JPH07314732A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To function properly a recovery means for recovering the function of a recording head. CONSTITUTION:A recorder comprises a recovery means with a cleaning blade 4009 for carrying out the recovery of function of a recording head and a cleaning head cartridge storing cleaning liquid (e) for storing the recovery function of the recovery means to the normal state. When thickening ink D adhering to a surface 1009 of a jet head is cleaned by the cleaning blade 4009, the cleaning liquid is jetted from all nozzles of the cleaning head cartridge toward the cleaning blade, and the thickening ink D adhering to the surface 1009 of the jet head is removed by the cleaning operation of the cleaning blade 4009, to which the cleaning liquid (e) adheres to clean the surface 1009 of the jet head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head cartridge exchange type ink jet recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, due to the widespread use of personal computers, word processors, facsimiles and the like in offices, printers of various recording systems have been developed as output devices of these devices. Among them, the inkjet recording device is suitable for personal use in the office because it has the advantages of low recording sound, high-quality printing on various recording media, and further small size.

In an ink jet recording apparatus, an electric signal is converted into heat by a heating element in a recording head to boil the ink in a nuclear film, and the pressure due to the boiling is used to eject the ink onto a recording medium. A mainstream of this ink jet recording apparatus is a recording head cartridge in which an ink tank and a recording head which can be easily replaced by a user are integrated. The above-mentioned recording head is regularly replaced by the user at predetermined intervals, so that the user can always easily perform high-quality and reliable recording without requiring a special service system.

Next, a conventional recording apparatus will be described for each unit.

(Apparatus main body) A carriage 4004 shown in FIG.
Is engaged with a carriage shaft 4001 and reciprocates along this shaft. That is, the rotation of the CR motor 4005 is transmitted to the belt 4002 via the pulley 4006, and the carriage 4004 is driven. Further, the carriage 4004 is equipped with a recording head cartridge (IJC) in which the recording head and the ink tank described above are integrated.

A recording medium such as a sheet is sandwiched by a sheet feeding roller 4010 and a pinch roller 4003 which abuts on the roller, and the sheet is fed by transmitting a drive of an LF motor (not shown) to the sheet feeding roller 4010.

That is, the present recording apparatus is configured to eject ink at a right angle onto a recording medium while moving the recording head IJC, and to feed the recording medium at a known timing to create a printed matter for one page.

(Recovery system unit) A recovery system mechanism is mounted at the home position so that the recording head always performs reliable ejection. In FIG. 4, the mechanism of the recovery system is mainly composed of the cleaning blade 4009, the cap 4007, and the pump 4008, and the function of each will be briefly described.

As shown in FIG. 5, the cleaning blade 4
The foreign material D such as ink droplets and paper dust adhered to the face surface 1009 of the recording head is scraped by 009 (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as wiping). The cleaning blade 4009 cleans the blade surface by wiping the ink droplets or the like attached to the blade against the porous material.

The cap 4007 shown in FIG. 4 plays a role of covering the head face surface and preventing the ink from sticking to the nozzles when the recording head has no signal for ejection within a predetermined time (hereinafter , This behavior is called capping). The pump 4008 is connected to the cap 4007 and is used to apply a negative pressure from the nozzle side when guiding the ink from the ink supply port to the ejection port of the recording head.

(Recording head cartridge unit) FIG.
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a recording head cartridge (IJC) of a system that includes an electrothermal converter that generates heat energy for causing film boiling in ink according to an electric signal, and performs recording by ejecting ink.

Reference numeral 6020 denotes a heater board in which electrothermal converters (discharge heaters) arranged in a plurality of rows on a silicon substrate and electric wiring such as aluminum for supplying electric power to the electrothermal converters are formed by a film forming technique. Is. Reference numeral 6009 is a wiring board for the heater board 6020.
It has a wiring corresponding to the wiring of 0 (for example, it is connected by wire bonding), and a pad 6010 located at the end of this wiring and receiving an electric signal from the main body device.

Reference numeral 6039 denotes a grooved top plate provided with a partition wall and a common liquid chamber for dividing each of a plurality of ink channels, and an ink receiving port 6018 for receiving the ink supplied from the ink tank and introducing it into the common liquid chamber. And an orifice plate 1009 having a plurality of ink discharge ports are integrally molded. Polysulfone is preferable as the integral molding material, but other molding resin materials may be used. Further, this plate is coated with a hydrophilic agent or a water repellent agent so that ink does not collect near the ejection openings on the surface.

Reference numeral 1005 denotes a support member made of, for example, metal that supports the back surface of the wiring board 6009 on a flat surface, and serves as a bottom plate of the ink jet unit. Reference numeral 6040 denotes a presser spring, which has an M-shape and presses the common liquid chamber at the center of the M-shape and presses a part of the liquid passage with linear pressure by the front salient portion 6017. By pressing the heater board 6020 and the top plate 6039 with the foot portion of the spring 6040 through the hole 6023 of the support body 1005 and engaging with the back surface side of the support body 1005, by engaging them with each other in a sandwiched state, The heater board 6020 and the top plate 6039 are crimped and fixed by the biasing force of the presser spring 6040 and its front slant portion 6017. The wiring board 6009 is attached to the support 1005 by adhering it with an adhesive or the like.

Reference numeral 1007 denotes an ink tank and a supply pipe 1006.
Reference numeral 6016 denotes a filter for connecting and sealing with a filter provided at the end of the supply pipe on the tank side. Since the ink supply member 1008 is molded, the ink supply member 1008 is inexpensive, has high positional accuracy, and does not lose the accuracy of formation and manufacturing. In addition, the cantilevered conduit 6015 enables the above-described conduit 6015 to be used even in mass production. Ink receptacle 60
The pressure contact state with 18 can be stabilized. In this example, a complete communication state can be reliably obtained by pouring the sealing adhesive from the ink supply member side under this pressure contact state. The ink supply member 1008 is an ink supply tube 1006.
Is formed as a cantilever with a fixed supply pipe 1006 on the supply pipe 1006 side, and a sealing pin 6014 is inserted to secure a capillary action between the fixed side of the ink pipe and the ink supply pipe 1006.

[0016]

However, the removal of the thickened ink D adhered to the surface of the ejection head by the recovery system causes the thickened ink D to be deposited on the surface of the cleaning blade 4009. This deposit is shown in Figure 7.
When the blade cleaner 5001 tries to remove the thickened material, a thickened substance is deposited on the surface of the blade cleaner 5001 as shown in FIG. This is also due to the inability of the porous material to absorb the thickened ink. Due to this accumulation, it is not possible to remove ink droplets and the like adhering to the cleaning blade 4009,
The function of the cleaning blade 4009 is lost. That is, sufficient wiping cannot be performed, and ink droplets remain near the ejection openings of the recording head, which impedes normal ejection of ink droplets.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the recovery means for recovering the function of the recording head can properly function, and recording can always be performed with sharpness. Another object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device.

[0018]

For this reason, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a recording means for ejecting ink from a recording head mounted on a carriage onto a recording medium for recording and a recording means for contacting with the recording head. A recovery unit having a cap for closing the ejection port, a recovery pump for suctioning, a cleaning blade for cleaning the ejection port of the recording head, and performing a function recovery operation of the recording head; a cleaning head cartridge containing a cleaning liquid; The above-described object is achieved by a configuration including a recovery means and a control means for controlling the operation of the cleaning head cartridge, and a cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means with the cleaning liquid is executed under the control of the control means. Is what you are trying to do.

Further, in the above structure, the cleaning head cartridge has a function of heating and discharging the cleaning liquid, and the cleaning liquid is pure water. The above-mentioned object is achieved by a configuration in which the cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge is discharged to the cleaning blade of the recovery unit to perform cleaning, or the cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge is discharged to the cap of the recovery unit to perform cleaning. Is what you are trying to do.

[0020]

With the above structure, the function of the recovery means is restored to the normal state by cleaning the cleaning blade or the cap of the recovery means on which the concentrated ink adheres by the function recovery operation of the recording head with the cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge. The function of the recording head can be normally recovered by the recovery means.

[0021]

EXAMPLES The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to examples.

This embodiment is based on the structure of the conventional ink jet recording apparatus for recording in a printer equipped with an ink jet cartridge, a facsimile machine, a copying machine or the like. A recovery pump for recovering the recording head is equipped with a recovery pump for cleaning the ejection port of the recording head and a capping for contacting and closing, and a recovery pump for cleaning the ejection port of the recording head. An inkjet recording apparatus is provided with a cleaning head cartridge containing a cleaning liquid for performing the cleaning, and the characteristic components of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means with the cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge provided in the first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an implementation state of the cleaning sequence.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the surface 1 of the ejection head
When the cleaning blade 4009 attempts to clean the thickened ink D adhering to the cleaning blade 4009, if a command for cleaning the cleaning blade is issued in step S001 as a means for improving the recovery function, the process proceeds to step S002. The cleaning liquid is ejected from all the nozzles of the head cartridge toward the cleaning blade. Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, the thickening ink D adhering to the surface 1009 of the ejection head is removed by a predetermined cleaning operation by the cleaning blade 4009 to which the cleaning liquid e is attached, and the surface 1009 of the ejection head is removed.
Are washed (step S003). The above operation is repeated a predetermined number of times to end the cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means with the cleaning liquid (steps S004 and S005).

According to the above sequence, the cleaning blade 4009 cleans the surface 1009 of the discharge head to restore the function of the discharge head, and at the same time, the cleaning blade 4009 of the recovery system can be cleaned with the cleaning liquid, and the dirt attached to the surface is cleaned. As shown in FIG. 2C, the water is diluted and absorbed by water, and the function of the ejection head to be performed next can be completely restored.

The components of the recording ink used in this example are: dye 3%, glycerin 5%, thiodiglycol 5
%, Urea 5%, isopropyl alcohol 4%, and the balance water. The cause of thickening and sticking by this ink is that isopropyl alcohol and water evaporate. That is, the components of the fixed substance are dye, glycerin, thiodiglycol, and urea. Therefore, water, which is the main component of the ink, was used as the cleaning liquid used in this example.

The cleaning cartridge has a face structure similar to that of the recording cartridge, and has a mechanism capable of discharging cleaning liquid corresponding to an electric signal. As a result, the recording apparatus main body does not require a special configuration for cleaning in terms of hardware, and the cost does not increase. Further, the higher the temperature of the cleaning liquid, the higher the ability to dissolve the adhered substances and the thickened substances. Therefore, the cleaning cartridge has means for heating the cleaning liquid in response to the electric signal.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the recovery system cleaning sequence of the second embodiment. The cleaning cartridge and cleaning solution used in this embodiment are the first
It is similar to that shown in the embodiment.

An example in which this embodiment is added to the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 4 will be described. In addition to the cleaning of the cleaning blade and the blade cleaner of the previous embodiment, the cleaning liquid is discharged to the cap 4007 at the suction cap position of FIG. 4 to dissolve the adhered substances on the suction cap 4007 and discharge the adhered substance components. It has become possible configuration.

First, the carriage 4004 is moved so that the ejection port is located at the cap position (step S2).
02). Next, the cleaning liquid is discharged to wet the entire cap (S203). In this state, the process waits for a predetermined time, and waits for the thickened substance and the adhered substances attached to the cap 4007 to be dissolved in the cleaning liquid (S204). Next, in a state where the head face surface is separated from the cap, an idle suction operation of sucking with the pump 4008 is performed (S205). By repeating this operation several times (S206), the cleaning liquid in which the thickened material and the adhered material are dissolved can be discharged from the cap 4007.

(Other Embodiments) The above-mentioned two embodiments are cleaning of the recovery system in the monochrome recording apparatus, but the above-mentioned embodiments are not limited to the mono-color recording type recording apparatus in which the head is replaced, but also the color recording apparatus. It can also be applied to recording devices.

Particularly in color recording, when different color inks are mixed in the ejected ink droplets, there is a problem that the printed matter is mixed. This cause is also caused by the conventional wiping or capping operation. That is, the adhered thickened material or the adhered material deteriorates the function by each operation. Further, the tendency of the above problem is strengthened in the case of a configuration in which wiping and suction are performed by a pair of recovery systems.

However, since the cleaning liquid does not depend on the coloring material, it is possible to dissolve the thickened material and the adhered material by the ink of each color. Therefore, the same cleaning solution as in the first and second embodiments is used. It is possible to recover the function of the ejection head by providing a cartridge and performing a cleaning sequence.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning cartridge enables the user to easily remove the thickened material and the adhered material that have adhered to the recovery system of the recording apparatus, and can always perform recording with a predetermined sharpness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a cleaning sequence for cleaning a recovery means with a cleaning liquid for a cleaning head cartridge provided in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an implementation state of a cleaning sequence according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means with the cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge provided in the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a main configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a function recovery operation for removing ink droplets, paper dust, and the like attached to the recording head.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a recording head cartridge unit.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a problem of the conventional function recovery means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1009 Surface of ejection head 4009 Cleaning blade e Clean water D Thickened ink adhering

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kentaro Yano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kiichiro Takahashi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Daigoro Kanematsu 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hitoshi Nishikori 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording means for ejecting ink from a recording head mounted on a carriage onto a recording medium for recording, a cap for abutting the recording head to close an ejection port, a recovery pump for sucking the ink, and an ejection of the recording head. A recovery unit having a cleaning blade for cleaning the outlet to perform the function recovery operation of the recording head; a cleaning head cartridge containing a cleaning liquid; and a control unit controlling the operations of the recovery unit and the cleaning head cartridge. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means with the cleaning liquid under the control of the control means. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning head cartridge has a function of heating and discharging a cleaning liquid. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid is pure water. 4. The inkjet according to claim 1, wherein in the cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means, cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge is discharged to a cleaning blade of the recovery means for cleaning. Recording device. 5. The inkjet recording according to claim 1, wherein in the cleaning sequence for cleaning the recovery means, the cleaning liquid of the cleaning head cartridge is discharged to the cap of the recovery means for cleaning. apparatus. 6. The recording head is provided with a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink and an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy, and the ink is heated and foamed by the thermal energy generated by the electrothermal converter. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 5, wherein the ink is ejected by means of ink ejection.