JP2834942B2 - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer having a function of preventing clogging of nozzles of an ink jet head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink-jet printer in which a carriage on which an ink-jet head is mounted is moved along a platen and ink is ejected from the ink-jet head, ink in nozzles of the ink-jet head dries when a non-printing state is continued for a long period of time. Because clogging occurs, there are various types of inkjet printers equipped with a capping mechanism that shuts off the nozzle from the outside air, a cleaning mechanism that cleans dust and foreign matter adhering to the nozzle, and a priming mechanism that sucks ink clogged by drying inside the nozzle. It is considered.

First, FIGS. 5 and 6 show JP-A-60-1780.
The invention described in JP-A-63-63 is shown. Reference numeral 100 denotes a carriage, to which a part of a belt 102 driven by a motor 101 is connected. Therefore, by driving the motor 101, the carriage 10
0 moves along the recording paper 103, and in this process, printing is performed by causing ink to fly from the ink jet head 104 mounted on the carriage 100. Also,
The carriage 100 moves to a position beyond the print area, and a maintenance station 105 is provided in the non-print area.

This maintenance station 105
Has a capping function of closing the nozzles of the inkjet head 104 and a priming function of sucking ink from the nozzles to eliminate clogging of the nozzles. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, a cap 106 facing the tip of the nozzle is provided. This cap 1
Reference numeral 06 includes an absorber that absorbs ink, is held movably in a direction N perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage 100, and has a shaft 107 at the lower end. A gear 111 that receives rotation of the motor 108 via gears 109 and 110 has a cam surface 112 that contacts the shaft 107. Therefore, by rotating this gear 111, the ink jet head 1 moves the cap 106 to the front of the maintenance station 105.
Advance to 04.

The cap 106 is connected to a pump 114 via a pipe 113, and a lever 115 for driving the pump 114 is provided so as to be swingable about a pin 116. One end of the lever 115 is connected to a piston provided on the pump 114 and urged upward, and the other end is in contact with a cam surface 118 formed on an upper surface of a cam 117 driven by the motor 108. I have. Therefore,
The cam 117 is rotated by the motor 108 and the lever 11 is rotated.
By oscillating 5, the pump 114 is driven, and the ink of the nozzle of the inkjet head 104 is sucked out through the cap 106.

Next, the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-82962 is shown in FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 7, an inkjet head 121 is mounted on a carriage 120 slidably fitted on a guide rail 119. The platen 122 is connected to a motor 126 via gears 123 and 124 and a gear 125 including a one-way clutch so as to be rotatable in the normal and reverse directions. A pump 129 receives the rotation of the motor 126 via a gear 127 and a gear 128 having a built-in one-way clutch.
And a cap 130 that covers the nozzles of the inkjet head 121 are connected by a suction pipe 131. Therefore, when the motor 126 is rotated in one direction, the rotation is transmitted only to the platen 122 to feed the paper. When the motor 126 is rotated in the other direction, the rotation is transmitted only to the pump 129. The ink of the inkjet head 121 is sucked out through the cap 130. The secondary side of the pump 129 is the discharge pipe 1
32.

As shown in FIG. 8, an arm 134 is provided in the non-printing area so as to rotate about a support shaft 133. The upper part of this arm 134 is rotatably connected to the side surface of the cap 130. I have. The carriage 120 has a projection 135 whose lower surface is inclined with respect to the moving direction.
Are formed. Therefore, when the carriage 120 is positioned in the printing area by means such as providing a spring for urging the arm 134 clockwise, the arm 13
4 is rotated to the position shown by the dotted line to retract the cap 130, and as the carriage 120 approaches the non-printing area,
By pushing down the lower end of the arm 134 with the protrusion 135, the cap 130 advances to the inkjet head 121 side as shown by a solid line, and when the carriage 120 stops at a fixed position, the cap 130 covers the nozzle of the inkjet head 121. Has been adopted.

Further, the ink sucked from the ink jet head for priming needs to be stored in an ink reservoir, and there is a demand for reducing the volume of the ink reservoir. For this purpose, there is a method of evaporating the ink in the ink reservoir, as described in JP-A-57-220065. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the ink in the ink reservoir 136 is heated by the heating element 137, or
As shown in FIG. 10, air is blown from a fan 138 to the ink in the ink reservoir 136 to evaporate the ink.

[0009]

5 and 6 require a dedicated motor 101 to reciprocate the carriage 100, and also to move the cap 106 and drive the pump 114. Since the motor 108 is separately required, there is a problem that the number of motors increases, the structure becomes large, and the cost increases.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an ink jet head 12 by the movement of a carriage 120.
The pump 130 is driven by using the paper feeding motor 126 by moving the cap 130 forward and backward with respect to 1, so that the number of motors can be reduced. However, the motor 12
Since a one-way clutch is required in each power transmission path for transmitting the rotation of No. 6 to the platen 122 and the pump 129, the structure becomes complicated and the cost increases.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the method of evaporating the ink in the ink reservoir 136 can reduce the volume of the ink reservoir 136, but requires a heating element 137 and a fan 138 for that purpose. Cost increases.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a carriage reciprocatingly driven while holding an ink jet head, a cap opposed to a nozzle of the ink jet head moving out of a print area, and a print area of the carriage. An operation conversion unit that converts a linear motion outside to a direction intersecting the linear motion direction and transmits the converted motion to the cap; and a pump that is connected to a paper feed motor and is driven when the paper feed motor is driven. If, Ri Na more and reservoir connected to the ink between this pump the cap, printing by the paper feed motor
Each time the paper is fed or the recording paper is fed or ejected, the ink
Inhale air into the reservoir and evaporate the ink inside it
That's what I did.

[0013]

The cap can be moved forward and backward with respect to the ink jet head by using the linear motion in the non-printing area of the carriage as a driving force, and the pump for sucking ink from the ink jet head can be driven by using a paper feed motor. Therefore, the structure of the drive system for the cap and the pump can be simplified and the size can be reduced. Furthermore, since the pump can be driven by the paper feed motor every time the paper is fed during printing or the recording paper is fed or ejected, air is drawn into the ink reservoir from the cap using the suction force of this pump. The ink inside can be evaporated, whereby the structure for evaporating the ink can be simplified and the volume of the ink reservoir can be reduced.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Although only one side is shown, the opposite side plate 1
Are provided with a plurality of guide shafts 2, and a carriage 3 is slidably fitted to these guide shafts 2. The carriage 3 includes an inkjet head 6 having a nozzle 5 facing a platen 4 and an ink tank 7.
Are detachably mounted.

The carriage 3 is driven beyond the printing area to a non-printing area, and a paper feed motor 9 is provided in the non-printing area. A drive gear 11 is fixed to one end of a rotating shaft 10 of the paper feed motor 9, and a platen gear 12 is fixed to an end of the platen 4. The drive gear 11 and the platen gear 12 are composed of a plurality of gears 13, 1.
4 are connected.

Further, a frame 16 is fixed to a support 15 holding the paper feed motor 9.
6, two shafts 1 parallel to the guide shaft 2
A slider 19 having a protruding piece 18 protruding toward the guide shaft 2 is slidably fitted to these shafts 17. The slider 19 is urged toward the support 15 by a spring 20. Further, a cap 21 is slidably held on the slider 19 in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage 3. Further, the cap 2 is provided on the frame 16.
A guide groove 23 for fitting a roller 22 rotatably provided on the lower surface of the first member 1 is formed. The guide groove 23 is inclined in the direction of the guide shaft 2 from the right end toward the center, and has a substantially “U” shape which is parallel to the guide shaft 2 from the center to the left end. ing. Thus, the shaft 17 and the slider 19
The linear motion of the carriage 3 outside the printing area is converted into a direction orthogonal to the linear motion direction by the spring 20, the roller 22 provided on the cap 21, and the guide groove 23. An operation conversion part 24 for transmitting to the cap 21 is formed.

Next, an ink reservoir 25 is fixed to the left side plate 1, and a pump 26 is fixed to the support 15. A tube 27 having one end connected to the cap 21 is inserted into a notch 28 formed in the frame 16, and the tip of the tube 27 is connected to the ink reservoir 25. Although not shown, the pump 26 is of a type in which a suction force is generated by the amplitude operation of the diaphragm. The suction pipe 29 and the ink reservoir 25 are connected by a tube 30, and the exhaust pipe 31 is opened to the atmosphere. ing.
The pump 26 has an operating rod 32 having one end connected to a diaphragm inside the pump 26, and the operating rod 32 is fixed at one end to the other end of the rotating shaft 10 of the paper feed motor 9. An eccentric roller (not shown) is rotatably fitted. Further, one end of a U-shaped tube clamp 33 which holds the tube 27 is fixed to a side surface of the slider 19 on the side plate 1 side.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink reservoir 25 is provided with an ink absorber 35 having a height determined so that a space 34 is formed between the ink reservoir 25 and the ceiling surface.

In such a configuration, the state shown in FIG. 1 is a state where the carriage 3 is located in the print area. Printing is performed by causing ink to fly from the nozzles 5 of the inkjet head 6 onto the recording paper on the platen 4 while the carriage 3 moves in the printing area. As described above, when the carriage 3 is located in the printing area, the slider 19 is located on the support 15 side by the pressure of the spring 20. In this state, the cap 21 is retracted to a position separated from the guide shaft 2 because the roller 22 at the lower end is located at the right end of the guide groove 23. The stop position of the carriage 3 when printing is not performed or when the power is turned off is the capping position shown in FIG.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when the carriage 3 moves to the left capping position, the projecting piece 18 is pressed by the carriage 3, and the slider 19 moves together with the cap 21 against the pressure of the spring 20. It moves to the side plate 1 side. At this time, since the roller 22 of the cap 21 moves along the inclined portion of the guide groove 23, the cap 21 advances toward the guide shaft 2 and covers the nozzle 5. Thereby, drying of the ink in the nozzle 5 is prevented, and clogging due to the ink residue is prevented.

However, the user can perform priming as needed. This is done by operating a priming key (not shown), moving the carriage 3 to the priming position on the side plate 1 side, and driving the paper feed motor 9 as shown in FIG. In the process of moving the carriage 3 from the capping position shown in FIG. 2 to the priming position shown in FIG. 3, the roller 22 moves on the horizontal portion of the guide groove 23, so that the relative position between the nozzle 5 and the cap 21 does not change. In this state, the end of the tube clamp 33 contacts the left side of the frame 16 so that the tube clamp 33 clamps and crushes the tube 27. By rotating the paper feed motor 9, the operating rod 32 of the pump 26 is driven, and the volume of the suction side is increased by the movement of the diaphragm accompanying this operation. At this time, the tube 2 on the suction side
Since the tube 7 is held closed by being clamped by the tube clamp 33, a negative pressure is generated on the suction side of the pump 26. When the carriage 3 is fed to the right again, the slider 19 is returned to the right together with the cap 21 by the pressure of the spring 20, and the tube clamp 33 is separated from the left side of the frame 16 and the tube 27 is moved. In order to reduce the clamping force, the ink in the nozzle 5 is sucked out through the cap 21 by the negative pressure in the ink reservoir 25 that has been increased up to that time. The sucked ink is stored in the ink storage 25. At this time, the end of the tube 31 connected to the suction side of the pump 26 opens toward the space 34 above the ink reservoir 25 as shown in FIG. You will not be sucked.

For printing, as shown in FIG.
In the process in which the carriage 3 moves away from the projecting piece 18 and moves to the printing area, the slider 19 moves together with the cap 21 to the right side of the support 15 by the pressure of the spring 20.
At this time, since the roller 22 moves to the right end of the guide groove 23, the cap 21 is separated from the nozzle 5. Further, the paper feed motor 9 is driven each time the paper is fed during printing or the recording paper is fed / discharged, and the pump 26 can be driven each time. Therefore, air can be sucked into the ink reservoir 25 from the cap 21 side by using the suction force of the pump 26 to evaporate the ink inside. Therefore, the volume for storing the ink can be reduced, and the size of the ink reservoir 25 can be reduced accordingly. In addition, the ink can be evaporated without using a heating element or a fan. Further, in the present embodiment, the use of the diaphragm type pump 26 allows the rotational movement of the paper feed motor 9 to be controlled by the operating rod 32 regardless of its rotational direction.
And the rotation of the paper feed motor 9 can be transmitted to the operating rod 32 without decelerating, so that the connecting structure between the paper feed motor 9 and the pump 26 can be simplified. it can.

[0023]

According to the present invention, as described above, the operation conversion unit for converting the linear motion of the carriage outside the printing area into a direction intersecting the linear motion direction and transmitting the converted motion to the cap is provided. The cap can be moved forward and backward with respect to the ink jet head using the linear motion in the non-printing area as a driving force, and by connecting the pump connected to the cap to the paper feed motor via the ink reservoir,
Since the structure of the drive system for the cap and the pump can be simplified and downsized, the pump can be driven each time paper is fed during printing or recording paper is fed and discharged. By using the suction force of this pump, air can be sucked into the ink reservoir from the cap side to evaporate the ink inside, thereby simplifying the structure for evaporating the ink and reducing the volume of the ink reservoir. It has effects such as being able to be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a printing state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a capping operation of the nozzle.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a priming operation of the nozzle.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the ink reservoir.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a first conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the maintenance station.

FIG. 7 shows a second conventional example, and is a plan view with a part in section.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the relationship between the carriage and the cap.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional side view showing a conventional ink evaporating means of an ink reservoir.

FIG. 10 is a vertical sectional side view showing a conventional ink evaporating means of an ink reservoir.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 carriage 5 nozzle 6 inkjet head 9 paper feed motor 21 cap 24 operation conversion unit 25 ink reservoir 26 pump

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Michael Carlotta New York, USA 14580, Webster 311-01c Philips Road Building 800 Xerox In-house (56) References JP-A-4-151255 (JP, A) JP-A-4 JP-A-175170 (JP, A) JP-A-2-78569 (JP, A) JP-A-64-64853 (JP, A) JP-A-57-12655 (JP, A) JP-A-3-234649 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 2/01 B41J 2/165 B41J 2/18 B41J 2/185

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A carriage that reciprocates while holding an ink-jet head; a cap that is arranged to face a nozzle of the ink-jet head that moves outside a print area;
A motion conversion unit which transmits to said cap to convert the linear motion of the printing area outside of the carriage in a direction intersecting with the direction of linear motion, is connected to the paper feed motor feeding the paper
A pump driven when the motor is driven, Ri Na more and reservoir connected to the ink between this pump the cap,
Paper feed or recording during printing by the paper feed motor
Each time paper is fed and discharged, air is sucked into the ink reservoir.
An ink jet printer characterized by evaporating ink inside the ink jet printer.