Patent ID: 7926904

Claim:
An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a head which ejects ink droplets; an intermediate transfer body that has an image forming surface including an image forming region on which an image is formed by means of the ink droplets ejected from the head; a movement device which moves the intermediate transfer body in a movement direction; a transfer device which transfers the image formed on the image forming region of the intermediate transfer body to a recording medium; a first cleaning blade which is provided in a breadthways direction of the intermediate transfer body that is perpendicular to the movement direction, on an upstream side of the head in terms of the movement direction, and which makes contact with the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer body to wipe off and remove adhering material attached to the intermediate transfer body; a first groove which is provided in the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer body in a direction forming a prescribed angle of α (where 0°<α<90°) with respect to the breadthways direction of the intermediate transfer body, the first groove having a circumferential opening in a circumferential face of the intermediate transfer body, the circumferential opening having a length corresponding to a length of the first cleaning blade in a direction perpendicular to the movement direction, the first groove having a side opening in a side face of the intermediate transfer body; a second cleaning blade which is provided inside the first groove in a direction in which the first groove is formed, throughout the length of the first cleaning blade in the direction perpendicular to the movement direction, the second cleaning blade making contact with the first cleaning blade to remove adhering material attached to the first cleaning blade; an ejection control device which controls ink ejection from the head in such a manner that preliminary ejection is carried out from the head toward the second cleaning blade to cause adhering material attached to the second cleaning blade to flow into the first groove; and a recovery device which is provided on a downstream side of the head in terms of the movement direction, and which recovers the adhering material removed by the second cleaning blade, collected in the first groove and expelled through the side opening of the first groove; and wherein a bottom face of the first groove is inclined such that the bottom face descends along the breadthways direction of the intermediate transfer body to the side opening in a state where the circumferential opening faces the head.