Conveyor Belt Speed Control for Ink-Jet Printers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink-jet printers face a delay in reaching desired conveyor belt speeds, which elongates the time from receiving a print command to starting the recording process, thereby reducing the perceived printing speed for users.
Innovation Solution
The controller determines the desired speed for the conveyor belt to be either a low speed or a normal speed, initially setting it to low speed for the first recording medium to quickly reach the desired speed, and then switching to normal speed for subsequent prints, optimizing the printing speed sensed by the user.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the conveyor belt is driven at a higher speed to increase printing speed, then the printing speed is improved, but the time required for the conveyor belt to reach the desired speed increases, which elongates the period from when the conveyor belt starts driving to when a recording medium is placed onto it
Solution Approach 1:
The controller preliminarily drives the conveyor belt at a low speed immediately after a print command is received, before the recording medium is placed on it. This preliminary low-speed operation allows the conveyor belt to start moving without delay, and then the speed is increased to the desired high speed once the recording medium is positioned, thus resolving the contradiction between achieving high printing speed and minimizing the time to reach that speed.
2Loss of time
If the conveyor belt starts driving at low speed to reduce the time to place recording medium, then the perceived printing speed is improved, but the overall printing throughput may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor belt speed is dynamically adjusted based on the operational phase: low speed is used during the initial phase when the recording medium is being positioned, and then transitions to high speed for the main printing phase. This dynamic speed adjustment optimizes both the response time (reducing the time to place the medium) and the productivity (maintaining high printing throughput during the actual printing process).
Data Source
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AI summary
A recording apparatus includes a conveyor mechanism, a placer, a recording head, and a controller that controls the conveyor mechanism, the placer, and the recording head. The controller determines a desired speed, which is a desired value of a driving speed of a conveyor belt of the conveyor mechanism during a recording, to be either one of a predetermined first speed and a second speed lower than the first speed. The controller determines the desired speed for a first recording medium to be recorded based on a record command, to be the second speed.