JPH03133657A - Printing head cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve durability and to facilitate maintenance by providing a printing head holding member made of a material having a high thermal conductivity, a guide shaft made of a material having a high thermal conductivity for guiding the printing head holding member with a hollow structure inside, and a means for circulating a cooling medium inside the guide shaft. CONSTITUTION:A printing head 101 is mounted on a printing head holding member 102 for holding said head with a screw or a hook made of an elastic member. The printing head holding member 102 is mounted on a guide shaft 103 slidably in the printing direction. Heat generated from inside the printing head 101 by printing is transmitted to the guide shaft 103 through the printing head holding member 102 having a high thermal conductivity. The heat transmitted to the guide shaft 103 is transmitted to a cooling medium, e.g. cooling water 104. The cooling water 104 increased in temperature is circulated in a flow path 105 by a circulating pump 107 to reach a heat radiator 106, whereby the heat is released outside through the heat radiator 106. Because the flow path of the cooling water is not connected to a head body, maintenance, particularly printing head replacement, can be easily performed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a print head cooling device for a printer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally this f! In printers equipped with print heads that generate heat when printing Tl, it has been common practice to release the heat generated inside the print head into the atmosphere using air cooling fins attached to the print head. As print heads become faster and generate more heat, sufficient heat dissipation is not possible, and it is necessary to limit the duty to prevent the drive coils inside the print head from burning out due to the generated heat. It was difficult to increase the speed. Further, continuing printing for a long time while the inside of the print head is hot causes the deterioration of various parts inside the print head to be significantly accelerated.

In addition, in order to solve these problems, as shown in Figure 6, a conventional print head cooling device includes a flexible tube for circulating coolant in a hollow internal heat transfer member attached to the print head. A water-cooled system was also proposed for mounting the printer and thereby cooling the print head.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the flexible tube is repeatedly bent due to the movement of the print head, which causes deterioration of the flexible tube. Furthermore, since the printer has a structure in which a hollow heat transfer member is disposed around the outer periphery of the print head, there are practical problems such as a high possibility of coolant leaking during maintenance of the printer, especially when replacing the print head.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems.Since the refrigerant flow path is fixed to the printer body, there is no deterioration due to bending of the flow path, etc., and durability is improved. Furthermore, the present invention provides a print head cooling device that is easy to maintain.

[Means to solve the problem]

The print head cooling device of the present invention is a printer having a print head, and includes a print head holding member made of a material with high thermal conductivity that holds the print head, and a print head holding member made of a material with high thermal conductivity that guides the print head holding member. The present invention is characterized by comprising a guide shaft made of a high-quality material and having a hollow structure inside, and a means for shielding a refrigerant inside the guide shaft.

Further, the print head cooling device of the present invention is provided in a printer having a print head, wherein the print head cooling device is attached to the print head.
A heat transfer member made of a material with high thermal conductivity, a cooling shaft parallel to the guide shaft and having a hollow structure inside using a material with high thermal conductivity, and means for circulating a refrigerant inside the cooling shaft. It is characterized by the following:

Further, the print head cooling device of the present invention is characterized in that a heat vibrator is used for the guide shaft.

Further, the print head cooling device of the present invention is characterized in that a heat vibrator is used for the cooling shaft.

[For production]

In the printer configured as above, the heat generated from inside the print head during printing is transmitted to the guide shaft through the print head holding member with high thermal conductivity, and is radiated to the outside by the coolant circulating inside the guide shaft. be done.

〔Example〕

The details of the present invention will be explained below based on illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a print head 101 is attached to a print head holding member 102 that holds it by a screw or a hook using an elastic member, and the print head holding member 102 is attached to a It is attached to the shaft 103 in a sliding direction in the printing direction.The heat generated from inside the print head 101 due to printing is transferred to the guide shaft 103 through the print/character head holding part 102 with high thermal conductivity. The heat transmitted to the guide shaft 103 is transferred to a refrigerant, for example, cooling water 104.The heated cooling water 104 is circulated in the flow path 105 by the circulation pump 107 and reaches the radiator 106, Heat is radiated from 106 to the outside.

In the conventional air cooling system, the air cooling fins are directly attached to the moving print head, which limits the size and makes it difficult to secure a sufficient heat radiation area. The container 106 is separate from the print head body and has a high degree of freedom in layout, making it easy to secure a heat radiation area. Furthermore, since a cooling water flow path is not connected to the head body, maintenance, especially print head replacement, is easy.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a heat vibrator 203 with an extremely high heat carrying capacity is used as a guide shaft. Heat generated by the print head 101 is transmitted to the heat vibrator 203 through the print head holding member 102 having high thermal conductivity.
The heat transferred to 3 is radiated into the atmosphere by the radiator 206.

When using a heat vibrator as a guide shaft like this,
Compared to Embodiment 1, the cooling water flow path and circulation pump can be omitted, so costs can be reduced and maintainability can be improved. Furthermore, by subjecting the heat pipe to surface treatment to improve wear resistance, durability can be improved. Furthermore, the heat sink 206
Since it is separate from the print head, it is easy to ensure a sufficient heat dissipation area.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. The heat generated by the print head 101 is transmitted to the cooling shaft 303 mounted parallel to the guide shaft 103 through a heat transfer member 302 made of aluminum, which has high thermal conductivity, and is mounted on the print head. The heat transferred to the cooling water 303 is transferred to the cooling water 104. Cooling water with increased temperature 10
4 circulates through the flow path 305 by the pump 107 and connects to the radiator 10.
6 and releases heat to the outside.

In this way, when a cooling shaft is provided parallel to the guide shaft, the cooling shaft itself does not require precise dimensional accuracy, making it easier to process and reducing costs. Since the shape of the cooling shaft can be designed relatively freely, it is possible to improve cooling efficiency. Furthermore, since the head main body and the heat transfer member are only thermally connected, and the cooling water flow path is not connected, maintenance is easy because there is no leakage of cooling water when the head is removed.

FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows the first
This is an example in which both the cooling devices shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 3 are used. The cooling water flowing from the pump 107 cools the print head 101 by flowing inside the guide shaft 104, and further passes through the flow path 405 and flows inside the cooling shaft 304 to cool the print head 101. The coolant whose temperature has increased passes through the radiator 106 and releases heat to the outside.

When both the guide shaft and the cooling shaft are used as a cooling device in this way, the flow path 405 can be shortened, improving reliability, and since the area of the part of the head that receives heat increases, cooling Efficiency can be improved.

FIG. 5 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which a heat vibrator 5 with an extremely high heat carrying capacity is used as a cooling shaft.
03 was used. Heat generated by the print head 101 is transferred to the heat vibrator 503 through the heat transfer member 302 having high thermal conductivity, and the heat transferred to the heat vibrator 503 is radiated into the atmosphere by the radiator 506.

In this way, when a heat vibrator is used as the guide Φ; 11, in addition to the effects of the second embodiment, the cooling shaft shape can be freely designed, and the third effect is that accuracy is not required as much.
The effects of the example can also be expected).

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the higher the heat dissipation capacity of the radiator, the higher the cooling efficiency. The cooling efficiency can also be increased by applying oil between the print head holding member and the cooling shaft or between the heat transfer member and the cooling shaft. Further, in the embodiment, since the flow path is fixed to the printer body, there is no need to use a flexible tube for the cooling water flow path, which increases the degree of freedom in piping design. Furthermore, it is possible to install the cooling water flow path using a metal pipe, and the flow path itself can also be used as a part of the radiator.

In the above embodiments, cooling water was used as the refrigerant, but it goes without saying that the refrigerant is not limited to this, and any fluid that can retain heat and transport it to the outside can be used.

Furthermore, the examples listed here are merely examples.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the print head cooling device of the present invention has the following features:
By flowing the coolant inside the guide shaft, heat is quickly transferred to the fluid, allowing efficient heat dissipation.

In addition, a cooling shaft with a hollow interior is provided in contact with the print head, and by flowing a refrigerant inside the cooling shaft, heat is quickly transferred to the fluid, so that efficient heat radiation can be performed.

Furthermore, since the flow path is fixed to the printer body, there is no deterioration due to bending of the flow path, improving durability and solving maintenance problems.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing a first embodiment of the cooling device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an external view showing a second embodiment of the cooling device of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is an external view showing a third embodiment of the cooling device of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is an external view showing a fourth embodiment of the cooling device of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is an external view showing a fifth embodiment of the cooling device of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is an external view of a conventional cooling device. 101...Print head 102...Print head holding member 103...Guide shaft 104...Cooling water 105...Flow path 106...Radiator 107...Circulation pump and above

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a printer having a print head, a print head holding member made of a material with high thermal conductivity that holds the print head, and a material with high thermal conductivity used to guide the print head holding member to internally A print head cooling device comprising: a guide shaft having a hollow structure; and means for circulating a coolant inside the guide shaft. (2) In a printer having a print head, a heat transfer member made of a material with high thermal conductivity is attached to the print head, and the inside is made of a material with high thermal conductivity and has a hollow structure parallel to the guide axis. 1. A print head cooling device comprising: a cooling shaft; and means for circulating a coolant inside the cooling shaft. (3) The print head cooling device according to claim 1, wherein a heat pipe is used for the guide shaft. (4) The print head cooling device according to claim 2, wherein a heat pipe is used for the cooling shaft.