JP2008207378A - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an inappropriate contact between an electrically-printed board of an ink cartridge and the FPC of a carriage by a convenient structure in an inkjet printer. <P>SOLUTION: The ink cartridge 2 has a recording head 21 discharging ink and an electrically-printed board 23 forming a contact portion 23a to supply electricity to the recording head 21. The carriage 3 removably carrying the ink cartridge 2 has an FPC33 forming a contact portion 33a energized by butting against the contact portion 23a. A protective sheet 24 covering the contact portions 23a and the recording head 21 is separably applied to the ink cartridge 2. An adsorption portion 24a adsorbing foreign matter and stains adhering to the contact portion 33a is formed on a part of the surface of the protective sheet 24 which the contact portion 33a butts against. Pulling and separating the protective sheet 24 with the ink cartridge 2 mounted on the carriage 3 removes foreign matter and stains adhering to the contact portion 33a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention drives a carriage that transports in the main scanning direction while supporting a replaceable ink cartridge, and discharges ink from the recording head to form an image on recording paper that is transported in the sub-scanning direction inside the housing. The present invention relates to an ink jet printer, and more particularly to an ink cartridge thereof.

  In general, in an ink jet printer, an ink cartridge filled with ink is mounted on a carriage that reciprocates in the main scanning direction, and a recording head provided on the ink cartridge is linked to the movement of the ink cartridge conveyed thereby. By controlling and discharging ink, an image is formed on the recording paper (hereinafter referred to as printing). The ink cartridge is configured to be detachable from the carriage. When the ink cartridge is attached to the carriage, a contact portion that an electric printed circuit board provided on the ink cartridge and an FPC (flexible printed wiring board) provided on the carriage have each other. Are electrically connected to each other so that various information for printing such as the remaining amount of ink can be exchanged and the power of the recording head can be supplied.

  By the way, in such an ink jet printer, when foreign matter or dirt such as paper dust or dust adheres to the ink discharge part formed in the recording head, or the ink in the discharge part is dried and thickened or fixed, The ink discharge port may be clogged, resulting in discharge failure (including non-discharge). Furthermore, contact failure may occur due to foreign matter or dirt adhering to or scratching the contact portions of the electric printed circuit board and the FPC. In the case described above, there is a possibility that a problem occurs in the ink ejection operation of the recording head, and the printing is not performed accurately. For this reason, development has been developed in which an ink cartridge is provided with a protective sheet covering the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board and the recording head in a peelable manner, and with a cleaning means for removing ink droplets and foreign matters adhering to the ink ejection port. Has been.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer that is detachably bonded to an ink discharge port forming surface of a recording head, and a non-stick region that is surrounded by the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer and faces the discharge port and its peripheral portion. Inkjet printers are disclosed in which a protective sheet having a mark is affixed to an ink discharge port forming surface of a recording head to prevent evaporation of ink from the ink discharge port.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, an impact absorbing member that protects an elastic latch claw that is a mechanism for attaching and detaching the ink cartridge is provided on a protective sheet that is attached to the ink cartridge, thereby preventing ink leakage from the ink discharge port and elastic latch. An ink jet printer that protects the nails from external impacts is disclosed.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a wiper for cleaning a wiper in order to keep the wiper always clean in an inkjet printer having a mechanism for wiping and cleaning an ink discharge port forming surface of a recording head mainly with a flexible wiper. An ink jet printer is disclosed in which a cleaner is detachably provided in the vicinity of a discharge port forming surface of an ink cartridge so that the ink cartridge can be replaced when the ink cartridge is replaced.

However, even the conventional ink jet printer as described above cannot remove foreign matters and dirt adhering to the contact portion of the FPC of the carriage, and there is a problem that poor contact between the electric printed circuit board and the FPC occurs. . Although a cradle that supports the ink cartridge provided on the carriage is provided with a cleaning mechanism for removing foreign matter and dirt attached to each contact portion, a structure that can clean the contact portion when the cartridge is set has been devised. The structure becomes complicated and it is difficult to actually produce the product.
JP 2003-266720 A JP-A-8-230205 JP-A-11-188892

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem. With a simple configuration, the discharge failure due to clogging at the ink discharge port of the recording head is prevented, and the electric printed circuit board of the ink cartridge and the FPC of the carriage. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printer capable of printing accurately by preventing poor contact with the printer.

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is directed to an ink tank that stores ink, a recording head that discharges ink stored in the ink tank toward a lower recording sheet, and power supply to the recording head. An ink cartridge having an electrical printed circuit board on which a contact portion for forming is formed, a carriage disposed inside the housing and detachably mounted on the ink cartridge, and a drive mechanism for reciprocating the carriage in the main scanning direction A recording paper transport mechanism for transporting recording paper in a sub-scanning direction substantially orthogonal to the main scanning direction, a paper feed tray loaded with recording paper transported into the housing by the recording paper transport mechanism, A paper discharge tray through which recording paper is discharged from the inside of the housing by the recording paper transport mechanism, a control circuit for controlling the recording paper transport mechanism, the drive mechanism, and the recording head. A contact portion of the electric printed circuit board is provided at a lower portion of one side surface of the ink cartridge, and the carriage is in contact with a side surface of the ink cartridge provided with the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board. A carriage main body having a contact surface, a cradle coupled to the carriage main body and supporting the ink cartridge, and a contact portion that is brought into contact with the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board when the ink cartridge is mounted. FPC (flexible printed wiring board) formed with the FPC, the contact portion of the FPC is provided below the cartridge contact surface of the carriage body, and the ink cartridge has a contact portion of the electric printed circuit board. And an ink jet to which a protective sheet for protecting the recording head is detachably attached In the printer, the protective sheet covers the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board and the recording head, and one end of the protective sheet is on the opposite side of the cartridge contact surface with the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage. It is arranged so as to protrude upward so that it can be pulled upward, and in the surface of the protective sheet, the portion where the contact portion of the FPC abuts is adsorbed to adsorb foreign matter and dirt adhering to the contact portion. A portion is formed, and the cradle is formed to support a portion of the ink cartridge to which the protective sheet is not attached,
With the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage, one end side of the protective sheet is pulled upward to peel off the protective sheet, so that foreign matters and dirt attached to the contact portion of the FPC are removed by the suction portion. It is a thing.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge comprising a recording head for ejecting ink toward a lower recording paper, and an electric printed circuit board on which a contact portion for supplying power to the recording head is formed, and the electric printed circuit board Having an FPC (flexible printed wiring board) formed with a contact portion that is electrically connected to the contact portion, and a carriage on which the ink cartridge is detachably mounted, and the carriage is reciprocated in the main scanning direction. In the ink jet printer in which a protective sheet covering the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board and the recording head is detachably attached to the ink cartridge, of the surface of the protective sheet of the FPC. An adsorbing part that adsorbs foreign matter and dirt adhering to the contact part is formed at the part where the contact part abuts. Ri, while wearing the ink cartridge to the carriage, by peeling tension the protective sheet, in which by the suction unit and to remove foreign matter and dirt adhered to the contact portion of the FPC.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the one end side of the protective sheet is opposite to the cartridge contact surface in a state where the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, and protrudes upwardly so as to be pulled upward. It is what.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the surface of the protective sheet affixed to the ink cartridge, the portion where the contact portion of the FPC abuts is formed with an adsorbing portion that adsorbs foreign matter and dirt adhering to the contact portion. Therefore, until the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, the electric printed circuit board is protected, and with the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage, one end of the protective sheet is pulled upward to peel off the protective sheet. The part adsorbs foreign matter and dirt adhering to the contact part of the FPC, and the foreign matter and dirt on the contact part can be removed. For this reason, it is possible to prevent poor contact between the electric printed circuit board and the FPC, and reliably transfer various information required for printing from the control circuit and supply power to the recording head. Ink can be accurately ejected onto paper. In addition, when the protective sheet is peeled off, one end side of the protective sheet is arranged so as to protrude upward so that the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage and opposite to the cartridge contact surface. , Easy to pull the protective sheet, good workability. Furthermore, since the cradle is formed so as to support a portion of the ink cartridge to which the protective sheet is not attached, no extra force is applied to the protective sheet when the ink cartridge is mounted, and the protective sheet is easily peeled off. . In addition, since the protective sheet covers and sticks to the recording head, foreign matters such as paper dust and dust and dirt adhere to the ink discharge portion formed on the recording head, and the ink in the discharge portion dries and thickens. Or it does not stick. Therefore, ejection failure due to clogging at the ink ejection port can be prevented.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the surface of the protective sheet affixed to the ink cartridge, the portion where the contact portion of the FPC abuts is formed with an adsorbing portion that adsorbs foreign matter and dirt adhering to the contact portion. Therefore, until the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, the electric printed circuit board is protected, and with the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage, the one end side of the protective sheet is pulled and the protective sheet is peeled off to The foreign matter and dirt adhering to the contact portion of the FPC can be adsorbed, and the foreign matter and dirt on the contact portion can be removed. Therefore, contact failure between the electric printed circuit board and the FPC can be prevented. In addition, since the protective sheet covers and sticks to the recording head, foreign matters such as paper dust and dust and dirt adhere to the ink discharge portion formed on the recording head, and the ink in the discharge portion dries and thickens. Or it does not stick. Therefore, ejection failure due to clogging at the ink ejection port can be prevented.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the one end side of the protective sheet is disposed on the opposite side of the cartridge contact surface in a state in which the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage so as to protrude upwardly. When peeling off the protective sheet, it is easy to pull the protective sheet and the workability is good.

  An ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an ink jet printer according to this embodiment. This ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer) 1 includes a carriage 3 in which an ink cartridge 2 having a recording head 21 for ejecting ink on its lower surface is detachably mounted in a main scanning direction (indicated by an arrow X in the figure). By reciprocating, an image is formed (printed) on the recording paper 10 conveyed in the sub-scanning direction (indicated by an arrow Y in the figure) orthogonal to the main scanning direction. In this printer 11, the above-described ink cartridge 2 and carriage 3, a shaft 12 whose main scanning direction is arranged in the longitudinal direction on the back side of the carriage 3, and a driving force are applied to the carriage 3. A driving mechanism 4 that reciprocates in the main scanning direction, a recording paper transport mechanism 5 that transports the recording paper 10 in the sub-scanning direction, and a position in the main scanning direction of the carriage 3 are used along the main scanning direction. And an encoder scale 13 and a control circuit 6 for controlling various operations of the printer. Below the carriage 3, a platen 14 that supports the recording paper 10 conveyed inside the housing 11 is provided. Further, a paper feed tray 7 on which the recording paper 10 to be printed is loaded is provided on the rear surface of the housing 11, and a paper discharge for discharging the printed recording paper 10 is provided below the front surface of the housing 11. A tray 8 is provided. The recording paper 10 is loaded in a state of being positioned on the paper feed tray 7 according to its size by two guide claws 71 provided on the paper feed tray 7 so as to be slidable in the main scanning direction.

  The drive mechanism 4 includes an annular belt 41 arranged along the main scanning direction in the printer casing 11, a DC motor 42 for rotating the belt 41, and the like. A part of the belt 41 is connected to the rear of the carriage 3. Therefore, by rotating the belt 41 by the DC motor 42, it is possible to apply a driving force to the carriage 3 to reciprocate in the main scanning direction. Note that the drive mechanism 4 is not limited to this configuration, and may be one using a stepping motor or the like, for example.

  The recording paper transport mechanism 5 is sent to the inside of the housing 11 by the motor 51 as a power source, the pick roller 52 for sending the recording paper 10 from the paper feed tray 7 to the inside of the housing 11, and the pick roller 52. The recording paper 10 includes a transport roller 53 for transporting the recording paper 10 in the sub-scanning direction inside the housing 11, and a paper discharge roller 54 for discharging the recording paper 10 on which the image is formed to the paper discharge tray 8. . The motor 51 is configured to rotate the pick roller 52, the transport roller 53, and the paper discharge roller 54 via, for example, gears. The transport roller 53 is provided on the upstream side in the transport direction of the recording paper 10 from the position where the ink is ejected from the recording head 21 onto the recording paper 10, and the discharge roller 54 is in the transport direction from the position. It is provided on the downstream side. Each of the transport roller 53 and the paper discharge roller 54 includes two interlocking rollers that are in contact with an upper surface on which an image of the recording paper 10 is formed and a roller that is in contact with the lower surface. Driven. The recording paper 10 is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction when these rollers rotate in contact with the recording paper 10.

  The control circuit 6 is configured to be controlled by software of a device driver that operates on an external personal computer. Specifically, the print mechanism for forming an image on the recording paper 10 is executed by controlling the drive mechanism 4, the recording paper transport mechanism 5, the recording head 21 and the like based on data and commands transmitted from the personal computer. can do. In addition to the print function, the control circuit 6 has a function of decompressing JPEG-compressed image data transmitted from a digital still camera or the like to form an image on the recording paper 10, and a housing 11. It may have a function of operating a predetermined function in response to an operation button or the like provided on the device being operated by the user.

  FIG. 2 shows an ink cartridge of the ink jet printer according to this embodiment. The ink cartridge 2 includes an ink tank 22 that stores ink, a recording head 21 that discharges the ink stored in the ink tank 22 toward the recording paper 10 below, and a contact portion that supplies power to the recording head 21. It has an electric printed circuit board 23 on which 23a is formed. Furthermore, a protective sheet 24 that protects the contact portion 23a of the electric printed circuit board 23 and the recording head 21 is attached to the ink cartridge 2 so as to be peelable in a new state before use.

  Two ink cartridges 2 are mounted on the carriage 3, for example, a cartridge in which color ink such as cyan, magenta, and yellow is sealed and a cartridge in which black ink is sealed. That is, this printer is configured to be able to form a color image on the recording paper 10. The configuration of the ink cartridge 2 mounted on the carriage 3 is not limited to this. For example, black ink and color ink are sealed in one ink cartridge 2, and color ink is also provided for each color. It may be enclosed separately. In addition, this printer is equipped with only the ink cartridge 2 in which black ink is sealed in the carriage 3, and may be a printer that forms, for example, a gray scale image.

  The recording head 21 is provided on the lower surface of the ink cartridge 2 so as to be exposed from the carriage 3 and opposed to the lower platen 14 in a state where the ink cartridge 2 is mounted on the carriage 3. Ink is ejected from the ink ejection port 21a formed on the recording paper 10 to a portion of the recording paper 10 supported by the platen 14 shown in FIG. Thus, in this embodiment, since the recording head 21 is built in the ink cartridge 2, the recording head 21 is newly tuned every time the ink cartridge 2 is replaced with a new one. Accordingly, when used for a long period of time, an image with higher image quality than that of a normal ink jet printer in which the recording head 21 is provided on the carriage 3 can be obtained.

  The contact portion 23a of the electric printed circuit board 23 is provided at a lower portion of one side surface of the ink cartridge 2, and is electrically contacted with a contact portion 33a of an FPC (flexible printed wiring board) 33 provided on the carriage 3 described later. Connected to each other, and can exchange various information for printing and supply power to the recording head 21.

  FIG. 3 shows the carriage of the ink jet printer according to this embodiment. The carriage 3 includes a carriage body 31 having a cartridge contact surface 31 a that contacts the side surface of the ink cartridge 2 provided with the contact portion 23 a of the electric printed circuit board 23, and a cradle that is coupled to the carriage body 31 and supports the ink cartridge 2. 32, an FPC 33 in which a contact portion 33 a that is brought into contact with the contact portion 23 a of the electric printed circuit board 23 is formed, and a cartridge fixing mechanism 34 for fixing the ink cartridge 2. 2 is configured to be detachably mounted.

  The carriage body 31 is slidably fitted to the shaft 12 and is connected to a part of the belt 41 of the drive mechanism 4 so as to be movable along the shaft 12 in the main scanning direction. A photocoupler (not shown) is mounted on the carriage main body 31, and the photocoupler scans the encoder scale 13 having a predetermined resolution shown in FIG. It is configured to be detectable. The contact portion 33a of the FPC 33 is provided below the cartridge contact surface 31a of the carriage main body 31 so as to contact the contact portion 23a of the electric printed circuit board 23 when the ink cartridge 2 is mounted.

  The cartridge fixing mechanism 34 includes a plunger member 34 a that presses the ink cartridge 2 against the bottom surface of the cradle 32, a plunger coil spring 34 b that biases the plunger member 34 a, a latch member 34 c that presses the ink cartridge 2 against the carriage body 31, A latch coil spring 34d that urges the latch member 34c toward the lower portion of the cradle 32, a latch plate spring 34e that urges the latch member 34c toward the carriage body 31, and a carriage body 31 that is rotatable. The lid member 34f covers the upper part of the ink cartridge 2, and the lid member 34f is locked in a closed state. The lid member 34f is rotated by the user to release the lock of the lid member 34f. . The plunger member 34a, the plunger coil spring 34b, the latch member 34c, and the latch coil spring 34d are incorporated in the lid member 34f.

  Next, the protective sheet 24 attached to the ink cartridge 2 described above will be specifically described. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A, the protective sheet 24 covers the contact portion 23a of the electric printed circuit board 23 and the recording head 21, and the ink cartridge 2 is mounted on the carriage 3 at one end side of the protective sheet 24. In this state, the cartridge is disposed so as to protrude on the opposite side of the cartridge contact surface 31a so as to be pulled upward. Thereby, it can prevent that a foreign material, a stain | pollution | contamination, and a damage | wound are attached to the electric printed circuit board 23. FIG. Further, foreign matters such as paper dust and dust and dirt do not adhere to the ink discharge portion formed in the recording head 21, and the ink in the discharge portion does not dry out to increase the viscosity or stick. Therefore, ejection failure due to clogging at the ink ejection port 21a can be prevented.

  The protective sheet 24 is formed of, for example, a film-based substrate such as polyvinyl chloride, polyolefin, or polyester, and an adhesive layer (illustrated) composed of a rubber-based or acrylic-based adhesive on the pasting surface. Not) is formed. The adhesive layer is disposed so as to surround the adhesive layer so that the adhesive does not adhere to the contact portion 23a and the ink discharge port 21a when the protective sheet 24 is attached. An adsorption portion 24a that adsorbs foreign matter and dirt attached to the contact portion 33a is formed in a portion of the surface of the protective sheet 24 where the contact portion 33a of the FPC 33 contacts. For this adsorbing portion 24a, for example, a bundle of raised fiber materials having high adsorbability, a nonwoven fabric formed of ultrafine fibers having a fiber thickness of about 1 to 30 μm, and the like are used. By using such a material, fine foreign matters and dirt adhering to the contact portion 33a of the FPC 33 having the uneven surface can be adsorbed and scraped off.

  Next, the peeling method of the protection sheet 24 is demonstrated. First, after unlocking the lid member 34f by the lid open lever 34g, the lid member 34f is opened upward, and the ink cartridge 2 is mounted on the carriage 3. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3B, the cradle 32 is formed to support a portion of the ink cartridge 2 to which the protective sheet 24 is not attached. The formed lid portion and the peripheral edge of the lower surface where the recording head 21 is not provided are supported. Next, with the ink cartridge 2 mounted on the carriage 3, a force is applied in the direction of arrow Z in the figure to bring the suction portion 24 a into contact with the contact portion 33 a of the FPC 33 and to move one end side of the protective sheet 24 upward. The tensile protection sheet 24 is peeled off. Thereby, the adsorption | suction part 24a can adsorb | suck the foreign material and dirt which adhered to the contact part 33a of FPC33, and can remove the foreign material and dirt of this contact part 33a. Therefore, contact failure between the electric printed circuit board 23 and the FPC 33 can be prevented, and various information required for printing from the control circuit 6 can be exchanged and power of the recording head 21 can be reliably supplied. The ink can be accurately discharged onto the recording paper 10 by controlling. Further, when the protective sheet 24 is peeled off, the protective sheet 24 is sandwiched between the cradle 32 and the ink cartridge 2 and does not receive extra resistance. As described above, one end side of the protective sheet 24 can be pulled upward. Since the protective sheet 24 is easily pulled, the series of operations can be performed easily and quickly.

  In addition, this invention is not restricted to the structure of the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible in the range which does not change the meaning of invention. For example, the cartridge fixing mechanism 34 of the carriage 3 is not limited to the above-described configuration, and ink is accurately ejected onto the recording paper 10 while suppressing the backlash of the recording head 21 due to the reciprocating movement of the ink cartridge 2 mounted on the carriage 3. As long as the ink cartridge 2 is fixed to the carriage 3 main body, the ink cartridge 2 may be used. In addition, with the configuration of the cartridge fixing mechanism 34, one end side of the protective sheet 24 is opposite to the cartridge contact surface 31 a in the state where the ink cartridge 2 is mounted on the carriage 3, and on the lower surface of the ink cartridge 2. The protective sheet 24 may be peeled off by being arranged so as to protrude along the substantially horizontal direction along one end and pulling at one end thereof in the substantially horizontal direction.

1 is a perspective view showing an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an ink cartridge of the inkjet printer. (A) is sectional drawing which shows the state which mounted | worn the same cartridge in the carriage, (b) is AA sectional drawing of Fig.3 (a).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer 2 Ink cartridge 3 Carriage 4 Drive mechanism 5 Recording paper conveyance mechanism 6 Control circuit 7 Paper feed tray 8 Paper discharge tray 10 Recording paper 21 Recording head 21a Ink discharge port 22 Ink tank 23 Electric printed circuit board 23a Contact part 24 Protective sheet 24a Suction part 31 Carriage body 31a Cartridge contact surface 32 Cradle 33 FPC
33a Contact part

Claims (3)

An ink tank that stores ink; a recording head that discharges ink stored in the ink tank toward a lower recording sheet; and an electric printed circuit board on which a contact portion for supplying power to the recording head is formed. An ink cartridge;
A carriage that is arranged inside the housing and on which the ink cartridge is detachably mounted;
A drive mechanism for reciprocating the carriage in the main scanning direction;
A recording paper transport mechanism for transporting the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction substantially orthogonal to the main scanning direction;
A paper feed tray loaded with a recording paper to be transported into the housing by the recording paper transport mechanism;
A paper discharge tray from which recording paper is discharged from the inside of the housing by the recording paper transport mechanism;
A control circuit for controlling the recording paper transport mechanism, the drive mechanism and the recording head;
The contact portion of the electric printed circuit board is provided at a lower portion of one side surface of the ink cartridge,
The carriage includes a carriage main body having a cartridge contact surface that contacts a side surface of the ink cartridge provided with a contact portion of the electric printed circuit board, a cradle coupled to the carriage main body and supporting the ink cartridge, and the ink cartridge. FPC (flexible printed wiring board) formed with a contact portion that conducts by contacting with the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board,
The contact portion of the FPC is provided below the cartridge contact surface of the carriage body,
In the ink cartridge, in the ink jet printer in which a protective sheet for protecting the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board and the recording head is detachably attached,
The protective sheet covers the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board and the recording head, and one end side of the protective sheet is on the opposite side of the cartridge contact surface in a state where the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, It is arranged so that it can be pulled upwards,
Of the surface of the protective sheet, a portion where the contact portion of the FPC abuts is formed with an adsorbing portion that adsorbs foreign matter and dirt attached to the contact portion,
The cradle is formed to support a portion of the ink cartridge where the protective sheet is not attached,
With the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage, one end side of the protective sheet is pulled upward to peel off the protective sheet, so that foreign matters and dirt attached to the contact portion of the FPC are removed by the suction portion. An inkjet printer characterized by that. An ink cartridge having a recording head that discharges ink toward a lower recording paper, and an electric printed circuit board on which a contact portion for supplying power to the recording head is formed;
A carriage having an FPC (flexible printed wiring board) formed with a contact portion that is electrically connected to the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board, and the ink cartridge is detachably mounted thereon;
A drive mechanism for reciprocating the carriage in the main scanning direction,
In the ink cartridge, the protective sheet covering the contact portion of the electric printed circuit board and the recording head is attached to the ink cartridge so as to be peelable,
Of the surface of the protective sheet, a portion where the contact portion of the FPC abuts is formed with an adsorbing portion that adsorbs foreign matter and dirt attached to the contact portion,
An ink jet printer, wherein the protective sheet is pulled and peeled off while the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage to remove foreign matter and dirt attached to the contact portion of the FPC by the suction portion.   3. The inkjet according to claim 2, wherein one end side of the protective sheet protrudes so as to be able to be pulled upward on the opposite side of the cartridge contact surface in a state where the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage. Printer.

Images