Burning damage protecting apparatus and method for a printing head in a printer

摘要

A burning damage protecting apparatus and method for a printing head in a printer comprising a printing head actuating circuit having a driver and a coil, a headpin-driver actuating electric power source which is connected to the printing head actuating circuit, a voltage monitor connected to the headpin-driver actuating electric power source, and a micro processing unit connected to each of the printing head actuating circuit, the headpin-driver actuating electric power source, and the voltage monitor; in which, the micro processing unit turns on the headpin- driver actuating electric power source for a first predetermined short time and subsequently turns it off immediately after the printer is turned on, and measures a voltage based on a signal fed from the voltage monitor at the timing the headpin-driver actuating electric power source is turned off, and then measures a voltage in the same manner as above measurement after a second predetermined short time has elapsed, still further judges whether the driver is normal or not based on the difference between the voltage at the timing the first predetermined time has elapsed and the voltage at the timing the second predetermined time has elapsed, and consequently prevents electric current from flowing in the coil by not turning on the headpin-driver actuating electric power source when an abnormal condition is detected.