EP1679572B1 - Temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer - Google Patents
Temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP1679572B1 EP1679572B1 EP20050112663 EP05112663A EP1679572B1 EP 1679572 B1 EP1679572 B1 EP 1679572B1 EP 20050112663 EP20050112663 EP 20050112663 EP 05112663 A EP05112663 A EP 05112663A EP 1679572 B1 EP1679572 B1 EP 1679572B1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- power
- temperature control
- control system
- heater
- printer
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Not-in-force
Links
- 239000012530 fluid Substances 0.000 claims description 9
- 239000012943 hotmelt Substances 0.000 claims description 9
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 claims description 7
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 13
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 3
- 239000007788 liquid Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000001816 cooling Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000011161 development Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000018109 developmental process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000006073 displacement reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000002844 melting Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000008018 melting Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J29/00—Details of, or accessories for, typewriters or selective printing mechanisms not otherwise provided for
- B41J29/377—Cooling or ventilating arrangements
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J11/00—Devices or arrangements of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, for supporting or handling copy material in sheet or web form
- B41J11/0085—Using suction for maintaining printing material flat
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
- B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
- B41J2/17593—Supplying ink in a solid state
Definitions
- the invention relates to a temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer which has a power supply, the temperature control system comprising at least one heater and a power management system adapted to controlling the power supplied to said at least one heater.
- a temperature controlled sheet support plate is frequently used for supporting an image receiving sheet and at the same time controlling the temperature thereof.
- a sheet e. g. a sheet of paper
- the hot melt ink is solid, and it is therefore necessary that the ink is heated in the printer above its melting point, before it can be jetted onto the paper.
- the ink droplets that have been jetted onto the paper tend to spread-out more or less before the ink solidifies.
- the temperature of the sheet support plate and hence the temperature of the paper should be controlled such that the ink cools down at an appropriate rate.
- a temperature control fluid e. g. a liquid, may be passed through a cavity in the plate in order to control the temperature of the plate.
- the printer For reasons of power consumption, it is required that the printer enters into a so-called sleep mode, when the printer is not operating for a certain time, and in the sleep mode, among others, the heating system for the sheet support plate is switched off. Thus, when the printer is switched on or is switched from the sleep mode into the operating mode again, it will take a certain time until the sheet support plate has been heated to its operating temperature. In order to shorten this warming-up process of the sheet support plate, a considerable heating power is required.
- a method of controlling power supply to heat sources of a printer according to the preamble of claim 1 wherein one power supply is shared between different heaters for different heat-supplied objects.
- the power supply has a plurality of outputs for the different heaters and develops voltage sources required for various devices of the printer.
- a first heater or group of heaters is given priority and is switched on/off according with temperature control or a fixed time schedule, and the other heaters are only energized during phases when the heater, or group of heaters, or at least two of three heaters having priority, are switched off. Thereby, it is avoided that all heaters are energized at the same time.
- the power of the power supply can be shared between the input power lines of the different heaters, as long as the total power used by the heaters does not exceed a total power limit of the power supply. Therefore, the power limit of the power supply can be reduced to a value which is sufficient to power either the first group of heaters or the other heaters at a time.
- the single power supply must be adapted to permanently provide to the heaters at least the maximum power required for each heat-supplied object.
- a temperature control system of the type indicated above for a sheet support plate of a printer which has at least two power supplies for powering different sub-systems of the printer, each of said power supplies having an individual power limit, which temperature control system further comprises a power management system adapted to use spare power capacities within the power limits of said at least two power supplies by controlling the power supplied from each of said power supplies to said at least one heater in accordance with the load conditions of said power supplies.
- a conventional temperature control system for a sheet support plate there may be provided an extra power supply for the heater of the temperature control system, or a power supply that is dedicated to a sub-system of the printer may be dimensioned so as to provide the power for the heater needed during a warming-up process in addition to the power required by the sub-system.
- the temperature control system requires much less power.
- the extra power supply or the capacity of the existing power supply will be utilized mainly during the warming-up process and will be idle most of the time.
- the power capacity is not used efficiently.
- high power consumption peaks that stress the power net of the printer may occur during the warming-up process.
- an extra power supply can be dispensed with, and the heater of the temperature control system uses the spare power capacities of the power supplies dedicated to other devices or sub-systems of the printer. Because the power management system shares two or more power supplies, the required heating power for the warming-up process can be provided very efficiently. Thus, the power capacities of the present power supplies are used very efficiently. Moreover, the load of the power supplies due to the power consumption of the other sub-systems and of the heater can be balanced. By this load-balancing, power consumption peaks can be avoided and the dimensions of the power supplies may be reduced.
- the at least one heater is adapted to be operated on at least two different levels of power consumption.
- a heater may be operated at different input voltages, or the current supplied to the heater may be limited in accordance with the load conditions of the power supplies.
- the input voltage or the current intensity is continuously adjustable.
- the temperature control system comprises at least two heaters adapted to be powered by different power supplies.
- two heaters may have different electrical resistance, so that different heating powers can be achieved at the same input voltage, or the heaters may be adapted to different input voltages.
- the power management system is enabled to operate the heaters simultaneously. Thereby, a maximum heating power can be achieved.
- the at least two power supplies are dedicated to different sub-systems having varying power consumption.
- a first power supply may be dedicated to the movement of a printhead carriage, and a second power supply may be dedicated to heating the printheads to their operation temperature.
- the at least two power supplies may have different output voltages as, for example, the mentioned devices of the printer may require different input voltages.
- the sheet support plate has at least one cavity
- the temperature control system further comprises a circulation system for circulating a temperature control fluid through said cavity, the at least one heater being arranged to heat the temperature control fluid. Then, the temperature of the temperature control fluid may also be cooled to control its temperature.
- a hot melt ink jet printer comprises a platen 10 which is intermittently driven to rotate in order to advance a sheet 12, e. g. a sheet of paper, in a direction indicated by an arrow A over the top surface of a sheet support plate 14.
- a number of transport rollers 16 are rotatably supported in a cover plate 18 and form a transport nip with the platen 10, so that the sheet 12, which is supplied from a reel (not shown) via a guide plate 20, is paid out through a gap formed between an edge of the cover plate 18 and the surface of the sheet support plate 14.
- a carriage 22 which includes a number of ink jet printheads (not shown) is mounted above the sheet support plate 14 so as to reciprocate in the direction of arrows B across the sheet 12.
- a number of pixel lines are printed on the sheet 12 by means of the printheads which eject droplets of hot melt ink onto the sheet in accordance with image information supplied to the printheads.
- guide and drive means for the carriage 22, ink supply lines and data supply lines for the printheads, and the like, have not been shown in the drawing.
- the top surface of the sheet support plate 14 has a regular pattern of suction holes 24 which pass through the plate and open into a suction chamber 26 that is formed in the lower part of the plate 14.
- the suction chamber is connected to a blower 28 which creates a subatmospheric pressure in the suction chamber, so that air is drawn-in through the suction holes 24.
- the sheet 12 is sucked against the flat surface of the support plate 14 and is thereby held in a flat condition, especially in the area which is scanned by the carriage 22, so that a uniform distance between the nozzles of the printheads and the surface of the sheet 12 is established over the whole width of the sheet and a high print quality can be achieved.
- the droplets of molten ink that are jetted out from the nozzles of the printheads have a temperature of 100° C or more and cool down and solidify after they have been deposited on the sheet 12.
- the heat of the ink must be dissipated with a sufficient rate.
- the temperature of the sheet 12 should not be too low, because otherwise the ink droplets on the sheet 12 would be cooled too rapidly and would not have time enough to spread-out. For this reason, the temperature of the sheet 12 is controlled via the sheet support plate 14 by means of a temperature control system 30 which circulates a temperature control fluid, preferably a liquid, through the plate 14.
- the temperature control system includes a circulation system with tubes 32 that are connected to opposite ends of the plate 14. One of the tubes passes through an expansion vessel 33 containing a gas buffer for absorbing temperature-dependent changes in the volume of the liquid.
- the sheet support plate 14 is schematically shown.
- a cavity 50 of the circulation system forms a heat exchanger below the top surface of the sheet support plate 14.
- the blower 28 is also shown symbolically.
- the temperature control system 30 comprises a radiator 52 with a cooling fan 54 that forms a heat sink of the circulation system.
- the circulation system further comprises a pump 56 or other displacement means for circulating the fluid through the cavity 50 of the sheet support plate 14.
- the circulation system further comprises a first heater 58 and a second heater 60 which are controlled by a power management system 62 that is symbolized by a first driver 64 and a second driver 66.
- the drivers 64, 66 may be current limiters.
- the temperature control system 30 also includes temperature sensors and control means for the cooling fan and the like for controlling the temperature of the fluid.
- the first driver 64 connects the first heater 58 to a 48 V power supply 68, while the second driver 66 connects the second heater 60 to a 24 V power supply 70.
- the 48 V power supply 68 is mainly dedicated to a heater for the printheads on the carriage 22, the heater being symbolically shown as an electrical load 72.
- the 24 V power supply 70 is mainly dedicated to operate the drive means of the carriage 22 which are symbolically shown as an electrical load 74.
- control means for the heater of the printheads and for the drive means of the carriage 22 have not been shown in the drawing.
- the power management system 62 can operate each of the heaters 58, 60 at varying input voltages or varying current intensities, and, thus, varying levels of power consumption.
- the sheet support plate 14 When the printer has been in an off-state or in a low power mode or sleep mode, the sheet support plate 14 has to be heated to its operation temperature of, for example, 32° C in a warming-up process, in order to start printing again. This requires, for example, a power of 200 W.
- the 24 V power supply 70 is barely used, since it is dedicated to powering the drive means for the carriage 22 when printing. Therefore, the spare power capacities of the 24 V power supply 70 will be allotted to the heater 60 by the power management system 62.
- the 48 V power supply 68 is needed to heat the printheads on the carriage 22 to their operation temperature during the start-up of the printer. Therefore, the 48 V power supply 68 is already used almost to its limit during the warming-up process. However, when the printheads have reached their operating temperature, the sheet support plate 14 still needs to be warmed. Then, less power is needed to heat the printheads. Therefore, the power management system 62 will allot spare power capacities of the 48 V power supply 68 to the first heater 58. During printing, though the 24 V power supply 70 is needed for the drive means of the carriage 22, spare power capacities of the 24 V power supply 70 may still be allotted to the second heater 60.
- Fig. 3 schematically shows power diagrams for the power supplies 68, 70.
- the power P 1 of the 48 V power supply 68 and the power P 2 of the 24 V power supply 70 are separately shown in relation to the time t.
- Power limits of the power supplies 68, 70 are indicated by dashed lines.
- the power P 1 is the sum of the power 76 used by the electrical load 72 of the heater for the printheads and the power 78 that is allotted by the power management system 62 to the first heater 58.
- the power P 2 is the sum of the power 80 required by the drive means of the carriage 22, i. e. the electrical load 74, and the power 82 that is allotted to the second heater 60.
- the individual powers 76, 78, 80, and 82 vary over the time t, while the sum of the powers 78 and 82 that are used for the heaters 58 and 60 is approximately constant. Yet, there are situations where almost the full power of a power supply is provided to the device the power supply is dedicated to.
- An arrow 84 indicates, for example, a situation where the power P 1 is almost used up by the electrical load 72 of the heater for the printheads. At this point, the power limits of P 1 and P 2 are reached, and the sum of the powers 78 and 82 is less than under the other conditions.
- momentary electrical loads 72, 74 of the heater for the printheads and the drive means for the carriage 22, and the momentary electrical loads of the heaters 58, 60 are balanced so that the power limits of the power supplies 68, 70 are not exceeded.
Description
- The invention relates to a temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer which has a power supply, the temperature control system comprising at least one heater and a power management system adapted to controlling the power supplied to said at least one heater.
- In the copying and printing industry, a temperature controlled sheet support plate is frequently used for supporting an image receiving sheet and at the same time controlling the temperature thereof. For example, in a hot melt ink jet printer, a sheet, e. g. a sheet of paper, is advanced over the sheet support plate while the image is being printed. At room temperature, the hot melt ink is solid, and it is therefore necessary that the ink is heated in the printer above its melting point, before it can be jetted onto the paper. The ink droplets that have been jetted onto the paper tend to spread-out more or less before the ink solidifies. In order to obtain a suitable and constant amount of spreading of the ink droplets, the temperature of the sheet support plate and hence the temperature of the paper should be controlled such that the ink cools down at an appropriate rate.
- In an initial phase of the print process, when a new sheet has been supplied, it is generally desirable to heat the sheet and to keep it at a suitable operating temperature. Thus, the sheet support plate should be heated by a heater. However, in the further course of the print process, it is necessary to dissipate the heat of the ink that solidifies on the paper. To that end, a temperature control fluid, e. g. a liquid, may be passed through a cavity in the plate in order to control the temperature of the plate.
- For reasons of power consumption, it is required that the printer enters into a so-called sleep mode, when the printer is not operating for a certain time, and in the sleep mode, among others, the heating system for the sheet support plate is switched off. Thus, when the printer is switched on or is switched from the sleep mode into the operating mode again, it will take a certain time until the sheet support plate has been heated to its operating temperature. In order to shorten this warming-up process of the sheet support plate, a considerable heating power is required.
- From
EP 0 987 605 A2 , a method of controlling power supply to heat sources of a printer according to the preamble of claim 1 is known, wherein one power supply is shared between different heaters for different heat-supplied objects. The power supply has a plurality of outputs for the different heaters and develops voltage sources required for various devices of the printer. Amongst the heaters, a first heater or group of heaters is given priority and is switched on/off according with temperature control or a fixed time schedule, and the other heaters are only energized during phases when the heater, or group of heaters, or at least two of three heaters having priority, are switched off. Thereby, it is avoided that all heaters are energized at the same time. Thus, the power of the power supply can be shared between the input power lines of the different heaters, as long as the total power used by the heaters does not exceed a total power limit of the power supply. Therefore, the power limit of the power supply can be reduced to a value which is sufficient to power either the first group of heaters or the other heaters at a time. However, the single power supply must be adapted to permanently provide to the heaters at least the maximum power required for each heat-supplied object. - It is an object of the invention to provide a temperature control system by which the sheet support plate can be brought to its operating temperature in an efficient manner.
- According to the invention, this object is achieved by a temperature control system of the type indicated above for a sheet support plate of a printer which has at least two power supplies for powering different sub-systems of the printer, each of said power supplies having an individual power limit, which temperature control system further comprises a power management system adapted to use spare power capacities within the power limits of said at least two power supplies by controlling the power supplied from each of said power supplies to said at least one heater in accordance with the load conditions of said power supplies.
- In a conventional temperature control system for a sheet support plate, there may be provided an extra power supply for the heater of the temperature control system, or a power supply that is dedicated to a sub-system of the printer may be dimensioned so as to provide the power for the heater needed during a warming-up process in addition to the power required by the sub-system. After the warming-up process, however, the temperature control system requires much less power. Thus, the extra power supply or the capacity of the existing power supply will be utilized mainly during the warming-up process and will be idle most of the time. Thus, the power capacity is not used efficiently. Moreover, high power consumption peaks that stress the power net of the printer may occur during the warming-up process.
- According to the invention, an extra power supply can be dispensed with, and the heater of the temperature control system uses the spare power capacities of the power supplies dedicated to other devices or sub-systems of the printer. Because the power management system shares two or more power supplies, the required heating power for the warming-up process can be provided very efficiently. Thus, the power capacities of the present power supplies are used very efficiently. Moreover, the load of the power supplies due to the power consumption of the other sub-systems and of the heater can be balanced. By this load-balancing, power consumption peaks can be avoided and the dimensions of the power supplies may be reduced.
- Useful details and further developments of the invention are indicated in the dependent claims.
- Preferably, the at least one heater is adapted to be operated on at least two different levels of power consumption. For example, a heater may be operated at different input voltages, or the current supplied to the heater may be limited in accordance with the load conditions of the power supplies. Preferably, the input voltage or the current intensity is continuously adjustable.
- In a preferred embodiment, the temperature control system comprises at least two heaters adapted to be powered by different power supplies. For example, two heaters may have different electrical resistance, so that different heating powers can be achieved at the same input voltage, or the heaters may be adapted to different input voltages.
- Preferably, the power management system is enabled to operate the heaters simultaneously. Thereby, a maximum heating power can be achieved.
- In a preferred embodiment, the at least two power supplies are dedicated to different sub-systems having varying power consumption. For example, in a hot melt ink jet printer, a first power supply may be dedicated to the movement of a printhead carriage, and a second power supply may be dedicated to heating the printheads to their operation temperature. The at least two power supplies may have different output voltages as, for example, the mentioned devices of the printer may require different input voltages.
- In a particularly preferred embodiment, the sheet support plate has at least one cavity, and the temperature control system further comprises a circulation system for circulating a temperature control fluid through said cavity, the at least one heater being arranged to heat the temperature control fluid. Then, the temperature of the temperature control fluid may also be cooled to control its temperature.
- A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the drawings in which:
- Fig. 1
- is a schematic perspective view of a hot melt ink jet printer;
- Fig, 2
- is a schematic diagram of a temperature control system of the printer; and
- Fig. 3
- shows diagrams of power consumption during a warming-up process of the printer.
- As is shown in
Fig. 1 , a hot melt ink jet printer comprises aplaten 10 which is intermittently driven to rotate in order to advance asheet 12, e. g. a sheet of paper, in a direction indicated by an arrow A over the top surface of asheet support plate 14. A number oftransport rollers 16 are rotatably supported in acover plate 18 and form a transport nip with theplaten 10, so that thesheet 12, which is supplied from a reel (not shown) via aguide plate 20, is paid out through a gap formed between an edge of thecover plate 18 and the surface of thesheet support plate 14. - A
carriage 22 which includes a number of ink jet printheads (not shown) is mounted above thesheet support plate 14 so as to reciprocate in the direction of arrows B across thesheet 12. In each pass of thecarriage 22, a number of pixel lines are printed on thesheet 12 by means of the printheads which eject droplets of hot melt ink onto the sheet in accordance with image information supplied to the printheads. For the sake of simplicity, guide and drive means for thecarriage 22, ink supply lines and data supply lines for the printheads, and the like, have not been shown in the drawing. - The top surface of the
sheet support plate 14 has a regular pattern ofsuction holes 24 which pass through the plate and open into asuction chamber 26 that is formed in the lower part of theplate 14. The suction chamber is connected to ablower 28 which creates a subatmospheric pressure in the suction chamber, so that air is drawn-in through thesuction holes 24. As a result, thesheet 12 is sucked against the flat surface of thesupport plate 14 and is thereby held in a flat condition, especially in the area which is scanned by thecarriage 22, so that a uniform distance between the nozzles of the printheads and the surface of thesheet 12 is established over the whole width of the sheet and a high print quality can be achieved. - The droplets of molten ink that are jetted out from the nozzles of the printheads have a temperature of 100° C or more and cool down and solidify after they have been deposited on the
sheet 12. Thus, while the image is being printed, the heat of the ink must be dissipated with a sufficient rate. On the other hand, in the initial phase of the image forming process, the temperature of thesheet 12 should not be too low, because otherwise the ink droplets on thesheet 12 would be cooled too rapidly and would not have time enough to spread-out. For this reason, the temperature of thesheet 12 is controlled via thesheet support plate 14 by means of atemperature control system 30 which circulates a temperature control fluid, preferably a liquid, through theplate 14. - The temperature control system includes a circulation system with
tubes 32 that are connected to opposite ends of theplate 14. One of the tubes passes through anexpansion vessel 33 containing a gas buffer for absorbing temperature-dependent changes in the volume of the liquid. - Details of the
temperature control system 30 will now be described in conjunction withFig. 2 . - In
Fig. 2 , thesheet support plate 14 is schematically shown. Acavity 50 of the circulation system forms a heat exchanger below the top surface of thesheet support plate 14. Theblower 28 is also shown symbolically. Thetemperature control system 30 comprises aradiator 52 with a coolingfan 54 that forms a heat sink of the circulation system. The circulation system further comprises apump 56 or other displacement means for circulating the fluid through thecavity 50 of thesheet support plate 14. The circulation system further comprises afirst heater 58 and asecond heater 60 which are controlled by apower management system 62 that is symbolized by afirst driver 64 and asecond driver 66. For example, thedrivers - As will be readily understood, the
temperature control system 30 also includes temperature sensors and control means for the cooling fan and the like for controlling the temperature of the fluid. - The
first driver 64 connects thefirst heater 58 to a 48V power supply 68, while thesecond driver 66 connects thesecond heater 60 to a 24V power supply 70. - The 48
V power supply 68 is mainly dedicated to a heater for the printheads on thecarriage 22, the heater being symbolically shown as anelectrical load 72. The 24V power supply 70, however, is mainly dedicated to operate the drive means of thecarriage 22 which are symbolically shown as anelectrical load 74. For the sake of simplicity, control means for the heater of the printheads and for the drive means of thecarriage 22 have not been shown in the drawing. - Through the
drivers power management system 62 can operate each of theheaters - Since the
electrical load 72 of the heater for the printheads and theelectrical load 74 of the drive means of thecarriage 22 each have a varying power consumption depending on their momentary activity, spare power capacities of the power supplies 68 and 70 are available and are used for theheaters - When the printer has been in an off-state or in a low power mode or sleep mode, the
sheet support plate 14 has to be heated to its operation temperature of, for example, 32° C in a warming-up process, in order to start printing again. This requires, for example, a power of 200 W. During the start-up of the printer, the 24V power supply 70 is barely used, since it is dedicated to powering the drive means for thecarriage 22 when printing. Therefore, the spare power capacities of the 24V power supply 70 will be allotted to theheater 60 by thepower management system 62. - The 48
V power supply 68 is needed to heat the printheads on thecarriage 22 to their operation temperature during the start-up of the printer. Therefore, the 48V power supply 68 is already used almost to its limit during the warming-up process. However, when the printheads have reached their operating temperature, thesheet support plate 14 still needs to be warmed. Then, less power is needed to heat the printheads. Therefore, thepower management system 62 will allot spare power capacities of the 48V power supply 68 to thefirst heater 58. During printing, though the 24V power supply 70 is needed for the drive means of thecarriage 22, spare power capacities of the 24V power supply 70 may still be allotted to thesecond heater 60. - Due to the power management system, a short warm-up time of the printer can be realized without having to increase the peak performance of the power supplies. Since spare capacities of both
power supplies heaters temperature control system 30, the power that is momentarily unused by other devices of the printer is used in a highly efficient manner for the temperature control system. - As an example,
Fig. 3 schematically shows power diagrams for the power supplies 68, 70. The power P1 of the 48V power supply 68 and the power P2 of the 24V power supply 70 are separately shown in relation to the time t. Power limits of the power supplies 68, 70 are indicated by dashed lines. - The power P1 is the sum of the
power 76 used by theelectrical load 72 of the heater for the printheads and thepower 78 that is allotted by thepower management system 62 to thefirst heater 58. The power P2 is the sum of thepower 80 required by the drive means of thecarriage 22, i. e. theelectrical load 74, and thepower 82 that is allotted to thesecond heater 60. In the example shown, theindividual powers powers heaters arrow 84 indicates, for example, a situation where the power P1 is almost used up by theelectrical load 72 of the heater for the printheads. At this point, the power limits of P1 and P2 are reached, and the sum of thepowers - However, the momentary
electrical loads carriage 22, and the momentary electrical loads of theheaters
Claims (10)
- A temperature control system (30) for a sheet support plate (14) of a printer which has a power supply (68; 70), the temperature control system comprising at least one heater (58; 60) and a power management system (62) adapted to controlling the power supplied to said at least one heater (58; 60), characterized by the temperature control system (30) being a temperature control system (30) for a sheet support plate (14) of a printer which has at least two power supplies (68; 70) for powering different sub-systems of the printer, each of said power supplies (68; 70) having an individual power limit, wherein the power management system (62) is adapted to use spare power capacities within the power limits of said at least two power supplies (68; 70) by controlling the power supplied from each of said power supplies (68; 70) to said at least one heater (58; 60) in accordance with the load conditions of said power supplies (68; 70).
- The temperature control system (30) according to claim 1, wherein said at least two power supplies (68; 70) are dedicated to other sub-systems of the printer than said at least one heater, and wherein the power management system is adapted to control the power supplied to said at least one heater (58; 60) so that said at least one heater (58; 60) uses the spare power capacities of the at least two power supplies (68; 70).
- The temperature control system (30) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one heater (58; 60) is adapted to be operated on at least two different levels of power consumption.
- The temperature control system (30) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the temperature control system (30) comprises at least two heaters (58, 60), adapted to be powered by different power supplies (68; 70).
- The temperature control system (30) according to claim 4, wherein the power management system (62) is enabled to operate the heaters (58, 60) simultaneously.
- The temperature control system (30) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least two power supplies (68; 70) have different output voltages.
- The temperature control system (30) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sheet support plate (14) has at least one cavity (50), and wherein the temperature control system (30) further comprises a circulation system (32, 56) for circulating a temperature control fluid through said cavity (50), the at least one heater (58; 60) being arranged to heat the temperature control fluid.
- The temperature control system (30) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one of the power supplies (70) is adapted to power a drive system for moving a carriage (22) of the printer.
- A hot melt ink jet printer comprising a temperature control system (30) according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
- The hot melt ink jet printer according to claim 9, wherein one of the power supplies (68) is adapted to provide power for heating the hot melt ink.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP20050112663 EP1679572B1 (en) | 2004-12-29 | 2005-12-21 | Temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP04107043 | 2004-12-29 | ||
EP20050112663 EP1679572B1 (en) | 2004-12-29 | 2005-12-21 | Temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP1679572A1 EP1679572A1 (en) | 2006-07-12 |
EP1679572B1 true EP1679572B1 (en) | 2009-03-25 |
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Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP20050112663 Not-in-force EP1679572B1 (en) | 2004-12-29 | 2005-12-21 | Temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer |
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EP (1) | EP1679572B1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP1980925B1 (en) | 2007-04-13 | 2013-12-18 | Océ-Technologies B.V. | Method and control unit for controlling the power supplied to a plurality of heat sources in a printer |
JP6747314B2 (en) * | 2017-01-26 | 2020-08-26 | 京セラドキュメントソリューションズ株式会社 | Inkjet recording device |
Family Cites Families (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR100219659B1 (en) * | 1997-08-27 | 1999-09-01 | 윤종용 | Power supply controlling device of printing device |
JP4124873B2 (en) * | 1997-12-17 | 2008-07-23 | キヤノン株式会社 | Power control system |
KR100311019B1 (en) * | 1998-08-07 | 2002-02-19 | 윤종용 | Power supply control method for heat sources of printing press and power supply control device |
JP3649437B2 (en) * | 2002-06-20 | 2005-05-18 | 株式会社リコー | Fixing device and image forming apparatus having the fixing device |
US6959973B2 (en) * | 2002-07-23 | 2005-11-01 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink jet printing apparatus and ink jet printing method using selective application of different voltages to control ink discharge |
-
2005
- 2005-12-21 EP EP20050112663 patent/EP1679572B1/en not_active Not-in-force
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EP1679572A1 (en) | 2006-07-12 |
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