JP4240600B2 - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer, and more particularly to an ink jet printer characterized by an operation of wiping off ink adhering to an ink discharge surface of an ink jet head.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet printer is known that includes a wiper blade made of an elastic material such as rubber for wiping off ink adhering to an ink ejection surface of an ink jet head.
[0003]
In such a conventional ink jet printer, in the ink wiping operation by the wiper blade, the ink jet head is moved in a state where the ink discharge surface of the ink jet head is in contact with the wiper blade, and the ink adhered to the ink discharge surface by the wiper blade, etc. It is configured to wipe off.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in such a conventional ink jet printer, when the ink discharge surface is completely wiped with the wiper blade, the wiped ink is scattered around when the wiper blade returns elastically from the bent state to the unbent state. This causes a problem that the inside of the printer is soiled.
[0005]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent ink wiped off from the ink discharge surface of an inkjet head from being scattered to the surroundings in an ink wiping operation using a wiper blade.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet surface of the ink jet head is hermetically sucked and purged, and a lift mechanism for raising and lowering the purge cap with respect to the ink discharge surface. pulling in an ink jet printer having a wiper blade for wiping the ink adhering to the ink ejection surface, which is purged by dicapped, a blade holder for holding the wiper blade, the blade holder obliquely downward - When the path A tension member and a cradle for receiving the blade holder; the blade holder is lifted in conjunction with the lifting operation of the purge cap by the lifting mechanism and then received by the cradle to be installed at an ink wiping position; , before the blade holder Ink wiping contact is not the ink ejection surface in a state of being installed in the wiper blade at a position moved relative to the direction wiping ink and said wiper blade and said ink-jet head by the wiper blade to move said relative Stopping immediately before completely wiping the ink discharge surface, and then moving the inkjet head to remove the blade holder from the cradle to lower the blade holder by the pulling force of the pulling member . It is characterized by that.
[0007]
According to the ink jet printer of this aspect, when wiping the ink adhering to the ink ejection surface of the inkjet head after purging, the ink wiping operation is stopped immediately before the ink ejection surface is completely wiped by the wiper blade, Thereafter, the wiper blade is lowered to the lower standby position. As a result, the wiper blade bent by the ink wiping operation descends to the lower standby position while eliminating the bending, and the operation of scattering the wiped ink around by the elasticity is not performed. As a result, according to the ink jet printer of the first aspect, the ink wiped off from the ink ejection surface is not scattered around and the inside of the printer is not soiled.
[0008]
The ink jet printer according to claim 2, in the inkjet printer 請 Motomeko 1 wherein the microprotrusions provided on a side surface opposite to the purge cap of the blanking Redohoruda, the cradle, uppermost position the blanking Redohoruda In the middle of being lowered from the position, the fine protrusion is received by the upper surface, the blade holder is stopped at the ink discharge surface wiping position, and the lowering is executed by removing the fine protrusion from the cradle by moving the inkjet head. It is characterized by that.
[0009]
According to the ink jet printer of the second aspect, when the purge cap is raised to purge the ink discharge surface of the ink jet head, the wiper raising / lowering member is also raised, and the bottom surface of the blade holder is pushed upward so that the wiper blade is To rise. When the purge cap is lowered after the purge is completed, the wiper lifting member is also lowered, and the blade holder starts to descend. At this time, since the blade holder is pulled obliquely downward in the direction of the cradle by the pulling member, the minute protrusion provided on the side surface of the blade holder is received by the cradle during the lowering, and the wiper blade is Stop at the ink wiping position. In this state, by moving the ink jet head in the direction in which the ink jet head is brought into contact with the wiper blade, the wiping operation of the ink adhering to the ink ejection surface is executed. In this ink wiping operation, the movement of the inkjet head is stopped before the wiper blade completely wipes the ink discharge surface. Therefore, the ink wiping operation is completed in a state where the wiper blade remains bent and in contact with the ink ejection surface. After that, when the ink jet head is moved in the reverse direction, the wiper blade is pushed by the ink jet head and moved in a direction to remove the minute protrusions from the cradle. As a result, the wiper blade is pulled downward by the action of the pulling member and returns to the lower standby position. In the return operation to the lower standby position, the wiper blade descends while canceling the flexure, so the elastic flexure of the wiper blade is not restored and the wiped ink may be scattered around. Absent.
[0010]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet printer according to the second aspect , further comprising a stopper member that moves up and down together with the purge cap and contacts the ink jet head to stop the ink jet head at a position directly above the purge cap. It is characterized by.
[0011]
According to the ink jet printer of claim 3, since the ink jet head can be stopped at the position directly above the purge cap by the stopper member, the initial position when the ink jet head is moved is constant during the ink wiping operation after the purge. The operation of stopping the inkjet head immediately before the ink ejection surface is completely wiped by the wiper blade can be accurately executed.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the portable printer 1 according to the embodiment has a main body 3 that has a vertically long shape in a side view when installed on a table, and is provided at a lower portion on the back side of the main body 3. The paper PP inserted from the paper insertion opening 5 is configured to be printed by an internal printing mechanism while being discharged from a paper discharge opening 7 provided on the front side of the main body 3.
[0013]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printing mechanism includes a carriage 11 that moves in the width direction (Y direction) of the main body 3, inkjet heads 13 and 15 provided in the carriage 11, and an upper portion of the main body 3. Ink cartridges 17 and 19 that are detachably mounted on the printer, a carriage motor 21 that drives the carriage 11 in the Y direction, and a sheet PP for transporting the paper PP from the back side to the front side in the X direction shown in the figure. A line feed motor 23 and transport rollers 25 and 27 driven by the line feed motor 23 are provided. This printing mechanism is disposed at the lower part of the main body 3 as a whole so that the center of gravity of the portable printer 1 is lowered.
[0014]
Each of the ink cartridges 17 and 19 includes two ink packages 29 therein. The two ink packages 29 provided in the ink cartridge 17 are filled with two colors of black and magenta, respectively. The two ink packages 29 provided in the ink cartridge 19 are filled with two colors of yellow and cyan, respectively.
[0015]
The ink package 29 is composed of a bag body in which a plurality of polyethylene resin film sheets are stacked. The ink in the ink package 29 is configured to be supplied to the inkjet heads 13 and 15 via the ink extraction needle 31 and the ink supply tube 33.
[0016]
Further, in the portable printer 1 according to the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the ink ejection surface is covered at a predetermined position in the Y direction in order to prevent the inkjet heads 13 and 15 from drying when printing is not performed. Caps 35 and 37 are provided. The cap 35 on the left side of these caps 35 and 37 is used as a purge cap so that the ink discharge surface can be sucked by a suction pump 51 to be described later and the ink jet heads 13 and 15 can be purged. It is configured.
[0017]
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this purge operation is connected to the line feed motor 23 via a connecting mechanism 39 consisting of a gear and a clutch, and a maintenance cam 45 by a drive shaft 43 having a bevel gear 41 at the tip. It is executed by rotating. More specifically, the distal ends of rods 57 and 59 extending from the two pistons 53 and 55 in the suction pump 51 are respectively inserted into the inner and outer double cam grooves 47 and 49 formed on the upper surface of the maintenance cam 45. While being engaged, the negative pressure is generated in the cap 35 during one rotation of the maintenance cam 45 to suck ink, and the ink sucked by the suction pump 51 is transferred to the waste ink reservoir 61 of the cartridge 17. It is configured to perform a discharging operation. The rod 59 of the piston 55 arranged near the maintenance cam 45 is a hollow cylinder, and the rod 57 of the other piston 53 is slidably inserted therethrough.
[0018]
Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cam groove 63 is also formed on the side surface of the maintenance cam 45. The caps 35 and 37 are attached to a cap drive lever 67 having a cam follower 65 that engages with the cam groove 63. Accordingly, during the rotation of the maintenance cam 45, the caps 35 and 37 move from the lowered position to the raised position and return to the lowered position again along with the rocking movement of the cap drive lever 67. Will be executed. The ink suction described above is performed while the caps 35 and 37 are moved to the raised position.
[0019]
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a wiper blade 69 is disposed on the left side of the cap 35 to remove ink attached to the ink ejection surfaces of the inkjet heads 13 and 15. The wiper blade 69 is raised from the lowered position to the raised position by pushing up the blade holder 71 when the cap drive lever 67 is raised.
[0020]
Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the cap drive lever 67 is provided with a stopper 73 disposed between the caps 35 and 37 for positioning the carriage 11.
[0021]
Next, the raising and lowering operations of the caps 35 and 37, the wiper blade 69, and the stopper 73 will be described with reference to FIG. 7A and 7B show a state in which the caps 35 and 37, the wiper blade 69, and the stopper 73 are in the lowered position. In this state, the wiper push-up arm 75 provided on the cap drive lever 67 is not in contact with the blade holder 71.
[0022]
When the maintenance cam 45 starts to rotate, as shown in FIG. 7C, the cap drive lever 67 starts to rise, and the caps 35 and 37 and the stopper 73 rise together. Further, as shown in FIG. 7D, the wiper push-up arm 75 comes into contact with the bottom surface of the blade holder 71 along with this upward movement. As the maintenance cam 45 further rotates, the caps 35 and 37 and the stopper 73 are further raised and the wiper blade 69 is pushed up by the wiper push-up arm 75 as shown in FIGS. 7 (E) and 7 (F). To the ascending position.
[0023]
Next, the raising and lowering operations of the caps 35 and 37, the wiper blade 69, and the stopper 73 for purging the left inkjet head 13 and the control operation of the carriage 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, prior to the purge operation, the carriage 11 is moved to a position near the caps 35 and 37 as indicated by an arrow in FIG. Subsequently, the caps 35, 37 and the like are raised as shown by arrows in FIG. Then, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 9A, when the stopper 73 is raised to a predetermined position, the carriage 11 is further moved to the right, and as shown in FIG. The head 13 is brought into contact. In this state, the caps 35, 37 and the like are further raised as indicated by arrows.
[0024]
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10 (A), the caps 35, 37 and the like are raised to the most raised position, whereby the ink discharge surfaces of the inkjet heads 13, 15 are sealed with the caps 35, 37. In this state, as described above, the ink suction operation by the suction pump 51 is performed, and the purge operation for the left inkjet head 13 is performed.
[0025]
After the purge operation is performed in this manner, the maintenance cam 41 continues to rotate, whereby the caps 35, 37, etc. start to descend, and the caps 35, 37 and the stopper 73 are moved to the initial position as shown in FIG. And descend. At this time, the wiper blade 69 starts to descend together with the cap 35 and the like by being pulled diagonally downward to the left by the coil spring 77 attached to the blade holder 71. However, the blade holder 71 stops descending at a position where the minute protrusion 79 provided on the left side surface thereof abuts against the upper surface of the cradle 81. As a result, as shown in the drawing, only the wiper blade 69 remains in the raised state without returning to the initial position.
[0026]
In this state, the carriage 11 is moved leftward as indicated by an arrow in FIG. As a result, wiping of the ink 83 remaining on the ink ejection surface of the left inkjet head 13 is started by the wiper blade 69 maintained in the raised state by the cradle 81. However, in this ink wiping operation, as shown in FIG. 11A, before the ink discharge surface of the inkjet head 13 is completely wiped, the carriage 11 is stopped when it has moved to the left by a predetermined amount. As a result, the wiper blade 69 bent by the ink wiping operation remains in contact with the ink ejection surface of the inkjet head 13 while maintaining the bending. Therefore, the ink 83 wiped off by the wiper blade 69 falls down along the surface of the wiper blade 69 and is prevented from scattering to the surroundings.
[0027]
Thereafter, as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 11A, the carriage 11 is moved rightward. By this operation, the blade holder 71 that has been kept in the raised state by the action of the minute protrusion 79 and the cradle 81 is pushed rightward by the inkjet head 13 together with the wiper blade 69, and the minute protrusion 79 is removed from the cradle 81. Is done. At this time, since the blade holder 71 is pulled obliquely downward by the coil spring 77, the blade holder 71 is lowered to the initial position again as shown in FIG.
[0028]
Next, a purge operation for the right inkjet head 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. Also in this case, first, prior to the purge operation, the carriage 11 is moved to a position in the vicinity of the caps 35 and 37 as shown in FIGS. Subsequently, as shown by the arrow in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 13A, when the stopper 73 is raised to a predetermined position, the carriage 11 is further moved in the right direction, and as shown in FIG. 15 is brought into contact. In this state, the caps 35, 37, etc. are further raised.
[0029]
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 14A, the caps 35, 37 and the like are raised to the most raised position, whereby the ink ejection surface of the right inkjet head 15 is sealed with the cap 35. In this state, as described above, the ink suction operation by the suction pump 51 is performed, and the purge operation for the right inkjet head 15 is performed.
[0030]
After the purge operation is performed in this manner, the maintenance cam 41 is subsequently rotated, whereby the caps 35, 37 and the like start to descend, and as shown in FIG. 14B, the caps 35, 37 and the stopper 73 are moved to the initial positions. And descend. At this time, the wiper blade 69 stops descending at a position where the minute projection 79 provided on the left side surface of the blade holder 71 contacts the upper surface of the cradle 81. As a result, as shown in the drawing, only the wiper blade 69 remains in the raised state without returning to the initial position.
[0031]
In this state, the carriage 11 is moved leftward as indicated by an arrow in FIG. As a result, wiping of the ink 83 remaining on the ink ejection surface of the right inkjet head 15 is started by the wiper blade 69 maintained in the raised state by the cradle 81. Also in this ink wiping operation, as shown in FIG. 15A, before the ink discharge surface of the inkjet head 15 is completely wiped, the carriage 11 is stopped when it has moved to the left by a predetermined amount. As a result, the wiper blade 69 bent by the ink wiping operation remains in contact with the ink ejection surface of the inkjet head 15 while maintaining the bending. Therefore, the ink 83 wiped off by the wiper blade 69 falls down along the surface of the wiper blade 69 and is prevented from scattering to the surroundings.
[0032]
Thereafter, as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 15A, the carriage 11 is moved rightward. By this operation, the blade holder 71 that has been kept in the raised state by the action of the minute protrusion 79 and the cradle 81 is pushed rightward by the inkjet head 15 together with the wiper blade 69, and the minute protrusion 79 is removed from the cradle 81. Is done. At this time, since the blade holder 71 is pulled obliquely downward by the coil spring 77, the blade holder 71 is lowered to the initial position again as shown in FIG.
[0033]
As described above, according to the portable printer 1 of the present embodiment, the wiper blade 69 rotates the maintenance cam 41 by the line feed motor 23, so that the wiper push-up arm provided on the cap drive lever 67 is provided. 75, and is stopped at the raised position by the action of the coil spring 77, the minute projection 79, and the cradle 81. Then, when the wiper blade 69 is pushed rightward by the rightward movement of the carriage 11, the minute projection 79 is removed from the upper surface of the receiving base 81 and is lowered to the initial position by the pulling force of the coil spring 77. Yes. As a result, a special drive source for raising and lowering the wiper blade 69 is not required, and the raising and lowering can be realized by a simple mechanism.
[0034]
Further, according to the portable printer 1 of the present embodiment, the carriage 11 before the ink discharge surface is completely wiped by the wiper blade 69 in the wiping operation of the ink discharge surface of the inkjet heads 13 and 15 after the purge operation. Has stopped moving to the left. As a result, the ink 83 does not fall down along the wiper blade 69 bent by the wiping operation of the ink discharge surface, and is not scattered around by the elastic return of the wiper blade 69. As a result, the ink wiping operation after the purging operation does not cause the ink 83 to scatter around and stain the inside of the printer or the printing paper PP. In particular, in this embodiment, since the inkjet heads 13 and 15 are positioned by the stopper 73 during the purge operation of the inkjet heads 13 and 15, the ink discharge surface is completely wiped off in the ink wiping operation by the wiper blade 69. Before, the operation of moving the carriage 11 to the left by a predetermined amount and stopping it can be accurately executed.
[0035]
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and it is needless to say that various forms can be adopted without departing from the scope of the present invention. .
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the ink jet printer of the present invention, in the ink wiping operation by the wiper blade, the ink wiped off from the ink ejection surface of the ink jet head is prevented from being scattered to the surroundings, and the inside of the printer can be prevented. it can.
[0037]
In particular, according to the ink jet printer of the second aspect, the wiper blade can be lowered by the movement of the ink jet head, and after the ink wiping operation is finished in a state where the wiper blade is in contact with the ink discharge surface, the wiper blade is smoothly moved. Can be lowered to the standby position.
[0038]
According to the ink jet printer of claim 3 , the initial position of the ink jet head when starting the ink wiping operation after purging is constant, and the operation of stopping the ink jet head immediately before the wiper blade completely wipes the ink discharge surface Can be performed accurately.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an internal structure of a portable printer according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a partially broken internal structure of the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an internal structure of the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cap and a wiper blade portion of the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view showing a cap and a wiper blade portion of the portable printer according to the embodiment.
6A and 6B show a maintenance cam in the portable printer of the embodiment, where FIG. 6A is a front view and FIG. 6B is a development view of a cam groove.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing a lifting operation of a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 11 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 13 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 14 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
FIG. 15 is a front view illustrating operations of a carriage, a cap, a wiper blade, and a stopper in the portable printer according to the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Portable printer, 11 ... Carriage, 13, 15 ... Inkjet head, 21 ... Carriage motor, 23 ... Line feed motor, 35, 37 ... Cap, 45 ... Maintenance cam 47, 49 ... Cam groove, 51 ... Suction pump, 63 ... Cam groove, 65 ... Cam follower, 67 ... Cap drive lever, 69 ... Wiper blade, 71 ... Blade holder, 73... Stopper, 75... Wiper push-up arm, 77 .. coil spring, 79.

Claims (3)

A purge cap for performing a purge by sealingly sucking the ink discharge surface of the inkjet head; and
An elevating mechanism for elevating and lowering the purge cap relative to the ink ejection surface;
In the ink jet printer having a wiper blade for wiping the ink adhering to the ink ejection surface, which is purged by dicapped, - the path
A blade holder for holding the wiper blade;
A pulling member that pulls the blade holder diagonally downward;
A cradle for receiving the blade holder;
After the blade holder is raised in conjunction with the raising operation of the purge cap by the elevating mechanism , it is installed at the ink wiping position by being received by the cradle ,
Wherein by relatively moving the blade holder in the direction wiping ink and the ink wiping the ink jet head contact is not the ink discharge surface on the wiper blade in a state of being placed in position and the wiper blade, the movement said relative the wiper blade is stopped immediately before as possible completely wipe the ink discharge surface by the movement of then the ink-jet head, lowering the blade holder by a tension force of the tension member by removing the blade holder from the cradle the An ink jet printer characterized by being configured to allow The inkjet printer according to claim 1 .
The microprotrusions formed on the side surface opposite to the purge cap of the blanking Redohoruda, the cradle, in the course of lowering the blanking Redohoruda from uppermost position, receiving the microprojections in the upper surface, the ink ejecting the blade holder Stop at the surface wiping position,
The descent is performed by removing the minute protrusions from the cradle by movement of the ink jet head. The inkjet printer according to claim 2 .
An ink jet printer comprising: a stopper member that moves up and down together with the purge cap and contacts the ink jet head to stop the ink jet head at a position immediately above the purge cap.

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