JPH02188249A - Liquid jet recording head, holder for scanning same head, and liquid jet recorder using same means - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the types of shape of recording heads to enable the production cost to be lowered by setting a plurality of integral ink tank type-recording heads of the same shape in a carriage. CONSTITUTION:Four recording heads 30-60 are set in a carriage 20 so as to be independently loaded/unloaded in a direction C. Therefore, in the case of ink exhaustion, etc., the recording head can be replaced by a new one by extracting a knob 7 with hands. The recording heads 30 and 50 have the same shape and are disposed point-symmetrically with respect to the center of the carriage 20, and the recording heads 40 and 60 are similarly shaped and disposed. Since a pitch l is ensured for every head element, the recording heads can meet the requirement only by preparing two types of shape, i.e. the recording heads 30 and 50 and the heads 40 and 60 respectively having the same shape. Thus, the production cost of the recording heads can be remarkably reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head, its scanning support device, and a liquid jet recording apparatus using the same. The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head such as a carriage used in a liquid jet recording apparatus that performs recording while moving (scanning) in a direction, a scanning support device thereof, and a liquid jet recording apparatus.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a liquid jet recording apparatus, only a recording head having only an ink ejection part for ejecting recording liquid (hereinafter referred to as ink) is mounted on a carriage, and an ink storage part (hereinafter referred to as ink) disposed in another part is mounted on a carriage. In many cases, ink was supplied from an ink tank to an ink ejection unit via a tube. This is an appropriate configuration if the ink ejection section has sufficient durability and does not require replacement, but in reality, it may cause problems such as clogging of the ink ejection port of the ink ejection section. If this cannot be removed, the ink ejection unit may have to be replaced.

Therefore, a method has been proposed in which an ink tank is integrated with each ink ejecting section and the ink tank is detachably attached to a carriage. For example, liquid jet recording devices that perform full-color recording often use four colors of ink: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The ink ejecting unit is also replaced with a new one when there is no remaining ink. Furthermore, even in devices that perform monochrome recording, multiple such ink tank integrated recording heads are used to increase capacity.
Applications include being able to select the optimal ink depending on the type of recording medium such as paper, and making it possible to use inks with different densities to express gradations.

According to this, when the ink tank of one print head runs out of ink, by replacing that print head, the ink is replenished and the ink ejection section is also returned to its initial state, so it is always possible to Good recording conditions can be maintained, and maintenance of the device can be performed extremely easily.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Here, in a liquid jet recording device that uses a plurality of such tank-integrated recording heads (hereinafter simply referred to as recording heads), it is desirable to increase the memory usage efficiency for aligning recorded data. In order to reduce the memory capacity by reducing the arrangement pitch of each ink ejecting section, and to secure a reasonably large ink tank capacity, in order to do this without increasing the size of the device, it is necessary to It is strongly desired to appropriately determine the dimensions and arrangement of the recording head.

Therefore, the present inventors devised a configuration as shown in FIGS. 11(^) and (B).

Here, 1 indicates the carriage in a predetermined direction (
A rail that serves as a guide for moving in the direction B in the figure),
2 is a carriage for mounting a plurality of recording heads 3 to 6, and 3' to 6' are ink ejection units (hereinafter referred to as head elements) provided in the recording heads 3 to 6, respectively.
and is arranged with a pitch of 1. Further, reference numeral 7 denotes a knob member provided on each of the recording heads 3 to 6 to facilitate attachment/detachment operations performed in the direction C in the figure.

However, in the configuration examples shown in FIGS. 11(^) and (B), there are three types (if the ejection ports are not symmetrical with respect to the center line of the end face of the head element, four types are required to ensure pitch 1). )-shaped recording head is required, and therefore, the number of manufacturing parts increases and the number of parts required to accommodate each recording head on the line increases or becomes complicated, which may require a large investment in equipment. This also increases the unit cost of the recording head itself.
This poses a major obstacle in obtaining a desirably disposable recording head that is low in price.

An object of the present invention is to solve such problems, to reduce the number of types of recording heads by making the shapes of recording heads as uniform as possible, and to contribute to a reduction in the unit manufacturing cost.

Another object of the present invention is to prevent erroneous mounting of lid recording heads with different ink colors, etc., which may occur due to alignment of shapes.

Furthermore, the liquid jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is configured using the recording head and the scanning support device, and a member is disposed on each of the recording heads and allows the recording head having the same shape to be selectively mounted. It is characterized by having the following.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To this end, the scanning support device according to the present invention is a recording head in which a recording liquid storage section and a discharge section for discharging recording liquid are integrally configured, and at least two The recording head is characterized in that a plurality of recording heads having the same shape can be mounted, and the recording heads having the same shape are supported while being rotated by a predetermined angle within a support surface.

Further, the liquid jet recording head according to the present invention is removably attached to the scanning support device, and has a configuration in which the ejection portions are juxtaposed in the attached state, and the ejection portion is connected to the recording liquid storage portion. It is characterized in that it can be mounted in two positions, rotated by a predetermined angle.

[Function] According to the present invention, one scanning support device (carriage)
By making it possible to mount a plurality of recording heads integrated with recording liquid storage portions (ink tanks) of the same shape on the top, it is possible to reduce the types of recording head shapes and contribute to lowering the unit manufacturing cost.

In addition, the recording head of the same shape is rotated at a predetermined angle (for example, 180 degrees
°) Even if it is configured to be rotated and attached to the carriage,
If the discharge part (head element) is assembled in a state in which it has been rotated by 180 degrees in advance, the arrangement pitch of the head element can be ensured.

Furthermore, it is possible to prevent incorrect mounting of recording heads with different ink colors, etc., which may occur due to the alignment of the shapes.

[Example 1 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the following, a carriage supporting four recording heads, for example, recording heads corresponding to cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks to be disposed in a liquid jet recording apparatus that performs full-color recording, and the recording heads will be exemplified.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

Here, reference numeral 1 denotes a rail fixed to a frame (not shown), along which the carriage 20 is configured to move forward in the B direction. Four recording heads 30, 40, 50.80 are mounted on the carriage 20,
Head elements 30', 40', 30' and 40' are provided on the bottom of each of the carriages 20 and 30', respectively, protruding from the bottom of the carriage 20.
50' and 60' are provided. These structures will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the main parts of the recording head according to the present example, and FIG. 3 is a side view of a connecting portion of the head elements. In addition, in these cases, the recording head 50 (or 3
0), but the recording heads 40 and 60
A similar configuration can also be adopted for the connecting portion of the head element.

In these figures, 8 and 8' are hooks and engaging parts for connecting the head element 50' and the ink tank section 50'', respectively. Ink supply port 9 on the side and ink introduction port 1O on the head element 50' side
Ink is supplied from the common liquid chamber 11 to the plurality of liquid channels 12 communicating with the common liquid chamber 11.

An ejection energy generating element such as an electrothermal converter is arranged in each liquid path 12, and ink is ejected in accordance with the drive of the ejection energy generating element. In addition, in the figure, 50'A is a top plate formed with grooves, etc. that constitute the liquid path 12, and 50'B is the top plate that forms the liquid path 12.
This is a substrate (heater board) on which electrothermal transducers (discharge heaters) are arranged corresponding to 2, and a head element 50'' is constructed by joining both.

In this example, the head element 50' can be incorporated into the ink tank section 50'', and the hook 8 is attached to the engaging section 8'.
By connecting with hook 8, both are fixed, but hook 8
By symmetrically configuring the head element 50' and its engaging portion 8', it is possible to assemble the head element 50' even if the head element 50' is rotated by 180''. In this case, the recording head 30 is obtained. The recording heads 30 and 50 are oriented 180° opposite on the carriage 20, but the head element 30'
and 50' face the same direction, that is, the top plate 5
Even if the thicknesses of the heater board 50'A and the heater board 50'B are different, and the ejection port is offset from the center axis of the end face of the head element, the recording head can be rotated 180'' and attached to the carriage 20 by paying attention to the installation direction of the head element. Even when installed, a predetermined pitch of the head element can be ensured.

FIGS. 4 and 5 respectively show A--A in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A and a perspective view of the main parts of the carriage 20. FIG. Here, 21 is the head element 30' to 60'
21-1 is a tapered surface provided on the top plate of the head element (for the recording head 50, it is indicated by 50' in FIGS. 2 and 3).
This is a tapered surface provided in the opening 21 to bring it into contact with the opening 21 (indicated by 1). 22 is a leaf spring that applies a pressing force to the heater board 50'B and the like.

In such a configuration, a recording head (for example, recording head 5
0) on the carriage 20, when the head element 5G' is inserted through the opening 21, its tapered surface 50'^-1 comes into contact with the tapered surface 21-1, and the plate spring 22 causes the heater board The head element 50' is pressed from the side 50'B, and the side surface facing the top plate 50' comes into contact with the side surface of the opening 21. Therefore, the head element 5G can be positioned with high precision.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a configuration example of a liquid jet recording apparatus using a recording head and a carriage according to this embodiment.

Here, P is a recording medium such as paper, film, etc., and is transported in a direction perpendicular to the drawing (sub-scanning direction) by a conveying means (not shown) along a guide 101 that also functions as a platen that regulates the recording surface to be flat. ). The carriage 20 is reciprocated in the B direction (main scanning direction) by a drive source such as a motor via a transmission member such as a belt, and in the process, head elements 30' whose ejection direction is vertical in this example are driven.
Recording is performed by 60'. Note that the carriage 20 may be provided with an appropriate member that slides or transfers into contact with the guide 101 or the recording medium P as a member that supports it. Since the head element is displaced around the rail 1 in accordance with the thickness of the recording medium P, a constant gap can be secured between the head element and the recording surface regardless of the thickness of the recording medium P.

A cap device 103 is provided outside the scanning range of the carriage 20 during recording, and the cap 102 is connected to the ejection port end faces of the head elements 30' to 60' during non-recording operations to prevent drying. have. This cap device 103 has an engaging portion 103 that can engage with the carriage 20, and after the engagement, the carriage 20
It is possible to move eight shifts to the left in the diagram as the
The action of the return spring 10B, which is stretched between the device and the upright portion 105 raised from the base 104, gives it a tendency to move rightward in the figure.

Further, a bottle 103b is provided in a protruding manner on the cap device 103, and is engaged with a slope 108 provided on a guide portion 107 that serves as a guide when moving the cap. That is, when the carriage 20 is moved to the left in the figure when applying the cap,
As the carriage 20 and the engaging portion 103a engage, the cap device 103 also moves to the left against the biasing force of the spring 106. Then, the pin 103b moves up the slope 108, which causes the cap device 103 to rise and connect the cap 102 and head elements 30' to 60'.
A connection is made with. Further, when canceling the capping state during recording or the like, the carriage 20 may be moved to the right.

At this time, the cap device 103 returns to the right due to the biasing force of the spring 106, and the bottle 102 moves toward the slope 108.
, the cap device 103 is lowered.

In this example with the above configuration, four recording heads 30 to 60 are mounted on the carriage 20, and each can be independently attached to and detached from them in the C direction. That is, when the ink runs out, the ink can be pulled out by holding the knob 7 and replaced with a new one.

In particular, as is clear from FIG. 1, the recording heads 30 and 50
have the same shape and are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center of the carriage 20. The same applies to the recording heads 40 and 60. Further, a pitch l is ensured for the head element. That is, according to the present example, the types of print head shapes include print heads 30 and 50, which have the same shape, and heads 40 and 6, which have the same shape.
0 is sufficient, and their manufacturing cost can be significantly reduced.

Further, the configuration of this example is effective against incorrect mounting of the recording head. That is, for example, records 30 and 5
0 is symmetrical except for the head element, but if these correspond to ink of different colors and an attempt is made to attach them in the wrong position, the orientation of the head elements will be different. In such a case, since the heater board (for example, 50'B) of the head element is not provided with a tapered surface, the opening 2 of the carriage 20
The heater board abuts against the tapered surface 21-1 inside the heater board 1, and further mounting operation is blocked.

FIGS. 7 and 8 respectively show configuration examples of a recording head and a carriage on which it is mounted according to other embodiments of the present invention.

In this example, bottles 13 and 14 are provided on the bottom surface of an ink tank portion (52'' or 32'') for forming the recording head 52 or 32. The same applies to the recording heads 42 and 62. In addition, the carriage 22
, a hole 17 corresponding to the bottle 14 is provided in the area where the recording head 52 is attached, a hole 15 corresponding to the bottle 13 is provided in the area where the recording head 32 is attached, and the area where the recording head 52 is attached is provided with a hole 15 corresponding to the bottle 13. Holes 16 and 18 are provided at respective mounting locations corresponding to the bottles provided in the holder.

That is, in this example, by appropriately cutting the bottle from the base to match the recording head to be used, it is possible to mount the bottle on the carriage 22 without erroneously positioning the bottle. −
For example, a print head that stores yellow ink (for example, a print head 50) is connected to a print head that stores magenta (for example, a print head that stores yellow ink).
For example, even if you try to attach it to the record position (30),
The operation is blocked by the bottle 14, and in the opposite case, the mounting operation is blocked by the bottle 13, thereby preventing incorrect mounting of recording heads with different ink colors. The same applies to the recording heads 40 and 60.

The configuration according to this example can prevent incorrect attachment even when the tapered surface 21-1 that contacts the top plate 50'^ is not provided in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. It is also possible to combine the heater board with the above embodiment, and thereby it is possible to prevent damage that may occur due to the heater board hitting the taber surface 21-1 when it is incorrectly installed. Also, bottle 1
3.14 etc. and the dimensions of the holes 15 to 18 into which it is inserted, the head element 32',
It is also possible to make the protrusion lengths of the carriages 25 such as 52' the same from the bottom surface. In addition, these are configured to engage with each other with a so-called "baratin stop", so that the recording heads 32, 42
, 52J2 can be installed securely.

FIG. 9 and FIG. 1θ show configuration examples of main parts of a recording head and a carriage according to still another embodiment of the present invention. Note that FIG. 9 shows the recording head 4 in the embodiment shown in FIG.
0 (heads 33, 53 and 63 correspond to heads 30, 50 and 60, respectively).

In this example, the heater board 43'B joined to the top plate 43'^ is provided with a partially protruding portion 43'B-1. On the other hand, the carriage 27 has its protruding portion 43
' A head element insertion hole 23 having a shape corresponding to B-1 etc. is provided. That is, also in this example, the recording head 43 is placed at the position where the recording head 63 is to be mounted.
When the head element 43' is about to be mounted, the protruding portion 43'B-1 is positioned in the opposite direction, so that the head element 43' and the hole 23 interfere with each other at the shaded area X, thereby preventing incorrect mounting.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, by making it possible to mount a plurality of body type recording heads using ink tanks of the same shape in one carriage, the number of types of recording head shapes can be reduced and the number of recording head shapes can be reduced. It has become possible to contribute to lower manufacturing costs.

In addition, the recording head of the same shape was held at a predetermined angle (18 on the upper side).
Even in the case where the head element is mounted on the carriage with the head element rotated by 0°, if the head element is rotated 180° and installed in advance, the arrangement pitch of the head element can be secured.

Furthermore, by aligning the shapes, it is possible to prevent incorrect installation of recording heads with different ink colors or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the recording head and the vicinity of the carriage according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the main parts of the recording head, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the head element coupling part. Figures 4 and 5 respectively represent A-A in Figure 1.
6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of a liquid jet recording device configured using the above embodiment, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are respectively 9 and 10 are a perspective view of a recording head and a top view of a carriage according to still another embodiment of the present invention, respectively. 11(^) and (B) are a plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a combination of a recording head and a carriage devised before the present invention was proposed. 13.14... Bin, 15-1B... Hole, 20.25.27... Carriage, 21.23... Hole, 21-1... Taber surface, 22... Leaf spring, 30.32,33,40,42,43,50,52,5
3,60.62.63... Recording head, 5G' A-... Top plate, 50' B... Heater board. Figure 9 Figure 11 Procedural Amendment Statement March 1, 1999

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A recording head in which a recording liquid storage section and a discharge section for discharging recording liquid are integrated, and a plurality of recording heads can be mounted, at least two of which have the same shape. A scanning support device for a liquid jet recording head, characterized in that the recording head having the same shape is supported while being rotated by a predetermined angle within a support surface. 2) The liquid jet device according to claim 1, wherein four recording heads each having the same shape can be mounted, and the two recording heads having the same shape are supported at point-symmetrical positions. A support device for scanning the recording head. 3) It is detachable from the scanning support device according to claim 1 or 2, and has a configuration in which the ejection portions are juxtaposed in the attached state, and the ejection portions are arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the recording liquid storage portion. A liquid jet recording head characterized in that it can be installed in two rotated states. 4) A liquid jet recording head characterized in that the discharge section has an electrothermal converter as a discharge energy generating element. 5) Constructed using the scanning support device according to claim 1 or 2 and the liquid jet recording head according to claim 3 or 4, and arranged in each of the scanning support device and the liquid jet recording head. . A liquid jet recording apparatus, further comprising a member that allows recording heads having the same shape to be selectively mounted.