KR20140093026A - Image forming apparatus having maintenance module - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an ink jet image forming apparatus including a maintenance module comprises a head of a printer for spraying ink, and a maintenance module for cleaning the head of a printer. The maintenance module includes a module case and a wiper equipped inside the module case to be able to rotate. The wiper includes a spiral wing part for cleaning the head by contacting the head of a printer.

Description

IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING MAINTENANCE MODULE WITH MAINTENANCE MODULE [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink-jet image forming apparatus for forming an image on one side of a print medium by ejecting ink, and more particularly, to an ink-jet image forming apparatus having a maintenance module for cleaning a print head.

The inkjet image forming apparatus is an apparatus which is coupled to a host apparatus including a computer and outputs image data transmitted from the host apparatus to a print medium including paper in accordance with a print signal applied from the host apparatus.

Such an ink-jet image forming apparatus has a printer head and ejects ink through a nozzle provided in the printer head. When foreign matter is adhered to the nozzle portion or the ink adhered to the nozzle is hardened during this process, There is a problem that it is possible to lower the temperature.

In order to solve such a problem, a wiping device as shown in Fig. 1 has been proposed. 1 is a block diagram of a printer head 120 disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2006-0063486. The wiper roller 130 includes a wiping roller 130 contacting the nozzle region 121 of the print head 120, And the area 121 is wiped off ink.

However, the conventional head cleaning apparatus having the above structure has a disadvantage that it does not excellently remove the foreign matter and can not perform a satisfactory cleaning function.

Further, the ink wiped off from the ink jet head or the ink falling downward may be deposited on the bottom of the case and hardened, so that the printing quality is deteriorated and the discharge passage for discharging the ink to the outside of the case may be clogged.

The present invention provides an inkjet image forming apparatus having a maintenance module capable of rapidly discharging ink accumulated on the bottom of a case while improving cleaning performance.

An inkjet image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is an inkjet image forming apparatus having a head of a printer for ejecting ink and a maintenance module for cleaning the printer head, the maintenance module including: a module case; And a wiper rotatably disposed inside the module case, wherein the wiper includes a spiral wing for cleaning the head in contact with the head of the printer.

The wiper may further include a protrusion protruding outward from one side edge of the wing portion.

The protrusion may include a first edge portion and a second edge portion formed to be angled and extending along an edge of the wing portion.

The protrusion may have a four-sided cross section.

The inkjet image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a wiper cleaner provided at one side of the wiper so as to be able to contact the wiper.

The cleaner of the wiper includes: a center shaft extending in the left-right direction; And a cleaning unit surrounding the center axis, and can rotate about the center axis.

The cleaning unit may be made of a material capable of absorbing ink.

The module case may have a squeeze protrusion protruding inward to press the outer peripheral surface of the wiper cleaner.

The wing portion may include a plurality of wings extending at equal angular intervals from the central axis toward the outside.

According to the present invention, in cleaning the surface of the print head, the foreign matters adhering to the surface of the print head are cleanly removed, thereby improving the cleaning performance.

In addition, the ink accumulated on the bottom of the case can be rapidly discharged to the outside, so that the problem of clogging of the discharge port due to solidification of the ink inside the case does not occur.

Further, the cleaning of the surface of the printer head and the discharging operation of the waste ink can be simultaneously performed with a single member, thereby simplifying the configuration and reducing the manufacturing cost.

1 is a side sectional view showing a wiping roller for cleaning a conventional printer head.
2 is a perspective view schematically showing a maintenance module included in an ink-jet image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing a maintenance module and a printer head.
4 is a perspective view showing a part of the wiper.
5 and 6 are views schematically showing a state in which the wiper wipes the ink discharge surface of the print head.

Hereinafter, a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a printer head 10 and a maintenance module for cleaning the printer head 10. [

The printer head 10 is an inkjet head equipped with a nozzle for jetting multicolor or monochrome ink at a high speed. The ink jet head may be a PSA (Page Straight Array) head or a PWP (Page Width Printer) head having a width corresponding to the width of a printing medium. The printer head 10 ejects ink onto a printing medium such as paper according to a printing signal applied from a host device such as a computer.

The maintenance module is provided to remove foreign matters on the ink discharge surface of the printer head 10 as described above. The maintenance module includes a module case 200, a wiper 300 and a wiper cleaner 400 housed in the module case, .

First, the module case 200 includes a wiper receiving part 210 having an open upper part and a circular cross-section, and a wiper cleaner receiving part 220 disposed in front of or behind the wiper receiving part. The wiper receiving portion 210 and the wiper cleaner receiving portion 220 are elongated in the left-right direction.

Here, the forward and backward direction means a direction in which the print medium moves, and the forward direction means a direction in which the print medium such as paper advances, and the rear means the direction in which the print medium has passed. Further, the left-right direction means a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the print medium.

On the other hand, an ink outlet (not shown) through which ink is discharged is formed on one side of the module case 200. More specifically, the ink outlet (not shown) is provided at one lateral end of the wiper receiving portion 210 and is formed to penetrate laterally or downwardly.

On the other hand, a squeeze protrusion 211, which extends in the left-right direction, protrudes inward from one side of the inner side surface of the module case 200. More specifically, the squeeze protrusion 211 protrudes upward from the bottom surface of the wiper cleaner accommodating part 220 and extends in the same direction as the extending direction of the wiper cleaner 400, which will be described later, , And presses the outer peripheral surface of the wiper cleaner (400).

Meanwhile, the wiper 300 is rotatably received in the wiper receiving part 210 in the module case 200. The wiper 300 includes a center shaft 310 extending in the left-right direction and a wing portion 320 extending outwardly from the center shaft 310.

The wing portion 320 has a spiral shape. More specifically, the wing portion 320 may include a plurality of wings, and each wing is disposed at the same angular interval with respect to each other. The plurality of blades may all have a spiral shape.

2 shows an example in which the wings 320 have four wings arranged at angular intervals of four degrees from each other, but the number of wings can be selected as needed.

On one side edge of the wing portion 320, a protrusion 330 protruding outward is provided.

The protrusions 330 are protruded to have a quadrangular cross-section, and the two corner portions of the protrusions opposite to the one side of the wing portion are angled to have a predetermined angle. That is, one side of the protrusion 330 is attached to the wing 320, and the side opposite to the wing 320 is formed with a first corner 331 and a second corner 332 ). The first corner portion 331 and the second corner portion 332 extend along the edge of the wing portion 320. The first corner portion 331 is located on the inner side and the second corner portion 332 is located on the outer side Respectively. Here, the inside means the center axis 310 side. Meanwhile, a side connecting the first corner portion 322 of the protrusion 330 to one side of the wing portion 320, that is, a side substantially facing the center axis 310 may be inclined. More specifically, as the blade 320 moves away from the one side of the blade 320, the width thereof decreases. More specifically, as the blade 320 moves away from the blade 320 toward one side of the blade 320, And may have a shape that is inclined toward the direction.

The third edge portion 321 may be formed at an end of the opposite side surface of the wing portion 320 where the protrusion 332 is not formed and the third edge portion 321 may be formed at an angle.

The wiper 300 may be made of rubber or the like so as to be elastically deformable.

The wiper cleaner 400 is provided in the form of a roller in front of or behind the wiper 300. Like the wiper 300, the wiper cleaner 400 extends in the left and right direction. The wiper cleaner includes a center shaft 410 and a cleaning unit 420 surrounding the center shaft 410. The cleaning unit 420 contacts the wiper 300. The cleaning unit 420 is made of a material that can absorb ink to some extent and has elasticity. For example, the cleaning unit 420 may be formed of a fiber material or a sponge.

Hereinafter, the operation of the maintenance module having the above-described structure will be described.

When the cleaning head of the printer head 10 reaches the cleaning time, the maintenance module moves rightward in the vertical direction of the printer head 10 and then upwardly upward toward the printer head 10. [

Thus, the wing portion 320 of the wiper 300 of the maintenance module is brought into contact with the discharge surface at the lower portion of the printer head 10.

In this state, the wiper 300 is rotated.

When the wiper 300 rotates, the leading end of the wing portion 320 is bent and comes into contact with the discharging surface of the printer head 10, and even if the end portion of the wing portion 320 is bent, No line contact occurs between the wing portion 320 and the printer head 10, and line contact occurs. Therefore, ink and other foreign matter adhering to the ejection face of the printer head 10 can be removed more cleanly.

5 and 6, the first corner portion 331, the second corner portion 332, or the third corner portion 321 of the wing portion 320 of the protrusion 330, Are in line contact with the ejection surfaces of the printer head 10, and scrape foreign substances including ink.

In this process, the wing portion 320 of the wiper 300 moves only in a direction perpendicular to the center axis 310 and does not scrape off foreign objects. Instead, because of the spiral shape of the wing portion 320, The foreign matter is scratched in the oblique direction from the right side to the left side or the right side to the left side, so that the printer head 10 can be more cleanly cleaned.

In addition, when the wing portion 320 includes a plurality of blades, even if one of the blades is damaged, deterioration of the cleaning function due to existence of other blades can be prevented.

When the wiper 300 continues to rotate, one point of the wing portion 320 passes the point of contact with the fridge head 10 and the cleaning portion 420 of the wiper cleaner 400 is continuously rotated, Lt; / RTI > At this time, the foreign matter and the ink on the wing portion 320 are cleaned by the cleaning portion 420 before they come into contact with the discharge surface of the printer head 10 again. Even in this process, the wing portion 320 moves in the oblique direction relative to the cleaning portion 420 at the tip, so that ink or foreign matter can be more efficiently removed at the tip of the wing portion 320. [

Meanwhile, the wiper 300 is cleaned by the wiper cleaner 400, and then comes into contact with the discharge surface of the printer head 10 to repeat the process of removing foreign matter and ink.

In this process, ink is absorbed into the cleaning part 420 of the wiper cleaner 400 when the wiper blade 320 contacts the wiper part 320. However, since the cleaning unit 420 can pressurize and squeeze the ink after passing through the squeeze protrusion 221 before contacting again with the blade unit, the ink absorbed in the cleaning unit 420 can be re- 320 will not be contaminated.

In addition, since the wing portion 320 spirally extends from the left end to the right end, the entire area of the printer head 10 can be wiped cleanly.

Meanwhile, the ink wiped or squeezed by the wiper 300 and the wiper cleaner 400 becomes solid on the bottom of the module case 200 through the above process.

However, as the wiper having the helical wing portion 320 rotates, the ink falling to the bottom continuously moves to either the left or the right side.

In this embodiment, the wing portion 320 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, and the ink moves in the direction of penetrating the paper surface in Fig. 3, and in the left direction in Fig. Therefore, the outlet formed in the module case 200 is positioned in the direction of the paper surface of Fig. 3, and the left side of Fig.

Since the wiper 300 has the above-described structure, the ink is forced to move in the direction of continuously discharging the ink, so that the ink hardens at the bottom of the module case. As a result, So that no clogging occurs.

Further, since the cleaning function of the printer head 10 and the waste ink discharging function can be performed simultaneously with a single member (wiper), the configuration of the apparatus becomes simple, the risk of failure is reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced .

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments.

The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas falling within the scope of the same shall be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

10: Image forming unit 200: Module case
210: wiper receiving portion 220: wiper cleaner receiving portion
221: Squeeze projection 300: Wiper
310: center axis 320: wing portion
321: third corner part 330:
331: first corner portion 332: second corner portion
400: Wiper cleaner 410: Center axis
420: Cleaning section

Claims (9)

1. An ink-jet image forming apparatus comprising: a head of a printer for ejecting ink; and a maintenance module for cleaning the printer head,
The maintenance module includes:
Module case; And
And a wiper rotatably installed inside the module case,
The wiper
An inkjet head including a spiral wing for cleaning the head in contact with the head of the printer,
An image forming apparatus comprising a maintenance module.
The method according to claim 1,
The wiper
And a protrusion protruding outward from one side edge of the wing portion
And a maintenance module.
3. The method of claim 2,
The protrusion
And includes an inner first edge portion extending along the edge of the wing portion and an outer second edge portion
And a maintenance module.
3. The method of claim 2,
The protrusion has a four-sided cross-section
And a maintenance module.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
And a wiper cleaner provided at one side of the wiper so as to be able to contact the wiper
And a maintenance module.
6. The method of claim 5,
The wiper includes a cleaner,
A central axis extending in the lateral direction;
And a cleaning portion surrounding the outside of the central axis,
And rotating about the central axis
And a maintenance module.
Wherein the cleaning unit is made of a material capable of absorbing ink
And a maintenance module.
The method according to claim 6,
The module case has a squeeze protrusion protruding inward to press the outer peripheral surface of the wiper cleaner
And a maintenance module.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the wings comprise a plurality of wings extending at equal angular intervals outwardly from the central axis
And a maintenance module.

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