JP2014227277A - Conveyance device, printer and conveyance method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device capable of conveying a sheet shaped object with at least one pair of rollers to a processing position, and also highly accurately performing conveyance control based on detection values at the rollers.SOLUTION: The conveyance device for conveying a sheet shaped medium to be processed includes: conveyance rollers having a drive roller and a driven roller provided so as to sandwich the medium to be processed; a first rotation measurement sensor for detecting rotation of the drive roller; a second rotation measurement sensor for detecting rotation of the driven roller; a drive part for driving the drive roller; and a control part for controlling the drive part and performing conveyance control. The control part beforehand determines a correction value of a detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor, on the basis of detection values of the first rotation measurement sensor and the second rotation measurement sensor detected when the medium to be processed is conveyed, and performs the conveyance control according to the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor corrected on the basis of the correction value.

Description

  The present invention relates to a device that transports a sheet-like material to a processing position with at least one set of rollers, and more particularly to a transport device that can perform transport control based on detection values in the rollers with high accuracy.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an apparatus such as a printer, an apparatus that conveys the sheet-like material is used in order to perform processing on a sheet-like medium such as paper. In such a transport apparatus, generally, the transported object is transported by a pair of rollers provided so as to sandwich the sheet-shaped object that is the transported object from above and below, and in that case, usually one side of the roller pair is driven. It is rotated by the apparatus to move the conveyed object forward.

  In such a transport device, the rotation of the roller is measured in order to control the transport speed and transport amount, and this measurement is conventionally driven by a driving device of the roller pair. This is generally done on the drive roller side. The roller that is not the driving roller in the roller pair, that is, the roller that rotates with the rotation of the driving roller by the vertical pressing force is called a driven roller.

  However, there is a problem that a slip or the like occurs between the driving roller and the object to be conveyed, and there is a problem that the conveying speed and the amount of the object to be conveyed cannot be accurately detected based on the number of rotations of the driving roller, and a proposal for solving the problem Is performed in Patent Document 1 below. The apparatus described in Patent Document 1 below is configured to detect the rotation angle on the driven roller side and perform drive control of the drive roller.

JP 2006-124108 A

  As described above, in the transport control based on the rotation measurement on the driving roller side, when the load applied to the driving roller and the object to be transported fluctuates, there is a problem that slip occurs between them and the accuracy deteriorates.

  On the other hand, when the surface on the driven roller side of the transported object is not flat, such as a printer that prints on a so-called label paper with a label attached to the mount, simply rotate the driven roller side as in Patent Document 1 above. If the transport drive is controlled by the roller, the rotation of the roller does not accurately reflect the transport amount of the transported object in the uneven part of the transported object, for example, the part between the labels of the label paper, and the accuracy is high. There is a problem that it cannot be transported.

  Therefore, there is a demand for an apparatus that can perform highly accurate conveyance even when the surface of an object to be conveyed such as label paper is not flat.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is an apparatus that conveys a sheet-like object to a processing position with at least one set of rollers, and a conveyance apparatus that can perform conveyance control based on a detection value in the roller with higher accuracy. Etc. is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving roller provided with a conveying device that conveys a sheet-like processed medium to a processing position so as to sandwich the processed medium from opposite sides. A transport roller including a driven roller, a first rotation measurement sensor that detects rotation of the drive roller, a second rotation measurement sensor that detects rotation of the driven roller, a drive unit that drives the drive roller, A control unit that controls the drive unit to perform conveyance control of the target medium, and the control unit detects the first rotation measurement sensor and the second rotation detected when the target medium is transported. Based on the detection value of the measurement sensor, a correction value for the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor is determined in advance, and the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor corrected based on the correction value Thus executing the conveyance control is that.

  Furthermore, in the above-mentioned invention, a preferable aspect thereof is characterized in that the correction value is determined at the time of transport in which processing for the medium to be processed is not executed.

  Furthermore, in the above-mentioned invention, a preferred aspect is characterized in that the conveyance in which the processing on the medium to be processed is not performed is a conveyance performed when the medium to be processed is set in the conveyance device.

  Still further, in the above invention, a preferable aspect thereof is characterized in that the correction value is determined based on a value detected when a surface of the medium to be processed with which the driven roller contacts is substantially flat. To do.

  Furthermore, in the above invention, a preferred aspect is characterized in that the correction value is determined for a plurality of conveyance speeds.

  Furthermore, in the above invention, the preferable aspect is that, when the control unit determines that the determined correction value is an abnormal value, the controller notifies the user of the transport apparatus of an error. Features.

  Furthermore, in the above invention, one preferable aspect is characterized in that the medium to be processed is continuous paper having a label attached to a mount.

  In order to achieve the above object, another aspect of the present invention is a printing apparatus that includes any one of the above-described transport devices and that performs printing on the target medium at the processing position.

  In order to achieve the above object, still another aspect of the present invention provides a driving roller and a follower which are provided so as to transport a sheet-like processed medium to a processing position and sandwich the processed medium from opposite sides. A transport roller including a roller, a first rotation measurement sensor that detects rotation of the drive roller, a second rotation measurement sensor that detects rotation of the driven roller, a drive unit that drives the drive roller, and the drive unit A control unit that controls the transport of the target medium by controlling the control unit, wherein the control unit detects the first rotation measurement sensor detected when transporting the target medium and the control unit Based on the detection value of the second rotation measurement sensor, a correction value for the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor is determined in advance, and the first value corrected based on the correction value is determined. To execute the conveyance control according to the rolling detection value of the measurement sensor, is that.

  Further objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the embodiments of the invention described below.

It is a schematic block diagram concerning the example of an embodiment of a printing device provided with a conveyance device to which the present invention is applied. It is the flowchart which illustrated the procedure of the determination process of the correction value C. It is a figure for demonstrating a measurement timing and a measurement area.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, such an embodiment does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. In the drawings, the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals or reference symbols.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram according to an embodiment of a printing apparatus including a transport device to which the present invention is applied. The printer 2 shown in FIG. 1 is a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, and the printing apparatus stores a paper 26 (medium to be processed), which is stored as a roll paper 25, as a transport roller 29 (drive roller 30). And the driven roller 31) are transported to the printing position to execute the printing process. The driving side encoder 32 (first rotation measuring sensor) and the driven side encoder 33 (second side) provided on the driving roller 30 and the driven roller 31, respectively. The detection value of the drive encoder 32 is corrected based on the correction value C determined in advance by the detection value of the rotation measurement sensor), and the conveyance control of the paper 26 is performed according to the corrected detection value. With this configuration, in the present printing apparatus, even if the paper 26 is not flat on the surface on the driven roller 31 side as a so-called label paper, high accuracy that eliminates an error caused by the slip generated between the driving roller 30 and the paper 26. Is possible.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printer 2 is a device that executes a printing process in response to an instruction from a host device 1 such as a computer. Here, as an example, the printer 2 is an inkjet serial printer. The paper 26 held in the form of the roll paper 25 is a so-called label paper in which a plurality of labels are pasted on the mount at a predetermined interval, and moves on the conveyance path 34 with the label side up. Accordingly, the driving roller 30 contacts the mount having a flat surface, and the driven roller 31 contacts the upper surface of the sheet 26 having the recesses at predetermined intervals.

  In FIG. 1, the schematic configuration of the printer 2 is schematically illustrated. However, the printer 2 includes a printing system that controls printing contents and executes a printing process on the paper 26 and a transport system that transports the paper 26.

  The printing system is provided with a printing control unit 21, which receives a printing instruction from the host device 1, issues a printing command to the head unit 23 in accordance with the instruction, and conveys the conveyance control unit 22. The paper 26 is requested to be conveyed. The head unit 23 executes a printing process on the paper 26 positioned between the head unit 23 and the platen 24 in accordance with the print command.

  In the transport system, as shown in FIG. 1, the paper 26 held as the roll paper 25 in the print medium storage location is transported to the head unit 23 along the transport path 34, and then, via the paper discharge roller 35. Then, a transport operation for discharging from the printer 2 is executed.

  In order to convey the sheet to the head unit 23, as shown in FIG. 1, a conveyance roller 29 including a pair of rollers is provided on the upstream side of the head unit 23 in the conveyance path 34. The pair of rollers are a driving roller 30 and a driven roller 31 provided at positions facing each other with the paper 26 sandwiched from above and below.

  The driving roller 30 is rotated by the torque of the motor transmitted through the speed reducer, and moves the paper 26 by a frictional force with the paper 26 pressed together with the driven roller 31. Further, the driven roller 31 is in a state where pressure is applied to the paper 26 side in the conveyance state of the paper 26, and rotates with the rotation of the driving roller 30.

  The speed reducer, the motor, and the like that rotate the drive roller 30 are the drive unit 28 illustrated in FIG. 1, and drive the drive roller 30 according to the control by the conveyance control unit 22.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the driving roller 30 and the driven roller 31 are respectively provided with a driving side encoder 32 and a driven side encoder 33. The driving side encoder 32 and the driven side encoder 33 are rotation measurement sensors (angular position sensors) called so-called rotary encoders, and are based on a lattice disk with built-in displacements of rotation of the driving roller 30 and the driven roller 31 as input shafts. Output as a digital signal. The output signal is processed by the conveyance control unit 22 and the rotational behaviors of the driving roller 30 and the driven roller 31 are grasped.

  The paper guide 27 is a pair of guide plates provided on both sides in the width direction of the paper 26 in the transport path 34 and has a function of defining the transport direction of the paper 26.

  The conveyance control unit 22 shown in FIG. 1 is a part that controls the conveyance system, and controls the conveyance operation of the paper 26 based on an instruction from the print control unit 21. In particular, the transport roller 29 is driven in accordance with the corrected detection value of the drive-side encoder 32, and the paper 26 is favorably transported to the printing position. Moreover, the process which determines the correction value for correct | amending the detection value of the drive side encoder 32 is performed, The specific processing content is mentioned later.

  Although not shown, the transport control unit 22 is configured by a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an NVRAM (nonvolatile memory), and the like, and the processing executed by the transport control unit 22 is mainly a program stored in the ROM. It is executed by the CPU operating according to the above.

  The RAM and NVRAM hold data necessary for processing, and in particular, store the correction value C.

  In addition, the said conveyance system containing the conveyance roller 29, the drive part 28, and the conveyance control part 22 corresponds to the conveyance apparatus of this invention.

  The printer 2 having the above-described configuration is characterized by the conveyance control of the paper 26, and the specific contents thereof will be described below. In particular, the determination process of the correction value C for correcting the detection value of the drive encoder 32 described above will be mainly described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure for determining the correction value C. This process is performed during a conveyance process (referred to as pre-conveyance) that is performed in advance before the conveyance process (referred to as main conveyance) of the paper 26 when executing the printing process. Here, as an example, this is performed when the roll paper 25 is set in the storage location (holding position) of the printer 2.

  First, when the operator of the printer 2 sets the roll paper 25 in the storage location of the printer 2, the completion of the operation is detected by an open / close signal of a cover (not shown) provided in the printer 2, and the completion of the setting is detected. The transfer control unit 22 is notified (step S1 in FIG. 2).

  Receiving the notification, the conveyance control unit 22 starts conveyance control to convey the leading edge of the paper 26 to a predetermined position in order to enable printing on the set paper 26. The transport control unit 22 performs the correction value C determination process during the pre-transport.

  When the conveyance control is started, the drive unit 28 is activated by the control of the conveyance control unit 22, and the conveyance roller 29 is driven accordingly, and conveyance of the paper 26 is started (step S2 in FIG. 2).

  Thereafter, in order to determine the correction value C, measurement by the driving encoder 32 and the driven encoder 33 is started (step S3 in FIG. 2). The measurement is started at a predetermined timing.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the measurement timing and the measurement section. As shown in FIG. 3 and as described above, the paper 26 is constituted by the mount 26B and the label paper 26A, and the lower surface is flat but has a concave portion (such as the Y portion in FIG. 3) on the upper surface. In the measurement, detection is performed in a section where the rotation detected by the driven encoder 33 accurately reflects the transport amount of the paper 26, that is, in a section where the top surface of the paper 26 is flat (X portion in FIG. 3). In order to acquire the value, the start timing is the timing when the leading end in the transport direction (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3) of one label sheet 26A reaches the position of the driven roller 31 or the timing immediately after that.

  When the transport control unit 22 of the printer 2 stores the dimensions of the paper 26 set, that is, the dimensions from the top to the first label paper 26A in the transport direction, the dimensions of the X part and the Y part. Determines the measurement start timing from the transport distance from the start of transport and the dimensions of the paper 26. The dimensions of the paper 26 may be transmitted from the host device 1.

  As another method, as shown in FIG. 3A, a photoelectric sensor 36 provided so as to detect the leading end of each label sheet 26A in the conveyance direction may be used. As the photoelectric sensor, a general transmission type or reflection type photoelectric sensor can be used. In this case, the measurement start timing is determined from the timing at which the photoelectric sensor 36 detects the leading edge of the label paper 26A, the distance L between the driven roller 31 and the photoelectric sensor 36, and the conveyance speed. FIG. 3A shows a state in which the photoelectric sensor 36 detects the leading edge of the label paper 26A.

  When the measurement is started in this way, the conveyance control unit 22 receives the detection signals sent from the drive side encoder 32 and the driven side encoder 33 and stores them appropriately (step S4 in FIG. 2). During the measurement, the sheet 26 is controlled to be conveyed at a constant speed.

  Thereafter, the conveyance control unit 22 ends the measurement at a predetermined timing (step S5 in FIG. 2). The end timing can be the timing at which the rear end in the conveyance direction of the label paper 26A reaches the position of the driven roller 31 or the timing immediately before it. That is, it is the timing immediately before the driven roller 31 reaches the concave portion (Y portion). The timing can be determined in the same manner as the measurement start timing described above. When the photoelectric sensor 36 described above is used, the sensor detects the rear end, and FIG. 3B shows a state in which the rear end is detected.

  As described above, the rotation angle of the driving roller 30 and the driven roller 31 by the driving side encoder 32 and the driven side encoder 33 is measured within a certain range (X portion) of the label paper 26A. In addition to measurement, measurement may be performed using a plurality of X portions. In addition, while the measurement is performed at a constant speed as described above, the measurement may be performed in a plurality of different constant speed states. In this case, it is preferable that these speeds are the transport speed used in the main transport or a speed close thereto. For example, measurement may be performed for three speeds of low speed, medium speed, and high speed.

  When the measurement for determining the correction value C is completed in this way, the conveyance control unit 22 conveys the paper 26 to a predetermined position where the printing process can be started, and then terminates the conveyance. That is, the pre-conveyance is finished (Step S6 in FIG. 2).

  Thereafter, the conveyance control unit 22 determines a correction value C for correcting the detection value of the driving encoder 32 (step S7 in FIG. 2). In the determination process, first, the conveyance amount calculated from the detected values of the driving encoder 32 and the driven encoder 33 is obtained at predetermined intervals during the measurement. Here, the predetermined interval may be a predetermined elapsed time, a predetermined conveyance amount controlled by the conveyance control unit 22, or a predetermined number of pulses received from any encoder.

  Next, for each encoder 32, 33, an average value of the obtained plurality of transport amounts is obtained. Then, a value obtained by subtracting the average value of the drive side encoder 32 from the average value of the driven side encoder 33 is used as an error of the conveyance amount obtained by the drive side encoder 32, and the detection value by the drive side encoder 32 corresponding to the error is obtained. The magnitude is obtained and the value is determined as the correction value C. When the transport amount obtained by the driving encoder 32 is smaller than the transport amount obtained by the driven encoder 33, the correction value C is a positive value. In the opposite case, the correction value C is negative. Value.

  As described above, when measurement is performed at a plurality of constant speeds, the correction value C is determined for each speed in the same procedure. For example, a correction value C1 for low speed, a correction value C2 for medium speed, and a correction value C3 for high speed are determined.

  The correction value C determined in this way is stored in a memory (RAM, NVRAM, etc.) of the transport control unit 22.

  In addition, after the paper 26 is set, the paper 26 is moved in the reverse direction when the measurement for each of the encoders 32 and 33 cannot be sufficiently performed at the transport distance when the paper 26 is normally transported to the print process startable position. It is possible to increase the transport distance in the forward direction by performing the process of transporting the paper in the forward direction.

  As described above, the determination process of the correction value C ends.

  In the actual conveyance, the conveyance control unit 22 controls the drive unit 28 based on the detection value acquired and transmitted by the driving encoder 32. That is, the conveyance control unit 22 controls the conveyance speed and the conveyance distance. The transmitted detection value is corrected by C, and the control is performed based on the corrected detection value. Specifically, the conveyance control is performed according to a value obtained by adding the correction value C to the transmitted detection value. As described above, when the correction value C is determined for a plurality of transport speeds, the correction value C corresponding to the speed at the time of the main transport is used for the correction.

  In the present embodiment, the case where there is a concave portion on the upper surface of the paper 26 has been described. Can be applied.

  In the determination process of the correction value C, if the magnitude (absolute value) of the calculated correction value C is larger than a predetermined value, an error is given to the user of the printer 2 that some abnormality has occurred. May be notified.

  In the present embodiment, the pair of rollers is provided on the upstream side of the head unit 23, but a plurality of pairs of rollers may be provided on the upstream side.

  As described above, in the printer 2 and its transport system according to the present embodiment, a flat surface is generally detected by a highly accurate driven roller side encoder (driven encoder 33) during pre-transport. The correction value of the drive roller side encoder (drive side encoder 32) is obtained based on the measured value. In this conveyance, the detection value of the drive roller side encoder (drive side encoder 32) that is always in contact with the flat surface is obtained. In addition, since the detected value is corrected with the above-described correction value and used for the conveyance control, it is possible to convey the sheet with high accuracy that complements the disadvantages of both encoders. As a result, high-precision printing is possible.

  In addition, since the correction value is determined during pre-conveyance such as when the paper 26 is set, the processing during the main conveyance is not delayed by this processing. Also, the correction process during the main conveyance is a process for adding a correction value, and there is no problem with respect to the processing time.

  Further, by obtaining a correction value for each conveyance speed, more accurate conveyance control can be performed.

  Further, since an error is notified if the correction value C is determined to be an abnormal value in the process of determining the correction value C, it is possible to find a failure or malfunction state of the roller or the encoder before the main conveyance.

  In addition, the configuration of the present conveyance system is effective when the paper 26 whose surface with which the driven roller contacts is not uniformly flat.

  In this embodiment, the print medium is paper, but the present invention is not limited to this as long as it is a sheet-like medium.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the processing for the sheet-like medium to be conveyed is printing, and has been described using a printer having the conveyance system. However, the present invention is various in that the processing for the sheet-like medium is executed. Can be applied to various devices.

  The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but covers the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host apparatus, 2 Printer, 21 Print control part, 22 Conveyance control part, 23 Head part, 24 Platen, 25 Roll paper, 26 Paper, 26A Label paper, 26B Mount, 27 Paper guide, 28 Drive part, 29 Conveyance roller, 30 driving roller, 31 driven roller, 32 driving side encoder, 33 driven side encoder, 34 transport path, 35 discharge roller, 36 photoelectric sensor

Claims (9)

A transport device for transporting a sheet-like processed medium to a processing position,
A transport roller including a driving roller and a driven roller provided so as to sandwich the target medium from opposite sides;
A first rotation measuring sensor for detecting rotation of the driving roller;
A second rotation measuring sensor for detecting rotation of the driven roller;
A drive unit for driving the drive roller;
A control unit that controls the drive unit to execute conveyance control of the processing target medium,
The control unit preliminarily sets a correction value for the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor based on the detection values of the first rotation measurement sensor and the second rotation measurement sensor detected when the processing target medium is conveyed. The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport control is executed according to the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor determined and corrected based on the correction value. In claim 1,
The determination of the correction value is performed at the time of transport in which processing for the target medium is not performed. In claim 2,
The transport that is not performed on the target medium is transport that is performed when the target medium is set on the transport apparatus. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction value is determined based on a value detected when a surface of the medium to be processed that the driven roller is in contact with is substantially flat. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4,
The determination of the correction value is performed for a plurality of conveyance speeds. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5,
When the control unit determines that the determined correction value is an abnormal value, the controller notifies the user of the transport device of an error. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6,
The transport medium is a continuous paper in which a label is pasted on a mount.   A printing apparatus comprising the transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus executes printing on the medium to be processed at the processing position. A first rotation for detecting the rotation of the driving roller and a conveying roller including a driving roller and a driven roller that are provided so as to convey the processing medium in a sheet shape to a processing position and sandwich the processing medium from opposite sides. A measurement sensor; a second rotation measurement sensor that detects rotation of the driven roller; a drive unit that drives the drive roller; and a control unit that controls the drive unit to perform conveyance control of the processing medium; A transport method in a transport device having:
Based on detection values of the first rotation measurement sensor and the second rotation measurement sensor detected when the processing medium is transported, the control unit preliminarily sets a correction value for the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor. The transport method according to claim 1, wherein the transport control is executed according to the detection value of the first rotation measurement sensor determined and corrected based on the correction value.

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