JP2018069583A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To favorably collect mist of ink generated accompanying discharge of ink droplets from a nozzle while reducing influences thereof on a flying direction of the ink droplets discharged.SOLUTION: A nozzle 110e and a suction passage 110g are configured in a double tube structure in a concentric fashion. Openings 110f of the nozzle 110e are arranged on respective nozzle surfaces 110c of ink heads 110a and 110b, and over the circumference around the openings 110f of the nozzle 110e on the nozzle surfaces 110c are arranged concentrically annular openings 110h of the suction passage 110g. The suction passage 110g is connected to a fan 40 through a filter 30 at an end part at the other side of the opening 110h, and the fan 40 is made to suction air in the suction passage 110g, so as to generate air flow W, which flows from the opening 110h side as an upstream side to the fan 40 side as a downstream side, in the vicinity of the opening 110h of the suction passage 110g. Mist M flying in the vicinity of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e is transferred by the air flow W to be suctioned into the suction passage 110g.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that performs printing using ink ejected from nozzles.

  In an ink jet recording apparatus, ink in an ink chamber provided on a nozzle surface of an ink jet head is ejected as droplets from a nozzle, and landed on a recording medium that is transported in equilibrium with the nozzle surface on a transport path facing the nozzle surface. An image is formed on the recording medium.

  The ink droplets ejected from the nozzles fly in a tail-like manner, and a time difference or speed difference occurs between the leading portion and the trailing portion of the flying droplets. For this reason, unnecessary fine droplets (satellite) may be generated along with the preceding main droplets.

  The satellite becomes a mist and floats in the space between the nozzle surface of the inkjet head and the transport path, and adheres to the location that deviates from the ink droplets on the recording medium, thereby degrading the print quality or adhering to the inside of the device. Or dirty the device.

  Such a satellite is also used in a serial type recording apparatus in which an inkjet head reciprocates on a carriage in a main scanning direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium. This also occurs in a line-type recording apparatus that constitutes a line head extending over the same range.

  Therefore, a transport passage is formed along the nozzle surface of the inkjet head to pass the air stream that transports the ink mist, and a suction passage provided on the side surface of the inkjet head adjacent to the ink chamber and connected to the fan is opened in the transport passage. A mist removing apparatus has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this mist removing apparatus, an air flow from the nozzle toward the opening of the suction passage is also generated in the transport passage due to the flow of suction air from the opening generated in the suction passage by the fan toward the fan. For this reason, the mist in the conveyance path is carried on the airflow, conveyed from the opening to the suction path, and collected on the fan side.

  The ink droplets ejected from the nozzles traverse the transport path at a speed faster than the airflow in the transport path, pass through holes formed at locations facing the nozzles of the transport path, and land on the recording medium.

JP 2007-185878 A

  In the mist removing device described above, the suction passage is disposed on the side surface of the ink chamber, and therefore, the opening of the suction passage and the nozzle must be separated from each other in the presence region of the ink chamber. For this reason, if the velocity of the airflow in the transport passage is too low, the mist adheres to the wall surface of the transport passage before reaching the opening of the suction passage, causing the transport passage to become clogged or dirty. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to increase the velocity of the airflow in the transport passage to some extent.

  However, when the velocity of the airflow in the transport path is increased, the flying direction of the ink droplets flying across the airflow may change due to the airflow. A change in the flying direction of the ink droplet causes a landing position shift of the ink droplet on the recording medium and causes a decrease in print quality. Therefore, it is desirable to suppress the occurrence as much as possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the influence of the ink droplets ejected from the nozzles on the flying direction while reducing the mist of ink generated along with the ejection of the ink droplets. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus that can be suitably recovered.

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises:
Along a nozzle path (for example, the ink head 110a, 110b in FIG. 2) on the conveying path (for example, the platen belt 160 in FIG. 2) facing the nozzle surface (for example, the nozzle surface 110c in FIG. 3) along the nozzle surface. Ink ejected from a nozzle (for example, the nozzle 110e in FIG. 3) having an opening (for example, the opening 110f in FIG. 4) formed on the nozzle surface with respect to the transported recording medium (for example, the printing paper 10 in FIG. 1). In an ink jet recording apparatus (for example, the ink jet printer 100 of FIG. 1) that forms an image on the recording medium with liquid droplets (for example, ink droplet I of FIG. 4),
A suction passage (for example, a suction passage 110g in FIG. 4) provided in the nozzle head and having an annular opening (for example, the opening 110h in FIG. 4) formed on the nozzle surface disposed on the outer periphery of the nozzle opening;
A suction source (for example, the fan 40 in FIG. 1) that is connected to the suction path and generates an air flow (for example, the air flow W in FIG. 4) that flows downstream in the suction path with the opening of the nozzle surface as an upstream side. When,
Is provided.

  Further, the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the opening of the suction passage is lower than the opening of the nozzle in the ink droplet ejection direction. Is arranged.

  Further, an ink jet recording apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the nozzle is ejected from the nozzle to the recording medium corresponding to each pixel of the image. The apparatus further includes a controller (for example, the arithmetic processing unit 330 in FIG. 1) that controls the speed of the airflow generated in the suction passage by the suction source in accordance with the number of ink droplet drops.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the mist of the ink which generate | occur | produced with discharge of an ink droplet can be collect | recovered suitably, reducing the influence which it has on the flight direction of the ink droplet discharged from the nozzle.

  That is, according to the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the air flow generated by the suction source in the suction passage provided in the nozzle head passes through the openings arranged on the nozzle surface from the outside of the nozzle head. The direction toward the inside of the head, that is, the direction in which the suction passage opening is on the upstream side and the suction source is on the downstream side. The direction of the airflow is opposite to the direction of ink droplets ejected from the nozzle opening to the outside of the nozzle head and directed to the recording medium.

  The annular opening of the suction passage is arranged on the outer periphery of the nozzle opening on the nozzle surface of the nozzle head. For this reason, on the outside of the nozzle head, a reverse airflow sucked into the suction passage passes around the entire ink droplet ejected from the nozzle opening and flying toward the recording medium. .

  Therefore, the ink mist generated and floating in the tail portion of the ink droplet is suspended in the space outside the nozzle head while riding in the air current flowing around the ink droplet flight path and entering the suction passage. Sucked.

  At this time, the direction of the air flow sucked into the suction passage is opposite to the ink droplet ejection direction and does not cross the ink droplet flight path. In addition, the airflow sucked into the suction passage flows around the entire circumference of the ink droplet flight path, and the airflow does not deviate to a specific portion in the circumferential direction. For this reason, it is unlikely that the flying direction of the ink droplets ejected from the nozzles is biased and changed in a specific direction due to the influence of the airflow sucked into the suction passage.

  Therefore, it is possible to suitably collect the ink mist generated due to the ejection of the ink droplets while reducing the influence on the flight direction of the ink droplets ejected from the nozzles.

  Further, according to the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the opening of the suction passage is more in the ink droplet ejection direction than the opening of the nozzle. Since it is located below, the opening side portion of the suction passage extends outside the nozzle block rather than the nozzle opening.

  Then, the flow of the air flow sucked into the suction passage from the opening is rectified so as not to diffuse in the vicinity of the nozzle opening by the opening side portion of the suction passage extending outside the nozzle block from the nozzle opening.

  For this reason, the velocity of the airflow sucked into the suction passage is difficult to drop, particularly in the vicinity of the nozzle opening, outside the nozzle head. Therefore, the ink mist generated behind the ink droplets ejected from the nozzle opening to the outside of the nozzle block is collected on the airflow sucked into the suction passage before spreading widely along the nozzle surface. Can be made easier.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the number of ink droplets ejected from the nozzle to the recording medium corresponding to each pixel of the image changes according to the pixel value of each pixel. In this case, as in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the velocity of the airflow in the suction passage may be controlled by the controller in accordance with the number of ink droplet drops.

  In that case, the control content of the speed of the air flow in the suction passage according to the number of drops of ink droplets may be obtained by, for example, obtaining an appropriate speed for each number of drops by experiment and controlling to that speed. You may control to increase (or reduce) the speed of airflow, so that a number increases.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the inkjet printer which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image forming path of a printer unit in which image formation is performed in the ink jet printer of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the head holder of FIG. 2 from the downward direction. It is a principal part expanded sectional view which expands and shows the nozzle part of the nozzle surface of FIG. It is a principal part expanded sectional view which expands and shows the nozzle part of the nozzle surface in the inkjet printer which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part expanded sectional view which expands and shows the nozzle part of the nozzle surface in the inkjet printer which concerns on further another embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing performed when the arithmetic processing unit of FIG. 1 controls the speed of the airflow in the suction passage to a speed corresponding to the number of ink droplet drops.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Throughout the drawings, the same or equivalent parts and components are denoted by the same or equivalent reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted or simplified.

  The ink jet printer according to the present embodiment is an ink jet type line color printer that performs printing in units of lines by discharging black or color ink from nozzles of ink heads provided in a head unit that is an image forming unit. Shall.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the internal configuration of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(Overall configuration of line-type inkjet printer)
As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet printer 100 is a printing apparatus that forms an image by ejecting ink onto a printing paper 10 that is conveyed on a conveyance path 20. The ink jet printer 100 according to the present embodiment discharges a paper feeding mechanism 105 that supplies the printing paper 10, a head unit 110 as a printing mechanism, a paper conveyance unit 130 that conveys the printing paper 10, and a printed printing paper 10. A paper discharge port 150 as a paper discharge mechanism is provided.

  In addition, the inkjet printer 100 includes an arithmetic processing unit 330 including a controller board on which a CPU, a memory, and the like are arranged, an operation panel that displays menus and receives operations from users, and other functional units ( (Not shown).

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the image forming path of the printer unit in which image formation is performed in the ink jet printer 100 of FIG. 1 from the side, and FIG. 3 is a head holder disposed above the image forming path of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows from below.

  The printer unit in which image formation is performed in the ink jet printer 100 has the image forming path CR1 shown in FIG. 2 together with the head unit 110 described above.

  The image forming path CR1 includes a platen belt 160 that is an endless conveyance belt, a driving roller 161 that is a driving mechanism of the platen belt 160, a driven roller 162, and the like. In the image forming path CR1, the printing paper is conveyed by the platen belt 160 at a speed determined by the printing conditions. A head unit 110 is disposed above the platen belt 160 so as to face each other.

(Configuration and arrangement of head unit)
The head unit 110 is provided for each color of C (cyan), K (black), M (magenta), and Y (yellow). Each color head unit 110 is configured by arranging a plurality of ink heads 110 a and 110 b in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction that is the conveyance direction of the printing paper 10.

  Each ink head 110a, 110b is shown on the nozzle surface 110c facing the image forming path CR1 shown in FIG. 2, as schematically shown as representative of the K (black) ink heads 110a, 110b in FIG. 3 has a nozzle row 110d shown in FIG.

  Each nozzle row 110d includes a plurality of nozzles 110e arranged in the main scanning direction. Each nozzle 110e ejects ink of each color on a line basis to the printing paper 10 on the platen belt 160 in FIG. 2, and forms a plurality of images so as to overlap each other.

  The ink heads 110a and 110b of the head units 110 of the respective colors are held by a head holder 500 disposed above the platen belt 160, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the head holder 500 is a box having a head holder surface 500a on the bottom surface. The head holder surface 500a has a plurality of mounting openings 500b through which the ink heads 110a and 110b are inserted. Multiple units are formed in units of 110.

  The plurality of mounting openings 500b corresponding to each head unit 110 are arranged in a staggered manner, and each mounting opening 500b is formed in the same shape as the horizontal cross section of the ink heads 110a and 110b. The ink heads 110a and 110b of each head unit 110 are inserted through the corresponding mounting openings 500b in the corresponding row, respectively, and the nozzle row 110d side protrudes from the head holder surface 500a as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the ink heads 110a and 110b of the head units 110 of the respective colors held by the head holder 500 are arranged side by side in the main scanning direction, and the positions in the sub scanning direction are shifted every other position. Are arranged. Thereby, the interval between the nozzles (not shown) at the extreme ends of the two adjacent ink heads 110a and 110b is made to coincide with the interval between the adjacent nozzles of each ink head 110a and 110b.

  Inside each ink head 110a, 110b, an ink chamber (not shown) communicating with each nozzle 110e on the nozzle surface 110c is formed. Ink is supplied to the ink chamber, and the ink in the ink chamber is ejected from the nozzle 110e by changing the volume of the ink chamber using, for example, a piezo element.

  The amount of ink droplets ejected from the nozzles 110e of the ink heads 110a and 110b is changed by controlling the number of ink ejection drops when the ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles 110e. It can be increased or decreased. By changing the number of ink drops to be ejected (ink amount), it is possible to change the density of ink dots formed at locations corresponding to each pixel of the printing paper 10.

  In FIG. 2, the hatched lines placed in one of the ink heads 110a and 110b in each row indicate that the ink heads 110a and 110b are arranged at positions shifted from the paper surface of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printing paper 10 fed one by one from the side paper feed tray 106, the paper feed tray 107, etc. of the paper feed mechanism 105 is conveyed to a registration roller 240 by a drive mechanism such as a roller 108. . Here, the registration rollers 240 are a pair of rollers provided to perform alignment and skew correction of the leading edge of the printing paper 10.

  The fed printing paper 10 is temporarily stopped by the registration roller 240 and is conveyed toward the head unit 110 by the platen belt of the paper conveying unit 130 at a predetermined timing. Then, an image is formed on the printing paper 10 by each color ink ejected from the nozzle 110e (see FIG. 3) of each head unit 110.

  By the way, the ink droplet ejected from the nozzle 110e flies so as to have a tail. If a time difference or a speed difference occurs between the leading portion and the trailing portion of the flying droplet, unnecessary fine droplets (satellite) may be generated along with the preceding main droplet.

  The satellite becomes a mist, floats in the space between the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b and the transport path 20 (the platen belt 160 thereof), and adheres to a location shifted from the ink droplets of the printing paper 10. As a result, the print quality is lowered or the apparatus adheres to the ink jet printer 100 and soils the apparatus.

  Therefore, a fan 40 is connected to each ink head 110a, 110b via a filter 30. The fan 40 generates suction air. The suction air generated by the fan 40 generates an air flow around the nozzle 110e. This air flow is used to collect the mist of ink floating near the nozzle 110e that ejected the ink droplets of the ink heads 110a and 110b in the filter 30.

  Hereinafter, a mechanism formed in each of the ink heads 110a and 110b in order to collect ink mist will be described.

(Detailed structure of the head unit)
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part showing an enlarged portion of the nozzle 110e of each ink head 110a, 110b in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the opening 110h of the annular suction passage 110g is arranged around the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e arranged on the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b.

  The nozzle 110e and the suction passage 110g have a concentric double tube structure. The openings 110f and 110h of the nozzle 110e and the suction passage 110g are arranged in a portion of the nozzle surface 110c that protrudes one step further toward the image forming path CR1 (see FIG. 2) than the portion around the openings 110f and 110h.

  The suction passage 110g has a passage portion that bypasses an ink chamber (not shown) inside each of the ink heads 110a and 110b. The suction passage 110g has a fan portion through the filter 30 described above at the end opposite to the opening 110h. 40.

(Recovery operation of ink mist)
Ink droplets I are ejected from the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e shown in FIG. 4 toward the platen belt 160 (see FIG. 2) of the transport path 20 facing the nozzle surfaces 110c (see FIG. 2) of the ink heads 110a and 110b. Then, the satellite generated behind the ink droplet I becomes the mist M and floats in the vicinity of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e.

  On the other hand, on the outer periphery of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e, an annular opening 110h of the suction passage 110g is arranged over the entire periphery. When the fan 40 connected to the suction passage 110g sucks the air in the suction passage 110g, an air flow W is generated in the vicinity of the opening 110h of the suction passage 110g with the opening 110h side as the upstream side and the fan 40 side as the downstream side. To do.

  The air flow W is directed to the outside of the nozzle surfaces 110c of the ink heads 110a and 110b and from the outside of the nozzle surfaces 110c to the inside of the ink heads 110a and 110b through the opening 110h of the suction passage 110g. The direction of the air flow W is opposite to the direction in which the ink droplet I is ejected from the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e.

  The annular opening 110h of the suction passage 110g is disposed on the outer periphery of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e on the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b. For this reason, the airflow W sucked into the suction passage 110g from the opening 110h is entirely around the ink droplet I ejected from the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e outside the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b. It flows in the opposite direction to the ink droplet I in a cylindrical shape.

  For this reason, the ink mist generated from the satellite generated in the tail portion of the ink droplet I floats outside the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b, and around the flight path of the ink droplet I. Is sucked into the suction passage 110g from the opening 110h.

  The air flow W sucked into the suction passage 110g reaches the fan 40 through the filter 30, and is exhausted from an exhaust port (not shown) of the fan 40. Further, the ink mist M flowing on the airflow W sucked into the suction passage 110 g is captured by the filter 30 when the airflow W passes through the filter 30. That is, the mist M is collected by the filter 30 from the outside of the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b through the suction passage 110g.

  At this time, the direction of the air flow W sucked into the suction passage 110g is opposite to the direction of ejection of the ink droplet I, and does not cross the flight path of the ink droplet I. In addition, the air flow W sucked into the suction passage 110g flows in a cylindrical shape around the entire circumference of the flight path of the ink droplet I, and the flow of the air current W is a specific flow around the flight path of the ink droplet I. There is no bias to the part.

  For this reason, a change in which the flying direction of the ink droplet I ejected from the nozzle 110e is biased to a specific direction due to the influence of the air flow W sucked into the suction passage 110g is unlikely to occur.

  Therefore, it is preferable to reduce the influence of the ink droplet I ejected from the nozzle 110e on the flight direction, and to use ink mist generated outside the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b as the ink droplet I is ejected. Can be recovered.

(Modification)
Note that the opening 110h of the suction passage 110g on the nozzle surface 110c is closer to the image forming path CR1 (see FIG. 2) than the position of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e, that is, the downstream side in the ejection direction of the ink droplet I. You may arrange in the place shifted to.

  In that case, as shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. 5 showing the enlarged portion of the nozzle 110e of the nozzle surface 110c of the ink jet recording apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, a cylindrical shape is formed at the tip of the suction passage 110g. The extension 110i may be connected, and the opening 110h of the suction passage 110g may be substantially protruded from the tip of the extension 110i.

  Alternatively, the suction passage 110g itself is extended as shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. 6 showing the enlarged portion of the nozzle 110e of the nozzle surface 110c of the ink jet recording apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The opening 110h of the suction passage 110g may be disposed closer to the image forming path CR1 (see FIG. 2) than the position of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e.

  If the opening 110h of the suction passage 110g is disposed on the image forming path CR1 (see FIG. 2) side of the position of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e by the structure shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the opening 110h is changed to the suction passage 110g. The flow of the sucked air flow W is rectified so as not to diffuse near the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e.

  For this reason, the velocity of the airflow W sucked into the suction passage 110g is difficult to drop outside the nozzle surface 110c of each ink head 110a, 110b, particularly in the vicinity of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e.

  Therefore, before the ink mist M generated behind the ink droplet I discharged from the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e to the outside of the ink heads 110a and 110b is diffused widely along the nozzle surface 110c, the suction passage 110g. It is possible to make it easy to collect by putting it on the airflow W sucked into the air.

  In the inkjet printer 100 of each embodiment described above, the number of drops of the ink droplet I ejected from the nozzle 110e to the printing paper 10 corresponding to each pixel of the image printed on the printing paper 10 is the same as that of each pixel. It differs depending on the pixel value.

  If the number of drops of the ink droplet I is different, the contents (number, size, etc.) of the mist M floating in the vicinity of the opening 110f of the nozzle 110e may change due to the satellite generated behind the ink droplet I. Therefore, the speed of the airflow W passing through the suction passage 110g may be controlled by adjusting the air suction force by the fan 40 by the arithmetic processing unit 330 according to the number of drops of the ink droplet I.

  In this case, the control content of the velocity of the air flow W in the suction passage 110g according to the number of drops of the ink droplet I is, for example, the content of the mist M generated at each drop number obtained by experiment or the like for each drop number. May be controlled to an appropriate speed suitable for the above, or may be controlled to increase (or decrease) the speed of the airflow W as the number of drops increases.

  Further, if the arithmetic processing unit 330 controls the velocity of the air flow W corresponding to the number of drops of the ink droplets I for each nozzle 110e, the processing load on the arithmetic processing unit 330 increases, and high-speed processing is performed. May be required.

  Therefore, in order to reduce the processing load of the arithmetic processing unit 330, the average number of drops of the ink droplets I ejected by each nozzle 110e is obtained in units of pages of the printing paper 10, for example, While the nozzle 110e corresponding to each part of the printing paper 10 corresponding to the pixel ejects the ink droplet I, the velocity of the air flow W in each suction passage 110g corresponding to each nozzle 110e is determined according to the obtained average drop number. Alternatively, the air velocity W may be uniformly controlled.

  Control of the velocity of the air flow W in the suction passage 110g according to the number of drops of the ink droplet I as described above is realized by the arithmetic processing unit 330 performing the processing of the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. be able to.

(Example of processing by the arithmetic processing unit)
As shown in FIG. 7, the arithmetic processing unit 330 checks whether or not a print job has been input (step S1), and if not input (NO in step S1), the series of processing ends.

  On the other hand, when a print job is input (YES in step S1), the arithmetic processing unit 330 identifies the number of drops of the ink droplet I ejected from each nozzle 110e (step S3), and based on the identified number of drops. Thus, the speed of the airflow W flowing through the suction passage 110g corresponding to each nozzle 110e (the air suction speed by the fan 40) is set (step S5).

  Then, the arithmetic processing unit 330 executes the printing process by controlling the air suction speed by the fan 40 so as to achieve the set speed of the airflow W (step S7), and then ends the series of processes.

  In the above-described embodiment, the head units 110 are arranged in a staggered manner along the main scanning direction in which the plurality of ink heads 110a and 110b are alternately shifted in the conveyance direction (sub-scanning direction) of the printing paper 10. The so-called line-type ink jet printer 100 has been described as an example. However, the present invention can also be applied to a serial type ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink jet head reciprocates on a carriage in the main scanning direction.

10 Printing paper (recording medium)
20 Transport path 30 Filter 40 Fan (suction source)
100 Inkjet printer (inkjet recording device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 105 Paper feed mechanism 106 Side paper feed stand 107 Paper feed tray 108 Roller 110 Head unit 110a, 110b Ink head (nozzle head)
110c Nozzle surface 110d Nozzle array 110e Nozzle 110f Opening (nozzle opening)
110g Suction passage 110h Opening (Suction passage opening)
110i Extension unit 130 Paper transport unit 150 Paper discharge port 160 Platen belt (transport path)
161 Driving roller 162 Driven roller 240 Registration roller 330 Arithmetic processing unit (controller)
500 Head holder 500a Head holder surface 500b Mounting opening CR1 Image forming path I Ink droplet M Mist W Airflow

Claims (3)

An image is formed on the recording medium by ink droplets ejected from a nozzle having an opening formed on the nozzle surface with respect to the recording medium conveyed along the nozzle surface on a conveying path facing the nozzle surface of the nozzle head. In the inkjet recording apparatus to be formed,
A suction passage provided in the nozzle head and having an annular opening formed in the nozzle surface disposed on an outer periphery of the nozzle opening;
A suction source that is connected to the suction passage and generates an airflow flowing downstream, with the opening of the nozzle surface being the upstream side in the suction passage;
An inkjet recording apparatus comprising:   The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening of the suction passage is disposed below the opening of the nozzle in the ink droplet ejection direction.   The apparatus further includes a controller that controls the velocity of the air flow generated in the suction passage by the suction source in accordance with the number of ink droplets ejected from the nozzle to the recording medium corresponding to each pixel of the image. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

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