Carriage Agitation Control for Inkjet Printhead Load Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image forming apparatuses face challenges in uniformly agitating pigment ink within the discharge head or tank, leading to non-uniform concentration due to pigment settling, and rapid reciprocation methods can concentrate loads on the carriage belt or guide, potentially causing wear and increased weight or size.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus employs an agitation control section to change the operation areas within the movable range of the carriage during reciprocation, allowing for non-overlapping and varying reciprocating ranges to disperse the load on the carriage guide and belt, and differentiates between forward and return movements to manage load distribution effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the carriage reciprocates at high speed to agitate ink in a short time, then agitation efficiency is improved, but load concentration on the carriage belt or carriage guide occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The movable range of the carriage is divided into multiple operation areas. By changing over these operation areas and reciprocating within each area separately, the load that would otherwise concentrate on a single location is segmented and distributed across multiple locations, reducing peak load on the carriage belt and guide while maintaining agitation effectiveness
2Strength
If the rigidity of the carriage belt or carriage guide is increased to handle higher loads, then load-bearing capacity is improved, but weight increases or size increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the overall rigidity and weight of the carriage belt and guide to handle peak loads, the patent segments the operation into multiple areas. This allows the use of lighter, less rigid components that suffice for the reduced load in each individual operation area, while the system as a whole maintains sufficient load-bearing capacity through load distribution
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a medium by discharging liquid from a discharge head, wherein a carriage on which the discharge head is mounted is made to be able to reciprocate, and in a case where agitation of liquid is required, control is performed such that operation areas of a plurality of places set within a movable range of the carriage are changed over and the carriage then reciprocates within the operation area.