JPH04141440A - printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Objective of the Invention 1] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a printing device that performs printing by spraying ink onto printing paper using an inkjet head.

(Prior art) In recent years, on-demand type inkjet printers have become popular in printers, which have features such as high printing speed, low noise, and easy color printing, and are also easy to configure and can be expected to be inexpensive. Printers are being put into practical use. This type of inkjet printer is configured so that an inkjet head with a plurality of vertically arranged nozzles at its tip is slid on a guide bar provided along a platen.
By moving the head in the direction of the groove while ejecting ink droplets from necessary nozzles, printing is performed on the printing paper set on the platen.

In such printers, ink scum and the like adhere to the tips of the inkjet heads (nozzles), which can clog the nozzles and adversely affect print quality. Therefore, a cleaning mechanism is installed near the platen, which is equipped with a replaceable wiping member such as disposable paper cloth or rubber material to wipe off dirt from the tip of the head. It is difficult to clean the tip of the head when necessary.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) By the way, in the leaning mechanism as described above,
When the wiping member becomes dirty to some extent with use, it is replaced with a new one. However, in conventional methods, the wiping member is left to get dirty, which has the problem of becoming extremely dirty in a relatively short period of time. There was a disadvantage in terms of cost because the degree of opening for parts replacement was high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to clean an inkjet head, maintain a clean state of the wiping member for a long period of time, and further improve the work of replacing the wiping member. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device which can reduce the number of times of printing and can be done at low cost.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) The printing device of the present invention prints on printing paper by spraying ink from the tip of the inkjet head while moving the inkjet head laterally within the printing area. In a cleaning position outside the printing area, a sliding part made of an elastic material is provided to face the inkjet head and is rotated to slide the tip of the inkjet head at the cleaning position. a wiping member; and a dust removal plate that is fixedly disposed so as to protrude within the rotation locus of the sliding portion of the wiping member and contacts the sliding portion as the wiping member rotates to remove ink scum adhering to the sliding portion. , is characterized in that it is equipped with an ink scum receiver for receiving ink scum removed by the dust removal plate.

(Function) According to the above means, as the wiping member made of an elastic material rotates, the sliding portion slides on the tip of the inkjet head in the cleaning position, thereby wiping off dirt on the inkjet head. The head is then cleaned. The ink scum adhering to the sliding part of the wiping member is removed from the wiping member by a dust removal plate placed within the rotation trajectory of the sliding part as the wiping part key rotates, and is received in the ink scum receiver. You will be able to do it.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent ink scum from remaining attached to the wiping member as much as possible, thereby preventing the wiping member from becoming dirty for a long period of time.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of the main parts of an inkjet printer, which is a printing device. Here, inside the printer body, a platen 2 made of rubber, for example, for receiving the printing paper 1, and a roller 3 for sandwiching the printing paper 1 between the platen 2 and the roller 3 are rotatably provided. . The platen 2 is rotated in the direction of arrow A by a paper feed mechanism including a paper feed motor and a gear mechanism (not shown), thereby sequentially feeding the printing paper 1 sandwiched between the platen roller 3 and the nip roller 3.

On the other hand, on the front side of the platen 2, an inkjet head 4 for printing on the printing paper 1 is provided facing the platen 2. Although not shown in detail, the inkjet head 4 is an on-demand printing head that has a plurality of nozzles arranged vertically at its tip, and is configured to selectively eject liquid ink particles from each nozzle. has been done. This inkjet head 4 has two guide bars 5 and 6 provided along the platen 2.
The head is slidably attached to the guide bar 5 and 6, and is moved in the directions of arrows B and C along guide bars 5 and 6 by a head drive mechanism consisting of a motor, a boob, a belt, etc. (not shown). In this case, a cleaning mechanism 7, which will be described later, is located to the right of the platen 2 inside the printer body.
A space is provided for arranging the guide bar 5,
6 extends to the right side of the platen 2.

In this embodiment, a control device (not shown) is provided within the printer body, for example, and is configured to control the paper feeding mechanism, each nozzle of the inkjet head 4, a head drive mechanism, and the like. Thereby, printing is performed on the printing paper 1 set on the platen 2 by moving the inkjet head 4 in the lateral direction by the head drive mechanism while ejecting ink droplets from the necessary nozzles.

Furthermore, when the printing of the - line is completed, the printing paper 1 is fed by one line in the direction of arrow A by the paper feeding mechanism, and the printing of the next line is executed, and this process is repeated. In this case, the printing area in which the inkjet head 4 moves during printing is at most an area that does not exceed the area facing the platen 2.

Now, if ink scum or the like adheres to the tip of the above-mentioned inkjet head 4 (nozzle), the nozzle may become clogged and the print quality may be adversely affected, so it is necessary to clean the inkjet head 4 as appropriate. In this embodiment, the inkjet head 4 can be cleaned by the cleaning mechanism 7 as described below.

That is, a wiping member 8 made of an elastic material such as rubber or sponge is provided on the right side of the platen 2 in the drawing. This wiping member 8 has a thin, substantially cylindrical shape as a whole, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, four sliding parts 9 are integrally and protrudingly arranged evenly around the outer periphery of the wiping member 8. ing. The shaft portion 8a of this wiping member 8 is connected to a rotation drive mechanism including a motor (not shown), and is rotated in the direction of the arrow. This wiping part (A8) is attached to the inkjet head 4 when the Infusiera I head 4 is moved beyond the printing area to the cleaning position (indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1) by the head drive mechanism. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the tip of the inkjet head 4 moves along the rotational movement locus of the sliding portion 9 as the wiping member 8 rotates (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line in the same figure). It is designed to wrap to.In addition,
The rotational drive mechanism that rotationally drives this wiping member 8 is also controlled by the control device as described later.

A dust removal plate 10 and an ink scum receiver 11 are provided below this wiping member 8.

Among these, the ink scum receiver 11 has the shape of a horizontally long rectangular container with an open upper surface, and is located below the wiping member 8 and is detachably provided. And, the dust removal plate 10 is
It is provided within this ink scum receiver 11 so as to protrude upward from the ink scum receiver 11. This dust removal plate 1
0 is in the shape of a spatula extending in the lateral direction, and its upper end portion protrudes into the rotation locus of the sliding portion 9 as the wiping member 8 rotates when the ink scum receiver 11 is attached to the blink body. It has become.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained.

In this embodiment, the cleaning mechanism 7 is activated, for example, when power is supplied to the printer body. That is, when the power switch (not shown) of the printer body is turned on and the power is turned on, first, the control device energizes the motor of the head drive mechanism, and the inkjet head 4 is turned on.
is moved in the direction of arrow C and positioned at the cleaning position.

At this time, the wiping member 8 is stopped so that its sliding portion 9 does not interfere with the movement of the inkjet head 4, as shown in FIG. Then, with this inkjet head 4 in the cleaning position and facing the wiping member 8, the control device energizes the rotational drive mechanism,
For example, the wiping member 8 rotates 1/4 turn (90 degrees) in the direction of the arrow.
degree). As a result, the sliding part 9, which was located immediately above the inkjet head 4, is pressed against the inkjet head 4 and begins to slide on its tip while being elastically deformed, as shown in FIG. The lrs on the tip of the inkjet head 4 is wiped away by the sliding part 9.

At the same time, as the wiping member 8 rotates,
The sliding part 9 that was just below the tip of the inkjet head 4 now comes into contact with the dust removal plate 10, and the ink that had adhered to the sliding part 9 due to the previous wiping of the dirt on the tip of the inkjet head 4 is now in contact with the dust removal plate 10. Dust removal plate 10
It is removed by scraping it off. and,
The ink scum scraped off by the dust removal plate 10 is collected in the ink scum receiver 11.

Thereafter, the inkjet head 4 is moved in the direction of arrow B by the head drive mechanism and returned to the printing area, and then a printing operation is performed on the printing paper 1 supplied to the platen 2. In this case, the above-mentioned cleaning machine tPi
As a result of the operation 7, the ink scum, etc. that had previously adhered to the inkjet head 4 is wiped away, so the nozzle is not clogged and high-quality printing is performed. It is.

According to this embodiment, the inkjet head 4 is cleaned by the cleaning mechanism 7 equipped with the wiping part (A8), so that the dirt on the tip of the inkjet head 4 can be wiped off every time the power is turned on. is possible,
High-quality printing can always be performed without causing print quality defects due to t9 failure of the inkjet head 4.

Furthermore, the ink scum adhering to the sliding part 9 of the wiping member 8 during cleaning of the inkjet head 4 is removed by the dust removal plate 10, so that the conventional wiping member is left to get dirty. Unlike the wiping member 8, ink scum does not remain attached to the wiping member 8. Therefore, the progress of dirt on the wiping member 8 is suppressed, and the wiping member 8 remains clean for a long period of time.
- The head 4 can be wiped. As a result,
Compared to the conventional type, the number of times the wiping member 8 needs to be replaced can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the inkjet head 4 is cleaned when the power is turned on, but for example, cleaning may be performed when the head drive time exceeds a predetermined time, or an operation switch may be provided. It may also be configured such that it is performed when the user operates this.

In addition, various modifications can be made to the number and shape of the sliding parts, and the present invention can be practiced with appropriate modifications within the scope of the gist.

As is clear from the explanation of "Effects of the Invention" 2, according to the printing device of the present invention, the wiping member can wipe the inkjet head.
i! The wiping member can be cleaned and high-quality printing can be performed, and the wiping member can be kept clean for a long period of time, which in turn reduces the number of times the wiping member needs to be replaced. This has excellent effects in that it can be done at a low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of a printing device, FIG. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of main parts in a state different from that shown in the figure. In the drawings, 1 is printing paper, 2 is a platen, 4 is an inkjet head, 5.6 is a guide bar, 7 is a cleaning mechanism, 8 is a wiping member, 9 is a sliding part, ] 0 is a dust removal plate, ] 1 is an ink drainer Indicates receiving.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a device that prints on printing paper by spraying ink from the tip of the inkjet head while moving the inkjet head laterally within the printing area, the inkjet head faces the inkjet head at a cleaning position outside the printing area. A wiping member made of an elastic material and having a sliding part that is provided so as to rotate and slides the tip of the inkjet head in the cleaning position by being rotationally driven; A dust removal plate that is fixedly arranged to protrude and contacts the sliding part as the wiping member rotates to remove ink scum that has adhered to the sliding part, and an ink scum receiver that receives the ink scum removed by the dust removal plate. A printing device characterized by comprising: