JPH08156241A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent the generation of printing blur by providing an indication means indicating the cleaning of a printing head when the count value of a count means reaches a prescribed judge value to clear the count value. CONSTITUTION: In an ink jet printer 1, a detection means 22 detects the environment temp. of a printing head 10 prior to the start of printing processing and a count means 23 enters counting processing simultaneously with the start of printing when the detection means 22 detects environment temp. equal to or lower than a prescribed temp. to count the cumulation value of printing quantities. An indication means 24 emits the cleaning command of the printing head 10 to a cleaning control means 21 when the count value of the count means 23 reaches a prescribed judge value. At this time, a cleaning control means 21 clears the count value of the count means 23 in order to emit the cleaning command of a next time and the cleaning control means 21 interrupts printing processing upon the reception of the cleaning command and sets the printing head 10 to the position of a cleaning means 12 to execute cleaning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer which executes a printing process according to an ink jet system, and more particularly to an ink jet printer which can prevent the occurrence of print blur.

[0002] Ink jet printers have a structure in which ink jet printing is performed, and thus print fading easily occurs. From now on, it is necessary to construct a configuration for preventing the occurrence of print fading.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet printer, a head cap for capping the print head is provided in order to prevent the ink in the print head portion from solidifying, and the print head is moved to this head cap position when the printing process is not executed. It has a structure that allows it to be capped.

A suction mechanism for sucking the air in the head cap is provided, and when the ink is not ejected from the print head satisfactorily, the air in the head cap is sucked according to the suction mechanism when the print faints. By doing so, the print head is cleaned.

When such a structure is adopted, the conventional ink jet printer has a structure in which the cleaning blur is prevented by executing this cleaning operation in response to the button operation by the user. That is, when the print fading is likely to occur, the user uses the button to instruct the cleaning operation, and in response to this, the inkjet printer sets the print head to the head cap position and then operates the suction mechanism. By doing so, the print head was cleaned.

[0006]

However, according to such a conventional technique, the print head is not cleaned unless the user instructs it even under the environment where the print blur occurs. There was a problem that occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new ink jet printer capable of preventing the occurrence of print blur.

[0008]

1 and 2 show the principle configuration of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is an inkjet printer equipped with the present invention, which includes a print head 10 for performing a printing process according to an inkjet method, a temperature sensor 11 for sensing an environmental temperature of the print head 10, and a cleaning for cleaning the print head 10. Mechanism 12
And a control mechanism 13 that executes print control processing.

The control mechanism 13 of the ink jet printer 1 whose principle configuration is shown in FIG. 1 includes a print control means 20, a cleaning control means 21, a detection means 22, a counting means 23, an instruction means 24, and a management means 25. And the judging means 2
6 and the invalidation means 27.

The print control means 20 controls the print processing. The cleaning control unit 21 controls the cleaning process of the print head 10. The detection means 22 detects the environmental temperature of the print head 10 prior to the start of printing.
The counting means 23 counts the cumulative value of the printing amount. The instruction unit 24 issues a cleaning instruction to the cleaning control unit 21. The management unit 25 manages the judgment value set so as to change according to the environmental temperature of the print head 10. The judging means 26 judges whether the environmental temperature of the print head 10 at the time of the cleaning process is equal to or higher than a specified value. The invalidation unit 27 invalidates the cleaning instruction issued by the instruction unit 24.

On the other hand, the control mechanism 13 of the ink jet printer 1 whose principle configuration is shown in FIG.
A cleaning control means 31, a detection means 32, a management means 33, a counting means 34, an instructing means 35, and a resetting means 36.

The print control means 30 controls the print processing. The cleaning control unit 31 controls the cleaning process of the print head 10. The detection unit 32 detects the environmental temperature of the print head 10 according to a specified timing during printing. The management unit 33 manages the weight value set so as to change according to the environmental temperature of the print head 10. The counting unit 34 calculates a multiplication value of the weight value managed by the management unit 33 and the print amount during the environmental temperature detection, and counts the cumulative value. The instruction unit 35 issues a cleaning instruction to the cleaning control unit 31. The reset means 36 resets the count value of the counting means 34.

[0013]

In the ink jet printer 1 of the present invention whose principle configuration is shown in FIG. 1, the detecting means 22 detects the environmental temperature of the print head 10 by reading the detection value of the temperature sensor 11 before starting the printing process. Then, the counting means 23
When the detecting means 22 detects an environmental temperature below a specified value,
At the start of printing, the counting process is started to count the cumulative amount of printing.

Then, the instructing means 24 issues a cleaning instruction for the print head 10 to the cleaning control means 21 when the count value of the counting means 23 reaches a prescribed judgment value. At this time, the count value of the counting means 23 is cleared to issue the next cleaning instruction. Upon receiving this cleaning instruction, the cleaning control means 21 interrupts the printing process, sets the print head 10 at the position of the cleaning mechanism 12, and controls the cleaning mechanism 12 to perform cleaning of the print head 10. .

In this process, when the managing means 25 is provided, the instructing means 24 reads the judgment value corresponding to the environmental temperature detected by the detecting means 22 from the managing means 25, and the counting value of the counting means 23. When it reaches the judgment value, a cleaning instruction for the print head 10 is issued to the cleaning control means 21.

Further, when the judging means 26 is provided, the judging means 26 detects the environmental temperature of the print head 10 by reading the detection value of the temperature sensor 11 when the instructing means 24 issues the cleaning instruction. , The invalidation means 2 by judging whether or not the environmental temperature is higher than the specified value.
The reference numeral 7 invalidates the cleaning instruction issued by the instructing means 24 when the determining means 26 determines that the ambient temperature is equal to or higher than the specified value.

On the other hand, in the ink jet printer 1 of the present invention, the principle configuration of which is shown in FIG. 2, the detecting means 32 reads the detection value of the temperature sensor 11 in accordance with the specified timing during the printing process to thereby detect the environment of the print head 10. When the detecting unit 32 detects the environmental temperature, the counting unit 34 reads the weight value corresponding to the environmental temperature from the managing unit 33 when the detecting unit 32 detects the environmental temperature, and the printing amount between the read weight value and the environmental temperature detection. The multiplication value of and is calculated, and the cumulative value is counted.

Then, the instructing means 35 issues a print head cleaning instruction to the cleaning control means 31 when the count value of the counting means 34 reaches a prescribed judgment value. At this time, the count value of the counting means 34 is cleared to issue the next cleaning instruction. Upon receiving this cleaning instruction, the cleaning control means 31
Interrupts the printing process, sets the print head 10 at the position of the cleaning mechanism 12, and
By controlling 2, the cleaning of the print head 10 is executed.

In this processing, when the reset means 36 is provided, the reset means 36 detects the detection means 32.
When the environmental temperature detected by is above the specified value, the count value of the counting means 34 is reset.

As described above, in the ink jet printer 1 of the present invention, when the environmental temperature of the print head 10 is low, the print head 10 can be dealt with in response to the fact that the print viscosity is increased due to the increased viscosity of the ink. When the environmental temperature is low, the print head 10 is automatically cleaned according to the print amount. As a result, in the inkjet printer 1 of the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent the print blur.

[0021]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples. FIG. 3 illustrates an apparatus configuration of the inkjet printer 1 including the present invention. As shown in this figure, an inkjet printer 1 including the present invention includes a print head 40 that executes a printing process according to an inkjet method,
A thermistor 41 that senses the environmental temperature of the print head 40, a cleaning mechanism 42 that cleans the print head 40, a print control program 43 that receives print data sent from the host and executes the print control processing, and a print head. A cleaning control information storage area 44 that manages the cleaning control information of 10, a CR motor 45 that controls the movement of the print head 40, and an LF motor 46 that controls the movement of the print paper are provided.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the print head 40 executes the printing process by the ink jet method according to the same construction as in the prior art, but in the case of the present invention, it is shown in FIG. 4 (b). ), The mounting board is provided with a thermistor 41 for sensing the ambient temperature.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning mechanism 42 is arranged at the home position of the print head 40 and has a head cap 47 for capping the print head 40 and a suction for sucking air in the head cap 47. And a mechanism 48. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the print head 40 is set at the position of the head cap 47, the suction mechanism 48 prints by sucking the air in the head cap 47 via the air valve 50 in the figure. The nozzle portion of the head 40 is cleaned.

In FIG. 5, 51 is an ink tank, and 52 is an ink tank.
Is an ink disposal tank, 53 is an ink sensor, 54 is a sub tank, and 55 is a pump. During normal printing processing, ink is supplied from the ink tank 51 to the print head 40 according to the route shown by the black arrow in the figure. The ink is discarded in the ink discard tank 52, and on the other hand, during the cleaning process of the print head 40, the ink sucked from the print head 40 is discarded in the ink discard tank 52 according to the route shown by the white arrow in the figure.

As a result of a detailed study by the present inventor, the print faint in the ink jet printer 1 is found in the print head 40.
It was found that the above-mentioned environmental temperature of 10 ° C. or lower occurred and that the lower the environmental temperature, the smaller the number of characters printed. It is considered that this is mainly because the viscosity of the ink increases as the temperature decreases.

By utilizing this property, the present invention automatically cleans the print head 40 according to the environmental temperature and the print amount of the print head 40, thereby preventing the occurrence of print blur. It realizes what to do.

This cleaning control process is also executed by the print control program 43 which executes the print control process. 6 to 10 show an embodiment of a processing flow executed by the print control program 43. Next, the present invention will be described in detail according to these processing flows.

When the print control program 43 follows the process flow of FIG. 6, when the power is turned on, as shown in the process flow of FIG. 6 (a), first, in step 1, the thermistor 41 detects it. When the ambient temperature is read, it is determined whether the ambient temperature is lower than a constant value set to, for example, 10 ° C, and when it is determined that the ambient temperature is low, the process proceeds to step 2 to display the low temperature display flag. Is set to end the processing, and conversely, when it is determined that the environmental temperature is high, the processing ends.

On the other hand, when the printing process starts, as shown in the process flow of FIG. 6B, first, in step 1, a printing command issued by the host (issued for each printing line).
Then, in step 2, when it is determined whether or not the low temperature display flag is set and it is determined that the low temperature display flag is set, that is, the environmental temperature of the print head 40 is If it is low, the process proceeds to step 3 and the total number of print digits (total number of print characters) cumulatively added so far is counted up according to the number of print characters designated by the received print command (the number of print characters on the print line).

Subsequently, in step 4, it is judged whether or not the total number of print digits counted up is larger than a constant value set to, for example, 40,000 characters, and the total number of print digits is a predetermined constant value. When it is determined that the number of print heads will be greater than the above, the total print digit number is cleared to issue the next cleaning instruction, and then the process proceeds to step 5 to clean the print head 40. That is, the print head 40 is set on the head cap 47 and the suction mechanism 48 is operated to clean the print head 40. When this cleaning is completed, then in step 6,
The print process specified by the received print command is executed.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 2 that the low temperature display flag is not set, and when it is determined in step 4 that the total number of print digits is less than a prescribed fixed value, the cleaning of the print head 40 is performed. Without running
Immediately, the process proceeds to step 6 to execute the print processing instructed by the received print command.

In this way, when the processing flow of FIG. 6 is followed, the print control program 43 automatically causes the print head 40 to automatically print the specified number of characters when the environmental temperature of the print head 40 at the start of printing is low. This is the structure in which the cleaning is carried out. As a result, it is possible to prevent print blurring.

When the processing flow of FIG. 6B is followed,
The print control program 43 has a configuration in which the environmental temperature of the print head 40 at the time of executing the cleaning is not taken into consideration. However, when the environmental temperature of the print head 40 at the time of executing the cleaning exceeds about 10 ° C., cleaning is performed. It is also possible to adopt a configuration that is omitted.

FIG. 7 shows a processing flow in this case. The difference from the processing flow of FIG. 6B is that when it is determined that the total number of print digits exceeds a prescribed constant value, then the environmental temperature of the print head 40 is checked to find out, for example, The cleaning of the print head 40 is omitted when it is determined that the temperature is higher than the fixed value set to 10 ° C.

When the processing flow of FIG. 6 is followed,
The print control program 43 has a configuration that does not depend on the environmental temperature of the print head 40 as a limit value for whether or not to perform cleaning. However, this limit value is selected according to the environmental temperature of the print head 40. It is also possible to adopt the method of going.

FIG. 8 shows a processing flow in this case. Here, when the processing flow of FIG. 8 is followed, the cleaning control information storage area 44, as shown in FIG. 11, is associated with the environmental temperature and has a small value as the environmental temperature of the print head 40 decreases. The configuration for managing the limit value of the total number of print digits in the mode shown in FIG.

The process flow of FIG. 8 is different from the process flow of FIG. 6 in that in the process flow of FIG. 6A, when the low temperature display flag is set, the process is terminated as it is. In the process flow of FIG. 8A, the cleaning control information storage area 4 is set after the low temperature display flag is set.
4 is that the limit value of the total print digit number associated with the detected environmental temperature is read out and stored in the work area. In the process flow of FIG. 6B, the limit value of the total number of print digits used for determining whether or not to perform cleaning is not dependent on the environmental temperature of the print head 40. , FIG. 8 (b)
In the process flow of No. 6, the limit value selected in the process flow of FIG. 8A is used.

Further, in the processing flow of FIG. 8B as well, when the environmental temperature of the print head 40 at the time of executing the cleaning exceeds about 10 ° C., it is possible to omit the cleaning. is there.

FIG. 9 shows a processing flow in this case. The difference from the processing flow of FIG. 8B is that when it is determined that the total number of print digits exceeds a prescribed constant value, then the environmental temperature of the print head 40 is checked to find out, for example, The cleaning of the print head 40 is omitted when it is determined that the temperature is higher than the fixed value set to 10 ° C.

In the processing flow shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the print control program 43 has a configuration in which the environmental temperature of the print head 40 is detected prior to the printing process. It is also possible to adopt a method of deciding the cleaning execution timing while considering the above.

FIG. 10 shows a processing flow in this case. Here, in the case of following the processing flow of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 12, the cleaning control information storage area 44 is configured to manage a coefficient value in a manner of showing a large value in association with the environmental temperature of the print head 40 in association with the environmental temperature. Become.

When the print control program 43 starts the print process, as shown in the process flow of FIG.
In step 1, a print command issued by the host (issued for each print line) is received, and in subsequent step 2, the environmental temperature detected by the thermistor 41 is read. Next, in step 3, the cleaning control information storage area 44 is referenced to identify the coefficient value associated with the detected environmental temperature, and in step 4, the identified coefficient value and the received print command are specified. Multiply the value with the number of print characters indicated by (the number of print characters on the print line).

Then, in step 5, the total number of print digits (total number of print characters) weighted by the coefficient values cumulatively added so far is counted up according to the calculated multiplication value.
Subsequently, in step 6, it is judged whether or not the total number of print digits counted up is larger than a constant value set to, for example, 40,000 characters, and the total number of print digits is larger than a predetermined constant value. If it is determined that the total number of print digits is cleared to issue the next cleaning instruction, the process proceeds to step 7 and the print head 40 is cleaned. That is, the print head 40 is attached to the head cap 4
7, the print head 40 is cleaned by operating the suction mechanism 48. When this cleaning is completed, subsequently, in step 8, the print processing instructed by the received print command is executed.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 6 that the total number of print digits is less than the specified fixed value, the cleaning of the print head 40 is not executed, and the process immediately proceeds to step 8 to instruct the received print command. Execute the printing process.

In this way, when the processing flow of FIG. 10 is followed, the print control program 43 adopts a configuration in which the environmental temperature of the print head 40 is detected during printing, and the cleaning execution timing is determined in consideration of it. By doing so, the occurrence of print fading is prevented.

When the processing flow of FIG. 10 is followed, the print control program 43 sets the environmental temperature of the print head 40 to 1
Even when the temperature exceeds about 0 ° C, the total print digit count during counting is retained, but when it exceeds, it is possible to clear the total print digit count during counting. Is.

Having described the invention in accordance with the illustrated embodiment,
The present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the embodiment, when the print command is received, the cleaning execution timing is determined according to the print amount to be printed, but the present invention is not limited to this. The cleaning execution timing may be determined according to the printed amount.

[0048]

As described above, in the ink jet printer of the present invention, when the environmental temperature of the print head is low, the print head is dealt with in response to the fact that the print viscosity is increased due to the increase in the viscosity of the ink. When the environmental temperature is low, the print head is automatically cleaned according to the printing amount. This allows
With the ink jet printer of the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent print blur.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a device configuration diagram of an inkjet printer.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a print head.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a cleaning mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a processing flow executed by a print control program.

FIG. 7 is a processing flow executed by a print control program.

FIG. 8 is a processing flow executed by a print control program.

FIG. 9 is a processing flow executed by a print control program.

FIG. 10 is a processing flow executed by a print control program.

FIG. 11 is an example of stored data in a cleaning control information storage area.

FIG. 12 is an example of stored data in a cleaning control information storage area.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inkjet Printer 10 Print Head 11 Temperature Sensor 12 Cleaning Mechanism 13 Control Mechanism 20 Print Control Means 21 Cleaning Control Means 22 Detecting Means 23 Counting Means 24 Instructing Means 25 Management Means 26 Judging Means 27 Invalidating Means

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet printer comprising a print head for executing a printing process according to an ink jet system and a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the print head, and a detection means for detecting an environmental temperature of the print head before starting printing. ), And when the detection means (22) detects an environmental temperature below a specified value, a counting means (23) for counting the cumulative value of the printing amount by entering a counting process at the start of printing, and the counting means (23). And an instruction means (24) for instructing cleaning of the print head and clearing the counted value when the counted value reaches a prescribed judgment value. 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising: management means (25) for managing a judgment value set so as to change according to the environmental temperature of the print head, and the instruction means (24) is the above-mentioned. The judgment value corresponding to the environmental temperature detected by the detection means (22) is read from the management means (25), and when the count value of the counting means (23) reaches the judgment value, an instruction to clean the print head is issued. An inkjet printer that is characterized by processing. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein when the instructing means (24) issues a cleaning instruction, it is determined whether or not the environmental temperature of the print head at that time is equal to or higher than a specified value. A means (26) and an invalidating means (27) for invalidating the cleaning instruction issued by the instructing means (24) when the determining means (26) determines that the ambient temperature is equal to or higher than a specified value. Inkjet printers characterized by this. 4. An ink jet printer comprising a print head for executing print processing according to an ink jet method and a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the print head, and a detection means for detecting an environmental temperature of the print head at a prescribed timing during printing. (32), managing means (33) for managing a weight value set so as to change according to the environmental temperature of the print head, and the managing means for detecting the environmental temperature when the detecting means (32) detects the environmental temperature. A weighting value corresponding to the environmental temperature is read from (33), a multiplication value of the weighting value and the printing amount between the environmental temperature detections is calculated, and a counting means (34) for counting the cumulative value, When the count value of the means (34) reaches a prescribed judgment value, an instruction means (35) for instructing cleaning of the print head and clearing the count value is provided. Inkjet printer. 5. The ink jet printer according to claim 4, wherein the reset means resets the count value of the counting means (34) when the environmental temperature detected by the detection means (32) exceeds a specified value.
An ink jet printer comprising (36).