JP2002127432A - Ink-jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink-jet printer capable of executing a wiping operation without scattering an adhered substance wiped off from a recording head to the surroundings. SOLUTION: A wiping member having a blade projecting from below a head, supported obliquely along the row direction of ejection openings provided on the bottom surface of the head, for a wiping operation with the blade in contact with the surface provided with the ejection opening row, is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to cleaning an ink jet recording head in an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Printers can be classified into a thermal type, a wire dot type, an ink jet type, and the like according to a recording method. Among them, the ink jet system (ink jet printer) supplies ink to a recording head having at least one fine discharge port (hereinafter, referred to as a nozzle) and a liquid path communicating with the nozzle,
An energy generator (piezoelectric element, heating resistor, etc.) provided corresponding to the nozzle is driven based on the print data, pressure is applied to the ink in the liquid path, and the ink is ejected from the nozzle, and a flying droplet is formed. The ink droplets formed on the recording medium are attached to a recording medium to form a dot pattern of an image. Generally, a plurality of nozzles are arranged in a line on one recording head, and ink is ejected from each nozzle.

When color printing is performed in an ink jet printer, the three primary colors cyan, magenta,
In addition to yellow ink, black inks are used, and a number of recording heads corresponding to the number of ink colors are mounted side by side on the carriage. Paper dust scattered when the recording medium is conveyed and dust in the air adhere to the recording head, and ink is not normally ejected frequently. Further, ink droplets ejected from the nozzles of the recording head may rebound, and ink droplets of other colors may adhere to the recording head. Therefore, in order to remove these deposits, a means for cleaning the vicinity of the nozzles of the recording head is conventionally provided, and wiping such as wiping to remove the deposits around the nozzles using a blade formed of an elastic member such as rubber. Cleaning is being performed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional wiping state. The recording heads 30a, 30b, 3 shown in FIG.
Reference numerals 0c,..., 30n indicate that a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink are provided in a line on the bottom surface, and eject ink of different colors downward. FIG. 5A is a schematic view of a carriage 31 on which the recording heads 30a, 30b, 30c,... 30n are mounted and a blade 32 for wiping the recording head, as viewed from the side. As shown in the drawing, the blade 32 contacts the bottom surface of each recording head while flexing, and wipes off the attached matter such as ink, dust, paper powder, etc. attached around the nozzle. This blade 32 moves up and down,
It rises to a level where it contacts the bottom of each recording head and stops,
The horizontal movement of the carriage 31 to the arrow walking allows
The tip (blade rubber 32a) of the blade 32 moves while sequentially contacting from one end to the other end of the bottom surface of each recording head,
Wipe off dust, ink, etc. attached to the bottom of all recording heads.

FIG. 5B is a schematic view of each recording head viewed from above. The blade 32 includes a plurality of nozzle rows 33a, 33
33n in parallel with the nozzle rows 33a, 33b, 33c,... 33n. The blade rubber 32a, which is a contact portion of the blade, is wiped in a bent state as shown in FIG.
0a, the blade rubber 32a is separated from the bottom edge.
Is released, the adhered substances that have been wiped off are flipped in the direction of the recording head 30b, and adhere to a part of the other recording head where wiping is not possible. Obstacles such as dripping occur.

[0006] Japanese Patent No. 2704291 discloses an invention in which a wiping blade is disposed so as to cross an ink ejection port array. However, unnecessary ink, paper dust, and the like are concentrated on the lower portion of the wiping blade. Since the wiping blade was tilted so as to be raked, scattering of the wiped off deposits could not be reduced.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION By reducing scattering of deposits by a blade during wiping, wiping with high cleaning efficiency is performed for a recording head.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet printer having high print quality.

[0008]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In an ink jet printer that forms an image by ejecting ink to a recording medium from a row of discharge ports provided on a bottom surface of a head, the printer protrudes from below the head and is inclined and held along the row direction with respect to the row of discharge ports. And a wiping member for wiping the blade by contacting the blade with the surface provided with the discharge port array.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the blade includes:
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discharge port array is brought into contact with the discharge port array at an angle of 10 ° to 20 °.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present invention, the blade includes:
The invention according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member has a hardness of 50 ° and a thickness of 1 mm.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the blade includes:
The invention according to claim 1, wherein a free length of 3 mm and an overlap of 1 mm make contact with the recording head.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an ink jet printer 1 according to the present invention. The ink jet printer 1 includes a recording head 2 that discharges ink from nozzles, and scans with the recording head 2 to eject ink onto a recording medium 5 to perform recording. The recording head 2 is provided on a carriage 3, and the carriage 3 moves while being guided by a support rod 6. The carriage 3 is attached to a belt 4, and the belt 4 is operated by a stepping motor 7 as a scanning motor to move the carriage 3 in a forward direction or a reverse direction, whereby the recording head 2 can scan. Here, the carriage 3 provided with four recording heads (recording heads 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d to be described later) is generically referred to as the recording head 2, but the number of recording heads is not limited to this. is not.

A cleaning unit 10, a capping sensor 11, and an overrun sensor 12 are arranged in the moving direction of the carriage 3. When the power of the inkjet printer 1 is turned off, the cleaning unit 10
Alternatively, in order to prevent the nozzles of the recording head 2 from drying during printing suspension or the like, a cap 8 for sealing the nozzles of each head and a wiping blade 9 for wiping dirt around the nozzles are provided.

It is necessary to clean the nozzles in a timely manner so as to prevent a decrease in print image quality caused by ink, dust, and the like scattered around the nozzles. Cleaning of the recording head 2 is performed by moving the carriage 3 to the position of the cleaning unit 10. As described above, capping (sealing of the nozzle by the cap 8) prevents drying of the ink remaining in the nozzle. When the capping sensor 11 detects the protrusion 3a provided on one side of the carriage 3, the capping sensor 11 detects the protrusion. Cap each of the recording heads.

The overrun sensor 12 includes the carriage 3
By detecting the projection 3b provided on the other side, it is detected that the carriage 3 has deviated from the printing range of the recording medium 5, and the return overrun of the carriage 3 that occurs during scanning is prevented.

The ink jet printer 1 includes a recording medium 5
If ink is ejected to the printer and printing is continued, ink of a different color may splatter and adhere to the adjacent recording head, causing the inks of different colors to mix near the nozzles, resulting in the original color. You will not be able to print. In addition, excess ink droplets adhere around the nozzles, and the ink droplets drop onto the recording medium 5 to cause bleeding or the like, thereby deteriorating print image quality. When the recording medium 5 is paper,
When the recording medium 5 is conveyed or when the recording head 2 scans, paper dust may fly up and adhere to the recording head 2. For this reason, if the area around the nozzles is not cleaned, the print quality will be inferior to the original print quality. Therefore, the recording head 2 is wiped in a timely manner so that ink is appropriately ejected from each nozzle.

In the wiping of the recording head 2, the carriage 3 is moved to the non-image forming area in the reverse direction shown in FIG. 1, and the blade 9 can be wiped by the automatic control of the ink jet printer 1 itself or the manual operation of the user. Prepare for Next, the cleaning unit 10
While moving the carriage 3 in the scanning direction so as to pass above, the bottom surface of the recording head 2 is brought into contact with the blade 9 to wipe off dirt around the nozzles on the bottom surface of the recording head 2.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which the recording head 2 is wiped by the blade 9. The blade 9 is vertically moved up and down by elevating means including a mechanism such as a cam (not shown). The blade rubber 13 constituting the blade 9 is locked at the upper end of the blade connecting portion 14. The lower end portion of the blade connecting portion 14 is provided with the elevating means.
Raise and hold to the height where wiping of the bottom is possible,
In a standby state in which wiping is not performed, the recording head 2 is lowered to a height at which the recording head 2 is not contacted.

FIG. 3 shows the bottom of each recording head and the blade rubber 1.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a state in which the printheads No. 3 are brought into contact, as viewed from the bottom side of each recording head. On each bottom surface of the recording heads 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d, there are provided nozzle rows 2a1, 2b1, 2c1, and 2d1 in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in one row or in a plurality of rows, and the nozzle rows are parallel to each other. . Blade rubber 13
Makes an angle x along the row direction of each nozzle row,
They are arranged obliquely. At this time, the blade rubber 13 has a length that contacts the entire width of the bottom surface of each recording head.

The blade rubber 13 is made of an elastic member such as CR (chloroprene rubber), EPDM (ethylene propylene rubber), silicon rubber, urethane rubber or the like. Preferably, silicon rubber having a hardness of 50 ° and a thickness of 1 mm is used. use. Further, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 4, the blade rubber 13 has a free length a, which is an amount of protrusion upward from the blade connecting portion 14, of 3 mm, and each recording head (in FIG. 4, the schematic shape of the recording head 2a is changed). (Shown), the overlap length b, which is the length of the portion to be contacted, is 1 mm. The blade rubber 13 is formed in this manner, and the wiping is performed by setting the angle x (the angle inclined from a position parallel to the nozzle row) between the blade rubber 13 shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 3 and each nozzle row to 10 ° to 20 °. I do.

The cleaning (wiping) of the recording head 2 is performed by moving the carriage 3 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. By contacting the bottom of the head and the carriage 3 continuing to move,
All recording head bottom surfaces are wiped off.

The wiping is performed for each recording head, and after the wiping is completed, a deposit such as ink adhered to the blade rubber 13 is removed by a blade cleaning member (not shown). Ink is not attached. In connection with the above description, the blade rubber 13 must not be formed so large that the blade rubber 13 contacts another recording head while wiping one recording head. In addition, blade rubber 1
Although the angle x is slightly different depending on the material, shape, etc. of No. 3, in order to obtain the same function and effect, it is preferable that the angle x does not largely deviate from about 10 ° to 20 °.

FIG. 1 shows the cleaning unit 10.
Although the blade 9 is provided on the left side in the figure, the blade 9 projects vertically from below the recording head and comes into contact with the bottom surface of the recording head.
If the object moves in any direction as long as it follows the scanning direction, the scattering of the attached matter can be similarly reduced. If there is no space between the recording medium 5 and the cleaning unit 10 for wiping, for example, wiping is performed. In order to further prevent the recording medium 5 from being contaminated by the scattered attached matter, or depending on the arrangement of the printer 3 such as the scanning range of the carriage 3 and its mechanism, the configuration of the cleaning unit 10, etc., a blade is provided on the right side in the cleaning unit 10. 9 may be provided to obtain the same operation and effect.

As described above, the elasticity suitable for wiping can be obtained by setting the hardness of the blade rubber 13 to 50 ° and the thickness of 1 mm. In addition, the blade rubber 13
Free length a of 3 mm and overlap length b of 1 mm
By doing so, it is possible to obtain an appropriate bending for wiping. In addition, each of the nozzle rows may be 10 ° to 20 °.
When wiping obliquely obliquely, when the deflection of the blade rubber 13 is released away from the bottom surface of the recording head 2 as compared with the case where the wiping is performed in parallel with each nozzle row, it is less likely that the adhered matter is repelled and the wiping is performed. Dirt is less likely to be scattered in the vicinity of the operation. Further, the elasticity and bending obtained as described above are indispensable for reducing scattering of the attached matter.

[0025]

According to the ink jet printer of the present invention, there is provided a blade which projects from the lower part of the recording head and is held at a slant in the row direction with respect to the row of discharge ports provided on the bottom face of the recording head. Since the wiping member for wiping the blade by contacting the blade with the surface provided with the ejection port array is provided, when the blade separates from the recording head, it is possible to reduce the scattering of the adhered substance that has been wiped off. It is possible to reduce dirt on a portion where cleaning (wiping) of the head is not performed.

Further, according to the present invention, since the adhesion of dirt such as ink to the operation mechanism and the like around the carriage and the cleaning unit on which the recording head is mounted is reduced, the trouble generated in the operation mechanism inside the printer is reduced. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a wiping state.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a state in which a print head bottom surface and blade rubber are in contact with each other as viewed from the print head bottom surface side.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a blade rubber according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a conventional wiping state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink-jet printer 2 Recording head 3, 31 Carriage 4 Belt 5 Recording medium 6 Support rod 7 Stepping motor 8 Cap 9, 32 Blade 10 Cleaning unit 11 Capping sensor 12 Overrun sensor 13 Blade rubber 14 Blade connection part

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet printer which forms an image by ejecting ink to a recording medium from a row of discharge ports provided on a bottom surface of a head, wherein the ink jet printer projects from below the head and extends in the row direction with respect to the row of discharge ports. An ink jet printer, comprising: a blade that is held inclined along and a wiping member that wipes the blade by bringing the blade into contact with the surface provided with the discharge port array. 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the blade is in contact with the ejection port array at an angle of 10 ° to 20 °. 3. The blade has a hardness of 50 ° and a thickness of 1 m.
The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet printer is made of m elastic members. 4. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the blade has a free length of 3 mm and an overlap of 1 mm to contact the recording head.