Non-nucleation fluid actuator measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11292250-B2
Application number	US-201816965703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2018
Priority date	Mar 12, 2018
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, a fluidic die is described. The fluidic die includes an array of fluid actuators grouped into primitives. Each actuator is disposed in a fluid chamber. The fluidic die also includes an array of fluid sensors. Each fluid sensor is disposed within a fluid chamber and determines a characteristic within the fluid chamber. A data parser of the fluidic die extracts from an incoming signal, firing instructions and measurement instructions for the fluidic die. The measurement instructions indicate at least one of a peak measurement during a nucleation event and a reference measurement during a non-nucleation event. A firing controller generates firing signals based on the firing instructions and a measurement controller activates, during a measurement interval of a printing cycle for the primitive, a measurement for a selected actuator based on the measurement instructions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fluidic die, comprising:
an array of fluid actuators grouped into primitives, each actuator being disposed in a fluid chamber;
an array of fluid sensors, each fluid sensor disposed within a fluid chamber to determine a characteristic within the fluid chamber;
a data parser to extract, from an incoming signal, firing instructions and measurement instructions for the fluidic die, wherein the measurement instructions indicate at least one of a peak measurement during a nucleation event and a reference measurement during a non-nucleation event;
a firing controller to generate firing signals based on the firing instructions; and
a measurement controller to activate, during a measurement interval of a printing cycle for the primitive, a measurement for a selected actuator based on the measurement instructions.

2. The fluidic die of claim 1 , wherein the printing cycle includes the actuation interval for each fluid actuator in the primitive and the measurement interval.

3. The fluidic die of claim 2 , wherein a length of each actuation interval is selected based on a length of the measurement interval and a desired printing cycle length.

4. The fluidic die of claim 1 , wherein:
the measurement instructions indicate the reference measurement;
the firing instructions indicate a non-nucleation event; and
the measurement controller activates a measurement for the selected actuator at a predetermined time within the measurement interval following the non-nucleation event.

5. The fluidic die of claim 4 , wherein the reference measurement immediately follows the non-nucleation event.

6. The fluidic die of claim 1 , wherein:
during one printing cycle:
the measurement instructions indicate the peak measurement;
the firing instructions indicate a nucleation event for the measurement interval; and
the measurement controller activates a first measurement for the selected actuator at a predetermined time within the measurement interval following the nucleation event; and

during another printing cycle:
the measurement instructions indicate a reference measurement;
the firing instructions indicate a non-nucleation event for the measurement interval; and
the measurement controller activates a second measurement for the selected actuator at the predetermined time within the measurement interval following the non-nucleation event.

7. The fluidic die of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined time comprises a delay within the measurement interval.

8. The fluidic die of claim 7 , wherein the delay coincides with a period when a greatest impedance within the fluid chamber is expected.

9. The fluidic die of claim 1 , wherein the measurement controller is to respond to a two-step measurement instruction in the measurement instructions extracted by the data parser by:
activating a first measurement for a selected actuator at a predetermined time within a measurement interval of a first printing cycle for a corresponding primitive, which first measurement follows a nucleation event; and
activating a second measurement for the selected actuator at the predetermined time within a measurement interval of a second printing cycle for the primitive, which second measurement follows a non-nucleation event.

10. The fluidic die of claim 9 , wherein the firing controller is to:
pass a nucleation activation signal to generate the nucleation event; and
pass a non-nucleation activation signal, which provides insufficient energy to generate a nucleation event so as to provide the non-nucleation event for the measurement controller.

11. The fluidic die of claim 1 , the measurement controller to respond to a one-step measurement instruction in the measurement instructions extracted by the data parser by activating a single measurement for a selected actuator within a measurement interval of a first printing cycle for a corresponding primitive, which one-step measurement immediately follows a non-nucleation event.

12. The fluidic die of claim 11 , wherein the firing controller is to pass a non-nucleation activation signal to the selected actuator, which provides insufficient energy to generate a nucleation event, so as to provide the non-nucleation event for the measurement controller.

13. The fluidic die of claim 1 , wherein the array of fluid sensors comprises impedance sensors.

14. A fluidic die, comprising:
an array of fluid actuators grouped into primitives, each actuator being disposed in a fluid chamber;
an array of impedance sensors, each impedance sensor disposed within a fluid chamber to determine an impedance within the fluid chamber;
a data parser to extract, from an incoming signal, firing instructions and measurement instructions for the fluidic die, wherein the measurement instructions indicate at least one of a peak measurement during a nucleation event and a reference measurement during a non-nucleation event;
a firing controller to generate firing signals based on the firing instructions; and
a measurement controller to:
for a two-step measurement:
activate a first impedance measurement for a selected actuator at a predetermined time within a measurement interval of a first printing cycle for the primitive, which first impedance measurement follows a nucleation event; and
activate a second impedance measurement for the selected actuator at the predetermined time within a measurement interval of a second printing cycle for the primitive, which second impedance measurement follows a non-nucleation event; and

for a one-step measurement:
activate a single impedance measurement for the selected actuator within the measurement interval of the first printing cycle for the primitive, which one-step impedance measurement immediately follows a non-nucleation event.

15. The fluidic die of claim 14 , further comprising an evaluator device to determine a state of the selected actuator based on a profile that includes one or more of the respective impedance measurements.

16. The fluidic die of claim 14 , wherein the firing controller is to:
pass a nucleation activation signal to generate the nucleation event; and
pass a non-nucleation activation signal, which provides insufficient energy to generate the nucleation event.

17. A method comprising:
determining which of a two-step measurement and a one-step measurement to execute;
for a two-step measurement:
activating a first measurement for a selected actuator at a predetermined time within a measurement interval of a first printing cycle for the primitive, which first measurement follows a nucleation event; and
activating a second measurement for the selected actuator at the predetermined time within a measurement interval of a second printing cycle for the primitive, which second measurement follows a non-nucleation event; and

for a one-step measurement:
activating a single measurement for the selected actuator within the measurement interval of the first printing cycle for the primitive, which one-step measurement immediately follows a non-nucleation event; and

determining a state of the selected actuator based on a profile that includes the respective measurements.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising, suppressing an activation signal during a non-nucleation event.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein determining a state of the selected actuator comprises comparing the profile based on the measurements against a threshold profile.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein determining which of a two-step measurement and

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Martin Eric
• Yamashita Tsuyoshi
• Przybyla James R

Classifications

• B41J2/0458 Primary

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• B41J2/04543

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• B41J2/04555

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• B41J2002/14354

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