KR100544116B1 - Ink capping bracket of ink-jet printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is to prevent the ink from hardening in the nozzles of the ink jet printing machine, in particular, the ink jet printing machine capable of printing the organic film of the organic electroluminescent element is sprayed with different colors of ink, the cleaning liquid is stored, respectively A liquid storage portion having at least two ports separated from each other in which each head of the head portion having at least two heads for discharging at least two inks of color, respectively, is deposited in the cleaning liquid; At least two supply holes to be supplied, at least two first discharge holes formed at each of the ports to discharge cleaning liquid from each of the ports, and at least edges of the liquid storage part to provide the head to each of the ports. An overflow guide groove for inducing cleaning liquid to overflow to the outside of the liquid storage unit by depositing; Also it relates to the capped ink container of the ink jet printer comprises a second discharge hole which cleaning liquid is discharged together overflowed through the groove.

Description

Ink capping bracket of ink-jet printing apparatus

1 is a perspective view of an ink capping container of an inkjet printer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ink capping container of the ink jet printer according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention with respect to the cross section taken along the line of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view of an ink capping container of an ink jet printer according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention with respect to the cross section taken along the line I-I of FIG.

4 is a block diagram of an ink capping system of an inkjet printer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

5A to 5C are cross-sectional views showing stepwise cleaning operations in an always-waiting mode of an ink jet printer.

6A to 6D are cross-sectional views showing stepwise cleaning operations in the long-term standby mode of the ink jet printer.

<Brief description of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: ink capping container 10: main body

12: overflow barrier 13: supply hole

14: first discharge hole 15: taxiway

17: second discharge hole 20: liquid reservoir

21: border wall 22: partition wall

23, 24, 25: Port 26: Overflow guide groove

30: base 40: pressure regulator

70: head 71: nozzle

The present invention relates to an ink capping container of an ink jet printer, and more particularly, to an ink capping container of an ink jet printer capable of printing an organic film of a full color organic electroluminescent device (OLED).

In general, organic light emitting diodes are self-luminous displays that electrically excite fluorescent organic compounds to emit light, and can be driven at low voltages and thinned. Have In addition, the organic light emitting display device is attracting attention as a next-generation display that can solve the disadvantages pointed out as a problem in the liquid crystal display device, such as wide viewing angle, fast response speed.

The organic EL device capable of realizing a full color display device may be classified into a low molecular organic EL device using a low molecular weight light emitting material and a polymer organic EL device using a polymer light emitting material according to the type of the OLED.

Among them, a polymer organic electroluminescent device generally has two electrodes of an anode and a cathode facing each other on a substrate, and has a hole transport layer (HTL) and an emission layer between the anode and the cathode. It has a structure provided with organic film layers, such as). In this case, the polymer organic electroluminescent device forms the hole transport layer and the light emitting layer with a polymer organic material. The polymer organic electroluminescent device has a lower driving voltage and power consumption than a low molecular organic electroluminescent device, and is easier to implement a large-area full color display device.

On the other hand, a low molecular organic electroluminescent element forms a low molecular organic material on a substrate on which an electrode is formed by a vapor deposition method, and a high molecular organic electroluminescent element forms a high molecular organic material by spin coating or an inkjet printing method.

Among them, the inkjet printing method is a method of dissolving or dispersing a light emitting material made of a polymer into a solvent to make a polymer ink, and printing the polymer ink on a substrate through an inkjet printing head. At this time, xylene is mainly used as a solvent for dissolving the light emitting material employed in the polymer organic electroluminescent device. Therefore, the ink has low viscosity and high volatility in terms of xylene.

In this way, since xylene is used as a solvent of ink in an inkjet printing apparatus that is commonly used, the drying time of the ink becomes very short within a few seconds, thereby causing a problem that the nozzle of the head is easily clogged. The nozzle clogging phenomenon of the head becomes larger when left for a long time after printing, and the head nozzle is completely blocked by the solidification of the polymer droplet, which eventually causes the head to break.

Due to this problem, every time the nozzle of the head is printed, it has to be washed with a solvent used as a solvent, such as xylene, and the meniscus conditions of the head nozzle have to be reset. As a result, expensive ink is wasted and the process is often delayed.

In order to solve this problem, a capping system has been conventionally used in which a cleaning liquid which is a solvent is contained in a capping container, and a head nozzle is immersed in the cleaning liquid contained in the capping container to remove ink remaining in the head nozzle.

However, such a conventional capping system is not suitable for printing red (R), green (G) and blue (B) light emitting layers using a multi-head like a full color organic electroluminescent device. That is, in this case, when the multi-head is immersed in one capping container and cleaned, mixing occurs between the inks, which causes problems in reprinting.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, it is possible to prevent the ink from the ink jet printer, in particular, the nozzle injecting the ink of the different colors of the ink jet printer of the ink jet printer capable of printing the organic film of the organic EL device It is an object to provide an ink capping container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink capping container capable of simultaneously cleaning each nozzle of a head portion having a plurality of nozzles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink capping container excellent in chemical resistance.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides that the cleaning liquid is stored separately, and each head of the head portion having at least two heads for discharging at least two inks of different colors respectively is separated from each other in which the cleaning liquid is deposited. A liquid storage unit having at least two ports, at least two supply holes formed in each port and supplied with a cleaning liquid, and at least two first discharges formed in each port and discharged from the respective ports; An overflow guide groove formed on at least an edge of the hole and the liquid storage part to guide the cleaning liquid to the outside of the liquid storage part by depositing the head in each of the ports, and the cleaning liquid overflowed through the overflow guide groove. The ink capping container of the ink jet printer, characterized in that it comprises a second discharge hole is collected and discharged.

According to another feature of the invention, each port may be provided so that the cleaning liquid does not overflow to the adjacent port.

According to another feature of the present invention, an induction path for guiding the cleaning liquid overflowed through the overflow guide groove to the second discharge hole may be further provided around the liquid storage part.

According to another feature of the invention, the first discharge holes may be formed so that the ink is discharged separately so that the ink discharged from the respective ports are not mixed.

According to another feature of the invention, the cleaning liquid is a xylene-based solvent, at least the inner surface of the port may be provided with a Teflon material.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view of an ink capping container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the I-I of FIG.

Referring to the drawings, the ink capping container 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention has a container body 10 configured to store the cleaning liquid and overflow the used cleaning liquid. The container main body 10 is provided with a flat bracket, and an overflow prevention wall 12 is provided along the edge of the edge thereof, and the upper surface 11 of the main body 10 is larger than the overflow prevention wall 12. It is provided low. The main body 10 is preferably formed of a material having chemical resistance to the cleaning liquid according to the type of cleaning liquid to be used. Therefore, when the ink capping container according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is used for cleaning the head nozzle for printing the light emitting layer of the organic EL device, the ink capping container may be formed of a Teflon material having chemical resistance to the xylene cleaning liquid. Teflon coating may be performed on the inner surface of the overflow preventing wall 12 and the upper surface 11 of the main body 10.

The upper surface 11 of the main body 10 is provided with a liquid storage unit 20 in which the cleaning liquid is stored in the central portion. The liquid reservoir 20 may be integrally formed with the main body 10 and have at least two ports separated from each other.

That is, as can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, the liquid storage unit 20 has a border wall 21 is formed in a closed curve so that the cleaning liquid can be stored, the upper portion of the nozzle portion of the head of the inkjet printer It is open for deposition. The interior space defined by the border wall 21 is partitioned by at least one partition wall 22.

Since the heads for discharging ink of different colors are respectively deposited in each port, the number of ports formed by the dividing wall 22 may be determined according to the number of heads of the head portion deposited on each port. 1 and 2, the ink capping container according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention prints the red, green, and blue pixels of the full color organic electroluminescent device. Three ports can be used to clean the head of one head. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, each of the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) pixels has a first port 23, a second port 24, and a third port 25. However, the number of the ports is not necessarily limited thereto, and when using the head portion having more heads, the ports may be provided so as to correspond to the number of each head.

The ports 23, 24, 25 are formed to extend in the longitudinal direction of the main body 10, as shown in the figure, since each head of the head portion has a plurality of nozzles, each head The ports are formed in the direction in which the nozzles of the. Then, the cleaning liquid is stored therein. Since the ports 23, 24 and 25 are partitioned between adjacent ports by the partition partition 22, the cleaning liquid stored in the ports does not overflow to the adjacent ports. Furthermore, overflow guide grooves 26 are formed at least at the edges of the liquid reservoir to allow the cleaning liquid to overflow to the outside of the liquid reservoir 20 so that the cleaning liquid does not overflow to adjacent ports. As shown in FIG. 1, the overflow guide groove 26 may be formed in the edge wall 21 of the liquid storage part 20, and both ends of the ports 23, 24, 25 formed in the longitudinal direction. Each may be formed on.

The liquid reservoir 20 having the ports 23, 24, 25 as described above may also be formed of a material having chemical resistance to the cleaning liquid, and when used in a printing machine for an organic electroluminescent device, Can be formed. In particular, the inner surface of the ports 23, 24, 25 in which the cleaning liquid is stored is preferably formed of Teflon material.

A portion of each of the ports 23, 24, 25 of the liquid storage unit 20 as described above is provided with a supply hole 13 through which the cleaning liquid is supplied. The supply holes 13a, 13b, and 13c are formed to penetrate the main body 10, and may continuously supply the cleaning liquid to the ports 23, 24, and 25. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figure 2, the communication passage communicating with the supply holes 13a, 13b, 13c to the base 30 mounted on the lower portion of the main body 10 ( 32 is provided, and the communication path 32 communicates with the outside through a single communication hole 33. Therefore, the cleaning liquid is supplied through the communication hole 33 and distributed to the individual supply holes 13a, 13b, and 13c via the communication path 32, so that each of the ports 23, 24 and 25 is formed. ) To be supplied. Although not shown in the drawings, such a cleaning liquid supply system may allow each supply hole 13a, 13b, 13c to be individually supplied without being gathered into one.

A first discharge hole 14 through which the used cleaning liquid is discharged is formed in the other part of each of the ports 23, 24, 25. According to one embodiment of the invention, the first discharge hole 14 is formed in each port can be provided with three first discharge holes 14a, 14b, 14c, The first discharge holes 14a, 14b and 14c may also be configured to be gathered into a single hole 34 formed in the base 30, like the above-described supply holes 13a, 13b and 13c. At this time, since the cleaning liquid discharged from one port may flow back to the other port and be mixed, as shown in FIG. 3, each of the first discharge holes 14a and 14b ( It is preferable to form separate holes 34a, 34b, 34c in communication with 14c and to discharge them separately.

On the other hand, the main body 10 is provided with a second discharge hole 17 that can discharge the cleaning liquid overflowed to the outside of the liquid storage unit 20 to the outside. The second discharge hole 17 is formed to collect and discharge the overflowing cleaning liquid from the liquid storage unit 20, and the swelling portion 16 inclined downward is formed around the second discharge hole 17. In order to collect the cleaning liquid, the induction passage 15 for guiding the cleaning liquid overflowed through the overflow guide groove 26 to the second discharge hole 17 is further around the liquid storage unit 20. It may be provided.

This ink capping container 1 consists of a capping system as seen in FIG. 4.

The ink capping system has a first reservoir 50 for supplying a cleaning liquid to the ink capping container 1 as shown in FIG. 4. The first reservoir 50 may be connected to a separate pressure control unit 40 by a fine adjustable pneumatic circuit. That is, the first reservoir 50 is connected to the pressure regulating portion 40 by the first pressure line 41, and to each of the supply holes 13a, 13b, 13c of the ink capping container 1. The cleaning liquid of the first reservoir 50 is connected to the first supply line 51 and the cleaning liquid of the first reservoir 50 passes through the first supply line 51 in response to the pressurization by the first pressure line 41. It is supplied to each of the ports 23, 24, 25 via 13c. In addition, the cleaning liquid of the first reservoir 50 may be directly supplied to the head unit 70 by the second supply line 52.

Each discharge hole of the ink capping container 1 is connected to a separate discharge system connected to the pressure control unit 40. At this time, the ink capping container 1 has a structure in which each of the first discharge holes 14a, 14b, 14c are individually communicated with each other, as shown in FIG. 3, but the ink capping system to which the present invention is applied. Of course, this is not necessarily limited thereto.

The discharge system separately takes the discharge structure through the first discharge holes 14a, 14b and 14c and the discharge structure through the second discharge hole 17. First, the first discharge holes 14a ( 14b) and 14c are respectively connected to the first discharge lines 63a, 63b and 63c, and the first discharge lines 63a, 63b and 63c are respectively first vacuum ejectors 62a. , 62b, 62c. Second reservoirs 61a, 61b, and 61c are connected to the first vacuum ejectors 62a, 62b, and 62c, respectively, and the first pressure reducing lines 42a are connected to the pressure regulator 40, respectively. Are connected by 42b and 42c. Accordingly, when the pressure adjusting unit 40 operates the first vacuum ejectors 62a, 62b, 62c by the first pressure reducing lines 42a, 42b, 42c, the first vacuum ejectors 62a. ) 62b and 62c are each of the ports 23 and 24 which have been cleaned through the first discharge lines 63a, 63b and 63c and the first discharge holes 14a, 14b and 14c. The cleaning liquid of (25) is discharged.

Meanwhile, the second discharge hole 17 is connected to the second discharge line 66, and the second discharge line 66 is connected to the second vacuum ejector 65. The second vacuum ejector 65 is connected to the third reservoir 64 on the one hand and to the pressure regulator 40 on the other by the second pressure reducing line 43. Therefore, the cleaning liquid overflowing the liquid storage unit 20 is collected near the second discharge hole 17 along the induction path 15, and the cleaning liquid is collected in the second discharge hole 17 and the second discharge hole 17. It is discharged to the third reservoir 64 via the discharge line 66 and the second vacuum ejector 65.

Next, the cleaning action of the head nozzle of the inkjet printing machine through the ink capping system as described above will be described.

5A to 5C illustrate the cleaning operation in the always-standby mode in the inkjet printer, which is a case where the printing is in the waiting state until the next printing after one printing is finished.

At this time, first, as shown in FIG. 5A, the head portion 70 is lowered by a separate driving portion (not shown) and deposited in the ink capping container 1. At this time, the cleaning liquid C is stored in each of the ports 23, 24, 25 of the ink capping container 1 so as to clean the heads 71 of the head portion 70. As shown in FIG. 4, this cleaning liquid C is supplied from the first reservoir 51 by the first supply line 51. The heads 71 of the head portion 70 are red, green, and blue heads 71a, 71b, 71c, and in the figure, the heads 71a, 71b, 71c are single. It may be provided with a nozzle, but a plurality of nozzles may be provided along the longitudinal direction of the port.

The red, green, and auditory heads 71a, 71b, 71c of the head portion 70 are in the cleaning liquid C stored in the ports 23, 24, 25, as shown in FIG. 5B, In each case, the ports 23, 24, 25 are as large as the volume of each of the heads 71a, 71b, 71c deposited according to the deposition of the heads 71a, 71b, 71c. The cleaning liquid C stored therein is overflowed to the induction furnace 15 through the overflow guide groove 26. The cleaning liquid R thus overflowed flows into the pool 16 through the induction path 15 and is discharged through the second discharge hole 17 formed in the pool 16. At this time, the overflowed cleaning liquid (R) as shown in Figure 4, as the pressure adjusting unit 40 operates the second vacuum ejector 65 through the second pressure reducing line 43, It is discharged through the second ejection hole 16 and the second discharge line 66 by the vacuum ejector (65). The discharged cleaning liquid is stored in the third storage tank 64.

Meanwhile, the overflowing cleaning liquid R is discharged through the second discharge hole 16 and at the same time, the ports 23, 24 and 25 are provided through the supply holes 13a, 13b and 13c. Continue to supply clean cleaning liquid.

As the cleaning liquid is supplied on the one hand and the cleaning liquid flows on the other hand, the ink remaining in the nozzles of the heads 71a, 71b and 71c of the head portion 70 reacts with the cleaning liquid. It is removed and finally, as shown in FIG. 5C, only clean cleaning liquid remains in each of the ports 23, 24, 25. Therefore, ink is solidified to the nozzle of the head part even while waiting for printing, and the nozzle clogging phenomenon does not occur, and in particular, there is no fear that ink of different colors may be mixed.

Next, FIGS. 6A to 6D show a cleaning action when the head part is left for a long time after printing. Even in this case, the nozzle can be cleaned in the same manner as described above, but if the head is left for a long time, the ink remaining in the nozzle core as well as the nozzle tip may harden and cause damage to the head. There is. In addition, the xylene solvent, which is a cleaning liquid used in the light emitting layer printing process of the organic electroluminescent device, has a high volatility, and thus, when left for a long time, the water level becomes low, so that the head cannot be sufficiently deposited. Therefore, when waiting for such a long time it is necessary to solve these problems.

First, as can be seen in Figure 6a, the printed head portion is lowered by a separate drive unit (not shown), so that each of the heads 71a, 71b, 71c is each port 23, 24, 25 To be deposited in the cleaning solution stored in the At this time, the cleaning liquid is supplied to each of the ports 23, 24, 25.

As the heads 71a, 71b, and 71c are thus deposited, the cleaning liquid overflows by the volume, and as shown in FIG. 6B, the cleaning liquid R overflowed through the second discharge unit 17. Do it.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4 to clean the inside of the head part 70, the pressure adjusting part 40 operates the second pressure line so that the cleaning liquid is supplied to the head part 70. This is in accordance with the invention No. 2002-64540 filed on October 2, 2002 by the applicant, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the head after the printing process is to be discharged through the nozzle.

When the cleaning liquid is supplied as shown in FIG. 6C through the heads 71a, 71b and 71b of the head unit 70, the ink remaining in the nozzle may be cleanly removed. As the cleaning liquid is supplied, the cleaning liquid overflowed through the overflow guide groove is discharged through the second discharge hole 17.

On the other hand, when the head portion 70 is left in the capping container 1 for a long time, the xylene solvent as the cleaning liquid has a high volatility, and thus the level of the cleaning liquid is lowered as shown in FIG. 6D. In this case, the process of FIG. 6C is repeated to supply the cleaning liquid through the heads 71a, 71b, and 71b. The supply of the cleaning liquid may be repeatedly supplied after a predetermined time in consideration of the volatilization rate of the cleaning liquid in advance.

According to the present invention as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

First, it is possible to simultaneously cap different inks of an inkjet printer having multiple nozzles and each head having multiple heads for printing different colored inks, so that each head is always clean and wet. .

Second, it is possible to prevent the nozzle clogging phenomenon of the head of the inkjet printer having a multi-head.

Third, it is possible to clean the multi-head at the same time with a single equipment can reduce the equipment cost.

Fourth, in the case of short-term and long-term standby, the multi-head can be cleaned according to each situation.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Could be. Therefore, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

Claims (5)

A liquid storage unit having at least two ports separated from each other in which the cleaning liquid is stored, and each head of the head portion having at least two heads respectively discharging at least two ink of different colors is deposited in the cleaning liquid; At least two supply holes formed in the ports to supply cleaning liquids; At least two first discharge holes formed in each port to discharge cleaning liquid from each port; An overflow guide groove formed on at least an edge of the liquid storage part to guide cleaning liquid to the outside of the liquid storage part by depositing the head in each of the ports; And And a second discharge hole through which the cleaning liquid overflowed through the overflow guide groove is discharged. The method of claim 1, Each port is an ink capping container of the inkjet printer, characterized in that the cleaning port is provided so as not to overflow the adjacent port. The method of claim 1, The ink capping container of the ink jet printer, characterized in that the induction path to guide the cleaning liquid overflowed through the overflow guide groove to the second discharge hole around the liquid storage. The method of claim 1, And the first discharge holes are formed so that the ink is discharged separately so that the ink discharged from the respective ports is not mixed. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, And the cleaning liquid is a xylene-based solvent, and at least an inner surface of the port is made of a teflon material.

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