Flatbed Printer Ink Ejection Control for Suction Hole Clogging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flatbed printers face challenges when printing directly on the flatbed area, including the need for frequent cleaning and clogging of recording material in non-printing areas such as suction holes and registration pin holes.
Innovation Solution
The flatbed printer is equipped with a print controller that selects a digital map of non-printing areas and overlaps it with the digital image to determine environments where recording material ejection is prohibited, allowing for the automatic nesting of images to minimize the number of these environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If recording material is ejected directly on the flatbed area, then productivity is improved by eliminating the need for separate media pieces, but non-printing areas such as suction holes and registration pin holes become clogged requiring frequent cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by creating a digital map of non-printing areas before printing begins. The print controller identifies and marks these areas in advance, preventing recording material from being ejected into suction holes and registration pin holes during the printing process, thereby avoiding clogging while maintaining direct flatbed printing productivity
2Ease of manufacture
If recording material is ejected in non-printing areas, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but cleaning frequency increases reducing operational efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The print controller creates a digital map of non-printing areas beforehand and uses this map to guide the printing process. By pre-identifying areas to avoid, the system prevents recording material from entering suction holes and registration pin holes, eliminating the need for frequent cleaning operations while keeping the overall system design simple
3Reliability
If the print controller avoids non-printing areas, then reliability is improved by preventing clogging, but device complexity increases due to digital map processing
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of modifying the physical printer hardware, the system creates a digital copy or map of the non-printing areas on the flatbed. This digital representation allows the print controller to plan printing paths and avoid suction holes and registration pin holes through software processing, adding minimal complexity while significantly improving operational reliability
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 solution reduces the frequency of cleaning and minimizes clogging by avoiding the printing of recording material in non-printing areas, thereby improving the operational efficiency and reliability of the flatbed printer.
Implementation Method 1
a print head configured to eject recording material on the at least one media piece
Implementation Method 2
When a UV curable ink is used, the print head is also provided with UV lamps for curing the recording material when ejected on the piece of media placed on the flatbed area
Implementation Method 3
an armature constructed to move over the flatbed area in at least one direction
Implementation Method 4
a vacuum system for holding the at least one piece of media on the flatbed area
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a flatbed printer and a method for the flatbed printer. The flatbed printer comprises a flatbed area for placing at least one media piece to be printed upon. The flatbed area comprises a plurality of non-printing areas on which ejecting recording material is not allowed, but on which media piece placing is allowed. The print controller receives at least one print job comprising print data to be printed on the at last one media piece and controls the printing of the at least one received print job on the at least one media piece. An armature is constructed to move over the flatbed area in at least one direction and a print head is configured to eject recording material on the at least one media piece and attached to the armature. The print controller receives a digital image intended to be printed by ejecting the recording material directly on the flatbed area, and determines - before printing of the received digital image - for each non-printing area in the flatbed area which is covered by at least part of the ejected recording material when the digital image is directly printed on the flatbed area, an environment of and including the non-printing area. The print head is then ejecting the recording material directly on the flatbed area according to the digital image except in each environment determined by the print controller.