Printing system servicing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9427970-B2
Application number	US-201214427566-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2012
Priority date	Sep 20, 2012
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

According to one example, there is provided a printing system having a print bar on which are installable multiple printheads. The system comprises a nozzle servicing module moveable across the length of the print bar to selectively perform a nozzle servicing operation on a group of printhead nozzles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing system having a print bar on which are installable multiple printheads, the system comprising:
a nozzle servicing module moveable across the length of the print bar to selectively perform a nozzle servicing operation on a group of printhead nozzles;
an auxiliary printhead mounted to a printhead carriage moveable parallel to the print bar; and
a controller to:
perform a nozzle servicing operation;
move the printhead carriage in synchronization with the printhead service module; and
transfer, during a printing operation, printhead control data intended for printhead nozzles on the print bar obscured by the printhead servicing module to corresponding nozzle circuits on the auxiliary printhead,

wherein the print bar remains stationary relative to any direction orthogonal to a direction of movement of the nozzle servicing module.

2. The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle servicing module further comprises a nozzle wiping element to selectively perform a wiping operation on a group of printhead nozzles.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the group of printhead nozzles are on one or multiple printheads.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle servicing module can perform a servicing operation on a group of printhead nozzles without moving the print bar.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printheads on the print bar are arranged in a page-wide array configuration, such that when installed the printheads cover substantially the whole width of a print zone in which printing can be performed, and wherein the print bar is positioned at a predetermined height above a substrate, and further wherein the nozzle servicing module is configured to perform a servicing operation on a group of printhead nozzles without modifying the height of the print bar.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to modify the timing of the transferred printhead control data based on the horizontal distance between the printheads on the print bar and the auxiliary printhead.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printing system is configured to perform a printing operation whilst the nozzle servicing module is performing a nozzle servicing operation on a printhead on the print bar, without interrupting the printing operation being performed.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the nozzles on the auxiliary printhead lead nozzles obscured by the nozzle servicing module.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the auxiliary printhead replaces nozzles from more than one printhead simultaneously.

10. A method of performing a service operation on a printhead on a print bar comprising:
moving a printhead service module to perform a servicing operation on printhead nozzles of a printhead on the print bar;
positioning nozzles on an auxiliary printhead to align with printhead nozzles obscured by the printhead service module; and
with a controller, transferring printhead control data intended for nozzle circuitry of obscured nozzles on the print bar to nozzle circuitry on the auxiliary printhead,
wherein the controller is to modify the timing of the transferred printhead control data based on the horizontal distance between the printheads on the print bar and the auxiliary printhead,
wherein the auxiliary printhead replaces printhead nozzles from more than one printhead simultaneously.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising performing a printing operation whilst performing the servicing operation without interrupting the printing operation.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein performing the printing operation comprises printing a print job.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein moving the printhead service module comprises moving the printhead service module from one end of the print bar to the other end to perform a servicing operation on all printhead nozzles on the print bar.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising modifying the timing of the transferred printhead control data based on the distance between the printheads on the print bar and the auxiliary printhead.

15. A printing system comprising:
a number of printheads mounted to a print bar;
a nozzle servicing module moveable across the length of the print bar to selectively perform a nozzle servicing operation on a group of printhead nozzles;
an auxiliary printhead mounted to a printhead carriage moveable parallel to the print bar; and
a controller to:
perform a nozzle servicing operation;
move the printhead carriage in synchronization with the printhead service module;
transfer, during a printing operation, printhead control data intended for printhead nozzles on the print bar obscured by the printhead servicing module to corresponding nozzle circuits on the auxiliary printhead; and
modify the timing of the transferred printhead control data based on the horizontal distance between the printheads on the print bar and the auxiliary printhead.

16. The printing system of claim 15 , wherein the auxiliary printhead replaces nozzles from more than one printhead simultaneously.

17. The printing system of claim 15 , wherein the nozzle servicing module comprises an amount of nozzle wiping material, the nozzle wiping material comprising a width equal to a width of one of the printheads.

18. The printing system of claim 15 , wherein the controller renders inactive a number of the printhead nozzles obscured by the nozzle servicing module beyond a width of the nozzle servicing module.

Assignees

• Cessel Gianni
• Valero Navazo Jose Luis
• Wagner Jeffrey Allen
• Hewlett Packard Development Co Lp

Inventors

• Cessel Gianni
• Valero Navazo Jose Luis
• Wagner Jeffrey Allen

Classifications

• B41J2/15 Primary

  for serial printing · CPC title

• B41J2/16585 Primary

  for paper-width or non-reciprocating print heads · CPC title

• B41J2002/1655

  with wiping surface parallel with nozzle plate and mounted on reels, e.g. cleaning ribbon cassettes · CPC title

• B41J2/155

  for line printing · CPC title

• B41J2002/16573

  Cleaning process logic, e.g. for determining type or order of cleaning processes · CPC title