Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Kyocera Corporation

Takuma Araki

Yasutaka Inui

Noriaki Furukawa

Takashi Somete

Kenichi Satake

Issei Nakano

Chikara Ishihara

Hiroomi Nakatsuji

Jun Nakano

Hiroyuki Ueda

Aiichiro Otana

Masanobu Maeshima

Naoto Miyakoshi

Takashi Miyahara

Yuuji Mizutani

Yuko Yano

Misaki Nomoto

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.

Inkjet recording apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a recording head, a wiper and a head mounting member. The recording head is provided with a nozzle area where a number of ink ejection ports are opened downward. The wiper is configured to move in a wiping direction while coming into contact with the nozzle area to wipe the nozzle area. The head mounting member is provided on a side surface of the recording head in the wiping direction. The surface of the head mounting member has water repellency higher than the side surface of the recording head. A recess portion and a protrusion are alternatively provided in a lower end portion of the head mounting member.

Ejecting unit and image forming apparatus

A sub-tank is disposed in a flow path from a main tank to a recording head. The sub-tank includes a tank main body, a level sensor and a flow restricting part. In the tank main body, ink replenished from the main tank is contained. The level sensor detects a liquid level of the ink in the tank main body. The flow restricting part restricts flowing of the ink in an upper-and-lower direction in the tank main body. The flow path is connected to the tank main body at a position below the flow restricting part. The flow restricting part is disposed at a position below a lower limit level of the liquid level.

Sub-tank and inkjet recording apparatus

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

A wiping device includes a wiping member and a moving part. The wiping member wipes a liquid off a nozzle surface of a recording head. The moving part moves the wiping member along the nozzle surface in a predetermined moving direction. The wiping member performs a first wiping operation in which the wiping member is moved while not coming into contact with the nozzle surface but coming into contact with the liquid adhering to the nozzle surface, and a second wiping operation in which the wiping member is moved while coming into contact with the nozzle surface after the first wiping operation.

Wiping device, image forming apparatus and wiping method

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 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.

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.

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

Provided is a recording head recovery system, which includes a recording head and a wiper. The recording head includes an ink ejection surface provided with an ink ejection region in which ink ejection ports are formed. The recording head is disposed on a wiping direction upstream side of the ink ejection region, and includes a cleaning liquid supply region in which cleaning liquid supply ports for supplying cleaning liquid are formed. A height position of a lower end part of the wiper when passing the cleaning liquid supply region is lower than a height position of the lower end part of the wiper when wiping the ink ejection region.

Recording head recovery system and inkjet recording apparatus having the same

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.

A recording head recovery system includes a recording head and a wiper. The recording head includes an ink ejection surface provided with an ink ejection region in which ink ejection ports are formed. The recording head is disposed on a wiping direction upstream side of the ink ejection region, and a cleaning liquid supply region in which cleaning liquid supply ports for supplying cleaning liquid are formed. The pressure contact angle of the tip of the wiper to the ink ejection surface is decreased after the wiper passes the cleaning liquid supply region before reaching the ink ejection region.

Provided are a recording head and an ink jet recording apparatus provided with the same capable of cleaning an ink ejection surface while preventing damage to a wiper. The recording head is provided with an ink ejection surface including an ink ejection region in which a plurality of ink ejection ports for ejecting ink onto a sheet is opened. With respect to the ink ejection region, on the upstream side in a wiping direction in which a wiper wipes the ink ejection surface, a plurality of concave parts is provided. Inside each of the concave parts, two or more cleaning liquid supply ports for supplying a cleaning liquid are provided in the wiping direction.

Recording head and ink-jet recording apparatus therewith

Provided is a recording head recovery system, which includes a recording head and a wiper. The recording head includes an ink ejection surface provided with an ink ejection region in which ink ejection ports are formed. The recording head is disposed on a wiping direction upstream side of the ink ejection region, and a cleaning liquid supply region in which cleaning liquid supply ports for supplying cleaning liquid are formed. A height position of a lower end part of the wiper when passing the cleaning liquid supply region is lower than a height position of the lower end part of the wiper when wiping the ink ejection region.

Recording head recovery system, head cleaning mechanism, and inkjet recording apparatus having the same

A recording head is provided with an ink ejection surface and a cleaning liquid supply surface. The ink ejection surface includes a nozzle region in which a plurality of ink ejection nozzles for ejecting ink onto a recording medium are open. The cleaning liquid supply surface is provided, with respect to the nozzle region, on an upstream side in a wiping direction in which a wiper wipes the ink ejection surface, and a plurality of cleaning liquid supply ports for supplying a cleaning liquid are open through the cleaning liquid supply surface. On the cleaning liquid supply surface, at least in a region including the cleaning liquid supply ports, a hydrophilic region having wettability with respect to water higher than that of the ink ejection surface is formed substantially evenly across an entire region in a width direction thereof orthogonal to the wiping direction.

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Osaka, Japan

Takuma Araki