Selective Ink Purging for Jammed Sheet Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printers waste ink during cleaning operations when all nozzles are purged indiscriminately, even if only some have been affected by a jammed sheet, leading to unnecessary ink consumption.
Innovation Solution
A liquid ejecting device with a detector unit, storage unit, judging unit, head identifier unit, and purge controller unit that identifies and selectively reduces ink purging from nozzles of unaffected heads during cleaning, minimizing ink waste while restoring the ink ejecting ability of potentially touched heads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all nozzles in all liquid ejecting heads are purged indiscriminately during cleaning operation, then the liquid ejecting ability of potentially touched nozzles is restored, but ink is wasted from nozzles that were not touched by the jammed sheet
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the liquid ejecting heads into different groups based on their spatial position relative to the jammed sheet location. The head identifier unit divides heads into a first group (overlapping the jammed sheet) and a second group (not overlapping), allowing differentiated purging strategies for each segment rather than treating all heads uniformly.
Solution Approach 2:
The purging operation applies local quality by differentiating the purging intensity and duration based on the specific location and condition of each nozzle group. The first group of heads receives more aggressive purging since their nozzles were touched by the sheet, while the second group receives reduced or no purging, optimizing ink conservation while maintaining cleaning effectiveness where needed.
2Ease of repair
If a cleaning operation is conducted after sheet removal to clear nozzles, then the nozzles touched by the sheet are cleared, but ink from untouched nozzles is ejected unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification and classification of liquid ejecting heads based on their spatial relationship with the jammed sheet position before initiating the purging operation. The head identifier unit determines which heads are in the first group (overlapping the sheet) and which are in the second group (not overlapping), enabling targeted purging actions that prevent unnecessary ink ejection from untouched nozzles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial action by conducting purging operations only to the extent necessary for each specific group. The first group receives comprehensive purging to address sheet contact damage, while the second group receives minimal or no purging since their nozzles were not affected, thereby avoiding excessive ink ejection from untouched nozzles.
3Manufacturing precision
If the liquid purging unit purges liquid from all nozzles uniformly, then all nozzles are cleaned equally, but the amount of liquid consumed increases unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The purging operation becomes dynamic rather than static, with the purge controller unit adjusting purging parameters (duration, intensity, volume) based on the identified group membership of each liquid ejecting head. The system dynamically adapts the purging action to match the actual condition of each nozzle group, applying full purging only where the sheet contact occurred and reducing or eliminating purging where it did not occur.
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid ejecting device is provided. The liquid ejecting device includes a conveyer, liquid ejecting heads with nozzles to eject droplets of liquid, an liquid purging unit to purge the liquid out of the nozzles, a detector unit to detect presence of a recording medium, a storage unit to store length of the recording medium, a judging unit to judge whether the recording medium is jammed in a conveyer path, a head identifier unit to identify an overlapping liquid ejecting head assumedly facing the jammed recording medium based on the detected result obtained by the detector unit and the length of the recording medium, and an purge controller unit to control an amount of the liquid to be ejected from the nozzles in the remaining liquid ejecting heads to be smaller than an amount of the liquid to be ejected from the nozzles in the identified overlapping liquid ejecting head.