JPH01165444A - liquid jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording device, and more specifically, it is equipped with a liquid jet recording head, and when not recording, in order to prevent ejection failure due to drying of the recording liquid, etc. The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording device in which a cap means can be attached to a recording head.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, when performing a capping operation using a cap means in this type of liquid jet recording device, a battery is used until the capping operation is completed after the power switch is turned off. Alternatively, there is a method in which a relay or the like is placed in parallel with the power switch, and when the power switch is cut off, it is detected and the current is continued through the relay until the capping operation is completed.In the latter case, When the capping operation is completed, electricity is automatically stopped by turning off the relay, and during normal recording, the current obtained from the AC power supply via the stabilizing circuit is used to control recording. Operations are performed.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the former conventional method described above, the battery power is used until the capping operation is completed, so a battery with that much capacity is required, and space is also required. Furthermore, in the latter method, in order to provide means for detecting the cut-off state of the power switch, it is necessary to insulate the secondary side and the secondary side thereof, which inevitably increases costs.

An object of the present invention is to focus on the above-mentioned conventional problems, and in order to solve the problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid jet recording device in which the power is cut off in conjunction with the capping operation at the end of recording using inexpensive means. Our goal is to provide the following.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has a switch means for turning on and off the power supply, and when recording, printing is performed by discharging recording liquid from the recording head, and when not recording, a cap means is provided on the recording head. In a liquid jet recording device in which evaporation of the recording liquid is prevented by crowning the recording liquid with
A second switch means is disposed in parallel with the switch means, which cuts off the power supply when the cap means caps the recording head and turns on the power supply when the cap means is retracted from the recording head. It is characterized by the fact that

[For production]

According to the present invention, depending on whether or not the cap means is attached to the recording head, if the cap means is not attached, the second switch means disposed in parallel with the power switch is turned on. state, and the second switch means is cut off (off) when the cap means is attached.
Therefore, even if the power switch is cut off at the end of recording, the power supply continues until the cap means is attached, and there is no need to detect whether the power switch is turned on or off, and the structure is simple and inexpensive. A capping operation can be performed during non-recording.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail and specifically below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention. Here, 1 is a power switch that turns on and shuts off (on/off) the AC power source 2, and 3 is a liquid jet recording device mounted on a carriage (not shown), which discharges recording liquid and performs recording while working. The head 4 is provided at a position opposite the home position of the recording head 3, and moves in the direction of the arrow to move the recording head 3.
A cap means is attached to the recording liquid ejection surface 3A to seal the ejection surface 3A. Therefore, in this example, when the capping means 4 is in a position where it is retracted from the recording head 3, that is, in a non-capping position, a microswitch (hereinafter referred to as a second switch means) 5 is operated in conjunction with the capping means 4 to maintain an on state. It is provided in parallel with the power switch 1.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a stabilizing circuit that stabilizes alternating current from the alternating current power source 2 into direct current bias current, and reference numeral 7 denotes a control unit equipped with a CPU function that controls the recording apparatus by moving the recording head 3 and supplying recording signals. The control unit 7 guides the recording head 3 to the home position by sequence control through key operations on a panel (not shown), and also carries out a series of operations to move the cap means 4 from the retracted position and cap it on the head ejection surface 3A. can be done.

In the liquid jet recording apparatus configured as described above, when the power switch 1 is turned on by the operator, multiple types of voltages for controlling each part are supplied to the control unit 7 via the stabilizing circuit 6. When a recording command is given to the control unit 7 from the outside, the capping means 4 is caused to close to the ejection surface 3 of the recording head.
By this operation, the second switch means 5 is kept in the on state as shown in the figure, and the recording head 3 is ready to perform recording at any time.

Furthermore, when there is no recording command for a predetermined period of time, or when the recording operation is stopped by a key switch on the panel, etc., the control section 7 moves the recording pad 3 to the home position, operates the cap means 4, and heads the recording head. 3 is kept in the capping state and the second switch means 5 is turned off.

That is, by the series of sequence control described above, for example, during recording, even if the power switch 1 is turned off, the second switch means 5 remains on, and unless the capping operation by the capping means 4 is performed. , the recording operation can be continued with the power that is continuously supplied, and the power supply is stopped unless recording is stopped by a key switch or a capping operation is performed by a capping command.
I will be continued.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this example, a relay 8 that can control the on/off of the power source 2 is provided in parallel with the power switch 1, and 9 is a means for detecting whether the cap means 4 is in the retracted position or the cap position. For example, a photo interrupter is provided.

In this embodiment, the control section 7 monitors the output from the photointerrupter 9, and when it detects that the capping means 4 is attached to the recording head 3, the control section 7 turns off the relay 8. do. When a recording command is received, the relay 8 is turned on prior to the recording operation, and the cap means 4 is moved to the retracted position to keep the recording head 3 in a recordable state. Similar to the embodiment shown in the figure, this is performed when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after recording was interrupted, or by operating keys on the panel, etc. Other operations are also the same as described above, so their explanation will be omitted. .

Note that this example is suitable when relatively high precision timing is required for turning off the power after the cap is attached.

Furthermore, although the photointerrupter 9 is used to detect the position of the capping means 4 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, such detection means is not limited to the photointerrupter. Any means may be used as long as it detects whether the Therefore, for example, a stepping motor (not shown) is used as a driving source for moving the cap means 4, and when the recording head 3 is moved to the home position, the cap means is driven by the stepping motor in response. It is also possible to configure the relay 8 to be turned off when the head 3 is driven to the crowning state.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the second switch means is turned off when the capping means caps the recording head and turned on when the capping means is retracted from the recording head. It is provided in parallel with the power switch means so that even if the power switch is turned off during recording, power can be continued to be supplied to the recording device until capping is completed, so that the capping operation performed during non-recording can be performed at low cost. It is now guaranteed by means.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Power switch, 3... Recording head, 3A... Ejection surface, 4... Cap means, 5... Second switch means, 6... Stabilization circuit, 7... Control Part, 8... Relay, 9... Photo interrupter. 1 Accent black sweetsuna

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] It has a switch means for turning on and off the power supply, and when recording, recording is performed by discharging recording liquid from the recording head, and when not recording, the recording head is capped with a cap means. In the liquid jet recording apparatus, the supply power is immediately cut off when the capping means caps the recording head, and the capping means is turned off. A liquid jet recording apparatus characterized in that a second switch means for turning on the power supply when the recording head is retracted from the recording head is disposed in parallel with the switch means.