220, so that the time from the completion of recording to the start of color measurement can be greatly shortened. Further, the color measurement can be continuously performed in a short time by appropriately combining the above processing operations and performing them in parallel. Note that the drying unit 220 can be used not only for drying the colorimetric pattern but also for a normal image, and can prevent the recording surface from being contaminated or damaged during paper discharge.

  In addition to the liquid ejecting apparatus applied to the recording apparatus, the meaning of the liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid corresponding to the application from the liquid ejecting head to the ejected medium instead of ink and adheres the liquid to the ejected medium, for example, , Color material ejecting heads used for manufacturing color filters such as liquid crystal displays, electrode material (conductive paste) ejecting heads used for forming electrodes such as organic EL displays and surface emitting displays (FEDs), and bio-organic matter ejecting used for biochip manufacturing The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus including a head, a sample ejection head as a precision pipette, and the like. Further, as long as it is a recording apparatus, it can be applied to, for example, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and the like.

1 is a perspective view of an external configuration example of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed from the front side. It is the perspective view which looked at the printer of FIG. 1 from the back side. FIG. 2 is a first perspective view showing an internal structure of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a second perspective view showing the internal structure of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view illustrating a recording unit, a drying unit, and a color measurement unit of the printer of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Ink cartridge, 100 Inkjet printer, 110 Printer main-body part, 120 Printer leg part, 130 Roll paper storage part, 140 Feed / discharge part, 150 Recording part, 151 Platen, 152 Recording head, 153 Carriage, 154 Cutter, 155 Carriage Guide shaft, 156 belt, 157 pulley, 158 FFC, 159 ink tube, 160 paper suction unit, 161 pressure chamber, 170 ink supply unit, 180 head characteristic recovery unit, 190 drive control unit, 200 waste ink recovery unit, 210 recording unit Cover, 220 Drying unit, 221 Drying unit cover, 221a Heat insulating material, 222 Near infrared lamp, 223 Ventilation fan, 224 Lifting device, 225 Drying paper transport unit, 230 Color measuring unit, 231 Drying unit cover, 232 Color measuring machine, 233 Ventilation fan, 234 Descending apparatus, 235 colorimetric paper transport unit

Claims (9)

A recording unit for recording on a supplied recording medium;
A recording apparatus provided with a colorimetric unit that is disposed downstream of the recording unit in the medium conveying direction and measures a recording portion recorded on the recording medium;
A recording apparatus, wherein a drying unit for drying the recorded medium to be recorded is disposed between the recording unit and the colorimetric unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying unit is provided with a heat blocking unit that blocks transmission of drying heat to at least the colorimetric unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the heat blocking unit is a cover that covers a heat source unit provided in the drying unit. The at least said cover is equipped with the raising / lowering means which switches the falling state closely_contact | adhered to the said recording medium at the time of drying, and the rising state separated from the said recording medium after drying. Recording device. The medium conveying unit corresponding to the drying unit corresponds to the recording unit and the colorimetric unit, respectively, in order to block the transfer of drying heat to the medium conveying unit corresponding to the recording unit and the colorimetric unit, respectively. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is divided from a medium transport unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color measurement unit includes a ventilation unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying unit includes a ventilation unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color measurement unit performs color measurement when the drying unit is in an off state. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color measurement unit performs calibration for each color measurement.

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