Thermal Printer Head Lever Segmentation for Thick Paper
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Solution Overview
Problem
Thermal printers face challenges in printing high-quality images on thick paper due to the cantilevered head lever design, which requires a large motor for sufficient load to maintain contact, leading to high power consumption and unreliable pressure-contact, causing thick paper to return to its original shape and preventing consistent printing.
Innovation Solution
A thermal printer design where the guide member is independent of the head supporting members, allowing it to ascend and descend with a small driving source, ensuring the thermal head can press against the paper with sufficient force to maintain a predetermined abutting angle, reducing power consumption and ensuring reliable contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If a cantilevered head lever design is used, then the thermal head can be positioned above the platen roller, but a large motor is required to provide sufficient load for maintaining contact with thick paper
Solution Approach 1:
The head lever is divided into a fixed portion and a movable portion that can rotate relative to each other. The fixed portion is attached to the printer body, while the movable portion holds the thermal head and can be independently actuated by a small motor to maintain contact with the platen roller, eliminating the need for a large motor to drive the entire lever.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact maintenance function is extracted from the main head lever structure and implemented through a separate movable portion with its own driving mechanism. This allows the main lever structure to remain simple while the extracted contact maintenance subsystem uses only a small motor, resolving the contradiction between motor size and power consumption.
2Use of energy by moving object
If a cantilevered head lever design is used with a small motor, then power consumption is reduced, but the recording paper made of thick paper is prone to return to its original shape due to resilient force
Solution Approach 1:
The movable portion of the head lever is designed to be dynamically controllable, allowing the small motor to actively adjust and maintain the thermal head's contact pressure with the platen roller. This dynamic control compensates for the resilient force of thick paper, ensuring reliable pressure contact despite using a small motor with lower power consumption.
3Device complexity
If the guide member is integrated with the head supporting members, then the structure is simplified, but the thermal head cannot maintain sufficient contact force with thick paper
Solution Approach 1:
The head supporting structure is segmented into a fixed portion attached to the printer body and a movable portion that can rotate independently. This segmentation allows the movable portion to be actively driven to maintain sufficient contact force with thick paper, while the overall structure remains relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable portion of the head supporting members is designed to be dynamically actuated, enabling it to apply sufficient contact force to thick paper during printing. This dynamic capability is achieved through a rotation mechanism driven by a small motor, which allows the structure to adapt to varying paper thickness and maintain reliable contact.
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 high-quality image printing on thick paper with a small motor, reducing power consumption and ensuring consistent pressure-contact, thus improving printing reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a first elastic member, which urges the head supporting members and the pressure-contact sheet away from each other, is disposed between the head supporting members and the pressure-contact sheet
Implementation Method 2
a second elastic member, which urges the guide member away from the platen roller, is disposed in the guide member
Data Source
AI summary
In order to provide a thermal printer, which can reliably pressure-contact a recording paper made of thick paper to a platen roller with a small motor and print high quality images, a thermal printer of the invention includes head supporting members, which support a thermal head to head up/down with respect to a platen roller; and a guide member capable of pressure-contacting a recording paper conveyed between the thermal head and the platen roller to the platen roller. The thermal head can head up/down when the head supporting members turn. The guide member is separated from the head supporting members, thereby the guide member ascends and descends with respect to the platen roller by a driving source (not shown) capable of turning the head supporting members.