JPH10217511A - Maintenance device for ink-jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to handle in a simple operation without touching waste ink, by providing an ink-absorbing roll which receives and winds ink discharged in a purge operation, at a position below a maintenance position where a head carries out the purge operation and at a position where the roll is not in touch with the head. SOLUTION: When a power source is turned ON, an ink-jet head 7 is moved by a control device to a maintenance position. An ink-absorbing roll 13 is provided below the maintenance position. A pair of feed rollers 15, 16 for feeding of an ink-absorbing roll 13a at the feed side and a roll 13b at the take-up side are provided between the rolls 13a and 13b. When the head 7 reaches a predetermined position, the air is sent to a purge tube from a cylinder, increasing a pressure of an air layer in an ink tank 8. As a result, a melted ink is pressed, and a waste ink and dust in the head 7 are forcibly sent out together with the air from a nozzle array 7a to drop on the ink-absorbing roll 13. A user is allowed never to touch the waste ink directly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a maintenance mechanism for cleaning a head of an ink jet printer, and more particularly to processing of ink purged from the head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet printer called an on-demand system used for a serial printer or the like has an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles arranged on an end face, and the ink jet head is set on a platen. While moving left and right on the recording paper,
The required recording is performed by discharging ink droplets from necessary nozzles. This type of inkjet printer has advantages such as high-speed recording, low noise, easy colorization, a simple configuration and low cost. Furthermore, if a so-called hot-melt type ink is used in which an ink that is solid at room temperature is heated and melted for recording,
Since this ink solidifies immediately after recording, there is no problem of ink bleeding.

[0003] As described above, all of these ink jet printers are excellent, but ink scum, dust and the like tend to adhere near the nozzles on the nozzle surface of the head, and air and the like easily accumulate in the ink flow path of the head. Often
The nozzle was clogged, which had an adverse effect on recording quality. Therefore, the inkjet head is retracted to a position that does not face the paper, and at this position, the head is cleaned periodically or as necessary by a purge process of forcibly ejecting ink from the nozzles, thereby improving the performance of the inkjet head. A maintenance process for maintaining was performed.

This mechanism is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-27822.
No. 9, the purged ink accumulates in a waste ink tray. And when the tray was full of waste ink, the user would handle it.

[0005]

However, in the maintenance device constructed as described above, when the user tries to treat the waste ink accumulated in the waste ink tray, his hands and clothes may be stained. Furthermore, collecting and discarding the hardened ink itself was troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a maintenance device for an ink jet printer which allows a user to perform processing with a simple and clean operation without touching waste ink. The purpose is.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a maintenance apparatus for an ink-jet printer, wherein a purge device is provided at a position below a maintenance position where the head performs a purging operation and not in contact with the head. An ink absorbing roll is provided which is wound by receiving the ink discharged by the operation. For this reason, the waste ink is caught in the ink absorption roll, and the user can clean and easily treat the waste ink without soiling the hands and clothes of the user.

[0008] The maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to a second aspect of the present invention includes heating means for heating the ink absorbing roll. Therefore, the waste ink is easily absorbed by the ink absorbing roll, and the waste ink can be reliably processed. Further, since the swelling due to the waste ink is reduced, the ink absorbing roll can be wound up and collected compactly.

In the maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to the third aspect of the present invention, the driving source for winding the ink absorbing roll and the driving source for the pump for performing the purge operation are the same. The device can be configured at a lower cost than when there is a motor.

In the maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the feeding speed of the ink absorbing roll at a place where the ink is received is constant regardless of the roll diameter. Therefore, the waste ink can always be wound in the same state, and the waste ink can be reliably processed. Also, there is no possibility that the ink absorbing roll is fed more than necessary.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a main configuration of an ink jet printer according to the present embodiment. A plate-shaped platen 2 for receiving a sheet 1 as a recording medium is provided in the ink jet printer main body. Platen 2
On the upper side, a main roller 3 and a press roller 4 for feeding the paper are provided, and below the platen 2, a discharge roller 5 and a press roller 6 for discharging the paper are provided, respectively. The main roller 3 and the discharge roller 5 are rotated by a drive mechanism including a motor and a gear train (not shown), and sequentially move the paper 1 sandwiched between the pressing rollers 4 and 6 in the direction of the arrow. Thus, the main roller 3,
The paper feeder is constituted by the pressing roller 4, the paper discharging roller 5, the pressing roller 6, and the driving mechanism.

At a position facing the platen 2, a nozzle array (7a in FIG. 2) for discharging hot-melt ink (solid at room temperature and melted by heating) discharged from the paper 1 for recording is provided. Inkjet head 7
Are arranged to move left and right, and are mounted on a carriage 10 together with the ink tank 8 and the heater 9. Carriage 1
0 is two guide bars 11 and 12 parallel to the platen 2
The carriage 1 is slidably supported in the left and right directions, and is moved parallel to the sheet 1 by a carriage driving device (not shown). Inkjet head 7 and ink tank 8
Is provided with a heater 9 for melting the hot melt ink at a high temperature and keeping it in a liquid state, and is maintained at a constant temperature of about 80 ° C. The guide bars 11 and 12 are provided to extend to a maintenance position on the right outer side of the platen 2.

Further, in the present embodiment, a control device (not shown) for controlling the ink jet head 7, the paper feeding device, the carriage driving device and the like is provided. This allows
The ink jet head 7 ejects ink from the selected nozzle while the platen 2 is driven by the carriage driving device.
To record an image on the sheet 1 set on the platen 2. When one scan is completed, the paper 1 is fed by the paper feeding device, and the next row of the recording surface corresponds to the recording position.

Next, components related to maintenance will be described with reference to FIG. Below the ink jet head 7 at the maintenance position, an ink absorbing roll 13 is provided.
Is provided. The ink absorbing roll 13 is on the supply side 13
a and the winding side 13b. Then, the supply-side ink absorbing roll 13a and the winding-side ink absorbing roll 13b
Are supported by a roll supply shaft 14 and a roll take-up shaft 17, respectively. Further, between the supply-side ink absorbing roll 13a and the winding-side ink absorbing roll 13b, feed roller pairs 15 and 16 for feeding the rolls are provided.
Further, a maintenance heater 18 as heating means is provided on the back side of the ink absorbing roll 13 at a location where the ink purged from the inkjet head falls.

A drive mechanism as shown in FIG. 3 is provided on the right side of the ink absorbing roll 13, and the roll winding shaft 17 and the pair of feed rollers 15, 16 are rotated to wind up the ink absorbing roll 13 soaked with waste ink. . This drive mechanism includes the illustrated gear train, torque limiter 19, and maintenance motor 20. The maintenance motor 20 is provided with the cam 2
3 and a purge pump mechanism composed of a piston 24 and a cylinder 25, and has a function of sending air to the ink tank 8 via the purge tube 22 to forcibly eject ink from the nozzle row 7a. .

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ink jet head 7 and the carriage 10 at the maintenance position. A purge hole 8b is opened in a side surface of the ink tank 8. A purge connection rubber 2 is located at the right end of the ink jet printer body.
When the carriage 10 comes to the maintenance position, the purge connection rubber 21 covers the purge hole 8b and sends the air that has passed through the purge tube 22 from the purge pump mechanism to the ink tank 8. FIG. 5 shows this state.

Next, the maintenance operation of the ink jet head 7 will be described.

In this embodiment, when the power of the ink jet printer is turned on, a purge process for forcibly ejecting ink from the nozzles is performed. When a power switch (not shown) of the ink jet printer main body is turned on to turn on the power, a motor of the carriage driving device is energized by the control device, and the ink jet head 7 is moved to a maintenance position (a broken line position in FIG. 1).

When the ink jet head 7 reaches a predetermined maintenance position, the maintenance motor 20 is driven. Then, the cam 23 rotates, and the piston 24 reciprocates along the cam groove. By this reciprocating motion and the function of the valve, air is sent from the cylinder 25 to the purge tube 22. The sent air is purge connection rubber 2
1 feeds into the purge hole 8a of the ink tank 8. Since the purge hole 8a is located above the ink tank 8,
The air from the cylinder 25 increases the pressure of the air layer in the ink tank 8 and presses the melted ink. Accordingly, the ink ejection operation is forcibly performed from the nozzle row 7a, and dust and air in the inkjet head 7 are ejected together with the ink.

Since the discharge speed at this time is not as fast as that at the time of recording an image, the ink flows downward along the nozzle surface without jumping out into the air, and falls onto the ink absorbing roll 13 as shown in FIG. . At this time, since the ink absorbing roll 13 has been sent from the supply side 14 to the winding side 17, the waste ink is stored in the state shown in FIG.
It gets caught in 3. A maintenance heater 1 is provided on the back side of the ink absorbing roll 13 where the waste ink has dropped.
Since the waste ink 8 is provided, the waste ink is melted and thinly spread without being solidified while being raised, and easily penetrates into the ink absorbing roll 13. For this reason, the winding-side roll 17 is wound up compactly and smoothly without swelling when winding up.

The drive mechanism of the ink absorbing roll 13 uses a maintenance motor 20 as a drive source as shown in FIG. Since the maintenance motor 20 also serves as a drive source of the purge pump,
The timing when the purging operation is performed and the time when the winding operation of the ink absorbing roll 13 is performed are the same.

The feed roller pairs 15 and 16 are the maintenance motor 2
The driving force is transmitted directly from 0 only through the gear train.
On the other hand, the driving force is transmitted to the roll take-up shaft 17 via a torque limiter 19 in addition to the gear train, and even when the take-up side ink absorbing roll 13a is small at the start of winding, the circumferential speed of the roll takes up the feed rollers 15 and 16. The gear ratio is set to be higher than the speed. For this reason, the ink absorbing roll 13
Even if the diameter of the ink-absorbing roll 13a on the winding-up side is increased by the winding, the ink-absorbing roll 13 is always slipped by the torque limiter 19, and the ink-absorbing roll 13 is always in the feed roller pair 1
It is sent at a peripheral speed of 5, 16.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, the maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to the first aspect receives ink discharged by the purge operation at a position below the maintenance position and not in contact with the head. An ink-absorbing roll is provided, and the waste ink is wound into the ink-absorbing roll. Therefore, the user does not come into direct contact with the waste ink, and the user can cleanly and easily treat the waste ink without soiling his hands and clothes.

In the maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to the present invention, since the ink absorbing roll is provided with the heater, the waste ink is easily absorbed by the ink absorbing roll, and the waste ink can be reliably processed. Further, since the swelling due to the waste ink is reduced, the ink absorbing roll can be wound up and collected compactly.

In the maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to the third aspect of the present invention, a driving source for winding the ink absorbing roll is provided by a pump motor for performing a purge operation. Also, the apparatus can be constructed at low cost.

Further, in the maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to the fourth aspect, the feed speed of the ink absorbing roll at a place where the waste ink falls is constant regardless of the roll diameter. Therefore, since the waste ink is always wound in the same state, the waste ink can be surely treated, and the ink absorbing roll is not sent more than necessary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main configuration of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the inkjet printer at a maintenance position.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a maintenance mechanism of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inkjet printer at a maintenance position.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part of the inkjet printer at a maintenance position.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view when the ink absorbing roll entrains waste ink.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper 7 Ink jet head 7a Nozzle array 13 Ink absorption roll 18 Maintenance heater 19 Torque limiter 20 Maintenance motor

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masafumi Suzuki 15-1 Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi Inside Brother Industries, Ltd. Inside the corporation

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A hot-melt type ink-jet printer comprising a head for heating and melting a solid ink to form a liquid and then discharging the ink from a nozzle to perform recording on a recording medium. Moves to a maintenance position that does not face, performs a purge operation for forcibly discharging ink from the nozzles, and receives ink discharged by the purge operation at a position below the maintenance position that does not contact the head. A maintenance device for an ink jet printer, comprising: an ink absorbing roll that is wound. 2. The maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising a heating unit for heating the ink absorbing roll. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein a driving source for winding the ink absorbing roll and a driving source for a pump for performing a purging operation are the same. Maintenance device. 4. The maintenance device for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein a feed speed of the ink absorbing roll at a place where ink is received is constant regardless of a roll diameter.