Patent Application
20220009251
The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2020-120148, filed Jul. 13, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a medium transport device including: a transport roller that transports a medium; and a motor that drives the transport roller, a recording apparatus, and a control method of a medium transport device.
For example, JP-A-4-243761 discloses a recording apparatus (image writing apparatus) including: a medium transport device having a transport roller that transports a recording medium, and a motor that drives the transport roller, in which recording is performed on the recording medium transported by the transport roller. The recording apparatus includes a determination section that compares a current value of the motor with a threshold value and determines a transport state of the recording medium. The determination section detects a jam based on the time when the current value of the motor exceeds the threshold value. When a jam occurs, the motor is forcibly stopped. For example, the threshold value used for jam detection is set to a value corresponding to an assumed maximum load (assumed maximum load) of the motor.
However, the threshold value (limit value) according to the assumed maximum load is set to a value corresponding to an average value of the maximum load that changes according to the cumulative usage amount of the recording apparatus, for example. At an initial stage of use start, such as immediately after unpacking the recording apparatus, the sliding resistance of components such as gears that configure a power transmission mechanism and the sliding resistance of the transport roller are relatively small, and the load applied to the motor is relatively small. Therefore, when an unintended load is applied to the power transmission mechanism that transmits the power of the motor, and there is a problem that there is a possibility that an excessive torque is applied to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism even when the current value of the motor does not exceed the threshold value, and the components are damaged. As a medium transport device included in the recording apparatus, there is a medium transport device including a movable member other than the transport roller driven by the power of the motor. In this case, even when the movable member is driven, not limited to the transport roller, even when the current value of the motor does not exceed the threshold value when an unintended load is applied to the motor, excessive torque is applied to the components that configure the power transmission mechanism, and there is a problem that there is a possibility that the components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism are damaged.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a medium transport device that transports a recording medium, including: a feeding roller that feeds the recording medium; a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller; a motor which is a driving source for the feeding roller and/or the transport roller; a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to at least one of the feeding roller and the transport roller; and a control section that controls a current of the motor, in which the control section measures a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value, and sets a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a medium transport device that transports a recording medium, including: a feeding roller that feeds the recording medium; a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller; a movable member other than the transport roller; a motor; a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the movable member; and a control section that controls a current of the motor, in which the control section measures a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value, and sets a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value.
According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a recording apparatus including the medium transport device and a recording head that performs recording on the recording medium.
According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control method of a medium transport device including a feeding roller that feeds a recording medium, a transport roller that transports fed recording medium fed by the feeding roller, a motor which is a driving source for the feeding roller and/or the transport roller, a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to at least one of the feeding roller and the transport roller, and a control section that controls driving of the motor, the method including: measuring a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value by the control section; and setting a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value by the control section.
According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control method of a medium transport device including a feeding roller that feeds a recording medium, a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller, a movable member other than the transport roller, a motor, a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the movable member, and a control section that controls driving of the motor, the method including: measuring a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value by the control section; and setting a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value by the control section.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a recording apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. In
The recording apparatus 11 illustrated in
The recording apparatus 11 includes the operation panel 15 on the front surface. The operation panel 15 includes an operation section including operation buttons and the like that are operated when giving various instructions to the recording apparatus 11, and a display section (all of these are not illustrated) that displays various menus and the operating status of the recording apparatus 11. A power supply operation section 16 is provided on the front surface of the apparatus main body 12. It is also possible to configure the display section with a touch panel and configure the operation section with an operation function operated by the touch panel.
On the front right side of the apparatus main body 12, an accommodation section 18 for accommodating at least one (six in this embodiment) liquid supply source 17 (refer to
On the rear upper side of the recording apparatus 11, a feeding cover 14 is provided to be openable and closable. The feeding cover 14 is opened and closed by rotating around the rear end. A feeding section 20 is accommodated inside the feeding cover 14 which is at the closed position illustrated in
A recording section 23 for performing recording on the recording medium M (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “medium M”) fed from the feeding tray 22A is accommodated in the apparatus main body 12. The recording section 23 is, for example, a serial recording type. The recording apparatus 11 is, for example, a serial printer. The serial recording type recording section 23 includes a carriage 24 capable of reciprocating in the scanning direction X, and a recording head 25 provided on the carriage 24. The surface of the recording head 25 facing the medium M transported along the transport path is a nozzle surface on which a plurality of nozzles (not illustrated) are open. The liquid supply source 17 and the recording section 23 are coupled to each other through a liquid supply tube 17A (refer to
At the front lower portion of the recording apparatus 11, a discharge cover 26 is provided to be openable and closable. The discharge cover 26 rotates around the lower end. At the back part of the discharge cover 26 at the closed position illustrated in
The recording apparatus 11 includes a control section 100 that performs various types of control. The control section 100 performs control of the carriage 24 and the recording head 25, the transport control of the medium M, the display control of the operation panel 15, the power supply control, and the like.
Next, a detailed configuration inside the recording apparatus 11 will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
The main frame 30 is provided with a linear encoder 34 extending along the scanning direction. The linear encoder 34 includes a linear scale extending along the scanning direction X and an optical sensor (not illustrated) attached to the carriage 24. The optical sensor detects the translucent scale of the linear scale and outputs a detection pulse signal including the number of pulses proportional to the movement amount of the carriage 24.
The accommodation section 18 is provided with a supply cover 18a that opens and closes the upper portion thereof. In the example, the liquid supply source 17 is a tank in which the liquid is accommodated. When there is the liquid supply source 17 of which a remaining amount is small through the window section 19, the user opens the cover 13 and the supply cover 18a, and pours the liquid from the liquid bottle into the pours (not illustrated) of the liquid supply source 17. The liquid supply source 17 is not limited to a liquid replenishment type tank in which the user replenishes the liquid from the liquid bottle, and may be a liquid pack (for example, an ink pack) or a liquid cartridge (for example, an ink cartridge) in which the liquid is accommodated. The liquid supply source 17 is an off-carriage type provided on the apparatus main body 12, but may be an on-carriage type mounted on the carriage 24.
As illustrated in
The feeding tray 22A is provided with a pair of edge guides 22B. The medium M mounted on the feeding tray 22A is positioned in the width direction X by being held between the pair of edge guides 22B. The feeding section 20 feeds the medium M mounted on the feeding tray 22A in a transport direction Y0 along the transport path. The recording apparatus 11 of the embodiment includes the cassette 27 and the feeding tray 22A as a plurality of mounting sections on which the medium M is mounted. The recording apparatus 11 includes a plurality of feeding sections 21 and 22 for feeding the media M mounted on the plurality of mounting sections, respectively. As a mounting section, a manual feed tray used by the user on which the media M are mounted one by one may be provided, or one or a plurality of cassettes after the second one may be added to the lower stage of the cassette 27. The mounting section is at least two of the feeding tray 22A, the cassette 27, the manual feed tray, and the cassettes after the second cassette, and the feeding section includes at least two feeding sections that feed each of the media M mounted on at least two mounting sections.
As illustrated in
The recording apparatus 11 includes a medium support member 35 that supports the medium M of the part on which recording is performed by the recording section 23. The medium support member 35 is a long member extending in the width direction X, and has a length capable of supporting the entire area in the width direction of the medium M having the maximum width. The recording section 23 performs recording on the part supported by the medium support member 35 on the transported medium M.
The recording apparatus 11 alternately repeats a recording operation in which the carriage 24 moves once and the recording head 25 performs recording one pass, and a transport operation in which the medium M is transported to the next recording position, and accordingly, characters or images are recorded on the medium M. The recording section 23 may use a line recording type. The line recording type recording section 23 includes the recording head 25 including a line head having a plurality of nozzles capable of simultaneously discharging liquid over the entire width of the medium having the maximum width. Since the liquid is discharged from the nozzle of the recording head 25 including the line head with the entire width of the medium M as the discharge target with respect to the medium M transported at a constant speed, high-speed recording of an image or the like is realized.
The carriage 24 illustrated by the two-dot chain line in
The maintenance device 60 cleans the nozzle of the recording head 25 in order to eliminate or prevent this type of discharge failure. The maintenance device 60 includes a pump 63 that communicates with the cap 61. The maintenance device 60 drives the pump 63 under a capping state where the cap 61 comes into contact with the nozzle surface of the recording head 25 in a state of surrounding the nozzle. When the pump 63 is driven, the liquid is forcibly suctioned and discharged from the nozzle by the negative pressure introduced into the closed space between the nozzle surface and the cap 61. Foreign matter such as thickened liquid, bubbles, and paper dust is forcibly suctioned and discharged from the nozzle, and accordingly, the nozzle recovers from discharge failure.
The recording section 23 moves to the home position HP regularly or irregularly during the recording operation of performing recording on the medium M, and by performing idle discharge (also referred to as “flushing”) for discharging droplets unrelated to the recording from all of the nozzles of the recording head 25 toward the cap 61, discharge failure during the recording is prevented. The liquid (waste liquid) discharged from the nozzle by cleaning and empty discharge is sent to a waste liquid tank 69 through a waste liquid tube by driving the pump 63.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The transport driving roller 43 is rotated by the power of the transport motor 46. The rotation of the transport driving roller 43 is transmitted to the pickup roller 211, the feeding roller 221, and the lock member 68 via the first feeding mechanism 70, the second feeding mechanism 80, and the maintenance mechanism 65, respectively. In other words, the rotational power of the transport driving roller 43 based on the power of the transport motor 46 is transmitted to the pickup roller 211 via the first feeding mechanism 70, and accordingly, the pickup roller 211 rotates. The rotational power of the transport driving roller 43 based on the power of the transport motor 46 is transmitted to the feeding roller 221 via the second feeding mechanism 80, and accordingly, the feeding roller 221 rotates.
The rotational power of the transport driving roller 43 based on the power of the transport motor 46 is transmitted via the maintenance mechanism 65, and accordingly, the cap 61, the wiper 62, and the lock member 68 are raised and lowered. At this time, the cap 61, the wiper 62, and the lock member 68 are driven by the transport motor 46 to be raised and lowered. The pump 63 receives the driving from the transport motor 46 and drives the pump to suction air through the cap 61. The raising and lowering of the cap 61 and the wiper 62 and the raising and lowering of the lock member 68 may be decoupled and capable of being raised and lowered independently. For example, the lock member 68 may be raised and lowered by the power of the transport motor 46, and the cap 61 and the wiper 62 may be raised and lowered by the power of another motor such as a dedicated motor other than the transport motor 46. A mechanical raising and lowering mechanism that raises the cap 61 and the wiper 62 by supporting the cap 61 and the wiper 62 by the slider biased in the downward direction, and by moving the slider obliquely upward against the biasing force while the carriage 24 is engaged with the slider in the process of moving toward the home position HP, may be adopted.
In this manner, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The upper cassette is provided to movable between a feeding position where the medium M can be fed by the first feeding section 21 and a non-feeding position displaced in the +Y axial direction along the medium feeding direction from the feeding position, and moves between the feeding position and the non-feeding position by receiving the power of the transport motor 46 or an external force manually.
The medium transport device 200 includes: a gear group 50 which is an example of the first power transmission mechanism that transmits the rotational power of the transport driving roller 43 rotated by the power of the transport motor 46; and the first feeding mechanism 70 which is an example of the second power transmission mechanism that transmits the rotational power of the gear group 50 to the pickup roller 211. The first switching section 90 switches between the coupled state and the decoupled state of the gear group 50 and the first feeding mechanism 70.
The pickup rollers 211 illustrated in
The posture angle of the swing member 72 is changed by the rotation of the swing shaft 71. The swing shaft 71 biases the swing member 72 in the direction in which the pickup roller 211 comes into contact with the medium M by the elastic force of an elastic member (not illustrated) such as a torsion spring. The cassette 27 can be inserted into and removed from the opening of the apparatus main body 12. In the recording apparatus 11, in the process of removing the cassette 27 from the apparatus main body 12, the swing member 72 has a mechanism for moving the pickup roller 211 to a holding position away from the medium M on the cassette 27. In the process of inserting and attaching the cassette 27 to the apparatus main body 12, the swing member 72 moves from the separated position to the feeding position where the pickup roller 211 comes into contact with the medium M.
The power of the transport motor 46 is transmitted to a gear 51 fixed to the first end portion, which is the end portion on the opposite-home position AH side of the transport driving roller 43, via the power transmission mechanism 47. The rotation of the gear 51 causes the transport driving roller 43 to rotate. When the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly, the transport driving roller 43 and the discharge driving roller 45 rotate forwardly in the direction in which the medium M can be transported in the transport direction Y0. During recording by the recording apparatus 11, the medium M is transported in the transport direction Y0 by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly. A gear 52 positioned in the vicinity of the first end portion in the axial direction thereof and a gear 53 positioned at the second end portion opposite to the first end portion are fixed to the transport driving roller 43. The gear 53 meshes with one input gear 54 that configures the gear group 50.
The recording apparatus 11 includes the first switching section 90 and the second switching section 85 which are examples of the switching section in which the power transmission path of the transport motor 46 is switched by the carriage 24. The first switching section 90 includes a slider 91 that is movably provided in the width direction X. The slider 91 is biased by the elastic force of the elastic member 92 in a first direction X1 in which the carriage 24 is directed from the home position HP to the opposite-home position AH.
The slider 91 includes an abutting section 93 which can abut in the process in which a protrusion portion 241 (refer to
The carriage 24 moves to the home position HP, which is a standby position, a feed coupling position SP, which is separated from the home position HP by a short predetermined distance in the first direction X1, and a feed decoupling position, which is a position between the home position HP and the feed coupling position HP, as switching positions for switching the first switching section 90. When the carriage 24 is at the home position HP, the slider 91 is disposed at a first switching position SW1 when the carriage 24 is locked to the home position HP. When the carriage 24 is at the feed coupling position SP, the slider 91 is disposed at a second switching position SW2 when driving the first feeding section 21. When the carriage 24 is at the feed decoupling position FP, which is a position on the second direction X2 side of the feed coupling position SP, the slider 91 is positioned at a third switching position SW3. When the carriage 24 is at the position during recording for performing recording on the medium M, which is the position on the first direction X1 side of the second switching position SW2, the slider 91 is disposed at the standby position by the biasing force of the elastic member 92.
As illustrated in
The recording apparatus 11 includes the lock member 68 engaged with the carriage 24 positioned at the home position HP. The lock member 68 moves between the lock position that is engaged with the carriage 24 and the unlock position that is not engaged with the carriage 24. The carriage 24 is held at the home position HP by moving the lock member 68 to the lock position. When the lock member 68 moves to the unlock position, the carriage 24 becomes movable from the home position HP.
The maintenance mechanism 65 includes a raising and lowering mechanism that raises and lowers the cap 61 and the wiper 62 of the maintenance device 60, and the gear 66 that drives the pump 63. The lock member 68 is raised and lowered by the raising and lowering mechanism for raising and lowering the cap 61. Therefore, when the carriage 24 is at the home position HP, the recording head 25 is capped by the raised cap 61, and the carriage 24 is locked at the home position HP by the raised lock member 68.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Next, the electrical configuration of the recording apparatus 11 will be described with reference to
The recording head 25, the carriage motor 32, and the transport motor 46 are electrically coupled to the control section 100 as an output system. The control section 100 controls the recording head 25, the carriage motor 32, and the transport motor 46. The power supply operation section 16, a medium detector 28, the linear encoder 34, and the rotary encoder 49 are electrically coupled to the control section 100 as an input system.
The control section 100 includes a first counter 101, a second counter 102, a calculation section 103, a motor control section 104, a motor driver 105, and a non-volatile memory 106. The motor driver 105 includes a D/A converter 107 (hereinafter, also referred to as “DAC 107”).
The first counter 101 counts the number of pulse edges of the detection pulse signal input from the rotary encoder 49 by using the position of the medium M when the distal end of the medium M fed by the feeding section 20 is detected by the medium detector 28 as the origin position, and accordingly, the value corresponding to the position of the distal end or the rear end of the medium M is counted. The control section 100 controls the transport motor 46 based on the counted positions of the distal end or the rear end of the medium M, and controls the feed, transport, and discharge of the medium M.
The second counter 102 counts the number of pulse edges of the detection signal input from the linear encoder 34 by using the position when the carriage 24 comes into contact with the end position on the home position HP side and reaches the origin position as the origin point, and accordingly, the carriage position, which is the position in the scanning direction X with respect to the origin position of the carriage 24, is acquired. The control section 100 controls the carriage motor 32 based on the counted value of the carriage position, and accordingly, the speed control and the position control of the carriage 24 are performed.
The calculation section 103 performs various calculations necessary for operating the recording apparatus 11. In the embodiment, the calculation section 103 performs a calculation for calculating a second limit value Ilim2 The calculation section 103 performs calculations such as various setting values necessary for executing a program PR.
The motor control section 104 controls the speed of the transport motor 46 by outputting a current command value to the motor driver 105. The motor control section 104 outputs, for example, a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) command value to the motor driver 105. The motor driver 105 controls the current supplied to the transport motor 46 by performing PWM control based on the input PWM command value.
The program PR is stored in the non-volatile memory 106. A first limit value Ilim1 and the second limit value Ilim2 are stored in the non-volatile memory 106. The first limit value Ilim1 and the second limit value Ilim2 are upper limit values that limit the current value of the transport motor 46. When driving the transport motor 46, the control section 100 suppresses the current flowing through the transport motor 46 to a limit value or less. Specifically, the current command value output by the motor control section 104 to the motor driver 105 is limited to the limit value or less. Here, the first limit value Ilim1 is a fixed value set in advance, and the second limit value Ilim2 is a variable value set based on the current measurement value of the transport motor 46. The first limit value Ilim1 is set to a predetermined value equal to or less than the rated current of the transport motor 46. The second limit value Ilim2 is set based on a measured current value Imea of the transport motor 46 measured by the control section 100 while driving the transport motor 46. Specifically, the control section 100 measures the current value flowing through the transport motor 46 during driving as a measured current value Imea, and adds a predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea to set a limit value of the current supplied to the transport motor 46.
The control section 100 performs an initialization operation when the power is turned on. The load measurement mode is entered after the initialization operation at a rate of once for each power-on or for a plurality of times of power-on. In the load measurement mode, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to measure the load applied to the transport motor 46. In the load measurement mode, the control section 100 is performed in a state where the carriage 24 is positioned at the home position HP and the first switching section 90 is at the first switching position SW1. Therefore, in the load measurement mode, the load applied to the transport motor 46 when the pickup roller 211 and the feeding roller 221 are not driven and the transport driving roller 43 and the discharge driving roller 45 are driven is measured as a current value.
The control section 100 controls the current of the transport motor 46 to control the rotation speeds of the transport driving roller 43 and the discharge driving roller 45. In other words, the control section 100 controls a transport speed Vpf at which the transport roller pair 41 and the discharge roller pair 42 transport the medium M by controlling the current of the transport motor 46.
The motor control section 104 controls the transport speed by feedback control. Speed profile data for transport control is stored in the non-volatile memory 106. The speed profile data is data illustrating the correspondence between the position at each unit control interval from the control start position and the target speed. The non-volatile memory 106 stores the speed profile data for each of a plurality of different target transport speeds. The recording apparatus 11 includes a plurality of recording modes. There are a plurality of recording modes including a standard recording mode in which the recording speed is prioritized over the recording quality and a high-definition recording mode in which the recording quality is prioritized over the recording speed. The user selects and inputs the recording mode according to the type of the medium M. When the target transport speed according to the received recording mode is determined, the motor control section 104 reads the speed profile data corresponding to the target transport speed from the non-volatile memory 106. The motor control section 104 outputs a current command value determined based on the speed profile data to the motor driver 105. Here, the speed profile data includes acceleration data and deceleration data. The motor control section 104 uses the speed profile data for acceleration during acceleration control, and uses the speed profile data for deceleration during deceleration control. In the non-volatile memory 106, the target speed of the speed profile data and the corresponding current command value are stored in association with each other.
The motor control section 104 acquires the position for each control interval from the control start position from the first counter 101 that counts the number of pulse edges of the pulse detection signal input from the encoder 49. In other words, the motor control section 104 acquires the current position (current transport position) starting from the control start position based on the counted value of the first counter 101. The motor control section 104 acquires an actual speed Vr from the number of pulse edges per unit time based on the pulse detection signal input from the encoder 49. In the feedback control, the motor control section 104 corrects the current command value so as to reduce a difference ΔV between the actual speed Vr and the target speed Vt. For example, when the transport load is smaller than the assumed load, the difference ΔV (=Vt−Vr) between the actual speed Vr and the target speed Vt takes a negative value, and thus, the motor control section 104 corrects the current command value to be small. The reduction of the current command value at this time is determined according to the value of the difference ΔV. When the transport load is larger than the assumed load, the difference ΔV (=Vt−Vr) between the actual speed Vr and the target speed Vt takes a positive value, and thus, the motor control section 104 corrects the current command value to be large. The increment of the current command value at this time is determined according to the value of the difference ΔV.
Accordingly, when the transport load is larger than the assumed load, the current command value becomes large. The current value of the transport motor 46 is determined by the current command value. Therefore, the control section 100 can measure the current value of the transport motor 46 from the value of the current command value by the motor control section 104. In the load measurement, the control section 100 measures the current value from the current command value output by the motor control section 104 in the constant speed range after the transport motor 46 reaches the target transport speed, and acquires the measured current value Imea. For example, the control section 100 sets the measured current value Imea from the average value of the current command values at a plurality of points in the constant speed range of the transport motor 46. In the example, the measured current value Imea is acquired as a value corresponding to the current command value. The measured current value Imea converted into a value corresponding to the current value of the transport motor 46 may be acquired.
The load measurement is performed for setting the limit value of the current supplied to the transport motor 46 in order to prevent excessive torque from being applied to configuration elements such as gears of the first feeding mechanism 70 when driving the first feeding section 21. The limit value of the current is used to detect an abnormal load sufficient to damage the gear. The control section 100 detects an abnormal load when the current command value output by the motor control section 104 exceeds the limit value, and causes the motor control section 104 to stop driving the transport motor 46.
In the related art, the current limit value is set based on the assumed maximum load. Therefore, in the initial stage of use start when the load is small, such as immediately after the purchase of the recording apparatus 11, there is a risk that the gear is damaged when an unintended load is applied. In other words, a part of the torque of the transport motor 46 is lost due to sliding resistance or the like, and the remaining part is used for the rotational torque of the rollers or gears. At the initial stage of use start of the recording apparatus 11, even when the output torque of the transport motor 46 is the same, the loss of sliding resistance of the rollers or gears is relatively small, and thus, an excessive rotational torque is likely to be applied to the gears and the like. The torque increases as the speed is reduced according to the gear ratio of the gear train. Therefore, there is a possibility that the gear to which a relatively large torque is applied on the power transmission path of the transport motor 46 is damaged by an excessive torque exceeding the assumed torque.
Meanwhile, when the limit value of the motor current is set low, excessive torque applied to the gears and the like can be suppressed, but there is a possibility that a predetermined operation such as the transport operation of the medium M cannot be appropriately performed due to insufficient torque. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the torque required for a predetermined operation such as the transport operation while suppressing excessive torque applied to the gears and the like. However, of the output torque of the transport motor 46, the torque applied to the gears and the like and the torque that can be used for the predetermined operation depend on the loss torque due to the sliding resistance of the rotating components such as the rollers or the gears. The loss torque depends on the individual difference of each recording apparatus 11, the cumulative recording time of the recording apparatus 11, the recording frequency, the cumulative number of recorded sheets, and the like.
Therefore, the control section 100 of the embodiment measures the load applied when driving the transport motor 46 as a current value, and adds the predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea to set the limit value.
In the embodiment, the limit value is set in accordance with the power transmission mechanism of a specific movable member to which a large torque is particularly easily applied, among the plurality of movable members having the transport motor 46 as a common driving source. The specific movable member utilizes the power transmission mechanism including the gears to which a large torque is easily applied due to the gear ratio of the gear train for the transmission of power. In the example, one of the specific movable members is the pickup roller 211. The maximum value of the gear ratio of the gear train used to drive the pickup roller 211 is larger than the maximum value of the gear ratio of the gear train used to drive the transport driving roller 43. Not limited to damage such as tooth chipping of gears, when the power transmission mechanism includes components other than gears, a limit value is set to the extent that damage to those components can be suppressed.
The load measurement in the load measurement mode is performed in a state where the carriage 24 is positioned at the home position HP. In other words, the first switching section 90 is performed under the state of being switched to the first switching position SW1 in which the coupling between the transport driving roller 43 and the first feeding mechanism 70 is decoupled.
The control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 by controlling the current flowing through the transport motor 46. The control section 100 measures the load applied to the transport motor 46 by the current value flowing through the transport motor 46 while driving the transport motor 46, adds the predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea, and sets the limit value of the current. The second limit value Ilim2 is set based on the measured current value Imea that measures the load of the transport motor 46.
Next, a method of setting the second limit value Ilim2 will be described in detail with reference to
The recording apparatus 11 of the embodiment, for example, drives the transport motor 46 when the power is turned on when the power supply operation section 16 is operated to measure the load of the transport system applied to the transport motor 46 by driving the transport roller pair 41 or the like. In the measurement mode, the carriage 24 is positioned at the home position HP and the first switching section 90 is at the first switching position SW1. This is because, when the transport motor 46 is driven under the state where the first switching section 90 is switched to the second switching position SW2, the medium M is transported from the cassette 27 at the time of load measurement. Therefore, by performing the load measurement under the state where the carriage 24 is at the home position HP and the first switching section 90 is at the first switching position SW1, it is possible to prevent the medium M from being transported at times other than recording.
In the two graphs illustrated in
When the power is turned on, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 while the first switching section 90 is in a non-coupled state, and thus, the load current applied to the transport motor 46 is acquired as the measured current value Imea. In other words, the control section 100 acquires the load current applied to the transport motor 46 as the measured current value Imea under the condition that the feeding section 20 is not driven and the transport section 40 is driven. The calculation section 103 calculates the second limit value Ilim2 by adding the offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea. In this manner, the second limit value Ilim2 is stored in the non-volatile memory 106.
Here, as illustrated in
A value Isf illustrated in
In
In the graph illustrated in
In the embodiment, the second limit value Ilim2 is set for the period during which there is a possibility of occurrence of a problem that components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism are damaged due to excessive torque at the time of occurrence of an abnormality such as a jam, when the current having the first limit value Ilim1 flows to the transport motor 46. In the example, the control section 100 sets the limit value to the period during which the power transmission mechanism is most loaded. In this period, the limit value of the current is set to a value smaller than the value set in other periods other than this period.
In the example, the period during which the power transmission mechanism is most loaded at the time of occurrence of an abnormal load is a feeding period ST during which the pickup roller 211 is driven. In the feeding period ST during which the pickup roller 211 is driven, the current limit value is set to the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1 set in the transport period FT, which is a period other than the feeding period ST.
The recording apparatus 11 includes an operation section that is operated when performing a jam recovery operation on the medium M. In the recording apparatus 11 of the example, a touch panel type display section 15A provided on the operation panel 15 configures an example of the operation section. The first switching section 90 is configured to be switched by moving the carriage 24 on which the recording head 25 is provided to a predetermined switching position on the scanning path that moves in the scanning direction X, which is the direction intersecting the transport direction Y0 of the medium M. In the example, the lock member 68 is configured to move from the lock position to the unlock position when the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly in the rotational direction in which the medium M is transported.
The second limit value Ilim2 is also set for other periods during which there is a possibility that the component damage such as missing gears occurs. In the embodiment, the control section 100 makes the transport motor 46 stop in an emergency when an abnormality such as a jam is detected. When the control section 100 receives the recovery operation in which the user who eliminated the jam operates the operation section, in order to move the carriage 24, the control section 100 moves the lock member 68 to the unlock position to perform the carriage unlock operation for unlocking the carriage 24. Even in a carriage unlock operation period LT (refer to
In a state where the jammed medium M remains, when other operations are performed in which the transport motor 46 is driven in the forward rotational direction, which is the rotational direction for transporting the medium M in the transport direction Y0, the transport driving roller 43 rotates in the direction of accelerating the jam, and thus, an excessive current flows through the transport motor 46. This excessive current applies excessive torque to the gear and causes damage to the gear. Therefore, in the embodiment, in the operation period during which there is a possibility that the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly in a state where the jammed medium M remains, the limit value of the current of the transport motor 46 is set to the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1.
At the time of occurrence of an abnormality such as a jam, there are a case where the power of the recording apparatus 11 is not turned off and information indicating occurrence of the abnormality is displayed on the display section 15A of the operation panel 15, and a case where the power of the recording apparatus 11 is forcibly turned off. In the former case, the user performs the recovery operation by operating the touch panel type operation section after removing the jammed medium M. In the latter case, the user performs the recovery operation by operating the power supply operation section 16 after removing the jammed medium M.
When the control section 100 detects a jam of the medium M during recording, the carriage 24 is moved to the home position HP, and when the carriage 24 reaches the home position HP, the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated reversely to move the lock member 68 from the unlock position to the lock position. Accordingly, the carriage 24 is made to stand by in a locked state at the home position HP. The control section 100 displays on the display section 15A information indicating that a jam occurred and prompting the elimination of the jam. When the user who sees this information removes the jammed medium M from the recording apparatus 11, and the user performs the recovery operation for operating the power supply operation section 16 or the selection operation section. When the control section 100 receives the recovery operation by the operation section, the control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2 and then drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly to move the lock member 68 from the lock position to the unlock position. When the carriage 24 is unlocked, the control section 100 changes the limit value of the current from the second limit value Ilim2 to the first limit value Ilim1.
As illustrated in
In at least a part of the feeding period ST during which the pickup roller 211, which is an example of the movable member, is driven, the control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1 set for the transport period FT, which is a period during which the pickup roller 211 is not driven.
Specifically, the speed profile of the feeding speed Vsf in the feeding period ST includes the acceleration range, the constant speed range, and the deceleration range. The period for changing the limit value of the current to a small value may be a part of the feeding period ST including at least the constant speed range. In the example, as illustrated in
When the carriage 24 moves to the feed coupling position SP, the first switching section 90 is switched to the second switching position SW2. At this time, the cam member 95 operates at the feeding position. By holding the cam member 95 at the feeding position, even when the carriage 24 leaves the feed coupling position SP, the first switching section 90 is held at the second switching position SW2 while the cam member 95 is at the feeding position. In other words, the slider 91 is held at the second switching position SW2.
The control section 100 switches from the feeding period ST to the transport period FT by switching the first switching section 90 from the second switching position SW2 to the third switching position SW3 by the operation of the carriage 24. When this switching is performed, the control section 100 changes the limit value of the current from the second limit value Ilim2 to the first limit value Ilim1.
The feeding period ST is a period during which the pickup roller 211 comes into contact with the recording target medium M in the cassette 27 and sends out the medium M. Therefore, the feeding period ST changes according to the medium length, which is the length of the medium M in the transport direction Y0.
In
Incidentally, when the medium M is jammed in the feeding period ST, the current value of the transport motor 46 exceeds the second limit value Ilim2, and thus, the driving of the transport motor 46 is stopped at that point. When the medium M is jammed in the transport period FT, the current value of the transport motor 46 exceeds the first limit value Ilim1, and thus, the driving of the transport motor 46 is stopped at that point. When the control section 100 detects a jam and stops the transport motor 46 in an emergency, the control section 100 drives the carriage motor 32 to move the carriage 24 to the home position HP. The control section 100 moves the lock member 68 from the unlock position to the lock position by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated reversely. Accordingly, the lock member 68 is engaged with the carriage 24, and the carriage 24 is held at the home position HP. Here, there is a jam which is detected when the medium M is clogged in the pickup roller 211, the transport roller pair 41, or the discharge roller pair 42 and the current value of the transport motor 46 exceeds the limit value, and there is a jam which is detected as the carriage 24 comes into contact with the medium M and the current value of the carriage motor 32 exceeds the limit value due to the large load.
As illustrated in this graph, when the control section 100 receives the recovery operation, the carriage unlock operation for moving the lock member 68 from the lock position to the unlock position is performed. In the embodiment, since the lock member 68 uses the transport motor 46 as a driving source, the driving rollers 43 and 45 of the transport system are driven together with the lock member 68 when the lock member 68 is driven. When the emergency stop of the transport motor 46 is performed in the feeding period ST, there is a case where the switching gear 96 and the gear 78 mesh with each other when the recovery operation is performed. In this case, when the transport motor 46 is driven for the recovery operation, the pickup roller 211 is driven. Therefore, in
The recovery operation is an operation of reciprocating the carriage 24 and confirming that there is no jammed medium M that interferes with the carriage 24 on the scanning path. When the recovery operation is received, the carriage unlock operation for unlocking the carriage 24 is first performed in order to cause the carriage 24 to perform the recovery operation. Since this carriage unlock operation is performed by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly, among the transport driving roller 43, the discharge driving roller 45, and the pickup roller 211, at least the transport driving roller 43 and the discharge driving roller 45 rotate. At this time, when the jammed medium M remains on the transport path, the jam is further aggravated and the load applied to the transport motor 46 increases. At this time, when the pickup roller 211 is in a state of being capable of being driven, there is a possibility that an excessive torque is applied to the gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 during the carriage unlock operation, resulting in damage or the like. Therefore, in the carriage unlock operation period LT, the second limit value Ilim2 of which the limit value of the current is the same as that in the feeding period ST is set.
Next, the operation of the recording apparatus 11 will be described.
When the power of the recording apparatus 11 is turned on, the control section 100 executes the limit value setting routine illustrated in
First, in step S11, the control section 100 idles the transport motor 46 to measure the load current Imea. The control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 in a state where the carriage 24 is positioned at the home position HP. Since the home position HP is the first switching position SW1 of the first switching section 90, the pickup roller 211 and the feeding roller 221 are not driven even when the transport motor 46 is driven. Therefore, the transport driving roller 43 and the discharge driving roller 45 idle without transporting the medium M. The control section 100 measures the current value during driving of the transport motor 46 from the current command value in the constant speed range. At this time, the loads of the transport driving roller 43, the discharge driving roller 45, and the power transmission mechanism of the transport system are measured. The measured load current is acquired as the measured current value Imea.
In step S12, the control section 100 calculates the second limit value Ilim2 by Ilim2=Imea+Iof. This calculation is performed by the calculation section 103 of the control section 100.
In step S13, the control section 100 determines whether or not Ilim2≤Ilim1. When Ilim2≤Ilim1, the control section 100 proceeds to step S14, and when Ilim2≤Ilim1, the control section 100 proceeds to step S15.
In step S15, the control section 100 sets Ilim2=Ilim1. In other words, the control section 100 sets the first limit value Ilim1 as the maximum value, and when the calculated second limit value Ilim2 exceeds the first limit value Ilim1, the control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2 to the first limit value Ilim1.
In step S14, the control section 100 determines whether or not Ilim2>Imin Here, Imin is the lower limit of the second limit value. When Ilim2>Imin, the control section 100 ends the routine, and when Ilim2>Imin is not satisfied, the control section 100 proceeds to step S16.
In step S16, the control section 100 sets Ilim2=Imin. In other words, when the calculated second limit value Ilim2 is equal to or less than the lower limit value Imin, the control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2 to the lower limit value Imin. In this manner, the second limit value Ilim2 is set by the limit value setting process. The control section 100 stores the second limit value Ilim2 in the non-volatile memory 106.
At the initial stage of use start of the recording apparatus 11, the second limit value Ilim2 illustrated in
Next, the recording process routine executed by the control section 100 will be described. When receiving recorded data PD, the control section 100 executes the recording process routine illustrated in
First, in step S21, the control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2.
In step S22, the control section 100 moves the carriage 24 to the feed coupling position SP. As a result, the slider 91 moves to the second switching position SW2 illustrated in
In step S23, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly. As a result, the pickup roller 211 rotates, and the uppermost one of the media M in the cassette 27 is fed. The distal end of the medium M is detected by the medium detector 28 during feeding. The first counter 101 counts the number of pulse edges of the detection pulse signal input from the encoder 49 by using the position at which the medium detector 28 detects the distal end of the medium M as an origin point, and accordingly, the first counter 101 counts the counted value corresponding to the transport position, which is the position of the medium M in the transport direction Y0. The medium M is transported by the pickup rollers 211 until the distal end of the medium M reaches the transport roller pair 41. In this feeding period ST, the second limit value Ilim2 is set as the limit value of the current of the transport motor 46. When the distal end of the medium M reaches the transport roller pair 41, the subsequent medium M is transported by the pickup roller 211 and the transport roller pair 41. Furthermore, after this, the medium M is transported by the pickup roller 211, the transport roller pair 41, and the discharge roller pair 42.
In step S24, the control section 100 determines whether or not a jam occurred. In this feeding period ST, the control section 100 detects the jam when the current value commanded by the current command value exceeds the second limit value Ilim2 Therefore, the control section 100 determines whether or not the current value commanded by the current command value exceeds the second limit value Ilim2 When the control section 100 does not detect the jam, the process proceeds to step S25, and when the jam is detected, the control section 100 proceeds to step S29.
In step S25, the control section 100 performs the recording operation. In other words, the control section 100 drives the carriage motor 32 and discharges the liquid from the recording head 25 while moving the carriage 24 in the scanning direction X to performs recording one pass on the medium M.
In step S26, the control section 100 determines whether or not the feeding is completed. In other words, the control section 100 determines whether or not the rear end of the recording target medium M is separated from the pickup roller 211. Here, the control section 100 acquires the medium size information based on the recording condition information included in the recorded data PD, and acquires the medium length from the medium size. The control section 100 acquires the position of the rear end of the medium M from the value obtained by adding the medium length to the position of the distal end of the medium M acquired from the counted value of the first counter 101. The control section 100 determines that the feeding is completed when the position of the rear end of the medium M passes the pickup roller 211. In other words, the control section 100 determines that the feeding period ST ended. When the feeding is not completed, the control section 100 returns to step S23, and when the feeding is completed, the control section 100 proceeds to step S27.
In step S27, the control section 100 sets the first limit value Ilim1 as the limit value of the current.
In step S28, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly. As a result, the medium M is transported to the next recording position by the transport roller pair 41 and the discharge roller pair 42.
In step S29, the control section 100 determines whether or not a jam occurred. In this transport period FT, the control section 100 detects the jam when the current value commanded by the current command value exceeds the second limit value Ilim2 Therefore, the control section 100 determines whether or not the current value commanded by the current command value exceeds the second limit value Ilim2 When the control section 100 does not detect the jam, the process proceeds to step S30, and when the jam is detected, the control section 100 proceeds to step S32.
In step S30, the control section 100 performs the recording operation. In other words, the control section 100 drives the carriage motor 32 and discharges the liquid from the recording head 25 while moving the carriage 24 in the scanning direction X to performs recording one pass on the medium M.
In step S31, the control section 100 determines whether or not the recording is completed. When the recording is not completed, the process returns to step S28, and the transport operation (S28), the jam detection (S29), and the recording operation (S30) are repeated until it is determined in step S31 that the recording is completed. When the recording is completed, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly to discharge the medium M, after recording, and then ends the routine.
When a jam is detected in either the feeding period ST or the transport period FT, the control section 100 executes the process of step S32. In step S32, the control section 100 stops the driving of the transport motor 46. As a result, when a jam is detected, the driving of the transport motor 46 is forcibly stopped.
In step S33, the control section 100 sets an abnormality flag F to “1” (F=1). In other words, the control section 100 stores the information indicating that the transport motor 46 is driven and stopped due to an abnormality such as a jam in a predetermined storage area of the non-volatile memory 106.
In step S34, the control section 100 moves the carriage 24 to the home position HP. In other words, the control section 100 drives the carriage motor 32 to move the carriage 24 to the home position HP.
In step S35, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated reversely to lock the carriage 24. In other words, the control section 100 moves the lock member 68 from the unlock position to the lock position by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated reversely. As a result, as illustrated in
In step S36, the control section 100 causes the display section 15A to display a message prompting the recovery operation. When an abnormality such as a jam is detected, the power of the recording apparatus 11 may be forcibly cut off.
When a jam occurs and the recording operation is suspended, the user who sees the message displayed on the display section 15A removes the jammed medium M. Even when the power is forcibly cut off, the user removes the jammed medium M. After removing the jammed medium M, the recovery operation such as operating the touch panel type OK button displayed on the display section 15A or operating the power supply operation section 16 is performed. The control section 100 that received this recovery operation executes the recovery process routine illustrated in
Hereinafter, the recovery process will be described with reference to
First, in step S41, the control section 100 determines whether or not abnormality flag F=1 is satisfied. When abnormality flag F=1 is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S42, and when the abnormality flag F=1, the process proceeds to step S44.
In step S42, the control section 100 sets the first limit value Ilim1.
In step S43, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly to unlock the carriage 24. In other words, the control section 100 moves the lock member 68 from the lock position to the unlock position by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly. As a result, the lock member 68 moves to the unlock position illustrated by the two-dot chain line in
In step S44, the control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2 In other words, at the time of the recovery operation after the transport motor 46 is stopped in an emergency, the second limit value Ilim2 is set as the limit value of the current of the transport motor 46.
In step S45, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly to unlock the carriage 24. In other words, the control section 100 moves the lock member 68 from the lock position to the unlock position by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated forwardly. Incidentally, there is a case where the user operates the OK button or the power supply operation section 16 without removing the jammed medium M, or with a part of the jammed medium M remaining even after the removal is performed. When the emergency stop of the transport motor 46 due to jam detection occurs in the feeding period ST, the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly under the state where the first switching section 90 is at the second switching position SW2. In this case, when at least a part of the jammed medium M remains on the transport path, the torque of the transport motor 46 becomes excessive due to the excessive load. However, when abnormality flag F=1 is satisfied, the limit value of the current is set to the second limit value Ilim2, and thus, when the current value of the transport motor 46 exceeds the second limit value Ilim2, the transport motor 46 is stopped in an emergency. As a result, damage or the like to gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 is suppressed during the recovery process. The control section 100 monitors the current value of the transport motor 46 in the process of the carriage unlock operation, and detects the presence or absence of the jammed medium M on the transport path.
In step S46, the control section 100 sets the first limit value Ilim1.
In step S47, the control section 100 reciprocates the carriage 24. The control section 100 drives the carriage motor 32 to reciprocate the carriage 24. The control section 100 monitors whether or not the current value of the carriage motor 32 exceeds the threshold value in the process of reciprocating the carriage 24. When the current value of the carriage motor 32 exceeds the limit value in the process of reciprocating the carriage 24, the carriage motor 32 is stopped in an emergency.
In step S48, the control section 100 determines whether or not there is an abnormality. In other words, the control section 100 determines whether or not the current value of the carriage motor 32 exceeds the threshold value. The control section 100 proceeds to step S49 when there is an abnormality, and proceeds to step S50 when there is no abnormality.
In step S49, the control section 100 causes the display section 15A to display a message prompting the recovery operation.
In step S50, the control section 100 drives the transport motor 46 to be rotated reversely to lock the carriage 24. In other words, the control section 100 moves the lock member 68 from the unlock position to the lock position by driving the transport motor 46 to be rotated reversely. When the recovery process is ended without any abnormality in this manner, the recording apparatus 11 stands by until the recorded data PD is received. When abnormality flag F=0 is satisfied, the power is normally turned on, and thus, other initialization operations are continuously performed.
According to the above-described embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The medium transport device 200 includes: the pickup roller 211 that feeds the recording medium M; the transport driving roller 43 that transports the recording medium M toward the recording head 25; and the transport motor 46 which is a driving source for the pickup roller 211 and/or the transport driving roller 43. Furthermore, the medium transport device 200 includes: the first feeding mechanism 70 which is the power transmission mechanism that transmits the power of the transport motor 46 to the pickup roller 211; and the control section 100 that controls the current of the transport motor 46. The control section 100 measures the current value while driving the transport motor 46 as the measured current value Imea, and adds the predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea to set the limit value Ilim2 of the current supplied to the transport motor 46. According to this configuration, the appropriate limit value Ilim2 can be set according to the load of the transport motor 46 at that time. Therefore, when the transport driving roller 43 and the pickup roller 211 are driven by the power of the transport motor 46, it is possible to suppress tooth chipping or the like of gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70, and it is possible to set the appropriate limit value Ilim2 according to the load at that time which changes over time from the initial stage of use start of the recording apparatus 11 to the end of the service life. Accordingly, even when the load applied to the transport motor 46 changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device 200, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70.
(2) The medium transport device 200 includes: the pickup roller 211 that feeds the recording medium M; the transport driving roller 43 that transports the recording medium M toward the recording head 25; the movable member other than the transport driving roller 43; and the transport motor 46. Furthermore, the medium transport device 200 includes: the first feeding mechanism 70 which is the power transmission mechanism that transmits the power of the transport motor 46 to the movable member; and the control section 100 that controls the current of the transport motor 46. The control section 100 measures the current value while driving the transport motor 46 as the measured current value Imea, and adds the predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea to set the limit value Ilim2 of the current supplied to the transport motor 46. According to this configuration, the appropriate limit value Ilim2 can be set according to the load of the transport motor 46 at that time. Therefore, when the transport driving roller 43 and the movable member are driven by the power of the transport motor 46, it is possible to suppress tooth chipping of gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70, and it is possible to set the appropriate limit value Ilim2 according to the load at that time which changes over time from the initial stage of use start of the recording apparatus 11 to the end of the service life. Accordingly, even when the load applied to the transport motor 46 changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device 200, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70.
(3) The movable member is the pickup roller 211. The transport motor 46 is a common driving source for the pickup roller 211 and the transport driving roller 43. According to this configuration, the number of components of the transport motor 46 can be reduced.
(4) The control section 100 sets the limit value Ilim2 for the period during which the first feeding mechanism 70, which is the power transmission mechanism, is most loaded, and in this period, the limit value of the current is set to the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1 set for the period other than this period. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress damage to gears and the like that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 when driving the movable member. When the movable member is not driven, the torque required for a predetermined operation such as a transport operation can be ensured.
(5) The movable member is the pickup roller 211. The maximum value of the gear ratio of the gear train used to drive the pickup roller 211 is larger than the maximum value of the gear ratio of the gear train used to drive the transport driving roller 43. The period set for the second limit value Ilim2 is a period including the maximum speed range of the pickup roller 211 in the feeding period ST during which the pickup roller 211 is driven. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70, which is a power transmission mechanism, in the feeding period ST during which the medium M is fed.
(6) The medium transport device 200 includes: the first power transmission mechanism that transmits the rotational power of the transport driving roller 43 that is rotated by the power of the transport motor 46; the first feeding mechanism 70, which is the second power transmission mechanism, that transmits the rotational power of the gear group 50, which is the first power transmission mechanism, to the movable member; and the first switching section 90 that switches the gear group 50 which is the first power transmission mechanism and the first feeding mechanism 70 which is the second power transmission mechanism between the coupled state and the decoupled state. The control section 100 is set to the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1 of the transport period FT in which the movable member is not driven in at least a part of the period during which the movable member is driven according to the switching state by the first switching section 90. According to this configuration, in at least a part of the period during which the movable member is driven, the current of the transport motor 46 is limited to the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1 set for the period during which the movable member is not driven. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 when driving the movable member. When the movable member is the pickup roller 211, the first power transmission mechanism is the gear group 50, and the second power transmission mechanism is the first feeding mechanism 70. When the movable member is the lock member 68, the first power transmission mechanism is the gear group 50, and the second power transmission mechanism is the maintenance mechanism 65.
(7) The movable member is the pickup roller 211. The control section 100 sets the second limit value Ilim2 smaller than the first limit value Ilim1 set for the transport period FT in which the transport driving roller 43 transports the recording medium M, as the limit value of the current, in the feeding period ST during which the pickup roller 211 is driven. By switching the first switching section 90 from the coupled state to the decoupled state, when the feeding period ST is switched to the transport period FT, the limit value of the current is changed from the second limit value Ilim2 to the first limit value Ilim1 According to this configuration, when the feeding period ST is switched to the transport period FT, the second limit value Ilim2 is changed to the first limit value Ilim1, and thus, it is possible to ensure a large torque required for transporting the medium M in the transport period FT while suppressing occurrence of problems such as tooth chipping of the gears in the feeding period ST. For example, it is possible to suppress variations at the transport position of the medium M due to insufficient torque of the transport motor 46.
(8) The movable member is the lock member 68 that moves between the lock position at which the carriage 24 provided in the recording head 25 is locked to the standby position and the unlock position at which the carriage 24 is unlocked to be movable from the standby position. According to this configuration, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 when driving the lock member 68.
(9) The operation section is provided such as the power supply operation section 16 or the OK button that is operated when performing the jam recovery operation on the recording medium M. The first switching section 90 is configured to be switched by moving the carriage 24 on which the recording head 25 is provided to a predetermined switching position on the scanning path that moves in the scanning direction X, which is the direction intersecting the transport direction Y0 of the recording medium M. The movable member is the lock member 68 that moves between the lock position at which the carriage 24 is locked to the standby position and the unlock position at which the carriage 24 is unlocked to be movable from the standby position. The lock member 68 moves from the lock position to the unlock position when the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly in the rotational direction in which the recording medium M is transported. When the control section 100 detects a jam of the medium, the carriage 24 is moved to the standby position to make the carriage 24 stand by, the lock member 68 is moved from the unlock position to the lock position, and then, when receiving the recovery operation by the operation section, after setting the second limit value Ilim2, the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly, and the lock member 68 is moved from the lock position to the unlock position.
According to this configuration, when a jam occurs and the driving of the transport motor 46 is stopped, the carriage 24 is moved to the standby position, and the carriage 24 is held at the standby position by the lock member 68 that is moved to the lock position. After this, the user who performed the recovery work such as removing the jammed medium performs the recovery operation on the recording apparatus 11. The control section 100 that received the recovery operation sets the limit value to the second limit value Ilim2, and then, the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly. Therefore, even when the transport motor 46 is driven to be rotated forwardly in the same rotational direction as during feeding without removing the jammed recording medium M, the current value supplied to the transport motor 46 is limited to the second limit value Ilim2, and thus, the load applied to the gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 is suppressed. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70 when performing the recovery operation after occurrence of a jam.
(10) When the carriage 24 is unlocked, the control section 100 changes the limit value from the second limit value Ilim2 to the first limit value Ilim1 According to this configuration, when the lock is released, the transport motor 46 is driven in the direction of transporting the recording medium M, but by setting the limit value Ilim2 that limits the current of the transport motor 46, even when the jammed recording medium M remains, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as tooth chipping of gears. Moreover, after the lock is released, the limit value of the transport motor 46 is changed from the second limit value Ilim2 to the first limit value Ilim1. For example, after this, in the locking process in which the lock member 68 moves from the unlock position to the lock position, a larger torque can be ensured than that in the unlocking process. For example, the carriage 24 can be locked more reliably.
(11) The recording apparatus 11 includes the medium transport device 200 and the recording head 25 for performing recording on the recording medium M. According to this configuration, since the recording apparatus 11 includes the medium transport device 200, the same operation effects as those of the medium transport device 200 can be obtained.
(11) The control method of the medium transport device 200 includes: measuring the current value while driving the transport motor 46 as the measured current value Imea by the control section 100; and setting the limit value Ilim2 of the current supplied to the transport motor 46 by adding the predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea by the control section 100. According to the control method, even when the load applied to the transport motor 46 changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device 200, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the first feeding mechanism 70.
The above-described embodiment can also be changed to a form such as the modification example illustrated below. Furthermore, a further modification example may also be an appropriate combination of the above-described embodiment and the modification examples illustrated below, or an appropriate combination of the modification examples illustrated below may be a further modification example.
The first limit value Ilim1, which is a limit value set in the transport period during which the transport roller is driven, may be obtained by adding the predetermined offset value Iof to the measured current value Imea. In this case, the limit value may be configured such that the first limit value Ilim1 and the second limit value Ilim2 are set, or only one corresponding to the first limit value Ilim1 is set. According to this configuration, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage or the like to the components that configure the power transmission mechanism in the transport period during which the transport roller is driven.
The technical idea grasped from the embodiments and the modification examples is described below together with the operation effects thereof.
(A) A medium transport device that transports a recording medium, includes: a feeding roller that feeds the recording medium; a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller; a motor which is an individual or common driving source for the feeding roller and the transport roller; a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to at least one of the feeding roller and the transport roller; and a control section that controls a current of the motor, and the control section measures a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value, and sets a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value.
According to this configuration, the appropriate limit value can be set according to the load of the motor at that time. Therefore, when the feeding roller or the transport roller is driven by the power of the motor, it is possible to suppress damage or the like to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism, and it is possible to set the appropriate limit value according to the load at that time, which changes over time from the initial stage of use start of the recording apparatus to the end of the service life thereof. Accordingly, even when the load applied to the motor changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism.
(B) A medium transport device that transports a recording medium, includes: a feeding roller that feeds the recording medium; a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller; a movable member other than the transport roller; a motor; a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the movable member; and a control section that controls a current of the motor, and the control section measures a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value, and sets a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value.
According to this configuration, the appropriate limit value can be set according to the load of the motor at that time. Therefore, when the movable member is driven by the power of the motor, it is possible to suppress damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism, and it is possible to set the appropriate limit value according to the load at that time, which changes over time from the initial stage of use start of the recording apparatus to the end of the service life thereof. Accordingly, even when the load applied to the motor changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism.
(C) In the above-described medium transport device, the movable member may be the feeding roller, and the motor may be a common driving source for the feeding roller and the transport roller. According to this configuration, the number of components of the motor can be reduced.
(D) In the above-described medium transport device, the control section may set the limit value of the current for a period during which a load applied to the power transmission mechanism is largest, and in the period, the limit value of the current is set to a second limit value smaller than a preset first limit value for a period other than the period.
According to this configuration, in the period when the gears that configure the power transmission mechanism are most loaded, the limit value of the current is set to the second limit value smaller than the first limit value set for the period other than the period. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism when driving the movable member.
(E) In the above-described medium transport device, the movable member may be the feeding roller, and the period during which the limit value of the current is set to the second limit value may be a period including a maximum speed range of the feeding roller in a feeding period during which the feeding roller is driven.
According to this configuration, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism in the feeding period during which the medium is fed.
(F) In the above-described medium transport device, there may further be provided a first power transmission mechanism that transmits rotational power of the transport roller rotated by the power of the motor; a second power transmission mechanism that transmits rotational power of the first power transmission mechanism to the movable member; and a switching section for switching the first power transmission mechanism and the second power transmission mechanism between a coupled state and a decoupled state, and the control section may set a second limit value smaller than a first limit value set for a period during which the movable member is not driven, as the limit value of the current, in at least a part of a period during which the movable member is driven, according to a switching state by the switching section.
According to this configuration, in at least a part of the period during which the movable member is driven, the current of the motor is limited to the second limit value smaller than the first limit value when the movable member is not driven. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism when driving the movable member.
(G) In the above-described medium transport device, the movable member may be the feeding roller, the control section may set a second limit value smaller than a first limit value set for a transport period during which the transport roller transports the recording medium, as the limit value of the current, in a feeding period during which the feeding roller is driven, and the limit value of the current may be changed from the second limit value to the first limit value when switching from the feeding period to the transport period by switching the switching section from the coupled state to the decoupled state.
According to this configuration, when the feeding period is switched to the transport period, the second limit value is changed to the first limit value, and thus, it is possible to ensure a large torque required for transporting the medium in the transport period while suppressing occurrence of problems such as tooth chipping of gears in the feeding period. For example, it is possible to suppress variations at the transport position of the medium due to insufficient torque of the motor.
(H) In the above-described medium transport device, there may further be provided a lock member that moves between a lock position at which a carriage provided with a recording head for performing recording on the recording medium is locked at a standby position and an unlock position at which the carriage is unlocked to be movable from the standby position, and the movable member may be the lock member.
According to this configuration, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism when driving the lock member.
(I) In the above-described medium transport device, there may further be provided an operation section operated when a jam recovery operation of the recording medium is performed, the switching section may be switched by moving to a predetermined switching position on a scanning path on which a carriage provided with a recording head for performing recording on the recording medium moves in a scanning direction, which is a direction intersecting a transport direction of the recording medium, the movable member may be a lock member that moves between a lock position at which the carriage is locked at a standby position and an unlock position at which the carriage is unlocked to be movable from the standby position, the lock member may move from the lock position to the unlock position when the motor is driven to be rotated forwardly in a rotational direction of transporting the recording medium, and when a jam of the medium is detected, the control section may move the carriage to the standby position and make the carriage stand by, and move the lock member from the unlock position to the lock position, and then, when a recovery operation by the operation section is received, the control section may drive the motor to be rotated forwardly and move the lock member from the lock position to the unlock position, after setting the second limit value.
According to this configuration, when a jam occurs and the driving of the motor is stopped, the carriage is moved to the standby position, and the carriage is held at the standby position by the lock member that is moved to the lock position. After this, the user who performed the recovery work such as removing the jammed medium performs the recovery operation on the recording apparatus. The control section that received the recovery operation sets the limit value to the second limit value, and then, the motor is driven to be rotated forwardly. Therefore, even when the motor is driven to be rotated forwardly in the same rotational direction as during feeding without removing the jammed recording medium, the current value supplied to the motor is limited to the second limit value, and thus, the load applied to the gears that configure the power transmission mechanism is suppressed. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to the components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism when performing the recovery operation after occurrence of a jam.
(J) In the above-described medium transport device, the control section may change the limit value of the current from the second limit value to the first limit value when the carriage is unlocked.
According to this configuration, when the lock member moves from the lock position to the unlock position, the motor is driven in the direction of transporting the recording medium, but by setting the second limit value that limits the current of the motor, even when the jammed recording medium remains on the transport path, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as tooth chipping of the gear. Moreover, after the lock is released, the limit value of the motor is changed from the second limit value to the first limit value. For example, after this, in the locking process in which the lock member moves from the unlock position to the lock position, a larger torque can be ensured than that in the unlocking process. For example, the carriage can be locked more reliably.
(K) In the above-described medium transport device, there may further be provided a plurality of mounting sections on which the recording medium is mounted; a plurality of the feeding rollers that respectively feed the recording medium mounted on the plurality of mounting sections; and a plurality of feeding mechanisms that transmit the power of the motor to the plurality of the feeding rollers, and the control section may set the second limit value to be different for the plurality of feeding periods in which the plurality of feeding rollers are driven.
According to this configuration, the plurality of feeding rollers rotated by the power transmitted by the plurality of feeding mechanisms transport the recording medium to the transport roller through feeding paths different from each other. The plurality of feeding mechanisms differ in their respective configurations, the length of the feeding path, the shape of the feeding path, the degree of wear of the configuration components of the feeding mechanism, and the like. Therefore, the load of the motor differs depending on which of the plurality of feeding mechanisms is selected to feed the medium. Since the control section sets the second limit value to be different for each feeding period during which the plurality of feeding rollers are driven, even when the load is different for each of the plurality of feeding mechanisms, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the feeding mechanism at the time of occurrence of abnormality such as a jam, and additionally, it is possible to ensure the torque required for feeding by the feeding roller.
(L) In the above-described medium transport device, the control section may acquire medium type information which is information on a type of the recording medium fed by the feeding roller, and set a second limit value to be different according to the medium type information.
According to this configuration, the load applied to the motor differs when the recording medium is fed by the feeding roller depending on the type of the recording medium. The control section acquires the medium type information, which is information on the type of recording medium fed by the feeding roller, and sets the second limit value to be different according to the medium type information. Accordingly, an appropriate limit value can be set regardless of the type of recording medium. Accordingly, it is possible to more appropriately suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism that transmits the power to the feeding roller.
(M) In the above-described medium transport device, there may further be provided a maintenance device having a cap that forms a closed space surrounding a nozzle of a recording head for performing recording on the recording medium, by coming into contact with a nozzle surface on which the nozzle is open, and a pump that suctions air in the closed space to make a negative pressure in the closed space, and the movable member may be the pump.
According to this configuration, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism of the maintenance device.
(N) In the above-described medium transport device, there may further be provided a maintenance device having a cap that forms a closed space surrounding a nozzle of a recording head for performing recording on the recording medium, by coming into contact with a nozzle surface on which the nozzle is open, and a pump that suctions air in the closed space to make a negative pressure in the closed space, the movable member may be the pump, the control section may perform maintenance for forcibly suctioning and discharging liquid from the nozzle with the negative pressure made in the closed space by driving the motor to be rotated forwardly in a rotational direction in which the recording medium is transported to drive the pump, and air suction may be performed to drive the pump without forming the closed space between the cap and the nozzle surface when measuring the measured current value of the motor.
According to this configuration, the measurement of the measured current value of the motor is performed at the time of air suction. In other words, the measured current value includes a load of the transport system including the transport roller and a load of the maintenance system for driving the pump. Accordingly, it is possible to acquire a more accurate measured current value including the load of the maintenance system. For example, it is possible to measure only the load of the transport system, use the load of the maintenance system as an estimated value, and add the offset value including this estimated value to set the limit value. In this case, the accuracy is reduced by the amount including the estimated value. Compared to this, the load of the power transmission mechanism of the maintenance device, can also be measured, and thus, the limit value can be set with higher accuracy according to the load. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism of the maintenance device.
(O) A recording apparatus includes the medium transport device and a recording head that performs recording on the recording medium. According to this configuration, since the recording apparatus includes the medium transport device, the same operation effects as those of the medium transport device can be obtained.
(P) A control method of a medium transport device including a feeding roller that feeds a recording medium, a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller, a motor which is an individual or common driving source for the feeding roller and the transport roller, a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to at least one of the feeding roller and the transport roller, and a control section that controls driving of the motor, the method includes: measuring a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value by the control section; and setting a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value by the control section.
According to this method, even when the load applied to the motor changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism.
(Q) A control method of a medium transport device including a feeding roller that feeds a recording medium, a transport roller that transports the recording medium fed by the feeding roller, a movable member other than the transport roller, a motor, a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the movable member, and a control section that controls driving of the motor, the method includes: measuring a current value during driving of the motor as a measured current value by the control section; and setting a limit value of a current supplied to the motor by adding a predetermined offset value to the measured current value by the control section.
According to this method, even when the load applied to the motor changes over time due to the use of the medium transport device, it is possible to effectively suppress occurrence of problems such as damage to components such as gears that configure the power transmission mechanism.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-120148 | Jul 2020 | JP | national |
