Method of depriming a printhead with concomitant isolation of ink supply chamber

摘要

A method of depriming a printhead. The method comprises the steps of: (i) providing a printhead having a plurality of nozzles for ejection of ink, an ink inlet and an ink outlet; (ii) providing an ink chamber having an outlet port connected to the ink inlet via an upstream ink line, the ink chamber having an inlet port controlled by a valve; (iii) depriming the printhead by pumping ink from a downstream ink line connected to the ink outlet, through the printhead and into the ink chamber; and (iv) closing the valve when a level of ink in the chamber reaches a predetermined first level, thereby isolating the ink chamber from an ink reservoir in fluid communication with the inlet port.