Method for detecting and adjusting temperature of nozzle of ink-jet printer and image forming device
Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of printers, and more particularly, to a method for detecting and adjusting a temperature of a nozzle of an inkjet printer and an image forming apparatus.
Background
In the ink-jet printing technology, the output of the ink can be effectively realized after the ink is heated, so that a good printing effect is achieved, and the ink in the prior art directly heats the nozzle through the heating device after entering the nozzle, so that the temperature of the ink rises instantaneously, bubbles are generated, and the output printing of ink drops is realized.
However, if the temperature of the spray head is too high, the spray head is damaged, a high temperature threshold is usually set in the printing process, when the temperature of the spray head reaches the high temperature threshold, the heating of the spray head is stopped, meanwhile, the printing work is stopped, so that the temperature of the spray head is reduced, after the temperature of the spray head is reduced to a set temperature, the heating device is controlled to heat the spray head, and then the printing work is performed. However, if the temperature at which the printer starts printing does not reach the set temperature, the discharge characteristic may not be sufficiently obtained even if the heater in the ink cartridge is operated, and thus a uniform image may not be obtained.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, for example, patent No. ZL200910004843.8 (grant publication No. CN 101491967B) discloses a liquid ejecting apparatus and a liquid ejecting method, the liquid ejecting apparatus including a head that ejects liquid from a drive signal, a drive signal generating section that generates the drive signal, a sensor that detects a temperature of the head, a generating section sensor that detects a temperature of the drive signal generating section, and a control section that waits for the liquid to be ejected from the head from the drive signal based on a detection result of the sensor and a detection result of the generating section sensor, the control section determining a time to wait for the liquid to be ejected from the head from the drive signal, that is, a1 st standby time based on a detection result of the generating section sensor, and determining a2 nd standby time based on a detection result of the generating section sensor, waiting for a time longer than the 1 st standby time or the 2 nd standby time, and ejecting the liquid from the head from the drive signal. Although this liquid ejecting apparatus can suppress an increase in the head temperature, the manner of controlling the temperature is complicated. For this reason, there is a need for further improvements in the art.
Disclosure of Invention
The first technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the nozzle of an inkjet printer, which is simple in control manner and ensures that a uniform image is obtained.
A second technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus to which the above method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of a head of an inkjet printer is applied.
The invention solves the first technical problem by adopting a technical scheme that the method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of a nozzle of an ink-jet printer comprises an ink box communicated with the nozzle, wherein the nozzle is provided with a plurality of ink-jet ports, and is characterized in that the lowest threshold value of the temperature of the ink-jet ports is set as Tem1, and the highest threshold value is set as Tem2;
before the printing of the ink-jet printer is started, calculating the temperature T of an ink-jet opening when each printing area starts to print according to the data information of the image to be printed;
When T is lower than Tem1, firstly performing heating operation on the ink jet port when printing the area, and then printing;
when T is higher than Tem2, firstly performing cooling operation on the ink jet port when printing the area, and then printing;
the cooling operation is to pause printing, or the cooling operation is to arrange a heat dissipation piece on the ink box or a carrier for bearing the ink box, and the heat dissipation piece can be contacted with at least part of the spray heads;
After the printing of the ink-jet printer is started, the temperature of the periphery of the ink-jet opening is continuously measured through the temperature detection module, and the temperature of the ink-jet opening of the ink-jet printer is controlled to be always within the range of Tem 1-Tem 2.
Preferably, before the printing of the inkjet printer, the nozzle is preheated, and when the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port reaches to Tem3, the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port reaches to Tem3-Tem 1= Δt, the Δt is a preset difference value, and the inkjet printer starts to print.
Preferably, the first way is that the specific process of performing the heating operation is:
the ink cartridge has a substrate having an energy conversion element and a heating device thereon, and the energy conversion element and the heating device are activated to perform a heating operation.
Preferably, the second mode is that the specific process of performing the heating operation is:
the ink jet ports are preheated by means of pre-pulses.
Preferably, the heat dissipation piece is a plurality of heat dissipation fins, and each heat dissipation fin is correspondingly arranged between two adjacent spray heads.
In order to realize temperature detection, the temperature detection module comprises a plurality of thermistors which are circumferentially arranged along each ink jet opening, and all the thermistors are connected in series.
The invention solves the second technical problem and adopts the technical scheme that the image forming device is characterized in that the method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the nozzle of the ink-jet printer is applied.
Compared with the prior art, the method has the advantages that before the printing of the ink-jet printer is started, the temperature T of the ink-jet opening when each printing area starts to print is calculated according to the data information of the image to be printed, when T is lower than Tem1, the heating operation is firstly carried out on the ink-jet opening when the area is printed, and then printing is carried out, when T is higher than Tem2, the temperature of the ink-jet opening is firstly carried out on the ink-jet opening when the area is printed, and then printing is carried out, so that after the printing of the ink-jet printer is started, the peripheral temperature of the ink-jet opening is continuously measured through the temperature detection module, the temperature of the ink-jet opening of the ink-jet printer is controlled to be always within the range of Tem 1-Tem 2, the temperature stability during printing is improved, the influence of the printing effect caused by the fact that the temperature is too high or too low is prevented, and therefore the temperature of a specific area in the image forming area can be stabilized, and uniform images can be obtained.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an inkjet printer nozzle according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating temperature detection of a showerhead according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of area division of a showerhead according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the installation of a heat sink according to an embodiment of the invention.
Detailed Description
The invention is described in further detail below with reference to the embodiments of the drawings.
An ink jet printer has an ink cartridge in communication with a nozzle having a plurality of ink ejection openings.
In the method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the nozzle of the inkjet printer in this embodiment, before the inkjet printer prints, the image information to be printed is divided into a plurality of areas according to the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction (i.e. the transverse and longitudinal printing directions), and because the image information to be printed in each area is different, the number of ink jet points in each area is also different, therefore, the temperature T of the nozzle when the printing of each area is started is calculated through the number distribution information of each color in each color block obtained from the image information;
The minimum threshold value of the temperature of the ink box nozzle is set as Tem1, the maximum threshold value is set as Tem2, tem1=40 ℃ and Tem2=80 ℃ in the implementation, when the temperature of the nozzle is lower than Tem1 or higher than Tem2 (the threshold value is obtained by practical experiment data), the quality of a printed image is reduced, so that an advanced temperature control plan can be carried out according to the calculated temperature T when each region starts to print before printing (the advanced temperature control plan can plan to carry out normal printing after heating operation is carried out when a certain region is printed or carry out cooling operation is carried out when a certain region is carried out firstly), the temperature of the nozzle in the whole printing process is in a threshold range, the temperature of an ink jet opening in the whole printing process is ensured to be uniformly distributed through the advanced temperature control plan, and after the printing of the ink jet printer is started, the peripheral temperature of the ink jet opening is continuously measured through a temperature detection module, and the peripheral temperature of the ink jet head of the ink jet printer is always in a preset threshold value range.
The temperature detection module in this embodiment includes a plurality of thermistors arranged along the circumference of each ink ejection port, all of which are connected in series.
Specifically, the specific process of controlling the temperature of the outer periphery of the ink-jet head of the ink-jet printer to be always within the preset threshold range is to execute heating operation when the temperature detected by the temperature detection module is lower than the minimum value (i.e. Tem 1) of the preset threshold range, and execute cooling operation when the temperature detected by the temperature detection module is higher than the maximum value (i.e. Tem 2) of the preset threshold range.
The specific process of performing the heating operation in this embodiment is that the ink cartridge has a substrate with an energy conversion element and a heating device thereon, and the energy conversion element and the heating device are activated to perform the heating operation.
The specific process of executing the cooling operation in this embodiment is that the ink box or the carrier for carrying the ink box is provided with a heat dissipation piece, and the heat dissipation piece can be contacted with at least part of the spray head. As shown in fig. 4, the heat dissipation member in this embodiment is a plurality of heat dissipation fins, and each heat dissipation fin is correspondingly disposed between two adjacent spray heads. The cooling effect of the heat sink is very good, and especially at high temperature, the temperature reduction time can be shortened, or the cooling operation can be completed by suspending printing.
Before printing by the inkjet printer, the nozzle is preheated, when the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the outer periphery of the ink jet opening reaches Tem3, the Tem 3-Tem1= DeltaT, deltaT is a preset difference value, the inkjet printer starts printing, and since the inkjet printer has a certain delay between the moment of receiving a printing instruction and the moment of starting printing by the nozzle, in order to achieve that the temperature of the nozzle at the moment of starting printing can reach Tem1=40 ℃, in the embodiment, tem3=35 ℃, namely when the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the outer periphery of the ink jet opening reaches 35 ℃, the printing action can be started, and when an image is formed, the temperature of the nozzle can be obtained Tem1, and the DeltaT can be confirmed through experience or experiment. When the printer performs a printing operation, the print head moves in the main scanning direction relative to the print medium, and the print medium also moves relative to the printer, so that the print head moves in the sub-scanning direction relative to the print medium, thereby forming a print image on the print medium. Typically the print medium is paper, cloth batch, or the like. The specific directions of the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are specifically determined based on the difference of the printers, and in the present embodiment, the main scanning direction is the left-right direction and the sub scanning direction is the front-rear direction.
As shown in fig. 1, the nozzles in this embodiment are four groups, each group is respectively connected to ink cartridges containing four colors of black, cyan, magenta and yellow, the abbreviation BK in fig. 1 represents black, and the abbreviation CL in fig. 1 represents color (i.e., cyan, magenta and yellow), or ink cartridges containing four colors (black, cyan, magenta and yellow) may be connected to one group of nozzles, and the ink cartridges are mounted on a carrier and move in the main scanning direction on the printer body for distribution.
As shown in fig. 2, a plurality of thermistors are connected in series around the nozzle communicated with the ink box containing the ink with the four colors of black, cyan, magenta and yellow, namely thermistors R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 respectively, and as shown in fig. 3, the periphery of a certain nozzle is divided into 6 areas which are respectively corresponding to an area 1, an area 2, an area 3, an area 4, an area 5 and an area 6, so that the uniform printing is ensured by detecting and adjusting the temperature of all the areas.
The present embodiment also relates to an image forming apparatus to which the above-described method of detecting and adjusting the temperature of a head of an inkjet printer is applied.
Embodiment two:
Unlike the first embodiment, the specific process of performing the heating operation in this embodiment is to preheat the ink ejection port by way of pre-pulse.
Thus, the pre-pulse can be applied to the region where the temperature needs to be raised, so that the temperature distribution of the whole nozzle is uniform, and the ink cartridge can be set to an appropriate dispensing state to obtain a uniform image. In addition, the temperature distribution between the ink and other cold air before the ink starts to be discharged can be differentiated, so that efficient printing is realized.
The foregoing is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several modifications and variations can be made without departing from the technical principle of the present invention, and these modifications and variations should also be regarded as the scope of the invention.