Inkjet Recording Apparatus LED Cooling Flow Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet recording apparatuses using LED light source units with temperature-dependent luminescence intensity suffer from uneven ink curing due to varying light intensities across different units, leading to striated unevenness in the image glossiness when scanning.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus incorporates a radiating device with multiple light source units and flow channels perpendicular to the nozzle array, ensuring equal cooling water temperature and flow across each unit to maintain consistent light emitting intensity, preventing uneven image formation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If multiple light source units are aligned to radiate high output light, then the total light output is improved, but the temperature difference between upstream and downstream units causes uneven luminescence intensity
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple independent flow channels, with each channel dedicated to cooling a specific light source unit. This segmentation ensures that each unit receives cooling water at the same initial temperature, preventing the cumulative temperature rise that occurs in series cooling arrangements and thereby maintaining uniform luminescence intensity across all units.
Solution Approach 2:
Each light source unit is assigned its own dedicated cooling flow channel, creating localized cooling zones. This allows each unit to be cooled independently with fresh cooling water, ensuring that local temperature conditions are optimized for each light source unit and resulting in uniform light output across the entire array.
2Device complexity
If cooling water flows sequentially through multiple light source units, then the cooling system structure is simplified, but the temperature of cooling water varies across different units causing uneven cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple parallel flow channels instead of a single sequential channel. Each channel is dedicated to cooling one light source unit, which segments the cooling flow paths and prevents temperature accumulation. This maintains consistent cooling water temperature across all units while keeping the overall system structure manageable through modular channel design.
3Volume of moving object
If LED light source units are used instead of mercury lamps, then miniaturization and response characteristics are improved, but heat release from semiconductor elements requires effective cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system uses segmented parallel flow channels, with each channel dedicated to cooling a specific LED light source unit. This segmentation allows for compact integration of cooling paths while ensuring each high-density LED unit receives adequate cooling with fresh water, effectively managing the heat release from the compact semiconductor elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a hydraulic cooling system using cooling water flowing through dedicated flow channels to remove heat from the LED light source units. This hydraulic approach provides efficient heat transfer from the compact semiconductor elements, enabling effective thermal management in the miniaturized radiating device structure.
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 ensures consistent ink curing across the recording medium, preventing uneven image striation and maintaining uniform glossiness, even when using temperature-dependent LED light source units.
Implementation Method 1
cooling water is made to flow to cool the plurality of the light source units
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of LEDs (which are light-emitting diodes) are aligned as ultraviolet ray radiating devices
Implementation Method 3
ultraviolet rays are radiated onto ultraviolet curable ink which was ejected from recording heads onto recording media, so that the ultraviolet curable ink is cured on the recording media
Data Source
AI summary
An inkjet recording apparatus, including a recording head having a nozzle array to eject photo-curable ink onto a recording medium, and a radiating device which is placed next to the recording head, and which radiates an ink-curing light onto the photo-curable ink ejected on the recording medium, wherein the radiating device includes a plurality of light source units which radiate photo-curable ink, and a plurality of flow channels which are mounted to intersect with the nozzle array, and in which cooling water is made to flow to cool the plurality of the light source units.