JP2012196785A - Liquid injection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid injection apparatus which requires no cleaning and is easy in maintenance.SOLUTION: The liquid injection apparatus includes: a drum roller 133 which rotates about a rotation axis O; a tension roller 150 which is urged in the vertical downward side and rotated about a rotation axis O; a belt 40 which is stretched between the drum roller 133 and the tension roller 150 and conveys a recording medium S; and line head units 220Y, 220M, 220C and 220K which are arranged in the vertical upward side of the belt 40 wound around the drum roller 133 and have nozzles for injecting a liquid to the recording medium S.

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a liquid ejecting surface of a material to be ejected.

  An ink jet printer is known as one of liquid ejecting apparatuses. This ink jet printer performs printing by ejecting ink as a liquid from a plurality of nozzles of a head toward various media such as paper, cloth, and film.

As a recording medium conveyance system in the ink jet printer as described above, a drum system is known. In such a drum system, a recording medium is wound around a drum, a head is disposed above the peripheral surface of the drum, and an ink is ejected onto the recording medium while rotating the drum, thereby recording an image on the recording medium. . As such a drum type ink jet printer, for example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-130790), a drum rotating body that rotates while holding a recording medium on a peripheral surface, and the peripheral surface are opposed to each other. And a recording head that ejects ink with a plurality of nozzles arranged along the axial direction of the drum rotating body, performs an ink ejecting operation while rotating the drum rotating body, and the drum Each time the rotating body is rotated once, the recording head is moved in the axial direction of the drum rotating body by a predetermined amount so that the ink ejected from the nozzles does not adjoin the axial direction of the drum rotating body on the recording medium. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a control unit that controls to perform the next ink ejecting operation after being moved is disclosed.
JP 2007-130790 A

  In an ink jet printer, minute ink droplets called ink mist are generated that separate from ink droplets ejected for printing and float.

  The mist adheres to the inside of the printer housing or the like. However, in an ink jet printer that transports a recording medium using a drum, the mist adheres to the drum roller, thereby fouling the drum roller. In particular, a printer using UV ink, thermosetting ink, or the like has a problem that it takes a lot of labor to clean the ink mist from the drum roller because the ink mist is cured after adhering to the drum roller. It was. Therefore, it is conceivable to replace the drum roller soiled with ink mist. However, the drum roller is an expensive part, and there is a problem that it requires a great deal of cost to perform the replacement.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that a liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present invention includes a drum roller that rotates about a rotation axis, a tension roller that is biased vertically downward and rotates about the rotation axis, A belt that is stretched between the drum roller and the tension roller and conveys the recording medium, and a nozzle that is disposed vertically above the belt that is wound around the drum roller and that ejects liquid onto the recording medium. And a liquid ejecting head.

  Further, the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that a plurality of the liquid ejecting heads that eject the liquids of a plurality of different colors are provided.

  In the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the invention, the liquid is cured by light irradiation.

  The liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present invention includes a drum roller that rotates about a rotation axis, a tension roller that is biased vertically downward and rotates about the rotation axis, and a tension roller that rotates about the rotation axis. And a belt that is stretched between the drum roller, the tension roller, and the tension roller, and conveys the recording medium, and is disposed vertically above the belt that is wound around the drum roller. A first liquid ejecting head having a nozzle that ejects the first liquid; and a second liquid ejecting nozzle that ejects the second liquid onto the recording medium, which is disposed vertically above the belt that is not wound around the drum roller. And a liquid ejecting head.

  The liquid ejecting apparatus according to the aspect of the invention may include a plurality of the first liquid ejecting heads that eject the liquids having different colors.

  In the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the invention, the second liquid is white.

  In the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the invention, the first liquid and the second liquid are cured by light irradiation.

  As described above, according to the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention, since the outer peripheral surface of the drum roller is protected by the belt stretched together with the tension roller, mist and the like are not attached, cleaning is not required, and maintenance is performed. Becomes easy. In the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention, the liquid is ejected onto the recording medium by the liquid ejecting head disposed vertically above the belt wound around the drum roller, and is transported with high accuracy. Since an image is formed on the recording medium, the image quality does not deteriorate. Further, when the belt is soiled by mist, it is only necessary to replace it, so that maintenance is good.

1 is a diagram illustrating a main part of a printer that is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. 1 is a block diagram of the overall configuration of a printer. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a cross-sectional structure of a belt 140. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a main part of a printer that is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a main part of a printer that is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to a third embodiment of the invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a main part of a printer 10 that is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the overall configuration of the printer 10. In this embodiment, the line head unit 220 is arranged so as to cover the entire sheet width in the direction perpendicular to the recording medium conveyance direction in the middle of the recording sheet conveyance path without moving along the recording sheet conveyance plane. Is used. A nozzle array (not shown) that ejects ink is provided on the lower surface of the line head unit 220 in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium, thereby ejecting ink to form an image on the recording medium. . The line head unit 220 is connected to the controller 110 and the drive signal generation circuit 117. A drive voltage for controlling the ejection of ink is sent from the drive signal generation circuit 117 to each nozzle of the line head unit 220. The invention specific matter expressed as “liquid ejecting head” in the claims indicates the line head unit.

  As the line head unit 220 as described above, in this embodiment, 220Y that ejects the color ink (liquid) of each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) onto the recording medium S. , 220M, 220C, and 220K are installed, and a full-color image can be printed on the recording medium S. In the following, yellow or yellow ink is abbreviated as “Y” or the like, and may be added as a suffix to the reference symbol to indicate the color of the liquid ejected by the line head unit 220. In the present embodiment, a configuration is described in which four line heads that eject four colors of ink of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are provided. The color types and the number of colors that can be handled by the printer 10 are not limited thereto.

  The computer 1 sends image data corresponding to an image to be printed to the printer 10 via a printer driver. The image data includes pixel data indicating whether or not ink is ejected for each ink color for each pixel of the medium.

  The ink used in the present embodiment is an ultraviolet curable UV ink that cures when irradiated with ultraviolet rays. As the ultraviolet curable ink, a radical polymerization ink containing a radical polymerizable compound, a cationic polymerization ink containing a cationic polymerizable compound, and a radical polymerization ink and a cationic polymerization ink were combined as a polymerizable compound. Hybrid ink is applicable. The ink includes a polymerizable compound that is polymerized and cured with light other than ultraviolet light, and a photoinitiator that initiates a polymerization reaction between the polymerizable compounds with light other than ultraviolet light, such as electron beams, X-rays, and infrared light. May be applied.

  The recording medium S used in the printer 10 according to the present invention is a recording medium S made of various papers such as plain paper, recycled paper, glossy paper, various fabrics, various non-woven fabrics, resin, metal, glass and the like. Although applicable, in this embodiment, a transparent or translucent non-absorbent resin film used for so-called soft packaging is particularly preferably used.

  When the resin film as the recording medium S is a transparent or translucent medium, not only front printing but also back printing is possible. As the resin for the resin film, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PS (polyester), PP (polypropylene), or the like is preferably used.

  The recording medium conveyance unit 130 includes an upstream conveyance roller 131 and a downstream conveyance roller 132, a conveyance drum roller 133 that conveys a long recording medium S wound in a roll shape on the circumferential surface, and the drum roller 133. And a belt 140 that is hung. When a transport motor (not shown) rotates, the transport roller 131 on the upstream side and the transport roller 132 on the downstream side rotate, and the drum roller 133 rotates.

  The recording medium S that is pressed and supported by the upstream-side transport roller 131 and the downstream-side transport roller 132 along the peripheral surface of the drum roller 133 around which the belt 140 is wound is accompanied by the rotation of the drum roller 133. Be transported. On the outer side of the drum roller 133, each head of the head unit 30 and the temporary unit of the irradiation unit 40 are disposed between the upstream transport roller 131 and the downstream transport roller 132 so as to face the peripheral surface of the drum roller 133. Each irradiation part of the irradiation part 42 for hardening is arranged side by side in the same order as embodiment mentioned above. In addition, a main curing irradiation unit 44 is disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction from the transport roller 132 on the downstream side.

The line head unit 220 has a recording area in which recording is performed on the recording medium S on the vertically lower side. The recording area includes a drum roller 133 that rotates about the rotation axis O ₁ and a spring on the lower side in the vertical direction. Is provided with a transport mechanism for the recording medium S, which includes a tension roller 150 that is urged by the elastic member and rotates about the rotation axis O _2, and a belt 140 that is stretched between the drum roller 133 and the tension roller 150. ing.

  The conveyance in the area where the line head unit 220 ejects ink onto the recording medium S needs to be controlled more accurately than the conveyance of the recording medium S at other conveyance locations. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the line head unit 220 is configured to eject ink onto the recording medium S being conveyed in the region where the belt 140 is wound around the drum roller 133.

More specifically, the arc AB (angle θ ₁₎ in the drum roller 133 is seen in FIG.
The area corresponding to the range indicated by (1) is an area in which the recording medium S is conveyed in a state where the belt 140 is wound around the drum roller 133, so that the conveyance accuracy of the recording medium S is in the other conveyance area. Higher than that. Therefore, image quality is not deteriorated by forming an image with the line head unit 220 in the area of the arc AB.

  Since the belt 140 stretched between the drum roller 133 and the tension roller 150 needs to transport the recording medium S without sliding between the recording medium S, the belt 140 having a surface roughness of a predetermined level or more is required. Used. As such a belt 140, for example, a belt having the structure shown in FIG. 3 can be used. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the cross-sectional structure of the belt 140, where the upper side in FIG. 4 is the side in contact with the recording medium S and the lower side is the side in contact with the drum roller 133 and the tension roller 150. The belt 140 adsorbs the inorganic fine particles 143 such as alumina to the first resin layer 142 painted on the base material 141 and further covers the first resin layer 142 and the entire inorganic fine particles 143 with the second resin layer 144. It becomes the composition which was made. The belt 140 having a friction coefficient greater than or equal to a predetermined value due to the unevenness based on the inorganic fine particles 143 dispersed on the substrate 141 transports the recording medium S with high accuracy in order to bite and transport the recording medium S. Is possible.

  The recording medium conveyance unit 130 (see FIG. 3) continuously conveys the recording medium S in accordance with the ink ejection operation of the line head unit 220 during image recording.

  Further, the upper surface (not shown) of the housing of the printer 10 is configured by, for example, a touch panel, displays a recording mode that can be selected by the user, and an input operation unit 120 that allows the user to select and input the displayed recording mode. Is provided. The input operation unit 120 is connected to a controller 110, which will be described later, and outputs a signal related to a recording mode selected based on a predetermined operation to the controller 110.

  FIG. 2 shows a control block for controlling the printer 10 according to the present embodiment. The controller 110 in this control block includes, for example, a CPU 111, a ROM 112, and a RAM 113, and a processing program recorded in the ROM 112 is executed. The processing program is executed in the RAM 113 by the CPU 111. The interface 105 is an interface provided for connecting the controller 110 of the printer 10 and the computer 1.

  The controller 110 controls each component connected to the controller 110 such as the recording medium conveyance unit 130, the line head unit 220, and the ultraviolet irradiation unit 160 according to the processing program described above based on the status such as the operation status. It has become.

The ultraviolet irradiation unit 160 is a device for irradiating the UV ink ejected onto the recording medium with ultraviolet rays to cure the UV ink. The light source of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 160 includes, for example, a UV-LED (Ultra Violet Light Emitting Diode) that generates ultraviolet rays. Further, the irradiation rate of ultraviolet rays can be controlled by the control from the controller 110. By doing so, it is possible to change the amount of ultraviolet irradiation at each position of the recording medium S. In addition, a metal halide lamp, a xenon lamp, a carbon arc lamp, a chemical lamp, a low pressure mercury lamp, a high pressure mercury lamp, etc. can be used as the light source.

In the present embodiment, the region irradiated with the ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiation unit 160 also corresponds to the region (the range indicated by the angle θ ₁₎ in which the recording medium S is conveyed with the belt 140 wound around the drum roller 133. Area). When the UV ink ejected on the recording medium S is cured, a force may be applied in the direction in which the recording medium S is contracted, but the recording is carried while the belt 140 is wound around the drum roller 133. Since the medium S behaves against the force acting in the contraction direction as described above, the recording medium S can be prevented from contracting.

  In the printer 10 configured as described above, when print data is received from the computer 1, the controller 110 rotates the drum roller 133 at a constant speed while the recording medium S passes under each head. Ink is intermittently ejected from each nozzle of the head unit 220Y, the line head unit 220M, the line head unit 220C, and the line head unit 220K. That is, the dot formation process and the recording medium S conveyance process are performed simultaneously. As a result, a dot row composed of a plurality of dots along the transport direction and the paper width direction is formed on the recording medium S.

  In addition, after ejecting ink from each line head unit 220, the controller 110 causes the ultraviolet irradiation unit 160 on the downstream side in the transport direction to perform UV irradiation. Thereby, the dots formed on the recording medium S by each line head unit 220 are cured. In this way, dots are formed and cured.

  According to the above configuration, since the outer peripheral surface of the drum roller 133 is protected by the belt 140 that is stretched together with the tension roller 150, ink mist or the like is not attached, and cleaning is not necessary. Maintenance becomes easy. Further, in the printer 10 of the present invention, ink is ejected onto the recording medium S by the line head unit 220 disposed on the vertical upper side of the belt 140 wound around the drum roller 133, with high accuracy. Since an image is formed on the recording medium S being conveyed, the image quality does not deteriorate. Further, when the belt 140 is contaminated with mist, it is only necessary to replace the belt 140, so that maintainability is good.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the UV ink is used as the ink ejected by the line head unit 220 has been described. However, in the present invention, a thermosetting ink or any other ink can be used. .

  Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a main part of the printer 10 which is an example of the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the second embodiment of the invention.

This embodiment is different from the previous embodiment in that the belt 140 rotates around the rotation axis O ₁ and the tension roller 150 rotates around the rotation axis O ₂ urged vertically downward. And a tension roller 151 that rotates about the rotation axis O ₃ . Another difference is that a line head unit 220W that ejects white (W) ink and an ultraviolet irradiation unit 160w that cures the white ink deposited by the line head unit 220W are provided.

  The white (W) ink ejected by the line head unit 220W is a solid white background for a predetermined image recorded by the image recording ink based on the background image data received from the computer 1 or the like as the host device. Used for painting.

  The color inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), which are image recording inks, are “first liquid”, and are solid background inks. White (W) ink is defined as “second liquid”.

  In printing with “first liquid” yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), the required level of positional accuracy of the dot formation position by ejection is high. On the other hand, since printing with white (W) ink, which is the “second liquid”, is simply a solid background coating, the required level of the positional accuracy of the dot formation position by ejection is lower than that of the “first liquid”. .

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the line head unit 220 that ejects the “first liquid” is disposed on the vertical upper side of the belt 140 wound around the drum roller 133 and ejects the “second liquid”. The line head unit 220 is arranged on the upper side of the belt 140 that is not wound around the drum roller 133.

  However, the line head unit 220 that ejects the “second liquid” has a certain degree of ink ejection so that the belt 140 bites the recording medium S and transports the belt 140 in the region from D to A. The position accuracy is ensured.

  In the embodiment as described above, the same effect as in the previous embodiment can be enjoyed.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a main part of the printer 10 which is an example of the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the third embodiment of the invention. This embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the belt 140 rotates around the rotation axis O ₁ and the tension roller 150 rotates around the rotation axis O ₂ urged vertically downward. When a tension roller 151 which rotates about a rotation axis O _3, and tension roller 152 which rotates about a rotation axis O _4, in that is stretched by.

  Another difference is that the irradiation position by the ultraviolet irradiation unit 160 is not wound around the drum roller 133, but is an area where the belt 140 conveys the recording medium S (the area extending from B to D). It is.

  In the embodiment as described above, the same effect as in the previous embodiment can be enjoyed.

  As described above, according to the liquid ejecting apparatus (printer 10) of the present invention, since the outer peripheral surface of the drum roller is protected by the belt 140 stretched together with the tension roller 150, cleaning is performed without adhesion of mist or the like. Maintenance is easy. In the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention, the liquid is ejected onto the recording medium by the liquid ejecting head disposed on the vertically upper side of the belt 140 that is wound around the drum roller, and is transported with high accuracy. Since an image is formed on the recorded recording medium, image quality does not deteriorate. Further, when the belt 140 is contaminated with mist, it is only necessary to replace the belt 140, so that maintainability is good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Computer, 10 ... Printer, 105 ... Interface, 110 ... Controller, 111 ... CPU, 112 ... ROM, 113 ... RAM, 117 ... Drive voltage generation circuit , 120 ... input operation unit, 130 ... recording medium transport unit, 131 ... transport roller, 132 ... transport roller, 133 ... drum roller, 140 ... belt, 141 ... base Material: 142 ... 1st resin layer, 143 ... inorganic fine particles, 144 ... 2nd resin layer, 150 ... tension roller, 151 ... tension roller, 152 ... tension roller, 160, 160w ... ultraviolet irradiation unit, 220 ... line head unit, S ... recording medium

Claims (7)

A drum roller that rotates about a rotation axis;
A tension roller that is biased vertically downward and rotates about a rotation axis;
A belt that is stretched between the drum roller and the tension roller and conveys a recording medium;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a liquid ejecting head that is disposed vertically above the belt wound around the drum roller and includes a nozzle that ejects liquid onto the recording medium. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of the liquid ejecting heads that eject the liquids having different colors. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid is cured by light irradiation. A drum roller that rotates about a rotation axis;
A tension roller that is biased vertically downward and rotates about a rotation axis;
A tension roller that rotates around a rotation axis, the drum roller, the tension roller, and a belt that is stretched between the tension roller and conveys a recording medium;
A first liquid ejecting head disposed on a vertically upper side of the belt wound around the drum roller and having a nozzle that ejects the first liquid onto the recording medium;
A liquid ejecting apparatus, comprising: a second liquid ejecting head that is disposed vertically above the belt that is not wound around the drum roller and includes a nozzle that ejects the second liquid onto the recording medium. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of the first liquid ejecting heads that eject the liquids of a plurality of different colors are provided. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the second liquid is white. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first liquid and the second liquid are cured by light irradiation.

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