The present disclosure relates to a supply liquid tank unit which includes a supply liquid tank for containing liquid to be supplied to recording heads that eject ink to a recording medium such as a paper sheet, and a detection sensor for detecting a liquid level of the liquid in the supply liquid tank. The disclosure also relates to an ink jet recording apparatus including the supply liquid tank unit.
As a recording apparatus such as facsimiles, copiers and printers, ink jet recording apparatuses that eject ink to form images have been widely used by virtue of their capability of high-definition image formation.
With such an ink jet recording apparatus, there may occur deterioration of ink traveling-straightness (curved flies), non-ejection of ink or the like, leading to degraded printing performance of the recording heads. The cause of this could be attributed to foreign matters such as paper powder generated during conveyance of paper sheets (recording medium) as well as dust and dirt, minute ink mist (hereinafter, referred to as mist) discharged along with ink drops for image recording, or to abnormal occurrence of menisci due to deposition of rebounded mist on ink ejection surfaces of the recording heads, the rebounded mist resulting when ink drops are deposited on the recording medium. Further, the cause could also be attributed to deterioration of sealability in a cap-fitted state due to deposition and drying of mist at the cap fitted portion, as well as to resultant occurrence of increases in viscosity of the ink within nozzles.
Accordingly, there has been known an apparatus featuring that, with the aim of cleaning each ink ejection surface of the recording heads, the ink ejection surface, after the supply of cleaning liquid thereto, is wiped off by a wiper while the wiper is holding the cleaning liquid, thereby fulfilling recovery process for the recording heads.
As such an ink jet recording apparatus as described above, there is known an ink jet recording apparatus which includes a cleaning liquid tank, and a detection sensor for detecting a liquid level of cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank, the cleaning liquid tank having an inflow port for allowing inflow of the cleaning liquid and an outflow port for allowing outflow of the cleaning liquid. With this configuration, when the detection sensor has detected a liquid level of the cleaning liquid, the cleaning liquid is additionally supplied (resupplied) through the inflow port by a user or operator.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds