Liquid discharging apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10112398-B2
Application number	US-201715408569-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2017
Priority date	Jan 19, 2016
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

There is provided a liquid discharging apparatus including: a liquid jet head, a receiving portion, a tube pump, and a controller. The controller carries out a process of acquiring present positional information of a pressing body inside the tube pump and a simultaneous process which simultaneously performs a flushing process and a discharge process and, as the flushing process, carries out a process of selectively performing either an ordinary flushing process or a restrained flushing process. In the simultaneous process, the controller carries out either the ordinary flushing process when the pressing body is not positioned to press an overlapped portion of a tube or the restrained flushing process when the pressing body is positioned to press the overlapped portion of the tube.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid discharging apparatus comprising:
a liquid jet head including a plurality of nozzles;
a receiving portion;
a tube pump including:
a tube defining at least a part of a liquid discharge flow passage connected with the receiving portion,
a casing having an inner peripheral wall forming a cylindrical space to contain the tube along the inner peripheral wall such that the tube arranged along the inner peripheral wall has an overlapped portion at which a part of the tube overlaps with another part of the tube in an axial direction of the cylindrical space, and
a pressing body configured to press the tube arranged along the inner peripheral wall toward the inner peripheral wall while rotating about a rotating shaft provided along a central axis of the cylindrical space; and

a controller configured to:
acquire present positional information of the pressing body; and
control the liquid jet head to perform flushing to jet liquid from the plurality of nozzles into the receiving portion, and control the tube pump to perform discharging the liquid jetted into the receiving portion, simultaneously;

wherein when performing the flushing and the discharging, the controller is configured to carry out selectively performing either a first flushing to jet the liquid at a predetermined jet amount from the plurality of nozzles or a second flushing to control the liquid jet head so as to jet less of the liquid than the predetermined jet amount; and
wherein when performing the flushing and the discharging simultaneously, the controller is configured to carry out either the first flushing when acquiring the present positional information indicating that the pressing body is not positioned to press the overlapped portion of the tube or the second flushing when acquiring the present positional information indicating that the pressing body is positioned to press the overlapped portion of the tube.

2. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to carry out the second flushing such that no liquid is jetted from the plurality of nozzles.

3. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to acquire positional information of the overlapped portion which is a reference in determining whether or not the pressing body is positioned to press the overlapped portion, and is configured to determine whether to carry out the first flushing or to carry out the second flushing when performing the flushing and the discharging simultaneously, based on the result of comparing the present positional information with the positional information of the overlapped portion.

4. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the controller acquires the positional information of the overlapped portion right before performing the flushing and the discharging simultaneously.

5. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a drive motor for rotating the pressing body, wherein the controller is configured to acquire the positional information of the overlapped portion by using information obtained by the drive motor rotating the pressing body.

6. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising an encoder for detecting a rotation angle of the drive motor, wherein the controller is configured to acquire the positional information of the overlapped portion by using an output from the encoder on an occasion of rotating the pressing body by driving the drive motor at a certain voltage.

7. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the certain voltage is same as a voltage required for driving the drive motor when performing the flushing and the discharging simultaneously.

8. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the certain voltage is lower than a voltage required for driving the drive motor when performing the flushing and the discharging simultaneously.

9. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the controller carries out the flushing during the time of acquiring the positional information of the overlapped portion.

10. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising a conveyance roller for transporting a recording medium, wherein the drive motor is also connected to the conveyance roller to drive the conveyance roller, and the encoder detects a rotation angle of the conveyance motor.

11. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising an encoder for detecting a rotation angle of the drive motor, wherein the controller is configured to acquire the positional information of the overlapped portion by using an output from the encoder on the occasion of driving the drive motor to rotate the pressing body at a torque for the pressing body to stop rotating on beginning to press the overlapped portion.

12. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a cap which corresponds to the receiving portion, which includes a recess capable of facing the plurality of nozzles and which is configured to contact with the liquid jet head to cover the plurality of nozzles, and
a cap switching device configured to switch the cap between an atmosphere disconnection state in which the cap contacts with the liquid jet head such that a space formed between the recess and the liquid jet head does not communicate with the outside of the cap and thus the space is sealed up, and an atmosphere communication state in which the recess communicates with the outside,
wherein the controller is configured to:
control the liquid jet head to jet the liquid from the plurality of nozzles toward the cap during the flushing,
carry out an air suction as the discharging to operate the tube pump with the cap in the atmosphere communication state,
upon performing the flushing and the discharging simultaneously, carry out a simultaneous flushing and air suction which simultaneously performs the flushing and the air suction, and
carry out, in the simultaneous flushing and air suction, either the first flushing when acquiring the present positional information indicating that the pressing body is not positioned to press the overlapped portion of the tube or the second flushing when acquiring the present positional information indicating that the pressing body is positioned to press the overlapped portion of the tube.

13. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of nozzles include a plurality of first nozzles and a plurality of second nozzles configured to jet a different type of liquid from the plurality of first nozzles;
the cap includes the recess capable of covering the plurality of first nozzles and the plurality of second nozzles;
a cap moving device is provided as the cap switching device to move the cap between a contact position to contact with the liquid jet head to cover the plurality of nozzles and a separate position to separate from the liquid jet head; and
the controller is configured to carry out the simultaneous flushing and air suction with the cap positioned in the separate position, after carrying out a suction purge to operate the tube pump with the cap positioned in the contact position.

14. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the pressing body includes an elongated rotating body rotating about the rotating shaft provided in one end of the rotating body, and a pressing portion provided rotatably at the other end of the rotating body to contact with the tube.

15. The liquid dis

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Iida Shotaro
• Ueda Toshiro

Classifications

• B41J2/16517

  Cleaning of print head nozzles (B41J2/16505, B41J2/1707 take precedence) · CPC title

• B41J2/1652 Primary

  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 · CPC title

• B41J2002/16573

  Cleaning process logic, e.g. for determining type or order of cleaning processes · CPC title

• B41J2/16526

  by applying pressure only · CPC title

• B41J2/16505

  Caps, spittoons or covers for cleaning or preventing drying out · CPC title