Hybrid printhead maintenance system for wiping and priming

Abstract

A method of maintaining an elongate inkjet printhead includes the steps of: positioning a suction nozzle opposite inkjet nozzles of the printhead; positioning a wiper offset from the inkjet nozzles; and moving the suction nozzle and the wiper together along a length of the printhead. The wiper contacts only a non-printing part of the printhead while the suction nozzle is spaced apart from the inkjet nozzles of printhead.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining an elongate inkjet printhead comprising the steps of: positioning a suction nozzle opposite inkjet nozzles of the printhead; positioning a wiper offset from the inkjet nozzles; and moving the suction nozzle and the wiper together along a lengthwise direction of the printhead from one end of the printhead to an opposite end of the printhead, wherein the wiper contacts only a non-printing part of the printhead and the suction nozzle is spaced apart from the inkjet nozzles of printhead.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the printhead is a pagewide inkjet printhead.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the suction nozzle and the wiper move back and forth along the length of the printhead.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a pair of wipers flank the suction nozzle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wiper comprises an absorbent material, and wherein a thickness of the absorbent material at least partially determines a distance between the suction nozzle and the printhead.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the suction nozzle and wiper are mounted on a common maintenance member.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the maintenance member comprises a barrel having a plurality of maintenance faces, and wherein the method further comprises the step of: rotating the barrel to present a fresh maintenance face to the printhead after a predetermined number of maintenance operations.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the maintenance member is resiliently urged against the printhead.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a maintenance system according to the first aspect;

(3) FIG. 2 is a side view of the maintenance system partway through a maintenance operation;

(4) FIG. 3 is a side view of the maintenance system with a carriage in its home position;

(5) FIG. 4 is an end view of the maintenance system with a maintenance member disengaged from the printhead;

(6) FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the maintenance system with the maintenance member disengaged from the printhead;

(7) FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the maintenance system with the maintenance member engaged with the printhead;

(8) FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the maintenance member;

(9) FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a barrel having all but one suction manifold removed; and

(10) FIG. 9 is a magnified sectional of the maintenance system during a maintenance operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(11) Referring to FIGS. 1 to 8, there is shown a maintenance system 1 for maintaining an elongate inkjet printhead 3, such as a pagewide printhead. The maintenance system comprises a carriage 5, which is movable longitudinally along the printhead 3 by means of a suitable traversing mechanism indicated schematically by double-headed arrow T. In FIG. 2, the carriage 5 is shown about halfway through a maintenance operation traversing from right-to-left as shown, and in FIG. 3 the carriage is shown in a nominal home position at the end of a maintenance operation.

(12) The carriage 5 comprises a maintenance member 7 having a generally hexagonal barrel 9 mounted on a support frame 11. The barrel 9 is axially and rotatably mounted about a fixed shaft 12 supported between a pair of support rods 13 of the support frame 11, such that a rotational axis of the barrel is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the printhead 3. The barrel 9 is in a rotationally fixed position, relative to the support frame 11, during each maintenance operation.

(13) The printhead 3 is operatively connected to an engagement mechanism, indicated schematically by double-headed arrow E, for reciprocally lifting and lowering the printhead relative to the maintenance member 7 for engagement and disengagement. In FIG. 2, the printhead 3 is shown in a lowered, engaged position and in FIG. 3 the printhead is shown in a raised, disengaged position. The support rods 13 are hingedly connected to arms 15 of the support structure 11, which resiliently bias the maintenance member 7 towards the printhead 3 by means of a spring mechanism 16. In this way, the maintenance member 7 is gently urged into contact with the printhead 3 when the printhead is lowered onto the maintenance member.

(14) Various traversing and engagement mechanisms will be well known to the person skilled in the art. For example, the traversing mechanism may comprise a lead screw engaged with the carriage 5 for traversing the carriage along the length of the printhead 3. The engagement mechanism may comprise a rack-and-pinion mechanism or a scissor mechanism for lifting and lowering the printhead 3 relative to the carriage 5, or lifting and lowering the carriage relative to the printhead. Such mechanisms are well within the ambit of the person skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail herein.

(15) Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the barrel 9 has a central axial bore 18 and six hexagonally radial sockets 20 arranged about an exterior surface thereof, each socket receiving a respective suction manifold 22. The suction manifolds 22 are arranged in a generally hexagonal array and define six corresponding maintenance faces 24 of the maintenance member 7. Each suction manifold 22 is in the form of a bar comprised of a compliant material fixed to its respective complementary socket 20 by means of a suitable adhesive. Each suction manifold 22 defines a primary suction nozzle 26 and a plurality of secondary suction nozzles 28 spaced apart along the length of the suction manifold 22, with the secondary suction nozzles flanking the primary suction nozzle. Each of the primary and secondary suction nozzles 26 and 28 is in fluid communication with a vacuum port 30 of a respective socket 20 via an elongate slot 32 defined in a backside surface of the suction manifold 22.

(16) As best shown in FIG. 5, the barrel 9 is rotatably mounted about the fixed shaft 12, which is received in the axial bore 18 of the barrel. The shaft 12 is hollow and has an axial space defining a vacuum chamber 31, which is connected to a vacuum source (not shown) at one end. Only the suction manifold 22 facing the printhead 3 is connected to the vacuum chamber 31 by virtue of a valve orifice 33 defined in a wall of the shaft 12. When the vacuum port 30 of a printhead-facing socket 20 is aligned with the valve orifice 33, a corresponding printhead-facing suction manifold 22 is connected to the vacuum chamber 31 and the corresponding primary and secondary suction nozzles 26 and 28 consequently experience a suction force. Accordingly, rotation of the barrel 9 about the fixed shaft 12 provides a valve mechanism whereby only one selected suction manifold 22 facing the printhead 3 is connected to vacuum. Suitable indexing mechanisms (e.g. a ratchet-and-pawl indexing mechanism) for rotating the barrel 9 into each of the six maintenance positions will be well known to the person skilled in the art. The indexing mechanism is schematically indicated by arrow R in FIG. 5 and will not be described in further detail herein.

(17) Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, first and second wipers 34A and 34B are circumferentially mounted about the barrel 9 so as to cover the secondary nozzles 28 of the suction manifolds 22, but not cover the primary suction nozzles 26. The first wiper 34A covers a pair of secondary suction nozzles 28 positioned at one side of the primary suction nozzle 26, while the second wiper 34B covers a single primary suction nozzle positioned at the other side of the primary suction nozzle. Each wiper is comprised of a length of absorbent material 35 having a predetermined thickness and porosity.

(18) An upper surface of each suction manifold 22 is profiled to complement a lower face of the printhead 3, and the wipers 34A and 34B are similarly profiled by virtue of being intimately mounted about the barrel 9. As best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the lower face of the printhead 3 has a length of polymeric encapsulant material 40 extending outwardly therefrom to define a contoured printhead surface. This encapsulant material 40 extends along a length of the printhead and encapsulates wirebonds (not shown) providing power and data to a row of printhead chips 42. Each printhead chip 42 contains inkjet nozzles for printing onto print media.

(19) During printhead maintenance, a control system (not shown) of a printer initiates the maintenance operation, either from a user intervention (e.g. a manual maintenance request in response to a decrease in print quality), or more usually as an automatic maintenance intervention based on a known printer condition (e.g. wake-up from an idle period, a predetermined period of the printhead being left uncapped, a predetermined number of prints etc.). The control system firstly configures the printhead 3 and the maintenance system 1 for performing printhead maintenance. For example, the control system may control the engagement mechanism E to align the carriage 5 with the printhead 3 and lower the printhead onto the maintenance member 7.

(20) Referring to FIG. 6, when the printhead 3 is engaged with the maintenance member 7, the first wiper 34A contacts a first non-printing part 44A of the printhead 3 and the second wiper 34B contacts a second non-printing part 44B of the printhead, while the primary suction nozzle 26 is spaced apart from the printhead chips 42 containing rows of inkjet nozzles for printing. Resilient biasing of the maintenance member 7 by the spring mechanism, 16 connected to the support frame 11 provides a gentle force suitable for maintaining contact between the wipers 34 and the printhead 3 during maintenance operations.

(21) The primary suction nozzle 26, which is spaced apart from the printhead 3, is configured to remediate and prime the inkjet nozzles by sucking ink through the inkjet nozzles without potentially damaging contact therewith. At the same time, any flooded ink adjacent the inkjet nozzles may be wiped from the surface of the printhead 3 using the first and second wipers 34A and 34B cooperating with the secondary suction nozzles 28 juxtaposed the primary suction nozzle 26. Moreover, and referring now to FIG. 9, a critical gap 50 between the primary suction nozzle 26 and inkjet nozzles of the printhead 3 is controlled by a thickness of the absorbent material 35, which obviates complex mechanical arrangements for maintaining this critical separation.

(22) The secondary suction nozzles 28 lying beneath the wipers 34A and 34B perform the important functions of: minimizing ink spread; removing wet ink from an exterior wiping surface of the wipers; and minimizing a required length of absorbent material. Hence, each maintenance face 24 of the maintenance member 7 is able to perform multiple traverses of the printhead for multiple maintenance operations. After a predetermined number of wipes, the barrel 9 may be rotated by the indexing mechanism R to present a fresh maintenance face 24 to the printhead 3 having fresh wiping portions of the absorbent material 35. Accordingly, the carriage 5 is not required to carry a relatively large spool of wiping material and can therefore be made very compact.

(23) As viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, the carriage 5 is manoeuvred to the right-hand side of the printhead 3 and then begins its wiping traverse by moving towards the left-hand side of the printhead. The speed of the traverse is controlled by the control system and may depend on the type of maintenance required. For example, if wiping only is required then a relatively rapid traverse of the carriage 5 may be employed. Alternatively, if priming and wiping are required, then a relatively slower traverse may be employed in order to ensure full nozzle recovery.

(24) For a typical wiping and priming operation, a vacuum pump (not shown) connected to the vacuum chamber 31 is switched on by the control system for the traverse of the carriage 5. With each of the wipers 34A and 34B contacting their respective non-printing parts 44A and 44B of the printhead 3, the primary suction nozzle 26 sucks ink from inkjet nozzles so as to prime each inkjet nozzle whilst the secondary suction nozzles 28 assist with wiping. As foreshadowed above, a footprint of ink on the wipers 34A and 34B is minimized by the use of suction so that liquid components of ink are rapidly sucked away from printhead 3.

(25) The amount of vacuum pressure at the primary suction nozzle 26 may be controlled to control the type of maintenance operation. For example, deep inkjet nozzle priming may require more suction to unblock inkjet nozzles and remove fibers/particles. Alternatively, removal of air bubbles from printhead ink supply channels may requires less suction.

(26) It will, of course, be appreciated that the present invention has been described by way of example only and that modifications of detail may be made within the scope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.