Determining cleaning fluid flow at a print apparatus

1. A method comprising:

receiving data indicative of cleaning fluid flow at a printing apparatus;

determining, from the received data, a cleaning fluid flow rate;

comparing the determined cleaning fluid flow rate to a desired flow rate; and, when the cleaning fluid flow rate is outside of a tolerance of the desired flow rate, comparing the determined cleaning fluid flow rate to a first range of flow rates; and, when the flow rate is inside of the first range of flow rates, changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus, in real-time, to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate, and, otherwise changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus during a pause or a stop in a print operation to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus, in real-time, is to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to be within the tolerance of the desired flow rate.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, when the flow rate is outside of the first range of flow rates, further comprising:

comparing the determined flow rate to a second range of flow rates, the first range of flow rates being a subset of the second range of flow rates, and, when the flow rate is outside of the second range of flow rates, stopping a print operation.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus in a print operation to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate comprises changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus during a stop of the print operation.

5. A method as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising, when the determined flow rate is inside of the second range of flow rates, calibrating the cleaning fluid flow rate during a pause in the print operation.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein calibrating the cleaning fluid flow rate comprises calibrating a cleaning fluid pump.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein a pump is to supply the cleaning fluid at a flow rate, and wherein changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus, in real-time, to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate comprises changing at least one of: voltage through the pump; current through the pump; electrical power suppled to the pump; the frequency of the pump; and the flow impedance of cleaning fluid.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus comprises determining, using a look-up table, a new parameter value and setting the parameter to the new value.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein comparing the determined cleaning fluid flow rate to a desired flow rate comprises comparing a plurality of flow rates to the desired flow rate; and, when the number of instances that the determined cleaning fluid flow rates are outside of the tolerance of the desired flow rate is greater than a first threshold, comparing the determined cleaning fluid flow rate to a first range of flow rates; and, when the flow rate is inside of the first range of flow rates, changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus, in real-time, to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate, and, otherwise changing a parameter of a component of the printing apparatus during a pause or a stop in a print operation to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate.

10. Processing apparatus comprising:

a printing module to print an image onto a printable medium;

a cleaning module to supply cleaning fluid to least part of the printing module to clean the printing module;

a monitoring module to monitor and determine the flow rate of a cleaning fluid through the cleaning module and to compare the cleaning fluid flow rate to a desired flow rate; and, when the cleaning fluid flow rate is outside of a tolerance of the desired flow rate, to compare the flow rate to a first range of flow rates; and, when the flow rate is inside of the first range of flow rates, to change a parameter of a component of a printing apparatus in real-time to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate, and otherwise to change a parameter of a component of a printing apparatus during a pause or a stop in a print operation to cause the cleaning fluid flow rate to approach the desired flow rate.

11. Processing apparatus as claimed in claim 10 comprising:

a pump to supply cleaning fluid to the cleaning module.