JPH0261394B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an inkjet head recording apparatus, and more particularly to a recording apparatus equipped with an inkjet head generally referred to as a full-line type.

Among the various recording methods currently known, this non-impact recording method generates almost no noise during recording, is capable of high-speed recording, and can record on plain paper without requiring any special fixing process. The so-called inkjet recording method that can be used is an extremely useful method for realizing printing devices such as various printers, word processors, and copying machines. Various methods have been proposed for this inkjet recording method, some have been improved and commercialized, and others are still being worked on to put them into practical use. .

The inkjet recording method uses various working principles to fly small droplets of recording liquid (referred to as ink in the following explanation), and performs recording by adhering them to a recording material such as paper. It is something. An ink droplet generating device, ie, an inkjet device, used in such an inkjet recording system generally consists of an inkjet head for forming ink droplets and an ink supply system for supplying the ink to the inkjet head.

By the way, the first form of the inkjet head used in an inkjet recording device of the type that performs recording by scanning the recording head in a predetermined direction with respect to the recording medium is a type of inkjet head that carries about 1 to 10 pieces of ink. There are types that have discharge ports and are generally called single type or semi-multi type. These have a special structure that takes into account maintenance work, because the head is small and the structure is relatively simple, and even if it breaks down or is damaged, it can be easily replaced and the cost will not be too high. I almost never took it. Ink supply systems for these types of heads (because they have fewer ink ejection ports and consume less ink) are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 50-99436 and 1977-110633. It can be constructed relatively easily by using a simple cartridge type tank or a single ink supply pipe as shown in FIG.

However, when using another type of head, generally called a full-line type, which is used for the purpose of printing an area the width of one line of paper as a recording medium almost simultaneously, part of the head may malfunction. Despite the increased probability of damage, head replacement is not an easy task. Moreover, there are cost constraints in replacing the entire head. Therefore, a full-line type in which a plurality of heads are arranged in a zigzag pattern is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 132263/1983. Furthermore, when using a full-line type head, it is necessary to maintain a constant distance from the recording paper surface over its entire width during recording operation, but to do this, conventionally advanced mechanical Accuracy and assembly precision are required, and complicated ancillary mechanisms and complicated operations are required to prevent contamination due to ink leakage and to protect the head itself during downtime. Furthermore, the ink supply system for this type of head is uniform throughout the head (because an extremely large number of ink ejection ports are provided and the amount of ink consumed by the entire head is incomparably greater than in the above case). Because of the need to supply ink, the ink supply pipes have become long or require a large number of pipes, increasing the probability that gas will enter through the pipes.

In addition, if multiple recording heads are removably attached to a common large-capacity tank, if gas enters when one head is replaced, it will be transferred to the other heads through the common ink supply pipe and ink tank. There was a risk that it would have an adverse effect on

Additionally, if the wiring that is electrically connected to the recording head is located at the bottom of the ink tank, there is a risk of corrosion or short circuits caused by leaked ink when replacing the tank or refilling the ink tank. It was hot.

As described above, in conventional inkjet recording apparatuses, ejection failures due to gas contamination frequently occur, which increases the maintenance work required to recover from the problems, and the troublesome work must be repeated each time. In other words, the particular problem is that the inconvenience of handling such a recording device becomes more painful due to the synergistic effect of ``occurrence of ejection failure due to gas contamination'' and ``difficulty in maintenance work.'' It is something that can be done.

〔the purpose〕

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional technical problems.

The purpose of the present invention is to enable a uniform and stable supply of ink to all recording heads, improve the inconvenience caused by ink leakage, and enable easy attachment and detachment from the main body of a recording apparatus, thereby achieving good ink ejection. The purpose is to make maintenance work extremely easy.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a so-called full-line type inkjet recording unit in which ink droplets are formed faithfully to the input from all ink ejection ports, and as a result, good recording is almost completely achieved. be.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a set of ink jet heads having a plurality of ink ejection ports and ink tanks for storing ink to be supplied to the heads, and to change the relative positions of the corresponding heads and tanks. a base body provided with a multilayer wiring section for transmitting an electric signal for driving the head between the head and the tank; and a recording position and a base body spaced apart from the recording position. A recording unit is provided with a drive system for moving the recording medium to the desired position, and a drive system for moving the recording medium to the desired position. This is achieved by a full-line inkjet recording unit characterized by having a plurality of ink ejection ports arranged and facing each other in corresponding areas.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet recording unit of the present invention. In this FIG. 1, 101 and 101' are multi-array type inkjet heads, 102 is the aforementioned head,
A flexible printed circuit board 103 connects the semiconductor attached board 106 from the ink tank 108,
A supply pipe for supplying ink to the heads via a connection joint 109. 104 is a common pad that brings together multiple lead wires that drive the multi-head.
30, it is connected via a lead terminal mounting plate 123 and a drive circuit connection line 129 to a signal output section (not shown) attached to the main body of the apparatus to which the illustrated inkjet recording unit is installed. Other lead wires 102 necessary for driving are wired in a matrix on a multilayer wiring board 107 via 106 to form a multilayer wiring section. It is also connected to a signal output section (not shown) via a connector 127 and a drive circuit connection line 128.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a board on which the heads 101 and 101' are attached, and the heads are fixed with head fixing claws 111. Further, 110 is an ink tank holding plate 124.
and are fixed at the joint portion 125 to form a base body. Reference numeral 112 is a cap that is common to all heads and covers all ink ejection ports, and reference numeral 113 is a contact pressure adjusting plate between this cap 112 and the head. 11
4 is a spring serving as a biasing means for biasing the cap 112 to a position covering the ink ejection opening; 115 is a spring that biases the illustrated inkjet recording unit to the main body of the apparatus (not shown);
The fixed block that serves as a support when setting the motor 119 to the drive screw 120 and the housing 1
21, which reciprocates the head mounting plate 110 connected to the housing 121 between the recording position and a position spaced from the recording position. The stop position is determined by detecting the position of the detection plate 116, which moves together with the housing 121, by a reverse stop sensor 117 and a forward stop sensor 118. 12
2 is a guide rail when the housing 121 moves, and 131 is a stopper. Head mounting plate 1
10 and the fixing block 115 are joined with mounting screws 132.

Further, the motor 126 is a driving force source for swinging the cap 112.

In order to make the present invention easier to understand, FIG.
2 is an external perspective view showing details of the drive system attached to the fixed block 115, with the head unit consisting of the head, ink tank, and multilayer wiring section removed from FIG. 1. FIG. Figure 3 shows the head unit fixed and
and the housing 1 shown in FIG. 1 for movement.
FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view of a main part.

The movement of the head (forward, backward) will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. When recording is stopped, a head unit (not shown) is placed at a predetermined position relative to the recording paper holding surface (not shown).
When a switch (not shown) is turned on, the housing 204 receives driving force from the motor 201 and moves forward on the guide rail 203 (in the direction of the arrow in the figure).
By doing so, it advances toward the recording paper PP surface.
The housing 204 is moved forward by the drive screw 202, which is rotated by the rotation of the motor 201 via a gear (not shown), but in reality, the nut 305 moves on the drive screw 304 shown in FIG. Move by being pushed. housing 30
1 has a concave lower part and has protrusions 308, 308' at both ends thereof, and the above-mentioned nut 305, spring 306, and washer 307 are accommodated in this gap. The spring 306 is in a somewhat compressed state and presses against the projection 308' through the washer 307.

In the case of a recording system using a full-line type inkjet head, as described above, the distance between the recording paper surface and the tip of the head must be particularly precisely defined. To do this, the head that has moved forward must stop accurately at a predetermined position (recording position) against inertial force.

First, the housing 204 that fixes the head unit (not shown) is stopped by the forward stop sensor 20.
6. The detection plate 205 is the sensor 20
6, a stop signal is output and motor 2
01 is stopped. However, since the rotation of the motor does not stop immediately due to inertia, in reality, the housing 204 and the head unit (not shown) integrated therewith may also stop at irregular positions ahead of a predetermined position. become. This fails to achieve the initial objective. In the present invention, in order to improve this point, a housing 30 shown in FIG.
1 is provided with a forward stopper 303. It is designed so that the timing at which the stop sensor 206 shown in FIG. 2 operates corresponds to the timing at which the housing 301 comes into contact with the stopper 303. The extra rotation of the motor 201 can be absorbed by compressing the spring 306 in FIG. housing 2
The retreat (separation) operation of 04 (in the opposite direction to the arrow in the figure) is similarly performed by reversing the rotation of the motor. It is unlikely that a slight deviation in the stop position will cause a problem, so the reverse stop sensor 2
07 is sufficient, but it is also possible to use a stopper if necessary.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the aforementioned housing head mounting plate is attached. FIG. 4a is a top view thereof, and FIG. 4b is a view of FIG. 4a viewed from the direction of the arrow shown. For convenience of explanation, the head unit etc. are all omitted from the drawing. 401 is a head mounting plate, and 403 is a housing similar to that described above.
Keep the head unit (not shown) fixed to the mounting plate 401 parallel to the fixing block 402,
In addition, a bearing 407 is connected to ensure smooth movement.

404 is a cover of the bearing, 405 is a connecting plate, 406 is a supporting shaft of the bearing, and 409 is a mounting screw. The cover 404 is used to prevent the head unit (not shown) from being stirred up when it vibrates or jams, and its longitudinal length is the same as that of the housing 40.
It needs to be longer than the moving distance in step 3. Furthermore, the notch 408 has a size that allows the bearing 407 to pass through, and the head mounting plate 401 can be attached and removed from the housing 403 at this position.

〔effect〕

According to the inkjet recording unit of the present invention described in detail above, there is no change in the relative position between the inkjet head and the ink supply system during the recording operation, and all of the plurality of inkjet heads have corresponding ink tanks. Therefore, uniform ink is supplied to all the ink ejection ports, and recording can be performed using a stable ink jet.

In addition, positioning when entering the recording operation is reliable and easy, the entire ink jet head is kept sufficiently away from the recording paper surface during rest, and no wiring is provided as it is always stacked on the ink tank. Therefore, contamination of the recording surface and wiring portion by ink can be prevented.

In the inkjet recording unit of the present invention, the inkjet head, the multilayer wiring section for driving the inkjet head, and the ink supply system are integrally provided on the base body, and the drive system for moving these is provided on the same support body. Since it is installed in the main body of the device that uses it as an output section, the adjustment of the distance between the ink ejection port and the recording surface is not as complicated as in the past, making these maintenance tasks extremely easy. It has the following effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the inkjet recording unit of the present invention, FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 a and b.
These are explanatory diagrams showing the main parts of FIG. 1 in more detail. In the figure, 101 and 101' are inkjet heads, 102 is a flexible printed board,
103 is an ink conduit, 104 is a common electrode pad, 105 is a lead wire, 106 is a semiconductor attached board, 107 is a multilayer wiring board, 108 is an ink tank, 109 is a conduit connection joint, 110,
401 is a head mounting plate, 111 is a head fixing claw,
112 is a cap, 113 is a cap contact pressure adjusting plate, 114 is a spring, 115, 402 is a fixed block, 116, 205 is a detection plate, 117, 207 is a backward stop sensor, 118, 206 is a forward stop sensor, 119, 126, 201 are motors, 120, 202, 304 are drive screws, 12
1,204,301,403 is housing, 12
2, 203, 302 are guide rails, 123 is a lead terminal mounting plate, 124 is a tank holding plate, 12
5 is a holding plate fixing part, 127 is a connector, 12
8, 129 is a drive circuit connection line, 130 is a lead terminal, 131, 303 is a stopper, 132 is a mounting screw, 305 is a drive nut, 306 is a spring, 30
7 is a washer, 308, 308' are protrusions, 40
4 is a cover, 405 is a connection plate, 406 is a support shaft, 4
07 is a bearing, and 408 is a notch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A set of an ink jet head having a plurality of ink ejection ports and an ink tank storing ink to be supplied to the head is arranged so that the relative position of each corresponding head and tank does not change, A base body provided with a multilayer wiring section for transmitting an electric signal for driving the head between the head and the tank, and a base body for moving the base body between a recording position and a position spaced apart from the recording position. a drive system, and a recording unit disposed on the same support, configured to be removably attached to the main body of the apparatus, and in which the plurality of heads face an area corresponding to one line of the recording medium. A full-line inkjet recording unit characterized by having a plurality of inkjet orifices arranged in an array.