Abstract: A printhead maintenance station for maintaining a printhead in an operable condition is provided. The maintenance station comprises an elastically deformable pad having a contact surface for sealing engagement with an ink ejection face of the printhead. The contact surface is sloped with respect to the face. The maintenance station further comprises an engagement mechanism for reciprocally moving the pad between a first position in which the contact surface is sealingly engaged with the face, and a second position in which the contact surface is disengaged from the face. The engagement mechanism moves the pad substantially perpendicularly with respect to the face.

Abstract: A method of removing ink from an ink ejection face of a printhead is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (a) moving the ink towards an edge portion of the face; and (b) wicking the ink away from the edge portion.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an ink ejection device which ejects ink comprising a coloring material dispersed or dissolved in a solvent onto a recording medium; a treatment liquid application device which applies a treatment liquid which produces a charged aggregate of the coloring material by reaction with the ink onto the recording medium, in such a manner that two liquids of the ink and the treatment liquid combine on the recording medium; a conveyance device which causes the ink ejection device and the recording medium to move relatively to each other by conveying at least one of the ink ejection device and the recording medium in a direction substantially perpendicular to a breadthways direction of the recording medium; and a solvent absorbing device which is charged to a same polarity as the aggregate of the coloring material and absorbs the solvent in the ink on the recording medium, wherein: the coloring material and the solvent are separated by reaction of the two liquids which have combine

Abstract: For cleaning a recording head, a printer seals nozzles by means of a cap member and thus forms a closed circulatory system. In this state, a gear pump is activated and draws waste ink and the air from the cap member. The waste ink and the air then flow in the cap member, a check valve, a tube, the gear pump, and a different tube in this order and are introduced into a first ink cartridge. The air is introduced into a second ink cartridge through a corresponding tube as pressurized air. The check valve prevents the waste ink and the pressurized air from returning to the cap member. This suppresses backflow of the liquid and the air, and ink ejection is performed effectively.

Abstract: An inkjet printer in which a printhead defines an elongate array of orifices from which jets of ink are projected into a space within which substrates to be printed are presented. An air curtain generator fixed in position relative to the printhead extends along one side only of the array of orifices so as to direct a curtain of air across the array a of orifices and across an open portion of the printhead on the side of the array of orifices remote from the air curtain generator. The air curtain cleans the printhead. A pressure pulse may be applied to ink within the printhead sufficient to discharge ink form each orifice when not in use to project ink. The pressure pulse has a relatively rapidly rising leading edge and a relatively slowly falling edge. An ink reservoir is coupled to the printhead for supplying ink to the orifices.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a head part with an ejection port configured to eject ink, a discarded-ink tank configured to collect ejected or absorbed ink in order to restore a function of the ejection port, and a sensing device configured to sense the discarded ink collected in the discarded-ink tank, the sensing device including an absorber configured to absorb the ink and an optical sensor configured to sense the light received from the absorber is disclosed, wherein the apparatus uses ink having a characteristic such that the discarded ink is accumulated in a mountain-like shape in the discarded-ink tank, and the absorber is arranged at the location, at which discarded ink can be absorbed when a mountain top of the discarded ink accumulated in a mountain-like shape reaches a predetermined height so that the discarded ink flows along a slope of the discarded ink accumulated in a mountain-like shape to the absorber.

Abstract: A capper for a printhead maintenance station is provided. The capper comprises a capping chamber sealingly engageable around a printhead; a constriction member positioned in the capper chamber; an air inlet defined in a wall of the capping chamber; and a vacuum aperture defined in a wall of the capping chamber. The constriction member divides the capper chamber into an air inlet channel and a vacuum channel into which the respective air inlet and vacuum aperture open. The constriction member also defines a blast channel adjacent an ink ejection face of the printhead when the capping chamber is sealingly engaged around the printhead.

Abstract: An ink recording apparatus is operable to eject ink to a medium transported in a transport path in a transport direction. An ink head includes a nozzle on a bottom surface opposed to the transport path, and is operable to eject the ink from the nozzle to the medium. A holder is adapted to hold the ink head and to cover the bottom surface, and includes a first opening corresponding to the nozzle. An absorber is adapted to cover a part of the holder which is opposed to the transport path and is adjacent to the first opening, and includes a second opening corresponding to the nozzle. The second opening is adjacent to the first opening. A mask is adapted to be arranged between the absorber and the transport path, and includes a third opening corresponding to the nozzle.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by ejecting drops of recording fluid from a recording head includes a waste tank having a space for containing waste fluid, a part for obtaining a correlation value that has a correlation to a deposited state of the waste fluid in the space within the waste tank, and a part for judging whether or not the correlation value exceeds a reference value.

Abstract: A maintenance and recovery device of a liquid droplet discharge apparatus improves a performance of discharging droplets of a liquid having a high-viscosity. A liquid droplet discharge head (34) discharges droplets of a recording liquid from a nozzle. A suction cap member (92a) caps a nozzle plane of the liquid droplet discharge head (34). An inclined surface (191) provides a slope toward an evacuation port (194) on a bottom of the suction cap member (92a). The inclined surface (191) forms an inclination angle with respect to a horizontal plane. The inclined surface is formed of a material having a contact angle with respect to the recording liquid. A sum of the inclination angle and the contact angle is equal to or larger than 70 degrees.

Abstract: Aspects of the invention provide a droplet discharge device, a method of discharging a droplet, a method of manufacturing an electro-optical device, and electronic equipment that can grossly reduce a disposed liquid and effectively utilize more discharging liquid as compared with a related art manner in which a nozzle clogging of a head is recovered by a cleaning suction. The droplet discharge device that discharges a droplet to a workpiece can include a head that has a plurality of nozzles, a suction device for sealing and suctioning a nozzle surface of the head, and a controller by which the nozzle surface is sealed by the suction device and the droplet is discharged to the suction device from the nozzle, and the nozzle surface is kept moist by leaving the nozzle surface sealed by the suction device, if the number of clogged nozzle exceeds a predetermined number.

Abstract: Recording head of a printer is sealed by a cap connected with a gear pump. Fluid is discharged from a nozzle through the cap by a negative pressure being generated by the gear pump. The gear pump is driven at a first rotational speed to suck the fluid in the cap and to discharge the fluid from the nozzle. Subsequently, the gear pump is driven at a second rotational speed lower than the first rotational speed and then it is stopped. This prevents backflow of the fluid to a liquid ejection head and breakage of a liquid meniscus in the nozzle of the liquid ejection head occurring when cleaning of the liquid ejection head is ended.

Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a droplet discharge apparatus which does not cause defective discharge due to drying, solidification, or the like of a composition in discharging the composition from a nozzle. One feature of the invention is to comprise a nozzle portion provided with a nozzle hole for discharging a composition, a piezo method for discharging the composition from the nozzle hole, a channel for supplying the composition to the bottom surface of the nozzle portion, wherein lyophilic treatment is performed on the bottom surface of the nozzle portion.

Abstract: A method of maintaining a printhead in an operable condition is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (i) providing a printhead maintenance station comprising a capper having a constriction member, a vacuum system in fluid communication with the capper, an air inlet valve in fluid communication with the capper, and an engagement; (ii) moving the capper into a first position such that the capper is sealingly engaged around the printhead and the constriction member is spaced apart from the face, thereby defining a blast channel; (iii) generating a vacuum over the face using the vacuum system, thereby purging ink from printhead nozzles onto the face; and (iv) opening the air inlet valve, thereby blasting air through the blast channel and removing ink from the face.

Abstract: A method of removing ink from an ink ejection face of a printhead is provided. The method comprises transferring the ink onto a film moving past the face. Damage to the face is avoided, since the film does not contact the face.

Abstract: There is provided a inkjet head, which is provided with a nozzle plate that has a plurality of nozzles from which ink is ejected, and a cover plate that has a plurality of openings respectively corresponding to the plurality of nozzles, the cover plate and the nozzle plate being adhered to each other with an adhesive so that the plurality of nozzles of the nozzle plate respectively communicate with the plurality of openings of the cover plate. Further, a gap is formed between opposed surfaces of the cover plate and the nozzle plate. The gap is filled with the adhesive. The gap has a wide gap portion whose thickness is larger than that of the other portion of the gap.

Abstract: An inkjet printhead for use with a nozzle capper that engages the printhead when not in use, the inkjet printhead having a nozzle plate defining an array of nozzles and having an exterior surface for engagement with the capper; such that, when the capper disengages from the exterior surface, residual ink between the capper and the exterior surface moves across the exterior surface because of a meniscus between the capper and the exterior surface; wherein, the exterior surface has gutter formations for retaining at least some of the residual ink pushed along the exterior surface by the meniscus. Gutter formations running transverse to the direction that the capper is peeled away from the nozzle plate will remove and retain some of the ink in the meniscus. While the gutters do not collect all the ink in the meniscus, they do significantly reduce the level of nozzle contamination of with different coloured ink.

Abstract: A method of maintaining a printhead in an operable condition is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (a) flooding an ink ejection face of the printhead with ink; and (b) removing the ink by blasting air across the face.

Abstract: An inkjet printhead is provided having at least one printhead module and drive electronics removably mounted to a support frame. The printhead module(s) has inkjet integrated circuits, a support member supporting and carrying ink for the inkjet integrated circuits and an electrical connector for connecting drive signals to the inkjet integrated circuits from the drive electronics so as to control ink ejection therefrom. The drive electronics is removable from the support frame independently of the printhead module.

Abstract: A fluid ejector head, including a fluid ejector disposed on an ejector support, and a photodetector electrically coupled to the fluid ejector. The fluid ejector head also includes a photon source photonically coupled only to the photodetector. Photons emitted from the photon source interact with the photodetector and generate an activation signal. The activation signal in turn activates the fluid ejector ejecting a fluid away from the fluid ejector.