JPH01176567A - Printer controlling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent ink in a piping from solidifying, by informing the fact that a power supply fed to an output unit is interrupted before the ink remaining in said piping has been recovered since the completion of the outputting opera tion of the ink is detected. CONSTITUTION:An ink supplied from an ink cylinder 3 is sprayed from a charge tunnel 7 to print a bar code. The postal matter printed with the bar codes are sorted out and collected in each areal box. After the sorting and collecting operation is finished, a power-off switch in an operator panel is turned ON. Consequently, relays KO1, KO2 are turned OFF to close contacts a, b. A control unit 1 outputs a power-off signal to an ink-jet printer. During the time when a power-off lamp is flickering, the pressure is supplied to an ink recovery vessel 15 by a compressor through a vacuum piping 17, whereby the atmospheric pressure in the recovery vessel 15 is reduced to a vacuum state. Accordingly, the ink which is not sprayed until the ink-jet printer is cut off the power is supplied from an ink sensor block 9 to a recovery piping 13, and the remaining ink is recovered to the ink recovery vessel 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to a printer control device that controls a power supply that supplies power to an inkjet printer.

(Prior Art) In a mail processing device using a conventional printer control device, an operator reads the postal code of the mail to be conveyed, inputs the read postal code from a keyboard, and transfers the mail to the conveyor belt. An inkjet printer is installed for printing a bar code on the mailpiece in response to a postal code input by an operator on the mailpiece conveyed by the conveyor belt. This inkjet printer outputs powdered ink by supplying ink to a nozzle from an ink cylinder that stores ink. The Infusiera 1-printer prints a bar code by spraying powdered ink output from a nozzle onto a transported mail item in response to a signal from a control unit. Ink that is not blown out from the nozzles is collected from the ink sensor block through a collection pipe into an ink collector. This ink recovery device is driven by a compressor to release pressure, create a vacuum state, and recover ink from recovery piping. When the postal item with the barcode printed thereon is conveyed to the reading unit, the reading unit reads the postal code from the barcode of the conveyed mail piece. Mail items transported according to the read postal code are accumulated in each sorting box.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) The conventional device has three problems. When the breaker is turned off after the ink recovery is completed, the drive of the compressor is stopped and the vacuum state in the ink collector is no longer formed. If a vacuum state is no longer formed, the ink supplied from the ink cylinder will not be collected by the ink collector and will remain in the collection pipe. After one hour passed while the ink remained in the collection pipe, the ink solidified.

When this ink solidified, it was necessary to take steps such as dismantling the collection piping to remove the solidified ink.The solution to this problem was to turn off the inkjet printer after the process was completed. Approximately 5 minutes after the printer was turned OFF, the staff turned the breaker OFF. However, the breaker was turned OFF approximately 5 minutes after the printer was turned OFF.
Having to cover up the situation was a hassle for those involved.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a printer control device that prevents ink from coagulating in piping without making the device complicated.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has an output section that outputs the supplied ink to the outside. a detection means for detecting the detection; and a notification means for notifying a power-off of a power supply section that supplies power to the output section from when the detection means detects the end of processing until the ink remaining in the piping is collected; The gist is to have the following.

(Function) In the printer control device having the above configuration, when ink is supplied to the output section, the ink is outputted from the output section to the outside, and the ink that is not outputted to the outside is collected through the piping. It notifies you that the power supply to the output unit has been cut off from the time when the process of outputting ink to the outside of the output unit is detected until the ink remaining in the pipe is collected, so that the ink that passes through the pipe can be prevented from adhering to the output unit. It can be prevented.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment in which the printer control device of the present invention is applied to an apparatus for sorting and collecting mail.

First, after turning on the power to the device, the operator reads the postal code of the mail to be transported, inputs the read postal code from the keyboard, and transports the mail by the conveyor belt.
An inkjet printer is installed that sprays ink onto the mail to print a bar code in response to the postal code input by the operator. The printer control device is equipped with a control unit 1.

This control unit 1 has relay KO1, relay K
O2 and relay KO3 are shifted to the right.

Relay ○1 has contacts a and b, relay KO2 has contact C
, a contact d is connected to each relay KO3.

Relay KO1 is connected to power supply relay A, and when a power supply switch provided on an operator panel (not shown) is pressed, power supply relay A is turned on, and relay ○1 is also turned on. When the relay KO1 is turned on, the contacts a and b of ○1 of this relay are respectively closed.

Further, when the power supply section relay A is turned on, the relay KO2 connected to the power supply section relay A is turned on. When relay KO2 turns on, contact C becomes closed,
A power supply signal is output to the inkjet printer, and the power is turned on to the inkjet printer. Note that contact d is connected to power supply relay B.

Next, when a power off switch provided on an operator panel (not shown) is pressed, power supply section relay A is turned off, and relay KO1 is also turned off. Relay KO
When Infusiera 1 is turned off, contact a is closed, a power-off signal is output to the inkjet printer, and the processing of Infusiera 1 to the printer is stopped. Further, the contact point of relay KO1 is in an open state, and signals are inputted from Infusiera 1 to the printer for 5 minutes. At this time, the relay KO3 connected to the contact d is turned on, and the contact d is closed. ○3 in this relay is a contact d at a period of about 1 second.
This is a flicker relay that repeats the open and close state. When relay KO3 is turned on, the "power off" lamp will turn on and off for about 5 minutes as relay KO3's contact d is repeatedly opened and closed for about 5 minutes.
It flashes for a minute. Approximately 5 minutes after turning on the power off switch on the operator panel, while the ``Power off 1 lamp'' continues to flash, the staff will be asked to refrain from turning the breaker to the OFF state. OFF” lamp stops blinking. In addition, when the power supply relay A is turned off by pressing the power off switch, the relay KO2 is turned off, and the contact C is opened 4J'. Printer processing stops 1-. In this way, while the "power off" lamp is blinking, the breaker is prohibited from being turned off, so the staff does not have to worry about turning off the brake 5 minutes after turning off the inkjet printer, unlike in the past. Furthermore, the control unit is a simple circuit and does not become complicated to install.

Note that a timer circuit (not shown) of the inkjet printer is used to measure the five minutes during which the "power off" lamp blinks.

When the postal item sprayed with a barcode by the inkjet printer is conveyed to the reading section, the reading section reads the postal code from the barcode of the conveyed mailpiece. Mail items transported according to the read postal code are accumulated in each sorting box. After the above processing is completed, the breaker of the power supply unit that supplies power to the device is turned off.

FIG. 2 shows an ink collecting part of an inkjet printer equipped with the control unit 1 explained in FIG. 1. l-1? This is an if diagram.

In the figure, the control section 2 includes two control units 1
and a printer drive control section that controls the drive of the inject printer.

The ink cylinder 3 that stores ink for an inkjet printer has a cylindrical shape, stands upright, and supplies ink in a supply direction F. The ink from this supply direction F is sent to the nozzle 5. Jersey tunnel 7. The ink sensor block 9 is supplied with the ink.

The above nozzle 5. Jersey tunnel 7. The ink sensor block 9 is connected to the control unit 2 via an electric wire 11, and is arranged on a straight line with some distance therebetween.

The nozzle 5 is connected to an electric wire cord 11 from a power supply section (not shown) that supplies power to the entire apparatus, and sprays ink in the form of particles onto the jersey panel 7. The charge tanker is a device in which ink is blown out in granular form onto the mail by the application of voltage by the control section 2. A barcode is printed on the mail piece using this ejected ink.

On the other hand, ink that is not blown out from the charge tanker is supplied to the ink sensor block 9. The ink sensor block 9 supplies ink supplied from the charge tanker to the collection pipe 13. The recovery piping 13 is for supplying ink supplied from the ink sensor block 9 to the ink recovery device 15. Ink collector 15
is a cylindrical container with a recovery piping 13 and a vacuum piping 17 arranged at the top to store ink supplied from the ink block sensor 9. The vacuum piping 17 is connected to a compressor (not shown) and guides the vacuum state created by the pressure being released by the drive of the compressor to the ink recovery device 15.

The vacuum state introduced by the vacuum pipe 17 creates a vacuum inside the ink recovery device 15, and the ink in the recovery pipe 13 is recovered.

Here, as explained in FIG. 1, when the power off switch on the operator panel (not shown) is pressed, relay KO3 repeats the open and close state and the "power off" lamp blinks for 5 minutes. During this 5-minute flashing period, the breaker that controls the on/off of the power supply unit (not shown) that supplies power to the equipment is prohibited from being turned off. If the breaker remains in the ON state, the compressor continues to be driven, and the inside of the ink collector 15 is evacuated from the vacuum pipe 17, and the ink adhering to the collection pipe 13 is collected into the ink collector 15.

The reason why the "power off" lamp blinks for 5 minutes is that it takes about 5 minutes to collect the ink stuck to the collection pipe 13 after the inkjet printer's power is turned off (not shown). This is because the ink adhering to the recovery pipe 13 is recovered by the ink recovery device 15 by driving the ink recovery pipe 13.

As a result, the ink adhering to the collection pipe 13 is collected into the ink pump 11!2 container 15, and coagulation of the ink in the collection pipe 13 can be prevented.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation of this invention.
) to (1) are the control unit 1 explained in Fig. 1.
This shows the operation of ~1.

In the figure, (a) is an operator power type.

(b) is the power off of the A operator, (C) is the operator "power off" lamp, (d) is the power on relay, and (0) is the power relay KO2. Also, (f) is a power off signal to IJP (inkjet printer), (g) is IJP
(h) is the large power signal from TJP, (1)
is the power relay KO3.

First, when the power off switch (a) on the operator panel (not shown) is pressed (turned on), power-powered relay A is turned on, and relay KOI (a') and relay KO2 (e) are also turned on. become. Further, a large power signal is output to the inkjet printer with a delay of t1 from the pressing of the power switch (a). When a large power signal is output, the Infusiera 1-printer prints a bar code in response to the postal code of the mail being transported. Then, after t2n;5, when the power off switch (b) on the operator panel is pressed, the relays KO1, (d) are activated.
Relay KO2 (0) is turned off, and a power-off signal is output to the inkjet printer (d), causing the printer to stop. When the contact of relay KO1 in (d) changes from the on state to the closed state, relay KO3 in (1) turns on, and the "power off" lamp in (C) continues to turn on and off for 13 hours. Wow, it flashes for about 5 minutes.

While this "power off" lamp is flashing, ask a staff member to turn on the breaker.
Prompts prohibition of entering FF state.

After time t3, when the "power off" lamp stops flashing, the staff turns off the breaker and finishes the work.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, turn on the breaker, which is the power switch for the entire system, and then turn on the power switch on the operator panel. When the system is activated, the operator reads the postal code of the mail to be transported and manually transports the mail. Postal items to be conveyed (L1 inkjet printer responds to the postal code manually by pressing a key) Check the ink supplied from the ink cylinder 3. The postal items with barcodes printed on them are conveyed to the reading unit, where the postal code is read from the sprayed barcode and stacked in each sorting box based on the postal code divided by 3.

Once the processing of the above-mentioned mail items has been completed, the clerk turns on the power off switch on the operator panel. When the power off switch is turned on, relay KOI, ○2,
The switch is turned off and contacts a and b are closed. When the contact a is closed, the control unit 1 outputs a power-off signal to the inkjet printer. The inkjet printer stops driving by outputting the power-off signal. Further, when the contact d is closed, the relay KO3 is turned on, and as the contact d is repeatedly opened and closed, the "power off" lamp on the operator panel flashes. When this "power off" lamp blinks for about 5 minutes, the staff visually confirms that the breaker is prohibited from being turned off. While the power off lamp is blinking, pressure is supplied by the drive of the compressor, and the air pressure in the ink recovery device 15 decreases from the vacuum piping 17, resulting in a vacuum state. Due to the vacuum state of the ink collector 15, the ink that is supplied from the ink cylinder 3 to the charcoal tunnel 7 until the power of the inkjet printer is turned off and is not sprayed onto the mail is supplied from the ink collector block 9 to the collection piping 13.

The remaining ink supplied to this collection pipe 13 is
The ink is collected in the ink collector 15. on the operator panel
When the "power off" lamp stops flashing, the staff member turns the breaker to the OFF state. As a result, conventionally, the collection pipe 13
This solves the problem where the ink remaining on the printer solidifies.

Although this embodiment has been applied to an inkjet printer for printing on mail items, it can also be applied to devices having piping for passing liquids such as ink.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, ink is supplied to the output unit from the time when the end of the process of outputting ink to the outside of the output unit is detected until the ink remaining in the piping is recovered. Since a power outage is notified, it is possible to prevent the ink in the piping from coagulating without complicating the device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the printer control device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of the printer control device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation of the present invention. . 1... Control unit 2... Control section 3... Ink cylinder 5... Noise 7... Chars tunnel 13... Collection piping 15... Ink collectors KOl, KO2, KO3... Relay a, b, c, d... contacts

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A printer control device for controlling an inkjet printer that has an output section that outputs supplied ink to the outside, and piping that collects liquid that is not output from the output section, comprising: an output section that outputs ink supplied to the output section; a detection means for detecting the end of the processing to output the ink to the outside; and a power supply section for supplying power to the processing section from when the detection means detects the end of the processing until the ink remaining in the piping is collected. A printer control device comprising: a notification means for notifying a power outage; and a printer control device.