Granted Patent B2

US 7,455,384 · App. 11/328,521 · Granted Nov 25, 2008

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. A liquid discharging apparatus comprising:

a table that transfers a workpiece in a first scan direction;

a carriage that has a liquid discharging head for discharging liquid droplets on the workpiece, and moves along a guide member in a second scan direction;

one or more maintainers that are used to perform maintenance such as cleaning of the liquid discharging head; and

transfer units that transfers the maintainers to a standby position in which the maintainers does not interfere with the table to be scanned, and a maintenance position in which the maintenance of the liquid discharging head is performed,

wherein when the maintainers are positioned at the standby position, at least a part of the maintainers is positioned in a workpiece maximum scanning range, which is a maximum moving range of the workpiece in the first scan direction during the scanning of the workpiece on the table, and

when the maintainers are positioned at the maintenance position, at least a part of the maintainers is positioned in a workpiece maximum scanning range of the carriage in the second scan direction, which is a maximum moving range during the scanning of the carriage.

2. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein at the beginning of the maintenance, the table is withdrawn to a table withdrawal position in which the table does not interfere with the maintainers, and the maintainers are transferred from the standby position to the maintenance position by the transfer units, and

after the completion of the maintenance, the maintainers are withdrawn to the standby position from the maintenance position.

3. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the maintainers are positioned at a lower position of the table, which is immediately below the path of the liquid discharging head, serving as the standby position, and

the transfer units are lifters that raise and lower the maintainers between the standby position and the maintenance position.

4. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3 ,

wherein the plurality of maintainers are arranged immediately below the path of the liquid discharging head in one line in the carriage moving direction.

5. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the plurality of maintainers are arranged in at least one line in the direction substantially parallel to the scan direction of the table, and uses the lower position of the table as a standby position, and

the transfer units includes a first scan direction transfer unit for transferring at least a maintainer of the maintainers which is used to perform maintenance between the standby position and a junction position, which is immediately below the path of the liquid discharging head, in a direction substantially parallel to the scan direction of the table, and lifters for raising and lowering the maintainers between the standby position and the maintenance position.

6. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the maintainers are positioned at an outer position of the table, serving as the standby position, on an extension line of the path of the liquid discharging head.

7. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 6 ,

wherein the plurality of maintainers are arranged in one line along the scan direction of the carriage, and the transfer units includes a second scan direction transfer unit for transferring the maintainers between the standby position and the maintenance position in the second scan direction.

8. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the plurality of maintainers is positioned at an outer position of the table serving as the standby position, and the plurality of maintainers are arranged in one line in the scan direction of the table, and

the transfer units includes a first scan direction transfer unit for transferring a first maintainer of the maintainers which is used to perform maintenance between the standby position and a junction position, which is positioned on the extension line of the path of the liquid discharging head, in the first scan direction, and a second scan direction transfer unit for transferring the first maintainer between the junction position and the maintenance position in the second scan direction.

9. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein before of the maintenance, the liquid discharging head is positioned at a predetermined position, which corresponds to the maintenance position of the maintainers, by transferring the carriage.

10. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein at least one of a capper, a wiper, and a flusher, which are used to perform the cleaning of the liquid discharging head, is used as the maintainer.

11. The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a weight measuring unit that measures the weight of functional liquid to be discharged from the liquid discharging head as the maintainer.

12. A liquid discharging apparatus comprising:

a table that transfers a workpiece in a first scan direction;

a carriage that has a liquid discharging head for discharging liquid droplets on the workpiece, and moves along a guide member in a second scan direction;

one or more maintainers that are used to perform maintenance such as cleaning of the liquid discharging head; and

transfer units that the transfers the maintainers to a standby position in which the maintainers do not interfere with the table, and a maintenance position in which the maintenance of the liquid discharging head is performed,

wherein when being positioned at the standby position, the maintainers are positioned at a lower position of the table in which the maintainers do not interfere with the table to be scanned, and

the transfer units includes lifters for raising and lowering the maintainers between the height of the standby position and height of the maintenance position, during the period when maintainers moves between the standby position and the maintenance position.

13. A method of performing maintenance on a liquid discharging apparatus, comprising:

providing a the liquid discharging apparatus, wherein the liquid discharging apparatus comprising:

a table that transfers a workpiece in a first scan direction;

a carriage that has a liquid discharging head for discharging liquid droplets on the workpiece, and moves along a guide member in a second scan direction;

one or more maintainers that are used to perform maintenance such as cleaning of the liquid discharging head; and

transfer units that transfers the maintainers to a standby position in which the maintainers does not interfere with the table to be scanned, and a maintenance position in which the maintenance of the liquid discharging head is performed,

wherein when the maintainers are positioned at the standby position, at least a part of the maintainers is positioned in a workpiece maximum scanning range, which is a maximum moving range of the workpiece in the first scan direction during the scanning of the workpiece on the table, and

when the maintainers are positioned at the maintenance position, at least a part of the maintainers is positioned in a workpiece maximum scanning range of the carriage in the second scan direction, which is a maximum moving range during the scanning of the carriage;

transferring the table to a table withdrawal position in which the table does not interfere with maintainers;

transferring the maintainers from the standby position to the maintenance position;

positioning the liquid discharging head at a predetermined position so as to correspond to the maintainers positioned at the maintenance position by transferring the carriage; and

performing maintenance on the liquid discharging head by the maintainers positioned at the maintenance position.

Assignments (7)