Wiping member, wiping method, and wiping device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10759173-B2
Application number	US-201916423261-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2019
Priority date	May 30, 2018
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

A wiping member that wipes a nozzle surface of a liquid discharging head, includes a first region having an average porosity P1, a second region disposed on the first region, having an average porosity P2 greater than P1, and a third region disposed on the second region having an average porosity P3 greater than P2, wherein the wiping member has a thickness t in the direction perpendicular to the surface that contacts the nozzle surface and each of the first region, the second region, and the third region has a thickness of t/3 in the direction, wherein P2/P1 is from 1.1 to 1.4.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wiping member that wipes a nozzle surface of a liquid discharging head, having:
a first region having an average porosity P1,
a second region disposed on the first region, having an average porosity P2 greater than P1; and
a third region disposed on the second region having an average porosity P3 greater than P2,
wherein the wiping member has a thickness t in a direction perpendicular to a surface that contacts the nozzle surface and each of the first region, the second region, and the third region has a thickness of t/3 in the direction,
wherein P2/P1 is from 1.1 to 1.4,
wherein the first region forms the surface.

2. The wiping member according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first region extends from the surface to t/3, the second region extends from t/3 to 2t/3, and the third region extends from 2t/3 to t.

3. The wiping member according to claim 1 , wherein P1 is from 0.60 to 0.80.

4. The wiping member according to claim 1 , wherein the surface of the wiping member comprises non-woven fabric.

5. The wiping member according to claim 1 , wherein P1/P2 is from 1.2 to 1.3.

6. The wiping member according to claim 1 , wherein the wiping member is a single layer.

7. A wiping method comprising:
wiping a nozzle surface of a liquid discharging head using a wiping member,
wherein the wiping member includes: a first region having an average porosity P1; a second region disposed on the first region, having an average porosity P2 greater than P1; and a third region disposed on the second region, having an average porosity P3 greater than P2,
wherein the wiping member has a thickness t in a direction perpendicular to a surface that contacts the nozzle surface and each of the first region, the second region, and the third region has a thickness of t/3 in the direction,
wherein P2/P1 is from 1.1 to 1.4.

8. The wiping method according to claim 7 ,
wherein the first region extends from the surface to t/3, the second region extends from t/3 to 2t/3, and the third region extends from 2t/3 to t.

9. The wiping method according to claim 7 , further comprising applying a cleaning liquid to the wiping member.

10. The wiping method according to claim 7 , wherein the cleaning liquid has a surface tension of 35 mN/m or less.

11. A wiping device comprising:
a wiping member configured to wipe a nozzle surface of a liquid discharging head,
wherein the wiping member includes a first region having an average porosity P1;
a second region disposed on the first region, having an average porosity P2 greater than P1; and a third region disposed on the second region having an average porosity P3 greater than P2,
wherein the wiping member has a thickness t in a direction perpendicular to a surface that contacts the nozzle surface and each of the first region, the second region, and the third region has a thickness of t/3 in the direction,
wherein P2/P1 is from 1.1 to 1.4.

12. The wiping device according to claim 11 , wherein the first region extends from the surface to t/3, the second region extends from t/3 to 2t/3, and the third region extends from 2t/3 to t.

13. The wiping device according to claim 11 , further comprising a cleaning liquid application device configured to apply a cleaning liquid to the wiping member.

14. The wiping device according to claim 11 , wherein the cleaning liquid has a surface tension of 35 mN/m or less.

Assignees

• Ohkura Hiroko
• Sakon Yohta
• Izutani Akira
• ATAKE Takumi
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ohkura Hiroko
• Sakon Yohta
• Izutani Akira
• ATAKE Takumi

Classifications

• B41J2002/16558

  Using cleaning liquid for wet wiping · CPC title

• B41J2002/1655

  with wiping surface parallel with nozzle plate and mounted on reels, e.g. cleaning ribbon cassettes · CPC title

• B41J2/16535 Primary

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

• B41J2/16552 Primary

  using cleaning fluids · CPC title

• B41J2/16517

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