JP2006248122A - Printer and method for monitoring deterioration in ink supply tube of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To judge the degree of deterioration of a tube 16 and inform the judgment result to a user in a printer 10 arranged to supply ink from an ink tank 14 to a print head on a carriage 12 through a flexible tube 16. <P>SOLUTION: The number of traveling times, especially, the number of traveling times of pass print or logical seek of a carriage 12 are counted and compared with a predetermined threshold in two stages. When the number of traveling times increases to reach a first stage threshold, the user is notified of the fact that the lifetime of a tube 16 is close to the end. When the number of traveling times increases furthermore to reach a second stage threshold, the user is notified of the fact that the lifetime of a tube 16 is ended and the carriage 12 is locked not to travel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus configured to feed ink from an ink tank to a print head on a carriage by a flexible tube, as represented by an ink jet printing apparatus having an off-carriage type ink tank, and the same The present invention relates to a method for monitoring deterioration of an ink feeding tube for such a printing apparatus.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an ink jet printing apparatus having an off-carriage ink tank. In this type of printing apparatus, ink is fed through a flexible tube from an ink tank disposed at a location away from the carriage to a print head on the carriage. The ink feeding tube is disposed in the printing apparatus in a state of being strongly bent, for example, in a U shape, and the bent shape changes as the carriage travels.

JP 2001-221974 A (for example, FIG. 1, paragraph 0037)

  The ink feeding tube gradually fatigues and deteriorates as the change in the bent shape is repeated many times as the carriage travels.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to predict the degree of deterioration of an ink feeding tube.
Another object of the present invention is to enable the user to be notified of the degree of deterioration of the ink feeding tube.

  According to the present invention, a printing apparatus configured to feed ink from an ink tank to a print head on a carriage with a flexible tube includes a measuring unit that measures the travel amount of the carriage, and the measured travel amount is predetermined. Determination means for determining whether or not the above condition is satisfied, and display means for outputting a display relating to the state of the tube in response to the determination means.

  According to this printing apparatus, the travel amount of the carriage is measured, and when the travel amount satisfies a predetermined condition, a display regarding the state of the tube is performed. Thereby, the degree of deterioration of the tube can be predicted and notified to the user.

  The printing apparatus may further include a lock control unit that controls whether or not the carriage is locked so as not to travel in response to the determination unit. Thereby, not only the deterioration degree of the tube is displayed, but also the carriage is automatically locked in accordance with the deterioration degree, and the breakage of the tube can be prevented automatically.

  Even when the carriage is locked due to the deterioration of the tube, it is preferable that the lock control means perform the lock operation at the time of power-on or standby, not during printing. As a result, there is no problem that printing is terminated halfway due to the carriage being locked.

  The measuring unit may measure a traveling amount by traveling for printing, except for traveling for ink maintenance, during traveling of the carriage. Travel for printing is high speed and travel distance is often long, which has a great influence on tube deterioration. On the other hand, traveling for ink maintenance is often at a low speed, and the number of times is much less, so the influence on the deterioration of the tube is small. Therefore, the latter is ignored, and a practical result can be obtained with a simple process by measuring the travel amount while paying attention only to the former.

  As the traveling for printing described above, at least traveling for pass printing can be considered. In addition, driving for logical seeks can be taken into account.

  In a preferred embodiment, the traveling number of the carriage is counted as the traveling amount, and it is determined whether or not the counted traveling number has reached a predetermined threshold number. As a modification, the travel distance may be measured together with or instead of the travel count.

  In the preferred embodiment, as the number of times of travel, the travel for ink maintenance is ignored, and only the travel for printing, that is, the number of travels for pass printing and logical seek is counted. However, regarding the logical seek, the super logical seek is regarded as a part of the pass printing, and only the number of times of the logical seek in a narrow sense other than the super logical seek is counted in addition to the pass printing. Then, the degree of deterioration of the tube is determined based on the total number of passes of the pass printing and the logical seek in a narrow sense.

  Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, a method for monitoring deterioration of a tube includes a step of measuring a traveling amount of a carriage, and a step of determining whether or not the measured traveling amount satisfies a predetermined condition. And outputting a display relating to the state of the tube according to the determination result.

  According to the present invention, the degree of deterioration of the ink feeding tube can be predicted, and the degree of deterioration of the tube can be notified to the user.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration related to an ink feeding tube in a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a carriage 12 is provided in a housing (not shown) of the printing apparatus 10, and one or a plurality of ink tanks 14 and a controller 18 are arranged at fixed positions apart from the carriage 12. Is done. The carriage 12 can travel in a reciprocating direction indicated by an arrow by power from a carriage motor (not shown). A print head (not shown) is mounted on the carriage 12. The print head on the carriage 12 is connected to an ink tank 14 via one or a plurality of flexible ink feeding tubes (hereinafter abbreviated as ink tubes) 16, and also sends electrical signals to a controller 18. It is connected via a flexible flat cable (FFC) 20 for transmission. An ink sub-tank for temporarily storing ink to be supplied to the print head may be mounted on the carriage 12, and in this case, the print head passes through the ink sub-tank through the ink tube. 16 is connected.

  The ink tube 16 and the FFC 20 are attached to each other, and are disposed in the housing of the printing apparatus 10 in a state of being strongly bent, for example, in a U shape as illustrated. When the carriage 12 travels, the bent shape of the ink tube 16 and the FFC 20 changes. The ink tube 16 is thicker than the FFC 20 because the ink needs to flow therein, and gradually deteriorates with fatigue as the bending shape is repeatedly changed.

  There are various types of traveling of the carriage 12, and broadly classified as traveling for pass printing, traveling for logical seek, and traveling for maintenance of the ink system. Here, pass printing refers to an operation in which the carriage 12 travels simultaneously while ejecting ink droplets continuously from the print head. The logical seek is a process in which a plurality of pass printings are continuously performed, and the carriage 12 does not eject ink from the print head from a position immediately after the end of the previous pass printing to a position immediately before the start of the next pass printing. Refers to the action of running. There are two types of logical seeks: a logical seek in a narrow sense and a super logical seek. The logical seek in a narrow sense is an operation in which the carriage 12 temporarily stops immediately after the end of the previous pass printing, and then the carriage 12 starts running again to reach the position immediately before the start of the next pass printing. Carriage return in the case of performing unidirectional printing (a printing method in which pass printing is performed only by one-way travel of the carriage) is also a kind of this logical seek in the narrow sense. On the other hand, the super logical seek is an operation in which the carriage does not stop immediately after the end of the previous pass printing, and continues to travel in the same direction as it is to the position immediately before the start of the next pass printing. The travel for pass printing and the travel for logical seek can be collectively referred to as “travel for printing”.

  In addition to traveling for printing, as described above, there is traveling for ink system maintenance (hereinafter referred to as ink maintenance). Ink system maintenance refers to various operations or operations for maintaining the normal state of ink and the print head. For example, flushing (e.g., discharging ink from the print head to eliminate clogging of the ink nozzles). Disposal), head cleaning (operation to remove dirt on the print head), capping (operation to cover the front of the print head with a cap to prevent ink drying), ink suction (ink nozzles from the outside of the front of the print head) For example). Ink maintenance is performed at the home position or other predetermined position, and the operation of moving the carriage 12 to that position is traveling for ink maintenance.

  Of the various types of carriage travel described above, travel with a travel speed that is higher than a certain level and a travel distance that is longer than a certain level affects the deterioration of the ink tube 16. On the other hand, traveling with a traveling speed slower than a certain degree or traveling with a traveling distance shorter than a certain degree has little influence on the deterioration of the ink tube 16. From this point of view, the above-described travel for printing is often performed at a high speed and has a long travel distance, and thus can be regarded as travel that affects the deterioration of the ink tube 16. The running for the maintenance has a high running speed and the frequency at which the running is performed is very low. Therefore, it can be ignored in terms of the influence on the deterioration of the ink tube 16.

  The controller 18 has a function of controlling various operations performed by the printing apparatus 10 such as printing, ink maintenance, and the like. As one of the control functions, the controller 18 measures the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 and notifies the user. There is a function of performing a control (hereinafter referred to as “tube maintenance”) such as warning or locking the carriage 12 and making it impossible to travel thereafter. In the tube maintenance process, the controller 18 counts the number of times the carriage 12 has traveled for printing, and determines the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 based on the count value. In this embodiment, running for ink maintenance is ignored in the tube maintenance process for the reasons described above, but this is not necessarily the case and may be taken into account. However, ignoring the travel for ink maintenance simplifies the tube maintenance process by that amount, and a practical control result can be obtained even if ignored. In this embodiment, the number of travels is counted and the travel distance is not measured. However, as a modification, the travel distance is measured together with or instead of the number of travels, and the deterioration of the ink tube 16 is based on this. You may make it judge the degree of.

  Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the controller 18 will be described in more detail.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the controller 18.

  The controller 18 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer and an electronic circuit. As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 18 is roughly divided into a high-order control unit 50 and engine control units 52, 54, and 56 in terms of its functions. The engine control units 52, 54, and 56 are the print engine 34 of the printing apparatus 10 (which is a part that is mechanically moved to perform printing, and includes, for example, the print head 36, the carriage motor 38, and the paper feed mechanism 40). A function or circuit for driving and controlling. The host control unit 50 is connected to the host device 100 such as an external personal computer or a digital camera, the console 32 of the printing device 10, and the like, and responds to instruction signals 80 and 90 from the host device 100 and the console 32. It has a function of controlling the control units 52, 54, and 56. The host controller 50 receives various types of error information from the engine controllers 52, 54, and 56, displays the error information on the console 32, transmits the error information to the host device 100, or responds to the error information. Thus, it has a function of error control 58 such as stopping a predetermined function or operation of the printing apparatus 10.

  The engine control units 52, 54, and 56 can be divided into a print control unit 52, an ink system control unit 54, and a mechanism control unit 56 in terms of their functions. In response to the command signal 82 relating to printing from the host control unit 50, the print control unit 52 controls the operations of the print head 36 and the carriage 12 of the print engine 34 for printing, for example, the pass print control 60 and the logical seek. (Logical seek and superlogical seek in the narrow sense described above) Control 62 is performed. The print control unit 52 also performs the above-described tube maintenance 64 process. In the tube maintenance 64, in response to the pass printing control 60 and the logical seek control 62, the number of times of carriage travel for the pass printing and the logical seek is counted, and the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 is determined based on the count value. Is done. In the tube maintenance 64, when it is determined that the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 is higher than a predetermined level, error information 96 corresponding to the degree of deterioration (for example, tube maintenance near-end indicating that the life of the ink tube 16 is near) Information and tube maintenance error information indicating that the life of the ink tube 16 has come to be transmitted) from the print control unit 52 to the host control unit 50. The operation according to the error information 96 is executed by the error control 58 of the host controller 50. For example, in response to the tube maintenance near-end information, a display to that effect is output to the console 32 or the boss device 100, or the carriage 12 is disabled in response to the tube maintenance error information. This is performed by error control 58 of the host control unit 50.

  In addition, the ink system control unit 54 controls the operation of the print engine 34 for ink maintenance, for example, head cleaning control 66, flushing control, in response to the command signals 84 and 92 relating to ink maintenance from the host control unit 50. 68 and capping control 70 are performed. Further, the mechanism control unit 56 responds to the command signals 86 and 94 relating to the paper operation from the upper control unit 50, and controls the paper operation of the print engine 34, for example, the paper feed control 72, the paper discharge control 74, and the pass printing. Intermediary paper feed control 76 is performed. In this embodiment, the ink system control unit 54 and the mechanism control unit 56 are not particularly involved in tube maintenance, but are not necessarily so. As a modified example, for example, the ink system control unit 54 may be an ink controller. The number of carriage travels for maintenance may be counted, and the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 caused by the count may be determined.

  Hereinafter, the processing of the tube maintenance 64 of the print control unit 52 will be specifically described.

  FIG. 3 shows a process flow for measuring the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 in the process of the tube maintenance 64.

  As shown in FIG. 3, this routine is started before the carriage 12 starts to be driven each time the carriage 12 is to be driven, and in step S1, the carriage 12 travels as described above. It is determined whether it is “travel” (that is, travel for pass printing or logical seek). As a result, when it is determined that the printing travel is performed, in step S2, the tube maintenance counter that is the total count value of the number of carriage travels stored in the controller 18 is incremented by one. More specifically, the tube maintenance counter is incremented by 1 each time it is determined that the travel for pass printing is performed once. In addition, each time it is determined that traveling for a logical seek in a narrow sense is performed once, the tube maintenance counter is incremented by one. However, if it is determined that traveling for superlogical seek is performed, the tube maintenance counter is not incremented. This is because the super logical seek is regarded as a part of the pass printing run immediately before.

  By such control, the tube maintenance counter counts the total number of runs for printing executed from the first use time point of the printing apparatus 10 to the present time (in other words, carriage running that affects the deterioration of the ink tube 16). Will show the number of times.

  FIG. 4 shows a flow of processing for evaluating the degree of deterioration of the ink tube 16 in the processing of the tube maintenance 64. This process involves not only the tube maintenance 64 but also the error control 58 of the host controller 50.

  As shown in FIG. 4, this routine is executed in the initial processing when the power of the printing apparatus 10 is turned on, but this is not necessarily the case. As a modification, for example, at a different timing, for example, a print job May be executed in response to the start, end, or other event. In steps S1 and S2, it is determined whether or not the number of travels indicated by the tube maintenance counter is greater than or equal to a predetermined first threshold value (for example, 1 million times) or a second threshold value (for example, 972,222 times). The Here, the first threshold value (for example, 1 million times) is the number of times that the carriage travels more (in other words, if the ink tube 16 deteriorates further), the ink tube 16 may be damaged. The second threshold value (for example, 972,222) is a number value slightly smaller than the upper limit value, and is for notifying that the number of times the carriage has traveled will reach the first threshold value in the near future. belongs to.

  If the tube maintenance counter is less than the second threshold value as a result of steps S1 and S2, no information regarding the deterioration of the ink tube 16 is notified to the user. However, when the tube maintenance counter increases and becomes equal to or greater than the second threshold, the tube maintenance near-end information described above is transmitted from the tube maintenance 64 to the error control 58. In step S15, the error control 58 causes the tube maintenance near-end. A display (a warning display indicating that the ink tube 16 is near the end of its life) is output to the console 32 or the host device 100.

  Further, when the tube maintenance counter further increases and becomes equal to or greater than the first threshold value, the above-described tube maintenance error information is transmitted from the tube maintenance 64 to the error control 58, and in step S13, the error control 58 performs the carriage 12 Is locked in a state in which the vehicle cannot travel thereafter. In addition, in step S14, the tube maintenance error display (error display indicating that the ink tube 16 has reached the end of life) is displayed on the console 32 or the host device 100 by the error control 58. Is output.

  Incidentally, in the present embodiment, the control shown in FIG. 4 is performed when the power is turned on. Therefore, the carriage 12 is not locked in step S13 during printing. However, as a modification, the same control as in FIG. 4 can be performed at times other than when the power is turned on, for example, even during printing. In that case, it is desirable to perform only the locking operation of the carriage 12 in step S13 when printing is not performed, for example, when the power is turned on, after printing is completed, immediately before printing is started, or at other standby times.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this embodiment is only the illustration for description of this invention, and is not the meaning which limits the scope of the present invention only to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in various other modes without departing from the gist thereof.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration relating to an ink feeding tube in the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a controller 18 of the printing apparatus. 6 is a flowchart of processing for measuring the degree of deterioration of the ink tube. 5 is a flowchart of processing for evaluating the degree of deterioration of the ink tube.

Explanation of symbols

  10 printing device, 12 carriage, 14 ink tank, 16 ink tube, 18 controller, 64 tube maintenance, 58 error control

Claims (9)

In a printing apparatus that feeds ink from an ink tank to a print head on a carriage with a flexible tube,
Measuring means for measuring the travel amount of the carriage;
Determination means for determining whether or not the measured travel amount satisfies a predetermined condition;
A printing apparatus comprising: display means for outputting a display relating to the state of the tube in response to the determination means. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a lock control unit that controls whether or not the carriage is locked so as not to travel in response to the determination unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lock control unit performs an operation of locking the carriage when the printing apparatus is turned on or in standby. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit measures a traveling amount by traveling for printing, excluding traveling for ink maintenance, during traveling of the carriage. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the traveling for printing includes traveling for pass printing. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the traveling for printing further includes traveling for logical seek. The measuring means counts the number of times the carriage has traveled as the travel amount,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not the counted number of travels has reached a predetermined threshold number. The said measurement means counts the frequency | count of driving | running | working for the pass printing of the said carriage and the frequency | count of driving | running | working by the logical seek of a narrow sense except a super logical seek among logical seeks as the said frequency | count of a driving | running. Printing device. In a method of monitoring degradation of a tube for a printing apparatus adapted to feed ink from an ink tank to a print head on a carriage by a flexible tube,
Measuring the travel amount of the carriage;
Determining whether the measured travel amount satisfies a predetermined condition;
A method of monitoring deterioration of the ink tube, comprising: outputting a display relating to the state of the tube according to a determination result.

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