LIQUID EJECTING APPARATUS

Abstract

A liquid ejecting apparatus including an ejecting head that ejects a liquid from at least one row of nozzles of the ejecting head to an object, a capping unit that caps a nozzle-formed surface of the ejecting head, a suction unit that suctions a space in the capping unit, a detector that, when a liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a different liquid, detects a characteristic of the different liquid and/or a characteristic of the liquid ejected by the ejecting head, and a controller that performs determination of a level of the detection and control of suction of the suction unit on the basis of a result of the determination.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an ink jet printer main unit in a first embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are illustrations of a switching valve.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a recording-head flow-path structure.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the ink jet printer main unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are illustrations of a detector.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are illustrations of a missing dot detection mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a system configuration.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a first example of a liquid switching process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a missing dot detecting process.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a second example of the liquid switching process.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are illustrations of a detector in a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a system configuration in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an illustration of a specific example of a detector in a third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram showing a system configuration in the third embodiment.

Claims

1. A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: an ejecting head that ejects a liquid from at least one row of nozzles to an object;a capping unit that caps a nozzle-formed surface of the ejecting head;a suction unit that suctions a space in the capping unit;a detector that detects a characteristic of a different liquid and/or a characteristic of the liquid ejected by the ejecting head when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a different liquid; anda controller that performs a determination of a liquid switching level on based on the a result of detection by the detector and controls an amount of suction by the suction unit depending on a result of the determination.

2. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a liquid in a supply flow path of the liquid ejecting apparatus in which the liquid supplied to the ejecting head flows.

3. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a liquid ejected from an outermost row of nozzles among the rows of nozzles of the ejecting head.

4. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a liquid from an outermost nozzle in each row of nozzles of the ejecting head.

5. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a mark formed such that the liquid ejected by the ejecting head reaches the object.

6. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of liquid supply units that supply liquids to the ejecting head; anda switching unit that switches each liquid supplied to the ejecting head by selecting a predetermined liquid supply unit from among the plurality of liquid supply units,wherein the controller executes determination of a switching level of the liquid and control of suction when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched by the switching unit.

7. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the controller executes the determination of the switching level of the liquid and the control of suction when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a recording ink by the switching unit.

8. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the controller executes no determination of the switching level of the liquid and no control of suction, when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a functional liquid different from the recording ink by the switching unit.

9. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit executes the determination of the switching level of the liquid and the control of suction, when an operation of recording to the object is executed after the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched by the switching unit.

10. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit executes no determination of the switching level of the liquid and no control of suction when a functional operation different from an operation of recording to the object is executed after the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched by the switching unit.

11. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit executes a defective ejection detecting operation for detecting a nozzle defective in ejection by performing trial ejection from all the nozzles and executes a nozzle recovery operation when a nozzle defective in ejection is detected.

12. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit executes the defective ejection detecting operation when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a recording ink by the switching unit.

13. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit executes no defective ejection detecting operation when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a functional liquid different from a recording ink by the switching unit.

14. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit executes the defective ejection detecting operation when an operation of recording to the object is executed after the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched by the switching unit.

15. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit executes no defective ejection detecting operation when a functional operation different from an operation of recording to the object is executed after the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched by the switching unit.

16. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the liquid switching level for a characteristic value of the liquid detected by the detector includes a plurality of threshold levels set by the control unit, and the control unit controls suction to be performed in a plurality of suction mode levels depending on the plurality of threshold levels.

17. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit executes a defective ejection detecting operation for detecting a nozzle defective in ejection by performing trial ejection from all the nozzles before an operation of recording to the object is executed and after switching of the supplied liquid and the determination of the liquid switching level and the control of suction are executed.

18. A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: an ejecting head that ejects a liquid from at least one row of nozzles to an object;a capping unit that caps a nozzle-formed surface of the ejecting head;a suction unit that suctions a space in the capping unit;a plurality of liquid supply units that supply liquids to the ejecting head; anda switching unit that switches each liquid supplied to the ejecting head by selecting a predetermined liquid supply unit from among the plurality of liquid supply units,a detector that detects a characteristic of a different liquid and/or a characteristic of the liquid ejected by the ejecting head when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched to a different liquid; anda controller that performs a determination of a liquid switching level on based on the a result of detection by the detector when the liquid supplied to the ejecting head is switched by the switching unit, and controls an amount of suction by the suction unit by setting a plurality of threshold values relating to the characteristic value of the liquid and applying suction mode values depending on the plurality of threshold values.

19. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a liquid in a supply flow path of the liquid ejecting apparatus in which the liquid supplied to the ejecting head flows.

20. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a liquid ejected from an outermost row of nozzles among the rows of nozzles of the ejecting head.

21. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a liquid from an outermost nozzle in each row of nozzles of the ejecting head.

22. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the detector detects a characteristic of a mark formed such that the liquid ejected by the ejecting head reaches the object.