Control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022314671-A1
Application number	US-202217690291-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 9, 2022
Priority date	Mar 30, 2021
Publication date	Oct 6, 2022
Grant date	—

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, wherein the controller is configured to perform:
obtaining temperature information related to a temperature of the motor;
selecting one of multiple control modes, based on the temperature information, as a target mode; and
causing the carriage to reciprocate by controlling the motor in accordance with the target mode,
wherein the multiple control modes are control modes defining target acceleration movements are different from each other, each of the target acceleration movements being a movement from 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 selecting one of multiple control modes includes, for each of particular work units related to processing of the target object, selecting the target mode to be applied to the control of the motor for the processing of the corresponding work unit, and wherein the target mode is selected from a group of particular control modes among the multiple control modes, each control mode in the group of particular control modes being a control mode in which a maximum temperature of the motor, in a case where the control of the motor using the selected control mode is executed until the processing of the corresponding work unit is completed, is less than a reference value, the maximum temperature of the motor being a temperature estimated based on the temperature information.

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 mode; and
controlling the processing head so that a processing corresponding to the job is performed to the target object,
wherein the selecting includes, for every execution of the job as the work unit, selecting the target mode to be applied to control of the motor in the corresponding job, and wherein the target mode is selected from the group of particular control modes among the multiple control modes, each control mode in the group of particular control modes being a control mode in which the maximum temperature of the motor, in a case where the control of the motor using the selected control mode is executed until the corresponding job is completed, is less than the reference value.

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 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 mode is selected at execution of each of the multiple jobs.

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 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 selecting includes, for every execution of the image formation on each of the multiple sheets as the work unit, selecting the target mode to be applied to control the motor in the corresponding image formation, and wherein the target mode is selected from the group of particular control modes among the multiple control modes, each control mode in the group of particular control modes being a control mode in which the maximum temperature of the motor in a case where the control of the motor using the selected control mode is executed until the corresponding image formation is completed, is less than the reference value.

5 . The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to perform:
obtaining the temperature information prior to selecting the target mode;
estimating the maximum temperature of the motor based on the obtained temperature information; and
determining the group of particular control modes based on the maximum temperature of the motor as estimated.

6 . The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to select, from among the group of the control modes, a control mode in which a movement time of the carriage from the carriage starts moving and stops at the turnaround point is the shortest, as the target mode.

7 . The control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the multiple control modes include two or more control modes controlling the speed of the carriage using different types of speed profiles, respectively.

8 . The control system according to claim 7 ,
wherein each of the speed profiles respectively corresponding to the two or more control modes 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 two or more control modes.

9 . The control system according to claim 8 ,
wherein the two or more 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.

10 . The control system according to claim 9 ,
wherein the two or more 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 section, the carriage moves at a constant speed at a third speed higher than the second speed.

11 . The control system according to claim 9 ,
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.

12 . 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 the protection temperature, and
wherein the reference val

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

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

Classifications

• B41J29/38 Primary

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

• B41J2203/00

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

• B41J29/393

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

• B41J29/387 Primary

  Automatic cut-off devices · CPC title

• H02K11/25

  Devices for sensing temperature, or actuated thereby · CPC title