Maintenance device for a fluid ejection head, a fluid ejection device, and a printer
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorHisashi Miyazawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A maintenance device for a fluid ejection head has a small, compact switching mechanism that can appropriately switch drive force from a drive source and drive a suction pump and a wiper. A maintenance device 40 has caps 64 (1) to 65 (4) and wipers 75 (1) to 75 (4), a suction pump 94 that suctions waste ink from the caps 64 (1) to 65 (4), a cap drive transfer mechanism 80 that moves the caps 64 (1) to 65 (4) in a cap movement direction V, a wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism 90 that moves the wipers and drives the suction pump 94, and a drive switching mechanism 100 that switches driving by the wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism 90 to drive the suction pump 94 or move the wipers according to the position of cap movement.
Claims14
A maintenance device for a fluid ejection head comprising:
- a cap that caps a nozzle face of the fluid ejection head;
- a wiper that wipes the nozzle face;
- a suction pump that suctions ink from the cap;
- a cap drive transfer mechanism that moves the cap relative to the nozzle face;
- a wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism that moves the wiper and drives the suction pump;
- a drive switching mechanism that changes driving by the wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism to drive the suction pump or to move the wiper according to the position of cap movement;
- the drive switching mechanism includes a drive motor that rotates a drive shaft,
- a planetary gear speed reducer that has an internal gear or a planetary gear, and speed reduces rotation of the drive shaft of the drive motor and causes the internal gear or planetary gear to turn, and
- a latch mechanism that stops rotation of the internal gear or planetary gear of the planetary gear speed reducer according to the position of cap movement.
A fluid ejection device comprising:
- a fluid ejection head having a nozzle face in which nozzles that eject ink are disposed;
- a maintenance device including a cap that caps the nozzle face of the fluid ejection head, and a wiper that wipes the nozzle face;
- a suction pump that suctions ink from the cap;
- a cap drive transfer mechanism that moves the cap relative to the nozzle face;
- a wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism that moves the wiper and drives the suction pump;
- a drive switching mechanism that changes driving by the wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism to drive the suction pump or to move the wiper according to the position of cap movement;
- the drive switching mechanism includes a drive motor that rotates a drive shaft,
- a planetary gear speed reducer that has an internal gear or a planetary gear, and speed reduces rotation of the drive shaft of the drive motor and causes the internal gear or planetary gear to turn, and
- a latch mechanism that stops rotation of the internal gear or planetary gear of the planetary gear speed reducer according to the position of cap movement.
A printer comprising:
- an inkjet head that has a nozzle face in which nozzles that eject ink are disposed, and ejects ink onto a recording medium;
- a maintenance device including a cap that caps the nozzle face of the inkjet head, and a wiper that wipes the nozzle face;
- a suction pump that suctions ink from the cap;
- a cap drive transfer mechanism that moves the cap relative to the nozzle face;
- a wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism that moves the wiper and drives the suction pump;
- a drive switching mechanism that changes driving by the wiper-pump drive transfer mechanism to drive the suction pump or to move the wiper according to the position of cap movement;
- the drive switching mechanism includes a drive motor that rotates a drive shaft,
- a planetary sear speed reducer that has an internal gear or a planetary gear, and speed reduces rotation of the drive shalt of the drive motor and causes the internal gear or planetary gear to turn, and
- a latch mechanism that stops rotation of the internal gear or planetary gear of the planetary gear speed reducer according to the position of cap movement
- a conveyance path that conveys the recording medium;
- and
- a conveyance mechanism that conveys the recording medium through the conveyance path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.