Semi-conductive media transport for electrostatic tacking of media

A semi-conductive media transport, for use in connection with a printing system and a media substrate having opposite top and bottom surfaces, the printing system having at least one ink jet print head for ejecting ink onto the media substrate, the semi-conductive media transport comprising:

• a conductive platen having at least one platen slot through the platen, the platen slot being opposite the at least one ink jet print head;
• a belt having opposite top and bottom surfaces, the belt being held flat against the platen, the belt being able to slidingly move across the platen, the belt having an effective surface resistivity between a predetermined resistivity lower limit and a predetermined resistivity upper limit, wherein the resistivity lower limit is low enough to preclude a buildup of friction induced electrostatic charges as the belt moves across the platen, and the resistivity upper limit is high enough to enable electrostatic tacking of the media substrate to the belt;
• a conductive upper nip roller disposed above the belt upstream of the platen, the upper nip roller being adapted to carry a first electrical charge and to pass the first charge to the media substrate;
• and
• a conductive lower nip roller disposed opposite the upper nip roller and below the belt upstream of the platen, the lower nip roller being adapted to carry a second electrical charge opposite in polarity to the first charge on the upper nip roller and to pass the second charge to the belt for generating an electrostatic charge on the media substrate and on the belt, so as to enable electrostatic tacking of the media substrate to the belt.

A semi-conductive media transport, for use in connection with a printing system and a media substrate having opposite top and bottom surfaces, the printing system having a plurality of ink jet print heads for ejecting ink onto the media substrate, the semi-conductive media transport comprising:

• a conductive platen having a plurality of platen slots through the platen, the platen slots each being disposed opposite a respective one of the ink jet print heads;
• a belt having opposite top and bottom surfaces, the belt being held flat against the platen, the belt being able to slidingly move across the platen, the belt having an effective surface resistivity between a predetermined resistivity lower limit and a predetermined resistivity upper limit, wherein the resistivity lower limit is low enough to preclude a buildup of friction induced electrostatic charges as the belt moves across the platen, and the resistivity upper limit is high enough to enable electrostatic tacking of the media substrate to the belt;
• a conductive upper nip roller disposed above the belt upstream of the platen, the upper nip roller being adapted to carry a first electrical charge and to pass the first charge to the media substrate;
• a conductive lower nip roller disposed opposite the upper nip roller and below the belt upstream of the platen, the lower nip roller being adapted to carry a second electrical charge opposite in polarity to the first charge on the upper nip roller and to pass the second charge to the belt for generating an electrostatic charge on the media substrate and on the belt, so as to enable electrostatic tacking of the media substrate to the belt;
• and
• an AC corotron disposed above the belt and downstream of the upper nip roller, the corotron being adapted to establish a net neutral charge state on the media substrate and the belt, and the platen slots being adapted to maintain the net neutral charge state on the media substrate and the belt.

A method for tacking a media substrate to a media transport belt, while reducing friction induced electrostatic charges, for use in connection with a printing system, the method comprising:

• generating an electrostatic charge on the media substrate and on the belt;
• tacking the media substrate to the belt with the electrostatic charge;
• and
• providing a belt effective surface resistivity between a lower limit and an upper limit, wherein the resistivity lower limit is low enough to preclude a buildup of friction induced electrostatic charges, and the resistivity upper limit is high enough to enable electrostatic tacking of the media substrate to the belt.