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EP-4737124-A1 - LIQUID SUPPLY APPARATUS, SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD, NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

EP4737124A1EP 4737124 A1EP4737124 A1EP 4737124A1EP-4737124-A1

Abstract

A liquid supply apparatus (20, 1100) includes holding means (23A, 23B, 1101) arranged to hold a container (200, 1200) that contains a liquid; stirring means (6, 100, 1120) arranged to stir the liquid; and control means (303) configured to control the stirring means based on air temperature information.

Inventors

  • MARUYAMA, RYOHEI
  • YONEYAMA, HIROMASA
  • NAGASHIMA, MASAKAZU
  • IIMURA, KENTA
  • KITANO, KEIICHI
  • ISHIDA, YUJIRO
  • KURIHARA, SHU
  • TAKAHASHI, RYUTARO

Assignees

  • Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20251028

Claims (20)

  1. A liquid supply apparatus (20, 1100) comprising: holding means (23A, 23B, 1101) arranged to hold a container (200, 1200) that contains a liquid; stirring means (6, 100, 1120) arranged to stir the liquid; and control means (303) configured to control the stirring means based on air temperature information.
  2. The apparatus (20) according to claim 1, wherein the holding means (23A, 23B) detachably holds the container (200).
  3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control means (303) acquires, as the air temperature information, a detection result of detection means (311a) arranged to detect an air temperature.
  4. The apparatus (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control means (303) selects a stirring condition from a plurality of stirring conditions based on the air temperature information and controls the stirring means (6, 100) based on the selected stirring condition.
  5. The apparatus (20) according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of stirring conditions include a first stirring condition and a second stirring condition of stirring performance lower than the first stirring condition.
  6. The apparatus (20) according to claim 5, wherein the control means (303): selects the second stirring condition if the air temperature information is not less than a predetermined temperature; and selects the first stirring condition if the air temperature information is less than the predetermined temperature.
  7. The apparatus (20) according to claim 5, wherein the control means (303): selects the second stirring condition if a state in which the air temperature information is not less than a predetermined temperature continues for a first time, and selects the first stirring condition if a state in which the air temperature information is less than the predetermined temperature continues for a second time.
  8. The apparatus (20) according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein a stirring operation of the stirring means (6) is an operation of repeating a pressing operation and a pressing relaxing operation for the container (200), and in the plurality of stirring conditions, at least one of a count, an execution rate, and a frequency of the operation is different.
  9. The apparatus (20) according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein a stirring operation of the stirring means (100) is an operation of rotating the container, and in the plurality of stirring conditions, at least one of a count, an execution rate, and a period of the operation is different.
  10. The apparatus (20, 1100) according to claim 1, further comprising connecting means (50, 1104) connected to the container (200, 1200) and arranged to form a path to flow out the liquid from the container (200, 1200), wherein the stirring means (6, 100, 1120) comprises driving means (63, 130, 1120) arranged to change a posture of the container (200, 1200), the driving means (63, 130, 1120) performs a first operation of changing the posture of the container and a second operation that is an operation of returning the posture of the container to an original posture, and an operation time of the first operation and an operation time of the second operation are different.
  11. The apparatus (20) according to claim 10, wherein the driving means (63, 130) comprises a motor (635, 131) as a driving source, and a rotation speed of the motor (131) in the first operation is different from the rotation speed of the motor in the second operation.
  12. The apparatus (20) according to claim 10, wherein the first operation is an operation of changing the posture of the container (200) such that the liquid contained in the container (200) flows to an end portion of the container (200), and the operation time of the first operation is shorter than the operation time of the second operation.
  13. The apparatus (20) according to claim 10, wherein the container (200) has flexibility, the first operation is a pressing operation for the container (200); the second operation is a pressing relaxing operation for the container (200), and the operation time of the first operation is shorter than the operation time of the second operation.
  14. The apparatus (20) according to claim 13, further comprising support means (4) including a placement surface (41) on which the container (200) is placed and arranged to support the container (200), the stirring means (6) includes a pressing portion (61) arranged facing the placement surface (41), the pressing operation is an operation of moving the pressing portion (61) from a first position to a second position, the pressing relaxing operation is an operation of moving the pressing portion (61) from the second position to the first position, the first position is a position farther apart from the placement surface (41) than the second position, and the second position is a position to press the container (200) to a side of the placement surface (41).
  15. The apparatus (20) according to claim 13, wherein the driving means (63) alternately repeats the pressing operation and the pressing relaxing operation.
  16. The apparatus (20) according to claim 13, wherein the container (200) includes a container portion (202) having flexibility, and a connecting portion (201) provided at one end portion of the container portion (202) and connected to the connecting means (50), and in the pressing operation, the container portion (202) is pressed at a portion between the one end portion of the container portion and the other end portion of the container portion (202).
  17. The apparatus (20) according to claim 10, wherein the first operation is an operation of changing the posture of the container (200) such that the liquid contained in the container (200) flows to an end portion of the container (200), and the operation time of the second operation is shorter than the operation time of the first operation.
  18. The apparatus (20) according to claim 10, wherein the first operation is an operation of rotating at least a part of the container (200) from a first position to a second position, the second operation is an operation of rotating at least the part of the container (200) from the second position to the first position, and the operation time of the second operation is shorter than the operation time of the first operation.
  19. The apparatus (1100) according to claim 10, wherein the container (1200) includes a container portion (1201) having flexibility, and a connecting portion (1202) provided at one end portion of the container portion and connected to the connecting means (1104), the first operation is an operation of rotating the container portion (1201) from a first position to a second position with respect to the connecting portion (1202), the second operation is an operation of rotating the container portion (1201) from the second position to the first position with respect to the connecting portion (1202), and the operation time of the second operation is shorter than the operation time of the first operation.
  20. The apparatus (1100) according to claim 19, wherein the first position is a position at which the container portion (1201) is close to a horizontal posture as compared to the second position.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a liquid supply apparatus. BACKGROUND In some cases, a liquid containing a substance with sedimentability needs to be stirred to dispersion a sediment at the time of use. For example, in a printing apparatus that performs printing by discharging ink to a print medium, when using ink such as pigment ink or metallic ink, the stirring may be needed to disperse a sediment. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2018-1443 discloses an apparatus that presses a container portion storing ink, thereby stirring the contained ink. Japanese Patent No. 6567186 discloses an apparatus that rotates an ink cartridge, thereby stirring ink. SUMMARY The fluidity of a liquid is affected by a temperature. A variation may occur in the evenness of the liquid by stirring in accordance with the apparatus installation environment. The present disclosure provides a technique of improving the evenness of a liquid by stirring. The present disclosure in its first aspect provides a liquid supply apparatus as specified in claim 1. Optional features are specified in claim 2 to 21. The present disclosure in its second aspect provides a system as specified in claim 22. The present disclosure in its third aspect provides a control method as specified in claim 23. The present disclosure in its fourth aspect provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as specified in claim 24. The present disclosure in its fifth aspect provides a computer program as specified in claim 25. Features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. The following description of embodiments are described by way of example. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;Fig. 2 is a front view of the system shown in Fig. 1;Fig. 3 is an explanatory view of the internal structure of a liquid discharge apparatus;Fig. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of a liquid supply apparatus;Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a liquid container and a support unit;Fig. 6 is an operation explanatory view of a handle and a regulating mechanism;Fig. 7 is an operation explanatory view of the regulating mechanism;Fig. 8 is a view showing the attachment posture and the insertion/removal mode of the support unit for a storage portion;Fig. 9 is an operation explanatory view of a stirring unit;Fig. 10 is an operation explanatory view of the stirring unit;Fig. 11 is an explanatory view of a cam;Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a case with a stirring function and the support unit in a separated state;Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the case with the stirring function and the support unit in an attached state;Fig. 14 is an explanatory view of a stirring operation;Fig. 15 is an explanatory view of the stirring operation;Fig. 16 is a front view of a storage portion having a box shape;Fig. 17 is a perspective view of the liquid container and the support unit;Fig. 18 is a perspective view of the stirring unit;Fig. 19 is a perspective view of the stirring unit;Fig. 20 is a front view of a container space;Fig. 21 is a view showing the containing mode of a container support unit;Fig. 22 is a front view of the stirring unit;Fig. 23 is a perspective view of the rear portion of the stirring unit;Fig. 24 is a view showing an example of the stirring operation;Fig. 25 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the system shown in Fig. 1;Fig. 26 is a flowchart showing an example of control;Fig. 27A is a flowchart showing an example of control;Figs. 27B and 27C are views showing examples of stirring conditions;Fig. 28 is a flowchart showing an example of control;Fig. 29A is a view showing an example of the arrangement of a liquid temperature sensor;Figs. 29B and 29C are flowcharts showing examples of control;Figs. 30A and 30B are flowcharts showing an example of control;Fig. 31A is a flowchart showing an example of control;Fig. 31B is a view showing an example of stirring conditions;Fig. 32 is a view showing another example of the liquid supply apparatus;Fig. 33 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed by a control unit;Fig. 34 is a perspective view of a liquid supply apparatus according to another embodiment;Fig. 35 is an explanatory view showing the internal structure of the liquid supply apparatus shown in Fig. 34;Fig. 36 is a perspective view of a liquid container;Fig. 37 is a perspective view of a tray;Fig. 38 is a perspective view of a tray;Fig. 39 is a perspective view of a lock mechanism;Figs. 40A to 40C are operation explanatory views of the lock mechanism shown in Fig. 39;Fig. 41 is a perspective view of a tray on which a liquid container is placed;Fig. 42 is a front view of the connecting portion of the liquid container;Fig. 43 is a view of the tray on which the liquid container is placed, which is viewed from the side of a rear wall portion;Fig. 44 is a pers