Eastman-kodak Company

John Sechrist

Gregory James Garbacz

Gilbert Allan Hawkins

Michael Edgar Long

Charles F Faisst

Joseph R West

A cleaning system for a continuous inkjet printer comprises a cleaning chamber positioned substantially parallel to an ink supply chamber and nozzle plate, and a gas supply, such as air or nitrogen. The cleaning chamber is formed by a cover and the nozzle plate, wherein the gas is routed between the cover and the nozzle plate so as to remove debris and excess ink from the inkjet nozzles and surrounding area. A fluid may also be applied in addition to the gas, and a deflector may be positioned on the cover to increase the angle of incidence of air and fluid as it contacts the inkjet nozzles and surrounding area.

Start-up and shut down of continuous inkjet print head

Both a cleaning fluid jet apparatus and method for cleaning an array of inkjet nozzles in a printhead is provided. The fluid jet apparatus includes a cleaning head having an array of cleaning nozzles registrable with the array of inkjet nozzles in the printhead, and a mounting assembly that mounts the cleaning head in opposition to the printhead with the cleaning nozzles in substantial alignment with the inkjet nozzles. A supply of pressurized cleaning fluid is connected to the cleaning nozzles such that the cleaning nozzles discharge a stream of high velocity cleaning droplets that impinges the inkjet nozzles. Both a droplet sizing mechanism and a droplet speed controller are provided so that the size, frequency, and velocity of the cleaning droplets may be selected for maximum cleaning efficiency. The apparatus also includes a mechanism for changing a location of cleaning droplet impingement so that both the inkjet nozzles and the areas immediately surrounding the nozzles may be effectively cleaned.

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

John Sechrist