WO2016150399A1

WO2016150399A1 - Method for detecting remaining amount of ink, remaining amount of ink detection mechanism, ink supply system, and inkjet printer

Info

Publication number: WO2016150399A1
Application number: PCT/CN2016/077314
Authority: WO
Inventors: 邱涌群; 朱一静
Original assignee: 珠海纳思达企业管理有限公司
Priority date: 2015-03-26
Filing date: 2016-03-25
Publication date: 2016-09-29
Also published as: CN106142871A; JP2018512299A; CN106142871B

Abstract

Provided are a method for detecting a remaining amount of ink, a remaining amount of ink detection mechanism, an ink supply system, and an inkjet printer. The method is used for detecting the presence or absence of ink, and comprises the following steps: 1, setting a preset value which is greater than a normal suction power; 2, detecting whether ink is present at a position detected by an ink amount detection component (5), and entering step 3 if no ink is present; 3, comparing a real-time suction power with the size of the preset value, and entering step 4 if the real-time suction power is less than the preset value, or shifting to step 5 if not; 4, increasing the suction power, and entering step 2; 5, prompting that the ink is used up. When no ink is present at the position detected by the ink amount detection component, the suction power of an ink suction needle (9) is increased, so that residual ink within an ink cartridge (4) is suctioned out, and the printer only prompts that the ink is used up when the suction power reaches the preset value and no ink is present at the position detected by the ink amount detection component. The method accurately detects the amount of ink within the ink cartridge, so that the amount of residual ink within the ink cartridge is minimised, and damage caused by empty suctioning by the ink suction needle is prevented.

Description

Method for detecting ink remaining amount, ink remaining amount detecting mechanism, ink supply system, and inkjet printer

Technical field

The invention mainly relates to the technical field of ink residual amount detection, in particular to a method for detecting the remaining amount of ink, an ink remaining amount detecting mechanism, an ink supply system and an inkjet printer.

Background technique

Inkjet printers use ink cartridges to store ink and supply ink to the printhead as needed for printing. The ability to accurately detect the amount of ink inside the ink cartridge is related to whether the ink is used up or not. It is an important test in inkjet printers. At present, the ink cartridge is provided with a chip, and some of the ink cartridges are prompted by the chip to indicate the amount of ink. The chip estimates the ink amount. When the ink runs out, the chip transmits an ink exhausted information to the printer, so that the printer prompts the ink to be exhausted.

Because the amount of ink that is not detected by the above method only relies on the chip information to indicate whether the ink is used up or not, and the chip transmits the ink information inaccurately, in this case, two possibilities are generated: the first one is when the chip transmits the ink. When there is information, there is still a large amount of ink remaining inside the ink cartridge, which will cause waste of resources, pollute the environment, contaminate the workbench, contaminate the hands of the user, clothes, etc. The second is that when there is no ink inside the ink cartridge, the chip still has no ink. Doing the information to the printer will cause the ink suction needle to empty the inside of the ink cartridge, causing damage to the printer, printing problems, and the like.

In order to reduce the occurrence of the above, two methods have been invented: 1. Using the prism described in the CN201110078562.4 patent to detect whether the amount of ink inside the ink cartridge is in a state where the amount of ink is low. 2. Use the sensor in the CN200910224353.9 patent to detect whether the ink amount inside the ink cartridge is in a state where the ink amount is low. Although these two methods can greatly reduce the above situation, only the ink at the prism or the sensor can be detected, because there is still ink from the prism or the sensor to the ink outlet, so this method still cannot be accurately detected. Is there ink inside the cartridge? The problem of inaccurate ink level detection still exists. Therefore, the inaccurate ink level detection and the inaccurate ink transmission information are still present.

Particularly for the ink supply system shown in Fig. 1, the inaccurate detection of the ink remaining amount inside the ink cartridge is more remarkable. The ink supply system of Fig. 1 is composed of an ink cartridge 1, a sub-ink chamber 2, and a print head 3. When the printer receives the print job, the print head 3 will eject ink onto the print medium P, causing the ink in the sub-ink chamber 2 to decrease, and after the ink in the sub-ink chamber 2 is reduced, the ink will be extracted from the inside of the ink cartridge 1 to the vice In the ink chamber, when the printer indicates that there is no ink in the ink cartridge 1, the ink cartridge 1 needs to be replaced. As shown in Fig. 2, the ink cartridge 1 in this system generally stores ink using an ink bag 14, and the ink discharge port 13 is located on the front end face 1a. When the ink cartridge 1 is mounted on the printer, the front end face 1a comes into contact with the printer. The sensor 12 is used in the ink cartridge 1 to detect the remaining amount of ink, and the printer applies a voltage to the sensor 12 to cause the sensor 12 to vibrate by the inverse piezoelectric effect, and detects the remaining amount of ink by measuring the vibration frequency of the voltage generated by the piezoelectric effect. The sensor 12 is connected to the chip 11, and the chip 11 converts the vibration frequency information of the sensor 12 into ink residue. The amount information is transmitted to the printer. When the amount of ink at the sensor 12 is insufficient, the chip 11 transmits information of a small amount of ink to the printer. However, in the ink supply system, the sensor 12 can only detect whether there is ink at the sensor 12, and it is impossible to accurately detect whether there is ink inside the ink cartridge 1. Therefore, there is a case where the ink remaining amount detection is inaccurate and the ink end information transmission is inaccurate.

Summary of the invention

The invention provides a method for detecting the remaining amount of ink, an ink remaining amount detecting mechanism, an ink supply system and an ink jet printer, to solve the existing method for detecting the remaining amount of ink, the ink remaining amount detecting mechanism, the ink supply system and the ink jet printer. Technical problems with inaccurate ink level detection.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

A method for detecting the remaining amount of ink for detecting the presence or absence of ink is characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

1. setting a predetermined value greater than the normal pumping power;

2. The detecting ink quantity detecting component detects whether there is ink at the position, and if there is no ink, it proceeds to step 3;

3. Comparing the real-time pumping power with the predetermined value, if the real-time pumping power is less than the predetermined value, proceed to step four, and vice versa, proceed to step five;

Fourth, increase the pumping power, enter step two;

Fifth, the tips are exhausted.

In the second step, the ink amount detecting component further transmits the first electrical signal having no ink at the position to the controller.

In the second step, the ink quantity detecting component further transmits the first electrical signal having no ink at the position to the ink cartridge chip for correcting the ink amount information in the chip.

In the step three, the method further includes transmitting a second electrical signal that reaches the predetermined value to the controller.

In the step 5, the controller further includes: after receiving the second electrical signal that the ink quantity detecting component has the first telecommunication and the suction power at the position where the ink is not at a predetermined value, the controller transmits the electrical signal of the ink to the terminal. device.

An ink remaining amount detecting mechanism for realizing the above method is disposed in an ink flow path for detecting the presence or absence of ink at a position, and includes: an ink amount detecting unit, further comprising a suction power control unit, The suction power control portion is provided with a predetermined value larger than a normal suction power; the suction power control portion is for controlling the suction power and changing the magnitude of the suction power when the suction power reaches a predetermined value And the detected ink amount detecting means detects that the ink is not present when the position is no ink.

Also included is an ink absorbing needle and an ink cartridge; and the suction power control portion controls a suction power of the ink absorbing needle to extract ink from the ink cartridge.

The ink amount detecting unit further generates a first electric signal; and the suction power control unit controls to generate a second electric signal when the suction power reaches a predetermined value.

The ink cartridge is further provided with a chip, the first electrical signal can be transmitted to the chip, and the chip corrects the ink of the chip according to the first electrical signal Water storage information.

The ink amount detecting member is located on the downstream side of the ink cartridge.

The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism further includes a controller; after receiving the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal, the controller generates an ink power out signal.

An ink supply system comprising: a terminal device and an ink remaining amount detecting mechanism as described above; wherein the ink exhaust signal is displayed on the terminal device.

A sub-ink chamber is further included, and the ink amount detecting member is located on the upstream side of the sub-ink chamber.

The ink channel and the print head are further included; the ink flow path is divided into a first flow path and a second flow path, and the ink flows through the ink cartridge from the upstream side to the downstream side in sequence: the ink cartridge, the ink absorption needle, the first flow path, and the ink amount detecting part. , second flow path, secondary ink chamber, ink channel, print head.

An ink jet printer comprising: a printing apparatus and the above-described ink supply system.

After adopting the above technical solutions, the beneficial effects are:

First, when the ink amount detecting unit detects that there is no ink at the position, the suction power of the ink suction needle increases, so that the ink remaining in the ink cartridge is sucked out, the power to be sucked reaches a predetermined value, and the ink amount detecting unit detects The printer will not prompt the ink when it is in the position where there is no ink. The technical solution can accurately detect the amount of ink inside the ink cartridge, minimize the amount of residual ink in the ink cartridge, and avoid damage caused by suction of the ink suction needle.

Secondly, since the new ink cartridge needs to be replaced when the ink in the ink cartridge is consumed, the ink amount detecting member in the present invention is disposed in the ink flow path and is not disposed on the ink cartridge. The parts on the ink cartridge are reduced, the waste of resources is reduced, and the cost is saved.

Finally, the first electrical signal generated by the ink amount detecting component can correct the ink amount information stored by the chip, and can improve the accuracy of the stored information in the chip.

DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic view of an ink supply system in a prior art printer.

2 is an overall schematic view of an ink cartridge.

3 is a schematic view of an ink supply system in the printer of the second embodiment.

4 is a flow chart of the second embodiment.

Figure 5 is a schematic view of an ink supply system in the printer of the third embodiment.

Figure 6 is a flow chart of the third embodiment.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Some embodiments, rather than all of the embodiments, are invented. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without the inventive work are given the scope of the present invention.

Hereinafter, only the "liquid container for inkjet printer" will be described as an example.

The technical solutions of the present invention will be further described below based on the contents of the drawings and specific embodiments.

Embodiment 1:

A method for detecting the amount of ink used to detect the presence or absence of ink includes the following steps:

1. setting a predetermined value greater than the normal pumping power;

Second, the detection ink amount detecting component detects whether there is ink at the position, and then prints normally, and if there is no ink, proceeds to step 3;

Fourth, increase the pumping power, enter step two;

Fifth, the tips are exhausted.

In the second step, the ink amount detecting unit may further include transmitting the first electric signal having no ink at the position to the controller.

In the second step, the ink amount detecting component may further be configured to transmit the first electrical signal having no ink at the position to the ink cartridge chip for correcting the ink amount information in the chip.

In step two, if there is ink, it will print normally.

In step three, it may further comprise transmitting a second electrical signal that reaches the predetermined value to the controller.

In step 5, the controller may further include: after receiving the second electrical signal that the ink amount detecting component reaches the first telecommunication and the suction power at the position where the ink is not at a predetermined value, the controller transmits the electrical signal of the ink to the terminal device. .

Embodiment 2:

3 is a schematic view showing the ink supply system in the printer using the method of the first embodiment in the second embodiment. Inkjet printers, including: ink supply systems, printing equipment. The ink supply system in the ink jet printer is an ink supply system as shown in FIG. 3. The ink supply system includes an ink remaining amount detecting mechanism, a sub-ink chamber 2, an ink passage 23, a print head 3, and a terminal device 10. The ink is ejected from the ink supply system onto the media P (typically paper) according to the print job. The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism is for detecting whether the ink amount is in an ink empty state. The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism includes an ink cartridge 4, an ink suction needle 9, an ink flow path 8, an ink amount detecting unit 5, a suction power control unit 6, and a controller 7. During the printing process, when the amount of ink in the sub-ink chamber 2 is small, the ink absorbing needle 9 draws ink from the ink cartridge 4 to be replenished into the sub-ink chamber 2. The ink cartridge 4 is for storing ink, and the ink cartridge 4 has an ink outlet port 43 that matches the ink absorbing needle 9. Ink blotter 9 from ink The ink is sucked from the cartridge 4, and the suction power of the ink suction needle 9 is controlled by the suction power control unit 6. The ink flow path 8 is a flow path of ink from the ink cartridge 4 to the sub-ink chamber 2, and the ink flow path 8 is provided with a divided ink amount detecting member 5, and the ink flow path 8 is divided into a dividing point by the ink amount detecting member 5 First-class road 81 and second flow path 82. The ink amount detecting portion 5 is provided in the ink flow path 8 for detecting the presence or absence of ink at the position and generating a first electric signal. The suction power control portion 6 receives the first electric signal, and controls the suction power of the ink suction needle 9 according to the first electric signal to change the magnitude of the suction power of the ink suction needle 9, when the suction power reaches a predetermined value , generating a second electrical signal. The controller 7 receives the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal, and generates an ink power out signal after receiving the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal. The ink end signal is transmitted to the terminal device 10 (generally the printer display screen), and the ink is displayed on the terminal device 10, and the ink cartridge 4 needs to be replaced. The ink passes through the ink flow path 8 and reaches the sub-ink chamber 2, and reaches the print head 3 along the ink path 23, and the print head ejects ink onto the print medium P according to the print job. The ink flows through the ink cartridge 4, the ink suction needle 9, the first flow path 81, the ink amount detecting member 5, the second flow path 82, the sub-ink chamber 2, the ink path 23, and the print head 3 in this order from the upstream side to the downstream side.

When the ink in the ink cartridge 4 is consumed, the new ink cartridge 4 needs to be replaced. Therefore, the ink amount detecting member 5 in the present embodiment is disposed in the ink flow path 8, and is not disposed on the ink cartridge 4. The components on the ink cartridge 4 are reduced, the waste of resources is reduced, and the cost is saved.

Figure 4 is a flow chart from the installation of the ink cartridge to the presentation of the ink. First, the S101 step is performed to install the ink cartridge 4 into the printing device, and the printer performs the step S102 to identify the ink cartridge. If not, the printer should return to perform the S101 step to re-install the ink cartridge. If it is recognized, the process proceeds to step S103, and the printer determines whether there is any If there is no print task, the printer is in the standby state. If there is a print job, step S104 is performed to detect whether the ink in the sub-ink chamber 2 is sufficient. If the ink amount is sufficient, the S202 printing step is performed, and if it is insufficient, it needs to be executed. The step S105 sucks ink from the ink cartridge 4. The ink amount detecting means 5 detects the presence or absence of the ink amount in the process of sucking the ink, and if so, executes the S202 printing step, and if not, the ink amount detecting unit 5 generates the first electric signal, and the first electric signal is executed. S203 and S204, the first electrical signal is transmitted to the suction power control unit 6 and the controller 7. After receiving the first electrical signal, the suction power control unit 6 performs the step S205 to increase the suction power of the ink suction needle 9 and execute. In step S208, it is checked whether the suction power reaches a predetermined value, and after the ink absorption needle 9 receives the signal for increasing the suction power, the ink in the ink cartridge 4 is sucked by the step S206, and the ink amount detecting unit is executed in the step S207. 5 Check the presence or absence of the ink amount, if there is ink to perform the S202 printing step. The steps S203 to S208 and S202 are regarded as the step group (1). When the ink amount detecting unit 5 detects that the ink is absent in the step S207, the (1) step group is repeated until the step S208 generates an electric signal of "Yes". , that is, the second electrical signal. After the second electrical signal is generated, the step S210 is performed and transmitted to the controller 7. The controller 7 receives the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal to generate an ink power out signal, which is transmitted to the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 performs the step S301 to prompt the ink to be exhausted, and the ink cartridge 4 needs to be replaced. When the ink amount detecting portion 5 detects that there is no ink at the position, the suction power of the ink absorbing needle 9 is increased, so that the ink remaining in the ink cartridge 4 is sucked out, the power to be sucked reaches a predetermined value, and the ink amount detecting portion 5 The printer will not prompt the ink when it detects that there is no ink at the location. This solution can accurately detect the inside of the ink cartridge 4 The amount of ink minimizes the amount of residual ink in the ink cartridge 4 while avoiding damage caused by air suction of the ink suction needle 9.

Embodiment 3:

Figure 5 is a schematic view of an ink supply system in the printer of the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, a chip 41 is disposed on the ink cartridge. The ink amount information is stored in the chip 41. As shown in FIG. 6, after the first electrical signal is generated, the step S401 is performed to transmit the first electrical signal to the chip 41. After receiving the first electrical signal, the chip 41 performs the step S402 to correct the ink in the chip 41. Quantity information.

The first electrical signal generated by the ink amount detecting section 5 can correct the ink amount information stored by the chip 41, and can improve the accuracy of the stored information in the chip 41.

The rest is the same as the first embodiment, and the repeated description is not repeated here.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are merely illustrative of the technical solutions of the present invention, and are not intended to be limiting; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that The technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or substitutions do not deviate from the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention. range.

Claims

A method for detecting the remaining amount of ink for detecting the presence or absence of ink is characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

1. setting a predetermined value greater than the normal pumping power;

2. The detecting ink quantity detecting component detects whether there is ink at the position, and if there is no ink, it proceeds to step 3;

3. Comparing the real-time pumping power with the predetermined value, if the real-time pumping power is less than the predetermined value, proceed to step four, and vice versa, proceed to step five;

Fourth, increase the pumping power, enter step two;

Fifth, the tips are exhausted.
A method of detecting a remaining amount of ink according to claim 1, wherein in said step 2, the ink amount detecting means further transmits the first electric signal having no ink at the position to the controller.
The method of detecting the remaining amount of ink according to claim 1, wherein in the second step, the ink amount detecting unit further transmits the first electrical signal having no ink at the position to the ink cartridge chip for correction. Ink level information in the chip.
A method of detecting a remaining amount of ink according to claim 2 or 3, wherein in said step 3, further comprising transmitting a second electrical signal having a suction power to a predetermined value to the controller.
A method of detecting a remaining amount of ink according to claim 4, further comprising: in said step 5, further comprising: the controller receiving the first telecommunication and the pumping power of the ink amount detecting means to have no ink at the position After the second electrical signal of the predetermined value, the electrical signal of the ink is transmitted to the terminal device.
An ink remaining amount detecting mechanism for realizing the method of claim 1, disposed in the ink flow path for detecting the presence or absence of ink at the position, comprising: an ink amount detecting member, further comprising suction a power control unit, wherein the suction power control unit is provided with a predetermined value larger than a normal suction power; the suction power control unit is configured to control the suction power and change the magnitude of the suction power when the suction power is When the predetermined value is reached and the detected ink amount detecting means detects that there is no ink at the position, the ink is indicated.
The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism according to claim 6, further comprising an ink absorbing needle and an ink cartridge; wherein said suction power control portion controls a suction power of said ink absorbing needle to extract ink from said ink cartridge.
The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism according to claim 7, wherein said ink amount detecting means further generates a first electric signal; and said suction power control portion controls to generate a second electric signal when said pumping power reaches a predetermined value .
The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism according to claim 8, wherein the ink cartridge is further provided with a chip, the first electrical signal can be transmitted to the chip, and the chip corrects the ink amount of the chip to store information according to the first electrical signal.
The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism according to claim 7 or 8 or 9, wherein the ink amount detecting means is located on the downstream side of the ink cartridge.
The ink remaining amount detecting mechanism according to claim 8, wherein said ink remaining amount detecting means further comprises control After receiving the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal, the controller generates an ink power out signal.
An ink supply system comprising: a terminal device and an ink remaining amount detecting mechanism according to any one of claims 6 to 11; wherein the ink exhaust signal is displayed on the terminal device.
The ink supply system according to claim 12, further comprising a sub-ink chamber, said ink amount detecting member being located on an upstream side of the sub-ink chamber.
An ink supply system for an ink jet printer according to claim 13, further comprising an ink passage and a print head; the ink flow path ink flow path is divided into a first flow path and a second flow path, and the ink is from the upstream side to the downstream side The side flows in sequence: an ink cartridge, an ink suction needle, a first flow path, an ink amount detecting member, a second flow path, a sub-ink chamber, an ink channel, and a print head.
An ink jet printer comprising: a printing apparatus and any one of the ink supply systems of claims 12-15.