JPS62251146A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely wipe a plurality of recording head without causing mixing of colors, by providing a wiping means in which a plurality of cleaning brushes corresponding respectively to the recording heads are provided along an endless belt, and wiping operation ranges of the cleaning brushes are split along the endless belt in correspondence with the respective recording heads. CONSTITUTION:A wiping means 12 has a construction that a plurality of cleaning brushes 15A, 15B, 15C, 15D corresponding respectively to recording heads 6A-6D (ink-ejecting port groups thereof) are provided along an endless belt 14, and wiping operation ranges of the brushes are split along the belt in correspondence wit the heads. The endless belt 14 is constituted of a timing belt stretched across a driving pulley 16 and a driven pulley 17, and the rotation of the driving pulley 16 in the pulley 17, and the rotation of the driving pulley 16 in the direction of an arrow A is controlled in relation with the positions of the recording heads 6A-6D, whereby the ink-ejecting port groups of the heads are sequentially wiped by the brushes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a recording rad wiping means for an inkjet recording apparatus, such as color printing, in which a plurality of recording heads are mounted on a carriage.

[Prior art]

For color printing, four colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, are usually used, and even for the same hue (black, etc.), multiple inks with different degrees of shading are used, and these different inks are used. In an inkjet recording apparatus, a plurality of recording heads corresponding to the number of inks are mounted on a carriage.

The front surface of each recording head has multiple small holes, or ink ejection openings, that form dots, but paper scraps and dust adhering to this surface, or ink that has thickened due to evaporation of solvent, can cause ink ejection failure. It may happen.

Therefore, it is required to clean the surface (the front surface of the recording head) where the ink ejection ports are formed.

As a cleaning means, the recording head is wiped (
A mechanism for wiping off the liquid has been proposed.

By the way, in a conventional inkjet recording device, a plurality of wipers corresponding to the number of recording heads are provided at the wiping position within the carriage movement range (for example, to the right of the home position), and each recording head is wiped with the corresponding wiper. It was structured like this.

However, with such conventional wiping means, each wiper corresponds to each recording head one-to-one, so ink color mixing can be prevented, but even if the number of wipers is the minimum, the number of colors is required, so the structure There was a problem in that it was complicated and required a large space for installing the wiper.

〔the purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to provide a head wiping means for an inkjet recording apparatus that can solve the problems of the prior art and can reliably wipe a plurality of recording heads without causing color mixture using a wiping mechanism that is simple and compact in structure. It is to provide.

〔overview〕

The present invention provides a plurality of cleaning brushes corresponding to each recording head along an endless belt, and a wiping means that divides the wiping operation range of each cleaning brush for each recording head along the endless belt. This aims to achieve the above objectives.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of main parts of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a head cleaning mechanism as seen from line 1--2 in FIG.

In FIG. 1, guide rails 3.4 are installed in front of a sheet (recording medium such as paper or a thin plastic plate) 2 backed up on a platen 1, and a carriage 5 that moves along these guide rails has a A plurality of (four in the illustrated example) recording heads 6A, 6B, 6C16D and replaceable ink containers 13A, 13B, 13C, 13D for supplying ink of each color to these recording heads are mounted. For example, in the case of color printing, four ink colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, are used.

The carriage 5 includes a motor 7 for driving the carriage, a drive pulley 8, a driven boob IJ 9, and a timing bell) 10.
It is reciprocally driven along the guide rail 3.4 by a drive system consisting of.

During recording, recording is performed on the sheet 1 by driving the ink ejection opening groups of each of the recording heads 6A to 6D based on print data signals in synchronization with the movement of the carriage 5.

Home position HP of carriage 4 (in the example shown, platen 1
A capping mechanism 11 is provided at a non-printing position on the left side of the recording head 11 to seal the ink ejection port group of each of the recording heads 6A to 6D when stopped to prevent evaporation of ink solvent and dust adhesion. . This capping mechanism is configured to be driven forward and backward relative to the recording heads 68 to 6D and to seal each recording head in the forward position.

Further, the capping mechanism 11 is usually provided with an ink recovery device that sucks ink from the ink ejection port group of each recording head using a suction pump or the like during camping.

A wiping means (recording head cleaning means) 12 according to the present invention is provided on the left side of the capping mechanism 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, this wiping means 12 includes a plurality of cleaning brushes 15A corresponding to each of the recording heads 6A to 6D (groups of ink ejection ports thereof) along the endless belt 14.
, 15B, 15c, and 15D, and the wiping operation range of each cleaning brush is divided along the endless belt for each recording head.

The endless belt 14 is formed of a timing belt stretched around a driving pulley 16 and a driven pulley 17, and is controlled by controlling the rotation of the driving pulley 16 in the direction of arrow A in relation to the position of each recording head 68 to 6D. It is configured to sequentially wipe these ink ejection orifice groups.

Note that each of the cleaning brushes 15A to 5D is formed of plate-shaped rubber or soft plastic, and is usually attached to the belt 1 as shown in the figure.
Although it is integrally molded with 4, it is also possible to have a structure in which separate parts are fixed.

Next, the operation of the wiping means 12 described above will be explained.

In order to clean (recover) ink discharge failure or ink discharge port stains, the carriage 5 on which each recording head 6A to 6D (ink discharge port group) is mounted is moved to the vicinity of the wiping means 12.

When the carriage 5 moves to a predetermined position (the position where the recording head 6D faces the endless belt 14) and stops, the endless belt 14 is partially moved to the extent that only its cleaning brush 15D wipes out the ink ejection opening group of the recording head 6D. driven by

When the brush 15D finishes wiping the head 6D, the endless belt 14 is stopped (its motor is stopped), and then the carriage 5 moves to the next recording head 6.
C is driven to a position facing the belt 14, and by driving the endless belt 14 a predetermined distance, the brush 15
Wipe the recording head 6C with C.

Thereafter, the cleaning brushes 15B, 15A wipe the recording heads 6B, 6A in the same manner, completing one cycle of wiping operation, and removing dust and thickened ink adhering to the vicinity of each ink ejection port.

In the illustrated example, one cleaning brush 15D to 15A is provided for wiping the recording heads 6D to 6A (their ink ejection port groups), but a plurality of cleaning brushes are provided for each recording head. If a brush is provided, the wiping effect can be further improved.

Further, a home position (or initial position) is set on the endless belt 14, and the above-mentioned wiping operation is controlled based on this home position. This home position can be determined, for example, by providing a home position detection switch, or by rotating a belt drive motor (such as a stepping motor) in the opposite direction and locking it at a predetermined position, and then setting the vicinity of this locked position as the home position. You can set it using the following methods.

According to the embodiment described above, in an inkjet recording apparatus in which a plurality of recording heads 6A to 6D are mounted on a carriage 5, the endless belt 14 is divided into a plurality of areas corresponding to each recording head along its running path, and each Cleaning brushes 15A to 15D for wiping the recording heads 6A to 6D (their ink ejection port groups) are provided in the area, and the configuration is such that the corresponding cleaning brushes wipe the corresponding recording heads, so color mixing of ink occurs due to wiping. It is possible to construct a highly reliable wiping means with a small number of parts and a simple structure, at low cost, and also to reduce the space required for the wiping mechanism, making it possible to make the recording device more compact. Ta.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, there is provided an inkjet recording apparatus that does not cause color mixing of inks when wiping a plurality of recording heads, and is equipped with a wiping means that can be simplified and downsized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of essential parts of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial side view taken along line 1--2 in FIG. 5---m-・-・-carriage, 6A~6 D-・-・
- Recording head, 12 ------- Wiping means, 14 - Endless belt, 15
A~15 D---Cleaning brush. Agent Patent Attorney Yasushi Ooto Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an inkjet recording device in which a carriage is equipped with multiple recording heads corresponding to ink colors, multiple cleaning brushes corresponding to each recording head are provided along an endless belt, and the wiping operation range of each cleaning brush is set for each recording. An inkjet recording device comprising a wiping means divided along the endless belt for each head.