JPH06206320A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure recovery of a performance and reduce waste ink by a method wherein in the device, such as a copying machine, when a defective ink delivery is detected even after an ink delivery recovery processing including a suction of ink in a recording head is carried out, a suction condition is changed and an ink delivery recovery processing is again carried out. CONSTITUTION:When a suction recovery instruction is issued to an MPU by a user or automatically, a suction means conducts a first suction recovery under a specified first sucking condition (sucking amount/suction negative pressure/negative pressure holding time). After the suction, wiping is carried out by a cleaning blade 5017, and preliminary delivery is conducted for removing unwanted ink from inside a nozzle. After that, a defective ink delivery is detected in accordance with a change of a detection temperature by a temperature sensor 2 of a delivery heater part 3. With the detection of a defective delivery, the suction condition is changed. A second suction recovery action is carried out under a second sucking condition. After the processing, wiping and preliminary delivery are similarly conducted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink from a recording head onto a recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording device such as a printer, a copying machine or a facsimile is constructed to record an image consisting of a dot pattern on a recording material such as paper or a plastic thin plate based on image information. .

The recording apparatus can be classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, a laser beam type and the like depending on the recording method. Among them, the ink jet type (ink jet recording apparatus) is one in which ink is ejected from a discharge port of a recording head. (Recording liquid) Droplets are ejected and ejected, and the droplets are attached to a recording material for recording.

In recent years, a large number of recording devices have been used, and high speed recording, high resolution, high image quality, low noise, etc. are required for these recording devices. As an example of a recording device that meets such a demand, the inkjet recording device can be cited. In this ink jet recording apparatus, since ink is ejected from the recording head to perform recording, non-contact printing is possible, and therefore a very stable recorded image can be obtained.

In such an ink jet recording apparatus, in order to stably eject the ink, an operation of sucking the ink from the recording head (suction recovery) is required in the following cases.

1. When ejection failure occurs due to minute bubbles generated by ink ejection. When ejection failure occurs due to thickening due to ink drying. 3. When ink is exhausted in the vicinity of the discharge part due to air bubbles from the outside and it becomes impossible to discharge. When ink is solidified and cannot be ejected after being left for a long period of time It is generally known that it is necessary to perform strong suction recovery in the order of 1, 2, 3, 4 when recovering these suctions.
Compared with the case of 1, the suction operation in the case of 2 requires the recovery operation to increase the suction amount in the case of 3, the suction negative pressure / the suction amount in the case of 4, and the negative pressure holding time. Met. For this reason, the inkjet recording apparatus has a plurality of recovery modes with different suction recovery strengths, and is provided with means for proactively executing this and for selectively allowing the user to execute it when a failure occurs. Has been done.

[0007]

However, in both cases of automatic execution / selective execution of such suction recovery, the ratio of wasteful suction and consumption of ink is high, the running cost is high, and the waste ink suctioned is high. In the case of a type that is held in the main body of the ink jet recording apparatus, there is a problem that the volume of the main body increases and the cost increases.

Further, by providing a plurality of filter parts and the like in the ink flow path of the recording head, the meniscus at the tip of the nozzle is shaken, the ink in the nozzle is lost, and air enters the common liquid chamber, so-called ink drop state. In the case of, the recording head of the type has been devised in which a meniscus is formed in the filter portion to prevent the ink from being drawn back toward the ink tank. In the case of such a type, if suction recovery is performed with a volume slightly larger than the internal volume up to the filter (first filter) that is usually close to the nozzle, it is possible to suck up the ink that has fallen out of the nozzle to the nozzle. Although the effect of suppressing this may be considered, the effect of preventing the receding of the ink in the meniscus may be lost due to long-term storage and mechanical vibration.In such a case, reliable recovery cannot be performed and the operator performs recovery operation again. The situation that it must be done occurs.

As described above, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, it is difficult to appropriately and surely perform suction recovery for a printing defect that has occurred without imposing a burden on the user. Therefore, it has been difficult to prevent problems such as increased running cost, increased body cost, and increased body size.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which can achieve both reliable recovery performance and reduction of waste ink.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention which solves the above-mentioned problems is an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by using a recording head which ejects ink from a discharge port onto a recording medium. Suction recovery means for sucking the ink to perform ink discharge recovery processing of the recording head, ejection failure detection means for detecting ink ejection failure of the recording head, and the suction recovery means performed the first suction recovery operation. After that, when the ejection failure detection unit detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head, the second suction recovery operation is performed on the suction recovery unit under a suction condition different from that of the first suction recovery operation. And a control means for controlling the control.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by using a recording head for ejecting ink from a discharge port onto a recording medium, the ink of the recording head being sucked to suck ink. Suction recovery means for performing discharge recovery processing, ejection failure detection means for detecting ink ejection failure of the recording head, determination means for determining the ink filling state of the ink supply path leading to the ejection port, and suction recovery means. After performing the first suction recovery operation, when the ejection failure detection unit detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head, the ink filling state determined by the determination unit after the first suction recovery operation is detected. And a control unit that causes the suction recovery unit to perform a second suction recovery operation under a suction condition according to a result. Recording device is provided.

Here, the suction condition is at least one of suction amount, suction pressure, and suction negative pressure holding time.

[0014]

According to the first invention of the present application, the suction recovery means has the first structure.
After the suction recovery operation is performed, when the ejection failure detection unit detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head, the suction recovery unit performs the second suction recovery under the suction condition different from that of the first suction recovery operation. Take action.

According to the second invention of the present application, when the ejection failure detecting means detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head after the suction recovery means performs the first suction recovery operation, the first invention is performed. After the suction recovery operation, the suction recovery means performs the second suction recovery operation under the suction condition according to the result of the ink filling state determined by the determination means.

Therefore, an ink jet recording apparatus having a reliable recovery performance and capable of reducing the amount of waste ink accompanying suction recovery is provided.

[0017]

【Example】

[First Embodiment of the Invention] An embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the first invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1-1) General Description of Apparatus Main Body FIG. 1 shows an ink jet recording apparatus I to which the present invention is applied.
It is a general view of JRA. In the figure, a drive motor 50
Driving force transmission gears 5011, 5
The carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5005 of the lead screw 5004 that rotates via 009 has a pin (not shown) and is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b.
An inkjet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. 5002 is a paper pressing plate,
The paper is pressed against the platen 5000 in the carriage movement direction. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. Reference numeral 5016 is a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head. Reference numeral 5015 is a suction unit that suctions the inside of the cap to perform suction recovery of the recording head through the in-cap opening 5023. 5017 is a cleaning blade, 50
Reference numeral 19 is a member for making this blade movable in the front-rear direction, and these are supported by the main body support plate 5018. Needless to say, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this example instead of this form.
Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves in accordance with the movement of the cam 5020 engaging with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is movement-controlled by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. It

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are performed so that desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the home position side area. Various modifications can be applied to this embodiment if desired operation is performed.

(1-2) Description of Inkjet Cartridge FIG. 2 shows a disposable type inkjet cartridge in which the recording head and the ink tank to which the present invention is applied are integrated. In this figure, 201 is a base plate made of aluminum, and 202 is a discharge heater made by a semiconductor process on a heater board that is adhered onto the aluminum base plate of 201. Reference numeral 203 denotes a grooved top plate pressed onto the heater, which is molded from a plastic material such as polysulfone by precision molding.

Reference numeral 204 designates a face surface and a grooved top plate 20.
It was molded at the same time as 3 and 205 was 20
3 shows one of the grooves (nozzle portion) formed by the grooved top plate of FIG. Reference numeral 206 is a discharge port formed in the grooved top plate 203. Reference numeral 207 denotes a common liquid chamber in which the grooves of 205 communicate with each other, and plays a role of supplying ink to each nozzle. Reference numeral 208 denotes a first ink supply path 213
Ink supplied from the above ink tank plays a role of supplying the common liquid chamber 207.

A printed circuit board 209 is attached to the aluminum base plate 201, and the heater 2
02 has a contact portion for transmitting an electric signal. An electric signal from the main body device is transmitted to this contact portion for printing. The contact portion on the printed circuit board 209 is connected to a heater board having the discharge heater 202 by wire bonding (not shown). 210
Is a filter (first filter) thermally welded to the end of the ink supply path 208. Reference numeral 211 is a filter (second filter) that is also pressed against the inside of the tank 213.

Reference numeral 212 is a second ink flow path formed in a portion sandwiched between the first filter 210 and the second filter 211 and connected in series to the ink supply path 208. 21
Reference numeral 4 denotes a urethane foam for storing ink, which is also a negative pressure generation source for generating a negative pressure on the recording head. Reference numeral 215 is an atmosphere communication port.

Here, in the conventional ink jet cartridge, as shown in FIG. 15, the first filter 210 is formed.

On the other hand, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the second filter 211 is further provided and the filter diameter of the second filter 211 is increased so that the fluid resistance of ink does not become abnormally high in the filter portion during high speed printing. Is configured as follows.

(1-3) Description of Recording Device Control Configuration Next, with respect to the above-described device configuration and a control configuration for executing recording control of each part of the ink jet cartridge,
This will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing a control circuit, 10 is an interface for inputting a recording signal, 11 is an MPU, 12 is a program ROM for storing a control program executed by the MPU 11, 13 is various data (the above-mentioned recording signals and recording supplied to the head). This is a dynamic RAM that stores data etc.).
Reference numeral 14 is a gate array that controls the supply of print data to the print head 18, and includes an interface 10 and an MP.
It also controls the transfer of data between the U11 and the RAM 13. 20
Is a carrier motor for transporting the recording head 18, 1
Reference numeral 9 is a conveyance motor for conveying recording paper. Reference numeral 15 is a head driver for driving the head, and 16 and 17 are motor drivers for driving the carry motor 19 and the carrier motor 20, respectively.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing the details of each part of FIG. The gate array 14 has a data latch 141, a segment (SEG) shift register 142, a multiplexer (MPX) 143, a common (COM) timing generation circuit 144, and a decoder 145. Recording head 18
Has a diode matrix configuration, and a drive current flows through the ejection heaters (H1 to H64) where the common signal COM and the segment signal SEG match, and the ink is heated and ejected.

The decoder 145 decodes the timing generated by the common timing generation circuit 144 and selects any one of the common signals COM1 to COM8. The data latch 141 latches the recording data read from the RAM 13 in 8-bit units, and the multiplexer 143 stores the recording data in the segment shift register 1
According to 42, it outputs as segment signals SEG1-8. The output from the multiplexer 143 can be variously changed according to the contents of the shift register 142, such as 1 bit unit, 2 bit unit, or all 8 bits as described later.

The operation of the above control structure will be described. When a recording signal is input to the interface 10, the recording signal is converted between the gate array 14 and the MPU 11 into recording data for printing. Then, the motor drivers 16 and 17 are driven, and the recording head is driven according to the recording data sent to the head driver 15 to perform printing.

(1-4) Description of Operation of Suction Recovery System FIG. 5 shows a sectional view and movement of a suction pump used in a typical recovery system. In the figure, first, before the suction operation, the piston 52 in the pump is in the position of A which is the upper fulcrum in the cylinder 50 together with the piston shaft 53. Then, when the piston shaft 53 moves toward the lower fulcrum C, a negative pressure is generated in the cylinder by the distance moved. Next, when the piston 52 passes through the point B, the negative pressure which suddenly becomes the peak pressure acts on the cap 54 side as shown in FIG. Thereafter, while the piston 52 moves to the position C, the inflow of the ink into the cylinder 50 continues until the negative pressure is canceled by the inflow of the ink.

An advantage of the suction pump of this structure is that it can generate a very high peak pressure and can remove bubbles such as sticking and bubbles in the recording head much more efficiently than a low pressure pump. .

Next, when the negative pressure is released, the cylinder 5
The operation of discharging the ink accumulated in 0 is started. Piston shaft 5
When 3 is slowly pulled back toward the upper fulcrum side A, the seal surface 51 is opened and the ink accumulated in the cylinder 50 is discharged toward the waste ink absorbing pad. Actually, the piston shaft 53 is reciprocated (idle suction operation) in a state where the recording head is further removed from the cap 54 and is exposed to the atmosphere, and an operation of completely discharging the ink remaining in the cylinder and the cap is performed. .

In the suction recovery means using such a suction pump and a cap, the stroke of the piston shaft with respect to the suction amount, the amount of penetration of the cap into the recording head with respect to the suction pressure, and the stop of the piston shaft with respect to the negative pressure holding time. It is possible to control the suction condition by changing the time.

(1-5) Description of Ink Discharge Defect Detection Means The ink discharge defect detection means used in this embodiment will be described. FIGS. 6A and 6B are a schematic plan view and a schematic partially enlarged view of the vicinity of the drive unit of the recording head suitable for the embodiment of the present invention.

As can be seen from FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B), at both ends of the extension of the region 3 (hereinafter referred to simply as the discharge heater portion) in which a large number of electrothermal converters as heat energy converting elements are arranged. The temperature sensor 2 is arranged so that at least a part thereof exists. The sensor 2 is not provided on the surface of the substrate, but is incorporated in the substrate 1 itself.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a terminal, which is connected to an external electric wiring by wire bonding or the like. The temperature sensor 2 is formed in the vicinity of the discharge heater unit 3 by the same film forming process as the discharge heater unit 3 and the like. FIG. 6B is a schematic enlarged view of a portion B including the sensor 2 in FIG. 6A, and 5 and 6 are a discharge heater and a wiring, respectively. The temperature sensor 2 is formed with a film forming process similar to the film forming process at the time of forming a semiconductor element, like the other parts such as the discharge heater and the wiring. It is made of a material whose conductivity changes with temperature, such as aluminum, titanium, and tantalum used as the material amount.

Further, the illustrated temperature sensor 2 has a meandering shape in order to reduce the influence of wiring or the like, and the output of the temperature sensor 2 can be taken out via the terminal 4.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a temperature detecting section using the output of the temperature sensor 2 shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B).

As shown in the figure, the temperature sensor 2 has a voltage dividing resistor 7
And the voltage terminal 28 are connected, and the resistance change of the temperature sensor 2 is converted into a voltage. The voltage-converted output is compared with the reference power source 10 by the comparator 9 and input to the MPU 11 via the gate array shown in FIG. That is, the MPU 11 can determine whether the substrate temperature is above or below a certain set value. The temperature change in the temperature sensor 2 of the substrate 1 is
It changes as shown in FIG. That is, when the ink is normally ejected, it transiently changes as shown by the curve 12 and reaches a steady state at a certain temperature, but if there is no ink in the vicinity of the ink ejection portion, or if an ink ejection failure state occurs due to ink clogging or the like. , The amount of heat accumulates and the temperature starts to rise rapidly. A curve 13 shows a temperature change in an ink ejection failure state.

[0040] Therefore, when the temperature T ₀ the output of the comparator 9 sets the reference voltage V ₀ to inverted and this is notified to the MPU11 when the temperature of the heater board 1 exceeds T _0, whereby the ink discharge failure It can be determined that it has occurred, and defective ink ejection is detected. The sequence of this ink ejection failure detection is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the suction recovery of the first embodiment executed by the MPU 11 as the control means.

When a user's instruction or an automatic suction recovery command is given to the MPU 11, the recovery condition control means drives the carriage drive control device and the conveyance system control device to set a predetermined first suction condition (suction amount). / Suction negative pressure / negative pressure holding time) performs the first suction recovery (step S1). After the suction, wiping is performed by the cleaning blade 5017 to remove the ink remaining on the face of the recording head (step S2), and preliminary ejection is performed to remove the unnecessary ink in the nozzle (step S3).
After that, the defective printing detection is performed by the above-described defective ink ejection detecting means (step S4). As a result, when it is determined that there is no print defect (No in step S5),
The suction recovery is completed and the unit enters the standby state. On the other hand, when the printing failure is detected (Yes in step S5), the detection signal is sent to the recovery condition control means, and the recovery condition control means causes the carriage drive control device and the transport system control device to perform the predetermined first suction recovery. The driving is performed under the second suction recovery condition different from the condition to perform the second suction recovery (step S6). After that, wiping (step S7) and preliminary ejection (step S8)
To complete the suction recovery.

When the main suction recovery sequence is executed in the ink jet recording apparatus using the recording head having a plurality of filters as described above, the amount of ink suctioned for the first suction recovery is from the ejection port 206 of the recording head to the first filter 210. More than the inner volume of the ink supply path up to
The inner volume up to the filter 211 is set to be equal to or less than the inner volume, and the ink suction amount for the second suction recovery is the second from the ejection port 206
It is set to be larger than the internal volume up to the filter 211. As a result, the infiltration of air causes the second filter 2
The amount of waste ink generated by the suction recovery can be reduced because the suction amount of the second suction recovery is not performed except when the ink drops to 11 and a large suction recovery is required. It is possible to obtain an ink jet recording apparatus that does not have any problem and that surely exhibits recovery performance when necessary.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the sequence of the second embodiment in which the printing defect is detected again after the second suction recovery and the third suction recovery is carried out if there is a defect. .

When such a suction recovery sequence is carried out in an ink jet recording apparatus using a recording head having a plurality of filters as described above, the suction amount for the first suction recovery is from the first filter 210 to the second filter 211. Is set to be equal to or larger than the inner volume of the ink supply passage of the recording head and equal to or smaller than the inner volume of the ink supply passage from the ejection port 206 of the recording head to the second filter 211, and the suction amount for the second suction recovery is set from the ejection port 206 of the recording head First filter 2
10 or more and more than or equal to the inner volume of the ink supply path to the second filter 211, and the suction amount of the third suction recovery is set to the ink supply path from the ejection port 206 of the recording head to the second filter 211. Set to be larger than the internal volume of the. In this case, if ejection failure occurs due to dust on the surface of the ejection port 206, bubbles in the ink in the nozzle portion 205, or the like, sufficient recovery can be performed with the first suction recovery, and air intrusion can be performed. Even when the ink reaches the second filter 211, at least the first filter 21
The ink can be pulled up to 0, and the ink consumption due to the second suction recovery can be reduced. First
Since it is very rare that the ink ejection failure is not eliminated by both the suction recovery and the second suction recovery, the third suction recovery is used less frequently. Therefore, the second embodiment provides an ink jet recording apparatus capable of further reducing the amount of waste ink. Further, since the ejection failure check is performed before the data printing, there is an effect of preventing head damage, data loss, etc. due to blank printing in which the ejection heater is driven in a state where there is no ink in the nozzle.

[Embodiment of the Second Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus of the second invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(2-1) Schematic description of the apparatus main body, (2-
2) The description of the ink jet cartridge, (2-3) the description of the recording device control configuration, and (2-4) the description of the suction recovery system operation are the same as those of the above-described first invention, so the description thereof will be omitted.

(2-5) Description of Ink Filling State Determining Means The ink filling state determining means will be described below.

FIG. 6 showing the vicinity of the drive unit of the recording head.
The description of (A) and (B) and the description of FIG. 7 regarding the ink ejection failure detection means are the same as those of the above-described first invention.

As described above, the temperature change in the sensor portion of the substrate 1 changes as shown in FIG. Figure 8
In the curve 12, the curve 12 shows the temperature change in the normal discharge state, and the curve 13 shows the temperature change in the poor discharge state. Curve 13 in FIG. 8 is depicted a plurality of, most curve rises on the left side is greater than T ₀ immediately after ink ejection, ink discharge failure is detected in more than T ₀ to time slow enough is the right of the curve To be done. This difference is due to the difference in heat capacity near the heat generating portion, which strongly reflects the difference in the degree of ink filling of the supply path near the ink ejection port of the recording head, and the sensor temperature exceeds T ₀ . It is considered that the earlier the time, the smaller the amount of ink near the heat generating portion, the smaller the heat capacity, and the more the temperature rises.
Therefore, the degree of ink filling abnormality can be determined by measuring the time from the start of ejection until the occurrence of defective ink ejection is detected. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the sequence of this ink replacement state determination.

In the timer value evaluation step and the ink filling degree determining step in FIG. 10, the ink filling degree is judged based on the correspondence table between the predetermined print defect detection time and the estimated ink filling state. An example of such a correspondence table is shown in FIG. The correspondence table is practically determined based on experiments.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing the suction recovery sequence of the third embodiment executed by the MPU 11 as the control means.

When a user's instruction or an automatic suction recovery command is given to the MPU, the recovery condition control means causes the carriage drive control device and the transport system control device to have a predetermined first suction condition (suction amount / suction negative value). The first suction recovery is performed by performing the suction recovery with the pressure / negative pressure holding time) (step S21) After the suction, wiping is performed to remove the ink remaining on the recording head face surface (step S2).
2) Further, preliminary ejection is performed to remove unnecessary ink that has entered the nozzle (step S23). Then, the ink filling state determination means evaluates the above-described ink filling state (step S24). As a result, if the printing state is normal (the ink filling state is normal) (No in step S25), the suction recovery is completed and the standby state is set. On the other hand, when a printing defect is detected, a signal representing the ink filling state determined by the ink filling state determination means is sent to the recovery condition control means. Upon receiving the ink filling state signal, the recovery condition control means sets a predetermined suction condition according to the signal (step S26) and drives the carriage drive control device and the transport system control device to perform the second suction recovery. (Step S27), then wiping (step S28) and preliminary ejection (step S29) are performed, and suction recovery is completed.

When the main suction recovery sequence is carried out in the ink jet recording apparatus using the recording head having a plurality of filters as described above, the first suction recovery is set to be slightly larger than the volume of the nozzle portion 205, and the second suction recovery is performed. The suction amount for recovery depends on the filling state 1 depending on the ink filling state.
In the filling state 2, the same suction amount as in the first suction recovery, in the filling state 2, the volume is equal to or larger than the internal volume of the ink supply path from the ejection port 206 of the recording head to the first filter 210 and is equal to or smaller than the internal volume to the second filter. Discharge port 206 of recording head
If it is set to be larger than the inner volume from the second filter 211 to the second filter 211, it is possible to perform suction recovery without excess or deficiency according to the ink filling degree, it is possible to reduce the amount of waste ink, and to reliably recover when necessary. It is possible to obtain an inkjet recording device that exhibits performance.

In the above embodiment, the case where only the suction amount is changed as the suction recovery condition has been described, but when the holding force of the meniscus forming portion such as the filter is greatly different or the ink flow resistance is largely different, By changing the suction negative pressure and the negative pressure holding force, it is possible to obtain an ink jet recording apparatus that reliably exhibits recovery performance.

Further, the recording head is not limited to the ink jet cartridge as shown in FIG. 2, but as shown in FIG. 16, the volume of the ink supply passage from the ejection port in the recording head to the first filter and the first filter to the second filter. The same effect can be obtained in the case where the volumes of the ink supply paths differ greatly, or in a so-called permanent head type in which the recording chip and the ink tank are connected by a tube.

In addition to the user's instruction, the suction recovery may be automatically performed at the time of controlling the timer, controlling the number of print dots, replacing the ink jet cartridge, loading the main body, etc. In that case, the labor of the user is greatly reduced. It is possible to reduce waste ink and to secure reliability while suppressing.

Further, the ink ejection failure detecting means and the ink filling state determining means in this embodiment are not limited to those described above, and any means can be used as long as they have the same effect.

The present invention brings excellent effects particularly in an ink jet type recording head and a recording apparatus which form flying droplets by utilizing thermal energy among the ink jet recording systems.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740 are applicable.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. 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, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which is stored, which corresponds to the recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling. , It is effective because it generates heat energy in the electrothermal converter and causes film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, resulting in the formation of bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis. Is. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. A configuration using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 or US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which discloses a configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in the bending region, may be used.

In addition, JP-A-59-123670, which discloses a structure in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and a pressure wave of thermal energy is absorbed. It is also possible to adopt a configuration based on Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which the opening corresponds to the ejection portion.

Furthermore, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recording medium width that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length can be increased by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. Either of the structure satisfying the requirement or the structure as one recording head integrally formed may be used.

In addition, by being mounted on the apparatus main body, it can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can be supplied with ink from the apparatus main body by a replaceable chip type recording head or the recording head itself. Alternatively, a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank may be used.

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 of the present invention, because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If you list these specifically,
Capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or sucking means for the recording head, preheating means using an electrothermal converter or another heating element or a combination thereof, and a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection other than recording It is also effective to perform stable recording.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. Alternatively, the device may be provided with at least one of full colors by color mixing.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid, but it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or below and that softens at room temperature, or is a liquid, or the above-mentioned. In the inkjet method, the temperature of the ink itself is generally adjusted within a range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within a stable ejection range. It may be in a liquid form.

In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the ink is solidified in a standing state for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink. In some cases, such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to a recording signal and ejected as a liquid ink, or one that has already started to solidify when it reaches a recording medium. The use of an ink having a property of being liquefied only by heat energy is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5684.
No. 7 or JP-A-60-71260, a mode in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter in the state of being held as a liquid or solid in the recess or through hole of the porous sheet. You may. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, the recording apparatus according to the present invention is provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a word processor or a computer, or in combination with a reader or the like. It may be in the form of a copying machine or a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0071]

As described above in detail, according to the first invention of the present application, after the suction recovery means performs the first suction recovery operation,
When the ejection failure detection unit detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head, the suction recovery unit performs the second suction recovery operation under a suction condition different from that of the first suction recovery operation.

According to the second invention of the present application, when the ejection failure detecting means detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head after the suction recovery means performs the first suction recovery operation, the first invention is performed. After the suction recovery operation, the suction recovery means performs the second suction recovery operation under the suction condition according to the result of the ink filling state determined by the determination means.

Therefore, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to surely perform ink ejection recovery and reduce the amount of waste ink accompanying suction recovery.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an inkjet cartridge mainly used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control circuit configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a detailed block diagram of part of a control circuit.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a suction pump used in the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a schematic plan view of the vicinity of a recording head drive unit used in the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention. (B) The same schematic partially enlarged view.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a printhead temperature detection unit used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the relationship between the print time and the head temperature when ejecting ink.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an ink ejection defect detection method used in the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an ink filling state determination method used in the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of an inkjet cartridge used in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of recovery control used in the first embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of recovery control used in the second embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of recovery control used in the first embodiment of the second invention.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view of a conventional inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of another ink jet cartridge used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Temperature Sensor 11 MPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 50 Cylinder 52 Piston 53 Piston Shaft 54 Cap 5015 Suction Means IJC Inkjet Cartridge IJRA Inkjet Recording Device

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number in the agency FI Technical indication location B41J 29/00 9113-2C B41J 29/00 U (72) Inventor Kiichiro Takahashi 3-30 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 2 within Canon Inc. (72) Kentaro Yano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Naoji Otsuka 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Within the corporation

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus for performing recording using a recording head for ejecting ink from a discharge port to a recording medium, wherein ink is recovered from the recording head by sucking ink from the recording head. Suction recovery means to perform, ejection failure detection means to detect ink ejection failure of the recording head, and after the suction recovery means performs the first suction recovery operation, the ejection failure detection means causes the ink of the recording head to disappear. And a control unit for causing the suction recovery unit to perform the second suction recovery operation under a suction condition different from that of the first suction recovery operation. Recording device. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus for performing recording using a recording head for ejecting ink from an ejection port to a recording medium, wherein ink is recovered from the recording head by sucking ink from the recording head. Suction recovery means for performing, ejection failure detection means for detecting ink ejection failure of the recording head, determination means for determining the ink filling state of the ink supply path leading to the ejection port, and the suction recovery means is the first After the suction recovery operation is performed, when the ejection failure detection unit detects the ejection failure of the ink of the recording head, it depends on the result of the ink filling state determined by the determination unit after the first suction recovery operation. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a control unit that causes the suction recovery unit to perform a second suction recovery operation under a suction condition. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the suction condition is at least one of a suction amount, a suction pressure, and a suction negative pressure holding time. 4. The recording head is a recording head that ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is an inkjet recording head that includes a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Item 1
4. The inkjet recording device according to any one of 1 to 3. 5. The recording head causes a state change of ink by the thermal energy applied by the thermal energy converter, and causes the ink to be ejected from an ejection port based on the state change. Inkjet recording device.