US-12623460-B2 - Maintenance unit and liquid ejection device

Abstract

A maintenance unit configured to receive liquid discharged as a waste liquid from an ejection section that ejects the liquid onto a medium, the liquid being cured by a hardening process, the maintenance unit includes a belt-shaped absorbing member configured to absorb the liquid and to receive the liquid at a receiving region of the absorbing member, a rotor configured to transport the absorbing member in a feeding direction, a guide roller provided downstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which winds the absorbing member, and a first regulating section is provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member that is located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the downstream roller with respect to the feeding direction.

Inventors

• Hisashi Sato
• Koji Tanaka

Assignees

• SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20240313

Priority Date

20230316

Claims (19)

1. 1 . A maintenance unit configured to receive liquid discharged from nozzles of an ejection section that eject the liquid, the liquid being cured by a hardening process, the maintenance unit comprising: a belt-shaped absorbing member configured to absorb the liquid and to receive the liquid at a receiving region of the absorbing member; a transport section configured to transport the absorbing member in a feeding direction; a downstream roller provided downstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which winds the absorbing member; and a first regulating section that is provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member that is located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the downstream roller with respect to the feeding direction, wherein in a normal direction normal to a nozzle surface that the nozzles open, the first regulating section is located between the downstream roller and the nozzle surface.
2. 2 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , wherein the first regulating section is disposed at a position closer to the downstream roller than to the receiving region in the feeding direction.
3. 3 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the first regulating section is disposed at a position overlapping the downstream roller when viewed along the normal direction.
4. 4 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , wherein the absorbing member winds around the downstream roller at an acute angle.
5. 5 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , further comprising: an upstream roller provided upstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which the absorbing member winds, and a second regulating section provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member that is located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the upstream roller with respect to the feeding direction, wherein the transport section is configured to transport the absorbing member in a returning direction opposite to the feeding direction.
6. 6 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 5 , wherein the second regulating section is disposed at a position closer to the upstream roller than to the receiving region in the feeding direction.
7. 7 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 6 , wherein the second regulating section is disposed at a position at which at least a part of the second regulating section overlaps the upstream roller when viewed along the normal direction.
8. 8 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 5 , wherein the absorbing member winds around the upstream roller at an acute angle.
9. 9 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , wherein the absorbing member is provided with, in a region different from the receiving region, a wiping region configured to wipe the ejection section.
10. 10 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , wherein an upstream roller is provided upstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which the absorbing member winds; and a pushing section is configured to press the absorbing member against the ejection section, the pushing section being provided at a position that is closer to the upstream roller than the downstream roller with respect to the feeding direction and that is upstream of the receiving region.
11. 11 . The maintenance unit, according to claim 1 , wherein the first regulating section is a flat surface.
12. 12 . A liquid ejection device comprising: an ejection section having nozzles configured to eject liquid that is curable by a hardening process onto a medium; a maintenance unit configured to receive the liquid discharged as a waste liquid from the ejection section; and a first regulating section, wherein the maintenance unit includes a belt-shaped absorbing member configured to absorb the liquid and to receive the liquid at a receiving region of the absorbing member, a transport section configured to transport the absorbing member in a feeding direction, a downstream roller provided downstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which the absorbing member winds, and the first regulating section is provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the downstream roller with respect to the feeding direction, wherein in a normal direction normal to a nozzle surface that the nozzles open, the first regulating section is located between the downstream roller and the nozzle surface.
13. 13 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 12 , further comprising: a second regulating section, wherein the maintenance unit includes an upstream roller provided upstream of the receiving region of the absorbing member that receives the liquid in the feeding direction and around which the absorbing member winds, the transport section is configured to transport the absorbing member in a returning direction opposite to the feeding direction, and the second regulating section is provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the upstream roller with respect to the feeding direction.
14. 14 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 13 , wherein the second regulating section is provided in the maintenance unit.
15. 15 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 12 , wherein the maintenance unit includes a wiping region configured to wipe the ejection section is provided in a region different from the receiving region of the absorbing member.
16. 16 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 12 , wherein ultraviolet irradiation is performed as the hardening process that cures the liquid.
17. 17 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 12 , wherein a chemical reaction between the liquid and a reaction liquid cures the liquid.
18. 18 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 12 , wherein a heating treatment cures the liquid as the hardening process.
19. 19 . The liquid ejection device, according to claim 12 , wherein the first regulating section is provided in the maintenance unit.

Description

The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2023-041684, filed Mar. 16, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a maintenance unit and a liquid ejection device. 2. Related Art JP-A-2022-119307 discloses a liquid ejecting device provided with a head configured to eject liquid, a curing section for curing the liquid by applying energy to the liquid, and a waste liquid collection section to collect the liquid as a waste liquid. The head is an example of an ejection section, and a curing section is an example of a processing section. The liquid ejection device is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus, and the waste liquid collection section is an example of a maintenance unit. The waste liquid collection section has a belt-shaped absorbing body for receiving liquid ejected from the head during the maintenance of the head, a first rotating shaft for holding unused absorbing body, and a second rotating shaft for holding used absorbing body. The waste liquid collection section receives the liquid ejected from the head at a portion of the belt-shaped absorbing body wound between the two guide rollers during the maintenance of the head. The curing section applies energy to the absorption portion of the absorbing body that has received the liquid, thereby curing the liquid in the absorption portion. The waste liquid collection section winds up the absorption portion, in which the liquid is cured, around the second rotating shaft. However, in the waste liquid collection section disclosed in JP-A-2022-119307, when the absorption portion with cured liquid passes by the guide roller in the winding of the absorbing body around the rotating shaft, there is a risk that the absorption portion may not follow the circumferential surface of the guide roller. As a result, a portion of the absorbing body wound between the two guide rollers may float in a direction approaching the head. SUMMARY A maintenance unit configured to receive liquid discharged as a waste liquid from an ejection section that ejects the liquid onto a medium, the liquid being cured by a hardening process, the maintenance unit includes a belt-shaped absorbing member configured to absorb the liquid and to receive the liquid at a receiving region of the absorbing member, a transport section configured to transport the absorbing member in a feeding direction, a downstream roller provided downstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which winds the absorbing member, and a first regulating section is provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member that is located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the downstream roller with respect to the feeding direction. A liquid ejection device includes an ejection section configured to eject liquid that is curable by a hardening process onto a medium, a maintenance unit configured to receive the liquid discharged as a waste liquid from the ejection section, and a first regulating section, wherein the maintenance unit has a belt-shaped absorbing member configured to absorb the liquid and to receive the liquid at a receiving region of the absorbing member, a transport section configured to transport the absorbing member in a feeding direction, a downstream roller provided downstream of the receiving region in the feeding direction and around which the absorbing member winds, and a first regulating section provided on the ejection section side of the absorbing member located between the receiving region and the center shaft of the downstream roller with respect to the feeding direction. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an embodiment of a liquid ejection device. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the liquid ejection device. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the liquid ejection device when maintenance of the ejection section is performed multiple times from the state shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a waste liquid collection process associated with a maintenance of an ejection section. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the maintenance unit. FIG. 6 is a plan view of the maintenance unit. FIG. 7 is a schematic side view showing another embodiment of the maintenance unit. FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing another embodiment of the maintenance unit. FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing the S9-S9 cross section shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is a schematic side view showing another embodiment of the maintenance unit. FIG. 11 is a schematic side view showing a liquid ejection device without a regulating section. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described based on embodiments. In each figure, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a repetitive description will be omitted. In the present spec