Control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11878539-B2
Application number	US-202217690291-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2022
Priority date	Mar 30, 2021
Publication date	Jan 23, 2024
Grant date	Jan 23, 2024

Abstract

A control system is configured such that a carriage that a processing head is mounted is driven by a motor and reciprocates. The motor is controlled by a controller. The controller reciprocates the carriage by selecting a control mode as a target mode based on temperature information related to temperature of the motor and controlling the motor in the target mode. The controller selects the target mode to be applied to the control of the motor for each of particular work units. The target mode is selected from a group of particular control modes. Each control mode in the group of particular control modes is a control mode in which a maximum temperature, which is estimated based on the temperature information, when the control of the motor using the selected control mode would be executed until the processing is completed, is less than a reference value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control system, comprising:
a motor;
a carriage configured to be driven by the motor to reciprocate;
a processing head mounted on the carriage and configured to eject liquid droplets to a target object when the carriage moves along a moving passage of the carriage; and
a controller configured to control the motor using a selected one of a plurality of control modes, each control mode having a different speed profile, each speed profile defining movements between a time when the carriage starts moving to a time when the carriage stops at a turnaround point of reciprocating movement of the carriage,
wherein the controller is configured to perform:
obtaining temperature information related to a temperature of the motor;
selecting a candidate control mode;
predicting, for the candidate control mode, prior to driving the motor based on the candidate control mode, a maximum temperature of the motor in a case where the motor is driven by the controller using the candidate control mode and data for a work unit, for the entire work unit until processing of the work unit is completed;
determining whether the predicted maximum temperature is less than a reference temperature;
selecting the candidate control mode, as a target control mode when it is determined that the maximum temperature for the candidate control mode is less than the reference temperature; and
causing the carriage to reciprocate by controlling the motor in accordance with the target control mode.

2. The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to perform, as a job, every time when an execution instruction of the job is input:
reciprocating the carriage by controlling the motor in the target control mode; and
controlling the processing head so that a processing corresponding to the job is performed to the target object,

wherein the selecting of the target control mode includes, for every execution of the job as the work unit, selecting the target control mode to be applied to control of the motor in the corresponding job, wherein the maximum temperature is predicted for the job as the work unit until the corresponding job is completed.

3. The control system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the processing includes forming an image on the target object,
wherein the job includes, for each of multiple sheets each serving as the target object and supplied to the moving passage one by one;
reciprocating the carriage by controlling the motor in the target control mode; and
controlling the processing head so that an instructed image is formed on a corresponding sheet of multiple sheets, and

wherein, regarding multiple jobs associated with formation of images on the multiple sheets, the target control mode is selected at execution of each of the multiple jobs as multiple separate work units, respectively.

4. The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processing includes forming a corresponding image on each of multiple sheets, which are target objects supplied one by one to the moving passage;
wherein the controller is configured to perform, for each of the sheets supplied to the moving passage, image formation including:
reciprocating the carriage by controlling the motor in the target control mode; and
controlling the processing head so that, on each of the sheet supplied to the moving passage, a corresponding image is formed,

wherein the multiple sheets are a single work unit.

5. The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein a first selected candidate control mode has a highest maximum speed from among the plurality of control modes.

6. The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein for each iteration in the selection of the candidate control mode, a highest maximum speed of the candidate control mode decreases.

7. The control system according to claim 6 ,
wherein each of the speed profiles defines target speeds of the carriage in an acceleration section where the carriage is accelerated from a movement start position to a constant speed state, a deceleration section where the carriage is decelerated from the constant speed state to stop at a target stop position corresponding to the turnaround point, and an intermediate section between the acceleration section and deceleration section, and
wherein the target speed of the carriage in the intermediate section is different between the plurality of control modes and wherein the highest maximum speed occurs in the intermediate section for at least two of the plurality of control modes.

8. The control system according to claim 7 ,
wherein the plurality of control modes include:
a first control mode in which the motor is controlled according to a first speed profile that defines the target speed of the carriage so that the carriage moves at a constant speed at the first speed in the intermediate section; and
a second control mode in which the motor is controlled according to a second speed profile that defines the target speed of the carriage so that the carriage moves at the constant speed at the first speed in a first range in the intermediate section and at a constant speed at a second speed higher than the first speed in a second range in the intermediate section.

9. The control system according to claim 8 ,
wherein the plurality of control modes include:
a third control mode in which the motor is controlled according to a third speed profile that defines the target speed of the carriage so that in the first range, the carriage moves at the constant speed at the first speed, and in the second range, the carriage moves at a constant speed at a third speed higher than the second speed.

10. The control system according to claim 8 ,
wherein the first range is a range where processing is performed to the target object, and the second range is a range where no processing is performed to the target object.

11. The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller controls the motor to temporarily stop the motor when the temperature of the motor is equal to or higher than a protection temperature, and
wherein the reference temperature is defined as a temperature below the protection temperature.

12. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein a first candidate control mode is the third control mode.

13. The control system according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to sense the temperature of the motor prior to the motor being driven for the work unit.

14. The control system according to claim 1 , wherein the processing includes forming a corresponding image on a sheet in lines, and the work unit is a line of the sheet, wherein the selection of the target control mode being performed per line.

15. The control system according to claim 1 , wherein, when the predicted maximum temperature is greater than or equal to the reference temperature, the controller is further configured to select another control mode of the plurality of control modes as the candidate control mode and repeated the predicting of the maximum temperature of the motor, and the determining.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Hoga Masahiro
• Ichikawa Shohei
• Arakane Satoru
• Takahashi Eisuke

Classifications

• B41J29/387 Primary

  Automatic cut-off devices · CPC title

• B41J29/393

  Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine {; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns} · CPC title

• H02K11/25

  Devices for sensing temperature, or actuated thereby · CPC title

• B41J2203/00

  Embodiments of or processes related to the control of the printing process · CPC title

• B41J29/38 Primary

  Drives, motors, controls or automatic cut-off devices for the entire printing mechanism · CPC title