JPH106614A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] Even if a sensor for detecting a reference position of a recording head is moved to adjust a recording start position on a recording medium,
It is an object of the present invention to configure a cable having an optimum length for a carriage movement range without extending a cable that electrically connects a recording head and a control unit. In a printing apparatus that performs printing by providing a printing head on a carriage configured to be able to reciprocate relatively to a printing medium, a position adjustment of a sensor for adjusting a printing start position is performed. Accordingly, the cable supporting member 13 supporting the flat cable 1 is configured to be able to be simultaneously operated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a cable for electrically connecting a recording head and a control unit, and performing recording on the recording medium while reciprocating the recording head with respect to the recording medium. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printing apparatus which performs printing while reciprocating a printing head with respect to a printing medium has a cable for electrically connecting the printing head and a control unit in order to drive and control the printing head. doing. As the cable, a plurality of foil-shaped electric wires are arranged in parallel in a plane,
In many cases, a cable generally called a flat cable, which is formed into a belt shape by sandwiching a resin film such as polyester, is used. In such a configuration, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-6-320835, one end of a flat cable is fixed to a carriage, curved in a U-shape, has slack, and is fixed to a front guide on the way. It is similar to what is being done. In such a configuration,
The flat cable needs to have a sufficient length so as not to hinder the reciprocating movement of the recording head. In addition, the bending and fixed parts of the flat cable may be repeatedly stressed due to the reciprocating movement of the carriage and may be disconnected, so the curved part is provided with a sufficient curvature, and the slack is set especially at the fixed part so that bending does not occur There is a need to. Here, bending refers to a state in which the flat cable is bent at the fixed portion.

When print data is input to the printing apparatus having the above configuration, the carriage moves from a standby position to a printing start position on a printing medium, and printing is performed by a printing head mounted on the carriage. The recording apparatus usually includes a sensor that detects the position of the carriage or a sensing member that changes the state of the sensor in the movement range of the carriage in order to define the standby position of the carriage. By moving the position relative to the moving direction of the carriage, it is possible to adjust the recording start position on the recording medium using the standby position as a reference position. Further, the moving distance of the carriage is set to a certain distance from the reference position.

In the above configuration, when the carriage moves to the end position of the carriage moving range, the length of the flat cable is fixed to the fixed portion of the flat cable (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
It is necessary for the carriage 2 to be bent in a U-shape so as not to bend and not to hinder the movement of the carriage at a portion A of the carriage 2 and a portion B in the middle of the flat cable 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a view showing a state of the flat cable accompanying the adjustment of the position of the sensor or the sensing member in the conventional configuration, and a solid line 1a shows a state of the flat cable when the carriage moves to the end position in the direction of arrow a. A broken line 1b shows the state of the flat cable when the carriage has moved to the end position in the direction of arrow b. Here, when the recording start position is not adjusted, that is, when the position of the sensor or the sensing member is not adjusted, if the flat cable is fixed to the front guide at the center (position P2) of the moving range of the carriage, the flat cable length is reduced. The length can be set to be the shortest from the fixed portion B. That is, in FIG. 5, if the movement range of the carriage when the position of the sensor or the sensing member is not adjusted is from position P1 to position P3, if the flat cable is fixed to the front guide at position P2 where P1P2 = P2P3, the flat cable The carriage can move to P1 and P3 with a minimum length without bending. However, when the recording start position is adjusted by moving the position of the sensor or the sensing member, the moving range of the carriage is shifted with respect to the fixed portion B as a whole with the shortest set flat cable length,
When the carriage moves to the end position of the movement range, the length of the flat cable is insufficient, and the flat cable is bent at the fixed portion A or the fixed portion B. For example, FIG.
As shown in the figure, when the position of the sensor or the sensing member is moved in the direction of arrow a, bending occurs in the fixed portion B when the carriage moves to the end position in the direction of arrow a,
In addition, when the position of the sensor or the sensing member is moved in the direction of arrow b, bending occurs in the fixed portion A when the carriage moves to the end position in the direction of arrow b. Therefore, bending may hinder the movement of the carriage, or the flat cable may be broken due to repeated stress acting on the bent part, so it is necessary to make the flat cable extra long to secure slack. There was a cost disadvantage.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned prior art,
When the recording start position is adjusted by moving the position of the sensor or the sensing member, as described above, if the flat cable is set to the shortest length, the length of the flat cable becomes insufficient when the carriage moves to the extreme end position. Since the flat cable is bent at the fixed portion and hinders the movement of the carriage, and there is a risk that the repetitive stress due to the reciprocating movement of the carriage acts on the bent portion and breaks, the flat cable must be lengthened to avoid the above problem. There was a problem that it was necessary to secure slack. The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and when the recording start position is adjusted by moving the position of the sensor or the sensing member, the optimum length without increasing the length of the flat cable. Therefore, it is an object to avoid the above problem.

[0006]

A recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus having a recording head for performing recording on the recording medium while reciprocating with respect to the recording medium,
A cable for electrically connecting the recording head and the control unit, a cable support member for supporting the cable, and a sensor capable of detecting at least two states;
Having a sensing member that changes the state of the sensor, one of the sensor or the sensing member is provided on a recording head, and the other is provided on a device frame,
With the movement of the recording head, the state of the sensor is changed by the sensing member to determine a reference position of the recording head, and the position of the sensor or the sensing member provided on the apparatus frame side Relative to the recording head, the recording apparatus is configured to be able to adjust the recording start position with respect to the recording medium, the position of the sensor or the sensing member provided on the apparatus frame side It is characterized in that the cable support member can be moved in conjunction with the adjustment at the same time. According to the present invention, the cable support member and the fixed portion of the cable move in conjunction with moving the sensor or the sensing member provided on the apparatus frame side to adjust the recording start position, and the carriage is moved. When the cable moves to the extreme end position, the cable does not bend and always keeps a U-shaped curve, so it can be configured with the optimum length without extending the cable,
The above problem can be solved.

In this case, it is desirable that the sensor or the sensing member provided on the device frame side and the cable support member are integrally formed, whereby the sensor or the sensor provided on the device frame side is further provided. The sensing member and the cable support member can be linked with good followability, and the configuration is simplified.

Further, it is desirable that the cable supporting member is constituted by a wiring board.
If the sensor or the sensing member provided on the device frame side is directly attached to the wiring board by soldering or the like, and if the cable is also connected to the wiring board by soldering or the like, the sensor or the sensing member The fixing and the supporting of the cable can be constituted by one component, and the length of the cable can be shortened as compared with the above constitution.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a recording head (not shown) is mounted on a carriage 2, and the carriage 2 is guided and supported so as to be able to reciprocate in a main scanning direction along a guide shaft 3 installed on an apparatus frame 6. I have. The flat cable 1 that electrically connects the recording head mounted on the carriage 2 to the control unit is bent into a U-shape, guided by the cable guide member 4, and pressed and supported by the cable support member 13 at the portion B. I have. A carriage motor 7 for driving the carriage 2 is attached to one end of the device frame 6, a drive pulley 8 is attached to the carriage motor 7, and a driven pulley 9 is attached to the other end of the device frame 6. It is attached by a frame 6 and a pivot. A timing belt 10 is stretched between the driving pulley 8 and the driven pulley 9 in parallel with the guide shaft 3, and a part of the timing belt 10 is connected to the carriage 2. The driven pulley 9 is provided with a tension spring (not shown) to apply a predetermined tension to the timing belt 10.

In this manner, the carriage 2 is reciprocated by rotating the carriage motor 7 forward and reverse, and the recording medium 5 is moved by the recording head mounted on the carriage 2.
Is recorded. The recording medium 5 is supplied by rotating a paper feed shaft 16 by a paper feed motor 11 attached to the apparatus frame 6 and rotating a transport roller (not shown) press-fitted coaxially with the paper feed shaft 16. Is done.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the connection and fixing of the flat cable 1 of FIG. As shown in the figure, one end of the flat cable 1 is fixed to the carriage 2 and the A portion, is curved in a U-shape, is guided by the cable guide member 4 with slack, is sandwiched by the cable support member 13 at the B portion, and is press-fitted. Fixed. The cable support member 13 is sensor-fixed to the cable guide member 4 by a screw 17 in a long hole 131 formed parallel to the carriage movement direction x so that the cable support member 13 can move relatively to the carriage in parallel to the movement direction x of the carriage 2. It is attached by a member 15. A sensor 14 is attached to the cable support member 13, and the sensor 14 has a transmitter 141 for emitting light as shown in FIG. 3, and is arranged to face the transmitter 141 to receive the emitted light. And the shield 12 provided on the carriage 2 is
It is attached to the cable support member 13 so that it can be positioned between the cable 41 and the receiver 142. Carriage 2
When there is no print command from the control unit, the shield 12 is inserted between the transmission unit 141 and the reception unit 142 of the sensor 14, the light emitted by the transmission unit 141 is blocked by the shield 12, and the reception unit 142 receives the light. Not in a state. Hereinafter, the carriage position in this state is referred to as a reference position. When print data is input from the control unit, the carriage motor 7 rotates to move the carriage 2 by a predetermined amount in the direction in which the recording medium 5 is arranged, and the position of the carriage 2 is adjusted to the recording start position to perform recording by the recording head. . And sensor 1
4 is in a state of receiving the light emitted from the transmitting unit 141, and after the carriage 2 performs recording by the recording head, the carriage 2 returns to the reference position again, and the shield 12 is moved to the transmitting unit 141 and the receiving unit 142. Between the receiving unit 14
No. 2 is in a state of not receiving light.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the state of the flat cable by adjusting the position of the sensor 14 in the recording apparatus of the present invention. The recording start position is adjusted by loosening the screw 17 that attaches the cable support member 13 to which the sensor 14 is attached to the cable guide member 4 and moving the cable support member 13 along the elongated hole 131 in parallel with the moving direction x of the carriage. Can be.

Here, when the position of the sensor 14 is moved in the direction a shown in FIG. 4 to adjust the recording start position, the cable support member 13 is moved with the movement of the sensor 14.
Moves in the same direction (direction a) as the sensor 14, and the fixed portion B of the flat cable 1 also moves in the same direction (direction a) in conjunction with the movement of the sensor 14. Further, at this time, the extreme positions P1 and P3 where the carriage moves are both moved in the direction a by the distance moved by the sensor. In short, the fixed portions A and B of the flat cable can always be moved in conjunction with the movement of the sensor. In the conventional example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the sensor position is moved in the direction a as in FIG. 4, the fixed portion B with the flat cable does not move, so that the carriage moves to the end position in the direction a. When the carriage moves, the moving distance of the carriage becomes the length of P2P1 + (sensor moving distance) from the fixed portion B of the flat cable, and the moving amount of the sensor increases. There is a risk that the bending occurs at the portion B and hinders the movement of the carriage (load), and there is a danger of repeated stress acting on the bent portion due to the reciprocating movement of the carriage and disconnection. To avoid the problem, the flat cable must be extended. I had to,
According to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, even when the sensor position is moved in the direction a, the fixed portion B is interlocked with the movement of the sensor in the same direction, so that the carriage moves to the end position in the direction a. At this time, the flat cable can always maintain a constant slack, which is curved in a U-shape without bending, and the above-described problem can be avoided without extending the length of the flat cable as in the conventional example. Similarly, when the position of the sensor 14 is moved in the direction b shown in FIG. 4, the cable support member 13 moves in the same direction (the direction b) as the sensor 14 with the movement of the sensor 14.
Also moves in the direction b in conjunction with the movement of the sensor 14. At this time, the end position P1 where the carriage moves
And P3 both move in the direction b by the distance the sensor has moved. In the conventional example, when the sensor position is moved in the direction b as shown in FIG. 5, the fixed portion B of the flat cable does not move, so that when the carriage moves to the extreme end position in the direction b, the movement of the carriage The distance from the fixed portion B of the flat cable to the length of P2P3 + (the moving distance of the sensor) becomes equal to the length of the movement of the sensor, and thus the length of the flat cable is insufficient as described above. Bends at the fixing portion A of the first member. Therefore, the flat cable must be extended because the movement of the carriage may be hindered (loaded) or the bent portion may be broken due to the reciprocating movement of the carriage. Therefore, according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. Even if the sensor position is moved in the direction b as shown in FIG.
Is moved in the same direction as the sensor, so that when the carriage moves to the end position in the b direction, the flat cable can be maintained in a U-shaped curve without bending, and the flat cable can be extended as in the conventional example. Without the above, the problem caused by the bending can be avoided.

In short, when the sensor position is moved in order to adjust the recording start position on the recording medium, the carriage moves to the extreme end position of the reciprocating range by interlocking the fixing portion B of the flat cable together with the cable supporting member. At this time, the flat cable can maintain a U-shaped curve without bending. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the problem of a load or disconnection from the movement of the carriage without having to extend the length of the flat cable, and it is possible to set the flat cable to an optimal length, which is advantageous in terms of cost. There is an advantage.

The case where the sensor is provided on the cable support member side and the shield is provided on the carriage side has been described above. However, the case where the shield is provided on the cable support member side and the sensor is provided on the carriage side is also described. Similar effects are included in the present invention. Further, according to this configuration, the wiring of the sensor can be accommodated in a flat cable, and the wiring processing is simplified, so that the cost can be further reduced and the assembly can be simplified.

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view showing a case where the cable supporting member is constituted by a wiring board. The cable supporting member is constituted by a wiring board 18 and a flat cable is formed at the position of the fixing portion B. The wiring board 1 is joined to the wiring pattern formed on the wiring board 18 by soldering.
The same effect can be obtained when the wiring pattern of No. 8 is connected to the control unit to electrically connect the recording head and the control unit, and is included in the present invention. Further, according to the present embodiment, the flat cable only needs to have a length up to the fixing portion B, and the flat cable can be further shortened as compared with the case of the above-described embodiment, which has a further effect of reducing costs. . Further, by directly soldering and attaching the sensor to the wiring board, the sensor can be fixed and the flat cable can be supported by one component, which has an effect of reducing the number of components.

Further, the sensor and the sensing member are not limited to a combination of a member using light and a member having a light-shielding property. The sensor is constituted by electrically connected contacts, and the connection of the contacts is made. The shield may be made of an insulator to be cut off. Alternatively, a sensor using magnetic coupling and a sensor that blocks the sensor may be used. in short,
Any combination of a sensor and a sensing member configured to detect at least two states is included in the present invention.

In this embodiment, a flat cable is used as a cable for electrically connecting the recording head and the control unit. However, as the cable, a copper foil is adhered on a resin film such as polyester, and the cable is electrically connected by etching. A cable generally called an FPC formed by forming a pattern and covering the resin with a resin film may be used. F
PC is more advantageous for disconnection because it has better durability against repeated stress than the flat cable.
In short, a flat cable that can electrically connect the recording head to the control unit and that has flexibility is included in the present invention.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the sensor for detecting the reference position of the recording head provided for adjusting the recording start position on the recording medium is a cable support for supporting the flat cable. When the recording position is adjusted by moving the sensor position because it is attached to the member, the carriage moves to the extreme end of the movement range because the cable support member and the fixed part of the flat cable are linked with the movement of the sensor Then, the flat cable does not bend and the U-shaped curve can always be maintained with respect to the carriage movement. In the conventional configuration, if the sensor position is moved, the flat cable will bend at the fixed part of the flat cable, hindering the movement of the carriage or causing a disconnection. However, in the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to avoid the problem due to the flat cable bending without extending the flat cable, and to configure the flat cable with an optimal length without excess or shortage,
Lower cost.

According to the present invention, the sensor or the sensing member provided on the device frame side and the cable supporting member are integrally formed, so that the sensor or the sensor provided on the device frame side is further integrated. The sensing member and the cable supporting member can be interlocked with good followability, and the configuration is simplified.

According to the present invention, the cable support member is constituted by a wiring board, and the sensor or the sensing member provided on the apparatus frame side is directly attached to the wiring board, and the cable is soldered to the wiring board. By connecting by the above, the fixing of the sensor or the sensing member and the support of the cable can be constituted by one part, and the length of the cable can be further shortened than the above constitution. In general, a wiring board is cheaper than a flat cable, and thus the present embodiment also has the effect of further reducing costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view for explaining a flat cable connection and fixed state of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a positional relationship between a sensor and a shield of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a sensor position and a state of a flat cable of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a sensor position and a state of a flat cable of a recording apparatus according to the related art.

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view illustrating a connection and fixing state of a flat cable of a recording apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Flat Cable 1a State of Flat Cable when Carriage Moves to End Position in Arrow a Direction 1b State of Flat Cable when Carriage Moves to End Position in Arrow b Direction 2 Carriage 3 Guide Shaft 4 Cable Guide Member REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 5 recording medium 6 device frame 7 carriage motor 8 drive pulley 9 driven pulley 10 timing belt 11 paper feed motor 12 shield 13 cable support member 131 long hole provided in cable support member 14 sensor 141 sensor transmission unit 142 sensor reception Part 15 Sensor fixing member 16 Paper feed shaft 17 Screw 18 Wiring board A Fixing part of carriage and flat cable B Fixing part of cable support member and flat cable a, b Moving direction of sensor x Moving direction of carriage

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ichiro Nakayama 3-5-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano Seiko Epson Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus having a recording head that performs recording on the recording medium while reciprocating with respect to the recording medium, and a cable for electrically connecting the recording head and a control unit. And a cable support member for supporting the cable; a sensor capable of detecting at least two states; and a sensing member for changing the state of the sensor, and a recording head for either one of the sensor or the sensing member And the other is provided in an apparatus frame, and the state of the sensor is changed by the sensing member to obtain a reference position of the recording head with the movement of the recording head, and is provided on the apparatus frame side. Moving the position of the sensor or the sensing member relative to the recording head In a recording apparatus configured to be able to adjust a recording start position with respect to the recording medium, the cable support member can move in conjunction with the adjustment of the position of the sensor or the sensing member provided on the apparatus frame side. A recording apparatus characterized by being configured as described above. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a fixing member for fixing the sensor or the sensing member provided on the apparatus frame side and the cable supporting member are formed of the same member. Recording device. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said cable support member is constituted by a wiring board.