JP3035093B2 - Ink jet recording device - 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 recording apparatus for forming an image by discharging ink droplets on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the schematic structure of an example of a conventional ink jet recording apparatus of this type. 1 is a recording head for ejecting ink to form an image such as a print on a recording medium, 2 is a carriage mounted with the recording head 1 and moving in the left and right main scanning directions in the figure, 3 is A guide shaft 4 for guiding the carriage 2 is a head face surface of the recording head 1 (one example of which is shown in FIG.
a) to remove dust such as paper dust or attached ink. Reference numeral 5 denotes a cap for preventing nozzle clogging of the head face surface 1a and for performing suction recovery.

In the above-described apparatus configuration, a platen surface 6 for holding a recording medium at a position facing the recording head 1 is described.
The recording medium is fed by a paper feed roller (not shown) driven by a paper feed motor 7, and the carriage 2 reciprocates along the guide shaft 3, whereby an image is formed on the recording medium. When the carriage 2 moves to the vicinity of the cap 5, a wiping operation for recovery is performed.

The speed of image recording is determined by the speed of the carriage 2 which reciprocates. In this type of ink jet recording apparatus, generally, a standard recording (mainly printing) speed mode (hereinafter, referred to as “HQ mode”) that makes full use of the performance of the recording head 1 and a recording state slightly deteriorated. High-speed mode (hereinafter, referred to as “HS mode”. In this mode, since the amount of ejected ink droplets is thinned out for printing, the printing density is reduced)
Further, it has three types of recording speed modes of high definition and low noise (hereinafter, referred to as "SHQ mode") corresponding to the current situation where higher image quality recording / printing is required.

Next, the details of the wiping operation described above will be described with reference to FIG. 4 which shows an example of a concept of a cleaning member of a recovery system devised by the present inventors during development. 4, the same (corresponding) components as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Reference numeral 11 denotes a wiper holder for holding the wiper 4, and 12 has a cam surface 12a.
The wiper lever 11a is pressed by the lever pressing portion 2a of the carriage 2 when the lever passes through the wiper lever 12a.
Is a lever shaft for rotatably attaching the wiper holder 11 to the wiper holder 11, and the wiper lever 12 attached thereto is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 4 and not to rotate in the direction of arrow b. The state shown in FIG. 4 is always maintained by the urging of a not-shown torsion spring or the like. Reference numeral 13 denotes a holder spring that constantly pushes up the wiper holder 11 in the upper wiping direction in the figure.

Here, when the carriage 2 moves in the direction of the cap 5, the lever pressing portion 2a and the cam surface 12 are moved.
When the carriage 2 moves further, the wiper holder 11 is pushed down together with the wiper lever 12.
As a result, the wiper 4 descends, so that the head face surface 1a and the wiper 4 are out of contact, and wiping is not performed. Then, after the head face surface 1a and the cap 5 face each other, the carriage 2 is instructed by a recording (printing etc.) command.
Starts moving to the print area.

At this time, the lever-side trigger portion 12b and the carriage-side trigger portion 2b abut, and the wiper lever 1
4 is rotated in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 4, whereby the wiper holder 11 is raised by the elastic force of the holder spring 13 to be in a wiping-enabled state, and when the carriage 2 further moves to the printing area side, the head face surface 1a Wiping is performed by contact with the wiper 4.

FIG. 5 shows a sequence flowchart of the carriage operation when the printing speed mode of the recording (hereinafter, typically referred to as "printing") system in the above-described apparatus configuration is selected. That is, the user first selects a plurality of printing speed modes (HQ, HS, SH) in step S1.
Q) is selected and commanded by a key switch or the like. Then, the recording device judges the result in step S2,
The print mode selected in step 3 is set. When a print command is input in this state, printing is performed in the selected print speed mode.

[0009]

However, the above-mentioned concept example has the following problems. That is, 1) When the above-described three types of printing speed modes are switched and operated, and in the SHQ (high definition and low noise) mode, the operating noise during the wiping operation of the recovery system described above is large, and the original SHQ Mode features cannot be fully exploited.

2) In order to reduce the operating noise during the wiping operation, the speed of the carriage 2 during the wiping operation must be reduced. Therefore, in the other HQ and HS (standard / high speed) modes, the entire recording medium is Is disadvantageous in that the overall printing speed when printing is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the problems in the above-described proposed configuration example, and when one of a plurality of recording speed modes is selected, the operation of the wiping operation in each mode as in the prior art is performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a carriage operation drive unit that does not cause excessive noise or lower the overall recording speed.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for forming an image by discharging ink onto a recording medium.
A scanning head that moves and scans in the main scanning direction
Ridge and wipe pin for cleaning the recording head
Blade and an ink jet recording apparatus having the same.
Corresponding to a plurality of recording modes by the recording head.
A plurality of recording speed modes of the carriage to be set;
A plurality of wipings less than the number of the recording speed modes
And an operation mode, wherein the plurality of recording speed modes are provided.
Select one of the multiple wiping operation modes individually
Provide an inkjet recording device characterized by the ability to
By doing so, it is intended to achieve the above purpose
You. Here, the recording speed mode is a standard speed mode,
With high speed mode, high definition / low noise mode
The wiping operation mode includes a standard mode and a low speed mode.
Degree / low noise mode, and the recording speed mode
Is in the standard speed mode and the high speed mode.
Ping operation mode is combined with the standard mode, said recording speed mode when the high-resolution / low noise recording mode said wiping operation mode is combined with a low-speed / low-noise mode is a preferred example.

[0013]

According to the present invention as described above, the selected multiple
Excessive or inadequate for each of the number of recording speed modes
Not be able to set the proper wiping operation mode
Can, the original features of the recording speed mode without being affected by the wiping operation mode can be exhibited in ten minutes.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on embodiments. Based on the concept example shown in FIG. 4, a carriage operation sequence flowchart of the embodiment according to the present invention corresponding to FIG. 5 of the carriage operation when the recording (printing) speed mode is selected is shown in the figure.

A feature of this embodiment is that two types of wiping operation modes, a standard speed mode and a low speed (low noise) mode, are provided for a plurality of printing speed modes (HS, HQ, SHQ). By combining them properly, each printing speed mode can sufficiently exhibit its original characteristics. That is, in FIG.
In step S1, a plurality of users select one of the printing speed modes and give an instruction with an ON switch or the like. Then, in step S2, the printing apparatus determines that the printing mode is selected, and in step S3, the printing speed mode is set to the selected mode, and at the same time, the speed mode of the recovery wiping operation is set to the standard or low speed corresponding to each printing mode. Set to mode.

In the present embodiment, a standard speed wiping operation mode is performed in the HQ and HS modes.
Although the wiping speed is slow in the SHQ mode, a combination mode in which a low-speed wiping operation mode with less noise is performed is employed.

As described above, a plurality of wiping operation modes (two in the illustrated example) are provided for a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) printing speed modes, and the original characteristics of each printing speed mode are utilized. By selecting the mode of the wiping operation, the overall specification quality of the recording apparatus can be improved.

(Other Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a carriage operation sequence corresponding to FIG. 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention. Here, in this embodiment, the same operation sequence is performed from step S1 to S3 as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but thereafter, the operation mode at the time of wiping can be individually selected in step S4. According to the command issued there, the command is determined in the apparatus in step S5, and the printing speed mode and the wiping operation mode are combined and set in step S6. Thereby, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, an example of the wiping operation has been described, but it goes without saying that the same applies to other operations relating to the recovery system.

It is to be noted that the present invention is particularly applicable to an ink jet recording apparatus which includes means for generating thermal energy as energy used for discharging ink, wherein a change in the state of the ink is caused by the thermal energy. In the recording head and the recording apparatus described above, excellent effects can be obtained. This is because according to such a method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
Although it can be applied to any type of continuous type, especially in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to an electrothermal converter that is arranged corresponding to a sheet holding a liquid (ink) or a flow path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and the film is heated on the heat-acting surface of the recording head. As a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed in one-to-one correspondence with the drive signal, which is effective. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble,
Form at least one drop. 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 a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. Examples of the drive signal in the form of a pulse include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345.
No. 262 are suitable. If the conditions described in the specification of US Pat. No. 4,313,244 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface described above are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination configuration of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, The configurations used in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose the configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region, are also effective in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 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, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on JP-A-59-138461 which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit.

Further, although the serial type ink jet recording apparatus is shown in the embodiment, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recordable width. As a full-line type recording head, a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification, either a configuration that satisfies the length or a configuration as a single recording head that is integrally formed. Although good, the present invention can exhibit the above-mentioned effects more effectively.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head and preliminary auxiliary means provided as components of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, for the recording head, a capping unit, a cleaning unit, a pressurizing or suctioning unit, a preheating unit using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof, and a recording unit It is also effective to perform a preliminary ejection mode for performing another ejection in order to perform stable printing.

The types and number of recording heads and inks to be mounted are, for example, monochromatic inks and inks.
In addition to the head provided with a plurality of recording heads, a head provided with a plurality of inks corresponding to a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities may be provided, and is effective in any combination. The present invention is effective not only in the recording mode of black or the like as the recording mode of the recording apparatus, but also in each of the recording modes of full-color by multi-colors of different colors or mixed colors.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or below and which softens or melts at room temperature, or the ink described above. In general, in the ink jet, the temperature of the ink itself is controlled in a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Anything can be used. In addition, to prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy, positively use the phase change energy of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or use ink that solidifies in a standing state to prevent evaporation of the ink. In any case, thermal energy such as one in which ink is liquefied and ejected as an ink liquid by application in accordance with a recording signal of thermal energy, or one which already starts to solidify when reaching a recording medium, etc. The use of an ink that liquefies for the first time is also applicable to the present invention. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

The present invention also relates to an ink-jet system such as a piezo-jet system in which ink is ejected by converting electricity into a force, such as a piezo-jet system in which a recording head is disposed in non-contact with a recording medium and ink is ejected for recording. It is effective in.

In addition to the above, the recording apparatus of the present invention may be provided as an output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a word processor or a computer as described above, as an integral or separate output terminal, as well as a copying apparatus combined with a scanner or the like. Further, it may take the form of a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention ,
Set to correspond to multiple recording modes by the recording head
A plurality of recording speed modes of the carriage,
With multiple wiping modes fewer than the number of degree modes
The plurality of wiping operations in each of the plurality of recording modes.
Because it was configured to select one of the operation modes,
Neither excessive nor insufficient for speed mode
Wiping operation mode can be set, wipe pin
Recording speed mode without being affected by
An ink jet that can fully demonstrate its original characteristics
A recording device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a carriage operation sequence according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 of another embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration perspective view of an example of an inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a recovery system cleaning member.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a conventional carriage operation sequence.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording head 2 Carriage 4 Wiper 5 Cap 6 Platen 11 Wiper holder 12 Wiper lever

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Saito 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Takashi Nojima 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Kinoshita 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hideaki Kawakami 3-30-2, Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. ( 72) Inventor Masahiro Taniguro 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Soichi Hiramatsu 3-30-2 Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (56) Reference Reference JP-A-3-290261 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/01 B41J 2/165 B41J 2/18 B41J 2/185 B41J 19/04

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A carriage for mounting a recording head for forming an image by discharging ink on a recording medium and moving and scanning in a main scanning direction, and cleaning the recording head.
In the ink jet recording apparatus provided with a wiping blade, and a plurality of recording modes by the recording head
A plurality of printing speed modes of the carriage set correspondingly
And a plurality of words having a number less than the number of the recording speed modes.
An operation mode, and the plurality of recordings
One of the plurality of wiping operation modes in each speed mode
An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that one can be selected . 2. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is provided for each of a plurality of ejection units for ejecting ink, and a corresponding ejection unit. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a thermal energy generating means for ejecting and forming flying droplets. 3. The recording speed mode is a standard speed mode.
Mode, high speed mode, high definition / low noise mode
In addition, the wiping operation mode includes a standard mode and a low mode.
Speed / low noise mode.
When the mode is in the standard speed mode or the high speed mode,
Iping operation mode is combined with the standard mode,
When the recording speed mode is high definition / low noise recording mode
The wiping operation mode is combined with a low speed / low noise mode.
2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein
Jet recorder.