US 7,030,898 B2 · Thermal printer and control method of controlling cooling fan

Abstract

A color thermal printer is provided with a cooling fan for cooling a thermal head and a fan rotational speed controller for controlling the rotation speed of the cooling fan, a head temperature sensor for measuring a temperature of the thermal head and an environmental temperature sensor for measuring an environmental temperature around the thermal head. A controller predicts the head temperature in each recording position based on the printing rate (printing density) calculated from the image data, a measured temperature of the thermal head and a measured environmental temperature, and also predicts a delay time of a heat transmitting system and a measuring system based on a fluctuation of the printing rate. The controller controls an air amount of the cooling fan in each recording position based on the predicted temperature and the delay time.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A thermal printer having a thermal head for printing an image on a recording material by driving a heating element based on image data and a cooling fan for cooling said thermal head, said thermal printer comprising:

a determining unit for determining a printing rate from said image data;
an estimating unit for predicting a temperature in each recording position based on said printing rate, said recording position being where thermal head and said recording material are contacted with each other;
and
a controller for controlling an air amount of said cooling fan based on said predicted temperature.

1 more element

A control method of controlling a cooling fan, said cooling fan controls a temperature of a thermal head, said thermal head prints an image on a recording material by driving a heating element based on image data, said control method comprising the steps of:

determining a printing rate from said image data;
predicting a temperature in each recording position in which a heating element of said thermal head and said recording material are contacted with each other, based on said printing rate;
and
controlling an air amount of said cooling fan based on said predicted temperature.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Thermal printer and control method of controlling cooling fan

Life of this patent

Thermal printer and control method of controlling cooling fan

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12