Printer Carriage Pressing Mechanism for Wobble Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printers face issues with carriage inclination and wobble during scanning, leading to misalignment of ink droplets and deteriorated printing quality due to uneven support and design tolerances in the guide shaft and engagement portion.
Innovation Solution
The printer design incorporates a carriage with two support portions and a rail member, featuring a first pressing portion with a contact member, support shaft, arm member, and urging member to stabilize the carriage and reduce inclination and wobble, ensuring precise ink placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the carriage is made longer in the sub-scanning direction to accommodate multiple inkjet heads, then the printing capability is improved, but the carriage becomes more prone to inclination and wobble during scanning
Solution Approach 1:
The carriage is divided into multiple support portions (first support portion and second support portion) that are separately engaged with the guide shaft. This segmentation allows each support portion to independently maintain contact with the guide shaft, reducing overall carriage inclination and wobble while still supporting multiple inkjet heads arranged in the sub-scanning direction.
2Ease of manufacture
If design tolerances are provided for the guide shaft and guide engagement portion, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but slight wobble occurs in the carriage during operation
Solution Approach 1:
The carriage is designed to dynamically maintain contact with the guide shaft at multiple support portions during scanning motion. This dynamic multi-point contact compensates for dimensional variations within tolerance ranges, ensuring stable carriage positioning and preventing wobble even when manufacturing tolerances are present in the guide shaft or engagement portions.
3Productivity
If the carriage reciprocates at high speed in the scanning direction, then the productivity is improved, but acceleration loads cause increased carriage inclination
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the support structure into multiple support portions engaged with the guide shaft, the carriage distributes acceleration loads across multiple contact points during high-speed reciprocation. This reduces the inclination moment at any single support point, enabling high-speed scanning while maintaining carriage stability and ensuring accurate ink ejection positioning.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration effectively reduces carriage inclination and wobble, maintaining accurate ink landing positions and enhancing printing quality by stabilizing the carriage during movement along the guide shaft.
Implementation Method 1
the first urging member is provided so as to urge the first arm member in a direction in which the first contact member comes into contact with the first end portion
Data Source
AI summary
A printer includes a guide shaft, a rail member, print head units, a carriage and a first pressing portion. The first pressing portion includes a first contact member, a first support shaft, a first arm member and a first urging member. The first contact member comes into contact with a first end portion. The first support shaft is disposed between a position facing one of the two support portions in a rail-side end portion and a position facing the other support portion. The first support shaft stands in a fourth direction opposite to a third direction in which an ejection portion ejects liquid. The first arm member swings around the first support shaft, and supports the first contact member on a swinging end side. The first urging member urges the first arm member in a direction in which the first contact member comes into contact with the first end portion.