Liquid ejection apparatus, liquid ejection head, and recovery method
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsNaozumi Nabeshima, Kazuhiro Yamada, Yohei Nakamura, Yoshiyuki Nakagawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A liquid ejection apparatus capable of suppressing the amount of liquid to discharge by recovery processing is provided. The liquid ejection apparatus includes: a first path fluidly connected to an ejection port unit and provided with a deformable region; and a second path fluidly connected to the first path via the ejection port unit and provided with a deformable region. Here, a flow of liquid is generated between the first path and the second path by a displacement unit.
Claims15
A liquid ejection apparatus comprising:
- an ejection port unit configured to eject liquid from an ejection port;
- a first path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the ejection port unit;
- and
- a second path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the first path via the ejection port unit, wherein
- each of the first path and the second path has, at a portion in contact with the liquid flowing through the path, a deformable region capable of deforming formed from a flexible member, and
- the apparatus further includes a displacement unit capable of deforming the deformable region of at least one of the first path and the second path.
A recovery method in a liquid ejection apparatus, the apparatus including:
- a pressure chamber which includes an energy generation element therein for generating the energy for ejecting liquid;
- a first path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the pressure chamber;
- and
- a second path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the first path via the pressure chamber, the method comprising a deforming step of:
- deforming at least one of a first deformable region formed from a flexible member in a portion in contact with liquid flowing through the first path, and a second deformable region formed from a flexible member in a portion in contact with liquid flowing through the second path by pressurizing these with a displacement unit capable of deforming.
A recovery method in a liquid ejection apparatus, the apparatus including:
- a pressure chamber which includes an energy generation element therein for generating the energy for ejecting liquid;
- a first path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the pressure chamber;
- and
- a second path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the first path via the pressure chamber, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a first deformable region in the first path, the region being capable of changing the volume of the first path;
- providing a second deformable region in the second path, the region being capable of changing the volume of the second path;
- and
- deforming the first deformable region in a direction to contract the volume of the first path and the second deformable region in a direction to expand the volume of the second path so as to cause liquid inside the pressure chamber to flow in a direction from the first path toward the second path.
A liquid ejection head comprising:
- a pressure chamber which includes an energy generation element therein for generating the energy for ejecting liquid;
- a first path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the pressure chamber;
- and
- a second path which is a path of liquid and is fluidly connected to the first path via the pressure chamber, wherein
- each of the first path and the second path has a deformable region capable of changing the volume of a path through which liquid flows, and wherein the deformable region of the first path is configured to deform in a direction to contract the volume of the first path and the deformable region of the second path is to deform in a direction to expand the volume of the second path so as to cause liquid inside the pressure chamber to flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.