Ink Out - Ricoh J012 Service Manual

Print Heads
As ink is consumed during printing, the vacuum created by the ink leaving the tank pulls
the lever toward the side of the print head tank.
The ink level sensor [2], mounted above the front guide rail, checks the left and right
positions of the ink level levers [3] and [4] every time the carriage passes.
When the ink level sensor detects that a lever is completely flat against the side of the tank,
the printer sends a prescribed amount of ink to the tank from the ink cartridge.
The sensor signals the 'ink near-end' if the ink level lever does not return to the full position
(away from the side of the tank) within the prescribed time after the printer requests a refill
from the ink cartridge.
After the near-end alert, the printer will continue to print with the ink that remains in the
partially filled tank until the printer issues the ink end alert.
6.4.6

INK OUT

A pair of vertical sensor pins [1] is provided for each tank. These pins detect changes in the
voltage differential on the surface of the ink inside the print head tank to detect the presence
of air. When these terminals detect air in the tank, air escapes through the air release valve
[2] opened by the air release solenoid [3]. This allows more ink to enter the tank.
This is a continuous operation. The sensor pin readings signal the ink-out condition when:
The ink near-end alert has been issued.
The continued presence of air in the tank indicates that no ink remains in the tank.
As a backup measure, the firmware counts the amount of ink consumed after every near
end occurrence. When this count reaches the value prescribed for the ink cartridge, this will
also signal an ink-out condition.
J012/J013/J014
CÓPIA NÃO CONTROLADA
6-32
CÓPIA NÃO CONTROLADA
SM