Patent ID: 7823997

Claim:
A droplet ejection device, comprising: a carriage which is capable of moving back and forth in a predetermined direction; a droplet ejection head which is mounted on the carriage and has plural nozzles arranged in the predetermined direction which nozzles eject plural types of liquids in the form of droplets; a control unit configured to move the carriage in the predetermined direction, and to cause the droplet ejection head to perform an ordinary ejection operation and a flushing operation, wherein (i) the ordinary ejection operation is an operation of ejecting a droplet from at least one of the nozzles, in an ordinary ejection region within a moveable range of the carriage, and (ii) the flushing operation is an operation of ejecting a droplet from at least one of the nozzles in a flushing region outside the ordinary ejection region; a droplet receiver positioned in the flushing region, which receives a droplet ejected from at least one of the nozzles during the flushing operation, wherein the plural types of liquids ejected in the form of droplets are distinguishable into two or more ranks in terms of how easily solidification occurs after adhering to the droplet receiver; the plural nozzles includes a first nozzle which ejects a droplet of the first liquid and a second nozzle which ejects a droplet of the second liquid which is less solidifiable than the first liquid; the control unit, during the flushing operation, is configured to cause the droplet ejection head to eject a droplet of the first liquid from the first nozzle, cause the carriage to move in the predetermined direction so that a droplet to be ejected from the second nozzle drops onto a part of the droplet receiver having received the droplet from the first nozzle, and then cause the droplet ejection head to eject a droplet of the second liquid from the second nozzle; and among the plural nozzles, the second nozzle is positioned farthest from the ordinary ejection region in the predetermined direction while the droplet ejection head is in the flushing region wherein the surface of a part of the droplet receiver which receives a droplet of the first liquid has higher wettability than that of the surface of a part of the droplet receiver which receives a droplet of the second liquid.