WO2001087622A1 - Printer with cleaning device - Google Patents

Printer with cleaning device Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2001087622A1
WO2001087622A1 PCT/EP2001/005595 EP0105595W WO0187622A1 WO 2001087622 A1 WO2001087622 A1 WO 2001087622A1 EP 0105595 W EP0105595 W EP 0105595W WO 0187622 A1 WO0187622 A1 WO 0187622A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
printer
nozzles
ink jet
printhead
nozzle plate
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2001/005595
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Jindrich Vosahlo
Original Assignee
Barco Graphics N.V.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Barco Graphics N.V. filed Critical Barco Graphics N.V.
Publication of WO2001087622A1 publication Critical patent/WO2001087622A1/en

Links

Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41JTYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01Ink jet
    • B41J2/135Nozzles
    • B41J2/165Preventing or detecting of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles
    • B41J2/16517Cleaning of print head nozzles
    • B41J2/1652Cleaning of print head nozzles by driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head
    • B41J2/16532Cleaning of print head nozzles by driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head by applying vacuum only

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to printing and in particular to printing using a multi-printhead ink jet printer formed from a plurality of printheads and which is wide enough to print across the full width of a continuous substrate.
  • a multi-printhead printer may be used in so-called "drop-on-demand" ink jet printing to print onto a continuous substrate, for example to print directly onto packaging in a production line.
  • the printer may be arranged opposite a transport mechanism for the substrate, such as a part of the production line.
  • Such printing is particularly attractive in the production of packaging because it is possible to package items from the same production run into packaging with a different appearance without stopping the packaging line.
  • the packaging printer may print packaging in one language for the first hundred units and then switch to print packaging in a different language for the next hundred units.
  • the printer may switch from printing the packaging bearing one customer's trade marks to printing those of another. In either case, it is not necessary for a continuous production line to stop for the outer packaging to be changed, and this saves time and therefore money in the production process.
  • a multi-printhead ink jet printer comprises a very large number of densely packed nozzles through which ink is ejected onto the printing substrate to form the printed image . The spacing between nozzles can be around 140 microns to give a pixel density of 180 dpi.
  • the ink jet nozzles are accurately located relative to each other and are kept clean, as a very small misalignment of even one nozzle can produce a noticeable effect on the printed image.
  • the ink jet nozzles may be interleaved, i.e. one row of nozzles may be arranged to print pixels between the pixels printed by a second row of nozzles. Interleaving of nozzles increases the requirement for accurate location and cleanliness of the nozzles.
  • the nozzles can be required to be located to an accuracy of +10 microns .
  • the nozzles for each of the different coloured inks must be maintained in position with the required degree of accuracy. Many different coloured inks are used for a full colour industrial printing process, and even in simple situations several colours may be used.
  • a multi-printhead ink jet printer can be made up of a plurality of printheads in the form of cartridges which fit together to form the whole printer.
  • Such cartridges are available from XaarJet Limited of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Such a multi-cartridge printer has the advantage that failed ink jet printheads can be replaced without replacing the whole printer.
  • the printhead cartridges are "stitched" together, so that the cartridges overlap in the direction perpendicular to the direction of transport of the substrate .
  • a cleaning and priming system In a large printer, such as a multi-printhead printer, it is usual to provide a cleaning and priming system, to ensure that dirt and excess ink does not adversely affect the accuracy of printing of the printhead.
  • the priming operation ensures that each nozzle of the printhead is filled with ink.
  • cleaning and priming systems comprise a wiper blade which is arranged to wipe across the surface of the ink jet nozzles to remove dirt and excess ink therefrom.
  • a wiper blade can damage the surface of the ink jet nozzles and thereby negatively affect the performance of the printer.
  • wiper blade also requires a mechanism to remove dirt and ink from the blade itself.
  • an ink jet printer comprising a plurality of ink jet nozzles defined in at least one nozzle plate, the printer further comprising a cleaning device comprising a suction port and being arranged to clean the ink jet nozzles by passing the suction port closely by the nozzles, whereby cleaning is effected without any contact between the cleaning device and the nozzle plate.
  • Figure 1 shows schematically a single printhead cartridge according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 1 shows a printhead cartridge mounted in a printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
  • the cartridge is made up of two 92 mm wide printheads 1 mounted to a common support 2.
  • Each printhead 1 comprises a 70mm wide array of 500 ink jet nozzles formed in a nozzle plate 3 at its lowermost end.
  • the printhead 1 contains an arrangement of miniature valves for controlling the ejection of ink through the nozzles.
  • An ink supply (not shown) is connected to the printhead at its upper end.
  • the array of ink jet nozzles on each printhead 1 has an effective printing density of 180 dpi.
  • the two printheads 1 are interleaved on the support 2 ' such that the nozzles of one printhead are offset relative to the nozzles of the array 3 of the other printhead by half the distance between adjacent nozzles. In this way, one printhead 1 is able to print pixels between the pixels printed by the other printhead 1.
  • the cartridge straddles a bar 4, with one printhead 1 on either side of the bar 4.
  • the lower surface of the support 2 engages with the upper surface of the bar 4 to locate the cartridge in the vertical direction in the printer.
  • the inner surface of one printhead engages with a lateral surface of the bar 4 to locate the cartridge in the direction of transport of the substrate (not shown) .
  • On the bar 4, adjacent the cartridge is provided a stop 5 which limits the movement of the cartridge in the direction along the bar 4.
  • the support 2 of the cartridge is urged against the stop 5 by a resilient member (not shown) .
  • FIG. 1 shows the cartridge being cleaned in accordance with the invention.
  • respective suction heads 6 are moved in to position below the nozzle plates 3 of the printheads 1 by means of a cleaning head support 7.
  • the printer In order for there to be sufficient space for the suction heads 6 to access the nozzle plates 3, the printer must be moved away from the substrate or the substrate must be moved away from the printer. Usually, the printer is positioned above the substrate so that the printer is raised (or the substrate lowered) for cleaning.
  • the suction heads 6 are connected to a vacuum source (not shown) via the cleaning head support 7.
  • the suction heads 6 suck dirt and excess ink from the surface of the nozzle plates 3. It should be noted that the suction heads 6 do not contact the nozzle plates 3 so there is no risk of the nozzles being damaged or misaligned during cleaning.
  • an ink jet printer has a nozzle plate 3 in which are defined a number of ink jet nozzles.
  • the printer also has a cleaning device 6 with a suction port for cleaning the ink jet nozzles by passing the suction port closely by the nozzles.
  • the nozzle plate 3 is cleaned without any contact between the cleaning device 6 and the nozzle plate 3, so that there is no risk of damage to the nozzle plate 3.

Abstract

An ink jet printer has a nozzle plate (3) in which are defined a number of ink jet nozzles. The printer also has a cleaning device (6) with a suction port for cleaning the ink jet nozzles by passing the suction port closely by the nozzles. The nozzle plate (3) is cleaned without any contact between the cleaning device (6) and the nozzle plate (3), so that there is no risk of damage to the nozzle plate (3).

Description

PRINTER WITH CLEANING DEVICE
The present invention relates to printing and in particular to printing using a multi-printhead ink jet printer formed from a plurality of printheads and which is wide enough to print across the full width of a continuous substrate. A multi-printhead printer may be used in so-called "drop-on-demand" ink jet printing to print onto a continuous substrate, for example to print directly onto packaging in a production line. In this case, the printer may be arranged opposite a transport mechanism for the substrate, such as a part of the production line. Such printing is particularly attractive in the production of packaging because it is possible to package items from the same production run into packaging with a different appearance without stopping the packaging line. Thus, for example, the packaging printer may print packaging in one language for the first hundred units and then switch to print packaging in a different language for the next hundred units. Alternatively, the printer may switch from printing the packaging bearing one customer's trade marks to printing those of another. In either case, it is not necessary for a continuous production line to stop for the outer packaging to be changed, and this saves time and therefore money in the production process. A multi-printhead ink jet printer comprises a very large number of densely packed nozzles through which ink is ejected onto the printing substrate to form the printed image . The spacing between nozzles can be around 140 microns to give a pixel density of 180 dpi. It is extremely important that the ink jet nozzles are accurately located relative to each other and are kept clean, as a very small misalignment of even one nozzle can produce a noticeable effect on the printed image. In order to achieve a desired print density, the ink jet nozzles may be interleaved, i.e. one row of nozzles may be arranged to print pixels between the pixels printed by a second row of nozzles. Interleaving of nozzles increases the requirement for accurate location and cleanliness of the nozzles. The nozzles can be required to be located to an accuracy of +10 microns . Furthermore, if it is desired to print in colour, the nozzles for each of the different coloured inks must be maintained in position with the required degree of accuracy. Many different coloured inks are used for a full colour industrial printing process, and even in simple situations several colours may be used.
A multi-printhead ink jet printer can be made up of a plurality of printheads in the form of cartridges which fit together to form the whole printer. Such cartridges are available from XaarJet Limited of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Such a multi-cartridge printer has the advantage that failed ink jet printheads can be replaced without replacing the whole printer. In order that the whole printer is wide enough to cover the width of a desired substrate, the printhead cartridges are "stitched" together, so that the cartridges overlap in the direction perpendicular to the direction of transport of the substrate .
In a continuous production process, it is extremely undesirable for the production line to be delayed while a printhead is replaced. It is therefore desirable that printhead cartridges are replaceable quickly and with the minimum of skill so that the printer can be attended by a relatively unskilled worker who does not delay the production line unduly while replacing a printhead cartridge. Nevertheless, each of the interleaved and stitched cartridges for each colour of ink must remain accurately aligned after replacement in order to achieve acceptable printing results.
In a large printer, such as a multi-printhead printer, it is usual to provide a cleaning and priming system, to ensure that dirt and excess ink does not adversely affect the accuracy of printing of the printhead. The priming operation ensures that each nozzle of the printhead is filled with ink.
In general, cleaning and priming systems comprise a wiper blade which is arranged to wipe across the surface of the ink jet nozzles to remove dirt and excess ink therefrom. However, it has been realised by the inventors that such a wiper blade can damage the surface of the ink jet nozzles and thereby negatively affect the performance of the printer. Furthermore, such a wiper blade also requires a mechanism to remove dirt and ink from the blade itself.
Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printer comprising a plurality of ink jet nozzles defined in at least one nozzle plate, the printer further comprising a cleaning device comprising a suction port and being arranged to clean the ink jet nozzles by passing the suction port closely by the nozzles, whereby cleaning is effected without any contact between the cleaning device and the nozzle plate.
According to the invention therefore there is no contact between the cleaning device and the nozzle plate so that the nozzles can not be damaged by the cleaning process. The inventors have realised that effective cleaning can be achieved using suction alone without any wiping being necessary. In this way, there is absolutely no risk that the nozzles will be worn or misaligned during cleaning, and accurate printing can take place. The suction also acts to purge the nozzles which draw fresh ink to the surface and re-primes any nozzles which have ingested air and which are therefore unable to operate . An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:
Figure 1 shows schematically a single printhead cartridge according to an embodiment of the invention. Figure 1 shows a printhead cartridge mounted in a printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The cartridge is made up of two 92 mm wide printheads 1 mounted to a common support 2. Each printhead 1 comprises a 70mm wide array of 500 ink jet nozzles formed in a nozzle plate 3 at its lowermost end. The printhead 1 contains an arrangement of miniature valves for controlling the ejection of ink through the nozzles. An ink supply (not shown) is connected to the printhead at its upper end. The array of ink jet nozzles on each printhead 1 has an effective printing density of 180 dpi. The two printheads 1 are interleaved on the support 2 ' such that the nozzles of one printhead are offset relative to the nozzles of the array 3 of the other printhead by half the distance between adjacent nozzles. In this way, one printhead 1 is able to print pixels between the pixels printed by the other printhead 1. This gives an effective print density for the whole cartridge of 360 dpi. As shown in Figure 1, the cartridge straddles a bar 4, with one printhead 1 on either side of the bar 4. The lower surface of the support 2 engages with the upper surface of the bar 4 to locate the cartridge in the vertical direction in the printer. The inner surface of one printhead engages with a lateral surface of the bar 4 to locate the cartridge in the direction of transport of the substrate (not shown) . On the bar 4, adjacent the cartridge is provided a stop 5 which limits the movement of the cartridge in the direction along the bar 4. The support 2 of the cartridge is urged against the stop 5 by a resilient member (not shown) .
Figure 1 shows the cartridge being cleaned in accordance with the invention. Thus, respective suction heads 6 are moved in to position below the nozzle plates 3 of the printheads 1 by means of a cleaning head support 7. In order for there to be sufficient space for the suction heads 6 to access the nozzle plates 3, the printer must be moved away from the substrate or the substrate must be moved away from the printer. Usually, the printer is positioned above the substrate so that the printer is raised (or the substrate lowered) for cleaning.
The suction heads 6 are connected to a vacuum source (not shown) via the cleaning head support 7. The suction heads 6 suck dirt and excess ink from the surface of the nozzle plates 3. It should be noted that the suction heads 6 do not contact the nozzle plates 3 so there is no risk of the nozzles being damaged or misaligned during cleaning.
In summary, an ink jet printer has a nozzle plate 3 in which are defined a number of ink jet nozzles. The printer also has a cleaning device 6 with a suction port for cleaning the ink jet nozzles by passing the suction port closely by the nozzles. The nozzle plate 3 is cleaned without any contact between the cleaning device 6 and the nozzle plate 3, so that there is no risk of damage to the nozzle plate 3.

Claims

Claims
1. An ink jet printer comprising a plurality of ink jet nozzles defined in at least one nozzle plate, the printer further comprising a cleaning device having a suction port and being arranged to clean the ink jet nozzles by passing the suction port closely by the nozzles, whereby cleaning is effected without any contact between the cleaning device and the nozzle plate.
PCT/EP2001/005595 2000-05-17 2001-05-16 Printer with cleaning device WO2001087622A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0011918.0 2000-05-17
GB0011918A GB0011918D0 (en) 2000-05-17 2000-05-17 Printing

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2001087622A1 true WO2001087622A1 (en) 2001-11-22

Family

ID=9891780

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/EP2001/005595 WO2001087622A1 (en) 2000-05-17 2001-05-16 Printer with cleaning device

Country Status (2)

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GB (1) GB0011918D0 (en)
WO (1) WO2001087622A1 (en)

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0559296A2 (en) * 1987-11-17 1993-09-08 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ink jet recording apparatus and discharge recovery device used with the same
US5250962A (en) * 1991-10-16 1993-10-05 Xerox Corporation Movable ink jet priming station
US5367326A (en) * 1992-10-02 1994-11-22 Xerox Corporation Ink jet printer with selective nozzle priming and cleaning
EP0972644A1 (en) * 1998-07-15 2000-01-19 Seiko Epson Corporation Ink jet printer and ink priming method therefor

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0559296A2 (en) * 1987-11-17 1993-09-08 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ink jet recording apparatus and discharge recovery device used with the same
US5250962A (en) * 1991-10-16 1993-10-05 Xerox Corporation Movable ink jet priming station
US5367326A (en) * 1992-10-02 1994-11-22 Xerox Corporation Ink jet printer with selective nozzle priming and cleaning
EP0972644A1 (en) * 1998-07-15 2000-01-19 Seiko Epson Corporation Ink jet printer and ink priming method therefor

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB0011918D0 (en) 2000-07-05

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