Printhead assembly with power and ground connections along single edge

• US 7,216,956 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2005
• Issued: 05/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Memjet Technology Ltd. (Memjet Limited)
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia
• Primary Examiner(s): Meier; Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liang; Leonard
• Application Number:
  US11/144,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20050264607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• Field of Search: 347/50, 347/42, 347/13, 347/20, 347/40, 347/47, 347/12, 347/9, 347/5, 347/85
• US Class Current: 347/50
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04528 aiming at warming up the head
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04541 Specific driving circuit
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04543 Block driving
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04553 detecting ambient temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04563 detecting head temperature; Ink temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04565 detecting heater resistance
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04585 controlling heads based on thermal bent actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04588 using a specific waveform
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04591 Width of the driving signal being adjusted
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04596 Non-ejecting pulses
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14427 Structure of ink jet print heads with thermal bend detached actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1626 etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1631 photolithography
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1632 machining
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1635 dividing the wafer into individual chips
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1639 sacrificial molding
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1642 thin film formation by CVD [chemical vapor deposition]
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1646 thin film formation by sputtering
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1648 Production of print heads with thermal bend detached actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14491 Electrical connection

Abstract

A printhead assembly with an elongate printhead and a plurality of power supply points and ground supply points spaced along its length. The assembly also has an elongate power busbar and an elongate ground busbar with an interconnect means 470 connecting said power supply points 553 to the power busbar and the ground supply points to said ground busbar; wherein, the interconnect means 470 attaches to the printhead along a single longitudinal edge 554 thereof. By attaching to one edge of the printhead IC only, the assembly design is less complex and more compact.

Claims

1. An inkjet printhead assembly for a printer, the assembly comprising:

an elongate printhead with a plurality of power supply points and ground supply points spaced along its length;

an elongate power busbar;

an elongate ground busbar; and

an interconnect means, including at least one tape automated bonded (TAB) film, connecting said power supply points to said power busbar and said ground supply points to said ground busbar,

wherein;

the interconnect means attaches to the printhead along a single longitudinal edge thereof; and

the at least one TAB film is double-sided and comprises;

power and around interconnect means on a first side of the TAB film, the power and ground interconnect means connecting said busbars and their corresponding power and ground supply points; and

control line interconnect means on the other side of the TAB film, the control line interconnect means being configured to provide the inkjet printhead with control data from a print controller.

2. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1, wherein the power and ground busbars extend parallel to said inkjet printhead and said interconnect means extends generally transversely between the busbars and the respective power and ground supply points.

3. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1, wherein said TAB film electrically connects with said busbars by means of correspondingly sized noble metal deposited strips formed on said TAB film.

4. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1 wherein said interconnect means also includes a plurality of control lines configured to provide the inkjet printhead with control data from a print controller.

5. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 4, wherein the inkjet printhead is in the form of a plurality of printhead chips manufactured by a MEMS processing technique.

6. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1, wherein said interconnect means is in the form of one or more printed circuit boards connected directly to said busbars, with wire bonds connecting the printed circuit boards to said printhead.

7. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1, wherein said inkjet printhead has a plurality of nozzle arrangements, each of which includes a thermal bend actuator device for ejection of ink from a corresponding nozzle.

8. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1, wherein said ink supply unit comprises:

a slot for insertion of said printhead; and

a series of elongated chambers for the storage of separate color inks, said chambers being interconnected with said slot for the supply of ink to said printhead;

wherein,

said busbars are disposed along said ink supply unit and the interconnect means take the form of a tape automated bonding (TAB) strip similarly disposed along an outside of said ink supply unit, the TAB strip including a series of control lines along one surface thereof for mating with a corresponding external series of control lines for receiving control signals from a print controller, said TAB strip further having a repeating series of interconnects to said inkjet printhead, said interconnects interconnecting said control lines and said busbars to said printhead.

9. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1 wherein each of said busbars comprises a mechanically stiff conductive rail.

10. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1 wherein said interconnect means includes a flexible pardon that connects with said inkjet printhead.

11. An inkjet printhead assembly according to claim 1 wherein the inkjet printhead comprises a series of inkjet printhead integrated circuits (chips), each of the inkjet printhead integrated circuits having at least one of the power supply points.