Liquid Discharging Apparatus Compactness via Electric Portion Overlap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid discharging apparatuses, such as ink jet printers, face challenges in reducing their size due to the need for a wiping mechanism and electric components that increase the apparatus' dimensions.
Innovation Solution
The liquid discharging apparatus incorporates a wiping mechanism with a wiper portion that moves along an axis aligned with the liquid discharging surface and an electric portion with circuit substrates, where the electric portion overlaps the wiping mechanism in a specific direction, thereby reducing the apparatus' size in that direction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the wiping member is provided to move along the ink discharging surface, then the liquid discharging surface can be properly wiped, but the apparatus size increases in the moving direction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensional change by positioning the electric portion in the depth direction (front-rear direction) of the apparatus, allowing it to overlap with the wiping mechanism's moving area. This vertical stacking arrangement enables the electric portion to occupy space that would otherwise be unused, thereby reducing the overall apparatus length while maintaining the wiping function.
2Ease of manufacture
If units are made separately for different circuit substrate functions, then manufacturing and convertibility are improved, but the apparatus size increases due to space required for connectors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple circuit substrates (power supply circuit substrate and control circuit substrate) into a single integrated electric portion. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate connector spaces between units, allowing the electric portion to be compactly arranged in the depth direction and reducing the overall apparatus size while maintaining manufacturing flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid discharging apparatus includes a liquid discharging head that discharges a liquid onto a medium, a wiping mechanism that wipes a liquid discharging surface of the liquid discharging head and has a wiper portion that moves along an axis that is along the liquid discharging surface and wipes the liquid discharging surface, and an electric portion that is a portion related to controlling the liquid discharging apparatus includes at least one circuit substrate, in which a first direction along the axis the intersects a surface of the circuit substrate, and in the first direction, at least a part of the electric portion overlaps a part of the wiping mechanism.