Medium feeding apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10703118-B2
Application number	US-201715453313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2017
Priority date	Mar 17, 2016
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

A medium feeding apparatus includes a feeding roller which feeds a medium unwound from a roll body around which the medium is wound, a roll motor which applies torque for rotating the roll body to the roll body, and a roll control portion which controls the roll motor at the time of a feeding operation based on effective tension calculated by acquiring a feeding amount of the medium fed at each of a plurality of acquiring timings included in a pre-feeding operation, which is a feeding operation performed in advance, acquiring tension applied to the medium between the roll body and the feeding roller between a plurality of the acquiring timings, and weighting a plurality of the acquired tensions with the corresponding feeding amount.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A medium feeding apparatus comprising:
a feeding portion comprising a feeding roller configured to apply a tension force to a medium to cause the medium to unwind from a roll body around which the medium is wound and configured to perform a feeding operation and a pre-feeding operation;
a roll driving portion configured to apply a torque in a medium unwound direction to the roll body to reduce the tension force applied to the medium and to help unwind the medium; and
a roll control portion programmed to:
determine a distance of the medium fed based on an amount the feeding roller rotates,
determine a diameter of the roll body based on Hall the distance of the medium fed and a number of rotations of the roll body caused by the distance of the medium fed,
determine the torque that is to be applied to the roll body based on an effective tension calculated during a pre-feeding operation, such that a target tension is applied to the medium,
during the pre-feeding operation,
collect a plurality of tension values applied to the medium unwound from the roll body and a plurality of feeding amounts that the medium is fed during a plurality of time intervals, wherein each of the plurality of tension values corresponding to a feeding amount of the plurality of feeding amounts, and each of the plurality of tension values and each of the corresponding feeding amounts are collected at a same corresponding time interval; and
calculate a weighted average of the plurality of the tension values, using each of the corresponding feeding amounts as the corresponding weight, the weighted average being the effective tension; and

during the feeding operation, control the roll driving portion based on the effective tension.

2. The medium feeding apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the roll control portion weights the plurality of tension values by performing the following calculations:
for each tension value, multiplying the corresponding tension value and the corresponding feeding amount to generate a corresponding multiplied value,
summing each multiplied value to generate a summed value, and
dividing the summed value by a total amount of the plurality of feeding amounts.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Hayashi Toru

Classifications

• B41J15/16 Primary

  Means for tensioning or winding the web · CPC title

• B41J13/00

  Devices or arrangements {of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers,} specially adapted for supporting or handling copy material in short lengths, e.g. sheets · CPC title

• B41J15/165

  for tensioning continuous copy material by use of redirecting rollers or redirecting nonrevolving guides · CPC title

• B65H23/1825

  and controlling web tension · CPC title

• B65H2801/12

  Single-function printing machines, typically table-top machines · CPC title