Konica Corporation

Konica-minolta Holdings, Inc.

Fujio Miyamoto

Shuji Kida

Toyoaki Sugaya

Hidenobu Ohya

Teruyuki Fukuda

Kenichiro Hiramoto

Shinichi Suzuki

Satoshi Watanabe

Makoto Kaga

Takashi Tsutsumi

Tetsushi Aoki

Minoru Maekawara

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a plurality of liquid ejection heads, a plurality of elastic wiper blades for rubbing the nozzle formed surfaces of the liquid ejection heads, a blade cleaner for removing liquid adhered to the wiper blade, a cleaning unit for removing liquid adhered to the wiper blades, a wiper blade moving unit for respectively and independently moving the plurality of wiper blades between a rubbing position and a retreating position, and a control unit that controls the wiper blade moving unit so that the cleaning unit can make the blade cleaner and the moved wiper blades rub with each other. Herein, it is possible to maintain cleaning performance, preventing contamination of a wiper blade caused by liquid splashed from a neighboring wiper blade.

Liquid ejection apparatus and maintenance method of liquid ejection head

An inkjet printer includes: a recording head which includes jet openings for jetting ink; a sensor for detecting a jet opening causing jetting failure among the jet openings; a sucking mechanism for sucking the ink from each jet opening; a comparing section for comparing number of the detected jet opening causing jetting failure with predetermined number; and a control section for performing a sucking process where the sucking mechanism performs a sucking operation, for performing an examination process to count the jet opening causing jetting failure by the detection of the sensor and by simulated jetting of each jet opening, for performing a comparing process where the comparing section performs a comparing operation after the examination process, and for re-performing the examination process without performing the sucking process when judged in the comparing process that the number of the jet opening causing jetting failure is more than the predetermined number.

Inkjet printer and inkjet printer controlling method

An ink jet printer having: a main tank to store ink; a recording head to form an image on a recording medium by jetting the ink from a nozzle; an ink supply path to supply the ink to the recording head from the main tank; a sub tank to temporarily store the ink supplied from the main tank, the sub tank being provided in the middle of the ink supply path; an ink supply valve to control to supply or stop supplying the ink from the main tank to the sub tank by an opening or closing the ink supply valve, the ink supply valve being provided between the main tank and the sub tank on the ink supply path; and a control unit to measure a cumulative time in which the ink supply valve becomes an opened state, and estimate a remaining ink amount in the main tank.

Ink jet printer

A recording method comprising the steps in the following order of: correcting a curl of a recording medium by applying heat and pressure to the recording medium; and forming an image on the recording medium by jetting ink onto the recording medium.

Ink jet recording apparatus, ink-jet recording method and ink jet recording medium

The present invention concerns an image recording apparatus, which records images on a roll-type recording medium. The image recording apparatus includes a recording device to record an image on a recording medium by emitting ink onto the recording medium; a cutting member to cut the recording medium after the recording device records the image, the cutting member being disposed downstream in respect to the recording device in a conveying-direction of the recording medium; a second conveyance member to convey the recording medium, the second conveyance member being disposed at a position located between the recording device and the cutting member in the conveying-direction of the recording medium; and a conveyance controller to control the second conveyance member so as to generate a slack of the recording medium at a section between the recording device and the second conveyance member in the conveying-direction of the recording medium.

Image recording apparatus

A fixing belt or a fixing roller for fixing an ink jet image recorded on an ink jet recording material by heat, the fixing belt comprising a base material having thereon a surface layer contacting the ink jet recording material during fixing, the fixing roller comprising a heating roller and a pressure roller having base materials A and B, respectively, at least one of the heating roller and the pressure roller having a surface layer contacting the ink jet recording material during fixing, wherein the surface layer has a peel strength of not less than 30 g/5 cm or a pencil hardness of HB or more, and the surface layer is produced by a method comprising the steps of: coating a hardenable silicone on the base material by a dip coating; and hardening the coated hardenable silicone by heat.

Fixing belt, fixing roller, production method thereof, fixing apparatus and image fixing method utilizing the apparatus

An inkjet recording apparatus is provided with a recording head to conduct recording by jetting an ink onto a recording medium having an ink receiving layer containing thermoplastic in particles on a surface thereof and a pigment ink solvent absorbing layer adjoining to an inner side of the ink receiving layer; a heating and pressing device to heat and press the recording medium so as to make the ink receiving layer of the recording medium to be transparent; a conveyor to convey the recording medium to the recording head and further to the heating and pressing device; and a temperature controller to control a heating temperature by the heating and pressing device within a range of T &plusmn;&Dgr;T&deg; C., where T is 50 to 150&deg; C. and &Dgr;T is not larger than 10&deg; C.

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Hino, Japan

Fujio Miyamoto