JPS62101448A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent ink from scattering effectively and to enable a recording head to be cleaned thoroughly by providing a blade having a plurally divided tip. CONSTITUTION:A blade 41-43 has a tip slitted into plural segments. The blade 41 enables ink to be absorbed into its slits by capillarity, thus improving recovery effect. At the same time, a moment arm at the tip of the blade can be shortened, so that ink scattering at the time of blade detachment is prevented. Further, the blade is easily allowed to find its way into even the uneven micropart of a recording head by providing finely split parts as seen in the blade 42. This enables cleaning of the nozzle surface of the head to every corner. in addition, many slits can be provided as seen in the blade 43 so that the rotational moment of the split parts of the blade may be increased if necessary to make the cleaning effect high.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [J/1' Field of Industrial Application 1 The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device, and more particularly to an inkjet recording device having a blade for cleaning a nozzle surface of a recording head that ejects ink droplets. It is related to the device.

[Conventional Techniques] Inkjet recording apparatuses have been known as recording apparatuses that have a simple configuration and are inexpensive. Inkjet recording devices can be divided into continuous type devices that eject ink all the time, and on-demand devices that eject ink droplets only when necessary, depending on the method of ejecting ink droplets.

An on-demand type device has the advantage of having a relatively simple configuration and requiring only a small amount of ink ejection 741 energy.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] The low ejection energy has the advantages of easy mechanical design and miniaturization; however, on the contrary, the ink liquid Since the flying energy of the droplets is small, there is a drawback that the recording quality easily deteriorates due to the running speed of the carriage carrying the recording head, backlash, and other factors that affect the behavior of the head.

Furthermore, if the flight energy is small, the dot formation points tend to vary when the ink flight path is lengthened, and the control range for maintaining good recording quality becomes narrow.

Therefore, conventional on-demand type ink jet printing apparatuses have been designed to minimize the distance between the print head and the print medium.

By the way, because the recording head of an inkjet recording device ejects ink, paper scraps and
Dust or ink unnecessary for recording may accumulate, and these causes may cause nozzle clogging or abnormal ejection, resulting in problems in which normal recording cannot be performed. Therefore, with conventional equipment, it is possible to remove foreign substances that have formed on the head.
Alternatively, it is necessary to provide a means for recovering from clogging of the head.

By the way, since it was difficult to realize multiple nozzles in early on-demand recording heads due to manufacturing technology constraints, a configuration in which a single nozzle 2 was provided as shown in FIG. 2 was adopted. In a head provided with one or several nozzles 2, a protective plate 3 for preventing foreign matter from adhering can be provided as shown in the figure.

However, as recording becomes more dense and faster in recent years, the distance between the recording media tends to become smaller, and the provision of such a protective plate is important in terms of the recovery system. It has become difficult.

Therefore, in recent years, a cleaning blade as shown in FIG. 3 is often provided. The blade 4 is made of an elastic material such as silicone rubber, and is held by a holder 5.

The holding position is set at a predetermined position in the scanning area of the recording head 1, as shown in FIG. 4, so that the tip of the blade 4 scrapes off foreign matter on the nozzle surface as the recording head 1 scans. The length of the blade 4 is such that when it comes into contact with the recording head l, a cleaning surface of length -a comes into contact.

In such a configuration, when the recording head l is detached from the blade 4, the blade 4 returns to its original shape due to its elasticity as shown in FIG. There was a problem of contaminating the inside of the device or the recording medium. This contamination may cause a short circuit in the printed circuit board, resulting in a failure, or contamination of a recorded recording medium may require the recording operation to be performed again.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in an inkjet recording apparatus having a blade for cleaning a nozzle surface of a recording head that discharges ink droplets, a tip of the blade is provided. We have adopted a configuration in which it is divided into multiple parts.

[Function] As shown in Figures 1 (A) to (C), the tip of the blade 4 is divided into multiple parts by making slits, and ink is absorbed into these gaps and the moment arm at the tip of the blade is shortened. Prevents ink from scattering.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIGS. 1A to 1C each show a different embodiment of the blade.

As shown in each figure, the blades 41 to 43 have their tips divided into a plurality of parts by making slits in their tips.

According to such a configuration, for example, in the case of the blade 41 shown in FIG. 1(A), ink can be absorbed by capillary action in the gap between the divided parts to improve collection efficiency, and the moment at the tip of the blade can be reduced. Since the arm can be shortened, ink scattering when the blade is detached is prevented.

Further, by making the divided portions smaller like the blade 42 in FIG. 1(B), the blade can penetrate into even the minute unevenness of the recording head, so that the nozzle surface of the head can be thoroughly cleaned.

As shown in the blade 43 in Fig. 1 (C), in order to increase the rotational moment of the divided portion of the blade as necessary and increase the cleaning effect, the length of the cutting slit is increased, and the blade is divided according to the shape of the head. The cleaning effect may be obtained depending on the head by changing the width.

As described above, the method of dividing the blade tip can be changed depending on the structure of various heads, the effect of preventing ink scattering, and other conditions.

[Effects of the invention] Below 1. As is clear from the description, according to the present invention, in an inkjet recording apparatus having a blade for cleaning the nozzle surface of a recording head that discharges ink droplets, a configuration is adopted in which the tip of the blade is divided into a plurality of parts. Therefore, it is possible to provide an excellent inkjet recording apparatus that can effectively prevent ink from scattering and can reliably clean the recording head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 (A) to (C) are explanatory diagrams showing the configuration of the blade according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the recording head of the conventional Infusiera i recording device, and Figure 3 is the conventional FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the cleaning operation of the blade, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the conventional blade operation. l... Recording head 6... Nozzles 41-43.
...Blade (A) (8) Zushi-
Hi/I Higeaki ml Figure 1 Kei Wahe・Dou' /1. +t (Autopsy Figure 2 Recording of prisoner's records Figure 4 I?! The bundle was written on the floor Figure 3 Levy record '47S Akira- Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] An inkjet recording device having a blade for cleaning a nozzle surface of a recording head that discharges ink droplets, wherein the tip of the blade is divided into a plurality of parts.