JPH058401A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a narrow lateral width ink jet recorder which can overlap a wiping area on an area for accelerating and decelerating a carriage necessary for printing even though it is a simple wiping means. CONSTITUTION:In an serial type ink jet recorder having a wiper blade 9 which cleans an ink discharge opening surface of a recording head, the wiper blade 9 supported freely rotatably in a carrier direction of the recording head 4 is installed in an accelerating and decelerating area of a carriage 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wiping means for an ink jet recording apparatus in an ink jet recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording apparatus expresses information by ejecting ink droplets onto recording paper from an ink ejection port provided in a recording head. However, the ink jet recording apparatus may have ink particles due to paper dust adhering to the ink ejection port, thickening of the ink near the ink ejection port when left for a long time under high temperature conditions, or intrusion of bubbles from the ink ejection port. In the worst case, the print defect occurs.

Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus has
There is provided a cleaning device including a pump unit forcibly discharging the ink from the ink discharge port and a wiping unit for cleaning foreign matter adhering to the ink discharge port and excess ink after pumping. As a wiping means that constitutes this cleaning device, a means for wiping the surface of the recording head with a flexible wiping blade made of rubber or plastic as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-195048 is proposed. Has been done.

[0004]

The conventional wiping will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view. A guide shaft 32 is installed in front of the recording paper 31 held by the platen 30, and a recording head 34 is mounted on a carriage 33 that reciprocates along the guide shaft 32. Further, as a cleaning device for the recording head 34, a wiper blade 3 fixed to a pump 35, a cap member 36 and a wiper base 37 driven to move back and forth.
8 and a return spring 39 for retracting the wiper blade 38.

In this prior art, the home position of the recording head 34 is the facing position of the cap member 36.
Therefore, when the recording head 34 moves from the printing state to the home position, it passes through the installation position of the wiper blade 38. Therefore, since the wiper blade 38 does not wipe the recording head 34 carelessly, the wiper base 37 described above is used.
Is provided to drive forward and backward in the direction of arrow E shown in FIG.
That is, when the recording head 34 is normal, the possibility of the recording head 34 going down is eliminated by wiping the surface of the recording head 34 with the wiper blade 38. Although the advancing / retreating mechanism of the wiper blade 38 is omitted in this embodiment, a very complicated mechanism is required to enable interlocking with the pump operation executed immediately before the wiping operation, and the inkjet There is a problem that the cost of the recording device increases.

A simple wiping means can be realized by arranging the fixed wiper blade 40 at a position opposite to the home position where the cap 41 is installed as shown in FIG. 8, but like the above wiping means for moving back and forth. In addition, since the wiping operation must be avoided when the recording head is normal, the wiper blade 40 must be installed by largely removing the printing area, which causes a problem that the width of the inkjet recording apparatus becomes large. .

The present invention has been made to solve such a drawback, and provides a simple wiping means capable of overlapping the wiping area and the acceleration / deceleration area of the carriage, and an ink jet recording apparatus having a narrow width. The purpose is to realize.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a serial type ink jet recording apparatus having a wiper blade for cleaning an ink ejection port surface of a recording head, wherein the wiper is rotatably mounted in the conveying direction of the recording head. The blade is installed in the acceleration / deceleration area of the recording head.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the present embodiment, in which 1 is a main body frame, 2 is a guide shaft fixed to the main body frame 1, 3 is a carriage on which a recording head 4 is mounted and is conveyed in a serial direction, and 5 is a recording head 4. It is a cap unit that is in close contact with the surface to prevent the ink ejection port from drying, and that connects the suction pump 6 and the recording head 4 for forcibly ejecting the ink thickened at the ink ejection port. A platen 7 conveys and holds the recording paper 8. In the figure, 9 is a rubber wiper blade, and the wiper blade 9 is held by a holder 10. The holder 10 is pivotally mounted by a shaft 1-1 provided on the body frame 1. Further, the holder 10 is biased in the direction of the arrow A by the spring member 11 and normally projects on the path of passage of the tip of the recording head 4. The area indicated by arrow C is an area for accelerating and decelerating the carriage 3 to the constant speed of the printing area (hereinafter referred to as "acceleration / deceleration area C"), and the wiper blade 9 described above is the area. It is installed so as to overlap with the acceleration / deceleration area C.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the wiper blade 9, the fixing portion 9-1 fixed by the holder 10 is thick and the tip portion 9-2 is thinly formed so as to be flexible. In the overlapped state of the recording head 4 and the wiper blade 9 described above, the thick portion 9-3 is in contact with the side surface of the recording head 4 as shown in FIG. Further, 1-2 and 1-3 are stoppers that limit the rotation of the holder 10, and are provided on the main body frame 1. Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

In normal printing, the carriage 3 moves serially between the print area and the acceleration / deceleration area C of the carriage 3. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, when printing of one line is completed and the carriage 3 enters the acceleration / deceleration area C for reversing, the wiper blade 9 is installed in this area. The wiper blade 9 is retracted in the arrow B direction in order to come into contact with the thick portion of the wiper blade 9 held by the holder 10 axially attached to the shaft 1-1 of the main body frame 1. (In this state, the holder 10 is the stopper 1-2
Is not in contact with. Therefore, the wiper blade 9 and the recording head 4 overlap, but the wiper blade 9 escapes from the recording head 4 so that the wiping operation is not performed. However, when the recording head 4 goes down due to the attachment of paper dust or the like on its surface, the recording head 4 moves to the home position and the cap means is brought into close contact, and then the suction pump 6 forcibly discharges the ink to perform the recovery operation. In this state, foreign matter and surplus ink ejected for recovery are recorded by the recording head 4.
Wiping operation is required because a large amount is attached to the surface of the. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the carriage is moved from the acceleration / deceleration area C to the wiping area D, the holder 10 comes into contact with the stopper 1-2 during the course of the stroke, and the rotation is restricted. When the carriage 3 is further moved to the end of the wiping area D, the recording head passes through the wiper blade 9 retracted in the acceleration / deceleration area C, and the wiper blade 9 returns from the state shown by the broken line to the normal state. In this state, as shown in FIG.
Is moved to the left (arrow D direction), the wiper blade 9 is bent by the recording head 4 because the holder 10 is restricted in rotation by the stopper 1-3 of the main body frame 1, and the tip of the wiper blade 9 is bent. The surface of the recording head 4 is wiped with the thin portion. Therefore, the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the recording head 4 and the excess ink discharged by the pump operation can be wiped off.

[0012]

As is apparent from the above description, a simple wiping means rotatably mounted in the recording head transport direction is installed in the acceleration / deceleration area of the recording head to provide the wiping area and printing. It is possible to overlap the acceleration / deceleration regions of the carriage, and the lateral width of the inkjet recording apparatus can be narrowed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a wiping blade of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a conventional technique.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional technique.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main body frame 2 Guide shaft 3 Carriage 4 Recording head 5 Cap means 6 Suction pump 7 Platen 8 Recording paper 9 Wiper blade

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A serial type ink jet recording apparatus having a wiper blade for cleaning an ink ejection port surface of a recording head, wherein the wiper blade axially rotatably mounted in a conveying direction of the recording head is used. An ink jet recording apparatus, which is installed in an acceleration / deceleration area of a recording head.