Thermal Head Pulse Control for High-Speed Divisional Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional printing devices experience reduced feed speed when using supplemental or preheat pulses in divisional printing, making fast printing difficult due to the inclusion of preheat pulses in the on-dot number calculation, which increases the number of divisional printing cycles and slows down the medium feed speed.
Innovation Solution
A printing device with a thermal head and a control system that selectively heats heat elements in a main scanning direction, utilizing batch or divisional processing to manage print pulses, where main, supplemental, and preheat pulses are strategically added within predetermined ranges to maintain high feed speeds by adjusting pulse addition based on threshold values and feed speeds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If preheat pulses are included in the on-dot number calculation for divisional printing determination, then color development quality is improved, but the number of divisional printing cycles increases and feed speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts preheat pulses from the on-dot number calculation for divisional printing determination. The control device counts only main pulses to determine whether divisional printing is needed, while separately managing preheat and supplemental pulses. This extraction allows divisional printing to be determined based solely on main pulse density, preventing unnecessary increase in divisional cycles due to preheat pulses, thereby maintaining higher feed speeds while still applying preheat pulses for quality color development.
2Manufacturing precision
If divisional printing is conducted to handle high on-dot numbers, then print quality is improved, but feed speed goes down to comparatively low speed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic determination of divisional printing based on real-time counting of main pulses. The control device counts main pulses during the print period and dynamically decides whether to execute divisional printing only when the count exceeds a threshold. This dynamic approach ensures divisional printing is applied selectively to high-density areas needing quality improvement, while low-density areas use faster single-pass printing, thereby optimizing the balance between print quality and feed speed.
3Manufacturing precision
If the maximum value of total number of main pulses exceeds the first threshold, then divisional processing is conducted to improve print quality, but the printing time becomes longer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary counting of main pulses during the print period before finalizing the divisional printing decision. The control device counts main pulses as they occur and uses this preliminary information to determine whether the threshold is exceeded. This preliminary action allows the system to prepare for divisional printing in advance when needed, or to proceed with faster single-pass printing when not needed, thereby minimizing unnecessary printing time while ensuring print quality is maintained when required.
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
Enables fast printing by optimizing the addition of print pulses, allowing the device to maintain high feed speeds even when supplemental or preheat pulses are used, thereby reducing the time required for printing and improving overall efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a thermal head provided with a line head in which a plurality of heat elements are linearly lined up... selectively heat the heat elements in the line head of the thermal head
Data Source
AI summary
Every print line lined up to the number of “preset line number 1”, the dot number that the main pulse MP is added is counted, and when the variable number M which is the most count number is larger than the variable number A, the value of variable number M/variable number A is set to the variable number of “divisional number” and “9” is set to the variable number of “target speed”. When the variable number M corresponding to the most count number is not larger than the variable number A, the dot number that the supplemental pulse HP is added is counted every print line lined up to the number of “preset line number 1” and when the variable number S corresponding to the most count number is larger than the variable number A, “0” is set to the variable number of “divisional number” and “24” is set to the variable number of “target speed”.