JPS62173259A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the power consumption of a heating unit and to shorten the warming up time in making power source time, by operating two kinds of heating units having different heating temperatures set to an ink jet recorder. CONSTITUTION:The heating unit 11a of approx. 140 deg.C in curie point and the heating unit 11b of approx. 80 deg.C in curie point are formed on the rear of a fixed platen 10. When a power source is turned on, electric power is applied to both heating units 11a and 11b. Then, when a record medium has reached a fixed heating temperature, the heating unit 11a or 11b operates to effect the printing operation. If any printing command has not been sent for not less than approx. 10sec when the heating unit 11a operates, the operation of the heating unit 11a is stopped and the heating unit 11b operates. Then, when a printing command signal has been sent, the heating unit 11a operates again. Thereby, the decrease in power consumption of the heating unit in a waiting state is achieved. Further, the warming up time in making power source time can be shortened by approx. 20% as compared with the case of heating only by either of the heating units (a) and (b).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device equipped with a heating means, and particularly relates to general-purpose recording paper such as commercially available high-quality paper, and Overherad projector paper (hereinafter referred to as 011P paper). Both,
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device that can be used with both parties.

[Prior Art] The first conventional example of a heating method for promoting drying and fixing of recorded ink and improving printing quality was disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5
No. 5-69464 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 55-84670. In the above example, the platen is heated by a heater built into the platen, and the recording paper is heated by contact heat transfer, which is very effective as a means for drying and fixing the recorded ink.

Further, as a second conventional example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 110457/1984 can be cited. In the case of the above example, printing on OHP paper is made possible by providing a heating means.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the first prior art described above, the paper quality of the recording paper is not taken into account, and therefore general-purpose recording paper such as commercially available high-quality paper and OHP paper cannot be used in the same device. When used together, OHP paper is sensitive to heat and easily deforms, even under heating conditions that would produce sufficient effects with general-purpose recording paper, resulting in a decrease in print quality and problems such as poor paper feeding due to deformation. This may cause problems with the apparatus, and there is also the problem that even if there is no printing command for a long time, the platen is heated in the same state as when printing, consuming excess power.

Furthermore, in the second prior art described above, the recording paper is OH
Since printing is limited to P paper and printing on the general-purpose recording paper is not considered, only a very limited number of recording papers can be used, and the heating element is activated only after OHP paper is inserted into the device, so heating is insufficient. The problem is that it can easily become

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and its purpose is to use general-purpose recording paper such as commercially available high-quality paper and OH
Both types of P paper can be used, making it possible to achieve high quality and clear recording, while reducing the power consumption of the heating element.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device that shortens the warm-up time when the power is turned on.

C. Means for Solving Problems] The inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention is provided with two types of heating elements each having a different heating temperature, and the recording medium is heated by the heating element selected according to the properties of the recording medium. In addition to heating, if there is no printing command for a certain period of time when the heating element with a higher heating temperature is operating, the heating element with a lower heating temperature is switched to operate, and when the power is turned on, the above two types of heating elements are switched on. It is characterized by operating both.

[Function] According to the above configuration of the present invention, when general-purpose recording paper such as commercially available high-quality paper is used as a recording medium during inkjet recording, a heating element whose heating temperature is set to a high value is operated, and OHP paper is used as a recording medium. In this case, a heating element with a low heating temperature is activated to preheat and heat the recording medium before and after printing, promoting drying and fixing of the recorded ink, thereby achieving high quality and clear recording. In addition, if there is no printing command for a certain period of time, power consumption can be reduced by switching to operating the heating element with a lower heating temperature, and all installed heating elements are operated when the power is turned on. This makes it possible to shorten warm-up time.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which a recording head 1 is guided by a guide shaft 2 and driven by a carriage motor 3 and a carriage belt 4 in the direction of the arrow The fixed platen 10 is made of an aluminum alloy plate or a thermally conductive plate. A material with good heat diffusion, such as plastic material, is suitable.
An aluminum alloy plate with a size of 0 mm is used. As shown in FIG. 2, heating elements 11a and 11b are formed on the back surface of the fixed platen 10 that does not face the recording head 5. As shown in FIG. heating element 11
a and b are positive temperature coefficient thermistors for heaters that have a self-temperature control function, with a rated voltage of 100V and an average resistance value of 200Ω.
There are 7 pieces arranged approximately evenly. Among these, as the heating element 11a, one having a temperature of about 140° C. is used as the heating element 11a, and as the heating element 11b, one having a temperature of about 80° C. is used. Also, a heating element 11a.

b are connected in parallel as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the recording medium 9 is the heating element 11a.

It slides into contact with the fixed platen 10 heated by b, and is preheated and heated by contact heat transfer before and after inkjet recording, rapidly drying and fixing the recorded ink, eliminating unnecessary bleeding, paper wrinkles, and stains caused by unfixed ink. To prevent this and obtain good printing condition. Further, the paper presser 12 prevents the recording medium 9 from floating and brings the recording medium 9 into close contact with the fixed platen 10 to improve heat conduction efficiency.

The heating state of the recording medium 9 is maintained at a roughly constant temperature by the self-temperature control function of the heating elements 11a and 11b without the need for a temperature sensor such as a thermistor or a temperature control circuit, and when the heating element 11a is operated. When the heating element 11b of about 120 to 130601 is operated on the printing surface of the recording medium 9 during printing, the temperature is controlled to about 60 to 70'C.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the heating element control circuit of the present invention, and the switch 13 is switched by the user according to the properties of the recording paper to be used. and OHP paper, and when the former is selected, the heating element 11a is activated, and when the latter is selected, the heating element 11b is activated.
It is controlled by the central processing unit 14 to operate. The relay drive circuits 15a and 15b are the same and are general control circuits that utilize transistor switching, and are activated by a drive signal from the central processing unit 14 to supply power to the heating elements 11a and 11b. It looks like this.

Next, the operation of the recording apparatus of the present invention will be explained based on FIG.

First, when the power is turned on and a reset signal is sent from a known reset circuit 16 to the central processing unit 14, the central processing unit sends a drive signal to the relay drive circuits 15a and 15b to supply power to both the heating elements 11a and llb. supply. When the heating temperature of the recording medium selected in advance by the switch 13 is reached, the relay drive circuit 15a or 15b is sent from the central processing unit 14 so that the heating element corresponding to the heating temperature of each recording medium is operated as described above. The drive signal force f is sent to

During normal operation, the heating element 11a or llb is operating as described above, and the printing operation is performed based on the printing command signal from the host computer 17. However, when the heating element 11a is operating, the printing command is not sent for about 10 seconds or longer. If not, the central processing unit 14 stops sending the drive signal to the relay drive port 1@15a, sends a drive signal to the relay drive circuit 15b so that the heating element 11b operates, and issues the print command again. This state is maintained until a signal is sent.

When a print command signal is sent, the heating element 11a returns to its original state and starts operating. By doing this, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the heating element in a standby state in which no printing command is sent for a certain period of time. Note that in this standby state, it is possible to significantly reduce power consumption by disabling both the heating elements 11a and 11b, but when the print command signal is sent again, the set This is not a good idea because it takes time to heat up to a certain temperature.

In the recording device of the present invention, various commercially available high-quality paper and OHP
When inkjet recording was performed on paper, good recording was achieved on commercially available high-quality paper regardless of paper quality, and the recorded ink dried and fixed quickly. Although the drying and fixing time for OHP paper was slightly slower than that for commercially available high-quality paper, it did not cause any practical problems, and the print quality was good without deformation due to heat.

Furthermore, by switching the operation of the heating element in a standby state where no printing command is sent, the power consumption of the heating element could be reduced by about 20% compared to the case where this JJJ operation was not performed.

Furthermore, the warm-up time when the power is turned on is 60 to 70 degrees.
It takes about 10 seconds to heat to about C, and about 30 seconds to heat to about 120 to 130 degrees Celsius, and it takes about 60 to 70 degrees Celsius to heat, compared to when heating with only one of the heating elements 11a and b. In the case of heating to about 120 to 130°C, the time could be reduced by about 20%.

In the above embodiment, a combination of the fixed platen 10 and the heating elements ILa, b was used as the heating means for the recording medium 9, but the invention is not limited to this, and means that utilize radiant heat from light radiation or hot air may be used. It is clear that the recording medium 9 may be heated as long as it is possible to heat and control the temperature within the range of approximately 60 to 130° C. during printing.

Further, it is obvious that the recording apparatus of the present invention is effective for both monochrome recording and color recording.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, two types of heating elements having different heating temperatures are provided, and the heating element selected according to the properties of the recording medium is used during inkjet recording. By operating and promoting the drying and fixation of recorded ink, it is possible to use both general-purpose recording paper such as commercially available high-quality paper and OHP paper, and achieve high-quality and clear recording. If there is no printing command for a certain period of time when the heating element with a higher heating temperature is operating, the heating element with a lower heating temperature is switched to operate, thereby preventing heat generation in a standby state where no printing command signal is sent. It is possible to reduce the power consumption of the body, and furthermore, when the power is turned on, the warm-up time can be shortened by operating both of the two types of heating elements.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of main parts showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing how the heating element is installed. Figure 3 is a connection diagram of the heating element. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the heating element control circuit of the present invention. 10...Fixed platen 11a, b...Heating element 18...Heating element power supply 19...Relay■...DC power supply C・1 Capacitor R1, R2, R3, R4, R5...Resistor Di, D2
...Diode SτG ...Schmitt trigger gate BUF...
◆Buffer TR... Transistor or above Applicant Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Tsutomu Mogami et al. (name) Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an inkjet recording device that forms characters and images on a recording medium by ejecting ink, two types of heating elements each having a different heating temperature are provided, and the heating element is selected according to the properties of the recording medium. The recording medium is heated by heating the recording medium, and if there is no printing command for a certain period of time when the heating element with a higher heating temperature is in operation, the heating element with a lower heating temperature is switched to operate. Device. (2) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein both of the two types of heating elements are operated when the power is turned on.