Cross reference is made to the following applications: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/602,931, which is entitled “Printer Solid Ink Transport and Method”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/602,937, which is entitled “Guide For Printer Solid Ink Transport and Method”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/602,710, which is entitled “Solid Ink Block Features for Printer Ink Transport and Method”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/602,938, which is entitled “Transport System for Solid Ink for Cooperation with Melt Head in a Printer”, all of which were filed on Nov. 21, 2006, and all of which are expressly incorporated in their entireties herein by reference.
The transport control system disclosed below generally relates to solid ink printers, and, more particularly, to solid ink printers that use mechanized drives to move solid ink units to a melting assembly.
Solid ink or phase change ink printers encompass various imaging devices, such as printers and multi-function platforms. Solid ink printers offer many advantages over other types of image generating devices, such as laser and aqueous inkjet approaches. These advantages include higher document throughput, sharp colors, and less packaging waste for the ink consumed by the printer.
A typical solid ink imaging device includes an ink loader, which receives solid ink units, such as ink sticks or pellets. These ink units remain solid at room temperatures so a user can conveniently store solid ink in proximity to a device and handle the solid ink during the loading phase without mess or staining. Coupled to the ink loader is a feed channel through which multiple units of the solid ink may be transported for delivery to a melting assembly. Thus, the ink is loaded by a user in solid form into the ink loader and then the solid ink is moved into the feed channel for delivery to the melting assembly. In most color solid ink imaging devices, a plurality of ink loaders are provided, one for each color of ink used in the device. Coupled to each ink loader is a feed channel for delivering the solid ink from an ink loader for a particular color to a melting assembly for that color. These multiple ink loaders, feed channels, and melting assemblies are typically provided in parallel in the imaging device.
Movement of the solid ink from the ink loader to the feed channel has been previously performed in a variety of ways. In some solid ink printers, the loader includes an insertion port at an upper end of a feed channel. An ink stick is placed in the port so that at least a portion of the ink stick engages a mechanized drive, such as an endless belt mounted around driven pulleys. As the pulleys are driven by a motive force, such as an electrical motor with a rotational output shaft, the belt transports the ink stick along the feed channel. The feed channel may terminate in a nearly vertical section. The end of the looped belt furthest from the insertion port is proximate the vertical section. As the ink stick leaves the driven endless belt, it transitions to a vertical orientation so gravity pulls the ink stick to the bottom of the feed channel against a melting assembly. The melting assembly causes the solid ink to change phase and be collected in a reservoir for use in the printer.
Solid ink or phase change printers differ from ink cartridge or toner printers because the colorant supply is manually manipulated by the user and the supply need not be exhausted before the supply is renewed. Specifically, ink cartridges and toner cartridges require exhaustion because they are storage containers that cannot be refilled by the user. Instead, the cartridges are typically returned to the manufacturing source to be refilled. Solid ink, on the other hand, may be stored on the premises and installed a unit at a time into the imaging device. Because the entire solid ink unit is consumed in the printing process, no housing or other component survives for return to the manufacturer.
The requirement that the solid ink units remain solid until they impinge upon the melting assembly does present some challenges not present in the ink cartridge and toner cartridge printers. While the ink loader is essentially within the ambient room temperature environment, the melting assembly is elevated above this temperature to one that causes the solid ink unit to change phase. Typically, the melting assembly is located within the interior of the printer, while the ink loader is located at the exterior of the printer so the user can access the loader. After the solid ink is inserted, it then needs to be transported from the loader to the melting assembly.
In the loading systems that include a mechanized drive and a gravity fed section, the feed channel can appear full to a user when the feed channel has gaps between the ink sticks. This situation is depicted in
In order to sense the presence of ink sticks in the vertical section of the feed channel 14, one or more mechanical flags may be provided. As shown in
As shown in
A solid ink printer includes a solid ink transportation control system that helps ensure a continuous supply of solid ink to a melting device within a printer. The solid ink transportation control system includes an ink loss measurement circuit configured to identify an accumulated ink mass loss of ink from an ink reservoir in a printer and to generate an ink supply replenish signal in response to the accumulated ink mass loss reaching an accumulated loss threshold, a drive motor electrically coupled to the ink loss measurement circuit, the drive motor being configured to operate in response to the ink supply replenish signal, and an ink stick drive train coupled to the drive motor, at least a portion of the ink stick drive train moving towards a melting assembly in the printer in response to the operation of the drive motor.
A printer having multiple print heads may use multiple ink stick transportation control systems to help ensure a continuous supply of solid ink to each print head in the printer. The printer includes a plurality of feed channels, each feed channel having an ink stick insertion end, an ink stick delivery end, and an ink stick drive train to transport ink sticks from the ink stick insertion end to the ink stick delivery end, the ink stick drive train including a drive motor, a plurality of melting assemblies, each melting assembly being located to receive ink sticks from one of the feed channels, a plurality of melted ink reservoirs, each melted ink reservoir being coupled to one of the melting assemblies to receive melted ink from the one melting assembly to which the melted ink reservoir is coupled, a plurality of ink loss measurement circuits, each ink loss measurement circuit being configured to identify an accumulated ink mass loss of ink from one of the melted ink reservoirs and to generate an ink supply replenish signal in response to the accumulated ink mass loss reaching an accumulated threshold, the ink supply replenish signal being coupled to the drive motor of the ink stick drive train for the feed channel that provides ink sticks to the melting assembly that supplies melted ink to the melted ink reservoir for which the ink loss measurement circuit identified an accumulated ink mass loss.
Features for controlling the transportation of solid ink in a solid ink printer are discussed with reference to the drawings, in which:
The term “printer” refers, for example, to reproduction devices in general, such as printers, facsimile machines, copiers, and related multi-function products. While the specification focuses on a system that transports solid ink through a solid ink printer with a mechanized drive train, the transport control system may be used with solid ink image generating devices that use other solid ink supply methods.
A system for controlling transportation of solid ink in a solid ink printer is shown in
In one embodiment of an ink stick transportation control system, an ink loss measurement circuit is configured to identify an accumulated ink mass loss of ink from an ink reservoir in a printer and to generate an ink supply replenish signal in response to the accumulated ink mass loss reaching an accumulated loss threshold. The ink loss measurement circuit may include the print head controller 128 being configured to identify an accumulated mass for the ink drops ejected from the print head and to generate an ink supply replenish signal in response to the accumulated mass for the ink drops reaching an accumulated loss threshold. Configuration for the print head controller 128 refers to programmed instructions for implementing the ink loss measurement circuit being stored in a program memory for execution by the print head controller. In this embodiment, additional hardware components are not required as the print head controller processes the data provided by the print engine for image generation so the number of ink drops ejected by the print head are known. Additionally, the mass of ink drops ejected by the print head may be ascertained from the magnitude of the signals generated for the print head or stored in the memory of the print head controller after being determined with a factory calibration procedure. Any subsequent adjustments made by operational programs or field personnel may likewise be stored in memory for the print head controller. Using the number of drops ejected and data regarding the mass of the drops ejected, the print head controller is able to identify the accumulated mass of the drops ejected by a print head. The print head controller may then compare this accumulated mass of ink lost through the print head to an accumulated loss threshold.
The comparison of the accumulated ink loss to the accumulated loss threshold is used to determine whether additional solid ink is required by the melting device 114. If the accumulated ink loss mass is equal to or greater than the accumulated loss threshold, the ink supply replenish signal is generated. In the embodiment shown in
In one embodiment, the operation of the drive motor is timed so the amount of time that the drive motor operates corresponds to a predetermined travel distance. The travel distance, as a proportion of the length of a solid ink stick, corresponds to a predetermined ink mass. Provided the ink sticks are end to end in the feed channel, operation of the drive motor for the predetermined travel distance feeds solid ink into the melting device in an amount corresponding to the predetermined mass. In one embodiment, the predetermined travel distance and corresponding predetermined ink mass result in the production of an amount of ink that is equivalent to the accumulated loss threshold. Thus, detection of an ink loss amount that is equivalent to the accumulated loss threshold results in the ink supply replenish signal being generated and the lost ink mass being replaced.
While the control program for a known print head controller and print engine may be modified to implement the ink loss measurement circuit as described above, other embodiments may be used as well. For example, the ink loss measurement circuit may include a melted ink level detector that is proximate the ink reservoir for supplying melted ink to the print head. In this embodiment, the melted ink level detector generates the ink supply replenish signal in response to the melted ink level detector detecting a melted ink level change that indicates a loss of ink reaching the accumulated loss mass. In the system of
In another embodiment, the ink loss measurement circuit may be implemented with a solid ink melting monitor that detects melting of solid ink to supply an ink reservoir and that generates a melting active signal during detection of the solid ink melting. An ink supply replenish signal generator is configured to generate the ink supply replenish signal in response to the melting active signal being generated for a predetermined period of time. This embodiment may be implemented with a configuration of the control program in the print engine 124 that times the duration of a melting operation by the melting device 114. For example, in response to the print engine 124 operating an electronic switch to provide electrical power to the melting device 114 so it is heated to the solid ink melting temperature, the print engine may time the period in which the electronic switch is maintained in this position. In response to the period reaching a predetermined time, the ink supply replenish signal is generated by the print engine to operate the drive motor and urge more solid ink carried by the drive train 108 towards the melting device 114 to replace the solid ink melted during the predetermined time period.
In another embodiment, a current sensor 144 may be used. The current sensor is a known type of sensor that detects the flow of current through a conductor. The sensor detects current in the wires supplying power to the melting device 114 for the melting of solid ink. The duration of this current flow may be timed and when the time reaches a predetermined time, the ink supply replenish signal is generated so the drive motor is operated as described above. This embodiment may be useful in printers where the heating control is performed by a processor other than the print engine. In another embodiment, the sensor may be a thermistor located proximate to a melting device to identify the melting device reaching a temperature for melting solid ink. In response to the thermistor increasing above a melting threshold, a timer is used to measure the duration of the time at which the thermistor indicates the melting device is at or above the melting threshold. When the time reaches the predetermined time, the ink supply replenish signal is generated so the drive motor is operated as described above.
While the ink loss measurement circuit has been described with reference to a single print head, an ink loss measurement circuit may be provided for each print head in a plurality of print heads. Each ink loss measurement circuit in a multiple print head embodiment is configured to identify an accumulated ink mass loss of ink from one of the melted ink reservoirs and to generate an ink supply replenish signal in response to the accumulated ink mass loss for the melted ink reservoir being monitored by the circuit reaching an accumulated threshold. As described above, the ink supply replenish signal is used to activate a drive motor for the feed channel supplying solid ink to the melting device that is coupled to the melted ink reservoir monitored by the ink loss measurement circuit. In this manner, each melted ink reservoir is independently monitored and replenished.
In operation, one of the ink loss measurement circuits is provided in a solid ink printer. While
Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications can be made to the specific implementations described above. Therefore, the following claims are not to be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described above. The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others.
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