JPH0747679A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow easy removal of a thickened or stuck ink while dissolving without repelling the ink when the delivery port face is wiped by means of a blade through the use of movement of recording head. CONSTITUTION:An elastic rubber blade 31 is disposed while inclining in the arranging direction of the delivery port 22 of recording head so that a blade 31 comes into sequential contact with the delivery face 21 vertically from below as the recording head moves thus wiping off the delivery port face.

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 for recording by ejecting ink from recording means onto a recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording device having functions such as a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile, or a recording device used as an output device of a multifunction machine or a workstation including a computer, a word processor, etc., is a sheet or a plastic thin plate based on image information. An image (including characters and symbols) is recorded on a recording material (recording medium) such as (OHP). The recording device can be classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a heat sensitive type, a thermal transfer type, a laser beam type and the like depending on the recording system of the recording means used.

In a serial type recording apparatus which employs a recording system in which a main scanning is performed in a direction intersecting a conveying direction (sub-scanning direction) of a recording material, the recording material is set at a predetermined recording position and then the recording material is set. An image (including characters, symbols, etc.) is recorded by a recording unit (recording head) mounted on a carriage that moves (main scanning) along, and after one line of recording is completed, a predetermined amount of paper is fed (sub-scan). An image is recorded in a desired range of the recording material by repeating the operation of performing (scanning) and then recording (main scanning) the image of the next row. On the other hand, in a line type recording apparatus that records a recording material only in the sub-scanning direction in which the recording material is fed in the transport direction, the recording material is set at a predetermined recording position, and one line of recording is continuously performed at one time. A predetermined amount of paper feed (pitch feed) is performed, and an image is recorded on the entire recording material.

Among them, the ink jet type (ink jet recording apparatus) is a means for recording by ejecting ink from a recording means (recording head) onto a recording material, and it is easy to make the recording means compact and high definition. Images can be recorded at high speed, plain paper can be recorded without requiring special processing, running costs are low, and the non-impact method reduces noise and uses multicolor inks. Therefore, it has an advantage that it is easy to record a color image.

In particular, an ink jet type recording means (recording head) for ejecting ink by utilizing heat energy,
Through the semiconductor manufacturing process such as etching, vapor deposition, and sputtering, the electrothermal converter formed on the substrate, the electrode,
By forming the liquid passage wall, the top plate, and the like, it is possible to easily manufacture a liquid discharge device having a high-density liquid passage arrangement (ejection port arrangement), and to further reduce the size. Further, by utilizing the advantages of IC technology and micro processing technology, it is easy to make the recording means long and planar (two-dimensional), and it is also easy to make the recording means full-multi and high-density mounting. is there.

In the above ink jet recording apparatus,
Ink droplets remain on the ejection port surface due to the suction recovery operation of the recording head, and foreign matter such as ink liquid, adhered ink, dust, and paper dust adheres to the ejection port surface of the recording head due to the recording operation. May interfere with normal ink ejection. Therefore, as a means for removing these deposits, a cleaning mechanism has been provided in which the ejection port surface is wiped and cleaned by a wiping blade made of a rubber-like elastic body made of urethane rubber or the like. As one mode of the wiping operation by such a cleaning mechanism, the wiping blade is slid on the ejection port surface by moving the recording head in the left-right direction with the wiping blade entering the movement path of the ejection port surface. Rubbing, that is, wiping of the ejection port surface is performed by utilizing the reciprocating movement of the recording head (carriage).

[0007]

However, in the conventional example of the cleaning mechanism described above, the ink wiped from the ejection port surface tends to be ejected by the elastic restoring force of the wiping blade at the moment when the recording head passes through the wiping blade. Therefore, there is a possibility that the scattering ink may contaminate the inside of the recording apparatus or the recording material.

The conventional example of the cleaning mechanism has the following problems. That is, if residual ink is present on the ejection port surface of the recording head, this ink tends to flow from the upper side to the lower side along the ejection port surface due to gravity. In that case, since the absolute amount of the residual ink is small on the upper portion of the ejection port surface, the drying is fast and the ink is likely to thicken.
In particular, if the reciprocating movement of the recording head is a long distance (long time), or if dust or paper powder adheres to the ejection port surface,
The ink is more likely to thicken. On the other hand, in the lower part of the ejection port surface, since the amount of ink is large, it is relatively difficult to increase the viscosity. For this reason, there is a problem that the ink thickening on the upper portion of the ejection port surface is promoted and the viscous ink is clogged in the ejection port by the wiping operation, resulting in ink ejection failure (including non-ejection).

In particular, in a color image recording apparatus using a plurality of recording heads, ink thickened on the ejection port surface of a certain recording head does not stop at the recording head but spreads to other recording heads and ink ejection failure occurs. May occur, which may lead to remarkable image deterioration. Further, even if the wiping operation is repeated, the area where the thickened ink adheres only spreads over the entire area, and it becomes very difficult to remove the ink that has once thickened or adhered, and the recording head must be replaced. There was a problem that I could not get it.

The present invention has been made in view of the above technical problems, and an object of the present invention is to wipe ink without ejecting the ink when wiping the ejection opening surface of the recording means. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet recording apparatus provided with a cleaning mechanism capable of reliably removing thickened or adhered ink and improving wiping efficiency.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus for performing recording by ejecting ink from a recording means which moves along a recording material to the recording material.
A rubber-like member that is provided so as to be inclined with respect to the alignment direction of the ejection ports of the recording unit, and wipes and cleans the ejection port surfaces by sequentially contacting the ejection port surfaces from below in the vertical direction as the recording head moves. The object described above is achieved by adopting a configuration having an elastic wiping blade. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, a contacting / separating unit that moves the wiping blade into and out of the movement path of the discharge port surface is provided to achieve the above-mentioned object more efficiently. Is.

[0012]

The wiping blade, which is inclined with respect to the alignment direction of the ejection openings on the ejection opening surface, wipes the ink while gradually contacting upward from the lowermost end of the ejection opening array as the recording head moves. Then, the ink moves upward along the ejection port surface, re-dissolves the thickened ink and the adhered ink that tend to adhere to the upper portion of the ejection port surface, and makes the wiping blade easy to wipe. In this way, the wiped ink can be wiped without being repelled, and the ink once thickened or fixed can be surely wiped off.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front perspective view showing a main configuration of an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In addition,
FIG. 1 shows a recording section when the present invention is applied to a serial scan type full-color inkjet recording apparatus. In FIG. 1, a recording unit (recording head) 1 includes a plurality (4) of recording heads 1C and 1C that use inks of different colors.
It is composed of M, 1Y, and 1B, and in the case of color recording,
In these recording heads, for example, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (B) inks are used. The recording heads 1C, 1M, 1
A plurality of ejection ports aligned (arranged) in the vertical direction (conveying direction of the recording material) in FIG. 1 are formed on the ejection port surfaces of Y and 1B, respectively.

In the following description, when referring to all or any one of the plurality of recording means (recording heads) 1C, 1M, 1Y, 1B, the recording means 1 or recording head 1 is simply used. Further, ink is supplied to these recording heads from the corresponding ink tanks through the ink supply tubes, and these ink tanks and ink supply tubes also refer to all or any one of them. Similarly, the subscripts of C, M, Y, and B will be omitted. The ink used in each recording head 1 is supplied from the ink tank 4 through the ink supply tube 3.

In FIG. 1, each recording head 1 is mounted on a carriage 2, and this carriage 2 is fixed to a part of a belt 11 stretched between a drive pulley 9a and a driven pulley 9b, and the main scanning direction ( It can be reciprocally driven (moved) with high accuracy in the left-right direction in FIG. The ink tank 4 composed of four ink cartridges for supplying the ink of the corresponding color to each recording head 1 includes a drive pulley 1
0a and a driven pulley 10b are fixed to a part of a belt 12 stretched between the driven pulley 10b and the belt 12 and are similarly movably mounted in the main scanning direction. In this way, by making the recording head 1 and the ink tank 4 move independently of each other, the stress applied to each ink supply tube 3 can be eliminated, and the vibration and the like generated by the movement of the tank 4 which is a relatively heavy body. Is transmitted to the recording head 1 side.

On the other hand, the recording material 14 such as a sheet of paper or a plastic thin plate is fed from a paper feeding system (not shown), and is nipped by the first pair of conveying rollers 7A and 7B and the second pair of conveying rollers 6A and 6B. The recording head 1 between the pair of conveying rollers
Is recorded. Second conveying roller pair 6A, 6
The conveyance speed of B is set to be slightly higher than the conveyance speed of the first conveyance rollers 7A and 7B, and the recording material 14 is tensioned and held flat in the recording portion between both roller pairs. There is. It should be noted that the recording material 14 may be configured to maintain a flat shape by electrostatically adsorbing or air sucking the platen 16 having a flat surface portion, instead of applying tension.

The recording means (recording head) 1 is an ink jet recording means for ejecting ink by utilizing heat energy, and is provided with an electrothermal converter for generating heat energy. Further, the recording means 1 performs recording by ejecting ink from an ejection port by utilizing a pressure change caused by growth and contraction of bubbles due to film boiling caused by thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter. Is.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view schematically showing the structure of the ink ejection portion of the recording means (recording head) 1.
In FIG. 2, the ejection port surface 2 that faces the recording material 14 with a predetermined gap (for example, about 0.5 to 2.0 mm).
1, a plurality of discharge ports 22 are formed at a predetermined pitch,
An electrothermal converter (heat-generating resistor, etc.) 25 for generating energy for ejecting ink is disposed along the wall surface of each liquid passage 24 that connects the common liquid chamber 23 and each ejection port 22. In this example, the recording head 1 includes the ejection port 22.
Are mounted on the carriage 2 in such a positional relationship that they are arranged in a direction intersecting with the moving direction (main scanning direction) of the carriage 2. In this way, the corresponding electrothermal converter 25 is driven (energized) based on the image signal or the ejection signal to cause the ink in the liquid passage 24 to film-boil, and the ink generated from the ejection port 22 is ejected by the pressure generated at that time. The recording head 1 is configured.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 13 denotes a recovery system for performing the recovery operation of the ejection port 22 of the recording head 1, and the recovery operation is performed by ejecting the ink from each ejection port 22 by suction or pressurization of the ink ( This is for eliminating defective discharge and maintaining normal discharge). The recovery system 13 is arranged within the movement range of the carriage 2 but outside the recording area. During standby, the ejection port 22 of the recording head 1 is capped by the cap provided on the front surface of the recovery system 13. A cleaning mechanism (wiping mechanism) 8 for wiping and cleaning the ejection opening surface of the recording head 1 using the movement of the carriage 2 is arranged outside the recording area.

When the cleaning mechanism 8 cleans the ejection port surface 21 of each recording head 1, the same wiping blade comes into contact with a plurality of recording heads 1.
Ink mixing may occur between the ejection openings 22 of each recording head 1. As a method of preventing the color mixture of ink, a method of ejecting ink (empty ejection) from each recording head 1 toward the ink absorber 15 and discharging the mixed color ink from the ejection port 22 before starting the recording operation is adopted. Has been.
The ink absorber 15 is arranged at a position adjacent to the cleaning mechanism 8 as shown in the drawing.

In the recording operation, the recording head 1 starts recording on the recording material 14 which is stopped from the left side in FIG. Minutes are recorded. When the recording for one line is completed, the carriage 2 and the ink tank 4 return to the left side (recording start position) again. During this period, the recording material 14
Is fed (conveyed) by the height L of one row by the first pair of conveying rollers 7A, 7B and the second pair of conveying rollers 6A, 6B, and stops at the position where the next row is recorded.
Then, the recording of the next line is performed in the same manner as described above. By repeating such recording operation and paper feeding operation,
Image recording is performed on the entire area of the recording material 14.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view schematically showing the structure of the cleaning mechanism 8 in FIG. In FIG. 3, the cleaning mechanism 8 is fixedly supported by a platen 16, a wiping blade 31 for wiping and cleaning the ejection port surface 21 of the recording head 1 is attached to a wiper holder 32, and the wiper holder 32 is cleaned. Two guide rails 3 fixed to the support frame 33 of the mechanism 8
It is guided and supported so as to be movable along 4, 34. The wiper holder 32 and the wiping blade 31 are urged in the right direction (retraction direction = retraction direction) by a tension spring 35 stretched between the wiper holder 32 and the support frame 33.

In FIG. 3, a rotation fulcrum 36 is provided on the support frame 33 of the cleaning mechanism 8, and the rotation fulcrum 3 is provided.
An arm 37 is pivotally supported so as to be rotatable about 6. One end of the arm 37 has the wiper holder 32.
And the other end of the arm 37 is connected to a movable shaft 39 of a solenoid 38 attached to the support frame 33.

When the solenoid 38 is turned on,
As shown in FIG. 3, the movable shaft 39 retracts and the arm 37 rotates counterclockwise to move the wiper holder 32 leftward in the drawing. As a result, the wiper holder 32 moves to a position where it comes into contact with the back surface of the platen 16,
The blade 31 projects from the opening 40 of the platen 16,
The ejection port surface 21 of the recording head 1 can be wiped and cleaned (wiping operation). On the other hand, when the solenoid 38 is turned off, the movable shaft 39 thereof projects and the arm 37 rotates clockwise, and the restoring force of the tension spring 35 causes the wiper holder 32 to move (retract) to the right in the drawing.
Then, the blade 31 is stored in the retracted position in the platen 16.

The position of the tip (edge) of the wiping blade 31 must be accurately positioned. The reason is that if the tip of the blade 31 is insufficient to enter the ejection port surface 21 of the recording head 1, sufficient contact pressure cannot be obtained, and the cleaning effect (wiping cleaning effect) is significantly reduced. When the amount of entry is too large, the amount of deformation (bending amount) of the blade 31 becomes large, and the side surface is brought into contact with the ejection edge surface 21 instead of the leading edge. Because it comes to rub. According to the cleaning mechanism shown in FIG. 3, the wiping holder 31 is positioned by bringing the wiper holder 32 into contact with the platen 16 disposed with a predetermined gap from the ejection port surface 21 of the recording head 1. Set the tip of the blade 31 to the outlet face 2
Positioning can be performed accurately with respect to 1.

FIG. 4 is a front view taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. In the cleaning mechanism 8, the rubber-like elastic wiping blade 31 is inclined with respect to the alignment direction of the ejection ports 22 of the recording head 1 (vertical direction in the illustrated example), as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. The discharge port surface 21 is provided so that the discharge port surface 21 is sequentially contacted from the lower side to the upper side in accordance with the movement of the recording head 1 to wipe and clean the discharge port surface 21. In the present embodiment, the inclination of the blade 31 is set to the angle θ in the left rotation direction (counterclockwise direction) as viewed from the front of the platen 16, and the recording head 1 moves in the arrow A direction (the leftward direction in the drawing). ), The blade 31 is moved forward (projected) to wipe the ejection port surface 21.

That is, the operation of the wiping blade 31 to move in and out (advance and retract) from the discharge port surface 21 is as follows. When the recording head 1 moves forward (moves to the right in FIG. 1), the solenoid 38 is turned off and the blade 31 is separated (retracted) from the movement path of the ejection port surface 21. When the solenoid 38 is turned on when the recording head 1 is returning (moving leftward in FIG. 1), the blade 3
When the recording head 1 passes through the cleaning mechanism 8 when the recording head 1 passes through the movement path of the ejection port surface 21, the blade 31 sequentially contacts from the bottom of the ejection port surface 21 to the top of the ejection port 21. The surface 21 is wiped and cleaned.

The timing of the above-mentioned cleaning (wiping) operation can be freely set according to the conditions at the time of recording. For example, in the case of performing large plate image recording in which the movement of the recording head 1 is long, a thread is used. When a woven cloth that easily produces dust such as scraps is used as a recording material, or when highly volatile ink is used, it is desirable to perform it at each backward movement. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the wiping operation may be performed every predetermined recording operation or every predetermined number of recording sheets.

5 to 8 are schematic views showing the operation of wiping off the ink remaining on the ejection port surface 21 by the cleaning mechanism 8 as seen from the platen 16 side. Next, referring to these drawings, the wiping operation will be described. The operation will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, each recording head 1C, 1M, 1Y, 1B
The recording heads 1 are moved in the direction of arrow A toward the wiping blade 31 which is mounted so that the ejection port surface 21 and the surface of the head holder 45 are flush with each other and can be wiped off at the time of returning. . This blade 31
Is the inclination angle θ with respect to the discharge ports 22 aligned in the vertical direction.
It is arranged with. The tilt angle θ is determined in consideration of the viscosity and surface tension of the ink used, the water repellency of each member in contact with the ink, the moving speed of the recording head 1, and the like.

When the recording head 1 further moves, the blade 31 sequentially rubs from the lower right corner of the head holder 45 toward the upper left, scraping the ink 46 remaining on the ejection port surface 21 as shown in FIG. Move from bottom to top. Normally, the upper ejection port of the plurality of ejection ports 22 is likely to cause thickening (drying) of ink, but in the present embodiment,
Since a large amount of ink is lifted up from the bottom by the wiping blade 31, the thickened ink can be redissolved, and the ejection port surface 21 can be easily and reliably wiped and cleaned.

At a predetermined position of the head holder 45, an ink absorber 47 for permeating and collecting the wiped ink is attached. Therefore, the recording head 1
Is further moved in the direction of arrow A, as shown in FIG.
Similarly, the ejection port surfaces 21 of the plurality of recording heads 1 are also sequentially wiped from the bottom to the top, and the ink scraped from each ejection port surface 21 is permeated into the ink absorber 47. FIG. 8 shows a state immediately after the blade 31 has further moved in the direction of arrow A and passed through each recording head 1 and the ink absorber 47. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, since the blade 31 also contacts the ink absorber 47, the ink 46 that has been scraped up and the ink that may remain on the edge of the blade 31 can also be absorbed by the ink absorber 47. . That is, the blade 31 itself can be cleaned. After the wiping of each recording head 1 is completed, the blade 31 is retracted to the retracted position, and the next recording operation is performed.

9 and 10 are schematic views showing the operation of another embodiment of the recovery means for recovering the ink wiped by the cleaning mechanism 8 as seen from the platen 16 side, and FIG. FIG. 10 shows a state in which the recording head 1 is stopped after wiping. In this embodiment, the ink collected by the blade 31 is collected and the blade 31 itself is separately cleaned.

9 and 10, the blade 31
An ink collecting container 48 is arranged at a position adjacent to and below the head holder 45.
An ink recovery member 50 having a protrusion 49 that can come into contact with the lower surface of the ink is mounted. The ink collecting member 50 is made of a material having an excellent ink absorbing ability. A vertical groove 51 is formed at a predetermined position on the surface of the head holder 45. In addition, at a predetermined position of the head holder 45 (the same position as in FIGS. 5 to 8), the ink absorber 4 is placed.
7 is attached. The other parts of the present embodiment have substantially the same configuration as the embodiment described with reference to FIGS.

9 and 10, the recording head 1
While moving in the direction of arrow A, the blade 31 inclined at the angle θ sequentially contacts the ejection opening surface 21 of each recording head from the bottom to the top, and scrapes the ink remaining on the ejection opening surface 21. While moving from bottom to top. The ink 46 thus scraped and collected flows into the groove 51, flows down to the lower surface of the head holder 45 along the groove 51, and is absorbed by the ink collecting member 50 through the protruding portion 49 that rubs against the lower surface. The ink is collected in the ink collecting container 48.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the recording head 1
Since the protruding portion 49 of the ink collecting member 50 is in contact with the lower end of the groove 51 even at the stop position, the ink in the groove 51 can be completely absorbed and collected. On the other hand, similarly to the case of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the blade 31 wipes each ejection port surface 21 and then rubs against the ink absorber 47 attached to the head holder 45. Therefore, the ink (generally a small amount) that may remain on the edge of the blade 31 is absorbed by the ink absorber 47. That is, the cleaning of the blade 31 itself is performed by the ink absorber 47. According to the configuration of this embodiment, a larger volume of ink can be stored than in the embodiments of FIGS. 5 to 8, and the effect of preventing the thickened ink from adhering to the edge portion of the blade 31 is further improved. Can be made.

According to the embodiment described above, the blade 31 tilted when the recording head 1 is moved is used to wipe the ejection port surface 21 upward from the lower end. It is possible to lift up to the upper part of the ejection port surface 21 which is easily sticky, and the ejection port surface 21
Even when thickened ink is generated on the surface, the thickened ink can be redissolved so that it can be easily wiped off, thereby completely removing foreign matter on the ejection port surface 21 including thickened or stuck ink. It has become possible to wipe it off.

Also, the wiping blade 31 itself can be cleaned by the ink absorber 47, and the wiping operation of the ejection port surface 21 can be always performed with a clean blade. Therefore, the ink ejection state of the recording head 1 can be maintained in a good state for a long period of time, and an inkjet recording apparatus capable of easily recording a high quality image can be obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, the color recording apparatus using a plurality of recording heads for recording with different color inks has been described as an example, but the present invention is a single color recording with one recording head 1. It can be widely applied regardless of the number of recording heads or recording colors, such as a recording apparatus for recording, or a recording apparatus for gradation recording using a plurality of recording heads that record with ink of the same color but different density. The effect of is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, a recording head and an ink tank are separately provided and connected by a tube or the like, or a replaceable head cartridge in which the recording head and the ink tank are integrated is used. No matter what the arrangement of the head and the ink tank is, the same can be applied and the same effect can be achieved.

The present invention can be applied to an ink jet recording apparatus using a recording means (recording head) using an electromechanical transducer such as a piezo element, but among them, thermal energy is used. In this way, an excellent effect is brought about in an ink jet recording apparatus of the type that ejects ink. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740.
This is preferably done using the basic principles disclosed in 796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type, but particularly in the case of the on-demand type, a liquid (ink) is used.
By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which is stored, which corresponds to the recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling. , Generates heat energy in the electrothermal converter to cause film boiling on the heat acting surface of the recording means (recording head), and as a result, bubbles can be formed in the liquid (ink) in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal. So effective.

By the growth and contraction of the bubbles, the liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make the driving signal into a pulse shape because bubbles can be grown and contracted immediately and appropriately, and thus a liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be ejected. As this pulse-shaped drive signal, US Pat.
Those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,633,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Incidentally, US Pat. No. 43131 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise of the heat acting surface
If the conditions described in the specification of No. 24 are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. US Pat. No. 4,558,333, US Pat. No. 4,558,333, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region
A configuration using the specification of No. 459600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 123670/1984 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy. The present invention is also effective as a structure based on Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 138461/1984, which discloses a structure in which the discharge section is associated with the discharge section. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be reliably and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, even in the case of the serial type as in the above example, the recording head fixed to the main body of the apparatus or the ink jet from the main body of the apparatus is electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus by being attached to the main body. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip type recording head capable of performing the above or a cartridge type recording head in which an ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means or preliminary auxiliary means to the recording head provided as a constitution of the recording apparatus in the present invention because the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, in addition to the above-mentioned capping means, cleaning means, and suction recovery means for the recording head, a pressure-type recovery means, an electrothermal converter, or a heating other than this. It is also effective to perform stable recording by performing a preliminary heating means using an element or a combination thereof and a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection different from recording.

As described above, regarding the type and the number of recording heads mounted, for example, only one is provided corresponding to a single color ink, or a plurality of recording heads having different recording colors and densities are provided. A plurality of inks may be provided corresponding to the ink. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but may be either the recording head is integrally configured or a combination of a plurality of recording heads may be used. The present invention is extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of color colors or full colors by color mixing.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and that softens or liquefies at room temperature, or an ink jet. In the method, the temperature of the ink itself is generally adjusted within a range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within a stable ejection range. It may be in a liquid form. in addition,
Whether the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively used as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the ink that solidifies when left standing for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink is used. In any case, the ink is liquefied by applying the thermal energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink is ejected,
The present invention is also applicable to the case of using an ink that has a property of being liquefied only by thermal energy, such as one that has already started to solidify when it reaches the recording medium.

The ink in such a case is disclosed in JP-A-54-54.
As described in JP-A-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, a mode in which it is held as a liquid or a solid in the recesses or through holes of the porous sheet and faces the electrothermal converter. May be In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the one used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmitting / receiving function. And the like may be used.

[0050]

As is clear from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting the ink from the recording means which moves along the recording material to the recording material. A rubber which is provided so as to be inclined with respect to the alignment direction of the ejection openings of the recording means, and which wipes and cleans the ejection opening surfaces by sequentially contacting the ejection opening surfaces from below in the vertical direction as the recording head moves. Since it has a wiping blade made of elastic material, it is possible to wipe ink without ejecting it when wiping the ejection port surface of the recording means, and it is possible to reliably remove even once thickened or stuck ink. Provided is an inkjet recording apparatus provided with a cleaning mechanism capable of improving wiping efficiency.

According to the inventions of claims 2 to 4, in addition to the above construction, a construction is provided in which a contacting / separating means for moving the wiping blade into and out of the moving path of the discharge port surface is provided, and the recording means is provided. A structure which is an ink jet recording means including an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used for ejecting ink, or the recording means causes film boiling in the ink due to the thermal energy generated by the electrothermal converter. Since it is configured to eject ink from the ejection port by using, it is possible to wipe the ejection port surface of the recording unit without wiping it off, even if the ink is once thickened or stuck. An inkjet recording device provided with a cleaning mechanism that can be removed to improve wiping efficiency is provided. That.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a main part of an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view schematically showing the structure of an ink ejection portion of the recording means in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of a cleaning mechanism of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a partial front view seen from a line 4-4 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a state at the time of starting a wiping operation by the cleaning mechanism of the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

6 is a schematic diagram showing a state in the middle of a wiping operation by the cleaning mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a state of the latter half of the wiping operation by the cleaning mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a state immediately after the end of wiping of the cleaning mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the state of the latter half of the wiping operation according to another embodiment of the cleaning mechanism of the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

10 is a schematic diagram showing a state after wiping of the cleaning mechanism of FIG. 9 is completed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Means (Recording Head) 2 Carriage 4 Ink Tank 5 Recording Line 8 Cleaning Mechanism 13 Recovery System 14 Recording Material 15 Ink Absorber 16 Platen 21 Discharge Port Surface 22 Discharge Port 25 Electrothermal Converter 31 Wiping Blade 32 Wiper Holder 33 Support frame 35 Tension spring 37 Arm 38 Solenoid 40 Opening 45 Head holder 46 Residual ink 47 Ink absorber 48 Ink recovery container 49 Projection 50 Ink recovery member 51 Groove θ Wiping blade inclination angle

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus for performing recording by ejecting ink from a recording means which moves along a recording material to the recording material, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is provided so as to be inclined with respect to an alignment direction of ejection ports of the recording means. An inkjet recording apparatus having a wiping blade made of a rubber-like elastic material for sequentially contacting the ejection port surface from the lower side to the upper side in a vertical direction with the movement of the recording head to wipe and clean the ejection port surface. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising contacting / separating means for moving the wiping blade into and out of the movement path of the ejection port surface. 3. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is an inkjet recording unit including an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used to eject ink. 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recording unit ejects the ink from the ejection port by utilizing film boiling generated in the ink by the thermal energy generated by the electrothermal converter. .