Patent ID: 6834948
Filing Date: 2004-12-28
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:at least three ink jet heads, each of which ejects ink droplets of a different kind of ink that can be cured by irradiation of energy toward a recording medium; a carriage that is movable, with respect to the recording medium, in a main scanning direction and in a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, with the ink jet heads mounted on the carriage and aligned in the sub scanning direction; a movement generating device that moves the carriage with respect to the recording medium; a print control device that controls the ink jet heads and movement generating device so that the ink droplets ejected from each of the ink jet heads overlap each other on the recording medium, by performing ejection of ink using the ink jet heads while moving the carriage with respect to the recording medium in the main scanning direction, and by moving the recording medium in the sub scanning direction by a predetermined amount with respect to the carriage after every ejection of ink done during one way or two way moving of the carriage in the main scanning direction is performed; and an energy generating device that irradiates the recording medium with energy for curing the ink droplets ejected on the recording medium by the ink jet heads so that each printed portion of the recording medium formed by each of the ink jet heads during one reciprocation of the carriage in the main scanning direction is irradiated, at least once, before another of the ink jet heads ejects the ink droplet to a portion of the recording medium which is the same portion as the printed portion formed by the one of the ink jet heads, wherein the energy generating device has a plurality of individual energy irradiating portions attached so as to always locate at least between each ink jet head.