JPH11179889A - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] It is difficult to dry ink at an early stage. SOLUTION: A hot air fan device 43 capable of adjusting a flow rate of blowing hot air to a recording paper 20 downstream of a printing position by a recording head 6 in a sub-scanning direction, and a dot density determining unit for determining a dot density of a printed image. 59 and an air volume control unit 60 that controls the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 according to the determination result of the dot density determination unit 59.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an ink jet recording apparatus capable of accelerating drying of ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording apparatus used in a printer, a facsimile, a copying apparatus, etc. discharges ink droplets from nozzles of a recording head to record a recording paper (image is recorded, and is limited to "paper"). Image). Therefore, if the ink on the recording paper is not sufficiently dried, the ink will adhere to the hand when it is held by hand.

Conventionally, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-26751, an air-conditioning device having a refrigerator and a heater is provided in a housing capable of shutting off outside air, in which a recording drum and a recording paper storage are housed. Some air conditioners use a conditioner to promote absorption and drying of ink during recording, thereby suppressing the occurrence of paper rubbing, wrinkling, and bleeding due to paper floating.

[0004]

However, installing an air conditioner in an ink jet recording apparatus leads to an increase in the size of the apparatus. In addition, since the ink jet recording apparatus has a high image quality and a high speed, a large amount of ink is ejected onto the recording paper at a high speed. Therefore, it is impossible to dry the ink properly by simple air conditioning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of drying ink quickly and reliably without increasing the size of the apparatus.

[0006]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on recording paper by ejecting ink droplets. The configuration includes hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the air flow for blowing, and air flow controlling means for controlling the air flow of the hot air blowing means in accordance with the dot density of the image data to be printed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink droplets and recording an image on recording paper, wherein a hot air blowing means capable of adjusting an air volume for blowing hot air onto the recording paper is provided. An air volume control unit for controlling the air volume of the hot air blowing unit according to whether the shooting mode is the draft mode or the high quality mode is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein
The air volume control means includes a means for controlling the air volume in accordance with information indicating the type of the recording paper.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the air volume control means includes a means for controlling the air volume in accordance with environmental conditions. .

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the air volume control means includes means for controlling the air volume based on information designating the air volume. And

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a main part of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view showing an outline of a recording head, and FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory sectional view of the recording head.

In this ink jet recording apparatus, a carriage 5 is moved in a main scanning direction (indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 2) by a guide rod 3 and a guide plate 4 which are laid between left and right side plates 1 and 2 (see FIG. 2).
Direction), a recording head 6 composed of an inkjet head is mounted on the lower surface side of the carriage 5 with the ink droplet ejection direction facing downward, and the recording head 6 is mounted on the upper surface side of the carriage 5 for each color. An ink tank (ink cartridge) 7 for supplying ink is mounted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the recording head 6 has a head 6y having a recording nozzle row 8y composed of a plurality of recording nozzles 8 for discharging yellow (Y) ink, and discharges magenta (M) ink. Four heads, a head 6m having a nozzle row 8m, a head 6c having a recording nozzle row 8c for discharging cyan (C) ink, and a head 6b having a nozzle row 8b for discharging black (Bk) ink, The carriage 5 is arranged such that the recording nozzles 8 of each of the recording nozzle rows 8y, 8m, 8c, 8b are arranged in the sub-scanning direction.
Are arranged in the main scanning direction. The ink cartridge 7 also includes four independent ink cartridges each containing ink of each color.

Here, each of the heads 6y, 6m, 6c, 6b
As shown in FIG. 4, a nozzle forming member 12 having a plurality of recording nozzles 8 formed on a front surface of a liquid chamber forming member 11 forming a liquid chamber 10 is provided. By applying pressure to the ink in the liquid chamber 10 by the energy generating means, the ink in the liquid chamber 10 is supplied from the recording nozzle 8 of the nozzle forming member 12 to the ink droplet 1.
3 and fly and land as dots on a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as “recording paper”). At this time, a desired image can be printed by selectively driving the energy generating means for applying pressure to each liquid chamber 10.

Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, the carriage 5
The carriage 5, that is, the recording head, is connected to a timing belt 18 stretched between a driving pulley 16 and a driven pulley 17, which are rotated by a main scanning motor 15 composed of a stepping motor, and controls the driving of the main scanning motor 15. 6 is moved in the main scanning direction.

On the other hand, a transport roller 21 for transporting the recording paper 20 in the sub-scanning direction (the direction of the arrow B in FIG. 2), and a paper feed roller 22 pressed against the peripheral surface of the transport roller 21,
23 and a pinch roller 24 for defining a recording paper feed angle;
A guide plate 25 facing the recording head 6;
The recording apparatus further includes a discharge roller 26 on the downstream side in the recording paper conveyance direction, and a spur roller 27 for pressing the recording paper pressed against the discharge roller 26.

The rotation of the sub-scanning motor 28 composed of a stepping motor is controlled by the gears 29 to 31 and the roller gear 3.
2 to the transport roller 21 via the transport roller 21
, The recording paper 20 stored in the paper supply unit 33 is fed between the recording head 6 and the guide plate 25 through the transport roller 21, the paper supply rollers 22 and 23, and the recording paper pressing roller 24, While moving the recording paper 20 in the sub-scanning direction by the transport roller 21, the recording paper 20 is rotated by a gear 34 meshing with a roller gear 32, and the recording paper 20 is rotated by a spur roller 27 for pressing the recording paper. 2
(In the direction of arrow B).

In the printing apparatus thus configured, the recording paper 20 is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction while moving and scanning the recording head 6 (carriage 5) in the main scanning direction. 6m, 6c, 6b nozzle 8,
8, a required color image (including a black image) is recorded on the recording paper 20 by discharging ink droplets of a required color from.

In this recording apparatus, a reliability maintenance / recovery mechanism (subsystem) 35 for the recording head 6 is provided on the right side of the main scanning area of the carriage 5 so that the host 5 is in a print standby state. When the print data is not transferred for a predetermined period of time, or at a predetermined time interval, a reliability maintenance / recovery operation such as removal of stains on the nozzle surface and nozzles of the recording head 6 is performed.

Next, an outline of an ink drying system in the ink jet recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. This ink drying system uses the recording paper 2
A laser light emitting unit 41 that emits laser light that faces the opposite side of the transport path 0 and a light receiving unit 42 that receives the laser light
And hot air fan devices 43, 43, which are hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the amount of hot air that blows hot air to the recording paper 20 downstream of the printing position of the recording head 6 in the sub-scanning direction.

The hot air fan device 43 has a built-in fan 45, which is rotated by a motor (not shown), and a heating element (not shown) in a main body 44, and wing-shaped blowout portions 46 provided integrally on both sides of the main body 44. A large number of blowout openings 47 for blowing out hot air are formed in the blowout section 46, and the amount of hot air can be adjusted by controlling the rotation speed of the motor.

Next, an outline of a control section of the ink jet recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The control unit includes a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a “CPU”) 50 that controls the entire recording apparatus, and a ROM 51 that stores necessary fixed information such as programs and tables.
A RAM 52 used as a reception buffer, a working memory, etc., an input / output (I / O) port 53 for transmitting and receiving data and various information to and from the host, and an image data transmitted from the host. Image memory 54 to store
An address decoder 55 for decoding address data from the CPU 50 and outputting a select signal; a head driving unit 57 for driving and controlling each of the heads 6y, 6m, 6c, 6b; a main scanning motor 15 and a sub-scanning motor 28
And a motor driver 58 for driving the motor.

The image data to be printed is stored in an image memory 54.
A dot density discriminating unit 59 for discriminating the dot density of the printed image by reading from the printer, an air volume control unit 60 for controlling the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 according to the discrimination result of the dot density discriminating unit 59, A motor driver 61 that drives a motor 62 that rotationally drives the fan 45 of the hot air fan device 43 in accordance with the air volume setting signal (data) from 60
And Note that the dot density determination unit 59 and the air volume control unit 60 constitute an air volume control unit.

Next, the operation of the ink drying system in the ink jet recording apparatus thus configured will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the ink drying system. First, when image data is stored in the image memory 54, the dot density determining unit 59 reads the image data to determine the dot density of the printed image (image to be recorded), and the air volume control unit 60 determines the dot density. Is set according to the result of the determination.

For example, a printed image includes a relatively small amount of ink, such as a text image, and a solid image, such as a graphic image, that uses a large amount of ink. The air volume is increased, and for text images, the hot air volume is reduced.

Then, it is determined whether or not the printing is started. When the printing is started, a drive control signal is output to the motor driver 61 to rotate the fan motor 62 and drive the hot air fan device 43 to drive the fan motor 62. Hot air is blown toward the recording paper 20 at the set air volume. After that, it is determined whether or not the printing is completed,
The driving of the hot air fan device 43 is continued until the printing is completed, and the driving of the hot air fan device 43 is stopped when the printing is completed.

In this case, since there is an offset in the sub-scanning direction between the printing position by the recording head 6 and the hot air blowing position from the hot air fan device 43, the printing of one page of printing data by the recording head 6 is performed. After the copying is completed, at least the last printed dot portion of the recording paper 20 is
, The driving of the hot-air fan device 43 is continued for a predetermined time until the hot-air blowing device passes the hot-air blowing position.

As described above, the provision of the hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the air flow for blowing the hot air onto the recording paper and the air flow control means for controlling the air flow of the hot air blowing means in accordance with the dot density of the printed image are provided. It is possible to blow hot air onto the recording paper with an amount of air corresponding to the dot density of the image, that is, the amount of ink to be used, to quickly and reliably dry the ink, and to reduce power consumption as much as possible. .

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an outline of a control unit in an ink jet recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a detection (detection) signal from the light receiving unit 42 is input to the air volume control unit 60, and an air volume specifying switch 61 for directly specifying the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 is provided. The air volume designation switch 63 is provided on an operation panel provided in the recording apparatus main body, and can be configured as an independent switch or a switch by menu selection.

In this embodiment, the air volume control unit 60 includes a light receiving unit 42
The type of recording paper is determined on the basis of the detection signal from the CPU, and the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 is controlled in accordance with the type of recording paper together with the dot density of the printed image described above. The function also serves to drive and control the hot air fan device 43 with the air volume specified by the user.

That is, referring to FIG. 10, when the supply of recording paper 20 is started, air volume control section 60 determines whether or not there is designation information from air volume designation switch 61, and determines the designated information. If there is, the air volume designation information is fetched and the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 is set to the specified air volume. On the other hand, if there is no designation information from the air volume designation switch 63, the detection signal from the light receiving section 42 is taken in, the type of the recording paper 20 fed is discriminated, and further, the same as in the first embodiment described above. Then, the determination processing of the dot density of the printed image is performed, and the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 is set based on the recording paper type and the dot density of the printed image.

For example, when plain paper and an OHP sheet can be used, the OHP sheet, which is a substantially transparent material, transmits a larger amount of laser light than plain paper.
By judging the level of the detection signal from, the type of the fed recording paper 20 can be determined. Then, for example, the air flow is reduced for plain paper having high ink permeability, and the air flow is increased for OHP sheets having low ink permeability (thin ink receiving layer).

Then, it is determined whether or not the printing is started. When the printing is started, a drive control signal is output to the motor driver 61 to rotate the fan motor 62 and drive the hot air fan device 43. Hot air is blown toward the recording paper 20 at the set air volume. After that, it is determined whether or not the printing is completed,
The driving of the hot air fan device 43 is continued until the printing is completed, and the driving of the hot air fan device 43 is stopped when the printing is completed.

As described above, the hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the air flow for blowing the hot air onto the recording paper, and the air flow controlling means for controlling the air flow of the hot air blowing means in accordance with the dot density of the printed image and the type of the recording paper. With this arrangement, it is possible to blow hot air onto the recording paper with an air flow according to the dot density of the printed image and the type of the recording paper, and it is possible to dry the ink quickly and reliably regardless of the type of the recording paper.

Further, a means for designating the air volume of the hot air blowing means is provided, and the amount of hot air blown from the hot air blowing means is controlled at the specified air volume, whereby automatic control according to the detection result of the recording paper type is performed. By canceling the air volume adjustment, the ink can be dried at the air volume desired by the user.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an outline of a control unit in an ink jet recording apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a printing mode discriminating unit 62 for discriminating whether the printing mode is the draft (simple) mode or the high quality (fine) mode is provided. The printing mode designation information given to the printing mode discriminating section 62 can be given to the control section by a switch means from the operation panel of the recording apparatus main body or by a printer driver on the host side. Further, a temperature / humidity sensor 63 for detecting environmental temperature and humidity is provided, and a detection signal from the temperature / humidity sensor 63 is input to the air volume control unit 60.

In this case, the air volume control unit 60 controls the printing mode and the temperature / humidity sensor 6 determined by the printing mode determining unit 60.
The air volume of the hot air fan device 43 is controlled in accordance with the environmental temperature and humidity obtained based on the detection signal from the control unit 3.

That is, referring to FIG. 12, printing mode discriminating section 61 fetches the printing mode designation information, discriminates the printing mode, and gives the result to air volume control section 60. A detection signal from the temperature / humidity sensor 65 is taken to measure the environmental temperature / humidity, and the air volume of the hot air fan device 43 is set according to the determination result of these printing modes and the measured environmental temperature and environmental humidity.

For example, if the printing mode is the draft mode, the amount of ink that lands on the recording paper is relatively small, so the amount of hot air is reduced. If the printing mode is the high quality mode, the amount of ink that lands on the recording paper is large. Increase the amount of hot air to promote early drying.

As described above, by providing the hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the air flow for blowing the hot air onto the recording paper and the air flow control means for controlling the air flow of the hot air blowing means in accordance with the printing mode, the printing is performed. Irrespective of the mode, the ink can be dried quickly and reliably, and the power consumption can be reduced as much as possible.

Further, by controlling the air volume of the hot air blowing means in accordance with the environmental conditions (environmental temperature and / or environmental humidity), the ink can be dried quickly without being influenced by the environmental temperature and environmental humidity. It can be carried out. In this case, although the ink drying is also affected by the environmental humidity, the ink can be dried early by detecting only the environmental temperature and controlling the air flow according to the environmental temperature.

In this embodiment, a means for controlling the air flow in accordance with the result of discrimination of the recording paper type and a means for manually setting the air flow can also be provided. The means for controlling the air flow can be applied to each of the above embodiments.

In each of the above embodiments, the air volume control of the hot air blowing means has been described. However, for the drive / stop (ie, air volume = 0) control of the hot air blowing means, for example, the environmental temperature is detected. When the temperature is within the guaranteed temperature of the main body of the recording apparatus, the hot air blowing means is driven according to the type of recording paper and the environmental temperature (environmental temperature and humidity), and when the environmental temperature exceeds the guaranteed temperature, the hot air blowing means is stopped. Can also.

[0044]

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the first aspect, the hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the amount of hot air for blowing the hot air onto the recording paper, and the hot air blowing means for controlling the dot density of the image data to be printed. Air flow control means for controlling the air flow rate of the hot air blowing means, so that hot air can be blown at an appropriate air flow rate according to the amount of ink to be used, so that drying can be performed promptly and reliably, and power consumption can be reduced. Can be.

According to the ink jet recording apparatus of the second aspect, the hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the air flow for blowing the hot air onto the recording paper and the hot air blowing means depending on whether the printing mode is the draft mode or the high quality mode. Since the air volume control means for controlling the air volume is provided, hot air can be blown with an appropriate air volume according to the amount of ink to be used, so that drying can be performed promptly and reliably, and power consumption can be suppressed.

According to the ink jet recording apparatus of the third aspect, in the ink jet recording apparatus of the first or second aspect, the air volume control means is provided with means for controlling the air volume in accordance with the type of recording paper. In addition, the hot air can be blown at an appropriate air volume according to the recording paper type such as the paper quality and type of the recording paper, and the ink can be dried quickly and reliably.

According to the ink jet recording apparatus of the fourth aspect, in the ink jet recording apparatus of any one of the first to third aspects, the air volume control means is provided with a means for controlling the air volume in accordance with the environmental conditions. Therefore, the hot air can be blown at an appropriate air volume according to the environmental temperature and humidity, and the ink can be dried quickly and reliably.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the air volume control means includes a means for controlling the air volume based on information designating the air volume. Therefore, the air volume can be directly specified and the hot air can be blown at the air volume desired by the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view schematically showing a recording head.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory sectional view of the recording head.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an outline of an ink drying system of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory perspective view of a hot air fan device of the ink drying system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a control unit of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the ink drying system.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the ink drying system of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the ink drying system of the embodiment.

[Description of Signs] 5 ... Carriage, 6 ... Recording head, 20 ... Recording paper, 21
... Conveying rollers, 33 ... Paper feeding section, 41 ... Laser emitting section,
Reference numeral 42 denotes a light receiving unit, 43 denotes a hot air fan device, 59 denotes a dot density determining unit, 60 denotes an air flow control unit, 61 denotes an air flow designation switch, 62 denotes a printing mode determining unit, and 63 denotes a temperature and humidity sensor.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on recording paper by ejecting ink droplets, comprising: a hot air blowing means capable of adjusting a flow rate for blowing hot air onto the recording paper; and a dot density of image data to be printed. And an air volume control means for controlling the air volume of the hot air blowing means in accordance with the condition. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink droplets to record an image on a recording sheet, wherein a hot air blowing means capable of adjusting the amount of hot air for blowing hot air onto the recording sheet, and a printing mode of a draft mode or a high mode. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an air volume control unit configured to control an air volume of the hot air blowing unit according to a quality mode. 3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said air flow control means includes means for controlling said air flow according to a type of said recording paper. 4. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said air flow control means includes means for controlling said air flow according to environmental conditions. 5. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said air volume control means includes means for controlling an air volume based on information designating the air volume. apparatus.