JP2014030981A - Recording device and recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow both a reduction in size and thickness of a recording head and protection of signal lines to be satisfied.SOLUTION: A recording device comprises: a recording head 2 for performing recording on the basis of recording data; signal lines 7 for transmitting the recording data to the recording head 2; and a carriage 3 mounted with the recording head 2. The recording head 2 comprises connection sections 10a and 10b of which respective portion positioned at least in two directions different from each other along a recording surface 9 are connected with the signal lines 7a and 7b. The signal lines 7a and 7b are connected to the recording head 2 from the two directions different from each other, pass through inside the carriage 3 and are connected to the connection sections 10a and 10b.

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording head that perform recording based on recording data.

  Conventionally, recording apparatuses that perform recording based on recording data have been used. Among these, a recording apparatus including a recording head and a flexible flat cable (hereinafter also referred to as FFC) as a signal line that is connected to the recording head and sends recording data to the recording head is used. In such a recording apparatus, the FFC is flexible, has a high degree of freedom in deformation of the shape, and has a high degree of freedom in bending. For this reason, FFC is used in various recording apparatuses (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  On the other hand, the resolution of recent recording apparatuses is high, and the amount of recording data sent to the recording head at a time is large. For this reason, a recording apparatus using a wide FFC and a recording apparatus using a plurality of FFCs are used.

JP 2000-198191 A

  However, when a wide FFC is used or when a plurality of FFCs are used, the area occupied by the connecting portion connecting the FFCs in the print head increases, and accordingly, the print head tends to become larger and the printing apparatus tends to become larger. . In particular, when the thickness of the recording head (the length of the recording head in the direction crossing the recording surface of the recording head) increases, the recording apparatus becomes particularly large in a recording apparatus that performs recording by reciprocating scanning of the recording head, for example. For this reason, it is required to reduce the size of the recording head, and in particular, to reduce the thickness of the recording head.

  Further, in recent recording apparatuses, the FFC has a large occupation, and there are cases where the FFC and other members interfere with each other and the FFC or other members are damaged. In particular, when the recording head is made thinner and the recording apparatus is made smaller, the probability of interference between the FFC and other members increases. For this reason, protection of FFC is required when the recording head is thinned.

  Patent Document 1 does not recognize the above-described problem, and the recording apparatus of Patent Document 1 cannot achieve a thin print head.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to achieve both a reduction in size and thickness of a recording head and protection of signal lines.

  A recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problems includes a recording head that performs recording based on recording data, a signal line that sends the recording data to the recording head, and the recording head. A carriage, and the recording head includes a connection portion to which the signal line is connected to each of at least two different directions along the recording surface, and the signal line passes through the inside of the carriage. It is connected to the connecting part from the two different directions.

Here, the “recording head” not only means a part that performs recording, but may further include, for example, a member having an ink flow path, a mounting portion to a carriage, and the like, and includes a so-called recording head assembly. Meaning. The “recording surface” is a portion (a recording head) that ejects a liquid such as ink for recording.
Further, “at least two different directions” does not mean that the recording head is connected only from two different directions, but also includes connection to the recording head from three or more different directions.
In addition, "the signal line is connected to each part in at least two different directions along the recording surface" means that the direction extending from the connection portion of the recording head in the signal line connected to the recording head, It means the direction along the recording surface. That is, even when a connection terminal that connects to the recording head from the direction intersecting the recording surface is provided on the signal line, the signal extending from the connection portion of the recording head when the signal line is connected to the recording head This is also included if the direction of the line is along the recording surface.

According to this aspect, the signal line is connected to the recording head from at least two different directions along the recording surface of the recording head. For this reason, particularly when the signal line is FFC, it is possible to reduce the size and thickness of the recording head as compared with the case where the signal line is connected to the recording head from one direction. When connecting from the one direction, the recording head should be provided with a wide surface for connecting a wide signal line, or thick for connecting a signal line divided into two or more stages (the recording head). This is because it is necessary to prepare a surface that is long in the direction intersecting with the recording surface.
When the signal line is an FFC, the FFC has a flat shape and can be arranged using a narrow gap or the like inside the carriage. Therefore, it is not necessary to newly provide a space for arranging the signal line inside the carriage, and a narrow area inside the carriage can be used effectively. In addition, since the signal line does not need to protrude outside the carriage, it is possible to suppress the signal line from interfering with other members and damaging the signal line or other members.
That is, the recording head can be made compact and thin, and the signal line can be protected.

  The recording apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the signal line is inserted into the carriage from one side of the connection portion and connected to the one connection portion. It has a signal line and a second signal line which is disposed inside the carriage from one side of the connection part to the other side and connected to the other connection part.

  According to this aspect, since only one of the second signal lines is disposed largely inside the carriage, it can be disposed without complicating the arrangement structure. For this reason, the signal lines can be efficiently arranged inside the carriage.

  The recording apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first or second aspect, the signal lines are connected to the recording head from opposite directions.

According to this aspect, the signal lines are connected to the recording head from opposite directions. For this reason, especially when the signal line is an FFC, it is possible to reduce the interference space of the connection portion of the signal line in the recording head, so that the recording head can be further downsized.
In the case of a recording apparatus having a configuration in which signal lines are connected to the recording head from three or more different directions, this mode can be used as long as the signal lines connected from at least two directions are connected from opposite directions. included.

  The recording apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the recording apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the recording head has an attachment portion for attachment to the carriage, and the signal line is the carriage. It is arranged between the attachment portion and the carriage inside.

  According to this aspect, the signal line can be disposed inside the carriage with a simple structure in which the FFC is disposed between the mounting portion of the recording head and the carriage.

  A recording apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the signal line is connected in parallel to the recording surface.

  Here, “parallel to the recording surface” does not mean parallelism in a strict sense but includes a case where the recording surface is substantially parallel.

  According to this aspect, particularly when the signal line is an FFC, the FFC is connected in parallel with the recording surface, so that the recording head can be made thinner.

  The recording apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the recording apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the recording apparatus includes a linear scale, and the carriage acquires position information from the scale of the linear scale. And a signal line cover that protects the signal line, the signal line cover also serving as a protection part of the detector and a retaining part of the linear scale from the detector. It is characterized by.

  According to this aspect, since the signal line cover is provided, the signal line can be more sufficiently protected. Furthermore, it is possible to achieve both protection of the detector and retaining of the linear scale from the detector with a simple configuration.

  A recording head according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is a recording head that performs recording based on recording data sent from a signal line, and each part in at least two different directions along the recording surface of the recording head And a connection portion to which the signal line is connected.

  According to this aspect, the recording head can be reduced in size and thickness. Thereby, the carriage on which the recording head is mounted can be reduced in size and thickness.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an enlarged view of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the following embodiments, an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink from a recording head will be described as the recording apparatus. However, the recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the inkjet recording apparatus, and can be diverted to other types of recording apparatuses.

[Example] (FIGS. 1 to 7)
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The recording apparatus 1 of this embodiment performs recording while reciprocating a carriage 3 mounted with a recording head 2 in the scanning direction X and conveying the recording medium in the conveying direction Y by the conveying mechanism 4. Position information of the carriage 3 in the scanning direction X is acquired by reading a scale of the linear scale 5 provided in the recording apparatus 1 by a detector 6 (see FIG. 2) provided in the carriage 3.

  In the recording apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the recording head 2 is opposed to the upper surface of the recording medium conveyed to the recording area by the conveying mechanism 4, and the ink is vertically applied from the recording surface 9 (see FIG. 3) of the recording head 2. Recording is performed on the upper surface of the recording medium by ejecting it onto Z. That is, in this embodiment, the recording surface 9 is a surface parallel to a horizontal plane formed by the scanning direction X and the transport direction Y, and the direction intersecting the recording surface 9 is the vertical direction Z. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. The thickness of the recording head 2 in the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment means the length of the recording head 2 in the vertical direction Z.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main part of the recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a perspective view of the main part of the recording apparatus 1 viewed from the back side of FIG.
The FFC 7 as a signal line is inserted into the carriage 3 from one place (one side). The FFC 7b serving as the first signal line passes through the carriage 3 and is connected to one side of the recording head 2, and the FFC 7a serving as the second signal line extends from the one side toward the other side. And is connected to the other side (see FIG. 3).
The FFC 7 has a role of sending recording data to the recording head 2. The recording head 2 performs recording based on the recording data sent from the FFC 7.

  An FFC cover 8 is provided on the carriage 3 to protect the FFC 7 disposed inside the carriage 3 from protruding from the carriage 3. Further, the FFC cover 8 includes a protruding portion P that serves as a protection portion for the detector 6 and also serves as a retaining portion for the linear scale 5 from the detector 6. The protrusion P is configured to cover the linear scale 5 and the detector 6, thereby suppressing external contact with the detector 6 and suppressing the detector 6 from coming off the linear scale 5.

Next, an arrangement example of the FFC 7 in the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a view of the recording head 2 as viewed from the recording surface 9 side.
3A is a diagram before the FFC 7 is attached to the recording head 2, and FIG. 3B is a diagram after the FFC 7 is attached to the recording head 2.

In order to connect the FFC 7 around the recording surface 9 of the recording head 2 of this embodiment (attachment portion 16 for attaching the recording head 2 to the carriage 3) in the direction along the recording surface 9 and in the opposite direction to each other. Each part (connection part 10a, 10b) is provided. The FFC 7 of the present embodiment is composed of two FFCs, an FFC 7a and an FFC 7b. Specifically, the FFC 7b connected to the connection portion 10b on one side of the recording head 2 and the inside of the carriage 3 from the one side to the other side are connected to the connection portion 10a on the other side. FFC7a to perform. As is clear from FIG. 3B, the FFC 7a and the FFC 7b are both connected to the recording head 2 from the direction along the recording surface 9 and opposite to each other. The FFC 7 a is disposed on the FFC 7 b side along the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 3B and is aligned with the FFC 7 b inside the carriage 3. Then, the FFC 7a and the FFC 7b are combined and output to the outside of the carriage 3.
The recording surface 9 is provided with a nozzle row N in which a plurality of nozzles that eject ink are arranged.

In the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the FFC 7 is connected around the recording surface 9 of the recording head 2 from opposite directions. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the FFCs 7 may be connected around the recording surface 9 of the recording head 2 from a direction perpendicular to each other. However, in the case of such a configuration, the recording head 2 must be configured so that the respective connecting portions corresponding to the two FFCs do not interfere with each other, so recording is performed in comparison with the configuration of the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. The head 2 becomes larger.
Note that the FFC may be connected to the recording head 2 from three or more different directions. In the recording apparatus having such a configuration, the width per FFC can be reduced, so that the recording head 2 can be made smaller and the recording apparatus can be made smaller.

  In the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, both the FFC 7 a and the FFC 7 b are connected around the recording surface 9 of the recording head 2 in parallel with the recording surface 9. With such a configuration, the thickness of the recording head 2 can be reduced most efficiently. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which only the FFC 7a is connected to the recording head 2.
The FFC 7 a is connected to the recording head 2 through a connection portion 10 a provided around the recording surface 9 of the recording head 2. The FFC 7a is bent into two at the bent portion 11, and the FFC 7a having a width La1 is disposed around the mounting portion 16 of the recording head 2 with a width La2 that is half the width La1. Although not shown, the width of the FFC 7b is the same as the width La1, and the FFC 7b is also bent in the same manner as the FFC 7a. Thus, the width of the FFC 7b when combined with the FFC 7a is the same as the width La2.

  As described above, when the FFC is bent, the thickness of the FFC (thickness in a direction orthogonal to the width direction of the FFC) increases. For this reason, in the configuration in which the FFC protrudes outside the carriage around the carriage, the FFC more easily interferes with members outside the carriage. However, by adopting a configuration in which the FFC is disposed inside the carriage as in the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the FFC is prevented from protruding outside the carriage around the carriage, and the FFC interferes with members outside the carriage. Can be suppressed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a main part of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a view of the carriage 3 as viewed from above.
FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating a state in which the recording head 2 is detached from the carriage 3, and FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a state in which the recording head 2 is mounted on the carriage 3.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the FFC 7 a and the FFC 7 b are arranged along the inner wall 14 of the carriage 3. Further, the carriage 3 is provided with a hole 12 through which the recording surface 9 of the recording head 2 protrudes from the carriage 3.
As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the recording head 2 of this embodiment has an ink supply port 13 and an ink flow path from the ink supply port 13 to the nozzle array N that ejects ink. An attachment portion 16 to the carriage 3 is provided along with an ink flow path portion (not shown) provided. The FFC 7 a and the FFC 7 b are disposed inside the carriage 3 outside the attachment portion 16 of the recording head 2 and inside the carriage 3 (between the attachment portion 16 of the recording head 2 and the carriage 3).
As shown in FIG. 5B, the recording head 2 is provided with six ink supply ports 13 corresponding to six color ink cartridges usable in the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. Yes.

Next, the FFC cover 8 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 6A is a view showing the FFC cover 8, FIG. 6B is a view showing the carriage 3 before the FFC cover 8 is attached, and FIG. 6C is a view of the FFC cover 8. It is a figure showing the carriage 3 after attachment.

  FIG. 6A shows the FFC cover 8. The upper portion of the FFC cover 8 serves as an upper lid between the recording head 2 and the carriage 3 so that the FFC 7 disposed inside the carriage 3 does not protrude from the upper portion of the carriage 3. Further, the FFC cover 8 includes a protruding portion P that serves as a protection portion for the detector 6 and also serves as a retaining portion for the linear scale 5 from the detector 6.

  FIG. 6B shows the carriage 3 before the FFC cover 8 is attached, and shows how the detector 6 is positioned with respect to the linear scale 5 provided in the recording apparatus 1. The detector 6 is configured to be able to read the scale of the linear scale 5 by being positioned so as to sandwich the linear scale 5 from above.

  FIG. 6C shows the carriage 3 after the FFC cover 8 is attached, and shows the position where the FFC cover 8 is attached to the carriage 3. The FFC cover 8 is attached so as to cover all the upper side between the recording head 2 and the carriage 3 in the portion where the FFC 7 in the carriage 3 is disposed. Thus, it plays a role as a protection part of FFC7. Further, the protrusion P of the FFC cover 8 is configured to cover the linear scale 5 and the detector 6 from the upper side to a position considerably below the lower part of the linear scale 5. With such a configuration, contact from the outside to the detector 6 is suppressed, and the detector 6 is prevented from coming off the linear scale 5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a main part of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a view of the carriage 3 after the FFC cover 8 of FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 6C and 7, the FFC 7 is disposed at a position inside the carriage 3 and outside the mounting portion 16 of the recording head 2. For this reason, not only the FFC 7 is prevented from protruding outside the carriage 3 but also the FFC 7 is prevented from protruding outside the carriage 3. That is, not only does the FFC 7 that protrudes outside the carriage 3 interfere with other members and damages the FFC 7 or other members, but the FFC 7 that protrudes inside the carriage interferes with other members and interferes with the FFC 7 or the other members. It is also suppressed that other members are damaged.

  The recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment can use six color ink cartridges. The six-color ink cartridges have different tip shapes for each color in order to prevent the cartridges from being installed in the wrong positions. Therefore, the recording head 2 is provided with a protruding portion 15 having a different shape for each color corresponding to the tip shape of the six-color ink cartridge. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration.

1 recording device, 2 recording head, 3 carriage, 4 transport mechanism,
5 linear scale, 6 detector, 7, 7a, 7b FFC, 8 FFC cover,
9 recording surface, 10a, 10b connecting part, 11 bent part, 12 hole part,
13 Ink supply port, 14 Inner wall, 15 Protrusion, 16 Mounting part,
N Nozzle row, P Projection

Claims (7)

A recording head for recording based on the recording data;
A signal line for sending the recording data to the recording head;
A carriage on which the recording head is mounted,
The recording head includes a connecting portion to which the signal line is connected to each part in at least two different directions along the recording surface,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal line is connected to the connecting portion from the two different directions through the carriage. The recording apparatus according to claim 1,
The signal line is
Inserted into the carriage from one side of the connecting portion,
A first signal line connected to the one connection part, and a second signal line disposed in the carriage from one side of the connection part to the other side and connected to the other connection part A recording apparatus comprising: The recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The recording apparatus, wherein the signal lines are connected to the recording head from opposite directions. The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The recording head has an attachment portion for attachment to the carriage;
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal line is disposed between the attachment portion and the carriage in the carriage. The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The recording apparatus, wherein the signal line is connected in parallel to the recording surface. The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The recording apparatus includes a linear scale,
The carriage is
A detector for acquiring position information from the scale of the linear scale;
A signal line cover for protecting the signal line,
The signal line cover is
A protection part of the detector;
A recording apparatus that also serves as a retaining portion of the linear scale from the detector. A recording head that performs recording based on recording data sent from a signal line,
A recording head comprising a connecting portion to which the signal line is connected at each of two different directions along the recording surface of the recording head.

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