| 摘要 |
A maintenance device has a plurality of (four) caps each of which seals a nozzle forming surface of one of nozzle rows, which are divided from nozzles of a recording head in correspondence with ink colors. A selection unit is accommodated in a holder that supports the caps. The selection unit switches each of a plurality of passage valves corresponding to the caps received in valve units independently from the other passage valves. Negative pressure generated by a suction pump is supplied only to those of the caps corresponding to the open ones of the passage valves (suction passage valves). A controller controls operation of the selection unit by controlling rotation of an electric motor in accordance with a detection result of a defective nozzle. Specifically, the controller operates to open only one of the passage valves corresponding to the cap that seals the nozzle row including the defective nozzle.
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