Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Shino Sasaki

Kazuki Yasu

Yukihito Niino

Ryuuta Katoh

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head and a dummy discharge controller. The liquid discharge head includes nozzles to discharge liquid onto a continuous medium. The dummy discharge controller controls a dummy discharge operation to discharge dummy discharge droplets onto the continuous medium. The dummy discharge controller controls the liquid discharge head to perform a pre-first-page dummy discharge operation to discharge dummy discharge droplets onto the continuous medium in a period from a start of feeding of the continuous medium to a start of printing of a first page.

Liquid discharge apparatus and non-transitory computer readable medium storing program

A liquid ejection apparatus includes: a plurality of nozzles configured to eject liquid onto a conveyed object conveyed by a conveyance unit, based on input image data; and a control unit configured to control a number of droplets in first flushing for ejecting the liquid outside a region corresponding to the image data and a number of droplets in second flushing for ejecting the liquid inside the region corresponding to the image data in addition to ejection based on the image data. The control unit is configured to control the number of droplets in the first flushing and the number of droplets in the second flushing based on at least a length of the image data in a direction in which the conveyed object is conveyed.

Liquid ejection apparatus, inkjet system, and flushing method

An image forming apparatus includes a recording head, a head driving control circuit, and a dummy ejection control circuit. The dummy ejection control circuit controls a first dummy ejection operation to eject droplets to a non-image-forming area per a constant length of a continuous medium and second dummy ejection operation to eject droplets not contributing to image formation to an image forming area. The head driving control circuit applies a first non-ejection pulse to pressure generators corresponding to a non-ejection nozzle of the plurality of nozzles to vibrate a meniscus of liquid in the non-ejection nozzle without ejecting liquid droplets, and applies a second non-ejection pulse, which vibrates the meniscus of liquid greater than the first non-ejection pulse, to pressure generators corresponding to non-ejection nozzles of the plurality of nozzles to vibrate a meniscus of liquid in the non-image-forming area.

Image forming apparatus including recording head for ejecting liquid droplets

A liquid droplet discharge head includes: a liquid chamber including an inner wall; a plurality of nozzles on a part of the inner wall; a diaphragm to change a pressure inside the liquid chamber; a piezoelectric element to displace the diaphragm; a drive voltage generator to generate a pulse voltage for normal driving; a micro-drive voltage generator to generate a pulse voltage for micro-driving; a voltage applying means to apply a voltage waveform including each pulse voltage to the piezoelectric element; and a nozzle activation ratio processor to calculate a nozzle activation ratio based on drive data for discharging liquid droplets from the nozzle. Based on the nozzle activation ratio, the micro-drive voltage generator generates a pulse voltage for the micro-driving including a peak voltage corresponding to the nozzle activation ratio, and the voltage applying means applies an appropriate voltage waveform to the piezoelectric element.

Liquid droplet discharge head and image forming apparatus including same

An image forming apparatus includes a recording head, a head driving control unit, and a dummy ejection control unit. The dummy ejection control unit controls first dummy ejection operation to eject droplets to a continuous medium per a constant length and second dummy ejection operation to eject droplets not contributing to image formation to an image formation area. In the first dummy ejection operation, the head driving control unit applies a first non ejection pulse to a pressure generator corresponding to a non ejection nozzle. In the second dummy ejection operation, the head driving control unit applies a second non ejection pulse to the pressure generator corresponding to the non ejection nozzle. When the second non ejection pulse is applied, an amplitude or number of vibrations of a meniscus of liquid in the non ejection nozzle is greater than when the first non ejection pulse is applied.

An image forming apparatus is disclosed that includes a recording head including a nozzle from which liquid droplets are ejected, a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle and containing liquid, and a pressure generation part changing the volume of the pressure chamber; and a drive signal generation part generating a drive signal including multiple drive pulses and causing the pressure generation part to operate so that the liquid droplets are ejected. The drive signal generated by the drive signal generation part includes, within a single print cycle, a resonant drive pulse causing a first one of the liquid droplets to be ejected using the natural vibration period of the pressure chamber, a non-resonant drive pulse causing a second one of the liquid droplets to be ejected without using the natural vibration period of the pressure chamber, and a slight drive pulse prevented from causing the ink droplets to be ejected.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Shino Sasaki