US 12,304,217 B2
Image forming apparatus
Satoru Osawa, Hachioji (JP)
Assigned to KONICA MINOLTA, INC., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Konica Minolta, Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Filed on May 22, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/321,362.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-089656 (JP), filed on Jun. 1, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0391102 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. B41J 2/175 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 2/17596 (2013.01) [B41J 2/17503 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a main tank that stores ink;
a first storage tank that stores the ink supplied from the main tank;
an ink head that ejects the ink;
a first supply channel for supplying the ink from the main tank to the first storage tank;
a second supply channel for supplying the ink from the first storage tank to the ink head;
a heating section that is provided between the main tank and the first storage tank in the first supply channel and heats the ink; and
a circulation channel for returning the ink in the second supply channel to a part, located between the main tank and the heating section, of the first supply channel,
wherein the ink contains a plurality of wax components differing from each other in melting point, and
at least a part of the first supply channel has a temperature of more than or equal to a first temperature that is a melting point of a first wax component lowest in melting point among the plurality of wax components, and less than a second temperature that is a melting point of a second wax component highest in melting point among the plurality of wax components.