Liquid-discharging device electrostatic ink substitution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printers face issues with ink substitution, leading to increased ink ejection and wastage due to sedimentation properties of substances like pigments, resulting in uneven ink concentration and quality deterioration.
Innovation Solution
A liquid-discharging device equipped with a nozzle, liquid supply channel, inspection part, stirring part, and control part, which uses electrostatic capacitance to detect and manage ink substitution, ensuring accurate completion and reduced ink ejection by stirring and substituting ink in the supply channel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If extra ink is ejected to ensure complete substitution of sedimented ink, then substitution reliability is improved, but ink wastage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection part monitors the discharge state of liquid from the nozzle in real-time and feeds this information back to the control part. The control part adjusts the ejection amount based on actual discharge conditions, replacing fixed extra ejection with dynamic feedback-controlled ejection. This ensures complete substitution while minimizing ink wastage by ejecting only the necessary amount.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/conventional approach of fixed extra ink ejection with an electrostatic detection system. The inspection part uses electrostatic capacitance changes to detect liquid discharge state, substituting trial-and-error mechanical ejection with precise electrical field-based measurement and control.
2Reliability
If ink ejection amount is increased to account for error margins, then substitution completeness is improved, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses real-time feedback from the inspection part to determine when substitution is complete, eliminating the need for excessive ink ejection to account for error margins. The control part stops ejection precisely when the inspected discharge state indicates complete substitution, maintaining reliability while improving productivity by reducing unnecessary ejection cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical ejection control based on fixed error margins with electrostatic detection-based control. The inspection part measures electrostatic capacitance changes to accurately detect liquid discharge completion, substituting conservative mechanical control with precise electrical field measurement to optimize substitution timing.
3Device complexity
If ink is not stirred regularly, then device complexity is reduced, but ink concentration uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The stirring part performs preliminary stirring of the ink in the liquid supply channel before the ink reaches the nozzle. This preliminary action prevents sedimentation and concentration non-uniformity from occurring in the first place, maintaining ink composition stability without requiring complex continuous stirring mechanisms throughout the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The stirring part acts as an intermediary component between the liquid tank and the nozzle. It introduces a localized stirring function in the liquid supply channel, mediating between the stored ink and the discharged ink to maintain concentration uniformity without requiring the entire ink delivery system to be complex.
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
The solution enables precise ink substitution, reducing wastage and maintaining uniform ink concentration, thereby enhancing print quality and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
inspect a discharge state of the liquid based on a change of an electrostatic capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode
Implementation Method 2
The stirring part is configured and arranged to stair the liquid in a predetermined area of the liquid supply channel
Implementation Method 3
the substance having sedimentation properties in the ink is precipitated in an ink passage (ink supply pipe, or the like) from an ink cartridge to a head
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid-discharging device includes a nozzle that discharges liquid including a substance having sedimentation properties, a liquid supply channel, an inspection part, stirring part and a control part. The inspection part brings the liquid to be discharged from the nozzle to a first electric potential by a first electrode, discharges the liquid toward a second electrode of a second electric potential, and inspects a discharge state of the liquid based on a change of an electrostatic capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode. The control part causes the nozzle to eject the liquid in order to substitute the liquid in an area downstream side than a predetermined area with the liquid stirred by the stirring part in the predetermined area. The control part determines a timing of ejection completion of the liquid based on the change of the electrostatic capacitance.