Xerox ColorQube 9303 Series, Service Manual, Page: 1763 / 1812

February 2013
8-69 ColorQube® 9303 Family
Principles of Operation
Ink stick transport
If the stick is confirmed as being of an approved shape, the loader then feeds the stick past the
SKU sensor shown in
Figure 13 . The ink stick moves past the ink present sensor and by drive
and gravity to the ink low sensor and eventually to the melt plate. The ink block drive belts turn
for a sufficient length of time to ensure that the ink block will traverse the entire length of the
loader channel if necessary (i.e even if only one ink stick is present in the loader channel).
Figure 13 Ink stick detection
Each ink loader chute includes an ink low sensor, which is actuated when about two usable ink
sticks remain in the chute. The ink low sensor (reflective) is used to estimate when ink will run
out. Once the ink low sensor is no longer actuated, an algorithm determines by average usage
in copies and area coverage when it is anticipated to run out of this color ink. An appropriate
message is displayed on the user interface in time for the customer to insert additional ink
sticks. In order to ensure that the algorithm works consistently if the ink loader is replaced, the
NVM counters should be reset and the new ink reservoir should be filled at least to the ink low
sensor while power is on.
Printing stops when the ink loader has about one-third ink stick remaining in any chute. Control
panel messages indicate time to order ink, ink low, or ink out. True ‘ink empty’ is detected by
monitoring the temperature change rate of the melt plates, when no ink is present the warm up
is much quicker and an ‘ink empty’ message can be displayed on the user interface.
Ink Stick Transport
Figure 14
Figure 14 Ink Stick Transport
If the ink loader suspects an ink stick jam, the ink belt drive motor is run in reverse for one sec-
ond and then forward again to attempt to clear the jam. This may occur if the system does not
detect an ink stick via the low ink sensor within an appropriate length of time after detecting it’s
insertion into the loader.