US 6,386,689 B1 · Ink jet printers

Abstract

An ink jet printer that prints high quality wherein ink has minimum contact with the atmosphere, high volatility and is easy to separate. The ink jet recording heads and the sub tanks are mounted at the side of the Y cursor, and the main tanks are disposed at the side of the printer body. Upon completion of printing or standby for printing, the ink in the sub tanks is recovered to the side of the main tanks, and the ink in the recording heads is recovered to the side of the waste solution tank. After the ink in the sub tanks is recovered to the side of the main tanks, and before the ink in the main tanks is supplied into the sub tanks, the ink in the main tanks is stirred. After the ink in the recording heads is recovered to the waste solution tank, the inside of the recording heads is cleaned with the cleaning solution, and after the cleaning, the air is supplied into the recording heads, and the inside of the recording heads is dried. The atmosphere release valve is provided on the sub tanks, and after filling the ink in the recording heads, the atmosphere release valve is closed, except during printing and the supply and discharge of the ink to the sub tanks so that the ink in the sub tanks is not evaporated.

Claims10

Dependent claims

An ink jet printer comprising:

a carriage capable of reciprocating in an axial direction on a platen;
recording heads mounted on a first side of the carriage;
sub tanks mounted on a second side of the carriage supplying ink to the recording heads;
main tanks provided at a side of the ink jet printer supplying ink to and receiving ink from the sub tanks;
and
a waste solution tank operable to receive ink from the recording heads,
wherein ink in the sub tanks is recovered into respective main tans upon the completion of a printing operation or when the ink jet printer is in standby prior to a printing operation.

4 more elements

A method of preserving ink in an ink jet printer comprising:

providing a plurality of main tanks, each having a sub tank associated therewith;
providing a plurality of recording heads, each recording head corresponding to a respective sub tank;
providing a plurality of electromagnetic valves each operable to provide a predetermined amount of pressure in a respective conduit to which it is connected, the predetermined amount of pressure including both positive and negative pressure;
filling each of the sub tanks with ink from a corresponding main tank;
filling each of the recording heads with a predetermined amount of ink supplied from a respective sub tank;
performing a printing operation during which ink from within said recording heads is controllably transferred to a printing medium through a discharge outlet in the recording heads;
recovering ink from the sub tanks to the main tanks by suctioning the ink from within the sub tanks into the main tanks;
recovering ink from the recording heads to a waste solution tank during a pause in the printing operation;
and
supplying a cleaning solution from a cleaning solution tank to the recording heads to clean said recording heads and supplying air to the recording heads.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Ink jet printers

Life of this patent

Ink jet printers

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims10