JP2804581B2 - Operation method of inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for operating an ink jet recording apparatus having a head recovery device.

2. Description of the Related Art A recording apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile is configured to form a dot pattern corresponding to recording information on a recording medium by driving a dot forming unit of a recording head based on the recording information. The type of the dot forming means can be classified into an ink jet method, a thermal method, a laser beam method, and the like.

Among these, an ink jet type (hereinafter, referred to as an ink jet recording apparatus) supplies ink to a recording head, discharges ink from a discharge port of the recording head to form flying ink droplets, and Is attached to a recording medium and recorded. Also,
In general, an ink jet recording apparatus discharges foreign matters which cause ink non-discharge such as ink residue and dust adhering to or near a discharge port of a recording head during a long period of time without performing a recording operation. By sucking ink from the outlet, the ink is sucked out together with the ink, or the vicinity of the discharge port is wiped off by wiping with a thin plate-shaped member made of silicon rubber, or the vicinity of the discharge port by an ink absorbing member such as urethane. A discharge failure recovery operation using a discharge failure recovery device, such as absorbing foreign matter, is performed.

In a conventional ink jet recording apparatus, the above-described non-discharge recovery operation is performed when the recording apparatus is turned on, when a user performs a manual operation when a printing failure occurs during the recording operation, or when the recording medium is supplied from the medium supply apparatus to the recording apparatus. Before or after feeding the recording medium.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-described conventional technology, in particular, in the control for performing the discharge failure recovery operation before and after the feeding of the recording medium, the discharge failure recovery operation is performed when a number of continuous recordings are performed. However, there is a disadvantage that the time spent for recording is increased and the recording throughput is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described drawbacks of the related art, and has as its object to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which can always perform good recording and has a high recording throughput.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, there is provided a carriage which reciprocates by mounting an ink jet recording head for discharging ink, a feeding means for feeding a recording medium to be recorded by the ink jet recording head, Recovery means for recovering ejection failure of the inkjet recording head at a recovery position arranged outside a moving range for recording by the carriage;
An operation method of an ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: moving the ink jet recording head to the recovery position by the carriage according to a recording medium feeding command; A step of performing a feeding operation and a recovery operation by the recovery means in parallel; a step of determining whether the feeding operation is completed when the recovery operation is completed; and a step of determining whether the feeding operation is completed. Moving the ink jet recording head from the recovery position to a predetermined position at which recording is started by the carriage.

Further, the recovery operation is an operation of discharging ink from the inkjet recording head by suction, or an operation of discharging ink from the inkjet recording head by pressing.

Further, the recovery operation is performed in parallel with a discharge operation of discharging the recording medium on which recording by the ink jet recording head has been completed by the feeding unit.

[Operation] According to the operation method of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, the time spent only for the head recovery operation during the recording operation is achieved by performing the head recovery operation by driving the head recovery apparatus during the recording medium replacement period. Need not be provided, and the throughput of the recording operation is improved.

Example Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a document processing apparatus provided with the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

The document processing apparatus includes a keyboard 1 as an input unit for data such as document information and control commands, a display unit 2 on which the document information is displayed, and a main body 6 provided with a drive unit 3 for driving a floppy disk.
The main body 6 is connected to an ink jet recording apparatus 8 via an interface cable 7. The document processing apparatus is connected to a power supply (not shown) by a power plug 5 of the main body 6 and is started by turning on a power switch 4 of the main body 6.

Here, the ink jet recording apparatus 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the ink jet recording apparatus 8 of the present embodiment, a carriage 11 on which an ink jet head cartridge 9 in which an ink jet recording head 10 and an unillustrated ink tank are integrated is mounted, a carriage 11 for transmitting a driving force of a driving motor 13 is used. Connected to the two guide shafts 14A and 14B disposed in parallel with each other, and the driving force of the driving motor 13 causes the inkjet recording head 10 to Recording is performed on the recording paper by reciprocating over the entire width of the recording paper that is a recording medium fed from a medium feeding device (not shown) onto the platen 15 so as to face the ejection surface of the inkjet recording head 10. It has a configuration.

The above-described ink jet recording head 10 includes a group of nozzles for discharging ink using thermal energy on a discharge surface facing a recording surface of recording paper, and ink from an ink tank integrated in the ink jet head cartridge 9. Is supplied.

Further, the ink jet recording apparatus 8 of the present embodiment is designed to perform the ink jet recording head
The position where 10 is moved (the left end of the guide shaft 14A in the figure,
Hereinafter, it is referred to as a recovery position. 2), a head recovery device including a cap portion 16A which is driven by a driving force of a motor 18 via a transmission mechanism 19 to face the ejection surface of the ink jet recording head 10 and caps the ejection surface of the ink jet recording head 10. 16 are provided.

The head recovery device 16 is provided in an ink suction path by an appropriate suction means or an ink supply path to the ink jet recording head 10 in connection with the capping of the ejection surface of the ink jet recording head 10 by the cap portion 16A during the head recovery operation. The ink is fed by an appropriate pressurizing means, and the ink is forcibly ejected from the ejection port to perform an ejection recovery operation such as removing the thickened ink in the nozzle.

Further, on the side surface of the head recovery device 16, a blade 17 as a wiping member formed of silicon rubber is held in a cantilever form by a blade holding member 17A, and, similarly to the head circuit device 16, a motor 18 and a transmission mechanism are provided.
19, the engagement with the ejection surface of the inkjet recording head 10 becomes possible. Thereby, the head recovery device
After the head recovery operation using the ink jet recording head 16, the blade 17 is made to protrude into the movement path of the ink jet recording head 10. Wipe off.

The above-described inkjet recording device 8 includes the keyboard 1
Data such as document information and control commands input from the printer is received by a printing control unit, which will be described later, via the main body 6 and the interface cable 7, and a series of recording operations of the document information and the above-described head recovery operation are performed in accordance with the received data. Perform

Next, the print control unit of the inkjet recording apparatus 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, a print control unit 81 is a program that shows a series of recording operation, head recovery operation, and the like, in which a CPU 82 receives data sent from a main body 6 and is stored in advance in a ROM / RAM 83 in accordance with the received data. Execute
In the present embodiment, the head recovery operation is ink suction by the suction means or pressure feeding of the ink by the pressurization means as described above, and can be completed in a short time. During the replacement period, the head recovery device 16 is set to be driven and executed while the recording paper to be recorded is being fed. CPU 8
2 indicates that when the data from the main body 6 is a recording paper feed command, a feed flag indicating that recording paper feeding is started is turned on, and the inkjet recording head 10 is moved to the recovery position. Then, the medium feeding drive unit 84 is activated to drive the medium feeding device 86, and the head recovery device driving unit 85 is activated to drive the head recovery device 16 described above.

The operation of the print control unit 81 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the CPU 82 of the print control unit 81 is in a standby state for data from the main body 6 (step 41). When data is sent, it is determined whether or not the data is a feed command (step 42). ). If it is determined that the received data is not a feed command, the processing indicated by the data is executed (step 48), and then the data is again in a standby state. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 42 that the received data is the feed command, the feed flag is turned on (step 43), and the medium feed drive unit 84 is activated so that the recording paper is fed. (Step 44). Also step
In step 44, when the medium feeding drive unit 84 is activated, the head recovery device drive unit 85 is subsequently activated, and the head recovery device 16 operates to start the head recovery operation (step 4).
5) Further, together with the head recovery operation, the recording paper is fed by the medium feeding device 86 in a time-sharing manner by interruption processing (step 49).

As described above, the head recovery operation is performed by capping the ejection surface of the inkjet recording head 10 by the cap unit 16A of the head recovery device 16, and then operating the suction unit or the pressurizing unit to move the inside of the nozzle. Remove the thickening ink.

As described above, the feeding of the recording paper and the head recovery operation are performed simultaneously, and the head recovery operation is completed in a short time. Therefore, when the head recovery operation is completed (step 4).
6) It is checked whether the feed flag has been turned off (step 47). As described above, this feeding flag indicates whether or not the recording paper is being fed, and is turned off when the feeding is completed. Therefore, the feeding of the recording paper is completed (step 5).
0) When the feeding flag is turned off (step 51), it means that the head recovery operation and the feeding of the recording paper are completed,
The ink jet recording head 10 returns from the recovery position to a predetermined position at the start of recording, and thereafter records predetermined document information by a recording start command. When the inkjet recording head 10 returns to a predetermined position at the start of recording, the blade 17 attached to the side surface of the head recovery device 16 projects into the movement path of the inkjet recording head 10, and Removal of foreign matter attached to the ejection surface is also performed. Then, when the recording of the first page is completed and the recording paper is discharged, the recording paper of the second page is subsequently fed, so that the head recovery operation is performed during the feeding period as described above. Is performed.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the feeding period of the recording medium is used has been described. However, a discharging operation period in which the recording medium on which recording has been completed is discharged from the recording end position may be used.

The present invention provides an excellent effect particularly in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a bubble jet system among the ink jet recording systems.

Regarding the representative configuration and principle, it is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740,796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it is arranged corresponding to the sheet or the liquid path holding the liquid (ink). By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling to the electrothermal transducer, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and the recording is performed. This is effective because the film is boiled on the heat acting surface of the head, and as a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed in one-to-one correspondence with the drive signal. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. This pulse-shaped drive signal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,359.
No. 4,434,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the invention relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As a configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination configuration (a linear liquid flow path or a right-angled liquid flow path) of a discharge port, a liquid path, and an electrothermal converter as disclosed in each of the above-mentioned specifications, a heat acting section A configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which the is bent, is also included in the present invention. In addition, JP-A-59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters.
The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 138461/1984, which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy corresponds to a discharge portion.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length can be reduced by a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above specification. Either a configuration that satisfies the above or a configuration as a single recording head that is integrally formed may be used, but the present invention can more effectively exert the above-described effects.

In addition, a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and supplied with ink from the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body, or provided integrally with the recording head itself The present invention is also effective when a cartridge type recording head is used.

Further, it is preferable to add a preliminary auxiliary means or the like to the recording head provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized.
To be more specific, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer, another heating element or a combination thereof, and a predischarge mode in which discharge is performed separately from recording can be performed. Effective to do.

Further, the printing mode of the printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, but may be a printing head integrally configured or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. The present invention is extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of the above.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

(1) Since the head recovery device is driven to perform the head recovery operation during the recording medium replacement period, time only for the head recovery operation is not required, and the recording throughput is improved.

(2) Since the head recovery operation is reliably performed before the recording on the recording medium is started, even when recording is continuously performed on a large number of recording media, good ejection is performed from the inkjet recording head. , And a clear image can always be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a document processing apparatus provided with an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a print control unit of the ink jet recording apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the print control unit in FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Keyboard, 2 ... Display part, 3 ... Drive unit, 4 ... Power switch, 5 ... Power plug, 6 ... Main body, 7 ... Interface cable, 8 ... Ink jet recording device, 9 ... Ink jet Head cartridge, 10 ... Inkjet recording head, 11 ... Carriage, 12 ... Drive belt, 13 ... Drive motor, 14A, 14B ... Guide shaft, 15 ... Platen, 16 ... Head recovery device, 16A ... Cap part, 17… Blade, 17A …… Blade holding member, 18 …… Motor, 19 …… Transmission mechanism, 41-51 …… Step, 81 …… Print control part, 82 …… CPU, 83… ROM / RAM, 84: Medium feeding drive unit, 85: Head recovery device drive unit, 86: Medium feeding device.

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] An ink jet recording head for ejecting ink, a reciprocating carriage, a feeding unit for feeding a recording medium to be recorded by the ink jet recording head, and a movement for recording by the carriage. Recovery means for recovering ejection failure of the inkjet recording head at a recovery position arranged outside the range,
An operation method of an ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: moving the ink jet recording head to the recovery position by the carriage according to a recording medium feeding command; A step of performing a feeding operation and a recovery operation by the recovery means in parallel; a step of determining whether the feeding operation is completed when the recovery operation is completed; and a step of determining whether the feeding operation is completed. Moving the ink jet recording head from the recovery position to a predetermined position at which printing is started by the carriage. 2. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said ink-jet recording head discharges by utilizing thermal energy, and comprises an electrothermal transducer for generating said thermal energy. Operation method. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recovery operation is an operation of discharging ink by suction from the inkjet recording head. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recovery operation is an operation of discharging ink from the inkjet recording head by applying pressure. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recovery operation is performed in parallel with a discharge operation of discharging the recording medium on which recording has been completed by the ink jet recording head by the feeding means. Operation method.