JP2012051145A - Inkjet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inkjet recording apparatus that reduces a load on scanning of a carriage to keep the high quality of recording accuracy, while preventing a supply tube from vibrating.SOLUTION: The inkjet recording apparatus mounts a recording device for recording to a recording medium. The apparatus includes: the carriage which scans a position facing to the recording medium; and a supply tube unit which supplies ink from an ink storage part to the recording device. The supply tube unit has a parallel tube aggregate 810 which is formed of a plurality of single tubes 810a to 810f being lined up to be integrated with each other. A part of the parallel tube aggregate 810 has a curved shape with viewing in a direction where the plurality of single tubes 810a to 810f line up.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus.

  In a conventional ink jet recording apparatus, a large amount of printing can be continuously performed without frequently replacing the ink container, and the recording head is configured from a fixed ink tank as a configuration suitable for manufacturing a large size printed matter. Some supply ink. Such an ink jet recording apparatus includes, for example, a recording head that ejects ink droplets using thermal energy, an ink tank that is fixed to a casing of the recording apparatus and stores ink, and supplies ink from the ink tank to the recording head. Has a supply tube.

  The recording head mounted on the movable carriage and the fixed ink tank are connected by a flexible supply tube. The supply tube is routed so as to follow the carriage over the entire scanning range of the carriage. In order to reduce the load applied to the carriage during scanning, a configuration in which the supply tube is drawn in a substantially U shape is widely used. When the carriage scans in such a configuration, the supply tube moves in the scanning direction of the carriage while deforming a substantially U-shaped portion, and in addition, vibrations in the feeding and discharging directions perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage (tubes) Vibration). This tube vibration fluctuates the sliding load of the carriage and adversely affects recording accuracy. In particular, an ink jet recording apparatus capable of recording on a large size recording medium has a long supply tube, so that there is a problem that the amplitude of tube vibration is likely to increase, thereby increasing the effect on recording accuracy. is there.

  In order to solve this problem, a configuration is known in which a supply tube is supported by a steel belt having a curved cross section (Patent Document 1). The steel belt is drawn in a substantially U shape with a predetermined interval from the supply tube, and one end is connected to the recording head on the carriage and the other end is located at a position facing the scanning path of the carriage. It is fixed.

JP 2008-149647 A

  When a member having extremely high rigidity such as a steel belt is used to suppress tube vibration as in Patent Document 1, the steel belt drawn in a substantially U shape is returned to its original shape (linear shape) when scanning the carriage. A force to return to the initial shape is generated. The force that the steel belt tries to return to its original shape applies a large load to the carriage. In this case, the carriage operation becomes unstable, which adversely affects recording accuracy. As described above, if a configuration using a member with extremely high rigidity such as a steel belt for suppressing tube vibration is applied to an ink jet recording apparatus that requires recording accuracy, it will hinder high quality.

  Therefore, a configuration using a sheet material made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or the like having low rigidity instead of the steel belt having high rigidity is conceivable so that the load on the scanning of the carriage is reduced. However, even if a sheet material made of PET or the like is disposed along the supply tube, the tube vibration cannot be sufficiently suppressed. Even if a sheet material made of PET or the like is used with a curved cross section, it is difficult to suppress tube vibration to the extent that the recording accuracy is not affected.

  In view of the above-described conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of reducing a load on scanning of a carriage and maintaining high recording accuracy while suppressing vibration of a supply tube. There is.

  The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus having a carriage for mounting and scanning a recording unit for recording on a recording medium, and a supply tube unit for supplying ink from an ink storage unit to the recording unit. A parallel tube assembly in which a plurality of single tube tubes are arranged and integrated, and a part of the parallel tube assembly has a curved shape when viewed in a direction in which the plurality of single tube tubes are arranged. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, a part of the parallel tube assembly in which a plurality of single tube tubes are arranged and integrated has a curved shape when viewed in the direction in which the plurality of single tube tubes are arranged. It is possible to secure rigidity for sufficiently suppressing the above. Further, since it is a part of the parallel tube assembly that has this curved shape, the force to return to the original shape (initial shape) is small, and the load on the scanning of the carriage is small. Therefore, the recording accuracy can be kept high.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the supply tube unit of the inkjet recording device shown in FIG. 1, and the structure of the vicinity. It is a top view which shows the structure of the supply tube unit shown in FIG. 2, and its vicinity. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration of a supply tube unit shown in FIG. 2 and its vicinity in a state where a carriage is positioned at a home position. It is a schematic plan view which shows the tube drawing state of the supply tube shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the supply tube unit shown in FIG. 2 taken along the line EE of FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a straight section of the supply tube unit shown in FIG. 2. It is sectional drawing which shows the rotation curve correction member of the supply tube unit shown in FIG. It is a top view which shows the supply tube unit which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is provided to the substantially identical structure.

[Overall configuration of inkjet recording apparatus]
FIG. 1 shows an entire inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This ink jet recording apparatus performs recording by ejecting ink from recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium. Examples of the recording unit include a recording head, a head cartridge including the recording head, an ink jet pen, and a pen cartridge including the ink jet pen. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a recording head as the recording unit. This ink jet recording apparatus supplies ink from an ink storage section that stores ink to a recording head that is recording means via a supply tube unit.

  The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a paper feed unit 20, a transport unit 30, a paper discharge unit 40, a carrier unit 60 including the recording head 1, a recording head recovery unit 50, and an ink tank unit 70. Has been. Then, recording is performed by ejecting ink from the recording head 1 of the carrier unit 60 on the recording medium conveyed from the paper supply unit 20 by the conveyance unit 30, and the recorded recording medium is discharged by the conveyance unit 30. The paper is discharged. Ink is supplied from the ink tank unit 70 to the recording head 1. Further, in order to prevent ink clogging of the recording head 1 before the start of recording or after the end of recording, the recording head recovery unit 50 performs recovery processing of the recording head 1.

  The sheet feeding unit 20 is an automatic sheet feeder (ASF) unit that pulls out recording sheets one by one from a laminated body of a plurality of recording media (recording sheets) and feeds them to the conveying unit 30. . The conveyance unit 30 conveys the recording sheet supplied from the paper supply unit 20.

  The carrier unit 60 includes a carriage 61 that moves in a direction intersecting the recording sheet conveyance direction (usually a direction orthogonal) in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording sheet by the conveyance unit 30. Specifically, the carriage 61 is supported and guided by a guide shaft 14 fixed to the chassis 11 and a support rail 15 fixed to the upper portion of the chassis 11. The carriage 61 is reciprocated (scanned) along the guide shaft 14 by the driving force of the carriage motor 17 being transmitted by the carriage belt 16 that is stretched between the carriage motor 17 and the idler pulley 18. . The carriage 61 is equipped with a recording head 1 as recording means. The carriage 61 is provided with a CR encoder (not shown) for reading the code strip 19 attached to the chassis 11.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the position where the carriage 61 contacts the home side chassis 12 is the initial position (home position). On the other hand, the position where the carriage 61 abuts on the away side chassis 13 facing the home side chassis 12 is the away position. The movement of the carriage 61 from the home position to the away position is called forward movement, and the movement of the carriage 61 from the away position to the home position is called backward movement.

  One end of a supply tube unit 80 is connected to the carrier unit 60. The other end of the supply tube unit 80 is connected to the ink tank unit 70, and the supply tube unit 80 is routed so as to follow the carriage 61 over the entire scanning range of the carriage 61. The detailed configuration of the supply tube unit 80 will be described later.

  An ink tank unit 70 serving as an ink storage unit is fixed to the casing on the front surface of the ink jet recording apparatus (in the vicinity of the paper discharge unit 40), and a plurality of main tanks 710 are detachably attached thereto. The ink tank unit 70 has a supply pump unit 720 including a pump for transferring the ink stored in the main tank 710 to the recording head 1 via the supply tube unit 80.

  A flexible flat cable (FFC) 63 for transmitting a head driver (not shown) signal to the recording head 1 is connected to the carriage 61.

[Operation of inkjet recording apparatus]
When recording data is transmitted from a host device such as a computer (not shown) and a control unit on a control board (not shown) stores the recording data, the control unit issues a recording operation start command to the inkjet recording device shown in FIG. Thus, the recording operation starts.

  When the ink jet recording apparatus receives a recording operation start command, it first performs a paper feeding operation. That is, the sheet feeding unit 20 pulls out only one recording sheet and supplies it to the conveying unit 30. The conveyance unit 30 conveys the recording sheet to a position where the recording start position of the recording sheet faces the recording head 1 of the carrier unit 60.

  With the recording sheet temporarily stopped, the carriage 61 is driven by the carriage motor 17 and the carriage belt 16 to scan (move) along the guide shaft 14 and the support rail 15. At this time, a signal of a head driver (not shown) is transmitted to the recording head 1 mounted on the carriage 61 via a flexible flat cable (FFC) 63, and the recording head appropriately ejects ink droplets according to this signal. Discharge toward the recording sheet. A CR encoder (not shown) mounted on the carriage 61 reads the code strip 19 attached to the chassis 11 to determine the timing at which the recording head 1 ejects ink droplets toward the recording sheet. In this way, when the recording for one line is completed, the conveyance unit 30 conveys (paper feeds) the recording sheet by a predetermined amount (predetermined line pitch). In this way, recording for one line by movement of the carriage 61 and ejection of ink from the recording head 1 with the recording sheet stopped, and conveyance of the recording sheet by a predetermined amount (predetermined row pitch) by the conveyance unit 30. Repeat alternately. Thereby, recording is performed on the entire surface of the recording sheet. Then, the recording sheet on which the entire surface has been recorded is discharged to the paper discharge unit 40 by the transport unit 30.

  In this recording operation, the ink stored in the main tank 710 is supplied to the inside of the recording head 1 by the supply pump unit 720 via the ink tank unit 70 and the supply tube unit 80. The supply tube unit 80 follows the movement of the carriage 61 while deforming the substantially U-shaped portion.

[Configuration of supply tube unit]
The configuration of the supply tube unit 80, which is the main feature of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, will be described in detail below.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the supply tube unit 80 in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 3 to 5 are plan views showing the behavior of the supply tube unit 80, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are sectional views of the supply tube unit 80.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the supply tube unit 80 includes a parallel tube assembly 810 integrally formed so that six hollow single tube tubes 810 a to 810 f are arranged. That is, the parallel tube assembly 810 has six ink flow paths, and the ink from each main tank 710 flows in each ink flow path. Specifically, the plurality of single tube tubes 810a to 810f constituting the parallel tube assembly 810 are one in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage 61 and perpendicular to the recording medium conveyance direction (C and D directions). They are positioned so as to overlap each other.

  As an example, the single tube tubes 810a to 810f have an inner diameter of approximately 2.5 mm and a wall thickness of approximately 1.2 mm. The material of the parallel tube assembly 810 is a synthetic resin, has an appropriate bending rigidity (waist) that maintains a straight shape, and is flexible when external force is applied, and when the external force is released And elastic to restore the original shape. The rubber hardness of the parallel tube assembly 810 is approximately 55 HS (A) as a spring type hardness.

  One end of the parallel tube assembly 810 is connected to the flow path port portion 64 provided in the carrier portion 60, extends from the connection portion to the side (right side in FIG. 2), then bends and returns to the connection portion side. It is routed to form a U shape. In the illustrated example, the flow path port portion 64 is provided in the front portion of the carrier portion 60, but may be provided on any surface of the carrier portion 60, and is provided inside the carrier portion 60. It may be.

  The length of the parallel tube assembly 810 of the supply tube unit 80 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is set with a sufficient margin so that strong bending or pulling does not occur in the scanning range of the carrier unit 60. is there. The parallel tube assembly 810 extends substantially in parallel with the scanning direction of the carriage 61 (A region in FIG. 3), and passes through an inversion curve region (substantially U-shaped portion, B region in FIG. 3) where the tube is inverted at a radius R1. , Connected to the supply port 730. That is, when viewed from above the recording apparatus, the parallel tube assembly 810 is routed so as to form a substantially U-shape that extends in parallel to the scanning direction of the carriage 61 and then bends to extend in the opposite direction. Such a substantially U-shaped routing is naturally formed by the length of the tube and the elasticity. The radius R <b> 1 of the substantially U-shaped portion (B area in FIG. 3) varies depending on the position of the carriage 61. This is because when the position of the flow path port portion 64 provided in the carrier portion 60 changes, the position of one end of the parallel tube assembly 810 connected to the flow path port portion 64 changes, and the substantially U-shaped shape changes. It is. In this embodiment, the substantially U-shaped portion is configured such that the radius R1 is minimized when the carrier portion 60 (carriage 61) is at the home position as shown in FIG. Is 35 mm. FIG. 5 schematically shows a change in the shape of the substantially U-shaped portion of the parallel tube assembly 810 according to the position of the carrier portion 60. When the carrier unit 60 moves from the home position shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, the radius R1 gradually increases, and the radius R1 is maximum when the carrier unit 60 moves toward the away side by a distance of about 4/5 of the entire path length. (60 mm). When the carrier portion 60 further moves toward the away side chassis from there, R1 gradually decreases, and the radius R1 = 50 mm at the away position.

  As described above, when the radius R1 of the substantially U-shaped portion (B region shown in FIG. 3) changes as the carrier portion 60 (carriage 61) is scanned, the parallel tube assembly 810 has a sheet feeding portion in this portion. Inertial force acts in the side direction (C direction) and the paper discharge unit side direction (D direction). For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, when the carrier unit 60 scans from the home position (R1 = 35 mm) to the away side position (R1 = 60 mm), the inertial force is in the paper feeding unit side direction (C direction). work. Further, when the carrier unit 40 scans in the opposite direction, an inertial force is applied in the paper discharge unit side direction (D direction). The parallel tube assembly 810 deformed by the inertial force tries to return to the original position by elasticity. Therefore, the substantially U-shaped portion (B region) of the parallel tube assembly 810 vibrates in the paper feed unit side direction and the paper discharge unit side direction. If the tube vibrates in this way, the load during scanning of the carrier unit 60 may fluctuate, which may deteriorate the recording accuracy. On the other hand, by increasing the rigidity of the substantially U-shaped portion (B region) of the parallel tube assembly 810, tube vibration can be reduced and the recording accuracy can be improved.

  In the present invention, in order to increase the rigidity of the parallel tube assembly 810, the substantially U-shaped portion (B region) is partially curved when viewed in the direction in which the single tube tubes are coupled to each other. FIG. 6, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG. 2, shows a cross-sectional shape of a substantially U-shaped portion (B region) of the supply tube unit 80. As shown in FIG. 6, the parallel tube assembly 810 has a curved shape in which the center of curvature is located on the inner peripheral side of the substantially U-shaped portion. This curved shape is formed by narrowing and fixing the parallel tube aggregate 810 between the outer peripheral side curvature correcting member 821 and the inner peripheral side curvature correcting member 822. The outer peripheral side curvature correcting member 821 and the inner peripheral side curvature correcting member 822 are referred to as a curved clamp pair 820.

  The radius of curvature of the parallel tube assembly 810 held by the curved clamp pair 820 is not uniform and has a partially different configuration. About this point, each single tube is demonstrated as the 1st-6th tube 810a-810f in order toward the downward direction from the upper direction of FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the radius of curvature R2 of the arc passing through the center of the first tube 810a, the center of the third tube 810c, the center of the fourth tube 810d, and the center of the sixth tube 810f is about 27 mm. It is. On the other hand, the radius of curvature R3 of the arc passing through the center of the second tube 810b, the center of the third tube 810c, the center of the fourth tube 810d, and the center of the fifth tube 810e is approximately R3 = 18 mm. The curved clamp pair 820 sandwiches the single tube 810a to 810f so as to form an arc in which these two radii of curvature are combined. In the present embodiment, the parallel tube assembly 810 forms a curved shape in which two curvature radii are combined, but may be a curved shape having a uniform one curvature radius, or three or more. The curved shape may be a combination of the radii of curvature. Moreover, the parallel tube aggregate 810 may have a cross-sectional shape that combines a straight line and a curved line.

  At least one curved clamp pair 820 is arranged in the substantially U-shaped part in order to increase the rigidity in the substantially U-shaped part (B region in FIG. 3). When there are a plurality of curved clamp pairs 820, the distance between adjacent curved clamp pairs 820 is half the length of the circumference when the radius R1 of the substantially U-shaped portion is the minimum value (semicircular portion Is set to be less than or equal to the arc length). Further, the bending clamp pair 820 is arranged such that at least one bending clamp pair 820 is arranged in a region that may form a substantially U-shaped portion (B region) in the entire length of the parallel tube assembly 810. The interval and the position from the flow path port 64 are determined. In the example shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the distance between adjacent curved clamp pairs 820 is set to about 100 mm or less, specifically 90 mm or less, which is the arc length of the semicircular portion at the minimum radius R1 = 35 mm. The number of curved clamp pairs 820 is four. In addition, three curved clamp pairs 820 are arranged in a substantially U-shaped part (B region), and one curved clamp pair 820 is arranged outside the substantially U-shaped part.

  As indicated by a broken line in FIG. 5, when the radius R1 changes due to the deformation of the substantially U-shaped portion (B region), the sheet is discharged at a part (inflection point) of the portion (A region) substantially parallel to the scanning direction. It changes from a state bent in the part side direction (D direction) (FIG. 4) to a state bent in the paper feed part side direction (C direction) (FIG. 3). If the curved clamp pair 820 is disposed in the region A, the parallel tube assembly 810 bends in the direction opposite to the center of curvature of the curved shape with the curved clamp pair 820 as an inflection point. 810 bends (inflection behavior). As a result, the parallel tube aggregate 810 is irregularly bent, and a load fluctuation occurs when the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61) is scanned. This load fluctuation causes an irregular operation of the carrier unit 60, and as a result, the recording accuracy is deteriorated. Therefore, the parallel tube assembly 810 needs to be corrected so as not to cause the above-described inflection behavior in the A region.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a partial cross-sectional shape of the supply tube unit 80. In the region A (a portion extending in parallel with the scanning direction of the carriage 61 other than the U-shaped portion), the straightening member is arranged so that the parallel tube aggregate 810 has a substantially straight cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. (Linear correction clamp) 827 is arranged. That is, the single tube tubes 810a to 810f are arranged in a substantially straight line in the A region. The straight straightening clamp 827 is configured as an integral part, and narrows and fixes the parallel tube assembly 810. Thereby, even if the parallel tube aggregate 810 bends in any direction, the bending in which the direction in which the single tube is arranged changes in the region A hardly occurs. Since the inflection behavior does not occur in this way, the load fluctuation applied to the parallel tube aggregate 810 is reduced, and the recording accuracy can be kept good.

  In the present embodiment, one of the curved clamp pairs 820 is rotatably supported with respect to the parallel tube assembly 810 in order to reduce the hang of the parallel tube assembly 810. This curved clamp pair is referred to as a rotational curved clamp pair 820a. A cross section of the rotating curved clamp pair 820a and the parallel tube assembly 810 is schematically shown in FIG. The rotational bending clamp pair 820a is constituted by an outer peripheral side correction member 821a and an inner peripheral correction member 822a, and narrows and fixes the parallel tube assembly 810. A rotation boss 826 necessary for rotation is provided on the outer peripheral curvature correcting member 821a. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotating curved clamp pair 820 a is clamped by a clamp holder 831 so as to be rotatable with respect to the parallel tube assembly 810. The rotation curve clamp pair 820a rotates with respect to the parallel tube assembly 810, so that the amount of sag is maintained while maintaining the substantially U-shape of the parallel tube assembly 810 even when the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61) scans. Can be reduced. The clamp holder 831 is fixed and supported by a wire member 830. The wire member 830 is formed to a length that does not hinder scanning of the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61). One end of the wire member 830 is attached to the clamp holder 831 as described above, and the other end is rotatably supported by the wire support portion 840. As a result, the rotating curved clamp pair 823 can be held at a certain height, and the amount of sag of the parallel tube assembly 810 can be reduced. Furthermore, the load on the carrier part 60 can be reduced by the rotation of the rotational bending clamp pair 820a. The sliding surface (not shown) on which the wire member 830 slides is formed from polyacetal (POM) having good sliding properties. However, if it is not necessary to manage the amount of sag of the parallel tube assembly 810, the non-rotating curved clamp pair 820 may be used instead of the rotating curved clamp pair 820a. In that case, the wire member 830 and the wire support portion 840 are not necessary.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a belt member 850 is attached to the bending clamp pair 820 (including the rotating bending clamp pair 820a) so as to be relatively movable with a certain distance from the parallel tube assembly 810. ing. The belt member 850 reduces the amount of drooping of the parallel tube assembly 810 and prevents the parallel tube assembly 810 from interfering with other members. Specifically, the belt member 850f is supported by the wire member 840 via the rotating curved clamp pair 820a, and the belt member 850 supports the other curved clamp pair 820, thereby reducing the amount of sag of the parallel tube assembly 810. is doing.

  The belt member 850 is a member having low rigidity so that a load generated by scanning of the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61) is reduced. In the present embodiment, a belt member 850 made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) having a linear cross-sectional shape as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 and having a thickness of 0.27 mm is used. However, the belt member 850 is only required to prevent interference between the parallel tube assembly 810 and other members, and the belt member 850 is not limited to the example shown here as long as the material and the thickness do not generate a large load when the carrier unit 60 operates. It is not limited. In addition, the belt member 850 does not need to be provided when there is no problem due to the parallel tube assembly 810 interfering with other members.

  According to the embodiment described above, only a part (A region) of the parallel tube assembly 810 has a curved cross-sectional shape. Accordingly, since the tube vibration can be reduced while reducing the load on the scanning of the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61), an ink jet recording apparatus with high recording accuracy can be realized with a simple configuration.

  In this embodiment, the parallel tube assembly 810 in which the six single tube tubes 810a to 810f are integrated is used, but the number of single tube tubes constituting the parallel tube assembly 810 is more than six. Or less.

[Other Embodiments]
In the above-described embodiment, one parallel tube assembly 810 is routed, but a configuration in which a plurality of parallel tube assemblies 810 are routed may be employed. FIG. 9 shows a configuration in which two parallel tube assemblies 810 are routed as another embodiment of the present invention. In addition, description is abbreviate | omitted about the part similar to above-described embodiment.

  When the two parallel tube assemblies 810 are routed, it is preferable that the load caused by the forward movement and the backward movement of the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61) be equal. Therefore, in this embodiment, it has a first parallel tube assembly 810 drawn in a substantially U shape and a second parallel tube assembly 810 drawn in a substantially U shape in the opposite direction, It is configured in a nearly symmetrical shape.

  Also in the present embodiment, similarly to the above-described embodiment, by forming a curved shape only in a necessary region of the parallel tube assembly 810, the load on the scanning of the carrier unit 60 (carriage 61) is reduced. Tube vibration can be reduced. As a result, an ink jet recording apparatus that maintains high recording accuracy with a simple configuration can be realized.

1 Recording head (recording means)
61 Carriage 70 Ink tank unit (ink storage unit)
80 Supply tube unit 810 Parallel tube aggregate 810a-810f Single tube

Claims (9)

In an inkjet recording apparatus having a carriage for mounting and scanning recording means for recording on a recording medium, and a supply tube unit for supplying ink from an ink storage unit to the recording means,
The supply tube unit includes a parallel tube assembly in which a plurality of single tube tubes are arranged and integrated, and a part of the parallel tube assembly is curved when viewed in a direction in which the plurality of single tube tubes are arranged. An inkjet recording apparatus characterized by having a shape as described above.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a correction member that sandwiches and holds a part of the parallel tube aggregate so as to have the curved shape. Between the ink storage section and the recording means, the parallel tube assembly has a U-shaped portion that extends in parallel to the scanning direction of the carriage and then bends and extends in the reverse direction. At least one correction member is disposed within the U-shaped portion of the body;
The inkjet recording according to claim 2, wherein the correction member holds the parallel tube assembly such that a center of curvature of the curved shape of the parallel tube assembly is located on an inner peripheral side of the U-shape. apparatus.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of correction members are arranged at intervals equal to or less than a length of a semicircular arc at the radius of curvature of the U-shape when the carriage is in an initial position. The parallel tube assembly has a portion extending in parallel with the scanning direction of the carriage, in addition to the U-shaped portion.
In the part extended in parallel with the scanning direction of the carriage, there is a straightening member that holds the parallel tube assembly in a straight line when viewed in a direction in which the plurality of single tube tubes constituting the parallel tube assembly are arranged. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 or 4.   The inkjet according to claim 5, wherein a portion of the parallel tube assembly that includes the straightening member and extends parallel to a scanning direction of the carriage is located between the U-shaped portion and the carriage. Recording device.   The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the plurality of correction members is rotatably supported with respect to the parallel tube assembly.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the curved shape of the parallel tube assembly is a shape in which a plurality of radii of curvature are combined.   The plurality of single tube tubes constituting the parallel tube assembly are positioned so as to overlap each other in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage and perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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