JP2011161795A - Liquid ejection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a liquid ejecting apparatus in which a serviceman can visually inspect a head surface of a liquid ejecting head without removing the liquid ejecting head without causing a risk of a decrease in cost performance or an increase in size. .
A window 222 is formed at an adjacent position on the left side of the opening 221 in front of the front. The mirror installation portion 28 is provided in a portion corresponding to an acceleration / deceleration region when the carriage 16 reciprocates in the main scanning direction X inside the housing body 22. In the mirror installation portion 28, the mirror 2 can be installed at a position where the image of the head surface of the recording head 17 can be projected while the carriage 16 is stopped at a predetermined position in the acceleration / deceleration area. The image of the head surface of the recording head 17 reflected on the mirror 2 installed in the mirror installation unit 28 can be viewed from the outside of the housing body 22 through the window unit 222.
[Selection] Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus including a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto a material to be ejected.

Here, the liquid ejecting apparatus refers to an ink jet recording apparatus, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like that performs recording on a recording paper by ejecting ink from a liquid ejecting head such as a recording head onto an ejected material such as recording paper. The present invention includes not only a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects or discharges liquid other than ink but also various liquid consuming apparatuses that eject or eject a minute amount of liquid droplets.
The liquid droplet is a state of liquid ejected or ejected from the liquid ejecting apparatus, and includes liquid droplets having a granular shape, a tear shape, and a thread shape.

  The liquid may be any material that can be ejected or discharged from the liquid ejecting apparatus. For example, it may be in a state in which the substance is in a liquid phase, and is granular such as liquid, sol, gel water, other inorganic solvents, organic solvents, solutions, liquid resins, and liquid metals (metal melts). Including the body. Further, not only a liquid as one state of a substance but also a substance in which particles of a functional material made of a solid such as a pigment or metal particles are dissolved, dispersed or mixed in a solvent are included.

  Typical examples of the liquid include ink and liquid crystal. Here, the ink includes various liquid compositions such as gel ink and hot melt ink in addition to general water-based ink and oil-based ink.

  As a specific example of the liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, a liquid containing materials such as an electrode material and a color material used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display, an EL (electroluminescence) display, a surface emitting display, and a color filter in a dispersed or dissolved form. It may be a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a liquid, a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a bio-organic material used for biochip manufacturing, a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a liquid as a sample used as a precision pipette, a textile printing apparatus, a microdispenser, or the like. Furthermore, a transparent resin liquid such as UV curable resin is used to form a liquid injection device that injects lubricating oil pinpoint onto precision machines such as watches and cameras, and micro hemispherical lenses (optical lenses) used in optical communication elements. It may be a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects onto a substrate, or a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects an etching solution such as acid or alkali in order to etch the substrate or the like.

  In general, a head maintenance device for performing maintenance of the liquid ejection head mainly during standby is provided inside a liquid ejection device such as an ink jet printer. This head maintenance device is a device called an ink system or the like in an inkjet printer, for example. A capping mechanism that seals the head surface of the liquid ejection head with a cap during standby to prevent drying of the ink in the ejection nozzle, etc. It has a suction pump that sucks the head surface of the ejection head in a sealed state, a wiping mechanism that wipes off extraneous matters such as extra ink and paper dust attached to the head surface of the liquid ejection head, and the like. The purpose of such a head maintenance device is mainly to prevent nozzle clogging or the like of the liquid jet head and to eliminate it when nozzle clogging or the like occurs.

  However, even with the above-described head maintenance device, it may still be impossible to eliminate nozzle clogging of the ejection nozzle, which requires maintenance or repair by a specialized service person. As one of the causes of such a state, there is a case where the ejection nozzle of the liquid ejection head is broken or severely clogged that cannot be restored. In this case, the service person replaces the liquid jet head with a new one. On the other hand, as another cause, there is no problem with the liquid ejecting head, and there is a case where a cap, a suction pump, a wiping mechanism, or the like of the head maintenance device has failed. In this case, it is not necessary to replace the liquid ejecting head, and the service person repairs or replaces the head maintenance device. That is, the response to be performed by the service person differs depending on whether the nozzle clogging or the like is caused by the liquid ejecting head or the head maintenance device.

  Here, whether or not the ejection nozzle of the liquid ejecting head has failed or cannot be recovered from severe nozzle clogging is determined with a certain degree of accuracy by a serviceman visually inspecting the head surface of the liquid ejecting head. Is possible. That is, whether or not it is necessary to replace the liquid ejecting head with a new one can be determined with a certain degree of accuracy by a serviceman visually inspecting the head surface of the liquid ejecting head. However, a general liquid ejecting apparatus often has an internal layout that makes it extremely difficult to visually inspect the head surface of the liquid ejecting head because of its structure. Accordingly, in a general liquid ejecting apparatus, a serviceman must remove the liquid ejecting head from the carriage or the like when visually checking the head surface of the liquid ejecting head.

  When the liquid ejecting head once removed from the carriage or the like is attached again to the carriage or the like, the position and angle of the liquid ejecting head are always finely adjusted regardless of whether or not the liquid ejecting head is replaced with a new one. A lot of adjustment work such as fine adjustment of the parallelism is required. This liquid ejecting head adjustment work needs to be performed with extremely high accuracy because the accuracy greatly affects the liquid ejecting accuracy, and since there are many items to be adjusted, it usually takes a lot of time and labor. is there. Therefore, even if it is not necessary to replace the liquid ejecting head with a new one as a result, the serviceman removes the liquid ejecting head from the carriage or the like in order to visually inspect the head surface. There is a problem in terms of work efficiency because it is necessary to perform the work of attaching the liquid jet head to the head and the adjustment work after the liquid jet head is attached.

  As a conventional technique for solving such a problem, for example, a liquid ejecting apparatus including a CCD camera capable of capturing an image of the head surface of a liquid ejecting head is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). . As another prior art, for example, a carriage mounted with a liquid jet head is pivotally supported, and the head surface can be visually inspected by rotating the carriage to a predetermined position. A liquid ejecting apparatus in which the ejecting head is displaced is known (see, for example, Patent Document 2). According to these conventional techniques, it becomes possible for a serviceman to visually inspect the head surface of the liquid ejecting head without removing the liquid ejecting head from the carriage or the like.

JP 2008-230190 A JP 2008-230191 A

  However, the CCD camera of the liquid ejecting apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided only for the purpose of visual inspection of the head surface of the liquid ejecting head by a serviceman. There is nothing necessary in terms of function. For this reason, the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 may cause a reduction in cost performance of the liquid ejecting apparatus.

  In addition, the liquid ejecting apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 needs to secure a space for rotating the carriage and the like, and there is a restriction that other components cannot be arranged in the space. Therefore, the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 may cause the liquid ejecting apparatus to become unnecessarily large.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid ejecting device that allows a serviceman to visually inspect the head surface of the liquid ejecting head without removing the liquid ejecting head. An object of the present invention is to realize an apparatus without causing a risk of cost performance reduction or size increase.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus in which a carriage on which a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto a material to be ejected is mounted is supported so as to be able to reciprocate in a predetermined reciprocating direction. A mirror installation unit capable of installing a mirror at a position where an image of the head surface of the liquid ejection head can be projected when the liquid ejection head is at a predetermined position in the range, and the liquid ejection head reflected in the mirror installed in the mirror installation unit A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a window portion through which an image of the head surface can be visually recognized from the outside of the housing.

  According to such a feature, the service person can visually inspect the head surface of the liquid ejecting head through the mirror without removing the liquid ejecting head from the carriage by installing the mirror in the mirror installation portion. Can do. In addition, it is not necessary to provide an imaging device such as a CCD camera in the liquid ejecting apparatus, and it is not necessary to support the carriage so as to be rotatable.

  As a result, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting apparatus that allows a serviceman to visually inspect the head surface of the liquid ejecting head without removing the liquid ejecting head can be provided. The effect that it can implement | achieve, without producing the possibility of making it, is acquired.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the first aspect described above, the mirror installation portion is provided in a portion corresponding to an acceleration / deceleration region when the carriage reciprocates. This is a liquid ejecting apparatus.

  In order to reciprocate the carriage at a constant speed, an acceleration / deceleration area is indispensable before and after the carriage. In the acceleration / deceleration area of the carriage, since the carriage moving speed is not constant, the position where the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head easily reaches the ejected material, and high precision liquid ejection cannot be realized. There are many. For this reason, many common liquid ejecting apparatuses are controlled so that liquid is ejected only while the carriage is moving at a constant speed, and liquid ejection is not performed in the acceleration / deceleration regions of the preceding and succeeding carriages. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide an ejected material support member in a portion corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration region of the carriage. In other words, it is relatively easy to secure a certain space around the head surface of the liquid ejecting head in the portion corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration region of the carriage without increasing the size of the liquid ejecting apparatus. Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is relatively easy to provide the mirror installation portion without increasing the size of the liquid ejecting apparatus.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the first aspect or the second aspect described above, the liquid ejecting apparatus includes an opening / closing cover for the window portion.
According to such a feature, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the user touches the inside of the liquid ejecting apparatus through the window portion, and it is possible that foreign matters such as dust may enter the inside of the liquid ejecting apparatus through the window portion. Can be reduced.

1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer. FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the ink jet printer with the front cover removed. The principal part top view of an inkjet printer. The perspective view which expanded and illustrated the part in which the opening part of the housing body was provided. The perspective view which expanded and illustrated the part in which the opening part of the housing body was provided. The perspective view which expanded and illustrated the opening part of the state which opened the opening-and-closing cover. The principal part perspective view which illustrated the vicinity of the mirror installation part provided inside the housing body. The principal part side view which illustrated the vicinity of the mirror installation part which installed the mirror. The principal part perspective view which looked at the vicinity of the mirror installation part which installed the mirror from the bottom face side.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic structure of inkjet printer 1>
A schematic structure of the inkjet printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the ink jet printer 1. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the ink jet printer 1 and illustrates a state where the front cover 25 is removed.

  The casing of the ink jet printer 1 as the “liquid ejecting apparatus” includes a casing base 21 at the bottom and a casing body 22. The housing body 22 is fixed to the housing base 21 and the frame of the inkjet printer 1 with a number of screws.

  An opening is formed on the upper surface of the housing main body 22 so that the user can easily remove the recording paper P that is caught inside the ink jet printer 1 by a paper jam or the like and remains (not shown). The printer cover 23 is provided so that the opening can be opened and closed. A roll paper holder 32 for supporting the roll paper fed to the inkjet printer 1 is provided on the back side of the housing body 22.

  A front cover 25 is detachably provided on the front side of the housing body 22. When the front cover 25 is removed, an opening 221 formed on the left side (left side when viewed from the front) of the housing body 22 is formed. It is supposed to be exposed. An opening / closing cover 27 is provided in the opening 221. Further, an operation unit 26 for a user to operate the ink jet printer 1 is provided on the front side of the housing body 22. Further, on the front side of the housing body 22, a feeding tray 31 for storing recording paper P fed by an automatic feeding device (not shown) is detachably provided. On the upper side of the feeding tray 31, there is provided a discharge tray portion 33 on which the recording paper P after execution of recording is discharged and stacked.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the ink jet printer 1.
The inkjet printer 1 includes a conveyance driving roller 11, a conveyance driven roller 12, a recording paper support member 13, a discharge driving roller 14, a discharge driven roller 15, and a carriage as means for executing recording on the recording paper P as an “ejecting material”. 16 and a recording head 17.

  The transport driving roller 11 has a high friction coating on the outer peripheral surface, and rotates by receiving the rotational driving force of a transport motor (not shown). The transport driven roller 12 is pivotally supported so as to be driven to rotate in a state of being biased in a direction in contact with the transport drive roller 11. The recording paper support member 13 supports the recording paper P from the back side in a region where ink is ejected from the recording head 17 to the recording paper P. The distance between the head surface of the recording head 17 and the recording surface of the recording paper P (the surface on which recording is performed; the same applies hereinafter) is maintained at a constant interval by the recording paper support member 13. The discharge driving roller 14 is rotated by a rotational driving force of a conveyance motor (not shown) being transmitted. The discharge driven roller 15 is pivotally supported so as to be driven to rotate and is urged in a direction in which the discharge driven roller 15 contacts the discharge drive roller 14.

  The carriage 16 is supported by a carriage guide shaft 18 and a carriage support frame (not shown) so as to be able to reciprocate in the main scanning direction X. The main scanning direction X is a direction that intersects the sub-scanning direction Y (the conveyance direction of the recording paper P) along the recording surface of the recording paper P supported by the recording paper support member 13. The carriage guide shaft 18 is a component made of a metal shaft disposed along the main scanning direction X. The carriage 16 is connected to an endless belt suspended between a driving pulley and a driven pulley of a carriage driving motor (not shown). The carriage 16 reciprocates in the main scanning direction X by bidirectionally rotating the endless belt with the rotational driving force of the carriage driving motor.

  The recording head 17 as a “liquid ejecting head” is mounted on the carriage 16 so that the head surface faces the recording surface of the recording paper P supported by the recording paper support member 13. The head surface of the recording head 17 is provided with a number of ejection nozzles (not shown) for ejecting ink onto the recording surface of the recording paper P to form dots. The recording head 17 mounted on the carriage 16 is supplied with ink from an ink tank (not shown) provided in the main body of the inkjet printer 1. Ink is supplied from the ink tank to the recording head 17 via an ink tube (not shown).

  The recording paper P is sandwiched between the transport driving roller 11 and the transport driven roller 12 and is transported on the recording paper support member 13 in the sub-scanning direction Y by the driving rotation of the transport driving roller 11. The recording paper P on the recording paper support member 13 forms dots by ejecting ink from the head surface of the recording head 17 to the recording surface while the carriage 16 reciprocates in the main scanning direction X, and the transport driving roller 11. Recording is executed on the recording surface by alternately repeating the operation of transporting in the sub-scanning direction Y by a predetermined transport amount by the drive rotation. The recording paper P on which recording has been performed on the recording surface is sandwiched between the discharge driving roller 14 and the discharge driven roller 15, conveyed in the sub-scanning direction Y by the driving rotation of the discharge driving roller 14, and discharged from the inkjet printer 1. Is done. These series of recording controls are executed by a control device (not shown) having a known microcomputer control circuit.

  The ink jet printer 1 also includes a head maintenance device 19 for performing maintenance of the recording head 17 during standby when recording is not performed. A known head maintenance device 19 is disposed at a predetermined position (home position) of the movable range of the carriage 16, and has a cap CP for sealing the head surface of the recording head 17 and a recording head 17 during standby when recording is not performed. A wiper (not shown) or the like for wiping off excess ink or paper dust adhering to the head surface is provided.

<Window part 222 and mirror installation part 28>
The window part 222 and the mirror installation part 28 provided in the inkjet printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. These are provided so that a serviceman can visually inspect the head surface of the recording head 17 without removing the recording head 17 from the carriage 16.

  4 and 5 are enlarged perspective views of a portion of the housing body 22 where the opening 221 is provided. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the opening / closing cover 27 is closed, and FIG. 5 shows a state in which the opening / closing cover 27 is opened. Are respectively illustrated. FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the opening 221 in a state where the opening / closing cover 27 is opened. FIG. 7 is a main part perspective view illustrating the vicinity of the mirror installation portion 28 provided inside the housing body 22. FIG. 8 is a main part side view illustrating the vicinity of the mirror installation part 28 where the mirror 2 is installed, and FIG. 9 is a main part perspective view of the part viewed from the bottom side (the head surface side of the recording head 17). is there.

  The ink jet printer 1 is provided with a cutter device 34 for cutting the roll paper after recording. The known cutter device 34 is supported by the center frame 29 so as to be reciprocable in the main scanning direction X, and cuts the roll paper with a round blade that rotates in conjunction with the reciprocation. The opening 221 of the housing body 22 is formed in a portion corresponding to the standby position of the cutter device 34, and repairing or maintenance of the cutter device 34 stopped at the standby position by opening the opening / closing cover 27 is performed. A serviceman can do it.

  The window 222 is formed at an adjacent position on the left side of the opening 221 in the front. The opening / closing cover 27 is integrally formed with a window portion cover portion 271 at a portion corresponding to the window portion 222. That is, when the opening / closing cover 27 is opened, the window 222 is opened together with the opening 221. As described above, by providing the opening / closing cover 27 that closes the opening 221 and the window 222, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the user touches the cutter device 34, and also the inside of the inkjet printer 1 through the window 222. The possibility of touching can be reduced. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the possibility that foreign matters such as dust will enter the ink jet printer 1 through the window 222.

The mirror installation portion 28 is provided in a portion corresponding to an acceleration / deceleration region when the carriage 16 reciprocates in the main scanning direction X inside the housing body 22, and is a frame component that constitutes the skeleton of the inkjet printer 1. It consists of a part of. More specifically, the mirror installation unit 28 is provided at a position adjacent to the left side of the front side of the recording paper support member 13 with a step in a direction away from the head surface of the recording head 17 from the support surface of the recording paper support member 13. It has been. In the mirror installation portion 28, the plate-like mirror 2 can be inserted and installed through an insertion port (not shown) provided on the side surface of the housing body 22. That is, the mirror installation unit 28 can install the mirror 2 at a position where the image of the head surface of the recording head 17 can be projected in a state where the carriage 16 is stopped at a predetermined position in the acceleration / deceleration region.
The mirror 2 may be installed in the mirror installation unit 28 only during repairs or maintenance by a serviceman, or may be permanently installed in the mirror installation unit 28.

  An image of the head surface of the recording head 17 reflected on the mirror 2 installed in the mirror installation unit 28 can be viewed from the outside of the housing body 22 through the window unit 222 (reference A). That is, when repairing or maintaining the inkjet printer 1, the service person installs the mirror 2 in the mirror installation unit 28, thereby removing the recording head 17 from the carriage 16 via the mirror 2 without removing the recording head 17. The head surface can be visually inspected. Therefore, for example, there is no need to provide an image pickup apparatus such as a CCD camera in the ink jet printer 1 and it is not necessary to support the carriage 16 so as to be rotatable. .

  As described above, according to the present invention, the ink jet printer 1 in which the service person can visually inspect the head surface of the recording head 17 without removing the recording head 17 from the carriage 16 is reduced in cost performance or large. This can be realized without causing the risk of conversion.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and these are also included in the scope of the present invention. Needless to say.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer, 2 Mirror, 16 Carriage, 17 Recording head, 18 Carriage guide shaft, 19 Head maintenance device, 21 Case base, 22 Case main body, 23 Printer cover, 25 Front cover, 26 Operation part, 27 Open / close cover, 28 Mirror installation part, 221 opening part, 222 window part, 271 window part cover part, P recording paper, X main scanning direction, Y sub-scanning direction

Claims (3)

A liquid ejecting apparatus in which a carriage on which a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto a material to be ejected is supported is supported so as to be capable of reciprocating in a predetermined reciprocating direction,
A mirror installation unit capable of installing a mirror at a position where an image of a head surface of the liquid jet head can be projected when the carriage is at a predetermined position in a movable range;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a window portion through which an image of the head surface of the liquid ejecting head reflected on a mirror installed in the mirror installation portion can be visually recognized from the outside of the housing.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mirror installation portion is provided in a portion corresponding to an acceleration / deceleration region when the carriage reciprocates.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an opening / closing cover for the window portion.

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