Image recording apparatus, method for image recording, and computer-readable storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11850863-B2
Application number	US-202217590815-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2022
Priority date	Feb 2, 2021
Publication date	Dec 26, 2023
Grant date	Dec 26, 2023

Abstract

An image recording apparatus, having a discharging head, a fan, and a controller, is provided. The discharging head includes a discharging surface and a plurality of nozzles arranged along a sub-scanning direction, which intersects orthogonally with a main scanning direction. The discharging head is configured to move in the main scanning direction. The fan is configured to generate an airflow for collecting mist of ink discharged through the nozzles. The controller is configured to obtain a droplet size of the ink to be discharged through the nozzles from one of a print job and a printing mode set in advance, obtain a distance between the discharging surface and a printable medium, and control a rotation speed of the fan based on the droplet size and the distance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image recording apparatus, comprising:
a discharging head including a discharging surface and a plurality of nozzles arranged along a sub-scanning direction, the sub-scanning direction intersecting orthogonally with a main scanning direction, the discharging head being configured to move in the main scanning direction;
a fan configured to generate an airflow for collecting mist of ink discharged through the nozzles; and
a controller configured to:
obtain a droplet size of the ink to be discharged through the nozzles from one of a print job and a printing mode set in advance;
obtain a distance between the discharging surface and a printable medium; and
control a rotation speed of the fan based on the droplet size and the distance.

2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to determine the obtained droplet size to be one of large and small and determine the rotation speed of the fan to be one of high and low based on largeness of the droplet size.

3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to determine the obtained distance to be one of large and small and determine the rotation speed of the fan to be one of high and low based on largeness of the distance.

4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to:
determine the obtained droplet size to be one of large and small;
determine the obtained distance to be one of large and small; and
determine the rotation speed of the fan to be one of high and low based on largeness of the droplet size and largeness of the distance.

5. The image recording apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the controller determines the rotation speed of the fan to be low when the droplet size is small and the distance is small.

6. The image recording apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the controller determines the rotation speed of the fan to be high when the droplet size is large and the distance is small.

7. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to:
determine the obtained droplet size to be one of large, medium, and small;
determine the obtained distance to be one of large, medium, and small; and
determine the rotation speed of the fan to be one of high, medium, and low based on largeness of the droplet size and largeness of the distance.

8. The image recording apparatus according to claim 7 ,
wherein the controller determines the rotation speed of the fan to be medium when the droplet size is large and the distance is large.

9. The image recording apparatus according to claim 7 ,
wherein the controller determines the rotation speed of the fan to be one of medium and large when the droplet size is small and the distance is large.

10. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ink includes an ultraviolet-curable ink, and
wherein the image recording apparatus further comprises a light source configured to emit an ultraviolet ray for curing the ultraviolet-curable ink.

11. A method for recording an image in an image recording apparatus comprising a discharging head including a discharging surface, the method comprising:
operating the discharging head to move and discharge ink;
operating a fan to generate an airflow for collecting mist of the ink discharged from the discharging head;
obtaining a droplet size of the ink to be discharged from the discharging head from one of a print job and a printing mode set in advance;
obtaining a distance between the discharging surface and a printable medium; and
controlling a rotation speed of the fan based on the droplet size and the distance.

12. The method according to claim 11 ,
wherein, for controlling the rotation speed of the fan, the obtained droplet size is determined to be one of large and small, and the rotation speed of the fan is determined to be one of high and low based on largeness of the droplet size.

13. The method according to claim 11 ,
wherein, for controlling the rotation speed of the fan, the obtained distance is determined to be one of large and small, and the rotation speed of the fan is determined to be one of high and low based on largeness of the distance.

14. The method according to claim 11 ,
wherein, for controlling the rotation speed of the fan, the obtained droplet size is determined to be one of large and small, the obtained distance is determined to be one of large and small, and the rotation speed of the fan is determined to be one of high and low based on largeness of the droplet size and largeness of the distance.

15. The method according to claim 11 ,
wherein, for controlling the rotation speed of the fan,
the obtained droplet size is determined to be one of large, medium, and small;
the obtained distance is determined to be one of large, medium, and small; and
the rotation speed of the fan is determined to be one of high, medium, and low based on largeness of the droplet size and largeness of the distance.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that are executable by a computer configured to control an image recording apparatus, the image recording apparatus comprising a discharging head including a discharging surface and a plurality of nozzles arranged along a sub-scanning direction, the sub-scanning direction intersecting orthogonally with a main scanning direction, the discharging head being configured to move in the main scanning direction, and a fan configured to generate an airflow for collecting mist of ink discharged through the nozzles, the computer readable instructions, when executed by the computer, causing the computer to:
obtain a droplet size of the ink to be discharged through the nozzles from one of a print job and a printing mode set in advance;
obtain a distance between the discharging surface and a printable medium; and
control a rotation speed of the fan based on the droplet size and the distance.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16 ,
wherein, for controlling the rotation speed of the fan, the computer readable instructions, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:
determine the obtained droplet size to be one of large and small;
determine the obtained distance to be one of large and small; and
determine the rotation speed of the fan to be one of high and low based on largeness of the droplet size and largeness of the distance.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16 ,
wherein, for controlling the rotation speed of the fan, the computer readable instructions, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:
determine the obtained droplet size to be one of large, medium, and small;
determine the obtained distance to be one of large, medium, and small; and
determine the rotation speed of the fan to be one of high, medium, and low based on largeness of the droplet size and largeness of the distance.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Nishimoto Takahiro
• Kobayashi Akihiro
• Hasebe Kenta
• Takeda Kengo
• Oshika Yumiko

Classifications

• B41J2/2117

  Ejecting white liquids · CPC title

• B41J2/2114

  Ejecting specialized liquids, e.g. transparent or processing liquids (B41J2/211 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B41J2/1721 Primary

  Collecting waste ink; Collectors therefor · CPC title

• B41J2/0456

  detecting drop size, volume or weight · CPC title

• B41J2/04535

  involving calculation of drop size, weight or volume · CPC title