Response Times of Resistance Heater Elements in
Inkjet Printers
The ink drops that make up the 'image' on the paper
from an ink jet printer are expelled by microscopic
resistance (thin film or the like) heaters with
response times in the 10s of microseconds if I
recall correctly. When living in the macro world, it
is often counterintuitive to realize that a
resistance element can have such a fast thermal
response.
(From: John Eaton (johne@vcd.hp.com).)
The trick is that a lot of the energy that you pump
into the resistor leaves the printhead with the
fired dot. One way to detect Out_of_Ink is to mount
a thermistor on the printhead and watch for a sudden
rise in temperature as you are firing.
Printer and Photocopier Troubleshooting and Repair
Collection Version 2.48 Copyright © 1996-2001 Samuel M. Goldwasser
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