Fujifilm Corporation

Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Gentaro Furukawa

Toshiya Kojima

Hiroyuki Kohda

The liquid supply apparatus has: a main tank which stores liquid; a sub tank which is disposed vertically above a recording head configured to eject the liquid and which is not connected to atmosphere, the sub tank being composed of a deformable member so that a volume of the sub tank is changed depending on a volume of the liquid in the sub tank; a first flow channel which connects the main tank with the sub tank; a second flow channel which connects the sub tank with the recording head; a flow rate determination device which determines a flow rate of the liquid in the second flow channel; a first pressure control device which controls an internal pressure of the main tank according to the flow rate determined by the flow rate determination device; and a second pressure control device which controls an internal pressure of the sub tank so as to fall within a prescribed range.

Liquid supply apparatus, image forming apparatus and liquid supply method

The wiring substrate having a recess section and a projecting section formed on at least one surface of the wiring substrate, and wires formed on both the recess section and the projecting section.

Wiring substrate, method of manufacturing wiring substrate, and liquid droplet ejection head

The liquid ejection apparatus includes: a recording head which includes a nozzle and an ejection device, the ejection device ejecting an ejection liquid through the nozzle by applying pressure to the ejection liquid in the recording head; a liquid accommodation unit which is in connection with the recording head and which accommodates a gas, the ejection liquid to be supplied to the recording head, and a non-volatile liquid having a permeability to the gas lower than the ejection liquid, the ejection liquid being separated from the gas by the non-volatile liquid; and a pressure control unit which controls pressure of the ejection liquid in the liquid accommodation unit by moving the gas into and out of the liquid accommodation unit.

Liquid ejection apparatus, image forming apparatus, and liquid ejection method

The method manufactures a nozzle plate having nozzle orifices for ejecting liquid droplets. The method comprises: a hole forming step of forming holes in a nozzle forming substrate, each of the holes passing through the nozzle forming substrate and having openings on a surface of a liquid droplet ejection side and a surface of a side opposite thereto of the nozzle forming substrate, the holes having a larger diameter than the nozzle orifices; a liquid-philic film forming step of forming a liquid-philic film on inner walls of the holes, the liquid-philic film blocking at least a portion of each of the holes; a liquid-repelling film forming step of forming a liquid-repelling film on the surface of the liquid droplet ejection side of the nozzle forming substrate, after performing the liquid-philic film forming step; and a nozzle orifice forming step of forming the nozzle orifices in the holes that are filled with the liquid-repelling film, after performing the liquid-repelling film forming step.

Method of manufacturing nozzle plate

The liquid ejection apparatus includes: a liquid ejection head having a nozzle forming surface formed with nozzles from which a first liquid is ejected; a wiping processing device which carries out a wiping process of the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejection head; and a movement device which causes relative movement between the liquid ejection head and the wiping processing device, wherein the wiping processing device includes: a wiping member which wipes the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejection head; and a second liquid supply device which supplies a second liquid which has undergone a deaeration process, to a vicinity of a contact region between the wiping member and the nozzle forming surface of the liquid ejection head, on a side of forward travel of the wiping member, in the wiping process.

Liquid ejection apparatus and maintenance method for liquid ejection head

The image recording apparatus includes: a recording device which deposits an image record substance on a recording medium; a recording medium conveyance device which includes a conveyance medium having a recording medium hold region and conveying the recording medium with respect to the recording device in a conveyance direction while holding the recording medium on the recording medium hold region, the recording medium conveyance device being provided with a determination pattern which is formed outside the recording medium hold region on the conveyance medium and follows the conveyance direction; a determination device which determines the determination pattern while the recording medium is held on the conveyance medium; a calculation device which acquires speed variation data of the conveyance medium in accordance with determination results of the determination device; a storage device which stores the speed variation data acquired by the calculation device; and a record timing correction device which corrects record timing of the recording device in accordance with the speed variation data of the conveyance medium stored in the storage device.

Image recording apparatus and image recording method

The liquid ejection apparatus includes: a recording head which ejects an ejection liquid; a liquid container which accommodates air and the ejection liquid; a recording head connection flow channel which leads from the liquid container to the recording head; a pressure determination device which determines pressure of the ejection liquid accommodated in the liquid container; a first pressure supply device which drives a rotating body to remove or introduce the air from or to the liquid container so as to keep pressure of the air in the liquid container constant; a phase determination device which determines a phase of the rotating body; a second pressure supply device which is disposed in a pulsation suppressing flow channel that connects the liquid container with the recording head connection flow channel and which removes and introduces the ejection liquid from or to the liquid container; and a control device which controls rotation speed of the second pressure supply device in accordance with the phase of the rotating body determined by the phase determination device so as to cancel out variation of the pressure of the ejection liquid caused by the first pressure supply device.

Liquid ejection apparatus and recording apparatus

The method manufactures a nozzle plate. The method comprises: a liquid-repelling film forming step of forming a liquid-repelling film on an entire surface of a nozzle plate forming substrate having been formed with nozzles for ejecting liquid droplets; a liquid-repelling film solidification step of solidifying the liquid-repelling film formed in the liquid-repelling film forming step on a liquid droplet ejection surface of the nozzle plate forming substrate; a liquid-philic film forming step of forming a liquid-philic film on the liquid-repelling film formed on the entire surface of the nozzle plate forming substrate, after the liquid-repelling film solidification step; a liquid-philic film solidification step of solidifying the liquid-philic film formed in the liquid-philic film forming step; and a liquid-philic film removal step of removing the liquid-philic film formed on the liquid-repelling film on the liquid droplet ejection surface of the nozzle plate forming substrate, after the liquid-philic film solidification step.

Method of manufacturing nozzle plate, nozzle plate, liquid ejection head and image forming apparatus

The method manufactures a nozzle plate in which a liquid-repelling film is formed on a surface of a nozzle forming substrate having nozzle holes for ejecting liquid droplets, the surface being on a droplet ejection side of the nozzle forming substrate. The method includes the steps of: a spreading step of spreading sealing members for sealing the nozzle holes, over the surface of the nozzle forming substrate on the droplet ejection side; a drawing step of drawing the sealing members by suction through the nozzle holes, from another side of the nozzle forming substrate reverse to the droplet ejection side; a first removal step of removing a surplus of the sealing members present on the surface of the nozzle forming substrate on the droplet ejection side; an application step of applying a liquid-repelling agent onto the surface of the nozzle forming substrate on the droplet ejection side; a curing step of curing the liquid-repelling agent applied to the surface of the nozzle forming substrate on the droplet ejection side; and a second removal step of removing the sealing members from the nozzle holes.

Nozzle plate and method of manufacturing nozzle plate

The image forming apparatus comprises: an ejection head which ejects a droplet of liquid onto a recording medium; an electric field generating device which generates an electric field, the electric field generating device being arranged in a position facing an ejection face of the ejection head across the recording medium; and a control device which controls intensity of the electric field to attract mist of the liquid toward the electric field generating device, the mist of the liquid being produced when the droplet of the liquid is ejected by the ejection head.

Image forming apparatus

In order to accurately maintain an interval between a preceding sheet and a subsequent sheet, a sheet conveying device effects control such that, under the condition that a trailing end sensor disposed on a conveying path for supply has detected a trailing end of the preceding sheet, the subsequent sheet is conveyed at a high-speed conveying speed at a fixed time, and such that, under the condition that a leading end sensor has detected a leading end of a sheet, switches a detected sheet from the high-speed to a low-speed conveying speed at a fixed time and conveys the detected sheet.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Gentaro Furukawa