JP3731533B2 - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer that discharges ink from a head to form an image on a recording medium. Specifically, the head is reciprocated in the width direction of the recording medium, and ink is applied to the head via a tube. The present invention relates to a serial type ink jet printer that supplies images to form images.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in an ink jet printer, it has been considered to provide an ink holding unit for holding ink separately from the head, and supply the ink from the ink holding unit to the head via a tube. In this case, the size of the head can be easily reduced as compared with the case where the ink holding portion is provided integrally with the head. If such a configuration is adopted for a serial type ink jet printer, the load on the carriage motor can be reduced by reducing the size of the head, and the carriage motor can also be reduced in size.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, when ink is supplied to the head from the ink holding unit via the tube, the tube is attached to the head by projecting the tube from the upper surface of the head (the surface opposite to the platen) A method of projecting from the moving direction side end surface is conceivable. When there is a strong demand for reducing the thickness of an inkjet printer, such as when making it compact as a mobile printer, it is desirable to project the tube from the end surface of the head in the moving direction.
[0004]
However, when the tube is projected from the end surface on the moving direction side of the head, the tube is bent when the head is moved. On the other hand, in the vicinity of the platen, that is, in the vicinity of the moving range of the head, there may be a roller for conveying the recording medium in a direction (sub-scanning direction) orthogonal to the head moving direction (main scanning direction). . This type of roller is desirably provided as close to the head as possible in order to prevent the recording medium from floating.
[0005]
For this reason, the bent tube may come into contact with the roller. In this case, the tube may be caught by a friction member (rubber or coating) on the surface of the roller, resulting in resistance to the movement of the head, or the tube may be damaged by rubbing the tube surface. is there. Then, there is a possibility that the moving speed of the head changes to make it impossible to accurately control the ink ejection position, or that the tube breaks and ink leaks.
[0006]
Therefore, it is conceivable to cover at least the tube side surface of the roller with a cover. However, if the bent tube comes into contact with the cover and floats, it may still be resistant to head movement. Further, a positioning marker member such as an encoder strip may be stretched along the moving direction of the head in the vicinity of the moving range of the head, and it is necessary to restrict the bending of the tube within a certain range. However, if a special member is provided to restrict the bending of the tube, it will be an obstacle to downsizing.
[0007]
Therefore, the present invention is an inkjet printer that forms an image by reciprocating the head in the width direction of the recording medium and supplying ink to the head via a tube, without providing a special member, and It was made for the purpose of regulating the bending of the tube without adding a large movement resistance to the head.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention]
The invention of claim 1, wherein has been made in order to achieve the above object, a head for forming an image on a recording medium by ejecting ink, and a guide shaft which guides the 該He head in the width direction of the recording medium, a roller for transporting the upper Symbol recording medium in the direction orthogonal to the width direction, is erected along a substantially vertical plane, distribution along the flat cable and the surface of the flat cable for energizing the said head A plurality of tubes for supplying ink to the head from an ink holding portion provided separately from the head, and an inkjet printer comprising:
A cover for covering the roller and preventing the plurality of tubes or the flat cable from coming into contact with the roller; the plurality of tubes projecting from the end surface in the width direction of the head ; the tube side end surface of the guide shaft is disposed along a nearly vertical surface and the distance between the cover and the guide shaft, that the tube and the flat cable are arranged in intervals not pass through It is characterized by.
[0009]
In the present invention configured as described above, a flat cable for energizing the head is attached to the tube that supplies ink from the ink holding portion to the head, and the tube and the flat cable behave integrally. Further, a guide shaft for guiding the head in the width direction of the recording medium, and the cover in which the tube or flat cable can be prevented from contacting with the roller, along a plane perpendicular pot each of the tube-side end face Gaho It is arrange | positioned and the space | interval of both is arrange | positioned at the space | interval which the said tube and the said flat cable do not pass. That is, the cover and the guide shaft form a substantially vertical surface that prevents the tube and the flat cable that behave integrally with each other from bending.
[0010]
For this reason, in this invention, it can prevent favorably that a tube bends beyond the said guide shaft and cover, without providing a special member. Therefore, if the positioning marker member is provided on the side opposite to the head across the guide shaft, the positioning marker member can be satisfactorily prevented from coming into contact with the tube and being soiled. Moreover, in the present invention, the flat cable is erected along a substantially vertical surface , and the substantially vertical surface is constituted by the guide shaft and the cover, so that the tube floats when the tube is prevented from bending. In addition, the movement resistance applied to the head can be extremely reduced. Therefore, the ink ejection position can be controlled more accurately.
[0011]
The invention of claim 2, wherein, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, wherein said plurality of tubes, the said guide shaft and the cover, wherein that you have to protrude by approximately 30 ° inclined to the opposite side.
[0012]
[0013]
[0014]
[0015]
[0016]
[0017]
[0018]
The invention of claim 3, wherein, in addition to the configuration according to claim 1 or 2, the upper notated flat cable characterized by comprising a protective film covering and protecting the opposite side of the tube.
In this invention, since the said protective film covers and protects a flat cable from the other side of a tube , in addition to the effect of the invention of Claim 1 or 2, there exists an effect that a flat cable can be protected further better. Arise.
[0019]
[0020]
[0021]
[0022]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the internal structure of an ink jet printer to which the present invention is applied as viewed from the paper discharge side, that is, the downstream side in the recording paper conveyance direction (hereinafter referred to as the front side), and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view seen from the paper side, that is, the upstream side in the recording paper conveyance direction (hereinafter referred to as the rear side).
[0023]
As shown in FIG. 2, a paper feed roller 1 is provided at the rear of the ink jet printer, and the recording paper (corresponding to the recording medium) held in a laminated form on a paper feed tray (not shown) is separated one by one. Transport. The recording paper fed from the paper feed roller 1 is transported onto the platen 5 by the transport roller 3 shown in FIG. 1, and after an image is formed by the head 7, it is discharged onto a paper output tray (not shown) by the paper output roller 9. Paper.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 3 as a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 as a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3, the head 7 is mounted on a carriage 11. The shaft 13 is guided so as to be movable in the width direction (main scanning direction) of the recording paper. The carriage 11 is connected to an endless belt 17 driven by a carriage motor 15 as a head moving means, and moves on the platen 5 in the width direction according to the rotation of the carriage motor 15. In addition, an encoder strip 19 as a positioning marker member is stretched behind the guide shaft 13 in the width direction, and a known linear encoder is configured in cooperation with an optical sensor (not shown) provided on the carriage 11. .
[0025]
As shown in FIG. 4, a roller 21 that presses and holds the recording paper with the conveyance roller 3 is disposed below the conveyance roller 3, and the roller 21 is pressed by a spring (not shown). And are urged upward. Further, a cover 25 made of a thin metal plate is provided on the outer periphery of the upper portion of the conveying roller 3 to prevent the conveying roller 3 from coming into contact with the tube 31 described below.
[0026]
The front end surface of the cover 25 and the front end surface of the guide shaft 13 are disposed on a vertical plane perpendicular to the platen 5 as shown in FIG. In addition, various members such as a paper spring 27 made of a leaf spring for pressing the recording paper against the platen 5 are disposed on the platen 5.
[0027]
Next, as shown in FIG. 5 as an enlarged view of part C in FIG. 3, from both side end surfaces of the head 7 in the moving direction, the tubes 31 that supply ink to the head 7 are about 30 ° forward from the moving direction. It protrudes in an inclined direction. The tube 31 is provided on one side with two tubes 31 for supplying magenta and yellow ink to the head 7 in combination, and on the other side 2 for supplying cyan and black ink to the head 2. The tube 31 of this book is arrange | positioned combining up and down. These tubes 31 are connected to the head 7 via a manifold 33 as follows.
[0028]
FIG. 6 is a plan view, a side view, and a sectional view taken along the line DD, illustrating the configuration of the manifold 33. As shown in FIG. 6, the manifold 33 has a conical shape in which the diameter of the insertion side is small along the protruding direction (attachment direction) of the tube 31, and the diameter of the insertion side is smaller than the rear end of the conical portion. A valve 35 having a reduced diameter is projected, and the ink supplied thereto is supplied from a supply port 37 to a nozzle (not shown) of the head 7 for each color. In addition, an 8-shaped holding member 39 having two hollow portions into which the tube 31 is fitted inside is fitted and fixed to the manifold 33 so that the valve 35 is disposed in the hollow portion. Has been. Since the holding member 39 needs to press the tube 31 against the valve 35, the holding member 39 is made of a material harder than the tube 31 and is assembled so that the holding member 39 is pushed into the state where the tube 31 is inserted into the valve 35. In the manifold 33 configured in this manner, the outer periphery of the tube 31 is pressed from the holding member 39 and the inner periphery is pressed from the valve 35, so that the tube 31 can be fixed securely.
[0029]
Each of the two tubes 31 has an FPC 43 (corresponding to a flat cable: may be FFC) and an FPC protective film (hereinafter simply referred to as a protective film) 45 by a tube band 41 as a binding member as shown in FIG. It is bundled at various places.
[0030]
The tube band 41 is made of an elastic material such as rubber or elastic synthetic resin, and includes a pair of grooves 47 and one groove 49 as shown in FIG. The groove 47 is formed with a non-slip on the inner surface, and fixes the tube 31 so as not to move. On the other hand, the groove 49 loosely fits the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 and has a retaining portion 60 so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction. The FPC 43 is disposed between the pair of tubes 31 and the protective film 45 and is protected by the protective film 45. Further, the protective film 45 includes rectangular cutouts 45a at both ends of the attachment portion to the tube band 41, and the protective film 45 is held so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction within the range of the cutouts 45a.
[0031]
A slope 48 is formed at a portion of the tube band 41 facing the retaining portion 60, and a protrusion 61 is formed at the tip of the retaining portion 60. The length in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) of the groove 49 is longer than the width of the protective film 45 where the FPC 43 or the notch 45a is formed, and shorter than the width of the protective film 45 where the notch 45a is not formed. . The protective film 45 and the FPC 43 are guided to the groove 49 while being bent by being guided by the inclined surface 48 provided on the tube band 41, and the bending is released when the entire width enters the groove 49. (At this time, of course, the retaining portion 60 of the tube band 41 may be temporarily retracted against the elasticity of the tube band 41.) The FPC 43 and the protective film whose bending has been released Since 45 is prevented from moving toward the inclined surface 48 by the retaining portion 60 and the protrusion 61, it does not escape from the groove 49.
[0032]
Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 are guided to the rear end surface of the head 7, and the FPC 43 is folded back at the rear end surface and introduced into the head 7 and the above-described optical sensor. It passes along the end face as it is. Note that FIG. 8 schematically shows the FPC 43 folding method described above.
[0033]
Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a pair of columnar support portions 51 are provided in front of the center of the platen 5, and a plate-like shape for preventing the tube 31 from protruding forward on the left and right sides thereof. A tube guide 53 is provided continuously. As described above, the tube 31, the FPC 43, and the protective film 45 protruding from both end surfaces in the moving direction of the carriage 11 are guided to the support portion 51 while being bundled at various places by the tube band 41, and are folded back by the support portion 51. It is fixed along the front surface of the tube guide 53 and guided to the left and right. The tube 31 passes through the left and right guide pieces 55 to the ink cartridge (not shown: corresponding to the ink holding portion) provided below the platen 5, and the FPC 43 passes through the guide groove 57 and is provided below the platen 5. To the control circuit (not shown).
[0034]
In the ink jet printer of the present embodiment configured as described above, the tube 31 bends as indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 3 when the head 7 moves together with the carriage 11. At this time, the forward deflection of the tube 31 is regulated by the tube guide 53 as described above. Further, the backward bending of the tube 31 is restricted by the protective film 45 or the tube band 41 coming into contact with the guide shaft 13 and the cover 25.
[0035]
Here, the front side end face of the cover 25 and the front side end face of the guide shaft 13 are arranged on the vertical plane perpendicular to the platen 5 at a distance narrower than the width of the protective film 45 as shown in FIG. That is, the cover 25 and the guide shaft 13 form a vertical surface that prevents the tube 31, the FPC 43, and the protective film 45 that are bundled by the tube band 41 from being bent.
[0036]
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the transport roller 3 and the guide shaft 13 are arranged slightly shifted in the paper transport direction, and the front end surface of the cover 25 that covers the transport roller 3 and the guide shaft. The front end face of 13 is along a plane perpendicular to the platen 5 at the position in the paper transport direction. Further, the distance between the cover 25 and the guide shaft 13 is smaller than the width of the protective film 45 or the tube band 41.
[0037]
For this reason, in this Embodiment, it can prevent favorably that the tube 31 bends beyond the guide shaft 13 and the cover 25, without providing a special member. Therefore, it is possible to satisfactorily prevent the encoder strip 19 from coming into contact with the tube 31 and being soiled. In addition, in the present embodiment, since the surface perpendicular to the direction in which the tube 31 bends is formed by the guide shaft 13 and the cover 25, the tube 31 may be lifted when the tube 31 is prevented from being bent. In addition, the movement resistance applied to the head 7 can be extremely reduced. Therefore, the ink ejection position can be controlled more accurately.
[0038]
Furthermore, since the gap between the conveying roller 3 and the guide shaft 13 is narrowly arranged so that the protective film 45 and the tube guide 41 do not pass, the thickness (height) of the entire apparatus can be reduced. Moreover, in the present embodiment, the tube 31 is bundled together with the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 by the tube band 41, and the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 are held so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the tube band 41. For this reason, even if the curvature of the tube 31, FPC43, and the protective film 45 differs in the curved part of the tube 31, a twist etc. do not arise. Therefore, it is possible to further suppress the movement resistance applied to the head 7. Moreover, since the movement range of the protective film 45 is regulated by the notch 45a, even if the FPC 43 and the protective film 45 move in the longitudinal direction as described above, they easily return to their original positions.
[0039]
In addition, since the tube band 41 fixes the pair of tubes 31 to the pair of grooves 47 so as to be immovable, if the fixing is performed as follows, the occurrence of twisting or the like can be prevented more satisfactorily. That is, the pair of tubes 31 may be fixed straight and parallel with a jig or the like, and the tube band 41 may be fixed to the fixed tube 31. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the pair of tubes 31 from being twisted and to further suppress the movement resistance applied to the head 7. Moreover, since FPC43 and the protective film 45 can be inserted into the groove | channel 49 of the tube band 41 from upper direction, you may insert these at the end of an assembly.
[0040]
Furthermore, since the protective film 45 is oriented in the direction perpendicular to the platen 5, the tube 31 can be prevented from bending in the recording paper direction. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the tube 31 can be prevented from coming into contact with the recording medium and contaminated, and the bending behavior of the tube 31 can be made smoother, so that the movement resistance from the tube 31 to the head 7 can be reduced. It is possible to further suppress the addition. Therefore, the load on the carriage motor 15 can be reduced extremely well, and the ink ejection position can be controlled more accurately.
[0041]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment at all, It can implement with a various form in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, the front end surface of the cover 25 may be moved slightly forward from the front end surface of the guide shaft 13 and shifted from the vertical surface. Originally, the tube 31 is deformed in the direction in which it hangs down due to its own weight, and by moving the front end face of the cover 25 forward, it is possible to prevent downward deformation and contact with the recording paper.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an internal structure of an ink jet printer to which the present invention is applied as viewed from a paper discharge side.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the internal structure as viewed from the paper feeding side.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part C in FIG. 3;
6 is a plan view, a side view, and a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD, illustrating a configuration of a manifold of the inkjet printer. FIG.
FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a configuration of a tube band, a tube, an FPC, and an FPC protective film of the inkjet printer.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view schematically showing how to fold the FPC.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Conveyance roller 5 ... Platen 7 ... Head 11 ... Carriage 13 ... Guide shaft 15 ... Carriage motor 19 ... Encoder strip 25 ... Cover 31 ... Tube 41 ... Tube band 43 ... FPC 45 ... FPC protective film 45a ... Notch 47, 49 ... groove 51 ... support part

Claims (3)

A head for ejecting ink to form an image on a recording medium;
A guide shaft for guiding the head in the width direction of the recording medium,
A roller for transporting the upper Symbol recording medium in the direction orthogonal to the width direction,
A flat cable that is erected along a substantially vertical plane and energizes the head;
A plurality of tubes disposed along the surface of the flat cable, for supplying ink to the head from an ink holding portion provided separately from the head;
An inkjet printer comprising:
A cover for covering the roller and preventing the plurality of tubes or the flat cable from contacting the roller;
The plurality of tubes protrude from the end surface on the width direction side of the head,
The tube side end surface of the cover and the guide shaft is disposed along a nearly vertical surface and the distance between the cover and the guide shaft, arranged in intervals not pass through the said tube and the flat cable jet printer characterized in that it is. The plurality of tubes, the guide shaft and ink jet printer of claim 1, wherein that you have to protrude by approximately 30 ° inclined on the side opposite to the cover. The ink jet printer according to above notated flat cable to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a protective film covering and protecting the opposite side of the tube.

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