Cap and application devices stabilizing ink in nozzles of inkjet printheads

• Main Authors: Levy, Michael J, Liu, Chu-heng, Campbell, Richard A, VanKouwenberg, David A, Clark, Robert A, Hoover, Linn C, Herrmann, Douglas K, Sivaraman, Senthil, McConville, Paul J, Praharaj, Seemit, Dergham, Ali R, Newell, John T, Batchelor, Glenn D, LeFevre, Jason M
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 19.01.2021
• Subjects: CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS; i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; LINING MACHINES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PRINTING; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS; STAMPS; TRANSPORTING; TYPEWRITERS

A cap is positioned to contact a printhead when the printhead is not ejecting liquid ink. The cap and the printhead create a sealed space adjacent printhead nozzles when contacting each other. A flexible blade is positioned to contact the printhead when the printhead is not in contact with the cap. The flexible blade is adapted to fold over to spread a liquid solution on the nozzles in a first direction, and the flexible blade is adapted to remove excess amounts of the liquid solution from the nozzles in a second direction. A humidifier is connected to the cap and adapted to supply a moisture form of the liquid solution to the sealed space. A moisture sensor is connected to the cap. The humidifier is adapted to vary supply of the moisture to the sealed space based on the amount of moisture detected by the moisture sensor.