JPS59198160A - Liquid injection recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the titled recorder prolonging the use life of porous material by positively maintaining the absorbing force of liquid by capillary phenomena without saturating the porous material with the absorbed liquid, by providing sucking means sucking the liquid absorbed by porous material. CONSTITUTION:The waste liquid storage space 33 is formed in the holder 21 holding porous material 22, and holes 32 are provided. The porous material 22 is forced to a head 9 by pushing a cam follower 36 with an eccentric cam 35 by rotating a shaft 31. The porous material 22 adheres closely to the orifice surface of head and absorbs the liquid near orifice. Negative pressure is formed at the back surface of porous material by operating a suction pump and the absorbed liquid is stored in the waste liquid storage space 33 through the continuous foaming pores of porous material.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to a liquid jet recording apparatus equipped with a suction means.

In recent years, non-impact recording methods have attracted attention because they generate extremely little noise during recording. Among them, the liquid jet recording method, which performs recording by depositing flying droplets on a recording member, has the advantage that recording can be performed on plain paper without the need for special processing such as so-called fixing, and high-speed recording is also possible. is attracting attention.

However, in the liquid jet recording method, droplets are ejected from a minute orifice, so if the orifice becomes clogged with foreign matter such as paper dust, the ejection of droplets may stop, or if the device is not used for a long period of time, the recording liquid ( As the solvent in the liquid (liquid) evaporates, the solute remaining in the orifice or its vicinity may become an obstruction and stop the ejection of droplets.Also, gas generated when dissolved gas in the liquid is released from the liquid. In some cases, the liquid may not be continuous from the reservoir storing the liquid to the orifice due to gases that have entered the tank or for other reasons. In this case, the energy for ejecting droplets from the orifice may not be transmitted to the liquid, or even if the energy is transmitted, the droplets may not be ejected, or the ejection may become unstable. Furthermore, if unnecessary gas is present, the liquid may not be supplied in proportion to the amount of liquid ejected due to the presence of unnecessary gas. Droplet non-discharge due to clogging of the liquid flow path communicating with the liquid is an important problem, and a number of proposals have been made to counter this problem.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, there can be various causes of clogging, and countermeasures are required depending on the cause.

This is considered to be due to an increase in ejection resistance. In such a case, an effective countermeasure is to bring a porous body into close contact with the orifice and allow the porous body to absorb the thickened liquid.

However, in such a method, the absorbed liquid saturates the porous body, requiring frequent replacement of the porous body.

〔the purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording device equipped with a suction means that does not saturate a porous body with absorbed liquid, keeps it in a fresh state at all times, and actively maintains the ability to absorb liquid due to capillary action. That's a thing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording device equipped with suction means for realizing a long lifespan of a porous body as described above.

Furthermore, the present invention provides a liquid jet recording comprising a recording head that performs recording by ejecting liquid from an orifice to form flying droplets, and a porous body that is in contact with the orifice of the recording head and absorbs the liquid. Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording device that is provided with a suction means for sucking the liquid absorbed by the porous body.

In the present invention, the recording head is defined as an orifice for forming flying droplets, a liquid flow path communicating with the orifice, and an energy generator for generating energy used to form the flying droplets. A recording head equipped with a body is preferably used, but other recording heads suitable for use in liquid jet recording apparatuses are also fully used.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below using preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective partial view for explaining the liquid jet recording apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the carriage drive belt Droplets are fixed to the carriage 5, which is moved in the main scanning direction (in the direction of arrow B) along the guide axis B by 7, via a head aligner 8, and from multi-nozzle head units 9 to 12 (hereinafter referred to as heads). This is an example of performing ejection recording according to an input signal. Each of the heads 9 to 12 has a liquid chamber 13, and each of the liquid chambers 13 is connected to an ink pipe 15 to 18 communicating with an ink tank (not shown) through a coupler 14, respectively. Further, flexible wiring 19 is connected to each of the heads 9 to 12, and electrical signals for ejecting droplets are inputted thereto.

Reference numerals 22 to 25 are porous bodies that are held in a porous body holder 21 (hereinafter referred to as holder) and fixed to a duct 27 via an elastic support 26 . A suction pipe 28 whose one end is connected to a suction pump 29 for generating suction force is connected to the duct 27. Moreover, the duct 27 is
It is fixed to a substrate 60 that holds the duct 27. Duct 2
7 is movable together with the porous bodies 22 to 25 in the direction of arrow C shown in FIG. 1. The suction operation in this embodiment is performed as follows. First, the sensor 20 detects that the carriage 5 has reached a predetermined position and stops the carriage 5, and the duct 27 is moved toward the carriage 5 to bring the porous bodies 22 to 25 into close contact with the orifice surface of each head, respectively. Next, the suction bong 12
9 is operated to generate suction force and suck the liquid or gas absorbed by the porous body. Thereafter, the operation of the suction pump 29 is stopped and the duct 27 is separated from the carriage 5.

In this embodiment, liquid suction is performed as described above.

An example of the recovery means in the liquid jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2, taking the head 9 shown in FIG. 1 as an example. What is shown in FIG. 2 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view when the head 9 is performing a suction operation. The numbers indicated by lead lines in FIG. 2 are the same as those shown in FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a waste liquid reservoir 33 is formed in the holder 21 that holds the porous body 22. Also, at least on the suction pump side of the part where the porous body 22 and the holder 21 are in contact, there is a A hole 62 is provided in the mass body 22 so that the suction force can be applied easily.

When the shaft 61 of the duct 27 is rotated by a motor or the like, the eccentric cam 35, which rotates miserably, pushes the cam follower 36 fixed to the base plate 6o and is moved in the direction of arrow C shown in FIG. As a result, the porous body 22 is pressed against the head 9. At this time, the attractive support 26 is slightly compressed to apply an appropriate suppressing force to the porous body 22. The porous body 22 is in close contact with the orifice surface of the head 9 and absorbs the liquid near the orifice.

By operating the suction pump in this state, negative pressure is created on the back surface of the porous body 26. The liquid absorbed by the porous body is guided to the back side of the porous body in continuous foam pores, and the liquid saturated on the back side is stored in a waste liquid reservoir 66.

Although FIG. 1 shows a liquid jet recording apparatus having a plurality of heads, there are four heads as shown in the figure.
However, if multiple heads are provided, the porous material may be distributed evenly to each head. It is preferable to have separate holders and elastic supports for each head in order to ensure close contact or to avoid mixing of ink in each head.Furthermore, the elastic supports are not necessarily required, but if a suction means is generated. It is better to provide this in order to effectively transmit the suction force to the porous body or to improve the adhesion between the porous body and the head.

It is preferable that the porous body is a continuously foamed elastic body and made of a material that is easily compatible with liquid. It is also preferable that the porous body has appropriate elasticity.

Elastic Support Materials that are closed-cell type and have little air circulation, such as those that are so-called rubber and have appropriate softness, are preferably used.

Although FIG. 2 shows an example in which an eccentric cam is used as a method for moving the duct 31, it goes without saying that the duct 31 can be moved by many other means other than the eccentric cam. Many means other than motors can be used for power.

Further, the suction operation may be performed when the carriage reaches the home position without providing a mechanism for stopping the carriage at a predetermined position.

As mentioned above, in addition to operating the suction pump with the porous body in close contact with the head, even if it is operated without the porous body in close contact with the head, the liquid in the porous body will move to the back side, so it will not work with the head. The surfaces in contact can always be kept in a state where they can easily absorb liquid.

As the suction pump, many means for generating suction force, such as a fan such as a sirocco fan or a pump, can be used. It goes without saying that the suction means may be operated by power such as a motor, or may be operated manually.

〔effect〕

As explained above in detail, according to the present invention, the liquid absorbed in the porous body is pulled away from the side that comes into close contact with the head by the suction means, so that the side of the porous body that comes into close contact with the head is always fresh. kept in condition. Therefore, the usable life of the porous body is significantly extended, and there is no need to replace the porous body for a long period of time.In other words, the present invention provides a liquid jet recording device equipped with a very excellent recovery means for droplet ejection. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a liquid jet recording device that can consistently perform excellent recording even when used for a long period of time.

Further, the present invention provides an excellent liquid jet recording apparatus that can recover droplet ejection by providing a suction means instead of a scale that can be used to prevent droplet ejection failure.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining preferred embodiments of the present invention, respectively, with FIG. 1 being a schematic perspective view and FIG. 2 being a schematic cross-sectional view. 1... Recording paper 2... Platen 6... Paper feed relocation 4... Pinch roller 5/0. Carriage 60.・Guide shaft 7e... Carriage drive belt 8... Head aligner - 9, 10, 11,
12... Head 13... Liquid chamber 14... Coupler 15. 16, 17, 18... Ink pipe 19.
...Flexible wiring 20-...Sensor 21...
Porous body holder (holder) 22.23, 24.25
... e Porous body 26 ... elastic support body 27 ... duct 28 ... suction pipe 29 ... suction means 30 - substrate 61 ... shaft 32 ... hole 33 ... waste liquid reservoir 34...
Frame body 35... Eccentric cam 36... Cam 7 lower Applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A liquid jet recording device comprising a recording head that performs recording by ejecting liquid from an orifice to form flying droplets, and a porous body that comes into contact with the orifice of the recording head and absorbs the liquid. . A liquid jet recording device, comprising: a suction means for suctioning the liquid absorbed by the porous body.