The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-218515, which was filed on Sep. 30, 2011, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus configured to eject liquid and to a wiping method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is conventionally known a liquid ejection apparatus including: a liquid ejection head having an ejection face in which ejection openings are formed for ejecting liquid; and a wiper for wiping the liquid from the ejection face.
For example, there is known a liquid ejection apparatus having a wiper and configured to eject ink onto a recording medium to record an image thereon. In this apparatus, a capping mechanism covers an ejection face (a nozzle face) to form an ejection space (a sealed space) isolated from an outside space. A temperature/humidity-adjusted-air supply mechanism supplies an air having adjusted temperature and humidity into the ejection space via an air inlet opening formed in the capping mechanism, whereby condensation occurs on the ejection face, making it possible to moisturize the ink firmly stuck to the ejection face. Thus, the ink firmly stuck to the ejection face can be efficiently removed by wiping of the ejection face by the wiper.
However, in this liquid ejection apparatus, when condensation more than desired is caused on the entire ejection face by supplying the air having the adjusted humidity into the ejection space via the air inlet opening, an excessive amount of condensation occurs on an area of the ejection face near the air inlet opening when compared with the other areas. If the wiper wipes the ejection face in this state from the area near the air inlet opening as an upstream side in a wiping direction, a large amount of water of the condensation formed on the area near the air inlet opening is moved with the wiper toward a downstream side in the wiping direction. The water moved with the wiper is mixed with meniscuses of the ink to be ejected from the ejection openings formed on a downstream area of the ejection face in the wiping direction, resulting in an undesirable lowering of an ink density of the meniscuses.
This invention has been developed to provide a liquid ejection apparatus and a wiping method capable of preventing a lowering in a liquid density of meniscuses of liquid formed in ejection openings, when an ejection face is wiped with a wiper.
The present invention provides a liquid ejection apparatus, comprising: a liquid ejection head having an ejection face that has a plurality of ejection openings for ejecting liquid, an ejection space being defined facing the ejection face; a sealing mechanism configured to selectively establish one of (i) a sealing state in which a sealed space including the ejection space is sealed from an outside thereof and (ii) an open state in which the sealed space is open to the outside; an air inlet opening through which an air is introduced into the sealed space in the sealing state; an air outlet opening through which an air is discharged from the sealed space in the sealing state; a humid-air supply/discharge mechanism configured, when the sealing mechanism is in the sealing state, to supply a humid air into the sealed space via the air inlet opening and discharge the air in the sealed space from the air outlet opening; an ejection-face wiper configured to wipe the ejection face; and a control device configured to control the ejection-face wiper to perform the wiping of the liquid from the ejection face by causing parallel movement of the ejection-face wiper with respect to the ejection face in a wiper moving direction directed from a first end area of the ejection face toward a second end area thereof in a state in which the ejection-face wiper is held in contact with the ejection face, wherein the air inlet opening is provided at a position nearer to a downstream end of a moving path of the ejection-face wiper moved by the control device than to an upstream end of the moving path in the wiper moving direction.
The present invention provides a wiping method for wiping an ejection face of a liquid ejection apparatus, the ejection face having a plurality of ejection openings for ejecting liquid, an ejection space being defined facing the ejection face, the liquid ejection apparatus comprising: a sealing mechanism configured to selectively establish one of (i) a sealing state in which a sealed space including the ejection space is sealed from an outside thereof and (ii) an open state in which the sealed space is open to the outside; an air inlet opening through which an air is introduced into the sealed space in the sealing state; an air outlet opening through which an air is discharged from the sealed space in the sealing state; a humid-air supply/discharge mechanism configured, when the sealing mechanism is in the sealing state, to supply a humid air into the sealed space via the air inlet opening and discharge the air in the sealed space from the air outlet opening; and an ejection-face wiper configured to wipe the liquid from the ejection face, the wiping method comprising: wiping the liquid from the ejection face by causing parallel movement of the ejection-face wiper with respect to the ejection face in a direction directed toward the air inlet opening in a state in which the ejection-face wiper is held in contact with the ejection face, wherein the air inlet opening is provided at a position nearer to a downstream end of a moving path of the moved ejection-face wiper than to an upstream end of the moving path in the wiper moving direction.
In the liquid ejection apparatus and the wiping method as described above, the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper is a direction directed toward an area of the ejection face on which a larger amount of condensation is formed. Thus, it is possible to prevent water of the condensation formed on the ejection face from flowing into meniscuses of the liquid formed in the ejection openings located on a downstream side in the wiper moving direction, thereby preventing a lowering of the liquid density of the meniscuses.
The objects, features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance of the present invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, there will be described an ink-jet printer as one example of a liquid ejection apparatus as embodiments of the present invention by reference to the drawings.
First, there will be explained an overall construction of an ink-jet printer 1 as a first embodiment of the present invention with reference to
The printer 1 includes a housing 1a having a rectangular parallelepiped shape. A sheet-discharge portion 35 is provided on an upper portion of a top plate of the housing 1a. In a space defined by the housing 1a, a sheet conveyance path is formed through which a recording medium in the form of a sheet P is conveyed from a sheet-supply unit 1c which will be described below toward the sheet-discharge portion 35 along bold arrows shown in
The housing 1a accommodates: a head 10 as one example of a liquid ejection head; a conveyor unit 30 for conveying the sheet P; a platen 40 for supporting the sheet P in image recording at a facing position (see
The head 10 is a line head having a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape elongated in a main scanning direction. A lower face of the head is the ejection face 10a having a multiplicity of ejection openings 108 (see
The head 10 is supported by the housing 1a via a head holder 3. The head holder 3 holds the head 10 such that a predetermined space suitable for the recording is formed between the ejection face 10a and an upper face of the platen 40. Constructions of the head holder 3 and the head 10 will be explained below in more detail.
The conveyor unit 30 includes nip rollers 31, 32 disposed on opposite sides of the platen 40 in a sheet conveying direction. Each of the nip rollers 31, 32 includes a pair of rollers opposed to each other so as to nip the sheet P in an up and down direction. Each of the nip rollers 31, 32 applies a conveying power to the sheet P to convey the nipped sheet P in the conveying direction. The nip roller 31 is located upstream of the nip roller 32 in the sheet conveying direction. The sheet P to which the nip roller 31 has applied the conveying power is conveyed in the sheet conveying direction while being supported on the upper face of the platen 40. The sheet P having passed through the upper face of the platen 40 receives the conveying power generated by the nip roller 32 and is conveyed from the platen 40 toward a downstream side thereof in the sheet conveying direction.
The platen 40 is constituted by a pair of door members 41, 42 and openably supported by a pair of rotation shafts 40a located on opposite sides of the ejection face 10a in plan view and extending in the main scanning direction in parallel with the ejection face 10a. The pair of door members 41, 42 are rotated about the respective rotation shafts 40a by a platen motor 43 (see
The guide unit 25 includes an upstream-side guide portion and a downstream-side guide portion arranged opposite sides of the conveyor unit 30. The upstream-side guide portion includes three guides 26a, 26b, 26c and two pairs of conveyor rollers 27. The upstream-side guide portion connects between the sheet-supply unit 1c and the conveyor unit 30. The downstream-side guide portion includes three guides 28a, 28b, 28c and three pairs of conveyor rollers 29. The downstream-side guide portion connects between the conveyor unit 30 and the sheet-discharge portion 35.
The sheet-supply unit 1c includes a sheet-supply tray 23 as one example of an accommodating portion and a sheet-supply roller 24. The sheet-supply tray 23 can be mounted on and removed from the housing 1a in the sub-scanning direction. The sheet-supply tray 23 has a box-like shape opening upward and can accommodate the sheets P. The sheet-supply roller 24 is rotated by the control of the controller 100 to supply an uppermost one of the sheets P in the sheet-supply tray 23. Here, the sub-scanning direction is a direction parallel to the sheet conveying direction in which the conveyor unit 30 conveys the sheet P (i.e., a right and left direction in
The controller 100 controls the components of the printer 1 to control the operations of the printer 1. The controller 100 controls the image recording based on a recording command supplied from an external device such as a PC connected to the printer 1. Specifically, the controller 100 controls operations such as the conveyance operation of the sheet P and the ink ejecting operation synchronized with the conveyance of the sheet P. The sheet P supplied from the sheet-supply tray 23 by the conveyance operation controlled by the controller 100 is conveyed to the conveyor unit 30 by the conveyor-roller pairs 27 while being guided by the guides 26a, 26b, 26c. The conveyor unit 30 conveys the sheet P to the space between the head 10 and the platen 40. When the sheet P conveyed to the space between the head 10 and the platen by the conveyor unit 30 passes through a position just under the head 10 in the sub-scanning direction, the ink is ejected from the ejection openings 108 in order to form a monochrome image on the sheet P. The ink is ejected from the ejection openings 108 under the control of the controller 100 based on a detection signal outputted from a sheet sensor 37. The sheet P is then conveyed upward by the conveyor roller pairs 29 while being guided by the guides 28a, 28b, 28c and then discharged onto the sheet-discharge portion 35 through an opening 38 formed in an upper portion of the housing 1a.
Further, the controller 100 executes a control to perform the maintenance for maintaining or recovering ink ejection characteristics of the head 10. The maintenance includes a humidifying operation, a discharge operation, and a wiping operation. As shown in
The discharge operation includes flushing and purging. The flushing is an operation for driving actuators of the head 10 based on flushing data different from image data to forcibly eject the ink from some or all of the ejection openings 108. The purging is an operation in which the pump 54 (see
The wiping operation includes: a head wiping for wiping the ink from the ejection face 10a with the wiper unit 55; and a facing-face wiping for wiping the ink from a facing face 8a of the facing member 8 with the wiper unit 55. This wiping operation is performed after the discharge operation, for example.
As shown in
Forward and reverse rotations of the wiper drive motor 59 reciprocate the base portion 56c along the guides 58. The guide 58 having no male thread on its outer circumferential face inhibits the rotation of the base portion 56c. As shown in
It is noted that an upstream end of a moving path (locus) of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping is located in any of a space facing the no-ejection-opening formed area D1 and a space located upstream of the no-ejection-opening formed area D1 in a direction directed from the no-ejection-opening formed area D1 toward the no-ejection-opening formed area D2. Further, a downstream end of the moving path of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping is located in any of a space facing the no-ejection-opening formed area D2 and a space located downstream of the no-ejection-opening formed area D2 in a direction directed from the no-ejection-opening formed area D1 toward the no-ejection-opening formed area D2. In other words, an air inlet opening 81a which will be described below is formed in a position nearer to the downstream end of the moving path of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping than to the upstream end of the moving path in the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a. Further, the air outlet opening 81b which will be described below is formed in a position nearer to the upstream end of the moving path of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping than to the downstream end of the moving path in the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a.
The head raising and lowering mechanism 50 is configured to move the head holder 3 in a vertical direction to move the head 10 selectively to one of a recording position, a head wiping position, and a facing-face wiping position. At the recording position shown in
As shown in
There will be next explained the head 10 in detail with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
There will be next explained the actuator units 21. As shown in
There will be next explained structures of the head holder 3 and the capping mechanism 60 with reference to
The pair of joints 81 respectively function as one and the other ends of a circulation channel of the humid-air supply/discharge mechanism 80. As shown in
Each of the joints 81 has a generally cylindrical shape and includes a basal end portion 81x and a distal end portion 811y extending from the basal end portion 81x. A circular cylindrical hollow space 81z is formed through the basal end portion 81x and the distal end portion 81y in the vertical direction. The basal end portion 81x and the distal end portion 81y have different outside diameters from each other, specifically, the basal end portion 81x has a greater outside diameter than that of the distal end portion 81y. The hollow space 81z has a uniform diameter along the vertical direction.
The head holder 3 has through holes 3a each having a round shape in plan view. Each of the joints 81 is fixed to the head holder 3 in a state in which the distal end portion 81y is fitted in a corresponding one of the through holes 3a. The distal end portion Sly is smaller than the through hole 3a, but a space formed therebetween is filled with a sealant or other similar substances.
The capping mechanism 60 includes: the annular member 61; an up/down motor 65 (see
The facing member 8 is a glass plate having a rectangular planar shape which is one size larger than the annular member 61 in plan view. It is noted that a material of the facing member 8 is not limited to a glass and may be any other suitable material.
The facing-member moving mechanism 96 is controlled by the controller 100 so as to move the facing member 8 upward or downward selectively to one of an initial position, a first position, a second position, and a contact position.
Here, the initial position, as shown in
As shown in
The annular member 61 has a rectangular shape elongated in the main scanning direction and encloses the outer circumferential face of the head 10 in plan view. As shown in
The elastic member 62 is an annular member formed of an elastic material such as rubber and encloses the head 10 in plan view. As shown in
The movable member 63 is an annular member formed of a rigid material such as a stainless steel and encloses the outer circumferential face of the head in plan view. The movable member 63 is supported by the elastic member 62 so as to be movable relative to the head holder 3 in the vertical direction. The movable member 63 is connected to a plurality of gears 64. When the up/down motor 65 (see
With the upward or downward movement of the movable member 63, the annular member 61 is selectively positioned at one of a capping position (see
There will be next explained a structure of the humid-air supply/discharge mechanism 80 with reference to
The tank 84 stores water (i.e., humidification liquid) in its lower space and stores, in its upper space, the air humidified by the water stored in the lower space. The tube 85 communicates with the lower space of the tank 84 (below a water surface), while the tube 86 communicates with the upper space of the tank 84. It is noted that a check valve, not shown, is provided in the tube 85 for inhibiting the water in the tank 84 from flowing into the tube 85, resulting in that the air flows only in a direction indicated by while arrows in
When the humidifying operation is performed, the controller 100 drives the up/down motor 65 to move the annular member 61 to the capping position so as to establish the sealing state of the sealed space S1. The controller 100 then drives the humidification pump 83 to circulate the air in the tank 84 along the white arrows as shown in
Here, when the humidifying operation is performed as described above, the ink to be ejected from the ejection openings 108 and water content of the humid air are mixed with each other at meniscuses of the ink in the ejection openings 108, which lowers an ink density of the meniscuses. In order to solve this problem, in the present embodiment, when the image recording is performed after the humidifying operation, the flushing is performed to discharge the ink whose density has been lowered, and then the head wiping and the facing-face wiping are performed to remove the ink ejected by the flushing and remaining on the ejection face 10a and the facing face 8a.
Incidentally, an amount of the condensation on the ejection face 10a and an amount of the condensation on the facing face 8a are relatively large at an area near the air inlet opening 81a and decrease with increases in distance from the air inlet opening 81a. Thus, when the viscosity of the ink near all the ejection openings 108 is lowered to a desired viscosity or when condensation more than desired is caused on the entire ejection face 10a and the entire facing face 8a in order to moisturize the ink firmly stuck to the ejection face 10a and the facing face 8a, an excessive amount of condensation occurs on areas of the ejection face 100a and the facing face 8a near the air inlet opening 81a, e.g., the no-ejection-opening formed area D2, when compared with the other areas.
Thus, if the head wiping is performed from the area of the ejection face 10a on which the excessive amount of condensation is formed, that is, the ejection-face wiper 56a wipes the ejection face 10a from the area as an upstream side in the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a, a large amount of water flows into the meniscuses of the ink formed in the ejection openings 108 located downstream of this area in the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a, resulting in a lowering of the ink density of the meniscuses. In this case, the flushing has to be performed again unfortunately. In order to solve this problem, in the present embodiment, as described above, the air inlet opening 81a is formed at the downstream end of the moving path of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping. That is, the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping is a direction directed toward the area of the ejection face 10a on which the larger amount of the condensation is formed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the water of the excessive condensation formed on the ejection face 10a from flowing into the meniscuses of the ink formed in the ejection openings 108, thereby preventing the lowering of the ink density of the meniscuses.
Regarding the facing-face wiping, as shown in
In order to solve this problem, in the present embodiment, the moving direction of the facing-face wiper 56b in the facing-face wiping is the direction directed toward the area of the facing face 8a near the air inlet opening 81a as described above. Thus, it is possible to reduce an amount of the ink moving through between the contact portions of the facing face 8a and the facing-face wiper 56b in the facing-face wiping, making it possible to reduce an amount of the ink remaining on the facing face 8a after the facing-face wiping.
It is noted that the head wiping may also cause a problem in which, if an amount of the water content of the ink on the ejection face 10a is large, the ink having the large amount of water content moved with the ejection-face wiper 56a is moved through between contact portions of the ejection face 10a and the ejection-face wiper 56a due to its fluidity and left on the ejection face 10a. However, in the head wiping, most of the ink wiped with the ejection-face wiper 56a moves downward on the ejection-face wiper 56a and is received on the facing face 8a of the facing member 8, causing less problem than the facing-face wiper 56b. Moreover, an amount of the ink on the ejection face 10a is less than that on the facing face 8a of the facing member 8.
There will be next explained the controller 100 with reference to
The conveyance control section 141 is configured, based on the recording command transmitted from the external device, to control the sheet-supply unit 1c, the guide unit 25, and the conveyor unit 30 to convey the sheet P at a predetermined speed in the conveying direction. The image-data storage section 142 is configured to store the image data contained in the recording command transmitted from the external device. The head control section 143 is configured, based on the image data stored in the image-data storage section 142, to control the head 10 to eject the ink onto the conveyed sheet P in the image recording.
The maintenance control section 144 is configured to control the head 10, the facing-member moving mechanism 96, the head raising and lowering mechanism 50, the platen motor 43, the pump 54, the up/down motor 65, and the humidification pump 83 in the maintenance such as the discharge operation, the wiping operation, and the humidifying operation. The wiping drive control section 145 is configured to control the wiper drive motor 59 in the wiping operation.
There will be next explained one example of the maintenance controlled by the controller 100 with reference to
Initially in step A1, the controller 100 receives a humidifying command. Then in step A2, as shown in
Then in step A3, the maintenance control section 144 controls the up/down motor 65 to move the movable member 63 downward to move the annular member 61 to the capping position at which the distal end 61a is held in contact with the facing face 8a. As a result, the sealed space S1 is sealed or isolated from the outside space S2. Then in step A4, the maintenance control section 144 drives the humidification pump 83 for a predetermined length of time to perform the humidifying operation. As a result, the humid air is supplied from the air inlet opening 81a into the sealed space S1, and the air in the sealed space S1 is discharged from the air outlet opening 81b, so that the sealed space S1 is filled with the humid air. This suppresses an increase in viscosity of the ink near the ejection openings 108. Moreover, it is possible to lower the viscosity of the ink firmly stuck to the ejection face 10a and the facing face 8a.
Then in step A5, the controller 100 judges whether the recording command is received from the external device. When the controller 100 judges that the recording command has not been received (A5: NO), the processing in step A5 is repeated. On the other hand, when the controller 100 judges that the recording command has been received (A5: YES), the maintenance control section 144 in step A6 controls the up/down motor 65 to move the movable member 63 upward to move the annular member 61 to the distant position at which the distal end 61a of the annular member 61 is distant from the facing face 8a. As a result, the sealed space S1 is open to the outside space S2.
Then in step A7, the maintenance control section 144 drives the actuators of the head 10 to discharge the ink from all the ejection openings 108 of the head 10 toward the facing member 8. As a result, it is possible to discharge the ink whose density has been lowered at the meniscuses by the humidifying operation. The ink discharged in the flushing is to be landed on the facing member 8 which never contacts the sheet P in the image recording. Thus, the sheet P is not stained with the discharged ink.
Then in step A8, the maintenance control section 144 controls the facing-member moving mechanism 96 to move the facing member 8 to the first position and controls the head raising and lowering mechanism 50 to move the head 10 to the head wiping position. Then in step A9, the head wiping is performed in which the wiping drive control section 145 controls the wiper drive motor 59 to move the base portion 56c rightward from its wait position to cause the parallel movement of the ejection-face wiper 56a with respect to the ejection face 10a in the state in which the ejection-face wiper 56a is held in contact with the ejection face 10a. As a result, the ink is wiped from the ejection face 10a. Further, the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping is the direction directed toward the area of the ejection face 10a on which the larger amount of the condensation is formed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the water of the condensation formed on the ejection face 10a from flowing into the meniscuses of the ink formed in the ejection openings 108, thereby preventing the lowering of the ink density of the meniscuses. It is noted that, most of the ink wiped with the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping moves downward and is received on the facing member 8.
Then in step A10, the maintenance control section 144 controls the head raising and lowering mechanism 50 to move the head 10 to the facing-face wiping position, and then the wiping drive control section 145 controls the wiper drive motor 59 to move the base portion 56c leftward in
Then in step A11, the maintenance control section 144 controls the facing-member moving mechanism 96 to move the facing member 8 to the second position. Then in step A12, the facing-face wiping is performed in which the wiping drive control section 145 controls the wiper drive motor 59 to move the base portion 56c rightward from its wait position to cause the parallel movement of the facing-face wiper 56b with respect to the facing face 8a in the state in which the facing-face wiper 56b is held in contact with the facing face 8a. As a result, the ink is wiped from the facing face 8a. Further, the moving direction of the facing-face wiper 56b in the facing-face wiping is the direction directed toward the area of the facing face 8a near the air inlet opening 81a. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount of the ink moving through between the contact portions of the facing face 8a and the facing-face wiper 56b in the facing-face wiping, making it possible to reduce the amount of the ink remaining on the facing face 8a after the facing-face wiping.
Then in step A13, the maintenance control section 144 controls the facing-member moving mechanism 96 to move the facing member 8 to the initial position, and then the wiping drive control section 145 controls the wiper drive motor 59 to move the base portion 56c back to its wait position, and the maintenance control section 144 controls the platen motor 43 to move the platen 40 back to the facing position. It is noted that, when the base portion 56c is moved leftward in step A13, the facing member 8 is positioned at the initial position, and accordingly the facing-face wiper 56b is moved without contacting the facing-face wiper 56b. The maintenance by the controller 100 is thus finished, and the image recording is performed based on the recording command received in step A5.
As described above, in the printer 1 as the present embodiment, the air inlet opening 81a is provided at the downstream end of the moving path of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping. As a result, the moving direction of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping is the direction directed toward the area of the ejection face 10a on which the larger amount of the condensation is formed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the water of the condensation formed on the ejection face 10a from flowing into the meniscuses of the ink formed in the ejection openings 108, thereby preventing the lowering of the ink density of the meniscuses.
Further, in the printer 1 as the present embodiment, the moving direction of the facing-face wiper 56b in the facing-face wiping coincides with the direction directed toward the area of the facing face 8a near the air inlet opening 81a. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount of the ink moving through between the contact portions of the facing face 8a and the facing-face wiper 56b in the facing-face wiping, making it possible to reduce the amount of the ink remaining on the facing face 8a after the facing-face wiping.
Further, in the printer 1 as the present embodiment, the facing-face wiping is performed after the head wiping. As a result, even if the ink wiped with the ejection-face wiper 56a has been moved onto the facing face 8a of the facing member 8 in the head wiping, the ink is removed by the facing-face wiping. Thus, all the ink can be reliably wiped from the ejection face 10a and the facing member 8.
There will be next explained a second embodiment of the present invention with reference to
In the present embodiment, as shown in
There will be next explained one example of the maintenance controlled by the controller 100 in the present embodiment with reference to
Steps B1-B7 are generally the same as steps A1-A7 in the first embodiment which have been explained above with reference to
In step B8, the maintenance control section 144 controls the facing-member moving mechanism 96 to move the facing member 8 to the first position and controls the head raising and lowering mechanism 50 to move the head 10 to the facing-face wiping position. Then in step B9, the wiping drive control section 145 controls the wiper drive motor 59 to move the base portion 56c rightward in
Then in step B10, the maintenance control section 144 controls the head raising and lowering mechanism 50 to move the head 10 to the head wiping position, and then the head wiping is performed in which the wiping drive control section 145 controls the wiper drive motor 59 to move the base portion 56c rightward from the starting position of the head wiping so as to cause the parallel movement of the ejection-face wiper 56a with respect to the ejection face 10a in the state in which the ejection-face wiper 56a is held in contact with the ejection face 10a. Here, if foreign matters such as paper dust enter into the air outlet opening 181b, the foreign matters may be transferred into the humidification pump 83 or the tank 84 through the tube 85 upon the discharge of the air in the sealed space S1 in the humidifying operation, lowering a humidification performance of the humid-air supply/discharge mechanism 80. In the present embodiment, however, the head wiping is started from the position downstream of the air outlet opening 181b in the direction directed from the no-ejection-opening formed area D1 toward the no-ejection-opening formed area D2 as described above. Thus, it is possible to prevent the foreign matters on the ejection face 10a from entering into the air outlet opening 181b.
Steps B11-B14 are generally the same as steps A10-A13 in the first embodiment which have been explained above with reference to
There will be next explained a third embodiment of the present invention with reference to
As shown in
When the humidifying operation is performed in the present embodiment, the controller 100 drives the up/down motor 65 to move the annular member 61 to the capping position so as to establish the sealing state of the sealed space S1. The controller 100 then drives the humidification pump 83 to flow the air in the tank 84 along white arrows shown in
While the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of the illustrated embodiments, but may be embodied with various changes and modifications, which may occur to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, in the above-described embodiments, the distal end 61a of the annular member 61 is movable upward and downward, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the printer 1 may be configured such that the distal end 61a of the annular member 61 is fixed to the head holder 3 so as not to be movable, and the position of the distal end 61a of the annular member 61 relative to the ejection face 10a is constant. This configuration may be employed as long as the distal end 61a of the annular member 61 is held in contact with the facing member 8 when the facing member 8 is positioned at the contact position. Further, the printer 1 may be configured such that the annular member 61 is provided on the facing member 8, and the head 10 does not include the capping mechanism.
Further, in the above-described embodiments, the maintenance control section 144 is configured to execute the controls such that the flushing is performed after the humidifying operation, but the purging may be performed after the humidifying operation. Further, in the above-described embodiments, the head wiping and the facing-face wiping are performed after the flushing, but only the head wiping may be performed after the flushing. Further, as described above, the maintenance control section 144 is configured to execute the control such that the flushing is performed after the humidifying operation and before the wiping operation, but the controller 100 may be configured to control the wiper unit 55 to perform at least one of the head wiping and the facing-face wiping without the maintenance controlled by the maintenance control section 144 after the humidifying operation.
Further, a shape and a position of the air inlet opening are not limited in particular as long as the air inlet opening is provided at the downstream end of the moving path of the ejection-face wiper 56a in the head wiping. Further, a shape and a position of the air outlet opening are not limited in particular as long as the air outlet opening faces or contacts the sealed space S1. For example, the printer 1 may be configured such that the air inlet opening is formed in the no-ejection-opening formed area D2 of the ejection face 10a, and the air outlet opening is formed in one of the joints 81 of the head holder 3.
The present invention is applicable to any of line and serial printers and applicable not only to the printer but also to other devices such as a facsimile machine and a copying machine. The present invention is also applicable to a liquid ejection apparatus configured to eject liquid other than the ink to perform recording. The recording medium is not limited to the sheet P, and various recoding media may be used. Further, the present invention is applicable regardless of a type of the ink ejection.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2011-218515 | Sep 2011 | JP | national |