Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Takashi Somete

Noriaki Furukawa

Takuma Araki

Issei Nakano

Yasutaka Inui

Chikara Ishihara

Hiroomi Nakatsuji

Jun Nakano

Aiichiro Otana

Masanobu Maeshima

Hiroyuki Ueda

Susumu Hiroshima

Yasuko Takaori

Yasuhiro Tauchi

Yoshimi Shimizu

Yukari Ota

Shinji Otani

Yuko Yano

A cap unit includes a cap, a tank, a first pipe, a second pipe, a pump, and a vent port. The cap is attached to and detached from a nozzle surface of an inkjet head. The tank stores humidifying liquid. The first pipe and the second pipe connect the cap and the tank. The pump is provided in the first pipe and pumping air in the tank into the cap. The vent port is provided in the cap.

Cap unit

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a conveyance belt, a control portion, an ink collector, and a suction portion. The ink collector includes a plurality of ink receivers that receives ink that has passed through openings of the conveyance belt during execution of flushing and a suction path leading from each of the ink receivers to the suction portion. The suction path includes a plurality of first flow paths each connected to each of the plurality of ink receivers and a merging chamber in which the plurality of first flow paths merges together and that is linked to the suction portion. As each of the first flow paths, the plurality of first flow paths is provided in parallel between each of the ink receivers and the merging chamber.

Inkjet recording apparatus

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a conveyance belt, a control portion, an ink receiver, an ink discharging flow path, and a liquid supply mechanism. The recording head includes a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink. The conveyance belt has a plurality of first openings and conveys a recording medium. The control portion executes flushing in which the ink is ejected through the nozzles of the recording head to pass through any of the plurality of first openings. The ink receiver is opposite disposed to be opposed to the recording head via the conveyance belt and receives the ink that has passed through the first openings during execution of the flushing. The ink discharging flow path is connected to the ink receiver. The liquid supply mechanism supplies a liquid capable of dissolving the ink into the ink receiver.

Provided is an ink-replacement method for an inkjet recording apparatus that includes a recording head having an ink ejection surface on which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink onto a recording medium is arranged, a sub-tank for temporarily retaining the ink supplied from an ink container, and an ink flow path along which the ink circulates from and to the sub-tank by passing through the recording head. In replacing a first ink present in the ink flow path with a second ink to be newly supplied to the recording head via the ink flow path, when the second ink is caused to flow from the sub-tank into the ink flow path, pulsation is generated in the ink flow path.

Ink-replacement method for inkjet recording apparatus

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head including a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink, a conveyor belt that has a plurality of apertures and conveys recording media one by one, a control unit, an ink receiver, and a pipe-shaped ink discharge flow path. The control unit controls drive of the recording head and the conveyor belt to perform flushing, in which the ink is ejected from the nozzle of the recording head to pass through one of the apertures, at a timing different from a timing contributing to image recording. The ink receiver is disposed to face the recording head sandwiching the conveyor belt therebetween, to receive the ink after passing through the aperture when the flushing is performed. The ink discharge flow path is connected to the ink receiver. When the flushing is performed, a predetermined amount of liquid is stored in the ink receiver.

The inkjet recording apparatus includes a conveyance belt, a conveyance plate, a suction unit, an inkjet head, and a cleaning unit. The conveyance belt has a plurality of through holes. The conveyance plate includes a plurality of through holes formed in bottom portions of the plurality of recessed portions. The suction unit is configured to suck the sheet to the conveyance belt. The inkjet head includes a head main body and a head end portion adjacent to the head main body, and faces an upper surface of the conveyance plate via the conveyance belt. The cleaning unit removes ink adhering to a lower surface of the head main body. A depth of the recessed portion in a facing region facing the head end portion of the conveyance plate is shallower than a depth of the recessed portion in a region other than the facing region.

The inkjet recording apparatus includes a conveyance belt, a conveyance plate, a suction unit, an inkjet head, and a cleaning unit. The conveyance belt has a plurality of through holes. The suction unit causes the conveyance belt to suck the sheet. The conveyance plate includes a plurality of through holes formed in bottom portions of the plurality of recessed portions. The inkjet head includes a head main body and a head end portion adjacent to the head main body, and faces an upper surface of the conveyance plate via the conveyance belt. The cleaning unit removes ink adhering to a lower surface of the head main body. A ratio of the recessed portions per unit area in a facing region of the conveyance plate facing the head end portion is smaller than a ratio of the recessed portions per unit area in a region other than the facing region.

An ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a wiper member, a cleaning liquid supply device, and a controller. The recording head includes an ink ejection surface having an ink ejection port from which ink is ejected. The cleaning liquid supply device includes a cleaning liquid supply surface having a cleaning liquid supply port from which cleaning liquid for wiping the ink ejection surface with the wiper member is supplied, and is located upstream of the ink ejection surface in a wiping direction. The controller controls a cleaning operation including squeezing out the cleaning liquid containing bubbles from the cleaning liquid supply port, and moving the wiper member carrying the cleaning liquid containing bubbles, in the wiping direction from a movement start position to an end position ahead of the ink ejection surface.

Ink jet recording apparatus

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a wiper member, a cleaning liquid supply device, a cleaning liquid flow path, and a controller. The cleaning liquid flow path includes a vertical tubular member connected to the cleaning liquid supply device and extending upward, and a horizontal tubular member connected to an upper end of the vertical tubular member and extending in a horizontal direction. The controller extrudes a cleaning liquid in at least a part of the cleaning liquid flow path from a cleaning liquid supply port before control of a cleaning operation for wiping an ink ejection surface of the recording head, thereby performing control of an air bubble release operation of the cleaning liquid flow path.

An inkjet recording apparatus includes an ink ejection surface, a washing liquid storage portion, a washing liquid nozzle, a mesh sheet, and a sponge member. The washing liquid storage portion includes a supply surface adjacent to the ink ejection surface. The washing liquid nozzle includes a communicating hole that is communicated from a supply port formed in the supply surface to an inside of the washing liquid storage portion, and forms a concave meniscus by a surface of the washing liquid in the communicating hole. The mesh sheet is provided in close contact with an opposite rear surface of the supply surface, and has an opening that is smaller in size than an inner diameter of the communicating hole. The sponge member is provided in a compressed state in the inside of the washing liquid storage portion, presses the mesh sheet toward the opposite rear surface of the supply surface.

A recording head of the present disclosure includes an ink ejection surface where a plurality of ink ejection ports for ejecting ink onto a recording medium are disposed. A plurality of cleaning liquid supply ports for supplying a cleaning liquid are disposed on an upstream side with respect to the ink ejection ports in a wiping direction which is a direction in which a wiper wipes the ink ejection surface. The plurality of cleaning liquid supply ports each have a chamfer portion formed at a portion thereof that intersects a surface to be wiped by the wiper, the chamfer portion being R-shaped in section.

Recording head and inkjet recording apparatus including same

An inkjet recording apparatus includes an ink ejection surface and a cleaning liquid nozzle. The ink ejection surface has an ink ejection port through which ink is ejected. The cleaning liquid nozzle has a cleaning liquid supply port through which cleaning liquid for cleaning the ink ejection surface is supplied. In the cleaning liquid nozzle, a concave meniscus is formed on a surface of the cleaning liquid.

In an inkjet recording apparatus, a recording head has an ink ejection port through which ink is ejected, a cleaning liquid supplying portion has a cleaning liquid supply port through which cleaning liquid for cleaning an ink ejection surface having the ink ejection port, is supplied, and a cleaning member cleans the ink ejection surface by the cleaning liquid by moving while in contact with the ink ejection surface. The cleaning liquid supplying portion includes a main body portion and a protruding portion. The main body portion is disposed on an upstream side of the recording head in a moving direction of the cleaning member. The protruding portion protrudes from the main body portion toward a downstream in the moving direction, and covers, from below, lower ends of side surfaces of the recording head and the main body portion that face each other in the moving direction.

A developing device includes a developing roller, a toner supplying roller, a regulation blade, a casing, a toner receiver support member, a toner receiver member, and a vibration generator. The toner receiver member is disposed along a longitudinal direction of the toner receiver support member facing the developing roller, and has a toner receiving surface inclined downward from the image-carrier side toward the toner-supplying-roller side. The toner receiving surface is disposed to be inclined so as to rise from the toner-supplying-roller side toward the image-carrier side. The toner receiving surface has a plurality of grooves formed therein to be inclined to approach a center part of the toner receiving surface from each end side of the toner receiving surface in its longitudinal direction, from an edge of the toner receiving surface on the image-carrier side toward an edge of the toner receiving surface on the toner-supplying-roller side.

Developing device and image forming apparatus including same

A developing device of the present disclosure includes a developing roller, a toner supplying roller, a regulation blade, a casing, a toner receiver support member, a toner receiver member, and a vibration generator. The toner receiver support member is disposed inside the casing so as to face the developing roller or the toner supplying roller between the regulation blade and an image carrier. The toner receiver member is disposed along a longitudinal direction of the toner receiver support member, and has a toner receiving surface that receives toner falling from the developing roller. The vibration generator vibrates the toner receiver member. At each end part of the toner receiving surface in its longitudinal direction, there is formed a thin-walled portion that is thinner in thickness than other parts of the toner receiving surface.

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Osaka, Japan

Takashi Somete