US-12617206-B2 - Maintenance device and inkjet recording apparatus

Abstract

A maintenance device includes: a cap to be attached to a nozzle surface of an inkjet head; an air supply opening and an exhaust opening provided in the cap; and a suppression member which is provided at least between the air supply opening and the nozzle surface and has a first gap with respect to the air supply opening and a second gap with respect to the nozzle surface, and an end portion of the suppression member on a side of the exhaust opening opposes the exhaust opening.

Inventors

• Yiquan Nie
• Takashi SOMETE

Assignees

• KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20240822

Priority Date

20230823

Claims (5)

1. 1 . A maintenance device, comprising: a cap to be attached to a nozzle surface of an inkjet head; an air supply opening and an exhaust opening provided in the cap; and a suppression member which is provided at least between the air supply opening and the nozzle surface and has a first gap with respect to the air supply opening and a second gap with respect to the nozzle surface, wherein an end portion of the suppression member on a side of the exhaust opening opposes the exhaust opening.
2. 2 . The maintenance device according to claim 1 , wherein the suppression member is provided along a direction that is directed from a side of the air supply opening toward the side of the exhaust opening.
3. 3 . The maintenance device according to claim 1 , wherein the suppression member includes, at positions not opposing the air supply opening, a plurality of through-holes which penetrate from a side of the air supply opening to a side of the nozzle surface.
4. 4 . The maintenance device according to claim 1 , wherein the suppression member is formed of a resin.
5. 5 . An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: the inkjet head; and the maintenance device according to claim 1 .

Description

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-135250 filed on Aug. 23, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND The present disclosure relates to a maintenance device which performs maintenance of an inkjet head, and an inkjet recording apparatus. In an inkjet recording apparatus that uses aqueous ink, there is a fear that, while printing is not executed, moisture will evaporate from the ink in nozzles and viscosity will increase, to thus cause an ejection failure or clogging. In this regard, there has conventionally been discussed a technique of suppressing evaporation of moisture from the ink in the nozzles. As the related art, an apparatus which supplies humidified air into a cap that covers an ejection surface (a nozzle surface) of a head is being discussed. SUMMARY To solve the problem described above, a maintenance device according to the present disclosure includes: a cap to be attached to a nozzle surface of an inkjet head; an air supply opening and an exhaust opening provided in the cap; and a suppression member which is provided at least between the air supply opening and the nozzle surface and has a first gap with respect to the air supply opening and a second gap with respect to the nozzle surface, and an end portion of the suppression member on a side of the exhaust opening opposes the exhaust opening. The suppression member may be provided along a direction that is directed from a side of the air supply opening toward the side of the exhaust opening. The suppression member may include, at positions not opposing the air supply opening, a plurality of through-holes which penetrate from a side of the air supply opening to a side of the nozzle surface. The suppression member may be formed of a resin. An inkjet recording apparatus according to the present disclosure includes the inkjet head and the maintenance device. This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outer appearance of an image forming system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing an internal configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 3 is a front view schematically showing a head unit and a maintenance device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the head unit and a wipe unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically showing a cap unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an inkjet head according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 7 are front views showing operations of the maintenance device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the cap unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the cap unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an I-I cross section of FIG. 9; FIG. 11 is an exploded view showing the cap unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 12 is a diagram showing flows of air and humidified air in the cap unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 13 is a plan view showing positions of humidifying tanks and a recovery tank according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view showing a flow of humidified air in the cap according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing the cap unit including a suppression member according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 16 is a plan view showing the cap including the suppression member according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing a cap unit including a suppression member according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 18 is a plan view showing a cap including the suppression member according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 19 is a plan view showing a cap including a suppression member according to a third emb