Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120139990 | Print Head Vacuum Relief Mechanism - A method is disclosed. The method includes monitoring a sensor for measured vacuum pressure within a print head, determining if the vacuum pressure measured at the sensor is less than a predetermined pressure threshold and indicating that the print head is ready to be decoupled from the maintenance station if the measured vacuum pressure is less than the predetermined pressure threshold. | 06-07-2012 |
20120139995 | Printer Fluid Change Manifold - A system is disclosed. The system includes a print engine having one or more ink jet print heads and ink lines coupled to provide ink to each of the print heads. The system also includes a fluid change manifold coupled to the ink lines to remove fluid from the print engine via the ink lines. | 06-07-2012 |
20120154482 | Print Head Maintenance Manifold System - A print head maintenance manifold assembly is disclosed. The maintenance manifold assembly includes a multitude of hoses and a manifold coupled to the hoses via fittings. The manifold includes a first set of fittings and small diameter hoses coupled to print heads at a first section of the manifold and a second set of fittings and hoses coupled to a vacuum source at a second section of the manifold. | 06-21-2012 |
20120206515 | Ink Flow Regulation Mechanism - A method is disclosed. The method includes setting a desired flow rate for ink in an ink jet printer, measuring an actual flow rate of the ink, determining if the measured flow rate is equal to the desired flow rate and adjusting the flow rate if the measured flow rate is not equal to the desired flow rate. | 08-16-2012 |
20120285708 | FIRE ENCLOSURE AND SAFETY SYSTEM FOR AN INKJET PRINTER USING A RADIANT DRYER UNIT - Fire control and containment for a production printing system that includes a dryer unit, an air intake fan, and an exhaust fan. A fire control and containment system includes an enclosure surrounding the dryer unit. The enclosure includes controllable doors, a temperature sensor, and an air pressure sensor in the enclosure. The fire containment and control system also includes a controller operable to detect a fire event based on changes in air pressure and air temperature in the enclosure detected by the air pressure and air temperature sensors. In response to detecting the fire event, the controller closes the doors of the enclosure to prevent the print medium from entering, controls the air intake fan and the exhaust fan to reduce the air pressure in the enclosure, and controls the dryer unit to reduce temperature in the enclosure to suppress fire. | 11-15-2012 |
20120287195 | LAMP CONFIGURATION AND CONTROLLER FOR A RADIANT DRYER UNIT OF AN INKJET PRINTER - Systems and methods for a dryer unit of a printer. In one embodiment, a dryer unit includes a light source having a plurality of lamps. The dryer unit further includes a controller that associates a target output power with each of the lamps of the light source. When in operation, the controller determines a speed of a printable medium that passes through the dryer unit. The controller is able to vary an intensity of light generated by the light source based on the speed of the printable medium by varying which of the lamps of the light source are energized to their target output power. | 11-15-2012 |
20120287196 | DYNAMIC DRYER CONTROL IN PRINTING - Embodiments described herein provide variable heat control for a printer. One system includes a dryer operable to dry ink applied to a print medium. The system also includes a controller communicatively coupled to the dryer and operable to filter a bitmap to provide variable heat control from the dryer to the applied ink according to the bitmap to attach the ink to the print medium. The print medium may be a continuous form print medium. In this regard, the controller maybe operable to determine a speed at which the continuous form print medium is moving, to generate a heat control signal operable to provide the variable heat control, and to delay transmission of the heat control signal based on the determined speed of the continuous form print medium until the ink applied to the continuous form print medium is within range of the dryer. | 11-15-2012 |
20120287215 | REFLECTOR STRUCTURE FOR A RADIANT DRYER UNIT OF AN INKJET PRINTER - Structures for radiant dryer units of a printer. A radiant dryer unit includes a reflector element that reflects light waves from a light source back towards a printable medium to dry ink printed on the medium. The reflector element includes a plurality of modular sections. Each modular section includes a base portion having a reflective surface, and includes legs that protrude from an opposing surface of the base portion. The modular sections are affixed to one another so that the reflective surfaces of the modular sections form an aggregate reflective surface that faces toward the light source of the radiant dryer unit. | 11-15-2012 |
20140090267 | DRYERS THAT ADJUST POWER BASED ON NON-LINEAR PROFILES - Systems and methods are provided for controlling a dryer of a printing system. The system comprises a controller and a sensor. The controller is operable to determine a speed of a web of print media traveling through a dryer, and to apply power to a heating element of the dryer based on a power profile that models a non-linear relationship between power applied to the heating element and speed of the web. The controller is further able to determine a type of media for the web, and to select the power profile based on the type of media. | 04-03-2014 |
20140092184 | DRYERS THAT USE ROLLERS TO DEFINE FIRE ENCLOSURE OPENINGS - Systems and methods are provided for drying print media. The system comprises a dryer comprising an enclosure and a roller. The roller is proximate to an opening into the enclosure. A perimeter of the roller covers a portion of the opening, and an uncovered portion of the opening comprises a gap for a web of print media. The gap has a size defined on one side by the perimeter of the roller and on another side by a surface of the opening. | 04-03-2014 |
20140116275 | REDUCTION OF PRINT HEAD TEMPERATURE BY DISRUPTING AIR FROM HEATED WEBS OF PRINT MEDIA - Systems and methods are provided for reducing the temperature of print heads of a printer in a multi-printer environment. The system comprises a receiving printer operable to receive a web of print media heated by an upstream dryer. The system further comprises an airflow generator located immediately before the heated web enters the receiving printer, the airflow generator operable to project impinging air that deflects warm air proximate to the heated web. | 05-01-2014 |
20140204136 | CONTROL OF INK TEMPERATURES FOR RADIANT DRYING - Systems and methods for tuning Key (K) black ink printed by a production printer. In one embodiment, an ink tuning system is implemented in a printing system. The printing system includes a production printer that is operable to print color ink onto a continuous-form medium, and includes a radiant dryer that is operable to dry the ink that is applied to the medium. The ink tuning system identifies areas of K black ink designated for printing on the medium by the production printer, and applies a liquid agent to the areas of K black ink to increase the liquid mass of the K black ink before the medium enters the radiant dryer. | 07-24-2014 |
20140210919 | LOW-TEMPERATURE GAS FLOW INSERTION IN PRINTING SYSTEM DRYERS - Systems and methods are provided for inserting low temperature gas into dryers of printing systems. The system comprises a dryer, which includes a heating element and a flow generator. The heating element is within an interior of the dryer and is able to heat a web of printed media as the web travels through the interior. The flow generator is within the interior and is operable to directly project an impinging jet of gas along a width of the web that deflects heated air proximate to the web. The gas is cooler than the heated air. | 07-31-2014 |
20140218432 | CONTROLLED COOLING OF PRINT MEDIA FOR A PRINTING SYSTEM - Systems and methods control the rate of cooling of a print media downstream of a drying process. One embodiment comprises a printing system. The printing system includes a print engine that applies colorant onto a continuous-form media. The printing system further includes a radiant dryer downstream of the print engine along a media path, and includes a drum downstream of the radiant dryer along the media path. The drum includes a heat source. The printing system estimates a temperature of the media, estimates a temperature of the drum, and adjusts heat applied to the drum utilizing the heat source to maintain the temperature of the drum below the temperature of the media within a threshold amount. | 08-07-2014 |
20140218435 | OPTIMIZATION OF DRYING FOR WET COLORANTS IN A PRINTING SYSTEM - Systems and methods are disclosed for determining an operational range of colorant densities and heating powers that result in successful drying for a print media that is based on a drying quality of test images printed by a printing system. One embodiment comprises a printing system that applies colorant onto a continuous-form medium and applies heat to the medium based on a heating power. The printing system prints a plurality of test images onto the medium, where one or more of a colorant density and a heating power vary for each of the printed test images. The printing system determines a drying quality for the printed test images, and calculates an operational range of colorant densities and heating powers for the medium based on the drying quality of the printed test images. | 08-07-2014 |
20140237844 | DYNAMIC COOLING OF PRINT MEDIA IN A RADIANT DRYER - Systems and methods provide targeted cooling for portions of print media during a radiant drying process. One embodiment comprises a radiant dryer and a control system. The radiant dryer includes a radiant energy source within an interior of the radiant dryer that dries a colorant onto a continuous-form medium. The radiant dryer further includes a plurality of independently actuated cooling jets within the interior that apply a cooling gas to the medium. The control system determines regions on the medium where the colorant is at risk of overheating, and directs the cooling jets to apply the cooling gas to the regions. | 08-28-2014 |
20140237848 | FORCE-BALANCING GAS FLOW IN DRYERS FOR PRINTING SYSTEMS - Systems and methods are provided for balancing air flow in dryers of printing systems. The dryer includes a heating element, top flow generator, and bottom flow generator. The heating element is within the dryer, and heats a web of printed media. The top flow generator directly projects a first jet of gas onto a top side of the web. The first jet of gas deflects air proximate to the web. The bottom flow generator directly projects a second jet of gas onto an opposing side of the web. The second jet strikes the web at substantially the same location as the first jet, and compensates orthogonal force applied to the web by the first jet. Furthermore, the top and bottom flow generators are both oriented to project the jets partially in the direction of travel of the web. | 08-28-2014 |
20140240385 | FLUSH LINE GENERATION IN PRINTING SYSTEMS THAT UTILIZE CONTROL MARKS - Systems and methods are provided for generating flush lines that do not interfere with control marks for post-processing equipment. The system includes a print controller able to receive a print job and to insert printable control marks into the print job to direct the actions of post-processing equipment. The system also includes an ink flushing controller that can detect horizontal locations of the control marks along the width of the print job. Responsive to detecting the locations of the control marks, the ink flushing controller can generate flush lines for the print job that have altered optical densities at the horizontal locations. | 08-28-2014 |
20140240388 | CUSTOM FLUSH LINE GENERATION IN PRINTING SYSTEMS THAT UTILIZE INK DRYING LIMITS - Systems and methods are provided for generating flush lines for printers. The system includes a flush line generator able to receive a print job, to determine a drying limit that defines a maximum areal density of ink for the print job that may be dried by a dryer, and to generate a flush line based on the drying limit that does not exceed the drying limit. The system further includes a marking engine able to mark the print job and the flush line onto a web of printable media upstream from the dryer. | 08-28-2014 |
20140240392 | DYNAMIC DROP REDIRECTION FOR DROP ON DEMAND PRINTING - Systems and methods selectively remove flush drops from a plurality of ink drops ejected by a print engine when printing data for a print job. One embodiment comprises a control system of a printing system. The control system receives a flush pattern for flushing an ink jet print engine of the printing system, and receives a sheetside bitmap for printing to a print medium. The control system merges the flush pattern and the sheetside bitmap to generate a composite sheetside bitmap. The control system directs the print engine to eject a plurality of ink drops toward the print medium based on the composite sheetside bitmap, and identifies a subset of the ink drops based on the flush pattern. The control system then directs a drop deflection system of the printing system to selectively prevent the subset of ink drops from impinging the print medium. | 08-28-2014 |
20140250712 | DRUM TEMPERATURE CONTROL FOR A RADIANT DRYER OF A PRINTING SYSTEM - Systems and methods provide enhanced radiant drying capabilities for a printing system utilizing temperature control of a thermally conductive drum. One embodiment comprises a radiant dryer and a control system. The radiant dryer includes a thermally conductive drum and a plurality of radiant energy sources disposed along an outside surface of the drum. The energy sources dry a colorant applied to a print medium in contact with the drum. The radiant dryer further includes a cooling system that applies a coolant to the drum to remove heat from the drum. The control system measures the temperature of the drum, determines a difference between the temperature of the drum and a target temperature, and directs the cooling system to vary an application of the coolant to the drum based on the difference to maintain the drum at the target temperature. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253624 | DYNAMIC DRYING OF PRINT MEDIA IN A RADIANT DRYER - Systems and methods provide dynamic radiant drying for a print media by monitoring a temperature of a test patch of colorant during the drying process. One embodiment is a radiant dryer and a control system. The radiant dryer receives a media marked with a wet colorant that depicts a sheetside of print data and a test patch. The radiant dryer includes a radiant energy source that heats the colorant based on a heating power. The radiant dryer further includes a cooling system within the interior that applies a cooling gas to the medium. The control system obtains a temperature of the test patch, determines a difference between the temperature of the test patch and a target temperature, and varies the heating power and/or an application of the cooling gas based on the difference to normalize temperatures across the medium during a drying process. | 09-11-2014 |
20140285599 | REDUCTION OF INK TEMPERATURES IN A RADIANT DRYER - Systems and methods for reducing ink temperatures in a radiant dryer. In one embodiment, a fluid dispersion unit is implemented in a printing system. The printing system includes a production printer that is operable to apply ink on a front side of a continuous-form medium, and includes a radiant dryer that is operable to dry the ink that is applied on the front side of the medium. The liquid dispersion unit is configured to apply a liquid on a back side of the medium before the medium enters the radiant dryer. | 09-25-2014 |
20140366760 | LIQUID DISPERSAL IN RADIANT DRYERS FOR PRINTING SYSTEMS - Systems and methods are provided for dispersing a liquid coolant in a radiant dryer. The system comprises a dryer of a printing system. The dryer includes a heating element within an interior of the dryer that is able to heat a web of printed media as the web travels through the interior. The dryer also includes a liquid dispersal unit within the interior that is able to project liquid droplets of coolant onto the web as the web travels through the interior, in order to control the temperature of the web. | 12-18-2014 |
20140368571 | QUALITY ANALYSIS OF PRINTHEADS WITH CLEAR FLUID - Systems and methods for improving the quality analysis of printheads that apply transparent or hard-to-detect fluids to a media. The system includes a printhead operable to apply a clear fluid to a print media. The system also includes a controller operable to enter a diagnostic mode for quality analysis of the printhead. The controller initiates a supply of diagnostic fluid to the printhead that includes a colorant. The controller then directs the printhead to apply the diagnostic fluid to the print media. Because the diagnostic fluid includes a colorant, the output of the printhead will be more visible on the media. | 12-18-2014 |
20150009256 | FREQUENCY-BASED WEB STEERING IN PRINTING SYSTEMS - Systems and methods are provided for predictively compensating for frequency-based shifts of the position of a web of print media in a continuous-forms printer. The system comprises a sensor and a controller. The sensor is able to detect lateral shifts of the web of print media traveling through the continuous-forms printer. The controller is able to identify a frequency of the lateral shifts of the web, and to steer the web based on the frequency. | 01-08-2015 |
20150009262 | ALIGNMENT OF PRINTHEADS IN PRINTING SYSTEMS - Systems and methods are provided for aligning printheads of a printing system. The system comprises a sensor and a controller. The sensor is able to detect changes in a lateral position of a web of print media traveling through a continuous-forms printing system, and the controller is able to adjust a lateral position of a printhead while the printing system is operating to compensate for the detected changes in web position. | 01-08-2015 |
20150029277 | WAVELENGTH FILTERS FOR DRYERS OF PRINTING SYSTEMS - Systems and methods are provided for filtering wavelengths of energy in a dryer of a printing system. The system comprises a dryer of a printing system that includes a heating element and an optical filter. The heating element is within an interior of the dryer and is able to radiate broad spectrum energy onto a web of printed media as the web travels through the interior. The optical filter is located within the interior between the heating element and the web, and the optical filter is able to prevent specific wavelengths of the energy from reaching the web while allowing other wavelengths of the energy to pass through. | 01-29-2015 |
20150049145 | Print Head Maintenance Manifold System - A print head maintenance manifold assembly is disclosed. The maintenance manifold assembly includes a multitude of hoses and a manifold coupled to the hoses via fittings. The manifold includes a first set of fittings and small diameter hoses coupled to print heads at a first section of the manifold and a second set of fittings and hoses coupled to a vacuum source at a second section of the manifold. | 02-19-2015 |