Powder suction and discharge apparatus
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsHomare Kuribayashi, Masato Hanamura, Koji Imamura, Koki Yamakawa, Hirokazu Yamaga
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A powder suction and discharge apparatus including a pipe, a container that is coupled to the pipe, a valve that opens and closes a passage of the pipe, and a pressure reducing mechanism that causes an internal space of the container to have negative pressure, in which in a first state in which the valve is open and the pressure reducing mechanism is driven, powder is sucked into the container through the pipe, in a second state in which the valve is closed, the sucked powder is stored in the container, and in a third state in which the valve is open, the stored powder is discharged through the pipe.
Claims4
A powder suction and discharge apparatus comprising:
- a pipe;
- a container that is coupled to the pipe, the container being made of a porous resin;
- a housing accommodating the container;
- a valve that opens and closes a passage of the pipe;
- a vacuum pump configured to cause an internal space of the container to have negative pressure, the vacuum pump being connected to the housing at a first position such that air in the internal space is sucked by the vacuum pump through a porous resin wall of the container;
- a pressurizing pump configured to apply a pressure to the internal space by sending air to the internal space through the porous resin wall, the pressurizing pump being connected to the housing at a second position;
- a memory configured to store a program;
- and
- a processor configured to execute the program so as to:
- cause the vacuum pump to suck the air after the processor causes the valve to open such that powder is sucked into the container through the pipe;
- cause the valve to close while sucking the air such that the sucked powder is stored in the container;
- and
- cause the pressurizing pump to blow the air after the processor causes the valve to open such that the stored powder is discharged through the pipe,
- wherein the first position is farther from the valve than the second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.