Pen voltage regulator for inkjet printers

摘要

A pen voltage regulator is provided for supplying a regulated pen voltage to one or more printheads of an inkjet printer. The pen voltage regulator includes: a regulator switch arranged between an input terminal and an output terminal; a linear filtering circuit connected to the regulator switch; a soft start circuit arranged between the regulator switch and the output terminal; an output filter arranged between the soft start circuit and the output terminal; and a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller connected to the linear filtering circuit. The PWM controller is arranged to provide a pulse width modulated control signal to the linear filtering circuit. The linear filtering circuit is configured to transmit a smoothed control signal to the regulator switch and to ensure that the regulator switch is operable in a linear region. The soft start circuit is configured to provide a soft-start mode of operation so as to prevent the generation of large inrush currents and to provide overload protection.