Vacuum media drum transport system with shutter for multiple media sizes

Abstract

A media transport system includes a drum with a plurality of rows of holes, a vacuum plenum, and a shutter. The vacuum plenum is positioned within the drum at a position opposite a printhead and the shutter is configured for movement in a cross-process direction. Each row of holes in the drum includes at least one inter-copy gap. The shutter includes a solid member having at least one aperture in it. The shutter is moved to a position so the aperture is aligned with a row of holes and the solid portion of the shutter prevents a flow of air through the vacuum plenum from the holes in other rows of holes not aligned with the aperture in the shutter and the inter-copy gaps in the row of holes aligned with the aperture selectively prevents air flow to the vacuum plenum.

Claims

1. A media transport system comprising: a drum having an arrangement of a plurality of rows of holes through the drum, each row of holes in the plurality of rows having at least one inter-copy gap that corresponds to a length of media sheet, the drum being configured for rotation in a process direction; a vacuum plenum positioned within the drum opposite a printhead; a vacuum source configured to pull air through holes in the drum opposite the vacuum plenum; and a shutter positioned within the vacuum plenum and interposed between the vacuum plenum and the drum, the shutter having a member with at least one aperture, a solid portion of the member preventing a flow of air between the vacuum plenum and a portion of the drum positioned opposite the solid portion of the shutter, the shutter being configured for movement in a cross-direction to enable the at least one aperture in the shutter to be aligned with at least one row of holes in the drum and selectively attenuate a flow of air from the holes in the at least one row of holes aligned with the at least one aperture in response to the at least one inter-copy gap in the at least one row being opposite the at least one aperture in the shutter.

2. The media transport system of claim 1 further comprising: an actuator operatively connected to the shutter; and a controller operatively connected to the actuator, the controller being configured to operate the actuator to move the shutter in the cross-process direction.

3. The media transport system of claim 2, the controller being further configured to detect a size of a media sheet and operate the actuator to move the shutter in the cross-process direction to enable the at least one aperture to align with the at least one row of holes in the drum having the inter-copy gap that corresponds to the detected media sheet size.

4. The media transport system of claim 1, the shutter further comprising: a plurality of apertures in the member of the shutter, the apertures being positioned in the member at a predetermined distance in the cross-process direction to correspond with the rows of holes in the drum that have inter-copy gaps that correspond to the same size of media sheets.

5. The media transport system of claim 1 wherein each aperture in the shutter has a predetermined length in the process direction that corresponds to a predetermined length of the at least one inter-copy gap in the rows of holes in the drum.

6. The media transport system of claim 1 wherein the inter-copy gaps in the plurality of rows of holes correspond to a plurality of media sheet sizes.

7. The media transport system of claim 6 wherein the inter-copy gaps in one row of holes in the drum correspond to a media size that is different than the media size to which the inter-copy gaps in an adjacent row of holes correspond.

8. The media transport system of claim 1 wherein in the vacuum plenum has a plurality of apertures, each aperture in the plurality of apertures corresponding to a different row of holes in the drum.

9. A printer comprising: at least one printhead; a drum having an arrangement of a plurality of rows of holes through the drum, each row of holes in the plurality of rows having at least one inter-copy gap that corresponds to a length of media sheet, the drum being configured for rotation in a process direction past the printhead to enable the printhead to eject marking material onto media sheets carried by the drum; a vacuum plenum positioned within the drum opposite the printhead; a vacuum source configured to pull air through holes in the drum opposite the vacuum plenum; and a shutter positioned within the vacuum plenum and interposed between the vacuum plenum and the drum, the shutter having a member with at least one aperture, a solid portion of the member preventing a flow of air between the vacuum plenum and a portion of the drum positioned opposite the solid portion of the shutter, the shutter being configured for movement in a cross-direction to enable the at least one aperture in the shutter to be aligned with at least one row of holes in the drum and selectively attenuate a flow of air from the holes in the at least one row of holes aligned with the at least one aperture in response to the at least one inter-copy gap in the at least one row being opposite the at least one aperture in the shutter.

10. The printer of claim 9 further comprising: an actuator operatively connected to the shutter; and a controller operatively connected to the actuator, the controller being configured to operate the actuator to move the shutter in the cross-process direction.

11. The printer of claim 10, the controller being further configured to detect a size of a media sheet and operate the actuator to move the shutter in the cross-process direction to enable the at least one aperture to align with the at least one row of holes in the drum having the inter-copy gap that corresponds to the detected media sheet size.

12. The printer of claim 9, the shutter further comprising: a plurality of apertures in the member of the shutter, the apertures being positioned in the member at a predetermined distance in the cross-process direction to correspond with the rows of holes in the drum that have inter-copy gaps that correspond to the same size of media sheets.

13. The printer of claim 9 wherein each aperture in the shutter has a predetermined length in the process direction that corresponds to a predetermined length of the at least one inter-copy gap in the rows of holes in the drum.

14. The printer of claim 9 wherein the inter-copy gaps in the plurality of rows of holes correspond to a plurality of media sheet sizes.

15. The printer of claim 14 wherein the inter-copy gaps in one row of holes in the drum correspond to a media size that is different than the media size to which the inter-copy gaps in an adjacent row of holes correspond.

16. The printer of claim 9 wherein in the vacuum plenum has a plurality of apertures, each aperture in the plurality of apertures corresponding to a different row of holes in the drum.

17. A method of operating a printer having a drum configured with a plurality of rows of holes, each row of holes in the plurality of rows having at least one inter-copy gap that corresponds to a length of media sheet, the drum being configured for rotation in a process direction past the printhead to enable the printhead to eject marking material onto media sheets carried by the drum, the method comprising: operating a vacuum source to pull air through holes in the drum opposite a vacuum plenum positioned within the drum opposite the printhead; and moving a shutter positioned within the vacuum plenum and interposed between the vacuum plenum and the drum in a cross-process direction to enable a solid portion of a member of the shutter to prevent a flow of air between the vacuum plenum and a portion of the drum positioned opposite the solid portion of the shutter and to enable at least one aperture in the shutter to be aligned with at least one row of holes in the drum to attenuate selectively a flow of air from the holes in the at least one row of holes aligned with the at least one aperture in response to the at least one inter-copy gap in the at least one row being opposite the at least one aperture in the shutter.

18. The method of claim 17, the moving of the shutter further comprising: detecting with a controller a size of a media sheet; and operating with the controller an actuator operatively connected to the shutter to move the shutter in the cross-process direction to enable the at least one aperture to align with the at least one row of holes in the drum having the inter-copy gap that corresponds to the detected media sheet size.

19. The method of claim 18, the moving of the shutter further comprising: operating the actuator with the controller to move the shutter to align a plurality of apertures in the shutter positioned at a predetermined distance in the cross-process direction to correspond with the rows of holes in the drum that have inter-copy gaps that correspond to media sheets having the same size.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The foregoing aspects and other features of a media drum transport system and an inkjet printer including the media drum transport system are explained in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a media transport system having a rotating drum, a fixed plenum, and a sliding shutter within the plenum.

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a portion of the media transport drum, the plenum, and the shutter of FIG. 1 that cooperate to help attenuate disruptive airflow at leading edges and trailing edges of media sheets.

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the portion of the media drum transport system and the various positions for the shutter that attenuate disruptive airflow for different sizes of media sheets.

(5) FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a process for operating the media transport system of FIG. 1.

(6) FIG. 5 illustrates the structure in a printer having a media drum that produces disruptive airflow at the trailing edges and leading edges of media sheets as they pass the printheads in the printer.

(7) FIG. 6 is a depiction of printed text produced by a prior art printer. The text includes degraded image quality due to the effects of airflow near the printhead from exposed holes in a drum and vacuum plenum that draws air through the holes proximate to the printhead.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) For a general understanding of the environment for the device disclosed herein as well as the details for the device, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals designate like elements.

(9) As used herein, the word printer encompasses any apparatus that produces images with colorants on media, such as digital copiers, bookmaking machines, facsimile machines, multi-function machines, and the like. As used herein, the term process direction (P) refers to a direction of movement of print media through the printer including through a print zone including at least one printhead. For example, a media transport system includes a drum that moves in the process direction. The drum has a surface that carries print media along the process direction past at least one printhead in a print zone. The at least one printhead ejects drops of ink to form printed images on each print medium. A location that is upstream in the process direction relative to a component in the printer refers to a location that the print media passes prior to reaching the component, such as an upstream location that a print medium passes prior to reaching a printhead or other component in the printer. A location that is downstream in the process direction relative to a component in the printer refers to a location that the print media passes after reaching the component, such as a downstream location that a print medium passes after passing a printhead or other component in the printer. As used herein, the term cross-process direction (CP) refers to an axis that is perpendicular to the process direction along a surface of the drum and the print media on the surface of the belt.

(10) As used herein, the term vacuum plenum refers to an apparatus that includes at least one chamber, a vacuum source, such as an electrical pump or fan system, and at least one opening that is configured to engage one surface of a drum in a media drum transport system. The vacuum source draws air through holes that are formed in the drum through the chamber and out an exhaust opening. A print medium placed on a surface of the drum opposite the surface that engages the opening to the chamber in the vacuum plenum covers a portion of the holes in the drum. The vacuum generated in the vacuum plenum applies a downward force to the print medium through the holes in the drum that are covered by the print medium.

(11) As used herein, the term drum refers to at least one rotating member in a media transport system that has a surface configured to carry print media in the process direction through the printer. The drums described herein include holes arranged in a plurality of rows with each row including holes that are arranged substantially parallel to the process direction and multiple rows of holes are arranged across a width of the belt in the cross-process direction. One side of the drum exposes at least one opening that communicates with the vacuum plenum that is described above. On another side of the drum, the holes in the drum engage print media that the drum carries through the printer and the vacuum force through the holes that engage the print media holds the print media in a fixed position relative to the surface of the drum. Examples of drums include, but are not limited to, anodized aluminum drums and any other suitable drums.

(12) As used herein, the term inter-copy gap refers to predetermined regions of the drum that lie between print media while the drum carries print media in the process direction. In one illustrative embodiment, an inter-copy gap of approximately 2.5 cm in length separates adjacent media sheets on the drum, although alternative embodiments use larger or smaller inter-copy gap sizes. The inter-copy gaps repeat at regular intervals along the length of the belt corresponding to the predetermined length of a print medium (e.g., every 210 mm or 297 mm for size A4 paper depending upon the paper being arranged width-wise or length-wise, respectively, on the drum). As described in more detail below, the drum includes no holes in the inter-copy gap locations for a portion of the rows of holes that are formed in the drum. To accommodate multiple print media sizes using a single drum, the drum includes no holes in two or more different rows of holes at different intervals for the inter-copy gaps of different sizes of print media that the drum carries in the media transport system. Additional details about specific embodiments of the drums and the structure of the inter-copy gaps are presented below.

(13) As used herein, the term shutter refers to a solid member, such as a polymer or metallic sheet, with at least one aperture formed in the solid member. The aperture is aligned with one row of holes in the plurality of rows of holes formed in a drum corresponding to an inter-copy gap for a predetermined size of print medium that the drum carries during a print job. As described in more detail below, the shutter is positioned between the drum and the opening of the vacuum plenum at a location that is proximate to a printhead in the printer to reduce or eliminate airflow that the vacuum plenum produces in the inter-copy gap regions where the print medium does not cover holes in the drum. In some embodiments, an actuator adjusts the location of the shutter along the cross-process direction to align one or more apertures in the shutter with different sets of rows in the drum. Each set of rows has a different inter-copy gap interval to accommodate a different size of print medium. By moving a shutter to different positions under the drum prior to commencing a print job, the media transport system enables a single drum to accommodate multiple print media sizes. Additionally, the media transport system optionally includes two or more shutters along the process direction.

(14) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an inkjet printer 100 that includes a media transport system 104 having an actuator 108 operatively connected to the spindle of drum 112 to rotate the drum and carry media sheets 116 past printhead 120 for printing. A printed sheet is removed from the drum and transported to a bin for collection. The actuator 108 can be an electrical motor or the like that is operatively connected the spindle 124 that is aligned with the longitudinal axis of drum 112 to rotate the drum. The drum 112 has a plurality of holes 128 through the surface in a pattern described further below to enable a vacuum produced by vacuum source 132 to hold media sheets 116 against the surface of the drum 112. The pattern of the holes 128 described below provides solid areas called inter-copy gaps (ICGs) 136 at various locations on the drum surface. These ICGs are located to provide a solid area between the trailing edge of one media sheet and the leading edge of another media sheet or a solid area between the leading edge and trailing edge of the same media sheet. A plenum 140 and a shutter 144 are interposed between the vacuum source 132 and the surface of the drum 112. The plenum and the shutter are also positioned opposite the printhead 120 to adjust the vacuum pull against media sheets in the vicinity of the printhead 120.

(15) FIG. 2 depicts an arrangement of the holes 128 in one embodiment of a drum 112 along with the structure of the plenum 140 and the shutter 144. The reader should understand that the drum portion, plenum, and shutter are shown side-by-side to facilitate the discussion of the different structures. As shown in FIG. 1, the shutter is positioned within the plenum 140 and configured for movement into and out of the plane of the FIG. 1 and in the cross-process direction as discussed below with reference to FIG. 2. This cross-process direction is perpendicular to the process direction defined by the rotational direction of the drum 112. Thus, by moving the shutter 144 the disruptive airflow at the trailing and leading edges of media sheets opposite the printhead is severely attenuated.

(16) The pattern of the holes 128 has been interspersed with solid areas outlined with rectangles 148 and identified with the mnemonic ICG and a number. These rectangles are not embossed or otherwise marked at the drum 112, but are depicted in this manner in the figure to identify the solid areas of the drum that provide inter-copy gaps between media sheets of a particular size. That is, as the drum 112 moves in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, a trailing edge of a sheet is positioned at or slightly overlapped with the right edge of an ICG rectangle and the leading edge of the sheet is positioned at or slightly overlapped with the left edge of the next rectangle in the process direction marked with the same ICG number. For example, a sheet of media having a length that is approximately the distance between a left edge of a rightmost ICG1 and a right edge of a leftmost ICG1 is depicted with the dashed line box in the figure. The trailing edge of the preceding sheet is shown by the dashed line at the right side of the drum portion depicted and the leading edge of the following sheet is shown by the dashed line at the left side of the drum portion depicted.

(17) By providing the ICGs at different positions in the rows of holes on the drum, different sizes of media can be positioned on the drum between corresponding ICGs. For example, media sheets positioned between ICG1 areas are approximately as long as the distance between ten holes in a row while media sheets positioned between ICG2 areas are approximately as long as the distance between eight holes in a row. That is, the distance between ICGs in the same row is configured to accommodate a predetermined length of media. Each length is associated with a particular pitch, which refers to a predetermined size of media on the drum at a predetermined orientation. Thus, the configuration of holes 128 and ICGs 148 provides a predetermined number of pitches for a drum. In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, four pitches are shown, although fewer or more pitches could be configured in a drum.

(18) With continued reference to FIG. 2, the plenum 140 includes a solid member 160 with a plurality of slots 164. The solid member 160 has a length in the cross-process direction that is approximately the same as the length of the drum 112 in the same direction. The slots 164 have a width in the process direction that is slightly longer than a width of an ICG in that direction and a length in the cross-process direction that is approximately the same as a length of an ICG in the same direction. The plenum 140 has a number of slots 164 that is the same as the number of rows of holes 128 in the drum. A row of holes is composed of a line of holes in the drum in the process direction. Thus, the plenum enables a vacuum to pull through a portion of any row of holes in the drum provided the flow path from the holes in the portion of the row opposite the plenum are not otherwise obstructed. The shutter 144 has a solid member 168 and a predetermined number of slots 172. The slots have a width in the process direction that is slightly longer than a width of an ICG in the same direction and a length in the cross-process direction that is approximately the same as a length of an ICG in the same direction. The number of slots in the shutter is the same as the number of ICGs for a single pitch in the cross-process direction and these slots are positioned from one another by the number of rows of holes between ICGs for a single pitch in the cross-process direction.

(19) The configuration shown in FIG. 2 demonstrates that when the shutter 144 is positioned between the plenum 140 and the drum 112 it enables airflow through the drum when a portion of a row of holes in the drum 112 is aligned with a slot 172 in the shutter 144 and a slot 164 in the plenum 140. When an ICG is aligned with a slot 172 in the shutter 144, however, no air flows through the drum to the plenum since no holes are present in the ICG and no air flows through the holes in adjacent rows to slots in the plenum since these flow paths are blocked by the solid portions of the member 168 of the shutter 144 between the slots 172. Thus, when the shutter is positioned so the ICGs for a particular pitch are aligned with slots 172 in the shutter 144, the ICGs and the solid portion of the shutter stop air flow through the plenum at predetermined positions. These positions only occur at the trailing and leading edges of the media corresponding to the pitch for the ICGs that are aligned with the slots 172 in the shutter 144. Therefore, by moving the shutter so the slots 172 are aligned with the ICGs for a particular pitch, the printer is adjusted to block airflow at the trailing and leading edges of the media sheets to attenuate ink drop displacement caused by the air flow depicted in FIG. 5.

(20) FIG. 3 shows a controller 180 operatively connected to an actuator 184 for moving shutter 144 selectively to accommodate airflow for different sizes of media sheets. Although the actuator 184 is connected to only one shutter, four depictions of shutter 144 are presented to demonstrate the four positions that the shutter can take for the four pitch configuration of drum 112 shown in FIG. 2. At position 1, the slots 172 in member 168 of the shutter 144 are aligned with the rows containing ICG1. At position 2, the slots 172 in member 168 of the shutter 144 are aligned with the rows containing ICG2. At position 3, the slots 172 in member 168 of the shutter 144 are aligned with the rows containing ICG3. At position 4, the slots 172 in member 168 of the shutter 144 are aligned with the rows containing ICG4. As noted above, when the ICGs pass beneath the slots 172 in the shutter 144, the disruptive airflow at the leading and trailing edges of media sheets is attenuated. Thus, by using the controller 180 to operate the actuator 184, the shutter is moved to improve the image quality for the different sizes of media sheets being printed by the printhead 120.

(21) A process 300 for operating the media transport system described above is shown in FIG. 4. In the description of the method, statements that the method is performing some task or function refers to a controller or general purpose processor executing programmed instructions stored in non-transitory computer readable storage media operatively connected to the controller or processor to manipulate data or to operate one or more components in the printer to perform the task or function. The controller 180 noted above can be such a controller or processor. Alternatively, the controller can be implemented with more than one processor and associated circuitry and components, each of which is configured to form one or more tasks or functions described herein. Additionally, the steps of the method may be performed in any feasible chronological order, regardless of the order shown in the figures or the order in which the steps are described.

(22) The process of FIG. 4 detects with the controller the size of the media sheets to be carried by the transport system and printed (block 304). The size of the sheets can be input to the controller through a user interface 188 (FIG. 3) or detected by sensors in the feed path to the drum 112 that are connected to the controller 180. The controller 180 operates the actuator 184 to move the shutter 144 so the slots 172 in the member 169 are aligned with the rows of holes that contain the ICGs that correspond to the media sheet size (block 308). The process continues with the media sheets being fed to the drum 112 for printing by the printhead 120 (block 312) until the run of sheets has been printed (block 316). When the run is finished, the controller waits until another run of sheets is to be printed so the process can be repeated (block 320).

(23) It will be appreciated that variants of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems, applications or methods. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art that are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.