US-12617199-B2 - Liquid ejecting apparatus and liquid ejecting method

Abstract

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a conveyor for a medium; a carriage configured to move in a carriage movement direction at a position facing the conveyed medium; a head provided on the carriage and including at least one nozzle configured to eject a liquid to the medium in a continuous flow, make the continuous flow into droplets, and cause the droplets to collide with the medium; a liquid storage configured to store the liquid to be sent to the nozzle; and a liquid sending unit configured to send the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle continuously while restricting a pressure fluctuation during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction. A volume of the liquid storage is larger than a volume of the liquid ejected from the nozzle during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction.

Inventors

• Osamu Katsuda
• Hirokazu Sekino

Assignees

• SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20231128

Priority Date

20221129

Claims (10)

1. 1 . A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a conveyor configured to convey a medium in a conveyance direction; a carriage configured to move in a carriage movement direction intersecting the conveyance direction at a position facing the medium conveyed in the conveyance direction; a head provided on the carriage and including at least one nozzle configured to eject a liquid to the medium in a continuous flow, make the continuous flow into droplets, and cause the droplets to collide with the medium; a liquid storage configured to store the liquid to be sent to the nozzle; and a liquid sending unit configured to send the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle continuously while restricting a pressure fluctuation within a predetermined pressure range during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction, wherein a volume of the liquid storage is larger than a volume of the liquid ejected from the nozzle during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction, the liquid sending unit sends the liquid to the nozzle by a piston moving in the liquid storage in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction, and the piston moves only in one of the first direction and the second direction during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction.
2. 2 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the piston is moved by using an air pressure.
3. 3 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid sending unit switches movement of the piston between movement in the first direction and movement in the second direction for each one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction.
4. 4 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid sending unit switches movement of the piston between movement in the first direction and movement in the second direction every plurality of times of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction.
5. 5 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of the carriages.
6. 6 . The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein operation timings of the plurality of carriages are synchronized.
7. 7 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the head includes a plurality of the nozzles.
8. 8 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an inner diameter of the nozzle is 150 μm or less.
9. 9 . The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an ejection speed of the liquid ejected from the head is 10 m/s or more.
10. 10 . A liquid ejecting method for a liquid ejecting apparatus, the liquid ejecting apparatus including a conveyor configured to convey a medium in a conveyance direction, a carriage configured to move in a carriage movement direction intersecting the conveyance direction at a position facing the medium conveyed in the conveyance direction, a head provided on the carriage and including at least one nozzle configured to eject a liquid to the medium in a continuous flow, make the continuous flow into droplets, and cause the continuous flow to collide with the medium in a form of droplets, a liquid storage configured to store the liquid to be sent to the nozzle, and a liquid sending unit configured to send the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle continuously, the liquid ejecting method comprising: using the liquid storage whose volume is larger than a volume of the liquid ejected from the nozzle during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction; and when the liquid is ejected from the nozzle, continuously sending the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle by the liquid sending unit while restricting a pressure fluctuation within a predetermined pressure range during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction, wherein the liquid sending unit sends the liquid to the nozzle by a piston moving in the liquid storage in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction, and the piston moves only in one of the first direction and the second direction during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction.

Description

The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2022-190448, filed Nov. 29, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus and a liquid ejecting method. 2. Related Art In related art, various types of liquid ejecting apparatuses for ejecting a liquid to an object are used. Among such liquid ejecting apparatuses, there is a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of ejecting a liquid in a continuous flow, making the continuous flow into droplets, and causing the continuous flow to collide with an object in a form of droplets. For example, JP-A-2022-109418 discloses a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of cleaning or crushing an object with a liquid in a form of droplets having a high cleaning effect or crushing effect in consideration of a liquid droplet formation distance at which a continuous flow of the liquid is converted into droplets. However, in a liquid ejecting apparatus in the related art that is capable of ejecting a liquid in a continuous flow, making the continuous flow into droplets, and causing the continuous flow to collide with an object in the form of droplets as described in JP-A-2022-109418, depending on a configuration of a liquid sending unit such as a pump used for ejecting the liquid, pulsation may occur in the liquid being sent and unevenness may occur in a liquid sending pressure. When the unevenness occurs in the liquid sending pressure, unevenness also occurs in the ejection of the liquid, and unevenness may occur in the cleaning or crushing of the object. SUMMARY A liquid ejecting apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure for solving the above problem includes: a conveyor configured to convey a medium in a conveyance direction; a carriage configured to move in a carriage movement direction intersecting the conveyance direction at a position facing the medium conveyed in the conveyance direction; a head provided on the carriage and including at least one nozzle configured to eject a liquid to the medium in a continuous flow, make the continuous flow into droplets, and cause the continuous flow to collide with the medium in a form of droplets; a liquid storage configured to store the liquid to be sent to the nozzle; and a liquid sending unit configured to send the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle continuously while restricting a pressure fluctuation within a predetermined pressure range during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction. A volume of the liquid storage is larger than a volume of the liquid ejected from the nozzle during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction. A liquid ejecting method according to an aspect of the present disclosure for solving the above problem is a liquid ejecting method for a liquid ejecting apparatus. The liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a conveyor configured to convey a medium in a conveyance direction; a carriage configured to move in a carriage movement direction intersecting the conveyance direction at a position facing the medium conveyed in the conveyance direction; a head provided on the carriage and including at least one nozzle configured to eject a liquid to the medium in a continuous flow, make the continuous flow into droplets, and cause the continuous flow to collide with the medium in a form of droplets; a liquid storage configured to store the liquid to be sent to the nozzle; and a liquid sending unit configured to send the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle continuously. The liquid ejecting method includes: using the liquid storage whose volume is larger than a volume of the liquid ejected from the nozzle during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction; and when the liquid is ejected from the nozzle, continuously sending the liquid in the liquid storage to the nozzle by the liquid sending unit while restricting a pressure fluctuation within a predetermined pressure range during one time of movement of the carriage in the carriage movement direction. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a liquid ejecting apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a liquid supply path of the liquid ejecting apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which a liquid is ejected to a conveyed medium using the liquid ejecting apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a liquid sending unit of the liquid ejecting apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a state in which the liquid is ejected to the conveyed medium while a carriage is moving in a forward path by using the liquid ejecting apparatus in FIG. 1, and a state of the liquid sending unit, in comparison with each other. FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a state in wh