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US 7,008,038 B2Granted
Ink-jet printing apparatus, method of filling liquid in ink-jet head thereof, apparatus for manufacturing micro-array and method of filling liquid in ejection head thereof
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsFumio Takagi, Ryuichi Kurosawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a method of filling an ink-jet head of an ink-jet type printing apparatus with a liquid stored in an ink cartridge or in a reservoir tank, the head is filled up to the tip of nozzles by bringing a suction cap into close contact with a nozzle opening face of the ink-jet head via a gas-permeable filters and drawing the air inside the suction caps with a pump.
Claims4
An apparatus for manufacturing a micro-array, comprising:
- a carriage that is movable in at least one direction on a stand;
- a plurality of cartridges detachably mounted on the carriage, each cartridge storing a liquid and including an ejection head provided at a tip thereof for ejecting the liquid by an ink-jet method;
- a table supporting a micro-array substrate relative to the carriage to enable manufacturing of a micro-array by ejecting drops of the liquid;
- and
- a suction unit mounted on the stand so as to be raised or lowered while the carriage is in a housing position;
- wherein the suction unit includes:
- a suction cap connected to a pump;
- a gas-permeable filter supported by the suction cap, the gas-permeable filter being contactable with a face of the carriage, said gas permeable filter allowing a gas to pass therethrough and preventing the liquid from passing therethrough;
- and
- an elastic sheet having a plurality of suction holes formed therein interposed between the gas-permeable filter and the suction cap.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.