JPH04129781A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten initial operation at a normal time and to perform initial operation with due regard to all of cases by providing the detection means integrally movable along with a recording head and the member to be detected provided to the reciprocating moving route of the recording head and subjecting the detection of the member to be detected to a plurality of judgements. CONSTITUTION:When a carriage 2 is moved to the left to return to an initial position, a part of the carriage 2 comes into contact with an upper arm part 23B to be engaged therewith and further integrally moved to the left along a cap member 23. When the carriage 2 is guided to the initial position, a fixed shutter 28 is detected by the home position sensor 29 provided to the carriage 2 and the initial position is judged. In the operation at an initial time, it is confirmed that the carriage 2 is moved to the position on the right-hand side of a home position sensor shielding plate 28 and, when the carriage passes through a home position while it is moved in the left direction, the setting of a position counter is performed. The carriage 2 is further moved by several steps and, at this place, the initial operation of a circuit for a carriage motor is performed. Thereafter, restoring operation is carried out while gear change- over operation is performed to complete initial operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application 1] The present invention relates to a recording device, and particularly to a so-called serial type recording device that performs recording while moving a recording head in a predetermined direction along a recording material.

[Prior Art 1] In many conventionally known serial type printing apparatuses, a step motor is used as a carriage drive motor that drives a carriage that transports a print head for printing scanning.

In many cases, a step motor is also used as a drive motor for feeding a sheet of recording material (hereinafter also referred to as recording sheet or recording paper) in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage.

Furthermore, in order to reduce costs and save space, there are recording apparatuses that are capable of performing multiple operations with a single drive source (motor) in order to reduce the number of motors that serve as drive sources. for example,
In the recording device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-139307 filed by the present applicant, the recovery operation in the inkjet recording device, the operation of the automatic sheet feeder (ASF), etc. switch the drive force transmission of the drive motor for feeding the recording sheet. There is a recording device that performs switching using the following configuration.

That is, a row of a plurality of gears arranged parallel to the moving direction of the carriage and driveable by the drive source, and a row of gears that engages with the carriage outside the recording area and corresponds to the moving position of the carriage. a gear member that can mesh with one of the plurality of gears, the recording material can be fed in a state where the gear member is meshed with one of the plurality of gears, and the other of the plurality of gears The recording material is configured such that operations other than feeding the recording material can be performed in a state in which the recording material is meshed with one of the recording materials.

In such a device, when moving from a predetermined operating position to an adjacent operating position, control is performed that combines driving the carriage and driving the drive source described above. Also, an adjacent operation position further ahead of the operation position adjacent to the predetermined operation position! When moving from one position to another, a combination of the above-mentioned controls for movement between adjacent positions is used.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention 1] However, in such a recording apparatus, when the carriage is at the drive switching operation position, a predetermined control must be performed according to the position of the carriage, and when the recording apparatus is initially operated If we consider the case where the carriage is in the drive switching operation position before the carriage position reference is set, it will be necessary to perform all the predetermined controls as mentioned above, and there is a risk that the initial operation will take more time. was there.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] The present invention aims to solve such problems, and for this purpose, the present invention provides a recording device that records on a recording material, which is movable back and forth along the recording material. The device includes a recording head that records on a recording material, a detection means that is movable together with the recording head, and a detected member provided in a reciprocating path of the recording head, and the detected member The present invention is characterized in that detection of a member is subjected to a plurality of judgments.

[Function 1] In the present invention, the recording head or its mounting member (
The detected member for determining the reference position of the carriage (carriage) can also be used for other determinations, such as determining the operation of the switching rock structure at the initial time. Therefore, at the initial time, it can be determined how to perform the operation within the switching mechanism before the reference position of the carriage is set, so that the initial switching operation can be shortened.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below in detail and specifically based on the drawings.

(Configuration of the entire apparatus) FIG. 1 shows an example of an inkjet recording apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. Here, 1 is a recording head mounted on a carriage 2, and the carriage 2 is connected to a recording head 7 by a timing belt stretched between it and an idler boot (not shown).
The carriage drive motor (described later in Figures A and 7B)
(not shown in FIG. 1), and is reciprocated along the guide shaft 3 by forward and reverse rotation. Incidentally, ink is supplied to the recording head 1 from an ink cartridge 4 via an ink tube (not shown), and while the carriage 2 is moving from left to right, the recording head 1 is supplied with ink from an ink ejection port (not shown) to a recording material such as a recording material. Ink is ejected toward the recording sheet 5, and recording is performed.

As ejection means for the recording head, US Pat. No. 4,72
3.129 and 4,459,600, the thermal energy causes a change of state in the liquid, including the rapid formation of bubbles, contraction, and in response to the formation of the bubbles. A method of ejecting liquid as droplets (preferably having an electrothermal converter as a component) can be adopted.

6 is the position of the recording sheet 5 facing the ejection surface of the recording head 1! 7 is a feed roller that feeds the recording sheet 5, and 8 is a pinch roller that is driven so as to press against the feed roller 7 and sandwich the recording sheet 5 therebetween. , 9 is a pinch roller holder for applying a pressing force to the pinch roller 8. The holder 9 is made of a stainless steel plate or the like, and biases the pinch roller 8 toward the feed roller 7 by its spring force. IO and 11 hold the recording sheet 5 fed manually, etc., and the feed roller 7 and pinch roller 8
An upper guide and a lower guide for guiding between.

A guide rail IOA is provided on the upper part of the upper guide 10, and a leaf spring portion 2A provided on the lower surface side of the carriage 2 is slidably held along the guide rail IOA. Thus, the spring force of the leaf spring 2A urges the carriage 2 itself toward the fixed platen 6, and the carriage 2
A part of the platen 6 is attached to the sheet holding plate 1 provided in front of the platen 6.
The head 1 is slidably brought into contact with the head 3.
A predetermined distance is maintained between the ink ejection surface IA and the recording sheet 5.

Note that the sheet presser plate 13 that a part of the carriage 2 comes into contact with
This area is near the back side of the part of the sheet presser plate 13 that is in contact with the feed roller 7, and when the sheet presser plate 13 retreats by that amount due to the passage of the recording sheet 5, the carriage 2
will also retreat as well.

Therefore, it is possible to maintain the above-mentioned interval at a predetermined interval regardless of paper thickness and form a high-quality recorded image.

The recording sheet 5 fed by the feed roller 7 and the pinch roller 8 is held by a fixed platen 6 tilted rearward at an angle of approximately 30 degrees, making it easy to see the recording results. As shown in FIG. 2, the recorded recording sheet 5 is transferred to a discharge roller 12 and a spur 12B that is pressed against the discharge roller 12.
It is sandwiched between the two and discharged to the stacker section 14.

Figure 2 shows the exterior cover 15 and automatic paper feeder (auto feeder).
Sheet Feeder (ASF)
It can be fed via the F 16, and can also be recorded on continuous paper by using the pin feed tractor 17. Further, it is also possible to provide a heater on the back side of the fixed platen 5, thereby making it possible to prevent ink from drying.

Next, the ink supply device, recovery device, sheet feeding device, etc. according to this example will be described. These devices are the first
They are concentrated on the left side of the recording area in the figure, and are designed to simplify the drive transmission mechanism and make the space more compact.
The drive source is shared, and 20 is a feed motor provided as the drive source. The feed motor 20 drives the feed roller 7 and the discharge roller 1 as described later.
2, the ASF 16 can also be driven, and further a series of recovery operations can be performed by the recovery device.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a cartridge insertion opening, and 22 denotes a hollow needle that pierces the ink cartridge 4 when inserted from the insertion opening 21 to supply ink to a tube (not shown) to the recording head 1 via an ink level detector. be. In addition, the recovery device operates toward the ink ejection surface LA of the recording head 1 as the cap member 23 and the cap member 23 move. 4, a spring 26 for biasing the cap member 23 toward the initial position on the right side, and a spring 25 for ink suction.

The cap carrier 23A is also provided with an arm portion 23B that protrudes toward the carriage 2c running path, and when the carriage 2 moves leftward from the position shown in Figure 1 and returns to the initial position, the cap carrier 23A The upper arm portion 23B contacts and engages with the upper arm portion 23B, and moves further leftward together with the cap member 23. 2 ( is a fixed shutter for detecting the reference position, and when the carriage 2 is guided to the initial position, the fixed shutter 28 is detected by a transmission type sensor (home position sensor) 29 provided on the carriage 2,
An initial position is determined. Note that during the subsequent movement, the ink ejection surface IA is capped by the cap member 23.

In addition, in a recovery operation after capping, a negative pressure is generated in the cap member 23 by driving a pump 27 connected to the cap member 23 through a tube (not shown), and ink is discharged from the nozzle of the recording head l. However, such a recovery operation is performed by the feed motor 20 by switching by a driving force switching means, which will be described later. 3
1 is a pump cam for driving the pump 27, 32 is a pump output gear, 33 and 34 are ASF output gears and sheet feeding output gears provided coaxially with the pump output gear 32, and 35 is a gear train. 36, and is an idler gear that can rotationally drive the feed roller 7 via the feed gear 37.

A wiper (blade) 48 is provided perpendicularly to the traveling direction of the carriage 2 and is fixed so as to engage and clean the ejection port forming surface of the recording head 1 as the carriage travels. .

(Switching mechanism) Next, the feed motor 20 is
The operation switching mechanism will be explained below. Note that although an embodiment using a gear as the transmission member will be described below, the transmission member may be of other forms.

In FIG. 3, 41 is an idler gear for transmitting the drive of the feed motor 2o to the drive gear 43 of the slide gear shaft 42, and the slide gear shaft 42 has a D-shaped cross section. A slide gear 44 that rotates together with the shaft 42 is held by a slide boulder 45. That is, the slide holder 45 has two pronged legs 45A extending downward as shown in FIG.
Since the leg portion 45A is fitted into the groove member 47 supported by the frame 46 in parallel with the gear shaft 42, the slide gear 44 moves together with the slide holder 45 as the leg portion 45A moves along the groove member 47. Moving.

23C is a second arm protruding from the cap carrier 23A toward the groove member 47, and 23D is a second arm 23C.
The leaf spring 23D is held between the forked legs 45A of the slide holder 45 described above.

Therefore, when the cap member 23 is engaged with the carriage 2 and moved to the left as described later, the slide boulder 45 is moved in the same direction via the plate spring 230, so that the slide gear 44 always maintains a position corresponding to the cap member 23. However, this slide gear 44
As shown in FIG. 4 above, a module gear train 36 is also supported by the frame 46 and can be engaged with the slide gear 44.

In the gear train 36, the gear located farthest to the right is the large gear 3.
Output gear 3 for sheet feeding consisting of 4A and small gear 34B
4, of which the large gear 34A is a slide gear 44.
The small gear 34B meshes with the discharge roller gear 12A via the idler gear 35. In addition, with the slide gear 44 meshing with the sheet feeding output gear 34, the feed roller 7 and the discharge roller 12 can be rotated forward or reverse by the feed motor 2o via the feed gear 37 and the discharge roller gear 12A.

Furthermore, in FIG. 4, the ASF output gear 33 has the same number of teeth and module as the coaxial large gear 34A, and meshes with the slide gear 44 depending on the position of the slide gear 44, and also meshes with the input gear 16A of the ASF 16. Therefore, when the slide gear 44 is engaged with the ASF output gear 33, the input gear 16A can be rotated forward or reverse.For example, the forward rotation allows the ASF 16 to feed the sheet, and the reverse rotation allows the selection of 1 bin, 2 bin, etc. It is possible to perform functional movements of equal height.

The pump output gear 32 provided at the left end of the gear train 36 in FIG. 4 is also connected to the slide gear 4 as shown in FIG. 5A.
4), one gear 3ZA of the pump output gear 3Z is engaged with the pump cam 31 at the leftmost movement position (shown by a two-dot chain line).
The drive gear 31A is meshed with the drive gear 31A.

Therefore, when the slide gear 44 is moved to such a position, the pump cam 31 can be driven by the feed motor 20, and the cam 31 can cause the pump 27 to perform a pumping operation. That is, as described above, depending on the stop position of the carriage 2, the driving force of the feed motor 20 is transmitted via the slide gear 44 to one of the sheet feeding output gear 34, the ASF output gear 33, and the pump output gear 32. It is possible to transmit the information to each other, and to cause the corresponding actions to be performed.

Next, as the carriage 2 moves to the left outside the recording area, the cap carrier 23A is moved depending on the movement position, and the slide gear 44 meshes with each of the above-mentioned output gears in accordance with the movement of the gear knob gear noa 23A. do. In addition, in such a switching operation of the output gear, the leaf spring 23D interposed in the connecting portion between the cap carrier 23A and the slide holder 45 serves as a buffer during the switching.

Now, when the carriage 2 moves leftward from the recording area on the right in FIG. 1 and further moves from the position shown in FIG. 6A to the position shown in FIG. 6B, the recording head 1 is attached to the arm portion 23B of the cap carrier 23A. After the engagement, the cap carrier 23A becomes movable along the guide shaft 24. In addition, in FIGS. 6A to 6C, (A)
- (D), the cap carrier 23A is the cap member 23
While holding the slide holder 45 and slide gear 4.
4. Among these, in positions (A) to (C), the cap member 23 is moved by the operating arm 23E of the cap member 23 guided by the rail 25, as shown in FIG. 6C. It is extruded toward the recording head 1 and maintained in a capped state. Further, position (D) is a standby position for sheet feeding etc. during recording darkness, and when the carriage 2 is currently in position (D) as shown in FIG. 6B, it is not shown here. The slide gear 44 meshes with the sheet feeding output gear 34, and in this state the sheet can be fed by the motor 20.

At this position (in DJ, the recording head faces the cap, and at this position, preliminary ejection, which is not related to recording,
This can be done by using an electrical signal to the electrothermal transducer of the recording head. In this example, the preliminary ejection is performed at the start of printing and when the continuous time during recording continues for one minute.

Next, when the carriage 2 is further moved to the left from the position (D), the slide gear 44 is disengaged from the sheet feeding output gear 34 and meshes with the ASF output gear 33 at the position (B). However, in this case, if there is a shift in the phase of the teeth, they will not mesh well with the ASF output gear 33, but regardless of this, once the cap carrier 23A is moved to a position corresponding to position (B), the amount of movement corresponding to the non-meshing will be reduced. The difference is absorbed by bending the leaf spring 23D. Thus, when the feed motor 20 is subsequently driven, the slide gear 4 is driven through the drive gear 43 as shown in FIG.
4 is driven, the teeth mesh with each other when their phases match, and the ASF output gear 33 can be driven.

Also, for example, immediately after the slide gear 44 is engaged with the sheet feeding output gear 34 and the sheet is fed, the teeth are mutually engaged (they are engaged with each other, and friction occurs between them, so they cannot be easily removed). In this case as well, this state can be temporarily maintained by bending the leaf spring 23D, and the friction between the teeth can be eliminated by reverse rotation of the feed motor 20.

Next, position (A) is a position where a recovery operation such as bombing is performed, and FIG. 6C shows this state. In this state, the slide gear 44 can be meshed with the pump output gear 32, and the pump 27 can be driven via the pump cam 31 by one of the gears 32A, as shown in FIG. 5A. Note that (C) is a standby position with the recording head 1 capped, and of course sheet feeding can be carried out even in this state.

(Carriage Drive Motor) FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) show the internal cross-sectional structure of the carriage drive motor according to the embodiment of the present invention, which is driven under the above-mentioned driving conditions. In this figure, 110 is a casing;
113 is a rotor shaft, 114 is a rotor, 115a and 1
15b is a coil, 116a and 116b are stators,
117 is a disk provided with a slit, and 118 is a photo ink printer for detecting the slit.
17 and the photointerrupter 118 constitute an encoder that detects the rotational angular position of the rotor 114 of the motor 100. A boot is provided on the rotor shaft 113, and the carriage 2 is moved via a timing belt stretched between the boot and another boot.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a method of driving the stepping motor 100 for driving the carriage according to this embodiment. In this example, since a carriage drive motor 100 in which an encoder section and a motor section are integrated is used, the step motor section 100A and encoder section 100A are shown in the figure.
It is shown separately from B.

101 is a position counter for counting signals generated from the encoder section 100B. In this example, the MPU 102 uses the counted value of the position counter 101 to recognize the current carriage position, etc., and performs management of the set position, switching control of the motor drive method, etc.

103 is the same (using a signal generated from the encoder section 100B, the MPU 102 recognizes the rotational speed of the step motor section 100A, that is, the carriage speed).

This speed counter 103 measures the pulse width of the encoder signal.

Then, the MPU 102 uses the value of the speed counter 103 and processes it to generate a necessary PWM value for the PWM counter 104 (this is the duty value of pulse width modulation, and if the output value is large, the duty is large and the current flows). is given, and the carriage motor 100 is controlled in a closed loop.

105 is a current switching circuit for controlling the signal from the encoder section 100B to be passed through the encoder circuit 106 to switch the excitation phase of the step motor at a certain fixed value.

107 is the PWM given by the PWM counter 104
This is a motor drive circuit for driving the step motor unit 100A according to the current switching timing given by the current switching circuit 105.

Here, a method for driving the carriage motor 100 using closed loop control will be described.

The switching timing for the phase of the step motor section 100A is automatically set by the current switching circuit 105 by a pulse signal generated by the encoder section 100B which rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the step motor section 100A.

On the other hand, by counting the pulse width using the pulse signal, the step motor section 100A is controlled by the speed counter.
The rotation speed of is detected.

Using this value, the MPU 102 performs processing according to a procedure predetermined on the internal ROM, and the necessary PWM value is calculated and set in the PWM counter 104. This P
For example, if the rotational speed of the step motor section 100A is larger than the target (instruction) rotational speed, the WM value is set to a value such that the speed becomes small (that is, the duty of the PWM signal is made small). become.

The step motor section 100A is driven via the motor drive circuit 107 according to the PWM value calculated by the MPU 102 and the phase switching timing given by the current switching circuit 105, and the speed is again changed to the encoder section 100B.
Detected by The step motor section 100A is driven in a closed loop by the closed loop control as described above.

Next, a method of driving the carriage motor 100 as a step motor will be explained.

Switching of the excitation phase is performed by the MPU 102 at an excitation timing (time) predetermined in the ROM, as in normal step motor driving, without depending on the current switching circuit 105. Further, the current value at this time is managed by the PWM value. That is, a PWM value predetermined by the MPU 102 is given to the motor drive circuit through the PWIII counter 104. In this way, the step motor section 100A can drive the motor with a predetermined current value (fPWM value) at a predetermined phase switching timing. It becomes possible.

An encoder signal is also generated at this time, and is used by the MPU 102 to determine the carriage position through the position counter 101. In the case of normal step-and-moment driving, the carriage position is determined by counting the switching of the excitation phase determined by the MPU 102, but in this example, the conventional method of counting the switching of the excitation phase and the encoder signal are used. The carriage position can be determined by both counting methods.

The above is a method of driving the car carriage motor 100 with a step motor.

(Aspects of carriage position and motor drive) FIG. 9 is a diagram showing what is done when the carriage 2 is in which position and how the carriage motor 100 is driven. This shows the left end of the recording position.

Positions (A) to (D) are the positions explained in the character pink and drive switching section in Figures 3 to 6, and as mentioned above, (A) is the position where drive is transmitted to the pump 27. , (B) is the position where the drive is transmitted to the ASF 16, (C) is the position where the drive is transmitted for sheet feeding and is in the capped state, (D) is the position where the drive is transmitted for sheet feeding and the recording head is in the preliminary state facing the cap. This is the discharge position.

Furthermore, (E) is the position of the wiping operation by the wiper 48 mentioned above, (F) is the position on the right side of this position as a border for closed loop drive of the printing reservoir, and on the left side is the position where step motor drive with each drive condition is performed, (G) indicates the position of the first dot in the printing range. In addition, (in the old case), this is the position where adjustments are made so that the sheet feeding position does not shift even if the slide gear 44 comes off at one end from the sheet feeding output gear 34, goes to the pump position, and returns again.

The time shown in parentheses indicates the excitation switching time of the motor phase explained when driving the step motor mentioned above. Also, the percentage display in the mouth similarly indicates the duty of the PWM value described above, and the larger the duty, the more current flows. The upper row is the PWM duty value during 1-phase excitation in 1-2 phase excitation drive, and the lower row is the PWM duty value during 2-phase excitation.
This is the duty value. That is, in this embodiment, 1-2 phase excitation drive is performed when the step motor is driven.
PWM is set to different values during 1-phase excitation and 2-phase excitation. In the case of 1-2 phase excitation, if the current is the same during 1-phase excitation and 2-phase excitation, the 1-phase is weaker, so the PWM value during 1-phase excitation is set to be large. Further, in this embodiment, in order to produce the same torque, the PWM value during two-phase excitation is approximately 1/r of the PWM value during l-phase excitation. In this way, in this embodiment, the step motor is driven to change the PWM value every time the phase is switched.

In addition, the carriage speed, that is, the excitation switching time of the motor phase is changed at each position. For example, during wiping, the drive is performed at a predetermined speed (8 m5 in this example) that is slower than normal, and reliable wiping is performed. That's what I do. In addition, in order to shorten the overall operation time, only the minimum necessary part is set to 8ms.
Before and after that, the drive speed is increased to 3ms.

Furthermore, in the range (A) to (D) of the drive switching mechanism, the movement to the left is movement against the spring 26, and since driving torque is required, the speed is slowed down and 5! ms, and conversely, since the movement to the right is the direction in which the spring 26 returns, high-speed driving is performed at 3 ms.

Further, in the movement from (D) to (C), the PWM value is set to a large value of 50% and 35% because a larger driving torque is required to ride on the crane-shaped portion of the rail 25.

The various values necessary for control are stored in the MPU's built-in ROM! This can be made into a table.

(The following is a blank space) (Control procedure) Drive switching unit (A) ~ using Figures 10 and 11
The control mode of the paper feed motor and gear ridge motor in (D) will be explained.

In this example, (A), (H), (B)
, (C1, (D)) The carriage movement between adjacent positions is made into a subroutine. For example, (A)
The carriage movement from ~(D) is (A) → (H), (
It consists of the following routines: H)-dB), (B)→(C), and (C)-(DJ), and the basic flow is similar for each routine, so the following Here is an example of one of them.

The procedure shown in FIG. 10 shows the subroutine for moving the carriage from the cap position (C) to the ASF position (B) among the subroutines.

First, the determination in step S1 will be explained. For example, if movement has been made from the preliminary discharge position (D) to the cap position (C) immediately before this subroutine is called, the slide gear is pressed at the end of the movement routine from (D) to (C). The procedure ends with the release being completed, and this procedure overlaps with the release of the pressure contact of the slide gear in steps S2 and S3. Therefore, for the purpose of shortening the time etc., step S2. S3 is skipped (bypassed). The bypass setting can also be determined by referring to a flag (for example, provided in the RAM built into the MPU) that is set when continuous movement occurs.

Step S2. S3 is for releasing the pressure contact between the slide gear 44 and the sheet feeding output gear 34, thereby making the slide gear 44 movable and making the carriage movable.

That is, by rotating the slide gear 44 in step S2, the backlash of each gear is eliminated and the slide gear 44 is brought into sufficient pressure contact with the sheet feed output gear 34. From this state, in step S3, for a predetermined pulse (3 pulses in this embodiment), the rotation direction is reversed to that in step S2.
That is, by rotating in the normal rotation direction, the pressure contact between the slide gear and the sheet feeding output gear is completely released.

Here, the paper feed motor 20 is set so that the current value can be switched to three levels: large, medium, and small, and the sheet feed output gear 3
4, the required rotational torque is large, so
It is set to high current. In this embodiment, the phase switching timing is set to 311IS.

Step S4 is a routine for moving the carriage shown in FIG. 11 to the target position, and here the carriage is moved to about 2 mm before the ASF position B.

This subroutine will now be explained using FIG. 11.

First, the error counter set in step S8 is
This is used to control the recovery operation when the carriage cannot reach the target position during normal operation. In this example, as will be described later, the driving force of the carriage is only increased in the first glue recovery sequence, and the paper feed motor 20 is also driven in the second and subsequent glue recovery sequences. It is set as follows. If the destination is not reached even after carrying out the recovery sequence a predetermined number of times (EC), the error counter is set to "EC''' in step S8, in order to perform control so that an error occurs.

By using this recovery sequence, the step drive condition of the carriage motor set in step S9 can be set to a drive force with a certain margin, and excess drive force can be suppressed, making it possible to reduce drive noise. becomes.

In step S9, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the step motor drive during movement from (C) to (B) has a PWM duty of
This is done with 1-2 phase excitation of 40% during phase drive and 30% during 2-phase drive. At this time, the number of steps of the carriage motor calculated by the moving distance, which is the difference between the current carriage position counted by the MPU 102 and the distance to the destination using the position counter 101 shown in FIG. The maximum number of steps is set as the maximum step.

Step SLL is a procedure for determining whether the target position has been reached by the position counter 101 managed using the aforementioned encoder signal, and at the time of reaching the target position, driving of the carriage motor is stopped in step SL2.

On the other hand, as determined in step SIO, if the carriage does not reach the target position even after exceeding the maximum step set in step S9, the Kavanaugh sequence is entered. In step S13, the paper feed motor is not driven in step S17 in the case of the first-stage glue recovery sequence. Also, step S14. S15
This recovery sequence is set to a predetermined value (ECj
It is controlled so that an error occurs if the destination is not reached. In step 316, since the destination cannot be reached for some reason under the driving conditions set in step S9, the driving force is set to be increased. For example, for what is set at (5ms, 40%, 30%) in step S9, (5ms, 60%, 40%
) etc. so that the drive is performed by increasing the driving force.

Step S17 assumes that the slide gear 44 cannot be removed from each gear for some reason or the gears are not engaged, and this is attempted to be resolved by rotating the paper feed motor 20 at a low speed.

Referring again to FIG. 10, the reason why the target position is not set to the ASF position in step S4 but is set slightly before the ASF position is as follows. That is, when the carriage is moved in step S4, the slide gear 44 is normally not engaged with the ASF output gear 33, and the leaf spring 23D acts as a buffer (for details, see FIGS. 3 to 6). ). If this amount is too large, the driving force of the carriage becomes too large, a large spring deflection is required, and durability problems arise. The ASF gear 33 meshes with the ASF gear 33.

Next, in step S5, in the 5 steps of rotating the paper feed motor 20, the slide gear 44 and the ASF output gear 3 are rotated.
3 will mesh. Furthermore, by releasing the pressure contact between the slide gear 44 and the ASF output gear 33 in step S6, the slide gear 44 moves to a predetermined position. That is, the gear is engaged at a position 211II11 before the final engagement position with the ASF output gear 33.

Thereafter, with the pressure contact between the slide gear 44 and the ASF output gear 33 released, the slide gear 4 is moved approximately 2 mm remaining to the ASF position in step S7.
4 moves to the final meshing position with the ASF output gear.

As described above, movement of the carriage to each position is achieved by a combination of the carriage movement routines between adjacent positions as described above.

(Specific Example of Skip) How the skip determination shown in step S1 in FIG. 10 is specifically used will be explained using FIGS. 12 and 13. Here, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the operation of the motor that is the drive source and the movement state of the carriage when a recording sheet is loaded with the cap open, and FIG. 13 is a diagram with the cap open. More AS
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the operation of a motor, which is a drive source, and the movement state of a carriage when a recording sheet is loaded by F.

(A) to (D) and (H) show the stop positions of the carriage for the above-mentioned switching operation.
The position indicated as "OO" is about 2 mII within the left-right direction of each operating position shown in step S4 in FIG.
Indicates that the position is about I (for example, rPRASF
J is the position in front of rASFJ) 3 Therefore (A) PUM
P to (D) LFDUMY correspond to the positions where the carriage stops sequentially based on the pressure in the moving direction of the carriage. Further, normal arrows in the drawings indicate the order of movement of the carriage or control flow, and arrows shown in bold letters indicate the order of normal rotation and reverse rotation of the recording sheet feeding motor. The upper part of the bold arrow indicates the number of steps in the normal rotation direction of the recording sheet feed motor, and the numbers in parentheses indicate L (large current), M (medium current), or S.
(small current) and excitation phase switching λ time are shown, and the same is shown in the lower row for the reverse direction. For example, the first operation in FIG.
After rotating 10 steps with a phase excitation time of IIls,
It is shown that the motor is rotated in the normal rotation direction by 3 steps in a phase excitation time of 3+ns with a large current.

First, explanation will be given with reference to FIG. 13 in which no skip operation is performed.

The carriage stops at the cap position (C).

Operation starts from the capped state. In this state, there is a possibility that the recording sheet feeding operation, etc. has been started before that, so the slide gear 44 and the recording sheet output gear 34 may be in pressure contact, and step S2 in FIG.
It is also necessary to perform the gear pressure release operation by 10 steps of reverse rotation and 3 steps of forward rotation shown in S3. After that, move the carriage 2 to P 2mm before the ASF operation position in (B).
Move to RASF position, slide gear 44 and ASF
After the output gear 34 is rotated 5 steps in the forward direction for engagement, it is rotated 2 steps in the reverse direction to release the gear pressure. Thereafter, the carriage is moved to the ASF operation position (B), and then the ASF paper feed roller is rotated 343 steps to feed the recording sheet 5. Thereafter, the motor is rotated 18 steps in the normal direction and 2 steps in the reverse direction to release the pressure contact between the slide gear 44 and the ASF output gear 34, and then the carriage 2 is moved to a position approximately 2 mm before the cap position. Next, rotate the motor for feeding the record sheet in normal rotation.
By rotating the slide gear 44 by O steps, the slide gear 44 is engaged with the recording sheet feeding output gear 34. After the slide gear is released from pressure by three reverse steps, the carriage is further moved to the cap position (C). In this state in which the slide gear 44 is connected to the sheet feeding output gear 34, the motor 20 is rotated in the forward direction to load the recording sheet. The number of steps X at this time is such that the leading edge position of the paper is rotated by a predetermined number of steps from the detected position.

Next, the operation shown in FIG. 12 will be explained.

(With the carriage in the preliminary ejection position of the DJ, by rotating the motor 10 steps in reverse and 3 steps in forward rotation, the pressure on the slide gear 44 is released, allowing the slide gear 44 and the carriage 2 to move. Next, move the carriage 2 to the cap position (C).
Thereafter, in FIG. 13, there are reverse and forward rotation operations of the drive motor, whereas in FIG. 12, these operations are omitted. This is because the slide gear 44 is engaged with the sheet feeding output gear in both the pre-discharge position (CD) and the cap position (C), and the press release of the slide gear performed at the pre-discharge position (D) described above is canceled. Since this state is maintained, there is no need to perform an operation to release the pressure contact again at the cap position shown in (C).

The subsequent operation is the same as that shown in FIG.

(Operation when the power is turned on) FIG. 14 shows the operation when the power is turned on with continuous paper inserted.

With the carriage in the cap position (C) and the cap applied, rotate the paper feed motor 20 10 steps in reverse and 3 steps in the forward direction to release the gear pressure contact, and then move the carriage 2 to the right. The carriage motor 100 is moved to detect the home position, and the carriage motor 100 performs an initial operation. After that, while the carriage is in the DJ preliminary ejection position, the paper feed motor 20 is reversely rotated by 10 steps.
After rotating the gear 3 steps in the normal direction and releasing the gear pressure,
Move the gear ridge to the cap position (C). 12th
As explained in the figure, the paper feed motor 20 is not driven at the cap position (C), and the carriage 2 is moved to a position before the ASF position.

At this position, the slide gear 44 engages with the ASF output gear by forwardly rotating the paper feed motor by 5 steps, and by rotating the paper feed motor by 2 steps in reverse, the gear pressure contact is released. Next, the carriage is moved to the ASF position (B). In this state, the slide gear 44 and the ASF output gear 3
3 is a state in which the pressure contact is released, so the action of releasing the gear pressure contact is unnecessary, and the carriage 2 is moved through the gear adjustment position (H) to the position before the recovery operation. During this time, a gear counter (this counter can use a predetermined area of the RAM) that counts the number of subsequent steps of the paper feed motor 20 is set to "0".

With the carriage in the position before the recovery operation, the paper feed motor 20 is rotated forward by five steps to perform the gear engagement operation. At this time, the aforementioned gear counter is incremented by 5 steps and becomes "5". Further, by reversing the gear by one step, the pressure contact of the gear is released, and at the same time, the gear counter is counted down by one step and becomes "4".

After moving the carriage 2 to the recovery operation position (A), the paper feed motor 20 is rotated forward, reverse, etc. to perform the recovery operation. The gear counter counts up each time the interleaving paper feed motor 20 is rotated in the normal direction, and counts down each time it is rotated in the reverse direction. After the recovery operation is completed, the paper feed motor 20 is further reversed by one step to release the gear pressure contact. Here again, the value of the gear counter is counted down by one step. After that, the carriage is moved to the gear engagement position (H), which is between the recovery operation position (A) and the ASF position (B), and where the slide gear 44 does not mesh with the pump output gear 32 and the ASF output gear 33. . Here, the value of the gear counter is divided by the number of steps for one tooth of the slide gear (for example, 6 steps), and the remainder is rotated in the direction opposite to its sign. For example, if the value of the gear counter is "+26" is 26÷6=4 with a remainder of 2, so rotate it 2 steps in the reverse direction. Further, for example, when the value of the gear counter is "-26", 26÷6=4 with a remainder of 2, so the motor is rotated two steps in the normal rotation direction. By such processing, the phase of the teeth of the slide gear can be made to match when going to the recovery operation and when returning at the gear adjustment position (H).

Furthermore, after moving the carriage 2 to a position in front of the ASF, the paper feed motor 20 is rotated 5 steps in the opposite direction to
Gear pressure contact is released in two steps of engagement with the F output gear and forward rotation. Thereafter, the ASF position type carriage 2 (B) is moved and the cap is further moved to the front position. If the paper feed motor 20 is rotated in the forward direction by 17 steps, the slide gear 44 will be transferred to the recording sheet feed output gear 3.
Bite into 4.

Now, as described above, at the gear alignment position (H), the phase of the teeth of the slide gear 44 is the same when the gear ridge 2 moves to the left and when the gear ridge 2 moves to the right. Furthermore, when the carriage 2 moves to the left, the slide gear 44 rotates five steps in the normal direction until it moves away from the sheet feeding output gear 34 and moves to the gear alignment position (H).

There are two steps of reverse rotation, ie, three steps of rotation in the forward direction. On the other hand, when the carriage 2 moves to the right, the paper feed motor 20 rotates in 5 steps in the reverse direction and 2 steps in the forward direction while moving from the gear alignment position (H) to the front of the sheet feed output gear 34. The structure is such that a rotation of 3 steps can be made in the direction. For this reason (if the phase of the slide gear 44 is matched at the old gear matching position, the phase when the slide gear 44 comes out of the sheet feeding output gear 34 while the carriage moves to the left and the carriage moves to the right) Slide gear 44 is used as the sheet feed output gear while moving.
It is possible to automatically match the phase at the time when the signal enters. Therefore, when the carriage 2 moves to the right and moves to a position in front of the cap, the slide gear 44 can smoothly mesh with the sheet feeding output gear 34 without colliding with it. All of the driving force of the 17 steps of forward rotation driven for gear engagement is used to rotate the sheet feeding output gear 34, and the sheet feeding output gear 34 rotates by 17 steps.

The recording sheet feed output gear 3 from the start until before printing (PRINT), including the forward and reverse rotation of the paper feed motor 20 during subsequent paper width detection (PW 5ENSE), etc.
Picking up the rotation of 4, (reverse 10. forward 3)
, (Reverse 10. Forward 3), (Forward 17. Reverse 3), (Reverse 10, Forward 3), (Forward 14), (Reverse 10. Forward 3), (Reverse 10, Forward 3
), (forward 14), (reverse 10.forward 3), resulting in forward and reverse "O" rotation.

As a result, the recording position of the continuous paper set at a predetermined position at the start and end of the initial operation does not change.

For example, if you do not want to process the gear adjustment, please refer to step 1 above.
During the normal rotation of the 7 steps, the slide gear 44 and the output gear 34 for feeding the recording sheet may be in a state where they do not mesh with each other (the teeth collide with each other). This means that the sheet feed output gear 34 cannot be rotated. Therefore, the rotation of the sheet feed output gear 34 in the normal rotation direction becomes small, and the recording sheet ends up in a backward position after the initial operation. Therefore, the above-mentioned processing is extremely effective.

(Operation during recovery) FIG. 15 shows the operation during recovery operation. Here, the same operation as explained in Fig. 14 above is performed, but after the carriage moves one end to the left and reaches the recovery operation position, the operation that returns to the right is performed in (D) for preliminary ejection. This is because a wiping operation (FUKI) for wiping the ejection ports of the recording head is performed at a position on the right side of the position. Thereafter, return to the recovery operation position (A) again and perform the remaining recovery operations.

Now, in this series of operations, the slide gear 44 smoothly meshes with the sheet feeding output gear 34 as the carriage 2 moves to the right and moves toward the cap. The entire driving force of the paper feed motor 20 at this position is used to rotate the sheet feed output gear 34.

As a result, the front position of the cap shown in Fig. 15 (
All the paper feed motor operations performed in the right direction from PRLFC are all used for sheet feeding, thereby canceling out the forward and reverse directions and making the feed amount "0". Note that before and after this processing, an offline operation (OFF LINE) and an online operation (ON LINE) with the image data supply source are performed.

(Initial Operation) Next, the initial operation of the recording apparatus according to this embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 16 to 19. Note that the description of parts that overlap with the switching operation described above will be omitted.

FIGS. 16 and 17 show an example of the procedure of the initial operation, and first, in step S18, it is set that this operation is the initial operation. This is step SL9-3
Since the subroutine No. 26 is used together with the routine for moving the bomb buoy from the upright position to the ASF position, it is used to determine whether or not it is an initial operation during the routine.

If it is determined in step S19 that the initial operation is not performed, that is, if the movement process is from the pump position to the ASF position, the paper feed motor 20 is simply reversed by one step to release the gear pressure prior to the following process. Then, in steps S2g and S29, a gear pressure release operation of 10 reverse rotation steps and 3 forward rotation steps is performed. In this release action, the pump position.

Cancellation is possible at any position, such as the ASF position or the cap position.

Next, in step S21, the carriage is moved 9 mm to the right. This position is shown in Fig. 19, ``Case 1''.
” to “Case 5” are the positions indicated by ■ to the right with respect to each carriage position (mark) at the time of initialization. For example, as shown in "Case 3" (when the carriage 2 is at the pump position, the position is 2 am before the ASF position).

Incidentally, in this routine, the above-described Likan < Li procedure as shown in FIG. 11 is also performed.

Next, in step S22, it is determined whether or not the destination has been reached. If the destination cannot be reached even after performing the above-mentioned or cover sequence, in this initial process, the position similar to "Case 5", that is, the carriage 2 It is determined that A is near the right end and no further progress is possible, and the process proceeds to step S35 via step S34. Meanwhile, carriage 2 is at the destination.
When the position can be reached, it is determined whether or not a sensor for detecting that the carriage is at the home position sensor is on in the case of initial operation (step 530). If its home position sensor is off, carriage 2
It is determined that the case is ``Case 2'', ``Case 3'', or ``Case 4'', and step S24. Gear jammed at S25,
After the pressure contact is released, in step S26, 25 more!
01 carriage movement is performed. This position is "Case 2"
- This is the position indicated by ■ in "Case 4". Further, in the determination procedure of step S27, if the series of operations (loop) has not been repeated three times, the process returns to step S19.

As shown in FIG. 19, the optical path of a transmissive home position sensor 29 mounted on the carriage 2, for example, is blocked so that the home position (HP), which is the reference position of the carriage, is blocked.
) The fixed shutter 28, which serves as a shielding plate for detecting the setting of
It is set to turn on. In this way, the home position sensor 29 is turned on in step S30 in a case like "Case 1", and in this case, the carriage 2 is moved to the right until the home position sensor 29 is turned off in steps S31 and S32. Then, the motor is further moved to the right by a predetermined number of steps (8 steps in step S33) to provide some margin.

Now, "Case 2" is when the sensor is turned on at step S30 in the second loop, and "Case 3" is when the sensor is turned on at step S30 for the first time in the third loop.
” is a case where the power does not turn on even after 3 loops. If the sensor does not turn on even after repeating the loop three times, it is determined that the carriage 2 has moved to the right side of the home position sensor shielding plate (fixed shutter) 28, as in "Case 4". Incidentally, "Case 5" is a case where it is determined in step S22 that the destination could not be reached during the second loop.

As described above, in each case, after it is confirmed that the carriage 2 has moved to the right side of the home position sensor shielding plate 28, in steps 335 to S37, the carriage 2 is moved to the left and when the carriage passes the HP position. Set the position counter. Further step 33
g. After the carriage 2 has been moved several steps in S39, the carriage motor circuit is initialized. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 18, a recovery operation is performed while performing the gear switching operation described above, and the initial operation is completed.

Note that when the power is turned off, the carriage 2 is normally in the cap position (
``Case 1'' position), and in this case, the above loop is performed once, thereby reducing the time. Furthermore, as described above, for example, as shown in "Case 1" to "Case 5", the initial operation is not completed and the position counter on the recording device RAM is not set regardless of the position of the carriage 2. The initial operation can be performed without causing any inconvenience, such as the gear pressure not being released and the carriage not being able to move, even before the carriage is moved.

(Other Examples) In the example shown in FIG. 14 described above, the remainder after division at the gear alignment position is rotated in the opposite direction, but the integer number of steps corresponding to the pitch of the slide gear teeth is rotated in the opposite direction. It is also possible to perform a process of rotating the rotation in the same direction by the amount that is not doubled.

Also, when performing division in FIG. 14, the slide gear 44
However, in such a process, the last excitation phase of the paper feed motor when the initial operation is completed after the power is turned on is not constant.

For example, in the case of a 4-phase motor, if the initial starts from the 1st phase, for example, if the power is turned off and the 2nd phase is turned on, the gears will be rotated in the same direction or in the opposite direction the next time the power is turned on. It turns out. Therefore, if we divide by 12 which is a common multiple of 6 steps corresponding to the pitch of one tooth and the number of motor phases of 4 at the time of the above-mentioned division, we can also match the phase of motor excitation at the time of meshing with the sheet feeding gear. It becomes possible. As a result, excitation starts from the first phase when the power is turned on, and ends with fourth phase excitation when the initial operation ends. If the power is turned off, the next time the power is turned on, excitation will start from the first phase again in order, and the amount of gear rotation will be too much or too little (predetermined movement can be performed. No matter how many times the power is turned off after the initial operation is turned on, the sheet feeding output gear 34 does not change its position. In other words, when recording paper is set, the position of the recording paper changes. There will be no.

Another method is to rotate the gear by two steps in the opposite direction in accordance with the calculated rotation described above when adjusting the gears in FIG. 14, and then move it to the right.
A similar effect can be obtained by changing the normal rotation from 17 steps to 17+2 (=19) steps in order to engage the slide gear 44 with the sheet feeding output gear 34 at the position in front of the cap. In this case, the two steps are used for gear engagement, and since the phases match at that point, engagement is performed, and the subsequent rotational force is transmitted to the sheet feeding output gear 34, resulting in the same effect as described above. is obtained. However, in this case, if the number of reverse steps is, for example, 6 or more, the gears will engage at the position one gear before, so the number must be at most 5 steps.

Furthermore, in the above example, closed loop drive and step motor drive are switched depending on a counter value indicating the carriage position on a predetermined MPU, an example in which step motor drive is performed particularly at the Wino\- position, or a step drive is performed particularly at the gear switching mechanism position. The present invention has been described with reference to an example in which the phase switching timing and PWM value of a step motor drive are switched at a predetermined carriage position on a predetermined MPU.

For example, instead of using a counter based on an encoder output signal to count the position of the carriage 2, it is also possible to manage the carriage position using a counter based on the phase switching timing of the motor itself. Also,
Switching the PIIM value in step motor drive (
Although an example has been described, it is also possible to use other driving methods using current limitation.

In addition, although the case where the combination of step motor drive is applied to the drive motor of the recording head scanning carriage has been described above, it is also possible to use a paper feed drive motor that requires high resolution or a paper feed drive that requires noise reduction. The same applies to electric motors.

In addition, in the above example, the drive torque is adjusted by changing the PWM value each time the phase is switched, but the power value can also be changed by normal current value control, voltage value switching using constant voltage drive, etc. be.

Furthermore, regarding the phase excitation method, not only the 1-2 phase excitation as in the above example but also other methods may be used.

For example, an appropriate excitation method such as a 3-4 phase excitation force method or a 2-3 phase excitation method can be adopted.

In addition, the methods of beam recovery control described above include: first, increasing the moving force of the carriage; second, slowing down the moving speed of the carriage; third, slowing down the rotational speed of the gear; 4 shows an embodiment in which the gears are rotated in forward and reverse directions, but the same operation may be repeated, for example.

In addition, in the above example, to determine whether the gear (slide gear) has been set to a predetermined position, the position counter based on the encoder signal is used to determine whether or not the gear (slide gear) has been set to a predetermined position while the carriage motor is step-driving for a preset maximum step. However, this judgment method may be performed using other judgment methods.

(Others) The present invention can be applied not only to the inkjet recording apparatus described above but also to recording apparatuses using other methods. This provides excellent effects in the bubble jet type recording head and recording apparatus proposed by the authors. This is because such a system can achieve higher recording density and higher definition.

As for typical configurations and principles thereof, it is preferable to use the basic principles disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740,796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it is necessary to arrange the liquid (ink) in accordance with the sheet and liquid path that hold it. The electrothermal converter that is
Generating thermal energy in the electrothermal transducer and producing film boiling on the thermally active surface of the recording head by applying at least one drive signal that corresponds to recorded information and provides a rapid temperature rise above nucleate boiling. As a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal, which is effective. The growth and contraction of the bubble causes liquid (ink) to be ejected through the ejection opening to form at least one droplet. If this drive signal is in the form of a pulse, bubble growth and contraction will occur immediately and appropriately.
Particularly responsive liquid (ink) ejection can be achieved,
More preferred. This pulse-shaped drive signal is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262.
Those described in the specification are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 concerning the temperature increase rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, even more excellent recording can be achieved.

The configuration of the recording head includes, in addition to the combination configuration of ejection ports, liquid paths, and electrothermal converters (straight liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, a heat acting section. The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose configurations in which the wafer is placed in a bending region. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1989-5 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge part of a plurality of electrothermal converters.
No. 9-123670 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59/1989 which discloses a configuration in which a discharge portion is made to correspond to an opening that absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy.
The effects of the present invention are also effective even if the structure is based on the publication No.-138461. That is, regardless of the form of the recording head, according to the present invention, recording can be performed reliably and efficiently.

In addition, in the case of the serial type shown above, the recording head is fixed to the device body, or by being attached to the device body, electrical connection with the device body and ink supply from the device body are possible. The present invention is also effective when using a replaceable chip-type recording head or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus, to the present invention, because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, these include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element, or a combination thereof; It is also effective to perform a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection is performed separately from printing in order to perform stable printing.

In addition, regarding the type and number of recording heads installed, for example, in addition to one type that corresponds to single-color ink, there is also a plurality of recording heads that correspond to multiple inks with different recording colors and densities. It may be something that can be done. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to a recording mode for only a mainstream color such as black, but may also be a recording mode in which the recording head is configured integrally or in a combination of multiple colors, The present invention is also extremely effective for devices equipped with a few full colors (or one full color) by color mixing.

Additionally, in the embodiments of the present invention described above,
Although ink is described as a liquid, it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or below, but softens or liquefies at room temperature, or in an inkjet method, the ink itself is
Generally, the temperature is adjusted within the range of 0°C or more and 70°C or less so that the viscosity of the ink is within the stable ejection range, so even if the ink is in a liquid state when the recording signal is applied. Bye. In addition, the temperature increase caused by thermal energy can be actively prevented by using the energy to change the state of the ink from a solid state to a liquid state, or ink that solidifies when left standing is used to prevent ink evaporation. In any case, the ink is liquefied by applying thermal energy in accordance with the recording signal, and the liquid ink is ejected, or the ink has already begun to solidify by the time it reaches the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable when using ink that is liquefied only by energy. The ink used in this case is
Publication No. 4-56847 or JP-A-60-71260
As described in the above publication, the porous sheet may be held in a liquid or solid state in the recesses or through-holes of the porous sheet, facing the electrothermal converter. In the present invention, the most effective method for each of the above-mentioned inks is to implement the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Additionally, in addition to being used as an image output terminal for information processing equipment such as computers, the inkjet recording device of the present invention may take the form of a copying device combined with a league, etc., or a facsimile device having a sending/receiving function. It may also be something.

[Advantageous Effects of the Invention 1] As explained above, according to the present invention, the detected member for determining the reference position of the carriage is also used for other determinations, for example, for determining whether to perform a switching operation at the initial time. , the initial operation during normal operation can be shortened, and the initial operation can be performed in consideration of all cases.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of an inkjet recording device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the recording device shown in FIG. 1 equipped with an ASF, and FIGS. A perspective view for explaining the configuration of a drive gear switching mechanism according to an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 5Δ is a configuration diagram of the drive gear switching mechanism shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and FIG. 5B is shown in FIG. 5A. FIGS. 6A to 6C are explanatory diagrams showing the engagement relationship between the carriage and the cap carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIGS. 7A and 7B are respectively , a partially cutaway perspective view and a cross-sectional view showing a configuration example of a carriage drive motor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 1O and 11 are flowcharts showing an example of the procedure for driving the paper feed motor and carriage motor in the gear switching section. ASF used
Figure 14 is a diagram to explain the recording paper loading by paper feeding, Figure 14 is a diagram to explain the initial operation when the power is turned on with continuous paper set, and Figure 15 is a diagram to explain the recovery operation. Figures 16 and 17 are flowcharts showing an example of the initial operation procedure. Figure 18 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the paper feed motor during initial operation. Figure 19 is a diagram showing the position of the carriage before the power is turned on. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining how the initial operation changes depending on whether or not there is one. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Recording head, 2... Carriage, 5... Recording sheet, 7... Feed roller, 12... Ejection roller, 16... Automatic paper feeder, 20... Feed motor, 23... Cap member, 23A... Cap carrier, 23B, 23G... Arm portion, 23D... Leaf spring, 24... Cap guide shaft, 25... Rail, 26... Pump, 31...-pump cam, 32... pump output gear, 33... ASF output gear, 34... output gear for sheet feeding, 36... gear train, 44... slide gear, 45... Slide holder, 47... Groove member, 48... Wiper 100... Carriage motor, 100A... Carriage motor step motor section, 1
00B... Carriage motor encoder section, 101.
...Position counter, 102...MPU, 103...Speed counter, 104...PWM counter, 105...Current switching circuit, 106...-Encoder circuit, 107...Motor drive circuit. Figure 164 With 44 slide gears Figure 164 With human power t' Figure 7A Figure 7B Figure 17 Figure 19

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A recording device that records on a recording material, comprising: a recording head that is movable back and forth along the recording material and that records on the recording material; and a recording head that moves integrally with the recording head. What is claimed is: 1. A recording apparatus, comprising: a detecting means capable of detecting the target member; and a member to be detected provided on a reciprocating path of the recording head, wherein detection of the member to be detected is subjected to a plurality of determinations. 2) A mechanism capable of performing an operation other than feeding the recording material by switching a drive transmission path of a drive source capable of feeding the recording material at the moving position of the recording head, and 2. The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the member is used for determining the reference position of the recording head and for determining the operation of the mechanism during initial operation of the recording device. Device. 3) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head has the form of an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink onto the recording material. 4) The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the inkjet recording head includes an element that generates thermal energy that causes film boiling in the ink as energy used for ejecting the ink.