Nozzle surface cleaning apparatus and droplet ejection apparatus

Abstract

A nozzle surface cleaning apparatus is configured to clean a nozzle surface of a droplet ejection head in which the nozzle surface is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane. The nozzle surface cleaning apparatus includes: a cleaning liquid deposition device which deposits cleaning liquid on the nozzle surface while moving relatively to the nozzle surface in a direction perpendicular to a direction of inclination of the nozzle surface; and an excess cleaning liquid removal device which removes excess cleaning liquid adhering to a lower edge portion of the nozzle surface in terms of the direction of inclination, while moving relatively to the nozzle surface in the direction perpendicular to the direction of inclination of the nozzle surface, the excess cleaning liquid being a part of the cleaning liquid deposited by the cleaning liquid deposition device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.