JPH09300643A - Ink-jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To keep the initial cleaning function to an ink delivering surface over a long period of time and realize the formation of good quality image by a method wherein an absorbing means, which abuts against a cap by interlocking with the movement of an ink head towards the releasing of a capping, is equipped. SOLUTION: A carriage 11 is arranged near a capping device 10, in which a cap 14 and a pump 12 communicating with the cap through pipes 12a are provided. When the carriage 11 and an ink head move to an image forming site, the cap 14 reaches its upper position so as to join a capping surface 14a to the absorber 15a of a cover 15 in order to clean the ink drops adhered to a capping surface 14a. When the carriage 11 and the ink head 1 move to the capping position after the formation of an image comes to its end, the cap 14 reaches its lower position and turns into a stand-by state during the arriving movement of a side surface 11a of the carriage 11 to an edge face 17c of a main body side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink from an ink head to a recording material such as a paper, which is arranged opposite to the ink head, in accordance with an image signal to form an image. Related to the cleaning device.

[Prior art]

In the well-known ink jet recording apparatus as described above, since ink is ejected from fine nozzles opened on the ink ejection surface of the ink head, it is not possible to leave the nozzle openings exposed during a pause. Since it is inevitable that subsequent image formation will be hindered, a means for protecting the nozzle opening surface of the ink ejection surface is required during non-image formation.

As a means for this purpose, conventionally, after the image forming operation is completed, the ink ejection surface of the ink head which has reached the position of the non-image forming area is rubbed and cleaned by a wiper blade. The nozzle is always kept in a state capable of forming the next image by means such as an operation of sucking ink and bubbles from the nozzle at this position while abutting the nozzle to block it from the outside.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of an essential part showing a capping device which is a protection means for the ink ejection surface 1a of the ink head 1 of such an ink jet recording apparatus. The first ink ejection surface 1a abuts the upper surface of the cap 14 provided on the apparatus main body side to close the nozzle opening of the ink ejection surface.

Further, the cap 14 is a pipe 12a.
Is connected to the pump 12 having the piston 12b therein. Therefore, by moving the piston 12b by a drive source (not shown) and exerting a suction action on the cap 14, ink is sucked from the nozzle opening portion of the ink ejection surface that abuts on the cap 14 and bubbles inside the nozzle are sucked. Foreign matter such as thickened ink should be removed by suction.

After the ink has been sucked, the ink head 1 is moved to the position of the wiper blade 13 to clean the ink ejection surface 1a by rubbing and cleaning, and the ink ejection surface is wiped to deposit ink droplets on the ink ejection surface 1a. Remove 1b ("FIG. 8").

However, in the above-mentioned means, a part of the ink that is moved by the suction after the above-mentioned ink suction operation is attached to the upper surface 14a of the cap 14 as the ink droplet 14c (see FIGS. 9 and 9). Figure 10 "). For this reason,
If the ink droplets 14c on the upper surface 14a of the cap are left to stand, it is unavoidable that the nozzle opening cannot be sealed when the ink is solidified and capped. Therefore, it is difficult to maintain the capping effect of the cap for a long period of time.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to cope with such a situation, and provides an ink jet recording apparatus having a cap for covering an ink ejection surface of an ink head mounted on a carriage during standby. An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording apparatus that prevents solidification of ink droplets adhering to a cap surface, is maintenance-free, and maintains a cleaning function on an initial ink ejection surface for a long period of time to help obtain a high-quality image. It is a thing.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a non-image forming method by ejecting ink from an ink ejection surface of an ink head onto a recording material according to an image signal to form an image. In an ink jet recording apparatus having a capping device having a cap for covering the ink ejection surface in a formation region, when the ink head moves to a capping position, the ink head is separated from the cap due to this movement, and the ink head is capped. An ink jet recording apparatus (1), characterized in that it comprises an ink absorbing means that comes into contact with the cap when it moves in the releasing direction, or in the above (1), the ink absorbing means is It is slidable in the traveling direction of the carriage that carries the ink head and is elastically biased in the direction of the carriage. In the ink jet recording apparatus (2) or the above (1), the ink absorbing means is elastically biased so as to be rotatable in a direction away from the cap, An inkjet recording apparatus is characterized in that it is rotated in a direction in which it comes into contact with the cap as it descends, comes into contact with the cap, and rotates in a direction in which it becomes separated from the cap as it rises, and separates from the cap.

With this structure, the solidification of ink droplets adhering to the cap for cleaning the ink ejection surface is effectively prevented, which contributes to the maintenance-free and long-term formation of high-quality images.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS "FIG. 1" is a schematic perspective view of an essential part of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. Device body 20
The recording material 9 such as paper placed on the platen 2 provided in
It is assumed that the platen 2 is arranged below the platen 2 and is pinched by a driving roller 5 driven by a motor 8 and a pinch roller 6 arranged so as to come into contact with and separate from the driving roller 5 and intermittently conveyed in a direction of an arrow shown in the drawing.

A guide shaft 3 is arranged above the platen 2 in a direction orthogonal to the recording material conveying direction, and an endless belt 4 is arranged in parallel with the guide shaft 3. The endless belt 4 is driven by a motor 7 and supports a carriage 11. An ink head 1 is mounted on the carriage 11, and a large number of nozzles are opened on the side of the ink head 1 facing the recording material 9 to form an ink ejection surface.

With such a configuration, the endless belt 4 is ejected from the ink head onto the recording material in accordance with an image signal applied to the ink head from a control unit (not shown).
The image is formed by moving in the left-right direction in the figure. When the image formation for one line is completed, the recording material 9 is conveyed by a predetermined amount in the arrow direction, and then the image formation for the next line is sequentially performed in the same manner as described above.

In the ink jet recording apparatus having such a structure, as described above, the ink is ejected outside the image area during standby or at other timely non-image formation so that the ink can be ejected smoothly from the nozzles which are opened on the ink ejection surface. It is necessary to block the ink ejection surface of a certain ink head to prevent the ink from drying and remove dust and thickened ink. For this reason, in the illustrated apparatus, the capping device 10 is arranged at an appropriate position outside the image area on the right side of the drawing.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the capping device 10, and the drawing shows the carriage 11 positioned near the capping device 10. The capping device 10 has basically the same structure as that shown in FIG.
A pump 12 is provided which communicates with the pump 12 via. The pump 12 has a rod body 12b for driving a piston installed therein. The pipe 12a is arranged so that it can be extended and contracted, and the cap 14 is moved by an elevator device (not shown).
Can be moved up and down.

A cap cover 15 is arranged above the pump 12, and a porous ink absorber 15a is arranged on the side facing the cap 14. The cap cover 15 is slidable along a guide 17 formed on the main body of the apparatus, and the cover 1
5 and the protrusion 15a provided at the proper position on the main body
It is biased to the left side in the drawing by a spring 16 disposed between and, and is always in contact with the right end portion of the platen 2 on the main body side.

FIG. 3 shows the carriage 11 in the print standby state.
And the ink head 1 mounted thereon is in the capping position. When the carriage 11 arrives at this position, the illustrated right side surface 11a of the carriage 11 abuts against the left abutting surface 15c of the cap cover 15 and moves it against the action of the spring 16 to the right, The ink ejection surface 1a is cleaned at a position where the ink ejection surface 1a faces the cap surface 14a and capping is performed.

When performing image formation, the cap 14
As shown in FIG. 4, the cap 14 is lowered to separate the cap 14 from the ink ejection surface 1a of the ink head. Then, the carriage 11 is started to move toward the blade 13. Accordingly, the cap cover 15 that is in contact with the carriage 11 moves to the left in the drawing in the state of being in contact with the carriage by the action of the spring 16.

When the carriage 11 and the ink head 1 further move to reach the image forming portion, at this time, the cap cover 15 takes the position shown in FIG. 2 and is maintained at this position.

Thereafter, the cab 14 reaches the upper position, and its cap surface 14a comes into close contact with the absorber 15a of the cap cover 15. This cleans the ink droplets adhering to the cap surface 14a.

When the carriage 11 and the ink head 1 are moved to the capping position which is a non-image area after the image formation is completed, the side surface 11a of the carriage is the end surface 1 on the main body side.
By the time it reaches 7c, the cap 14 reaches its lowered position and is in a standby state.

Next, the end surface 11a of the carriage 11 contacts the end surface 15c of the cap cover 15 and presses the cover 15 to move it to the right in the figure. When the ink ejection surface 1a of the ink head 1 reaches the cap position, the cap 14 rises to match the ink ejection surface 1a and enter the capping state. In this state, the pump 12 can be operated at appropriate times to suck the ink.

After that, the cap 14 descends, the carriage 11 moves to the rubbing position where the blade 13 is located, and after wiping by the blade 13, the carriage right end surface 11a is temporarily stopped at a position beyond the main body end surface 17c. To do.

In this state, the spring 16 causes
As shown in FIG. 2, the cap cover 15 that is in contact with and is following the carriage 11 has reached the position in which it is in contact with the cap 14.
4 rises, and the ink droplets adhering to the cap upper surface 14a are removed by the ink absorber 15a. afterwards,
The cap 14 moves to the lowered position.

After that, the carriage 11 returns to the capping position, and accordingly, the cap 14 in the lowered position ascends to come into contact with the ink ejection surface to perform the capping.

In the embodiment described above, the cap cover 15 provided with the ink absorber is interlocked with the carriage and moved in the same direction as the carriage. However, the cap cover 15 is interlocked with the operation of raising and lowering the cap. It is also possible to move from the capping position to the cap cleaning position of the ink absorber.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are side sectional views showing the apparatus of such an embodiment. Carriage in this device,
The basic structure of the capping device such as the ink head, the cap, the pump, etc. is the same as that of the above-described embodiment device, and the corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted unless necessary. .

In this apparatus, a long hole 12d is formed in a pipe 12a connecting the cap 14 and the pump 12, and a pin 15e provided on a cap cover 15 having an ink absorber 15a is rotated. It is slidably fitted.

A spring 19 is suspended between the protrusion 15f provided on the cap cover 15 and the protrusion 18b provided on the cap cover guide 18 provided on the main body side.
The cap cover 15 is given a tendency to rotate clockwise.

In the inactive position of the cap shown in FIG. 5, the cap 14 is at the lowest position apart from the ink head by an elevator device (not shown), and the back surface of the cap cover 15 is on the slope 18a of the cap cover guide 18. Abutting against each other, the ink absorber 15a is held against the action of the spring 19 against the cap 14 at the ink absorbing position.

When the carriage 11 approaches the capping position to perform capping, the pipe cover 12a is raised (along with the cap 14) by the lifting device (not shown), and the cap cover 15 is also raised.
9 is rotated clockwise while being guided by the cap cover guide 18a to take the position shown in FIG. 6 and the cap cleaning is released.
Comes into contact with the ink ejection surface 1a of the ink head to enter the capping state.

Others, the mutual operation of the carriage and the ink head, the blade 13 and the cap 14 is the same as in the case of the apparatus of the above embodiment.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An ink jet recording apparatus for forming an image by ejecting ink from an ink head to a recording material according to a signal, wherein the ink head is capped in a non-image area during non-image formation, the ink attached to the cap at the capping position Since the droplets are removed by the separately provided ink absorbing means, the cleaning effect of the cap is improved and the ink ejection surface of the ink head can be kept clean for a long period of time, which is a remarkable effect in obtaining a high quality image. In addition, since the contact and separation of the ink absorbing means for removing the ink from the cap is interlocked with the movement of the carriage, a drive device for operating the ink absorbing means is unnecessary, and a separate time is required for cleaning the cap. Therefore, it is effective for maintaining workability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a main part of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a state of the capping device portion when absorbing ink droplets.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a state of the capping device portion when capping the same as above.

FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a mode of the capping device section of the same as above when absorbing non-ink droplets and not capping.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a state when an ink droplet is absorbed by a capping device portion according to another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state of the capping device portion when capping the same as above.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a capping device portion of a known image forming apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode in which an ink ejection surface is cleaned by a wiper blade.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cap illustrating an aspect in which ink adheres to the upper surface of the cap.

FIG. 10 is an upper sectional view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ink Head 2 Platen 3 Guide Shaft 4 Endless Belt for Transport 5 Driving Roller 6 Pinch Roller 7, 8 Motor 9 Recording Material 10 Capping Device 11 Carriage 12 Pump 12a Pipe 13 Wiper Blade 14 Cap 15 Cap Cover 15a Ink Absorber 16 Spring 17 guide 18 cap cover guide 19 spring 20 image forming apparatus main body

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A capping device comprising a cap that covers the ink ejection surface in a non-image forming area by ejecting ink from an ink ejection surface of an ink head onto a recording material according to an image signal. In the image forming apparatus, when the ink head moves to the capping position, the ink head is separated from the cap in accordance with the movement, and when the ink head moves in the capping release direction, the ink absorption is brought into contact with the cap. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising means. 2. The ink absorbing means is slidable in a traveling direction of a carriage carrying an ink head and is elastically biased in the carriage direction. Inkjet recording device. 3. The ink absorbing means is elastically biased so as to be rotatable in a direction away from the cap, and rotates in a direction in which the cap comes into contact with the cap as the cap descends, and comes into contact with the cap. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording apparatus is rotated in a direction away from the cap and is separated from the cap as a result of rising.