JPH03161349A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent breakdown or deterioration of recording quality due to vibration or the like without enlarging the size of a device by a constitution wherein the title printer is provided with bellowses on a pair of tubes pinching an ink supplementing port while ink is supplied from a main tank into a sub tank through the tubes. CONSTITUTION:One end 63a of a tube 63 is communicated with the ink supplementing port 33e of a sub ink tank 33c whereby ink may be supplemented from a main ink tank 61 to the sub ink tank 33c through the tube 63. A pair of tubes 62, 63, pinching a carriage 32, is provided with bellowses 62c, 63c, expandable in the moving direction of the carriage 32, whereby the amount of movement of the carriage 32 may be absorbed by the expansion of the tubes 62, 63 and a printer may be miniaturized. Further, the tubes 62, 63 will never be jumped or vibrated since they are not moved whereby the deterioration of recording quality, the breakage of parts and the like due to vibration or the like can be prevented.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an inkjet printer that records on paper by ejecting ink from the nozzles of a print head, and more specifically, relates to an inkjet printer that records on paper by ejecting ink from a nozzle of a print head. The present invention relates to an inkjet printer in which a print head is disposed on a carriage that scans a sheet of paper with nozzles.

Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention Conventionally, as the above inkjet printers, there has been an integrated ink supply type in which ink is directly supplied to the nozzles from an ink tank placed on the carriage together with the nozzles. However, the weight of the ink tank puts a burden on the reciprocating movement of the carriage, and there is a problem that, for example, the scanning state of the nozzles becomes unstable depending on the amount of ink remaining in the ink tank.

To solve this problem, a small-capacity sub-ink tank is installed on the carriage side, and ink is supplied from the large-capacity main ink tank installed in the printer body to the sub-ink tank through a flexible tube. There was an inkjet printer with a separate ink supply type.

However, in this separate ink supply type inkjet printer, the tube moves as the carriage moves, so the trajectory of this tube movement must be secured as an empty space, which increases the size of the device. was there. Additionally, as the carriage moves, the flexible tube may dance or vibrate, causing the tube to collide with various parts of the printer, resulting in poor recording quality, damage to various parts or the tube, or damage to the tube and printing. There is a problem that the head etc. may become disconnected.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned vibration of the tube, an inkjet printer is provided with a guide member that regulates the behavior of the tube as the carriage moves (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-176565). There remained a problem in that the equipment became larger due to the need to secure free space for it.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet printer that can prevent recording quality deterioration and damage caused by tube movement and vibration without increasing the size of the device. do.

Means for Solving the Problems> To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an inkjet printer that reciprocates a carriage having a print head and a sub-ink tank that supplies ink to the print head. A pair of tubes are disposed between the ink supply ports and have bellows parts that are expandable and retractable in the direction of movement of the carriage, one end communicating with the ink supply port, and the other end facing the The other end of at least one of the tubes is connected to a main ink tank that supplies ink to the sub-ink tank.

According to the above structure, the other end of at least one of the pair of tubes communicating with the ink supply port of the sub-ink tank communicates with the main ink tank. Ink can be supplied from the main ink tank to the sub-ink tank via the one tube.

Moreover, since the pair of tubes have bellows parts that are expandable and retractable in the direction of movement of the carriage, when the carriage moves, the bellows part of one tube contracts and the bellows part of the other tube stretches.

In this way, the amount of movement of the carriage can be absorbed by the expansion and contraction of the tube, so there is no need for the tube to move, and therefore there is no need to secure a movement space for the tube.

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an inkjet printer as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows the main parts thereof. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, this inkjet printer is equipped with a paper feed section 2 for supplying paper P at the upper rear part of printer main body 1, and inside printer main body 1, there is a paper feed section 2 for supplying paper P. The printing section 3 for printing and the paper P are connected from the paper feed section 2 to the printing section 3 as shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure.
and an ink replenishing device 6 for replenishing the sub-ink tank 33c of the printing unit 3 with ink. .

The paper feed section 2 includes a paper cassette 21 that is removably attached to the printer main body 1, and from this paper cassette 21,
It includes a paper feed roller 22 for feeding the paper P one by one to the paper transport section 4.

The paper conveying section 4 includes registration rollers 41 for conveying the paper P supplied from the paper feeding section 2 to the platen roller 34 of the printing section 3, guide plates 42, 43, and the paper P that is printed by the printing section 3. A discharge port for discharging the paper P to the paper discharge tray 11.
44.

The printing unit 3 includes a carriage 32 that is slidably disposed on two guide stays 31 and 31 installed between the side plates 1a and 1b in the printer main body 1 (see FIG. 1), and The loaded print head 33, a platen roller 34 that faces the nozzle 33a of the print head 33 and supports the paper P from behind during printing, an auxiliary roller 34a that presses the paper P against the platen roller 34, and the carriage 32. reciprocate on the guide stay 31.31,
It includes a drive side 35 consisting of a pair of pulleys 35a, 35a and 35b, and a paper presser 36 disposed near the nozzle 33a of the print head 33.

The print head 33 includes the nozzle 33a, a piezoelectric element 33b that intermittently ejects ink from the nozzle 33a by pressurizing ink according to recorded information, and the piezoelectric element 33.
A small-capacity sub-ink tank 33 that supplies ink to b.
c, and flexible wiring 33d that transmits a control signal from a controller (not shown) to the piezoelectric element 33b.

A pair of ink supply ports 33e, 33e are provided at the top of the sub-ink tank 33c.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the ink replenishing device 6 includes a main ink tank 61 attached to the side plate 1a, and a pair of tubes 62, 63 disposed across the ink replenishing ports 33e and 33e. We are prepared. Each tube 62.6
3 is a bellows portion 6 that is expandable and retractable in the moving direction of the carriage 32;
2c. 63c.

One end portion 62a, 63a of each tube 62.63 is connected to the peripheral edge 33h, 33h of each ink supply port 33e, 33e, and each tube 62.63 communicates with the sub-ink tank 33c. In addition, the other end 6 of the tube 62
2b is attached to the side plate 1b in a closed state, and the other end 63b of the tube 63 is attached to the side plate 1a so that the tube 63 is connected to the main ink tank 61 through the communication hole 1c.
They are attached in such a way that they communicate with each other through. 64 is
With both tubes 62 and 63 passed through, both side plates 1a,
This is the mandrel installed between lb.

According to this embodiment, one end 63a of the tube 63 is
The tube 63 is connected to the ink supply port 33e of the sub-ink tank 33c, and the other end 63b is connected to the main ink tank 61.
Ink can be supplied to the sub-ink tank 33c via the sub-ink tank 33c.

Further, a pair of tubes sandwiching the carriage 32 are provided with bellows portions 62c. 63
c, as the carriage 32 moves back and forth, the bellows portion of one tube contracts and the bellows portion of the other tube expands (see FIGS. 1 and 2). In this way, the amount of movement of the carriage 32 can be absorbed by the expansion and contraction of the tubes 62, 63, so there is no need for the tubes 62, 63 to move, and therefore there is no need to secure a movement space for the tubes 62, 63. , the printer can be made smaller. Moreover, tube 62.63
does not move, so the tubes 62 and 63 dance,
There is no vibration, and it is possible to prevent deterioration in recording quality or damage caused by vibration or the like.

Note that in the above embodiment, a so-called pressure pulse type on-demand type inkjet printer is shown in which ink is intermittently ejected from the nozzle 33a according to recorded information, but an electrostatic attraction type inkjet printer that draws ink using electrostatic force is used. or other types of on-demand inkjet printers, such as bubble-type inkjet printers that rapidly heat ink to boil and eject the ink using the resulting pressure, or record the trajectory of ink continuously ejected from a nozzle. The configuration of the present invention can also be applied to a continuous inkjet printer that performs recording by intermittently attaching ink to paper by deflecting it in accordance with information.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications may be made without changing the gist of the present invention, such as providing a pair of main tanks 61 that communicate with each tube 62 and 63. Design changes can be made.

Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the present invention, ink can be supplied from the main ink tank to the sub-ink tank via the tube. In addition, the pair of tubes that sandwich the ink supply port have bellows that can be expanded and contracted in the direction of movement of the carriage, and the amount of movement of the carriage can be absorbed by the expansion and contraction of these tubes. Therefore, there is no need to secure a space for moving the tube, and the device does not become larger. Furthermore, since the tube does not move, no vibration or the like is generated in the tube, and a unique effect is achieved in that recording quality deterioration or damage caused by this vibration or the like can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1 and 2 are sectional views of essential parts of an inkjet printer showing the moving state of a carriage, respectively, and FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the inkjet printer. la, lb...side plate, 32...carriage, 33a...printing hole 33c.
...Sub ink tank, 33e...Ink supply port, 61...Main ink tank, 62.63...Tube, 62a, 63a...One end, 62b, 63b...Other end , 62c, 63c... bellows part. Patent Seller Sandako Co., Ltd. 1a. lb 32 33c 33c 61 G2. fi3 62a. 63a 62b. 63b fi2c. 63c Side plate carriage Sub ink tank Ink supply port Main ink tank Tube One end Other end Bellows portion 1b- 33h 32 1b 2nd Fig. 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Print head and ink on this print head It has a sub-ink tank that supplies An inkjet that moves the carriage back and forth. In a print printer, the sub-ink tank It is arranged across the ink supply port of the Bellows that can be expanded and contracted in the direction of carriage movement A pair of tubes having one end, If each is connected to the ink supply port, Attach the other end to a pair of opposing side plates. Each is fixed, and there are only a few The other end of one tube is Main port that supplies ink to the ink tank. The main feature is that it communicates with the tank tank. Inkjet printer.