JPH01202453A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the degradation of recording images, by a method wherein a blade which wipes an ink discharge surface by engaging with the ink discharge surface is made of a member having water absorbing properties. CONSTITUTION:A blade 33 is made of a porous body with continuous pores having predetermined hardness and elasticity as well as water absorbing properties. When a recording head 20 is returned to its home position at which it faces a cap part 26A, a head recovery device 26 and the blade 33 are retracted from the travel path of the recording head 20. On the other hand, when the recording head 20 is moved to a recording area after completing a discharge recovery processing by capping, the head recovery device 26 is retracted from the travel path of the recording head 20, but the blade 33 moves oppositely to the head recovery device 26 to be projected into the travel path. As a result, the discharge surface of the recording head 20 can be engaged with the blade 33, and with the travel of the recording head 20 the wiping of the discharge surface and the absorption of dewing etc., can be simultaneously carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device, and in particular, the present invention relates to an inkjet recording device, and in particular, to the dew condensation and wetness that occur on the ink ejection surface of a recording head, and the paper powder that adheres to the inkjet recording device.
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device equipped with a mechanism for removing dust and the like.

[Prior Art] In an inkjet recording device, moisture contained in the ink and the recording medium evaporates and the atmosphere of the recording head becomes high temperature, causing dew condensation on the ink ejection surface depending on conditions such as the temperature of the recording head and the atmosphere. Sometimes.

Further, the splashing of the ejected ink from the recording medium may cause wetting on the ink ejection surface.

The above-mentioned phenomena such as dew condensation and wetting become more noticeable when a fixing heater is used to promote fixing of a recorded image onto a recording medium or when the dot duty is high.

In this way, if condensation or wetting occurs on the ejection surface, water droplets will adhere unevenly to the ejection surface, pulling the ejected ink unevenly when it is ejected from the ink ejection port and leaving the ink ejection port. The direction, ejection speed, and particle size of ink droplets vary, resulting in a decrease in recording quality. Also,
Due to the wetness of the discharge surface, paper powder, dust, etc. can easily adhere to it.
This may cause deterioration in recording quality.

In contrast, a process that completely cleans the ejection surface includes a wiping blade for wiping off dust and condensation adhering to the ejection surface, and an absorbing member that absorbs the condensation and ink droplets adhering to the ejection surface. It has been implemented.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing a conventional example of an inkjet recording apparatus equipped with a mechanism for the above processing.

In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a recording head equipped with a group of nozzles that ejects ink toward the recording surface of recording paper fed onto a platen 24. A carriage 16 holds the recording head 2G, is connected to a part of the drive belt 18 that transmits the driving force of the drive motor 17, and is slidable on two guide shafts 19A and 19B arranged parallel to each other. By doing so, it is possible to make eight reciprocating movements of the recording head 20 over the entire width of the recording paper.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a head recovery device, which is disposed at one end of the moving path of the recording head 2o, for example, at a position opposite to the home position. The head recovery device 26 is operated by the driving force of the motor 22 via the transmission mechanism 23, and the recording head 20 is capped. This head recovery device 26
In connection with the capping of the recording head 20 by the cap portion 28A, ink is sucked by an appropriate suction means provided in the head recovery device 26 or by an appropriate pressure means provided in the ink supply path to the recording head 20. Ejection recovery processing such as removing thickened ink inside the nozzle is performed by forcefully discharging the ink from the ejection port. Furthermore, the recording head is protected by capping it at the end of recording.

A blade 31 is disposed on the side surface of the head recovery device 26 and is made of silicone rubber and serves as a wiping member. The blade 31 is held in the form of a cantilever by a blade holding member 31^, and similarly to the head recovery device 26, it is operated by a motor 22 and a transmission mechanism 23, and can be engaged with the ejection surface of the recording head 20. As a result, at regular timing during the recording operation of the recording head 20, or after ejection recovery processing using the head recovery device 26,
A blade 31 is made to protrude into the moving path of the recording head 20 and wipes off dew condensation, wetness, dust, etc. on the ejection surface of the head 20 as the head 20 moves.

In addition to removing dew condensation etc. with the wiping blade on the ejection surface, the cap portion 2
As the head recovery device 26 moves, the absorbing member 32 arranged in parallel with the head 6A comes into contact with the ejection surface of the head 20, and absorbs ground dew and ink droplets adhering to the ejection surface. Similar to wiping, this process is performed at an appropriate timing during the recording operation of the recording head 20.
is moved to a position facing the absorbing member 32, and then the head recovery device 26 is operated by the motor 22 and the transmission mechanism 23 to bring the absorbing member 32 into contact with the discharge surface.

By performing the two processes described above, such as wiping the ejection surface and absorbing dew condensation on the ejection surface, the ejection surface can be more completely cleaned.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, both of the above two processes are performed by the head recovery device 2.
In addition, the recording head 20 must be operated in synchronization with these operations. As a result, there are problems in that the control becomes complicated and the operation takes time.

Further, there is a problem in that a space is required for arranging each of the blade 31 and the absorbing member 32, which impedes miniaturization of the entire device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is equipped with a function to remove condensation, etc., which eliminates complicated operations and further enables miniaturization of the device, thereby reducing the quality of recorded images. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device that is free of

Means for Solving Problem E] To this end, in the present invention, in an inkjet recording apparatus having a blade that wipes the ink ejection surface by engaging with the ink ejection surface, the blade is made of a water absorbing member. It is characterized by

[Function] According to the above configuration, as the wiping is performed by the engagement of the ink ejection surface with the blade, moisture adhering to the ink ejection surface is absorbed by the blade, and dust such as paper powder is removed. Ru.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus showing an embodiment to which the present invention is applied, and the configuration is almost the same as that shown in FIG. The explanation thereof will be omitted.

What differs from the configuration shown in FIG. 2 in FIG. 1 is that a blade 33 having the functions of both the absorbing member 32 and the blade 31 shown in FIG. 1 is provided. The blade 33 is formed of an open-pore porous material having predetermined hardness and elasticity and water absorbing properties. In this example, Rubicel manufactured by Toyo Polymer (2) was used as the porous material. Further, the position, operation and shape of the blade 33 are similar to the blade 31 shown in FIG.

In the above configuration, the recording head 20 has the cap portion 26A.
When returning to the home position, which is a position facing the recording head 20, the head recovery device 26 and the blade 33
have been evacuated from their travel routes.

On the other hand, when the print head 20 finishes the ejection recovery process by capping and moves to the print area, the head recovery device 26 retreats from the movement path of the print head 20, while the blade 33 moves toward the head recovery device 26. Performs opposing movements and protrudes into the movement path. As a result, the ejection surface of the recording head 20 can be engaged with the blade 33, and as the recording head 20 moves, wiping of the ejection surface and absorption of dew condensation, etc. are performed simultaneously.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, water adhering to the ink ejection surface is absorbed by the blade as wiping is performed by engagement of the ink ejection surface with the blade.

As a result, the complicated operations required to absorb condensation etc. are eliminated.
Furthermore, a mechanism for removing dust, condensation, etc., which enables miniaturization of the device, has been obtained.

In addition, cost reductions have been achieved because the components are simple, such as the absence of an absorbing member.

Furthermore, since the blade of the present invention can absorb moisture, the scattering of ink droplets and the like due to wiping was reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus showing a conventional example. 16... Carriage, 17... Drive motor, 19A, 19B... Guide shaft, 20... Recording head, 22... Motor, 23... Transmission mechanism, 24... Platen, 26... ...head recovery device, 26^...cap part, 31.33...blade, 31A...blade holding member, 32...absorption member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An inkjet recording device having a blade that wipes the inkjet surface by engaging with the inkjet surface, wherein the blade is made of a water-absorbing member. Recording device.