JPH08142345A - Ink jet apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an ink jet apparatus equipped with a wiping member not damaging a head at the time of the wiping of the head and not contaminating the interior of a printer and having simple constitution. CONSTITUTION: Groove parts 40 are provided to the wiping surface 22a of a wiping member 22 composed of a plastic material so that one end parts thereof are arranged at the just-before position not reaching the acting end surface of the wiping member so as to extend in the direction separated from the acting end surface. Since a head 2 and the wiping member 22 become a contact state on a continuous surface at the time of wiping, the cleaning deficinecy of waste ink is not generated. The waste ink scraped off by wiping receives capillary force without remaining in the vicinity of the acting end surface to move along the groove parts 40 to be held by the whole of the wiping member 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet device, and more particularly to an ink jet device having a wiping member for cleaning a nozzle surface of a head for ejecting ink droplets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ink jet device,
When the head surface (= nozzle surface) on which the nozzles for ejecting ink are formed gets wet or becomes dirty, it adversely affects the ejection condition of ink, such as variations in the ejection direction of ink and the particle shape of ejected ink droplets. In some cases, the original print quality of the inkjet recording device was impaired. In order to solve such a problem, a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the nozzle surface of the head has been proposed.

Among such conventional cleaning mechanisms, there is one that uses a wiper blade to scrape or wipe off ink, dust and the like on the nozzle surface. A flat plate made of a plastic material is usually used as the wiper blade, but a wiper blade that has been processed to prevent unwiping when the amount of ink to be wiped is large has also been devised.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-23999 discloses an ink jet printer for cleaning a nozzle surface with a wiper blade having a slit. Regarding the conventional inkjet device described in this publication, the schematic configuration thereof will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5A and 5B.
Will be explained.

A head 35, which ejects ink from nozzles (not shown), is mounted on a carriage 34, and the carriage 34 is driven by a drive source (not shown).
Moved along 1. Then, the printing paper 32 conveyed onto the platen 31 by a rubber roller (not shown)
Ink is ejected from the head 35 along with the movement of the carriage 34, and image data is printed thereon. Near the home position HP of the carriage 34 (on the left side of the platen 31 in FIG. 3), at least one blade group 36 including a plurality of flexible wiper blades for wiping the nozzle surface of the head 35 is provided. Of these, the rearmost wiper blade in the moving direction of the carriage 34 is a slitless wiper blade, while at least one of the remaining wiper blades is a slitted wiper blade.

After printing the image data, the nozzle surface 35a of the head 35 and the cleaning surface of the wiper blade are brought into sliding contact with each other by the movement of the carriage 34, so that the nozzle surface 35a is wiped.

[0007]

However, the above-mentioned ink jet apparatus requires a plurality of wiper blades, and when wiped with a slitted wiper blade, it adheres to the edge of the slit and the waste ink. Dust could hurt the nozzle. Moreover, when wiping only with the wiper blade with a slit, the waste ink remained in a streak rather than the slit, and the cleaning was not reliably performed.
Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional example, wiping is performed again with a wiper blade having no slit,
Not only is the cleaning process time-consuming, but the cleaning mechanism is also large-scale.

Further, since the slits of the wiper blades are completely separated from each other, and the width and position thereof are easily displaced, the ink held in the slits is easily scattered by slight vibration or impact. It may be scattered and scattered in the inkjet device.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive ink jet device which does not damage the nozzle surface during wiping and does not stain the inside of the printer unit. To do.

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, an ink jet device according to the present invention has a head for ejecting ink droplets from a nozzle and a wiping member for cleaning the nozzle surface of the head. Further, a capillarity force generating means having a groove is provided on the cleaning surface of the wiping member facing in the relative movement direction of the head, and one end of the groove is in contact with the nozzle surface of the head. Is located at a position immediately before the working end face of the.

The groove may be formed so as to extend in a direction away from the working end surface of the wiping member.

The capillary force generator may further have an ink reservoir at the other end of the groove opposite to the one end.

An absorbing member for absorbing and removing the waste ink collected on the cleaning surface of the wiping member by the capillary force generated by the capillary force generating portion may be further included.

[0014]

In the ink jet device having the above structure according to the first aspect of the present invention, the working end surface of the wiping member contacts the nozzle surface with a continuous line or surface, and the nozzle surface is not wiped or scratched with waste ink. Clean without causing it. Then, when wiping the nozzle surface of the head, the waste ink scraped off by the working end of the wiping member penetrates into the groove portion of the capillary force generating portion provided on the cleaning surface when the amount exceeds a predetermined amount, It flows along the groove portion by the capillary force without remaining in the vicinity of the working end portion forever. Further, the waste ink is retained in the capillary force generating portion due to the surface tension of the ink and does not contaminate other members in the apparatus.

Further, in the ink jet apparatus according to the second aspect, since the groove extends in the direction away from the working end surface, a large amount of waste ink does not remain near the working end surface, and the cleaning surface Will be reserved in a wide area. Therefore, cleaning is performed without leaving any unwiped portion.

In the ink jet device according to the third aspect of the invention, the capillary force is strengthened by the ink reservoir portion arranged at the other end of the groove portion, and the waste ink is sucked up to the ink reservoir portion through the groove portion. , Put on hold. Therefore,
A large amount of waste ink can be wiped off, and the retained waste ink can be retained well.

In the ink jet apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the waste ink retained on the cleaning surface of the wiping member is absorbed and removed by the absorbing member. Therefore, the amount of retained waste ink of the wiping member is not saturated, and proper cleaning is always performed.

[0018]

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

First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the housing 21 of the printer 1, the platen 16
Is rotatably provided in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, and the guide shaft 4 is provided along the platen 16 thereof. A carriage 3 is slidably attached to the guide shaft 4, and a belt 7 is attached to the carriage 3. The belt 7 is wound around the idle pulley 8 and the drive pulley 6. The drive pulley 6 is rotated by the drive motor 5, and the rotation of the drive pulley 6 moves the carriage 3 along the guide shaft 4 via the belt 7 in the arrow B direction in FIG. A head 2 is mounted on the carriage 3 so as to face the platen 16, and ink for printing is stored in the head 2.

The printing paper 17 is inserted into the housing 21 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 from the rear of the printer 1, is conveyed in the direction of arrow D along the platen 16, and is discharged from the housing 21 of the printer 1. The printing paper 17 is
When transported to the platen 16, the head 2 ejects ink as the carriage 3 moves, so that required data is printed.

A cap 9 is provided at the non-printing position of the head 2 on the left side of the platen 16 in FIG. 1, and a cap rubber 10 for closely contacting the head 2 is attached to the cap 9.
Is attached. The cap 9 is attached to the head 2 so as to be movable in the direction of the arrow E in FIG. 1, and the cap rubber 10 is brought into close contact with the head 2 as appropriate. A connecting tube 12 is attached to the cap 9 and is connected to the pump 11. A discharge tube 13 is connected to the pump 11, and the discharge tube 13
Is connected to the waste ink tank 14 in which the adsorbent 15 is stored.

A flexible wiping member 22 is provided between the platen 16 and the cap 9 at the non-printing position. The wiping member 22 is attached so as to be movable in the direction of arrow F in FIG. The wiping member 22 normally stands by at a retracted position where it does not come into contact with the head 2, and at the time of wiping, it is moved to an advanced position where it can be slidably contacted with the head 2 by a moving means (not shown). As shown in FIG. 2 in which the inside of the printer 1 is viewed obliquely, the wiping member 22 includes a capillary force generating portion 42 having a groove portion 40 on the wiping surface 22a corresponding to the cleaning surface of the present invention, and one end portion of the groove portion 40. Does not reach the contact surface between the wiping member 22 and the head 2.

The groove 40 is a groove that does not penetrate the wiping member 20, and the groove 40 is provided so as to extend in a direction away from the contact surface.
Further, a slit 41 having a large capacity is formed at the extended end of the groove 40. The slit 41 corresponds to the ink reservoir of the present invention. The wiping member 22 is arranged so that the wiping surface 22 a can wipe all the nozzle surfaces of the head 2.

Further, the suction member 23 that absorbs ink is
The wiping member 22 is arranged in the vertical direction with respect to the wiping surface 22a in the retracted position, and is arranged parallel to the wiping surface 22a. The surface of the suction member 23 that faces the wiping surface 22a is a cleaning surface 23a that contacts the wiping surface 22a as the wiping member 22 retracts and cleans the wiping surface 22a.

Next, the operation of the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, the print sheet 17 has an arrow C.
Direction, it is inserted into the housing 21 of the printer 1 and conveyed to the platen 16. The head 2 attached to the carriage 3 which is moved in the direction of the arrow B by the drive motor 5 ejects ink according to the data input when the carriage 3 is sent to the position of the print paper 17, and prints on the print paper 17. Form an image. After that, when the head 2 prints a certain amount or the user operates the head 2 as necessary, the head 2 is maintained. During the maintenance, the head 2 is left on the left side of the platen 16 in FIG. Is moved to the non-printing position of. Next, the cap 9 approaches the head 2 and the cap rubber 10 comes into close contact with the head 2 to cover the vicinity of the nozzle of the head 2. Then, the pump 11 sucks the ink and bubbles in the head 2, and further the foreign matter attached near the nozzles, and discharges them to the adsorbent 15 in the waste ink tank 14.

When the nozzle surface of the head 2 is contaminated with ink or the like, or whenever the head 2 prints a fixed amount,
The wiping member 22 is moved to the forward position where it can be engaged with the head 2 by the moving means. As shown in FIG. 3 when the inside of the printer 1 is viewed from above, the nozzle surface of the head 2 and the wiping surface 22a of the wiping member 22 are moved along with the movement of the head 2 to the non-printing position (the direction of arrow B1 in the drawing). And the nozzle surface are wiped. At the time of this wiping, the wiping member 22 is shown in FIG.
It is slidably contacted in a bent state from the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line to the position indicated by the solid line. At this time, the waste ink scraped off from the nozzle surface of the head 2 is wiped by the wiping surface 22 a of the wiping member 22.
The capillary force generator 42 provided in the head is transmitted in the direction opposite to that of the head 2 and is stored in the slit 41.

Then, at the end of the wiping, the wiping member 22 retracts, and the waste ink stored in the slit 41 on the wiping surface 22a comes into contact with the cleaning surface 23a of the suction member 23, and the wiping surface 22a is cleaned. This prevents the amount of ink held in the capillary force generator 42 from becoming saturated and prevents the capillary force and the ink holding force of the wiping member 41 from decreasing.

Furthermore, the restoring force of the wiping member 22 immediately after wiping gives the wiping surface 22a a cleaning surface 23a with a force such that ink is not scattered.
If it is brought into contact with a, the capillary force generator 42, especially the slit 4
Cleaning surface 2 for waste ink retained in the first copy
The cleaning effect of the wiping member 41 can be promoted.

In the ink jet printer 1 thus constructed, the wiping surface 22a of the wiping member 22 is formed.
The groove portion 4 that does not reach the contact surface (= operating end surface) with the head 2
0 and the slit 41 for storing the waste ink are provided, so that the wiping member 22 does not suffer damage to the nozzle surface of the head 2 at the time of wiping, and the waste ink remains on the wiping member 22 until the wiping member 22 is cleaned after wiping. Since it is kept, the inside of the printer 1 is not polluted.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in this embodiment, the capillary force generator 4
2 was composed of the groove portion 40 and the slit 41,
It may be configured with only the groove portion 40. Further, the capillary force generators 42 may cross each other.

Further, in this embodiment, the ink jetted from the head 2 flies in the horizontal direction and is printed.
Although the inkjet device of the present invention is used in the above, it may be used in a device that prints by ejecting ink in the vertical direction, for example, not in the horizontal direction.

Further, although the suction member 23 is fixed in the present embodiment, it may be provided so as to be movable so that it can be moved during wiping.

Further, in the present embodiment, the head 2 is arranged perpendicular to the moving direction B, but the head 2 may be arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the moving direction B.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the ink jet apparatus of the present invention, it is arranged at a position just before the working end surface formed by the contact between the cleaning surface of the wiping member and the nozzle surface of the head. Since the capillary force generating portion having the groove portion is provided on the wiper blade surface, the waste ink wiped immediately after wiping diffuses to the cleaning surface along the groove portion and is retained by the wiping member. For this reason, there may be a problem in cleaning the waste ink,
The wiping quality can be improved without damaging the nozzle surface of the head or contaminating the inside of the printer unit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the wiper member of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing the vicinity of the wiper member of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the vicinity of a conventional wiper member.

FIG. 5 (a) is a main perspective view showing a conventional wiper member. (B) It is a side view which shows the conventional wiper member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer 2 Head 22 Wiping Member 22a Wiping Surface 23 Adsorbent 40 Groove 41 Slit 42 Capillary Force Generator

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet apparatus having a head for ejecting ink droplets from a nozzle and a wiping member for cleaning a nozzle surface of the head, wherein a cleaning surface of the wiping member facing the relative movement direction of the head is provided. An ink jet device, wherein a capillary force generating means having a groove is provided, and one end of the groove is arranged at a position immediately before reaching an action end surface of a wiping member which comes into contact with a nozzle surface of the head. 2. The ink jet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the groove portion is formed so as to extend in a direction away from the working end surface of the wiping member. 3. The ink jet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the capillary force generating portion further has an ink reservoir portion at the other end opposite to the one end of the groove. 4. The ink jet apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an absorbing member that absorbs and removes the waste ink collected on the cleaning surface of the wiping member by the capillary force generated by the capillary force generating unit.