JP2011001142A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inkjet recording device which orderly discharges recording media at a high speed to improve stocking performance without lowering the processing speed and image quality.SOLUTION: In the ink jet recording device 1 including a conveying belt 2 holding and conveying paper (recording media) P, an ink jet head 3 discharging ink to the paper P conveyed on the conveying belt 2 and performing printing, a discharging device 10 receiving the printed paper P from the conveying belt 2 and discharging it to a stock device 30, and the stock device 30 stocking the paper P discharged from the discharging device 10, the discharging device 10 is provided with right and left pair of V-shape guide plates 18 upwardly folding the right and left ends of the paper P, and the stock device 30 is provided with guide rails 35 supporting the right and left ends of the paper and a blower device 34 blowing air from above toward the paper P whose right and left ends are supported by the guide rails 35.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that performs printing by discharging ink from an ink jet head onto a recording medium while conveying a recording medium such as paper.

  The ink jet recording apparatus prints characters and figures in a dot pattern by ejecting fine particles of ink onto a recording medium such as paper from a nozzle provided in an ink jet head. The ink jet recording apparatus includes a transport belt that holds and transports a recording medium, an ink jet head that performs printing by ejecting ink onto the recording medium transported by the transport belt, and a printed recording medium from the transport belt. A discharging device that receives and discharges the recording medium to the stock device and the stock device that stocks the recording medium discharged from the discharging device are provided.

  Here, FIG. 6 shows a side view of the main part of such an ink jet recording apparatus. The illustrated ink jet recording apparatus 101 includes an endless transport belt 102 for transporting a sheet P as a recording medium. The conveying belt 102 is wound around a driving roller 104, a driven roller 105, and a tenshun roller 106, and is rotated by the driving roller 104 in the arrow direction (counterclockwise direction) in FIG. Transport. Although not shown, an ink jet head is disposed above the conveyor belt 102.

  Further, a suction unit 107 is disposed on the back side of the transport belt 102 and at a position facing the ink jet head. The suction unit 107 is a suction device provided with a suction fan (not shown), and sucks the paper P transported on the transport belt 102 and securely holds it on the transport belt 102, thereby shifting the position of the paper P. Fulfills the function of preventing. Although not shown, a discharge device and a stock device are disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance belt 102 in the sheet conveyance direction (left side in FIG. 6).

  In the ink jet recording apparatus 101 having the above configuration, the paper P supplied from the right direction in FIG. 6 to the left direction (the direction of arrow T in FIG. 6) by a paper supply device (not shown) is sucked by the suction unit 107. While being held in close contact with the conveyor belt 102 by the operation, the conveyor belt 102 is driven to rotate downstream in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise) in FIG. 6 by the driving roller 104 and is conveyed downstream (left side in FIG. 6) at a predetermined speed. Is done. In the process in which the sheet P is conveyed downstream by the conveying belt 102 as described above, ink is ejected on the sheet P by an ink jet head (not shown) according to image data, and characters and figures are formed in a dot pattern. Will be printed.

  The paper P on which images such as characters and figures are printed through the above process is guided by the discharge guide 115 and sent to a discharge device (not shown), and is discharged to a stock device (not shown) by the discharge device. Stocked.

  By the way, the paper P after printing is likely to curl as shown in FIG. 6 due to the difference in moisture between the front and back surfaces. When the paper P thus curled is conveyed as it is, a jam occurs in the discharge device. This causes problems such as the occurrence of a problem and the stability (stock performance) of paper discharge to the stock apparatus.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, when image formation on the paper by the image forming unit is completed and curling suppression standby is required, driving of the paper discharge motor is stopped and the paper is placed on the lower guide plate of the paper discharge conveyance unit. The paper is stopped by the transport roller and the roller facing the roller, and the paper is stopped and waited in a state in which curling is unlikely to occur.

JP 2006-082546 A

  However, in the method proposed in Patent Document 1, in order to stand by without performing a paper discharge operation in a state where the paper on which image formation has been completed is restrained by the conveyance roller and the roller, it is difficult for the paper to curl. In addition to slowing down the processing speed, the transport roller or roller touches the printing surface of the paper, causing an offset, resulting in a problem that the image quality deteriorates.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the intended processing is ink jet recording capable of improving the stockability by orderly discharging a recording medium at high speed without causing a reduction in processing speed and image quality. To provide an apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 includes a conveyance belt that holds and conveys a recording medium, an inkjet head that performs printing by discharging ink onto the recording medium conveyed by the conveyance belt, and printing. In an inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a discharge device that receives a discharged recording medium from the conveyor belt and discharges the recording medium to a stock device; and the stock device that stocks the recording medium discharged from the discharge device. A pair of left and right guide plates that bend the left and right ends of the medium upward are provided, and the stock device is directed to a guide rail that supports the left and right ends of the paper, and a recording medium in which the left and right ends are supported by the guide rail. And an air blowing device for blowing wind from above.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the stock device is provided with a stopper for receiving the leading end of the recording medium and stopping the recording medium.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, at the timing when the recording medium discharged to the stock device comes into contact with the stopper and stops, wind is blown from the blowing device toward the recording medium. It is characterized by.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the recording medium on which printing has been completed is bent upward by the guide plates provided on the discharge device, that is, the direction opposite to the direction in which the recording medium is originally intended to be bent. Therefore, the recording medium is continuously conveyed at a high speed while curling is suppressed, and the recording medium does not cause a reduction in processing speed or a jam. Can be discharged into a stock device. Then, the recording medium discharged to the stock device is supported by the guide rails at the left and right ends thereof to remove the deflection and maintain a substantially flat state, and falls off the guide rail by the wind blown from the blower In addition, since the stock is stocked in an orderly manner, the stockability of the recording medium is improved.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the recording medium discharged from the discharging device to the stocking device at high speed stops with the leading end abutting against the stopper. Is done.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the air is not blown from the blower to the recording medium until the recording medium discharged to the stock apparatus comes into contact with the stopper and stops, the wind is not recorded on the recording medium. The discharge operation of the recording medium is smoothly performed without hindering the discharge operation to the stock apparatus.

1 is a side view showing a basic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a perspective view of a discharge device and a stock device of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. It is a perspective view of the discharge device of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. It is a perspective view of the discharge device of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a view of a sheet discharged by the discharge device of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention as viewed from the downstream side in the transport direction. It is a side view which shows the curl state of the conventional inkjet recording device and the paper discharged | emitted by this.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 is a side view showing a basic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a discharge device and a stock device of the ink jet recording apparatus, FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views of the discharge device, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a view of a sheet discharged by a discharge device as viewed from the downstream side in the conveyance direction.

  An ink jet recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a color printer and includes an endless transport belt 2 for transporting a paper P as a recording medium. An ink jet head 3 is disposed above the transport belt 2. Is arranged. Here, the inkjet head 3 includes black (BK), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) heads 3a arranged in parallel along the conveyance direction (left direction in FIG. 1) of the paper P. 3b, 3c, 3d. The inkjet head 3 is a so-called line type, and has a printable area equivalent to a width perpendicular to the transport direction of the paper P.

  The conveying belt 2 is wound around a driving roller 4, a driven roller 5 and a tension roller 6 and is driven to rotate in the arrow direction (counterclockwise direction) in FIG. Transport in the T direction. An adsorption unit 7 is disposed at a position opposite to the inkjet head 3 on the back side of the transport belt 2. The suction unit 7 is a suction device provided with a suction pump (not shown), and adsorbs the paper P transported on the transport belt 2 and securely holds it on the transport belt 2, thereby shifting the position of the paper P. Fulfills the function of preventing.

  By the way, a discharge device 10 and a stock device 30 are disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance belt 2 in the sheet conveyance direction (left side in FIG. 1).

  The discharging device 10 conveys the printed paper P conveyed by the conveying belt 2 in the same direction (arrow Q direction) at the same speed as the conveying belt 2, and supplies it to the stock device 30 arranged downstream thereof. The sheet P is fed in and configured as follows.

  That is, the discharge device 10 includes an endless discharge belt 11, which is wound around a driving roller 12, a driven roller 13, and a tension roller 14. In addition, a discharge guide 15 that is inclined downward toward the downstream side is provided at the transfer portion of the paper P from the transport belt 2 to the discharge belt 11, and the paper P conveyed by the transport belt 2 is discharged from the discharge guide 15. 15 is delivered to the discharge belt 11 while being guided by the belt 15.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the discharge belt 11 is disposed at the center in the width direction of the discharge device 10, and the width thereof is set to be narrower than the width of the paper P, and the discharge belt 11 has a number of suction holes. 11a is formed. The discharge belt 11 is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 by a motor M1 shown in FIG. That is, the rotational power of the motor M1 is transmitted to the drive roller 12 through the reduction gear train G and the roller shaft 16, and the discharge belt 11 is rotated by rotating the drive roller 12 at a predetermined speed. 1 is transported in the direction of arrow Q in FIG. 1 at the same speed as the transport belt 2. For the discharge belt 11, a resin belt such as polyurethane or a rubber belt such as chloroprene rubber is used.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a suction device 17 is disposed on the back side of the discharge belt 11, and this suction device 17 does not allow the paper P conveyed on the discharge belt 11 to pass through the suction hole 11a. The sheet P is reliably held on the discharge belt 11 by being sucked by the illustrated suction fan.

  By the way, as shown in FIGS. 2-4, the V-shaped guide board 18 is each arrange | positioned at the both sides of the discharge belt 11 of the discharge device 10 (paper width direction). Each V-shaped guide plate 18 has a triangular shape in plan view and side view, and as shown in FIG. 4, the inner side L facing the discharge belt 11 is opposite to both side edges of the discharge belt 11. It is inclined so as to close toward the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction at an angle α in plan view. Each V-shaped guide plate 18 is inclined by a predetermined angle (angle β shown in FIG. 5) with respect to the horizontal plane so as to open upward toward the outer side in the left-right direction, and is narrowed toward the downstream side in the paper transport direction. As shown in FIG. 1, the height is set so as to gradually increase toward the downstream side in the paper transport direction.

  Further, flat and horizontal support members 19 are respectively provided on the left and right sides of the discharge belt 11, and these support members 19 form the same plane as the discharge belt 11 and are conveyed on the discharge belt 11. The left and right ends of P are supported. Here, the side L of each V-shaped guide plate 18 is attached to each support member 19 by a hinge-shaped movable shaft 20 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) so as to be pivotable up and down, as shown in FIG. In addition, the upper end of the arm 21 extending in the vertical direction is in contact with the back surface of each V-shaped guide plate 18, and each V-shaped guide plate 18 is supported by the arm 21.

  The lower end of each arm 21 is connected to a horizontally extending shaft 22, and a motor M <b> 2 is connected to the end of the shaft 22. Therefore, when the motor M2 rotates forward and backward and the rotation is transmitted to each arm 21 via the shaft 22, each arm 21 rotates about the shaft 22, and the upper end of the motor M2 draws an arc centered on the shaft 22. Therefore, the left and right V-shaped guide plates 18 whose rear surfaces are in contact with the tips of the respective arms 21 rotate up and down around the movable shaft 20, and the rising angle (angle β shown in FIG. 5) is adjusted. The

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the stock device 30 disposed downstream of the discharge device 10 in the paper conveyance direction is provided with a stock portion 31 for stocking the paper P discharged from the discharge device 10, and standing on the left and right sides thereof. A pair of cursors 32, a stopper 33 standing between the downstream ends of both cursors 32 in the sheet conveying direction, and an air blower 34 (see FIG. 1) disposed above them.

  The pair of left and right cursors 32 have guide rails 35 provided horizontally on the inner surfaces facing each other (only one is shown in FIG. 2), and the height of each guide rail 35 is discharged. The left and right ends of the paper P discharged from the apparatus 10 are set to a height at which the paper P is delivered and placed.

  Further, the stopper 33 receives the leading end of the paper P discharged vigorously by the discharge belt 11 of the discharge device 10, and is in a direction (left-right direction) orthogonal to the paper discharge direction at the downstream end in the paper discharge direction. Is erected.

  Further, the blower 34 drives a fan (not shown) to send the wind downward, and the paper P discharged from the discharge device 10 guides the left and right ends of the pair of left and right cursors 32. When the shutter (not shown) is opened at a timing when the leading end of the rail 35 is supported while being supported by the rail 35, the wind is blown toward the paper P, and the central portion (paper P) between the left and right cursors 32 is blown. In the width direction central portion).

  Next, the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the paper P supplied from the right direction in FIG. 1 to the left direction (the direction of arrow T in FIG. 1) by a paper supply device (not shown) Downstream (left side in FIG. 1) at a predetermined speed by the conveyance belt 2 that is rotated and driven in the arrow direction (counterclockwise) in FIG. It is conveyed. In the process in which the sheet P is conveyed downstream by the conveying belt 2 in this way, black (BK), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) heads are formed on the sheet P. Ink of each color is ejected according to the image data by 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d, and finally a full-color image is printed on the paper P by superimposing the respective colors.

  The paper P on which a full-color image is printed through the above-described process is sent to the discharge device 10. That is, the paper P is fed from the transport belt 2 to the discharge belt 11 of the discharge device 10 along the discharge guide 15 provided in the discharge device 10. In the discharging device 10, as described above, the rotational power is transmitted from the motor M1 to the driving roller 12 through the reduction gear train G and the roller shaft 16, and the driving roller 12 is driven to rotate, whereby the discharging belt 11 is shown in FIG. 1 is rotated at the same speed as the conveyance belt 2 in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise), and the paper P is smoothly fed from the conveyance belt 2 to the discharge belt 11, and is directed by the discharge belt 11 in the direction of arrow Q in FIG. It is conveyed to.

  By the way, as described above, the width of the discharge belt 11 is narrower than the width of the paper P, and the V-shaped guide plates 18 are disposed on both the left and right sides in the transport direction of the discharge belt 11, respectively. The portion protruding from the belt 11 to the left and right rides on the inclined surfaces of the left and right V-shaped guide plates 18 as the paper P is conveyed. On the other hand, since the central portion in the width direction of the paper P is sucked and held on the discharge belt 11 by the suction device 17 disposed on the back side of the discharge belt 11, the left and right ends of the paper P are left and right. 5 when viewed from the downstream side in the conveying direction, as shown in FIG. 5, the central part is low and both sides (FIG. 5). The region indicated by K) is deformed into a substantially V-shape that is lifted obliquely at an angle β. It should be noted that the rising width K on both the left and right sides of the paper P is preferably 80 mm or less, and the rising angle β can be adjusted as described above, but is preferably set to a value of 15 ° to 45 °. .

  Further, the inclined surfaces of the pair of left and right V-shaped guide plates 18 are parallel to the inner side L, and the distance (interval) between them is narrower toward the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction. The left and right side portions of the paper P riding on the plate 18 are gradually narrowed toward the downstream side in the paper transport direction, and the paper P is transported while the deformation amount increases as the paper P is squeezed along the paper transport direction. Is done. In this way, the paper P is conveyed in a state in which the front surface side (printing surface side) is forcibly bent in a direction opposite to the direction in which it originally tends to bend upward, so that the paper P with ink is used. In this state, the conveyance of the paper P and the drying of the ink proceed. Since the left and right ends of the paper P are not flat when the paper P is bent upward, the paper P is difficult to bend in the transport direction, and the paper P immediately after printing is bent downward in the transport process. Since the drying of the ink proceeds in this state, the paper P after drying is less likely to be bent.

  Thus, as the paper P is transported on the discharge belt 11, the leading edge is gradually removed from the transport belt 11 and is discharged to the next stacking device 30 and stacked. That is, the left and right end portions of the leading end portion of the paper P removed from the discharge belt 11 are transferred and supported on the guide rails 35 provided on the inner surfaces of the left and right cursors 32 of the stack device 30. Then, as the discharge of the paper P from the discharge belt 11 proceeds, the paper P is vigorously sent downstream along the guide rail 35 while being supported by the guide rail 35 of the left and right cursors 32. At this time, the bending of the paper P is removed, and the paper P is maintained in a substantially flat state. The leading edge of the sheet P stops when it abuts against the stopper 33, and both ends of the sheet P are supported by the left and right guide rails 35 to maintain a substantially horizontal state.

  As described above, the shutter (not shown) of the air blower 34 opens and the air blower is at the timing when the front end of the paper P comes into contact with the stopper 33 and the paper P is stopped with the left and right ends supported by the guide rails 35. Wind P is sent downward from 34 and both left and right sides of the paper P are supported by the guide rails 35 of the left and right cursors 32 to receive the wind on the upper surface thereof. The paper P is removed from the left and right guide rails 35, and the paper P falls to the stock section 31 where it is stocked in an orderly manner. Note that the blower 34 may start blowing at the above timing. Here, in the case of continuous printing, the air blower 34 closes the shutter or stops the air flow before the next paper P reaches the area affected by the air blow of the air blower 34, and transports the paper P. It is comprised so that ventilation may not influence.

  As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the paper P that has been printed is folded upward by the V-shaped guide plates 18 provided at the left and right ends of the paper P. That is, since the paper P is forcibly bent in the direction opposite to the direction in which it originally intended to be bent, the paper P is continuously transferred at a high speed with curling being suppressed. The paper P is discharged to the stock device 30 without causing a decrease in speed or occurrence of a jam. The paper P discharged to the stock device 30 is supported by the guide rails 35 at the left and right ends thereof so that the bending is removed and the substantially flat state is maintained, and the guide rails 35 are blown by the wind blown from the blower 34. The sheet P falls off and is stocked in the stock section 31 in an orderly manner, so that the stockability of the paper P is enhanced.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the paper P discharged at high speed from the discharge device 10 to the stock device 30 stops with its leading end abutting against the stopper 33, so that the stock device 30 has the leading end aligned. Stocks are stocked in order in the stock unit 31.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, since the air blow from the blower 34 to the paper P is not performed until the paper P discharged to the stock device 30 comes into contact with the stopper 33 and stops, However, the discharging operation of the paper P is smoothly performed without hindering the discharging operation of the paper P to the stock device 30.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet recording device 2 Conveyor belt 3 Inkjet head 3a-3d head 4 Drive roller 5 Driven roller 6 Tension roller 7 Adsorption unit 10 Discharge device 11 Discharge belt 11a Discharge belt suction hole 12 Drive roller 13 Followed roller 14 Tension roller 15 Discharge guide 16 Roller shaft 17 Suction device 18 V-shaped guide plate (guide plate)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 Support member 20 Movable shaft 21 Arm 22 Shaft 30 Stock apparatus 31 Stock part 32 Cursor 33 Stopper 34 Blower 35 Guide rail G Reduction gear train L Side inside V-shaped guide plate M1, M2 Motor P Paper (recording medium)

Claims (3)

A conveyance belt that holds and conveys a recording medium, an inkjet head that performs printing by discharging ink onto the recording medium that is conveyed by the conveyance belt, and a printed recording medium that is received from the conveyance belt to the stock apparatus In an inkjet recording apparatus comprising a discharge device for discharging, and the stock device for storing a recording medium discharged from the discharge device,
The discharge device is provided with a pair of left and right guide plates that bend the left and right ends of the recording medium upward, and the guide device supports the left and right ends of the paper and the guide rail supports the left and right ends of the recording medium. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a blower that blows air toward the recording medium from above.   2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stock apparatus is provided with a stopper for receiving the leading end of the recording medium and stopping the recording medium.   2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein air is blown from the blower toward the recording medium at a timing when the recording medium discharged to the stock apparatus comes into contact with the stopper and stops.

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