JPS63145060A - Bar code printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a bar code printer generating no clogging in a nozzle and having high reliability, by providing a printing mechanism part having a thermal ink jet head and a comparing means detecting the bar code printed on printed matter and generating a timing signal in a printing timing generating circuit when the count value of a counter becomes a predetermined value to reset the counter. CONSTITUTION:When it is detected that mail 2 is fed to a position where a printing mechanism part 4 is provided at a high speed, the first N-pieces of bar codes of a stored bar code row are read from a memory part 15 and a heat generating element 7 is heated through a drive circuit part 9 to inject ink droplets from a nozzle to instantaneously N pieces of bar codes on the mail 2. When the mail 2 moves by Lmm, a sensor 11 detects the bar codes and a first counter 12 successively counts the bar codes. A comparator 14 always compares the content of the first counter 12 with that of the second counter 13 and, when both contents coincide, the comparator inputs a signal to a printing timing generating circuit part 10. The next N pieces of bars of the bar code row stored in the memory part 15 are read and similarly printed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is suitable for use as a barcode printer, particularly as a barcode printer for postal machines when printing barcodes on mail items such as envelopes and postcards. Regarding barcode printers.

[Conventional technology]

Charge-controlled inkjet printers are used as barcode printers for postal machines.

This charge-controlled inkjet printer ejects a fine ink stream from a nozzle at high speed, vibrates the nozzle with an ultrasonic vibrator to form ink droplets, and charges the formed ink droplets with a charge corresponding to the amount of deflection. charge the amount,
One bar can be printed by repeating the above-mentioned operation in time series, in which the direction of deflection of the ink droplets is determined by the deflection section and the ink droplets are sprayed onto the mail piece. Furthermore, by sequentially repeating this operation, a barcode string can be printed. In this printer, most of the ink droplets are collected at the gutter and used again.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventional barcode printers for postal machines use charge-controlled inkjet printers, but since charge-controlled inkjet printers are operated in an environment where large amounts of paper dust are generated, this printer's own After the ink droplets, which are the essence of ink, are ejected into the atmosphere, they are collected again, so a large amount of paper dust is mixed into the collected ink.
As a result, there was a major problem in that the nozzle was easily clogged and maintenance was quite troublesome.

Furthermore, since this charge-controlled inkjet printer has a complicated structure, there is also the problem that the price of the device itself is quite high.

Furthermore, it is necessary to print barcode rows at regular intervals on mail items that are being conveyed at high speed by a belt mechanism, but this belt mechanism system has the problem of large speed fluctuations that make it impossible to print at regular intervals. .

An object of the present invention is to eliminate these problems and provide a highly reliable, extremely practical, low-cost barcode printer.

[Means for solving problems]

The barcode printer of the present invention includes a transport mechanism section for transporting a printing material, and a nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in each of the nozzle rows perpendicular to the transporting direction of the printing material. a printing mechanism section having a plurality of rows of thermal inkjet heads arranged at intervals for printing a barcode on the substrate; and a printing mechanism section connected to the side part of the printing machine and selectively ejecting ink droplets from the plurality of nozzles. a drive circuit section for generating an applied voltage for the drive circuit section; a print timing generation circuit section for generating a timing signal for sending a signal to the drive circuit section and causing the printing mechanism section to print; a memory unit that is connected and stores in advance a barcode printed by the printing mechanism unit; and a memory unit that is arranged a predetermined distance away from the printing mechanism unit in the conveying direction of the printed matter and detects the barcode printed on the printed matter. a counter for counting the number of bars of a bar code detected by the sensor; and a counter for causing the print timing generation circuit to generate the timing signal when the counted value of the counter reaches a predetermined value. and a comparison means for resetting the counter.

[Effect]

By using a thermal inkjet head as a printing mechanism, the barcode printer of the present invention eliminates the need to collect ink and solves the problem of paper dust getting mixed into ink. In addition, since the printing mechanism detects the barcode printed on the substrate and controls the printing timing, it is an extremely practical barcode printer that eliminates uneven bar spacing caused by speed fluctuations in the transport mechanism system. can be provided.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a barcode printer showing one embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the barcode, FIG. 4(a) is an external view of the thermal inkjet head, and FIG. 4(b) is a view taken along the line X--X.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a side part of a conveyor machine consisting of a pair of belt mechanisms 3 that convey mail items 2 as printing materials at high speed in the direction of arrow A at a speed of 3 to 4 m/s, and 4 denotes a printing mechanism section perpendicular to the conveyance direction of mail items 2. Multiple sheets (N sheets) of plate-shaped thermal inkjet heads having multiple nozzles in one row at regular intervals DIII+
N barcodes can be printed on the postal item 2 at the same time. As the thermal inkjet head, a thermal inkjet head 5 as shown in FIG. 4 is used. This thermal inkjet head has a plurality of ink chambers 6. It is equipped with a plurality of heating elements 7 and a plurality of nozzles 8, and by applying an electric signal to the heating element 7 corresponding to the ink chamber 6 filled with ink, the ink is instantly heated and bubbles are generated. The structure is such that ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle using pressure waves generated by the pressure waves.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a drive circuit section for driving the heating elements 7 attached to the head, and this section has drive circuits equal in number to the number of heating elements 7. Reference numeral 10 denotes a print timing generation circuit section that generates the pulse width, voltage magnitude, and print timing to be applied to the heating element. 11 is from the printing mechanism section 4 to L (
= DXNmm A sensor for detecting the number of bars on the mail piece 2 on which the bar code is printed by the printing mechanism section 4, and 12 is a coefficient for the number of bars detected by the sensor 11. 13 is a second counter to which the bar value P corresponding to LIII+ has been set in advance, and 14 is a counter for the first counter l and the second
Only when the value of the first counter does not match, the first
This is a comparator that outputs a pulse signal that resets the counter. Note that in synchronization with this pulse signal, the print timing generation circuit section 10 generates an electric signal, which is applied to the heating element 7 via the drive circuit section, and the ink is emitted from the nozzle corresponding to the barcode information stored in the memory section 15. By ejecting a large number of droplets, it is possible to instantly print N bars and codes as shown in FIG.

Below, a description will be given of how a barcode is printed on the mail piece 2 that is being transported at high speed.

A barcode string to be printed on the mail item 2 is stored in advance in the memory section 15 in response to a command from a control section (not shown). When it is detected by a method such as a photo sensor (not shown) that the postal item 2 has been conveyed at high speed to the position where the printing mechanism section 4 is provided, the first N of the barcode string stored in the memory section 15 is detected. The barcode of the book is read out, the heating element 7 is heated via the drive circuit section 9, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle, and N barcodes are instantly printed.

Therefore, N barcodes can be neatly printed at regular intervals for each dragon.

Next, when this mail 2 moves LIII11, sensor 1
1 detects a barcode, and a first counter 12 sequentially counts the number of barcodes. The comparator 14 constantly compares the contents of the first counter 12 and the contents of the second counter 13, and when they match the contents of the second counter 13, it emits an output pulse and inputs it to the print timing generation circuit section 10. do. The next N bars of the barcode string stored in the memory section 15 are read out according to instructions from the control section (not shown), and the N bars are read out in the same manner as described above in synchronization with the output pulse. By sequentially repeating such operations, the barcode string stored in the memory section 15 can be neatly printed on the mail piece 2.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the barcode printer of the present invention has
To provide a barcode printer for postal machines that is highly reliable, extremely practical, and low-priced since there is no ink recovery by using a thermal inkjet head, and there is no problem of nozzle clogging due to paper powder mixed into the ink. It can be done, and the effects are enormous.

In addition, the printing mechanism with multiple nozzle rows prints multiple bars of the barcode at the same time, so even if the conveyance speed fluctuates in the belt conveyance mechanism, the spacing between the barcode bars will be uneven. In addition, by counting the bars printed by the power outputter and having the printing mechanism print when the counted value reaches a predetermined value, the interval between each bar code printed at once by the printing mechanism can be reduced. This has the effect of keeping the value constant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are a block diagram and a side view of a barcode printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and FIG. 3 shows a part of the barcode printed by the printing mechanism section 4 shown in FIG. 1 in animal size. 4 (a> and (b) are a partially broken front view and XX cross-sectional view of the thermal inkjet that constitutes the printing mechanism section 4 shown in FIG. 1, respectively. In the figures, 1 is a conveyance mechanism 2 is a mail piece, 3 is a belt mechanism, 4 is a printing mechanism section, 5 is a thermal inkjet head, 6 is an ink chamber, 7 is a heating element, 8 is a nozzle, 9 is a drive circuit section, 10 is a print timing generation circuit 11 is a sensor, 15 is a memory section, 12.13 is a counter, 14
is a comparator as shown in Figure 2.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A transport mechanism unit for transporting the printing material, and a plurality of nozzle rows each having a plurality of nozzles arranged perpendicular to the transporting direction of the printing material at regular intervals in the transporting direction of the printing material. a printing mechanism unit having a thermal inkjet head configured to print a barcode on the printing substrate; and a printing mechanism unit connected to the printing mechanism unit to generate an applied voltage for selectively ejecting ink droplets from the plurality of nozzles. a print timing generation circuit section for generating a timing signal for sending a signal to the drive circuit section and causing the printing mechanism section to print; and a print timing generation circuit section connected to the drive circuit section and the printing mechanism section. a memory unit that stores in advance a barcode to be printed by the printer; a sensor that is arranged a predetermined distance away from the printing mechanism unit in the conveying direction of the printed material and detects the barcode printed on the printed material; and the sensor a counter for counting the number of bars of the bar code detected by the counter; and when the count value of this counter reaches a predetermined value, the timing signal is generated in the print timing generation circuit section and the counter is reset. A barcode printer, comprising comparison means. (2) A thermal inkjet head heats a heating element provided corresponding to each nozzle by applying voltage from a drive circuit section, and generates a shock wave with air bubbles instantaneously generated in the ink around the heating element. 2. The barcode printer according to claim 1, wherein ink droplets are ejected from said nozzle.