JP2010228151A - Liquid ejector - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of wiping and cleaning a nozzle forming surface of a liquid ejecting head and a surface of a cover head with a wiping member.
A recording head 21 to which a cover head 29 is attached so as to cover an end of a nozzle forming surface 21a and a relative movement in the direction along the nozzle forming surface with respect to the recording head, And a cleaning unit 31 for cleaning the surface of the cover head. The cleaning unit includes a wiper 32 made of an elastic material for wiping the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head, and a surface of the cover head. A scraper 33 made of a rigid material having at least a tip 33a that can be slidably contacted with the surface of the cover head for scraping off the deposit that has adhered and solidified, and moves relative to the recording head. The scraper moves in contact with the surface of the cover head prior to the wiper in its moving direction.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus.

  In general, an ink jet recording apparatus which is a kind of liquid ejecting apparatus includes a recording head (liquid ejecting head), and nozzles for ejecting ink (liquid) are formed on the nozzle forming surface of the recording head. Furthermore, the ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a cover head attached so as to cover an end portion of the nozzle forming surface. Since the recording head performs printing by ejecting pressurized ink as ink droplets from a nozzle onto a recording paper (recording medium), when the ink is ejected onto the recording surface of the recording paper, the ejected ink is recorded. The paper may bounce off the recording surface of the paper and adhere to the nozzle forming surface of the recording head and the surface of the cover head. In addition, when cleaning the recording head to prevent nozzle clogging and the like, the ink that has been forcibly discharged from the nozzle fills the cap that is in contact with the nozzle formation surface. Will adhere. In order to remove ink adhering to the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head in this way, in Patent Document 1, a wiping member (wiper) made of a rubber-like elastic elastic body is provided, and the wiping member is used as a recording head. The nozzle forming surface of the recording head and the surface of the cover head are cleaned by sliding on the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head.

JP 2001-347679 A

  By the way, in such an ink jet recording apparatus, the ink adhering to the surface of the cover head solidifies into a convex deposit, or the ink deposit adhering to the nozzle forming surface and solidifies is deposited on the cover head. It may protrude in a convex shape outward from the surface. Then, for example, in the wiping member made of an elastic body provided in the ink jet recording apparatus of Patent Document 1, when cleaning the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head, it rides on the deposit accumulated in a convex shape. Therefore, the contact state between the wiping member, the nozzle forming surface, and the surface of the cover head becomes insufficient. As a result, the ink adhering to the nozzle forming surface is not sufficiently wiped off, which may cause a printing failure.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus that can wipe and clean the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head and the surface of the cover head with a wiping member. There is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention, a cover head is formed so that a nozzle that discharges liquid to a recording medium is formed on a nozzle forming surface and covers an end of the nozzle forming surface. A liquid comprising: an attached liquid ejecting head; and a cleaning unit that cleans the surface of the nozzle forming surface and the cover head by moving relative to the liquid ejecting head in a direction along the nozzle forming surface. In the spray device, the cleaning unit includes a wiping member made of an elastic material for wiping the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head, and a deposit in which the liquid adheres to the surface of the cover head and solidifies. And a scraping member made of a rigid material at least a tip portion slidable on the surface of the cover head, When the relative movement, wherein the scraping member is in its direction of movement ahead of the said wiping member moves in contact with the surface of the cover head.

  According to the present invention, the convex deposit adhered to the surface of the cover head and solidified, and the deposit deposited after adhering to the nozzle forming surface and solidified, and projecting outward from the surface of the cover head. A thing can be scraped off by the front-end | tip part of the scraping member which has rigidity. Therefore, the wiping member does not run on the deposit accumulated in a convex shape, and the contact state between the wiping member, the nozzle forming surface, and the surface of the cover head does not become insufficient. Accordingly, the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head and the surface of the cover head can be wiped well by the wiping member and cleaned.

In the liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention, the wiping member and the scraping member are integrally held by a holding member.
According to this invention, the wiping member and the scraping member can be configured as a single unit, and the number of parts can be reduced as compared with the configuration in which the wiping member and the scraping member are held by separate holding members, respectively, and the liquid ejection Space saving can be achieved in the apparatus.

The liquid ejecting apparatus according to the aspect of the invention further includes pressing means for pressing the tip of the scraping member against the surface of the cover head.
According to this invention, since the tip of the scraping member is pressed against the surface of the cover head by the pressing means, the contact state between the tip of the scraping member and the surface of the cover head is more improved than in the configuration without the pressing means. It will be certain. Therefore, the deposit adhered to the surface of the cover head and solidified can be more reliably scraped off.

The liquid ejecting apparatus according to the aspect of the invention further includes a receiving portion that receives the deposit that is scraped off by the scraping member and falls.
According to the present invention, since the deposit that is scraped off by the scraping member can be collected by the receiving portion, the labor of collecting the deposit that is scraped off by the scraping member at the time of maintenance is saved. This improves the efficiency of the cleaning work.

In the liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention, the shaving member is provided with a plurality of shaving function units.
According to this invention, once the relative movement of the scraping member with respect to the recording head is performed, the deposit adhered to the surface of the cover head and solidified can be scraped off a plurality of times by a plurality of shaving function units. The deposit can be more reliably scraped off from the surface of the cover head as compared with a scraping member having one shaving function part.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an ink jet printer according to an embodiment. The top view which planarly viewed the nozzle formation surface of the recording head. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2. (A) is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the state which the recording head is moving to the printing position side from a home position, (b) is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the state which scrapes off the deposit from the surface of a cover head with a scraper. The schematic sectional drawing which shows the cleaning unit in another embodiment. The schematic sectional drawing which shows the scraper in another embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in an ink jet printer which is a kind of liquid ejecting apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the terms “front-rear direction”, “vertical direction”, and “left-right direction” refer to “front-rear direction”, “vertical direction”, and “left-right direction” indicated by arrows in FIG. 1 unless otherwise specified. Direction ".

  As shown in FIG. 1, an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) 11 as a liquid ejecting apparatus according to this embodiment includes a frame 12 having a rectangular shape in plan view. A platen 13 extends in the left-right direction in the frame 12, and a recording paper P as a recording medium is fed from the rear side to the front side by a paper feed mechanism having a paper feed motor 14 on the platen 13. It has come to be. A guide shaft 15 extending in parallel with the longitudinal direction (left-right direction) of the platen 13 is installed above the platen 13 in the frame 12.

  A carriage 16 is supported on the guide shaft 15 so as to be capable of reciprocating along the axial direction (left-right direction) of the guide shaft 15. A recording head 21 as a liquid ejecting head is provided on the lower surface of the carriage 16, and a plurality of (five in this embodiment) inks for supplying ink as a liquid to the recording head 21 on the carriage 16. A cartridge 23 is detachably mounted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of nozzles 21b are formed on the nozzle forming surface 21a formed on the lower surface of the recording head 21, and each ink cartridge 23 corresponds to each nozzle 21b individually. Ink is individually supplied to the corresponding nozzles 21b through ink flow paths (not shown) formed in the head 21.

  A metal cover head 29 is attached to the recording head 21 so as to cover the end portion of the recording head 21 from the end edges which are the four sides of the nozzle forming surface 21 a to the side surface portion of the recording head 21. The cover head 29 has a rectangular shape in plan view, and has an opening 29b in plan view rectangular shape that allows the nozzle 21b of the nozzle forming surface 21a to be exposed when attached to the recording head 21. . There is a slight level difference between the nozzle forming surface 21a of the recording head 21 and the surface 29a of the cover head 29 (the surface excluding the opening 29b when the cover head 29 is viewed in plan). The position is located on the inner side in the thickness direction of the recording head 21 than the position of the surface 29a of the cover head 29 (see FIG. 3).

  As shown in FIG. 1, a driving pulley 17 and a driven pulley 18 are rotatably supported at positions corresponding to both ends of the guide shaft 15 on the rear surface of the frame 12. A carriage motor 19 is connected to the driving pulley 17 as a driving source when the carriage 16 is reciprocated. A timing belt 20 that fixes and supports the carriage 16 is mounted between the pair of pulleys 17 and 18. ing. Therefore, the recording head 21 provided on the carriage 16 is driven by the carriage motor 19 and is driven by the guide shaft 15 to eject the ink onto the recording paper P through the timing belt 20 and perform printing. It can move between a home position HP provided at one end (the right end in FIG. 1) in the frame 12. The printing position here refers to a liquid ejection position for ejecting ink onto the recording paper P, and the home position HP refers to the recording head 21 when the printer 11 is powered off or when the recording head 21 is maintained. This is the maintenance position where

  At a position below the home position HP, a maintenance unit 24 for performing various maintenance operations is provided so that ink ejection from the recording head 21 to the recording paper P can be satisfactorily maintained.

  The maintenance unit 24 includes a cap 25 having a substantially rectangular box shape corresponding to the nozzle forming surface 21 a of the recording head 21, and an elevating device (not shown) for moving the cap 25 up and down. In a state where the recording head 21 is moved to the home position HP, when the cap 25 is raised based on the driving of the lifting device, the cap 25 comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface 21a in a state of surrounding each nozzle 21b. Then, with the nozzle 21b sealed with the cap 25, the nozzle 21b is cleaned by sucking and discharging ink from the nozzle 21b with a suction pump (not shown).

  The maintenance unit 24 includes a cleaning unit 31 as cleaning means. The cleaning unit 31 is disposed on a moving path along which the recording head 21 moves from the home position HP to the printing position, and the nozzle forming surface 21a of the recording head 21 and the surface 29a of the cover head 29 pass over the cleaning unit 31. It is provided as follows.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cleaning unit 31 includes a wiper 32 as a wiping member provided on the printing position side, and a scraper 33 as a scraping member provided on the home position HP side with respect to the wiper 32. ing.

  The wiper 32 is made of an elastic material (for example, natural rubber or synthetic rubber) and is formed into a strip shape. The base end portion of the wiper 32 is held by a holding member 34. Further, the scraper 33 has a pointed end 33a, and the tip of the scraper 33 is made of a rigid material (for example, metal or plastic). A compression coil spring 35 as pressing means is provided at the base end portion of the scraper 33, and the compression coil spring 35 is held by a holding member 34. That is, the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 are integrally held by the holding member 34, and the holding member 34 can be moved in the vertical direction by a lifting mechanism (not shown). As shown in FIG. 2, the width of the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the surface 29 a of the cover head 29 is larger than the width in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the surface 29 a of the cover head 29. Have.

Next, the operation of the cleaning unit 31 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the recording head 21 is located at the home position HP, first, the holding member 34 is moved upward (in the direction of the arrow Y shown in FIG. 3) by a lifting mechanism (not shown). At this time, the lifting mechanism moves the holding member 34 upward so that the position of the tip 32a of the wiper 32 is higher than the surface 29a of the cover head 29 by the height H1. Further, the elevating mechanism moves the holding member 34 upward so that the tip 33a of the scraper 33 is higher than the surface 29a of the cover head 29 by the height H2.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 4A, the recording head 21 moves from the home position HP in the direction toward the printing position (the direction of the arrow X shown in FIG. 4A). Then, the tip 33a of the scraper 33 comes into contact with the surface 29a of the cover head 29 prior to the wiper 32, and the recording head 21 moves relative to the holding member 34, so that the tip of the scraper 33 is moved. 33a moves in sliding contact with the surface 29a of the cover head 29.

  At this time, the tip 33 a of the scraper 33 is urged toward the surface 29 a of the cover head 29 by the compression coil spring 35 and pressed against the surface 29 a of the cover head 29. Further, since a slight step is generated between the nozzle forming surface 21a of the recording head 21 and the surface 29a of the cover head 29, the tip 33a of the scraper 33 is a portion where the nozzle 21b is formed on the nozzle forming surface 21a. As the recording head 21 moves to the printing position side, only the surface 29a of the cover head 29 is slidably moved.

  Further, the tip 32 a of the wiper 32 comes into contact with the surface 29 a of the cover head 29 after the scraper 33 and the recording head 21 moves relative to the holding member 34, whereby the tip 32 a of the wiper 32 is moved. It moves in sliding contact with the surface 29 a of the cover head 29.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the recording head 21 is further moved in the direction of the printing position (the direction of the arrow X shown in FIG. 4B), the tip of the scraper 33 moves the cover head 29. The deposit G solidified and deposited after adhering to the surface 29a is scraped off. Further, since the wiper 32 is made of an elastic material, the step formed between the nozzle forming surface 21a and the surface 29a of the cover head 29 while the tip 32a of the wiper 32 that wiped the surface 29a of the cover head 29 is deformed. It contacts with the nozzle formation surface 21a via. At this time, the wiper 32 is in contact with the nozzle forming surface 21 a and also in contact with the surface 29 a of the cover head 29. Further, the wiper 32 moves in sliding contact with the surface 29a of the cover head 29 in a state after the deposit G is scraped off by the nozzle forming surface 21a and the scraper 33 as the recording head 21 moves to the printing position side. To do. And the nozzle formation surface 21a is wiped off by the wiper 32 and cleaned well. Further, the surface 29a of the cover head 29 in a state where the deposit G is scraped off by the scraper 33 is wiped by the wiper 32, and the surface 29a of the cover head 29 is cleaned.

In the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The maintenance unit 24 includes a cleaning unit 31, and the cleaning unit 31 includes a wiper 32 made of an elastic material and a scraper 33 with a distal end portion 33 a having rigidity. Then, the convex deposit G that adheres and solidifies on the surface 29a of the cover head 29, and accumulates after adhering and solidifying on the nozzle forming surface 21a, and protrudes outwardly from the surface 29a of the cover head 29. The deposited deposit can be scraped off by the tip 33a of the scraper 33 having rigidity. Therefore, the wiper 32 does not ride on the deposit G deposited in a convex shape, and the contact state between the wiper 32 and the nozzle forming surface 21a and the surface 29a of the cover head 29 does not become insufficient. Accordingly, the nozzle forming surface 21 a of the recording head 21 and the surface 29 a of the cover head 29 can be wiped off and cleaned with the wiper 32.

  (2) The wiper 32 and the scraper 33 are integrally held by the holding member 34. Therefore, the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 can be configured as a single unit, and the number of parts can be reduced as compared with the configuration in which the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 are held by separate holding members, and the printer 11 can save space. Can be planned.

  (3) A compression coil spring 35 is provided at the base end of the scraper 33. Therefore, the tip end portion 33 a of the scraper 33 can be urged toward the surface 29 a of the cover head 29 by the compression coil spring 35, and the tip end portion 33 a of the scraper 33 can be pressed against the surface 29 a of the cover head 29. Therefore, the contact state between the distal end portion 33a of the scraper 33 and the surface 29a of the cover head 29 becomes more reliable as compared with the configuration in which the compression coil spring 35 is not provided at the base end portion of the scraper 33. Therefore, the deposit G that has adhered to the surface 29a of the cover head 29 and solidified can be more reliably scraped off.

The above embodiment may be changed to another embodiment as described below.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, in the cleaning unit 31, a receiving portion 41 is provided on the base end side of the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 to receive the deposit G that is scraped off and dropped by the scraper 33 at a lower position. Yes. The receiving part 41 is formed in a bottomed box shape having an accommodation port 41a that opens upward. The bottom portion 41 b of the receiving portion 41 holds the proximal end portion of the wiper 32 and the proximal end portion of the compression coil spring 35 provided at the proximal end portion of the scraper 33. According to this, since the deposit G that has been scraped and dropped by the scraper 33 can be collected by the receiving portion 41, it is troublesome to collect the deposit G that has been scraped and dropped by the scraper 33 during maintenance. And the efficiency of the cleaning work is improved. In addition, the receiving part 41 may not be provided in a mode of holding the base end part of the wiper 32 and the base end part of the scraper 33, and if it is a position that can receive the deposit G scraped by the scraper 33, The arrangement position of the receiving portion 41 is not particularly limited.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the scraper 51 is provided with three shaving function parts 51a. Each shaving function part 51a extends in the same direction as the direction in which the urging force acts on the scraper 51 (the direction of the arrow P shown in FIG. 6) by the compression coil spring 35 provided at the base end part of the scraper 51. Is provided. The tip end portion 51b of each cutting function portion 51a has a sharp shape, and each cutting function portion 51a is made of a rigid material (for example, metal or plastic). The lengths in the extending direction of the respective cutting function portions 51a are the same. According to this, once the relative movement of the scraper 51 with respect to the recording head 21 is performed, the deposit G adhered to the surface 29a of the cover head 29 and solidified is scraped off a plurality of times by the plurality of shaving function portions 51a. be able to. Therefore, the deposit G can be more reliably scraped off from the surface 29a of the cover head 29 as compared with a scraper having one shaving function part 51a. Note that the number of the cutting function units 51 a is not limited to three, and two or four or more cutting function units 51 a may be provided in the scraper 51.

  In the embodiment, the compression coil spring 35 is provided at the proximal end portion of the scraper 33. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, when the holding member 34 is moved upward by the lifting mechanism, the distal end portion 33a of the scraper 33 is covered. It may be pressed against the surface 29a of the head 29 with a predetermined force. In this case, the lifting mechanism functions as pressing means for pressing the tip 33 a of the scraper 33 against the surface 29 a of the cover head 29.

  In the embodiment, the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 may not be integrally held by the holding member 34, and the wiper 32 and the scraper 33 may be held by separate holding members.

  In the embodiment, when the recording head 21 moves from the home position HP to the printing position, the surface 29a of the cover head 29 and the nozzle forming surface 21a are cleaned. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the recording head 21 performs printing. When moving from the position to the home position HP, the surface 29a of the cover head 29 and the nozzle forming surface 21a may be cleaned. In this case, it is necessary to provide the scraper 33 on the printing position side and the wiper 32 on the home position HP side than the scraper 33.

  In the embodiment, the recording head 21 is moved relative to the holding member 34 to clean the surface 29a of the cover head 29 and the nozzle forming surface 21a. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the surface 29 a of the cover head 29 and the nozzle forming surface 21 a are cleaned by reciprocating the holding member 34 in the longitudinal direction of the recording head 21 in a state where the recording head 21 is at the home position HP. May be.

In the embodiment, the tip side of the scraper 33 is formed of a rigid material, but the entire scraper 33 may be formed of a rigid material.
-In embodiment, although the scraper 33 was shape | molded so that the front-end | tip part 33a might make a sharp shape, it is not restricted to this, For example, the scraper 33 may be shape | molded in strip shape.

  The present invention is embodied as an ink jet printer used for printing. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid other than ink (however, excluding gas). A liquid droplet means a state of liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting apparatus, and includes liquid droplets that are granular, tear-like, or thread-like. The liquid here may be any material that can be ejected by the liquid ejecting apparatus. For example, it may be in a state in which the substance is in a liquid phase, such as a liquid with high or low viscosity, sol, gel water, other inorganic solvents, organic solvents, solutions, liquid resins, liquid metals (metal melts ) And a liquid as one state of the substance, as well as particles in which functional material particles made of solid materials such as pigments and metal particles are dissolved, dispersed or mixed in a solvent. Further, typical examples of the liquid include ink and liquid crystal as described in the above embodiment. Here, the ink includes general water-based inks and oil-based inks, and various liquid compositions such as gel inks and hot-melt inks. As a specific example of the liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, a liquid containing a material such as an electrode material or a coloring material used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display, an EL (electroluminescence) display, a surface light emitting display, a color filter or the like in a dispersed or dissolved form. It may be a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting, a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a bio-organic material used for biochip manufacturing, a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a liquid as a sample used as a precision pipette, a textile printing apparatus, a microdispenser, or the like. In addition, transparent resin liquids such as UV curable resin to form liquid injection devices that pinpoint lubricant oil onto precision machines such as watches and cameras, and micro hemispherical lenses (optical lenses) used in optical communication elements. A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid onto the substrate or a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects an etching solution such as acid or alkali to etch the substrate or the like may be employed. The present invention can be applied to any one of these liquid ejecting apparatuses.

Next, a technical idea that can be grasped from the above embodiment and another embodiment will be additionally described below.
The nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejecting head and the cover head in which a nozzle that discharges liquid to the recording medium is formed on the nozzle forming surface, and a cover head is attached so as to cover an end of the nozzle forming surface A maintenance device for a liquid ejecting head in a liquid ejecting apparatus provided with a cleaning means for cleaning the surface of the liquid ejecting head relative to the liquid ejecting head in a direction along the nozzle forming surface, the cleaning means comprising: A wiping member made of an elastic material for wiping the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head, and at least a surface of the cover head for scraping off a deposit deposited by the liquid on the surface of the cover head. A scraping member made of a rigid material, and a tip portion capable of sliding contact with the liquid ejecting head. The case, the chipping member is maintenance device for a liquid ejection head in a liquid-jet apparatus characterized by moving in contact with the surface of the cover head in advance than the wiping member in its movement direction.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Inkjet printer as a liquid ejecting apparatus, 21 ... Recording head as a liquid ejecting head, 21a ... Nozzle formation surface, 21b ... Nozzle, 29 ... Cover head, 29a ... Surface, 31 ... Cleaning unit as cleaning means, 32 ... wiper as wiping member, 33, 51 ... scraper as scraping member, 33a, 51b ... tip, 34 ... holding member, 35 ... compression coil spring as pressing means, 41 ... receiving part, 51a ... cutting function part, G: Deposit, P: Recording paper as a recording medium.

Claims (5)

A liquid ejecting head in which a nozzle for discharging liquid to a recording medium is formed on a nozzle forming surface and a cover head is attached so as to cover an end of the nozzle forming surface;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: cleaning means for cleaning the surface of the nozzle forming surface and the cover head by moving relative to the liquid ejecting head in a direction along the nozzle forming surface;
The cleaning means includes
A wiping member made of an elastic material for wiping the nozzle forming surface and the surface of the cover head;
A scraping member made of a rigid material with at least a tip portion slidable in contact with the surface of the cover head for scraping off the deposit adhered and solidified on the surface of the cover head;
When the liquid ejecting head moves relative to the liquid ejecting head, the scraping member moves in contact with the surface of the cover head prior to the wiping member in the moving direction. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wiping member and the scraping member are integrally held by a holding member. 3. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pressing unit configured to press a tip portion of the scraping member against a surface of the cover head. 4. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a receiving unit configured to receive a deposit that is scraped and dropped by the scraping member. 5. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shaving member is provided with a plurality of shaving function units.

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