Recording apparatus

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a line recording head.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is diagram illustrating the configuration of a recording unit.

#FIG. 3A is a diagram of a head holder as viewed from diagonally above.

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the overall configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A recording apparatus 100 includes a sheet supply unit 101, a recording unit 102, a cutter unit 103, a drying unit 104, and a discharging unit 105 from the upstream side to the downstream side of a sheet conveying direction during recording. An ink tank unit 106 and a control unit 107 are provided on the drying unit 104. Any position in a sheet conveying path close to the sheet supply unit 101 is referred to as an upstream position, and a position opposite thereto is referred to as a downstream position. The sheet supply unit 101 rotatably holds a rolled continuous sheet (roll sheet). In this embodiment, the sheet, which is a recording medium, is a continuous sheet; it may be a cut sheet. The sheet supply unit 101 has a feed mechanism for drawing out a sheet to feed the sheet downstream in the sheet conveying direction (X-direction, also referred to as a first direction). The continuous sheet supplied from the sheet supply unit 101 is printed with a plurality of images by the recording unit 102 and is then cut into a unit length by the cutter unit 103. The cut sheet is dried by the drying unit 104 and is discharged to the discharging unit 105. The control unit 107 is a controller responsible for controlling and driving the entire recording apparatus 100 and includes a CPU, a memory, and various I/O interfaces.

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the configuration of the recording unit 102 in FIG. 1. The recording unit 102 accommodates a plurality of recording head units 5 (5A to 5D) corresponding to different ink colors. The recording head units 5 each include a recording head having a nozzle surface on which an ink nozzle array is formed. The plurality of recording head units 5A to 5D are integrally held by a head holder 3. The color inks are held in the ink tank unit 106 and are supplied to the respective recording head units 5 through ink tubes. The recording head units 5 do not necessarily each have separate a ink tank but may have a configuration in which a recording head and an ink tank are integrated. Although this embodiment includes four recording head units corresponding to four CMYK colors, the number of colors is not limited thereto. Each of the plurality of recording head units 5 is a line recording head in which an inkjet nozzle array is formed in a range in which a supposed maximum sheet width is covered. The arranging direction of the ink nozzle array is a sheet widthwise direction, that is, a Y-direction (second direction) intersecting the X-direction (in this embodiment, at right angles) in a plane parallel to the sheet surface at a recording position. The ink nozzle array may be either an array in which nozzle chips are arranged regularly, such as in a staggered pattern, formed across the whole area in the widthwise direction or an array formed in a line along the widthwise direction. The inkjet system can employ a system that uses heating elements, a system that uses piezoelectric elements, a system that uses electrostatic elements, a system that uses MEMS elements, etc.

#The recording unit 102 further accommodates a displacement mechanism 2 and a conveying mechanism 4. The displacement mechanism 2 is a mechanism for displacing the head holder 3 in a predetermined direction with respect to fixed frames 78 of the recording apparatus. The displacement mechanism 2 and the head holder 3 constitute a recording head portion 1. The conveying mechanism 4 is a mechanism for conveying a sheet P1 in the conveying direction (X-direction) in the recording unit 102.