JP3347402B2 - 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, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a mechanism for performing preliminary ejection as one of ejection recovery processes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ink-jet recording apparatuses have become widespread. In particular, demands for full-color recording have been increasing. Also, with respect to full-color printing, a printing apparatus capable of high-speed printing is desired.

[0003] A so-called serial system is known as one of systems for performing recording using inks of a plurality of colors. In this method, a plurality of recording heads corresponding to each color ink
The recording heads are arranged at predetermined intervals in a main scanning direction, which is a moving direction of the recording head, and a plurality of ink ejection ports of each recording head are arranged in a sub-scanning direction substantially perpendicular to the main scanning direction. For example, black (K), cyan (C). When the four colors of magenta (M) and yellow (Y) are used, the recording heads of the ink colors K, C, M, and Y are arranged at substantially equal intervals in the main scanning direction. Ink is ejected at substantially the same position on the recording paper while the ejection timing of each recording head is shifted by a predetermined interval in the order of Y, M, C, and K, which is the order of arrangement accompanying the movement of the recording head. It is possible to perform full-color printing using the ink color of (1). By performing recording in the above-described manner, high-speed recording can be performed in substantially the same time as in the case of performing monochromatic recording.

[0004] By the way, during the recording operation as described above,
Of the plurality of ejection ports of each recording head, there are ejection ports from which ink is not ejected depending on characters, images, and the like to be recorded. Therefore, in an ejection port from which such ink is not ejected, water, which is a component of the ink, evaporates from the ejection port and the ink may thicken. In such a case, ejection becomes unstable or the worst case occurs. In this case, non-ejection may occur.

In order to prevent the above-described ejection failure, the recording head is moved to a non-recording area at a certain timing, and ink is ejected to a predetermined location to remove the thickened ink inside the ejection port. Discharge has been performed conventionally.

When the non-printing state continues for a relatively long time, microbubbles in the printhead grow due to coalescence or the like, and air enters through the ink supply path or the like, thereby causing the printhead to fail. In the worst case, there is a possibility that the ink inside the ejection port is exhausted and the ink is not ejected.

[0007] Even in the case of such a discharge failure, an ink discharge operation by the action of a forcible pressure, such as performing an ink suction operation through a discharge port at a certain timing to eliminate bubbles together with ink, has conventionally been performed. ing.

As a structure for performing the above-described preliminary ejection and suction operation, a cap using a cap capable of covering the ejection port surface provided with the ejection port of the recording head is generally used. In this case, the suction operation is performed by covering the discharge port surface with a cap and applying a negative pressure to the inside of the cap to suction the ink, and the preliminary discharge is performed by discharging the ink into the cap. The cap is used not only for preliminary ejection and suction operation, but also for covering the ejection port surface of the recording head during non-printing and preventing evaporation of ink moisture.

[0009] The caps exhibiting various functions as described above are generally provided for each of a plurality of recording heads.

[0010]

In the case of a color ink jet recording apparatus having a plurality of recording heads, if caps are provided independently for each recording head as described above, the apparatus becomes large and the cost is high. It will be something. At the same time, if the above-described ejection recovery processing by suction is performed for each print head, unnecessary suction may be performed, and as a result, the amount of consumed ink increases and the running cost increases. This unnecessary consumption of ink also causes an increase in the amount of waste ink.

In order to solve such a problem, an ink jet recording apparatus has been proposed which has a suction recovery system for a plurality of recording heads, the number being smaller than the number of recording heads, preferably one. According to this configuration, the device does not increase in size,
Since the suction from the recording head can be performed almost independently, it is possible to reduce the ink consumption.

In the case of this configuration, the cap used for the suction operation cannot be used as the cap for preventing the evaporation of the ink moisture during non-recording as in the prior art, so that it is necessary to separately provide a dedicated leaving cap.

However, when the preliminary ejection is performed in the suction cap as described above, the preliminary ejection cannot be performed simultaneously in all the recording heads because the number of suction caps is smaller than that in the recording head. For this reason, it is necessary to perform the recording in the same place in a time-division manner, which causes a problem that the throughput of the entire recording operation is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of preventing a decrease in throughput due to a preliminary ejection operation.

[0015]

According to the present invention, there is provided:
A plurality of recording heads having a plurality of ejection ports are connected to the recording head.
Multiple in the scanning direction of the scanning
In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink onto a recording material while moving the recording medium in a direction, a discharge for improving the discharge state of a discharge port of one of the plurality of recording heads is performed. And control means for controlling to perform an operation of sucking ink from the discharge port of another recording head at the same time as performing. In another mode, a plurality of recording heads having a plurality of ejection ports are provided.
Head in the scanning direction of the recording head.
In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink onto a recording material while moving the recording head in a scanning direction, the ejection state of one of the plurality of recording head ejection ports is preferably improved. At the same time as applying an electric energy to the electro-thermal conversion element that generates thermal energy used for ink ejection provided corresponding to the ejection port of another recording head. And control means for performing an operation of increasing the temperature of the ink in the discharge port.

[0016] In yet another form, are arrayed in the scanning direction of the recording head a plurality of printing heads having a plurality of discharge ports on the same carriage, these recording heads
In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink onto a recording material while moving the carriage on which the recording medium is mounted in the scanning direction, the recording head in the scanning direction is located outside the area where the recording material is arranged. An ink receiving portion that is disposed within a range of movement and receives ink ejected from the plurality of ejection ports in order to improve the ejection state of the plurality of ejection ports; Control means for controlling so as to simultaneously perform the ejection operation performed for improving the printing operation and the ejection operation performed for recording on the recording material from the ejection port of at least one recording head other than the predetermined recording head. And characterized in that: In still another embodiment, a recording head having a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink is covered with the recording head.
Arranged at an angle to the direction of relative movement with the recording material,
In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from a number of discharge ports , at the same time as performing discharge for improving the discharge state in one or more discharge ports of a plurality of discharge ports of the recording head, Control means for performing recording on the recording material with ink discharged from one or more discharge ports other than the one or more discharge ports.

[0017]

According to the above construction, the so-called preliminary ejection for improving the ejection state and other operations relating to the ink ejection ports are simultaneously performed, thereby preventing a decrease in the throughput of the entire printing apparatus due to the preliminary ejection. Further, it is possible to shorten the time from the preliminary ejection to the recording.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

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

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an ink jet recording apparatus main body, and reference numerals 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d denote ink jet recording heads, respectively. Here, the recording head 2a ejects black (K) ink,
Hereinafter, similarly, the recording heads 2b, 2c, and 2d respectively discharge cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) inks.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a carriage on which the recording heads 2a to 2d are mounted, and reference numerals 4 and 5 denote guide shafts for guiding the movement of the carriage 3. Reference numerals 6a to 6d denote protection caps for preventing ink from evaporating from the ejection openings of the recording heads 2a to 2d, respectively. Reference numeral 7 applies a negative pressure to the recording heads 2a to 2d by a pump (not shown). 4 shows a suction cap for forcibly discharging ink.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a wiper blade for wiping the discharge port surface of the recording head, and reference numeral 9 denotes an ink receiver that receives the discharged ink when the preliminary discharge is performed. Reference numeral 10 denotes a recording material supported by a platen 11.

Here, the ink sucked through the cap 7 and discharged from the recording heads 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d and the ink discharged to the ink receiver 9 by the preliminary discharge are supplied to a waste ink container provided at the bottom of the apparatus. (Not shown). The waste ink container is filled with an ink absorbing member such as a foamed sponge or a fiber, so that the discharged ink can be held.

FIGS. 2A to 2D show recording heads 2a to 2a.
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which 2d is moved by a carriage 3 and ink is ejected along with the movement.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of this embodiment,
When the recording operation is started, the recording heads 2a to 2c which are capped by the protective caps 6a to 6d and are on standby.
In 2d, the movement of the carriage 3 in the direction of the recording material 10 is started. At that time, as shown in FIG. 2 (A), at the timing when the print head 2a at the head of the movement reaches the ink receiver 9, the print head 2a performs one to several preliminary discharges at each discharge port. . At this time, the other recording heads 2b to 2d do not perform preliminary ejection.

Next, when the carriage 3 is scanned to the position shown in FIG. 2B, the recording head 2b moves toward the ink receiver 9 at the timing when the recording head 2b reaches the ink receiver 9. Pre-discharge of one to several discharge ports is performed.

At this time, the recording head 2a reaches the recording material 10 and discharges ink for recording. As a result, the recording head 2a simultaneously performs ejection for recording and the recording head 2b simultaneously performs ejection for preliminary ejection.

Thereafter, similarly, as shown in FIGS. 2C and 2D, ejection for printing and preliminary ejection are performed simultaneously, and after all of the print heads have been subjected to preliminary ejection, printing is started. Therefore, the ejection operation is performed only for this purpose.

At the time of the above-described ejection operation, the CPU of the apparatus main body simultaneously executes the ejection operation for recording and the preliminary ejection operation, so that the preliminary ejection can be performed at the timing when each recording head comes on the ink receiver 9. The ejection signal for printing and the preliminary ejection signal are processed in parallel or in a time-division manner.

By the way, as described above, even if preliminary ejection is performed from all ejection ports of each recording head at the start of recording,
Since not all the ejection ports perform ejection during printing, preliminary ejection needs to be performed at predetermined intervals during printing. Also in this case, by performing the preliminary ejection by the method described above, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the printing speed due to the preliminary ejection.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a wiping operation in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the reference example of the present invention.

When the ejection is performed, the vicinity of the ejection port may leak due to the mist of the ink generated by the ejection or the rebound of the ejected ink from the recording material. Since the ink droplets or the like that wet the vicinity of the discharge port may adversely affect the discharge, wiping is performed at a predetermined timing.

In the case of this embodiment , as shown in FIG. 3, while the ejection port surface of the recording head 2b is being wiped, preliminary ejection is simultaneously performed by another recording head 2a. Thus, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the throughput of the entire recording operation.

Also, as in this embodiment , after wiping,
By performing the preliminary ejection immediately, it is possible to reduce the color mixture due to the wiping as compared with the case where the preliminary ejection is performed after wiping all the print heads. That is, when wiping a plurality of recording heads 2a to 2d with the same wiper blade 8, the ink that has been wiped when wiping first may be pushed into the discharge port of the next recording head. Is performed to eject the other color ink that has been pushed in and prevent color mixing, but if the time from wiping to preliminary ejection is long, the ink dye will diffuse deeper inside the ejection port In order to eliminate color mixing, a considerable number of preliminary ejections are required. On the other hand, in the present embodiment , preliminary ejection is performed immediately after each recording head is wiped. This allows
Since these dyes are discharged before the dyes are still diffused deep inside the discharge port, the amount of preliminary discharge is small.

Further, an ink absorber 2 is provided between each recording head.
0a to 20d are provided, so that most of the ink adhering to the blade 8 during wiping is absorbed.
As a result, the color mixture itself is less likely to occur, so that a normal ejection state can be achieved with several preliminary ejections.

As shown in FIG. 4, it is also possible to perform wiping when the carriage 3 returns to the cap side from the recording area, and at that time, perform preliminary ejection from another recording head into the suction cap 7. It is.

In this case, when recording is started next time, preliminary ejection can be performed again into the suction cap 7 and / or the ink receiver 9 to sufficiently prevent color mixing. . Also, in the case shown in FIG.
Since the recording heads 2d, 2c, 2b, and 2a are wiped in this order, there is an advantage that color mixing is less noticeable.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a series of ejection recovery operations according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, during printing, during printing, during scanning of the printing head, during printing, or the like, when performing a suction operation by detecting the possibility of a discharge failure, wiping and preliminary discharge are performed together with the suction operation. I do.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, after the suction operation of the recording head 2a, the blade 8 moves up to
Position when the recording head 2b moves to the suction position (the position facing the cap 7).
The wiping of a is performed, and the preliminary ejection of the recording head 2a is performed during the suction operation of the recording head 2b. Hereinafter, in the same manner, the suction operation, the wiping, and the preliminary ejection are performed in the order of the recording heads 2b, 2c, and 2d in accordance with the movement.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an ejection recovery operation according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

A method of performing preliminary ejection and determining whether or not ejection failure has occurred based on the temperature of the recording head at that time has been conventionally known. For example, a temperature sensor is provided in the print head to monitor the temperature of the print head at the time of preliminary discharge, and when the temperature is higher than a predetermined temperature, it is detected that there is a discharge port that is not discharged. This is because, if there is non-ejection, the heat generated at the time of ejection is not released together with the ejected ink, so that the temperature rises significantly. Such non-discharge detection requires a certain amount of preliminary discharge, which requires a certain amount of time.

For this reason, in this embodiment, a certain recording head performs preliminary ejection for non-ejection detection, and when non-ejection is detected by this, the carriage 3 moves to move the recording head to the suction position. To perform the suction operation. At the same time, preliminary ejection for non-ejection detection is performed for the next print head. Such an operation is performed for all recording heads.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, the recording head 2d completes the preliminary discharge and the suction operation, the recording head 2c completes the preliminary discharge operation and performs the suction operation, and the recording head 2b performs the preliminary discharge. Indicates a state in which If no ejection failure is not detected, it is not necessary to perform the suction operation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the suction operation and the preliminary ejection operation for non-ejection detection are performed simultaneously, so that the time of the ejection recovery operation can be reduced as much as possible.

By the way, after all the suction operations are completed, the wiper blade is raised, and the carriage performs preliminary ejection while wiping as shown in FIG. 3, and furthermore, simultaneously performs recording, thereby shortening the time as much as possible. Throughput can be improved.

If the recording head has been used for a relatively long time, the ejection frequency of each ejection port may be different.
In some cases, the recording head is not used for a long time.

In such a case, it is necessary to perform an aging operation. In this operation, a relatively large amount of ink is ejected by driving an ejection heater that generates thermal energy used for ejection for a relatively long time. During that time, it is preferable that the temperature of the ink path in which the discharge heater is disposed inside the print head, especially inside the discharge port, be relatively high. Therefore, so-called short-pulse heating is performed in which the discharge heater is driven by a pulse that is short enough not to foam. In the short pulse heating, when the recording head is driven at a high duty in order to raise the temperature in a relatively short time, the ink is ejected by foaming, so that the recording head is driven at a relatively low duty. However, in this case, time is required for heating.

Therefore, short pulse heating is performed by a certain recording head, and immediately after that, the recording head performs preliminary ejection, and at the same time, short pulse heating is performed by the next recording head, so that the time can be reduced.

It is preferable to perform suction before short-pulse heating because non-discharge does not occur during aging.
Performing the short pulse heating, the preliminary ejection, and the suction operation at the same time further reduces the time.

Further, the recording head in this embodiment may be one in which the recording heads corresponding to the four color inks are integrated into one cartridge, or may be formed integrally in advance.

FIGS. 7A to 7D are schematic views showing another example in which ink ejection for recording and preliminary ejection are simultaneously performed.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, a case where a few preliminary ejections are performed at each ejection port at the start of printing or during printing has been described. A case will be described in which the time is relatively long, and a large number of preliminary ejections are performed at the start of printing.

When the recording ejection and the preliminary ejection as described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2D are performed simultaneously, the speed of the carriage 3 is relatively high in accordance with the recording operation. Is limited to The carriage speed is particularly high in a high-speed, high-resolution printing apparatus. In the above case, in order to increase the amount of preliminary ejection,
For example, it is conceivable to increase the size of the ink receiver 9, but this is not practical because the size of the apparatus main body increases.

Therefore, in this example, at the start of printing, each print head performs a preliminary ejection operation independently of the printing operation.
At this time, preliminary ejection is performed in the order of the recording heads 2d, 2c, 2b, and 2a in a state where the recording heads are almost stopped at the position of the ink receiver 9, respectively. Since the preliminary ejection is performed in the arrangement order of the recording heads as described above, the scanning distance of the carriage 3 is short, and the preliminary ejection operation of all the recording heads can be completed in a short time.

On the other hand, the preliminary ejection operation during printing is performed as follows.

The ink jet recording apparatus of this embodiment can perform recording during the reciprocating operation of the carriage 3, and performs preliminary ejection when the carriage 3 returns.

First, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the recording heads 2a, 2b, 2c are recording, preliminary ejection of the recording head 2d is performed. Next, similarly as shown in FIG. 7B, while the recording heads 2a and 2b are recording, the recording head 2c
Is performed. Hereinafter, as shown in FIGS. 7C and 7D, preliminary ejection is performed in the order of the recording heads 2b and 2a.

After that, when the recording head 2a is turned over and the next forward operation is started, recording is started from the recording head 2a.
In the order of 2b, 2c and 2d, the interval from the preliminary ejection to the next printing becomes shorter. Here, the recording heads 2a, 2b, 2
Since the ejection intervals required for normal ejection are longer in the order of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks respectively ejected by c and 2d, the order of the preliminary ejection is preferable.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a preliminary ejection operation according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

In each of the embodiments described above, a case where a plurality of recording heads are used has been described. In this embodiment, a case where one recording head is used will be described. In general,
The recording is performed by setting the recording head almost perpendicular to the main scanning direction. As shown in FIG. 8, the recording resolution (the density of recorded pixels) can be increased by tilting the recording head 2. It becomes possible.

By the way, in the case of such an arrangement, the ejection port arrangement has a certain width in the main scanning direction. For this reason, in the preliminary ejection, if all the ejection ports are ejected almost simultaneously, the time from the end of the preliminary ejection to the time when printing is performed differs depending on the ejection port. For example, the ejection port farther from the recording paper has a longer time from preliminary ejection to printing, so that such an ejection port is more likely to cause ejection failure.

On the other hand, in this example, as shown in FIG.
The ejection for printing and the preliminary ejection are performed at the same time, and the preliminary ejection of the ejection port for performing the ejection for recording is performed first at this time, so that the time from preliminary ejection to printing is reduced. It can be short and uniform between the discharge ports. In particular, this effect becomes more remarkable with a longer recording head.

Although one recording head has been described here, it goes without saying that the same applies to a case where there are a plurality of recording heads of such a form.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the case where one ink receiver is used at the time of the preliminary ejection has been described. However, the case where the ink receiver is provided on both sides of the recording material can be implemented in the same manner as in each of the above embodiments. In particular, when the recording width of the recording material such as the A1 size is long, the time required for one scan is long. Therefore, the configuration in which the ink receivers are arranged on both sides is effective.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the preliminary ejection is performed for the ink receiver. However, the preliminary ejection may be performed for the inside of the suction cap. May be.

In addition, in each of the above embodiments, the plurality of recording heads have been described to discharge inks of different colors, however, a case where the same color of ink is discharged may be used.

(Others) The present invention includes a means (for example, an electrothermal converter, a laser beam, or the like) for generating thermal energy as energy used for discharging ink, particularly in an ink jet recording system. An excellent effect is obtained in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a type in which the state of ink is changed by the thermal energy. 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, in particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to a sheet holding liquid (ink) or an electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding the nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and film boiling occurs on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis.
This is effective because air bubbles inside can be formed. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. 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. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the 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 the above-mentioned respective specifications, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 44,558 which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
A configuration using the specification of Japanese Patent No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 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 aperture for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration is based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be reliably and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium on which a recording apparatus can record. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads, or a configuration as one integrally formed recording head.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as described above, the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body or the electric connection with the apparatus main body or the ink from the apparatus main body is attached to the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be supplied or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add ejection recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like as the configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If these are specifically mentioned, the recording head is heated using capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, an electrothermal transducer, another heating element or a combination thereof. Pre-heating means for performing the pre-heating and pre-discharging means for performing the discharging other than the recording can be used.

The types and the number of recording heads to be mounted are not limited to those provided only for one color ink, and for a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities. A plurality may be provided. That is, for example, 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 any of integrally forming a printing head or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of the recording modes of full color by color mixture.

In addition, 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 lower and which softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. In general, the ink jet method generally controls the temperature of the ink itself within 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. Sometimes, the ink may be in a liquid state. In addition, in order to positively prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from a solid state to a liquid state, or to prevent evaporation of the ink, the ink is solidified in a standing state and heated. May be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by the application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start to solidify when reaching the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable to a case where an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is used. In such a case, the ink
JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-7
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1260, a form may be adopted in which the liquid sheet or the solid substance is held as a liquid or solid substance in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet and faces the electrothermal converter. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to those used as image output terminals of information processing equipment such as computers, copying apparatuses combined with readers and the like, and facsimile apparatuses having a transmission / reception function. It may take a form.

[0077]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, so-called preliminary ejection for improving the ejection state and other operations relating to the ink ejection ports are simultaneously performed.
As a result, it is possible to prevent the throughput of the entire printing apparatus from decreasing due to the preliminary ejection. Further, it is possible to shorten the time from the preliminary ejection to the recording.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIGS. 2A to 2D are schematic diagrams for explaining a preliminary ejection operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a preliminary ejection operation according to a reference example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a modification of the reference example of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a preliminary ejection operation according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIGS. 7A to 7D are schematic diagrams for explaining a preliminary ejection operation according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining preliminary ejection according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink jet recording apparatus main body 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d Recording head 3 Carriage 4, 5 Guide shaft 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d Leaving cap 7 Suction cap 8 Blade 9 Ink receiver 10 Recording material 11 Platen 17 Suction Pump 18 Waste ink tank

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masaya Uetsuki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hitoshi Sugimoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Miyuki Matsubara 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Fumihiro Goto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-1-221251 (JP, A) JP-A-2-2014 (JP, A) JP-A-1-196348 (JP, A) JP-A-3-130160 (JP, A) ( 58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/165 B41J 2/175 B41J 2/18 B41J 2/185

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of recording heads having a plurality of ejection ports.
In the scanning direction of the recording head, and
In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink onto a recording material while moving a head in a scanning direction, the discharge state of one of the plurality of recording heads is improved in one of the recording heads. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls to perform an operation for sucking ink from an ejection port of another recording head at the same time as performing ejection for the recording head. 2. A plurality of recording heads having a plurality of ejection ports.
In the scanning direction of the recording head, and
In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink onto a recording material while moving a head in a scanning direction, the discharge state of one of the plurality of recording heads is improved in one of the recording heads. At the same time as performing the discharge for, the electrical heat conversion element that generates thermal energy used for ink discharge provided corresponding to the discharge port of another recording head, to apply electrical energy of a degree that does not discharge, An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: control means for performing an operation of increasing the temperature of the ink in the ejection port. 3. A print head in which the one or more ejection ports for performing ejection for improving the ejection state are arranged, and the one or more ejection ports to be operated are arranged.
The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head and another recording head are arranged in a scanning direction of the recording head. 4. A plurality of recording heads having a plurality of ejection ports are arranged on the same carriage in a scanning direction of the recording head.
Are arranged, and the keys on which these recording heads are mounted.
An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink onto a recording material while moving the carriage in the scanning direction, wherein the recording head is located outside the area where the recording material is arranged and within the range of movement of the recording head in the scanning direction. An ink receiving portion arranged to receive ink ejected from the discharge ports to improve the discharge state of the plurality of discharge ports; and to improve the discharge state from all the discharge ports of the predetermined recording head. Control means for performing control so as to simultaneously perform the discharging operation to be performed and a discharging operation to be performed for recording on the recording material from the discharge port of at least one recording head other than the predetermined recording head. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: 5. A recording head having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink is moved relative to the recording head and a recording material.
Tilt respect kinematic direction disposed, in an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by discharging Lee <br/> ink from said plurality of outlets, one or more discharge ports of the plurality of discharge ports of said recording head Control means for performing discharge for improving the discharge state and simultaneously performing recording on the recording material with ink discharged from one or more discharge ports other than the one or more discharge ports. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that: 6. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the recording head uses thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and discharges the ink from the discharge ports with the generation of the bubbles. The inkjet recording device according to any one of the above. 7. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ejection for improving the ejection state also serves as ejection for non-ejection detection.