JP2008196365A - Tube pump and fluid injection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tube pump and a fluid injection device capable of stably exhibiting desired suction force at a low cost. <P>SOLUTION: This tube pump 100 includes a frame part 120 having a tube part 110 disposed therein, an abutting part 130 that abuts on the tube part 110 so as to crush it and moves along the tube part 110, and a motor part 150. The whole shape of the tube part 110 is long. The long tube part 110 is curved and is disposed in the frame part 120. The tube part 110 has an annularly-formed tube part 114 forming an annular part by a portion of the tube part 110 crossing itself, and an outwardly projecting tube part 115 disposed projecting outward from the annularly-formed tube part 114. Out of the outwardly projecting tube part 115, an adjacent outwardly projecting tube part 115a disposed adjacent the annularly-formed tube part 114 is disposed in the radial direction of the annular part and on the outside of the annularly-formed tube part 114. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tube pump for sucking fluid and the like and a fluid ejecting apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus has 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 device in order to avoid these phenomena.

The head cleaning device has a capping unit arranged so as to cover the nozzles and a pump for making negative pressure in the capping unit, and is configured to perform cleaning by sucking ink in the vicinity of the nozzles by the pump. ing.
As the pump, a tube pump having a relatively simple structure and easy to be miniaturized is used (for example, Patent Document 1).
In the tube pump 15 of Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 2 and the like, a hollow tube 103 is arranged in an α (alpha) shape in the guide member 1. The roller 4 moves along the tube 103 so as to crush the tube 103, so that the ink in the cap 17 is sucked.
As such a tube arrangement method, not only the α shape of Patent Document 1 but also an Ω (omega) shape exists (for example, Patent Document 2).
However, in the Ω shape, unlike the α shape, the tubes do not intersect with each other. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 21 of Patent Document 2, the roller is crushed at the fitting portion of the tubes, and the negative pressure in the tube is instantaneous. (Patent Document 2, paragraph “0009”, etc.).
For this reason, in order to make the performance of the tube pump uniform, it is desirable to arrange the tubes in an α shape.
JP 2001-301195 A (FIG. 4 etc.) JP 2004-308523 A (FIG. 21, paragraph number “0009”, etc.)

However, in such a tube pump 15, as shown in FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1, since the tube 103 has an α shape, a portion where the tube 103 intersects in part occurs. This state is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, two tubes 103 are arranged in the vertical direction in the drawing at the intersection of the tubes 103.
For this reason, the roller 4 that crushes the tube 103 needs to crush the two tubes 103 at this intersection.
That is, when the roller 103 passes through the above-mentioned intersection portion, a larger load is applied than the other portions. As a result, a load is applied to the motor of the tube pump 15, and the tube pump 15 is driven correspondingly. For the load to rise. For this reason, it is necessary to use a tube pump that can withstand such a high load, and there is a problem in that the cost increases.

This problem also occurs when a mechanism in which the roller 4 disposed in the long hole 6 of the rotating body 3 crushes the tube 103 is not adopted as in Patent Document 1.
For example, it occurs even when the roller is pressed against the tube by a spring. Even in this case, at the above-mentioned intersecting portion of the tube, since the roller passes through the intersecting portion, a larger force than the other portion, that is, a spring load that can crush the two tubes is required. Become.
In other words, the spring used in this mechanism needs to be set in advance in accordance with the portion having the largest spring load, and as a result, the spring load is set to be large. There was also a problem of becoming.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a tube pump and a fluid ejecting apparatus that can stably exhibit a desired suction force and the like at low cost.

  According to the present invention, the problem is that the tube portion that sucks the fluid, the frame portion on which the tube portion is disposed, and the tube portion abut against the tube portion so as to be crushed and move along the tube portion. Thus, the tube portion has a contact portion that generates a negative pressure for fluid suction, and a motor portion that is a drive source for moving the contact portion. An annular forming tube portion that is formed in a scale, the elongated tube portion is curved and disposed on the frame portion, and a portion of the tube portion intersects to form an annular portion, and the annular formation An outwardly projecting tube portion that protrudes outward from the tube portion, and of the outwardly projecting tube portions, an adjacent outwardly projecting tube portion that is disposed adjacent to the annular forming tube portion is The diameter of the annular part A is is achieved by a tube pump, characterized in that disposed on the outer side of said annular forming tube portions.

According to the above configuration, of the outward projecting tube portions, the adjacent outward projecting tube portion disposed adjacent to the annular forming tube portion is in the radial direction of the annular portion, and is on the outer side of the annular forming tube portion. Placed in.
That is, since the adjacent outward projecting tube portion is disposed outside the annular forming tube portion, the contact portion does not contact the adjacent outward projecting tube portion when crushing the annular forming tube portion. For this reason, the tube portion that the abutment portion crushes is only the annular forming tube portion, and even if the annular forming tube portion and the adjacent outer tube portion are arranged adjacent to each other, the abutting portion can remove both of them. There is no need to crush them together, but the two tubes are crushed, but the crushing load is one and only half the load is sufficient.
Accordingly, since a high load is not applied to the motor or the like, it is not necessary to use a tube pump that can withstand such a high load, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Further, even when the contact portion is pressed against the tube portion by a spring or the like, and the contact portion is configured to crush the tube portion by this spring force, the contact portion is adjacent to the annular forming tube portion. It is not necessary to crush both of them at the portion where the side tube portions are arranged adjacent to each other, and the two tubes are crushed, but the crushing load may be one.
For this reason, the spring load which can crush both these tube parts simultaneously is not calculated | required, The spring load which crushes only an annular formation tube part is enough.
Therefore, even if the spring used for such a mechanism is previously set in accordance with the portion having the largest spring load, the spring load that crushes only the annular tube portion is sufficient, so the spring load is set large. This is unnecessary, and the cost of the tube pump can be reduced in production.

  Preferably, the frame portion includes a positioning portion that determines a relative position between the contact portion and the tube portion, and the annular forming tube portion and the adjacent outward projecting tube portion are disposed in the positioning portion. A tube pump comprising: a plurality of tube positioning portions; and an annular forming tube positioning portion in which only the annular forming tube portion is disposed.

According to the above-described configuration, the positioning portion includes the multiple tube positioning portion in which the annular forming tube portion and the adjacent outward projecting tube portion are disposed, and the annular forming tube positioning portion in which only the annular forming tube portion is disposed. ing.
As described above, since the plurality of positioning portions and the annular forming tube positioning portion are formed separately, the distance between the contact portion and the annular forming tube portion can be set equally over the entire circumference of the annular portion. And since it is this, it can arrange | position easily so that the amount of crushing of the contact part with respect to an annular formation tube part may become equal over the perimeter of an annular part.
Therefore, it is possible to obtain a tube pump in which variations or the like hardly occur in performance.

  Preferably, a change absorbing positioning portion is formed between the annular forming tube positioning portion and the plurality of tube positioning portions to reduce a change in the amount of crushing of the abutting portion with respect to the annular forming tube portion. It is the tube pump characterized by having it.

According to the above configuration, the change-absorbing positioning portion is formed between the annular forming tube positioning portion and the plurality of tube positioning portions to reduce a change in the amount of crushing of the abutting portion with respect to the annular forming tube portion. Yes.
For this reason, the change of the load etc. of the motor etc. in the crossing part where the tube part crosses can be made into a gentle change, and it has the composition which does not give the big load fluctuation etc.
Even when the abutting portion is pressed against the tube portion by a spring force, the change in the intersecting portion is gentle, so there is no need to set a large spring load such as a spring.

  Preferably, it has a rotation part for arranging the contact part, and the amount of tube crushing by which the contact part crushes the annular forming tube part is the position of the contact part arranged in the rotation part. It is the tube pump characterized by having the structure defined by.

  Preferably, the tube pump is characterized in that a tube crushing amount by which the abutting portion crushes the annular forming tube portion is adjusted by a spring portion.

  According to the present invention, the problem is that the tube portion that sucks the fluid, the frame portion on which the tube portion is disposed, and the tube portion abut against the tube portion so as to be crushed and move along the tube portion. Thus, a fluid ejecting apparatus including a tube pump having a contact portion that generates a negative pressure for fluid suction in the tube portion and a motor portion that is a drive source for moving the contact portion. The tube portion of the tube pump is formed in a long shape as a whole, the long tube portion is curved and disposed in the frame portion, and a part of the tube portion intersects to form an annular shape. An annular forming tube portion that forms a portion, and an outward projecting tube portion that projects outward from the annular forming tube portion, and the annular forming tube of the outward projecting tube portions The fluid ejecting apparatus is characterized in that the adjacent outward projecting tube portion disposed adjacent to the annular portion is disposed on the outer side of the annular forming tube portion in the radial direction of the annular portion. .

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.

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 fluid ejecting apparatus having a tube pump of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 10 includes a frame 11, and a platen 12 is disposed on the frame 11. On the platen 12, the paper P is fed by a paper feed 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.

An ink jet recording head (hereinafter referred to as “recording head”) 20 is mounted on the lower portion of the carriage 13. The recording head 20 is configured to eject a liquid such as ink, which is a fluid, to the paper P.
Specifically, the recording head 20 has a nozzle that ejects ink, and is configured to eject ink droplets from the nozzle by expansion and contraction of a piezoelectric vibrator.
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.
That is, while the carriage 13 moves along the platen 12, the piezoelectric vibrator is expanded and contracted based on the print data, so that ink is ejected from the recording head 20 onto the paper P and printing is performed. ing.

In the frame 11 of FIG. 1, the paper P is arranged and has a print region T where printing is performed on the paper P. Further, the frame 11 has a home position H which is a non-printing area on one end side thereof.
The carriage 13 is configured to move 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 has a cap holder 34 and a tube pump 100. The cap holder 34 is installed on the frame 11 so as to be movable up and down by a known lifting means (not shown).

  The head cleaning mechanism 30 has a cap 32. The cap 32 has a configuration in which the upper end edge of the cap 32 comes into contact with the nozzle plate or the like of the recording head 20 to seal the nozzles of the recording head 20.

  By the way, as shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 10 includes a blade 19. The blade 19 is in contact with the nozzle plate of the recording head 20 and performs a wiping operation by wiping off ink.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the head cleaning mechanism 30 and the like of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a sheet-like sponge 32 a is disposed at the bottom of the cap 32. The sponge 32a is configured to face the nozzles of the recording head 20 with a predetermined interval in a state where the cap 32 is in contact with the recording head 20, and absorb ink ejected from the nozzles of the recording head 20. .

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the cap 32 is formed with a discharge port 32b so as to penetrate the bottom surface thereof.
The tube pump 100 is provided in the frame 11 with the cap 32 sealing the nozzles of the recording head 20, reducing the pressure in the cap 32 to a negative pressure, and sucking ink from the nozzles of the recording head 20. The ink is discharged to the waste ink tank 33.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the main configuration of the tube pump 100. As shown in FIG. 3, the tube pump 100 includes, for example, a tube 110 that is a tube portion that sucks ink.
The tube 110 is integrally formed of rubber, resin, or the like, and has a single long shape. In addition, a cap side opening 111 for sucking ink and a waste ink tank side opening 112 for discharging ink are formed on both ends of the tube 110, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 3, the tube pump 110 includes, for example, a pump frame 120 that is a frame portion for arranging the tubes 110 in a circular shape. Specifically, the tube 110 is arranged in an α (alpha) shape on the pump frame 120.
A pump wheel 140 that rotates along the tube 110 is formed inside the tube 110. The pump wheel 140 is configured to be rotated in the direction of the arrow L or the arrow R in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the tube pump 100 includes, for example, a roller 130 that is a contact portion disposed so as to contact the tube 110. The roller 130 is disposed so as to be rotatable about a roller shaft 131.
Hereinafter, the movement of the roller 130 will be described. The pump wheel 140 of FIG. 3 has a suction part 141a for disposing the roller 130 in the direction in which the tube 110 is crushed, and a release part 141b for disposing the roller 130 in a direction away from the tube 110. Yes.
Further, the pump wheel 140 includes a connecting portion 141c that connects the suction portion 141a and the release portion 141b.
The suction portion 141a, the release portion 141b, and the connecting portion 141c form a roller shaft groove 141 that is a through hole.
That is, the roller 130 in FIG. 3 is configured to be movable in the roller shaft groove 141 via the roller shaft 131.
As described above, the pump wheel 140 is an example of a rotating unit for disposing the roller 130.

The movement of the roller 130 will be described below by taking, for example, the case where the roller 130 is disposed in the release unit 141b of FIG.
When the roller 130 is disposed in the release part 141b, the roller 130 does not crush the tube 110. Therefore, even if the roller 130 moves along the tube 110 together with the pump wheel 140 in the direction of the arrow R, it is appropriate. No negative pressure is generated and ink is not sucked.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the roller shaft 131 is disposed at the end portion which is the release portion 141 b of the roller shaft groove 141, so that the roller shaft groove 141 is moved in the arrow R direction by the rotation of the pump wheel 140. This is because the roller shaft 131 is still pressed against the end of the release part 141b even if it moves to.

However, when the pump wheel 140 rotates in the reverse direction and the roller shaft groove 141 moves in the direction of the arrow L, the roller shaft 131 is released from the state of being pressed against the end portion side of the release portion 141b.
The roller 130 is in contact with the tube 110. For this reason, even if the roller shaft groove 141 moves in the direction of the arrow L in FIG. 3, the roller 130 does not move due to the frictional force with the tube 110 and stops there.
Therefore, the roller 130 relatively moves in the connecting portion 141c toward the suction portion 141a side by the movement of the roller shaft groove 141 in the arrow L direction, and reaches the suction portion 141a.
The roller shaft 131 of the roller 130 that has reached the suction portion 141a is pressed against the end portion side of the suction portion 141a and starts moving in the direction of the arrow L together with the roller shaft groove 141.
At this time, since the roller 130 disposed in the suction portion 141a is in a state of crushing the tube 110, ink is generated from the cap side opening 111 to the waste ink tank side opening while generating an appropriate negative pressure in the tube 110. 112. As described above, the ink is guided from the cap 32 to the waste ink tank 33.
That is, the roller 130 abuts against the tube 110 so as to be crushed and moves along the tube 110 to generate a negative pressure for sucking ink in the tube 110.
Further, since the stepping motor 150 moves the roller 130 via the pump wheel 140 as described above, the stepping motor 150 is an example of a drive source that moves the roller 130.

  When the ink suction is finished, the pump foil 140 rotates in the reverse direction, that is, in the direction of the arrow R. Then, the roller shaft groove 141 also moves in the arrow R direction. However, the roller 130 is stopped in place by the frictional force with the tube 110 as described above, the roller 130 is disposed in the release portion 141b, and the tube pump 100 is in a non-suction state of ink.

  As described above, the tube pump 100 moves the roller 130 between the suction part 141a and the release part 141b using the frictional force with the tube 110, and switches the ink suction state or the non-suction state.

  As described above, when the tube pump 100 sucks ink, it is necessary to dispose the roller 130 so as to crush the tube 110. The crushing amount by which the roller 130 crushes the tube 110 is determined by the position of the roller 130 disposed on the pump wheel 140.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the tube 110 to be crushed is formed in an α (alpha) shape as a whole. For this reason, there have been the following problems. This problem will be described below with reference to FIG. 3 of Patent Document 2 of the above-described prior art.
That is, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3 of Patent Document 2 described above, two tubes are arranged in the vertical direction at the intersection of the α (alpha) -shaped tubes. There is a need to crush two tubes.
In this case, there is a problem that a larger load is applied to the tube portion than the other tube portions at the intersection where the two are crushed, and as a result, a large load is applied to the tube pump.

Conventionally, such a problem has been unavoidably caused when a tube is arranged in an α (alpha) shape. However, in the present embodiment, this problem is not solved.
A configuration for solving this problem will be specifically described below.
First, the tube 110 according to the present embodiment is curved and arranged on the pump frame 120 as shown in FIG. 3, and the whole has an α (alpha) shape. For this reason, the tube 110 is configured with a tube intersection 113 where the tube 110 partially intersects as shown in FIG. 3 (shaded portion in FIG. 3).
And since this tube crossing part 113 exists, the cyclic | annular annular part including the tube crossing part 113 of FIG. 3 is formed. That is, an annular portion is formed by, for example, the tube annular portion 114 and the tube intersection portion 113 which are annular forming tube portions.

Incidentally, the roller 130 of FIG. 3 moves so as to crush the tube 110 along the tube annular portion 114 and the like of such an annular portion. At this time, the roller 130 crushes the tube intersecting portion 113. Compared with the case where the other tube 110 is crushed, the load is inevitably relatively large.
Therefore, the following configuration is adopted to minimize the large load.
First, of the waste ink side tube 115 which is the tube 110 disposed from the tube intersection 113 in FIG. 3 toward the waste ink tank side opening 112, the portion is disposed adjacent to the tube intersection 113. For example, the adjacent tube 115 a is disposed on the outer side of the tube annular portion 114 in the radial direction of the annular portion formed by the tube annular portion 112.
That is, the adjacent tube 115a is not disposed on the tube annular portion 114 of FIG. 3 (in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 3).
Thus, the adjacent tube portion 115a is an example of the adjacent outward projecting tube portion, and the waste ink side tube 115 is an example of the outward projecting tube portion.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line AA ′ of FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the adjacent tube 115 a in FIG. 3 is disposed outside the tube annular portion 114, so that the roller 130 is disposed outside the tube annular portion 114 when crushing the tube annular portion 114. There is no contact with the adjacent tube 115a.
For this reason, the tube 110 to be crushed by the roller 130 is only the tube annular portion 114 disposed on the inner side. Even if the tube annular portion 114 and the adjacent tube 115a are disposed adjacent to each other, the roller 130 is The tube annular portion 114 and the adjacent tube 115a are not crushed together.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent a high load from being applied to the stepping motor 150 of FIG. 3, and it is not necessary to provide a tube pump that can withstand such a high load, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Further, in the present embodiment, in order to arrange the tube 110 as described above, a tube annular portion positioning portion 134 for positioning the tube annular portion 114 is formed in the pump frame 120 of FIG. In this case, the distance between the roller 130 in contact with the tube annular portion 114 disposed in the tube annular portion positioning portion 134 and the center of the pump wheel 140 is set to a length a as shown in FIG. 4, for example. Has been.
On the other hand, an adjacent tube positioning portion 132 is formed in a portion of the pump frame 120 corresponding to a portion where the adjacent tube 115 a in FIG. 3 is disposed outside the tube annular portion 114.
In this case, even when the adjacent tube 115a is disposed outside the tube annular portion 114, as shown in FIG. 4, the distance between the tube annular portion 114, the roller 130, and the center of the pump wheel 140 is, for example, FIG. Is positioned so as to have a length a as shown in FIG.
That is, the distance a between the center of the pump wheel 140 and the roller 130 is positioned so as to be the same distance a in any of the above cases as shown in FIG.

  Thus, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4 and the like, the roller 130 is formed by separately forming the adjacent tube positioning portion 132 and the tube annular portion positioning portion 134 formed in the pump frame 120. The distance a between the tube annular portion 114 and the tube annular portion 114 can be made equal over the entire circumference of the annular portion of the tube 110. Therefore, the configuration is less likely to cause variations in performance.

  That is, the tube annular portion positioning portion 134 is an example of an annular forming tube positioning portion, and the adjacent tube positioning portion 132 is an example of a multiple tube positioning portion.

As described above, in the present embodiment, it is preferable that the number of tubes 110 to be crushed by the roller 140 is one as much as possible. Therefore, even when the tubes 110 are arranged in an α (alpha) shape, the region of the tube intersection 113 in FIG. 3 is made as small as possible.
Specifically, this will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing the arrangement configuration of the tubes 110 in FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is a schematic side view seen from the direction of the arrow X in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the tube 110 of the present embodiment, the waste ink side tube 115 and the cap side tube 116 that are formed to protrude from the tube intersecting portion 113 are inclined at an angle from the tube intersecting portion 113. Are arranged.
Therefore, even when the tube 110 is arranged in an α (alpha) shape, the tube intersection 113 can be made small.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the pump frame 120 is formed with a tube crossing portion positioning portion 133 for positioning the tube 110 at the tube crossing portion 113.
As shown in FIG. 3, the tube crossing portion positioning portion 133 is arranged between the tube annular portion positioning portion 134 and the adjacent tube positioning portion 132, and the tube 110 is positioned and arranged as shown in FIG. It has become.
Therefore, since the portion of the tube crossing portion 113 that is positioned in such a tube crossing portion positioning portion 133 is extremely limited, when the roller 130 crushes the tube 110, it passes through the tube crossing portion 113. However, the load variation is suppressed without greatly changing the load.

That is, a change in the load or the like of the stepping motor 150 at the tube intersection 113 can be made a gentle change, and a large load or the like is not applied to the stepping motor 150.
As described above, the tube crossing positioning portion 133 is an example of a change absorbing positioning portion.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the roller 130 is disposed on the pump wheel 140 and the amount of crushing of the tube 110 by the roller 130 is determined by the positional relationship of the roller 130 in the pump wheel 140 is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a spring portion may be provided on the roller, and a crushing amount with respect to the tube may be adjusted by a spring force of the spring portion.
In this case, since the roller is configured to crush only the tube annular portion 114 even in the portion where the adjacent tube 115a and the tube annular portion 114 are disposed in FIG. 3, the spring force that crushes the two tubes 110. Is not necessary, and the spring load (force) required for the spring portion may be small. For this reason, also in the case of the tube pump using such a spring part, manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the fluid ejecting apparatus is embodied as an ink jet recording apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and fluid other than ink (such as a liquid or gel in which particles of liquid or functional material are dispersed) is used. And a fluid ejecting apparatus that ejects or discharges a fluid or a solid that can be ejected as a fluid.
For example, a liquid material injection device for injecting a liquid material in the form of dispersed or dissolved materials such as electrode materials and color materials used in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays, EL (electroluminescence) displays, and surface-emitting displays, and biochip manufacturing It may be a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a bio-organic substance used in the above, or a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a liquid as a sample used as a precision pipette. In addition, transparent resin liquids such as UV curable resin to form liquid injection devices that pinpoint lubricant oil onto precision machines such as watches and cameras, and micro hemispherical lenses (optical lenses) used in optical communication elements. A liquid jetting device that jets a liquid onto a substrate, a liquid jetting device that jets an etching solution such as acid or alkali to etch the substrate, etc., gels such as pharmaceuticals, health food extracts, seasonings and gelatin (such as capsules) In order to encapsulate the gel), a fluid ejecting apparatus that ejects an appropriate amount of the gel into a capsule, or a toner jet recording apparatus that ejects a solid such as toner powder may be used. The present invention can be applied to any one of these fluid ejecting apparatuses.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus having a tube pump of the present invention. It is the schematic which shows the head cleaning mechanism etc. of FIG. It is the schematic which shows the main structures of a tube pump. FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view taken along line A-A ′ of FIG. 3. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the arrangement configuration of the tube of FIG. It is the schematic side view seen from the arrow X direction of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Inkjet recording apparatus, 30 ... Head cleaning mechanism, 100 ... Tube pump, 110 ... Tube, 111 ... Cap side opening, 112 ... Waste ink tank side opening, 113. ··· Tube crossing portion, 114 ... Tube annular portion, 115 ... Waste ink side tube, 115a ... Adjacent tube, 116 ... Cap side tube, 120 ... Pump frame, 130 ... Roller 131 ... Roller shaft, 132 ... Adjacent tube positioning part, 133 ... Tube crossing part positioning part, 134 ... Tube annular part positioning part, 140 ... Pump wheel, 141 ...・ Roller shaft groove, 150 ... Stepping motor

Claims (6)

A tube section for sucking fluid;
A frame part for arranging the tube part;
Abutting part that generates a negative pressure for fluid suction in the tube part by moving along the tube part while abutting against the tube part.
A motor part that is a drive source for moving the contact part,
The tube part is
The entire tube-shaped tube portion is curved and arranged on the frame portion, and an annular forming tube portion that forms an annular portion by intersecting a part of the tube portion; and
An outwardly projecting tube portion arranged to project outward from the annular forming tube portion,
Among the outward projecting tube portions, the adjacent outward projecting tube portion disposed adjacent to the annular forming tube portion is in the radial direction of the annular portion and disposed on the outer side of the annular forming tube portion. A tube pump characterized by being made. The frame part has a positioning part that determines a relative position between the contact part and the tube part,
The positioning part is
A plurality of tube positioning portions where the annular forming tube portion and the adjacent outward projecting tube portion are disposed;
The tube pump according to claim 1, further comprising: an annular forming tube positioning portion in which only the annular forming tube portion is disposed.   A change absorbing positioning portion is formed between the annular forming tube positioning portion and the plurality of tube positioning portions to reduce a change in a crushing amount of the contact portion with respect to the annular forming tube portion. The tube pump according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. A rotating part for arranging the contact part;
The tube crushing amount by which the abutting portion crushes the annular forming tube portion is determined by the position of the abutting portion arranged in the rotating portion. Item 4. The tube pump according to any one of items 3 to 3.   4. The tube crushing amount by which the abutment portion crushes the annular forming tube portion is configured to be adjusted by a spring portion. 5. Tube pump. A tube section for sucking fluid;
A frame part for arranging the tube part;
Abutting part that generates a negative pressure for fluid suction in the tube part by moving along the tube part while abutting against the tube part.
A fluid ejecting apparatus including a tube pump having a motor unit that is a drive source for moving the abutting unit,
The tube portion of the tube pump is
The entire tube-shaped tube portion is curved and arranged on the frame portion, and an annular forming tube portion that forms an annular portion by intersecting a part of the tube portion; and
An outwardly projecting tube portion arranged to project outward from the annular forming tube portion,
Among the outward projecting tube portions, the adjacent outward projecting tube portion disposed adjacent to the annular forming tube portion is in the radial direction of the annular portion and disposed on the outer side of the annular forming tube portion. A fluid ejecting apparatus.

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