Ballistic aerosol making apparatus for marking with a liquid material

• US 6,328,409 B1
• Filed: 09/30/1998
• Issued: 12/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Lean, Meng H., Anderson, Gregory B., Floyd, Philip D., Noolandi, Jaan, Kubby, Joel A., Peeters, Eric, Volkel, Armin R., Berlin, Andrew A., Hays, Dan A., Kovacs, Gregory J., Jackson, Warren B., Apte, Raj B., Endicott, Frederick J., Bolte, Steven B., Shi, An-Chang, Small, Jonathan A., Connell, G. A. Neville
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THINH H
• Application Number:
  US09/163,954
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: 347/43, 347/40, 347/41, 347/97, 347/73, 347/21
• US Class Current: 347/21
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14 Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14008 Structure of acoustic ink jet print heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/211 Mixing of inks, solvent or air prior to paper contact
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/02 Air-assisted ejection

Abstract

A marking apparatus is disclosed in which a propellant stream is passed through a channel and directed toward a substrate. A liquid marking material, such as ink, is controllably introduced into the propellant stream and imparted with sufficient kinetic energy thereby to be made incident upon a substrate. A multiplicity of channels for directing the propellant and marking material allow for high throughput, high resolution marking. Multiple marking materials may be introduced into the channel and mixed therein prior to being made incident on the substrate, or mixed or superimposed on the substrate without registration. One example is a single-pass, full-color printer.

Claims

1. An apparatus for ejecting a liquid marking material, comprising;

a structure having at least two adjacent channels therein, said channel having an exit orifice with a width no larger than 250 μ

m; and

a marking material reservoir communicatively connected to said channel; and

a metering device interposed between and communicatively coupled to at least one of said channels and said marking material reservoir, capable of selectively introducing said liquid marking material from said reservoir into said at least one channel; and

a propellant source coupled to said channel such that propellant provided by said propellant source may flow through said channel to form a continuous propellant stream having kinetic energy, and further wherein said marking material may be introduced into said propellant stream such that the kinetic energy of said propellant stream causes transport of marking material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said at least two adjacent channels are no more than 250 μ

m apart from any other adjacent channel.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a plurality of marking material reservoirs, each reservoir communicatively connected to at least one of said channels, and further including a plurality of metering devices, each said metering device interposed between one of said marking material reservoirs and one of said channels.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of metering devices are independently addressable such that each metering device may individually control the introduction of said liquid marking material from one of said reservoirs into one of said channels.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said metering device comprises a thermal ink jet ejector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said metering device comprises an acoustic ink ejector.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the propellant is a gas.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the gas is a dry gas.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the propellant exits the exit orifice in a liquid colorant stream, the liquid colorant stream having a width which does not deviate by more that 10 percent from the width of the exit orifice of a distance, in a direction of travel of the marking stream, of at least four times the exit orifice width.

10. An apparatus for depositing a liquid marking material onto a substrate, comprising;

a print head having at least two adjacent channels therein, each said channel having an exit orifice with a width no larger than 250 μ

m;

a propellant source connected to each said channel such that propellant provided by said propellant source may flow through said channels to form continuous propellant streams therein, said propellant streams having kinetic energy, each said channel directing said propellant stream through said exit orifice toward said substrate; and

a marking material reservoir communicatively connected to each said channel such that liquid marking material from said reservoir may be controllably introduced into said propellant stream in each said channel so that the kinetic energy of said propellant stream may cause said liquid marking material to impact said substrate.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein each of said at least two adjacent channels are no more than 250 μ

m apart from any other adjacent channel.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, further including a plurality of marking material reservoirs, each reservoir communicatively connected to at least one of said channels such that marking material from each of said reservoirs may be controllably introduced into said propellant streams.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each marking material reservoir contains a different marking material.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein each different marking material is a liquid colorant of a different color than each other different marking material.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein at least one of said marking materials is a finish material.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a plurality of metering devices, each metering device interposed between one of said marking material reservoirs and one of said channels, said metering devices capable of independently regulating the introduction of marking material from said reservoir into said propellant streams.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein each of said metering devices comprises an electrostatic gate.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein each said marking material reservoir is communicatively connected to each said channel by way of a port defined in said reservoir, and further wherein said electrostatic gate comprises an electrode pair, located in said port, said electrode pair connected to selectively generate an electric field, such that when said electric field is generated said marking material is attracted in a direction toward and into said propellant stream.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a plurality of metering devices, each metering device comprising a pair of electrodes, a first electrode of said pair located within said marking material reservoir, a second electrode of said pair located within said channel.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said reservoir is provided with a port through which said liquid marking material may pass from said reservoir to said channel, and further wherein said second electrode of said pair is located on an inner surface of said channel across said channel from said port.

21. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein each said channel has a converging region and a diverging region, and wherein said propellant is introduced in said converging region and flows into said diverging region, whereby said propellant is at a first velocity and first pressure in said converging region and a second velocity and a second pressure in said diverging region, said first pressure greater than said second pressure and said first velocity less than said second velocity.

22. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said marking material reservoir is removably and replacably located adjacent said print head.

23. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said marking material reservoir includes a port through which the reservoir may be refilled.

24. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said propellant source is removably and replacably located adjacent said print head.

25. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said marking material reservoir and said propellant source are housed together is a body removably and replacably located adjacent said print head.

26. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said propellant may flow through one or more of said exit orifices at a velocity greater than the speed of sound.

27. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of metering devices, each metering device interposed between said marking material reservoir and one of said channels, said metering devices capable of independently regulating the introduction of marking material from said reservoir into said propellant streams.

28. The device apparatus of claim 27, wherein each of said metering devices comprises an electrostatic gate.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said marking material reservoir is communicatively connected to each said channel by way of a port defined in said reservoir, and further wherein said electrostatic gate comprises an electrode pair, located in said port, said electrode pair connected to selectively generate an electric field, such that when said electric field is generated said marking material is attracted in a direction toward and into said propellant stream.

30. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of metering devices, each metering device comprising a pair of electrodes, a first electrode of said pair located within said marking material reservoir, a second electrode of said pair located within said channel.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said reservoir is provided with a port through which said liquid marking material may pass from said reservoir to said channel, and further wherein said second electrode of said pair is located on an inner surface of said channel across said channel from said port.

32. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said print head is moveably mounted such that said print head may be selectively positioned to deposit marking material onto selectively spaced apart regions of said substrate.

33. The apparatus of claim 10 further including a closure device for closing said channel off from an ambient environment when said device is in a non-operative condition.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said closure device includes a surface which may selectively be positioned at said exit orifice to isolate said channel from said ambient.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, further including a substrate support surface, and further wherein said print head is selectively moveable into physical contact with said substrate support surface such that said channel is closed off from said ambient environment when said device is in a non-operative condition.

36. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a thermal ink jet ejector communicatively interposed between said marking material reservoir and said channel such that said liquid marking material is introduced into said propellant stream by said thermal ink jet ejector.

37. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a thermal ink jet ejector communicatively interposed between said marking material reservoir and said channel such that said liquid marking material is introduced into said propellant stream by said acoustic ink jet ejector.

38. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the propellant is a gas.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the gas is a dry gas.

40. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the propellant exits the exit orifice in a liquid colorant stream, the liquid colorant stream having a width which does not deviate by more that 10 percent from the width of the exit orifice for a distance, in a direction of travel of the marking stream, of at least four times the exit orifice width.

41. A color printer capable of printing a pixel in one of a range of colors in a single pass onto a substrate, comprising:

a print head defining therein a channel, said print head further including a propellant introduction port and a plurality of liquid colorant introduction ports, each said port in communication with said channel, said channel including a propellant introduction region, a liquid colorant introduction region, a liquid colorant mixing region, and an ejection orifice;

a propellant source, in communication with said propellant introduction port, capable of providing propellant to said propellant introduction region such that propellant from said propellant source forms a continuous propellant stream in said channel;

a plurality of liquid colorant material sources, each liquid colorant material source in communication with one of said liquid colorant introduction ports, each said liquid colorant introduction port being located downstream in the propellant stream from said propellant introduction port, such that a different liquid colorant material from each said liquid colorant material source may be introduced into the propellant stream and mixed in said liquid colorant mixing region to form a liquid colorant mixture;

a plurality of metering devices, each metering device located between one of said liquid colorant material sources and said liquid colorant introduction region, for metering the introduction of the liquid colorant material from said liquid colorant material source into the propellant stream;

whereby said liquid colorant mixture may be imparted with sufficient kinetic energy to exit said channel at said exit orifice and impact said substrate.

42. The color printer of claim 41, wherein each liquid colorant material is of a different, selected color than each of the other liquid colorant materials, and said liquid colorant mixture is of a color different than the color of any one of the liquid colorants.

43. The color printer of claim 41, wherein said printer produces colored pixels on said substrate at a density of at least 300 pixels per inch.

44. The color printer of claim 41, wherein when said liquid colorant exits an exit orifice in a liquid colorant stream, said liquid colorant stream having a width which does not deviate by more than 10 percent from the width of the exit orifice for a distance, in a direction of travel of the marking material stream, of at least 4 times the exit orifice width.

45. The color printer of claim 41 wherein the propellant is a gas.

46. The color printer of claim 45 wherein the gas is a dry gas.