JP2013193314A - Inkjet recording apparatus, and drive control method of inkjet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently discharge thickening ink in a neglected ink chamber while giving consideration to neglected environment.SOLUTION: An inkjet recording apparatus includes: an inkjet recording head including a plurality of nozzles, a pressure generating chamber communicating with the nozzles, and a pressure generating element for generating pressure in the pressure generating chamber; a head control part configured to apply a drive voltage to the pressure generating element to drive the inkjet recording head; and a printing control part configured to supply a drive voltage to the head control part. The printing control part is configured to supply an idle jet signal, with which drive voltage is set larger as the neglected environment temperature becomes higher, to the head control part. The head control part is configured to apply the drive voltage of the supplied idle jet signal to the pressure generating element and perform an idle jet operation.

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus and an inkjet recording head drive control method.

  An ink jet recording head in an ink jet recording apparatus used as an ink jet recording apparatus (image recording apparatus) such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying apparatus, or a plotter has a nozzle for ejecting ink droplets and a pressure generating chamber (pressure chamber, And a pressurizing liquid chamber, a liquid chamber, an ink chamber, an ink flow path, etc.) and actuator means (energy generating means) for generating energy for pressurizing ink in the pressure generating chamber.

The ink-jet recording head is an ink-on-demand type that drives the actuator means to pressurize the ink in the pressure generating chamber to eject ink droplets from the nozzle openings and eject ink droplets only when recording is required Is the mainstream.
Ink jet recording heads are roughly classified into several types depending on the type of actuator means for ejecting ink droplets (recording liquid), and the piezo method and the bubble jet (registered trademark) method are generally well known.

The piezo method consists of a part of the wall of the pressure generation chamber made of a thin diaphragm and a piezoelectric element that is a pressure generator corresponding to this part. The piezoelectric element is deformed by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element. In this way, the ink droplets are ejected by changing the pressure in the pressure generating chamber.
The bubble jet (registered trademark) system is a system in which a heating element is disposed in a liquid chamber, bubbles are generated by heating the heating element by energization, and ink droplets are ejected by the pressure of the bubbles.

  In addition, an electrostatic type has been proposed. This comprises a diaphragm that forms the wall surface of the pressure generation chamber and an individual electrode outside the pressure generation chamber that is disposed opposite to the diaphragm, and an electrostatic field is applied by applying an electric field between the diaphragm and the electrode. In this way, the diaphragm is deformed, and the pressure / volume in the pressure generating chamber is changed to eject ink droplets from the nozzles.

  In the conventional ink jet recording head, when ink droplets are not ejected from the nozzles, the viscosity of the ink near the nozzles in contact with the outside air gradually increases due to moisture evaporation. When such a thickening phenomenon occurs, a recovery means is required to discharge the thickened ink and return it to a state where normal ejection can be performed.

When the standing time is a long period of several weeks, a suction recovery operation in which the thickened ink is sucked from the nozzle side and discharged is generally used as the recovery means. On the other hand, when the standing time is several hours to several days, there is a problem that if the suction recovery operation is performed each time, a large amount of ink is consumed and time is required for recovery.
For this reason, in the latter low viscosity state, a method of discharging thickened ink by an idle ejection operation is used. This is already known as a technique for replacing the ink chamber with fresh ink by forcibly ejecting thickened ink.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a liquid ejecting apparatus that changes the number of applied driving pulses according to temperature for the purpose of removing thickened ink and bubbles in an ink chamber by an idle ejection operation and recovering the ink to a normal ejection state. ing.
In the idle ejection operation of this liquid ejecting apparatus, the ink viscosity during normal ejection is high at low temperatures and low at high temperatures, so even in the idle ejection operation, a waveform with a high voltage at low temperatures and a waveform with a weak voltage at high temperatures are used. Used.
However, the higher the ambient temperature, the greater the amount of saturated water vapor in the outside air, and the higher the water evaporation rate in the vicinity of the nozzle, so the ink thickening rate is faster in the high temperature environment and slower in the low temperature environment.

  However, in the conventional method, when recovery is performed by idle discharge operation after being left in a low temperature environment and a high temperature environment for about several hours, an empty discharge waveform having a low voltage in a high temperature environment where the viscosity of the thickened ink near the nozzle is high. In the low temperature environment where the viscosity of the thickened ink in the vicinity of the nozzle is low, a strong discharge voltage waveform is used. Therefore, there is a contradiction between the ink thickening state and the strength of the waveform, the recovery efficiency is worse at higher temperatures, and a driving waveform stronger than necessary is used at low temperatures, causing mist and consuming excess power. There's a problem.

  Therefore, in the present invention, in order to solve this contradiction in the idle discharge operation after being allowed to stand for several hours to several days (hereinafter referred to as “after leaving”), the voltage of the empty discharge waveform is obtained when the leaving environment is low temperature. When the temperature is high and the voltage is high, the object is to efficiently discharge the thickened ink in the ink chamber in consideration of the leaving environment.

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head comprising a plurality of nozzles, a pressure generating chamber communicating with the nozzles, and a pressure generating element for generating pressure in the pressure generating chamber, and applying a driving voltage to the pressure generating element. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a head control unit that drives the ink jet recording head; and a print control unit that supplies a drive voltage to the head control unit. An empty discharge signal with a large driving voltage is supplied to the head control unit, and the head control unit applies a driving voltage of the supplied empty discharge signal to the pressure generating element so that the vicinity of the nozzle and the pressure are applied. The ink having increased viscosity in the generation chamber is ejected from the nozzle.

  According to the present invention, in the idle ejection operation after being left, the voltage of the idle ejection waveform is lowered when the leaving environment is low, and the voltage is increased when the environment is high, thereby contradicting the conventional inkjet recording apparatus. This solves the problem and efficiently discharges the thickened ink in the ink chamber after being left standing.

It is sectional drawing which follows the liquid chamber longitudinal direction of the inkjet recording head of the inkjet recording device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which follows the liquid chamber short direction of the inkjet recording head of the inkjet recording device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which follows the liquid chamber plane direction of the inkjet recording head of the inkjet recording device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of a control part. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a print control unit and a head driver. FIG. It is a figure explaining the drive signal used for idle discharge operation. It is a figure explaining the relationship between the drive voltage and temperature in the conventional idle discharge operation | movement. It is a graph showing the amount of saturated water vapor | steam with respect to temperature. It is a figure showing the relationship between the time which ink was left to expose to external air, and a viscosity. It is a figure explaining 1st embodiment of the idle discharge signal after being left. It is a figure explaining 2nd embodiment of a specific idle discharge signal. It is a figure explaining 3rd embodiment of the specific empty discharge operation after being left. It is a figure explaining 4th embodiment of the empty discharge operation after being left concrete. It is a figure explaining 5th embodiment of the empty discharge operation after being left concrete. It is a figure explaining 6th embodiment of empty discharge operation after a concrete leaving. It is a figure explaining 7th embodiment of the specific empty discharge operation after being left. It is a figure explaining 8th embodiment of the empty discharge operation after being left concrete.

Next, an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal direction of a liquid chamber of an ink jet recording head 10 that constitutes a recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lateral direction of the liquid chamber of the ink jet recording head 10 constituting the recording head. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the ink jet recording head 10 constituting the recording head along the liquid chamber plane direction.

  The ink jet recording head 10 of the present ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink supply port 11 (FIG. 3), a frame 1 in which an engraving that becomes a common liquid chamber 12, a fluid resistance portion 21, an engraving that forms a pressure generating chamber 22, and a nozzle 31. Adhering to the vibration plate 6, the flow path plate 2 that forms the communication port 23 that communicates, the nozzle plate 3 that forms the nozzle 31, the vibration plate 6 having the island-shaped convex portion 61, the diaphragm portion 62, and the ink inlet 63. A laminated piezoelectric element 5 that is a pressure generating element joined through a layer 7 and a base 4 that fixes the laminated piezoelectric element 5 are provided.

The base 4 is made of a barium titanate ceramic, and the laminated piezoelectric elements 5 are arranged in two rows and joined. The laminated piezoelectric element 5 is composed of a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric layer having a thickness of 10 to 50 μm / layer and an internal electrode layer made of silver and palladium (AgPd) having a thickness of several μm / layer alternately. Are stacked. The internal electrode layer is connected to the external electrode at both ends. The laminated piezoelectric element 5 is divided into comb teeth by half-cut dicing and used as a drive unit 56 and a support unit 57 (non-drive unit) one by one.
The length of the outer electrode is limited by cutting or the like so as to be divided by half-cut dicing, and these become a plurality of individual electrodes 54. The other is not divided in the dicing process and is conductive and becomes the common electrode 55.

An FPC (flexible printed circuit) 8 is soldered to the individual electrode 54 of the drive unit 56. In addition, the common electrode 55 is provided with an electrode layer at the end of the laminated piezoelectric element 5 and is wound around to join the Gnd electrode of the FPC 8. A head driver 109 (FIG. 4), which is a head control unit, is mounted on the FPC 8, thereby controlling application of a driving voltage to the driving unit 56.
The diaphragm 6 is joined to the frame 1 with a thin film diaphragm 62, an island-shaped convex part (island part) 61 that joins the laminated piezoelectric element 5 to be the driving part 56 formed at the center of the diaphragm 62. A thick film portion including a beam and an opening serving as an ink inflow port 63 are formed by stacking two Ni plating films by an electroforming method. The diaphragm 62 has a thickness of 3 μm and a width of 35 μm (one side).

  The island-shaped convex part 61 of the diaphragm 6 and the movable part (drive part) 56 of the laminated piezoelectric element 5 and the coupling of the diaphragm 6 and the frame 1 are bonded by patterning the adhesive layer 7 including the gap material. . The flow path plate 2 is formed using a silicon single crystal substrate by patterning the engraving that becomes the fluid resistance portion 21 and the pressure generation chamber 22 and the through-hole that becomes the communication port 23 at a position relative to the nozzle 31 by an etching method. . The portion left by etching becomes the partition wall 24 of the pressure generating chamber 22. Further, in the ink jet recording head 10, a portion for reducing the etching width is provided, and this is used as the fluid resistance portion 21.

  The nozzle plate 3 is formed of a metal material, for example, an Ni plating film by an electroforming method, and has a large number of nozzles 31 that are fine discharge ports for flying ink droplets. The internal shape (inner shape) of the nozzle 31 is formed in a horn shape (may be a substantially cylindrical shape or a substantially frustum shape). The diameter of the nozzle 31 is approximately 20 to 35 μm on the ink droplet outlet side. The nozzle pitch of each row was 150 dpi.

  The ink ejection surface (nozzle surface side) of the nozzle plate 3 is provided with a water repellent treatment layer 32 that has been subjected to a water repellent surface treatment (not shown). Ink physical properties such as PTFE-Ni eutectoid plating, electrodeposition coating of fluororesin, vapor-deposited fluororesin (for example, fluorinated pitch), baking after solvent application of silicon resin / fluorine resin, etc. A water-repellent treatment film selected according to the above is provided to stabilize the ink droplet shape and flight characteristics so that high-quality image quality can be obtained. The frame 1 that forms the engraving that becomes the ink supply port 11 and the common liquid chamber 12 is manufactured by resin molding.

In the ink jet recording head 10 configured as described above, a driving waveform (pulse voltage of 10 to 50 V) configured by a driving pulse (that is, a driving signal) is applied to the driving unit 56 in accordance with a recording signal, thereby driving the driving unit. A displacement in the stacking direction occurs at 56, the pressure generating chamber 22 is pressurized through the diaphragm 6, the pressure rises, and an ink droplet is ejected from the nozzle 31.
Thereafter, the ink pressure in the pressure generation chamber 22 decreases with the end of ink droplet ejection, and negative pressure is generated in the pressure generation chamber 22 due to the inertia of the ink flow and the discharge process of the drive voltage (drive pulse). The process proceeds to the ink filling process. At this time, the ink supplied from the ink tank flows into the common liquid chamber 12, passes from the common liquid chamber 12 through the ink inlet 63, passes through the fluid resistance portion 21, and is filled into the pressure generation chamber 22.

  The fluid resistance portion 21 is effective in damping the residual pressure vibration after ejection, but becomes resistant to the maximum filling (refill) due to surface tension. By appropriately selecting the fluid resistance portion 21, it is possible to balance the attenuation of the residual pressure and the refill time, and to shorten the time (drive cycle) until shifting to the next ink droplet ejection operation.

  In the ink jet recording head 10 configured as described above, a method of discharging a plurality of types of ink droplets having different ink amounts from the same nozzle 31 has been performed in order to achieve both high speed printing operation and high image quality. By selectively applying a drive signal from one cycle drive signal, small dots to large dots are formed. In many cases, a maximum of 2 bits (4 gradations) is controlled.

Next, an outline of a control unit of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of the control unit 100.
The control unit 100 controls the entire inkjet recording apparatus and controls the idle ejection operation, a ROM 102 that stores programs executed by the CPU 101 and other fixed data, and a RAM 103 that temporarily stores image data and the like. A rewritable NVRAM (nonvolatile memory) 104 for holding data even while the power of the inkjet recording apparatus is shut off, image processing for performing various signal processing, rearrangement, etc. on the image data, and other overall apparatus And an ASIC 105 for processing input / output signals for controlling the control.

  The control unit 100 includes a data transfer means for driving and controlling the ink jet recording head 10 and a drive signal generating means, and a head driver (driver IC) for driving the ink jet recording head 10 provided on the carriage side. A print control unit 108 that controls 109, a main scanning motor that moves and scans the carriage, and a motor drive unit 110 such as a sub-scanning motor that moves the conveyor belt in a circle are provided. The control unit 100 is connected to an operation panel 114 for inputting and displaying information necessary for the apparatus.

The control unit 100 is a host interface (hereinafter referred to as a host I / F) for transmitting and receiving data and signals to and from a host side such as an information processing device such as a personal computer, an image reading device such as an image scanner, and an imaging device such as a digital camera. The output signal is received by the host I / F 106 from the host 120 side via a cable or a network.
The CPU 101 of the control unit 100 reads and analyzes the print data in the reception buffer included in the host I / F 106, performs necessary image processing, data rearrangement processing, and the like in the ASIC 105, and outputs the image data to the print control unit. The data is transferred from 108 to the head driver 109. Note that the generation of dot pattern data for image output is performed by the printer driver 121 on the host 120 side.

  The print control unit 108 transfers the above-described image data as serial data, and outputs a transfer clock, a latch signal, a control signal, and the like necessary for transferring the image data and confirming the transfer to the head driver 109. In addition to performing the above operation, the print control unit 108 performs a drive signal waveform unit that includes a D / A converter, a voltage amplifier, a current amplifier, and the like that perform D / A conversion on drive pulse pattern data stored in the ROM 102. And a drive signal composed of one or a plurality of drive pulses is output to the head driver 109.

The head driver 109 drives the ink jet recording head 10 based on image data corresponding to one line of the ink jet recording head 10 serially input from the print control unit 108. That is, the head driver 109 applies a drive pulse that constitutes a drive signal given from the print control unit 108 to a drive element (here, the laminated piezoelectric element 5) that generates energy for ejecting droplets of the inkjet recording head 10. The ink jet recording head 10 is driven by selectively applying the ink.
The head driver 109 can select dots having different sizes, such as large droplets, medium droplets, and small droplets, in the inkjet recording head 10 by selecting a drive pulse that constitutes a drive signal.

An I / O (input / output) unit 113 acquires information from various sensor groups 115 mounted on the apparatus, extracts information necessary for controlling the printer, the print control unit 108, the motor drive unit 110, and the like. The processing for the control is performed.
The sensor group 115 includes an optical sensor for detecting the position of the paper, a thermistor for monitoring the temperature in the machine, a humidity sensor for monitoring the humidity in the machine, a sensor for monitoring the voltage of the charging belt, and opening and closing of the cover. An I / O unit 113 can perform the above-described processing on various sensor information.

Next, an example of the print control unit 108 and the head driver 109 will be described with reference to FIG.
As described above, the print control unit 108 generates and outputs a drive waveform (common drive waveform) composed of a plurality of drive pulses (that is, drive signals) within one printing cycle at the time of image formation. A drive waveform generation unit 201 that generates and outputs a drive waveform (common drive waveform) composed of a plurality of drive pulses (drive signals) within one idle ejection cycle during operation, and 2-bit image data corresponding to a print image (Gradation signals 0 and 1), and a data transfer unit 202 that outputs a transfer clock, a latch signal (LAT), and droplet control signals M0 to M3.
The droplet control signals M0 to M3 are 2-bit signals for instructing opening / closing of an analog switch 215, which will be described later, of the head driver 109 for each droplet, and are waveforms to be selected in accordance with the printing cycle of the drive waveform. The state transitions to H level (ON), and when the drive waveform is not selected, the state transitions to L level (OFF).

  The head driver 109 receives a transfer clock (shift clock) and image data (gradation data: 2 bits / 1 channel (1 nozzle)) from the data transfer unit 202, and each register value of the shift register 211. Is latched by a latch signal from the data transfer unit 202, a decoder 213 that decodes gradation data and droplet control signals M0 to M3 and outputs a result, and a logic level voltage signal of the decoder 213 is analog. A level shifter 214 that converts the level to an operable level of the switch 215 and an analog switch 215 that is turned on / off (opened / closed) by the output of the decoder 213 given through the level shifter 214 are provided.

  The analog switch 215 is connected to the individual electrode 54 of each laminated piezoelectric element 5 and receives a drive waveform from the drive waveform generation unit 201. Therefore, the analog switch 215 is turned on in accordance with the result of decoding the serially transferred image data (grayscale data) and the droplet control signals M0 to M3 by the decoder 213, so that a required drive signal constituting the drive waveform is obtained. Passing (selected) is applied to the laminated piezoelectric element 5.

Next, a description will be given of a driving signal for the idle ejection operation performed under the control of the control unit 100 described above.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a drive signal used for the idle ejection operation, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between the drive voltage and the temperature in the conventional idle ejection operation.
FIG. 6A is an example of a drive waveform created by the print control unit 108 used for the idle ejection operation. The vertical axis represents voltage and the horizontal axis represents time.
In the idle ejection, it is necessary to forcibly eject the thickened ink near the nozzle. Therefore, the voltage of the idle ejection drive signal is generally larger than the voltage of the print signal. FIG. 6B shows one of the pulses constituting the drive waveform. The volume of the pressure generating chamber expands by the discharge element b1 of the pulse shown in the figure, the volume in the pressure chamber is kept constant by the holding element b2 (time width P _W ), and the volume in the pressure chamber is contracted by the charging element b3, Ink in the ink chamber is ejected.

  In general, the ink viscosity η has a relationship between the absolute temperature T and lnη∝1 / T. Therefore, the drive signal for image formation increases the drive voltage when the ink temperature is low, and lowers the drive voltage when the ink temperature is high, so that the speed of the ejected ink droplets becomes substantially constant even if the temperature changes. It is adjusted.

  FIG. 7 shows that the thickening of the ink is limited to the vicinity of the surface of the meniscus stretched around the nozzle, and when the thickening is small, for example, when outputting a plurality of images with a serial machine, This shows the relationship between the drive voltage and the temperature in the idle ejection operation performed after the printing pause period until conveyance. Since most of the individual ink chambers are considered to be filled with fresh ink, the relationship between the voltage and temperature of the idle ejection drive signal is higher as the ink viscosity is lower, as is the relationship between the voltage and temperature of the print signal. And the lower the voltage, the higher the ink viscosity.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the amount of saturated water vapor with respect to temperature.
Generally, the higher the temperature, the greater the amount of saturated water vapor, that is, more water can exist as water vapor in the air. Therefore, when the state where ink droplets are not ejected from the nozzles continues, the viscosity of not only the surface of the meniscus but also the ink in the nozzle openings and the individual ink chambers gradually increases from the area close to the outside air due to moisture evaporation. The ink thickening speed depends on the amount and nature of the wetting agent contained in the ink, but also greatly depends on the outside air environment to which the meniscus stretched on the nozzle is exposed. That is, the evaporation rate of moisture in the ink is faster in a high temperature environment where the amount of saturated water vapor is larger, and conversely, the evaporation rate is slower in a low temperature environment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the relationship between the time (left time) in which the ink is left exposed to the outside air and the viscosity. Before leaving, the ink viscosity is in a relationship of “high temperature <low temperature”, but as the leaving time becomes longer, the ink viscosity increases. When the time A in FIG. 9 is exceeded, the relationship between the ink viscosity near the nozzle and the temperature is “ It can be seen that the temperature is reversed to a low temperature <a high temperature (the time required for the reversal depends on the physical properties of the ink, but is generally about several hours to one day).
In the actual ink jet recording head 10, since the moisture retention mechanism is provided on the nozzle surface with a cap or the like, the thickening speed is lower than that of leaving the outside air, but the evaporation speed is higher as the temperature is higher. Later, a viscosity reversal similar to the above occurs.
Therefore, in such an idle ejection operation after being left unattended, it is not preferable that the voltage and temperature of the idle ejection drive signal have the relationship shown in FIG. That is, the higher the temperature is, the lower the efficiency of the idle ejection operation is, and the voltage is too strong at a low temperature, causing problems such as generation of mist and increased power consumption.

Therefore, a description will be given of the idle discharge signal after standing to solve this problem.
FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the after-left idle discharge signal, which is the first embodiment of the after-left idle discharge signal applied to the inkjet recording head 10. The curve indicated by the solid line in FIG. 10A is the relationship between the drive voltage (discharge voltage) of the idle discharge signal after leaving and the ambient temperature, and the curve indicated by the dotted line is the drive voltage (discharge voltage) of the empty discharge signal before leaving and the ambient temperature. Represents the relationship.
The drive voltage difference ΔV in the same temperature environment between the two curves increases as the environmental temperature increases. FIG. 10B shows the relationship between the idle ejection signal voltage and the standing time, where the curve indicated by the solid line is when the high temperature is left, and the curve indicated by the dotted line is when the low temperature is left. The driving voltage at the leaving time 0 in FIG. 10B corresponds to the idle discharge before leaving in FIG. 10A. Specifically, the term “before leaving” means several minutes immediately after the printing operation. At this time, since the ink is almost fresh, the viscosity has a relationship of “high temperature <low temperature”. Therefore, in general, the relationship between the drive voltage and the temperature of the drive signal for the idle discharge before leaving in accordance with the relationship is as shown by the dotted line curve in FIG. 10A.

On the other hand, when the standing time after printing becomes long, the ink is gradually dried from the vicinity of the meniscus and the viscosity increases. Further, the thickening speed at that time varies depending on the environmental temperature, and the higher the temperature, the faster the thickening speed, and the lower the temperature. That is, the relationship between the ink viscosity in the vicinity of the nozzle and the temperature is reversed to “low temperature <high temperature” after a certain time.
Therefore, in the idle ejection operation after being left, if the relationship between the drive voltage of the idle ejection signal and the idle time is a curve as shown in FIG. 10B, for example, at time B, the relationship of the drive voltage to the temperature is as shown by the solid line in FIG. The relationship between the lower voltage is lower and the higher the temperature is, the higher the voltage is, and the idle discharge operation can be performed by setting the voltage according to the viscosity of the ink.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a second embodiment of a specific idle ejection signal. FIG. 11A is a drive waveform of the idle discharge signal after being left, the vertical axis represents voltage V, and the horizontal axis represents time T. The peak value V _H of the drive waveform is varied with temperature as shown in FIG. 11B.
As a result, the higher the temperature at which the ink drying speed is higher during the standing time, the stronger vibration is generated in the pressure generating chamber, and the thickened ink is forcibly ejected.
Further, when the voltage holding time t _w a length for resonating ink in the pressure generating chamber of the drive waveform of FIG. 11A, and efficiently discharge thickened ink with a strong vibration, and, even drop amount in one discharge Since it can earn, it is possible to replace thickened ink with fresh ink with a minimum number of drops.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a third embodiment of a specific post-leaving idle discharge operation. FIG. 12A shows an idle ejection waveform composed of multiple pulses. The vertical axis represents voltage V and the horizontal axis represents time T. Here, it is composed of five pulses, but the number of pulses may be five or less or five or more. A voltage (peak value) V _H of the drive waveform is varied with temperature as shown in FIG. 12B. As a result, the higher the temperature at which the ink drying speed is higher during the standing time, the stronger vibration is generated in the pressure generating chamber, and the thickened ink is forcibly ejected.

Here, if the pulse interval t1 is set to the timing at which the ink in the pressure generating chamber is resonated (the length at which the ink in the pressure generating chamber is resonated), the ink vibration in the pressure generating chamber can be strengthened by the subsequent pulse. Further, since the amount of ink droplets to be ejected increases with the latter half of the pulse, thickened ink can be discharged more efficiently than with a single pulse.
Further, when the pulse voltage holding time t _w a length for resonating ink in the pressure generating chamber constituting the drive waveform of FIG. 12A, can be discharged efficiently even more thickened ink

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a fourth embodiment of the specific post-leaving idle discharge operation.
FIG. 13A shows an idle ejection waveform composed of multiple pulses, where the vertical axis represents voltage V and the horizontal axis represents time T. Here, it is composed of two pulses, but the number of pulses may be two or more. The pulse interval t1 is the timing for resonating the ink in the pressure generating chamber (the length for resonating the ink in the pressure generating chamber). The peak value Va of the first pulse and the peak value Vb of the second pulse of the waveform A are Va = Vb. Va (= Vb) is fluctuated with respect to the temperature as shown in FIG. 13C, and a strong vibration is generated in the pressure generation chamber as the ink drying speed is higher during the standing time, thereby forcibly ejecting the thickened ink. .

Here, since the pulse interval t1 is the timing at which the ink in the pressure generating chamber is resonated, the second pulse that follows will intensify the ink vibration in the pressure generating chamber that occurs in the first pulse.
Therefore, the droplet ejected in the second pulse can increase the droplet velocity and the amount of droplets compared to the droplet ejected in the first pulse, so that the thickened ink is more efficiently used than the empty ejection waveform composed of a single pulse. Can be discharged.

However, since the thickening speed is high at high temperatures, the viscosity of the thickened ink after standing is higher than that at low temperatures. For this reason, the fluid resistance of the ink is large at a high temperature, and the damping speed of the ink vibration in the liquid chamber generated at the first pulse is fast. For example, when the waveform of FIG. 13A is used at a low temperature and a 3 pl droplet can be ejected at the first pulse and a 3.5 pl droplet can be ejected at the second pulse, a 3 pl droplet at the first pulse at a high temperature Even if the peak value Va is set so as to be discharged, the appropriate amount of droplets that can be discharged in the second pulse is less than 3.5 pl.
Thus, the amount of droplets that can be ejected within one driving cycle (empty ejection cycle) decreases as the temperature increases. However, the higher the temperature of the neglected environment, the wider the ink thickening range, and more drops must be discharged before replacing with fresh ink.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13B, a waveform in which the peak value Vb of the second pulse is larger than the peak value Va of the first pulse is formed and used. Thus, if the value of Vb is set to increase as the temperature of the left environment increases, the loss due to the quick attenuation of ink vibration can be compensated.
FIG. 13C shows the time change of the peak value Va of the first pulse, with the vertical axis representing voltage and the horizontal axis representing temperature. It can be seen that the peak value Va increases with temperature.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a fifth embodiment of the specific post-leaving idle discharge operation.
FIG. 14 shows the relationship between the drive voltage and temperature used in the idle ejection operation shown in the first embodiment of FIG. 10 depending on the humidity. If the ambient humidity is low, the ink thickening rate is fast, and if the environmental humidity is high, the ink thickening rate is slow.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, the drive voltage-temperature curve may be set differently depending on the humidity so that the voltage of the drive signal increases as the humidity decreases.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a sixth embodiment of the specific post-leaving idle discharge operation. FIG. 15A shows a blank discharge waveform applied during the blank discharge operation, where the vertical axis represents voltage V and the horizontal axis represents time T. Here, it is composed of five pulses, but the number of pulses is not limited to five, and may be a single pulse or a plurality of pulses other than five pulses.
The ink in the ink chamber after being left has the highest viscosity near the nozzle. Accordingly, it is necessary to discharge hard ink by applying strong vibration at the initial stage of the idle ejection operation after being left, but after the hard ink in the vicinity of the nozzles is removed, the fresh ink gradually gradually passes through the ink inlet 63. The ink is sent to the room and mixed with the thickened ink in the individual ink room, and the ink viscosity decreases.
At this time, if the idle discharge operation is continued with a strong waveform having a large peak value V _H , bubbles may be involved in the individual liquid chamber or the meniscus may be broken. Also, if the ink droplet speed is too high, mist also increases.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15B, in the initial stage of the idle ejection operation after being left, the peak value V _H of the waveform in FIG. 15A is set to a value sufficient to forcibly eject the hard ink near the nozzle. In the latter stage of the discharge cycle, that is, after the hard ink in the vicinity of the nozzle is removed, the peak value _VH is lowered.
Thereby, the thickened ink can be replaced with fresh ink without entraining bubbles or breaking the meniscus during the viscosity-decreasing ink viscosity decreasing period after the hard ink is discharged. In addition, mist is reduced.
FIG. 15C shows how the initial peak value V _H and the late peak value V _H are raised in accordance with the temperature rise.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a seventh embodiment of the specific post-leaving idle discharge operation. 16A and 16B are idle ejection waveforms applied during the idle ejection operation, where the vertical axis represents voltage V and the horizontal axis represents time T. FIG. The peak value Va of the waveform A and the peak value Vb of the waveform B have a relationship of Va> Vb. Both are configured with five pulses here, but the number of pulses is not limited to five, and may be a single pulse or a plurality of pulses other than five pulses.
Since it is necessary to forcibly discharge hard ink thickened in the vicinity of the nozzle at the initial stage of the idle discharge operation after being left, the peak value Va is set to a value sufficient to forcibly discharge the hard ink in the vicinity of the nozzle. The idle discharge operation is performed using the waveform A, and after the late ink discharge period, that is, after the hard ink in the vicinity of the nozzles is removed, the idle discharge operation is performed using the waveform B set with a peak value lower than that of the waveform A.

Thereby, in the idle ejection operation performed during the viscosity-decreasing ink viscosity decreasing period after the hard ink is discharged, bubbles are not involved and the meniscus is not broken. Further, since the drop speed of the thickened ink ejected by lowering the voltage can be suppressed, the mist can be reduced.
In addition, the pulse that discharges the waveform B droplet earlier in one idle discharge cycle has a lower droplet velocity, the later pulse has a higher droplet velocity, and the last droplet was discharged before the flight. By catching up with the droplet, the final droplet collects the mist of the droplet discharged before that, and the mist is reduced. Furthermore, if a damping pulse is applied to the waveform B, the meniscus can be kept in a more stable state.
FIG. 16C is a summary of FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B, and FIG. 16D shows how the peak value Va at the initial stage of idle discharge and the peak value Vb at the late stage of idle discharge rise with temperature in one idle discharge period. It is a thing.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining an eighth embodiment of a specific post-leaving idle discharge operation. FIG. 17A shows the same idle ejection waveform as in FIG. 15A. First, at the initial stage of the idle ejection operation within one idle ejection cycle after being left, it is necessary to forcibly discharge ink that has been thickened in the vicinity of the nozzles. As shown in FIG. 17B, the peak value _VH is set to be large. Incidentally, FIG. 17C shows the initial one idle discharge cycle, medium, each of the temperature variation of the voltage V _H when the divided late.
After the hard ink in the vicinity of the nozzles is removed, fresh ink is gradually sent into the individual ink chamber through the ink inlet 63 and is mixed with the thickened ink in the individual ink chamber, so that the ink viscosity decreases. Therefore, the peak value _VH is lowered in the middle period of the idle discharge operation.
Further, in the latter stage of the idle ejection operation, the ratio of fresh ink increases in the ink chamber, the viscosity approaches the value during normal ejection, and the viscosity at high temperature <viscosity at low temperature. At this time, if the idle discharge is performed with the medium voltage, particularly at a high temperature at which the viscosity is greatly reduced, the vibration applied to the ink chamber is too large, so the speed of the discharged droplets is high, and a lot of mist is generated. If it is even worse, it will entrain bubbles and destroy the meniscus.
For this reason, even though the ink in the ink chamber has been replaced with fresh ink, it is not possible to perform normal ejection, and additional recovery operations for bubble discharge and meniscus stabilization must be performed. Disappear.

To prevent this, 1 to the later stage of the idle discharge operation in idle ejection period, unlike the initial and medium-term, as shown in the late peak value V _H graph of FIG. 17C, a high low temperature as the peak value V _H, by lowering the high temperature as the peak value V _H, the pressure oscillations to be generated in the ink chamber to the strength that is suitable for the ink viscosity.
Note that, as in the seventh embodiment shown in FIG. 16, different waveforms may be used in the early, middle, and late stages of the idle ejection operation.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described. According to these embodiments, the drive signal used for the idle discharge operation after being left has a waveform with a higher voltage in a high temperature environment, and a strong vibration is given to the ink liquid chamber to increase the viscosity. By discharging the ink in the vicinity of the nozzle in the state, and using a waveform with a low voltage in a low temperature environment, the occurrence of mist is reduced when idle ejection is performed, ink consumption is reduced, and power consumption is reduced. Can be reduced.
Further, the terms used in the embodiments are not intended to be limited to this, and the present invention also includes the case where the present invention can be configured by configuring the embodiments with alternatives or equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Frame, 2 ... Channel plate, 3 ... Nozzle plate, 4 ... Base, 5 ... Laminated piezoelectric element, 6 ... Vibration plate, 7 ... Adhesion layer, 10 ... Inkjet recording head, 11 ... Ink supply port, 12 ... Common liquid chamber, 22 ... Pressure generation chamber, 23 ... Communication port, 31 ... Nozzle, 55 ... Common electrode 56 ... Drive unit, 57 ... Support unit, 61 ... Island-shaped convex part, 62 ... Diaphragm unit, 63 ... Ink inlet, 100 ... Control unit, 108 ... Print control unit 109... Head driver.

JP 2011-104916 A

Claims (12)

An ink jet recording head comprising a plurality of nozzles, a pressure generating chamber communicating with the nozzle, and a pressure generating element for generating pressure in the pressure generating chamber, and an ink jet recording head by applying a driving voltage to the pressure generating element An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a head control unit that drives the head control unit; and a print control unit that supplies a drive voltage to the head control unit.
The print control unit supplies the head control unit with an empty ejection signal in which the drive voltage is set to be larger as the environmental temperature after being left is higher.
The head control unit applies a drive voltage of a supplied empty discharge signal to the pressure generating element, and discharges thickened ink in the vicinity of the nozzle and in the pressure generating chamber from the nozzle. Recording device. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1,
The inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the drive voltage of the idle ejection signal is set according to an elapsed time after being left. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the idle ejection signal is set to have the same waveform shape regardless of temperature. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the idle ejection signal is set so that a waveform shape varies depending on a temperature. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the idle ejection signal includes a pulse for ejecting an ink droplet, and a pulse width of the pulse is set to a length for resonating the ink in the pressure generating chamber. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 5,
When the idle ejection signal includes two or more pulses, the interval between the pulses is set to a timing at which the vibration of the ink in the pressure generating chamber is resonated. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the idle discharge signal is set such that the driving voltage is set higher as the environmental humidity is lower and the driving voltage is set lower as the environmental humidity is higher. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a second idle ejection signal following the idle ejection signal within one idle ejection cycle. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 8,
The inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the second idle ejection signal has the same waveform shape as the idle ejection signal and a low driving voltage. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 8,
The inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the second idle ejection signal has a waveform shape different from that of the idle ejection signal. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 10,
Within one idle discharge cycle, the third idle discharge signal is provided after the second idle discharge signal, and the third idle discharge signal has a lower drive voltage and a lower ambient temperature as the ambient temperature is higher. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the driving voltage is set higher as the distance increases. An ink jet recording head comprising a plurality of nozzles, a pressure generating chamber communicating with the nozzle, and a pressure generating element for generating pressure in the pressure generating chamber, and an ink jet recording head by applying a driving voltage to the pressure generating element An ink jet recording head drive control method in an ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a head control unit that drives the head control unit; and a print control unit that supplies a drive voltage to the head control unit.
A step in which the printing control unit supplies an empty ejection signal in which the driving voltage is set to be larger as the environmental temperature after being left is higher, to the head control unit;
The head control unit applying a drive voltage of the supplied idle ejection signal to the pressure generating element to eject the thickened ink in the vicinity of the nozzle and in the pressure generating chamber from the nozzle;
A drive control method for an ink jet recording head, comprising:

Images