JP3503632B2 - Ink jet 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 an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a wiping device for wiping off excess ink adhering to an ink ejection surface of an ink jet head to improve ink ejection failure. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet recording apparatus, ink droplets are ejected from nozzles of an ink jet head and adhered to a recording medium such as printing paper for dot recording. However, ink is adhered to the nozzle surface during ejection. If the adhered ink is left as it is, the ejection direction of the ink is dragged by the adhered ink, and the ejection direction is deviated from the original direction so that a recording result is disturbed and an ejection failure occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly perform cleaning for removing the adhered ink and recovering the normal ejection state. Therefore, a wiper mechanism that wipes the nozzle surface with an elastic wiper blade to remove the attached ink is provided outside the recording area of the inkjet head, and the inkjet head is periodically moved to a position facing the wiper mechanism. The cleaning is performed (hereinafter, this wiping operation is referred to as "wiping").

By the way, of course, the wiped ink adheres to the wiper blade with the nozzle surface wiped. If left unattended, ink may adhere to the inkjet head from the wiper blade on the contrary during the next wiping, and cleaning may be extremely insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the wiper blade itself after wiping to prepare for the next wiping.

Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus is provided with an absorber formed of a material having ink absorbability such as urethane foam, and after wiping, the wiper blade is brought into contact with the absorber to absorb the ink adhering to the wiper blade into the absorber. Then, the wiper blade is cleaned.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the arrangement of absorbers in a conventional ink jet recording apparatus, in which an absorber 74 is attached to a carriage 72 on which a head 71 is mounted. On the other hand, the wiper blade 75 is attached to the holder 76 and can be moved back and forth together with the holder 76 (arrow U). Then, when the carriage 72 moves from the non-recording area to the recording area (arrow T), the holder 76
To move the tip of the wiper blade 75 slightly toward the moving surface of the nozzle of the head 71. When the carriage 72 moves in this state as shown by an arrow T, the head 71 first contacts the wiper blade 75 to perform wiping, and then the absorber 74 contacts the wiper blade 75 to clean the wiper blade 75. It is a thing.

[0006]

However, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the prior art, the absorber 74 is used.
The cleaning of the wiper blade 75 by the method is not always sufficient.

The cause is to prevent the absorber 74 from contacting and contaminating the printing medium when recording on the printing medium when the absorbing body 74 is attached to the carriage 72 as shown in FIG. , The tip of the absorber 74 has to be slightly retracted from the nozzle surface 77 of the head 71, and the absorber 74 moves integrally with the carriage 72. Therefore, the absorber 74 is attached to the wiper blade 75. After the contact, as the carriage 72 moves, the wiper blade 75
This is because some of the ink attached to the wiper blade 75 is not completely absorbed by the absorber 74 and remains as it is because it is separated from the. That is, as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 9, in this inkjet recording apparatus, the overlap a between the wiper blade 75 and the head 71 is larger than the overlap b between the wiper blade 75 and the absorber 74. Therefore, the head 7 of the wiper blade 75
Since not all of the ink adhered portions from 1 contact the absorber 74, some of the ink adhered to the wiper blade 75 remains unabsorbed by the absorber 74. In this way, the next wiping is reached while the ink remains on the wiper blade 75, so that the cleaning of the head 71 by wiping becomes insufficient.

In the configuration of FIG. 8, when the wiper blade 75 contacts the absorber 74, the holder 76 may be advanced further than when it contacts the head 71 so that the overlap b is larger than the overlap a. Although conceivable, the forward / backward movement mechanism of the holder 76 and its control become extremely complicated, which is not realistic.

There is also an ink jet recording apparatus in which the absorber is not attached to the carriage but is provided on the main body frame side, but cleaning of the wiper blade is not always sufficient.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and the ink jet head is capable of properly cleaning the wiper blade after wiping to maintain a good ejection state of the ink jet head. A recording device is provided. Further, the overlap width when the wiper blade comes into contact with the absorber is made larger than the overlap width when the ink jet head comes into contact with the purpose of ensuring absorption and removal of ink from the wiper blade by the absorber. To do.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a print head for performing recording by ejecting ink from a nozzle onto a recording medium. A carriage that is moved to a first position that faces the recording medium and a second position that does not face the recording medium, and the nozzle surface of the print head is wiped off to remove excess ink and recover the ejection state. A wiper member, an ink absorbing member that absorbs ink adhering to the wiper member, and a position that holds the wiper member and projects the wiper member onto the moving surface of the nozzle surface of the print head, and withdraws from that position. a wiper holder for moving selectively into two positions of the position, the ink absorbing
The member has one end connected to the wiper holder and is rotatable.
The arm is held at the other end of the arm, and the arm is the wiper member.
The print head wiping surface of the
The ink in the direction intersecting with the position and the path to move to
Rotable around an axis to rotate the absorbent member
And when the wiper member is in the protruding position,
When the ink absorbing member is separated from the wiper member,
When the member is in the retracted position, the ink absorbing member
Note that it will come into contact with the wiper surface of the wiper member.
As described above, the other end of the arm is operatively connected to the wiper holder.
Is, that the wiper member is first overlap width in contact with the ink absorbing member in the retracted position, the wiper member is made to be a second overlap width or more in contact with the print head in said projecting position Is characterized by.

In this ink jet recording apparatus, the wiper member selectively moves to two positions, that is, a position projecting on the moving surface of the nozzle surface of the print head and a position retracted from the position, and at the projecting position, the print head is moved. The excess ink accumulated on the nozzle surface of is wiped off to recover the ejection state. When the wiper member is in the retracted position, the ink absorbing member is one
It rotates around the axis and intersects the movement path of the wiper member.
The nozzle surface of the wiper member was wiped off from the inserting direction.
It comes into contact with the side surface and absorbs ink adhering to the wiper member. At this time, the first overlap width at which the wiper member contacts the ink absorbing member at the retracted position is set to be greater than or equal to the second overlap width at which the wiper member contacts the print head at the protruding position. As a result, all the ink attached to the wiper member is absorbed by the ink absorbing member.

In the above structure, it is preferable that the wiper member is in contact with the ink absorbing member at the retracted position until the wiper member is moved to the protruding position next time. As a result, the ink absorbing member comes into contact with the surface of the wiper member after the wiping and until the next wiping, so that the ink can be completely removed from the wiper member and the wiper member can be kept clean. You can

[0014]

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0016] During the Sui for inkjet printer will be described. An inkjet printer 1 whose overall perspective view is shown in FIG. 1 has a manual paper feed section 3 provided at a front portion of a main body frame 2, and is provided at an upper portion of the main body frame 2 behind the manual paper feed section 3. Has a sub-frame 4 including a carriage 9 for mounting a print head 10 described later, a wiper 15, a purge mechanism 18, and the like. This subframe 4
A paper feed cassette 5 for storing a plurality of printing papers is detachably attached to the upper rear part of the. A CR motor 29 for moving the carriage 9 left and right along the printing paper is provided on the rear right side of the front portion of the sub-frame 4.

The wiper 15 wipes the ejection surface of the print head 10 to remove excess ink, and is formed of an ink non-absorbing elastic member.
The purging mechanism 18 sucks and removes the deteriorated ink of the print head 10 by negative pressure. Both of these are for recovering when the ejection state of the print head 10 deteriorates. Further, a platen roller 6 which will be described later is provided inside the sub-frame 4 to convey the printing paper.
Are arranged.

Inkjet printer 1 is shown in FIGS.
2 is a plan view of the carriage 9, the wiper 15 and their surroundings. The carriage 9 has a print head 10 mounted thereon and is movable along a carriage shaft 11 by driving a CR motor 29. The print head 10 is an inkjet head that prints by ejecting ink from a discharge port onto printing paper. Reference numeral 26 indicates the excess ink accumulated on the print head 10. A moving surface of the print head 10 according to the movement of the carriage 9 is indicated by a dashed line 25. The carriage shaft 11 is provided in the sub-frame 4 in parallel with the platen roller 6 that conveys the printing paper. When the carriage 9 is located in a position facing the platen roller 6, it is possible to print on the printing paper on the platen roller 6 by the print head 10.

A waiting position for the carriage 9 is provided further to the right of the range shown in FIGS. The standby position is a position where the carriage 9 waits, for example, while waiting for a print command to be input to the inkjet printer 1 and when feeding or ejecting a print sheet on the platen roller 6. The print head 10 is covered with the purging device 18 shown in FIG. 1, and the purge operation is performed to suck and remove the defective ink inside the print head 10 by negative pressure.

The wiper 15 is attached to the wiper holder 12 which can move forward and backward (upward and downward in the figure). A hole 20 is formed in the wiper holder 12,
The projection 19 fixed to the sub-frame 4 is inserted through the hole 20. By contacting the rear end or the front end of the hole 20 with the protrusion 19, the position of the wiper holder 12 during forward movement and backward movement is regulated. A rack 24 is cut on one side surface of the wiper holder 12. Further, a protrusion 22 for rotating the arm 13 described later is formed on the upper surface. A drive motor 14 for moving the wiper holder 12 back and forth is provided, and the rotation of the drive motor 14 is transmitted to the rack 24 via the motor gear 16 and the transmission gear 17 so that the wiper holder 12 moves back and forth. ing.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the wiper holder 12 has moved forward. In this state, the tip of the wiper 15 projects from the moving surface 25 of the print head 10. The length of the protruding portion of the wiper 15 at this time (indicated by "a" in FIG. 2) is called the head overlap. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the wiper holder 12 is retracted, and in this state, the tip of the wiper 15 is retracted from the moving surface 25 of the print head 10.
In the normal state, the retracted state is set, and the protruding state in FIG. 2 is set only when the wiping operation described below is performed. This is because the ejection surface of the print head 10 is coated with a non-wet coat, and the wiping count is minimized from the viewpoint of durability.

An arm 13 is provided near the wiper holder 12, and an ink absorber 7 made of a porous material such as urethane foam is attached to one end of the arm 13. The arm 13 is rotatable around an arm shaft 21 fixed to the subframe 4. A hole 23 is formed in an end portion of the arm 13 opposite to the end to which the ink absorber 7 is attached, and the hole 23 is formed in the hole 23.
The projection 22 on the upper surface of is inserted. Therefore, when the wiper holder 12 moves back and forth, the arm 13 rotates accordingly. The ink absorber 7 performs cleaning for absorbing and removing the excess ink on the wiper 15,
A contact surface 7a that contacts the wiper 15 is provided.

When the wiper holder 12 moves forward, the arm 13 rotates clockwise in the figure so that the ink absorber 7 is separated from the wiper 15 as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when the wiper holder 12 retracts, the arm 13 rotates counterclockwise in the figure, and the ink absorber 7 comes into contact with the wiper 15 as shown in FIG. At this time, the ink absorber 7 approaches the wiper 15 from the side opposite to the platen roller 6, and the contact surface 7 a comes into contact with the wiper 15. In the contact state,
The tip of the ink absorber 7 is slightly longer than the tip of the wiper 15. Therefore, in this state, the tip portion of the surface of the wiper 15 opposite to the platen roller 6 is covered with the ink absorber 7. At this time, the ink absorber 7 is wiped by the wiper 15.
The amount of retreat of the wiper holder 12 and the shape of the arm 13 are determined so as not to strongly deform by pushing. In addition, the wiper 15 and the ink absorber 7 at this time
The length of the contacting part with (shown as "b" in FIG. 5) is called foam overlap. The form overlap b is larger than the head overlap a in FIG.
The amount of advance / retreat of the wiper holder 12 and the position and shape of the ink absorber 7 are defined.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 1 will be described.

The basic operation of the ink jet printer 1 is such that the printing paper supplied from the paper feed cassette 5 or the manual paper feed unit 3 is conveyed by the platen roller 6, and the carriage 9 and the print head 10 are operated in accordance with a command signal from a personal computer or the like. Is controlled to drive printing of characters, symbols, figures, etc. on the printing paper. When printing is performed, the printing paper is sent by the platen roller 6 to the position where the line to be printed faces the print head 10 and stopped there. Then, the carriage 9 is driven at a predetermined printing speed at a position facing the platen roller 6 in FIG. 2, and the printing head 10 ejects ink in accordance with the command signal during the printing while printing is performed.

Since the print head 10 is an ink jet type head, the surplus ink 26 may be deposited on the discharge surface of the print head 10 during printing, resulting in a defective discharge state. Therefore, in the inkjet printer 1, the print head 10 is periodically wiped by the wiper 15. If the surplus ink 26 attached to the wiper 15 by wiping is left as it is, the surplus ink 2 from the wiper 15 is reversed when the next wiping is performed.
6 moves to the print head 10 and the recovery of the ejection state becomes insufficient, so cleaning for removing the excess ink 26 from the wiper 15 is also performed. Hereinafter, this wiping and cleaning will be described.

Excess ink 26 is formed on the ejection surface of the print head 10.
Wipes are required when the deposits are accumulated and the discharge state becomes poor. In that case, the carriage 9 is moved rightward in FIG. 3 from the position facing the platen roller 6. At this time, the wiper holder 12 is retracted and the wiper 15 is in the retracted state as shown in FIG.
Does not contact the print head 10. Carriage 9
Is moved beyond the position facing the wiper 15 to the standby position and stopped there.

Here, the wiper holder 12 is moved forward by the drive of the drive motor 14, and the state shown in FIG. 2 is obtained. The head overlap a at the tip of the wiper 15 projects to the moving surface 25 of the print head 10. When the carriage 9 is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2, the print head 10 comes into contact with the surface of the wiper 15 opposite to the platen roller 6 and the elastic wiper 15 bends. This state is shown in FIG. When the carriage 9 is further moved in the direction of the arrow, the excess ink 26 on the print head 10 is wiped off by the wiper 15, and the ejection state of the print head 10 is recovered. Then, the excess ink 26 adheres to the head overlap a at the tip of the surface of the wiper 15 opposite to the platen roller 6.

The carriage 9 is further moved to move the print head 1
If 0 passes the wiper 15, the wiping ends. When the wiping is completed, the drive motor 14 is driven to retract the wiper holder 12. At this time, the arm 13 is rotated so that the contact surface 7a of the ink absorber 7 is wiped by the wiper 15.
Contact the surface opposite to the platen roller 6, that is, the surface contacted by the print head 10 during wiping. The ink 26 transferred from the print head 10 adheres to this surface, and the ink 26 is absorbed by the ink absorber 7. This state is shown in FIG.

At this time, the tip of the ink absorber 7 is slightly longer than the tip of the wiper 15, and the tip portion of the surface of the wiper 15 on which the print head 10 is wiped off is covered with the ink absorber 7. The length of the foam overlap b where the wiper 15 and the ink absorber 7 contact each other is longer than the head overlap a. The ink 26 on the wiper 15 is attached within the range of the length of the head overlap a from the tip of the wiper 15. From these facts, the entire area where the ink 26 is attached comes into contact with the ink absorber 7, so that the ink 26 is absorbed by the ink absorber 7 without remaining.
Further, since the ink absorber 7 keeps contacting the wiper 15 until the next wiping, the action time is long and the ink is completely absorbed. Thus, the wiper 15 is cleaned. Therefore, the ink 2
6 does not remain.

Further, at this time, the ink absorber 7 does not deform strongly by pushing the wiper 15 strongly, so even when the wiper holder 12 is moved forward to separate the ink absorber 7 from the wiper 15 for the next wiping. The wiper 15 does not recoil.

As described above, in the ink jet printer 1, since the form overlap b of the wiper 15 is made longer than the head overlap a, all the portions of the wiper 15 to which the ink is attached come into contact with the ink absorber 7, and the wiper 15 is wiped. The ink above is completely absorbed by the ink absorber 7 and removed.

Next, a reference example will be described. Inkjet printer according to the reference example <br/> is before while a common overall structure as the inkjet printer 1 according to Embodiment Kimi facilities, is obtained by changing the specific configuration of the wiper 15 and its peripheral mechanism.

FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the carriage 9, the wiper 15 and their surroundings according to a reference example . In this reference example , the wiper 15 is attached to a wiper holder 27 which is rotatable around an axis. This wiper holder 27 is
The drive motor 14 is driven via a motor gear 16 and a transmission gear 17, and can be rotated while holding the wiper 15. The ink absorber 7 is fixed to the subframe 4. In the state shown by the solid line in the figure, the wiper 15 has a portion of the length a protruding from the tip end on the moving surface of the print head 10, and when it is rotated to the state shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure, the print head 10 moves. The surface is arranged so that it does not project and the portion of length b from the tip contacts the contact surface 7a of the ink absorber 7. Where length a,
b corresponds to the head overlap a and the foam overlap b, and the length b is longer than the length a.

In this ink jet printer, normally,
That is, when the wiping is not performed, the wiper 15 is set as shown in FIG.
It is in the state shown by the middle two-dot chain line and is in contact with the ink absorber 7. Therefore, it does not contact the print head 10.

When the excess ink 26 collects in the print head 10 for wiping, first, the carriage 9 is moved to the right in FIG. 6, and then the wiper holder 27 is rotated by the drive motor 14 to move the wiper 15 in FIG. The state is shown by the solid line. At this time, a portion corresponding to the length of the head overlap a at the tip of the wiper 15 projects to the moving surface of the print head 10. Then, when the carriage 9 is moved to the left in FIG. 6 (indicated by an arrow), the print head 10 contacts the surface of the wiper 15 on the side opposite to the platen roller 6 and bends the wiper 15, so that wiping is performed. Done.

When the carriage 9 further moves to the left and the print head 10 passes the wiper 15, the wiping ends. At this time, the platen roller 6 at the tip of the wiper 15
The ink 26 is attached to the portion on the opposite side to the portion corresponding to the length of the head overlap a. Therefore, the drive motor 14 rotates the wiper holder 27 to bring the wiper 15 into the state shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. As a result, the tip of the wiped surface of the wiper 15 contacts the contact surface 7 a of the ink absorber 7. At this time, since the length b of the portion contacting the ink absorber 7 is longer than the head overlap a, all the ink 26 attached to the wiper 15 is absorbed by the ink absorber 7 and does not remain on the wiper 15.

In FIG. 6, the contact surface 7a of the ink absorber 7 is shown.
And the moving surface of the print head 10 are arranged in parallel,
As shown in FIG. 7, these may not be arranged in parallel.

As described above, in the ink jet printer shown in FIG. 6 or 7, the wiper 1 is used as in the case of the above embodiment.
Since the form overlap b in FIG. 5 is made longer than the head overlap a, all the portions of the wiper 15 to which the ink has adhered contact the ink absorber 7, and the ink on the wiper 15 is completely absorbed by the ink absorber 7. Are removed.

As described in detail above, in the ink jet printers according to the above-described embodiments and reference examples , the elastic wiper 15 for wiping the ejection surface of the print head 10 by the movement of the carriage 9 is provided. When the surplus ink 26 is accumulated on the ejection surface of 10, the print head 10 is wiped by moving the carriage 9 at a position opposed to the wiper 15 to remove the surplus ink 2.
6 can be removed and the ejection state can be recovered. In addition, the wiper 1 is provided with the porous ink absorber 7.
5 is provided so as to project or retract with respect to the moving surface of the print head 10, and when the wiper 15 retracts from the moving surface of the print head 10, the surface of the wiper 15 on which the print head 10 is wiped is the contact surface 7a of the ink absorber 7. Since the contact is made, the print head 10 is wiped and the ink 26 adhering to the wiper 15 is absorbed and removed by the ink absorber 7 to be cleaned.

The length of the portion of the wiper 15 in contact with the ink absorber 7 (form overlap b) is longer than the length of the portion of the wiper 15 in contact with the print head 10 (head overlap a). As a result, all the portions of the wiper 15 to which the ink 26 is attached by wiping come into contact with the ink absorber 7 and the ink is completely absorbed and removed. As a result, the next wiping can always be performed with the clean wiper 15 free from ink stains, and the wiping effect of the print head 10 can be stably obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and it goes without saying that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, instead of providing the drive motor 14 as the drive means for the wiper holders 12 and 27, a kick mechanism that is actuated by the movement of the carriage 9 may be provided, and the kick movement may be linked to the wiper holders 12 and 27 to be driven. Good.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, the ink absorbing member is moved around the uniaxial line only by moving the wiper member from the projecting position for wiping off the nozzle surface of the print head to the retracted position. Rotate to match the movement path of the wiper member.
And wipe the nozzle surface of the wiper member from the intersecting direction.
Since it contacts the side surface , it is possible to immediately and satisfactorily remove ink from the wiper member after wiping, and it is possible to maintain a good ejection state of the print head with a clean wiper member free from ink stains. Also, since the overlap width when the wiper blade contacts the absorber is greater than the overlap width when it contacts the inkjet head, ensure that the ink adhering to the wiper blade is absorbed and removed by the absorber by wiping. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a wiper protrudes from a moving surface of a print head and an ink absorber is separated from the wiper.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the wiper is retracted from the moving surface of the print head.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a carriage is moving to wipe a print head.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which a wiper is being cleaned by an ink absorber.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a reference example .

7 is a plan view showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to another reference example.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a wiper of a conventional inkjet recording apparatus and a peripheral portion thereof.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view showing a main part of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

7 Ink absorber (ink absorbing member) 7a Contact surface 10 print head 12 Wiper holder 13 arms 14 Drive motor 15 Wiper (wiper member) 27 Wiper holder a Head overlap (second overlap width) b Form overlap (first overlap width)

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Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print head for recording by ejecting ink from a nozzle to a recording medium, a first position where the printing head faces the recording medium, and a second position where the printing head does not face the recording medium. A carriage for moving to and between the wiper member, a wiper member for wiping off a nozzle surface of the print head to remove excess ink and recovering a discharge state, an ink absorbing member for absorbing ink adhering to the wiper member, and the wiper member. The ink absorbing member is provided with a wiper holder that holds the wiper member and selectively moves the wiper member to two positions, that is, a position protruding to the moving surface of the nozzle surface of the print head and a position retracted from the position. The above
It is held at the other end of the rotatable arm connected to the Ipa holder.
The arm is configured to wipe the print head of the wiper member.
Faces the path where the surface moves to the projecting position and the retracted position.
So that the ink absorbing member is rotated in the intersecting direction.
Is rotatable about one axis, and when the wiper member is in the protruding position, the ink absorption
The receiving member is separated from the wiper member, and the wiper member
When in the retracted position, the ink absorbing member is
Before touching the print head wiping surface of the member,
The other end of the arm is operatively connected to the wiper holder, and the first overlap width at which the wiper member contacts the ink absorbing member at the retracted position is the first overlap width at which the wiper member contacts the print head at the protruding position. Two
An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by having an overlap width or more. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wiper member is in contact with the ink absorbing member at the retracted position until the wiper member moves to the protruding position next time.