KR100420810B1 - Stepping motor control method and device of inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A stepping motor control method and a device of an inkjet printer are provided to drive a stepping motor in an optimum condition by deicing whether the number of a head is one or two by head existence-ascertaining devices and applying a time table for one head and a time table for two head. CONSTITUTION: A stepping motor control device comprises carriage part(10) in which two head existence-ascertaining parts, to detect the existence of heads by a switching method of a contact part, is installed; a PCB(Printed Circuit Board) detection part(20) making a signal detected from the carriage part a circuit and inputting the signal to a CPU(Central Processing Unit,30); and the CPU controlling the general action of a printer; a ROM(Read-Only Memory,40) in which time tables corresponding to one head or two heads are stored; a PCB motor drive part(50) working by receiving a control signal of the CPU; and a motor part(60) working according to the PCB motor drive part.

Description

Method and apparatus for controlling stepping motor in inkjet printer

The present invention relates to a method for selectively controlling a motor according to the number of cartridges of an inkjet printer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cartridge having two heads, in which one head is mounted and two heads are separated. A method and apparatus for controlling a stepping motor for driving the motor.

Referring to FIG. 1, an operation of an inkjet printer generally used in the related art is received with a signal transmitted from a computer (not shown) through a printer interface, and the initial setting value and system required for the printer operation. CPU 110 that reads, interprets, and executes a system program in EPROM 111 that stores necessary values, and outputs a control signal in accordance with the contents of the program; and ROM 112 that includes a program necessary for control and various fonts. ), A RAM 113 used to temporarily store data during system operation, and most logic circuits necessary for controlling the CPU 110 are implemented as an ASIC 120. Ink according to the control signal of the CPU 110, and the ASIC circuit unit 120 for performing data transfer with the CPU 110 for most of the peripheral elements A head driver 130 for controlling the driving of the cartridge 131, a head cartridge 131 for ejecting ink to form an image on the media, and a head driver 130 for transferring the head cartridge 131 to the left and right sides. The main motor driving circuit 140 controlling the operation of the main motor 141, the carriage motor driving circuit 150 controlling the operation of the carriage return driving motor 151, and the stepping motor are mainly used to feed paper. And a line feed motor driving circuit 160 that controls driving of the line feed motor 161 for discharging.

In the conventional printer configured as described above, the print signal transmitted from the computer (not shown) through the printer interface is driven by driving each motor 140, 150, 160, etc. according to the control signal of the CPU 110. .

As such, when driving a cartridge using a conventional stepping motor, two phenomena, a general waveform and an ideal waveform, appear as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Here, the waveform refers to a graph plotted based on the time or moving distance on the X axis and the driving speed of the motor on the Y axis. The waveform is closely related to the print quality at printing and the driving noise at start. It can also be used as a measure to determine if timely control is in place.

This waveform is governed by a switch element that lists the motor phase on-time values for a series of acceleration controls called a time-table for accelerating and decelerating the motor. However, even if such a time-table is initially appropriately selected, it is necessary to modify the time-table so that an appropriate waveform is induced for optimal driving when the conditions of the target driven part change. Therefore, in a printer equipped with two heads, the condition is controlled for one case with two heads, and the ideal control is not possible when only one head is mounted. Thus, as shown in FIG. If one is insufficient or both are not determined by judging nothing, it is checked by the judging device to generate an error and stop the operation.

As described above, in the case of the printer equipped with the two heads, the motor control is performed under the driving conditions under the mounting of the two heads which is a generally used condition. Therefore, it is inconvenient because the user is configured with a system in which only one head that can be used is used when the user mounts only one type of head or when one of the lifespans is inevitable.

If it is forcibly disregarded the number of heads and changed to a system driven by a switch, the carriage becomes lighter than the reference value set in the control system, resulting in a bad waveform as shown in FIG. As shown in A), the acceleration direction at the time of printing is irregular and the deceleration direction is uniformly printed at regular intervals, and as shown in Fig. 5B, there is a problem that the print quality of the flow area is inferior.

In addition, noise may be generated at the start of the carrier carrying the head due to an irregular movement at the beginning of acceleration.

Therefore, in order to solve the problem that only one head cannot be used, the present invention determines whether one head or two heads are used by using a head-free or non-existent device. After entering the set switch mode, it is driven by applying the time table for one head, and when it is confirmed that two are mounted, it is operated by applying the time table for two heads, so that the stepping motor can be driven under the optimal conditions under both conditions. The purpose is to make it.

1 is a block diagram showing the operation of an inkjet printer generally used in the prior art,

2 (A) shows a general waveform generated when driving the stepping motor,

(B) shows the ideal waveform generated when driving the stepping motor,

3 is a view showing a method of detecting the presence or absence of the head of the cartridge in use in general,

4 is a waveform diagram when a condition of a driven part is changed in an ideal time table;

5 (A) shows the interval between the acceleration direction and the deceleration direction according to FIG. 4,

(B) shows the printing state of the flow region according to (A),

6 is a block diagram showing an apparatus according to the present invention,

7 shows a flowchart of a method for implementing the present invention.

Hereinafter, a device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6 is a front view of the device according to the invention.

As shown in the figure, the carriage unit 10 is provided with two heads having no heads and no heads to detect the presence or absence of two types of heads by the switching method of the contact unit, and the signal detected by the carriage unit 10 is a circuit. A circuit board detection unit 20 for inputting the CPU to the central processing unit, a central processing unit unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) 30 for controlling the overall operation of the printer, and one head and two heads. In the ROM 40 in which a corresponding time table is stored, the PCB motor driver 50 operating under the control signal of the CPU 30, and the PCB motor driver 50. It consists of the motor part 60 which operates accordingly.

Referring to the operation according to the configuration as follows.

First, when two types of heads mounted in the carriage with mono and color are detected through the contact terminals of the circuit board detection unit by the switching method of the contact unit, the circuit board detection unit circuits the detected signal by detecting the presence or absence of the head. To apply. At this time, the CPU receives the required data from the two modes of time tables stored in the ROM, which are stored in the memory device, according to the head presence / absence signal input from the PCB SENSING unit. In this way, a signal is sent to the PCB motor driver according to the program stored in the ROM to drive the motor.

For example, if the signal detected by the PCB SENSING unit is 1 head, the motor is driven according to the program stored in the time table 1, and if the detected signal is 2 heads, the program stored in the time table 2 The motor is driven by the control of the CPU.

7 shows a flowchart in accordance with the present invention.

As shown, the step (S70) of preparing to selectively control the stepping motor of the printer, if the step (S70) is executed, the step of determining whether there is a mono head (S71), and determines whether the mono head In step S71, if it is not a mono head, determining whether it is a color head (S71-1), and if it is determined as a result of the determination in step S71-1, generating an error if it is not a color head (S71-1-1) A detection process of detecting the mounting quantity of the head consisting of the step, and if the determination result in the step (S71-1), if the color head is set to one head mode (S72-1), and the step (S72-1) In operation S72-2, and as a result of the determination in step S71, if there is a mono head, it is determined whether there is a color head again (S72), and whether or not the color head is present. As a result of the determination at step S72, if there is no color head, Returning to set the mode (Head Mode), and if there is a color head, setting the two head mode (S73), and if the step (S73) is executed, reading and executing the time table 2 A data reading process of reading a drive time table suitable for the corresponding head constituted by (S74) from the ROM, and when the steps (S72-2) and (S74) are executed, a step of driving the stepping motor (S75). It consists of driving a stepping motor with a control signal suitable for a time table.

Referring to the operation of the flow chart consisting of these steps are as follows.

First, the CPU of the printer judges the presence or absence of the mono head and the color head from the input signal. If the mono head is not present, the CPU determines whether there is a color head. If there is no color head, an error is generated and the driving of the motor is stopped. If 1 head mode is set, the stepping motor is driven by CPU control according to the program of time table 1 stored in ROM.

In addition, it is determined whether there is a mono head or a color head, and if both are set, the two-head mode is set, and the stepping motor is driven under the control of the CPU according to the program of the time table 2 stored in the ROM.

The effect of the printer driven by such an apparatus and method will be described by selectively controlling the stepping motor for driving the cartridge by dividing the cartridge with 2 heads when the 1 head is mounted and when the 2 heads are mounted. It has the effect of reducing the noise generated when the stepping motor is driven and thereby improving the performance of the print quality.

Claims (4)

The central processing unit circuits the carriage unit 10 provided with two heads having no heads and no heads to detect the presence or absence of two types of heads by the switching method of the contact unit, and the signals detected by the carriage unit 10. A circuit board detection unit 20 for inputting into the unit, a CPU 30 for controlling the overall operation of the printer, a ROM 40 storing time tables corresponding to one head and two heads, and the CPU Stepping motor control apparatus for an inkjet printer comprising a PCB motor driver (50) for operating under the control signal of (30), and a motor unit (60) for operating in accordance with the PCB motor driver (50). The method of claim 1, The carriage unit is a stepping motor control device for an inkjet printer, characterized in that the switching unit for detecting the presence or absence of two heads. The method of claim 1, And a time table of two modes corresponding to one head and two heads is stored in the ROM. A stepping motor of an inkjet printer including a detecting step of detecting a mounting quantity of the head, a data reading step of reading a driving time table suitable for the head, and a step of driving a stepping motor with a control signal suitable for the time table. Control method.

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