JP4210983B2 - Liquid ejector - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects droplets from nozzle openings formed in a liquid ejecting head.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A typical example of a conventional liquid ejecting apparatus is an ink jet recording apparatus provided with an ink jet recording head for image recording. As other liquid ejecting apparatuses, for example, an apparatus having a color material ejecting head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an electrode material (conductive paste) used for forming an electrode such as an organic EL display, a surface emitting display (FED), etc. ) An apparatus equipped with an ejection head, an apparatus equipped with a bioorganic matter ejection head used for biochip production, an apparatus equipped with a sample ejection head as a precision pipette, and the like.
[0003]
An ink jet recording apparatus, which is a typical example of a liquid ejecting apparatus, is used for many printing including color printing in recent years because noise during printing is relatively low and small dots can be formed with high density. .
[0004]
Such an ink jet recording apparatus is generally mounted on a carriage and reciprocally moved in the width direction (head scanning direction) of a recording medium such as recording paper, and head scanning is performed on the recording medium. Feeding means for moving in a direction orthogonal to the direction (medium feeding direction).
[0005]
In the ink jet recording apparatus, printing is performed by ejecting ink droplets (droplets) from the recording head to the recording medium corresponding to the print data. The recording head mounted on the carriage can discharge, for example, black, yellow, cyan, and magenta inks, so that not only text printing with black ink but also the discharge ratio of each ink can be achieved. By changing it, full-color printing is possible.
[0006]
In recent years, in order to achieve high image quality in the photographic image quality mode, etc., a technology that performs printing using seven colors of ink of black, yellow, dark yellow, magenta, light magenta, cyan, and light cyan (seven color printing) is practical. It has become. Also, conventional printing using four colors of ink (four-color printing) is suitable for high-speed printing, so a model that can switch between four-color printing and seven-color printing according to user requirements has been developed. Has been. In this model, seven cartridge mounting portions are formed on the carriage on which the ink cartridge is mounted. That is, seven ink cartridges can be mounted on the carriage, and these ink cartridges can be replaced independently of each other.
[0007]
In the case of a model having only a conventional four-color printing mode, ink cartridges mounted on one cartridge mounting unit are limited to the same type. The mounting of the ink cartridge can be reliably prevented. The erroneous mounting prevention mechanism can be configured, for example, by changing the fitting shape of the convex portion formed on the cartridge mounting portion side and the concave portion formed on the ink cartridge side according to the type of ink.
[0008]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-218813 (FIG. 1 etc.)
[Patent Document 2]
Patent No. 3165802 [0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when it is possible to switch between four-color printing and seven-color printing as described above, at least three of the seven cartridge mounting portions have two different types of ink (for example, yellow ink and dark yellow). It is necessary to be able to mount two types of ink cartridges that respectively store ink. That is, even when the above-described erroneous mounting prevention mechanism is provided, it is only possible to prevent erroneous mounting of ink cartridges other than the two types of ink cartridges that can be mounted. It is impossible to cope with a situation where an ink cartridge for ink is erroneously mounted.
[0010]
Furthermore, even when an erroneous mounting prevention mechanism is formed so that two types (for example, yellow and dark yellow) of ink cartridges can be mounted on one cartridge mounting portion, a protrusion (rib) that forms the erroneous mounting prevention mechanism. ) And the like, it is difficult to completely prevent erroneous mounting of other types (for example, magenta and cyan) of ink cartridges.
[0011]
Once an incorrect ink cartridge is mounted in the cartridge mounting portion, the ink supply needle provided in the cartridge mounting portion is inserted into the ink supply port of the ink cartridge, and the ink in the ink cartridge flows out to the recording head side. Resulting in. For this reason, even if the wrong ink cartridge is once installed and then replaced with the correct ink cartridge, the wrong type of ink remains in the ink flow path of the recording head. And the color reproducibility as an image is deteriorated instead of the original ink color. This is less affected when the ink is changed from a light color to a dark color, but is easily affected when the ink is changed from a dark color to a light color. Therefore, residual ink due to erroneous mounting of the ink cartridge needs to be sufficiently discharged out of the ink flow path by the cleaning operation.
[0012]
However, the ink suction from the nozzle opening of the recording head that is performed in the cleaning operation cannot be performed independently for each color depending on the model, and ink of all colors is sucked at the same time. There is a problem in that not only the cartridge but also an ink cartridge that is correctly mounted from the beginning is unnecessarily a large amount of ink is sucked, resulting in wasteful consumption of ink.
[0013]
In addition, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus having only the four-color printing mode, the erroneous mounting of the ink cartridge is prevented by the erroneous mounting prevention mechanism, and therefore a mechanism for detecting the erroneous mounting of the ink cartridge is not necessarily required. It was. However, as described above, in the models that can switch between the four-color printing mode and the seven-color printing mode, it may not be possible to prevent the ink cartridge from being erroneously installed. There is a possibility that the user will not notice the ink suction and the ink is sucked by the normal cleaning operation performed after the ink cartridge replacement. In this case, the wrong type of ink is filled not only in the vicinity of the ink supply needle but also in the entire ink flow path of the recording head. Even if the ink cartridge is replaced with a correct ink cartridge at this point, it is necessary to suck a large amount of ink in order to discharge the ink filled in the entire ink flow path of the recording head. In a model that cannot perform suction, a large amount of ink that is not related to erroneous mounting is wasted.
[0014]
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to replace the different types of liquid cartridges with the same cartridge mounting portion as needed, even after replacement. It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of optimizing the cleaning of the liquid and preventing inconvenience due to erroneous mounting of the liquid cartridge.
[0015]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present invention includes a liquid ejecting head that causes a pressure variation in the liquid in the pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle opening and ejects liquid droplets from the nozzle opening, and a plurality of types of liquid supplied to the liquid ejecting head A carriage formed with a plurality of cartridge mounting portions on which a plurality of independently replaceable liquid cartridges are mounted, and a cleaning control means for controlling a cleaning operation of the liquid ejecting head including flushing. At least one of the plurality of cartridge mounting portions is a liquid type changing cartridge mounting portion configured to be able to replace and mount at least two types of the liquid cartridges respectively containing different types of liquids as appropriate. And the cleaning control means is disposed in front of the liquid type changing cartridge mounting portion. When the liquid cartridge has been replaced, it is determined whether or not the type of liquid stored in the liquid cartridge has changed before and after the replacement of the liquid cartridge.If the liquid type does not change, normal cleaning is performed. When the type of the liquid changes, cleaning including liquid type changing flushing different from the flushing performed in the normal cleaning is performed.
[0016]
Preferably, the plurality of types of liquids are liquids having different colors from each other, and the cleaning control unit is configured so that the liquid cartridge is replaced with a dark liquid rather than a case where the liquid cartridge is replaced from a light liquid to a dark liquid. The liquid type changing flushing is performed so that the number of droplets discharged becomes larger when the liquid cartridge is replaced with a light liquid.
[0017]
Preferably, the liquid cartridge contains a dye ink or a pigment ink, and the cleaning control means changes the color ink from the pigment ink to the dye ink than when the liquid cartridge is replaced from the dye ink to the pigment ink. The liquid type changing flushing is performed so that the number of droplets discharged becomes larger when the liquid cartridge is replaced.
[0018]
Preferably, the cleaning control unit determines whether or not the plurality of liquid cartridges mounted on the carriage satisfy a predetermined combination, and if not, generates an error signal.
[0019]
Preferably, the cleaning control means is replaced with the liquid cartridge containing the correct type of liquid after the liquid cartridge containing the wrong type of liquid different from the planned type is once mounted. The content of flushing is changed when the liquid cartridge containing the correct type of liquid is mounted from the beginning.
[0020]
Preferably, the cleaning control means is replaced with the liquid cartridge containing the correct type of liquid after the liquid cartridge containing the wrong type of liquid different from the planned type is once mounted. In the flushing performed in the above, the number of droplets ejected in the flushing performed when the correct type of liquid is yellow ink is the number of droplets ejected in the flushing performed when the correct type of liquid is not yellow ink. Control to become more than.
[0021]
Preferably, the plurality of types of liquids are liquids of different colors and include at least a yellow liquid and a dark yellow liquid, and the cleaning control unit replaces the liquid cartridge from a dark yellow liquid to a yellow liquid. In this case, the liquid type changing flushing is controlled so as to maximize the number of droplets discharged.
[0022]
Preferably, the carriage has seven cartridge mounting portions, and the types of liquids contained in the seven liquid cartridges mounted on the seven cartridge mounting portions are black, yellow, dark yellow, magenta , Light magenta, cyan, and light cyan, and a combination of black, a pair of yellow, a pair of magenta, and a pair of cyan inks.
[0023]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an ink jet recording apparatus as an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0024]
The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment generates pressure fluctuations in the ink in each pressure chamber by each pressure generating element provided corresponding to each pressure chamber communicating with each of the plurality of nozzle openings. An ink jet recording head (a type of liquid ejecting head) that ejects ink droplets (droplets) from the head. As the pressure generating element, for example, a piezoelectric vibrator can be used.
[0025]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage. The carriage 1 is guided by a guide member 4 via a timing belt 3 driven by a carriage motor 2 and is reciprocated in the axial direction of the platen 5. Yes. The platen 5 supports the recording paper 6 (a kind of recording medium) from the back surface thereof and defines the position of the recording paper 6 with respect to the recording head 12.
[0026]
The recording head 12 is mounted on the side of the carriage 1 that faces the recording paper 6. An ink cartridge (a type of liquid cartridge) 7 that supplies ink to the recording head 12 is detachably mounted on the carriage 1.
[0027]
As shown in FIG. 2, the recording head 12 is formed with a plurality of nozzle openings 14 and a plurality of pressure chambers 15 communicating with the nozzle openings 14, and pressure fluctuations are generated in the ink in the pressure chambers 15 from the nozzle openings 14. Ink droplets can be ejected.
[0028]
The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a four-color printing mode using four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, and seven colors of black, cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, and dark yellow. The seven-color printing mode using the above ink can be switched as appropriate. The four-color printing mode is suitable for high-speed printing, and the seven-color printing mode is suitable for high-quality printing such as photographs. In the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment, pigment ink and dye ink can be appropriately selected and used.
[0029]
As shown in FIG. 2, the carriage 1 is formed with seven cartridge mounting portions 8a to 8g, and the seven ink cartridges 7a to 7g are mounted on the cartridge mounting portions 8a to 8g, respectively. . FIG. 2 shows the mounted state of the ink cartridges 7a to 7g in the seven-color printing mode.
[0030]
Of the seven cartridge mounting portions 8a to 8g, the three cartridge mounting portions 8a to 8c are liquid type changing cartridge mounting portions that are configured so that two types of ink cartridges can be appropriately replaced and mounted. . Specifically, a yellow ink cartridge and a dark yellow ink cartridge can be appropriately exchanged and mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 8a, and magenta and light magenta ink cartridges are similarly mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 8b. In 8c, cyan and light cyan ink cartridges can be appropriately replaced and mounted. On the other hand, the other four cartridge mounting portions 8d to 8g are configured so that only one type of ink cartridge 7d to 8g can be mounted.
[0031]
A cap member 13 is arranged at a home position (right side in FIG. 1) which is a non-printing area of the ink jet recording apparatus, and the recording head 12 mounted on the carriage 1 has moved to the home position. Sometimes, it is configured to be pressed against the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 12 to form a sealed space with the nozzle forming surface. A suction pump 10 is disposed below the cap member 13 for applying a negative pressure to the sealed space formed by the cap member 13 to suck ink.
[0032]
In the vicinity of the printing area side of the cap member 13, a wiping means 11 having an elastic plate such as rubber is disposed so as to be able to advance and retreat in the horizontal direction with respect to the movement trajectory of the recording head 12. When reciprocating toward the member 13 side, the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 12 can be wiped off as necessary.
[0033]
The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment further includes a medium feeding mechanism that intermittently conveys the recording paper 6 to be printed (recorded) by the recording head 12 in the medium feeding direction orthogonal to the head scanning direction. Yes.
[0034]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control circuit and the like for controlling the cleaning operation in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, one end of the tube 10 a constituting the suction pump 10 as the negative pressure generating means is connected to the cap member 13, and the other end is connected to the waste liquid tank 20. The ink waste liquid discharged into the internal space of the cap member 13 can be discarded into the waste liquid tank 20 via the suction pump 10.
[0035]
Reference numeral 30 in FIG. 3 is a host computer, and a printer driver 31 is mounted on the host computer 30. The utility of the printer driver 31 is configured to input a known paper size, print mode selection, font data, a print command, and the like using an input device and a display.
[0036]
Then, print data is sent from the printer driver 31 to the print control means 32, and the print control means 32 generates bitmap data based on the received print data, and the head drive means 33 based on the bitmap data. A drive signal is generated and ink is ejected from the recording head 12.
[0037]
The head driving unit 33 receives the flushing command signal from the flushing control unit 36 that constitutes a part of the cleaning control unit 34 in addition to the driving signal based on the print data, and outputs a driving signal for flushing to the recording head 12. It is also configured to do.
[0038]
The cleaning control unit 34 further includes an ink cartridge determination unit 35 and an ink suction control unit 37. The ink cartridge determination means 35 is based on information read from information storage means (ROM or the like) attached to the ink cartridges 7a to 7g, and the ink cartridges 7a to 7g attached to the cartridge attachment portions 8a to 8g. Type (color, pigment / dye, etc.). The ink suction control unit 37 controls the driving of the suction pump 10 when ink suction is performed as a cleaning operation.
[0039]
Next, a method for cleaning the recording head 12 by the cleaning control unit 34 will be described.
[0040]
FIG. 4 shows a control sequence for cleaning the recording head 12 by the cleaning control means 34 when the ink cartridge (I / C) is replaced. When the ink cartridge 7 is replaced (step 1), the ink cartridge determination unit 35 reads out data related to the ink cartridge 7 from the information storage unit of the ink cartridge 7. This data includes information on the color and pigment / dye of the ink stored in the ink cartridge 7. Then, it is determined whether or not data has been read from all of the seven ink cartridges 7a to 7g (step 3).
[0041]
When the data reading from the seven ink cartridges 7a to 7g is completed, the combination (ink set) of the types of the seven ink cartridges 7a to 7g mounted on the carriage 1 is next to a predetermined combination. It is determined whether or not it is correct (step 4). Specifically, the combination of the seven ink cartridges 7a to 7g is a combination of black, a pair of cyan, a pair of magenta, a pair of yellow corresponding to the four-color printing mode, or a black corresponding to the seven-color printing mode. It is determined whether or not any of the combinations of cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, and dark yellow is applicable.
[0042]
If the ink set is correct, it is determined whether or not the current ink set is the same as the stored ink set (step 5). If they are different, it indicates that the ink set has been replaced with another color. A replacement cleaning (CL) flag is set (step 6).
[0043]
On the other hand, if it is determined in step 4 that the ink set is wrong, an ink set error is issued to prompt the user to replace the ink set flag (step 7), and it is confirmed that the ink has been replaced with another color. A replacement cleaning (CL) flag is set (step 8). The ink set flag is a flag that is stored when an incorrect combination of inks is inserted.
[0044]
Subsequent to Step 5, Step 6 or Step 8, it is determined whether or not the expected correct type of ink cartridges 7a to 7g is mounted on the cartridge mounting portions 8a to 8g (Step 9). If the ink cartridge is wrongly mounted, it is determined whether or not the wrongly mounted ink cartridge is a yellow ink cartridge (step 10). If the ink cartridge is yellow ink, a yellow (Y) replacement flag is set (step 11).
[0045]
Subsequent to Step 9, Step 10, or Step 11, the content of replacement cleaning to be performed in accordance with the replacement of the ink cartridge is determined (Step 12), and the cleaning operation is performed based on the determination result (Step 13).
[0046]
FIG. 5 shows the replacement cleaning determination conditions in step 12. The cleaning conditions are roughly divided into normal replacement cleaning (replacement CL1) and replacement cleaning (replacement CL1 to 3). Normal replacement cleaning (replacement CL1) is normal cleaning performed when the ink types are the same before and after replacement of the ink cartridge 7. On the other hand, the replacement cleaning is cleaning that is performed when the type of ink is changed when the ink cartridge 7 is replaced, and is cleaning that includes liquid type changing flushing that is different from flushing that is performed in normal replacement cleaning. .
[0047]
The cleaning performed after the replacement of the ink cartridge 7 includes the ink suction from the nozzle openings 14 of the recording head 12 performed by the ink suction control unit 37 using the capping unit 13 and the suction pump 10, and the following. And flushing in which droplets are ejected from the nozzle openings 14 by the flushing control means 36. Since the flushing is for driving the recording head 12 to eject droplets from the nozzle openings 14, it can be performed for each type of ink, for example.
[0048]
FIG. 6 shows the magnitude of the number of ejected droplets of flushing in various replacement cleanings when ink change is performed for four colors and seven colors. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the number of flushing droplet discharges is greater when the ink cartridge 7 is replaced from the dark ink to the light ink than when the ink cartridge 7 is replaced from the light ink to the dark ink. There are many. Specifically, the number of flushing droplet discharges is the largest when the color is changed from dark yellow to yellow, followed by exchange from magenta to light magenta, and from cyan to light cyan. In other color exchanges, the number of flushing droplet discharges is small.
[0049]
FIG. 7 shows the number of ejected droplets of flushing in cleaning performed when the dye ink and the pigment ink are exchanged. In this example, the combination of the 7-color dye ink and the 4-color pigment / 3-color dye combination is changed. As can be seen from FIG. 7, the number of flushing droplets discharged when the pigment ink is replaced with the dye ink is larger than that in the reverse replacement pattern.
[0050]
FIG. 8 shows a case where the ink cartridge is replaced without changing the printing mode in the four-color printing mode, and the yellow ink cartridge should be replaced with the yellow ink cartridge. In the same way, it shows the case where light cyan was installed by mistake. In the case of this example, since the wrong ink has flowed out from the erroneously mounted ink cartridge to the recording head side, the normal flushing number cannot be established. Therefore, when an incorrect combination is set as described above, it is stored as a flag, and it is not known what has been exchanged for the number of flushing after the exchange. select.
[0051]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the ink type before and after the replacement of the ink cartridge 7 is determined, the presence / absence of erroneous mounting is determined, and the content of cleaning after replacement is selected based on these determination results. As a result, even when different types of ink cartridges are appropriately replaced in the same cartridge mounting portion and can be mounted, the contents of cleaning after replacement can be optimized, and ink cartridges can be mistakenly mounted. Inconvenience can be prevented.
[0052]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the type of liquid before and after the replacement of the liquid cartridge is determined, the presence or absence of erroneous mounting is determined, and the content of cleaning after replacement is selected based on these determination results. As a result, even when different types of liquid cartridges can be appropriately replaced in the same cartridge mounting portion, the contents of cleaning after replacement can be optimized, and inconvenience due to incorrect mounting of liquid cartridges can be achieved. Can be prevented.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus as an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing portions of a recording head, a carriage, and an ink cartridge of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.
3 is a block diagram showing a control circuit and the like for controlling the cleaning operation of the recording head in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.
4 is a diagram showing a recording head cleaning control sequence in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing replacement cleaning determination conditions in the recording head cleaning method in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1;
6 is a diagram showing the number of droplets discharged by flushing in various replacement cleanings when ink change is performed with four colors and seven colors in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.
7 is a diagram showing the number of droplets discharged in flushing in cleaning performed when the dye ink and the pigment ink are exchanged in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
8 illustrates a case where the ink cartridge is replaced without changing the printing mode in the four-color printing mode and the wrong ink cartridge is installed in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. Figure for.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Carriage 6 Recording paper (recording medium)
7, 7a-7g Ink cartridges 8a-8g Cartridge mounting portion 10 Suction pump 12 Inkjet recording head (liquid ejecting head)
13 Cap member 14 Nozzle opening 15 Pressure chamber 30 Host computer 31 Printer driver 32 Print control means 33 Head drive means 34 Cleaning control means 35 Ink cartridge determination means 36 Flushing control means 37 Ink suction control means

Claims (1)

A liquid ejecting head that causes a pressure fluctuation in the liquid in the pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle opening to discharge droplets from the nozzle opening;
A carriage formed with a plurality of cartridge mounting portions on which a plurality of independently replaceable liquid cartridges storing a plurality of types of liquid supplied to the liquid ejecting head are mounted;
Cleaning control means for controlling a cleaning operation of the liquid jet head including flushing, and
At least one of the plurality of cartridge mounting portions is a liquid type changing cartridge mounting portion configured to be able to replace and mount at least two types of the liquid cartridges respectively containing different types of liquids as appropriate. ,
When the liquid cartridge is replaced in the liquid type changing cartridge mounting section, the cleaning control means is mounted to determine whether or not the type of liquid stored in the liquid cartridge has changed before and after replacement of the liquid cartridge. Whether or not the liquid cartridge satisfies a predetermined combination;
The predetermined combinations are dark yellow, light magenta, light cyan, black, cyan, magenta, yellow, the first combination having seven types of ink in the carriage, yellow, magenta, cyan, black, cyan, A second combination comprising four types of ink on the carriage in the order of magenta and yellow;
When the combination is satisfied and the liquid type does not change, normal cleaning is performed. When the combination is satisfied and the liquid type is changed from the second combination to the first combination, The cleaning including the first liquid type changing flushing is performed in which the flushing of the light magenta and the light cyan is larger than the flushing performed in the normal cleaning, the combination is satisfied, and the second combination is changed from the first combination to the second combination. When the type of the liquid is changed, cleaning including the second liquid type changing flushing in which the yellow flushing is more frequent than the flushing performed in the normal cleaning is performed, and the second liquid type change is performed. The number of droplets ejected by the yellow flushing in the flushing for use is the first Greater than the droplet ejection speed of the light magenta flushing in a liquid type changes for flushing,
When the liquid cartridge containing the wrong type of liquid different from the planned type is once mounted and then replaced with the liquid cartridge containing the right type of liquid, the yellow is not exchanged. The cleaning including the first liquid type changing flushing is performed, and when the yellow is replaced, the number of droplets discharged of the yellow flushing is the same as the second liquid type changing flushing, The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of droplets ejected by the magenta and cyan flushing is the same as that of the first liquid type changing flushing .

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