Seiko Epson Corporation

Tomoji Suzuki

Masashi Fujikawa

Manabu Yamada

Toshiaki Koike

Hiroshi Nose

Yuji Aoki

Eiichiro Watanabe

Masahiro Karasawa

Chiyoshige Nakazawa

Naoki Naito

Kazuyuki Yokoyama

Takeshi Komaki

Kazuyuki Hirata

Naoki Natio

A liquid ejecting device includes a base portion, a liquid ejecting portion movably provided at the base portion, a medium supporting portion provided at the base portion and configured to support a printing medium in a printing region where the liquid ejecting portion performs printing, and a maintenance portion disposed in a region on the +X direction side of the printing region in the X-axis direction in the base portion. The maintenance portion includes a moisturizing portion that can form a closed space to which nozzle opens, a cleaning portion that can forcibly discharge liquid from the nozzle, and a wiper that can wipe a nozzle surface where the nozzle is provided. The moisturizing portion, the cleaning portion and the wiper are disposed side by side in the Y-axis direction.

Liquid ejecting device

There is provided with a cartridge comprising a liquid supply portion; a contact portion that is located on a +Z-axis direction side of the liquid supply portion and that is arranged to contact with an electrical connecting element; and a positioning structure that is located between the liquid supply portion and the contact portion in a Z-axis direction. The liquid supply portion is configured to receive a first external force in a &#x2212;Y-axis direction from the liquid introducing structure when the liquid supply portion is connected with the liquid introducing structure. The contact portion is configured to receive a second external force in a direction including a &#x2212;Y-axis direction component from the electrical connecting element when the contact portion comes into contact with the electrical connecting element. This configuration suppresses position misalignment of the cartridge or a connector to a mounting structure.

Cartridge and connector

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting unit that ejects liquid, and a plurality of pumps each supplying the liquid toward the liquid ejecting unit by repeating a sucking state and a discharging state. When one of the pumps is in the discharging state and a storage amount of the liquid stored in the pump chamber of the one pump becomes equal to a threshold, another of the pumps is switched to the discharging state. A value obtained by adding an inflow of the liquid flowed into the pump chamber of the other pump to an ejection amount of the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting unit is defined as a discharge amount of the liquid discharged from the pump chamber of the one pump during a period of the discharging state.

Liquid ejecting apparatus and liquid supply method for liquid ejecting apparatus

Ink consumption accompanying purging bubbles from the buffer tank is suppressed. An inkjet printer has a buffer tank disposed to an ink path that supplies ink to a printhead. A first channel connects to the buffer tank at the bottom of the ink chamber, and a second channel connects to the top of the ink chamber. To print, the first valve and second valve are open, and ink is supplied from the first channel, into which bubbles do not easily flow. To purge bubbles, the first valve closes and the maintenance unit is driven in a cleaning operation, discharging bubbles with ink from the second channel. The second valve then closes, the maintenance unit is driven to create negative pressure downstream from the second valve, and the second valve then opens in a choke cleaning operation that discharges ink with entrained bubbles at once.

Fluid ejection device and control method therefor

A drop in the throughput of continuous printing operations caused by refilling a subtank with ink is suppressed. The control unit of an inkjet printerfills subtanks-with ink whenever ink consumption exceeds a reference volume q during continuous printing. Ink is suctioned by producing negative pressure in subtanks-during the ink refill operation while ink continues being supplied to the inkjet headfrom pressure adjustment chambers-disposed between subtanks-and inkjet head. Ink ejection from the inkjet headcan therefore continue even during the ink ref ill operation. By setting the volume of the pressure adjustment chambers-greater than at least the amount of ink that is ejected during the ink refill operation, there is no need to interrupt printing in order to replenish the ink supply.

Method of supplying fluid to a fluid ejection head, fluid supply mechanism, and fluid ejection device

An inkjet printer has a cap that covers the ink nozzle surface in which ink nozzles are formed when the inkjet head is at a inkjet head standby position; an ink absorber that is held inside the cap and absorbs ink ejected from the ink nozzles into the cap; a water discharge head that seals the cap with a water nozzle surface in which water nozzles are formed when the inkjet head is at the printing position; and a suction pump for discharging water from the water discharge head when the water discharge head seals the cap.

Inkjet recording device and nozzle surface wiping method for an inkjet recording device

A drop in the throughput of continuous printing operations caused by refilling a subtank with ink is suppressed. The control unit of an inkjet printerfills subtanks-with ink whenever ink consumption exceeds a reference volume q during continuous printing. Ink is suctioned by producing negative pressure in subtanks-during the ink refill operation while ink continues being supplied to the inkjet headfrom pressure adjustment chambers-disposed between subtanks-and inkjet head. Ink ejection from the inkjet headcan therefore continue even during the ink refill operation. By setting the volume of the pressure adjustment chambers-greater than at least the amount of ink that is ejected during the ink refill operation, there is no need to interrupt printing in order to replenish the ink supply.

An ink cartridge is detachably mounted on a cartridge holder. At least one first reflector is provided in the cartridge holder. A reflective-type optical sensor includes a light emitter and a light receiver. The optical sensor is operable to form an optical path originated from the light emitter to the light receiver via the first reflector. A shading member is provided in the ink cartridge operable to shade the optical path when the ink cartridge is mounted on the cartridge holder. A second reflector is provided in the ink cartridge. The second reflector reflects light emitted from the light emitter and varies an intensity thereof in accordance with an ink amount remaining in the ink cartridge.

Ink cartridge

A drop in the throughput of continuous printing operations caused by refilling a subtank with ink is suppressed. The control unit of an inkjet printerfills subtanks-with ink whenever ink consumption exceeds a reference volume q during continuous printing. Ink is suctioned by producing negative pressure in subtanks-during the ink refill operation while ink continues being supplied to the inkjet headfrom pressure adjustment chambers-disposed between subtanks 11-11d and inkjet head. Ink ejection from the inkjet headcan therefore continue even during the ink refill operation. By setting the volume of the pressure adjustment chambers-greater than at least the amount of ink that is ejected during the ink refill operation, there is no need to interrupt printing in order to replenish the ink supply.

When a predetermined time T1ref has elapsed from performance of a previous cleaning, all nozzles in a nozzle row as an inspection target are driven at a drive frequency of a maximum frequency so that an air bubble in a filter chamber is crushed against a filter by increasing the flow rate in the filter chamber of an ink needle which connects an ink cartridge and a head, and a nozzle inspection to determine whether or not a nozzle defect is occurred is performed repeatedly until the nozzle defect occurs at a predetermined time interval T2ref (every week, for example) and, when the nozzle defect occurs, cleaning for ejecting the air bubble in the filter chamber to the outside is performed.

Liquid ejecting apparatus and method of controlling same

The cleaning process best suited to the condition of an inkjet printer is selected and run, thereby removing nozzle clogging without wastefully consuming ink. The first time a cleaning switchis operated a CLcleaning process is run. If the cleaning switchis pressed a second time and the print pass count is less than e.g., 400, a CLcleaning process that uses more ink than the CLprocess is used to clean the recording head, but if the print pass count is 400 or more, the CLcleaning process is used. If the print pass count is less than 400 the third time the switch is operated, the CLcleaning process is used, but the CLcleaning process is used if the print pass count is 400 or more. If the cleaning switchis operated four or more times and the print pass count is less than 400, a YCL cleaning process that consumes substantially no ink is used to clean the recording head, but if the print pass count is 400 or more, the CLcleaning process is used.

Printing apparatus, recording head cleaning method, control process and computerized cleaning program for the recording head in a printer

An ink jet recording apparatus including: a cartridge mounting portion, on which an ink cartridge having a waste ink containing portion containable a waste ink can be mounted; a waste ink introduction portion, adapted to connect to a waste ink introduction port of the waste ink containing portion of the ink cartridge so as to introduce the waste ink; a waste ink introduction portion holder, supporting the waste ink introduction portion; and a cartridge moving mechanism, operable to move the ink cartridge to a cartridge replacement position, located on an outside of the cartridge mounting portion where the ink cartridge can be attached to or detached from the cartridge mounting portion, and a cartridge use position located on an inside of the cartridge mounting portion, wherein the waste ink introduction portion holder is constructed to move integrally with the ink cartridge between the cartridge replacement and the cartridge use position while the waste ink introduction portion is connected to the waste ink introduction port.

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Matsumoto, Japan

Tomoji Suzuki