JPH02198888A - Image recorder - 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 [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus, and particularly to an inkjet recording apparatus using a line type recording head.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art As one type of image recording apparatus, a liquid jet recording apparatus (inkjet recording apparatus) that records information such as characters and images by discharging recording liquid from a recording head onto a recording material is widely known.

This type of device mainly uses paper, plastic sheets, etc. as the recording material, and has the advantage of being low in operating noise and having a simple and inexpensive basic mechanical structure compared to other recording methods. combination&.

It has been adopted in various fields as a recording/output device such as word processors.

There is a line head type liquid jet recording device.
This uses a line head with a number of nozzles corresponding to the width of the recording paper as the recording head, and arranges one or more of these recording heads in the conveyance direction of the recording paper at a predetermined interval. The paper is held and conveyed on a belt or the like by electrostatic adsorption or the like. The line head type has advantages such as being able to perform high-speed color recording.

Note that in order to perform high-quality recording, the distance between the recording paper and the nozzle surface of the recording head must be kept at a small distance of about 1 m or less.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, when holding and transporting recording paper using methods such as electrostatic adsorption on a belt or the like, when passing recording paper that has curled or has bent corners due to changes in environmental conditions.

The leading edge of the recording paper hits the recording head), the recording paper gets scratched, and in the worst case, the paper jams.

In addition, since the recording paper passage detection sensor used in ordinary devices is installed only in a specific location, even if a paper jam occurs, the recording paper continues to be conveyed a fixed distance, and the jammed recording paper is It may be difficult to remove the paper, or in the worst case, it may damage the recording head.

The above description is about the problem when the leading edge of the recording paper hits the recording head, but if left as is, various problems may occur, such as when the recording device suddenly breaks down or when the recording paper cassette runs out of paper. In some cases, problems may occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of these problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording device that can immediately detect the occurrence of an abnormality in the image recording device, and can therefore prevent various problems that may occur later if the device is left unattended. It is in.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus that forms an image on a recording material includes means for detecting sound or vibration within the apparatus, means for storing arbitrary sound or vibration within the apparatus, and a recording apparatus for forming an image on a recording material. An image recording device is provided, comprising means for comparing detected sound or vibration with the stored sound or vibration.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

This embodiment uses a line head type that can immediately detect abnormalities in the conveyance of the recording paper, such as the leading edge of the recording paper hitting the recording head, and can prevent problems such as scratches on the recording paper and paper jams t and b. The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording device.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire apparatus of this embodiment.

Here, 1 is a recording head, and 3456 nozzles are provided at an interval of 16 dots/row on the bottom surface of the figure.

A 216m wide recording will be made on the original line. Further, the recording head 1 corresponds to four color inks of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, and is provided with four inks 1a*1b*1a and 1d, respectively. Figure 3 is a perspective view of the recording head.
1 is an aluminum HeradPace, 32 is a silicon substrate with a heating element placed in the nozzle 34, and 33 is a common liquid chamber 35 for ink.
and a glass cover constituting the nozzle 34; 36 is a driver for a heating element; 37 is an ink discharge tube that discharges ink supplied from the ink supply tube 5 to the common liquid chamber 35 to an ink tank; 4o becomes the Oriais surface. Each recording head is held by a holder 2 so that the nozzle spacing in the recording paper conveyance direction is constant. A head unit composed of four recording heads and a holder can be moved up and down by a head moving means 24 (not shown).

3 is the orifice that forms the nozzle of the recording head when not recording? This is a cap that is attached to a fr40.

As shown in FIG. 4 (this figure shows the case where the recording head 1 and the cap 3 are arranged on the same straight line), the character f
3 has a sponge-like ink absorption member 29 inside,
It is configured to receive idle ejection of ink from the print head. Furthermore, a nozzle presser rubber 30 that covers the length of the nozzle row is arranged at the upper end of the cap.

The cap 3 is attached to a cap moving means (not shown),
It is possible to move in any direction.

4 is an ink tank corresponding to each recording head, and ink is guided to the recording head via an ink supply tube 5. Ink is supplied using capillary action in the nozzles of the recording head, and the water head of the ink in each ink tank is set a certain distance lower than the nozzle surface. 38 is an ink circulation pump that supplies ink into the head under pressure. In addition, 3
7 is an ink return tube, and the ink supplied into the head under pressure is returned to the ink tank 4 through the ink return chain f37.

Reference numeral 6 is a seamless 4-rut for conveying the recording paper, which has a high resistance layer (about 10 μm) with a thickness of about 50 μm on the surface, the inner surface is sheared by an idle roller, and the charger 12 & The surface is charged to about 1500V. The recording paper 27 is charged with a negative charge by the charger 12b and is conveyed by being electrostatically attracted to the belt surface. The belt 6 is rotated by a motor 8 connected to a belt drive roller 7 in a direction to move the recording paper 27 in the X direction. Reference numeral 9 indicates an idle roller for pulling the belt. Reference numeral 10 indicates a tension roller that applies a certain tension to the belt. Reference numeral 11 denotes a pinch roller that presses the recording paper against the belt before and after the charger to strengthen suction. It also has the function of looping and improving the orthogonality of the leading edge of the recording paper with the X direction. The recording paper 27 is fed one by one from the cassette 26 by the paper feed roller 6, is pinched by the conveyance roller 14 and the pinch roller 15, and guided to the aforementioned registration roller equivalent portion 11m.

A cleaning unit 17 removes paper dust and the like on the belt 6. 1B is a paper discharge tray on which recorded recording paper is stacked.

Next, this embodiment is provided with an abnormality detection circuit.

Its block diagram is shown in FIG.

The microphone 39 is provided on the outer right side of the head unit in FIG. 1, and the microphone 39 is connected to the ψ converter 40. The nowar integrator 41 is connected to a comparator 44 via a comparator 44 or a mesh 43 by a switch 42, and the comparator 44 is connected to the CPU. (not shown in Figure 1), ita, C'P
The TJ receives the signal from the comparator 44 and controls the output (not shown). The Φ converter 40 converts the output from the microphone 39 into a digital signal, and converts the output from the microphone 39 into a digital signal. Integrator 41 is for integrating the output of the converter 40.

When the device is shipped from the factory, the memory 43 has a microphone 39 with the switch 42 set to the upper side and the normal sound inside the device when recording one sheet and the normal sound inside the device when recording continuously, starting from the time when printing starts. ．． A/D converter 4 Q e □
The output from the power integrator 41 is stored.

Next, the operation of the liquid ejecting device configured in this manner will be described.

5 to 10 are side views of the head unit and the vicinity of the cap. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the power is OFF, and the orifice surface is capped by a character f3, preventing ink from evaporating from the nozzle tip.

When the power is turned on from this state, the switch 42 of the abnormality detection circuit is first switched to the lower side. While the device is operating, the comparator 44 compares the stored sound with the real-time measured sound.

Next, the head unit is lifted by the head moving means by about 1-degree (FIG. 6). If there is a circulation signal in this state, the cap unit is moved by the cap moving means 25 by the distance shown in FIG. 4 in the direction opposite to the X direction.
(Fig. 8), then the head goes down (Fig. 8), and ink circulation is performed by operating the ink circulation pump 38.
The head unit will move up (Fig. 7), and the cap unit will return to its original position (Fig. 6). Note that the ink circulation removes air bubbles and the like in the ink supply tube 5 and the recording head.

If there is a next blank discharge signal, blank firing is performed for a predetermined number of times for all nozzles. Note that blank firing is normal.

This is done when the power is turned on and between sheets of continuous paper feed, but the system is configured so that the user can input a signal with a single button operation if uneven recording occurs.

Next, the cap unit is moved by the cap moving means 25! l
It moves in the opposite direction to the X direction and is placed in a position where the cap fits between each spatula r (FIG. 9).

Then, the head unit is set downward, and the nozzle tip is set at a distance of about 1 mm from the belt surface (FIG. 10).

Next, the paper feed motor turns ON, one sheet of recording paper in the cassette 26 is picked up by the paper feed roller 16, and the guide 1
3, conveying roller 14 and pinch roller 15
Caught in between. The passage of the leading edge of the recording paper is detected by a photo sensor immediately before the resist section, and the paper feed motor is turned off a predetermined time after the leading edge reaches the resist section. At this time, the extra nine recording sheets are fed to form a loop within the space of the chevron guide 13, and due to the stiffness of the recording sheets, the leading edge follows the rest portion, ensuring orthogonality with the conveying direction.

Next, the belt motor 8 and the charger 12 are turned on, and the recording paper is guided between the chargers 12b while being pressed against the belt 6 by the pinch roller 11m. The surface of the belt is charged to about 1500V using a 12m charger.
A negative charge is injected into the recording paper by the charger 12b, and the electrostatic force with the positive charge on the belt surface causes the recording paper to be attracted to the belt. In addition, the pinch rollers are pressed against each other after passing through the charger 12b, so that the suction becomes more reliable. In synchronization with the start of the belt motor, the feed of the recording paper is counted, and the leading edge of the recording paper is aligned with each recording head 1m, 1b,
It passes under the orifice surface 40 of le and ld.

At this time, if the leading edge of the recording paper is curled, etc., and hits the recording head and cannot pass through the lower side of the orifice surface 40, a sound will be generated due to the collision, and the normal operation will be interrupted. Since there is a difference from the sound, the comparator 44 detects this, and the CPU determines that there is a paper jam in the apparatus, and displays a message on the operator panel to inform the user of this fact. On the other hand, turn off the power if necessary.
,, Stop driving the device. When the drive of the apparatus is stopped, the recording paper that has hit the recording head is removed by force, etc., so that the apparatus can operate normally again, and the power is turned on again to operate the recording apparatus.

If the leading edge of the recording paper does not hit the recording head, no abnormal noise will be generated, so the comparator 44 will not detect the difference, and the operator panel will display the message "paper jam". The recording paper is transported until the orifice surface 40 of each recording head faces the recording position within the recording paper,
At that point, each color is recorded.

Then, the recording paper on which recording has been completed is curvature-separated from the belt at the belt drive roller 7.

The paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 18. After paper ejection is completed, the belt motor 8 is turned off, and the charger 12 is also turned off.

If the next recording is not performed, the head unit will rise (Fig. 9) and the cap unit will be set (Fig. 9).
(Fig. 6), the bottom of the head unit is attached to the cap unit (Fig. 5), and the power is turned off.

In addition, when recording the next page, the presence or absence of a dry ejection signal is detected, and if the signal is present, head unit up (Fig. 9), cap unit set (Fig. 6), dry ejection, cap After the unit is retracted (Fig. 9) and the head unit is lowered to the recording position (Fig. 10),
If there is no signal, the paper feed motor is immediately turned on and the same recording sequence as described above is repeated.

Incidentally, a flowchart of the above operation is shown in FIG.

The abnormality detection circuit according to this embodiment stores the sound of normal operation,
The sound is compared with the real-time sound during device operation, and if there is a difference, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred.
Even in the case of a sudden failure of other equipment or abnormal sounds that occur when the recording paper cassette runs out of paper,
The abnormal sound detection circuit can determine that an abnormality has occurred in the equipment, and can monitor the status of the equipment without using special expensive sensors. Secured.

Note that the above embodiment stores the sound of normal operation, but the abnormal sound detection circuit records the abnormal sound that occurs when the recording paper hits the recording pad, and combines this recorded sound with the abnormal sound. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which it is determined that an abnormality has occurred when the measured sound matches.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment uses sound detection using a microphone to detect abnormalities within the device, detection of vibrations caused by an acceleration pickup or the like may also be used. Although integration is used, similar effects can be obtained by detecting changes in sound quality using a frequency filter or the like.

Further, although the above embodiment is a recording apparatus that attracts and conveys recording paper onto a belt using electrostatic attraction, the above embodiment is just one example to which the present invention is applied; the present invention also applies to air attraction. The present invention can be applied to various other types of dual-image recording devices, such as a recording device that conveys recording paper by suctioning it onto a belt, and a recording device that conveys recording paper using a drum.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The image recording device according to the present invention includes means for detecting sound or vibration within the device, means for storing any sound or vibration within the device, and a means for storing the detected sound or vibration and the stored sound or vibration. Since it has a comparison means, it is possible to immediately detect an abnormality in the conveyance of the recording paper within the apparatus, such as when the leading edge of the recording paper hits the recording head, and therefore, the drive of the apparatus can be immediately stopped. It is possible to prevent various problems caused by leaving the IT abnormality unattended.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 11 are explanatory diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an overall explanatory diagram of the recording apparatus according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the abnormal sound detection circuit, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the recording head in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 to 10 are side views for explaining the operations of the head unit and cap in FIG. 1, and FIG. 11 is an operation flowchart of FIG. 1. 1 a , 1 b , 1 e , 1 d =-・
Recording head, 2, 7... Recording paper. Figure Figure Figure Figure 10

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a recording device that forms an image on a recording material, means for detecting sound or vibration within the device, means for storing any sound or vibration within the device, and the detected sound or vibration. An image recording device comprising means for comparing the stored sound or vibration with the stored sound or vibration. (2) The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one or more line type inkjet recording heads are used as the image forming means.