JPH06340148A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To smooth an action of a carriage to raise reliability and accuracy in recording by a method wherein in a recorder with an encoder, a cleaning member for cleaning the encoder at the time of scanning in a predetermined direction is provided on the carriage. CONSTITUTION:In a recorder, a carriage 1 provided with a recording head, a sensor 4, and a cleaning member 2 scans a recording medium in a predetermined direction. The cleaning member 2 is made of a material, such as a felt, and fixed to the carriage 1. An encoder 3 is made of a round bar or the like having a magnetic pole in a scanning direction to be used as a reference of a recording position in a scanning direction. The sensor 4 is made of a magnetoresistance element or the like and used with the encoder 3 in a pair for obtaining an electric signal of detecting a reference or the like of a recording position. By providing the cleaning member 2 on the carriage 1 in this manner, a stain on the encoder 3 is removed at the time of scanning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example of an encoder section and a sensor section of a conventional recording apparatus. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view, and FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of that portion. 11 in the figure
Is a carriage equipped with a recording head and sensor,
An encoder 14 controls the recording position in the scanning direction. 1
Reference numeral 3 is a sensor, which is paired with an encoder and is used for recording position control. The recording is performed by the carriage moving on the shaft by the drive system.

[0003]

The conventional device as described above has the following problems. (1) During long-term use, dirt is accumulated on the encoder due to paper dust, printing ink, dust in the atmosphere, etc., and normal operation of the carriage cannot be obtained. (2) In order to obtain high accuracy, the sensor and the encoder should be brought as close as possible, but it is difficult to bring them closer to each other to some extent due to the stain described in (1).

The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the problems of the prior art.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a recording apparatus having a recording head that scans a recording medium in a predetermined direction, a carriage that mounts the recording head, and an encoder that detects a recording position in the scanning direction. Provided is a recording apparatus characterized in that a carriage is provided with a cleaning member for an encoder during scanning in a predetermined direction.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to various types of recording apparatuses, and among the inkjet recording apparatuses, in particular, the inkjet recording method, in which flying droplets are formed by utilizing thermal energy and recording is performed. In a recording device equipped with a head, this brings about an excellent effect.

Regarding the typical constitution and principle of the above-mentioned ink jet recording apparatus, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,12.
No. 9 and No. 47407796, the present invention is preferably carried out by using these basic principles. This recording method is applicable to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type.

To briefly explain this recording method, the electrothermal converter is arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path holding the liquid (ink), and the liquid (ink) corresponding to the recording information. Heat energy is generated by applying at least one driving signal for giving a rapid temperature rise that causes the film boiling phenomenon beyond the nucleate boiling phenomenon, and causes the film boiling on the heat acting surface of the recording head. . In this way, bubbles can be formed in one-to-one correspondence with the drive signal applied from the liquid (ink) to the electrothermal converter, which is particularly effective for the on-demand recording method. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection holes by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make the driving signal into a pulse shape because bubbles can be grown and contracted immediately and appropriately, and thus a liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be ejected. This pulse-shaped drive signal is described in US Pat. No. 4,463,359 and US Pat.
Those as described in 45262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124, which is an invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface, are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

The structure of the recording head is a combination of a discharge hole, a liquid flow path, and an electrothermal converter as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications (straight liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path). In addition, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, the present invention includes those having a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.

In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 123670/1984, which discloses a structure in which a common slit is used as a discharge hole for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and a pressure wave of thermal energy is absorbed. The present invention is also effective in a structure based on Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 138461/1984, which discloses a structure in which the corresponding opening corresponds to the discharge portion.

Further, as a recording head in which the present invention is effectively used, there is a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium which can be recorded by a recording device. The full line head may be a full line configuration formed by combining a plurality of print heads as disclosed in the above specification, or may be a single full line print head integrally formed.

In addition, when 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. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge-type recording head that is specially provided is used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc. to the recording apparatus of the present invention because the recording apparatus of the present invention can be made more stable. If you list these specifically,
A capping unit, a cleaning unit, a pressure or suction unit, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a preheating unit using a combination of these, and a preliminary ejection mode different from recording are provided for the recording head. Adding a means for performing is also effective for stable recording.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the mode in which only the mainstream color such as black is recorded, and the recording head may be integrally formed or a combination of plural recording heads. However, the present invention is also extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of a multicolor of different colors or a full color by color mixing.

In the above description, the liquid ink is used, but in the present invention, even if the ink is solid at room temperature,
It is possible to use an ink which is in a softened state at room temperature. In the above-mentioned inkjet device, the ink itself is heated to 30 ° C.
Generally, the temperature is adjusted within the range of 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is in the stable ejection range. Therefore, the ink may be in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied. .

In addition, excessive temperature rise of the head or ink due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the purpose is to prevent evaporation of the ink. It is also possible to use an ink that solidifies when left as it is. In any case, liquefaction occurs only when heat energy is applied, such as when ink is liquefied by applying heat energy according to a recording signal and ejected as an ink liquid, or when it reaches the recording medium, it already begins to solidify. The use of an ink having such a property is also applicable to the present invention.

Such an ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-568.
No. 47 or JP-A No. 60-71260, facing the electrothermal converter in the state of being held as a liquid or solid in the recesses or through holes of the porous sheet. It may be in the form.

In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

According to the present invention, in the recording apparatus represented by the above apparatus, the carriage is provided with a member for cleaning the encoder so that the dirt of the encoder can be removed when scanning in a predetermined direction. The material of the cleaning member is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include felt-like fiber, plastic, rubber, ceramics, metal and the like. Further, its shape can be changed according to the shape of the encoder. For example, when the encoder has a round bar shape, it has a cylindrical shape surrounding the bar, and when the encoder has a flat plate shape, it has a flat plate shape.

[0020]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show a recording apparatus 1 according to the present invention.
An embodiment is shown. FIG. 1 is a view best showing the features of the present invention, and is a perspective view of the recording apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a carriage portion of the recording apparatus of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view thereof. In these figures, 1 is a carriage, which is equipped with a recording head, a sensor, and a cleaning member, and is scanned in a predetermined direction. A cleaning member 2 is made of felt or the like and is fixed to the carriage. Reference numeral 3 denotes an encoder such as a round bar having a magnetic pole in the scanning direction, which is used as a reference of a recording position in the scanning direction. Reference numeral 4 denotes a sensor such as a magnetoresistive element, which is used as a pair with an encoder to obtain a detected electric signal such as a reference of a recording position. The encoder 3 and the sensor 4 are a pair, and are magnetic type and optical type (reflection type, transmission type, interference type).
The method does not matter.

By mounting the cleaning member on the carriage in this way, dirt on the encoder can be removed during scanning, the smooth operation of the carriage can be performed for a long period of time, and the accuracy can be improved by bringing the sensor and the encoder close to each other. Can be made.

(Embodiment 2) Even if the encoder in the apparatus of Embodiment 1 is formed in a flat plate shape and the cleaning member is also formed in a flat plate shape accordingly, the same effect as in Embodiment 1 can be obtained.

(Embodiment 3) In addition to the felt, the cleaning member may be made of lip-shaped plastic, rubber, or ceramic or metal whose contact pressure is controlled by another control member.

[0024]

As described above, by providing the carriage with the cleaning member for the encoder, the operation of the carriage becomes smooth and the reliability and accuracy in recording can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of a recording apparatus of the present invention.

2 is a front sectional view of a carriage portion of the apparatus of FIG.

3 is a side cross-sectional view of the carriage portion of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a conventional recording apparatus.

5 is a side cross-sectional view of the carriage portion of the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1,11 Carriage 2 Cleaning member 3,13 Encoder 4,14 Sensor

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 29/00 B41J 29/00 U

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus having a recording head that scans a recording medium in a predetermined direction, a carriage that mounts the recording head, and an encoder that detects a recording position in the scanning direction, when the carriage scans in a predetermined direction. A recording device having a cleaning member for an encoder mounted therein. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that records by ejecting ink. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ink discharge energy generating element of the recording head is an electrothermal converter for generating heat by applying electric energy and causing a change in the state of the ink for discharging. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording head is a full line type in which a plurality of ejection openings are provided over the entire width of the recording area of the recording medium.