JPS6277940A - Operation method of ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To minimize the wasteful consumption of ink by always keeping the steady discharge of ink, by a method wherein ink is idly discharged into a cap when a printing command is not generated for a fixed time and the ink is idly sucked when its frequency has reached a fixed number of times. CONSTITUTION:When a power source is turned on, in the case of no printing command for a fixed time, each ink discharge port is driven and ink is idly discharged into a cap 7, that is, its inside space 10. When the number of times of this idle discharge has reached a fixed number of times, the ink generated in the cap 7 by the idle discharge is idly sucked to flow the ink into a suction pump 8. Thereby, the amount of ink in the cap is controlled to not more than a fixed amount and when the printing command is not generated for a more longer fixed time, the power source of the recorder is operated to be turned off. Thereby, even when ink of high dye density is used, the jetting character is good and the steady printing quality can be kept. Then, the wasteful consumption of ink can be minimized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an operating method for an inkjet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an operating method for preventing drying of the ink ejection opening portion of a recording head and stabilizing the initial ejection of ink.

[Prior art]

An inkjet recording device supplies ink into a recording head, and drives elements (electrothermal energy converters such as heating elements or electromechanical energy converters such as piezo elements) that correspond to a plurality of ink ejection ports formed on the front surface of the recording head. A converter) is driven based on a data signal, and recording is performed while forming flying ink droplets from an ink ejection port toward a recording medium (paper, etc.).

In this type of inkjet recording device, the ink discharge port is prevented from clogging due to ink thickening due to evaporation of ink solvent, dust adhesion, air bubbles, etc., and to stabilize printing quality. A capping operation that seals the ink ejection port with a camp and an ink recovery operation that ejects ink dryly may be performed.

However, it is difficult to determine whether an ink recovery operation is necessary or not, and generally the user visually checks the print quality and then performs the ink recovery operation based on his/her judgment.

However, with only such an ink recovery operation, it is difficult to maintain stable ink discharge, and if the ink recovery operation is repeated more than necessary, there is a problem that the amount of wasted ink effl increases.

In particular, when using ink with a high dye concentration, there is a problem that if there is no printing command for a certain period of time, the ink ejection port will dry out, deteriorating the printing characteristics (initial ejection) and making the ink ejection unstable. .

(Objective) The object of the present invention is to provide an ink chef that can solve the problems of the prior art, maintain stable ink ejection at all times, and minimize wasteful consumption of ink.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for operating a recording device.

〔overview〕

In the present invention, when a printing command is not issued for a certain period of time, ink is ejected into the cap, and when the number of times of this ejection reaches a certain value, the ink inside the acid cap is suctioned, thereby reducing the amount of ink in the cap. The above object is achieved by an operating method that suppresses the recording device to a certain level or less and turns off the power to the recording device if no print command is received for a longer certain period of time.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of the main parts of an inkjet recording apparatus suitable for carrying out the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the ink ejection stabilizing mechanism in FIG. 1 during canoping. be.

In Figure 1, a recording medium such as paper or plastic sheet hacked up to platen 1 (to sheet 1)
A guide shaft 3 is installed in front of the recording head 2, and a recording head is mounted on a carriage 4 that moves along the guide shaft.

A plurality of ink ejection ports are formed on the front surface of the recording head 5, and recording is performed on the sheet 2 by driving each ink ejection port based on a data signal.

1 and 2, a pump suction type ink recovery means 6 is provided at the home position HP of the carriage 4. In FIG. This ink recovery means includes a cap 7 that is driven forward and backward in the direction of the arrow with respect to the recording head 5 and closes the ink ejection opening when moving forward, and a negative pressure source (
suction pump, etc.) 8.

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the cap 7, in which the peripheral edge that comes into pressure contact with the front surface of the recording pad 5 in which ink ejection ports are formed is formed of a rubber-like elastic material 9, and the internal space 1 of the cap is
An ink absorber 11 is housed in 0.

However, in the above recording device, when the power is on, if there is no printing command for a certain period of time, each ink ejection port is driven to dry ink into the cap 7, that is, into the internal space 10, and this dry ejection is stopped. When the number of times reaches a certain number (for example, 30 times), the amount of ink in the cap is kept below a certain level by performing dry suction to flow the ink generated by the empty ejection inside the cap 7 into the suction pump 8, and the print command is issued. If the recording device is not active for a longer period of time, the recording device is turned off.

In FIG. 2, a control circuit (such as a control card constituting a CPU) 12 of the recording device detects whether or not the elapsed time from the time when a print command was issued has reached a set value (whether or not there is a timeout). a counter 14 that detects the number of times the ink is inadvertently ejected after the ink suction; A second timer 15 is provided to detect the failure.

Every time the timer 13 shown in FIG. 1 times out, the recording pad 5 is driven to empty the ink into the cap 7, and when the number of empty jets reaches a set number, the suction pump 8 is activated. Then, the ink inside the cap 7 is discharged by empty suction to prevent overflow of the ink inside the cap.

Further, when a set time longer than the set time of the first timer 13 has elapsed after a printing command is issued, the second timer 15
The relay 16 is activated to turn off the power circuit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operating procedure of the method of operating the inkjet recording apparatus described above.

In FIG. 4, when the power is turned on and the recording device is started in step 100, it is determined in step 101 whether or not there is a print command, and if there is no print command, step 102 is performed to set the 1 timer 13 is started,
Next, in step 103, the second timer 1 for power off is activated.
5 is also activated at the same time.

On the other hand, if a printing command is issued in step 101, the process advances to step 104 and a printing operation is performed.

This printing operation is repeatedly executed every time a printing command is issued, and recording work is normally performed by repeating this subroutine.

After starting each timer 13.15, step 10
At step 5, the presence or absence of a print command is checked at every clock interval, and if there is a print command, the process proceeds to step 104 to perform the printing operation, but if no print command has occurred, the process proceeds to step 1.
At step 06, it is detected whether or not the second timer 15 for power off has timed out, and if it has timed out, step 107
Turn off the power with the recording head capped.

If the second timer 15 has not timed out in step 106, the process proceeds to step 108, and it is detected whether the first timer 13 for dry ejection has timed out.

If the first timer 13 has not timed out, the process returns to step 105, detects the presence or absence of a print command, and repeats the predetermined operation.

If the first timer 13 times out, step 1
In step 09, each ejection port is driven to eject ink into the cap 7, and in the next step 110, the counter 14 checks whether the number of ink ejections has reached a set number N.

If the number of times of empty ink ejection has reached the set number of times.

In step 111, the suction pump 8 is driven to suck the ejected ink inside the cap 7 and discharge it.

On the other hand, if the number of times of empty ink ejection has not reached the set number, the process advances to step 112 and the first timer 13 for empty ink ejection is activated.
is reset, and the process returns to step 105 to repeat the above-described operation.

According to the operating method of the inkjet recording device explained above, even when using ink that has a high dye concentration and tends to dry or thicken quickly, it will automatically print after a certain period of time has elapsed since the printing command, regardless of whether the cap 7 is opened or closed. Since the dry ejection is carried out periodically, it is possible to reliably prevent the deterioration of the emission characteristics due to the instability of the initial ejection, and it has become possible to always ensure stable printing quality.

When capping the ink ejection port, the inside of the cap 7 is brought into a ventilated state, but even in this ventilated state, empty ejection occurs into the camp 7, so it is possible to stabilize the ejection by increasing the moisturizing effect of the ink ejection port. It was also possible to achieve the desired effect.

Furthermore, since the ink that has been idly ejected is sucked and discharged at an appropriate time based on the number of idling ejections, overflow of ink from within the camp 7 can be reliably prevented, and contamination of the apparatus by ink can be eliminated.

Furthermore, since the power is automatically turned off if no printing command is issued for a long period of time (set time), it is possible to eliminate wasteful consumption of ink due to excessive repetition of idle ejection.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, even when using ink with a high dye concentration, it is possible to maintain good printing characteristics and stable printing quality. A method for operating an inkjet recording device is provided that eliminates contamination and minimizes wasteful consumption of ink.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the main parts of an inkjet recording apparatus suitable for carrying out the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ink ejection stabilization control system shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view showing the cap, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operating procedure when carrying out the method of the present invention. 5--1 recording head, 6--1 ink recovery means, 7--1 camp, 8--1 suction pump, 2--1 control circuit, L 3--1 - Timer for empty discharge, 14-m- Counter for the number of empty discharges, 15- Timer for power off.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) If a printing command does not occur for a certain period of time, ink is ejected into the cap, and when the number of times of empty ejection reaches a certain number, the amount of ink in the cap is reduced by suctioning the ink from the cap. An operating method for an inkjet recording device, characterized in that the power is kept below a certain level and the power of the recording device is turned off if a printing command is not issued for a longer certain period of time.