JP6294983B2 - Printer device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer apparatus that performs printing by ejecting ink from a print head onto a sheet-like print medium such as a cloth supplied to a print medium guide (platen) on a machine body side.

The sheet is spread on the platen, the sheet is sandwiched between the driving roller and the pressure roller, and the sheet is fed in a predetermined direction by the rotation of the driving roller, while the recording head is moved across the sheet on the printing surface of the platen. In the inkjet printer that reciprocates to the print surface and prints the paper on the print surface, the drive roller and the pressure roller are disposed on the upstream side of the paper conveyance path with respect to the print surface of the platen, and the downstream A cylindrical suction roller is rotatably disposed on the side or the print surface, and a paper suction force is generated on at least a surface of the suction roller that supports the paper. The drive roller and the pressure roller are disposed upstream of the paper. And the downstream side of the paper or the printing unit is brought into close contact with the paper support surface of the suction roller, and the drive roller and the suction roller are synchronously rotated in the same direction and are substantially Sheet feeding apparatus being characterized in that so as to drive such that the one peripheral speed is conventionally known (see Patent Document 1).
Further, in the roller recording paper feed type recording apparatus that drives the recording paper with the driving roller and the pinch roller, a sub roller is provided, and a predetermined position between the two rollers including the sub roller and the driving roller is set as a recording position, 2. Description of the Related Art A conventional roller recording paper feed type recording apparatus has means for changing the peripheral speed of both rollers according to the recording paper transport direction in order to optimize the tension of the recording paper at the recording position. It is known (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2000-351499 A JP-A-62-146859

When printing is performed by transporting a cloth or the like, it is desirable to transport it with tension. Conventionally, as shown in the patent document, there is a structure in which the tension is conveyed by increasing the peripheral speed of the discharge side roller and slipping on the roller surface. However, this structure is not stable because the print medium such as the cloth is not firmly held and conveyed. In addition, there is a problem that the apparatus using the suction mechanism cannot cope with the cloth.
The present invention aims to solve the above problems.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a print medium guide unit that movably supports a print medium, a print unit, a print medium conveyance drive unit that conveys the print medium to the print unit by rotation of a conveyance roller, and a roll. A print medium supply unit that rotatably holds the upper print medium, a print medium discharge unit that guides the print medium on the print medium guide unit in a winding direction, and a printed print that has been discharged from the print medium discharge unit A printer that includes a printing medium winding unit that winds up a medium, and that performs printing by ejecting ink from a printing head of a printing unit to a printing medium supplied on the printing medium guide unit, A discharge roller having a meshing surface that meshes with the print medium on the peripheral surface, a discharge roller driving unit that drives a support shaft of the discharge roller, and a torque limiter that is connected to the support shaft of the discharge roller. The peripheral speed of the discharge roller is set faster than the peripheral speed of the transport roller, the rotational torque of the discharge roller is set smaller than the rotational torque of the transport roller, and printing between the transport roller and the discharge roller is performed. When the tension of the medium exceeds a predetermined value, torque transmission from the discharge roller driving unit is interrupted by the torque limiter, and the tension of the printing medium is held at a predetermined value.
Further, the present invention is characterized in that the meshing surface of the discharge roller is configured such that minute protrusions are densely arranged.
According to the present invention, the discharge roller driving unit includes a printing medium conveyance driving unit that drives the conveyance roller, and the rotation output of the printing medium conveyance driving unit is transmitted to the input side of the torque limiter via a power transmission mechanism. It is made to be made to be done.
In the invention, it is preferable that the printing medium is a sheet material such as a cloth that can mesh with a minute protrusion on the meshing surface of the discharge roller.
In the invention, it is preferable that the discharge roller is provided at a place where the conveyance direction of the print medium is changed.

In the present invention, the surface of the roller is engaged with and held by the cloth or the like by contact from the back side of the print medium, so that appropriate tension can be applied to the entire print medium such as the cloth, and the torque can be adjusted by a torque limiter. Therefore, it can always be conveyed with a constant tension.
Also, the peripheral speed of the discharge roller is made faster than the peripheral speed of the transport roller, and the rotational torque of the discharge roller is set to be smaller than the rotational torque of the transport roller. even when the can maintain tension without being affected by backlash can and the effect of Do can be conveyed with high accuracy Runado.
In addition, since a roller is provided at a place to change the conveyance direction of the medium, not only the upper surface of the roller but also a certain distance on the peripheral surface is gathered on the cloth, so that no slip occurs between the roller and the cloth. In the case of a wide print medium, the contact area in the width direction is large, so that the print medium can be reliably held only by contact from the back surface.

It is a section explanatory view of this device. 1 is an overall perspective view of a printer device. It is a whole explanatory view of this device. It is explanatory drawing of this apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the printing medium discharge part of this apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of a discharge roller. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a part of a print medium discharge unit of the apparatus. It is sectional explanatory drawing of the flexible division | segmentation roller mechanism of this apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the flexible division | segmentation roller mechanism of this apparatus.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall structure of the printer apparatus 2. In FIG. 3, the left side is the front of the apparatus 2, the right side is the rear of the apparatus 2, and the direction perpendicular to the paper is the head operating direction.

The printer apparatus 2 includes a printing unit 4, a printing medium conveyance driving unit 6, a printing medium supply conveyance path unit 8, a printing medium supply unit 10, a printing medium discharge unit 12, a printing medium discharge conveyance path unit 14, and printing. A printing unit 4 for a printing medium supplied from the printing medium supply unit 10 to the gutter 18 (see FIG. 4) of the printing unit 4 through the printing medium supply conveyance path unit 8. The printing is performed by ejecting ink from the print head 24 of the head unit 22 (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the device 2 as viewed from the front. The printing unit 4 of the printer apparatus 2 includes a head guide rail 26 supported by the machine body 2 a of the apparatus 2, and an ink jet head unit 22 passes along the head guide rail 26 via a carrier on the head guide rail 26. It is movably attached. The direction along the head guide rail 26 of the head unit 22 is defined as the Y-axis direction of the device 2.

Below the head guide rail 26, there is provided a print medium guide portion 28 called a platen that supports the print medium 20 and guides the print medium 20 forward from the rear of the machine body 2 a, and an intermediate portion (head unit) of the guide portion 28. The lower ink discharge range) is provided with a gutter 18 which is an ink receiver that receives ink falling through the texture of the print medium 20 among the ink ejected toward the print medium 20. The ink discharge surface of the print head 24 is horizontally disposed opposite to the print surface of the print medium 20 supported by the guide unit 28.

A transport roller 30 and one or a plurality of driven rollers 32 are disposed in the vicinity of the movement path of the print head 24. The transport roller 30 is connected to an X-axis drive device controlled by a controller and rotates toward the machine body 2a. Supported as possible. The driven roller 32 is supported on the head guide rail 26 so as to be movable up and down with respect to the conveying roller 30 and is elastically contacted with the conveying roller 30 horizontally by a spring or its own weight.

The conveyance roller 30 and the driven roller 32 constitute a print medium conveyance drive unit 6. The print medium supply unit 10 includes a supply shaft 34 that holds a print medium roll 20 a on which the print medium 20 is wound in a roll shape, and the print medium supply conveyance path unit 8 is a tension for applying tension to the print medium 20. A bar mechanism 36, guide rollers 38 and 40, a flexible split roller mechanism 42, a guide roller 44, and a wrinkle removal reverse roller 46 having a spiral wrinkle removal protrusion formed on the surface thereof are provided. Legs 2b, 2b and a base plate 2c are fixed to the body 2a, and the body 2a is disposed on the floor via these. Delivery devices 48 and 50 are arranged on the base plate 2c.

The supply shaft 34 provided in the delivery devices 48 and 50 is connected to a motor controlled by a controller. As shown in FIG. 4, the support shaft 52 of the reversing roller 46 is connected to the support shaft 64 of the transport roller 30 via a belt transmission mechanism and a gear mechanism, and is configured to rotate in the opposite direction to the transport roller 30. Yes. In the belt transmission mechanism, an endless belt 58 is hung between a belt roller 54 fixed to a support shaft 64 of the conveyance roller 30 and a rotatable belt roller 56 on the side of the machine body 2a.

A gear 60 is fixed to the roller support shaft fixed to the belt roller 56, and the gear 60 is engaged with the gear 62 fixed to the support shaft 52 of the wrinkle removal reverse roller 46. The conveyance roller 30 is fixed to the support shaft 64, and the reverse roller 46 is fixed to the support shaft 52. Each guide roller 38, 40, 44 is rotatably supported on the machine body 2a side.

The tension bar mechanism 36 includes a pair of swing arms 66 and a guide roller 68 that is rotatably supported between the arms 66. Each of the pair of swing arms 66 is erected on each leg 2b. It is rotatably supported on the mounting plate side. As shown in FIG. 8, in the flexible split roller mechanism 42, three pipe-shaped split rollers 72 having the same diameter are loosely fitted on a support shaft 70 extending in the Y-axis direction.

In this embodiment, the outer diameter of the support shaft 70 and the inner diameter of the split roller 72 are set to approximately 1: 3 as shown in FIG. 8, but are not particularly limited to this ratio. The ratio between the outer diameter of the roller and the inner diameter of the dividing roller 72 may be arbitrarily changed depending on the structure of the apparatus. The dividing roller 72 has a thickness and a weight that do not deform, and itself functions as a weight. Various values can be set for the weight of the dividing roller depending on the material of the printing medium 20 and the like. The support shaft 70 is made of an aluminum pipe, and both ends thereof are supported by support plates 74 and 74 fixed to the airframe 2a side. The split roller 72 in this embodiment is formed of a synthetic resin or metal hollow pipe, and a ring-shaped weight 76 is detachably fixed to the outer ends of the left and right split rollers 72.

As shown in FIG. 1, the print medium discharge unit 12 includes a discharge roller 78 disposed in front of the guide unit 28 (see FIG. 2), a support shaft 80 connected to the discharge roller 78, and a torque limiter 82. Has been. The discharge roller 78 is disposed in the Y-axis direction so as to cross the entire length of the print medium 20 in the width direction in front of the guide portion 28, and the support shafts 80 projecting from the centers of both ends are supported on the support body 84 on the side of the machine body 2a and the bearing 86. It is supported so that it can rotate freely. The roller 78 is made of an aluminum pipe, and an aluminum flange 88 is fixed to both ends of the pipe. A hole is formed at the center of the flange 88, and a support shaft 80 is inserted into the hole, and is fixed to the flange 88 with a set screw.

One of the left and right support shafts 80 is connected to the housing 82a of the torque limiter 82 by a set screw or a fixing pin 90, and the rotor 82b of the torque limiter 82 is rotatable to the support shaft 80 via a bearing 92. Are coupled to the pulley 94 fitted to the shaft so as to be interlocked with the rotation direction. An end portion of the support shaft 80 is rotatably fitted to a support body 96 on the machine body 2a side via a bearing 98. The pulley 94 is connected to a pulley (not shown) fixed to the support shaft 64 via an endless belt 100 constituting a belt-type power transmission mechanism.

  The rotor 82 b of the torque limiter 82 is rotatably fitted to the support shaft 80 and rotates in conjunction with the pulley 94. The rotation of the rotor 82b is transmitted to the housing 82a and from the housing 82a to the support shaft 80. The torque limiter 82 disconnects the connection between the rotor 82b and the housing 82a when an overload is applied to the housing 82a side, cuts off torque transmission from the rotor 82b to the housing 82a, and controls the load value on the discharge roller 78 side to be constant. To do. In the present embodiment, the torque limiter 82 uses a contact type based on a coil spring system. However, in the implementation of the present invention, the torque limiter is not limited to the torque limiter shown in the figure, and is a non-contact type using a magnet. A torque limiter and other known torque limiters can be used.

  In the present embodiment, the rotation speed of the discharge roller 78 is set to be higher than the rotation speed of the conveyance roller 30, and the rotation speed of the reverse roller 46 is also set to be higher than the rotation speed of the conveyance roller 30. The conveying roller 30, the discharge roller 78, and the reversing roller increase the rotational speed given to each by changing the pulley diameter on which the belt is applied, so that the final peripheral speed of the discharge roller 78 and the reversing roller 46 is also high. It has been adjusted to be. Further, the rotational torque of the discharge roller 78 is set to be smaller than the rotational torque of the transport roller 30, and the rotational torque of the reverse roller 46 is also set to be smaller than the rotational torque of the transport roller 30.

On the surface of the pipe of the discharge roller 78, a meshing surface 78a is formed in which minute projections meshing with the print medium 20 are densely arranged. In this embodiment, the meshing surface 78a is formed by spirally winding sandpaper around the surface of the pipe of the discharge roller 78, as shown in FIG. A configuration can be employed. Also, sandpaper and other sandpaper and cloth files will deteriorate if they are used. In that case, only that part needs to be replaced. The print medium take-up unit 16 includes a shaft body that is drawn out from the print medium roll 20 a and takes up and collects the print medium 20 on which an image is printed by the print head 24.

Winding devices 104, 104 are arranged on the left and right sides of the base plate 2 c, and winding shafts 102, 102 are provided on the devices 104, 104, and the print medium 20 is wound between the winding shafts 102, 102. The shaft body is removably held. In the vicinity of the print medium winding unit 16, a flexible split roller mechanism 106 that guides the print medium 20 to a winding shaft is disposed. The flexible split roller mechanism 106 constitutes the discharge conveyance path 14 of the apparatus 2.

The split roller structure of the flexible split roller mechanism 106 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. In this divided roller component, a support shaft (not shown) is supported by the tension bar mechanism 108. The tension bar mechanism 108 includes a pair of arms 110. One end of the arm 110 is rotatably supported by a support on the leg 2b side, and a support shaft of the flexible split roller mechanism 106 is provided on the other end of the arm 110. It is connected.

One of the winding devices 104 and 104 includes a drive motor controlled by a controller, and an output shaft of the drive motor is connected to the winding shaft 102. Storage boxes 112 and 114 are provided on both sides of the machine body 2a of the printer apparatus 2. The one box 112 has a liquid ink ejected onto the print medium, a maintenance mechanism for maintaining the print head 24, etc. (capping mechanism and A cleaning mechanism and the like are installed, and an operation panel 116 for operating the printer device 2 is installed at the top. One box 114 has a space for maintenance when the head is moved.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
First, the operator sets the print medium roll 20a on the supply shaft 34 and sequentially hangs the print medium 20 pulled out from the print medium roll 20a on the guide rollers 68, 38, and 40, and further, each division of the flexible division roller mechanism 42. As shown in FIG. 3, the roller 72 is sequentially passed through the lower surface of the roller 72 and guided between the conveying roller 30 and the driven roller 32.

The drawn print medium 20 is further arranged on the guide unit 28, further hung on the discharge roller 78, guided to the lower surface of each division roller of the flexible division roller mechanism 106, and then wound around the shaft body of the print medium winding unit 16. Then, by the lever operation, the driven roller 32 is lowered and pressed against the conveyance roller 30, and the print medium 20 on the guide unit 28 is sandwiched between the conveyance roller 30 and the driven roller 32. The tension bar mechanism 36 applies tension to the print medium 20 in the print medium supply / conveyance path unit 8, and the tension bar mechanism 108 applies tension to the print medium 20 in the print medium discharge / conveyance path unit 14.

In order to make the print medium 20 finally printable, after the print medium 20 is attached, the feeding device, the take-up device, and the conveyance roller are driven to put the print medium 20 in a tensioned state. Since the tension bar mechanisms 36 and 108 are held so as to be swingable up and down, if the print medium 20 is in a tensioned state, the tension bar mechanisms 36 and 108 move upward and sink downward due to the weight. To give.

  Next, the worker connects the external computer device and the printer device 2 via an interface, and turns on the power of the external computer device and the printer device 2. As a result, the external computer device enters a standby state waiting for input of a command from the operator by executing a predetermined program. Further, the print head 24 moves to the origin along the head guide rail 26.

  Next, the operator operates the external computer device to cause the printer device 2 to start printing an image. Accordingly, the controller built in the printer apparatus 2 controls the operation of the print head 24 while changing the relative positional relationship between the print head 24 and the print medium 20 based on the image data output from the external computer apparatus. Then, ink droplets are ejected toward the print medium 20 on the gutter 18.

In the process of printing an image on the print medium 20, the print medium 20 is conveyed from the rear side to the front side of the machine body 2a. The controller intermittently conveys the print medium 20 from the rear side to the front side of the machine body 2a by controlling the operation of the X-axis motor. The controller also controls the operation of the take-up motor of the take-up device 104 to take up the print medium 20 on which the image has been printed. At this time, the winding motor is controlled so that the height of the roller 106 of the flexible split roller mechanism is within a predetermined range (a range in which a load is applied).

In addition, the controller controls the operation of the feed motor so that the height of the guide roller 68 of the tension bar mechanism 36 is within a predetermined range (a range in which a load is applied), so that the print medium roll 20a. , And the print medium 20 is pulled out from the print medium roll 20a. The reversing roller 46 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3 in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the conveying roller 30 and applies tension to the print medium 20 supplied to the conveying roller 30 and is provided in a spiral shape. Due to the structure, the print medium 20 is stretched to act.

Next, the operation of the flexible split roller mechanism 42 will be described.
In the print medium supply / conveyance path section 8, the print medium 20 between the guide rollers 44 and 40 is pressed against the lower surface of each of the divided rollers 72, 72, 72 of the flexible divided roller mechanism 42 by the tension applied from the guide roller 68. . Each divided roller 72 is pushed up against its own weight from the initial state of FIG. 9A by the pressure from the print medium 20 that is in pressure contact with the lower surface, and rotates as the print medium 20 is conveyed.

When the print medium 20 is a cloth, the expansion / contraction rate differs between the middle of the cloth to be conveyed and the end. Therefore, when a force for pulling the cloth is applied, both side portions are easily stretched as compared to the central portion, and if this stretch is left untreated, slacking occurs on both side portions, resulting in defects in wrinkles and conveyance accuracy. However, when both sides of the cloth are extended, the left and right dividing rollers 72 are inclined in accordance with this, and as shown in FIG. 9C, the dividing rollers are in contact with each other according to the state of the printing medium. Become.

The contact according to the state of the print medium at each location of the dividing roller 72 enables the conveyance by contact according to the slack of the both end portions of the print medium 20, and a load is also applied to the slack portion. For this reason, generation of wrinkles and defects in conveyance accuracy are solved. FIG. 9B shows a state in which a print medium that does not substantially stretch is used, and shows a state in which all the divided rollers 72 are pushed up by the pressure of the cloth, and the whole is linear in the horizontal direction. The weight 76 is provided to apply a heavier load to the outside of the easily stretchable cloth.

By attaching a plurality of weights 76 to the outer end portions of the left and right split rollers 72, the weight applied to the end portions of the split rollers 72 can be adjusted in various ways, and various fabrics (easily stretchable, difficult to stretch, etc.) It can be made to correspond. The operation of the flexible split roller mechanism 106 in the discharge / conveyance path section 14 is the same as the operation of the split roller mechanism, and the description thereof is omitted.

Next, the operation of the discharge unit 12 will be described.
By driving the motor of the X-axis drive device, the pulley 94 rotates faster than the conveying roller 30 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. The rotation of the pulley 94 is transmitted to the rotor 82b of the torque limiter 82, and the rotation of the rotor 82b is transmitted to the support shaft 80 of the discharge roller 78 through the housing 82a.

As a result, the discharge roller 78 rotates at a faster peripheral speed than the transport roller 30. In front of the guide portion 28, the print medium 20 is brought into pressure contact with the meshing surface 78a of the discharge roller 78 by the load of the tension bar mechanism 108 on the cloth, and is conveyed to the discharge side of the apparatus 2 while meshing with the load. When the tension (tension) of the print medium 20 between the transport roller 30 and the discharge roller 78 exceeds a predetermined value, the torque transmission blocking function of the torque limiter 82 is activated and the rotor 82b rotates around the housing 82a. An increase in tension of 20 is prevented.

As a result, the tension of the print medium 20 between the transport roller 30 and the discharge roller 78 is held at a predetermined value, so that the print medium in the print range under the print head is also held in a tension state, and printing with moderate tension is performed. Printing on the medium is executed and printed neatly.
Since this apparatus often prints on a cloth, it is desirable that the portion after printing on the cloth is not in contact with a platen or the like to be dried. Therefore, a tangent line at the uppermost ends of the conveyance roller 30 and the discharge roller 78 is set so as not to contact the guide portion 28 in a state where the print medium is tensioned between the conveyance roller 30 and the discharge roller 78.

As a result, the air floats in the air until it comes into contact with the discharge roller 78 after printing by the print head, so that drying is promoted because there is contact with air on both the front surface and the back surface. Further, since there is no contact with other parts in the portion, the printed medium after printing is not soiled, and the discharge roller 78 is also contacted only from the back surface, so that the surface is not soiled.

In addition, since the discharge roller 78 is provided at a place where the conveyance direction of the medium is changed, since the cloth is gathered not only on the upper surface portion of the roller but also on a certain distance on the peripheral surface, slippage between the roller and the cloth is caused. In the case of a wide print medium, the contact area in the width direction is large, so even a minute protrusion such as a sandpaper can securely hold the print medium without sliding only from the back surface.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Printer apparatus 2a Machine body 2b Leg part 2c Base plate 4 Printing part 6 Print medium conveyance drive part 8 Print medium supply conveyance path part 10 Print medium supply part 12 Print medium discharge part 14 Print medium discharge conveyance path part 16 Print medium winding part 18 Gutter 20 Print medium 20a Print medium roll 22 Head unit 24 Head 26 Head guide rail 28 Guide section 30 Transport roller 32 Followed roller 34 Supply shaft 36 Tension bar mechanism 38 Guide roller 40 Guide roller 42 Flexible split roller mechanism 44 Guide roller 46 Reverse Roller 48 Delivery device 50 Delivery device 52 Support shaft 54 Belt roller 56 Belt roller 58 Endless belt 60 Gear 62 Gear 64 Support shaft 66 Arm 68 Guide roller 70 Support shaft 72 Dividing roller 74 Support plate 76 Weight 78 Discharge roller 78a Engagement surface 80 Spindle 2 Torque limiter 82a Housing 82b Rotor 84 Support body 86 Bearing 88 Flange 90 Set screw 92 Bearing 94 Pulley 96 Support body 98 Bearing 100 Belt 102 Shaft body 104 Winding device 106 Flexible split roller mechanism 108 Tension bar mechanism 110 Arm 112 Storage box 114 Storage box 116 Operation panel

Claims (5)

  A printing medium guide unit that supports the printing medium in a movable manner, a printing unit, a printing medium conveyance drive unit that conveys the printing medium to the printing unit by rotation of a conveyance roller, and printing that rotatably holds the printing medium on the roll. A medium supply unit; a print medium discharge unit that guides the print medium on the print medium guide unit in a winding direction; and a print medium winding unit that winds up the printed print medium discharged from the print medium discharge unit. A printing apparatus that performs printing by ejecting ink from a print head of a printing unit to a printing medium supplied on the printing medium guide unit, the printing medium discharge unit having a printing medium on a circumferential surface The discharge roller is provided with a meshing engagement surface, a discharge roller driving unit for driving a support shaft of the discharge roller, and a torque limiter connected to the support shaft of the discharge roller. When set faster than the peripheral speed of the transport roller, the rotational torque of the discharge roller is set smaller than the rotational torque of the transport roller, and when the tension of the print medium between the transport roller and the discharge roller exceeds a predetermined value, A printer apparatus, wherein torque transmission from the discharge roller driving unit is interrupted by the torque limiter, and tension of the print medium is maintained at a predetermined value. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the meshing surface of the discharge roller is configured to have minute protrusions densely arranged.   The discharge roller driving unit is configured by a printing medium conveyance driving unit that drives the conveying roller, and the rotation output of the printing medium conveyance driving unit is transmitted to the input side of the torque limiter via a power transmission mechanism. The printer apparatus according to claim 1. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing medium is a sheet material that can mesh with minute protrusions on a meshing surface of the discharge roller.   The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge roller is provided at a place where a conveyance direction of the print medium is changed.

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