JPH04355154A - Ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the title apparatus from being enlarged as a whole by elongating the moving distance of a carriage. CONSTITUTION:A motion transmitting mechanism M transmitting the motion of a carriage 10 loaded with a plurality of ink jet heads 11... to vertically move wipers 18... corresponding to the ink jet head 11 in synchronous relation to the motion of the carriage 10 is provided between the carriage 10 and the wipers 18.... The motion transmitting mechanism M is constituted of the rack part 10a provided to the carriage 10, the gear 27 meshed with the rack part 10a, a plurality of the cams of first cams 30... rotated in synchronous relation to the gear 27 and a plurality of the levers of first levers 33... revolved by the cams to vertically move the wipers 18....

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color inkjet recording apparatus that prints by jetting ink from a plurality of inkjet heads.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 9, this type of inkjet recording apparatus is equipped with a plurality of inkjet heads a, b, c, and d on a reciprocating carriage, which moves in a recording area e in the direction of the left arrow in the figure. Meanwhile, ink is ejected from these appropriate inkjet heads a, b, c, and d to perform recording on the sheet. In order to ensure the reliability of the printing function, a cleaning mechanism is provided for cleaning the inkjet heads a, b, c, and d in the non-recording area r in the direction of the right arrow.

This cleaning mechanism includes cleaning members f, g, h, and i corresponding to the inkjet heads a, b, c, and d, respectively, in order to avoid color mixing of the inks, and cleansing members f, g, h, and i respectively for the inkjet heads a, b, c, and d.・The configuration is such that they are provided horizontally at the same pitch as c and d. Then, before or during recording, a carriage (not shown) is moved to a non-recording area r, and the inkjet heads a, b, c, and d are stopped under the cleaning members f, g, h, and i. Then, the cleaning members f, g, h, and i are moved in the arrow direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage, and the cleaning member f cleans the ink j of the inkjet head a as shown in FIG.
is wiped off, and the wiped ink j is rubbed on the felt member k.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional inkjet recording apparatus of this type, the cleaning member of the cleaning mechanism is provided horizontally at the same pitch as the inkjet head, as described above, so that the moving distance of the carriage is limited. There was a problem that the length increased and the overall size of the device increased.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent the overall size of the apparatus from increasing due to the long moving distance of the carriage.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, the invention according to claim 1 provides, for example, as shown in the following illustrated embodiments,
A carriage 10 having a plurality of inkjet heads 11, 12...... is moved back and forth, and ink is ejected from appropriate inkjet heads 11, 12... to perform recording on a sheet, while corresponding wipers 18, 19,... 20・
21 up and down to connect each of the inkjet heads 11 and 1.
2. In an inkjet recording device that cleans...
The movement of the carriage 10 is transmitted to the carriage 1.
The wipers 18, 19, 20, 2 are moved in synchronization with the movement of
1 is characterized by being equipped with a motion transmission mechanism M that moves the motor up and down.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the inkjet recording apparatus according to the first aspect, for example, as shown in the illustrated embodiment below, the motion transmission mechanism M is provided in a rack section 10a on the carriage 10; A gear 27 that engages with the rack portion 10a, a plurality of cams such as a first cam 30 and a second cam 31 that rotate in synchronization with the gear 27, and the wiper 18 that is rotated by these cams.
It is characterized in that it is constituted by a plurality of levers such as a first lever 33 and a second lever 34 that move up and down.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the inkjet recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the wipers 18, 19, 20, for example, as shown in the illustrated embodiments below.
・Cleaning members 22, 23, 24, and 25 of 21 are arranged vertically,
It is characterized in that its upper end is bent toward the return direction of the carriage 10 and formed into a key shape.

[0009]

[Operation] According to the invention described in claim 1, the carriage 10 is moved to the non-recording area 17 when cleaning the inkjet heads 11, 12, . . . . Carriage 1
0 movement is transmitted to the wipers 18 and 19 via the motion transmission mechanism M.
・Convey to 20/21. The wipers 18, 19, 20, and 21 move up and down in synchronization with the movement of the carriage 10.

In the invention according to claim 2, the carriage 1
0 moves, the rack portion 10a meshes with the gear 27. Then, the gear 27 rotates, and a plurality of cams such as the first cam 30, the second cam 31, etc. rotate in synchronization with the gear 27. Then, the first lever 33 and the second lever 3 are operated by the plurality of cams.
A plurality of levers 4...... rotate, and the wipers 18, 19, 20, and 21 move up and down via the plurality of levers.

In the third aspect of the invention, cleaning is performed using key-shaped cleaning members 22, 23, 24, and 25.

0012

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Code 1 in the diagram
0 is a carriage. The carriage 10 is supported by a guide shaft (not shown) and is movable in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 along a platen (not shown) by driving force from a main scanning motor. The carriage 10 has four inkjet heads 11 and 12 on the side facing the platen.
- 13 and 14 are arranged in a line in the direction of movement. In FIG. 1, two of the inkjet heads 13 and 14 are not shown. Each of those inkjet heads 11
・12... is a posture that is horizontally long in the moving direction of the carriage 10 and tilted slightly upward to the right. Further, each of the inkjet heads 11, 12, . . . has a plurality of nozzles 15 arranged in a line. The arrangement of those nozzles is
As shown in Figure 3, the dimension of x is 1/100 (inch) x n
(number of nozzles), and the y dimension is 1/300 (inch).
×n (number of nozzles). Then, while moving the carriage 10 rightward in the recording area 16 in the direction of the left arrow in FIG. 1, ink is ejected from an appropriate inkjet head to perform recording on the sheet.

On the other hand, the non-recording area 17 in the right direction of the arrow in the figure
, four wipers 18, 19, 20, and 21 are provided corresponding to the inkjet heads 11, 12, and so on. Each of these wipers 18, 19, 20, and 21 is narrower in width than the pitch of the inkjet heads 11, 12, and arranged vertically. In addition, each wiper 18.1
9, 20, and 21 are provided with cleaning members 22 and 21, respectively.
23, 24, and 25 will be provided. Those cleaning members 22...
. . is vertically elongated as shown in FIG. 4, and its upper end is bent in the return direction of the carriage 10 to form a key shape.

Now, a motion transmission mechanism M is provided between the carriage 10 and the wipers 18, 19, 20, and 21. This motion transmission mechanism M is specifically constructed as described below. Reference numeral 10a denotes a rack section provided at the lower end of the carriage 10. A gear 27 that meshes with this rack portion 10a is arranged in the non-recording area 17. The gear 27 is supported by a shaft 28. A one-way clutch 29 is provided between the gear 27 and the shaft 28 to transmit the rotation of the gear 27 to the shaft 28.

Furthermore, a plurality of cams from a first cam 30 to a fourth cam (not shown) are sequentially fixed on the shaft 28. In FIG. 2, only the first cam 30 and the second cam 31 are shown,
In the figure, the third and fourth cams arranged in order on the right side of these cams are omitted from illustration. These first cams 30 to fourth cams have different cam shapes on the outer periphery and have cam curves as shown in FIG. 5. The illustrated first cam 30 includes a roller 32 from below.
pressure weld. The roller 32 is rotatably provided at one end of the first lever 33. A roller 35 provided on a second lever 34 is also pressed into contact with the second cam 31 from below. The first lever 33 and the second lever 34 are rotatably provided around a support shaft 36. Further, one end of a coil spring 37 is hooked to the first lever 33 . The other end of the coil spring 37 is hooked and fixed at an appropriate position, and the first lever 30
is biased counterclockwise in FIG. Similarly, the second
The lever 34 is also biased counterclockwise by a coil spring (not shown).

On the other hand, a roller attached to the third lever 38 is pressed into contact with a third cam (not shown) from above. Although not shown, a roller attached to the fourth lever is also pressed into contact with the fourth cam from above. The third lever 38 and the fourth lever are rotatable about a support shaft 39, and are urged counterclockwise in FIG. 1 by a coil spring (not shown).

The first lever 33 to the fourth lever are connected to shafts 41 and 4 at the lower ends of the wipers 18, 19, 20, and 21, respectively.
Rotatably connect with 2, 43, and 44. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 46 is a guide pin that guides the vertical movement of each of the wipers 18, and is fitted into a guide groove (not shown) on the main body of the device.

When cleaning the ink jet heads 11, 12, . . . before or after recording or during recording, the carriage 10 is moved to the non-recording area 17 as shown in FIG. Then, the rack portion 10a meshes with the gear 27, and as the carriage 10 moves forward, the gear 27 rotates clockwise in FIG. When the gear 27 rotates, the first cam 30 on the same axis...
The four cams also rotate in the direction of the arrow. Then, the rotation is transmitted to the first lever 33 via the rollers 32, respectively.
. . . and rotates the corresponding lever to move each wiper 18 . . . down. At this time,
Since the cam surfaces of the four cams 30 are formed as shown in FIG. 5, the four wipers 18 move downward in sequence. Then, when the rack portion 10a starts to mesh with the gear 27, the four wipers 18...
The state was as shown in a), but as the carriage 10 advances, it becomes the state as shown in FIGS. 4(b), (c), (d), and (e). As a result, for example, the head surface of the inkjet head 11 is cleaned by the corresponding wiper 18 as shown in FIG. 7, and the remaining head surfaces are similarly cleaned sequentially by the corresponding wipers 19. At this time, if the wiper cleaning member 50 had a straight shape as shown in FIG. 8, the ink 51 would escape from the upper end, but since it is key-shaped in this embodiment, it is dammed up there and the ink 51 to be wiped is stored. It can be cleaned without leaving anything behind. When each of the cams 30 makes one revolution, the four wipers 18 return to the state shown in FIG. 4(a). Then, when the carriage 10 is returned after cleaning, the one-way clutch 29 is activated and the cams 18 do not rotate.

[0020]

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the wiper moves up and down in synchronization with the movement of the carriage via the motion transmission mechanism, the width of the wiper can be arranged narrower than the pitch of the inkjet head. Therefore, the moving distance of the carriage can be shortened, the space required for the cleaning mechanism can be reduced, and, for example, the cleaning mechanism can be placed in parallel with the capping mechanism without increasing the size of the apparatus body.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the key-shaped cleaning member is used for cleaning, ink can escape from the upper end of the cleaning member and can be thoroughly cleaned without leaving anything behind on the inkjet head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of an inkjet recording apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the arrangement dimensions of nozzles arranged in the inkjet head.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a cleaning member that cleans the inkjet head.

FIGS. 5A to 5E are diagrams showing the positional relationship between the inkjet head and the wiper due to movement of the carriage.

FIG. 6 is a cam lift chart of the first cam to the fourth cam corresponding to FIGS. 5(a) to 5(e).

FIGS. 7(a) to 7(c) are state diagrams in which an inkjet head is cleaned with a key-shaped cleaning member provided in each wiper.

FIG. 8 is a state diagram when the inkjet head is cleaned with a straight cleaning member.

FIG. 9 is a layout configuration diagram of an inkjet head and a wiper in a conventional inkjet recording apparatus, viewed from the front side.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the cleaning state.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Carriage 10a Rack part 11/12 Inkjet head 18 1st wiper 19 Second wiper 20 Third wiper 21 4th wiper 22/23/24/25 Cleaning parts 27 Gear 30 1st cam 31 Second cam 33 First lever 34 Second lever

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A carriage having a plurality of inkjet heads is reciprocated to eject ink from appropriate inkjet heads to record on a sheet, while a corresponding wiper is moved up and down to clean each inkjet head. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a motion transmission mechanism that transmits the movement of the carriage and moves the wiper up and down in synchronization with the movement of the carriage. 2. The motion transmission mechanism includes a rack portion provided on the carriage, and a gear meshed with the rack portion;
The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of cams that rotate in synchronization with the gear, and a plurality of levers that are rotated by the cams and move the wiper up and down. 3. The cleaning member of the wiper is vertically long,
The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper end thereof is bent toward the return direction of the carriage to form a key shape.