JPH10217491A - Recording head cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording head cleaner which does not shorten the lifetime of a recording head. SOLUTION: The roller-like cleaner 100 in a wiper, which rotates through rotation of a sliding roller 104 touches a surface 320 of a nozzle plate 303 having a water repellent layer and provided with a nozzle 309, and wipes the surface 320 of the nozzle plate 303. At the same time of wiping, suction is performed in the direction of an arrow D1 by means of a piston pump and unnecessary matters, e.g. ink, adhering to the surface 320 of the nozzle plate 303 are sucked in the directions shown by arrows D2 through the roller-like cleaner 100 and a porous material 101.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head cleaning apparatus for cleaning a recording head, and more particularly to a recording head cleaning apparatus for cleaning a recording head of an ink jet recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, there has been an ink jet printer using a piezoelectric element as a print head. In such a printer head, ink in a predetermined closed space is pressurized by distortion of a piezoelectric element driven by application of a voltage. The pressurized ink flies toward the recording sheet as ink droplets from nozzles provided in a predetermined closed space.

[0003] Ink may adhere to the periphery of such a nozzle, or the flying of the ink may become unstable due to dirt. In order to prevent such a problem, a wiping device is conventionally known in which a water-repellent coating layer is provided on a surface having a nozzle, and the surface having the nozzle is rubbed with a rubber blade.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining wiping of a printer head by a conventional wiping device.

The nozzle 30 having a water-repellent coating layer 321
Nozzle plate 303 of printer head provided with 9
Is wiped by a wiping device. In the conventional wiping device, the blade support 51 supporting the rubber blade 50 (extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface) is reciprocated in the direction of arrow D6, and the surface 320 of the printer head is rubbed by the rubber blade 50.

[0006]

However, if the surface having the nozzles is repeatedly rubbed using such a conventional wiping device, the water-repellent coating layer may be deformed or peeled off. In addition, according to the conventional wiping device, the splash of ink by the rubber blade causes the wiping effect to be reduced.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a print head cleaning apparatus which does not shorten the life of the print head.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording head cleaning apparatus for cleaning an unnecessary substance attached to a recording head.

[0009] The recording head cleaning apparatus includes a roller for removing unnecessary matter from the recording head, and means for rotating the roller.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the roller rotates to remove unnecessary substances attached to the recording head.
As a result, the recording head is not unnecessarily rubbed, and the life of the recording head is not shortened.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the waste includes a liquid, and includes means for discharging the liquid removed by the rollers to the outside.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the roller removes the liquid waste adhering to the recording head while rotating, and the removed liquid waste is discharged to the outside. As a result, the recording head is not unnecessarily rubbed, and the life of the recording head is not shortened.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a wiping device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining a schematic configuration of an ink jet printer 1 having a wiping device 16 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] The ink jet printer 1 uses paper or OH.
A recording sheet 2 which is a recording medium such as a P sheet, and a printer head 3 which is an inkjet printer head
A carriage 4 for holding the printer head 3, swinging shafts 5 and 6 for reciprocating the carriage 4 in parallel with the recording surface of the recording sheet 2, and swinging shafts 5 and 6 for the carriage 4.
Drive motor 7 for reciprocating drive along
The timing belt 9 and the idle pulley 8 for changing the rotation of the carriage into a reciprocating motion of the carriage are included.

The ink jet printer 1 has a platen 10 also serving as a guide plate for guiding the recording sheet 2 along the transport path, a paper pressing plate 11 for pressing the recording sheet 2 between the platen 10 and preventing floating. Recording sheet 2
Roller 12, spur roller 13 for discharging
It includes a recovery system 14 for recovering an ink ejection failure of the printer head 3 to a satisfactory state, and a paper feed knob 15 for manually conveying the recording sheet 2.

The recording sheet 2 is supplied to a printer head 3 by a paper feeding device such as a manual feed or a cut sheet feeder.
And the platen 10 are sent to the opposite recording unit. At this time, the rotation amount of a paper feed roller (not shown) is controlled, and the conveyance to the recording unit is controlled.

The printer head 3 uses PZT as a piezoelectric element for flying ink droplets. PZ
A voltage is applied to T, causing distortion. This distortion changes the volume of the channel filled with ink. Due to this change in volume, ink is ejected from nozzles provided in the channel, and recording on the recording sheet 2 is performed. These will be described later in detail.

The carriage 4 is driven by the drive motor 7, idle pulley 8, and timing belt 9 in the main scanning direction of the recording sheet 2, which is a direction crossing the recording sheet 2. Record the image for the line. Each time one line is recorded,
The recording sheet 2 is fed in the vertical direction and sub-scanned, and the next line is recorded.

Further, the ink jet printer 1 includes:
A wiping device 16 for wiping the printer head 3 is provided. Although not shown, the wiping device 16 has a piston pump.

FIGS. 2 to 4 are views for explaining the configuration of the printer head 3. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of the printer head, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

The printer head 3 has a large-diameter head section 301.
And a small diameter head section 302. The large diameter head portion 301 and the small diameter head portion 302 are
3, the partition wall 304, the diaphragm 305, and the substrate 306 are integrally laminated. Among the plurality of dot diameter ink droplets, a relatively large dot diameter ink droplet is ejected from the large diameter head portion 301, and a relatively small dot diameter ink droplet is ejected from the small diameter head portion 302.

The nozzle plate 303 is made of metal, ceramic, or the like, and has a water-repellent coating layer on the surface 320. The surface of the nozzle plate 303 facing the partition 304 is finely processed by Ni electroforming or a photoresist,
Each of the large-diameter head portion 301 and the small-diameter head portion 302 has a plurality of ink channels 30 for accommodating ink 307.
8 and each ink channel 308 is connected to an ink supply chamber 310.
An ink inlet 311 is formed to be connected to.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ink channels 308 of the large-diameter head portion 301 and the small-diameter head portion 302 have a long groove shape extending in the direction in which the large-diameter head portion 301 and the small-diameter head portion 302 face each other. They are formed in parallel. In addition, the ink supply chamber 310 and the ink channel 30
8 is formed symmetrically with respect to the center line 312,
It is connected to an ink tank (not shown).

A thin film is used for the partition wall 304, and is fixed between the nozzle plate 303 and the diaphragm 305. The partition 304 is fixed in a state where a predetermined tension is applied.

The diaphragm 305 includes the PZT 315. The processing of the vibration plate 305 is performed by first fixing to the substrate 306 with an insulating adhesive, and then forming and separating the separate grooves 318 and 319 by dicer processing. In addition, by this division, the PZT 315 corresponding to each ink channel 308 and the adjacent PZT 3
15 and a peripheral wall 317 surrounding the PZT pillars 316 are separated from each other.

In the printer head 3 configured as described above, the ink 307 is supplied to the ink supply chamber 310 from an ink tank (not shown). The ink 307 in the ink supply chamber 310 is distributed to each ink channel 308 via the ink inlet 311.

The operation of the printer head 3 is controlled by the control unit of the ink jet printer 1. A predetermined voltage, which is a print signal, is applied between the common electrode and the individual electrodes provided at both ends of the PZT 315 from the control unit, and the PZT 315 is deformed. PZT
The deformation of 315 is transmitted to the partition 304, whereby the ink 307 in the ink channel 308 is pressurized, and the ink droplet flies toward the recording sheet 2 via the nozzle 309.

The wiping device 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows the wiping device 16.
FIG. 6 is a view showing the roller-shaped cleaner 100 of the wiping device 16.

The wiping device 16 includes a roller-shaped cleaner 100 made of a porous material such as a water-absorbing sponge.
And a porous material 101 serving as a core of the roller-shaped cleaner 100 and having air permeability, and a roller shaft 102, a roller bearing 103, and a sliding roller 104 for rotating these members.
And a piston pump (not shown).

The sliding roller 104 includes a roller bearing 103
, And rotates by contact with a part of the printer head 3 with sufficient friction.
The power is transmitted to the roller-shaped cleaner 100. The roller-shaped cleaner 100 rotating in this manner is provided with the water-repellent coating layer 32.
1 and contacts and wipes the surface 320 of the nozzle plate 303 where the nozzle 309 is provided.

Simultaneously with such wiping, suction is performed in the direction of arrow D1 by the piston pump, and unnecessary substances such as ink adhering to the surface 320 of the nozzle plate 303 are removed by the roller cleaner 100 and the porous material 101. Is sucked in the direction of arrow D2.

In particular, in the wiping by such an apparatus, if 2πr ≧ l (r: radius of the porous material, l: length of the wiping surface), the roller-shaped cleaner 100
During the rotation, the wiping effect can be enhanced without coming into contact with the nozzle plate 303 again and without soiling such as ink re-adhering.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the wiping of the printer head 3 by the wiping device 16.

In the wiping device 16, the roller shaft 102 supporting the roller-shaped cleaner 100 (extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper) rotates in the direction of arrow D 3 by contact with the nozzle plate 303, and the surface 32 of the nozzle plate 303
0 is wiped by the roller-shaped cleaner 100.

Next, the durability of the water repellent coat layer of the nozzle plate when the nozzle plate is wiped by the wiping device 16 and the conventional wiping device described with reference to FIG. 9 will be compared. The water-repellent coating layer of the nozzle plate that has been wiped is a 3 μm-thick electroless plating sheet obtained by dispersing Teflon having a particle diameter of 0.2 μm in a Ni plating solution and plating the same in both the wiping apparatus 16 of the present invention and the conventional wiping apparatus. It is a plating layer.

The rubber blade 50 of the conventional wiping device shown in FIG. 9 is made of silicon rubber and has a hardness of 48 degrees. The dimensions of the rubber blade 50 are 1 mm thick, 5.5 mm long and 9 mm wide. The durability of the water-repellent coating layer 321 is such that the rubber blade 50 is pressed with 60 gf / cm 2 and the reciprocating distance 15
The test is performed by rubbing the water-repellent coating layer of the nozzle plate in mm.

The dimensions of the roller-shaped cleaner 100 of the wiping device 16 of the present invention are a radius of 5 mm and a thickness of 3 m.
m, width 9 mm, and about 1 l / mi of suction as described above.
Perform with n. The durability of the water-repellent coating layer 321 is such that the water-absorbing roller 100 has a pressing force of 60 gf / cm 2 and a rotation distance of 15 g.
Test by wiping the water repellent coat layer of the nozzle plate in mm.

The results of the durability test are as follows. When a conventional wiping device was used, it was confirmed that the water repellency of the water repellent coat layer 321 was reduced after the cleaning was repeated 3 × 10 ³ times. Such a decrease in water repellency may cause corrosion of the surface 320 of the nozzle plate 303 due to the adhesion of ink, and shortens the life of the printer head.

When the wiping device 16 of the present invention was used, no decrease in the water repellency of the water-repellent coat layer 321 was observed even when the cleaning was performed 6 × 10 ⁶ times.

From the above results, it can be understood that the life of the printer head is significantly extended by the present wiping device in consideration of the result of the test using the conventional wiping device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of a wiping device, which is one of modifications of the present embodiment.
Hereinafter, a description will be given focusing on differences from the wiping device 16 described above.

The wiping device is a roller type filter 2
00, a suction cap 202 having a slip coat layer 201 on the contact surface with the roller-shaped filter 200, and a piston pump (not shown). In this wiping device, like the above-described wiping device 16, the roller-shaped filter 200 comes into contact with the nozzle plate and wipes the surface of the nozzle plate. , Not at the same time as wiping. After the nozzle plate surface is wiped by the roller filter 200, the roller filter 200 is rotated in the direction of arrow D4 and is sucked in the direction of arrow D5.

According to the wiping device as described above, the recording head is not unnecessarily rubbed.
The life of the recording head is not shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an inkjet printer 1 having a wiping device 16 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a surface of the printer head having nozzles.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of the wiping device 16;

FIG. 6 shows a roller-shaped cleaner 100 of the wiping device 16;
FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining wiping of the printer head 3 by the wiping device 16;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a wiping device, which is one of modifications of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining wiping of a printer head by a conventional wiping device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Printer Head 100 Roller Cleaner 101 Porous Material 102 Roller Shaft 103 Roller Bearing 104 Sliding Roller 303 Nozzle Plate 309 Nozzle 320 Nozzle Plate Surface 321 Water Repellent Coat Layer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A recording head cleaning device for cleaning an unnecessary substance attached to a recording head, comprising: a roller for removing the unnecessary substance from the recording head; and means for rotating the roller. Head cleaning device. 2. The recording head cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste contains a liquid, and further includes means for discharging the liquid removed by the roller to the outside.