JP2007118436A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid contact of a loop of a flexible cable with a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A pinch roller holder provided with a guide rib on its upper face is arranged below the loop of the flexible cable. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and further relates to a cable for transmitting an electrical signal, power, and the like for ejecting ink to a recording head mounted on a carriage.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called serial recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording medium while mounting a recording head on a carriage and moving the carriage often uses a flexible cable as means for transmitting a signal or the like from the recording apparatus main body to the recording head. The flexible cable has a thin film shape and is flexible so as to bend as the carriage moves.

  A recording head is mounted on the carriage, and the carriage is slidably fitted to the guide shaft. The carriage moves left and right along the guide shaft via a driving member such as a belt driven by a driving source such as a CR motor. Move back and forth. One end of the flexible cable is fixed to the carriage, and is electrically connected to the recording head. The other end of the flexible cable is fixed to a frame of a frame that holds a guide shaft and a drive source, and is connected to a control board of the recording apparatus main body. A loop is formed between the fixed portion of the carriage of the flexible cable and the fixed portion of the frame, and signals and the like are transmitted while changing the size of the loop as the carriage reciprocates.

Some flexible cables connected to the recording means are configured to be routed above the carriage to reduce the size of the apparatus itself. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
Furthermore, if the flexible cable is arranged in the carriage movement space, that is, the upper side where the recording medium is conveyed and records an image, the recording apparatus main body can be further miniaturized.
JP 2000-272194 A

  In such a conventional example, the size of the flexible cable loop changes as the carriage reciprocates. However, when the flexible cable loop becomes large, the following problems occur.

  Although a flexible cable has some waist strength, when the loop becomes large, a phenomenon occurs in which the flexible cable hangs down due to the weight of the flexible cable itself. When this state is reached, the flexible cable may come into contact with the recorded recording medium, and those recorded by inkjet are difficult to dry, so that the recorded image may be soiled. In addition, there is a possibility that a conveyance failure occurs due to a conveyance load of the recording medium.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the prior art and provide a recording apparatus that maintains the quality of a recorded image.

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by moving a carriage mounted with a recording head along a guide member.
A flexible cable that transmits signals to the recording head and deforms as the carriage moves forms a loop between the fixed portion of the carriage and the fixed portion of the recording apparatus main body, and is routed above the carriage. In addition, the flexible cable is configured to be disposed on the carriage movement space, that is, on the upper side where the recording medium is conveyed and the image is recorded,
Further, the pinch roller holder is configured to support a pinch roller facing the conveying roller for conveying the recording medium, and a guide rib is provided in the scanning direction of the upper surface. The guide rib of the pinch roller holder is A recording apparatus, wherein the flexible cable is arranged to be guided so as to avoid contact with the recording medium.

  According to the above means, in the recording apparatus, since the flexible cable is guided by the guide rib on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder, the conveyance accuracy of the recording medium and the quality of the recording image are maintained without contacting the recording image portion of the recording medium. However, the recording apparatus can be provided in a simple and inexpensive form.

  In addition, since the rib shape of the stable pinch roller holder is guided on the surface where the flexible cable contacts and rubs as the carriage reciprocates, the stress caused by the contact friction of the flexible cable can be reduced. Since the durability of the flexible cable that is not damaged can be increased, a recording apparatus that improves the reliability of the apparatus can be provided.

Example 1
Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 1, a recording head cartridge 1 is mounted on a carriage 2, and a signal or the like is transmitted from a flexible cable 3 to the recording head cartridge 1.

  One end of the flexible cable 3 is fixed to the carriage 2 and is electrically connected to the recording head cartridge 1. The other end of the flexible cable 3 is fixed to the frame 4 of the frame and is connected to the control board 8 of the recording apparatus main body. The flexible cable 3 has a thin film shape and is flexible so that it bends as the carriage 2 moves. The recording head cartridge 1 is configured integrally with a recording head and an ink tank that stores ink, and is detachable from the carriage 2. The ink tank may be a replaceable ink tank that is detachable from the recording head.

  The carriage 2 is slidably fitted to the guide shaft 5 and reciprocates left and right along the guide shaft 5 by a belt 7 driven by a CR motor 6. Since the carriage 2 is supported by the guide shaft 5, the distance between the nozzle for ejecting the ink of the recording head cartridge 1 to the recording medium 13 and the surface of the recording medium 13 is kept substantially constant.

  The flexible cable 3 having one end fixed to the carriage 2 is pulled out to the upper side of the carriage 2 and is disposed along a longitudinal surface substantially parallel to the recording medium conveyance path, and loops along the movement of the carriage 2 on this surface. Form. As the carriage 2 reciprocates, signals and the like are transmitted while changing the size of the loop. Furthermore, in order to further reduce the size of the recording apparatus main body, the flexible cable 3 is disposed in the carriage 2 movement space, that is, the upper side where the recording medium 13 is conveyed and the image is recorded.

  Next, the recording medium 13 is fed by a sheet feeding device (not shown), and the front edge of the recording medium 13 is engaged with the conveying roller 9 and the pinch that are rotatably supported at positions facing each other. A roller 10 is provided.

  The transport roller 9 is supported by a bearing 11 (not shown) formed on both side walls of the frame 4, and an LF gear is attached to one end, and is rotated by an LF motor 14 via the LF gear 12. Driven. The pinch roller 10 is attached to a pinch roller holder 15 that pivotally supports the pinch roller 10 on one end side and is rotatably supported between both side walls of the frame 4 on the other end side. The pinch roller holder 15 is urged to rotate, whereby the pinch roller 10 is pressed against the transport roller 9. The recording medium 13 is conveyed by the rotation of the conveying roller 9, and a platen 16 is provided below the path downstream of the conveying roller 9 at a position facing the ejection port forming surface of the recording head cartridge 1 on the carriage 2 that is reciprocated. The discharge port forming surface of the recording head cartridge 1 is configured to be parallel to the recording surface of the recording medium 13 conveyed on the platen 16.

  Further, as will be described in detail later, a guide rib 17 is provided on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder 10 in the scanning direction of the carriage.

  Each of the above-described components is all controlled by a control device (not shown), and a recording medium (such as paper) conveying operation and an image recording (printing) operation are performed under the control of the control device.

  Next, FIG. 2 shows a side view of an essential part of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

  The flexible cable 3 indicated by a broken line described in FIG. 1 is arranged above the guide rib 17 on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder 10 in the arrangement viewed from the side.

  FIG. 3 is a front view showing a loop state of the flexible cable 3 of the recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

  In FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C, the carriage 2 is positioned at the right end, the center, and the left end, respectively.

  At this time, if the carriage 2 shown in FIG. 3B is located substantially at the center, the flexible cable 3 hangs down due to its own weight and approaches the recording medium 13. However, like the flexible cable 3 indicated by the broken line in FIG. 2, it is guided by the guide rib 17 on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder 10, and contact with the recording medium 13 can be avoided.

  Further, when the carriage 2 moves along the guide shaft 5, the flexible cable 3 is guided and smoothly guided by the upper surface of the guide rib 17 of the pinch roller holder 10, so that the stress applied to the flexible cable 3 can be reduced.

  The shape of the guide rib 17 on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder 10 is not limited to the shape shown in the drawing of this embodiment, and an optimum shape can be applied according to each device. Of course, the guide rib 17 may be provided not only in the entire area of the pinch roller holder 10 but in the vicinity where the flexible cable 3 approaches.

  The recording head cartridge 1 of this embodiment is integrated with the recording head. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, even a so-called permanent recording head in which the recording head is not replaceable is replaceable. If a recording material housing member such as an ink tank is used, the same operation as in this embodiment can be performed, and an equivalent effect can be obtained. In this embodiment, the ink jet recording apparatus has been described as an example, but the present invention can be applied to various recording apparatuses such as a thermal transfer system.

(Example 2)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 4, the pinch roller holder A <b> 18 has a shape that corresponds to each of the plurality of pinch rollers 10 and is divided and independent. A guide rib A19 is provided on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder A18. And it is the structure by which R shape is provided in the edge part of guide rib A19.

  When the carriage 2 is positioned substantially at the center, the flexible cable 3 hangs down due to its own weight and approaches the recording medium 13. However, the flexible cable 3 is guided by the guide rib A19 on the upper surface of the pinch roller holder A18, and contact with the recording medium 13 can be avoided.

  In addition, when the carriage 2 moves along the guide shaft 5, the flexible cables 3 are guided and smoothly guided by the upper surfaces of the guide ribs A19 of the pinch roller holder A18, respectively, and further, the guide ribs A19 of the pinch roller holder A18, respectively. Since the end is provided with an R shape, the flexible cable 3 is not caught by the joint with the pinch roller holder A18, and the stress applied to the flexible cable 3 can be reduced.

1 is a perspective view of a main part of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. 1 is a side view of a main part of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The front view which showed the loop state of the flexible cable of the recording device to which this invention is applied. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part of a recording apparatus according to a second embodiment to which the invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording head cartridge 2 Carriage 3 Flexible cable 4 Frame 5 Guide shaft 6 CR motor 7 Belt 8 Control board 9 Conveyance roller 10 Pinch roller 11 Bearing 12 LF gear 13 Recording medium 14 LF motor 15 Pinch roller holder 16 Platen 17 Guide rib 18 Pinch roller Holder A
19 Guide rib A

Claims (3)

In a recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by moving a carriage mounted with recording means along a guide member,
A flexible cable that transmits at least a signal to the recording means and deforms as the carriage moves forms a loop between the fixed portion of the carriage and the fixed portion of the recording apparatus main body, and The flexible cable is arranged in the carriage movement space, that is, on the upper side where the recording medium is conveyed and records an image, while being routed upward.
Furthermore, it is composed of a pinch roller holder that pivotally supports a pinch roller facing a conveying roller for conveying the recording medium and is provided with a guide rib in the scanning direction of the upper surface,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide rib of the pinch roller holder is arranged so that the flexible cable is guided so as to avoid contact with the recording medium. The recording apparatus according to claim 1,
A recording apparatus comprising: a plurality of independent pinch roller holders provided with guide ribs in the scanning direction of the upper surface. The recording apparatus according to claim 2,
A recording apparatus comprising: a plurality of independent pinch roller holders having R-shaped upper end guide rib ends.

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