JPS59162062A - Ink-jet recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a uniform recording width and make high-quality recording possible on a recording medium of any thickness by detecting a thickness of the recording medium and controlling to a constant of deviation quantity of ink drop by feeding said detection signal to charging and deviation circuits. CONSTITUTION:A successive series of ink drops 5 is charged electrically from loading circuit 13 and loading electrodes 6 according to a signal delivered from a generating circuit 12 of loading pulse according to a recording information. On the other hand, a thickness detector 11 measures a thickness of recording medium 9 and delivers its result to a load correcting circuit 14 as an output. In the load correcting circuit 14 delivers load correcting voltage corresponding to a thickness of recording medium 9 to a load circuit 13 as an output to correct a voltage at the loading electrodes 6. For instance, when a thick sheet of paper is employed for the medium 9, an output of positive voltage from the load correcting circuit 14 is delivered correspondence to the thickness of the medium 9 resulting the higher loading voltage and increased load quantity of ink drops. By this arrangement, ink drops get larger deviation angles at the deviation electrodes 7a, 7b and on the recording medium, constant recording width can be obtained on the medium 9 regardless of the thickness.

Description

【発明の詳細な説明】 この発明は、任意の厚さの記録媒体に高品位な記録を行
う荷電量制御形のインクジェット記録方法に関するもの
である。DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a charge amount-controlled inkjet recording method that performs high-quality recording on a recording medium of arbitrary thickness.

荷電量制御形のインクジェット記録装置の概略構成図を
第１図に示す。この図において、１はインクタンク、２
はインクポンプ、３はノズル、４は前記ノズル３に取り
付けられた圧電振動子、５はインク滴列、６は荷電電極
、７ａ、７ｂは一定電圧の印加された偏向電極、８はガ
ター、９は用紙あるいは帳表などの記録媒体、１０はプ
ラテンである。FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a charge amount control type inkjet recording apparatus. In this figure, 1 is an ink tank, 2 is an ink tank, and 2 is an ink tank.
3 is an ink pump, 3 is a nozzle, 4 is a piezoelectric vibrator attached to the nozzle 3, 5 is an ink droplet array, 6 is a charging electrode, 7a and 7b are deflection electrodes to which a constant voltage is applied, 8 is a gutter, 9 1 is a recording medium such as paper or a ledger, and 10 is a platen.

次に動作を説明すると、インクタンク１内のインクはイ
ンクポンプ２によって加圧され、ノズル３よりジェット
流として噴出する。噴出したジェット流には、圧電振動
子４によって振動が加えられ、振動数と同一周期の規則
正しいインク滴列５が発生する。このインク滴列５のう
ち記録に使用するインク滴は、インク滴発生時に荷電電
極６によって記録情報に応じて選択的に電荷を与えられ
、さらに偏向電極７ａ、７ｂ間の一定電場によって偏向
され、プラテン１０上におかれた記録媒体９の所定の位
置に衝突して記録ドツトを形成する。また、記録に使用
しないインク滴には荷電電極６で荷電されず、直進して
ガター８に捕集され、インクタンク１に戻されて再利用
される。Next, the operation will be described. The ink in the ink tank 1 is pressurized by the ink pump 2, and is ejected from the nozzle 3 as a jet stream. The ejected jet stream is vibrated by a piezoelectric vibrator 4, and a regular array of ink droplets 5 having the same period as the vibration frequency is generated. The ink droplets used for recording among this ink droplet array 5 are selectively charged according to recording information by a charging electrode 6 at the time of ink droplet generation, and are further deflected by a constant electric field between deflection electrodes 7a and 7b. It collides with a predetermined position of the recording medium 9 placed on the platen 10 to form a recording dot. Further, ink droplets not used for recording are not charged by the charging electrode 6, but travel straight and are collected by the gutter 8, returned to the ink tank 1, and reused.

以上のように、荷電量制御形のインクジェット記録方法
ではインク滴に電荷を与え、電気的に偏向して記録を行
うため荷電電極６と記録媒体９との距離が変化すると、
記録媒体９に到達するまでの偏向量が変化することにな
る。−例として、荷電電極６とプラテン１０との距離を
３５ｍｍとし、厚さＯ，１ｍｍの記録媒体９」−に３．
３ｍｍ幅で記録を行うように設定した装置において、記
録媒体９として厚さ０．３ｍｍのものに記録しようとす
ると、記録幅は約０．０３＋＋＋＋＋＋小さくなる。こ
のように記録媒体９に厚さの異なる用紙や帳表に記録を
行うと記録幅が変化し、特に平面走査による図形記録な
どでは走査によるすきまや重複記録が発生し、記録品質
が低下する欠点があった。As described above, in the charge amount control type inkjet recording method, ink droplets are charged and electrically deflected to perform recording, so when the distance between the charging electrode 6 and the recording medium 9 changes,
The amount of deflection until it reaches the recording medium 9 will change. - As an example, assume that the distance between the charging electrode 6 and the platen 10 is 35 mm, and the recording medium 9'' has a thickness of 0.1 mm.
In an apparatus set to perform recording with a width of 3 mm, when attempting to record on a recording medium 9 having a thickness of 0.3 mm, the recording width becomes approximately 0.03++++ smaller. In this way, when recording on sheets of paper or ledger sheets with different thicknesses on the recording medium 9, the recording width changes, and especially when recording figures by plane scanning, gaps and overlapping recordings occur due to scanning, resulting in a decrease in recording quality. was there.

この発明は、これらの欠点を解決するため、記録媒体の
厚さを検出し、この検出信号を荷電・偏向回路にフィー
ドバックしてインク滴の偏向量を一定に制御するように
したものである。以下図面についてこの発明の詳細な説
明する。In order to solve these drawbacks, the present invention detects the thickness of the recording medium and feeds back this detection signal to the charging/deflection circuit to control the amount of deflection of the ink droplets at a constant level. The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

第２図はこの発明の方法による一実施例を示す構成図で
あって、第１図と同じ機能部分には同一の符号を付しで
ある。第２図において、１１は前記記録媒体９の厚み検
出器で、機械式、光学式。FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention, in which the same functional parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a thickness detector for the recording medium 9, which is either mechanical or optical.

磁気式等各種のものが使用できるが、測定結果はいずれ
も電気信号に変換される。１２は荷電パルス発生回路、
１３は荷電回路、１４は荷電補正回路である。Various types such as magnetic types can be used, but the measurement results are all converted into electrical signals. 12 is a charging pulse generation circuit;
13 is a charging circuit, and 14 is a charging correction circuit.

次に動作を説明すると、インク滴列５は、記録情報に応
じて荷電パルス発生回路１２より発生される信号に従っ
て荷電回路１３．荷電電極６によって電荷を与えられる
。一方、厚み検出器１１は記録媒体９の厚さを測定し、
その結果を荷電補正回路１４に出力する。荷電補正回路
１４では、記録媒体９に厚さに応じた荷電補正電圧を荷
電回路１３に出力し、荷電電極６の電圧を補正する。Next, the operation will be described. The ink droplet array 5 is generated by the charging circuit 13 in accordance with a signal generated by the charging pulse generating circuit 12 in accordance with recording information. A charge is given by a charging electrode 6. On the other hand, the thickness detector 11 measures the thickness of the recording medium 9,
The result is output to the charge correction circuit 14. The charge correction circuit 14 outputs a charge correction voltage according to the thickness of the recording medium 9 to the charging circuit 13 to correct the voltage of the charging electrode 6.

例えば、記録媒体９に厚い用紙を使用する場合には、荷
電補正回路１４より記録媒体９の厚さに応じた正の電圧
を出力し、荷電電圧を高くしてインク滴の電荷量を増加
させる。これによって、インク滴は偏向電極７ａ、７ｂ
での偏向角度が大きくなり、記録媒体９上には厚さに関
係なく常に一定の記録幅をもって記録できる・ 第３図はこの発明の方法による他の実施例を示す構成図
であって、第１図および第２図と同じ機能部分には同一
の符号を付しである。第３図において、１５は高圧電源
、１６は偏向電圧補正回路である。For example, when thick paper is used as the recording medium 9, the charge correction circuit 14 outputs a positive voltage according to the thickness of the recording medium 9 to increase the charging voltage and increase the amount of charge on the ink droplets. . As a result, the ink droplets are deflected from the deflection electrodes 7a and 7b.
The deflection angle becomes larger, and recording can always be performed with a constant recording width on the recording medium 9 regardless of the thickness. The same functional parts as in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals. In FIG. 3, 15 is a high voltage power supply, and 16 is a deflection voltage correction circuit.

次に動作を説明すると、厚み検出器１１の検出信号は偏
向電圧補正回路１６に入力され、さらにこの検出信号に
より高圧電源１５の電圧は、記録媒体９の厚さによって
調整されて偏向電極７ａに印加される。例えば、記録媒
体９に厚い用紙を使用する場合には、偏向電圧が高くな
るように調整し、偏向電極７ａ、７ｂでのインク滴の偏
向角度を大きくすることにより、一定の記録幅を得るこ
とができる。Next, to explain the operation, the detection signal of the thickness detector 11 is input to the deflection voltage correction circuit 16, and the voltage of the high voltage power supply 15 is further adjusted according to the thickness of the recording medium 9 and applied to the deflection electrode 7a. applied. For example, when using thick paper as the recording medium 9, a constant recording width can be obtained by adjusting the deflection voltage to be high and increasing the deflection angle of the ink droplets at the deflection electrodes 7a and 7b. Can be done.

このように、記録媒体の厚さを測定する検出器を設け、
この検出信号を荷電あるいは偏向回路にフィードバック
し、インク滴の荷電量あるいは偏向電圧を制御し、記録
媒体の厚さに応じてインク滴の偏向量を変化させる構成
となっているので、記録媒体の厚さが変化しても常に一
定の記録幅を得られる効果がある。In this way, a detector is provided to measure the thickness of the recording medium,
This detection signal is fed back to the charging or deflection circuit to control the amount of charge or deflection voltage of the ink droplet, and the amount of deflection of the ink droplet is changed according to the thickness of the recording medium. This has the effect of always obtaining a constant recording width even if the thickness changes.

以上詳細に説明したように、この発明では記録媒体の厚
さを検出し、これを偏向回路にフィードバックしてイン
ク滴の偏向量を制御するようにしたので、記録媒体上の
記録幅を常に一定にできるので、記録した文字や図形が
用紙や帳表の厚さに関係なく一定の品質で得られる利点
がある。As explained in detail above, in this invention, the thickness of the recording medium is detected and this is fed back to the deflection circuit to control the amount of deflection of the ink droplets, so the recording width on the recording medium is always kept constant. This has the advantage that recorded characters and figures can be obtained at a constant quality regardless of the thickness of the paper or book cover.

【図面の簡単な説明】[Brief explanation of the drawing]

第１図は荷電量制御形のインクジェット記録装置の概略
構成図、第２図はこの発明による一実施例の構成図、第
３図はこの発明による他の実施例の構成図である。 図中、１はインクタンク、２はインクポンプ、３はノズ
ル、４は圧電振動子、５はインク滴列、６は荷電電極、
７ａ、７ｂは偏向電極、８はガター、９は記録媒体、１
０はプラテン、１１は厚み検出器、１２は荷電パルス発
生回路、１３は荷電回路、１４は荷電補正回路、１５は
高圧電源、１６は偏向電圧補正回路である。 第１図 第２図 　　１０ ≧１４ ００８０ル笥　１１ Ｔ′− ７ｂτ　８ １２１つ 第３図FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a charge amount control type inkjet recording apparatus, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an ink tank, 2 is an ink pump, 3 is a nozzle, 4 is a piezoelectric vibrator, 5 is an ink droplet array, 6 is a charging electrode,
7a and 7b are deflection electrodes, 8 is a gutter, 9 is a recording medium, 1
0 is a platen, 11 is a thickness detector, 12 is a charging pulse generation circuit, 13 is a charging circuit, 14 is a charging correction circuit, 15 is a high voltage power supply, and 16 is a deflection voltage correction circuit. Figure 1 Figure 2 10 ≧14 0080ru 11 T'- 7bτ 8 121 Figure 3

Claims (1)

【特許請求の範囲】[Claims] ノズルよりインク滴を連続的に噴出させ、前記インク滴
を記録情報に応じて選択的に荷電し、偏向させて記録媒
体玉に記録を行う荷電量制御形インクジェット記録方法
において、前記記録媒体の厚さを検出し、この検出信号
をインク滴の荷電・偏向回路にフィードパ・ンクして常
に記録幅を一定にするように前記インク滴の偏向量を制
御することを特徴とするインクジェット記録方法。In a charge amount control type inkjet recording method in which ink droplets are continuously ejected from a nozzle, the ink droplets are selectively charged and deflected according to recording information, and recording is performed on a recording medium ball, the thickness of the recording medium is An inkjet recording method comprising: detecting the width of the ink droplet, and feeding and puncturing this detection signal to an ink droplet charging/deflection circuit to control the amount of deflection of the ink droplet so that the recording width is always constant.