Liquid ejecting apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9533505-B2
Application number	US-201514830561-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2015
Priority date	Aug 17, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

Provided is a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of suppressing ink from remaining on a nozzle surface.
A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a head unit 16 capable of ejecting a liquid from a nozzle 27 provided in a nozzle surface 22 a of a nozzle plate 22 , an anchoring plate 17 in which the head unit 16 is anchored and that is provided with an opening region 17 a that exposes the nozzle surface 22 , and a wiper member 12 that wipes an anchoring plate exposed-surface 17 b located on the opposite side of the head unit 16 of the anchoring plate 17 and the nozzle surface 22 a . When an angle of contact between the nozzle surface 22 a and the liquid is taken as θn, an angle of contact between the anchoring plate exposed-surface 17 b and the liquid is taken as θs, and an angle of contact between the wiper member 12 and the liquid is taken as θw, the relationship θn>θs>θw>90° is fulfilled.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A liquid ejecting apparatus having a wiper member for wiping a recording head, comprising:
a recording head, the recording head comprising:
a communication plate having a flow channel,
a nozzle formation member which has a nozzle communicating with the flow channel and which covers a portion of the communication plate, and
an anchoring plate which covers another portion of the communication plate while not contacting the nozzle formation member,

wherein the wiper member is provided such that the wiper member firstly contacts with the anchoring plate and the wiper member secondarily moves toward the nozzle formation member and wipes the nozzle formation member through a relative movement of the recording head and the wiper member,
wherein a gap is provided between the anchoring plate and the nozzle formation member, and
wherein the portion of the communication plate that is covered by the nozzle formation member is on a first side of the gap and the portion of the communication plate covered by the anchoring plate is on a second side of the gap.

2. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the gap is filled with a filler.

3. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the nozzle formation member is located on an upstream side of the anchoring plate in a stretching direction of a nozzle extending from the flow channel.

4. A wiping method for a recording head that uses a wiping member, the recording head including a communication plate having a flow channel, a nozzle formation member which has a nozzle with the flow channel and which covers a portion of the communication plate, and an anchoring plate which covers another portion of the communication plate, wherein a gap is provided between the anchoring plate and the nozzle formation member, and wherein the portion of the communication plate that is covered by the nozzle formation member is on a first side of the gap and the portion of the communication plate covered by the anchoring plate is on a second side of the gap, the method comprising:
the wiper member firstly contacting with the anchoring plate; and
the wiper member secondarily moving toward the nozzle formation member and wiping the nozzle formation member through a relative movement of the recording head and the wiping member.

5. The wiping method according to claim 4 , wherein the nozzle formation member is located on an upstream side of the anchoring plate in a stretching direction of a nozzle extending from the flow channel.

6. The wiping method according to claim 4 , wherein the gap is filled with a filler.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Watanabe Shunsuke
• Fukuzawa Yuma
• Enomoto Katsumi
• Okui Hiroaki
• Miyata Yoshinao
• Oguchi Satoshi
• Akahane Fujio

Classifications

• B41J2/14233

  of film type, deformed by bending and disposed on a diaphragm · CPC title

• B41J2002/14241

  having a cover around the piezoelectric thin film element · CPC title

• B41J2/1606

  Coating the nozzle area or the ink chamber · CPC title

• B41J2/16535 Primary

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

• B41J2/055 Primary

  Devices for absorbing or preventing back-pressure · CPC title