HEAD CLEANING DEVICE, IMAGE RECORDING APPARATUS, AND HEAD CLEANING METHOD

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a head cleaning device in which a nozzle face arranged obliquely to a horizontal face is uniformly coated with a cleaning liquid, an image recording apparatus and a head cleaning method. SOLUTION: A cleaning liquid jetting face 162A is inclined to the horizontal face to be approximately in parallel to the nozzle face 72A of an inkjet head 72 arranged obliquely to the horizontal face. When column-shaped cleaning liquids are jetted from a plurality of cleaning liquid nozzles 165A-165D provided on a cleaning liquid jetting face 162A along the inclination direction of the cleaning liquid jetting face 162A, and the front end parts of the cleaning liquid columns are brought into contact with the nozzle face 72A, the nozzle face 72A is coated with the cleaning liquid. By making the flow path resistances of individual flow paths 166A-166D communicated with respective cleaning liquid nozzles 165A-165D smaller on the lower side of the inclination than on the upper side of the inclination so that a pressure difference generated between the upper side of the inclination and the lower side of the inclination is canceled, the pressure difference caused by the inclination is canceled. COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT