Service Station Device in Inkjet Printer Head

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer head, and more particularly, to a service station device in an inkjet printer head which can elastically reinforce a capping force to increase a closing force of a nozzle and to improve a cleaning degree of nozzle, and simultaneously can have a simplified device configuration to achieve a miniaturized size of printer.

2. Discussion of Related Art

Generally, a printer includes a carriage which is supported on a main frame and moves in the left and right directions under the guide of a belt pulley, a head which is mounted in the carriage and is provided with a nozzle for injecting ink in a predetermined pattern, and a service station device which cleans or tightly closes the nozzle of head by a predetermined period according to a cleaning signal during a printing operation.

Meanwhile, the service station device has various types to meet individual head characteristics designed by numerous inkjet printer manufacturers.

In a conventional inkjet print head, however, when the service station device tightly closes the head, the nozzle is sealed to a cap by tare of the head, which makes a reliable degree of the tight closing considerably reduced. Also, since the service station device has a very complicated construction, a large number of assembling parts are needed, and many components are accordingly required in the printer manufacturing, which causes production cost to be high. Furthermore, an additional motor has to be used to perform a closing operation, which also causes production cost to be increased.

In addition, a wiper, which serves to clean a surface of nozzle of the head, exhibits a weakly contact force, which results in decreasing reliability of the wiper. For instance, while the ink remaining in the surface of nozzle is completely dried, a cleaning state of the wiper is not well good, and after the cleaning operation is completed, the wiper returns to a service station side and then has to be descended. This inconveniently needs a double operation.

Further, such a conventional wiper is adapted to move in the upper and lower directions, and accordingly, since the wiper is not moved in the left and right directions, a moving distance of the carriage is increased according to the cleaning and closing operations, which makes the area occupied by the service station device quite large.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a service station device in an inkjet printer head that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a service station device in an inkjet printer head which can elastically reinforce a capping force to increase a closing force of a nozzle and to improve a cleaning degree of nozzle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a service station device in an inkjet printer head which can have a simplified device configuration to achieve a miniaturized size of printer.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a service station device in an inkjet printer head includes: a cap portion which moves together with a case under guide of the case by a pressure force of a carriage moving to a service area for performing next printing and is then ascended to tightly close a nozzle of a head; a wiper portion which moves and is ascended along with the case under the guide of the case, upon movement of the cap portion, to stand by a cleaning state, and upon printing operation, which moves and descends only the cap portion to a printing area and at the same time cleans a surface of the nozzle; a locking portion integrated with the wiper portion as one unit, which moves together with the wiper portion, to thereby be locked to the case during a standby state, and upon the printing operation, returns to an original state with the wiper portion by releasing the standby state by means of the carriage being continuously moved; and an elastic portion coupled to the case and to the locking portion, which is elastically extended to lock the locking portion to the case, upon movement of the locking portion, and at the same time, releases the locking state by the carriage to return the locking portion to the original state.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a construction of an inkjet printer according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view, partly broken away, showing main parts of the inkjet printer according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a section view, partly in side, of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing main parts of the inkjet printer according to the present invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are front and plan views showing a service station device when a carriage is at a printing area;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are front and longitudinal sectional views showing a service station device being in contact with a cap portion when a carriage moves to a service area;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are front and longitudinal sectional views showing a service station device in a closed state when a carriage pushes a cap portion;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are front and longitudinal sectional views showing a service station device which returns a cap portion to an original position and concurrently executes a cleaning operation when a carriage moves to a printing area;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are front and longitudinal sectional views showing a service station device which releases a locking portion while a carriage moves to a printing area; and

FIGS. 10A and 10B are front and longitudinal sectional views showing a service station device when a carriage passes the service station device and moves to a printing area.

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 10B, an inkjet printer according to the present invention includes a carriage 40 which is supported on a main frame 10 and moves in the left and right directions by means of a belt 30 under the guide of a belt pulley, a head 50 which is mounted in the carriage 40 and is provided with a nozzle 51 for injecting ink in a predetermined pattern, and a service station device 60 which cleans or tightly closes the nozzle 51 of head 50 by a predetermined period according to a cleaning signal during a printing operation.

The service station device 60 in the inkjet printer according to the present invention includes: a cap portion 620 which moves together with a case 610 under guide of the case 610 by a pressure force of the carriage 40 moving to a service area for performing next printing and is then ascended to tightly close the nozzle 51 of the head 50; a wiper portion 630 which moves and is ascended along with the case 610 under the guide of the case 610, upon movement of the cap portion 620, to stand by a cleaning state, and upon printing operation, which moves and descends only the cap portion 620 to a printing area and at the same time cleans a surface of the nozzle 51; a locking portion 640 integrated with the wiper portion 630 as one unit, which moves together with the wiper portion 630, to thereby be locked to the case 610 during a standby state, and upon the printing operation, returns to an original state with the wiper portion 630 by releasing the standby state by means of the carriage 40 being continuously moved; and an elastic portion 650 coupled to the case 610 and to the locking portion 640, which is elastically extended to lock the locking portion 640 to the case 610, upon movement of the locking portion 640, and at the same time, releases the locking state by the carriage 40 to return the locking portion 640 to the original state.

The cap portion 620 is comprised of a cap case 621 which is provided to be moved in the left and right directions within the case 610, a cap bar 622 which is assembled vertically to a guide opening or pipe 621a formed in a bottom surface of the cap case 621 and is moved in the upper and lower directions, an elastic member 623 which is provided between the guide pipe 621a and the cap bar 622 to increase a pressure force by elastically supporting the cap bar 622, and a cap 624 which is assembled with the top portion of the cap bar 622 to tightly close the nozzle 51 of the head 50 by a closing force of the elastic member 623.

A hooking protrusion 622a is formed in the lower end of the cap bar 622, so that it is hooked in the bottom surface of the cap case 621 to prevent the cap bar 622 from being deviated in the upper direction. Further, a groove 622b is formed vertically in the lower end portion of the cap bar 622, so that the lower end of the cap bar 622 is easily inserted into the guide opening or pipe 621a of the cap case 621 and then the hooking protrusion 622a is hooked to the bottom surface of the cap case 621, thereby enabling the cap bar 622 to be elastically narrow and then return to an original state. A protrusion 622c is formed in the upper end of the cap bar 622 to thereby support the elastic member 623 and at the same time, is inserted into a hooking hole 624a of a cap 624 to thereby be assembled to be integrated with the cap 624.

A portion of moving and ascending/descending cap portion 620 is comprised of: a pressure projection 41 which is protruded at the right side of the carriage 40; a pressure side 621b which is protruded upwards at the right side of the cap case 621 to move the cap portion 620 by the pressure force of the pressure projection 41 when the carriage 40 moves to the service area; circular arc type of guide grooves 611 which are each formed in the same direction to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the case 610 to thereby ascend or descend the moving cap portion 620, thus to close or separate the cap portion 620 to/from the nozzle surface; and guide bars 621c which are protruded to symmetrically at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the cap case 621, to thereby move along the guide grooves 611 of the case 610.

The wiper portion 630 includes a wiper guide 631 which is provided at the lower portion of the cap case 621 to move with the cap portion 620 by the guide of the case 610, and a wiper 632 which is inserted into a fixing bar 631a protruded at the upper portion of the left side of the wiper guide 631 and serves to clean the nozzle surface of the head 50.

A portion of moving and ascending/descending wiper portion 630 is comprised of: slant guide faces 612 which are each formed in the same direction to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the case 610 and move horizontally and ascend/descend slantly the moving wiper portion 630; guide bars 631b which are protruded to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the wiper guide 631, to thereby move along the slant guide faces 612 of the case 610; a hooking side 631c which is protruded upward at the right side of the wiper guide 631 to be hooked to a bottom protrusion 621d of the cap case 621, so that the wiper guide 631 is moved together with the cap portion 620 by the guide of the case 610; and an interference protecting space 621e which protects an interference generated by means of the hooking side 631c, when the cap case 621 is originally returned by the carriage 40.

The locking portion 640 is comprised of: a release lever 42 which is extended-protruded forwardly at the right side of the carriage 40; a locking projection 613 which is protruded upward at the right side of the bottom surface of the case 610; a hinge 641a which is mounted into the left guide bar 631b of the wiper guide 631, thereby disposing the locking portion 640 at the lower portion of the wiper guide 631, and is swung upward/downward and at the same time ascended/descended along with the wiper portion 630; a locking protrusion 641b which is protruded downward at the bottom portion of the right side of the locking portion 640 and is locked to the locking projection 613 of the case 610 upon movement; and a locking guide 641 having a release bar 641c which is protruded upward at the front portion of the hinge 641a and releases the locking protrusion 641b from the locking projection 613, being contacted with the release lever 42 of the carriage 40 moving to the printing area.

The elastic portion 650, which is elastically connected between spring hookers 614 and 641d respectively protruded at the lower portion of the left side of the case 610 and the right side of the locking guide 641, to allow the locking protrusion 641b of the locking guide 641 to be locked to the locking projection 613 of the case 610 and simultaneously, upon release of the locking state, to allow the wiper portion 630 and the locking portion 640 to originally return to the left side. In the case, the elastic portion 650 and the elastic member 623 are all comprised of a coil spring.

Under the construction mentioned in the above, an operational effect of a service station device in an inkjet printer head according to the present invention will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10A and 10B.

When the carriage 40 moves from the printing area to the service area as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B under the control of a control unit, the carriage 40 moves to the service station device 60 and then passes the wiper 632 of the wiper portion 630. At the time, since the wiper portion 630 is not moved and ascended to the right side, the nozzle surface of the head 50 mounted in the carriage 40 is not cleaned.

When the carriage 40 continuously moves towards the right side and passes the upper portion of the cap portion 620, the pressure projection 41 of the carriage 40 pushes the pressure side 621b of the cap case 621 as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. Next, the pressure side 621b is moved towards the right side with the pressure projection 41, and the cap case 621 as integrated with the pressure side 621b is also moved towards the right side by the guide of the case 610.

According to the movement of the cap case 621 towards the right side, the guide bars 621c each protruded to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the cap case 621 are increasingly ascended along with the guide grooves 611 each formed in the same direction to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the case 610. Upon the ascent of the cap case 621, the cap 624 which is assembled as integrated with the cap case 621 is increasingly ascended, at the same time. When the carriage 40 reaches a predetermined position, the cap case 621 and the cap 624 are completely ascended to a predetermined height, so that the cap 624 can tightly close the nozzle 51 of the head 50.

At the moment, the predetermined height of the cap 624 is adapted to be ascended higher than that of the nozzle 51 by means of the cap bar 622, but is not any more ascended by the height limit of the nozzle 51. At the same time, the cap bar 622 is descended by a height difference between the cap 624 and the nozzle 51 under the guide opening or of the guide pipe 621a. The cap bar 622 can be elastically descended regardless of the elastic member 623 as well as can be elastically supported by the elastic member 623, so that the cap 624 can have a strong closing force for the nozzle 51 to previously prevent the ink within the nozzle 51 from being dried.

Meanwhile, when the cap portion 620 is moved and ascended towards the right side by means of the carriage 40, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the hooking side 631c of the wiper guide 631 within the wiper portion 630 which is hooked to the bottom protrusion 621d of the cap case 621 moves together with the cap case 621. Concurrently, since the wiper guide 631 as integrated with the hooking side 631c moves towards the right side, the guide bars 631b which are each protruded to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the wiper guide 631 are ascended and horizontally moves by the guide of the slant guide faces 612 which are each formed in the same direction to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the case 610.

At the time, the wiper 632 as integrated with the wiper guide 631 is ascended and moves horizontally to maintain its upper end at the horizontal state, thereby cleaning the nozzle surface of the head 50.

Upon ascent and horizontal movement of the wiper portion 630, the locking portion 640 mounted into the left guide bar 631b of the wiper guide 631 is also ascended and moves horizontally. At the time, the elastic portion 650 coupling the case 610 to the locking portion 640 is elastically extended. When the locking portion 640 fully moves towards the right side, the locking protrusion 641b passes the locking projection 613 of the case 610 and immediately the locking protrusion 641b is locked to the locking projection 613 by the elastic force of the elastic portion 650, thereby holding a locking state.

Namely, when the locking protrusion 641b of the locking portion 640 passes the locking projection 613 of the case 610, the hinge 641a of the locking portion 640 is somewhat lifted upwards around the guide bar 631b of the wiper portion 630 and then allows the locking protrusion 641b to be naturally passed through the locking projection 613. At the time, the elastic force of the elastic portion 650 is effected to lock the locking protrusion 641b to the locking projection 613.

Next, if the nozzle surface of the head 50 is to be cleaned, when the carriage 40 moves to the printing area under a signal of the control unit, the cap 624 of the cap portion 620 which has closed the nozzle 51 of the head 50 moves towards the left side together with the carriage 40.

At the time, the cap case 621 assembled with the cap 624 of the cap portion 620 is also moved towards the left side, and is descended as the guide bars 621c each protruded to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces thereof are moved along with the guide grooves 611 each formed in the same direction to be symmetrized at the left and right portions on the front/rear surfaces of the case 610. At the same time, the elastic member 623 which elastically closes the cap 624 to the nozzle 51 of the head 50 facilitates a descending movement of the cap case 621. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, because of the movement towards the left side and the descending movement of the cap case 621, the cap 624 assembled with the cap case 621 as one unit is deviated from the nozzle 51 of the head 50 and returns to an original position.

At the moment, upon the movement of the cap portion 620 towards the left side, the wiper portion 630 remains at the locking state by the locking projection 630 of the case 610, and thus only the cap portion 620 is moved towards the left side and descended. When the cap case 621 is moved towards the right side as discussed in the above, the hooking side 631c of the wiper portion 630 hooked in the bottom protrusion 621d of the cap case 621 is fixed at the moved state towards the right side. Accordingly, when only the cap portion 620 returns tothe original position, the interference protecting space 621e of the cap case 621 is not locked to the hooking side 631c and is naturally moved to the left side.

According to the continuous movement of the carriage 40 to the left side, since the nozzle surface becomes in contact with the wiper 632 of the wiper portion 630 which is already ascended, a waste ink or dusts remaining on the nozzle surface is cleaned by the acute front end of the wiper 632.

When the nozzle surface of the head 50 is cleaned and passes the wiper 632, the release lever 42 protruded extendedly at the right side of the carriage 40 comes in contact with the release bar 641c of the locking guide 641 and pushes it to the left side, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. As the locking guide 641 is rotary in a counterclockwise direction around the hinge 641a by means of the release bar 641c, the locking protrusion 641b of the locking guide 641 is released from the locking projection 613 of the case 610. At the time, the elastic force of the extended elastic portion 650 pulls the locking guide 641 towards the left side, and the locking guide 641 is moved and descended to the left side together with the wiper portion 630 by means of the elastic portion 650, thereby returning to the original position.

Namely, the guide bar 631b of the wiper portion 630 is descended and moves to the left side under the guide of the slant guide faces 612 of the case 610, thereby returning to the original position, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B.

The waste ink or dusts eliminated by the cleaning of the nozzle surface of the head 50 is dropped towards the lower portion of the case 610 and is then accumulated in a felt. Accordingly, as a series of closing, cleaning and waste ink storing processes are repeated, an improvement of the print quality can be ensured.

As discussed in the above, a service station device in an inkjet printer head according to the present invention has various advantages as follows: since a nozzle is not sealed to a cap by tare of the head, but is closed by the elastic force of an elastic member supporting the cap, the reliability of closing of the cap can be increased, and since the construction of the device is simple, the number of assembling parts can be reduced and accordingly production cost can be lowered. Furthermore, since a wiper for cleaning a nozzle surface of the head has a high degree of contact force, the reliability of wiper can be improved and at the same time, the movement of carriage to a printing area can be easily achieved. Moreover, since the wiper can be freely moved in the upper/lower and left/right directions to thereby reduce amoving distance of the carriage according to the cleaning and closing operations, the size of device can be miniaturized.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in a service station device in an inkjet printer head of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.