JPH01182100A - Pen recorder with recording pen detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a function of recognizing the held condition of a recording pen inexpensively and with high reliability, by providing a simple pen-down constaining block at a parking point, and detecting the lowered condition of a pen holder by a pen-down position detector which is originally incorporated in a recorder. CONSTITUTION:A pen holder 3 is moved to a predetermined parking point by a pen carriage 4 to enable a pen-lowering operation. A pen-down constraining block 28 having a predetermined height, e.g., H is fixed at the parking point. When a recording pen is lowered, the upper end of the block 28 makes contact with the lower surface of a pen body 26 to stop the lowering of the pen, and the stoppage is detected by a position detector 15, whereby it is detected that the recording pen 2 is held by the pen holder 3. Therefore, if the pen 2 is not held by the pen holder 3, the holder 3 is lowered to a lower limit determined by the construction of a lift mechanism. In this case, the lower limit is a known value, and the absence of the recording pen can be recognized based on position pulses generated by the position detector 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a pen recording device having a recording pen detection device, and more particularly to a recording device having a recording pen detection device and automatically exchanging recording pens.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in the field of automatic drafting such as CAD, measurement field, etc., recording pens, which are one of the recording means, have been automatically replaced according to commands from the host machine in order to change the writing line width and create multiple colors. Recording devices have been put into practical use.

Generally, this type of recording device is equipped with a pen storage section that stores a plurality of recording pens at a predetermined position, and the pen holder, which is configured to freely scan the recording medium, selects and takes out the desired recording pen. It looks like this.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) An operator who handles a recording device manually attaches a recording pen to the pen accommodating portion before using the recording device, but sometimes the operator is unsure of the method of attachment and does not install the recording pen into the device. The vehicle may be put into operation. In such a case, =2- there is a possibility that the recording pen automatic exchange function of the recording device will be impaired. In addition, in some cases, when the recording device was used last time,
The power to the device may be cut off during the recording pen replacement work using the pen holder, and in this case, even if the device is powered on again, the remaining replacement work cannot be continued. This causes inconvenience in managing the replacement of recording pens.

In order to solve such problems, it is necessary to provide an inexpensive and reliable method for the recording device to recognize whether or not the pen holder is holding a recording pen when the power is turned on and when the recording pen replacement operation is completed. It is necessary to have it.

In general, this kind of recording device has a plurality of recording pens 2 stored in a pen stocker 1, as shown in FIG. The recording pen 2 can be rotated to a replacement position.

On the other hand, a pen carriage 4 equipped with a pen holder 3 uses a transmission means (not shown) such as a steel wire or a timing belt.
is moved on the guide shirt 5 (Y-axis) by a dedicated drive motor (not shown). Further, the recording medium 8 sandwiched between a pair of left and right pinch rollers 6 and a drive roller 7 is moved within a predetermined range in the X-axis direction by the rotation of a dedicated drive motor (not shown) connected to the drive roller 7.

Furthermore, the Ben carriage 4 includes a drive control means (not shown) for raising and lowering the recording pen 2 held therein in a direction (Y-axis) that is approximately orthogonal to the X-Y plane. A visual image can be formed on the recording medium 8 by the recording pen 2 by appropriately combining the axis and Y-axis operations. In addition, although the method of moving the recording medium 8 was shown above as a method of configuring the Y-axis, it is also possible to configure the Y-axis by fixing the recording medium 8 and moving the guide shaft 5 in both directions orthogonal to the Y-axis. You can get the same functionality by using Further, the configuration of the pen stocker 1 is not limited to a rotating type, and may be a stall type in which the recording pens 2 are arranged in a row depending on the configuration of the Y axis.

In the conventional recording device, as shown in FIG.
After the Ben carriage 4 moving above takes out a desired recording pen 2 from the pen holder 1, a recording pen presence/absence detecting means constituted by a light emitting element 10 and a light receiving element 11 detects that the current pen holder 3 is holding a recording pen at a predetermined position. It is checked whether it is held or not. That is, for example, when the pen holder 3 is holding the recording pen 2, the light beam 12 generated from the light emitting element 10 is blocked by the recording pen 2, the light receiving element 11 is in an inactive state, and the pen holder 3 is holding the recording pen 2. If not, the light beam 12 passes through the recording pen 2 without being blocked, and the light receiving element 11 becomes active. Therefore, if the output of the light receiving element 11 is appropriately binarized, it is possible to recognize whether the pen holder 3 is holding the recording pen 2 or not.

However, 1. Such optical detection means is expensive because the light emitting element 10 is required to have high directivity, and the light receiving element 11 is expensive.
On the other hand, there is a drawback that erroneous recognition occurs due to disturbances such as sunlight or light rays from indoor lighting, and furthermore, in order to eliminate the influence of disturbances, the control circuit of the light emitting element 10 and the signal processing circuit of the light receiving element 11 are complicated. This results in an expensive device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-pen type recording device which is inexpensive and has a recording pen holding state recognition function, which improves the drawbacks seen in the conventional example.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A pen recording device having a recording pen detection device of the present invention includes a pen stocker equipped with a plurality of pens, and a pen stocker that is movable within a predetermined range and that takes out and holds a selected pen from the pen stocker according to an external command. a pen holder, a lifting mechanism for the pen holder, and a detection mechanism for detecting the lifting position of the pen holder;
The recording pen comprises a pen-down restraining element provided at an arbitrary parking point to prevent the recording pen from descending, and by lowering the recording pen holder at the parking point, the pen holding state by the pen holder can be detected by the detection means. It is characterized by

(Example) The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In general, the writing pressure of the recording pen 2 differs depending on the type of pen such as fiber or ball point, and the writing pressure is generally different for the purpose of reducing the noise generated when the pen tip collides with the recording medium on the recording surface and extending the life of the bench tip. In order to realize pressure control and soft landing of the pen tip, the lifting mechanism 13 of the pen holder 3 of the recording device is composed of a servo system including a voice coil motor 14 and a position detector 15, which are integrated with the pen holder 3, as shown in FIG. , the coil bobbin 16 of the voice coil motor 14 is driven by position control and speed control.

The elevating mechanism 13 of the pen holder 3 generates a thrust according to Fleming's left-hand rule depending on the current value and direction of the current applied to the coil 17 wound around the coil bobbin 16, and the pen holder 3 is operated by applying current to the coil 17 in a prescribed direction. The recording pen 2 held in the pen holder 3 is lowered via the upper and lower arms 9.

Note that 18 is a permanent magnet, and 19 is a pen amplifier spring.

At this time, a light emitting element 20 and a light receiving element 21 as shown in FIG.
When the position detector 15 is formed using an optical encoder consisting of an index plate 22 inserted in these optical paths and a slit plate 23 fixed to the pen upper and lower arms 9, the position of the coil bobbin 16 is lowered. As shown in FIG. 2, the microprocessor 24 installed in the control circuit manages this position pulse to generate a position pulse in accordance with the above, so that the lowering position of the coil bobbin 16 can be known, and as a result, this coil bobbin The lowering position of the recording pen 2 held in the pen holder 3 integrated with the pen holder 16 can be known.

On the other hand, the recording pen 2 held in the pen holder 3 generally has a shaft portion 27 having a smaller diameter than the pen body 26, as shown in FIG. 3, so that a pen cap can be attached to prevent the ink on the bench tube 25 from drying.

In the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a predetermined parking point is set, and the pen holder 3 is moved to this parking point using a pen carrier 4 to enable the pen to be lowered. A pen-down restraining block 28 of a predetermined height, for example, height H, is fixed to the parking point, and when the pen is lowered, the upper end of this pen-down restraining block 28 is connected to the pen body 26 between the pen body 26 and its small diameter shaft portion 27. The pen lowering operation is stopped midway when it comes into contact with the lower surface of the recording pen 2, and this stop is detected by the position detector 15, so that it is detected that the recording pen 2 is held by the pen holder 3.

Since the device of the present invention has the above-described configuration, if the recording pen 2 is not held by the pen holder 3, the pen holder 3 is not restrained by the pen down restraining block 28, but reaches the lower limit determined by the configuration of the pen lifting mechanism 13. The pen holder 3 is lowered, but this lower limit value is a known value, and the position pulse generated by the position detector 15 allows the state of no recording pen to be recognized.

After the recording pen holding state is inspected at the parking point, when it is confirmed that the desired recording pen is being held, the pen carriage 4 is moved into the drawing area and drawing is started. If it is confirmed that the recording pen is not held, predetermined error processing is performed. In addition, after performing the above inspection when the device is powered on, if it is confirmed that the recording pen is held, the pen stocker empty state detection means (not shown) checks the empty space in the pen stocker 1 and stores it, and the pen stocker becomes ready to receive drawing commands. If there is no space in 1, predetermined error handling is performed. If it is confirmed that the recording pen is not held when the power is turned on, it becomes possible to receive drawing commands.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, a simple pen-down restraining block is provided at the parking point without providing a special pen detection mechanism, and the pen holder is lowered at this parking point, and this lowering state is recorded by the recording device. Since the pen-down position detector is used for detection, it is possible to realize a low-cost and highly reliable recording apparatus having a function of recognizing the recording pen holding state of the pen holder.

Incidentally, the same function can be obtained even if the pen-down restraining block is integrally formed with =10- part of the recording surface structure by press working or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the pen lifting mechanism, Fig. 2 is a control block diagram thereof, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the pen down restraint state in the present invention, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is a conventional device. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the pen detection device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Pen stocker, 2... Recording pen, 3... Pen holder, 4... Pen carriage, 5... Guide shaft, 6... Pinch roller, 7... Drive roller, 8
...Recording medium, 9...Pen upper and lower arms, 10.20
... Light emitting element, 11.21 ... Light receiving element, 12...
- Light beam, 13... Lifting mechanism, 14... Voice coil motor, 15... Position detector, 16... Coil bobbin, 17... Coil, 18... Permanent magnet, 19...
・Pen up spring, 22... index plate,
23... Slit plate, 24...=11- Microprocessor, 25... Pencil tube, 26...
・Pen body, 27...Small diameter shaft part, 28...Pen down restraint block. Agent Patent Attorney Makoto Sawaki −! Ij! 1'+) Admire °″' a person

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A pen stocker to which a plurality of pens are attached, a pen holder that is movable within a predetermined range and that takes out and holds a selected pen from the pen stocker in response to an external command, an elevating mechanism of the pen holder, and detecting the elevating position of the pen holder. The device comprises a detection mechanism and a pen-down restraining element provided at an arbitrary parking point to prevent the recording pen from descending, and by lowering the recording pen holder at the parking point, the pen holding state by the pen holder can be detected by the detection means. A pen recording device having a recording pen detection device, characterized in that: