Printing Device Drying Unit Heating Control for Lower Grid Load
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printing devices face high power consumption due to the electric power requirements of their drying units, leading to significant loading on the power supply network, particularly in three-phase alternating current systems.
Innovation Solution
A method and device for controlling the heating elements of a drying unit by determining specific periods of alternating current activation and inactivity within a heating cycle, optimizing the distribution of heating blocks to reduce the number of activations and deactivations, ensuring a consistent power consumption throughout the cycle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If heating elements are activated continuously to ensure consistent drying performance, then drying reliability is improved, but power consumption increases and power supply network loading worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The heating elements are activated periodically rather than continuously, with specific heating blocks assigned to different phases of the three-phase alternating current supply. Each heating element operates during designated periods corresponding to its assigned phase, creating a periodic activation pattern that maintains drying effectiveness while reducing overall power consumption and network loading.
2Use of energy by moving object
If heating elements are activated in blocks to reduce power consumption, then power efficiency is improved, but drying consistency may worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Different heating elements are assigned to different phases of the three-phase alternating current supply, creating localized heating blocks for each phase. This local quality approach ensures that each heating element operates during its designated phase periods, maintaining consistent thermal contribution across the drying process while collectively reducing power consumption through phased operation.
3Power
If heating elements are distributed across three-phase supply to reduce network loading, then power supply loading is reduced, but control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heating elements are segmented and assigned to different phases of the three-phase alternating current supply. Each heating element is controlled independently with specific heating blocks corresponding to its assigned phase, dividing the overall heating system into three separate control segments. This segmentation reduces the peak loading on each phase of the power supply network while maintaining manageable control complexity through phase-based organization.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces the loading on the power supply network and enhances the power efficiency of the drying unit, enabling a stable and efficient operation of the drying process.
Implementation Method 1
The individual drying modules can respectively have a heating element
Implementation Method 2
blow a warmed gaseous drying medium, in particular air, toward the surface of the recording medium in order to dry said recording medium
Data Source
AI summary
A device is described that is designed to activate the different heating elements of a drying unit respectively per block within a heating cycle in order to enable an operation of the drying unit that is particularly power-efficient and gentle on the mains.