JP2009083123A - Carriage height controlling apparatus and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a carriage height controlling apparatus with such an inexpensive constitution that controls a paper gap by moving up and down a carriage, and to provide a recording apparatus in the recording apparatus having a constitution which supports the carriage from the bottom by a guide shaft and a guide rail. <P>SOLUTION: The carriage height controlling apparatus is equipped with the guide shaft 3 for supporting the carriage 1, the guide rail 4 having an inclined part 4a and supporting a carriage slider 8 provided on the lower part of the carriage 1, and a bearing member 9 fitted rotatably and eccentrically to a rotating center on both ends of the guide shaft 3. By rotating the bearing member 9 eccentrically to the rotating center, the height of the carriage 1 on the guide shaft 3 side is changed. In accordance with this change, the carriage slider 8 moves along the inclined part 4a to change the height of the carriage 1 on the guide rail 4 side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a carriage height adjusting device (paper gap adjustment device) mounted on a recording device such as an ink jet printer or an ink jet recording device, which is composed of a guide shaft and a guide rail and supports a carriage at two front and rear positions to guide reciprocation. The present invention relates to an adjusting device) and a recording device such as an ink jet printer and an ink jet recording device equipped with the same.

In an inkjet printer as a recording apparatus, various configurations for supporting a carriage and guiding the operation of the carriage are conventionally known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 has two shaft bodies that support the carriage, and is attached to one end of the shaft body by a mechanism that changes the height of the recording material mounted on the carriage and the recording material mounted on the carriage depending on the height of the shaft body. The first lever provided to extend from the bearing member and the second lever provided to the bearing member of the second shaft body are connected by a link, and the function of adjusting the height by rotating the bearing member is provided. It is disclosed.
Patent Document 2 discloses a mechanism for adjusting a gap between a carriage and a sheet. Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration in which an axis that holds a carriage for moving an ink jet recording head is an eccentric shaft, and the gap between the recording head and a printing paper is changed by rotating the eccentric shaft.
As a configuration for supporting the carriage of the ink jet printer and guiding the operation, there is a configuration using two guide shafts on the front and rear of the carriage. This configuration is characterized in that since the carriage is supported in the front-rear direction, the carriage is well balanced and hardly vibrates up and down. However, this configuration uses two expensive guide shafts with high surface accuracy, resulting in high material costs.
Therefore, a configuration has been proposed in which a slider is provided on the lower surface of the carriage instead of the guide shaft and supported from below by a sheet metal (guide rail). In this type of configuration, the guide rail is screwed to a frame (sheet metal) constituting the main body, or a sheet metal constituting the frame is used as it is.

On the other hand, an ink jet recording apparatus performs recording by ejecting ink from a head mounted on a carriage onto a paper separated by a certain distance, so that the distance (paper gap) between the paper and the head is set to an appropriate interval. Is essential to obtain normal print quality. Therefore, when printing on an envelope or a postcard, a mechanism for adjusting the distance between the head and the paper is provided depending on the thickness and type of the paper.
In the configuration using two guide shafts, for adjusting the paper gap, the two guide shafts have an eccentric shaft structure, and the interval is adjusted by moving the carriage up and down by rotating the guide shafts. A mechanism or the like is used.
JP 2002-127542 A JP 2006-315272 A JP-A-2005-81717

However, in the recording apparatus configured to support the carriage from below with the guide shaft and the guide rail, it is difficult to raise the carriage by operating the guide rail because the guide rail itself is a part of the frame of the recording apparatus. Therefore, on the contrary, means such as lowering the sheet position (platen) is used, but there is a drawback that the mechanism becomes more complicated than the configuration in which the carriage alone is moved.
Patent Document 1 is a technique limited to a configuration using two shafts, and cannot be used for other types. Further, since Patent Document 2 is not a carriage but a technique for a mechanism in which a platen moves, the mechanism is complicated and cannot be applied to a conveyance mechanism such as a belt conveyance.
Further, Patent Document 3 has a configuration in which the front of the carriage is placed on the guide plate and the rear side is supported by the guide shaft, but only the guide shaft side is adjusted, the guide plate is fixed, and the height is adjusted. I can't.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a recording apparatus having a configuration in which the carriage is supported from below by a guide shaft and a guide rail in consideration of the above situation, and has an inexpensive configuration in which the carriage is moved up and down to adjust the paper gap. It is an object of the present invention to provide a carriage height adjusting device (paper gap adjusting device) and a recording device.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a carriage height adjusting device for adjusting a height position of a carriage provided with a recording unit for recording on a recording material, and a guide for supporting the carriage. A guide rail having a shaft, an inclined portion, and supporting a carriage slider provided at a lower portion of the carriage, and a bearing member fitted to both ends of the guide shaft so as to be rotatable and eccentric from the rotation center; The carriage slider moves along the inclined portion in accordance with a change in the height of the carriage on the guide shaft side as the bearing member rotates eccentrically with the rotation center. A carriage height adjusting device that changes the carriage height on the rail side is characterized.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carriage height adjusting device according to the first aspect, wherein the guide rail is a plate member in which a rail portion is formed by bending.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the carriage height adjusting device according to the second aspect is characterized in that the guide rail is a part of the apparatus frame.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the carriage height adjusting device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the carriage includes a recording material sensor that detects a leading edge of the recording material. .
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus comprising the carriage height adjusting device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a guide shaft for supporting the recording portion, a guide rail having an inclined portion and supporting a carriage slider provided at a lower portion of the recording portion, and both ends of the guide shaft. A bearing member that is pivotable and fitted eccentrically with respect to the pivot center, a device frame that supports the guide shaft and the guide rail, and a height adjusting means that adjusts a height position of the recording unit. In the recording apparatus, the carriage slider moves along the inclined portion as the height of the recording portion on the guide shaft side changes as the bearing member rotates eccentrically with the rotation center. The recording apparatus is characterized in that the carriage height on the guide rail side changes.

  According to the present invention, in the carriage height adjustment device in which the guide shaft and the carriage slider mounted on the guide rail support the center of gravity at two positions on the front and rear sides from below, the guide rail and the slider are in contact with each other at the inclined portion. Since the guide shaft is fitted to a bearing member whose both ends are eccentric from the center of rotation, the bearing member is rotated so that the rear part of the carriage moves upward and rearward. Since the slider and the guide rail that are in contact also move upward and rearward in accordance with the movement of the rear part of the carriage, the height of the carriage can be changed horizontally.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a mechanism part of an ink jet recording apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
In the ink jet printer 20 which is an ink jet recording apparatus, a rear end portion of a carriage 1 having a recording portion is slidably installed on a guide shaft 3 attached to an apparatus frame 2. Further, the lower surface of the lower end portion of the front end portion of the carriage 1 is slidably installed on the guide rail 4.
Further, a motor 6 including a stepping motor or the like that moves the carriage 1 in the direction of arrow A (main scanning direction) via a drive belt (timing belt) 5 is provided.
On the other hand, the ink jet recording apparatus includes a sub-scanning system (not shown) for feeding the paper 7 as a recording material in the arrow B direction (sub-scanning direction), and moves the carriage 1 in the arrow A direction (main scanning direction). Then, the sheet 7 is fed in the direction of arrow B, and ink is ejected from a recording unit (not shown) to print an image on the sheet 7.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the first embodiment of the carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state where a thicker sheet than usual is passed through the carriage of FIG.
A carriage height adjusting device that adjusts the height position of the carriage 1 having a recording unit that performs recording on a recording material includes a guide shaft 3 that guides the carriage 1 in the main scanning direction, and the left side of the drawing in FIGS. And a guide rail 4 that supports a carriage slider 8 provided on the lower front side of the carriage 1.
Both ends of the guide shaft 3 (only one end is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) are provided with bearing members 9 that can rotate and are fitted eccentrically with respect to the center of rotation, and the guide rail 4 is inclined (inclined). Part) 4a. The height of the carriage 1 on the guide rail 4 side is also changed in synchronism with the change of the height of the carriage 1 on the guide shaft 3 side by the guide shaft 3.
The carriage 1 according to the first embodiment is supported from below by a carriage slider (sub-scanning system) 8 mounted on a guide shaft 3 and a guide rail 4 at two positions on the front and rear sides of the center of gravity. In this 1st Embodiment, the shape of the guide rail 4 differs from the guide rail 4 of FIG.

The carriage slider 8 is in contact with the guide rail 4 at the inclined portion 4a, and the guide shaft 3 is fitted to a bearing member 9 whose both ends are decentered from the rotation center (in the figure, the device frame ( (Not shown) is fixed).
By rotating the bearing member 9 and the rear part of the carriage 1 shown in the figure moving upward in the rearward direction, the carriage slider 8 and the guide rail 4 that are in contact with each other at the inclined part 4a are also adapted to the movement of the rear part of the carriage 1. Thus, the height of the carriage 1 can be changed horizontally. FIG. 2 shows the position of the carriage when a sheet 7 having a normal thickness is passed, and FIG. 3 shows a state when a sheet 7 'thicker than usual is passed.
As described above, the carriage height adjusting device according to the present invention is configured to be supported from the lower side by the carriage shaft 8 on the guide shaft 3 and the guide rail 4 from the lower side at two positions on the front and rear sides of the center of gravity.
In this case, the guide rail 4 and the carriage slider 8 are in contact with each other at the inclined portion 4a, and the guide shaft 3 is fitted to a bearing member 9 whose both ends are eccentric from the center of rotation. For this reason, the bearing member 9 is rotated, and the rear portion of the carriage 1 can move upward toward the rear.
Accordingly, the carriage slider 8 and the guide rail 4 that are in contact with each other at the inclined portion can also change the height of the carriage horizontally by moving the inclined portion 4a rearward in accordance with the movement of the rear portion of the carriage. .

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a second embodiment of the carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state where a thicker sheet than usual is passed through the carriage of FIG.
4 and 5, in this second embodiment, the guide rail 4 is formed by bending a plate material fixed to the apparatus frame 2, so that the cost can be reduced. .
The guide rail 4 is a plate-like member in which a rail portion (inclined portion) 4a is formed by bending. In FIG. 4, the normal heat paper 7 is passed, and in FIG. 5, the paper 7 ′ thicker than usual is passed.
As described above, the guide rail 4 according to the second embodiment is formed by bending the plate material fixed to the apparatus frame 2, and does not require a structural material having the inclined portion 4a, thereby reducing the cost. be able to.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a third embodiment of the carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 6, the carriage slider 8 rides on a guide rail 4 ′ formed by bending a part of the apparatus frame. The guide rail 4 'is not a separate body from the apparatus frame 2, but the apparatus frame 2 is used as it is, and the carriage slider 8 is bent to form the inclined portion 4a.
Thus, the guide rail 4 'having the inclined portion 4a that contacts the carriage slider 8 is not used as a separate structural member, and the apparatus frame 2 of the recording apparatus can be used as the guide rail, thereby reducing the cost. be able to.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a fourth embodiment of the carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 7, a paper sensor 10 is installed on the side surface of the carriage 1, although details are not described.
In the case of the raising mechanism of the carriage 1 according to the present invention, since the carriage 1 moves back and forth as well as up and down, the position of the leading edge of the fed paper changes, so that the leading edge of the paper 7 is detected. It is better to have a paper sensor 10 consisting of
As described above, the carriage 1 includes the paper sensor 10 that detects the leading edge of the paper. In the case of the raising mechanism of the carriage 1 of the present invention, the carriage 1 moves back and forth as well as up and down. For this reason, the position of the leading edge of the sheet sent is changed. Therefore, if the paper sensor 10 for detecting the leading edge of the paper is provided, the added position can be made constant even when the position is changed.
Although not shown, according to another embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording apparatus includes a guide shaft and a guide rail that support the recording unit, and a frame that supports the guide shaft and the guide rail, and A height adjusting device for adjusting the height position of the recording unit (the carriage height position) is provided.

At both ends of the guide shaft, there are provided bearing members that can rotate on the frame and are eccentrically fitted to the center of rotation, and the guide rails are provided with inclined portions. Accordingly, the height of the carriage on the guide rail side is also changed in synchronization with the change in the height of the carriage on the guide shaft side by the guide shaft.
As such a recording apparatus, there is a recording head stationary type line head printer. The line head is held by a pivotable guide shaft and guide rail to enable height adjustment.
In the present invention, as the recording method, so-called one-pass printing in which an image is formed on the recording material by one main scan may be used, or the same nozzle group or different nozzle groups may be applied to the same area of the recording material. So-called multi-pass printing in which an image is formed by performing main scanning a plurality of times may be used. These recording methods can be used in appropriate combination.

Hereinafter, multi-pass printing will be described. Here, a case where an image is completed by executing four main printing scans (4 passes) for one printing area will be described as an example.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram schematically showing an image processing unit in multipass printing. In the block diagram of FIG. 8, each block shows an input terminal 11, a recording buffer control unit 12, a pass number setting unit 13, a mask processing unit 14, a mask pattern table 15, a head I / F unit 16, and a recording head 17. Yes.
The bitmap data input from the input terminal 1 is stored at a predetermined address in the recording buffer 12 by the recording buffer control unit. The recording buffer 12 has a capacity capable of storing bitmap data for one scan and a recording material (paper) feed amount, and constitutes a ring buffer for each recording material feed amount such as a FIFO memory.
The recording buffer control unit controls the recording buffer 12 and activates a printer engine (not shown) when bitmap data for one scan is stored in the recording buffer 12, depending on the position of each nozzle of the recording head 17. The bitmap data is read from the recording buffer 12 and input to the pass number setting unit 13.
When bitmap data for the next scan is input from the input terminal 1, the recording buffer 12 is controlled so as to be stored in an empty area of the recording buffer 12 (an area corresponding to the paper feed amount for which recording has been completed).

Next, a more specific configuration example of the pass number setting unit 13 in the image processing unit will be described. The path number setting unit 13 determines the number of divided paths and outputs the number of paths to the mask processing unit 14.
In the mask pattern table 15, a necessary mask pattern is selected from mask patterns stored in advance, for example, a mask pattern for 2-pass printing, 4-pass printing, and 8-pass printing according to the determined number of divided passes. Output to process 5.
When the mask processing unit 14 masks the bitmap data stored in the recording buffer 12 for each pass recording using a mask pattern and outputs it to a head driver (not shown), the head driver masks the bitmap data. The bitmap data is rearranged in the order used by the recording head 17 and transferred to the recording head 17. In this way, by using multi-pass printing, white lines and density unevenness that are conspicuous in 1-pass printing can be averaged and made inconspicuous.

1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a mechanism part of an ink jet recording apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1 is a side view showing a first embodiment of a carriage of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state where a thicker sheet than usual is passed through the carriage of FIG. 2. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a second embodiment of a carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state where a thicker sheet than usual is passed through the carriage of FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a third embodiment of a carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing a fourth embodiment of a carriage of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the image process part in multipass printing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage (recording part), 2 Apparatus frame, 3 Guide shaft, 4 Guide rail, 4a Inclined part of guide rail, 6 Motor, 7 Recording material (paper), 7 'Thick recording material (thick paper), 8 Carriage slider, 9 Bearing member, 10 Recording material (paper) sensor, 20 Recording device (inkjet printer, inkjet recording device)

Claims (6)

In a carriage height adjusting device for adjusting a height position of a carriage provided with a recording unit for recording on a recording material,
A guide shaft for supporting the carriage;
A guide rail having an inclined portion and supporting a carriage slider provided at a lower portion of the carriage;
Bearing members fitted to both ends of the guide shaft so as to be rotatable and eccentric from the rotation center;
The carriage slider moves along the inclined portion in accordance with the change in height of the carriage on the guide shaft side as the bearing member rotates eccentrically with the rotation center. A carriage height adjusting device, wherein the carriage height changes.   The carriage height adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail is a plate-like member having a rail portion formed by bending.   3. The carriage height adjusting device according to claim 2, wherein the guide rail is a part of an apparatus frame.   4. The carriage height adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the carriage includes a recording material sensor that detects a leading end of the recording material.   A recording apparatus comprising the carriage height adjusting device according to claim 1. A guide shaft that supports the recording unit, a guide rail that has an inclined portion and supports a carriage slider provided at a lower portion of the recording unit, and is rotatable at both ends of the guide shaft and decentered from the rotation center. In a recording apparatus comprising: a fitted bearing member; an apparatus frame that supports the guide shaft and the guide rail; and a height adjusting unit that adjusts a height position of the recording unit.
The carriage slider moves along the inclined portion in accordance with the change in height of the recording portion on the guide shaft side as the bearing member rotates eccentrically with respect to the rotation center, so that the guide rail side moves. The carriage height of the recording apparatus changes.

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