| CPC B41J 2/18 (2013.01) | 10 Claims |
|
10. An ink circulation system comprising:
a supply tank that stores ink and in which air pressure inside the supply tank is kept under a positive pressure or a negative pressure;
a return tank that stores ink and in which air pressure inside the return tank is kept under a negative pressure;
a first connecting pipe that connects the supply tank and the return tank and that transfers ink stored in the supply tank to the return tank;
a second connecting pipe that connects the return tank and the supply tank and that returns ink stored in the return tank to the supply tank;
a head that is interposed in the first connecting pipe and capable of ejecting ink, the head having a nozzle and an inkjet element that causes the nozzle to eject ink;
a pressure-difference producer having a first pressure tank that communicates with the supply tank and a second pressure tank that communicates with the return tank, the pressure-different producer being configured to send ink from the supply tank to the return tank through the first connecting pipe by changing pressures in the first pressure tank and the second pressure tank, respectively, to produce an air pressure difference between the supply tank and the return tank;
an ejection-amount predictor that predicts an amount of ink to be ejected at a time to come after a present time from the head; and
a pressure controller that controls an amount of ink to be supplied from the supply tank to the head by executing feedforward control that adjusts the air pressure difference by controlling the pressure-difference producer, wherein the feedforward control adjusts the air pressure difference at timing that depend on fluctuation in a predicted amount of ink to be ejected, predicted by the ejection-amount predictor.
|