To provide a cleaning device of a printing head which is capable of reducing the quantity of ink required for cleaning or reducing the time of cleaning.
The cleaning device of a printing head comprises a nozzle detecting mechanism 51 for detecting the ink ejection state of each nozzle of a printing head in which a plurality of nozzles capable of ejecting ink liquid drops are arranged, and a control part 60 having a nozzle group ejection function 61 of having ink droplets ejected collectively from a nozzle which is included in the nozzle group by dividing a plurality of nozzles of the printing head into a plurality of nozzle groups, a nozzle group recognizing function 62 of recognizing whether or not a defected nozzle is included in the nozzle group based on the total sum output value of the nozzle group, and a nozzle specifying function 63 for specifying the deflective nozzle by further dividing the nozzle group and repeating the nozzle group ejecting function 61 and the nozzle group recognizing function 62 in the case inclusion of a defected nozzle in the nozzle group is recognized.
COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT
NISHIOKA ATSUSHI
KAWAKAMI HIDEKI
Tomo Hayashi
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