JP3090934B2 - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a recording head having a plurality of blocks each having a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting ink on a substrate. Further, the present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from ink discharge ports to a recording medium by driving discharge energy generating elements of a plurality of blocks of a recording head in accordance with recording data.

[Prior art] Conventionally, heat energy forms bubbles in a liquid,
2. Description of the Related Art There is known an ink jet recording apparatus in which ink is ejected from an ink ejection port by a pressure generated at that time to form a flying ink droplet, and the ink droplet is attached to a recording material to perform recording.

In general, in an ink jet recording apparatus utilizing this kind of thermal energy, in particular, an ink jet recording of a bubble jet recording method in which recording is performed by heating a liquid by energizing an electrothermal transducer laminated on a substrate in a pulsed manner. In the apparatus, it is necessary to ensure that sufficient heating is performed to discharge ink at each pulse, and that no extra heat energy is given at this time. Important from a point of view. However, in the conventional apparatus, a pulse and a drive voltage applied to a recording head having a plurality of heating elements (electrothermal transducers) and ink ejection ports on the same substrate are representative of the plurality of heating elements. The optimum pulse and drive voltage were set for the heating elements, and all the heating elements in one recording head were driven under the same conditions as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7A shows a circuit configuration of a conventional integrated circuit for driving an electrothermal transducer of an ink jet recording head of this kind, and FIG. 7B shows a conventional recording head using this integrated circuit. 7 (C) shows the timing of the drive signal in the circuit of FIG. 7 (B). In FIG. 7A, reference numeral 701 denotes a 64-bit latch circuit;
Is a 64-bit shift register, and 703 is a D-type flip-flop circuit (F / F). 7B, reference numeral 710 denotes an I / C (integrated circuit) shown in FIG. 7A, and 720 denotes an electrothermal converter. Since the signals and operations are well known, the description thereof is omitted here, but the meaning of each signal corresponds to the embodiment described later.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, it is practically difficult to make the characteristics of the resistance values of the respective heating elements completely uniform from the viewpoint of manufacturing technology and the like, and the characteristics are varied. However, as described above, in the related art, the same pulse width and the same driving pressure are applied to each heating element in one recording head, and all the heating elements are not driven under optimal driving conditions. Therefore, excessive energy is applied to a certain heating element, and the life of the heating element is shortened. Conversely, a heating element to which necessary and sufficient energy has not been applied cannot provide stable ink ejection, resulting in a problem that a high-quality recorded image cannot be obtained.

Further, in a recording head having a large number of ink ejection ports in the printing width direction of a recording sheet as a recording medium, for example, a so-called full multi-type recording head having ejection ports in the entire width of the recording sheet, more heat is generated. There is a problem to be solved in that the variation in the resistance value of the body becomes large, and the number of heating elements in which the stability of ink ejection in the print head is reduced increases.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to easily and accurately set energy for each of a plurality of blocks including a plurality of ejection energy generating elements when supplying optimal ejection energy to a plurality of ejection energy generating elements. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which can perform satisfactory image recording by stable ink ejection with a compact configuration.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a recording head including a plurality of blocks including a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting ink on a substrate. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from ink discharge ports to a recording medium by driving discharge energy generating elements of a plurality of blocks of the recording head in accordance with recording data; A setting unit provided with data relating to the driving energy of the ejection energy generating element for each block, a transfer unit for transferring recording data to the ejection energy generating elements of the plurality of blocks, At the time of data reading, the transfer means is shared and the setting means is used for each block preset in the setting means. Reading means for sequentially reading data related to driving energy, and driving means for driving the ejection energy generating element of each block with energy corresponding to the data related to the driving energy for each block sequentially read by the reading means And the following.

Here, the discharge energy generating element may be an electrothermal converter.

Further, the data relating to the driving energy may be data corresponding to an average resistance value of a plurality of electrothermal transducers in the block. [Operation] In the present invention, a plurality of ejection energy generating elements are provided. Is stored in advance on the same substrate provided with a plurality of blocks, and the data is sequentially read out by sharing a transfer unit for transferring recording data. Then, the ejection energy generating elements of each block are driven by the energy according to the read data.

Therefore, the energy can be easily and accurately set for each block, and good image recording with stable ink ejection can be realized with a compact configuration.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of an ink jet recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, 301A and 301B are a pair of rollers provided for nipping and conveying the recording medium R in the sub-scanning direction Vs indicated by the arrow. 302BK, 302Y, 302M and 302C are
These are full multi-type recording heads that perform black, yellow, magenta, and cyan recording with nozzles arranged over the entire width of the recording medium R, and are arranged in that order from the upstream side in the recording medium transport direction.

Reference numeral 300 denotes a recovery system, which corresponds to the print head circuits 302BK to 302C in place of the print medium R in a recovery process of ink discharge (referred to as a discharge recovery process). However, in this example, the number of activations of the discharge recovery process can be significantly reduced in order to perform the appropriate timing preheating.

FIG. 6 shows an appearance of one of the recording heads 302BK to 302C in FIG. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 310 denotes an ink discharge port, 312 denotes an ink supply pipe, and 140 denotes a plurality of IC circuits (drive circuits) for driving an electrothermal conversion element according to the present invention described later. Also, 316
And 318 are terminals.

FIGS. 1A to 1D show the configuration and operation timing of a recording head drive circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a circuit configuration of each drive circuit (IC circuit). First
In FIG. 7A, 107 (CLR / MOD) denotes a clear signal (CLR) for inhibiting ink ejection, and 108 to 111 (SD0-SD3), which are drive index signals preset for each drive circuit, are inkjet-recorded. This is a mode switching signal (MOD) input to a recording head control circuit (not shown) of the apparatus main body.

112 is a preset driving index signal 108 to 111
(SD0 to SD3), and is a 4-bit parallel-serial converter (S / R) that transfers a driving index in synchronization with the shift clock 106 (SCKI). 103 (LATI) is parallel-
Drive index signals 108 to 111 (SD0 to SD
3) This is a load signal for loading, and is used as a latch signal for serial recording data (serial data) SDI during normal driving. Reference numerals 113 to 115 denote gate circuits for switching between serial data SDI at the time of driving index input and normal driving. 1
16 is a 64-bit latch circuit, 117 is a 64-bit shift register, 118 is a flip-flop circuit, and 119 and 120 are AND gates.

As can be easily understood from the circuit configurations of FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B), the symbol "I" at the end of each signal EI, ECKI, LATI, ENBI, SDI, SCKI is the input of the driving IC circuit. Various signals
The symbol "O" at the end of EDO, ECKO, LATO, ENBO, SDO, SCKO means that it is the output of the drive IC circuit, and in principle,
An output from the driving IC circuit is input to a terminal of a similar symbol of another adjacent driving IC circuit. For the remaining symbols, conventional abbreviations representing signal contents are used. For example, CK is a clock, LAT is a latch, ENB is an enable, SD
Is serial data.

Here, EI is a signal that enables energization for each of the units DO1 to DO64 (each IC) shown in FIG. 1 (A). First
As shown in FIG. 2B, DO1-DO64 are connected to respective electrothermal transducers (heating elements) 150 of the recording head. PGND is a ground connected to the emitter of the transistor 121, as shown in FIG. ECK
I and ECKO are clock signals (enable clocks) as shown in FIGS. 1 (C) and 1 (D). ENBI and ENBO are DO for each IC as shown in Fig. 1 (C).
1-Enable signal for determining the energizing time of DO64.

FIG. 1B shows the whole drive circuit of the recording head according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1 (B), 140 is an IC circuit having the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 1 (A).
The pattern below the 0 is the driving index setting unit 145. Reference numeral 150 denotes an electrothermal conversion element (heating element) provided in each ink ejection port.

The drive index designating unit 145 measures the resistance value of the heating element for one drive IC circuit during the manufacturing process of the recording head, and sets the optimal drive index corresponding to the average of the resistance values in advance by setting the drive index in advance. Part pattern (second
(See FIG. 2A) by selectively cutting the laser beam or the like (see FIG. 2B). The pattern to be set at this time is shown in binary notation, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, and this driving index indicates the degree of addition or subtraction from the reference pulse width. Thus, each drive in one recording head
A print head in which an optimal drive index is set for each IC circuit is manufactured.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a drive IC on a printhead substrate.
The mounting pattern of the circuit is shown, and the broken line portion in FIG. FIG. 2B shows an example in which the setting section pattern is cut for setting.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit configuration of a main body side control system for controlling the recording head according to the embodiment of the present invention. Drive index reading and designation unit 20
4 reads the driving indices 108 to 111 (SD0 to SD3, represented by ICn) from the recording head unit 205 at the timing shown in FIG. 1D, thereby obtaining the driving indices preset for each driving IC circuit. 108-111 (See Fig. 2 and Fig. 3)
Enable signal (NE
BI) is generated by the print head drive control unit 203, and this drive signal is applied to each drive IC circuit of the print head unit 205. FIG. 1 (C) shows the normal drive timing of the recording head of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (D) shows the timing of reading the driving index of the recording head of the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, the correspondence between the configuration of the present invention described in the claims and the configuration of the above-described embodiment will be described.

First, the “substrate”, “ejection energy generating element”, “block”, and “printing head” in the claims respectively refer to a substrate, an electrothermal conversion element (heating element) 15 in the embodiment.
0, corresponding to the IC circuits (IC1 to ICn) and the recording head unit 205.

The “setting means provided on the substrate and presetting the driving energy of the ejection energy generating element for each block” in the claims corresponds to the driving index setting unit 145 in the embodiment.

In the claims, the "transfer means for transferring print data to the ejection energy generating elements of a plurality of blocks" is a 64-bit shift circuit provided in each IC circuit for inputting serial data SDI as print data in the embodiment. A register (64-bit shift register) 117, a 64-bit latch circuit (64-bit latch) 116 for latching the data SDI of each 64-bit shift register 117, and a shift clock signal (a signal introduced through the terminal 106 SCKI) for operating the 64-bit shift register 117 ), A latch signal for operating the 64-bit latch circuit 116 (a signal introduced through the terminal 103 LATI), and a 64-bit shift register 117 in each IC circuit.
Corresponding to wiring including terminal 105 SDI and terminal SDO.

Further, the reading means for reading the data related to the driving energy for each block preset in the setting means by sharing the transfer means when reading the data related to the driving energy in the claims is implemented. In the example, the parallel-serial converter (4bit S / R) 1 in each IC circuit
12. A shift clock signal (a signal introduced through the terminal 106 SCKI) for operating the parallel-serial converter 112, and a drive index signal (1
08-111 (SD0-SD3)), and the terminal 105 which connects the parallel-serial converter 112 in each IC circuit 105 The wiring including SDI and SDO is included, and the right end of FIG. The output from the terminal SDO of the IC circuit (ICn) is introduced into the “drive index reading and specifying unit 204” in FIG. 4, and the drive index setting unit 145 for each block (FIG. 1 (B))
) Is sequentially read.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned shift clock signal, latch signal and load signal, and wiring including the terminals 105 SDI and SDO are shared by the transfer means for transferring the recording data and the reading means for sequentially reading the data relating to the driving energy. doing. Note that switching between transfer of recording data and transfer of data relating to drive energy is performed by 107 CLR / MOD.

The driving means for driving the ejection energy generating element of each block with the energy corresponding to the data related to the driving energy of each block sequentially read by the reading means in the claims is described in the embodiment. 4 corresponds to the “head drive control unit 203” in FIG. 4, and in particular, “drives the ejection energy generating elements of each block with energy corresponding to data relating to the drive energy of each block”.
Specifically, the head drive control unit 203 generates a drive signal having a pulse width adjusted according to data (drive index signals 108 to 111) related to drive energy for each block, To the terminal 104 ENB in FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B).
Corresponds to typing in I.

(Others) The present invention brings about an excellent effect particularly in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a bubble jet system among ink jet recording systems. This is because according to such a method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

As for the representative configuration and principle, it is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740,796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it is arranged corresponding to a sheet or a liquid path holding a liquid (ink). Applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling to the electrothermal transducer, thereby causing the electrothermal transducer to generate thermal energy, thereby causing the recording head to emit heat energy. This is effective because a film in the liquid (ink) corresponding to the driving signal can be formed one by one by causing film boiling on the heat acting surface. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. U.S. Pat. No. 44
Those described in JP-A-63359 and JP-A-4345262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the invention relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are employed, more excellent recording can be performed.

As a configuration of the recording head, in addition to a combination configuration (a linear liquid flow path or a right-angled liquid flow path) of a discharge port, a liquid path, and an electrothermal converter as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, A configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which is disposed in a bending region, is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration is based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit. That is, recording can be performed reliably and efficiently regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium on which a recording apparatus can record. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads, or a configuration as one integrally formed recording head. In addition, a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be electrically connected to the device main body or supplied with ink from the device main body by being attached to the device main body even in the serial type as described above. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge type recording head provided integrally with the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the print head, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like provided as a configuration of the printing apparatus in the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If these are specifically mentioned, capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof, Performing a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection is performed separately from printing is also effective for performing stable printing.

Regarding the type or number of print heads to be mounted, for example, in addition to one provided for single color ink, a plurality of print heads are provided corresponding to a plurality of inks having different print colors and densities. May be used.

In addition, the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention may be used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, or a facsimile apparatus having a transmission / reception function. It may be something.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, an optimal drive index is set in the print head for each drive circuit that drives a plurality of electrothermal transducers (heating elements), and this set value is read out during a print operation. Since the pulse width applied to the electrothermal transducer is controlled, energy can be applied in accordance with the resistance of each electrical transducer, and a good recorded image can be obtained.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, a simple recording circuit for setting a driving index can be added to a normal driving circuit, and the setting value of the driving index can be read through the driving circuit. Is not significantly increased. Further, since the ordinary drive signal line can be shared by converting the set value of the drive index into parallel-serial, there is an advantage that the drive index can be realized compactly without increasing the number of wirings.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, data relating to driving energy for each of a plurality of blocks including a plurality of ejection energy generating elements is previously stored on the same substrate provided with a plurality of blocks. The data is stored, and the data is read out sequentially by sharing the transfer means for transferring the recording data, and the ejection energy generating elements of each block are driven by the energy according to the read data. Can be easily and accurately set, and good image recording by stable ink ejection can be realized with a compact configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration of a driving circuit (IC) for driving an electrothermal transducer according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a circuit diagram showing the driving circuit of FIG. 1A. FIG. 1C is a circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration of a recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention using a plurality of recording heads. FIG. 1C is a timing chart showing normal driving timings of the recording head in FIG. 2) shows a timing chart showing the timing of reading the drive index of the recording head shown in FIG. 1B, and FIG. 2A shows a mounting pattern of the drive circuit shown in FIG. 1B on the recording head substrate. FIG. 2 (B) is a plan view showing an example of a case where the driving index setting section in a portion surrounded by a broken line in FIG. 2 (A) is cut for setting the driving index, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 4B is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the relationship between the binary number of the driving index set as shown in B) and the applied pulse width. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a circuit configuration of a drive control system of the recording head unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the structure of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 7A is a circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration of a conventional circuit for driving an electrothermal transducer, and FIG. 7B is a circuit diagram of FIG. 7A. FIG. 7 (C) is a timing chart showing the timing of the circuit shown in FIG. 7 (B). 103: Load signal / latch signal, 106: Shift clock signal, 107: Clear signal / mode switching signal, 108 to 111: Drive index signal, 112: Parallel-serial converter, 113, 114, 115: Serial data switching Gate circuit for 116, Latch circuit, 117 Shift register, 118 Flip-flop circuit, 140 Driving circuit for driving electrothermal transducer (IC circuit), 150 Electrothermal transducer (heating element) 145: Drive index setting unit 203: Head drive control unit 204: Drive index reading and designating unit 302BK to 302C: Recording head 300: Recovery system 310: Ink ejection port 312 ... Ink supply pipe.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Kimiyuki Hayashizaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-63-262255 (JP, A) JP-A Sho JP-A-63-170039 (JP, A) JP-A-63-13752 (JP, A) JP-A-62-16663 (JP, A) JP-A-55-144182 (JP, A) JP-A-57-199673 (JP, A A) JP-A-64-80554 (JP, A) JP-A-64-42256 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print head comprising a plurality of blocks each having a plurality of discharge energy generating elements for discharging ink onto a substrate, wherein the discharge energy generating elements of the plurality of blocks of the print head correspond to print data. In an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink from an ink ejection port to a recording medium by driving a recording medium, the data relating to the driving energy of the ejection energy generating element for each block is provided on the substrate. Setting means set in advance; transfer means for transferring print data to the ejection energy generating elements of the plurality of blocks; and setting of the setting means by sharing the transfer means at the time of reading data relating to the driving energy. Reading means for sequentially reading out the data related to the driving energy for each of the blocks, An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a driving unit that drives an ejection energy generating element of each block with energy corresponding to data on the driving energy of each block sequentially read by the reading unit. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said discharge energy generating element is an electrothermal transducer. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the data relating to the driving energy is data corresponding to an average resistance value of a plurality of electrothermal transducers in the block.