Patent ID: 8485635
Filing Date: 2013-07-16
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A method to regenerate during operation ink in nozzles of at least one inkjet print head operating according to drop on demand in an inkjet print apparatus, comprising the steps of: activating nozzles of said print head that generate print dots on a printing substrate such that the nozzles output first ink droplets of a predetermined volume in a direction towards the printing substrate; activating nozzles that are not being currently used to generate print dots on the printing substrate such that they output at least one second ink droplet of smaller volume in comparison to the volume of the first ink droplets; generating during at least said outputting of said second ink droplet a suction flow between the inkjet print head and the printing substrate of such strength that the second ink droplet is deflected so that the second ink droplet does not arrive at the printing substrate; and wherein print pauses for each nozzle are determined from a data stream for the inkjet print head that maps a print image, and if the print pause for the nozzle exceeds a predetermined value said nozzle is activated to output said at least one second ink droplet.