Ducting between ink outlets of sectioned ink reservoir

• US 20060250482A1
• Filed: 05/09/2005
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zamtec Limited (Memjet Limited)
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia, King, Tobin Allen
• Granted Patent: US 7,780,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/109
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 29/393 Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine ; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns

Abstract

A mobile telecommunications device comprising: a printhead for printing on a media substrate; a drive shaft for feeding the media substrate past the printhead; a print engine controller for operatively controlling the printhead; and, an ink reservoir for supplying ink to the printhead, the reservoir having: a housing defining an ink storage volume; one or more baffles dividing the ink storage volume into sections, each of the sections having at least one ink outlet for sealed connection to the printhead; and at least one conduit establishing fluid communication between the ink outlets of adjacent sections.

Claims

1. A mobile telecommunications device comprising:

a printhead for printing on a media substrate;

a drive shaft for feeding the media substrate past the printhead;

a print engine controller for operatively controlling the printhead; and

,

an ink reservoir for supplying ink to the printhead, the reservoir having;

a housing defining an ink storage volume;

one or more baffles dividing the ink storage volume into sections, each of the sections having at least one ink outlet for sealed connection to the printhead; and

,

at least one conduit establishing fluid communication between the ink outlets of adjacent sections.

2. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the at least one conduit has a cross sectional area small enough such that capillary action prevents ink from draining of the conduit under gravity regardless of the orientation of the housing.

3. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the at least one conduit is defined by one or more channels formed in the exterior surface of the housing and covered by a sealing film adhered to the exterior surface, the sealing film having apertures for each of the outlets respectively for fluid communication with the printhead.

4. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the housing defines three of the ink storage volumes, each of the ink storage volumes being elongate and having the baffles extending transversely across each of the storage volumes respectively.

5. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein each of the sections contains an ink retaining structure incorporating porous material such that, capillary action reduces the hydrostatic pressure of the ink within inactive nozzles of the printhead to less than atmospheric.

6. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the printhead is a pagewidth printhead.

7. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the printhead and the drive shaft are incorporated into a replaceable cartridge for insertion into a print media feed path within the mobile telecommunications device.

8. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the printhead has an array of ink ejection nozzles and is incorporated into a cartridge that further comprises at least one ink reservoir for supplying ink to the printhead for ejection by the nozzles, each of the at least one ink reservoirs including at least one absorbent structure for inducing a negative hydrostatic pressure in the ink at the nozzles, and a capping mechanism for capping the printhead when not in use.

9. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 further comprising:

(a) a print media feed path for directing print media past the printhead in a feed direction during printing;

(b) a capping mechanism including a capper moveable between a capping position in which the capper is urged into a capping relationship with the printhead, and an uncapped position in which the printhead is able to print onto the media substrate, wherein in the uncapped position the capper is displaced away from the printhead; and

,

(c) a force transfer mechanism connected to the capper and configured such that a force provided by an edge of the media substrate as it moves relative to the feed path is transferred to the capper by the force transfer mechanism, thereby to at least commence movement of the capper from the capped position to the uncapped position prior to the media substrate reaching the capper.

10. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 further comprising:

(a) a print media feed path for directing media substrate past the printhead in a feed direction during printing;

(b) a capping mechanism including a capper moveable between a capping position in which the capper is urged into a capping relationship with the printhead, and an uncapped position in which the printhead is able to print onto the media substrate, wherein in the uncapped position the capper is displaced away from the printhead; and

,

(c) a locking mechanism configured to hold the capper in the uncapped position until after a trailing edge of the media substrate is clear of the printhead.

11. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the drive shaft has a media engagement surface for enhanced contact friction with the media substrate.

12. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 6 further comprising a capping mechanism including a capper moveable between a capping position in which the capper is urged into a capping relationship with the printhead, and an uncapped position in which the printhead is able to print onto the media substrate, wherein the capper assembly is held in the uncapped position by the media substrate such that it moves to the capped position upon disengagement with the media.

13. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein the print engine controller has a light emitting beacon, and the printhead further comprises:

an array of nozzles for ejecting ink;

print data circuitry for providing the nozzles with print data; and

,

a photosensor for optically receiving the print data from the beacon.

14. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 6 wherein

the drive shaft is driven by a piezo-electric resonant linear drive system.

15. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 further comprising:

a position sensor for providing the print engine controller with a signal indicative of the position of the media substrate relative to the printhead;

such that,

the print engine controller differentiates the signal to derive the speed of the media substrate relative to the printhead and adjusts the operation of the printhead in response to variations in the speed.

16. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 wherein during use,

the print engine controller senses the number of complete and partial rotations of the drive shaft and adjusts the operation of the printhead in response to variations in the angular velocity of the drive shaft.

17. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 1 further comprising:

a sensor for reading coded data on at least part of the media substrate and generating a signal indicative of at least one dimension of the sheet, and transmitting the signal to the print engine controller;

such that,

the print engine controller uses the signal to initiate the printing when the sheet is at a predetermined position relative to the printhead.

18. A mobile telecommunications device according to claim 6 further comprising:

a dual sensing facility for reading coded data on at least part of the media substrate before, as well as after, it has past the printhead.