JPS637945A - Cap apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the collision of a recording head with a cap or the locking of a carriage with a lock member, by detecting a first position electrically in such a state that the cap is spaced apart from the recording head when a power source is closed to allow the carriage to run. CONSTITUTION:A detection mechanism 48 sets a range electrically detecting that a cap holder 28 is present at a first position so as to make the same narrower than a range physically detecting that the cap holder 28 is present at the first position. When the cap holder 28 is present at a position other than the first position, the detection mechanism 48 electrically judges that the cap holder 28 is present at a second position and, therefore, a judge range becomes wide. That is, a detection switch 48b is turned ON and a range electrically detecting that the cap holder 28 is present at the first position becomes narrow. By this constitution, when the detection switch 48b of the detection mechanism 48 is turned OFF when a power source is closed, a carriage 14 becomes possible to run without receiving any hindrance.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a cap that is movable toward and away from a carriage on which a recording head is mounted, and which closes the recording head and locks the carriage when in contact with the carriage. The present invention relates to a cap device including an inkjet cap device, for example, an inkjet cap device.

[Prior Art] In a conventional inkjet capping device, when the orifice surface of a recording head is sealed with a cap, at the same time as this sealing operation, a locking member of the capping device locks the carriage on which the recording head is mounted, and the carriage is locked. There are some things that I have to keep for 8 days. In this way, since the locking member of the capping device locks the carriage, the capping device has a large stroke to move toward and away from the recording head.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In such an inkjet cap device, while the cap is moving toward the carriage,
When the power of the recording apparatus is turned off, the locking member of the capping device operates to approach the carriage. When the power is turned on next time, the positions of the cap and locking member are stored in memory as they were when the power was turned off, and although they are electrically detected as being separated from the recording head and carriage, they are actually In this case, the cap closes the recording head, and the locking member locks the carriage. In this way, although it is electrically determined that the cap and locking member are separated from the recording head and carriage, the movement of the carriage is blocked by the locking member, so an error state occurs and the recording device is unable to troubleshoot. will be done.

In addition, when detecting the position of the cap, if an undefined state is created between the state where the cap is sufficiently separated from the recording head and the state where the cap is blocked, this undefined state will be resolved when the power is turned on. Otherwise, problems will occur in the carriage.

Furthermore, even in a recording device that has a complicated and expensive power-off sequence, the same problem as described above will occur if the power outlet is suddenly unplugged.

This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide a cap device that can prevent unnecessary collision between a recording head and a cap and unnecessary locking between a carriage and a locking member. That's true.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a cap device according to the present invention is provided so as to be able to move toward and away from a carriage on which a recording head is mounted, and which closes off the recording head while in contact with the carriage. a driving means for moving the cap between a first position in which the carriage is allowed to travel and a second position in which the recording head is closed and the carriage is locked; In the first position,
It is characterized by comprising a detection means for electrically detecting movement of the cap from the first position to the second position.

[Function] In the cap device according to the present invention, the physically unstable area is eliminated when the cap is separated from the recording head when the power is turned on, and the carriage is moved when the first position is electrically detected. I am trying to allow it to run.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, a case where an embodiment of the capping device according to the present invention is applied to an inkjet recording device will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, this inkjet recording apparatus 10
includes a carriage 14 that is slidably guided parallel to the platen 16 by a pair of guide rails 12a and 12b. This carriage 14 has a platen 1
A recording head 18 having an orifice 18a for ejecting ink is mounted on the surface facing the recording head 6. Further, on one side of the carriage 14, a home position sensor 2 is provided which is used when the carriage 14 is returned to the home position.
A bottle 22 is protruded as a detection portion that turns on the signal 0 and detects that the carriage 14 is at the home position.

An inkjet cap device 24 as a cap device for locking the carriage 14 at the home position and closing the recording head 18 mounted on the carriage 14 is provided opposite the carriage 14 at the home position.

The inkjet cap device 24 includes a base 26, as also shown in FIG. A guide hole 30 is formed in the upper surface of the base 26 to guide the cap holder 28 so that it can slide toward and away from the carriage 14 .

A cap 32 capable of closing the recording head 18 is provided on the side surface of the cap holder 28 facing the recording head 18 . When the cap holder 28 is close to the recording head 18 and the cap 32 is in contact with the recording head 18, the recording head 18 is closed by the cap 32.

On the other hand, the cap holder 2 provided with this cap 32
A pair of protrusions 34a, 34b that function as carriage lock members are provided on both side edges of the side surface of the cap 32.
In the closed state, the carriage 14 is held between both sides as shown in FIG. 3, and movement of the carriage 14 is locked. By locking the carriage 14 in this way, when handling the recording device 10 during transportation or storage,
In addition to preventing ink from leaking from the recording head 18,
The recording head 18 can be securely fixed.

Next, the drive mechanism of this cap device 24 will be explained.

The cap holder 28 is always urged toward the recording head 18 by a coil spring 36 provided on the back surface thereof. A driven pin 38 is provided protruding from one side of the cap holder 28 .

The tip of this driven pin 38 is inserted into a cam groove 40, which will be described later. On the other hand, facing one side of the cap holder 28, a driven gear 42 is rotatably attached to the side wall of the base 26 via a shaft 42a. This driven gear 42
The aforementioned cam groove 40 is formed on the surface facing the cap holder 28 . This cam groove 40 is formed in a circular shape and is arranged eccentrically from the rotation center of the driven gear 42. The driven pin 38 comes into contact with the circumferential surface of the cam groove 40 due to the biasing force of the coil spring 35, and the stop position of the cap holder 28 is defined at this contact position.

Further, a small-diameter drive gear 44 meshes with the driven gear 42 . This drive gear 44 is coaxially fixed to a drive shaft 46a of a drive motor 46.

Since the drive mechanism is configured in this way, the driven gear 42 rotates in accordance with the drive of the drive motor 46, and as a result, the driven gear 42 rotates in accordance with the drive of the drive motor 46, and as a result, the driven The distance from the rotation center of gear 42 changes. In this way, the cap holder 28 is attached to the carriage 14
And contact with the recording head 18! ! Il! It will work.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the portion of the circumferential surface of the cam groove 40 that the driven pin 38 is in contact with
When the driven pin 38 is at the closest position to the rotation center of the coil spring 36 due to the circumferential surface of the cam groove 40,
Therefore, the cap holder 28 is held at the first position away from the carriage 14 and the recording head 18. By locating the cap holder 28 in this first position, the carriage 14 can freely travel without being obstructed by the cap holder 28.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the driven gear 42 rotates 180 degrees from the first position, and the portion of the circumferential surface of the cam groove 40 that the driven pin 38 is in contact with is rotated by the driven gear 42. When the driven pin 38 is at the farthest position from the rotation center, the driven pin 38 is pushed into contact with the curved surface of the cam groove 40 by the biasing force of the coil spring 36, and the cap holder 28 is therefore engaged with the carriage 14. is brought to a second position. By positioning the cap holder 28 in this second position, the carriage 14 is engaged with the cap holder 28 and is locked from traveling, and the recording head 18
is closed by a cap 32.

Note that the first position described above depends on the shape of the cam groove 40.
Even if the driven gear 42 is rotated within a small range from the position shown in FIG.
The position is maintained.

The driven gear 42 is provided with a detection mechanism 48 that detects the position of the cap holder 28 based on the rotational position of the driven gear 42, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. This detection mechanism 48 includes an eccentric cam disc 48a eccentrically attached to the shaft 42a of the driven gear 42, and an eccentric cam disc 48a eccentrically attached to the shaft 42a of the driven gear 42
Detection switch 48 turned on and off by the large diameter portion of 8a
b. As shown in FIG.
When the cap holder 8b is off, it is electrically detected that the cap holder 28 is in the first spaced position, and when it is on, it is electrically detected that the cap holder 28 is in the second position.

In particular, according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, even when the driven gear 42 rotates, the detection switch 48b is activated while the cap holder 28 is held substantially in the first position. The detection mechanism 48 is turned on by the eccentric cam disc 48a rotated by the rotation of the driven gear 42.
is configured.

That is, this detection mechanism 48 is configured such that the cap holder 28 is
The range in which it is electrically detected that the cap holder 28 is in the first position is set to be narrower than the range in which the cap holder 28 is physically in the first position.

The operation of the recording apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described below.

First, assume that the power of the recording apparatus 10 is once turned off and then turned on again while the driven gear 42 is rotating and the locking members 34a and 34b of the cap holder 28 are protruding. In this case, the carriage 14 is moved to the platen 1
If the carriage 14 is controlled to be immediately moved to the 6 side, since the carriage 14 is locked by the locking members 34a and 34b, the pulse motor (not shown) that drives the carriage 14 may run out of synchronization or otherwise cause a feeding failure. , an error condition may occur that prevents the vehicle from running.

For this reason, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, after power is turned on, it is determined in step S1 whether the cap holder 28 is in the second position, and when it is in the second position, the cap holder 28 is removed in step S2. The holder 28 is moved eight times to the first position. Further, if it is determined in step S1 that the cap holder 28 is not in the second position, in step S3, the cap holder 28 is
After the cap holder 28 is once brought to the second position, the cap holder 28 is moved to the first position in step S2.

By controlling the drive of the cap holder 28 in this way, it is certainly possible to avoid the above-mentioned running problems and non-running states, but the following problems still remain. That is, if the power of the recording device 10 is turned off immediately before the carriage 14 returns to the home position,
As shown in FIG. 8, the recording head 18 is positioned on the moving path of the locking members 34a and 34b. Therefore, when the power is turned on again, the cap holder 28
is brought into the second position, the locking member 3
4a and 34b may come into direct contact with the recording head 18, causing damage to the recording head 18.

However, according to this embodiment, as shown in the timing chart of FIG.
When the cap holder 28 is at a position other than , the detection mechanism 48 electrically determines that the cap holder 28 is at the second position, so the range of determination in step S1 is wide. That is, the range in which it is detected that the detection switch 48b is turned on and electrically in the first position becomes narrow. In this way, when the power is turned on, the detection switch 48 of the detection mechanism 48
If b is turned off, the carriage 14 can travel without any hindrance.

Incidentally, if it is detected in step S1 that the cap holder 28 is not in the second position, the carriage 14 returns to the home position and after turning on the home position sensor 20, step S3 is executed. being done.

As described in detail above, according to this embodiment, even if the power of the recording device is turned off in any state, the cap holder is detected to be electrically in the first position when the power is turned on again. When this happens, the carriage is always allowed to run freely, and if it is electrically in the second position, the carriage is always at the home position, so unnecessary collisions between the cap and the recording head and collisions between the locking member and the carriage are ensured. This will improve the reliability of the 8-movement operation of the cap.

Note that this invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the detection mechanism for detecting the position of the cap holder is described as having only one detection switch that detects only the first position of the cap holder. It is also possible to provide two detection switches that respectively detect the second position and the second position. In this case, an undefined area is formed between the first and second positions, but when this undefined area is electrically processed in the same manner as the second position, the single detection switch described above is provided. It will be possible to achieve a similar effect.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, the cap device according to the present invention has the following effects:
a cap that is movable toward and away from the carriage on which the recording head is mounted and that closes the recording head when in contact with the carriage; a first position that allows the carriage to travel; a drive means for moving the carriage between a locking second position; and an electric drive means for moving the cap from the first position to the second position with the cap substantially in the first position. It is characterized by comprising a detection means for detecting the Therefore,
According to the present invention, a cap device is provided that can prevent unnecessary collision between the recording head and the cap and unnecessary locking between the carriage and the locking member.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view showing a recording device to which an embodiment of the capping device according to the present invention is applied, with the cap holder in the first position, and FIG. 2 is a top view showing the capping device shown in FIG. 1 taken out. 3 is a top view showing the recording device shown in FIG. 1 with the cap holder in the second position, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the recording device shown in FIG. , respectively the first and second
Fig. 6 is a timing chart showing the timing at which the detection mechanism detects the position of the cap holder, Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the drive control contents of the cap holder, and Fig. 8 is a conventional FIG. 3 is a top view of the recording device showing a problem. In the figure, 10--Recording device, 12a, 12b''-Guide shaft, 14--Carriage, 16--Platen, 18
... Recording head, 18a... Orifice, 20...
・Home position sensor, 22-... detection bin, 24
... Inkjet cap device, 26... Base, 28... Cap holder, 30-... Guide groove, 3
2... Cap, 34a, 34b... Lock member (
protrusion), 36... coil spring, 38... driven pin, 40... cam groove, 42... driven gear, 44...
... Drive gear, 46... Motor, 46a... Drive shaft, 48... Detection mechanism, 48a... Eccentric cam disc, 4
8b...Detection switch. Patent applicant: Canon Co., Ltd. No. Im No. 2 (!1 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 8

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A cap that is provided so as to be movable toward and away from a carriage on which a recording head is mounted, and which closes the recording head while in contact with the carriage; A first position in which the cap is positioned to allow the carriage to travel; a driving means for moving the recording head between the first position and a second position for closing the recording head and locking the carriage; A cap device comprising a detection means for electrically detecting movement of the cap.