1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fluid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet printer.
2. Related Art
In general, an ink jet printer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “printer”) has been known as a fluid ejecting apparatus that ejects a fluid from a nozzle formed on a fluid ejecting head toward a target. In the printer, if ink (fluid) is not ejected for some time from a specific nozzle during a printing process, the ink in the nozzle is thickened or solidified, dust attaches to the nozzle, or bubbles become mixed with the ink in the nozzle, which may cause an erroneous ejecting of the ink. Therefore, generally, the printer performs a flushing process in which the ink is ejected from the nozzle on the basis of a control signal not involved with the printing process.
That is, for example, in a serial type printer designed to perform a printing process while a printing head scans the primary scanning direction, the flushing process is performed in such a manner that the printing head moves to a position deviating from the printing area and the ink is ejected toward a flushing box directly disposed below the printing head. Further, in a line head type printer designed to use a large printing head corresponding to the width of the printing sheet, JP-A-2005-119284 discloses a configuration in which an absorbing member (a receiving member) is provided in a transportation belt used to transport a printing sheet and the ink is ejected to the absorbing member.
However, in the case of the printer disclosed in JP-A-2005-119284, the absorbing member needs to directly face the nozzle during the flushing process. For this reason, the flushing process cannot be performed when the printing process is performed on an elongated sheet such as a continuous sheet. Further, since the ink needs to be ejected to the absorbing member at a timing at which the absorbing member is transported between the printing sheets and faces the printing head, a problem arises in that the constraints on the size or the transportation speed of the printing sheet occur. Furthermore, since the flushing process is performed on the planar absorbing member in the printer disclosed in JP-A-2005-119284, mist-like ink scatters due to wind pressure accompanying the ejection of the ink, which causes concerns that the inside of the printer may be contaminated.
Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a linear absorbing member moves within an empty area formed between a printing sheet and the printing head to face a nozzle, and ink is ejected from the nozzle to the absorbing member stopped in the facing position, where the flushing process is performed intermittently within a short period of time.
However, when the absorbing member is formed in a linear shape, the area capable of absorbing the ink in the absorbing member decreases more than that of the planar absorbing member. In addition, when the linear absorbing member moving within the empty area formed between the printing sheet and the printing head stops at the position facing the nozzle, the linear absorbing member may be easily vibrated compared with the planar absorbing member.
For this reason, when the absorbing member is formed in a linear shape, since the absorbing member is vibrated, the absorbing member may deviate from the area capable of absorbing the ink in the absorbing member, which raises concerns that the inside of the printer may be contaminated.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds