JPS63160845A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To positively protect parts including electric circuits from ink mists as well as miniaturize an ink jet recorder by a method in which an opening through which the open air to be taken is discharged to the outside of the recorder is provided near the recording head. CONSTITUTION:An on-demand type recording head 101 is set near the outlet port 9 of recorder under the condition that the outlet is turned downwards in the vertical direction. A paper cassette 221 is set below an electric circuit 103, and a recording medium carrying path including a platen 203 is formed below the outlet of the head 101. The carrying distance of the recording medium can thus be shortened, and the transport system can be simplified. The internal pressure of the recorder is made higher than the atmospheric pressure in such a way as to form the stream of air to flow out through the outlet port 9. Since ink mists in discharging ink droplets produced by the head 101 set near the outlet port 9 and paper dust in carrying recording mediums are quickly discharged to the outside of the recorder, the staining by ink on the inside of the recorder and troubles therewith can be positively prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device.

[Prior Art] Inkjet recording apparatuses have many advantages, such as extremely low noise during recording and the ability to record on plain paper, and have been attracting more and more attention in recent years.

Among them, on-demand type inkjet recording devices, which use electromechanical transducers such as piezoelectric elements, magnetostrictive elements, or electrothermal transducers, to eject ink in accordance with recording signals, are capable of recording from % to Disclosure: Since ink is ejected only when necessary for recording, it has the great advantage of not requiring a means for collecting unnecessary ink or a high-voltage power source for deflection.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, with the recent spread of so-called OA equipment, there has been an increasing demand for smaller recording devices as image forming devices and faster recording speeds. It is strongly desired that improvements be made to on-demand type inkjet recording apparatuses to meet such demands.

On the other hand, since inkjet recording devices generally use liquid as a recording material, if appropriate measures are not taken to prevent ink leakage from recording means such as heads and ink mist, various parts of the device may be contaminated with ink. In addition, it may have a serious adverse effect on the driving means for driving the head and other electric circuits that constitute the control device of the device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In view of these problems, the present invention provides an inkjet recording device that is compact and appropriately configured so that each part including the electric circuit is reliably protected from ink mist and the like. The purpose is to provide

Therefore, the present invention includes a recording head for ejecting ink, a blowing means for taking outside air into the device, and an opening for leading the taken outside air out of the device.
It is characterized in that the opening is provided near the recording head.

Here, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the blowing means includes a fan 7F1 for taking in outside air, a member for guiding the taken in outside air to the recording head, and the opening is used to store various parts of the apparatus including the recording head. The recording head was placed on the housing member near the recording head.

[Function] That is, according to the present invention, even if ink mist or the like is generated when ink is ejected, the ink mist or the like is quickly carried out of the apparatus through the opening, so that the ink mist or the like does not adversely affect each part of the apparatus. disappears.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the external configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the state in which the exterior cover is removed for convenience.

Here, 1 is a main body unit, which has an upper unit la and a lower unit 1b, and the upper unit la is rotatable in the vertical direction with respect to the lower unit 1b around a hinge 11. Here, the upper unit la includes a recording head 101, an electric circuit section 103, and a fan 150, which will be described in detail later.
, an upper discharge roller 115a, an upper conveyance roller 113a, a paper guide 201, and a paper feed roller 111 are provided.

On the other hand, the lower unit 1b includes a platen 203, an ink absorber 235, an ink tank 231, a paper cassette 221,
A discharge tray 9A and idlers 213 and 215 are provided. Further, 5 is a cover disposed to cover the upper side of the main unit section 1, and this cover 5 is used for various command switches 7a, 7b such as an online switch with the host device H.
The operating section 7 is provided with a display 70 for displaying the mode and mode. 9 is a discharge port provided on one side of the device;
The recorded recording medium S is loaded onto the ejection tray 9A through the ejection port 9.

2 and 3 are a perspective view and a side cross-sectional view of the device shown in the first drawing, respectively, showing a state in which the cover 5 of the device shown in the first drawing is removed, in order to explain an example of the internal configuration of the device shown in the first drawing. FIG. In these figures, 101 is an inkjet recording head placed near the discharge port 9, and the nozzles 10 are arranged in a range corresponding to the entire width of the recordable width of this apparatus (for example, A4 size recording paper) at a density of, for example, 16 lines per 1 mm.
It has a so-called full multi-type configuration in which 1a are arranged.

In addition, an electromechanical transducer (not shown) or an electrothermal transducer (
(not shown) are arranged, and apply ejection energy to the ink in response to the supply of a drive signal from the host device H corresponding to the image to be recorded, thereby ejecting the ink from the ejection port 101b. In this example, this recording head 10
1- The discharge port 101b of each nozzle 101a is provided so as to open downward in the vertical direction.

A board 103A is provided with a driver circuit for driving the recording head 101 via the flexible cable 102, as well as a power supply circuit, a control circuit, an interface circuit for various circuits inside the apparatus, a host device faH outside the apparatus, etc. This is the main electric circuit section of this apparatus, and in this embodiment, this main electric circuit section 103 is provided in the same upper unit 1a as the recording head 101, so that it is possible to Even if ink leaks, the influence of the ink will not be transmitted to the electric circuit section 103. That is, even if ink leaks from the ejection port IQ1b, the flow path is formed on the lower unit lb side, so in this embodiment, the electric circuit section 103 is arranged above the flow path. Therefore, the influence of the ink does not reach the main electric circuit section 103 of the apparatus.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, this electric circuit section 103 is arranged at a higher position than the arrangement position of each ejection port 101b of the recording head 101. This further prevents the influence of the ink from reaching the electric circuit section 103. However, the above-described arrangement of the electric circuit section 103 and the discharge port 101b is not necessarily necessary.

Furthermore, 111 is a paper feed roller formed by cutting out a part of an arc, and supplies the recording medium S from a cassette 221 that accommodates the recording medium S, such as paper, film, or cloth, toward the recording position by the recording head 101. It is a roller for.

Reference numerals 113 and 115 designate a discharge roller disposed upstream and downstream on the recording medium transport path P, and a discharge roller disposed downstream near the discharge port 9 with respect to the recording position of the recording head 101, respectively. It is rotationally driven via a belt 119. Accordingly, in response to this rotational drive, the conveyance roller 113 and the discharge roller 11
5 cooperates with idlers 213 and 215 placed opposite each other, and conveys the recording medium S to the recording position with the recording medium S sandwiched between them, or transports the recording medium S from the recording position to the ejection tray 9A. The recording medium S is ejected.

201 is a paper guide provided on the conveyance path P of the recording medium S and regulates the conveyance path P, and 203 is the recording head 10.
It is a platen that is provided on the lower unit lb side facing the ejection port 101b of No. 1, and that maintains the recording medium S at the recording position, that is, regulates the recording surface when recording on the recording medium S with the recording head 101. .

The recording media S loaded in the paper cassette 221 described above are separated one by one by the paper feed roller 111 in cooperation with a separating means (not shown) and transported toward the recording position. 225
is the bottom plate of the apparatus, and in this example, the bottom plate 225 is also used as a partition wall to prevent ink from leaking out of the apparatus even if unexpected ink leaks from the recording head 101 or the like. It is.

An ink tank 231 serves as an ink supply source for the recording head 101, and is arranged below the platen 203.
Ink is supplied through 3. Further, 235 is an ink absorber made of a water-absorbing porous material, and in this example, it is arranged above the ink tank 231 below the platen 203. Note that this ink absorber 235 is configured to appropriately replace the position of the platen 203 so that it can face or come into contact with the ejection ports 101b of the recording head 101, and is used for ejection recovery processing and capping processing of the recording head 101. You can do it like this. As a result, ink dropped from the recording head 101 is appropriately collected.

Furthermore, 150 is a fan that cools each part by taking in air from outside the device, and in this example, by arranging this fan on the side of the device opposite to the exhaust port 9, the fan 150 cools each part by taking in air from outside the device. Airflow from the intake port 5a to the discharge port 9 (
(indicated by arrow a in Fig. 1).

As mentioned above, in this example, the recording head 101 is provided near the discharge port 9, so that satellites that may be generated as a side effect when ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 101 and ink droplets on the surface of the recording medium S are removed. Ink mist, dust, paper powder from recording media, etc. that may be generated by scattering are carried by air currents and
Alternatively, it is possible to prevent the particles from adhering to the recording medium S and immediately being transported out of the apparatus through the discharge port 9, adhering to various parts within the apparatus and contaminating them, or causing a failure in the electric circuit section 103.

That is, in this example, the cooling fan 150 for cooling the electric circuit is also used as a blowing means in the apparatus for removing ink mist.

Note that when the ink mist is attached to the recording medium S, the ink mist is generally extremely fine, so it hardly affects the printing quality or the like. Further, when the ink mist is transported by airflow, a filter or the like may be provided near the discharge port 9, and the ink mist may be collected by this filter. If the ink mist is collected on the recording medium S or the filter as described above, the walls outside the apparatus will not be contaminated.

In addition to the above configuration, in this example, the main unit section 1 can be separated and opened into an upper unit la and a lower unit lb as shown below, so that repair work on each section and jam removal can be easily performed. do.

Figure 4 shows the upper unit la and the lower unit! An example of the structure of a mechanism for securing the space for the above-mentioned work by separating the parts b and opening the inside is shown. Here, 11 is a hinge arranged on the side surface opposite to the discharge port 9 and used to rotate the upper unit la relative to the lower unit 1b, and 13 is a spring for holding the upper unit la in the open position.

In this example, as described above, the recording head 101, the rollers 113 and 115, etc. are located in the upper unit part la of the main body.
The platen 203, idlers 213, 215, paper cassette 2211, ink tank 231, ink absorber 235, etc. are arranged near the discharge port 9 in the lower unit lb of the main body. When the main body unit section 1 is in an open state as shown in FIG. The system will be greatly opened up.

That is, in this embodiment, the upper unit 1a and the lower unit 1b are separated from each other along the path from which the recording medium S is sent out from the cassette 221 to the discharge port 9, so that the upper unit la is located above the lower unit lb. If it rotates to , the conveyance path will be opened.

Therefore, in this state, you can repair each part or replace the ink absorber.
The work space required for jam removal processing is secured, and this work is therefore facilitated. Further, in this state, the recording medium S may be replenished or the ink may be replenished. In this example, an example is shown in which the entire transport path of the recording medium S is opened at a distance, but the above-mentioned effect can be obtained without being limited to this, as long as at least a portion of the recording position by the recording head is opened at a distance. be able to.

Furthermore, the configuration for securing the work area in this way is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 4, and can be of various types. For example, appropriate supports may be provided at the four corners of the lower unit lb to support the upper unit 1a, and the upper unit 1a may be moved up and down along the supports, or a parallel link mechanism may be used to move the upper unit 1a horizontally and diagonally. It may be slid upward, or the upper unit la and the lower unit 1b are not limited to opening in the vertical direction, and for example, the upper unit and the lower unit may be opened in the left-right direction. .

By the way, in this example, in the ink system, the recording head 101 has an ink tank 23 on the unit la side of the main body.
1 is placed on the lower unit lb side, and they are communicated via a supply tube 233. Figure 5 (A)
5 is a schematic side sectional view showing the connected state of the supply tubes, and FIG. 5(B) is a perspective view thereof.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 5(A), rotatable ink joint members 101A and 231A are provided at the connecting portions of the recording head 101, the ink tank 231, and the ink supply tube 233, respectively. The displacement caused by the opening and closing of the main body unit section 1 is absorbed by the rotation of the rotary ink joint sections 101^ and 231A. In the figure, 101B and 231B are O-rings for sealing ink.

FIG. 5(B) shows details of the supply tube connection portion, and the figure shows the configuration on the ink tank 231 side.

Here, 231D is an elbow provided integrally with the supply tube 233 at its end, 231C is a holding ring for the O-ring 231B, and 231E is fixed to the ink tank 231.
This is a holding plate that restricts the elbow 231D in a direction perpendicular to the ink tank 231 and holds the elbow 231D so that it does not fall off from the ink tank 231. Therefore, the ink tank 231, O ring 231B, and presser ring 231C
And the elbow 213D is rotatably slidable with respect to the elbow holding plate 231E.

Further, in this example, such a configuration is used for the recording head 10.
The same applies to the first side.

With this configuration, by using a flexible pipe material such as polyethylene for the supply tube 233, the upper unit la and the lower unit lb can be smoothly separated and opened without significantly affecting the ink flow path. can. Furthermore, in this example, the elbow 2310 is connected to the ink tank 231. Since it is configured to be rotatable relative to the recording head 101, the mounting angle of the supply tube 233 can be naturally displaced due to its own elasticity when the upper unit la and the lower unit 1b are separated and opened.

By this, the upper unit la and the lower unit l
The slack of the supply tube 233 when the supply tube 2 and b are closed can be reduced, and the amount of deformation of the supply tube 233 can be reduced.
33 can be made long enough to connect the ink tank 231 and the recording head 101 almost linearly when the units 1a and tb are separated and opened at the maximum opening angle (see FIG. 4). The flexibility required for the tube 233 can also be designed to be small. These things make it possible to make the supply tube thicker and shorter, reducing the flow resistance of the ink supply route from the ink tank to the recording head and preventing air from entering the pipeline. The ability to reduce the deflection space of the supply tube 233 greatly contributes to downsizing the device.

Furthermore, if such an effect is fully expected,
The configuration of the connecting portion shown in FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B) may be provided only on either the ink tank 231 side or the recording head 101 side.

Further, the configuration for receiving the separation and opening of each unit la and lb is not limited to the above configuration in which a flexible supply tube and a rotation joint are combined; for example, a relatively side supply tube may be connected via a bellows or the like. It may also be something like a contact made by someone.

By the way, in inkjet recording, the flying distance of ink droplets, that is, the distance between the nozzle opening of the recording head 101 and the paper, is one of the factors that greatly affects the recording quality. In particular, in this example, the upper unit 1a having the recording head 101 and the lower unit lb having the platen 203 that regulates the paper can be separated from each other, so that the recording head and the platen face each other in parallel with high accuracy in their joined state. It is desirable to take this into account.

In order to realize this, for example, the recording head 101 is held so as to be movable in the vertical direction relative to the frame of the upper unit la, and an abutment member fixed to the platen 203 of the lower unit 1b is moved between the upper and lower units. It is conceivable to abut against part of the recording head in the bonded state.

In this embodiment, in order to realize this compactly and easily, the recording head 101 is fixed to the upper unit la, the platen 203 is fixed to the lower unit lb, and when the upper and lower units la and lb are connected, the recording head 101 is Abutment members (not shown) provided on the upper and lower units are abutted against two points near both ends of the upper and lower units. Furthermore, appropriate locking means may be provided to ensure the bonded state.

According to this, the recording head 101 or the platen 20 is pressed against the abutting members of the upper and lower units la and lb, respectively.
By accurately managing the mounting dimensions 3, it is possible to easily maintain a recording head-to-paper distance with high precision and with good reproducibility when opening and closing the upper and lower units la and lb.

In the inkjet recording device according to the present example as described above, the on-demand recording head 101 is arranged near the discharge port 9 of the device with the discharge port facing downward in the vertical direction, and the on-demand recording head 101 is arranged below the electric circuit section 103. Since the paper cassette 221 is arranged to form a recording medium conveyance path including the platen 203 below the ejection opening of the head, the conveyance distance of the recording medium is short and the conveyance system is simplified. The device configuration could be made extremely compact.

In addition, since the main electric circuit section 103 is provided on the same upper unit la side as the recording head 101, even when ink is ejected or leaked ink occurs, these components will reach the electric circuit section 103. There will be no negative impact on.

In addition, by setting the pressure inside the device higher than atmospheric pressure and forming an air flow flowing out through the discharge port 9, ink mist and the like generated when ink droplets are ejected by the head 101 provided near the discharge port 9 are reduced. Since paper dust and the like generated when the recording medium is transported is quickly transported outside the apparatus, contamination and accidents due to ink adhesion to various parts within the apparatus can be reliably prevented.

In addition, the upper unit 1a can be rotated relative to the lower unit 1b by a hinge 11 placed on the side opposite to the discharge port 9, so that the ink system, conveyance system, etc. are largely opened when the upper unit 1a is rotated. Therefore, the work required for repairing each part, clearing jams, etc. becomes easier.

In the above example, the present invention was applied to an on-demand type inkjet recording apparatus using an electromechanical transducer or an electrothermal transducer and having a fully multi-type recording head. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to inkjet recording apparatuses employing various driving methods and scanning methods.

Further, although the recording head is provided near the discharge port to reduce the size of each part of the conveying yarn ring, the location thereof is not necessarily limited to the vicinity of the discharge port. In this case, an air outlet may be provided separately in the vicinity of the recording head so that ink mist and the like can be quickly discharged.

Furthermore, in the above example, a case has been described in which the host device H is used as the recording data supply source, but it goes without saying that any data supply source may be used. For example, instead of or in addition to the host device H, a reading means for reading the original image may be provided on the upper part of the upper unit 1a, and the read image information may be converted into an electrical signal and supplied to the recording head 101. You can also do this.

Furthermore, in the above example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,
Since each substrate 103A is arranged horizontally, the airflow from the fan 150 is effectively guided to the vicinity of the recording head 101 with almost no loss due to resistance, and ink mist, paper powder, etc. are quickly directed to the discharge port. 9, but the effect of the airflow can be made even more reliable by appropriately arranging the airflow. For example, each substrate 103A may be tilted lower toward the left in FIGS. 2 and 3 so that the airflow from the fan 150 directly hits the ejection opening of the recording head 101.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, an opening 180A facing the fan 150 and an opening 180A facing the recording head 101 are provided.
It is also possible to provide a duct 180 having B and guide the airflow to the recording head 101 via this duct 180.

Additionally, instead of being used as the cooling fan 150 as described above, a blowing means for forming an air flow may be separately arranged at an appropriate location. Further, the air blowing means may be driven only during printing, thereby minimizing drying of the nozzles 1o1a of the recording head 1 (11).

In any case, the blowing means used to remove the ink mist only needs to raise the pressure inside the apparatus slightly above atmospheric pressure, and even if the airflow formed thereby is minute, it is sufficiently effective.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, an inkjet recording apparatus that can reliably protect each part of the apparatus including the electric circuit from ink mist and the like has been realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cover of the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is partially removed; The figure is a side sectional view of the device according to the embodiment, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of the connecting part between the main body unit tank and the supply tube in the device according to the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Main unit part, 1a... Upper unit, 1b... Lower unit, 5... Cover, 9... Ejection port, 9A... Ejection tray, 11... Hinge, 101. ... Recording head, 1018, 231A ... Rotating joint, 1018.
231B...0 ring, 103...Electric circuit section, 103A...Board, 111.113, 115...Roller, 117...Motor, 119...Timing belt, 150...Cooling fan , 180... Duct, 201... Paper guide, 203... Platen, 213.215... Idler, 221... Paper cassette, 225... Bottom plate, 231... Ink tank, 233... ... Supply tube, 235 ... Ink absorber.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A recording head for ejecting ink, a blowing means for taking outside air into the device, and an opening for leading the taken outside air out of the device, An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that the opening is provided near the recording head. 2) In the inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, the blowing means includes a fan for taking in outside air and a member for guiding the taken in outside air to the recording head, and An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that the inkjet recording apparatus is provided near the recording head on a housing member that houses each part of the apparatus including the recording head. 3) In the inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, the storage member is a member that covers each part including a drive circuit that drives the recording head and a conveyance system for the recording medium, and An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that the pressure means is also used as an air blowing member for cooling each of the parts. 4) In the inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the storage member has an outlet for discharging the recording medium that has been recorded by the conveyance system, An inkjet recording device characterized in that the discharge port also serves as the opening.