Liquid Ejection Air Bypass Cooling for Drive Board Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid ejection apparatuses face issues with insufficient cooling of electronic circuit mounting boards due to abnormalities in cooling sources like cooling fans, leading to downtime and inadequate cooling capacity, especially in varying use situations and environments.
Innovation Solution
A liquid ejection apparatus with a configuration that includes a first air suction passage and a second air suction passage, a switching mechanism, and suction sources to ensure continuous cooling of the drive board by redirecting air flow from a mist collection device to the electronic circuit mounting board, even in the event of cooling fan abnormalities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cooling fan is used to cool the electronic circuit mounting board, then the cooling capacity is sufficient under normal conditions, but when the cooling fan malfunctions, the cooling function is lost and downtime occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cooling function with the existing air suction passage and suction source (fan) used for mist collection. The same fan and air passage infrastructure serves dual purposes: collecting mist during printing and cooling the electronic circuit mounting board. This eliminates the need for a separate cooling fan, so when the fan malfunctions, both mist collection and cooling functions are affected, but the patent addresses this by providing alternative cooling paths or redundancy in the cooling air supply system.
Solution Approach 2:
The air suction passage and suction source are designed to perform multiple functions: mist collection during liquid ejection and cooling of electronic components. The system can switch between or combine these functions using the same hardware infrastructure, improving reliability by eliminating single-point failures associated with dedicated single-function components.
2Temperature
If a cooling fan with sufficient capacity is used to ensure adequate cooling, then the cooling performance is sufficient, but the size of the cooling source increases
Solution Approach 1:
The suction source (fan) and air suction passage are designed to serve multiple functions: mist collection during liquid ejection and cooling of the electronic circuit mounting board. By making the cooling system multi-functional rather than dedicated, the system achieves adequate cooling performance without requiring an oversized fan, as the same airflow infrastructure serves dual purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling function is merged with the mist collection function, sharing the fan and air passage infrastructure. This consolidation eliminates the need for a separate dedicated cooling fan, thereby reducing the overall size of the cooling source while maintaining sufficient cooling capacity through the shared airflow system.
3Temperature
If the flow rate of cooling air is increased to improve cooling efficiency, then the cooling effect is enhanced, but the energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The air suction passage and suction source perform dual functions of mist collection and cooling. The system optimizes airflow distribution to achieve effective cooling without requiring excessive flow rates, as the same airflow serves multiple purposes. This multi-functionality reduces the energy penalty associated with high-flow cooling 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
Ensures continuous and efficient cooling of the drive board, preventing downtime and maintaining printing operations even when the primary cooling fan fails or operates at reduced capacity.
Implementation Method 1
a first suction source configured to generate suction force capable of suctioning the air into the first air suction passage
Implementation Method 2
a second suction source configured to generate, in the second air suction passage, a flow of air in a feeding direction toward the electronic circuit mounting board
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection unit, a support unit, and a drive board. The liquid ejection apparatus includes a first air suction passage, a first fan, a second air suction passage, a second fan, a bypass passage, and a switching mechanism. The first air suction passage suctions air at at least one of upstream and downstream positions of the liquid ejection unit with suction force of the first fan. The second air suction passage feeds external air to the drive board with suction force of the second fan. The bypass passage feeds air discharged from the first fan to the second air suction passage. The switching mechanism is configured to be switchable between an open state in which the bypass passage communicates with the second air suction passage and a closed state in which the bypass passage does not communicate with the second air suction passage.