Patent ID: 7901060
Filing Date: 2011-03-08
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. An ink-jet recording apparatus, comprising: a plurality of ink tanks which store a plurality of sorts of inks, respectively; a plurality of tubes which respectively supply the inks stored by the ink tanks; a buffer tank having a plurality of ink-deliver chambers which respectively accommodate the inks supplied from the ink tanks via the tubes; and an ink jet recording head to which the ink-deliver chambers deliver the inks, respectively, and which ejects droplets of the inks toward a recording medium while the buffer tank and the ink-jet recording head are moved relative to the recording medium, wherein the ink-deliver chambers have respective inner spaces, respective ink-flow inlets through which the respective inks supplied via the respective tubes flow into the respective inner spaces, and respective ink-flow outlets through which the respective inks flow from the respective inner spaces into respective ink-deliver passages each of which communicates with the ink-jet recording head, wherein the ink-flow inlet and the ink-flow outlet of each of the ink-deliver chambers are provided at respective positions that are substantially most distant from each other such that almost all portions of the inner space of said each ink-deliver chamber are located between the ink-flow inlet and the ink-flow outlet of said each ink-deliver chamber, wherein the inner space of said each of the ink-deliver chambers is flat along a plane containing a straight line connecting between the ink-flow inlet and the ink-flow outlet of said each ink-deliver chamber, such that respective dimensions of said inner space in a first direction and a second direction that are parallel to said plane and are perpendicular to each other are greater than a dimension thereof in a third direction perpendicular to said plane, wherein the buffer tank includes a plurality of flexible diaphragms each of which defines one surface of the inner space of a corresponding one of the ink-deliver chambers which surface extends parallel to the plane along which the inner space of said one ink-deliver chamber is flat, and wherein the ink-deliver chambers are arranged such that the respective planes along which the respective inner spaces of the ink-deliver chambers are flat are parallel to each other and have respective different positions in the third direction perpendicular to said respective planes.