Thermal Head Preheating for Stable Low-Power Line Printing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing line printer apparatuses face challenges in balancing printing quality and power consumption, as they either increase power consumption when not printing or fluctuate paper feeding speed, leading to reduced quality.
Innovation Solution
A control device that includes a preheating control unit to manage the thermal head's heating state through a preheating current, adjusting the number of lines and output time based on the number of colored pixels, and a speed control unit to gradually reduce paper feeding speed, ensuring stable printing quality and reduced power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If electric current flows through the thermal head even when printing operation is not performed, then the fluctuation in paper feeding speed is reduced, but the power consumption is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The thermal head is preheated before time division printing to maintain a baseline temperature. This preliminary heating action ensures that when printing starts, the thermal head is already at an optimal temperature, reducing the need for large current fluctuations during operation and thereby stabilizing paper feeding speed without requiring continuous high power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuous current flow, the patent applies periodic or pulsed current to the thermal head. The current is supplied in controlled intervals to maintain minimum temperature while allowing cooling periods, thus reducing overall power consumption while still preventing excessive temperature drops that would cause paper feeding speed fluctuations.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the electric current to flow through the thermal head is reduced, then the power consumption is reduced, but the fluctuation in paper feeding speed is increased, and the printing quality is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The thermal head receives preheating current before actual printing operations. This preliminary action ensures the thermal head reaches an optimal temperature range in advance, so that during time division printing with reduced current, the thermal head maintains sufficient temperature for quality printing without requiring high continuous power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts the current parameters (magnitude, duration, timing) based on the printing requirements. By changing the electrical parameters of the thermal head operation, the system achieves optimal printing quality at lower power consumption levels, particularly during time division printing where current is supplied in divided intervals rather than continuously.
3Use of energy by moving object
If time division printing is performed, then the power consumption for coloration is reduced, but the fluctuation in paper feeding speed increases, leading to a reduction in printing quality
Solution Approach 1:
Before performing time division printing, the thermal head is preheated to a baseline temperature. This preliminary heating ensures that when the printing operation starts with divided current intervals, the thermal head maintains stable temperature, thereby stabilizing paper feeding speed and maintaining printing quality while still achieving power consumption reduction through time division.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary thermal head temperature maintenance mechanism between the power supply and the printing process. By preheating the thermal head, this intermediary element buffers the temperature variations that would otherwise occur during time division printing, thus decoupling the power consumption reduction benefit from the paper feeding speed fluctuation problem.
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 effectively maintains printing quality by minimizing fluctuations in paper feeding speed and power consumption, particularly during time-division printing of high pixel density lines.
Implementation Method 1
a thermal head formed of a plurality of heating elements each corresponding to the pixel... an electric current for heating the thermal head for each pixel
Data Source
AI summary
A control device includes: a print data acquisition unit configured to acquire print data, which is formed of a plurality of lines and indicates a coloration state of each pixel included in the plurality of lines; a head drive unit configured to supply, to a thermal head formed of a plurality of heating elements each corresponding to the pixel, an electric current for heating the thermal head for each pixel; a motor drive unit configured to supply, to a motor configured to move heat-sensitive paper relative to the thermal head, a drive current for step driving the motor for each line; a speed control unit configured to control, based on the number of colored pixels of a determination subject line among yet-to-be-printed lines of the print data, a relative moving speed of the heat-sensitive paper moved by the motor; and a preheating control unit configured to cause the head drive unit to output, when the determination subject line is a specific line being a line in which the number of colored pixels of the determination subject line exceeds a predetermined value, a preheating current being an electric current for heating the thermal head to such a degree as to prevent coloring of the heat-sensitive paper by a time the specific line is printed.