Liquid ejecting apparatus and method for pressurizing and depressurizing
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorMasaaki ANDO
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A degassing process where gas is removed by depressurizing a liquid to be less than atmospheric pressure and a pressurizing process where the liquid is pressurized to be more than the atmospheric pressure are executed at a low cost and taking up less space. There is provided a head configured to eject a liquid from a nozzle, a supply section configured to supply the liquid to the head and including a degassing section in which the liquid supplied to the head is depressurized to be less than atmospheric pressure, and a pressurizing section in which the liquid is pressurized to be more than the atmospheric pressure, and a single pump having an action of depressurizing the degassing section and an action of pressurizing the pressurizing section.
Claims11
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:
- a head configured to eject a liquid from a nozzle;
- a supply section configured to supply the liquid to the head, the supply section including a degassing section in which the liquid supplied to the head is depressurized to be less than atmospheric pressure, and a pressurizing section in which the liquid is pressurized to be more than the atmospheric pressure;
- and
- a single pump having an action of depressurizing the degassing section and an action of pressurizing the pressurizing section.
A method for pressurizing and depressurizing a supply section that is configured to supply a liquid to a head that is configured to eject the liquid, the method comprising:
- depressurizing the liquid to be less than atmospheric pressure using negative pressure that is generated by an action of a pump;
- and
- pressurizing the liquid to be more than the atmospheric pressure using positive pressure that is generated by an action of the pump.
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:
- a head configured to eject a liquid from a nozzle;
- a supply section configured to supply the liquid to the head, the supply section including a degassing section in which the liquid supplied to the head is depressurized to be less than atmospheric pressure, and a pressurizing section in which the liquid is pressurized to be more than the atmospheric pressure;
- a single pump having an action of depressurizing the degassing section and an action of pressurizing the pressurizing section;
- and
- an accommodating section,
- wherein the accommodating section is able to contain at least one element that is selected in a group of (A), (B), (C), (D), and (E):
- (A) the single pump,
- (B) a first switching section configured to switch between pressurizing and stopping pressurizing of the pressurizing buffer tank using the pump,
- (C) a first pressure sensor configured to detect pressure inside the pressurizing buffer tank,
- (D) a second switching section configured to switch between depressurizing and stopping depressurizing of the depressurizing buffer tank using the pump, and
- (E) a second pressure sensor configured to detect pressure inside the depressurizing buffer tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.