JPH0825280B2 - Inkjet device operating method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method of operating an inkjet device.

[Prior art]

An ink jet recording apparatus supplies ink into a recording head (ink jet head) and drives a plurality of ink ejection openings formed on the front surface of the recording head based on image data, thereby ejecting ink flying toward a recording medium. It forms and records drops.

Further, a serial type recording device, in which a recording head is mounted on a carriage that moves along a recording medium and recording is performed by synchronizing the drive of an ink ejection port and the drive of a carriage (main scanning), is widely used. The invention is directed to this serial recording apparatus. In the inkjet recording apparatus, the ink ejection port may be clogged due to ink thickening due to evaporation of the ink solvent, dust adhesion, or air bubble mixing. As a mechanism for preventing this, a capping mechanism that covers the ink ejection port with a cap. In addition, an ink recovery mechanism that sucks ink through the cap is used.

The capping and ink recovery mechanism is generally provided at the carriage home position outside the recording width.

By the way, when the ink jet recording apparatus is transported or the like, it is required to hold the carriage at a fixed position and prevent ink from leaking. For that purpose, the carriage lock mechanism and the capping mechanism are used.

Further, in order to prevent receding of the meniscus of the ink ejection port during the capping operation (at the time of the auto cap), ventilation means for communicating the inside of the cap with the atmosphere is provided.

However, the conventional carriage lock mechanism employs a mechanism that locks the carriage with the operation lever after confirming that it is in the carriage home position, or with the operation lever moved when the power is turned off to lock the carriage. Therefore, there is a possibility of forgetting to seal the ventilating means or forgetting the capping and only carrying out the carriage lock, and then transporting as it is, which causes a problem of ink leakage.

〔Purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for operating an ink jet device which can solve the problems of the prior art and can automatically and surely perform the operation of the carriage lock and the ink discharge port sealing during transportation.

〔Overview〕

According to the present invention, when the power of the apparatus is turned off, the carriage for mounting the inkjet head moves the inkjet head to a position where the ink ejection port of the inkjet head and the cap for covering the ink ejection port face each other. And the step of covering the ink discharge port with the cap, the lock of the carriage by moving the movable member for locking the carriage and blocking the communication between the inside of the cap and the atmosphere. The above object is achieved by a method of operating an inkjet device, which comprises a step of blocking communication between the inside and the atmosphere.

〔Example〕

 The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, guide shafts 3, 3 are arranged in front of a recording medium 2 such as a paper or a plastic sheet backed up on a platen 1, and recording is performed on a carriage 4 which reciprocates in the direction of arrow A along the guide shaft. A head 5 is mounted.

On the front surface of the recording head 5, a plurality (for example, 24 columns in a row)
Individual ink ejection openings are formed, and flying ink droplets are formed by driving each ink ejection opening based on the image data, and these are attached to the recording medium 2 to form a dot pattern for recording. Done.

At the home position HP of the carriage 4, a recovery device 6 for capping the ink ejection port and performing an ink recovery operation is provided.

The recovery device 6 includes a cap 7 that is moved forward and backward with respect to the recording head 5 in the direction of the arrow B to cover (cap) the ink ejection port, and a suction tube 9 inside the cap 7.
And a negative pressure suction means (suction pump) 8 connected via.

An ink sub-tank 10 is mounted on the carriage 4, and ink is supplied to the recording head 5 via the sift tank.

 FIG. 2 shows a cross section taken along the line II-II in FIG.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the recovery device 6 also serves as a capping mechanism and an ink recovery mechanism. When the cap 7 is closed, the suction pump 8 sucks negative pressure inside the cap to suck ink from the ink discharge port. The recovery operation is performed.

A ventilation tube 11 is connected to the inside of the cap 7, and a ventilation means 12 composed of an on-off valve is provided at the tip of the tube.
Are formed. The ventilating means 12 is for preventing the meniscus of the ink ejection port from retreating and air or the like from entering when the ink ejection port is capped (auto cap).

On the other hand, a lever-shaped movable member 14 that pivots around a fulcrum 13 is pivotally supported near the home position HP of the carriage 4, and the solenoid 15 is turned on / off to swing the movable member 14. It's getting better.

A lock claw portion 17 capable of engaging with the recess 16 of the carriage 4 is formed at the tip of the movable member 14, and a fulcrum of the movable member 14 is formed.
A pad portion 18 that is in contact with the ventilation means 12 and can block the ventilation is provided at the end portion on the opposite side with the 13 in between. The ventilating means 12 can be composed of, for example, a pressure-driven ventilating valve.

The movable member 14 is biased by the return spring 19 in the direction of the carriage lock indicated by the chain double-dashed line.

Generally, when the printing (recording) operation is interrupted and the power of the apparatus is turned off, the carriage 4 is automatically returned to the home position HP and the cap 7 is moved forward to cover the ink ejection port.

However, in the ink jet recording apparatus, when the power is on, the solenoid 15 is turned on and the movable member 14 is driven counterclockwise about the fulcrum 13 against the spring 19 as shown in the drawing. ), The carriage 4 is held in an unlocked state (drivable at any time), the ventilation means 12 is released, and the inside of the cap 7 is in communication with the atmosphere.

FIG. 2 shows a print standby state, in which the recording operation is started by moving the carriage 4 to the printing area by moving the cap 7 away from the recording head 5.

Next, when the power is off and the recording head 5 is covered by the cap 7 at the home position HP of the carriage 4, the solenoid 15 is turned off, and the urging force of the spring 19 causes the movable member 14 to center around the fulcrum 13. Rotate clockwise to
The claw portion 17 engages with the concave portion 16 of the carriage 4 to lock (lock) the carriage, and the pad portion 18 at the other end operates to close the ventilation means 12 reaching the inside of the cap.

In this way, when the inkjet recording apparatus is transported (when the power is off), the ink ejection ports are automatically capped, and the carriage 4 is locked (fixed) at a fixed position (home position in the illustrated example) and capping ventilation means. Since the 12 seals are automatically and simultaneously performed, the movement of the carriage 4 during transport or the capping disengagement due to the movement is surely prevented, and the ventilation means for capping is provided.
Since 13 is also sealed at the same time, it is possible to reliably prevent ink leakage.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the above inkjet recording apparatus.

In FIG. 3, the CPU (control circuit) 21 of the recording device is
Carriage motor 23 via driver (drive circuit) 22,
Sheet transport motor 24, suction motor 8 for driving suction pump 8
5, the cap 7 driving motor 26 and the recording head 5 are connected to be controlled and driven.

The CPU 21 is further connected via a driver 22 to drive the solenoid 15 for locking the carriage 4.

Note that the CPU21 has a ROM and RAM installed side by side, the control program is stored in the ROM, and image data etc. is temporarily stored in RAM.
Is stored.

Also, the power switch 27 is attached to the CPU 21 and the driver 22.
Power is supplied from the power supply 28 via the.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the operation of the carriage lock mechanism of FIG.

In FIG. 4, the graph (A) shows ON / OFF of the power supply 27,
The graph (B) shows the opening (on) / closing (off) of the ventilation means 12, and the graph (C) shows the timing of the ink recovery operation, that is, the driving (on) of the suction pump 8.

According to the embodiment described above, when the power supply 27 is off,
Lever-shaped movable portion 14 when the recording head 5 is in the capping state.
By driving the carriage 4 lock and ventilation means
Since 12 is closed at the same time, it is possible to prevent accidental operation or forgetting necessary operations such as locking the carriage 4, capping the recording head 5, or closing the ventilation means 12 for capping during transportation, thereby preventing ink leakage or It has become possible to reliably prevent unexpected movement of the carriage 4.

In the illustrated embodiment, the lock position of the carriage 4 is made to coincide with the home position HP, but this can be selected at another position if necessary.

〔effect〕

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the power of the apparatus is turned off, the ink ejection port of the inkjet head and the cap for covering the ink ejection port by the carriage for mounting the ink jet head are provided. Moving the ink jet head to a position facing each other, covering the ink discharge port with the cap, and moving a movable member for locking the carriage and blocking communication between the inside of the cap and the atmosphere. The method of operating an inkjet device is characterized by: locking the carriage and blocking communication between the inside of the cap and the atmosphere. Provided is a method for operating an inkjet device, which can reliably perform the above operation. That.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is recording of FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the control system of the apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the operation of the carriage lock mechanism of FIG. 4 ... Carriage, 5 ... Recording head, 7 ... Cap,
12 ... Ventilation means, 14 ... Movable member, 15 ... Solenoid,
21 …… CPU, 22 …… Tribar, 27 …… Power switch.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hideki Yamaguchi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shigeru Rokubo 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Koichi Ikeda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When the power of the apparatus is turned off, the carriage for mounting the ink jet head moves the ink jet head to a position where an ink ejection port of the ink jet head and a cap for covering the ink ejection port face each other. A step of moving, a step of covering the ink ejection port with the cap, a step of moving the movable member for locking the carriage and blocking communication between the inside of the cap and the atmosphere, and locking the carriage. And a step of interrupting communication between the inside of the cap and the atmosphere.