JP2016101705A - Liquid discharge device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid discharge device which suppresses deformation of a positioning member during standby and permits high-accuracy liquid discharge.SOLUTION: A liquid discharge device includes: a liquid discharge head; a carriage 3; a guide member 8 which guides the carriage 3; a first positioning member 10; a second positioning member 11; and an energizing member 12. The carriage 3 is movable over a liquid discharge region and a standby position of the outer side of the liquid discharge region. The first positioning member 10 is attached to the carriage 3 and is brought into contact with the guide member 8. The second positioning member 11 is attached to the carriage 3 so as to be opposed to the first positioning member 10 and is supported attachably to/detachably from the guide member 8. The energizing member 12 energizes the second positioning member so as to bring the second positioning member 11 close to the guide member 8. The guide member 8 has such a notch part 15 that a part facing the second positioning member 11 is notched, on the standby position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus.

  In a liquid ejection device that ejects liquid from a liquid ejection head mounted on a reciprocating carriage and performs image recording and the like, the posture of the carriage is adjusted so that the landing position of droplets is increased to improve recording quality. There is a configuration that includes a mechanism for holding it constant (see Patent Document 1). According to this posture holding mechanism, the posture of the carriage can be held constant by pressing the positioning member by the biasing means mounted on the carriage and bringing the positioning member into contact with the guide rail that guides the carriage.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-328258

In general, the guide rail is made of a metal material in terms of strength and accuracy. On the other hand, the positioning member that contacts the guide rail is often formed of a resin material (for example, POM) in order to minimize the sliding noise. For this reason, especially when a large carriage is used, if the biasing force (for example, spring force) for maintaining the posture is increased, a creep phenomenon due to overload on the resin material occurs during standby for a long time such as when the apparatus is stopped. The possibility increases. Due to the occurrence of creep, the positioning member is deformed and the posture of the carriage fluctuates, so that the accuracy of liquid ejection is lowered and a good image may not be formed.
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a liquid ejection apparatus that suppresses deformation of a waiting positioning member and has high liquid ejection accuracy.

  A liquid discharge apparatus according to the present invention includes a liquid discharge head that discharges a liquid, a carriage on which the liquid discharge head is mounted, a guide member that guides the carriage, a first positioning member, a second positioning member, and an urging member. It has. The carriage is movable over a liquid discharge area by the liquid discharge head and a standby position outside the liquid discharge area. The first positioning member is attached to the carriage and abuts on the guide member. The second positioning member is attached to the carriage so as to face the first positioning member, and is supported so as to be able to contact and separate from the guide member. The biasing member biases the second positioning member closer to the guide member. The guide member has a notch portion in which a portion facing the second positioning member is notched at the standby position.

  According to this configuration, when the liquid ejection head is in the liquid ejection area, the first positioning member attached to the carriage and the second positioning member facing the first positioning member abut against the guide member by the urging force of the urging member. . Therefore, the posture of the carriage is kept constant. On the other hand, when the liquid discharge head is in the standby position, the guide member is provided with the notch, and therefore the second positioning member does not contact the notch of the guide member or the pressing force is applied even if it contacts. Is small. Therefore, at the standby position, an excessive load is not applied to the first positioning member and the second positioning member, and the occurrence of the creep phenomenon is suppressed. As a result, since the first positioning member and the second positioning member are not deformed, it is possible to maintain a good posture of the liquid discharge head in the liquid discharge region.

  According to the present invention, in a liquid discharge apparatus equipped with a liquid discharge head, it is possible to suppress the deformation of a waiting positioning member and perform highly accurate liquid discharge.

It is a perspective view which shows the principal part of the liquid discharge apparatus of this invention. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a posture holding unit and its peripheral part during liquid discharge of the liquid discharge apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a rear view showing a carriage and a guide rail when the liquid ejection apparatus shown in FIG. 1 ejects liquid. FIG. 2 is a rear view showing a carriage and a guide rail during standby of the liquid ejection device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a posture holding unit and its peripheral part during standby of the liquid ejection device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 10 is a rear view illustrating a carriage and a guide rail during standby of a liquid ejection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and a diagram illustrating a relationship between a scanning distance of the carriage and a scanning speed. FIG. 10 is a rear view illustrating a carriage and a guide rail during standby of a liquid ejection device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a liquid ejection apparatus equipped with a liquid ejection head 2 for ejecting liquid according to a representative embodiment of the present invention. A carriage 3 on which a liquid ejection head 2 is mounted at a position facing the recording medium 1 is rotatable about a first guide rail 4 that is a support guide rail, and can reciprocate along the first guide rail 4. Guided and supported. A carriage motor 5 with a pulley (only a pulley is shown) is disposed at one end of the movement range of the carriage 3, and an idle pulley 6 is disposed at the other end, and a timing belt 7 is wound around these. Since the carriage 3 and the timing belt 7 are connected, the timing belt 7 rotates and the carriage 3 moves according to the rotation of the carriage motor 5. In addition, a second guide rail (posture holding guide rail) 8 that is a guide member extending in parallel with the first guide rail 4 is installed, and a posture holding unit 9 is provided in a portion close to the second guide rail 8 of the carriage 3. Is provided. In the posture holding unit 9, a positioning roller 10 which is an example of the first positioning member of the present invention is rotatably arranged. Since the positioning roller 10 abuts on the second guide rail 8, the rotation of the carriage 3 around the first guide rail 4 is suppressed.

  The carriage 3 is driven by the carriage motor 5 and the timing belt 7 to reciprocate along the first guide rail 4 in the main scanning direction (arrow A direction) across the recording medium 1. The moving range at this time is set between one end (first end) and the other end (second end) in the axial direction of the first guide rail 4 by controlling the rotation operation of the carriage motor 5. ing. The recording medium 1 is transported by a transport motor (not shown) in the sub-scanning direction (arrow B direction) that intersects the moving direction of the carriage 3 (main scanning direction).

  At the time of non-recording, the carriage 3 stands by at a side position of the liquid discharge area (recording area) S having a length L indicated by a two-dot chain line. During standby, in order to prevent the ink in the liquid discharge head 2 from being dried, although not shown, the discharge port of the liquid discharge head 2 is generally capped by a cap. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the standby position T exists outside the recording area S and on the other end side of the moving range of the carriage 3 where the idle pulley 6 is located.

Next, some more specific embodiments of the liquid ejection apparatus having the above configuration will be described.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the posture holding unit 9 and its peripheral part during liquid discharge (recording) of the liquid discharge apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a rear view schematically showing the carriage 3, the first guide rail 4, and the second guide rail 8 during liquid ejection. FIG. 4 is a rear view schematically showing the carriage 3, the first guide rail 4, and the second guide rail 5 when the carriage 3 is in the standby position T. FIG. 5 is a side view schematically showing the posture holding unit 9 and its periphery when the carriage 3 is at the standby position T. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the posture holding unit 9 includes a fixed arm 18 that does not move and a movable arm 17 that can rotate about a rotation shaft 14. The fixed arm 18 is attached with the positioning roller 10 as the first positioning member described above, and the movable arm 17 is attached with the butting roller 11 as an example of the second positioning member. The movable arm 17 is urged in the rotation direction by a compression spring 12 which is an example of an urging member. The fixed arm 18 is provided with a restricting portion 13 at a position where it interferes with the rotation trajectory of the movable arm 17. As shown in FIG. 3, the abutting roller 11 is located at a position facing the positioning roller 10 with the second guide rail 8 interposed therebetween, and can be contacted and separated from the second guide rail 8 by the rotation of the movable arm 17. . The movable arm 17 is urged by the compression spring 12 in a direction in which the abutment roller 11 approaches the second guide rail 8. The second guide rail 8 is basically a cylindrical column with a circular cross section, but a cutout portion 15 in which a portion facing the abutment roller 11 is cut out is provided at a portion corresponding to the standby position T of the carriage 3. It has been.

When the liquid ejection head 2 is in the recording area S, the movable arm 17 is rotated by the urging force of the compression spring 12, and the abutting roller 11 contacts the second guide rail 8. As a result, the positioning roller 10 comes into contact with the second guide rail 8 with a predetermined biasing force, and the posture of the carriage 3 during recording is kept constant.
On the other hand, when the carriage 3 is at the standby position T, as shown in FIG. 5, the movable arm 17 is rotated about the rotation shaft 14 by the urging force of the compression spring 12, and the abutting roller 11 is moved to the second guide rail. Approach 8 However, since the notch portion 15 is provided in the second guide rail 8, the abutting roller 11 does not contact the notch portion 15 unless the movable arm 17 is largely displaced. Then, before the abutting roller 11 comes into contact with the cutout portion 15 of the second guide rail 8, the movable arm 17 comes into contact with the restricting portion 13, and further rotation of the movable arm 17 is stopped. Therefore, at the standby position T, the butting roller 11 is kept in a non-contact state with respect to the second guide rail 8. By doing so, the positioning roller 10 and the butting roller 11 are released from the load by the compression spring 12 while the carriage 3 is on standby.

  In the conventional liquid ejecting apparatus, when the power is turned off and the like is left for a long time, the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 are held in a state of pressing the second guide rail 8 by the urging force of the compression spring 12. The Usually, since the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 are made of a resin material, the resin to which a large load is applied by pressing the second guide rail 8 may cause a creep phenomenon.

  However, in this embodiment, the notch portion 15 of the second guide rail 8 and the limiting portion 13 that restricts the rotation of the movable arm 17 are provided. Therefore, when the liquid discharge is not performed and the liquid discharge head is at the standby position T, the abutment roller 11 is held in a state of not contacting the second guide rail 8 regardless of the urging force of the compression spring 12. Therefore, a large load is not applied to the resin by the urging force of the compression spring 12, and the occurrence of the creep phenomenon can be suppressed. As a result, the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 that are not deformed and the second guide rail 8 maintain the posture of the carriage 2 during liquid discharge, enabling high-precision liquid discharge, and providing a good recorded image. Can be obtained.

  In the present embodiment, the rotation of the movable arm 17 is restricted by the restricting portion 13 so that the butting roller 11 does not contact the second guide rail 8 at the standby position T of the carriage 3. However, the rotation of the movable arm 17 may be restricted in a state where the butting roller 11 is in contact with the second guide rail 8 with a load that does not cause the creep phenomenon. That is, according to the present invention, if the pressing force at the standby position T is smaller than the pressing force when the abutting roller 11 contacts the second guide rail 8 during the liquid discharge, the load is reduced. Good. Further, in the present embodiment, the notch 15 is provided in the second guide rail 8, and the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 of the posture holding unit 9 are in contact with the second guide rail 8. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the first guide rail 4 may be provided with a notch, and the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 may be in contact with the first guide rail 4.

  In the present embodiment, the rollers 10 and 11 of the rotating body are used as examples of the first positioning member and the second positioning member, respectively. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It can also be used as a member and a second positioning member.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the notch 15 of the second guide rail 8 is provided only on the other end side (idle pulley 6 side) outside the recording area S. However, a configuration in which the notches 15 are provided on both one end side (carriage motor 5 side) and the other end side of the recording area S may be employed. In this case, for example, one end may be set as a carriage standby position when the power is turned off, which also serves as the capping position of the liquid discharge head 2, and the other end may be set as a carriage standby position when the liquid discharge head 2 is periodically replaced.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The basic configuration of the liquid ejection apparatus of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment is omitted.
6A is a rear view schematically showing the carriage 3, the first guide rail 4, and the second guide rail 8 at the standby position T. FIG. FIG. 6B shows the carriage speed V (vertical) with respect to the travel distance X (horizontal axis) when the carriage 3 scans from the standby position T shown in FIG. 6A toward the recording area S on the right side of the drawing. The horizontal axis corresponds to FIG. 6A.

When receiving the next liquid discharge (recording) command, the liquid discharge head 2 waiting at the standby position T shown in FIG. 6 moves to the recording area S and performs liquid discharge. That is, the standby position T is the scanning start position of the carriage 2, and the carriage 2 gradually increases its speed from the standby position (scanning start position) T and moves within the recording area S at a constant speed (predetermined scanning speed). Scan. Therefore, (ranging from 0 shown in FIG. 6 (b) to X _P) region from the standby position T to the carriage 2 reaches the predetermined speed to start the scanning, the acceleration region of the carriage 2. In the present embodiment, the notch 15 of the second guide rail 8 is provided in the acceleration region of the carriage 3. Thereby, the urging force by the compression spring 12 during the period in which the carriage 3 is accelerated is released, and the sliding load is reduced.

  Normally, the carriage motor 5 needs to generate the largest power when the carriage 3 is accelerated. When the urging force for maintaining the posture is applied by the compression spring 12 of the posture holding unit 9 and the sliding load of the carriage 3 is increased, the carriage motor 5 is further compared with the configuration in which the urging force for maintaining the posture is not applied. It may be necessary to power up. Alternatively, the acceleration of the carriage 3 may be reduced. On the other hand, in this embodiment, when the carriage 3 is accelerated, the abutting roller 11 does not contact the second guide rail 8, or even if it contacts, the pressing force is small, so the sliding load of the carriage 3 can be small. . Therefore, even if the carriage motor 5 is not powered up, a sufficiently large acceleration can be obtained, and the recording speed can be increased by liquid ejection.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The basic configuration of the liquid ejection apparatus of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment is omitted.
FIG. 7 is a rear view schematically showing the carriage 3, the first guide rail 4, and the second guide rail 8 at the standby position T. In the present embodiment, a cleaning member 16 made of a porous material (for example, sponge) is provided at a position facing the positioning roller 10.

  The liquid discharged from the liquid discharge head 2 may adhere to the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 in the form of mist or dust. In that case, irregularities occur on the surfaces of the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11 due to adhering mist and dust. Conventionally, due to irregularities on the surfaces of the positioning roller 10 and the abutting roller 11, every time the carriage 3 reciprocates, abnormal noise may be generated from the positioning roller 10, the abutting roller 11, and the second guide rail 8. There is. In addition, the carriage 3 may vibrate and the posture thereof may fluctuate due to unevenness on the surface of the positioning roller 10 or the abutting roller 11. In that case, the landing position of the liquid ejected from the liquid ejection head 2 may deviate from the normal position, and the quality of the recorded image may deteriorate, and a good image may not be obtained.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the cleaning member 16 is fixed at a position where it can contact the positioning roller 10 within a range facing the notch 15 of the second guide rail 8. . Although not shown, the cleaning member 16 is attached to a liquid ejection apparatus main body (a housing, a frame, etc.) and fixed so as not to move. Accordingly, every time the carriage 3 passes through a position facing the cleaning member 16, the cleaning member 16 contacts the positioning roller 10 to remove mist and dust attached to the surface.

  If the cleaning member 16 is in contact with the positioning roller 10 that presses the second guide rail with the biasing force for maintaining the posture, the sliding load of the carriage 3 increases, and the carriage motor 5 Power-up may be required. However, according to the present embodiment, at the time of cleaning in which the cleaning member 16 contacts the positioning roller 10, the abutting roller 11 does not contact or contact the second guide rail 8 by the notch portion 15 and the restriction portion 13. The pressing force is small. For this reason, the sliding load of the carriage 3 is small. Accordingly, even if the cleaning member 16 comes into contact with the positioning roller 10, the sliding load of the carriage 3 is not so large, and smooth reciprocation and acceleration of the carriage are not hindered without powering up the carriage motor 5. . As a result, highly accurate liquid discharge is possible, and a good image can always be formed.

  In the present embodiment, the cleaning member 16 is brought into contact with the positioning roller 10, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the cleaning member 16 is brought into contact with the butting roller 11 and cleaned in the notch 15 of the second guide rail 8. The structure which installed the cleaning member may be sufficient. The structure which has both the cleaning member 16 contact | abutted to the positioning roller 10 and the cleaning member contact | abutted to the butting roller 11 may be sufficient.

2 Liquid discharge head 3 Carriage 4 First guide rail (support guide rail)
8 Second guide rail (guide member, guide rail for posture maintenance)
10 Positioning roller (first positioning member)
11 Butting roller (second positioning member)
12 Compression spring (biasing member)
13 Restriction part 15 Notch part 16 Cleaning member 17 Movable arm 18 Fixed arm S Liquid discharge area (recording area)
T standby position (scan start position)

Claims (11)

A liquid discharge head that discharges liquid, a carriage that is mounted with the liquid discharge head and is movable between a liquid discharge region by the liquid discharge head and a standby position outside the liquid discharge region, and a guide member that guides the carriage A first positioning member attached to the carriage and abutting against the guide member, and attached to the carriage so as to face the first positioning member and supported so as to be able to contact with and separate from the guide member. A second positioning member, and a biasing member that biases the second positioning member closer to the guide member,
The liquid ejection device, wherein the guide member has a cutout portion in which the portion facing the second positioning member is cut out at the standby position.   The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second positioning member is in a position facing the notch portion of the guide member in a state where the carriage is in the standby position.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second positioning member is held in a non-contact state with the notch portion of the guide member in a state where the carriage is in the standby position. The second positioning member is attached to a movable arm that is rotatably arranged on the carriage.
4. The liquid ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the standby position is provided with a restriction unit that contacts the movable arm and restricts the rotation of the movable arm. 5.   5. The liquid ejection device according to claim 4, wherein the restriction portion abuts on the movable arm before the second positioning member abuts on the notch portion of the guide member and restricts the rotation of the movable arm. .   The first positioning member is fixed to a fixed arm that does not move with respect to the carriage, and the guide member has the first positioning member and the second positioning member in a state where the carriage is in the liquid ejection region. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid ejecting apparatus is sandwiched between the liquid ejecting apparatus and the liquid ejecting apparatus.   2. The second positioning member presses the guide member by an urging force of the urging member in a state where the carriage is in the liquid discharge region, and the first positioning member presses the guide member. 7. The liquid ejection device according to any one of items 1 to 6.   The said guide member is a guide rail for attitude | position holding | maintenance, The said 1st positioning member and said 2nd positioning member are the rollers which can rotate along the said guide rail for attitude | position holding | maintenance. The liquid discharge apparatus according to item 1.   The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a support guide rail that extends in parallel with the guide rail for holding the posture, supports the carriage rotatably, and guides the carriage.   The cutout portion of the guide member is provided over an acceleration region from the standby position to a position where the carriage starts scanning and reaches a constant speed. Liquid discharge device.   11. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a cleaning member that is in contact with at least one surface of the first positioning member and the second positioning member as the carriage moves, outside the liquid ejection region. The liquid discharge apparatus according to 1.

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