Seiko Epson Corporation

Koji Harada

Shigeki Suzuki

Tsuyoshi Hayashi

Koji Ito

Hitotoshi Kimura

Kinya Ozawa

Kazuhiko Hara

Ryoji Fujimori

Yasunori Koike

Masato Murayama

Ryo Oguchi

Toshio Kumagai

Hidenori Usuda

Hiroyuki Kawate

Nobuhito Takahashi

Yoshiaki Shimizu

Hitoshi Hayakawa

Jun Shimazaki

Takashi Mano

Seiji Tojo

Kazuyuki Fujioka

Taisuke Yamamoto

Tsutomu Kobayashi

Shozo Kuwada

Shinji Hirata

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting portion which has a nozzle that ejects liquid, and a flushing receptive body which receives the liquid that is ejected in a flushing operation in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle, the flushing receptive body including a receiving member that is able to receive the liquid, a receiving member holding portion which holds the receiving member, and a fixing member with conductivity that fixes the receiving member to the receiving member holding portion by contacting the receiving member and has a mesh form portion that forms an adhesion surface to which the ejected liquid is adhered with the receiving member in the flushing operation, in which the fixing member is electrically grounded.

Liquid ejecting apparatus with flushing receptive body for receiving liquid during maintenance operation

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head which ejects liquid from a nozzle that is disposed on a nozzle surface, and an absorption member which is able to contact the nozzle surface, in which it is possible to perform a first contact operation which causes the absorption member to contact the nozzle surface at a position which corresponds to a nozzle region that includes an opening region of the nozzle, and a second contact operation which causes the absorption member to contact the nozzle surface at a position which corresponds to a non-nozzle region that is a region outside of the nozzle region.

Liquid ejecting apparatus and cleaning device

A liquid ejecting apparatus comprises: a liquid ejecting section that ejects liquid; a supply path through which the liquid is supplied from a liquid supply source to the liquid ejecting section; a movement mechanism that causes the liquid ejecting section to move; and a static mixer that is provided on the supply path and gives rise to a change in a flow of the liquid through the supply path; wherein the movement mechanism causes the liquid ejecting section to move before ejection of the liquid onto a medium by the liquid ejecting section, and the supply path located between the liquid ejecting section and the static mixer moves due to the movement.

Liquid ejecting apparatus

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head, an ink supply tube that supplies ink to the liquid ejecting head, a pressure control valve that opens as a result of depressurization on the liquid ejecting head side, a check valve provided upstream from the pressure control valve, an ink circulation tube that is connected at both ends to the ink supply tube between the pressure control valve and the check valve, and a tube pump provided in the ink circulation tube; in this configuration, by providing at least one of an ink return tube and a liquid reservoir portion that is capable of holding liquid in a liquid flow channel in a pressurized state, a rise in pressure within a circulating flow channel caused by pump operations can be suppressed.

A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid from an ejecting nozzle provided in an ejecting head includes a first container that contains a first liquid and a second container that contains a second liquid. The liquid ejecting apparatus includes a channel that selectively communicates with either the first or second container to supply the liquid contained therein to the ejecting head, a switching unit that performs a switching operation of switching between a first communicating state in which the channel communicates with the first container and a second communicating state in which the channel communicates with the second container. In addition, if the remaining amount of the second liquid contained in the second container is less than a predetermined value, prohibits the switching unit from performing the switching operation of switching from the second communicating state to the first communicating state.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting head; a liquid receiving section; a suction pump that is connected the liquid receiving section; a first liquid containing section that contains first liquid; a second liquid containing section that contains second liquid. When the second liquid in the liquid ejecting head is exchanged for the first liquid, the liquid ejecting head eject the liquid toward the liquid receiving section in a state in which the liquid receiving section is away from the liquid ejecting head, and when the first liquid in the liquid ejecting head is exchanged for the second liquid, the suction pump to operate in a state in which the liquid receiving section has been brought into contact with the liquid ejecting head to cover the ejection nozzles.

A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid containing a sedimentary component from an ejection nozzle provided in an ejection head includes: a liquid channel that conducts the liquid to the ejection head; a liquid discharge unit that discharges the liquid from the ejection nozzle. The liquid channel is provided with a first channel region and a second channel region; and the liquid discharge unit discharge a predetermined amount of the liquid from the ejection nozzle in the case where the amount of time that has elapsed a predetermined threshold time.

A printing apparatus includes a head which discharges color inks and into which clear ink that prevents the head from being clogged and white ink are selectively filled. A selection portion communicates either of a white or a clear ink container with the head. A controller executes a first switching from a second filled state where the head is filled with clear ink to a first filled state where the head is filled with white ink by shifting from a state where the clear ink container is communicated with the head to a state where the white ink container is communicated with the head. A second switching is executed from the first filled state to the second filled state by shifting from a state where the white ink container is communicated with the head to a state where the clear ink container is communicated with the head.

Printing apparatus and method of switching filled states

A fluid ejecting apparatus includes an ejection head having an ejection surface with a nozzle region and a capping device that contacts the ejection surface. The capping device includes first and second contact members held by a cap body. When the first contact member contacts the ejection surface, a surface of the first contact member surrounds the nozzle region. The second contact member is formed in a closed frame-shape to be disposed outside a surface of the first contact member opposite the surface of the first contact member. The cap body includes first and second suction ports. The first suction port decompresses a first space formed between the first contact member and the ejection surface when the capping device contacts the ejection head. The second suction port decompresses a second space formed between the second contact member and the ejection surface when the capping device contacts the ejection head.

Fluid ejecting apparatus

A printer including a recording head, a flushing box and a movement mechanism is disclosed. The recording head has a nozzle-forming surface in which nozzle openings are defined and ejects a liquid through the nozzle openings. The flushing box has an opening corresponding to the nozzle openings and is capable of receiving the liquid ejected from the nozzle opening as a waste liquid. The movement mechanism moves the flushing box between a receiving position at which the flushing box is capable of receiving the waste liquid and a non-receiving position at which the flushing box is incapable of receiving the waste liquid. The receiving position is a position at which the opening is closely opposed to the nozzle-forming surface, and the non-receiving position is spaced from the receiving position.

Liquid ejection apparatus

A maintenance device installed in a liquid-ejecting apparatus including a movable carriage that has a liquid ejection head performs maintenance of the liquid ejection head and includes at least one maintenance component that reciprocates between an operating position at which the maintenance component engages with the carriage or the liquid ejection head and a standby position at which the maintenance component is disengaged from the carriage and the liquid ejection head; a power transmission mechanism that transmits power input from a rotational drive source to output power for reciprocating the maintenance component between the operating position and the standby position, the power transmission mechanism having a clutch unit on a power transmission path of the power transmission mechanism; and a retaining mechanism including a stopper that moves in association with the movement of the carriage such that the stopper engages with at least one movable body provided on the power transmission path between the maintenance component and clutch surfaces of the clutch unit when the carriage is separated from a cleaning position, and such that the stopper is disengaged from the movable body when the carriage is at the cleaning position.

Maintenance device for liquid-ejecting apparatus and liquid-ejecting apparatus

A printer includes a cleaning mechanism that reliably performs an operation of cleaning a liquid ejecting head with a small amount of driving energy. The cleaning mechanism includes a cap manufactured by coinjection molding of a core part and an elastic part. The cap includes a bottom surface, an outer wall, and a partition wall dividing a cap inner space surrounded by the outer wall into two. A ratio of the elastic part in the partition wall is higher than that in the outer wall. With this structure, the partition wall is more elastically deformable than the outer wall. When the cap comes into contact with a nozzle surface of a recording head and covers nozzle rows, the outer wall comes into contact with the nozzle surface with a larger stress compared with the partition wall, and seals chambers where the nozzle rows on the nozzle surface are exposed.

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Shiojiri, Japan

Koji Harada