Inkjet printhead architecture for high speed and high resolution printing
First Claim
1. A printing system for an inkjet printer comprising:
- a supply of ink in an ink reservoir;
a printhead substrate having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface, and having a first outer edge along a periphery of said substrate;
a printhead nozzle member having a plurality of ink orifices formed therein, said nozzle member being positioned to overlie said top surface of said substrate;
a plurality of ink ejection elements formed on said top surface of said substrate, each of said ink ejection elements being located proximate to an associated one of said orifices for causing a portion of said ink to be expelled from said associated orifice; and
a fluid channel, communicating with said ink reservoir, leading to each of said orifices and said ink ejection elements, said fluid channel allowing said ink to flow from said ink reservoir, along a portion of said bottom surface of said substrate, around said first outer edge of said substrate, and to said top surface of said substrate so as to be proximate to said orifices and said ink ejection elements, wherein said fluid channel includes ink channels formed over said top surface of said substrate for directing ink to each of said ink ejection elements.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved ink flow path between an ink reservoir and ink ejection chambers in an inkjet printhead is disclosed along with a preferred printhead architecture. In the preferred embodiment, a barrier layer containing ink channels and firing chambers is located between a rectangular substrate and a nozzle member containing an array of orifices. The substrate contains two spaced apart arrays of ink ejection elements, and each orifice in the nozzle member is associated with a firing chamber and ink ejection element. The ink channels in the barrier layer have ink entrances generally running along two opposite edges of the substrate so that ink flowing around the edges of the substrate gain access to the ink channels and to the firing chambers. High speed printing capability with a firing frequency up to 12 KHz is accomplished by offsetting neighboring ink ejection elements from each other in each primitive grouping in the linear array, combining short shelf length with damped ink inlet channels, and then firing only one ink ejection element at a time in each primitive grouping thereby minimizing undesirable interference such as fluidic crosstalk between closely adjacent ink firing chambers. High resolution printing capability for at least 600 dots-per-inch by the printhead as a whole is accomplished by densely positioning the ink ejection elements in each linear array of ink ejection elements.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A printing system for an inkjet printer comprising:
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a supply of ink in an ink reservoir; a printhead substrate having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface, and having a first outer edge along a periphery of said substrate; a printhead nozzle member having a plurality of ink orifices formed therein, said nozzle member being positioned to overlie said top surface of said substrate; a plurality of ink ejection elements formed on said top surface of said substrate, each of said ink ejection elements being located proximate to an associated one of said orifices for causing a portion of said ink to be expelled from said associated orifice; and a fluid channel, communicating with said ink reservoir, leading to each of said orifices and said ink ejection elements, said fluid channel allowing said ink to flow from said ink reservoir, along a portion of said bottom surface of said substrate, around said first outer edge of said substrate, and to said top surface of said substrate so as to be proximate to said orifices and said ink ejection elements, wherein said fluid channel includes ink channels formed over said top surface of said substrate for directing ink to each of said ink ejection elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for inkjet printing comprising the steps of:
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providing a substrate, having a top surface and a bottom surface, with ink ejection chambers formed on said top surface grouped to form a plurality of primitives; supplying ink from an ink reservoir along a portion of said bottom surface of said substrate, around one or more edges of said substrate'"'"'s periphery and to a top surface of said substrate to allow the ink, which has flowed around said one or more of said edges, to enter said ink ejection chambers, each ink ejection chamber substantially surrounding an ink ejection element formed on said top surface of said substrate; and energizing one of more of said ink ejection elements to cause a portion of the ink in associated ones of said ink ejection chambers to be expelled from said orifices. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An inkjet printing system comprising:
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a reservoir; a supply of ink in said reservoir; a printhead substrate having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface, said substrate having a plurality of ink firing chambers with ink ejection elements located therein located on said top surface of said substrate, said ink ejection elements spaced apart from each other a predetermined distance to provide a printing resolution of 300 dots per inch or greater; fluid channels extending between said reservoir and said ink firing chambers in order to transport said ink along a portion of said bottom surface of said substrate and around one or more edges of said substrate, said substrate including a group of said ink ejection elements forming a primitive; and demultiplexing circuitry on said substrate and connected to said ink ejection elements for selectively firing said ink ejection elements. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification