JP2007320173A - Cap member and liquid jet apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cap member or the like which can surely suppress swelling of a liquid absorbing part such as an ink absorber, without a holding member disposed on a surface of the liquid absorber being increased. <P>SOLUTION: The cap member 40 comprises a head side opening part, the liquid absorbing part 43, and a cap member body 42. The head side opening part is disposed to a liquid jet head which includes both a nozzle part that ejects a liquid to a target and a nozzle formation part where the nozzle part is formed, and which is set in the nozzle formation part to cover the nozzle part. The liquid absorbing part 43 absorbs the liquid from the nozzle part and the nozzle formation part. The cap member body 42 places the liquid absorbing part so that the liquid absorbing part is arranged towards the side of the head side opening part. A swelling space 48 which accommodates a swelling part of the liquid absorbing part is formed between the liquid absorbing part and the cap member body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cap member and a liquid ejecting apparatus for cleaning a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto a target.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, ink jet recording apparatuses have an ink jet recording head for ejecting ink onto recording paper or the like. Since this ink jet recording head discharges ink onto recording paper or the like via a nozzle, the ink thickens in the vicinity of the nozzle or bubbles are mixed in the nozzle, making it impossible to discharge the ink satisfactorily. There was a fear.
For this reason, the ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a head cleaning mechanism in order to avoid these phenomena.

The head cleaning mechanism has a cap member disposed so as to cover the nozzle and a pump for making the inside of the cap member have a negative pressure, and sucks the ink near the nozzle in a negative pressure state by the pump, The head cleaning is performed.
Further, since the cap member sucks ink in the vicinity of the nozzles, an ink absorbing material for absorbing ink is disposed in the cap member in order to prevent the sucked ink from scattering.
In order for the ink absorbing material to prevent ink scattering and the like in this way, when the cap member is disposed so as to cover the nozzles of the ink jet recording head, the surface of the ink absorbing material and the nozzle plate on which the nozzles are formed, Are desirably close together.
However, since the ink absorbing material swells when absorbing ink, there is a problem that the swollen ink absorbing material contacts the nozzle plate and causes the ink to adhere to the nozzle plate.
In view of this, a proposal has been made to arrange a pressing member with respect to the ink absorbing material so that the ink does not adhere to the nozzle plate even if the ink absorbing material swells (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-216913 A (FIG. 6 etc.)

However, when a pressing member is disposed on the ink absorbing member to suppress swelling of the ink absorbing member, the swelling is suppressed at and near the portion where the pressing member is disposed. For this reason, in order to surely suppress the swelling of the ink absorbing member, it is necessary to arrange a large number of pressing members or a large pressing member on the ink absorbing member.
This increases the probability that ink that has fallen into the cap member from the nozzle or the like collides with the pressing member and scatters, thereby increasing the probability that the ink adheres to the nozzle plate.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cap member and a liquid ejecting apparatus that can reliably suppress swelling of a liquid absorbing portion such as an ink absorbing material without increasing the number of pressing members disposed on the surface of the liquid absorbing portion.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cap member that is disposed on a liquid ejecting head that includes a nozzle portion that discharges liquid to a target and a nozzle forming portion on which the nozzle portion is formed. A head side opening disposed in the nozzle forming part so as to cover the nozzle part, a liquid absorbing part for absorbing liquid from the nozzle part and the nozzle forming part, and the liquid absorbing part being the head side opening. A cap member main body in which the liquid absorbing portion is disposed so as to be disposed toward the portion side, and a swollen portion of the liquid absorbing portion is accommodated between the liquid absorbing portion and the cap member main body. This is achieved by a cap member characterized in that a swollen portion accommodating portion is formed.

According to the said structure, the swelling part accommodating part which accommodates the swelling part of a liquid absorption part is formed between the liquid absorption part and the cap member main body. For this reason, the swelling part of the liquid absorption part which absorbs a liquid and is going to swell will guide the swelling direction to the swelling part accommodating part.
And since this swelling part accommodating part is not the head side opening part side of a liquid absorption part, the liquid absorption part can prevent beforehand that a swelling part protrudes toward the liquid ejecting head side.
Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the swollen liquid absorbing portion from coming into contact with the nozzle forming portion or the like of the liquid ejecting head and contaminating the nozzle forming portion.
For this reason, since the liquid absorption part can be brought closer to the nozzle forming part than before, scattering of the liquid falling from the nozzle forming part or the like can be further reduced, and contamination of the nozzle forming part or the like can be prevented. This can be prevented more reliably.

  Preferably, in the cap member, the swelling portion accommodating portion is formed between a bottom portion that is a side of the cap member main body facing the opening on the head side and the liquid absorbing portion.

According to the said structure, the swelling part accommodating part is formed between the bottom part which is the side which opposes the head side opening part in a cap member main body, and a liquid absorption part.
For this reason, the swelling portion of the liquid absorbing portion that swells by absorbing the liquid is induced to swell in the direction opposite to the liquid ejecting head.
Therefore, it can prevent more reliably that the swelling part of a liquid absorption part contacts a nozzle formation part etc. FIG.

  Preferably, the swollen portion accommodating portion is a cap member formed between a stepped portion that holds the liquid absorbing portion provided in the cap portion main body and the bottom portion.

  According to the said structure, a swelling part accommodating part is formed between the level | step-difference part and bottom part which hold | maintain the liquid absorption part provided in the cap part main body. For this reason, since the position of the liquid absorption part is accurately positioned by the step part, the volume or the like of the swollen part accommodating part can be accurately set.

  Preferably, the stepped portion is formed in a plurality of rib-like members provided in the cap portion main body, and has a configuration in which liquid does not accumulate on the liquid jet head side of the rib-like member. It is a cap member.

According to the said structure, since the level | step-difference part is formed in the rib-shaped member provided in the cap part main body, it has a structure which is easy to form a level | step-difference part.
In addition, since a plurality of rib-like members are arranged, the position of the liquid absorbing portion can be more accurately positioned, and the volume of the swollen portion accommodating portion can be set more accurately.
Further, since the liquid is not accumulated on the liquid jet head side of the rib-shaped member, the nozzle forming portion or the like is not easily contaminated.

  Preferably, in the cap member, a pressing member is disposed on the bottom side and the head side opening side of the liquid absorbing unit.

According to the above configuration, since the pressing member is disposed on the bottom side and the head side opening side of the liquid absorbing unit, the liquid absorbing unit can be prevented from swelling from both sides by the pressing member. Even if it is arranged close to the forming portion or the like, it is possible to avoid contact with the nozzle forming portion or the like due to swelling.
Accordingly, it is possible to more reliably prevent the liquid from scattering due to the liquid dropping from the nozzle forming portion or the like.

  Preferably, the cap member is characterized in that a plurality of stepped portions are formed on the rib-shaped member, and the pressing member is disposed on the plurality of stepped portions.

  According to the said structure, since the pressing member is arrange | positioned in the several level | step-difference part, a level | step difference part functions not only as positioning of a liquid absorption part but as positioning of a pressing member.

  Preferably, the pressing member is a cap member that is a metal pressing spring.

  According to the said structure, since a liquid absorption part is a metal holding | suppressing spring, the swelling of a liquid absorption part can be suppressed more effectively.

According to the present invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle portion that discharges liquid to a target and a nozzle forming portion that forms the nozzle portion, and the nozzle formation so as to cover the nozzle opening. A cap member disposed with respect to the portion and a pump portion for sucking the liquid in the cap member, and the cap member is disposed in the nozzle forming portion so as to cover the nozzle portion. The head side opening, the liquid absorption part that absorbs liquid from the nozzle part and the nozzle forming part, and the liquid absorption part are arranged so that the liquid absorption part is arranged toward the head side opening part side A swollen portion accommodating portion for accommodating a swollen portion of the liquid absorbing portion is formed between the liquid absorbing portion and the cap member main body. It is achieved by that the liquid ejecting apparatus.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. Unless otherwise stated, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “recording apparatus”) 10 according to an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 10 has a frame 11, and a platen 12 is arranged by the frame 11. On the platen 12, recording paper P (an example of a target) is fed by a paper feeding mechanism (not shown).
Further, the recording apparatus 10 includes a carriage 13, and the carriage 13 is supported so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the platen 12 via a guide member 14, and is reciprocated by a carriage motor 15 via a timing belt 16. It has become.

The carriage 13 has an ink jet recording head (an example of a liquid ejecting head, hereinafter referred to as “recording head”) 20 below the carriage 13, and the recording head 20 applies ink (an example of liquid) to the recording paper P. ) Is discharged.
Specifically, the recording head 20 has a nozzle (an example of a nozzle part) that ejects ink, and the nozzle is formed on a nozzle plate 21 (an example of a nozzle forming part).
The ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles by expansion and contraction of a piezoelectric vibrator (not shown).
An ink cartridge 17 that contains ink is detachably mounted on the carriage 13, and the ink is supplied from the ink cartridge 17 to the recording head 20.
In other words, while the carriage 13 moves along the platen 12, ink is ejected from the recording head 20 onto the recording paper P based on the print data, and printing or the like is performed.

Further, in the frame 11 of FIG. 1, the recording paper P is disposed, and a printing area T in which printing or the like is performed on the recording paper P is formed. A home position H, which is a non-printing area, is also formed on the right side of the printing area T in the drawing.
Further, the carriage 13 is configured to be movable between the printing region T and the home position H by moving along the platen 12.
As shown in FIG. 1, a head cleaning mechanism 30 is disposed at the home position H. The head cleaning mechanism 30 includes a cap holder 31 and a tube pump 33 (an example of a pump unit). The cap holder 31 can be moved up and down by known lifting means (not shown).
Further, the cap holder 31 is provided with a cap member 40 disposed with respect to the recording head 20.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 10 includes a blade 19. The blade 19 is in contact with the nozzle plate 21 of the recording head 20 and performs a wiping operation by wiping off ink adhering to the nozzle plate 21.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the head cleaning mechanism 30 and the like of FIG. The cap member 40 is configured to abut against or separate from the nozzle plate 21 by moving up and down along the arrow Y direction in FIG.
Specifically, when the cap member 40 abuts against the nozzle plate 21, the inside of the cap member 40 becomes a closed space in relation to the nozzle plate 21. On the other hand, when the cap member 40 is separated from the nozzle plate 21, the inside of the cap member 40 is in an open state.
In addition, a tube pump 33 that sucks ink and the like in the cap member 40 is connected to the cap member 40, and the ink and the like in the cap member 43 are sucked by driving the tube pump 33.
That is, the internal space of the cap member 40 is a closed space, and the tube pump 33 sucks the air in the closed space, thereby bringing the internal space into a negative pressure state and removing ink or the like adhering to the nozzle plate 21 or the like. It is the composition to do.

The tube pump 33 includes a waste ink tank 34 that stores ink adhering to the nozzle plate 21 sucked by the tube pump 33. Accordingly, the ink ejected by the recording head 20 is stored in the waste ink tank 34 via the tube pump 33.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the cap member 40 is disposed on the nozzle plate 21 so as to cover the nozzles of the recording head 20, and is provided with a cap opening 41 that is open on the upper side in the drawing. . The cap opening 41 is an example of a head side opening.
Further, in the cap member 41, an ink absorbing material 43 (an example of a liquid absorbing portion) that absorbs ink that drops from the nozzles of the recording head 20 and the nozzle plate 21 by suction of the tube pump 33 or the like is disposed.
When the cap member 40 is arranged with respect to the nozzle plate 21, the distance G between the upper surface of the ink absorbing material 43 and the nozzle plate 21 of the recording head 20 is, for example, about 1 mm, preferably about 0.5 mm. It is configured.
This is a distance for preventing the ink droplets from colliding with the surface of the ink absorbing material 43 when the ink falls from the nozzle plate 21 or the like, and the ink droplets being scattered and adhering to the nozzle plate 21 again.
Furthermore, the cap member 40 has a cap body 43 (an example of a cap member body) in which the ink absorbing material 43 is disposed so as to be disposed toward the cap opening 41 side.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the cap member 40 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, an ink absorbing material 43 is disposed in the cap body 42 of the cap member 40. The ink absorbing material 43 has, for example, a sponge shape and is configured to swell, that is, swell by absorbing ink.
On the upper surface of the ink absorbing material 43 (on the cap opening 41 side and on the recording head 20 side in FIG. 2), a pressing spring 44 is disposed, for example, in a net shape. The pressing spring 44 is made of, for example, a metal such as SUS, and is configured to prevent the ink absorbing member 44 that has absorbed ink or the like from swelling and protruding to the upper surface side by the biasing force of the spring. For this reason, it has the structure which prevents the part which protruded by swelling from contacting the nozzle plate 21 beforehand. The pressing spring 44 is an example of a pressing member.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a state where the ink absorbing material 43 of FIG. 3 is removed. As shown in FIG. 4, the holding spring 44 is also disposed on the bottom side (lower side) of the ink absorbing material 43.
As described above, in this embodiment, the ink absorbing material 43 is prevented from swelling from both sides of the ink absorbing material 43 by absorbing ink.
Therefore, even if the ink absorbing material 43 is disposed so as to approach the recording head 20 in order to avoid adverse effects due to ink scattering or the like, the ink absorbing material 43 protrudes toward the recording head 20 due to swelling, and the nozzle plate 21 is moved. It is configured to prevent it from getting dirty.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the cap member 40 of FIG. Hereinafter, a characteristic configuration of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of, for example, six ribs (an example of a rib-like member) 45a are provided in the cap body 42 of the present embodiment so as to protrude from the bottom of the cap body 42 toward the cap opening 41. Thru 45f are formed.
As shown in FIG. 4, the tips of the ribs 45 a and the like (on the recording head 20 side) are flat and do not collect ink that has fallen from the recording head 20. Accordingly, the ink and the like accumulated at the tip of the rib 45a and the like are prevented from soiling the nozzle plate 21 of the recording head 20.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a plurality of step portions are formed on the rib 45a and the like, for example, a rib lower step 46a and the rib upper step 47a are formed.
Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the ink absorbing material 43 is disposed so as to be held by a rib lower step 47a or the like such as a rib 45a.
That is, the rib lower side step 47 a and the like are an example of a step for holding the ink absorbing material 43 provided on the cap body 42.

Since the ink absorbing material 43 is arranged in this way, a swelling space 48 that is a space is formed between the bottom of the ink absorbing material 43 and the cap main body bottom 42a as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the swelling space 48 swells when the cap member 40 abuts against the nozzle plate 21 of the recording head 20, sucks ink or the like, and the ink or the like is absorbed by the ink absorbing member 40. It is a part that acts on.
That is, the ink absorbing material 40 that is to expand due to swelling can swell toward the swelling space 48 on the cap main body bottom 42a side of the cap main body 42, so that the ink absorbing material 40 is the upper side of FIG. It is the structure which can prevent more reliably that it swells to 20 side.
The height of the swelling space 48 is, for example, about 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm from the cap main body bottom 42a.

  As described above, the swelling space 48 is formed between the ink absorbing member 43 and the cap main body 42, and is an example of a swelling portion accommodating portion that accommodates a swelling portion of the ink absorbing member 43.

In the present embodiment, since the swelling space 48 is formed in this way, the swelling direction of the ink absorbing member 43 that has absorbed ink or the like is guided to the expanding space 48 side.
FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state after the ink absorbing material 43 of FIG. 5 is swollen.
As shown in FIG. 5, since the swelling space 48 is not on the cap opening 41 side, the swelling portion 43a of the ink absorbing member 43 protrudes on the cap body bottom portion 42a side as shown in FIG.
Therefore, the swollen portion 43a of the ink absorbing material 43 does not swell toward the cap opening 41 side (recording head 20 side) and prevents the swollen portion 43a from contacting the nozzle plate 21 and soiling the nozzle plate 21 in advance. It has a configuration that can.

  That is, even if the ink absorbing material 43 is disposed close to the nozzle plate 21 of the recording head 20, for example, close to about 0.5 mm, the swollen ink absorbing material 43 does not contact the nozzle plate 21. By arranging in this way, it is possible to effectively prevent the nozzle plate 21 from being soiled due to ink scattering or the like.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the swelling space 48 is formed on the cap body bottom portion 42a side that is located on the opposite side of the cap opening 41. It is the structure to guide. Therefore, the swelling portion 43a of the ink absorbing material 43 can be more reliably prevented from protruding toward the recording head 20 side.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 and the like, the ink absorbing material 43 is accurately positioned by the rib lower step 46a and the like such as the rib 45a, so that the volume of the expansion space 48 can be set accurately. It can be configured.

  Further, since the ink absorbing material 43 is supported and positioned by the six rib lower side steps 46a and the like such as the six ribs 45a, it is configured to be positioned more accurately.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the rib lower step 46a and the like and the rib upper step 47a and the like also function as a positioning portion for the holding spring 44. Thus, the rib lower step 46a and the rib By providing the upper step 47a and the like, the pressing spring 44 can be accurately arranged. That is, the ribs 45a and the like may be caulking pins.

The recording apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. Accordingly, the carriage 13 moves in the printing region T shown in FIG. 1 to perform printing or the like on the recording paper P from the recording head 20, and then to remove ink adhered to the nozzle plate 21 in FIG. The recording head 20 is moved by the carriage 13.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cap member 40 is arranged as shown in FIG. 2, the ink absorbing material 43 in the cap member 40 is arranged close to the nozzle plate 21 to about 0.5 mm, and the head cleaning is performed. Operation is performed.
At this time, even if the ink absorbing material 43 is swollen by the ink absorbed by the ink absorbing material 43 in the previous head cleaning operation, the ink absorbing material 43 does not swell to the nozzle plate 21 side. Can be reliably prevented from being soiled by the ink absorbing material 43.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a cap member 50 which is a main part of the recording apparatus according to the second embodiment. Since many configurations of the present embodiment are common to the configurations of the first embodiment described above, the common configurations will be described with the same reference numerals and the like, focusing on differences.
In the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, auxiliary steps 56a to 56g are formed at the same height as the rib lower step 46a and the like such as the rib 45a of FIG. Specifically, the cap main body 52 is formed so as to protrude from the cap main body bottom portion 52a.
The shape of the auxiliary step 56a and the like has various planar shapes such as a cross, a circle, an ellipse, and a mountain.
Since the auxiliary step 56a and the like are arranged, the ink absorbing material 43 can be arranged more accurately and reliably, so that the expansion space 48 can be reliably formed.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. 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 ejecting 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.

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention. It is the schematic which shows the head cleaning mechanism etc. of FIG. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the cap member of FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a state where the ink absorbing material of FIG. 3 is removed. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the cap member of FIG. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the state after the swelling of the ink absorber of FIG. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the cap member which is the principal part of the recording device concerning 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Inkjet recording device, 11 ... Frame, 12 ... Platen, 13 ... Carriage, 14 ... Guide member, 15 ... Carriage motor, 16 ... Timing belt, 17. ..Ink cartridge, 19 ... Blade, 20 ... Inkjet recording device, 21 ... Nozzle plate, 30 ... Head cleaning climate, 31 ... Cap holder, 33 ... Tube pump, 34 ... Waste ink tank, 40 ... Cap member, 41 ... Cap opening, 42, 52 ... Cap body, 42a, 52a ... Cap body bottom, 43 ... Ink absorbing member, 43a ..Expanded portion, 44... Holding spring, 45a to 45f... Rib, 46a to 46f... Rib lower side step, 47a to 47f · Rib upper step, 48 ... swelling space, 56 ... auxiliary step, P ... recording paper, T ... print area, H ... home position

Claims (8)

A cap member disposed with respect to a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle part that discharges liquid to a target and a nozzle forming part in which the nozzle part is formed;
A head side opening disposed in the nozzle forming section so as to cover the nozzle section;
A liquid absorbing portion for absorbing liquid from the nozzle portion and the nozzle forming portion;
A cap member main body in which the liquid absorbing portion is disposed so that the liquid absorbing portion is disposed toward the head side opening portion side,
A cap member characterized in that a swollen portion accommodating portion for accommodating a swollen portion of the liquid absorbing portion is formed between the liquid absorbing portion and the cap member main body.   2. The cap member according to claim 1, wherein the swollen portion accommodating portion is formed between a bottom portion that is a side facing the head-side opening in the cap member main body and the liquid absorbing portion. .   The cap member according to claim 2, wherein the swollen portion accommodating portion is formed between a stepped portion that holds the liquid absorbing portion provided in the cap portion main body and the bottom portion. The step portion is formed on a plurality of rib-like members provided on the cap portion main body,
The cap member according to claim 3, wherein liquid is not accumulated on the liquid jet head side of the rib-shaped member.   The cap member according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein a pressing member is disposed on the bottom side and the head side opening side of the liquid absorbing portion. A plurality of step portions are formed on the rib-shaped member,
The cap member according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the pressing member is disposed in the plurality of step portions.   The cap member according to claim 5, wherein the pressing member is a metal pressing spring. A nozzle for discharging liquid to the target;
A liquid ejecting head having a nozzle forming portion that forms the nozzle portion;
A cap member arranged with respect to the nozzle forming portion so as to cover the nozzle opening,
A pump unit for sucking the liquid in the cap member,
The cap member is
A head side opening disposed in the nozzle forming section so as to cover the nozzle section;
A liquid absorbing portion for absorbing liquid from the nozzle portion and the nozzle forming portion;
A cap member main body in which the liquid absorbing portion is disposed so that the liquid absorbing portion is disposed toward the head side opening portion side,
A liquid ejecting apparatus, wherein a swollen portion accommodating portion that accommodates a swollen portion of the liquid absorbing portion is formed between the liquid absorbing portion and the cap member main body.

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