JP2005349782A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a cleaning can not be performed without making a recording liquid remaining on surface scattered at the time of wiping the recording liquid of a high viscosity with a wiper blade. <P>SOLUTION: A cleaner driving mechanism 150 for making the wiper cleaner 133 moved upward and downward is provided on the main frame of the device while providing the wiper cleaner 133 containing an absorbent member 135 including a surface active agent capable of absorbing an ink in a case 134 at the side of printing area side of a frame 132 of a carriage 23 so as to be able to move upward and downward. The wiper blade 124 after wiping is made to ascend, and the wiper cleaner 133 is made to descend and connect to the surface 124a of the wiper blade 124, and then the remained recording liquid is absorbed by the absorbent member 135 and removed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that includes a recording head that discharges a recording liquid and forms an image on a recording medium.

  2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording apparatus used as various image forming apparatuses such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying apparatus, and a plotter is equipped with a recording medium (recording medium (e.g., a recording liquid (e.g., ink)) that discharges liquid recording liquid (for example, ink) from fine nozzles. (Also referred to as paper, recording paper, transfer paper, recording medium, etc.)).

  By the way, in an ink jet recording apparatus, since ink droplets are ejected from fine ejection ports, the ejection ports are clogged due to ink thickening or sticking due to drying or bubbles generated in the ink. , Ejection failure may occur. Therefore, in order to prevent such ejection failure, a head maintenance / recovery device for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection function to a normal state is provided.

  As a recovery method using such a maintenance / recovery device, for example, when ejection failure occurs due to bubbles generated in the ejection port during recording, maintenance is performed by filling the recording head with ink by a pressurizing unit or the like to recover the ejection port. A recovery method, a maintenance recovery method that performs preliminary ejection (empty ejection) in preparation for thickening and fixing of ink due to natural evaporation of ink in the ejection port, and a maintenance and recovery method that wipes ink droplets and dust adhering to the ejection port surface One or a combination of two or more is used as appropriate.

Here, as a head cleaning device including a blade (also referred to as a wiper, a wiper blade, or a blade member) for wiping the nozzle surface of the head, a device including a blade cleaning unit (wiper cleaner) for cleaning the blade is known. . For example, Patent Document 1 includes a blade having a wedge-shaped tip, and is provided with a wiper cleaning member that cleans the blade tip on an ink cartridge mounted on a carriage, and adheres to the blade tip when wiping is performed. An ink wiper that wipes ink with a wiper cleaning member is disclosed.
JP 2000-141672 A

Similarly, as described in Patent Document 2, it is provided with a cleaning means that moves together with the carriage and wipes ink adhering to the blade member, and as described in Patent Document 3, the wiping means (blade) advances and retreats. Some have wiper cleaners that move in the direction of the blade surface along with the movement and wipe off ink adhering to the side surface of the blade.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-20187 JP 2002-321376 A

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228561, there is a type in which an ink holding member that cleans the wiper by sliding on the wiper is provided on the carriage.
Japanese Patent No. 3334913

  By the way, in recent image forming apparatuses using ink, use of pigment-based ink using organic pigment, carbon black or the like as a colorant has been studied or put into practical use in order to enable high-quality printing on plain paper. However, unlike dyes, pigments are not soluble in water, and are usually used as water-based inks in a state where pigments are mixed with a dispersant, dispersed, and stably dispersed in water.

  Such a pigment-based ink generally has a higher viscosity than a dye-based ink, causing a problem due to the high viscosity. That is, when wiping off high-viscosity ink adhering to the nozzle surface of the recording head, wiping with a blade having a wedge-shaped tip as disclosed in Patent Document 1 cannot be sufficiently wiped off. There are challenges.

  Therefore, when wiping is performed using a blade with a top surface, the ink adheres to the top and side surfaces of the blade without swiftly flowing to the side of the blade as in the case of low viscosity ink because of high viscosity. It was confirmed that it would remain. In particular, as described in Patent Document 4, when a blade having a rectangular tip is used, ink does not flow on the side surface and tends to remain on the top surface.

  As described above, when the next wiping operation with the ink attached is performed, it is easy for unwiping to occur, resulting in nozzle omission and jet bending. Therefore, when the ink holding member provided on the carriage is slidably brought into contact with the blade tip surface by the movement of the carriage as in Patent Document 4, the ink attached to the blade is wiped off depending on the positional relationship between the ink holding member and the blade. In some cases, the blade is bent in the moving direction of the ink holding member, and there is a problem that the remaining ink scatters due to the restoration of the blade when there is unwiping.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an image forming apparatus in which the blade is cleaned without causing scattering of the recording liquid even when a high-viscosity recording liquid is used, thereby improving the cleaning performance by the blade. The purpose is to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is configured to include an absorber member that can contact the top of a blade so as to be movable up and down.

  Here, it is preferable that the absorber member is provided on the carriage on which the recording head is mounted so as to be movable up and down. Moreover, it is preferable that the drive body which moves an absorber member up and down is provided in the apparatus main body side. Furthermore, the absorber member is preferably provided so as to be replaceable. Further, it is preferable that the absorber member is provided on the print region side with respect to the carriage on which the recording head is mounted.

  Further, after wiping the nozzle surface of the recording head with the blade, the blade is lowered, the blade is raised with the absorber member facing the blade, the absorber member is lowered, and the absorber member is moved to the top of the blade. It is preferable to make it contact. The absorbent member preferably contains a surfactant.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the absorber member that can come into contact with the top of the blade is provided so as to be able to move up and down, the absorber member is lowered toward the blade and brought into contact with the top. The remaining recording liquid adhering to the top of the recording medium can be absorbed, and even when a high-viscosity recording liquid is used, the blade can be cleaned without causing scattering of the recording liquid, and the cleaning performance by the blade can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. An example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view of an image forming unit and a sub-scanning conveying unit of the apparatus.

  This image forming apparatus has an image forming part (means) 2 for forming an image, a sub-scanning conveying part (means) 3, etc. in the inside (enclosure) of the apparatus main body 1. A recording medium (hereinafter referred to as “paper”, but the material is not limited to paper) 5 is separated and fed one by one from the provided paper feeding unit (means) 4, and is fed by the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3. While the paper 5 is transported intermittently at a position facing the image forming unit 2, droplets are ejected onto the paper 5 by the image forming unit 2 to form (record) a desired image, and then through the paper discharge transport unit 6. The paper 5 is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 7 formed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1.

  The image forming apparatus also has an image reading unit (scanner) for reading an image above the discharge tray 7 above the apparatus main body 1 as an input system for image data (print data) formed by the image forming unit 2. Part) 11. The image reading unit 11 includes a scanning optical system 15 including an illumination light source 13 and a mirror 14 and a scanning optical system 18 including mirrors 16 and 17. The scanned document image is read as an image signal by the image reading element 20 disposed behind the lens 19, and the read image signal is digitized and subjected to image processing, and the image-processed print data is printed. be able to. A pressure plate 10 is provided on the contact glass 12 for pressing the document.

  Further, this image forming apparatus uses an information processing apparatus such as an external personal computer, an image reading apparatus such as an image scanner, and an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera as an input system for image data (print data) formed by the image forming unit 2. For example, print data including image data from the host side can be received via a cable or a network, and the received print data can be processed and printed.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the image forming unit 2 of the image forming apparatus holds the carriage 23 movably in the main scanning direction by a carriage guide 21 and a guide stay (not shown), and is driven by a main scanning motor 27. It moves and scans in the main scanning direction via a timing belt 29 spanned between the pulley 28a and the driven pulley 28b.

  A recording head 24 including a droplet discharge head for discharging droplets of each color is mounted on the carriage 23, the carriage 23 is moved in the main scanning direction, and the sheet 5 is transferred to the sheet by the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3. A shuttle type is used in which droplets are ejected from the recording head 24 while feeding in the transport direction (sub-scanning direction) to form an image.

  The recording head 24 has two droplet discharge heads 24k1 and 24k2 that discharge black (Bk) ink, respectively, and one each that discharges cyan (C) ink, magenta (M) ink, and yellow (Y) ink. A total of five liquid droplet ejection heads (hereinafter simply referred to as “heads”), ie, liquid droplet ejection heads 24 c, 24 m, and 24 y, and each color ink is supplied from each sub tank 25 mounted on the carriage 23.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, recording liquid containing black (K) ink, cyan (C) ink, magenta (M) ink, and yellow (Y) ink from the front of the apparatus main body 1 to the cartridge mounting portion 26A. Each color ink cartridge 26 can be detachably mounted as a cartridge, and ink is supplied from each color ink cartridge 26 to each color sub-tank 25. The black ink is supplied from one ink cartridge 26 to the two sub tanks 25.

  The recording head 24 uses a piezoelectric element as a pressure generating means (actuator means) for pressurizing the ink in the ink flow path (pressure generation chamber) to deform the vibration plate that forms the wall surface of the ink flow path. A so-called piezo type that discharges ink droplets by changing the volume in the flow channel, or discharges ink droplets with a pressure generated by heating the ink in the ink flow channel using a heating resistor to generate bubbles. The so-called thermal type, the diaphragm that forms the wall surface of the ink flow path and the electrode are placed opposite to each other, and the diaphragm is deformed by the electrostatic force generated between the vibration plate and the electrode, thereby the ink flow path inner volume It is possible to use an electrostatic type or the like that discharges ink droplets by changing the above.

  A maintenance / recovery device 121 including a head cleaning device for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzles of the recording head 24 is disposed in a non-printing area on one side of the carriage 23 in the scanning direction. The maintenance / recovery device 121 includes five moisturizing caps 122k2, 122k1, 122c, 122m, and 122y for capping the nozzle surfaces of the five recording heads 24 (“moisturizing caps” when colors are not distinguished). 122 ”), a single suction cap 123, a wiper blade 124 for wiping the nozzle surface of the recording head 24, an idle discharge receptacle 125 for performing idle discharge, and the like.

  The sub-scanning conveyance unit 3 is a drive roller between a conveyance roller 32 and a driven roller 33 for conveying the paper 5 fed from below to the image forming unit 2 while changing the conveyance direction by approximately 90 degrees. An endless conveyance belt 31 laid over the surface, a charging roller 34 to which a high voltage is applied from a high voltage power source (not shown) for charging the surface of the conveyance belt 31, and the conveyance belt 31 are opposed to the image forming unit 2. The guide member 35 that guides in the area, the pressing roller (pressure roller) 36 that presses the sheet 5 against the conveying belt 31 at a position facing the conveying roller 32, and the sheet 5 on which the image is formed by the image forming unit 2 are discharged. A transport roller 37 for feeding to the transport unit 6 is provided.

  The transport belt 31 of the sub-scan transport unit 3 is rotated in the paper transport direction (sub-scan direction) in FIG. 2 by rotating the transport roller 32 from the sub-scan motor 38 via the timing belt 39 and the timing roller 40. It is configured to do. The transport belt 31 includes, for example, a surface layer that is a sheet adsorption surface formed of a pure resin material that is not subjected to resistance control, such as ETFE pure material, and a back layer that is subjected to resistance control using carbon with the same material as the surface layer. It has a two-layer structure (medium resistance layer, earth layer).

  Further, the configuration of the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3 is not limited to the conveyance belt, and a configuration using a conveyance roller (grinding wheel roller) and a printing receiving member that guides the paper 5 at a position facing the image forming unit 2 is adopted. You can also.

  The paper feed unit 4 can be inserted into and removed from the apparatus main body 1, and a paper feed cassette 41 for stacking and storing a large number of papers 5 and a paper feed for separating and feeding the papers 5 in the paper feed cassette 41 one by one. A paper roller 42 and a friction pad 43, and a paper feed conveyance roller 44 that conveys the fed paper 5 to the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3 are provided. The paper feed roller 42 is rotated by a paper feed motor (drive source) 45 formed of an HB type stepping motor via a paper feed clutch (not shown), and the paper feed transport roller 44 is also rotationally driven by the paper feed motor 45.

  The paper discharge conveyance unit 6 includes a pair of paper discharge conveyance rollers 61 and 62 for conveying the paper 5 on which image formation has been performed, a paper discharge conveyance roller pair 63 and a paper discharge roller 64 for sending the paper 5 to the paper discharge tray 7. And.

Next, an outline of the maintenance / recovery device 121 will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is a schematic explanatory view showing the recovery device partially expanded.
As described above, the maintenance / recovery device 121 includes the cap holders 221A to 221D including the holding mechanism for holding the moisturizing cap 122 and the suction cap 123 (the cap holders 221A and 221C hold the two moisturizing caps 122). And wiper blade 124, which is a blade made of an elastic body as a cleaning means for cleaning (wiping) the nozzle surface of recording head 24, and droplets that do not contribute to printing are discharged from recording head 24. An empty discharge receptacle 125 for performing an empty discharge operation is disposed.

  Here, a tubing pump (suction pump) 223 which is a suction means is connected to a suction cap 123 held by a cap holder 221D closest to the print area via a flexible tube 222. Therefore, when performing the maintenance recovery operation of the recording head 24, the recording head 24 performing the recovery operation is selectively moved to a position where it can be capped by the suction cap 123.

  A cam shaft 212 rotatably supported by the frame 211 is disposed below the cap holders 221A to 221D. Cap cams 213A to 213D for raising and lowering the cap holders 221A to 221D are disposed on the cam shaft 212. In addition, a wiper cam 214 for raising and lowering the wiper blade 124 is provided. The cam positions at which the moisturizing cap 122 and the suction cap 123 reach the top dead center are not the same, but for the convenience of illustration, the moisturizing cap 122, the suction cap 123 and the cams 213A to 213D are shown at the same height. Yes.

  Then, in order to rotationally drive the tubing pump 223 and the camshaft 212, the rotation of the motor 231 is meshed with the motor gear 232 provided on the motor shaft 231a, and the pump gear 233 provided on the pump shaft 223a of the tubing pump 223 is engaged. An intermediate gear 236 with a one-way clutch 237 is meshed with an intermediate gear 234 integrated with the intermediate gear 233, and the intermediate gear 238 coaxial with the intermediate gear 236 is fixed to the camshaft 212 via the intermediate gear 239. The cam gear 240 is engaged.

  In the maintenance and recovery device 121, when the motor 231 rotates in the forward direction, the motor gear 232, the intermediate gear 233, the pump gear 234, the intermediate gears 235 and 236 rotate, and the shaft 223a of the tubing pump 223 rotates, whereby the tubing pump 223 is rotated. Is activated to suck the inside of the suction cap 123 (this operation is referred to as “in-cap suction”). Since the other gears 238 and thereafter are blocked by the one-way clutch 237, they do not rotate (activate).

  Further, since the one-way clutch 237 is connected by the reverse rotation of the motor 231, the rotation of the motor 231 is transferred to the cam gear 240 through the motor gear 232, the intermediate gear 233, the pump gear 234, the intermediate gears 235, 236, 238 and 239. As a result, the camshaft 212 rotates. At this time, the tubing pump 223 has a structure that does not rotate by the reverse rotation of the pump shaft 223a.

  As described above, in the maintenance and recovery apparatus 121, one drive source is the vertical movement of the cap for capping the nozzle surface of the recording head, the driving of the suction means for performing suction within the cap, and the vertical movement of the wiper blade. Since the operation is performed by the rotation of the cam shaft, which is the rotation shaft rotated by the motor, the configuration of the maintenance and recovery device is simplified.

  Next, a wiper cleaner mechanism for cleaning the wiper blade 124 of the maintenance / recovery device 121 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is a perspective explanatory view of the wiper cleaner mechanism portion of the carriage 23, FIG. 5 is also a side explanatory view thereof, FIG. 6 is also a front explanatory view thereof, FIG. 7 is also a schematic front explanatory view of the wiper cleaner mechanism portion, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic right side view of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the wiper cleaner.

  The wiper cleaner mechanism 131 has a wiper cleaner 133 attached to the side surface of the print area of the frame 132 of the carriage 23 so as to be movable up and down. As shown in FIG. 9, the wiper cleaner 133 includes an absorbent member 135 containing a surfactant capable of absorbing ink in a case 134 made of a metal plate.

  By including a surfactant in the absorbent member 135, a recording liquid having a high viscosity (5 cp or more) can also be efficiently absorbed. That is, the wiper cleaner 133 absorbs the remaining recording liquid by pressing against the top (here, the top surface 124a) of the wiper blade 124 from above, but in the case of a high-viscosity recording liquid, the lower end of the absorber member 135 is absorbed. It was found that the absorbed recording liquid stayed and it was difficult to absorb further. Therefore, it was confirmed that the recording liquid absorbed at the lower end portion efficiently moves upward of the absorber member 135 by including the surfactant in the absorber member 135.

  The wiper cleaner 133 can be moved up and down with respect to the carriage 23 by fitting the flanges 136 provided on both sides of the case 134 between the guide part 137 provided on the frame 132 of the carriage 23 and the outer surface of the frame 132. In addition, the wiper cleaner 133 is replaceable so that the entire wiper cleaner 133 can be removed from the carriage 23. Thereby, when the absorption efficiency by the absorber member 135 of the wiper cleaner 133 is lowered, it can be replaced.

  The wiper cleaner 133 is urged upward by a spring 141 interposed between the wiper cleaner 133 and the locking portion 140 provided on the frame 132 of the carriage 23. Further, a stopper portion 142 that engages the locking portion 142a with the cover 143 of the carriage 23 is provided on the upper portion of the wiper cleaner 133 so as to restrict the upper movement limit of the wiper cleaner 133. Furthermore, a stopper portion 144 that engages with the flange 136 of the wiper cleaner 133 is provided on the outer surface side of the frame 132 of the carriage 23 so that the wiper cleaner 133 regulates the lower limit position.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, a cleaner driving mechanism 150 for moving the wiper cleaner 133 downward is provided on the image forming apparatus main body side. The cleaner driving mechanism 150 includes an arm 152 pivotally supported by a support shaft 151 and a solenoid 153 for swinging the arm 152. As the arm 152 is swung by the solenoid 153, the lower end 152 a comes into contact with the upper end 148 of the wiper cleaner 133 and pushes the wiper cleaner 133 downward. The upper end 152b of the arm 152 is coupled to the plunger 153a of the solenoid 153 via an elastic member (for example, a spring) 154, and a return spring 155 for urging the solenoid 152 in the opposite direction is connected to the fixed portion. It is in between.

Next, an outline of the control unit of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.
The control unit 300 includes a CPU 301 that controls the entire apparatus, a ROM 302 that stores programs executed by the CPU 301 and other fixed data, a RAM 303 that temporarily stores image data, and the like, while the apparatus is powered off. 1 includes a non-volatile memory (NVRAM) 304 for holding data, an image processing for performing various signal processing and rearrangement on image data, and an ASIC 305 for processing input / output signals for controlling the entire apparatus. Yes.

  The control unit 300 also includes an I / F 307 for transmitting / receiving data and signals to / from the host side, a head drive control unit 308 and a head driver 309 for driving and controlling the recording head 24, and the main scanning motor 27. A main scanning motor driving unit 311 for driving the sub scanning motor 131, a sub scanning motor driving unit 312 for driving the sub scanning motor 131, a paper feeding motor driving unit 313 for driving the paper feeding motor 141, and a maintenance and recovery device. The maintenance / recovery system drive unit 314 for driving the motor 231 of 121 and the solenoid 153 of the cleaner drive mechanism 150 of the wiper cleaner mechanism 131, and other motors of the ink supply system and clutches such as a paper feed clutch (not shown) are driven. It has a part to do.

  The control unit 300 includes an I / O 315 for inputting detection signals from various sensors, and an operation panel 316 for inputting and displaying information necessary for the apparatus is connected.

  The control unit 300 receives print data and the like from the host side such as an information processing device such as a personal computer, an image reading device such as an image scanner, and an imaging device such as a digital camera, via the cable or the network, via the I / F 307.

  The CPU 301 reads and analyzes the print data in the reception buffer included in the I / F 307, performs necessary image processing, data rearrangement processing, and the like in the ASIC 305, and transfers the image data to the head drive control unit 308. To do. The generation of dot pattern data for image output may be performed by storing font data in the ROM 302, for example, or image data is developed into bitmap data by a host-side printer driver and transferred to this apparatus. You may do it.

  When the head drive control unit 308 receives image data (dot pattern data) corresponding to one line of the recording head 24, the dot pattern data for one line is serialized to the head driver 309 in synchronization with the clock signal. Data is sent out, and a latch signal is sent to the head driver 309 at a predetermined timing. The head drive control unit 308 includes a ROM (which can also be configured by the ROM 302) that stores pattern data of a drive waveform (drive signal), and a D / A converter that D / A converts the drive waveform data read from the ROM. A waveform generation circuit including an A converter and a drive waveform generation circuit including an amplifier and the like are included.

  The head driver 309 is a shift register that inputs a clock signal from the head drive control unit 308 and serial data that is image data, and a latch circuit that latches a register value of the shift register using a latch signal from the head drive control unit 308. A level conversion circuit (level shifter) that changes the output value of the latch circuit, an analog switch array (switch means) that is controlled to be turned on / off by the level shifter, and the like, and controls on / off of the analog switch array. In this way, a required drive waveform included in the drive waveform is selectively applied to the actuator means of the recording head 24 to drive the head.

Next, the maintenance / recovery operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
Referring also to FIG. 12, the recording head 24 that performs the recovery operation is brought to the position of the suction cap 123, and as shown in FIG. 11, at the time t1, the motor 231 is turned on as shown in FIG. The camshaft 212 is rotated in the reverse direction, the suction cap 123 is raised, the nozzle surface of the recording head 24 is capped, and the motor 231 is rotated forward to operate the tubing pump 223 as shown in FIG. Then, a nozzle suction step for sucking from the nozzles of the recording head 24 is performed.

  Subsequently, at time t2, as shown in FIG. 5A, the motor 231 is rotated in the reverse direction to rotate the cam shaft 212, thereby separating the suction cap 123 from the nozzle surface of the recording head 24. Do.

  Subsequent to this step, the rotation of the cam shaft 212 causes the wiper blade 124 to rise to the wiping position (position in contact with the nozzle surface) as shown in FIG. ), The carriage 23 is moved to move the wiper blade 124 relative to the nozzle surface of the recording head 24, and the recording liquid remaining on the nozzle surface is wiped and cleaned ( After wiping), the wiper blade 124 is lowered by the rotation of the camshaft 212 and separated from the nozzle surface.

  Then, following this step, the motor 231 is rotated forward, and at time t4, the tubing pump 223 is operated to suck the recording liquid in the suction cap 123 as shown in FIG. I do.

  Further, the carriage 23 is moved to the home position at a required timing (here, time t5), so that the wiper cleaner 133 faces the wiper blade 124, as shown in FIG. By rotating the motor 231 reversely and rotating the camshaft 212 again at a required timing, the wiper blade 124 starts to rise at time t6 in FIG.

  At this time, the solenoid 153 of the wiper cleaner mechanism 130 is operated to swing the arm 152 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 5, so that the wiper cleaner 133 is lowered until it abuts against the stopper 144. As a result, as shown in FIG. 13B, the top (top surface) 124a of the wiper blade 124 abuts against the absorber member 135 of the wiper cleaner 133, and remains on the top surface 124a of the wiper blade 124 by wiping the nozzle surface. The recording liquid is transferred to the absorber member 135 and absorbed.

  Thereafter, the wiper blade 124 is lowered by the rotation of the camshaft 212. On the other hand, the solenoid 153 of the wiper cleaner mechanism 130 is deactivated so that the arm 152 swings in the direction indicated by the arrow D in FIG. It moves back to the state shown in the figure, and the wiper cleaner 133 is lifted by the spring 141.

  In this way, by providing the absorber member that can contact the top of the blade so that it can move up and down, the absorber member abuts on the top of the blade after wiping to absorb the remaining recording liquid and At this time, since the blade is not deformed, the remaining recording liquid does not scatter and the blade can be cleaned even when a high-viscosity recording liquid is used. The maintenance is improved.

  In this case, the absorber member can be moved up and down on the carriage on which the recording head is mounted so that it can move together with the carriage, and the retraction operation is not necessary. In other words, when the absorber member is provided on the apparatus main body side and wiping is performed on the side closest to the printing area of the maintenance / recovery apparatus, the carriage moves in the main scanning direction beyond the blade position. In addition, the absorber member must be retracted from the carriage movement path, and the moving distance of the absorber member is increased. In contrast, by providing the carriage with the absorber member, the moving distance of the absorber member can be shortened.

  In addition, an increase in the weight of the carriage can be suppressed by providing driving means for moving the absorber member up and down on the apparatus main body side. That is, when the absorber member is provided in the carriage, the carriage can be provided with a driving means for moving up and down. However, with such a configuration, the weight of the carriage increases, and the inertia increases as the carriage weight increases. Therefore, a burden is imposed on the print position control.

  Therefore, even when the absorber member is provided in the carriage, it is preferable to provide the driving means for raising and lowering the absorber member on the image forming apparatus main body side.

  Further, after wiping the nozzle surface of the recording head with the blade, the blade is lowered, the blade is raised with the absorber member facing the blade, the absorber member is lowered, and the absorber member is moved to the top of the blade. Even when the maintenance / recovery mechanism is operated by the rotation of one camshaft (one motor), the remaining recording liquid of the blade after wiping is removed by the rotation operation of one camshaft. Can be absorbed.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention has been described with reference to an example in which the present invention is applied to a multifunction (MFP) image forming apparatus. However, the image forming apparatus uses another image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile apparatus or a recording liquid other than ink. The same applies to the device.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory plan view of an image forming unit and sub-scan transport of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a maintenance / recovery device of the image forming apparatus. It is a perspective explanatory view of the wiper cleaner mechanism portion of the carriage. It is a side explanatory view similarly. It is front explanatory drawing similarly. It is a schematic front explanatory view of the wiper cleaner mechanism portion. FIG. 8 is a schematic right side view of FIG. 7. It is a cross-sectional explanatory drawing of a wipe park liner. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of a control unit of the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a timing explanatory diagram for explanation of the maintenance recovery operation. It is also a flowchart. It is explanatory drawing similarly used for description of the cleaning of a wiper blade.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Apparatus main body 2 ... Image formation part 3 ... Sub-scanning conveyance part 4 ... Paper feed part 5 ... Paper (recording medium)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 6 ... Discharge conveyance part 7 ... Discharge tray 11 ... Image reading part 23 ... Carriage 24 ... Recording head 31 ... Conveyance belt 121 ... Maintenance recovery device 123 ... Suction cap 124 ... Wiper blade 133 ... Wiper cleaner 153 ... Solenoid

Claims (7)

  In an image forming apparatus comprising a recording head for ejecting droplets of recording liquid from a nozzle and a head cleaning device including a blade for wiping the nozzle surface of the recording head, an absorber member capable of contacting the top of the blade is provided. An image forming apparatus characterized in that the image forming apparatus is vertically movable.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the absorber member is provided on a carriage on which the recording head is mounted so as to be movable up and down.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a driving unit that moves the absorber member up and down on the apparatus main body side.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the absorber member is provided so as to be replaceable.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the absorber member is provided closer to a print region than a carriage on which the recording head is mounted.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle surface of the recording head is wiped with a blade, the blade is lowered, and the blade is moved with the absorber member facing the blade. An image forming apparatus, wherein the absorber member is lowered and the absorber member is lowered to bring the absorber member into contact with the top of the blade. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the absorber member includes a surfactant.

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