Printer Cooling Apparatus with Sheet Bypass and Deceleration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cooling apparatuses in printers consume excessive energy to cool media sheets post-processing, as they often require all sheets to pass through multiple cooling units, regardless of their temperature needs, leading to inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a decelerating mechanism in the conveyor path between the first and last cooling units, allowing sheets with higher permissible exit temperatures to bypass the last cooling unit, thereby reducing energy consumption by minimizing the number of sheets that need to pass through and optimizing cooling time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If all media sheets are cooled through multiple cooling units, then the sheets achieve sufficient cooling for high print quality, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different cooling treatments to different sheets based on their specific needs. Sheets destined for duplex printing receive full cooling through multiple cooling units to ensure low temperature for high print quality, while sheets for simplex printing or discharge receive reduced cooling. This selective approach cools only the sheets that require it, reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining necessary print quality standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the cooling path adjustable and variable. The conveyor system can dynamically route sheets through different numbers of cooling units based on real-time printing conditions and sheet destination requirements. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to optimize energy consumption by reducing cooling intensity when high print quality is not required, while maintaining full cooling capability when needed.
2Temperature
If sheets are decelerated between cooling units, then cooling time increases and lower temperature is achieved, but processing time for other sheets increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the sheet flow into different groups based on their cooling requirements. Sheets requiring extensive cooling (duplex sheets) are decelerated between cooling units to maximize cooling time and achieve lower temperatures. Meanwhile, sheets that do not require extensive cooling (simplex sheets) bypass the deceleration section and continue at normal speed. This segmentation allows the system to optimize cooling for specific sheets without imposing time penalties on all sheets.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by decelerating sheets between cooling units before they enter the final cooling stage. This提前 deceleration allows maximum cooling time to be utilized for sheets that need it, ensuring they reach the required low temperature for high print quality. The preliminary cooling action is performed only on sheets that require it, while other sheets proceed without deceleration, thus avoiding unnecessary time loss.
3Temperature
If multiple cooling units are used, then sheets are cooled to lower temperature, but space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing the cooling units to serve multiple functions and multiple sheet types. The same cooling units are used for both duplex sheets (requiring full cooling) and simplex sheets (requiring reduced cooling). By making the cooling system multi-functional and adjustable, the patent avoids the need for separate dedicated cooling systems for different sheet types, thereby reducing overall space requirements while maintaining the capability to cool sheets to the necessary low temperature when needed.
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 approach reduces energy consumption and space requirements for cooling units while ensuring sheets are cooled to the necessary temperature for high print quality, specifically allowing for efficient re-circulation of duplex sheets and discharge of simplex sheets with reduced heat absorption capacity.
Implementation Method 1
the sheets may be moved along a cooled stationary part or they may be pressed against a surface of a co-moving member, e.g. a rotating drum having a metal surface with high heat conductivity
Implementation Method 2
The drum may be provided with internal cooling fins or the like for transferring the heat withdrawn from the media sheets onto a cooling medium such as a liquid or ambient air or cooled air
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
An apparatus (24) for cooling media sheets (16, 18, 22) in a printer, the apparatus comprising - a number of cooling units (28, 30); - a conveyer having a first conveyer path (34) adapted to feed the media sheets successively through the cooling units; and - a switch (38) adapted to deflect selected ones of the media sheets into a second conveyer path (34), wherein the switch (38) is disposed upstream of a last one (30) of the cooling units and downstream of a first one (28) of the cooling units, and the second conveyer path (40) bypasses the last one of the cooling units, and wherein the conveyer comprises a decelerating mechanism (42) for decelerating the sheets in the first conveyer path (34) between the first one of the cooling units (28) and the last one of the cooling units(30).