JP2008213435A - Method of controlling printing of dot-line printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which has a hammer bank and a shuttle mechanism for carrying out a shuttle motion, wherein the printer is prevented from carrying out overload control to a possible extent at the time of sharp increase of a load on a hammer bank, to thereby reduce abrasion and damage of printer component parts and increase the reliability of devices. <P>SOLUTION: The printer has imparted thereto an acceleration control function by an overload that is generated by applying an acceleration current at the time of abnormal lowering of speed in a hammer bank constant speed zone. The printer stores therein information of application of the acceleration current by the overload, and carries out correction control of a platen gap, based on the information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a dot line printer having a platen gap adjusting mechanism and a linear motor type shuttle mechanism provided with a motor driving mechanism, and more specifically, a linear device having means for energizing reversal of reciprocal movement. The present invention relates to print control of a dot line printer having a motor shuttle mechanism.

  The dot line printer according to the present invention includes a printing paper conveyance mechanism, an ink ribbon conveyance unit, a platen mechanism, a printing mechanism unit, and a shuttle mechanism unit.

  First, a schematic configuration of a dot line printer having a linear motor type shuttle mechanism as an example will be described with reference to FIG.

  The hammer bank 31 on which a plurality of printing elements are mounted is supported by a linear motion bearing 52 and reciprocates on the guide shaft 51 (hereinafter referred to as shuttle operation). The linear motor unit 60 as a power source for the shuttle operation includes a coil unit 61 including a reversing coil 62 and a constant velocity coil 63, and a magnet 64. The hammer bank 31 and the coil 61 are configured to convert the power from the linear motor unit 60 into the shuttle operation of the hammer bank 31 by the reversing mechanism unit 70 connected to the timing belt 81 supported by the pair of timing pulleys 82. It is configured.

  Further, reverse biasing means (for example, a spring) 90 for biasing the reverse operation is disposed at a position (so-called reverse position) for switching the movement direction of the shuttle operation at both ends of the hammer bank 31 or the coil portion 61. Has been. The reverse biasing means 90 is not limited to a spring, and may be a means using the same-polar repulsion of a magnet.

  In the reversing operation of the hammer bank 31 and the coil section 61, the position detection sensor 100 attached to the hammer bank 31 calculates the position and reciprocating speed of the hammer bank 31, and operates on a speed curve of a predetermined shuttle operation. It is controlled as follows. The control is performed by a shuttle control circuit 110 that changes a current value to be supplied to the coil unit 61, a thermistor 111 that detects an operating environment temperature, and a shuttle drive circuit 120 that supplies a current to the coil unit 61.

  Next, a schematic configuration around the hammer bank 31 of the dot line printer will be described with reference to FIG.

  The hammer bank 31 includes a plurality of printing elements 30 and is disposed so as to face the platen 35 that receives the striking force of the hammer bank 31 via a paper transport mechanism 34 that transports the print paper 32.

  In printing, the printing element 30 is driven in the process of shuttle operation of the hammer bank 31 connected to a shuttle mechanism (not shown) serving as a driving source, and the printing paper 32 is struck through the ink ribbon 33, and ink is discharged. This is done by transferring to the printing paper 32.

  A ribbon separator 40 is installed between the ink ribbon 33 and the paper to prevent the ink from adhering to the printing paper 32 inadvertently.

  The distance between the hammer bank 31 and the platen 35 (hereinafter referred to as platen gap) is set by the lever 36 (hereinafter referred to as FT lever 36) according to the thickness of the printing paper 32 used. .

  The FT lever 36 is connected to a driving mechanism for transmitting the driving force of the stepping motor 37 to the platen 35 via a timing belt 38 (or a gear) and a cam 39. With this configuration, when the FT lever 36 is moved, the platen 35 can move in a direction approaching the printing element (the platen gap becomes narrow) or away (a platen gap becomes wide). Usually, when only the shuttle operation of the hammer bank 31 is performed without printing, the platen gap is set to a certain amount so that the printing paper 32 is not soiled by the ink ribbon 40 coming into contact with the printing paper 32 and being rubbed. It is controlled so that it is expanded and returned to the original setting value at the time of printing.

  FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of the FT indicator 41 for confirming the position of the FT lever 36. Table 1 below shows a guide for setting the FT lever corresponding to the paper. The FT indicator 41 has values from 1 to 7, but can be set in 1/3 increments. Usually, in the vicinity of the FT indicator in the dot line printer casing, a name table (Table 1) for setting the FT lever is displayed on the nameplate. Therefore, the operator sets the FT lever 36 according to the sheet with reference to the guideline table. However, since the thickness and hardness differ depending on the material and configuration of the printing sheet, the final setting value is selected by the operator. Is left to experience and sensory judgment. (For example, refer to cited document 1)

JP 2001-199108 A JP 2000-94775 A

  Recent dot line printers incorporate control to prevent a decrease in the speed of the constant speed section of the hammer bank by performing acceleration control of the shuttle mechanism when a sudden load is applied during the shuttle operation of the hammer bank. (See, for example, cited document 2).

  This control will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the velocity waveform of the hammer bank and the coil drive current of the shuttle mechanism. In FIG. 5, the shuttle operation of the hammer bank is divided into an inversion section and a constant speed section as shown in the speed waveform. In the inversion section, the reversing coil 62 is energized to perform deceleration control and acceleration control, and in the constant speed section, the constant speed coil 63 is energized to perform constant speed control of constant speed movement.

  Normally, the shuttle operation of a hammer bank is controlled so as to operate on a predetermined speed curve, but when the load on the hammer bank increases, for example, when printing near the crease of printing paper) In this case, a significant speed reduction in the constant speed section occurs. In particular, in the shuttle mechanism portion provided with the reverse biasing means, when the low speed state continues, the hammer bank is caused to have a predetermined shuttle operation amplitude in the latter half of the constant speed section due to the repulsive force of the reverse biasing means. It becomes difficult to operate until. Therefore, even a shuttle mechanism having a reverse biasing mechanism is added with a control function for preventing a decrease in the speed of the constant velocity section when the load on the hammer bank is suddenly increased.

FIG. 6 shows acceleration control during overload as an example of the control function described above.
When the load on the hammer bank increases due to some factor, the thrust of the hammer bank constant speed motion is insufficient, and the speed of the constant speed section decreases. In the case of FIG. 6, the speed of the hammer bank is monitored from the constant speed section X4, and when a specified speed V2 or less is detected in the first half of the constant speed section, an acceleration current is supplied to the reversing coil. During energization, the speed of the hammer bank is monitored, and the energization of the acceleration control current is terminated when the specified speed V3 (V2 <V3) is detected. Further, even when an abnormal speed is detected in the latter half of the constant speed section (near the constant speed section X5), an acceleration current is applied to the reversing coil to maintain the thrust and speed. Note that the direction in which the force is applied to the shuttle mechanism is reversed with respect to the center of the amplitude of the constant velocity motion of the hammer bank, so the direction of the drive current applied to the reversing coil is reversed in the first half and the second half of the constant velocity section. become.

  However, when the platen gap is set to be small due to the operator's intention or error, or printing up to the vicinity of the perforation, further diversified printing paper, for example, multi-part paper with 5 or more pages overlapped, When printing paper with strong paper rigidity is used, such as special paper with postcards attached to the paper, it is detected that the speed of the shuttle operation of the hammer bank has dropped abnormally regardless of whether the platen gap is appropriate or inappropriate. In order to perform overload control (driving with an acceleration current) after that, the print element, the ink ribbon, and the ribbon separator may be overloaded more than expected to cause wear and damage.

  It is also possible to provide an automatic paper thickness adjustment function and immediately adjust the distance between the hammer bank and the platen. In this case, however, the hammer is only detected after a change in the paper thickness has been detected. The distance between the bank and the platen cannot be adjusted. Therefore, it cannot be a means for solving the problem with respect to an overload of a hammer bank, which is a problem in the invention of the present application, during printing before and after perforation predicted in advance, or overload caused by special paper.

  In view of the above, the present invention provides an acceleration control when a load on a hammer bank is suddenly increased in a dot line printer having a shuttle mechanism having a platen gap adjustment mechanism and a reverse biasing means connected to a platen drive mechanism. It is an object to limit the execution as much as possible, reduce wear and damage of printer components, and improve the reliability of the printer.

  The first means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is that a hammer bank having a plurality of printing elements, a platen that supports the hammering force of the hammer bank, and a motor drive mechanism are provided side by side, and the thickness of the paper to be used An interval adjusting mechanism that adjusts the interval between the hammer bank and the platen according to the above, and a shuttle mechanism unit that has a function of reciprocating the hammer bank and performing acceleration control when a speed abnormality in the constant velocity section decreases. In the dot line printer for printing continuous paper having, the distance between the hammer bank and the platen is corrected and controlled at the time of printing near the perforation based on the execution information of the acceleration control of the shuttle mechanism. .

  Further, a second means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is that in the dot line printer printing control method according to claim 1, the correction control is intended for printing within 1 inch above and below the perforation. Features.

  According to the dot line printer equipped with the present invention, it is possible to reduce wear and damage of printer components by minimizing the hammer bank reciprocation in an overload state without providing an automatic paper thickness adjustment function. Reliability can be improved. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to always control the gap between the hammer bank and the platen to be an optimum distance without hindering the reciprocating motion of the hammer bank. It is now possible to print properly on various parts.

  The present invention stores information on the presence or absence of execution of acceleration control due to overload for each printed page, and based on the stored information, drives a platen gap adjustment mechanism to correct and control the platen gap to an optimum value. The gist.

  Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to the drawings. Note that the configuration of the dot line printer is the same as that described in the related art, so the description is omitted and only the optimum correction of the platen gap will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a timing chart showing execution of acceleration control, platen gap correction, and change in platen gap setting amount at the time of overload in the present invention. In the case of this example, the platen gap is set at the position “3” in Table 1 by the operator before starting printing.

  On the other hand, when printing multi-part paper, “mountain folds” and “valley folds” that increase the load on the shuttle motor due to paper thickness in the vicinity of the perforation, especially in the range of about 1 inch above and below the perforation. To occur. In normal printing, as shown in FIG. 7, the print data is created so that the first line of the page is set immediately below the first line perforation and the last line of the page is set immediately before the perforation. In addition, since the print quality cannot be guaranteed near the perforation, it is usually set as a non-printing recommended area. In reality, however, the slip management number and date are often printed. When printing in the vicinity of the perforation, since the platen gap “3” is set, a sudden load increase on the hammer bank occurs. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the speed in the constant speed section is abnormally reduced (near X4), so that acceleration control is executed to avoid the speed reduction.

  The fact that this acceleration control has been executed is stored and updated as information for two pages, which is a cycle in which mountain folds and valley folds occur, and is added to the platen gap correction information when printing the next mountain fold and valley folds. Reflected. This control is performed based on a control circuit as shown in FIG. That is, the shuttle control circuit 120 and the platen motor drive circuit 130 shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 are connected to the MPU 142 of the main control circuit 140 that controls the entire printer, and further, the acceleration control execution flag 141 and the correction flag 1 2 is connected to the MPU 142.

  With the above control circuit, for example, in the case of the example of FIG. 1, the acceleration control of the shuttle motor is performed in the mountain fold portion (mountain fold 1) during the shuttle operation of the first hammer bank immediately after the start of printing. Since the “overload” state of the hammer bank is detected, the detection of “overload” is recorded as the “correction flag 1” in the acceleration control execution flag 141. Subsequently, since the acceleration control of the shuttle motor was performed also in the valley fold (valley fold 1) of the paper during the first reciprocation of the hammer bank, the “overload” state of the hammer bank was detected. The detection of the “overload” state is recorded as the “correction flag 2” in the acceleration control execution flag 141. Since the mountain fold and the valley fold of the paper are alternately generated for each page, two correction flags “correction flag 1” and “correction flag 2” are set.

  Next, immediately before reaching the second mountain fold (mountain fold 2), the platen stepping motor 37 is driven based on the previously set “correction flag 1” to set the platen gap of the mountain fold at the initial setting. Correction is performed to increase the value “3” by +1/3. Similarly, in the second valley fold (valley fold 2), the platen stepping motor 37 is driven based on the previously set “correction flag 1” to +1 with respect to the initial platen gap setting value “3”. / 3 Performs widening correction. The correction of the platen gap based on “correction flag 1” and “correction flag 2” is limited to the vicinity of the perforation (about 1 inch above and below the perforation).

  Here, in the second mountain fold (mountain fold 2), although the platen gap was corrected based on “correction flag 1”, the “overload” state of the hammer bank was detected. In the folding part (mountain fold 3), the setting value of the “correction flag 1” is changed so as to further drive the platen stepping motor 37 to widen the platen gap of the mountain fold part by ／. Further, since the acceleration control of the shuttle motor was not performed at the third mountain folding portion (mountain folding 3), the correction amount of the platen gap was set to +2/3, and “correction flag 1” was set. If not executed, the correction is repeated with this value.

  On the other hand, in the valley fold portion, since acceleration control was not performed at the time of printing the second valley fold portion (valley fold 2), the correction amount of the platen gap was set to +1/3, and “correction flag 2” was set. Thereafter, if acceleration control is not executed, correction is repeated with this value.

9 and 10 and 11 show generalized flowcharts for the above control.
FIG. 9 is a schematic flow of the entire print control in which platen gap correction and correction flag setting / update are added when printing near the perforation. FIG. 10 is a flow of “platen gap correction” shown in FIG. The platen gap is controlled by assigning one correction flag for the first perforation (mountain fold or valley fold) and one for the second perforation (valley fold or mountain fold). FIG. 11 is a flowchart of “correction flag setting / updating” in FIG. The correction flag is updated according to whether or not acceleration control is executed.

  In the above flow, when printing near the perforation (mountain fold or valley fold) is performed and acceleration control of the hammer bank shuttle operation is performed, the following perforations (mountain fold or valley fold) of the same form are performed. The point is that the platen gap is set to be widened during the (folding) printing.

The platen gap correction amount is returned to the initial value in the following case.
(1) The power was turned on.
(2) The paper was replaced.
(3) The FT lever was operated.

  As described above, the hammer bank reciprocating motion in the overload state is corrected by correcting the platen gap amount when printing the vicinity of the perforation next, based on the information on whether or not the acceleration current is applied when printing near the perforation. It can be kept to a minimum.

  Furthermore, in the above example, a control method limited to printing near the perforation is shown, but it is also possible to control the entire printing area without being limited to the vicinity of the perforation.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the linear motor shuttle mechanism provided with the biasing means at the time of reversing the hammer bank, the printing plate is not printed using the paper on which the platen gap setting error of the operator or the thick paper is overlapped. Even when printing the area near the perforation, which is the recommended range, wear / damage of hammer pins, ink ribbons and ribbon separators can be reduced by minimizing the reciprocation of the hammer bank under overload conditions. It becomes possible to improve the reliability.

The timing chart of execution of acceleration current energization and platen gap correction which become an example of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing a configuration in the vicinity of a printing mechanism. Schematic which shows FT lever and FT indicator. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a dot line printer. FIG. The graph which shows an example of the velocity waveform of a hammer bank, and a coil drive current waveform. The graph which shows the acceleration control operation | movement waveform at the time of the overload detection of a hammer bank. Explanatory drawing about the printing of perforation vicinity. 6 is a control circuit for performing print control as an example of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of overall print control when print control near a perforation is added in the present invention. 10 is a flowchart of “platen gap correction” in FIG. 9. 10 is a flowchart of “correction flag setting / updating” in FIG. 9.

Explanation of symbols

  30 is a printing element, 31 is a hammer bank, 32 is printing paper, 33 is an ink ribbon, 34 is a paper feed mechanism, 35 is a platen, 36 is an FT lever, 37 is a stepping motor, 38 is a timing belt, and 40 is a ribbon separator. , 41 is an FT indicator, 51 is a guide shaft, 52 is a linear bearing, 60 is a linear motor unit, 61 is a coil, 62 is a reversing coil, 63 is a constant velocity coil, 64 is a magnet, 70 is a reversing mechanism unit, and 81 is A timing belt, 82 is a timing pulley, 90 is a spring, 100 is a position detection sensor, 110 is a shuttle control circuit, 111 is a temperature detection circuit, and 120 is a shuttle drive circuit.

Claims (2)

Interval adjustment that adjusts the interval between the hammer bank and the platen according to the thickness of the paper to be used, with a hammer bank equipped with multiple printing elements, a platen that supports the hammering force of the hammer bank, and a motor drive mechanism. In a dot line printer that has a mechanism and a shuttle mechanism unit that has a function of reciprocating the hammer bank and performing acceleration control at the time of abnormal speed reduction in a constant velocity section, and printing continuous paper having perforations,
A printing control method for a dot line printer, comprising: correcting and controlling a distance between the hammer bank and the platen during printing near a perforation based on execution information of acceleration control of the shuttle mechanism.   2. The dot line printer printing control method according to claim 1, wherein the correction control is for printing within 1 inch above and below the perforation.

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