Patent ID: 8038257

Claim:
An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: a drum having a cylindrical outer circumferential surface, which rotates about a rotation axis thereof to convey a recording medium retained on the outer circumferential surface; a wiper extended in an axial direction of the drum; a plurality of inkjet heads aligned in the circumferential direction of the drum along the outer circumferential surface of the drum, wherein each of the inkjet heads has an ejection surface on which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink droplets are opened, the ejection surface being extended in the axial direction and facing the outer circumferential surface; a head-moving mechanism which moves the inkjet heads to any one of positions including a recording position and a wiping position, wherein the recording position is a position where inkjet heads are disposed at a time of forming an image on a recording medium on the outer circumferential surface by ejecting ink droplets from the nozzles to the recording medium, and the wiping position is such a position that the ejection surface of each of the inkjet heads is farther distanced from the outer circumferential surface than in the recording position; a wiper-moving mechanism which moves the wiper in the circumferential direction along the outer circumferential surface so as to wipe the ejection surface of at least one of the inkjet heads in the wiping position; and a control unit which controls the wiper-moving mechanism so that the ejection surface of the at least one of the inkjet heads is wiped by the wiper moving in the circumferential direction while the inkjet heads are in the wiping position.