Nozzle apparatus for an inkjet printhead with a solenoid piston

• US 7,635,178 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2008
• Issued: 12/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Zamtec Limited (Memjet Limited)
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia
• Primary Examiner(s): Do; An H
• Application Number:
  US12/035,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20080174638A1
• Time in Patent Office: 670 Days
• Field of Search: 347/20, 347/40, 347/49, 347/54, 347/56, 347/65
• US Class Current: 347/54
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14 Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14314 Structure of ink jet print heads with electrostatically actuated membrane
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14427 Structure of ink jet print heads with thermal bend detached actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/16 Production of nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1623 bonding and adhesion
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1626 etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1628 dry etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1629 wet 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 2/1637 molding
• 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 2/1643 thin film formation by plating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1645 thin film formation by spincoating
• 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 2/16585 for paper-width or non-reciprocating print heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17513 Inner structure
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17596 : Ink pumps, ink valves
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/041 : Electromagnetic transducer
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14346 : Ejection by pressure produced by thermal deformation of ink chamber, e.g. buckling
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14435 : Moving nozzle made of thermal bend detached actuator
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14443 : Nozzle guard
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/21 : Line printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/79 : in semiconductor storage media, e.g. directly-addressable memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 : Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2129 : Authenticate client device independently of the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/121 : by printing code marks applying code marks to labels B65C9/46; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 : multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 : using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 : 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/08 : by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means without personal verification means G07F7/02
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/086 : by passive credit-cards adapted therefor, e.g. constructive particularities to avoid counterfeiting, e.g. by inclusion of a physical or chemical security-layer for security documents G07D7/00; for the reading of record-carriers in general G06K7/00; for the design of coded credit-cards G06K19/10
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/12 : Card verification
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/56 : using storage elements with more than two stable states represented by steps, e.g. of voltage, current, phase, frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 : Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 : Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49083 : Heater type
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49117 : Conductor or circuit manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49128 : Assembling formed circuit to base
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49169 : Assembling electrical component directly to terminal or elongated conductor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49172 : by molding of insulating material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49401 : Fluid pattern dispersing device making, e.g., ink jet

Abstract

The invention provides for a nozzle apparatus for an inkjet printhead. The apparatus includes a wafer substrate defining a nozzle chamber and a nozzle outlet port. The apparatus also includes an electromagnetic piston inside the chamber, the piston mounted to the wafer substrate via torsion springs, said piston operatively forced towards the outlet port when activated. Also included is a solenoid coil positioned on the wafer substrate about the piston to activate the piston when a current is passed through the coil.

Claims

1. A nozzle apparatus for an inkjet printhead, the apparatus comprising:

a wafer substrate defining a nozzle chamber and a nozzle outlet port;

an electromagnetic piston inside the chamber, the piston mounted to the wafer substrate via torsion springs, said piston operatively forced towards the outlet port when activated; and

a solenoid coil positioned on the wafer substrate about the piston to activate the piston when a current is passed through the coil.

2. The nozzle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the current to the coil is provided via aluminium connectors which interconnect the coil with a semi-conductor drive transistor and logic layer located on the substrate.

3. The nozzle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the magnetic piston is manufactured from neodymium iron boron.

4. The nozzle apparatus of claim 3, wherein the piston is magnetised during a final high temperature step in a fabrication process of the nozzle apparatus to ensure that the Curie temperature is not exceeded after magnetisation.

5. The nozzle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nozzle chamber is slightly wider than the piston with a gap between the piston and the nozzle chamber dimensioned to ensure that the piston does not contact the nozzle chamber when said piston is activated.

6. The nozzle apparatus of claim 5, wherein the nozzle chamber is dimensioned to have a depth so that air ingested through the outlet port when the piston returns to a quiescent state does not extend to the piston.

7. The nozzle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the solenoid coil is a double layer spiral coil of copper to obtain suitably high field strength with a relatively small radius.