JP2011056900A - Printer and control method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To dry an ink over the whole width of a printing region while preventing increase in cost. <P>SOLUTION: On a conveyance passage where paper 1 is conveyed after printing by a line head 21, air is supplied to the paper 1 along a first direction advancing from one side to the other side of the conveyance width direction, and along a second direction advancing from the other side to one side of the conveyance width direction. On an air supplying passage along the conveyance width direction, air is supplied so that the uppermost upstream position for supplying air to the paper 1 is positioned on the inside of the width directional edge of the paper 1. Specifically, a shutter 37 capable of advancing/retracting along the conveyance width direction is arranged, and according to the width size of the paper 1, the shutter 37 is moved to vary an opening distance of an opening face 31a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet printing apparatus and a control method thereof.

  By blowing hot air along the paper transport direction on the printed paper, it accelerates the drying of the ink and exhausts the hot air after blowing outside air after mixing it with the outside air. There was a thing which prevented the heat damage in (refer patent document 1).

JP 2006-341399 A

However, in order to apply hot air along the transport direction to the paper, in order to apply the hot air to the entire width, the fan that supplies the hot air as the width of the printing area is increased by increasing the paper width or the like. And ducts have to be added, resulting in increased costs.
An object of the present invention is to promote ink drying over the entire width of a printing area while suppressing an increase in cost.

One embodiment of the present invention provides:
A printing unit that prints on a printing medium, a first direction from one side of the conveyance width direction to the other, and a conveyance width on a conveyance path on which the printing medium is conveyed after printing by the printing unit A drying unit that blows air to the printing medium along a second direction from the other of the directions toward the other to promote drying of the ink.

  As described above, since the air is blown along the conveyance width direction, even if the width of the printing area is increased, the drying of the ink is promoted over the entire width of the printing area without adding a fan or a duct for blowing air. be able to. Therefore, an increase in cost can be suppressed. Further, since air is blown from the first direction and the second direction in the transport width direction, that is, from both sides, uneven drying in the transport width direction can be suppressed.

Another aspect of the present invention is:
The drying means is on the blowing path along the conveyance width direction, so that the most upstream position where air is blown against the printing medium is inside the edge of the printing medium in the conveyance width direction. It is characterized by performing ventilation.
In this way, since the air is blown to the inner side of the edge of the printing medium, the floating of the printing medium due to the blowing can be suppressed.

Another aspect of the present invention is:
The drying means is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state and is disposed along a conveyance width direction, an opening formed on the duct member and facing the printing medium, and the duct A fan that is disposed on the member and blows air along the conveyance width direction, and is arranged to be able to advance and retreat along the conveyance width direction on the upstream end side of the ventilation path along the conveyance width direction, and conveys the opening surface And a shielding plate that shields along the width direction.

  Thus, by shielding the opening surface of the duct member along the conveyance width direction, the position to which the air blows can be arbitrarily adjusted according to the width size of the print medium. For example, when the width size of the printing device is switched from a larger one to a smaller one, air is blown to the inside of the edge of the printing medium by advancing the shielding plate to the inside in the conveyance width direction. Can do. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the printing medium from being lifted up by blowing air.

Another aspect of the present invention is:
The drying means is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state, is disposed along the transport width direction, and has a first air duct along the first direction, and a first duct member, An opening surface that is formed in the first air passage of the first duct member and faces the printing medium; a fan that is disposed in the first duct member and sends air to the first air passage; A second duct member that is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state, is disposed along a conveyance width direction, and has a second air passage along the second direction; and the second duct An opening surface formed in the second air passage of the member and facing the printing medium; and a fan that is disposed in the second duct member and sends air to the second air passage. And
In this way, air is blown in the first direction through the opening surface of the first duct member, and air is blown in the second direction through the opening surface of the second duct member, thereby drying the ink. Can be sufficiently encouraged.

Another aspect of the present invention is:
The drying means is close to the print medium in a non-contact state, is disposed along the conveyance width direction, and is disposed on the first air passage along the first direction, and the first air passage. A duct member having a second air passage along the second direction, and an opening surface of the duct member that is formed in the first air passage and the second air passage and faces the printing medium. And a fan that is disposed in the duct member and that blows air through the first air passage and the second air passage.
In this way, by providing the first air passage and the second air passage in parallel in one duct member, air is sent in the first direction and the second direction only by providing one fan. be able to. That is, the number of fans can be reduced as compared with the case where two duct members are provided.

Another aspect of the present invention is:
A printing process for performing printing on a printing medium; a first direction from one side of the conveyance width direction to the other on a conveyance path along which the printing medium is conveyed after the printing process; and a conveyance width direction And a drying step of blowing air to the printing medium along a second direction from the other side to the one side to promote drying of the ink.
As described above, since the air is blown along the conveyance width direction, even if the width of the printing area is increased, the drying of the ink is promoted over the entire width of the printing area without adding a fan or a duct for blowing air. be able to. Therefore, an increase in cost can be suppressed. Further, since air is blown from the first direction and the second direction in the transport width direction, that is, from both sides, uneven drying in the transport width direction can be suppressed.

It is a side view which shows schematic structure of an inkjet printer. It is a top view which shows schematic structure of an inkjet printer. It is a schematic block diagram of a drying unit. It is a block diagram of a shielding mechanism. It is a flowchart of the control processing performed with a controller. It is a block diagram which shows the example of 1 application of a drying unit.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<< One Embodiment >>
"Constitution"
FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a schematic configuration of an inkjet printer.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of the ink jet printer.
The paper 1 fed from a paper tray (not shown) is transported to the side of the paper discharge tray (not shown) via the transport unit 2.

The transport unit is configured by winding the transport belt 6 around the drive roller 3, the driven roller 4, and the tension roller 5, and the sheet 1 is transported when the transport belt 6 rotates according to the rotation of the drive roller 3. Is done. A number of through holes (not shown) are formed in the conveyance belt 6, and the sheet 1 is adsorbed to the conveyance belt 6 by the negative pressure of the suction fan 9 provided in the platen 8.
In the transport unit 2, a line head 21a, drying units 22a and 22b, a line head 21b, and drying units 22c and 22d are arranged in this order from the transport upstream side. That is, first, printing is performed on the sheet 1 by the preceding line head 21a, and then air is blown to the printed sheet 1 by the drying units 22a and 22b to promote ink drying, and again by the succeeding line head 21b. After printing on the paper 1, the drying units 22c and 22d urge the ink to dry by blowing air on the printed paper 1.

The preceding drying unit 22a blows air along a first direction from one side of the conveyance width direction to the other, and the drying unit 22b blows air along a second direction from the other side of the conveyance width direction to one side. Do. The subsequent drying unit 22a blows air along the first direction, and the drying unit 22b blows air along the second direction. In other words, one drying process is performed by blowing along the first direction and blowing along the second direction.
Each of the drying units 22a to 22d is driven and controlled by a controller 24 configured by, for example, a microcomputer. The controller 24 executes a control process that will be described later.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the drying unit.
The drying unit 22 includes a duct member 31, a supply fan 32, a heater 33, a discharge fan 34, and a shielding mechanism 35.
The duct member 31 is disposed along the conveyance width direction of the paper 1, and one end and the other end in the conveyance width direction are open upward. A substantially horizontal opening surface 31 a is formed on the lower surface of the duct member 31, and the duct member 31 is disposed so that the opening surface 31 a is close to the paper 1 in a non-contact state. The supply fan 32 is provided at one end of the duct member 31, and introduces outside air to supply air inside the duct member 31. The heater 33 is provided directly below the supply fan 32 (on the air blowing output side) and raises the temperature of the inside of the duct member 31. The discharge fan 34 is provided at the other end of the duct member 31 and discharges the inside air. The shielding mechanism 35 shields the opening surface 31a along the conveyance width direction on the upstream end side on the blower path along the conveyance width direction.
The drying units 22a and 22c and the drying units 22b and 22d have a structure in which one end side and the other end side in the transport width direction are reversed.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the shielding mechanism.
The shielding mechanism 35 is provided on the lower surface of the duct member 31 along the conveyance width direction, and is engaged and held by the pair of rails 36 facing each other with the opening surface 31a interposed therebetween, and along the conveyance width direction. A rod-shaped shutter 37 that can be advanced and retracted, and a motor 38 that drives the shutter 37 are provided.

With the above configuration, when the motor 38 is rotated forward, the shutter 37 moves forward toward the center in the transport width direction, and the opening surface 31a is shielded along the transport width direction. On the other hand, when the motor 38 is rotated in the reverse direction, the shutter 37 moves backward toward one end in the transport width direction, and the opening surface 31a is opened along the transport width direction. That is, as the shutter 37 advances and retreats, the opening distance of the opening surface 31a changes along the conveyance width direction.
In FIG. 4, the pair of rails 36 are curved upward along the duct member 31 with one end side and the other end side maintained at a constant interval, but may be substantially horizontal straight lines. . Moreover, although the shielding mechanism 35 is provided in two places of the upstream end side and downstream end side on a ventilation path | route, it should just be at least in an upstream end side.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of control processing executed by the controller.
First, in step S1, the width size of the paper 1 is read.
In the subsequent step S2, the shielding mechanism 35 is driven and controlled according to the width size of the paper 1. Specifically, the forward / backward position of the shutter 37 is controlled so that the most upstream position where the air is blown to the paper 1 is on the inner side of the edge in the width direction of the paper 1 on the air blowing path along the conveyance width direction. To do. That is, the rotation angle of the motor 38 is controlled so that the front end of the shutter 37 reaches a position that is a few millimeters to a few tens of millimeters inside the edge of the paper 1 in plan view.

In the subsequent step S3, the ink ejection amount by the line head 21 is read based on the print data.
In the following step S4, the drying unit 22 is driven and controlled in accordance with the ink placement amount, and then the process returns to a predetermined main program. Specifically, the greater the ink drive amount is, the more the rotation speed of the supply fan 32 is increased or the overheating temperature of the heater 33 is increased.

<Action>
When the printing process is executed, a drying process is executed to promote drying of the printed ink.
In the drying unit 22, the air blown from the supply fan 32 is heated by the heater 33, and the heated air blown is supplied to the paper 1 through the opening surface 31 a of the duct member 31, so that drying of the ink is promoted. The air is exhausted from the other end of the duct member 31 by the exhaust fan 34.

At this time, since the ink drying speed changes in accordance with the ink ejection amount, the supply fan 32 and the heater 33 are individually driven and controlled in accordance with the ink ejection amount. In other words, the ink drying degree can be optimized by increasing the rotation speed of the supply fan 32 or increasing the heating temperature of the heater 33 as the ink ejection amount increases.
Conventionally, it is common to blow air along the conveyance direction of the paper 1, but in order to apply hot air to the entire width of the paper 1, the width of the printing area is increased by increasing the paper width or the like. As a result, it is necessary to increase the number of fans and ducts that supply hot air, which increases costs.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, air is blown along the first direction and the second direction in the transport width direction to promote ink drying. As a result, even if the width of the printing area is increased, it is possible to promote drying of the ink over the entire width of the printing area without adding fans or ducts for blowing air. Therefore, an increase in cost can be suppressed. Moreover, since ventilation is performed from both ends in the transport width direction, non-uniform drying in the transport width direction can be suppressed.
Further, the air is blown so that the most upstream position where the air is blown against the paper 1 is on the inner side of the edge of the paper 1 in the width direction on the air blowing path along the conveyance width direction. Thereby, the floating of the paper 1 due to the blowing can be suppressed.

  Specifically, a shutter 37 that can advance and retreat along the conveyance width direction is provided, and the shutter 37 is moved according to the width size of the paper 1 to change the opening distance of the opening surface 31a. Thus, by shielding the opening surface 31a along the conveyance width direction, the position to which the air blows can be arbitrarily adjusted according to the width size of the paper 1. For example, when the width size of the paper 1 is switched from a larger one to a smaller one, the shutter 37 is advanced inward in the conveyance width direction, so that air can be blown to the inner side of the edge of the paper 1. it can. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the sheet 1 from being lifted by the air blow.

  From the above, the paper 1 corresponds to “print medium”, the line head 21 corresponds to “printing means”, and the drying unit 22 corresponds to “drying means”. Further, the duct member 31 corresponds to the “duct member”, the opening surface 31a corresponds to the “opening surface”, the supply fan 32 corresponds to the “fan”, and the shutter 37 corresponds to the “shielding plate”. Further, the printing process by the line head 21 corresponds to the “printing process”, and the processes in steps S1 to S4 correspond to the “drying process”.

《Application example》
In the present embodiment, two drying units 22 having different ventilation paths are provided in order to perform blowing along the first direction and blowing along the second direction. The forward path along the first direction and the return path along the second direction may be continuously formed and integrated.
FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram illustrating an application example of the drying unit.
As described above, the number of the supply fans 32, the heaters 33, and the discharge fans 34 can be reduced by forming one reciprocating air passage with one drying unit 22.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Paper, 2 ... Conveyance unit, 3 ... Drive roller, 4 ... Driven roller, 5 ... Tension roller, 6 ... Conveyor belt, 8 ... Platen, 9 ... Suction fan, 21 ... Line head, 21a ... Line head, 21b ... Line head, 22 ... drying unit, 22a ... drying unit, 22b ... drying unit, 22c ... drying unit, 24 ... controller, 31 ... duct member, 31a ... opening surface, 32 ... supply fan, 33 ... heater, 34 ... discharge fan 35 ... Shielding mechanism, 36 ... Rail, 37 ... Shutter, 38 ... Motor

Claims (6)

Printing means for printing on the print medium;
Along the first direction from one side of the transport width direction to the other and the second direction from the other side of the transport width direction on the transport path along which the printing medium is transported after printing by the printing means. And a drying unit that blows air on the printing medium and promotes drying of the ink.   The drying means is on the blowing path along the conveyance width direction, so that the most upstream position where air is blown against the printing medium is inside the edge of the printing medium in the conveyance width direction. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein blowing is performed.   The drying means is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state and is disposed along a conveyance width direction, an opening formed on the duct member and facing the printing medium, and the duct A fan that is disposed on the member and blows air along the conveyance width direction, and is arranged to be able to advance and retreat along the conveyance width direction on the upstream end side of the ventilation path along the conveyance width direction, and conveys the opening surface. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a shielding plate that shields along the width direction. The drying means includes
A first duct member that is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state, is disposed along a conveyance width direction, and has a first air passage along the first direction; and the first duct An opening formed in the first air passage of the member and facing the printing medium; a fan disposed in the first duct member and sending air to the first air passage;
A second duct member that is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state, is disposed along a conveyance width direction, and has a second air passage along the second direction; and the second duct An opening surface formed in the second air passage of the member and facing the printing medium; and a fan that is disposed in the second duct member and sends air to the second air passage. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The drying means includes
A first air passage that is close to the printing medium in a non-contact state, is disposed along the conveyance width direction, and is in communication with the first air passage. A duct member having a second air passage along the direction of the first air passage, an opening surface formed in the first air passage and the second air passage of the duct member and facing the print medium, and the duct member 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a first fan that is disposed in the first air passage and that blows air to the second air passage. 5. A printing process for printing on the print medium;
On the conveyance path along which the print medium is conveyed after the printing step, the first direction from one side of the conveyance width direction to the other and the second direction from the other side of the conveyance width direction to the one side. A control method for a printing apparatus, comprising: performing a drying process that blows air on a print medium and promotes drying of ink.

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