JPH08217287A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image recording device capable of removing an ink transfer trace. CONSTITUTION: An image recording device is provided with a recording head 1 as a recording means for recording an image onto a paper sheet 3 as a sheet material to be conveyed, a discharging roller 7 as a conveying roller for conveying the paper sheet 3 downstream from the recording head 1 is provided, and an air injection device 8 as an air injection means for injecting air to the discharging roller 7 side is provided in the position facing the discharging roller 7 across the conveying passage.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus using, for example, an ink jet or the like, and more particularly to conveying and discharging sheet material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a paper ejection mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus as an image recording apparatus, a paper ejection roller having a driving force provided on the downstream side of a printing section and a paper ejection roller which is in pressure contact with the paper ejection roller. In general, a mechanism in which a plurality of spurs that rotate in accordance with the above sandwich a sheet of paper as a sheet material and feed it by friction.

However, in recent years, when the recording speed has been improved and the image density has been increased, the unfixed area of ink is expanded,
In the conventional spur mechanism, ink transfer marks called spur marks have become prominent.

For this reason, the spur is formed of a water-repellent material, and the circumferential portion in contact with the paper is thinned to reduce the amount of unfixed ink adhered and transferred as much as possible (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-293136). A roller-shaped cleaner having water absorbability is pressed against the spur and interlocked therewith to remove ink adhering to the spur and prevent ink transfer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-142).
No. 247) is used.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the ink transfer mark could not be completely removed.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus capable of removing ink transfer marks.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in an image recording apparatus having recording means for recording an image on a conveyed sheet material, a sheet is provided downstream of the recording means. Providing a transport roller to transport the material,
An air ejection unit for ejecting air is provided on the side of the conveyance roller at a position facing the conveyance roller across the conveyance path.

It is preferable that the air jetting means has a temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature of the jetted air.

It is preferable that the air ejection means can adjust the air ejection direction.

The air jetting means can switch the jetting direction of air to the downstream side in the transport direction when the leading edge of the sheet material enters the transport roller, and to the upstream side in the transport direction when the trailing edge of the sheet material is discharged from the transport roller. Good to have.

It is preferable that the air ejection amount of the air ejection means can be adjusted.

Support means for supporting the conveyed sheet material is provided, and when the sheet material is supported by this support means, the air ejection amount of the air ejection means is reduced and the sheet material is released from the support means. It is advisable to increase the amount of air blown out at times.

The transport roller may be a discharge roller.

The recording means may perform ink jet recording.

[0015]

In the image recording apparatus constructed as described above, the conveying roller for conveying the sheet material is provided on the downstream side of the recording means, and the conveying roller side is provided with the air on the conveying roller side so as to face the conveying roller. Since the air ejecting means for ejecting the sheet is provided, the sheet material on which the image is recorded is pressed against the conveying roller side and conveyed.

The air ejecting means has a temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature of the ejected air, whereby the temperature of the air ejected to the image recording surface side of the sheet material is adjusted.

The air ejecting means is capable of adjusting the air ejecting direction, so that the air ejecting direction is adjusted according to the conveying state of the sheet material.

The air jetting means can switch the jetting direction of air to the downstream side in the transport direction when the leading edge of the sheet material enters the transport roller, and to the upstream side in the transport direction when the trailing edge of the sheet material is discharged from the transport roller. Therefore, air does not enter between the conveying roller and the sheet material from the end portion of the sheet material.

Since the amount of air jetted by the air jetting means can be adjusted, the amount of air jetted can be adjusted according to the state of conveyance of the sheet material.

Support means for supporting the conveyed sheet material is provided. When the sheet material is supported by this support means, the air ejection amount of the air ejection means is small, and when the sheet material is released from the support means. By increasing the air ejection amount, the sheet material to be conveyed is supported even after being released from the supporting means.

Since the carrying roller is the discharging roller, the sheet material is discharged from the carrying roller.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a recording apparatus that best represents the features of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a recording head (recording means) 1
Is supported by the guide shaft 2 and is slidable in the axial direction and driven by a motor (not shown) via a timing belt (not shown).

A sheet 3 as a sheet material is fed between an LF roller (supporting means) 4 and pinch rollers (supporting means) 5a to 5c by a sheet feeding device (not shown), and then LF of the pinch rollers 5a to 5c. It is sent between the platen 6 and the recording head 1 by the frictional force due to the pressure contact with the roller 4.

The recording head 1 prints by ejecting ink and moving the recording head on the paper 3 fed to the platen 6, and the paper is fed every line printing.

The printed sheet 3 is sent to the upper surface of a discharge roller (conveying roller) 7.

An air ejecting device (air ejecting means) 8 having an ejection port parallel to the ejection roller 7 is provided on the opposite side of the ejection roller 7 across the sheet 3 conveyance path.

The jet port 9 is perpendicular to the paper feeding direction at a distance of several millimeters to ten and several millimeters from the discharge roller 7, is substantially parallel to the surface of the paper 3, and has an elongated slit shape. In this embodiment, the ejection port 9 is composed of one slit having the width of the paper 3, but it may of course be divided into a plurality of slits.

A fan 10 for taking in air is connected to the air ejection device 8, and air is supplied by this fan 10. Although only one fan 10 is installed in this embodiment, a plurality of fans 10 may be provided. When a plurality of sheets are provided, the fan to be driven can be switched according to the size of the sheet 3. Further, even if there is only one fan, the blowing position may be switched according to the size of the paper 3.

Further, the air jetting device 8 has a rotating shaft 1
1a and 11b are provided, and the direction of the ejection port 9 can be arbitrarily changed to the paper feeding upstream direction or the downstream direction by driving the motor 12. In this embodiment, the motor 12 is used for driving, but the motor 12 is not limited to this, and may be driven manually.

In this embodiment, the shafts 11a, 1a
Although the air blowing direction is changed by rotating the air jetting device 8 around 1b, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a plurality of jet outlets may be provided to block other than the jet outlet to be used, and blown by the jet outlet. You can also change the direction.

The printing / paper feeding operation will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2. The paper 3 is fed from the paper feeding device (S1) and is fed onto the platen 6 (S).
2) The motor 12 is driven, the ejection port 9 is directed to the downstream side of the paper feed (S3), and the fan 10 is driven to start air ejection (S4).

Printing is started and the paper is fed for each line printing. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3A, the ejected air flows to the downstream side of the paper conveyance, so that the leading edge of the paper 3 is not lifted up and the paper 3 and the recording head 1 do not come into contact with each other.

In normal printing, the ejection port 9 faces perpendicularly to the paper surface (S6, S7), and the paper 3 is efficiently pressed against the discharge roller 7.

When the printing of one page is completed (S9), the ejection port 9 is directed to the upstream side of the conveyance of the sheet 3 (S10). After that, the sheet 3 is conveyed and discharged, but the air jetted as shown in FIG. 3B flows to the upstream side of the sheet 3 conveyance, so that the air is discharged between the discharge roller 7 and the rear end of the sheet 3. Since the sheet 3 is pressed against the discharge roller 7 without being blown, the sheet is normally discharged.

When air is blown between the discharge roller 7 and the paper 3, the paper 3 floats up and cannot be sent by the discharge roller 7, and the trailing edge of the paper 3 remains or is blown away. In this embodiment, The paper 3 is ejected normally.

The adjustment of the air ejection amount will be described below.

When the sheet 3 is sandwiched and supported by the LF roller 4 and the pinch rollers 5a to 5c as the supporting means, a sufficient conveying force can be obtained. The amount may be relatively small.

However, when the trailing edge of the sheet 3 comes out of the LF roller 4 and the pinch rollers 5a to 5c, the sheet is strongly supported by the sheet discharging roller 7, so that the sheet 3 is strongly pressed against the sheet discharging roller 7. Therefore, it is controlled to increase the air ejection amount.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a heater (temperature adjusting means) 13 is provided inside the air ejection device 8.

As a result, the amount of heat corresponding to the printing speed and the printing density can be added to the jetting air, which has the effect of accelerating the fixing of the ink.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A conveying roller for conveying the sheet material is provided on the downstream side of the recording unit, and an air ejecting unit for ejecting air is provided at a position facing the conveying roller across the conveying path, so that an image is recorded. The sheet material is pressed against the conveyance roller side, stable conveyance force can be obtained without providing a roller pair as in the past, and no ink transfer marks are attached to the sheet material, which is extremely high in recording density. Be effective.

Since the air ejecting means has a temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature of the ejected air, the temperature of the air ejected to the image recording surface side of the sheet material can be adjusted, and the fixing of the recorded image is promoted. it can.

Since the air ejection means can adjust the air ejection direction, the air ejection direction can be adjusted according to the state of conveyance of the sheet material.

The air jetting means is capable of switching the jetting direction of air to the downstream side in the transport direction when the leading edge of the sheet material enters the transport roller, and to the upstream side in the transport direction when the trailing edge of the sheet material is discharged from the transport roller. Thus, air does not enter between the conveying roller and the sheet material from the end portion of the sheet material, and the sheet material can be stably conveyed without floating the sheet material.

Since the air ejection amount of the air ejection means can be adjusted, the air ejection amount can be adjusted according to the conveyance state of the sheet material.

Support means for supporting the conveyed sheet material is provided. When the sheet material is supported by this support means, the air ejection amount of the air ejection means is small, and when the sheet material is released from the support means. By increasing the amount of air jetted, a sufficient conveying force is applied to the sheet material by the conveying roller even after the conveyed sheet material is released from the supporting means, and stable conveyance is always possible.

Since the carrying roller is the discharging roller, the sheet material is discharged from the carrying roller, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the apparatus can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are schematic views showing the operation of an air ejecting device 8 applied to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a second diagram of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram showing an example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 recording head (recording means) 3 paper (sheet material) 4 LF roller (supporting means) 5a, 5b, 5c pinch roller (supporting means) 7 paper discharge roller (conveying roller) 8 air ejection device (air ejection means) 9 ejection Outlet 10 Fans 11a, 11b Shaft 12 Motor 13 Heater (temperature adjusting means)

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image recording apparatus having recording means for recording an image on a conveyed sheet material, wherein a conveying roller for conveying the sheet material is provided on the downstream side of the recording means, and the conveying roller and the conveying path are sandwiched therebetween. 2. An image recording apparatus, characterized in that air ejecting means for ejecting air is provided on the conveying roller side at positions opposed to each other. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air ejecting unit has a temperature adjusting unit that adjusts the temperature of ejected air. 3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air jetting means is capable of adjusting the jetting direction of air. 4. The air jetting means switches the jetting direction of air to the downstream side in the transport direction when the leading edge of the sheet material enters the transport roller, and to the upstream side in the transport direction when the trailing edge of the sheet material is discharged from the transport roller. The image recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image recording apparatus is capable. 5. The air jetting amount of the air jetting means is adjustable.
The image recording device according to item. 6. A support means for supporting the conveyed sheet material is provided, and when the sheet material is supported by the support means, the air ejection amount of the air ejection means is reduced and the sheet material is released from the support means. The image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the amount of air jetted is increased when the image is ejected. 7. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport roller is a discharge roller. 8. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit performs inkjet recording.