JPH1170664A - Ink detector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: Provided is an ink detecting apparatus for an ink jet recording apparatus that continuously detects the volume of ink in an ink container without moving a light source or a light receiving element for ink detection and moving the light source or the light receiving element. . SOLUTION: In an ink jet recording apparatus which scans a recording head including an ink container 1 along a horizontal plane extending in a direction perpendicular to a recording paper conveyance direction, a light transmitting member is provided on a part of the bottom surface of the ink container 1. A light source 4 and a light-receiving element 5 are arranged above and below the inclined surface 2 with respect to the horizontal plane. From the change in the detection output of the element 5, the capacity of the ink in the ink container 1 is detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head including at least one ink container, which scans a recording head along a horizontal plane extending in a direction perpendicular to a recording paper conveyance direction, and discharges ink onto the recording paper. Ink detection device of ink jet recording device for printing (International Patent Classification B41J 2/1
75), which is characterized in that the capacity of ink in a plurality of ink containers can be continuously detected using a pair of light sources and light receiving elements.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG.
As shown in the drawing, the light source 4 and the light receiving element 5 are arranged so as to face each other with the ink detecting unit 15 formed of a light transmitting member provided therebetween, which is provided in a part of the ink container. The presence / absence or presence or absence of transmitted light received by the ink detection unit 5 is used to detect the presence / absence of ink 16 in the ink detection unit 15.

In the above method, the presence or absence of ink can be detected, but the capacity of ink cannot be measured. In order to enable the measurement of ink capacity, the light source 4 and the light receiving element 5 of the above method are simultaneously operated. There is known a method of measuring the ink volume by reciprocating vertically.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional configuration, the presence or absence of ink can be detected, but the capacity and remaining amount of ink cannot be measured. Further, in order to measure the capacity and the remaining amount of the ink, a complicated and high-precision structure for simultaneously reciprocating the light source 4 and the light-receiving element 5 in the vertical direction is required, so that an increase in cost is inevitable.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ink detecting device according to the present invention comprises a light-transmitting member on at least a part of a bottom surface of an ink container, and further comprises: While forming an inclined surface inclined in the scanning direction, a light source and light receiving elements for receiving light from the light source passing through the inclined surface are arranged above and below a movement locus of the inclined surface of the ink container, and The amount of ink in the ink container can be continuously measured based on a change in the detection output of the light receiving element that changes with scanning.

According to the present invention, the amount of ink in the horizontal direction on the inclined surface is measured from the amount of movement of the ink container, and is converted into the height of the ink level in the vertical direction. Can be weighed. Also, even when the number of ink containers attached increases, a pair of fixed light source and light receiving element can be used easily and accurately without adding a movable part and a light source and light receiving element that require accuracy. In addition, the volume of ink in the plurality of ink containers can be continuously measured.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, a recording head including at least one ink container is provided.
An ink detecting device that scans along a horizontal plane extending in a direction perpendicular to the recording paper transport direction and detects the volume of ink in the ink container in an ink jet recording device that performs printing by discharging ink on the recording paper. At least a part of the bottom surface of the ink container is formed of a light-transmitting member, and forms an inclined surface inclined in the scanning direction with respect to the horizontal plane, and a light source and the inclined surface from the light source. The light receiving elements that receive the light passing therethrough are arranged above and below the movement trajectory of the inclined surface of the ink container, and the change in the detection output of the light receiving element that changes with the scanning of the recording head indicates that the inside of the ink container Detecting the ink capacity has the effect of easily and accurately measuring the ink capacity continuously and predicting the time at which the ink will run out.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink container according to the first aspect, wherein a plurality of the ink containers are arranged along a scanning direction of a recording head, and the ink container comprises a pair of light sources and light receiving elements. The ink detection device according to claim 1, wherein a capacity of the ink in the ink container is detected from a change in a detection output of the light receiving element that changes with a scan of a print head,
This has the effect of easily and accurately measuring the volume of ink in a plurality of ink containers continuously and predicting when ink will run out.

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the ink container 1 as viewed from the front including the inclined surface 2, and the cross section forms a substantially inverted triangle. Is an inclined surface inclined in the scanning direction for scanning along a horizontal plane extending at right angles to. Further, a light source 4 and light receiving elements 5 for receiving light passing through the inclined surface 2 from the light source 4 are arranged above and below the movement locus of the inclined surface 2 of the ink container 1. The change in the amount of received light accompanying the scanning of the recording head is detected.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink container 1, in which an inclined surface 2 is formed on a part of the bottom surface of the ink container 1, and the inclined surface 2 and its upper surface are formed of a light transmitting member. Reference numeral 3 denotes an ink level stored in the ink container. That is, FIG. 2A shows an example in which the inclined surface 2 is formed at the end of the ink container 1, and FIG. 2B shows that the inclined surface 2 is formed in the center of the ink container 1. An example is shown.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the ink detecting device. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 7 denotes an oscillation circuit, 8 denotes a counter for counting the amount of movement of the recording head (ink container 1), and 9 denotes a light receiving element 5. A sensor circuit 10 is a comparator for binarizing an output from the sensor circuit 9, 11 is a gate for passing the count result of the counter 8 while the output of the comparator 10 is ON, and 12 is an ink level based on the output of the counter 8. This is a computing unit that calculates the height of the ink and the capacity of the ink.

A major difference between the embodiment of the present invention and the conventional example is that an ink jet recording apparatus scans a recording head including an ink container along a horizontal plane extending in a direction perpendicular to a recording paper conveyance direction. In particular, by forming an inclined surface on a part of the bottom surface of the ink container and providing a fixed light source and a light receiving element, the capacity of the ink can be continuously measured. When the recording head including the ink container 1 moves in the scanning direction during the operation of the recording apparatus, light from the light source 4 passes through the ink container 1 and moves to the reference point 6 which is the intersection of the left side surface and the bottom surface of the ink container 1. After passing through and reaching the light receiving element 5, the inclined surface 2
Because the cross-section seen from the front of the frame constitutes a substantially inverted triangle,
From the reference point 6 to the ink boundary line 14, the output of the light receiving element 5 is maximum. Further, the ink container 1 is scanned, and after the ink boundary line 14, the light from the light source 4 is weakened due to the low transmittance of the ink, reaches the light receiving element 5, and the output of the light receiving element 5 sharply decreases.

In FIG. 4, when the optical axis connecting the light source 4 and the light receiving element 5 reaches the reference point 6 shown in FIG. 1, the counter 8 is reset and the counting of the output of the oscillation circuit 7 is started. On the other hand, the output from the sensor circuit 9 is supplied to the input of the comparator 10 and is compared with a preset threshold to generate a binarized signal indicating the movement to the ink boundary 14 as the output of the comparator 10. . An optical axis connecting the light source 4 and the light receiving element 5 is connected to the gate 11 at the reference point 6.
Open while moving to the ink boundary line 14 and the counter 8
Is input to the calculator 12, and the calculation result indicating the height of the ink liquid level and the capacity of the ink is output. The detection of the reference point 6 is performed, for example, by counting the amount of movement of the recording head from a predetermined position by counting the number of driving pulses of the pulse motor for driving the recording head.

In the above description, the case where the ink detection is performed during the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus has been described. However, there is an advantage that the ink detection can be performed at all times during the printing operation. Large, causing measurement errors. Therefore, measurement is performed at a low speed and in a section that moves at a constant speed, such as when the recording head including the ink container is moved to a predetermined position during preparation before printing or during loading of recording paper, not during printing. By doing so, the ink liquid level is stabilized, and a better effect can be obtained.

In the above description, an example in which the inclined surface is a straight line has been described. However, the inclined surface may be formed into a curved line according to the shape of the ink container.

(Embodiment 2) An embodiment of the invention described in claim 2 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a case where a plurality of ink containers 1 according to the first embodiment are arranged along the scanning direction of the recording head. In FIG. 3, yellow (Y) magenta (M) cyan ( C) Black (K) 4 color ink container 1
Is arranged. When the recording head including the ink container moves in the scanning direction indicated by the arrow, the optical axis connecting the fixed light source 4 and the light receiving element 5 sequentially moves on the inclined surface 2 of the ink container 1 of the four colors. It is configured to measure the volume of ink in each ink container 1 sequentially and continuously.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the movement of the recording head and providing an inclined surface on a part of the bottom surface of the ink container, the ink capacity can be easily and accurately adjusted. It is possible to measure continuously, and to a plurality of ink containers attached side by side, a pair of light sources and a light receiving element fixed at a low cost simultaneously without adding a movable part requiring precision. The advantageous effects of being able to continuously measure the volume of each ink and predicting the time at which ink has run out can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an ink detection unit viewed from the front of an ink container used in an ink detection device of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ink container used in the ink detection device of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a plurality of ink containers and an ink detection device of the ink jet recording apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a circuit functional block diagram of an ink detection device of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an ink detecting device of a conventional ink jet recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink container 2 Inclined surface 3 Ink liquid level 4 Light source 5 Light receiving element 6 Reference point 7 Oscillation circuit 8 Counter 9 Sensor circuit 10 Comparator 11 Gate 12 Computing unit 14 Ink boundary line 15 Ink detection unit 16 Ink

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Mitsuaki Omichi 1-8, Koshinmachi, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture Inside Matsushita Hisashi Denko Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Sadoko Miyatake 8-1, Koshinmachi, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture Hisako Matsushita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] An ink jet recording apparatus that scans a recording head including at least one ink container along a horizontal plane extending in a direction perpendicular to a recording paper conveyance direction, and discharges ink onto the recording paper to perform printing. An ink detecting device for detecting the volume of ink in the ink container according to the above, wherein at least a part of the bottom surface of the ink container is formed of a light transmitting member, and is inclined in the scanning direction with respect to the horizontal plane. A light source and a light receiving element for receiving light from the light source passing through the inclined surface are arranged above and below a movement locus of the inclined surface of the ink container, and the light source changes along with the scanning of the recording head. An ink detecting device for detecting a capacity of the ink in the ink container from a change in a detection output of the light receiving element. 2. The ink container according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the ink containers are arranged along a scanning direction of the recording head, the ink container includes a pair of light sources and a light receiving element, and the detection output of the light receiving element changes with the scanning of the recording head. 2. The ink detecting device according to claim 1, wherein the amount of ink in the ink container is detected from the change in the amount of ink.