Determining the operating energy of a thermal ink jet printhead using an onboard thermal sense resistor
US5418558A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 3, 1993 |
| Grant date | May 23, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 3, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB41J2/04588
- WIPO fieldTextile and paper machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A method for operating a thermal ink jet printer including a printhead having ink firing heater resistors responsive to pulses provided to the printhead. A sequence of pulse bursts of respective increasing or decreasing pulse energies that span a predetermined pulse energy range is applied to the printhead, each pulse burst comprised of a plurality of pulses having a pulse energy that is associated with such pulse burst and is constant for all pulses in such burst, and each burst having a sufficient number of pulses to allow the printhead to achieve a steady state operating temperature at the pulse energy of the pulse burst. A steady state operating temperature sample is determined for each of the sequence of pulses bursts of different pulse energies to produce a set of temperature samples respectively associated with the increasing pulse energies, and a turn on pulse energy is determined from the temperature samples. The thermal ink jet printhead is then operated with a pulse energy that is greater than the turn on pulse energy and in a range that provides a desired print quality while avoiding premature failure of the heater resistors.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.