Patent ID: 7201464
Filing Date: 2007-04-10
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. An ink-jet recording apparatus which records information within a recording width on a recording surface of a recording medium, comprising: a recording section having a plurality of multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads, each of said multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads including a multi-nozzle array having a plurality of nozzles arranged in an array on the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head to cover the recording width of the recording medium; a transport section configured to transport the recording medium to pass a position confronting the multi-nozzle array of each of the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads of said recording section; and a reliability maintaining mechanism configured to cover all of the nozzles of the multi-nozzle array of each of the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads, so as to maintain reliability of the nozzles, wherein said multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads correspond to respective different colors, and said reliability maintaining mechanism comprises a cap having a plurality of cap regions respectively corresponding to the respective different colors of the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads, each cap region of the plurality of cap regions corresponding to a respective one of the recording heads is an independent cap region, each of said cap regions covers the multi-nozzle array of a corresponding multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head for a length greater than a length of the multi-nozzle array of the corresponding multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head, and said cap extends in a longitudinal direction of the multi-nozzle array, so as to cover all of the nozzles of the multi-nozzle array of the corresponding multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head, each head is fully accommodated within the corresponding cap region of the cap, each of the cap regions and the corresponding multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head make contact via a resilient sealing member surrounding all of the nozzles of the multi-nozzle array of the corresponding multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head, and said resilient sealing member has dimensions which take into consideration a squeeze of approximately 10% to 50%, and the resilient sealing member is interposed between the cap and a support member supporting the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads, to seal each multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head by making contact with the cap and the support member, wherein each of said multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads includes a surface approximately perpendicular to an ink-jet direction of the nozzles, said surface of the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head is approximately perpendicular to a direction in which the cap moves relative to the multi-nozzle ink-jet recording head, and said resilient sealing member is disposed between said surface and said cap, and wherein for each of said multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads said plurality of nozzles of said multi-nozzle array are arranged in a direction which is approximately perpendicular to a recording medium transport direction to cover the recording width of the recording medium, wherein said multi-nozzle ink-jet recording heads are arranged in the recording medium transport direction.