Inkjet printer
AssigneeMastermind Co., Ltd.
InventorChizuo Ozawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heating lamp unit (40) is mounted on a head carriage (10) of an inkjet printer (1). Since the heating lamp unit (40) is positioned very close to an ink drop, which is discharged from the inkjet head (11) and dropped on a recording medium (30), and that the heating lamp unit can directly harden the ink drop with heat, the ink drop can be efficiently fixed. When the heating lamp unit (40) is arranged very close to the inkjet head (11), there are possibilities of generating clogging of the nozzle of the inkjet head (11) and thermal failure of the inkjet head itself due to heat released from the heating lamp (40). Since the heating lamp unit (40) can be efficiently cooled by a cooling mechanism (50) using heat pipes (51, 52), the inkjet head can be prevented from being heated.
Claims6
An inkjet printer, comprising:
- an inkjet head;
- a platen for regulating a printing position of the inkjet head;
- a head carriage for carrying the inkjet head;
- a heating device mounted on the head carriage for heating ink droplets discharged from the inkjet head and deposited on a recording medium on the platen;
- and
- a cooling mechanism for cooling external peripheral surface portions of the heating device, other than a heat release opening thereof;
- wherein
- the cooling mechanism comprises a heat pipe disposed in a state of contact with structural components of the heating device on an inside of the heating device;
- the heating device comprises a cylindrical casing in which one open end constitutes the heat release opening;
- a heat-insulating material is disposed along the internal peripheral surface of the casing;
- and
- the heat pipe is disposed between the inner peripheral surface and the heat-insulating material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.