JP3551835B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of keeping the moving amount of a body to be printed constant regardless of the remaining amount of an ink ribbon. SOLUTION: This printer is provided with a ribbon core 17 on which an ink ribbon 12 is wound, a winding core 30 for winding the ink ribbon 12, a tension member for applying load to the rotation of the ribbon core 17, and a platen roller 13 for feeding a tube 11 to a printing head 15. The winding core 30 and the platen roller 13 are rotated to feed out the ink ribbon 12 wound on the ribbon core 17 and the tube 11 to the printing head 15, and characters are printed on the tube 11. An encoder 55 for detecting the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 wound around the ribbon core 17, and a controller for changing the revolutions of the platen roller 13 in relation to the printing length according to the detected amount detected by the encoder 55 are provided.

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printer for printing characters and the like on a tube or tape for a label.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a printer that prints, for example, terminal numbers and the like of electrical equipment on a label tube or tape.
[0003]
Such a printer includes an ink ribbon core around which an ink ribbon is wound, a winding core for winding the ink ribbon sent from the ink ribbon core to a print head, and a feed roller for feeding a tape or the like to the print head. And The take-up core and the feed roller are rotated by one drive motor, and when the take-up core and the feed roller rotate, the ink ribbon is sent out from the ink ribbon core to the print head, and the tube and the like are sent to the print head. The printing is performed on this tape.
[0004]
By the way, a gear provided for the ink ribbon core is meshed with a gear for tension so that the ink ribbon sent from the ink ribbon core is not loosened, thereby applying a load to the rotation of the ink ribbon core.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In such a printer, as the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ink ribbon core decreases, as shown in FIG. 4, the roll diameter R of the wound ink ribbon 1 decreases. To go. For this reason, the tension gear 4 meshes with the gear 3 of the ink ribbon core 2 to apply a constant load to the ink ribbon core 2, so that a load for pulling out the ink ribbon 1 </ b> A from the ink ribbon core 2 is reduced. It is getting bigger. As a result, since the ink ribbon 1A is sent to the print head 7 together with the tube 6 by the feed roller 5, the moving amount of the tape 6 to be sent is reduced.
[0006]
The printed tape 6 is cut by the cutter 8, but as the movement amount decreases, the tape 6 deviates from the predetermined cutting position S1 of the tube (printed body) 6 by the reduced amount as shown in FIG. Would. As a result, there has been a problem that the distance L from the actually cut position S2 to the printing start position becomes longer as the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 1 decreases.
[0007]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide a printer capable of maintaining a constant movement amount of a printing medium regardless of a remaining amount of an ink ribbon.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a ribbon core on which an ink ribbon is wound, a winding core for winding the ink ribbon sent from the ribbon core to a print head, and a winding core for winding the ribbon. feed sending a tension member providing always constant load on the ink ribbon to the rotation of the ribbon core regardless of the remaining amount of the ink ribbon of the ribbon core to add tension between the core taken, the print-object to said print head And a roller that rotates the take-up core and the feed roller to send the ink ribbon and the print medium wound around the ribbon core to a print head and print characters and the like on the print medium. ,
Remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon core,
In accordance with the detection amount detected by the remaining amount detection means, provided with rotation speed changing means for changing the rotation speed of the feed roller with respect to the print length ,
The rotation speed changing means increases the rotation speed of the feed roller as the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon core decreases .
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of a printer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0011]
The printer 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a ribbon core 17 around which an ink ribbon 12 is wound, a platen roller (feed roller) 13 that feeds a tube (printing target) 11 and a tape-shaped name plate (not shown) together with the ink ribbon 12. A thermal head (print head) 15 for thermally transferring the ink of the ink ribbon 12 to the tube 11 or the name plate for printing, a discharge roller 16 for discharging the tube 11 or the name plate to the outside, and an ink after the thermal transfer. And a ribbon core (winding core) 30 for winding the ribbon 12. The ribbon cores 17 and 30 are mounted on rotating shafts 51 and 31 and rotate with the rotating shafts 51 and 31.
[0012]
A ribbon gear 52 is attached to the rotating shaft 51, and a tension gear (tension member) not shown meshes with the ribbon gear 52. With this tension gear, when the rotating shaft 51 rotates, a certain load is applied to the rotating shaft 51 to prevent the ink ribbon 12 sent from the ribbon core 17 from becoming loose. An encoder (remaining amount detecting means) 55 that generates a pulse each time the ribbon core 17 rotates by a predetermined angle is provided on the bearing 54 that holds the rotating shaft 51.
[0013]
A take-up gear 56 is attached to the rotating shaft 31, and a drive gear (not shown) is meshed with the take-up gear 56. Winding up 12 The winding gear 56 is rotated by a stepping motor M described later. The thermal head 15 crushes the tube 11 by pressing the tube 11 against the platen roller 13, and thermally transfers the ink of the ink ribbon 12 to the crushed tube 11.
[0014]
Reference numerals 18 to 20 denote driven rollers for feeding the tube 11 and the like, 21 a guide roller for guiding the ink ribbon 12 wound around the ribbon core 17 to the thermal head 15, and 22 a ribbon core 30 for feeding the ink ribbon 12 sent from the thermal head 15. It is a guide roller for guiding to. The drive gear (not shown), the platen roller 13 and the discharge roller 16 are driven to rotate by one stepping motor M. Reference numeral 53 denotes a cutter for cutting the tube 11 sent out at a predetermined position.
[0015]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of the printer 10. 2, reference numeral 60 denotes an operation unit having a plurality of operation keys for inputting characters to be printed, etc., 61 denotes a cutter driving motor for moving the cutter 53 up and down, and 62 denotes an operation of the operation keys of the operation unit 60 or an encoder 55. The control unit (control means) controls the thermal head 15, the motor M, the cutter driving motor 61, and the like based on the output pulse. The control device 62 includes a CPU and the like.
[0016]
Next, the operation of the printer 10 configured as described above will be described.
[0017]
First, a desired character string or the like is input by operating an operation key of the operation unit 60, and a print key (not shown) is operated. Then, the stepping motor M is driven by the control device 62, and the platen roller 13 and the discharge roller 16 are rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the rotating shaft 31 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by the drive gear together with the winding roller 30. Go. With these rotations, the tube 11 is conveyed in the feed direction, and the ink ribbon 12 wound around the ribbon core 17 is sent out to the thermal head 15, and the thermal head 15 sends the ink of the sent ink ribbon 12A to the tube. A character string and the like are printed by thermal transfer to the image data 11. The ink ribbon 12A on which the thermal transfer has been performed is wound up by the winding roller 30.
[0018]
On the other hand, the encoder 55 generates a pulse each time the ribbon core 17 rotates by a predetermined angle, and the pulse is input to the control device 62. The control device 62 determines the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 from the width of the input pulse.
[0019]
Here, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 wound around the ribbon core 17 is large, the roll diameter R1 of the ink ribbon 12 is large, and the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 is small. As the roll diameter R2 becomes smaller, the roll diameter R2 becomes smaller. On the other hand, the speed of the ink ribbon 12A sent to the platen roller 13 is constant. For this reason, the rotation speed of the ribbon core 17 changes depending on the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12. That is, when the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 is large, the rotation speed of the ribbon core 17 is low, and as the remaining amount decreases, the rotation speed of the ribbon core 17 increases.
[0020]
As a result, the width of the pulse generated from the encoder 55 changes depending on the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12. That is, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 is large, the width T1 of the pulse P becomes long, and when the remaining amount is small, the width T2 of the pulse P becomes short.
[0021]
The control device 62 determines the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 based on the pulse width T, and increases the number of step pulses for driving the stepping motor M according to the remaining amount, thereby controlling the feed amount of the tube 11, that is, the print length. The number of rotations of the platen roller 13 is increased. As described above, the control device 62 has a function as a rotation speed increasing unit (rotation speed changing unit) for increasing the rotation speed of the platen roller 13.
[0022]
Here, assuming that the number of step pulses required to feed the ink ribbon 12 by a predetermined length is N, the control device 62 adds n corresponding to the small remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 to N, and To N + n. In this embodiment, N is 70 mm / 0.125 = 560. That is, there are 560 pulses for a feed amount of 70 mm. n is a maximum of 5 pulses.
[0023]
When the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 decreases, the stepping motor M rotates by N + n stepping pulses, and thus the rotation amount increases. On the other hand, as the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 decreases, the load for pulling out the ink ribbon 12A from the ribbon core 17 increases and the feed amount of the tube 11 decreases, but the rotation amount of the stepping motor M increases. The rotation speed of the platen roller 13 increases. As a result, the feed amount of the tube 11 is kept constant. That is, regardless of the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12, the feeding amount of the tube 11 is kept constant. For this reason, the tube 11 is always cut at a predetermined position by the cutter 53, and the distance from the cutting position to the printed character is always constant regardless of the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12.
[0024]
When the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 12 is exhausted, the rotation of the ribbon core 17 is stopped, and the pulse output from the encoder 55 remains at the H level or the L level. The control device 62 determines that the remaining amount is zero when the output of the encoder 55 is at the H level or the L level for a predetermined time or more, and stops the driving of the stepping motor M.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon core, and the number of rotations of the feed roller with respect to the printing length in accordance with the detected amount detected by the remaining amount detecting means. Rotation speed changing means for changing the rotation speed of the feed roller as the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon core decreases. Regardless of the amount, the feed amount of the printing medium can be kept constant, and the printing medium can always be cut at a predetermined position by a cutter. For this reason, the distance from the cutting position of the cutter to the printed character can be kept constant regardless of the remaining amount of the ink ribbon.

[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a printer according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the printer.
FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a remaining amount of an ink ribbon and a roll diameter of the ink ribbon.
FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between the remaining amount of the ink ribbon and the pulse width of the encoder.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between the remaining amount of the ink ribbon and a load for pulling out the ink ribbon.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a remaining amount of an ink ribbon, a cutting position, and a distance to a printing start position.
[Explanation of symbols]
11 Tube (subject to be printed)
13 Platen roller (feed roller)
15 Thermal head (print head)
17 ribbon core 30 ribbon core (winding core)
55 encoder (remaining amount detecting means)
62 control device (rotation speed changing means)

Claims (1)

A ribbon core around which the ink ribbon is wound, a winding core for winding the ink ribbon sent from the ribbon core to the print head, and a tension for applying tension to the ink ribbon between the ribbon core and the winding core. A tension member that always applies a constant load to the rotation of the ribbon core regardless of the remaining amount of the ink ribbon in the ribbon core; and a feed roller that feeds a printing medium to the print head, and rotates the take-up core and the feed roller. In the printer, the ink ribbon wound around the ribbon core and the print medium are sent to a print head and characters and the like are printed on the print medium.
Remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon core,
In accordance with the detection amount detected by the remaining amount detection means, provided with rotation speed changing means for changing the rotation speed of the feed roller with respect to the print length ,
The rotation speed changing means increases the rotation speed of the feed roller as the remaining amount of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon core decreases .

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