Liquid supply mechanism and image forming apparatus
AssigneeFuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasashi Hiratsuka, Masaki Kataoka, Jun Isozaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A liquid supply mechanism includes: a supply pathway that supplies liquid to a plurality of ejection sections each ejecting the liquid from nozzles; a branching path that is branched off from the supply pathway and through which the liquid circulates; a buffer unit that is disposed in the branching path and that lessens pressure fluctuations occurred in the liquid in the branching path; and a changing unit that changes a pathway to the buffer unit so that the changing unit shuts the pathway to the buffer unit during maintenance for discharging the liquid from the nozzles of the ejection sections. The liquid discharged during the maintenance is greater in quantity than the liquid discharged during normal operation.
Claims10
A liquid supply mechanism comprising:
- a tank that reserves liquid;
- a supply pathway to which the liquid is supplied, the supply pathway supplying the liquid to a plurality of ejection sections each ejecting the liquid from nozzles;
- a branching path that is branched off from the supply pathway and through which the liquid circulates;
- a buffer unit that is disposed in the branching path and that lessens pressure fluctuations occurred in the liquid in the branching path;
- and
- a changing unit that changes a pathway to the buffer unit so that the changing unit shuts the pathway to the buffer unit during maintenance for discharging the liquid from the nozzles of the ejection sections,
- wherein the liquid discharged during the maintenance is greater in quantity than the liquid discharged during normal operation.
A liquid supply mechanism comprising:
- a tank that reserves liquid;
- individual supply pathways that are connected to a plurality of ejection sections ejecting the liquid from nozzles and that supply the liquid to the respective ejection sections;
- a common supply pathway to which the liquid is supplied, the common supply pathway supplying the liquid to the individual supply pathways;
- individual discharge pathways that are connected to the plurality of ejection sections and through which the respective ejection sections discharge the liquid supplied from the individual supply pathways;
- a common discharge pathway to which the individual discharge pathways discharge the liquid;
- a branching path that is branched off at least from the common supply pathway or the common discharge pathway and through which the liquid circulates;
- a buffer unit that is disposed in the branching path and that lessens pressure fluctuations occurred in the liquid in the branching path;
- and
- a changing unit that changes a pathway to the buffer unit so that the changing unit shuts the pathway to the buffer unit during maintenance for discharging the liquid from the nozzles of the ejection section,
- wherein the liquid discharged during the maintenance is greater in quantity than the liquid discharged during normal operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.