JP3251575B2 - Color inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a color ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing high quality printing by devising a process after cleaning an ejection orifice from which plural colors of ink are ejected. It relates to a recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, non-impact recording methods have attracted attention in that noise during recording is negligibly small. Among them, high-speed printing is possible, and a special fixing method for so-called plain paper. The ink jet recording (liquid jet recording) method, which can perform recording without performing any processing, is an extremely effective recording method. Recently, various color printing methods using color inks have been proposed, and improvements have been made. ing.

A conventional color printing system of this type performs printing by flying droplets of ink of a plurality of colors and attaching them to a recording member.
There is one described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50, which is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 13, a color ink jet head unit 1 includes a heating element substrate 2 having a heating resistor,
A grooved plate 3 in which a plurality of inks A, B, and C can be alternately supplied, and in which liquid supply grooves arranged on the same surface are formed; 4A, 4B, and 4C, supply pipes 5A, 5B, and 5C, and a printed circuit board 6 for applying image signals, and a discharge orifice 7 for multicolor ink.
Constitute a multi-orifice array arranged at high density.

In the color ink jet head unit 1 having such a configuration, the supply block 4A,
Ink A of three primary colors is supplied to the liquid supply groove through 4B and 4C,
B and C are supplied, and a small droplet of ink of a predetermined color is ejected from a discharge orifice 7 at a predetermined position by an electrothermal transducer selectively driven so that the ink adheres to the recording member. It has become.

On the other hand, in such a color ink jet head unit 1, since the inks A, B, and C are continuously discharged from the discharge orifices 7 of the head 1 during the printing time during which the head is driven, Although the discharge orifice 7 is not clogged, the inks A, B, and C are not ejected from the discharge orifice 7 when printing is stopped while the head 1 is not driven, so that the ink remains at the discharge orifice 7 at the contact portion with the outside air. The solvent of the inks A, B, and C evaporates to increase the viscosity, causing clogging, and clogging due to foreign matter such as dust in the outside air resulting in malfunction of the ejection of the inks A, B, and C. Will occur.

For this reason, it is necessary to clean the surface of the discharge orifice 7 with a cleaning member to prevent the occurrence of jet malfunction, for example, by using a cleaning member described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-9030. It is conceivable to clean the surface of the discharge orifice 7.

This cleaning member has a brush-like nap group and a liquid absorbing member on the outer periphery of the rotating member, and cleans the surface of the discharge orifice 7 by bringing the cleaning member into contact with the discharge orifice 7. For this reason, in order to clean the surface of the discharge orifice 7 of the head 1 with this cleaning member, the cleaning member is moved from one end to the other end in the arrangement direction of the discharge orifices 7 of the head 1 and the surface of the discharge orifice 7 is used as the cleaning member. It is conceivable to clean by sequentially contacting.

[0009]

However, in the color ink jet head unit 1 described above,
The three colors of ink A, B, and C are discharged from the discharge orifice 7 from one end side to the other end side in the arrangement direction.
C, A, B, and C are arranged so as to be ejected in this order, so that when the above-described cleaning member is brought into contact with the surface of the ejection orifice 7, the ink wiped by the cleaning member becomes adjacent. This causes a problem that the ink is mixed with the ink of the discharge orifice.

For this reason, the pixels on the paper surface formed by spraying with the first few drops of ink after wiping by the cleaning member do not become pixels of the original ink A (or ink B or ink C). Then, a dirty pixel slightly mixed with the ink B or the ink C is formed, and the image quality is deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a color ink jet recording apparatus capable of always forming pixels of an original color ink on paper and performing high quality printing.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a collar having a plurality of discharge orifices for ejecting a plurality of colors of ink for each color, the openings being provided in a single nozzle plate. An inkjet head, a carriage on which the color inkjet head is mounted and which relatively moves the color inkjet head with respect to recording paper, a cleaning member which contacts and cleans the nozzle plate surface by the movement of the carriage, and ejects ink of a plurality of colors. A color ink jet head recording apparatus having a common cap mechanism for covering an ejection orifice portion to be ejected and suctioning ink, the color ink jet head prints on a recording sheet after contact cleaning of a nozzle plate surface by the cleaning member. Before, unprinted It is characterized by being configured to fit the ink jet so as to perform two or more times.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the ink jet for non-printing is performed twice or more by the color ink jet head before printing on the recording paper after the contact cleaning of the nozzle plate surface by the cleaning member. . Therefore, after the ejection orifice is cleaned by the cleaning member, the mixed ink is discarded from the ejection orifice, and the ink of a different color does not mix when the ink is actually printed on the recording paper. Therefore, pixels of mixed color ink are not formed on the recording paper surface, and pixels are formed only by ink of the original color, and high quality printing is performed.

A plurality of discharge orifices use a color ink jet head unit which is an opening provided in one nozzle plate. Therefore, the ejection orifice is formed by the common nozzle plate, and the ejection of the ink is stabilized, and the manufacturing cost of the head unit is reduced.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

First, an example of a color ink jet head recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the operation of a bubble jet (registered trademark) head as an example of an ink jet head, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a bubble jet head, and FIG. 7 is a view showing the bubble jet head shown in FIG. Constituent lid substrate (Fig. 7 (a))
And a perspective view when disassembled into a heating element substrate (FIG. 7B).
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lid substrate shown in FIG. 7A viewed from the back side. In FIGS. 6 to 8, 21 is a lid substrate, 22 is a heating element substrate, 23 is a selection (independent) electrode, and 24 is Common electrode, 25 is a heating element
(Heater), 26 is adjacent ink layer (ink), 27 is air bubble, 2
8 is a flying ink drop, 29 is a recording liquid (ink) inlet, 30
Denotes a discharge orifice, 31 denotes a flow path, and 32 denotes a region for forming a liquid chamber.

First, ink ejection by bubble jet will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3A shows a steady state in which the surface tension of the ink 26 and the external pressure are in an equilibrium state at the orifice surface.

FIG. 2B shows a state in which the heater 25 is heated and the heater 25 is heated.
Is heated until the boiling temperature occurs in the adjacent ink layer 26, and minute bubbles 27 are scattered.

FIG. 3C shows a state in which the adjacent ink layer 26, which has been rapidly heated on the entire surface of the heater 25, instantaneously evaporates to form a boiling film, and the bubbles 27 grow. At this time, the pressure in the nozzle rises by an amount corresponding to the growth of the bubble, the balance with the external pressure on the orifice surface is lost, and the ink column starts to grow from the orifice.

FIG. 4D shows a state in which the bubbles 27 have grown to the maximum, and the ink corresponding to the volume of the bubbles from the orifice surface.
26 is extruded. At this time, no current is flowing through the heater 25, and the surface temperature of the heater 25 is decreasing. The maximum value of the volume of the bubble 27 is slightly delayed from the timing of applying the electric pulse.

(E) shows a state in which the bubble 27 has been cooled by ink or the like and has begun to contract. At the front end of the ink column, the ink moves forward while maintaining the pushed speed, and at the rear end, the ink flows backward from the orifice surface into the nozzle due to a decrease in the nozzle internal pressure due to the contraction of the bubble, and the ink column is constricted. .

(F), the bubble 27 further contracts and the heater 25
The adjacent ink layer 26 is in contact with the surface, and the surface of the heater 25 is in a state of being cooled more rapidly. On the orifice surface, the external pressure is higher than the internal pressure of the nozzle, so that a large meniscus has entered the nozzle. The tip of the ink column becomes an ink drop 28 and flies at a speed of 5 to 10 m / sec toward the recording paper.

(G) In the process in which the ink 26 is supplied (refilled) to the orifice again by capillary action and returns to the state of (a), the bubbles 27 are completely eliminated.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a typical example for explaining the main structure of the above-described bubble jet head.
FIG. 9A is a detailed partial front view of the bubble jet head viewed from the orifice side, and FIG. 9B is a partial cutaway view taken along a dashed-dotted line AA.

In the bubble jet head 41 shown in these figures, a predetermined number of grooves having a predetermined line density and a predetermined width and depth are formed on a substrate 43 provided with an electrothermal transducer 42 on the back surface thereof. By joining the provided grooved plate 44 so as to cover the substrate 43, a liquid ejection portion 46 including an orifice 45 for flying liquid is formed.

The liquid discharge part 46 is a heat source in which thermal energy generated by the orifice 45 and the electrothermal transducer 42 acts on the liquid to generate bubbles, which cause a sudden state change due to expansion and contraction of the volume. And an action part 47. The heat acting portion 47 is located above the heat generating portion 48 of the electrothermal transducer 42 and has a heat acting surface 49 serving as a surface of the heat generating portion 48 that comes into contact with the liquid.
Is the low side.

The heat generating section 48 includes a lower layer 50 provided on the substrate 43, a heating resistor layer 51 provided on the lower layer 50, and an upper layer 52 provided on the heating resistor layer 51. Is done. The heating resistance device 51 is provided with electrodes 53 and 54 for supplying electricity to the layer 51 for generating heat on its surface, and a heat generation portion 48 is formed by the heating resistance layer between these electrodes. ing.

The electrode 53 is a common electrode for the heat generating section of each liquid discharge section, and the electrode 54 is a selection electrode for selecting the heat generating section of each liquid discharge section to generate heat. It is provided along the liquid flow path of the section. The protective layer 52 is a liquid that fills the liquid flow path of the heat generating resistance layer 51 and the liquid discharge unit 46 in order to chemically and physically protect the heat generating resistance layer 51 in the heat generating unit 48 from the liquid used. And prevents short circuit between the electrodes 53 and 54 through the liquid, and also prevents electric leakage between adjacent electrodes.

The liquid flow paths provided in the respective liquid discharge sections are communicated upstream of each discharge section via a common liquid chamber (not shown) constituting a part of the liquid flow paths. The electrodes 53 and 54 connected to the electrothermal converter 42 provided in each liquid discharge section are protected by the upper layer and pass under the common liquid chamber on the upstream side of the heat acting section due to the design convenience. It is provided to pass through.

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining the structure of the bubble generating means using a heating resistor. In FIG.
Is an electrode, 63 is a protective layer, 64 is a power supply device, and a heating resistor
Useful materials for constituting 61 include, for example, a mixture of tantalum-SiO2, tantalum nitride, nichrome,
Examples include silver-palladium alloys, silicon semiconductors, and borides of metals such as hafnium, lanthanum, zirconium, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, chromium, and vanadium.

Among the materials constituting the heating resistor 61, metal sulfides can be mentioned as being particularly excellent. Among them, hafnium boride has the most excellent characteristics, The order is zirconium boride, lanthanum boride, tantalum boride, vanadium boride, and niobium boride.

The heating resistor 61 can be formed using the above-mentioned materials by a technique such as electron beam evaporation or sputtering. The film thickness of the heating resistor 61 is determined according to its area, material, shape and size of the heat acting portion, and furthermore, power consumption in an actual plane, so that the amount of heat generated per unit time is as desired. But usually 0.
001 to 5 μm, preferably 0.01 to 1 μm.

As the material for forming the electrode 62, many of the commonly used electrode materials are effectively used, and specific examples thereof include Al, Ag, Au, Pt, and Cu. At a predetermined position by a method such as evaporation using
It is provided in a predetermined size, shape, and thickness.

The characteristic required for the protective layer 63 is a heating resistor
This means that the heating resistor 61 is protected from the recording liquid without preventing the heat generated in 61 from being effectively transmitted to the recording liquid. Useful materials for forming the protective layer 63 include, for example, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, tantalum oxide, zirconium oxide, and the like. Can be formed. The thickness of the protective layer 63 is usually 0.01 to 10 μm, preferably 0.1 to 10 μm.
It is desirable that the thickness be 5 μm, most preferably 0.1 to 3 μm.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show another example of the ink jet head applied to the present invention. FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b) show the principle thereof, and FIG. 12 shows an example of a multi-orifice head. . 11 and 12, 71 is a piezo element, 72 is an ink pressure chamber, 73 is a discharge orifice, 74 is a common ink chamber, 75 is a valve, 76 is an ink filter, 77 is an inkjet head, 78 is a print surface, and 79 is ink. Drops.

In this method, unlike the above-described ink jet head, a piezo element 71 constituting an electrostrictive vibrator is provided as an energy actuating part in the middle of a discharge orifice 73 and an ink supply source (common ink chamber 74). A pulse-like signal voltage is applied to the piezo element 71 to distort the piezo element 71 to reduce the volume of the ink pressure chamber 72 and generate a pressure wave.
Is discharged. FIG. 13 forms a multi-orifice array by arranging a plurality of piezo elements 71 shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a first embodiment of a color ink jet recording apparatus for achieving the color printing method according to the present invention, and shows a color ink jet head unit. FIG. 1 shows that four inks, specifically, black (B), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) are provided for each color by stacking four heads shown in FIG. Multiple ejection orifices 81
B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y are arranged so as to be arranged on substantially the same plane, and the discharge orifices 81B, 82B
A bubble jet type color inkjet head unit 97 is shown in which recording heads 93 to 96 each including a pair of lid substrates 85 to 88 provided with C, 83M and 84Y and heating element substrates 89 to 92 are integrated.

It should be noted that an ink jet head using a piezo element as shown in FIG. 11 can be applied to the head unit 97.

FIG. 2 shows a main part of a color ink jet recording apparatus to which the above-mentioned head unit 97 is mounted. In the figure, reference numeral 97 denotes a color inkjet head unit shown in FIG. 1 mounted on a carriage 101, a storage section for storing ink supplied from an ink supply source, and ejection orifices 81B and 82C for ejecting the stored ink. ,
And recording heads 93 to 96 provided with 83M and 84Y.

The carriage 101 can be attached with a cartridge tank as an ink supply source described later. Ten
Reference numeral 2 denotes a printed wiring board that controls ink ejection by the head unit 97, 103 denotes a flexible cable that connects the printed wiring board 102 and the head unit 97, and connects the printed wiring board 102 and the flexible cable 103 via a connector. I do.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a paper feed motor. The recording paper P is conveyed by rollers 105 in the direction f in FIG. Reference numeral 106 denotes a roller which cooperates with the roller 105 to regulate the recording paper P flat and forms a recording surface for the head unit 97. 107 is a carriage driving belt connected to the carriage 101, and 108 is the belt 107
Is a motor for driving the carriage 101 in the S direction in the figure, and 109 is a guide rail of the carriage 101.

The carriage 101 moves along the guide rail 109 in the predetermined direction S in the figure along the guide rail 109 in response to the driving of the motor 108, and can perform recording on the recording surface.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a reliability maintaining mechanism,
01 is provided at the home position. The maintenance mechanism 110 includes a main body 111 and a recovery port 112 that opens to the main body 111 and collects the unnecessary ink when an ink jet that is not used for printing is performed (hereinafter, this printing is also referred to as non-printing).
A blade 113 as a cleaning member made of an elastic member is provided for removing ink stains on the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y surfaces, or stains such as paper dust and dirt. And a cap mechanism 114 for closing the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, 84Y when printing is stopped.

The blade 113 is fixed to the main body 111,
The fixed position is set so that the head unit 97 contacts the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y when the head unit 97 passes in front of the blade 113 by the movement of the carriage 101. For this reason, the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y are brought into contact with and rubbed with the blade 113 with the relative movement of the blade 113 and the carriage 101, and the contact makes the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y dirty. Is wiped off.

The cap mechanism 114 recovers the printing function because printing is not performed normally when printing is stopped or when air bubbles are mixed in the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y, dust adheres, and ink dries. When the carriage 101 reaches the home position, the slide mechanism (not shown) slides in the direction of arrow A to close the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y, and covers the surfaces.

Although four cap mechanisms 114 are provided independently according to the ejection orifices 81 to 84 of each ink, the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84 are provided independently.
It may be common to cover Y. Further, the cap mechanism 114 is simply provided with the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 8C.
Not only does it cover 3M and 84Y, but details are not shown,
After closing the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y, the discharge orifices 81B, 82C and 83 are moved by a vacuum pump.
The ink in M, 84Y, or bubbles, dust, etc. may be sucked together with the ink.

Next, a method for printing color ink according to the present invention will be described.

First, since the carriage 101 is at the home position, the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83
The M and 84Y surfaces are covered by a cap mechanism 114 and are kept in a sealed state. Next, when the maintenance mechanism 110 is retracted in the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow A, the carriage 101 moves rightward in FIG. At this time, the discharge orifices 81B, 82C,
Since the 83M and 84Y surfaces come into contact with the blade 113, the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y of the four color heads 93 to 96 are cleaned by the blade 113.

Next, the recovery port 112 adjacent to the blade 113
When the head unit 97 passes in front of the
Two or more ink ejections are performed from the 96 ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y. The unnecessary ink ejected at this time is ejected toward the collection port 112 and collected. Thereafter, the carriage 101 moves to the front of the recording paper P and starts printing.

As described above, in this embodiment, after the cleaning of the vicinity of the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y by the blade 113, before the head unit 97 passes over the front surface of the recording paper P, the non-printing operation is performed. Is performed twice or more. The reason for performing such an ejection is that when the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y of each color are cleaned by the blade 113 according to the movement of the carriage 101, the second and subsequent heads, for example, the first one Assuming that the head to be cleaned is the black B head 93 and the second head is the cyan C head 94, the ejection orifice 82 of the head 94
Dust or black B ink or the like that has adhered to the head 93 adheres to C, and then is sequentially transmitted to the third and fourth ejection orifices 83M and 84Y.

For this reason, if the inks of different colors are mixed or the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y become dirty and printing is performed immediately after the cleaning, pixels of the mixed color ink are formed on the recording paper P. This is because the flying direction of the ink is disturbed by dust or dust or the like, and the pixel position accuracy on the recording paper P surface is extremely deteriorated.

In this embodiment, non-printing is performed before the recording paper P is passed, so that the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y of the head unit 97 are cleaned by the blade 113, and then discharged. Orifice 81B, 82C, 83
M, 84Y, the mixed ink is discarded, and the recording paper P
It is possible to prevent the inks of different colors from being mixed when the ink is actually printed. As a result, it is possible to prevent the formation of pixels of mixed color ink on the surface of the recording paper P, and to form pixels with only the original color ink.
High-quality printing can be performed.

Table 1 shows the specific effects of color printing according to the present embodiment, in which non-printing ink was ejected from all ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y using a serial type color printer. These are experimental results. In the present embodiment, a non-turbid pixel could be formed on the transfer paper P when non-printing ink ejection was performed three times or more.

[0055]

[Table 1] FIG. 3 is a view showing a second embodiment of the color ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, an example in which an orifice plate is provided for each discharge orifice is shown. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. Since the configuration is common, the description will be made using the head 93.

The head 93 shown in the first embodiment has a flow path shown in FIG.
An orifice plate (nozzle plate) 121 having a plurality of holes 121a corresponding to the discharge orifices 81B is attached to the head 93 on the discharge orifice 81 side. The discharge orifice 81 (FIG. 8)
The plate 121 is provided independently for each of the heads 93 to 96.

The plate 121 can be formed by, for example, a technique such as photoetching or photoelectroforming. For example, a method of manufacturing the orifice plate 121 by Ni photoelectroforming is described in JP-A-54-87529. Such techniques can be used.

Since the head 93 having the plate 121 mounted thereon has a superior symmetry of the shape of the discharge orifice as compared with the head having no orifice plate 121 mounted thereon, stable ink ejection (particularly in the ejection direction) is achieved. Stability).

FIG. 4 is a view showing a third embodiment of the color ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.
An example in which one orifice plate is provided for the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y is shown. Note that the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

In this embodiment, the discharge orifices 81B, 82B
81B, 82C, 83M, C, 83M, 84Y side heads 93-96
One orifice plate 131 (nozzle plate) having a plurality of holes 131a corresponding to 84Y is attached, and the discharge orifices 81 to 84 (that is, corresponding to the tip of the flow path 31 in FIG. 8) are provided through the holes 131a. ) Is communicated.

In this embodiment, one orifice plate
Since the 131 is provided, the manufacturing cost of the color ink jet head unit 97 can be reduced as compared with the one described in the second embodiment.

On the other hand, as described above, one common plate 13
When 1 is provided, adjacent inks of different colors mix on the surface of the orifice plate 131. This is because the head unit 97 shown in FIG.
In the head unit in which the heads 93 are stacked as described in (1), the discharge orifice surface is independent for each color, but the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83
In the case where the common orifice plate 131 is provided for M and 84Y, the inks of different colors can easily contact the surface of the plate 131.

However, in this embodiment, the blades 113 use the holes 131a of the discharge orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y.
After the neighborhood has been cleaned and before the head unit 97 has passed the front surface of the recording paper P, the ejection orifices 81B,
Ink mixed with each of the colors 82C, 83M, and 84Y can be discarded, and an image can be formed on the transfer paper P using ink without turbidity (mixing) during actual printing.

Table 2 shows the specific effects of color printing according to the present embodiment, in which non-printing ink was ejected from all the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M and 84Y using a serial type color printer. These are experimental results. In the present embodiment, a pixel without turbidity can be formed on the transfer paper P when the non-printing ink ejection is performed two or more times, which is slightly more effective than that described in the first embodiment. I found it to be excellent.

[0065]

[Table 2] From the results of the above experiments, after cleaning the vicinity of the ejection orifices 81B, 82C, 83M, and 84Y by the blade 113, before the color inkjet head unit passes the front surface of the recording paper, the ink ejection for non-printing is performed. By performing this operation twice or more, it is possible to prevent the formation of pixels of mixed color ink on the recording paper surface, and it is possible to form pixels with only the original color ink and perform high-quality printing. .

[0066]

According to the present invention, the ink jet for non-printing is performed twice or more by the color ink jet head before printing on the recording paper after the cleaning of the nozzle plate surface by the cleaning member. It has become. Therefore, after the ejection orifice is cleaned by the cleaning member, the mixed ink is discarded from the ejection orifice, and the ink of a different color does not mix when the ink is actually printed on the recording paper. Therefore, pixels of mixed color ink are not formed on the recording paper surface, and pixels are formed only by ink of the original color, and high quality printing is performed.

Further, as the plurality of discharge orifices, 1
Since a color ink jet head unit, which is an opening provided in a single nozzle plate, is used, an ejection orifice can be formed by a common nozzle plate to stabilize the ejection of ink, and the manufacturing cost of the head unit Can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a color inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention, and is a perspective view of the color inkjet head unit.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a main part of the inkjet printer according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a second embodiment of the color ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, wherein (a) is an exploded perspective view of a head and an orifice plate, and (b) is a head in which an orifice plate is attached to a discharge orifice. It is a perspective view of.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a third embodiment of the color ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, wherein (a) is an exploded perspective view of a head plate and a head unit, and (b) is a discharge orifice having an orifice plate attached thereto. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a head unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the principle of ink ejection by a bubble jet.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a bubble jet head.

7 (a) is a perspective view of a lid substrate constituting the bubble jet head shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 7 (b) is a perspective view of a heating element substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lid substrate shown in FIG.

9 (a) is a detailed partial front view of the bubble jet head viewed from the orifice side, and FIG. 9 (b) is a partial sectional view taken along a chain line AA.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a bubble generating unit using a heating resistor.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating another example of the inkjet head.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a multi-orifice head.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of a conventional color inkjet head unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 77 Inkjet head 81B, 82C, 83M, 84Y Discharge orifice 97 Color inkjet head unit 101 Carriage 113 Blade (cleaning member) 114 Cap mechanism 121, 131 Orifice plate (nozzle plate) P Recording paper

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-3-248850 (JP, A) JP-A-4-10948 (JP, A) JP-A-1-238943 (JP, A) JP-A-2- 8059 (JP, A) JP-A-3-293153 (JP, A) JP-A-2-202453 (JP, A) JP-A-1-80345 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/18 B41J 2/165 B41J 2/185 B41J 2/21

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A color ink jet head having a plurality of ejection orifices for ejecting a plurality of color inks for each color and having an opening provided in a single nozzle plate, and a color ink jet head mounted on a recording paper with the color ink jet head mounted thereon. A carriage for relatively moving the color inkjet head,
A color ink jet head recording apparatus comprising: a cleaning member that contacts and cleans the nozzle plate surface by moving the carriage; and a common cap mechanism that covers an ejection orifice portion that ejects a plurality of colors of ink and suctions ink. The color ink jet head is configured to perform two or more ink jets for non-printing before printing on recording paper after the cleaning cleaning of the nozzle plate surface by the cleaning member. Ink jet recording device.