US 12,138,923 B2
Dynamic modulating voltage adjustment
Richard Thomas Calhoun Bridges, Cambridge (GB); Justin Chase, Cambridge (GB); and Stuart Mark Walkington, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to DOMINO UK LIMITED, (GB)
Appl. No. 18/267,434
Filed by DOMINO UK LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
PCT Filed Dec. 15, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/086016
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 14, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/129242, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 23, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2019897 (GB), filed on Dec. 16, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0051293 A1, Feb. 15, 2024
Int. Cl. B41J 2/115 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 2/115 (2013.01) 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A continuous inkjet (CIJ) printer comprising an ink droplet generator including an electromechanical transducer, a driver operable to apply a periodic modulating voltage to the transducer to cause a jet of ink ejected by the ink droplet generator to break up into a stream of ink droplets at a breakup time after ejection from the ink droplet generator, and a controller operable to vary a modulating voltage parameter of the modulating voltage and measure corresponding values of a breakup time parameter indicative of the breakup time to obtain a portion of a characteristic of the breakup time parameter against the modulating voltage parameter, wherein the controller is operable to obtain a variation range, to vary the modulating voltage parameter over the variation range to obtain the portion of the characteristic, to calculate a gradient from the portion of the characteristic, to compare the calculated gradient with a predetermined gradient and, if the calculated gradient is less than the predetermined gradient, to generate an adjusted variation range that is displaced relative to the variation range in a first sense, or, if the calculated gradient is greater than the predetermined gradient, to generate an adjusted variation range that is displaced relative to the variation range in a second sense, opposite to the first sense.