EP1308303A1 - Adaptateur faisant le vide sur une zone d'impression utilisé pour un dispositif d'impression - Google Patents

Adaptateur faisant le vide sur une zone d'impression utilisé pour un dispositif d'impression Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1308303A1
EP1308303A1 EP01125976A EP01125976A EP1308303A1 EP 1308303 A1 EP1308303 A1 EP 1308303A1 EP 01125976 A EP01125976 A EP 01125976A EP 01125976 A EP01125976 A EP 01125976A EP 1308303 A1 EP1308303 A1 EP 1308303A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
sheet
vacuum
adapter
openings
printplaten
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP01125976A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
David Claramunt
Jesus Garcia
Xavier Gros
Francisco J. Perez
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
HP Inc
Original Assignee
Hewlett Packard Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Hewlett Packard Co filed Critical Hewlett Packard Co
Priority to EP01125976A priority Critical patent/EP1308303A1/fr
Publication of EP1308303A1 publication Critical patent/EP1308303A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J11/00—Devices or arrangements  of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, for supporting or handling copy material in sheet or web form
    • B41J11/02—Platens
    • B41J11/06—Flat page-size platens or smaller flat platens having a greater size than line-size platens

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an adapter for a printing apparatus, designed for adjusting the printzone vacuum system to the size of the medium being printed.
  • Some known inkjet printing apparatus e.g. plotters, are provided with a printplaten which supports the media being printed, said printplaten being provided with a plurality of holes connected to a vacuum source through a vacuum chamber, in order to hold down the media and prevent it from forming bubbles or wrinkles.
  • the system includes several vacuum chambers, each clustering a number of holes of the printplaten.
  • the present invention provides a printzone vacuum adapter for a printing apparatus, said printing apparatus comprising a vacuum system for holding down a medium being printed on a printplaten, said system comprising vacuum paths between a vacuum source and a plurality of holes in the printplaten, wherein said adapter comprises at least one sheet provided with a predetermined pattern of openings and movable between at least two positions for selectively closing at least one of said vacuum paths when the medium being printed does not cover all said holes of the printplaten.
  • the invention allows to adjust the size of the vacuum system depending on the media being printed; its structure allows to automate the switching operation between different sizes.
  • the adapter avoids high noise.
  • At least one sheet is arranged parallel and adjacent to the printplaten so as to selectively open and close holes of the printplaten.
  • the pattern of openings may be such that for each hole of the printplaten the sheet has a number of openings aligned in the direction of displacement of the sheet, the number of aligned openings being, for each hole, equal to the number of positions of the sheet in which said hole must remain open.
  • said at least one sheet is arranged between a main vacuum chamber and intermediate vacuum chambers so as to selectively open and close vacuum passageways therebetween.
  • said pattern of openings may be such that for each vacuum passageway the sheet has a number of openings aligned in the direction of displacement of the sheet, the number of aligned openings being, for each vacuum passageway, equal to the number of positions of the sheet in which said vacuum passageway must remain open.
  • the adapter comprises a first movable sheet, provided with a first pattern of openings, appropriate for selectively closing vacuum paths located along a first direction, thus limiting the size of the vacuum system in said first direction.
  • this first sheet operates to adjust the width of the vacuum system.
  • the adapter may further comprise a second movable sheet, provided with a second pattern of openings different from said first pattern of openings, appropriate for selectively closing vacuum paths located along a second direction, at right angles to said first direction, thus limiting the size of the vacuum system in said second direction.
  • said first and second sheets are preferably arranged overlapping each other.
  • Said first and second sheets may be displaceable in the same direction, preferably in a direction at right angles to that of advance of the media, or in directions at right angles to each other.
  • the adapter comprises a single movable sheet provided with a predetermined pattern of openings, said sheet being appropriate for selectively closing both vacuum paths located along the direction of advance of the media and vacuum paths located along a direction at right angles to that of advance of the media, and thus to limit the size of the vacuum system in said two directions.
  • This single-sheet embodiment has a lower cost and simplifies assembly and operation.
  • the adapter comprises control means for the movement of said at least one sheet in response to the readings of sensor means arranged to detect the size of a medium being printed.
  • the sensors are already built-up in many printing apparatus, and the automation of the operation is thus simple.
  • the movement of said at least one sheet may be carried out by means of a rotary motor or by means of a linear actuator, preferably a solenoid.
  • the adapter according to the invention may comprise supporting and guiding means for said at least one sheet, preferably comprising a foam spring on which said at least one sheet slides and is supported.
  • the foam spring allows smooth movement of the sheets and at the same time allows vacuum to be transmitted. It further provides a good seal between sheets and with the printplaten.
  • the present invention also provides a printing apparatus comprising a printzone vacuum adapter as described above.
  • the invention provides a method for adjusting the size of a vacuum system for holding down a medium being printed in a printing apparatus, wherein said vacuum system comprises vacuum paths, said method comprising the steps of:
  • This method can be automated and a printer can thus function to adjust the vacuum system to the size of the media being printed while operating unattended.
  • reference numeral 1 indicates a printplaten of an inkjet printing apparatus, provided with a plurality of holes 2.
  • the layout of the holes 2 on the printplaten varies depending on the type of printer; the figure shows a simplified printplaten arrangement, with three rows of holes having three holes each, for better clarity.
  • the printplaten 1 is arranged in the printzone of the printer, under the printing head.
  • the medium being printed advances on the printplaten 1 in the direction of the x-axis shown in figure 1, and is held down flat on the printplaten 1 by supplying vacuum through holes 2.
  • the vacuum is supplied from a vacuum source and through vacuum paths towards the holes 2 of the printplaten.
  • Each vacuum path may include a main vacuum chamber and one hole of the prinplaten, or may include further passageways such as intermediate vacuum chambers, conduits or the like; several vacuum paths will have a part in common, e.g. all the paths have a main vacuum chamber in common.
  • the medium is placed towards the right hand side (figure 1) of the printplaten; the left row of holes, or the left and central rows of holes, will remain uncovered when small size media are being printed.
  • Figure 1 shows the structure and operation of a width adapter 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, designed to solve the problem of vacuum losses when printing on narrow media and, in this case, allowing to adjust the vacuum system to three different media widths.
  • the adapter comprises one thin metal sheet 10 placed just under the printplaten 1 and displaceable in the scan direction of the printer (the y-axis shown in figure 1) .
  • the sheet 10 is provided with a predetermined pattern of openings 11 and can adopt the three different positions A,B,C shown in the figure.
  • the real size and distance of the openings and holes have not been respected; in practice, the openings and holes are much smaller.
  • the openings in the sheets of the adapter may be of any shape, not necessarily matching that of the holes in the printhead.
  • the pattern of openings in the sheet 10 is such that, depending on the position of the sheet, some of the holes 2 of the printplaten 1 are in correspondence with openings 11 of the sheet 10 and therefore remain open, while some holes 2 are not in correspondence with openings 11 of the sheet 10 and therefore are closed by the sheet itself.
  • the pattern of openings 11 is as follows: in the region of the sheet 10 under the right row of holes of the printplaten there are three parallel rows of openings 11 in the sheet 10; in the region of the central row of holes of the printplaten there are two parallel rows of openings in the sheet; and in the region of the left row of holes of the printplaten there is only one row of openings in the sheet.
  • the row of holes on the right of the printplaten 1 will be always open, regardless of the position A,B,C of the sheet 10; the central row of holes will remain open when the sheet is in positions A and B; and the left row will remain open only when the sheet is in position A.
  • positions A and C are appropriate for intermediate and narrow media, respectively.
  • the positions could be adequate for standard A2, A3 and A4 paper widths.
  • Figure 2 shows an example of how the vacuum system can be adapted to the length of the media being printed, i.e. how the vacuum system can be limited in the direction of the x-axis shown in the figure. This adjustment of the size of the vacuum system is useful for example at the beginning of the printing operation, when the medium does not yet cover all the printplaten.
  • a length adapter 20 similar to the width adapter 10 of figure 1 is shown in figure 2 in three operating positions.
  • the adapter comprises one thin sheet 20 placed just under the printplaten 1 and displaceable in the scan direction of the printer (y-axis).
  • the sheet 20 is provided with a predetermined pattern of openings 21 and can adopt the three different positions A,B,C shown in the figure.
  • the pattern of openings in the sheet 20 is such that, depending on the position of the sheet, some of the holes 2 of the printplaten 1 remain open, while others are closed by the sheet 20.
  • the pattern of openings 21 is as follows: in the region of the sheet 20 under each row of holes of the printplaten there are three parallel rows of openings 21 in the sheet 20: a first row has three openings, a second row at the left of the first only has the two upper openings, and the third row, at the left of the second, only has the upper opening.
  • the upper hole of each row of the printplaten 1 will be always open, regardless of the position A,B,C of the sheet 20; the central hole of each row will remain open when the sheet is in positions A and B; and the lower hole of each row will remain open only when the sheet is in position A.
  • position A is appropriate for media that cover all the printplaten, while positions B and C are appropriate at the beginning of the printing operation, when the medium has not yet covered all the holes.
  • An adapter device useful for adjusting both the width and length of the vacuum system can be provided with two sheets, a width adjusting sheet 10 and a length adjusting sheet 20, as described above, overlapped to each other and each capable of being displaced independently from the other.
  • an adapter device able to adjust width and length simultaneously can also be embodied with an adequate pattern of openings 31 in a single sheet 30, as shown in figure 3.
  • the pattern of openings is here a combination of the patterns of sheets 10 and 20 above: like in sheet 10, there are three groups of openings for the row of holes 2 on the right, two groups for the central row of holes 2, and one group for the left row; and each group of openings has the configuration of the groups in sheet 20.
  • the vacuum system In position A, the vacuum system is at its maximum size: all the holes 2 of the printplaten 1 remain open. In position B, the width (y-axis) is maximum, but the length (x-axis) has been reduced, since only two holes 2 of each row are open; in position C, the length of the vacuum system is minimum, only the upper hole of each row remaining open.
  • Positions E and F produce a vacuum system with the same width as in position D, but reducing its length.
  • the pattern of openings is formed as follows: for each hole of the printplaten, the sheet has a number of openings aligned in the direction of the sheet displacement; the number of aligned openings is, for each hole, equal to the number of positions of the sheet in which said hole must remain open.
  • the right holes 2 must stay open in three positions of the sheet 10, and the sheet has, for each of said holes, three openings 11 aligned along the y-axis; for each central hole there are two aligned openings, and they must remain open in two positions of the sheet; and for each left hole there is a single opening, since this holes must remain open only in one position of the sheet.
  • a perforated sheet may perform a width codification and/or a length codification.
  • Another possibility is providing one sheet for the width adjustment, displaceable in the direction of the y-axis and another sheet for the length adjustment, displaceable along the x-axis.
  • Figures 1 to 3 show a printplaten 1 with only three rows of holes 2; in practice, the number of holes is larger, and the sheets 10,20 and 30 will therefore have more openings: if e.g. the vacuum has to be adjusted to three different media widths, but there are 16 rows of holes 2 in the printplaten, obviously the pattern of openings 11 for each row of holes shown in figure 1 will be repeated for several consecutive rows of holes; the number of times each pattern of openings is repeated depends on the actual sizes desired for the vacuum system. An example of such an arrangement will be given below, with reference to figure 4.
  • the adjusting sheets may have a size to cover only the holes of the printplaten that need to be selectively closed, i.e. it may not reach some holes that are always left open.
  • both embodiments have advantages: two sheets allow to reduce the sliding travel in the y-axis, and allows to adjust a larger number of positions, because less openings are needed in each sheet; on the contrary, the embodiment in a single sheet has a lower cost and simplifies the assembly and operation of the device.
  • Figure 4 shows how the adapter according to the invention, in this case with two adjusting sheets similar to sheets 10 and 20 described above, can be assembled on an inkjet printer.
  • reference numeral 40 indicates a main vacuum chamber which distributes vacuum from a vacuum source (not shown) to the holes 2 of a printplaten 1'.
  • the vacuum system adapter is placed between the vacuum chamber 40 and the printplaten 1', as described below.
  • the vacuum chamber 40 is provided with two side supports 41, on which rests a perforated sheet base 50.
  • a foam block 60 acting as a spring means, and on the foam block 60 are arranged the width-adjusting sheet 10' and the length-adjusting sheet 20'.
  • the foam block 60 is porous and permeable to air, and it may also be provided with adequate openings, or it can be non-porous and be provided with adequate openings. Thus it allows the displacement of the sheets 10' and 20' and at the same time it allows the vacuum to be transmitted therethrough; the base 50 may have perforations in correspondence with the holes 2 of the printplaten 1', or any other kind of larger holes that guarantee the transmission of vacuum.
  • the sheets 10' and 20' slide with respect to the printplaten and the foam block 60, and with respect to each other.
  • the sheets 10' and 20' are similar to sheets 10 and 20, but are adapted to a printplaten 1' having several rows of holes 2, and not just three rows like in the previous examples.
  • the sheet 10' of figure 4 can be distinguished three different areas: in the right area of the sheet, corresponding to the six first rows of the printplaten 1', there are three rows of openings 11 for each row of holes 2; in the central area of the sheet (corresponding to the next six rows of the printplaten) there are two rows of openings 11 for each row of holes 2; and finally, in the left area of the sheet (corresponding to the last four rows of the printplaten) there is only one row of openings 11 for each row of holes 2.
  • Sheet 20' is similarly modified with respect to sheet 20; in this case, two of the six holes 2 of each row are closed in each displacement of the sheet 20' towards the right.
  • the assembly of the adapter device on the printer may of course be different from the embodiment of figure 4; for example, solutions with different supporting and guiding means for the sheets may be implemented.
  • the displacement of the sheets may be effected by means of a small rotary motor, e.g. a step motor; for those applications in which more speed in operation may be required, a linear actuator such as a solenoid could be used.
  • a small rotary motor e.g. a step motor
  • a linear actuator such as a solenoid
  • the sheets may be very thin, and their inertia is very small, and therefore the switching operation between positions could be performed in the range of milliseconds.
  • the adapter device can be automatically actuated by the printer, with no need of manual intervention to adapt the size of the vacuum system to the media being printed, simply by providing sensors able to detect the size of the media. Such sensors are already available in several types of printers.
  • a method for adjusting the size of the vacuum system in a printer can be performed by providing one or two sheets such as 10, 20 or 30, detecting the position of a lateral edge and/or of the leading edge of a medium being printed, and moving the sheet or sheets accordingly to close the openings of the printplaten that remain uncovered.
  • the printer may be provided with several intermediate vacuum chambers, each clustering a plurality of holes of the printplaten and each having a passageway open in a common main vacuum chamber connected to the vacuum source.

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  • Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
EP01125976A 2001-10-31 2001-10-31 Adaptateur faisant le vide sur une zone d'impression utilisé pour un dispositif d'impression Withdrawn EP1308303A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP01125976A EP1308303A1 (fr) 2001-10-31 2001-10-31 Adaptateur faisant le vide sur une zone d'impression utilisé pour un dispositif d'impression

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP01125976A EP1308303A1 (fr) 2001-10-31 2001-10-31 Adaptateur faisant le vide sur une zone d'impression utilisé pour un dispositif d'impression

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1308303A1 true EP1308303A1 (fr) 2003-05-07

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EP01125976A Withdrawn EP1308303A1 (fr) 2001-10-31 2001-10-31 Adaptateur faisant le vide sur une zone d'impression utilisé pour un dispositif d'impression

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2008831A1 (fr) * 2007-06-29 2008-12-31 Jesús Francisco Barberan Latorre Système d'application de vide sur les plateaux d'imprimantes par projection
WO2010061221A1 (fr) 2008-11-26 2010-06-03 Inca Digital Printers Limited Table pour imprimante
CN104070809A (zh) * 2013-03-27 2014-10-01 精工爱普生株式会社 液体喷射装置

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0997302A1 (fr) 1998-10-30 2000-05-03 Hewlett-Packard Company Appareil d'enregistrement d'images et procédé pour maintenir en position basse des supports d'enregistrement
US6074056A (en) * 1997-01-22 2000-06-13 Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha Ink-jet printer which securely holds a printing medium without contaminating a peripheral surface of a rotary drum
US6209867B1 (en) * 1999-08-18 2001-04-03 Hewlett-Packard Sliding valve vacuum holddown
DE29724445U1 (de) * 1997-08-13 2001-06-28 Advanced Photonics Tech Ag Anlage zum Erstellen blattartiger Druckerzeugnisse

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6074056A (en) * 1997-01-22 2000-06-13 Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha Ink-jet printer which securely holds a printing medium without contaminating a peripheral surface of a rotary drum
DE29724445U1 (de) * 1997-08-13 2001-06-28 Advanced Photonics Tech Ag Anlage zum Erstellen blattartiger Druckerzeugnisse
EP0997302A1 (fr) 1998-10-30 2000-05-03 Hewlett-Packard Company Appareil d'enregistrement d'images et procédé pour maintenir en position basse des supports d'enregistrement
US6209867B1 (en) * 1999-08-18 2001-04-03 Hewlett-Packard Sliding valve vacuum holddown

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2008831A1 (fr) * 2007-06-29 2008-12-31 Jesús Francisco Barberan Latorre Système d'application de vide sur les plateaux d'imprimantes par projection
WO2010061221A1 (fr) 2008-11-26 2010-06-03 Inca Digital Printers Limited Table pour imprimante
US8684516B2 (en) 2008-11-26 2014-04-01 Inca Digital Printers Limited Table for a printer
CN104070809A (zh) * 2013-03-27 2014-10-01 精工爱普生株式会社 液体喷射装置
CN104070809B (zh) * 2013-03-27 2016-08-17 精工爱普生株式会社 液体喷射装置

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