Patent Grant
10162282
This application is a U.S. National Stage Application of and claims priority to International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2015/051787, filed on Jan. 29, 2015, and entitled “ELECTROSTATIC PRINTING SYSTEM WITH CHARGED VOLTAGE DEPENDENT ON DEVELOPER VOLTAGE,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Many electrostatic printing systems generate a latent electrostatic image on a photoconductor member and develop thereon a toner image that is transferred, either directly or indirectly, to a media. Toner may be transferred electrostatically to the photoconductor member from a developer unit.
Some electrostatic printing systems may use a dry toner powder, whereas other printing systems, such as liquid electro-photographic (LEP) printing systems, may use a liquid toner.
Examples will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The examples and description below make reference generally to liquid electro-photographic (LEP) printing systems. Such printing systems electrostatically transfer liquid toner to a photoconductor member for onward transfer to a media. However, the techniques described herein may also apply, with appropriate modifications, to other electrostatic printing systems, such as dry toner printing systems.
Referring now to
A charging unit 14 is provided to generate a substantially uniform electrical charge on a surface of the photoconductor member 12. Thus, the charging unit is to charge the photoconductor member to a charged voltage. The charging unit 14 may comprise a corona wire under which the photoconductor member 12 is rotated, or other similar charging system resulting in a uniform static charge over the surface of the photoconductor member 12. In one example the generated electrical charge may result in a charged voltage of about 800 to 1100 V.
As used herein, the term voltage is used to indicate a voltage or potential relative to a reference potential such as ground. Generally the polarity of charging resulting in a corresponding voltage may be negative or positive relative to the reference potential.
An imaging unit 16 is provided to selectively dissipate electrical charge on the photoconductor member 12 by selectively emitting light onto the surface of the photoconductor member 12. In one example, the imaging unit 16 includes at least one laser. The imaging unit selectively dissipates charge in accordance with an image to be printed. Thus, the imaging unit is to generate a latent electrostatic image on the photoconductor member by discharging areas of the charged photoconductor member. The imaging unit thus creates a latent electrostatic image on the surface of the photoconductor member 12, that comprises discharged areas and non-discharged areas that correspond to portions of the image that are to receive toner, and portions of the image that are not to receive toner. It is to be noted that discharging may not be complete, leaving some residual potential in the discharged areas.
A developer unit 18 is provided to electrostatically transfer liquid toner stored within the developer unit 18 to the surface of the photoconductor member 12 in accordance with the latent image thereon. Generally, the non-charged or discharged areas of the photoconductor may receive toner while the charged areas of the photoconductor member may not receive toner. In alternative examples the function of the charged and discharged areas may be reversed. The liquid toner may comprise charge directors. Once an image has been developed on the photoconductor member 12, the image may be electrostatically transferred to an intermediate transfer member 20 for onward transfer, under pressure from an impression roller 22, to a media or substrate 24. In other examples, the image developed on the photoconductor member 12 may be transferred directly to a media without the use of an intermediate transfer member 20.
In some examples a cleaning unit 26 may be provided to remove any traces of toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor member 12 after transfer of the image to the intermediate transfer member 20 or after direct transfer to the media, as well as to dissipate any residual electrical charges on the surface of the photoconductor member 12.
It should be noted that, depending on the size of the photoconductor member 12 and the size of the image to be printed, a latent image corresponding to just a portion of the image to be printed may be present on the photoconductor member 12 at any one time. In the example shown in
The operation of the printing system is generally controlled by a printer controller 30. As shown in
As described above, in electrostatic printing systems (Xerography systems), an electrical image is created on the photoconductor member, wherein firstly the photoconductive member is charged electrically, wherein the voltage of the charged photoconductor member is called charged voltage, Vdark or Vbackground. A light source may selectively discharge the photoconductor member in areas creating the latent image on the photoconductor member, wherein the voltage of the discharged photoconductor member may be called Vlight. Since Vlight of the photoconductor member may be increased with the age of the photoconductor member due to thousands of charge and discharge cycles, Vdark may also be increased in order to maintain the same operating window, i.e., the same difference between Vdark and Vlight.
The ink, i.e., the liquid toner, is also charged and attracted onto the developer unit 18, such as a developer roller. The developer roller touches that photoconductor member. By changing the developer voltage, the thickness of the ink layer, which is transferred to the photoconductor member, can be controlled.
Since ink properties may vary in time due to batch to batch variation or changes in concentration of solids and charging agents, developer voltage also may be changed in order to maintain the same optical density on a substrate in a process called developer voltage calibration (or color calibration since one developer unit may be provided for each color). When the developer voltage is increased, its difference from Vdark (cleaning vector CV) is reduced. Examples described herein are based on the realization that this may cause unwanted transfer of ink to areas where it should not. Such an unwanted transfer of ink may cause increased ink consumption and reduction in filter life span and life span of other consumables. It can also cause a reduction in print quality if the unwanted transfer of ink is visible, such as for the naked eye.
Examples described herein are based on the realization that improved printing can be achieved in printing systems in which the controller 30 is to change the developer voltage and to change the charged voltage dependent on the change of the developer voltage. In examples, the photoconductor charging voltage, i.e., the charged voltage or Vdark, is increased when the developer voltage is increased, instead of maintaining a constant operating window.
The controller may be to change the charged voltage by controlling the charging unit to charge the photoconductor member to the charged voltage. The controller may be to change the developer voltage based on a developer voltage calibration performed to obtain a desired ink layer thickness.
In examples, the charged voltage is controlled to keep the cleaning vector constant. Such an approach is shown in
Generally, the charged voltage may be changed to effectively couple the charged voltage to the developer voltage, such as the developer roller voltage. In examples, the controller may be to change the charged voltage to reduce or compensate for a change in a difference between the developer voltage and the charged voltage in response to the change of the developer voltage.
In examples described herein, the controller may be to change the charged voltage to keep the difference between the developer voltage and the charged voltage constant, as described referring to
In examples, the charged voltage may be changed differently depending on whether the developer voltage is above or below one or more developer voltage thresholds.
In examples, the controller or the method may be to change the charged voltage to at least one of:
In examples, the function may be optimized for background reduction. In such examples, the charged voltage may be kept constant if the developer voltage is lower than a first developer voltage threshold and may be increased if the developer voltage is equal to or exceeds the first developer voltage threshold. Thus, increasing of Vdark may start at a high developer voltage only. An example for such a function over the developer voltage range x-y is shown in
In examples, the function may be optimized for dot gain stabilization. In such examples, the charged voltage Vdark is increased as Vdev is increased over the whole developer voltage range. The increasing rate of Vdark may be higher than the increasing rate of Vdev so that the cleaning vector increases as Vdev increases and the cleaning vector decreases as Vdev decreases, i.e. the gradient of the function is greater than one. An example for such a function is shown in
In examples, the controller may provide a user the possibility to select between different functions, such as those described above. In examples, a user interface may be provided to give the user the possibility to select one of a plurality of functions.
In other examples, the charged voltage Vdark may be increased linearly with the developer voltage from the lower boundary x to a second developer voltage threshold and is held constant from the developer voltage threshold to the upper boundary y of the developer voltage. The second developer voltage threshold may be identical or different from the first developer voltage threshold. Such a function may be provided to prevent electrical breakdown of the photoconductor member. In other examples different rates of changing Vdark depending on the value of Vdev may be used. For example, the charged voltage may be increased at a first rate if the developer voltage is below the second developer voltage threshold and may be increased at a second rate lower than the first rate if the developer voltage is above the second developer voltage threshold.
In other examples, there may be more than one developer voltage threshold. For example, there may be different first and second developer voltage thresholds and the charged voltage may be kept constant until the developer voltage reaches the first developer voltage threshold, may be increased between the first developer voltage threshold and the second developer voltage, and may be kept constant if the developer voltage exceeds the second developer voltage threshold.
Generally, based on the piece-wise continuous functions of the above examples, representative functions may be selected, such as smooth functions having well-defined derivatives.
In examples, the maximum developer voltage, i.e. the upper boundary of the developer voltage range may be increased when compared to the maximum developer voltage used if not changing the charged voltage dependent on the developer voltage. For example, the maximum developer voltage may be increased by 50V to 650V and such an increase may result in an increase of the charged voltage by 100V (such as to 1000V). Thus, in examples, the operating window for the developer voltage may be increased without suffering from increased background.
In examples described herein, the controller may be to perform a developer voltage calibration in order to calibrate ink layer thickness. During the developer voltage calibration, the developer voltage may be changed to obtain a desired ink layer thickness. This calibration may be performed by printing the various developer voltages and measuring the ink layer thickness on the substrate by measuring light scattered from the ink layer with an appropriate device, such as a densitometer. Such a densitometer may be integrated in the printing system. As previously mentioned, since the developer voltage may increase due to a variation in ink properties, unwanted transfer of ink to the media may also be increased. This may to lead to higher ink consumption, reduction in consumables lifespan and reduction in print quality. Another byproduct of developer increment is an increment of the dot gain. Examples described herein are effective to counteract such effects by increasing the charged voltage when the developer voltage is increased in order to maintain low background on the media. In addition, since increasing the charged voltage on the one hand and the developer voltage on the other hand have opposite effects on dot gain, dot gain can also be stabilized.
Thus, examples described herein provide a dynamic charging of the photoconductor to different charged voltages dependent on the developer voltage. Many functions of dynamic charging can be used in order to reduce the background on the media, wherein one example is a constant cleaning vector. Another possibility to reduce background on the media maybe by an iterative process, in which photoconductor charging is increased until a desired background level on the substrate is achieved. In examples described herein, the controller may be to determine a background level upon printing on a substrate after changing the developer voltage and to change the charged voltage if the background level exceeds a background level threshold and not to change the charged voltage if the background level does not exceed the background level threshold. Background levels may be measured as input to the controller, for example, by an image scanning device integrated in the printer. Such a process may be implemented in an iterative manner, wherein the controller is to iteratively change the charged voltage and to determine the background level in response to each iteration until the background level no longer exceeds the background level threshold.
In examples described herein, the controller may be to determine dot gain upon printing on a substrate after changing the charged voltage and to further change the charged voltage if the dot gain is above a first dot gain threshold or to partly reverse change of the charged voltage if the dot gain is below a second dot gain threshold. Thus, examples may be effective to compensate for effects on the dot area effected by increasing the developer voltage by dynamically changing the charged voltage in an iterative manner.
Example operations of the printing system will now be described by way of examples only, with reference to the flow diagrams of
At 402 in
An example operation of the printing system using calibration of ink layer thickness is shown in
504 to 508 may be repeated in an iterative manner so that a desired dot gain may be achieved.
The concept of
Thus, examples described herein may be effective to achieve background on substrate reduction and/or stabilized dot gain by using dynamic charging of a photoconductor in electro-photography by dynamically charging the photoconductor dependent on the developer voltage. Ink property variations from day to day and batch to batch may be compensated while ink consumption may be reduced, consumable lifespan may be increased and variations in dot gain may be reduced.
Generally, dot gain in terms of the measured dot area versus the digital dot area increases without Vdark calibration, i.e., without changing the charged voltage dependent on the developer voltage. Generally, such an increment of dot gain may be compensated via laser power modification and/or a modification (within the imaging unit 16) and/or a modification of a dot gain lookup table (LUT), which may be stored within memory 34. However, if the dot gain is too high, it may no longer be possible to reduce the dot gain in this manner without affecting the print quality. Examples described herein permit reducing or compensating for dot gain variation due to ink charging variations/developer voltage variations by changing the charged voltage dependent on the developer voltage. This may be achieved even in cases in which reduction of dot gain via laser power modification and/or dot gain lookup table modifications would result in print quality issues.
Examples described herein permit reduction of the background level by changing the charged voltage dependent on the developer voltage. In examples, by using a dynamic operating window the unwanted transfer of ink can be reduced when the developer voltage is high. This may be achieved without having to rebuild aged ink into fresh ink. Thus, costs may be reduced and machine utilization may be increased. Accordingly, higher print quality, lower cost of ink consumption, higher consumable lifespan and higher utilization (less ink, filters and consumables replacements) may be achieved.
Examples may provide a tradeoff between dot gain control and background reductions such as by using a cleaning vector optimized over the developer voltage range.
In examples described herein, the voltages used may be positive voltages and in other examples, the voltages may be negative voltages. In examples, the developer voltage that is applied to the developer unit can be generated with any of several developer voltages which can be adjusted to control a printing process. The several developer voltages can include a roller voltage, a squeegee voltage, an electrode voltage, a cleaning roller voltage, and/or any combination of these and other associated developer unit voltages. In examples, the roller voltage may be calibrated while one or all of the other developer voltages, such as the electrode voltage, are not calibrated.
In examples, methods described herein comprise determining a background level upon printing on a substrate after changing the developer voltage, changing the charged voltage if the background level exceeds a background level threshold and not changing the charged voltage if the background level does not exceed the background level threshold.
In examples, methods described herein comprise iteratively changing the charged voltage and determining the background level after each iteration until the background level no longer exceeds the background level threshold.
In examples, methods described herein comprise determining a dot gain upon printing on a substrate after changing the charged voltage; and increasingly changing the charged voltage if the dot gain is above a first dot gain threshold or partly reversing change of the charged voltage if the dot gain is below a second dot gain threshold.
Examples relate to a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processing resource of a computing device to perform methods described herein.
Examples relate to a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processing resource of a computing device to operate an electrostatic printing system. The electrostatic printing system comprises a charging unit to charge the photoconductor member to a charged voltage, an imaging unit to generate a latent electrostatic image on the photoconductor member by discharging areas of the charged photoconductor member and a developer unit to develop a toner image on the photoconductor member using a developer voltage. The electrostatic printing system may be operated to perform a method, the method comprising: changing the developer voltage, and changing the charged voltage dependent on the change of the developer voltage.
It will be appreciated that examples described herein can be realized in the form of hardware, machine readable instructions or a combination of hardware and machine readable instructions. Any such machine readable instructions may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage such as, for example, a storage device like a ROM, whether erasable or rewriteable or not, or in the form of memory such as, for example, RAM, memory chips, device or integrated circuits or an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a CD, DVD, magnetic disk or magnetic tape. It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media are examples of machine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a program or programs that, when executed, implement examples described herein.
All of the features disclosed in the specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all the features of any method or progress disclosed may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features are mutually exclusive. In addition, features disclosed in connection with a system may, at the same time, present features of a corresponding method, and vice versa.
Each feature disclosed in the specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2015/051787 | 1/29/2015 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2016/119849 | 8/4/2016 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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