JP4682695B2 - Droplet discharge device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is related to a droplet discharge device.

  Ink jet recording heads always need to have stable ink droplet ejection characteristics (for example, ink droplet ejection direction, ink droplet diameter, ink droplet velocity, etc.) in order to maintain high print quality stably. However, when a fine ink mist such as a satellite droplet generated when an ink droplet is ejected from a nozzle adheres to the peripheral portion of the nozzle, the ejection property of the ink droplet becomes unstable. Accordingly, the nozzle surface is periodically wiped with a wiper blade to wipe off ink.

  However, particularly in the case of an inkjet recording head having a large nozzle surface, more ink adheres to the nozzle surface, that is, the amount of ink wiped off by the wiper blade increases. For this reason, the wiped ink accumulates at the end of the nozzle surface and hangs down, causing the inside of the apparatus and the recording medium to become dirty.

In order to deal with such problems, an ink recovery port is formed on the nozzle surface, an ink absorption member is provided in the ink recovery path communicating with the ink recovery port, and the ink absorption member absorbs the wiped ink. Has been proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-127436 A

  However, the configuration of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-127436 requires an ink recovery port and an ink recovery path, so that the structure is complicated and the cost is high.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to collect ink attached to a droplet discharge head with a simpler configuration.

In order to achieve the above object, a droplet discharge device according to claim 1 is a droplet discharge device that discharges droplets from a droplet discharge head onto a recording medium, and the droplet discharge head includes the recording medium. A plurality of liquids, each having a first surface that discharges droplets, a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a side surface between the first surface and the second surface. The droplet discharge heads are arranged so that the gaps between the side surfaces exhibit a capillary action, contact the end of the second surface of the droplet discharge head, and do not hit the side surfaces And a liquid absorber provided so as to cover the gap between the side surfaces of the droplet discharge head, wherein the liquid repellency of the side surface is lower than that of the first surface, and the liquid action is performed by capillary action. The gap between the side surfaces of the droplet discharge head is moved from the end of the first surface to the end of the second surface. Droplets, is characterized in that it is configured to be absorbed by the liquid absorber.

  In the droplet discharge device according to the first aspect, a mist-like droplet or the like generated when the droplet is discharged onto the recording medium adheres to the first surface. The droplet attached to the first surface moves on the first surface by, for example, vibration or movement of a wiper blade. Then, it moves to the end of the first surface.

Now, when the liquid repellency of the side surface is lower than the liquid repellency of the first surface of the droplet discharge head, the side surface is less likely to repel droplets than the first surface. For this reason, the droplet that has moved to the end of the first surface moves through the gap between the side surfaces of the droplet discharge head by capillary action, and then accumulates at the end of the second surface. Accordingly, the liquid absorber is brought into contact with the end of the second surface, and the liquid droplets accumulated at the end of the second surface are absorbed.

Thus, by setting it as the structure which a liquid absorber contacts the edge part of a 2nd surface, the droplet adhering to the 1st surface can be absorbed into a liquid absorber effectively, and can be removed.

  The liquid repellency represents the ease of repelling the discharged droplet (liquid), and can be quantitatively measured by, for example, the contact angle. That is, when the contact angle is large, the liquid repellency is high and droplets are likely to be repelled. On the contrary, if the contact angle is small, the liquid repellency is low and it is difficult to play the droplet. For convenience, it may be described as water repellency, water repellency treatment, hydrophilicity, hydrophilic treatment, etc., but the target liquid (droplet) is “water” or “liquid mainly composed of water”. It is not limited to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first aspect, the liquid droplet ejection device according to the first aspect is configured such that the side surface is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment for reducing liquid repellency, and the liquid repellency of the side surface is lower than that of the first surface. It is characterized by that.

The liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the side surface is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment for reducing liquid repellency, the liquid repellency of the side surface is made lower than that of the first surface, and the droplet moves more actively on the side surface. I'm quick. Therefore, the liquid absorber that contacts the end portion of the second surface can cause the liquid absorber to absorb the liquid droplets more effectively and remove them.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that droplets adhering to the first surface of the droplet discharge head can be effectively absorbed and removed by the liquid absorber.

  First, the ink jet recording apparatus 12 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed tray 16 is provided in the lower part of the casing 14 of the ink jet recording apparatus 12, and recording paper P stacked in the paper feed tray 16 is picked up one by one by a pickup roll 18. It can be taken out. The taken recording paper P is transported by a plurality of transport roller pairs 20 constituting a predetermined transport path 22.

  Above the paper feed tray 16, an endless transport belt 28 stretched around a drive roll 24 and a driven roll 26 is disposed. A recording head device unit 30 is disposed above the conveyor belt 28 and faces the flat portion 28F of the conveyor belt 28. This opposed area is an ejection area SE where ink droplets are ejected from the recording head device section 30.

  The recording paper P that has been transported along the transport path 22 is held by the transport belt 28 and reaches the discharge area SE, and in the state of facing the recording head device unit 30, the ink droplets corresponding to the image information from the recording head device unit 30. Adheres.

  The recording head device unit 30 has an effective recording area that is longer than the width of the recording paper P (the length in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction), and is yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C). And four inkjet recording head arrays 32 corresponding to the four colors of black (K) are arranged side by side in the transport direction, and can record full-color images.

  Each inkjet recording head array 32 is controlled by a recording head control means (not shown). For example, the recording head control means determines the ink droplet ejection timing and the ink ejection port (nozzle 122, see FIG. 6) to be used according to the image information, and sends a drive signal to the inkjet recording head array 32.

  In addition, an ink tank 54 that supplies ink to each inkjet recording head array 32 is provided in the upper portion of the casing 14 of the inkjet recording apparatus 12.

  The recording head device unit 30 may be immovable in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. However, if the recording head device unit 30 is configured to move as necessary, an image with higher resolution can be obtained by multi-pass image recording. It is possible to prevent the recording or the failure of the ink jet recording head array 32 from being reflected in the recording result.

  Further, four maintenance units 34 corresponding to the respective ink jet recording head arrays 32 are arranged on both sides of the recording head device unit 30. When maintenance is performed on the inkjet recording head array 32, the recording head device unit 30 moves upward as shown in FIG. 2, and the maintenance unit 34 moves into a gap formed between the conveyance belt 28 and the maintenance unit 34. Then enter. Then, maintenance operations such as vacuuming, dummy jet, capping, and wiping of the nozzle surface 114N by the wiper 230 made of an elastic blade (see FIG. 8) at a predetermined timing in a state of facing the nozzle surface 114N (see FIG. 3). I do.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a charging roll 36 connected to a power source 38 is disposed on the upstream side of the recording head device unit 30. The charging roll 36 is driven while sandwiching the conveyance belt 28 and the recording paper P with the driven roll 26, and is between a pressing position for pressing the recording paper P against the conveyance belt 28 and a separation position separated from the conveyance belt 28. Can be moved. In the pressing position, a predetermined potential difference is generated between the grounded driven roll 26 and the recording paper P can be charged and electrostatically attracted to the transport belt 28.

  A separation plate 40 is disposed on the downstream side of the recording head device unit 30 and separates the recording paper P from the conveyance belt 28. The peeled recording paper P is conveyed by a plurality of discharge roller pairs 42 constituting a discharge path 44 on the downstream side of the peeling plate 40, and is discharged to a paper discharge tray 46 provided at the top of the housing 14.

  Next, the ink jet recording head array 32 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the inkjet recording head array 32 includes a head bar 112 set to a length corresponding to the maximum width of the recording paper P. The head bar 112 is fixedly supported by a support body (not shown) at a position facing the conveyance path of the recording paper P in the ink jet recording apparatus 12. The head bar 112 is provided with a plurality of substantially parallelogram-shaped inkjet recording heads 114 connected in a row. The individual inkjet recording heads 114 are fastened by fastening a spacer (not shown) to the head bar 112 with screws (not shown), and can be individually replaced.

  Each ink jet recording head 114 is attached with high accuracy on the basis of the arrangement of nozzles 122 (see FIG. 6) which are ink discharge ports. However, the external dimensions of each inkjet recording head 114 are not formed with high accuracy. Therefore, a gap S (see FIG. 7) is provided between the inkjet recording heads 114. In addition, the space | interval of this clearance gap S is about 0.5 mm.

  As described above, the recording paper P is transported at a predetermined pitch in the direction of arrow A in the figure, and is configured to be printed by each ink jet recording head 114 disposed on the head bar 112. That is, since the recording paper P passes once below the head bar 112, the entire width of the recording paper P can be printed without scanning the ink jet recording head array 32. (One-pass printing corresponding to paper width, so-called Full Width Array (FWA)).

  The ink jet recording head 114 has a substantially parallelogram shape, and two element substrates 116 and 118 are disposed on the upper surface of the ink jet recording head 114. The two element substrates 116 and 118 have a substantially trapezoidal shape, and are arranged in the inkjet recording head 114 so that the oblique sides (short oblique sides) having the same length of the substantially trapezoidal shape face each other. The element substrates 116 and 118 are configured such that the inner angle formed by the short hypotenuse is larger than the outer angle formed by the long hypotenuse.

  The ink jet recording head 114 includes extended portions 120A and 120B in which two obtuse angled portions of a substantially parallelogram project outward, and the gap between the edge of the ink jet recording head 114 and the element substrates 116 and 118 is not narrowed. Thus, a predetermined width is secured. In addition, the ink jet recording head 114 includes angled portions 121A and 121B in which two acute angle portions of a substantially parallelogram are cut.

  When a plurality of inkjet recording heads 114 are connected in a row, the adjacent extending portions 120A and 120B and the corner portions 121A and 121B are opposed to each other.

  As shown in FIG. 5, nozzle regions 124 </ b> A and 124 </ b> B in which a plurality of nozzles 122 are disposed are formed on the side opposite to the element substrates 116 and 118 of the inkjet recording head 114. That is, the element substrates 116 and 118 are provided at positions corresponding to the two nozzle regions 124A and 124B, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles 122 into the substantially trapezoidal regions of the element substrates 116 and 118. A piezoelectric element group (not shown) is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 6, nozzles 122 that eject ink droplets are formed on the nozzle plate 130. The surface of the nozzle plate 130 on which the nozzles 122 for discharging the ink droplets are formed is the nozzle surface 114N, and the nozzle surface 114N is subjected to water repellency treatment. The nozzle surface 114N is the lower surface of the inkjet recording head 114. The nozzles 122 are arranged in a matrix.

  A communication hole 154 that communicates with the nozzle 122 is formed in the communication hole plate 132, and a communication hole 156 is formed in the damper member 134. The pool plates 136, 138, and 140 are formed with communication holes 158, 160, and 162, respectively, and the communication hole plate 142 is formed with a communication hole 164. Further, a communication hole 166 is formed in the flow path plate 144, and a communication hole 168 is formed in the communication hole plate 142. These nozzles 122, communication holes 154, 156, 158, 160, 162, 164, 166, 168 communicate with each other and are connected to a pressure chamber 170 formed in the pressure chamber plate 148.

  On the other hand, in the communication hole plate 132, a hollow portion 172 is formed below the damper member 134. The pool plates 136, 138, and 140 are formed with ink pools 174, 176, and 178, respectively, and store ink supplied from ink supply holes (not shown). The ink pools 174, 176, 178, the supply hole 180, the ink flow path 182, the supply hole 184, and the pressure chamber 170 communicate with each other, and ink enters the pressure chamber 170 from the ink pools 174, 176, 178. Is supplied.

  Further, a piezoelectric element 186 is attached to the upper part of the diaphragm 150, and a driving voltage is applied from a flexible wiring board (not shown) joined to the upper part of the piezoelectric element 186. These piezoelectric elements 186 are respectively provided above the pressure chambers 170 communicating with the individual nozzles 122, and a piezoelectric element group (not shown) constituted by a large number of piezoelectric elements 186 is an element shown in FIG. Substrates 116 and 118 are formed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the ink jet recording head 114 has an ink supply relay member 202 in which a flow path (not shown) for supplying ink supplied from the ink tank 54 (see FIG. 1) is formed. And a filter unit 201 (not shown) having a filter function for trapping foreign matters in the ink and a filter unit 201 having an ink supply path (not shown) inside.

  7, 8, 9, and FIGS. 10 and 11 to be described later, are simplified and schematically illustrated, for example, by making the ink jet recording head 114 substantially rectangular.

  6 constitutes a part of the lower part of the ink jet recording head 114, and the ink supply relay member 202 is arranged on the part shown in FIG. However, since the portion shown in FIG. 6 is much thinner than the thickness of the ink supply relay member 202, only the nozzle surface 114N is shown in FIG. 7 and the like, and illustrations and symbols of various plates shown in FIG. 6 are omitted. ing.

  The side surface 202A of the ink jet recording head 114, that is, the side surface 202A of the ink supply relay member 202 is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment. For this reason, the contact angle with respect to the ink on the side surface 202A is smaller than the contact angle with respect to the ink on the surface facing the recording paper P, that is, the nozzle surface 114N. That is, the liquid repellency of the side surface 202A is lower than the liquid repellency of the nozzle surface 114N. (Side 202A is less likely to play ink). Note that the lower surface of the inkjet recording head 114 (the surface facing the recording paper P) is all the nozzle surface 114N.

Examples of hydrophilic treatment methods include plasma irradiation, O ₂ ashing, ultraviolet irradiation, laser irradiation, coupling agent coating, strong acid / strong alkali treatment, and graft polymerization.

  In addition, an ink absorbing member 250 is provided on the upper surface 114A of each inkjet recording head 114 of the inkjet recording head array 32 so as to cover the gap S between the inkjet recording heads 114 and to contact the end portion 202B of the inkjet recording head 114. ing.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the ink jet recording head 114 will be described.

  First, electrode layers are formed on both sides of a plate-like piezoelectric body (thickness of about 30 μm) processed to a required thickness.

  Next, the piezoelectric body is separated by means such as a blasting method or a dicing method so that the cross section of the deposited electrode layer and the piezoelectric body is exposed and corresponds to each nozzle 122 (pressure chamber 170). At the same time, the piezoelectric element 186 is joined to the diaphragm 150 by means such as adhesion.

  A flexible wiring board (not shown) is solder-bonded on the high potential application surface side electrode (upper surface in FIG. 6) of the piezoelectric element 186.

  Then, the nozzle plate 130, the communication hole plate 132, the flow path plate 144, the communication hole plate 142, the pressure chamber plate 148, the pool plates 136, 138, 140 and the like are joined.

  Then, an ink supply relay member 202 having a flow path (not shown) for supplying ink supplied from the ink tank 54 (see FIG. 1) to the ink pools 174, 176, 178 (see FIG. 6) is attached. . In addition, the hydrophilic treatment described above is performed on the side surface 202A of the ink supply relay member 202 in advance.

  Thus, the ink jet recording head 114 is completed.

  Then, as described above, the ink jet recording head array 32 is completed by fastening the ink jet recording head 114 to the head bar 112 (see FIG. 4).

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  Fine ink mist such as satellite droplets generated when ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles 122 adheres to the nozzle surface 114N. The nozzle surface 114N is water-repellent and repels ink.

  As indicated by an arrow D in FIG. 9, the ink that has been bounced from the nozzle surface 114N moves due to vibration or the like. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the nozzle surface 114N is also moved by wiping with a wiper 230 at a predetermined timing.

  Now, since the gap S between the ink jet recording heads 114 is as narrow as about 0.5 mm, there is a capillary action. Furthermore, the side surface 202A of the inkjet recording head 114 is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment, and has a lower liquid repellency than the nozzle surface 114N. Therefore, the ink that has moved to the end 202C of the nozzle surface 114N is sucked into the gap S and moves upward in the gap S. Then, it is absorbed by the upper ink absorbing member 250.

  That is, the ink that has adhered to the nozzle surface 114N and moved to the end portion 202C is positively sent above the gap S (in the vicinity of the end portion 202B), absorbed by the ink absorbing member 250, and removed.

  Therefore, for example, the ink on the nozzle surface 114N is prevented from being accumulated in the end portion 202C of the nozzle surface 114N or the gap S in the vicinity of the end portion and contaminating the recording paper P. Further, it is possible to prevent the ink from adhering to the electric wiring and causing a malfunction such as a short circuit.

  In particular, as in the present embodiment, the effective recording area is longer than the width of the recording paper P (the length in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction), and one-pass printing corresponding to the paper width, so-called Full Width Array. In the case of (FWA), the area of the nozzle surface 114N is large (there are 114 ink jet recording heads). For this reason, more ink adheres to the nozzle surface 114N. Therefore, the ink adhering to the nozzle surface 114N is accumulated and droops, and the inside of the apparatus is easily contaminated. Therefore, it is preferable to apply the present invention to the ink jet recording apparatus 12 having such a configuration.

  The ink absorbing member 250 may be exchangeable. Alternatively, the ink absorbed by the ink absorbing member 250 may be sucked by a suction device such as a pump and stored in a separately provided waste ink tank.

  Next, an ink jet recording apparatus 512 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the member same as 1st embodiment, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the maintenance unit 34 (see FIG. 1) includes a cap 300 for capping the nozzle surface 114 </ b> N (see FIG. 3) in order to prevent drying of the ink of the nozzle 122 and vacuum work for sucking out ink from the nozzle. It has.

  A cap 300 is provided for each inkjet recording head 114. An ink absorbing member 350 is provided between the caps 300.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in a state where the recording head device unit 30 moves upward and the maintenance unit 34 moves into the gap formed between the recording belt device 28 and the conveyance belt 28, the moving mechanism 310 moves the cap. 300 and the ink absorbing member 350 are moved together to be in a state of being in close contact with the nozzle surface 114N (FIG. 11) from a separated state (FIG. 10). In the state shown in FIG. 11, the ink absorbing member 350 covers the gap S between the inkjet recording heads 114 and contacts the end portion 202 </ b> C of the inkjet recording head 114. Note that the ink absorbing member 250 (see FIG. 7) is not disposed on the upper surface of the inkjet recording head array 232.

  The side surface 202A of the inkjet recording head 114, that is, the side surface 202A of the ink supply relay member 202 is subjected to water repellency treatment. For this reason, the contact angle with respect to the ink on the side surface 202A is the same or larger than the contact angle with respect to the ink on the surface facing the recording paper P, that is, the nozzle surface 114N. That is, the liquid repellency of the side surface 202A is the same as or higher than the liquid repellency of the nozzle surface 114N. (Repels ink at least as much as the nozzle surface 114N).

  In addition, as a method of water repellency treatment, there is formation of a water repellent film with a fluorine-based surface treatment agent.

  In addition, the manufacturing method is an ink supply relay in which a flow path (not shown) for supplying ink supplied from the ink tank 54 (see FIG. 1) to the ink pools 174, 176, 178 (see FIG. 6) is formed. The side surface 202A of the member 202 is attached after performing the above-described water repellent treatment.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  Fine ink mist such as satellite droplets generated when ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles 122 adheres to the nozzle surface 114N. The nozzle surface 114N is water-repellent and repels ink.

  As indicated by an arrow D in FIG. 9, the ink that has been bounced from the nozzle surface 114N moves due to vibration or the like. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the nozzle surface 114N is also moved by wiping with a wiper 230 at a predetermined timing.

  The side surface 202A of the ink jet recording head 114 is subjected to water repellency, and the liquid repellency is the same as or higher than that of the nozzle surface 114N. Therefore, the ink that has moved to the end portion 202C of the nozzle surface 114N is not easily sucked into the gap S, and accumulates in the end portion 202C and the gap S near the end portion 202C.

  As shown in FIG. 11, when capping at a predetermined timing, the ink absorbing member 350 comes into contact with the end portion 202C and absorbs the accumulated ink.

  That is, the ink that has adhered to the nozzle surface 114N and moved to the end portion 202C is positively retained in the end portion 202C and the gap S in the vicinity of the end portion 202C, absorbed by the ink absorbing member 250, and removed.

  Therefore, for example, the ink adhering to the nozzle surface 114N is prevented from causing a problem such as a short circuit in which the ink moves through the gap S and adheres to the piezoelectric element 186 or the electric wiring on the upper surface 114A of the inkjet recording head 114. Is done.

  In this embodiment, the ink absorbing member 350 moves together with the cap 300, but the present invention is not limited to this. A configuration may be adopted in which only the ink absorbing member 350 moves and contacts the end portion 202C of the inkjet recording head 114 to absorb ink.

  Further, as in the first embodiment, the ink absorbing member 350 may be replaceable. Alternatively, the ink absorbed by the ink absorbing member 350 may be sucked by a suction device such as a pump and stored in a separately provided waste ink tank.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example of FWA corresponding to the paper width has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus of a Partial Width Array (PWA).

  For example, the nozzles 122 of the inkjet recording head 114 are arranged in a matrix, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the nozzles 122 may be arranged in a line.

  Further, for example, in the above-described embodiment, either the ink absorbing member 250 (first embodiment) that contacts the end portion 202B or the ink absorbing member 350 (second embodiment) that contacts the end portion 202C is selected. Although only one was provided, both may be provided.

  Further, for example, the ink jet recording apparatus 12 of the above embodiment ejects ink droplets of each color of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan to record a full color image on the recording paper P. However, the present invention is not limited to recording characters and images on the recording paper P.

  That is, the recording medium is not limited to the recording paper P, and the ejected droplets are not limited to ink. For example, ink droplets are ejected onto a polymer film or glass to create a color filter for display, or welded solder is ejected onto a substrate to form component mounting bumps. In addition, the present invention can be applied to all droplet discharge apparatuses.

It is the schematic which shows the inkjet recording device of this invention in an image recording state. It is the schematic which shows the inkjet recording device of this invention in a maintenance state. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conveyance belt and the vicinity thereof in the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows an inkjet recording head array. It is a top view which shows the nozzle area | region of the inkjet recording head which comprises an inkjet recording head array. It is a fragmentary sectional view showing an ink jet recording head. It is a figure which shows typically the principal part of the inkjet recording device of 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the state which wipes the nozzle surface of an inkjet recording head. It is the schematic diagram which planarly viewed the inkjet recording head array of the inkjet recording device of 1st embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, in a state where a cap and an ink absorbing member are separated from a nozzle surface. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, in a state where a cap and an ink absorbing member are in contact with a nozzle surface. It is a figure which shows typically the other example of an inkjet recording head.

Explanation of symbols

12 Inkjet recording device (droplet ejection device)
114A Upper surface (second surface)
114N Nozzle surface (first surface)
114 Inkjet recording head (droplet ejection head)
202 Ink supply relay member (member)
202A Side 202B End 202C End 250 Ink absorbing member (liquid absorber)
350 Ink absorbing member (liquid absorber)
512 Inkjet recording device (droplet ejection device)
S clearance
P Recording paper (recording medium)

Claims (2)

A droplet discharge device that discharges droplets from a droplet discharge head onto a recording medium,
The droplet discharge head is
A first surface facing the recording medium and ejecting droplets;
A second surface opposite to the first surface;
A side surface between the first surface and the second surface;
With
A plurality of the droplet discharge heads are arranged side by side so that gaps between the side surfaces exert a capillary action,
A liquid absorber configured to be in contact with an end portion of the second surface of the droplet discharge head and not to contact the side surface, and to cover a gap between the side surfaces of the droplet discharge head Have
The liquid repellency of the side surface is made lower than that of the first surface, and the gap between the side surfaces of the droplet discharge head is moved from the end of the first surface to the end of the second surface by capillary action. A droplet discharge apparatus , wherein the droplet is absorbed by the liquid absorber . 2. The droplet discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the side surface is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment for reducing liquid repellency so that the liquid repellency of the side surface is lower than that of the first surface .

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