Wiper and cleaning device, and inkjet image forming apparatus including the same

A wiper comprising:

• a belt member which is supported by a plurality of pulleys and circularly moves along a predetermined path;
• and
• a cleaning member which is attached to and disposed along an entire outer circumference of the belt member and removes ink adhered to a nozzle unit while rotating in contact with the nozzle unit,
• wherein the cleaning member is formed by being divided into separate portions such that each of the separate portions contacts a corresponding plurality of nozzles and each of the corresponding plurality of nozzles of the corresponding separate portion ejects a particular color of ink.

A cleaning device comprising:

• a carrier to move in a lengthwise direction of a nozzle unit, a length of the nozzle unit corresponding to a width of a printing medium;
• a driving element to move the carrier forwards and backwards;
• and
• a wiper mounted on the carrier to remove ink adhered to the nozzle unit, the wiper comprising:
• a belt member which is supported by a plurality of pulleys and circularly moves along a predetermined path;
• and
• a cleaning member which is attached to an outer circumference of the belt member and removes the ink adhered to the nozzle unit while rotating in contact with the nozzle unit.

An inkjet image forming apparatus including a cleaning device that cleans a nozzle unit having a length which corresponds to a width of a printing medium, the inkjet image forming apparatus comprising:

• a carrier to move in a lengthwise direction of the nozzle unit;
• a driving element to move the carrier forwards and backwards;
• and
• a wiper mounted on the carrier and to remove ink adhered to the nozzle unit,
• wherein the wiper comprises a belt member which is supported by a plurality of pulleys and circularly moves along a predetermined path and a cleaning member which is attached to an outer circumference of the belt member and removes the ink adhered to the nozzle unit while rotating in contact with the nozzle unit.

A cleaning device to clean a print head with a plurality of rows of nozzles, each of the plurality of rows of nozzles to eject a color of ink, the cleaning device comprising:

• a carrier;
• and
• a wiping unit mounted on the carrier, the wiping unit comprising:
• a belt member;
• and
• a cleaning member disposed along an entire outer circumference of the belt member, including a color mixing preventing unit to prevent each of the plurality of rows from being contaminated by other colors of ink.

A cleaning device to clean a print head of an image forming apparatus with a plurality of rows of nozzles, each row corresponding to a different color ink, the cleaning device comprising:

• a carrier;
• and
• a wiping unit mounted on the carrier, the wiping unit comprising:
• a belt member;
• and
• a cleaning member disposed along an entire outer circumference of the belt member, the cleaning member being divided into portions such that each of the portions cleans a different row of nozzles.

A inkjet image forming apparatus including a cleaning device to clean a print head with a plurality of rows of nozzles, each of the plurality of rows of nozzles to eject a color of ink, the inkjet image forming apparatus comprising:

• a carrier;
• and
• a wiping unit mounted on the carrier, the wiping unit comprising:
• a belt member;
• and
• a cleaning member disposed along an entire outer circumference of the belt member, including a color mixing preventing unit to prevent each of the plurality of rows from being contaminated by other colors of ink.

An inkjet image forming apparatus including a cleaning device to clean a print head with a plurality of rows of nozzles, each row corresponding to a different color ink, the inkjet image forming apparatus comprising:

• a carrier;
• and
• a wiping unit mounted on the carrier, the wiping unit comprising:
• a belt member;
• and
• a cleaning member disposed along an entire outer circumference of the belt member, the cleaning member being divided into portions such that each of the portions cleans a different row of nozzles.