JPH0477670B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to cleaning means for the front surface of a recording head provided with ink ejection ports in an ink jet recording apparatus.

[Prior art]

In an inkjet recording device, paper scraps, dust, or thickened ink adhere to the ink ejection orifice surface of the recording head on the carriage that moves along the recording paper, resulting in clogging of the ink ejection orifice and resulting in ink ejection failure. Therefore, cleaning means for the ink ejection orifice surface is required.

As this cleaning means, a flexible blade made of a plastic sheet or the like is used to remove the front surface of the recording head, that is, the surface on which the ink ejection ports are formed.

However, in conventional cleaning means of this type, the dirty blade surface is reused after the recording head surface has been removed, so a thin film of thickened ink is formed when the front surface of the recording head is removed. There was a problem that the cleaning effect deteriorated.

Providing a separate mechanism for cleaning the blade to deal with this would result in a complex and large structure, and would require a special sequence for cleaning the blade, increasing costs.

〔the purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device that can solve the problems of the prior art and that can always remove the ink ejection orifice surface with a clean blade surface without requiring a new cleaning mechanism or special sequence. It is to provide.

〔overview〕

In the present invention, when the front surface of the recording head is removed by a flexible blade by the movement of the carriage, the blade is removed by the movement of the carriage, and then the front surface of the recording head is removed by the blade.
This aims to achieve the above objectives.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the main structure of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a guide shaft 3 is installed in front of paper 2 backed up on a platen 1, and a recording head 5 is mounted on a carriage 4 that moves along the guide shaft.

An ink recovery device 6 is provided at the home position HP of the carriage 4 (in the illustrated example, on the left side of the platen 1). This ink recovery device is used for the recording head 5.
a capping means 7 that is driven forward and backward relative to the recording head and seals the front surface of the recording head (a surface on which ink ejection ports are formed) in the forward position; and a pump 9 that is driven by a suction operation lever 8 and sucks ink from the ejection ports through the capping means 7. It is made up of.

A flexible blade 10 is attached to the side of the capping means 7 for removing the front surface of the recording head 5, that is, the surface where the ink discharge ports are provided. This blade 10 moves forward as the capping means 7 moves forward, but is attached to the capping means by a mechanism that leaves it at the forward position in a locked state when the capping means 7 retreats, that is, a leaving mechanism. The blade 10 is moved backward by releasing the locked state by the movement of the carriage 4 as it passes from right to left.

FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of the ink recovery device 6.

In FIG. 2, the suction operation lever 8, the pump 9 driven by pushing down the lever, and the capping means 7 are supported on a base 11, and the capping means is supported so as to be movable forward and backward.

A blade support plate 12 is mounted on the right side of the capping means 7 and is biased in the backward direction by an elongated hole 13, a stop pin 14, and a retraction spring 15. A flexible blade 10 consisting of the following is attached. Further, a swingable engagement member 17 is attached to the base 11 and is biased by a spring 16 to a position where it can engage with the support plate 12 . This engagement member 17 is configured to rotate (be pushed down) in the direction of arrow B when the carriage 4 (or its protrusion) collides with its distal end slope 18 from the direction of arrow A.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG.

Carriage 4 moves from right to left to home position
When the HP is reached, the capping means 7 moves forward to close the front surface of the recording head 5. That is, the cap closing operation is automatically performed. At this time, the blade 10 also moves forward.

Next, the suction operation lever 8 is pressed to perform an ink recovery operation (ink suction operation), and when the ink suction operation is completed, the capping means 7 is retreated. At this time, the blade 10 is still left in the forward position.

Next, the carriage 4 moves to the left from the home position HP, and at this time the engaging member 17 (FIG. 2) is pushed down and the blade 10 is moved backward.

Next, the carriage 4 moves from the left end position to the right, passes the home position HP, and stops at a position a predetermined distance to the right.

Therefore, the capping means 7 is advanced to advance the blade 10, and then the capping means is retracted. At this time, the blade 10 is left in the forward position.

Following this, the carriage 4 is moved to the left and driven past the home position HP to the left end position.
At this time, first, the front surface of the recording head 5 is removed by the blade 10 to clean the ejection openings before reaching the home position HP, and then, while moving further to the left from the home position HP, the carriage 4 or the protrusion is the engagement member 17
(FIG. 2) and causes the blade 10 to retreat.

Thereafter, the carriage 4 is moved to the right, and in the normal case, a test print is performed, followed by a normal printing operation in which printing is started in response to a print signal.

However, in the present invention, when removing the front surface (ink ejection orifice surface) of the recording head 5, the carriage 4 is first removed.
The blade 10 is removed by the movement of the recording head, and the front surface of the recording head is then removed with the blade 10.

Figure 3 shows the blade 10 due to the movement of this carriage 4.
Shows the state of removing.

In this state, as described above, the capping means 7 is in the retracted position and the blade 10 is in the forward position.

On the side of the recording head 5 (in the illustrated example, only the left side in FIG. 3 is possible), the carriage 4 or a part of the head holder 19 that holds the recording head is used to move the carriage 4 (arrow A protrusion 2 that slides into contact with the blade 10 and pulls it out.
0 is set.

Therefore, by the movement of the carriage 4, the protrusion 19 first cleans the surface of the blade 10 by removing the deposits, and then uses the blade to remove the front surface of the recording head 5, that is, the surface where the ink ejection ports are formed. You will have to pay.

The location where the blade 10 on the carriage 4 side, which corresponds to the protrusion 19, is removed can be provided at any location on the carriage 4 as long as it is not on the surface where the ink discharge ports are formed.

According to the embodiment described above, the blade 10 can be cleaned by using the movement of the carriage 4 without providing a special mechanism for cleaning the blade 10.
was able to be cleaned.

Furthermore, since the blade 10 can always be cleaned before the recording head 5 is pulled out, the ink ejection ports can always be effectively cleaned.

Furthermore, cleaning of the blade 10 could be accomplished in an extremely simple manner by simply providing a protruding portion (sliding contact portion) 20 on the carriage side without requiring any special sequence for cleaning the blade 10.

Furthermore, in the structure of the embodiment, since the cleaning of the recording head 5 is also performed using the movement of the carriage 4, the ink ejection ports can be cleaned with a simple and inexpensive structure without the need for a dedicated drive source. Summer.

In the illustrated embodiment, the front surface of the recording head 5 is removed only when the carriage 4 moves from right to left, that is, only from one direction.
The present invention can be similarly applied to a type of cleaning means that removes the recording head 5 from the opposite direction or from both directions.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a recording head can be removed with a constantly clean blade surface with an extremely simple structure without requiring a new cleaning mechanism or special sequence.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the main parts of an inkjet recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink recovery device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing a state in which the blade shown in the figure is cleaned by movement of a carriage. 4... Carriage, 5... Recording head, 10...
Blade, 20... protrusion (carriage or head holder).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. By moving and scanning a carriage capable of mounting a recording head that discharges ink in a non-recording area,
In an inkjet recording apparatus equipped with a first cleaning means for slidingly cleaning the front surface of the recording head, the first cleaning means has two states: a cleaning enabled state for cleaning the recording head, and a non-cleaning state separated from the recording head. A second cleaning means is provided on the side of the recording head for slidingly contacting the first cleaning means and cleaning the first cleaning means, By the movement scanning of the carriage, the first cleaning means in the cleaning enabled state:
An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that the recording head is cleaned after being cleaned by the second cleaning means.