Abstract: A target medium is placed on a first region. A liquid absorbing member is placed in at least a second region which is adjacent to the first region. A liquid ejection head is movable above the first region and the second region, and provided with a plurality of liquid ejecting sections from which liquid droplets are ejected. Each of the liquid ejecting sections is configured so as to eject at least one liquid droplet toward the target medium when it is placed above the first region, and to flush a prescribed amount of liquid toward the liquid absorbing member when it is placed above the second region. The liquid ejecting sections are arranged such that at least one of the liquid ejecting sections can be placed above the first region when another one of the liquid ejecting sections is placed above the second region.

Abstract: A liquid ejecting head includes a passage unit, having a nozzle opening, a pressure generating chamber communicating with the nozzle opening, and a reservoir holding a liquid to be supplying to the pressure generating chamber, a head case on which the passage unit is attached, a pressure generating element for applying variance of pressure to the pressure generating chambers, accommodated in a space defined in the head case, and a head substrate closing an opening of the space of the head case. An air sealing member is disposed between the head case and the head substrate.

Abstract: A nozzle surface (13) is sealed by a cap member (44) in a state in which an ink solution is accumulated in a sealed hollow portion (45). After the nozzle surface (13) is sealed, piezoelectric vibrators (35) are driven by applying thereto a high-frequency drive signal of a frequency higher than a drive frequency for ejecting the ink solution toward recording paper, thereby causing cavitation in the ink solution. The firmly adhering thickened ink and solidified ink occurring in nozzle openings (29) are broken or exfoliated by bubbles caused by this cavitation. Subsequently, the suction operation is performed to remove the thickened ink and the solidified ink from the nozzle portions.

Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus has a recording head 22 having pressure chambers to which ink is supplied, pressure generation elements for generating pressure in the pressure chambers, and nozzle orifices 8 communicating with the pressure chambers for jetting ink drops, a cap 24 for sealing a nozzle face 40 of the recording head 22 while defining an internal space therein, and a suction pump for giving negative pressure to the internal space of the cap 24, and the cap 24 contains a cover member 33 for covering all nozzle orifices 8 with the cap 24 sealing the nozzle face 40, whereby bubbles occurring in the internal space of the cap 24 are prevented from adhering to the nozzle face 40 and entering the nozzle orifices 8 and a print failure is prevented from occurring.

Abstract: A drive signal generator generates a drive signal including a first waveform component for jetting an ink drop to be a micro dot and a second waveform component for jetting an ink drop to be a middle dot. A pressure generating element varies the volume of a pressure generating chamber in accordance with the drive signal to jet an ink drop from a nozzle orifice. An ink drop to be a large dot is jetted from the nozzle orifice when the first waveform component and the second waveform component are consecutively applied to the pressure generating element.

Abstract: A nozzle surface (13) is sealed by a cap member (44) in a state in which an ink solution is accumulated in a sealed hollow portion (45). After the nozzle surface (13) is sealed, piezoelectric vibrators (35) are driven by applying thereto a high-frequency drive signal of a frequency higher than a drive frequency for ejecting the ink solution toward recording paper, thereby causing cavitation in the ink solution. The firmly adhering thickened ink and solidified ink occurring in nozzle openings (29) are broken or exfoliated by bubbles caused by this cavitation. Subsequently, the suction operation is performed to remove the thickened ink and the solidified ink from the nozzle portions.

Abstract: An ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head having a nozzle, and a micro-vibrating unit for causing ink in the nozzle to minutely vibrate. A recording-starting-position setting unit sets recording-starting-position information that represents a position where the nozzle should start to jet the ink, according to recording data. A micro-vibrating-starting-position setting unit sets micro-vibrating-starting-position information that represents a position where the micro-vibrating unit should start to cause the ink to minutely vibrate, according to the recording-starting-position information. A scanning-position-information outputting unit outputs head-position information that represents a position of the recording had while the recording head is scanning. A pre-recording micro-vibrating controlling unit judges a micro-vibrating-starting timing according to the micro-vibrating-starting-position information and the head-position information in order to cause the micro-vibrating unit to operate.

Abstract: An ink jet recording head including a flow path unit having pressure generating chambers, a piezoelectric vibrator for pressurizing the pressure generating chambers, a semiconductor integrated circuit for supplying a drive signal to the piezoelectric vibrator, and a member for absorbing the heat produced by the integrated circuit.

Abstract: An ink jet printing device supplies first and second signals to cause a pressure generating chamber to jet out ink droplets. A third signal is applied to the pressure generating chamber to effectively attenuate the kinetic energy of the meniscus and to hold the meniscus at a position suitable for jetting out the next ink droplet to provide a stable print output. Also, an ink-jet recording apparatus is provided with a control means for controlling the timing of the start of the second signal and the timing of the start of the third signal according to the environmental temperature. In the ink-jet recording apparatus, the discharge speed of ink drops is made constant by regulating the start time of the second signal so as to make constant the drawing position of a meniscus when the ink drops are discharged.

Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus has a recording head 22 having pressure chambers to which ink is supplied, pressure generation elements for generating pressure in the pressure chambers, and nozzle orifices 8 communicating with the pressure chambers for jetting ink drops, a cap 24 for sealing a nozzle face 40 of the recording head 22 while defining an internal space therein, and a suction pump for giving negative pressure to the internal space of the cap 24, and the cap 24 contains a cover member 33 for covering all nozzle orifices 8 with the cap 24 sealing the nozzle face 40, whereby bubbles occurring in the internal space of the cap 24 are prevented from adhering to the nozzle face 40 and entering the nozzle orifices 8 and a print failure is prevented from occurring.

Abstract: An ink jet printing device supplies first and second signals to cause a pressure generating chamber to jet out ink droplets. A third signal is applied to the pressure generating chamber to effectively attenuate the kinetic energy of the meniscus and to hold the meniscus at a position suitable for jetting out the next ink droplet to provide a stable print output. Also, an ink-jet recording apparatus is provided with a control means for controlling the timing of the start of the second signal and the timing of the start of the third signal according to the environmental temperature. In the ink-jet recording apparatus, the discharge speed of ink drops is made constant by regulating the start time of the second signal so as to make constant the drawing position of a meniscus when the ink drops are discharged.

Abstract: An ink jet printer head includes a spacer including pressure generating chambers continuous to nozzle openings, ink supply paths, and reservoirs, a cover member for covering the pressure generating chambers in a sealing fashion, and pressure generating means for generating pressure in the pressure generating chambers in accordance with print data. In processing a silicon single-crystal substrate vertically oriented in (110) by anisotropic etching process, one of the walls of a path hole for forming a pressure generating chamber is aligned with one of the walls of a path hole for forming a reservoir. Walls defining the path hole for forming a pressure generating chamber, which are located in the vicinity of a nozzle opening, are connected to each other at an obtuse angle. As a result, the ink supply path serving as a narrow path for ink flow and the pressure generating chamber are formed as smooth flow paths.

Abstract: An ink jet printer head includes a spacer including pressure generating chambers continuous to nozzle openings, ink supply paths, and reservoirs, a cover member for covering the pressure generating chambers in a sealing fashion, and pressure generating means for generating pressure in the pressure generating chambers in accordance with print data. In processing a silicon single-crystal substrate vertically oriented in (110) by anisotropic etching process, one of the walls of a path hole for forming a pressure generating chamber is aligned with one of the walls of a path hole for forming a reservoir. Walls defining the path hole for forming a pressure generating chamber, which are located in the vicinity of a nozzle opening, are connected to each other at an obtuse angle. As a result, the ink supply path serving as a narrow path for ink flow and the pressure generating chamber are formed as smooth flow paths.

Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: an ink jet recording head for sucking an ink into a pressure chamber and jetting an ink droplet from a nozzle opening by expanding and contracting the pressure chamber by a piezoelectric vibration element; the pressure chamber being formed of a nozzle plate and a vibration plate; and a signal generating device for generating signals. The signals includes a first signal for contracting the piezoelectric vibration element at a predetermined speed to suck the ink into the pressure chamber, a second signal for starting an extension process of the piezoelectric vibration element to splash the ink droplet from the nozzle opening by contracting the pressure chamber, a third signal for interrupting the extension process of the piezoelectric vibration element at least once while the extension process is still being performed and a fourth signal for resuming the extension process of the piezoelectric vibration element again after a predetermined period has elapsed.

Abstract: An ink jet recording head, in which a vibrating element includes electrodes disposed on both surfaces of at least one of its edge portions at a dot forming pitch. A gap forming member is disposed so as to form a gap suitable for producing ink mist on a surface confronting a vibrating surface of the vibrating element. Since the ink is retained in this gap by surface tension, upon application of an alternate voltage to the vibrating element to produce an edge-mode vibration, the vibration produced at a piezoelectric body substrate is transmitted to the ink, propagating through the ink. The vibration propagated up to an interface between the ink and the air is transformed into a surface wave, thereby misting the ink.The thus produced ink mist, having vibrational kinetic energy, splashes in the air and thus forms a dot on a recording sheet.

Abstract: To measure a line width of a linear portion of a digital image maintaining a precision finer than a picture element, a digital linear cursor pattern represented by digital picture elements is generated, the pattern is inclined with respect to the horizontal direction by an angle which maximizes the measuring precision, and the pattern is fitted to a linear portion to be measured, to thereby measure the width of a line.

Abstract: Method of determining stereoscopic geometry of an object through photometric stereoscopic measurement with high accuracy. Three or more images of the object picked up in a same fixed direction by varying the state of light sources are derived. Relationships among the images are corrected so that an evaluation function determined by making use of redundancy of the images assumes a minimum value, to thereby prepare a reflectance map to be used in determining orientations of surface elements of the object. Through integration of the orientations, the surface shape of the object is determined. The method is applicable to the image processing in a scanning electron microscope.