Ink Charging Voltage Analysis for Predictive Inkjet Maintenance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional inkjet printers fail to detect signs of print quality deterioration promptly, leading to prolonged downtime due to delayed investigation and resolution of printing abnormalities, and existing systems lack effective methods for remote predictive maintenance.

Innovation Solution

An inkjet printer system that collects and processes time-series data of ink charging voltage, using a management server to detect precursors of print quality deterioration through data analysis and machine learning models, reducing data size for efficient cloud storage and improving detection accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If conventional inkjet printers issue alarms and stop printing operations when print quality abnormalities occur, then print quality can be maintained, but production downtime increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprint qualityVSAvoidproduction downtime
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary analysis of ink charging voltage data to detect signs of deterioration before they manifest as actual print quality abnormalities. By analyzing voltage fluctuations and patterns in advance, the system can schedule maintenance during planned停机 periods rather than reacting to quality failures, thus preventing production downtime while maintaining print quality standards

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors ink charging voltage and provides feedback about the inkjet head's condition. This real-time feedback enables predictive maintenance scheduling based on actual wear patterns rather than fixed intervals, allowing maintenance to be performed just in time to prevent quality issues without causing unnecessary production interruptions

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Reliability

If ink charging voltage data is collected and processed for abnormality detection, then predictive maintenance capability is improved, but data processing complexity and storage requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepredictive maintenance capabilityVSAvoiddata processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the essential features from raw ink charging voltage data that are most indicative of inkjet head deterioration. By focusing on specific voltage patterns and fluctuations rather than processing all raw data, the system achieves effective predictive maintenance while minimizing data processing complexity and storage requirements

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system transforms raw ink charging voltage data into meaningful parameters that indicate inkjet head condition. By changing the representation of the data from raw voltage readings to processed indicators of deterioration, the system improves predictive capability while reducing the complexity of data analysis and storage requirements

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP4691784A1Inkjet printer system and inkjet printer abnormality symptom detection method
Publication Date: 2026.02.11 HITACHI IND EQUIP SYST CO LTD
  • EP4691784A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4691784A1 patent drawingFigure 2A
  • EP4691784A1 patent drawingFigure 2B

AI summary

An inkjet printer creates processed data by processing time-series data of the ink charging voltage and sends the processed data to a management server. The management server receives the processed data from the inkjet printer and detects a sign of abnormality based on the processed data. When the management server detects the sign of abnormality, it notifies a user by informing a user terminal that the sign of abnormality has been detected. The management server displays an abnormality sign analysis screen on a user terminal's display or similar device upon a user's request.