The present invention provides an inkjet recording device capable of automatically cleaning the head tip and a cleaning method for inkjet recording apparatus.

An inkjet recording apparatus has a printhead that receives a supply of ink and prints, a main unit that supplies said ink to said printhead, and a cleaning unit that has a cleaning tank into which said entire printhead is inserted and injects a cleaning solution from a cleaning nozzle to said printhead for cleaning. The cleaning unit has a cleaning nozzle that sprays cleaning liquid into the cleaning tank and a cleaning base section that has a housing section that accommodates the tip of the printhead and allows said cleaning liquid to flow into the housing section. The cleaning liquid is allowed to flow into the housing section to clean the tip of the printhead.

A recording apparatus includes: a plurality of medium containing units that is provided along a vertical direction and contains a medium before recording; a liquid ejecting head that performs recording by ejecting liquid toward the medium; and at least one liquid containing unit that contains the liquid; wherein the plurality of medium containing units includes a first medium containing unit located at an uppermost position, and a second medium containing unit located below the first medium containing unit, a size of the first medium containing unit in a medium feeding-out direction, in which the medium is fed out, is smaller than a size of the second medium containing unit in the medium feeding-out direction, and the at least one liquid containing unit is provided above the second medium containing unit in such a way as to overlap with the first medium containing unit in the vertical direction.

A recording apparatus includes: a plurality of medium containing units that is provided along a vertical direction and contains a medium before recording; a liquid ejecting head that performs recording by ejecting liquid toward the medium; and at least one liquid containing unit that contains the liquid; wherein the plurality of medium containing units includes a first medium containing unit located at an uppermost position, and a second medium containing unit located below the first medium containing unit, a size of the first medium containing unit in a medium feeding-out direction, in which the medium is fed out, is smaller than a size of the second medium containing unit in the medium feeding-out direction, and the at least one liquid containing unit is provided above the second medium containing unit in such a way as to overlap with the first medium containing unit in the vertical direction.

A continuous inkjet printer (5) having a printhead (7) that includes first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9), each operable to generate a stream (10) of ink droplets, and a common gutter (11) arranged to receive unprinted ink droplets from the first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9), the printer (5) further including control means configured to determine receipt into the common gutter (11) of ink droplets from the first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9), wherein the control means are operable to use a single sensor (17) to determine receipt into the common gutter (11) of ink droplets from one, both, or neither of the first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9).

A continuous inkjet printer (5) having a printhead (7) that includes first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9), each operable to generate a stream (10) of ink droplets, and a common gutter (11) arranged to receive unprinted ink droplets from the first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9), the printer (5) further including control means configured to determine receipt into the common gutter (11) of ink droplets from the first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9), wherein the control means are operable to use a single sensor (17) to determine receipt into the common gutter (11) of ink droplets from one, both, or neither of the first and second ink droplet generators (8, 9).

An ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink container in which ink to be used to perform printing on a print target is stored, a nozzle which is connected to the ink container and from which pressurized and supplied ink is jetted, charging electrodes that charge ink particles jetted from the nozzle with electricity, deflecting electrodes that polarize the ink particles charged with electricity by the charging electrodes, a gutter that recovers ink not used for printing, a solvent container in which a solvent is stored, and a liquid nozzle which is connected to the solvent container and from which a pressurized and supplied solvent is jetted. The liquid nozzle includes a liquid flow passage portion that extends from the nozzle in a direction of the gutter, and a liquid jet hole that is formed at an angle allowing the pressurized and supplied solvent to hit the nozzle through the liquid flow passage portion.

An ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink container in which ink to be used to perform printing on a print target is stored, a nozzle which is connected to the ink container and from which pressurized and supplied ink is jetted, charging electrodes that charge ink particles jetted from the nozzle with electricity, deflecting electrodes that polarize the ink particles charged with electricity by the charging electrodes, a gutter that recovers ink not used for printing, a solvent container in which a solvent is stored, and a liquid nozzle which is connected to the solvent container and from which a pressurized and supplied solvent is jetted. The liquid nozzle includes a liquid flow passage portion that extends from the nozzle in a direction of the gutter, and a liquid jet hole that is formed at an angle allowing the pressurized and supplied solvent to hit the nozzle through the liquid flow passage portion.

A printing apparatus comprises: a print head comprising, for each of a plurality of types of inks, an ejection opening and pressure chamber, and configured to perform printing operation by ejecting the ink from the ejection opening; a circulation unit capable of circulating the ink of each ink type; a determination unit configured to determine an accumulated time for which a first type of ink is circulated by the circulation unit in the printing operation using the first type of ink and not using a second type of ink different from the first type of ink; and a control unit configured to perform control based on the determined accumulated time to cause the circulation unit to circulate at least the second type of ink among the plurality of types of inks in a case where the accumulated time is longer than a predetermined time.

A liquid ejecting apparatus including a liquid ejecting portion that ejects a liquid in a pressure chamber from a nozzle that communicates with the pressure chamber, a liquid supply flow path that supplies the liquid stored in a liquid storing portion to the liquid ejecting portion, a degas module provided in the liquid supply flow path, a vacuum degree adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a vacuum degree of the degas module, a state detecting mechanism configured to detect a state inside the pressure chamber, and a control portion that drives and controls the vacuum degree adjustment mechanism based on a detecting result of the state detecting mechanism.

The idle operation is performed before time t1. The supply amount of the ink from the main tank 95 to the collection sub-tank 92 can be increased with the passage of time while the supply of the ink from the main tank 95 to the collection sub-tank 92 is continued before and after a transition to the print starting operation from the idle operation. Therefore, it is possible to deal with the start of ink discharge from the discharge head H. That is, the ink is already supplied to the collection sub-tank 92 by the supply pump 962 before the start of printing, and the start of ink discharge can be dealt with by increasing the ink supply amount. Therefore, the ink can be stably discharged by suppressing an output variation of the circulation pump 93 at the start of printing.