Patent attributes
Inkjet printer apparatus includes a pressure-regulated tank having an inlet connected to an ink reservoir, and an outlet connected to a printhead including nozzles for discharging continuous streams of ink drops towards a substrate for printing thereon and gutters for intercepting the ink drops not to be printed. The apparatus further includes a bypass line between the tank outlet and the ink reservoir, a bypass control valve for controlling the flow rate via the bypass line enabling the flow rate to be preset during draining of the tank, and a pump controllable to enable pre-calibrating the pump during filling of the tank. Also described is a method of controlling an inkjet printer apparatus by determining a nominal flow rate of the pump during a non-printing operation while filling the tank to a predetermined level, and controlling the pump during a printing operation to produce a flow rate slightly below the nominal flow rate when the level of the ink in the tank is at or above the predetermined level, and a flow rate slightly above the nominal flow rate when the level of the ink in the tank is below the predetermined level.
