The present invention relates generally to computer hard copy printers, and more
particularly to ink jet printers in which ink droplets from a recording head of the ink
jet type are discharged to a paper on a platen to perform a drafting or printing on the
paper. In particular, the present invention relates to an ink jet printer according to the
preamble of claim 1 and to a method according to the preamble of claim 4.
JP 4-263949 A or JP 2576470 B discloses an inkjet printer in which a platen heater is
mounted on a platen, and the paper on the platen is heated by heating the platen. The
droplets discharged from the recording head are caused to adhere to the paper.
Depending on slight differences of the quality of material of the drafting medium
(paper, film and the like) the printing quality may vary. Particularly, in case where the
drafting is performed by an ink of the solvent type, the ink goes into the drafting
medium and slightly dissolves the drafting medium, and the ink tends to run depending
on the quality of the drafting medium. This phenomenon seems to form a problem.
Although this problem is greatly influenced by the case where ink of the solvent
type is used, such an influence is recognized also when ink of an other kind is
used.
The diameter or shape of the dots of the ink is not uniform according to the manner of
blot of the ink, and the finish precision of a completed print (drawings, pictures and
the like) is poor, and a fine finish is hard to obtain which are problems.
Object of the present invention is to solve or minimize the foregoing points and problems
and to provide an ink jet printer and a method for operating an ink jet printer,
with improved printing quality.
The above object is achieved by an ink jet printer according to claim 1 or a method
according to claim 4. Preferred embodiments are subject of the subclaims.
It has been discovered that the shape of the dots of ink fails to become a uniform circular
shape, or its diameter fails to be uniform due to the foregoing problem and due
to the finding that when the ink is injected from a nozzle of the recording head and
the ink reaches the drafting medium, a sharp temperature change occurs in the ink
and a disarray such as diffusion, blot and the like tends to occur once there is a difference
in the temperature of the ink and the temperature of the drafting medium. As a
result, the finish accuracy deteriorates.
The present invention proposes to heat both the drafting medium and the ink
(recording head) to equalize both the medium and the ink to an almost same temperature.
In particular, this is used in ink jet printers in which a paper support provided on
a machine body is heated, and ink droplets from a recording head of an inkjet type
are discharged onto the heated paper and the drafting or printing is performed on the
paper in a condition where the paper on the paper support is heated and a drafting
quality of such ink jet printers is thus improved.
The paper sandwiched between a feed roller and a pressure roller is fed onto a platen
by the rotation of the feed roller, and it is heated at a desired temperature which is
preferably set between 35°C and 50°C by a heater provided on the platen. The ink
droplets heated at a temperature same with the heated paper or almost same with the
temperature are discharged and the printing is carried out on the paper.
Further aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be explained
with reference to the enclosed drawing of a preferred embodiment. It shows:
- Fig. 1
- an explanatory side view of an ink jet printer; and
- Fig. 2
- a block explanatory view showing a function of the ink jet printer.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail in the following
by referring to attached drawing.
In Fig. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a machine body of the ink jet printer. The machine
body 2 is supported on a leg body 4. On the machine body 2, a pedestal 6 extending
in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the paper is fixed, and a platen 8
provided with a heater 7 is supported on the pedestal 6 by means of bases 10. Paper
guides 12, 14 are disposed back and forth of the platen 8.
Reference numeral 16 denotes a pair of struts (the other is omitted) fixed to the vicinity
of both ends of the pedestal 6, and a Y rail 18 is mounted on an upper portion
the struts 16. On the pedestral 6, a support base 20 is fixed, and a feed roller 22 is
journalled on the support base 20. The feed roller 22 is connected to an X axis drive
device to be controlled by a controller (illustration is omitted). A plurality of roller
holders 24 are journalled at 26 on the Y rail 18. At the tip of each of the roller holders
24, a pressure roller 28 is rotatably journalled in opposition to the feed roller 22.
The rear ends of the roller holders 24 are biased in a clock direction in FIG. 1 with the
axis 26 being a fulcrum by means of a tensile force of tensile springs 30. A cam shaft
32 fixed with a cam 32a is rotatably journalled on an upper surface side of the roller
holders 24, and a lever 34 is fixed to one end of the cam shaft 32. When the lever 34
is swivelled by manual operation and the like, the cam shaft 32 turns, and the roller
holders 24 swivell in anti-clock direction in FIG. 1 with the axis 26 as the center by
the pressure of the cam 32a, and the pressure rollers 28 are separated from the feed
roller 22 by a predetermined distance.
When the lever 34 returns to an original position, each pressure roller 28 contacts the
feed roller 22 resiliently by the tensile resilient force of each spring 30. A Y cursor or
carriage 36 is shiftably mounted on the Y rail 18 through a roller. An inkjet type recording
head 38 is mounted on the Y cursor or carriage 36, and the platen 8 is in opposition
to the recording head 38.
A heater 39 is built in the recording head 38. Temperature sensors 46, 48 are mounted
on the platen 8 and the recording head 38, and temperature signals of the platen 8
and the recording head 38 are supplied to the controller of the ink jet printer from the
sensors 46, 48. The heaters 7, 39 are connected to the controller by means of drive
units 50, 52 (Fig. 2).
The platen 8 and the paper guides 12, 14 constitute a paper support, and the heater 7
may be disposed at a printing unit of the paper support and at a proper location in the
upper stream side relative to the printing unit. Paper 40 drawn out from a roll 40a of
paper supported on the leg body 4 is arranged to be taken upon a take-up roller 44
supported on the leg body 4 through a guide roller 42, paper guide 12, and between
feed roller 22 and pressure rollers 28 and platen 8 and paper guide 14.
In order to set the paper 40 on the platen 8, the pressure roller 28 is lifted from the
feed roller 22, and the paper 40 is inserted between the rollers 22 and 28, and thereafter,
the pressure roller 28 is lowered and the paper 40 is sandwiched by the pressure
roller 28 and the feed roller 22.
When a power source and/or the ink jet printer is turned on, the heaters 7, 39 are energized,
whereby the platen 8 and the recording head 38 are heated. The temperature
of the platen 8 and the recording head 38 is controlled on the basis of a temperature
control program (software) 56 stored in a ROM 54 of the controller so that the paper
40 on the platen 8 and the ink discharged from a nozzle of the recording head 38 are
heated at temperatures between 35°C and 50°C which are mutually equal or almost
equal temperatures.
It has been confirmed as a result of experiments that if this temperature is below
35°C, the drafting quality is not improved, and any effect is extremely small. In order
to elevate the temperature of the drafting medium, it is the most simple adoptable method
to raise the temperature of the platen 8 on which the drafting medium is mounted,
but when this method is employed, the drafting medium whose temperature is
lower than that of the heated platen 8 shifts onto the platen 8 which requires the elevation
of the temperature of the platen 8 to a higher level of the desired temperature
of the drafting medium.
However, since the platen 8 is located at a position where hands of an operator generally
tend to touch, it is dangerous to raise the temperature without due consideration,
and generally about 55°C is a limit. Assuming that the upper limit of the temperature
of the platen 8 is 55°C, the temperature of the drafting medium that shifts over the
platen 8 becomes about 50°C when the foregoing temperature drop is taken into
consideration, and this temperature becomes an upper limit. In case that the kind of
the used ink and the kind of the used drafting medium are constant, the set temperatures
for the recording head 38 and the platen 8 are constant, and temperature set
data are recorded previously in the temperature control program 56.
In case that the kind of the used ink and the kind of the used drafting medium vary,
the set temperatures of the recording head 38 and the platen 8 are variable, and the
set temperatures may be input with key from an operation panel 58. Furthermore, in
this case, the set temperatures from a host computer 60 is input in a RAM 62 of the
controller. When the ink jet printer shifts to a plotting or printing operation, the feed
roller 22 makes an intermittent rotation in clock direction in FIG. 1 by a X drive unit
63, and the paper 40 shifts in right direction over the platen 8.
On the other hand, the Y cursor or carriage 36 is reciprocally driven in a direction
perpendicular to the surface of the paper in FIG. 1 along the Y rail 18 by a Y drive
unit 64. More-over, vector data to be transmitted from the host computer 60 is delivered
to the RAM 62 through an interface (I/F) having FIFO buffering function.
A CPU 66 of the ink jet printer applies pre-processing (data analysis) such as division
process, sort process with a band width and block width which are preset against the
vector data stored in the RAM 62 on the basis of a program stored in the ROM 54,
and arranges the vector data contained in each block of each band to a mode of an
intermediate code (for example, vector data). An image processor 68 applies a DDA
(digital different analysis) process sequentially to the image data of the intermediate
code mode stored in the RAM 62, and developes the raster data to bit map memory
70.
The raster data developed in the bit map memory 70 are converted to CMYK data
(black K, cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y or data for printing according to Euro scale)
from RGB color data (red, green blue). Next, the CPU 66 sequentially sends the raster
data converted to the CMYK data to a head drive unit 70. The ink is supplied to the
recording head 38 by means of an ink supply drive unit 72, and the recording head
38 discharges ink droplets by the control of the head drive unit 70 to perform a
drafting or printing on the paper 40.
The present invention is constructed as described in the foregoing whereby the
drafting quality can be improved.