JP4243834B2 - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that prints an image on a recording sheet by ejecting ink droplets toward the recording sheet, and in particular, effectively maintains the printing function of the recording head in units of individual ink cartridges. The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing the above.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, a serial scanning ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording head mounted on a carriage and reciprocating in a main scanning direction, and a paper feeding unit that transports recording paper in a sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. Printing is performed on the recording paper by ejecting ink droplets from the recording head based on the print data.
[0003]
The recording head described above performs printing by ejecting ink pressurized in the pressure generation chamber as ink droplets from a nozzle onto a recording sheet. For example, an increase in ink viscosity caused by evaporation of a solvent from the nozzle opening, There is a problem in that printing failure occurs due to solidification of dust, adhesion of dust, and mixing of bubbles. For this reason, when the nozzle opening is clogged or when the ink cartridge is replaced, a maintenance operation for eliminating the ink droplet ejection failure is performed.
[0004]
In order to perform the maintenance operation, a capping unit capable of sealing the nozzle forming surface of the recording head is provided, and the negative nozzle from the suction pump is sealed with the nozzle forming surface of the recording head sealed by the capping unit. Ink is sucked and discharged from the nozzle opening by pressure. As a result, clogging due to solidification of ink at the nozzle opening and ejection failure of ink droplets due to mixing of bubbles into the ink flow path are eliminated, and such a maintenance function is also called a cleaning operation. .
[0005]
An ink jet recording apparatus that performs the above-described cleaning operation is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 shown below.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2002-103650 A (paragraphs 0001 to 0005, FIG. 1)
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, by performing a cleaning operation, an operation of simultaneously sucking and discharging ink from all ink cartridges by a capping unit is performed. For example, it is known that a black ink having a high color material density has a lower recoverability of ink discharge capability due to execution of a cleaning operation than other inks.
[0008]
Accordingly, the discharge capability at the nozzle opening for discharging the color ink often recovers first, and in such a case, only the color ink is discharged in a large amount into the capping means and is wasted, and the nozzle that discharges the black ink. A phenomenon occurs in which the negative pressure is less likely to act on the opening.
[0009]
The present invention has been made paying attention to the problems of the conventional ones described above, and has a function of sucking and discharging ink from a specific ink cartridge, and reliability of valve closing and valve opening operations of the ink flow path. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of improving the image quality.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The ink jet recording apparatus made a according to the present invention in order to achieve the object is mounted on the carriage, supplied with ink from a plurality of ink cartridges, one ink jet ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle openings An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a recording head and a capping unit that seals a nozzle forming surface of the recording head and sucks and discharges ink from a nozzle opening by a negative pressure from a negative pressure generating unit. Te, wherein corresponding to each ink passage leading to the recording head from the ink cartridge, is opened and closed mechanisms each opening and closing valve is provided, the opening and closing operation mechanism, by rotating the lever member, the carriage An elevating member arranged to move up and down with respect to an ink outlet needle constituting a part of the ink flow path; It is arranged in the elevating member, and when the elevating member is pushed down by the lever member, it is pushed up by the ink lead-out needle and closed, and when the depressing by the lever member is released, the valve is opened by a spring member. A flow path opening / closing valve, and a rack member that reciprocates to rotate the lever member to open and close the flow path opening / closing valve disposed in the ink flow path. The negative pressure generating means is placed in the capping means in a state where the flow path opening / closing valve of the ink flow path which is not a target for suction and discharge is closed by the rotation of the lever member accompanying the movement, and the recording head is sealed. The ink is sucked and discharged from the ink flow path in which the negative pressure is supplied from the ink flow path and the flow path opening / closing valve of the ink flow path is opened .
[0012]
In addition, it is desirable that a gear arranged in mesh with the rack member and reciprocatingly moving the rack member by receiving a rotational driving force is mounted on the carriage. In a state where the surface is sealed by the capping means, a driving gear for providing a rotational driving force to the gear mounted on the carriage is arranged.
[0013]
According to the ink jet recording apparatus having the above-described configuration, the flow path opening / closing valve disposed in the ink flow path can be individually controlled to be opened / closed corresponding to each ink. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently execute the cleaning sequence corresponding to the specific ink. As a result, as described above, only the color ink is discharged into the capping unit in a large amount and wasted, and the problem that the negative pressure hardly acts on the nozzle opening for discharging the black ink can be avoided. Therefore, an efficient cleaning operation can be executed while suppressing waste of ink.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a basic configuration of a recording apparatus main body to which the present invention can be applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage, which is guided by a guide member 4 via a timing belt 3 driven by a carriage motor 2 and reciprocates in the main scanning direction along the longitudinal direction of the paper feed member 5. It is configured to be.
[0015]
A paper feed roller 6 is disposed on the paper feed member 5, and the recording paper 7 sandwiched between the paper feed roller 6 and a driven roller (not shown) is driven by the rotation of the paper feed roller 6. It is configured to be conveyed in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the scanning direction. In this case, a large number of protrusions 5a are intermittently formed along the longitudinal direction on the upper surface of the paper feed member 5, and the recording paper 7 is conveyed along the upper surface of the protrusions 5a. A predetermined gap is formed with a recording head described later.
[0016]
On the other hand, an ink jet recording head 8 is mounted on the lower surface of the carriage 1 facing the recording paper 7 as indicated by a broken line. Further, a black ink cartridge 9B for supplying ink to the recording head 8 and color ink cartridges 9C, 9M, and 9Y containing cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction. In this way, it is detachably mounted.
[0017]
Reference numeral 11 in the figure denotes a capping unit disposed in a non-printing area (home position). The capping unit 11 moves upward when the recording head 8 moves directly above, and forms a nozzle formation surface of the recording head. (In this embodiment, the lower surface of the recording head 8) can be sealed. A suction pump 12 as a negative pressure generating means for applying a negative pressure to the internal space of the capping means 11 is disposed below the capping means 11.
[0018]
The capping unit 11 functions as a lid that seals the nozzle formation surface of the recording head 8 and suppresses evaporation of the ink solvent from the nozzle opening during the rest period of the recording apparatus, and from the suction pump 12. A cleaning operation for maintaining the ink droplet ejection function is also performed by applying a negative pressure to the recording head 8 to suck and discharge ink from the recording head.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 1, a wiping member 13 in which an elastic material such as rubber is formed in a strip shape is disposed on the printing area side adjacent to the capping means 11, and the carriage 1 reciprocates to the capping means 11 side. When doing so, a wiping operation is performed in which the recording head 8 is moved back and forth in the horizontal direction as necessary to wipe and clean the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 8.
[0020]
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the flow path opening / closing valve and its opening / closing operation mechanism, which are arranged in the ink supply path from the ink cartridge loaded on the carriage 1 to the recording head. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 9 denotes one of the ink cartridges already described, and this ink cartridge 9 is mounted in a state of being mounted on the elevating member 21.
[0021]
The elevating member 21 is housed in an outer member 22 that forms the outer shell of the carriage 1, and the elevating member 21 moves up and down in the outer member 22, thereby opening and closing the flow path disposed in the ink supply path. The valve 23 can be opened and closed. Further, a lever member 24 is disposed so as to be rotatable through a fulcrum 22a formed on a part of the outer member 22. One end of the lever member 24 is configured so that the upper end of a rack member 25 that can reciprocate can abut.
[0022]
The lift member 21 is lowered by the action of the other end of the lever member 24 coming into contact with the lower end portion of the window hole 21 a formed in the lift member 21 so that the flow path opening / closing valve 23 can be closed. It is configured.
[0023]
The rack member 25 is configured to be moved in the vertical direction along a guide member 22b formed in the vertical direction on the lower bottom portion of the outer member 22. Further, a gear 26 is rotatably attached to a columnar body 22c that is also formed in the vertical direction on the lower bottom portion of the outer member 22, and the rack member 25 is moved while meshing with the gear 26. In other words, the rack member 25 is configured to move up and down by the rotational power received by the gear 25.
[0024]
Reference numeral 27 denotes a drive gear which can mesh with a gear 26 mounted on the carriage 1 side, which is a position where the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 8 is sealed by the capping means 11 and a cleaning operation can be performed. Is arranged. And the drive gear 27 is comprised so that it may be rotationally driven by the actuator drive mechanism mentioned later, for example, a drive motor.
[0025]
3 and FIG. 4 are enlarged views of the flow path opening / closing valve and its opening / closing operation mechanism portion arranged in the ink supply path shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 shows that the flow path opening / closing valve 23 is opened. FIG. 4 shows a state where the flow path opening / closing valve 23 is closed. 3 and 4, parts corresponding to the parts shown in FIG. 2 already described are denoted by the same reference numerals.
[0026]
3 and 4, a joining member 30 that is formed in a cylindrical shape from, for example, a rubber material is fitted into the ink outlet of the ink cartridge 9. A hollow ink lead-out needle 31 is attached upward. Then, with the ink cartridge 9 mounted on the elevating member 21, the inner peripheral surface of the bonding member 30 is bonded to the outer peripheral surface of the ink lead-out needle 31 so that ink can be led out from the ink cartridge 9. Yes.
[0027]
An ink flow path is formed from the hollow ink lead-out needle 31 toward the hollow portion 32 formed in the elevating member 21, and on the upper end side of the hollow portion 32 formed in the elevating member 21, For example, a cylindrical packing member 33 made of a rubber material is fitted. A disk-shaped valve member 34 is arranged below the packing member 33 so as to be movable in the vertical direction in the hollow portion 32, and this valve member 34 contacts the lower end portion of the packing member 33. By contacting, the ink flow path is closed. That is, the cylindrical packing member 33 and the disk-shaped valve member 34 form a flow path opening / closing valve.
[0028]
The valve member 34 is configured to be biased downward in the hollow portion 32 by a coiled spring member 35, whereby the valve member 34 is opened by the spring member 35. It is configured as follows. Further, a cylindrical joining member 36 made of, for example, a rubber material is fitted in the vicinity of the lower end portion of the hollow portion 32 formed in the elevating member 21. A hollow ink lead-out needle 37 is mounted upward on the inner bottom of the outer member 22 constituting the carriage 1.
[0029]
Then, the inner peripheral surface of the joining member 36 disposed on the elevating member 21 is joined to the outer peripheral surface of the ink outlet needle 37 disposed on the inner bottom portion of the outer member 22, and ink via the flow path opening / closing valve 23. Is led out toward the ink lead-out needle 37. Although not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an ink supply path from the ink lead-out needle 36 toward the recording head 8 shown in FIG. 1 is formed.
[0030]
The above-described configuration is a configuration corresponding to one ink cartridge, and the above-described configuration is formed in the carriage 1 corresponding to each loaded ink cartridge. When the flow path opening / closing valve 23 is closed, the drive gear 27 in the state shown in FIG. 4 is driven to rotate by the actuator described above. As a result, the gear 26 mounted on the carriage 1 side is rotated, and the rack member 25 rises and abuts against one end of the rack member 25. As the rack member 25 is further raised, the lever member 24 is rotated rightward in the drawing via the fulcrum 22a, and the other end portion of the lever member 24 is the lower end portion of the window hole 21a formed in the elevating member 21. Pushing the elevating member 21 in contact with the
As a result, the ink lead-out needle 37 disposed on the outer member 22 of the carriage 1 relatively enters the hollow portion 32 formed in the elevating member 21, and the tip portion of the ink lead-out needle 37 is a disc-shaped valve member 34. In order to push up, the flow path opening / closing valve 23 is closed. When the drive gear 27 is rotationally driven in the direction opposite to the above, the flow path opening / closing valve 23 is opened.
[0032]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a control circuit that selectively performs a cleaning operation corresponding to the ink flow path supplied from each ink cartridge, using the recording apparatus having the flow path opening / closing valve configured as described above. FIG. In FIG. 6, parts corresponding to the parts already described are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 6, one end of a tube 12 a constituting a suction pump (tube pump) 12 serving as a negative pressure generating means is connected to the capping means 11 described above, and the other end is connected to a waste liquid tank 15. . As a result, the ink waste liquid discharged into the internal space of the capping means 11 by the cleaning operation can be discarded into the waste liquid tank 15 via the tube pump 12.
[0033]
Reference numeral 40 shown in FIG. 6 is a host computer, and a printer driver 41 is mounted on the host computer 40. Then, on the utility of the printer driver 41, using the input device 42 and the display 43, a known paper size, monochrome / color printing selection, recording mode selection, font data, and print command are input. It is configured as follows. Further, in this embodiment, a cleaning operation corresponding to each ink cartridge can be selectively executed using the input device 42 and the display 43.
[0034]
The printer driver 41 is configured to send print data to the print control means 44 mounted on the recording device in response to a print command input from the input device 42. The print control unit 44 generates bitmap data based on the print data transferred from the host computer 40 described above, and generates a drive signal by the head drive unit 45 based on the bitmap data. Has a function of ejecting ink. The head driving unit 45 is configured to receive a flushing command signal from the flushing control unit 46 and output a driving signal for the flushing operation to the recording head 8 in addition to the driving signal based on the print data. .
[0035]
Reference numeral 47 denotes a cleaning control means. The pump driving means 48 is operated in accordance with a command from the cleaning control means 47 so as to drive and control the suction pump 12. The cleaning control means 47 is configured to be supplied with a cleaning command signal from the print control means 44, the cleaning sequence control means 49, and the cleaning command detection means 50.
[0036]
An operation switch 51 is connected to the cleaning command detection means 50. When the user pushes the switch 51, for example, the cleaning control means 47 is activated via the detection means 50, and a manual cleaning operation is performed. Is configured to run. The cleaning control unit 47 is also activated via the print control unit 44 by the operation of the input device 42 in the host computer 40 described above, and a manual cleaning operation is executed.
[0037]
On the other hand, the cleaning sequence control means 49 is configured to receive a command signal from the host computer 40 and the cleaning command detection means 50 and to send a control signal to the carriage driving means 53 and the actuator driving means 52. ing. The carriage driving means 53 receives the command from the cleaning sequence control means 49 and drives the carriage motor 2 to move the recording head 8 directly above the capping means 9 so that the nozzle forming surface of the recording head is moved by the capping means 9. Control to be sealed.
[0038]
Further, the actuator driving means 52 drives, for example, a drive motor as the above-described actuator to cause the flow path opening / closing valve 23 corresponding to the ink cartridge that is not subject to the cleaning operation to be closed as shown in FIG. . Subsequently, the cleaning control unit 47 controls the pump driving unit 48 to drive the suction pump 12, and the cleaning operation for sucking and discharging ink from the recording head 8 by the negative pressure based on the driving of the suction pump 12. Is executed. At this time, the cleaning operation is performed when the flow path opening / closing valve 23 is in the open state.
[0039]
After the above-described cleaning operation is performed, the actuator driving means 52 is operated again to open all the flow path opening / closing valves 23 and the printing operation is executed again.
[0040]
5 shows a modified example of the configuration shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. In the example shown in FIG. 5, a planetary gear mechanism is employed instead of the drive gear 27. Reference numeral 27a denotes a sun gear, and reference numeral 27b denotes a planetary gear.
[0041]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, the rack member in which the flow path opening / closing valve disposed in the ink flow path from the ink cartridge to the recording head can reciprocate, and the rack member Since it is configured to be opened and closed via a lever member that is rotated by the movement of the ink, it is possible to improve the reliability of the valve closing and opening operations of the ink flow path and to improve the reliability of ink from a specific ink cartridge. Can be sucked and discharged, and an efficient cleaning operation can be performed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a basic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an ink supply path from an ink cartridge to a recording head.
3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a flow path opening / closing valve and its opening / closing operation mechanism portion in the configuration shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the flow path opening / closing valve is also closed.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control circuit for executing cleaning control.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage 5 Paper feed member 7 Recording paper 8 Recording head 9B-9Y Ink cartridge 11 Capping means 12 Negative pressure generation means (suction pump)
13 Wiping member 21 Elevating member 22 Outer member 23 Flow path opening / closing valve 24 Lever member 25 Rack member 26 Gear 27 Drive gear

Claims (2)

One ink jet recording head mounted on a carriage, which receives ink supplied from a plurality of ink cartridges and ejects ink droplets from nozzle openings, and a negative pressure generating means by sealing the nozzle forming surface of the recording head An ink jet recording apparatus provided with one capping means capable of sucking and discharging ink from a nozzle opening by negative pressure from
Wherein corresponding to each ink passage leading to the recording head from the ink cartridge, the opening and closing operation mechanism of each on-off valve is provided,
The opening / closing operation mechanism is configured to move up and down with respect to an ink outlet needle disposed on the carriage and constituting a part of the ink flow path by rotating a lever member;
Each is disposed in the elevating member, and when the elevating member is pushed down by the lever member, it is pushed up by the ink lead-out needle to close the valve, and when the depressing by the lever member is released, the valve is opened by a spring member A flow path opening and closing valve,
A rack member that reciprocates to rotate the lever member to open and close the flow path opening / closing valve disposed in the ink flow path;
Is provided,
By turning the lever member accompanying the movement of the rack member, the flow path opening / closing valve of the ink flow path that is not the target of suction discharge is closed.
Supplying negative pressure from the negative pressure generating means into the capping means in a state where the recording head is sealed;
An ink jet recording apparatus , wherein ink is sucked and discharged from an ink channel in which a channel opening / closing valve of the ink channel is opened . The arranged state meshing with the rack member, a gear for reciprocating the rack member receives a rotational driving force is mounted on the carriage, in a state in which the nozzle formation surface is sealed by capping means before type recording head, the 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a driving gear for providing a rotational driving force to a gear mounted on the carriage is disposed.

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