Printer Housing Cleaning via Contact Portion and Elastic Members
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image forming devices lack a mechanism to clean contaminants from the housing unit, leading to scattered contaminants attaching to the recording head and causing poor printing during paper cutting.
Innovation Solution
A printing apparatus with a contact portion that interacts with the housing unit to remove contaminants, featuring elastic members or conductive materials to destaticize and capture paper powder, preventing attachment to the print head and reducing printing errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a transcript material cutting apparatus with a movable rotating blade is provided, then paper cutting function is improved, but contaminants attach to the housing unit and scatter to the recording head causing poor printing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful function of the housing unit by adding a dedicated cleaning mechanism (contact portion with elastic members) that removes contaminants from the housing unit surface, preventing their scattering to the recording head while maintaining the cutting function
Solution Approach 2:
The contact portion with elastic members acts as an intermediary between the housing unit and the contaminants, providing a cleaning interface that captures paper powder before it can scatter to affect the recording head
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a contact portion is added to clean the housing unit, then contaminant removal is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning mechanism is designed to be self-activating through the relative movement between the cutting portion and housing unit, eliminating the need for separate control systems or additional power sources for the cleaning function
Solution Approach 2:
The contact portion uses elastic members that can deform to conform to the housing unit surface, providing effective contaminant removal with a simple, flexible structure rather than a complex rigid cleaning mechanism
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively suppresses the scattering and attachment of contaminants, enhancing printing quality by ensuring the housing unit remains clean and destaticized, thereby reducing the occurrence of poor printing.
Implementation Method 1
the contact portion is formed of a conductive member... because the housing unit can be destaticized when the contact portion comes into contact with the housing unit
Implementation Method 2
the contact portion has a plurality of elastic members arranged in a line in a direction that intersects the movement direction, and the elastic members come into contact with the housing unit when the cutting portion moves in the movement direction... because the plurality of elastic members deform in accordance with the shape of the housing unit
Data Source
AI summary
A printing apparatus includes a printing portion that performs printing on a medium, a cutting portion that is capable of moving in a movement direction and that has cutting blades that cut the medium and a housing unit that holds the cutting blades, and a contact portion provided at a position at which the contact portion comes into contact with the housing unit when the cutting portion moves in the movement direction.