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US 4,479,433 AGranted
Ink level control
AssigneeBaldwin-Gegenheimer GmbH
InventorsJohn MacPhee, Peter Van Raalte
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink level control for a printing press is disclosed having an ultrasonic ink level sensor to receive an echo signal representative of the level of the ink in the ink fountain. A control is provided whereby the ink level is maintained at a desired operating level and conditions of excessively low and high ink levels are also detected by the sensor. An echo loss detection network is provided to warn the operator and inhibit ink feeds. The control is designed to prevent overflow of the ink fountain.
Claims15
An apparatus for automatically controlling the level of ink in an ink fountain used in a printing press by regulating the feed of ink from a supply through a valve to the fountain comprising
- ultrasonic ink level sensing means remotely spaced from the ink fountain for directing ultrasonic pulses at the ink fountain to generate an echo signal representative of ultrasonic returns from the surface of the ink;
- means responsive to the echo signal for generating a measured ink level signal indicative of the operating level of ink in the ink fountain;
- means for producing an operating ink level reference signal representative of a desired ink level in the fountain;
- means for comparing the measured ink level signal with the operating ink level reference signal to generate an ink feed signal when the ink level in the fountain drops below the operating level;
- means repsonsive to the ink feed signal for generating ink feed pulses spaced by the intervals of a predetermined duration selected commensurate with the time period needed to enable ink supplied during a preceding pulse to register a change in the measured ink level signal and enabling the flow of ink through said valve to the ink fountain during said ink feed pulses;
- means for detecting when an echo signal fails to be generated in response to an ultrasonic pulse directed at the ink fountain and producing an echo loss signal indicative thereof and applying said echo loss signal to effectively inhibit the flow of ink through said valve to the ink fountain.
3 more elements
An apparatus for automatically controlling the level of ink in an ink fountain used in a printing press by regulating the feed of ink from a supply through a valve to the fountain comprising
- ultrasonic ink level sensing means remotely spaced from the ink fountain for directing ultrasonic pulses at the ink fountain to generate an echo signal representative of ultrasonic returns from the surface of the ink;
- means responsive to the echo signal for generating a measured ink level signal indicative of the operating level of ink in the ink fountain;
- means for producing an operating ink level reference signal representative of a desired ink level in the fountain;
- means for comparing the measured ink level signal with the operating ink level reference signal to generate an ink feed signal when the ink level in the fountain drops below the operating level;
- means responsive to the ink feed signal for generating ink feed pulses spaced by intervals of a predetermined duration selected commensurate with the time period needed to enable ink supplied during a preceding pulse to register a change in the measured ink level signal and enabling the flow of ink through said valve to the ink fountain during said ink feed pulses;
- means for detecting when an echo signal fails to be generated in response to an ultrasonic pulse directed at the ink fountain and producing an echo loss signal indicative thereof and apply said echo loss signal to effectively inhibit the flow of ink through said valve to the ink fountain;
- and
- means responsive to the echo loss signal for establishing a simulated measured ink level signal indicative of an acceptable ink level in the fountain while said echo loss signal is active.
5 more elements
An apparatus for automatically controlling the level of ink in an ink fountain used in a printing press by regulating the feed of ink from a supply through a valve to the fountain comprising
- ultrasonic ink level sensing means remotely spaced from the ink fountain for directing ultrasonic pulses at the ink fountain to generate an echo signal representative of ultrasonic returns from the surface of the ink;
- means responsive to the echo signal for generating a measured ink level signal indicative of the operating level of ink in the ink fountain,
- means for producing an operating ink level reference signal representative of a desired ink level in the fountain;
- first comparing means for comparing the measured ink level signal with the operating ink level reference signal to generate an ink feed signal when the ink level in the fountain drops below the operating level;
- means responsive to the ink feed signal for generating ink feed pulses spaced by intervals of a predetermined duration selected commensurate with the time period needed to enable ink supplied during a preceding pulse to register a change in the measured ink level signal and enabling the flow of ink through said valve to the ink fountain during said ink feed pulses;
- means for producing a low ink level reference signal representative of a minimum acceptable ink level in the fountain;
- second comparing means for comparing the measured ink level signal with the low ink level reference signal to generate a low ink level alarm signal when the ink level in the fountain drops below the minimum acceptable ink level;
- and
- means responsive to the low ink level alarm signal for effectively inhibiting the effect of the ink feed signal to disable further supply of ink and register an alarm condition representative of said low ink level.
6 more elements
An apparatus for automatically controlling the level of ink in an ink fountain used in a printing press by regulating the feed of ink from a supply comprising
- ultrasonic ink level sensing means remotely spaced from the ink fountain for directing ultrasonic pulses at the ink fountain and generate echo signals representative of ultrasonic reflections from the surface of the ink;
- means responsive to the echo signals for generating a measured ink level signal indicative of the level of ink in the fountain;
- means for producing an operating ink level reference signal representative of a desired ink level in the fountain;
- means for comparing the measured ink level signal with the operating ink level reference signal to generate an ink feed signal when the ink level in the fountain drops below the desired ink level;
- means for generating high and low ink level reference signals respectively representative of range limits of acceptable ink levels in the fountain;
- means for comparing the high and low ink level reference signals to the measured ink level signal and generate respectively high and low ink level alarm signals when the ink level in the fountain is no longer within the acceptable range limits;
- and
- means responsive to the ink feed signal for generating ink feed pulses separated by ink leveling intervals, said intervals being selected of sufficient duration to enable ink supplied during a previous pulse to establish a new ink level.
5 more elements
An apparatus for automatically controlling the level of ink in an ink fountain used in a printing press by regulating the feed of ink from a supply through a valve to the fountain comprising
- ultrasonic ink level sensing means remotely spaced from the ink fountain for directing ultrasonic pulses at the ink fountain to generate an echo signal representative of ultrasonic returns from the surface of the ink
- means responsive to the echo signal for generating a measured ink level signal averaged over a desired number of echo signals to smooth out effects from variations in the measured ink level signal as a result of surface movements thereof;
- means for producing an operating ink level reference signal representative of a desired ink level in the fountain;
- means for comparing the averaged measured ink level signal with the operating ink level reference signal to generate an ink feed signal when the ink level in the fountain drops below the operating level.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.