Adaptive dryer control for ink jet processors
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorGeorge Roller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An adaptive dryer for a printing system obtains values representing mass of ink and/or area coverage of ink on each page to be printed prior to drying and based on the determined mass-area coverage varies one or both of feed rate of the pages through the dryer and temperature of the dryer to more closely adapt the drying parameters of the dryer with the particular drying criterion each page requires for optimal quality, highest average throughput and minimal heating power requirements.
Claims22
A method of fixing a printing substance previously placed on a sheet to the sheet, comprising the steps of:
- determining a percentage of a sheet area of the sheet which is covered by the printing substance;
- moving the sheet at a feed speed past a dryer operating at a fixing temperature;
- selecting either a high speed or normal speed throughput mode for the sheet;
- and
- variably controlling at lest one of the feed speed and the fixing temperature based on the determined percentage and whether the high speed or normal speed throughput mode is selected.
A method of fixing a printing substance previously placed on a sheet to the sheet, comprising the steps of:
- determining whether the printing substance was placed on the sheet in the form of pictorials or text;
- moving the sheet at a feed speed past a dryer operating at a fixing temperature;
- variable controlling one of a feed speed and fixing temperature to be at first levels corresponding to the printing substance being placed on the sheet in the form of text, unless the printing substance is determined to be placed on the sheet in the form of pictorials, in which case the feed speed and fixing temperature are controlled to be at second levels.
A method of fixing a printing substance previously placed on a sheet to the sheet, comprising the steps of:
- determining a mass of the printing substance to be applied to the sheet;
- moving the sheet at a feed speed past a dryer operating at a fixing temperature;
- and
- variably controlling at least one of the feed speed and fixing temperature based on the determined mass.
A method of fixing a printing substance previously placed on a sheet to the sheet, comprising the steps of:
- determining a mass-area coverage of the printing substance to be applied to the sheet;
- moving the sheet at a feed speed past a dryer operating at a fixing temperature;
- and
- variably controlling at least one of the feed speed and fixing temperature based on the determined mass-area coverage.
A printer for forming images on a recording medium comprising:
- means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium according to information relating to the images to be formed on the recording medium;
- wherein said means for placing a printing substance on the recording medium is a multi-color ink jet printhead which places a drop of a first color ink on top of a drop of a second color to form a third color thereby increasing a mass of printing substance applied to the record medium without increasing a percentage of coverage area;
- a drying unit for fixing the printing substance on the recording medium, said drying unit including fixing means for fixing the printing substance on the recording medium at a fixing temperature, and feeding means for feeding the recording medium past said fixing means at a feed speed;
- means for determining a mass of a printing substance applied on the recording medium;
- and
- control means for variably controlling at least one of the fixing means and the feeding means based on the determined mass so that at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed is varied in response to varying mass coverage of the printing substance.
A dryer for fixing a printing substance previously formed on a substrate to the substrate, comprising:
- means for determining a mass and percentage of substrate area coverage of the printing substance to be applied to the substrate as a function of a percentage of a recording medium area of the substrate which contains the printing substance and a mass of the printing substance;
- drying means for fixing the printing substance on the substrate at a fixing temperature;
- feeding means for moving the substrate through the drying means at a feed speed;
- selecting means for selecting a high speed or normal speed sheet throughput mode;
- control means for variably controlling at least one of the fixing temperature and feed speed for fixing of the printing substance based on said determined mass and percentage of substrate area coverage of the printing substance and on whether a high speed or normal speed sheet throughput mode is selected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.