JP2713728B2 - Liquid jet recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging a recording liquid onto a recording material.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a recording apparatus of this type, there is a serial printer type having a recording head which moves in a predetermined direction (main scanning direction) with respect to a recording material and discharges a recording liquid in the process to perform recording. . In particular, in an apparatus using an electrothermal transducer as the ejection energy generating means, since it is easy to achieve high integration of ejection elements involved in recording of one dot, a plurality of ejection elements are arranged in the transport direction (sub-scanning direction) of the recording material. The recording head is formed by arranging the ejection ports of the recording heads.
A plurality of rasters are simultaneously recorded in each main scan.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a conventional apparatus, the ejection ports are densely arranged in the recording head, and each ejects a droplet.
The following problems may occur. That is, if the recording density is high, the ejection performance is large due to the large ejection amount, or if ejection failure occurs in the ejection port due to clogging or the like,
For example, white stripes occur on the recording material, and the recording quality deteriorates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems and to provide a liquid jet recording apparatus which is excellent in fixability and capable of performing high-quality recording.

[Means for solving the problem]

Therefore, the present invention is directed to a liquid jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging liquid onto a recording material in accordance with main scanning, and has a plurality of arranged ejection ports, and the plurality of arranged ejection ports are arranged in the main scanning direction. A plurality of recording heads which are arranged so as to be shifted in the sub-scanning direction so as not to overlap with each other; And distributing means for distributing recording information corresponding to each dot line recorded on the material to a plurality of recording heads in a complementary manner.

(Operation)

According to the present invention, a plurality of recording heads each have a plurality of arranged ejection ports, and the plurality of arranged ejection ports are arranged shifted in the sub-scanning direction so as not to overlap in the main scanning direction,
Under the condition that the sub-scanning is performed by the sub-scanning unit in the arrangement width of the ejection ports in each recording head, the recording information corresponding to each dot line recorded on the recording material by the liquid from the plurality of ejection ports is a plurality of. Each dot line to be recorded on the recording material is recorded by liquid from a plurality of ejection ports, because the dot lines are complementarily distributed to the recording head. Thereby, even if a non-ejection occurs at a certain ejection port, a white streak does not occur on the recording material,
Further, since the missing dots are not conspicuous, high-quality printing is achieved, and the printing area is widened and dispersed for printing.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows a liquid jet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Here, 1A to 1C denote a discharge element including a discharge port of a recording liquid (ink), a liquid path communicating with the discharge port, and an electrothermal conversion element as discharge energy generating means provided in the liquid path. And a recording head in which the ejection ports are arranged in a state of being aligned in the transport direction LF (sub-scanning direction) of the recording material P. In this example, the recording heads 1A to 1C are arranged in a state where recording dots are continuous.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a carriage on which the recording heads 1A to 1C are mounted, and which moves in a predetermined direction CR (main scanning direction) with respect to the recording material P; 13 is connected to pulley 12B and wire 11
And a carriage motor for driving the carriage 10 via the. Reference numeral 14 denotes a guide for guiding the movement of the carriage 10.

Reference numerals 15 and 16 denote a pair of rollers provided before and after the recording position by the recording heads 1A to 1C, and pinch and transport the recording material P. A line feed motor 17 is coupled to one of the rollers 16 and transports the recording material P in the LF direction.
After one main scan, the print head is controlled so as to feed the discharge port array width of one print head.

FIG. 2 is an example of a configuration of a control system of the recording heads 1A to 1C in FIG. In the figure, 2A to 2C are drive circuits for driving the recording heads 1A to 1C, respectively, 4 is a distribution circuit for distributing recording information without overlap, that is, complementary distribution, and 3A to 3C are buffers for the distributed recording information. Circuits, which are connected to the drive circuits 2A to 2C, respectively. Reference numeral 7 denotes a control circuit for controlling the distribution circuit 4 and the memory circuit 5, and reference numeral 6 denotes a buffer circuit for recording information supplied from an external host device, through which recording information is developed in the memory circuit 5.

In this configuration, when recording information is input to the memory circuit 5 via the buffer circuit 6, the recording information is distributed by the distribution circuit 4 corresponding to each of the recording heads 1A to 1C. The ink droplets are ejected according to the driving by 2A to 2C.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a recording information distribution circuit, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of its operation. The waveform corresponding to the input terminal X and the output terminals A, B, and C of the decoder indicated by reference numeral 8 is shown in FIG. The left side of the drawing and the recording dots are shown in the right side of FIG.
In these drawings, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the recording heads 1A to 1C have two ejection ports (first and second nozzles) and perform full ejection.

First, a recording start signal input to the input terminal X of the decoder 8 and serving as a reference for recording is decoded as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 4, and is decoded in three recording heads 1A, 1B, and 1C. , And output as enable signals A, B and C whose phases are shifted by one period. These recording head enable signals A to C
And the recording data are ANDed by the AND gate 9 and output. The gate 9 is provided for each recording element for each recording element.

Each of the recording heads 1A to 1C performs recording for every three dots of each nozzle as shown in the right part of FIG. Thus, the recording material P is conveyed by the arrangement width of the ejection openings of one recording head, and the recording is performed three times for one area, thereby completing the entire recording.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the recording dots and the recording heads. As shown in FIG. 5, it can be seen that the recording is performed in a distributed manner by each recording head. As the number of recording heads increases, the recording dots can be dispersed over a wider area, so that the fixability of recording can be improved, and one dot line (one raster) is recorded by one ejection port. In other words, since one dot line (one raster) is recorded by a plurality of ejection ports, even if non-ejection occurs in a certain ejection port, white stripes do not occur, and missing dots are inconspicuous, so that high quality is achieved. Record can be achieved.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 6 schematically shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Here, reference numerals 1D and 1E denote recording heads similar to those in the above embodiment, which are mounted on carriages 10D and 10E, respectively. 14D and 14E are carriages 10D and 1 respectively
This is a guide for guiding 0E in the main scanning direction (a direction orthogonal to the drawing). The two recording heads 1D and 1E are arranged with an interval corresponding to the discharge port arrangement width. First, the lower recording head 1E performs recording, and the recording head 1E delays by two lines.
In the recording area where the recording is performed by the 1D, each recording head is in charge of every other dot in the main and sub-scanning directions so that the recording of each recording head does not overlap.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration example of a control system of the recording heads 1D and 1E according to the present embodiment.

Here, reference numeral 70 denotes a control circuit constituted by using, for example, a microcomputer or the like, and controls each unit in accordance with the processing procedure shown in FIG. 8 in the recording processing of the recording information developed in the memory circuit 5 via the buffer circuit 6. . 2D and 2E
Are the drive circuits of the recording heads 1D and 1E, respectively.
13D and 13E are carriage motors as driving sources of the carriages 10D and 10E, respectively, and 17 is a line feed motor.

 FIG. 8 shows an example of a recording procedure according to this embodiment.

When this procedure is started and the initialization processing (step S1) is completed, first, the carriage motor 13E is driven to
The main scanning is performed in 0E, and at the same time, the lower recording head 1E is driven to record one row (steps S3 and S5). When this is completed, the carriage of the recording head 1E is returned, and the recording material P is line-fed for one line (steps S7 and S9). Then, the above procedure is repeated for two rows (step S11).

After that, the recording of the first row of the upper recording head 1D is started simultaneously with the recording of the third row of the lower recording head 1E, and thereafter, recording is performed in an area corresponding to each recording head by both recording heads (step S13). .

When the recording performed by the lower recording head 1E is completed (step S15), recording is performed for two lines using only the upper recording head 1D (steps S17, S19, S21), and all recording is completed (step S23). ).

FIG. 9 shows the state of printing performed by the above-described procedure in correspondence between the print head and the print dots. Dots 15d and 15e hatched in different directions are dots recorded by the recording heads 1D and 1E, respectively.

As described above, by making the recording areas alternate between the recording heads, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the recording head has two stages, but it is needless to say that three or more stages may be used.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since each dot line to be recorded on the recording material is recorded with liquid from a plurality of ejection ports, the fixing property can be improved without lowering the recording speed. As a result, even if non-ejection occurs at a certain ejection port, no white stripes are generated, and missing dots can be made inconspicuous, so that high-quality image recording can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a liquid jet recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one configuration example of a control system thereof, and FIG. 3 is a configuration example of a distribution circuit in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship between recording dots and a recording head according to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a liquid jet recording apparatus according to an example, FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a control system thereof, FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a recording processing procedure according to the present example, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a relationship between recording dots and a recording head according to the configuration shown in FIG. 1A to 1E print head, 2A to 2E drive circuit, 3A to 3C buffer circuit, 4 distribution circuit, 5 memory circuit, 7,70 control circuit, 8 decoder, 10 , 10D, 10E ... carriage, 13,13D, 13E ... carriage motor, 14,14D, 14E ... guide, 15d, 15e ... recording dot, 17 ... line feed motor, P ... recording material, CR …… Main scanning direction, LF …… Sub-scanning direction.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A liquid jet recording apparatus which performs recording by discharging a liquid onto a recording material in accordance with a main scan, the liquid jet recording apparatus having a plurality of discharge ports arranged in a main scanning direction. A plurality of recording heads that are arranged so as to be shifted in the sub-scanning direction so as not to overlap with each other; a sub-scanning unit that performs sub-scanning in an array width of the ejection ports in each of the recording heads; and a liquid from the plurality of ejection ports. And a distributing means for distributing recording information corresponding to each dot line recorded on the recording material to the plurality of recording heads in a complementary manner. 2. The liquid jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording head discharges liquid using an electrothermal transducer.