Droplet ejecting apparatus, remover deterioration determining method for droplet ejecting apparatus, and storage medium

1 . A droplet ejecting apparatus comprising:

a liquid feed pump that is provided in a liquid channel between a liquid storage to store liquid and a droplet ejector to eject liquid, and feeds out the liquid in the liquid storage to the droplet ejector;

a remover that is located in the liquid channel and removes a foreign substance in liquid; and

a hardware processor that:

sets, using a pressure generator, a pressure on an upstream side in a liquid feeding direction of the remover to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side in the liquid feeding direction to form a pressure difference in a state that the liquid channel is closed;

acquires, from a measure, information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in the liquid channel when the liquid channel is opened after the pressure difference is formed; and

determines deterioration of the remover based on the acquired information.

2 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure generator is a pump that adjusts a pressure value in the liquid storage.

3 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein

the liquid storage includes an upstream liquid storage provided on the upstream side in the liquid feeding direction of the remover, and

the pressure generator is an air pressure pump that pressurizes an inside of the upstream liquid storage.

4 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein

the liquid storage includes a downstream liquid storage provided on the downstream side in the liquid feeding direction of the remover, and

the pressure generator is a back pressure pump that depressurizes an inside of the downstream liquid storage.

5 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the back pressure pump depressurizes a pressure value inside the downstream liquid storage to a value in a range from −1 kPa to −3 kPa.

6 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the hardware processor acquires, from the measure, information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in a second channel branched from a downstream side of the remover in a conveyance direction in a first channel, which is the liquid channel passing through the remover.

7 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid feed pump is a diaphragm pump.

8 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the measure measures a change amount of a liquid level height of the liquid storage.

9 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the measure includes a float that generates a magnetic field in response to rise and fall of a liquid level, and a magnetic sensor that measures a magnetic flux density of the magnetic field.

10 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein a magnetic body is provided in vicinity of the magnetic sensor.

11 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the measure is a flowmeter.

12 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a notifier that is caused by the hardware processor to issue a warning in response to determination that the remover is deteriorated.

13 . The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid feed pump is provided in the liquid channel between the liquid storage, which is configured to receive liquid from a main tank, and a second liquid storage, which is configured to feed the liquid to the droplet ejector, and

the remover is located in the liquid channel between the liquid storage and the second liquid storage.

14 . A non-transitory storage medium storing a computer readable program for a computer in a droplet ejecting apparatus including: a liquid feed pump that is provided in a liquid channel between a liquid storage to store liquid and a droplet ejector to eject liquid, and feeds out the liquid in the liquid storage to the droplet ejector; and a remover that is located in the liquid channel and removes a foreign substance in liquid, the program causing the computer to perform:

setting, using a pressure generator, a pressure on an upstream side in a liquid feeding direction of the remover to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side in the liquid feeding direction to form a pressure difference in a state that the liquid channel is closed;

acquiring, from a measure, information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in the liquid channel when the liquid channel is opened after the pressure difference is formed; and

determining deterioration of the remover based on the acquired information.

15 . A remover deterioration determining method for a droplet ejecting apparatus including: a liquid feed pump that is provided in a liquid channel between a liquid storage to store liquid and a droplet ejector to eject liquid, and feeds out the liquid in the liquid storage to the droplet ejector; and a remover that is located in the liquid channel and removes a foreign substance in liquid, the method comprising:

setting, using a pressure generator, a pressure on an upstream side in a liquid feeding direction of the remover to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side in the liquid feeding direction to form a pressure difference in a state that the liquid channel is closed;

acquiring, from a measure, information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in the liquid channel when the liquid channel is opened after the pressure difference is formed; and

determining deterioration of the remover based on the acquired information.