Ink Printing Apparatus Climate Control for Nozzle Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink printing apparatuses face issues with ink drying in nozzles during printing pauses, leading to viscosity changes and clogging, especially in low humidity environments and with new ink types, causing disruptions and unnecessary ink consumption.
Innovation Solution
A climate control system with a feed channel parallel to the recording medium introduces a conditioned gas flow of specific temperature and moisture to the print bars, creating a laminar gas flow that maintains relative humidity and prevents ink drying, using a barrier to strip away the air boundary layer and replace it with a conditioned air flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If printing occurs from all nozzles within a predetermined cycle to prevent drying, then ink drying is prevented, but disruptions in the print image occur and unnecessary ink consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing individual humidity control for each nozzle or nozzle group rather than uniform treatment. Each nozzle receives targeted humidity adjustment based on its specific drying risk, allowing prevention of ink drying without requiring all nozzles to print uniformly, thus avoiding print image disruptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameter of humidity in the vicinity of nozzles by introducing a humidity control device that adjusts moisture levels. This parameter change prevents ink evaporation and drying without requiring continuous printing operations, thereby maintaining print image quality while preventing nozzle drying.
2Reliability
If a purge medium is flushed through all nozzles in a purging process to prevent drying, then ink drying is prevented, but additional wear of the print heads occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary substance (humidity control medium or conditioned air) that mediates between the ink and the environment. This intermediary prevents direct evaporation of ink by adjusting local humidity, eliminating the need for aggressive purging operations that cause wear to the print heads.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical purging system (which uses fluid flow and pressure to clear nozzles) with a environmental control system that adjusts humidity levels. This substitution eliminates the need for forceful purging operations, thereby reducing mechanical wear on print heads while still preventing ink drying.
3Reliability
If the nozzle plate is arranged in a nozzle chamber with fluid supplied that may be evaporated to increase moisture, then ink drying is largely prevented, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential function of humidity control from a complex enclosed nozzle chamber system. Instead of creating a sealed chamber with fluid supply and evaporation mechanisms, the invention uses a simplified approach with humidity control devices that can be positioned near nozzles without requiring complex structural enclosures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs disposable or easily replaceable humidity control elements rather than permanent, complex nozzle chamber structures. This approach reduces device complexity by using simple, inexpensive humidity adjustment components that can be quickly deployed and replaced if needed, avoiding the need for elaborate and maintenance-intensive chamber systems.
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 extends the operational time of print heads by reducing ink evaporation, preventing nozzle drying, and allowing the use of newer ink types like latex, without the need for frequent purging or wiping, thereby maintaining print quality and reducing wear.
Implementation Method 1
The moisture in the nozzle chamber is thereby increased, and a drying of the ink in the nozzles is largely prevented
Data Source
AI summary
In a printing apparatus a print bar assembly is provided with multiple print bars, a designed space being present between the print bars and a recording medium. A climate control has a feed channel running parallel to a length of the recording medium. Openings lead from the feed channel to the print bars to introduce a conditioned gas flow of predetermined temperature and moisture to the print bars such that a laminar gas flow is generated in the designed space between nozzle plates of the print bars and the recording medium. A barrier is arranged at an intake of the print bar assembly which blocks an air boundary layer entrained with the moving recording medium before the print bar assembly.