Image forming apparatus equipped with maintenance mechanism

1. An image forming apparatus equipped with a maintenance mechanism comprising:

a recording head group including a plurality of recording heads in a first direction;

a recording medium conveying mechanism which conveys a recording medium on a conveyance path in a state where the mechanism is opposed to the recording head group;

an ink supply route for supplying ink to the recording head group;

a plurality of sealing members to be in contact with nozzle surfaces in each of which an ink ejection nozzle of each of the recording heads is formed, and arranged in the first direction; and

a holding member which holds the plural sealing members divided into groups, which can be moved at a position or positions between the groups so as to be folded into an accordion-shape, and which is configured to be able to be moved between a nozzle surface sealing position, and a retraction position at which the holding member is stored beneath the conveyance path so as to be stored, and which is in an expanded state in the sealing position, and which is in a folded state in the retraction position.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the holding member includes at least two ink pans each of which is formed into a tray-like shape, and the ink pans are coupled to each other by means of pins at an edge of each of the ink pans so as to be bendable.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

at the retraction position, the sealing members are inclined in a retraction direction.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein

at the retraction position, the sealing members are also inclined in a direction perpendicular to the retraction direction.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein

when the sealing members are inclined at the retraction position, the holding member is bent into at least one V-shape.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the movement of the holding member between the sealing position and the retraction position is performed by means of a rack-and-pinion mechanism.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the sealing member includes:

a sealing section having a suction hole within sealing a part around the ink ejection nozzle upon the sealing section being positioned the sealing position; and

a positioning member formed on the periphery of the sealing section as a tapered projection, and fitted on the periphery of the nozzle surface.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an ejection restoring section which extrudes ink from the ink ejection nozzle of the print head so as to restore the ejection of ink, wherein

the ejection restoring section is provided in the plural sealing members, and includes a sucking section which sucks ink and the like inside the sealed space when the sealing member is brought into contact with the recording head, and a suction hole provided in the sealing member, and the holding member is at the sealing position when an ejection restoring operation is performed, and is moved to the retraction position after the operation is completed.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an ejection restoring section which extrudes ink from the ink ejection nozzle of the print head so as to restore the ejection of ink, wherein

the ejection restoring section is a pressurizing section which extrudes ink inside the recording heads from the inside to the outside of the recording heads by pressurization, and the holding member is at a position beneath the recording head group when an ejection restoring operation is performed by the pressurizing operation, and is moved to the retraction position after the pressurizing operation is completed.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an ink circulation path for returning ink from the recording heads to the ink supply route, wherein

when the holding member is moved from the retraction position to the sealing position, ink inside the recording heads is circulated by way of the ink circulation path.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein

the ink is circulated through the ink circulation path at least immediately after the sealing members seal the nozzle surfaces or immediately after the sealing members are stored from the nozzle surfaces.

12. An image forming apparatus equipped with a maintenance mechanism comprising:

a recording head group in which a plurality of recording heads which ejects ink from nozzles toward a recording medium being conveyed so as to form an image is arranged;

a conveying mechanism which conveys the recording medium through a predetermined conveyance path; and

a maintenance mechanism that moves a holding member to which sealing members which seal the nozzles of the recording heads are fixed, and which holding member is divided into a plurality of sections so as to be folded between a sealing position and a retraction position, wherein the sealing position is a position the sealing members seal the nozzles with the holding member being in an expanded state, and the retraction position is a position at which the holding member is stored beneath the conveyance path in a folded state where the sealing members are opposed to each other in an inclined manner between the sections of the holding member.