TWI408058B - Residual ink cleaning apparatus of inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

A residual ink cleaning apparatus of an inkjet printer is provided. The residual ink cleaning apparatus includes a slide frame, a movable element and base frame wherein the movable element is pivoted on the slide frame and the slide frame is disposed on the base frame. The movable element has a hook which is capable of locking into a side wall of the base frame. The extended direction of the hook is substantially vertical to the sliding direction of the slide frame so as to avoid the movable element is flipped out.

Description

Residual ink cleaning device for inkjet printer

The present invention relates to a residual ink cleaning device, and more particularly to a residual ink cleaning device for an ink jet printer.

With the gradual reduction in the price of laser printers and inkjet printers and the high-quality printing results, laser printers and inkjet printers have become an essential electronic product for individuals or families. Because the inkjet printer is cheap, it can print both black and white documents and color files, so it has become a must-have computer peripheral for families and students. Especially in the printing function of photos, it can be comparable to the level of professional photo printing shops, making the images of personal photos and color/black and white documents closer to real and vivid colors. Moreover, with a high transmission speed interface (such as USB transmission interface), the printer can speed up the printing speed of large-size and high-resolution printing, making it easier for users to print high-quality photos. With efficiency.

The Thermal Bubble inkjet printer is one of the most widely used printing tools, and its leading manufacturers are HP, EPSON and others. The nozzles of the ink jet printer can repeatedly eject ink onto the surface of the paper to form an image or text. However, during the ejection of the ink, some ink droplets may remain around the nozzle, thereby forming a solid deposit and blocking the nozzle. If it is slight, it may affect the printing quality. If it is serious, it may cause the ink to be completely scrapped. In order to solve the problem of ink drop remaining, a higher-level inkjet printer sets up a residual ink cleaning device, which uses a wiper to scrape ink droplets remaining on the nozzle.

The residual ink cleaning device usually adjusts its height as the carriage moves, allowing the blade to touch the nozzle. The carrier moves back and forth over the residual ink cleaning device, allowing the blade to scrape the ink droplets remaining on the nozzle. Since the height adjustment of the residual ink cleaning device is driven by the movement of the carrier, the design of the positioning hook for fixing the height of the residual ink cleaning device is obviously important. If the design is bad, the positioning thereof is affected or not. The residual ink cleaning device cannot be positioned at the necessary height.

The invention provides a residual ink cleaning device for an ink jet printer, which utilizes a special hook design so that the residual ink cleaning device can be surely fixed at a necessary height to scrape ink droplets remaining on the nozzle.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a residual ink cleaning device for an ink jet printer comprising a base, a carriage, a movable member and an elastic member. The base has a side wall and a bottom plate, and the side wall is connected to the bottom plate and has a positioning portion. The carriage is provided with a blade, the movable frame is slidably disposed on the base, and the carriage is adapted to move in a plane of one of the parallel side walls. The movable member is pivotally disposed on the sliding frame along an axis, and one end of the movable member has a buckle portion. The elastic member connects the movable member and the side wall, and the elastic member applies an elastic force to the movable member in a first direction, and the first direction is substantially perpendicular to the plane. Wherein, when the sliding frame slides to align the locking portion of the movable member with the positioning portion, the movable member is driven by the elastic force of the elastic member to rotate in the direction of the side wall, so that the buckle portion of the movable member is buckled at the positioning portion To fix the carriage.

In an embodiment of the invention, the sliding frame is provided with a first ink receiving seat and a second ink receiving seat, and the first ink receiving seat, the second ink receiving seat and the blade are juxtaposed on the sliding frame.

In an embodiment of the invention, the sliding frame has a shaft, and the movable member has a tubular portion, and the movable member is pivoted on the sliding frame through the tubular portion and the shaft.

In an embodiment of the invention, the elastic member is a spring, the movable member has a first hook, and the side wall has a second hook. The two ends of the elastic member are respectively hooked on the first hook and the second hook. .

In an embodiment of the invention, the first fastening portion of the movable member is a hook, and the positioning portion of the side wall is a concave opening.

In an embodiment of the invention, the axis is substantially perpendicular to the bottom plate of the base, and the other end of the movable member has an interference portion for releasing the interference relationship between the buckle portion and the positioning portion.

Based on the above, the present invention utilizes the direction of the rebounding moment to be different, and the hooking direction of the movable member of the residual ink cleaning device is designed to be perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage, thereby reducing the problem of the movable member being released.

The above described features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a side view of a residual ink cleaning device of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The residual ink cleaning device 100 mainly includes a base 110, a movable member 120, a carriage 130 and an elastic member. 140. The base 110 has a bottom plate 112 and a side wall 114. The side wall 114 has a concave opening positioning portion 113 that can be engaged with the locking portion 122 of the movable member 120 to fix the height of the sliding frame 130. The carriage 130 has a first ink receiving seat 132, a second ink receiving seat 133 and a blade 131, and the three are juxtaposed on the sliding frame 130. The carriage 130 is disposed on the base 110 and is adapted to move on a plane (a plane formed by the X direction and the Z direction) of the parallel side walls 114. The carriage 130 can be driven by an ink cartridge (not shown) along an oblique track (the oblique track can be disposed inside the side wall 114 of the base 110, and the carriage 130 can be slid on the shaft by the shaft Slide in the oblique track) to change the distance between it and the bottom plate 112.

When the ink receiving seat moves to the upper side of the carriage 130 in the -X direction, the carriage 130 is raised, and when the ink receiving seat is moved in the X direction from above the carriage 130, the carriage 130 is lowered along the oblique track until When the locking portion 122 of the movable member 120 is aligned with the positioning portion 113, the movable member 120 is rotated by the elastic member 140 to rotate in the direction of the side wall 114, so that the locking portion 122 of the movable member 120 is locked to the concave opening. The portion 113 is to fix the position of the carriage 130. At this time, the blade 131 on the carriage 130 is positioned at a specific height to clean the nozzle of the ink cartridge. When the ink holder continues to move in the X direction and exits above the upper side of the carriage 130, the ink receiving seat releases the interference between the movable member 120 and the positioning portion 113 via the interference portion 125 at the rear end of the movable member 120, so that the carriage 130 The height drops and returns to the original position.

The movable member 120 is pivotally disposed on the carriage 130 along an axis 105. The axis 105 is perpendicular to the bottom plate 112 of the base 110, for example, to facilitate the installation of the movable member 120. The elastic member 140 is a spring, and two ends of the elastic member 140 are respectively hooked on the first hook 123 on the movable member 120 and the second hook 143 on the side wall 114. The middle portion of the movable member 120 has a hollow tubular portion 124 pivotally mounted on the carriage 130 through a shaft 134 on the carriage 130. It should be noted that the pivoting manner between the movable member 120 and the carriage 130 is not limited to the embodiment, and those skilled in the art should easily infer other pivoting modes after the disclosure of the present invention. This is not mentioned here. The elastic member 140 applies an elastic force to the movable member 120 in a first direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of movement of the carriage 130, that is, the -Y direction. The elastic force in the first direction is the component of the elastic force generated by the elastic member 140.

When the sliding frame 130 slides to align the locking portion 122 of the movable member 120 with the positioning portion 113, the movable member 120 is driven by the elastic force of the elastic member 140 to rotate the locking portion 122 of the movable member 120 toward the side wall 114. The buckle is fastened to the positioning portion 113. Since the movable member 120 is pivotally mounted on the sliding frame 130, when the movable member 120 is buckled on the positioning portion 113, the sliding frame 130 is stopped to slide to fix the height of the sliding frame 130, so that the blade 131 is suitable for scraping the nozzle. The position of the residual ink.

When the carriage 130 moves from the upper left to the lower right, the movable member 120 moves to the lower right, and the buckle portion 122 is caught in the concave opening of the positioning portion 113 when it is aligned with the positioning portion 113. At this time, the movable member 120 is subjected to the upward rebound force. However, since the carriage 130 is moved along the XZ plane, the movable member 120 is rotated by the elastic force in the -Y direction to be snapped to the positioning portion 113. Therefore, when the carriage 130 stops sliding due to the movable member 120 being snapped to the positioning portion 113, the movable member 120 is less likely to be disengaged from the positioning portion 113 due to the repulsive force generated when the carriage 130 stops moving. The latching portion 122 of the movable member 120 has a hook shape, and the hook extends in the -Y direction.

Fig. 2 is a side view showing another direction of the residual ink cleaning device according to the embodiment. The overall structure of the residual ink cleaning device 100 can be more clearly seen from FIG. 2, and the arrangement relationship between the movable member 120 and the positioning portion 113 can be clearly understood. Next, please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a top view of the residual ink cleaning device 100 according to the embodiment, wherein when the movable member 140 is aligned with the positioning portion 113, the buckle portion 122 of the movable member 140 is along the arrow. The direction of the number 310 is rotated to be snapped into the recess of the positioning portion 113 to fix the position of the carriage 130. 4 is a side view of the residual ink cleaning device according to the present embodiment. As is clear from FIG. 4, the positioning portion 113 is a concave opening which can be constituted by the left and right projections 410, 420, and the projection 410 Between 420 and 420 is a concave opening, which can be used to buckle the locking portion 122 of the movable member 140. It is to be noted that the structure of the positioning portion 113 is not limited to FIG. FIG. 5 is a right side view of the residual ink cleaning device according to the present embodiment, showing the relative relationship between the blade 131 and the side wall 114.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in conjunction with the relative positions of the ink receiving seat and the residual ink cleaning device 100. Please refer to FIG. 6 to FIG. 8. FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 are schematic diagrams showing changes in position of the ink receiving seat and the residual ink cleaning device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a schematic diagram of the ink receiving seat 610 located directly above the residual ink cleaning device 100. At this time, the sliding frame 130 is located at a high position, and the movable member 120 is not buckled to the positioning portion 113. Then, when the ink receiving seat 610 is moved in the X direction along the shaft 620, the height of the carriage 130 is lowered and moved in the X direction (i.e., moving in the -Z and X directions) as shown in FIG. When the locking portion 122 of the movable member 120 is aligned with the positioning portion 113, the locking portion 122 is rotated in the direction of the side wall 114 to be engaged with the positioning portion 113.

When the ink receiving seat 610 continues to move in the X direction and is ready to leave the residual ink cleaning device 100, the ink receiving seat 610 will touch the interference portion 125 of the movable member 120, and push it toward the side wall 114 to release the buckle portion. The interference relationship between the 122 and the positioning portion 113. After the interference relationship is released, the carriage 120 will then descend to the bottom to avoid affecting the ink receiving seat 610, as shown in FIG. When the ink receiving seat 610 is moved to the upper side of the residual ink cleaning device 100 again in the -X direction, the carriage 130 is again driven to raise it upward to scrape the residual ink of the nozzle.

The ink receiving seat 610 can be designed with a protrusion 612 to push the interference portion 125 of the movable member 120. As shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 9 shows the protruding portion 612 of the ink receiving seat 610. When the ink receiving seat 610 is separated from the upper side of the sliding frame 130 in the X direction, the protruding portion 612 pushes the interference portion 125 of the movable member 120 to rotate the interference portion 125 of the movable member 120 in the direction of the side wall 114 to release the locking portion 122. The interference relationship with the positioning portion 113 releases the carriage 130. The positional relationship of the ink receiving seat 610 after leaving the carriage 130 is as shown in FIG. 10, and FIG. 10 is a view showing the positional relationship of the ink receiving seat 610 after leaving the carriage 130.

As can be seen from the above, the present embodiment proposes a design of the residual ink cleaning device in which the moving direction of the carriage 130 is substantially different from the direction of rotation of the movable member 120. The movable member 120 is a positioning portion 113 that is rotated in a lateral direction to be buckled to the side wall 114, and the carriage 130 is moved along a longitudinal plane. Since the locking direction of the movable member 120 is different from the moving direction of the carriage 130, the movable member 120 is less likely to be disengaged from the positioning portion 113 due to the repulsive force generated when the carriage 130 is in the fixed position, and the movable member 120 can be reduced. Open question.

In summary, the present invention provides a residual ink cleaning device that designs the hooking direction of the movable member to be perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage, thereby reducing the problem of the movable member being detached.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

100‧‧‧Residual ink cleaning device

105‧‧‧ axis

110‧‧‧Base

112‧‧‧floor

113‧‧‧ Positioning Department

114‧‧‧ side wall

120‧‧‧Active parts

122‧‧‧Snap Department

123‧‧‧First card hook

124‧‧‧Tube

125‧‧‧Interference Department

130‧‧‧Slide

131‧‧‧Scrape

132‧‧‧The first ink holder

133‧‧‧Second ink holder

134‧‧‧ shaft

140‧‧‧Flexible parts

143‧‧‧Second card

310‧‧‧The movement direction of the hook

410, 420‧‧‧ protruding parts

610‧‧‧Ink holder

620‧‧‧ shaft

X, Y, Z‧‧‧ axial

1 is a side view of a residual ink cleaning device of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view showing another direction of the residual ink cleaning device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the residual ink cleaning device 100 according to the present embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the residual ink cleaning device according to the embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a right side view of the residual ink cleaning device according to the embodiment.

6 to 8 are schematic views showing changes in position of the ink receiving seat and the residual ink cleaning device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 depicts the projection of the ink receiving seat.

FIG. 10 illustrates the positional relationship of the ink receiving seat 610 after leaving the carriage 130.

100. . . Residual ink cleaning device

105. . . Axis

110. . . Pedestal

112. . . Bottom plate

113. . . Positioning department

114. . . Side wall

120. . . Moving parts

122. . . Buckle

123. . . First hook

124. . . Tubular part

125. . . Interference section

130. . . Sliding frame

131. . . Blade

132. . . First ink seat

133. . . Second ink holder

134. . . Shaft

140. . . Elastic part

143. . . Second hook

X, Y, Z. . . Axial

Claims (7)

A residual ink cleaning device for an inkjet printer comprises: an ink receiving seat; a base having a side wall and a bottom plate, the side wall being connected to the bottom plate and having a positioning portion; a sliding frame having a shaft, and is provided with a blade, the movable frame is slidably disposed on the base, and the sliding frame is adapted to move in a plane parallel to the side wall; a movable member is pivoted on the sliding frame along an axis, And having a tubular portion, the movable member has a latching portion at one end thereof, wherein the movable member is pivoted on the sliding frame through the tubular portion and the shaft; and an elastic member connecting the movable member and the side wall And the elastic member applies an elastic force to the movable member in a first direction, the first direction is substantially perpendicular to the plane; wherein, when the carriage is driven by the ink receiving seat, the card of the movable member is When the buckle portion is aligned with the positioning portion, the movable member is driven by the elastic member to rotate in the direction of the side wall, so that the buckle portion of the movable member is buckled to the positioning portion to fix the sliding frame. The residual ink cleaning device of claim 1, wherein the sliding frame is provided with a first ink receiving seat and a second ink receiving seat, and the first ink receiving seat and the second ink receiving seat are The blades are juxtaposed on the carriage. The residual ink cleaning device of claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a spring, the movable member has a first hook, the side wall has a second hook, and the two ends of the elastic member are respectively hooked Located in the first hook and The second hook. The residual ink cleaning device of claim 1, wherein the first fastening portion of the movable member is a hook. The residual ink cleaning device of claim 1, wherein the positioning portion of the side wall is a concave opening. The residual ink cleaning device of claim 1, wherein the axis is substantially perpendicular to the bottom plate of the base. The residual ink cleaning device of claim 1, wherein the other end of the movable member has an interference portion for releasing an interference relationship between the buckle portion and the positioning portion.