Drop on demand ink jet printing apparatus
First Claim
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1. Drop-on-demand ink jet printing apparatus comprising a nozzle on a nozzle axis;
- an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle;
a piezoelectric actuating structure, said structure extending around the nozzle axis and extending in the direction of the nozzle axis;
an actuating surface bounding the chamber and facing towards the nozzle, said structure being actuable to move said actuating surface in the direction of the nozzle axis to effect droplet ejection through the nozzle; and
electrodes for applying an actuating electric field to the actuating structure.
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Abstract
Drop-on-demand ink jet printing apparatus comprises a nozzle on a nozzle axis; an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle, a piezoelectric actuating structure, said structure extending around the nozzle axis and extending in the direction of the nozzle axis; an actuating surface facing the nozzle, said structure being actuable to move said actuating surface in the direction of the nozzle axis to effect droplet ejection through the nozzle; and electrodes for applying an actuating electric field to the actuating structure.
29 Citations
49 Claims
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1. Drop-on-demand ink jet printing apparatus comprising a nozzle on a nozzle axis;
- an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle;
a piezoelectric actuating structure, said structure extending around the nozzle axis and extending in the direction of the nozzle axis;
an actuating surface bounding the chamber and facing towards the nozzle, said structure being actuable to move said actuating surface in the direction of the nozzle axis to effect droplet ejection through the nozzle; and
electrodes for applying an actuating electric field to the actuating structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle;
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23. Drop-on-demand ink jet printing apparatus comprising a nozzle on a nozzle axis;
- an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle;
a piezoelectric actuating structure, said structure extending in the direction of the nozzle axis;
an actuating surface bounding the chamber and facing towards the nozzle, said structure being actuable to move said actuating surface in the direction of the nozzle axis to effect droplet ejection through the nozzle; and
electrodes for applying an actuating electric field to the actuating structure, said electrodes comprising a first electrode on a face of the actuating structure abutting the ink chamber and a second electrode on an opposing face of the actuating structure isolated from the ink chamber. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
- an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle;
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36. A method of ink jet printing comprising the steps of establishing a planar body of ink in communication with a nozzle having a nozzle axis, the body of ink extending radially of the nozzle axis;
- providing in the body of ink an impedance boundary extending circumferentially of the nozzle axis; and
selectively actuating a piezoelectric actuating structure extending in the direction of the nozzle axis and around the nozzle axis to move an actuating surface in the direction of the nozzle axis so as to establish an acoustic wave travelling radially of the nozzle axis in the ink chamber and reflected by the impedance boundary, thereby to effect ejection of an ink droplet through the nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
- providing in the body of ink an impedance boundary extending circumferentially of the nozzle axis; and
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49. A method of manufacturing drop-on-demand ink jet printing apparatus, comprising the steps of forming a nozzle plate having a two dimensional array of nozzles each having a nozzle axis, said nozzle axes being parallel;
- forming a two dimensional array of actuating structures on a substrate each extending in the direction of a respective nozzle axis and around the respective nozzle axis and being associated respectively with the nozzles, an actuating surface being provided for each actuating structure;
applying electrodes on the actuating structures enabling selective actuation of each wall; and
laminating the nozzle plate and the substrate;
the laminated structure providing a plurality of disc-shaped ink chambers each extending about a respective nozzle axis and communicating with the respective nozzle, such that in the manufactured apparatus, actuation of a selected structure effects drop ejection from the associated nozzle.
- forming a two dimensional array of actuating structures on a substrate each extending in the direction of a respective nozzle axis and around the respective nozzle axis and being associated respectively with the nozzles, an actuating surface being provided for each actuating structure;
Specification