INK JET PRINTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING TEMPERATURE OF THE SAME

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet printing apparatus that can perform temperature control before printing so as to provide for a decrease in the temperature of a print head during printing without using any sub-heaters, to establish a favorable ejection state while preventing the head temperature from decreasing below a predetermined value, as well as a method for controlling the temperature of the ink jet printing apparatus. To achieve this object, information on scan width and dot count is acquired before the carriage starts a scan. A temperature adjustment temperature for the print head is then determined on the basis of the information acquired.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an ink jet printing apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional perspective view showing the structure of part of the vicinity of ejection ports in a print head;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control system in an ink jet printing apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in accordance with a first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between scan width and a parameter in accordance with the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in accordance with a second embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between a parameter and scan width, environmental temperature, and environmental humidity in accordance with the first embodiment.

Claims

1. An ink jet printing apparatus including an ejection heater, a print head that ejects ink when heated by the ejection heater, and a carriage on which the print head is mounted, the apparatus printing a print medium by scanning the print head mounted on the carriage, the apparatus comprising: head temperature acquiring means for acquiring the temperature of the print head; andmeans for determining an adjustment temperature for the print head on the basis of the scan width of the carriage and the amount of printing during a scan and driving the ejection heater in the print head in accordance with the set adjustment temperature to adjust the temperature of the print head before starting a scan.

2. An ink jet printing apparatus including an ejection heater, a print head that ejects ink when heated by the ejection heater, and a carriage on which the print head is mounted, the apparatus printing a print medium by scanning the print head mounted on the carriage, the apparatus comprising: head temperature acquiring means for acquiring the temperature of the print head;environmental information acquiring means for acquiring environmental information on a vicinity of the print head; andmeans for determining an adjustment temperature for the print head on the basis of the scan width of the carriage, the amount of printing during a scan, and the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquiring means and driving the ejection heater in the print head in accordance with the set adjustment temperature to adjust the temperature of the print head before starting a scan.

3. The ink jet printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a correction value is determined on the basis of the scan width of the carriage and the number of droplets ejected from the print head, the correction value is added to a temperature adjustment target temperature that is the temperature of the print head to be maintained during printing, to determine the final temperature adjustment temperature, andthe correction value increases consistently with the scan width and decreases with increasing number of droplets ejected.

4. The ink jet printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the environmental information relates to at least one of the temperature and humidity of vicinity of the print head.

5. A method for controlling the temperature of an ink jet printing apparatus including an ejection heater, a print head that ejects ink when heated by the ejection heater, and a carriage on which the print head is mounted, the apparatus printing a print medium by scanning the print head mounted on the carriage, the method comprising: a step of acquiring the temperature of the print head; anda step of determining an adjustment temperature for the print head on the basis of the scan width of the carriage and the amount of printing during a scan and driving the ejection heater in the print head in accordance with the set adjustment temperature to adjust the temperature of the print head before starting a scan.

6. A method for controlling the temperature of an ink jet printing apparatus including an ejection heater, a print head that ejects ink when heated by the ejection heater, and a carriage on which the print head is mounted, the apparatus printing a print medium by scanning the print head mounted on the carriage, the method comprising: a step of acquiring the temperature of the print head;a step of acquiring environmental information on a vicinity of the print head; anda step of determining an adjustment temperature for the print head on the basis of the scan width of the carriage, the amount of printing during a scan, and the information on vicinity of the print head and driving the ejection heater in the print head in accordance with the set adjustment temperature to adjust the temperature of the print head before starting a scan.