JPH0232882A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniformize a load on a recording material at the time of feeding the recording material by providing a releasing mans for releasing a roller from contact with a bail member, and bringing the roller into contact with the surface of the bail member and releasing the roller from the contact. CONSTITUTION:A solenoid 40 disposed on a base frame 1 attracts a shaft 40a toward a main body when being supplied with a voltage. When a recording head is in a printing condition, a carriage 20 is moved while a roller 28 is pressed against a bail member 71. When the head is located outside a printing region, the solenoid 40 is energized to lower a lever 41 to a position 41c. By the movement of the lever, the carriage 20 is turned on a main shaft 30 to a position 20d, whereby the roller 28 is released from the bail 71, and is retracted into a position 28a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and particularly to a recording apparatus that can improve the feeding accuracy of a recording medium in an inkjet recording method.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, various inkjet recording systems have been proposed and attempts have been made to put them into practical use, depending on their principles, configurations, etc. Among these, the so-called on-demand method, in which ink droplets are timely ejected during recording to obtain a desired recorded image, is becoming mainstream among inkjet recording methods because it is suitable for downsizing and simplifying the apparatus. Furthermore, as a recent trend, the rise of color inkjet recording devices that realize recording of color images by combining the use of multiple nozzles and the use of color ink has become remarkable.

Under these circumstances, in inkjet recording devices, images are recorded without contact between the recording head and the recording medium, so in order to obtain a good image, the nozzle surface of the recording head and the recording medium must be closely connected. It is essential to maintain a constant distance, the so-called head gap. Therefore, it has been common practice in the past to provide an adjustment mechanism for adjusting this head gap on a shaft or the like that holds the carriage. However, providing such an adjustment mechanism increases costs and the adjustment work itself is complicated, so in recent years, a configuration has been proposed in which the carriage and the recording medium are brought into contact to ensure the above-mentioned rad gap. has been done. Among these, there is a mechanism in which the carriage is provided with rotating rollers and the carriage is moved with the rollers in contact with a presser member that presses down the recording medium to keep the head gap constant at all times. Since it does not come into contact with the recording medium, it is possible to obtain high-quality images without worrying about staining the recording medium with ink.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main mechanism of a recording apparatus including such a mechanism.

The frame structure of the recording apparatus is composed of a base frame 1, a left side plate 2, and a right side plate 3.

The carriage mechanism section includes a recording head 501 and a recording head 5.
0 carriage 201 main shaft 30,
F for supplying recording signals to the CR motor 31 that drives the carriage 20, the drive belt 32, and the recording head 50;
It is composed of parts such as a PC 33, a driving pulley 34, and a driven pulley 35.

The recording head 50 is attached to the carriage 20 and is movable between the left side plate 2 and the right side plate 3 as the carriage 20 moves. The carriage 20 slides on the main shaft 30 via an integrally constructed bearing with high sliding properties.

The power source at this time is the CR motor 31, which has a drive pulley 34 attached to its shaft by press-fitting and a toothed drive belt 3 that engages with the drive pulley 34.
2, power is transmitted to the carriage 20.

The driven pulley 35 is provided at a position facing the drive pulley 34, and is driven by a belt tension biasing means 36.
Appropriate tension is given to 2.

Next, 1. The recording medium feeding mechanism section is composed of parts such as a roll-shaped recording medium 80, a platen 70, a recording medium presser 71, an LF motor 80, and an LF power transmission system 81. The platen 70 has a cylindrical pipe shape made of aluminum or the like, and is supported by two rings 73a at each end provided on the base frame 1 and a biasing means such as a spring. This is achieved by holding the outer diameter of the ring 73b, one at each end, which presses the ring 73b against the base frame. The power transmission mechanism transmits the power of an LF motor 80, which is a stepping motor or the like, through a deceleration mechanism of an LF power transmission system 81, increases the torque, subdivides the feed steps, and then transfers the power to an L motor (not shown).
The configuration is such that the signal is transmitted to the F drive pulley. After this, a plurality of LF belts (with teeth) 7 that engage with the LF drive pulley
4, and the LF belt 74 is driven while being fitted in a groove provided on the outer periphery of the platen 70, thereby feeding the recording medium θ0 by a predetermined amount. The recording medium presser 71 is formed of a thin steel plate such as stainless steel, and is held between the right side plate 3 and the LF by a holding member 72.
It is held between the side plates 4 and is biased in a direction to press the recording medium Boa against the platen 70 by a biasing means (not shown), and plays the role of suppressing floating of the recording medium 80a near the recording position. . 100 is a recovery mechanism V1 for the recording head 50 provided outside the print area, and by operating the recovery mechanism 100 as necessary, nozzle surface cleaning, ink supply, non-discharge recovery, and nozzle recovery of the recording head 50 are performed. Prevents drying, etc.

When desired characters and images are to be obtained using this recording apparatus, a recording signal is transmitted to the recording head 60 via the FPC 33, and at the same time, the CR motor 31 is driven to cause the carriage 20 to reciprocate.

At this time, by feeding the recording medium E30a at a predetermined pitch in synchronization with the reciprocating movement of the carriage, characters, images, etc. are formed on the recording medium as a collection of dots.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the carriage mechanism of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 2, in which the same parts as in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals. The carriage 20 is slidably held on a main shaft 30 via a bearing 21 . On the other hand, in a fitting hole 20b formed at the rear of the carriage 20, a roller receiver 24 is connected to the main body of the carriage 20 via a compression screw 26.
The roller receiver of the base frame 1 is held on the rail la via the roller 25. Also carriage 2
A rotating roller inner ring 22 is fitted into a pillar 20a integrally formed in front of the roller 0, and a rotating roller outer ring 23 is provided so as to cover the rotating roller inner ring 22. Here, the rotating roller inner ring 22 is a rotating body such as a ball bearing, and the rotating roller outer ring 23 is formed of a shock absorber made of, for example, rubber. The inner ring 22 and the outer ring 23 of both rotating rollers are connected by a strong fit or adhesive to prevent slippage during rotation.

In the figure, arrow A indicates the recording position of the recording head 50,
In this type of apparatus, as mentioned above, it is extremely important to maintain a uniform distance between the nozzle of the recording head 50 and the recording medium E30a at this recording position, that is, the head gap D, in order to obtain high print quality. In this carriage mechanism, factors such as bending, warping, and unevenness of the component parts are absorbed as shown by arrow B by the biasing force of the spring 2θ, and the rotating roller outer ring 23 is moved against the recording medium holder 71 in the direction of arrow C. By pressing, the head gap D is always kept constant. Further, the contact position between the rotating roller outer ring 23 and the recording medium presser 71 is located behind the recording position A of the recording head 50 with respect to the direction in which the recording medium is fed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, this carriage mechanism poses the following problems. In other words, in order to improve the feeding accuracy of the recording medium, it is essential to maintain a uniform mechanical load on the feeding mechanism when feeding the recording medium. Although a separate member called a pressing member is used to press the rotating roller, the pressure pressing the recording medium is slightly higher in the areas where the roller is in contact than in other areas. It ends up. Therefore, when feeding a recording medium, the unbalance of this pressing force affects the feeding accuracy, and as a result, skewing of the recording medium, uneven feeding, etc. occur, resulting in high precision. The current situation is that a problem arises in that feeding cannot be performed accurately.

The present invention has been made by focusing on such conventional problems, and it is possible to equalize the load when feeding a recording medium,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device that enables highly accurate recording medium feeding.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and includes a recording head whose drive is controlled based on a recording signal, a carriage on which the recording head is mounted, and a recording target. The recording medium includes a platen for supporting a medium, a recording medium transport mechanism for transporting the recording medium, and a carriage control mechanism for reciprocating the carriage in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording medium. In the recording apparatus, a holding member is provided on the platen to cover the entire width direction of the recording medium, a roller is rotatably attached to the carriage, and the roller is brought into contact with the holding member with a predetermined pressing force. The carriage is moved to perform recording, and a release means is provided for releasing the roller from contact with the presser member, thereby making it possible to bring the roller into contact with and release from the surface of the presser member. It is characterized by

[Action Co. The measures described above operate as follows.

When the carriage is performing a printing operation, the roller presses the recording medium via a presser member, but when performing a recording medium feeding operation, the roller is pressed by a release means. Since the contact with the member is released, the recording medium is placed in a uniform load state and can be accurately fed with high precision.

[Example code] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of the carriage mechanism of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, and the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as in FIGS. 1 and 2. A carriage 20 on which a recording head (not shown) is mounted is connected to a main shaft 3 via a bearing 21.
0, the roller receiver 24 inserted into the fitting hole 20b provided in the main body of the carriage 20, and the roller receiver of the base frame 1 via the roller 25. Pillar 2 formed by
Through the roller 28 attached to the recording medium B
The configuration of contacting the oa presser member 71 is the same as the configuration shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 described above. The repulsive force generated by the compression spring 26 provided between the carriage 20 and the roller receiver 24 acts as a force that causes the roller 28, which rotates following the reciprocating movement of the carriage 20, to press the presser member 71. Also, roller 2
The configuration of No. 8 employs a dual structure of an inner ring and an outer ring as shown in FIG.

In the figure, 40 is a solenoid installed on the base frame 1, and the solenoid 40 is operated by a supplied voltage.
This shows the movement of sucking the shaft 40a toward the main body. The lever 41 is rotatably attached around a fulcrum 42, and one end 41a of the lever is connected to the shaft 4 of the solenoid 40.
0a is held down by a stopper 40b. The other end 41b of the lever is formed so as to be located near the L-shaped protrusion 20c formed integrally with the carriage 20. The coil spring 43 is wound around the fulcrum 42 and is connected to the base frame 1 and the protrusion 41d of the lever 41.
and acts to bias the lever 41 in the A direction.

The operation of the recording apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration will be explained. When the recording head (not shown) is in the printing state, the roller 28
The carriage 20 is moved while the presser member 71 is pressed. That is, the solenoid 40 does not operate, and there is a gap between the one end 41b of the lever 41 and the projection 20c of the carriage 20. Next, if the recording head leaves the printing area, the solenoid 40
is energized and pushes the lever 41 down to the position 41c. Due to the movement of this lever, the carriage 20 is moved to the position 20d with the main shaft 30 as its center of rotation, and the roller 28 is released from the pressing member 71 and is moved to the position 28a.
It is to evacuate to the position.

In this state, the recording medium Boa is fed by a predetermined amount, and after that operation, the solenoid 40 is de-energized, so that the carriage 20 is moved by the biasing force of the compression spring 26, and the lever 41 is moved by the biasing force of the coil spring 43. The biasing force returns the roller 28 to its original state, in which the roller 28 comes into contact with the presser member 71 and the one end 41b of the lever does not come into contact with the carriage protrusion 20c. These series of operations are repeated alternately: when the recording head prints, and when the recording head does not print, but the carriage is reversed and the recording medium is fed.

Furthermore, even when the recording head is within the printing area, the roller 2 can be moved as needed by driving the lever 41 as needed.
8 can be released from the presser member 71, so if the printing range is short, the printing speed can be increased by releasing the roller 28 at the required position and feeding the recording medium. be.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the pressure on the pressing member of the recording medium by the rotating roller provided on the carriage can be released as appropriate, when the recording medium is fed, By releasing the contact between the rollers, the load applied to the recording medium can be made uniform, allowing highly accurate feeding of the recording medium and ensuring high print quality. Furthermore, since the rotation roller can be released at any position within the movable range of the carriage, it is also possible to freely set the printing range of the recording head on the recording medium.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a carriage mechanism of a recording apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main configuration of a conventional recording apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of a carriage mechanism of a conventional example. FIG. 20... Carriage 28... Roller 40... Solenoid 41... Lever 50... Φ Recording head 80180a... Φ Recording medium 70... Platen 71... Recording medium presser

Claims (1)

[Claims] a recording head whose drive is controlled based on a recording signal; a carriage on which the recording head is mounted; a platen that supports a recording medium; a recording medium transport mechanism for transporting the recording medium; In a recording apparatus equipped with a carriage control mechanism that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the recording medium is transported, a presser member is provided on the platen to cover the entire width direction of the recording medium,
A roller is rotatably attached to the carriage, and recording is performed by moving the carriage with the roller in contact with the pressing member with a predetermined pressing force, and at the same time, the roller is brought into contact with the pressing member. 1. A recording apparatus characterized in that a release means is provided to release the roller, and the roller can be brought into contact with and released from the surface of the presser member.