Staggered Nozzle Cleaning via Segmented Suction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet type recording apparatuses face issues with nozzle clogging due to dried ink, viscosity increase, and debris, leading to defective ink discharge and poor recording quality, especially when using line type recording heads with staggered nozzle chip arrangements and varying sealing portions, which can disrupt suction mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning apparatus with two suction units and a movement mechanism that shifts in correspondence with the staggered nozzle chip arrangement, ensuring complete contact and effective ink removal by aligning suction ports with nozzle arrays, including a wiper unit for dust and ink removal, and a dual-mode operation for efficient cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single suction port is used for cleaning staggered nozzle arrays, then the structure is simple, but the suction port cannot maintain intimate contact with all nozzles due to height variations from sealing portions
Solution Approach 1:
The suction mechanism is divided into multiple suction ports (first suction port and second suction port) corresponding to different nozzle chip arrays. Each suction port is independently positioned to match the height variations caused by sealing portions in staggered arrangements, ensuring reliable suction contact without requiring a single complex adaptive structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different suction ports are designed with locally optimized positions and heights to match the specific characteristics of their corresponding nozzle arrays. The first suction port aligns with first nozzle chips while the second suction port aligns with second nozzle chips, allowing each to maintain intimate contact despite overall staggered arrangement variations.
2Productivity
If the suction port moves along the entire nozzle array, then all nozzles can be cleaned, but the suction port is raised when encountering sealing portions of different heights
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning process is segmented into multiple stationary suction zones rather than a single moving suction port. The first suction port cleans first nozzle chips while the second suction port cleans second nozzle chips, eliminating the need for continuous movement that would cause instability when encountering height variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The suction mechanism uses a movement mechanism to enable relative movement between the recording head and suction holder in the second direction, allowing the system to adapt to staggered arrangements while maintaining stable suction contact through coordinated positioning of multiple suction ports.
3Reliability
If a single suction port is positioned for one nozzle array, then it can maintain stable contact, but it cannot clean nozzle arrays in staggered arrangement effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The suction system is segmented into multiple suction ports, each dedicated to specific nozzle chip arrays. This segmentation allows each suction port to maintain stable contact with its target nozzles while collectively covering all staggered arrays, thus achieving both reliability and productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple suction ports are merged into a single suction holder that moves together as one unit. This combining allows coordinated action of multiple suction ports to clean different staggered nozzle arrays simultaneously, improving overall cleaning efficiency while maintaining individual contact stability.
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
The solution provides reliable nozzle surface cleaning, maintaining recording quality by ensuring intimate contact between suction ports and nozzle arrays, even with staggered chip arrangements, and reduces the risk of suction instability, allowing for effective ink and dust removal without ink consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a first suction unit opposed to the first nozzle chips and configured to suction ink from a part of the nozzle arrays included in the first nozzle chips, a second suction unit opposed to the second nozzle chips and configured to suction ink from a part of the nozzle arrays included in the second nozzle chips
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a recording head arranged so as to oppose a sheet moving in a first direction, in which a plurality of first nozzle chips and a plurality of second nozzle chips each having a nozzle array are arranged as different arrays in a second direction crossing the first direction, and in which the first nozzle chips and the second nozzle chips adjacent to each other are shifted from each other in the second direction, a first suction unit opposed to the first nozzle chips and configured to suction ink from a part of the nozzle arrays included in the first nozzle chips, a second suction unit opposed to the second nozzle chips and configured to suction ink from a part of the nozzle arrays included in the second nozzle chips, a suction holder configured to retain the first suction unit and the second suction unit, and a movement mechanism configured to cause relative movement between the recording head and the suction holder in the second direction, wherein the first suction unit and the second suction unit are shifted from each other in the second direction in correspondence with the shift between the first nozzle chips and the second nozzle chips.