JP3839316B2 - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus including a platen with a heater.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-296607 discloses a recording apparatus in which a printing medium such as paper is heated by a heater provided on a platen, and printing is performed by an ink jet recording head to improve image quality. .
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When the platen is heated by the heater, the material of the platen is naturally metal. Metal has a property of expanding when heated, and in a large recording apparatus, the elongation of the platen has an unfavorable influence on the drawing and the accuracy of the apparatus. Further, there is a problem that a large single platen platen is expensive. In order to solve this problem, a configuration is adopted in which the platen is divided into a plurality of parts, and the parts are arranged in the horizontal direction and screwed to the machine body to form a divided surface. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the joining portion of each part (2 ″) of the platen (2 ′) absorbs elongation due to heating of each part (2 ″) of about 1 mm. A gap (G) is formed. Usually, the adjacent boundary lines (L1 ′) (L2 ′) formed by the joint portion of the platen (2 ′) are parallel to the paper transport direction (A). Since the gap (G) is formed at the joint portion of each part (2 ″) of the platen (2 ′), the heat of the heater is not transmitted and the portion is cooler than the surroundings. A) will be formed in a line shape along A), and the image quality will be adversely affected. In addition, the heat of the heater is also transmitted to the screwed portions (9 ′) of each part (2 ″) of the platen. It's hard to warm up. Therefore, if a plurality of screwing portions (9 ′) of the platen overlap on a line (L) parallel to the sheet conveying direction (A), a plurality of low temperature portions are formed on this line, which is also The image quality is adversely affected.
The present invention aims to solve the above problems.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention conveys the drawing medium in the drawing medium conveyance direction on the surface of the platen (2) provided with the heater (90) on the back side, while the ink jet recording head (36) is In an ink jet recording apparatus that feeds in a direction perpendicular to the drawing medium conveyance direction and discharges ink from the recording head (36) to draw on the drawing medium, the platen (2) is divided into a plurality of partial parts ( 2a), 2b, and 2c, and each of these parts (2a), (2b), and (2c) are arranged in parallel with a slight gap therebetween, and a plurality of parts 2a of the platen (2) are arranged. ) (2b) (2c) adjacent boundary lines (L1) (L2) are inclined with respect to the drawing medium conveyance direction.
In the present invention, a plurality of screwed portions of the parts (2a), (2b) and (2c) of the platen (2) are arranged so as not to overlap on an axis parallel to the conveyance direction of the drawing medium. It is.
[0005]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In FIG. 1, (2) is a platen made of a metal plate, and is fixed to a machine body (5) supported on a leg (3) of an ink jet recording apparatus. The platen (2) is divided into a plurality of parts. The plurality of partial products (2a), (2b), and (2c) that constitute the platen (2) are arranged in parallel so as to expand in the direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction (A) and cover the printing range. . Each partial product (2a) (2b) (2c) is adjacent to each other with a slight gap (G), and is formed by the gap (G) of each partial product (2a) (2b) (2c). The adjacent boundary lines (L1) (L2) are formed to be inclined with respect to a line parallel to the paper transport direction (A).
[0006]
This avoids the formation of a low-temperature portion that is continuous in a line along the sheet conveyance direction on the platen (2). As shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of partial parts (2a) (2b) (2c) constituting the platen (2) are each screwed (9) to a mounting plate (7) fixed to the airframe (5). 4 corners are fixed. The mounting portions of the front and rear screws (9) of the respective parts (2a), (2b) and (2c) located on the sheet transport path of the platen (2) are not overlapped on a line parallel to the sheet transport direction. They are arranged at positions shifted from each other in a direction perpendicular to the line. A heater (90) for heating a drawing medium such as paper and a temperature sensor (not shown) for detecting the temperature of the platen are attached to the back side of each part (2a) (2b) (2c) of the platen. It has been.
[0007]
On the rear side of the lower part of the leg body (3), as shown in FIG. 2, both end shaft portions (4a) of the roll paper supply scroller (4) to which the roll portion of the roll paper (102) is attached are provided with legs. It is mounted on a pair of bearing members (6) and (8) that are rotatably arranged on the left and right sides of the body. Further, on the lower front side of the leg (3), a pair of bearing members (12) (both end shaft portions (10a) of the roll paper take-up scroller (10) are rotatably arranged on the left and right of the leg, respectively. 14). The pair of bearing members (12) and (14) are rotatably supported by the legs, respectively, and one bearing member (12) is connected to the output shaft of the roll paper winding motor (16) and the other bearing member. (14) is connected to an input shaft of an encoder (18) for detecting the rotational motion of the bearing member (14).
[0008]
A paper guide (20) is disposed behind the platen (2), and a guide roller (22) extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, that is, the Y-axis direction in FIG. 2, is disposed behind the paper guide (20). The guide roller (22) is rotatably supported by the machine body. (24) is a Y-axis rail, which is horizontally disposed above the platen (2), and both ends thereof are fixed to the airframe via brackets. A Y cursor (26) (carriage) is movably attached to the Y-axis rail (24), and the Y cursor (26) is connected to the Y-axis drive motor via an endless steel belt. It is linked to the Y-axis drive device arranged in
[0009]
A slit is formed along the Y-axis direction between the platen (2) and the paper guide (20), and a driving roller (30) is disposed in the slit. Both ends of the drive roller (30) are linked to an X-axis drive device disposed on the machine body via a bracket. A pinch roller shaft is attached to the Y-axis rail (24) via an elastic mechanism (not shown) so as to be able to move up and down, and the pinch roller (34) rotatably fitted to the pinch roller shaft is The driving roller (30) is configured to be set to one of a state separated from the surface of the driving roller (30) and a state of elastic contact with the surface.
[0010]
A head base is fixed on one side of the Y cursor (26), and four ink jet recording heads (36) each having a large number of nozzles prepared for each ink color are attached thereto. . In FIG. 2, only one recording head is shown, and the other recording heads are omitted. A sub tank (38) for solvent ink of four colors (black K, cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y), which is the same number as the recording head (26), is attached to the upper portion of the Y cursor (26). In FIG. 2, only one subtank is shown, and the other subtanks are not shown.
[0011]
As shown in FIG. 2, each of the sub-tanks (38) has a manual valve (40) for switching between ink supply and cleaning water supply on the substrate of the Y cursor (26) that supports the recording head (36). It is attached. Each sub tank (38) is connected to the corresponding recording head (36) by a tube, and the ink discharge port (44) of each sub tank (38) is set above the ink receiving port of the corresponding recording head (36). Due to the difference in height, ink is supplied to the recording head (36) from the corresponding sub tank (38) by natural fall.
[0012]
Reference numeral (46) denotes four ink main tanks containing four colors of solvent inks, which are detachably disposed in a tank storage case provided on the leg side. In FIG. 2, only one ink main tank is shown, and the other ink main tanks are not shown. Each ink main tank (46) is connected to a corresponding sub tank (38) by a tube via a diaphragm pump (48), a filter (not shown) and a manual valve (40). A negative pressure air pump (not shown) disposed in the airframe is connected to each sub tank (38) by a tube via an air chamber, a two-way solenoid valve, a manifold, a branch tube, and a three-way solenoid valve.
[0013]
The winding motor (16) and each pump are connected to a controller via a driver, respectively, and the XY driving device, recording head (36) and other various electronic devices and devices are connected to the controller and controlled by the controller. It is configured to be. In the figure, (86) is a print head heater, (84) is a sub tank heater, (92) is a temperature sensor provided in each print head (36), and (94) is provided in a sub tank (38). Temperature sensor.
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
[0014]
In order to set the rolled-out portion of the roll paper (102) on the platen (2), the pinch roller (34) is raised, and the roll paper (102) is moved from the roll portion of the roll paper set on the supply scroller (4). Is inserted between the drive roller (30) and the pinch roller (34) through the platen (2), and then the pinch roller (34) is lowered to remove the pinch roller (34) from the roll paper ( 102) is elastically contacted with the driving roller (30) from above. As a result, the drawing medium is gripped by the drive roller (30) and the pinch roller (34), and the setting of the drawing medium is completed.
[0015]
In the normal state, the sub-tank (38) is maintained at a negative pressure by a negative pressure air pump, and the apparatus does not drip, that is, does not leak, from the recording head (36). Further, if the negative pressure in the sub tank (38) is too high, ink is not supplied to the recording head (36), so the negative pressure is supplied from the sub tank (38) to the recording head (36) via the ink supply path. It is kept to the extent that ink is naturally supplied. Specifically, the negative pressure state is properly managed by a pressure gauge, and control is performed so that a constant negative pressure is obtained.
[0016]
When the printer shifts to the drawing operation, the rolled-out portion of the roll paper (102) is conveyed on the platen (2) in the X-axis direction by intermittent rotation in one direction of the drive roller (30). The recording head (36) is driven on the basis of image information under the control of the controller, ejects ink, and reciprocates along the Y-axis rail (24) of the Y cursor (26) along the Y-axis. Then, the unrolled portion of the roll paper (102) on the platen (2) is scanned, and the image information developed in the memory of the controller is visualized on the roll paper (102) surface. During drawing, the platen (2) is heated to form a uniform heating surface on the upper surface of the platen (2), and the entire drawing execution surface of the sheet (102) on the platen (2) is uniformly warmed.
[0017]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the low temperature portions of the platen screwing portion and the joint portion are not continuously formed in the conveyance direction of the drawing medium, so that the drawing portion of the drawing medium can be uniformly warmed. It is possible to perform high-quality printing without printing unevenness.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a platen used in an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view of the recording apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the platen.
FIG. 4 is an external view of a recording apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a plan view of a platen showing the prior art.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Platen 3 Leg 4 Roll paper supply scroller 5 Machine body 6 Bearing member 7 Mounting plate 8 Bearing member 9 Screw 10 Roll paper take-up scroller 12 Bearing member 14 Bearing member 16 Take-up motor 18 Encoder 20 Paper guide 22 Guide roller 24 Y-axis rail 26 Y cursor 30 Drive roller 34 Pinch roller 36 Recording head 38 Sub tank 40 Manual valve 44 Ink discharge port 46 Main tank for ink 48 Diaphragm pump 84 Heater 86 Heater
90 Heater 92 Temperature sensor 94 Temperature sensor 102 Roll paper

Claims (2)

The drawing medium is conveyed in the drawing medium conveyance direction on the surface of the platen (2) provided with the heater (90) on the back side, while the inkjet recording head (36) is fed in a direction orthogonal to the drawing medium conveyance direction. In the ink jet recording apparatus in which ink is ejected from the recording head (36) to perform drawing on the drawing medium, the platen (2) is divided into a plurality of partial products (2a) (2b) (2c), These partial parts (2a), (2b), and (2c) are arranged in parallel with a slight gap therebetween, and a plurality of partial parts 2a), (2b), and (2c) adjacent boundary lines ( L1) An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that (L2) is inclined with respect to the drawing medium conveyance direction. A plurality of screwed portions of each of the parts (2a), (2b) and (2c) of the platen (2) are arranged so as not to overlap on an axis parallel to the conveyance direction of the drawing medium. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1.

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