Wiping unit for liquid droplet ejection head; liquid droplet ejection apparatus equipped therewith; electro-optical device; method of manufacturing the same; and electronic device

1. A wiping unit for a liquid droplet ejection head, comprising a wipe-off unit having mounted thereon a pressing roller to press a wiping sheet from below to a downward nozzle surface of said liquid droplet ejection head, and a sheet feeding unit for feeding the wiping sheet through said pressing roller such that said wipe-off unit is moved in a predetermined wiping direction parallel to said nozzle surface integrally with said sheet feeding unit to carry out a wiping operation while feeding the wiping sheet in a state in which the wiping sheet is pressed to said nozzle surface,

wherein a cleaning liquid ejection member is mounted on said wipe-off unit so as to be positioned below a horizontal surface coincident with said nozzle surface and on a feeding side of the wiping sheet relative to said pressing roller in a state in which the wiping sheet is pressed to said nozzle surface,

wherein the wiping sheet is fed from below to said pressing roller through a space between said pressing roller and said cleaning ejection member, and

wherein a cleaning liquid is ejected from said cleaning liquid ejection member toward the wiping sheet passing through the space.

2. The wiping unit for a liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 1 ,

wherein a plurality of head rows made up of a plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads are arranged side by side at intervals in a predetermined direction, the wiping direction is set identical to the predetermined direction, and said wipe-off unit is moved to the plurality of head rows sequentially to thereby wipe nozzle surfaces of said liquid droplet ejection heads belonging to each head row, and

wherein, in a movement section of said wipe-off unit positioned between each of said head rows, the feeding of the wiping sheet and the ejection of the cleaning liquid are suspended.

3. The wiping unit for a liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein said wipe-off unit is freely movable vertically and, after the wiping of said nozzle surfaces, said wipe-off unit is moved back in a lowered state, in a direction opposite to the wiping direction.

4. The wiping unit for a liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the wiping sheet is made of one of a sheet material of 100% polyester and a sheet material of 100% polypropylene.

5. The wiping unit for a liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 4 , wherein a thickness of the wiping sheet is in a range of 0.4 mm to 0.6 mm.

6. A liquid droplet ejection apparatus comprising:

said wiping unit for said liquid droplet ejection head as described in claim 1 ;

said liquid droplet ejection head; and

a moving table for moving said liquid droplet ejection head.

7. The liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising:

a suction unit arranged adjacently to said wiping unit to suck function liquids from all of nozzles of said liquid droplet ejection heads; and

a moving mechanism for integrally moving said suction unit and the wiping unit to face the liquid droplet ejection head.

8. An electro-optical device which uses said liquid droplet ejection apparatus as described in claim 6 , wherein a function liquid droplet is ejected from said liquid droplet ejection head to a workpiece to thereby form a deposition portion.

9. An electronic device which mounts the electro-optical device described in claim 8 .

10. A method of manufacturing an electro-optical device, which uses said liquid droplet ejection apparatus as described in claim 6 , comprising ejecting a function liquid droplet from the liquid droplet ejection head to a workpiece to thereby form a deposition portion.

11. An electronic device which mounts an electro-optical device manufactured by the manufacturing method of the electro-optical device as described in claim 10 .