Abstract:
A print head maintenance device is used in a printing device. The print head maintenance device cleans a print head of the printing device. The print head is movable on a horizontal track of the printing device. The print head has at least one linearly arranged nozzle array. When the print head moves across the maintenance device, the print head will connect with the maintenance device through the connecting device, making the connecting device capable of moving along the first track to slide the ink brush along the second track so as to clean remaining ink from the nozzle array of the print head.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a maintenance device, and more particularly, to a print head maintenance device used in a printing device.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Nowadays machines often used in document processing include photostats, faxes, and printers. To meet the requirement of high quality printing, the common ink jet printer mostly requires a print head maintenance device to clean and maintain a print head so as to avoid ink contamination.  
           [0005]    A general print head maintenance device comprises a wiper, a print head cap, and a blotting device. The wiper is used to wipe remaining ink from the print head. The print head cap is used to cap the print head to avoid remaining ink drying on the print head blocking the nozzles when the print head returns to its original position. The blotting device is used to absorb ink jetted by the print head when cleaning the nozzles.  
           [0006]    As mentioned, the print head and the wiper must have relative motions, so the objective of wiping ink can be achieved. In a prior art print head maintenance device, according to different arrangements of nozzle array on the print head, the relative motions of the print head and the wiper can be divided into two arrangements. If a plurality of chromatic nozzle arrays on the print head uses an arrangement perpendicular to the horizontal, the direction of the relative motions of the print head and the wiper can be in parallel. Nevertheless, if the plurality of chromatic nozzle arrays on the print head uses an arrangement parallel to the horizontal, a direction of the relative motions of the print head and the wiper must be perpendicular to each other so as to prevent chromatic ink contamination during wiping.  
           [0007]    For the above mentioned first condition, the direction of the relative motions of the print head and the wiper can optically fix one party and move the other to produce a parallel movement. For example, the simplest solution is to fix the print head at a predetermined position in the process to achieve the objective of wiping ink. For the second condition, a direction of the relative motions of the print head and the wiper is produced by moving the wiper in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the print head after the print head reaches a predetermined position on the process to achieve the objective of wiping ink and prevent chromatic ink contamination. This movement of the wiper usually employs an extra motor.  
           [0008]    Currently, the arrangement of the plurality chromatic nozzle arrays on the print head often uses a side-by-side arrangement. Therefore, the direction of the relative motions of the print head and the wiper must be exactly perpendicular to wipe remaining ink from the print head. But in the prior art, to achieve the relative motions, a motor is added in the maintenance device to drive the wiper, thus the cost of the maintenance device is increased.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a print head maintenance device to solve the above mentioned problems.  
           [0010]    According to the claimed invention, the print head maintenance device is used to clean a print head of a printing device. The print head is movable on a horizontal track of the printing device. The print head has at least one linearly arranged nozzle array. The maintenance device comprises a line-shaped first track in parallel with the horizontal track, a line-shaped second track having a first section which forms a slant angle with the first track and a second section which is in parallel with the first track, an ink brush slidably installed on the second track for cleaning remaining ink from the nozzle array of the print head, and a connecting device moveable along the first track in the maintenance device. When the print head moves across the maintenance device, the print head will connect with the maintenance device through the connecting device. The connecting device can move along the first track to slide the ink brush along the second track to clean remaining ink from the nozzle array of the print head.  
           [0011]    It is an advantage of the present invention that the wiping direction of the ink brush of the maintenance device is perpendicular to the movement direction of the print head. Besides, there is no need to install another motor to drive the ink brush so reducing the cost of the maintenance device.  
           [0012]    These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a diagram of a printing device of the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a diagram of a print head maintenance device shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 are diagrams of partial operations of a print head and a connecting device shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 9 to FIG. 13 are diagrams of continuous operations of a relative movement between the print head and the maintenance device shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 14A to FIG. 17B are diagrams of decomposed operations of the maintenance device shown in FIG. 1. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]    Please refer to FIG. 1 of a diagram of a printing device  10  of the present invention. The present invention provides a print head maintenance device  20 . The maintenance device  20  is used to clean a print head of a printing device  10 . The printing device  20  comprises a motor  12  for supplying power, a print head  14 , a carrier  16  for carrying the print head  14  and performing a movement, and a horizontal track  13 , as shown in FIG. 1. When the printing device  10  starts to perform a printing operation, the motor  12  will drive the print head  14  to move back and forth along the linear horizontal track  13 . Three linearly arranged and parallel nozzle arrays  15  are installed at a side of the print head  14  (as shown in FIG. 13 B) for spraying ink with three different colors, such as cyan, magenta, and yellow. The arrangement direction of the three nozzle arrays  15  in parallel is perpendicular to the horizontal track  13 .  
         [0019]    Please refer to FIG. 2 of a diagram of the present invention print head maintenance device  20 . The maintenance device  20  comprises a housing  22 , a first track  18 , a second track  24 , an ink brush  26 , and a connecting device  28 . The first track  18  is in parallel with the horizontal track  13 . The second track  24  is installed at the bottom of the housing  22 , and divides into a first section and a second section. The first section forms a slant angle with the first track  18 , and the second section is in parallel with the first track  18 . The ink brush  26  is slidably installed on the second track  24  for cleaning remaining ink from the nozzle array  15  of the print head  14 . The connecting device  28  is moveable along the first track  18  in the maintenance device  20  and comprises a connecting end  29  and a driving end  32 . The connecting end  29  of the connecting device  28  has a plug  36 , and the driving end  32  has a linear slot  34 . The maintenance device  20  further comprises an elastic device  33  connected between the driving end  32  and the housing  22  of the connecting device  28  for pulling the connecting device  28  to a side of the housing  22 .  
         [0020]    Please refer to FIG. 3 to FIG. 8. FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 are diagrams of partial operations of the present invention print head  14  and the connecting device  28 . A top of the plug  36  of the connecting device  28  comprises a guiding incline  42 , and a bottom of the plug  36  of the connecting device  28  comprises a spring  38  for elastically supporting the plug  36  upward. A side of the plug  36  has a protruding shaft  39  passing through the first track  18  so that the plug  36  and the first track  18  can keep in relative positions. A bottom of the carrier  16  of the printing device  10  has a receiving slot  17  for receiving the plug  36 . As shown in FIG. 3, when the carrier  16  brings the print head  14  to move to the maintenance device  20  along the horizontal track  13 , the carrier  16  will ram against the guiding incline  42  of the plug  36  first, then push the first track  18  to a descended end  40  of the first track  18  to cause the plug  36  (as shown in FIG. 4) to insert into the receiving slot  17  of the carrier  16  (as shown in FIG. 5) so that the carrier  16  and the connecting device  28  form a monolithic. After completing the connecting steps of the carrier  16  and the connecting device  28 , the print head  14  and the connecting device  28  move to the starting end  41  of the first track  18  along the first track  18  together (as shown in FIG. 6). When the print head  14  wants to leave the maintenance device  20 , the print head  14  will bring the plug  36  into a descended starting end  41  of the first track  18  (as shown in FIG. 7) so that the plug  36  can disengage from the receiving slot  17  at the bottom of the carrier  16  completely. When the plug  36  disengages from the receiving slot  17  of the bottom of the carrier  16 , the elastic device  33  will pull the connecting device  28  to a side of the housing  22  so that the plug  36  leaves the starting end  41  of the first track  18  (as shown in FIG. 8).  
         [0021]    The linear direction of the linear slot  34  of the connecting device  28  is in parallel with the arrangement of the nozzle array  15  of the print head  14 , and the bottom of the ink brush  26  is perpendicularly installed on the second track  24  of the bottom of the housing  22  through the linear slot  34  of the connecting device  28 . When the driving end  32  of the connecting device  28  pushes the ink brush  26  along the direction of the first track  18 , the ink brush  26  will move along the second track  24  and the linear slot  34  of the connecting device  28  simultaneously.  
         [0022]    Please refer to FIG. 9 to FIG. 13. FIG. 9 to FIG. 13 are diagrams of continuous operations of relative movement between the print head  14  and the maintenance device  20 . When the motor  12  drives the print head  14  to move to the maintenance device  20  along the direction of the horizontal track  13 , the carrier  16  will ram against the guiding incline  42  of the plug  36  (as shown in FIG. 9), push the plug  36  to the end  40  of the first track  18 , and bring the ink brush  36  to the second section of the second track  24  so that the plug  36  will insert into the receiving slot  17  at the bottom of the carrier  16  (as shown in FIG. 10). In this process, according to the plug  36  at the front side of the carrier  16 , the ink brush  26  will be at a front side of the nozzle array  15 , so the ink brush  26  will not contact with the nozzle array  15 . After the plug  36  inserts into the receiving slot  17  of the carrier  16 , the print head  14  can bring the connecting device  28  to move to the left and right sides on the first track  18  (as shown in FIG. 11). At this time the ink brush  26  is exactly below the nozzle array  15 , so the ink brush  26  will wipe the nozzle array  15  back and forth along the first section of the second track  24  to clean remaining ink from the nozzle array  15 . After that, the print head  14  will bring the plug  36  to the starting end  41  of the first track  18  and disengage with the plug  36  at the starting end  41  (as shown in FIG. 12, the relative positions of the carrier  16  and the plug  36  when disengaging). After the receiving slot  17  of the bottom of the carrier  16  disengages with the plug  36 , it brings the plug  36  out of the starting end  41  of the first track  18  because of the pulling force of the spring  33 , to restore the height of the guiding incline  42 . For the next cycle, the bottom of the carrier  16  rams against the guiding incline  42  of the plug  36  again (as shown in FIG. 13).  
         [0023]    Please refer to FIG. 14A to FIG. 17B. FIG. 14A to FIG. 17B are diagrams of decomposed operations of the maintenance device  20 . FIG. A is a top view, and FIG. B is a diagram of the relative positions of the print head  14  and the ink brush  26 . The print head  14  has three arranged and parallel nozzle arrays  15  for spraying ink with three different colors. When the carrier  16  rams against the guiding incline  42  of the plug  36 , according to the plug  36  at the front side of the carrier  16 , the ink brush  26  will not contact the nozzle array  15 , so the operation of cleaning remaining ink does not occur, as shown in FIG. 14, 15A, and  15 B. When the carrier  16  pushes the plug  36  to the end  40  of the first track  18  and makes the plug  36  insert into the receiving slot  17  of the carrier  16 , the ink brush  26  will move to an alignment position with the nozzle arrays  15  (as shown in FIGS. 16A and B). When the ink brush  26  aligns to the nozzle arrays  15 , the carrier  16  will bring the ink brush  26  into the first section of the second track  24  so that the ink brush  26  can move back and forth to clean the nozzle array  15  (as shown in FIGS. 17A and B).  
         [0024]    The movement direction of the ink brush  26  of the present invention maintenance device  20  is perpendicular to the arrangement of the nozzle array of the print head  16 . Therefore, it can effectively avoid chromatic ink contamination when the ink brush  26  wipes the print head  14 . In the present invention, the power demand of the whole print head maintenance device  20  is identical to the power demand of the printing device  10  of the motor  12 , so there is no need to add another motor to supply power to the print head maintenance device  20 . When the plug  36  is inserted into the receiving slot  17  of the bottom of the carrier  16  at the end  40  of the first track  18 , the ink brush  26  not only moves toward the direction of the first section of the second track  24  but also slides back and forth along the linear slot  34  of the driving end  32  of the connecting device  28 . The ink brush  26 , therefore, will wipe the surface of the print head  14  back and forth to clean remaining ink from the print head  14 .  
         [0025]    In the contrast to the prior art print head maintenance device, the cleaning method of the present invention print head maintenance device not only can co-operate more advanced print head device but also doesn&#39;t need another motor to supply power of another direction. Therefore, the present invention print head maintenance device can effectively extend the endurance of the print head and reduce the maintenance cost.  
         [0026]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.