Patent ID: 8864285

Claim:
A system for cleaning a nozzleplate of a printhead in an inkjet printing system, the system comprising: a first surface underneath and parallel to the nozzleplate at a distance D 1 from the nozzleplate; a first slit in the first surface to provide, under a first pressure P 1 larger than atmospheric pressure, a first laminar flow of cleaning fluid between the first surface and the nozzleplate of the printhead; a brush on the first surface to brush the nozzleplate and through which the first laminar flow of cleaning fluid passes to remove debris from the nozzleplate; a second slit in the first surface to drain a first portion of the first laminar flow of the cleaning fluid by a second pressure P 2 that is lower than the atmospheric pressure; a mechanism to move the system parallel to the nozzleplate of the printhead to provide a brushing action; a pretensioning system to push the brush against the nozzleplate of the printhead; a second surface underneath and parallel to the nozzleplate at a distance D 2 from the nozzleplate, wherein the distance D 2 is smaller than the distance D 1 ; and a third slit in the second surface that is raised with regard to the first surface to drain a second portion of the first laminar flow of the cleaning fluid by a third pressure P 3 which is lower than the second pressure P 2 .