JP2007083481A - Liquid jetting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid jetting apparatus which prevents a pump tube from being shut by an accumulated waste liquid, and can make effective use of the space of a waste liquid tank. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid jetting apparatus 10 has a liquid jetting head 30 which jets liquid, a cleaning means which cleans the liquid jetting head 30 by discharging the liquid through a liquid route while nozzle openings of the liquid jetting head 30 are sealed, and a liquid storing means 40 which is arranged at the outlet side of the liquid route and stores the liquid discharged by the cleaning means. The liquid storing means 40 has a liquid dispersing means 42 for dispersing the liquid in the liquid storing means 40. The liquid dispersing means 42 is composed of both a plurality of liquid receiving means 46A, etc. which receive the liquid, and a holding means which rotatably holds the plurality of liquid receiving means 46A, etc. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid.

As a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a target (recording medium), there is an ink jet recording apparatus that performs printing by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head onto a recording medium. This ink jet recording apparatus records images such as desired characters and figures by ejecting minute ink droplets from a nozzle of a recording head onto a recording medium.
The ink jet recording apparatus is a cleaning device that seals the nozzles to prevent the viscosity of ink in the nozzles from increasing, or removes thickened ink that causes ejection failure by sucking ink or the like. Some have a mechanism.
The above-described cleaning mechanism accommodates sucked ink (hereinafter referred to as waste ink) in a waste ink tank in the ink jet recording apparatus via a tube (hereinafter referred to as pump tube). . The waste ink is absorbed by the absorbent material stored in the waste ink tank.
In this regard, by forming the bottom surface of the ink storage portion into a concave shape, even if high-density and high-viscosity ink accumulates in a mountain shape, waste ink does not overflow from the ink storage portion. A technique for effectively utilizing the space of a part has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-94692 A (FIG. 3 etc.)

  However, as long as the ink accumulates in the lower part of the pump tube, even if the bottom surface of the ink reservoir is formed in a concave shape, the accumulated waste ink may contact the outlet of the pump tube and block the pump tube. There is a problem.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of solving the above-described problems, preventing the pump tube from being blocked by accumulated waste liquid, and effectively utilizing the space of the waste liquid tank.

  In the present invention, the above-described object is achieved by a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid, a cleaning unit that cleans the liquid ejecting head by ejecting the liquid from the liquid ejecting head, and a cleaning unit that ejects the liquid. A liquid storage device for storing the liquid, wherein the liquid storage device includes a liquid dispersion device for dispersing the liquid in the liquid storage device, and the liquid dispersion device. Is achieved by a liquid ejecting apparatus comprising a plurality of liquid receiving means for receiving the liquid and a holding means for rotatably holding the plurality of liquid receiving means.

According to such a configuration, after the liquid is received by one of the liquid receiving means, the liquid receiving means rotates, and the other liquid receiving means can receive the liquid. That is, the liquid discharged from the liquid path can be sequentially and actively moved to another position.
For this reason, the liquid does not accumulate near the outlet of the liquid path.
Thereby, it is possible to prevent the pump tube from being blocked by the accumulated waste liquid, and to effectively use the space of the waste liquid tank.

  In this case, the liquid receiving means is a plate-like member, and the holding means is composed of a connecting portion to the liquid storage means and a rotating shaft that rotatably holds the plurality of plate-like members. The plate member is preferably fixed to the rotating shaft.

According to such a configuration, the plurality of plate-like members and the rotating shaft are operable like a water wheel, for example. Therefore, when one plate-like member receives the liquid, the weight of the liquid is increased. Accordingly, the operation of rotating by the above and then the other plate-like member receiving the liquid can be continuously performed.
Thereby, although a complicated mechanism is not required, the pump tube is prevented from being blocked by the accumulated waste liquid, and the space of the waste liquid tank can be effectively utilized.

  In this case, it is desirable that the surface of the plate-like member is surface-treated with a surface roughness defined in advance in order to hold the liquid.

According to such a configuration, the plate-like member can hold the received liquid according to the surface roughness. For this reason, in the said liquid storage means, the surface of the said plate-shaped member can also be utilized as a space holding the said liquid.
Thereby, the space of the waste liquid tank can be utilized more effectively.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an ink jet recording apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The ink jet recording apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is also called an ink jet printer. The ink jet recording apparatus 10 has a main body 1. The main body 1 includes a guide rail 17, a platen 12, a carriage 14, an ink suction device 20, and a recording head 30. The recording head 30 is an example of a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid, and is also called a print head.

An ink jet recording apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a so-called on-carriage recording apparatus, and has a configuration in which a plurality of ink cartridges 2, 3, 4, and 5 can be detachably mounted on an upper portion of a carriage 14. . The ink cartridge 2 or the like stores ink that is an example of a liquid. The ink cartridge 2 stores black ink, the ink cartridge 3 stores cyan ink, the ink cartridge 4 stores yellow ink, and the ink cartridge 5 stores magenta ink. Is stored.
A recording head 30 is provided below the carriage 14. A nozzle plate surface 30 a that the recording head 30 faces the paper 29 is provided with nozzle openings for ejecting ink (hereinafter also referred to as ejection).

  The carriage 14 is connected to a motor 16 via a belt 15. When the motor 16 operates, the carriage 14 reciprocates along the guide rail 17 in the main scanning direction T that is the axial direction of the platen 12. As the carriage 14 reciprocates in the main scanning direction T while ejecting ink from the recording head 30, an image is recorded on a sheet 29 that is an example of a recording medium.

  A home position 18 is disposed at one end of the guide rail 17. The home position 18 is a non-printing area at the end of the carriage travel path. An ink suction device 20 is disposed at the home position 18. This ink suction device 20 is also called a capping system or capping means. The recording head 30 of the carriage 14 in FIG. 1 faces the cap body 21 of the ink suction device 20 by moving to the home position 18 along the T1 direction. The ink suction device 20 is in close contact with the nozzle plate surface 30a where the nozzle openings of the recording head 30 are provided.

The ink suction device 20 has a function of preventing ink from drying at the nozzle openings of the recording head 30 while being in close contact with the recording head 30, and a negative pressure from the suction pump 19 is applied to the nozzle openings to draw ink from the nozzle openings. It has a function to forcibly suck and discharge. That is, the ink suction device 20 cleans the recording head 30 by discharging the ink through a waste ink tube 32 (see FIG. 2) described later in a state where the nozzle openings of the recording head 30 are sealed. The ink suction device 20 is an example of a cleaning unit. The suction pump 19 described above is a component of the ink suction device 20. This ink suction is an example of ink discharge.
In addition, a wiper 23 is provided beside the ink suction device 20. The wiper 23 wipes ink on the nozzle plate surface 30a of the recording head 30 as necessary.
Note that the cleaning of the recording head 30 includes flushing, which is a method of ejecting ink from the nozzle openings regardless of the printing operation. In this case, the recording head 30 is an example of a cleaning unit.

In the above-described cleaning, in addition to cleaning performed during image recording, timer cleaning that is performed based on the elapsed time from the most recent flushing time or the most recent ink suction time, which is a reference time, for example. Including.
The ink sucked by the ink suction device 20 and the ink discharged by flushing are stored in a waste ink tank 40 (see FIG. 2A) described later.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the waste ink tank 40 and the like.
The waste ink tank 40 is an example of a liquid storage unit.
As shown in FIG. 2, the waste ink tank 40 has a waste ink dispersion device 42. The waste ink dispersion device 42 is an example of a liquid dispersion unit.
The waste ink dispersing device 42 has a plurality of waste ink dropping blades 46A to 46H that receive the waste ink 60 discharged from the ink tube outlet 32a of the waste ink tube 32. The waste ink dropping blades 46A and the like are rotatably held by a rotating shaft 44. The rotating shaft 44 is held by a rotating shaft holding member 48. The rotating shaft holding member 48 is fixed to the waste ink tank 40.
The waste ink dripping blades 46A and the like are examples of liquid receiving means, and the rotating shaft 44 and the rotating shaft holding member 48 are examples of holding means. The rotating shaft holding member is an example of a connection portion.

In the state of FIG. 2A, the waste ink 60 discharged from the ink tube outlet 32a is dropped onto the waste ink dropping blade 46A. The waste ink dripping blade 46A rotates in the arrow Z2 direction depending on the weight of the dropped waste ink 60. Then, the waste ink 60 is dropped onto the bottom 41 of the waste ink tank 40 in the state shown in FIG. At this time, first, the waste ink 60 falls on the first end 41a of the bottom 41, and the waste ink 60 remaining on the waste ink dripping blade 46A falls on the center 41b at the first end 41a. Also in the portion 41b, the waste ink 60 remaining on the waste ink dropping blade 46A falls to the second end portion 41c.
As a result of the above-described operation being performed continuously, the waste ink 60 is dispersed at the bottom 41 of the waste ink tank 40 without being deposited in one place.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of how the waste ink 60 is dispersed in the waste ink tank 40.
As shown in FIG. 3, the waste ink 60 is deposited mainly on the first end 41a and the second end 41c. The waste ink 60 also accumulates in the central portion 41b. However, since the central portion 41b is a path through which the waste ink dropping blade 46A and the like pass, the waste ink 60 is moved to the second end portion 41c by the waste ink dropping blade 46A and the like. For this reason, in the central portion 41b, the waste ink 60 is merely accumulated in a limited space between the waste ink dropping blade 46A and the like and the bottom portion 41.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the waste ink dripping feather 46A and the waste ink dripping feather 46H. As shown in FIG. 4, the waste ink dripping blades 46A and the like are plate-like members. Since the waste ink dripping feather 46A and the waste ink dripping feather 46H have an angle α, they have a waste ink holding space S. The waste ink 60 is temporarily held in the waste ink holding space S, and then falls to the bottom 41 of the waste ink tank 40. The other waste ink dropping blades 46B have the same configuration.
Further, the surface 46a of the waste ink dripping blade 46A or the like is subjected to surface processing with a certain surface roughness. This surface roughness is defined in advance to hold the waste ink 60, such as the surface roughness being rougher as the type of ink having higher viscosity is used. For this reason, a part of the waste ink 60 received by the waste ink dropping blade 46A or the like remains on the surface 46a of the waste ink dropping blade 46A or the like and solidifies as it is as shown in FIG.

The ink jet recording apparatus 10 is configured as described above.
As described above, for example, after the waste ink 60 is received by the waste ink dripping blade 46A, the waste ink dripping blade 46A rotates and the other waste ink dripping blade 46G (see FIG. 2B) becomes the waste ink 60. You can catch it. The ink dispersing device 42 can perform such an operation continuously.
That is, the waste ink 60 discharged from the waste ink tube 32 can be sequentially and actively moved to another position.
For this reason, waste ink does not accumulate near the outlet of the waste ink tube 32.
Thereby, it is possible to prevent the pump tube from being blocked by the accumulated waste liquid, and to effectively use the space of the waste liquid tank.

Further, since the plurality of waste ink dripping blades 46A and the like and the rotating shaft 44 can operate like a water wheel, for example, when one waste ink dripping blade 46A receives the waste ink 60, for example, The operation of rotating according to the weight and subsequently receiving the waste ink 60 by another waste ink dropping blade 46G can be continuously performed.
Thereby, although a complicated mechanism is not required, the pump tube is prevented from being blocked by the accumulated waste liquid, and the space of the waste liquid tank can be effectively utilized.

Further, the surface of the waste ink dripping blade 46 </ b> A and the like is subjected to surface processing with a predetermined surface roughness in order to hold the waste ink 60.
For this reason, the waste ink dripping blades 46A and the like can hold the received waste ink 60 according to the surface roughness. Therefore, in the waste ink tank 40, the surface of the waste ink dripping blades 46A and the like is also disposed on the waste ink 60. Can be used as a space to hold.
Thereby, the space of the waste liquid tank can be utilized more effectively.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment as an ink jet recording apparatus, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments may be combined with each other. Further, the present invention is not limited to an ink jet recording apparatus, but a recording head used in an image recording apparatus such as a printer, a color material ejection head used in manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, and an FED (surface emitting). Electrode material ejection heads used for electrode formation such as displays), liquid ejection devices using liquid ejection heads that eject liquids such as bio-organic matter ejection heads used in biochip manufacturing, sample ejection devices as precision pipettes, etc. Applicable.

  Moreover, each structure of the said embodiment can abbreviate | omit one part or can be arbitrarily combined so that it may differ from the above.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic which shows a waste ink tank etc. It is the schematic which shows a waste ink tank etc. It is the schematic which shows an example of a waste ink dripping feather | wing.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Inkjet recording device, 19 ... Suction pump, 20 ... Ink suction device, 21 ... Cap body, 30 ... Recording head, 30a ... Nozzle plate surface, 32 ... Tube: 40 ... Waste ink tank, 42 ... Waste ink dispersing device, 44 ... Rotating shaft, 46A, 46B, 46C, 46D, 46E, 46F, 46G, 46H ... Waste ink dripping blade, 48 ... Rotating shaft holding members

Claims (3)

A liquid ejecting head for ejecting liquid;
Cleaning means for cleaning the liquid jet head by discharging the liquid from the liquid jet head;
Liquid storage means for storing the liquid discharged by the cleaning means;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:
The liquid storage means is
A liquid dispersion means for dispersing the liquid in the liquid storage means;
The liquid dispersing means includes
A plurality of liquid receiving means for receiving the liquid;
Holding means for rotatably holding the plurality of liquid receiving means;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: The liquid receiving means is a plate-shaped member,
The holding means is composed of a connection portion to the liquid storage means and a rotating shaft that rotatably holds the plurality of plate-like members,
The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plate member is fixed to the rotating shaft.   3. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the surface of the plate-like member is surface-treated with a predetermined surface roughness in order to hold the liquid.

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