JP2003072048A - Carriage electric substrate and ink-jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a manufacturing process, or the like by simplifying the structure of an electric substrate to be mounted on a carriage while eliminating influence of the noise generation, or the like due to a high voltage current at the time of driving a recording head. SOLUTION: An ink-jet recording apparatus comprises on the rear side of a carriage 11 a common electric substrate 53 having the functions of a contact part capable of being connected with an integrated circuit mounted on an ink cartridge via a connection terminal and an electric circuit for an encoder 51 such that an electric wiring for linking an electric substrate for driving a recording head 35 and a main substrate is provided in a path away from the common electric substrate 53.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus in which a carriage is provided with an electric board having a plurality of functions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an ink supply mechanism in an ink jet recording apparatus, a system in which an ink cartridge filled with ink is mounted in a storage portion in a carriage and ink is supplied from the ink cartridge to a recording head has been put into practical use. In a carriage provided with such an ink cartridge type ink supply mechanism, a head unit is mounted on the bottom of the ink cartridge storage portion of the carriage. This head unit includes an ink supply needle that fits into an ink supply port of an ink cartridge and a dot forming element array (nozzle array) that ejects ink supplied through the ink supply needle toward a recording material. And a recording head drive substrate for electrically controlling the recording head.

An integrated circuit is mounted on the ink cartridge, and information such as the remaining amount of ink can be transmitted from the integrated circuit to the main substrate of the ink jet recording apparatus. For this reason, the ink cartridge storage portion of the carriage is provided with a connection terminal that can be electrically connected to the integrated circuit of the ink cartridge, and this connection terminal is a contact substrate provided on the back surface of the carriage on the opposite side. The contact substrate is connected to the main substrate of the recording apparatus by a flat cable (flexible flat cable: FFC).

Further, the recording head drive substrate at the lower part of the carriage is connected to the above-mentioned contact substrate, and is connected to the main substrate of the ink jet recording apparatus by a flat cable using this as a relay point.

Further, an encoder as a moving position detecting means for detecting the moving position of the carriage at the time of reciprocating movement in the main operating direction is arranged at the back of the carriage, and this encoder is also provided with an electric board. It was being done.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional structure, the wiring of the recording head driving substrate is relayed by the contact substrate and connected to the main substrate. The voltage / current (about 42 V) may adversely affect the electric circuit of the contact substrate, such as generation of noise.

Further, conventionally, at least three substrates, that is, a recording head drive substrate, a contact substrate, and an encoder substrate, are mounted on the carriage, so that it is necessary to separately mount and wire each of them, so that the carriage structure, It was a factor that complicates the manufacturing (assembly) process.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the influence of noise and the like due to the high voltage current when the recording head is driven,
An object of the present invention is to simplify the manufacturing process by simplifying the structure of the electric board mounted on the carriage.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention is to perform recording by ejecting ink supplied from an attached ink cartridge toward a recording material. An ink jet recording apparatus equipped with a recording head that carries out a reciprocating movement in the main scanning direction, and a moving position detecting means of the carriage in the main scanning direction, wherein the recording is performed at a lower portion of the carriage. An electric board for driving the head is provided, and a contact portion that can be joined to an integrated circuit mounted on the ink cartridge via a connection terminal on the back surface of the carriage, and an electric circuit for the moving position detecting means. And a common electric board is provided.

According to this feature, on the back surface of the carriage,
A common electric board provided with a contact portion that can be joined to an integrated circuit mounted on an ink cartridge via a connection terminal and an electric circuit for a carriage moving position detecting means is provided for a conventional contact. Since the functions of the board and the board for the encoder are provided on a single board, the structure of the carriage is simplified, the manufacturing process can be simplified, and the number of parts is reduced, the size is reduced, and the cost is reduced. Also, 2
By deploying a common board with two functions, it was possible to increase the degree of freedom in designing the electrical wiring inside the carriage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect, in which wiring for connecting an electric board for driving the recording head and a main board is separated from the common electric board. It is characterized in that it is provided along the route. According to this feature, the electric wiring by a flat cable or the like between the main substrate and the recording head drive substrate,
Since it is provided on a path separated from the common electric board, noise and the like due to the influence of the high voltage current when the recording head is driven can be prevented in advance, and highly reliable printing can be performed.

The invention of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a third aspect is the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the common electric board is fixed to the back surface of the carriage at a plurality of attached portions by a plurality of attaching members. The plurality of attached parts can be attached to or detached from the electric board via the through hole of the main frame by moving the carriage in the main scanning direction and sequentially positioning the carriage. It is characterized in that it is provided in the part corresponding to the through hole.

According to this feature, the carriage is moved in the main scanning direction and sequentially positioned so that the common electric board is attached to and detached from (attached to or removed from) the carriage through the through hole of the main frame. Since a plurality of mounted parts are provided in the parts that can be moved in correspondence with the through holes of the main frame, the electric board on the back of the carriage can be removed by using the movement of the carriage in the main scanning direction. Or it can be reattached. That is, by moving the carriage and sequentially positioning the plurality of attached parts, it is possible to easily insert a device such as a driver through the through hole of the main frame, so that the main frame is not disturbed. Anyone can easily remove and attach the common electric board. In addition, large-scale disassembly work is not required for removing the common electric board. Moreover, by adopting such a mounting structure, the disadvantages expected of the common electric board having the function equivalent to the conventional two boards can be sufficiently complemented, while the advantages become more remarkable. . For example, if multiple functions are provided on a single electric board, even if some circuits become abnormal or malfunction, the entire board must be removed and repaired or replaced. However, since repair and replacement can be performed with one easy attachment / detachment work, it is possible to significantly reduce labor and cost not only in the manufacturing process but also in maintenance.
The through holes of the main frame may be provided exclusively for attaching or detaching the electric board, but those provided for other purposes may be used.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention of an ink jet recording apparatus, in the third aspect, the plurality of attached portions are
It is characterized in that it is provided at a portion which can be sequentially positioned in one through hole by the movement of the carriage. According to this feature, by providing a plurality of attached parts at positions that can be sequentially positioned in one through hole by moving the carriage, even if the area for the plurality of through holes cannot be secured in the main frame, It is possible to attach and detach a common electric board with one through hole.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention of an ink jet recording apparatus, in the third or fourth aspect, the through hole is
It is characterized in that it is a small gear insertion hole of a carriage driving motor. According to this feature, by utilizing the small gear insertion hole of the carriage drive motor as the through hole, even if the area of the through hole for exclusive use of mounting and removal of the electric board common to the main frame cannot be secured, the commonization can be achieved. It is possible to attach and detach the electric board. In this case, the common electric board is mounted / removed after the small gear of the carriage driving motor is removed from the main frame.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention of an ink jet recording apparatus, in the third aspect, the plurality of attached portions are
It is characterized in that it is provided at a portion which can be sequentially positioned in different through holes by the movement of the carriage. According to this feature, since the plurality of attached portions are provided at the portions that can be sequentially positioned in the different through holes by the movement of the carriage, the position of the attached portion of the common electric board is not restricted. . In other words, if there is extra space for the through hole in the main frame, or if it is possible to provide a through hole that can also be used for other purposes at an appropriate position, by using separate through holes, Since the degree of freedom in setting the position of the mounted portion of the common electric substrate is increased, it is possible to select the optimum position and provide a plurality of mounted portions to ensure the fixation to the carriage.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the common electric board is fixed to a rear surface of the carriage at a mounting portion by a mounting member. The portion is provided at a portion where the electric board can be attached to or detached from the carriage through the small gear insertion hole of the carriage driving motor in the main frame. According to this feature, the common electric board mounting portion is provided in the main frame at a portion corresponding to the small gear insertion hole of the carriage drive motor, so that the common electric board is mounted / detached on / from the main frame. Even if it is not possible to provide a dedicated through hole, the holes for the small gears of the carriage driving motor can be effectively used to easily mount and remove the common electric board. By adopting such a mounting structure, similar to the third aspect, the disadvantages expected of the common electric board having the function equivalent to the conventional two boards can be sufficiently complemented, while the advantages are more remarkable. It can be anything.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an inkjet printer 1 equipped with a carriage 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
01 shows a schematic configuration of No. 01, and the main body cover is removed to clarify the internal structure. Carriage 1
1 is an image in which a timing belt 85 connected to a drive motor reciprocates in the main scanning direction along a carriage guide shaft 83 while ejecting ink from a recording head (not shown here) to a recording medium P. Form. The carriage 11 is provided with a storage unit for mounting the ink cartridge 21, and is divided into individual holders for a plurality of different colors such as black, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the carriage 11 as viewed from the back. As shown in FIG. 2, an electric board 53 is vertically arranged on the back surface of the carriage 11.
The electric board 53 is fixed by a screw 55 as a mounting member and a T-shaped projection (hereinafter referred to as “T-shaped projection”), and is joined to a flat cable (flexible flat cable) 81 at a connector 59. ing. The flat cable 81 is the inkjet printer 1
01 main board 71 (see FIG. 12).

3 and 4 are views showing the sectional structure of the carriage 11. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the ink cartridge is removed, and FIG. 4 shows a state in which the ink cartridge 21 is mounted. The electric board 53 can be conductively connected to the integrated circuit 111 provided on the wall surface of the ink cartridge through the connection terminal 14 provided with the metal pieces 14a and 14b as the elastic contact mechanism, and via the flat cable 81. To electrically connect the ink cartridge 21 and the main substrate 71. In the carriage 11 having the ink supply system of the ink cartridge type, a head unit 31 is attached to the bottom of the carriage, and the head unit 31 has an ink supply needle 33 fitted into the ink supply port 22 of the ink cartridge 21. And a recording head 35 provided with a dot forming element array (nozzle array) for ejecting the ink supplied through the ink supply needle 33 toward the recording material P, and the recording head 35 is electrically controlled. A head drive board 37 is provided.

Details of the electric board 53 are as shown in FIGS. FIG. 5 is a front view of the electric board 53, and FIG. 6 is a rear view (contact surface with the carriage 11). An encoder 51 is mounted on the electric board 53, and a connector 59 with the flat cable 81 is provided. Rear surface of the electric board 53 (contact surface with the carriage 11)
The integrated circuit 1 mounted in the ink cartridge 21.
Contact part 58 that can be joined to 11 via the connection terminal 14
a, 58b, 58c, 58d are the ink cartridges 2
The number is set to correspond to one (four in the present embodiment). That is, the electric board 53 includes the electric circuit necessary for the encoder 51 and the integrated circuit 1 of the ink cartridge 21.
It is a common substrate that has both the functions of an electric circuit necessary as a contact point with 11 and both. As described above, by providing the common substrate, it is possible to reduce the size of the device, shorten the manufacturing process, and reduce the cost.

Further, as will be described later, a hole 54 as an attached portion for inserting a screw 55 as an attaching member is provided near one end of the electric board 53, and a carriage is provided on the other end side. An engaging portion 56 that engages with the T-shaped protrusion 57 of 11 is formed.

As described above, the head drive substrate 37 is arranged in the head unit 31 below the ink cartridge storage portion of the carriage 11. The head drive substrate 37 is not shown here, along with a flat cable 81 introduced from above along one side wall (a wall shown in the center of FIG. 3) of the carriage via a flat cable fixture 82. They are connected at an electrical junction. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the flat cable 81 is provided on the carriage 1 along a path separated from the electric board 53.
Introduced in 1. Flat cable 8
By wiring 1 away from the electric substrate 53,
It is possible to avoid the influence of the high voltage (about 42 V) current on the head drive substrate 37 and prevent the generation of noise on the electric substrate 53.

Since the connection terminal 14 has a structure in which the metal piece 14a as a contact mechanism with the integrated circuit 111 of the ink cartridge 21 is exposed in the carriage 11, when the user replaces the ink cartridge 21, for example. If the metal piece 14a is accidentally touched, static electricity may cause the main board 71 to malfunction. Therefore, a ground chassis (antistatic earth member) is usually provided around the connection terminal 14 provided on the carriage 11, but in the present embodiment, a current due to static electricity flows through the connection terminal 14. In this case, the zener diode ZD is used to guide the main frame 1 and the main board 7
The static current is prevented from reaching 1. FIG. 7 shows an antistatic circuit using the Zener diode ZD.

Next, a device for mounting the electric board 53 will be described. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state where the back surface of the carriage 11 of the inkjet printer 101 according to the present embodiment is seen from an angle different from that in FIG. As mentioned above,
Here, the electric board 53 is positioned by a screw 55 as one mounting member and a T-shaped projection 57 integrally formed so as to project from the rear edge of the carriage 11 and fixed to the rear surface of the carriage 11. There is. Screw 5
The reference numeral 5 is inserted into a hole 54 as an attached portion of the electric board 53 and screwed into a screw hole formed on the back surface of the carriage 11. In addition, an opening 52 (see FIGS. 5 and 6) is formed substantially in the center of the electric board 53, and the carriage 52 is provided to prevent the linear scale 87 (see FIG. 1) from coming off from the encoder 51. 11 is in a state in which a flat plate protrusion 16 integrally formed with the protrusion 11 is inserted.

To remove the electric board 53 from the carriage 11, the screws 55 are removed, and then the T-shaped projection 57 is removed.
With the fulcrum as a fulcrum, the electric board 53 is swung from the rear surface of the carriage 11 so as to open the door toward you, the flat plate projection 16 is pulled out from the opening 52, and the T-shaped projection 57 is slid horizontally at the same angle. It is carried out by removing the engagement with. Here, the screw 55 can be removed using an instrument such as a driver, but the electric board 53 mounted on the back surface of the carriage 11 is close to the main frame 1 (see FIG. 12) of the inkjet printer 101. It's in the right position. For this reason, in the conventional mounting device, the main frame 1 hinders the insertion of a device such as a driver, and requires large-scale disassembly such as removing the carriage 11 from the main body. In the mounting device of the present embodiment, the screw hole of the carriage 11 and the hole portion 54 of the electric board 53 as the mounted portion are provided at the height positions corresponding to the through holes of the main frame 1, and the carriage 11 is mounted on the carriage 11. By horizontally moving along the guide shaft 83, lateral positioning with respect to the through hole is possible. That is, since it is possible to insert a device such as a driver through the main frame 1 only by performing horizontal positioning using the movement of the carriage 11 in the main scanning direction, the inkjet printer 10
Even after the assembly of 1, the electric board 53 can be easily attached or detached.

Here, an example of the mounting device will be described with reference to the principle diagram. 9 to 11 show a state in which the carriage 11 is seen through the main frame 1. In FIG. 9, the electric board 53 is provided on the back surface of the carriage 11 and the three attached parts 6 are attached.
While fixing with screws 55 at 1, 62, 63,
This is an example in which through holes 2, 3, 4 corresponding to the heights of the attached parts 61, 62, 63 are formed in the main frame 1, respectively. The height of the through hole 2 provided in the main frame 1 corresponds to the attached portion 61, the height of the through hole 3 corresponds to the attached portion 62, and the height of the through hole 4 corresponds to the attached portion 63. There is.
These through holes 2, 3 and 4 may be provided exclusively for mounting or removing the electric board 53, or for other purposes (for example, the small gear 91 of the motor for driving the timing belt 85 may be inserted therethrough). You may use what was provided for the purpose).

To remove the electric board 53, first, in FIG. 9, the carriage 11 is positioned at the position (a), so that the screw 55 is attached from the attached portion 61 through the through hole 2 to a device such as a driver. To remove. Next, by moving the carriage 11 along the carriage guide shaft 83 to the position (b), the screw 55 can be similarly removed from the attached portion 62 via the through hole 3, and the carriage 11 ( By moving to the position of (c), the screw 55 can be similarly removed from the attached portion 63 via the through hole 4. In addition, in FIG. 9, in addition to the attached portions 61 and 63 at both ends of the electric substrate 53, the attached portion 62 is provided in the middle, but the warp (lifting) of the electric substrate 53 is minimized, and the connection terminal is provided. In order to avoid a poor contact with the metal piece 14b of the electric board 14,
It is also preferable to fix the vicinity of the central part of the with screws 55.

In FIG. 10, the electric substrate 53 is fixed to the two attached portions 64 and 65 by the screws 55, and one through hole 5 corresponding to the height of both attached portions 64 and 65 is formed in the main frame 1. It is an example of forming. In this aspect, first, as shown in FIG.
The attached portion 65 is aligned with the position of and the screw 55 is removed, and then the carriage 11 is moved until the attached portion 64 is aligned with the position of the through hole 5 as shown in FIG. By doing so, the electric board 53 can be easily removed.

In FIG. 11, one end of the electric board 53 is fitted into the T-shaped projection 57, and the other end of the electric board 53 is screwed and fixed by a screw 55 at the attached portion 66, and the attached portion is attached to the main frame 1. In this example, one through hole 6 corresponding to the height of 66 is formed. In this mode, first, FIG.
As shown in (b), the carriage 11 is moved to align the attached portion 66 with the position of the through hole 6 to remove the screw 55, and then the electric board 53 is slid rightward toward the paper surface to form a T-shape. By releasing the engagement with the mold protrusion 57, the electric board 53 can be removed.

Next, the explanation will be returned again to the mounting structure of the electric board 53 in the ink jet printer 101 of FIG.
FIG. 12 is an inkjet printer 1 according to this embodiment.
1 is a rear view of the automatic paper feeding device 30 for convenience of description.
And the main body cover is removed. Further, FIG. 13 shows a state in which the screw 55 of the electric board 53 is removed using a driver. Here, for convenience of explanation, the state in which the main body cover is removed is also shown. In the present embodiment, as the through hole of the main frame 1, the through hole 7 for inserting the small gear 91 (see FIG. 1) of the motor 73, which is a drive unit connected to the timing belt 85 for driving the carriage.
I am using 5. As shown in FIG. 13, the screw 73 of the electric board 53 can be removed only by removing the motor 73 and inserting a driver into the through hole 75 for inserting the small gear 91. Therefore, large-scale disassembly work such as removing the carriage 11 is not required. In this way, the attached portion (hole portion 54) of the electric board 53 is provided so that the through hole 75 of the main frame 1 formed for another purpose (the purpose of inserting the small gear 91 of the motor 73) can be used. Thus, even if a sufficient area cannot be secured in the main frame 1, the electric board 53 can be easily removed via the through hole 75.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to various embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and other embodiments are also possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims. Of course, it is applied.

[0033]

According to the present invention, on the rear surface of the carriage,
A common electric board provided with a contact portion that can be joined to an integrated circuit mounted on an ink cartridge via a connection terminal and an electric circuit for a carriage moving position detecting means is provided for a conventional contact. Since the functions of the board and the board for the encoder are provided on a single board, the structure of the carriage is simplified, the manufacturing process can be simplified, and the number of parts, the size, and the cost can be reduced. Also, 2
By deploying a common board with two functions, it was possible to increase the degree of freedom in designing the electrical wiring inside the carriage.

Further, particularly when the electric wiring between the main substrate and the recording head driving substrate is provided on a path separated from the common electric substrate, noise is generated due to the influence of the high voltage current when the recording head is driven. It is possible to prevent this and perform highly reliable printing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining an electric board on the rear surface of the carriage.

FIG. 3 is a drawing for explaining a cross-sectional structure of a carriage.

FIG. 4 is a drawing showing a cross section of a carriage in which an ink cartridge is mounted.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an electric board.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the electric board.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram for countermeasures against static electricity.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a main part used for explaining an electric board on the rear surface of the carriage.

FIG. 9 is a principle diagram for explaining an attachment device for an electric board.

FIG. 10 is a principle diagram for explaining an attachment device for an electric board.

FIG. 11 is a principle diagram for explaining an attachment device for an electric board.

FIG. 12 is a rear view of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a drawing for explaining a work of removing an electric board.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 mainframe 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 through holes 11 carriage 12a, 12b Engagement part 13a, 13b Side wall part 14 connection terminals 14a, 14b Metal pieces 15 leaf spring 16 Flat protrusion 17, 17 'leaf spring 21 ink cartridge 22 Ink supply port 23a, 23b Elastic deformation part 30 Automatic paper feeder 31 head unit 33 Ink supply needle 35 recording head 37 Head drive board 51 encoder 52 opening 53 Electric board 54 hole 55 screws 56 Engagement part 57 T-shaped protrusion 58a, 58b, 58c, 58d Contact part 59 connector 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 Attached part 71 Main board 73 motor 75 Small gear insertion hole 81 flat cable 82 Flat cable fixture 83 Carriage guide shaft 85 Timing Belt 91 insertion hole 93 Auto Sheet Feeder 111 Integrated circuit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Tsuyama             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation F term (reference) 2C056 EB11 EB36 FA10 HA09 HA51                 2C061 AQ05 BB12 BB30 CG03 CG13

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A carriage that is equipped with a recording head that ejects ink supplied from an attached ink cartridge toward a recording material to perform recording, and that is capable of reciprocating in a main scanning direction; and a main scanning of the carriage. A moving position detecting means in the direction, wherein an electric board for driving the recording head is provided under the carriage, and the ink cartridge is mounted on the back surface of the carriage. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a common electric board provided with a contact portion that can be joined to the integrated circuit via a connection terminal and an electric circuit for the moving position detecting means. 2. The electric wiring for connecting an electric substrate for driving the recording head and a main substrate according to claim 1,
An inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is provided on a path separated from the common electric board. 3. The common electric board according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the common electric board is fixed to a back surface of the carriage at a plurality of attached portions by a plurality of attaching members, and the plurality of attached portions are attached to the carriage. Are provided in positions corresponding to the through holes of the main frame where the electric board can be attached to or removed from the carriage by sequentially moving and positioning the electric board in the main scanning direction. An ink jet recording apparatus, which is characterized in that 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of attached portions are provided at positions that can be sequentially positioned in one through hole by moving the carriage. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the through hole is a small gear insertion hole of a carriage driving motor. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of attached portions are provided at positions that can be sequentially positioned in different through holes by moving the carriage. 7. The common electric board according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the common electric board is fixed to a back surface of the carriage at an attached portion by an attaching member, and the attached portion attaches the electric board to the carriage. Alternatively, the inkjet recording apparatus is characterized in that the ink jet recording apparatus is provided at a portion where the main frame can be removed through a small gear insertion hole of a carriage drive motor.