JP2006007577A - Printing section cleaning mechanism of inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of dust sticking to the nozzles of a print head, causing a beam to curve and blocking the nozzles, or causing the inability to discharge an ink in a worst case, when the print head is cleaned with dust sticking to the cleaning paper in a method of recovering and disposing of an nonvolatile ink by making the ink soak into the cleaning paper, because paper dust and fibrous dust easily stick to the cleaning paper. <P>SOLUTION: A covering means to cover the supply side of a cleaning medium is provided, and the recording medium not covered with the covering means on the upstream side of the winding direction is rewound to the contact portion between the cleaning medium and a printing section by a rewinding means before the printing section contacts the cleaning medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing unit cleaning mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus.

  In recent years, the demand for industrial applications is increasing in the market of inkjet recording apparatuses. High speed printing is particularly required for industrial applications. For this reason, there is a limit to speedup in the conventional serial type ink jet recording apparatus, and a line method in which the head portion is fixed and the paper is conveyed and printed without stopping is advantageous.

  In addition, in order to realize high-speed printing in the ink jet recording apparatus, it is essential to quickly dry the ink. Conventional water-based inks or oil-based inks take a long time to dry on paper, and thus have a limit in printing throughput. On the other hand, in recent years, development of an ink jet recording apparatus using an ultraviolet curable ink characterized in that it is cured instantaneously when irradiated with ultraviolet rays. The ultraviolet curable ink uses monomer as a main raw material, and is not volatile in a liquid state before being cured. Therefore, there is no problem of clogging due to drying of the nozzles of the print head. On the other hand, due to the lack of volatility, it is necessary to collect and discard all waste ink when purging and head cleaning. Conventionally, as a method for recovering non-volatile ink as described above, there is known a method in which ink is soaked in cleaning paper, recovered, and discarded (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-11-221927

  However, in the above method, paper dust and fibrous dust are likely to adhere to the cleaning paper, and cleaning the print head with dust attached causes dust to adhere to the nozzles of the print head and cause beam bending. In the worst case, there is a problem that the nozzle is clogged and discharge is impossible.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a printing unit cleaning mechanism with improved ejection reliability in an ink jet recording apparatus.

  The present invention relates to a printing unit that performs recording by ejecting ink from a plurality of ejection holes by an inkjet method, a printing unit moving unit that holds the printing unit movably, and the printing unit moving unit moves to a predetermined position. In the inkjet recording apparatus having a roll-shaped cleaning medium that comes into contact with the ejection holes of the printing unit and a winding means for the cleaning medium, cover means for covering the supply side of the cleaning medium is provided, and the cleaning medium and the The recording medium that is not covered by the cover means on the upstream side in the winding direction with respect to the contact portion with the printing section is wound by the winding means before the printing section contacts the cleaning medium. To do.

  Further, after the cleaning medium comes into contact with the printing unit, the winding unit winds up the cleaning medium by a predetermined amount, and the printing unit moving unit moves to clean the printing unit.

  Further, the cleaning medium is wound up at a predetermined speed by the winding means while the printing unit moving means is moving.

  In addition, the movement of the printing unit moving unit is stopped in a state where the printing unit is in contact with the cleaning medium, the cleaning unit winds up the cleaning medium by a predetermined amount, and the carriage unit moves to move the printing unit. Is separated from the cleaning medium.

  Moreover, the surface which contacts the said printing part of the said cleaning medium is a nonwoven fabric, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  In addition, a resin laminating process is performed on a back surface of the cleaning medium with respect to a surface that contacts the printing unit.

  According to the present invention, in the inkjet recording apparatus, a cover is provided on the paper supply side of the cleaning paper made of a roll-shaped nonwoven fabric, and the portion not covered by the paper supply side cover is wound before the cleaning paper contacts the print head. By taking this, it is possible to provide a printing unit cleaning mechanism with improved ejection reliability.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus, the adhesion of dust to the paper feed portion of the cleaning paper is reduced, and the ejection reliability is improved by sending in advance the portion where the dust may adhere.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a head portion, and 2 denotes a supply flow path for supplying ink to the head portion 1. The head unit 1 is fixed to the head holding member 3, and the head holding member 3 is held by the first moving means 4 and is movable in the vertical direction indicated by the arrow A direction. The first moving means 4 is held by the second moving means 5 so as to be movable in the arrow B direction.

  At the time of printing, the head unit 1 is first moved onto the conveying surface 6 by the second moving unit 5 and then moved to a position where the recording medium 7 and the head unit 1 are at a predetermined interval by the first moving unit. To do. In this state, the recording medium 7 is transported onto the transport surface 6 and printing is performed.

  Reference numeral 10 denotes a cap portion which is held by the cap holding portion 11. An ink discharge channel 12 is connected to the suction container 13. Reference numeral 14 denotes a pump which is connected to the suction container 13 through a flow path (not shown).

  The purge operation will be described. The head unit 1 is moved onto the cap by the second moving unit 5 and then moved in the direction of arrow A until the head unit 1 contacts the cap unit 10 by the first moving unit 4. Move. Next, the pump 14 is driven to suck ink from a nozzle (not shown) of the head unit 1. After the pump 14 is stopped, the head unit 1 is separated from the cap unit 10 by the first moving means 4. Next, the pump 14 is driven again to suck the ink remaining in the cap unit 10. At this time, the ink adhering to the head unit 1 is removed by a cleaning mechanism described below.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a cleaning paper wound in a roll shape, 20a being a paper supply side roller and 20b being a paper discharge side roller. The cleaning paper 20 is made of a non-woven fabric on the surface, and generates little fiber dust during cleaning. The back surface is coated with a resin laminate such as polyethylene, so that the absorbed ink is not transmitted to the back surface. A cleaning roller 21 is rotatably held between the paper supply side roller 20 a and the paper discharge side roller 20 b and rotates according to the conveyance of the cleaning paper 20. A motor 22 rotates the paper discharge side roller 20b by a timing belt (not shown), a driving pulley (not shown), and a driven pulley to wind up the cleaning paper 20. Reference numeral 23 denotes a rotary encoder, and reference numeral 24 denotes an encoder sensor, which detects the rotation amount of the paper supply side roller 20a. A paper cover 25 covers an upper portion of the paper supply side roller 20a and is rotatably held by a shaft 26. Note the upper end of the paper cover 25 is installed such that the lower side by L ₀ to the upper end portion of the cleaning roller 21. Reference numeral 27 denotes a cover stopper member, which regulates the opening amount of the paper cover 25 by contacting the cover stopper member 27 when the paper cover 25 rotates about the shaft 26 when the cleaning paper 20 is replaced.

The head cleaning operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the first moving means 4 and the second moving means 5 move the end portion of the head portion 1 to a position where the cleaning roller 21 is located above. Then the distance L takes up the cleaning paper 20 between the distal end portion of the paper cover 25 from the cleaning roller 21 shown in _1, to derive a portion covered by the paper cover 25 to the cleaning roller 21.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the head unit 1 is brought into contact with the cleaning roller 21 by the first moving means 4. The cleaning roller 21 is an elastic porous material. When the head unit 1 is moved to a position where the cleaning roller 16 is crushed, the head unit 1 comes into contact with the cleaning paper 20 without contact with each other, thereby improving ink wiping performance. Can be made. Here, the material of the cleaning roller 21 is a porous material, but the material is not limited to the above as long as it has elasticity. When the head unit 1 comes into contact, the cleaning paper 20 is conveyed by a predetermined amount, and dust and ink adhering to the end of the head unit 1 are wiped off.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the head unit 1 is moved in the arrow B direction by the second moving means 5. At this time, the cleaning roller 21 is moved to the other end of the head unit 1 while the cleaning paper 20 is absorbed without the cleaning paper 20 being conveyed. The moving speed at that time is set according to the speed at which the ink is absorbed by the cleaning paper 20. Here, when the amount of ink adhering to the head unit 1 after the purge is large and the wiping property is poor, or in order to further improve the wiping property, the cleaning paper 20 is continuously or intermittently moved during the movement of the head unit 1. It may be conveyed.

  Next, when the cleaning roller 21 reaches the end of the head unit 1, the cleaning paper 20 is conveyed by a predetermined amount while the head unit 1 is stopped. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the wiped ink from remaining on the end portion of the head portion 1.

  Next, the first moving means 4 separates the head unit 1 from the cleaning roller 21 to complete the cleaning.

  When cleaning is performed and the remaining amount of the cleaning paper 20 on the paper supply side roller 20a is exhausted, the rotary encoder 23 provided on the paper supply side roller 20a does not rotate any more. The user is prompted to replace the cleaning paper 20.

  FIG. 5 is a side view showing a method for replacing the cleaning paper, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view from above showing the method for replacing the cleaning paper. When replacing the cleaning paper 20, the paper cover 25 is first opened. Next, the paper guide 28a for holding the paper supply side roller 20a by the biasing force of the spring (not shown) and the paper guide 28b for holding the paper discharge side roller 20b by the biasing force of the spring (not shown) are removed from the cleaning paper 20 in the direction of arrow C. The cleaning paper 20 is removed in the direction of arrow A and replaced.

It is explanatory drawing which showed one Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the head cleaning method in one Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the head cleaning method in one Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the head cleaning method in one Example of this invention. It is a side view which shows the replacement | exchange method of the cleaning paper in one Example of this invention. It is a cross-sectional view showing a method for replacing a cleaning paper in one embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Head part 2 Supply flow path 3 Head holding member 4 1st moving means 5 2nd moving means 6 Conveyance surface 7 Recording medium 10 Cap part 11 Cap holding part 12 Discharge flow path 13 Suction container 14 Pump 20 Cleaning paper 20a Supply Paper side roller 20b Paper discharge side roller 21 Cleaning roller 22 Motor 23 Rotary encoder 24 Encoder sensor 25 Paper cover 26 Shaft 27 Cover stopper member 28a Paper guide 28b Paper guide

Claims (6)

  A printing unit that performs recording by ejecting ink from a plurality of ejection holes by an inkjet method, a printing unit moving unit that holds the printing unit movably, and the printing unit moving unit when the printing unit moving unit moves to a predetermined position; In an inkjet recording apparatus having a roll-shaped cleaning medium that contacts a discharge hole of a printing unit and a winding unit for the cleaning medium, a cover unit that covers a supply side of the cleaning medium is provided, and the cleaning medium, the printing unit, Ink-jet recording, wherein the recording medium that is not covered by the cover means upstream in the winding direction with respect to the contact portion is wound up by the winding means before the printing section contacts the cleaning medium. Print unit cleaning mechanism of the device.   2. The cleaning unit according to claim 1, wherein after the cleaning medium contacts the printing unit, the winding unit winds up the cleaning medium by a predetermined amount, and the printing unit moving unit moves to clean the printing unit. The printing part cleaning mechanism of the inkjet recording device described in 1.   The printing unit cleaning mechanism of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning medium is wound up at a predetermined speed by the winding unit during the movement of the printing unit moving unit.   The movement of the printing unit moving unit is stopped in a state where the printing unit is in contact with the cleaning medium, the cleaning unit winds up the cleaning medium by the winding unit, the carriage unit moves, and the printing unit is moved to the printing unit. The printing unit cleaning mechanism of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit cleaning mechanism is separated from the cleaning medium.   The printing unit cleaning mechanism of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the cleaning medium that contacts the printing unit is a nonwoven fabric. 6. The printing unit of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a resin laminating process is applied to a back surface of the cleaning medium with respect to a surface contacting the printing unit. Cleaning mechanism.

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