B41J2/16579

METHOD OF MAINTAINING INKJET PRINTHEAD MENISCUS
20220184959 · 2022-06-16 ·

A container component decorating system has a decorating station (156), a container component handling module (102), a supply of colored inks, and inkjet printheads (124). The decorating station (156) delivers art graphics to container components (14) in a manufacturing queue (22). The inkjet printheads (124) comprise nozzles through which the colored inks are delivered. A flush cycle controller activated a flush cycle of the nozzles to deposit a flush cycle ink pattern (109) on a substrate to restore a meniscus (110) on the nozzles.

Fluid ejection device with nozzle column data groups including drive bubble detect data

A fluid ejection device includes a number of primitives, each receiving a same set of addresses and including a number of ejection chambers, each corresponding to a different address of the set of addresses and including a drive bubble formation mechanism and a drive bubble detect (DBD) mechanism. Input logic receives nozzle column data groups (NCG), each NCG including fire pulse groups (FPG), each FPG including DBD data having an enable value or disable value, and ejection data bits, each ejection data bit corresponding to a different one of the primitives. For each FPG of each NCG, activation logic identifies the FPG as a DBD FPG when the DBD data has the enable value and activates in each primitive the drive bubble formation mechanism and the DBD mechanism identified by the DBD FPG to perform a DBD measurement.

INSPECTION APPARATUS
20220161549 · 2022-05-26 ·

An inspection apparatus is disclosed. The inspection apparatus includes a laser, an optical sensor, and a controller. In operation, the laser outputs at least one laser beam, the optical sensor measures an intensity of the at least one laser beam passing through a lower region adjacent to the inkjet head, and the controller controls an ink ejection from the inkjet head based on the intensity of the at least one laser beam.

PRINTING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD
20220161551 · 2022-05-26 ·

A printing apparatus includes a head including a plurality of nozzles configured to discharge liquid to a medium, an abnormal nozzle detection unit configured to detect an abnormal nozzle having a discharging defect among the plurality of nozzles, a contact detection unit configured to detect contact between the head and the medium, a suction unit configured to perform an ejection operation of ejecting the liquid from the plurality of nozzles, and a control unit. The control unit executes a suction operation when the abnormal nozzle is detected and the contact between the head and the medium is detected, and the control unit executes a printing of complementing the abnormal nozzle when the abnormal nozzle is detected and the contact between the head and the medium is not detected.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL FABRICATING APPARATUS, THREE-DIMENSIONAL FABRICATING METHOD, AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL FABRICATING SYSTEM

A three-dimensional fabricating apparatus includes a discharge head, a detector, a non-contact cleaner, and a controller. The discharge head discharges droplets to fabricate a three-dimensional object. The detector detects a state of the discharge head. The non-contact cleaner cleans the discharge head in a non-contact manner. The controller controls an operation of the three-dimensional fabricating apparatus according to the state of the discharge head detected by the detector after the non-contact cleaner cleans the discharge head.

INKJET PRINTER

A test image printer of an inkjet printer causes a test image, including a mark with a predefined shape and usable to correct an image captured by an image capturing device, and a test pattern usable to inspect a plurality of nozzles, to be printed on a recording medium. An image capture controller controls the image capturing device to capture an image of the test image printed on the recording medium. A corrector compares the image of the mark captured by the image capturing device, to the predefined shape of the mark, to calculate a correction value, and corrects the image of the test pattern, captured by the image capturing device, based on the calculated correction value. An inspector inspects the plurality of nozzles based on the image of the test pattern corrected by the corrector.

METHOD OF CONTROLLING A LIQUID EJECTING DEVICE AND LIQUID EJECTING DEVICE
20230264476 · 2023-08-24 ·

Provided is a method of controlling a liquid ejecting device. The liquid ejecting device includes a liquid ejecting unit configured to eject a liquid containing an inorganic pigment from a nozzle provided at a nozzle surface, a wiper unit including a band-like member configured to absorb the liquid and a pressing unit configured to move the band-like member in a first direction, and a wiper moving unit configured to move the wiper unit in a second direction opposite to the first direction to wipe the nozzle surface using the band-like member. The method includes performing first wiping in which, to wipe the nozzle surface, the wiper moving unit moves the wiper unit at a first velocity while the pressing unit moves the band-like member at a first velocity.

Enhanced print defect detection

Systems and methods are provided for. One embodiment is a system that includes an interface configured to receive an image of media printed on with print data, and memory configured to store defect reference data of nozzles belonging to printheads of a printer. The system also includes a print defect controller configured to detect a nozzle defect in the image based on a comparison of the image with the print data, and to determine a type of the nozzle defect based on a comparison of the nozzle defect with the defect reference data.

IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS
20230256741 · 2023-08-17 ·

A conveying belt has a plurality of flushing openings and a detection hole, and the plurality of flushing openings are arranged in at least two rows along the main scanning direction. Furthermore, the discharge timing controller (a) detects a position of the detection hole in the main scanning direction with a belt sensor, (b) identifies the flushing opening corresponding to the nozzle based on the position of the detected detection hole in the main scanning direction, and (c) causes the print engine to perform flushing of the nozzle at a timing corresponding to the flushing opening.

PRINTING SYSTEM

A printing system is described herein. The printing system has a massive base disposed on a flotation support, a flotation substrate support disposed on the base, a print support comprising a printhead assembly support and an auxiliary support, a printhead assembly coupled to the printhead assembly support, and a printhead supply assembly coupled to the auxiliary support.