Liquid Ejecting Apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016167364-A1
Application number	US-201514960688-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 7, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting unit that ejects a liquid supplied through a liquid supply path from a nozzle; a maintenance unit that performs a maintenance operation of the liquid ejecting unit; and an ejection state detecting unit that is able to detect a state inside a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle. The ejection state detecting unit detects a state inside the pressure chamber before the maintenance operation and at least one state inside the pressure chamber during the maintenance operation or after the maintenance operation, and is able to determine malfunction of at least one of the maintenance unit and function units arranged in the liquid supply path based on a change in a state inside the pressure chamber due to the maintenance operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:
a liquid ejecting unit that has a plurality of nozzles from which a liquid supplied from a liquid supply source through a liquid supply path is ejected as a liquid drop, and that ejects a liquid drop from the nozzle to the medium to perform a recording process; a maintenance unit that performs a maintenance operation of the liquid ejecting unit; and an ejection state detecting unit that is able to detect a state inside a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle, wherein the ejection state detecting unit detects a state inside the pressure chamber before the maintenance operation and at least one state inside the pressure chamber during the maintenance operation or after the maintenance operation, and is able to determine malfunction of at least one of the maintenance unit and function units arranged in the liquid supply path based on a change in a state inside the pressure chamber due to the maintenance operation.

2 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein it is determined that at least one of the maintenance unit and the function units malfunctions in a case in which the change in the state inside the pressure chamber means an increase of bubbles inside the pressure chamber.

3 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the maintenance unit includes a moisturizing cap that has a cap section which comes into contact with the liquid ejecting unit and closes a space which the nozzle faces and an air communicating section through which the space communicates with air, and, as the maintenance operation, closes the space with the cap section, and wherein the ejection state detecting unit detects states inside the pressure chamber both before the cap section closes the space and after the cap section, which closes the space, opens the space, and determines that the air communicating section malfunctions in the case in which the change in the state inside the pressure chamber means the increase of bubbles inside the pressure chamber.

4 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the function unit includes a filter that is arranged in the liquid supply path and collects a foreign substance, wherein the maintenance unit causes, as the maintenance operation, the liquid to be ejected from the nozzle, and wherein it is determined that the filter is clogged in a case in which a change between states inside the pressure chamber, which are detected before and after the maintenance operation, means the increase of bubbles inside the pressure chamber.

5 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein it is determined that the filter is clogged in a case in which a passing amount, which means an amount of the liquid passing through the filter, is greater than a threshold value and the change between the states inside the pressure chamber, which are detected before and after the maintenance operation, means the increase of bubbles inside the pressure chamber.

6 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the maintenance unit causes the liquid to be ejected from the nozzle such that an ejection amount from the nozzle per unit time by the maintenance operation is the same as the maximum ejection amount from the nozzle per unit time during the recording process.

7 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the maintenance unit includes a cap section that comes into contact with the liquid ejecting unit and closes a space which the nozzle faces and a maintenance pump which causes the liquid to be discharged from the nozzle by applying a negative pressure to the space, and causes the closed space to be in a state of negative pressure as the maintenance operation, and wherein it is determined that the maintenance unit normally functions in a case in which there is a change between states inside the pressure chamber, which are detected before the maintenance operation and during the maintenance operation.

8 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein, when an actuator which cause a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle to vibrate is driven, the ejection state detecting unit detects a vibration waveform of the vibrating pressure chamber, and thereby detects a state inside the pressure chamber.

9 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 8 ,
wherein the liquid ejecting unit drives the actuator to causes the pressure chamber to vibrate, and thereby causes a liquid drop to be ejected from the nozzle.

10 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein a notification unit urges replacement in a case in which it is determined that at least one of the maintenance unit and the function units malfunctions based on the change in the state inside the pressure chamber.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Matsumoto Keiji
• Nakagawa Shigenori
• Sato Masahiko
• Yamazaki Toshinobu
• Suzuki Toshiyuki
• Yoshida Takeshi

Classifications

• B41J2/0451 Primary

  for detecting failure, e.g. clogging, malfunctioning actuator · CPC title

• B41J2/16579

  Detection means therefor, e.g. for nozzle clogging · CPC title

• B41J2/04588

  using a specific waveform · CPC title

• B41J2/14153

  Structures including a sensor · CPC title

• B41J2/04578

  controlling heads based on electrostatically-actuated membranes · CPC title