JP2013071340A - Inkjet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain a moisture retaining property of increased recording heads and to reduce manufacturing cost even when a liplike cap member is not used.SOLUTION: This inkjet recorder includes a carriage including a plurality of recording heads arranged along a scanning direction and reciprocally moving in the scanning direction by means of a guide rail, and a moisturizing unit which is provided at a position away from a platen for supporting a recording medium in the scanning direction and is adapted to moisturize the plurality of recording heads. The moisturizing unit is provided with a plate-shaped contact section to be brought into close contact with ejection faces of the plurality of recording heads, a moisturizing liquid storage section which supports the contact section and stores a moisturizing liquid therein, a moving section which moves up/down the moisturizing liquid storage section to bring the contact section into contact with or separated from the ejection faces of the plurality of recording heads, and a fluid channel which communicates with the inner part of the moisturizing liquid storage section and is adapted to supply or discharge the moisturizing liquid to or from the moisturizing liquid storage section. A plurality of openings leading to the inside of the moisturizing liquid storage section are formed on the contact section, for each of the plurality of recording heads.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ink jet recording apparatus, a recording head corresponding to each color is mounted on a plurality of carriages, and the carriage reciprocates along a guide rail so that the recording head scans a recording medium. ing. In the ink jet recording apparatus, a plurality of lip-shaped cap members are provided corresponding to the respective recording heads so as to cover the nozzle surfaces in order to prevent the nozzles of the recording heads from being dried during standby. For example, see Patent Document 1). For example, when the recording heads are arranged in a plurality of rows in a staggered manner, as shown in FIG. 9, the lip-shaped cap members 200 are also arranged in a plurality of rows in a staggered manner so as to correspond to each recording head.
Further, although the moisturizing liquid is stored inside the cap member 200, since the ink falls from the recording head and contaminates the moisturizing liquid, it is necessary to periodically replace the moisturizing liquid. For this reason, each cap member 200 is provided with a flow path (not shown) for supplying / discharging the moisturizing liquid independently.

JP-A-9-70981

By the way, in recent years, in order to enable image formation even on a large-sized recording medium, the number of mounted recording heads tends to increase. As the number of recording heads increases, the lip-shaped cap members 200 and the moisturizing liquid channels in the cap members 200 also increase, resulting in an increase in manufacturing cost.
An object of the present invention is to maintain the increased moisture retention performance of the recording head and suppress the manufacturing cost without using a lip-shaped cap member.

An ink jet recording apparatus according to the invention of claim 1
A plurality of recording heads for ejecting ink;
A guide rail extending along a scanning direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium;
A carriage mounted with the plurality of recording heads arranged in the scanning direction and reciprocatingly moved in the scanning direction by the guide rail;
A moisturizing unit that is disposed at a position away from the platen that supports the recording medium in the scanning direction and that moisturizes the plurality of recording heads;
The moisturizing unit is
A plate-like contact portion that can be in close contact with the ejection surfaces of the plurality of recording heads;
A moisturizing liquid storage part that supports the contact part and stores the moisturizing liquid therein;
An elevating unit that elevates and lowers the moisturizing liquid storage unit so that the contact unit is in contact with and away from the ejection surfaces of the plurality of recording heads;
A fluid passage that communicates with the inside of the moisturizing liquid storage section and supplies / discharges the moisturizing liquid to the moisturizing liquid storage section;
In the contact portion, a plurality of openings communicating with the inside of the moisturizing liquid storage portion are formed corresponding to each of the plurality of recording heads.

  According to the present invention, the increased moisture retention performance of the recording head can be maintained and the manufacturing cost can be suppressed without using a lip-shaped cap member.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an inkjet head according to an embodiment. It is the schematic explanatory drawing which looked at the carriage concerning this embodiment from the lower part. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of the carriage of FIG. 2 as viewed from the front. It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the moisture retention unit which concerns on this embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows typically the internal structure of the moisture retention unit of FIG. It is a tubular member which concerns on this embodiment, and is a perspective view which shows the state at the time of supply of moisturizing liquid. It is a tubular member of Drawing 6, and is a perspective view showing the state at the time of discharge of moisturizing liquid. It is sectional drawing which shows the moisture retention state in the moisture retention unit of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the conventional lip-shaped cap member.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, although various technically preferable limitations for implementing the present invention are given to the embodiments described below, the scope of the invention is not limited to the following embodiments and illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire inkjet recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet recording apparatus 1 includes a transport apparatus 2 that transports a recording medium along a horizontal direction, and a recording head 3 (see FIG. 2) that ejects ink from above onto the transported recording medium. Mounted on the carriage 4, a scanning device 5 that transports the carriage 4 along a horizontal direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording medium, a maintenance unit 6 that performs maintenance of each recording head 3 mounted on the carriage 4, and the carriage 4. A moisturizing unit 7 for moisturizing each recording head 3 is provided, a control device (not shown) for controlling these components, and a frame 100 for supporting the whole.
In the following description, the horizontal direction along the recording medium conveyance direction is referred to as the Y-axis direction, and the horizontal direction along the carriage 4 conveyance direction is referred to as the X-axis direction or the scanning direction. To do.

The transport device 2 includes a drive roller 21 and a driven roller (not shown), a drive motor 22, and a transport belt 23.
The drive roller 21 and the driven roller are rotatably supported by the shaft, and the drive roller 21 is disposed so as to extend in the scanning direction X. The drive motor 22 is a drive source for rotationally driving the drive roller 21, and is attached to one end side of the drive roller 21.
The conveyor belt 23 is formed in an endless shape, and is stretched between the driving roller 21 and the driven roller. When the driving roller 21 rotates, the conveying belt 23 circulates between the driving roller 21 and the driven roller and conveys the recording medium placed on the upper surface thereof in the conveying direction F along the Y-axis direction. When the rotation of the roller 21 is stopped, the circulation between both rollers is stopped, and the conveyance of the recording medium is stopped. That is, the conveyance belt 23 is a platen according to the present invention.
The drive motor 22 rotates the drive roller 21 by a predetermined amount to transport the recording medium by a predetermined distance in the transport direction when the recording head 3 completes one-way scanning along the X-axis direction according to the control of the control device. When the recording head 3 starts scanning in the direction opposite to the scanning direction X and ends, the drive roller 21 is rotated again by a predetermined amount to transport the recording medium by a predetermined distance in the transport direction F and stop. The recording medium is so-called intermittently conveyed.
As the recording medium, it is possible to use resin films, metals, etc. in addition to paper and fabric.

As shown in FIG. 1, the frame 100 includes a rectangular main body portion 101 extending along the X-axis direction, a first base portion 102 that supports one end portion in the X-axis direction of the main body portion 101, and the main body portion 101. And the second base portion 103 that supports the other end portion in the X-axis direction.
The first base portion 102 supports one end portion of the main body portion 101 from below while storing and holding the moisturizing unit 7 therein. Further, the second base portion 103 supports the other end portion of the main body portion 101 from below while storing and holding the maintenance portion 6 therein. The moisturizing unit 7 and the maintenance unit 6 are arranged apart from the conveyor belt 23 so as to sandwich the conveyor belt 23 in the scanning direction.
The main body 101 stores and holds a pair of guide rails 51, 51 of the scanning device 5, which will be described later, in the X-axis direction, and the carriage 4 extends along the X-axis inside the main body 101. Be transported.
Further, the first base portion 102 and the second base portion 103 are disposed on both sides in the X-axis direction with the above-described transport device 2 interposed therebetween, and the main body portion 101 is installed above the transport device 2. Accordingly, it is possible to form an image by ejecting ink from each recording head 3 mounted on the carriage 4 while conveying the carriage 4 in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium by the conveying device 2.

  The scanning device 5 includes a pair of bar-shaped guide rails 51 and 51 that are supported so as to extend along the X-axis direction inside the main body 101 of the frame 100. The pair of guide rails 51 and 51 are provided so as to straddle the upper portion of the transport belt 23 of the transport device 2. A box-shaped carriage 4 is supported on the guide rails 51 and 51 so as to be reciprocally movable along the X-axis direction.

The carriage 4 is a substantially rectangular casing with an open top, and a plurality of recording heads 3 are mounted on the bottom plate. As shown in FIG. 1, the carriage 4 has arm portions 41 and 41 extending toward both sides in the Y-axis direction at the upper part of both side surfaces in the Y-axis direction, and the arm portions 41 and 41 are respectively linear guides. Is placed on the upper portion of the guide rails 51, 51, and can slide on the guide rails 51, 51 along the X-axis direction.
A linear motor (not shown) is provided between the guide rails 51 and 51 and the arm portions 41 and 41 of the carriage 4. That is, each guide rail 51, 51 is equipped with a linear motor stator, each arm 41, 41 of the carriage 4 is equipped with a mover, and the carriage 4 is controlled by current control of the stator side coil. A transport operation along the X-axis direction is given. The carriage 4 scans the recording medium placed on the conveyor belt 23 during image formation. When maintenance is performed, the carriage 4 moves away from the transport belt 23 to a position facing the maintenance unit 6 and stops at that position until the maintenance is completed. When waiting, the carriage 4 moves to a position facing the moisturizing unit 7 and waits at that position until image formation starts.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of the carriage 4 as viewed from below. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of the carriage 4 as viewed from the front. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the inkjet recording apparatus 1, Y (yellow), Lm (light magenta), Or (orange), M (magenta), Bk (black), Bl (blue), Lk ( Nine head groups (indicated by two-dot chain lines in FIG. 2) are mounted so as to correspond to the nine colors of light black), C (cyan), and Lc (light cyan), respectively. In each head group, nine recording heads 3 are arranged in a staggered manner along the Y-axis direction. As a result, a total of 81 recording heads 3 are mounted on the carriage 4. On the ejection surface 31 of each recording head 3, a number of nozzles 32 that eject ink are formed along the Y-axis direction. Each recording head 3 ejects ink from the nozzles 32 during both forward and backward movements of the carriage 4 based on ejection control from the control device.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of the moisturizing unit 7, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating an internal configuration of the moisturizing unit 7. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the moisturizing unit 7 includes a plate-like contact portion 71 that can be in close contact with the ejection surfaces 31 of the plurality of recording heads 3, a moisturizing liquid storage portion 72 that supports the contact portion 71, and a contact An elevating unit 73 that elevates and lowers the moisturizing liquid storage unit 72 so that the unit 71 is in contact with and separated from the ejection surfaces 31 of the plurality of recording heads 3 is provided.

  The contact portion 71 is formed in a plate shape from an elastic body such as rubber or resin. In the contact portion 71, a plurality of openings 711 communicating with the inside of the moisturizing liquid storage portion 72 are formed so as to correspond to the plurality of recording heads 3, respectively. The opening 711 is formed in a size that exposes the nozzle 32 in a state of surrounding the periphery of the large number of nozzles 32 when the contact portion 71 contacts the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3.

  The moisturizing liquid storage unit 72 supports the support plate 722 from the inside of the main body 721, a box-shaped main body 721 that is open at the top, a support plate 722 that covers the top of the main body 721 and supports the contact portion 71. And a support shaft 723. A moisturizing liquid 74 is stored inside the main body 721. In the support plate 722, through holes 724 that allow the openings 711 of the contact portions 71 to communicate with the inside of the main body 721 are formed corresponding to the openings 711. The flatness of the contact portion 71 is maintained by the support plate 722 and the support shaft 723. In particular, when the support shaft 723 is disposed around the through-hole 724, the opening 711 is prevented from hanging down, and the adhesion between the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3 and the contact portion 71 is maintained for a long time. Is possible.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the moisturizing liquid storage section 72 is attached with a tubular member 75 that forms a flow path communicating with the inside of the moisturizing liquid storage section 72. The tubular member 75 can be deformed, and supplies / discharges the moisturizing liquid 74 to / from the moisturizing liquid storage part 72. One end of the tubular member 75 is attached to the bottom of the main body 721 in the moisturizing liquid reservoir 72, and the other end is a free end. When the moisturizing liquid 74 is supplied, the other end of the tubular member 75 is turned upward, and the moisturizing liquid 74 is injected into the other end, whereby the moisturizing liquid 74 is supplied into the main body 721. After supply, the stopper is kept with the other end facing upward. When the moisturizing liquid 74 is discharged, as shown in FIG. 7, the other end of the tubular member 75 faces downward, and a waste liquid tank is connected to the other end, so that the moisturizing liquid 74 in the main body 721 is disposed in the waste liquid tank. To be discharged.

As shown in FIG. 5, the elevating part 73 includes a plurality of leg parts 731 that are rotatably supported by the first base part 102, and a link member 732 that is rotatably attached to the upper parts of the plurality of leg parts 731. An air cylinder 733 for raising / lowering the leg portion 731 via the link member 732, a base 734 supported by the leg portion 731, and a spring that is placed on the base 734 and supports the moisturizing liquid reservoir 72. Etc., and an elastic member 735. The base end portion of the air cylinder 733 is rotatably supported by the first base portion 102, and the distal end portion is rotatably supported by the upper end portion of the leg portion 731. When the air cylinder 733 is extended and the leg portion 731 is tilted, the base 734 is lowered, so that the moisturizing liquid storage portion 72 is also lowered and the contact portion 71 is detached from the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3. To do.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, when the air cylinder 733 contracts and the leg portion 731 rises, the base 734 rises, so that the moisturizing liquid storage portion 72 also rises following this, and the contact portion 71 becomes the recording head. 3 discharge surface 31 is contacted. Here, when the contact portion 71 comes into contact with the discharge surface 31, the elastic member 735 contracts to relieve the impact force, thereby preventing the discharge surface 31 from being damaged. Further, when the contact portion 71 and the discharge surface 31 are in contact, the elastic restoring force of the elastic member 735 acts on the contact portion 71, so that the contact portion 71 and the discharge surface 31 are securely brought into close contact with each other.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
When waiting, the control device controls the linear motor to move the carriage 4 to a position facing the moisture retention unit 7. Thereafter, the control device contracts the air cylinder 733 and raises the leg portion 731. Along with this, the base 734 and the moisturizing liquid storage part 72 rise, and the contact part 71 contacts the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3. As a result, the nozzle 32 of the recording head 3 communicates with the internal space of the moisturizing liquid reservoir 72 via the opening 711, so that the moisture of the moisturizing liquid 74 is retained.
On the other hand, when the image is formed, the control device extends the air cylinder 733 and tilts the leg portion 731. Along with this, the base 734 and the moisturizing liquid storage part 72 are lowered, and the contact part 71 is detached from the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3. Then, the control device controls the linear motor and the recording head 3 to execute image formation.

  At the time of moisturizing, the ink drips from the nozzles 32 of the recording head 3 and the moisturizing liquid 74 in the moisturizing liquid storage section 72 is soiled. When the degree of contamination progresses and the moisturizing liquid 74 needs to be replaced, the other end of the tubular member 75 is turned downward, and the waste liquid tank is connected to the other end, and then the moisturizing liquid 74 in the main body 721 is transferred to the waste liquid tank. Let it drain. After the discharge, the other end of the tubular member 75 is turned upward, and a new moisturizing liquid 74 is injected into the other end, thereby supplying the moisturizing liquid 74 into the main body 721.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the contact portions 71 that are in close contact with the ejection surfaces 31 of the plurality of recording heads 3 have the openings 711 that communicate with the moisturizing liquid storage portion 72 in each of the plurality of recording heads 3. Since a plurality of them are formed correspondingly, the recording head 3 can be moisturized only by the contact portion 71 without providing a lip-shaped cap member for each recording head 3.
And since the tubular member 75 (flow path) for supplying / discharging the moisturizing liquid 74 to / from the moisturizing liquid storing part 72 communicates with the inside of the moisturizing liquid storing part 72, one tubular member 75 is provided. Even if it exists, the moisturizing liquid 74 with respect to all the recording heads 3 can be supplied / discharged.
For these reasons, the increased moisture retention performance of the recording head 3 can be maintained without using a lip-shaped cap member as in the prior art, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate.
For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the entire plate-like contact portion 71 is formed of an elastic body has been described as an example. However, the plate-shaped contact portion 71 is formed of a highly rigid metal and the surface thereof is covered with an elastic body. It is good also as a contact part. Even in this case, since the elastic body is in close contact with the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3, high moisture retention can be maintained. In addition, since the flatness can be maintained by the contact portion having high rigidity, the support plate 722 and the support shaft 723 described above can be omitted.
If the adhesion to the ejection surface 31 is to be ensured, only the surface portion of the contact portion 71 that contacts the ejection surface 31 of the recording head 3 needs to be formed from an elastic body.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet recording device 2 Conveying device 3 Recording head 4 Carriage 5 Scanning device 6 Maintenance unit 7 Moisturizing unit 23 Conveying belt (platen)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 31 Discharge surface 32 Nozzle 51 Guide rail 71 Contact part 72 Moisturizing liquid storage part 73 Lifting part 74 Moisturizing liquid 75 Tubular member (flow path)
100 Frame 711 Opening 721 Body 722 Support Plate 723 Support Shaft 724 Through Hole 731 Leg 732 Link Member 733 Air Cylinder 734 Base 735 Elastic Member

Claims (1)

A plurality of recording heads for ejecting ink;
A guide rail extending along a scanning direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium;
A carriage mounted with the plurality of recording heads arranged in the scanning direction and reciprocatingly moved in the scanning direction by the guide rail;
A moisturizing unit that is disposed at a position away from the platen that supports the recording medium in the scanning direction and that moisturizes the plurality of recording heads;
The moisturizing unit is
A plate-like contact portion that can be in close contact with the ejection surfaces of the plurality of recording heads;
A moisturizing liquid storage part that supports the contact part and stores the moisturizing liquid therein;
An elevating unit that elevates and lowers the moisturizing liquid storage unit so that the contact unit is in contact with and away from the ejection surfaces of the plurality of recording heads;
A fluid passage that communicates with the inside of the moisturizing liquid storage section and supplies / discharges the moisturizing liquid to the moisturizing liquid storage section;
The inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the contact portion includes a plurality of openings communicating with the moisturizing liquid storage portion corresponding to the plurality of recording heads.

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