KR100402794B1 - An ink-jet printer having an apparatus for drying ink - Google Patents

Abstract

An inkjet printer according to the present invention includes a conveying device unit for conveying paper fed from the paper feeder unit, and a head carriage assembly for transporting and supporting a print head for printing on the paper conveyed by the conveying device unit. An air inlet including a printing device portion, a base frame serving as a support for the paper, and a paper discharge portion for discharging the printed paper from the printing device portion, and having an opening opened in a direction in which the head carriage assembly is to move for printing. And at least one ink drying device comprising an air outlet having an outlet open in the direction of the base frame on which the paper is placed, and a connection passage connecting the air inlet and the air outlet to the head carriage assembly. According to the present invention, since the ink drying apparatus is installed in the head carriage assembly, air can be ejected toward the printing portion of the paper by the speed at which the head carriage assembly moves when the head carriage assembly moves for printing. As a result, the printed paper is dried, and the printing time is shortened after printing, thereby enabling high speed printing.

Description

An ink-jet printer having an apparatus for drying ink}

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly, to an inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus for shortening the drying time of ink after printing to enable high speed printing.

In general, computer users document computer-generated data or files by printing them to a printer, and various types of printers are used to document the data or files. For example, an inkjet printer performs a print job by causing bubbles generated by heating ink stored in a cartridge to be sprayed onto a sheet in a predetermined form through a nozzle.

The conventional inkjet printer 10 transfers the paper P from the paper feeder unit 20 and the paper feeder unit 20 on which the paper P is loaded, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The printing device unit 40 for performing a printing operation on the paper P conveyed by the conveying device unit 30, the paper P printed by the printing device unit 40, and the like. It consists of a paper discharge unit 60 for discharging.

Referring to the operation of the inkjet printer 10, as shown in Fig. 2, the paper P loaded in the state of being elastically supported by the lock-up spring 21 in the paper feeder unit 20 is a pickup roller ( It is picked up by 22) and then supplied to the conveying device section 30. Then, the paper P is conveyed to the printing apparatus section 40 by the rotation of the feed roller 31 and the friction roller 32 of the conveying section 30. When the paper P is transferred from the transfer device unit 30 to the printing device unit 40, the head carriage assembly driving motor 45 is operated to drive the belt 43. Accordingly, the print head 41 mounted on the head carriage 46 of the head carriage assembly of the printing device unit 40 is transferred from the transfer device unit 30 while moving left and right along the carriage shaft 42. Data is printed by spraying ink on the paper P. FIG. The paper P on which data is printed by ink sprayed from the nozzle 41a of the print head 41 gradually moves on the base frame 50 to reach the paper discharge section 60, and then the discharge roller 61 And the star wheel 62 are discharged.

However, such a conventional inkjet printer 10 uses a method of spraying ink onto the paper P in order to print a document on the paper P. When outputting the printed paper (P), there is a problem that the contents printed on the paper (P) that is output in front of it may be damaged by overlapping by the paper (P) that is output later. Therefore, the conventional inkjet printer 10, unlike the thermal transfer printer in spite of the continuous improvement of the ink composition, it was necessary to dry the ink for a predetermined time after printing, which is a stumbling block to high-speed printing and print speed improvement It is becoming.

Another inkjet printer using a method of arranging the guard 63 near the paper outlet of the inkjet printer, as shown in Figs. 10 ') has been proposed. The guard 63 of this printer 10 'is placed until the next sheet of paper P is output so that the sheet of paper P that is output immediately afterwards does not directly touch the sheet of paper P that has been output. Support P) in an inclined state. The paper P placed on the guard 63 in an inclined state falls on the paper P in the discharge tray 64 output just before it by the force when the next paper P is output.

Such a conventional inkjet printer 10 ', by delaying the mutual overlap of the output paper P during the time that the contents of one page is printed to some extent can achieve the effect of preventing damage to the printed contents, but the ink is natural In order to achieve high speed printing by improving the performance of the printer by manually drying depending on drying, the printing speed cannot be improved more than a certain rate due to the low speed drying, and one page may be lost, such as when the ink is suddenly excessively sprayed. If the ink on the printed paper does not dry completely during printing, there is a problem that the print content may still appear damaged.

An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus for shortening the drying time of ink after printing to enable high speed printing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus capable of preventing damage to printing contents due to overlapping of printed sheets after printing.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus which operates only by the force that the head carriage assembly moves for printing without supplying external physical or electrical force or energy.

1 is a perspective view of main parts of a conventional inkjet printer.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of the inkjet printer shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3A and 3B are partial perspective views of another conventional inkjet printer provided with a guard for preventing damage to the print contents by the stacking of printed sheets after printing.

4 is a perspective view of main parts of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of the ink jet printer shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

6 is a perspective view of the head carriage assembly of the inkjet printer shown in FIG.

7 is a perspective view of the ink drying apparatus of the head carriage assembly shown in FIG.

8 is a perspective view of a head carriage assembly of an ink jet printer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10, 100: inkjet printer 20: paper feed unit

30: transfer unit 40: printing unit

41: printhead 42: carrier shaft

43: belt 45: head carriage assembly drive motor

46: head carriage 48: carrier shaft receiving portion

50: base frame 60: paper exit

63: guard 72: feed support

80, 80 ': ink drying apparatus 81, 81': air intake

82, 82 ': connecting passage 83, 83': air exhaust

90, 90 ': head carriage assembly

In order to achieve the above object, an inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus according to the present invention performs a printing on the paper conveyed by the conveying device unit and the conveying device unit for conveying the paper fed from the paper feeder unit An inkjet printer comprising a printing device unit including a head carriage assembly for transporting and supporting a print head, a base frame serving as a support for the paper, and a paper discharge unit for discharging paper printed from the printing device unit. The head carriage assembly draws air toward the print portion of the paper printed by the print head using only the force that the head carriage assembly moves when the head carriage assembly moves for printing without supplying external physical or electrical forces or energy. Comprising at least one ink drying means for generating Gong.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ink drying means includes an air inlet having an inlet open in the direction in which the head carriage assembly is to move for printing, and an air outlet having an outlet in the direction of the base frame on which the paper is placed. And an air acceleration passage having a connection passage connecting the air intake and the air outlet. The air acceleration passage is preferably formed to have a cross-sectional area that gradually decreases from the air inlet to the air outlet. Optionally, the air accelerator passages may consist of two air accelerator passages staggered in opposite directions to achieve the same ink drying effect in both left and right directions as the head carriage assembly moves in both directions for printing. Can be. In addition, the air accelerator passage may be provided with a heater consisting of a hot wire in at least one of the air intake, the connecting passage and the air discharge, preferably in the air discharge to improve the ink drying speed.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the ink drying means includes a fan for blowing air toward the printing portion of the paper printed by the print head, and the force of linear motion generated when the head carriage assembly moves left and right for printing. It is composed of a rotational motion converter for converting the rotational movement to a blowing fan to rotate the blowing fan, and a ratchet device for converting only linear motion in one direction during the left and right movement of the head carriage assembly.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in more detail an inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, in the entire drawing, the same components as in the prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the inkjet printer 100 according to the present invention includes a paper feeder unit 20 on which paper P is loaded, and a paper P fed from the paper feeder unit 20. ), A conveying device unit 30 for conveying), a printing device unit 40 for printing on the paper P conveyed by the conveying device unit 30, and a base frame serving as a support for the paper P. 50 and a paper discharge unit 60 for discharging the paper P printed by the printing device unit 40.

The printing device unit 40 includes a head carriage assembly (FIG. 6; 90) and a head carriage assembly 90 arranged to be movable left and right on the carrier shaft 42 so as to transport and support the print head 41. FIG. Connected with one of the two cog wheels above to drive the belt 43 and the belt 43 engaged by the two cog wheels in the longitudinal direction to the rear frame for transfer in the right direction. The head carriage assembly is composed of a drive motor 45.

As shown in FIG. 6, the head carriage assembly 90 for transporting and supporting the print head 41 includes a head carriage 46 and a head carriage 46 having a shape capable of receiving the print head 41. An ink drying device 80 arranged to surround both sides and the rear surface of the ink delivery device, and disposed behind the ink drying device 80 to inhale air and spray it toward the printed portion B of the paper P. 46 and the head carriage assembly transfer support portion 72 for supporting the ink drying apparatus (80). Here, the head carriage 46 and the ink drying apparatus 80 are illustrated as separately coupled and configured in the drawing, but may be formed integrally.

The head carriage assembly conveying support 72 includes a carrier shaft accommodating portion 48 for accommodating the carrier shaft 42 so that the head carriage assembly 90 can move along the carrier shaft 42, and the head carriage assembly 90. The head carriage assembly 90 is supported and moved along the tooth portion 75 engaged with the tooth portion formed on the inner surface of the belt 43 and the head carriage support rack 73 disposed longitudinally in the rear frame to convey the And a groove 74 for receiving and supporting the downwardly protruding end of the head carriage support rack 73.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the ink drying apparatus 80 is configured to supply air when the head carriage assembly 90 is transported by the head carriage assembly driving motor 45 which drives the belt 42 for printing. The air suction part 81 having the inlet 81a opened in the direction A to which the head carriage assembly 90 is to move, and the air sucked through the air suction part 81 of the paper P An air exhaust portion 83 having an outlet 83a open in the direction of the base frame 50 on which the paper P is placed to eject toward the printed portion B, the air intake portion 81 and the air exhaust portion ( 83 is composed of a connecting passage portion 82 for connecting. The ink drying apparatus 80 sucks air by the speed at which the head carriage assembly 90 moves when the head carriage assembly 90 moves for printing without supplying external physical force or energy. And blows air toward the printing portion B of the paper printed by the printhead 41 to dry the ink. The ink drying apparatus 80 has a cross-sectional area that gradually decreases from the air inlet 81 to the air outlet 83 according to Bernoulli's theorem in order to maximize the speed of the air discharged through the air outlet 83. It is preferable to configure to have a horn form. At this time, the speed of the air injected through the air discharge unit 83, that is, the ink drying efficiency is higher the faster the moving speed of the head carriage assembly 90, the ink drying speed as in the prior art inkjet printer The inkjet printer of the present invention is capable of high speed printing without restriction of the printing speed.

In order to double the ink drying speed, the ink drying apparatus 80 may install a heater 91 composed of hot wires in the air suction unit 81. In this embodiment, the heater 91 is illustrated as being installed in the air intake 81 for convenience of illustration, but in terms of thermal efficiency, the connection passage 82 to add direct heat to the printing portion of the paper (P) In particular, it is preferable to install in the air outlet 83. Both ends of the heater 91 are connected to a head connection pattern portion (not shown) for applying power to the print head 41 through electric wires or the like.

In addition, although the ink drying apparatus 80 is illustrated as being composed of only one in FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 8, the left and right bidirectional directions when the head carriage assembly 90 ′ moves left and right for printing. In order to obtain the same ink drying effect in all, it may be constituted by two ink drying apparatuses 80 and 80 'staggered in opposite directions. At this time, the installation form of the two ink drying apparatuses 80, 80 'is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. 8, and may be configured in any structure that does not interfere with the mounting of the print head 41.

Optionally, the ink drying apparatuses 80 and 80 'respectively include air intakes 81 and 81', connecting passages 82 and 82 'and air discharge portions 83 and 83' to double the ink drying speed. At least one of the heaters may be installed as a heating wire.

One thing to note here is that in this embodiment, the ink drying device 80 is described only as being composed of an air acceleration passage in the form of a horn, but it is installed in the head carriage assembly 90 and is provided by the print head 41. Installed in conjunction with a fan that blows air toward the printing part (B) of the printed paper, and the base frame or the rear frame of the printer, the linear motion generated when the head carriage assembly 90 moves left and right for printing. Rotational motion converters such as racks and pinions that rotate the blower fan by transferring the force to the blower fan, and converting only linear motion in one direction during left and right movement of the head carriage assembly 90 into the rotational fan. It is to be understood that it can also be configured as an air generating or accelerating device consisting of a device or the like.

The operation of the ink jet printer 100 according to the present invention configured as described above will now be described with reference to the ink drying apparatus 80 shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7.

In order to document the data created on the computer, when the user issues a print command, the paper P loaded in the paper feed section 20 of the printer 100 is picked up by the pickup roller 22, and thus the feed roller ( 31 and fed forward by the rotating pressure of the friction roller 32.

When the paper P is fed in this way, the head carriage assembly driving motor 45 is driven to move the belt 43 left and right. As the belt 43 is driven left and right, the head carriage assembly 90 is driven by the teeth 75 of the head carriage assembly conveying support 72 engaged with the inner surface teeth of the belt 43, and the head carriage is driven. The print head 41 mounted on the assembly 90 performs printing by spraying ink onto the paper P while reciprocating left and right. At this time, the ink drying apparatus 80 of the head carriage assembly 90, when the head carriage assembly 90 moves in the direction of the arrow (A) of Figure 6 according to the speed through the wide air intake 81 (81) The air is accelerated and injected into the printed portion B of the paper through the air outlet portion 83 which is inhaled and narrowed. Accordingly, the ink of the paper portion B printed by the print head 41 is dried by the air discharged through the air discharge section 83 immediately after being printed by the print head 41. In particular, when the heater 91 is attached to the air outlet 83 or when the two ink drying apparatuses 80 and 80 'are alternately arranged to intake / exhaust air in both directions, the ink is dried. Faster and complete drying.

In this way, the printed paper P is discharged through the star wheel 62 and the discharge roller 61 of the paper discharge unit 60 while the ink is dried.

As described above, the inkjet printer device of the present invention can shorten the drying time of the ink after printing to enable high-speed printing and can also prevent the damage of the print contents due to the overlapping of the printed paper after printing.

In addition, the inkjet printer apparatus of the present invention can dry the printed portion only by the force that the head carriage assembly moves for printing without supplying external physical or electrical force or energy.

In the above, specific preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made by any person having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the claims. .

Claims (6)

A printing device section including a conveying device section for conveying paper fed from the paper feeding device section, a head carriage assembly for transporting and supporting a print head for printing on the paper conveyed by the conveying device section, and An inkjet printer comprising a base frame serving as a pedestal and a paper discharge unit for discharging the printed paper from the printing device unit, The head carriage assembly has an air inlet, paper having an opening that is open in the direction in which the head carriage assembly is intended to move for printing, so as to discharge air toward the printing portion of the paper printed by the print head when moving for printing. An ink jet printer having an ink drying apparatus comprising an air discharge portion having an outlet opening in a direction of the base frame in which the light is placed, and a connection passage connecting the air suction portion and the air discharge portion. . delete The inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air acceleration passage is formed to have a cross-sectional area gradually decreasing from the air inlet to the air outlet. The air accelerator of claim 1 or 3, wherein the air accelerator passages are staggered in opposite directions to achieve the same ink drying effect in both left and right directions when the head carriage assembly moves in both left and right directions for printing. An inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus, characterized by two air acceleration passages. 5. An inkjet printer having an ink drying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the air accelerator passage is provided with a heater at at least one of the air inlet, the connecting passage, and the air outlet to increase the ink drying speed. A printing device section including a conveying device section for conveying paper fed from the paper feeding device section, a head carriage assembly for transporting and supporting a print head for printing on the paper conveyed by the conveying device section, and An inkjet printer comprising a base frame serving as a pedestal and a paper discharge unit for discharging the printed paper from the printing device unit, A blowing fan installed in the head carriage assembly and blowing air toward a printing portion of the paper printed by the print head; A rack installed in the base frame; A pinion connected to the blower fan installed in the head carriage assembly simultaneously with the rack to transfer the force of the linear motion generated when the head carriage assembly moves left and right for printing to the blower fan by converting the force into a rotational motion; And And an air generating device portion having a ratchet portion installed in the pinion so as to convert only linear movement in one direction during the left and right movements of the head carriage assembly.