JP6949498B2 - Recording device and control method of recording device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a recording device that discharges a liquid onto a conveyed recording medium to perform recording, and a control method for the recording device.

In a recording device that ejects a liquid (hereinafter, also referred to as ink) from a recording head to perform recording, when the ink is ejected, a main droplet of ink and minute ink droplets called satellites are ejected. The discharged satellite adheres to the recording medium or to the face surface, which is the surface provided with the discharge port of the recording head. In recording with a high frequency of ejection, the amount of satellite adhering to the face surface also increases, and a phenomenon called "face wetting" occurs. When ink is ejected with the face wet in this way, the ink and water droplets adhering to the face surface affect the ejection direction and ejection speed of the ink at the time of ejection, so that the ink is placed at a desired position on the recording medium. There is a problem that the ink does not land.

In Patent Document 1, the amount of wetting of the face surface by the satellite is predicted from the recording rate per unit area in recording (hereinafter, also referred to as recording duty). Then, by controlling the discharge amount and the number of scanning and transporting (the number of reciprocating movements of the carriage) according to the prediction, deterioration of image quality due to wetting of the face surface of the recording head is suppressed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-37869

Water droplets condensing water vapor contained in the air near the recording head may adhere to the face surface of the recording head. Especially in recording, the face surface may get wet due to dew condensation of water evaporating from the ink ejected to the recording medium.

In the method of Patent Document 1, the occurrence of wetting of the face surface due to satellites can be suppressed, but the wetting of the face surface due to the dew condensation of the evaporating water cannot be suppressed. Therefore, the output image quality deteriorates due to the dew condensation on the face surface and getting wet.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording device capable of dealing with dew condensation generated on a recording head and a method for controlling the recording device.

Therefore, the recording device of the present invention is a recording device that discharges a liquid onto a sheet-fed recording medium to perform recording, and has a plurality of transport means for transporting the recording medium in the transport direction and a plurality of means in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. a discharge port array, be one that performs recording by discharging the discharge port or et liquid body to the recording medium being conveyed by said conveying means, is block including the discharge port of a predetermined number of adjacent A plurality of recording means to be set, an acquisition means for acquiring the number of times the ejection port included in the block ejects to the recording medium for each of the plurality of blocks, and a first recording medium in the transport direction. is transported and subsequently when the second recording medium is conveyed in the conveying direction, the first of said recording rear end in the conveying direction of the to whether we pre Symbol second reaches a predetermined position of the recording medium It is characterized by having a transport interval setting means for setting a transport interval, which is a time until the tip of the medium in the transport direction reaches the predetermined position , based on the number of times acquired by the acquisition means. Recording device.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a recording device capable of dealing with dew condensation generated on a recording head and a method for controlling the recording device.

It is a system block diagram of a recording apparatus. It is sectional drawing which shows the main part of a recording apparatus. It is a control system block diagram of a recording device. It is a figure which shows the calculation method of the ink ejection amount. It is the schematic which shows the movement of the moisture in the ejected ink. It is a table summarizing the transport interval correction values. It is a flowchart which shows the face wetting prevention control processing.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a recording device 100 to which this embodiment can be applied. A color recording device (hereinafter, also referred to as a recording device) 100 using an inkjet full-line recording head and a host computer (hereinafter, also referred to as a host) 101 are connected by a printer cable 102. Various data processed by the host 101 are transmitted to the recording device 100 via the printer cable 102 and recorded by the recording device 100.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the recording device 100. The recording device 100 includes a recording head unit 201 including a black recording head 200K, a cyan recording head 200C, a magenta recording head 200M, and a yellow recording head 200Y in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged over the entire width of the recording medium 206. Further, the recording device 100 includes a cap unit 202 that protects the nozzle of the recording head 200, a transport unit 203 that conveys the recording medium 206, a pressure pump 204 that is used for suction cleaning, and a waste ink tank 205 that stores waste ink. I have. The recording device 100 can form an image on the recording medium 206 in full color.

The recording device 100 is equipped with a transport unit 208 in which a plurality of cut recording media 206 are loaded on the transport tray 207 upstream of the transport unit 203 in the recording medium transport direction. The recording medium 206 is transported from the transport unit 208 to the transport unit 203. The conveyed recording medium 206 is conveyed under the recording head unit 201 by the transfer unit 203 for recording. In the transport unit 203, a sensor (hereinafter, also referred to as a TOF sensor) 209 is provided on the upstream side of the recording head unit 201, and the TOF sensor 209 is mounted on the transport unit 203 and is carried in a plurality of recording media 206. Detect between pages. The recording device 100 sequentially records on the recording medium 206 by the recording head 200, triggered by the tip detection of the recording medium 206 by the TOF sensor 209. The recording medium 206 for which recording has been completed is conveyed to the discharge port and loaded on the discharge tray 210.

The ink used for recording is supplied to each recording head from the black ink tank 211K, the cyan ink tank 211C, the magenta ink tank 211M, and the yellow ink tank 211Y, which are removable from the recording device 100, by the pressure pump 204. Further, the ink used for suction cleaning and cleaning discharge of the recording head 200 for maintaining image reliability is discarded from the cap unit 202 to the waste ink tank 205 by the pressure pump 204.

FIG. 3 is a control system block diagram of the recording device 100. The recording device 100 includes a USB interface controller 300 that receives the recorded data and commands of the host 101, and a CPU 301 that is an arithmetic processing device that controls overall control such as reception of recorded data and recording operation in the recording device. Further, the recording device 100 includes an image RAM 302 for developing image data of recorded data, a motor driver 304 for driving various motors 303 (head motor, blade motor, pump motor, transfer motor), and a solenoid driver 306 for controlling valve 305. .. Further, the recording device 100 includes an I / O 308 for inputting various sensors 307 (head diode sensor, thermometer, hygrometer), and an ASIC 309 that controls the entire recording device. Further, the recording device 100 includes a recording head 200 that records the image developed in the image RAM 302 on a recording medium, and a head EEPROM 310 that is attached to each recording head and holds unique data. Further, the recording device 100 includes an ink tank 312 that supplies ink to the recording head 200, and an ink tank EEPROM 313 that is attached to each ink tank and holds unique data, and is controlled by an operation panel 314 that receives input from the outside. Will be done.

In synchronization with the detection of the recording medium by the TOF sensor 209, the CPU 301 sequentially reads the recording data of the corresponding color from the image RAM 302, and transfers the read data to each recording head 200. The following control is performed by the CPU 301 executing the processing program stored in the program ROM 315.

The program ROM 315 stores a processing program, a table, and the like corresponding to the control flow. Further, the work RAM 316 is used as the working memory. During the cleaning operation of each recording head 200, the CPU 301 drives various motors 303 while monitoring various sensors 307 via the motor driver 304 to control ink pressurization, suction, and the like.

The ink used for recording and cleaning is supplied from each ink tank 312. Each ink tank 312 is equipped with an ink tank EEPROM 313, which has an ID and serial number indicating the color and type of ink written on it, and can also hold a usage counter for detecting the remaining amount. ing.

An operation panel 314 is used as an interface between the recording device 100 and the user. The operation panel 314 is provided with an LCD 317 and a buzzer 318 for notifying the user of the status from the printer, and a key 319 for instructing the printer from the user.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a method of calculating the ink ejection amount in the recording device 100. The recording device 100 records by ejecting ink from the recording head 200 toward the recording medium 206 according to the image data transmitted from the host 101. Further, the recording head 200 is configured in units of 128 adjacent nozzles as one block, and the ink ejection amount is measured by counting the number of times of actual ejection. In the present invention, the recording rate per unit area discharged to the recording medium 206 for each block is calculated as the recording duty, and the recording duty is used as the face surface on which the discharge port of the recording head 200 is provided. Wet prevention control is performed.

5 (a) and 5 (b) are schematic views showing the movement of water content in the ejected ink according to the type of the recording medium 206. The types of recording media are roughly classified into two types, "paper-based media" shown in FIG. 5 (a) and "film-based media" shown in FIG. 5 (b). The ink droplet 500 ejected from the recording head 200 is absorbed by the ink receiving layer 501 of the recording medium 206 after landing on the recording medium 206. After that, the ink droplet 500 colors the recording medium by leaving only the coloring material on the ink receiving layer 501 while dispersing the contained water in the surroundings.

As the recording medium of the "paper-based medium", paper is used as the base material 502a. In the recording medium of the "paper-based medium", the water content of the ink droplets absorbed by the ink receiving layer 501 can be released from the base material 502a side as well (absorption and evaporation from the back surface). Therefore, there is a feature that the amount of water vapor released from the recording surface side of the recording medium (the side where the base material 502a is not provided with respect to the ink receiving layer 501) is reduced.

On the other hand, as the recording medium of the "film-based media", a resin sheet such as PET is used as the base material 503b. Moisture is not absorbed by the PET base material 503b because the PET base material 503b has no cavities. In the recording medium of the "film-based media", the water vapor of the ink droplets absorbed by the ink receiving layer 501 cannot be released from the PET base material 502b side, so that the amount of water vapor released from the recording surface side of the recording medium increases. There is a feature.

FIG. 6 is a table summarizing the transport interval correction values in the recording device 100 of the present embodiment.

The transport interval is defined as the time from when the rear end of the recording medium in the transport direction passes directly under the TOF sensor 209 to when the tip of the next recording medium in the transport direction passes directly under the TOF sensor 209. The initial setting value is 300 mmsec.

In the recording device 100, in the CPU 301, whether or not dew condensation occurs on the face surface of the recording head 200 (presence or absence of dew condensation) depending on the type of recording medium, humidity as environmental information, recording medium length and recording duty, and dew condensation. The degree is determined, and when it is determined that dew condensation occurs, the CPU 301 corrects the transfer interval in the transfer of the recording medium 206. Specifically, when it is expected that the humidity between the recording medium 206 and the recording head 200 after recording will be high and it is determined that dew condensation will occur (based on the determination result), the transport interval of the recording medium 206 will be increased. To set. The transport interval is set so that the greater the degree of dew condensation, the longer the transport interval. As a result, the interval from the rear end to the tip of the conveyed recording medium becomes long, the water vapor released from the recording surface of the recording medium 206 is diffused, and the water vapor condensed on the face surface of the recording head 200 is introduced into the air. Can be evaporated.

The recording device 100 includes a table shown in FIG. 6 in the program ROM 315 as a table, and refers to the table to correct the transport interval according to the type of recording medium, humidity as environmental information, recording medium length, and recording duty. Get the value. The recording medium is transported by correcting the transport interval with the acquired transport interval correction value. As an example, when an image with a recording duty of 53% is recorded for a postcard (paper-based media, recording medium length 100 mm) in an environment with an environmental humidity of 50%, the transport interval is corrected by referring to the table from each condition. The value is +1000 msec. Therefore, the transport interval is increased by 1000 msec with respect to the normal transport interval. As a result, it is possible to prevent the dew condensation water droplets from growing on the face surface of the recording head 200 and causing the face to get wet.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the face wetting prevention control process in the recording device 100. Hereinafter, the face wetting prevention control process in the present embodiment will be described with reference to this flowchart.

When the face wetting prevention control process is started, the recording duty of the image data recorded immediately before is calculated in step S701. Then, in step S702, it is determined whether or not correction is necessary by referring to the table (see FIG. 6) from the calculated recording duty, recording medium type, recording medium length, and environmental humidity. If correction is required, the process proceeds to step S703, and if correction is not required, the process proceeds to step S705. In step S703, the transport interval correction value is determined based on the table. After that, in step S704, the transport interval is changed according to the transport interval correction value determined, and recording is performed while transporting the recording medium at the transport interval corrected in step S705. Then, in step S706, it is confirmed whether the recording operation is completed, and if it is not completed, the process returns to step S705, the recording operation is repeated, and if the recording operation is completed, the face wetting prevention control process is completed. ..

In this way, it is determined whether or not dew condensation occurs on the face surface of the recording head 200 according to the recording duty, and when it is determined that dew condensation occurs, the transport interval in transporting the recording medium is determined according to the degree of dew condensation. to correct. As a result, it was possible to realize a recording device and a recording method capable of suppressing deterioration of output image quality due to face wetting due to dew condensation.

(Other embodiments)
Hereinafter, other embodiments of the present invention will be described. Since the basic configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the above embodiment, only the characteristic configuration will be described below.

In the above-described embodiment, the transport interval correction value is determined from the recording duty, the type of recording medium, the recording medium length, and the environmental humidity, and the correction value is reflected in the transport interval to suppress the occurrence of face wetting. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible to determine whether or not dew condensation occurs on the face surface from the recording duty and the type of recording medium. Can be determined. Therefore, the transport interval correction value table generated from the information regarding the recording duty and the type of the recording medium is provided, and it is possible to determine whether or not the correction is necessary and to determine the correction value.

Further, conditions other than the recording duty, the type of recording medium, the length of the recording medium, and the environmental humidity used in the above embodiment may be combined. For example, the type of ink, the recording head temperature, the environmental temperature, the transport speed of the recording medium, and the like may be added to or combined with the conditions.

Further, although the transport interval is corrected in the above embodiment, the transport speed of the recording medium 206 may be corrected when dew condensation is expected to occur on the face surface of the recording head 200. Specifically, when the occurrence of dew condensation is expected, the transport speed of the recording medium 206 is corrected so as to increase from the initial value of 120 mm / sec to 160 mm / sec. By increasing the transport speed and allowing the recording medium 206 to pass under the recording head 200 at high speed, the time for the face surface of the recording head 200 to come into contact with the water vapor generated from the recording medium 206 is shortened, and the dew condensation on the face surface is reduced. Occurrence can be suppressed.

100 Recording device 101 Host 200 Recording head 201 Recording head unit 203 Conveying unit 206 Recording medium 312 Ink tank 500 Ink droplet 501 Ink receiving layer

Claims (5)

A recording device that discharges a liquid onto a sheet-fed recording medium for recording.
A transport means for transporting the recording medium in the transport direction, and
A plurality of discharge ports are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, be one that performs recording by discharging the discharge port or et liquid body to the recording medium being conveyed by said conveying means, adjacent a predetermined A recording means in which a plurality of blocks including the number of the discharge ports are set, and
An acquisition means for acquiring the number of times the ejection port included in the block ejects the recording medium for each of the plurality of blocks.
First recording medium is conveyed to the conveyance direction and subsequently in the case where the second recording medium is conveyed in the conveying direction, reaches the position the trailing edge of a given in the conveying direction of the first recording medium conveyance interval setting the tip in the transport direction of the to whether we pre Symbol second recording medium conveyance interval is the time to reach the predetermined position is set based on the number of times acquired by the acquisition unit Means and
A recording device characterized by having. The conveyance interval setting means, the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said number of times acquired by the acquisition unit, the length in the transport direction of the recording medium, to set the conveying interval based on .. The transfer interval setting means according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the transfer interval is set based on the number of times acquired by the acquisition means and the humidity inside the recording device. Recording device. A recording medium type acquisition means for acquiring the type of the recording medium is further provided, and the transport interval is set based on the number of times acquired by the acquisition means and the type of the recording medium. The recording device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A plurality of discharge ports are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction in which the single-wafer-shaped recording medium is conveyed, and liquid is discharged from the discharge ports to the recording medium, and a predetermined number of adjacent discharge ports are provided. It is a control method of a recording device that discharges a liquid to the recording medium and records by using a recording means in which a plurality of blocks including the blocks are set.
A transport process for transporting the recording medium in the transport direction and
A recording step of recording on the recording medium on which the transfer step is executed using the recording means, and a recording step of recording on the recording medium.
In the recording step, for each of the plurality of blocks, an acquisition step of acquiring the number of times the ejection port included in the block ejects to the recording medium, and
First recording medium is conveyed to the conveyance direction and subsequently in the case where the second recording medium is conveyed in the conveying direction, reaches the position the trailing edge of a given in the conveying direction of the first recording medium conveyance interval to the leading end in the conveying direction of the to whether we pre Symbol second recording medium conveyance interval is the time to reach the predetermined position, to set on the basis of the number of times obtained by the obtaining step Setting process and
A method for controlling a recording device, which comprises.

Images