JP2007253631A - Ink-jet recording device and cleaning blade - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove solid matter in the vicinity of a nozzle opening forming surface. <P>SOLUTION: There is provided a cleaning blade which is composed of a planar main body 20 and a wiping section 21 projecting to one side of a surface of the main body via an arcuate portion 23. Herein a front end of the blade makes acute contact with a nozzle plate according to movement of a recording head, due to friction with the nozzle plate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention has an ink jet recording apparatus that has a recording head that moves in the width direction of a recording paper and forms an image by ejecting ink droplets onto the recording paper in accordance with the print data. The present invention relates to a cleaning blade for removing foreign matter.

  An ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink jet recording head that receives supply of ink from an ink storage means, and a paper feeding means that moves a recording paper relative to the recording head, and has a small diameter of the recording head corresponding to a print signal. The recording is performed by ejecting ink droplets onto the recording paper from the nozzle openings.

In this way, because ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle opening with a small diameter, clogging easily occurs due to drying of the solvent constituting the ink, resulting in a decrease in print quality, or in a state where printing is impossible. . In order to alleviate such a problem, an ink jet recording apparatus usually forcibly sucks and discharges ink from a recording head and then performs wiping with a blade made of an elastic plate such as rubber.
As such a blade, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-8462, a tip region that is elastically contacted with the nozzle plate is formed in an arc shape, or as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-235883 There has been proposed one that has an edge shape and improved scraping performance.

In the former case, if the blade body is elastically deformed and brought into contact with the nozzle plate, a constant wiping performance can be obtained, but the tip area contacting the nozzle plate has a large cross-sectional area. Since the rigidity becomes high, it is difficult to ensure close contact with the vicinity of the minute nozzle opening, and there is a problem that the wiping performance remains unsatisfactory.
In the latter case, since the rigidity of the region that contacts the nozzle plate is low, it can be reliably contacted in the vicinity of the nozzle opening. Have a problem that it is necessary to strictly manage.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording provided with a cleaning blade capable of reliably removing the ink component deposited and solidified in the vicinity of the nozzle opening. Is to provide a device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning blade suitable for an ink jet recording apparatus.

  In order to achieve such a problem, in the present invention, an ink jet recording head that discharges ink droplets from the nozzle openings of the nozzle plate corresponding to the print data, and a nozzle opening formation region are cleaned by elastic contact with the nozzle plate. In the ink jet recording apparatus provided with a blade, the blade is formed of a plate-like main body portion and a wiping portion projecting from one surface side of the main body portion via an arc-shaped portion.

  The tip of the wiping portion is elastically contacted with the nozzle plate by friction with the nozzle plate to scrape ink residue and paper dust. In addition, since the main body portion and the wiping portion are connected to each other through the arc-shaped portion, the ink that has been scraped moves to the containing region without the ink stagnating.

Therefore, details of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage, which is connected to a motor 3 by a timing belt 2 and is guided by a guide member 4 and parallel to a platen 5. Is configured to move. On the surface of the carriage 1 facing the recording paper 6, a recording head 7 for discharging black ink to the printing area (left side in the figure) and a recording head for color printing configured to be detachable to the non-printing area side. 8 is mounted, and the recording heads 7 and 8 are configured to receive ink supplied from the black ink cartridge 9 and the color ink cartridge 10 and eject ink droplets onto the recording paper 6 for printing.

  The capping device 11 has a cap member 12 that seals the black ink recording head 7 and a cap member 13 that seals the color ink recording head 8 mounted on the same slider, each of which can be driven independently. Are connected to a pump unit 16 including the pumps 14 and 15 through a tube, and each nozzle opening forming surface of the recording heads 7 and 8 can be sealed in an independent space. In the operation of sealing and discharging capability recovery, negative pressure is supplied from the pump unit 16 so that ink can be forcibly discharged from the recording heads 7 and 8, and ink discharged from the recording head can be stored. In addition, the pump unit 16 is connected via valves V1 and V2. Further, in the vicinity of the capping device 11, a cleaning blade 17 characterized by the present invention is disposed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the blade 17 includes a plate-like main body portion 20 having elasticity that can exert wiping performance on the nozzle plate, and a wiping portion 21 that protrudes toward one surface of the main body portion 20. It is configured by injection molding a rubber material having chemical resistance so as to be provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the main body 20 and the wiping portion 21 are connected via an arcuate portion 23 having a substantially arc-shaped cross section, and the lower portion of the main body portion 20 is slightly lower than the wiping portion 21. Grooves 24 and 25 having an "V" -shaped cross section for guiding the ink vertically extending to the region are formed on both sides so as not to overlap each other as shown in FIG. It is configured not to decrease. Thin portions 21 a are formed on both sides of the wiping portion 21. In addition, the code | symbol 26 in a figure shows the through-hole for attaching to the base 27. FIG.

  In this embodiment, when the print quality of the recording heads 7 and 8 deteriorates and the cleaning command switch is operated by the user, the recording heads 7 and 8 move to the position of the cleaning unit 17 and the wiping portion 21 of the blade 17 is removed. Elastically contacts the nozzle plate P.

  Incidentally, the recording heads 7 and 8 are protected by a head cover C having a window W as shown in FIG. 4 in order to prevent the recording paper from contacting the nozzle plate P. The formation area of the nozzle opening is lowered by the thickness of the cover C.

  Since the thin portion 21a, 21a is formed on both sides of the blade 17, even if it contacts the head cover C, the thin portion 21a is easily elastically deformed as shown in FIG. The part 21 is in contact with the nozzle opening forming region without generating a gap.

  In this state, when the recording head moves in the direction indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 5B, the tip 21b receives a force in the moving direction of the recording head (the direction of the arrow A) due to friction with the nozzle plate P. Accordingly, the main body 20 is slightly elastically deformed. For this reason, the tip 21b of the wiping portion 21 is elastically contacted with the nozzle plate P at an acute angle to wipe off ink K and paper dust so as to scrape the ink K. The scraped ink is guided by the capillary force of the grooves 24 and 25 and absorbed by an ink storage portion (not shown) provided on the base 27. Further, since the main body portion 20 and the wiping portion 21 are connected via the arc-shaped portion 23, the ink does not stagnate in this region.

  According to this embodiment, as long as the tip portion 21a of the wiping portion 21 contacts the nozzle plate, the tip portion 21a comes into contact with the nozzle plate at an acute angle as the recording head moves due to friction with the nozzle plate. Therefore, strict positioning with the recording head becomes unnecessary.

  In the above-described embodiment, thin portions are formed on both side portions. However, if positioning can be performed so that one side is in contact with the region to be wiped off, the thin portion is formed only on the other side. It is clear that both sides can be surely positioned in the area to be wiped off, or in the recording head having no head cover, the thin portion is unnecessary.

  As described above, in the present invention, the blade is formed of the plate-shaped main body portion and the wiping portion protruding through the arc-shaped portion on the one surface side of the main body portion. Due to the friction of the recording head, the tip is elastically deformed so that the tip comes into contact with the nozzle plate as the recording head moves. Therefore, not only the positioning with the recording head is unnecessary, but also the wiping portion in contact with the sharp angle. As a result, ink residue and paper dust can be reliably scraped off, and further, the scraped ink can be stored in the storage portion without stagnation.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing the front and back structures of an embodiment of a blade constituting the cleaning unit of the apparatus. FIGS. 1A and 1B are a side view and a cross-sectional view showing, in an enlarged manner, the structure in the vicinity of the wiping portion and the structure of the groove formed on the front and back surfaces, respectively. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure near a nozzle plate of a recording head. FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing a state where the cleaning unit is in contact with the nozzle plate and a state during cleaning, respectively.

Explanation of symbols

  7, 8 ... recording head, 17 ... blade, 20 ... body part, 21 ... wiping part, 23 ... arc-shaped part, 24, 25 ... groove.

Claims (6)

In an ink jet recording apparatus comprising an ink jet recording head that discharges ink droplets from a nozzle opening of a nozzle plate corresponding to print data, and a blade that elastically contacts the nozzle plate and cleans a nozzle opening forming region.
An ink jet recording apparatus in which the blade is formed of a plate-like main body portion and a wiping portion protruding through an arc-shaped portion on one surface side of the main body portion.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a thin portion is formed on at least one side of the wiping portion.   The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an ink guiding groove is formed in a position where the main body portion and the wiping portion do not overlap with each other. In a blade for cleaning an ink jet recording head that discharges ink droplets from a nozzle opening of a nozzle plate corresponding to print data,
A blade formed of a plate-like main body portion and a wiping portion protruding through an arc-shaped portion on one surface side of the main body portion.   The blade according to claim 4, wherein a thin portion is formed on at least one side of the wiping portion.   The blade according to claim 4, wherein an ink guiding groove is formed in a position where the main body portion and the wiping portion do not overlap with each other.

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