JP2002211008A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet recorder in which the ink ejection openings and ink channels of a recording head can be cleaned surely without causing complication, increase in the size or cost of the recorder, or increase in the running cost. SOLUTION: The ink jet recorder comprises a recording head 6 having ink ejection openings, a carriage 1 reciprocating while mounting the recording head 6, a cap (cover means) 18 which can at least abut against or separate from the ink ejection opening forming plane of the recording head 6 and covers the ink ejection openings when it abuts against the ink ejection opening forming plane, and a recovery means comprising a pump (suction means) 19 communicating with the cap 18. Recovery operation of the recording head 6 by the recovery means comprises an operation for applying vibration to the recording head 6 through micro reciprocal operation of the carriage 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording apparatus having functions such as a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile, or a recording apparatus used as an output device of a composite electronic device or a workstation including a computer or a word processor, etc. It is configured to record an image on a recording material (recording medium, hereinafter also referred to as a recording sheet) such as a plastic thin plate.

[0003] These recording apparatuses can be classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, a laser beam type and the like according to the recording method.

In general, in a serial type recording apparatus (serial printer) adopting a serial scanning method in which a main scanning is performed in a direction substantially perpendicular to a conveying direction (sub-scanning direction) of the recording material, the recording material is After being set at a predetermined recording position, an image is recorded on the recording material in the main scanning direction by performing recording while moving a carriage equipped with a recording head, which is recording means, on the recording material.

[0005] When the recording of one line is completed, a predetermined amount of paper is fed (pitch transport), and thereafter, the image of the next line is again recorded in the main scanning direction on the stopped recording material. Done.

[0006] By repeating the above-described operation, recording of the entire recording material is performed.

[0007] Among various types of recording apparatuses, an ink jet recording apparatus (ink jet recording apparatus) which performs recording by discharging ink from a recording head as recording means onto a recording material is described below. It has the advantage of (1) It is easy to make the recording means compact. (2) High-definition images can be recorded at high speed. (3) Recording can be performed without requiring special processing for plain paper. (4) Running cost is low. (5) Low noise due to non-impact method. (6) It is easy to record a color image using multicolor inks. Further, in a line-type printing apparatus using a line-type printing head having a large number of ejection ports arranged in the sub-scanning direction of a printing medium, printing can be further speeded up.

Further, by setting the ink ejection direction to be substantially vertically downward, the flying trajectory of the ink is not bent by gravity, so that the landing accuracy of the ink on the recording medium can be improved, and further high-definition printing can be performed. It is.

Among the above-described ink jet recording apparatuses, an ink jet type recording means (recording head) for discharging ink by using thermal energy forms a film on a substrate through a semiconductor manufacturing process such as etching, evaporation and sputtering. By forming the formed electrothermal transducer, electrode, liquid path wall, top plate, and the like, it is possible to easily manufacture a device having a liquid path arrangement (discharge port arrangement) with a high density, thereby further reducing the size. Can be planned.

Further, by utilizing the advantages of the IC technology and the micro-machining technology, it is easy to make the recording means longer and more planar (two-dimensional). Is also easy.

In the above ink jet recording apparatus,
Foreign matter such as paper dust or dust adheres to the ink ejection portion of the recording head, the ink in the ejection portion dries and thickens or adheres, or bubbles are generated in the ink channel of the recording head, , The ejection openings may be clogged and ink may not be supplied to the ejection openings, resulting in ejection failure (including non-ejection).

When a new ink cartridge or head cartridge is used for the first time, the state of the ink flow path from the discharge port to the ink tank is not always clean. Therefore, in order to prevent a discharge failure such as clogging or to clean an ink flow path, a cleaning unit for removing foreign matter adhering to an ink discharge portion (a discharge port forming surface) of the print head or a print head for cleaning. Recovery means is provided for cleaning the ejection ports and ink flow paths.

As the cleaning means, a mechanism for wiping and cleaning the ejection port forming surface of the recording head with a flexible wiper (wiping member) is mainly employed. or,
The recovery means mainly covers the ink discharge ports of the recording head with a cap during non-printing, and cleans the ink discharge ports and ink flow paths by sucking ink from the ink discharge ports through the cap by a suction means such as a pump. There is used a recovery device that performs a recovery operation in order to achieve a recovery.

[0014]

As shown in FIG. 4, the ink flow path of the recording head 101 (common liquid chamber 102, etc.)
The bubbles 103 generated or entrained in the recording head 1 are difficult to remove easily due to strong adhesion to the ink flow path wall surface.
The bubble 103 was removed by increasing the negative pressure applied to the ink jet 01 and increasing the amount of ink to be sucked. At this time, the ink sucked is disposed in the recording apparatus and is discarded in the waste ink storage means disposed downstream of the suction means, so that the running cost is increased and the volume of the waste ink storage means is increased. However, there is a problem that the size of the apparatus becomes large and the size of the apparatus becomes large. In FIG. 4,
104 is an ink discharge unit, 105 is an ink discharge port, 106
Is a heater.

As described in JP-A-09-207354, a vibration element is provided on a cap member,
A method in which the vibrating element is vibrated while the cap member covers the recording head to separate bubbles adhering to the wall surface by suction and removal, or as described in JP-A-10-119265, a common liquid for the recording head. A method has been proposed in which a vibrating means is provided on the outer wall of a room, and ultrasonic vibrations are applied to separate bubbles adhering to the wall surface to remove them by suction. Therefore, there is a problem that the configuration becomes complicated and the cost is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to surely discharge ink from a recording head without incurring an increase in complexity, size, cost, and running cost of the apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of purifying an outlet and an ink flow path.

[0017]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording head having an ejection port for ejecting ink, a carriage mounted with the recording head and reciprocating. An ink jet recording apparatus having a cover means for covering an ink ejection port when it can be brought into contact with and separated from an ink ejection port forming surface of a recording head, and a recovery means comprising suction means communicating with the cover means. An operation of applying a vibration to the print head by at least slightly reciprocating the carriage during the recovery operation of the print head by the recovery unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when the cover unit covers the ink discharge port of the recording head, a positioning unit for positioning the carriage and the cover unit is provided, and the carriage is mounted. When the carriage is reciprocated minutely, vibration is applied to the recording head by bringing the carriage into contact with the positioning member.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, suction is performed by the suction means simultaneously with the minute reciprocation of the carriage.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the carriage is suctioned by the suction means after performing a minute reciprocating movement of the carriage.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when applying a minute vibration to the carriage, the cover means is operated integrally with the recording head. I do.

Therefore, according to the present invention, by vibrating the carriage on which the recording head is mounted while the cap covers the recording head (= capping state), bubbles adhering to the wall of the ink flow path of the recording head are removed. The recording head can be reliably removed without causing any increase in the complexity, size, cost, and running cost of the apparatus because the time required for the suction can be reduced by separating and suctioning and removing the vibration at the same time as the suction. The ink discharge port and the ink flow path can be cleaned.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Embodiment 1> FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.
Is a carriage, which is supported on the guide shaft 2. The carriage 1 has a part fixed to a carriage drive belt 5 stretched between a carriage drive motor 3 and a pulley 4, and moves in the direction of arrow A along the guide shaft 2 in accordance with the rotation of the carriage drive motor 2. Reciprocable.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a recording head having an ink discharge port (not shown) formed integrally and downward with the ink tank, which is removably mounted on the carriage 1. The recording head 6 is electrically connected to a control board (not shown) by a flexible board 7.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a conveying roller, which is connected to a recording sheet conveying motor (not shown) via a driving force transmitting mechanism 9 such as a gear train. 10 is a pinch roller holder 1
1 is a pinch roller rotatably supported on the pinch 1, and the pinch roller 10 is urged by the conveying roller 8 by an urging member (not shown).

Reference numeral 12 denotes a paper discharge roller, which is connected to the transport roller 8 via a driving force transmission gear train 13. The discharge roller 12 is urged by a spur 14 by an urging member (not shown).

Reference numeral 15 denotes a recording sheet. The recording sheet 15 is inserted from a recording sheet feeding port formed by two upper and lower guide members 16 and 17, and is located between the transport roller 8 and the pinch roller 10 and the discharge roller 12 The recording sheet is conveyed in the direction of arrow B by rotating the conveying roller 8 and the discharge roller 12 according to the rotation of the recording sheet conveying motor.

The recording is performed as follows in the present ink jet recording apparatus.

First, the recording sheet 15 is inserted from the paper feed port until the leading end thereof contacts the nip portion between the transport roller 8 and the pinch roller 10. Thereafter, the recording sheet 15 is conveyed to a recording position facing the recording head 6 by driving the recording sheet conveying motor and rotating the conveying roller 8. Then, while the carriage 1 moves along the guide shaft 2, printing for one line is performed. After the recording of one line is completed, the recording sheet 15 is conveyed to the next recording position, and the carriage 1 moves along the guide shaft 2 again to record the next line. Recording is performed by repeating the above.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a cap, which is disposed on the cap support member 22 and is movable in the direction of arrow C by obtaining a driving force from a recording sheet transport motor via a clutch mechanism (not shown). Are arranged outside the area through which The cap 18 is connected in series with a pump 19 for performing a recovery operation of the recording head 6 and a waste ink tank (not shown) for disposing ink sucked by the pump 19 because the ink is not suitable for recording. .

The cover operation (cap operation) of the ink discharge section by the cap 18 moves the ink discharge port (not shown) of the recording head 6 mounted on the carriage 1 to a position (capping position) opposed to the cap 18. This is performed by bringing the cap 18 into contact with the ink discharge portion (discharge port forming surface) 6a of the recording head 6.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a wiper, which is configured to be able to come into contact with and separate from the ink discharge section of the recording head 6 in conjunction with the movement of the carriage 1. By moving the carriage 1 while the wiper 20 is in contact with the ink ejection section of the recording head 6, it is possible to wipe off dirt such as dust adhering to the ink ejection section and perform cleaning (wiping).

Reference numeral 21 denotes a carriage lock lever, which is movable in the direction of arrow C in conjunction with the cap 18 by a cam mechanism (not shown). The carriage lock lever 21 has a concave shape 21a,
At the time of capping, the projection 18 is fitted with the convex shape la of the carriage 1 to position the ink ejection portion 6a of the recording head 6 and the cap 18.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the positional relationship among the carriage 1, the recording head 6, the cap 18, and the carriage lock lever 21 in the capping state.

At the time of capping, the cap 18 comes into contact with the ink ejection portion 6a of the recording head 6, and the concave shape 21a of the carriage lock lever 21 is fitted to the convex shape la of the carriage 1 with a play 23.

In the above state, the carriage driving motor 3 is rotated forward and reverse so that the convex shape la of the carriage 1 comes into contact with the wall of the concave shape 21a of the carriage lock lever 21, and the carriage 1 is slightly reciprocated in the direction of arrow A. Recording head 6
At the same time as applying vibration, a suction force is generated by a pump 19 serving as a suction means, and ink that has become unsuitable for printing and bubbles generated in the ink flow path are sucked from the ink ejection portion 6a of the recording head 6 through the cap 18.

As described above, since bubbles adhering to the wall of the ink flow path of the recording head 6 can be peeled off, the cost of the apparatus is not increased and the structure of the apparatus is not complicated.
The recording head 6 can be kept clean with a small suction amount.

Further, since the recovery time of the recording head 6 can be shortened by applying the vibration to the recording head 6 and performing the suction at the same time, the printing throughput can be increased.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 shows the carriage 1, the recording head 6, the cap 18, and the carriage lock lever 21 in the capping state of the ink jet recording apparatus according to this embodiment.
It is sectional drawing which shows the positional relationship of.

In this embodiment, the cap support member 22
The recording head 6 is fitted with a shape 22a, and the cap 18 and the pump 19 are connected by an elastic member such as a rubber tube. As a result, when vibration is applied to the carriage 1 in the capping state, the cap support member 22 and the cap 18 vibrate together with the recording head 6, so that the cap 18 and the ink ejection section 6 of the recording head 6
The contact adhesiveness of a is kept better.

In the above embodiment, the carriage 1
Although the vibration and the suction applied to the recording head 6 are performed at the same time, it is not necessary to perform the vibration at the same time, and the suction may be performed after the bubbles are removed from the ink flow path by applying the vibration.

In the above embodiment, the configuration using the carriage lock lever 21 has been described. However, the carriage lock lever 21 may be omitted. In this case, the bubbles adhering to the wall of the ink flow path of the recording head 6 are peeled off by the vibration of the carriage 1 at the time of reversal.

[0045]

As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a recording head having an ejection port for ejecting ink, a carriage mounted with the recording head and reciprocating,
An ink jet recording apparatus having at least a cover means for covering the ink ejection port when the ink head can contact and separate from the ink ejection port forming surface of the recording head, and a recovery means comprising a suction means communicating with the cover means; In the above method, at least the operation of applying a vibration to the recording head by slightly reciprocating the carriage during the recovery operation of the recording head by the recovery means is performed, so that the apparatus is complicated, the size is increased, the cost is increased, and the running cost is increased. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the effect that the ink discharge ports and the ink flow paths of the recording head can be surely cleaned without inducing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a positional relationship among a carriage, a recording head, a cap, and a carriage lock lever in a capping state of the inkjet recording apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a positional relationship among a carriage, a recording head, a cap, and a carriage lock lever in a capping state of an inkjet recording apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view of a conventional recording head.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage la Carriage convex shape 3 Carriage drive motor 6 Recording head 6a Ink ejection part of a recording head 18 Cap (cover means) 19 Pump (suction means) 20 Wiper (recovery means) 21 Carriage lock lever 21a Concave shape of carriage lock lever 22 Cap Supporting Member 22a Fitting Part of Cap Supporting Member to Recording Head 23 Backlash Between Carriage and Carriage Lock Lever 24 Connection between Cap and Pump

Claims (5)

[Claims] A recording head having an ejection port for ejecting ink, a carriage mounted with the recording head and reciprocating, and at least contacting and separating from an ink ejection port forming surface of the recording head. An ink jet recording apparatus having a cover means for covering an ink discharge port and a recovery means comprising a suction means communicating with the cover means, wherein at least the carriage is reciprocated at least by a minute reciprocating movement when the recovery means recovers the recording head by the recovery means. An ink jet recording apparatus, which performs an operation of applying vibration to a recording head. 2. A positioning means for positioning the carriage and the cover means when the cover means covers the ink ejection port of the recording head, and the carriage and the positioning member are brought into contact when the carriage is reciprocated minutely. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is vibrated by causing the recording head to vibrate. 3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said suction means simultaneously sucks said minute reciprocating movement of said carriage. 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the suction is performed by the suction unit after the carriage reciprocates minutely. 5. When a minute vibration is applied to the carriage,
5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover unit is operated integrally with the recording head.