JPH02187359A - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately drive a carriage and to obtain a desirable recording image by providing a control member coupled with the end of a leadscrew for preventing the driving member from being engaged with a plurality of lead grooves to be engaged with the driving member of the cartridge except one of the plurality of lead grooves to be engaged with the driving member of the carriage. CONSTITUTION:A leadscrew 2 is formed on its outer surface with four stripes of spiral leads 2a1-2a2, 2a3, 2a4. The leadscrew 2 is rotated to move a carriage 7 in a direction of an arrow (b), thereby bringing a pressing part 7c into contact with a clutch gear 4. The pressing part 7c of the carriage 7 moves the gear 4 to engage it with a cap gear 23. A cam 23a is rotated to slide a cap lever 24 in a direction of an arrow C. A driving pin 8 is dropped in the groove 101d of control member screw boss 101 of the clutch gear 4 to stop moving of the carriage 7. The cap lever 24 is rotated clockwise along the surface of the cam 23, and a cap lever 27 is brought into pressure contact with the head 12a. The driving pin 8 can move between the groove 101d and the lead groove 2a1 only through an opening 101a, and is prevented from moving by a control plate 101b through the other lead grooves 2a2-2a4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device, and more specifically, to prevent clogging and defective ejection due to dryness near the ejection opening of the head in a non-printing area such as the home position. The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device equipped with a mechanism.

[Conventional technology]

Recording devices such as printers and facsimiles are classified into thermal types, wire dot types, inkjet types, etc. depending on the recording method.

Among these, the inkjet type supplies ink to a recording head that has at least one fine liquid path, and
Based on the printing data, an energy generating body provided corresponding to the liquid path is driven, and ejection pressure is applied to the ink in the liquid path communicating with the ejection port, causing the ink to be ejected from the ejection port to form flying droplets. This ink is applied to a recording sheet such as recording paper or a thin plastic plate to form a dot pattern.

By the way, this type of inkjet recording device is prone to ejection failures such as clogging of ejection ports and misalignment in the ejection direction due to ink thickening due to evaporation of ink solvent, adhesion of dust, and inclusion of air bubbles. There were cases where this occurred. In order to prevent this and ensure stable ink ejection, an ink ejection recovery means is provided. This ink recovery means generally seals the ejection surface of the head with a rubber cap or the like, covers the ejection port to keep it moist, and transmits the negative pressure generated by the suction means to the space formed inside the cap. A configuration is used in which the tR1M operation is performed by suctioning the ink or by applying pressure from the ink supply side to discharge the ink from the ejection port.

However, this configuration requires a dedicated motor to open and close the cap, which increases the cost of the device, requires a considerable amount of installation space, and increases the size of the device.

In order to solve this problem, the inventor provided a camping mechanism that moves the gear bar forward and backward in synchronization with the scanning direction of the carriage, and used a cam, which is a component of this mechanism, to move the carriage to the home position. We devised a configuration that allows camping to be carried out in conjunction with.

The above configuration is as shown in FIG. In other words, the movement of the carriage and the rotation of the cam are controlled by the feed screw portion 100a and the groove 100 formed on the outer circumferential surface according to a predetermined lead pitch.
Lead pitch Yu 100 consisting of 0b was used. When the carriage (not shown) reaches the home position, the carriage and the feed screw portion 100a of the lead screw 100 are disengaged, and the carriage is kept in a standby state until then using the carriage drive motor while the carriage is stopped. It was configured to drive a camping mechanism that matched the model.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, since an inkjet recording device with such a configuration uses a lead screw, cutting work must be used to manufacture the lead screw, which not only has poor productivity but also requires a huge amount of work for mass production. There was a problem that required capital investment.

Therefore, we decided to use the rolling method, which is inexpensive and can be mass-produced.
If a lead screw is used, it is necessary to use a multi-thread lead screw, preferably with four to six threads, since the shapes of the grooves and ridges need to be symmetrical. Therefore, when the lead screw is reversed after the carriage is separated from the lead screw, the carriage may mesh with a different lead. For this reason, it has been found that not only the recording accuracy deteriorates, but also that the carriage may start scanning before the cap is opened.

〔the purpose〕

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional art, and while using a multi-lead lead screw, it is possible to reliably engage the carriage with only a specific lead, and to drive the carriage accurately and obtain a good recorded image. An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device that can perform the following steps.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides an inkjet recording apparatus that performs recording and includes a head that ejects ink according to recording information and a carriage that moves the head in a predetermined direction according to the recording information. A lead screw that moves the carriage using a plurality of lead grooves as a feeding means, and one of the plurality of lead grooves that is coupled to an end of the lead screw and into which a driving member of the carriage is fitted. The above object is achieved by a structure in which a member for preventing the driving member from going in and out is provided with a regulating member provided facing the end of the other lead groove.

Furthermore, when the driving member enters the groove provided in the regulating member through the lead groove that is not regulated by the claw member, the cap that covers the ejection surface of the head is opened and closed via a gear that rotates together with the regulating member. It is desirable to provide rotational transmission means for driving the capping mechanism.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the number of parts, it is desirable to provide the gear integrally with the regulating member.

[Effect]

According to the above means, the driving pin of the carriage can be extended and extended into the groove of the regulating member through only a specific one of the lead grooves provided in the plurality of lead grooves, and the driving pin of the carriage can be extended to the groove of the regulating member. When the bottle comes out, the person is eliminated.

Therefore, even if multiple lead grooves are provided during machining of the lead screw, the operation of the carriage will not be hindered.

Further, when the drive pin of the carriage is located on the groove of the regulating member (scrie boss) via a specific lead groove, the gear pressed by the carriage transmits rotational force to the camping mechanism side. Therefore, capping can be performed in conjunction with the movement of the carriage.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a base body on which the following members are mounted, and side plates 1a, 1b and an intermediate side plate IC are erected. 2 is a lead screw rotatably supported between the side plates 1a and lb.

3 is a transmission gear provided at the negative end of the lead screw 2; 4 is slidably engaged with the transmission gear 3 in the axial direction, and the driving force is transmitted to the transmission gear 3 in the rotational direction; This is a clutch gear that is externally fitted onto the lead screw 2 in close proximity.

A coil spring 5 is installed between the transmission gear 3 and the clutch gear 4 and always urges the thalassochigate 4 in the direction of the recording area (arrow a). In order to restrict the position of the clutch gear 4 biased by the coil spring 5, a C ring 6 is formed at the end of the transmission gear 3, as shown in FIG. It is attached to aS3b.

7 is a carriage, the details of which are shown in FIG. In the figure, 7a and 7b are bearing parts that fit into the lead screw 2, 7c is a pressing part that comes into contact with the clutch gear 4 when the carriage reaches the home position, and 7d is a part that blocks light from an ink tank for detecting the home position of the carriage. 7c is a projection-shaped guide provided on both sides of the front part; 7f is a head lock lever integrally formed on the carriage 7 using an elastic plastic material such as polyacetal; and 27g is a head lock lever. lever 7f
A hook portion 8 formed at the front of the gear ridge 7 is a drive pin that is obliquely attached at a predetermined position on the gear ridge 7 and along the lead angle of the lead screw 2 as shown in FIG.

9 is a U-shaped carriage spring provided at the bottom of the carriage 7, as shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 9a denotes a pressure contact portion formed at one end of the carriage spring 9. A guide roller 10 is rotatably provided at the tip end of the carriage spring 9, and the guide roller 10 presses the rail portion 110 of the base l. Reference numeral 9b denotes a pad presser, and as shown in FIG. 6, a bat Il to be pressed against the lead screw 2 is attached to the tip. 9C is a flip-up portion to facilitate removal of the head.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a head in which a head portion 12a provided with an ejection energy generating means for ejecting ink from an ejection port and an ink tank 12b for accommodating ink are integrally mounted removably on the carriage 7 ( Figure 5).

The head section 12a is preferably one that utilizes thermal energy as the energy used to eject ink as the energy generating means in order to reduce the burden associated with driving the carriage, and to achieve downsizing and cost reduction. ,
As this thermal energy generating means, one using an electric/thermal converter can be used. 12C is a mounting pin inserted into the mounting portion of the carriage 7, and 12d is a hook portion formed at the rear end of the head 12 to which the hook portion 7g is engaged when the head 12 is mounted.

A flexible contact 13 is provided on the upper surface of the carriage 7 and is capable of contacting the electrode of the mounted head 12.
A paper feed roller 4 is arranged parallel to the lead screw 2 and conveys the recording sheet while winding it. 15 is a paper feed motor that rotationally drives the paper feed roller 14; 16 is a print sheet as a recording medium; and 17 is a paper pan that serves as a guide for the print sheet 16 sent to the paper feed roller 14.

18 is a paper holding plate that prevents the printing paper 16 from bending toward the head 12 at the printing position; 18a is a guide portion on which the guide portion 7e of the carriage 7 slides; 19 is a motor that serves as a drive source for the carriage 7; 19a is motor 1
19b is the rotating shaft of the motor 19; 20 is a pinion attached to the shaft end of the rotating shaft 19b; 22 is the pinion 20 and the transmission gear 3;
A is an idle gear that transmits the rotation of the pinion 20 to the transmission gear 3, and one end of the gear shaft 21 is pivotally supported by the side plate la.

23 is coaxially supported by the idle gear 22 and the cap 2
This is a cap gear that rotates 7. This cap gear 23 includes a cam 23 for swinging the cap lever 24.
a is provided by integral processing.

A cap lever 24 is rotatably attached to the lever shaft 25, and includes a contact portion 24a that contacts the cam 23a and a spring portion 24b that applies rotational force to the cap lever 24. 26 is a cap holder attached to the front surface of the cap lever 24, and 27 is a cap attached to the front surface of the cap holder 26, which has ribs 27a for improving adhesion. 28 is a blade attached to the intermediate side plate 1c, 29 is an ink absorber that has been subjected to a porous hydrophilic treatment and is attached to the intermediate side plate IC, and 30 is a platform provided on the bottom surface of the hose I near the transmission gear 3. This is an incretor for position detection.

In this embodiment, the lead screw 2 is shown in FIG.
), as shown in (b), the leads 2a1゜2az, 2
A3.2Aq four spiral glue 11' are provided on the outer circumferential surface. A shaft 2C is provided at the center of the end, and a screw boss 101 as a regulating member made of a material such as plastic is fitted onto the shaft 2c.

Inside the screw boss 101, there are lead grooves 2al,
A regulating side plate 101b having an opening 101a provided opposite to the opening 101a, and three claws 101C that fit into each of the lead grooves 2a2, 2a3, and 2a4 are formed. A predetermined portion of the slurry 1-boss 101 near the lead screw 2 where these are installed 4-1 is connected to the drive pin 8 of the carriage 7.
A groove 101d is provided for inserting the cover when it comes off. Note that 101e is a mounting hole into which the shaft 2c is inserted.

Next, the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus having the above configuration will be explained in a seventh section with reference to FIGS. 7(a) to (h).
Figures (a) to (h) show the gear section in Figure 2.

First, when the motor 19 rotates, driving force is sequentially transmitted through the pinion 20° and the idle gear 22, causing the transmission gear 3 to rotate. As the transmission gear 3 rotates, the lead screw 2 rotates. When the lead screw 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, the carriage 7 moves in the direction of the arrow a.

Conversely, when the lead screw 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow L3, the carriage 7 moves in the direction of the arrow.

The lead screw 2 alternately moves in the direction of arrow A depending on the recorded information.
The carriage 7 is rotated in the direction or the direction B, causing the carriage 7 to reciprocate along the lead screw 2, and in the process, ink droplets are ejected from the ink ejection opening of the head 12.

Next, the recovery operation when waiting for print data and when the power is turned off will be explained.

First, as shown in FIG. 7(a), the lead screw 2 is rotated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1 to move the carriage 7 in the direction of the arrow. The pressing portion 7C is brought into contact with the clutch gear 4. The pressing portion 7C of the carriage 7 pushes the clutch gear 4 against the biasing force of the coil spring 5, and the state shown in FIG. 7(a) changes from the state shown in FIG.
The clutch gear 4 is moved to the state of b) and engaged with the cap gear 23. When in the state shown in Figure 7(a),
Since the cam 23a remains stationary, the head portion 12a is separated from the cap holder 26, as shown in FIG. 7<6). Next, when the state shown in FIG. 7(b) is reached, the rotation of the idle gear 22 is transmitted to the cap gear 23 via the transmission gear 3 and the clutch gear 4.
The cam 23a coaxial with the cam 23a rotates to swing the cap lever 24 in the direction of the arrow C shown in FIG. 7<r>.

As shown in FIG. 7(c), when the carriage 7 moves to a state where the clutch gear 4 is completely engaged with the cam 23a, the drive pin 8 falls into the groove 101d of the screw boss 101, and the movement J of the carriage 7 is stopped. . However, cam 2
3a continues to rotate, and after once pressing the cap lever 24 immediately after descending from the horizontal position, the cap lever 24 rotates clockwise along the surface of the cam 23a as the rotation of the cam 23a progresses. . Cap lever 24
As the cap 27 rotates, the cap 27 approaches the head portion 12a, and finally the two come into pressure contact as shown in FIG. 7(h). As a result, the positional relationship of each gear is in the state shown in FIG. 7(d), which is the same as the state shown in FIG. 7(C). Note that the pressing force of the cap 27 can be arbitrarily set by selecting the elastic force of the spring portion 24b of the cap lever 24.

Next, when the cap 27 is opened and printing is performed, the above-described camping operation may be reversed. First, when the motor 19 is rotated to rotate the lead screw 2 in the six directions of arrows, the cap gear 23 rotates because the drive pin 8 and the lead groove 2 of the lead screw 2 are not engaged. The cam 23a rotates in conjunction with this rotation, rotates the cap lever 24, and connects the cap 27 and the head 1.
The second head portion 12a is separated, and the cap 27 is opened. From this state, when the lead screw 2 further rotates, the carriage 7 is always moved to the direction indicated by the arrow 5 by the coil spring 5.
Since the drive pin 8 is urged in the direction, the drive pin 8 is pressed against the end surface of the groove 101d. Therefore, the drive pin 8 is fitted into the lead groove 2 at a position where it engages, and the carriage 7 moves in the direction of arrow a in FIG. As the carriage 7 moves, the clutch gear 4 moves together, the clutch gear 4 and the cap gear 23 are disengaged, and the rotation of the cap gear 23 is stopped.

The drive pin 8 only connects 1R1 to the lead grooves 2a+, 2az, 2a3゜2a through the opening 101a.
01d and lead? A2ai, and is prevented from moving with respect to other lead grooves 2az and 2a3.2a+ by the regulating plate 101b. Therefore, the carriage 7 moves in the same manner as in the case of the conventional single lead groove.

9 and 10 are perspective views showing two other embodiments of the screw boss 101. FIG.

In FIG. 9, the clutch gear 4 is provided separately from the screw boss 101 in FIG. 1, whereas the clutch gear 4 is provided integrally with the end of the screw boss 101. By doing so, there is no need to separately provide the clutch gear 4, and costs can be reduced.

In FIG. 10, the opening 1 of the screw boss 101 is
A stopper part 10 extends in the axial direction from the side part of 01a.
1f is provided on the groove 101d. By doing so, when the carriage 7 is connected, it is possible to prevent the separated drive pin 8 from entering the groove 101d.

In the above configuration, especially when using the head that is detachable from the carriage, positioning accuracy is required, so a configuration using the lead screw that can move the carriage more accurately is preferable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it produces the effects described below.

The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a lead screw for moving the carriage using a plurality of lead grooves spirally provided on an outer circumferential surface as a feeding means; Except for one of the plurality of lead grooves into which the driving member is inserted, a regulating member is provided facing the end of the other lead groove to prevent the driving member from entering and exiting, so that it can be produced at low cost and in large quantities. Even when a lead screw using a rolling method used in production is used, the carriage can be moved reliably, and the ink 1Iiii can be deposited at an accurate position on the recording medium to perform good inkjet recording.

In the inkjet recording apparatus according to the second aspect, when the drive member enters the groove provided in the regulation member through the lead groove that is not regulated by the claw member, the drive member enters the groove provided in the regulation member through the gear that rotates together with the regulation member, Since a rotation transmission means is provided to drive the capping mechanism that opens and closes the cap covering the ejection surface of the head, the capping mechanism is automatically operated in conjunction with the arrival of the carriage at a non-recording area such as the home position. In addition, the ejection port can be reliably protected without causing any misalignment between the cap and the head during capping.

In the inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 3, further:
By providing the gear integrally with the regulating member, the number of parts can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing details of the transmission gear section of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing details of the carriage. 4 is a schematic side view showing the engagement between the drive pin and the lead groove, FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing the state in which the head is attached to the carriage, and FIG. 6 is a schematic side view showing the state in which the butt is attached. FIGS. 7(a) to 7(h) are schematic side views of the gear section illustrating the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG.
Figures (a) and (b) show 8 of the lead screw according to the present invention.
9 and 10 are perspective views showing two other examples of lead screws, and FIG. 11 is a detailed view of a lead screw used in a conventional inkjet recording device. FIG. 1...--1-----Base, 2...--Lead screw 2a1, 2az, 2a3 h
2a+ Pa.-----Lead groove, crassochi gear, 5 Carriage, 8.--1--.Head, 19--1...Motor, dollar gear, 2
3- Cap gear gear up repper, 27-・-=-gear regulating member screw boss, ■ opening, 10 l b----- one regulating plate, one pawl,
IO]] d-=----Groove 3----Transmission gear, 4 Coil bar spear, 7 Drive pin, 12 22--- Eye, 24-・Tub, 101 1a 1C

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an inkjet recording apparatus that performs recording and includes a head that ejects ink according to recording information and a carriage that moves the head in a predetermined direction according to the recording information, a plurality of spirally arranged Except for a lead screw that moves the carriage using a lead groove of a strip as a feeding means, and one of the plurality of lead grooves that is coupled to an end of the lead screw and into which a driving member of the carriage is fitted, An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that the member for preventing the driving member from going in and out includes a regulating member provided facing an end of another lead groove. (2) When the driving member enters the groove provided in the regulating member through the lead groove that is not regulated by the claw member, a cap is provided integrally with the regulating member via a gear and covers the ejection surface of the head. 2. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising rotation transmission means for driving a capping mechanism that opens and closes the capping mechanism. (3) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gear is integrally provided with the regulating member.