JPH08197744A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To rapidly and efficiently perform preparatory emitting operation and to increase the speed of printing operation by providing a means allowing an ink head to perform preparatory emitting operation in the preparatory emitting region on the side of a home position while moving a carriage part from the home position toward a printing region. CONSTITUTION: After a power supply is closed or when printing is started, it is confirmed whether a carriage part 1 is present at a home position by a home position sensor 4 and, when the carriage part 1 is not present at the home position, the carriage part 1 is moved to the home position by a carriage motor 7 to perform restoration operation. Next, when preparatory emitting operation is performed, a wiping solenoid 5 is turned ON to prepare the wiping of a head. Subsequently, the motor 7 is operated so that the carriage part 1 reaches an objective moving speed toward a printing region. The position of the carriage part 1 during movement can be always detected by counting the number of pulses detected by a linear scale 2 and the linear sensor 3 attached to the carriage part 1 from the home position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bubble jet type printer included in an ink jet type for discharging ink from a nozzle to a sheet for printing.
The present invention relates to a printing device that performs a preliminary ejection operation so that ink can be ejected stably.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Bubble jet ink heads
It is composed of a very small set of nozzles, and if dust, dust, etc. enter these nozzles, normal bubbles cannot be formed and ink droplets cannot be ejected from the nozzle holes. Even if the ink ejection surface is wet with ink or bubbles remain in the nozzle, ejection failure of ink droplets similarly occurs.

In order to prevent such defective printing, a recovery operation and a wiping operation are performed. The recovery operation uses a pump to suck ink from the nozzles of the ink head,
It works to return ink ejection to a normal state. The wiping operation is an operation for wiping off dust, paper dust, and excess ink adhering to the nozzle surface with a rubber wiper. When such a recovery operation or a wiping operation is performed, the amount of ink in the nozzle becomes abnormal, or the inks of different colors are mixed in the nozzle.

In order to normalize such a defective state, preliminary ejection is performed a certain number of times until each nozzle returns to a normal state regardless of the printed image. This is traditionally
After returning the carriage portion to the home position and performing the recovery operation and the wiping operation of the ink head, the head is sequentially moved to the preliminary ejection area and the preliminary ejection operation is performed.

[0005]

As described above, in the ink jet head of the bubble jet system, it is necessary to perform the preliminary ejection operation. However, particularly in the case of a large format printer, the ejection amount (number of times) of the ink becomes large. Since extra ink or paper dust adheres around the nozzle holes of the ink head, the number of preliminary ejection operations (which may include recovery operation and wiping operation) for stabilizing ink ejection during printing is high. In this case, in the conventional method of returning the carriage portion to the home position and sequentially performing the wiping and the preliminary ejection operation, it takes time from the preliminary ejection operation to the printing state again, and the throughput time is increased. There is a problem of being late.

Particularly, in the conventional preliminary ejection operation, the carriage portion is returned to the home position, the carriage portion is stopped in the preliminary ejection area provided at the home position, and the preliminary ejection operation is performed. There is a problem that it takes time to perform the operation.

Further, since the conventional preliminary ejection operation is performed only on the home position side, it is necessary to perform the preliminary ejection operation when the carriage unit is moving toward the carriage return side opposite to the home position side. Even in the case, it is necessary to return to the home position side farther than the carriage return portion and perform the preliminary ejection operation, which takes time and is inefficient.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that performs a preliminary ejection operation quickly and efficiently and speeds up a printing operation.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the printing apparatus of the present invention ejects ink from the ink head onto the paper provided in the printing area while moving the carriage portion having the ink head. An ink jet type printing apparatus for printing by using the above-mentioned method, wherein the carriage unit is moved toward a printing area from a home position located on one side outside the printing area, and the home position is in front of the printing area. It is a gist to have a preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform a preliminary ejection operation in the side preliminary ejection area.

Further, the printing apparatus of the present invention is an ink jet type printing apparatus which carries out printing by ejecting ink from the ink head onto the paper provided in the printing area while moving the carriage portion having the ink head. While moving the carriage portion from the home position located on one side outside the printing area toward the printing area, preliminary ejection to the ink head is performed on the home position side preliminary ejection area before the printing area. First preliminary ejection operation means for performing an operation, and second preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform a preliminary ejection operation in a preliminary ejection area on the carriage return side located on the other side outside the printing area. And which of the first and second preliminary ejection operation means should be operated according to the printing operation including the position of the ink head. And summarized in that and a manner determining means.

Further, the printing apparatus of the present invention is an ink jet type printing apparatus which performs printing by ejecting ink from the ink head onto the paper provided in the printing area while moving the carriage portion having the ink head. There is a preliminary ejection area outside the printing area,
Preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform a preliminary ejection operation while moving the carriage portion, and speed control means for controlling the movement speed of the carriage portion in the preliminary ejection area in accordance with the ink ejection amount. That is the summary.

[0011]

In the printing apparatus of the present invention, while the carriage portion is moved from the home position toward the print area, the ink head is made to perform the preliminary discharge operation in the home position side preliminary discharge area before the print area.

Further, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, while the carriage portion is moved from the home position toward the printing area, the preliminary ejection operation is performed by the ink head in the preliminary ejection area on the home position side before the printing area. The first preliminary ejection operation means and the second preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform the preliminary ejection operation in the preliminary ejection area on the carriage return side are provided, and either of the first and second preliminary ejection operation means is operated. Whether or not it should be performed is selectively determined according to the printing operation including the position of the ink head.

Further, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, the preliminary ejection operation is performed on the ink head in the home position side preliminary ejection area in front of the printing area while moving the carriage portion toward the printing area or from the printing area. The speed control means controls the moving speed of the carriage when the ink is ejected.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a printing unit of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a carriage unit including an ink head, an ink tank, and a head driver for performing a printing operation, 2 is a linear scale indicating the position of the carriage unit 1, and 3 is a linear scale 2.
Is a linear sensor for detecting the position of the carriage unit 1 and 4 is a home position sensor for detecting whether the carriage unit 1 is at the home position located on the right side in FIG. A solenoid for performing the operation, 6 is a preliminary ejection area on the home position side, and 7 is a carriage motor for driving the carriage unit 1.

In FIG. 1, the right side portion where the home position sensor 4, the solenoid 5, the preliminary ejection area 6 and the like are provided is the home position side, and the opposite side portion where the carriage motor 7 is provided is the carriage. It is the carriage return side where the section 1 is reversed and returned. In the following, this carriage return side will be referred to as the carriage motor side as the side on which the carriage motor 7 is located.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit section of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. In the figure, the carriage unit 1, the linear sensor 3, the home position sensor 4, and the home position wiping solenoid 5 are the same as those shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the carriage unit 1 drives an ink head unit 21 including black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) heads, and each head. It has a head driver unit 9. Further, the control circuit shown in FIG. 2 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O, etc., and a central control unit 8 for controlling the overall operation of the printing apparatus.
Have.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.
First, after the power is turned on or when printing is started, it is confirmed by the home position sensor 4 whether the carriage unit 1 is in the home position (step S11). If not, the carriage motor 7 is operated to operate the home position position. The carriage unit 1 is moved to and the recovery operation is performed (steps S12 and S13). The recovery operation is performed when the ink head is replaced, when three days or more have passed since the last recovery operation, or when manual cleaning is performed, and in other cases, the wiping operation is performed immediately.

Next, when performing the preliminary ejection operation, first, the wiping solenoid 5 is turned on to prepare for wiping the head (step S14). Next, the carriage motor 7 is operated so that the carriage unit 1 is directed to the print area and reaches the target moving speed (step S15). The position of the moving carriage unit 1 can always be detected by counting the number of pulses detected by the linear scale 2 and the linear sensor 3 attached to the carriage unit 1 from the home position (step S16).

The number of pulses from the home position when each head reaches the preliminary ejection area 6 is stored in the memory of the central controller 8 in advance, and is compared with the count pulse of the linear sensor 3 and the numerical value of the memory ( In step S17), when they are the same, the timing generation means generates the preliminary ejection timing signal. Each head is sequentially wiped during the acceleration movement, and the heads of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow (hereinafter abbreviated as K, C, M, and Y) are preliminarily reserved in the pre-ejection area 6 at the pre-ejection timing. The ejection operation is performed (step S18), after which the target movement speed is reached and the printing operation is performed (step S19).

Further, during the printing operation, it is appropriately checked whether or not the preliminary ejection operation after the wiping operation for stabilizing the ink ejection and the preliminary ejection operation for the ink head temperature alleviation operation are necessary. (Step S20), if necessary, the carriage unit 1 is returned to the home position (step S21), and then the process returns to step S14 to perform the same operation and perform preliminary ejection while moving from the home position toward the print area. Repeat the operation. In addition, in the check of step S20 during the printing operation,
If the preliminary ejection operation is not necessary, the printing operation is continued (step S22).

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of a printing section of a printing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is different only in that a carriage motor side wiping solenoid 10 for performing a wiping operation and a carriage motor side preliminary ejection area 11 are provided on the carriage motor side.
Since it is different from the embodiment shown in, and the other constituent effects are the same, the same reference numerals are given to the same constituent elements,
The description is omitted.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit section of the embodiment shown in FIG. The control circuit unit shown in FIG. 5 is different only in that the carriage motor side wiping solenoid 10 is provided in the control circuit unit shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

It should be noted that the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is configured such that the preliminary ejection operation is also performed on the carriage motor side in addition to the configuration and operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. In FIG. 6, steps S11 to S20, S2
The process of No. 3 is the same as the process shown in FIG.
The preliminary ejection operation on the carriage motor side shown in 23 to S27 is added. Therefore, only the part related to this additional processing will be described below.

In FIG. 6, after printing is started after performing the preliminary ejection operation on the home position side in steps S11 to S19, it is checked in step S20 whether the preliminary ejection operation is necessary during the printing operation. In this case, the process proceeds to step S23, where the preliminary ejection operation on the home position side (HP side) or the preliminary ejection operation on the carriage motor side (CM side) is performed for a short time. Whether or not to complete is determined based on the position of the carriage unit 1, that is, the state of the printing operation including the position of the ink head unit 21.

If it is determined that the preliminary ejection operation on the home position side is short, step S14 is performed.
3, the preliminary ejection operation is repeated in the same manner as described with reference to FIG. 3, but if it is determined that the preliminary ejection operation on the carriage motor side is short, the process proceeds to step S24 and the carriage motor side is executed. The wiping solenoid 10 is turned on, and then the ink head portion 21 is wiped in the order of K, C, M, and Y heads toward the reverse position on the carriage motor side while decelerating the carriage portion 1 (step S25).

After that, while further decelerating, performing reversal operation at the reversal position on the carriage motor side, K, C, M,
A preliminary ejection operation is performed simultaneously or individually for each Y head (step S26). Then, the print area is accelerated to start printing (step S27), and the processing from step S20 is repeated.

As described above, the preliminary ejection operation on the side of the carriage motor is not controlled by the timing pulse but utilizes the reversing operation performed during the printing operation. Further, the preliminary ejection timing may be any time before and after stopping at a fixed position as long as a sufficient preliminary ejection area is provided, and can be performed in a shorter time. That is, when the position of the carriage unit 1 is close to the home position side when the preliminary ejection operation is required during the printing operation, step S14-
If the preliminary ejection operation on the home position side is performed as shown in S19, or if the position of the carriage unit 1 is close to the carriage motor side when the preliminary ejection operation is necessary, as shown in steps S24 to S27, By performing the preliminary ejection operation on the motor side, the preliminary ejection operation can be performed in a short time.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are a plan view and a perspective view specifically showing the structure of a part of the carriage unit 1, respectively. As shown in both figures, the carriage portion 1 has a nozzle hole 12 which constitutes an ink head, and the nozzle hole 12 is wiped by a wiping solenoid 14.

Next, with reference to FIG. 9, an embodiment in which the moving speed of the carriage during preliminary ejection is changed according to the number (amount) of ink ejection will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a table relating to speed control of the carriage unit. First, immediately before the start of printing, there is a possibility that the printer has been on standby for a long period of time, so a certain number of ejections is required.
Further, during printing, there are unused nozzles depending on the image data, so it is necessary to stabilize the orifice surface of the nozzles. Furthermore, immediately after printing is complete,
In order to prepare for the next printing, it is necessary to clean the nozzle surface to some extent, for example, the same number of ejections as immediately before the start of printing. After replacing the ink head,
A large amount of preliminary ejection is required because the nozzle is completely unused.

Further, the number of ejections (amount) is changed according to each printing state and the moving speed of the carriage is changed according to the number of ejections.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
While the carriage portion is moved from the home position toward the print area, the ink head is caused to perform the preliminary discharge operation in the home position side preliminary discharge area in front of the print area, so that the preliminary discharge operation can be performed quickly. As a result, the printing operation can be speeded up.

According to the present invention, while moving the carriage portion from the home position toward the printing area,
A first preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform the preliminary ejection operation in the home position side preliminary ejection area in front of the printing area, and a second preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform the preliminary ejection operation in the carriage return side preliminary ejection area. Preliminary ejection operation means is provided, and which of the first and second preliminary ejection operation means should be operated is selectively determined according to the printing operation including the position of the ink head. It is possible to select the preliminary ejection operation that is capable of performing the preliminary ejection operation, the preliminary ejection operation can be performed quickly and efficiently, and the printing operation can be speeded up.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a printing unit of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit unit of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a printing unit of a printing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit unit of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a specific configuration of a part of a carriage unit.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a specific configuration of part of a carriage unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a table relating to speed control of a carriage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Carriage 2 Linear scale 3 Linear sensor 4 Home position sensor 5 Solenoid 6 Preliminary ejection area 7 Carriage motor 10 Carriage motor side wiping solenoid 11 Carriage motor side preliminary ejection area

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet type printing apparatus for performing printing by ejecting ink from the ink head onto a sheet provided in a print area while moving a carriage section having the ink head, Preliminary ejection operation for causing the ink head to perform the preliminary ejection operation in the home position side preliminary ejection area in front of the printing area while moving the carriage portion from the home position located on one side of the outside toward the printing area. And a printing device. 2. An ink jet type printing apparatus for printing by ejecting ink from the ink head onto a sheet provided in a print area while moving a carriage section having the ink head, A first ejecting operation for causing the ink head to perform a preliminary ejection operation in a preliminary ejection area on the home position side before the printing area, while moving the carriage portion from a home position located on one side of the outside toward the printing area. Preliminary ejection operation means, a second preliminary ejection operation means for causing the ink head to perform a preliminary ejection operation in a carriage ejection side preliminary ejection area located on the other side outside the printing area, Determination means for selectively deciding which of the two preliminary ejection operation means should be operated according to the printing operation including the position of the ink head; A printing device comprising: 3. An inkjet type printing apparatus for performing printing by ejecting ink from the ink head onto a sheet provided in a print area while moving a carriage portion having the ink head, A preliminary ejection area is provided outside, and a preliminary ejection operation unit that causes the ink head to perform a preliminary ejection operation while moving the carriage section; and a movement speed of the carriage section in the preliminary ejection area according to the ink ejection amount are set. A printing apparatus comprising: a speed control unit for controlling.