Seiko Epson Corporation

Other

Sekio Epson Corporation

Shigenori Fukasawa

Kazuhisa Kawakami

Atsushi Kobayashi

Seiji Mochizuki

Masahiro Isono

Nobuhito Takahashi

Hitoshi Hayakawa

Masahiro Nakamura

Norihiro Maruyama

Kazuhiko Hara

Nobutoshi Ohtsuka

Kazunaga Suzuki

Hitotoshi Kimura

Munehide Kanaya

Takahiro Naka

Shuhei Harada

Atsushi Yoshida

Masanori Nakata

Minoru Usui

Takeo Seino

Satoru Hosono

Hideya Yokouchi

Narihiro Oki

Makoto Matsuzaki

Hideki Okumura

Seiji Tojo

Yasuaki Hirai

Kenichi Kanbayashi

Katsuhiko Iida

Masato Haga

Mitsuhiro Koseki

Fumie Uehara

Tohru Fukushima

Katsuhiro Komatsu

Toshiaki Ohshima

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejection head that ejects a liquid, a supply flow path that supplies the liquid from a liquid containing portion, which is replaceable and contains the liquid, to the liquid ejection head, a liquid feeding portion that is provided in the supply flow path and is configured to suck the liquid from the liquid containing portion and to feed the liquid to the liquid ejection head, and a control unit that controls driving of the liquid feeding portion. The control unit changes driving control of the liquid feeding portion in accordance with a remaining amount of the liquid in the liquid containing portion.

Liquid ejecting apparatus and method for controlling liquid ejecting apparatus

A waste liquid container includes a fitted portion, in which a discharge unit is fittable in a removable manner, a container connection terminal, which contacts a device connection terminal, an insertion restriction portion, which contacts a device contact portion and restricts movement of the waste liquid container in the insertion direction, and an engaged portion, which includes a contacted portion that contacts a removal restriction unit and restricts movement of the waste liquid container in the removal direction. The engaged portion is located toward an inner side in the lateral direction from a side wall at a position lower than both of the container connection terminal and the insertion restriction portion. The removal restriction unit is receivable in a region located toward an outer side in the lateral direction from the engaged portion.

Waste liquid container, liquid ejection device, and waste liquid collection system

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a head portion which ejects liquid; a plurality of liquid reception portions which receive the liquid discharged from the head portion and in which flow-out ports of the liquid are provided on the bottoms; a suction pump which is connected to each of the flow-out ports of the plurality of the liquid reception portions and sucks the flow-out ports; and closure members each of which is provided in each of the plurality of liquid reception portions, is formed so as to float in the liquid, and closes each of the flow-out ports in a state where the liquid has flown out.

Liquid ejecting apparatus

A method for maintaining a fluid ejecting apparatus including an ejecting head that has an ejecting surface in which a plurality of ejecting ports that eject fluid are formed, and a maintenance portion that performs maintenance processing to recover the ejection of fluid from the ejecting ports and that has a cap member and a wiping member. The method includes performing capping processing to put the cap member on the ejecting surface and to suck, and then wiping processing to wipe the ejecting surface with the wiping member, and performing the capping processing again and then waiting a predetermined time without performing the wiping processing.

Fluid ejecting apparatus and ejecting head maintenance method

A printer includes a recording head having a nozzle through which ink is ejected onto a paper sheet and a waste tank in which the ink is retained as waste liquid after having been drained from the recording head. A deposit of the waste liquid is formed in the waste tank. The printer has a suction pump used for forcibly drawing and draining the ink from the nozzle. The suction pump functions also as a gas blasting device that blasts gas to the deposit in the waste tank for blowing off the deposit. This suppresses the amount of the ink consumed in maintenance of the printer.

Method for cleaning liquid ejection apparatus and liquid ejection apparatus

The recording medium guide member is placed along the main scanning direction scanned by the carriage mounted with a recording head, and ink-receiver holes for receiving ink discharged from the recording head are formed on the guide member in positions beyond the edges of the recording medium being conveyed. Ink absorbing materials are placed in said ink-receiver holes, and a discharged ink accumulating means that cumulatively counts the amount of ink discharged into the ink absorbing materials is provided. The amount of ink discharged into the ink-receiver holes can be controlled by the discharged ink accumulation means so that contamination of the left and right edges or the top and bottom as well as left and right edges of the recording medium, caused by excessive ink collecting in the ink-receiver holes, can be avoided.

Ink-jet recording apparatus

Flushing regions for receiving ink droplets to be ejected when flushing signal is supplied to a recording head are provided in both of non-print regions situated at both sides of print region in order to prevent throughput during the flushing operation from deteriorating. A guide member having a slant surface is disposed between the recording head and an ink absorbing member to which the ink landed on the slant surface flows in order to reduce in size of the ink absorbing member. A porous sheet member closely faced to nozzle orifices of the recording head for receiving the ink droplets ejected therefrom is provided in order to prevent undesired mist of fine ink droplets from generating. A plurality of plate members closely faced to the nozzle orifices are provided at a predetermined angle with respect to the flight direction of the ink droplets in order to prevent the undesired mist from generating. The flushing operation is performed so as to prevent solidification of the ejected ink.

Flushing position controller incorporated in ink-jet recording apparatus and flushing method used for the same

A cap holder on which a cap member is formed is mounted on a slider which constitutes a capping device. This slider is driven along vertical direction by receiving driving force executed by moving a carriage, so that an interval between the cap member and a nozzle forming surface of a recording head is adjusted. As a result, since a stopping position of the carriage is controlled in response to an adjustment amount of a platen gap, a distance between the recording head and the capping device when a flushing operation is carried out can be controlled under proper condition. Also, even when the control operation is advanced to a capping condition, the capping device can cap the nozzle forming surface under proper pressure.

Ink jet recording apparatus, moving position control method of capping device therein, and flushing control method therefor

An ink-jet recording apparatus has a flushing signal generating unit that generates a flushing signal, and a recording head provided with nozzles and capable of jetting ink particles through the nozzles when driven by the flushing signal. The flushing signal causes the recording head to jet only main ink particles through the nozzles. The ink-jet recording apparatus suppresses the formation of mist of ink particles during a flushing operation.

Inkjet recording apparatus

A position of a nozzle forming surface of a recording head is varied by an adjusting operation of a platen gap. Accordingly, an amount of interference (L L ) of a wiping member ( ), which wipes the nozzle forming surface ( ), against the nozzle forming surface ( ), varies. With this, a sliding contact of the wiping member ( ) against the nozzle forming surface ( ) varies. When the platen gap is large, the wiping effect decreases. Accordingly, when the platen gap is large, the wiping speed is decreased, and the decrease of the wiping effect is compensated for by increasing the number of wiping operations.

Ink jet recording apparatus and method of controlling wiping operation of recording head in the ink jet recording apparatus

An ink jet recording apparatus having a capping unit for sealing the nozzle formation face of a recording head and sucking and discharging ink from the recording head by the action of a negative pressure from a suction pump and a wiping member capable of wiping out the nozzle formation face and a cleaning control method of the recording apparatus are provided. In the recording apparatus, a well-known atmosphere valve placed in a capping unit of is eliminated, so that occurrence of a large amount of bubbles in the capping unit as the atmosphere valve is opened can be avoided. As the atmosphere valve is eliminated, a capping state is released with waste ink stored in the capping unit, but waste ink leaked from the capping unit is prevented from remaining in the vicinity of the outer peripheral surface of a cap member, and contaminating of recording paper, etc., by the remaining waste ink can be minimized.

Ink jet recording apparatus and cleaning control method for the same

A capping member for an ink jet recording head is composed of a cap which is to be brought into contact with a surface of the recording head provided with nozzle orifices, and a cap case for holding the cap. A passage communicating an internal space defined by the cap with a suction hole connected to a suction pump and a passage communicating the internal space with an air hole connected to the outside are respectively formed into a specific shape so as to inhibit vaporization of an ink solvent in the internal space. A tube made of an elastic and restorative material is used for a tube connected to the suction pump. A tube made of a material having high gas-barrier characteristic is used for a tube connected to the capping member. Both of the tube is connected with each other by a connecting member in order to inhibit vaporization of an ink solvent from the tubes. Accordingly, the reliability of printing operation when printing is restarted after the long-term halt of the ink jet recording head is remarkably enhanced. The cap may be formed by fitting into a groove formed on a brim portion of the cup-shaped cap case having high rigidity. Therefore, elasticity of the cap can be controlled by the height thereof and can be deformed uniformly for whole periphery of the brim portion to attain high airtightness of the cap.

Capping unit for ink jet recording head incorporated in ink jet recording apparatus and method of manufacturing the same

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Nagano, Japan

Shigenori Fukasawa