JPH05208504A - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb effectively ink adhered to a head face of an ink jet recording device, evaporate the absorbed ink and clean thoroughly the head face. CONSTITUTION:An ink absorbing component 30 is provided on a lower position where a cleaning blade 23 is brought into contact with a head face 10a after being cleaned, and the ink absorbing component is clamped between a frame 30 and a holder 32. The ink absorbing component 30 is provided with a compression section 30b compressing partly by means of projected sections 32a and 32b. When the head face 10a is cleaned, the cleaning blade 23 is brought into contact with the compression section 30b of the ink absorbing component 30 at the time of cleaning of head face, and the ink adhered to the cleaning blade 23 is absorbed by the compression section 30b. The absorbed ink is infiltrated and diffused from the compression section 30b with small voids into a non-compression section with comparatively large voids on the periphery of the compression section, and after that, evaporated from the non-compression section.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer for recording on a sheet on a platen by reciprocating a carriage carrying an ink jet head to eject ink from the ink jet head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of ink jet recording apparatus, ink adhered to the head surface of an ink jet head has been cleaned by the following method.

The ink on the head surface is wiped off with a rubber blade. Wipe off the ink on the head surface with the porous ink absorbing member. The ink on the head surface is wiped off with a rubber blade, and the blade is brought into contact with the ink absorbing member to absorb the ink adhering to the blade.

[0004]

However, in the prior art, since the head surface is wiped with the blade on which the wiped ink remains adhered, the ink on the head surface cannot be wiped off effectively and effectively. And in
If an ink absorbing member having large pores is used, it is not possible to effectively absorb the ink, and conversely, if an ink absorbing member having small pores is used, the absorbed ink cannot be quickly evaporated. After all, the ink on the head surface could not be cleanly cleaned by any of the above.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to effectively absorb the ink adhering to the head surface in the above-mentioned ink jet recording apparatus, and to evaporate the absorbed ink quickly to always clean the head surface cleanly. To make it possible.

[0006]

Therefore, an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention regularly cleans ink adhered to the head surface 10a with a cleaning blade 23, as shown in the following illustrated embodiment, In the ink jet recording apparatus that contacts the ink absorbing member 30 with the blade 23 after cleaning and absorbs the ink adhering to the blade 23, the compression portion 30b is formed at the blade contacting portion of the ink absorbing member 30. Characterize.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, for example, as shown in the following illustrated embodiment, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the compression section 30b is elongated in a direction away from the blade contact portion. It is characterized by

According to a third aspect of the present invention, for example, as shown in the following illustrated embodiment, ink jet recording in which the ink absorbing member 30 is brought into contact with the head surface 10 to regularly clean the ink adhering to the head surface 10a. In the device,
The compression portion 30 is attached to the head contact portion of the ink absorbing member 30.
It is characterized by forming b.

[0009]

When cleaning the head surface 10a, the cleaning blade 23 is brought into contact with the head surface 10a to wipe off the ink adhering to the head surface 10a. Then, the blade 23 after the wiping
Is in contact with the compression portion 30b of the ink absorbing member 30, and the compression portion 30b absorbs the ink attached to the cleaning blade 23. At this time, the ink permeates from the compressed portion 30b having small pores to the non-compressed portion having relatively large pores around it. Then, the non-compressed portion gradually evaporates.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, after the ink is absorbed by the ink absorbing member 30, the ink permeates from the elongated compressed portion 30b to the surrounding non-compressed portion and diffuses throughout.

According to the third aspect, the head surface 10
At the time of cleaning a, the compression portion 30b of the ink absorbing member 30 is brought into contact with the head surface 10a, and the compression portion 30b is used to contact the head surface 10a.
The ink adhering to a is wiped off and absorbed. At this time, the ink permeates from the compressed portion 30b having small pores to the non-compressed portion having relatively large pores around it. Then, the non-compressed portion gradually evaporates.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 shows a schematic structure of an inkjet printer according to the present invention. Reference numeral a in the figure indicates a printer body. A platen b is provided in the printer body a.
Then, the carriage d is reciprocally mounted on the guide shaft c parallel to the platen b along the guide shaft c, and the inkjet head 10 is mounted on the carriage d. Then, while the carriage d is reciprocated along the platen b in the recording area A and the platen b is rotated to convey the sheet S set on the platen b, the sheet S is directed toward the sheet S from the head surface 10a of the inkjet head 10. Recording is performed on the sheet S by ejecting ink.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a cap lever 11 is provided in the non-recording area B on one side of the carriage movement direction, and the cap lever 11 can be rotated around the support shaft 12. The cap lever 11 rotatably holds the roller 13 at one end 11a and the cap member 14 at the other end 11b. Further, the cap member 14
A stopper portion 11c for restricting the rotation of is provided near the other end 11b. The cap member 14 is provided with a head cap 14a at the front end on the head surface 10a side and a tube 15 is connected to the rear end. The tube 15 is connected to an ink suction pump (not shown). Then, the spring 16 is hooked on the cap lever 11 and the lever 11 is constantly urged to rotate clockwise in FIG. 1, and the carriage d is moved to the non-recording area B at the time of non-recording, and the head cap 14a is moved. Head surface 1
It is covered with 0a. An eccentric cam 17 is rotatably supported on the upper side of the roller 13 by a supporting member.

Further, in the non-recording area B, a cleaning lever 20 is provided in addition to the cap lever 11. The cleaning lever 20 has a support shaft 2 provided at its base end 20a.
1 is made rotatable, and the roller 22 is rotatably held on the convex portion 20b near the base end 20a thereof, and the tip 20c is
A rubber cleaning blade 23 is attached to. Then, the spring 24 is hooked near the convex portion 20b to constantly bias the cleaning lever 20 in the clockwise direction in the figure, and the eccentric cam 25 fixed to the same drive shaft 26 as the one eccentric cam 17 rolls to the other eccentric cam 25. Press 22. Then, the cleaning blade 23 is held at the illustrated cleaning standby position.

Furthermore, in the non-recording area B, an ink absorbing member 30 is arranged at a position where it comes into contact with the cleaning blade 23 when it is lowered. Ink absorbing member 30
As shown in FIG. 2, it is made of a porous material such as a sponge material and has engaging recesses 30a formed on both left and right sides in the figure. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink absorbing member 30 is sandwiched between the frame 31 and the holder 32. As shown in FIG. 3, the holder 32 has a flat plate shape, and has two protrusions 32a provided on the upper end side of one surface thereof, and an elongated protrusion 32b extending from the space between the protrusions 32a to the lower end side. Further, hook portions 32c are provided on both left and right sides in the figure. Then, the hook 32c is engaged with the engaging recess 30a.
To hold the ink absorbing member 30 with the holder 32,
The hook portion 32c is hooked on a hooked portion (not shown) of the frame 31, and the ink absorbing member 30 is sandwiched between the frame 31 and the holder 32 as shown in FIG. Then, the ink absorbing member 30 is partially compressed by the protrusions 32a and 32b, and the compressed portions 30b having small pores are formed in the compressed portions.

In the above-mentioned ink jet printer, when recording is performed, the drive shaft 26 is rotated to rotate the eccentric cam 1.
Rotate 7.25 clockwise in FIG. Then, the cap lever 11 is rotated counterclockwise against the spring 16 to remove the cap member 14 from the head surface 10a and retract. On the other hand, the cleaning blade 23 is in the cleaning standby position almost as it is. Then, the inkjet head 10 is moved into the recording area A, and recording is performed on the sheet S there. After that, at a predetermined time when the head surface 10a becomes dirty with ink, the inkjet head 10 is returned to the non-recording area B again, and then the drive shaft 26 is rotated to rotate the eccentric cams 17 and 25 in the clockwise direction, and the spring 24 The cleaning lever 20 is rotated by the urging force to lower the cleaning blade 23 from the cleaning standby position. Then, the blade 23 is brought into contact with the head surface 10a to wipe off the ink adhering to the head surface 10a. At that time, the cap member 14 is in the retracted position in the drawing. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the cleaning blade 23 after wiping the ink comes into contact with the compression portion 30b of the ink absorbing member 30, and the compression portion 30b absorbs the ink attached to the cleaning blade 23.

As shown in FIG. 5, the absorbed ink gradually permeates from the compressed portion 30b having small pores to the non-compressed portion 30c having relatively large pores, and then from the uncompressed portion 30c having large pores. It gradually evaporates.

After cleaning the head surface 10a,
The inkjet head 10 is moved again to the recording area A and recording is similarly continued. At the same time, the eccentric cams 17 and 25 are rotated to raise the cleaning blade 23 from the post-cleaning position in FIG. 4 to the cleaning standby position in FIG. After that, as described above, the inkjet head 10 is periodically moved to the non-recording area B, and the cleaning blade 23 cleans the head surface 10a.

After the recording is completed, the ink jet head 10 is moved to the non-recording area B to move the eccentric cams 17 and 25.
Is rotated to move the cap member 14, and the head cap 14a is covered on the head surface 10a as shown in FIG. Then, the ink suction pump is appropriately operated to suck the residual ink in the inkjet head 10 through the tube 15. In this way, it is prevented that the residual ink dries and the ink flow deteriorates.

By the way, in the illustrated embodiment described above, the rubber blade 23 after cleaning the head surface is replaced with the ink absorbing member 30.
It shows the case of being applied to an ink jet printer which comes into contact with the ink and absorbs the ink adhering to the blade 23. However, as shown in the following embodiments, the present invention can also be applied to an inkjet printer that directly contacts an ink absorbing member with the head surface to absorb the ink on the head surface.

In the other embodiment, the ink absorbing member 30 sandwiched between the frame 31 and the holder 32 is attached to the tip 20c of the cleaning lever 20 as shown in FIG.

Therefore, when cleaning the head surface 10a, the compression portion 30b of the ink absorbing member 30 is brought into contact with the head surface 10a, and the compression portion 30b directly wipes and absorbs the ink on the head surface 10a. Then, the ink is permeated from the compressed portion 30b having small pores into the non-compressed portion 30c having large pores around the compressed portion 30b, and the uncompressed portion 30c having large pores.
Evaporate from.

[0023]

Therefore, according to the present invention, the ink adhering to the head surface is directly or indirectly absorbed by the compressed portion of the ink absorbing member, permeates the surrounding area, and is evaporated from the surrounding area. At the time of cleaning the surface, the ink adhering to the head surface can be effectively absorbed, and the absorbed ink can be dried quickly, whereby the head surface can be cleaned cleanly.

According to the second aspect, the ink can be effectively permeated and diffused throughout the ink absorbing member.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of an inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ink absorbing member in the inkjet printer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a holder of the ink absorbing member.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a state after cleaning the head surface of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a compressed state of the ink absorbing member.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of such an inkjet printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10a Head surface 23 Cleaning blade 30 Ink absorbing member 30b Compressing section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus in which ink adhered to a head surface is regularly cleaned with a cleaning blade, and the cleaned blade is brought into contact with an ink absorbing member to absorb ink adhering to the blade. An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein a compression portion is formed at a blade contact portion of an absorbing member. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compression portion is elongated in a direction away from the blade contact portion. 3. An ink jet recording apparatus for contacting an ink absorbing member with a head surface to regularly clean ink adhering to the head surface, wherein a compression portion is formed at a head contact portion of the ink absorbing member. Inkjet recording device.