Inkjet Printer Heating Control for Media Joint Portions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet printers face challenges in ensuring sufficient drying time for joint portions of media, as they are often dried alongside non-joint portions without distinction, leading to insufficient drying of the joint portions.
Innovation Solution
An image recording apparatus with a detection unit to identify joint portions and a controller that extends the heating time for these areas, ensuring they dry longer than non-joint portions, using a combination of a transport unit, a head unit for printing, and a heating unit to manage the drying process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the joint portion and non-joint portion are dried without distinction, then the drying process is simple and fast, but the joint portion is not sufficiently dried
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the drying treatment between joint portions and non-joint portions. The heating unit applies heat specifically to joint portions detected by the detection unit, while non-joint portions undergo standard drying. This ensures sufficient drying of joint portions without unnecessarily complicating the overall drying process for areas that don't require special treatment.
2Reliability
If the heating time for joint portion is extended, then the joint portion dries sufficiently, but the overall processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by detecting joint portions before the drying process begins. The detection unit identifies joint portions in advance, and the controller pre-plans the heating strategy based on this information. This allows the heating unit to apply extended heating time only to detected joint portions during the drying process, rather than uniformly extending drying time for the entire medium, thus minimizing overall processing time while ensuring sufficient drying of joint portions.
3Manufacturing precision
If the joint portion is detected and heated separately, then the drying quality improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing the detection unit and controller to serve multiple functions. The detection unit not only identifies joint portions but also provides positioning information for the heating unit. The controller integrates detection results with heating control, coordinating both heating and transport operations. This multi-functional approach improves drying quality without proportionally increasing device complexity, as existing components are utilized for multiple purposes.
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
Effectively dries the joint portions of the media, preventing printing failures due to inadequate drying and nozzle clogging, while accommodating different materials, such as films, by securing the necessary dry time.
Implementation Method 1
a heating unit which dries liquid forming the printing image by heating a portion of the medium located at a heating region on the transport path
Data Source
AI summary
An image recording apparatus includes a transport unit which transports a medium with a joint portion along a transport path, a head unit which performs recording of a printing image on both the joint portion and a non-joint portion by ejecting ink onto the medium, a heating unit which dries liquid forming the printing image by heating a portion of the medium located at a heating region on the transport path, a detection unit which detects the joint portion, and a controller which controls transporting of the medium by the transport unit so that a heating time of the joint portion in the heating region becomes longer than a heating time of the non-joint portion in the heating region on the basis of a detection signal from the detection unit.