Printer
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorYuichi Kataniwa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printer reduces the amount of ink wastefully consumed by purging bubbles from the ink supply path. The printer has a bubble collection unit 35 that holds bubbles in the ink supply path 21 and has at least two ink paths, a first channel 26 and second channel 27, formed in the ink supply path 21 through which ink flows to the nozzles that eject ink droplets. A bubble detection unit 37 detects if the amount of bubbles in the bubble collection unit 35 has reached a specific level. A bubble discharge unit 41 discharges bubbles from the bubble collection unit 35 based on the detection result from the bubble detection unit 37. When the bubble detection unit 37 discharge bubbles from the bubble collection unit 35, ink flows through both the first path and the second path. When printing on a print medium, ink only flows through the first path.
Claims7
A printer comprising:
- a nozzle that ejects ink droplets;
- a bubble holding unit that is formed in an ink supply path through which ink supplied to the nozzle passes and holds bubbles in the ink supply path;
- a bubble detection unit that detects a amount of bubbles in the bubble holding unit reaches a specific level;
- and
- a bubble discharge unit that discharges bubbles from the bubble holding unit based on the detection result from the bubble detection unit;
- wherein at least two paths including a first path and a second path through which ink supplied to the nozzle are formed in parallel in the ink supply path,
- the ink flows through both the first path and the second path when the bubble discharge unit purges bubbles from the bubble holding unit, and
- the ink flows only through the first path when printing to a print medium.
A printer comprising:
- a nozzle that ejects ink droplets;
- a bubble holding unit that is formed in an ink supply path through which ink supplied to the nozzle passes and holds bubbles in the ink supply path;
- and
- a bubble discharge unit that discharges bubbles from the bubble holding unit;
- wherein at least two paths including a first path and a second path through which ink supplied to the nozzle are formed in parallel in the ink supply path,
- the ink flows through both the first path and the second path when the bubble discharge unit purges bubbles from the bubble holding unit, and
- the ink flows only through the first path when printing to a print medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.