JP2720057B2 - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus.
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus having a lead screw shaft member for moving a carriage and a capping mechanism for covering a discharge port of a head.

[Related Art] Printing devices such as printers and facsimile machines can be classified into a thermal type, a wire dot type, an ink jet type, and the like according to a recording method.

Among these, an ink jet system (ink jet recording apparatus) supplies ink to a recording head having at least one fine liquid path, and drives an energy generator provided in the liquid path based on print data, thereby forming a liquid. By applying pressure to the ink in the path and ejecting the ink from the ejection port to form flying droplets, these ink droplets are attached to a sheet such as paper or plastic thin plate to form a dot pattern It is configured.

By the way, in this type of ink jet recording apparatus, there is a case where the ejection port is clogged due to thickening of ink due to evaporation of an ink solvent, adhesion of dust, mixing of bubbles, and the like.
In order to prevent this and perform stable ejection, ejection recovery means is provided. As this ejection recovery means,
In general, the discharge port of the head is capped with a rubber cap or the like, and suction is performed by generating a negative pressure in a space formed in the cap by suction means, or the ink is discharged from the discharge port by applying pressure from the ink supply side. A configuration for performing a recovery operation is used.

However, this configuration requires a dedicated motor for opening and closing the cap, which increases the cost of the device and
For this reason, there is a disadvantage that an installation space is required and the apparatus becomes large.

In order to solve this, a capping mechanism for moving the cap forward and backward in synchronization with the scanning direction of the carriage is provided,
A configuration has been proposed in which capping is performed in conjunction with movement of a carriage to a home position using a cam that is a component of this mechanism.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a conventional ink jet recording apparatus, it is necessary to move the carriage extra large than the end of the recording medium for capping, and the width in the printing direction becomes large. In addition, the cap must be moved in two directions, horizontal and vertical, which complicates the configuration and makes it difficult to achieve high accuracy.

〔Purpose〕

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve such a problem of the conventional technology, and to perform an opening and closing operation of a cap in conjunction with movement of a carriage with a simple configuration at a low cost and reliably without requiring a dedicated driving source. To provide an ink jet recording apparatus.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording medium with a carriage for moving an ink jet head that ejects ink from an ejection port in a predetermined direction. A lead screw shaft member that moves the carriage by means of a groove-shaped feed screw portion, a driving unit that rotates the lead screw shaft member, a capping mechanism that covers the discharge port of the inkjet head, and a discharge port that is formed by the capping mechanism. Stopping means for stopping the carriage by disengaging the carriage and the feed screw portion in accordance with the arrival of the carriage at the capping position where the capping position is covered, and an operation in which the capping mechanism covers the discharge port. The driving force for performing the And having a clutch mechanism for transmitting to the capping mechanism from the drive means Te.

[Action]

The carriage moves to the capping position with the rotation of the lead screw shaft member, and when the carriage reaches the capping position, the engagement member of the carriage is disengaged from the feed screw portion of the lead screw shaft member. Stop. In response to the stop of the carriage, the rotation (driving force) of the lead screw shaft member is transmitted to the capping mechanism, and the cap advances toward the ink jet head to perform a capping operation for covering the discharge port.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing one embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a base on which the following members are mounted, on which side plates 1a and 1b and an intermediate side plate 1c are erected. Reference numeral 2 denotes a lead screw rotatably supported between the side plates 1a and 1b. The lead screw 2a and the groove 2b are formed at a predetermined lead pitch. Reference numeral 3 denotes a transmission gear provided at one end of the lead screw 2, and reference numeral 4 denotes a transmission gear which is slidably engaged with the transmission gear 3 in the axial direction and which is close to the transmission gear 3 so that a driving force is transmitted in the rotational direction. This is a clutch gear externally fitted to the lead screw 2.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a coil spring that is mounted between the transmission gear 3 and the clutch gear 4 and constantly biases the clutch gear 4 toward the recording area. In order to regulate the position of the clutch gear 4 urged by the coil spring 5, as shown in FIG.
A ring 6 is engaged with a groove 3b formed at an end of the transmission gear 3.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a carriage, the details of which are as shown in FIG. 7a and 7b are bearings fitted to the lead screw 2, 7c
Is a pressing portion provided on the bearing portion 7a, 7d is a shielding plate provided on the lower portion of the carriage 7, 7e is a protruding guide portion provided on both sides of the front portion, and 7f is a plastic material having elasticity such as polyacetal. 7g is a head lock lever 7f formed integrally with the carriage 7
7h is a carriage lock portion mounted on both sides of the carriage 7, and 8 is a carriage 7
The drive pins are mounted obliquely at predetermined positions and along the lead angle of the lead screw 2 as shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a U-shaped carriage spring provided below the carriage 7 as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 9a denotes a pressure contact portion formed at one end of the carriage spring 9. A guide roller 10 is rotatably provided at a tip end portion, and the guide roller 10 presses the rail portion 101 of the base 1. 9b is the sixth
As shown in the figure, a pad pressing portion 9c having a pad 11 pressed against the lead screw 2 mounted on the tip thereof is a flip-up portion for facilitating removal of the head.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a head provided with an electric heat exchanger that generates thermal energy as energy used for ink ejection.
A disposable head in which an ink tank 12b for accommodating ink supplied to the head portion 12a and an ink tank 12b is integrally and detachably mounted on a carriage, is mounted as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 12c denotes a mounting pin inserted into the mounting portion of the carriage 7, and 12d denotes a hook formed at the rear end of the head 12 and engaged with the hook 7g when the head 12 is mounted. Reference numeral 13 denotes a flexible contact provided on the upper surface of the carriage 7 and capable of contacting an electrode of the head 12 mounted thereon. Reference numeral 14 denotes a paper feed roller disposed in parallel with the lead screw 2 and transporting the recording paper while winding the recording paper. Reference numeral 15 denotes a paper feed motor for driving the paper feed roller 15 to rotate, 16 denotes a print sheet as a recording medium, and 17 denotes a paper pan serving as a guide for the print sheet 16 fed to the paper feed roller 14.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a paper pressing plate for preventing the printing paper 16 at the printing position from being bent toward the head 12, a reference numeral 19 denotes a motor serving as a drive source of the carriage 7, a reference numeral 19a denotes a stay for fixing the motor 19 to the side plate 1a, and a reference numeral 19b denotes a motor. Reference numeral 19 denotes a rotation shaft, reference numeral 20 denotes a pinion mounted on the shaft end of the rotation shaft 19b, and reference numeral 22 denotes an idle gear that meshes with the pinion 20 and the transmission gear 3 to transmit the rotation of the pinion 20 to the transmission gear 3. The shaft 21 is supported by the side plate 1a.

A cap gear 23 is coaxially supported by the idle gear 22 and rotates the cap 27. The cap gear 23 has a cam 23a for swinging the cap lever 24 by integral processing.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a cap lever rotatably attached to the lever shaft 25, and includes a contact portion 24a that contacts the cam 23a, and a spring portion 24b that applies a rotational force to the cap lever 24. 26
Is a cap holder mounted on the front surface of the cap lever 24, and 27 is a cap mounted on the front surface of the cap holder 26, and has a rib 27a for improving adhesion. 28 is a blade mounted on the side plate 1c, 29 is a porous hydrophilically treated ink absorber mounted on the side plate 1c, and 30 is a home position detection provided on the base bottom surface near the transmission gear 3. This is an incrapper.

Next, the operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 (a) to 7 (h).

First, when the motor 19 rotates, the driving force is transmitted via the pinion 20 and the idle gear 22, and the transmission gear 3 rotates. When the transmission gear 3 rotates, the lead screw 2 rotates, and when the lead screw 2 rotates in the A direction, the carriage 7
Move in the direction. Conversely, when the lead screw 2 rotates in the B direction, the carriage 7 moves in the b direction. The lead screw 2 rotates alternately in the directions a and b according to the recording information, reciprocates the carriage 7, and in the process, the head
Ink droplets are ejected from the 12 orifices.

Next, a description will be given of a print data waiting operation and a power-off recovery operation.

First, the carriage 7 is moved in the direction “b”, and is brought into contact with the clutch gear 4. The pressing portion 7c of the carriage 7 pushes the clutch gear 4 against the urging force of the coil spring 5 to move the clutch gear 4 from the state shown in FIG. 7A to the state shown in FIG. To be engaged. At this time, since the cam 23a remains stationary, FIG.
The head portion 12a is separated from the cap holder 26 as shown in FIG. 7 (b), the rotation of the idle gear 22 is transmitted to the cap gear 23 via the transmission gear 3 and the clutch gear 4, and the cam 23a coaxial with this gear rotates to move the cap lever 24 to the first position. 7 Swing as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7C, when the carriage 7 moves until the clutch gear 4 is completely engaged with the cam 23a, the drive pin 8 falls into the groove 2b of the lead screw 2, and the movement of the carriage 7 stops. However, the cam 23a continues to rotate, and once the cap lever 24 is pressed immediately after descending from the horizontal position, the cap lever 24 moves clockwise along the surface of the cam 23a while the rotation of the cam 23a proceeds. Rotate. Cap with rotation of cap lever 24
27 comes closer to the head portion 12a, and finally both come into pressure contact as shown in FIG. 7 (h). At this time, the positional relationship of each gear is
The state shown in FIG. 7D is the same as the state shown in FIG. 7C.
The pressing force of the cap 27 is determined by the spring of the cap lever 24.
It can be set arbitrarily by selecting the elastic force of 24b.

Next, when printing is performed with the cap 27 opened, an operation reverse to the above-described capping operation may be performed. First, when the motor 19 is rotated to rotate the lead screw 2 in the direction A, the cap gear 23 rotates because the drive pin 8 and the feed screw portion 2a of the lead screw 2 are not engaged. In conjunction with this rotation, the cam portion 23a rotates to rotate the cap lever 24, and the head portion of the cap 27 and the head 12
12a is separated, and the cap 27 is opened. From this state,
When the lead screw 2 further rotates, the carriage 7 is constantly urged in the direction A by the coil spring 5, so that the drive pin 8 is pressed against the end face of the groove 2b. Therefore, the drive pin 8 is fitted at a position where it engages with the feed screw portion 2a, and the carriage 7 moves in the direction a in FIG. As the carriage 7 moves, the clutch gear 4 moves together, the meshing between the clutch gear 4 and the cap gear 23 is released, and the rotation of the cap gear 23 stops.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is different from FIG. 1 in that the clutch gear 4 and the coil spring 5 are removed from the lead screw 2,
The other end of the lead screw 2 is provided with a coil spring 31 for urging the lead screw 2 in the direction of the transmission gear 3, and further provided with a stopper 1d for regulating the position of the carriage 7 at the home position. The transmission gear 3
Are thicker.

According to the configuration shown in FIG. 8, when the carriage 7 moves to the cap position, as shown in FIG. 9A, the carriage 7 comes into contact with the stopper 1d and stops at this position. When the lead screw 2 further rotates in the direction B, the carriage 7
Is fixed, the entire lead screw 2 functions as a screw, and the lead screw 2 is
Is bent, and moves in the direction a of FIG. 9 (a). As the lead screw 2 moves, the transmission gear 3 also moves in the direction a, and as shown in FIG.
And the cap gear 23.

When the lead screw 2 further moves in the axial direction while rotating from this state, the movement of the lead screw 2 in the axial direction stops at the position where the drive pin 8 enters the groove 2b. In this state, the lead screw 2 rotates, and the idle gear 22 and the cap gear 23 rotate accordingly, whereby the cap lever 24 rotates, and the cap 27 is covered by the head portion 12a. The cap 27 may be released by reversing the operation described above and retreating the cap 27.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the lead screw 2 moves in the axial direction and functions as a clutch by continuing the meshing of the gears. Therefore, the number of parts can be reduced and the configuration can be further simplified. it can.

Further, with such a configuration, in an ink jet recording apparatus in which a recording head is detachably mounted on a carriage, it is relatively easy to achieve particularly high capping accuracy.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, an ink jet recording apparatus which performs recording on a recording medium with a carriage for moving an ink jet head for discharging ink from a discharge port in a predetermined direction is formed on an outer peripheral surface. A lead screw shaft member for moving the carriage by the formed spiral groove-shaped feed screw portion, a driving means for rotating the lead screw shaft member, a capping mechanism for covering the discharge port of the inkjet head, and the capping mechanism. According to the arrival of the carriage at the capping position where the discharge port is covered,
Stop means for stopping the carriage by releasing the engagement between the carriage and the feed screw portion, and driving force for the capping mechanism to perform an operation of covering the discharge port, according to the operation of the stop means. And a clutch mechanism for transmitting from the drive means to the capping mechanism, so that a dedicated drive source for opening and closing the cap is not required, and the cap can be moved following the carriage stop operation with a simple structure. An ink jet recording apparatus capable of automatically opening and closing is provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing details of a transmission gear unit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing details of a carriage. FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing the engagement between the drive pin and the feed screw portion, FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing the mounting state of the head on the carriage, and FIG. 6 shows the mounting state of the pad. 7 (a) to 7 (h) are schematic front views of a gear portion and a cap lever portion for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 8 is a view showing the present invention. 9 is a schematic perspective view of another embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG.
8A and 8B are schematic front views of a gear section for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Base, 2 ... Lead screw shaft member (lead screw), 2a ... Feed screw part, 2b ... Groove, 3 ... Transmission gear, 4 ... Clutch gear, 5 ... Coil spring, 7 ...
... carriage, 8 ... drive pin, 9 ... carriage spring, 12 ... inkjet head, 19 ... drive means (motor), 22 ... idle gear, 23 ... cap gear, 24
… Cap lever, 27… Cap, 29… Ink absorber, 31… Coil spring.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium having a carriage for moving an ink jet head for discharging ink from a discharge port in a predetermined direction, wherein a spiral groove-shaped feed screw portion formed on an outer peripheral surface is provided. A lead screw shaft member that moves the carriage, a driving unit that rotates the lead screw shaft member, a capping mechanism that covers the discharge port of the inkjet head, and a capping position where the discharge port is covered by the capping mechanism. Stopping means for stopping the carriage by disengaging the carriage and the feed screw portion in response to the arrival of the carriage, and a driving force for the capping mechanism to perform an operation of covering the discharge port. The driving means according to the operation of the stopping means. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by having a clutch mechanism for transmitting to the capping mechanism. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said ink jet head has an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy used for discharging ink.