JPH0712664B2 - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an inkjet recording apparatus having an improved cleaning mechanism for cleaning a front surface of a recording head.

[Prior art]

In an ink jet recording apparatus, an ink ejection port is provided on the front surface of the recording head, and the ink ejection port may be clogged with paper dust, dust or thickened ink adhering to this surface, and ink ejection failure may occur. Therefore, it is required to clean the surface provided with the ink ejection port.

As this cleaning means, a mechanism is used that wipes off the front surface of the recording head (the surface on which the ink ejection ports are provided) with a flexible blade made of a plastic sheet or the like.

However, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, the cleaning by the blade is performed by an independent operation, and a dedicated power source (motor) is required to drive the blade, so that the structure becomes complicated and large, and the cost increases. There was a problem.

〔Purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which can solve the problems of the prior art and does not require a dedicated drive source and can perform the cleaning operation of the ink ejection port surface by the blade using the existing mechanism. It is to be.

〔Overview〕

The inventors of the present invention have conducted extensive studies to achieve the above-mentioned object, and as a result, the above-mentioned object is achieved by adopting a configuration in which the flexible blade is driven forward and backward by the capping operation on the front surface of the recording head and the movement of the carriage. We obtained the knowledge that it can be achieved.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned findings, and includes a carriage member that mounts a recording head and is moved and scanned between a recording area and a non-recording area, and a recording head provided in the non-recording area. In an inkjet recording apparatus including a cap member that can move forward and backward to cover the front surface and a blade member that can move forward and backward to clean the front surface of the recording head, the blade member can be moved forward of the cap member. Connecting means for connecting to move forward in conjunction with each other; moving means for moving the cap member forward to move the blade member from the initial position to the advanced cleaning position; and the blade after the cap member retracts. The locking means for locking the member in the cleaning position and the locking by the locking means are released. Retreating means for retreating the blade member to the initial position, and after the front surface of the recording head is cleaned by scanning the carriage member, a part of the locking means and the carriage member come into contact with each other. The lock is released.

The forward movement of the blade is interlocked with the forward movement of the cap, and a biasing means for biasing the backward movement of the blade to the retracted position and a locking means for locking the biasing means are provided. By adopting a configuration in which the stopped state is released by using the scanning of the carriage, it is possible to easily execute the advancing / retreating operation of the blade without requiring special advancing / retreating driving means for the blade.

〔Example〕

 The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the main configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment.

The embodiment described below is an inkjet recording apparatus having a cleaning mechanism for the surface on which the ink ejection ports are provided (the front surface of the recording head), in which the flexible blade moves forward and backward by the capping operation on the front surface of the recording head and the movement of the carriage. It is characterized in that the front surface of the recording head is wiped off by the blade by driving and by the movement of the carriage.

In FIG. 1, a guide shaft 3 is installed in front of a sheet 2 backed up by a platen 1, and a recording head 5 is mounted on a carriage 4 which moves along the guide shaft.

An ink recovery device 6 is provided at the home position HP of the carriage 4 (on the left side of the platen 1 in the illustrated example). This ink recovery device is driven forward and backward with respect to the recording head 5 and is in front of the recording head at the forward position (the surface on which the ink ejection ports are formed).
And a pump 9 which is driven by the suction operation lever 8 and sucks ink from the ejection port through the capping means 7.

A flexible blade 10 for wiping the front surface of the recording head 5 is attached to the side of the capping means 7. The blade 10 advances as the capping means 7 advances, but is attached to the capping means by a mechanism that is left in the advanced position in a locked state when the capping means is retracted, that is, a leaving mechanism. The retreat of the blade 10 is performed by releasing the locked state by the movement of the carriage 4 when the carriage 4 passes from right to left.

FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of the ink recovery device 6.

In FIG. 2, the suction operation lever 8, the pump 9 driven by pushing down the lever, and the capping means 7 are supported on a base 11, and the capping means is supported so as to be able to move forward and backward.

On the right side of the capping means 7, a blade support plate 12 is mounted by being urged in a backward direction by a long hole 13, a stop pin 14 and a backward spring 15, and a plastic sheet or a rubber sheet is attached to a front end portion of the blade support plate 12. A flexible blade 10 consisting of A swingable engagement member 17 is attached to the base 11 by a spring 16 and is biased to a position where it can engage with the support plate 12.
The engagement member 17 is adapted to rotate (push down) in the direction of arrow B when the carriage 4 (or its projection) hits the tip slope 18 from the direction of arrow A.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

When the carriage 4 moves from right to left and reaches the home position HP, the capping means 7 moves forward and closes the front surface of the recording head 5. That is, the cap closing operation is automatically performed. At this time, the blade 10 also advances.

Next, the suction operation lever 8 is pressed to perform an ink recovery operation (ink suction operation), and when the ink suction operation is completed, the capping means 7 retracts. At this time the blade
10 is still left in the forward position.

Next, the carriage 4 moves to the left from the home position HP, at which time the engaging member 17 (Fig. 2) is pushed down and the blade
10 retreats.

Next, the carriage 4 moves from the left end position to the right, passes the home position HP, and stops at a position on the right side for a predetermined distance.

Therefore, the capping means 7 is advanced to advance the blade 10, and then the capping means is retracted. At this time, the blade 10 is left in the advanced position.

Following this, move the carriage 4 to the left and move to the home position.
Drive to the left end position through the HP. At this time, first, the front surface of the recording head 5, that is, the surface provided with the ink ejection port is wiped off by the blade 10 to reach the home position HP to clean the ejection port surface, and then the home position HP. The carriage 4 or its projection abuts against the engaging member 17 (FIG. 2) while moving to the left from, and the blade 10 is retracted.

After that, the carriage 4 is moved to the right, and in the normal case, the test print is performed, and subsequently, the normal print operation of starting the print with the print signal is performed.

According to the embodiment described above, the blade 10 is driven forward and backward by the movement of the capping means 7 and the movement of the carriage 4, and the movement of the carriage 4 is used to wipe the front surface of the recording head 5 with the blade. So
It was possible to perform the cleaning operation of the ink ejection port surface by the blade 10 using the existing mechanism without requiring a dedicated drive source.

Therefore, the device for wiping off the recording head 5 can be constructed at a low cost with an extremely simple and small mechanism.

In the above description, the wiping operation by the blade 10 is performed once, but a sequence that is repeated twice or more can be freely performed if necessary.

〔effect〕

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a carriage member mounted with a recording head and moved and scanned between a recording area and a non-recording area, and a front surface of the recording head provided in the non-recording area In an inkjet recording apparatus including a cap member that can be moved forward and backward to cover the head and a blade member that can be moved forward and backward to clean the front surface of the recording head, the blade member is interlocked with the forward movement of the cap member. Connecting means for connecting so as to move forward, moving means for moving the cap member forward to move the blade member from the initial position to the advanced cleaning position, and the blade member after the cap member retracts. The locking means for locking the cleaning device to the cleaning position and the locking by the locking means is released. Retreating means for retreating the blade member to the initial position, and after the front surface of the recording head is cleaned by scanning the carriage member, a part of the locking means and the carriage member come into contact with each other, and Since the lock is released, there is provided an inkjet recording apparatus that does not require a dedicated drive source and can perform a recording head cleaning operation using a blade using an existing mechanism.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink recovery apparatus shown in FIG. 4 ... Carriage, 5 ... Recording head, 7 ... Capping means, 10 ... Blade.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carriage member which mounts a recording head and is moved and scanned between a recording area and a non-recording area, and a cap which can be moved back and forth to cover a front surface of the recording head provided in the non-recording area. A member, and a blade member that is movable back and forth to clean the front surface of the recording head,
In an inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a connecting means for connecting the blade member so as to move forward in conjunction with the forward movement of the cap member; and to move the blade member from an initial position to an advanced cleaning position, Moving means for moving the cap member forward, locking means for locking the blade member at the cleaning position after the cap member retracts, and the blade member by unlocking by the locking means A retracting means for retracting the carriage to an initial position, and after the front surface of the recording head is cleaned by scanning the carriage member, a part of the locking means comes into contact with the carriage member to lock the carriage head. The inkjet recording device is characterized by being released.