Patent Publication Number: US-2021170742-A1

Title: Conditioners including conditioner shutdown

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Inkjet printers can deposit quantities of printing fluid onto a printable media (e.g., paper, plastic, etc.). In some examples, inkjet printers can create a curl and/or cockle in the printed media when the printing fluid droplets deposited by the inkjet printer are not completely dry. In some examples, a number of physical properties of the printable media can be changed when the printing fluid droplets deposited by the inkjet printer are not completely dry. For example, the stiffness of the printable media can be changed when the printing fluid droplets deposited by the inkjet printer are not completely dry. The curl, cockle, and/or other physical properties that change due to the printing fluid droplets can make finishing processes difficult. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating one example of a printer including a conditioner. 
         FIG. 2A  is a block diagram illustrating one example of a conditioner. 
         FIG. 2B  is a block diagram illustrating another example of a conditioner. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating one example of a system including a conditioner. 
         FIGS. 4A-4E  are flow diagrams illustrating one example of a method for operating a printer. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific examples in which the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other examples may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims. It is to be understood that features of the various examples described herein may be combined, in part or whole, with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise. 
     A number of systems and devices for a partially dried inkjet media conditioner are described herein. In some examples, a partially dried inkjet media conditioner includes a heated pressure roller assembly to apply pressure to a first side of partially dried inkjet media and apply heat to a second side of the partially dried inkjet media. As used herein, partially dried inkjet media may include media with applied printing fluid from an inkjet type printing device that is not completely dried on the media. The conditioner may be utilized to increase evaporation of printing fluid applied to the partially dried inkjet media and remove or reduce distorted properties from the partially dried inkjet media. 
     The partially dried inkjet media may provide difficulties when stacking, aligning, and/or finishing. For example, the partially dried inkjet media may have distorted properties such as a curl, a cockle, a reduction in stiffness, increased surface roughness, extruding fibers from the surface, misaligned fibers, and/or increased sheet to sheet friction of the media. In some examples, these distorted properties may be caused by printing fluid deposited on the media and the media absorbing the printing fluid. For example, the printing fluid may be in a liquid state that may be absorbed by a media such as paper. In this example, the liquid state of the printing fluid may cause the distorted properties of the media in a similar way that other liquids may distort the properties of the media. 
     In some examples, the conditioner may be utilized to increase evaporation of printing fluid applied to the partially dried inkjet media. In some examples, the conditioner can remove or reduce the distorted properties generated by the printing fluid applied to the partially dried inkjet media. For example, the partially dried inkjet media may include extruding fibers from the surface that can be embedded into the surface of the partially dried inkjet media by the pressure and heat applied by the conditioner. 
     The conditioner may utilize high power heaters to assist with ink vehicle evaporation and conditioning of the partially dried inkjet media. This heating and conditioning may be used to make the media output from the conditioner compatible with a finishing device, such as a stapler, hole punch, collator, stacker, etc. The conditioner should be safely shut down when not in use to maximize the life of the conditioner. 
     Accordingly, described herein are example conditioners including a heated pressure roller assembly that may be arranged between a printing device and a finisher in an inkjet printer. The conditioner is shut down in response to a print job complete notification to minimize cycles on the heated pressure roller assembly, thereby increasing the life of the heated pressure roller assembly. Each component of the conditioner may be turned off in a specified order and based on a specified timing to allow the components to cool down. If another print job is initiated, the shutdown of the conditioner may be aborted. The conditioner may be shut down immediately in response to a fault (e.g., door open, paper jam, etc.) to prevent injury to a user or damage to the printer. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating one example of a printer  100 . Printer  100  may include a printing device  102 , a conditioner  104 , and a finisher  106 . Conditioner  104  may include a print media path  108 , a pressure roller assembly  110 , a heating element  124 , a tension roller assembly  128 , a vapor fan  134 , and a cooling fan  136 . Pressure roller assembly  110  may include a pressure roller  112 , a belt  114 , and a platen  116 . Partially dried inkjet media may exit printing device  102  and enter pressure roller assembly  110  via print media path  108 . 
     Pressure may be applied to the top surface of the print media by pressure roller  112  as indicated by arrow  118 . The pressure may be released when pressure roller  112  is not being used. The bottom surface of the print media contacts belt  114  over platen  116 . Pressure roller  112  rotates in the direction indicated by arrow  120  and belt  114  rotates in the direction indicated by arrow  122  to draw print media between pressure roller  112  and belt  114 . Heating element  124  may apply heat to pressure roller assembly  110  as indicated at  126 . In one example as shown in  FIG. 1 , heating element  124  may apply heat to belt  114 , and belt  114  may apply the heat to the print media. 
     Tension roller assembly  128  may include a first pair of rollers  130   1  and a second pair of roller  130   2 . The upper roller of each pair  130   1  and  130   2  contacts the top surface of the print media and the lower roller of each pair contacts the bottom surface of the print media. The rollers  130   1  and  130   2  rotate in the direction indicated by arrows  132  to draw print media between the upper and lower rollers and to apply tension to the print media at the output of pressure roller assembly  110 . 
     Vapor fan  134  may exhaust vapor from conditioner  104 . The vapor may include evaporated printing fluid due to the drying of the inkjet print media within conditioner  104 . Cooling fan  136  may circulate air within conditioner  104  to prevent overheating of the components of conditioner  104 . While one vapor fan  134  and one cooling fan  136  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 , in other examples conditioner  104  may include a plurality of vapor fans and a plurality of cooling fans. The conditioned print media is passed to finisher  106  via print media path  108 . Finisher  106  may include a stapler, a hole punch, a collator, a stacker, etc., or any combination thereof. 
       FIG. 2A  is a block diagram illustrating one example of a conditioner  200 . Conditioner  200  includes a controller  202 , a pressure roller drive motor  206 , a pressure roller assembly  210 , a heating element  212 , a tension drive motor  216 , and a tension roller assembly  220 . Controller  202  is electrically coupled to pressure roller drive motor  206 , heating element  212 , and tension drive motor  216  through a communication path  204 . Pressure roller drive motor  206  is mechanically coupled to pressure roller assembly  210  as indicated at  208  to rotate the pressure roller assembly. Pressure roller assembly  210  may include a pressure roller  112  and a belt  114  as previously described and illustrated with reference to  FIG. 1 . In one example, pressure roller drive motor  206  rotates pressure roller  112  and/or belt  114 . 
     Heating element  212  heats pressure roller assembly  210  as indicated at  214 . In one example, heating element  212  includes bulbs, such as halogen bulbs. Heating element  212  may be similar to heating element  124  and may heat belt  114  as previously described and illustrated with reference to  FIG. 1 . Tension drive motor  216  is mechanically coupled to tension roller assembly  220  as indicated at  218  to rotate the tension roller assembly. Tension roller assembly  220  may include rollers  130   1  and  130   2  as previously described and illustrated with reference to  FIG. 1 . In one example, tension roller drive motor  216  rotates rollers  130   1  and  130   2 . 
     Controller  202  may receive a print job complete notification to initiate a conditioner shutdown. In response to the print job complete notification, controller  202  may turn off tension drive motor  216 . Controller  202  may then set heating element  212  to a predetermined temperature and wait a first predetermined period. In one example, the predetermined temperature may be between about 1° C. and 10° C. (e.g., 1° C.) and the first predetermined period may be between about 25 seconds and 30 seconds (e.g., 28 seconds). In response to the first predetermined period elapsing, controller  202  may turn off heating element  212 . With heating element  212  turned off, controller  202  may turn off pressure roller drive motor  206 . 
     With tension drive motor  216  turned off and prior to setting heating element  212  to the predetermined temperature, controller  202  may further set pressure roller drive motor  206  to a predetermined speed. In one example, the predetermined speed may be between about 1 inch per second and 5 inches per second (e.g., 1 inch per second). Controller  202  may further set a pressure of pressure roller assembly  210  to a released state. With the pressure of pressure roller assembly  210  in the released state, controller  202  may then set heating element  212  to the predetermined temperature. Controller  202  may further abort shutdown of conditioner  200  in response to receiving a new print job notification. In response to receiving a new print job notification, controller  202  may turn on pressure roller drive motor  206 , heating element  212 , and tension drive motor  216  if they were turned off prior to receiving the new print job notification. 
       FIG. 2B  is a block diagram illustrating another example of a conditioner  230 . Conditioner  230  includes controller  202 , pressure roller drive motor  206 , pressure roller assembly  210 , heating element  212 , tension drive motor  216 , and tension roller assembly  220  as previously described and illustrated with reference to  FIG. 2A . In addition, conditioner  230  includes a vapor fan  232  and a cooling fan  234 . Controller  202  is electrically coupled to vapor fan  232  and cooling fan  234  through the communication path  204 . 
     In this example, in response to the print job complete notification and with pressure roller drive motor  206  turned off, controller  202  may further turn off vapor fan  232  and wait a second predetermined period. In one example, the second predetermined period is between about 1 second and 10 seconds (e.g., 5 seconds). In response to the second predetermined period elapsing, controller  202  may further turn off cooling fan  234 . 
     Controller  202  may receive an immediate shutdown notification. An immediate shutdown notification may be received in response to a fault (e.g., paper jam, door opened, etc.). In response to the immediate shutdown notification, controller  202  may turn off tension drive motor  216 . With tension drive motor  216  turned off, controller  202  may turn off heating element  212 . With heating element  212  turned off, controller  202  may turn off pressure roller drive motor  206 . With pressure roller drive motor  206  turned off, controller  202  may turn off vapor fan  232 . With vapor fan  232  turned off, controller  202  may turn off cooling fan  234 . 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating one example of a system  300 . System  300  includes a printing device  302 , a conditioner  230 , and a finisher  308 . Printing device  302  is coupled to conditioner  230  via a print media path  304 . Conditioner  230  is coupled to finisher  308  via a print media path  306 . Printing device  302  may be an inkjet printing device or another suitable printing device that generates partially dried media. The partially dried media is passed to conditioner  230 . Conditioner  230  was previously described with reference to  FIG. 2B . Conditioner  230  applies heat and pressure to the partially dried media. Conditioner  230  passes the conditioned print media to finisher  308 . Finisher  308  may include a stapler, hole punch, collator, stacker, etc., or any combination thereof. 
     Controller  202  may receive a print job complete notification to initiate a conditioner shutdown. In response to the print job complete notification, controller  202  may turn off tension drive motor  216 . With tension drive motor  216  turned off, controller  202  may set the pressure roller drive motor to a predetermined speed. Controller  202  may set a pressure of pressure roller assembly  210  to a released state. With the pressure of pressure roller assembly  210  in the released state, controller  202  may set heating element  212  to a predetermined temperature and wait a first predetermined period. In response to the first predetermined period elapsing, controller  202  may turn off heating element  212 . With heating element  212  turned off, controller  202  may turn off pressure roller drive motor  206 . With pressure roller drive motor  206  turned off, controller  202  may turn off vapor fan  232  and wait a second predetermined period. In response to the second predetermined period elapsing, controller  202  may turn off cooling fan  234 . 
     Controller  202  may receive an immediate shutdown notification. In response to the immediate shutdown notification, controller  202  may turn off tension drive motor  216 . With tension drive motor  216  turned off, controller  202  may set a pressure of pressure roller assembly  210  to a released state. With the pressure of pressure roller assembly  210  in the released state, controller  202  may turn off heating element  212 . With heating element  212  turned off, controller  202  may turn off pressure roller drive motor  206 . With pressure roller drive motor  206  turned off, controller  202  may turn off vapor fan  232 . With vapor fan  232  turned off, controller  202  may turn off cooling fan  234 . 
       FIGS. 4A-4E  are flow diagrams illustrating one example of a method  400  for operating a printer. As illustrated in  FIG. 4A , at  402  method  400  includes receiving a print job complete notification to initiate a conditioner shutdown. In response to the print job complete notification, method  400  includes blocks  404 - 416 . At  404 , method  400  includes turning off a tension drive motor of a pressure roller assembly. At  406 , method  400  includes setting a pressure roller drive motor to a predetermined speed. At  408 , method  400  includes releasing a pressure of the pressure roller assembly. At  410 , method  400  includes setting a heating element of the pressure roller assembly to a predetermined temperature in response to the pressure of the pressure roller assembly being released. At  412 , method  400  includes waiting a first predetermined period in response to setting the heating element to the predetermined temperature. At  414 , method  400  includes turning off the heating element in response to the first predetermined period elapsing. At  416 , method  400  includes turning off the pressure roller drive motor in response to turning off the heating element. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4B , method  400  may also include blocks  418 - 422  in response to the print job complete notification. At  418 , method  400  may further include turning off a vapor fan in response to turning off the pressure roller drive motor. At  420 , method  400  may further include waiting a second predetermined period in response to turning off the vapor fan. At  422 , method  400  may further include turning off a cooling fan in response to the second predetermined period elapsing. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4C , at  424  method  400  may include receiving an immediate shutdown notification. In response to the immediate shutdown notification, method  400  may execute blocks  426 - 432 . At  426 , method  400  may further include turning off the tension drive motor. At  428 , method  400  may further include releasing the pressure of the pressure roller assembly. At  430 , method  400  may further include turning off the heating element in response to the pressure of the pressure roller assembly being released. At  432 , method  400  may further include turning off the pressure roller drive motor in response to turning off the heating element. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4D , method  400  may also include blocks  434  and  436  in response to the immediate shutdown notification. At  434 , method  400  may further include turning off a vapor fan in response to turning off the pressure roller drive motor. At  436 , method  400  may further include turning off a cooling fan in response to the turning off the vapor fan. As illustrated in  FIG. 4E , at  438  method  400  may further include aborting shutdown of the conditioner in response to receiving a new print job notification. 
     Although specific examples have been illustrated and described herein, a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific examples shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific examples discussed herein. Therefore, it is intended that this disclosure be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.