JP4940735B2 - Maintenance system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a maintenance system for cleaning a liquid ejecting head provided in a liquid ejecting apparatus such as a printer.

  For example, a liquid ejecting apparatus such as a printer includes a liquid ejecting head (for example, a recording head) having nozzles that eject liquid, and printing is performed by ejecting liquid from the nozzles. The recording head system includes a scanning system in which printing is performed by ejecting droplets while scanning the recording head, and a long line head or nozzle group in which nozzle groups are arranged over the entire maximum width of the recording medium. There is a non-scanning method in which printing is performed by transporting a recording medium while a recording head is fixed using a multi-head composed of a group of a plurality of recording heads provided across the recording head.

  When the period during which ink is not ejected becomes longer, the nozzle that ejects the liquid becomes clogged due to thickening or sticking of the ink in the nozzle. For this reason, the printer is provided with a maintenance device for cleaning the recording head (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 7).

  The maintenance device includes a cap that seals the nozzle in close contact with the surface of the recording head where the nozzle is opened (hereinafter referred to as “nozzle forming surface”) and a cap that is sealed with the cap that is in close contact with the nozzle forming surface A suction pump for introducing a negative pressure therein. By introducing a negative pressure into the sealing space of the cap, ink (liquid) is sucked from the nozzle and cleaning (suction recovery processing) is performed. By this suction cleaning, the thickened or fixed ink in the nozzle or bubbles in the ink are removed, and the nozzle returns to a state where ink can be ejected satisfactorily. In addition, the maintenance device includes a wiper that wipes the nozzle forming surface. After suction cleaning, the nozzle forming surface is wiped with a wiper to remove ink, dust, paper dust, and the like attached to the nozzle forming surface. Further, the wiping functions to adjust the shape of the ink meniscus (hereinafter referred to as “nozzle meniscus”) in the nozzles. Variations in the shape of the nozzle meniscus lead to variations in the discharge volume of the droplets, leading to a decrease in print quality due to variations in the print dot size, but maintaining good print quality by adjusting the nozzle meniscus by wiping I am doing so.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a maintenance device that has a cap for each nozzle group (recording head) that ejects ink of the same color, and sucks ink separately for each nozzle group (recording head) for each color. (Recovery Unit) is disclosed. In addition, the maintenance device of Patent Document 1 has a configuration in which a color recording head and a black recording head are wiped by separate wipers. The wiper is configured to use scanning of the recording head, and at the time of wiping, the recording head that moves in the scanning direction with respect to the wiper raised to the wiping position slides the nozzle forming surface against the wiper to perform wiping. It was.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus for performing suction cleaning of a recording head having a plurality of ejection port groups capable of ejecting different inks. This apparatus includes an ink receiving unit (cap) that can be brought into contact with and separated from a discharge port group forming surface having a plurality of discharge port groups, and a suction unit that sucks ink in the ink receiving unit. The ink receiving means includes a plurality of ink receiving portions capable of forming a plurality of space portions partitioned from each other in contact with the discharge port group forming surface of the recording head, and the adjacent ink receiving portions are the discharge ports of the recording head. It was partitioned by a single partitioning means (blocking rib) that can contact the group forming surface. The suction means can suck ink individually for each section in the ink receiving means, and has a switching valve means (valve device) for switching the section to be sucked by a suction operation. According to this configuration, it is not necessary to perform the ink discharge operation for the nozzles that do not need to perform the ink discharge operation, so that wasteful ink discharge can be prevented and ink color mixing at the ejection port can also be prevented.

  Patent Document 3 discloses an apparatus for equalizing the suction conditions in the nozzle row direction in the cap when performing a suction recovery process of a long liquid jet head (multi-nozzle recording head). In this apparatus, the inside of the cap is divided into a plurality of suction areas in the nozzle row direction, and a valve means for opening and closing each suction path is provided in a suction path connecting the plurality of suction areas and the suction pump. Opening / closing control is performed to control the suction conditions of a plurality of suction regions. Further, in this device, the valve means is closed after the cap is in contact with the nozzle forming surface and the valve means (flow path valve) is capped, and after the valve is closed, driving of the suction pump is started, By providing a time difference when the suction pressure is supplied to the plurality of suction regions, the suction conditions are controlled to be uniform among the suction regions.

In addition, suction cleaning is normally performed as regular cleaning that is performed every time a predetermined time or more elapses. However, in some cases, defective nozzles may be generated even before the periodic cleaning is performed. For this reason, it is desirable to detect the presence or absence of an ejection failure nozzle and, if detected, perform cleaning even before regular cleaning. As a device for determining the presence or absence of this type of defective ejection nozzle, a method using laser light disclosed in Patent Document 6 or a method for detecting reflected light of light irradiated on a print pattern disclosed in Patent Document 7 It has been known.
JP-A-8-281968 Japanese Patent No. 315571 JP-A-11-91140 JP-A-11-115275 JP 2002-264350 A JP 2002-210983 A JP 2004-330495 A

  However, when wiping a non-scanning liquid jet head such as a line head or a multi-head, wiping is not possible with a wiper that performs wiping by utilizing head scanning of a scanning recording head as in Patent Document 1. . For this reason, there is a problem that this type of non-scanning type liquid jet head cannot cope with wiping.

  Further, even if the wiper disclosed in Patent Document 1 is replaced with a self-driven wiper, a wiper is provided for each nozzle row for each color of the ejected ink in order to prevent color mixing. In multi-heads and the like, nozzle groups that eject ink of the same color are formed over almost the entire length direction. When this configuration is adopted, the wiping stroke length of the wiper becomes very long and the wiping time required Causes the problem that it takes a long time. In particular, when the wiping area is widened, it is difficult to stably maintain the wiping conditions such as the pressure, angle, speed, and amount of adhered ink related to the wiper over the entire area. .

  As for the cap, in the technique of Patent Document 1, the nozzle group (recording head) that discharges the same color is sealed with one cap for the purpose of preventing color mixing, and the ink is sucked. When applied to a multi-head or the like, the nozzle group that discharges the same color is sealed with one cap. In this case, in the multi-head or the like, the nozzle group for ejecting the same color ink is formed over substantially the entire region in the longitudinal direction of the head. Of course, it is possible to recover a specific ejection failure nozzle with one cap, but bubbles are caused by an increase in the number of nozzles sealed with one cap, a distribution of suction pressure in ink in the cap, and the like. There is a risk that destruction of the nozzle meniscus or the like may be induced due to, for example, the expansion of the bubble generation range. For example, when the bubbles generated in the bubble generation range burst and the ink is scattered, there is a concern that the ink adheres to a good nozzle and induces the destruction of the nozzle meniscus of the nozzle.

  Further, according to the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, suction can be performed for each section in contact with the ejection port group forming surface of one recording head. However, in order to prevent color mixing, the section is divided for each color nozzle row. Therefore, when applied to a multi-head or the like, one partitioned space portion is elongated. For this reason, the above-described bubble generation range is widened in one partition space, and there is a possibility that a good nozzle meniscus is destroyed. Further, since the configuration is such that the suction sections are switched, the nozzle rows of the respective colors cannot be sucked at the same time, and there is a problem that the time required for the suction cleaning becomes long.

  By the way, if a defective ejection nozzle can be detected using the detection devices described in Patent Document 6 and Patent Document 7, it is possible to selectively clean only the nozzle row including the defective ejection nozzle. In this way, it is not necessary to perform cleaning for good nozzles, so that wasteful ink consumption due to cleaning can be reduced. However, in any of the techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3, the nozzle array or the recording head is individually cleaned for each color as described above, and a divided region obtained by dividing the nozzle group that ejects the same color ink is divided. It was not meant to be cleaned.

  Therefore, when an ejection failure nozzle is detected, it is selected whether or not cleaning is performed for each nozzle row having a different color. However, in a multi-head or the like, the nozzle row that ejects the same color ink is the head longitudinal direction. Since a nozzle group in which a large number of nozzles are formed over a very wide area, if even one ejection failure nozzle is detected, it is necessary to clean the entire head in the longitudinal direction of that color. For this reason, there is a problem that the frequency of cleaning is very high even for a good nozzle.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize both the improvement of the positioning accuracy of the cap with respect to the liquid jet head by the positioning means and the miniaturization of the maintenance system by the close arrangement of the maintenance device. To provide a maintenance system.

The present invention is a maintenance system that cleans the liquid ejecting head and is used in a liquid ejecting apparatus that includes a plurality of liquid ejecting heads each having a nozzle group that ejects a liquid, and maintains the liquid ejecting head. Each of the maintenance devices includes a cap that seals the liquid ejecting head, positioning means that positions the cap on the corresponding liquid ejecting head, a drive unit that drives the cap, and the cap A negative pressure source that introduces a negative pressure into the liquid jet head, a power source of the drive unit and the negative pressure source, and the positioning unit is a head guide unit having a guide unit that fits on a side surface of the liquid jet head, The head guide means corresponds to a polygonal corner which is the surface shape of the nozzle forming surface of the liquid jet head. The plurality of maintenance devices include a valley-shaped concave portion formed by two adjacent chamfered portions in two adjacent head guide means and two chamfered portions in one head guide means. The gist is that they are arranged in a state where they face each other with the ridges that can be formed .

According to this, each of the maintenance device for cleaning the liquid jet head includes, position-decided Me means, the cap, the drive unit, the negative pressure source, and a power source. Due to the presence of the chamfered portion, the head guide means has an outer peripheral surface shape in which an outer peripheral portion corresponding to a polygonal corner which is a surface shape of the nozzle forming surface is chamfered. When arranging a plurality of maintenance devices constituting the maintenance system, the head guide means that needs to be formed in a size that fits the liquid ejecting head tends to be an obstacle to arranging the maintenance devices as close as possible. However, due to the presence of the chamfered portion of the head guide, a concave portion formed by two adjacent chamfered portions of two adjacent head guide means and a convex portion formed by two chamfered portions in one head guide means face each other. A plurality of maintenance devices are arranged. Therefore, the distance between the centers of the plurality of arranged maintenance apparatuses can be made relatively short. For this reason, both the improvement of the positioning accuracy of the cap with respect to the liquid ejecting head by the positioning means and the miniaturization of the maintenance system by the close arrangement of the maintenance device can be realized. If the maintenance devices can be arranged close to each other, the liquid jet heads can be arranged close to each other so that the caps can be opposed to each other. Therefore, a multi-head system including a plurality of liquid jet heads can be downsized.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a maintenance system and a maintenance device used for cleaning a liquid ejecting head in a liquid ejecting apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 64.

<Maintenance system>
First, the maintenance system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a multi-head maintenance system (multi-head cleaning system) together with a print head system used in a multi-head printer having a plurality of print heads. 2 is a perspective view of the maintenance system, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the maintenance system, FIG. 4 is a side view, and FIG. 5 is a front view.

1 to 5 show a multi-head system having a plurality of recording heads and a maintenance system arranged in a predetermined positional relationship when performing maintenance work.
An ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) (not shown) as a droplet ejecting apparatus includes a recording head system 11 having a plurality of recording heads 12. The plurality of recording heads 12 are provided in the printer main body so as to be movable in the main scanning direction X, or are arranged over the entire width of the maximum paper size so that printing is advanced only by a paper feeding operation in the X direction. It has become. Of course, a plurality of recording heads 12 arranged over the entire width of the maximum sheet size may be configured to be movable in the Y direction. The maintenance system 10 that performs maintenance for preventing or eliminating nozzle clogging or the like for the recording head 12 includes the same number of maintenance devices 20 as the recording head 12. The maintenance device 20 includes a base unit 21 and a cleaning mechanism 22 that is a component that mainly performs maintenance work. The cleaning mechanism 22 is supported on the base unit 21 in a state where it can move in a direction in which it can approach and separate from the recording head 12 (in this example, it can be raised and lowered). Each maintenance device 20 is adjacently disposed in a state where the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed immediately below the corresponding recording head 12.

  The maintenance system 10 and the recording head system 11 are arranged in the predetermined positional relationship shown in FIG. 1 at least when maintenance work is performed. During the execution of printing, the maintenance system 10 performs printing by the recording head 12. Evacuate to an unobstructed location. At the maintenance time, at least one of the recording head system 11 and the maintenance system 10 moves, and both are arranged in a predetermined positional relationship shown in FIG.

  The printer as a droplet ejecting apparatus to which the maintenance system 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 is applied is a multi-head type printer including a plurality (eight in this example) of recording heads 12. The plurality of recording heads 12 are arranged in a staggered arrangement along the paper width direction (Y direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction (X direction) of the recording paper as the recording medium, as shown in FIG.

  The plurality of recording heads 12 are provided for adjusting gaps (hereinafter referred to as “platen gaps”) between platens (not shown) arranged at lower positions facing the recording heads 12 during printing. The platen gap adjustment mechanism is provided so that the position can be adjusted in the vertical direction (vertical direction). If the platen gap adjusting mechanism is of an automatic adjustment type that is driven and controlled by, for example, the controller 27 (shown in FIG. 4), the plurality of recording heads 12 have a height corresponding to the paper thickness of the recording paper in the print setting information. The platen gap is automatically adjusted and adjusted so that the gap between the recording head 12 and the paper surface is always constant regardless of the paper thickness. For this reason, when the height of the recording head system 11 (recording head 12) is changed by the platen gap adjusting mechanism, the maintenance system 10 (maintenance device 20) and the recording head system 11 (recording) arranged in a predetermined positional relationship during maintenance. The distance in the direction facing the head 12) will change. The platen gap adjustment mechanism may be configured such that the user manually adjusts the platen gap according to the paper thickness. As the platen gap adjusting mechanism, for example, an automatic adjustment configuration disclosed in Patent Document 4 or a manual configuration disclosed in Patent Document 5 can be adopted.

<Defective nozzle detection device>
Further, a defective nozzle detection device 28 is provided for detecting defective nozzles that are clogged or the like among a large number of nozzles formed on the nozzle forming surface 12a (shown in FIG. 6) of the recording head 12. When a defective nozzle is detected, only the nozzle array 13 (defective nozzle array) including the defective nozzle is selectively selected from the plurality of nozzle arrays 13 (shown in FIG. 6) formed on the nozzle forming surface 12a of the recording head 12. It can be cleaned. As a defective nozzle detection device, non-ejection is possible by detecting the presence or absence of liquid droplets ejected from the nozzles by irradiating laser light, or by printing a predetermined pattern on inspection paper and optically inspecting the pattern. And a device that detects a nozzle having a landing diameter less than an allowable value as a defective nozzle. For example, the configuration described in Patent Document 6 can be adopted as the laser method, and the configuration described in Patent Literature 7 can be adopted as the pattern inspection method.

  The maintenance system 10 is provided with one maintenance device 20 for one recording head 12, and in the present embodiment in which the number of recording heads 12 is eight, the maintenance system 10 includes a total of eight maintenance devices 20. The maintenance device 20 performs suction cleaning in which a negative pressure is supplied by a suction pump 40 in a state where the nozzle forming surface 12a of the recording head 12 is sealed with a cap 24 to forcibly suck ink from a nozzle (not shown). The wiping for wiping the nozzle forming surface 12a with the wiper 25 after the suction cleaning is performed as a maintenance operation. The suction cleaning eliminates clogging of the nozzles and removes thickened ink in the nozzles. Further, by wiping, foreign matter such as adhered ink and dust remaining on the nozzle forming surface 12a is wiped off, and the meniscus of the ink in the nozzle is adjusted.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a head guide unit 90 is disposed at the upper end portion of the cleaning mechanism 22 facing the recording head 12, and four caps 24 are disposed so as to face the lattice openings of the head guide unit 90. Has been. The four caps 24 can be capped to individually seal the nozzle rows for each of four rows obtained by dividing the plurality of nozzle rows formed on the nozzle forming surface 12a of the recording head 12 into four. In addition, four wipers 25 are disposed at positions corresponding to the caps 24, which are on the outer side in the longitudinal direction of the caps 24, and have positions on the outer side in the direction in which the nozzle rows extend as a retracted position. The four wipers 25 are coaxially connected to each other, and can move back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the cap 24 along the longitudinal direction thereof. .

  In the present embodiment, as described above, only the defective nozzle row is cleaned, and selective suction in which a negative pressure is introduced only into the cap that seals the defective nozzle row among the four capped caps 24 becomes possible. ing. Further, it is possible to perform selective wiping by selecting the wiper 25 corresponding to the nozzle row on which the selective suction is performed among the four wipers 25 and applying wiping pressure only to the selected wiper 25. This is because there is a risk of destroying the meniscus of the ink in the nozzle if empty wiping is performed on the nozzle row that has not been subjected to suction cleaning. In order to prevent this, the idle wiping operation is not performed on the nozzle rows that have not been suctioned. The details of the self-driving type wiping apparatus that selectively wipes the four wipers 25 will be described later.

  Further, the capping by the cap 24 and the wiping by the wiper 25 are performed while being positioned with respect to the recording head 12 by the head guide unit 90. Therefore, even if the cleaning target is divided for each nozzle row, the positional accuracy is good. Appropriate cleaning can be performed. The cleaning mechanism 22 incorporates a selection unit and an operation unit for the cap 24 and the wiper 25, and the base unit 21 includes an electric motor 30 serving as a drive source for the selection unit and the operation unit, and a cap for suction cleaning. A suction pump 40 for generating a negative pressure to be introduced into the pump 24 is disposed. In the maintenance device 20, the cleaning mechanism 22 and the suction pump 40 are provided in the base unit 21 in a state where they are adjacent to each other, and the electric motor 30 is disposed below the arrangement surface of the cleaning mechanism 22.

<Multihead system>
FIG. 6 shows a recording head system (multi-head system) having a plurality of recording heads. The figure (a) is a bottom view, and the figure (b) is a front view. In FIG. 6, only a part of the eight recording heads 12 is shown.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the surface (bottom surface) of the recording head 12 that faces the recording medium during printing is a nozzle forming surface 12a, and two rows are adjacent to the nozzle forming surface 12a to form a set. Four sets of nozzle rows 13 are formed. One nozzle row is composed of, for example, 180 nozzles.

  For example, four colors of ink of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are supplied to the recording head 12 of the present embodiment. The recording head 12 is configured such that four sets of nozzle rows 13 are ejected (discharged) in the same color in two rows forming a set, and four colors of ink are ejected from one recording head 12. Each nozzle of the nozzle row 13 is formed on a stainless nozzle plate 12c attached to the head main body 12b of the recording head 12 so as to cover the bottom surface. The same number of nozzles are formed at positions corresponding to the nozzles. The nozzle forming surface 12a that is wiped by the wiper 25 is constituted by a nozzle plate 12c.

  The recording head 12 and the recording medium (recording paper) move relative to each other in a direction orthogonal to the nozzle row 13. When attention is paid to one row of recording heads 12, there is a gap between the nozzle row 13 of the recording head 12 and the nozzle row 13 of the recording head 12 adjacent in the extending direction of the nozzle row, but the vertical direction of the nozzle row. By arranging the print heads 12 adjacent to each other in a staggered manner, the nozzle rows 13 of the print heads 12 in the other rows are arranged at positions corresponding to the gaps. By arranging the recording heads 12 in a staggered manner in this way, the nozzle rows 13 of the same color are continuously connected between the different recording heads 12 in the left-right direction in the figure, and the maximum paper width range even if the recording heads 12 are not scanned. Printing is possible across the entire area. However, since the dot pitch that can be printed depends on the nozzle pitch, when printing at a dot pitch shorter than the nozzle pitch, it is preferable that the recording head system 11 can be moved by at least a half pitch in the nozzle row direction.

  Inside the recording head 12, piezoelectric vibrators (piezoelectric vibration elements) are arranged at positions corresponding to the 180 nozzles constituting the nozzle row 13. When a drive voltage pulse is applied to the piezoelectric vibrator corresponding to the nozzle to which ink is to be ejected, the piezoelectric vibrator to which the drive voltage pulse is applied vibrates, and the ink chamber communicating with the nozzle is expanded and compressed by the vibration. Thus, a part of the ink that has flowed into the ink chamber when expanded is ejected from the nozzle when the ink chamber is compressed. Thus, by selecting the piezoelectric vibrator to which the drive voltage pulse is to be applied based on the print data, ink is selectively ejected from the nozzle corresponding to the dot formation position, and printing based on the print data is performed.

  Since the recording head 12 constituting the recording head system 11 forms the nozzle row as long as possible in the nozzle row direction on the nozzle forming surface 12a, the edge of the recording head 12 and the nozzle row 13 in the nozzle row direction are formed. The gap with the end of the is relatively narrow. For this reason, the wiper 25 easily hits the edge of the recording head 12 at the start position where the nozzle row 13 is wiped by the wiper 25. However, in the present embodiment, since the wiper 25 does not hit the edge on the maintenance device 20 side. As shown in the side view of FIG. 5C, the edge portion orthogonal to the nozzle row 13 is not protected by the nozzle plate 12c.

  The electric motor 30 moves the cleaning mechanism 22 up and down, drives the suction pump 40, selects the cap 24 and the wiper 25 corresponding to the defective nozzle row to be cleaned, suctions / empty suction of the selected cap 24, and the wiper 25 Power source for wiping operation. As described above, the maintenance device 20 performs one drive for maintenance such as raising / lowering of the cleaning mechanism 22, selection of suction of the cap 24, selection of the wiper 25 for wiping, wiping driving of the wiper 25, driving of the suction pump 40, and the like. The electric motor 30 is used to perform a common drive source. The connector 30b connected to the wiring 30a extending from the electric motor 30 is electrically connected to the controller 27 shown in FIG. The electric motor 30 is a motor that can be driven forward and backward, and is rotationally controlled by the controller 27.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the eight cleaning mechanisms 22 constituting the eight maintenance apparatuses 20 need to be arranged in a staggered manner immediately below each of the recording heads 12 arranged in a staggered manner. For this reason, in plan view, the cleaning mechanism 22 has a structure in which its components are gathered within the range of the recording head 12. That is, in the present embodiment, the lengths of the two sides in the X direction and the Y direction of the substantially square-shaped cleaning mechanism 22 are substantially equal to the lengths of the two sides in the X direction and the Y direction of the recording head 12 in plan view. ing. The three sides that need to be adjacent to each other when arranged in a staggered manner among the four sides of the cleaning mechanism 22 so that the cleaning mechanisms 22 can be arranged in a staggered manner immediately below the recording heads 12 arranged in a staggered manner are shown in a plan view. The maintenance device 20 is manufactured in such a shape that the structure does not protrude outside the three sides.

  However, some structural parts such as the suction pump 40 are projected to the outside of the range of the cleaning mechanism 22 on the other side where the shape restriction is not imposed when the cleaning mechanism 22 is arranged in a staggered manner. Thus, the height of the maintenance device 20 is suppressed to some extent. As long as the cleaning mechanisms 22 can be arranged in a staggered manner, the structure and shape of the cleaning device can be arbitrarily set.

  The eight maintenance devices 20 are arranged such that four cleaning mechanisms 22 are arranged in a row and the suction pump 40 side is arranged outside, and the rows are arranged so as to be attached to each other. They are arranged so as to be shifted by half a pitch in the direction. As a result, a plurality of (eight) cleaning mechanisms 22 are arranged in a staggered manner adjacent to each other in the X direction and the Y direction immediately below the staggered recording heads 12 having a multi-head structure. .

<Maintenance device>
Details of the maintenance device will be described below.
FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of the maintenance device, and FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of the maintenance device.

  The maintenance device 20 includes a base unit 21 and a cleaning mechanism 22 that is disposed at a position corresponding to the recording head 12 and selectively cleans the nozzle rows of the recording head 12. The cleaning mechanism 22 is driven up and down with respect to the base unit 21.

  An electric motor 30 is disposed on the back surface of the base frame 31 constituting the base unit 21, and a suction pump 40 is fixed at a position adjacent to the cleaning mechanism 22 on the upper surface of the base frame 31. The suction pump 40 is screwed to a plurality of ribs and is arranged slightly apart from the upper surface of the base frame 31, and a pump gear 40a shown in FIG. A power transmission mechanism 33 that transmits the driving force of the electric motor 30 to the pump gear 40 a of the suction pump 40 and the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed on the upper surface of the base frame 31.

  The cleaning mechanism 22 includes a holder 23 that houses a selection unit 110 (shown in FIGS. 9 to 11) that selects a row corresponding to a defective nozzle row, and a head guide unit 90 that is attached to the upper portion of the holder 23. . The driving force transmitted from the electric motor 30 to the selection unit 110 in the holder 23 via the power transmission mechanism 33 is the raising / lowering of the cleaning mechanism 22, selection of the row of the cap 24 and the wiper 25, and suction operation of the cap 24 in the selected row. And used as power for the wiping operation of the wiper 25 and the like. A guide rod 32 protrudes from an upper end portion of the base frame 31, and a lifting unit 50 is supported at the other end portion of the base frame 31.

  The guide rod 32 is inserted into a guide cylinder 61 protruding downward from the holder 23, and the upper end of the elevating unit 50 is operatively connected to a selection unit 110 assembled in the holder 23, whereby the cleaning mechanism 22 is moved up and down. The base frame 31 is supported by the unit 50 and the guide rod 32 so as to be movable up and down. A guide frame 62 accommodating the rod gear 36 shown in FIG. 8 constituting a part of the power transmission mechanism 33 extends downward from the holder 23, and a lower portion thereof is slidably inserted into a recess on the base frame 31. Yes.

  Four caps 24 are arranged on the upper surface of the holder 23 at equal intervals in a state in which the longitudinal directions thereof are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. The upper portion of the holder 23 having the four caps 24 A cap unit 70 is configured. As the cleaning mechanism 22 moves up and down, the four caps 24 on the holder 23 are configured to approach and separate from the recording head 12.

  The head guide unit 90 is attached so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction with respect to the holder 23 and is biased upward, and a position separated upward by a predetermined distance from the holder 23 is set as a standby position. The head guide unit 90 is in the form of a square lattice plate that is open at portions facing the four caps 24, and has two sets of guide portions 91 and 92 that protrude upward from portions corresponding to the four sides. When the cleaning mechanism 22 is raised, the two sets of guide portions 91 and 92 are fitted to the side surface of the recording head 12 so that the cleaning mechanism 22 is positioned on the recording head 12. Therefore, both the head guide unit 90 and the cleaning mechanism 22 can move in the horizontal direction according to the position of the recording head 12.

  When the cleaning mechanism 22 is raised, the head guide unit 90 is first fitted on the side surface of the recording head 12 and positioned on the recording head 12, and the holder 23 is further raised with respect to the positioned head guide unit 90, whereby the head guide. The cap 24 protruding from the opening of the lattice of the unit 90 is configured to abut on the nozzle forming surface 12a. The four caps 24 in contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a seal the set of nozzle rows 13 respectively. At this time, when the head guide unit 90 is fitted to the side surface of the recording head 12, the cap 24 is positioned so as to reliably seal the corresponding nozzle row 13 on the nozzle forming surface 12a.

  The four wipers 25 are configured such that the upper back side of the holder 23 is a retracted position, and the upper positions of the caps 24 located in the same row are reciprocated along the longitudinal direction (that is, the nozzle row direction). A wiper drive unit 220 that drives the four wipers 25 is assembled to the holder 23. The wiper drive unit 220 receives an auxiliary force from the selection unit 110 in the holder 23 at the wiping time and meshes with the gear of the power transmission mechanism 33, and is driven by the power transmitted from the power transmission mechanism 33. The four wipers 25 are reciprocated. The four wipers 25 wipe the portion including the corresponding nozzle row 13 on the nozzle forming surface 12a during the reciprocal movement of the four wipers 25. As described above, the wiping device included in the maintenance device 20 according to the present embodiment is a self-driven type in which the wiper 25 is moved by the power from the electric motor 30. For example, the wiping is performed on the fixed recording head 12 as well. Is possible.

  The valve unit 190 disposed on the back surface of the holder 23 is interposed on a tube connecting the suction pump 40 and the four caps 24, and incorporates four flow path valves corresponding to the four caps 24, respectively. The four flow path valves built in the valve unit 190 include at least valves for opening and closing the respective flow paths connecting the four caps 24 and the suction pump 40, and are individually operated by the selection unit 110 in the holder 23. Thus, the flow path valve corresponding to the selected row among the four is configured to open so that the suction pump 40 and the flow path communicate with each other.

  The selection unit 110 in the holder 23 has four coaxial cam mechanisms that can rotate according to the rows of the cap 24 and the wiper 25 on the same axis, and the cam 30 is rotated in the process of raising the cleaning mechanism 22. When the controller 27 performs necessary rotation control such as addition of selection control, a selection row for performing suction and wiping is selected. Accordingly, one electric motor 30 is used for raising / lowering the cleaning mechanism 22, selecting the suction of the cap 24 (switching the flow path valve of the valve unit 190), driving the suction pump 40, selecting the wiper 25, and wiping the wiper 25. The configuration is performed by a common drive source.

  A series of processing operations performed by the rotation control of the electric motor 30 will be briefly described here. First, capping is performed in which the cleaning mechanism 22 is raised by the forward rotation drive of the electric motor 30 to bring the cap 24 into contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. In the ascending process for capping, a row selection operation is performed in the selection unit 110 for cleaning only the defective nozzle row. By this selection operation, the opening of the flow path valve corresponding to the selected row in the valve unit 190, and the wiper for guiding the wiper 25 corresponding to the selected row to the rising posture capable of wiping the nozzle forming surface 12a during wiping. 25 selections are made.

  Subsequent to the capping, the suction pump 40 is driven to introduce a negative pressure into the cap 24, whereby suction cleaning for forcibly sucking ink from the nozzles of the recording head 12 is performed. After the suction cleaning, the selection unit 110 is operated to switch the flow path valve corresponding to the selected row in the valve unit 190 to the valve open state in which the inside of the cap 24 is opened to the atmosphere and communicated with the suction pump 40. By driving the suction pump 40, empty suction for collecting ink remaining in the cap 24 and the tube to a waste liquid tank (not shown) or the like is performed.

  After the idle suction is completed, the cleaning mechanism 22 is lowered by the reverse drive of the electric motor 30 to separate the cap 24 from the nozzle forming surface 12a. After the cleaning mechanism 22 reaches the lowered position, the power transmission path from the electric motor 30 is switched from the selection unit 110 to the wiper drive unit 220 in the holder 23, and the wiper 25 passes the upper position of the cap 24 along the predetermined path. Thus, wiping is performed by the wiper 25 corresponding to the selected row that has moved up and down and moved to a posture that can be wiped off during forward movement. In this wiping process, a part of the driving mechanism of the wiper driving unit 220 abuts on the head guide unit 90 and lifts it up to a position where it fits into the recording head 12, so that the wiping is performed while being positioned on the recording head 12. When the wiper 25 completes the reciprocating operation, the head guide unit 90 is lowered to the original position, and the wiper 25 returns to the retracted position shown in FIG. One cycle of cleaning operation called “selective wiping” is completed.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the maintenance device.
The maintenance device 20 includes a base unit 21, a support holder 60 supported by the base unit 21 so as to be movable up and down, a cap unit 70 that constitutes an upper portion of the holder 23 and has a plurality (four) of caps 24 at the top, and A head guide unit 90 is provided. Further, a selection unit 110 that is accommodated in the holder 23 and selects suction of the cap 24 and selection of wiping of the wiper 25, a valve unit 190, a wiper drive unit 220, a lifting unit 50, and a lock mechanism 170 are provided.

  The selection unit 110 includes a selection gear unit 120 including a cam mechanism, and a lift unit 150 that performs a lift operation with a cam follower guided by the cam of the selection gear unit 120. The selection gear unit 120 includes four selection cams 121 to 124 that are rotatably provided on the selection cam shaft 125. The four selection cams 121 to 124 correspond to the four rows of the cap 24 and the wiper 25, respectively, and the same cam-shaped cam formed on the side face has a circumferential phase shifted by a predetermined angle. The selection cam shaft 125 is inserted so that it can rotate integrally.

  The lift unit 150 has four lift plate bases 151 that can be lifted via four lift cam movable plates 152 in which cam followers are engaged with the cams of the selection cams 121 to 124. The valve lever 153 is configured to operate the valve pressurizing body 191 of the valve unit 190 with a pushing amount corresponding to the lift amount of the lift plate base 151.

  In the valve unit 190, the open / closed states of the four built-in channel valves are individually switched according to the difference in the amount of pressing of the valve pressurizing body 191 operated by the valve lever 153 (three stages). Specifically, the four flow path valves include a suction flow path valve that opens and closes a suction flow path that communicates with the suction pump 40, and an atmospheric flow path valve that opens and closes an atmospheric flow path that is open to the atmosphere. One of the three open / close valve states for selecting suction / non-suction / empty suction in the cap 24 is selected from the combination of opening and closing of the path valve and the atmospheric flow path valve. When the lift plate base 151 is not lifted (lift amount “0”), it is non-suction, when it is lifted, it is suction, and when it is the maximum lift amount, it is an idle suction on-off valve state.

  The wiper drive unit 220 also includes a wiper drive gear 221 and a wiper drive wheel 222 connected to both ends of the selection cam shaft 125, and the wiper drive gear 221 reciprocating within a predetermined angle range by power transmitted from the selection intermediate gear 37. It has two wiper drive levers 223 and 224 that can swing around the lower end by moving. The four wipers 25 reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the cap 24 by the two wiper drive levers 223 and 224 swinging once. If the corresponding lift plate base 151 is lifted, the four wipers 25 abut on the upper surface thereof and are guided to a rising posture capable of being wiped by receiving a push-up force, and from the upper surface if the lift plate base 151 is not lifted. It does not receive the push-up force and does not get up and take a posture. Therefore, wiping is performed for the nozzle row 13 selected for suction, and wiping is not performed for the nozzle row 13 for which suction is not selected.

  The elevating unit 50 includes a support portion 51, a pressure adjustment shaft 53 inserted and supported in a state of being biased upward in the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 of the support portion 51, and a base end portion of the pressure adjustment shaft 53. It has a lift lever 54 that is connected and has a tip engaged with a selection cam 123 of the selection gear unit 120. When the selection cam 123 is rotated and the engagement position with the tip of the lift lever 54 is lowered, the cleaning mechanism 22 is raised, and the selection cam 123 is rotated in the opposite direction to the ascending process and the engagement position is reached. Is raised, the cleaning mechanism 22 is lowered. Thus, the cleaning mechanism 22 moves up and down by the reciprocating rotation of the selection cam 123. The pressure adjusting shaft 53 supports the cleaning mechanism 22 in a floating state.

  The lock mechanism 170 engages with a choke member 173 loosely fitted to the pressure adjusting shaft 53 from the outside, a stopper lever 172 operatively connected to the choke member 173, and an upper end portion of the stopper lever 172, and a selection cam. 121 to 124 and a stopper cam 171 assembled coaxially. The stopper cam 171 tilts the stopper lever 172 at the timing of the lifted position where the selection cams 121 to 124 are rotated and the cleaning mechanism 22 is lifted by the lift unit 50, and the choke member 173 is made to have a small inner diameter of the ring, The pressure adjusting shaft 53 that supports the cleaning mechanism 22 is locked.

  Hereinafter, each configuration of the base unit 21, the selection unit 110 (the selection gear unit 120 and the lift unit 150), the lifting unit 50, the lock mechanism 170, the valve unit 190, the wiper drive unit 220, and the head guide unit 90 described above will be described. We will explain in order. The selection cams 121 to 124 are referred to as a first selection cam 121, a second selection cam 122, a third selection cam 123, and a fourth selection cam 124 as necessary, and a group of four selection cams 121 to 124 is referred to. Collectively, the selection cam group 135 will be called.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a portion including the power transmission mechanism 33 constituting the base unit 21. The power transmission mechanism 33 includes a two-stage gear 34, an intermediate gear 35, a rod gear 36 and a selection intermediate gear 37. The two-stage gear 34 rotatably supported on the base frame 31 has a small gear portion 34a meshed with a pinion gear fixed to the drive shaft of the electric motor 30, and the large gear portion 34b has a small gear portion 35b. It meshes with the large gear portion 35a of the intermediate gear 35 meshed with the pump gear 40a. The suction pump 40 performs a suction operation to generate a negative pressure when the electric motor 30 is driven to rotate in the forward direction. When the electric motor 30 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, the suction pump 40 enters a release state and no negative pressure is generated. The suction pump 40 of the present embodiment is a known tube pump, and when it is driven to rotate, the tube wound around the built-in wheel is handled in one direction and the gas or liquid in the tube is pushed out. In this structure, a suction force (negative pressure) is generated on one end side of the upstream side of the tube. The suction pump 40 has tube pump mechanisms (not shown) that can rotate integrally with the pump gear 40a and are arranged in two stages in the direction of the drive shaft, and has two suction pipe connection portions. . The suction pump 40 has a built-in delay mechanism that requires a predetermined amount of rotation of less than one rotation until the pump gear 40a engages the internal drive shaft even when the pump gear 40a switches from reverse rotation to normal rotation. Even if it switches from forward rotation to normal rotation, the pump drive is started after idling of a predetermined rotation amount.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the rod gear 36 is inserted into a shaft (not shown) of the base frame 31, and is rotatable about a frame plate-shaped guide frame 62 extending downward from the support holder 60 by a predetermined length. And has a spline gear portion 36a at the lower portion and a worm gear portion 36b at the upper portion. As shown in FIG. 10B, the spline gear portion 36 a meshes with the large gear portion 34 b of the two-stage gear 34, and the worm gear portion 36 b meshes with the selection intermediate gear 37.

  Therefore, when the electric motor 30 is driven to rotate in the forward direction, the rotational force is transmitted to the two-stage gear 34 and the rod gear 36 and is rotated to the selected intermediate gear 37 that meshes with the upper worm gear portion 36b by the shaft rotation of the rod gear 36. Is transmitted. The selection intermediate gear 37 meshes with one selection cam 121 among the four selection cams 121 to 124 that constitute the selection unit 110. Since the spline gear portion 36a is formed in the lower portion of the rod gear 36, the rod gear 36 and the two-stage gear 34 can be engaged with each other regardless of the position of the rod gear 36 that moves up and down together with the cleaning mechanism 22. ing.

  FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a main part of the maintenance device including the selection unit and the valve unit. As shown in the figure, the selection intermediate gear 37 meshes with the selection cam 121 and the friction gear 126 that constitute the selection gear unit 120. The friction gear 126 is frictionally engaged with the side surface of the second selection cam 122.

  The selection unit 110 selects a lift amount of the lift plate base 151 via a lift cam movable plate 152 that engages with the selection cams 121 to 124, thereby selecting a push amount of the valve lever 153 to perform suction cleaning. 24 is selected, and the wiper 25 that performs wiping is selected. When the lift amount of the lift plate base 151 is high, execution of wiping is selected, and the valve lever 153 is set at a predetermined angle so that the valve pressurizing body 191 can be pressed with a pressing amount by which a negative pressure is introduced into the cap 24. Tilts.

  12 and 13 are exploded perspective views of the selection unit, the lifting unit, and the lock mechanism. FIG. 12 is a perspective view seen from the upper side, and FIG. 13 is a perspective view seen from the lower side. As shown in the figure, each of the selection cams 121 to 124 includes a cam body 128, a cam auxiliary plate 131, and a compression spring 133. The cam auxiliary plate 131 is integrally assembled in a state in which the cam auxiliary plate 131 cannot be rotated relative to the cam main body 128 and is urged by the compression spring 133 in a direction to be inserted into the cam main body 128. The four selection cams 121 to 124 having the same cam shape are integrally connected in a state where the cam phases are sequentially shifted by 20 degrees in the circumferential direction so as to be rotatable relative to the selection cam shaft 125. The selection cam shaft 125 is inserted. The tip of the lift lever 54 is engaged with the eccentric position of the third selection cam 123, and the stopper cam 171 is sandwiched between the third selection cam 123 and the fourth selection cam 124, and the selection cams 121-124. And assembled so as to rotate together.

  The lock mechanism 170 includes a support portion 51 having a pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 at the tip, a pressure adjustment shaft 53, a compression spring 55, a stopper cam 171, a stopper lever 172, and a choke member 173. The pressure adjustment shaft 53 is assembled in a state where it is urged by the compression spring 55 in a direction protruding from the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52. The choke member 173 is fixed to the upper end surface of the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52, and the stopper lever 172 is tilted by the stopper cam 171 to lock the pressure adjustment shaft 53 inserted into the ring of the choke member 173 by tightening. The four lift mechanisms 154 to 157 constituting the lift unit 150 include a lift plate base 151, a lift cam movable plate 152, and a valve lever 153, respectively. The lift cam movable plate 152 is guided by the cam surfaces of the selection cams 121 to 124 to lift the lift plate base 151 and tilt the valve lever 153 to an angle corresponding to the lift amount.

<Selection unit>
14A and 14B show the selection unit. FIG. 14A is a front perspective view, and FIG. 14B is a rear perspective view. 15 is an exploded perspective view showing a state in which the selection cam shaft of the selection unit is removed, FIG. 16 (a) is a plan view of the selection unit, FIG. 15 (b) is a front view, and FIG. 15 (c) is a side view. is there. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

  A selection cam shaft 125 is inserted through the four selection cams 121 to 124. The four selection cams 121 to 124 each have a cam portion having a cam surface of the same shape on one side surface, and are connected so as to be integrally rotatable so that the phase of each cam surface is sequentially shifted by 20 degrees. Yes.

  At a position adjacent to the second selection cam 122, the friction gear 126 is disposed so as to be rotatable on the same axis with the second selection cam 122 and the side surfaces frictionally engaged with each other. The selection intermediate gear 37 can mesh with the first selection cam 121, the friction gear 126, and the wiper drive gear 221. Normally, when the lift unit 150 is selected to be raised, the selection cam shaft 125, the wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive wheel 222 do not rotate, and only the selection cam group 135 on the selection cam shaft 125 rotates. The lift cam movable plate 152 is engaged and supported by the lift plate base 151 so as to be tiltable in a direction in which the lift cam movable plate 152 can approach and separate from the side surfaces of the selection cams 121 to 124.

  The wiper drive gear 221 is a gear that transmits power for causing the wiper 25 to reciprocate once. The wiper drive gear 221 includes an intermittent gear having a tooth portion 221a (gear portion) formed on a part of the outer peripheral surface over a predetermined angle range. In the rotation range of the first selection cam 121 that meshes with the selection intermediate gear 37, the wiper drive gear 221 is held in a non-rotatable state with the missing tooth portion facing the selection intermediate gear. The first selection cam 121 is rotated forward by a predetermined rotation amount when the selected intermediate gear 37 is driven to rotate forward during the ascending process of the cleaning mechanism 22, and then the selected intermediate gear 37 is driven to rotate reversely during the descending process of the cleaning mechanism 22. It is reversed by being done. In this reverse rotation process, the power transmission convex portion 121a (shown in FIG. 15) formed on the side surface of the first selection cam 121 immediately before the first selection cam 121 does not mesh with the selection intermediate gear 37 by the missing tooth portion 128b. ) Presses the receiving surface 221c (shown in FIG. 15) of the wiper drive gear 221 so that the tooth portion 221a of the wiper drive gear 221 meshes with the selected intermediate gear 37. As a result, when the rotation of the four selection cams 121 to 124 is stopped in the reverse rotation process of the selection intermediate gear 37, the wiper drive gear 221 starts rotating in place of the stop. The wiper drive gear 221 reciprocates a predetermined amount of rotation (in this example, about 120 degrees) from the start of rotation, and the wiper drive levers 223 and 224 perform one reciprocating swing motion by this reciprocation. 25 reciprocates along a predetermined route. Even in this wiping process, the friction gear 126 that meshes with the selected intermediate gear 37 continues to rotate, but there is not enough friction engagement force to rotate the four selection cams 121 to 124. The drive mechanism of the wiper 25 will be described later.

  Immediately before the wiper drive gear 221 completes one reciprocal rotation and does not mesh with the selected intermediate gear 37, the receiving surface 221c presses the convex portion 121a so that the first selection cam 121 meshes with the selected intermediate gear 37. Therefore, the four selection cams 121 to 124 can smoothly start to rotate in the normal rotation direction.

  Next, a mechanism for raising and lowering the lift plate base guided by the cam surface of the selection cam will be described. First, the structure of the selection cam will be described. Since the selection cams 121 to 124 have the same basic structure, the first selection cam 121 will be described as an example. 18A and 18B show the selection cam. FIG. 18A is an exploded perspective view and FIG. 18B is a perspective view.

  As shown in FIG. 18A, the selection cam 121 is formed with a cam main body 128 formed of an intermittent gear, a cam auxiliary plate 131 assembled in an inwardly inserted state, and a cam portion 130 of the cam main body 128. And a compression spring 133 that urges the cam auxiliary plate 131 to protrude toward the one side surface. A cam portion 130 is formed on one side surface of the cam body 128 in the circumferential direction, and the cam portion 130 has a plurality of cam surfaces in the axial direction (in this example, three stages including the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129). Have The cam auxiliary plate 131 is provided with two first cam portions 132a, second cam portions 132b, and one third cam portion 132c that serve as cams. In the state of being inserted into the cam body 128 while being urged by the compression spring 133, as shown in FIG. 18B, the two first cam portions 132a and the second cam portion 132b are connected to the cam body 128. A smooth cam surface is formed by combining with the cam portion. The first cam portion 132a and the second cam portion 132b of the cam auxiliary plate 131 are fitted into an engaging groove 129a formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 of the cam main body 128, so that the cam auxiliary plate 131 is inserted into the cam main body 131. It is assembled so that it cannot rotate relative to 128. The cam auxiliary plate 131 is assembled to the cam body 128 so as to be displaced along the selected cam shaft 125, and is configured to be returned to the normal position (projecting position) by the compression spring 133. The cam auxiliary plate 131 is configured to retract into the cam body 128 and reduce the amount of protrusion when pushed in a direction against the urging force of the compression spring 133. The cam auxiliary plate 131 can move in the cam body 128 in the axial direction by, for example, about 1 mm.

  Moreover, semicircular arc shaped regulation walls 131a and 131b projecting laterally from the cam auxiliary plate 131 are fitted into the through holes 128d and 128e on the cam body 128 side, respectively. As shown in the figure, on the end surface of the shaft portion 129 protruding from the side surface of the cam body 128 on the cam portion 130 side, there are formed engaging grooves 129b that are recessed at four locations around the shaft hole 128c. As shown in FIG. 13, the engaging groove 129b is fitted to a cross-shaped engaging convex portion 129c (shown in FIG. 15) in which four places around the shaft hole 128c protrude from the end surface opposite to the shaft portion 129. As a result, the four selection cams 121 to 124 are connected so as not to rotate relative to each other with their phases sequentially shifted by 20 degrees. The first to fourth selection cams 121 to 124 are intermittent gears in which a part of the outer peripheral surface is a missing tooth portion 128b, and a tooth portion 128a is formed over a range of about 270 degrees. However, since the function of the tooth portion is unnecessary for the selection cams 122 to 124 other than the first selection cam 121 meshing with the selection intermediate gear 37, the peripheral surface has the same diameter as the outer diameter of the tooth portion 128a instead of the tooth portion 128a. It can be.

<Lift unit>
As shown in FIGS. 14 to 17, the lift unit 150 includes four sets of lift mechanisms 154 to 157 corresponding to the four selection cams 121 to 124. The lift mechanisms 154 to 157 include a lift plate base 151, a lift cam movable plate 152, and a valve lever 153. The lift plate base 151 has rail portions 159 and 160 that bend and extend at substantially right angles from both ends in the longitudinal direction. The lift plate base 151 is configured such that the both rail portions 159 and 160 are engaged and guided by rail grooves (not shown) formed at opposite positions on the inner side surface of the holder 23, so that each of the lift mechanisms 154 to 157 has the holder 23. The inside is supported so that it can move up and down independently. The lift plate base 151 is formed with a substantially rectangular locking hole 158 at the center thereof, and two circular holes 151b and 151c are formed at both longitudinal ends thereof. The two circular holes 151b and 151c are provided for inserting two connecting pipes 24c and 24d (shown in FIG. 25) protruding from the back surface (lower surface) of the cap 24, respectively. One end of tubes 218A and 218B (shown in FIG. 47), which will be described later, provided to connect between the cap 24 and the valve unit 190 is connected to the two connecting pipes 24c and 24d. As shown in FIG. 14B, the engagement shaft 151 153 formed at the upper end of the valve lever 153 is engaged with the engagement recess 151 d formed at the end of the lift plate base 151 on the rail portion 160 side. They are linked together. In this connected state, the valve lever 153 can tilt about the engagement shaft portion 153a at the upper end. Since the basic structure of one unit composed of one selection cam and lift mechanism corresponding to the nozzle row 13 is the same for all four sets, the following will focus on one unit including the first selection cam 121 for the basic structure of the lift unit. I will explain.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the selection cam and the lift mechanism.
The lift cam movable plate 152 constituting the lift mechanism 154 has a substantially pentagonal plate shape. The cam follower portion 152b that is pointed at an obtuse angle is disposed on the lower side, and the lift cam movable plate 152 is formed in the engagement hole 158 of the lift plate base 151 at its upper end. Engagement is supported. A columnar engaging shaft portion 152a (see FIG. 17) that can be inserted into the locking hole 158 protrudes from the upper end portion of the lift cam movable plate 152. The lift cam movable plate 152 has an engaging shaft portion 152a. Is engaged with the locking hole 158, and is supported so as to be tiltable in the axial direction of the selection cams 121 to 124 (the left-right direction in the figure) with the engaged point as a fulcrum.

  As shown in FIG. 19, the substantially pentagonal plate-like lift cam movable plate 152 is positioned on the cam portion 130 side with respect to the selection cam 121, and the cam follower portion 152b, which is a sharpened tip, is arranged in contact with the cam surface. The On the side surface of the lift cam movable plate 152 that does not face the corresponding selection cam 121, a spring latching convex portion 152c is formed at a position near the tilting fulcrum. One end of the tension spring 163 is hooked to the convex portion 152c, and the other end is hooked to a hook portion (not shown) projecting on the inner wall surface of the holder 23. The hook portion and the convex portion 152c The tension spring 163 is stretched between the two. Since the convex portion 152 c of the lift cam movable plate 152 is offset from the swing fulcrum of the lift cam movable plate 152, a force in a direction in contact with the side surface of the selection cam 121 is exerted on the lift cam movable plate 152 by the biasing force of the tension spring 163. is working. The lift cam movable plate 152 is in a direction in which the cam follower portion 152b approaches the axis of the selection cam 121 (downward) and a direction in which the cam follower portion 152b is pressed against the side surface of the selection cam 121 on the cam portion 130 side (approaching the side surface). Is biased in the axial direction). For this reason, the cam follower portion 152b is in contact with the cam surface of the selection cam 121 (the outer peripheral surface of the cam portion 130) and is urged to be in light contact with the side surface of the selection cam 121.

  Next, the cam surface of the selection cam will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 is a perspective view of the selection cam, FIG. 21 is a side view of the selection cam, and FIG. 22 is a perspective view of the selection cam as viewed from the lower side of FIG. The distance in the radial direction from the axis of the selection cam 121 to the cam surface is taken as the height of the cam surface. Further, the angle range of the selection cam 121 with which the cam follower portion 152b can abut is an angle range of about 270 degrees determined from the range in which the tooth portion 128a can mesh with the selection intermediate gear 37. Further, the cam portion 130 of the selection cam 121 includes a first cam surface having the same height as the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 of the selection cam 121, and an axial side surface approaching side of the selection cam 121 from the first cam surface (hereinafter, “ A cam shape having a second cam surface which is located on the back side and is one step higher than the second cam surface, and a third cam surface which is located on the back side of the selection cam 121 and is one step higher than the second cam surface. have. The outer peripheral surface (first cam surface) of the shaft portion 129 of the selection cam 121 is a cam surface that determines the lift lowering position, the second cam surface is a cam surface that determines the lift rising position, and the third cam surface is the lift highest lifting position. It becomes the cam surface to decide.

  As shown in FIG. 20, there are two initial positions that are the contact points of the cam follower portion 152b when the selected cam 121 is at the standby rotation angle, and the cam follower portion 152b is non-suction selected at the previous cleaning. Is located at the initial position on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129, and is located at the initial position on the wiping cam surface 147 in the case of suction selection. For the second to fourth selection cams 122 to 124, the initial position is the position where the phase is sequentially shifted counterclockwise by 20 degrees with respect to the initial position of the first selection cam 121. This is because the operating angle required to select the cam surfaces by the first to fourth selection cams 121 to 124 is about 15 degrees, and the phases are shifted by 20 degrees to select each selection cam independently. . The angle required for the operation of the selected cam can be reduced by increasing the distance from the center to the cam, and the phase shift angle can also be reduced. That is, it is only necessary that the phase is deviated within a range where there is no problem with the operation of the selection cam.

  When starting from either of the two initial positions, the cam surface area on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 that passes in common when the selection cam 121 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 20 (forward rotation) starts cleaning. Initially, the cam follower portion 152b comes into contact with the common cam surface 137. The position immediately after the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b passes the outer peripheral surface of the cam portion 132a is the first selected position. In the first selection position, the cam follower portion 152b is biased to the back side, and thus is located on the back side of the common cam surface 137 that has been passed through. When the selection cam 121 is reversed from a state where the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b is located at the first selection position, a return surface 139 is formed as an inclined surface on which the cam follower portion 152b climbs. When the cam follower portion 152b climbing up the return surface 139 descends and returns from the return surface 139, the cam follower portion 152b passes through a path on the back side from the path to start climbing due to the urging force of the tension spring 163. The climbing surface 140 is formed as an inclined surface after the cam follower portion 152b climbs down the return surface 139. That is, the selection cam 121 is formed with an inclined climbing surface 140 having a V-shape when viewed from the side along with the inclined surface of the return surface 139 and having a width of about half of the width of the inclined surface of the return surface 139 closer to the back side. . The position on the clockwise side of the selection cam 121 in the rotational direction (circumferential direction) corresponding to the valley of the return surface 139 and the climbing surface 140 that are V-shaped when viewed from the side is selected to be lifted or not lifted. It becomes the 1st selection position used as the branch position to perform.

  Therefore, the rotation is stopped when the selection cam 121 rotates counterclockwise (forward rotation direction) in FIG. 20 from the state where the cam follower portion 152b contacts the initial position on the cam surface and reaches the first selection position. If the cam follower portion 152b is urged to the back side in pressure contact with the side surface after being reversely rotated by a small amount, the suction surface climbs up the return surface 139 from the first selection position, and the suction is increased by one step (large radius). It is configured to reach the current cam surface (hereinafter referred to as “suction cam surface 141”). That is, when the contact point of the cam follower part 152b exceeds the right end of the first cam part surface from the initial position, the contact point slides back on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft part 129 by the biasing force of the tension spring 163, and thereafter When the selection cam 121 is reversely rotated after being stopped, the contact point of the cam follower 152b climbs the return surface 139, and when the selection cam 121 reverses again and rotates forward, the climbing surface 140 is climbed after descending the return surface 139 and the suction cam. The surface 141 is reached. When lift lift is selected, when the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b is in the vicinity of the selection point, the lift plate base 151 is selected to be lifted to the lift position by applying rotation control such as rotation stop, reverse rotation, and normal rotation. Is called. The suction cam surface 141 is formed over a range of about 180 degrees.

  Here, the first and second cam portions 132 a and 132 b of the cam auxiliary plate 131 are pushed to the outside of the selection cam 121 by the urging force of the compression spring 133, and the compression spring 133 toward the rear side in the axial direction of the selection cam 121. When it receives a load that resists the urging force, it can be retracted to the back side. The cam follower portion 152b slides from the initial position to the first selected position, and is outside in the axial direction against the urging direction of the cam follower portion 152b along the side surface of the cam auxiliary plate 131 that is the inclined surface of the second cam portion 132b. It will slide while being guided to be pushed out (to the near side), and the contact pressure of the cam follower portion 152b against the side surface of the second cam portion 132b tends to be excessive. At this time, although the urging force that presses the lift cam movable plate 152 against the side surface of the selection cam 121 is set to be weak, even if the urging force is somewhat increased due to variations or the like, the first and The second cam portions 132a and 132b are retracted so as to be slightly immersed in the axially back side against the urging force of the compression spring 133. As a result, the cam follower 152b can move more reliably along the clockwise direction of the figure without being caught by the slope of the second cam 132b. In this case, when the cam follower portion 152 b passes the right end on the outer peripheral surface of the first cam portion 132 a of the cam auxiliary plate 131, the retracted first and second cam portions 132 a and 132 b are restored to the original by the urging force of the compression spring 133. Therefore, the cam follower portion 152b can climb the return surface 139 formed on the second cam portion 132b during the reverse rotation after the selection cam 121 is stopped.

  On the other hand, when lift lowering is selected, even if the contact point of the cam follower 152b passes the first selection position, the rotation of the selection cam 121 is continued without rotating and the lift plate base 151 is moved to the lowering position. The selection to maintain is made. When the lift lowering selection is made, the lift lowering state is maintained until the end of the current maintenance work.

  As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, when the suction cam surface 141 is selected, the second selection position is set at a position corresponding to a substantially intermediate position in the circumferential direction of the suction cam surface 141. In the second selection position, it is possible to select from the lift lift position to the lift maximum lift position. In this embodiment, when lift lift selection is made in the first selection position, the lift maximum lift selection is always performed in the second selection position. It is set to be. The cam structure that makes it possible to realize the lift highest rise selection at the second selection position is basically the same as the above-described cam structure at the first selection position. When the cam follower portion 152b returns in the counterclockwise direction while the selection cam 121 is reversely rotated and pressed against the side surface of the selection cam 121, the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b slides on the suction cam surface 141 to the second selection position. When it reaches, the return surface 142 is climbed from here to the cam surface 145. Further, due to normal rotation after the selection cam 121 is reversed, the cam follower portion 152b comes down the return surface 142 and then climbs the climbing surface 143, which is a slope, and the cam surface (hereinafter referred to as “empty”). The suction cam surface 144 ").

  The idle suction cam surface 144 is formed over a range of about 90 degrees in the clockwise direction of the selection cam 121 from the second selection position. Thereby, the lift highest rise selection is possible in all of the four selection cams 121 to 124 whose phases are shifted by 20 degrees. Further, since the suction cam surface 141 is formed over a range of about 90 degrees until reaching the second selection position, the lift raising selection is possible in all of the four selection cams 121 to 124, and in that case In addition, after all the four cam follower portions 152b are in contact with the suction cam surface 141, the lift highest rise selection is possible.

  At a position adjacent to the counter-clockwise direction of the selection cam 121 with respect to the idle suction cam surface 144, the cam surface 145 having a height up the return surface 142 is slightly lower than the idle suction cam surface 144. It is formed with. The cam surface 145 is formed over a range of about 200 degrees in the counterclockwise direction of the selection cam 121 from the position where the return surface 142 is fully climbed. In the terminal region of the cam surface 145, the side surface of the selection cam 121 is an extruded surface 146 that is an inclined surface that swells toward the front side in the axial direction. A cam surface having the same height as the cam surface 145 is formed at a position shifted by one step from the cam surface 145 toward the front side in the axial direction on the counterclockwise side of the selection cam 121 in FIG. This cam surface becomes the cam surface during wiping (wiping cam surface 147). The wiping cam surface 147 is formed over a range of about 70 degrees in the circumferential direction of the selection cam 121. Therefore, all of the four cam follower portions 152b can simultaneously contact the wiping cam surface 147. In addition, the range of the cam surface which all the four cam follower parts 152b can contact is 60 degrees or more.

  When the selection cam 121 is rotated in the clockwise direction in the drawing from the state in which the cam follower portion 152b is in contact with the idle suction cam surface 144, the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b is a cam after slightly descending the climbing surface 143 from the idle suction cam surface 144. To the surface 145, and further from the cam surface 145 to the wiping cam surface 147. When lift lift selection is made, the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b is positioned on the wiping cam surface 147 at the timing of wiping.

  A descending surface 148 that is a descending slope is formed at the clockwise end portion of the wiping cam surface 147 in FIG. Wiping is performed in a state where the cam follower portion 152b contacts the wiping cam surface 147. After this wiping, when the selection cam 121 rotates in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 9, the cam follower portion 152 b descends the descending surface 148. The side surface on the selection cam side where the side surface of the cam follower portion 152b abuts (pressure contact) in the process of descending the descending surface 148 gradually inclines toward the outside in the axial direction (front side) as reaching the clockwise direction in FIG. It is configured to fall on a common cam surface 137 on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 by being guided by the extrusion surface 149 and being pushed forward in the axial direction. The diameter of the cam surface of each part of the selection cam 121 is “non-selection position <during suction <during wiping <during idle suction”. However, the diameter (height) of the wiping cam surface 147 may be larger than the non-selected position or may be larger than that during idle suction.

  FIG. 23 is a perspective view for explaining the operation of the lift unit. (A) shows a state where the first selected position has been reached, (b) shows a state where lift is not selected (lift down selected), and (c) shows that the selected cam is slightly reversed from the first selected position. The state of the turning-back process, and FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, when the cam follower portion 152b is in contact with the first selected position on the common cam surface 137, the lift plate base 151 is located at the lowered position. When the cam follower portion 152b reaches the first selection position as shown in FIG. 5A, the cam follower portion 152b does not stop and continues to rotate the selection cam 121 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. Thus, the non-selection cam surface 138 on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 is selected, and the lift plate base 151 is maintained at the lowered position. On the other hand, when the first selection position shown in FIG. 6A is reached, the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b is shifted one step further in the axial direction, and in this state, the normal rotation of the selection cam 121 is stopped and reversed (reverse rotation). Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, the return surface 139 is climbed, and further, the path is switched by shifting one step further in the axial direction back side. Thereafter, when the selection cam 121 is rotated forward again, the return cam 139 is lowered and the climbing surface 140 is climbed to reach the suction cam surface 141 when the lift is lifted as shown in FIG.

  For example, for the selection cam 121 corresponding to the lift increase selection nozzle row, when the cam follower portion 152b passes the first selection position, the path switching operation shown in FIG. The suction cam surface 141 is selected as shown in FIG. On the other hand, for the selected cam corresponding to the nozzle row 13 that is not lift lifted, the rotation of the selected cam continues in the forward direction without stopping even when the cam follower portion 152b passes the first selected position. As shown in FIG. 5B, the non-selection cam surface 138 on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 is selected as the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b.

  FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing a state where only one lift plate base 151 is selected to be lifted in the lift unit 150. When maintenance is selected for only the nozzle row corresponding to the first selection cam 121, only the lift plate base 151 corresponding to the first selection cam 121 is arranged at the raised position as shown in FIG. The three lift plate bases 151 corresponding to the four selection cams 122 to 124 are maintained in the lowered position. As described above, the controller 27 that controls the drive of the electric motor 30 applies path switching control performed at the first selection position for the selection cam corresponding to the nozzle row 13 that is determined to require maintenance, so that any nozzle row 13 can be controlled. The corresponding lift plate base 151 can be raised or not raised.

<Elevating unit>
Next, the elevating mechanism of the cleaning mechanism 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 25 is a side sectional view showing the cleaning mechanism 22 and the lifting unit. FIG. 26 is a perspective view illustrating the lifting unit together with a part of the lock mechanism.

  The elevating unit 50 is a mechanism that elevates the cleaning mechanism 22 relative to the base unit 21 so that the cleaning mechanism 22 can be moved closer to and away from the recording head 12. The elevating unit 50 is a mechanism that engages with the third selection cam 123 and moves the cleaning mechanism 22 up and down using the rotation of the third selection cam 123 as power. Therefore, the lifting device includes the lifting unit 50, the electric motor 30, the power transmission mechanism 33, and a rotation driving portion that rotates the selection cam 123 in the selection gear unit 120.

  As shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, the elevating unit 50 has a support portion 51 disposed on the upper surface of the base frame 31 and an upper portion protruding into the pressure adjusting shaft holder 52 that the support portion 51 has at the support tip portion. And a pressure adjustment shaft 53 that is inserted and supported so as to be movable in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 25, the pressure adjustment shaft 53 is urged in the direction in which the upper part protrudes (upward) by a compression spring 55 disposed in the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 and protrudes to the base of the pressure adjustment shaft 53. The maximum protrusion amount from the pressure adjusting shaft holder 52 is regulated by the provided retaining portion 53b for preventing the removal. The pressure adjusting shaft 53 has a bottomed cylindrical shape, and the compression spring 55 is inserted into a hole opening on the lower surface of the pressure adjusting shaft 53 through a part on the upper end side, and its lower end abuts on the upper surface of the two-stage gear 34. It is arranged in the state.

  The connecting hole 53a (see FIG. 35) provided at the tip of the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is inserted with the pin portion 54b protruding from the base of the lift lever 54, and the lift lever 54 is connected to the pressure adjusting shaft 53. It is connected so as to be rotatable about the axis of the pin portion 54b. The lift lever 54 has an arcuate portion other than the base so as to avoid interference with the shaft portion 129 of the selection cam. The lift lever 54 is disposed between the second selection cam 122 and the third selection cam 123, and as shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, one side surface of the third selection cam 123 (side surface opposite to the cam portion). The pin portion 54a is inserted into the concave portion 123c between the two convex portions (the first convex portion 123a and the second convex portion 123b) formed on the third engaging cam 123 to engage with the third selecting cam 123.

  FIG. 25 shows a state where the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the lowered position. In this lowered state, the pin portion 54 a of the lift lever 54 is engaged with the third selection cam 123 at a position higher than the axis of the third selection cam 123. Therefore, the shaft center of the selection cam group 135 is closest to the pressure adjustment shaft 53 and the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the lowered position.

  FIG. 28 shows a state in which the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the raised position. At this raised position, the guide portions 91 and 92 of the head guide unit 90 are fitted into the recording head 12, so that the cap 24 comes into close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12 a while the cleaning mechanism 22 is positioned on the recording head 12. The engagement position between the pin portion 54a of the lift lever 54 and the third selection cam 123 is located near the lower edge of the third selection cam 123. At this time, the shaft center of the selection gear unit 120 and the pressure adjustment shaft 53 are located. The cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the raised position farthest in the height direction. However, the raised position refers to the position of the cleaning mechanism 22 when the third selection cam 123 and the lift lever 54 are in the positional relationship shown in FIG. 28 and the cap 24 is in close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. Since the lift distance required for the cleaning mechanism 22 until the cap 24 comes into close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a depends on the platen gap at that time, the height from the base frame 31 of the cleaning mechanism 22 arranged at the highest position is It depends on the platen gap. When the platen gap is set narrow, the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is relatively immersed in the pressure adjusting shaft holder 52 when the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the raised position because the position of the recording head 12 is low. On the other hand, when the platen gap is set wide, since the position of the recording head 12 is high, the amount of protrusion of the pressure adjustment shaft 53 from the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 is relatively small when the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the raised position. Become more.

Next, the operation of the lifting unit will be described with reference to FIG.
(A) is a lowered position, (b) is an ascending process, (c) is an ascending position, (d) is a descending process, and (e) is a state in the descending position. .

  When the selection cam 123 rotates in the clockwise direction in the figure from the state of the lowered position shown in FIG. 11A, the selection cam 123 does not change its height and the first convex portion 123a does not engage with the lift lever 54. After the period continues for a while (about 130 degrees), the first convex portion 123a hits the pin portion 54a of the lift lever 54 as shown in FIG. In the subsequent forward rotation process of the selection cam 123, a force acts in a direction in which the first convex portion 123a pushes down the pin portion 54a. It moves upward away from the shaft 53. When the cap 24 comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a, the cleaning mechanism 22 no longer rises, but the selection cam 123 further rotates, so that the lift lever 54 is pushed downward, and the selection cam group 135 is shown in FIG. ). This raised position is a position where suction / empty suction is performed by the cleaning mechanism 22, and the urging force of the compression spring 55 compressed by the lift lever 54 being pushed downward is a force for reliably capping.

  Next, when the selection cam 123 reverses counterclockwise in the figure from the state of the raised position shown in FIG. 10C, the period during which the second convex portion 123b of the selection cam 123 is not engaged with the lift lever 54 is for a while (about After 130 degrees), the second convex portion 123b hits the pin portion 54a of the lift lever 54 as shown in FIG. Then, in the subsequent reverse rotation process of the selection cam 123, the second convex portion 123b pushes up the pin portion 54a. Since the lift lever 54 is connected to the pressure adjusting shaft 53, the selection cam group 135 itself is lowered when the second convex portion 123b pushes up the pin portion 54a. When the reverse rotation of the selection cam 123 stops, the selection cam group 135 is arranged at the lowest position shown in FIG. This lowest position is a position where wiping is performed by the cleaning mechanism 22, and is a position where printing is performed.

<Cap unit>
FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing a cap unit and a head guide unit.
The cap unit 70 includes a mounting holder 71 and four caps 24 disposed on the upper surface of the mounting holder 71. The mounting holder 71 includes a cap base frame 72 and two left and right side frames 73 and 74 fixed to the cap base frame 72 so as to cover both left and right sides thereof. The four caps 24 are fixed to the upper surface of the cap base frame 72 so that the longitudinal directions thereof are parallel to each other and at equal intervals in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. A slit 72a having a rectangular opening is formed in a portion corresponding to the interval between the caps 24 in the cap base frame 72 so as to penetrate both sides in the longitudinal direction. In the cap base frame 72, four caps 24 are fixed to the upper surface, and the adjacent caps are separated by slits 72a that are notched to each other with a predetermined width and a predetermined depth so as to penetrate the back surface side. A base plate portion 72b is provided. The cap 24 includes a cap base material 24a fixed to the upper surface of the base plate portion 72b, and a cap elastic member 24b made of an elastomer fixed to the upper surface of the cap base material 24a.

  At the upper position of the left and right side frames 73 and 74, there are a pair of first guide holes 80 and second guide holes 81 extending in the longitudinal direction of the cap in parallel with each other in the vertical direction. In the same figure, only one side is shown). In addition, a semicircular arc-shaped recess for arranging the wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive wheel 222 is formed in the lower part of the side frames 73 and 74. Further, a pin hole 79a for inserting a fixing pin 64 to be fixed to the support holder 60 is formed in a lower portion of a portion extending downward from the front side (left side in the figure) of the recess. In addition, a pair of pin holes 79 b for inserting the fixing pins 65 are formed in the left and right ends of the back surface of the cap base frame 72. The support holder 60 and the mounting holder 71 are fixed at a plurality of locations by a plurality of fixing pins 64 and 65 (shown in FIG. 7).

  As shown in FIG. 29, the head guide unit 90 has a square lattice plate-like wiper guide 93 having four openings 94 in which the four caps 24 can be projected and retracted on the bottom portion facing the cap base frame 72. Yes. A pair of positioning projections 97 (only one of the pair is shown in the figure) protrudes toward the mounting holder 71 at the front left and right end positions of the head guide unit 90. A positioning recess 78 is provided at a position corresponding to the positioning protrusion 97 at the upper end of the side frames 73 and 74. With the guide portions 91 and 92 of the head guide unit 90 fitted to the recording head 12, the holder 23 rises to the head guide unit 90 side and the positioning protrusion 97 engages with the positioning recess 78, so that the head guide unit 90 has On the other hand, the holder 23 is positioned. Thereby, the cap 24 is positioned with respect to the recording head.

  The guide portions 91 and 92 of the head guide unit 90 stably maintain the positions of the recording head 12 and the maintenance device 20, particularly the recording head 12 and the cap 24 fixed to the upper surface of the cap base frame 72. Since the distance between the tip of the elastic portion on the nozzle forming surface 12a that can be elastically contacted with the surface 12a and the nozzle row 13 can be reduced, the cap 24 can be easily downsized.

  A pair of left and right rail guide portions 76 having rail grooves extend downward from the left and right ends of the front surface of the head guide unit 90. A pair of guide rail portions 95 extends downward from the front left and right ends of the mounting holder 71. The head guide unit 90 is attached to the mounting holder 71 so as to be vertically movable by inserting the pair of guide rail portions 95 through the pair of rail guide portions 76 on the mounting holder 71 side. An upper end portion of a coil spring 96 is hooked on the outer side of the guide rail portion 95 of the head guide unit 90, and a lower end portion thereof is a projecting portion 77 for spring latching projecting to the left and right sides of the lower end of the front surface of the mounting holder 71. It is designed to be hooked. Further, the head guide unit 90 has a wire spring 98 stretched substantially horizontally on both sides of the pair of guide rail portions 95 that are fixed by clamping. A columnar convex portion 75 is formed in the center of the front surface of the mounting holder 71, and the head guide unit 90 is a predetermined distance from the mounting holder 71 (holder 23) at a position where the linear spring 98 hits the convex portion 75. Positioning is performed in a separated state. The pair of left and right coil springs 96 are provided to prevent the head guide unit 90 from coming off the holder 23.

  The positioning and capping operation with respect to the recording head performed in the ascending process of the cleaning mechanism 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the state where the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the lowered position shown in FIG. 30, the head guide unit 90 is at the standby position where it slides upward from the holder 23. When the cleaning mechanism 22 is lifted from this lowered position, as shown in FIG. 31, first, the guide portions 91 and 92 of the head guide unit 90 are fitted to the side surface of the recording head 12 to guide the head. 12 is positioned. In the cleaning mechanism 22 that continues to rise, as shown in FIG. 32A, the holder 23 is raised while the head guide unit 90 abuts against the recording head 12 and the upward movement is restricted. The holder 23 part approaches the head guide unit 90 against the urging force of 98. As a result, the positioning projection 97 of the head guide unit 90 is locked to the positioning recess 78 on the holder 23 side. The holder 23 is positioned with respect to the recording head 12 by the locking of the positioning protrusion 97 to the holder 23.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 32B, the four caps 24 slightly protrude from the corresponding openings 94 of the head guide unit 90. As shown in FIG. Close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. The cap 24 is in close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a because the holder 23 is positioned on the recording head 12 via the head guide unit 90 as described above. It can be sealed.

<Lock mechanism>
Next, the configuration of the lock mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 34 is a perspective view of the main part including the lock mechanism, and FIG. 35 is a perspective view of the lock mechanism.

  As shown in FIG. 34, the stopper cam 171 is connected to the selection cam group 135 so as to be rotatable integrally with the selection cam shaft 125 being inserted. The stopper cam 171 has a cam portion 171b having a predetermined shape on the side surface, and is assembled so that the upper portion of the stopper lever 172 contacts the cam surface formed by the outer peripheral surface of the cam portion 171b.

  As shown in FIGS. 34 and 35, the stopper lever 172 is a substantially L-shaped lever. The cam follower portion 172a abuts against the cam surface of the stopper cam 171 and its base portion is in a state where the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is inserted. The choke member 173 fixed to the upper surface of the pressure adjusting shaft holder 52 is connected. The choke member 173 has an inner diameter through which a portion protruding from the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 of the pressure adjustment shaft 53 can be inserted, and is partially cut from the choke ring portion 181 and a portion where the choke ring portion 181 is cut. And a pair of plate-like connecting piece portions 182 extending in parallel. Both the connecting piece portions 182 are connected to the base portion of the stopper lever 172 in such a manner that the interval between the both connecting piece portions 182 can be changed by inserting an insertion shaft 172b extending vertically from the side surface of the base portion of the stopper lever 172. Yes. The base side surface of the stopper lever 172 is engaged with the outer side surface of the one connecting piece portion 182. On these engaging surfaces, an engaging groove 183 made of a V-shaped groove is formed on the outer surface of the one connecting piece portion 182, while on the side surface of the base portion of the stopper lever 172, a cross-sectional engagement type The protrusion 184 protrudes vertically.

  As shown in FIGS. 34 and 35, in a state where the stopper lever 172 is in a standing posture, the engaging groove 183 and the engaging protrusion 184 are engaged deeply, and the choke member 173 has its choke ring portion 181 caused by its own elasticity. The diameter is expanded. In this state, the pressure adjustment shaft 53 is loosely fitted to the choke ring portion 181 and is in an unlocked state in which relative movement in the axial direction is possible. On the other hand, in a state where the stopper lever 172 is tilted by coming into contact with the lock cam surface 177 of the stopper cam 171, the engagement between the engagement groove 183 and the engagement protrusion 184 becomes shallow, and the engagement protrusion 184 of the stopper lever 172 causes the engagement. One connecting piece 182 is pushed out in a direction approaching the other connecting piece 182. As a result, the diameter of the choke ring portion 181 is reduced, and the choke ring portion 181 is configured to lock the tip end portion of the pressure adjusting shaft 53 so as to be sandwiched from the outside.

  FIG. 36 is a perspective view of the stopper cam. As shown in the figure, the stopper cam 171 has a shaft hole 171a through which the selection cam shaft 125 is inserted, and the two-stage cam portion 171b projecting from one side surface of the stopper cam 171 extends from the shaft center. Unlocked cam surface (hereinafter referred to as “non-locked cam surface 175”) having a minimum radius and a cam at the time of locking that is shifted by one step toward the side surface in the axial direction and whose radius from the shaft center is larger than that of the non-locked cam surface 175 And a surface (hereinafter, lock cam surface 177). The non-lock cam surface 175 and the lock cam surface 177 are connected by a slope 176 that is inclined in a direction in which the radius gradually increases in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. The end portion of the lock cam surface 177 located on the opposite side of the inclined surface 176 with respect to the shaft center is an extrusion guide surface 178 whose side surface protrudes with an inclined surface outward in the axial direction. 172 is guided so as to be pushed outward in the axial direction of the stopper cam 171. A cam surface 179 having substantially the same radius as the lock cam surface 177 is formed at a position shifted outward in the axial direction of the stopper cam 171 after being pushed out. This cam surface 179 is a cam surface with which the stopper lever 172 abuts during wiping. In addition, a slope 180 whose radius gradually decreases from the cam surface 179 to the non-lock cam surface 175 is formed at a position slightly moved clockwise from the cam surface 179 during wiping.

  FIG. 37 is a side view showing the relationship between the rotation position of the stopper cam and the tilting position of the stopper lever. FIG. 6A shows a state in which the stopper lever 172 is in contact with the non-lock cam surface 175. FIG. 6B shows a positional relationship in which the stopper lever rides on the inclined surface 176 when the stopper cam reverses. ) Shows a state where the stopper lever is in contact with the lock cam surface 177, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, when the stopper lever 172 is in contact with the non-locking cam surface 175 of the stopper cam 171, the stopper lever 172 is in a substantially vertical state. In this state, when the stopper cam 171 rotates counterclockwise in the figure, the stopper lever 172 has the positional relationship shown in FIG. In this state, if the stopper cam 171 is reversed clockwise, the slope 176 is ridden. When the stopper cam 171 is reversed clockwise from this state, the cam follower portion 172a of the stopper lever 172 rides on the inclined surface 176 and comes into contact with the lock cam surface 177 as shown in FIG. In the process in which the stopper lever 172 rides on the inclined surface 176 and reaches the lock cam surface 177, the stopper lever 172 takes a tilting posture tilted by a predetermined angle from the suspended state.

38A and 38B are plan views for explaining the operation of the lock mechanism, where FIG. 38A shows the unlocked state and FIG. 38B shows the locked state.
As shown in FIG. 5A, in the state where the stopper lever 172 is in contact with the non-lock cam surface 175, the engagement protrusion 184 is engaged with the engagement groove 183, and the distance between the connecting piece portions 182 of the choke member 173 is separated. The choke ring portion 181 is in a diameter-expanded state in which the choke ring portion 181 is loosely fitted to the pressure adjusting shaft 53.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6B, in a state where the stopper lever 172 is in contact with the lock cam surface 177, the stopper lever 172 tilts and the engagement between the engagement protrusion 184 and the engagement groove 183 is shifted and becomes shallower. The joint protrusion 184 pushes the connecting piece portion 182 in the direction in which the distance between the pair of connecting piece portions 182 is reduced. Due to the pushing action to narrow the interval between the connecting piece portions 182, the choke ring portion 181 is reduced in diameter and the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is narrowed to lock the pressure adjusting shaft 53 in the state of the protruding amount at that time. As described above, the lock mechanism 170 is unlocked when the stopper lever 172 is in the vertical state as shown in FIG. 37A, and is locked when the stopper lever 172 is tilted as shown in FIG. 37C. .

  FIG. 39 is a side view showing the relationship between the rotation position of the stopper cam and the tilting position of the stopper lever. (A) is a standby state in which the stopper cam is in the initial position, (b) is after the cleaning is started, (c) is a position at the time of suction / empty suction, (d) is in a locked state, FIG. 4E shows the wiping and cleaning completion.

  When the stopper cam 171 (that is, the selection cams 121 to 124) is in the initial position shown in FIG. When the selection cams 121 to 124 and the stopper cam 171 start to rotate forward toward the rotation angle position at the time of suction, the stopper lever 172 descends to the non-lock cam surface 175 along the inclined surface 180 as shown in FIG. In the state of being in contact with the non-locking cam surface 175, it rotates forward to the rotation angle position at the time of suction. At the time of suction shown in FIG. 5C, the stopper lever 172 contacts the non-locking cam surface 175 of the stopper cam 171 and the stopper lever 172 is disposed in a vertical posture. After completion of the suction, the selection cams 121 to 124 rotate forward after being reversely rotated and return to the previous rotation angle position to be in the state of empty suction. Empty suction is performed in the state shown in FIG. When the selection cams 121 to 124 and the stopper cam 171 are reversely rotated after the idle suction is finished, the stopper lever 172 climbs the inclined surface 176 and comes into the locked state shown in FIG. In this locked state, since the stopper lever 172 tilts as shown in FIG. 4D, the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is compressed by the choke ring portion 181 whose diameter is reduced by this tilting, so that the pressure adjusting shaft holder 52 at that time It is locked in a state where the protruding amount from is maintained. This locking is performed in the process in which the selection cams 121 to 124 and the stopper cam 171 are reversely rotated toward the rotation angle position at the time of wiping, and the reverse rotation is stopped in the state shown in FIG. Wiping is performed in this stopped state, and cleaning is completed upon completion of wiping. This cleaning end state is the same as the initial standby state (FIG. 5A). In this way, when one cycle of cleaning is completed, the original standby position is restored. It should be noted that a small amount of forward rotation may be involved within a range in which the locked state is maintained after the wiping is completed before returning to the standby position.

  40 to 42 show side views of the lift unit, in which (a) is a left side view and (b) is a right side view. 40 shows a nozzle unit non-selected state of the lift unit, FIG. 41 shows a nozzle row selected state, and FIG. 42 shows an idle suction state.

  As shown in FIG. 40B, in a state where the lift cam movable plate 152 is in contact with the non-selection cam surface 138 when lowered, the lift plate base 151 is disposed at the lowered position, and the lift plate base extends from the axis of the selection cam 121. The height up to the upper surface (lift surface) of 151 is L1. As shown in FIGS. 40 (a) and 40 (b), the valve lever 153 engaged and supported by the lift plate base 151 has an inner surface facing the selection cam 121 in the outer peripheral surface (tooth portion 128a) of the selection cam 121. ) And can be tilted around the engaging portion of the upper end portion. For this reason, when the lift plate base 151 is in the lowered position, the valve lever 153 is engaged with the upper end of the valve lever 153 by the first lever cam portion 153b projecting near the middle in the height direction on the inner surface of the valve lever 153. The lower end is tilted toward the side away from the selection cam with the center as the center, and the back surface is largely pushed outward. The lower end of the back surface of the valve lever 153 serves as a pressing surface 153d that presses a valve pressurizing body 191 (described later) of the valve unit 190.

  As shown in FIG. 41 (b), in a state where the lift cam movable plate 152 is in contact with the suction cam surface 141 during suction, the lift plate base 151 is disposed at the ascending position, and the lift plate base 151 extends from the axis of the selection cam 121. The height to the upper surface (lift surface) is L2 (> L1). Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 41 (a) and 41 (b), when the lift plate base 151 is in the raised position, the first lever cam portion 153b is also raised and contacts the outer peripheral surface (tooth portion 128a) of the selection cam 121. Touching but not pressed. The valve lever 153 takes a vertical posture from the engagement portion of the upper end portion thereof by the tooth portion 128a being accommodated in the second lever cam portion 153c recessed in the lower portion of the inner surface thereof, and the pressing surface 153d is Not pushed out.

  As shown in FIG. 42B, in a state where the lift cam movable plate 152 is in contact with the idle suction cam surface 144 during idle suction, the lift plate base 151 is disposed at the highest position and lifts from the axis of the selection cam 121. The height to the upper surface (lift surface) of the plate base 151 is L3 (> L2). Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 42A and 42B, in a state where the lift plate base 151 is at the highest position, the valve lever 153 has the second lever cam portion 153c of the inner surface thereof hitting the tooth portion 128a. Then, the lower end is tilted away from the selection cam by a small amount around the engaging portion of the upper end, and the pressing surface 153d is pushed out to the outside.

  Thus, the push-out amount of the valve lever 153 is “maximum” (large amount) when the lift plate base 151 is in the lowered position when the suction row is not selected, and “when the lift plate base 151 is in the raised position during suction”. It is configured to be “minimum” (“0”) and “intermediate” (small amount) when the lift plate base 151 is at the highest lifted position during idle suction. That is, the valve lever 153 is configured to be able to press the valve pressurizing body 191 with a three-step pressing amount corresponding to the selected lift position of the lift plate base 151.

<Valve unit>
Next, the configuration of the valve unit will be described with reference to FIGS.
43 is a perspective view of the valve unit drawn together with the lift mechanism as seen from the front, and FIG. 44 is a perspective view of the valve unit as seen from the back.

  A valve unit 190 shown in FIG. 43 includes a valve unit main body 192 and four valve pressurizing bodies 191 that are the same number as the cap 24. The valve pressurizing body 191 is attached to the front surface of the valve unit main body 192 and is urged outward (in the protruding direction). On the upper surface of the valve unit main body 192, an atmosphere connection pipe (hereinafter referred to as “atmosphere pipe section 195”) and a suction connection pipe (hereinafter referred to as “suction pipe section 196”) are provided at locations corresponding to the valve pressurizing bodies 191. ")" Protrudes 4 sets, one each. Each tube 218A, 218B (one tube is shown in FIG. 47) connected to each set of the atmospheric tube portion 195 and the suction tube portion 196 is a connection projecting from the back surface (lower surface) of the corresponding cap 24. Connected to tubes 24c and 24d (shown in FIG. 25). Further, on the upper surface of the valve unit main body 192, two connection pipes for pumps (hereinafter referred to as “pump pipe parts 197”) protrude in the same row as the four suction pipe parts 196, and these pump pipes The part 197 is connected to two tubes 219 (see FIG. 47) extending from the suction pump 40, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 43, the valve lever 153 is disposed with its pressing surface 153d facing the valve pressurizing body 191 of the valve unit 190 (however, only one is shown in the figure), and the valve lever 153 is pushed in three stages. By actuating by the amount, the valve pressurizing body 191 is switched to three stages: a state where it is not pressed, a state where it is half-pressed, and a state where it is fully pressed. The valve unit 190 incorporates four flow path valves 204 (see FIGS. 46 and 47) provided individually for each cap 24 that is switched by each valve lever 153. The flow path valve 204 is switched to three stages according to the pushing amount of the valve lever 153 in three stages.

  As shown in FIG. 40, when the valve lever 153 is tilted to the maximum when the suction is not selected (push-out amount “maximum”) and the valve pressurizing body 191 is completely pushed in, the cap 24 is opened to the atmosphere while being negative. It is switched to a state where the introduction of pressure is cut off. In addition, as shown in FIG. 41, when the valve lever 153 is vertically arranged at the time of suction (extrusion amount “minimum” (“0”)) and the valve pressurizing body 191 is not pressed, the cap 24 is shut off from the atmosphere. The state is switched to a state in which negative pressure is introduced. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 42, when the valve lever 153 is tilted by a small amount during empty suction (push-out amount “intermediate” (small amount)) and the valve pressurizing body 191 is pressed halfway, the cap 24 is opened to the atmosphere. However, it is switched to a state where negative pressure is also introduced.

  As shown in FIG. 43, the valve pressurizing body 191 is attached to the valve pressing body 193 projecting outward from the front surface of the valve unit main body 192 in a state of being inserted through the pressurizing spring 194. Yes. 43 and 44, a pair of guide holes 191b is formed in the valve pressurizing body 191. The valve pressurizing body 191 has a valve pressing body 193 with a pressurizing spring 194 interposed therebetween. A pair of protrusions 193a (only one side is shown in the figure) projecting on the outer peripheral surface of the front end portion of the front end are engaged with the corresponding guide holes 191b and are extrapolated to the valve pressing body 193. The valve pressurizing body 191 is locked to the valve pressing body 193 while being biased in a direction away from the valve pressing body 193 by the pressurizing spring 194, and can be pushed in a predetermined stroke in the axial direction. It has become.

  The valve unit main body 192 includes an atmospheric valve main body 198 having four atmospheric pipe portions 195 protruding from the upper surface, and a suction valve having four suction pipe portions 196 and two pump pipe portions 197 protruding from the upper surface. A main body 199 is joined. Also, as shown in FIG. 44, the internal flow path is sealed by, for example, welding a sealing film 217 to the back surface of the valve unit 190.

  FIG. 45 is an exploded perspective view of the valve unit. As shown in the figure, the valve unit 190 includes an atmospheric valve main body 198, a suction valve main body 199, a multi-valve valve plate 200 in which four circular valve body portions 201 are connected in a row, and four valve pressing members. A body 193, four valve pressurizing bodies 191, a pressurizing spring 194, an atmospheric valve closing spring 202, and the like are provided.

  The atmospheric valve body 198 and the suction valve body 199 are fixed by fastening screws 203 in a state where four valve pressing bodies 193, a valve plate 200, and four atmospheric valve closing springs 202 are sandwiched in this order. The The four valve pressing bodies 191 are respectively attached to the four valve pressing bodies 193 protruding from the front surface of the assembled valve unit main body 192 via the pressurizing springs 194. In the valve unit 190 assembled in this way, four flow path valves 204 are formed inside the valve unit main body 192.

  As shown in FIG. 45, the cylindrical portion 193b of the valve pressing body 193 is formed with a pair of the above-described protrusions 193a at the distal end portion of the outer peripheral surface and a slit 193e formed at a position corresponding to the partition portion 214. Yes. The slit 193e is formed so as to penetrate in the radial direction over a range from the end on the protrusion 193a side to the bottom in the axial direction in the cylindrical portion 193b. Due to the presence of the slit 193e, the cylindrical portion 193b can be inserted into the through-hole 213 from the inside to the outside without interfering with the partition portion 214 as shown in FIG.

  Further, the valve pressurizing body 191 has a bottomed cylindrical shape, and a columnar pressurizing shaft 191a is projected from the center portion of the end surface. In the valve pressurizing body 191, a guide hole 191b having a predetermined length in the axial direction is formed at a position corresponding to the protrusion 193a of the valve pressing body 193. The valve pressurizing body 191 is externally inserted into the tubular portion 193b of the valve pressing body 193 with the pressurizing spring 194 interposed therebetween, and the projection 193a of the tubular portion 193b is engaged with the guide hole 191b of the valve pressurizing body 191. It is assembled in the guided state. For this reason, the valve pressurizing body 191 is biased to the axially outer side (valve lever 153 side) by the pressurizing spring 194, and when pressed in a direction against the biasing force of the pressurizing spring 194, the protrusion 193a. Is configured to be pushed and displaced with a predetermined stroke by relatively moving in the guide hole 191b.

46 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. FIG. 47 is a perspective view of the valve unit similarly cut along line BB.
As shown in FIG. 46, the flow path valve 204 includes a suction chamber 205 (negative pressure chamber) and an atmospheric chamber 206 on both sides of the valve body portion 201 constituting the valve plate 200. The substantially circular valve body 201 has a thick peripheral edge sandwiched between the atmospheric valve body 198 and the suction valve body 199 and has a disk-like valve at the center of the surface facing the valve pressing body 193. The part 201a protrudes and the central part is also thick. The periphery of the valve portion 201a is an annular thin portion 201b and is formed in a film shape that is easily bent and deformed. As the thin wall portion 201b is bent and deformed, the valve portion 201a can be displaced in the thickness direction while maintaining a substantially disk shape. The valve plate 200 is made of an elastic material such as elastomer or rubber.

  In the suction chamber 205, a substantially frustoconical valve seat portion 207 protrudes from the inner surface of the back wall portion of the suction valve body 199 in a direction approaching the valve plate 200. The portion 201a is a valve seat 207a that can be contacted and separated. The suction valve main body 199 is formed with a suction flow path 208 that opens at the center of the valve seat 207a and penetrates to the back side of the suction valve main body 199. The four suction flow paths 208 constituting each flow path valve 204 are communicated with a common flow path 209 that opens linearly along the longitudinal direction on the back surface of the suction valve main body 199. The two pump pipe portions 197 are communicated with the common flow path 209. The suction tube portion 196 is in communication with the suction chamber 205.

  The valve body 201 is arranged in a state in which the atmospheric valve closing spring 202 accommodated in the suction chamber 205 in a compressed state is in contact with the thin portion 201b, and is separated from the valve seat 207a by the elastic force of the atmospheric valve closing spring 202. Is being energized. Here, the state of the figure in which the valve part 201a is separated from the valve seat 207a is a state in which the suction flow path valve 210 constituting a part of the flow path valve 204 is opened, and the valve part 201a is connected to the valve seat 207a. The suction flow path valve 210 is closed by closing the opening of the suction flow path 208 closely.

  On the other hand, a substantially frustoconical valve seat 211 projects into the atmosphere chamber 206 at a position on the inner surface of the suction valve body 199 that faces the valve seat 207a on the suction flow path valve 210 side. The valve seat 211 has a length that can be in close contact with the valve portion 201a when the valve body portion 201a is in a state where the valve body portion 201 is not bent and deformed (state shown in the figure). The atmospheric valve body 198 is formed with an atmospheric passage 212 that opens at the central portion of the valve seat 211a and communicates with the atmospheric pipe portion 195.

  A through hole 213 for assembling the valve pressing body 193 is formed in a portion corresponding to each atmospheric chamber 206 of the atmospheric valve body 198 in a state where the cylindrical portion 193b protrudes outward from the atmospheric chamber 206 side. In the portion through which the tubular portion 193b of the atmospheric valve body 198 is penetrated, a plate-like partition portion 214 through which the atmospheric flow path 212 passes divides the through hole 213 into two in the axial direction of the atmospheric tube portion 195. The through hole 213 is composed of two semicircular holes that open on both sides of the partition portion 214 and avoid the partition portion 214. The through hole 213 has an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 193b of the valve pressing body 193.

  A through hole 193d is formed at a position corresponding to the valve seat portion at a central portion of the bottom portion 193c, which is a portion accommodated in the atmospheric chamber 206 of the valve pressing body 193, and the valve seat portion 211 passes through the through hole 193d. The valve pressing body 193 passes through and contacts the valve portion 201a of the valve body portion 201. The bottom portion 193c of the valve pressing body 193 is in contact with the outer peripheral edge portion of the valve portion 201a at the bottom surface portion around the through hole 193d. Specifically, for example, an annular convex portion 215 is formed on the surface of the valve portion 201a of the valve body portion 201 so as to surround a portion where the valve seat portion 211 comes into contact, and the bottom portion 193c of the valve pressing body 193 is The configuration is in contact with the convex portion 215.

  The atmospheric chamber 206 communicates with the outside of the valve unit 190 through a gap between the through hole 213 and the cylindrical portion 193b. In this way, an air flow path valve 216 that opens and closes the air flow path 212 by the valve portion 201a closely contacting / separating from the valve seat 211a is located at the position on the air chamber 206 side across the valve plate 200 in the valve unit 190. It is configured as a part of the flow path valve 204. As described above, the valve unit 190 includes the common valve plate 200, and the suction flow path valve 210 and the atmospheric flow path valve 216 are configured on both sides thereof.

As shown in FIG. 47, the common flow path 209 is sealed in a sealed state from the outside by the sealing film 217 being fixed to the back surface of the suction valve body 199.
In FIG. 46, the valve lever 153 is in a suction selection state (the state shown in FIG. 41) in a vertical state. In this state, the valve lever is in light contact with or presses the pressure shaft. . In the state at the time of the suction selection, the biasing force of the atmospheric valve closing spring 202 is superior to the pressurizing spring 194, and the valve portion of the valve body portion is in close contact with the valve seat portion on the atmospheric chamber side. Therefore, the atmospheric valve is closed and the negative pressure valve is opened.

  On the other hand, when the valve lever 153 takes the tilting posture during idle suction shown in FIG. 42, the valve lever 153 has an intermediate pushing amount, and the valve pressurizing body 191 is half-pressed. In this half-pressed state, the urging force of the compressed pressurizing spring 194 slightly exceeds the urging force of the atmospheric valve closing spring 202, so that the valve pressing body 193 presses the valve portion 201a, and the valve portion 201a becomes the atmospheric chamber 206 side. The valve portion 201a is slightly separated from both valve seats 207a and 211a. For this reason, the atmospheric flow path valve 216 is opened and the suction flow path valve 210 is also opened.

  Further, when the valve lever 153 takes the tilting posture when suction is not selected as shown in FIG. 40, the valve lever 153 has the maximum pushing amount, and the valve pressurizing body 191 is pushed completely. In this fully pushed state, the urging force of the pressurizing spring 194 overcomes the urging force of the atmospheric valve closing spring 202, the valve pressing body 193 presses the valve portion 201a, and the valve portion 201a moves from the valve seat 211a on the atmospheric chamber 206 side. The valve portion 201a is separated from the valve seat 207a on the suction chamber 205 side. For this reason, the atmospheric flow path valve 216 is opened and the suction flow path valve 210 is closed.

<Wiping device>
Next, a wiping device provided in the maintenance device will be described with reference to FIGS. The wiping device of the present embodiment includes an electric motor 30, a power transmission mechanism 33, a selection unit 110 that selects the wiper 25 in the wiping row, a wiper drive unit 220 that reciprocates the wiper 25, a placement holder 71, The head guide unit 90 has a function of allowing the wiper 25 to contact the nozzle forming surface 12a at the time of forward movement and allowing it at the time of backward movement.

First, the configuration of the wiper drive unit 220 will be described.
48 is a perspective view showing a state in which the wiper drive unit is assembled to the support holder 60, and FIG. 49 is a perspective view showing the wiper drive unit with four wipers removed. FIG. 50 is a perspective view showing the wiper drive unit assembled to the mounting holder.

  As shown in FIG. 48, the wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive wheel 222 that are connected and fixed to both ends of the selection cam shaft 125 are slidably supported by the support holder 60 in the recess 63 on the upper side surface. The protrusions 221d (see FIG. 52) and 222b on the outer side surfaces of the wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive wheel 222 are engaged with a pair of left and right wiper drive levers 223 and 224 at a position slightly below the center in the longitudinal direction. ing. A pair of left and right wiper drive levers 223 and 224 are assembled to the support holder 60 with their lower end portions pivotally supported on the lower left and right side lower end portions of the support holder 60. The wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive vehicle are assembled. By reciprocating rotation 222, a reciprocating rocking motion is performed about each lower end portion. Between the pair of left and right wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 engaged with the respective distal end portions of the pair of left and right wiper drive levers 223 and 224, four wipers 25 are coaxially aligned and assembled. The four wipers 25 reciprocate in the nozzle row direction by one reciprocating swing motion of the drive levers 223 and 224.

  The wiper drive gear 221 has a tooth portion 221a (see FIG. 49) that can mesh with the selected intermediate gear 37, but the period during which the selection cam 121 meshes with the selected intermediate gear 37 is the selected intermediate except for a slight final timing. It does not mesh with the gear 37. When the selection cam 121 hits the wiper drive gear 221 and pushes it at a timing just before the selection cam 121 that has started reverse rotation after the idle suction and the wiping height setting has become impossible to mesh with the selection intermediate gear 37 due to its missing teeth, The tooth portion 221 a of the wiper drive gear 221 is configured to mesh with the selected intermediate gear 37. For this reason, the reverse rotation of the wiper drive gear 221 is started by replacing the reverse rotation of the selection cam 121, and wiping is performed after the idle suction is completed. During the wiping, the selection cams 121 to 124 remain stopped, and the selection cam shaft 125 and the wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive wheel 222 connected to both ends thereof make one reciprocation within a predetermined angle range (for example, 120 degrees). Rotate.

  As shown in FIG. 49, the wiper drive gear 221 has a cylindrical portion 221b and tooth portions 221a which are intermittent teeth. The circumferential end surface of the tooth portion 221a is a wiper rotation transmission receiving surface 221c, and the rotation transmission convex portion 121a protruding from the side surface of the selection cam 121 shown in FIGS. Is assembled so as to hit the receiving surface 221c at a timing before the end of the reverse rotation after the end of the idle suction. 49. When the convex portion 121a hits the receiving surface 221c shown in FIG. 49 and the wiper drive gear 221 is pushed in the reverse direction, the tooth portion 221a meshes with the selected intermediate gear 37. The cylindrical portion 221b is a portion where the wiper drive gear 221 is slidably supported by the recess 63. On the other hand, the cylindrical wiper drive wheel 222 is slidably supported by the recess 63 on its outer peripheral surface. Further, locking pin portions 223 a and 224 a are projected from the lower end portions of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224, and these locking pin portions 223 a and 224 a are engaged with the concave portion at the lower end portion of the side surface of the support holder 60. As a result, the wiper drive levers 223 and 224 swing around the engaged locking pin portions 223a and 224a.

As shown in FIG. 49, projections 225a (shown in FIG. 52) and 226a of the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 are formed in the long holes 223c and 224c formed at the swinging tip portions of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224, respectively. Is engaged. The wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 are movable relative to the wiper drive levers 223 and 224 in the longitudinal direction within a range in which the projections 225a and 226a can move in the longitudinal direction within the long holes 223c and 224c, and the projection 225a. 226a and are connected so as to be rotatable around 226a. Further, on the side surfaces of the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 facing the side frames 73 and 74, the first guide shaft portions 225b and 226b are provided.
And the 2nd guide shaft part 225c, 226c is protrudingly provided. The first guide shaft portion 225b is located at the center in the longitudinal direction of the wiper drive cam body 225, and the second guide shaft portion 225c is located at the end of the wiper drive cam body 225 opposite to the wiper drive shaft 227. The interval between the first guide shaft portion 225b and the second guide shaft portion 225c is set wider than the interval between the first guide hole 80 and the second guide hole 81 shown in FIG. In addition, fan-shaped guide plate portions 223d and 224d are formed to extend from the distal ends of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224. The guide plate portions 223d and 224d are inserted into the recesses of the guide extension portions 225d (shown in FIG. 52) and 226d extending from the outer surfaces of the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226, respectively. . The wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 rotate while the guide extension portions 225d and 226d are guided by the guide plate portions 223d and 224d when rotating around the convex portions 225a and 226a inserted into the long holes 223c and 224c. To do.

  As shown in FIG. 50, the first guide hole 80 and the second guide hole 81 that extend parallel to the longitudinal direction of the cap 24 on the left and right side frames 73 and 74 constituting the mounting holder 71 are wiper driven. The first and second guide shaft portions 226b and 226c of the cam bodies 225 and 226 are inserted. Since the interval between the first and second guide shaft portions 226b and 226c is wider than the interval between the first and second guide holes 80 and 81, the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 are fixed at a predetermined angle shown in FIG. It moves while being guided by the first and second guide holes 80 and 81 while maintaining the posture angle. For this reason, the wiper 25 is positioned above the cap 24 while maintaining the height of the wiper drive shaft 227 horizontally mounted between the distal ends of the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226, that is, the height of the support point of the wiper 25. By moving along the longitudinal direction, it is possible to wipe while keeping the positional relationship between the nozzle opening surface and the wiper 25 constant. Further, when the wiper drive levers 223 and 224 swing, the convex portion 226a on the outer surface of the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 can move in the longitudinal direction of the lever in the long hole 224c, so that the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 are It is possible to move along a substantially horizontal path along the first and second guide holes 80 and 81. However, as shown in FIG. 51C, the upper first guide hole 80 is an oblique hole portion 80a whose end on the back surface is bent downward. In the process of being guided by the inclined hole 80a, the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 are tilted so that only the first guide shaft portion 226b on the tip side is lowered, so that the tip side is lowered. For this reason, the wiper drive shaft 227 horizontally mounted between the front end portions of the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 is lowered, and accordingly the wiper 25 is relatively lowered at the retracted position at the end portion on the inclined hole portion 80a side. It is configured to evacuate.

  FIG. 51 is a side view showing the wiper drive unit and the head guide unit. However, only the wiper driving mechanism in which the wiper is omitted is shown in FIG. (A) is a standby state of the wiper drive mechanism in which the wiper is in the retracted position, (b) is a forward movement start state, (c) is a forward movement process, and (d) is a forward movement end state. Respectively.

  In the standby state shown in FIG. 5A, the first guide shaft portion 225 b of the wiper drive cam body 225 is positioned at the lower end of the oblique hole portion 80 a of the first guide hole 80. For this reason, the wiper drive cam body 225 is positioned relatively low and the posture thereof is tilted, and the arrangement position of the wiper drive shaft 227 at the tip thereof is lowered. As a result, the wiper 25 is disposed outside the cap longitudinal direction with respect to the holder 23 as shown in FIG.

  Next, when the wiper drive gear 221 starts to rotate (reverse) as shown in FIG. 5B, the wiper drive lever 223 starts to swing from the standby position around the lower end by being pushed by the protrusion 221d. Along with this, the wiper drive cam body 225 is guided by the inclined hole portion 80a and relatively displaced upward and raises its posture. Accordingly, the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) pushes up the lower surface (wiper regulating surface 100a) of the head guide unit 90 by a predetermined distance. Since the amount of pushing up is almost equal to the descending stroke of the holder 23 after the idle suction, the guide portions 91 and 92 of the head guide unit 90 are fitted into the recording head 12 by this pushing up, and the head guide unit 90 is moved with respect to the recording head 12. Positioned. Further, the attitude angle of the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) that has moved to the forward movement start position is the first guide hole 80 and the second guide hole 81, and the first and second guide shaft portions 225b that are inserted through the first guide hole 80 and the second guide hole 81, respectively. , 225c is uniquely determined from the positional relationship. At this time, the wiper 25 is in a state where the wiper holding lever 235 is positioned above the base surface 151a (upper surface) (see FIG. 52) of the lift plate base 151.

  Thereafter, as the wiper drive gear 221 continues to reversely rotate, the wiper drive lever 223 continues to rotate in the forward movement direction as shown in FIG. Is moved substantially horizontally along the first and second guide holes 80, 81. Then, when the wiper drive gear 221 has been reversed about 120 degrees, the wiper drive lever 223 is tilted to the position shown in FIG. When the wiper drive gear 221 is reversed and switched to the forward rotation from the state where the forward movement is finished, the movement reverse to that at the time of forward movement is performed, and the state shown in FIG. The state returns to the standby position shown in FIG. In the process in which the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) reciprocates substantially horizontally, the head guide unit 90 is lifted upward and positioned on the recording head 12, so that the lattice openings 94 of the wiper guide 93 are formed in the nozzle row 13. Therefore, wiping with high positional accuracy by the wiper 25 is possible. When returning to the standby position, the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) is guided by the inclined hole portion 80a and tilts while being lowered, so that the head guide unit 90 is lowered and returned to the standby position. The wiper 25 returns to the retracted position and retracts downwardly away from the recording head 12.

  Note that the lowering amount of the head guide unit 90 until the cleaning mechanism 22 reaches the lowered position after completion of the suction cleaning is a constant distance obtained by subtracting the restoring amount of the linear spring 98 from the lowering amount of the cleaning mechanism 22 by the action of the lock mechanism 170. It becomes. For this reason, the gap between the nozzle forming surface 12a and the wiper guide 93 (head guide unit 90) during wiping is always constant. Therefore, during wiping, when the head guide unit 90 is lifted by a certain amount by the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226, the recording head 12 can be reliably guided, and the position in the height direction between the nozzle forming surface 12a and the wiper guide 93 is determined. The relationship is always substantially constant regardless of the difference in platen gap. Thereby, the contact pressure of the wiper 25 that contacts the nozzle forming surface 12a during wiping becomes substantially constant.

  FIG. 52 is a perspective view of the wiper drive unit together with the lift unit as seen from the back side. As shown in the figure, the rotation of the selected intermediate gear 37 is transmitted and the wiper drive gear 221 reciprocates about 120 degrees, so that the wiper drive lever 223 (224) swings once. A wiper drive shaft 227 horizontally mounted between the tips of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224 moves above the lift plate base 151 in parallel with the base surface 151a. The four wipers 25 are supported in a state where the wiper drive shaft 227 is inserted, and can be rotated around the shafts. The wiper 25 has a pair of lever portions 235a extending downward from the base end portion thereof. The lever portions 235a of the four wipers 25 are inserted into the mounting holder 71 from the slits 72a provided on both sides of the corresponding cap 24 as shown in FIG. 50, and the lift plate base 151 as shown in FIG. It is arranged to face the base surface 151a. Then, as shown in FIG. 52, the wiper 25 in the suction selection row in which the lift plate base 151 is raised has its lever portion 235a abutting against the base surface 151a and receiving an upward force so that the wiper drive shaft 227 is centered. It is configured to take a rising posture by rotating and positioning the tip side upward. On the other hand, the wiper 25 in the non-selected row in which the lift plate base 151 is lowered is configured such that its lever portion 235a is separated from or comes into contact with the base surface 151a and takes a posture in which the tip portion is tilted horizontally. ing.

  FIG. 53 is an exploded perspective view of the wiper drive unit. The wiper drive unit 220 includes a wiper drive gear 221, a wiper drive wheel 222, a pair of left and right wiper drive levers 223 and 224, a pair of left and right wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226, four wipers 25, and the like.

  The wiper drive unit 220 includes a wiper drive gear 221 and a wiper drive wheel 222 that are coupled to both ends of the selection cam shaft 125 of the selection gear unit 120. Protrusions 221d (see FIG. 52) and 222b protrude from the outer surfaces of the wiper drive gear 221 and the wiper drive wheel 222 at positions deviated from the axial center. The wiper drive levers 223 and 224 have locking pin portions 223a and 224a projecting from the base end portions (lower end portions in the figure), and a long hole 224c is drilled at the distal end portion. Further, guide holes 223b and 224b into which the wiper drive gear 221 and the protrusions 221d and 222b of the wiper drive wheel 222 can be inserted are formed at positions closer to the base end than the longitudinal center of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224. Fan-shaped guide plate portions 223d and 224d are formed to extend at the distal ends of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 53, cylindrical convex portions that can be engaged with the long holes 223c (see FIG. 52) and 224c of the wiper drive levers 223 and 224 are formed on the outer surfaces of the left and right wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226, respectively. 226a is projected. The wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 have columnar first guide shaft portions 225b and second guide shaft portions 225c that protrude from mutually facing surfaces. A guide extension portion 226d that can guide the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 so as to sandwich the guide plate portions 223d and 224d is formed to extend. One wiper drive cam body 225 is integrally formed with a wiper drive shaft 227 that extends perpendicularly from its tip and has an axial length sufficient to insert and support the four wipers 25. A shaft hole 226e for inserting the wiper drive shaft 227 is formed at the tip of the other wiper drive cam body 226. The pair of left and right wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 have symmetrical shapes on the left and right, except for the difference in the presence or absence of the wiper drive shaft 227 and the like. The wiper drive levers 223 and 224 also have a symmetrical shape on the left and right.

  Further, as described above, the wiper drive gear 221 is integrally formed adjacent to the cylindrical portion 221b that slides on the inner surface of the concave portion 63 serving as the receiving surface of the support holder 60, and one side surface (inner side surface) of the cylindrical portion 221b. And the tooth part 221a is fan-shaped and is formed over a range of about 120 degrees. One end face of the fan-shaped tooth portion is a receiving surface 221c for transmitting rotation. The wiper drive gear 221 has its power transmission receiving surface 221c pushed by the power transmission convex portion 121a of the first selection cam 121 at a timing just before the selection cam group 135 that has started reverse rotation after the idle suction is finished. Thus, the tooth portion 221a meshes with the selected intermediate gear 37, and the reverse rotation of the wiper drive gear 221 that has been stopped is started.

FIG. 54 is a perspective view of the wiper, and FIG. 55 is an exploded perspective view of the wiper.
The wiper 25 includes a wiper body 230, a wiper pressing lever 235, and a wiper pressing spring 238. The wiper main body 230 includes a resin wiper base 231 and a wiper member 232 made of an elastic body fixed to a predetermined region on the front end side of the upper surface of the wiper base 231. The wiper member 232 can be made of an elastic material such as elastomer or rubber. In this embodiment, the wiper base material 231 is made of an elastomer and is two-color molded with the resin of the wiper base material 231. A blade 25 a protrudes from the tip of the wiper member 232. The wiper body 230 has a pair of guide portions 231b on both sides in the width direction of the blade 25a. The guide portion 231b is a portion that contacts the lower surface of the wiper guide 93 that constitutes the head guide unit 90 when the wiper 25 moves forward.

  A pair of columnar pin portions 231 c protrude from the base side surface of the wiper body 230. A pair of holes 235b formed in a portion serving as a fulcrum of the wiper pressing lever 235 are inserted into the pair of pin portions 231c. Further, a shaft hole 231a for a wiper drive shaft is formed at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the wiper body 230 so as to penetrate both side surfaces. A wiper drive shaft 227 is inserted through the shaft hole 231a.

  Two wiper pressing springs 238 are attached to both sides of the wiper body 230. The wiper pressing spring 238 is a torsion coil spring, and a hooking portion 238 a formed by bending one end portion at a substantially right angle is hooked on the rear surface of the front end portion of the wiper body 230, and the other end portion of the wiper holding lever 235. The lever portion 235a is in contact with the upper surface of the lever portion 235a. The wiper body 230 and the wiper holding lever 235 are configured to be pushed and spread with each other around the position of the pin portion 231c serving as a fulcrum by the biasing force of the wiper pressing spring 238. When the opening angle between the wiper body 230 and the wiper holding lever 235 reaches a predetermined angle, the upper surfaces of the wiper body 230 and the wiper holding lever 235 come into contact with the respective contact surfaces 231d and 235c, so that the upper limit of the opening angle is restricted to the predetermined angle shown in FIG. It has become so. Therefore, when the lift plate base 151 is in the lowered position, even if the wiper 25 rotates about the wiper drive shaft 227, the wiper holding lever 235 does not hit the base surface 151a or comes into contact with the wiper 25. There is no pressure applied from the base surface 151a to get up. Further, since the opening angle between the wiper body 230 and the wiper holding lever 235 does not open beyond a certain angle due to interference on the contact surface of the opening angle restriction, the tip of the wiper 25 is in a pressurized state. Thus, the pressing force of the wiper 25 against the nozzle forming surface 12a can be made more stable.

<Head guide unit>
Here, the configuration of the head guide unit that forms part of the wiping device will be described. FIG. 56 shows the head guide unit. FIG. 56 (a) is a perspective view seen from the lower side, and FIG. 56 (b) is a perspective view seen from the upper side. A square lattice plate-like wiper guide 93 is integrally assembled with the head guide unit 90.

  The head guide unit 90 has a square lattice plate-like wiper guide 93. The wiper guide 93 includes five wiper guide portions 100 that form a lattice and extend parallel to the longitudinal direction on both sides of the opening 94. The opening 94 between the wiper guide portions 100 has an opening size in which the cap 24 can be projected and retracted. Therefore, the width of the opening 94 is slightly larger than the width of the base plate portion 72b (FIG. 50) to which the cap 24 is fixed. The lower surface of the wiper guide portion 100 is wiper regulating surfaces 100a and 100b in which portions excluding both ends in the longitudinal direction are formed wide. The distance between the wiper regulating surfaces 100a and 100b is smaller than the maximum width of the tip of the wiper 25, that is, the width of the guide portion 231b of the wiper 25, and the guide portion 231b of the wiper 25 is positioned on both sides of the opening 94. The wiper restricting surfaces 100a and 100b are prevented from moving upward. Of the five wiper guide portions 100, the wiper regulating surface 100a, which is the lower surface of the two end portions, lifts the head guide unit 90 during the wiping process by the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) as shown in FIG. Also serves as a contact surface.

  After the wiper 25 is guided by the oblique hole 80a from the retracted position and then moves upward, the wiper 25 moves upward as the guide 231b hits the wiper regulating surfaces 100a and 100b when the wiper 25 moves forward by being guided by the horizontal hole 80b. Be regulated. Thus, since the wiper 25 moves forward in a state where the upward movement is restricted by the wiper regulating surfaces 100a and 100b, the wiper 25 moves forward with the blade 25a away from the nozzle forming surface 12a in the forward movement process. To do.

  The distance (opening 94) between the wiper guide portions 100 is relatively wide at the end portions in the longitudinal direction where the wiper regulating surfaces 100a and 100b are not formed, and these portions are the openings 101 and 102. The opening 101 corresponds to a location where the wiper 25 at the start of backward movement is located, and the opening 102 corresponds to a location where the wiper 25 at the end of backward movement is located. At the start of the backward movement, the wiper 25 can move the tip part to the upper side of the wiper guide part 100 through the opening 101 and raise it to a position where it can contact the nozzle forming surface 12a. Once the guide portion 231b is moved upward from the opening 101, the guide portion 231b is positioned on the wiper restricting surfaces 100a and 100b, and the wiper 25 has a width at the front end portion thereof excluding the guide portion 231b of the wiper restricting surfaces 100a and 100b. Since it is narrower than the interval, it is possible to move backward in a posture in which the blade 25a protrudes upward from the wiper guide portion 100 without interfering with the wiper guide portion 100 in the backward movement process. The opening 102 at the end of the backward movement is for the wiper 25 to move the guide portion 231b below the wiper guide portion 100, and the wiper 25 is guided by the oblique hole portion 80a of the first guide hole 80. The guide portion 231b passes through the opening 102 when moving downward.

  Two square plate-shaped guide rail portions 95 extend downward at both ends in the width direction on the front side (right side in FIG. 56A) of the head guide unit 90. The two guide rail portions 95 are inserted into a pair of left and right rail guide portions 76 formed at the front left and right ends of the cap base frame 72 constituting the holder 23, and the head guide unit 90 is moved up and down with respect to the holder 23. It is configured to be slidable in the direction.

  At both ends in the longitudinal direction of the wiper guide portion 100, a first restricting portion 103 is formed at a position corresponding to the opening 101, and a second restricting portion 104 is formed at a position corresponding to the opening 102. The first restricting portion 103 and the second restricting portion 104 are located slightly above the wiper restricting surfaces 100a and 100b, and are provided in pairs for each of the openings 101 and 102 (only one is shown in FIG. 5A). The lower surfaces of the distal ends of the first restricting portion 103 and the second restricting portion 104 are formed on slopes that become higher toward the distal ends.

  57 (a) and 57 (b) show both end portions of the wiper guide part, FIG. 57 (a) is a perspective view of the main part showing the vicinity of the backward movement start position of the wiper, and FIG. It is a principal part perspective view which shows the backward movement end position vicinity.

  The distance between the pair of first restricting portions 103 located on both sides of the opening 94 (opening 101) is narrower than the width of the guide portion 231b portion of the wiper 25. When the wiper 25 starts to move backward, the guide portion 231b is 1 It is possible to contact the restricting portion 103.

  For this reason, when the guide part 231b regulated by the wiper regulation surfaces 100a and 100b, which is the lower surface of the wiper guide part 100, is displaced upward from the opening 101, the first displacement part 103 is brought into contact with the guide part 231b and the upward displacement amount is increased. Be regulated.

  At both ends of the wiper guide portion 100 in the axial direction, first restricting portions 103 for restricting the upward movement of the wiper 25 project from both sides of the shaft. When the wiper 25 rises upward at the opening 101, it hits the first restricting portion 103 and the upward movement is temporarily restricted. When the wiper 25 rises up around the first restricting portion 103, the blade 25a comes into contact with the edge of the recording head 12, and the blade 25a is damaged, and the wiping performance is deteriorated. Therefore, the position of the wiper 25 is temporarily restricted when the backward movement of the wiper 25 is started, and the wiping start position that contacts the nozzle forming surface 12a is positioned. That is, the wiping start position is adjusted so that the wiper 25 does not hit the edge of the recording head 12. Thereby, a member for hiding the edge of the recording head 12 becomes unnecessary.

  Since the recording head 12 constituting the recording head system 11 of the present embodiment forms the nozzle array 13 over the widest possible range with respect to the width in the nozzle array direction of the nozzle forming surface 12a, the edge of the recording head and the nozzle array The gap is relatively narrow. For this reason, when wiping the nozzle array 13, if the distance between the end of the nozzle array 13 and the wiping start position is set to a value that is normally used, the wiper 25 can hit the edge of the recording head 12 at the wiping start position. The property becomes extremely high. However, in this embodiment, since the maintenance device 20 side temporarily regulates the wiping start position by temporarily regulating the upward movement immediately after the backward movement by the first restricting unit 103, the wiper 25 hits the edge. Can be avoided. For this reason, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6B, a pair of edges perpendicular to the nozzle row direction among the four edges of the recording head 12 are protected by providing an opening in the nozzle plate 12c. Not.

  Then, as the wiper 25 moves in the backward movement direction after the end of the forward movement, the guide portion 231b gradually rises along the inclined surface 103a of the first restricting portion 103, and when the wiper 25 moves away from the inclined surface 103a, the upper surface of the wiper guide portion 100 Further, the blade 25a is configured to move to a position where it can protrude. This is because the nozzle row 13 is formed to a position very close to the edge of the recording head 12, and the blade 25a of the wiper 25 is moved from the front side at a distance normally used when wiping the nozzle row 13 to the nozzle formation surface. When trying to contact 12a, when the wiper 25 starts moving backward, the blade 25a hits the edge. In order to avoid this, the blade 25 a can start contact with the recording head 12 from a position on the nozzle forming surface 12 a inside the edge of the recording head 12.

  When the wiper 25 finishes moving backward, the guide portion 231b of the wiper 25 hits the slope 104a of the second restricting portion 104, and the wiper 25 is retracted downward through the opening 102 while being slidably guided by the slope 104a. ing. At this time, the position of the second restricting portion 104 is set so that the wiper 25 is separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a immediately before the blade 25a after wiping the nozzle row 13 reaches the edge of the recording head 12. Therefore, it is avoided that the blade 25a elastically deformed by contacting the nozzle forming surface 12a with a predetermined contact pressure is released by the elastic deformation at the edge of the recording head 12, and the wiper 25 scrapes off the ink and the like. It becomes the composition which is done.

  FIG. 58 is a plan view when the head guide units are arranged in a staggered manner. The head guide unit 90 has a substantially octagonal shape in plan view with a corner portion cut into a tapered shape. That is, the plate-like frame portion on which the pair of guide portions 92 facing each other in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cap 24 (longitudinal direction of the opening 94) is directed from both sides of the guide portion 92 toward both ends. A chamfered portion 105 that is chamfered in an oblique shape in plan view with a narrow width is formed. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the maintenance device 20 is arranged in a staggered manner corresponding to the staggered arrangement of the recording heads 12, each of the head guide unit 90 arranged at an angle and the head guide unit 90 of its own. Since the chamfered portions 105 face each other in parallel in a plan view, the head guide units 90 can be arranged close to each other, and therefore the interval between the two rows of maintenance devices 20 arranged in a staggered manner can be shortened. Thereby, the recording heads 12 arranged in a staggered manner can be arranged close to each other in the inter-row direction. That is, a concave portion with a valley shape in a plan view formed by two adjacent chamfered portions 105 of two adjacent head guide units 90 and a mountain shape formed by two chamfered portions 105 of the head guide units 90 in other rows. The head guide units 90 can be arranged close to each other in the inter-row direction. Therefore, in order for the head guide unit 90 to be guided by the recording head 12, the guide portion 92 protrudes outside the recording head 12, but the recording head 12 can be disposed close to the row direction. Therefore, since the recording head 12 and the maintenance device 20 can be arranged close to each other in the inter-row direction, the printer of this embodiment is configured to be relatively small in the inter-row direction.

  Next, the operation of the wiper will be described. 59 and 60 are side views for explaining the operation of the wiper when wiping is selected. Hereinafter, the operation of the wiper when wiping is selected will be described with reference to FIGS. 59 (a) to 59 (c) and FIGS. 60 (a) to 60 (d).

  FIG. 59A shows a state where the wiper is in the retracted position. When wiping is selected, the selection cam 121 is at a position where the lift cam movable plate 152 is in contact with the wiping cam surface 147 (see FIG. 20), and the lift plate base 151 is disposed at the highest position. When the wiper 25 is in the retracted position, the wiper 25 is retracted to a position away from the recording head 12 by being guided by the oblique hole 80a.

  FIG. 59B shows the forward movement start position of the wiper. The wiper 25 is guided to the oblique hole 80a and ascends to the forward movement start position. At this time, the wiper holding lever 235 comes into contact with the base surface 151 a of the lift plate base 151. The wiper 25 tries to take a rising posture in which the tip end side (blade 25a side) is raised due to the pressure applied by the wiper pressing spring 238. However, the guide portion 231b abuts against the wiper regulating surface 100b and the upward movement is regulated. Is done. For this reason, the wiper 25 is held in a tilted posture in which the tip end side is slightly lowered, and the blade 25 a is disposed at a position lower than the wiper guide portion 100.

  FIG. 59 (c) shows the forward movement process of the wiper. In the forward movement process, the wiper 25 moves forward while maintaining the tilted posture in which the guide portion 231b is in contact with the wiper regulating surface 100b. For this reason, the wiper 25 moves forward in a posture in which the blade 25a is kept away from the nozzle forming surface 12a.

  FIG. 60A shows a state at the end of the forward movement of the wiper. When the wiper 25 finishes the forward movement, the wiper 25 reaches a position corresponding to the opening 101. The guide portion 231b comes off from the wiper restricting surface 100b and rises from this state so as to raise the tip end side by the pressure of the wiper pressing spring 238. However, the guide portion 231b comes into contact with the first restricting portion 103. Become. For this reason, even if it stands up as it is, the blade 25a is separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a.

  FIG. 60B shows a state when the wiper starts moving backward. When the backward movement starts, the guide portion 231b is in contact with the lower surface of the first restricting portion 103. When the wiper 25 starts moving forward, the guide portion 231b moves along the lower surface of the first restricting portion 103, and the guide In the process in which the portion 231b moves on the slope 103a (see FIG. 57A), the wiper 25 gradually rises. Along with this, the blade 25a gradually rises and protrudes upward from the upper surface of the wiper guide portion 100 to contact the nozzle forming surface 12a. When the guide portion 231b is separated from the inclined surface 103a, the blade 25a comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a with a substantially constant wiping pressure.

  FIG. 60 (c) shows the backward movement process of the wiper. In the backward movement process, the wiper 25 moves forward from the right end side to the left end side in the drawing while maintaining the rising posture in which the blade 25a contacts the nozzle forming surface 12a with a substantially constant wiping pressure. By the wiping by the wiper 25 performed in the forward movement process, the ink remaining in the peripheral area of the corresponding nozzle row 13 on the nozzle forming surface 12a is scraped off.

  FIG. 60D shows the end of the backward movement of the wiper. At the end of the backward movement, the guide portion 231b comes into contact with the second restricting portion 104, and the guide portion 231b gradually moves downward along the inclined surface 104a shown in FIG. Accordingly, the blade 25a gradually descends after the wiping of the nozzle row 13 is finished, and is separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a before reaching the edge of the recording head 12. In this way, ink splashes and the like caused by the elastic deformation at the time of wiping the blade 25a being released at the edge are suppressed. Then, the wiper 25 is guided by the oblique hole 80a and is rotated so as to raise the tip while being lowered, and is disposed at the retracted position shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the wiper when wiping is not selected will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 61A shows a state in the retracted position. The selection cam 121 is in a position where the lift cam movable plate 152 contacts the non-selection cam surface 138 (see FIG. 40), and the lift plate base 151 is in the lowered position. For this reason, the space | interval of the lift board base 151 and the wiper guide part 100 becomes relatively wide.

  FIG. 61B shows an example of the forward movement process or the double movement process of the wiper. In the forward movement process, the wiper holding lever 235 is separated from the base surface 151 a of the lift plate base 151. For this reason, the wiper 25 is in a freely rotatable state. The wiper 25 moves forward in a state where the guide portion 231b is separated from or slightly in contact with the wiper regulating surface 100b.

  FIG. 61 (c) shows a state at the start of backward movement. At the start of backward movement, the guide portion 231b is disposed at a position corresponding to the opening 101. However, since the wiper pressing lever 235 is separated from the base surface 151a and no pressure is applied, the wiper 25 does not rise. For this reason, in the backward movement process, the guide portion 231b passes below the wiper regulating surface 100b, and the wiper 25 moves backward. That is, the wiper 25 moves backward while the blade 25a is separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a. When the backward movement is completed, the wiper 25 is returned to the retracted position by being guided by the oblique hole 80a.

  Next, the operation of the four wipers will be described. 62 and 63 are perspective views for explaining the wiping operation. 62 (a) is the wiper retracted state, FIG. 62 (b) is the wiper forward movement process, FIG. 63 (a) is the state at the start of wiper backward movement, and FIG. 63 (b) is the state at the end of wiper backward movement. Respectively. 62 and 63, when the four wipers 25 are used as the first to fourth wipers in order from the front side, the second and fourth wipers are wiping selection rows, and the first and third wipers are wiped. A case of a non-selected column (hereinafter simply referred to as a non-selected column) is shown as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 62A, the wiper 25 is in the retracted position before the start of wiping, and the head guide unit 90 is in the standby position that is displaced upward relative to the holder 23 by the urging force of the wire spring 98. . When the wiper drive lever 223 is driven after the idle suction is completed, the wiper 25 is guided upward by the inclined hole portion 80a and is displaced upward. After the upward displacement, the forward movement is started.

  At the start of the forward movement of the wiper 25, which is a timing slightly before the state shown in FIG. 62B, the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) is moved to the head when the wiper 25 is moved up by being guided by the inclined hole 80a. The guide unit 90 is pushed up. Therefore, when the wiper 25 starts to move forward, the head guide unit 90 is displaced relatively upward from the holder 23, and the wiper guide 93 comes into close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12 a of the recording head 12. For the wiper 25 selected to be wiped at this time, since the wiper holding lever 235 is in contact with the base surface 151a at the highest position, the upward biasing force acting on the wiper 25 is also an assisting force to push up the head guide unit 90. work.

  In the wiper forward movement process shown in FIG. 62 (b), the wiper 25 abuts against the lower surface (wiper regulating surfaces 100a, 100b) of the wiper guide portion 100 and the upward movement is regulated, so that the four wipers 25 are wipers. The lower side of the guide unit 100 moves forward. For this reason, in the forward movement process of the wiper 25, the four wipers 25 move forward in a state of being separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a regardless of the difference between wiping selection and non-selection.

  Next, at the start of the wiper backward movement shown in FIG. 63 (a), the second and fourth wipers 25 in the wiping selection row pass through the opening 101 by the urging force given by the wiper pressing lever 235 contacting the base surface 151a. Get up and take a posture. On the other hand, since the wiper pressing lever 235 is separated from the base surface 151a in the first and third wipers 25 in the non-selected row, the wiper 25 remains tilted. At the start of the forward movement, the wiper 25 of the wiping selection is gradually moved upward while being guided by the slope 103a while being regulated by the first regulating unit 103 shown in FIG. The position where the guided wiper 25 contacts the nozzle forming surface 12 a, that is, the wiping start position is a position on the nozzle forming surface 12 a that is slightly away from the edge of the recording head 12. For this reason, when the wiper 25 starts the wiping operation, the blade 25a does not hit the edge of the recording head 12, and the blade 25a is not easily damaged. Thus, when the four wipers 25 are moved back, the wipers 25 in the wiping selection row move forward in a state where the blades 25a are in contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a with a predetermined contact pressure, thereby corresponding nozzles on the nozzle forming surface 12a. The row 13 (specifically, the peripheral area of the nozzle row 13 including the contact area between the nozzle row 13 and the cap 24) is wiped off. By wiping by the wiper 25 in this wiping selection row, ink remaining in the periphery of the nozzle is removed, and the meniscus of the ink in the nozzle subjected to suction / empty suction is adjusted. If ink or the like remains in the vicinity of the nozzle, there is a problem that the liquid ejected from the nozzle comes into contact with the remaining ink or the like and becomes a resistance to shift the flight direction of the droplet. A drop in the flight direction of the droplets can be prevented. On the other hand, the wiper 25 in the non-selected row moves below the wiper guide portion 100 in the same manner as the forward movement process, and moves backward with the blade 25a separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 63 (b), at the end of the wiper backward movement, the wiper 25 in the wiping selection row abuts against the second restricting portion 104 shown in FIG. 57 (b) and is guided by the inclined surface 104a. Evacuate downward from In this way, the wiper 25 in the wiping selection row is guided to the second restricting portion 104, so that the position where the wiper 25 after wiping is separated from the recording head 12 is the nozzle forming surface 12a in front of the edge of the recording head 12. The position is adjusted to the upper position. As a result, ink splashing caused by the elastic deformation of the blade 25a at the time of wiping being released at the edge of the recording head 12 is suppressed, and for example, splashed ink etc. on other recording heads 12 is prevented. it can. On the other hand, the wiper 25 in the non-selected row does not wipe the corresponding nozzle row 13, so that it is possible to prevent destruction of the meniscus of the ink in the nozzle caused by wiping the nozzle that has not been subjected to suction cleaning. In other words, the position and shape of the ink meniscus in the nozzle affects the amount of liquid droplets to be ejected thereafter, but the meniscus is not destroyed and is stable even for nozzles that have not been subjected to suction cleaning. Can be injected.

<Operation description of maintenance device>
FIG. 64 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the maintenance device together with the selection operation by the selection unit. One cycle of cleaning performed by the maintenance device 20 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 64 illustrates an example in which, for example, the third nozzle row 13 corresponding to the third selection cam 123 among the four nozzle rows is determined to be normal and suction selection is not necessary. The figure shows a state of a contact point shift with respect to the cam surface of the cam follower portion 152b corresponding to each of the selection cams 121 to 124 when the rotation control of the selection cams 121 to 124 is performed. The rotation control of the selection cams 121 to 124 is performed by the controller 27 performing rotational drive control of the electric motor 30 based on the detection signal from the defective nozzle detection device 28.

  In the standby state of the maintenance device 20, each position on the cam surface where the four cam follower portions 152b come into contact becomes the initial position. In the figure, the initial position of the first selection cam 121 (the rotation angle of the selection cam 121 when the cam follower portion 152b is in contact with the initial position shown in FIG. 20) is set to “0 degree”, and is relative to the initial position. The counter cams 121 to 124 in the counterclockwise direction (forward rotation direction) in FIG. 19 are positive, and the clockwise direction (reverse rotation direction) is negative. The lift amount of the lift plate base 151 corresponding to the height of the contact point of each cam follower portion 152b is shown on the vertical axis. In the same figure, the vertical axis indicates the lifted state of the cleaning mechanism 22 with respect to the horizontal axis indicating the rotation angle of the selection cams 121 to 124, and the lock mechanism 170 is The unlocked state is shown on the vertical axis. Further, the flow of one cleaning cycle is shown at the final stage in FIG.

  In the stage before the start of cleaning, the cam surface with which the cam follower portions 152b of the lift mechanisms 154 to 157 come into contact depends on the previous cleaning. In the previous cleaning, the cam follower portion 152b in the selected row is engaged with the initial position on the wiping cam surface 147, and the cam follower portion 152b in the non-selected row is engaged with the initial position on the non-selected cam surface 138 (see FIG. 19). ing. In the example of the figure, it is assumed that all four are selected rows in the previous cleaning and the cam follower portion 152b is in contact with the initial position on the wiping cam surface 147.

  When the electric motor 30 is driven to rotate forward along with the start of cleaning, the selection cam group 135 starts to rotate normally from the initial position rotation angle “0 °”. By the normal rotation of the selection cams 121 to 124, the cam follower portions 152 b in the row that was the initial position on the wiping cam surface 147 descend along the descending surface 148 and reach the common cam surface 137. On the other hand, the cam follower portion 152b in the row whose initial position is on the non-selection cam surface 138 moves on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 129 and also moves on the common cam surface 137. Thereby, all the cam follower parts 152b move on the common cam surface 137. At this time, the four lift plate bases 151 are all disposed at the lowered position (lift amount L1). At this time, since the cam surfaces of the selection cams 121 to 124 are shifted by 20 °, the cam follower portion 152b descends the descending surface 148 with a delay of 20 ° in the order of the first to fourth selection cams 121 to 124. And reaches the lift amount L1.

  First, the cam follower portion 152b (first cam follower portion) corresponding to the first selection cam 121 reaches the first selection position. Then, the controller 27 adds suction selection control (lift lift selection control) for switching the electric motor 30 from normal rotation to reverse rotation and returning to normal rotation again ((2) in FIG. 64). As a result, the cam follower portion 152b corresponding to the first selection cam 121 is moved in the order shown in FIGS. 23A, 23C, and 23D by the rotation control for selection of the selection cam 121 by the suction cam. The height rises to a height at which the surface 141 abuts.

  The electric motor 30 continues normal rotation even after the previous suction selection control is completed. Next, when the cam follower portion 152b corresponding to the second selection cam 122 reaches the first selection position, the controller 27 applies the suction selection control to the electric motor 30 again. As a result, the second cam follower portion 152b rises to a height at which it abuts against the suction cam surface 141. Similarly, when suction is selected for the third and fourth selection cams 123 and 124, suction selection control is similarly applied, and the corresponding cam follower portions 152b are raised to a height at which they abut against the suction cam surface 141. To do.

  Thus, after the first cam follower portion 152b reaches the first selection position after the start of the normal rotation of the selection cam group 135, the next selection cam reaches the first selection position every time the selection cam group 135 rotates forward by 20 degrees. Therefore, when selecting suction, suction selection control is performed at a timing of about 20 degrees. However, in this example, the nozzle row 13 corresponding to the third selection cam 123 is normal and there is no need for suction selection. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 64, the third selection cam 123 corresponds to the corresponding cam follower portion 152b (third Even if the cam follower part) reaches the first selection position, the suction selection control is not applied, and the third selection cam 123 continues normal rotation as it is. When all of the first to fourth cam follower portions 152b have passed the first selection position, the electric motor continues to rotate forward, and when the selection cam 121 does not mesh with the selection intermediate gear 37 by the missing tooth portion 128b, the selection cam group 135 Forward rotation stops.

  Thus, the lift plate bases 151 of the first, second, and fourth rows are arranged at the lift position of the lift amount L2, and the lift plate base 151 of the third row remains arranged at the descending position of the lift amount L1. For example, when the first nozzle row is defective and the second to fourth nozzle rows are normal, only the lift plate base 151 corresponding to the first selection cam 121 is shown in FIGS. 16B and 17. Is arranged at the raised position, and the other three lift plate bases 151 are all arranged at the lowered position. If suction selection is required for the third nozzle row as well, suction selection control is applied when the first selection position is reached, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG.

  When the lift plate base 151 is disposed at the raised position, the valve lever 153 is disposed at the position of the pushing amount “0” (P2), and the valve pressurizing body 191 is not pushed in (FIG. 41). As a result, in the valve unit 190, the suction flow path valve 210 connected to the cap 24 in the selected row is opened, and the atmospheric flow path valve 216 is closed at the first position. On the other hand, when the lift plate base 151 is disposed at the lowered position, the valve lever 153 is disposed at the position where the pushing amount is “maximum” (FIG. 40). In this case, in the valve unit 190, the suction flow path valve 210 connected to the cap 24 in the non-selected row is closed and the atmospheric flow path valve 216 is in the open state.

<Operation of lifting mechanism>
On the other hand, as a result of the normal rotation of the electric motor 30, the cleaning mechanism 22 rises. When the selection cam group 135 rotates in the forward rotation direction from the initial position, the first convex portion 123a for lifting power transmission formed on the back surface side (side surface side opposite to the cam portion 130) of the third selection cam 123 lifts. The pin 54a at the tip of the lever 54 is pushed to push the lift lever 54 downward. As a result, the axial center height of the selection cam group 135 is separated from the tip end of the pressure adjustment shaft 53, and the entire cleaning mechanism 22 having the holder 23 containing the selection cam group 135 is raised.

  Suction is performed in this state in which the selected cam group 135 is rotated in the forward rotation direction by about 270 degrees from the initial position. At this time, the cleaning mechanism 22 is in the raised position (FIG. 28). The head guide unit 90 comes into contact with the recording head 12 while the cleaning mechanism 22 reaches the raised position, so that the head guide unit 90 is positioned with respect to the recording head 12 (FIG. 31). Further, since the head guide unit 90 is restricted from further rising after contacting the recording head 12, the holder 23 portion of the cleaning mechanism 22 is further raised. As a result, the four caps 24 protrude upward from the lattice openings 94 of the wiper guide 93 and come into contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a of the recording head 12 (FIGS. 32B and 33). In a state where the cap 24 is in contact with the recording head 12, the positioning projection 97 of the head guide unit 90 is engaged with the positioning recess 78 on the holder 23 side, whereby the cleaning mechanism 22 is positioned with respect to the recording head 12 ( FIG. 32 (a)).

  After the cap 24 abuts, the force for further raising the cleaning mechanism 22 becomes a reaction force and pushes the pressure adjustment shaft 53 into the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 via the lift lever 54. As a result, the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is pushed downward against the urging force of the compression spring 55 (see FIGS. 27 and 28). At this time, the position of the recording head 12 is adjusted to a height position at which a platen gap corresponding to the paper thickness of the recording paper is secured by the platen gap adjusting mechanism. For this reason, the protruding amount of the pressure adjusting shaft 53 from the pressure adjusting shaft holder 52 is a value corresponding to the platen gap at that time. That is, when the platen gap is large, the lift amount until the head guide unit 90 abuts against the recording head 12 becomes long. Therefore, when the platen gap is small, the amount of protrusion of the pressure adjustment shaft 53 is large. The amount becomes smaller.

  The pressure adjustment shaft 53 can slide in the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 in the vertical direction, and the pressure adjustment shaft 53 is pressurized by a compression spring 55 between the pressure adjustment shaft 53 and the base frame 31 side. Therefore, even if the distance (gap) between the recording head 12 and the maintenance device 20 changes, the interference can be absorbed by the operation of the pressure adjustment shaft 53.

  The suction pump 40 is driven in a state where the four caps 24 are in pressure contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. That is, the electric motor 30 continues normal rotation even after the four cam follower parts 152b reach the position at the time of suction, and the suction pump 40 starts from the stage where the electric motor 30 has completed normal rotation by a predetermined amount from the start of normal rotation. Is started. This is because the delay mechanism is incorporated so that the shaft of the pump gear 40a of the suction pump 40 is engaged with the pump shaft after rotating by a predetermined rotation amount of less than one rotation.

  Thereby, for example, a negative pressure is introduced into the cap 24 that is selected for suction at the timing immediately after the cap 24 comes into close contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. On the other hand, no negative pressure is introduced into the cap 24 opened to the atmosphere. As a result, the suction cleaning of the nozzle row 13 is selectively performed only in the cap 24 selected by the selection unit 110 for suction. In this suction process, the electric motor 30 continues to rotate normally, but when the missing tooth portion 128b of the first selection cam 121 faces the selection intermediate gear 37, the rotation of the selection cam group 135 stops at a rotation angle of about 270 °. Then, only the friction gear 126 is idle. In this way, the suction cleaning is performed only for the time required ((5) in FIGS. 24 and 64).

<Suction → Empty suction>
When the suction cleaning end time is reached, the forward drive of the electric motor 30 is stopped. When the suction cleaning of the selected nozzle row is completed in this way, the idle suction operation is next performed on the nozzle row 13 after the suction. Next, the controller 27 controls the drive of the electric motor 30 so that the contact point of the cam follower portion 152b in the suction selection row shifts to the idle suction cam surface 144. The selection cam group 135 at the rotation angle (about 270 °) during suction starts to reverse. At the start of the reverse rotation, the second selection cam 122 receives the frictional engagement force from the friction gear 126 and uses this as an auxiliary force, and the selection cam group 135 starts the reverse rotation. After the selection cam group 135 starts reverse rotation, when the four cam follower portions 152b have passed through the second selection positions, the reverse rotation is switched to the normal rotation.

  That is, when the state of suction shown in FIG. 24 (a) is reversed in the direction of the arrow (1) in FIG. 24 (b), the cam follower portion 152b reaches the second selection position, climbs the return surface 142 and climbs the cam surface. 145 is reached. At this time, as shown in FIG. 64, first, the fourth cam follower portion 152b reaches the second selection position and climbs the return surface 142, and further reverses by 40 °, then the second cam follower portion 152b climbs the return surface 142, When the rotation is further reversed by 20 °, the first cam follower portion 152b climbs the return surface 142. When all of the first, second, and fourth cam follower portions 152b in the selected row thus reach the cam surface 145, the rotation is switched to the normal rotation in the direction of the arrow (2) in FIG. 6), (7), (8)). Then, when the normal rotation of the selection cam group 135 is continued, the missing tooth portion 128b of the selection cam 121 comes to face the selection intermediate gear 37 and the normal rotation of the selection cam group 135 is stopped. Note that the third cam follower portion 152b, which is a non-selected row, only moves on the non-selected cam surface 138.

  Further, the selection cam group 135 is reversed by about 70 ° in the process of moving the lift plate base 151 from the suction position to the idle suction position. At this time, the cleaning mechanism 22 is held at the raised position. As shown in FIGS. 27 (c) and 27 (d), as shown in FIG. 27 (d), even when the selection cam 123 is reversed from the raised position shown in FIG. This is because the reverse rotation of about 150 ° is required until the two convex portions 123b come into contact with the pin portion 54a of the lift lever 54, and therefore the cleaning mechanism 22 does not descend from the raised position even if the reverse rotation of less than about 150 ° is applied.

  Thus, the cam follower portion 152b in the selected row reaches the idle suction cam surface 144 that is one step higher from the suction cam surface 141 (FIG. 24C). In this process, since the lift plate base 151 rises from the raised position to the highest raised position, the valve lever 153 is disposed at an intermediate position between “0” and “intermediate” (P3) (FIG. 42). On the other hand, since the cam follower portion 152b of the non-selected row is maintained in contact with the non-selected cam surface 138, the lift plate base 151 is maintained at the lowered position and the valve lever 153 is maintained at the position where the pushing amount is “maximum”. Is done.

  As a result of the valve lever 153 being disposed from the maximum position to the intermediate position, the valve pressurizing body 191 is disposed at the second position (intermediate position), and the valve unit 190 is connected to the suction flow path valve 210 connected to the cap 24 in the selected row. Both air flow path valves 216 are half open. On the other hand, when the valve lever 153 is maintained at the maximum position, in the valve unit 190, the suction flow path valve 210 connected to the cap 24 of the non-selected row is closed and the atmospheric flow path valve 216 is opened. Yes, the cap 24 is opened to the atmosphere.

  In the process in which the selection cam group 135 is controlled to rotate from the suction position to the idle suction position, the cleaning mechanism 22 is held at the raised position, so that the cam follower portion 152b of the selected row is placed on the idle suction cam surface 144. When the abutted empty suction position is reached, the four caps 24 are in contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. Even after the selection cam group 135 stops normal rotation, the electric motor 30 continues normal rotation, and the suction pump 40 is driven to introduce negative pressure into each suction flow path 208 in the valve unit 190. As a result, in the cap 24 in the selected row, the air sucked from the atmospheric tube portion 195 of the valve unit 190 is idled so that the air is sent to the suction pump 40 through the suction tube portion 196. By this empty suction, the ink remaining in the cap 24 and the tube is collected in a waste liquid tank (not shown). In this idle suction process, the electric motor 30 continues to rotate normally, but when the missing tooth portion 128b of the first selection cam 121 faces the selection intermediate gear, the rotation of the selection cam group 135 stops and only the friction gear 126 is idle. To do. Thus, the empty suction is performed for a necessary time ((9) in FIG. 64).

<Operation of locking mechanism>
Next, the operation of the lock mechanism 170 will be described.
When the selection cam group 135 rotates, the stopper cam 171 rotates integrally therewith. When the selected cam group 135 is in the initial position, the stopper lever 172 is in contact with the cam surface 179 at the standby position of the stopper cam 171 (see FIG. 39A). The stopper lever 172 contacts the non-locking cam surface 175 of the stopper cam 171 in the state of suction when the selected cam group 135 rotates forward and the cam follower portion 152b moves to the rotation angle at which the cam follower portion 152b contacts the suction cam surface 141. Are arranged in a vertical posture (see FIG. 39C). Similarly, during the idle suction after the suction, the stopper lever 172 contacts the non-locking cam surface 175 of the stopper cam 171 and the stopper lever 172 is disposed in a vertical position (see FIG. 39C).

  After the idle suction is completed, the controller 27 reverses the electric motor 30 to shift to the next wiping step. The selection cam group 135 is reversed by the reverse rotation of the electric motor 30. By the reverse rotation of the selection cam group 135, the contact point of the stopper lever 172 with the stopper cam 171 climbs the inclined surface 176 and shifts to the lock cam surface 177 (see FIG. 39D). As a result, the stopper lever 172 tilts and the choke ring portion 181 of the choke member 173 is reduced in diameter, and the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is locked by the reduced choke ring portion 181. As shown in FIG. 64, locking by the lock mechanism 170 is performed in a state where the cleaning mechanism 22 is in the raised position, that is, in a state where the cap 24 is in close contact with the recording head 12. The height of the recording head 12 is determined by a platen gap adjusting mechanism (not shown) so as to ensure an appropriate platen gap according to the paper thickness of the recording paper used at that time, and the cap 24 is in a state of being in close contact with the recording head. The amount of protrusion of the pressure adjustment shaft 53 from the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 depends on the platen gap. And the protrusion amount from the pressure adjustment shaft holder 52 of the pressure adjustment shaft 53 depending on this platen gap is fixed by the lock. Note that the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is also temporarily locked when the selection cam group 135 is temporarily reversed in the process of shifting from the suction position to the idle suction position.

  As shown in FIG. 64, after the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is locked, when the reverse rotation of the selection cam group 135 further proceeds, the second projection 123b of the third selection cam 123 eventually lifts as shown in FIG. The pin portion 54a of the lever 54 is pushed, and the cleaning mechanism 22 starts to descend. When the cleaning mechanism 22 starts to descend, the cap 24 first enters the opening 94 of the head guide unit 90 and moves away from the nozzle forming surface 12a. When the elastic deformation of the wire spring 98 is eliminated, the head guide unit 90 is then separated from the recording head 12. Eventually, when the rotation angle of the selection cam 121 reaches a predetermined angle in the vicinity of about 0 °, the missing tooth portion 128b becomes a position facing the selection intermediate gear 37, and the reverse rotation of the selection cam group 135 stops. The descent is complete.

<Wiping operation>
Next, the wiping operation will be described. In the reverse rotation process of the selected cam group 135 after the end of the idle suction, the cam follower portion 152b in the selected row moves in the reverse rotation direction on the idle suction cam surface 144, passes through the second selection position, and further moves to the wiping cam surface 147. Since the wiping cam surface 147 is substantially the same height as the idle suction cam surface 144, the lift plate base 151 is maintained at the highest position (specifically, the lift amount is slightly lower than L3). On the other hand, since the cam follower portions 152b in the non-selected row only move on the non-selected cam surface 138, the lift plate base 151 is maintained at the lowered position.

  At a timing just before the reverse rotation of the selection cam group 135 stops, the rotation transmitting convex portion 121a of the selection cam 121 pushes the receiving surface 221c of the wiper drive gear 221 so that the tooth portion 221a of the wiper drive gear 221 is selected. The wiper drive gear 221 starts to reversely rotate with the stop of the reverse rotation of the selection cam group 135. The wiping operation is started by the reverse rotation of the wiper drive gear 221. Thereafter, the controller 27 drives and controls the electric motor 30 so that the wiper drive gear 221 is reciprocally rotated by about 120 °.

  In the descending process in which the cleaning mechanism 22 descends from the ascending position at the time of suction to the descending position at the time of wiping, the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is locked, so that the compression spring 55 has the cap 24 in contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. The compressed state is maintained. As a result, since the compression spring 55 is not restored when the cleaning mechanism 22 is lowered from the suction state to the wiping state, the nozzle forming surface 12a and the head guide unit at the time of wiping are independent of the value of the platen gap at that time. The interval of 90 is always constant. Thereby, the wiping force by the blade 25a can be made constant. Further, in the present application, the opening angle between the wiper body 230 and the wiper pressing lever 235 is variable by the wiper pressing spring 238. For this reason, since the position of the blade 25a can follow according to the height of the nozzle formation surface 12a at the time of wiping, it can wipe off reliably and the wiping force is also stabilized.

  64, after the reverse rotation is stopped at the start point (about 0 °) of the selection cam group 135, the wiper drive gear 221 is caused to perform the reverse rotation of about 120 ° and the normal rotation of about 120 °, and the wiper 25 One reciprocating wiping operation is performed. First, the electric motor 30 continues the reverse rotation after the reverse rotation of the selection cam group 135, so that the wiper drive gear 221 starts the reverse rotation from the standby position shown in FIG. The wiper drive cam body 225 (226) pushes up the head guide unit 90 at the start of the forward movement shown in FIG. Then, when the wiper drive gear 221 continues to reverse, the state of FIG. 51 (c) is reached and the forward movement is terminated. Thereafter, the rotation of the wiper drive gear 221 is switched from reverse rotation to normal rotation, and the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) holds the wiper drive unit 220 in a lifted state even in the wiping backward movement process. The lift amount of the head guide unit 90 that is lifted with respect to the holder 23 in the reciprocating process of the wiping is uniquely determined from the lift amount determined by being guided by the first guide hole 80 of the wiper drive cam body 225 (226), the posture angle, and the like. It is always constant because it is determined. At this time, the distance from the wiper driving unit 220 to the recording head 12 is always constant regardless of the value of the platen gap because the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is locked with the protruding amount at the time of capping. In the present embodiment, the lift amount of the head guide unit 90 lifted by the wiper drive cam bodies 225 and 226 and the fixed distance from the wiper drive unit 220 to the recording head 12 are matched regardless of the value of the platen gap. For this reason, when the wiper drive cam body 225 (226) lifts the head guide unit 90, the guide portions 91 and 92 are positioned by being fitted to the recording head 12, so that the head guide unit 90 is positioned relative to the recording head 12. Is done.

  Further, during wiping, in the wiper 25 of the selected row in which the lift plate base 151 is lifted, the wiper holding lever 235 abuts against the base surface 151a of the lift plate base 151 and the wiper 25 is pressurized in a direction to lift the tip. Given. On the other hand, in the wiper 25 in the non-selected row in which the lift plate base 151 is lowered, the wiper holding lever 235 does not come into contact with the base surface 151a of the lift plate base 151 or the push-up amount is small even if it comes into contact with the wiper 25. No pressure is applied in the lifting direction.

  In the process in which the wiper drive gear 221 is rotated approximately 120 degrees, the four wipers 25 move forward via the wiper drive lever 223. At this time, even if the four wipers 25 are in a selected row, the upward movement is restricted by the guide portion 231b at the tip of the wiper 25 coming into contact with the lower surface of the wiper guide portion 100 (wiper restricting surfaces 100a and 100b). Therefore, it moves forward through the lower side of the wiper guide portion 100 (FIGS. 59 (c) and 62 (b)). Therefore, at the time of forward movement, the wiper 25 moves forward in a state of being separated from the nozzle forming surface 12a. When the forward movement of the wiper 25 is completed, the guide portion 231b at the tip of the wiper 25 is detached from the wiper restricting surfaces 100a and 100b, and the wiper 25 tries to get up at a position opposite to the opening 101, but comes into contact with the first restricting portion 103 in the middle. Thus, it does not contact the nozzle forming surface 12a.

  Next, in the process in which the wiper drive gear 221 is rotated forward 120 degrees, the four wipers 25 are moved backward via the wiper drive lever 223. The wiper 25 in the selected row gradually rises when the guide portion 231b at the front end is guided along the lower surface of the first restricting portion 103 and guided along the inclined surface 103a (FIG. 57A). It contacts the nozzle forming surface 12a at a position inside the edge (FIG. 60B). Therefore, the position inside the edge of the recording head 12 is the wiping start position, and the blade 25 a does not hit the edge of the recording head 12. As a result, the blade 25a is less likely to be worn or damaged, and stable wiping accuracy can be maintained over a long period of time. The blade 25a may contact the nozzle forming surface 12a from a position corresponding to the edge as long as the blade 25a does not elastically deform when hitting the edge of the recording head 12 at the start of wiping. In this case, the contact pressure during wiping is applied at a position inside the edge.

  Then, as the wiper 25 moves forward, the blades 25a of the wipers 25 in the selected row slide while being in pressure contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a, so that wiping is selectively performed (FIG. 60C). On the other hand, since no pressure is applied to the wiper 25 in the non-selected row, the pressure is such that the lower surface side of the wiper guide portion 100 moves backward or even if it passes through the upper surface side, it comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a. Since there is not, it moves backward in the state spaced apart from the nozzle formation surface 12a (FIG.61 (b)).

  When the wiper 25 finishes moving backward, the wiper 25 in the selected row lowers the tip end side by having the guide portion 231b at the tip abut against the second restricting portion 104 and guiding the guide portion 231b along the slope 104a. Tilt your posture gradually. For this reason, the blade 25 a is separated from the nozzle forming surface 12 a before reaching the edge of the recording head 12. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the ink that has been scraped off from being splashed at the edge of the recording head 12 due to the release of the elastic deformation at the time of wiping the blade 25a.

  Thereafter, the wiper 25 that has finished returning is guided by the first guide shaft portion 225b to the inclined hole portion 80a of the first guide hole 80, and the wiper 25 is retracted away from the nozzle forming surface 12a. At the end of wiping, just before the wiper drive gear 221 completes normal rotation, the receiving surface 221c pushes the rotation transmitting convex portion 121a, so that the tooth portion 128a of the selection cam 121 meshes with the selection intermediate gear 37. When the driving of the electric motor 30 is stopped in this way, one cycle of cleaning is completed. At the end of cleaning, the selection cam group 135 has been returned to the initial position with a rotation angle of 0 °. At this time, since the contact points of all four cam followers are the positions where they have returned to the initial cam surface, the lock mechanism 170 is in the locked state.

  Thus, even after the cleaning is completed, the pressure adjusting shaft 53 is held in a locked state. Therefore, when the maintenance device 20 is disposed immediately below the recording head 12 so that the cap 24 is in a positional relationship facing the nozzle row 13 at the flushing time thereafter, the nozzle forming surface 12a and the cap 24 Is always kept constant regardless of the value of the platen gap. For this reason, since the interval between the nozzle forming surface 12a and the cap 24 during flushing is always constant, a gap (gap) suitable for flushing can be secured, and droplets during flushing can leak out of the cap 24. Low. For example, when the pressure adjustment shaft 53 is not locked, the gap at the time of flushing changes according to the value of the platen gap. The gap is wide when the platen gap is large, and the gap is narrow when the platen gap is small. Become. For example, when flushing is performed in a state where the gap is wide, the distance to the cap 24 becomes long, and the droplets are sprayed and scattered, thereby contaminating the inside of the printer casing. In addition, if flushing is performed in a state where the gap is narrow, there is a concern that the droplets bounce back to the cap 24 and contaminate the nozzle forming surface 12a. However, with the configuration of the present embodiment, the gap is always kept constant, so that the above contamination due to flushing can be avoided.

  In addition, the controller 27 selectively drives the nozzle row 13 including the ejection failure nozzle by driving the electric motor 30 for the maintenance device 20 in which the ejection failure nozzle is detected among the plurality of maintenance devices 20. The electric motor 30 is not driven for the maintenance device 20 that is cleaned but no defective nozzle is detected.

As described above in detail, according to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) A nozzle group consisting of all nozzles of the recording head system 11 is divided for each recording head 12, and one maintenance device 20 is arranged for each recording head 12 which is one of the divided areas. For this reason, the number of nozzles to be suctioned by one cap 24 is relatively small for the length of the head row (that is, the nozzle group), and one cap length of the bubble generation range generated during suction in the cap 24 The hit ratio can be made relatively small. Therefore, the generation of bubbles can be suppressed by the effect of the cap division. In addition, wiping by the wiper 25 is performed for each recording head 12 in which the nozzle group is divided in the nozzle row direction. Therefore, if wiping is performed simultaneously between the recording heads 12, the entire longitudinal direction of the recording head system 11 is wiped with a common wiper. The time required for wiping can be shortened as compared with the configuration.

  In this embodiment, instead of using the long recording head, a nozzle array obtained by dividing the nozzle group into a plurality of nozzle groups in the longitudinal direction (nozzle array direction) can be used. The recording head system 11 was configured by staggering the recording heads 12 having the short dimensions. In this case, it is inevitable that nozzles cannot be formed at the peripheral edges of both ends of one recording head 12 in the nozzle row direction. Even if the nozzle can be formed to the edge of the nozzle forming surface, when the cap 24 contacts the nozzle forming surface 12a, a nozzle that cannot be sealed due to the cap 24 contacting the nozzle opening is generated. For this reason, a nozzle non-formation region is necessary and inevitable at the peripheral portion of the nozzle formation surface 12a. In this case, if the recording heads 12 are simply arranged in a row, a dot non-formation region where dots cannot be formed occurs due to the absence of nozzles around the joints between the heads. Therefore, by arranging a plurality of recording heads 12 in a staggered manner, the projection nozzle rows when the nozzle rows 13 of each recording head 12 are projected onto a virtual line parallel to the nozzle row direction are continuously connected at a predetermined nozzle pitch. Thus, even when the recording head system 11 is a non-scanning system, dots can be formed over the range of the maximum paper width. As a result, even when the recording head system 11 is a non-scanning method, printing over the maximum paper width range and capping by the cap 24 for each divided region, that is, for each recording head 12, are made compatible.

  (2) Each of the maintenance regions obtained by dividing the plurality of nozzle rows of each recording head 12 into a plurality (four divisions) in a direction orthogonal to the nozzle row direction is independently cleaned by the plurality of rows of caps 24 and wipers 25. . With respect to the nozzle row 13 (maintenance area) in which there is no defective nozzle, it is possible to select not to perform cleaning, and to perform cleaning only for the nozzle row 13 including the defective nozzle. If the nozzle row 13 having no ejection failure nozzle is selected as not performing cleaning, for example, wasteful consumption of ink consumed by suction cleaning that is not used for printing can be suppressed. At this time, not only execution / non-execution of cleaning is selected between the nozzle rows 13 that eject ink of different colors, but also execution / non-execution of cleaning is selected between the nozzle rows 13 that eject ink of the same color. The

(3) Since the cap 24 and the wiper 25 are provided for each nozzle row 13 that ejects ink of the same color, ink color mixing is unlikely to occur.
(4) Since the maintenance device 20 includes the head guide unit 90 (positioning means) for positioning the cap 24 and the wiper 25 on the corresponding recording head 12, the recording corresponding to the head guide unit 90 during suction cleaning and wiping is performed. The cap 24 and the wiper 25 are positioned with respect to the recording head 12 by being fitted to the side surface of the head 12. Therefore, the cap 24 can capping the corresponding nozzle row 13 with high positional accuracy, and the wiper 25 can wipe the corresponding nozzle row 13 with high positional accuracy. Further, since the positional accuracy of the cleaning is improved as described above, it is possible to reduce the size such as the width of the cap 24 and the wiper 25 necessary for cleaning the nozzle rows 13 having different ink colors. Therefore, by adopting the relatively small cap 24 and the wiper 25, the cap 24 and the wiper 25 are provided for each nozzle row 13, but it is not necessary to increase the size of the recording head 12.

  (5) The head guide unit 90 as positioning means having the guide portions 91 and 92 has a chamfered portion in which a portion corresponding to a corner of a polygon (rectangle) that is a surface shape of the nozzle forming surface 12a of the recording head 12 is chamfered. 105 was formed. Then, in the two adjacent head guide units 90, the valley-shaped concave portion formed by the two chamfered portions 105 adjacent to each other and the mountain-shaped convex portion formed by the two chamfered portions 105 of one head guide unit 90 are engaged with each other. A plurality of maintenance devices 20 were arranged. When arranging a plurality of maintenance devices 20 constituting the maintenance system 10, the head guide unit 90 that needs to be formed in a size that fits the recording head 12 is an obstacle to arranging the maintenance devices 20 as close as possible. Cheap. However, due to the presence of the chamfered portion 105 of the head guide unit 90, the plurality of maintenance devices 20 are arranged in a state where the concave portions and the convex portions are engaged with each other, thereby reducing the distance between the centers of the plurality of maintenance devices 20 relatively. be able to. For this reason, it is possible to realize both the effects of improving the positioning accuracy of the cap 24 and the wiper 25 with respect to the recording head 12 by the head guide unit 90 and reducing the size of the maintenance system 10 and the recording head system 11 due to the close arrangement of the maintenance device 20.

  (6) In the maintenance device 20, the suction pump 40, which is a negative pressure source, protrudes outside the head guide unit 90 in a plan view on the side surface where the corresponding recording head 12 is not adjacent to the other recording head 12. Arranged. The other three sides can be arranged in substantially adjacent states so that the distance between the centers of the other maintenance devices 20 can be shortened. Therefore, a staggered arrangement is possible in which the maintenance devices 20 are arranged in two rows by shifting the protruding sides by a half pitch in the nozzle row direction in a state where the protruding sides are attached to each other. Since the maintenance device 20 can be arranged in a staggered arrangement in a substantially adjacent state, the center-to-center distance when the recording heads 12 are arranged in a staggered arrangement can be relatively shortened. Further, by arranging the suction pump 40 having a relatively large physique among the components of the maintenance device 20 in parallel with the cleaning mechanism 22, the height of the maintenance device 20 can be kept relatively low. When equipped, the height of the printer can be kept low.

  (7) When a defective discharge nozzle is detected by the defective nozzle detection device 28 as detection means, the selection unit 110 cleans the cap 24 and the wiper 25 corresponding to the nozzle row 13 including the detected defective discharge nozzle. It was set as the structure which controls the electric motor 30 of each maintenance apparatus 20 so that it may select as what should be made. The maintenance device 20 is configured to drive the selection unit 110, the suction pump 40, the valve unit 190, the cap 24 and the wiper 25 with one common electric motor 30. Therefore, the controller 27 as a control means only needs to control the electric motor 30 provided for each maintenance device 20, and controls the maintenance system 10 including a plurality of maintenance devices 20 having a plurality of functions including a selection function. However, complicated control can be avoided.

(Second Embodiment)
The configuration of another maintenance system will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the above embodiment, the maintenance devices are arranged in a staggered arrangement in two rows corresponding to the two rows of recording heads arranged in a staggered manner. However, in this embodiment, the recording heads are arranged in a staggered manner in three or more rows. However, a maintenance device having a structure capable of arranging three or more rows in a staggered manner so as to cope with it.

  In the first embodiment, which is a two-row zigzag arrangement, the suction pump 40 is disposed adjacent to the cleaning mechanism 22 in order to keep the height of the maintenance device 20 low, and from the recording head 12 to the suction pump 40 in plan view. The structure protruded. In contrast, in the present embodiment, the electric motor 30, the suction pump 40, and the cleaning mechanism 22 are arranged in a column in a direction facing the recording head. Thereby, it is set as the structure which restrained the projection area of the maintenance apparatus in the direction orthogonal to a nozzle formation surface small to both X and Y directions.

  65 to 70 show the maintenance system in the present embodiment. 65 is a front perspective view, FIG. 66 is a rear perspective view, FIG. 67 is a plan view, FIG. 68 is a left side view, and FIG. 70 is a right side view.

  As shown in FIGS. 65 to 70, the recording head system 11 of this embodiment includes a plurality of recording heads 12 arranged in a staggered manner in three rows. The maintenance system 300 includes a plurality of maintenance devices 310 arranged in a staggered manner so as to correspond to the recording heads at positions immediately below the recording heads 12 constituting the recording head system 15.

  The maintenance device 310 includes the electric motor 30, the suction pump 40, and the cleaning mechanism 22 so that the projected shape and the projected area in the direction orthogonal to the nozzle formation surface are substantially equal to the projected shape and the projected area of the recording head 12. It has a structure in which columns are arranged in order from the bottom. For this reason, the maintenance devices 310 are arranged in a three-row staggered arrangement corresponding to the recording heads immediately below the recording heads 12 arranged in a three-row staggered arrangement.

  The maintenance device 310 includes a base unit 311 and a cleaning mechanism 22 that can be moved up and down with respect to the base unit 311. The electric motor 30 and the suction pump 40 are fixed to a base frame 312 constituting the base unit 311 in a state in which they are arranged in tandem in this order from the bottom.

  As shown in FIGS. 69 and 70, two guide rods 317 and 318 extend vertically on the upper surface of the base frame 312, and these two guide rods 317 and 318 extend downward from the cleaning mechanism 22. The cleaning mechanism 22 is provided so as to be movable up and down with respect to the base frame 312 by being inserted through the two guide cylinders 319 and 320 to be taken out. The lock mechanism 170 is attached to the pressure adjustment shaft 53 of the lifting unit in the first embodiment, but in this embodiment, the lock mechanism 170 is attached to one guide rod 318 of the two.

  66 and 68, a power transmission mechanism 313 for transmitting the power of the electric motor 30 to the cleaning mechanism 22 is provided on the left side surface portion of the maintenance device 310. The power transmission mechanism 313 employs a timing belt system in order to transmit the power from the electric motor 30 disposed at the lower end portion of the maintenance device 310 to the cleaning mechanism 22 disposed at the upper end portion. Further, the power transmission mechanism 313 of the present embodiment also has an elevating device that elevates and lowers the cleaning mechanism 22 relative to the base frame 312.

  The cleaning mechanism 22 has the same structure as that of the first embodiment, although the raising / lowering method is different, and the rotational force transmitted to the selection intermediate gear 37 is transmitted to the selection unit 110 (shown in FIGS. 71 and 72) in the holder 23. As a result, only the nozzle row including the defective nozzles of the recording head 12 can be selectively cleaned. For this reason, in the following description, description of the cleaning mechanism 22 which is the same structure as the said 1st Embodiment is abbreviate | omitted, and demonstrates a power transmission system and a raising / lowering system.

  71 is a perspective view of the maintenance device with the base frame removed, and FIG. 72 is a rear view of the maintenance device. 72A shows a lowered state in which the cleaning mechanism 22 is arranged at the lowered position, and FIG. 72B shows a raised state in which the cleaning mechanism 22 is arranged at the raised position.

  On the left side surface portion of the maintenance device 310, the rotational driving force of the pinion 30 c fixed to the drive shaft of the electric motor 30 is transmitted to the selection unit 110 accommodated in the holder 23 while being operatively connected to the selection intermediate gear 37. A power transmission mechanism 313 is provided. The power transmission mechanism 313 includes the pinion 30c, a two-stage gear 321, a two-stage gear 322, a timing belt 323 hung between the two-stage gears 321, 322, an intermediate gear 324, a selection intermediate gear 37, and a two-stage gear 322. A link lever 325 for connecting the shafts of the intermediate gear 324 and a link lever 326 for connecting the shafts of the intermediate gear 324 and the selection intermediate gear 37.

  The pinion 30c meshes with the large gear portion 321a of the two-stage gear 321. In the vicinity of the upper portion of the suction pump 40, a two-stage gear 322 in which the large gear portion 322b meshes with the pump gear 40a is disposed. The two-stage gear 322 is fixed to a rotating shaft 327 that is rotatably supported by the base frame 312. A timing belt 323 is hung between the small gear portion 321 b of the two-stage gear 321 and the small gear portion 322 a of the two-stage gear 322.

  One end of the link lever 325 is rotatably connected to the rotation shaft 327 of the two-stage gear 322, and a support shaft (not shown) that rotatably supports the intermediate gear 324 is supported at the other end. ing. One end of the link lever 326 is rotatably connected to the other end of the link lever 325. The other end portion of the link lever 326 is rotatably connected to a connecting shaft 328 disposed at the position of the shaft portion of the selection intermediate gear 37. The distance between the shafts of the intermediate gear 324 and the two-stage gear 322 is maintained at a constant value at which both can be engaged by a link lever 325 that connects the two shafts. In addition, the distance between the shaft centers of the intermediate gear 324 and the selected intermediate gear 37 is maintained at a constant value at which both can be engaged by a link lever 326 that connects the two shafts.

  When the electric motor 30 is driven in the forward direction by the controller in the state where it is disposed at the lowered position shown in FIG. 72A, the rotation is rotated through the pinion 30c, the two-stage gear 321 and the timing belt 323. 322 and further transmitted to the selection intermediate gear 37 via an intermediate gear 324 that meshes with the two-stage gear 322. At this time, when the two-stage gear 322 rotates in the forward direction and the link lever 325 rotates clockwise about the rotation shaft 327, the angle formed by the link lever 325 and the link lever 326 is widened, and the connection shaft 328 has two steps. Since an upward force that increases the distance between the shafts of the gear 322 and the selection intermediate gear 37 is applied, the cleaning mechanism 22 is raised.

  In addition, when the electric motor 30 is driven in reverse by the controller in the state of being placed at the ascending position shown in FIG. 72 (b), the rotation is two-stage via the pinion 30c, the two-stage gear 321 and the timing belt 323. It is transmitted to the gear 322 and further transmitted to the selected intermediate gear 37 via the intermediate gear 324 that meshes with the two-stage gear 322. At this time, when the two-stage gear 322 rotates in the reverse direction and the link lever 325 rotates counterclockwise about the rotation shaft 327, the angle formed by the link lever 325 and the link lever 326 is narrowed, and the connecting shaft 328 has a two-stage gear. Since a downward force is applied to shorten the distance between the shaft 322 and the selected intermediate gear 37, the cleaning mechanism 22 is lowered.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented with the following configuration.
(Modification 1) In each of the above embodiments, the following control method can be adopted. At the time of wiping, there is a possibility that the ink scatters and contaminates the nozzle forming surface 12a of the adjacent recording head 12. For this reason, the controller 27 raises the cleaning mechanism 22 of another maintenance device 20 located adjacent to the wiping direction side when one maintenance device 20 is in the wiping time, and each cap 24 seals the nozzle forming surface 12a. In this capping state, control is performed so that wiping is performed in one maintenance device 20 under the capping state. That is, at the time of wiping, the cleaning mechanism 22 of the adjacent maintenance device 20 located on the downstream side in the wiping direction is raised, and the nozzle row 13 of the adjacent recording head 12 is covered and protected by the cap 24.

  Thereby, even if the ink wiped off by the wiping of the wiper 25 is scattered around the downstream side in the wiping direction, the nozzle forming surface 12a of the adjacent maintenance device 20 protected by the cap 24 is protected from the scattered ink. Therefore, destruction of the nozzle meniscus induced by the scattered ink adhering to the nozzle forming surface 12a can be avoided. In addition, it is easy to avoid the problem of bending the flight path of the ejected droplets induced by the scattered ink adhering to the nozzle forming surface 12a.

  In this case, a sequence in which every other recording head 12 is synchronized in the nozzle row direction can be cited. In the wiping process, a timing sequence in the suction process in which the cap 24 is in contact with the nozzle forming surface 12a in the adjacent maintenance device. It is desirable to drive and control the maintenance system. As another sequence method, all the maintenance devices are synchronized and driven until the suction, but the wiping is performed every other nozzle row direction, and at that time, the maintenance device and the nozzle row direction are executed. In the maintenance device adjacent to the nozzle, for example, the cap 24 is held in the raised position without starting the reverse rotation drive of the electric motor 30 after the idle suction timing, and the nozzle row 13 is protected by the cap 24, and the wiper 25 of the adjacent maintenance device is used. If the ink splashes during wiping, the nozzle row 13 can be protected from the ink. After that, when the wiping is completed, the maintenance device 20 that has held the cap 24 in the raised position starts the reverse rotation of the electric motor 30 to lower the cap 24 and continues wiping after the cap 24 is lowered. At this time, in the maintenance device 20 that has already finished wiping, the electric motor 30 is driven to rotate forward to raise the cap 24 to protect the nozzle forming surface 12a, so that the ink can be temporarily removed from the adjacent maintenance device during wiping. Even if scattered, the scattered ink is prevented from adhering to the nozzle forming surface 12a. At this time, the electric motor 30 of the adjacent maintenance device 20 is only forward rotated without reverse rotation in the middle, the selection unit 110 performs cam selection at the time of non-selection, and the cap 24 is open to the atmosphere. When the capping is completed, the motor 30 is stopped before the suction pump 40 starts to drive the pump. Therefore, even if the adjacent maintenance device 20 is capped after wiping is completed, the nozzle meniscus is not destroyed. Thereafter, when the wiping of one maintenance device 20 is completed, the adjacent maintenance device 20 lowers the cleaning mechanism 22 by rotating the electric motor 30 reversely from the capping state in which the cleaning mechanism 22 is disposed at the raised position, and the wiping operation. The drive of the electric motor 30 is stopped at a timing immediately before the transition to.

  (Modification 2) In the above embodiment, the nozzle group consisting of all the nozzles of the recording head system 11 is divided for each recording head 12 to define a divided area, and a maintenance device is provided directly below the recording head 12 corresponding to this divided area. By arranging 20, a plurality of maintenance devices 20 are staggered in the same arrangement pattern as the recording head 12. However, it suffices if the maintenance device is provided in a state in which the nozzle group consisting of all the nozzles of one or a plurality of recording heads is divided into a plurality of divided areas divided in the nozzle row direction. For example, a plurality of maintenance devices may be provided in units of one for each two liquid jet heads. In this case, the two liquid ejecting heads adjacent in the nozzle row direction (cap longitudinal direction) are cleaned with one maintenance device, or the two liquid ejecting heads adjacent in the direction orthogonal to the nozzle row direction are maintained as one unit. A configuration in which cleaning is performed by an apparatus can be employed. In this configuration, the maintenance device is provided with caps and wipers for two heads (for eight rows). However, one cap for two nozzle rows ejecting the same color ink arranged in the nozzle row direction, one wiper, or one for two nozzle rows ejecting different color inks arranged in a direction orthogonal to the nozzle row direction. A configuration with one cap and one wiper can also be employed.

  (Modification 3) In each of the above embodiments, the wiper reciprocates or the cap moves up and down even when cleaning is not selected. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a wiper or cap drive system is provided separately, and when cleaning is not selected, the wiper waits in the retracted position without reciprocating along the wiping path, and waits in the lowered position without the cap rising. it can.

  (Modification 4) In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning mechanism is moved up and down, but the cleaning mechanism may be fixed to the base unit 21 by moving (lifting) the recording head system side. Good.

  (Modification 5) The chamfered portion may be a curved surface instead of a slope. If one is a convex convex-shaped convex part and the other is a concave concave valley-shaped concave part, the distance between the centers of the guide members can be shortened and an effective degree of engagement can be secured.

  (Modification 6) In the first embodiment, the suction pump 40 is disposed at a position protruding from the cleaning mechanism 22 in one direction. However, the protruding component is not limited to the suction pump 40. For example, the electric motor 30 may be disposed at a position protruding from the cleaning mechanism 22. In addition, a configuration in which the electric motor 30 and the suction pump 40 are arranged in a row or in parallel at an adjacent position that protrudes from the cleaning mechanism 22 may be employed.

  (Modification 7) In the first embodiment, the electric motor 30, the suction pump 40, and the cleaning mechanism are arranged in the order from the bottom, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the positions of the electric motor 30 and the suction pump 40 may be interchanged, and the suction pump 40, the electric motor 30, and the cleaning mechanism 22 may be arranged in tandem from the lower side.

  (Modification 8) In each of the above-described embodiments, both the cap 24 and the wiper 25 are provided as the cleaning means. However, only one of them may be provided. For example, the maintenance device may be configured to include only the wiping device having the self-driven wiper 25. In addition, the elevating unit 50 that drives the cap 24 to move between the capping position and the non-capping position with a self-driven maintenance device, and a suction pump 40 (negative pressure source) for introducing a negative pressure into the cap 24 ) And suction recovery means including a valve unit 190 (valve means). When the cleaning unit includes both the cap 24 and the wiper 25, it is sufficient that at least the wiper 25 is self-driven.

  (Modification 9) In each of the above embodiments, the selection unit 110 sucks the caps 24 in the selected row and wipes the wipers 25. However, cleaning is performed between the nozzle rows 13 having different ink colors to be ejected. -A configuration in which selection of a selection column for selecting non-execution is abolished can be adopted. For the maintenance device 20 in which the defective ejection nozzle is detected among the plurality of maintenance devices 20, the controller 27 drives the electric motor 30 to clean all the nozzle rows 13 of the corresponding recording head 12, and no defective ejection nozzle is detected. The maintenance device 20 may employ a configuration in which the controller 27 does not drive the electric motor 30. In this case, it is possible to select whether or not cleaning is performed between the nozzle rows 13 that eject ink of the same color, and it is possible to suppress ink consumption due to suction cleaning in the recording head system 11.

  (Modification 10) In each of the above embodiments, the maintenance system is applied to the recording head system 11 of the multi-head system and the non-scanning system, but it can also be applied to a line head. In the case of a line head, the nozzle group can apply a maintenance system to a scanning liquid ejecting head or a liquid ejecting head group. Even with the scanning method, a long liquid jet head with a large number of nozzles and a configuration in which a plurality of recording heads are arranged in a substantially adjacent state to shorten the scanning distance during printing and improve the printing speed. If this maintenance system is adopted, efficient cleaning can be performed.

  (Modification 11) In each of the embodiments described above, the maintenance system 10 is disposed below the recording head system 11 and the maintenance device 20 is configured to move the cleaning mechanism 22 up and down. Can be appropriately set according to the orientation of the recording head system 11. For example, in the configuration in which the recording head system 11 is arranged in a direction in which the nozzle forming surface 12a is vertical, the maintenance system 20 can be arranged in a direction in which the maintenance device 20 reciprocates the cleaning mechanism 22 in the lateral direction.

  (Modification 12) In the above embodiment, the liquid ejecting apparatus is embodied as an ink jet recording apparatus used for printing. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the liquid ejecting apparatus is embodied in a maintenance system in a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid other than ink. It can also be converted. For example, for manufacturing liquid chips and biochips for spraying liquid materials containing dispersed or dissolved materials such as electrode materials and color materials used in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays, EL (electroluminescence) displays, and surface-emitting displays. It may be a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a bioorganic material to be used, or a sample ejecting apparatus as a precision pipette. The present invention can also be applied to a maintenance system that is installed in and used in these liquid ejecting apparatuses and cleans the droplet ejecting head.

The technical idea grasped from the embodiment and the modifications will be described below.
(1) The maintenance system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the cleaning means includes a suction recovery means and a wiping means having a cap in the divided area. According to this, suction cleaning can be performed for each divided region and wiping can be performed.

(2) In the maintenance system according to claim 7, the cleaning means includes a cap that seals the nozzle row for each corresponding maintenance region, and the plurality of caps correspond to the maintenance region corresponding to a cleaning time. Each of the caps is configured to be sealed, and a valve means corresponding to each cap is provided on the flow path connecting the cap and the negative pressure source.
The selecting means selects valve closing of the valve means (204) corresponding to the non-cleaning cap and selects opening of the valve means corresponding to the cleaning selection cap.

  According to this, at the cleaning time, each cap seals the corresponding maintenance area. Before and after the sealing, the selection means selects the valve means corresponding to the non-cleaning cap, and selects the valve means corresponding to the cleaning selection cap. Therefore, suction cleaning is performed in which a negative pressure is introduced into the cap corresponding to the valve means for which valve opening is selected, and the liquid is sucked from the nozzle. On the other hand, the introduction of the negative pressure to the cap corresponding to the valve means for which the valve closing is selected is cut off, and suction cleaning for the nozzles in the cap is not performed.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a maintenance system shown together with a recording head system in the first embodiment. The perspective view of a maintenance system. The top view of a maintenance system. The side view of a maintenance system. The front view of a maintenance system. 2A and 2B show a recording head system, in which FIG. The front perspective view of a maintenance apparatus. The rear perspective view of a maintenance device. The exploded perspective view of a maintenance device. (A), (b) The principal part perspective view of a base unit. The principal part perspective view of a maintenance apparatus. The exploded perspective view seen from the upper part, such as a selection unit. The disassembled perspective view similarly seen from the lower side. The selection unit is shown, (a) is a front perspective view, (b) is a rear perspective view. The disassembled perspective view of a selection unit. The selection unit is shown, (a) top view, (b) front view, (c) side view. FIG. 17 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 16. The selection cam is shown, (a) is an exploded perspective view, (b) is a perspective view. The perspective view of a selection cam and a lift mechanism. The perspective view of a selection cam. The side view of a selection cam. The perspective view seen from the lower side of Drawing 20 of a selection cam. (A)-(d) The perspective view which shows each state of a lift unit. (A) At the time of suction, (c) At the time of idle suction, (d) A perspective view of the movement process to the wiping position, (b) A side view at the second selected position. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view when the cleaning mechanism is in a lowered position. FIG. (A)-(e) Side sectional drawing explaining operation | movement of a raising / lowering unit. The sectional side view when a cleaning mechanism exists in a raise position. The perspective view which shows a cap unit and a head guide unit. The perspective view of the cleaning mechanism in a lowered position. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where a cleaning mechanism is in contact with a recording head. (A), (b) The perspective view which shows when a cleaning mechanism exists in a raise position. The partially broken side view which shows the cap vicinity of a cleaning mechanism. The principal part perspective view containing a locking mechanism. The perspective view of a locking mechanism. The perspective view of a stopper cam. (A)-(c) The side view explaining operation | movement of a locking mechanism. (A), (b) The top view explaining operation | movement of a locking mechanism. (A)-(e) The principal part side view explaining operation | movement of a locking mechanism. The (a) left view which shows the lift unit at the time of non-selection, (b) The right view. The (a) left view and (b) right view which show the lift unit at the time of suction selection. The (a) left side view which shows the lift unit at the time of idle suction selection, (b) the right side view. The perspective view of the valve unit shown with a lift mechanism. The rear perspective view of a valve unit. The disassembled perspective view of a valve unit. FIG. 44 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 43. The perspective view of the valve unit cut | disconnected by the BB line of FIG. The perspective view which shows the wiper drive unit assembled | attached to the support holder. The perspective view of the wiper drive unit which removed the wiper. The perspective view which shows the wiper drive unit assembled | attached to the mounting holder. (A)-(d) The side view explaining operation | movement of a wiper drive unit. The perspective view which looked at the wiper drive unit with the lift unit from the back side. The disassembled perspective view of a wiper drive unit. The perspective view of a wiper. The exploded perspective view of a wiper. (A) (b) The perspective view of a head guide unit. (A) (b) The principal part perspective view of a head guide unit. The top view of a head guide unit. (A)-(c) The side view explaining operation | movement of the wiper at the time of wiping selection. (A)-(d) The side view explaining operation | movement of the wiper at the time of wiping selection. (A)-(c) The side view explaining operation | movement of the wiper at the time of non-selection. (A) Perspective view of wiper retracted position, (b) Perspective view of wiper forward movement process. (A) The perspective view at the time of wiper backward movement start, (b) The perspective view at the time of wiper backward movement end. The timing chart explaining operation | movement of a maintenance apparatus. The front perspective view of the maintenance system in a 2nd embodiment. The rear perspective view of a maintenance system. The top view of a maintenance system. The left view of a maintenance system. The right view of a maintenance system. The front view of a maintenance system. The perspective view which shows the state which removed the flame | frame of the maintenance apparatus. (A) The left view of the maintenance apparatus which shows a fall state and (b) a raise state.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Maintenance system, 11 ... Recording head system, 12 ... Recording head, 12a ... Nozzle formation surface, 13 ... Nozzle row which comprises nozzle group, 20 ... Maintenance apparatus, 21 ... Base unit, 22 ... Cleaning mechanism, 23 holder, 24: Cap constituting cleaning means and suction recovery means, 25: Wiper constituting cleaning means, 25a ... Blade, 27 ... Controller as control means, 28 ... Defective nozzle detection device, 30 ... Electric motor as power source, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 33 ... Power transmission mechanism, 40 ... Suction pump as a suction pressure recovery means, 50 ... Lifting unit, 51 ... Supporting part, 52 ... Pressure adjusting shaft holder, 53 ... Pressure adjusting shaft, 54 ... Lift lever 55 ... Compression spring, 60 ... Support holder, 70 ... Cap unit, 71 ... Mounting Rudder 73, 74 ... side frame, 80 ... first guide hole, 80a ... oblique hole part, 81 ... second guide hole, 90 ... head guide unit as positioning means and head guide means, 91, 92 ... guide part, 93 ... Wiper guide, 98 ... Wire spring, 100 ... Wiper guide part, 103 ... First restricting part, 103a ... Inclined surface, 104 ... Second restricting part, 104a ... Inclined surface, 105 ... Chamfered part, 110 ... Selection as selection means Unit: 120 ... Selection gear unit, 121 to 124 ... Selection cam, 138 ... Non-selection cam surface, 141 ... Suction cam surface, 144 ... Empty suction cam surface, 147 ... Wiping cam surface, 150 ... Lift unit, 151 ... Lift plate Base, 152 ... lift cam movable plate, 152b ... cam follower, 153 ... valve lever, 154 to 157 ... lift mechanism, 163 Tension spring, 170 ... Lock mechanism, 171 ... Stopper cam, 172 ... Stopper lever, 173 ... Choke member, 175 ... Non-lock cam surface, 177 ... Lock cam surface, 190 ... Valve unit constituting suction recovery means, 191 ... Valve pressurizer 193 ... Valve pressing body, 198 ... Atmospheric valve main body, 199 ... Suction valve main body, 200 ... Valve plate, 204 ... Channel valve, 210 ... Suction channel valve, 216 ... Atmospheric channel valve, 220 ... Wiper drive unit, 221... Wiper drive gear, 222... Wiper drive wheel, 223 and 224... 310 ... Maintenance device, 311 ... Base unit, 313 ... Power transmission mechanism.

Claims (1)

A maintenance system for cleaning the liquid ejecting head, which is used in a liquid ejecting apparatus having a plurality of liquid ejecting heads each having a nozzle group for ejecting liquid,
Each has a maintenance device for cleaning the liquid jet head,
Each of the maintenance devices introduces a cap that seals the liquid ejecting head, positioning means that positions the cap on the corresponding liquid ejecting head, a drive unit that drives the cap, and negative pressure applied to the cap. A negative pressure source, and a power source of the drive unit and the negative pressure source ,
The positioning means is head guide means having a guide portion that fits on a side surface of the liquid ejecting head, and the head guide means is an outer peripheral portion corresponding to a polygonal corner that is a surface shape of a nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head. The plurality of maintenance devices include a valley-shaped concave portion formed by two adjacent chamfered portions in two adjacent head guide means and a mountain shape formed by two chamfered portions in one head guide means. A maintenance system characterized in that it is arranged in a state where it faces the convex part .

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