JPH05293972A - Emission recovery method of ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance emission recovery capacity in the emission recovery method of an ink jet recording apparatus. CONSTITUTION:Heat energy is generated by driving an emission heater 112H to collectively heat the part of an emitting orifice 113J. By this heating, the ink in a nozzle is foamed to be emitted from the emitting orifice 113J to eliminate a clogging state. Further, since the part of the emitting orifice 113J suddenly becomes high temp. even when the ink in the nozzle is foamed to be not emitted from the emitting orifice 113J, a dye is dissolved in the solvent or moisture of ink and the viscosity of thickned ink lowers. When the suction operation due to a cap member is performed thereafter, a common liquid chamber 113R and the part of the emitting orifice 113J can be refilled with fresh ink from an ink tank even under relatively low suction pressure because a clogging state is already eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ejection recovery method for an ink jet recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an inkjet recording apparatus, depending on the recording data, the following problems occur when ejection is not performed at a certain ejection port for a long time or when the inkjet recording apparatus itself is not used for a long time. ..

(1) The ink in the discharge port and the liquid path communicating with the discharge port may thicken due to water evaporation. When the inside of the liquid passage is not suitable for ejection due to filling with such thickened ink (hereinafter referred to as “thickened ink”), the ejection energy generating element disposed in the liquid passage is Even if the ink is driven under a predetermined condition, the amount of ejected ink is not constant, so that the quality of recorded image may be deteriorated.

(2) There is a risk that ejection defects may occur due to the thickened ink, or that ink may solidify and ejection failure may occur.

(3) Thickened ink, ink droplets, water droplets, dust, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "adhered matter") on the surface of the recording head provided with the ejection openings (hereinafter referred to as "ejection opening formation surface").
Called. ) Is adhered, the ejected ink is pulled by the adherent, the ejection direction is deflected, and the image quality may deteriorate.

Therefore, in the ink jet recording apparatus, in order to solve the above problems caused by using the liquid ink as the recording material, the following ejection recovery method is performed.

Means for refreshing the inside of the liquid passage and for making the ejection port forming surface in a good condition, which is a constitution peculiar to the ink jet recording apparatus not seen in other recording apparatuses (so-called ejection recovery system of recording head). Is provided. Various configurations of the ejection recovery system of the recording head have been proposed. As means for refreshing the inside of the liquid passage, for example, a means for driving an ejection energy generating element to eject ink onto a predetermined ink receiving medium at times other than recording (also referred to as "preliminary ejection" or "idle ejection" , Or by applying a predetermined pressure to the liquid path by pressurizing the ink supply system or sucking from the ink discharge port,
There is a system in which ink is forcibly discharged from an ejection port. Further, as a means for keeping the ejection port forming surface in a good state, an elastic member (wiping member) that comes into contact with the ejection port forming surface is provided, and the ejection port forming surface and the elastic member are relatively moved. There is one that wipes (wiping) an adhered substance in the vicinity of the ejection port to refresh the ejection port formation surface and prevent the deflection of the ink ejection direction.

In addition, the ink cartridge, which has become widespread in recent years, in which the recording head and the ink tank are integrated is packaged and distributed separately from the ink jet recording apparatus main body, and thus stored at a distribution stage for a very long period of time. Even when the ink is ejected, it is necessary to surely recover the ink ejection so as not to deteriorate the image quality when it is attached to the ink jet recording apparatus main body.

[0009]

However, as described above, the ink cartridge is packaged separately from the main body of the ink jet recording apparatus and is stored in the distribution stage for a very long period of time, so that the ejection port is thickened. It may be blocked by the ink or the stuck ink. Further, even if the ejection port is removed from the inkjet recording apparatus and left for a long time in a naked state, the ejection port may be blocked by the thickened ink or the adhered ink. As a result, in order to perform ejection recovery of the recording head in such a state, all nozzles may not be completely recovered no matter how many times the operation of forcibly ejecting ink from the ejection port of the recording head is performed.

On the other hand, if the ejection operation is not performed for a long period of time, ink or the like will adhere to the inside of the ejection heater (ejection energy generating element) and the nozzle, and even if energy is applied to the ejection heater, normal film boiling will occur. In some cases, the momentum of ink ejection is weakened and the ejection amount of the entire recording head or the ejection amount of each nozzle becomes uneven, which significantly deteriorates the image quality.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ejection recovery method for an ink jet recording apparatus which can improve the ejection recovery performance.

[0012]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ejection recovery method for an ink jet recording apparatus, comprising first ejection recovery means for ejecting ink from an ejection opening of a recording head a plurality of times, and the ejection opening of the recording head. In an ejection recovery method for an inkjet recording apparatus including a second ejection recovery unit for forcibly ejecting ink, after the first ejection recovery unit ejects ink from the ejection port of the recording head a plurality of times Ink is forcibly ejected from the ejection port of the recording head by the second ejection recovery means.

Here, after the ink is ejected from the ejection port of the recording head a plurality of times by the first ejection recovery unit, the ink is ejected from the ejection port of the recording head by the second ejection recovery unit. The forced discharge may be repeated a plurality of times.

[0014]

According to the ejection recovery method of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, the first ejection recovery means ejects the ink from the ejection port of the recording head a plurality of times, thereby increasing the viscosity of the ejection port and removing the adhered ink. Then, the clogging state in the nozzle is eliminated, and the ink storage member and the second ejection recovery unit are communicated with each other through the common liquid chamber of the recording head, and then the second ejection recovery unit ejects the recording head. By forcibly discharging the ink from the outlet, it is possible to refill the common liquid chamber and the ejection opening portion with the ink.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagrams of a recording head capable of realizing an embodiment of an ejection recovery method for an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

When this recording head is integrated with an ink tank and is packaged as a cartridge separately from the ink jet recording apparatus and stored for a long period of time,
The liquid passage in the vicinity of the ejection port 113J may be blocked by the thickened ink or the stuck ink. In this state, even if the entire ejection port 113J is capped and the ink is forcibly ejected such as a suction action, the ink in the ejection port 113J does not move, and the ejection port 113J is ejected from the ink tank (not shown). Department and common liquid chamber 11
I can't refill fresh ink into 3R. In other words, the ink in the ejection port 113J part is a type of clogging because the dye etc. in the ink is not completely dissolved and is deposited without being completely dissolved and the viscosity of the ink is extremely increased. Ink is not supplied to the fresh ink from the ink tank because the ink does not stay in the ejection port 113J and move even when pressure is applied.

Therefore, by driving the discharge heater 112H, thermal energy is generated to intensively heat the discharge port 113J. As a result, the ink in the nozzle is foamed and ejected from the ejection port 113J, and the clogging state is eliminated. Further, even if the ink in the nozzle foams and is not ejected from the ejection port 113J, the temperature of the ejection port 113J rapidly rises,
The dye dissolves in the solvent or water of the ink, and the viscosity of the thickened ink decreases.

In order to achieve such a state, the drive frequency for such idle discharge is set to 4 kHz which is the maximum drive frequency of the discharge heater 112H. Further, the pulse width of the applied pulse is maximized. Under this condition, 10 for each nozzle
000 blank discharges are performed. The temperature of the recording head at this time is about 60 ° C. It should be noted that it is the cap member that performs suction that receives the ink that has been ejected blankly,
Since there is a possibility that a relatively large amount of ink will be discharged during idle discharge, it is preferable to suction while operating the pump because ink will not overflow from the cap.

After that, when the suction operation by the cap member is performed, the clogging state is eliminated, and therefore the fresh ink is refilled from the ink tank into the common liquid chamber 113R and the ejection port 113J even with a relatively weak suction pressure. can do. The suction amount at this time is at least the common liquid chamber 11
It is important to make the capacity larger than the capacity of 3R, which enables the recording operation.

As is apparent from the above, by performing the suction operation after the idle discharge operation, the discharge recovery performance can be greatly improved.

Further, repeating these operations a plurality of times further enhances the effect. That is, when the suction in the first cycle is completed, the common liquid chamber 113R and the ejection port 113J are refilled with fresh ink, but even if some of the ejection ports 113J become clogged and do not recover. , The fresh ink newly supplied to the common liquid chamber 113R is a part of the ejection port 113J that has not been recovered.
The thickened ink is brought into a state of being easily dissolved therein.
By performing the blank ejection again in this state, the probability that the clogging state of the thickened ink is recovered becomes very high. 10000 cycles of blank discharge in the first cycle, discharge heater 112H
It is also very effective for removing the deposits on the surface to improve the wettability of the surface of the discharge heater 112H and to facilitate normal film boiling.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of an ink jet recording apparatus which can realize the embodiment of the ejection recovery method of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention described in FIG.

In this ink jet recording apparatus, a replaceable ink tank integrated type recording head cartridge IJC is compatible with four color inks of black (BK), cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y). The printer is a full-color serial type printer equipped with the printer and is used as a recording unit of a full-color copying machine. The recording head used in this printer has a resolution of 400 dpi and a drive frequency of 4 kHz.
z has 128 discharge ports.

As described above, the four recording head cartridges IJC correspond to the four color inks of black, cyan, magenta and yellow.
An ink tank that stores ink for supplying ink to the recording head is integrally formed. Each recording head cartridge IJC is detachably mounted on the carriage 82 by a configuration not shown. The carriage 82 has a guide shaft 811.
Slidably along the main scanning motor (see FIG. 5).
Connection with a part of the drive belt 852 which is moved by As a result, each recording head cartridge IJC can be moved for scanning along the guide shaft 811. Two conveying rollers 815 to 818, which extend substantially parallel to the guide shaft 811 are provided on the rear side and the front side in the drawing of the recording area scanned by each recording head cartridge IJC. The transport rollers 815 to 818 are driven by the sub-scanning motor (see FIG. 5) to transport the recording medium P. The conveyed recording medium P faces the surface on which the ejection port surface of each recording head cartridge IJC is disposed,
Configure the recording surface.

A recovery system unit is provided facing the movable area (the area on the right side in the figure) of each recording head cartridge IJC, which is adjacent to the recording area of each recording head cartridge IJC. This recovery system unit is used when performing idle discharge or forced ink discharge described with reference to FIG. The recovery system unit has each cap unit 8300 provided corresponding to each of the four recording head cartridges IJC having recording heads. Each cap unit
The 8300 can slide in the left-right direction in the drawing as the carriage 82 moves, and can move up and down in the vertical direction in the drawing. When the carriage 82 is at the home position, each cap unit 8300 is joined to the recording head portion of each recording cartridge IJC to cap each recording head portion. In addition, the recovery system unit is a blade (not shown) as a wiping member, and a pump unit for sucking ink or the like from the ejection port of the recording head of each recording head cartridge IJC and the vicinity of the ejection port via each cap unit 8300. With 8500.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a structural example of a recording head cartridge which can be mounted on the carriage of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

This recording head cartridge integrally includes an ink tank unit IT and a head unit IJU, and the ink tank unit IT and the head unit IJU.
It can be attached to and detached from the IJU. A wiring connector 102 for receiving a signal for driving the ink ejection unit 101 of the head unit IJU and outputting an ink remaining amount detection signal is provided at a position aligned with the head unit IJU and the ink tank unit IT. ing. Therefore, when the recording head cartridge is mounted on the carriage described later, its height H
And the thickness W of the recording head cartridge can be reduced. This allows
When the recording head cartridges are arranged side by side as described in FIG. 2, the carriage can be made small.

When the recording head cartridge is mounted on the carriage, the recording head cartridge is placed on the carriage by grasping the knob 201 provided on the ink tank unit IT with the ink ejection portion 101 facing down. can do. The knob 201 engages with a lever provided on a carriage, which will be described later, for performing a mounting operation of the recording head cartridge. Then, when the head unit IJU is mounted, the pin provided on the carriage side engages with the pin engaging portion 103 of the head unit IJU,
The IJU is positioned. Further, in the recording head cartridge, the absorber 104 is juxtaposed with the ink ejection unit 101. The absorber 104 is for wiping the surface of the ink ejection unit 101 to clean the member to be cleaned. Further, an air communication port 203 for introducing air as ink is consumed is provided in the approximate center of the ink tank unit IT.

Next, the detailed structure of the recording head cartridge shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

(1) Head Unit IJU The base for mounting the components of the head unit IJU is the base plate 111 formed of aluminum (Al) or the like, and the energy used to eject ink on the base plate 111. A substrate 112 on which a group of elements for generating power is formed and a printed circuit board (PCB) 115 having wiring for supplying power to the respective elements are mounted, and these are mounted by wire bonding or the like. It is connected. On the substrate 112, as the element, an electrothermal conversion element (a discharge heater 112H shown in FIG. 1) that generates a thermal energy that causes film boiling in the ink in response to energization.
Is provided). Below, the substrate 112 is referred to as a heater board 112.

The wiring connector 102 described above forms a part of the printed circuit board 115, and the drive signal from the control circuit (see FIG. 5) is received by the wiring connector 102.
It is supplied to the heater board 112 via the printed circuit board 115. The printed circuit board 115 is a double-sided wiring board in this example, and further includes information specific to the head, for example, appropriate driving conditions of the electrothermal conversion element, ID numbers, ink color information, driving condition correction data (head shading). (H
S) data) and R stored with PWM control conditions, etc.
An OM type IC 128 and a capacitor 129 are provided. The IC 128 and the capacitor 129 are arranged on the joint surface side of the printed circuit board 115 with the base plate 111 and at a position corresponding to the cutout portion 111A of the base plate 111. As a result, if the mounted height of the IC128 or the like is less than or equal to the thickness of the base plate 111, the IC128 can be joined when the printed circuit board 115 and the base plate 111 are joined.
Does not protrude from the surface. Therefore, in the manufacturing process, it is not necessary to consider the storage mode corresponding to those protrusions.

On the heater board 112, as shown in FIG. 1, a common liquid chamber (corresponding to the common liquid chamber 113R) for temporarily storing the ink supplied from the ink tank unit IT side, and the common liquid chamber and the discharge chamber And a top plate 113 having a recess for forming a liquid passage (corresponding to the liquid passage 113N) group communicating with the outlet (corresponding to the discharge outlet 113J). Further, the top plate 113 has an ejection port forming member (orifice plate) in which ink ejection ports are formed.
112A is integrally formed. The presser foot spring 114 is attached to the top plate 11.
The ink ejecting unit 101 is configured by closely contacting the heater board 112 with the heater board 112. The head unit cover 116 is an ink supply pipe portion 116A that enters into the ink tank unit IT, and an ink flow path for communicating ink between the ink supply pipe portion 116A and the top plate-side ink introduction pipe portion.
116B, three pins 116C for three-point positioning or fixing to the base plate 111, the pin engaging portion 103, and the absorber 10
It is a member formed by integrally molding the mounting part of 4 and other necessary parts. For the ink channel 116B,
A flow path lid 117 is arranged. Also, the ink supply pipe 116A
A filter 118 for removing air bubbles and dust is provided at the tip of the O, and O for preventing ink leakage from the joint portion is provided.
A ring is arranged.

Next, a procedure for assembling the head unit IJU will be described.

Pins 111P protruding from the base plate 111
Is inserted into a through hole 115P provided in the printed circuit board 115 and positioned, and then both are fixed by adhesion or the like. Precision is not required so much in fixing these two. This is because the heater board 112, which should be accurately mounted on the base plate 111, is fixed separately from the printed circuit board 115. Subsequently, the heater board 112 is accurately arranged and fixed on the base plate 111, and necessary electrical connection is made with the printed circuit board 115. Then, the top plate 113 and the presser spring 114 are arranged and, if necessary, bonded and sealed, and then the three pins 116C protruding from the cover are inserted into the holes 111C of the base plate 111. Positioning is performed. After that, the head unit IJU is completed by heat-sealing the three pins 116C.

(2) Ink Tank Unit IT The ink tank unit IT includes an ink container 211 which is the main body of the ink tank unit IT, an ink impregnating absorber 215 for impregnating ink, an ink tank lid 216,
It includes an electrode pin 212 for detecting the remaining amount of ink, and contact members 213 and 214 related to the electrode pin 212.

Here, the ink container 211 has an electrode pin 212.
And contact members 213 and 214, and head unit IJ
Part 220 for mounting U and head unit IJU
A supply port 231 for receiving the entry of the ink supply pipe section 116A of
The knob 201 is integrally formed, and a hollow cylindrical portion 233 is erected from the bottom surface side to substantially the center thereof. The ink container 211 can be formed by integral molding of resin. The bottom surface side of the cylindrical portion 233 is opened in consideration of the ink filling process, and after the ink filling,
A cap 217 is attached and closed to the atmosphere.

On the other hand, a spiral or meandering groove 235 is provided on the upper end surface of the cylindrical portion 233 (the spiral shape in the illustrated example), and one end 235A of the groove 235 (the center of the spiral groove in the illustrated example).
In the above, an opening communicating with the internal space of the cylindrical portion 233 is provided. The other end 235B of the groove 235 is the ink tank lid.
It is located at the location of the atmosphere communication port 203 provided at 216. A plurality of (four in the illustrated example) grooves 237 are formed at equal angles on the side surface of the tubular portion 233.
It is in communication with 3 interior spaces. As a result, the communication between the inside of the ink tank unit IT and the atmosphere is controlled by the atmosphere communication port 203.
, The spiral groove 235, the inner space of the tubular portion 233, and the plurality of grooves 237. The inner space of the tubular portion 233 functions as a buffer portion for preventing ink leakage due to vibration or sliding. Further, since there is the spiral groove 233 that lengthens the path to the atmosphere communication port 203, ink leakage can be prevented more effectively. In addition, as in the present example, the cylindrical portion 233 located substantially in the center of the ink tank.
By providing a plurality of grooves 237 at equal angles on the side surface of the ink impregnating absorber 215 located around the groove 237.
On the other hand, ensuring a balanced state with a uniform atmosphere,
It is possible to prevent local concentration of ink in the ink impregnation absorber 215. This also ensures a smooth ink supply property to the absorber compression region (around the supply port 231) described later. Note that the plurality of grooves 237 extend below the center of the thickness of the container and are provided over a range that completely includes the range A in which the supply port 231 exists. Further, the plurality of grooves 237 are formed on the electrode pin 21 for detecting the remaining ink amount.
It is formed in a range that also takes the position of 2 into consideration, so that it is possible to secure a uniform ink presence state or atmospheric communication state around the location where the electrode pin 212 exists, and improve the detection accuracy of the remaining ink amount. ..

The absorber 215 for impregnating ink has a cylindrical portion 233.
Is provided with a hole 215A for receiving the insertion. This hole 215A
By arranging the cylindrical portion 233 in the cylindrical portion 233, the ink impregnating absorber 215 is not compressed by the cylindrical portion 233, and ink does not remain in the compressed portion having a high negative pressure. On the other hand, the ink impregnating absorber 215 has a shape in which the portion located at the supply port 231 is slightly swollen with respect to the shape of the space formed by the ink tank lid 216 and the ink container 211 (shown by the broken line in FIG. 4). Is becoming As a result, when the ink impregnating absorber 215 is stored in the ink tank unit IT, the bulging portion thereof is in a compressed state, so that the ink impregnating absorber 215 has a high negative pressure at that portion, The ink can be smoothly introduced to the supply port 231 side.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a control system in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

The controller 800 is a main control unit, and includes a CPU 801 in the form of a microcomputer for executing various processes, a program corresponding to the procedure, a table for pulse width modulation, a voltage value of a heat pulse and a pulse. ROM80 that stores width and other fixed data
3 and a RAM 805 provided with an area for expanding image data and an area for work. Controller 800
In addition, a timer 80 for timing non-recording time etc.
Has 7. The host device 810 is a source of image data (in this example, an image reading reader section), and image data and other commands and status signals are controlled by an interface (I / F) 812 as a controller.
Sent and received with 800.

A switch group 820 includes a power switch 822 and a copy switch 824 for instructing the start of recording (copying).
Further, it has a large recovery switch 826 for instructing the start of large recovery, which is one mode of the discharge recovery processing, and receives a command input by the operator. The sensor group 830 is a carriage position sensor 832 for detecting the position of the carriage 82 such as the home position and the start position.
And a pump position sensor 834, which includes a leaf switch and is used for detecting the pump position, for detecting the state of the device.

The head driver 840 is for driving the electrothermal converter of the recording head according to recording data and the like. Further, a part of the head driver 840 is provided with the temperature adjustment heater 3
It is also used to drive 0A and 30B. further,
The temperature detection values from the temperature sensors 20A and 20B are input to the controller 800. The main scanning motor 850 is for moving the carriage 82 in the main scanning direction,
It is driven by the motor driver 853. Sub scanning motor 86
0 is used to convey (sub-scan) the recording medium, and is driven by the motor driver 854.

[0044]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

Ink is ejected from the ejection port of the recording head a plurality of times by the first ejection recovery means, thereby increasing the viscosity of the ejection port and removing the adhered ink to eliminate the clogging condition in the nozzle. , The ink storage member and the second ejection recovery means are communicated with each other via the common liquid chamber of the recording head,
After that, by forcibly discharging the ink from the ejection port of the recording head by the second ejection recovery means, the ink can be refilled in the common liquid chamber and the ejection port portion, so that the ejection recovery performance can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a recording head capable of realizing an embodiment of an ejection recovery method of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention,
FIG. 6A is a top view of a common liquid chamber and a liquid passage portion of the recording head, and FIG. 7B is a side sectional view of the same portion of the recording head.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of an inkjet recording apparatus capable of realizing an embodiment of the ejection recovery method of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention described in FIG.

3 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a recording head cartridge mountable on a carriage of the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the recording head cartridge shown in FIG.

5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a control system in the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20A, 20B Temperature sensor 30A, 30B Temperature control heater 82 Carriage 101 Ink discharge part 102 Wiring connector 103 Pin engagement part 104 Absorber 111 Base plate 111A Notch part 111C hole 111P pin 112 Board (heater board) 112A Discharge port forming member ( Orifice plate) 112H Discharge heater 113 Top plate 113J Discharge port 113R Common liquid chamber 114 Presser spring 115 Printed circuit board 115P Through hole 116 Head unit cover 116A Ink supply pipe section 116B Ink channel 116C pin 117 Channel lid 118 Filter 128 IC 129 Capacitor 201 Knob 203 Air communication port 211 Ink container 212 Electrode pin 213, 214 Contact member 215 Ink absorber for ink impregnation 215A hole 216 Ink tank lid 217 Cap 220 part 231 Supply port 233 Cylindrical part 235, 237 Groove 800 Controller 801 CPU 803 ROM 805 RAM 807 Timer 810 Host device 811 Guide axis 812 Interface ( I / F) 815 to 818 Conveyor roller 820 Switch group 822 Power switch 824 Copy switch 826 Large recovery switch 830 Sensor group 832 Carriage position sensor 834 Pump position sensor 840 Head driver 850 Main scanning motor 852 Drive belt 853, 854 Motor driver 860 Vice Scan motor 8300 Cap unit 8500 Pump unit IJC Recording head cartridge IT Ink tank unit IJU Head unit P Recording medium H Height

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Hitoshi Nishikori 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet system comprising: a first ejection recovery unit for ejecting ink from an ejection port of a recording head a plurality of times; and a second ejection recovery unit for forcibly ejecting ink from the ejection port of the recording head. In the ejection recovery method for a recording apparatus, after the first ejection recovery unit ejects ink from the ejection port of the recording head a plurality of times, the second ejection recovery unit ejects the ejection port of the recording head. An ejection recovery method for an ink jet recording apparatus, which comprises forcibly discharging ink from the ink. 2. The ink is ejected from the ejection port of the recording head a plurality of times by the first ejection recovery unit, and then the ink is ejected from the ejection port of the recording head by the second ejection recovery unit. The ejection recovery method for an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the forced ejection is repeated a plurality of times.