A liquid ejection apparatus has a liquid ejection head that has nozzles for ejecting liquid, a liquid container that has a liquid replenishing port through which the liquid is replenished from the outside, a plug member that can close the liquid replenishing port by being positioned at a closing position and open the liquid replenishing port by being positioned at an open position, a carriage configured to arrange the liquid ejection head and the liquid container, a cap configured to cap the nozzles so as to cover the nozzles, and a control unit, assuming that a state where the nozzles are covered by the cap is a capping state and a state where the nozzles are not covered by the cap is a non-capping state, configured to bring the nozzles and the cap into the non-capping state before removing the external container from the liquid replenishing port.

In an example, a printhead maintenance apparatus includes a pump, a current monitor and processing circuitry. The pump may be provided to increase a pressure in a printhead, and the current monitor may monitor a current consumption of the pump. The processing circuitry may determine a rate of change of current consumption of the pump, and compare the rate of change of current consumption to a predetermined threshold.

A liquid ejecting head having a plurality of nozzles ejecting a liquid toward a medium, the head includes a first region including the plurality of nozzles and a second region surrounding the first region, the first and second regions being provided in a portion of the liquid ejecting head opposed to the medium in which the second region has an inhibiting portion inhibiting a movement of the liquid.

An inkjet head includes a nozzle plate substrate having a nozzle for ejecting ink toward a recording medium, and an oil repellent layer on a surface of the nozzle plate substrate, the surface facing the recording medium. The oil repellent layer comprises a fluorine-based compound in which neighboring molecules are cross-linked in a direction parallel to the surface, and cross-links of the neighboring molecules are resistant to structural change when subjected to rubbing by an ink wiping blade.

The ink jet recording method, which uses an ink jet recording apparatus, including: a first ink and a second ink containing a pigment; and a recording head having an ejection orifice surface in which a first ejection orifice array for ejecting the first ink and a second ejection orifice array for ejecting the second ink are formed, wherein the first ejection orifice array and the second ejection orifice array are sequentially arranged from the bottom in the direction of gravity to be adjacent to each other and arranged to at least partially overlap each other, includes: a recording step, wherein a true specific gravity of the pigment in the first ink is smaller than a true specific gravity of the pigment in the second ink.

A head cleaning mechanism includes a recording head and a wiper. The recording head includes an ink ejection face provided with an ink ejection region in which a plurality of ink ejection openings for ejecting ink onto a recording medium are open. The wiper wipes the ink ejection face in a predetermined direction. The ink ejection face has, downstream of the ink ejection region in the wiping direction, an elevated portion extending in the head width direction perpendicular to the wiping direction. The elevated portion includes an upstream side inclined face which inclines downward from the ink ejection face to the downstream side in the wiping direction, and a downstream face which is arranged downstream of the upstream side inclined face in the wiping direction and which faces the downstream side in the wiping direction.

A head cleaning mechanism includes a recording head and a wiper. The recording head includes an ink ejection face having an ink ejection region where a plurality of ink ejection openings for ejecting ink onto a recording medium are open. The wiper wipes the ink ejection face in a predetermined direction. The ink ejection face has, downstream of the ink ejection region in the wiping direction, a depressed portion extending in the head width direction perpendicular to the wiping direction. The depressed portion includes an upstream side inclined face which inclines upward from the ink ejection face to the downstream side in the wiping direction, and a downstream side inclined face which is arranged downstream of the upstream side inclined face in the wiping direction and which inclines downward to the downstream side in the wiping direction.

An inkjet printing system, including an inlet in a print head to receive ink from an ink supply, a plurality of nozzles to eject ink in the print head, an ink pressure sensor disposed in an ink path, the ink pressure sensor configured to determine an ink pressure of the ink in the print head and output a signal indicating the ink pressure, and a controller in the print head configured to receive and process the signal indicating the ink pressure from the ink pressure sensor. The inkjet printing system may also include a memory to store an ink pressure and time profile. The controller may also output a signal to stop ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles when the ink pressure is either below a negative threshold or above a positive threshold.

An inkjet printing system, including an inlet in a print head to receive ink from an ink supply, a plurality of nozzles to eject ink in the print head, an ink pressure sensor disposed in an ink path, the ink pressure sensor configured to determine an ink pressure of the ink in the print head and output a signal indicating the ink pressure, and a controller in the print head configured to receive and process the signal indicating the ink pressure from the ink pressure sensor. The inkjet printing system may also include a memory to store an ink pressure and time profile. The controller may also output a signal to stop ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles when the ink pressure is either below a negative threshold or above a positive threshold.

A head cleaning mechanism includes a recording head and a wiper. The recording head has an ink ejection surface in which ink ejection ports are opened. The wiper wipes the ink ejection surface. The recording head has a cleaning liquid supply ports disposed on an upstream side of the ink ejection port in a wiping direction, and an inclined surface inclined downward toward a downstream side in the wiping direction, a tip of the wiper being in pressure contact with the inclined surface in the wiping operation. The inclined surface has a pressure contact start position at which the wiper starts the pressure contact in the wiping operation, and a water repellent region formed at least from the pressure contact start position to a position on an upstream side of the cleaning liquid supply port in the wiping direction.