JPH05131618A - Belt cleaning mechanism of ink-jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a belt cleaning mechanism of an ink-jet recording device where an exchange of cleaning rollers is easy and a cleaning effect is high. CONSTITUTION:A conveyor belt 1 is depressed in a printing surface side, a cleaning roller 8 is arranged in a depressed position and an outer circumferential surface of the cleaning roller 8 is allowed to abut against the top of the conveyor belt 1. Then an auxiliary roller 9 is fitted to a plate 16 put on a base 15 through a pivot and moved by interlocking with a moving mechanism 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a belt cleaning mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink from minute nozzles to print characters, figures and the like on paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet printer prints characters and figures on a paper on a conveyor belt by ejecting ink from minute nozzles. For example, it is wrong to set A4 size paper in the printer. B5
If a paper of a size is set, or if the character spacing is set to a dimension exceeding the width of the paper, ink will be printed on the conveyor belt at a portion outside the width of the paper.

When the print is formed on the conveyor belt in this manner, the back surface of the next paper to be fed is soiled, and thus, conventionally, the side opposite to the print surface on which the print head is arranged (generally, the apparatus is used). A cleaning roller was provided in the lower part of the main body) to wipe off the ink adhering to the peripheral surface of the conveyor belt.

[0004]

However, since the cleaning roller is arranged in a narrow space below the printing portion, it is troublesome to replace the cleaning roller, or the cleaning roller is arranged so that the entire apparatus is replaced. It had the drawback of becoming larger.

On the other hand, when the cleaning roller is arranged on the printing surface side, a mechanism for switching the cleaning roller between the contact state and the non-contact state with respect to the conveyor belt is necessary in order to avoid the sheet conveyed by the conveyor belt. , The configuration becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above matters, and an object of the present invention is to provide a belt cleaning mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus which allows easy replacement of a cleaning roller and has a large cleaning effect. To provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a belt cleaning mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that a conveyor belt is recessed on a printing surface side and a cleaning roller is arranged at the recessed portion. It is characterized in that the auxiliary roller for holding the position of the cleaning roller is made movable by bringing it into contact with the upper surface of the conveyor belt.

According to the above characteristic structure, since the cleaning mechanism for the conveyor belt is located on the printing surface side, it is easy to replace the cleaning roller. Further, since the contact area between the transport belt and the cleaning roller can be made large, the cleaning effect becomes large.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, 1 is an endless conveyor belt made of, for example, rubber, both ends of which are supported by conveyor rollers 2 and 3. Reference numeral 4 denotes a print head arranged to face the surface of the conveyor belt 1, and is attached to, for example, a slidable carriage. Reference numeral 5 is a lid of the case main body (not shown), 6 is a sheet fed from a sheet feeding tray (not shown), and 7 is a printing plate provided corresponding to the print head 4.

The conveyor belt 1 is, as shown in FIG.
The printing surface side is recessed, and the cleaning roller 8 is arranged at this recessed portion and the outer peripheral surface of the cleaning roller 8 is brought into contact with the upper surface of the conveyor belt 1. The cleaning roller 8 has, as the cleaning member 11, felt, sponge, or the like wound around the roller 12. The cleaning roller 8 is held by inserting a support shaft 14 into a guide portion 13 provided on a side wall of the case body (not shown), and further, by a moving mechanism of an auxiliary roller 9 described later, the case body is It is configured to be detachable from (not shown). In addition, a is a guide plate formed across the width direction of the conveyor belt 1 to convey the paper 6 to the conveyor belt 1.
It is for stably transporting the top, and is pivotally connected to the case body (not shown). Further, in this embodiment, the cleaning roller 8 has its support shaft so as not to rotate.
Although 14 is fixed by the guide portion 13, it may be rotated in the same direction as the conveyor belt 1 or in the opposite direction by a drive motor, for example.

Reference numerals 9 and 10 denote auxiliary rollers which are configured to be rotatable, and the auxiliary roller 9 is a plate 16 mounted on a substrate 15.
It is attached via a support shaft 9a and is configured to move in conjunction with a moving mechanism 18 including a spring 17 and the like. One end of the spring 17 is fixed to a bracket 19 provided on the print plate 7, and the other end is fixed to a vertical plate portion of an L-shaped bracket 20 integrally formed with the plate 16.

More specifically, the long hole 16a formed in the side plate portion of the plate 16 has a support shaft 21a on the case body (not shown).
Guide pin 21 protruding from the lever 21 pivotally supported via
b is inserted. Further, the guide pin 22 fixed to the substrate 15 is inserted into the long hole 20a formed in the bottom plate portion of the L-shaped bracket 20, and accordingly, the lever 21 moves in the direction of the arrow R (see FIG. 3). The plate 16 and the L-shaped bracket 20 move, and by extension, the auxiliary roller 9 can be moved in the direction of the arrow S (see FIG. 3).

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned belt cleaning mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 2 as well. First, as shown by the arrow T, the conveyor belt 1 is moved from the roller 2 side to the roller 3 side.
Then, the sheet 6 from the sheet feeding tray (not shown) is conveyed in a state of being closely fixed to the conveying belt 1. Then, ink is ejected from the print head 4 onto the sheet 6 to print desired characters, figures and the like. At this time, for example, it is assumed that the place where the A4 size paper should be set in the printer is erroneously set to the B5 size paper, and the ink b adheres to the transport belt 1 at the portion where the width of the paper protrudes.

The conveyor belt 1 to which the ink b adheres is nipped by an auxiliary roller 9 and a cleaning roller 8,
By being sent to the downstream side, the ink b is wiped off by contacting the cleaning member 11 on the surface of the cleaning roller 8, and the transport belt 1 is cleaned. At this time, as is clear from FIG. 2, since the contact area between the conveyor belt 1 and the cleaning member 11 is large,
A good cleaning effect can be obtained. Then, the transport belt 1 after the cleaning is finished is cleaned by the cleaning roller 8
It is nipped by the auxiliary roller 10 and the auxiliary roller 10, and is further delivered to the downstream side.

The replacement of the cleaning roller 8 is as follows.
With the guide plate a flipped up (see FIG. 3), the lever 21 is moved from the state shown in FIG. 2 to the state shown in FIG.
With the auxiliary roller 9 moved to the right in the drawing, as shown in FIG. 3, the support shaft 14 of the cleaning roller inserted in the guide portion 13 is lifted in the direction of arrow U and removed from above. Then, the spindle 14 of the new cleaning roller is inserted along the guide portion 13, and when the spindle 14 reaches the end of the guide portion 13, the guide plate a is returned to the predetermined position and the lever 21 is moved to the position shown in FIG. 2 to the state of FIG. 2, and the auxiliary roller 9 is returned to the predetermined position again by the urging force of the spring 17.

Although the cleaning roller 8 is held by the auxiliary rollers 9 and 10 in this embodiment, the cleaning roller 8 is held by the conveying roller 3 and the auxiliary roller 9 without providing the auxiliary roller 10. Good. Further, in this embodiment, the auxiliary roller 9 is moved when the cleaning roller 8 is replaced, but the auxiliary roller 9 may be fixed and the auxiliary roller 10 may be moved. In this case, the positional relationship between the head 4 and the paper is easy to determine.

[0018]

As described above, in the present invention, the cleaning mechanism for the conveyor belt is provided on the print surface side of the conveyor belt, so that the cleaning roller can be easily replaced. Further, since the contact area between the conveyor belt and the cleaning roller can be made large, an excellent effect such as a large cleaning effect can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an inkjet recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main part of a cleaning mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part of a cleaning mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Conveyor belt, 4 ... Print head, 6 ... Paper, 8 ...
Cleaning roller, 9 ... Auxiliary roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording system in which a conveying belt is provided at a lower position facing a print head, and ink is sprayed from the print head to print on a sheet conveyed in a state of being in close contact with the surface of the conveying belt. In the apparatus, the conveyor belt is recessed on the printing surface side, a cleaning roller is arranged at the recessed portion and brought into contact with the upper surface of the conveyor belt, and an auxiliary roller for holding the position of the cleaning roller is movable. A belt cleaning mechanism for an inkjet recording apparatus, which is characterized in that