Media feeder, recording device

Abstract

To solve a problem in which when it is not possible to determine whether an abnormality in paper feeding is caused by a mistake in setting a recording sheet or jamming occurring after start of paper feeding, a recording device cannot send a proper alert to a user leading to impairment of user's convenience.SOLUTION: A medium feeding device includes: a feed roller which is provided on a medium feeding path in which a medium is sent and obtains power of a motor to rotate in a forward rotation direction and thereby send the medium to the downstream; a nip roller which is provided on the medium feeding path and rotates nipping the medium with the feed roller; and a control unit which controls the motor. The control unit controls the motor based on increase of a variation value which varies according to a drive load of the motor to start medium feeding operation conducted by the feed roller.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medium feeding device that feeds a medium, and a recording device equipped with the same. [Background technology]

[0002] Some recording devices, such as facsimiles and printers, are configured to allow manual feeding of recording paper, which is an example of a medium, into the device. In addition, some conventional recording devices capable of manual feeding have been provided with a detection means for detecting that recording paper has been set in the manual feed tray, as shown in Patent Document 1, and are configured to switch to a manual feed mode when it detects that recording paper has been set in the manual feed tray. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 05-162871 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a recording device having the above-mentioned mechanism, there are cases where the user releases the recording paper when the leading edge of the recording paper set by the user reaches the detection position detected by the detection means but does not reach the paper feed roller. In conventional recording devices, even in such a case, the device determines that the recording paper is set correctly and starts the feeding operation. In this case, the detection means further downstream of the paper feed roller will determine that a paper feed abnormality has occurred when it does not detect the leading edge of the paper for a specified period of time. As a result, the recording device cannot distinguish whether the cause of the paper feed abnormality is a paper jam after the start of feeding, and cannot issue an appropriate alert to the user, which can cause inconvenience to the user. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problem, the media feeding device of the present invention comprises a feed roller provided in a media feed path that feeds the media and rotates in a forward direction powered by a motor to feed the media downstream, a nip roller provided in the media feed path that rotates while nipping the media between the feed roller, and a control unit that controls the motor, and is characterized in that the control unit controls the motor to start the media feeding operation by the feed roller based on an increase in a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to the driving load of the motor. In order to solve the above problem, a recording device of the present invention is characterized by including a recording head for recording on a medium, and the medium feeding device for feeding the medium toward an area facing the recording head. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0006] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall medium feed path of the printer according to the invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the rear. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a portion of a media feed path of a printer according to the invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the printer according to the invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a waveform of a drive current value of a carry motor. [Figure 7] 4 is a flowchart showing a first control example performed by a control unit. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing a second control example performed by the control unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0007] The present invention will now be briefly described. The media feeding device of the first aspect comprises a feed roller provided in a media feed path that feeds a medium and rotates in a forward direction powered by a motor to feed the medium downstream, a nip roller provided in the media feed path that rotates while nipping the medium between the feed roller, and a control unit that controls the motor, and is characterized in that the control unit controls the motor to start the media feeding operation by the feed roller based on an increase in a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to the driving load of the motor.

[0008] When the leading edge of the medium gets between the feed roller and the nip roller, a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to the driving load of the motor changes, and this makes it possible to detect that the leading edge of the medium has got between the feed roller and the nip roller. This aspect utilizes this property, and the control unit controls the motor based on an increase in the fluctuation value that fluctuates according to the driving load of the motor to start the medium feeding operation by the feed roller, thereby making it possible to prevent the feeding operation from being started in a state where the medium has been set incorrectly. As a result, when a feeding abnormality occurs after the start of the feeding operation, an appropriate alert can be issued to the user, improving user convenience.

[0009] A second aspect is the first aspect, characterized in that the control unit emits an alarm sound when detecting an increase in the fluctuation value. According to this aspect, when the control unit detects an increase in the fluctuation value, it emits an alarm sound, thereby letting the user know that the medium has been nipped between the feed roller and the nip roller, thereby improving convenience.

[0010] A third aspect is characterized in that, in the first or second aspect, a media detection unit that detects the passage of a medium is provided upstream of the feed roller in the medium feed path, and when the media detection unit detects the passage of the leading edge of the medium, the control unit controls the motor to rotate the feed roller in a reverse direction opposite to the forward direction, and when the control unit detects an increase in the fluctuation value while the feed roller is rotating in the reverse direction, it switches the drive direction of the motor to start the medium feed operation.

[0011] According to this aspect, when the control unit detects the passage of the leading edge of the medium by the medium detection unit, the control unit controls the motor to rotate the feed roller in a reverse direction opposite to the forward rotation direction, so that the change in the fluctuation value becomes significant when the leading edge of the medium tries to enter between the feed roller and the nip roller, thereby making it possible to more reliably detect that the leading edge of the medium has reached the gap between the feed roller and the nip roller.

[0012] A fourth aspect is characterized in that, in the third aspect, the rotational speed when the feed roller is rotated in the reverse direction is slower than the rotational speed when the feed roller is rotated in the forward direction during the medium feed operation. According to this aspect, the rotational speed at which the feed roller rotates in the reverse direction is slower than the rotational speed at which the feed roller rotates in the forward direction during the media feed operation, thereby suppressing damage to the leading edge of the media when the leading edge of the media gets between the feed roller and the nip roller.

[0013] A fifth aspect is characterized in that, in the first or second aspect, a media detection unit that detects the passage of a medium is provided upstream of the feed roller in the media feed path, and the control unit issues an alert to encourage the insertion of a medium if it does not detect an increase in the fluctuation value even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the media detection unit detected the passage of the leading edge of the medium.

[0014] According to the present aspect, if the control unit does not detect an increase in the fluctuation value within a predetermined time after the media detection unit detects the passage of the leading edge of the media, it issues an alert urging the user to insert the media, thereby prompting the user to take appropriate action and thereby improving user convenience.

[0015] The sixth aspect is characterized by comprising a recording head that records on a medium, and the medium feeding device of any of the first to fifth aspects that feeds the medium toward an area opposite the recording head. According to this aspect, the recording device can obtain the effects of any one of the first to fifth aspects described above.

[0016] A seventh aspect is characterized in that, in the sixth aspect, it is provided with a medium support part that supports the medium at a position opposite the recording head, and is configured to be able to adjust the distance between the medium support part and the recording head under the control of the control part, and when the control part detects an increase in the fluctuation value, it widens the distance between the medium support part and the recording head. According to this aspect, when the control unit detects an increase in the fluctuation value, it increases the distance between the medium support unit and the recording head, thereby preventing friction between a thick medium and the recording head when the medium is fed, and also preventing damage to the recording head.

[0017] The eighth aspect is characterized in that, in the sixth aspect, the medium feed path is a straight path extending horizontally from the back to the front of a device body having the recording head from upstream to downstream, and is equipped with an inversion path that uses a part of the medium feed path to invert the surface of the medium, and an inversion unit that is detachable from a device body having the recording head, forms a part of the inversion path when attached to the device body, and exposes a part of the inversion path when removed from the device body, and the medium feed path becomes available by removing the inversion unit from the device body.

[0018] A ninth aspect is the eighth aspect, further comprising a medium support section for supporting a medium at a position opposite the recording head, and configured to be able to adjust the distance between the medium support section and the recording head under the control of the control section, and a unit detection section for detecting the mounting state of the inversion unit relative to the device main body, wherein when the unit detection section detects that the inversion unit has been removed from the device main body, the control section increases the distance between the medium support section and the recording head.

[0019] According to this aspect, when the control unit detects the removal of the inversion unit from the device main body via the unit detection unit, the control unit widens the gap between the medium support unit and the recording head, thereby avoiding friction between a thick medium and the recording head when the medium is fed.

[0020] A tenth aspect is characterized in that, in the seventh or ninth aspect, the control unit adjusts the distance between the medium support unit and the recording head in accordance with the fluctuation value before the recording operation by the recording head begins. The thicker the medium, the greater the fluctuation in the fluctuation value, so that the thickness of the medium can be grasped based on the fluctuation value. Based on this property, in this aspect, the control unit adjusts the distance between the medium support unit and the recording head in accordance with the fluctuation value before the recording operation by the recording head starts, so that appropriate recording quality can be obtained.

[0021] The present invention will be specifically described below. An inkjet printer 1 will be described below as an example of a recording apparatus. Hereinafter, the inkjet printer 1 will be simply referred to as the printer 1. In the XYZ coordinate system shown in each figure, the X-axis direction is the movement direction of the recording head 17 (see FIG. 2) and corresponds to the width direction of the medium on which recording is performed. The X-axis direction also corresponds to the width direction of the device. When facing the printer 1, the +X direction is the left direction and the -X direction is the right direction. The Y axis direction is the depth direction of the device, and is the direction along the medium feed direction during recording. The +Y direction is the direction from the rear of the device to the front, and the -Y direction is the direction from the front of the device to the rear. In this embodiment, of the side surfaces that make up the periphery of the printer 1, the side surface on which the operation panel 6 is provided is the front surface of the device. The Z-axis direction is the vertical direction, which is the device height direction. The +Z direction is the vertically upward direction, and the -Z direction is the vertically downward direction. In the following description, the direction in which the medium is transported may be referred to as "downstream" and the opposite direction may be referred to as "upstream."

[0022] First, we will provide an overview of the overall configuration of the printer 1. In Fig. 1, the printer 1 is equipped with a scanner unit 3 on top of a device main body 2 that performs inkjet recording on a medium, that is, it is configured as a multifunction machine that has a document reading function in addition to an inkjet recording function. The scanner unit 3 is provided rotatably relative to the apparatus body 2, and can be rotated between a closed state shown in FIG. 1 and an open state (not shown). The scanner unit 3 includes a document cover 5 for opening and closing a document table (not shown). The device body 2 is provided with an operation panel 6 on the front side thereof, which comprises an operation section for performing various operation settings, and a display section for displaying print setting contents and a preview of a print image.

[0023] A front cover 4 is provided on the front of the device, and by opening this front cover 4, a media cassette 10, a media discharge port 9, a media receiving tray 21, etc., which are not shown in FIG. 1 but are shown in FIG. 2, are exposed. A top cover 8 is provided on the rear top surface of the device, and by opening this top cover 8, an inclined support portion 12, not shown in FIG. 1 but shown in FIG. 2, is exposed.

[0024] Next, the medium feed paths of the printer 1 will be described with reference to Figures 2 to 4. As shown in Figure 2, the printer 1 has four medium feed paths: medium feed path T1 from the medium cassette 10 at the bottom of the device, medium feed path T2 from the upper rear of the device, medium feed path T3 from the rear of the device (see Figure 4), and medium feed path T4 that sends the medium on which recording has been performed back toward the reversing roller 20. Each medium feed path is formed by a path forming member, but detailed description will be omitted.

[0025] In the medium feed path T1, the medium is fed from the medium cassette 10 by the pick roller 11, reversed by the reversing roller 20, and fed toward the feed roller pair 15. In FIG. In the medium feed path T2, the medium supported in an inclined position by the inclined support portion 12 is fed toward the feed roller pair 15 by the feed roller 13. The medium feed path T3 is a path for manually feeding a medium from the rear side to the front side of the device, and will be described in detail later, but in this specification, the medium feed path T3 is the path from an adapter 23 (see FIG. 4) to the medium receiving tray 21. The medium feed path T3 is a substantially straight path, and in this embodiment, it is a path that extends horizontally.

[0026] Examples of media include flexible sheet materials such as recording paper, and plate-like objects that are difficult to bend, such as optical disks. Plate-like objects that are difficult to bend, such as optical disks, are fed using the medium feed path T3. Small media such as optical disks that are not rectangular in shape are fed to the medium feed path T3 while set on a dedicated tray.

[0027] The pair of feed rollers 15 that feed the medium to a position facing the recording head 17 includes a feed roller 15a and a nip roller 15b as shown in Fig. 5. The feed roller 15a receives power from a transport motor 53 described later, and can rotate in either a forward direction (counterclockwise direction in Figs. 2 and 5) that feeds the medium downstream, or a reverse direction (clockwise direction in Figs. 2 and 5) that feeds the medium upstream. In this embodiment, the feed roller 15a is formed with a high friction layer on the surface of a metal shaft.

[0028] The nip roller 15b is provided so as to be movable toward and away from the feed roller 15a, and is pressed toward the feed roller 15a by a spring (not shown), and rotates by nipping the medium between the feed roller 15a and the nip roller 15b. Although not shown, a plurality of nip rollers 15b are provided at appropriate intervals along the axial direction of the feed roller 15a. The nip roller 15b is made of a low-friction material, and in this embodiment, it is made of POM (Polyoxymethylene). The feed roller 15 a and the nip roller 15 b constitute the medium feed device 14 .

[0029] 2, a recording head 17 and a medium support unit 18 are disposed facing each other downstream of the feed roller pair 15. The medium support unit 18 supports the medium to define a gap between the recording head 17 and the medium. The carriage 16 on which the recording head 17 is mounted is capable of reciprocating in the medium width direction, and moves in the X-axis direction by receiving power from a carriage motor 51 (see FIG. 5) controlled by a control unit 50 (see FIG. 5). The carriage 16 can be displaced in the Z-axis direction by an adjustment mechanism 49 (see FIG. 5) controlled by a control unit 50 (see FIG. 5), and the adjustment mechanism 49 can adjust the distance between the recording head 17 and the medium support unit 18. The adjustment mechanism 49 can be configured, for example, by a motor and a cam mechanism (not shown).

[0030] A pair of discharge rollers 19 is provided downstream of the recording head 17 and the medium support unit 18, and the medium on which recording has been performed is discharged outside the device by the pair of discharge rollers 19 and supported by a medium receiving tray 21. When recording on both sides of the medium, after recording on the first side of the medium with the recording head 17, the medium is fed back in the -Y direction to the medium feed path T4 and then reversed by the reversing roller 20. This makes it possible to perform recording on the second side of the medium.

[0031] Next, the medium feed path T3 will be described with reference to Figures 3 and 4. A reversing unit 24 is provided on the rear of the device body 2 so as to be detachable from the device body 2. The reversing unit 24 includes a reversing roller 20, and by removing the reversing unit 24 from the device body 2 as shown by the change from the upper view to the lower view of Figure 3, an opening 2a is formed on the rear of the device body 2 as shown in the lower view of Figure 3, and if a jam occurs inside the device body 2, the jammed medium can be removed. Furthermore, by removing the reversing unit 24 from the apparatus main body 2, the medium feed path T3 is exposed as shown in the upper diagram of FIG. 4, and the medium feed path T3 becomes available.

[0032] An adapter 23 is provided above the reversing unit 24, as shown in Fig. 2. The adapter 23 is detachable from the reversing unit 24, and can be attached to and detached from the reversing unit 24 by removing the reversing unit 24 from the device main body 2. The adapter 23 removed from the reversing unit 24 can be attached to the area of ​​the device main body 2 where the reversing unit 24 was attached, as shown in the lower diagram of Fig. 4. The attached adapter 23 supports the medium S fed through the medium feed path T3.

[0033] Next, the control system of the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The control unit 50 performs various controls of the printer 1, including feeding, transporting, discharging, and recording of the medium. The control unit 50 is also a component of the medium feeder 14. Signals are input to the control unit 50 from the operation panel 6, and signals for realizing the display of the operation panel 6, particularly the user interface (UI), are sent from the control unit 50 to the operation panel 6.

[0034] The control unit 50 controls the carriage motor 51, the feed motor 52, and the transport motor 53, which are involved in the medium transport operation and the recording operation. In this embodiment, each motor is a DC motor. The transport motor 53 constitutes the medium transport device 14. The control unit 50 also receives detection signals from the position detection unit 57, rotation detection unit 58, first medium detection unit 59, second medium detection unit 60, and unit detection unit 61. The position detection unit 57 is a linear encoder and is a detection unit for detecting the position in the X-axis direction of the carriage 16. The rotation detection unit 58 is a rotary encoder and is a detection unit for detecting the amount of rotation and the rotation speed of the feed roller 15a. The unit detection section 61 is a detection section for detecting whether or not the reversing unit 24 (see FIG. 3) is attached. The unit detection section 61 can be configured with a contact or non-contact sensor.

[0035] The first medium detection unit 59 is provided near the upstream side of the feed roller pair 15, and is a detection unit for detecting the passage of the leading and trailing ends of the medium. The second medium detection unit 60 is provided at a position facing the medium in the carriage 16, and is used to detect the position of the width direction end of the medium, and in some cases is also used to detect the passage of the leading or trailing end of the medium. The second medium detection unit 60 can be configured with a non-contact sensor, and the first medium detection unit 59 can be configured with a contact or non-contact sensor. In this embodiment, the first medium detection section 59, the second medium detection section 60, and the unit detection section 61 configure the medium feeding device .

[0036] The control unit 50 includes a CPU 54, a flash ROM 55, and a RAM 56. The CPU 54 performs various arithmetic processing according to programs stored in the flash ROM 55, and controls the operation of the entire printer 1. The flash ROM 55, which is an example of a storage means, is a non-volatile memory that is readable and writable. Various setting information input by the user via the operation panel 6 is also stored in the flash ROM 55. Various information is temporarily stored in the RAM 56, which is an example of a storage means. The control unit 50 also has an interface 57, and is capable of communicating with an external computer 90 via this interface 57.

[0037] 5 and 6 onward, a description will be given of the control executed by the control unit 50 when manually feeding a medium to the medium feed path T3. Hereinafter, the medium will be referred to as medium S, and the leading edge of the medium S will be referred to as leading edge Sf. The control unit 50 can detect that the leading edge Sf of the medium S has entered the feed roller pair 15 by referring to a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to the driving load of the transport motor 53 and a threshold value for this fluctuation value. As an example of the fluctuation value, the driving current value of the transport motor 53 can be used.

[0038] 6 shows an example of a waveform L of the drive current value of the transport motor 53, with the vertical axis representing the drive current value H and the horizontal axis representing time t. As shown by the waveform L, when the leading edge Sf of the medium S enters the feed roller pair 15, the drive current value H of the transport motor 53 temporarily increases. Therefore, by setting the threshold value Hs1, it is possible to detect that the leading edge Sf of the medium S has entered the feed roller pair 15. Furthermore, by setting the threshold value Hs2, it is possible to detect whether the thickness of the entered medium S has exceeded a predetermined thickness. Predetermined values ​​such as the threshold values ​​Hs1 and Hs2 are stored in the flash ROM 55 (FIG. 5).

[0039] 7 shows a first control example performed by the control unit 50. In FIG. 7, the control unit 50 determines whether the drive current value H of the transport motor 53 exceeds the threshold value Hs1 (step S101), and if it does (Yes in step S101), issues an alarm (step S102). This alarm can be, for example, a short beep sound such as a "beep." This allows the user to know that the leading edge Sf of the medium S has been nipped by the feed roller pair 15. The alarm can be issued from a speaker (not shown) provided on the operation panel 6 (see FIG. 1).

[0040] Next, the control unit 50 waits for a predetermined time (step S103), and then rotates the transport motor 53, ie, the feed roller 15a, forward by a predetermined amount to position the medium S at the print start position (step S104). If the second medium detection unit 60 does not detect the leading edge Sf of the medium S within a predetermined time (No in step S105), the control unit 50 issues an alert on the operation panel 6. The alert in this case can be, for example, an error message such as "Paper is jammed. Please remove the jammed paper."

[0041] 8 shows a second control example performed by the control unit 50. In the second control example, a first medium detection unit 59 provided upstream of the pair of feed rollers 15 is used. First, when the control unit 50 detects the leading edge Sf of the medium S by the first medium detection unit 59 (Yes in step S201), it judges whether or not the drive current value H of the transport motor 53 exceeds the threshold value Hs1 (step S202). If the drive current value H of the transport motor 53 does not exceed the threshold value Hs1 (No in step S202), it judges whether or not the elapsed time since the first medium detection unit 59 detected the leading edge Sf of the medium S has exceeded a predetermined first set time (step S207). As a result, if the elapsed time has exceeded the first set time (Yes in step S207), it issues a first alert to the operation panel 6. The first alert in this case can be, for example, an error message such as "Paper is not set correctly. Please reload the paper."

[0042] Next, when the drive current value H of the carry motor 53 exceeds the threshold value Hs1 (Yes in step S202), an alarm sound is generated (step S203). This alarm sound is the same as the alarm sound in step S102 in FIG. Next, the control unit 50 waits for a predetermined time (step S204), and then rotates the transport motor 53, ie, the feed roller 15a, forward by a predetermined amount to position the medium S at the print start position (step S205). If the second medium detection unit 60 does not detect the leading edge Sf of the medium S within the second set time (No in step S206), the control unit 50 issues a second alert on the operation panel 6. The alert in this case can be, for example, an error message such as "Paper is jammed. Please remove the jammed paper."

[0043] Furthermore, when measuring the drive current value H, which varies depending on the drive load of the carry motor 53, the control unit 50 performs a measurement process to measure the relationship between the rotational load acting on the carry motor 53 and the drive current value H, for example, when the printer 1 is turned on. If the drive current value when the transport motor 53 is rotated in a standby state in which the medium S is not being transported is taken as a reference value H0, the reference value H0 varies due to various factors such as individual differences in the printer 1, the environment in which the printer 1 is used, and deterioration over time. For example, if the reference value H0 increases due to deterioration over time of the device, the difference between the reference value H0 and the threshold value Hs1 becomes smaller, which may lead to erroneous detection when detecting whether the leading edge Sf of the medium S has entered the feed roller 15. For this reason, it is preferable that the control unit 50 obtains the reference value H0 by performing the measurement process, and adjusts the threshold value Hs1 based on the reference value H0. The measurement process can be performed when the printer 1 is turned on as described above, or for each recording job, or when a certain period of time has passed since the previous measurement process.

[0044] As described above, the medium feeding device 14 is provided on the medium feeding path T3 that feeds the medium S, and is equipped with a feed roller 15a that feeds the medium S downstream by rotating in the forward direction with power from the transport motor 53, and the control unit 50 controls the transport motor 53 to start the medium feeding operation by the feed roller 15a based on an increase in the drive current value H, which is an example of a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to the drive load of the transport motor 53. This makes it possible to prevent the feeding operation from being started in a state where a setting error has occurred in the medium S. As a result, when a feeding abnormality occurs after the start of the feeding operation of the medium S, an appropriate alert can be issued to the user, improving user convenience.

[0045] Furthermore, the control unit 50 issues an alarm when it detects an increase in the drive current value H of the transport motor 53. This allows the user to know that the medium S has been nipped by the feed roller pair 15, improving convenience.

[0046] 8, when the control unit 50 detects the leading edge Sf of the medium S by the first medium detection unit 59 (Yes in step S201), the control unit 50 may reverse the conveyance motor 53, i.e., the feed roller 15a, and monitor whether the drive current value H of the conveyance motor 53 exceeds the threshold value Hs1 while continuing the reverse rotation. This makes the increase in the drive current value H more noticeable, making it possible to more reliably detect that the leading edge Sf of the medium S has been nipped by the feed roller pair 15.

[0047] In addition, the rotation speed of the feed roller 15a when rotating in the reverse direction is preferably slower than the rotation speed when the feed roller 15a is rotated in the forward direction to feed the medium S. This makes it possible to suppress damage to the leading end Sf of the medium S when the leading end Sf enters the pair of feed rollers 15.

[0048] Furthermore, in the second control example described above, if the control unit 50 does not detect an increase in the drive current value H even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the first medium detection unit 59 detected the passage of the leading edge Sf of the medium S (Yes in step S207 in FIG. 8), the control unit 50 issues a first alert to prompt the user to insert the medium S. This makes it possible to prompt the user to take appropriate measures, thereby improving user convenience.

[0049] Furthermore, in the first and second control examples, when the control unit 50 detects an increase in the drive current value H, it is preferable for the control unit 50 to use the adjustment mechanism 49 to increase the distance between the medium support unit 18 and the recording head 17. This makes it possible to prevent friction between the medium S and the recording head 17 when a thick medium S is fed, and also makes it possible to prevent damage to the recording head 17. When the distance between the medium support portion 18 and the recording head 17 is increased, it may be increased to the maximum distance, or may be increased to a distance that does not reach the maximum distance but provides a predetermined safety margin.

[0050] Alternatively, when the unit detection unit 61 detects that the reversing unit 24 (see FIG. 3) has been removed from the device body 2, the control unit 50 can also increase the distance between the medium support unit 18 and the recording head 17. In this case, as in the above, the distance between the medium support unit 18 and the recording head 17 may be increased to the maximum distance, or may be increased to a predetermined distance that is less than the maximum distance but is expected to be safe.

[0051] Furthermore, before the recording head 17 starts a recording operation, the control unit 50 can also adjust the distance between the medium support unit 18 and the recording head 17 in accordance with the drive current value H. As described with reference to Fig. 6, the amount of increase in the drive current value H varies depending on the thickness of the medium S, so for example, after expanding the distance between the medium support unit 18 and the recording head 17 to the maximum distance, the control unit 50 reduces the distance between the medium support unit 18 and the recording head 17 based on the drive current value H to match the thickness of the medium S. This makes it possible to obtain appropriate recording quality.

[0052] The control unit 50 may also adjust the recording quality according to the thickness of the medium S grasped based on the drive current value H. For example, even if the type of the medium S obtained from the driver information is glossy paper, if the thickness of the medium S grasped based on the drive current value H is equivalent to plain paper, the recording quality may be adjusted to suit plain paper. Conversely, even if the type of the medium S obtained from the driver information is plain paper, if the thickness of the medium S grasped based on the drive current value H is equivalent to glossy paper, the recording quality may be adjusted to suit glossy paper. If the type of the medium S obtained from the driver information and the thickness of the medium S grasped based on the drive current value H do not match, an alert to that effect may be displayed on the operation panel 6 instead of adjusting the recording quality.

[0053] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and it goes without saying that these modifications are also included in the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1...inkjet printer, 2...device body, 2a...opening, 3...scanner unit, 4...front cover, 5...original cover, 6...operation panel, 8...upper cover, 9...media discharge port, 10...media cassette, 11...pick roller, 12...inclined support unit, 13...feed roller, 14...media feed device, 15...feed roller pair, 15a...feed roller, 15b...nip roller, 16...carriage, 17...recording head, 18...media support unit, 19...discharge roller pair, 20...reversal roller, 21...media receiving tray, 23...adapter, 24...reversal unit, 50...control unit, 51...carriage motor, 52...feed motor, 53...transport motor, 54...CPU, 55...flash ROM, 56...RAM, 57...position detection unit, 58...rotation detection unit, 59...first media detection unit, 60...second media detection unit, 61...unit detection unit

Claims

1. A recording head for recording on a medium; a medium support section that supports a medium at a position facing the recording head; an adjustment mechanism for adjusting a distance between the recording head and the medium support unit; a medium feeding device for feeding a medium toward an area facing the recording head; A linear media feed path for manually feeding the media; a pair of rollers for nipping a leading edge of the medium fed into the medium feed path; Equipped with The medium feeding device is a feed roller which is a part of the roller pair and rotates in a forward direction by receiving power from a motor to feed the medium downstream; a nip roller which is a roller constituting the roller pair and rotates while nipping the medium between the nip roller and the feed roller; A control unit that controls the motor, the control unit, when the medium is fed into the medium feed path, acquires a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to a driving load of the motor, and before the recording operation by the recording head starts, controls the adjustment mechanism to adjust the gap based on the fluctuation value so that the gap matches the thickness of the medium. A recording apparatus comprising:

2. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, When the fluctuation value increases, the control unit widens the interval to a maximum interval and then narrows the interval based on the fluctuation value so as to match the thickness of the medium. A recording apparatus comprising:

3. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, a passage detection unit that detects passage of a leading edge of a medium downstream of the feed roller in the medium feed path; the control unit executes a process of controlling the motor to send the leading edge of the medium to a position downstream of the passage detection unit based on an increase in the fluctuation value. A recording apparatus comprising:

4. A recording head for recording on a medium; a medium support section that supports a medium at a position facing the recording head; an adjustment mechanism for adjusting a distance between the recording head and the medium support unit; a medium feeding device for feeding a medium toward an area facing the recording head; Equipped with The medium feeding device is a feed roller that is provided in a medium feed path that feeds the medium and rotates in a forward direction by receiving power from a motor to feed the medium downstream; a nip roller that is provided in the medium feed path and rotates while nipping the medium between the nip roller and the feed roller; A control unit that controls the motor, the control unit controls the adjustment mechanism to adjust the gap before a recording operation by the recording head starts, in accordance with a fluctuation value that fluctuates according to a driving load of the motor; a passage detection unit that detects passage of a leading edge of a medium downstream of the feed roller in the medium feed path; the control unit executes a process of controlling the motor to send the leading edge of the medium to a position downstream of the passage detection unit based on an increase in the fluctuation value. A recording apparatus comprising:

5. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, a medium detection unit that detects the passage of a medium upstream of the feed roller in the medium feed path; When the medium detection unit detects the passage of the leading edge of the medium, the control unit controls the motor to rotate the feed roller in a reverse direction opposite to the forward rotation direction, When an increase in the fluctuation value is detected while the feed roller is rotated in the reverse direction, switching the drive direction of the motor to start the medium feeding operation; A recording apparatus comprising:

6. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, a rotation speed of the feed roller when rotating in the reverse direction is lower than a rotation speed of the feed roller when rotating in the forward direction in the medium feeding operation; A recording apparatus comprising:

7. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, a medium detection unit that detects the passage of a medium upstream of the feed roller in the medium feed path; When the control unit does not detect an increase in the fluctuation value even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the medium detection unit detected the passage of the leading edge of the medium, the control unit issues an alert to prompt the user to insert the medium. A recording apparatus comprising:

8. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, the fluctuation value is a drive current value of the motor, the control unit determines a thickness of the medium based on the driving current value, determines a type of the medium based on the thickness, and adjusts recording quality in accordance with the type. A recording apparatus comprising:

9. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, An operation panel having a display unit, When the type of medium acquired from the driver information does not match the type of medium grasped from the driving current value, the control unit displays an alert to the effect that the type of medium does not match on the display unit. A recording apparatus comprising:

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