JPH08207314A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reasonably reduce consumption of time and consumption of ink by providing a recovery means for executing the recovery operation of a record head and a detection means for determining the kind of the record head or an ink tank. CONSTITUTION: Record medium P is stacked on a pressure plate 8 which is rotatably supported by a frame 4 in both of side sections. The pressure plate 8 is pressed toward a pick-up roller 9 by a pressing means and the record medium P stacked on the pressure plate 8 is pressed against the pick-up roller 9. When the pick-up roller 9 is rotated in accordance with a paper feed command, the record medium P is fed by virtue of a friction force between the pick-up roller 9 and record medium P. At that time, only one piece of the record media P on the top thereof is fed by the action of a separation means such as a separation claw used in a conventional automatic paper feed device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mounts a recording head and an ink tank on a carriage, and ejects ink from the recording head according to the movement of the carriage and an image signal to the recording head to print characters and image images on a recording medium. The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus that records such as (hereinafter collectively referred to as printing).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In various devices such as computers, word processors, facsimile machines, copying machines and printers,
As a means for recording on a recording medium such as paper, an inkjet recording apparatus is being widely used because it can perform high-speed recording without generating noise and can easily record a color image.

An ink jet recording apparatus has a structure in which ink is ejected from a recording head facing a recording medium by utilizing heat energy or the like, and the ink jet recording apparatus is housed in a separate device case and is constructed as a single unit. , And various electronic devices for creating and outputting recorded information, such as a word processor, a personal computer, etc., or a device such as a facsimile machine for inputting recorded information from the outside.

An ink jet recording apparatus for color recording uses a recording head connected to an ink tank or a recording head formed integrally with the ink tank. Inkjet recording apparatuses having a recovery device that abuts the recording head to suck ink to recover the function of the recording head and maintain the printing quality are in widespread use.

Conventionally, in an ink jet recording apparatus,
Depending on the output content, use the recording head and ink tank separately, such as when using color printing heads for four colors to print images, etc., and using monochrome recording heads to print monochrome text, etc. It is carried out.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 3, the present condition is that the recovery operation is automatically performed when the print head is replaced, regardless of the type of print head.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the recovery operation is always performed automatically when the color recording head is replaced with the monochrome recording head or when the monochrome recording head is replaced with the color recording head. When the number of times the recording head is switched is increased, a recovery operation is performed every time the recording head is replaced,
The useless ink is sucked, and the ink consumption increases. In particular, since portability is important in a portable recording apparatus, not only the size of the inkjet recording apparatus but also the recording head and the ink tank itself are required to be downsized. It is necessary to recover the ink efficiently.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides an ink jet recording apparatus capable of rationally reducing time consumption and ink consumption due to a recovery operation when a recording head is replaced. The purpose is.

[0009]

Therefore, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, a plurality of types of recording heads for ejecting ink for recording and ink for supplying to the recording heads are respectively stored. A plurality of different types of ink tanks that can be exchangeably mounted for each type, a movable carriage, a recovery unit for performing a recovery operation of the recording head, and a detection for determining the type of the recording head or the ink tank. Means and the replacement of the recording head or the ink tank, when the detection means detects replacement of the recording head or the ink tank of the same type, the recovery operation is performed by the recovery means, and the detection means causes different types. When the replacement of the recording head or the ink tank is detected, the recovery operation is not performed by the recovery means. And Gosuru control unit, the configuration characterized by having a is intended to achieve the above object.

The recording head or the ink tank includes a monochrome recording type and a color recording type, and the recording head and the ink tank are separably integrated with each other. And a cap for covering the ink ejection port of the recording head, and the recovery unit when the cap covers the ejection port. A suction pump for sucking from the discharge port as an operation is included, and the recording head is provided with an energy generating unit that generates energy used for discharging ink. The energy generating means generates thermal energy as the energy. With the configuration, characterized in that that is an electric heat converter, it is intended to achieve the object.

[0011]

With the above arrangement, by providing the detection means for discriminating the type of the print head, the control means determines whether or not the recovery operation is necessary when the print head is replaced, and reduces the ink consumption amount lost by the replacement of the print head. Can be made.

[0012]

EXAMPLES An ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described by way of examples.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a recording means for ejecting ink from a recording head mounted on a carriage, which has a structure according to the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, to record, and a function recovery of the recording head. The recovery means and the control means for controlling the operation of the apparatus are provided. As a characteristic configuration of the embodiment, a detection unit for determining the type of the recording head or the ink tank is provided, and the control unit is mounted by replacing the recording head or the ink tank with the same type or different types after being removed from the carriage. It has a function of reliably judging whether there is any and controlling the recovery means.

The above-mentioned detection means may be a detection method by contact with the outer shape portion which differs depending on the type of the recording head or the ink tank, a detection method by non-contact or the like.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a carriage 2 is one on which a recording head cartridge 1 is detachably mounted, and a guide shaft 5 and a guide rail 12 whose both ends are fixed to a frame 4 and which are arranged in parallel with each other.
Is orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P, and the recording medium P
Is supported slidably in the direction parallel to the plane. Further, the carriage 2 is one of the carriage drive belts 11 wound around a drive pulley 13 fixed to the output shaft of the carriage drive motor 10 and a driven pulley (not shown) rotatably supported. The carriage drive belt 11 is connected to the portion and the carriage drive belt 11 is rotated by driving the carriage drive motor 10 so that the carriage 2 reciprocates in the above direction.

The recording head cartridge 1 is an ink tank holder having a nozzle portion as a recording head for ejecting ink on the basis of a recording signal which is an electric signal for ejecting ink, and a mono color holder. An ink tank 30 containing ink is detachably held. The nozzle portion is provided at the bottom portion (lower end portion in the drawing) of the recording head cartridge 1, and ink is ejected downward in the drawing. The recording signal to the nozzle section is transmitted via the flexible cable 3 provided on the carriage 2,
It is transmitted from a control board (not shown) that controls the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus. Flexible cable 3
Are arranged along the moving direction of the carriage 2 and form a loop as the carriage 2 moves. The recording head cartridge 1 and the carriage 2 will be described in detail later.

On the other hand, both ends of the recording medium P are frame 4
The pressure plate 8 is rotatably supported on the pressure plate 8. Pressure plate 8
Is urged toward the pickup roller 9 by urging means (not shown), and the recording medium P loaded on the pressure plate 8 is pressed against the pickup roller 9. When the pickup roller 9 is rotated by the paper feed command,
The recording medium P is sent out by the frictional force between the pickup roller 9 and the recording medium P, but the pressure plate 8 has a separating means (not shown) such as a separating claw used in a conventional automatic paper feeder. Due to the action of the separating means, only one recording medium P at the uppermost position is sent out.

The recording medium P sent out by the pickup roller 9 is conveyed below the carriage 2 while being nipped by the conveying roller 6 whose both ends are supported by the frame 4 and the pinch roller 7 provided on the base 14. . Recording is performed on the recording medium P at this position. Further, a paper discharge roller 15 and a spur 16 are arranged to face each other on the downstream side of the carriage 2 with respect to the transport direction of the recording medium P, and the recording medium P that has passed below the carriage 2 is connected to these paper discharge rollers 15. It is clamped by the spur 16 and discharged. The drive of the pickup roller 9, the transport roller 6, and the paper discharge roller 15 described above is performed by using a paper feed motor (not shown) as a drive source.

In the following description, the upstream side with respect to the transport direction of the recording medium P is called the back side, its surface is called the back surface, the downstream side is called the front side, and its surface is called the front surface.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 housed in a housing. As shown in FIG. 2, the lower case 18 and the upper case 17 constitute an exterior, and the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is housed inside the exterior.

At the back side of the upper case 17, the upper case 17 is provided.
A top cover 19 that covers is provided so as to be openable and closable.
The upper case 17 has an opening at a portion corresponding to the pressure plate 8, and by opening the top cover 19, the top cover 19 is opened.
Serves as a tray for setting the recording medium P on the pressure plate 8. Further, the upper case 17 has an opening from the center to the front surface, and the recording head cartridge 1 or the ink tank 30 can be attached and detached from this opening. Therefore, when the recording head cartridge 1 or the ink tank 30 is replaced, the carriage 2 is moved to the center of its moving range by a predetermined operation. On the front side of the opening for replacement of the recording head cartridge 1 or the ink tank 30, a head cover 20 that covers a part of the upper surface and the front surface of the opening is provided so as to be openable and closable. When the tank 30 is not replaced, the head cover 20 is closed to protect the recording head cartridge 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the recording head cartridge 1 of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a nozzle portion 50 of the recording head cartridge 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential part of FIG.

The recording head cartridge 1 is a mono-color cartridge, and is composed of a nozzle portion 50 for ejecting ink and a mono-color holder 60 in the shape of a box having an opening on the upper surface. An ink tank 30 containing a mono-color ink is detachably mounted inside the mono-color holder 60.

As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 4, the nozzle portion 50 has a base plate 5 made of a metal plate such as aluminum.
1 is fixed to a grooved member 52 having a plurality of liquid passages 50d and grooves forming the common liquid chamber 50c.
A plurality of ejection openings 50b, which are opening ends of the respective liquid paths 50d, are formed on the ejection opening surface 50a facing the recording medium P (see FIG. 1). The liquid passages 50d are formed at a predetermined pitch, and the base plate 5 corresponds to the respective liquid passages 50d.
An electrothermal converter (e.g., a heating resistor) 50e for generating energy for ejecting ink is disposed on the unit 1. The common liquid chamber 50c communicates with the ink tank 30, and ink is supplied from the ink tank 30 to the common liquid chamber 50c. Each electrothermal converter 50e
Are electrically connected to the head terminal portion by showing respective wirings (not shown).

The head terminal portion is an electric substrate such as glass epoxy fixed to the base plate 51, and the wiring connected to each electrothermal converter 50e is connected to the head terminal portion by wire bonding. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the base plate 51 is attached at an angle of 1 to 4 ° with respect to the transport direction of the recording medium P. Therefore, the rows of the ejection openings 50b are also aligned with the transport direction of the recording medium P. Inclined by 1 to 4 degrees.

The ink supplied from the ink tank 30 to the common liquid chamber 50c and temporarily stored therein enters the liquid passage 50d by a capillary phenomenon, forms a meniscus at the ejection port 50b, and fills the liquid passage 50d. Keep At this time, the electrothermal converter 5 is based on the recording signal transmitted to the head terminal portion.
When 0e is energized to generate heat, the ink on the electrothermal converter 50e is rapidly heated to cause film boiling to generate bubbles in the liquid path 50d, and the expansion of the bubbles causes the ink to be ejected from the ejection port 50b. . Here, the electrothermal converter 50e is shown as the energy generating element for generating energy, but the invention is not limited to this, and a piezoelectric element for generating mechanical energy that instantaneously applies the discharge pressure may be used.

Next, the attachment / detachment operation of the ink tank 30 to / from the mono-color holder 60 will be described.

The ink tank 30 is replaced with a monocolor holder 60.
When it is mounted on, the sealing material that seals the ink supply port 32b is first peeled off. Then, as shown in FIG.
The ink tank 30 is obliquely inserted in the direction of the arrow from the side on which the retaining claws 32d are formed, and the stepped portion 31a of the ink tank 30 is extended to the protrusions 60 of the mono-color holder 60.
Ink tank 30
The retaining claw 32d is hooked in the tank retaining hole of the mono-color holder 60 to roughly position the ink tank 30. Replace the ink tank 30 with the mono color holder 6
Since the inclined surface 32g is formed on the ink tank 30 when the ink tank 30 is inserted into the ink tank 0, if the inclined surface 32g is used as a guide so as to be substantially parallel to the bottom wall of the mono color holder 60, the ink It is easy to make the stepped portion 31a of the tank 30 slip into the lower side of each overhanging portion 60f of the mono-color holder 60. In addition, the mono color holder 6
0 and the ink tank 30 have inclined surfaces 6 corresponding to each other.
Since 0k and 32g are formed, different color ink tanks cannot be attached to the mono color holder 60,
Incorrect installation of ink tank is prevented.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a color recording head cartridge mounted in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 together with two ink tanks mounted therein. This color recording head cartridge 101
Is a black ink tank 1 containing black ink
30 and a color ink tank 140 containing three color inks of yellow, magenta, and cyan are detachable, and eject four color inks. Therefore, the nozzle unit 150 also has a black ejection port group 150B, a yellow ejection port group 150Y, a magenta ejection port group 150M, and a cyan ejection port group 150C corresponding to each color ink. Be divided. Further, in order to define the areas where the ink tanks 130 and 140 are mounted, the partition plate 16 is provided on the bottom wall of the color holder 160.
5 are integrally provided.

The base plate 151 and the head terminal portion 153 are the same as those of the mono-color recording head cartridge 1. As for the color holder 160,
Although it is different from the mono-color holder in detail, the outer shape is almost the same. In particular, the shape of the portion related to the carriage 2 and the position of the head attachment / detachment operating portion 160c, which is a hook for a finger when the color recording head cartridge 101 is detached from the carriage 2, are the same, and the recording head cartridge 1 for mono-color is the same. The color recording head cartridge 101 can be attached to and detached from the same carriage 2 as the carriage 2 on which is mounted. That is, the user can freely select and use the mono-color recording head cartridge 1 and the color recording head cartridge 101 in one ink jet recording apparatus.

The characteristic control operation of this embodiment will be described below.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a recovery sequence at the time of replacing a characteristic head of the first embodiment. The characteristic operation will be described with reference to FIG.

When a head replacement key (not shown) is pressed, the type (ID) of the recording head currently installed in the recording apparatus.
The carriage (CR) moves to the recording head replacement position based on the replacement command. For example, suppose that the ink currently used is empty and printing is in progress. In this case, only the ink tank is replaced and the recording head is not replaced. However, since bubbles are generated in the ink flow path in the print head, when only the ink tank is replaced, the recovery operation corresponding to the type of print head is performed by following the path indicated by.

Next, it is assumed that the recording head is replaced.
In particular, with the colorization of personal computers, the running cost can be significantly reduced by properly using the monochrome printing of a report or the like and the color printing of a presentation or a New Year's card. Therefore, for example, if a printhead having a color IDA is replaced with a printhead having a monochrome IDB, the IDA and the IDB are not the same in the step.
The carriage (CR) returns to the home position (HP) following the path, and monochrome printing is possible. Here, the monochrome recording head is a used recording head and printing is possible without performing the recovery operation. Similarly, when the monochrome recording head is replaced with the color recording head, the recovery operation is not performed.

Therefore, it is not necessary to perform the recovery operation every time the print head is replaced, and the consumption of the ink tank can be reduced. Further, not only the capacity of the ink tank can be reduced, but also the amount of waste ink accommodated in the recording device can be reduced by the recovery operation, so that the recording device itself can be downsized and the portability is further enhanced. Since there is no recovery operation, printing can be performed immediately after replacement.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation control when the recording head is replaced, which is a characteristic of the second embodiment. This is an embodiment corresponding to the demand for an ink jet recording apparatus satisfying both the portability and desktop characteristics. When importance is attached to portability, a recording head having a small tank is used to recover as in the first embodiment. The action is taken.

However, when recording hundreds of sheets or consuming a large amount of ink per sheet, it is convenient to have a recording head having a larger ink capacity than the recording heads described above. When 1D of this recording head is C, the recovery operation is not performed in the case of a different type of recording head, and therefore ink need not be consumed by replacing the recording head. Here, it is assumed that the recording head to be replaced is a recording head in a printable state.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2, it is judged in step IDA = IDC, and when C is a large capacity head and the type is different from the A head, the process proceeds to the path 5 and the recovery operation is not executed. The purpose of the second embodiment can be achieved.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By providing a detection unit that determines the type of print head and determining whether or not a recovery operation is required when the print head is replaced, the ink tank attached to the print head can be efficiently recovered, and ink consumption by the recovery operation can be reduced. it can.

Since the number of recovery operations can be reduced,
The space for storing the waste ink sucked by the recovery can be reduced, and the recording apparatus can be downsized.
Further, since printing can be performed immediately after replacement, recovery time can be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment housed in a housing.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the recording head cartridge according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of the recording head cartridge according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of mounting an ink tank according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of mounting an ink tank according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a conventional example.

[Explanation of Codes] Control Path to Recovery Operation Corresponding to Recording Head Type Step for Identifying Color Recording Head or Monochrome Recording Head Control Path for No Recovery Operation Step for Identifying Large Capacity Recording Head or Small Capacity Recording Head Control path that does not perform recovery operation of different recording heads

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical display location B41J 2/175 2/165 B41J 3/04 102 Z 102 N (72) Inventor Soichi Hiramatsu Ota, Tokyo 3-30-2 Shimomaruko-ku Canon Inc. (72) Hideki Yamaguchi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Takashi Nojima 3-chome Shimomaruko Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 30-2 Canon Inc. (72) Akira Kida 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Hideaki Kawakami 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of types of recording heads that eject ink to perform recording, and a plurality of types of ink tanks that respectively store ink to be supplied to the recording heads are mounted so that they can be exchanged for each type. A movable carriage, a recovery means for performing a recovery operation of the recording head, a detection means for discriminating the type of the recording head or the ink tank, the detection when the recording head or the ink tank is replaced. When the replacement of the recording head or the ink tank of the same type is detected by the means, the recovery operation is performed by the recovery means, and when the replacement of the recording head or the ink tank of a different type is detected by the detection means, the recovery operation is performed. Ink jet recording, comprising: a control unit that controls the recovery unit not to perform the recovery operation. Location. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head or the ink tank includes monochrome recording and color recording. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head and the ink tank are detachably integrated and mounted on the carriage. 4. The recovery means is for capping the ink ejection port of the recording head, and when the cap covers the ejection port, as the recovery operation, suction from the ejection port is performed. 3. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is provided with an energy generating unit that generates energy used for ejecting ink. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the energy generating means is an electrothermal converter that generates heat energy as the energy.