Patent ID: 7125099
Filing Date: 2006-10-24
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising a head including a plurality of liquid ejecting parts juxtaposed to array nozzles in line, wherein each of the liquid ejecting parts includes: a liquid chamber containing liquid to be ejected; bubble generating means provided in the liquid chamber to generate a bubble in the liquid inside the liquid chamber by the supply of energy; and nozzle forming member that forms the nozzles for ejecting the liquid in the liquid chamber in response to the generation of the bubble by the bubble generating means, wherein the liquid ejecting apparatus applies droplets ejected from the nozzles in the liquid ejecting parts onto a droplet landing object that moves relative to the head in a direction perpendicular to the array direction of the nozzles, wherein the bubble generating means includes a plurality of bubble generating means juxtaposed in the liquid chamber at least in the direction perpendicular to the array direction of the nozzles, and wherein the liquid ejecting apparatus further comprises: ejecting-direction changing means for changing the ejecting direction of the droplets ejected from the nozzles to a plurality of different directions along the direction perpendicular to the array direction of the nozzles by supplying the energy to at least one and at least another one of the plurality of bubble generating means, which are juxtaposed in the direction perpendicular to the array direction of the nozzles in the liquid chamber, in different manners; time-difference ejection means for controlling ejection of droplets from a first liquid ejecting part, of the plurality of liquid ejecting parts, and a second liquid ejecting part different from the first liquid ejecting part so that a droplet is ejected from the second liquid ejecting part when a predetermined time elapses after a droplet is ejected from the first liquid ejecting part; and ejecting-direction control means for controlling the ejection of the droplets from the first liquid ejecting part and the second liquid ejecting part by the time-difference ejection means so that the ejecting direction of the droplet ejected from the first liquid ejecting part and the ejecting direction of the droplet ejected from the second ejecting part are made different by using the ejecting-direction changing means, and so that the distance between the landing position of the droplet ejected from the first liquid ejecting part and the landing position of the droplet ejected from the second liquid ejecting part in the direction perpendicular to the array direction of the nozzles is shorter than a relative moving distance for which the head and the droplet landing object relatively move from when the droplet ejected from the first liquid ejecting part lands to when the droplet ejected from the second liquid ejecting part lands.