JPS6225052A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce various types of defects due to the layout of cable and the like by constructing to provide a means of detecting recoding the remainder of a material for recording means out of a carriage to detect the remainder of the material on the carriage without contact. CONSTITUTION:A controller 18 of a recording head 13 is placed on a carriage 10, and a solar battery 16 is connected as a driving source. A drive control signal to a controller 18 is input from light sources 22, 23 through a photo receptor 17 of a phototransistor. A photoreceptor 24 is disposed in the left end of a carriage scanning area at the position where a light passing a tank 11 from an optical fiber 14 is incident. The light from the photoreceptor 24 is emitted to a sub ink rank 11 to cause the light reception amount of the photoreceptor 24 to vary according to the consumption of ink 12. The carriage 10 is moved to be coupled with tubes 26 of a main ink tank 25 and the tank 11 to be filled with the ink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and particularly to a recording apparatus that performs recording by scanning a carriage equipped with a recording means along a recording medium.

[Prior Art] As described above, the configuration in which recording scanning is performed by a carriage having a recording means is widely used in recording apparatuses using various recording methods such as an inkjet method, an impact method, and a thermal method. Power is supplied to the recording head mounted on the carriage from a fixed position outside the carriage via a flat cable made of a flexible printed board, etc.
Alternatively, a control signal may be applied.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, since the carriage performs recording scanning while pulling the cable, the carriage cannot move smoothly and recording quality deteriorates, or noise may enter from the long cable and cause malfunctions. There were problems such as. Further, there are problems such as the possibility of failure due to cable breakage, etc., and an increase in the size of the scanning motor due to an increase in load caused by pulling the cable during scanning.

Furthermore, some inkjet printers supply ink from a main tank outside the carriage to the recording head via a tube, and in addition to the above problems, such devices also suffer from movement and deformation of the supply tube. Therefore, there was an inconvenience that normal ink supply could not be performed.

Furthermore, inkjet printers and the like require a signal for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the carriage's ink tank, which tends to make the cable routed around the carriage bulky, making the above problem even more serious.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention adopts a configuration in which a means for detecting the remaining amount of recording material of the recording means is provided outside the carriage of the apparatus.

[Function] In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the recording head on the carriage 10 is controlled by the control section 18. Drive power is solar battery 1
Supplied from 6. The solar cell is driven by a light source 21. The drive control signal is transmitted by applying an optical signal to the light receiving element 17 from the light sources 22 and 23. Further, the light from the light source 21 is guided into the sub-ink tank ll by the optical fiber 14, and the light is detected by the light receiving section 24 to detect the remaining amount of ink.

As described above, wired drive and control of the carriage can be abolished, and the inconveniences of the conventional apparatus can be solved.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an inkjet printer, and in the figure, reference numeral 10 indicates a carriage. An ink-jet recording pad 13 is mounted on the carriage 10, and ink to the recording pad 13 is supplied from a sub-ink tank 11 on the carriage. Further mounted on the carriage is a control section 18 comprised of a one-chip LSI or the like for controlling the drive of the recording head 13. A solar cell 16 whose light-receiving surface is directed toward the right side of the carriage is connected to the control section 18 as a power source for driving the control section and the recording head 13 . A drive control signal for the control section 18 is input from a light receiving section 17 composed of a photo-in transistor or the like.

The carriage 10 is driven by a motor (not shown) or the like so as to reciprocate in parallel on a guide bar 19 along a recording medium 31 wound around a platen 30, as in the conventional art. A recording head 13 on a carriage, a solar cell 16. Control part 1
8. Each member, such as the light receiving section 17.degree. or the sub-ink tank 11, is arranged on a printed circuit board 21' that electrically (or mechanically) connects them.

A light source 21 composed of various light emitting elements such as a small fluorescent lamp, a laser element, a lamp, and a light emitting diode is provided at the right end of the recording scanning area of the carriage. Further, an optical fiber 14 is provided to transmit the light from the light source 21 to the ink 12 in the sub-ink tank 11. Therefore, the front surface of the sub-ink tank 11 or the portion corresponding to the light exit side of the optical fiber 14 is configured to have at least light transmittance.

On the other hand, at the left end of the scanning area of the carriage, a light receiving section 24 is arranged at a position where the light that has passed through the tank 11 from the optical fiber 14 is incident.

Further, light sources 22 and 23 are also arranged to irradiate optical signals for drive control to the father light section 17 on the carriage IO. Furthermore, a main ink tank 25 is provided to replenish ink to the sub-ink tank 11 on the carriage. The ink in the main ink tank 25 is sent out through a tube 24 by means such as a pump (not shown). The tube 26 is arranged at a position where it can be connected to the ink injection tube 20 of the sub-ink tank 11 when the carriage IO moves to the left end.

In the above configuration, the recording head 1 on the carriage 10
3 and the control unit 18 are supplied with power from the solar cell 16. The solar cell 16 generates electricity by lighting the light source 21.The scanning of the carriage 10 is controlled in the conventional manner, and drive control is performed by converting the optical signal into a predetermined format such as a parallel format at a desired position on the recording medium 31 made of paper or the like. Signal to light source 2
2°23 to the light receiving section 17. The light receiving section 17 converts the optical signal into an electrical signal and sends it to the control section 18, and the control section 18 drives the rad 13 for recording based on this input signal, and discharges the ink in the sub-ink tank 11 to print on the recording medium. body 31
Stick to it and pass away.

On the other hand, the light from the light source 21 is constantly applied to the sub-ink contact 11 during operation.
The ink 12 inside is irradiated via an optical fiber 14. The height of the light exit of the optical fiber 14 relative to the tank 12 is set with a predetermined margin depending on the level of the ink 12 that would cause the recording operation to become unstable. Therefore, when the ink 12 in the sub-ink tank 11 is consumed to this level, the amount of light received by the light receiving section 24 changes, and a signal requesting ink replenishment is generated. In response to this signal, the main control section of the main body of the apparatus moves the carriage 10 to the left end of the scanning area, and connects the main ink tank 25 and the sub-ink tank 11 with the companion tube 26. Here, the ink in the main ink tank 25 is injected into the sub-ink tank 11 via a pump (not shown) or the like. After injecting a predetermined amount of ink, the carriage is returned to the scanning area and the above-described printing operation is continued.

The amount of ink injected into the sub-ink tank 11 in the above configuration may be determined by arranging another optical fiber at the upper limit position of the ink level and detecting the upper limit level by another light receiving section. As the leading element, a mirror or the like may be used instead of an optical fiber. Further, instead of a solar cell, a dry battery, a rechargeable secondary battery, or the like may be used as a power source for the carriage.

According to the above embodiment, the carriage can be scanned completely wirelessly, and the remaining amount of ink in the sub-ink tank can be detected and replenishment can be performed if the ink is insufficient, so the printing quality caused by the connection cable can be reduced. It is possible to eliminate problems such as malfunctions due to deterioration, failure, and noise contamination all at once, and it is also possible to obtain a number of unique effects such as the ability to downsize the drive means for gear ridge scanning.

The embodiments related to inkjet printers have been shown above, and in addition, the embodiments of thermal printers will be shown below.

FIG. 2 exemplifies a configuration for implementing the present invention in a thermal printer, and in the figure, the same or equivalent members as in FIG.

In FIG. 2, a thermal head is provided as the recording head 13. An ink ribbon 42 pulled out from an ink ribbon cassette 40 and stretched between two arms of the cassette is disposed in front of the recording head. Ink ribbon 42
is wound around the left and right winding shafts 41 and 41 in the cassette, and is wound from the left to the right winding shaft as recording progresses.

For recording, the recording head 13 using a thermal head is pressed against the recording medium 31 via the ink ribbon 42, and the recording head 13 is heated in a predetermined pattern to transfer the ink on the ink ribbon 42 onto the recording medium 31. Do it by doing this.

Therefore, the carriage control unit 18 controls the pressure contact and heat generation operations of the recording head and the winding of the ink ribbon 42. The transmission of the drive signal to the carriage 10 is exactly the same as described above. Further, power is similarly supplied to the members on the carriage 10 by the solar cell 16.

On the other hand, the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 42 is determined by a photointerrupter comprising a light source 50 and a light receiving section 51 provided at an arbitrary position in the carriage scanning area.

For example, a portion of the ink ribbon 40 is made transparent, and the remaining amount is detected by measuring the diameter of either the winding shaft on the winding side or the supply side. If the remaining amount is low, measures such as generating a warning signal to prompt the cassette to be replaced may be taken.

In the above manner, the carriage can be similarly scanned in a non-contact manner in a thermal printer, and the remaining amount of recording material can also be detected, and the same effects as in the embodiments described above can be obtained. It goes without saying that the recording method is not limited to the above, and the technology of the present invention can be applied to recording apparatuses of various methods.

[Effect] As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, in a recording apparatus in which a carriage carrying a recording means is scanned along a recording medium and the recording means performs recording, the recording material of the recording means is removed. The remaining amount detection means is provided outside the carriage, and the remaining amount of recording material on the carriage can be detected without contact, reducing various problems caused by the conventional routing of cables and other materials. We can provide an excellent recording device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a different embodiment of the present invention. 1000. Gear ridge 11... Sub ink tank 13... Recording head 16... Solar battery 21.2
2, 23.50...Light source 17.51...Light receiving section 26...Main ink tank

Claims (1)

[Claims] A recording apparatus in which a carriage carrying a recording means is scanned along a recording medium and the recording means performs recording, characterized in that a means for detecting the remaining amount of recording material for the recording means is provided outside the carriage. recording device.