JPS60192676A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent contacts from being contaminated with an ink ejected or leaked from a nozzle, by a construction wherein the position of contacts for passing an electric current from the carriage member side to a recording head is set to be higher than a lowermost part of the head. CONSTITUTION:Contacts 20a provided on a flexible cable 20 are set to be higher than the lowermost part 1f of the recording head 1 by H. Also, contacts 3a provided on a flexible cable 3 are set to be higher than the top face 2e of the carriage 2 by K which is approximately equal to H. Accordingly, even when the ink being ejected or leaked from the nozzles 16a flows along a nozzle plate 16, a sealing member 21 and the cable 20 and is spread onto the top face 2e of the carriage 2, the contacts 20a, 3a can be prevented from being contaminated with the ink, since they are spaced from the ink spreading part by the heights H and K, respectively.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus that performs print recording by scanning a recording head having an ink storage section replaceably mounted on a carriage and scanning relative to a recording paper surface. In particular, the present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a structure in which electrical contacts are not contaminated by ink leaking from nozzles of a printing head.

[Prior Art] An inkjet printer has a simple recording head structure. Color recording can be done easily. Its use has been increasing in recent years due to its high speed recording capability and other reasons.

On the other hand, problems with the inkjet method include clogging of ejection nozzles due to evaporation of volatile components in the ink, and contamination within the printing apparatus due to ink ejected and leaking from the print head.

In conventional inkjet recording devices, in order to prevent the ejection nozzles from clogging, a cap means is provided to cover the ejection nozzles when recording is stopped, and solidified ink near the nozzles is turned into liquid by using a pump. A clogging recovery means is provided to remove the clogging by flushing it.

Further, a cap means for covering the front surface of the head to prevent ink ejected or leaked from the recording head from scattering elsewhere, and an ink recovery means for absorbing the ejected or leaked ink using a pump are provided.

However, since the clogging recovery means, ink recovery means, etc. are devices using pumps, etc., having these devices increases the size of the inkjet recording device and further increases the cost of the device. Ta.

[Object 9] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and replace a recording head that integrally includes a plurality of nozzles that eject ink, a plurality of drive elements that eject ink, and an ink storage section. By mounting it on the carriage, the recording device can be made more compact and at lower cost. At the same time, the electric contact point for supplying electricity to the recording head from the carriage member side is located above the lowest part of the recording head, so that the nozzle discharges. .

The purpose of this invention is to prevent electrical contacts from being contaminated by leaking ink, thereby improving the reliability of the recording apparatus.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In the following embodiments, members having the same shape and function are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, in which a recording head l is provided with a hook portion 1a, a hook pin tb, and a handle portion 1c.

2 is a carriage, which includes a hook portion 2a and a groove portion 2b.
is provided. The recording head 1 is exchangeably fixed to the carriage 2 by engaging the hook portion 1a with the hook portion 2a and the force hook pin 1b with the groove portion 2b.

A flexible cable 3 electrically connects the head 1 to an electric control circuit (not shown).

The carriage 2 is slidably attached to guide shafts 4 and 5, and an endless wire 8 is stretched between a pulley 7 provided on the shaft of a drive motor 6 and a pulley 8 provided elsewhere. and is connected at the end 2C.

Therefore, the rotation of the motor 8 is controlled by the pulleys 7.8. and wire 8
The signal is transmitted to the carriage 2 through the motor 8, and the carriage 2 is driven from side to side by the motor 8.

A platen roller lO provided parallel to the guide shaft 4.5
feeds the recording paper 11 in the sub-scanning direction. The platen roller 10 is rotated by a motor 15 through gears 12, 13, 14.

Next, the recording operation will be explained.

The drive motor 6 is rotated to move the carriage 2 to the right. The recording head performs printing on the recording paper 11 based on a printing signal sent through the flexible cable 3 while the carriage 2 is moving. When the recording head 1 reaches the right end, the carriage 2 stops running, and then the motor 15 rotates to move the recording paper 11 1 in the sub-scanning direction.
Move by line. Subsequently, the carriage 2 moves to the left, and the recording head 1 continues the same printing operation as described above until it reaches the left end. When the recording head 1 reaches the left end, the carriage 2 stops traveling, and then the rotation of the motor 15 moves the recording paper 1
1 indicates that a predetermined sentence or image is printed and recorded on the entire surface of the recording paper 11 by repeating zero or more operations of moving one line in the sub-scanning direction.

Note that FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional recording head to further clarify the recording apparatus of the present invention, and the conventional recording head will be explained based on FIG. Facilitates understanding of recording devices. The continuous method, which is one of the inkjet recording methods, uses a pressurizing pump mechanism to continuously eject ink, an electrode to charge the ink particles, and control the flying direction of the particles. An ink recovery device or the like having a pump mechanism for recovering ink is provided.

On the other hand, the recording head used in this example is of the on-demand type, and is designed to eject ink only when recording dots on the recording paper. structure becomes simpler. That is, 1G is a nozzle plate, has a plurality of nozzles lea, and is provided on the insulating substrate 17.

An electrical contact 17a and a discharge drive element (not shown) are provided on the insulating substrate 17. The drive element functions as an energy generator that generates energy to eject ink from the nozzle 18a as ink droplets, and uses a piezo element or an electrical resistance element.

The insulating substrate 17 is further adhered to the base body 1d. Further, an ink bag 18 containing ink is attached to the base 1d, and the ink in the ink bag 18 is continuously delivered to the tip of the nozzle lea through a hole communicating with the base 1d and the insulating base 17. Further, the ink bag 18 is covered by a cover unit 1e.

3 is a sectional view showing the carriage 2 with the head shown in FIG. 2 attached, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the flexible
FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the cable 3. FIG.

The head l has a hook part 1a and a hook part 2a of the carriage 2.
It is exchangeably fixed on the carriage 2 by the engagement with the hook pin 1b and the hook groove 2b. In this state, the rubber member 18 provided on the front part of the carriage 2 is connected to the electrical contact 17a shown in the second drawing and the electrical contact 3a shown in the fourth drawing.
The flexible e-cable 3 is pressed into contact with the elastic force of the flexible e-cable 3, and an electric signal from the flexible e-cable 3 is thereby applied to a drive element (not shown).

In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, ink may unexpectedly flow out from the nozzle lea due to an unexpected shock or temperature change, or when recording is performed on the recording paper 11, the ink may bounce off the recording paper and get around the head. If it adheres to the surface, the electrical contacts 3a and 17a located below the nozzle 18a will inevitably become contaminated over a long period of time, and there is a very high possibility that poor conduction will occur and printing will not be possible.

5 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the recording head 1 according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a carriage 2 to which the recording head 1 of FIG. 5 is attached, and FIG. FIG. In FIG. 5, the nozzle °16 is located above the electrical contact 17a, similar to the one shown in FIG.
1 has the advantage that it is unlikely to touch the end of the carriage 2 when it is discharged in the direction of the arrow.

Further, the electrical contacts on the board 17 are connected to the flexible cable 20.
The connected portion is completely sealed from the outside air by a sealing member 21. Therefore, the connected electrical contact part is connected to the upper nozzle le.
It is not contaminated by ink ejected and leaking from a.

On the other hand, the contact portion 2 provided on the flexible 9 cable 20
0a is provided above the lowest portion If of the recording head 1 by an amount H. The above-mentioned recording head 1 is constructed by securing the hook portion 1a and the hook portion 2a having spring properties of the carriage 2 shown in FIG.
The hook is exchangeably fixed on the carriage 2 by engagement with the hole 2g.

In FIG. 6, the contact 3a provided on the flexible cable 3 is provided above the upper surface 2e of the carriage 2 by a distance K, which is approximately the same length as H. Therefore, the contacts 3a are not contaminated by the leaked ink on the upper surface 2e.The electrical contacts 3 provided on the carriage 2 in FIG.
a and an electric contact 20a provided on the recording head 1 are brought into contact by the elastic force of the rubber member 18, whereby current is supplied from the flexible cable 3 to an ink ejection drive element (not shown).

Ink ejected and leaked from the nozzle 16a in the above state is nozzle play)18. Even if the ink spreads to the upper surface 2e of the carriage 2 through the sealing member 21 and the flexible cable 20, the contacts 20a and 3a are separated from the ink diffusion point by heights H and K, so the ink will contaminate the contacts. Never.

The values of H and K are chosen by the following calculations. For example, if the area of the upper surface 2e of the carriage 2 is 80ff12 and the ink capacity of the ink storage portion 18 of the recording head l is 5cc, then the result is 5/8·Q, 825c+a, and in the worst case, all the ink leaks. Also H1□
If the thickness is set to 1.27 mm, the electrode will not be contaminated by ink. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG.

In FIG. 8, contact 2 of the flexible cable 20
0a is provided at a distance #H from the lowest portion 1f of the recording head l, similar to that shown in FIG.

Unlike the flexible cable 20 shown in FIG. 5, the flexible cable 20 shown in FIG. There isn't.

Next, still another embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 8, 10, and 11.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the recording head 1, FIG. 1θ is a perspective view showing the carriage 2 to which the recording head l of FIG. 8 is attached, and FIG. It is a diagram.

In FIG. 8, a contact 20a provided on the flexible cable 20 is provided at a distance H from the lowest head portion 1f of the cross section 1h of the recording head 1. Therefore, contamination of the contacts 20a by leaked ink can be prevented. Since the side surface 1h has a wider area than the bottom portion l'', the width of the contact 20a can be increased.If the width is larger, the number of contacts can be increased, and the spacing between the contacts can be increased to reduce erroneous contacts. In FIG. 10, the contact 3a provided on the flexible cable 3 is provided above the upper surface 2e of the carriage 2 by a distance K, which is approximately the same length as H. The contacts 3a are not contaminated by the leaked ink.

In FIG. 11, the contact 3a provided on the carriage 2 and the contact 20a provided on the recording head 1 are the rubber member 18.
and the elastic force of the spring portion 2h provided in the carriage 2 -
The flexible writing cable 3 then energizes an ink ejection drive element (not shown).

Next, still another embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 12, 13, and 14.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the recording head 1, and FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the recording head 1.
FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the carriage 2 to which the recording head shown in FIG. 2 is attached, and FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing the state in which the head 1 is attached to the carriage 2.

In FIG. 12, a contact point 2ja provided on the flexible cable 20 is provided on the rear surface 1i of the recording head 1 at a position separated from the lowest portion 1f of the head by a distance @H. Therefore, contamination of the contact point 20a by leaked ink can be prevented.

Providing the contact points 20a on the rear surface 11 makes it possible to attach a plurality of adjacent recording heads 1 to the carriage 2. In addition, as shown in Fig. 13, the flexible cable 3
Since the contact point 3a is provided on the spring portion 21 provided on the carriage 2, the recording head l is always pressed in the direction of the roller lO via the contact points 3a and 20a. Therefore, the contact between the contacts 3a and 20a is ensured, and the engagement between the front hook portion 1g of the recording head l and the hook of the carriage 2 with the hole 2g is also ensured.

In Fig. 13, the contact 3a of the flexible cable 3
is provided above the upper surface 2e of the carriage 2 by K, which is approximately the same length as H, so that the contact 3a is not contaminated by leaked ink on the upper surface 2e.

In FIG. 14, the contact point 3a and the contact point 20a provided on the recording head l come into contact with each other due to the elastic force of the rubber member 19 and the spring portion 21 provided on the carriage 2.
Electricity is supplied from the cable 3 to an ink ejection drive element (not shown).

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the simple structure in which the electrical contacts for feeding power to the plurality of drive elements of the recording head are provided above the bottom surface of the carriage,
It is possible to provide an inkjet recording apparatus in which contamination of the electrical contacts by ink leaking from a plurality of nozzles is completely prevented, and therefore performs extremely reliable recording operations.

Furthermore, even if the electrical contacts become contaminated with ink, the recording head can be easily removed from the carriage member and the electrical contacts can be cleaned.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an inkjet recording device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional recording head to further clarify the recording device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the flexible fist cable shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the recording head according to the present invention; Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a carriage to which the head is attached, Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing the head attached to the carriage, and Fig. 8 shows another embodiment of the recording head according to the present invention. 8 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the recording head according to the present invention; FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a carriage to which the head is attached; FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the head attached to the carriage. 12 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the recording head according to the present invention; FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a carriage to which the head is attached; FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the carriage to which the head is attached. FIG. l... Recording head, 2... Carriage, 3.20... Flexible cable, 3a, 20a
...Electrical contacts. Representative Patent Attorney Yoshi Tani - 3Z 6 16 16a 000 0 - Target - Vaginal Figure 11 Figure 13. Figure 14 4 z 5 9

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In an inkjet recording device in which a printing unit for discharging ink is mounted on a carriage, an electrical connection portion connected to the printing unit is provided above the bottom surface of the carriage. An inkjet recording device featuring: (Margin below)