JP6939114B2 - Liquid discharge device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a liquid discharge device.

In recent years, due to the miniaturization of notebook computers and the rapid spread of smart devices, there is a strong demand for printers to be miniaturized and portable.
Mobile printers (handheld printers) have been commercialized as portable printers, and most of them have a built-in battery so that they can be carried around and can print while transporting the objects to be transported little by little. In addition, a handy mobile printer that manually scans the printer freehand is also known.

Conventional inkjet serial printers include a tray for setting an object to be transported, a device for transporting the object to be transported, a head scanning device for scanning the head on the object to be transported, and an ink supply device for supplying ink to the head. , Had a maintenance device to clear the head nozzle clogging. However, since the handy mobile printer does not have these components and can print on the transported object by freehand scanning, it has both the convenience of mobility and the ability of the printer to handle the transported object.

However, in the conventional inkjet type handy mobile printer, it is necessary to replace parts in order to change the movement amount of the handy mobile printer at the time of line feed operation, and it is not easy to change the movement amount.

The recording device of Patent Document 1 includes a first guide means for guiding the movement of the printer body in the recording direction and a printer in a direction perpendicular to the recording direction in order to improve the operability of the inkjet handy mobile printer. It is provided with a second guide means for guiding the movement of the main body and a switching means for switching between the first guide means and the second guide means.

However, since the amount of movement of the printer body by the second guide means required for line breaks is determined by the amount of rotation of the second guide means, it is fixed and it is not easy to change the amount of movement of the printer body.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to facilitate the change of the moving amount at the time of line feed operation of the handy mobile type liquid discharge device and to improve the operability of the liquid discharge device.

This task involves a liquid discharge head having a liquid discharge port for discharging liquid, a guide member for guiding a line feed operation in which the operator moves the device main body in a line feed direction orthogonal to the printing direction, and a moving amount of the guide member. comprising a moving amount changing means for changing, wherein the guide member during printing is in a position away from the recording medium, at the time of line feed operation, the operator tilts the device main body an angle only, the lower end portion of the guide member The handy mobile is characterized in that the device main body is moved by a predetermined amount by further tilting the device main body in a state where the lower end portion of the guide member is grounded to the recording medium and moving the device main body in the line feed direction. It is solved by a type liquid discharge device.

The movement amount changing means for changing the movement amount of the guide member for moving the apparatus main body by a predetermined amount facilitates the change of the movement amount at the time of the line feed operation of the liquid discharge device. At the time of line feed operation, the operator moves the device body in the line feed direction with the lower end of the guide member grounded to the recording medium , so that the device body moves by a predetermined amount, so that the operability of the liquid discharge device is improved. ..

It is a schematic perspective view of the handy mobile type inkjet printer which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic bottom view of the printer 1. It is a schematic rear perspective view of the printer 1. It is a schematic side sectional view of printer 1. FIG. It is a functional block diagram of a printer 1. It is a schematic plan view which shows the line feed operation by a guide member. It is a schematic rear perspective view of the printer 1 provided with the guide member which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic side sectional view of the printer 1. It is the schematic which shows the line feed operation of the printer 1 provided with the guide member which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic cross-sectional view which shows the shape of the hinge part of a guide member.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a handy mobile inkjet printer (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a “printer”) according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of the printer 1.
The printer 1 as a liquid discharge device is composed of a lower unit 3 and an upper unit 2 that can be attached to and detached from the lower unit, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The operator can print by grasping the printer 1 by hand and scanning on the object to be transported. A right-handed operator holds the printer 1 with his right hand so that the curved portion 22 at the rear of the printer 1 fits in the palm of his hand, presses the power button 14 with his index finger, and presses the switching button 15 with his middle finger. The front surface 24 of the printer 1 located on the opposite side of the curved portion 22 has a flat shape (FIG. 3).

A main control unit 50 (FIG. 5) for controlling printing on the object to be transported is mounted in the upper unit 2. On the upper surface of the upper unit 2, a power button 14 of the printer 1 and a switching button 15 for switching ON / OFF of ink ejection are arranged. Not only can the power button 14 be pressed and held to switch the power ON / OFF, but also the power button 14 can be pressed briefly to print in the right and left directions (printing in both directions) and to print in the right or left direction (one direction). It also has a mode switching function that allows you to select (printing). The switching button 15 allows the operator to operate the ink ejection timing from the liquid ejection head 39 and the like. Further, a USB connection port 6 is arranged on the side surface of the upper unit 2, and a desired image can be printed by inserting the USB holding the image data into the USB connection port 6.

A liquid discharge head 39 is mounted in the lower unit 3, and the liquid discharge head 39 has a plurality of row-shaped liquid discharge ports 38 for discharging liquid toward an object to be transported located below the bottom surface 13. Has (Fig. 2). Further, an ink cartridge storage portion is provided in the lower unit 3, and the upper unit 2 is removed from the lower unit 3 to replace the ink cartridge. Further, a guide roller 4 provided on a shaft parallel to the row-shaped liquid discharge port 38 is provided on the bottom surface 13 facing the object to be transported (FIG. 2), and the guide roller 4 rotates during the printing operation. Therefore, the printer 1 can be made to go straight in the printing direction X, which is the lateral direction of the printer body. When the operator scans the printer 1 on the object to be transported, the bottom surface 13 does not contact the object to be transported, and only the guide roller 4 contacts the object to be transported. Therefore, the contact between the object to be transported and the printer 1 Is kept to a minimum, the distance from the liquid discharge head 39 to the object to be transported is kept constant, and a desired high-quality image is printed.

The printer 1 may have a plurality of coordinate detection sensors arranged so as to sandwich the liquid discharge head 39 on the bottom surface 13 of the printer 1 to detect the position of the printer itself, but the printer 1 is not provided with the coordinate detection sensors. 1 can be manufactured at low cost.

FIG. 3 is a schematic rear perspective view of the printer 1, and FIG. 4 is a schematic side sectional view of the printer 1. In FIG. 4, the guide roller 4 in contact with the object to be transported P is not shown.
The lower unit 3 is provided with a guide member 7 for guiding the line feed operation of the printer 1 by the operator. The guide member 7 guides the operator to perform a line feed operation in the line feed direction Y orthogonal to the print direction X. As shown in FIG. 4, the guide member 7 includes a flat plate-shaped main body 25, legs 21 extending downward from the lower surface 19 of the main body 25, and a stopper extending upward from the rear of the upper surface of the main body 25 and movable in the line feed direction Y. It has a part 18. Here, the portion of the main body 25 protruding from the front surface of the lower unit 3 forms the pressing portion 16. Further, a spring 10, which is an urging means for urging the guide member 7 upward, is fixed to the lower surface 19 of the guide member 7, and the upper surface of the guide member 7 is printed in the lower unit 3 in the printing direction X (by the urging force). It is pressed against the abutting portion 8 provided in the vertical direction of the paper surface). Therefore, as shown in the drawing, the lower end portion 17 of the leg portion 21 of the guide member 7 is located at a position away from the printing surface during the printing operation. On the other hand, when the operator presses the pressing portion 16 of the guide member 7 downward, the guide member 7 moves downward against the urging force of the spring 10, and the lower end portion 17 of the leg portion 21 comes into contact with the object to be transported. ..

A spring 9 for urging the guide member 7 rearward is arranged at the rear end portion 20 of the guide member 7, and the leg portion 21 is pressed against the front surface of the lower unit 3 by the urging force. At the time of the line feed operation described later, the stopper portion 18 extending upward from the rear end portion 20 hits the abutting portion 8 and the movement of the printer 1 is stopped. In FIG. 4, the guide member 7 is in the initial position, and the distance A between the abutting portion 8 and the stopper portion 18 is equal to the length (1 head length) of the liquid discharge head 39 in the line feed direction Y. Therefore, the liquid discharge head 39 can be moved to the target position by one line feed operation, so that the line feed operation is simplified.

The stopper portion 18 is a movement amount changing means for changing the movement amount of the guide member 7, and is configured to be movable in the line feed direction Y. Therefore, for example, by moving and fixing the stopper portion 18, the distance A initially set to correspond to one head length can be easily set to, for example, 0.5 head length.
Here, instead of or in addition to making the stopper portion 18 movable, the abutting portion 8 may be made movable in the line feed direction Y as a movement amount changing means for changing the movement amount of the guide member 7. This also makes it possible to easily change the distance A, which is the amount of movement of the printer 1.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the printer 1.
The main control unit 50 includes a CPU 51 that controls each arithmetic processing / control, a HostI / F52 that is an input IF for control between a PC / smartphone and an image or an operation command, and a RAM 53 used as an execution memory for each arithmetic processing and each image processing. ROM 54 that stores the firmware that controls the hardware of the printer, the drive waveform data of the liquid discharge head (inkprint head) 39, data processing for driving the liquid discharge head 39, and a head control unit that generates the drive waveform. It has 60 etc.

The printer 1 has a battery 75 as a power source, and is charged from the maintenance kit 76. Batteries are rechargeable, and maintenance kits simply charge, such as AC adapters and USB power adapters.
When the printer 1 is turned on by turning on the power button 14, power is supplied to each module, the CPU 51 starts a startup operation from the program stored in the ROM 54, and expands the program and each data into the RAM 53.

When the coordinate detection sensor is provided, in addition to these, the main control unit 50 has a position calculation circuit that calculates the nozzle position information of the liquid discharge head 39 based on the information of the position detection sensor that detects the position information of the printer 1. , Position information I / F for inputting a detection signal from each coordinate detection sensor, and the like may be provided. The coordinate detection sensor is a means for detecting the relative position of the printer 1, and is equipped with a plurality of optical sensors used for a mouse, a small camera module, and the like, and can also detect the rotation position of the printer itself. As a position detection method using this coordinate detection sensor, the position of the printer is obtained by storing the original formed image data in the memory in advance, scanning the image formed by the camera module, and matching the original data with the scan data. There are a method of recovering even if the absolute position is lost and a method of detecting the absolute position using GPS, and these methods are used to realize the position detection without losing the absolute position. For details of the handy mobile printer having the coordinate detection sensor, refer to Patent Document 2.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing a line feed operation by the guide member.
A spring 9 is connected to both ends of the guide member 7 in the width direction in the longitudinal direction (line feed direction Y) of the printer 1, and the spring 9 which is an elastic body gives the guide member 7 an urging force toward the printer body. ing. When a right-handed operator prints with the printer 1, the operator grasps the printer 1 with his right hand, places it at a desired position of the object to be transported P (in this example, the upper left corner of the object to be transported), and prints in the printing direction X. The printer 1 is moved straight to the right to print the first line (FIG. 6 (i)). When the printing of the first line is completed, as a line feed operation, the operator pushes down the holding portion 16 of the guide member 7 vertically downward against the urging force of the spring 10 (FIG. 4) with the left hand, and the lower end portion of the guide member 7. 17 is grounded to the object to be transported P (FIG. 6 (ii)).

Next, with the lower end 17 of the guide member 7 grounded to the object to be transported P, the printer 1 is moved with the right hand in the line feed direction Y until the stopper 18 of the guide member 7 and the abutting portion 8 (FIG. 4) abut. Move only A, and when the movement is completed, release the left hand from the guide member 7 (FIG. 6 (iii)). At this time, since the printer 1 is moved by the guide member 7 by a predetermined amount (distance A) in the line feed direction, the operability of the printer 1 is remarkably improved. Further, due to the urging force of the spring 9 and the spring 10, the guide member 7 automatically returns to the initial position (FIG. 6 (iv), FIG. 3, FIG. 4) after the printer 1 is moved. No manual operation is required to return to the position, and printing of the second line can be started immediately from the target position.

Since the second line is printed in the opposite direction to the first line, that is, from right to left, it is not necessary to lift the printer 1 and separate it from the object to be transported P. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary impact from being applied to the liquid discharge head 39 when the printer 1 lands on the object to be transported P.

FIG. 7 is a schematic rear perspective view of the printer 1 provided with the guide member according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a schematic side sectional view of the printer 1.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 8, the guide member 7 has an L-shaped base portion 27, a leg portion 28 provided on the front surface of the base portion 27, and a hinge portion 11 provided on the upper portion of the base portion 27. And can rotate around the hinge portion 11. A spring 9, which is an elastic body for urging the guide member 7 rearward, is connected to the rear end portion 20 of the guide member 7, and the leg portion 28 is pressed against the front surface of the lower unit 3 by the urging force. Further, an abutting portion 8 projecting forward is installed above the leg portion 28 and in front of the printer 1. The abutting portion 8 is a moving amount changing means for changing the moving amount of the guide member 7, and is configured to be movable in the vertical direction Z. Therefore, the movement amount of the printer 1 can be easily changed by moving the movement amount changing means. In the initial state of the printer 1 shown in FIG. 8, the lower end portion 29 of the leg portion 28 is not in contact with the object to be transported P.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a line feed operation of the printer 1 provided with the guide member according to the second embodiment. In FIGS. 8 and 9, the guide roller 4 in contact with the object to be transported P is not shown.
At the time of line feed operation, the operator tilts the printer 1 forward by an angle α with the corner 30 located below the front of the printer 1 as a fulcrum, and grounds the lower end 29 of the leg 28 of the guide member 7 to the object to be transported P. (Fig. 9 (i)). In the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 4, the operator needs to push down the pressing portion 16 of the guide member 7 from above with the other hand, but according to the present embodiment, the operator holds the printer 1 toward the front with one hand. Since the guide member 7 automatically contacts the object to be transported P just by tilting, it is not necessary to hold the guide member 7 with the other hand.

Next, until the abutting portion 8 on the front surface of the printer 1 hits the rotated guide member 7, the operator keeps the lower end portion 29 of the guide member 7 in contact with the object to be transported, and the printer 1 uses the lower end portion 29 as a fulcrum. The printer 1 is further tilted forward by an angle β and rotated while moving the corner portion 30 of the printer 1 to the rear (FIG. 9 (ii)). As a result, the corner portion 30 of the printer 1, that is, the printer main body, moves in the line feed direction Y by a predetermined amount from the position in FIG. 9 (i).

Finally, the operator rotates the printer 1 backward with the corner 30 of the printer 1 as a fulcrum, and returns the guide roller to the normal posture in which the guide roller touches the object P to be transported. In this way, the printer 1 is moved by the guide member 7 by a predetermined amount in the line feed direction Y, so that the operability of the printer 1 is remarkably improved. The predetermined amount / movement amount of the printer 1 is equal to the length (1 head length) of the liquid discharge head 39 in the line feed direction Y. Therefore, since the liquid discharge head 39 can be moved to the target position by one line feed operation, the line feed operation is simplified and the printing of the second line can be started from the target position. Further, since the guide member 7 automatically returns to the initial position by the urging force of the spring 9 after the printer 1 is moved, no manual operation for returning the guide member 7 to the initial position is required.

Since it is not necessary to lift the printer 1 and separate it from the object to be transported P as in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 4, an unnecessary impact is applied to the liquid discharge head 39 when the printer 1 lands on the object to be transported P. Can be prevented.

Further, the abutting portion 8 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction Z. Therefore, by moving the abutting portion 8 upward and fixing it away from the guide member 7, the amount of movement of the printer 1 initially set to correspond to one head length is reduced to, for example, 1.5 heads. It can be easily set to long. On the contrary, by moving the abutting portion 8 downward and fixing it close to the guide member 7, the amount of movement of the printer 1 initially set to correspond to one head length is reduced to, for example, 0. It can be easily set to 5 head lengths.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the leg portion 28 of the guide member 7 is positioned by an operator from above the printer 1 at a position orthogonal to the central axis of the liquid discharge port 38 of the liquid discharge head 39 mounted on the printer 1. A visible protrusion 12 is provided. Further, the abutting portion 8 is made of a transparent member so that the operator can visually recognize the protrusion 12 from above the printer 1. Alternatively, the abutting portion 8 may not have a flat shape as shown in FIG. 7, but may have a recess for viewing the protrusion 12 at the central portion overlapping the protrusion 12. Alternatively, the protrusion may be formed at the center of the upper surface of the abutting portion 8. A similar configuration with respect to protrusions, legs, and the like also applies to the printer 1 shown in FIG. In this way, the operator can print from the intended printing start position by aligning the protrusion 12 with the target printing start position in the X direction at the time of printing.

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the shape of the hinge portion of the guide member. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken at the position of the arrow in FIG. 7, and is a cross-sectional view of the hinge portion 11 on the left side as viewed from the front.
As shown, the upper unit 2 and the guide member 7 are attached to the convex portion of the lower unit 3. To embody, the convex portion 31 of the upper unit 2 is attached to the concave portion 32 of the lower unit 3 which is the base, and the fitting portion 34 of the guide member 7 is attached to the convex portion 33 of the lower unit 3 which is the base. In this way, since the rotation shafts of the upper unit 2 and the guide member 7 are coaxially (rotating shaft 35) attached to the lower unit 3 as the base, the upper unit 2 and the guide member 7 are attached to the lower unit 3. The units can be integrated in one place, and the printer 1 can be miniaturized. The upper unit 2 that functions as the upper cover can be opened by rotating around the rotating shaft 35 to open the inside of the lower unit 3, and the guide member 7 also rotates around the rotating shaft 35 until it hits the abutting portion 8. be able to.

Although the present invention has been described above by taking an inkjet handy mobile printer as an example, the structure of the printer of the present invention can be applied to an apparatus by another image forming method.

As described above, the handy mobile inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention can print on the transported object by freely operating on the transported object. The inkjet printer has a movement amount changing means for changing the movement amount of the guide member and the guide member, and these members can perform a line feed operation on the inkjet printer by a certain distance and easily change the movement amount of the inkjet printer. can do. Therefore, it is not necessary to replace the members in order to change the movement amount of the inkjet printer in the line feed operation.

As an image forming apparatus for printers, facsimiles, copiers, plotters, and multifunction devices having these functions, for example, a liquid ejection recording type image forming apparatus (inkjet recording apparatus) using a recording head for ejecting ink droplets (droplets). )It has been known. In such an inkjet recording device, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle of a recording head onto an object to be transported to form an image (recording, printing, printing, printing are synonymous with each other, and an image having a meaning such as characters or figures is produced. Including not only giving to a medium but also giving an image having no meaning such as a pattern to the medium (simply called droplet ejection or liquid ejection to land droplets on the medium), 2 Not only a dimensional image but also a three-dimensional image (three-dimensional image) is targeted). Further, the liquid discharge head (droplet discharge head) used as a recording head is a functional component that discharges and injects liquid from a nozzle, and a pressure plate is displaced by a piezoelectric actuator or the like to change the volume in the liquid chamber to apply pressure. Known are piezoelectric heads that raise and discharge droplets, and thermal heads that provide a heating element that generates heat when energized in the liquid chamber and increase the pressure in the liquid chamber by bubbles generated by the heating element to discharge droplets. There is.

In the present application, the material of the "object to be transported" is not limited to paper, but also includes cloth, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, ceramics, etc., as long as droplets are attached to the recording medium. The term "conveyed object" is used as a general term including what is called paper, recording paper, and the like. The "liquid" discharged from the liquid discharge head may have a viscosity and surface tension that can be discharged from the head, and is not particularly limited, but has a viscosity of 30 mPa · s under normal temperature and pressure, or by heating or cooling. It is preferable that it is as follows. More specifically, "liquid" refers to solvents such as water and organic solvents, colorants such as dyes and pigments, polymerizable compounds, resins, functionalizing materials such as surfactants, DNA, amino acids and proteins, and calcium. Solvents, suspensions, emulsions, etc. containing biocompatible materials such as natural pigments, edible materials such as natural pigments, etc. It can be used as a liquid for forming an electronic circuit resist pattern, a material liquid for three-dimensional modeling, and the like. A "liquid discharge unit" is an assembly of parts related to liquid discharge in which other functional parts and mechanisms are integrated with a liquid discharge head, and is, for example, at least one of a carriage, a head tank, a liquid supply mechanism, and a maintenance / recovery mechanism. Consists of including. The "liquid discharge device" is a device that drives a liquid discharge head to discharge liquid. The liquid discharge device includes not only a device capable of discharging a liquid to a device to which the liquid can adhere, but also a device capable of discharging the liquid toward the air or the liquid, in addition to an image forming device. There are three-dimensional modeling equipment, treatment liquid coating equipment, injection granulation equipment, and the like.

1 Handy mobile inkjet printer (liquid ejection device)
7 Guide member 8 Butt portion (movement amount changing means)
17, 29 Lower end 18 Stopper (movement amount changing means)
38 Liquid discharge port 39 Liquid discharge head P To be transported

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-116380 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-87880

Claims (6)

A liquid discharge head having a liquid discharge port for discharging liquid,
A guide member that guides the line feed operation in which the operator moves the device body in the line feed direction orthogonal to the print direction,
A moving amount changing means for changing the moving amount of the guide member, and
With
The guide member is located away from the recording medium at the time of printing.
At the time of line feed operation, the operator tilts the device body by a certain angle to ground the lower end of the guide member to the recording medium, and further tilts the device body with the lower end of the guide member grounded to the recording medium. A handy mobile type liquid discharge device characterized in that the device body is moved by a predetermined amount by moving it in the line feed direction. A liquid discharge head having a liquid discharge port for discharging liquid,
A guide member that guides the line feed operation in which the operator moves the device body in the line feed direction orthogonal to the print direction,
A moving amount changing means for changing the moving amount of the guide member, and
With
The guide member has a hinge portion and can rotate around the hinge portion.
The movement amount changing means is an abutting portion that hits the rotated guide member, and is movably provided in a direction perpendicular to the apparatus main body.
The guide member is located away from the recording medium at the time of printing.
A handy mobile type that moves the device body by a predetermined amount by moving the device body in the line feed direction with the lower end of the guide member grounded to the recording medium at the time of line feed operation. Liquid discharge device. The main body of the device consists of an upper unit and a lower unit.
The liquid discharge device according to claim 2 , wherein the upper unit and the guide member are attached to the lower unit with their rotation axes coaxial with each other. The liquid discharge device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the predetermined amount of movement of the device main body by one line feed operation is equal to the length of the liquid discharge head in the line feed direction. .. Claim 1 is characterized in that an elastic body that gives an urging force toward a device main body is connected to the guide member, and the guide member returns to an initial position after the device main body moves due to the urging force of the elastic body. The liquid discharge device according to any one of 4 to 4. A liquid discharge head having a liquid discharge port for discharging liquid,
A guide member that guides the line feed operation in which the operator moves the device body in the line feed direction orthogonal to the print direction,
A moving amount changing means for changing the moving amount of the guide member, and
With
The guide member is provided with a protrusion visible from above the main body of the apparatus at a position orthogonal to the central axis of the liquid discharge port of the liquid discharge head.
The guide member is located away from the recording medium at the time of printing.
A handy mobile type that moves the device body by a predetermined amount by moving the device body in the line feed direction with the lower end of the guide member grounded to the recording medium at the time of line feed operation. Liquid discharge device.

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