JPH0343068B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly to an inkjet printer configured to prevent ink leakage.

Inkjet printers eject ink in accordance with applied control signals to perform dot-type printing on printing paper, and are naturally equipped with an ink tank. When such an inkjet printer is mounted on a portable electronic device such as a calculator, various problems arise depending on the handling conditions. In other words, shocks and vibrations when carrying the electronic device, and the electronic device being left tilted can cause the meniscus inside the nozzle to recede and ink to leak from the nozzle. This phenomenon causes ink ejection failure and ink contamination within electronic devices.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its main purpose is to prevent ink from leaking from the head in a non-recording state. It has been found that the above-mentioned ink leakage can be reliably prevented by communicating or blocking the communication depending on the situation.

The present invention was made based on the above-mentioned findings,
An inkjet printer that performs recording by ejecting ink from an inkjet head that is disposed in a carriage and moves, the inkjet printer comprising: an ink reservoir capable of storing ink supplied to the inkjet head; and an inkjet from the ink reservoir. an ink supply path for supplying ink to the head;
The ink supply path is operated according to the movement position of the carriage, and when the carriage is in a standby area outside the recording operation area of the inkjet printer, the ink supply path is cut off, and when the carriage is in a standby area outside the standby area. The apparatus is characterized in that it has an opening/closing means that operates to communicate the ink supply path at a certain time.

With such a configuration, ink can be supplied and cut off to the heads reliably and easily, so that good recording in the active area and prevention of ink leakage in the standby area can be achieved with high reliability.

The details of the present invention will be explained below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

Figure 1 and subsequent figures show an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, the reference numeral 1 indicates a carriage, which is slidably attached to the guide rail 11. As shown in FIG.

An electromagnet 5 is attached to a side plate 9 at one end of the guide rail 11.
has been fixed through. An armature 5a is slidably attached to the electromagnet 5, one end of which is bent to face the iron core 5d of the electromagnet, and the other end passes through the underside of the electromagnet 5 and extends toward the front side. The armature 5 is pulled from the iron core 5d by a spring 5c stretched between the side plate 9 and the armature 5.
The behavior of moving in the direction in which a moves away is given.

A valve device 3 is arranged in the vicinity of the electromagnet 5. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, this valve device 3 has a diaphragm valve 3a inside thereof, and a valve stem 3 having one end fixed to the diaphragm valve 3a.
The other end of b faces outward. A spring 3c is elastically mounted between the diaphragm valve 3a and the inside of the side wall of the valve device 3, giving the valve rod 3b a tendency to move toward the retracting side and in the direction of seating on the valve seat 3d. . One end of a tube 6 for supplying ink to an ink jet nozzle (ink jet head) (not shown) of the carriage 1 is open on the valve seat 3d side of the valve device 3. One end of the tube 7, which is connected to the tube 7, is open. On the other hand, the outer end of the valve stem 3b is rotatably supported approximately at the center of the operating lever 2 via a pin 4. Actuation lever 2
As shown in FIG. 1, it is rotatably supported on a fixed part of the device by a shaft 10 at a position closer to the carriage 1 than the valve stem 3b. One end of this operating lever 2 has a bent portion 2 extending toward the carriage 1 side.
a, and is projected onto the movement trajectory 1b of the protrusion 1a protruding from the carriage 1 at the distal end of the bent portion 2a. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the other end of the operating lever 2 has a stepped portion 2b formed on its lower surface. This stepped portion 2b is a bent portion 5b formed at the tip of the armature 5a of the electromagnet 5.
It is in a position where it can be engaged with.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as above will be explained.

When the carriage 1 is in a standby state, the carriage 1 is located near the side plate 9, and the operating lever 2 is in a state substantially parallel to the guide rail 11.
The tip of the bent portion 2a is the movement trajectory 1b of the protrusion 1a.
The bent portion 5b at the tip of the armature 5a does not reach the stepped portion 2b, but contacts the lower surface of the protruding portion 2c. This state is shown by the chain line in FIGS. 2 and 3.

When a print command is received in this state, the carriage 1 starts moving to the left in FIGS. 1 and 2, that is, to the recording operation area. At this time, protrusion 1 of carriage 1
a collides with the bent portion 2a, imparting inertia to the actuating lever 2, and causing it to fly out of the carriage movement trajectory.
In Fig. 3, the armature 5 is rotated counterclockwise.
The bent portion 5b of a is fitted into the stepped portion 2b of the operating lever 2. In this state, the operating lever 2 is locked by the armature 5a, and the bent portion 2a is deviated from the locus of movement 1b of the projection 1a. In this state, the valve stem 3b is pulled out, and the diaphragm valve 3a releases the block at the open end of the tube 6 to establish communication, as shown in FIG. The inkjet nozzle (inkjet head) mounted on the carriage 1 is supplied with the inkjet nozzle. Therefore, the carriage can move according to the control signals and perform the commanded printing.

When printing is performed in this way and the carriage 1 stops at the standby position, the power is turned off. At this time, when the power supply voltage drops to a level determined by a certain time constant by the capacitor, as shown in Figure 6. It is detected by the Zener diode 12 shown in FIG. 1, the transistor T ₁ is turned off, the transistor T ₂ is turned on, and the electromagnet 5 is excited. When the electromagnet 5 is excited, the armature 5a is attracted to the iron core 5d, and the actuating lever 2 engages with the bent portion 5b at its tip.
is rotated clockwise in the figure around the shaft 10,
The valve stem 3b is pushed and the diaphragm valve 3a seats on the valve seat 3d to block the open end of the tube 6. As a result, ink from the ink tank 8 is no longer supplied to the carriage 1, and the bent portion 2a of the actuating lever 2 is also placed on the movement trajectory 1b of the projection 1a.

In this way, when the power is turned off, the ink supply path is blocked no matter how tilted the electronic device with the inkjet printer mounted on it is, so ink will drain from the inkjet nozzle (inkjet head). It won't leak.

Note that the ejection opening of the inkjet nozzle (inkjet head) is a capillary tube with a diameter of approximately 60 μm, but with a static water head difference, the nozzle's resistance to ink leakage decreases due to shock and vibration. By forcibly cutting off the supply path, ink leakage is completely prevented.

In addition, with conventional capping devices used to prevent ink leakage, it is time-consuming to manually cap the nozzle when printing is finished, and if a structure that allows automatic capping is adopted, the positioning of the cap with respect to the nozzle, the support mechanism, etc. are complicated. Therefore, it is difficult to make a perfect seal, but if the structure described above is adopted, ink leakage can be reliably prevented without the need for a special mechanism as it simply blocks off the ink supply path. can do.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a valve mechanism is provided in the middle of the ink supply path, and the current is
When the valve is turned off, this valve device operates and reliably cuts off the ink supply, so no ink leaks occur at all, even without the use of a complicated mechanism.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure explains one embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a plan view, Figure 2 is a perspective view, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the operating lever, Figures 4 and 5 are vertical side views explaining the operation of the valve device, and Figure 6 is the electromagnet drive circuit. It is a diagram. 1... Carriage, 2a... Operating lever, 3...
... Valve device, 5... Electromagnet, 5a... Armature, 6, 7... Tube, 8... Ink tank.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An inkjet printer that performs recording by ejecting ink from an inkjet head that is disposed in a carriage and moves, comprising: an ink storage section capable of storing ink supplied to the inkjet head; an ink supply path for supplying ink from the ink reservoir to the inkjet head; and an ink supply path that operates according to the movement position of the carriage, and a standby path when the carriage is out of the recording operation area of the inkjet printer. An inkjet printer comprising: an opening/closing means that operates to shut off the ink supply path when the ink supply path is within the standby area and to open the ink supply path to communication when the inkjet printer is outside the standby area.