Liquid discharge apparatus, liquid discharge system, and cleaning method for liquid discharge apparatus

A liquid discharge apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of liquid discharge nozzles to discharge liquid;
• a housing including the plurality of liquid discharge nozzles and an opening array face including a plurality of nozzle rows, the plurality of nozzle rows including a plurality of nozzle openings of the plurality of liquid discharge nozzles are arranged;
• and
• a support supporting the housing, the support to fix the housing in a cleaning posture that is a fixed posture of the housing when the opening array face is cleaned,
• the opening array face having the plurality of nozzle openings at positions where, when the housing is fixed in the cleaning posture, nozzle openings of an uppermost nozzle row and nozzle openings of a lowermost nozzle row in a gravity direction, among the plurality of nozzle rows included in the opening array face, overlap in the gravity direction, and nozzle openings of other nozzle rows than the uppermost nozzle row and the lowermost nozzle row in the gravity direction do not overlap each other in the gravity direction.

A liquid discharge system comprising:

• a liquid discharge apparatus including:
• a liquid discharge head, the liquid discharge head including:
• a plurality of liquid discharge nozzles to discharge liquid;
• and
• a housing including the plurality of liquid discharge nozzles and an opening array face including a plurality of nozzle rows, the plurality of nozzle rows including a plurality of nozzle openings of the plurality of liquid discharge nozzles;
• and
• a support supporting the housing, the support to fix the housing in a cleaning posture that is a fixed posture of the housing when the opening array face is cleaned;
• and
• a cleaning device to clean the liquid discharge head, the cleaning device including:
• a cleaner to clean the plurality of nozzle openings and the opening array face;
• and
• a head holder to hold the housing in the cleaning posture that is the fixed posture of the housing when the housing is cleaned by the cleaner,
• wherein the opening array face includes the plurality of nozzle openings at positions where the plurality of nozzle openings do not overlap each other in a gravity direction of the housing when the housing is fixed in the cleaning posture.

A cleaning method to be executed by a liquid discharge apparatus including a plurality of liquid discharge nozzles to discharge liquid, the method comprising:

• moving an opening array face to a cleaning position, the opening array face including a plurality of nozzle rows, the plurality of nozzle rows including a plurality of nozzle openings of the plurality of liquid discharge nozzles;
• fixing the opening array face in a posture inclined with respect to a horizontal plane such that the plurality of nozzle openings do not overlap each other in a gravity direction in the opening array face;
• and
• ejecting cleaning liquid to the opening array face fixed in the posture to clean the opening array face.