JPS62111751A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a head to resume its action in a brief time by providing a member to remove liquid and/or foreign matte attaching to an orifice inside a cap. CONSTITUTION:A blade 16 is attached in freely rotatable manner in a cap 4 installed on a cap holder 15. When removing coagulated ink, waste paper, dust, etc. which are found attaching to an orifice at the tip of a recording head 3, first the recording head 3 should be moved to an opposite position to the cap 4 as indicated by an arrow X, then the cap part should be moved in an arrow direction by a motor 17 thus allowing the recording head 3 and a rotary blade 16 to touch each other. Next the recording head 3 should be allowed to slide in an arrow direction Y by a record scan mechanism, and the rotary blade 16 also to rub the front of the recording head 3. Later, the motor 17 is reversed, enabling the cap 4 part to be shifted backward as indicated by an arrow marker. This causes the cap 4 to be separated to terminate recovery action.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device, and more particularly, it has a means for removing air bubbles, foreign matter, etc. inside and outside the nozzles of a recording head to restore the operation of the head. The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device.

[Prior Art] Inkjet recording devices have been known as devices that are quiet, inexpensive, and capable of recording various images, characters, etc. by dot recording.

This type of device uses liquid ink.

There are different technical problems than devices using ink ribbons. For example, in an on-demand type device, ink is ejected from a minute orifice of a nozzle using the driving energy of a piezoelectric element, heating element, etc. only when a dot is needed, so the viscosity of the ink changes depending on the length of the non-driving period. There are problems such as air bubbles being generated in the nozzle, paper scraps, dust, dirt, etc. adhering to the orifice, making it impossible to perform normal recording.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, in an on-demand type ink chef printing apparatus, a means for restoring the printing head to a normal state is required.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a recording head recovery device of a conventional inkjet recording apparatus, and this recovery device is provided at a predetermined position such as at the end of a scanning area of the recording head.

The recovery device is constructed by attaching each member with reference numerals to a pedestal. In the figure, reference numeral 4 is a cap made of silicone rubber, etc., and this cap 4 is attached to the tip of a recording head (not shown) in an almost airtight state. It is installed in

This block-shaped member including the cap 4 is moved back and forth by the motor 17 via a gear 17', and the cap 4 is placed on the tip of the recording head that has been moved to a position facing the cap 4.
is installed.

The blade 2 attached to the side surface of the cap 4 is made of a silicone rubber blade, and foreign matter can be removed by rubbing the head against the tip of the blade 2. The release lever 19 is used to retract the blade 2 after the recovery operation.

Conventionally, the cap 4 was attached to the front surface of the recording head with the above configuration. Further, foreign matter and air bubbles adhering to the orifice are removed by rubbing the tip of the head against a cleaning blade 2 made of rubber or the like.

However, with such a method, it is difficult to completely recover the head, and in conventional methods, the device is often set to repeat the recovery operation many times to be sure.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an inkjet recording apparatus having a cap for sealing around an orifice of an inkjet recording head. A configuration is adopted in which a member for removing liquid and/or foreign matter adhering to the orifice is further provided.

[Function] The recovery system has a cap 4, and the cap 4 is inserted into an orifice portion of a recording head (not shown) in a substantially airtight state. A blade 16 provided inside the cap 4 rubs the tip of the head 3 to facilitate the removal of foreign matter 9 from the head.

In this way, it is possible to reliably recover the operation of the head in a short time.

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

Figure Z1 is a perspective view of a recording head recovery device of an inkjet recording apparatus. This recovery device has almost the same structure as the conventional example shown in Figure 5, and is installed at a predetermined position such as at the end of the scanning area of the recording head. . Here, the same reference numerals are given to the same members as in the prior art, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

The difference from the conventional example is that the blade 16 is rotatably attached inside the cap 4 attached to the cap holder 15. Further, the cleaning blade and its control mechanism provided on the side of the conventional device are omitted.

FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of members around the cap 4. The cap 4 is integrally molded with silicone rubber or the like, and has a recess 4 inside and below which receives the boss 16' of the rotating blade 16.
' is provided.

The rear portion of the cap 4 is housed 2 in a cap holder 15 integrally molded from plastic or the like, and is attached to a pedestal of the recovery system.

The rotating blade 16 has a shaft portion 16 as shown in FIG. 3(A).
'' with flocked hair in the shape of 8 blades,
As shown in FIG. 3(B), it may be integrally molded from an elastic material such as plastic or rubber.

The number of blades is not limited to eight, but may be any number.

This rotary blade is rotated by sliding the head as the carriage is driven, but the driving method can be selected arbitrarily, such as by motor drive or manually.

A cross-sectional structure of the cap 4 and recording head 3 viewed from above is shown in FIG. 4(A). As shown in the figure, the bottom of the cap 4 is formed into a curved surface having a radius approximately equal to the outer shape 2 of the rotary blade 16.

On the other hand, the recording head 3 is exemplified here as a so-called bubble jet type in which bubbles are generated by a heater array '34 provided in the ink flow path 33 and ink is ejected using the pressure generated by the bubbles. In accordance with the ejection operation, ink 36 is sequentially supplied from the ink chamber 32 provided within the recording head 3.

Foreign matter 9 such as coagulated ink, paper scraps, and dust is likely to adhere to the orifice at the tip of the recording head 3.

In the above configuration, in order to perform the recovery operation, first move the hand 3 toward recording as shown by the arrow X in FIG. direction to bring the recording head 3 into contact with the rotary blade 16 as shown in FIG. 4(B).

Next, as shown in FIG. 4(B), the recording head 3 is slid in the direction of arrow Y by a recording scanning mechanism (not shown), and the front surface of the recording head 3 is rubbed by the rotating blade 16.

Thereafter, the motor 17 is driven in the opposite direction.

The cap 4 portion is moved rearward as shown by the arrow, and the cap 4 is separated to complete the recovery operation.

Note that when the cap 4 is used to prevent ink from evaporating from the orifice, the recording head 3 and the cap 4 may be brought into close contact with each other as they are.

As described above, foreign matter stuck together with the ink, which was difficult to remove in the past, can be reliably removed in a short time by the sliding blade, making it possible to quickly return to recording operation. effective. In particular, according to this embodiment, a drive mechanism for the rotary blade 16 is not required, so the structure is simple.Of course, if strong rotation is required, a motor or the like may be used for driving.

In addition, although the rotating blade is exemplified above, the shape of the blade is not limited to this, and one or more plate-shaped blades made of silicone rubber or the like may be provided inside the cap.
This may be oscillated by an appropriate driving method to rub the surface of the recording head. However, in terms of the efficiency of foreign matter removal, the rotary % type % [] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, an inkjet recording apparatus having a cap for sealing around the orifice of the inkjet recording head Since the cap is further provided with a member for removing liquid and/or foreign matter adhering to the orifice, foreign matter can be removed from the nozzle of the recording end reliably and completely in a short time. It is possible to provide an excellent inkjet recording device that can quickly perform a recording operation.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of the recovery system in an inkjet recording apparatus, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the camp part, and Figures 3 (A) and (B) are FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the recovery system, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional recovery system. 3... Recording head 4... Cap 9... Foreign object 11... Recovery pump 12.13...
Tubes 12', 13'... Valve 15... Case 16...
Rotating blade 211 no solid 4 balls / l oblique tail turn (A) (3) Preparation sprayed ° Nonoho Nezetsu ml I 1 movement j face Ming Hu 4th drawing 9th point # February 12, 1985

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) In an inkjet recording apparatus having a cap for sealing around an orifice of an inkjet recording head, a member for removing liquid and/or foreign matter adhering to the orifice is further provided inside the cap. An inkjet recording device characterized by: 2) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, having a plurality of orifices.