JPH0958000A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a low-cost ink jet printer capable of detecting the amount of ink remaining in the ink tank. SOLUTION: This ink-jet printer is provided with a position detection counter 14 which measures the stop poison of a carriage 8, a CPU 5 which judges the status of remaining ink 10 on the basis of data from the position detection counter 14, and an alarming indication 6 which notifies that the remainder of the ink 10 is low.

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 used as an output device of computer equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for detecting the remaining amount of ink in an ink jet printer, a visual method, a method using a sensor, a method using a detection circuit based on current or voltage,
There is a method of estimating the ink consumption amount by counting the number of times of ink ejection.

A method of detecting the remaining amount of ink using a conventional detection circuit will be described below.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a remaining ink amount detecting means of a conventional ink jet printer. In FIG. 4, 1 is an ink tank, 2 is conductive ink, 3 is an ink remaining amount detecting electrode, 4 is an ink remaining amount detecting circuit, 5 is a CPU, 6 is a warning display (LED or the like), and 7 is the remaining amount detection It is a signal.

The operation of the ink remaining amount detecting means of the ink jet printer configured as described above will be described below.

In FIG. 4, when the remaining amount level of the conductive ink 2 is at the position A, the ink remaining amount detecting electrode 3 is in a state of being connected by the conductive ink 2 having a certain constant resistance value, Ink remaining amount detection circuit 4 has a constant current from Vcc
Is supplied to. This current causes the remaining ink level detection circuit 4
Judges that there is a remaining amount of the conductive ink 2, and sends a remaining amount detection signal 7 indicating that there is a remaining amount of ink to the CPU 5. next,
A case where the remaining amount of the conductive ink 2 is reduced and the remaining amount level of the conductive ink 2 is at the position B will be described. Since the remaining amount of the conductive ink 2 is lower than the ink remaining amount detection electrode 3. The ink remaining amount detecting electrode 3 is in an open state, and no current is supplied to the ink remaining amount detecting circuit 4. Therefore, the remaining ink amount detection circuit 4 determines that the remaining amount of the conductive ink 2 is small, and sends a remaining amount detection signal 7 indicating that there is no remaining ink amount to the CPU 5. The CPU 5 receives the remaining amount detection signal 7 indicating that there is no remaining amount of ink, and executes the display by the warning display 6. As described above, the remaining amount of the conductive ink 2 is detected.

[0007]

However, in the ink remaining amount detecting means of the conventional ink jet printer described above,
It is necessary to attach the ink remaining amount detecting electrode 3 to the ink tank 1 and wiring for the electrode, and further, the ink remaining amount detecting circuit 4 for detecting the current flowing through the ink remaining amount detecting electrode 3 is required. There were problems such as complicated mechanism and increased cost.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet printer capable of detecting the remaining amount of ink without increasing the cost.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a difference between the position of the carriage at the time when a carriage stop signal for stopping the carriage is generated and the position where the carriage is stopped, that is, the carriage. The position detecting means detects the amount of overrun and the output means outputs the amount of ink in the ink tank according to the amount of overrun.

[0010]

With the above-described structure, the present invention can detect the remaining amount of ink by the overrun amount of the carriage.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An ink remaining amount detecting means of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a carriage motor (DC motor) for operating a carriage equipped with an ink tank of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. When the DC motor 12 moves, the encoder pulse 18 is supplied from the linear encoder 13 to the position detection counter 14, and the counter value 19 for each fixed period is input to the CPU 5. The CPU 5 calculates the carriage position and speed based on the input counter value 19, and sends a control signal 20 to the control circuit 16 so that the carriage moves at a constant speed or moves to a constant position. The control circuit 16 receives the control signal 20 and sends a drive signal 21 to the drive circuit 17, and the drive circuit 17 receives the drive signal 21 and operates the DC motor 12.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the ink remaining amount detecting means of the ink jet printer in one embodiment of the present invention. The carriage 8 carrying the ink tank 1 is guided by the shaft 11 and moves in the direction of the arrow in the figure. A when the remaining amount of the ink 10 in the ink tank 1 is high
1, A2 when it is small, O the position of the carriage 8 when the stop signal of the carriage 8 from the CPU 5 is generated, S1 the actual stop position of the carriage 8 when the remaining ink level A1,
The actual stop position of the carriage 8 at the remaining ink level A2 is S2.

The operation will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. When the printing of one line is completed, a stop signal of the carriage 8 is sent from the CPU 5 to the DC motor 12 (O in FIG. 2). However, since the carriage 8 has inertia, the speed does not immediately become 0 from the constant speed (V) state, and as shown in the graph of FIG. This overrun amount is proportional to the total weight of the carriage 8, that is, the remaining amount of the ink 10, and when the remaining amount of the ink 10 is A1, the overrun amount is large.
When the remaining amount of A2 is A2, the amount of overrun decreases. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the counter 14 for detecting the overrun amount is used to detect the counter value (T) of the encoder pulse 18 when the stop signal of the carriage 8 is generated (O in the figure).
O) and when the carriage 8 actually stops (S1, S in the figure)
The counter value (TS) of the encoder pulse 18 of 2) is set to C
It is input to PU5, and when the overrun amount becomes a certain value or less, that is, when | TS-TO | <K (K is a constant) is satisfied, the user knows that the remaining amount of ink 10 is less than that of CPU5. The warning display 6 for informing the user is executed.

The setting of the constant K is executed by the CPU 5, but if the stopping distance of the carriage 8 when the carriage 8 is moving forward and the stopping distance of the carriage 8 when the carriage 8 is returning are different due to a certain factor,
If the constant K is set from the stop distance in one direction, a malfunction may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent this malfunction.

The operation and correction means will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows the carriage 8 due to some factors of the ink jet printer in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a correlation diagram of the speed and distance of the carriage 8 when stopping distances during reciprocation are different. In FIG. 3, O is the position of the carriage 8 when the stop signal of the carriage 8 is generated, SA is the stop position when the carriage 8 is moving forward, and SB is the stop position when the carriage 8 is returning, and the respective counter values are TO and T.
Assuming A and TB, the overrun amount of the carriage 8 at the time of going is | TA-TO |, and the overrun amount of the carriage 8 at the time of returning is | TB-TO |. Here, assuming that the overrun amount | TA-TO | of the carriage 8 at the time of forward is a carriage stop position when the remaining amount of the ink 10 is small and the counter values are SS and TS, respectively, the constant K is K = | TS-TO.
| However, as can be seen from FIG. 3, the overrun amount | TB-TO | of the carriage 8 at the time of returning is smaller than the overrun amount | TA-TO | Alone | TB-TO
| <K = | TS-TO |, and a malfunction may occur. Therefore, as a correction means in such a case, at the time of initial setting, the overrun amount of the carriage 8 is measured not only in one direction but also in two directions, and the smaller value (| TB-TO | in FIG. 3) is used. Or set a constant K, or the center value of the overrun amount of the bidirectional carriage 8, that is, {| TA-TO | + | TB-TO
By using |} / 2, it is possible to minimize the malfunction amount.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the ink tank 1 does not have a complicated mounting mechanism such as a sensor or an electrode or wiring, and the ink remaining amount detecting circuit is removed to detect the ink remaining amount. be able to.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the position detecting means detects the difference between the position of the carriage at the time when the carriage stop signal for stopping the carriage is generated and the position where the carriage is stopped, that is, the amount of overrun of the carriage. It is possible to detect the remaining amount of ink by the overrun amount of the carriage by including the output means that outputs the amount of ink in the ink tank according to this overrun amount. Further, the carriage mechanism design can be simplified and the cost can be reduced, and further, the cost of the electric circuit can be reduced by removing the ink remaining amount detection circuit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a carriage motor (DC motor) that operates a carriage equipped with an ink tank of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of an ink remaining amount detecting means of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a correlation diagram of the speed and distance of the carriage when the stopping distance when the carriage reciprocates is different due to a certain factor of the inkjet printer in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an ink remaining amount detecting means of a conventional inkjet printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ink Tank 5 CPU 6 Warning Display 8 Carriage 10 Ink 11 Shaft 12 DC Motor 13 Linear Encoder 14 Position Detection Counter 16 Control Circuit 17 Drive Circuit 18 Encoder Pulse 19 Counter Value 20 Control Signal 21 Drive Signal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet printer having a carriage on which an ink tank for supplying ink for printing is provided, and generating means for generating a carriage stop signal for stopping the carriage, and a position for detecting the position of the carriage. A position detecting means for detecting the position of the carriage at the time when the carriage stop signal is generated from the generating means and the position where the carriage is stopped, and the inside of the ink tank is detected according to the distance. An ink jet printer comprising an output means for outputting the amount of the ink.