Device and method for cleaning nozzle placement surface

Abstract

The present invention provides a device for cleaning a nozzle placement surface in which nozzles for discharging liquid are disposed, wherein said device comprises a cloth wiping unit, a moving unit, and an orientation-changing mechanism. The cloth wiping unit has a cloth sheet unfurling part and winding up part, and has wiping area to be wiped by the cloth sheet between the unfurling part and the winding up part. The moving unit can move the cloth wiping unit between a cleaning position where the nozzle placement surface is cleaned and a retracted position where the cleaning is not performed. The orientation-changing mechanism can change the orientation of the wiping area so that the wiping area is in a cleaning orientation in which the wiping area is brought into contact with the nozzle placement surface at the cleaning position, and the wiping area is in a retracted orientation in which the wiping area is set apart from the nozzle placement surface in the retraction position.

Description

Cleaning device and cleaning method for nozzle arrangement surface

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a cleaning device and a cleaning method for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged.

[0002] Inkjet recording devices such as inkjet printers are equipped with a head having a large number of nozzles that eject ink or a predetermined treatment liquid. In such heads, the nozzle arrangement surface needs to be cleaned at predetermined intervals to unclog the nozzles and remove dirt from the nozzle arrangement surface. Patent Document 1 discloses an inkjet printer that cleans the nozzle arrangement surface by pressing a cleaning sheet supported by a pressing unit against the nozzle arrangement surface.

[0003] JP 2011-73145 A

[0004] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged includes a cloth wiping unit, a moving unit, and a position change mechanism. The cloth wiping unit has a cloth sheet feed section and a take-up section, and a wiping area for the cloth sheet is located between the feed section and the take-up section. The moving unit is capable of moving the cloth wiping unit between a cleaning position where the cloth wiping unit cleans the nozzle arrangement surface and a retracted position where cleaning is not performed. The position change mechanism is capable of changing the position of the wiping area so that, at the cleaning position, the wiping area is in a cleaning position in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface, and, at the retracted position, the wiping area is in a retracted position away from the nozzle arrangement surface.

[0005] A method for cleaning a nozzle arrangement surface according to another aspect of the present disclosure is a method for cleaning a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, the method comprising: setting a wiping area using a cloth sheet between a feed section and a take-up section of the cloth sheet; when the nozzle arrangement surface is not being cleaned, causing the wiping area to wait in a state spaced apart from the nozzle arrangement surface; and when it is time to clean the nozzle arrangement surface, bringing the wiping area into contact with the nozzle arrangement surface to clean the nozzle arrangement surface.

[0006] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1 , with a dryer added. FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the carriage shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the frame of the inkjet printer, showing the carriage moving to the cloth wiping area. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the nozzle arrangement surface of the carriage being cleaned by the cloth wiping unit. FIG. 6 is a left side view of the cloth wiping device. FIG. 7 is a right side view of the cloth wiping device. FIG. 8 is a front view of the cloth wiping device. FIG. 9 is a side view of the moving unit. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the cloth wiping unit. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the cloth wiping unit, with the perspective direction reversed from that of FIG. 10 . FIG. 12 is a left side view of the cloth wiping device, showing the cloth wiping unit in the cleaning position. FIG. 13 is a right side view of the cloth wiping device, showing the cloth wiping unit in the cleaning position. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing part of the control configuration of the inkjet printer. Fig. 15 is a plan view of the nozzle arrangement surface for explaining the cleaning sequence of the cloth wiper. Fig. 16A is a left side view of a cloth wiping device according to a modified embodiment. Fig. 16B is a right side view of a cloth wiping device according to a modified embodiment. Fig. 17A is a left side view of a cloth wiping device according to a modified embodiment, showing a state in which the cloth wiping unit is in the cleaning position. Fig. 17B is a right side view of a cloth wiping device according to a modified embodiment, showing a state in which the cloth wiping unit is in the cleaning position.

[0007] An embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, an inkjet printer equipped with an ink head that ejects ink for forming an image on a wide, long recording medium is exemplified as an apparatus to which the nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device and cleaning method of the present disclosure can be applied. The inkjet printer of this embodiment is suitable for digital textile printing, which uses an inkjet method to print images such as letters and patterns on a recording medium made of fabric such as woven or knitted fabric. Of course, the cleaning device and cleaning method according to the present disclosure can also be used to print various inkjet images on recording media such as paper sheets and resin sheets.

[0008] [Overall Configuration of Inkjet Printer] First, an inkjet printer 1 will be described as an example of a device to which the nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device and cleaning method of the present disclosure can be applied. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the inkjet printer 1 according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1. The inkjet printer 1 is a printer that prints images on a wide and long workpiece W using an inkjet method, and includes a device frame 10, a workpiece transport unit 2 and a carriage 3 incorporated into this device frame 10, and a dryer 19 disposed in front of the device frame 10. Note that the dryer 19 is not shown in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, the left-right direction is the main scanning direction when printing on the workpiece W, and the direction from rear to front is the sub-scanning direction, which is the transport direction F of the workpiece W.

[0009] The device frame 10 forms a framework for mounting various components of the inkjet printer 1. The work transport unit 2 is a mechanism that intermittently feeds the work W so that the work W progresses in a transport direction F from rear to front through a printing area where inkjet printing processing is performed. The carriage 3 is equipped with an ink head 4, a pre-processing head 5, a post-processing head 6, and a sub-tank (not shown), and moves back and forth in the left and right direction during the inkjet printing processing.

[0010] The device frame 10 includes a central frame 111, a right frame 112, and a left frame 113. The central frame 111 forms a framework for mounting various components of the inkjet printer 1, and has a left-to-right width corresponding to the work transport unit 2. The right frame 112 and left frame 113 are erected to the right and left of the central frame 111, respectively. Between the right frame 112 and the left frame 113 is the printing area 12 where printing processing is performed on the work W.

[0011] The right frame 112 forms the blade wiping area 13. The blade wiping area 13 is also an area where the carriage 3 is retracted when the printing process is not being performed, and is an area where head purging and blade cleaning of the nozzle arrangement surface of the carriage 3 are performed for maintenance purposes. A blade wiping device 18 that performs the purging process and blade cleaning is located in the blade wiping area 13. The purging process is a process that forcibly ejects ink or processing liquid from the nozzles of the ink head 4, pre-processing head 5, and post-processing head 6. Blade cleaning is a process that wipes the undersides of the heads 4, 5, and 6, i.e., the nozzle arrangement surfaces, with a cleaning blade. The blade wiping device 18 also functions as a cap to prevent the heads 4, 5, and 6 from drying out when they are idle.

[0012] The left frame 113 forms the cloth wiping area 14. The cloth wiping area 14 is an area where cloth wiping cleaning is performed, in which a cloth sheet is used to clean the nozzle arrangement surface. A cloth wiping device 7 that performs the cloth wiping cleaning is disposed in the cloth wiping area 14. The cloth wiping device 7 will be described in detail later. The cloth wiping area 14 is also a turning back area for the carriage 3. After scanning the printing area 12 from right to left during the printing process, the carriage 3 temporarily enters the cloth wiping area 14 before scanning in the opposite direction.

[0013] A single-axis robot 15 is attached to the upper side of the device frame 10 to cause the carriage 3 to reciprocate in the left-right direction, i.e., the main scanning direction during the printing process. The single-axis robot 15 is disposed above the workpiece transport unit 2 so as to extend in the left-right direction. The single-axis robot 15 includes a linear motor 16 and a pair of upper and lower guide rails 17. The linear motor 16 includes a stator 161 disposed in the extension direction of the single-axis robot 15 and a mover 162 that moves along the guide rails 17. The pair of guide rails 17 extend parallel to the left-right direction and are engaged with a moving block 163 carrying the mover 162. The carriage 3 is mounted on the moving block 163 and is moved leftward or rightward by the single-axis robot 15.

[0014] 2 , the work transport section 2 includes a feed roller 21 that pays out the work W before printing in the transport direction F, a take-up roller 22 that takes up the work W after printing, and a transport unit 20 disposed in the printing area 12. The feed roller 21 is a take-up shaft of a feed roll WA that is a roll of the work W before printing. The take-up roller 22 is a take-up shaft of a take-up roll WB that is a roll of the work W after printing. The feed roller 21 is disposed upstream of the printing area 12, and the take-up roller 22 is disposed downstream of the dryer 19.

[0015] The path between the delivery roller 21 and the take-up roller 22 and passing through the printing area 12 is the transport path for the work W. On this transport path, a tension roller 23, a work guide 24, a transport roller 25, a pinch roller 26, a transport unit 20, a peeling roller 27, a carry-in roller 28, a dryer 19, and a folding roller 29 are arranged in this order from the upstream side.

[0016] The tension roller 23 applies a predetermined tension to the workpiece W upstream of the transport roller 25. The work guide 24 changes the transport direction F of the workpiece W from upward to forward, and transports the workpiece W into the printing area 12. The transport roller 25 generates a transport force that intermittently feeds the workpiece W in the printing area 12. The pinch roller 26 forms a transport nip with the transport roller 25. The pair of the transport roller 25 and pinch roller 26 unwinds the workpiece W from the feed roll WA and transports the workpiece W intermittently in the transport direction F so that it passes through the printing area 12.

[0017] The transport unit 20 is arranged to transport the workpiece W stably in the printing area 12 without causing it to float or shake. The transport unit 20 includes a drive roller 201 and a driven roller 202 arranged at a distance in the front-to-rear direction, and a transport belt 203 stretched over these rollers 201 and 202. The workpiece W is transported in the transport direction F while being in close contact with the surface of the transport belt 203. A platen 204 is arranged between the rollers 201 and 202 and on the back side of the transport belt 203. In the printing area 12, ink and treatment liquid are ejected onto the workpiece W from the ink head 4, pre-treatment head 5, and post-treatment head 6.

[0018] The peeling roller 27 is disposed diagonally above and in front of the drive roller 201, and serves to peel the printed workpiece W, which is in close contact with the surface of the conveyor belt 203, from said surface. The workpiece W is peeled from the conveyor belt 203 at a peeling section Bk at a predetermined peeling angle, and is sent to the downstream carry-in rollers 28. Between the peeling roller 27 and the carry-in rollers 28, the workpiece W becomes loose. The printed workpiece W is sent from the carry-in rollers 28 to the dryer 19. The dryer 19 dries the wet workpiece W by blowing hot air on it, for example. The return roller 29 changes the transport direction F of the dried workpiece W from the forward direction to a downward direction, and guides the workpiece W to the take-up roller 22.

[0019] The carriage 3 is cantilevered by the moving block 163 and moves back and forth in the main scanning direction (left and right direction) that intersects with the transport direction F. The carriage 3 includes a carriage frame 30 that mounts the ink head 4, pre-processing head 5, post-processing head 6, and a sub-tank (not shown). The carriage frame 30 includes a head support frame 31 and a back frame 32. The head support frame 31 is a horizontal plate that holds the heads 4 to 6. The back frame 32 is a vertical plate that extends upward from the rear edge of the head support frame 31. The back frame 32 is fixed to the moving block 163.

[0020] [Details of the Carriage] The carriage 3 will now be further described. FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the carriage 3 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows the transport direction F (sub-scanning direction) of the workpiece W and the main scanning direction S, which is the direction of movement of the carriage 3. FIG. 3 shows an example in which the carriage 3 is equipped with multiple ink heads 4 that eject ink for image formation onto the workpiece W, and a pre-treatment head 5 and a post-treatment head 6 that eject non-color-forming treatment liquid. An actual carriage 3 also has multiple sub-tanks that supply the ink and treatment liquid to these heads 4, 5, and 6. Note that the ink heads 4, which are simply shown in FIG. 1, are shown in more detail in FIG. 3.

[0021] Each of the ink heads 4 has a number of nozzles that eject ink droplets using an ejection method such as a piezo method using a piezo element or a thermal method using a heating element, and ink passages that guide the ink to the nozzles. The pre-treatment head 5 and post-treatment head 6 are similar. The ink may be, for example, a water-based pigment ink containing a water-based solvent, pigment, and binder resin. The multiple ink heads 4 in this embodiment include first to eighth ink heads 4A to 4H, each of which ejects eight different colors of ink.

[0022] The ink heads 4A to 4H of each color are mounted on the head support frame 31 of the carriage 3 so as to be aligned in the main scanning direction S. Each of the ink heads 4A to 4H of each color has two heads. For example, the first ink head 4A is composed of an upstream head 4A1 located upstream in the transport direction F, and a downstream head 4A2 located downstream of the upstream head 4A1 and shifted to the left in the main scanning direction S. The ink heads 4B to 4H of the other colors are similar. Each upstream head of these ink heads 4B to 4H is aligned in the main scanning direction S at the same position as the upstream head 4A1 in the transport direction F, and each downstream head is aligned in the main scanning direction S at the same position as the downstream head 4A2 in the transport direction F.

[0023] The pre-treatment head 5 and post-treatment head 6 are disposed at different positions from the ink heads 4 in the transport direction F. The pre-treatment head 5 is disposed upstream of the ink heads 4 in the transport direction F. Figure 3 shows an example in which one pre-treatment head 5 is disposed near the left end of the array of ink heads 4. The pre-treatment head 5 is located to the left of the upstream head 4A1 of the first ink head 4A, and is aligned front-to-back with the downstream head 4A2 at the same position in the main scanning direction S. In contrast, the post-treatment head 6 is disposed downstream of the ink heads 4 in the transport direction F. Figure 3 shows an example in which one post-treatment head 6 is disposed near the right end of the array of ink heads 4. The post-treatment head 6 is located to the right of the downstream head 4H2 of the eighth ink head 4H, and is aligned front-to-back with the upstream head 4H1 at the same position in the main scanning direction S.

[0024] The pretreatment head 5 ejects a pretreatment liquid for performing a predetermined pretreatment on the workpiece W. The pretreatment liquid is ejected from the pretreatment head 5 onto a position on the workpiece W where ink has not yet been ejected from the ink head 4. The pretreatment liquid is a non-color-forming treatment liquid that does not develop color even when attached to the workpiece W, and is a treatment liquid that exhibits functions such as increasing the fixation of ink to the workpiece W or the coagulation of ink pigments. Examples of such pretreatment liquids that can be used include a treatment liquid in which a binder resin is blended into a solvent, or a treatment liquid in which a positively charged cationic resin is blended into a solvent.

[0025] The post-treatment head 6 ejects a post-treatment liquid for performing a predetermined post-treatment on the workpiece W to which ink has adhered. The post-treatment liquid is ejected from the post-treatment head 6 onto a position on the workpiece W after the ink has been ejected from the ink head 4. The post-treatment liquid is a non-color-forming treatment liquid that does not develop color even when it adheres to the workpiece W, and exhibits a function of increasing the fixability and robustness of the ink image printed on the workpiece W by the ink head 4, for example, its resistance to rubbing and scraping. A silicone-based treatment liquid or the like can be used as such a post-treatment liquid.

[0026] Openings 31H are provided at the locations where the heads are arranged in the head support frame 31. The ink heads 4A to 4F, pre-processing head 5, and post-processing head 6 are assembled to the head support frame 31 so as to fit into the respective openings 31H. Nozzles arranged on the bottom end surface of each of the heads 4, 5, and 6 are exposed from each opening 31H.

[0027] As described above, the inkjet printer 1 according to this embodiment is an all-in-one printer in which three types of heads - the ink head 4, the pre-treatment head 5, and the post-treatment head 6 - are mounted on a single carriage 3. With this printer 1, for example, in the printing process of inkjet printing onto fabric in digital textile printing, the process of ejecting the pre-treatment liquid and the process of ejecting the post-treatment liquid can be carried out in an integrated manner. This makes it possible to simplify the textile printing process and make the textile printing device more compact.

[0028] [Head Maintenance] As described above, the inkjet printer 1 is equipped with a blade wiping device 18 that uses a cleaning blade to clean the nozzle arrangement surface, and a cloth wiping device 7 that uses a cloth sheet to clean the nozzle arrangement surface, for maintenance of the heads 4, 5, and 6. Figure 4 is a perspective view including a part of the device frame 10 and the single-axis robot 15, and shows the state in which the carriage 3 has moved to the cloth wiping area 14. Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the state in which the nozzle arrangement surface 3A of the carriage 3 is cleaned by the cloth wiping device 7.

[0029] The device frame 10 includes a right side plate 114 and a left side plate 115 located on the left and right sides of the central frame 111. The blade wiping area 13 is located to the right of the right side plate 114, and the cloth wiping area 14 is located to the left of the left side plate 115. A blade wipe holder 116 is attached to the right side plate 114. The blade wipe holder 116 is a frame that holds the blade wiping device 18 (FIG. 1). The cloth wiping device 7 is attached to the left side plate 115.

[0030] 5, as already described, the head support frame 31 of the carriage frame 30 has an opening 31H the size of one head, into which the ink head 4, pre-processing head 5, and post-processing head 6 are fitted. Nozzle surfaces 40 of the heads 4, 5, and 6 are exposed on the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, which is the back surface of the head support frame 31. The nozzle surface 40 is a surface on which nozzle holes are arranged in a predetermined pattern.

[0031] Blade cleaning of the nozzle arrangement surface 3A using the blade wiping device 18 is performed periodically based on printing time, printing area, number of operating days, etc. When cleaning the blade, the carriage 3 is moved to the blade wiping area 13 by the operation of the single-axis robot 15. Before blade cleaning, a purge is performed in which ink or treatment liquid is forcibly ejected from the ink head 4, pre-treatment head 5, and post-treatment head 6. After purging, a cleaning blade of the blade wiping device 18 performs non-contact wiping to wipe droplets hanging from the nozzle surface 40, and a contact wiping in which the cleaning blade is brought into contact with the nozzle surface 40 to wipe.

[0032] Cloth wipe cleaning using the cloth wiping device 7 is performed only on the ink head 4 after the blade cleaning described above. This is because the ink head 4 ejects liquid (ink) containing pigment, and blade cleaning alone may not be sufficient to clean the nozzle surface 40. The pre-treatment head 5 and post-treatment head 6 eject liquid that does not contain pigment, so cloth wipe cleaning is generally not necessary. Note that there are cases where only cloth wipe cleaning is performed without the above-mentioned purging. During cloth wipe cleaning, the carriage 3 is moved to the cloth wiping area 14, as shown in FIG. 4.

[0033] The cloth wiping device 7 includes a cloth wiping unit 70 equipped with a cloth sheet roll FSR, which is a stack of cloth sheets for cloth wiping, and a moving unit 80 that moves the cloth wiping unit 70 in the front-to-rear direction. During cloth wiping cleaning, a wiping region 7W formed by a cloth sheet FS unwound from the cloth sheet roll FSR is pressed against the nozzle surface 40 exposed on the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. Figure 5 shows this pressed state, and when the moving unit 80 moves the cloth wiping unit 70 rearward from this state, the nozzle surface 40 is wiped and cleaned by the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W.

[0034] [Details of the Cloth Wiping Device] The structure and operation of the cloth wiping device 7 will be described in detail below. Fig. 6 is a left side view of the cloth wiping device 7, Fig. 7 is a right side view, and Fig. 8 is a front view. The cloth wiping device 7 includes a cloth wiping unit 70, a moving unit 80, and a position changing mechanism 90.

[0035] As described above, the cloth wiping unit 70 has a wiping area 7W formed by the cloth sheet FS, and is a unit that actually performs cloth wiping cleaning. The moving unit 80 is a unit that can move the cloth wiping unit 70 between a cleaning position where it cleans the nozzle arrangement surface 3A and a retracted position where cleaning is not performed. The cloth wiping unit 70 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is in a state where it has moved to the retracted position. The cloth wiping unit 70 shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 (described later) is in a state where it has moved to the cleaning position. The position change mechanism 90 is a mechanism that can change the position of the wiping area 7W. In the cleaning position, the position change mechanism 90 sets the wiping area 7W in a cleaning position in which it abuts against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, and in the retracted position, the wiping area 7W in a retracted position in which it is spaced downward from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. In the retracted position, the wiping area 7W is spaced away from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A.

[0036] 6 to 8, the configuration of the moving unit 80 will be described with reference to Fig. 9, which shows a side view of the moving unit 80. The moving unit 80 includes a moving section 81, a linear guide 82 (linear guide), a ball screw 83, a nut 84, a cloth wiper moving motor 85, and a position changing guide 86.

[0037] The moving section 81 is a flat plate that is approximately rectangular in side view and is movable in the front-to-rear direction along the linear guide 82. The cloth wiping unit 70 is mounted on the moving section 81. A pivot pin 811 that protrudes to the left is attached to the rear end of the moving section 81 near the corner at the upper end. The pivot pin 811 is an engagement pin for mounting the cloth wiping unit 70 and also serves as the pivot axis of the cloth wiping unit 70. In other words, the cloth wiping unit 70 is mounted on the moving section 81 so as to be rotatable around the axis of the pivot pin 811.

[0038] The linear guide 82 includes a guide base 820, a guide rail 821, and a block 822. The guide base 820 is a flat plate that is long in the front-to-rear direction and serves as a mounting base for the guide rail 821, the ball screw 83, the cloth wiper movement motor 85, and the posture change guide 86. The guide base 820 is fixed to the left side plate 115 ( FIG. 4 ) of the device frame 10. Note that the guide base 820 is not shown in FIGS. 7 and 9 . The guide rail 821 has a rectangular cross section and extends linearly in the front-to-rear direction. The block 822 is fitted into the guide rail 821 and can move in the front-to-rear direction along the guide rail 821. The moving unit 81 is fixed to the block 822. Note that instead of the linear guide 82, a linear shaft formed by inserting a cylindrical moving block into a shaft with a circular cross section may be used as a linear guide.

[0039] The ball screw 83 is journaled on the guide base 820 so as to extend in the front-rear direction parallel to the guide rail 821. The nut 84 is threadedly engaged with the ball screw 83 and attached to the moving part 81. The cloth wiper moving motor 85 is disposed so that its motor shaft is connected to the rear end of the ball screw 83, and drives the ball screw 83 to rotate forward or backward around its axis. When the cloth wiper moving motor 85 rotates the ball screw 83, the nut 84 moves forward or backward, and accordingly, the moving part 81 moves forward or backward while being guided by the guide rail 821.

[0040] The position change guide 86 is a member against which the contact portion of the cloth wiping unit 70 contacts when the moving section 81 moves. The position of the contact portion contacting the position change guide 86 changes the rotational position of the cloth wiping unit 70 around the axis of the pivot pin 811. This point will be explained later. The position change guide 86 includes a first region 861, a second region 862, and an inclined portion 863. The first region 861 extends horizontally in the front-to-rear direction, which is the extension direction of the linear guide 82, at a predetermined height (first height). The second region 862 extends horizontally in the front-to-rear direction at a height (second height) that is higher than the first region 861 by a predetermined length and spaced rearward from the first region 861. The inclined portion 863 connects the first region 861 and the second region 862, which are at different heights.

[0041] 6 to 8, and also with reference to Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, which are perspective views of the cloth wiping unit 70 alone, the configuration of the cloth wiping unit 70 will be described. The cloth wiping unit 70 includes a base portion 71, a feed portion 72, a take-up portion 73, a pressure roller 74, a transport roller 75, and a transmission belt 76.

[0042] The base portion 71 is a flat plate that is larger than the moving portion 81 and has a substantially square shape in a side view, and serves as a mounting base for various components of the cloth wiping unit 70. A bearing bush 711 (rotation fulcrum) protrudes from the right surface of the base portion 71 near the rear and upper corner. The bearing bush 711 has a rotation shaft hole 71A through which a rotation pin 811 of the moving portion 81 is inserted. The base portion 71 is rotatable relative to the moving portion 81, with the bearing bush 711, which is journaled by the rotation pin 811, serving as the rotation fulcrum.

[0043] A roller 712 (contact portion) that can rotate about an axis extending in the left-right direction is protruded from the left surface of the base portion 71 near the front and bottom corner. The corner where the roller 712 is located is located diagonally from the corner where the bearing bush 711 is located. The roller 712 contacts the position change guide 86 and rolls when the moving unit 81 moves. As shown in FIG. 7 , when the roller 712 contacts the first region 861 of the position change guide 86, the base portion 71 assumes a horizontal position. As will be described later with reference to FIG. 13 , when the roller 712 contacts the second region 862, which is located higher than the first region 861, the base portion 71 rotates about the axis of the pivot pin 811, and the front side is raised.

[0044] A payout unit 72 and a take-up unit 73 are assembled to the base unit 71. The payout unit 72 pays out a cloth sheet FS for cloth wipe cleaning. The payout unit 72 is equipped with an unwinding roller 721 that holds a cloth sheet roll FSR, which is a roll of unused cloth sheet FS. A torque limiter 72L is attached to the rotation shaft of the unwinding roller 721. A roll receiver 722 is suspended between the base unit 71 and the shaft end of the unwinding roller 721.

[0045] The take-up unit 73 takes up the cloth sheet FS after use in cloth wipe cleaning. The take-up unit 73 includes a take-up roller 731 around which the used cloth sheet FS is wound. A torque limiter 73L is also attached to the rotation shaft of the take-up roller 731. A roll receiver 732 is suspended between the base unit 71 and the shaft end of the take-up roller 731.

[0046] A wiping area 7W using the cloth sheet FS is provided between the payout unit 72 and the take-up unit 73. The wiping area 7W is an area where the cloth sheet portion of the long cloth sheet FS in the form of the cloth sheet roll FSR is located, which is pressed against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A of the carriage 3 and actually performs cloth wiping cleaning of the nozzle surface 40. Unused cloth sheets FS are successively paid out from the cloth sheet roll FSR of the payout unit 72 to the wiping area 7W. The cloth sheets FS used for cloth wiping cleaning in the wiping area 7W are successively taken up by the take-up unit 73.

[0047] The pressure roller 74 is made of an elastic roller and supports the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W. The pressure roller 74 serves to press the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. The pressure roller 74 is axially supported near the upper edge of the base portion 71 so that a portion of the pressure roller 74 protrudes upward from the upper edge of the base portion 71. With the cloth sheet FS supported from below by the pressure roller 74, the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W also protrudes upward from the upper edge of the base portion 71.

[0048] A one-way clutch 741 is attached to the rotation shaft of the pressure roller 74. The pressure roller 74 is a driven roller that does not have a driving source. The one-way clutch 741 is arranged to rotate the pressure roller 74 only in the unwinding direction of the cloth sheet FS. The arrangement of the one-way clutch 741 prevents the cloth sheet FS, once unwound from the cloth sheet roll FSR, from returning to the unwinding section 72.

[0049] Pulleys 742 are attached to both ends of the rotation shaft of the pressure roller 74. While the pressure roller 74 is an elastically deformable roller, the pulleys 742 are made of a hard material that is substantially not elastically deformable. When the pressure roller 74 and the pair of pulleys 742, which are arranged coaxially, are pressed against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, the positional relationship between the rotation shaft and the nozzle arrangement surface 3A is determined by the pulleys 742. This makes it possible to maintain a constant distance between the circumferential surface of the pressure roller 74 and the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. Therefore, the amount of pressure applied by the pressure roller 74 to the fabric sheet FS against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A can be made constant and uniform in the axial direction.

[0050] In the payout direction of the fabric sheet FS, a first guide roller 743 is disposed upstream of the pressure roller 74, and a second guide roller 744 is disposed downstream of the pressure roller 74. A transport roller 75 is disposed downstream of the second guide roller 744, and a tension roller 745 is disposed further downstream.

[0051] The first and second guide rollers 743, 744 are also journaled near the upper edge of the base portion 71, and the difference in height between the circumferential surfaces of these rollers 743, 744 and the pressure roller 74 is relatively small. The arrangement of the first and second guide rollers 743, 744 reduces the wrap angle of the cloth sheet FS around the pressure roller 74, making it easier to increase the contact area of ​​the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W with the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. The feed direction of the cloth sheet FS is temporarily reversed by the conveyance roller 75 and then folded back again by the tension roller 745. The tension roller 745 applies tension to the cloth sheet FS as it is fed toward the take-up section 73. In the retracted position, the first guide roller 743 is positioned below the second guide roller 744, and in the cleaning position, the first guide roller 743 is positioned above the second guide roller 744.

[0052] The transport roller 75 feeds the cloth sheet FS from the payout section 72 through the wiping area 7W toward the take-up section 73. That is, as the transport roller 75 rotates around its axis, the cloth sheet FS wound around the transport roller 75 is fed downstream. The transport roller 75 is not provided with a drive source such as a motor, and is rotatably supported on the base section 71. However, a one-way clutch 751 is incorporated into the rotation shaft of the transport roller 75. The one-way clutch 751 rotates the transport roller 75 only in the direction of feeding the cloth sheet FS toward the take-up section 73.

[0053] As shown in Figure 11, the rotation shaft of the transport roller 75 protrudes from the left side of the base portion 71, and a roller gear 75G (first gear) is attached to the rotation shaft of the protruding portion. When the roller gear 75G rotates, the transport roller 75 also rotates. A rack gear 713 (second gear) meshes with the roller gear 75G. The rack gear 713 is fixedly attached to the moving portion 81 of the moving unit 80, and has a sector-shaped gear portion 714 that meshes with the roller gear 75G.

[0054] The roller gear 75G and rack gear 713 constitute an interlocking mechanism that interlocks the position-changing movement of the cloth wiping unit 70 around the pivot pin 811 with the rotational movement of the transport roller 75 around its axis. That is, when the base portion 71 rotates relative to the moving portion 81 with the bearing bush 711 as the pivot point, the roller gear 75G, which is engaged with the fixed sector gear portion 714, rotates. As the roller gear 75G rotates, the transport roller 75 rotates, and the cloth sheet FS is sent downstream by the rotation amount. This feeding operation causes the sheet FS to be fed from the feeding portion 72, and a fresh cloth sheet FS is guided to the wiping area 7W.

[0055] Furthermore, the rotation of the transport roller 75 causes the used sheet FS to be taken up by the take-up section 73. As shown in FIG. 10 , a transmission belt 76 is stretched between the transport roller 75 and the take-up roller 731. The transmission belt 76 rotates the rotation shaft of the transport roller 75 and the rotation shaft of the take-up roller 731 in an interlocking manner. When the transport roller 75 rotates a certain amount in response to a change in the position of the cloth wipe unit 70, the rotation is transmitted to the take-up roller 731 by the transmission belt 76. In other words, the take-up roller 731 takes up the cloth sheet FS by the rotation of the transport roller 75. However, a torque limiter 73L is incorporated in the rotation shaft of the take-up roller 731. Therefore, even if the diameter of the take-up roll of the cloth sheet FS by the take-up roller 731 increases and the amount taken up per unit rotation increases, the cloth sheet FS is not pulled excessively.

[0056] A spray unit 77 is disposed between the first guide roller 743 and the pressure roller 74. The spray unit 77 has a spray gun 771 that sprays cleaning liquid, which may be pure water or a liquid containing a cleaning component. The spray unit 77 is attached to the left side plate 115 (FIG. 4) of the device frame 10. The spray gun 771 sprays cleaning liquid onto the cloth sheet FS in the wiping area 7W upstream of the pressure roller 74. Wetting the cloth sheet FS with cleaning liquid immediately before cloth wiping cleaning can improve the cleaning effect of the nozzle surface 40.

[0057] [Explanation of Operation of Cloth Wiping Device] The operation of the cloth wiping device 7 configured as described above will be described by comparing FIGS. 6 and 12 and 7 and 13. The moving unit 80 moves the cloth wiping unit 70 mounted on the moving section 81 between a retracted position ( FIGS. 6 and 7 ) and a cleaning position ( FIGS. 12 and 13 ). The retracted position is a position where the cloth wiping unit 70 does not clean the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, and the cleaning position is a position where the cloth wiping unit 70 can clean the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. In this embodiment, the retracted position is a section where the roller 712 of the cloth wiping unit 70 abuts against the first region 861 of the position changing guide 86, and the cleaning position is a section where the roller 712 abuts against the second region 862.

[0058] The position change mechanism 90 changes the position of the cloth wiping unit 70 between a retracted position ( FIGS. 6 and 7 ) and a cleaning position ( FIGS. 12 and 13 ). The retracted position is a position in which the wiping area 7W is separated from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, and the cleaning position is a position in which the wiping area 7W is in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. In this embodiment, the retracted position and cleaning position correspond to the retracted position and cleaning position. That is, when moved to the retracted position, the cloth wiping unit 70 automatically assumes the retracted position, and when moved to the cleaning position, the cloth wiping unit 70 rotates relative to the moving part 81 and automatically assumes the cleaning position. In this embodiment, the position change mechanism 90 is composed of a position change guide 86 and a bearing bush 711, a roller 712, and a pivot pin 811, which are structures for rotating the base part 71.

[0059] Further explanation follows. As shown in Figures 6 and 7, when the cloth wiping unit 70 is in the retracted position and in the retracted posture, the rollers 712 of the base portion 71 abut against the first region 861 of the posture change guide 86. At this time, the upper and lower sides of the rectangular base portion 71 and the moving portion 81 are parallel to each other. In other words, this is the default state in which the base portion 71 is not rotating relative to the moving portion 81. The wiping region 7W is spaced downward from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. In other words, the arrangement of the rollers 712 and the height position of the first region 861 are set so as to form this default state.

[0060] 6 and 7, when the cloth wiper movement motor 85 is driven and the movement part 81 is moved rearward, the cloth wiping unit 70 also moves rearward. The roller 712, which had been in contact with the first region 861 of the position change guide 86, comes into contact with the inclined part 863. As the roller 712 moves up the inclined part 863, the base part 71 rotates with the bearing bush 711 inserted into the rotation pin 811 as the rotation fulcrum, so that the front end portion is lifted.

[0061] 12 and 13 show the state in which the roller 712 has climbed the inclined portion 863 and reached the second region 862. In other words, the cloth wiping unit 70 is in the cleaning position and cleaning posture. The roller 712 is lifted by the height difference between the first region 861 and the second region 862, and the base portion 71 rotates about the axis of the pivot pin 811 by a rotation angle corresponding to the amount of lift. This rotation also lifts the wiping region 7W, and the portion of the cloth sheet FS supported by the pressure roller 74 abuts against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. In other words, the nozzle arrangement surface 3A can be cleaned by cloth wiping with the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W.

[0062] At this time, the pulleys 742 attached to both ends of the rotation shaft of the pressure roller 74 also come into contact with the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. Therefore, the amount by which the pressure roller 74 presses the cloth sheet FS is regulated to a fixed amount. Therefore, the nozzle arrangement surface 3A can be wiped uniformly and stably with the cloth sheet FS in the wiping area 7W.

[0063] Furthermore, as the base portion 71 rotates, the roller gear 75G attached to the shaft end of the transport roller 75 rotates by a predetermined angle due to engagement with the sector gear portion 714 of the rack gear 713. This causes the transport roller 75 to also rotate by a predetermined angle, feeding the cloth sheet FS by a length corresponding to the predetermined angle. In other words, the cloth sheet FS is unwound from the cloth sheet roll FSR of the unwinding portion 72, and a new cloth sheet FS is introduced into the wiping area 7W. At this time, the unwinding roller 721 around which the cloth sheet roll FSR is wound is equipped with a torque limiter 72L, which prevents the cloth sheet FS from slackening between the unwinding portion 72 and the pressure roller 74. When the new cloth sheet FS is introduced into the wiping area 7W, the spray unit 77 is driven, and cleaning liquid is sprayed from the spray gun 771 onto the cloth sheet FS.

[0064] Furthermore, when the transport roller 75 rotates, the rotational force is transmitted by the endless transmission belt 76, causing the take-up roller 731 to rotate. As a result, a certain length of the used cloth sheet FS is taken up by the take-up roller 731. The take-up roller 731 is equipped with a torque limiter 73L. Therefore, even if the take-up roll diameter of the cloth sheet FS on the take-up roller 731 increases, excessive tension is not applied to the cloth sheet FS between the transport roller 75 and the take-up roller 731.

[0065] As described above, in this embodiment, the transport roller 75 rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the base portion 71, eliminating the need for a motor for driving the transport roller 75. Furthermore, the unwinding of the cloth sheet FS from the unwinding roller 721 and the winding of the cloth sheet FS onto the winding roller 731 are also performed in conjunction with the rotation of the base portion 71, eliminating the need for a separate drive mechanism. Furthermore, because torque limiters 72L, 73L are attached to both the unwinding roller 721 and the winding roller 731, the cloth sheet FS can be properly unwound and wound without controlling the rotation of these rollers 721, 731.

[0066] 12 and 13, the cloth wiper movement motor 85 is driven to move the moving unit 81 further rearward, thereby cleaning the nozzle surface 40 of the nozzle arrangement surface 3A with the cloth sheet FS in the wiping region 7W. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the ink heads 4 of each color are arranged in two rows, one behind the other. The width of the cloth sheet FS is sufficient to cover the two ink heads 4 arranged in the main scanning direction S. Therefore, it is desirable to move at least the wiping region 7W by a stroke equivalent to the two rows. For this reason, the length of the second region 862 of the position change guide 86 in the front-to-rear direction is set longer than the stroke.

[0067] When the wiping area 7W is moved to the rear end and cloth wiping cleaning is completed, the carriage 3 is raised slightly, and the wiping area 7W is separated from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. The cloth wiper movement motor 85 is then driven to return the moving part 81 to the front. Eventually, the contact position of the roller 712 changes from the second area 862 to the inclined part 863, and then from the inclined part 863 to the first area 861. This causes the base part 71 to rotate about the axis of the pivot pin 811 and return to a horizontal state, i.e., the retracted position and retracted posture.

[0068] At this time, the sector gear portion 714 of the rack gear 713 meshes with the roller gear 75G. However, because the one-way clutch 751 is attached to the transport roller 75, the roller gear 75G simply rotates idly, and the transport roller 75 does not rotate. Therefore, the cloth sheet FS is not fed back toward the pay-out section 72. Thereafter, the carriage 3 is moved in the main scanning direction S by the distance of two heads, and the cloth wipe cleaning for the next ink head 4 is repeated in the above-described procedure.

[0069] 14 is a block diagram showing part of the control configuration of the printer 1. The printer 1 includes a controller 33, a carriage drive motor 34, a carriage lift motor 35, a head drive unit 36, a work transport motor 37, a work take-up motor 38, a blade wiper drive unit 87, and the cloth wiper movement motor 85 described above, all of which are controlled by the controller 33.

[0070] The carriage drive motor 34 generates a driving force that moves the carriage 3 left and right between the blade wiping area 13, through the printing area 12, and the fabric wiping area 14. The carriage drive motor 34 corresponds to the linear motor 16 shown in FIG. 4. The carriage lift motor 35 generates a driving force that moves the carriage 3 up and down in the blade wiping area 13 and the fabric wiping area 14. The head drive unit 36 ​​executes the ejection operations of ink, pre-treatment liquid, and post-treatment liquid from the heads 4, 5, and 6. The work transport motor 37 is a motor that serves as a driving source for transporting the work W in the transport direction F in the printer 1, and corresponds to the transport roller 25 and the drive roller 201 of the transport unit 20 described above. The work take-up motor 38 is a motor that serves as a driving source for rotating the take-up roller 22 that takes up the work W after printing.

[0071] Under the control of the controller 33, the blade wiper driving unit 87 operates the blade wiping device 18 to perform maintenance including purging and blade cleaning of the heads 4, 5, and 6. Specifically, as the purging process, the blade wiper driving unit 87 ejects high-pressure ink, pre-treatment liquid, and post-treatment liquid from the heads 4, 5, and 6 to clean the nozzles. Furthermore, as the blade cleaning, the blade of the blade wipe unit provided in the blade wiping device 18 moves close to the nozzle faces 40 of the heads 4, 5, and 6 in the case of the non-contact wiping described above, or in contact with the nozzle faces 40 in the case of the contact wiping.

[0072] Under the control of the controller 33 as a cleaning control section, the cloth wiper movement motor 85 moves the movement section 81 on which the cloth wiping unit 70 is mounted, and performs cloth wiping cleaning of the ink head 4. The controller 33 sets a cleaning sequence for the nozzle arrangement surface 3A by the cloth wiping unit 70, and controls the cloth wiper movement motor 85, the carriage drive motor 34, and the like based on the cleaning sequence.

[0073] FIG. 15 is a plan view of the nozzle arrangement surface, as viewed from the rear side of the carriage 3 in FIG. 3, for explaining a specific example of a cloth wipe cleaning sequence. Here, it is assumed that the cloth sheet FS has a width in the main scanning direction S that is sufficient to cover two rows of ink heads 4. Cloth wipe cleaning targets only the ink heads 4. Furthermore, if the cloth sheet FS that has wiped the ink heads 4 comes into contact with the pre-treatment liquid or post-treatment liquid, problems such as ink coagulation will occur. For this reason, the cleaning sequence must be set so that the cloth sheet FS does not come into contact with the pre-treatment head 5 or post-treatment head 6.

[0074] As described above, the ink heads 4A to 4H of each color have an upstream head and a downstream head aligned in the main scanning direction S. For example, the eighth ink head 4H has an upstream head 4H1 and a downstream head 4H2, as surrounded by the dotted line in pair P1. In this case, if cloth wipe cleaning is performed in pairs P1, the downstream head 4H2 and the post-treatment head 6 partially overlap in the main scanning direction S, and the cloth sheet FS ends up reaching the post-treatment head 6. In other words, contact occurs between the post-treatment liquid and the ink.

[0075] Therefore, the upstream head 4H1, which is located at the same position as the post-treatment head 6 in the main scanning direction S, is caused to perform cloth wiping cleaning alone. That is, the controller 33 controls the carriage drive motor 34 to move the carriage 3 so that the cloth sheet FS in the wiping area 7W faces the nozzle surface 40 of the upstream head 4H1. The controller 33 then controls the cloth wiper movement motor 85 to move the cloth wiping unit 70 back and forth a distance equivalent to the width of the upstream head 4H1 in the transport direction F. Similarly, the downstream head 4A2 of the first ink head 4A, which is located at the same position as the pre-treatment head 5 in the main scanning direction S, is also caused to perform cloth wiping cleaning alone. This makes it less likely that the pre-treatment liquid will come into contact with the ink.

[0076] For the other ink heads 4, cloth wipe cleaning is performed in pairs. For example, as shown by the dotted line in pair P2, cloth wipe cleaning is performed on the upstream head 4A1 of the first ink head 4A and the downstream head 4B2 of the second ink head 4B. The controller 33 moves the carriage 3 so that the cloth sheet FS in the wiping area 7W faces the area of ​​pair P2, and then moves the cloth wiping unit 70 back and forth so that the cloth sheet FS moves at least between head 4B2 and head 4A1. Similar operations are continued up to the cleaning pair consisting of the upstream head 4G1 of the seventh ink head 4G and the downstream head 4H2 of the eighth ink head 4B.

[0077] In this way, cloth wipe cleaning can be performed on pairs of ink heads 4 ejecting inks of different colors as cleaning units. Alternatively, a sequence may be used in which only ink heads 4 of a specific color are subject to cloth wipe cleaning. For example, consider a case in which only the second and seventh ink heads 4B and 4G are subject to cloth wipe cleaning. In this case, the first cloth wipe cleaning is performed on the upstream head 4B1 and downstream head 4B2 of the second ink head 4B, which is closer to the left side panel 115 on which the cloth wiping device 7 is installed. Next, the second cloth wipe cleaning is performed on the upstream head 4G1 and downstream head 4G2 of the seventh ink head 4G.

[0078] [Modified Embodiment of Cloth Wiping Device] In the above embodiment, the cloth wiping device 7 is exemplified in which the position change guide 86 having a height difference in the front-to-rear direction is used to rotate the base part 71 and change the position of the wiping area 7W. In a modified embodiment, a cloth wiping device is exemplified in which a horizontal guide having no height difference in the front-to-rear direction is used as a guide corresponding to the position change guide 86. By raising and lowering the horizontal guide, the base part 71 is rotated and the position of the wiping area 7W is changed.

[0079] 16A and 16B are left and right side views showing a cloth wiping device 7A according to a modified embodiment, showing a state in which the cloth wiping unit 70 is in a retracted position. The cloth wiping device 7A differs from the previously described cloth wiping device 7 in the configuration of a position change mechanism 90A that changes the position of the wiping area 7W between the cleaning position and the retracted position. The other configurations of the cloth wiping device 7A are the same as those of the previously described cloth wiping device 7, so a description thereof will be omitted here.

[0080] The attitude changing mechanism 90A is made up of a horizontal guide 86A, an elevator device 91, and a bearing bush 711, rollers 712, and a pivot pin 811, which form the pivot structure of the base part 71. The pivot structure of the base part 71 is the same as that of the previous embodiment.

[0081] The horizontal guide 86A extends horizontally in the front-to-rear direction along the linear guide 82. The horizontal guide 86A is a linear guide with no height difference in the front-to-rear direction, and the rollers 712 of the base part 71 abut against the horizontal guide 86A when the moving part 81 moves. The horizontal guide 86A is not fixedly supported, and can move up and down with the rollers 712 abutting against it.

[0082] The lifting device 91 includes a piston rod 92 that is driven to move up and down. The lifting device 91 is fixedly attached to a suitable position on the left side plate 115 of the device frame 10. Various cylinder devices, such as an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, or an electric cylinder, can be used as the lifting device 91. The upper end of the piston rod 92 is attached to the underside of the horizontal guide 86A. The piston rod 92 is raised and lowered by air pressure, hydraulic pressure, or electric power, thereby raising and lowering the horizontal guide 86A while maintaining its horizontal position. Instead of a cylinder device, an electric actuator or a lifting mechanism using a motor and gears may be used.

[0083] 16A and 16B show a state in which the piston rod 92 is not extended upward. In this state, the horizontal guide 86A is in a lowered position, and the roller 712 is not raised. That is, this is a default state in which the base portion 71 is not rotating relative to the moving portion 81. The base portion 71 is also in a position where it has been moved to the front end of the linear guide 82. That is, the states in FIGS. 16A and 16B show a state in which the cloth wiping unit 70 is in a retracted position in which it does not clean the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, and the wiping area 7W is in a retracted posture in which it is spaced apart from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A.

[0084] 17A and 17B are left and right side views of the cloth wiping device 7A, showing the cloth wiping unit 70 in the cleaning position. The cloth wiping unit 70 is moved slightly rearward. The piston rod 92 extends upward, and the horizontal guide 86A is lifted to the raised position. As the horizontal guide 86A rises, the roller 712 is lifted, and the base portion 71 rotates with the bearing bush 711 inserted into the pivot pin 811 as the pivot point, lifting its front end portion. This rotation also lifts the wiping area 7W, changing the position of the cloth sheet FS in the wiping area 7W to a cleaning position in which it abuts against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. In this state, the cloth wiping unit 70 is moved further rearward, cleaning the nozzle surface 40 of the ink head 4 with the cloth wipe.

[0085] According to the above-described modified embodiment, the height position of the wiping area 7W can be freely adjusted. That is, by adjusting the degree of extension of the piston rod 92, the degree of rotation of the base portion 71 can be adjusted, and thus the height position of the wiping area 7W can be adjusted. Therefore, it is not necessary to strictly align the height position of the wiping area 7W in the cleaning posture with the height position of the nozzle arrangement surface 3A. Another advantage is that the amount of pressure of the cloth sheet FS in the wiping area 7W against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A can be adjusted by the degree of extension of the piston rod 92.

[0086] [Summary] The inkjet printer 1 according to this embodiment described above can achieve the following method for cleaning the nozzle arrangement surface 3A: In the cloth wiping unit 70, a wiping area 7W to be wiped by the cloth sheet FS is set between the feed-out section 72 and take-up section 73 of the cloth sheet FS, When the nozzle arrangement surface 3A is not being cleaned, the cloth wiping unit 70 is moved to a retracted position so that the wiping area 7W is on standby with the wiping area 7W spaced apart from the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, When it is time to clean the nozzle arrangement surface 3A, the cloth wiping unit 70 is moved to a cleaning position so that the wiping area 7W comes into contact with the nozzle arrangement surface 3A and the nozzle arrangement surface 3A is cleaned with the cloth wipe.

[0087] In this embodiment, a position change mechanism 90 is provided that automatically causes the wiping area 7W to abut against the nozzle arrangement surface 3A when the cloth wiping unit 70 is moved to the cleaning position. This significantly simplifies the configuration compared to when separate mechanisms are provided for moving the cloth wiping unit 70 forward and backward and for raising and lowering the wiping area 7W. Specifically, the cloth wiping unit 70 rotates relative to a moving unit 81 that moves linearly along a linear guide 82, changing its position from the retracted position to the cleaning position. In other words, simply mounting the cloth wiping unit 70 on the moving unit 81 allows the wiping area 7W to be moved and raised and lowered, eliminating the need for a drive source for position change. Therefore, this embodiment provides a nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device and cleaning method that are as simple as possible.

[0088] 1 Inkjet printer (inkjet recording device) 4 Ink head 5 Pre-treatment head (treatment liquid head) 6 Post-treatment head 7 Cloth wiping device 70 Cloth wiping unit 7W Wiping area 71 Base part 711 Bearing bush (rotational fulcrum) 712 Roller (contact part) 713 Rack gear (second gear) 72 Payout part 72 72L, 73L Torque limiter 73 Take-up part 74 Pressing roller 741, 751 One-way clutch 742 Pulley 75 Conveying roller 75G Roller gear (first gear) 76 Transmission belt 77 Spray unit 80 Moving unit 81 Moving part 82 Linear guide (direct-acting guide) 85 Cloth wiper moving motor 86 Posture change guide 861 First area 862 Second area 863 Inclined part 90 Attitude change mechanism

Claims

1. A cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, a cloth wipe unit having a cloth sheet feeding section and a take-up section, and having a wiping area by the cloth sheet between the feeding section and the take-up section; a moving unit that can move the cloth wiping unit between a cleaning position where the cloth wiping unit cleans the nozzle arrangement surface and a retracted position where the cloth wiping unit does not clean; a position change mechanism that can change the position of the wiping area so that, at the cleaning position, the wiping area is in a cleaning position in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface, and, at the retracted position, the wiping area is in a retracted position separated from the nozzle arrangement surface; Equipped with The position change mechanism changes the position of the cloth wiping unit from the retracted position to the cleaning position by rotating the cloth wiping unit relative to the moving unit.

2. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 1, the moving unit includes a linear guide and a moving part that is movable along the linear guide, The cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface, wherein the cloth wiping unit is mounted on the moving part and is capable of changing its position relative to the moving part between the cleaning position and the retracted position.

3. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 2, The cloth wipe unit is rotatably mounted on the moving part, the position change mechanism includes a position change guide that extends along the linear motion guide and that abuts against a contact portion of the cloth wiping unit when the moving portion moves, the position change guide includes a first region in which the wiping region is in the retracted position and a second region in which the wiping region is in the cleaning position, The cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface, wherein the cloth wiping unit rotates relative to the moving part when the contact portion is in contact with the second area, thereby positioning the wiping area in the cleaning posture.

4. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 3, The cloth wipe unit has a base portion to which the feeding portion and the take-up portion are attached, the base portion includes a rotation fulcrum that rotates relative to the moving portion, and the abutment portion that is disposed diagonally around the rotation fulcrum, the first region extends in the extension direction of the linear motion guide at a first height, the second region extends in the extension direction of the linear motion guide at a second height different from the first height, and the first region and the second region are connected by an inclined portion, When the contact portion is in sliding contact with the first region, the base portion does not rotate around the rotation fulcrum, causing the wipe region to be in the retracted position; When the contact portion is in sliding contact with the second region, the base portion rotates about the rotation fulcrum to bring the wiping region into the cleaning posture.

5. A cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, a cloth wipe unit having a cloth sheet feeding section and a take-up section, and having a wiping area by the cloth sheet between the feeding section and the take-up section; a moving unit that can move the cloth wiping unit between a cleaning position where the cloth wiping unit cleans the nozzle arrangement surface and a retracted position where the cloth wiping unit does not clean; a position change mechanism that can change the position of the wiping area so that, at the cleaning position, the wiping area is in a cleaning position in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface, and, at the retracted position, the wiping area is in a retracted position away from the nozzle arrangement surface, the position change mechanism includes a horizontal guide that extends horizontally and contacts a contact portion of the cloth wiping unit when the moving portion moves; and a lifting mechanism that raises and lowers the horizontal guide.

6. A cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, a cloth wipe unit having a cloth sheet feeding section and a take-up section, and having a wiping area by the cloth sheet between the feeding section and the take-up section; a moving unit that can move the cloth wiping unit between a cleaning position where the cloth wiping unit cleans the nozzle arrangement surface and a retracted position where the cloth wiping unit does not clean; a position change mechanism that can change the position of the wiping area so that, at the cleaning position, the wiping area is in a cleaning position in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface, and, at the retracted position, the wiping area is in a retracted position separated from the nozzle arrangement surface; a conveying roller that sends the cloth sheet from the feeding section through the wiping area toward a take-up section; an interlocking mechanism that interlocks a position change operation of the cloth wiping unit from the retracted position to the cleaning position with a rotation operation of the transport roller about its axis; A nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device comprising:

7. 5. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 3, a conveying roller that sends the cloth sheet from the feeding section through the wiping area toward a take-up section; a first gear attached to a rotation shaft of the conveying roller; a second gear meshed with the first gear and attached to the moving part, When the cloth wipe unit rotates relative to the moving part to reach the cleaning position, the first gear rotates to rotate the transport roller about its axis.

8. 7. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 6, The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device further includes a one-way clutch that rotates the transport roller only in the direction of feeding the cloth sheet.

9. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 1, a pressure roller that presses the cloth sheet in the wiping area against the nozzle arrangement surface; a pulley attached to the rotation shaft of the pressure roller so as to be able to contact the nozzle arrangement surface, and which keeps the distance between the peripheral surface of the pressure roller and the nozzle arrangement surface constant.

10. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 1, The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device further comprises a sprayer that sprays cleaning liquid onto a cloth sheet located upstream of the wiping area.

11. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 1, The unwinding unit is a winding roller around which an unused cloth sheet is wound, and the take-up unit is a winding roller around which a used cloth sheet is wound, The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device has torque limiters attached to the rotation shafts of the unwinding roller and the winding roller.

12. A cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, comprising: a cloth wipe unit having a cloth sheet feeding section and a take-up section, and having a wiping area by the cloth sheet between the feeding section and the take-up section; a moving unit that can move the cloth wiping unit between a cleaning position where the cloth wiping unit cleans the nozzle arrangement surface and a retracted position where the cloth wiping unit does not clean; a position change mechanism that can change the position of the wiping area so that, at the cleaning position, the wiping area is in a cleaning position in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface, and, at the retracted position, the wiping area is in a retracted position separated from the nozzle arrangement surface; Equipped with The unwinding unit is a winding roller around which an unused cloth sheet is wound, and the take-up unit is a winding roller around which a used cloth sheet is wound, a torque limiter is attached to the rotation shaft of the unwinding roller and the winding roller; a conveying roller that sends the cloth sheet from the feeding section through the wiping area toward a take-up section; The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device further includes a transmission belt that links the rotation shaft of the transport roller and the rotation shaft of the winding roller.

13. The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device according to claim 1, On the nozzle arrangement surface, nozzles of a pre-treatment head that ejects a pre-treatment liquid, a post-treatment head that ejects a post-treatment liquid, and a plurality of ink heads that eject ink are arranged, A cleaning device for a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, The nozzle arrangement surface cleaning device further includes a cleaning control unit that sets a cleaning sequence for the nozzle arrangement surface by the cloth wiping unit.

14. A method for cleaning a nozzle arrangement surface on which nozzles that eject liquid are arranged, comprising: In a cloth wiping unit having a cloth sheet, a wiping area by the cloth sheet is set between a feeding section and a take-up section of the cloth sheet, a moving unit that moves the cloth wiping unit moves the cloth wiping unit to a predetermined retreat position when the nozzle arrangement surface is not being cleaned, and keeps the cloth wiping unit on standby with the wiping area spaced apart from the nozzle arrangement surface; At a timing for cleaning the nozzle arrangement surface, the cloth wipe unit is moved to a predetermined cleaning position, and the nozzle arrangement surface is cleaned while the wiping area is brought into contact with the nozzle arrangement surface; A method for cleaning a nozzle arrangement surface, comprising: rotating the cloth wiping unit relative to the moving unit when changing the state in which the wiping area is spaced from the nozzle arrangement surface to a state in which the wiping area is in contact with the nozzle arrangement surface.