JP2010217496A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of changing the magnification of print in a recording medium carrying direction. <P>SOLUTION: A control part 80 controls a main motor part 50 and a scanner motor 72 individually. A carrying roll motor 52 and an image holder motor 54 are controlled respectively by the control part 80. In accordance with indication information from a UI device 18, the control part 80 controls rotations of the carrying roll motor 52 and the image holder motor 54 to finely adjust a carrying speed of a recording medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 describes the above-described from the number of steps of pulses supplied for driving the stepping motor until the conveyance of the printing paper is once stopped, and the number of steps of pulses supplied for driving in accordance with a user instruction. Disclosed are a print medium transport error device and a print medium transport error device correction method for resetting a predetermined amount and a print position of a thermal head.

  Patent Document 2 calculates a carry amount correction value by inputting information on a carry amount adjustment pattern similar to the carry amount adjustment sample pattern based on a print result of the carry amount adjustment pattern, and calculates the calculated carry amount correction value. Discloses a printing apparatus that adjusts the conveyance amount of the printing apparatus.

  Patent Document 3 is a printing device in which a plastic plate is set at a right angle to a platen roller, a thermal head that performs printing on the plastic plate is applied, and printing is performed by the thermal head while rotating the platen roller. Disclosed is a printing apparatus that adjusts the print position of the thermal head based on the deviation between the feed amount on the side and the feed amount on the output side of the feed amount detection roller.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-2036 JP 2001-1584 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-188937

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can change the printing magnification in the recording medium conveyance direction.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image for forming an image so as to form an image at a predetermined speed in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the recording medium conveyed by the conveyance unit and a conveyance unit conveying the recording medium. The printing apparatus includes a forming unit and a control unit that controls a conveyance speed of the conveyance unit.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit and the image forming unit have different drive sources.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image for forming an image so that an image is formed at a predetermined speed in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the recording medium conveyed by the conveying means and a conveying means conveying the recording medium. The printing apparatus includes: a forming unit; a setting unit that sets a conveyance speed of the conveyance unit; and a control unit that controls the conveyance speed of the conveyance unit so that the conveyance speed is recognized by the recognition unit.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the setting means sets a conveyance speed that is arbitrarily changed in accordance with an instruction from an operator.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image carrier, an optical writing device for writing a latent image on the image carrier so that an image is formed at a predetermined speed, and developing the latent image written on the image carrier. A developing device that is visualized by an agent, a transfer device that transfers a developer image visualized by the developing device to a recording medium, a fixing device that fixes the developer image transferred by the transfer device to the recording medium, and A conveying unit that conveys the recording medium; a setting unit that sets a conveying speed of the conveying unit; and a control unit that controls the conveying speed of the conveying unit so that the conveying speed is recognized by the setting unit. It is a printing device.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 1, the printing apparatus which can change the magnification of the printing in a recording medium conveyance direction can be provided.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the present invention according to the first aspect, it is possible to improve the accuracy of aligning the print position as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, the printing apparatus which can change arbitrarily the magnification of the printing in a recording medium conveyance direction can be provided.

  According to the invention of claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 3, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus in which the operator can correct the printing position based on the printing result.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, the printing apparatus which can change arbitrarily the magnification of the printing in a recording medium conveyance direction can be provided.

1 is a side view showing a printing apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1 shows a circuit configuration of a motor drive control system of a printing apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1 shows a configuration for controlling the rotation of a main motor 50 of a printing apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing explaining operation | movement of the printing apparatus with which one Embodiment of this invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing explaining operation | movement of the printing apparatus with which one Embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a side view which shows the printing apparatus with which other embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a side view which shows the printing means used for other embodiment of this invention.

[First embodiment]
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a printing apparatus 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. The printing apparatus 10 includes a printing apparatus main body 12, an image forming unit 14 is mounted inside the printing apparatus main body 12, and a discharge unit 16 described later is provided above the printing apparatus main body 12. In addition, a user interface (UI device) 18 such as a touch panel as an operation unit is provided on the front side (right side in FIG. 1) upper portion of the printing apparatus main body 12. The UI device 18 displays control information, support information, and the like of the printing device 10 and accepts input by an operator such as instruction information.

For example, two-stage sheet feeders 20 are disposed below the printing apparatus main body 12. The lower part of the printing apparatus main body 12 is configured such that a plurality of paper feeding apparatuses can be additionally arranged.
Each sheet feeding device 20 includes a sheet feeding device main body 22 and a sheet feeding cassette 24 in which a recording medium is stored. A pickup roll 26 is provided in the upper part near the rear end of the paper feed cassette 24, a retard roll 28 is disposed behind the pickup roll 26, and a feed roll 30 is disposed at a position facing the retard roll 28. ing.

  The conveyance path 32 is a recording medium path from the feed roll 30 to the discharge port 34, and this conveyance path 32 is in the vicinity of the back side (the left side surface in FIG. 1) of the printing apparatus main body 12 and is the lowermost sheet feeding device. From 20 to the fixing device 36, there is a portion formed substantially vertically. The fixing device 36 is provided with a heating roll 38 and a pressure roll 40. A transfer roll 42 and an image holding body 44 which will be described later are arranged on the upstream side of the fixing device 36 in the conveyance path 32, and a registration roll 46 is arranged on the upstream side of the transfer roll 42 and the image holding body 44. Further, a discharge roll 48 is disposed in the vicinity of the discharge port 34 of the conveyance path 32.

Accordingly, the recording medium fed from the paper feeding cassette 24 of the paper feeding device 20 by the pickup roll 26 is turned by the cooperation of the retard roll 28 and the feed roll 30, and the uppermost recording medium is conveyed to the conveyance path 32. Then, the developer roll is temporarily stopped by the registration roll 46, and the developer image is transferred between a later-described transfer roll 42 and an image holding body 44. The transferred developer image is fixed by the fixing device 36 and discharged from the discharge port 34 to the discharge portion 16 by the discharge roll 48. The rotation of the pickup roll 26, the retard roll 28, the feed roll 30, the registration roll 46, the transfer roll 42, the heating roll 38, the pressure roll 40 and the discharge roll 48 (the above is referred to as a transport roll), and the image carrier 44 The conveyance speed of the recording medium is controlled by the rotation.
The main motor 50 drives the transport roll and the image holding body 44.

  The image forming unit 14 is, for example, of an electrophotographic type, and is charged by an image carrier 44 made of a photosensitive member, a charging device 56 made of, for example, a charging roll that uniformly charges the image carrier 44, and a charging device 56. An optical writing device 58 that writes a latent image on the image holding member 44 with light, a developing device 60 that visualizes the latent image of the image holding member 44 formed by the optical writing device 58 with a developer, and the developing device 60. A transfer roll 42 for transferring the developer image to the recording medium, a cleaning device 62 comprising, for example, a blade for cleaning the developer remaining on the image carrier 44, and the developer image on the recording medium transferred by the transfer roll 42. Is fixed to the recording medium.

The optical writing device 58 includes a laser light source 64, a collimator lens 66, an fθ lens 68, a polygon mirror 70, and a scanner motor 72 that rotates the polygon mirror 70. Laser light emitted from the laser light source 64 is collimated by the collimator lens 66 and reflected by the polygon mirror 70. The polygon mirror 70 has, for example, six deflection surfaces (mirror surfaces), and reflects the laser light that has been collimated by the collimator lens 66 toward the fθ lens 68 while rotating at a predetermined equiangular speed by the scanner motor 72. . The laser beam reflected by the polygon mirror 70 passes through the fθ lens 68 and scans the image carrier 44 in the main scanning direction. The exposure position of the image carrier 44 is the latent image writing position P.
In this embodiment, a scanning laser exposure apparatus is used as the optical writing device 58. However, an LED, a surface emitting laser, or the like can be used as another embodiment.

In the process cartridge 74, the image carrier 44, the charging device 56, the developing device 60, and the cleaning device 62 are integrated, and these can be replaced as a unit. The process cartridge 74 can be removed from the printing apparatus main body 12 by opening the discharge unit 16.
Further, a control unit 80 that controls each unit constituting the printing apparatus 10 is disposed in the printing apparatus main body 12.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration of the motor drive control system of the printing apparatus 10, and FIG. 3 shows a configuration for controlling the rotation of the main motor 50. The control unit 80 individually controls the main motor 50 and the scanner motor 72.
The operation display unit 18a which is a part of the UI device 18 can be set and changed, for example, in 11 steps (−5 to +5). The CPU 82 instructs the clock frequency control means 84 to adjust the rotation of the main motor 50 according to the numerical value set in the operation display unit 18a. In this way, the rotation of the main motor 50 is controlled to finely adjust the conveyance speed of the recording medium.

  For example, a DC motor or a stepping motor can be used as the main motor 50. When a DC motor is used as the main motor 50, the rotation speed of the main motor 50 is adjusted by changing the rotation clock pulse itself, and the conveyance speed of the recording medium is changed. When a stepping motor is used for the main motor 50, the driving frequency is changed to adjust the driving of the main motor 50, and the recording medium conveyance speed is changed.

  As described above, when the rotation speed of the main motor 50 is changed and the recording medium conveyance speed is finely adjusted while the rotation speed of the scanner motor 72 that rotates the polygon mirror 70 is kept constant, the printing magnification (printing length in the conveyance direction of the recording medium) is obtained. Is changed.

The operation of the printing apparatus 10 will be described.
FIG. 4A shows a state in which printing is performed on a recording medium at a conveyance speed V0, for example, and the printing position is shifted with respect to the rear end side of the recording medium. Here, if the rotation speed of the scanner motor 72 is not changed, the rotation speeds of the transport roll motor 52 and the image carrier motor 54 are changed, the transport speed is finely adjusted (slower in this case), and printing is performed at the transport speed V1, recording is performed. The printing length in the medium conveyance direction becomes longer (FIG. 4B). For this reason, the shift on the trailing end side of the recording medium is eliminated without shifting the writing position on the leading end side of the recording medium.

FIG. 5 shows a case where the printing position is set in advance on the recording medium by a frame. FIG. 5A shows a state where, for example, printing is performed on a recording medium at the conveyance speed V0, and the printing position is shifted with respect to the frame. Here, if the rotational speed of the scanner motor 72 is not changed, the rotational speed of the main motor 50 is changed, the transport speed is finely adjusted (slow in this case), and printing is performed at the transport speed V2, the print length in the transport direction of the recording medium Becomes longer (FIG. 5B). For this reason, the shift of the printing position with respect to the frame is eliminated.
In the above description, the case where the print position is shifted toward the front end direction of the recording medium has been described. However, when the print position is shifted toward the rear end direction of the recording medium, the conveyance speed of the recording medium is increased and the print length is increased. By shortening, the deviation of the printing position is eliminated.

  Further, the configuration in which the transport roll and the image holding body 44 are driven by the main motor 50 has been described, but each of the transport roll and the image holding body 44 may be configured to have an individual drive source.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 6 shows the overall structure of a so-called tandem printing apparatus 10 as another embodiment. In this embodiment, four image forming units 92Y, 92M, 92C, and 92K are arranged in parallel to the intermediate transfer belt 90. The image forming unit 92Y forms a yellow toner image, the image forming unit 92M forms a magenta toner image, the image forming unit 92C forms a cyan toner image, and the image forming unit 92K forms a black toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 90. To do.

  The image forming units 92Y, 92M, 92C, and 92K are different in toner color, but have the same configuration, and therefore will be described as the image forming unit 92 below. The image forming unit 92 includes an image forming unit 94 provided on one surface of the intermediate transfer belt 90 and an intermediate transfer roll 96 provided on the back surface of the intermediate transfer belt 90. The image forming unit 94 is configured to be detachable from the printing apparatus main body 12.

The image forming unit 94 includes an image holding member 44 made of a photosensitive member facing the intermediate transfer belt 90, a charging device 56, an optical writing device 58, a developing device 60, and a cleaning device 62.
In FIG. 5, only the constituent devices of the image forming unit 92 </ b> K are denoted by reference numerals.

  The intermediate transfer belt 90 is supported by a plurality of support rolls 98 and a backup roll 100, and is disposed so that the belt surface on which the image forming means 92 is provided is substantially horizontal. The backup roll 100 is provided so as to face the transfer roll 42, and the backup roll 100 rotates to drive the intermediate transfer belt 90. The intermediate transfer belt cleaning device 102 is disposed near the opposite end of the backup roll 100 (on the right side in FIG. 5).

  The main motor 50 drives the transport roll, the image holding body 44, and the backup roll 100.

  In the above configuration, the intermediate transfer belt 90 and the image carrier 44 are rotated in opposite directions in synchronization with each other, the surface of the image carrier 44 is charged by the charging device 56, and a latent image is formed by the optical writing device 58. Development is performed by the developing device 60. The toner image developed in this manner is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 90 by the intermediate transfer roll 96. The toner images of the respective colors formed by the respective image forming units 92 are superposed as the intermediate transfer belt 90 moves. The recording medium conveyed by the conveying roll passes between the transfer roll 42 and the intermediate transfer belt 90 backed up by the backup roll 100, and the developer image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 90 to the recording medium.

[Third embodiment]
FIG. 7 shows another embodiment in which an ink jet system is used as an image forming unit. In this embodiment, a recording head array 110 is provided, and this recording head array 110 has four colors corresponding to four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), respectively. Two inkjet recording head units 112 are arranged along the transport direction.

  Each recording head unit 112 is controlled by the control unit 80, and the control unit 80 determines, for example, the ejection timing of the ink droplets and the ejection port to be used according to the image information, and sends a drive signal to each recording head unit 112.

Below the recording head array 110, an endless conveyance belt 124 is disposed, which is stretched around the conveyance belt drive roll 120 and the driven roll 122. The main motor 50 drives the transport roll, the image carrier 44 and the transport belt drive roll 120.
A charging roll 128 connected to a power source 126 is disposed on the upstream side of the conveyance path. The charging roll 128 is driven while the conveyance belt 124 and the recording medium S are sandwiched between the charging roll 128 and a pressing position for pressing the recording medium S against the conveyance belt 124 and a separation position separated from the conveyance belt 124. It is provided so as to be movable between them. At the pressing position, a predetermined potential difference is generated between the grounded driven roll 122 and the charged recording medium S is electrostatically attracted to the transport belt 124.

  A separation plate 130 is disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance path, and the recording medium S is separated from the conveyance belt 124. The peeled recording medium S is transported from the downstream side of the peeling plate 130 to the transport path 32.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and a print position (print writing position) correction mechanism that is an existing technology can also be used in combination.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printing apparatus 12 Printing apparatus main body 14 Image formation means 44 Image holding body 50 Main motor part 52 Conveyance roll motor 54 Image holding body motor 58 Optical writing apparatus 70 Polygon mirror 72 Scanner motor 80 Control part

Claims (5)

Conveying means for conveying the recording medium;
An image forming means for forming an image so that an image is formed at a predetermined speed in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording medium transported by the transport means;
Control means for controlling the transport speed of the transport means;
A printing apparatus. The transport unit and the image forming unit have different drive sources, respectively.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1. Conveying means for conveying the recording medium;
An image forming means for forming an image so that an image is formed at a predetermined speed in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording medium transported by the transport means;
Setting means for setting the transport speed of the transport means;
Control means for controlling the transport speed of the transport means so as to be the transport speed authorized by the authorization means;
A printing apparatus. The setting means sets a conveyance speed that is arbitrarily changed according to an instruction from the operator.
The printing apparatus according to claim 3. An image carrier,
An optical writing device that writes a latent image on the image carrier so that an image is formed at a predetermined speed;
A developing device that visualizes the latent image written on the image carrier with a developer;
A transfer device for transferring the developer image visualized by the developing device to a recording medium;
A fixing device for fixing the developer image transferred by the transfer device to the recording medium;
Conveying means for conveying the recording medium;
Setting means for setting the transport speed of the transport means;
Control means for controlling the transport speed of the transport means so as to be the transport speed authorized by the setting means;
A printing apparatus.

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