EP0732210A2 - Méthode d'aspiration d'encre pour une imprimante à jet d'encre - Google Patents

Méthode d'aspiration d'encre pour une imprimante à jet d'encre Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0732210A2
EP0732210A2 EP96301187A EP96301187A EP0732210A2 EP 0732210 A2 EP0732210 A2 EP 0732210A2 EP 96301187 A EP96301187 A EP 96301187A EP 96301187 A EP96301187 A EP 96301187A EP 0732210 A2 EP0732210 A2 EP 0732210A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
ink
suction
jet printer
suction amount
head
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP96301187A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0732210A3 (fr
Inventor
Jae-Han Lee
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd filed Critical Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Publication of EP0732210A2 publication Critical patent/EP0732210A2/fr
Publication of EP0732210A3 publication Critical patent/EP0732210A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/165—Prevention or detection of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles
    • B41J2/16517—Cleaning of print head nozzles
    • B41J2/1652—Cleaning of print head nozzles by driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head
    • B41J2/16532—Cleaning of print head nozzles by driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head by applying vacuum only
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/165—Prevention or detection of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles
    • B41J2/16585—Prevention or detection of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles for paper-width or non-reciprocating print heads
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/165—Prevention or detection of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles
    • B41J2/16579—Detection means therefor, e.g. for nozzle clogging

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method of ink suction in an ink jet printer.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,535 discloses an ink jet printer, particularly a head cleaner, in which residual ink is removed from a face of a print head of the ink jet printer by using controlled fluid flow, thereby to clean the head. Though having an effect of cleaning the head face, however, the head cleaner is not effective when a nozzle disposed in the head for supplying ink gets clogged with ink residue or foreign substances.
  • Another ink jet printer described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,876 has an apparatus for controlling the amount of ink supplied through nozzles according to a printing defect degree when the printing defect occurs. Thus, unnecessary consumption of the ink is avoidable. However, this apparatus cannot solve the nozzle clogging problem.
  • a method of sucking ink by means of pumping is generally employed to open up the blocked nozzle.
  • FIG. 1 An arrangement of a head, a suction cylinder, and other relating parts in a conventional ink jet printer adopting such a sucking method is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1.
  • a head 11 filled with ink for performing print on a recording sheet is provided.
  • the ink is expelled outside head 11 through nozzle holes (not shown) formed on the lower surface 13 of nozzles (not shown) installed inside head 11.
  • head 11 When head 11 is in a standby position (non-printing position), air may flow in through the nozzle holes or the nozzle holes may be clogged or damaged with foreign substances. To prevent this, head 11 is situated at a home station (not shown) in the non-printing mode, and a cover 14 for capping the nozzle holes is disposed under the home station. From the lower portion of cover 14, a connection pipe 15, a cylinder 16, and an ink residual reservoir 21 are sequentially provided. Accordingly, ink dropped to cover 14 from the nozzle hole flows into cylinder 16 through connection pipe 15 and then into ink residual reservoir 21. Here, the ink is absorbed by an absorbing pad 22 provided inside ink residual reservoir 21.
  • a reference numeral 15v denotes a first valve for preventing a backward flow which is installed in connection pipe 15 to prevent back flow of the ink.
  • a suction system in the ink jet printer adopting the conventional suction method is schematically illustrated in a flowchart of FIG. 2.
  • controller 24 shown in FIG. 1 when a suction key is input by a user to clear up the clogging of the nozzle in step 31, controller 24 shown in FIG. 1 generates a motor driving signal. Then, motor 18 drives piston 17 from a standby position to move back toward a position C, in step 32. Accordingly, the inside of cylinder 16 enters a low pressure state, and thus, the ink flows into cylinder 16 from head 11. Here, the ink residual within reservoir 21 does not flow upward through a discharging pipe 25 due to a second valve arranged inside the same for preventing a back flow.
  • controller 24 When piston 17 reaches the position C, controller 24 generates the motor driving signal again, and piston 17 returns to the initial standby position, in step 33. Accordingly, the ink inside cylinder 16 is expelled outside cylinder 16 through discharging pipe 25 into reservoir 21. Here, the ink does not flow through connection pipe 15 due to first valve 15v.
  • the present invention provides a method of adjusting a suction amount of ink in an ink jet printer by which the ink is sucked step by step according to a degree of clogging of a nozzle, thereby preventing unnecessary ink consumption and curtailing time required for ink suction.
  • a method of adjusting an ink suction amount in an ink jet printer comprising the steps of: determining an ink suction amount according to a printing state; and sucking the ink from a head according to the determination.
  • FIG. 3 Although there may be various structures for performing a method according to the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention will be described referring to FIG. 3 and the structure shown in FIG. 1 which is also available for the present invention.
  • the clogging state of a nozzle can be classified into multiple cases, e.g., it can be classified into three cases as in embodiments of the present invention, and the an ink suction amount mode corresponding to each classified case is preset and stored in controller 24.
  • a user determines the clogging state of the nozzle from a printed sheet, and inputs a required suction amount mode to controller 24 according to the clogging state of the nozzle.
  • Controller 24 determines whether a suction key is pressed, in step 41. If the suction key is pressed in step 41, the ink suction amount mode is discriminated, in step 42.
  • the user selects and inputs any required one among suction amount modes. Assuming that three suction amount modes are preset as described above, since a system operates in the same fashion with respect to three suction amount modes, the description will be given to only one mode.
  • controller 24 when the suction amount mode is "a,” controller 24 generates a corresponding motor driving signal, and piston 17 being driven by motor 18 is moved to a position "A" in FIG. 1, in step 43. Then, the ink sucked from head 11 flows into cylinder 16.
  • controller 24 When piston 17 reaches at "A" position, controller 24 generates again the motor driving signal, and piston 17 returns the initial standby position, in step 44. Accordingly, the ink inside cylinder 16 is expelled outside cylinder 16 through discharging pipe 25 into reservoir 21 in FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 4 a flowchart for explaining a method of inputting an ink suction amount value directly to a controller by a user according to another embodiment of the present invention, is shown.
  • the steps 51, 54, and 55 of the flowchart of FIG. 4 are similar to the steps of FIG. 3 and further description will be omitted.
  • controller 24 After suction key is pressed in step 51, controller 24 requires the input of the suction amount. Then, in this embodiment, a user inputs a value of the required suction amount by selecting the same by himself, in step 53, without selecting one among the preset values.
  • a plurality of ink suction mode switches corresponding to the preset ink suction amount are provided on an operation panel and one among the switches is selected by a user so that the method of the present invention can be performed, which is illustrated in a flowchart in FIG. 5.
  • the user first recognizes a printing state and confirms a state of clogging of a nozzle. For example, when the clogged degree is determined to be relatively low, the user selects a mode "a" switch among the ink suction amount mode switches.
  • controller 24 transfers a motor driving signal to motor driver 23, and accordingly motor 18 drives piston 17 so that piston 17 is moved to a "A" position and then stopped, in step 62. Then, controller 24 generates the motor driving signal again, and piston 17 returns to the initial standby position, in step 63.
  • the amount of sucked ink is restricted to be as much as that corresponding to a piston's displacement between the initial position and the "A" position.
  • controller 24 transfers to motor driver 23 a control signal for moving piston 17 to a position "C.” Accordingly, when motor 18 is driven by motor driver 23, piston 17 moves to the "C” position and then stops there, in step 66. Then, piston 17 returns to the initial standby position, in step 67, as in a case of selecting the "a" mode.
  • motor driver 23 receives from controller 24 a control signal for moving piston 17 to a position "B.”
  • Motor 18 is driven by motor driver 23, and piston 17 moves to the "B” position and stops there, in step 64. Then, piston 17 returns to the initial standby position as in the "a” and "c” modes selection, in step 65.
  • the amount of sucked ink in this mode is restricted to be as much as the amount corresponding to a displacement between the initial position and the "B" position.
  • the ink suction amount in the ink jet printer since the ink is sucked by moving the piston as much as a predetermined distance according to the clogging state of the nozzle, unnecessary consumption of the ink can be prevented. Simultaneously, since the piston only moves to the predetermined position, a suction time can also be curtailed. Thus, the ink cartridge life can be extended, and work efficiency can be improved as a recovery time to a normal state from the clogged state is reduced.

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  • Ink Jet (AREA)
EP96301187A 1995-03-14 1996-02-22 Méthode d'aspiration d'encre pour une imprimante à jet d'encre Withdrawn EP0732210A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR9505257 1995-03-14
KR1019950005257A KR0132809B1 (ko) 1995-03-14 1995-03-14 잉크 제트 프린터에서의 잉크흡입량 조절방법

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0732210A2 true EP0732210A2 (fr) 1996-09-18
EP0732210A3 EP0732210A3 (fr) 1999-01-07

Family

ID=19409771

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP96301187A Withdrawn EP0732210A3 (fr) 1995-03-14 1996-02-22 Méthode d'aspiration d'encre pour une imprimante à jet d'encre

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0732210A3 (fr)
KR (1) KR0132809B1 (fr)
CN (1) CN1105021C (fr)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2017081118A (ja) * 2015-10-30 2017-05-18 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置、記録方法およびプログラム
US11872819B2 (en) 2018-04-28 2024-01-16 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Dispersing concentrated printing fluids

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN104029481A (zh) * 2014-05-30 2014-09-10 安徽美翔塑业有限公司 一种薄膜印刷机自动加油墨装置
KR102785412B1 (ko) * 2019-06-13 2025-03-27 삼성디스플레이 주식회사 잉크젯 장치 및 잉크젯 장치의 프린팅 방법
CN115817019A (zh) * 2022-11-09 2023-03-21 联想图像(山东)科技有限公司 喷墨打印头的清理方法、装置及喷墨打印机

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0785075B1 (fr) * 1989-10-22 2001-01-10 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Dispositif de récuperation d'encre equipé d'une pompe à tube
JP2946725B2 (ja) * 1989-11-06 1999-09-06 セイコーエプソン株式会社 インクジェット式記録装置
CN1066102C (zh) * 1990-09-19 2001-05-23 佳能株式会社 墨水喷射记录装置
US5389961A (en) * 1991-11-25 1995-02-14 Eastman Kodak Company Ink jet printer with variable-force ink declogging apparatus

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2017081118A (ja) * 2015-10-30 2017-05-18 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置、記録方法およびプログラム
US11872819B2 (en) 2018-04-28 2024-01-16 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Dispersing concentrated printing fluids

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
KR960033767A (ko) 1996-10-22
CN1105021C (zh) 2003-04-09
KR0132809B1 (ko) 1998-04-14
EP0732210A3 (fr) 1999-01-07
CN1138528A (zh) 1996-12-25

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