JP2016132142A - Ink jet recording device and nozzle cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate ink non-discharge with a simple configuration.SOLUTION: An ink jet recording device 1 includes a recording head 10, an absorption device 6, a movement instruction section 511, and an ink non-discharge instruction section 512. The absorption device 6 includes an absorption member 61 and a lifting mechanism 60. The recording head 10 discharges ink on a recording medium P. The absorption member 61 is impregnated with cleaning fluid and absorbs ink. The movement instruction section 511 brings the absorption member 61 into contact with an ink discharge surface 17 via the lifting mechanism 60. The ink discharge instruction section 512 applies a drive waveform to a piezoelectric element 11 in the recording head 10 via a drive signal generation circuit 31 in a state that the absorption member 61 is brought into contact with the ink discharge surface 17 and intermittently discharges ink from a nozzle for a preset prescribed time TM.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and a nozzle cleaning method.

  Conventionally, various techniques for eliminating ink ejection failure of a recording head are known. For example, an ink jet recording apparatus in which a nozzle surface is immersed in a cleaning tank is disclosed (see Patent Document 1).

  In the ink jet recording apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the nozzle of the printer head is immersed in a cleaning tank, a voltage having a predetermined frequency for cleaning is applied to the piezoelectric element of the printer head, and the piezoelectric element is vibrated at a predetermined frequency. Further, the ink in the ink chamber after washing is discharged from the discharge groove by a pump.

  Patent Document 1 describes that since the ink chamber is cleaned with a cleaning liquid, a high cleaning effect can be obtained.

JP 2014-94518 A

  However, in the ink jet recording apparatus described in Patent Document 1, since the cleaning tank and the pump need to be arranged, the apparatus becomes complicated.

  The ink jet recording apparatus and the nozzle cleaning method according to the present invention have been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to eliminate ink non-ejection with a simple configuration.

  An ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a recording head, an absorbing member, a moving unit, and an ink discharging unit. The recording head ejects ink onto a recording medium. The absorbing member is impregnated with a cleaning liquid, and the absorbing member absorbs ink. The said moving part makes the said absorption member contact a nozzle surface. The ink discharge unit applies a drive waveform to the piezoelectric element in the recording head in a state where the absorbing member is in contact with the nozzle surface, and discharges ink from the nozzle intermittently for a predetermined time. To do.

  The nozzle cleaning method according to the present invention is a nozzle cleaning method in an ink jet recording apparatus including a recording head and an absorbing member, and includes a contact process and an ink ejection process. The recording head ejects ink onto a recording medium. The absorbing member is impregnated with a cleaning liquid, and the absorbing member absorbs ink. In the contacting step, the absorbing member is brought into contact with the nozzle surface. In the ink discharge step, after the contact step, a drive waveform is applied to the piezoelectric element in the recording head, and ink is discharged from the nozzles intermittently for a predetermined time.

  According to the ink jet recording apparatus and the nozzle cleaning method according to the present invention, ink non-ejection can be eliminated with a simple configuration.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the head part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the functional structure of the control part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which the absorption member of the absorber shown in FIG. 1 fell. It is a figure which shows the state which the absorption member of the absorber shown in FIG. 1 raised. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the control part shown in FIG.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings (FIGS. 1 to 6). In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is not repeated. In the present embodiment, the X axis and the Y axis shown in the figure are parallel to the horizontal plane, and the Z axis is parallel to the vertical line.

  First, an ink jet recording apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the inkjet recording apparatus 1. The inkjet recording apparatus 1 includes a tray 200, a feed roller pair 201, a first transport unit 205, a head unit 3, a control unit 51, a storage unit 52, an absorption device 6, a second transport unit 212, a discharge roller pair 216, and A cap unit 290 is provided.

  The tray 200 stores the recording medium P, and is provided on the upstream side (right side in FIG. 1) of the recording medium P in the transport direction D0 with respect to the first transport unit 205. A feed roller pair 201 is provided at the downstream end (left end in FIG. 1) of the tray 200 in the transport direction D0. The pair of feeding rollers 201 supplies the recording medium P stored in the tray 200 to the first transport unit 205 one by one. The recording medium P is a medium on which an image is formed by the recording head 10, and is, for example, plain paper, copy paper, recycled paper, thin paper, thick paper, glossy paper, and OHP (Overhead Projector). A sheet made of a synthetic resin such as a sheet is included.

  The first transport unit 205 includes a first drive roller 206, a first driven roller 207, and a first transport belt 208. The first transport belt 208 is stretched around the first drive roller 206 and the first driven roller 207. When the first driving roller 206 is driven to rotate counterclockwise by a motor (not shown), the first conveying belt 208 rotates, and the recording medium P placed on the first conveying belt 208 moves in the conveying direction D0 ( It is conveyed in the left direction in FIG.

  The head unit 3 is disposed to face the upper surface of the upper belt in the first transport belt 208. The head unit 3 includes a head housing 18 and line heads 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K. The head housing 18 holds the line heads 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K. The line heads 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K discharge yellow ink, magenta ink, cyan ink, and black ink toward the recording medium P, respectively, to form an image on the recording medium P. . The line heads 10Y to 10K are arranged along the conveyance direction D0 of the recording medium P.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the second transport unit 212 is disposed downstream of the first transport unit 205 in the transport direction D <b> 0 (left side in FIG. 1). The second transport unit 212 includes a second drive roller 213, a second driven roller 214, and a second transport belt 215. The second transport belt 215 is stretched around the second drive roller 213 and the second driven roller 214. When the second drive roller 213 is driven to rotate counterclockwise by a motor (not shown), the second transport belt 215 rotates, and the recording medium P placed on the second transport belt 215 moves in the transport direction D0 ( It is conveyed in the left direction in FIG.

  The recording medium P on which an image is formed by the head unit 3 is sent to the second transport unit 212, and the ink attached to the surface of the recording medium P is dried while the recording medium P passes through the second transport unit 212. The In addition, the absorber 6 and the cap unit 290 are positioned below the second transport unit 212.

  The control unit 51 controls the overall operation of the inkjet recording apparatus 1. The storage unit 52 stores various information. For example, the control unit 51 lowers the first transport unit 205 before causing the absorber 6 to remove the ink fixed to the nozzles of the line heads 10Y to 10K. And the control part 51 horizontally moves the absorber 6 arrange | positioned under the 2nd conveyance unit 212, and is located under the head part 3 which is a standby position. As a result, the absorption device 6 is disposed between the head unit 3 and the first transport unit 205. The absorber 6 removes the ink fixed to the nozzles of the line heads 10Y to 10K, as will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  For example, the controller 51 lowers the first transport unit 205 before capping the ink ejection surfaces 17 (see FIG. 3) of the line heads 10Y to 10K. Then, the cap unit 290 is moved horizontally and positioned below the head unit 3. Further, the control unit 51 moves the cap unit 290 upward. As a result, the cap unit 290 is attached to the ink ejection surface 17 of the line heads 10Y to 10K. The details of the control unit 51 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The discharge roller pair 216 is disposed on the downstream side (left side in FIG. 1) in the transport direction D0 with respect to the second transport unit 212, and discharges the recording medium P on which an image has been formed to the outside of the inkjet recording apparatus 1.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the head unit 3 of the inkjet recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, each of the line heads 10Y to 10K includes three recording heads 10 arranged in a staggered manner along a direction (here, the X-axis direction) perpendicular to the transport direction D0.

  Next, the control unit 51 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the control unit 51 shown in FIG. The control unit 51 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), and a random access memory (RAM). The storage unit 52 includes an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and a nonvolatile memory such as a semiconductor memory. The ROM stores a control program for executing the nozzle cleaning method according to the present invention. The CPU functions as various functional units including the movement instruction unit 511 and the ink discharge instruction unit 512 by reading and executing the control program stored in the ROM. In addition, the CPU reads and executes the control program stored in the ROM, thereby causing the storage unit 52 to function as the non-ejection time storage unit 521. The RAM is used as a work area when the CPU executes the control program.

  The non-ejection time storage unit 521 is the cumulative non-ejection for the nozzle with the longest cumulative non-ejection time, which is the total of the times when ink is not ejected, among all the nozzles arranged in the line heads 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K. Remember time.

  In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the non-ejection time storage unit 521 stores, as the cumulative non-ejection time, the cumulative non-ejection time for the nozzle with the longest cumulative non-ejection time, which is the total of the times when ink is not ejected. Other accumulated non-ejection times may be stored. For example, a form in which the accumulated non-ejection time is stored for each recording head 10 may be used. In this case, the capacity for storing the cumulative non-ejection time can be reduced.

  The movement instructing unit 511 moves up and down the absorbing member 61 through the lifting mechanism 60 of the absorbing device 6 as described later with reference to FIG. Specifically, the movement instruction unit 511 raises the absorbing member 61 via the lifting mechanism 60 of the absorbing device 6 to bring the absorbing member 61 into contact with the ink ejection surface 17 of the recording head 10. Then, after ink is ejected by the ink ejection instruction unit 512 for a predetermined time TM (for example, 6 minutes), the movement instruction unit 511 lowers the absorbing member 61 via the lifting mechanism 60 of the absorbing device 6. The movement instruction unit 511 corresponds to a part of the “moving unit”.

  Next, the structure of the absorber 6 is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 4, FIG. The absorption device 6 includes an absorption member 61. FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where the absorbing member 61 of the absorbing device 6 shown in FIG. 1 is lowered. FIG. 5 is a view showing a state where the absorption member 61 of the absorption device 6 shown in FIG. Note that the controller 51 moves the absorbing member 61 so as to face the line heads 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K before ejecting ink from the nozzles. 4 and 5, only the absorbing members 61 corresponding to the three recording heads 10 included in the line head 10K are shown for convenience.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the lifting mechanism 60 includes a support frame 62 that supports the absorbing member 61, a lifting member 63, and a bottom portion 64. The elevating member 63 includes a lift member 63a and a shaft 63b, respectively. The lifting mechanism 60 corresponds to a part of the “moving unit”.

  The bottom 64 supports the support frame 62 via the elevating member 63. The elevating member 63 is disposed on the bottom portion 64 and supports the support frame 62 to move up and down. The shaft 63b is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) and moves up and down the support frame 62 via a lift member 63a. The lift member 63a is configured integrally with the shaft 63b, and rotates integrally with the shaft 63b when the shaft 63b is driven to rotate. Further, the support frame 62 is moved up and down as the lift member 63a rotates. More specifically, the shaft 63b of the elevating member 63 is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and the lift member 63a is raised, whereby the lift member 63a of the elevating member 63 raises the support frame 62. Further, the shaft 63b of the elevating member 63 is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and the lift member 63a is laid down, whereby the lift member 63a of the elevating member 63 lowers the support frame 62.

  The support frame 62 is supported by the elevating member 63 and supports the absorbing member 61. The absorbing member 61 is impregnated with a cleaning liquid, and the absorbing member 61 is a flat plate-like member that absorbs ink. The absorbing member 61 is fixed to the support frame 62 with, for example, an adhesive.

  The absorbing member 61 is made of urethane-based, acrylic-based, or cellulose-based foamed plastic having an average cell diameter of 50 μm or more and 100 μm or less. Thus, since the absorbing member 61 is made of foamed plastic having an average cell diameter of 50 μm or more and 100 μm or less, the absorbing member 61 can be impregnated with the cleaning liquid and can absorb the ink ejected from the nozzle. it can.

  The absorbing member 61 has an Asker C hardness of 3 or more and 15 or less. Since the Asker C hardness of the absorbing member 61 is 3 or more and 15 or less, the cleaning liquid can be efficiently injected into the nozzle formed on the ink discharge surface 17 of the line heads 10Y to 10K. .

  In the cleaning liquid impregnated in the absorbing member 61, for example, 20% by mass of hexylene glycol is added to the surfactant. The surfactant is, for example, Magiclin (registered trademark) sanitization plus (manufactured by Kao Corporation). Magiclin (registered trademark) sanitization plus (manufactured by Kao Corporation) contains alkydamine oxide and alkyl glucoside.

  As described above, since the cleaning liquid impregnated in the absorbing member 61 has 20% by mass of hexylene glycol added to the surfactant, the solidified ink in the nozzle can be dissolved.

  In this embodiment, the case where 20% by mass of hexylene glycol is added to the surfactant as the cleaning liquid impregnated in the absorbing member 61 will be described, but the cleaning liquid impregnated in the absorbing member 61 may be in other forms. For example, the cleaning liquid impregnated in the absorbing member 61 may be an ink vehicle component. Further, for example, the cleaning liquid impregnated in the absorbing member 61 may be a surfactant. In addition, it is preferable that 10 mass% or more and 30 mass% or less of hexylene glycol is added in the cleaning liquid.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, operation | movement of the raising / lowering mechanism 60 in the case of raising the absorption member 61 is demonstrated. First, the movement instruction unit 511 of the control unit 51 shown in FIG. 3 drives a motor (not shown) to rotate the shaft 63b of the elevating member 63 arranged on the right side in FIG. 4 clockwise, and on the left side in FIG. The shaft 63b of the elevating member 63 disposed in the position is rotated counterclockwise. Then, the lift member 63a in the lying state is changed to the standing state. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the absorbing member 61 rises together with the support frame 62.

  The absorbing member 61 corresponding to each of the line heads 10Y, 10M, and 10C performs the same operation as the absorbing member 61 corresponding to the line head 10K by the lifting mechanism 60.

  Returning to FIG. 3 again, the functional configuration of the control unit 51 will be described. The ink ejection instruction unit 512 intermittently ejects ink from the nozzles for a predetermined time TM (for example, 6 minutes) in a state where the absorbing member 61 is in contact with the ink ejection surface 17. Specifically, the ink discharge instruction unit 512 applies a drive waveform to the piezoelectric element 11 in the recording head 10 via the drive signal generation circuit 31 and discharges ink from the nozzles.

  The drive signal generation circuit 31 is a circuit that generates a drive signal in accordance with an instruction from the ink discharge instruction unit 512.

  Specifically, the ink ejection instruction unit 512 increases the ink ejection amount Qi per time as the cumulative non-ejection time TA stored in the non-ejection time storage unit 521 is longer. More specifically, for example, a table that associates the cumulative non-ejection time TA with the ink ejection amount Qi per time is stored in the non-ejection time storage unit 521 in advance, and the ejection corresponding to the cumulative non-ejection time TA. The quantity Qi is set by reading from the table.

  Thus, when nozzle non-ejection has occurred, the longer the cumulative non-ejection time TA, the more difficult it is to remove the solid matter clogged with the non-ejection nozzle. Therefore, as the cumulative non-ejection time TA is longer, the nozzle ejection failure Qi can be effectively eliminated by increasing the ink ejection amount Qi per time.

  In addition, the ink discharge instruction unit 512 discharges ink of a preset lower limit amount Qn (for example, 5.5 pL) or more and a preset upper limit amount Qm (for example, 14 pL) or less at a time. The lower limit amount Qn and the upper limit amount Qm are obtained by experiments.

  When the ink ejection amount Qi is less than the lower limit amount Qn, solid matter in the nozzle cannot be removed when nozzle non-ejection has occurred. On the other hand, when the ink ejection amount Qi is larger than the upper limit amount Qm, a large amount of ink flows to normal nozzles, and ink flowing to non-ejection nozzles does not increase. Therefore, nozzle non-ejection can be effectively eliminated by ejecting ink that is not less than the lower limit amount Qn and not more than the upper limit amount Qm.

  The frequency of the drive waveform (drive frequency FD) applied to the piezoelectric element 11 by the ink discharge instruction unit 512 is equal to or higher than a preset lower limit frequency Fn (eg, 5 kHz) and a preset upper limit frequency Fm (eg, , 20 kHz) or less. The lower limit frequency Fn and the upper limit frequency Fm are obtained by experiments.

  When the drive frequency FD is less than the lower limit frequency Fn, it takes a long time to remove the solid matter in the nozzle when nozzle non-ejection occurs. On the other hand, when the drive frequency FD is higher than the upper limit frequency Fm, the piezoelectric element 11 generates heat and the substrate may be damaged. Therefore, nozzle non-ejection can be effectively eliminated by setting the driving frequency FD to be equal to or higher than the lower limit frequency Fn and lower than the upper limit frequency Fm.

<Experimental result>
Next, with reference to Table 1, the experimental results of the ejection amount Qi of ink from the nozzle per one time and the driving frequency FD of the piezoelectric element 11 will be described. Table 1 is a chart showing experimental results of the ink discharge amount Qi and the drive frequency FD by the ink discharge instruction unit 512 shown in FIG.

The recording head 10 that did not eject ink for 4 days in an environment of 40 ° C. and humidity of 15% RH was used. After the absorbing member 61 impregnated with the cleaning liquid is brought into contact with the recording head 10 for 6 minutes, the ink is intermittently interrupted for 30 minutes at the ejection amount Qi per ink and the driving frequency FD of the piezoelectric element 11 shown in Table 1. Was discharged. Thereafter, the purge operation for ejecting 2 cm ^{3 of} ink was repeated until the non-ejection was resolved. And it evaluated as follows.
(Double-circle): The non-ejection was eliminated by purging operation 4 times or less.
○: The ejection was eliminated after the purge operation was performed 6 times or less.
X: Non-ejection was not eliminated when the purge operation was 6 times or less.

  In the chart shown in Table 1, the upper column is Examples (Examples 1 to 5), and the lower column is Comparative Examples (Comparative Examples 1 to 4). For each example and each comparative example, in order from the top, the ejection amount Qi per ink, the drive frequency FD of the piezoelectric element 11, the number of purges NP required to eliminate the non-ejection, and the piezoelectric element 11 shows the presence or absence of substrate damage due to heat generation when the 11 is driven for 30 minutes.

  As shown in Examples 1 to 5, when the discharge amount Qi is 5.5 pL to 14 pL and the drive frequency FD is 5 kHz to 20 kHz, the non-discharge is eliminated after the purge operation is 6 times or less.

  On the other hand, as shown in Comparative Example 1, when the discharge amount Qi was 5.0 pL and the driving frequency FD was 10 kHz, the non-ejection was eliminated after 8 purge operations. This is presumably because the discharge amount Qi is too small to remove the solid matter in the nozzle.

  Further, as shown in Comparative Example 2, when the discharge amount Qi was 15.0 pL and the drive frequency FD was 10 kHz, the non-discharge was eliminated after 10 purge operations. This is presumably because the discharge amount Qi is too large and a large amount of ink flows to normal nozzles, so that the amount of ink flowing to non-discharge nozzles does not increase.

  Further, as shown in Comparative Example 3, when the discharge amount Qi was 7.5 pL and the drive frequency FD was 4 kHz, the purge operation was 11 times and the non-discharge was eliminated. This is presumably because the drive frequency FD is too low and it takes a long time to remove the solid matter in the nozzle.

  Further, as shown in Comparative Example 4, when the discharge amount Qi was 7.5 pL and the drive frequency FD was 21 kHz, the non-ejection was eliminated with two purge operations. However, in this case, the substrate was damaged due to heat generation when the piezoelectric element 11 was driven for 30 minutes.

  From the above experimental results, it was found that the ink discharge amount Qi is in the proper range of 5.5 pL to 14 pL, and the drive frequency FD is in the proper range of 5 kHz to 20 kHz.

  Next, the operation of the control unit 51 (see FIG. 3) will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit 51 shown in FIG. First, the absorption member 61 is raised by the movement instruction unit 511 via the lifting mechanism 60 and is brought into contact with the ink ejection surface 17 of the recording head 10 (step S101). Then, the cumulative non-ejection time TA stored in the non-ejection time storage unit 521 is read by the ink ejection instruction unit 512 (step S103).

  Next, the ink ejection instruction unit 512 sets the ink ejection amount Qi based on the cumulative non-ejection time TA read in step S103 (step S105). Next, the drive frequency FD to be applied to the piezoelectric element 11 is set by the ink discharge instruction unit 512 (step S107). Then, the ink ejection instruction unit 512 applies a driving waveform to the piezoelectric element 11 in the recording head 10 via the driving signal generation circuit 31, and ink is ejected from the nozzle (step S109).

  Next, the ink discharge instruction unit 512 determines whether or not a predetermined time TM (for example, 6 minutes) has elapsed since the start of ink discharge from the nozzles (step S111). If it is determined that the predetermined time TM has elapsed (YES in step S111), the process proceeds to step S113. If it is determined that the predetermined time TM has not elapsed (NO in step S111), the process returns to step S109.

  In the case of YES in step S111, the ink discharge instruction unit 512 stops ink discharge from the nozzles (step S113). Then, the movement instructing unit 511 lowers the absorbing member 61 via the lifting mechanism 60 of the absorbing device 6 (step S115), and the process is terminated.

  In this way, since the ink is intermittently ejected from the nozzles for a predetermined time TM while the absorbing member 61 is in contact with the ink ejection surface 17, it is possible to eliminate ink non-ejection with a simple configuration. it can.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the predetermined time TM is a fixed value has been described. However, the predetermined time TM may be set based on some condition. For example, the predetermined time TM may be set based on the cumulative non-ejection time TA. Specifically, it is preferable to increase the predetermined time TM as the cumulative non-ejection time TA is longer. In this case, ink non-ejection can be more reliably eliminated.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, step S101 corresponds to an example of “contact process”, and steps S103 to S113 correspond to an example of “ink ejection process”.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist thereof (for example, (1) to (3) shown below). In order to facilitate understanding, the drawings schematically show each component mainly, and the thickness, length, number, etc. of each component shown in the drawings are different from the actual for convenience of drawing. There is a case. Moreover, the shape, dimension, etc. of each component shown by said embodiment are an example, Comprising: It does not specifically limit, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate substantially from the structure of this invention.

  (1) In the present embodiment, the case where the ink discharge instruction unit 512 drives the piezoelectric element 11 at a preset drive frequency FD has been described, but other forms may be used. The ink discharge instruction unit 512 may change the drive frequency FD within the range of the lower limit frequency Fn or more and the upper limit frequency Fm or less. Further, the drive frequency FD may be changed continuously or may be changed intermittently.

  (2) In this embodiment, the case where the ink discharge instruction unit 512 discharges ink of the preset discharge amount Qi has been described, but other forms may be used. For example, the ink discharge instruction unit 512 may change the discharge amount Qi within the range of the lower limit amount Qn and the upper limit amount Qm. Moreover, the form which changes the discharge amount Qi continuously may be sufficient, and the form which changes intermittently may be sufficient.

  (3) Although the case where the absorbing member 61 is impregnated with the cleaning liquid has been described in the present embodiment, the absorbing device 6 may have a configuration in which the absorbing member 61 is impregnated with the cleaning liquid. For example, when the absorbing device 6 is at the standby position shown in FIG. 1, it is preferable to impregnate the absorbing member 61 with the cleaning liquid.

  The present invention can be used in the fields of an inkjet recording apparatus and a nozzle cleaning method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet recording device 10 Recording head 17 Ink discharge surface 3 Head part 31 Drive signal generation circuit (a part of ink discharge part)
51 control unit 511 movement instruction unit (part of moving unit)
512 Ink ejection instruction unit (part of the ink ejection unit)
52 Storage Unit 512 Non-Discharge Time Storage Unit 6 Absorber 60 Elevating Mechanism (Part of Moving Unit)
61 Absorbing member

Claims (9)

A recording head for discharging ink onto the recording medium;
An absorbing member that is impregnated with a cleaning liquid and absorbs ink;
A moving part for bringing the absorbing member into contact with the nozzle surface;
An ink ejection unit that applies a drive waveform to a piezoelectric element in the recording head in a state where the absorbing member is in contact with the nozzle surface, and ejects ink from the nozzle intermittently for a predetermined period of time; An inkjet recording apparatus.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid includes a surfactant or a vehicle component of the ink.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein hexylene glycol is added to the cleaning liquid in an amount of 10% by mass to 30% by mass.   4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink ejection unit ejects ink that is equal to or more than a preset lower limit amount and equal to or less than a preset upper limit amount per time. 5. .   5. The ink discharge unit according to claim 1, wherein the ink discharge unit increases the discharge amount per time of the ink as the cumulative non-discharge time, which is a cumulative value of the time during which ink is not discharged from the recording head, is longer. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to item 1.   6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving frequency of the piezoelectric element is set to be equal to or higher than a preset lower limit frequency and equal to or lower than a preset upper limit frequency.   The inkjet recording according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the absorbing member is a urethane-based, acrylic-based, or cellulose-based foamed plastic having an average cell diameter of 50 µm or more and 100 µm or less. apparatus.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the absorbing member has an Asker C hardness of 3 or more and 15 or less. A recording head for discharging ink onto the recording medium;
A nozzle cleaning method in an inkjet recording apparatus comprising an absorbing member that is impregnated with a cleaning liquid and absorbs ink,
Contacting the absorbent member with the nozzle surface; and
An ink discharge step of applying a drive waveform to the piezoelectric element in the recording head after the contact step and discharging ink from the nozzle intermittently for a predetermined time set in advance;

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