Patent Application
20080266352
The entire disclosures of Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-117257, filed Apr. 26, 2007 is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that is capable of ejecting a fluid or liquid from a plurality of nozzle openings. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method of enclosing the nozzle openings with a cap when the nozzle openings are not performing a liquid ejecting operation.
2. Related Art
One example of a commonly used liquid ejecting apparatus is an image recording apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, which discharges and deposits ink droplets onto a recording medium, such as a recording paper or the like, to perform a recording operation. In recent years, however, liquid ejecting apparatuses have been increasingly used in various other manufacturing apparatuses, beyond image recording apparatuses. For example, other liquid ejecting apparatuses are also used apparatuses for manufacturing displays, such as a liquid crystal displays, a plasma displays, organic EL (Electro Luminescence) displays, and an FEDs (Field Emission Displays). Moreover, liquid ejecting apparatuses are also used to discharge various liquid materials, such as color materials or electrode materials, onto image forming regions or electrode forming regions.
One example of a liquid ejecting apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A-2004-268563, which describes an ink jet printer that includes an ink jet recording head. The disclosed recording head has a plurality of nozzles and a nozzle surface, and a nozzle opening of each nozzle is formed in the nozzle surface. The recording head ejects ink from the nozzle openings to record an image of a recording medium. However, when the recording head is not performing a printing or recording operation, caps are mounted on the nozzle openings so as to prevent ink from drying and clogging the nozzles, and to prevent dust or dirt from sticking to the nozzle openings. Specifically, in the printer described in JP-A-2004-268563, six caps are provided for the recording head. During the period of time when the recording head is not performing a printing process, the six caps are brought into contact with the recording head, in order to completely enclose the nozzle openings (capping state). That is, in the printer described in the above-described document, the six caps, which are spaced from the recording head, are moved to and brought into contact with the recording head.
In another known technology, a mechanism is used that brings and presses the caps into contact with the recording head while simultaneously presses to perform a sufficient capping operation. During this capping operation, the caps are preferably pressed against the recording head and brought into close contact with the recording head so that the inside of each of the caps is vacuumized to generate a negative pressure inside of the cap, thereby eliminating any clogging at the nozzles.
Generally, the plurality of caps are moved to and pressed against the liquid ejecting head (recording head) using a driving force supplied from a driving source, such as a stepping motor or the like. One disadvantage of this system, however, is that when the plurality of caps simultaneously come into contact with the liquid ejecting head, an excessive load may be imposed on the driving source, which may cause problems. More specifically, a large load may be generated on the driving source when the plurality of caps come into contact with the liquid ejecting head, causing the driving source to stop. As a result, the caps may not be appropriately brought into contact with and pressed against the liquid ejecting head, and thus a good capping state may not be realized.
An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a technology capable of reducing a change in a load on a driving source when a plurality of caps come into contact with a liquid ejecting head, thereby realizing a good capping state.
One aspect of the invention is a liquid ejecting apparatus, comprising a liquid ejecting head comprising nozzles capable of ejecting a liquid from a plurality of nozzle openings formed in a nozzle opening plane, a cap array that has three or more caps symmetrically arranged in an arrangement direction that is parallel with the nozzle opening plane with a symmetry axis that is perpendicular to the arrangement direction. The caps are capable of moving in a cap moving direction to be brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head, so as to enclose the nozzle openings. The liquid ejecting apparatus further comprises a cap moving unit that is capable of performing a capping operation for each cap, where each cap is moved toward the liquid ejecting head in the cap moving direction so as to be brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at a series of predetermined contact timings, and pressed against the liquid ejecting head, and a driving source capable of supplying a driving force for moving the caps toward the cap moving unit. In the liquid ejecting head at least two of the caps are brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at different contact timings, and wherein caps arranged symmetrically with respect to the symmetry axis are brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at the same contact timing.
A second aspect of the invention is a method of controlling a liquid ejecting apparatus comprised of a liquid ejecting head, which has a plurality of nozzles capable of ejecting a liquid from nozzle openings formed in a nozzle opening plane of the liquid ejecting head and a cap array comprised of three or more caps capable of moving in a cap moving direction toward and contacting the liquid ejecting head so as to enclose the nozzle openings of the liquid ejecting head. The method comprises performing a capping operation using a driving force capable of moving the caps toward the liquid ejecting head in the cap moving direction, bringing the caps into contact with the liquid ejecting head at a series of predetermined contact timings, and pressing the caps against the liquid ejecting head, wherein the caps are symmetrically arranged in an arrangement direction that is parallel with the nozzle opening plane with a symmetry axis perpendicular to the arrangement direction, and wherein at least two caps are brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at different contact timings, and wherein caps that are arranged symmetrically with respect to the symmetry axis are brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at the same contact timing.
A third aspect of the present invention is a capping apparatus capable of capping a plurality of nozzle openings that are symmetrically arranged in an arrangement direction in a nozzle opening plane of a liquid ejecting head. The capping apparatus comprises a cap array that has 3 or more caps arranged so as to correspond with the nozzle openings, the caps being capable of moving in a cap moving direction, contacting the liquid ejecting head, and enclosing the nozzle openings, a cap moving unit that is capable of performing a capping operation for each nozzle opening wherein the caps are moved toward the liquid ejecting head in the cap moving direction, brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at a series of at least two predetermined contact timings, and pressed against the liquid ejecting head, a driving source capable of supplying a driving force to move the caps toward the cap moving unit, wherein each group of caps located an equal distance from the symmetry axis are brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head at the same contact timing.
With this configuration, a capping operation is performed for each of the caps such that at least two caps are brought into contact with the fluid ejecting head at different times. Accordingly, the load on the driving source that occurs when the caps come into contact with the fluid ejecting head is reduced, when compared to configurations where all of the caps are brought into contact with the fluid ejecting head at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the driving source from stopping due to an excessive load being placed on the driving source at the time of contact. As a result, the caps can be appropriately brought into contact with and pressed against the fluid ejecting head, and a sufficient capping process can be performed.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like members reference like elements.
Prior to describing embodiments of the invention, the basic configuration of a liquid ejecting apparatus, to which the invention is applied, will be described.
Thereafter, the embodiments of the invention will be described.
In the frame 2, a guide member 5 is provided to be parallel with the platen 3. A carriage 6 is inserted in the frame 2 and is supported by the guide member 5 so as to move along the guide member 5. In addition, a carriage motor 7 is attached to the frame 2. The carriage 6 is in drivable connection with the carriage motor 7 via a timing belt 8, which is stretched between a pair of pulleys P1 and P2. In this configuration, when the carriage motor 7 is driven, its driving force is transferred to the carriage 6 through the timing belt 8. The carriage 6 receives the driving force and is guided by the guide member 5 to reciprocate in a main scanning direction (+x direction and −x direction) in parallel with the platen 3.
On a lower surface of the carriage 6, a recording head 9 is provided which serves as a liquid ejecting head. The recording head 9 has a planar nozzle forming surface. In the nozzle forming surface, a plurality of nozzles (not shown) are formed to face the recording paper P. That is, the nozzle forming surface corresponds to the nozzle opening plane of the invention. The nozzles are formed in the nozzle opening plane.
As shown in
The recording head 9 is driven to discharge reactive ink after black ink or color ink (pigment ink) is discharged. The reactive ink sticks to the color ink on the recording paper P in order to coagulate with the color ink, and thereby increase color reproduction and gloss of the color ink. The recording head 9 may also be driven to discharge the reactive ink onto a paper portion on which the black ink and the color ink have not been discharged, in order to increase the gloss of the paper.
In the printer 1, the region where ink droplets are discharged onto the recording paper P while the carriage 6 reciprocates is referred to as a printing region or ejecting region. In addition to the printing region, the printer 1 also includes a non-printing region where the nozzles are capped when the printer is not performing a printing operation. A maintenance unit 11 is provided in the non-printing region. The maintenance unit 11 periodically performs maintenance operations on the recording head 9 in order to ensure that the nozzles are able to properly discharge the liquid during the printing process.
As shown in
The inside of the cap member 13 is divided into two sections, in which absorbers 131 and 132 are correspondingly placed. A waste ink tank (not shown), is provided below the platen 3 shown in
With the above-described configuration, the pigment ink and the reactive ink stored in the ink cartridge 10 can be separately absorbed by the absorbers 131 and 132, and discarded in the waste ink tank during a cleaning operation.
As shown in
Next, the configuration of the maintenance unit 11 will be described with reference to
As shown in
With this configuration, the slider 12 can move in the vertical direction (+z direction and −z direction) and the horizontal direction (+x direction and −x direction) with respect to the main body case C.
As described above, the slider 12 is attached to the main body case C through the spring member SP1. Accordingly, the slider 12 is pulled in the left direction (−x direction) with respect to the main body case C, such that if no force acts on the slider 12, as shown in
As shown in
Meanwhile, as shown in
With this configuration, the cap member 13 can move along the z-axis with respect to the slider 12. In addition, the cap member 13 is urged in the +z direction by the spring member SP2, while the movement of the cap member 13 in the +z direction is regulated by the support rods 20 and 21 and the positioning rod 22. Accordingly, when the cap member 13 is located as far as possible in the +z direction with respect to the slider 12 and is pressed in the −z direction, the cap member 13 moves in the −z direction according to the pressure.
As shown in
The main body case C has, as shown in
As shown in
When the slider 12 moves from the reference position in the +x direction, the cap member 13 attached to the slider 12 is forced in the +y direction with respect to the slider 12 by the spring member SP3. Accordingly, the positioning rod 22 moves in a +x and +y direction along a slope portion 28 of the protrusion 26. Then, as shown in
With this configuration, when the recording head 9 comes into contact with a contact portion 29 formed to extend from the slider 12, and the slider 12 is pressed in the +x direction, the slider 12 moves, and the cap member 13 moves to the set position. At this time, when the cap member 13 is in the set position, the claw portion T of the cap member 13 moves in the +y direction and comes into contact with the recording head 9. That is, the set position refers to a position where the cap member 13 directly faces the nozzles of the recording head 9. In contrast, the reference position refers to a position where the cap member 13 is retracted from the way of the recording head 9 in the main scanning direction.
The guide groove 25 provided in the slider 12 is formed to have a size that is approximately 1.2 times larger than the positioning rod 22 of the cap member 13. Therefore, abrasion occurring when the positioning rod 22 comes into contact with the guide groove 25 can be reduced. In addition, the movement of the cap member 13 along the y-axis can be prevented from deteriorating due to the abrasion.
Next, the configuration of a driving mechanism of the slider 12 will be described with reference to
As shown in
Two plate portions 36 and 37 are formed at the bottom 35 of the slider 12. As shown in
As shown in
Accordingly, when the cam mechanism 40 rotates around the shaft 41, since the cams 43 and 44 rotate, the slide shafts 38 and 39 slide along the slide grooves 46 and 47. At this time, the contact shafts U1 and U2 come into slidable contact with and are supported by the side surfaces 431 and 441 of the cams 43 and 44. Then, the shaft 41 and the contact shafts U1 and U2 are moved closer or further from each other, depending on the rotation of the shaft 41. That is, as described above, since the shaft 41 of the cam mechanism 40 is supported by the main body case C, the slider 12 moves along the z-axis with respect to the main body case C while guiding the shaft 32 in the guide groove 34 of the main body case C.
The gear 42 of the cam mechanism 40 is driven by a driving force, which is supplied from a driving motor 402 through a driving mechanism 401. Moreover, the driving motor 402 can rotate forward and backward. Accordingly, for example, when the slide grooves 46 and 47 of the cams 43 and 44, and the slide shafts 38 and 39 are in the state shown in
When the positional relationship between the slide grooves 46 and 47 and the slide shafts 38 and 39 is as shown in
The dimensional relationship of the relative distances d1, d2, and d3 is as follows: relative distance d1<relative distance d2<relative distance d3. Moreover, the state shown in
In this specification, as shown in
When the slider 12 is in the standby state, as shown in
Next, the operation of the maintenance unit 11 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to
As shown in
When the printer 1 shown in
At this time, when bringing the recording head 9 into contact with the contact portion 29 of the slider 12, the printer 1 moves the slider 12 from the standby state to the flushing state. Accordingly, the wiper member W moves from the inside of the main body case C to a position where it is capable of coming into contact with the recording head 9. Then, if the recording head 9 passes over the wiper member W so as to come into contact with the contact portion 29 of the slider 12, any ink sticking to the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 9 is cleaned off. Next, when the slider 12 moves to the flushing state, the driving motor 402 is stopped, and as shown in
When the recording head 9 is capped in this state, the printer 1 moves the slider 12 from the flushing state to the standby state, and then to the capping state. Accordingly, as shown in
In a state in which the cap member 13 caps the recording head 9, if the suction pump is driven, a cleaning operation can be performed to remove any clogged ink, air bubbles, dust, or other cause of nozzle clogging in the recording head 9 through the cap member 13. The foregoing description is given for basic configuration of a liquid ejecting apparatus, to which the invention is applied. Next, the embodiments of the invention will be described.
As shown in
Referring to
A cam CM1 shown in the row entitled “CAM MECHANISMS 40a AND 40e” of
The next row of
The fourth row of the diagram shown in
The top row of
In step M11, the contact shafts U1 and U2 come into contact with the cams CM1 to CM3 of the cam mechanisms 40a-40e at the bottom point BP. Accordingly, the cap members 13a-13e are each spaced from the nozzle forming surface 91a distance va1-ve1, respectively. At step M11, the gaps va1-ve1 are identical. Because, the configuration and operation of the contact shaft U1 and the contact shaft U2 is the same, the description and illustration of the configuration and operation of the contact shafts U1 and U2 will be given using contact shaft U1 as an example.
At the end of step M11, all the cap members 13a-13e are separated from the nozzle forming surface 91 at a predetermined distance va1-ve1. At the beginning of the capping operation, however, the driving motor 402 starts to rotate the shaft 41, and the shaft 41 and the cams CM1-CM3 fixed to the shaft 41 start to rotate in the counterclockwise direction.
As the cam CM1 rotates, the contact shafts U1 of the sliders 12a and 12e move in the cap moving direction (the upward direction in
Similarly, as the cam CM2 rotates, the contact shafts U1 of the sliders 12b and 12d move in the cap moving direction +13D toward the nozzle forming surface 91 while coming into slidable contact with the curved surface CV2 of the cam CM2. In addition, as the sliders 12b and 12d move, the cap members 13b and 13d, which are correspondingly connected to the sliders 12b and 12d through the spring member SP2, move toward the nozzle forming surface 91.
Furthermore, as the cam CM3 rotates, the contact shaft U1 of the slider 12c moves in the cap moving direction +13D toward the nozzle forming surface 91 while coming into slidable contact with the curved surface CV3 of the cam CM3. As the slider 12c moves, the cap member 13c, which is connected to the slider 12c through the spring member SP2, moves toward the nozzle forming surface 91.
As described above, among the curved surfaces CV1 to CV3, the curved surface CV3 has a position that is the farthest from the shaft 41 and the largest radius. As a result, the contact shaft U1 of the slider 12c is the first to move in the cap moving direction +13D. As a result, in Step M12, the cap member 13c is the first of the five cap members 13a-13e to come into contact with the nozzle forming surface 91. As shown in step M12 of
If the cams CM1 to CM3 continue to rotate beyond the state shown in step M12 in the counterclockwise direction, the cap members 13a, 13b, 13d, and 13e move further in the cap moving direction. At this time, the cap member 13c is already in contact with the nozzle forming surface 91, and thus does not move in the cap moving direction +13D any further. Meanwhile, the cam CM3 continues to rotate in the counterclockwise direction, causing the slider 12c to continue to move in the cap moving direction +13D. Accordingly, the slider 12c moves in the cap moving direction +13D against the force of the spring member SP2, which is disposed between the slider 12c and the cap member 13c. As a result, the cap member 13c is pressed against the nozzle forming surface 91 with a force supplied by the spring member SP2.
As described above, from among the curved surfaces CV1 to CV3, the curved surface CV2 passes has a circumference that is second farthest from the shaft 41, and the second largest radius after the curved surface CV3. Accordingly, subsequently to the contact shaft U1 of the slider 12c, the sliders 12b and 12d move in the cap moving direction +13D. As a result, after the cap member 13c comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface 91 in step M12, the cap members 13b and 13d come into contact with the nozzle forming surface 91, as shown in step M13. In step M13, the cap member 13a is spaced a distance va3 from the nozzle forming surface 91, and the cap member 13e is spaced a distance of ve3 from the nozzle forming surface 91. The distances va3 and ve3 are the same.
If the cams CM1 to CM3 continue to further rotate from the state shown in step M13 in the counterclockwise direction, the cap members 13a and 13e further move in the cap moving direction. At this time, the cap members 13b, 13c, and 13d are all already in contact with the nozzle forming surface 91, and do not continue move in the cap moving direction +13D any further. Meanwhile, the cams CM2 and CM3 continue to rotate in the counterclockwise direction and the sliders 12b, 12c, and 12d continue to move in the cap moving direction +13D. Accordingly, the sliders 12b, 12c, and 12d move in the cap moving direction +13D against the force of the spring members SP2, which are respectively disposed between the sliders 12b, 12c, and 12d and the cap members 13b, 13c, and 13d. As a result, each of the cap members 13b, 13c, and 13d is pressed against the nozzle forming surface 91 with a force supplied by the spring members SP2.
As described above, among the curved surfaces CV1 to CV3, the curved surface CV1 has the smallest radius and thus a circumference that is the smallest distance from the shaft 41. Accordingly, the contact shafts U1 of the sliders 12a and 12e are the last sliders 12a-12e to move in the cap moving direction +13D. As a result, after the cap members 13b and 13d come into contact with the nozzle forming surface 91 in step M13, the cap members 13a and 13e come into contact with the nozzle forming surface 91, as shown in step M14.
The cams CM1 to CM3 further rotate in the counterclockwise direction from the state shown in step M14, and as a result, the sliders 12a to 12e continue to move in the cap moving direction +13D. At this time, the cap members 13a to 13e have already been in contact with the nozzle forming surface 91, and do not move any further in the cap moving direction +13D. Accordingly, the sliders 12a to 12e move in the cap moving direction +13D against the force of the spring members SP2, which are respectively disposed between the sliders 12a to 12e and the cap members 13a to 13e. As a result, each of the cap members 13a to 13e is pressed against the nozzle forming surface 91 in response to the force of the spring member SP2, as shown in step M15. In addition, as shown in step M15, the contact shaft U1 of each of the sliders 12a to 12e comes into contact with each of the corresponding cams CM (CM1-CM3) at their respective top points TP. If the operation shown in step M15 is completed, the capping operation for all of the cap members 13a to 13e is completed.
As such, in the first embodiment, the recording head 9 corresponds to the ‘liquid ejecting head’ of the invention, the nozzle forming surface 91 corresponds to the ‘nozzle opening plane’ of the invention, and each of the cap members 13 (13a-13e) corresponds to the ‘cap’ of the invention. In addition, the cam mechanisms 40 (40a-40e) and the sliders 12 (12a-12e) correspond to the ‘cap moving unit’ of the invention.
As described above, in the first embodiment, the capping operation is carried out for the five cap members 13a-13e spaced from the recording head 9 such that at least two cap members 13 among the five cap members 13a to 13e are brought into contact with the recording head 9 at different contact timings. Here, the contact timing means a timing at which, during the capping operation, the cap member 13 comes into contact with the recording head 9. For example, the cap member 13c comes into contact with the recording head 9 in step M12, while the cap members 13b and 13d comes into contact with recording head 9 in step M13. That is, the cap member 13c and the cap members 13b and 13d have different contact timings. In addition, the cap members 13a and 13e comes into contact with the recording head 9 in step M14. That is, the cap members 13a and 13e have a contact timing that is different from that of the cap members 13b to 13d.
Specifically, in the first embodiment, instead of bringing all five cap members 13a-13e into contact with the recording head 9 at the same time, at least two cap members 13 (for example, the cap members 13c and 13b) among the five cap members are brought into contact with the recording head 9 at different times. Accordingly, compared with a case where the five cap members 13a to 13e are all brought into contact with the recording head 9 at the same time, the load on the driving motor 402 that occurs when the cap members 13 come into contact with the recording head is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the driving motor 402 from stopping due to an excessive load caused by the contact timing. As a result, the cap members 13 can be appropriately brought into contact with and pressed against the recording head 9, thereby realizing an adequate capping process.
Meanwhile, when the cap members come into contact with the recording head, a load is imposed on the recording head 9 from the cap members 13a-13e. In configurations where cap members 13 are brought into contact with the recording head 9 at different contact timings, a biased load on the recording head 9 may occur, and the recording head 9 may become excessively deformed. The excessive deformation may be accompanied by wear and abrasion of the recording head 9, and then the lifespan of the recording head may be shortened.
In contrast, in the first embodiment previously described, the five cap members 13a to 13e are symmetrically arranged along the arrangement direction 13AD parallel with the nozzle forming surface with a symmetry axis 13SA that is perpendicular to the nozzle forming surface 91 interposed there between. In the first embodiment, the cap members 13, which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the symmetry axis 13SA, among the five cap members 13a to 13e are brought into contact with the recording head 9 using a coordinated contact timing. Specifically, the cap members 13b and 13d come into contact with the recording head 9 at the same time, and the cap member 13a and the cap member 13e come into contact with the recording head 9 at the same time. Accordingly, the load imposed on the recording head 9 occurring when the cap members 13a to 13e come into contact therewith is symmetrically distributed on the recording head 9 with respect to the symmetry axis 13SA. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the biasing of any load on the recording head 9 when the cap members come into contact therewith. As a result, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to extend the lifespan of the recording head.
In configurations where the recording head 9 is flexed by its own weight, the degree of flexure tends to be larger around the symmetry axis 13SA. That is, the recording head 9 tends to be flexed the greatest amount around the symmetry axis 13SA. For this reason, in the first embodiment, when the capping operation is carried out for all of the five cap members 13a-13e, the cap member 13c, which is closest to the symmetry axis 13SA from among the five cap members 13a-13e is brought into contact with the recording head at the earliest contact timing (Step M12). That is, in the first embodiment, when the capping operation is carried out for all of the five cap members 13a to 13e, the cap member 13c closest to the symmetry axis 13SA is initially brought into contact with the recording head, thereby suppressing the flexure around the symmetry axis 13SA.
In the first embodiment, when the capping operation is carried out for all of the five cap members 13a-13e, the cap member 13c, which is the closest to the symmetry axis 13SA, is brought into contact with the recording head 9 at the earliest contact timing. By setting the contact timing in this manner, when the capping operation is carried out for all of the five cap members 13a to 13e, it is possible to suppress the flexure of the recording head 9, which is maximized around the symmetry axis 13SA.
In the first embodiment, the printer 1 has a spring member SP2 for each of the five cap members 13a to 13e, one end of which is connected to the cap member 13 on the rear side of the recording head 9, while the other end is connected to the slider 12. The slider 12 moves in the cap moving direction +13D due to the driving force from the driving motor 402 (shown in
When the capping operation for all of the five cap members 13a-13e is completed, and all of the five cap members 13a-13e are pressed against the recording head 9, a load corresponding to the resistant force of the spring member SP2 connected to each of the cap members 13a-13e is imposed on the recording head 9 from each of the cap members 13a-13e. Accordingly, if the resistant force varies among the cap members 13a-13e, a biased load on the recording head 9 may occur, and then the recording head 9 may become excessively deformed.
During the capping operation for the cap members 13a-13e, the five cap members 13a-13e are preferably pressed against the recording head with the same urging force. With this configuration, at the time of pressing the five cap members 13a-13e, the same load can be imposed on the recording head 9 from the cap members 13a-13e, thereby suppressing the deformation of the recording head 9.
Meanwhile, as described above with reference to
A cam CM1 shown in the row entitled CAM MECHANISMS 40a AND 40e” of
The cam CM2 shown in the row entitled CAM MECHANISMS 40b AND 40d” is provided in the cam mechanisms 40b and 40d. That is, the cam CM2 corresponds to the cam 43b, 44b, 43d, or 44d. As shown in that row, a curved surface CV2 is formed at the side surface of the cam CM2 from the bottom point BP to the top point TP. In addition, the relative distance between the contact shafts U1 and U2, which come into contact with the top point TP, and the shaft 41 is a relative distance d32. That is, in each of the cam mechanisms 40b and 40d, the relative distance in the capping state becomes the relative distance d32.
The cam CM3 shown in the row entitled “CAM MECHANISM 40c” is provided in the cam mechanism 40c. That is, the cam CM3 corresponds to the cam 43c or 44c. As shown in that row, a curved surface CV3 is formed at the side surface of the cam CM3 from the bottom point BP to the top point TP. In addition, the relative distance between the contact shafts U1 and U2, which come into contact with the top point TP, and the shaft 41 is a relative distance d33. That is, in the cam mechanism 40c, the relative distance in the capping state becomes the relative distance d33.
In the row entitled “ALL CAM MECHANISMS” at the top of
As such, in the second embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, the cams CM1 to CM3 are configured such that, after the separation point SEP, the curved surfaces CV1 to CV3 vary. Accordingly, by carrying out the operations of steps M11 to M15 described with reference to
Accordingly, similarly to the first embodiment, in the second embodiment, the load on the driving motor 402 (driving source) occurs when the cap member 13 comes into contact with the recording head can be reduced. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the driving motor 402 (driving source) from stopping due to the excessive load at the contact timing. As a result, the cap member 13 can be appropriately brought into contact with and pressed against the recording head 9, thereby realizing a good capping state. In addition, in the second embodiment, the cap members 13, which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the symmetry axis 13SA, among the five cap members 13a to 13e are brought into contact with the recording head 9 at the same time. Accordingly, a load on the recording head 9 that occurs when the cap members 13a-13e come into contact with the recording head 9 may be symmetrically imposed on the recording head 9 with respect to the symmetry axis 13SA. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a biased load from being applied on the recording head 9 when the cap members are brought into contact therewith. As a result, the lifespan of the recording head can be extended.
In addition, in the second embodiment, the curved surfaces CV1 to CV3 conform to each other at the top point TP. Accordingly, in the capping state (step M15), the relative distances are the same regardless of the individual configurations of the cams CM1 to CM3. As a result, in the capping state, the spring members SP2, which are correspondingly connected to the cap members 13a to 13e, may have the same length. That is, the spring members SP2 correspondingly connected to the cap members 13a-13e may have the same configuration. In this way, in a state in which the capping operation for the cap members 13a-13e is completed, the five cap members 13a-13e are pressed against the recording head 9 with the same resistant force. As such, in the second embodiment, only by making all of the spring members SP2 the same, the same load can be imposed on the recording head 9 from the cap members 13a-13e. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is preferable to suppress the deformation of the recording head 9 without greatly increasing the complexity of the configuration.
Furthermore, in order to change the contact timings of the five cap members 13a-13e, a method that changes the timing by making the shapes of all of the cams identical and shifting the cams little at a time in the rotation direction may be performed. In this case, however, even after the resistant force of the spring member SP2 is maximized, further rotation may be needed, and accordingly, the cams may be easily abraded. In the second embodiment, since the five cap members have different contact timings, but still reach the top point at the same time, it is possible to prevent the cams from being abraded due to further rotation beyond the state of the top point.
The invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments, and various changes or modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in the foregoing embodiments, the number of cap members 13 is 5, but the number of cap members is not limited to 5 and may be increased or decreased depending on the specific configuration of the recording head 9. As may be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the invention can be applied insofar as three or more cap members 13 are provided.
In the foregoing embodiments, when the capping operation is carried out for all of the five cap members 13a-13e, the cap member 13c closest to the symmetry axis 13SA among the five cap members 13a-13e is brought into contact with the recording head 9 at the earliest contact timing (step M12). However, the fact that the cap member 13c closest to the symmetry axis 13SA is brought into contact with the recording head 9 at the earliest contact timing is not an essential part of the invention. With this configuration, it is merely preferable to suppress the flexure around the symmetry axis 13SA when the capping operation is carried out for all of the five cap members 13a-13e.
Finally, the invention is not limited to a printer and may be applied in a variety of liquid ejecting apparatuses, such as display manufacturing apparatuses, electrode manufacturing apparatuses, chip manufacturing apparatuses, micropipettes, and the like.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-117257 | Apr 2007 | JP | national |
