Method for detecting and adjusting temperature of spray head of ink-jet printer and image forming device

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of a spray head of an ink-jet printer and an image forming device, and the method comprises the steps: calculating the temperature T of an ink-jet port at the beginning of printing of each printing region according to the data information of an image to be printed before the printing of the ink-jet printer is started; when T is lower than Tem1, heating operation is firstly carried out on the ink-jet nozzle when the area is printed, and then printing is carried out; when T is higher than Tem < 2 >, cooling operation is performed on the ink-jet nozzle firstly when the area is printed, and then printing is performed; the cooling operation is that printing is paused, or a heat dissipation piece is arranged on the ink box or a carrier used for bearing the ink box, and the heat dissipation piece can make contact with at least part of the spray head; after printing of the ink-jet printer is started, the peripheral temperature of the ink-jet nozzle is continuously measured through the temperature detection module, and the temperature of the ink-jet nozzle of the ink-jet printer is controlled to be within the range of Tem1-Tem2 all the time. The method can stabilize the temperature of the specific area in the image forming area so as to ensure that a uniform image is obtained.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of printers, and in particular to a method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of an inkjet printer nozzle and an image forming device. Background Art

[0002] In inkjet printing technology, the ink needs to be heated before it can be effectively output and achieve a good printing effect. The existing technology is that after the ink enters the nozzle, the nozzle is directly heated by a heating device, and the temperature of the ink rises instantly, thereby generating bubbles and achieving the output and printing of ink droplets.

[0003] However, if the temperature of the nozzle is too high, it will damage the nozzle. Therefore, a high temperature threshold is usually set during the printing process. When the temperature of the nozzle reaches the high temperature threshold, the nozzle heating is stopped and the printing work is stopped at the same time to achieve the cooling of the nozzle. After the nozzle temperature drops to the set temperature, the heating device is controlled to heat the nozzle and then print. However, if the temperature of the printer does not reach the set temperature when it starts printing, even if the heater in the ink cartridge is running, the discharge characteristics may not be fully obtained, so a uniform image cannot be obtained.

[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems, a Chinese invention patent with patent number ZL200910004843.8 (authorization announcement number CN101491967B) discloses a liquid ejection device and a liquid ejection method, wherein the liquid ejection device comprises: a head for ejecting liquid by a driving signal; a driving signal generating unit for generating a driving signal; a sensor for detecting the temperature of the head; a generating unit sensor for detecting the temperature of the driving signal generating unit; and a control unit, which waits for the liquid to be ejected from the head by the driving signal according to the detection result of the sensor and the detection result of the generating unit sensor, and the control unit determines the time for waiting for the liquid to be ejected from the head by the driving signal according to the detection result of the sensor, i.e., the first standby time, and determines the second standby time according to the detection result of the generating unit sensor, and waits for the longer of the first standby time and the second standby time, and ejects liquid from the head by the driving signal. Although the liquid ejection device can suppress the rise of the head temperature, its temperature control method is relatively complicated. Therefore, further improvements need to be made to the prior art. Summary of the invention

[0005] The first technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the inkjet printer nozzle in a simple control manner to ensure obtaining a uniform image in view of the above-mentioned prior art.

[0006] The second technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an image forming device using the above method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the inkjet printer nozzle.

[0007] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above-mentioned first technical problem is: a method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of an inkjet printer nozzle, the inkjet printer has an ink cartridge connected to the nozzle, the nozzle has a plurality of inkjet ports, characterized in that: the lowest threshold value of the inkjet port temperature is set to Tem1, and the highest threshold value is set to Tem2;

[0008] Before the inkjet printer starts printing, the inkjet nozzle temperature T of each printing area when printing starts is calculated according to the data information of the image to be printed;

[0009] When T is lower than Tem1, the inkjet port is heated before printing in this area.

[0010] When T is higher than Tem2, the inkjet nozzle is cooled down before printing in this area.

[0011] The cooling operation is to pause printing, or the cooling operation is to provide a heat sink on the ink cartridge or a carrier for carrying the ink cartridge, and the heat sink can contact with at least part of the nozzle;

[0012] After the inkjet printer starts printing, the temperature detection module continuously measures the peripheral temperature of the inkjet nozzle, and controls the temperature of the inkjet nozzle of the inkjet printer to always be within the range of Tem1 to Tem2.

[0013] Preferably, before the inkjet printer prints, the nozzle is preheated, and when the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port reaches Tem3, Tem3-Tem1=△T, △T is a preset difference, and the inkjet printer starts printing.

[0014] Preferably, in the first mode, the specific process of performing the heating operation is:

[0015] The ink cartridge has a substrate, and an energy conversion element and a heating device are disposed on the substrate. The energy conversion element and the heating device are started and controlled to perform a heating operation.

[0016] Preferably, the second method is that the specific process of performing the heating operation is:

[0017] The inkjet nozzle is preheated by means of a pre-pulse.

[0018] Preferably, the heat sink is a plurality of heat sinks, and each heat sink is correspondingly arranged between two adjacent nozzles.

[0019] In order to detect the temperature, the temperature detection module includes a plurality of thermistors arranged along the circumference of each inkjet port, and all the thermistors are connected in series.

[0020] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above second technical problem is: an image forming device, characterized in that: the method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the inkjet printer nozzle as mentioned above is applied.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are: before the inkjet printer starts printing, the inkjet nozzle temperature T of each printing area when starting printing is calculated based on the data information of the image to be printed; when T is lower than Tem1, the inkjet nozzle is first heated when printing the area, and then printing is performed; when T is higher than Tem2, the inkjet nozzle is first cooled when printing the area, and then printing is performed; thus, after the inkjet printer starts printing, the peripheral temperature of the inkjet nozzle is continuously measured by the temperature detection module, and the temperature of the inkjet nozzle of the inkjet printer is controlled to always be within the range of Tem1 to Tem2, thereby improving the temperature stability during printing and preventing the temperature from being too high or too low and affecting the printing effect; therefore, the temperature of a specific area in the image forming area can be stabilized to ensure that a uniform image is obtained. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an inkjet printer nozzle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of temperature detection of a nozzle in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the area division of the nozzle in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the installation of the heat sink in the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] The inkjet printer has an ink cartridge connected to a nozzle, and the nozzle has a plurality of ink ejection ports.

[0028] In the method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the inkjet printer nozzle in this embodiment, before the inkjet printer prints, the image information to be printed is divided into several areas according to the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction (i.e., the horizontal and vertical printing directions). Since the image information to be printed in each area is different, the number of inkjet dots in each area is also different. Therefore, the temperature T of the nozzle when starting to print in each area is calculated by the dot distribution information of each color in each color block obtained from the image information;

[0029] The lowest threshold of the ink cartridge nozzle temperature is set to Tem1, and the highest threshold is set to Tem2. In this embodiment, Tem1 is set to 40°C and Tem2 is set to 80°C (the threshold temperatures are obtained from actual experimental data). When the nozzle temperature is lower than Tem1 or higher than Tem2, the quality of the printed image will decrease. Therefore, before printing, advance temperature control planning can be carried out according to the calculated temperature T of each area when printing starts (it can be planned in advance to perform heating operation before normal printing in a certain area, or to perform cooling operation before normal printing in a certain area), so that the nozzle temperature in the entire printing process is within the threshold range, and the temperature of the inkjet port is uniformly distributed in the entire printing process through advance temperature control planning; after the inkjet printer starts printing, the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port is continuously measured by the temperature detection module, and the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet head of the inkjet printer is controlled to always be within the preset threshold range.

[0030] The temperature detection module in this embodiment includes a plurality of thermistors arranged along the circumference of each inkjet port, and all the thermistors are connected in series.

[0031] Specifically, the specific process of controlling the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet printer's inkjet head to always be within the preset threshold range is: when the temperature detected by the temperature detection module is lower than the minimum value of the preset threshold range (i.e., Tem1), a heating operation is performed; when the temperature detected by the temperature detection module is higher than the maximum value of the preset threshold range (i.e., Tem2), a cooling operation is performed.

[0032] The specific process of performing the heating operation in this embodiment is as follows: the ink cartridge has a substrate, and the substrate has an energy conversion element and a heating device, and then the energy conversion element and the heating device are started and controlled to perform the heating operation.

[0033] The specific process of performing the cooling operation in this embodiment is as follows: a heat sink is provided on the ink cartridge or a carrier for carrying the ink cartridge, and the heat sink can contact at least part of the nozzle. Figure 4 As shown, the heat sink in this embodiment is a plurality of heat sinks, each of which is disposed between two adjacent nozzles. The cooling effect of the heat sink is very good, especially at high temperatures, which can shorten the temperature reduction time, or complete the cooling operation by pausing printing.

[0034] Before the inkjet printer prints, the nozzle is preheated. When the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port reaches Tem3, Tem3-Tem1=△T, △T is the preset difference, and the inkjet printer starts printing. Since there is a certain delay between the inkjet printer receiving the print command and the nozzle starting to perform the printing action, in order to achieve the temperature of the nozzle when starting printing to reach Tem1=40℃, △T=5℃ and Tem3=35℃ in the above embodiment, that is, when the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port reaches 35℃, the printing action can be started. When the image is formed, the temperature of the nozzle can obtain Tem1. The above △T can be confirmed by experience or experiment. When the printer is printing, the print head will move relative to the print medium in the main scanning direction, and the print medium will also move relative to the printer, so that the print head moves relative to the print medium in the secondary scanning direction, and then forms a printed image on the print medium. Usually the print medium is paper, cloth batch, etc. The specific directions of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction are determined based on the different printers. In this embodiment, the main scanning direction is the left-right direction, and the sub-scanning direction is the front-back direction.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, the nozzles in this embodiment are four groups, and each group of nozzles is connected to the ink cartridges containing four colors of ink: black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Figure 1 The abbreviation BK in it stands for black, which corresponds to black; Figure 1 The abbreviation CL in the figure stands for color, which corresponds to color (i.e., cyan, magenta and yellow). Ink cartridges for holding four colors (black, cyan, magenta and yellow) of ink can also be connected in a group of nozzles. The ink cartridges are installed on a carrier and move along the main scanning direction on the printer body for distribution.

[0036] like Figure 2 As shown, a plurality of thermistors are connected in series around the nozzle connected to the ink cartridges containing the four colors of ink, namely, thermistors R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6; Figure 3 As shown, the periphery of a certain nozzle is divided into 6 areas, corresponding to area 1, area 2, area 3, area 4, area 5 and area 6 respectively, and the temperature of all areas is detected and adjusted to ensure uniform printing.

[0037] This embodiment also relates to an image forming device, which uses the above-mentioned method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the inkjet printer nozzle.

[0038] Embodiment 2:

[0039] Different from the first embodiment, the specific process of performing the heating operation in this embodiment is: preheating the inkjet port by means of a pre-pulse.

[0040] This allows the pre-pulse to be applied to the area where the temperature needs to be increased, so that the temperature distribution of the entire print head is uniform, the ink cartridge can be set to the appropriate distribution state to obtain a uniform image, and the temperature distribution between it and other cold air before the ink begins to be discharged can be differentiated, thereby achieving efficient printing.

[0041] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the technical principles of the present invention. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of a nozzle of an inkjet printer, wherein the inkjet printer has an ink cartridge connected to the nozzle, and the nozzle has a plurality of ink jet ports, characterized in that: The lowest threshold of the inkjet nozzle temperature is set as Tem1, and the highest threshold is set as Tem2; Before the inkjet printer starts printing, the inkjet nozzle temperature T of each printing area when printing starts is calculated according to the data information of the image to be printed; When T is lower than Tem1, the inkjet port is heated first before printing in this area; When T is higher than Tem2, the inkjet nozzle is cooled down before printing in this area. The cooling operation is to pause printing, or the cooling operation is to provide a heat sink on the ink cartridge or a carrier for carrying the ink cartridge, and the heat sink can contact at least part of the nozzle; After the inkjet printer starts printing, the temperature detection module continuously measures the peripheral temperature of the inkjet nozzle, and controls the temperature of the inkjet nozzle of the inkjet printer to always be within the range of Tem1 to Tem2.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before the inkjet printer prints, the nozzle is preheated. When the temperature detection module detects that the temperature of the periphery of the inkjet port reaches Tem3, Tem3-Tem1=△T, △T is the preset difference, and the inkjet printer starts printing.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The specific process of performing the heating operation is: The ink cartridge has a substrate, and an energy conversion element and a heating device are disposed on the substrate. The energy conversion element and the heating device are started and controlled to perform a heating operation.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The specific process of performing the heating operation is: The inkjet nozzle is preheated by means of a pre-pulse.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The heat sink is a plurality of heat sinks, and each heat sink is correspondingly arranged between two adjacent nozzles.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The temperature detection module comprises a plurality of thermistors arranged along the circumference of each ink jet port, and all the thermistors are connected in series.

7. An image forming device, characterized in that: The method for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the inkjet printer nozzle as described in any one of claims 1 to 6 is applied.

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