KR20040065051A - Print head maintenance apparatus for ink-jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A print head maintenance device of an ink jet printer is provided to accurately seal a print head by preventing the print head and a capping member from being combined eccentrically and to firmly maintain the tightly sealed state of the print head by suppressing a support plate and a carriage from moving. CONSTITUTION: A print head maintenance device(250) of an ink jet printer comprises a carriage, a station body(151) fixed in a printer body and having an opening(151a) facing the lower face of the carriage, a capping device(152) including a support plate(252a), a capping member(157) and a support plate drive unit and sealing a print head, a cleaning device(159) removing ink waste and deposits remaining on the surface of the print head, and a guide unit including a guide groove and a guide protrusion(211) mutually inserted before the print head is sealed.

Description

Print head maintenance apparatus for ink jet printers {Print head maintenance apparatus for ink-jet printer}

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly, to a printhead maintenance apparatus of an inkjet printer for keeping the printhead of the ink cartridge clean when the printer is in the driving stop state and the print standby mode.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional inkjet printer 100 includes ink cartridges 141 and 145, a carriage 130, and a maintenance device 150.

The ink cartridges 141 and 145 accommodate ink therein and form an image by injecting ink onto printing paper through a print head 147 formed at one side of the inkjet printer 100 during printing operation.

The carriage 130 is movably installed in the printer body 110 and supports at least one ink cartridge 141 and 145. In addition, the inkjet printer 100 reciprocates in the printer main body 110 in the print mode, and allows ink to be sprayed on the print paper through the print head 147. In general, in the case of the inkjet printer 100 that prints a monochrome image, such as a black and white document, the carriage 130 supports one ink cartridge 141 and 145, and the inkjet printer 100 of the inkjet printer 100 for printing a multicolor image. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of ink cartridges 141 and 145 are supported by the carriage 130.

Typically, the carriage 130 moves to one side of the printer main body 110 that is out of the paper transport path 120 when the inkjet printer 100 is in the print standby mode or the driving stop state, and the inkjet printer 100 is in the print mode. Wait at that location until you switch to. The maintenance device 150 removes ink residues remaining on the surface of the print head 147 when the carriage 130 is waiting on one side of the printer body 110, or seals the print head 147 to prevent foreign matter. Contamination of the print head 147 is prevented.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the maintenance device 150 in which the capping device 152 and the cleaning device 159 are installed together in the unit body 151 of the maintenance device as described above. Here, the capping device 152 is for sealing the print head 147 of the ink cartridges 141 and 145 when the print standby mode and the driving stop of the ink jet printer 100, the cleaning device 159 is a print head ( 147) for the cleaning operation. Although not shown, the maintenance device 150 is formed in a form in which the capping device 152 and the cleaning device 159 each form a separate unit and are distributed in the printer body 110, unlike the form shown in FIG. 2. May be

Meanwhile, the capping device 152 includes a capping member 157, a support plate 152a, and a support plate driving means.

The support plate 152a is rotatably installed on the station body 151, and a capping member 157 is installed on an upper surface thereof. The capping member 157 is installed to correspond to the shape and installation position of each print head 147 so as to seal the print head 147 of the ink cartridges 141 and 145 during the upward rotation of the support plate 152a. do.

The rotation of the support plate 152a is performed by the power of the drive motor 153 separately installed on the rear side of the station body 151. To this end, the support plate 152a receives power from the drive motor 153 through the link member 156, the rotating body 155, and the belt member 154. Here, the link member 156 is rotatably connected to each of the support plate 152a and the rotating body 155.

The operation of the conventional maintenance apparatus 150 having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 3 as follows.

First, when the inkjet printer 100 is in the printing mode, the support plate 152a is kept rotated downward so that the capping member 157 is positioned inside the station body 151. When the print drive of the inkjet printer 100 is finished and the carriage 130 is moved to be positioned above the station body 151, the drive motor 153 rotates to drive. Accordingly, the rotating body 155 receives the power of the driving motor 153 through the belt member 154 and is driven to rotate in the arrow direction A shown in FIG. 2, and the support plate 152a is a link member ( 156 rotates upward by the interlocking operation of the rotating body 155. Accordingly, the capping member 157 covers the outside of the print head 147 to seal the print head 147.

However, in the conventional maintenance apparatus 150, the carriage 130 may not be positioned on the upper portion of the station body 151 during the sealing operation of the print head 147, or may be capped due to an error generated during manufacture of the product. Since the member 157 and the print head 147 are eccentrically coupled, the sealing operation of the print head 147 may not be completed completely. And, even if the print head 147 is completely sealed by the capping member 157, the sealed state of the print head 147 when the carriage 130 and the maintenance device 150 flows relative to each other due to external impact or the like. There is also a problem that does not remain solid.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, to suppress the eccentric coupling of the capping member and the print head when sealing the print head and to suppress the relative flow between the carriage and the station body in the sealed state of the print head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printhead maintenance apparatus of an inkjet printer having an improved structure.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a partially cut in a conventional inkjet printer,

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the print head maintenance device of FIG. 1;

3 is a front view illustrating a state before the print head and the capping member of FIG. 1 are coupled;

4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a printhead maintenance apparatus of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a front view illustrating a state before the print head and the capping member of the ink cartridge according to the embodiment of the present invention are coupled to each other;

Figure 6 is a front view showing an extract of the coupling state of the guide groove and the guide projection of Figure 5;

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: inkjet printer 110: the printer body

130: carriage 141, 145: ink cartridge

147: print head 151: station body

152: capping device 152a: support plate

153: drive motor 155: rotating body

157: capping member 159: cleaning device

210: guide means 211: guide projection

215: guide groove 250: printhead maintenance device

The printhead maintenance apparatus of the inkjet printer according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the station body is installed on one side of the printer main body, and support the ink cartridge, is installed to be movable inside the printer body, but the print standby of the printer A carriage moving to the station body side at the end of mode and driving, a support plate rotatably installed at the station body, and a print head formed at one side of the ink cartridge when the support plate is rotated to approach the print head. And a capping member for sealing the print head, driving means for selectively rotating the support plate according to the mode change of the printer, and guide means for guiding the rotation of the support plate when the print head is sealed. It is done.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the guide means includes a guide protrusion installed on the support plate to be inserted into a guide groove formed on one side of the carriage adjacent to the print head when the capping member and the print head are coupled. .

According to this, when the print head is sealed, the capping member and the print head are prevented from being eccentrically coupled so that the print head is accurately sealed while the capping member and the print head are coupled to the carriage for the support plate. The state of sealing can be maintained firmly by suppressing the relative flow of.

Here, the guide protrusion has a length larger than the thickness of the capping member so that the end thereof is located outside the support plate than the end surface of the capping member, it is preferably formed integrally with the support plate.

And, when the carriage accommodates a pair of ink cartridges, the guide grooves are formed on the outer circumferential surface of the carriage so as to be arranged between the print heads of each of the pair of ink cartridges, and the cross-sectional area inside the entrance is More preferably, the inner circumferential surface is inclined to have a small size.

On the other hand, the drive means, the drive motor is installed on one side of the station body, the rotating body is installed so as to rotate to receive the power of the drive motor to the station body, the rotatable body and the support plate are connected rotatably Preferably, it comprises a link member for lifting and lowering the support plate during the rotation of the rotating body.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For reference, in describing the embodiments of the present invention, the same components as those of the conventional inkjet printer shown and described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 will be referred to with the same reference numerals as before.

4 and 5, the maintenance apparatus 250 of the inkjet printer according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a carriage 130, a station body 151, a capping apparatus 152, and a cleaning apparatus ( 159 and guide means 210. For reference, the inkjet printer 100 according to the present embodiment is for multicolor image output, and a pair of ink cartridges 141 and 145 respectively accommodating inks of different colors are provided in the printer body 110 (see FIG. 1). It is supported by a carriage 130 installed to be movable therein, and a print head 147 is provided at the lower end of each of the ink cartridges 141 and 145.

The station body 151 is fixed to one side of the printer body 110, and the opening 151a formed on one side of the sheet transfers the paper formed in the printer body 110 when the print standby mode and the drive end of the inkjet printer 100 are finished. It is installed to face the lower surface of the carriage 130 moved to be isolated from the furnace 120 (see FIG. 1).

The capping device 152 is to seal the print head 147, and includes a support plate 252a, a capping member 157, and a support plate driving means.

The support plate 252a is rotatably installed in the station body 151. The capping member 157 is installed on the support plate 252a to cover and seal the print heads 147 formed at the lower ends of the ink cartridges 141 and 145 when the support plate 252a is rotated upward. do. Here, the capping member 157 may be formed in various materials and shapes if the capping member 157 seals the print head 147 when it is coupled with the print head 147 to block the contact between the print head 147 and the foreign matter. Omit.

The support plate driving means is for selectively rotating the support plate 252a upwards or downwards, and includes a driving motor 153, a rotating body 155, a belt member 154, and a link member 156. do. The driving motor 153 of the present embodiment is installed separately from the driving unit (not shown) of the inkjet printer 100 on one side of the station body 151 and is not involved in driving the carriage 130.

The rotating body 155, the belt member 154, and the link member 156 transmit the power of the driving motor 153 to the support plate 252a to rotate the support plate 252a. Here, the rotating body 155 is installed on the side wall of the station body 151 so as to rotate by receiving the power of the drive motor 153 through the belt member 154, the link member 156 is the rotating body 155 And both ends are rotatably connected to each of the support plates 252a.

On the other hand, the support plate drive means may not necessarily be configured as described above. That is, since the installation of the driving motor 153 is excluded, the power required for the rotation of the support plate 252a from the printer main body 110 may be configured. .

The maintenance apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above further includes a guide means 210. The guide means 210 compensates for the positional error between the print head 147 and the capping member 157 when the support plate 252a is rotated upward, and the print head 147 is sealed by the capping member 157. In order to suppress the relative flow between the carriage 130 and the station body 151.

To this end, the guide means 210 includes a guide groove 215 and a guide protrusion 211 which are inserted into each other before the print head 147 is sealed by the capping member 157.

The guide groove 215 is formed at one side of the outer circumferential surface of the carriage 130. Here, the guide groove 215 can be installed in various positions, but in the present embodiment in which the print head 147 is sealed by the upward rotation of the support plate 252a, the lower end of each of the ink cartridges 141 and 145. It is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the carriage 130 to be disposed between the print head 147 formed in the. The guide groove 215 is formed such that its inner circumferential surface is inclined such that its inner cross sectional area is smaller than that of the inlet side.

The guide protrusion 211 is installed in the support plate 252a to be inserted into the guide groove 215 prior to the contact of the capping member 157 and the print head 147 when the support plate 252a rotates. To this end, the guide protrusion 211 is installed between a plurality of capping members 157 provided on the support plate 252a to correspond to each of the print head 147, the length of the size larger than the thickness of the capping member 157 It is formed to have. The guide protrusion 211 installed in this way is preferably formed integrally with the support plate 252a during injection molding of the support plate 252a to facilitate its manufacture. In this case, the guide protrusion 211 and the guide groove 215 are coupled to each other at the position closest to each of the capping member 157 and the print head 147, so that the capping member 157 and the print head 147 are coupled to each other. It is possible to more accurately correct the position error generated in the.

On the other hand, the cleaning device 159 is for removing the ink residue and foreign matter remaining on the surface of the print head 147. In the present embodiment, the cleaning plate 159a which is slidably driven by the link member 158 rotatably connected to the rotating body 155 on the upper surface of the station main body 151 in response to the driving of the driving motor 153, and The cleaning device 159 of the type including the cleaning blade 159b which protruded on the upper surface of the cleaning plate 159a is used. In addition, since all types of cleaning apparatus 159 that can be used are applicable, detailed description of the cleaning apparatus 159 is omitted here.

The operation of the printhead maintenance apparatus of the inkjet printer according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, when the printing operation of the inkjet printer 100 is terminated and the inkjet printer 100 is switched to the print standby mode or the driving stop state, the maintenance device 250 having the carriage 130 installed on one side of the printer main body 110 is provided. Move to the upper side of).

When the carriage 130 is moved so that the print head 147 is positioned above the opening 151 a formed on the top surface of the station main body 151, as shown in FIG. 4, a driving motor separately installed in the station main body 151. 153 is driven. The driving force of the driving motor 153 is transmitted to the rotating body 155 through the belt member 154 to rotate the rotating body 155.

On the other hand, the rotating member 155 is rotatably connected to the link member 156, and the support plate 252a is rotatably connected to the end of the link member 156. According to this, the support plate 252a is rotated upward as the rotating body 155 rotates in the direction of the arrow B shown in FIG. 4 by driving the driving motor 153.

As the support plate 252a is rotated upward, the print head 147 is sealed by the capping member 157 provided on the upper surface of the support plate 252a.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 5, the guide protrusion 211 protruding from the support plate 252a is positioned at an outer side of the support plate 252a than the end of the capping member 157. ) And the print head 147 start to be inserted into the guide groove 215 before contacting. In this case, the guide protrusion 211 is guided by the inner circumferential surface of the guide groove 215 formed to be inclined even when the guide protrusion 211 is inserted into the guide groove 215 to be offset from the center of the guide groove 215. Accordingly, as shown in Figure 6, the guide protrusion 211 and the guide groove 215 is completed insertion insertion in a state where the center is mutually aligned. Meanwhile, the guide protrusion 211 and the guide groove 215 are formed based on each of the capping member 157 and the print head 147. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 6, when the insertion coupling of the guide protrusion 211 and the guide groove 215 is made such that the center of each of the guide protrusion 211 and the guide groove 215 is aligned with each other, the capping member 157 ) And the print head 147 are also mutually uneccentric, so that the print head 147 is correctly sealed.

In addition to the above-described functions, the guide protrusions 211 and the guide grooves 215 also maintain the sealed state of the print head 147. This is because when the flow is generated in the carriage 130 and / or the station body 151 due to external impact or structural problems inside the printer body 110 after the print head 147 is sealed, the guide protrusion 211 ) Is inserted into and coupled to the guide groove 215, even if only one of the carriage 130 and the station body 151 flows, the other one flows together, or the flow is suppressed.

On the other hand, when the inkjet printer 100 is switched to the print mode, the drive motor 153 is rotated in the opposite direction to the previous sealing step to disengage the print head 147 and the capping member 157. Accordingly, the rotating body 155 rotates in the opposite direction to the arrow B of FIG. 4 so that the support plate 252a rotates downward, thereby disengaging the coupling between the capping member 157 and the print head 147. . After the capping member 157 is spaced apart from the print head 147, the carriage 130 moves to the upper side of the paper transport path 120 formed inside the printer body 110 for image printing, and the ink cartridge 141. 145 sprays ink on a printing sheet in a predetermined manner to form an image.

According to the present invention as described above, even if the support plate is rotated upward while the position error occurs between the print head and the capping member, the guide projection is guided by the guide grooves before the capping member and the print head contact. The capping member and the print head can be prevented from being eccentrically coupled to each other to completely seal the print head.

In addition, the print head in the state in which the print head is sealed by the guide protrusion inserted into the guide groove can be restrained relative to the station body, so that the print head can be firmly sealed. .

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments for illustrating the principles of the invention, the invention is not limited to the construction and operation as shown and described. Rather, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all such suitable changes, modifications, and equivalents should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

A station main body installed at one side of the printer main body; A carriage supporting the ink cartridge, the carriage being movably installed in the printer main body, the carriage moving to the station main body side when the printer is in the print standby mode and the drive is finished; A support plate rotatably installed on the station body; A capping member coupled to a print head formed on one side of the ink cartridge to seal the print head when the support plate is rotated to approach the print head; Driving means for selectively rotating the support plate according to the mode change of the printer; And Guide the rotation of the support plate to prevent the eccentric coupling of the capping member and the print head when sealing the print head, and suppress the relative flow of the carriage to the support plate in the state that the capping member and the print head is coupled And a guide means for maintaining the ink jet printer. The method of claim 1, wherein the guide means, And a guide protrusion installed on the support plate to be inserted into a guide groove formed on one side of the carriage adjacent to the print head when the capping member and the print head are coupled to each other. The method of claim 2, And the guide protrusion has a length greater than the thickness of the capping member so that its end is positioned outside the support plate than the end surface of the capping member. The method of claim 3, wherein And the guide protrusion is integrally formed with the support plate. The method of claim 2, The carriage accommodates a pair of ink cartridges, And the guide grooves are formed on an outer circumferential surface of the carriage so as to be disposed between the print heads of each of the pair of ink cartridges. The method of claim 2, wherein the driving means, A drive motor installed at one side of the station body; A rotating body installed to be rotated by receiving power of the driving motor to the station body; And And a link member rotatably connected to each of the rotating body and the supporting plate, the link member lifting and lowering the supporting plate when the rotating body is rotated. The method of claim 2, wherein the guide groove, An maintenance apparatus of an ink jet printer, characterized in that the inner circumferential surface is formed to be inclined so as to have a size smaller in cross-section inside the entrance.