JP6244683B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a recording head for discharging a liquid.

  As an image forming apparatus that records an image on a recording medium using a liquid, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus is known. An ink jet recording apparatus is equipped with an ejection head capable of ejecting liquid (for example, ink) as droplets, and performs image formation and printing by attaching the ejected droplets to a recording medium such as paper. .

  This type of inkjet recording apparatus includes a carriage that holds a plurality of recording heads that intermittently convey the recording medium in the sub-scanning direction and eject ink onto the recording medium to form an image while the recording medium is stationary. Reciprocate in the main scanning direction. Then, ink is ejected from the recording head toward the recording medium to form an image on the recording medium.

The recording head has a plurality of nozzle arrays in which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged in a straight line, and in order to obtain a good image, the distance between the nozzles and the recording medium is always kept constant in the printing range. is important. In particular, the posture of the carriage during printing is a factor that fluctuates the gap between the nozzle and the recording medium, and means for supporting the carriage in a slidable manner is important.
Therefore, in order to maintain the posture of the carriage, a configuration in which the main guide member and the sub guide member are arranged with high accuracy and can always ensure slidability has been studied.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that two guide rods are arranged to secure the posture of the carriage, and the lubricating oil is held so that the slidability of the guide rods is not deteriorated. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which a slider that slides on a sub guide rail is replaceably disposed in a configuration in which a carriage is supported by a guide rod and a sub guide rail.

However, in the configuration using two guide rods as in Patent Document 1, the machine depth becomes large, and the cost increases if a plurality of high-precision shaft members are used.
In addition, when configured as in Patent Document 2, in a machine that prints on large-size wide paper, the carriage drive amount to the end of the machine life is more in each stage than in a small machine, and in the slider system, the slider portion deteriorates quickly. The slider member must be changed frequently. Further, when dust adheres to the slider surface, irregularities are formed, which may affect the carriage posture during the printing operation.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of solving the above-described conventional problems and reducing the occurrence of unevenness of a roller member that slides on a sub guide rail.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a recording head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets, a carriage for holding the recording head, a guide rod for holding the carriage movably, and the guide rod. A sub guide rail that movably holds the carriage, a roller member that is provided on the carriage and slides in contact with the sub guide rail, and a sub guide rail contact surface of the roller member is moved along with the movement of the carriage. An image forming apparatus comprising: a cleaning unit that cleans the cleaning unit, wherein the cleaning unit is a cleaning member that cleans the roller member; and a support that is provided on the carriage and supports the cleaning member apart from the roller member. A contact guide provided on the apparatus main body and capable of contacting the support portion, and the contact surfaces of the support portion and the contact guide are respectively Yarijji are inclined in the same direction with respect to the moving direction of, along with the movement of the carriage, the said support portion by abutting the guide abuts, and wherein the cleaning member is pressed against the roller member An image forming apparatus is proposed.
The present invention also provides a recording head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets, a carriage that holds the recording head, a guide rod that holds the carriage movably, and the carriage that can move together with the guide rod. A secondary guide rail held on the carriage, a roller member that slides in contact with the secondary guide rail, and a cleaning means that cleans the secondary guide rail contact surface of the roller member as the carriage moves. In the image forming apparatus, the cleaning unit includes a cleaning member for cleaning the roller member provided in the apparatus main body, and a contact surface of the cleaning member with the roller member is a movement of the carriage. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the cleaning member is pressed against the roller member as the carriage moves. To.

  According to the present invention, dust or the like that accumulates over time on the surface of the roller member can be removed by the cleaning means, and the influence on the carriage behavior during traveling caused by the unevenness of the surface of the roller member caused by the accumulation of dust or the like is suppressed. be able to.

1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a side explanatory view showing a main part of the image forming apparatus. It is a plane explanatory view of the image forming apparatus. 3 is a side view of a main scanning unit of the image forming apparatus. FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory plan view showing a state where the carriage is directed toward the idle ejection side. FIG. 6 is an explanatory plan view showing a state where a carriage has reached the idle ejection side. It is a plane explanatory view showing the state where the carriage goes to the idle ejection side in a modification of the embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory plan view showing a state where the carriage of FIG. 7 has reached the idle ejection side. FIG. 6 is an explanatory side view of a main scanning unit of an image forming apparatus showing another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory plan view illustrating a state in which the carriage of FIG. 9 is directed toward the idle ejection side. FIG. 10 is an explanatory plan view showing a state where the carriage of FIG. 9 has reached the idle ejection side.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view showing a main part of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory plan view of the image forming apparatus.

  1 and 2, the image forming apparatus shown here is a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, and includes a recording apparatus 1 and support legs 2 that support the recording apparatus 1. Inside the recording apparatus 1, guide rods 3 and sub-guide rails 4 are spanned on both side plates, and a carriage 5 is held on these guide rods 3 and sub-guide rails 4 so as to be movable in the direction of arrow A (main scanning direction). Has been. The carriage 5 is connected to a timing belt 6 that is stretched between a driving pulley 7 and a pressure pulley 8. The timing belt 6 is reciprocated in the main scanning direction A by being driven by a main scanning motor 9 via a driving pulley 7. The timing belt 6 is tensioned by a pressure pulley 8, and the carriage 5 can be driven without sagging.

  The recording medium P is intermittently conveyed in the direction of the arrow B (sub-scanning direction) where the carriage 5 reciprocates, ejects ink as droplets from the recording head 10 mounted on the carriage 5, and displays a predetermined image. Form. That is, the recording head 10 is provided with a plurality of nozzles (not shown), and ink is ejected from the nozzles to form an image.

  The recording apparatus 1 also includes a cartridge 11 that supplies ink to the recording head 10 and a maintenance mechanism 12 that performs maintenance maintenance of the recording head 10 mounted on the carriage 5. An encoder sensor (not shown) is disposed in the carriage 5 and is driven while detecting the position in the main scanning direction by continuously reading encoder sheets (not shown) stretched on both side plates.

  In FIG. 2, a bearing 13 is disposed in the carriage 5 at a sliding portion with the guide rod 3, and a roller member is attached to the sub guide rail 4 so that the carriage 5 does not rotate around the guide rod 3. 15 touches. The roller member 15 is rotated in contact with the sub guide rail 4 as the carriage 5 moves. As shown in FIG. 3, the maintenance mechanism 12 installed on the right side in the main scanning direction is a place where the carriage 5 waits when the printing operation is not performed. That is, the position of the maintenance mechanism 12 is configured as the home position of the carriage 5. Reference numeral 14 denotes a stay that supports the sub guide rail 4.

  In addition, an empty discharge receiver 16 is disposed on the left side of the print range to prevent ink from drying and adhering to the nozzles. The nozzles of the recording head 10 having a low usage rate may cause ink to dry and adhere. To prevent this, the carriage 5 is moved to an empty discharge receiving position at an appropriate time such as during printing, and the ink is discharged at that position. Avoid clogging.

  In the image forming apparatus configured as described above, if dust or dirt adheres to the surface of the roller member 15 that slides on the sub guide rail 4, the roller surface is uneven, which affects the posture of the carriage 5. When the posture of the carriage 5 changes during printing, the gap between the recording head 10 and the recording medium P changes, and the ink droplets ejected from the recording head 10 shift from the target position, affecting the image. For this reason, it is important to always keep the surface of the roller member 15 free from dust.

Therefore, in the present invention, the following measures are taken in order to always keep the peripheral surface of the roller, which is the sliding surface of the auxiliary guide rail 4 of the roller member 15, in a dust-free state.
4 is an explanatory side view of the main scanning portion of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 5 is an explanatory plan view showing the carriage 5 toward the position of the idle discharge receiver 16, and FIG. 6 shows the carriage 5 that has reached the position of the idle discharge receiver 16. FIG.

  In FIG. 4, a cleaning member 20 that cleans the surface of the roller member 15 that contacts the sub guide rail 4 is disposed on the carriage 5. The cleaning member 20 is attached to the elastic support portion 21 of the carriage 5, and is itself made of a soft elastic material such as felt or sponge. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the cleaning member 20 is usually separated from the roller member 15 and is configured not to give an extra load to the movement during printing. Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a contact guide 17 for bringing the cleaning member 20 into contact with the roller member 15 using the moving force of the carriage 5 is provided at the position of the idle discharge receiver 16. The contact guide 17 is provided with a slope 17a such that the distance from the roller member 15 decreases as the carriage 5 advances toward the end. When the carriage 5 moves to the idle discharge side where the idle discharge receiver 16 is located, the contact guide 17 is provided. The cleaning member 20 is pressed against the roller member 15 by 17. Accordingly, dust and dirt adhering to the surface of the roller member 15 can be removed by sliding the sub guide rail 4. The contact guide 17 is placed on the contact portion so that the cleaning member 20 is pressed against the roller member 15 by smoothly elastically deforming after contacting the elastic support portion 21 of the carriage 5 that directly contacts the contact guide 17. An inclined surface 21a substantially parallel to the inclined surface 17a is attached. The slope 21a of the elastic support portion 21 may be a rounded slope.

  Thus, dust and dirt adhering to the surface of the roller member 15 are automatically removed by the cleaning member 20 by the operation of moving the carriage 5 to the position of the idle discharge receiver 16. Accordingly, dust or the like does not affect the posture of the carriage 5 and the posture of the carriage 5 does not change during printing. Therefore, the gap between the recording head 10 and the recording medium P is constant, and thus good image quality is achieved. Can be maintained.

  In the above embodiment, the contact guide 17 is provided on the idle discharge side and the cleaning member 20 is brought into contact with the roller member 15 on the idle discharge side. However, the contact guide 17 is within the travel range of the recording head 10. Can be placed at any position. However, if the cleaning member 20 is brought into contact with the roller member 15 in the printing area, the driving load of the carriage 5 changes, which may affect the carriage behavior during printing. In this embodiment, the carriage 5 maintains the performance of the recording head 5 provided on the other side of the print area 10 from the position of the idle discharge receiver 16 of the recording head 10 provided on the other side of the print area. Moved up to twelve. Therefore, the position where the contact guide 17 is installed is the empty discharge area provided with the empty discharge receiver 16 outside the printing area or the maintenance area provided with the maintenance mechanism 12 on the opposite side, and the cleaning member 15 is disposed on the roller member 15 in these areas. It is desirable to contact 20.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory plan view showing the carriage 5 that has reached the position of the idle discharge receiver 16 in a modification of the above embodiment.
In FIG. 7, in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, the cleaning member 20 is provided not on the carriage 5 but on the apparatus main body side.

  In FIG. 7, a cleaning member 20 for cleaning the roller member 15 is supported by a support portion of the apparatus main body (not shown) on the idle discharge side. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, when the recording head 10 arrives at the idle ejection region due to the movement of the carriage 5, the cleaning member 20 comes into contact with the roller member 15, and deposits such as dust adhering to the peripheral surface thereof. Removed. Also in this example, the cleaning member 20 may be disposed on the maintenance side instead of the idle discharge side.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory side view of a main scanning portion of an image forming apparatus showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the auxiliary guide rail 4 is sandwiched between two roller members 30 and 31 provided on the carriage 5. It is configured as follows. Thus, by sandwiching the sub guide rail 4 between the two roller members 30 and 31, the carriage 5 can be restricted from rotating around the guide rod.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory plan view of the main scanning unit of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 9. Cleaning members 32 and 33 are arranged on the idle ejection side of the carriage 5 in the scanning direction. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, when the recording head 10 arrives at the idle ejection area due to the movement of the carriage 5, the cleaning members 32 and 33 come into contact with the roller members 30 and 31, and dust or the like adhering to the peripheral surface thereof. The deposit is removed. Also in this example, the cleaning members 32 and 33 may be arranged on the maintenance side instead of the idle discharge side.

3 Guide rod 4 Sub guide rail 5 Carriage 10 Recording head 12 Maintenance mechanism 15, 30, 31 Roller member 16 Empty discharge receiver 17 Contact guide 20, 32, 33 Cleaning member

JP 2011-088313 A Japanese Patent No. 4850034

Claims (7)

A recording head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets;
A carriage for holding the recording head;
A guide rod for movably holding the carriage;
A sub guide rail that movably holds the carriage together with the guide rod;
A roller member provided on the carriage and sliding in contact with the sub guide rail;
Cleaning means for cleaning the sub guide rail contact surface of the roller member as the carriage moves;
In an image forming apparatus comprising:
The cleaning means includes
A cleaning member for cleaning the roller member;
A support provided on the carriage and supporting the cleaning member apart from the roller member;
A contact guide provided on the apparatus main body and capable of contacting the support portion;
The contact surfaces of the support portion and the contact guide are inclined in the same direction with respect to the moving direction of the carriage,
The image forming apparatus , wherein the cleaning member is pressed against the roller member by the contact of the contact guide with the support portion as the carriage moves . A recording head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets;
A carriage for holding the recording head;
A guide rod for movably holding the carriage;
A sub guide rail that movably holds the carriage together with the guide rod;
A roller member provided on the carriage and sliding in contact with the sub guide rail;
Cleaning means for cleaning the sub guide rail contact surface of the roller member as the carriage moves;
In an image forming apparatus comprising:
The cleaning means includes a cleaning member provided in the apparatus main body for cleaning the roller member.
The contact surface of the cleaning member with the roller member is inclined with respect to the moving direction of the carriage,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the cleaning member is pressed against the roller member as the carriage moves. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support portion is an elastic member. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning unit contacts the roller member at a position where the carriage is moved out of a printing area. 5. The carriage is moved from an empty discharge receptacle of the recording head provided on one side of the printing area to a maintenance mechanism for performing maintenance maintenance on the recording head provided on the other side of the printing area. 5. The cleaning device according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning member contacts the roller member when the carriage reaches the position of the idle discharge receptacle. Image forming apparatus. The carriage is moved from an empty discharge receptacle of the recording head provided on one side of the printing area to a maintenance mechanism for performing maintenance maintenance on the recording head provided on the other side of the printing area. 5. The image according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning unit contacts the roller member when the carriage reaches the position of the maintenance mechanism. Forming equipment. The roller member is a two roller members to slide clamped to said auxiliary guide rail, any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the cleaning means is characterized in that to clean each of the two roller members The image forming apparatus according to Item .

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