JP5242292B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording type image forming apparatus provided with a wiping mechanism for wiping a nozzle forming surface of a recording head.

  Conventionally, an image is formed by ejecting ink from a recording head while displacing the recording head in a direction (main scanning direction) orthogonal to the recording medium conveyance direction (sub-scanning direction) while intermittently conveying the recording medium. An ink jet recording type image forming apparatus, a so-called ink jet printer is known. In this case, the recording head for forming an image is configured by arranging at least two short recording heads each having a plurality of nozzles formed in a straight line along the main scanning direction.

In general, such an ink jet printer includes a wiping mechanism for wiping a nozzle forming surface on which nozzles are formed with a rubber wiping blade to remove ink adhering to or remaining on the nozzle forming surface. For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a wiping mechanism having a configuration in which wiping blades for each recording head are arranged in a line on a support shaft extending in the main scanning direction.
JP 2007-203660 A

  By the way, in an inkjet printer, the short recording heads constituting the recording head are arranged in a zigzag form (sometimes referred to as “staggered arrangement”) so that a part of each nozzle forming surface is adjacent to each other. There is. In such a recording head in which short recording heads are arranged in a staggered manner, the wiping mechanism as shown in Patent Document 1, specifically, wiping using a wiping blade arranged in a row on a support shaft is used. However, there is a problem that the nozzle forming surface of each short recording head may be soiled.

  That is, the wiping blade for wiping the nozzle forming surface is formed with a length longer than the minimum length necessary for contact with the nozzle forming surface in order to reliably contact the nozzle forming surface. For this reason, when wiping the nozzle forming surface of one short recording head, the wiping blade for wiping the other short recording head contacts the outer surface around the nozzle forming surface of the other short recording head. Sometimes. In this case, the outer peripheral surface may be contaminated by the contact of the contaminated wiping blade, and the contaminated outer surface touches the uncontaminated wiping blade to contaminate the wiping blade, thereby changing the nozzle forming surface. May be soiled. For this reason, there is a problem that the image forming accuracy in the image forming apparatus is lowered.

In order to achieve the above object, a feature of the present invention according to claim 1 is that at least two short recording heads having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged so that a part of the nozzle forming surface on which the nozzles are formed is adjacent. In the image forming apparatus including the recording heads arranged in a staggered manner, the supporting shaft extending along the arrangement direction of the short recording heads and the positions different from each other on the circumferential direction of the supporting shaft for each of the adjacent short recording heads And a wiping blade formed with a width corresponding to the width of the nozzle forming surface of the short recording head and with a protruding amount capable of contacting the nozzle forming surface, and rotation for rotating the support shaft about the axis of the support shaft And relative displacement of the wiping blade disposed on the support shaft relative to the recording head in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the short recording head is disposed. Position comprising a wiping mechanism having a means, rotation means, of the wiping blade corresponding to at least two of the one short recording head during the wiping of the nozzle forming surface in one of the short recording head of short-length recording head In addition to maintaining the contact state, the wiping blade corresponding to the other short recording head is tilted to maintain the state where the nozzle forming surface of the other short recording head is not contacted .

  In order to achieve the above object, a feature of the present invention according to claim 1 is that at least two short recording heads having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged so that a part of the nozzle forming surface on which the nozzles are formed is adjacent. In the image forming apparatus including the recording heads arranged in a staggered manner, the supporting shaft extending along the arrangement direction of the short recording heads and the positions different from each other on the circumferential direction of the supporting shaft for each of the adjacent short recording heads And a wiping blade formed with a width corresponding to the width of the nozzle forming surface of the short recording head and with a protruding amount capable of contacting the nozzle forming surface, and rotation for rotating the support shaft about the axis of the support shaft And relative displacement of the wiping blade disposed on the support shaft relative to the recording head in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the short recording head is disposed. Position in that it comprises a wiping mechanism having a means.

  According to the characteristics of the present invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, at least two short recording heads having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged so that a part of the nozzle forming surface on which the nozzles are formed is adjacent. In the image forming apparatus including the recording heads arranged in a staggered pattern, the wiping blades for the adjacent short recording heads at different positions on the circumferential direction of the support shaft extending along the arrangement direction of the short recording heads. It has. As a result, when the wiping blade is brought into contact with the nozzle forming surface of one short recording head and wiped, the wiping blade inclines in the other short recording head and does not contact the nozzle forming surface. Therefore, the contaminated wiping blade does not contaminate the outer surface around the nozzle forming surface, and the wiping blade contacts the contaminated outer surface to contaminate the wiping blade. No fouling. That is, it is possible to wipe the nozzle forming surface of each short recording head without fouling. As a result, the image forming accuracy in the image forming apparatus can be improved.

  According to another aspect of the present invention according to claim 2 and claim 3, in the image forming apparatus, the rotating means rotates the support shaft immediately before the wiping blade finishes wiping the nozzle forming surface. Inclining the blade to the rear side in the moving direction of the wiping blade, and / or in the image forming apparatus, the relative displacement means decelerates the displacement speed of the wiping blade immediately before the wiping blade finishes wiping the nozzle forming surface. There is.

  According to the other features of the present invention according to claim 2 and claim 3 configured as above, the wiping blade is inclined immediately before the wiping blade finishes wiping the nozzle forming surface, and / or The displacement speed is reduced. As a result, when the wiping blade wipes off the nozzle forming surface and leaves the nozzle forming surface, dirt such as ink wiped off by the elastic force due to the shape recovery of the wiping blade scatters to the surroundings, and various types exist around the wiping blade. Contamination of components can be prevented. That is, the wiping accuracy by the wiping mechanism can be improved.

(Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus 100)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire image forming apparatus 100 according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus 100. Note that each drawing referred to in the present specification is schematically represented by exaggerating some of the components in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. For this reason, the dimension, ratio, etc. between each component may differ. The image forming apparatus 100 is a so-called inkjet printer that forms an image of a desired character, symbol, figure, or the like by attaching ink to the surface of a sheet-like recording medium WK that is an image formation target.

  The image forming apparatus 100 includes a platen 101 having a flat portion arranged in a horizontal state. The platen 101 is a mounting table on which the recording medium WK is mounted on the flat portion, and is formed to extend in the horizontal direction in the figure. A cylindrical grid roller 102 is provided at the center of the platen 101 along the horizontal direction in the drawing with its upper surface exposed. The grid roller 102 is rotationally driven by an X-axis direction feed motor 103 whose operation is controlled by a controller 150 described later.

  A long guide rail 104 is provided above the platen 101 so as to be parallel to the platen 101. Under the guide rail 104, four pinch rollers 105 each having a cylindrical portion facing the grid roller 102 are provided at substantially equal intervals. The grid roller 102 and the pinch roller 105 convey the sheet-like recording medium WK in the front-rear direction shown in the figure while being sandwiched from the upper side in the figure. Note that the front-rear direction (X-axis direction) in the drawing in which the recording medium WK is conveyed is the sub-scanning direction, and the left-right direction (Y-axis direction) orthogonal to the X-axis direction is the main scanning direction.

  The guide rail 104 supports the recording head unit 120 via the linear motion rail 106 and the linear motion block 107. The linear motion rail 106 is a single rail fixed to the guide rail 104 along the main scanning direction (Y-axis direction in the drawing). The linear motion block 107 is a moving body that slides along the linear motion rail 106, and is fixed to the back surface of the recording head unit 120. That is, the recording head unit 120 is guided in the main scanning direction along the linear motion rail 106 (guide rail 104).

  A part of the drive belt 108 laid in the main scanning direction (Y-axis direction in the drawing) is fixed to the upper back of the recording head unit 120. The drive belt 108 is connected to a Y-axis direction scan motor 109 whose drive is controlled by the controller 150, and is displaced in the main scanning direction by the rotational drive of the Y-axis direction scan motor 109. That is, the recording head unit 120 is displaced in the main scanning direction by driving the Y-axis direction scanning motor 109 via the driving belt 108.

  In FIG. 1, the recording head unit 120 is shown in a standby position in the Y-axis direction. The standby position in the Y-axis direction of the recording head unit 120 is an origin position that serves as a reference for the displacement of the recording head unit 120 in the Y-axis direction. Therefore, when the image forming apparatus 100 is activated or when printing on the recording medium WK is not performed, the recording head unit 120 stands by at this standby position.

  Further, above the recording head unit 120, a long upper cover 110 that constitutes an upper casing of the image forming apparatus 100 is provided. Further, side covers 111R and 111L that constitute a housing on both sides of the image forming apparatus 100 are provided on both sides of the platen 101 and the upper cover 110, respectively. Among these, on the front surface of the side cover 111R, there is provided an operation panel 112 for giving an instruction to the image forming apparatus 100 (controller 150) and displaying information from the image forming apparatus 100 (controller 150). . Further, below the platen 101, a stand 113 is provided that supports the image forming apparatus 100 and can move the image forming apparatus 100 to a position desired by the operator.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the recording head unit 120 has four recording head cases 121 that are displaced in the vertical direction in FIG. 3B by an elevating mechanism (not shown). The short recording heads 122a to 122d are accommodated. The recording head case 121 has a substantially box-shaped upper lid 121b (not shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B) having a lower surface opened on a bottom plate 121a formed by raising the periphery of a plate-like body. It is covered and configured. 3B shows the recording head case 121 viewed from the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. In FIG. 3B, the side wall of the recording head case 121 is shown broken away.

  The short recording heads 122a to 122d respectively supply four different colors (black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y)) of ink supplied from an ink tank (not shown). It discharges toward the recording medium WK from a nozzle (not shown) formed on the lower surface of the short recording heads 122a to 122d. These nozzles are composed of a plurality of holes linearly arranged along the sub-scanning direction on nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d which are lower surfaces of the respective short recording heads 122a to 122d (only 123c and 123d are shown). ).

  These short recording heads 122a to 122d are arranged along the main scanning direction in directions parallel to the sub-scanning direction on the upper surface of the bottom plate 121a, and the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d are arranged from the lower surface of the bottom plate 121a. It is fixed in a state of protruding downward in the figure. Among these, the short recording head 122a and the short recording head 122d are arranged on the same main scanning line. The short recording head 122b and the short recording head 122c are located on the same main scanning line between the short recording head 122a and the short recording head 122d and shifted in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the short recording heads 122a and 122d. Are arranged adjacent to each other.

  In this case, the short recording heads 122b and 122c are arranged in a staggered manner with a part of the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d adjacent to the short recording heads 122a and 122d in the sub-scanning direction. Specifically, the lower part of the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d of the short recording heads 122a and 122d are adjacent to the lower part of the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c of the short recording heads 122b and 122c. Are arranged.

  A wiping mechanism 130 (indicated by a broken line in FIG. 1) is provided in the platen 101 at the standby position of the recording head unit 120. As shown in FIG. 4, the wiping mechanism 130 is a device that wipes and cleans the nozzle forming surfaces 123 a to 123 d of the short recording heads 122 a to 122 d. The wiping device 130 includes a casing 131. The casing 131 is formed by extending a box-shaped body whose upper surface is open in the sub-scanning direction, and the base body 133 is moved in the sub-scanning direction (shown by an arrow in the figure) by an X-axis direction drive motor 132 (not shown in FIG. 4). Direction). The base body 133 is formed extending in the sub-scanning direction, and supports the casing 131 in a state where the casing 131 can be reciprocally displaced in the sub-scanning direction.

  A storage portion 134 that is curved downward in the figure is formed at the bottom portion in the casing 131, and the cleaning liquid 134a is stored therein. A support shaft 135 is supported above the storage portion 134 in the casing 131 so as to be rotatable about the axis along the sub-scanning direction. The support shaft 135 is a round shaft that is rotated by a rotational drive of a stepping motor 136 provided on the side wall of the casing 131. The stepping motor 136 is an electric motor controlled by the controller 150. On the support shaft 135, four wiping blades 140a, 140b, 140c, and 140d are provided.

  The wiping blades 140a to 140d are plate-like bodies that come into contact with the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d of the short recording heads 122a to 122d to wipe the nozzle surfaces 123a to 123d, and correspond to the widths of the nozzle surfaces 123a to 123. The width is slightly longer than the length that can contact the nozzle surfaces 123a to 123, and is mainly made of a rubber material. As shown in FIG. 5, these wiping blades 140a to 140d are provided in a state of projecting in the radial direction of the support shaft 135 in a positional relationship corresponding to the arrangement positions of the short recording heads 122a to 122d in the sub-scanning direction. ing.

  Among these wiping blades 140 a to 140 d, the wiping blade 140 b and the wiping blade 140 c are fixed at the same position on the circumferential direction of the support shaft 135. On the other hand, the wiping blade 140a and the wiping blade 140d are fixed at the same position shifted from the wiping blades 140b and 140c on the circumferential direction of the support shaft 135. That is, the wiping blades 140 a and 140 d and the wiping blades 140 b and 140 c are fixed in different directions in the radial direction of the support shaft 135.

  The controller 150 is configured by a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. Various operations of the image forming apparatus 100 are controlled by executing a program stored in advance. Specifically, the controller 150 performs operations of the X-axis direction feed motor 103, the Y-axis direction scan motor 109, the recording head unit 120 (recording heads 122a to 122d), the X-axis direction driving motor 132, and the stepping motor 136. Control each one. The external computer device 160 is a personal computer (so-called personal computer) including an input device 161 composed of a keyboard and a mouse and a display device 162 composed of a liquid crystal display.

(Operation of Image Forming Apparatus 100)
Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described. In this operation description, the wiping process of the short recording heads 122a to 122d according to the present invention will be described, and the image forming process for the recording medium WK is not directly related to the present invention and is the same as the prior art. The description is omitted.

  The wiping process of the recording heads 122a to 122d is automatically executed when the recording heads 122a to 122d stand by at the standby position under the control of the controller 150, and the operator inputs an execution command via the operation panel 112. Is selectively executed. The wiping process is executed by executing a capping process program (not shown) stored in advance in a storage device such as a ROM of the controller 150.

  First, the controller 150 controls the operation of the Y-axis direction scan motor 109 to displace the recording head unit 120 in the main scanning direction (direction toward the standby position) and position it on the wiping mechanism 130. In this case, the short recording heads 122a to 122d are positioned at positions corresponding to the respective positions of the wiping blades 140a to 140d in the main scanning direction (see FIG. 5). In this case, the casing 131 in the wiping mechanism 130 is positioned in front of the recording head unit 120 in the sub-scanning direction.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C, the controller 150 controls the operation of the stepping motor 136 to rotate the support shaft 135, and is stored in the storage part 134 of the casing 131. Wiping blades 140b and 140c (see FIG. 6A) immersed in the cleaning liquid 135a are erected in the vertical direction (wiping blade 140b is not shown). In this case, the wiping blades 140a and 140d (see FIG. 6A) that are also immersed in the cleaning liquid 135a stored in the storage unit 134 are inclined to the short recording heads 122a to 122d on the right side in the drawing. (See FIG. 6B) (wiping blade 140a is not shown). That is, this stepping motor 136 corresponds to the rotating means according to the present invention.

  Next, the controller 150 controls the operation of the X-axis direction drive motor 132 to displace the casing 131 toward the recording head unit 120 side, that is, toward the rear side in the sub-scanning direction. Thereby, the wiping blades 140a to 140d supported by the support shaft 135 are displaced toward the recording head unit 120 located rearward in the sub-scanning direction. That is, the X-axis direction drive motor 132 corresponds to the relative displacement means according to the present invention.

  The wiping blades 140b and 140c are in contact with the left ends of the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c of the short recording heads 122b and 122c. In this case, the tip portions of the wiping blades 140b and 140c in contact with the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c bend toward the rear in the displacement direction (see the arrow in the figure), and the corners of the tip portions contact the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c. A state is reached (see FIG. 6B). The wiping blades 140b and 140c wipe the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c along with the displacement of the casing 131.

  On the other hand, since the wiping blades 140a and 140d are tilted, they pass below the nozzle formation surfaces 123a and 123d without contacting the nozzle formation surfaces 123a and 123d. That is, at the time of wiping the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c, the wiping blades 140a and 140b are displaced without contacting the lower surfaces of the bottom plate 121a of the recording head case 121 together with the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d. As a result, the wiping blades 140a and 140d are prevented from being contaminated by contact with the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d.

  Next, the controller 150 stops the casing 131 at a predetermined position where the wiping blades 140b and 140c wipe away the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c. Then, the controller 150 controls the operation of the stepping motor 136 to rotationally drive the support shaft 135, thereby causing the tilted wiping blades 140a and 140d to stand in the vertical direction. As a result, the wiping blades 140b and 140c standing on the support shaft 135 are tilted to the left in the drawing.

  Next, the controller 150 controls the operation of the X-axis direction drive motor 132 to displace the casing 131 toward the recording head 120 side, that is, the front side in the sub-scanning direction. Accordingly, the wiping blades 140a to 140d supported by the support shaft 135 are displaced toward the recording head unit 120 positioned forward in the sub-scanning direction. The wiping blades 140a and 140d are in contact with the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d of the short recording heads 122a and 122d. In this case, the tip portions of the wiping blades 140a and 140d in contact with the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d bend toward the rear in the displacement direction (see the arrow in the drawing), and the corner portions of the tip portions are the nozzle forming surfaces 123a. , 123d (see FIG. 6C). The wiping blades 140a and 140d wipe the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d along with the displacement of the casing 131. In this case, the wiping blades 140a and 140d are not contaminated with ink or the like, so that the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d are not stained or damaged.

  On the other hand, since the wiping blades 140b and 140c are tilted, they pass under the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c without contacting the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c. In other words, when wiping the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d, the wiping blades 140b and 140c are displaced together with the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c without contacting the lower surface of the bottom plate 121a of the recording head case 121. Thereby, contamination of these parts by the wiping blades 140b and 140c coming into contact with the lower surfaces of the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c and the bottom plate 121a is prevented.

Next, the controller 150 stops the casing 131 at a predetermined position where the wiping blades 140a and 140d wipe away the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d. Then, the controller 150 controls the operation of the stepping motor 136 to rotate the support shaft 135, so that the wiping blades 140a to 140d are immersed in the cleaning liquid 135a stored in the storage unit 134 downward in the figure. And wash. Thereby, the wiping process of the short recording heads 122a to 122d is completed. The recording head unit 120 that has been subjected to the wiping process stands by at the same position until an instruction to execute the next image formation is given.

  As can be understood from the above description of operation, according to the above embodiment, four short recording heads 122a to 122d having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink are connected to one of nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d on which the nozzles are formed. In the image forming apparatus 100 configured to be arranged in a staggered manner so that the portions are adjacent to each other, the adjacent short lengths are located at different positions on the circumferential direction of the support shaft 135 extending along the arrangement direction of the short recording heads 122a to 122d. Wiping blades 140a to 140d are provided for the recording heads 122a to 122d, respectively. Accordingly, the wiping blades 140a and 140d (or the wiping blade 140b) are formed on the nozzle formation surfaces 123a and 123d (or the nozzle formation surfaces 123b and 123c) of one of the short recording heads 122a and 122d (or the short recording heads 122b and 122c). , 140c) and wiping blades 140b, 140c (or wiping blades 140a, 140d) are tilted in the other short recording heads 122b, 122c (or short recording heads 122a, 122d). Thus, the nozzle forming surfaces 123b and 123c (or the nozzle forming surfaces 123a and 123d) are not in contact with each other. Therefore, the contact of the contaminated wiping blades 140a to 140d does not contaminate the bottom plate 121a of the recording head case 121, and the wiping blades 140a to 140d come into contact with the contaminated bottom plate 121a so that the wiping blades 140a to 140d are removed. The nozzle formation surfaces 123a to 123d are not contaminated and fouled. That is, it is possible to wipe the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d in the respective short recording heads 122a to 122d without fouling.

  Furthermore, in carrying out the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the object of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the wiping blades 140a to 140d are configured to be wiped by contacting the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d of the short recording heads 122a to 122d at a constant displacement speed. However, in this case, dirt such as ink adhering to the wiping blades 140a to 140d that wipes the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d in a bent state is restored to the shape of the wiping blades 140a to 140d detached from the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d. There is a possibility that various components existing around the wiping blades 140a to 140d may be contaminated by being scattered around due to the elastic force of time. Therefore, it is possible to control so that dirt such as ink adhering to the wiping blades 140a to 140d does not scatter around the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d.

  For example, the controller 150 controls the operation of the stepping motor 136 to tilt the wiping blades 140a to 140d backward in the traveling direction immediately before the wiping blades 140a to 140d finish wiping the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d. Also good. Alternatively or additionally, the controller 150 controls the operation of the X-axis direction drive motor 132 immediately before the wiping blades 140a to 140d finish wiping the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d, thereby wiping the blades 140a to 140d. The displacement speed of 140d may be reduced. According to these, it is possible to prevent scattering of dirt such as ink when the wiping blades 140a to 140d are detached from the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d. Thereby, the wiping precision of the nozzle formation surfaces 123a-123d by the wiping mechanism 130 can be improved.

  In the above embodiment, the wiping blades 140a to 140b (casing 131) are displaced with respect to the short recording heads 122a to 122d. However, the displacement of the wiping blades 140a to 140b relative to the short recording heads 122a to 122d is relative. That is, it is natural that the short recording heads 122a to 122d may be displaced with respect to the wiping blades 140a to 140b (casing 131). Also by this, the same effect as the above-mentioned embodiment can be expected.

  In the above embodiment, the wiping mechanism 130 has a single function of wiping and cleaning the short recording heads 122a to 122d. However, some known inkjet printers include a capping mechanism that prevents the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d from being dried or damaged by covering the nozzle forming surfaces 123a to 123d of the short recording heads 122a to 122d. . That is, the wiping mechanism 130 according to the present invention can be configured integrally with such a capping mechanism.

1 is an external perspective view showing an entire image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams for explaining the configuration of a recording head unit included in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, in which FIG. It is a partially broken side view which shows a part. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an appearance of a wiping mechanism provided in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view for explaining an arrangement relationship between a wiping blade in a wiping mechanism and a short recording head in a recording head unit. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating a mode that a short recording head is wiped off by the wiping mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

WK ... recording medium, 100 ... image forming apparatus, 101 ... platen, 102 ... grid roll, 104 ... guide rail, 105 ... pinch roller, 120 ... recording head unit, 121 ... recording head case, 121a ... bottom plate, 122a to 122d ... Short recording head, 123a to 123d ... nozzle forming surface, 130 ... wiping mechanism, 131 ... casing, 132 ... X-axis direction drive motor, 133 ... base body, 134 ... reservoir, 134a ... cleaning liquid, 135 ... support shaft, 136 ... Stepping motors 140a to 140d ... wiping blades 150 ... controllers 170 ... external computer devices.

Claims (3)

Image forming apparatus comprising a recording head configured by arranging at least two short recording heads having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink in a staggered manner so that a part of the nozzle forming surface on which the nozzles are formed is adjacent to each other In
A support shaft extending along the arrangement direction of the short recording head;
Protrusions provided at different positions in the circumferential direction of the support shaft for each of the adjacent short recording heads and having a width corresponding to the width of the nozzle forming surface in the short recording head and capable of contacting the nozzle forming surface A wiping blade formed in an amount;
Rotating means for rotating the support shaft around the axis of the support shaft;
A wiping mechanism having relative displacing means for displacing the wiping blade disposed on the support shaft relative to the recording head in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the short recording head ;
The rotating means includes
While wiping the nozzle forming surface of one of the at least two short recording heads, the wiping blade corresponding to the one short recording head is maintained in contact with the other short recording head. An image forming apparatus, wherein the wiping blade corresponding to a recording head is tilted to maintain a state in which the wiping blade is not in contact with the nozzle forming surface of the other short recording head .

The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The rotating means includes
The image forming apparatus, wherein the wiping blade is tilted to the rear side in the advancing direction of the wiping blade by rotating the support shaft immediately before the wiping blade finishes wiping the nozzle forming surface. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The relative displacement means is
An image forming apparatus, wherein the displacement speed of the wiping blade is reduced immediately before the wiping blade finishes wiping the nozzle forming surface.

Images