Fault detection in ink jet printers using neural networks

We explore the feasibility of using both feedforward and Elman neural networks to detect assembly faults in ink jet printers. The method is an extension of the motor fault detection scheme proposed by Gao and Ovaska (2002). Two types of cartridge faults are studied here: encoder belt misalignment and encoder strip error. These two faults are detected from the characteristics variants in the neural networks-based prediction of cartridge velocity signals. Results of experiments with real-world data demonstrate that neural networks can be trained to effectively detect the inherent encoder faults. Some discussions on the selection of appropriate fault detection criteria are also given.