Liquid ejection head and image forming apparatus comprising same

A liquid ejection head, comprising:

• nozzles which eject droplets of liquid containing a volatile solvent and are arranged on a nozzle face;
• an air outlet which supplies an air flow containing a vapor of the volatile solvent and is arranged on an upstream side in the air flow with respect to the nozzle face;
• an air inlet which recovers the air flow containing the vapor of the volatile solvent supplied from the air outlet and is arranged on the downstream side in the air flow with respect to the nozzle face;
• and
• an air flow circulation mechanism including a circulation device which resupplies, from the air outlet, the air flow containing the vapor of the volatile solvent recovered through the air inlet, wherein:
• a direction of the air flow containing the vapor of the volatile solvent with respect to the nozzle face is same with a direction in which a recording medium which receives recording by the liquid ejection head moves with respect to the liquid ejection head;
• and
• a relative speed of the air flow containing the vapor of the volatile solvent with respect to the liquid ejection head, at an interface between the air flow containing the vapor of the volatile solvent and an air flow generated by a relative movement of the recording medium with respect to the liquid ejection head, is within 50% through 120% of a relative speed of the recording medium with respect to the liquid ejection head.