Printer Carriage Segmentation for Guide Beam Curvature
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wide-format printers face challenges in achieving high print quality due to the curvature of the guide beam, which causes misalignment of print heads and resulting artefacts in the image, especially when the carriage moves along a long and potentially wavy guide beam.
Innovation Solution
The printer employs at least two sub-carriages that carry print heads and are independently guided along the guide beam, allowing for joint movement in the main scanning direction while being movable relative to each other in the sub-scanning direction to follow the curvature of the guide beam, thereby minimizing misalignment and artefacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If a single large carriage is used to accommodate all print heads, then the printer can cover a wide format, but the curvature of the guide beam causes misalignment of print heads in the sub-scanning direction
Solution Approach 1:
The carriage is divided into multiple independent sub-carriages, each carrying one or more print heads. Each sub-carriage can independently follow the curvature of the guide beam, preventing misalignment artifacts while maintaining wide print coverage through the distributed arrangement of print heads across multiple sub-carriages.
2Area of stationary object
If the guide beam is made longer to achieve wide-format printing, then the print width increases, but the guide beam becomes harder to keep straight
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring a single long straight guide beam, the system uses multiple sub-carriages that can independently adapt to the guide beam's curvature. This allows the use of longer guide beams for wide-format printing without demanding extremely high straightness tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the degree of freedom parameter by allowing each sub-carriage to move independently in the sub-scanning direction, enabling the print heads to adapt to variations in guide beam curvature while maintaining proper alignment.
3Area of stationary object
If print heads are spaced far apart in the main scanning direction to cover wide format, then the print width increases, but rotation of the carriage due to guide beam curvature induces offset between print heads
Solution Approach 1:
The carriage is segmented into multiple sub-carriages that can move independently. This segmentation allows each sub-carriage to compensate for rotation-induced offsets, maintaining precise relative positions of print heads even when spaced far apart for wide-format printing.
Data Source
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AI summary
A printer having a carriage (10) movable along a guide beam (12) in a main scanning direction (y), and a number of print heads (14) mounted on the carriage (10), each print head having a plurality of printing elements (16), wherein the carriage (10) has at least two sub-carriages (38) each of which carries at least one of the print heads (14) and is independently guided at the guide beam (12), and the sub-carriages (38) are coupled for joint movement in the main scanning direction (y) but are movable relative to one another in a sub-scanning direction (x) normal to the main scanning direction (y).