JPH04112067A - Serial device and serial 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 <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a serial device and a serial recording device in which a reciprocally movable carriage and a fixed connector are electrically connected by a flexible cable.

<Prior Art> Today, serial recording devices are widely used in printers, electronic typewriters, etc. because they can be easily miniaturized.

The serial recording device has a carriage equipped with a recording head that can be moved back and forth, and records a predetermined image on a recording sheet by driving the recording head in accordance with an image signal based on a signal from a control section. .

For this purpose, the carriage and the main body of the apparatus are connected by a flexible cable. Conventionally, as shown in FIG.
When connecting to cable 5, fold back at two points on the way and
0 is configured in an R-shape.

As a result, when the carriage 51 moves back and forth, the flexible cable 50 is deformed by the R-shaped bone and follows the movement of the carriage 51.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, when the flexible cable 50 is connected as described above, folding work is required twice when the flexible cable 50 is assembled, and a pressing member is required to press the folded portion. This makes the installation work complicated.

Furthermore, if the folding operation is mistaken, the cable 50 may develop a crack and breakage.

Furthermore, as described above, the cable 50 is folded back after being pulled out from the carriage 51 and the connector 52, and in order to form an R-shaped portion, the total length of the cable 50 becomes longer.
When the cable 50 is made of an expensive polyimide film or the like, there are problems such as increasing the cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, to shorten the overall length of the cable, thereby reducing costs, and to provide a serial device and a serial recording device that are easy to assemble.

Means for Solving the Problems> A typical means according to the present invention for solving the above problems is a serial device in which a reciprocating carriage and a fixed connector are electrically connected by a flat flexible cable. The present invention is characterized in that the flexible cable is configured to have slack in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage.

<Function> With the above means, since there is no need to fold back the flexible cable, the overall length is shortened and the installation workability is improved.

<Embodiment> Next, an embodiment of the present invention in which the above-mentioned means is applied to a serial type inkjet recording apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First example]

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view of the recording apparatus, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view, and FIG. 3 is a schematic front view.

(Overall Configuration) First, the overall configuration of the apparatus will be explained. Reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage, which is attached so as to be movable back and forth in the directions of arrows a and -a in FIG. There is. One end of a flexible cable 3 is connected to the carriage 1, and the arrangement is such that image signals and the like are transmitted to the recording means 2 via the cable 3. The other end of the cable 3 is connected to a fixed connector 4 that is electrically connected to a control section (not shown) provided in the main body of the apparatus.

During recording, while moving the carriage 1 back and forth,
A predetermined recording is performed on the recording sheet 5 by driving the recording means 2 according to an image signal.

Further, a sheet conveying means 6 for conveying a recording sheet 5 is provided on the opposite side of the recording means 2, and when one line is recorded on the recording sheet 5, the sheet 5 is moved by one line in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. It is configured to be transported.

Next, the configuration of each part will be specifically explained.

(Carriage) As shown in FIG.
, 7b, and the carriage groove 1a engages with the end of the frame wall 7C, as shown in FIG. Further, the carriage 1 has left and right frames 7a, 7 as shown in FIG.
The shaft 1b of the carriage l is engaged with the screw groove 9a of the lead screw 9. A gear 10a is attached to one end of the lead screw 9,
This gear 10a meshes with a gear train 10b and is connected to a stepping motor 10c.

When the motor 10c is driven in the normal direction, the lead screw 9 rotates in the direction of arrow C in FIG. The carriage 1 is configured to rotate in the ◯ direction and move in the -a force direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, a detection sensor 7d for detecting the home position of the carriage 1 is provided near the left frame 7a.

(Recording Means) The recording means records an ink image on the recording sheet 5, and in this embodiment, an inkjet recording method is used.

The inkjet recording method includes a liquid ejection port for ejecting recording ink liquid as flying droplets, a liquid flow path communicating with the ejection port, and a part of this liquid flow path. and ejection energy generating means for providing ejection energy for causing the liquid to fly. The ejection energy generating means is then driven in accordance with the image signal to eject ink droplets and record an image.

Examples of the ejection energy generating means include a method using pressure energy generating means such as an electromechanical transducer such as a piezo element, and an electromagnetic energy generating means that generates flying droplets by irradiating and absorbing electromagnetic waves such as a laser into the ink liquid. There are two methods: a method using a thermal energy generating means such as an electrothermal converter, and a method using a thermal energy generating means such as an electrothermal converter. Among these methods, a method using a thermal energy generating means such as an electrothermal converter is preferable because it allows the ejection ports to be arranged in a high density manner and also enables the recording head to be made compact.

The configuration of this embodiment is such that a recording head 2b is attached to an ink cartridge 2a.

This recording head 2b is constructed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, 2b is a heater board, and an electrothermal converter (discharge heater) 2b2 and an electrode 2bs made of aluminum or the like for supplying power to this are formed and arranged on a silicon substrate. There is. A top plate 2ba having a partition wall for partitioning a recording liquid channel (nozzle) 2b4 is adhered to this heater board 2b+.

The ink supplied from the ink cartridge 2a is
The recording head 2 is supplied from the supply port 2by provided on the top plate 2ba.
The common liquid chamber 2ha in b is filled, and this common liquid chamber 2bs
It is guided into each nozzle 2ba. These nozzles 2b
4 are formed with ink ejection ports 2bs, and in this embodiment, the ejection ports 2bs are spaced apart at a pitch of several tens of microns in the sheet conveying direction of the recording head 2b. As a result, when liquid ink is stored in the ink cartridge 2a and the rad 2b is driven for recording, the electrothermal converter generates heat in response to the image signal, and the ink flies downward from the ejection opening corresponding to the heat generated.

Therefore, the recording carriage 1 is moved in the main scanning direction (arrow a or -a direction in FIG. 1) in synchronization with the driving of the recording head 2b.
When scanning is performed, one line is recorded on the recording sheet 5 in (1) scanning.

(Sheet Conveying Means) As shown in FIG. 2, the sheet conveying means 6 has a roller shaft 6a rotatably attached in parallel to the moving direction of the carriage 1, and rubber conveying rollers 6b are mounted at multiple locations on the roller shaft 6a. is installed.

A pinch roller 6d is pressed against the conveyance roller 6b by a plate spring 6c.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the drive configuration of the conveyance roller 6b includes a gear lla on the other end side of the lead screw 9.
is attached, and this gear lla is a large and small gear 11b+,
The large gear 11b+ of the intermediate gear llb consisting of 1lbz meshes with the large gear 11b+, and the small gear llbg meshes with the feed gear llc. As shown in FIG. 3, a spring clutch lid is provided inside the feed gear llc, and the driving force is transmitted to the roller shaft 6a via this clutch lid.

The spring clutch lid is wound around the roller shaft 6a, and one end thereof is engaged with the feed gear llc. When the motor 10c drives the clutch lid in the forward direction and the lead screw 9 rotates in the direction of arrow C in FIG. No driving force is transmitted to the shaft 6a, and the conveyance roller 6b does not rotate.

On the other hand, when the motor 10c is driven in the reverse direction and the lead screw 9 rotates in the -b force direction, the feed gear llc and the roller shaft 6a rotate integrally in a locked state (tightened state 1).At this time, the conveyance roller 6b The recording sheet 5 is conveyed by rotating in the direction of the arrow d in FIG.

(Sloose state of flexible cable) The flexible cable 3 electrically connects the recording head 2b and the control section of the main body of the apparatus, and is installed as a bundle of signal lines in a flat polyimide film as shown in Fig. 6. It is configured. One end of this cable 3 is connected to the second
As shown in the figure, it is connected and fixed to a connection part 12 formed on a part of the carriage 1 and connected to the recording pad 2b.
It extends downward from the bottom of the carriage 1 and is held down by a cable holding part 1c at the rear of the lower end of the carriage 1.

Further, the cable 3 is extended from the holding portion 1c so as to maintain an R shape naturally curved in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage 1 (curved in the vertical direction in this embodiment),
It is connected to a connector 4 fixed to a circuit board 13 of the main body of the device. The connector 4 is provided approximately at the center of the reciprocating range of the carriage 1.

(Recording and sheet conveyance operation) During recording, the motor 10c is driven in normal rotation to move the carriage l from the home position in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 3, and in synchronization with this, the recording head 2b is driven in accordance with the image signal. However, when recording is performed on the recording sheet 5, no rotational force is transmitted to the conveyance roller 6b.

Next, the motor 10c is driven in reverse to drive the conveying roller 6b.
(at this time, the carriage 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow -a in Fig. 3).
After the sheet is conveyed, the motor 10c is driven forward by the same amount as the reverse drive amount to return the carriage 1 to its original position and perform the next recording.

When the carriage 1 moves back and forth, the flexible cable 3 extending from the carriage 1 follows the movement of the carriage 1 while being twisted. At this time, since the cable 3 has an R shape, No excessive force is applied and durability is not impaired, and since there is no need to fold back as in the conventional case, the overall length is shortened and ease of installation is improved.

[Other Examples]

Next, other embodiments of each of the above-mentioned parts will be described.

(Extension of flexible cable) In the embodiment described above, the width of the flexible cable 3 was kept constant, but if the width of the cable 3 is made as narrow as possible as shown in FIG. The amount of twisting can be reduced, and as a result, the twisting force applied to the cable 3 can be reduced and durability can be further improved.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the flat flexible cable 3 is installed horizontally and extended vertically in an R shape, but when the flat flexible cable 3 is installed vertically, as shown in FIG. R to the left and right as shown in
It is best to let it loosen and extend. in this case,
By arranging the fixed connector 4 approximately in the middle of the reciprocating range of the carriage 1, the overall length of the cable can be made the shortest.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the carriage 1 in the recording apparatus
Although an example is shown in which the flexible cable 3 is connected to the flexible cable 3, this cable connection configuration can also be used in other ways, for example, in a reading device in which a reading means is mounted on a carriage and the carriage 1 is moved back and forth to perform serial reading. is also possible.

(Recording Means) In the above-mentioned embodiment, an example was shown in which an inkjet method was used as the recording means 2, but among these recording methods, a bubble jet recording method is more preferably used.

Here, the principle of ink flight in the bubble jet recording method will be explained with reference to FIGS. 9(a) to 9(b).

In the steady state, as shown in FIG. 9(a), the nozzle 2b4
The surface tension and external pressure of the ink 14 filled therein are balanced on the ejection port surface. When the ink 14 is to be ejected in this state, the electrothermal converter 2bz in the nozzle 2b is energized to cause the ink in the nozzle 2b to undergo a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling. Then, as shown in FIG. 9 et al., the electrothermal converter 2b.

The ink adjacent to the 9th part is heated to produce microbubbles, and the ink in the heated part is vaporized and causes film boiling.
As shown in Figure (C), the bubbles 15 grow rapidly.

When the bubble 15 grows to its maximum size as shown in FIG. 9), an ink droplet is forced out from the ejection opening in the nozzle 2b. Then, when the energization to the electrothermal converter 2bz is finished,
As shown in FIG. 9(e), the grown bubble 15 is cooled and contracted by the ink 14 inside the nozzle 2b, and as the bubble grows and contracts, ink droplets fly from the ejection port. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9(f), an electrothermal converter 2b,
The ink contacts the surface and is rapidly cooled, causing the bubbles 15 to disappear or shrink to an almost negligible volume. When the air bubbles 15 contract, the common liquid chamber 2b is filled in the nozzle 2ba due to capillary action, as shown in FIG. 9(6).
Ink is supplied from @ in preparation for the next energization.

Therefore, an ink image is recorded on the recording sheet 5 by energizing the electrothermal transducer 2bt in synchronization with the movement of the recording carriage 9 in accordance with the image signal.

In the above configuration, it is preferable to provide a capping means in the vicinity of the moving area of the recording radar 2b to prevent ink from drying near the ejection openings of the recording Radar 2b and from solidification accompanying this.

Further, the recording head 2b described above is an ink cartridge 2a.
A disposable type recording head that supplies ink from the recording head, but has an ink storage chamber inside the recording head, and when the ink storage chamber runs out of ink, the recording head is replaced. You may also use

In addition to the inkjet method, the recording means may be, for example, a so-called thermal transfer recording method in which an ink sheet coated with heat-melting ink is heated in accordance with an image signal and the melted ink is transferred to the recording sheet 5, or a recording method in which an ink sheet coated with a heat-melting ink is transferred to the recording sheet 5, or Various recording methods may be employed, such as a so-called wire dot recording method in which ink from an ink ribbon is transferred to the recording sheet 5 by a driven wire dot. Therefore, there is no need to limit the recording head to the inkjet head of the above-described embodiment, and a thermal head, a wire dot head, etc. can be used.

Furthermore, it is also possible to use a plurality of recording rads 2b to perform color recording.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned recording device may take the form of, for example, a printer, a copying machine, a Japanese word processor, a facsimile machine, or an electronic typewriter.

(Sheet Conveying Means) In the embodiment described above, the driving force of the motor 10c for moving the carriage l is transmitted to the conveying roller 6b, but the movement of the carriage l and the driving of the conveying roller 6b are performed by separate motors. Of course it's fine to do so.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the recording sheet 5 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 6b and the pinch roller 6d.
The sheet conveyance structure does not need to be limited to a roller-like configuration; for example, an endless rotating belt or the like may be used to apply conveyance force to the recording sheet 5.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the present invention, since the flexible cable has slack in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage, there is no need to fold back the flexible cable. Therefore, the total length of the cable can be shortened to reduce costs, and it is also possible to improve installation workability and prevent wire breakage, etc., thereby improving reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective explanatory view of the recording device, Fig. 2 is a schematic side view, Fig. 3 is a schematic front view, Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the recording head, and Fig. 5 is the driving force to the conveyance roller. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a flexible cable; FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams of flexible cables according to other embodiments; FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the bubble jet recording principle; FIG. The figure is an explanatory diagram of the prior art. l is the carriage, la is the carriage groove, lb is the shaft, 1
C is a cable holding part, 2 is a recording means, 2a is an ink cartridge, 2b is a recording head, 2b+ is a heater board, 2bo is an electrothermal converter, 2b. 2b is an electrode, 2b4 is a liquid path, 2bs is an ink discharge port, and 2b. is the top plate, 2by is the supply port, 2bs is the common liquid chamber, 3 is the flexible cable, 4 is the fixed connector, 5 is the recording sheet, 6 is the sheet conveyance means, 6a is the roller shaft, 6b is the conveyance roller, 6C is the leaf spring , 6d is a pinch roller, 7a, 7b
is the frame, 7c is the frame wall, 7d is the detection sensor,
8 is a guide rail, 9 is a lead screw, 9a is a screw groove, 1°a, 10b are gears, lOc is a motor, lla is a gear, 11b is an intermediate gear, llb+ is a large gear, ubz is a small gear, 11c is a feed gear , Ild is a sparkling crunch, 12 is a connection part, 13 is a circuit board, 14 is ink, and 15 is a bubble.

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) In a serial device in which a reciprocally movable carriage and a fixed connector are electrically connected by a flat flexible cable, the flexible cable is configured to have slack in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage. A serial device characterized by: (2) A recording means is mounted on a reciprocating carriage,
The serial recording device electrically connects the carriage and the fixed connector with a flat flexible cable, characterized in that the flexible cable is configured to have slack in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage. serial recording device. (3) The serial recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the serial recording apparatus is of an inkjet recording method in which the recording means performs recording by ejecting ink according to a signal. (4) The serial recording device is an inkjet recording method in which the recording means energizes an electrothermal transducer in response to a signal and ejects ink using thermal energy from the electrothermal transducer to perform recording. The serial recording device according to item (3). (5) In the serial recording device, the recording means energizes the electrothermal transducer in response to a signal, and the ink is ejected from the ejection port by the growth of bubbles generated by heating exceeding film boiling by the electrothermal transducer. The serial recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the serial recording apparatus uses a bubble jet recording method.