KR100385055B1 - apparatus for adjusting a head-gab of ink-jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

A transfer bracket on which an ink cartridge having a head is supported; A shaft on which the transfer bracket is movably supported; A bushing member installed eccentrically and rotatably installed on the main frame; An inkjet printer head gap adjusting device comprising a conveying means for reciprocating a conveying bracket in a longitudinal direction of a shaft, comprising: a rotating lever provided on a bushing member; Rotating means for rotating the rotating lever in one direction to increase or decrease the head gap between the head and the printing paper; Restraining / releasing means for selectively restraining and releasing rotation of the rotation lever rotated by the rotation means in the opposite direction; Return means for forcibly returning the rotation lever released by the restraint / release means in the opposite direction; And a control unit for controlling the restraining / releasing means according to the type of the printed paper inputted. The head gap adjusting apparatus of the inkjet printer is disclosed. According to the disclosed head gap adjusting device, the head gap can be adjusted automatically, which is convenient to use.

Description

Headgap for ink jet printers {apparatus for adjusting a head-gab of ink-jet printer}

The present invention relates to a headgap adjusting device of an inkjet printer, and more particularly, to a headgap adjusting device of an inkjet printer capable of automatically adjusting the headgap.

In general, as shown in FIG. 1, an inkjet printer is provided with a head transfer bracket 3 which is supported and moved by a shaft 2 installed in the main frame 1, and is installed on the transfer bracket 3. An ink cartridge 4a having 4a, transfer means for reciprocating the transfer bracket 3 in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 2, and a head gap G between the head 4a and the printing paper P And a head gap adjusting means for adjusting the pressure. The head 4a moves in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 2 to supply ink to the printing paper P to print the input data on the printing paper P. The conveying means includes a conveying belt 5 installed on the main frame 1 to be circulated in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 2, a motor 6 which circulates the conveying belt 5, and the like. The conveying belt 5 is circulated by the driving force of the motor 6 while supporting the conveying bracket 3 to move the conveying bracket 3 to the left and right directions. The head gap adjusting means is for adjusting the head gap (G) according to the thickness of the printing paper (P) to be supplied, a bushing member (7) rotatably installed on the main frame (1), and the bushing member ( And a lever 8 for rotating 7). As shown in FIG. 2A, the shaft 2 is eccentrically installed in the bushing member 7. Thus, for example, when printing on thick printing paper such as an envelope, the user lifts the shaft 2 as shown in FIG. 2B by turning the lever 8 protruding out of the set in the A direction, In contrast, when printing on printing paper such as normal A4 paper, the lever 8 is rotated again in the B direction to lower the position of the shaft 2. In this way, the size of the head gap G can be adjusted by turning the lever 8 to change the height of the shaft 2.

However, in the conventional head gap adjusting device having the above configuration, the user should determine the material and thickness of the printing paper and adjust the head gap by turning the lever directly. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that it is inconvenient to use and cumbersome.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a head gap adjusting device of an inkjet printer having an improved structure to automatically adjust the head gap according to the type of input paper.

1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a head gap adjusting device of a conventional inkjet printer.

2A and 2B are views for explaining an operating state of the bushing member shown in FIG.

Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a head gap adjusting device of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic front view of the head gap adjusting device shown in FIG.

5A and 5B are schematic views for explaining the operating states of the main parts of the head gap adjusting device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the head gap adjusting device shown in FIG. 3. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II of FIG. 6. FIG.

8 is a view for explaining a state in which the transfer bracket is moved to the left in the state of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view for explaining the state of FIG. 7 in a side view. FIG.

<Description of Symbols for Major Parts of Drawings>

10..Mainframe 13..Transfer Bracket

14. Tilt rib 15. Shaft

16..Feeding roller 20..Ink cartridge

21. Head 30. Bushing member

31. Rotating lever 40. Transfer means

41 .. Transfer belt 43. Carrier motor

50. Control unit 61. Drive motor

63..Main Gear 65..Swing Arm

66..Swing Gear 86,70..Spring

An apparatus for adjusting a head gap of an inkjet printer according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes a transfer bracket on which an ink cartridge having a head is supported; A shaft on which the transfer bracket is movably supported; A bushing member installed eccentrically and rotatably installed on the main frame; An apparatus for adjusting a head gap of an inkjet printer, comprising: a conveying means for reciprocating said conveying bracket in a longitudinal direction of said shaft, comprising: a rotating lever mounted to said bushing member; Rotating means for rotating the rotating lever in one direction to increase or decrease the head gap between the head and the printing paper; Restraining / releasing means for selectively restraining and releasing rotation of the rotation lever rotated by the rotation means in the opposite direction; Return means for forcibly returning the rotation lever released by the restraint / release means in the opposite direction; And a control unit for controlling the restraint / release means according to the type of the input paper.

Hereinafter, a head gap adjusting apparatus of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 and 4, the head gap adjusting apparatus of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a main frame 10 and a transfer bracket 13 on which the ink cartridge 20 having the head 21 is supported. ), A shaft 15 on which the transfer bracket 13 is movably supported, a bushing member 30 eccentrically installed and having a pivoting lever 31, and the transfer bracket 13 ) Is provided with a conveying means 40 for reciprocating the shaft 15 in the longitudinal direction, a rotating means, a restraining / releasing means, a returning means and a controller 50.

The main frame 10 has a feeding roller 16 for supplying printing paper P to the lower end of the head 21, and a backup roller 17 rotated to face the feeding roller 16 so as to be rotatable. Is installed. The feeding roller 16 is rotated by receiving the driving force of the drive motor 61 to be described later.

The head 21 is provided to maintain a predetermined distance, that is, the head gap G, between the printing paper P. In addition, the ink cartridge 20 having the head 21 is detachably mounted to the transfer bracket 13. The conveying bracket 13 is movably supported on the shaft 15 and guided by the shaft 15 when moved in the axial direction, ie, the left and right directions of the shaft 15.

The conveying means 40 for moving the conveying bracket 13 in the left and right directions includes a conveying belt 41 mounted to the main frame 10 so as to be movable, and a carrier motor for driving the conveying belt 41. 43). The conveying bracket 13 is connected to the conveying belt 41, and the conveying bracket 13 is dragged by the conveying belt 41. In addition, the transfer belt 41 is supported on the support roller 45, etc. installed on the main frame 10, and has a predetermined tension by a known tension holding means including a spring or the like not shown. The carrier motor 43 may be installed on the main frame 10 to rotate the support roller 45 by rotating the transfer belt, and transmit power to the support roller 45 by a transfer belt that is a separate power transmission means. Can be.

The shaft 15 is eccentrically installed in the bushing member 30 rotatably installed in the main frame 10. Therefore, when the bushing member 30 rotates, the shaft 15 is finely moved in the vertical direction and the left and right directions. In particular, when the bushing member 30 is rotated by a predetermined angle, the head gap G may be adjusted by moving the shaft 15 a predetermined distance in the vertical direction.

On the other hand, the bushing member 30 has a rotation lever 31 extending to one side. The pivot lever 31 may be integrally formed with the bushing member 30. Therefore, when the rotation lever 31 is rotated by a predetermined angle, the bushing member 30 is also rotated together, so that the head gap G can be adjusted. As such, the rotation means for forcibly rotating the rotation lever 31 in at least one direction to increase or decrease the head gap G includes an inclined rib 14 provided in the transfer bracket 13. In the present embodiment, the rotation means will be described as forcibly rotating the rotation lever 31 in the A direction at an initial position where the head gap G is relatively small, thereby increasing the head gap G. To this end, as shown in FIG. 5A, the shaft 15 is centered in the first position (x1, −) as shown by the solid line before the bushing member 30 is rotated in the A direction. y1). And, after being rotated, the center of the shaft 15 is moved to the second position (x1, y1) increased + 2y from the first position (x1, -y1). When moved in this way, the predetermined variable gap Gy increases in the y-axis direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the bushing member 30 is rotated by a predetermined angle so that α1 and α2 are the same angle, the center of the shaft 15 does not change the x value but only the y value. Thus, in order to increase the head gap G, the inclined rib 14 for rotating the pivoting lever 31 in the A direction has an inclined surface 14a in contact with the pivoting lever 31, and the transfer bracket 13 It is formed integrally with. The inclined surface 14a is formed to be inclined toward the left side, that is, the rotation lever 31 side. The inclined surface 14a pushes up the pivoting lever 31 while contacting the bottom of the pivoting lever 31 when the conveying bracket 13 is moved to the left by the conveying means 40. Therefore, the rotation lever 31 can be rotated in the A direction by being pushed by the inclined surface 14a.

The restraining / releasing means is for selectively restraining or allowing the pivoting lever 31 moved in the A direction to be rotated again in the B direction opposite thereto. 3, 6, and 7, the restraint / release means may include a drive motor 61 installed on the main frame 10, a main gear 63 rotatable by the drive motor 61, and Swing arm 65 is rotatably installed on the support shaft (63a) of the main gear (63), and swing gear is rotatably installed on the swing arm (65) and gear-coupled to the main gear (63) (66). The drive motor 61 is controlled by the controller 50 to selectively rotate the main gear 63 in either direction. In the present embodiment, the drive motor 61 and the main gear 63 are connected by the connecting gear 64. The support shaft 63a of the main gear 63 is fixed to the main frame 10. The swing arm 65 is installed on the support shaft 63a so as to be freely rotatable, and is selectively moved in and out of the rotation range of the rotation lever 31 according to the rotation direction of the main gear 63. Therefore, when the swing arm 65 is rotated in the A direction after the pivoting lever 31 is pushed by the inclined surface 14 and rotated in the A direction, the pivot lever 31 is caught by the swing arm 65 in the B direction. Movement is suppressed. At this time, the locking jaws 31a and 65a which are complementary to each of the swing arm 65 and the pivoting lever 31 so as to suppress the contact between the pivoting lever 31 and the swing arm 65 are separated. Is formed. When the locking jaws 31a and 65a are engaged with each other, the swing arm 65 holding the pivoting lever 31 can be prevented from sliding and rotating in the B direction. In addition, a stopper 10a is provided on the main frame 10 to prevent the swing arm 65 from being excessively rotated in the A direction.

On the other hand, the swing gear 66 is rotatably installed in the boss (65b) of the swing arm (65). The fixing pin 62 is coupled to the boss 65 to prevent the swing gear 66 from being separated. In addition, in order to provide a predetermined friction force between the swing gear 66 and the swing arm 65, a spring 68 is provided on the fixing pin 62. In the above configuration, when an external force is applied to the swing arm 65, the swing gear 66 is turned around by receiving the rotational force of the main gear 63. On the contrary, when no external force is applied to the swing arm 65, the swing gear 66 may be rotated together with the swing arm 65 without turning by the friction force of the spring 68.

In addition, the return means is for rotating the rotation lever 31 rotated in the A direction to the B direction to return to the initial position. This return means has a spring 70 for elastically pressing the pivoting lever 31 in the B direction. One end of the spring 70 is connected to the rotation lever 31, the other end is connected to the main frame 10.

On the other hand, the drive motor 61 not only drives the main gear 63 in rotation, but also, as described above, is a power source for rotating the feeding roller 16. To this end, the shaft gear 16a of the feeding gear 16 is connected to the shaft gear 61a of the drive motor 61 by a predetermined power transmission means.

Referring to the operation of the head gap adjusting apparatus of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration is as follows.

First, referring to FIG. 6, it is not necessary to increase the head gap G when using a printing paper P1 such as A4 paper. In this state, the rotation lever 31 is located at the initial position, that is, the first positions x1 and -y1 not rotated in the A direction, as shown by the solid line in Fig. 5A. In this state, the feeding roller 16 receiving the power of the drive motor 61 is rotated to transfer the printing paper P1 to the head gap G. Then, the head 21 jets ink onto the printing paper P1 to print a predetermined image.

On the other hand, when a signal for printing on printing paper such as an envelope thicker than normal paper is input to the controller 50, the controller 50 controls the driving of the transfer means 40 to the left of the transfer bracket 13. Move to. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the inclined rib 14 is in contact with the bottom of the rotation lever 31. Then, if the transfer bracket 13 is further moved to the left side, the pivoting lever 31 is lifted by the inclined surface 14a of the inclined rib 14 to be in a state as shown in FIG. In this state, the controller 50 controls the driving of the drive motor 61 to rotate the main gear 63 in the A direction by a predetermined angle. Then, the swing gear 66 tries to rotate in the B direction. At this time, the friction force by the spring 68 acts between the swing gear 66 and the swing arm 65, and the free rotation of the swing gear 66 is constrained by this friction force. Accordingly, the swing gear 66 is rotated in the A direction together with the swing arm 65 and moved to the position as shown by the virtual line. When the swing arm 65 is caught by the stopper 10a, the swing arm 65 is no longer rotated. In this case, the swing gear 66 beats the frictional force by the spring 68.

On the other hand, when the state as described above, the tip of the swing arm 65 is located in the rotation range of the rotation lever 31, that is, the lower side of the rotation lever 31. In this state, the transfer bracket 13 of FIG. 8 is moved to the right to separate the contact between the inclined rib 14 and the rotation lever 31. Then, the pivoting lever 31 is rotated slightly in the B direction by the elastic force of the spring 70, and is caught by the end of the swing arm 65 to be in the same state as the virtual line of FIG. 5A. At this time, each of the engaging jaw (31a) (65a) is caught to cross each other so that the swing arm 65 can continue to restrain the rotation of the rotation lever 31 in the B direction.

Meanwhile, since the center of the shaft 15 is moved to the second position (x1, + y1), the head gap G is increased by the variable gap Gy from the initial state. When the driving motor 61 is driven in this state, the printing paper P2 (see Fig. 8) such as an envelope is supplied to the head gap G by the feeding roller 16. Then, since the gap between the head 21 and the printing paper is maintained at an appropriate level, it is possible to normally print on an envelope thicker than printing paper such as general A4 paper. Here, even when driving the drive motor 61 to rotate the feeding roller 16, power is transmitted to the swing gear 66, but because the swing arm 65 is constrained to the rotation lever 31 The swing gear 66 is idle.

On the other hand, when a signal indicating that printing on A4 paper is input again to the controller 50 while the head gap G is increased, the controller 50 moves the transfer bracket 13 to the left as described above with reference to FIG. 8. The rotary lever 31 is lifted to the state shown in FIG. Then, in the controller 50, when the rotational direction on the drive motor 61 is driven in the B direction, the main gear 63 is rotated in the B direction, and the swing arm 65 is also B together with the swing gear 66. It is rotated in the direction and is out of the rotation range of the rotation lever 31. As such, when the swing arm 65 is out of the rotation range of the rotation lever 31, the control unit 50 slowly moves the transfer bracket 13 to the position as shown by the imaginary line of FIG. 8. Then, while the contact between the inclined rib 14 and the rotation lever 31 is gradually separated, the rotation lever 31 is rotated in the B direction by the elastic force of the spring 70 to return to the position as shown by the solid line in FIG. 5A. do. In this case, the shaft 15 returns to the first positions x1 and -y1, and the head gap G is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to normally print on printing paper such as A4 paper which is relatively thinner than the envelope.

According to the head gap adjusting apparatus of the inkjet printer of the present invention as described above, when the information on the type of the printing paper is input at the time of the printing command, the control unit 50 according to the type of the printing paper input the head gap (G). ) Can be increased or decreased automatically. Therefore, the user does not need to manually adjust the head gap, which makes it convenient to use and prevents printing errors due to misoperation.

In addition, since the head gap can be automatically adjusted by using the surplus power of the driving motor and the carrier motor which are the driving sources of the feeding roller, the number of parts and the cost can be reduced.

Claims (6)

A transfer bracket on which an ink cartridge having a head is supported; A shaft on which the transfer bracket is movably supported; A bushing member installed eccentrically and rotatably installed on the main frame; In the head gap adjusting apparatus of the inkjet printer comprising a transfer means for reciprocating the transfer bracket in the longitudinal direction of the shaft, A rotation lever installed on the bushing member; Rotating means for rotating the rotating lever in one direction to increase or decrease the head gap between the head and the printing paper; Restraining / releasing means for selectively restraining and releasing rotation of the rotation lever rotated by the rotation means in the opposite direction; Return means for forcibly returning the rotation lever released by the restraint / release means in the opposite direction; And And a control unit for controlling the restraint / release means according to the type of the input paper. The method of claim 1, wherein the rotation means, And an inclined rib installed on the conveying bracket and having an inclined surface which rotates by rotating the pivoting lever in one direction when the conveying bracket is moved toward the pivoting lever side. The method of claim 1, wherein the restraint / release means, A motor; A main gear installed in the main frame and rotatable in both directions by the motor; A swing arm installed freely on a support shaft of the main gear, the swing arm being selectively moved in and out of the rotation range of the pivot lever according to the rotation direction of the main gear to restrain and release the movement of the pivot lever; And And a swing gear rotatably installed on the swing arm so as to have a predetermined friction force with the swing arm, the swing gear being rotated by being coupled to the main gear. The method of claim 3, Each of the swing arm and the pivot lever is provided with engaging jaws complimentary to each other, so that the contact between the swing arm and the pivot lever is prevented from being separated by slipping. . The method of claim 3, And the motor is connected by the feeding roller and a power transmission means to selectively interlock a feeding roller for supplying printing paper to the head gap. The method of claim 1, wherein the return means, One end is connected to the rotation member and the other end is connected to the main frame head gap adjustment apparatus of the inkjet printer, characterized in that it comprises a spring for elastically pressing the rotation member in the opposite direction of the one direction.