Inkjet Head Unit Segmentation and Roller Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
In ink jet type recording apparatuses, maintaining the alignment of liquid ejecting heads and preventing contamination of the ejecting medium is challenging due to the complexity of wiping the liquid ejecting surface and the potential for liquid splashes to attach to rollers, leading to shifted landing positions and contamination of the medium.
Innovation Solution
A liquid ejecting apparatus with a liquid ejecting head unit featuring pivotally supported in-head rollers that ascend and descend, allowing for maintenance without interference and reducing contamination, along with out-head rollers that press the medium, ensuring stable ink landing and efficient printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rollers are provided at each position where the liquid ejecting head unit is nipped in the transporting direction, then the ejecting medium is held firmly, but the interval between rollers widens causing the ejecting medium to lift up and landing position to shift
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid ejecting head unit is divided into multiple independent head units, each with its own rollers. This segmentation allows each head unit to have a compact roller arrangement that prevents medium lifting while maintaining accurate landing positions, avoiding the need for wide intervals between rollers in a single large unit.
2Ease of manufacture
If a blade is used to wipe the liquid ejecting surface, then cleaning is achieved, but the blade contacts the rollers causing contamination and requiring complex movement mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The blade is extracted from the head unit structure and placed in a separate maintenance unit. This allows the blade to wipe the liquid ejecting surface without contacting the rollers, eliminating contamination risk and simplifying the mechanism by removing the need for complex coordinated movement between blade and head unit.
3Ease of manufacture
If the blade ascends and descends for each liquid ejecting head to wipe the surface, then cleaning is thorough, but it requires complicated movement and takes excessive time
Solution Approach 1:
A single blade in the maintenance unit is designed to service multiple head units sequentially. The blade can wipe all head units without needing to ascend and descend for each individual head, achieving thorough cleaning while significantly reducing maintenance time and mechanical complexity.
4Device complexity
If the liquid ejecting head unit is fixed to the frame, then structure is simple, but maintenance requires moving the entire head unit complicating the process
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid ejecting head unit is segmented into multiple independent units that can be individually removed and replaced. This allows maintenance to be performed by simply replacing specific head units rather than moving or disassembling the entire fixed structure, greatly simplifying the maintenance process while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting head unit which has liquid ejecting heads that eject liquid; an in-head roller which abuts against a landing surface of an ejecting medium; and a frame which pivotally supports the in-head roller. The liquid ejecting head unit is provided to be able to ascend and descend with respect to the frame. In the liquid ejecting head unit, at least two head rows, each of which includes the liquid ejecting heads and a void aligned in a reference direction intersecting a transporting direction of the ejecting medium, are arranged in the transporting direction. The in-head roller is disposed at a position where at least a part of the in-head roller faces the void, in a direction which is orthogonal to the landing surface.