JPH024522A - Ink jet recording and supplying method for ink - 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 inkjet recording device such as a printer that forms an ink image on a medium such as recording paper by flying ink droplets, and an ink supply method therefor. relates to an inkjet recording device using phase change ink, so-called hot melt ink, and an ink supply method.

[Conventional technology]

Phase change ink used in inkjet recording devices is solid at room temperature, and has the property of becoming a viscous liquid that can be heated and melted into minute ink droplets that can be ejected. An inkjet recording device using phase change ink and an ink supply method include an apparatus and method for supplying a fixed amount of block-shaped ink that is not mounted on a carriage to a head on a carriage (USP 4636803), and a method that supplies a block-shaped ink that is not mounted on a carriage to a head on a carriage (USP 4636803), in which a rod-shaped ink mounted on a carriage is advanced. Apparatus and method for supplying solid ink to the head and melting it (USP 4,682,185), and apparatus and method for attaching a cartridge containing solid ink to the head and melting it by a heater in the head (USP 4,631,557)
) etc. are known.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Among the devices and methods of the prior art described above, in the method of supplying solid ink that is not mounted on the carriage to the head and heating it there, printing operation is impossible after the solid ink is supplied until the ink liquefies. There are problems such as the liquid ink scattering and adhering to the inside of the head, and air bubbles being generated in the ink. In other prior art structures, a mechanism for melting ink, a mechanism for holding solid ink, an ink storage container, etc. are mounted on the carriage, which increases the mass of the carriage and deteriorates scanning characteristics. In addition to increasing the size of the ink, a structure in which the loaded ink is heated and liquefied all at once has problems such as the liquefaction process takes a lot of power and time.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve these problems by providing an ink supply system that can quickly start printing with short downtime, has easy operations such as ink replenishment, has high operability, and has a simple configuration that allows for miniaturization of the device. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method.

[Means to solve the problem]

The inkjet recording device and method of the present invention includes an ink supply device having an ink container that stores solid ink and a heater, and an ink supply device that is mounted on a carriage that scans a recording medium and has a heater, and is capable of ejecting ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles. The apparatus is characterized in that it includes a head, and a part of the ink in the ink supply device is heated to liquefy the ink that is heated by the heater in the ink container, and the ink is supplied to the head.

[Effect]

In the above configuration of the present invention, the head stores a small amount of ink, and the solid ink in the ink container placed outside the carriage is sequentially liquefied and supplied to the head, so the size, heat capacity, and carriage mass of the head are small, and the time required for heating is small. Can be shortened.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained based on examples. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a recording paper 10 is wound around a platen 11 and is driven to be suppressed by a feed roller shaft 12. An inkjet head (hereinafter referred to as head) is mounted on a carriage 15 that is guided by guide shafts 13 and 14 and movable in a direction parallel to the platen axis.
It is configured with 16 installed. The head is maintained at a high temperature by a heater 21 to keep the ink inside it in a liquid state. The head 16 has a plurality of nozzles that can independently control the ejection of ink droplets, and is scanned in the platen axis direction, selectively ejecting ink droplets from the nozzles to form an ink image on the recording paper 10.

The recording paper 10 is conveyed in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the scanning direction by rotation of the platen 11, and printing is performed on the recording paper surface. Inside the device, an ink supply device 18 is provided on the side of the head scanning start position, and an ink container 19 that stores solid ink.
is installed. The ink supply device 18 is swingably supported.

The head has a frame made of a thermally conductive material, a vibrator made of a piezoelectric transducer, and a nozzle plate having a nozzle opening facing the vibrator. The head structure of this embodiment is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 608953, etc., and details thereof will be omitted. Inside the head are head heaters 20 and 21, and an ink amount detection sensor (
(not shown), and an ink supply hole 17 for ink injection is provided.

Next, the operation will be explained. Head heater 20 at the start of operation
．． 21 to heat the head. The head is heated from the vicinity of the head heater, and the ink in the vicinity is sequentially melted.

After a predetermined time period when the amount of molten ink required to start the printing operation is secured, the head starts the printing operation. The ink droplet ejection operation is performed by displacing the tip of the vibrator toward the nozzle plate and ejecting ink near the nozzle from the nozzle. Since the gist of the present invention relates to ink supply to the head, detailed explanation regarding the head operation will be omitted. Next, when the ink amount detection sensor inside the head detects that the amount of liquid ink remaining in the head is less than a predetermined amount, an ink replenishment request signal is output.

Next, the ink replenishment operation will be explained using FIG. 2.

An ink container 19 attached to the ink supply device 18 contains granular ink (not shown) and is held in the posture shown in (B). Next, by rotating the ink container into the position shown in (A), the metering unit 2 is moved from the ink container by gravity.
1 is filled with a predetermined amount of solid ink determined according to the volume of the metering section. Next, by rotating around the fulcrum and taking the position shown in (B), the solid ink in the measuring section 21 moves by gravity to the heater section 22, where it is heated and liquefied by the ink container heater 23 provided here. . When an ink supply request signal is output from the head, the head moves to the ink supply position.

Here, by rotating the ink supply device again to the position shown in (A), the ink that has liquefied in a part of the heater moves through the supply pipe 24 by gravity, and is transferred to the ink supply hole 17 of the head.
Drip into. At the same time, a fixed amount of solid ink is supplied from the ink container to the measuring section 21. By returning to the position shown in (B) again, the solid ink in the metering section moves to the heater section 22, where it is heated, liquefied, and held there. The liquefied ink is appropriately supplied to the head by the above operation in response to the ink supply request signal. Through the above operations, the printing operation continues while supplying ink in an amount of 3J\1 as the ink is consumed. By constructing the ink container with a poor heat conductor, only the ink contained in a portion of the heater is heated, and the ink remaining in the ink container is not heated, so that the amount of heat required for heating and melting can be minimized. Ink replenishment can be easily performed by attaching an ink container to an ink supply device. Since the ink supply device is provided in the main body of the recording apparatus, it can be easily attached and detached, and it can hold a sufficient amount of ink without being subject to size and weight restrictions unlike when it is mounted on a carriage. Furthermore, since only a small amount of ink is required to be stored in the head and the head and carriage can be made smaller, the time required for heating prior to printing can be shortened.

Furthermore, the amount of heat required to maintain the molten ink at a high temperature can also be reduced.

Next, another embodiment is shown in FIG. This figure shows only the ink supply device. An ink container (partially cut away) 31 that stores spherical ink 30 has a lever 32 that drops the ink drop by drop. The ink moves downward in the ink container 31 due to gravity, is stacked, and is prevented from falling by the lever 32 and held. By displacing the lever 32 by a certain distance in the direction of the arrow 33, only the lowest layer of ink falls downward from the container due to the notch provided in the lever. Other ink in the container moves downward in the container due to gravity and is prevented from falling by the upper edge of the lever. By returning the lever to the position shown again, the ink is moved to the bottom of the container. On the other hand, the ink that has fallen from the container enters a heater section 35 having an ink container heater 34 and is completely melted.

As in the previous embodiment, the head moves to a position directly below the ink supply device in response to the ink supply request signal from the head, and here the heater section rotates with the supply section 36 facing down to supply internal liquid ink to the head. Furthermore, by repeating the above operation, ink can be sequentially supplied as the ink is consumed by the head.

For the heater for melting the ink in the above-described embodiments, a heating resistor element (trade name POSISTOR), which increases resistance at high temperatures and has an automatic temperature adjustment function, can also be used.

In this case, immediately after the solid ink is put in, a large amount of power is applied because the solid ink is at room temperature, and the heater is at a high temperature when holding the liquid ink after melting, so the power consumption is just enough to supplement the heat dissipation, making it possible to save power. This has the advantage of not requiring a temperature control circuit.

In addition, in the above operation explanation, a method was described in which solid ink is introduced into the ink container heater section immediately after liquid ink is supplied to the head, but in order to save power, solid ink is introduced into the ink container heater section immediately before ink is supplied to the head. It is also possible to set the operation timing so as to introduce . In addition, although we have described an example in which the amount of ink in the head is detected by an ink amount detection sensor, it is also possible for the operator to monitor the amount of ink in the head by installing a window (preferably near the nozzle) that allows the amount of ink in the head to be visually confirmed. It is also possible to perform the ink replenishment operation as described above by key operation depending on the amount of ink.

The shape and size of the ink is not limited to granular or spherical, but can be of any other shape as long as it has fluidity due to gravity and has a volume smaller than the unit of measurement.

Container rocking, lever operation, etc. for the ink supply operation may be performed by a power source such as a motor or a plunger in a movable part, or may be performed by an external operation such as a carriage movement operation.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the above structure of the present invention, the amount of ink stored in the head is small, and because of this, the head and carriage can be downsized, so the amount of heat required to melt the internal ink is small, and the amount of heat required for printing operation is small. This has the effect of shortening downtime. Furthermore, since the ink container is provided on the main body of the apparatus rather than on the carriage, the ink replenishment operation is easy, and the apparatus has the advantage of high operability and a simple structure. Furthermore, since the carriage is small, the power required for the movement is small, and the device configuration is simple and compact.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inkjet printer showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of an ink supply device showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram of an ink supply device according to another embodiment of the present invention. 15 Carriage 16 Inkjet head 17 Ink supply hole 18 Ink supply device 19.31 Ink container 20.21 Head heater 21 Measuring section 22.35 Heater section 23.34 Ink container heater 30 Ink and above Applicant Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Kizobe Suzuki and 1 other person Figure (A) Figure (B) Figure

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An ink supply device that has an ink container that stores solid ink, a first heater, and is disposed at a predetermined position, and an ink supply device that is mounted on a carriage that scans the recording medium and has a second heater. , a head capable of ejecting ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles, and configured to heat and liquefy ink heated by a first heater in the ink supply device using a part of the ink in the ink container and supply the ink to the head. An inkjet recording device characterized by: (2) An ink supply device that includes an ink container that stores solid ink, a first heater, and is disposed at a predetermined position; In an ink supply method for an inkjet recording device comprising a head capable of ejecting ink droplets from a nozzle, the solid ink in the ink container is heated and liquefied by the heat of a first heater in the ink supply device; After the amount of ink in the head falls below a predetermined value,
An ink supply method, characterized in that liquid ink in the ink supply device is supplied to the head, and the second heater heats the ink in the head to maintain it in a liquid state.