US-12617207-B2 - Liquid discharge apparatus

US12617207B2US 12617207 B2US12617207 B2US 12617207B2US-12617207-B2

Abstract

A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a liquid discharge head having a discharge face having a nozzle from which a liquid is discharged to a medium; a carriage, to which the liquid discharge head is mountable, and reciprocally movable in a main-scanning direction; a guide supporting the carriage to guide the carriage to move in the main-scanning direction; a cap to contact and seal the discharge face of the liquid discharge head; a suction device connected to the cap; and a cap cleaner, supported and guided by the guide to move in the main-scanning direction, to drop a cleaning liquid to the cap.

Inventors

Teppei Kikuchi
Hiroyuki Yamashita
Yasunobu Takagi
Nanami TAKANO
Kaoru Satoh

Assignees

Teppei Kikuchi
Hiroyuki Yamashita
Yasunobu Takagi
Nanami TAKANO
Kaoru Satoh

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231121
Priority Date: 20221122

Claims (19)

1 . A liquid discharge apparatus comprising: a liquid discharge head having a discharge face having a nozzle from which a liquid is discharged to a medium; a carriage, to which the liquid discharge head is mountable, and reciprocally movable in a main-scanning direction; a guide supporting the carriage to guide the carriage to move in the main-scanning direction; a cap to contact and seal the discharge face of the liquid discharge head; a suction device connected to the cap; and a cap cleaner, supported and guided by the guide to move in the main-scanning direction, to drop a cleaning liquid to the cap, wherein the cap cleaner includes: a dropper to drop the cleaning liquid to the cap; a channel connected to the dropper to supply the cleaning liquid to the dropper; and a holder holding the channel and the dropper.
2 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the holder is detachably attachable to the guide.
3 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: an elastic member elastically biasing the cap cleaner, to a facing position at which the cap cleaner faces the cap, in the main-scanning direction.
4 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising: a casing housing the liquid discharge head, the carriage, the guide, the cap, the suction device, and the cap cleaner, wherein: the elastic member extendable in the main-scanning direction, and the elastic member includes: one end connected to the holder; and another end fixed to the casing.
5 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein; the carriage moves to a capping position at which the cap is contactable with the discharge face of the liquid discharge head to push the cap cleaner to be retracted from the facing position.
6 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the cap cleaner includes a pump connected to the dropper through the channel, and the pump: feeds the cleaning liquid from the pump to the dropper through the channel in a first direction; or feeds the cleaning liquid from the dropper to the pump through the channel in a second direction opposite to the first direction in response to a stop of a dropping operation of the cap cleaner to the cap.
7 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the suction device includes a pump.
8 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a flexible tube connected to the channel to supply the cleaning liquid, the flexible tube being a tube pump.
9 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the holder is supported and guided by a first guide rod and a second guide rod of the guide, the first guide rod and the second guide rod being horizontally disposed.
10 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the cap cleaner further includes: a convex portion for buffering an impact on a surface in contact with the carriage.
11 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a cleaning liquid tank connected to the channel to supply the cleaning liquid.
12 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the dropper is connected to a tank through the channel, the tank for storing the cleaning liquid.
13 . A liquid discharge apparatus, comprising: a liquid discharge head having a discharge face having a nozzle from which a liquid is discharged to a medium; a carriage, to which the liquid discharge head is mountable, and reciprocally movable in a main-scanning direction; a guide supporting the carriage to guide the carriage to move in the main-scanning direction; a cap to contact and seal the discharge face of the liquid discharge head; a suction device connected to the cap; and a cap cleaner, supported and guided by the guide to move in the main-scanning direction, to drop a cleaning liquid to the cap, wherein the cap cleaner is detachably attachable to the guide.
14 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein: the suction device includes a pump.
15 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising: a flexible tube connected to a channel to supply the cleaning liquid, wherein the flexible tube is a tube pump.
16 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising: a holder supported and guided by a first guide rod and a second guide rod of the guide, the first guide rod and the second guide rod being horizontally disposed.
17 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein: the cap cleaner further includes a convex portion for buffering an impact on a surface in contact with the carriage.
18 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising: a cleaning liquid tank connected to the channel to supply the cleaning liquid.
19 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising: a dropper, the cleaning liquid being dropped from the dropper in response to an operation of a pump connected to the channel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-186508, filed on Nov. 22, 2022, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a liquid discharge apparatus. Related Art As a liquid discharge apparatus, for example, an ink jet record apparatus including a liquid discharge head for discharging droplets of ink onto a medium to be discharged such as a sheet is known. In such a liquid discharge apparatus, it is known that a technique includes a cap for covering the discharge face (nozzle face) of the liquid discharge head, the discharge face is covered with the cap when printing (also referred to as recording or image formation) is not performed, thereby preventing drying of ink or preventing clogging by sucking with a pump connected to the cap. In recent years, various inks have been used with the spread of ink jet technology. Some inks have characteristics such as high viscosity, low solubility, quick-drying property, and others have quickly adhere to the cap, and the ink adhered to the cap may be fixed and accumulated with time. On the other hand, there are technologies for cleaning the ink adhered to and accumulated on the cap. It is preferable that the ink adhered to the cap can be washed at any timing while printing because the ink is likely to be fixed due to the progress of drying when the cap is left open for a long time while printing. SUMMARY A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a liquid discharge head having a discharge face having a nozzle from which a liquid is discharged to a medium; a carriage, to which the liquid discharge head is mountable, and reciprocally movable in a main-scanning direction; a guide supporting the carriage to guide the carriage to move in the main-scanning direction; a cap to contact and seal the discharge face of the liquid discharge head; a suction device connected to the cap; and a cap cleaner, supported and guided by the guide to move in the main-scanning direction, to drop a cleaning liquid to the cap. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of a liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. 2 is a side view of a whole configuration of the liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. 3 is a side view of a main part of the liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cap cleaner: FIG. 5A is a diagram of attachment and detachment of the cap cleaner; FIG. 5B is a diagram of attachment and detachment of the cap cleaner; FIG. 5C is a diagram of attachment and detachment of the cap cleaner; FIG. 6A is a diagram of displacement of the cap cleaner while printing; and FIG. 6B is a diagram of displacement of the cap cleaner while capping. The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted. Also, identical or similar reference numerals designate identical or similar components throughout the several views. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that have a similar function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result. Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. According to the present disclosure, a liquid discharge apparatus that can clean a cap without interrupting a printing operation and independently quickly attach and detach a cleaning member to discharge liquid. A liquid discharge apparatus according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Although the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below, and can be modified within a range that can be conceived by a person skilled in the art, such as addition, change, or deletion of other embodiments, and any of the embodiments is included in the scope of the present invention as long as the functions and effects of the present invention are achieved. FIG. 1 is a side view of a whole configuration of the liquid discha