Printing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10350894-B2
Application number	US-201815904889-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2018
Priority date	Mar 13, 2017
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a printing apparatus that satisfactorily sucks and recovers a printhead is provided. A printing apparatus that includes a transfer member, and the first and second printheads has the following arrangement. The apparatus includes the first and second suction units which suck a plurality of nozzles of the first and second printheads, a common negative-pressure generation unit which generates a negative-pressure for suction by these suction units, and a moving unit which moves these suction units from one end to the other end of each printhead. Then, the moving unit moves the first and second suction units so as to pass through concave gaps with respect to ink discharge surfaces of the first and second printheads corresponding to the first and second suction units at different timings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing apparatus comprising:
a first printhead in which a plurality of first head substrates are arranged in a first direction and there are gaps between neighboring first head substrates, each first head substrate having a plurality of first nozzles arrayed in the first direction, each first nozzle discharging first ink;
a second printhead in which a plurality of second head substrates are arranged in the first direction and there are gaps between neighboring second head substrates, each second head substrate having a plurality of second nozzles arrayed in the first direction, each second nozzle discharging second ink, wherein the first printhead and the second printhead are arranged in a second direction intersecting with the first direction;
a first suction unit configured to suck the first ink from the plurality of first nozzles of the first printhead by moving in the first direction while being in contact with the plurality of first head substrates;
a second suction unit configured to suck the second ink from the plurality of second nozzles of the second printhead by moving in the first direction while being in contact with the plurality of second head substrates;
a common negative-pressure generation unit configured to generate a negative-pressure in the first suction unit and the second suction unit; and
a moving unit configured to move the first suction unit and the second suction unit in the first direction,
wherein the moving unit moves the first suction unit and the second suction unit such that times at which the first suction unit passes the gaps between the neighboring first head substrates are different from those at which the second suction unit passes the gaps between the neighboring second head substrates.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the moving unit concurrently moves the first suction unit and the second suction unit by a common driving source, the first suction unit and the second suction unit are provided while being separated from each other in the first direction.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a suction port of the first suction unit and a suction port of the second suction unit are provided at different positions in the first direction.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the first suction unit and the second suction unit are provided at the same position concerning the first direction, the moving unit moves the first suction unit and the second suction unit at moving start timings independent of each other.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of head substrates has a parallelogrammic shape.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first suction unit includes:
a first suction wiper contacting the ink discharge surface of the first printhead and configured to suck the plurality of nozzles of the first printhead;
a first holder configured to fix the first suction wiper; and
a first tube connected to the first suction wiper and configured to discharge waste ink sucked via the first suction wiper, and
the second suction unit includes:
a second suction wiper contacting the ink discharge surface of the second printhead and configured to suck the plurality of nozzles of the second printhead;
a second holder configured to fix the second suction wiper; and
a second tube connected to the second suction wiper and configured to discharge waste ink sucked via the second suction wiper.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the common negative-pressure generation unit includes a suction pump configured to generate a negative-pressure in each of a suction port of the first suction wiper and a suction port of the second suction wiper.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein when the moving unit causes the first suction wiper to pass through the gaps between the neighboring first head substrates of the first printhead and the second suction wiper to pass through the gaps between the neighboring second head substrates of the second printhead, air flows in from the suction port of the first suction wiper and the suction port of the second suction wiper.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the first printhead and the second printhead is a full-line printhead.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a suction operation by the first suction unit and the second suction unit is performed at a second position, at which the first printhead and the second printhead do not face the ink receiving member, retracted from a first position where the first printhead and the second printhead are positioned facing the ink receiving member, and print the image by discharging the ink to the ink receiving member, and
the suction operation by the first suction unit and the second unit is not performed at the first position.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Horiba Takashi
• Watanabe Hikaru
• Kurasawa Kanto

Classifications

• B41J2/16535

  using wiping constructions (B41J2/16552 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B41J2025/008

  comprising a plurality of print heads placed around a drum · CPC title

• B41F31/18

  for inking selected parts of printing formes · CPC title

• B41F13/22

  Means for cooling or heating forme or impression cylinders · CPC title

• B41J2/01

  Ink jet · CPC title