1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid onto a medium transported by a transport belt.
2. Related Art
For example, JP-A-2008-265287 discloses a liquid ejecting apparatus configured as above. The liquid ejecting apparatus includes two transport units shifted from each other in the transport direction of the medium, one on the upstream side and the other on the downstream side, a head unit including a plurality of ink jet heads alternately positioned in the transport direction of the medium and in a width direction intersecting the transport direction, and a maintenance unit including a plurality of caps, located so as to correspond to the respective ink jet heads.
The transport units each include a plurality of transport belts that transport the medium by moving in the transport direction of the medium. The plurality of transport belts are aligned with a predetermined clearance therebetween, in the width direction intersecting the transport direction, such that the transport belts of the upstream transport unit and those of the downstream transport unit are alternately located in the width direction.
At the time of maintenance, the head unit is moved to a position on the upper side of the plurality of caps, each located between the transport belts in the width direction, such that the plurality of ink jet heads, thus far located right above the respective transport belts, are each located between the transport belts, in the width direction. Then the liquid is discharged as waste liquid from the ink jet heads, now located so as to oppose the respective caps in the up-down direction, as a maintenance operation of the ink jet head.
In the conventional liquid ejecting apparatuses, however, the upstream transport unit and the downstream transport unit are located at different positions in the transport direction of the medium, and therefore a space for the two transport units to be aligned in the transport direction of the medium has to be secured, which results in an increase in dimensions of the apparatus as a whole.