JPS6147266A - Liquid jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the possibility of contaminating clothing by the leakage of a liquid, by providing the liquid holding member received in a case in a freely detachable manner to the position opposed to the nozzle of a recording head when a carriage was moved out of a recording region. CONSTITUTION:A replaceable liquid droplet receiving apparatus 16 receiving emitted ink liquid droplests is arranged to the position opposed to a nozzle plate 15 when a carriage 9 is present at a position out of a recording region. That is, the liquid droplet receiving case 26 of the liquid droplet receiving apparatus 16 has a mount part 26A for making said apparatus 16 freely detachable in the side of the stand 1 of a recording apparatus, an ink liquid droplet receiving part 26B and a liquid receiving chamber 26C formed as a box shape by both parts 26A, 26B. An opening part 26D for introducing liquid droplets is provided to the position opposed to the nozzle plate 15 of the ink liquid droplet receiving part 26B and a liquid droplet collection member 27 such as porous rubber, plastic or cloth having air voids are mounted along the inside of the opening part 26D.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording apparatus, and particularly to an on-demand liquid jet recording apparatus that discharges ink droplets only when necessary.

[Prior art]

On-demand liquid jet recording devices have the characteristics of high recording speed, quietness, and relatively simple configuration, but if left for a long time without recording, noise can cause clogging. . Therefore, attempts have been made to eliminate the clogging by ejecting ink droplets outside the recording area4, but the material that captures and absorbs the ejected droplets is made of a material with a large amount of impregnation. Because of being
Conventionally, they have had the disadvantage of staining equipment and clothing when handling or replacing them.

〔the purpose〕

The object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording device which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and which allows the droplet amount for test jetting to be easily installed and removed by one member, and which eliminates the possibility of soiling clothes or staining the surrounding area when replacing or disposing of the components. Our goal is to provide the following.

[Key points of the invention]

That is, the present invention provides a removable case that is disposed at a position facing the nozzle of the print head and has a window that catches droplets ejected from the nozzle when the carriage is moved outside the print area. The device is characterized in that it is housed in the case and includes a liquid holding member that absorbs liquid droplets captured from the window and holds them so that they do not leak to the outside.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, where 1 is a pedestal of a recording device made of plastic or metal, and 2 is a paper feed roller whose drive shaft 3 is pivotally supported on the pedestal 1.
The paper feed roller 2 is rotated by a paper feed pulse motor 4, and can feed the recording paper 5 held by the roller 2 in the rotational direction. 6 and 7 are gears that transmit the rotation of the pulse motor 4 to the roller shaft 3.

On the other hand, guide rods 8A and 8B provided parallel to the roller shaft 3
A carriage 9 is slidably held therein, and an endless wire 10 is attached to the carriage 9.
IIA and 11B are pulleys, 12 is a pulse motor for driving the carriage provided coaxially with pulley IIA, and by driving this pulse motor, pulley IIA is
The carriage 9 can be moved along the surface of the roller 2 via the wire 10 stretched between the IIB and IIB.

Furthermore, a recording head unit 13 is removably mounted on the carriage 9 via a holding spring 14, and a nozzle plate 1 is provided on the front surface of the carriage 9, that is, on the side facing the recording paper 5, for ejecting droplets.
5 is attached as shown in FIGS. 2(A) and CB).

Note that FIG. 1 shows a state in which the carriage 9 is guided out of the recording area, and when the carriage 9 is in this position, a replaceable plate that receives ejected ink droplets is placed at a position opposite the nozzle plate 15. Apparatus 1B is installed to obtain the desired droplet volume.

A flexible cable 17 is provided between the connector 18 and the carriage 9, and the flexible cable 17 can respond to the movement of the carriage 9 while maintaining electrical contact with the head unit 13.

Next, details of the recording head unit 13 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B). By making the head unit 13 removable, the built-in ink tank 19
When the ink runs out, it can be easily removed from the carriage 9 and replaced with a new head unit filled with ink.

The front panel 20 is made of a material such as glass,
A nozzle plate 15 having nozzles 15A is attached to the front surface of this panel 20. Reference numeral 21 denotes a wiring pattern for supplying an electrical signal for ejecting droplets to the ejection portion of the nozzle plate 15 via the flexible cable 17 described above.

22 has an ink tank on the back side! 8 is detachably attached to the head base, and the front panel 20 is attached to the front of the head base. 23 is a head cover attached to the head base 22 to protect the ink tank IS;
Both the head cover 23 and the head cover 23 are made of a material such as plastic.

Next, the ink droplet amount measuring device 16 will be explained with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 211 denotes a case for controlling the droplet volume of this device 1B, which is made of plastic, metal, etc. that does not allow liquid to pass through, and is attached to a mounting 1128A for attaching and detaching it to the base 1 of the recording device, and a case for storing the ink droplet volume. 28B, and a liquid storage chamber 28C formed into a box shape by both of them.

Further, the amount of ink droplets can be determined by providing an opening 280 for introducing droplets at a position facing the nozzle plate 15 of the receiving portion 28B, and a droplet catching member 27 along the inside of this opening 260.
to be installed. The droplet trapping member 27 may be anything that can trap flying droplets and prevent them from leaking to the outside, and may be made of a material such as rubber, plastic, or cloth that has fine porous air bubbles. Bye.

Reference numeral 28 denotes an ink holding member installed in the liquid storage chamber 26G, and the ink holding member 28 is made of porous rubber, plastic, cloth, felt, or the like having relatively large porous bubbles, which absorbs and holds a large amount of ink liquid. Use possible materials.

Next, various operations in the liquid jet recording apparatus configured as described above will be explained. When the recording apparatus is powered on, the carriage drive motor 12 is driven to move the carriage 9 to the left in FIG. 1, but the carriage 9 comes into contact with the side wall of the pedestal l and stops. However, at this time, the motor 12 is rotated by a predetermined number of pulses more than the rotation speed corresponding to the stroke when normal recording is performed, and the motor 12 is rotated by a predetermined number of pulses.
When the drive phase of pulse motor 1 reaches an advanced state, pulse motor 1
Rotate 2 in the opposite direction. At this time, since the drive phase of the pulse motor 12 is advanced by a predetermined pulse, the carriage 9, which had been stopped in contact with the pedestal L, is moved to the right in the figure at the same time as the pulse motor 12 rotates in reverse. The droplet flow is stopped when the device 16 reaches a certain position beyond the recording area.

That is, this position is the home position of the recording device, where the initial conditions of its mechanical position and electrical storage position are matched.

Therefore, the connector 18 and the flexible cable 17
An electric signal is supplied to the head 13 through the nozzle 15A.
Ink droplets are ejected from all of the ink droplets. In this case, if no printing is done for a long time and the ink dries and becomes clogged, the ink will not be ejected.

Even in such a case, a certain number of times, for example 1
If the ejection operation is continued by the electric signal of the ~Lock pulse, clogging can be cleared under any condition, and once the clogging is cleared, ink can be ejected continuously.

Thus, the ejected ink droplets are introduced from the opening 2611, captured by the droplet capturing member 27, further permeated from the capturing member 27 to the ink retaining member 28, and retained in the retaining member 28. . In this example, the ink is allowed to permeate from the droplet capturing member 27 into the holding member 28, but unless the ink held by the ink holding member 28 leaks out from the opening 2EiD. , the capturing member 27 is omitted and the ink retaining member 2B is directly used.
The ink may be captured by the ink.

Thus, when the liquid storage chamber 26G is filled with ink, the droplet volume can be easily removed by pulling the entire case 28 of the device 16 upward, for example in FIG.
At this time, the ink liquid is transferred to the ink holding member 2 inside the case 26.
Since it is retained in a state where it has been absorbed into the sun, it does not spill or drip and stain clothing or equipment when removed, and can be disposed of without contaminating the surrounding area.

Note that after removal, if a new droplet amount is installed in each case 2B, the device 1B can be used as is.

In this way, the possibility of clogging is removed before recording, and then the carriage drive pulse motor is driven again by the recording start signal to move the carriage 9 from the home position to the left in FIG. , Head Units)
When 1B comes to a predetermined position facing the recording paper 5,
An electric signal can be supplied to a desired nozzle 15A to cause ink droplets to be ejected to perform recording.

Note that the nozzles 15A are arranged in one vertical line, so if, for example, one character is composed of 12 dots horizontally and 12 dots vertically, ink droplets are printed 12 times while moving the carriage 9 in the row direction. By discharging 1
Characters are formed, and when the required number of digits have been recorded in this way, the carriage 9 is returned to its original home position by rotating the pulse motor 12 in the reverse direction.

On the other hand, on the roller 2 side, the paper feed pulse motor 4 is driven while the carriage 9 is returned to the home position, so that the roller 2 is rotated via the gear 6.7, and the recording paper 5 is rotated. Paper can be fed at a predetermined pitch. Note that the drive timing of this pulse motor 4 is not limited to when returning the carriage 9, but may be any timing as long as printing is not being performed, so that the paper can be fed as desired. teeth.

Another advantage of the inkjet method is that it is non-contact.

As mentioned above, the carriage 9 returned to its home position waits for the next recording signal, but it may be kept on standby for a long time with the power turned on, and the carriage 9 may wait for the next recording signal after a short period of standby. Records may also be made. Therefore, in the present invention, in order to deal with such a situation, if the waiting time is short, printing is performed without performing dry ejection, and if the waiting time is long, the clogging of the nozzle is cleared before printing. Perform a constant dry discharge for

In this case, multiple stages of standby time and the number of times of dry ejection to be performed corresponding to these may be set in advance, and the dry ejection may be performed based on these settings. Even if empty ejection is performed, it is determined that the ink in the tank ls at the switch 30 is exhausted,
All that is required is to remove the head unit 13 from the carriage 9 and check that it is a new one.The unit 13 can be easily attached and detached by compressing the spring 14 that holds the head unit 13.

Furthermore, when the head unit 13 is installed and mounted in the state shown in FIG.
It is electrically connected to the wiring pattern 21 on 0 and can be in a recordable state.

Further, the amount of ink droplets can be determined by freely attaching and detaching the device 16 together with its case 16, and it is also possible to replace only the internal members.

〔effect〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the recording head mounted on the carriage can be moved to the outside of the recording area, and is arranged at a position facing the nozzles of the recording head guided outside the recording area. and a removable case having a window that captures droplets discharged from the nozzle, and a liquid holding member that is housed within the case and absorbs the captured droplets and holds them so that they do not leak to the outside. Since a device is installed to control the amount of ink droplets, not only can clogging of ink be easily cleared, but the device can also be easily attached and detached to replace the ink droplet amount. There is no risk of soiling or polluting the surrounding area when discarded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of the liquid jet recording apparatus of the present invention, FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a side view showing the relative positions of the ink droplet amount measuring apparatus and the recording head unit mounted on the carriage at the time of clogging detection according to the present invention. l...Pedestal, 2...Paper feed roller, 3
... Drive shaft, 4... Pulse motor, 5.
...Recording paper, 6.7...Gear, 8A, 8B
...Guide rod, 9...Carriage, lO...
Endless wire, 11A, IIB... Pulley, 12... Pulse motor, 13... Recording head unit, 14... Holding spring, 15... Nozzle plate. 15A...Nozzle, 18...Droplet amount is device. 17...Flexible cable, 1B...Connector, 18...Ink tank. 20...Front panel, 21...Wiring pattern, 22...Head base, 23...Head cover,
2B...Case, 28A...Attachment part. 28B...The droplet amount is the container, 28G...Liquid storage chamber, 280...Opening, 27
...Droplet capturing member, 28...Ink holding member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a liquid jet recording device that performs recording by discharging droplets from a nozzle of a recording head while moving a carriage, when the carriage is moved outside the recording area,
a removable case disposed at a position facing the nozzle of the recording head and having a window for capturing droplets ejected from the nozzle; 1. A liquid jet recording device, comprising: a liquid holding member for holding the liquid so that the liquid is not removed.