Liquid discharge apparatus and liquid circulation method

摘要

Disclosed herein is a liquid discharge apparatus including a transporting unit to transport a medium, a storage unit to store liquid, a head unit to discharge the liquid onto the medium, a plurality of supply flow paths to supply the liquid from the storage unit to the head unit, a plurality of bypass flow paths, and a controller that causes alternately to repeat a transport operation which transports the medium by the transporting unit and a liquid discharge operation which discharges the liquid from the head unit, thereby to form an image on the medium, and to circulate, when the liquid is not discharged during execution of the image forming process, the liquid within a circulation flow path constituted only by the supply flow paths and the bypass flow paths among the storage unit, the head unit, the supply flow paths, and the bypass flow paths.

主权项

1. A liquid discharge apparatus comprising:
a transporting unit to transport a medium; a storage unit to store liquid; a head unit to discharge the liquid onto the medium; a plurality of supply flow paths to supply the liquid from the storage unit to the head unit; a plurality of bypass flow paths laid between the supply flow paths which are different from one another; and a controller configured to: perform a transport operation that causes the transporting unit to transport the medium; perform a liquid discharge operation that causes the head unit to discharge the liquid onto the medium to thereby form an image on the medium; and when the liquid is not being discharged onto the medium during the discharge operation, circulate the liquid within a closed-loop circulation flow path that is formed by the supply flow paths and the bypass flow paths only, such that when circulating in the closed-loop circulating flow path, the liquid substantially only circulates in the supply flow paths and the bypass flow paths.