METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DROPLET DEPOSITION
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Abstract
A method for depositing droplets onto a medium, utilising a droplet deposition head is provided. The head used in the method includes: an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for the release of fluid droplets and each wall separating two neighbouring chambers. Each wall is actuable such that, in response to a first voltage, it will deform so as to decrease the volume of one chamber and increase the volume of the other chamber, and, in response to a second voltage, it will deform so as to cause the opposite effect on the volumes of its neighbouring chambers. The method includes the steps of: receiving input data; assigning, based on such input data, all the chambers within the array as either firing chambers or non-firing chambers, so as to produce bands of one or more contiguous firing chambers separated by bands of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; actuating the walls of certain of the chambers such that: for each non-firing chamber, either one wall is stationary while the other is moved, or the walls move with the same sense, or they remain stationary; and, for each firing chamber the walls move with opposing senses; such actuations result in each firing chamber releasing at least one droplet, the resulting droplets forming bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, such bodies of fluid being separated on the line by respective gaps for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, the size of each such gap generally corresponding in size to the respective band of non-firing chambers. The actuations of the walls of said firing chambers in the actuating step are such that, if only one of the two walls of each firing chamber were actuated in such manner, no droplets would be ejected from that firing chamber. A droplet deposition apparatus, a droplet deposition head and a computer program product are also provided.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1-19. -19. (canceled)
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20. A method for depositing droplets onto a medium utilizing a droplet deposition apparatus, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the droplet deposition apparatus, input data for releasing droplets, the droplet deposition apparatus comprising an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for the release of droplets of fluid and each of the walls separating two neighboring chambers; assigning, based on the input data, each of the chambers within the array as either firing chambers or non-firing chambers so as to produce bands of one or more contiguous firing chambers separated by bands of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; and actuating the walls of at least a subset of the chambers such that; for at least one non-firing chamber, one wall is stationary while the other is moved; and for each firing chamber the walls move with opposing senses, wherein; each of the walls is actuable such that in response to a first voltage, the respective wall will deform so as to decrease the volume of a first one of the chambers and increase the volume of a second one of the chambers, and in response to a second voltage, the respective wall will deform so as to cause an opposite effect on the volumes of the first and the second chambers; for each wall of each firing chamber, the method further comprises applying a drive waveform comprising the first voltage and the second voltage such that the first voltage causes the release of at least one droplet from the first chamber and the second voltage causes the release of at least one droplet from the second chamber; and the resulting droplets forming bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, the bodies of fluid being separated on the line by respective gaps for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, a size of each gap corresponding in size to the respective band of non-firing chambers. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A droplet deposition apparatus comprising:
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one or more droplet deposition heads, wherein each of the droplet deposition heads comprises; an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber being provided with an aperture and each of the walls separating two neighboring chambers;
each of the walls being actuable such that, in response to a first voltage, the respective wall will deform so as to decrease the volume of a first chamber and increase the volume of a second chamber, in response to a second voltage, the respective wall will deform so as to cause an opposite effect on the volumes of the first and the second chambers;wherein the droplet deposition apparatus is configured to carry out a method for depositing droplets onto a medium, the method comprising steps of; receiving input data; assigning, based on the input data for releasing droplets, each of the chambers within the array as either firing chambers or non-firing chambers so as to produce bands of one or more contiguous firing chambers separated by bands of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; and actuating the walls of at least a subset of the chambers such that; for at least one non-firing chamber, one wall is stationary while the other is moved; and for each firing chamber the walls move with opposing senses; wherein; for each wall of each firing chamber, the method further comprises applying a drive waveform comprising the first voltage and the second voltage such that the first voltage causes the release of at least one droplet from the first chamber and the second voltage causes the release of at least one droplet from the second chamber; and the resulting droplets form bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, the bodies of fluid being separated on the line by respective gaps for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, a size of each gap generally corresponding in size to the respective band of non-firing chambers. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A system for depositing droplets onto a medium, the system comprising:
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one or more droplet deposition heads, each of the one or more droplet deposition heads comprising an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for the release of droplets of fluid and each of the walls separating two neighboring chambers;
wherein each of the walls is actuable such that, in response to a first voltage, the respective wall will deform so as to decrease the volume of a first chamber and increase the volume of a second chamber, and, in response to a second voltage, the respective wall will deform so as to cause an opposite effect on the volumes of the first and the second chambers; andone or more memory devices storing computer instructions for configuring the one or more droplet deposition heads to carry out a method for depositing droplets onto the medium utilizing the one or more droplet deposition heads, the method comprising; receiving input data; assigning, based on the input data, each of the chambers within the array as either firing chambers or non-firing chambers so as to produce bands of one or more contiguous firing chambers separated by bands of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; and actuating the walls of at least a subset of the chambers such that; for at least one non-firing chamber, one wall is stationary while the other is moved; and for each firing chamber the walls move with opposing senses, wherein; for each wall of each firing chamber, the method further comprises applying a drive waveform comprising the first voltage and the second voltage such that the first voltage causes the release of at least one droplet from the first chamber and the second voltage causes the release of at least one droplet from the second chamber; and the resulting droplets forming bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, the bodies of fluid being separated on the line by respective gaps for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, a size of each gap generally corresponding in size to the respective band of non-firing chambers. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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Specification