Back to results
US 9,004,631 B1Granted
Method and apparatus for accumulating excess ink in a stationary receptacle in imaging devices that form images on intermediate imaging surfaces
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsJeffrey J. Folkins, David Mantell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mechanism enables inkjets in a printhead to be operated to eject ink in an effort to replace ink exposed to ambient conditions with ink from within the printhead. The mechanism includes a controller configured to operate an intermediate imaging member to rotate to align a plurality of apertures with inkjets on a printhead. The inkjets are operated to eject ink through the plurality of apertures and ink from within the printhead replaces the ejected ink without impacting the formation of subsequent ink images.
Claims12
A printer comprising:
- at least one printhead configured with a plurality of inkjets to eject ink drops;
- at least one support member positioned opposite the at least one printhead;
- a substrate configured for rotation about the support member to enable the substrate to pass by the at least one printhead in a process direction, the substrate including a first area in which ink drops ejected from the at least one printhead form a first ink image on the substrate for transfer to media and a second area having a plurality of apertures configured to enable ink drops ejected from the at least one printhead to pass through the substrate, the second area extending across a width of the substrate in a cross-process direction and along a portion of the substrate in the process direction to interrupt the first area;
- a stationary receptacle positioned on a side of the substrate that is opposite a side of the substrate facing the at least one printhead, the stationary receptacle also extends across the substrate in a cross-process direction and is configured to accumulate ink drops ejected by the at least one printhead that passed through apertures in the plurality of apertures in the substrate;
- and
- a controller operatively connected to the at least one printhead, the controller being configured to operate inkjets within the at least one printhead that have not ejected at least one ink drop within a predetermined time period to eject ink drops only from the inkjets in the at least one printhead that have not ejected at least one ink drop within the predetermined time period through the apertures in the second area opposite the inkjets in the at least one printhead that have not ejected at least one ink drop within the predetermined time period to replace ink in nozzles of the inkjets in the at least one printhead that have not ejected at least one ink drop within the predetermined time period.
3 more elements
A method of operating a printer comprising:
- operating at least one printhead to eject ink drops;
- rotating a substrate about a support member to enable the substrate to pass by the at least one printhead in a process direction, the substrate including a first area in which ink drops ejected from the at least one printhead form a first ink image on the substrate for transfer to media and a second area having a plurality of apertures that enable ink drops ejected from the at least one printhead to pass through the substrate, the second area having a width in a cross-process direction that extends substantially across the substrate and a length in the process direction to interrupt the first area;
- counting a time period since a last ink drop ejection for each inkjet in the at least one printhead;
- operating with the controller to eject ink drops only from the inkjets in the at least one printhead for which the counted time period since a last ink drop ejection is greater than a predetermined time period through the apertures in the plurality of apertures in the second area that are opposite the inkjets in the at least one printhead for which the counted time period since a last ink drop ejection is greater than a predetermined time period;
- and
- accumulating ink drops ejected by the at least one printhead that passed through apertures in the plurality of apertures in the substrate in a stationary receptacle positioned on a side of the substrate that is opposite a side of the substrate facing the at least one printhead.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.