Cleaning member used in an ink jet apparatus

Abstract: It is aimed to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which can accomplish the high-quality recording, while preventing the recording characteristic from degrading by cleaning the discharge port face of a recording head (1) effectively. It is arranged that the amount of penetration of a wiping member (61) into an ink discharge port formation face of an ink jet head (1) may be different depending on the area.

Description: The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by the discharge of ink, having a cleaning means for removing ink deposited onto the surface of an ink jet head. In ink jet recording apparatuses which record images using an ink jet head which discharges ink onto a recording medium, ink mist produced by the discharge of ink or ink mist splashed back by ink droplets impinging on a recording sheet sometimes adheres to the ink discharge port area of an ink jet head or the head surface having discharge ports formed thereon. Foreign substances such as paper powder or dirt may also be deposited and adhere there via wet ink. Some discharge ports may therefore become blocked. If recording is then carried out, the discharge direction of ink may vary owing to the effects of the adherent matter, or discharge failure may occur leading to abnormal recording. In conventional ink jet recording apparatuses, there is provided a cleaning means having a wiping member with which adherent matter is cleaned away by rubbing the discharge port formation face against said wiping member utilizing the movement of a carriage having the head mounted thereon. This improves the recording characteristics of the ink jet recording apparatus and enhances reliability. Some adherent matter such as paper powders or dirt may not be removed by this cleaning operation. Foreign matter may enter discharge ports. There is therefore provided a recovery device composed of a suction cap and a suction pump to generate negative pressure to suck foreign matter together with ink away through discharge ports. Maintaining the interval (the so-called paper distance) between an ink jet head and the surface of a recording member (recording sheet) when performing printing is also important for maintaining high-quality printing from an ink jet recording apparatus. When the paper distance is too great, the impinging point may be greatly displaced due to deflection of the jetting direction of ink droplet, resulting in conspicuous distortions of image and loss of image quality. Conversely, if the paper distance is too small , the recording head may rub against the recording sheet due to deformation (so-called cockling) of the recording sheet after printing, disordering the image, or damaging the recording head resulting in abnormal discharge, and degraded image quality. In an ink jet recording apparatus which allows for the use of a plurality of kinds of recording sheet, the adjustment of paper distance is particularly important because the paper interval will vary depending on the difference in the thickness of recording sheet, and the degree of cockling. In conventional ink jet recording apparatuses, the adjustment of the paper interval relative to the head is conducted by automatically or manually changing the position of a carriage for holding the ink jet head between multiplicity of stages so as to adjust the paper interval to a proper value. Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus having a cleaning means and a suction device and provided with means for changing the position of carriage, and Fig. 5 shows a schematic view of a portion around the carriage and the recovery device. In Fig. 4, 1 is a recording head, 2 is a carriage, 31 is a carriage guide pipe for supporting the carriage, and 32 is a carriage rail guide for determining the distance between the carriage and a platen by coming into contact with the bottom face of carriage, in which the carriage position can be determined by 31 and 32. 4 is a platen for supporting the print face of recording sheet. Recording means 1 as shown in the figure is an example of a color recording means in which the carriage 2 has four recording heads for ejecting different color inks mounted thereon. Four ink colors for use are black, cyan, magenta and yellow, for example. Note that all or any one of four recording heads constituting recording means is indicated by recording means 1 or recording head 1 in the following description. In Fig. 4, 6 is a cleaning means having a wiping member (61) for wiping away foreign substances by rubbing against a discharge port face of each head, and 51 is capping means for enclosing the head at the time of suction recovery, both of them being held on a recovery base so as to be movable in directions toward and away from the carriage. The capping means 51 held on the recovery base 53 is connected via a suction tube 27 to a suction recovery pump 26. 7 indicates a carriage position lever. In such an ink jet recording apparatus with the above constitution, after the recording with the ink jet head, or after the interruption of recording, the ink jet head is moved from a recording position to a non-recording position (thereinafter referred to as a home position) where the head is positioned opposite to the cap. The cap is moved closer to the carriage to effect capping. After capping is effected, a suction recovery operation is performed by using the suction pump 26. Also, when the carriage is moved to the home position, the cleaning means 6 is projected outward in a direction toward a plane containing the ink discharge port of head (thereinafter referred to as a head face plane) to effect wiping by rubbing the wiping member against the head face plane. Referring now to Fig. 5, 1, 31, 32, 51 and 53 in the figure are the same as those in Fig. 4. 7 is a carriage position lever (hereinafter referred to as a lever), with its lower end portion provided in contact with a carriage guide rail. The position of the carriage can be determined by means of this contact portion and the carriage guide pipe. Accordingly, the position of the carriage is controlled by changing the position of the lever 7. In Fig. 5, three different lever positions A, B and C are indicated. In Fig. 5, 61 is the wiping member (hereinafter referred to as a blade) composed of an elastic member, 62 is a blade base, 63 is a presser spring for securing the blade 61 to the blade base 62, and 64 is an absorbing body plate arranged close to the blade 61 and for removing blade adherent ink. The cleaning means 6 comprised of 61, 62, 63 and 64 is attached to the side of the recovery base 53 so as to be movable in directions toward and away from the carriage. In such an ink jet recording apparatus, to control precisely the wiping condition, in particular, the amount of pressure of the wiping member on the recording head, it was the common practice to place the recording head at the same position at any time in a region where the wiping was performed. That is, the position of recording head might vary between the print region and the wiping region (normally contained in a recovery operation region). However, in an ink jet recording apparatus which conducts a wiping operation during printing, the carriage is moved between the wiping region and the print region. There is a risk of the vibration of the carriage produced by the change of position causing a malfunction so that the printed image is distorted or producing a pressure variation in the ink within an ink supply channel, thereby making the discharge unstable. Therefore, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatuses, an approach region sufficient to accommodate vibration between the wiping region and the print region, or a position changing region to enable a gentle position change was provided. Such a provision resulted in a larger main body with a more complex mechanism. That is, conventionally, in the ink jet recording apparatus having a carriage settable at a plurality of positions, it was difficult to make the main body smaller while maintaining high image quality and high reliability. The present inventors have found, as a result of minute examinations, as a solution to the above-mentioned problems, that there occurs a difference in the cleaning characteristic depending on the rubbing state between the wiping member and the ink jet head. The present invention provides an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium using an ink jet head with an ink discharge port surface having an array of ink discharge ports, said apparatus comprising: means for mounting said ink jet head on said apparatus so that the ink discharge port surface of said ink jet head lies in a predetermined plane; and an elastic wiping member for rubbing against the ink discharge port surface to remove ink or other substances adhering to said ink discharge port surface, characterised in that: said wiping member has a rubbing edge, said rubbing edge is inclined relative to said predetermined plane and said wiping member is arranged so that in operation said wiping member penetrates into said predetermined plane. An embodiment of the present invention provides an ink jet recording apparatus capable of exhibiting excellent wiping performance by optimizing the amount by which said rubbing edge would penetrate into the plane of the ink discharge port surface in the course of a wiping operation, in the absence of an ink jet head mounted on said apparatus. An embodiment of the invention provides an ink jet recording apparatus capable of maintaining an excellent wiping characteristic by maintaining the amount by which said rubbing edge would penetrate into the plane of the ink discharge port surface in the course of a wiping operation in the absence of an ink jet head mounted on said apparatus, without regard to the position of the ink jet head. In this way, because the amount of penetration of the wiping member into the ink jet head is varied to accomplish the optimal cleaning state on the discharge face, excellent wiping performance can be exhibited. In particular, in an ink jet head capable of taking different recording positions depending on the recording sheet, the apparatus main body can be made smaller while excellent wiping performance is exhibited, irrespective of the head position, because no special position for the cleaning is required, and high image quality and high reliability can be maintained. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic constitutional view of a cleaning means according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a constitutional view schematically illustrating the arrangement relation between the cleaning means as shown in Fig. 1 and an ink jet head. Figs. 3A to 3C are views schematically illustrating several states of residual ink on the head face plane after the wiping operation with the wiping member wherein 3A is a state when the amount of penetration of the wiping member is deepest, 3B is a state when it is medium, and 3C is a state when it is shallowest. Fig. 4 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a conventional ink jet recording apparatus. Fig. 5 is a constitutional view schematically illustrating the arrangement relation between a recovery device and the ink jet head of the ink jet recording apparatus as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a schematic constitutional view of a cleaning means according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a schematic constitutional view of a cleaning means according to another embodiment of the present invention. The embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention contains a variety of constitutions which fall within the scope of the claims, and is not limited to the embodiments as hereinafter described. First of all, we analysed the state of the surface of an ink jet head cleaned by the wiping member of a cleaning means. Its results are shown in Figs. 3A to 3C. Figs. 3A to 3C illustrate schematically head face planes after the wiping operation, when the amount of penetration of the wiping member into the head is varied, wherein the amount of penetration is smaller in the order of 3A, 3B and 3C. According to this preliminary analytical experiment of the cleaning state, it has been found that the optimal amount of penetration of the wiping member is different depending on whether the wiping contact plane contains a discharge port or not in the travelling direction of the wiping member. That is, it can be found that the proper amount of penetration in a plane containing a discharging port and its extension in a cleaning direction of the wiping member is indicated in Fig. 3B where residual ink is least. Also, it can be found that the proper amount of penetration in a plane not containing a discharge port and its extension in the cleaning direction of the wiping member is indicated in Fig. 3C where there is little residual ink. In consideration of these results, we have attained the view that when wiping a plane not containing a discharge port and its extension, a greater cleaning effect can be obtained if the amount of penetration is smaller than the proper amount of penetration for wiping a plane containing the discharge port and its extension. Also, as a result of another experiment in which the print and suction operations were repeated with the ink jet head set at various positions relative to the recording sheet, it has been found that ink droplets adhering to a face plane (discharge port formation face) of the ink jet head, such as ink wetting due to the ink mist during the printing, or the ink remaining after the suction operation will tend to move downward in the direction in which gravity acts and accumulate in a lower portion. In view of the these results, it is possible to effectively wipe out the ink or dirt adhering to the discharge port formation face by optimally varying the amount of penetration of the wiping member along the direction of the recording head in which gravity acts. More specifically, where the discharge ports of the recording head are formed as an array along the direction in which gravity acts, when the cleaning is performed by the wiping member crosswise to an array direction, a quite excellent cleaning state can be attained by gradually reducing the amount of penetration of the wiping member into the ink jet head from upward to downward of the ink jet head in the direction in which gravity acts. Of course, where the cleaning is made by the wiping member along the array direction of discharge ports, if the amount of penetration of the wiping member into the ink jet head in the cleaning is reduced gradually from upward to downward of the ink jet head in the direction in which gravity acts, the excellent cleaning characteristic can be obtained. In this case, it should be noted that the amount of penetration of the wiping member to clean the discharge port face differs from the amount of penetration of the wiping member for the rest of the ink jet head. The amount of penetration for cleaning the discharge port face is made greater than that for the rest of the ink jet head. whereby the cleaning characteristic can be further improved. The specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic constitution of a cleaning means according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 illustrates schematically the positional relation between a wiping blade and a head. Fig.1,61 is the wiping member (hereinafter referred to as a "blade") made of an elastic member, 62 is a blade base, and 63 is a presser spring for securing the blade 61 to the blade base 62, in which the blade 61 is obliquely secured to the blade base 62. The cleaning means 6 constituted of 61, 62 and 63 is attached to the side of a recovery base 53 so as to be movable in the directions towards and away from the carriage. In Fig. 2, the corresponding positions of head face plane at the lever positions A, B and C are indicated by the broken line. As can be seen from Fig. 2, the face plane of the ink jet head is progressively more spaced away from the recording sheet when the lever position is set at I, II and III. And the slope of the face plane is more raised with a greater interspace provided. At all these positions, the face plane is inclinedly arranged at a predetermined angle so that the amount of penetration of the blade 61 into the recording head 1 is always reduced downwardly in the direction in which gravity acts, whereby the stable wiping performance can be exhibited at each position. In this embodiment, position A of the face plane for the ink jet head is set at about 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal axis. When this position A is referenced, position B is set at +0.48 degree and position C is set at +1 degree with respect to the reference. Also, for all these planes, the wiping blade 61 is set at +2.37 degrees with respect to the reference so that the amount of penetration is gradually reduced downwardly in the direction in which gravity acts. In addition, the amount of penetration of the wiping blade 61 into the head face plane is set to be 1.81 ± 0.3 mm at an upper endportion of the blade 61 and 1.21 ± 0.3 mm at a lower end portion thereof with respect to the face plane of the position A which is a reference position. The inclination of the upper and lower end portions of the blade 61 with respect to a vertical axis is set such that the upper end portion is closer to the head side by 0.6 ± 0.2 mm in length than the lower end portion. By adopting such a constitution, the cleaning characteristic can be maintained excellent only by setting the installation angle of wiping blade at a predetermined value without requiring to control the carriage position at the wiping operation, resulting in the improved recording quality, with a smaller apparatus main body and a lower price. (Embodiment 2) Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a cleaning means according to a second embodiment to which the present invention is applied. In Fig. 6, 61 is a wiping blade moulded integrally with a blade holder 62, with its top end cut obliquely with respect to a holder. Such a cleaning member can not only offer the same effects as in embodiment 1, but also allow the easier attachment to the apparatus, and a higher mass productivity to that the cleaning means is made at a lower cost, and thus the main apparatus can be marketed at a lower price. (Embodiment 3) Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a cleaning means according to a third embodiment to which the present invention is applied. In Fig. 7, 61 is a blade, 62 is a blade base and 63 is a presser spring. As shown in the figure, this embodiment is the same as the embodiment 1 in that the blade 61 is obliquely secured to the blade base 62, but differs in that the ridgeline at the upper end portion of the blade base is moulded in parallel to the upper end portion (wiping portion) of the blade. Such a cleaning means can not only offer the same effects as in embodiment 1, but also allow the degree of freedom in setting the blade on the head to increase because of a constant free length of the wiping member to make easier the design of main apparatus, and provide a higher mass productivity, so that the main device can be marketed at a lower price. (Others) The present invention brings about excellent effects particularly in an ink jet recording head or an ink jet recording device in the method of discharging the ink with the heat energy among the various ink jet recording systems. Representative examples of such printing methods are disclosed in U.S. Patents 4,723,129 and 4,740,796. The present invention is applicable to both the so-called on-demand type ink jet printers and continuous type ink jet printers. In the case of the on-demand type printers it is particularly effective. Ink is discharged through a discharge opening as a result of the growth and shrinkage of a bubble. By making the driving signals pulse shapes, the growth and shrinkage of bubbles can be effected instantly and accomplish discharging liquid (ink) with a particularly excellent response characteristic. Driving signals with pulse shapes such as those disclosed in U.S. Patents 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further excellent recording can be performed by employment of the conditions described in U.S. Patent 4,313,124 concerning the temperature elevation rate of the above-mentioned heat acting surface. As to the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the discharging orifice, liquid channel, and electro-thermal converter (linear liquid channel or right-angled liquid channel) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, the constitution used by U.S. Patent 4,558,333 or 4,459,600 disclosing a constitution having the heat acting portion arranged in the flexed region is also included in the present invention. In addition, the present invention can be also effectively made to the constitution as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 59-123670 which discloses the constitution using a slit common to a plurality of electro-thermal converters as the discharging portion of the electro-thermal converter or Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 59-138461 which discloses the constitution having the opening for absorbing pressure wave of heat energy correspondent to the discharging portion. Further, as to a recording head of the full line type having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium which can be recorded by the recording device, the present invention can exhibit the effects as described above effectively. In addition, the present invention is effective for a recording head of the freely exchangeable chip type which enables electrical connection to the main device or supply of ink from the main device by being mounted on the main device, or a recording head of the cartridge type with an ink tank integrally provided on the recording head itself. The present invention is applicable both recording devices capable of printing only single color images and to recording devices capable of printing images using more than one color. The invention is also applicable to recording devices in which integrally constituted recording heads or a plurality of recording heads. Though ink is considered as liquid in the embodiment as above described, ink may be used which is solid below room temperature and will soften or liquefy at or above room temperature. When a recording enable signal for ink discharge is issued the ink is then liquified. It is common with such ink jet devices for the viscosity of ink to be maintained within a certain range by adjusting the temperature of ink in a range from 30°C to 70°C. When such ink is used, it may be held as liquid or solid in recesses or through holes of a porous sheet, which is placed opposed to electricity-heat converters, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 54-56847 or No. 60-71260. As above described, according to the present invention, the amount of penetration of the cleaning means into the recording head is on the head surface, so that the wiping characteristic required in the direction in which gravity acts is satisfied, and the excellent cleaning can be accomplished. In particular, the amount of penetration of the cleaning means into the recording head is set to be smaller in the direction in which gravity acts on the head surface, so that ink droplets falling down in the direction in which gravity acts can be wiped out effectively. Also, when setting the position of recording head in accordance with the recording sheet to be used, the amount of penetration is set to be smaller along the direction in which gravity acts on the head surface at any of the positions, so that it is possible to constitute an ink jet recording apparatus which can exhibit an excellent wiping performance, irrespective of the difference in the carriage position. Hence, it is possible to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which is constitute in a smaller size while maintaining high image quality and high reliability.

Claims: An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium using an ink jet head (1) with an ink discharge port surface (1a) having an array of ink discharge ports, said apparatus comprising: means for mounting said ink jet head (1) on said apparatus so that the ink discharge port surface of said ink jet head lies in a predetermined plane; and an elastic wiping member (61) for rubbing against the ink discharge port surface (1a) to remove ink or other substances adhering to said ink discharge port surface (1a), characterised in that; said wiping member (61) has a rubbing edge, said rubbing edge is inclined relative to said predetermined plane and said wiping member is arranged so that in operation said wiping member penetrates into said predetermined plane. An ink jet recording apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said mounting means is arranged such that when said ink jet head is mounted on said apparatus, said plane has an upper portion and a lower portion and said rubbing edge of said wiping member (61) is arranged so that the amount by which said wiping member would, in the course of a wiping operation, penetrate into where the plane of an ink discharge port surface would be if the ink jet head were mounted to said mounting means is greater in the upper portion of said plane than said lower portion. An ink jet recording apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein said mounting means is adapted to enable said ink jet head (1) to be mounted and adjusted between a plurality of recording positions, thereby varying the spacing of a mounted ink jet head (1) from the recording surface of a recording medium. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said rubbing edge of said wiping member (61) is arranged so that the amount by which said rubbing edge would, in the case of a wiping operation, penetrate into where the plane of the ink discharge port surface would be if an ink jet head were mounted to said mounting means varies between 0.91 mm and 2.11 mm. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said wiping member (61) is arranged so that said rubbing edge of said wiping member (61) is inclined at an angle between 1.37° and 2.37° relative to the plane of an ink discharge port surface of an ink jet head mounted to said mounting means. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said wiping member (61) is planar in shape. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said rubbing edge of said wiping member (61) is longer than the width of the array of ink discharge ports of an ink jet head (1) when the ink jet head is mounted to said mounting means in a direction perpendicular to the rubbing direction. An ink jet recording member according to any preceding claim, wherein the surface of said wiping member (61) is water repellant. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any preceding claim, further comprising an ink jet head (1) adapted to discharge ink by the use of heat energy and having electro-thermal converters for generating the heat energy.

Inventors: ARAI ATSUSHI, FUKAZAWA HIDEO, ARAI, ATSUSHI, FUKAZAWA, HIDEO, ARAI, ATSUSHI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, FUKAZAWA, HIDEO, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Applicants: CANON KK, CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B41J2
IPC codes: B41J25, B41J2