JP2001001533A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove ink adhering to the side face of a head surely by providing a carriage for scanning a recording medium while mounting a recording head for ejecting an ink drop from a nozzle, a nozzle plate, and first and second cleaning blades touching one side face of the head resiliently. SOLUTION: A recording head 6 is mounted on the side of a carriage 1 opposite to a recording sheet 5 and an ink cartridge 7 is mounted on the upper surface thereof. A capping unit 13 for sealing the nozzle opening is provided in the nonprint region in order to prevent a nozzle opening array from being dried during pause interval. Ink is received during flushing operation and a negative pressure from a suction pump unit 14 acts on the head 6 to discharge ink forcibly. A cleaning mechanism 20 positioned on the print region side of the unit 13 comprises a first cleaning blade 21 abutting against the nozzle plate of the head 6 on the upstream side in the moving direction during cleaning operation, and a second cleaning blade 21 abutting against the side face of the head 6 on the downstream side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a recording head for discharging ink droplets, and more particularly to a recording head cleaning apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a main body of an ink jet recording head is extremely small in size and can perform color printing by changing the color of ink, a black recording head for discharging black ink onto a carriage, and yellow, cyan, and magenta inks. 2. Description of the Related Art Ink-jet type color printers equipped with a color recording head for discharging the above-described ink and capable of performing not only text printing with black ink but also full-color printing have been put to practical use.

[0003] Such an ink jet recording head is
Because the ink pressurized in the pressure generating chamber is ejected as ink droplets from the nozzle opening onto the recording paper, the viscosity of the ink increases due to the evaporation of the ink solvent from the nozzle opening, or the ink solidifies. In addition, there is a problem that dust and paper dust are attached and printing failure easily occurs.

For this reason, the ink jet recording apparatus is usually provided with not only capping means for sealing the nozzle openings of the recording head during non-printing to prevent the ink from drying out, but also physically sliding the nozzles in contact with the nozzle plate. A cleaning means for eliminating clogging of the opening is provided. Such a cleaning blade is configured as a blade made of a plate material made of an elastic material such as rubber, and reciprocates the recording head with a carriage in a state where the cleaning head protrudes to a position where it can resiliently contact a nozzle plate of the recording head. Thus, the dust and ink residue on the nozzle plate are scraped together with the ink at the tip of the blade.

[0005]

However, when the nozzle plate is wiped, a part of the ink flows out to the side of the recording head and remains on the side of the recording head. Is reattached to the paper feed roller due to the reciprocating movement of the recording paper, which causes a problem that the recording paper is contaminated. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a cleaning blade capable of reliably removing ink attached to a side surface of a recording head. To provide.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording head for ejecting ink droplets from nozzle openings of a nozzle plate in response to a print signal, and a recording head for mounting the recording head. And a first cleaning blade resiliently contacting the nozzle plate, and a second cleaning blade resiliently contacting at least one side surface of the recording head.

[0007]

The second cleaning blade removes the ink adhered to the side surface of the recording head by the cleaning with the first cleaning blade.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. A carriage 1 is connected to a motor 3 via a timing belt 2 and is guided by a guide member 4 to guide a recording paper 5. A recording head 6 for ejecting ink droplets is mounted on the side facing the recording paper 5, and an ink cartridge 7 for supplying ink to the recording head 6 is attached and detached on the upper surface. It is installed as possible.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the recording paper 5 has a paper feed roller 9 driven by a paper feed motor 8 on the back side.
And the platen 10, and the printing surface is sandwiched between paper press rollers 11, 12 arranged at intervals of about the width of the recording head 6, so that the printing surface is as parallel as possible to the nozzle plate of the recording head 6. When the printing of one line is completed, the paper is fed by the paper feed roller 9 in the direction indicated by the arrow B in the drawing.

In the non-printing area, a capping device 13 for sealing the nozzle opening of the recording head 6 is provided.
In addition to functioning as cap means for preventing drying of the nozzle opening row during the idle period, it also functions as an ink receiver at the time of a flushing operation, or acts on the recording head 6 by applying a negative pressure from the suction pump unit 14 to the recording head 6. A function as a suction means for forcibly discharging ink from the ink jet printer.

On the printing area side of the capping device 13, a cleaning mechanism 20, which is a feature of the present invention, is disposed. The cleaning mechanism 20 has a first cleaning blade 21 in contact with the nozzle plate of the recording head 6 on the upstream side in the moving direction of the recording head 6 at the time of cleaning (the direction indicated by arrow A in the figure), and recording on the downstream side. A second cleaning blade 22 that contacts the side surface of the head 6 is arranged.

The first cleaning blade 21 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), a wiping material 23, for example, a rubber plate, and a rubbing material 24, for example, a felt plate, are laminated via an adhesive layer to form a single plate, and the base that moves toward the recording head during cleaning. It is fixed to the table 25.

On the other hand, the second cleaning blade 22
Is an elastic plate 26 made of rubber or the like as shown in FIG.
At the center, a width W slightly smaller than the width of the recording head 6 is provided so as to form opposed cleaning surfaces 27, 27, and a gap g (FIG. 3) is formed between the recording head 6 and the nozzle plate 6a. A recess 26 a having a depth D that can be formed is formed, and the lower end is fixed to the base 28.

It is desirable to form a narrow groove 27a on the side of the cleaning surface 27 that can exert a capillary force on ink extending in the horizontal direction.

In this embodiment, when a print failure occurs in the recording head 6, when a cleaning command is issued by a cleaning switch (not shown), the first cleaning blade 21 causes the tip end surface 21a to move from the nozzle plate of the recording head 6. Is also protruded toward the ink cartridge and set at a position suitable for cleaning.

Then, when the carriage 1 moves in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, the first cleaning blade 21 comes into contact with the nozzle plate as shown in FIG. 3 to scrape ink adhering to the nozzle plate. take. In this process, a part of the ink flows to the side and adheres. When the carriage 1 further moves, the recording head 6 passes through the concave portion 26a of the second cleaning blade 22. In this process, as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning surfaces 27 resiliently contact the side surface 6a of the recording head 6, scrape the ink K attached to the side surface, and separate from the recording head 6 by the narrow groove 27a. Pull into position.

As a result, at least the ink K adhering to the area (the paper pressing roller 11 shown in FIG. 1B) to which the recording paper may come into contact is removed, so that the recording paper can remove this area during printing. No contamination when passing.

In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning operation by the first and second cleaning blades 21 and 22 is executed as a pair. However, the cleaning operation by the second cleaning blade 22 is performed by the first and second cleaning blades 22 and 22. It may be executed only when the amount of ink adhered by the cleaning blade 21 exceeds a certain value.

FIGS. 4A to 4D show other embodiments of the second cleaning blade 22, respectively. In the vicinity of the lower ends of the cleaning surfaces 27, 27, the outer side of the main body side is shown. It has a notch 30 extending in the horizontal direction. According to this embodiment, since the cleaning surfaces 27, 27 can be released from the restriction by the main body, the cleaning surfaces 27, 27 can be brought into contact with the side surface 6a of the recording head 6 at a pressure suitable for ink removal.

Further, in order to prevent stress during cleaning from acting intensively, a reinforcing member 31 is fixed to the end of the cut 30 as shown in FIG. It is desirable to form the circular holes 32 and the wide cuts 33 as shown in FIGS. According to this embodiment, the ink can be held by the capillary force of the circular holes 32 and the cuts 33 to prevent the ink from being scattered, and the wiping performance can be improved.

In the above-described embodiment, the first cleaning blade and the second cleaning blade are formed as separate bodies. However, as shown in FIGS. For example, a rubber plate and a rubbing material 42, for example, a felt plate, are laminated via an adhesive layer to form a single plate material, and the upper surface thereof is a cleaning surface that abuts the side surface 6 a and the nozzle surface 6 b of the recording head 6. 43, 4
A similar effect is obtained even if the cutout is formed so as to form a fourth.

In these embodiments, similarly to the above-described embodiment, if the cuts 45 and 46 are formed in the area where the cleaning surfaces 43 and 44 intersect and the circular holes 47 are formed at the ends thereof, the cleaning surface 43 is formed. And the cleaning surface 44 can be alleviated. Further, if the holes 47 and 48 are provided at the ends of the cuts 45 and 46, it is possible to prevent concentration of stress during cleaning. Also,
As shown in FIGS. 5D and 5E, when the reinforcing portion 49 is formed at a certain distance from the cleaning surfaces 43 and 44, the rigidity is increased and the contact force with the recording head is increased. Cleaning effect can be enhanced.

The same effect can be obtained by mounting the first cleaning blade 21 and the second cleaning blade 22 on the same base 50 so as to be shifted back and forth as shown in FIG.

By the way, during cleaning, FIG.
As shown in (2), there is a possibility that the second cleaning blade 22 is dragged by the movement of the recording head 6 and is largely bent to come into contact with and interfere with the first cleaning blade 21. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7B, the first cleaning blade 21 and the second cleaning blade 2
It is desirable to dispose them at a distance ΔL such that they do not contact during cleaning.

The ink K (FIG. 8A) which has been removed from the recording head 6 by the second cleaning blade 22 and adhered to the blade 22 becomes elastic at the moment when the recording head 6 passes through the second cleaning blade 22. Of the cleaning blade 22 by the capping device 1
It scatters in the direction of 3 (FIG. 8B). For this reason, there is a possibility that the ink may re-adhere to the recording head 6 during capping.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
When the cleaning blade 22 is disposed at a predetermined angle θ in the direction of movement of the recording head during cleaning, the amount of deflection of the cleaning blade 22 during cleaning can be suppressed to prevent the ink from scattering, and even if the ink is scattered as shown in FIG. As shown in d), the capping device 13
The recording head 6 can be more reliably prevented from being contaminated.

[0027]

As described above, in the present invention, according to the present invention, a recording head for ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle openings of the nozzle plate in response to a print signal, and a recording head mounted thereon for scanning a recording medium. A carriage, a first cleaning blade elastically contacting the nozzle plate, and a second cleaning blade elastically contacting at least one side surface of the recording head. Can be removed by the second cleaning blade, and contamination due to contact between the recording paper and the recording head during printing can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention and an enlarged view of a printing area, respectively.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing an embodiment of a cleaning blade of the recording apparatus, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning operation by a second cleaning blade viewed from a nozzle plate surface side.

FIGS. 4A to 4D are diagrams showing other examples of the second cleaning blade. FIG.

FIGS. 5A to 5G are views showing an embodiment in which first and second cleaning blades are integrally formed. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view showing another embodiment in which the first and second cleaning blades are integrally formed.

FIG. 7A is a diagram for explaining interference between cleaning blades, and FIG. 7B is a diagram showing an embodiment capable of preventing interference.

FIGS. 8 (a) and 8 (b) are diagrams for explaining the scattering of ink immediately after the completion of cleaning, and FIG. 8 (c) is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. (D) is a diagram showing the direction of ink scattering according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage 5 Recording paper 6 Recording head 9 Paper feed roller 10 Platen 11, 12 Paper press roller 20 Cleaning mechanism 21 First cleaning blade 22 Second cleaning blade

Claims (12)

[Claims] A recording head for ejecting ink droplets from nozzle openings of a nozzle plate in response to a print signal; a carriage mounted with the recording head for scanning a recording medium; and a carriage resiliently contacting the nozzle plate. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: one cleaning blade; and a second cleaning blade elastically contacting at least one side surface of the recording head. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second cleaning blade is disposed downstream of the first cleaning blade in the moving direction of the recording head during cleaning. 3. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the first cleaning blade and the second cleaning blade are integrally formed.
Alternatively, the inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 2. 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first cleaning blade and the second cleaning blade are configured separately. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first cleaning blade and the second cleaning blade are arranged at intervals in the moving direction of the recording head. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first cleaning blade and the second cleaning blade are arranged so as not to contact or interfere with each other even when they are displaced during cleaning. 7. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second cleaning blade is arranged to be inclined in a direction in which the recording head moves during cleaning. 8. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a groove for guiding ink and a concave portion are formed in the second cleaning blade. 9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second cleaning blade is provided with a notch in one plate material so as to form a wall capable of contacting a side surface of the recording head. . 10. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first cleaning blade and the second cleaning blade are integrally formed by the same member. 11. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second cleaning blade is provided with a notch in one plate material so as to form a wall that can contact the side surface of the recording head. . 12. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a notch parallel to the nozzle plate is formed in the wall.