JPH0976517A - Cleaning device for ink jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning device capable of preventing the scattering of ink wipe off by a wiper blade and not generating the wiping residue ink on the side of a recording head. SOLUTION: In a cleaning device wiping off the ink bonded to the nozzle opening surface 3a of the recording head 14 of an ink jet recording apparatus by using a rubber wiper blade 44, the rubber hardness of the wiper blade 44 is adjusted to 40-60 deg. as JIS A hardness prescribed by JIS K6301. By this constitution, even if the thickness or arranging position of the wiper blade is not especially strictly and finely adjusted, the scattering of ink wipen off by the wiper blade can be prevented and the wiping residue of the ink on the side of a recording head 3 is not generated. Therefore, the relative positional adjustment of the recording head and the wiper blade can be easily and rapidly performed and this cleaning device largely contributes to the enhancement of productivity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for wiping off ink adhering to a nozzle opening surface of a recording head included in an ink jet recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet recording apparatus has a cleaning device for wiping off ink adhering to the nozzle opening surface of a recording head. As this cleaning device, a rubber wiper blade is used for recording. There was one that wiped off the nozzle opening surface of the head.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 3A, the wiper blade 44 as described above has, for example, a mounting base portion 44a fixed to a support body 45 and a wiping portion extending from the mounting base portion 44a in a rectangular plate shape. 44b, and the wiping portion 44b
Of the nozzle 3 is arranged substantially perpendicular to the opening surface 3a of the nozzle 3. Then, when necessary, the support body 45 is moved forward in the direction of the arrow H to move the wiping portion 44b to a position where it can contact the nozzle opening surface 3a. As a result, when the recording head 14 moves along the guide rod 20 in the direction of the arrow G in the drawing, as shown in FIG.
The wiping portion 44b comes into contact with the nozzle opening surface 3a, and the wiping portion 44b
The ink 7 adhering to the nozzle opening surface 3a is wiped off while b is curved.

[0004]

However, according to the prior art, there are the following problems. The wiper blade 44 completes wiping the nozzle opening surface 3a, and at the same time, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the portion which has been curved as shown by the dotted line moves in the direction of the arrow B in the drawing to the original shape. Restore to. At this time, if the restoration operation is too quick, the ink 7 adhering to the wiping portion 44b may be
As shown in the figure, there is a problem that it scatters around and becomes dirty.

On the other hand, in the past, the restoring force of the wiping portion was adjusted by reducing the thickness of the wiping portion or adjusting the arrangement position so that the wiping portion would not be excessively curved. However, the wiping portion has a thin thickness of about 0.5 to 1.5 mm, and it is not easy to finely adjust this thickness optimally, and even if it is made slightly thin, it is merely flexible. There is a possibility that ink may be left unwiped as a result of weakening of the contact pressure on the nozzle opening surface due to no tension.

Even if the wiping portion is arranged so as not to be curved so much, the portion of the wiping portion which can come into contact with the recording head is about 0.5 to 3 mm wide, and it is not easy to finely adjust the arrangement position. Even if only the disposing position is separated, the adhesion between the wiping portion and the nozzle opening surface may be deteriorated, and there is a possibility that ink may be left unwiped.

Further, such a fine adjustment of the thickness and the arrangement position is easily affected by a slight error during assembly and a change with time, and there is a problem that the wiping performance varies depending on products. That is, it is difficult to effectively solve the contradictory problems that ink splattering occurs and unwiping occurs even if the wiper blade size and arrangement position are only finely adjusted, and more effective measures are desired. Was there.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the ink jet type can prevent scattering of the wiped ink without strict fine adjustment of the size and the arrangement position of the wiper blade, and the ink is not left unwiped on the recording head side. An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device for a recording head.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, the ink attached to the nozzle opening surface of the recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus is replaced with a rubber wiper. In the ink jet recording head cleaning device which wipes off with a blade, the wiper blade has a rubber hardness of JIS K.
It is characterized in that it is adjusted within the range of 40 to 60 degrees in JIS A hardness specified by 6301.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device, the wiper blade has a wiping portion extending in a rectangular plate shape from a mounting base portion fixed to a support, and the wiping portion has a mounting base portion side. The length to the tip is 2 to 10 mm, the thickness is 0.5 to 1.5 mm, the length direction is substantially perpendicular to the nozzle opening surface, and the nozzle opening surface is formed on the nozzle opening surface. It is relatively movable in the thickness direction,
A portion within a predetermined range from the tip during the movement is arranged in a positional relationship so as to come into contact with the recording head, and the nozzle opening surface is wiped off while curving with the contact.

Further, in the cleaning device according to a third aspect of the present invention, the wiper blade is in contact with the recording head at a portion within 1/2 of the length and within the range of 0.5 to 3 mm from the tip side of the wiper blade. It is characterized in that they are arranged in a positional relationship that allows them.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The cleaning device for an ink jet recording head according to claim 1 is premised on a structure in which ink adhered to the nozzle opening surface is wiped off with a wiper blade, and the rubber of the wiper blade is used. JIS whose hardness is specified in JIS K 6301
It is characterized in that the A hardness is adjusted within the range of 40 to 60 degrees.

This is because the present inventor has made various studies on the wiper blade of this type of cleaning device, and as a result, when a rubber having specific physical properties is used, the dimensions and the arrangement position are not strictly adjusted. It was completed by finding that ink splattering and unwiping do not occur.

As the rubber which can be used for producing the wiper blade of the cleaning apparatus of the present invention and which can adjust the rubber hardness within the above range, acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), chloroprene rubber (CR), ethylene- Examples include propylene rubber (EPDM, EPM), butyl rubber (IIR), natural rubber (NR), isoprene rubber (IR), and silicone rubber.

In the cleaning device of the present invention, using these rubbers, the rubber hardness of the wiper blade is
The ISA hardness is adjusted within the range of 40 to 60 degrees.
In this way, the wiper blade is such that the portion of the nozzle opening surface that is curved during wiping is restored to the original shape relatively slowly when the wiping is completed. Therefore, the ink attached to the wiper blade does not scatter around. Further, since the wiper blade is not too soft, the contact pressure with respect to the nozzle opening surface is appropriately maintained, and ink is not left unwiped on the nozzle opening surface. Therefore, the thickness of the wiper blade and the adjustment range of the arrangement position are widened, and strict fine adjustment is not required, so that the productivity of the inkjet recording apparatus is improved,
In addition, variations in wiping performance due to assembly errors and the like are less likely to occur.

The rubber hardness of the wiper blade is J
If the ISA hardness is less than 40 degrees, there is a tendency for ink to be left unwiped. It is presumed that this is because the wiper blade becomes excessively soft and the contact pressure with respect to the nozzle opening surface cannot be sufficiently secured.
Further, when the rubber hardness of the wiper blade was larger than 60 degrees in JIS A hardness, ink came to be scattered around when the shape of the curved wiper blade was restored. Even in this case, if the thickness and arrangement position of the wiper blade are finely adjusted to optimize the deformation amount of the wiper blade, it is considered that ink will not scatter, but the adjustment range is extremely narrow, and the thickness and arrangement position are slightly It is extremely difficult to optimize the thickness and the arrangement position because the ink is left unwiped only by changing.

By the way, the specific dimensions and arrangement direction of the wiper blade can be variously adjusted within a practical range and cannot be unconditionally specified, but at least the rubber hardness is adjusted as described above. The size and the adjustment width of the arrangement direction can be widened. With respect to the dimensions and the arrangement direction, if a specific example is shown, as in claim 2, a wiping part extending in a rectangular plate shape from a mounting base fixed to a support is provided, and the wiping part is attached to the mounting base side. To the length from 2 to 1
The length of the nozzle opening is 0 mm and the thickness is 0.5 to 1.5 mm, and the length direction (that is, the direction of 2 to 10 mm) is substantially perpendicular to the nozzle opening surface. The thickness direction with respect to the surface (that is, 0.5 to
It is relatively movable in a direction of 1.5 mm), and at the time of the movement, a portion within a predetermined range from the tip is arranged in such a positional relationship that it can come into contact with the recording head, and is curved in accordance with the contact. At the same time, it is preferable to wipe off the nozzle opening surface.

In the above structure, the relative movement means that the recording head side may move or the wiper blade side may move. Further, the recording head and the wiper blade are arranged in such a positional relationship that a portion within a predetermined range from the tip of the wiper blade may come into contact with the recording head during movement. However, this does not mean that the wiping operation is performed while the portion within a predetermined range from the tip of the wiper blade is in contact with the recording head during the wiping operation. By the way, when the wiper blade is placed in such a positional relationship that a part within a predetermined range from the tip of the wiper blade can come into contact with the recording head during movement, in most cases, the wiper blade bends during the wiping operation, so only the tip of the wiper blade is almost curved. Will be wiped while it contacts the recording head.

With the wiper blade whose size and arrangement direction are adjusted within the above-described range, the ink adhering to the nozzle opening surface can be wiped off satisfactorily, and ink is left unwiped on the nozzle opening surface. In addition, the ink attached to the wiper blade does not scatter around when the ink is wiped off.

In addition to the arrangement method described in claim 2,
For example, it is possible to arrange the wiper blade so as not to be substantially perpendicular to the nozzle opening surface but to be inclined with respect to the nozzle opening surface. In this case, the length of the wiping part from the mounting base side to the tip and the thickness of the wiping part may be slightly different from the above-mentioned suitable numerical range. However, if the rubber hardness is adjusted as described in claim 1, the adjustment width of the dimension is wide, and therefore the dimension of the wiping portion can be easily determined according to the arrangement direction.

When the recording head and the wiper blade are arranged in such a positional relationship that a portion within a predetermined range from the tip of the wiper blade can come into contact with the recording head during movement, as described in claim 2, Regarding the specific extent to which the dimensions in the above-mentioned predetermined range are adjusted, it is still possible to make various adjustments within a practical range and cannot be specified unconditionally, but at least the rubber hardness is adjusted as described above. By doing so, it is possible to widen the adjustment range of the dimensions in the predetermined range. With regard to the dimensions of this predetermined range, if a specific example is shown, a portion within 1/2 of the length and within a range of 0.5 to 3 mm from the tip side of the wiper blade is the recording head as described in claim 3. It is desirable that they are arranged so that they can come into contact with each other.

With a wiper blade in which the positional relationship between the recording head and the wiper blade is adjusted within the range described above, the ink adhering to the nozzle opening surface can be wiped off satisfactorily. There is no unprinted ink left on the surface, and when the wiping is finished,
Ink attached to the wiper blade does not scatter around.

The positional relationship described in claim 3 is a condition suitable when the wiper blade is arranged in the size and arrangement direction as described in claim 2, and for example, the wiper blade is installed on the nozzle opening surface. In the case where the recording head and the wiper blade are arranged so as to be inclined with respect to each other, the positional relationship between the recording head and the wiper blade may be slightly different from the preferable numerical range described in claim 3. However, if the rubber hardness is adjusted as described in claim 1, the adjustment width of the relative position of the recording head and the wiper blade is wide,
Both arrangement positions can be easily determined.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0025]

EXAMPLES Next, in order to further clarify the embodiments of the present invention, an example of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the examples described below are merely examples of the embodiments of the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific examples illustrated below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet type recording apparatus of the embodiment is provided with a cylindrical platen 10 rotatably attached to a frame 12 in a direction of an arrow A shown in FIG. An ink jet type recording head 14 is provided. The recording head 14 is mounted on the carriage 16. The carriage 16 includes a guide rod 20 arranged parallel to the center line of the platen 10.
Is slidably supported by the pair of pulleys 22, 2 and
4 is engaged with the timing belt 26 wound around the belt 4. Then, one of the pulleys 22 is rotated by the carriage drive motor 28, and the timing belt 26 is sent, so that the carriage 16 moves along the platen 10.

The recording head 14 has a large number of ink flow paths (not shown) and a large number of nozzles provided corresponding to the ink flow paths. Ink is supplied from an ink supply device (ink cartridge) that is freely attached. The wall of the ink flow path is formed by a vibrating plate (piezoelectric element), and when the vibrating plate is deformed by a drive circuit (not shown) based on a command from a control device (not shown), the pressure change due to the deformation Causes the ink to be ejected from the nozzle. The vibrating plate is deformed based on the recording data, and the ink supplied to the ink flow path is ejected from the nozzles determined based on the recording data. The ink is ejected onto the recording paper 32 supplied between the platen 10 and the recording head 14 as the carriage 16 moves, thereby forming an image for one line. When the image formation for one line is completed, the platen 10 is rotated to feed the recording paper 32 for one line, and the image for one line is formed again. By repeating this, an image is formed on the entire recording sheet 32. The recording paper 32 is supplied from a paper supply port (not shown) at the rear of the frame 12 in the direction of an arrow C in the drawing, is fed in the direction of an arrow D in the drawing by the rotation of the platen 10, and is discharged from a paper discharge port (not shown).

A cap device 34 is provided on one side of the platen 10 at a position facing the recording head 14 that has moved to the non-recording position. The cap device 34 includes a nozzle cap 36 made of rubber on the surface facing the recording head 14. At the center of the nozzle cap 36, a lip portion (not shown) formed in a rectangular tubular shape is formed, and on the inner side surrounded by the lip portion,
A through hole (not shown) which penetrates the inside of the nozzle cap 36
Are formed.

The through hole is connected to a suction pump 38 via a suction tube 40. Suction pump 3
8, a discharge tube 48 is connected to the suction tube 40, and the discharge tube 48 is connected to a waste ink tank 52 containing an adsorbent 50. The ink in the nozzle sucked by the suction pump 38 passes through the discharge tube 48 and the adsorbent 5 in the waste ink tank 52.
Adsorbed at 0.

The cap device 34 includes the recording head 14
It is arranged so as to be able to move forward toward the side, and is always at the retracted position on the rear side, but when the recording head 14 moves from the recording end position to the non-recording position after the recording is completed, the recording head 14 moves forward in conjunction therewith. There is. With this advance, the nozzle cap 36 comes into close contact with the nozzle opening surface of the recording head 14. At this time, the lip portion of the nozzle cap 36 is
By closely contacting the portion of the nozzle opening surface on the front side of No. 4 surrounding the nozzle row, a packing is formed and the nozzle row is airtightly covered. In this embodiment, the recording head 1
4 is moved from the recording end position to the non-recording position, a clutch (not shown) is engaged and the carriage drive motor 28
By transmitting the driving force of, the cap device 34 is moved forward. Similarly, when the recording head 14 moves from the non-recording position to the recording start position (the same as the recording end position) at the start of recording, the cap device 34 retracts in conjunction with this. With this retreat, the nozzle cap 36
Is separated from the recording head 14. That is, the recording head 1
While 4 is in the non-recording position, the cap device 34 is always in the forward position, and the nozzle cap 36 is in close contact with the nozzle opening surface of the recording head 14.

Next, the cleaning mechanism having the wiper blade, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, will be described in detail. The wiper blade 44 is attached to a support body 45 arranged between the platen 10 and the cap device 34, and is advanced toward the recording head 14 side with the support body 45. The wiper blade 44 is a flexible member having a rectangular flat plate shape.
As shown in (a), the mounting base 4 fixed to the support body 45.
4a and a wiping portion 44b extending from the mounting base portion 44a into a rectangular plate shape. In particular, the rubber hardness thereof is JIS
It is characterized in that the JIS A hardness specified by K 6301 is adjusted to 60 degrees. The wiping portion 44b has a length L from the mounting base 44a side to the tip of 7 mm, a thickness M of 1 mm, and a width (dimension in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing) of 15
The length is approximately perpendicular to the opening surface 3a of the nozzle 3 and is arranged. Further, a portion having a length N = 1 mm from the tip of the wiping portion 44b is arranged in such a positional relationship that the nozzle 3 can be brought into contact with the movement of the recording head 14 in the direction of the arrow G shown in the drawing. As shown in FIG. 2B, the wiper blade 44 is curved and wipes off the ink 7 adhering to the nozzle 3.

The wiper blade 44 configured as described above is always in the rear retracted position, but when necessary, it is driven by the wiper drive motor (not shown) to advance toward the recording head 14 side, It moves to the position shown in FIG. After that, as the recording head 14 moves in the direction of the arrow G, the wiper blade 44 contacts the nozzle opening surface 3a while being bent, as shown in FIG. The ink 7 adhered to is wiped off.

At the same time when the wiping of the nozzle opening surface 3a is completed, the wiper blade 44 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, the part that has been curved as shown by the dotted line moves to the direction of arrow B in the drawing and restores the original shape. At this time, the rubber hardness of the wiper blade 44 is JIS A
Since the hardness is adjusted to 60 degrees, the restoring operation is relatively slow and the ink 7 adhering to the wiping portion 44b is
As shown, it remains attached to the wiping unit 44b,
It does not scatter around as shown in FIG.

In order to confirm the effect of this rubber hardness,
The rubber hardness of the wiper blade 44 was variously changed.
As a result, if the JIS A hardness was within the range of 40 to 60 degrees, the ink 7 adhering to the nozzle 3 could be wiped off satisfactorily and the ink 7 did not scatter. On the other hand, when the rubber hardness of the wiper blade 44 is smaller than 40 degrees in JIS A hardness, the ink 7 does not scatter, but the ink 7 adhering to the nozzle 3 cannot be sufficiently wiped off, and unwiping easily occurs. Tended to be. On the contrary, when the rubber hardness of the wiper blade 44 was set to be greater than 60 degrees in JIS A hardness, the scattering of the ink 7 became visible. in this case,
If only the ink 7 is prevented from scattering, the thickness and the position of the wiper blade 44 may be finely adjusted so that the deformation of the wiper blade 44 is suppressed.
There is a problem that the ink 7 does not scatter at the same time that the ink 7 is likely to be left unwiped, and these problems cannot be solved at the same time.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the specific construction of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modes can be adopted within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. You can For example, in the embodiment, the wiper blade wipes the nozzle opening surface as the recording head moves, but the wiper blade side may be movable with respect to the nozzle opening surface.

Although not particularly described in the embodiments, if an absorbent material capable of absorbing ink is arranged near the wiper blade and the ink adhering to the wiper blade is absorbed by the absorbent material, It is more desirable because the ink will not remain attached to the wiper blade.
In order to absorb the ink of the wiper blade in such an absorbent material, even if the wiper blade moves and contacts the absorbent material, the absorbent material moves and contacts the wiper blade. You may. If the amount of ink attached to the wiper blade is not large, the wiper blade may be naturally dried without disposing an absorbent material.

[0037]

As described above, according to the cleaning device of the first to third aspects of the present invention, the scattering of the ink wiped by the wiper blade is prevented, and the ink remaining on the recording head side is left unwound. Does not occur. Therefore, the thickness of the wiper blade and the adjustment range of the arrangement position are widened, and it becomes unnecessary to make fine adjustments to the dimension and the arrangement position of the wiper blade strictly, which contributes to the improvement of the productivity of the inkjet recording apparatus and may cause an assembly error. Variations in wiping performance will not occur.

Particularly, according to the cleaning device of the second or third aspect, the size, the arranging direction, and the arranging position of the wiper blade are set within a practical range. This is advantageous when industrially produced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an operating state of the cleaning mechanism of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an operating state of a conventional cleaning mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 ... Nozzle, 3a ... Nozzle opening surface, 10 ...
Platen, 12 ... Frame, 14 ... Recording head, 16 ... Carriage, 20 ... Guide rod,
22, 24 ... Pulley, 26 ... Timing belt, 28 ... Carriage drive motor, 32 ... Recording paper, 34 ... Cap device, 36 ... Nozzle cap, 38 ... Suction pump , 40 ... suction tube, 44 ... wiper blade, 44a ... mounting base, 44b ... wiping section, 45 ... support, 48 ...
-Discharge tube, 50 ... Adsorbent, 52 ... Waste ink tank.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for an ink jet recording head, comprising a rubber wiper blade for wiping off ink adhering to a nozzle opening surface of a recording head included in the ink jet recording device, wherein the wiper blade has a rubber hardness of JIS. K 63
A cleaning device for an ink jet recording head, characterized in that the JIS A hardness defined by No. 01 is adjusted within a range of 40 to 60 degrees. 2. The inkjet recording head cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the wiper blade has a wiping portion extending in a rectangular plate shape from a mounting base portion fixed to a support, and the wiping portion. The length from the mounting base side to the tip is 2 to 10 mm and the thickness is 0.5 to 1.5 mm, and the length direction is substantially perpendicular to the nozzle opening surface, and the nozzle is It is movable in the thickness direction relative to the opening surface, and a portion within a predetermined range from the tip end is arranged in such a positional relationship that it can come into contact with the recording head at the time of the movement, and it bends with the contact. At the same time, the cleaning device for an inkjet recording head is characterized in that the nozzle opening surface is wiped off. 3. The inkjet recording head cleaning device according to claim 2, wherein the wiper blade has a portion within a range of 1/2 or less and 0.5 to 3 mm from the tip side of the wiper blade. An ink jet recording head cleaning device, which is arranged in a positional relationship capable of contacting the recording head.