CN106142871B - Detect method, ink surplus testing agency, ink feeding system and the ink-jet printer of ink surplus - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for detecting the remaining amount of ink, a detection mechanism for the remaining amount of ink, an ink supply system and an ink-jet printer. The method is used to detect whether there is ink, including the following steps: 1. Setting a predetermined value greater than the normal suction power; 2. Detecting whether the ink volume detection part detects whether there is ink at the position, and if there is no ink, enter step 3; 3. 1. Compare the real-time suction power with the predetermined value. If the real-time suction power is less than the predetermined value, go to step 4. Otherwise, go to step 5. 4. Increase the suction power and go to step 2. 5. Prompt that the ink is exhausted. After the ink volume detection part detects that there is no ink in the position, the suction power of the ink suction needle increases to suck out the residual ink in the ink cartridge, and wait until the suction power reaches a predetermined value and the ink volume detection part detects the position When there is no ink, the printer will prompt that the ink is out. This technical solution can accurately detect the amount of ink inside the ink box, minimize the amount of residual ink in the ink box, and at the same time avoid the damage caused by air suction of the ink-absorbing needle.

Description

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

technical field

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

Background technique

Inkjet printers use ink cartridges to store ink, which is supplied to the printheads according to printing needs. Whether the amount of ink inside the ink cartridge can be accurately detected is related to whether the ink is used up, and it is an important detection in inkjet printers. At present, there is a chip on the ink cartridge, and some ink cartridges rely on the chip to indicate the amount of ink. The chip will estimate the amount of ink. When the ink is used up, the chip will transmit a message that the ink is exhausted to the printer, so that the printer will indicate that the ink is exhausted.

Because the above method does not detect the amount of ink, only rely on the chip information to indicate whether the ink is exhausted, and the information transmitted by the chip is inaccurate. In this case, there will be two possibilities: the first is that when the chip transmits the ink When sending information, there is still a large amount of ink inside the ink cartridge, which will cause waste of resources, pollute the environment, pollute the workbench, pollute the user's hands, clothes, etc.; the second is that when there is no ink inside the ink cartridge, the chip still does not transmit ink. Doing all the information to the printer will cause the ink blotter needle to empty inside the ink blotter cartridge, resulting in damage to the printer, printing problems, and so on.

In order to reduce the occurrence of the above situation, two methods were invented: 1. Use the prism described in the CN201110078562.4 patent to detect whether the ink quantity inside the ink cartridge is in a state of low ink quantity. 2. Use the sensor in the CN200910224353.9 patent to detect whether the ink inside the ink cartridge is in a state of low ink. Although these two methods can greatly reduce the occurrence of the above situation, they can only detect whether there is ink at the prism or sensor, because there is still ink from the prism or sensor to the ink outlet, so this method still cannot accurately detect Whether there is ink inside the ink cartridge. The problem of inaccurate detection of the remaining ink level still exists. Therefore, the inaccurate detection of the remaining ink level and the inaccurate transmission of ink end information still exist.

Especially for the ink supply system shown in FIG. 1 , the inaccurate detection of the remaining ink level inside the ink cartridge is even more obvious. The ink supply system in FIG. 1 is composed of an ink cartridge 1 , an auxiliary ink chamber 2 and a print head 3 . When the printer receives the printing task, the print head 3 will eject ink onto the printing medium P, causing the ink in the sub-ink chamber 2 to decrease. In the ink chamber, when the printer prompts that there is no ink in the ink cartridge 1, the ink cartridge 1 needs to be replaced. As shown in Figure 2, the ink cartridge 1 in this system generally uses an ink bag 14 to store ink, and the ink outlet 13 is located on the front face 1a. When the ink cartridge 1 is installed on the printer, the front face 1a is in contact with the printer. The ink cartridge 1 uses a sensor 12 to detect the amount of ink remaining. The printer applies a voltage to the sensor 12 to cause the sensor 12 to vibrate through the inverse piezoelectric effect, and detects the remaining ink amount 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 remaining information and transmits it to the printer. When the amount of ink at the sensor 12 is insufficient, the chip 11 will transmit the information that the amount of ink is low to the printer. However, the sensor 12 in this ink supply system can only detect whether there is ink at the sensor 12, and cannot accurately detect whether there is ink inside the ink cartridge 1. Therefore, there are inaccurate detection of the remaining ink level and inaccurate transmission of ink end information.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a method for detecting remaining ink, an ink remaining detection mechanism, an ink supply system and an inkjet printer to solve the existing problems of the existing ink remaining detection method, ink remaining detection mechanism, ink supply system and inkjet printer A technical problem with inaccurate ink level detection.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical scheme that the present invention takes is:

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

1. Set a predetermined value greater than the normal suction power;

2. Detecting the amount of ink detected by the detection part to detect whether there is ink in the position, and if there is no ink, enter step 3;

3. Compare the real-time pumping power with the preset value. If the real-time pumping power is less than the preset value, go to step 4. Otherwise,

Go to step five;

4. Increase the suction power and go to step 2;

5. Reminder that the ink is exhausted.

In the second step, the ink quantity detection part is further included to transmit the first electrical signal indicating that there is no ink at the position to the controller.

In the second step, the ink volume detection part also transmits the first electrical signal indicating that there is no ink at the position to the ink cartridge chip, so as to correct the ink volume information in the chip.

In the third step, it also includes transmitting the second electric signal indicating that the suction power reaches a predetermined value to the controller.

In said step 5, after the controller receives the first electrical signal indicating that the position of the ink level detection part has no ink and the second electrical signal indicating that the suction power reaches a predetermined value, the controller transmits the electrical signal indicating that the ink is exhausted to the terminal equipment.

An ink remaining detection mechanism for realizing the above method, which is arranged in the ink flow path and is used to detect the presence or absence of ink at the position, comprising: an ink volume detection component, which is characterized in that it also includes a suction power control unit, The suction power control part is provided with a predetermined value greater than the normal suction power; the suction power control part is used to control the suction power and change the size of the suction power, when the suction power reaches the predetermined value And when the detection ink volume detection part detects that there is no ink in the position, it prompts that the ink is exhausted.

It also includes an ink suction needle and an ink cartridge; the suction power control part controls the suction power of the ink suction needle to suck ink from the ink cartridge.

The ink amount detecting part also generates a first electric signal; the pumping power control part controls the pumping power to generate a second electric signal when the pumping power reaches a predetermined value.

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

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

The remaining ink detection mechanism further includes a controller; the controller generates an ink-out signal after receiving the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal.

An ink supply system, comprising: a terminal device and the above-mentioned ink remaining detection mechanism; the ink end signal is displayed on the terminal device.

A secondary ink chamber is also included, and the ink amount detection component is located on the upstream side of the secondary ink chamber.

It also includes the ink channel and the print head; the ink flow path The ink flow path is divided into the first flow path and the second flow path, and the ink flows sequentially from the upstream side to the downstream side: the ink cartridge, the ink suction needle, the first flow path, and the ink volume detection component , the second flow path, the auxiliary ink chamber, the ink channel, and the print head.

An inkjet printer is characterized by comprising: a printing device and the above-mentioned ink supply system.

After adopting above-mentioned technical scheme, beneficial effect is:

First, when the ink volume detection part detects that there is no ink in the position, the suction power of the ink suction needle increases to suck out the remaining ink in the ink cartridge, until the suction power reaches a predetermined value and the ink volume detection part detects When there is no ink in the position, the printer will prompt that the ink is out. This technical solution can accurately detect the amount of ink inside the ink box, minimize the amount of residual ink in the ink box, and at the same time avoid the damage caused by air suction of the ink-absorbing needle.

Secondly, because the ink in the ink cartridge needs to be replaced with a new one when the ink in the cartridge is exhausted, the ink volume detection component in this technical solution is arranged in the ink flow path instead of 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 level detection component can correct the ink level information stored in the chip and improve the accuracy of the information stored in the chip.

Description of drawings

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

Fig. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of the ink cartridge.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the ink supply system in the printer of the second embodiment.

Fig. 4 is the flowchart of the second embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the ink supply system in the printer of the third embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of the third embodiment.

Detailed ways

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are the Some, but not all, embodiments are invented. Given the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The following only takes the "liquid container for inkjet printer" as an example to describe the solution.

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

Embodiment one:

A method for detecting the remaining amount of ink, which is used for detecting the presence or absence of ink, comprises the following steps:

1. Set a predetermined value greater than the normal suction power;

2. Detecting the amount of ink The detection part detects whether there is ink in the position, if there is, it will print normally, if there is no ink, then enter step 3;

3. Compare the real-time suction power with the predetermined value, if the real-time suction power is less than the predetermined value, go to step 4, otherwise, go to step 5;

4. Increase the suction power and go to step 2;

5. Reminder that the ink is exhausted.

In step 2, it may further comprise that the ink quantity detecting component transmits the first electrical signal indicating that there is no ink at the position to the controller.

In step 2, it may further comprise that the ink quantity detection component transmits the first electrical signal indicating that there is no ink at the position to the ink cartridge chip, so as to correct the ink quantity information in the chip.

In step two, print normally if there is ink.

In step 3, it may also include transmitting the second electric signal indicating that the suction power reaches a predetermined value to the controller.

In step 5, it may also include that the controller transmits the electrical signal indicating that the ink is exhausted to the terminal device after the controller receives the first electrical signal indicating that the position of the ink level detecting part is empty of ink and the second electrical signal indicating that the suction power reaches a predetermined value. .

Embodiment two:

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of 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 inkjet printer is the ink supply system as shown in FIG. Ink is sprayed from the ink supply system onto the medium P (generally paper) according to the printing task. The remaining ink amount detection mechanism is used to detect whether the ink amount is in an ink-end state. The remaining ink amount detection mechanism includes: an ink cartridge 4 , an ink suction needle 9 , an ink flow path 8 , an ink amount detection component 5 , a suction power control unit 6 , and a controller 7 . During the printing process of the printer, when the amount of ink in the sub-ink chamber 2 is low, the ink-absorbing needle 9 will suck ink from the ink cartridge 4 to replenish in the sub-ink chamber 2 . The ink cartridge 4 is used for storing ink, and the ink cartridge 4 has an ink outlet 43 matched with the ink-absorbing needle 9 . The ink suction needle 9 sucks ink from the ink 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 the flow path of ink from the ink cartridge 4 to the secondary ink chamber 2. The ink flow path 8 is provided with its sub-ink volume detection part 5, and the ink flow path 8 is divided into the second part with the ink volume detection part 5 as the dividing point. The first flow path 81 and the second flow path 82 . The ink quantity detection part 5 is arranged in the ink flow path 8, and is used for detecting the presence or absence of ink at the position, and generating a first electrical signal. The suction power control part 6 receives the first electrical signal, and controls the suction power of the ink suction needle 9 according to the first electrical signal, and changes 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-out signal after receiving the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal. The ink-out signal will be transmitted to the terminal device 10 (usually a printer display screen), and the terminal device 10 will display that the ink is exhausted, and the ink cartridge 4 needs to be replaced. The ink reaches the secondary ink chamber 2 after passing through the ink channel 8 , and reaches the print head 3 along the ink channel 23 , and the print head sprays the ink onto the print medium P according to the printing task. The ink flows sequentially from the upstream side to the downstream side: the ink cartridge 4 , the ink suction needle 9 , the first flow path 81 , the ink amount detection component 5 , the second flow path 82 , the secondary ink chamber 2 , the ink channel 23 , and the print head 3 .

When the ink in the ink cartridge 4 is consumed, a new ink cartridge 4 needs to be replaced. Therefore, in this solution, the ink amount detection component 5 is arranged in the ink flow path 8 instead of the ink cartridge 4 . The parts on the ink cartridge 4 are reduced, the waste of resources is reduced, and the cost is saved.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart from the installation of the ink cartridge to the reminder that the ink is exhausted. First execute step S101 to install the ink cartridge 4 into the printing device, the printer executes step S102 to identify the ink cartridge, if not recognized, then return to step S101 to reinstall the ink cartridge, if recognized, then execute step S103, the printer judges whether there is Print task, if there is no print task, then the printer is in standby mode, if there is a print task, then execute step S104 to detect whether the ink in the secondary ink chamber 2 is sufficient, if the amount of ink is sufficient, execute step S202 for printing, if not, execute Step S105 sucks ink from the ink cartridge 4 . Execute the S201 step ink volume detection part 5 to detect the presence or absence of the ink volume during the ink suction process, if there is ink, then perform the S202 printing step, if not, the ink volume detection part 5 will generate the first electrical signal, and the first electrical signal will be Execute steps S203 and S204 and transmit the first electric signal to the suction power control part 6 and the controller 7. After receiving the first electric signal, the suction power control part 6 will execute step S205 to increase the suction power and Execute step S208 to check whether the suction power reaches a predetermined value. After the ink suction needle 9 receives a signal to increase the suction power, it will execute step S206 to suck the ink in the ink cartridge 4. During the process of sucking ink, execute step S207 to detect the amount of ink Component 5 detects the presence or absence of the amount of ink, and if there is ink, the printing step of S202 is executed. S203～S208, S202 steps are regarded as step group (1), then in the situation that the ink amount detection part 5 detects ink in S207 step, repeat (1) step group, until S208 step generates " yes " electric signal , that is, the second electrical signal. After the second electrical signal is generated, step S210 will be executed and transmitted to the controller 7 . After the controller 7 receives the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal, it will generate an ink exhaustion signal, which is transmitted to the terminal device 10, and the terminal equipment 10 executes step S301 to prompt that the ink cartridge is exhausted and the ink cartridge 4 needs to be replaced. After the ink volume detection part 5 detects that there is no ink in the position, the suction power of the ink suction needle 9 increases to suck out the remaining ink in the ink cartridge 4 until the suction power reaches a predetermined value and the ink volume detection part 5 When it detects that there is no ink in the position, the printer will prompt that the ink is out. This scheme can accurately detect the amount of ink inside the ink cartridge 4, minimize the amount of residual ink in the ink cartridge 4, and avoid the damage caused by the empty suction of the ink suction needle 9 at the same time.

Embodiment three:

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the ink supply system in the printer of the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5 , a chip 41 is provided on the ink cartridge. Ink quantity information is stored in the chip 41 . As shown in Figure 6, after the first electrical signal is generated, step S401 will be executed to transmit the first electrical signal to the chip 41, and after the chip 41 receives the first electrical signal, step S402 will be executed to correct the ink in the chip 41 amount of information.

The first electrical signal generated by the ink volume detection component 5 can correct the ink volume information stored in the chip 41 and improve the accuracy of the stored information in the chip 41 .

The remaining parts are the same as those in Embodiment 1, and will not be described repeatedly here.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than limiting them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: It is still possible to modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or perform equivalent replacements for some or all of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the technical solutions of the various embodiments of the present invention. scope.

Claims (16)

1. a kind of method for detecting ink surplus, for detecting ink whether there is, it is characterized in that：Quantity of ink detection part is arranged on ink In current road；The method of the detection ink surplus comprises the following steps：

The first, one predetermined value bigger than normal pumping power is set；

2nd, the quantity of ink detection part detects whether there is ink at the ink flow path, and no ink then enters step three；

3rd, more real-time pumping power and predetermined value size, if pumping power is less than predetermined value in real time, carry out step 4, instead It, is transferred to step 5；

4th, increase pumping power, enter step two；

5th, prompting ink is most.

2. the method for detection ink surplus as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that：In the step 2, ink is further included Detection part is measured by first electric signal transmission of the present position without ink to controller.

3. the method for detection ink surplus as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that：In the step 2, ink is further included Detection part is measured by first electric signal transmission of the present position without ink to ink box chip, is believed for quantity of ink in correcting chip Breath.

4. the method for detection ink surplus as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, it is characterized in that：In the step 3, further include by Pumping power reaches the second electric signal transmission of predetermined value to controller.

5. the method for detection ink surplus as claimed in claim 4, it is characterized in that：In the step 5, control is further included Device receives the second electricity that first telecommunications of the present position without ink and pumping power are reached predetermined value by quantity of ink detection part After signal, by the most electric signal transmission of ink to terminal device.

6. a kind of ink surplus testing agency for realizing claim 1 the method, is arranged in ink flow path, for detecting Locate the presence or absence of ink at position, including：Quantity of ink detection part, it is characterized in that, further include pumping power control unit, the suction The predetermined value bigger than normal pumping power is provided with power control section；The pumping power control unit is used for control and suck power And the size of pumping power is changed, when pumping power reaches predetermined value and detection quantity of ink detection part detects institute Prompting ink is most when locating position without ink.

7. ink surplus testing agency as claimed in claim 6, it is characterized in that, further include blotting pin and print cartridge；The suction The power control section control blotting pin extracts the pumping power of ink from the print cartridge.

8. ink surplus testing agency as claimed in claim 7, it is characterized in that, the quantity of ink detection part also produces first Electric signal；The pumping power control unit control and suck power produces the second electric signal when reaching predetermined value.

9. ink surplus testing agency as claimed in claim 8, it is characterized in that, it is additionally provided with chip on the print cartridge, first Electric signal can be transmitted to chip, and chip stores information according to the quantity of ink of the first electric signal correcting chip.

10. the ink surplus testing agency as described in claim 7 or 8 or 9, it is characterized in that, the quantity of ink detection part position In the downstream of print cartridge.

11. ink surplus testing agency as claimed in claim 8, it is characterized in that, the ink surplus testing agency further includes Controller；After the controller receives the first electric signal and the second electric signal, ink electric signal to the greatest extent is produced.

12. a kind of ink feeding system, including：Terminal device and the ink surplus testing agency as described in claim 6-11 is any.

13. ink feeding system as claimed in claim 12, it is characterized in that, further include secondary black chamber, the quantity of ink detection part position In the upstream side of secondary black chamber.

14. ink feeding system as claimed in claim 13, it is characterized in that, further include ink channel and printhead；Ink flow path point For first flow path and second flow path, ink from upstream side to downstream followed by：Print cartridge, blotting pin, first flow path, quantity of ink Detection part, second flow path, secondary black chamber, ink channel, printhead.

15. a kind of ink feeding system, including：Terminal device and ink surplus testing agency as claimed in claim 11, the ink is to the greatest extent Signal is shown on the terminal device.

16. a kind of ink-jet printer, it is characterized in that, including：Printing device and any ink supply system as described in claim 12-15 System.