JP2009274306A - Fluid injection apparatus and loosening detecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which excellently detects loosening of a rolled sheet of paper. <P>SOLUTION: The printer 10 includes a supporter 35 for rotating a roll which a rolled sheet of paper is wound around, a conveying drive roller 51a for conveying the rolled sheet of the roll supported by the supporter in a supply direction, a fluid injection head 44 for injecting a fluid to the conveyed rolled sheet, and a detecting means 70 for detecting the looseness of the rolled sheet. A controller 100 executes a predetermined processing from the detection result by the detecting means 70. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluid ejection device and a slack detection method.

Among the ink jet printers, there is a type that uses a large paper having a paper size of A2 or larger. In such large-format ink jet printers, so-called roll paper is often used in addition to cut paper. In the following description, a so-called roll paper around which a paper is wound is referred to as a roll body, and a portion pulled out from the roll body is referred to as a paper.

  As a printer using such a roll body, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1.

JP 2007-290866 A

By the way, when the roll body is mounted on the printer and the roll paper pulled out from the roll body is set at a predetermined position of the printer, the roll body is loosely wound and the paper may be loosened.

When the paper is loosened in this way, for example, the loosened portion may come into contact with the sheet metal portion of the printer or the print head, and may be damaged or soiled. If the printing surface of the paper is damaged, the image quality naturally deteriorates. If the paper becomes dirty, printing must be performed again.

SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a fluid ejecting apparatus and a slack detection method capable of detecting slack of paper.

The fluid ejecting apparatus of the present invention includes a support unit that rotatably supports a roll body around which the roll paper is wound, and a transport driving roller that transports the roll paper from the roll body supported by the support unit along a supply direction. And a fluid ejecting head that ejects fluid to the conveyed roll paper, and a detecting means for detecting looseness of the roll paper.

The detecting means can detect looseness of the roll paper in the roll body or looseness of the roll paper wound after the fluid is ejected by the fluid ejecting head.

When the detecting means detects looseness of the roll paper, a process for removing the looseness of the roll paper by driving and controlling a motor that provides a driving force for driving the conveyance drive roller, or a motor that provides a driving force for driving the roll body, or Execution means for executing a process of presenting to the user that the roll paper is slack can be provided.

The slack detection method of the present invention includes a support unit that rotatably supports a roll body around which roll paper is wound, and a transport driving roller that transports the roll paper from the roll body supported by the support unit along a supply direction. And a roll paper slack detection method of a fluid ejecting apparatus, comprising: a fluid ejecting head that ejects a fluid to the conveyed roll paper, and detecting a slack of the roll paper; When roll paper slack is detected in the detection step process, a process for removing the slack of the roll paper by driving and controlling a motor that provides a driving force for driving the conveyance driving roller or a motor for driving the roll body. Or an execution step of executing a process of presenting to the user that the slack of the roll paper has occurred.

Hereinafter, a printer 10 as a fluid ejecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Note that the printer 10 according to the present embodiment is a printer for printing large-sized paper having a size of, for example, JIS standard A2 or larger. The printer 10 in the present embodiment is an ink jet printer. However, the ink jet printer may be an apparatus that employs any ejection method as long as it is an apparatus that can print by ejecting ink.

In the following description, the lower side refers to the side where the printer 10 is installed, and the upper side refers to the side away from the installed side. Further, the side on which the paper P is supplied will be described as a supply side (rear end side), and the side on which the paper P is discharged will be described as a paper discharge side (front side).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the external configuration of a printer 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a drive system using a DC motor and a control system in the printer 10 of FIG.

In the case of this example, the printer 10 includes a pair of leg portions 11 and a main body portion 20 supported by the leg portions 11. The leg portion 11 is provided with a support column 12, and a rotatable caster 13 is attached to the caster support portion 14.

Various types of internal devices are mounted on the main body 20 in a state of being supported by a chassis (not shown), and these are covered with an external case 21. Further, as shown in FIG.
0 includes a roll drive mechanism 30, a carriage drive mechanism 40, and a paper transport mechanism 50 as a drive system using a DC motor.

The roll driving mechanism 30 is provided on the roll mounting portion 22 installed on the back side and the upper side of the main body portion 20. The roll mounting unit 22 can open the opening / closing lid 23 which is one element constituting the outer case 21, mount the roll body RP therein, and rotate the roll body RP by the roll driving mechanism 30. It has become.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the roll drive mechanism 30 includes a rotation holder 31 and a gear wheel train 32.
And a roll motor 33, a rotation detector 34, and a pair of left and right support portions 35R, 35L.

The rotating holders 31 are inserted from both ends of the hollow hole RP1 provided in the roll body RP, and a pair is provided to support the roll body RP from both ends.

The roll motor 33 is a rotary holder 31 located on one end side of the pair of rotary holders 31.
A driving force (rotational force) is applied to a via the gear wheel train 32.

In the present embodiment, the rotation detection unit 34 is composed of a rotary encoder. Therefore, the rotation detection unit 34 includes a disk-shaped scale 34a and a rotary sensor 34b. The disk-shaped scale 34a has a light-transmitting part that transmits light and a light-shielding part that blocks light transmission at regular intervals along the circumferential direction. The rotary sensor 34b includes a light emitting element (not shown), a light receiving element (not shown), and a signal processing circuit (not shown) as main components.

The support portion 35L is disposed on one end of the guide rail 37, and the support portion 35R is disposed on the guide rail 37 so that the support shafts 36L and 36R face each other on the coaxial line. And the installation position on the guide rail 37 can change the support part 35R according to the length of the roll body RP.

The support portions 35R and 35L (hereinafter, referred to as the support portion 35 when not individually distinguished) support the roll body RP by the support shafts 36R and 36L being inserted into the rotary holder 31.
A roll motor 33 is coupled to the support shaft 36L of the support portion 35L via a gear wheel train 32. On the other hand, the support shaft 36R of the support portion 35R is freely rotatable. Therefore, when the roll motor 33 is driven, the support shaft 36L of the support portion 35L is rotated, whereby the support portion 3 is rotated.
The roll body RP supported by 5R and 35L rotates with the support shafts 36R and 36L.

The guide rail 37 is provided with a detection unit 70 that detects looseness of the paper P. The detection unit 70 will be described later.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the carriage drive mechanism 40 includes a carriage 41 that is a part of the components of the ink supply / ejection mechanism, a carriage shaft 42, and other carriage motors and belts (not shown). is doing.

The carriage 41 includes an ink tank 43 for storing ink of each color (corresponding to fluid). The ink tank 43 is fixed to the front side of the main body 20 via a tube (not shown). Ink can be supplied from an ink cartridge (not shown) provided. Further, on the lower surface of the carriage 41, a print head 44 capable of ejecting ink droplets.
(Corresponding to a fluid ejecting head) is provided. The print head 44 is provided with a nozzle row (not shown) associated with each ink, and a piezo element (not shown) is arranged in the nozzle constituting the nozzle row. By operating the piezo element, it is possible to eject ink droplets from the nozzles at the end of the ink passage.

The carriage 41, the ink tank 43, a tube (not shown), the ink cartridge, and the print head 44 constitute an ink supply / ejection mechanism. The print head 44 is not limited to a piezo drive system using a piezo element. For example, a heater system that heats ink with a heater and uses the generated foam force, a magnetostriction system that uses a magnetostrictive element, and a mist that is controlled by an electric field. A mist method or the like may be employed. Ink cartridge / ink tank 4
Any kind of ink such as dye-based ink / pigment-based ink may be mounted on the ink filled in 3.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the paper transport mechanism 50 includes a transport roller pair 51 and a gear train 52.
And a PF motor 53 and a rotation detector 54.

The transport roller pair 51 includes a transport driving roller 51a and a transport driven roller 51b, and a sheet P (corresponding to a roll paper) drawn from the roll body RP can be sandwiched between them.

Further, the PF motor 53 applies a driving force (rotational force) to the transport driving roller 51a via the gear wheel train 52.

Further, the rotation detection unit 54 is configured by a rotary encoder in the present embodiment, and similarly to the rotation detection unit 34 described above, includes a disk-like scale 54a and a rotary sensor 54b, and can output a pulse signal. It is said.

A platen 55 is provided on the downstream side (paper discharge side) of the pair of conveyance rollers 51, and the paper P is guided on the platen 55. The platen 55 has a print head 44.
Are arranged so as to face each other. A suction hole 55 a is formed in the platen 55. On the other hand, the suction hole 55a is provided so as to communicate with the suction fan 56, and the suction fan 5
6 is operated, air is sucked from the print head 44 side through the suction hole 55a. Thereby, when the paper P exists on the platen 55, the paper P can be sucked and held. In addition, the printer 10 includes other various sensors such as a paper width detection sensor that detects the width of the paper P.

Next, the detection unit 70 (corresponding to detection means) will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a positional relationship between the roll body RP and the detection unit 70 when the outer case 21 and the roll mounting unit 22 are viewed from the side. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the movement of the detection unit 70.

In this embodiment, the detection unit 70 is a so-called lever type sensor having a lever 71 and a sensor unit 72.

As shown in the upper side of FIG. 6, the detection unit 70 is disposed at a position separated by a certain distance below the roll body RP. As shown on the lower side of FIG. 6, the distance from the roll body RP is a distance at which the slack portion presses the upper surface of the lever 71 when the winding of the roll body RP is loosened and the paper P is slackened. . Since the diameter of the roll body RP is gradually reduced as the paper P is used, the distance from the roll body RP to the lever 71 is gradually increased. Therefore, for example, the diameter of the roll body RP is calculated so that the distance from the roll body RP to the lever 71 is kept constant, and the vertical position of the lever 71 is adjusted according to the calculation result. You can also Moreover, it can also be made constant based on the diameter of the initial (ie, unused) roll body RP.

When the sheet P is loosened, as shown in the lower side of FIG. 6, the loosened portion presses the upper surface of the lever 71, and as a result, the lever 71 rotates so as to be separated from the sensor unit 72. When the lever 71 is separated, the sensor unit 72 is turned on. A sensor signal (hereinafter referred to as a slack detection signal) is output from the sensor section 72 in the on state, and the slack detection signal is input to the control section 100 (FIG. 2). On the other hand, when the paper P is not slack, the upper side of the lever 71 is not pushed down as shown in the upper side of FIG. 6, so that the lever 71 comes into contact with the sensor unit 72 by the biasing force of the spring. Lever 7
When 1 is in contact, the sensor unit 72 is turned off. From the sensor part 72 in the off state,
No signal is output. In this way, the detection unit 70 outputs a signal according to whether the paper P is slack.

It is assumed that the upper surface of the lever 71 and the like is covered with, for example, a soft material so as not to be damaged even when the paper P comes into contact.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the control unit 100. The control unit 100 includes rotary sensors 34b and 54b, a detection unit 70, a linear sensor (not shown), a paper width detection sensor (not shown), a gap detection sensor (not shown), a power switch for turning on / off the printer 10, and the like. Each output signal is input.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 100 includes a CPU 101, ROM 102, RAM 103, P
A ROM 104, an ASIC 105, a motor driver 106, and the like are provided, and these are connected to each other via a transmission path 107 such as a bus. The control unit 100 is connected to the computer COM. And these hardware, ROM102 and PR
The main control unit 110, the PF motor control unit 111, and the like as shown in FIG. 7 by the cooperation of the software and / or data stored in the OM 104, or the addition of circuits and components for performing specific processing, etc. The roll motor control unit 112 is realized.

The PF motor control unit 111 of the control unit 100 controls the driving of the PF motor 53 so that the transport driving roller 51a rotates and the paper P is transported in the supply direction. In the following description, the direction of rotation of the PF motor 53 when the paper P is conveyed in the supply direction is referred to as a normal rotation direction.

The roll motor control unit 112 controls the driving of the roll motor 33 so that the roll body RP rotates and the paper P is wound around the roll body RP so that the slack of the paper P is eliminated. In the following, so that the roll body RP rotates and the paper P is wound around the roll body RP,
The process for controlling the drive of the roll motor 33 is referred to as a roll motor slack cancellation process.

When the paper P is conveyed in the supply direction by driving the PF motor 53, for example, the roll motor 33 is not energized so that the roll body RP is pulled and rotated via the paper P, and the PF motor 53 is not energized. Follow and rotate in the forward direction.

The main control unit 110 controls the PF motor control unit 111 to execute processing for conveying the paper P in the supply direction. The main control unit 110 also includes a detection unit 151 and an execution unit 152, and the detection unit 151 detects the slack of the paper P based on the slack detection signal from the detection unit 70. The execution unit 152 executes a predetermined process when the slack of the paper P is detected. For example, the execution unit 152 controls the roll motor control unit 112 to execute a roll motor loosening release process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the detection unit 151 and the execution unit 152 of the control unit 100.

In step S1, the detection unit 151 of the main control unit 110 determines whether or not a slack detection signal is input from the detection unit 70. If it is determined that the detection has been input, in step S2, the execution unit 152 performs predetermined processing. Execute. For example, the roll motor control unit 112 executes a roll motor loosening release process, the roll body RP rotates in the direction opposite to the normal rotation direction, and the paper P is wound around the roll body RP.

As described above, since the detection unit 70 for detecting the slack of the paper P is installed in the printer 10, the slack of the paper P in the printer 10 can be detected. The slack paper P is the lever 7
Since the slack of the paper P is detected based on the pressing of 1, the slack of the paper P can be directly detected.

Further, as described above, the detection unit 70 is arranged on the guide rail 37 to detect the slack of the paper P. Therefore, the slack of the paper P that contacts the guide rail 37 can be detected.

In a large-format inkjet printer, the distance between the support portions 35R and 35L can be adjusted according to the width of the paper P to be used, so that the width of the paper P can be handled in a plurality of types. ing. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, a guide rail 37 is provided, and the support portion 35 </ b> R can be disposed at an arbitrary position on the guide rail 37.

However, the guide rail 37 is provided along the longitudinal direction below the roll body RP. When the paper P is slack, the slack paper P contacts the guide rail 37. Further, since the guide rail 37 is formed with a metal or the like in which the support portion 35R moves, when the loose paper P comes into contact with the guide rail 37, the paper P may be damaged due to contact with the metal portion.
It may become dirty.

Thus, since the slack of the paper P that contacts the guide rail 37 can be detected in this way, the slack of the paper P can be detected before the slack paper P contacts the guide rail 37. Can do.

In the above description, the detection unit 70 is disposed at a predetermined position of the guide rail 37. However, the detection unit 70 can be changed according to the width of the paper P to be used, for example. In this way, the detection unit 70 can be arranged at the approximate center in the width direction of the paper P, for example, according to the width of the paper P. Further, the position of the detection unit 70 can be fixed. In this case, the detection unit 70 is separated from the support unit 35L so that the slack of the narrowest paper P among the papers P to be used can be detected. Is disposed at a position where the distance is shorter than the width of the paper P (that is, it is disposed, for example, from the support portion 35L).

In the above description, one detection unit 70 is used, but a plurality of detection units 70 may be provided.

In the above description, the slack of the paper P is detected using the lever type sensor, but other types of sensors can also be used. For example, when the paper P is slack using an optical sensor, the slack portion of the paper P can be detected by blocking the light signal.

In the above description, the detection unit 70 is provided on the guide rail 37, but the installation location of the detection unit 70 is not limited thereto.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating another arrangement example of the detection unit 70. In this example, the detection unit 70 is disposed near the lower side of the opening 24 (lower right side in FIG. 9). The opening 24 is provided above the outer case 21, and the paper P sent from the roll body RP is supplied to the conveying roller pair 51 through the opening 24. The paper P is, for example, a roll body RP and a transport roller pair 5.
When it is slackened between 1 and convex downward, it contacts the lower side of the opening 24. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, by arranging the detection unit 70 in the vicinity of the lower side of the opening 24, it is possible to detect the slack of the paper P that contacts the lower part of the opening 24.

In the above description, the case where the slack of the paper P in the roll body RP is detected has been described as an example, but the slack on the winding side can also be detected.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example when the detection unit 70 detects slack on the winding side. The winding device 200 of FIG. 10 is provided on the paper discharge side, and rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure.
The printed paper P is taken up. In this example, the detection unit 70 is installed at a position where the slack portion presses the upper surface of the lever 71 when the paper P taken up by the take-up device 200 is slack.

That is, similarly to the case shown in FIG. 6, the paper P taken up by the take-up device 200 is slackened, and when the slack portion presses the upper surface of the lever 71, the lever 71 is rotated so as to be separated from the sensor unit 72. When the lever 71 is separated, the sensor unit 72 is turned on and outputs a slack detection signal. Further, when the paper P taken up by the take-up device 200 is not slack, the upper side of the lever 71 is not pressed down, so that the lever 71 comes into contact with the sensor unit 72 by the biasing force of the spring. When the lever 71 is in contact, the sensor unit 72 is turned off.

In the above, when the slack of the paper P is detected, the paper P is wound around the roll body RP in order to eliminate the slack of the paper P. However, the paper P is sent in the supply direction. Thus, the slack of the paper P can be eliminated.

In addition to the process of releasing the slack, for example, an alarm output or a display may be turned on to notify the user that slack has occurred. By doing in this way, the user can recognize that the slackness has arisen, for example, can rotate the roll body RP by hand and can take a slack.

In the above, the detection unit 151 of the main control unit 110 detects the slackness of the paper P based on the slack detection signal from the detection unit 70. At this time, for example, when a slack detection signal is input continuously for a certain period of time, slack can be detected. By doing so, for example, when the sensor unit 72 of the detection unit 70 repeats an on state and an off state due to vibrations of the printer 10 and intermittently outputs a slack detection signal, slack of the paper P is detected. Therefore, the slack of the paper P can be detected appropriately.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be variously modified. This will be described below. In the above-described embodiment, the printer 10 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the case where the printer 10 is provided, and may be applied to a fax machine using a roll body (roll paper). In the embodiment described above, the paper P is a roll paper, but other than the paper P, a film-like member, a resin sheet, an aluminum foil, or the like may be used.

Further, the control unit 100 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and for example, the ASIC 105
The control unit 1 may be configured to control the roll motor 33 and the PF motor 53 alone, or in combination with a one-chip microcomputer incorporating various peripheral devices in addition to these.
00 may be configured.

The printer 10 in the above-described embodiment may be a part of a complex device such as a scanner device or a copy device. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the ink jet printer 10 has been described. However, the printer 10 is not limited to an ink jet printer as long as it can eject fluid. For example, the present invention can be applied to various printers such as a gel jet printer, a toner printer, and a dot impact printer.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the drive system using a DC motor in the printer of FIG. 1, and a control system. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a part of roll drive mechanism. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of a roll body, a conveyance roller pair, and a print head. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of a detection part. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the detection part of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a control part. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the main-control part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of a detection part. It is a figure which shows the other example of arrangement | positioning of a detection part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer, 20 ... Main-body part, 24 ... Opening part, 30 ... Roll drive mechanism, 33 ... Roll motor, 34, 54 ... Rotation detection part, 34b, 54b ... Linear sensor, 35 ... Support part (corresponding to support part) , 37... Guide rail, 40... Carriage drive mechanism, 44... Print head (corresponding to fluid ejection head), 50... Paper transport mechanism, 51. ... Conveyance driven roller, 53 ... PF motor, 70 ... detection unit (corresponding to detection means), 71 ... lever, 72 ... sensor unit, 100 ... control unit, 110 ... main control unit, 111 ... PF motor control unit, 112 ... Roll motor control unit 151... Detection unit 15
2 ... execution unit, 200 ... winding device

Claims (4)

A support unit that rotatably supports a roll body around which roll paper is wound;
A transport drive roller for transporting the roll paper from the roll body supported by the support unit along a supply direction;
A fluid ejecting head that ejects fluid to the conveyed roll paper;
A fluid ejecting apparatus comprising: detecting means for detecting looseness of the roll paper. 2. The fluid ejection according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a slack of the roll paper in the roll body or a slack of the roll paper wound after the fluid is ejected by the fluid ejecting head. 3. apparatus. When the slack of the roll paper is detected by the detecting means, the roll paper is slackened by controlling the driving of the motor that supplies the driving force for driving the transport driving roller or the motor that supplies the driving force for driving the roll body. The fluid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising execution means for executing a process or a process of presenting to a user that a slack of roll paper has occurred. A support unit that rotatably supports a roll body around which roll paper is wound;
A transport drive roller for transporting the roll paper from the roll body supported by the support unit along a supply direction;
In the method for detecting looseness of the roll paper of a fluid ejecting apparatus comprising: a fluid ejecting head that ejects fluid to the conveyed roll paper;
A detection step for detecting looseness of the roll paper;
When roll paper slack is detected in the processing of the detection step, the roll paper slack is controlled by driving a motor that provides a driving force for driving the transport driving roller or a motor that provides a driving force for driving the roll body. And a step of executing a process of presenting to the user that the roll paper is slack.

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