| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080239009 | INKJET PRINTHEAD HAVING MEMS SENSORS FOR DIRECTIONALLY HEATED INK EJECTION - An inkjet printhead is provided having nozzles, bubble forming chambers containing ejectable ink, generally planar heater elements each bonded on one side to an associated chamber so that the other side faces into the chamber, a MEMS fluid sensor having a MEMS sensing element for detecting the presence or otherwise of the ejectable ink in the chamber, and control circuitry for measuring the current passing through the sensing element during its heating. The heater elements receive heating pulses to form gas bubbles in the ejectable ink on the side facing into the chamber which cause ink ejection from the nozzle. Each chamber has a dielectric layer proximate the side of the heater element which has a thermal product less than 1495 Jm | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080273062 | PAGEWIDTH PRINTHEAD WITH NOZZLE ARRANGEMENTS FOR WEIGHTED INK DROP EJECTION - Provided is a pagewidth printhead with a controller, the printhead having a plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements. Each nozzle arrangement includes a multilayered substrate defining an ink inlet passage and walls extending from the substrate. Also included is a nozzle plate supported by the walls to define a nozzle chamber in fluid communication with the ink inlet passage, the nozzle plate having a nozzle rim defining an ejection port in fluid communication with the nozzle chamber. Each arrangement also includes a plurality of heater elements suspended between the walls in the chamber, so that when electrical actuation energy is applied to respective heater elements a vapour bubble is formed in the fluid leading to a pressure increase in the chamber thereby ejecting the fluid via the ejection port. The controller is configured to individually actuate respective heater elements to facilitate weighted ink drop volumes to be ejected from the nozzle arrangement. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20080297566 | INKJET PRINTHEAD NOZZLE ARRANGEMENT HAVING NON-COINCIDENT ELECTRODES - Provided is an inkjet printhead nozzle arrangement including side walls located on a wafer substrate with a roof layer deposited on said walls to define an ink chamber, the roof layer defining a nozzle aperture, and an inlet defined in the substrate to supply the ink chamber with printing fluid. The arrangement also includes at least one heater element having two opposite sides parallel to a plane of the ejection aperture and configured such that a gas bubble formed by that heater element is formed at both of said sides. The heater elements and associated electrodes are arranged in the chamber so that the electrodes are non-coincident and have an annular shape with a point of collapse of the bubble near a centre thereof. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080303872 | NOZZLE ARRANGEMENT FOR AN INKJET PRINTER CONFIGURED TO MINIMIZE THERMAL LOSSES - Provided is a nozzle arrangement for an inkjet printer. The nozzle arrangement includes a wafer substrate defining an ink passage and a nozzle plate supported on said substrate by side walls to define an ink chamber operatively supplied with ink via said ink passage, the nozzle plate defining an ink ejection port surrounded by a nozzle rim. The arrangement also includes a heater element bonded to the nozzle plate about said ejection port inside the chamber for thermal ejection of ink from the chamber, wherein the heater element is bonded to the nozzle plate by means of a low thermal product layer to reduce thermal losses from the heater element to the nozzle plate. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080316256 | PRINTHEAD ASSEMBLY WITH SANDWICHED POWER SUPPLY ARRANGEMENT - A printhead assembly is provided for a printer system. The printhead assembly includes an elongate substrate defining a channel and spaced apart sets of ink supply holes. An ink distribution arrangement is located within the channel and is configured to distribute ink to the sets of ink supply holes. A first plate is in engagement with the substrate to hold the ink distribution arrangement within the channel. A power supply arrangement is also located within the channel. A second plate is in engagement with the substrate so that the power supply arrangement is sandwiched between the plates and held within the channel. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20090002421 | INKJET PRINTHEAD COMPRISING BONDED HEATER ELEMENT AND DIELECTRIC LAYER WITH LOW THERMAL PRODUCT - A thermal inkjet printhead with generally planar heater elements disposed in respective bubble forming chambers such that they are bonded on one side to the chamber so that the other side faces into the chamber. Each heater element receives an energizing pulse to heat ejectable liquid above its boiling point to form a gas bubble on the side facing into the chamber, whereby the gas bubble causes the ejection of a drop of the ejectable liquid from the nozzle. The chamber has a dielectric layer proximate the side of the heater element bonded to the chamber. The dielectric layer has a thermal product less than 1495 Jm | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090002459 | Printhead With Low Viscous Drag Droplet Ejection - A inkjet printhead with heater elements adjacent an array of respective nozzles for heating a water-based printing fluid to form a gas bubble for ejecting a drop of the printing fluid from the nozzle. The heater is separated from the nozzle by less than 5 μm at their closest points and the nozzle length is less than 5 μm. The volume of liquid between the heater and the nozzle determines the inertia of the liquid and its acceleration in response to bubble formation. Moving the heater closer to the nozzle reduces the inertia of the liquid and increases its acceleration, so a lower bubble impulse is needed to eject a drop. This allows the printhead to use smaller heater elements with lower power requirements. Viscous drag in the nozzle reduces the momentum of fluid flowing through the nozzle. The viscous drag increases as the nozzle length (in the direction of fluid flow) increases. By reducing the nozzle length, a lower bubble impulse is needed to eject a drop. This also allows the printhead to use smaller heater elements with lower power requirements. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090009558 | Printhead Assembly With An Extrusion For Housing Bus Bars - Provided is a printhead assembly for a pagewidth printer. The assembly includes a substrate channel, and a plurality of printhead modules positioned in the channel to form a pagewidth printhead module assembly. Also included are an extrusion for housing bus bars operatively providing electrical power to the printhead modules, and a cover plate securing a flex printed circuit board (PCB) in the assembly, the PCB forming a data bus to the printhead modules. The assembly further includes compressible conductive strips between the busbars abutting contacts on an upper side of parts of the flex PCB, wherein the substrate channel defines a series of groups of holes through which the printhead modules are supplied with differently colored inks. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090040276 | PRINTHEAD WITH HEATERS OFFSET FROM NOZZLES - A thermal inkjet printhead of the roof shooter type that slightly offsets the nozzle aperture centroid from the heater element centroid to correct drop trajectory misdirection caused by vapor bubble asymmetries. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090066742 | PRINTHEAD WITH INCREASING DRIVE PULSE TO COUNTER HEATER OXIDE GROWTH - An inkjet printer that has a printhead with an array of ejection devices for ejecting drops of liquid onto a media substrate. Each of the ejection devices having a chamber for holding liquid, a nozzle in fluid communication with the chamber and a heater positioned in the chamber for contact with the liquid such that resistive heating of the heater generates a vapour bubble that ejects a drop of the liquid through the nozzle. The printer also has a controller for receiving print data and generating drive pulses to energize the heaters in accordance with the print data. The controller increases the drive pulse energy during the printhead lifetime. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090160912 | SELF-COOLING HIGH NOZZLE DENSITY INK JET NOZZLE ARRANGEMENT - An inkjet printhead having a high density array of micro-electromechanical nozzles arrangements. Each arrangement comprises side walls located on a wafer substrate with a roof layer deposited on said walls to define an ink chamber, the roof layer defining a nozzle aperture; an inlet defined in the substrate to supply the ink chamber with printing fluid; and at least one heater element having a mass of less than 250 picograms suspended between the side walls in the chamber, the heater element operable to form a vapour bubble when electrical actuation energy of less than 120 nanojoules is applied thereto, said heater element having an annular shape with a point of collapse of the bubble near a centre thereof. The inlet, heater element and nozzle aperture are configured such that all heat generated in the ink chamber by the heater element per actuation is negated completely between actuations by an intake of unheated ink into the ink chamber through the inlet and an expulsion of heated ink from the ink chamber through the nozzle aperture. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090244197 | Thermal Inkjet Printhead With Double Omega Shaped Heating Element - An inkjet printhead for ejecting printing fluid comprises a plurality of nozzles arranged in an array; a plurality of heater elements, each heater element corresponding to one of the nozzles respectively, each heater element having a double omega shape in which two gaps are defined at an outer circumference thereof at opposite sides of the heater element; and drive circuitry for sending each of the heater elements a pulse of electrical energy to form a vapor bubble in the printing fluid. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090267995 | Inkjet Printhead Integrated Circuit Comprising A Multilayered Substrate - An inkjet printhead integrated circuit comprising a multilayered substrate having drive circuitry and a plurality of nozzle arrangements. Each nozzle arrangement comprises: a floor having an ink inlet defined therein; a roof spaced apart from the floor; sidewalls extending between the roof and the floor so as to define a nozzle chamber; and a heater element suspended in the chamber and connected to the drive circuitry. When actuation energy is supplied to the heater element from the drive circuitry, a vapour bubble is formed in ink contained in the nozzle chamber resulting in ejection of ink via the ink ejection port. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090322813 | INKJET PRINTHEAD WITH VARIABLE DRIVE PULSE - An inkjet printhead with an array of nozzles | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100002035 | Printhead IC With Non-Ejection Maintenance - A printhead IC is provided having an ejection nozzle having a heater for heating printing fluid, and drive circuitry for generating print pulses and maintenance pulses for driving the heater of the ejection nozzle. The maintenance pulses have a series of sub-ejection pulses preceding a de-clog pulse. The print signals are generated to heat the heater to form a first vapor bubble in printing fluid that causes ejection of the printing fluid from the nozzle. The de-clog pulse is generated to have lower power and longer duration than the print pulses so as to heat the heaters to form a second vapor bubble in the printing fluid which does not cause ejection. The sub-ejection pulses are generated to have lower power than the print pulses and shorter duration than the de-clog pulse so as to heat the heater without sufficient energy to nucleate a vapor bubble in the printing fluid. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100033539 | Printhead With Individual Nozzle Firing Frequency At Least Once Per Decap Time - An inkjet printhead has nozzles and respective heater elements. A print engine controller actuates the heater elements to eject ink through the corresponding nozzle. During use, the print engine controller actuates each of the heater elements at least once every decap time. The decap time is a predetermined time period in which the viscosity of the ejectable liquid at the nozzle increases to a threshold, at which ejection fails and the nozzle clogs. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100073432 | Ink Jet Printhead Incorporating Heater Element Proportionally Sized To Drop Size - An inkjet printhead comprises a plurality of nozzles; a supply of printing fluid in fluid communication with the plurality of nozzles; and a plurality of heater elements corresponding respectively to each of the nozzles, the heater elements for heating the printing fluid to form a gas bubble for ejecting a drop of printing fluid of a predetermined volume from the nozzle. Each of the heater elements has an area proportional to the predetermined volume. The area being such that an amount of energy generated by each heater element to form the gas bubble is substantially equal to or less than an amount of energy absorbable by a drop of printing fluid having the predetermined volume. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100091072 | Inkjet Printhead Nozzle Arrangement Having Non-Coincident Low Mass Electrode And Heater Element - An inkjet printhead nozzle arrangement includes side walls provided on a wafer substrate and a roof layer deposited on said side walls to define an ink chamber, the roof layer defining a nozzle aperture; an inlet defined in the substrate to supply the ink chamber with printing fluid; and at least one heater element having two opposite sides parallel to a plane of the ejection aperture, the heater element adapted to generate a gas bubble at both of said opposite sides. The heater elements and associated electrodes are arranged in the chamber to be non-coincident and have an annular shape facilitating a point of collapse of the bubble near a centre thereof The heater element has a mass of less than 10 nanograms. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100097429 | INKJET PRINTHEAD WITH TITANIUM ALUMINIUM ALLOY HEATER - An inkjet printhead with a resistive heaters for vaporizing ink to eject drops through respective nozzles. The heater is formed from a TiAlX alloy where Ti contributes more than 40% by weight, Al contributes more than 40% by weight and X contributes less than 5% by weight and comprises zero or more of Ag, Cr, Mo, Nb, Si, Ta and W. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100103216 | MEMS FLUID SENSOR - A fluid sensor for detecting fluid in a chamber, has a MEMS sensing element of conductive material with a resistance that is a function of temperature, and electrical contacts for connection to an electrical power source for heating the sensing element with an electrical signal, so that control circuitry can measure the current passing through the sensing element during heating of the sensing element; and determine the temperature of the sensing element from the known applied voltage, the measured current and the known relationship between the current, resistance and temperature. As the temperature of the element will be greater if it is in the presence of gas rather than liquid, the sensor determines if there is liquid or gas in the chamber. This is particularly useful to detect if the chambers of an inkjet printhead are primed with ink. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100128090 | Mems Bubble Generator Incorporating Superalloy Heater In Direct Contact With Bubble Formation Liquid Without Intervening Protective Coating - A MEMS vapor bubble generator includes a chamber for holding liquid; and a heater positioned in the chamber, the heater being formed using a sputtering technique. The heater is formed from a superalloy material. The superalloy material of the heater is in direct contact with the liquid, without any intervening protective coating. The superalloy has a crystalline structure with a grain size less than 100 nano-metres. The superalloy is MCrAlX, where M is one or more of Ni, Co, Fe with M contributing at least 50% by weight, Cr contributing between 8% and 35% by weight, Al contributing more than zero but less than 8% by weight, and X contributing less than 25% by weight, with X consisting of zero or more other elements, preferably including but not limited to Mo, Re, Ru, Ti, Ta, V, W, Nb, Zr, B, C, Si, Y, Hf. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100149279 | INKJET NOZZLE ASSEMBLY HAVING HEATER ELEMENT BONDED TO CHAMBER WALL VIA DIELECTRIC LAYER - An inkjet nozzle assembly has a chamber with a nozzle opening for ejecting a liquid, a heater element disposed in the chamber, and a dielectric layer sandwiched between the heater element and a wall of the chamber. The dielectric layer has a thermal product of less than 1495 Jm | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100171795 | INKJET PRINTHEAD INTERGRATED CONFIGURED TO MINIMIZE THERMAL LOSSES - Provided is an inkjet printhead integrated circuit that has a wafer substrate that has an ink passage, and a nozzle plate supported on the substrate by side walls to define an ink chamber supplied with ink via the ink passage. The nozzle plate has an ink ejection port corresponding to the ink chamber. A heater element is bonded to the nozzle plate inside the chamber for vaporising ink to generate a vapour bubble that ejects ink through the ejection port. The heater element is bonded to the nozzle plate with a low thermal product layer. The thermal product thermal product is less than 1495 Jm | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100220142 | PRINTHEAD WITH INK DISTRIBUTION THROUGH ALIGNED APERTURES - An inkjet printhead that has an elongate chassis, first groups of apertures spaced along the elongate chassis, an ink distribution unit defining a plurality of ink distribution passages and second groups of apertures in fluid communication with respective ink distribution passages, the ink distribution unit being mounted to the elongate chassis so that the first group of apertures and the second group of apertures coincide and, a plurality of printhead modules for ejecting ink supplied through the ink distribution passages and the aligned first and second groups. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100220155 | THERMAL INK JET PRINTHEAD - An ink jet printhead includes a plurality of nozzles each having a nozzle aperture; a plurality of bubble forming chambers, each corresponding respectively to one of the plurality of nozzles; an inlet for communicating printing fluid between the nozzle aperture and a printing fluid supply, the inlet and the nozzle aperture being aligned along a common central axis; and a heater element disposed in each of the bubble forming chambers. Each heater element has two bubble nucleation regions suspended within the bubble forming chamber in a plane parallel to that of the nozzle aperture. The two bubble nucleation regions are laterally offset from the central axis, such that the lateral offset of one of the bubble nucleation regions is equal and opposite to the lateral offset of the other bubble nucleation region. The bubble nucleation regions are spaced from each other such that bubbles nucleated at each will grow until they unite to form the gas bubble that causes the ejection of a drop of ejectable liquid. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100302314 | INKJET NOZZLE ASSEMBLY HAVING SUSPENDED BEAM HEATER ELEMENT OFFSET FROM NOZZLE APERTURE - An inkjet nozzle assembly includes a nozzle chamber having a planar roof spaced apart from a floor. A heater element is suspended in the nozzle chamber and is configured as a planar beam extending longitudinally and parallel with a plane of the roof. A nozzle aperture defined in the roof has a centroid offset from a longitudinal centroid of the planar beam. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20110094103 | METHOD OF FABRICATING INKJET PRINTHED HAVING LOW-LOSS CONTACT FOR THERMAL ACTUATORS - A method of fabricating an inkjet printhead is provided in which a supporting substrate is provided, a conductive layer is deposited and patterned on one side of the supporting substrate, an insulating layer is deposited on the conductive layer, holes are etched through the insulating layer to the conductive layer, metal is deposited in the holes to form metallic vias, an outer surface of the insulating layer and one end of each of the metallic vias are planarized, and a layer of heater material is deposited and patterned on the outer surface to form a heater with a resistive element extending between a pair of contacts. The metallic vias electrically connect the contacts to the conductive layer. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110096124 | INKJET PRINTHEAD HAVING LOW-LOSS CONTACT FOR THERMAL ACTUATORS - An inkjet printhead that has a supporting substrate, a conductive layer deposited in a pattern on one side of the supporting substrate, an insulating layer deposited such that the conductive layer is between the insulating layer and the supporting substrate, an ink chamber supported on the supporting substrate such that the conductive layer is between the ink chambers and the supporting substrate, a nozzle in fluid communication with the ink chamber, a heater on the insulating layer configured to vaporize some ink in the ink chamber such that a droplet of ink is ejected through the nozzle, the heater having a resistive element extending between a pair of contacts and, at least one metallic via in each of the contacts respectively, the metallic vias extending through the insulating layer to establish and electrical connection between the conductive layer and the contacts. The insulating layer has a planar surface on which the heater is supported. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110122183 | PRINTHEAD INCORPORATING PRESSURE PULSE DIFFUSING STRUCTURES BETWEEN INK CHAMBERS SUPPLIED BY SAME INK INLET - An inkjet printer includes a printhead having a plurality of ink chambers fed be an ink inlet, each ink chamber having a heater element for ejecting drops of ink from a nozzle aperture of each chamber; a plurality of pressure pulse diffusing structure positioned between the plurality of ink chambers fed by the ink inlet, the plurality of pressure pulse diffusing structures for retarding a propagation of pressure waves generated by each ink chamber to adjacent ink chambers; and a controller for receiving print data and generating drive pulses to energize the heater elements in accordance with the print data. The controller increases the drive pulse energy during the printhead lifetime such that the drive pulse energy is never less than that of a preceding drive pulse. | 05-26-2011 |
