JPH11300980A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove ink and residuary substances thereof from a recording head by forming spiral grooves in the surface of a cleaning roller, deflecting ink subjected to centrifugal force to the axial direction through the spiral groove and receiving ink at the end part. SOLUTION: An ink absorbing porous material layer 21 is formed on the surface of the synthetic resin basic material roller 20 of a cleaning roller and a plurality of spiral grooves 22 are made in the surface of the layer 21. The nozzle plate of a recording head is brought into resilient contact with the surface of the cleaning roller in order to wipe off ink and residuary substances thereof by rubbing the surface with the outer circumference of the cleaning roller. The ink and residuary substances thereof are contained in the spiral grooves 22 by surface tension and then they are moved toward the shaft end by centrifugal force of the cleaning roller and fed into an ink receiver 23.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A main body of an ink jet recording head is extremely small in size and can perform color printing by changing the color of ink. Therefore, a black recording head for discharging black ink to a carriage, and yellow, cyan, 2. Description of the Related Art Ink jet color printers equipped with a color recording head for discharging magenta ink and capable of performing not only text printing with black ink but also full color printing have been put to practical use. In such an ink jet recording head, the viscosity of the ink increases due to the evaporation of the ink solvent from the nozzle opening because the ink pressurized in the pressure generating chamber is ejected as ink droplets from the nozzle opening onto the recording paper. Or the ink solidifies, and further, dust or paper dust adheres to the ink, which causes a problem that printing failure easily occurs.

For this reason, an ink jet recording apparatus is
Usually, not only capping means for sealing the nozzle openings of the recording head during non-printing to prevent drying of the ink, but also cleaning means for slidingly contacting the nozzle plate and physically eliminating the clogging of the nozzle openings. It has. Such a cleaning means is usually configured as a blade by a plate material made of an elastic material such as rubber, and is configured to use a blade like a wiper by reciprocating a carriage to scrape dust or ink residue from a nozzle plate. ing.

[0004]

However, a stuck ink residue cannot be removed because the blade slides upward. If the rigidity of the wiper is increased or the pressing force against the nozzle plate is increased to solve this problem, there is a problem that the nozzle plate and the nozzle openings are damaged.

In order to solve such a problem, a roller is formed by an elastic member such as rubber as shown in, for example, JP-A-4-185450 and JP-A-6-255117, and the roller is driven by driving means. A cleaning device has been proposed in which the recording device is brought into contact with a nozzle plate of a recording head while being driven to rotate.

In the latter case, in particular, a plurality of grooves extending in parallel to the axial direction are formed at a constant pitch on the surface of the roller, so that no excessive stress is applied to the nozzle plate.
The ink residue on the nozzle plate is peeled off, and the ink residue is stored in the groove together with the ink, thereby preventing re-contamination.

However, since the ink and the ink scum contained in the groove receive centrifugal force, if the number of revolutions is increased to improve the cleaning ability, the ink or the ink scum contained in the groove scatters around and the recording paper or the like becomes scattered. There is a problem of contamination with ink. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning method capable of reliably removing ink and ink residue from a recording head and preventing scattering of ink and ink residue. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a roller.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording head for ejecting ink droplets from nozzle openings of a nozzle plate in response to a print signal, and a recording head for mounting the recording head. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a carriage that scans a recording medium by scanning; and a rotatable cleaning roller that comes into contact with the nozzle plate, wherein the cleaning roller has a spiral groove on its surface to act on ink. The resulting centrifugal force is converted into an axial flow so that it can be received at the end.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. A carriage 1 is connected to a motor 3 via a timing belt 2 and is guided by a guide member 4 so that a platen 5 is moved.
A recording head 7 for discharging ink droplets is mounted on the side facing the recording paper 6, and an ink cartridge 8 for supplying ink to the recording head 7 is provided on the upper surface. Is detachably mounted.

In the non-printing area, a capping device 10 having a cap member 9 for sealing the nozzle openings of the recording head 7 is provided, and functions as cap means for preventing the nozzle opening rows from drying during the idle period. In addition, it has a function as an ink receiver at the time of a flushing operation, and a function as a suction means for forcibly discharging ink from the recording head 7 by applying a negative pressure from the suction pump unit 11 to the recording head 7. .

On the printing area side of the capping device 10, a cleaning roller 12, which is a feature of the present invention, is disposed. The cleaning roller 12 is attached to elevating means (not shown), and advances to a position where it can contact the nozzle plate of the recording head 7 during cleaning.
It is configured to be rotationally driven by a rotational drive means such as a motor.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning roller 12 has a layer 21 formed of a porous material having ink absorbency on the surface of a base roller 20 made of synthetic resin or the like. Are formed. At the end of the cleaning roller 12 in the ink flow direction, an ink receiver 23 communicating with the waste ink tank is arranged.

The roller 12 may be formed integrally with the base roller 20 by injection molding a porous synthetic resin material having an ink absorbing property, or the surface of the machine roller 20 may have an ink absorbing property. It can be configured by attaching the provided nonwoven fabric.

In this embodiment, when a print failure occurs in the recording head 7 and a cleaning command is issued by a cleaning switch (not shown), the tip of the cleaning roller 12 elastically contacts the nozzle plate of the recording head 7. It moves to a position where it can be made and is driven to rotate by a drive motor. At this time, the cleaning motor 12 is rotated forward so as to follow the moving direction of the nozzle plate, or is rotated backward so as to follow the moving direction of the nozzle plate. By switching between the above, reliable cleaning can be performed.

Next, when the carriage 1 moves, the nozzle plate of the recording head 7 elastically contacts the surface of the cleaning roller 12, and is rubbed by the outer periphery of the cleaning roller 12 to wipe off ink residue, paper dust and the like adhering to the surface together with the ink. Is done.

The ink and ink residue scraped from the recording head 7 are stored in the spiral groove 22 by surface tension. The ink residue and paper dust contained in the groove 22 receive the centrifugal force of the rotating cleaning roller 12, but move toward the shaft end and flow into the ink receiver 23 because the groove 12 is formed in a spiral shape.

Further, since the groove 12 is formed in a spiral shape, two-component rubbing force in the moving direction of the carriage and in the direction perpendicular thereto acts on the end of the groove, so that the ink residue can be reliably removed. In addition to this, it is possible to alleviate the impact on the recording head 7 without acting at once like a linear groove.

In the above embodiment, one cleaning roller is used. However, as shown in FIG. 3A, in the color recording apparatus, at least the color cleaning roller 24 and the black cleaning roller 24 are used. A cleaning roller 25 is provided in the moving direction of the carriage, and a cleaning roller 26 longer than the printing width of the recording head 7 is prepared as shown in FIG. The cleaning roller 26 is moved in the axial direction as indicated by an arrow A in the figure to
It is desirable that a and 26b be selectively brought into contact with a specific recording head.

4 and 5 show a cleaning roller 27 suitable for a color recording apparatus. In this embodiment, the cleaning roller 27 is moved in a forward direction (indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 4) with respect to a recording head 28 for black ink. The recording head 29 for color ink is selectively driven in the opposite direction (the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 5).

When the black ink recording head 28 is brought into contact with the cleaning roller 27 by the carriage 30 and the cleaning roller 27 is driven to rotate in the forward direction, one side of the convex portion 32 defining the spiral groove 31 is formed. The edge of the wall surface 32a preferentially comes into contact with the black ink recording head 28 to scrape the ink residue K, and the carriage 33 is moved to move the color ink recording head 29.
When the cleaning roller 27 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction by contacting the cleaning roller 27, the edge of the wall surface 32 b on one side of the convex portion 32 that defines the spiral groove 31 preferentially contacts the recording head 29 for color ink and causes ink residue and the like. Scrape C.

Thus, the color ink recording head 2
8, the same cleaning roller 27 can be used without causing color mixture of black ink or lengthening.

In the above-described embodiment, the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage and the ink is supplied directly to the recording head.
The same effect can be obtained by installing an ink cartridge in a box and using it as a cleaning unit of a recording apparatus of a type in which ink is supplied to a recording head by an ink supply tube.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the cleaning roller 12 is positively rotated by the driving means has been described. However, the cleaning roller 12 is elastically contacted with the nozzle plate of the recording head 7 and is rotated by the movement of the carriage. The same effect is obtained.

[0024]

As described above, in the present invention, according to the present invention, a recording head for ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle openings of the nozzle plate in response to a print signal, and a recording head mounted thereon for scanning a recording medium. In the ink jet recording apparatus having a carriage and a rotatable cleaning roller that comes into contact with the nozzle plate, the cleaning roller is formed to have a spiral groove on its surface,
It is possible to move the ink residue and paper dust contained in the groove toward the shaft end by centrifugal force to collect the ink residue and the paper dust, and to apply the two-component rubbing force in the moving direction of the carriage and the direction perpendicular thereto to the recording head. Thus, it is possible to reliably remove the ink residue while reducing the impact of the groove.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a cleaning roller of the same device.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing another embodiment of the present invention in a contact state with a recording head and an attached state of ink after cleaning of a recording head for black ink. .

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing another embodiment of the present invention in a state of contact with a recording head and a state of ink adhesion after cleaning of a recording head for color ink, respectively. .

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage 7 Recording head 12 Cleaning roller 22 Spiral groove

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 28, 1998

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Figure 2

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 2

Claims (11)

[Claims] A recording head for ejecting ink droplets from nozzle openings of a nozzle plate in response to a print signal; a carriage mounted with the recording head for scanning a recording medium; and a rotation contacting the nozzle plate. An ink jet recording apparatus provided with a possible cleaning roller, wherein the cleaning roller has a spiral groove on its surface. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus wherein the cleaning roller is in contact with the nozzle plate while being rotationally driven by an external rotational driving means. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning roller contacts the nozzle plate and rotates following the movement of the recording head. 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cleaning roller is made of an elastic material having an ink absorbing property. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cleaning roller is made of a porous material. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cleaning roller is made of a non-woven material. 7. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an ink receiver is disposed at an end of the cleaning roller in a flow direction of the ink. 8. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cleaning roller is separated for a black ink recording head and a color ink recording head. 9. The cleaning roller according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning roller has a length that is at least twice the recording width of the recording head, and is movable in the axial direction corresponding to the recording head to be cleaned. 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to 3. 10. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein areas are divided for a black ink recording head and a color ink recording head. 11. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the cleaning roller rotates in a forward direction or a reverse direction corresponding to a recording head to be cleaned.